> The World Race
>  by TheIronPone035
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Starting Line (Remastered)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sound of squealing tires had become a near constant noise in the dimly lit room, the irritating sounds of burning rubber once again echoing through the many speakers littered throughout the room. These speakers were all linked up to a series of monitors, each currently depicting the image of a red strip of road in a volcanic-like setting. The rumble of an engine could be faintly heard over the tires as the recorded dashcam of the vehicle took a turn to the left, approaching a massive loop that was at the very least three hundred feet tall. 

The engine roared as more power was shoved through the wheels, trying to keep the vehicle going forwards as it began to climb the loop. The vehicle went surprisingly far up, not backing down at all even as gravity began ripping it away from the track. But sadly, the vehicle reached its breaking point and began its falling action, which would let it meet the same fate as the other test vehicles. The tires soon were left spinning on open air, the weight of the vehicle dragging it from the heavily inclining track. It quickly began flipping as it fell through the air, before crashing hard into the rocky abyss below. The second it made contact with the sharp spiked ground of the environment, the dashcam's signal was severed. The monitors instantly changed from crisp clear depictions of the ground to grey static, the speakers following suit right after. 

Upon both seeing and hearing the static, a gloved fist slammed down onto a table that was facing a large portion of monitors. Not long after did an annoyed groan emit from a purple skinned woman's mouth, followed by her pushing her chair away from the desk. The woman was wearing a navy blue suit over a dark purple dress shirt, along with matching navy blue suit pants and black boots. To top it all off, a pair of black rimmed glasses sat on her face, purple irises staring right behind the thin layer of organic glass. 

"That makes the total fifty. Fifty high end cars lost to those tracks. It'd be so much better if those cars actually got me progress, but I can't seem to reach any sort of end!" The woman exclaimed out loud, absentmindedly running a hand through her long dark blue hair that held a hot pink and purple striped highlight through it. 

"Well, you have just been throwing cars nonstop into highway thirty five." A voice exclaimed from the woman's left. 

She turned her gaze towards the source, her eyes locking onto a purple furred dog with a green tail and green highlights on his head in the shape of spines. The dog was sitting in a hovering metal chair, several wires connecting to arm and leg bands keeping the two linked continuously. This chair was not only comfortable, it also acted as a translator and helped give the dog a higher intelligence boost to his already high IQ. This meant that he was the perfect companion for the reclusive and introverted scientist. 

"Well what else am I supposed to do Spike? I've built a whole new type of car, the fastest in the world! If they can't get through, then what can?" The woman inquired.

"How about a new type of driver?" 'Spike' replied. 

The woman opened her mouth to reply, but found no words leaving. Spike did have a point. All the vehicles that had been launched into highway thirty five were remotely operated either by her or a specific A.I. This meant that they'd all performed in relatively similar statutes, meaning they'd end up meeting the same fate as the others. 

But if those cars were controlled by human beings directly...

She made her way back over to her desk and booted up a side computer, quickly bringing up some of the most used social media websites in the world. She scrolled through a few pages of people, before resting her eyes on a few who have claimed to be the best drivers in the world.

She grinned as a plan formed in her mind, a plan that was sure to work this time. But first, she was gonna need some fast cars...







The ocean was practically sparkling at this time of day, with the sun directly above it and only a couple of clouds in sight. To any onlookers, they might have thought someone had won the lottery and tossed thousands of pounds worth of shiny gold into the ocean. 

Neighboring this beautiful sight was an expansive city filled with all sorts of places. From bowling alleys, to arcades, to malls. It was also very populated, with tons of people driving to and from work in their cars, or simply walking around and chatting with friends. 

A lone skate park in the middle of a more rural area currently held two residents, both of them standing on a large wooden half pipe. The polished wood rumbled loudly as the wheels of a skateboard shot across it and into the air, landing perfectly back on the skating structure. 

The person riding the skateboard was a teenager with cyan skin and magenta eyes that held both a spark of adventure, and a fire of determination. The female teenager wore a white T-shirt under a light blue vest, skinny black pants, and white and blue sneakers with a rainbow pattern across the sides. Her matching rainbow hair fluttered behind her as she mimicked what she'd done on the left side of the half pipe on the other side, once again landing with ease. 

Even though she was having a blast on the skateboard, she couldn't help but mentally sigh when her eyes spotted the only other person at the skatepark, who happened to be her best friend. She screeched her skateboard to a halt, wheels skirting a little as they came to a stop at the base of the halfpipe. 

"Come on Fluttershy! You won't get better by only standing next to the board!" The girl exclaimed to her friend who was standing next to the halfpipe, her skateboard shaking with her hands.

She had yellow skin with long pink hair that covered one of her large cyan blue eyes. She was wearing a green T-Shirt with the words Animal Lover on it with an arrow pointing to her face, which to anyone who knew her, was nothing but accurate. She was also wearing crisp brown pants with white and pink boots. A lime green helmet was securely fastened over her head, plus shoulder pads and knee pads in their respective places. There was an occasional pink butterfly sticker plastered about to keep them from being plain.

"Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy stammered, trying to sound as calm as possible, and failing. "I d-don't think this is something that I c-can do."

"There's nothing to worry about. You brought all that equipment to stop yourself from getting hurt, but you haven't even gotten on the skateboard!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Look, at-least give it a try and show me what you can do, then we can work up from there."

Fluttershy gulped loudly as she set the skateboard she was holding in her trembling hands down and slowly got on it. The board shifted a little to the right from the sudden weight increase, causing Fluttershy to scramble to the left to try and keep balance. This only led her to stumble and fall off the board. 

"Ow," Fluttershy mumbled, rubbing the knee she had landed on. She looked up to see a cyan hand outstretched in front of her. 

"Ok, maybe it's best if you practice balance before you start riding the half pipe." Rainbow stated, pulling her friend back up to her feet.

Fluttershy blushed slightly, but before she could answer, she was cut off by a loud buzzing sound emitting from one of Rainbow's pants pockets. The rainbow haired teen reached into said pocket and retrieved a cyan phone, an alert message filling the message slot on it. There were only a few words in the message, but these words were all she needed to know.

"Um, what was that?" Fluttershy asked, curious as to what her friends phone had just received. 

"My dad should be back, which means I can take the car to the race track in the next town over and finally see the Wonderbolts race again!" Rainbow exclaimed, excitement leaking through her words like a faucet. "You mind if we cut this short?" 

"Not at all, I should practice back at my house anyways before... " Fluttershy trailed off as she gazed at the ominous half pipe. "-that."

"Alright then, later Flutters!" Rainbow said, before moving her skateboard onto the sidewalk and taking off towards her home. 

Getting to see the Wonderbolts race had always been on her bucket list ever since she'd been eight and saw them the first time at the Indy 500 with her mom. Sadly, she hadn't had the time to travel across the country or fly to another for all their other races, but now she had a shot to finally see them again in person.

Her skateboards wheels rumbled across the cement, their durability quickly getting put to the test as their owner made them spin faster as she increased her speeds.

"Heh, these roads are about to see a future Wonderbolt race to another town." Rainbow told herself as she looked at the road she was skateboarding next to. The asphalt seemed to be waving a finger at her, as if a challenge to bring it on. 







Rainbow stopped her skateboard just shy of her home's driveway and jumped off of It, walking the rest of the way towards the front door. It was a cozy yet simple one story building with faded white walls and a slanted grey roof. The front door was tinted cyan and black while each window was blocked out by dark blue curtains from the inside. The driveway led up to a small overhang that stretched to the one car garage in the back right hand corner. 

The teen looked around the driveway and the street, but couldn't seem to spot her father's car. She pulled out her phone and double checked that she'd read the text right, and the same text she'd read earlier filled the screen. 

"Where the heck is he?" Rainbow wondered, forced to wait until her dad showed up. 

After a few seconds of standing by the door, she began tapping her foot impatiently on the cement steps. Patience wasn't exactly one of her strong suits, and the drive to get to the racing stadium only fueled it. It was like being in a line for the new roller coaster at the local amusement park, and Rainbow wasn't patient on those trips either.

What felt like hours which in reality had only been around ten minutes, Rainbow was done waiting and about to give her dad a call. But she stopped when she spotted her father's old green 1960s Chevrolet Camaro pull up in front of the house. 

"Finally... " Rainbow muttered mentally, walking over to the right side of the car. 

Her father stepped out of the car, his light purple skin covered by a navy blue suit and matching pants. He locked eyes with his daughter, his expression making Rainbow worry. 

"What's going on Dad?" She asked. 

Her father walked over to her, his greying rainbow hair blowing in the faint breeze. "My squadron is shipping out, high alert." He stated flatly. 

"Wait, but you said that we could go see the Wonderbolts race at the ACS!" Rainbow exclaimed. 

Her father sighed to himself, a mental battle raging in his mind. "Look Dash, I'm sorry that I have to leave, especially today. But ever since... the incident, I've had to double up on my work. As much as I want to see those Wonderbolts smoke their opponents, especially with you by my side, I have to put work first. I have a team, a team who needs me to lead them." Her Dad explained. 

Rainbow wanted to say something to try and convince her father to take her anyways, but she already knew the answer. Her father was barely able to be home just to sleep these days, and it was already taking its toll on their relationship. 

"Alright, just try to come home before dinner." Dash stated, before giving her dad a hug which he returned in full. 

In almost no time flat, her father was already backed out of the driveway and driving down the road. Once the car was out of sight, Rainbow trudged over to where she'd dropped her skateboard and picked it up. She stared at it for a few seconds, before throwing it in a fit of anger onto the lawn, where it bounced and landed with a thump next to a tree. 







Rainbow laid on her bed, a pencil she was fidgeting with in her left hand, and her phone held up to her ear in her right. It turns out that Fluttershy had returned home right in time to get a call from the local animal shelter which she worked at and had to help calm a pair of angry birds and a dog. So she couldn't head back to the skatepark to help her practice more even if she wanted to, which meant Rainbow was once again on her own. 

With the rest of her friends either being busy or having moved away, Rainbow was left alone in her house to do what she wanted, again. So she put her phone into one of her pants pockets, threw the pencil back into the mug where she'd grabbed it, and stood back up. 

"There has to be something to do around here." Rainbow muttered to herself, exiting her room and navigating down the hall towards the kitchen. 

She opened a cupboard that held an assortment of snacks and began browsing through them, eventually deciding on a box of rainbow goldfish. She grabbed the container and was about to set it aside to grab a bowl to poor them into, but froze when she noticed something outside a window.

There was something in the driveway, and it was definitely not her dad's car.

Forgetting about the snack completely, Rainbow shot out of the kitchen and down the hallway towards the front door. She swung it open and immediately locked eyes with the massive blue object that was now resting in the driveway.

Resting in the sunlight was a blue vehicle that she didn't recognize from any sort of vehicle shop, magazine, or televised race. It didn't even have a company logo on it. The blue vehicle appeared to be some sort of truck with a flat back behind the cab part. Resting on the back were two rainbow surfboards that went from the end of the cab to the exposed engine on the back of the car. The front had two oval shaped windows on the sides and one large windshield, it also didn't seem to have any door handles. It's sides revealed a surfing-like livery, with a single colored surfer riding several large waves against a watery backdrop.

Rainbow walked out of her house and over to the truck, her eyes drifting to one of the oval windows. She looked through it at the insides of the car, seeing a coal black interior with several buttons on a console in the middle and a blank monitor in the middle area below what she assumed was an A.C. unit. 

"Awesome... " Rainbow said out loud, admiring the car from front to back. "But, how do I get in?"

Rainbow's thoughts were answered as the whole front panel came off of the car and rose into the air, making the whole thing scream sci fi. She jumped into the driver's seat and looked around the interior. The seats were smooth black leather while the gear stick was black with tints of silver along it. Rainbow spotted a blue lever next to the other seat which was sticking up. Curious, she pushed down on the lever and the front panel lowered back into place. 

The blank image on the console flickered to life, displaying a face of a purple woman with tinted black glasses, shielding her eyes from view.

"Greetings, because of your extraordinary abilities, you have been chosen to take part in the World Race." The woman on the monitor exclaimed. 

Rainbow's eyes widened at that statement. The woman continued;

"I have personally selected drivers from all over the world, each one ranging from professional racers to those who are dying for a chance to prove themselves."

Rainbow spotted a silver key resting in the ignition slot, it's silver coat glistening in the sunlight. 

"I'm looking for the greatest driver in the world!"

She turned the key and the engine block in the back roared to life. 

"If that's you, then follow the map on the G.P.S. screen."

The image of the woman faded, replaced with a glowing blue map with a blinking red dot on it.

Rainbow felt herself grip the wheel determinedly, already knowing what she was about to do. And that, was claiming the title of being the fastest driver in the world.
> Meeting The Competition (Remastered)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun was blazing down across the vast empty salt flats, the only sources of movement originating from the occasional snake or passing tumbleweeds. That was, with the exception of Rainbow's vehicle which roared across the desert, its wheels generating a cloud of dust behind itself.

It had been a very long drive just to get here from the city, as it was an entire state over. It also didn't have any signs of obvious roads to lead towards. In fact, she'd only found a single highway that had managed to guide her into this expansive desert. Along that highway were zero buildings, cars, not even any signs except for a lone outdated highway sign. 

Even that road hadn't gotten her to her destination though, forcing her to take her car off-road across the desert instead of on the cracked and old asphalt of the highway. If she didn't have the GPS informing her that this was indeed the right location, she would of turned around way earlier. 

"This place better exist, because if I drove all this way out here just to turn around then I'll.... " Rainbow's trail of thought quickly found itself placed on hiatus as her eyes locked onto something in the distance. 

It appears that the GPS hadn't been lying, and there is something all the way out here. With what she assumed was the end of this long journey in sight, Rainbow floored the gas pedal and locked her eyes on her destination. 

After a couple minutes, the building had gotten much closer, and therefore much bigger. It was very tall and wide, making up the dimensions of a large near perfect black cube. There weren't any windows or doors aside from a single outline of what resembled two miniaturized hangar bay doors. Although, the cube itself wasn't just a solid black structure. From top to bottom were strange red spaced out symbols aligned in a simple grid pattern, each one seemingly identical to the other. 

Upon approach, the two doors made loud clicking noises, before they began sliding outwards into the walls and creating an entrance for her. Rainbow drive her car through the entryway and clicked on her car's headlights, although she didn't seem to need them for long. 

The interior of the cube was massive, easily big enough to store a small plane or two, let alone its current occupants which were a handful of cars. However, just like her own, these cars had strange paint jobs and most looked completely alien from any sort of car manufacturing companies she knew of. All of these vehicles were parked within circular spotlights, two of which were vacant of any for some reason. Picking one of them, Rainbow drove over towards a spotlight and halted her car in its light. 

Rainbow halted her car and shut off the engines, but remained in the driver's seat for a bit longer as she took in her surroundings a more. In the middle of the massive chamber was a large rotating monitor, its black screen suggesting that it wasn't active. Around all the other cars were people, most likely the drivers of said vehicles. 

"Looks like I'm in the right place." Rainbow justified, pulling a lever by her seat which caused the front portion of her car to lift itself upwards. 

She hopped out of her car, her cyan and white sneakers making a satisfying clack as they made contact with the metal floor. The panel on her car lowered itself back into place automatically, leaving its driver to explore her new surroundings on foot. 

Rainbow chose to do exactly that and began strolling around the area, taking in the sight of the ominous monitor and all the other cars and drivers. There were around maybe eight cars including her own, each one with custom paint jobs and logos. Most of these logos were shared between two cars, while others appeared to be completely different. 

"Huh, pretty cool place." She stated out loud, watching the monitor rotate around. 

"You betcha! This place is sooo cool!" A sudden and incredibly loud voice exclaimed from behind Rainbow, startling the driver so badly that she jumped a few feet into the air. 

Not a second later had she turned around to face whoever had said that, only to be greeted with a set of blue eyes locked directly onto her. Those eyes belonged to a pink skinned girl with darker pink hair that looked like it had been caught in a hurricane. She was wearing a plain white shirt with a blue vest over it, along with blue pants and pink boots. Her blue eyes seemed to be somehow sparkling in the light of the room, and thanks to how close she was, Rainbow knew that her breath smelled like a combination of cupcakes and toothpaste.

"Whoa back off there! You're standing directly in my face right now." Rainbow pointed out, taking a couple steps backwards.

"Huh? Oh, oopsies! Sorry if I startled you, I'm just so excited! First I found this cool car outside the bakery with a talking computer stating that I'm apparently an amazing driver and now I'm meeting other cool drivers who will be racing across the world! And once were done i'll throw a massive party for whoever wins!" The girl proclaimed, almost bouncing in place as she spoke. "By the way, I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name?"

"Rainbow Dash… " Rainbow muttered, Pinkie's 'jumpscare greeting's' adrenaline beginning to fade. 

"Nice to meet you Dashie!" Pinkie claimed, grabbing her hand and shaking it with enthusiasm.

"Rainbow Dash, not Dashie." Rainbow corrected. 

“Oh potato patato. Anyways come on! It's time for you to meet the other drivers!” Pinkie stated, before grabbing Rainbow's hand and guiding her over towards the nearest car who's driver just so happened to be leaning against it. 

The driver simply shook their head as the two advanced towards them, however their expression revealed that they were at the very least amused by Pinkie's actions. The driver appeared to be another girl, her skin being a light shade of orange while her hair was long as blonde as straw, the end tied up with a red hair tie. Her cheeks were dotted with a couple white freckles, and she had emerald green eyes that seemed to host a slight fire in them. 

Just like Rainbows own.

She was wearing a white and green shirt under a black vest as well as blue jeans and brown cowgirl boots with apple clippings on the sides. The back of the black vest had one of the logos from a car on it, the word Smashers printed out in bold white letters. Atop her head was a fairly worn brown stenson that seemed to radiate the smell of apples, or maybe it was just her in general that gave off that smell. 

“Howdy partner, ah'm Applejack, leader of the Smashers team.” Applejack exclaimed, extending out a hand. 

“I’m Rainbow Dash, and I hope you’re ready to come in second place.” Rainbow responded with a grin as she met Applejack’s hand with her own. 

"Cocky much? Yer gonna want ta cool yer jets before ya wind up sett'n yer tailpipe on fire." Applejack stated, a matching grin on her face as well. "Ah won't be able ta tell ya again once we're driv'n." 

"And why's that?" 

"Well, ah can't exactly see the back of yer car if ah'm twenty yards ahead of ya." 

Rainbow's fueled response found itself cut off by Pinkie, who had once again begun guiding the rainbow haired driver towards another car. Instead of walking right up to them, Pinkie merely pointed at them with a finger from their current position; 

"That's the other racer of the Smashers team, Sunset Shimmer." Pinkie Pie explained. 

'Sunset' had bright red and yellow hair with light amber colored skin. She was wearing a blue shirt under a black jacket, along with blue jeans and black boots. Her eyes seemed to somehow host even more fire than Applejack's, clearly ready to drive.

"Ooh! And that person over there," Pinkie was now pointing at another girl who was leaning against a purple car with green windows and pop up headlights. "-Is Rarity. She's raced in all sorts of high speed competitions like NASCAR, and is part of the Thread Chasers." 

Even though she was clearly in hearing range, Rarity showed no signs of noticing the two and continued staring at the blank monitor. Her eyes didn't hold any fire like Rainbow's own or Applejack's, instead simply feeling sharp and focused. 

Another vehicle rolled up next to Rarity's purple car. It was painted teal green with darker green tinted windows and the words Thread Chasers on the back. The car rumbled to a halt and the driver's side door opened, revealing another girl who stepped out of the car and walked over to Rarity. The girl was wearing a green jacket with black pants and blue boots, along with a tannish yellow bandana wrapped around her neck. She had dew yellow hair and her skin was a lighter shade of yellow. 

"That's the other driver of the Thread Chasers, Lime Shift." Before Rainbow Dash could comment, she was pulled away again by Pinkie.

"That guy over there is my team's other driver!" Pinkie Pie stated, drawing attention to the two only guys in the building. One had a brown truck and was leaning against it while the other was talking with him. 

The guy talking was wearing a brown jacket with dark blue pants and white shoes. On the back of the brown jacket were the words Candy Crunchers on it. Rainbow Dash couldn't help but facepalm at that name. Was that really the name of a team? Rainbow only just now noticed that Pinkie Pie had the same logo on her blue jacket. 

"So you all are teams?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Teams of two! Speaking of which, your teammate is right over there!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. 

Right on cue, a girl walked over to the two. She had dark purple hair with a turquoise blue streak through it. Her skin was pinkish purple while her eyes were a purplish blue. She was wearing a purple jacket over a light blue shirt. She also had purple pants and purple and blue boots. 

"Hello! My name is Starlight Glimmer. Nice to meet you," Starlight extended her hand out to Rainbow, who shook it.

"I'm Rainbow Dash, and no offence but, I usually don't work with teams, they hold me back." Rainbow Dash claimed. 

Starlight furrowed her brow at Rainbow's statement, but wasn't able to speak before the roar of an engine caught her attention. The group quickly turned around to see a car enter the base. Right as the car was clear of the doors, they slowly shut and the monitor flickered from black to grey static.

"Guess that's the last driver." Starlight guessed, heading over to a railing which was surrounding the monitor. 

The cars back looked like an exposed engine while the front of it had an orange tinted oval area. The car pulled up to the last remaining spotlight area, but the driver didn't get out. Rainbow squinted, trying to make out who was in the car but the oval cab was completely covered in tinted orange glass, not letting her see inside. 

Finally, Rainbow just shrugged and went over to join the other drivers at the railing. 

The monitor's static quickly vanished and was replaced by a familiar purple female face. The girl had dark blue hair with a pink and purple stripe through it, along with thick black glasses. 

"Greetings everyone, it seems like you've all gotten to know your competition a little. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I'm the proud founder and owner of the Sparkle cooperation. Now that you're are here, I can address what I am asking all of you," Twilight said.

Rainbow glanced to her right to see the other drivers, each one staring contently at the monitor. 

"I have commissioned a race like no other. A race that will determine who the fastest driver in the world is between you all. The winner of the race will receive a prize of a five million dollar check."

Rainbow's eyes widened at that. She glanced over again and saw some of the drivers now having grins on there faces. Others had looks of uncertainty. 

"Five million dollars, awesome." Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath. 

"The cars that you have been given have been made to handle all sorts of terrain. They have Nitrox 2 injection systems and grappling hooks made out of steel. Each one full of technology that you will push to its limits, and possibly beyond."

Rainbow looked back at the Deora ll. Even though it was just a car, she felt like it had the same idea that she had, burn rubber.

"Please get to your cars and prepare by using the nearby highway and the desert around the complex, the race is about to begin. But you all must remember, once you hit that gas pedal, there is no going back." Twilight finished, a hint of dread in her words.
> First Leg (Part 1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash rev'd the engine of the Deora ll as the other drivers lined up next to her, the massive exposed engine in the back of her car rumbling loudly as power flowed through it. She glanced out the left oval shaped window, seeing Applejack roll up next to her in a black '70s Plymouth Roadrunner with painted red, orange, and yellow flames along the hood, roof, trunk, and sides. Yellow tinted windows sealed the car from any sand from the desert that they were lined up on. Applejack has a stern look across her face, both eyes locked on the salt flats ahead of her.

"Someone's focused... " Rainbow pointed out in her mind as she rev'd the engine again. 

She looked to her right to see the mystery car which she now knew was called Crazy 8 roll up next to her, the cars entire frame shaking due to its massive engine. Part of her wondered how the driver could deal with all that rumbling, knowing full well that if it were her she wouldn't be able to ignore it for long.

A drone floated up in front of the lined up vehicles with a modified street light dangling below it. The three red lights flashed alive and a sign labeled highway 35 was moving ever so slightly in the wind below it. The speakers on each vehicle suddenly sprung to life, followed by Twilight's crackling voice. 

"This race takes place in a dimension separate from ours, a dimension that you will only see once you cross through the portal," Twilight's voice explained from the speaker panel on the console. Rainbow Dash looked up at the light, seeing that it was still red.

"You must be going three hundred miles per hour to enter the portal, use the nitrox 2 injections to get more speed. But make sure to watch how much you use because if you run out, you might not have any when you need it." Twilight stated. "Another portal at the end of the track will bring you back to this dimension." 

Over on the other side of Applejack's car was a green vehicle named Balistik with orange glass surrounding the cab. Inside was Pinkie Pie, who was tapping the steering wheel with her fingers as she listened. "Hey Applejack? Do you think Twilight knows what she's saying? Or did she have to much sugar in her coffee this morning?" She asked over the intercom to her fellow racer. 

"Not sure, but it took someone with lots 'f knowledge ta build these here cars." Applejack pointed out. 

In the purple vehicle Sling Shot, Rarity replied; "You can be a genius and still be over the edge Applejack."

The light turned from red to yellow. Everyone quickly grabbed hold of there car's clutches and hovered over to their gas pedals. Rainbow grinned as she stared at the light, her inner fire just waiting to race. 

The light remained yellow for a little longer, before switching to green and rose even higher in the air. Everyone hit the gas, causing a massive cloud of dust to emerge from the back of the line as the vehicles roared across the salt flats. 

Rainbow Dash shifted the car up and glanced around. She was in first already! 

"Hah! This is gonna be easier than I-" Rainbow was cut off as Crazy 8 launched forward next to her, quickly snatching up first place. 

The car was easily smoking her, along with the rest of the cars as its massive exhausts let out a small burst of flames. Rainbow stared at the car, taken aback by how fast it was going. 

"thought...." Rainbow finished, before eyeing a yellow button on the center console."Alright, let's see what this nitrox can do!"

As her cyan finger pressed down on the button, a blue electric pulse shot across the engine in the back of the car, wrapping the whole block in an electric blue blanket. The back tires were engulfed in blue fire and the car shot up. The Deora ll was now on two wheels and blasting through the desert. 

"NOW THAT IS SPEED!!!!!" Rainbow Dash declared in excitement, her eyes glancing over the speedometer, the needle frantically twisting to the right with the increase of momentum. 

Applejack who was right behind her grinned, before activating her car's nitrox. The same thing happened with her car, the back wheels getting engulfed in blue fire before it shot up on two wheels. 

The other racers quickly followed suit, all of them now shooting up into above two hundred and fifty Miles per hour range.

The Deora ll fell back down and the speedometer quickly flashed red as the dial peaked at three hundred. In front of the group, a massive purple portal flashed open, multicolored flames flapping in the wind around it. 

Rainbow Dash hit the gas as hard as she could and let the car shoot through the portal. The other drivers soon followed. Once all the drivers were through, the portal vanished into thin air as if it was never there to begin with. 







Far away in a distant dimension, a similar purple portal snapped open in front of a red track that was built over several dark red rocks and cliffs. A quick flash later and five cars shot from the portal, each one landing with a thump onto the road. 

"Whoa," Rainbow Dash muttered, looking around the area she had just landed in. The whole place was covered in brownish red sharp rocks with cracks running up and down them. The sky was a faded yellow and a strange planet loomed overhead. 

"Aww, I should've brought my phone! This would've made a great post card for Maud." Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she quickly turned the wheel of her car to the left, letting Balistik twist over to the other side of the track. 

Rarity shifted up and hit the gas, her eyes focused on the line of cars ahead of her. "Remember, it's still a track, and a rather dangerous one at that darlings." She stated before shifting up again and twisting the wheel to the left, letting her car line up against Pinkie's. 

Behind the group, another five cars emerged from the portal which shut behind them. Starlight looked around in awe at the sight, before quickly returning her focus to the ongoing race. 

Rainbow Dash tried to drive past Crazy 8 but was cut off as the back of the Deora ll was bumped by Rarity's Sling Shot. 

"Hey! Watch the paint!" Rainbow Shouted through the intercom. She was responded with being passed by Rarity and being forced over to the wall. The wheels grinded against the edge of the track, causing the Deora ll to nearly hop off the track. Rainbow hit the brakes before she could lose traction but this costed her a position.

Rarity rolled her eyes and shifted up again. She was expecting to have at least a little challenge in this race. Even though the track was different, the people driving are almost always the same. That was, until Rarity spotted Crazy 8 in her rear view mirror. The car was catching up quickly, drafting behind her.

"Huh, I might have a challenger in this race after all." Rarity stated, shifting Sling Shot into a higher gear.

Next to her, Pinkie relaxed a little as she bit down on the cupcake she was eating with one hand, her other hand firmly planted on the steering wheel. Even in a race someone could get hungry and what better treat than a cupcake? Especially a cupcake made by herself. 

Pinkie was about to finish the pastry when Sling Shot bounced in front of her in an attempt to catch Crazy 8, scraping the front of her car. This was just enough to cause the tires to spin and nearly send Ballistik spinning out of control. Pinkie had to quickly grab the wheel with both hands to straighten out the car, but at the cost of dropping the cupcake which landed with a splat on the floor of the cab. 

"Oh, now that's just being a rude driver!" Pinkie shouted at Rarity who's car was now in first. She shifted up and spotted a way to gain some speed. Up ahead was a stiff turn, a perfect place to drift. 

Pinkie grinned and hit the gas. She passed Crazy 8 and was right behind Sling Shot. Right as they entered the turn, Pinkie pulled up on the E brake and let Ballistik skit a little. She shifted up right as the end of the turn emerged and Ballistik shot past Sling Shot, gaining first place.

"That's for the cupcake!" Pinkie shouted as she slammed on the gas, causing tire smoke to rise behind Ballistik which covered Sling Shot. 

With a quick shift up, Ballistik took a massive lead and was nearing a small bump in the red track. The car quickly rushed up the hill and gained a little air as it drove off the top. With a low scrunch of the suspension being tested, Pinkie's eyes were met with something she wasn't expecting. 

"Mother of all sweets..." Pinkie muttered, staring up in awe as a massive loop came into view. The loop went around the center track, easily reaching over four hundred feet into the sky. 

Pinkie's shocked expression was quickly replaced with a grin as she accelerated towards the start of the loop. Ballistik rumbled a little as it began to climb up the rising track, gravity fighting against it. She ignored the increasing rumble of the frame and focused on the track in front of her. Soon however, the car lost the battle, its tires breaking free of the road. 

"Uh oh..." Pinkie mumbled as Ballistik fell off the track and began falling towards the base of the loop. She quickly grabbed onto a set of strings and pulled. The strings opened up a parachute which caught the air around it, slowing Ballistiks decent. 

Applejack and Rarity, who had just rounded the bend, quickly spotted the falling Ballistik as it deployed its emergency parachute which helped ease its fall. However, it was still falling right towards the track. The two drivers quickly turned there cars to the sides of the road as Ballistik slammed down in front of them, the entire machine rumbling at the sudden loss of momentum.

Applejack grimaced as she looked at the crashed car. Even though it landed on all four wheels, that impact must have shaken Pinkie up badly. However, something told her that she would be fine, and her eyes quickly returned to the track. That was when she spotted an obstacle up ahead. 

"That gap is way too big to jump!" Rarity exclaimed through the intercom, slamming her feet on brakes, causing Sling Shot to screech to a halt. Applejack followed suite, Roadrunner stopping just before the end of the track. 

Applejack opened the door to Roadrunner and stepped out onto the track, her boots clunking on the red metal panels. She went to the edge and peered over to see a river of lava flowing below. Not only was the lava bubbling and seemed to be flowing like an overflowed river, but also jagged pointy rocks surrounded it. The whole pit screamed of death. Applejack could even swear she spotted a half burnt tire resting next to the lava. 

"five million dollars worth of trouble jumping this thing..." Applejack muttered under her breath before walking over to her car. 

When she reached the driver side door, she looked over at Rarity, who was giving her a worried look. 

"Ah'd say if anyone were ta jump that, they'd be tangling with the devil over that gap. Y'all are gonna need some serious speed ta cross it." Applejack explained, getting back into her car. 







Pinkie Pie finally managed to get all of her snacks that had broken free of their bags off of the dashboard, mumbling to herself at all the damaged food. She looked over at the loop, then to the jump. How was anyone supposed to get across that without falling to there doom? 

Little did Pinkie know that the answer was right behind her. She looked out the windshield right as the Deora ll shot past her. 

"Hold on a minute Dashie! That loop is not at all a great playground!" Pinkie said through the radio. 

Rainbow just grinned as she shifted up and turned the Deora ll onto the loop. "You just don't know how to skate."

Rainbow pulled on the E Brake and turned the wheel sharply to the right, causing the car to pull a sharp one eighty halfway up the side of the loop. She increased her speed as she drove towards the other side of the loop, repeating the trick again. 

Applejack and Rarity both stared at the car with confusion, until Applejack's mind clicked. "She's do'n it ta gain speed."

Right on cue, Rainbow turned the Deora ll around again and hit the Nitrox booster. The car quickly shot past the other two drivers and off the track. The Deora ll soared through the air over the gap towards the other set of track. Rainbow's grip on the wheel tightened as she prayed that she had gotten enough speed. 

Her hopes were met with the sound of the Deora ll bouncing on the other track. Rainbow looked around, seeing that she had made it, and threw her hands in the air.

"YES! Now that's how you do it!" Rainbow shouted through the radio and shifted up. 







Applejack did a quick corner cut at a turn and sped up towards Rainbow's car. She shifted up and pulled up next to the blue Deora ll. 

"Ya might have a few good tricks," Applejack stated as she stared at Rainbow through the window. "But ya still have a lot ta learn."

"Says the girl who works on a farm." Rainbow said back, glaring at Applejack. 

Rainbow Dash shifted up and hit the gas, pulling ahead of Applejack, before quickly pulling in front of her. Applejack quickly swerved to the left and accelerated until Roadrunner was only inches from the Deora ll's bumper. 

"Farming is better than sitting around at ah skate park all day. Ah heard that ya'll aren't even plann'n ta go to college after high school." Applejack stated. 

"What does that have to do with driving?" Rainbow replied. 

Applejack grinned and shifted up. Rainbow was still slightly confused as to what she was talking about, this left her not fully focused on the track. Which ended up causing her car to quickly slam into the left rail of the track. Applejack drove past her and chuckled. 

"It doesn't. Ya need ta stay focused on the road, not comments about your skills." Applejack explained. 

Rainbow grunted and hit the gas. causing the Deora ll scrapped off the side of the track. She quickly gained on Applejack, now with a ball of anger to throw. She was right behind Roadrunner now, her eyes locked onto the car. 

"You wanna to start something? Because i'll be happy to spin you right off this track!" Rainbow barked and grinded the front part of the Deora ll into the side of Roadrunner. Sparks quickly shot from the contact and into the air. 

"Sounds like someone has ah bad temper." Applejack muttered, speeding up to lose the contact between the cars. 

Rainbow pulled to the side of the track and accelerated until she was side by side with Applejack. Applejack tried to get ahead but Rainbow kept pace, not letting her gain any ground. The two quickly began slamming into each others cars sides. More sparks flew from each impact, but the cars kept their shape. 

Finally, one slam from the Deora ll sent both cars spinning right off the track and onto the rocks beside it. 

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her now throbbing head and looked at the track. The other drivers quickly sped past them. The radio crackled as Applejack's voice came through it. 

"This isn't a playground kid, you're ah driver." Applejack said in an irritated tone, before accelerating back onto the track and after the other drivers. Rainbow slammed her fist on the wheel in anger, before following suit back on the track.
> First Leg (Part 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Starlight Glimmer shifted her fifty five Chevy Nomad up a gear and looked at the vehicle ahead of her. The car was a red, yellow and black two door named Muscle Tone, whose driver was Sunset Shimmer. She tried to move her car to the left and get an opening, but Sunset turned her wheel the same way, keeping Starlight's Nomad behind her. Starlight couldn't help but grunt in frustration.

"Come on Sunset! Give me some room here!" Starlight said with an angered tone. She tried again to get an opening, but was once again met with the bumper of Muscle Tone. 

"Nah, I think I want to keep you back there, I have a race to win." Sunset replied. 

"We're in the back you know. The others are probably miles ahead of us." Starlight emphasized. 

"You sure about that?" Sunset asked, looking ahead. 

Starlight peaked around Muscle Tone to see three cars ahead of them. She identified them as the leader cars, confirming that Sunset wasn't lying. 

Right after Starlight focused back on Sunset's car, she saw it get outlined blue, before springing up onto its back wheels. The car quickly shot past the leading cars, swiping up first place. 

"Oh it's on Sunset!" Starlight stated, shifting up and slamming down on the gas. 

Starlight reached for the nitrox button but hesitated. She could use it later. Instead, she focused on the twisting road. She did a quick turn before drafting behind Balistik. She needed a balance between speed and agility, otherwise she'd wind up becoming part of the mountain. 







Rarity turned a corner, entering a spiral that was going down into what looked like an active volcano. She looked at the rear view mirror to see the headlights from Crazy 8s spring to life. 

"Let's see what you've got," Rarity muttered to herself, slamming down on the gas and turning the wheel sharply to the right. 

Crazy 8s stayed behind her, matching her speed and following her moves. The car was acting like her shadow, until it jerked forward a little. Rarity eyed the car, quickly realizing that it had been bumped from behind. She peered around Crazy 8s to see what looked like a pure black car. She couldn't make out the model, but it wasn't one she recognized at the starting line. 

The black car slammed into Crazy 8s again, causing it to grind against the side of the track. A few sparks flew from the drag and Crazy 8s spun out behind them. The black car then moved up towards her. 

"Oh no you don't." Rarity said, turning the wheel to block off the black car. Instead of it slowing down however, it kept going full speed, slamming right into the back of Sling Shot. 

Rarity frantically spun the wheel, trying to regain control. The black car pulled up to the side of her, before slamming against her. Sling Shot collided with the track's short barrier, nearly going over it. Rarity straightened out the wheel, before giving the car a deadly glare. Whoever was driving that car was either willing to take risks, or was extremely reckless and stupid. 

Either way, Rarity wasn't going to play the victim. She accelerated towards the black car, eyeing its red windows. She sucked in a lungful of air and clubbed the gas, causing Sling Shot to slam right into the black cars bumper. The machine shook, but recovered quickly and soon after that, hit the smoke line. Rarity tried to focus on the car but due to it being black, it blended in with all the haze. When she was out of the smoke cloud, the car had vanished. 

"Who was that?" Rarity wondered, before getting passed on the inside by Crazy 8s. 

Cursing herself for letting her guard down, she quickly accelerated, trying to regain her place. 







Ahead of the two drivers, the black car slowed down to a crawl near the far left of the track, before stopping completely. The drivers side window lowered via an automatic mechanism, allowing a tank of nitrox 2 to fly from the car to the rocks. The car was quick to take off, leaving the nitrox tank alone as it began beeping rapidly. The highly explosive liquid began heating up, the nitrox soon becoming a ticking time bomb that laid right next to the road. 

It didn't take long before Crazy 8s and Sling Shot rounded the corner with the bomb next to it, the cars being side by side as they battled for the lead. The second they passed the tank, it detonated, breaking through the rocky walls of the cavern and unleashing a large wave of lava which quickly began falling towards the track. 

On the other side of the lava was the Deora ll and Balistik. Rainbow Dash's eyes widened as she saw the wave of molten lava, its course set right in the middle of the road. She quickly shifted up, trying to beat the wave to the track. Pinkie on the other hand rolled down her window and stuck out a stick with a marshmallow on the end towards the lava. The sugary and fluffy sweet was quickly roasted, changing from a cloud white to a carmel brown. Pinkie pulled the stick back into the car and took a bite of the roasted marshmallow, smiling as the perfectly cooked sweet met her taste buds. The two drivers narrowly beat the lava stream, which slammed against the track, melting large parts of the structure down on impact.

The track broke away and fell with the newly produced waterfall of lava down into a dark pit below. Two cars that had just rounded the corner quickly came to a halt before the molten river, their drivers staring at the new obstacle.

"Great... " Applejack muttered, giving the lava a harsh glare.

Starlight's reaction was similar, but her gaze slowly rose up towards the rocky ceiling, then back to the track before her. She got out of her car and walked over to the side of the track, ignoring the increase in temperature as she got closer. She knocked on one of the nearby outstretched rocks, testing its strength, before an idea rose in her mind. Starlight ran over to the drivers side of Roadrunner and knocked on the glass. Applejack rolled down the window and eyed Starlight with confusion. 

"I have an idea," Starlight claimed, before pointing at the rocky ceiling. "See that cracked stalactite over there? I need you to to press that button." Starlight pointed at the console at a silver button next to the yellow nitrox button. 

"Why? What does that button do?" Applejack questioned, looking at the button. 

"It fires the metal grappling line which if aimed correctly, combined with both out cars pulling, should bring down that stalactite and form a bridge." Starlight exclaimed. 

After spotting the stalactite, Applejack nodded and drove over to the edge of the intact track. Starlight got back into her car and did the same. The two looked at each other through their cars windows, before nodding and firing there grappling lines. The metal hooks shot above the lava river and struck the cracked rock above. 

Starlight and Applejack shifted into reverse and floored it, causing smoke from their cars rear tires. The stalactite began to crack loudly, before breaking free from the rest of the rock. It fell in just the way Starlight had wanted it, connecting both sides across the flowing lava. 

"Alright! Good thinkin' Starlight!" Applejack said, before hitting the gas and driving across the new bridge. Starlight following close behind, mentally giving herself a well deserved pat on the back. 







Rainbow took a quick glance at Balistik, before returning her gaze to the track ahead of her. She shifted the Deora ll up a gear and managed to match her speed with the other vehicle, driving right along its right side. 

"Alright Pinkie, let's race!" Rainbow declared through her cars radio. 

"Right back at ya Dashie!" Came Pinkie's response, her words slightly muffled by the radios faint static ambience. 

The two cars quickly began picking up speed, the track before them twisting and turning around large stalactites and stalagmites. Rainbow tried to take the lead multiple times, but Pinkie was right on her tail and managed to gain back any ground she lost in mere seconds. 

Up ahead, a miniature jump over a rocky ravine began to get illuminated by the two vehicles headlights. Rainbow shifted up again and took the lead, passing Pinkie as their cars shot over the gap. The two hit the other side of the track with simultaneous thuds, Rainbow being the first to recover and shifted once again. The Deora ll ate up the track in front of it, leaving Balistik in the dust. 

Light began to glisten from a hole on the far side of the cavern, just beyond it rested the portal that led back to earth. Rainbow let her finger glide over to the yellow nitrox button, her car quickly shooting up on its rear wheels as the engine was once again pushed to its limits. Pinkie was still in her rear view mirror, but she was quite a few meters behind now. Rainbow could practically already hear people chanting her name as she was declared the fastest driver in the world. 

The Deora ll shot like an arrow from the red track and towards the portal, quickly getting engulfed in a blinding white light. Rainbow kept her eyes open, waiting for her surroundings to come back into focus. Once they did, she realized that she wasn't back in the desert. Now she was in the middle of what looked like a tropical forest, an identical large cube building stood tall in its small clearing. 

Rainbow spun the wheel and hit the brakes, letting the Deora ll come to a grinding halt before the structure. 

"HA! I WON!" Rainbow cheered, raising her hands in the air in victory. 

When no cheers or annoyed grunts filled her ears, Rainbow began to feel a little confused. That was when she realized that several other cars had already finished and were parked around the structure as well, a few drivers gave her an odd stare. 

A low crackle came from her cars console as Twilights voice left the radios speakers; 

"This isn't the end of the World Race everyone, it is only the beginning."
> Repairs And Teams
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Starlight Glimmer wiped some sweat from her brow as she set down a wrench on the table next to her. She looked at the newly modified engine that she had put into her Chevy Nomad, admiring how much better it looked than the original. The new parts she had put into the stock engine seemed to shimmer in the light with the fresh polish sticking out against the faded silver of the block. 

Starlight shut the hood of the car, letting it make a loud slam as it locked into place. The drivers had all parked outside the complex to either work on their cars or test out newly made additions they'd made. She was about to test drive her car herself to see how much she'd changed, but halted when she reached for the gearstick as Twilight's voice rang through the radio. 

"All drivers report to the complex" Twilight ordered over the speakers, her tone flat and stern. 

All the drivers quickly stopped what they were doing and either walked or drove into the complex, Starlight decided to simply drive into the main room and parked before the large rotating monitor. Twilight's face appeared on the screen, her glasses slightly masking her magenta eyes. She waited a few more minutes for all the drivers to gather around, before she cleared her throat. 

"From now to the end of the World Race, you will be driving in teams of six." Twilight stated matter of factly. 

Starlight heard Rainbow groan loudly at that, which earned the rainbow haired driver a glare from her. Honestly, what was so bad about being on a team?

"These teams will be lead by the following drivers; Applejack Apple, Rarity Paige Belle, Pinkamena Diane Pie, Rainbow Dash, and-" Twilight was cut off as a car horn rang through the room. A very loud car horn.

Several drivers looked around for the source of the horn and traced it to Crazy 8, who rev'd their massive engine. Whoever was driving that car must really want to keep their identity secret for some reason. 

Twilight cleared her throat, causing the car to cut the excess revving, before she continued. "And Crazy 8. Please contact your teammates before the end of the day and inform me of your choices. Every member of the winning team will still receive five million dollars via a check." 

To everyone's shock, the monitor shut off and a platform rose from a hole in the floor. On said platform was Twilight herself, a microphone in hand. 

"And due to your expert driving and making it this far without backing down, I believe you have proven yourselves to know what really rests at the finish line of highway thirty five." Twilight exclaimed. 

Everyone eyed the Sparkle industries owner, wondering what she was talking about. There questions were answered when the monitor flickered back on again, this time displaying an old rune with ancient symbols on it. 

"This tablet was made by the same beings who created highway thirty five. I believe these ancient beings are called Accelerons, beings who loved to race." Twilight exclaimed. "One inscription in particular on the rune tells of a Wheel Of Power which is located at the end of the race. I want the fastest driver and there team to bring back this wheel." She finished.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash exchanged glances, before turning and heading towards their cars. Starlight walked over to Rainbow before she could get into her car, a subtle smug grin plastered on her face. 

"So, guess your gonna have to be in a team after all." Starlight stated. 

"Yeah yeah, you get a few people you know and trust while I get a few of mine." Rainbow instructed, before continuing to walk towards her car. 

She got into the driver's seat before shutting the cabs front and sighing. She watched Starlight walk back towards her car before she brought up her phone from her left pocket and turned it on. She flipped through her contacts to see if any names struck her as a potential teammate, but none really stuck out. 







Applejack drifted Roadrunner around a lone tree in the clearing, making sure that the trunk was always in front of her cars hood. She counted three more cycles around the tree before she hit the brakes and let her car come to a stop, the front facing the populated area right in front of the cube. However, before she could start driving around the tree again, she spotted a new car rolling up towards the other Smashers who'd been watching her. 

The car also had the Smashers logo on it as well as the highway thirty five street sign plastered on it, signalling that it was both in the race and a part of her team. She drove over to where her team was and cut the ignition, shoving the door outwards as she exited her car. 

As Applejack approached the new car, its driver also departed their vehicle. They were wearing a shocksuit with a few pins on it, their face masked by a tinted helmet. Once the two were right in front of each other, the driver removed their helmet and exchanged a grin with the leader, before they fist bumped. 

"Glad ya could make it Caramel. Ah was wonder'n if ya'd would take up the challenge." Applejack said. 

Caramel rolled his eyes. "You really think I would back out of a race?" 

Applejack shrugged, before giving the man a playful slap on the shoulder. "Last time ah saw ya racing was with ah tractor from a herd of ox." 

"Hey! It wasn't my fault the gate broke!" 

"The bits of fence lodged in the back of the tractor say otherwise mister." 

The two friends continued to catch up, being completely ignored by Rainbow, who walked past them and over to Starlight. She'd once again parked her Nomad outside and was doing some last minute tune ups, her car door shut to block out the muffled rumbles of engines as cars rolled past. 

Rainbow knocked on the window and waited for Starlight to both notice her and roll it down before talking. "I found another teammate."

Rainbow took a large step to the left revealing a tall man with dark blue hair and light blue skin standing behind her. The man wore a blue jacket with a black shirt underneath and simple brown pants. 

"The name's Soarin, nice to meet you." Soarin greeted. 

"I'm Starlight Glimmer, welcome to the Prism Riders Soarin." Starlight responded, opening the door and getting out of the car. "Now we only need one more driver and we're all se- " 

Starlight's words died in her throat as her eyes widened at the sight before her. She glanced back and forth between Rainbow and the object in question behind her. Both Rainbow and Soarin were quick to give her confused looks, before Starlight cleared up the confusion. 

"isn't that your car Rainbow?" 

Rainbow spun around just in time to see the Deora ll spin around a parked car, the wheels squealing as they kicked up dirt. Rainbow felt around her pants pockets, realizing the keys were missing. 

"HEY! WHO'S THE FUNNY GUY WHO THINKS THEY CAN TAKE MY CAR!" Rainbow shouted at her car as it drove past her. 

The Deora ll skitted a little as it turned sharply around and back over to the rainbow haired girl, before halting before her. The cars engine cut out and the front cab began to lift, exposing the driver behind the wheel. 

"Alright, who's the funny guy who thinks..." She trailed off as a familiar set of purple eyes locked onto her magenta ones. 

Starlight and Soarin approached Rainbow from behind, standing next to her as they both looking at the driver with confused glances. 

"Who's the kid?" Starlight asked. 

"Her name's Scootaloo," Rainbow Dash muttered, before walking up to the girl in the car. 

'Scootaloo' had light orange skin and messy yet still styled purple hair. She was wearing a black jacket with a purple shirt underneath and blue pants that had a few rips scattered about from overuse. "Hey Rainbow Dash! Awesome ride you got!" 

"Out of the car squirt, NOW!" Rainbow Dash barked. 

Scootaloo's happy smile quickly faded and she quickly got out of the car. Rainbow extended her hand, looking at Scootaloo dead in the eyes. Scootaloo quickly dropped the Deora ll's keys in her idols hands, before fidgeting with her fingers. 

"How old are you?" Rainbow Dash asked. 

"Um, fifteen?" Scootaloo answered.

"And how old do you have to be to drive?" 

"Sixteen..." Scootaloo mumbled in annoyance. "Look! I got training with my scooter since I was eight! And I spent all week studying the Driver's Ed instruction manual! I know how to drive and I want to be on your team!" Scootaloo emphasized. "Not to mention my birthday is only two weeks away."

Rainbow looked around, before raising an eyebrow. "How did you even get here?" 

"Uh..." Scootaloo repeated, trying to find the right words. "Got a ride!"

"From who?" 

"Um, look, I just wanna be on your team! I won't disappoint you! Promise!" 

"Pinkie Promise?" Pinkie's voice came out of nowhere, startling Scootaloo and Rainbow. The hyperactive girl popped out from behind the Deora ll, chuckling under her breath at the mini spook. 

"What's a Pinkie promise?" Scootaloo asked. 

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Pinkie said, making motions as she did. "You can't break them, trust me." 

"Ookeeyy, cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" Scootaloo repeated the words and motions in front of Rainbow, who facepalmed. She then looked at Scootaloo dead in the eyes once more.

"Listen Squirt. This isn't your normal quarter mile drag race, it's a race to see who's the best driver. I've already driven over lava and I don't want you falling into lava or worse." Rainbow Dash exclaimed, her tone serious. 

"At least give me a chance! Wouldn't you do the same in my position." Scootaloo claimed. 

Rainbow took a deep breath, before sighing. She new how much Scootaloo looked up to her, this included her adapting her style of stubbornness. Finally, she looked over at the complex. 

"Get a car, prove to me you can handle it." 

Scootaloo's eyes widened, before she jumped in the air. "YES! I won't let you down Rainbow Dash!" 

With that in her spirit, Scootaloo dashed off towards the complex as fast as she could, leaving a worried group of Prism Riders in her dust. 

"You really want her to drive underage in a race through dimensions?" Starlight questioned. 

Rainbow audibly sighed again before she responded; "She's got guts, and does have skill. She reminds me of me, and I think she at least deserves a chance. Plus, if I said no, she'd probably follow us anyways." Rainbow exclaimed, already taking a seat in her freshly driven car. 

She drove off towards an empty spot in the clearing without saying another word.
> Second Leg (Part 1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The loud sound of screeching tires echoed throughout the forest as a dark orange car with an exposed engine in the back zoomed through it. Scootaloo gripped the wheel with both her hands so tight her knuckles were white, beats of sweat dripping from her brow as she concentrated. She spun the wheel to the right, hit the gas, then twisted the wheel back to the left. She focused on the trees ahead of her, making sure to avoid each one with careful precision. Eventually, she was out of the forest and back in the small clearing with the large complex. 

Scootaloo drove over to where the Deora ll was and put Spine Buster in park, her car exactly parallel to her idols. She cut the engine and stepped out of her new ride, a grin plastered on her face. She approached Rainbow with that grin, the other driver leaning against her car whilst watching the performance. 

"What's my time?" Scootaloo inquired.

"One minute on the dime, not bad squirt." Rainbow stated as she walked past the young teenager and towards their car. She examined the whole body and windows, a smile spreading across her face as she noticed the lack of any dents or scratches. "It also looks like you didn't hit anything when you went through the forest."

"So did I make the team?" Scootaloo asked pleadingly. 

"You did just as well as I knew you would, but are you sure you want to?" Rainbow asked. "It's gonna be dangerous, and i'm not gonna be able to catch you if you fall."

Scootaloo nodded. "I'm sure."

"Alright then, gear up. We're racing now." Rainbow exclaimed.

"Wait, right now?"

"Yep, listen."

The pair stood in silence for a few seconds, before the sounds of Twilight's voice echoed throughout the clearing. Her voice was slightly muffled due to the speakers placement, but her instructions came out crystal clear. 

"Attention all drivers. The next leg of the World Race is in t-minus two minutes, please line up on the west side of the complex." Twilight explained. 

Scootaloo looked at her idol, then at her car. She felt a fire inside her get stronger, fueling her eagerness. "Alright, let's go!" 

Rainbow hopped into her own car and lowered the front panel down, waiting for the satisfying clicking sound of it locking before she shifted into first gear. She quickly drove over to the starting line, watching through her rear view mirror as Scootaloo pulled up right behind her. She knew Scootaloo had the skill, but she was still to young to drive on legal streets, let alone in a race through dimensions. Still, she trusted that kid. And if she said she wanted to race, then she'd race, with or without her permission. But deep down, no matter how capable she was, she knew that this could easily be one of the worst mistakes she'd ever make.

The rest of the drivers all lined up in rows of five, each one revving their cars engines while watching the hovering street light glow red. 

Pinkie Pie finished a muffin, before putting the rapper in a bag and gripped the steering wheel. Applejack was dead focused on the flat land in front of her, her boot resting just above the gas pedal. 

The red light dimmed, before being replaced with a yellow light from below it. 

Rarity shifted from park and looked at the light. Starlight right behind her gripping the wheel a little tightly. 

The yellow light dimmed. 

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, her eyes locked on the light. Behind her, Scootaloo gripped Spine Busters wheel tight. There was no turning back now.

The light turned green.

With a loud roar, all the cars took off, Rarity and Pinkie Pie quickly taking the lead. 

Pinkie looked at the purple and green shaded car in front of her, before hitting the Nitrox 2 button and tightening her grip on the wheel. Balistik bounced onto its rear wheels, shooting past Sling Shot, which quickly followed with there own Nitrox 2 injection. 

Soon, most of the cars had hit there Nitrox, speeding up to 300 MPH. Rainbow looked in her rear view mirror to see Scootaloo get left in the dust, not knowing what to press. Rainbow sighed before switching on her radio. 

"Hit the yellow button to your right to activate the Nitrox system. But use it sparingly squirt." Rainbow instructed. She looked back in her rear view mirror to see Spine Buster quickly shoot back up into the pack of cars on it's rear wheels. This was followed by a "YAHOO!!" From the radio.

The purple portal at the end of the straightaway appeared, its colorful flames dancing through the air. Rarity and Pinkie Pie went in first, followed by the Crazy 8 and Applejack. It didn't take long for the rest of the drivers to enter afterwards, each vehicle getting engulfed in a white light as they went inside. The portal collapsed behind them, leaving only a few white flakes in its place which slowly dissipated into the air. 







Sling Shot and Balistik shot out of the portal and onto a red track. The two drivers inside quickly turned the wheel, narrowly avoiding flying off the track. Balistik's rear left wheel practically hovering over the side of the road, but was quick to plant itself back on the track.

"Watch out for that first turn!" Pinkie called out through the radio. 

The rest of the drivers shot out of the portal, quickly avoiding the turn. One of those being Sunset Shimmer, who shifted up and drove narrowly between two other cars. 

Scootaloo frantically turned the wheel, trying to stay near the middle of the track, but it kept twisting and turning. It was like driving in a pot of pasta! 

Rainbow Dash hit the gas, accelerating towards a turn. Scootaloo spotted this and followed her example, matching her speed. Soon, her car was drafting behind the Deora ll. Scootaloo smiled, this wasn't so bad. Just a twisty coa- the tail lights of the Deora ll suddenly shot to the left, revealing a sharp turn. 

"CLIFF!" Scootaloo shouted, frantically twisting the steering wheel to the left. Even with her attempts, the car was still getting closer to the edge, its rear fishtailing towards the side.

Scootaloo braced herself, ready to feel the falling sensation of her car sliding off the track. However, instead, she felt the push of another car on her right. Scootaloo looked past the combustion compartment to see Crazy 8 slamming into the side of her car, keeping it on the track. Not only that, but it seemed to be driving right on the edge of the track, its right tires on the purple outer layer. 

Scootaloo corrected her car, now driving parallel with the cliff. She let out a sigh of relief, before locking her gaze back on the track ahead of her. 

Crazy 8 accelerated past Spine Buster, quickly closing the gap between it and the car ahead of it. That car happened to be the Deora ll. Instead of driving right past it however, the car screeched along the side of it. Rainbow Dash looked out her left window, seeing sparks fly from the contact, before Crazy 8 took off. 

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash shouted, shifting up and chasing the car. 







Ahead of the other drivers, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were battling for first place. Pinkie tried several times to swing past but Rarity shut the gap she was trying to drive through, causing her to be pushed backwards and once again behind Sling Shot. 

"Come on! At least give me some room here!" Pinkie Pie said, trying again on the other side. Rarity blocked her again and continued to drive. 

"I'm planning on winning this race, not lose to a girl on a sugar rush." Rarity responded. 

Pinkie grunted, before shifting and managing to drive side by side with Sling Shot. She eyed the driver through the window, before looking back to the road, and gasped. 

Ahead of the two were several miniature loops that rolled around until they cut off at a jump at the end. 

"Wow, now that's a roller coaster I wanna ride!" Pinkie exclaimed, before slamming on the gas and taking off on one of the loops. 

Rarity had already taken the other loop, making sure to keep her eyes locked on the road. The two cars quickly began to twist around, narrowly missing each other as the two tracks connected at the top. After five of these loops, the two cars were face to face with a jump. They ran it, soaring through the sky, until the two bumped each other mid air. The two cars landed with hard thuds and spun out on the track below. 

"Really? You just had to hit me mid air huh?" Rarity complained. 

Pinkie rubbed the back of her head, before looking at Rarity. "You think I wanted to do that?" 

"Never mind, I've got a race to win." Rarity emphasized, before shifting and hitting the gas pedal. Sling Shot took off down the red track, before the track turned and was covered by some rocks. 

Pinkie was about to follow, but spotted another track to the side. This track was purple and led down to a large thick forest below. 

"Hey Candy Crushers, I think I found some sorta shortcut." Pinkie exclaimed over the radio to her team. 

"Shouldn't we stick to the track?" Colgate, one of her new team members questioned. 

"That is a track, just a different color and I bet a baker's dozen that it's a shortcut." Pinkie stated. 

A pack of cars landed behind her, each one sporting the Candy Crushers logo quickly slowed, until Pinkie took off and onto the purple track. They followed suit and soon the whole team wound up on the purple track which began twisting around massive trees. 







The Deora ll landed a little harder than it should have as it hit the track after the jump. Rainbow kept her eyes on the road, her focused glare only challenged when the radio switched itself on.

"Hey, the Candy Crushers are taking another route." Starlight exclaimed, looking at a monitor in her car. 

"So? We stay on the track and win this race." Rainbow instructed. 

"Come on, it looks like a shortcut," Scootaloo stated, before shifting up and driving side by side with Starlight until the two cars jumped from the red track to the purple track. 

Rainbow Dash hit the brakes and twisted the wheel to the right, stopping the Deora ll in its tracks. "Hold on squirt!. We need to stick together!" 

"What do we have to lose Dash?" Soarin asked, before shifting up and letting his car jump from the red track to the purple one. He was followed by the other two members of the Prism Chasers.

With a groan of annoyance, Rainbow drove back up the red track and pulled over to the purple one, following her team through the forest. 

Unbeknownst to them, a pure black car sped right past the purple track, it's driver gripping the wheel with determination. 







Applejack shifted up, twisting the wheel to the left on a turn, managing to catch up with the group of drivers ahead of her. She looked in her rear view mirror to see Crazy 8 in hot pursuit of her. No matter what she seemed to do, that car wouldn't fall behind. 

"What do ah have ta do ta shake you!?" Applejack questioned, shifting up. 

Ahead of her, a large group of drivers from several teams were battling for first place with Rarity still leading. However, one driver tried to make a quick pass around another, only to hit them and send both cars spinning. This caused the car behind them to crash, and a chain reaction caused the entire group to start spinning out. 

Applejack was quick to notice the newly made blockade of cars and hit the brakes, slowing down so she could carefully avoid the cars. However, Crazy 8 didn't seem to have the same plan. 

The car shot past Roadrunner way to fast, causing an alarmed Applejack to ignite her radio and switched it to the cars signal. "Ah don't know who's driv'n that car but y'alls crazy to think ya can avoid all these cars at that..." Applejack trailed off as she watched in disbelief as Crazy 8 dodged each car like it was from an action scene in a movie her younger sister had watched with her friends. 

"speed..." Applejack finished, her eyes widened in amazement at the skilled maneuvers around the spun out cars. 

Crazy 8 shot around a halted car before accelerating past an incoming sliding car, its large spoiler narrowly missing it by mere inches. The engine rattled loudly as the car turned sharply around another stalled car and drifted so close to the edge of the track the rear end tire flew over the edge for a split second. But Crazy 8 kept going. 

Applejack snapped out of the trance as she saw a line of cars form at the end of the crash, completely blocking off the track. 

"LOOK OUT!" She shouted through the radio. 

Crazy 8 didn't slow down. If anything, it sped up. The car spun around once more time, before driving towards a parked car. The said car happened to have a ramp shaped front end. So when Crazy 8 came up to it, it ramped off the car and over the line. It landed back on the track with a loud THUMP before continuing on its way down the track, leaving an extremely shocked Applejack in the dust.
> Second Leg (Part 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saying that the forest the track had been built in was magical would be a massive understatement. Not only were the trees and shrubs giant sized, there was also plenty of calming and wild ambient noises from unseen wildlife. These sounds ranged from chirping, to buzzing, to the occasional howl, and even rushing water from camouflaged rivers. There were also several small rock formations, some having caves inside them where dimly lit yellow lights danced throughout the shadows. 

The Candy Crushers drove across the purple track, eyes switching between it and the forest around them. Pinkie was arguably the most wide-eyed at the sights being presented before her. 

"Wow, I've never really seen a forest, only saw rocks on the old farm or trees alongside streets of the city." The team leader  exclaimed through her radio. 

"Wrong Pinkie, we had trees on the rock farm. They just didn't have leaves." Maud, her sister and fellow teammate pointed out in her trademark monotone voice. 

"Oh yeah! How could I forget about Willow? Good times..." Pinkie said as she embraced the faded memory, before quickly going back to focusing on the track. 

Their road spun around a few more trees before taking a sharp spiral towards an open cave. Inside, the rocky walls were illuminated by glowing yellow crystals along with the their vehicles headlights. A few rouge archways were placed over random spots on the track, faded symbols well beyond decipherable were plastered on them, but that didn't keep Maud from noticing them. Still, they didn't really matter to the race, so she ignored them and continued driving. 

The track guided them out of the cave and back into the forest, where it twisted and fell a couple of times before straightening out. Way ahead of the team was a massive canyon, the track acting as a bridge between the two cliff-sides. 
It had a handful of black support beams, but it didn't look very stable to the naked eye. 

On one of the cliffs surrounding the bridge, a pitch black car was parked next to the red track, its driver looking out at it. 

The drivers body was covered with a black racing suit, their eyes hidden behind a tinted visor on their helmet. They were looking through a set of high tech binoculars which was currently scanning the structure of the bridge. The driver turned the binoculars over to the start of the bridge, and beneath that helmet, grinned. 

"A shortcut, cut short." They said out loud, before pressing a button on the binoculars. 

The black car next to the driver suddenly opened up, extending a strange device outwards. A blue ball of energy formed in the middle of the machine, standing by for launch. With another button press, the ball of energy was fired from the machine towards the bridge. 

The blue ball met its mark, smashing an assortment of support beams into pieces. But to the drivers surprise, the bridge still stood. 

"Wha- how did it not fall!?" The driver questioned out loud. They were ready to press the button again to fire another shot, but the Candy Crushers had already reached the bridge and were speeding across it. 

With a grunt of annoyance, they recalled the energy launcher back into their car and hopped inside, before driving back onto the track and into the race. 







"The Candy Crushers should be just up ahead." Starlight exclaimed, looking at a GPS tracker on the monitor. 

"I'll catch them!" Scootaloo claimed, shifting up and speeding past Starlight with relative ease. 

"That kid's confident, I'll give her that." Soarin commented, watching Spinebuster take off. 

The Prism Riders soon ended up on the bridge that was now beginning to crumble under itself. Starlight took note of the numerous cracks across the bridge, before quickly turning to the right as part of the bridge below her car broke away. 

"UNSTABLE BRIDGE! EVERYONE FLOOR IT!" She shouted to her team over the radio, before slamming on the gas pedal.

The Prism Riders quickly sped up, dodging falling pieces of the bridge as they went. Rainbow Dash being in the back had the worst of it, every crack that anyone else dodged with tripled by the time she crosse it. As they began to reach the end, a massive crack split across the track, breaking it off from the rest and began tilting upwards as gravity tried to pull it down. 

"This is gonna be CLOSE!" Rainbow stated, not blinking at all as she stared down the end of the track. 

She sank her foot on the accelerator, forcing her car to go even faster up the steep slope. Several audible cracks filled her ears, but she remained focused on her target, determined to reach it. Right as the track began to fall into the large canyon, the Deora ll cressed the end and flew through the air towards the more stable track, her team watching with anticipation and worry. 

Her car landed hard on the track, but it had landed regardless, its tires screeching as the brake pedal was depressed. Rainbow leaned back in her seat and let out a sigh of relief. She'd made it...







Ahead of the Prism Riders, the Candy Crushers rounded another corner, Pinkie Pie leading the pack. 

"We've got this race on.. is that a wheel?" Pinkie questioned, before hitting the brakes and looking up at the object that was floating before her and her team. It was a massive chrome and green wheel that was somehow hovering over a large canyon, the track breaking into a jump right before it. 

"How are we supposed to cross that?" Colgate asked, gazing in awe at the rotating obstacle. 

"No idea... " Pinkie Pie muttered quietly, before slowly raising up her phone and snapping a picture. 







Applejack shifted her car up a gear, her emerald irises locked on Crazy 8s as it sped down the track. It had taken a while to maneuver around the chaotic mess of cars, but Applejack had managed it, coming out completely unscathed. She was also managing to close the gap between herself and the new leader of the race. 

She shifted up again, lowered her brown boot on the gas pedal, and drove alongside Crazy 8s. The two cars roared as they shot down the track towards a tunnel that split their path in two. Crazy 8s pulled to the left while Applejack kept right, a shiny metal wall now blocking their views of each other. The cars rapidly accelerated through the tunnel, quickly reaching the light at the end. 

Applejack noticed a jump just beyond the tunnel and shifted up one more time. She hit the gas pedal hard, jerking Roadrunner forwards. The car shot out of the tunnel and through the air, Crazy 8s right beside the Smashers leader. 

Applejack glanced through the drivers side window just in time to see Crazy 8s flipping over her car and landing on her right, all four tires hitting the red track in unison. 

"You've got quite ah few tricks up yer sleeves don't ya?" Applejack commented through the radio to the driver next to her. 

She didn't expect any response but did hear a slight chuckle through the radio from Crazy 8s. Then, the car shifted up and sped up, but Applejack wasn't going to let this mystery driver leave her in the dust again. She hit the gas, making sure to keep pace with the car ahead of her. 







As the two leaders battled for first place, the Prism Riders had managed to catch up completely with the Candy Crushers, both teams now staring at the chrome wheel spinning before them. 

"What are we supposed to do now?" Scootaloo asked, glaring at the wheel. 

"Not sure, this is something new." Rainbow claimed, scratching her head. How is a driver gonna get past that? Turns out the answer was in a blue and purple Chevy Nomad, or more specifically, the driver inside. 

Starlight Glimmer finished entering a code into her cars monitor, grinning once it started operating. "I've figured it out." 

Rainbow and Pinkie who were both out of their cars quickly walked over to Starlight's vehicle, eager to know what Starlight had done. 

"What did you find?" Rainbow questioned. 

"Is this wheel powered by alien sonic waves? Or force welding creatures who are using the trees as camouflage? Or--" Before Pinkie could continue, Rainbows hand was pressed against her mouth. 

"No Pinkie, it's just a machine that's probably powered by the sun. It's spinning at a constant speed programmed into the motor that is likely located inside its main flux chamber. By calculating the speed fluctuating and timing each rotation, I believe we could match are acceleration to drive between rota---" Starlight cut herself off, quickly realizing that Rainbow and Pinkie both didn't know what she was talking about. Her reason to assume this was the fact that both had fallen asleep against each other and the car. 

Starlight gave gave an annoyed sigh, before honking her car's horn, startling the two awake. "In other words, I can time the speed of the wheel and link it with are cars so we know when to jump." Starlight simplified. 

"Great! Let's get back in this race!" Rainbow shouted, sticking true to her name and dashing back to the Deora ll. 

Pinkie Pie ran over to Balistik, quickly hopping in and starting the engine which purred back to life. Starlight pressed a few buttons on the console, which sent a timer to each of the drivers monitors. The drivers quickly lined up in a single file line, Colgate being at the front and Pinkie in the back. 

After a few minutes of getting ready, Pinkie switched on her radio. "You ready Colgate?" 

"Ready as I'll ever be... " Colgate answered, before watching the count down on her monitor. 

Three
two
one
zero!

Colgate floored the gas, causing her car to jerk forward violently, her eyes constantly switching between the speedometer and the road before her. She stopped hitting the accelerate once the speedometers needle it reached 163 mph and watched as the wheel came closer. 

Colgate shut her eyes as part of the wheel came closer to her side. But before it could hit, her car made it through and landed on the other side with a hard THUMP! 

"Alright Maud, you're next." Pinkie exclaimed. 

Her sister didn't even hesitate once the timer struck zero. She hit the gas, quickly accelerating to 163 miles per hour, and maintained that speed until she was through the wheel and on the other side, her expression never changing. 

Starlight looked at her monitor as it counted down, before hitting the gas pedal herself and getting ready for the jump. 

The rest of each team managed to make it through the wheel without a scratch, until three cars remained on the starting side. Scootaloo took in a deep breath, before hitting the gas as the timer struck zero. Spinebuster shot down the track, its driver gripping the wheel tightly. She didn't even notice she wasn't going the right speed until it was to late. 

As Spinebuster flew through the air, it was dinged on the back by the wheel, causing a Nitrox 2 tank to fall into it. Scootaloo held onto the wheel for dear life as the world outside the windshield spun around her. She shut her eyes, waiting for the car to stop spinning. 

Spinebuster hit the ground hard, bouncing a few times whilst still spinning until it finally stopped next to Maud's Vulture. Everyone let out a sigh of relief when Scootaloo stuck her thumb up out the window, signalling she was ok. That relief was vanquished immediately as an explosion rang from the wheel. 

The Nitrox 2 tank had been broken open, exposing the fuel and causing it to explode in the wheel. Starlight noticed a warning on her monitor and flipped through a few images. "Oh no," 

"We have a problem you two, the wheels turning at a random speed, I can't mark it down. Your starting light just broke." Starlight exclaimed to Pinkie and Rainbow, who quickly turned to look at each other through their cars windows. 

"On my mark?" Rainbow asked. 

"Let's show this wheel who's boss!" Pinkie cheered, revving Balistik's engine. 

"Three, two, one, HIT IT!" Rainbow Dash shouted. 

The two cars took off at the same time, soaring down the track towards the out of control wheel. They came up to the jump, and drove off it without hesitation, trusting their vehicles to get them through the unstable obstacle. The two cars flew through the air and right into a hole the Nitrox 2 had made in one of the wings of the wheel, and out the other side. Both of them nailed perfect landings alongside their fellow drivers, neither car scathed in the slightest. 

"That, was, AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash emphasized, looking in her rear view mirror to see the wheel. Right as she did though, it began to crack. 

The wheel let out a loud whirring noise, before exploding all together and its remains fell into the canyon below. 

"Well that party's over, let's finish this one!" Pinkie said, before taking off down the road, everyone else right behind her. 







Applejack and Crazy 8s were neck and neck as they rounded a corner and drove up a mountain. Applejack eyed the Nitrox 2 button, before hitting it. Roadrunner sprung up on its back wheels and shot right past Crazy 8s. Crazy 8s' driver did the same, causing the two to remain side by side as they approached a jump. 

That jump however turned out to be the portal as it appeared right after the track ended. Crazy 8s and Roadrunner were headlight to headlight as they drove off the track and into the portal. 

The two cars appeared back on Earth in a different desert than the starting one, this one having some trees scattered around. Night had rolled around so the two cars quickly flipped on their headlights, before driving towards another cubical structure. 

Applejack looked over at Crazy 8s as she drove, before scratching the side of her head in confusion. "Who won?"
> Third Leg (Part 1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a scorcher out today, with the sun showing no mercy on the set of stationary vehicles in the desert. Next to them was a large grey cube, its air conditioning being the only thing that kept the drivers comfortable and able to sleep through the night. Inside this complex's control room was Twilight Sparkle, her lavender fingers rapidly flipping switches which activated a handful of monitors. She typed in a code into a computer and let the system boot up. She looked over at Spike, who was sitting in his robotic chair, thinking to himself. 

"Alright Spike, start the race." Twilight instructed. 

Spike moved his chair over to a panel and hit a red button, activating the starting lights. 

In the very front of the pack of vehicles, Road Runner and Crazy 8s shook side by side with each other. Applejack gripped the wheel of Road Runner tightly, focusing on the freshly activated red light. 

Behind Road Runner, Sling Shot rumbled slightly as Rarity rev'd the engine. She was determined to win this time, whether or not it was just another leg or the true finish line of the race. She wasn't the only one with this mindset either. 

Near the back, Spitfire glanced over at the car next to her, only to be greeted by a . She just rolled her eyes and grabbed the steering wheel. 

The hovering street light blinked yellow, causing the drivers to hover their hands over their car's clutches. 

Rainbow Dash held the wheel tightly, watching the light. Behind her, Starlight flipped a switch on the console, causing a radio to activate. 

The street light stayed yellow a little longer, before flashing green. 

The area was soon filled with the noise of several cars taking off, Road Runner and Crazy 8 taking the lead. 

Applejack looked over at Crazy 8, before hitting the Nitrox 2 button. Road Runner quickly shot up on two wheels, leaving a fiery trail behind it. Crazy 8 did the same, quickly speeding up until it was side by side with Road Runner. 

The other cars also had their Nitrox buttons pressed, causing each car to shoot forward from the burst of speed. 

It didn't take long before the group of cars reached the portal, which gladly opened up with a burst of purple light. Road Runner and Crazy 8 drove through first, followed by the rest of the drivers. 

Once every driver had made it, the portal shut its self, vanishing into thin air. 







Applejack blinked away the blinding light that had entered her vision from the portal, only to open wider with shock. 

The portal had opened up to a transparent track that looped around several white futuristic buildings. But the big factor was the fact that the whole place was above the clouds, meaning that the whole track was high in the sky. 

Applejack didn't have much time to look around at the scenery because Crazy 8 sped past her, snatching first place. Applejack hit the gas, following the car in hot pursuit. 

Behind her, Colgate looked out in awe. A massive billboard flickered to life, displaying parts of the track with the cars on it. 

"Now this is a cloud room!" Colgate exclaimed mainly to herself. She was a dentist who would often work in rooms with cloud wallpaper for little kids. 

"Cloud track or not, it's a track. Now get out of the way." Sunset Shimmer spat, twisting the wheel to the left. 

She hit the gas, accelerating Muscle Tone past Colgate's Power Pistons car. She then hit the Nitrox, boosting her car forward towards the leaders. However, her eyes drifted over to what appeared to be a jump. 

"Shortcut." Sunset said under her breath, turning the wheel to the left. 

Muscle Tone drove off the blue ramp and into the air. It broke through a few clouds before landing on another track. 







Pinkie Pie glanced over at Spine Buster, the car trying to pass her from the inside. She gave Scootaloo, a wink and a thumbs up, before shifting up, staying ahead of Spine Buster. 

Scootaloo furrowed her brow, seeing her attempt of passing being blocked. However, she had more tricks up her sleeve. She spotted what looked like another path floating behind a ramp. 

With a quick turn of the wheel, Spine Buster was on course for the ramp, which it flew off of and onto the other track. 






Rarity looked to her left at a car she was passing, before back to the track. Suddenly, the track shot to the left, causing the cars to seem like they were driving on a wall. Rarity shifted up, not letting go of the gas. She gripped the wheel tightly, watching the track ahead of her for another sharp turn. 

The group of cars behind Sling Shot tried to get passed it, but ended up falling back, worried about falling off the track. But once the track straightened out again, their drivers hit the gas hard. But Rarity was expecting that, so she hit the Nitrox 2 which launched her car forward, staying ahead of the others. 

One of the drivers behind Sling Shot, was Spitfire, who frowned as the car's shape got smaller and smaller. She looked back in her car's rear view mirror to see other cars catching up to her. 

"Not today!" Spitfire stated to herself, hitting the Nitrox 2 button which launched her car forwards as well. 

A few other drivers were about to do the same, but quickly noticed a turn up ahead so they held off, sticking with a more controlled speed. But Spitfire didn't need to go slower to control her car. Once she had reached the turn, she twisted the wheel to the left, causing 1/4th Mile Coupe to drift slightly in the turn. 

1/4th Mile Coupe nearly flew off the side, but Spitfire kept the car right on the end. Right as the turn went back to a straight away, Spitfire slammed her foot on the gas. 1/4th Mile Coupe shot from the turn and down the straight away, its speed still above 120 mph. 

Soarin watched in awe at the stunt Spitfire had just done, before shifting up in an attempt to catch up. However, he was still on the turn, so the sudden increase in speed nearly caused his car to fly off the edge. He quickly adjusted the wheel and slowed down, correcting his mistake. But the mess up had already done the damage. 

Several other cars sped right past him, leaving him in the dust. With a grunt of anger, he hit the wheel, before accelerating back up to speed.
> Third leg (Part 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash accelerated as she approached a neon blue ramp. The Deora ll soared off it and through the air, landing perfectly on the other side. She gripped the wheel as the Deora ll entered a tunnel, however, this tunnel wasn't any ordinary one. 

Rainbow Dash's eyes widened as she watched electrical currents flowing through clear pipes that were surrounded by clouded walls. It looked like she was driving right through a cloud with lightning flowing through it. But Rainbow Dash couldn't get lost gazing at the scenery, she had a race to win. 

With a quick shift up, the Deora ll sped through the tunnel. The tunnel eventually ended, revealing a sharp incline on the other side. Rainbow Dash floored it, driving up the incline and towards a turn. 

Rainbow Dash was so focused on the turns ahead of her that she didn't notice a few other drivers driving on another track above her. Those drivers included a stone faced Maud Pie, who pulled next to Brittle Clicker. 

Maud looked over at the driver, before back to the track. She shifted up, passing the car and began closing the gap between another car. This car however, didn't look like the others. Its paint job was pure black with red windows. Its black tinted windows concealed the interior and the driver. 

"Just another racer to pass." Maud told herself blankly, drafting behind the car to catch up quicker. 

Maud was about to pull to the side of the car, but it cut her off, keeping Maud behind it. Maud tried again on the other side, but the car repeated its moves and blocked her. 

Maud's expression remained the same, but in her mind, she was frowning. That was, until she spotted a curved tunnel approaching. She drove side by side with the wall, before slamming the gas pedal down and turning onto the wall. Her car quickly passed the black car, before ending back on the track in front of it. 

Maud looked in her car's rear view mirror at the black car, then back to the track. Once again, her expression remained blank, but inside, she was grinning. 

Her mental grin faded as her car was jerked forward due to the black car smashing into it. Maud looked back in the mirror, seeing the black car accelerate and hit the back of her car again, before turning to pass.

"Hmm, so you're gonna be that kind of driver." Maud said, cutting the other driver off. 

The other driver watched Maud's movements carefully, before slamming down on the gas. The driver drove right up alongside Maud's car, wheels screeching against the track. 

The two cars drove in near perfect unison, both trying to gain the upper hand on the other. Their speed was quickly increasing, other cars that had been behind the duo were trying desperately to keep up. 

Eventually, the mystery car had finally had enough. The car slammed against Maud, sending her car into the wall of the track. Sparks flew from where the car had made contact, scratching away the paint and breaking off one of the side mirrors. 

Maud tried to get her car off the wall, but the mystery driver kept her stuck against it. Maud was about to try and use the Nitrox booster, but spotted what looked like a jump that was quickly getting closer. 

With only one option left, Maud slammed on the brakes, letting the mystery car take the lead. The car soared off the ramp and onto the track on the other side, leaving Maud to get passed by the other drives as she backed up to get more speed in order to even make the jump. 







Applejack gritted her teeth as her car landed with a thud onto another track, ahead of her was Crazy 8 who was already accelerating away. 

"You ain't gett'n away this time." Applejack stated, slamming her foot against the gas pedal. 

Road Runner quickly caught up to the other car, closing the large gap that had been made. Applejack twisted the wheel to the left, attempting to pass as they entered a turn. 

The two quickly ended up side by side with each other, right as the track split in half, making both cars drive on two different roads. 

Applejack spotted an approaching loop and hit the Nitrox, boosting her car around the loop and off a jump that was on the other side. Road Runner flew through the air, landing back on the track with enough force to nearly break the cars suspension. 

Behind Road Runner, Crazy 8 landed on the track, the entire car bounced back into the air for a second before landing back on the track. 

Applejack was in the middle of shifting up when, to her shock, another car landed right in front of her. She slammed on the brakes, narrowly slamming into the back of Balistik, Pinkie Pie shifted up within the cars cab. 

"Pinkie Pie! Where did ya even come from!?" Applejack questioned, glancing into Road Runner's rear view mirror, not spotting any sort of track that Balistik could of jumped from. 

"Ooh! That's easy! I took a shortcut through town and ended up finding this really good bakery. I would recommend trying their ice cream." Pinkie Pie answered. 

Applejack looked up at the few buildings that were around the race track. The only buildings in sight were a few lone skyscrapers, no track leading to any of them. What kind of road had Pinkie even taken!? 

Turns out, Applejack would have to put that thought in park, because Crazy 8 had just overtaken her, quickly gaining ground on the new leader. 

Applejack bumped her fist on the wheel out of frustration, before shifting up in an attempt to take back the ground she had lost. 







Rainbow Dash did her best to hold back her breakfast as the Deora ll spun around in a set of loops, each one seemed to drag on longer than the last. 

Once she had finally reached the end of the final loop, she relaxed again and glanced in her cars rear view mirror. 

"Who's that?" Rainbow Dash questioned out loud, not recognising the car at all. 

The pitch black car accelerated, attempting to close the gap between the two vehicles. Rainbow Dash hit the gas pedal, eyeing the speedometer which was quickly going to the right. 

The track began to twist to the right, then back to the left. Who in their right mind thought this would be a good race track!? The Deora ll and the mystery car shot off a ramp and onto another track, this one twisting to the right and declining. 

Rainbow Dash kept the Deora ll in 5th gear, not giving the other car a chance at passing her. She spotted what seemed to be another track which was linked up to theirs. 

"Merging point... and the end!" Rainbow Dash quickly added, spotting the final jump that lead to the now open purple portal. 

Rainbow Dash was definitely not letting this driver pass her now! She was practically home free! Because Rainbow Dash was so focused on the portal ahead of her, she didn't notice a compartment from the other car open up, launching a piece of machinery which struck the engine block of the Deora ll. 

Sparks began to fly from the console, quickly breaking Rainbow Dash's focus on the portal. She watched as sparks flew from the blank monitor into the speedometer, the needle flicking back and forth between 80 and 90 mph. 

Rainbow Dash tried to turn the wheel of the Deora ll,  but it had locked up. A spark of electricity brought her attention over to the right oval window, managing to make her spot several other tracks link up to the main one. Multiple cars landed on the track, each one driving right towards her. 

Rainbow Dash hit the brakes as hard as she could, managing to stop the Deora ll right as she reached the merging point between the main track and the one she had been on originally. The mystery car shot past her and vanished from sight into the first pack of cars. 

Rainbow Dash felt anger quickly boil over as she slammed her fist against the wheel, causing the horn to go off. She watched as all the cars went into the portal, all except the other Prism Riders, who quickly drove back to see what had happened.