The Main 7 take on Horizon Britain. A crossover story between MLP:EG and Forza Horizon 4.
It's just another day, the Main 7 are at Twilight's playing Forza Horizon 4. Everything is going great until they're transported to Horizon Britain through the television. What will they do?
They'll have to race their way to the top of the Horizon Roster, of course!
Please note: Dangerous driving is all too common in this, it's Forza after all! There's also a short scene of violence in Trials: Road Racing, so skip that if you want.
The last period of the day had just ended and the students of Canterlot High were set free to roam the streets, one group however had different plans.
Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were heading for a house, a rather purple house.
This was the residence of the group's own Twilight Sparkle, a two-story three bedroom semi detached house with a large front garden surrounded by a row of neatly cut bushes.
The houses it sat next to looked almost identical, at night you would think the street would be used to film horror movies.
Twilight opened the front door and let her friends inside, with the girls slipping off their boots one by one. It seemed no one was home, apart from a certain puppy.
Spike came into view from the kitchen, Twilight bent down to pick him up, but his sights were on someone else.
It was Rarity's turn to bend down, and Spike eagerly jumped into her arms.
"Ooh Spikey-wikey, how I've missed you!" She cooed while scratching his chin.
"You're probably makin' Twi jealous," Applejack said while looking from Rarity to Twilight. The rest of the girls just snickered quietly.
Twilight made her way for the stairs and the girls soon followed, Rarity keeping Spike tightly in her arms. They found themselves in Twilight's room, the walls were a royal purple and the carpet a fluffy deep ocean blue.
A light blue shelf was situated on the wall opposite the door, with cars upon cars crammed onto it, they ranged from miniature toy cars to ones the size of a small dog.
"Yep, I recently bought a Nissan Skyline R34 and a Bugatti Chiron!" Twilight responded with enthusiasm.
"So what game we playing?" Rainbow said, turning towards the snow white Xbox One on the desk and turning it on.
"Well I was thinking of playing Forza Horizon 4, you girls haven't seen it yet and it's quite new," Twilight said.
The girls quickly got comfy on the bed, which was blanketed in a Lamborghini Aventador duvet cover.
Twilight picked up her controller and sat in the leather chair infront of her television, picking the 2019 Porsche GT3 RS from her car garage.
She got to work quickly, leaving tire marks across the digital world. Her movements were precise with little room for error, damage was turned off so Twilight pushed hard on the accelerator.
As she was battling an AI she pushed 240mph, not noticing she was on the wrong side of the road and in the path of an oncoming car.
Twilight's friends tried to warn her but she was so focused on the game she didn't notice.
At the last moment she jabbed the car right, sending it off of a hill. The Porsche completed a 360° flip before landing at the bottom, still pushing 120mph.
"Whew. That was a close one," Twi breathed a sigh of relief. "I didn't notice until the last second."
She turned to face the girls after coming to a stop, who wore expressions that ranged from surprised to shocked.
"That. Was. Awesome!" Rainbow cheered. "Could I try?"
"Sure, just try not to crash," Twilight responded.
"Yeah yeah, I'm awesome," Rainbow retorted, her ego could be felt from outside the room.
She got a feel for the controls and pushed the car back onto the road, as there was no cars in sight she climbed to 150mph.
As if it appeared from thin air, an AI materialised in front of the car forcing Rainbow to push her finger down hard on the left trigger. Unfortunately it was too late.
She smashed directly into the back of the AI car, the screen shook violently as the Porsche came to an abrupt halt. The AI car took the impact and started to gravitate towards the side of the road, the side of the road that had a sheer drop off of a cliff.
Twilight laughed softly as she looked at the car falling to it's doom. Her friends looked at her with horror written on their faces.
"Why are you laughing, that poor car just fell off a cliff!" Fluttershy said with tears forming in her eyes.
"How can I say this," Twilight said. "It's an AI. It's not real, no one fell off a cliff."
The realisation quickly removed their horrified expressions and Twilight wondered if any of them, save for Rainbow Dash, had ever played a video game before.
She gestured to the chair, "Anyone want a go? It's fun, no one dies, I promise."
The girls spent the next half an hour switching places in the leather chair and playing Forza, with everyone managing to crash at least once. The crown for 'Most Crashes In 5 Minutes' definitely went to Fluttershy.
Twilight took back her controller and sat down in the chair once again, she opted to change cars, her choice was a purple carbon fibre 2018 Apollo Itensa Emozione.
The game returned from the loading screen, except it didn't. The world of Horizon Britain failed to load, Twilight thought the game would crash and she'd have to restart it, but something magical unfolded with her in a front row seat.
Her 32 inch TV screen glowed brightly, it was definitely higher than the normal brightness settings.
"Could it be magic?" she thought as she was sucked into the screen.
The answer to that question was a yes, this was magic.
Twilight Sparkle emerged from what seemed to be a marble monument, a warm summer breeze touched her skin as she slowly lifted her head.
A whirling sound came from behind her as six girls, not including herself, appeared in this new world.
Twilight stood up, she couldn't believe what was in front of her.
A city, an English city. It felt familiar, too familiar. A wide main road was stretched out in front of the girls. As they walked towards it, they saw something that they would never forget.
A purple carbon fibre 2018 Apollo Itensa Emozione was parked on the side, behind it was a grey Lamborghini Aventador SV, a blue McLaren 650s Spider, a yellow Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, a bright red Mercedes X-Class, a white and blue Ferrari 458 Speciale and a bright pink Cadillac XTS Limousine.
Each car matched one of the girls. This couldn't be... Horizon Britain, could it?
The girls quickly realised that this was indeed Horizon Britain.
"So, Twilight, want to explain what the heck this is?!" Rainbow Dash said, bordering on fury.
"I can only guess that we, somehow, were teleported to Horizon Britain. But that can't be possible right? Nope! This isn't scientifically possible! I can't believe it, I refuse to believe it. We are not, can not, be in Forza. Horizon. Four." Twilight responded while having a freakout.
"Breathe, Twilight. We've been to different dimensions before," Sunset reassured.
Twilight took the advice and started to take in deep breaths, after a good minute she looked to her friends. She looked calmer, but her eyes were wide open with curiosity.
"So Twilight if you know so much about this game, what do we do now?" Pinkie said, looking towards the pink Cadillac that was decorated in decals of cakes and balloons.
Twilight walked towards the Apollo Intensa Emozione still parked on the side of the road. "Well, in the campaign mode you have to get onto the Horizon Roster, I just hope that the seasons don't change," she said while opening the driver door.
"And where exactly is this 'Horizon Roster'?" Rarity asked.
Twilight looked back at the girls and gestured for them to follow, "Come on, I'll show you. Hop in your cars and follow me, we're going to the Festival!"
After a very long and slow drive, due to most of the girls having little to no knowledge of how to drive a car, they found themselves on the outskirts of the Horizon Festival.
The Horizon Festival was located to the right of Ambleside and to the left of Broadway, to the north of the Festival was the Slate Quarry, a popular location for people looking to Hoon about in the dead of night.
The Festival itself was a lively nonstop party, barriers and spectators lined the roads and the noise of screeching tires, loud music and roaring engines filled it with life.
One by one, the girls pulled up to the main building, it was mostly made of glass and LEDs lined the exterior walls, showcasing every colour of the rainbow.
Once all of the girls got out of their cars, Twilight addressed them, "In the game, this is where you go to register for the Roster. I hope that we aren't too late."
"Hope not, Ah don't want to be stuck in this world for any longer than we have to be." Applejack replied.
"Besides, how are we supposed to, you know.. Get out?" Rarity said with concern.
Twilight was going to respond with a theory she had thought of, but someone stepped out of the front glass doors of the building. He had pale gray skin, hazel eyes and an afro consisting of curly brown hair, he wore a black shirt with the Horizon 'H' printed on the front and jeans. He looked no taller than 5 foot 3 inches.
"Ah, so you're the drivers I was told about. The names Maverick, I'm the Horizon Safety Team Lead Strategist at the festival," he said, looking to each of the girls. "I see you're looking to join the Roster, let's see some of your driving and I'll consider it."
The girls just looked at him with confusion written on their faces.
"Say... Why is your skin purple?" He looked directly at Twilight. "And why is your skin pink?" He looked directly at Pinkie.
She just gave him her biggest grin.
"Well, you see..." Twilight responded but was interrupted by Rainbow.
"We're not from here! We're from a different world! In our world this whole world is a video game! We got teleported here by some freaky magic and we don't know what the heck to do!"
"Well, I've heard some stories. But that, is just crazy," Maverick replied. "But I like to believe weird things happen from time to time, and there's no way this is you playing dress up."
It was Sunset's turn to say something. "So you believe us?"
"I don't know what could explain... You girls. Why exactly are you here?" He responded giving her a dubious look.
"We're here to apply for the Horizon Roster!" Twilight announced with joy. "I think the only way for us to get back to our home world is to complete the campaign mode of my game, but in this world!"
"So, how many of you can drive?" Maverick said.
"We all can, kinda, but Ah don't know about Twilight. She's not as experienced as us," Applejack said.
"Hey, I can drive fine! I use my wheel setup all the time!"
"Well I recommend you all take the Driver Training Course, it'll allow you to race in Horizon events, just not on public roads," he started to walk back into the building. "Well what are you waiting for? Come on, lets get to it."
"The course is made up of three levels. Road, Cross Country and Dirt. Each level corresponds with the types of races that go down at Horizon. Road races are on your normal roads with a set route, Cross Country races use the surrounding area as a route, these usually go through fields and dense forests. The last one is Dirt races, which are races on the many dirt roads in the area," Maverick explained, going through what type of cars are needed for each type of race.
"So, what cars will we be using?" Sunset asked.
"For Road races, the 2019 Porsche GT3 RS. For Cross Country races, the Mercedes X-Class, and for Dirt races you'll be using the Hoonigan R200 Evolution."
Upon hearing this, Twilight's eyes widened to the size of saucers, "You mean we're going to be driving the X-Class, the beast that is the R200 Evo and the legendary Porsche GT3 RS! You don't even know how good I can handle those! Especially the GT3!"
Rainbow looked at Maverick, "I think you broke her, she's a car nerd if you couldn't already tell."
Maverick laughed nervously, "I gathered that."
Twilight shot up out of her chair and bolted for the door, stopping mid way to look back. "Come on! Let's do Cross Country first, then Dirt, then Road. Save the best 'til last!"
The girls and Maverick followed her out, snickering quietly.
Maverick walked around the back of the main building to the car park, reserved for Horizon VIPs and staff, the girls followed closely behind him.
Three cars sat parked next to each other in the left corner of the car park. The strange part was they weren't the Porsche GT3 RS, Mercedes X-Class and RS200 Evo that Maverick said about.
In their own spots sat a LEGO McLaren Senna, a LEGO Mini Cooper and a LEGO Ferrari F40 Competitizone
"Woah, LEGO cars! You seen this before Twi?" Rainbow Dash asked.
She got no response except for something hitting the ground. The girls turned around to see Twilight on the floor, unconscious.
"Something tells me she hasn't," Sunset replied.
After Twilight had woken up from fainting at the sight of life-sized driveable LEGO cars, the girls made their way over to the Whitewater Falls Cross County event, it was made into a practice event for the day, letting the girls get to grips with driving powerful supercars and beastly off-road vehicles. The event started at Slate Quarry and ended beside Derwent Water Lake.
Twilight offered to drive the McLaren Senna, Applejack offered to drive the Mini Cooper and Rarity offered to drive the F40 C, the rest of the girls hopped into Maverick's safety team BMW X6.
The start of the route was marked with a big overhead sign that read 'Horizon Festival' in bright neon red, barriers were placed along the corners of the route and blocked off any roads so that traffic couldn't interfere with the girls.
"Okay, everything is set up, let's get you girls into some cars and hopefully by the end of the day you'll be able to drive like pros!" Maverick said.
"Well what are we waiting for?" exclaimed Rainbow. "Who's going first?"
Twilight jumped at the offer, "I'll go! Where's that Senna?"
"Right over near the startin' line sugarcube," Applejack replied.
Twilight wasted no time in getting into the car and sitting in the drivers seat, which was surprisingly made out of carbon fibre and not plastic.
"Ooh, comfy," Twilight said, turning on the engine.
Maverick walked up to the window and Twilight rolled it down, "Don't worry about pieces of the car falling off, we have enough spare parts to rebuild the whole thing. Just try not to crash into a tree."
"Got it, focus on driving," she responded before putting her helmet on.
"Try to get a good time too, it will help when you're actually racing," he reminded her.
"Mmhmm," was the only response Maverick got from under Twilight's helmet.
The girls stood at the side of the road as the lights went from red to yellow to green, Twilight shot the car into 1st gear and set off, making sure to pass through the checkpoints as she rushed through dense trees.
"Are we gonna meet her at the finish or what?" Sunset asked.
"Nope, we'll get the time it took her to complete the course and she'll drive back to the start, where you girls will go next," Maverick replied.
For a LEGO McLaren Senna, the car handled surprisingly well. But not while cutting through fields and driving on dirt roads.
Twilight turned the wheel to the right, narrowly missing another tree. Maverick did say get a good time, but she thought that doing 115mph off-road was a bad idea.
She decreased the car's speed to 80mph and focused on the course.
Whew, that was close. This isn't the game, that would have probably killed me, Twilight thought as she pulled a sharp left onto another dirt path, swinging the back end out.
"Focus on my driving, I can do that," Twilight reassured herself. She could do that, right?
That seemed to become harder and harder by the second. Sure Twilight was amazingly good at Forza when it was a game, but she barely knew how to actually drive despite using her wheel setup often.
She finally saw the end of the course marked by purple flags, there was nothing she could hit at the end so she decided to accelerate through.
She blasted through the finish doing 140mph, she hit the handbrake and the car came to a screeching halt.
Twilight's phone started to vibrate, wondering who was calling her she fished it from her pocket and answered, "Hello?"
"You got to the end alright? You didn't crash did you?" Rarity asked through the phone.
"No I didn't, what was my time? It better be good," Twilight responded.
"Maverick told me it was four minutes and fourty nine seconds, is that good or not?" Rarity replied.
"FOUR MINUTES AND FOURTY NINE SECONDS?! That's horrible! I've gotten two and a half in an Aventador Forza Edition.. A FORZA EDITION!" Twilight said in disbelief.
There was a short pause before Rarity spoke.
"Oh, uhh, I don't know what to say darling. Racing isn't something I'm familiar with."
"Yes I know, sorry Rarity. But that is a really bad time, I've gotten better than that before!" Twilight said, calmer than she was before.
There was another short pause before Rarity said anything.
"Well, we'll see you soon, talk to you later," Rarity replied just as she was about to end the call.
"Rarity! I need to tell you something." Twilight responded through the phone.
"Whats that dear?"
"Can you tell everyone else to NOT drive the Senna off-road? It may handle like a beast on the road but it's terrible on dirt."
"Uh, sure. I'll let them know," Rarity said.
"Thanks, talk to you soon," Twilight said before the line went silent.
I've done way better than that! Crappy LEGO cars... Twilight thought.
The grey Senna came into view of the girls and stopped next to the start line, Twilight lifted herself out of the car with a scowl on her face.
Sunset quickly took notice, "Did something happen Twi?" she asked.
"Yes, something did happen. I got four minutes and fourty nine."
She handed the car keys to Sunset and sat down in a nearby chair, pouting over the time it took her to complete the course.
Sunset decided she could wait and let someone else try to battle the course as she went to go and calm down Twilight.
Rainbow Dash jumped at the opportunity with glee, "Ooh, I'll do it! This'll be a piece of cake."
With Rainbow's fate sealed, she got into one of the other cars that were avaliable, the LEGO Mini Cooper.
Upon turning on the engine, Rainbow slowly maneuvered the car to the starting line.
The lights changed from red to yellow to green and Rainbow took off down the path, near missing one of the barriers.
Twilight smiled at the sight, Rainbow wasn't as awesome as she always says.
It wasn't long before Maverick announced Rainbow achieved a time of six minutes and twenty eight seconds, this just made Twilight smile even more.
She soon returned with the Mini Cooper, a piece of the front bumper was missing and one of the rear lights was cracked. The car came to a slow stop as Rainbow stepped out, looking dazed.
Twilight's smile grew to a size that would have made Pinkie Pie jealous.
After two more hours of racing at death defying speeds across dirt, the girls crowded around Maverick and his computer to find out who did best.
In first place was Applejack with four minutes and twenty nine seconds. In second place was Twilight with four minutes and fourty nine seconds. In third place was Sunset with five minutes and two seconds. In fourth place was Pinkie Pie with five minutes and thirty seven seconds. In fifth place was Rarity with six minutes and four seconds. In sixth place was Rainbow Dash with six minutes and twenty eight seconds. And lastly in seventh place was Fluttershy with eleven minutes and fifty two seconds.
"I don't like going fast," Fluttershy mumbled as she back to the safety car.
A warm breeze brushed against her hair and tickled her cheeks. The gravel beneath her boots made noises of irritation as she walked across it. Even from here, she could smell burning rubber and the heavenly roar of engines carried down on the gentle wind.
Twilight Sparkle was standing beside a large metal barrier, overlooking the main four-way junction at the heart of the Horizon Festival, she felt at peace with the world and herself. She felt like she could stay here for eternity.
Twilight looked to the left of her and found her six friends, Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Twilight reflected on how much they had done for her after the Friendship Games, they had brought her back from being a power-crazed she-demon and taught her the Magic of Friendship. She couldn't be more grateful for their understanding and kindness.
Sunset Shimmer pointed to her left, signalling to a McLaren Senna pulling into the main Festival Building, it was specced in the luxurious MSO Cerulean Blue and beared the SH12 MEE plate.
"Pretty nice, don't you think?" Sunset asked.
"Yeah, I've never seen anything like it," Twilight breathlessly responded.
"Hey, you ever think we'll get to see home again? I mean, this is nice, but I can't think of not returning back to the human world."
Twilight wanted to say "Yes," but before she was able to, the world morphed into something completely different.
She was at the wheel of a Porsche GT3 RS, slowly putting her foot on the brake as she realised where she was.
She pulled the car to the side of the road and got out, where she found herself on the outskirts of the Ambleside village.
"Ambleside? What am I doing he-" Twilight asked herself before she turned around to look at what was erected behind her.
The typical Horizon Festival Road Racing Series start and finish point was stretched out proudly over the road, eliciting a shriek of delight from six girls running up to congratulate Twilight on her 1st place victory on the Goliath.
She found herself in a sea of bodies, being hugged by all of her friends who were chanting, "We did it! We did it!"
"We can fiiiinally go home now!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
"Ah've been waitin' to see mah Granny for goodness knows how long!" Applejack said, a watery glimmer in her eyes.
After a few minutes of waiting to be transported back to the human world, the girls looked expectantly at Twilight.
Twilight sat up, drenched in a cold sweat. She pulled her sleeping bag down to her knees, making sure not to wake any of her friends.
She found herself in one of the unused rooms of the Festival site, Maverick had been kind in offering them seven sleeping bags so they didn't have to sleep on the floor.
The dream replayed itself in Twilight's head as she blinked the sleepiness from her eyes and put on her pair of glasses laying to her left.
We'll make it home, I know we will, she assured herself as the dimly lit room came into view.
Twilight shuffled out of the sleeping bag and carefully tip-toed over to the door, making sure not to wake up any of her friends. Her body locked up when Fluttershy started to move but realised that she was hugging Spike.
The door opened with a slight creak as Twilight slipped through it, the rest of the building was just as dark as the room, which wasn't all that surprising since the staff either stayed in hotels nearby or had homes in the local village.
A kitchen was situated at the end of the hallway, Twilight couldn't find a light switch so she walked over to the counter and poured herself a glass of water and drank it next to the sink, letting the moonlight illuminate the room.
The glass dropped from her hand, making a loud clattering noise. Twilight struck her hand out, but the damage had already been done.
Within a few seconds Sunset walked through the door, looking confused while slightly scared. She breathed a relieved sigh when she saw Twilight.
"I heard a noise and got up to check, was it you?"
"Yeah," Twilight said while looking away, rubbing her shoulder.
"Is everything okay?" Sunset asked with concern layering her voice.
"Everything's fine, go back to bed Sunset, I—"
"I've known you for a while now, Twilight, you can tell me. What's up?"
Twilight turned her head, seeing Sunset's eyes reflecting her kindness and acceptance. She could tell her this. Sunset could keep a secret.
"I'm not sure if we can go back."
Sunset's eyes widened and she stammered out "W... What? What do you mean you're not sure if we can go back?"
"Well, I had a dream that once we completed the three races we need to complete, we didn't go home. Part of me wants to leave but..."
"Part of you wants to stay?" Sunset finished, dreading the reality of the situation.
Twilight could only nod as a response.
"It's okay Twilight, I know that we'll get back to our world. You are the best Forza player after all."
Heat rose to her cheeks as Twilight looked towards the floor, she looked up and Sunset jerked her hand towards the door.
"Come on, let's get back to bed. We have a lot of racing to do tomorrow."
After a quick shower and some cereal, the girls travelled to the outskirts of Ambleside village, a start and finish point was being set up over a dirt trail.
"This should be so awesome!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
Twilight's response was, "Yeah, I've been waiting to try the RS200 for a whi-"
Before she could finish her sentence, her gaze fixated behind Rainbow and locked onto the seven Mercedes-Benz that were coming their way.
First to arrive was a bright red G-Wagon, followed by purple, orange, white, pink, yellow and blue variants. The odd part about them was that they were significantly higher off the ground and had a longer chassis, which held not four, but six wheels.
They pulled up next to the girls and Maverick emerged from the lead 6x6, looking happy to see all of the girls, "Oh good, you're here early! These bad boys came in from Australia for one of our showcase events, I managed to let them run wild for a couple of hours. Brought them here to see if you'd like to have a go at them!"
Looks of amazement and awe were all he got in response.
Twilight was the first to speak, but she didn't have much to say.
"I... These aren't... Where did you..."
Maverick smiled at her disbelief, "Yep, these are what you think they are. You're not seeing things."
"These are MERCEDES AMG G 63 SIX BY SIXES!! They weigh over four tonnes and have nearly six hundred horsepower! But they're not supposed to be in the game! How do you have them yet my game doesn't?!" Twilight shouted.
"Your guess is as good as ours, egghead," Rainbow said.
While Twilight continued to gush over the new cars and take what the girls would later find out to be over one hundred and fifty pictures, Maverick filled them in on what they had to do.
"There's seven of you, so everyone gets a Mercedes to themselves. You'll be on the Ambleside Scramble Dirt Racing Test Course for today, it's a simple lap circuit really. You'll each do a lap and then I'll match up your times. Got it?"
Six voices responded, "Got it!" while Twilight quietly whispered, "Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh" repeatedly.
Sunset volunteered to go first, saying it would be better to, "—get it over and done with."
She lined up at the start, once the overhead screen lit up saying go Sunset put the pedal to the metal.
Death defying speeds, the thrill of driving such a beast! That was what she was hoping for l, but she checked the speedo and saw she was only doing 25mph.
Guess it's not like riding my motorcycle, although Twi did say they weigh over four tonnes, she thought as the first corner approached.
Sunset had to turn the wheel fully to the right before the 6x6 started to turn, it hit a dirt hill as she came out of the corner but cleared it with ease.
The second corner appeared and Sunset had little time to react, she jerked the wheel right again and missed a barrier by mere inches.
Definitely not like riding my motorcycle!
After a left turn, a right turn and another right turn Sunset found a sharp U-bend that proved challenging.
"Aiiiiiieee!!" Sunset slammed her foot on the brake, decelerating from 90mph and pushed the wheel to the left with all her might, the Mercedes complied and pulled through the turn with Sunset intact.
Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. I'm going slow for the rest of this.
A red giant came into Twilight's view as she rested against the metal barrier, admiring the other six in front of her. Sunset pulled up next to the girls and opened the door, falling straight out and onto the gravel.
Twilight immediately got up and rushed to her side, "Sunset!"
Applejack helped her to her feet and gave her a hug. "You okay sugarcube?"
"No, no I am not fine. Far from it. That, was, terrifying," Sunset said as she teetered back and forth on her feet. "I probably got the worst lap time..."
The girls sat down on some nearby chairs and listened to Sunset recount her 'horrific' experience.
Twilight got up and walked towards the purple 6x6, opening the door and climbing in, she looked towards the girls as she put the key in, "I'm going next, these six-by-sixes can't be that hard to drive," she looked at Sunset. "Besides, you're used to riding your motorcycle."
"You're not wrong there," Sunset replied. "But I still hated it."
Twilight maneuvered the Benz to the starting line, she revved the engine, relishing every note that the 7.2 litre racing V8 gave her.
The overhead screen flashed green and Twilight pushed her foot down so hard, the pedal might have fallen through the chassis if it wasn't for the first corner.
Her persistence was admirable, turning right and pulling the truck out of the corner with ease.
The second corner came into sight, another right turn. Twilight repeated her actions and came out unscathed.
She cleared the next three turns before coming upon the sharp U-shaped bend that rattled Sunset.
Twilight aggressively attacked it, swinging the wheel left and jerking the Mercedes sideways as it glided through the turn, the four rear wheels leaving a cloud of dust in their wake.
"This, is, amazing! And to think Sunset said this was bad, I'm having way too much fun right now!" Twilight exclaimed as she narrowly missed a stone wall.
Just got to make sure not to crash, obviously, she thought.
Two more turns ahead was a surprise that made Twilight squee with excitement, a large hill that she had to make her way down.
She decided to forego safety and accelerate even harder. She hit 70mph as all six wheels lost contact with the earth.
"Woooooooo!!!" Twilight squealed with elation as she and the Mercedes came back to the ground with a high energy bump.
Around the last corner opened up a small section of straight path before the finish line. Twilight could already see her friends on the left side cheering and waving.
Screw it, I'm going for it.
Twilight pushed the Benz to its absolute limits, in the short distance she managed to reach 101mph as she crossed the line.
Her hand shot to the e-brake and she sent the 6x6 into a spin, it did a full 720 degree rotation before coming to a stop.
Twilight opened up the door and jumped out with a victorious grin that would make the version of Midnight Sparkle that conquered Equestria in an alternate reality proud.
She raised her arms in triumph, almost certain that was a new record.
"I did it!" Twilight exclaimed as her friends rushed over to her. "I did it!"
"You sure did, you sure RUINED MY DRESS!!" Rarity bellowed as she pointed to the mud that Twilight splattered over her when she pulled off her spin. If looks could kill, Rarity would have committed first degree murder.
Twilight looked down at the dirt and said with true guilt layering her voice, "I'm so sorry Rarity, there's got to be some dry cleaners back at the Festival, I just couldn't resist."
"I guess it's alright darling and I can't blame you," Rarity replied. "It looked like you were having fun, lots of it."
Twilight looked up and put on a lop-sided smile, "Yeah, thanks Rarity."
The girls once again crowded around Maverick's computer after everyone had driven a full lap of the circuit. Seven times appeared on the screen, Twilight looking satisfied at the golden star next to hers.
Her time came in as a new record for Off-road class vehicles, to no one's surprise.
"Yes! I knew it!" she exclaimed as her time appeared.
Applejack came in second place after Twilight.
Applejack explained to the girls, "Only because Ah drive the farm truck almost ev'ry day."
Pinkie came third, to almost everyone's surprise.
"What? I'm a good driver," she responded to everyone's looks of astonishment.
Sunset came fourth, which she found very surprising.
She shuddered and looked away from the group, "I did go slow after that U-turn, never doing it again."
Rainbow Dash came fifth, which she said was because she was going, "20% slower than usual."
Rarity came sixth. She was used to driving her Fiat 500 back home and not a four tonne monster.
Fluttershy came in seventh and almost three minutes behind Rarity.
She squeaked out, "I really, really don't like to go fast."
Rarity decided that they had had enough for one day, the girls handed the keys back to Maverick and hopped in their cars to drive to the festival so that Rarity could clean her dress.
Sunset's senses started to slowly awaken, she could hear the voice of a familiar purple car enthusiast.
Her eyes slowly but surely opened, revealing five other girls still asleep with Twilight trying to desperately wake them, Sunset's brain was still trying to boot up.
"Wah? Twi, what are you doing?"
"Oh nothing, just waking you all up! It's eight in the morning and I planned an entire day for us in Edinburgh!"
Sunset fully sat up straight, her brain now functioning normally, "What."
Twilight shook Fluttershy's shoulder as she spoke, "I thought you could all use a break from racing, I don't need to, but it's a fun day out!"
Rainbow slowly turned over and looked towards Twilight, "That... Doesn't sound like a bad idea," she said sleepily. "Just give us five more minutes."
She then flopped back asleep, to no one's surprise.
After the girls woke up and got ready, they hopped in their cars and set off for the historic city of Edinburgh. Twilight, knowing the world of Horizon Britain like the back of her hand, lead the way.
Rarity suggested that the girls connect to a Snapgap group call so that they can still talk and to see if anyone broke off from the convoy.
After a long, slow, and to Twilight an agonisingly boring trip with an average speed of 13mph, the girls ended up outside of the Grapes Lounge and Restaurant.
One by one the cars pulled up, catching the eyes of various onlookers.
Some took their phones out and snapped photos, some whispered in awe at the luxurious machines and two kids ran up to the girls to ask what cars they were.
As Twilight was walking away from the purple Apollo, she caught a fully grown adult say, "Woah, it looks like the Batmobile!"
She mentally and physically cringed upon hearing that last word.
The Grapes Lounge and Restaurant was a respectable establishment, in classical English fashion it had outside tables, a bar inside and the obligatory horrific public bathrooms.
The group of seven entered, apparently the world of Horizon wasn't like the videogame where everything was automated.
They walked up to the front counter and looked at the menu, various choices ranging from soft drinks to ice cream.
After quickly deciding on what would be ordered, the girls ran into a very peculiar problem... What they would pay with.
Applejack pulled out a large stack of British Pounds and presented it to the group, "Ah found this in the glove compartment of mah truck," she said. "Don't know about y'all but if we're lucky y'all should also have some too."
A young male cashier walked up to the counter and asked what the girls would like.
Coca Colas and small snacks were all he got in response, after a few minutes he brought them to the girls and received his payment.
"Thank you!" Pinkie Pie said as the group headed for the door.
No one gave us odd stares, like we weren't from another world, Twilight thought, it was beginning to rattle her brain how no one noticed the group as being from out of town. So how did Maverick know? How could he see that we were from another dimension but no one else does? They just think we're normal girls with nice cars, this is a different world from the Forza game after all.
As Twilight's brain went to war with itself, she didn't notice where she was walking and bumped straight into another person, sending them both to the ground.
"Oi, want to watch where you're goin' mate?"
Twilight looked up to see that she had knocked over a young man who was the literal embodiment of 'chav'.
He wore a white pair of Nike Air Force 1's, a grey and black Adidas tracksuit with short brown hair covered by a snapback that rested atop his head. The standard of anyone living in a British city like Edinburgh.
Twilight got herself up off the pavement and extended an arm to him, "Sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going, my apologies."
He took her hand and got up, looking mildly annoyed, "It's cool."
Twilight meant to say more but before she could he turned around and walked away, she decided to do the same and return to her car.
Just before she got settled back in, there was a strong tap on her shoulder.
Twilight turned around to see the young male again, she thought it might have been because she dropped something but quickly learned that wasn't what he had returned for...
"You're with these cars?" he said, looking more annoyed than last time.
Twilight smiled, "Yes, they're nice aren't they?"
"Yeah, yeah, they're nice but you in our ends, get me?"
"Ends? I don't understand," Twilight replied, looking confused.
He reached into his tracksuit pocket and pulled out a small switchblade, in full view of the six girls behind him, "You will in a minute bruv, if you don't get your cars outta here."
Twilight's eyes honed in on the knife and they widened immensely, she took a giant step back, fear covering her entire body as it began to shake.
It was at this moment that Rainbow Dash opened her car door and stepped out, her expression was one of pure anger. The other five girls soon followed, looking more shocked.
She loudly but proudly got the man's attention by shouting, "Oi! You got a problem?"
He turned around and glared at her, "Yeah, I fuckin' do with you lasses comin' to our ends, we the Edinburgh Speed Demons, I'm the leader Danny G, get me?"
Rainbow took three strong strides up to him and got in his face while he got in hers.
"Yeah, I get you. You got us? If you want to throw hands I'm ready to throw hands," she announced.
Danny simply smirked and backed up, pocketing the knife, "Nah bruv, how about your leader races me?"
Everyone's eyes turned towards Twilight, who was on the verge of tears.
Danny caught on and turned around, he looked her over and then laughed.
"You? Ha! I bet you can't drive for shit."
Her friends looked on in shock, Fluttershy had tears streaming down her face. Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Sunset stood there with mouths agape and Rainbow gave a cocky grin.
Twilight glared at him dead in the eyes, "Race me, then."
He stood there for a second, then spoke, "Alright girl, meet us at the NCP Car Park at nine yeah. If you don't show up and we see you again..."
He pointed to his jacket pocket then proceeded to turn and walk to the other side of the road, a blue BMW M3 GTR had been parked there the entire time. He got into it and sped off, not daring to look back.
Six girls stared at the M3, then at Twilight.
What have I gotten us into?
Seven girls walked down the main streets of Edinburgh after a moderately good day out, they tried to keep a positive mood but it was challenging.
"Ah still can't believe that happened, Twi," Applejack said. "Ah don't know what we'd have done if he had..."
Twilight looked to Applejack then looked forward, then back at Applejack, "I know, but it was just so infuriating!"
Pinkie Pie was the only one smiling, though it was strained, "Come on girls, we have—" she pulled out her phone and looked at the time, "—one hour until Twilight has to race that meanie! But you can do it, we know you can!"
Yeah, sure can.
It was time.
Seven girls found themselves surrounded by various types of vehicles, JDM cars, exotics, tuners, even some muscle cars. The NCP Car Park was abuzz with the screeching of tires and the smell of burning rubber permeated the surrounding atmosphere.
They each parked their cars next to some exotics to blend in. No one needed to know they had never planned to show up.
As Twilight got out of her car she decided to check under the hood, as the Apollo Itensa Emozione was a rear engine car she found a space to store luggage. Upon popping the hood open she found it had only one item inside, a large metal flashlight.
Hmm, weird.
It was the typical car meet hosted at night, so that no police would shut down the fun and those who were brave enough could Hoon about to their hearts content.
Twilight wasn't one for meets like this, she preferred convoys or proper events like the Goodwood Festival of Speed where there wasn't any chance of arrest for doing seventy in a thirty zone.
The girls stayed close together, looking for anyone bearing the Edinburgh Speed Demons name on their clothing or on the side of their ride.
Edinburgh Speed Demons... Sounds familiar? Must be some club from the game I had a bad experience with, Twilight thought, she could recall a memory of her being beaten by a Ferrari 488 that rammed her into a wall.
It didn't take long to find Danny G, the so-called leader of the Speed Demons.
"Huh, so you did actually show," he said, eyeing Twilight.
"Mmhmm, let's race. Now." Twilight said impatiently, she didn't want to be here for longer than she had to.
Danny got up from the chair he was sat in and opened the door of his M3, "Okay, jeez, what's up your arse?" he asked.
Twilight ignored him and turned for her Apollo, following the BMW to a nearby set of traffic lights.
There was already a woman at the lights prepared to start the race, she walked up to Twilight's rolled down window and addressed her.
"Follow the green flags, if you go off course, tough luck," she said before walking to the starting line.
Me and off course? They go together like a Mustang and an inexperienced driver. Twilight told herself.
The woman pointed to Danny's car and gave him a nod, after a few seconds she did the same to Twilight who nodded back.
She raised her arms then pulled them down, signalling the start of the race. Danny got off the line first with Twilight second, only because she had never done the street races on Horizon 4, they weren't her type of thing.
Despite the setback, the Intesa Emozione was obviously quicker than the M3 GTR. The first corner was a right turn onto Princes Street, the street with two tramlines running through it. Two in use tramlines running through it.
One line had a tram going at a leisurely pace towards the two cars, Twilight forced her Apollo into a drift and narrowly missed the tram by inches as she came out of the corner and progressed down the main road of Edinburgh City.
Danny was not so lucky, the tram had caught him by surprise and he was a few seconds behind the purple Apollo.
The second corner came into view, another right turn past The Royal Scottish Academy.
Drifting through it again, Twilight looked to the side mirror and caught a brief glimpse of a BMW tailing her, though it was still a bit behind.
A moderately steep hill in the shape of an S was laid out before the racers.
Twilight pulled her car through the bend with no mercy, every little bump in the century old road could be felt through the car's chassis.
Directly after the turn was a 180 consisting of two right turns, leading out of St Giles' Street and onto Castle Hill. The night allowed anyone to clear it without hitting any other cars.
Passing by Edinburgh Castle, the rear-view screen embedded into the dashboard showed no sign of a BMW, to Twilight this was rather confusing but she brushed it off.
The final corner came into view, the feeling of adrenaline rushing through her veins made Twilight savour the moment. She could finally prove that jerk wrong! She could finally—
*Smash*
Twilight was no more than 50 meters away from the finish line when her car was struck, next thing she knew her head was spinning. So was her Apollo.
The track toy came to a stop in the middle of a rather desolate King's Stables Road, the only other car was a certain BMW M3.
Red, that was all that she could see. Twilight was across the finish line before her senses returned. Danny G, had lost.
Her senses, however, did return. Upon stepping out of the car she was greeted by shocked looks from everyone, not just her friends.
They walked over to Twilight and assaulted her with a pile of questions, she held up a hand and said in a low voice tinged with anger, "Get in your cars, start the engines and be prepared to floor it."
Fluttershy shot her a sceptical look, "You're not going to do anything are you?"
"I SAID GET IN YOUR CARS AND BE READY TO FLOOR IT!" Twilight shouted, her friends complied and looked on from their vehicles.
Danny G pulled up to Twilight and got out of his BMW, it only had a minor paint scratch.
"How did you still win?! I should cut you to ribbons right now, you bitch," he spat while walking towards the ongoing car meet.
Twilight let out an almost-maniacal laugh, prompting Danny to turn around. She turned on her heel and walked towards the carbon fibre car she owned, she popped open the hood and gripped the flashlight she had found previously.
Danny looked at her with genuine confusion, "What are you doing?"
"Oh, you'll see."
Twilight closed the hood as she held the flashlight in her right hand, Danny's expression changed from a look of confusion to a look of pure bewilderment.
Twilight looked at him, then at his car. Walking towards it, she positioned her arm to be level with the rear lights and glared at Danny.
"This, is for insulting me."
She brought the flashlight towards the left light, eliciting a loud crack and explosion of glass being shattered.
"This, is for spinning me out."
She walked up to the driver window and swiftly took it out, glass and blood covered her arm but she wasn't concerned.
"And this, is for being a prick."
Walking around to the front lights, she pulverised both of them with two easy swings, dropped the flashlight and ran back to her car.
Before jumping in, Twilight looked back at Danny and gave him the middle finger. He just stood there, mouth agape.
Pulling away from the scene, Twilight got in front of her friend's cars and started the convoy to the Festival.
Applejack and Twilight were sat cross-legged on the floor, Twilight looking towards the wall. The five other girls were indulging in various activities.
"This'll hurt a bit, Twi."
"Okay, can you just do it already?"
Applejack gently mended Twilight's right arm as she had more experience with First Aid than any of the girls. The only reason they didn't go to one of the paramedics is because they couldn't explain an arm covered in broken glass without saying Twilight had destroyed a BMW and participated in a street race. That would get her in trouble with not only the Festival but the law enforcement, if there was any.
"Ow... Ow! Okay, stop stop," yelped Twilight.
"Ah don't mean to be harsh, but ya kiiinda did do in a car window," Applejack said.
"I wasn't gonna just stand there!" Twilight exclaimed.
Rainbow looked up from her phone, "I think it was awesome! Sure, you got broken glass over your arm, but you showed that guy that no one messes with Twilight!"
Applejack turned towards Rainbow, "Well what if that guy had done what he'd said he'd do, stab Twilight, what would ya do then?"
"I... Don't know. But he didn't, so that's a good thing right?"
Sunset got out of her sleeping bag and sat next to Twilight, "We just don't want you to get hurt, that's all."
Twilight looked down at her crossed legs and smiled, "Thanks, girls."
The girls got up early the next day, no one had wanted to but Twilight had forced them to.
"You'll need to be ready, we're doing Road Racing today!" Twilight said while she jumped up and down.
No more than an hour later, the girls were sat down in the main building's lobby with Maverick, the Lead Strategist of the Festival. He had good news and bad news.
"I've gotten a promotion!" Maverick exclaimed with glee.
"What to?" Fluttershy asked.
Maverick turned around and showed off his new jacket, Horizon PR Team was printed into the back.
"Ooh, nice!" Pinkie said.
"The only problem is, I can't teach you girls how to race anymore."
"WHAT!" Twilight yelled. "B-but we need you to help us! We'll probably get kicked out of the Festival!"
Maverick promptly shushed her, "Hey I never said you were gonna just get dropped like that, I want you to meet someone."
Sunset raised her eyebrow, "Who?"
He gestured with a hand, "Follow me."
The girls followed him outside, just in time to see a white Porsche GT3 RS in Martini Racing livery pull up.
A young male no older than twenty-two stepped out of the driver's door. He had brown spiky hair and pale white skin, he wore a white collared shirt held together by a red bow tie, navy blue waistcoat, navy blue trousers and navy blue brogues. Twilight thought he looked rather charming.
"Maverick! Nice to see you!" he said in a deep voice before embracing Maverick in a hug.
Maverick turned towards the girls, "Meet Luke, the Festival Director," he turned towards Luke. "Luke, meet the girls I was telling you about earlier."
Luke put on a smile, "Hey! Maverick told me you girls are excellent racers."
Rainbow Dash punched the air, "Yep! We're the best racers this Festival is ever gonna see!"
Luke overlooked the girls, taking a second longer on Twilight who was shifting between him and the GT3 RS, "I sure hope so."
Maverick pulled out a vibrating phone from his pocket and held it to his ear, "Hello, this is Maverick... Oh, I'll be right over."
He turned his attention towards the girls, "I've got to go, the PR Team need my help setting up a Drift Zone."
"We'll see you again, right?" Twilight asked with worry in her voice.
"Of course, I'll still be around the Festival, you'll be in good hands with Luke though. Catch you later!" he said before walking towards the car park for Horizon Staff.
"So, Maverick told me you girls are from 'out-of-town' right?" Luke said.
"Y-yes, we are." Rarity said, choosing her words carefully.
Luke saw she was trying not to reveal their secret, "Relax, I can keep a secret. You're from another world or something? It would explain the weird skin colours and hair."
"Okay, yes. We are from another world. A world where this world is a video game, I was driving my Porsche GT3 RS and the game teleported us here!“ Twilight admitted.
Luke's eyes widened, "That's freakin' awesome!"
"It was actually in the same livery as your one." Twilight said.
"You're not gonna kick us out or anything, are you Sir?" Fluttershy mewled.
Luke looked at Fluttershy and gave a sympathetic smile, "No way, but you need to get home right?"
"We need to get home by applying for the 'Horizon Roster' as Twilight calls it. She's kind of the reason we're stuck here in the first place," Sunset pointed out.
"I am not! My game is!" Twilight interjected, scowling.
Luke looked at Twilight and laughed, then abruptly stopped, "Your arm, it's covered in a bandage!"
Twilight nervously laughed, "Oh yeah, hehe."
"What happened? I won't tell anyone, promise."
"Okay fine, so me and my friends were in Edinburgh and we ran into an... Unfriendly person. They turned out to be a street racer and challenged us to a race. He threatened to stab me if I didn't take him up on it so I did, he then spun me out so I... Broke his window with a metal flashlight," Twilight confessed.
Luke's expression had gone from worried to distraught to shocked throughout Twilight's recount.
"So your arm is..."
"Bandaged because of the broken glass, he never stabbed me," Twilight said.
"Did you go to the paramedics?" Luke asked.
"We can't, Ah bandaged her arm up because Ah know First Aid, but it would be weird if seven girls just randomly showed up out'a nowhere and didn't look like y'all, we can't go around showin' ourselves willy nilly," Applejack said.
Luke nodded, "Understandable," he turned to Twilight. "So your arm is okay?"
"Yeah."
"What about your car?"
"It's in the parking lot, I think he chipped some of the paint off," Twilight said glumly.
"That won't be too expensive. C'mon, I'll pay for it. Being Festival Director gets you some pretty good benefits," Luke said while walking towards the main parking lot.
"How'd you become the director thingy anyway? It must be so fun!" Pinkie asked.
While Luke was explaining that his business-orientated father had given him the money to kick start the first festival four years ago, he caught Twilight looking at him with a slight blush on her cheeks, she quickly looked away.
"Well, your car has to be here right?" he said to Twilight.
"Hehe, yeah it is," Twilight said, still blushing.
She lead the group to a familiar Apollo IE dressed in purple carbon fibre. The rear left bumper had been completely obliterated.
Luke stared in horror and shock, before kneeling down and hugging the rear of the Apollo, "An Intensa, why?! Why did this happen!" he said overdramatically before getting back up with a cheeky smirk.
Six girls burst out laughing, Twilight however just smirked and crossed her arms, "I'd do the same thing, they don't understand that's a one million dollar hypercar with more years of development put into it than their grades."
It was Luke's turn to burst out laughing as the girls abruptly stopped and glared at Twilight, before laughing even harder.
Luke had called for a tow truck to take the Apollo to the repair shop ran by the Festival, there were unfortunately no replacement cars for the girls to use this time.
"You can use my GT3 RS if you want," Luke said, "I'll ride with you."
Twilight's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, "W-wow, thank you so much! I've been using it so much in game it's going to be great handling the real thing!"
Luke handed her the keys and got into the passenger seat, Twilight took hold of the wheel and gave Luke a devilish grin.
"Are there any cops? I want to really push this to it's limits!" Twilight asked.
"Cops? Don't think so." Luke replied.
"Oh, alright then!"
The rest of the girls hopped into their cars and set a route on the built-in SatNav to Edinburgh Station. Twilight wasn't going to wait for them this time.
"Should we stay with your friends or meet them ther— whoa!"
Twilight pulled a 180 degree turn, pushed back into her seat from the brutal acceleration, near missing a parked Subaru.
Hauling ass out of the southern Festival gates as she hit 140mph, she could feel the adrenaline starting to spike, nothing short of pure exhilaration!
"D-don't you think you should slow down a little bit?!" Luke asked frantically.
"Nope!"
The small village of Broadway was nothing more than a prismatic blur through the window, Twilight was used to traffic so the absence of any cars made her feel even more compelled to really push the throttle.
The speedometer read 230, then 210, then 170 as Twilight pulled the snow white car through a steep bend, one that she liked to call 'the turn after Broadway that's perfect for high speed drifting'.
Instead of catching some air over the roundabout that kicked off the M 68, Twilight reluctantly pulled through the roundabout.
Luke clearly hadn't pushed his car to the lengths Twilight did, "Please tell me you're not going to go that fast, right?"
"Of course I am!" she replied enthusiastically.
They passed through two tunnels, hitting 240mph after leaving the second one.
Before anyone had any idea of what was going on, the Porsche was pulling off of the M 68 and heading towards Edinburgh, the rules of the road dictated that cars take the third exit on this roundabout...
Twilight slammed on the brakes and cut across to the opposite side of the road, narrowly missing a bus and making the third exit her first.
"Are you crazy? Seriously, slow down!" Luke yelled.
She however did start to decelerate, only to make sure Luke didn't die of a heart attack.
Passing Edinburgh Castle, Twilight swore she saw a blue BMW M3 GTR. She was all the more certain as she was only doing 45mph.
Edinburgh Station came into view, no other cars matching her friend's cars in sight.
Of course we got here first.
"No one's here, guess we should wait." Twilight said, looking to her right at the open passenger door.
Luke had jumped out and gotten as far away from the car as he could, "Yeah, let's just wait."
The pair had to wait a while for it took almost ten minutes for Sunset and Rarity to arrive, though they looked to be alone.
"Hey guys, you the only ones here?" Sunset asked, stepping out of her Lamborghini Aventador SV.
"Yep, I guess you two shot ahead?" Luke replied.
"Indeed, I couldn't simply wait for Fluttershy any longer," Rarity added, locking her Ferrari.
Ironically, Fluttershy was the next to arrive in her Dodge Charger. She could use the seven hundred and seven horsepower when she wanted to.
Rainbow, Applejack and Pinkie soon arrived after, bringing their cars with them.
"Great, everyone's here, I'll go get the route ready for you," Luke said before walking over to the Festival Staff, which included Maverick, over the other side of the road.
Twilight watched him walk over to the staff across the road, a warm fluttery feeling gathering in her. One she hadn't ever felt except the first encounter she had with her ex-boyfriend Timber Spruce at Camp Everfree.
"And what has you blushing like that?" Rarity asked with a coy smile.
Twilight was pulled out of her thoughts, "What? Me, blushing? I was uh..."
The rest of the girls turned back and looked at her, wearing similar smiles to Rarity. Pinkie leapt over, stopping mere inches from Twilight's face, "Oh, you like someone! Who is it, who is it?"
Twilight stepped back, regaining her composure, "I was thinking about the weather! I don't like anyone, nope, not at all!"
"I don't think clouds and clear skies can make a girl blush like that, Twi." Rainbow added.
"Come now, you can tell us darling," Rarity pleaded.
Applejack stepped over and pulled Pinkie away from Twilight, "C'mon girls, if she don't wanna tell us she don't have to."
Thank you, Applejack! Twilight thought.
Rainbow gave her a smug grin, "I have a pretty good idea of who it is anyways."
"You? Getting first in something other than soccer? Wow." Twilight deadpanned.
Before the tension could escalate, Luke came back with a laptop in hand.
"Okay, here's the route," he said, turning the laptop to the girls, "I'm sure you've already done Dirt Racing and Cross Country so this shouldn't be that hard."
Twilight chose to temporarily relinquish the spotlight and let one of her friends drive first, only so she could show them how it's done.
Boy do I sound egotistical. Twilight's brain inwardly said, she couldn't help but reluctantly agree.
Could anyone blame her though? Rainbow had sports, Fluttershy had animals, Applejack had... Apples. The farm, to be specific. Rarity had dresses, Pinkie Pie had baking and Sunset had her Twitch channel.
"Twilight!“
Pulled from her thoughts once again by six voices, Twilight went ahead with her plans of letting someone else race first.
"One of you can go first, I don't mind waiting." She said.
Fluttershy opted to go first and get it over and done with. It just gave Twilight more time to remember when she was racing the route in a McLaren F1.
The girls were indulging in conversation as Fluttershy and Luke returned in his GT3 RS, Fluttershy didn't even look scared.
"That was... Actually quite exciting!" she exclaimed.
Upon seeing Fluttershy step out of the car, Pinkie Pie zipped over, "Oh, oh, I'll go next!"
Before anyone knew it, the car vanished through the first right turn.
Time seemed to go faster in this world than back home, or maybe Twilight had just dived head first into her thoughts, but she found herself at the wheel of an all too familiar Porsche after almost no time at all.
There isn't much to do here, so it's most likely the second option...
Luke decided to let Twilight drive solo, unlike the other girls.
"I've seen your driving and it's honestly terrifying, just don't crash the car okay?" he asked.
"Got it."
The overhead lights changed to green and Twilight pulled away from the starting line, obliterating the grip of the tires and heading towards the first right turn.
She didn't need to explain why the Porsche GT3 RS was her favourite car, it did it for her, pulling through the turn with grace and agility.
While Twilight wasn't opposed to gushing over how amazing the car was, she still had to race.
A left turn was up next, Twilight decided to do the most insane thing she could...
Pull a 180 and go backwards through the turn.
Pulling a second 180 at the apex, Twilight blasted back to break neck speeds. The whole ordeal took no more than three seconds.
She found herself directly next to a Tram stop, luckily there wasn't a Tram in sight.
Turning right onto York Place, Twilight could see a large roundabout about 300 meters up the road.
Drift? Drift.
Her temporary car worked wonders as it left four slivers of molten rubber burned into the road, and thick smoke that permeated the surrounding air.
A few more turns later and Twilight could see her friends in sight, watching her dominate the roads of Edinburgh like no other.
Pulling up to the curb, she could see Luke behind the barriers with the laptop used to record lap times in his hands.
Twilight confidently left the car, walking over to him with an excess amount of glee in her step.
"So, what are the times?" She said, wiggling her eyebrows as she set her hands down on the barrier.
Luke was caught between being shocked and impressed, "I... I... I have no idea what I'm actually looking at right now."
Twilight vaulted over the barrier, "Let me look."
The screen read; Twilight - 0:45.062.
Luke set down the laptop and crossed his arms, "That is the fastest time for this track out of any car we've ever put on it. I knew my car was good, but..."
"YES!"
Twilight was ecstatic, she was Number 1 in the entire Festival! For that route at least.
Her friends came over to check out their times, no one looked unhappy with what they got.
"OI!"
Twilight turned around to see the one person she didn't want to see, her feeling of triumph replaced by absolute horror and crushing fear.
He looked no different than before, but his car had it's window shattered into a million pieces.
Danny G walked up to the barrier, "I fuckin' knew I saw you earlier!" he said with his left hand behind his back, which was unnoticed by Twilight.
"Oh crap..." Twilight mewled.
Luke stood up from the chair he was sat in, "Mate who are you?"
"I'm the guy that's gonna fuckin' cut that bitch right up." Danny said before leaping over the barrier.
Twilight's posture crumbled as he revealed a three inch switchblade in his hand.
Luke walked over and stopped in front of Twilight, "No you're not." he said before grabbing Danny by the wrist and squeezing hard, so hard that the knife dropped from Danny's hand within seconds.
His right hand drew back and connected with Luke square in the nose, who stumbled back but regained balance as Danny picked up his blade.
Wiping drops of dripping blood from under his nose, Luke walked over to a table three feet away and took hold of a solid metal wrench.
"Go on, get his ass!" Rainbow cheered.
"I want you all to get ready to peel out of here, now." Luke commanded, there was nothing but hostility in his usually calm voice.
No one argued, everyone got into their cars quicker than when Twilight had asked the day before.
Danny and Luke faced each other, both of them held what would definitely be called weapons.
Danny took the plunge, charging towards Luke and swinging his knife. Luke dodged the knife and ended up behind Danny, where he held the wrench and jabbed it into Danny's back. It sent him straight onto the floor.
Luke went to restrain the arms of his foe but got an elbow to the chest, Danny launched himself up and threw his knife at the Festival Director.
He rolled across the pavement and pulled his body to a standing position. Wrench in hand, he brought it directly to the face of Danny with the strength to match some supercars.
Danny crumpled to the floor as blood streaked from the left side of his head, his breathing became heavy and quick.
Luke's blue suit was stained with dirt and specks of blood, but he didn't care. He leaped over the metal barrier that blocked him from the road.
Sprinting to his car, Luke forewent asking to drive and sat in the passenger seat.
"Get us out of here, now!" He yelled.
Twilight obliged and the rest of the girls followed along, their destination was anywhere other than Edinburgh Station.
"Shit. Shit. Shit." a hyperventilating Luke choked out. "I can't believe I did that!"
"Thank you? I mean..." Twilight tried to remedy the situation.
"Everything just... I feel like that wasn't even me doing it,"
Twilight slightly blushed as she placed one hand on his shoulder, "Relax, he's the reason my arm is in bandages, I don't blame you."
"Heh. Thanks I guess," Luke sighed, "So what now?"
"I say we forget this ever happened, and we go back to the Festival and get a good night's sleep." Sunset replied through the group call.
"Oh yeah, I was going to ask. Where are you lot staying at?" Luke said down the line.
"One of the spare rooms in the main building, Maverick said it was alright," Rarity responded.
"I mean... You could stay at mine if you want. It's in Derwent, so you won't be that far from the Festival itself and there isn't any chance that staff would find you camping out in a spare room. If you want that is,"
Seven voices replied with answers of "Yes!", "Yea!" and "Absolutely!"
A white mansion built in English fashion was situated before a convoy of seven cars, Twilight already knew how to get there with no help needed.
"Wow, I've always wanted to see inside this place!" she gleefully mentioned.
Walking inside, Luke showed the girls a large room with red walls and a large chandelier dangling from the ceiling that glistened like diamonds.
Rarity spun around and marvelled at the place, "I do love the decor, absolutely exquisite."
Luke lead the way to the largest room in the mansion, large enough to fit eight or nine beds. It was currently filled with two carpets and a wooden desk.
"I think you should all be able to fit in here, now if we had something for you to sleep in..."
A nonexistent lightbulb lit up over Fluttershy's head, "The spare room! All of our stuff is in the spare room, including the sleeping bags Maverick gave us."
Luke smiled, "That guy is great, nice to everyone. I'll go get it for you, hey um... Applejack, can I borrow your truck?"
Applejack tossed him the keys to her Mercedes X-Class, "Sure thing sugercube!"
Luke walked out the front door, but poked his head back inside, "Make yourselves at home, I'll be half an hour at most!"
He closed the door and hopped into Applejack's truck. As the sound of the three litre V6 faded, the girls were left with an empty house to themselves.
Sunset leaned against the blue wall, "I can't believe what happened back there. I mean, I can because it did happen, but it's crazy."
Rainbow let her grin show, "Yeah, like, what if he had-"
Twilight shot Rainbow's question down instantly, "Nothing would have happened, just don't say anything more."
"I agree, it was really terrifying," Fluttershy squeaked.
Rainbow mumbled, "Suit yourself."
The girls spent the next ten minutes exploring the house, they found the living room which had a fifty inch television set up on the wall.
Thirty minutes of watching TV later, Maverick returned with all of the girl's possessions. They helped bring them into the room they now occupied.
"Would you look at the time... Its already ten. I'm gonna turn in," Luke stated.
Sunset raised an eyebrow, "You go to bed at ten?"
"Yeah, being the director of the Festival requires a decent amount of sleep. I'm not here to be your parent or anything, but don't stay up until like three in the morning, goodnight."
Twilight slowly crept out from under the duvet cover that blanketed her, light seemed to be absent from the room. She picked up her phone and checked the time.
Five thirty, nice.
She tiptoed to her backpack and picked up a star shaped hair tie, purple star decorated skirt, blue striped shirt, a pair of sneakers with socks and thick glasses that were all neatly placed on top of it.
Twilight sneaked her way to the door, into the hallway and to the bathroom where she changed from her pajamas to her normal clothes.
Sneaking back into the room occupied by six sleeping friends of hers, Twilight set her pajamas down and fished around in her backpack until her hand brushed against a leather and metal key fob, she pulled it out and stuffed it into her pocket.
She made her way to the front door, unsure if Luke had locked it for the night. Pulling the handle was met with a lot of resistance.
Okay there goes sneaking out, now I have to actually find the key.
*click*
Rainbow would have been impressed by the speed Twilight shifted her body to face the noise, she found a far away source of light had been turned on.
Her brain ran through ten thoughts a second, who was that? Where's the light source? Is it an intruder? Is it Luke? One of the girls?
Walking towards the room, Twilight found Luke sitting on the couch with his legs on the table watching TV. He froze when she came into view.
"Oh! I didn't see you."
Twilight blushed and awkwardly chuckled, "Yeah sorry, can I ask you something though?"
Luke sat up straight, looking a bit puzzled, "Uh, sure, what is it?"
"Okay so when I used to play Horizon Four before we got teleported here I used to watch the sunrise from the top of Moorhead Wind Farm, and it's near sunrise so can I go do it for real? Pleeeeeeeease?" Twilight pleaded.
"Y... Yeah I guess, the door key is here," he said while passing her the key. "Just leave it on the counter, okay?"
Twilight nodded and thanked him before unlocking the front door and leaving the key on the kitchen counter.
Using her own key, she unlocked her now fixed Apollo IE. It came as a surprise that a replacement rear bumper for a million dollar hypercar was available on such short notice.
Twilight buckled in and put the key in the ignition, letting the 6.3 Litre naturally aspirated V12 spring to life, before lifting the front end up and turning high beams on.
Always good to lift the front end up when not on roads, she told herself.
Navigating the world of Horizon Britain was like child's play to Twilight, sometimes she found it easier than Canterlot City.
While it would be easier to drive through the Lakehurst Forest to reach Moorhead, going up the M 68 was a much more thrilling route.
Five minutes, ten minutes? Twilight wasn't sure, but it didn't take her long to reach the south end of the M 68.
The clock in the Apollo's centre console read 5:49, giving her eleven minutes to make it to Moorhead before sunrise.
Oh well, just means I can floor it!
Brutal acceleration was on Twilight's side as the Intensa hit 60mph in 2.7 seconds. The speed limit was set to said 60mph, something Twilight didn't really care for.
Her exit soon materialised, she flipped the indicators on and pulled towards it, still going 70mph.
Checking the clock again, it read 5:53 as Twilight turned right, onto a large dirt clearing at the top of Moorhead Wind Farm.
She noticed a condiments vendor set up and decided to buy a cup of coffee with the money from her glove compartment, it was pretty useful to have.
Twilight stared out at the rising sunlight through the Glen Rannoch mountains when a question popped into her brain, "Do I want to go home?"
She had family and friends back home, they would want to see her safe again, or at least know where seven girls went.
It does help that we've been gone roughly ten hours though. Twilight's brain calculated.
For the moment, she was treating this as a one shot situation, there was no second chances.
If she chose to leave, she could kiss this world goodbye.
But if she chose to stay... She would have to say goodbye to her best friends.
The thought made Twilight reflect on all the good times they had together, the Friendship Games, Camp Everfree, saving the Daring Do set, Equestria Land, the Spring Cruise...
Could she just ditch them for a life of racing?
The simple answer was she could, but she didn't want to.
Would they see it as selfish? Would they understand? Would I be happy with the choice? What if I go back and it's the wrong decision? What if I stay and it's the wrong decision? What if I-
Twilight stopped her brain from shifting into maximum overdrive and chose to enjoy the sunrise like she had planned.
She could see Edinburgh City far off in the distance, glistening with street lights and cars that were no more than small specks of moving colour.
Twilight took in the view, noticing Bamburgh Castle out of the corner of her eye.
"Oh yeah, that's today isn't it..." she mused.
The switch finally clicked inside her mind after a few seconds, "That's today!"
Chugging down the last dregs of her coffee, Twilight ran to her Apollo and slipped in through the driver door. She turned the key and shifted into reverse, pulling a frantic J-turn onto the road.
Twilight pulled up outside of Derwent Mansion, she was in such a rush to open the front door that she forgot to close her car door.
"IT'S TODAY! EVERYONE GET UP! NOW NOW NOW!" A purple girl shrieked at the top of her lungs as she burst into the room with six sleeping girls inside.
That's if you replace the words scared half to hell with the word sleeping.
Sunset shot up, molding her body to a karate like stance, "W- wmhwah! What's today?"
"It's today!"
"What is today?! Tell us!" Rarity commanded.
Twilight threw her hands up, "The Titan! You know... The Cross Country race we've been practicing for all week!"
And just like that, the room descended into pure chaos.
"I was just about to say, that's in three hours," Luke said while in the doorway, holding a cup of coffee.
Seven cars blasted through quiet roads, shattering the peace with an ear splitting roar of various engines.
"Come on! I am NOT being late for this!" Twilight said to her friends through the Snapgap call. "We have twenty minutes until the race starts!"
"Blame Rarity," Sunset said.
There was an audible gasp from the fashionista before she spoke, "You can't blame me for this, can you?"
"Who was the one that took an hour and a half doing their makeup and hair?" Rainbow asked in a cocky tone.
The only answer she got was silence and then a burst of laughter from most of the girls.
Their mirth was replaced with uncertainty, or in Twilight's case even more excitement as they passed under a big 'Horizon H' Logo spread out above Bamburgh Road.
Between Bamburgh Castle and the nearby lighthouse laid the official start point of the race. As this was a Cross Country race, the cars were specifically of the 'Rally Monsters' category.
A small section of Bamburgh Road had been closed off for the race, two lifting barriers allowed cars to enter and leave the section, Twilight pulled up to the booth that opererated them.
"Hi, we're here for the race," she said politely after rolling down her window.
"You got a pass?" the guard asked in a voice that radiated authority.
Twilight's eyes shrank to pinpricks, "Oh..."
"Sorry miss, no pass, I can't let you in."
Luke leaned over, making himself known and displaying his Director pass, "It's fine, they're with me!"
"Oh, in that case, go right ahead!" The guard happily said, raising the barrier.
Upon being asked, Luke explained, "I've asked the security detail to check absolutely everyone. You wouldn't believe the amount of people we have trying to get in with their rustbucket Civics these days."
The seven strong convoy pulled up, each car receiving various looks that ranged from delight to confusion at why mostly supercars were at a Cross Country race.
Twilight parked on the side of the road and got out of her Apollo Intensa Emozione, Luke following her and exiting through the passenger door.
"Thanks alot for the ride, now I gotta go set this up, see ya!" Luke exclaimed before two Horizon Staff escorted him to the main stand.
"Hehe, see ya!"
Fluttershy locked her Charger and strolled over to Twilight, "What do we do now?"
As if appearing out of thin air, Maverick walked over to the group, "Hey! Glad to see you here, you excited?"
Pinkie was the first to respond, "Sorta, yeah! It's going to be so mu-"
Twilight jumped into the conversation, "Of course! But we don't know what cars we're racing."
Maverick waved a hand, gesturing for them to follow, "I'll show you the starting line." The starting line consisted of two rows, with six cars each. The girls occupied spots three to nine.
Twilight discovered that spot three hosted a Hoonigan Liveried Ford RS200 Evolution, fierce modifications inside matched the fierce exterior.
Sunset looked to the right of the Ford and found a bright blue M-Sport Fiesta RS. Also a Ford. Hmm... Blue isn't exactly my color, but it looks nice.
Rarity stood at the back of the RS200, admiring a Rockstar liveried Volkswagen Global Rallycross Beetle. It reminded her of her own car back home, without the huge wing attached to the back.
"This is lookin' mighty fine," Applejack complimented the Gymkhana 10 Ford Escort Cosworth Group A in spot six, in a similar Hoonigan livery to Twilight's RS200.
A grey, red and white #199 Subaru WRX STI VT15R Rally Car held the seventh spot behind Rarity, Fluttershy thought it looked rather nice for a sedan.
Rainbow wasn't one to be into cars, she left that to Twilight. However, seeing the Honda Civic Coupe GRC in the eighth spot next to Fluttershy reminded her of the Civic Type R that her boss Spitfire drove, and she knew that car was slick.
"Nice."
No one was surprised with what was in the ninth spot, reserved for Pinkie Pie. A bright pink Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 was parked in it, with a wing that made Twilight's eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets.
Spots one, two, ten, eleven and twelve were taken by other various rally beasts. The only thing Twilight cared about was making sure none of them got first place.
There was a collective silence before Maverick broke it, "Cool, right? Okay, let's get you girls ready!"
He jerked a thumb towards a clothes rail with racing suits, gloves and helmets, "Once you're ready, just meet back here or something."
It looked like something straight out of a science fiction movie, seven girls were suited up in identical black racing suits, gloves on their hands and helmets over their heads.
"Hey! You guys noticed we look like clones of eachother? We could pull a super duper prank on people!" Pinkie noted, cartwheeling around the area.
"Yes, it's a shame I had to take my nails off for the gloves to fit, but that's life I guess. Or as they say in France, c'est la vie—" Rarity began as a familiar voice rippled through the tannoy system.
"Will all racers proceed to the starting line, I repeat, will all racers proceed to the starting line," Luke announced.
Twilight called her friends over and addressed them, "Okay, this is one of three races we need to complete. Podium places are one through three, but that doesn't matter. The best bet for us is to get places one through seven, don't let anyone get in front of you."
"Got it!" Six girls replied in unison, before walking to each of their cars and getting in.
From her rear mirror, Twilight could see Maverick going to each and every car for a few seconds before moving up the starting grid, he soon reached her after Sunset, "You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, we're gonna win this."
Maverick chuckled, "From what I've seen, of course you are. Good luck."
Twilight gave him a polite wave and watched him finish off with the cars in spots one and two. He gave a thumbs up to Luke, who stood on the overhead platform that stretched over the road, microphone in hand.
"This, is the race that will decide who is accepted into the Cross Country Horizon Roster. I wish all of you the best of luck." Luke said smiling at Twilight, "Now, let's race!"
Her cheeks blushed a crimson red before her gaze averted to the screen just below Luke, it displayed a big 'READY' before changing to 'SET' and finally 'GO!'
Twilight slammed her foot onto the gas pedal harder than she ever had before, the white 'Proxes' logo on the tires becoming a white blur within a few seconds.
In those few seconds, she ran through the rough sketch of the route she had in her head, Past the lighthouse, that jump, bunch of fields, across the motorway, Fairlawn Manor, the biiig jump, that one corner and then the train yard.
Twilight yanked the wheel right, overtaking Sunset in the blue Fiesta.
She caught Sunset's mouth moving through the side mirror, whatever she had said was a mystery.
Twilight dropped onto the sandy beach after the two ahead, kicking up a sandstorm for Sunset and whoever was behind.
Clearing the rocks by the lighthouse, a ramp that stood before the racers came into view.
Accelerating hard, Twilight pressed onwards, catching some air before landing at the far edge of a small pond. The AWD drivetrain helped to navigate it.
Situated next to the pond was a farm, however it was devoid of all animals. Either because it was abandoned or they were moved for the race.
Probably the latter.
Jumping over a pair of train tracks, Twilight tried to focus on her rear view mirror, all the girls were still going strong, not letting anyone get the better of them.
Cutting through spacious wheat fields, she decided now would be a good time to try and overtake. It was... Surprisingly easy.
"Hah! Wow, that wasn't as hard as I thought," Twilight cheered.
She pressed on, widening the gap between her car and theirs as Greendale Airstrip drew close. It was lined with red and white water filled barriers and tires stacked on top of each other, creating two paths.
Twilight sharply turnt to the right, Oh, I know what one I'm going for!
"Woah, woah! Hey what the hell was that for?"
Sunset seemed to be having a much more difficult time than Twilight. With the cars from spots one and two directly ahead of her, she decided it would be a good idea to overtake on this small section of airport runway.
That was until one of them, a Rahal Letterman Fiesta, decided to almost push her into the stacked tires and water filled barriers.
Sunset let off the gas pedal for a second, this was one of the reasons she quit watching street races as a teenager. They were always quick to finish and ended up in a wreck or a near death crash. She had to wonder if this was the guy from Edinburgh.
A quick look to the left disproved that theory.
Enough with that, just overtake him!
Sunset shifted up a gear and jerked the wheel to the right, slowly gaining the upper hand.
Jerking the wheel left again, she made sure that they couldn't overtake once dense trees covered one side of the path with more red and white barriers on the other side, forcing drivers into a single file line.
The Ford Focus RS RX in second place was much more aggravating, going so far as to brake check her as they came out of the trees and into a clearing.
Sunset seethed, "Ooh, you seem a bit cocky, let's change that."
She pushed her M-Sport Fiesta to 140mph and got about a car length away from the rear bumper of her opponent.
It was simple, Sunset would wait for the driver to try and brake check her, she would swerve to the right and overtake them in one swift motion.
She focused on the rear lights, eager for them to light up a deathly red.
Sunset got her wish, as the Focus slammed on the brakes and the lights lit up. She had made sure no other car was on the right to cause some sort of wreck.
Pulling with all the force her hands could muster, she yanked away from the rear of the Focus. Leaving it at the mercy of gravity, which had problems with lightweight and nimble cars such as the Focus.
Sunset peeked into her rear view mirror, noticing that her opponent's ride had turned sideways, then proceeding to lift up off of the bare Earth and fly into the air, rolling over at high speeds above 100mph. Carbon fibre body panels being reduced to a shriveled wreck.
"Ohhhhhhhhh..."
Rainbow frantically turned the wheel as her Honda dove for safety, hoping that it wouldn't be hit with a flying Ford Focus.
It's driver felt the exact same way.
"What in the actual hell was that?!"
She frantically looked to the side mirror, mortified to see a burning carcass of a Rally Car turned upside down on it's roof. Looking at the surrounding cars, everyone else had also seemed to move at the right time.
"Quick reflexes gotta count for somethin' I guess," she said.
Pulling a moderately sharp left turn and jumping over another ramp, Rainbow slowly inched closer to Sunset's car until they were side by side in the Queensforth Golf Course. Both of them shared the second position for a moment.
She looked to the left and jerked a thumb backwards after Sunset had noticed, who gave a small shrug.
The pair neared a road and Rainbow charged ahead, the Honda she drove gaining some air.
"Oh yeah! That's what I'm talking about."
Landing with a pretty big thud, she corrected the now skewed appearance of the car as it nearly collided with the Rahal Letterman Fiesta she had overtaken.
I definitely don't want to be the second person to end up like that. Rainbow thought.
Fluttershy was pretty worried at the moment.
Shortly after the racer had left Greendale Airstrip, a sneaky opponent had came up her Subaru's backside and swept past, leaving her in eighth place behind Twilight, Sunset, Rainbow Dash, a Rahal Letterman Fiesta, Rarity, Applejack and now a yellow Ford RS200. Pinkie Pie and two more rally cars were the only ones behind her.
Evidently the two rally cars weren't going to be nice, they persisted in gaining the eighth and ninth positions using the fields of Fairlawn to their advantage.
The two cars won the fight against Fluttershy, leaving her and Pinkie in the dust while they breezed along the grass.
Fluttershy could almost feel tears welling up in her eyes, B-but Twilight said if we don't get to the first seven places we might not go home!
She felt like giving up, pulling to the side and not finishing the race—
—But the thought that two mean people could just do that! It unnerved her.
Something inside Fluttershy changed, she felt... a little angry.
No! I'm not going to be left here, I'm going to win this race!
Fluttershy's expression became one of determination, she was dead set on not letting anyone get one over on her.
Her foot nearly crushed the gas pedal, aligning the Subaru with a ramp up ahead beside Fairlawn Manor.
Time seemed to slow down... Or speed up. Fluttershy wasn't sure what one, but she knew that adrenaline was coursing through her veins faster than her car was going as it climbed up the ramp and all four wheels spun in mid air.
The Subaru came back to earth with an almighty clunk, the wheels regaining contact and catapulting Fluttershy to the ninth position.
"Yay!"
Granted, she was known as the pink-haired kind girl who loved animals, but it felt good to let loose a little bit of anger every once in a while. Especially on the mean people.
She kept on moving ahead, passing into the eighth position by cutting up the other car in a sharp right turn.
"Haha! Serves you right, meanie!"
Rarity had just managed to come out of that turn unscathed, she restored the yellow Beetle to a position that wasn't sideways.
Leaving a trail of flattened grass in her wake, she maneuvered around another right turn marked by water-filled barriers, kicking up a storm of dirt.
The thought of overtaking that pesky Ford Fiesta crossed her mind, now seemed like a good time to try.
Rarity swiftly moved to the left, only to be nearly clipped by a speeding Subaru that forced her to reverse the wheel and move right.
"Is that.. Fluttershy?" she asked.
Her answer came in the form of the Subaru passing to fourth place, it was like everyone else had been given some sort of penalty that forced them to slow down.
Looking in her side mirror, Rarity saw that Applejack, a yellow Ford, Pinkie Pie and two other cars were behind her.
She wanted in on passing at that speed, shifting up a gear and turning to the left again.
Not being much faster than the Fiesta, it gave the driver enough time to spot the Rockstar liveried Beetle attacking.
They turned to the left in a crazy fashion, only to jerk away from Rarity, and repeat it again.
"Gyah!! And to think people enjoy this! This is insane!" she screamed, wanting to get ahead as soon as possible.
Her opponent had backed off, staying to the opposite side of the course.
Noticing a left turn coming up, Rarity kept to the left side. She hit the brakes and cut through the inside of the turn before shooting out of it with her foot clamped down, now in fifth place.
Two green flags were set up just before what looked to be an electricity transmission tower with a narrow slit between them.
She decided to embrace it, slowing down and narrowly missing one of the metal supports.
I just hope there's no more of this insanity later...
Applejack was pretty sure this was her favourite type of driving.
Ever since she had been a little child, her Granny Smith had let her drive the tractors at Sweet Apple Acres. She also helped Big Mac with Zap Apple Cider deliveries and got to drive the work truck on a few occasions.
The rough terrain was so familiar, although driving a lightweight, eight hundred horsepower, car that was specifically designed for rallying felt like a bit too much.
"This darn thing is so hard to control," she frustratedly said, near missing a fence, "Gosh darn it. Ah clipped it didn't Ah?"
No contact was felt, so she brushed it off and looked up at the unreasonably sized hill that the cars ahead were driving up.
Applejack followed with mild curiosity, unsure of it there was a 180 turn or a drop.
One benefit of the Ford Escort Cosworth is that it is very light, which Applejack used to overtake the Fiesta that stood in her way.
She reached for the gearstick and put the Escort into sixth gear, only then did she notice that a long sixty foot fall awaited her.
With nerves of steel, she shot forward and left the edge of the small mountain, gripping the steering wheel like a life preserver. A monumental jolt rocked her very core as the car landed back on stable ground.
"Gguh, I feel dizzy..."
Luckily she couldn't see any more plunges of doom, but she could see a train yard and a big finish flag waving in the midday wind.
Boy am I in a doozy!
Pinkie Pie bounced back and forth in her seat, that jump had really shaken her up. She recalled Maverick saying about a train yard being the finish. Squinting her eyes, she could see rail cars in the distance.
Looking closer to the surrounding area, she caught eight cars ahead. Two of which didn't seem to be any of her friends.
Running the math through her brain, she came to the conclusion that this was a bad, bad situation.
Pinkie started to panic, "I'm number nine, I need to be seven! Oh no, oh no!"
She fished around in her left pocket before grabbing hold of an orange and pink sweet wrapper, she unravelled it and plopped the red candy inside into her mouth.
Her body started to jitter even more, then her hands started to glow a bright pink. The glow manifested around the entire Peugeot she drove, before swirling to the back end and sliding into the exhaust pipe.
A few tense seconds later, pink flames soared out of the exhaust and the world became even more of a blur. There was a large gap between the two cars ahead of her and her friends. Time to go for it!
"Let's make up for the lost time, woohoo!!"
The Peugeot shot forth, blasting by the two Fords that now held the eighth and ninth spots.
It didn't seem to stop, its driver being eager to clear the gap between her and her friends.
Twilight hit the brakes, letting Sunset catch up to her RS200 before lightly touching the gas.
Sunset checked her mirrors, pleased to see Fluttershy of all people in third place.
Wow, nice work, Flutters.
Fluttershy eased up on the throttle, falling beside the blue M-Sport Fiesta.
I did it, woohoo!
Rainbow's Honda Civic GRC maneuvered next to the grey Subaru, she gave a two finger salute to Fluttershy and smiled.
Rarity let the engine in the VW cool off, sliding next to Twilight.
"I need a nice spa appointment after this..."
Applejack came up their rear ends rather quickly, she fell in line next to Rarity and her Beetle.
"Where's Pinkie?" she asked herself, not being able to see any bright pink car in sight.
A hundred meters ahead, was the finish line surrounded by empty rail cars. It would be a real problem if Pinkie never made it to seventh place.
As if summoned by Applejack's thoughts, a bright pink Peugeot materialised behind the top six.
She could see the expression of it's driver, very, very determined.
The car seemed to have no intentions of slowing down, the girls jerked their cars to the right and left, leaving an opening for the temporary missile. The 1.8 litre four cylinder engine catapulted it through the scattering racers as hot pink continued to shoot from the exhaust. Only before the finish line did it seem to partially slow down, claiming the first place position before anyone else.
Twilight decided that she'd go for second, inching ahead of her friends to bag it. In her usual style, she pulled a 360 spin directly over the line. The spectating crowd was rather pleased with it.
Sunset followed in her tracks, gravitating the Fiesta to the third spot.
Rainbow copied her, pursued by Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy.
One by one, the girls pulled towards where Horizon Staff were pointing and parked their cars, Pinkie eating a cupcake as she got out of the Peugeot.
"Care to explain what was that all about then?" Luke asked as he walked over to the group, mainly focused on Pinkie.
"What you gotta understand is... She's Pinkie Pie," Rainbow said.
"Which means..." Sunset continued.
"We don't know." Twilight finished.
Pinkie stood there, eating her cupcake.
After a few seconds Luke let out a defeated sigh, "Well, you won regardless. So congratulations."
"Does this mean we'll be in the whatchamacallit? Ah forgot." Applejack said.
"The Roster, yeah." Luke responded nonchalantly.
Cheers of elation and exhilaration were all he got in response.
"Okay, so now that's over and done with, how about we just chill?" Rainbow said.
"I agree, that was pretty nerve wracking," Sunset replied, shuddering at the thought of the Focus that crashed.
Six cars drove down the driveway of Derwent Mansion, Twilight at the forefront. They pulled up and walked to the front door, exhausted from an exceptionally long rally race. Despite chilling on Bamburgh beach for a few hours, everyone was still low on energy.
Luke unlocked the door and let everyone in before stepping inside himself, bidding everyone farewell before heading for the bedroom.
"It's a little after ten, I'll see you in the morning, goodnight!"
"Goodnight!" Twilight waved.
She entered the room with the girls, opting to jump in bed and sleep.
Once everyone did the same, Twilight closed her eyes and waited for sleep to overtake her body.
"It sure was eventful, but it was nice," Rarity replied.
"I really enjoyed it!" Twilight chimed in, jumping into bed.
1:30am
"Ugh, come on." Twilight sighed, she had been up for the past fifteen minutes trying to sleep, it seemed to elude her.
3:45am
Twilight sat up straight, "Forget it."
She tip-toed out of the room and into the kitchen, grabbing a glass and some water.
As she was slowly sipping the cup down, Twilight couldn't help but wonder why she was having so much trouble staying asleep. The only reasonable answer her brain came up with was that the excitement of winning was enough to keep her up.
Noticing a flight of stairs from the corner of her eye, she put down the glass and walked towards it. She recalled a memory of seeing the balcony on the top level of the house in the game back home. She crept up the stairs to the second floor, taking decisive steps so no noise was heard, only to be met with a ladder.
Twilight opened a small hatch that revealed a rain-soaked landing and two Venetian chairs covered by an outdoor umbrella.
"This must be that balcony..."
She sat down on one of the chairs, overlooking the Derwent Water lake. If she looked hard enough, Glen Rannoch was visible in the distance. She snapped a photo of it with her phone, to look back on when she went home.
If she went home.
Breathing a slow sigh, Twilight listened for anything in the dead of night, when she heard the hatch behind her open again.
She turned around to see Luke climbing out of it.
He gave Twilight a puzzled look, "What are you doing up here?"
"Just taking in the view, not like I'm going to see it again," Twilight replied with another sigh.
Luke sat down on the other chair, "You okay?"
"I... Guess so."
"Are you sure?"
Twilight looked out to the lake and the mountains, then back at him, "I'm not entirely sure if me and the others are going to be able to leave this place, I'm not sure if I want to."
There was a few seconds of silence before Luke asked, "Want to?"
"I don't know if I want to actually leave, this has" — Twilight paused and looked away — "kind of been my own personal dream to come to this world for the past three years."
"You wanna go for a drive then?" Luke offered.
Twilight stood up and started to climb back down the hatch, "Sure, but I'm driving."
Luke chuckled a bit, "I've seen your driving and it is terrifying."
Turning the key in the ignition, Luke let his Porsche warm up while Twilight sat in the passenger seat this time.
"I still don't see why I can't drive, I'm good at it!"
Luke turned to face her, "The only thing you're good at while driving is nearly giving me a heart attack, so I'll drive this time."
Twilight crossed her arms in an attempt to pout, "Fine..."
Pulling out onto the asphalt roads, the car gradually sped up to 60mph (97kmh), light bouncing off of the snow white paintwork as they slipped through the trees and mountains.
"So... What was that part about you not wanting to leave?" Luke asked.
Twilight turned towards the window, "I'm certain the girls didn't want to be here, they all want to go back home, but I..."
"Want to stay?"
Twilight nodded.
The pair stopped talking, the only thing making any noise was the flat-six behind them.
"What do you think?" Twilight asked.
"I think... That's something that you should choose yourself. But if you do feel you'd want to stay here, you can crash at mine if you'd like, I wouldn't mind helping you find a job at the Festival."
A light blush spread across Twilight's face, "Thanks, I'll think about it."
The two continued their journey through Ambleside, past the South entrance of the Festival and through the desolate streets of Broadway, until they were gracefully met with the M 68 motorway. Luke gently eased the Porsche through the roundabout and into the fast lane, then accelerated to 120mph (193kmh).
The rear lights of other vehicles became mere blurs, blending in to the rest of the scenery.
He slid the car over to the left lane and flipped the indicator on, signalling to the off-ramp a few hundred metres ahead.
Twilight pulled out her aux cord and phone, "Hey can I put on some—"
Smash
She felt the entire weight of the car shift to one side, then the other, then back again until the car came to a screeching halt and her entire body was launched at the door.
"AAAAGH," Twilight yelled out, her shoulder taking the brunt of the impact.
She turned to see if Luke was okay, "Are you fine?" she asked.
"Y-yeah." he said through heavy breaths.
Just as she was about to call her friends, Twilight's brain lodged a theory at the center of her mind.
She felt time slow to a crawl as her vision became almost blurry and a sudden rush of adrenaline coursed through her veins, faster than the top speed of a dragster.
Twilight unbuckled the seatbelt pinning her down and jammed open the door, running out to see the rear lights of a BMW speeding off into the hazy sunrise.
"Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?!"
"Wait what?" Luke said as he ran up behind her.
"THAT GUY, HE HIT THE CAR!"
Luke raised an eyebrow, "I..."
Twilight grabbed him by the shoulders, though her hands shook from both shock and anger, "The guy that I won a race to in Edinburgh, you nearly killed, and has now crashed your car into a tree!"
"Oh. That guy."
"Yes. That, guy." Twilight said through gritted teeth.
They both turned to look back at the Porsche. The entire right side of the car had dents and scratches stretching across its length. The rear light was hanging on by only wires, with the boot above it lifted open. Cracked carbon fibre ravaged the wing and body panels. The rear wheel was completely caved into the body from colliding with the tree, Twilight expected this meant major damage to the chassis and frame.
The tree however, seemed to be fine.
Luke picked up the fallen numberplate off of the road and let out a long sigh, "I wish it didn't have to end like this, I was going to sell the car to someone that would have taken care of it,"
"You're going to scrap it? Not even get it repaired?"
"It would cost too much to repair the damage, and whatever isn't can be used for spare parts at the Festival. Besides, I've been looking for an upgrade," he said.
Twilight raised an eyebrow, "What kind of upgrade?"
"Oh, you'll see."
"Are... You... W.. Wha?"
Back at the Festival, Twilight stared in utter awe at the car beheld before her. She still wondered if she was on some mad drug trip from that party at Sunset's she went to and everything after it was some hallucination, or if this world could actually get any more crazier.
"Do we need to call someone?" Sunset asked.
Luke laughed, "Nah, give it a few minutes,"
"So let me get this straight, your GT3 RS gets wrecked by that... Loser. And your answer is, this? What is it exactly?" Twilight asked accusingly.
"It's the Koenigsegg Gemera! It's got four seats."
Something about that statement struck Twilight as suspicious. Wait... Koenigsegg, four seats?!
Seeing the puzzled expression on her face, Luke pressed a button on his key fob and the Gemera sprung to life. Both of it's dihedral synchro-helix doors lifted up to showcase the four seat layout of the interior. Twilight looked on in amazement.
"This is a Ge... mera?" Rarity asked.
Twilight twisted her around and forced her to look dead at the car, "Yes it's a Gemera! And if I'm correct, they haven't made this in our world yet! How does this even exist!"
"Noted," Rarity replied, not having a clue what Twilight was on about.
Luke pointed to the road just behind where they were parked, "If you think that's cool, just look at what's coming."
A second Koenigsegg Gemera rounded the bend and parked up next to the group. Twilight swore she could hear DJ Khaled saying another one somewhere in the distance. She looked over to the Festival Mainstage and saw him up there, she didn't even question it.
Maverick slid out of the driver seat and walked up to Luke, handing him the keys to the car, "There ya go boss, two Koenigsegg Gemeras. I'm still curious what you need them for?"
"Well, I'll be driving one, and so will Twilight of course!" Luke explained as he passed the second key over to Twilight.
"Fair enough. Speaking of you lot, The Gauntlet is in an hour, you miiiight want to get over there," Maverick said.
"Alright. Rainbow, AJ and Pinkie, you go with Luke. Sunset, Fluttershy and Rarity will be with me," Twilight said as she got comfy in her new Koenigsegg.
"Promise me t-that you won't go fast, please," Fluttershy added.
Twilight only smiled.
The pair of Hyper GTs found themselves parked up opposite to Bamburgh Castle in an empty car park. It had long since been abandoned, making it the perfect place for Horizon Staff to set up.
Luke lead the convoy in his grey Gemera, gaining access for him and the girls as they drove through the entrance.
"Hey... Haven't we been here before?" Pinkie asked, stepping out from one of the back seats.
"Yes, but we're going to go the other way this time," Twilight explained.
The girls wasted no time in adorning their racing suits and meeting up at the starting line, what they were met with was very surprising.
Twilight ran up to a DeBerti Design Ford F-150 Prerunner in second place, she eagerly jumped in, ready to throw it around some dirt trails.
Sunset's vehicle, a Toyota #1 T100 Baja Trophy Truck, occupied third place in the startling line. Noticing the lack of windows, she walked up to Twilight, sat in her Ford.
"Why's it got no windows?"
"To quote Top Gear... Because Windows in a trophy truck would have the life expectancy of a depressed mayfly," Twilight replied.
Applejack's vehicle was the RJ Anderson Pro 2 Truck that held fourth place, packing 850bhp from a 7.2L V8. She felt a strange similarity to Big Mac's truck.
Close enough, she thought.
Rarity circled a red and white Honda Ridgeline Trophy Truck scrutinising every aspect of it. She noted the absence of windows like Sunset's Toyota. However, she felt a lot less worried about that when she remembered the racing suit she was wearing.
Fluttershy sat inside a black and yellow Mini X-Raid Countryman, she turned on the AC and let the insides warm up. The addition of windows making her more confident about the race.
Rainbow admired the Ford Rockstar F-150 Trophy Truck in seventh place. She noticed the Rockstar energy logo on the side, and remembered her Rainbooms stage name, Rockin' Rainbow.
Pinkie Pie stood next to a peculiar vehicle, a Quartz Regalia Type-D. She took a second to take in the absolute insanity of the car, before pulling a cupcake from the depths of her hair, eating it, and climbing inside.
Twilight noticed the Regalia in her side mirror. She contemplated getting out and asking Pinkie Pie to check if she had the right car, but Maverick was checking up on all the drivers before the race. He reached Twilight after a minute and handed her the key.
"Enjoying the Ford?" Maverick asked.
Twilight eagerly nodded, "How much horsepower has it got?"
Maverick put on a small grin, "Nineteen hundred."
Twilight chuckled at the ludicrous potential of the truck with that amount of power, "Wow, thats a lot!"
"Yeah, Brad DeBerti has been working on this one for a while, enjoy it!" Maverick said before going on to the other drivers.
Luke once again stood with a microphone on the overhead platform. He signalled to a staff member who activated concert sized speakers and addressed the racers.
"To some, this may seem like just another race. To some, this may seem like just another dirt trail... But be warned, the Gauntlet is a cold, unforgiving route, where only those who have what it takes... Will make it to the finish line."
He lifted an arm up into the air, and spoke into the mic, "Now, are you ready!"
The crowd cheered and hollered, eager for the race to begin.
Luke nodded to another staff member, who turned on the overhead screen.
Twilight watched as it displayed a bright READY! before changing to SET! and finally GO!
She shoved her foot down onto the gas, making use of the horsepower. Pulling to the right onto a dirt trail, Twilight really felt the weight shift to one side.
Remembering the trail as The Orchards Speed Zone, she pushed through it with force, breaking past 95mph. Definitely a three star run.
Twilight pulled the truck up a zig-zagging hill climb, feeling the weight trying to push her back into her seat. She noticed a right turn with a long road ahead.
Nice to see some asphalt in this race! She thought.
Before Twilight knew what was happening, she swung left back onto another dirt trail, weaving through Sunset and another racer into the Mudkickers Adventure Park claiming the lead position.
Where is she going? Sunset asked herself, seeing the Ford to her left.
She followed suit and pushed her Toyota through the jumps of Mudkickers, kicking up mud as the name suggested.
Sunset took on the dirt hills furiously, she leaped over one, next to Twilight's Ford. They shared a quick glance and a smile before looking ahead.
It was only as she was coming back to Earth that she saw the large puddle of water ahead and the distinct lack of windows her vehicle had.
"Oh shi-"
Water invaded the cabin as she landed with a thunderous splash, the only thing protecting her was the racing suit she wore.
More eager than ever to just finish this race, Sunset pushed on the gas and left Mudkickers, blazing onto Oldweir road and into Derwent Reservoir.
Rainbow Dash was five places behind Sunset and Twilight as they crossed over to the other side of Derwent Reservoir, she pulled her #11 Ford Rockstar F-150 up a hill and onto the Woodland Walk trail that cut through thick trees and lead past the quarry.
She caught a glimpse of it through the metal fence to her left as she traversed the trail that was exceptionally slippery.
She neared a turn, slowing down to 60mph and hitting the apex before pulling through, foot planted on the gas.
As Rainbow went to straighten the wheel, she felt the truck turning further right than she wanted, the rear tires slipping on the mud.
"Nononononono!" Rainbow panicked and tried to counter-steer, but it was no use and she braced for impact with what she guessed would be a tree.
The Ford slammed into an oak tree and her body was thrown forward. Her head hit the roll cage and was saved by the helmet for this very occasion, though she started to feel nauseated and couldn't think straight.
Rainbow flung open the door and backed up against away from the vehicle, ripping off the helmet to nurse her developing headache.
Applejack looked into her rear mirror, curious on where the other girls were. Her heart filled with fear when she saw Rainbow's vehicle swerving off course and into a tree.
Her big sisterly instinct kicked in, after all the trouble she and Rainbow went through in past years, it only felt natural.
She spun the her RJ Anderson in the opposite direction and jumped out, running up to the blue girl.
"Ya alright?" Applejack asked, her voice calm but frantic.
Rainbow just let out a groan of pain, Applejack still wasn't sure if she heard it.
"Dash, are ya okay?" she asked again.
Looking up, she replied rubbing her forehead, "Uhmhm, y-yea?" She sounded unsure and almost slurred.
"No broken bones or anythin'?"
"Just a little bit of a crash," Rainbow retorted, she tried standing up, and fell forward. Applejack caught her, feeling like now would be a good time to count herself out of the race.
Helping the girl into her truck she said, "You might not be in the worst shape, but ya need to get checked. I'll help take ya to Maverick or somethin'."
Rainbow just smiled and clutched one of her ribs.
Rarity shifted into fifth gear and left Slate Quarry, shattering the peace and serenity of the area. She felt rather confident about this race, unlike the previous one with the Beetle.
She learned two lessons from that day. One was that putting on her usual makeup and nails is utterly useless, the other being that everyone who enjoyed high-speed battles like this were crazy.
A bumpy and muddy dirt trail carried the race through it's route. The force of the trucks barrelling through sent spats of earth flying up and in every direction.
Keeping a slow pace through the corners, Rarity dared to inch past a fellow opponent in a Jeep Trailcat. She pushed her luck and looked to see who it was, recognising the same blonde hair from the driver of the Beetle.
She panicked. Not wanting to chance being struck, she put the pedal to the metal and shot ahead into fourth position, swinging right towards the dried up riverbed of Derwent Lake. She noted the picturesque atmosphere as she crossed a small bridge.
I suppose there are some nice parts, I'll have to ask Twilight to take me here before we leave, it's simply divine! She thought.
Driving back onto an asphalt road, Rarity took a brief moment to breathe a sigh of relief. She found it much easier than driving through trees. She began to hum the recent Sapphire Shores song she listened to as she drove through more trees and shrubs, the sun glistening through the leaves making it a beautiful sight to behold.
Ripping through a particularly tight hairpin, not far from the Express Railyard, she could almost see why Twilight had been so excited when they ended up here.
Fluttershy sat comfortably in her X-Raid Mini Countryman, just behind Rarity. She didn't feel that terrified about racing this time.
A beam of sunlight cast itself through the Glen Rannoch mountains, so she pulled down a small sun visor. It didn't do much to stop the glistening rays of Derwent Water reaching her though.
Blazing over a small bridge, Fluttershy took in the British countryside while she could, the thought of never seeing Angel again was starting to worry her, but if Twilight's theory of time differences was true, she needn't worry as much.
A quick glance in her rearview mirror made Fluttershy double take. She couldn't see two of the trucks with big "TRAXXAS" logos on the bumpers, she knew these were the ones that Applejack and Rainbow were in. Did they crash, did they quit, did another portal magically appear and take them to another dimension?-
Before her brain could go into overdrive, she took measured breaths and looked down at her hands. They're fiiine, nothing to worry about at all! Absolutely nothing.
A quick glance up at the sharp right ahead made Fluttershy yank her handbrake back and slide the wheel in the opposite direction. The back end of her truck slipped out and she slammed her foot on the gas, letting out an "Eeeeeeeep!" as her truck slid through the corner, throwing tire smoke and burnt rubber up into the air.
The sudden rush of adrenaline brought on from such a stunt pumped through the shy girl's veins. The feeling was like one she had rarely felt before, pure exhilaration.
Fluttershy let out a laugh as she righted her steering and continued down the stretch of asphalt.
"That was unbelievable!" she exclaimed with glee before turning back onto more dirt roads, this time cutting through a chicken farm. She noticed a couple of chickens scrambling to get out of the way of the race in progress, her fear crept back again but was unwarranted as she looked back to see they weren't hurt.
Pinkie sat in the sixth position, she took comfort in the fact that the car she was driving was peculiar, to say the least. A running prototype vehicle based off of one from a fantasy game, it just spoke to her inner madness and she loved it.
It was also bright pink.
Way off in the distance she could see the finish line laid out over the dirt track, she knew she was in the middle of the pack but wanted to catch up to Twilight and the others. Unfortunately, she had ran out of her magical red candies.
The only solution Pinkie came up with was to press random buttons in the cabin.
TCR, ABS, Sport, Sport+, none seemed to help, until she looked at a switch marked 'Air'. Without hesitation, she flipped it up.
The steering wheel folded flat and became more of a big joystick, she felt rumbling in the back of the car and looked over to see the rear wheels had lifted up and sideways to showcase two big jet engines giving her enough force to lift off of the ground. The rear fenders had slid up and out to resemble the wings of a plane, fully complete with functional flaps to provide moment.
"Oh yeah, Pinkie Pie time!"
Pinkie shot up and found herself above the trees and racers. None of them had a chance now. She glided and weaved effortlessly to secure the third position behind Twilight and another driver. She flicked the 'Air' switch down and the car reverted back to a regular automobile within a matter of seconds.
She felt the bump as the Regalia hit the dirt again and continued pushing forward, breezing through the finish line in third place. Crowds looked on in pure shock but were cheering nonetheless.
"Heehee, I love this car!"
The girls stood in a group, backs to their cars as they huddled together.
Pinkie was first to speak, "Did you see that! My car was flying! It was so absodutelylutely amazing!"
"Yeah, I want to know what exactly that was, you almost crushed me!" Rarity exclaimed fanning her face with her glove, Pinkie just gave her a sheepish grin.
Sunset just stayed silent as she held her dripping wet racing suit.
Fluttershy was jumping on the spot and grabbed a tablet from a nearby table, "Did any of you girls see my drift?"
She showed the girls a replay clip of her Mini X-Raid pulling a very sharp angle through a turn, almost cutting up two other drivers and smashing into multiple fences.
The group just stared at Fluttershy in awe as she beamed with delight, Twilight managed to blurt out, "How in the heck..."
Fluttershy had already made plans to talk to Festival staff about getting her into some cars with better sliding potential.
"Hold on a minute darlings... Wheres AJ and Rainbow?" Rarity asked.
The girls looked around and frantically came to the realisation the two trucks and girls weren't at the finish line.
Maverick ran up to them and got their attention, "Don't worry, don't worry, they're both fine. Rainbow Dash had a bit of an accident and Applejack turned back to help her."
"Then what are we sitting around for? Where's Rainbow?!" Sunset asked with an edge to her voice.
Maverick gestured to the two Gemeras he had brought, "Come on, you can go and see her."
Five girls jumped out of their rides and made their way to the Medical section of the Festival. It was on the far left side of the main Festival building and was comprised of a white hallway with a white waiting room. Twilight couldn't tell if it was meant to be modern or resemble an actual hospital.
Everyone filed into a small room on the left of the hallway, in the corner lay Rainbow Dash on a raised bed. She had a large ice pack to her head and her racing helmet was placed on the floor beside her. Applejack got up and greeted them.
"How is she?" Fluttershy asked.
Applejack waved her hand and said, "Shes fine, just a mighty headache and a bit of bruising. Nothing major, but she's gonna feel it for the next few days."
All of the girls let out a big sigh and the tense atmosphere died down. Rainbow lifted an arm in the air and said, "Hey guys, what's up."
"You're what's up, you feeling okay?" Twilight asked her.
Rainbow took a sip of a glass of water and looked at her friends, "Yeah, I'm fine, just had a head on collision with a tree. That's all."
"You're lucky you aren't badly injured! It could've been so much worse," Rarity pondered.
Rainbow nodded and said, "I'm very thankful it wasn't, it was out of my control, for the most part."
"If you don't mind my asking, what actually caused it? Just curious," Twilight sheepishly asked.
"Well, it was when I was going through a corner, fast. Like, really fast. And then, I'm coming out of it and I'm trying to go straight, but it wouldn't! And I was going right even though I was steering left and I ended up smashing into a tree."
"Too much power and a big loss of traction. You were essentially sliding with no way to control it and ended up off course. Unfortunately something that is unstoppable once you've lost grip," Twilight explained.
One of the Festival nurses walked in with a clipboard and announced, "Yep, that pretty much sums it up. By all metrics, a crash like that directly into a tree at over 50mph should've been near enough fatal. You could've been in a lot worse shape had your friend here not noticed and helped you back to the Festival."
Applejack and Rainbow shared a hug and a quick fistbump.
"The next question is... How long will it be before she can safely race again?" Twilight asked to the nurse.
The nurse turned to Rainbow, "Seeing as you miraculously escaped serious injury and have, at most, a strong migraine... I'd say two or three days."
All of the girls sighed in relief again. Twilight broke the short silence that followed after, "Well The Goliath isn't until the end of next week, plenty of time for Rainbow to get back up to speed, and we can just have a nice relaxing weekend. Sound good?"
Everyone nodded in agreement. A couple of seconds later, Luke walked into the room.
"I'm so glad to hear you're all fine and nothing serious happened. We had enough of that with the last race," he said.
Twilight again had a question, "Oh yeah, what ever did happen to that Ford Focus from last time?"
"Pretty bad bruising and a sprained wrist, that driver was also incredibly lucky considering he decided to brake check one of you." Luke explained as he pointed to Sunset.
"Yeeeaaahhhh... Sorry about that."
"Don't worry about it, the main thing is Rainbow Dash is okay. Give it a few days and you can start practicing for The Goliath."
Fluttershy interjected and said, "I'd like to see about learning how to drift, i-if that's alright of course."
Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked rather surprised at that. "You, drifting? That's so unlike you Flutters," Rainbow said.
Fluttershy quickly showed her the clip of her sliding the X-Raid. Rainbow had a bewildered look on her face by the end of it, but smiled and said, "That would be awesome! Go for it."
The nurse got the attention of everyone and said, "I think we better give Miss Dash here a chance to rest, you can see her all again tomorrow."
As they all said their well wishes and goodbyes, everyone was excitedly eager for the final Goliath race. It would get everyone into the Roster and then they'd be able to go home... Right?
Twilight took a chance to go and explore the world some more. The race had started at noon and finished around half past one in the afternoon. She had a few hours to kill before needing to head back to Luke's place.
She decided to take her Apollo Intensa Emozione instead of the Gemera. No distractions, no assistance from the car's computer systems, just her and the road.
Twilight had a pretty good grasp of the game map she had played on, but she didn't know about specific little locations like the shelters in Mortimer Gardens which made for some perfect photographs.
If it wasn't admiring the beautiful landscape, she was tearing up the tarmac and making it all a blur. Most of the roads, especially in and around the Wind Farm, were empty. People had been eager to see The Gauntlet and had made sure to get there early.
That left her with a vast expanse of open roads to blaze down. Twisting, straight, sharp, smooth. It didn't matter.
Twilight took in every little rattle and bump the Apollo Intensa Emozione made, feeling the connection made between rubber and asphalt. It was a joy she would struggle to put into words. It really did make her second guess leaving or staying at the Festival, but she concluded that leaving would still be the best option once the time came.
Thankfully it was the peak of summer, so it was all she did until around eight o'clock in the evening. The sun was starting to dip into the mountains and let the last of its rays be replaced by the blanket of darkness. Twilight decided it would be a good time to head back to Luke's place for the night.
She parked up in the driveway and locked the Apollo as she noticed Luke sitting on a bench down by the boat docks on the edge of Derwent Water.
The benefits of having a house right next to a lake, I guess. Twilight thought.
She sneakily made her way towards the bench and planned on giving him a massive fright, but before she could do anything Luke turned himself around and said, "BOO!"
Twilight jumped back and let out a loud, "Aiiiiiiieeeee!!!!" before lowering her arms and glaring at him.
Luke just chuckled, "You were gonna do it to me, I knew you were behind me."
"Okay, fine, you win. But I did want to ask you a couple of things," Twilight said.
"Sure, what's on your mind?"
"Well... Firstly, if a driver comes first in a race they get twenty points. Overall for three races, they get sixty. If AJ and Rainbow got zero on this one, it won't impact their place in the Roster leaderboard too much, right?"
Luke gave it a bit of thought and replied, "No, because they scored so high in The Titan it shouldn't make much of a difference overall. If they mess up on The Goliath though, it very well might. I'm assuming you're hoping you all win positions one to seven, right?"
Twilight nodded, "Yes. If we're all as high in the rankings as we can be, it'll give us the best chance of going home. If one of us is all the way in twelfth place, it might cause a problem."
"I can see why you'd think that, I know it'll be a challenge to keep positions one to seven throughout the race though... And what was the other thing?"
"Oh, yeah! When Rainbow gets better, we'll have around a week and a half before The Goliath. What about... We go on a little expedition?" Twilight asked.
"To where, exactly?" Luke asked, giving her a dubious look.
Twilight grinned and said, "Silverstone! It's a bit down south from here, but it would be really fun and it's a genuine race track!"
"Well, it's definitely far but it's possible, I was expecting you to say the Nurburgring or something," Luke replied.
Twilight looked away and gave a very sheepish smile, "Well I was actually thinking about that... But Silverstone is closer."
Luke looked at her and Twilight looked back, "I won't lie to you, after all the things that have happened since you've got here, I need a bit of a break. The Festival almost runs itself anyway, so I don't see much of a problem. It all depends on if your friends are up for even more racing or if we could take some star drivers with us. Even just an expedition for fun needs a fair amount of planning."
"Yeah, I get that. Still, it'd be pretty fun to have a go at one of the best circuits in the country before I end up leaving. You've also just proven another one of my theories," Twilight said.
Luke stood up, noticing how the sky had faded to black, "Then we can do it. Also, what theories?"
"In the game, in my world, the map doesn't extend below Broadway. The fact you actually know the land beyond that proves this world isn't confined to the game map, very fascinating," Twilight exclaimed.
"Huh... If you say so," Luke replied, not having a clue what Twilight was really on about.
With that, they both went back inside. Twilight was overjoyed at possibly getting to travel outside of the main map. She couldn't wait for it!
Twilight fluttered her eyes open as she sat up from her bed and checked her phone. Seven o'clock. A million different thoughts of what to do went through her head, but she settled on just one for the time being...
She needed a shower.
Faintly shutting the bedroom door behind her, Twilight crept through the mansion only to find a lone coffee cup on the kitchen counter. She expected Luke was already gone.
Festival Director things, probably.
The house she tip-toed through was so big it had two bathrooms. One on the upstairs floor, next to the room the girls were staying in. The second was all the way on the other side of the house, on the first floor. Twilight chose the second one as to not wake any of the girls, they needed the extra sleep.
After a quick wash, she got ready for the day ahead of her. She'd go and see Rainbow Dash, still at the Festival, then find wherever Luke was and set some concrete plans down for the Silverstone trip. Finally, she'd go and drive like a maniac some more.
Going south of Broadway sounded like a nice idea... But Twilight knew she'd probably find herself in London before the day was out.
Ooh, I can't wait! Silverstone is going to be amazing! But first I need to go and visit Rainbow Dash.
She grabbed a purple sweater and the Apollo keys, walking past a door leading to the garage. She couldn't resist opening it as it was unlocked, excited to see what other cars Luke had in his possession.
Flipping the light on illuminated four cars which were parked in a two by two grid, covered by black fabric coverings. Twilight knew the two closest to the garage doors were the Koenigsegg Gemeras, one of which was unofficially 'hers'. The other two were a little harder to recognise. After closer inspection, she found the car closest to where she stood was a Ford Focus MK2. A sporty hatchback making a reasonable 300 horsepower from a five-cylinder engine.
"My only question is why a Ford Focus, when you have two hypercars and access to almost anything else?" Twilight mused to herself.
She was about to walk around to the car in the farthest corner to grab a look, but the swift noises of a moving door made Twilight run back out and silently shut the door behind her. She didn't want to get caught snooping around, even if it was the garage.
Luckily, she could see from the staircase up to the second floor it was just Sunset Shimmer.
"Hey Twi, you good?"
Twilight nodded, "Ahehe, yeah, just fine! Just going to check on Rainbow at the Festival. I woke up early."
Sunset quickly hopped down the stairs, "Oh cool, can I come with? I just want to say hi and make sure she's fine."
"Yep, not a problem! Let me know when you're ready," Twilight replied.
Sunset nodded an affirmative and made her way to get prepared for the day.
Once they were both ready, they set out through the front door. Twilight grabbed the key off of the table and locked the door from the outside, then pushed it through the letterbox when she was done.
"Haven't you just locked us out?" Sunset asked.
Twilight nodded and said, "Well, yes, but it's better than the door being locked and us having the only available key, right?"
"Hmm, true."
Twilight unlocked her Apollo Intensa Emozione and grabbed the handle of the gullwing door, "Careful with this one by the way, it goes up, not out."
Sunset let out a snort and looked at the door. "Why? It's so impractical."
As they both got settled into the carbon bucket seats of the car, Sunset took a few seconds to grab her door handle from the inside to pull it down.
"See what I mean? Impractical."
Sunset heard shuffling next to her and looked over, one look at Twilight's wide, almost manic eyes clued her in that she was going to regret saying that.
Twilight delved into a five minute lecture about how, "the car industry is becoming all the same," and that, "its cool that people still make gullwing doors," because it's, "actually more practical as you don't have to worry about the car next to you, only the space above you."
At the end of it Sunset just nodded and said, "If you say so."
Twilight hit the 'Start' button without hesitation and the V12 situated directly behind them flicked into life. Sunset grimaced, knowing that the others would surely be awake now.
"So much for letting them have a little extra sleep," Twilight chuckled.
"And why it needs to be that loud, I'll never know, but please no more rants."
Twilight made a slight pouty face at the rejection of her rants, which soon turned into a big grin, "Fine. But I will just say that I'm not going slow this time."
"Oh hell no, you aren't going to get us both killed Twilight!" Sunset yelled.
"Relax! Just let me do the driving and don't worry about it."
Twilight backed the car up, almost to the wall, then shot it down the narrow dirt path that lead to the outside roads, exceeding 50mph. (80kmh)
"Sweet Celestia you're actually crazy!!" Sunset shouted as she gripped onto the door handle for dear life.
She wasn't paying attention to what Twilight responded with, all she heard was something about All-Wheel-Drive and, "trust me I'm not a wallrider."
8:30am
The two girls arrived at the Festival, half an hour before regular visitors were permitted entry at nine o'clock. Having the Festival Director's blessing to have access to pretty much anything had its perks. Twilight maneuvered through the main road of the Festival site, however no music or cheering crowds were waiting for her. The only things she got were Horizon staff turning around to look at the speeding car.
She hopped out of the Apollo as did a shaky and trembling Sunset. They were just in time to spot Luke walking out of the front doors of the main building, a woman next to him. He called them both over.
"Hey! Nice to see you two over here so early. I'd like both of you to meet Haley. We're currently going through plans for future locations of the Festival."
Haley gave the two a small smile, she had dark brown skin and had her hair tied up into two buns, one on top and one at the back. She sported comfortable jeans, a t-shirt and a leather jacket with an artsy mural on the back, a big difference to the blue suit that Luke was currently wearing.
"Nice to meet you!" Twilight and Sunset said.
"Nice to meet you too," Haley replied, exchanging polite handshakes.
Luke finished writing down notes on his clipboard and looked up at Haley, "These are our current reigning champions at the Festival, they've definitely spiced up the races to say the least."
"Oh yeah, Luke's been telling me all about you. Flying cars and new records, right?" Haley asked.
Twilight laughed and said, "Yep, that's us! It's the Horizon spirit that brings it out."
Luke once again looked up from jotting down notes, "I still need to get onto the guys over at Quartz Qustoms about that Regalia. They said it was a prototype, not an airplane! Haley, could you get onto that for me?"
"Sure thing, I'll do that now. Hopefully see you two around!" She gave a wave to Twilight and Sunset as she walked off.
"Soooo...."
"So?" Luke asked.
Twilight gave it a few seconds before almost exploding with glee, "A NEW LOCATION? You absolutely have to tell me, where are you planning, tell me, tell me, tell me!!!!"
"Mexico, why? We're only considering it, nothing is finalised yet."
Twilight stopped dead in her tracks. "Oh..... Huh." She expected something like Japan, not Mexico.
"If we do go through with it, it'll be better than the idea you're probably thinking of. We usually spend a few months in the location to get a feel for it, and I was going to be the one travelling this time, but you guys showed up and I had to put that on hold," Luke explained.
Twilight nodded, "That's fair enough, I suppose... I only wanted to know because if I go back to my world and tell everyone the next game is in Mexico and I'm right, they'll think I'm a psychic or something, which would be hilarious!"
All that Luke and Sunset could do was shake their heads.
Twilight and Sunset sat with Rainbow in her appointed room. Rainbow managed to pass most of her time by reading the Daring Do book she was currently clutching in her hands, Sunset was quick to notice it.
"You have a Daring Do book? How is that possible?" Sunset asked after noticing it on the table.
"Well when we originally went up to the city with Twilight and we all checked our cars, I found it in there! Pretty cool right?" Rainbow explained.
Twilight plucked the book away and gave it an extensive look, "While it is very cool, don't leave it here. Or let anyone else see it. The rules of this world are throwing me for a loop! No cops, seemingly minor damage, the world extends beyond the border of what the game actually was, it's all very fascinating."
"Egghead," Rainbow retorted.
Twilight shot back with, "Who's reading the Daring Do book that I got them into, again?"
"Good point, actually," Sunset said.
Rainbow chuckled, "Alright you win this one, but sure, I won't leave it behind."
Twilight set the book back down, "Thank you. Now, there's one more thing I need to ask. How would you feel about an expedition down to a really famous race track in a few days, once you're better of course?"
"Sounds like a fun time, if everyone else is going that is," Rainbow said.
"I hope to get everyone on-board with it, because it would be a nice trip before the final race," Twilight replied. She flipped through her phone calendar and confirmed The Goliath was still over a week away.
"Yeah, count me in, what about you Sunset?" Rainbow asked.
Sunset looked up, going over the plan in her head. "I don't see why not, it would be a good way to chill out before we need to worry about any races here. We've got time, so you can count me in too."
Twilight let out a gleeful laugh as she stood up to go. "Great! Four out of six to go. Let's see if we can get the rest on board. You'll be back in no time Rainbow!"
"Hehe, you know it."
11:00am
"Its only eleven o'clock, its a Friday, Luke is busy, what can we do?" Twilight asked the rest of the girls. They had all regrouped back at the house and were going over plans on what to do for the day.
"I'd... I'd like to try and do some drifting today if that's alright," Fluttershy said.
Twilight grabbed Fluttershy and hurried out of the front door, "You absolutely can! Let's go find Maverick, this will be so fun!"
The girls followed the two back out to their cars and made their way back over to the Festival, hoping to find the Horizon PR Team Director this time.
Pulling back up at the Festival, Twilight caught sight of Maverick helping move some Drift Zone banners into the back of a Ford Ranger. She walked up and said, "Hey Maverick! Got something I need help with."
He finished loading the banners into the truck and turned to the group, "Hey everyone, what's up?"
Fluttershy stepped forward, "I-I think I'd like to try and l-learn how to drift, if that's alright with you."
Maverick gave her a questioning look, "I didn't take drifting to be something that you'd like, but if you want to, sure!"
Excited at the good news, Fluttershy brightened up a little, "Oh yes! When I was racing in the last race, I went sideways through one of the turns, and it just felt absolutely amazing!"
Maverick smiled at the beaming girl and grabbed one of the flyers they gave out to regular visitors. It included general information about the Festival, events, music, shows, but the most important part was the map of the surrounding areas. He marked down a road that was a two minute drive south of the Festival.
"Okay, if you all make your way over there, I'll get the car and some cameras ready. See you soon!"
Everyone found themselves parked on the side of the road Maverick had marked. It was on a slight hill, winding down in the shape of an S. It was perfect for learning how to get the rear end of a car out. They had gathered at the apex of the corner, to catch the best view.
As they waited, Twilight was talking to Fluttershy about the basics of drifting; push the clutch, drop to second gear, heel-and-toe, oversteer, countersteer, throttle control. The pink haired girl nodded along, taking all of the information in. She looked rather confident, but still anxious.
"You'll be fine, okay? They've closed off the road so no one but us can see it, and I feel like you'll really enjoy it. I never took drifting to be your niche, but I can understand why," Twilight assured her.
"Mhm, it's going to be so fun!" Fluttershy replied, excited to finally get behind the wheel of something she could throw around.
Just as they were done talking, a thunderous roar of an engine could be heard through the trees. The girls all looked to where it was coming from just in time to see Maverick return with a cherry red 1990 Mazda RX7 Savanna.
"That looks mighty fine!" Applejack said as he handed the keys to Fluttershy.
Maverick acknowledged the compliment of the car, "Oh yeah, can't go wrong with this. Full Bomex widebody kit, huge wing for downforce, Rotiform CBUs, drift focused tyres; two-seventy-five in the rear with two-sixty-fives in front, upgraded brakes, custom exhaust, lowered two inches... All in all its a pretty good starting car pushing out three hundred horsepower."
Twilight walked around the car and gave an approving look. "Very nice build! I love the Rotiforms. Did Drift Club let you borrow it for a while?"
Maverick nodded, "Yep, those guys can work their magic on almost anything. Alright, let's get started!"
Various cameras at different sections of the road had been set up to record the runs Fluttershy did, and to attribute a points score.
She felt rather confident at the wheel of the RX7, a strange feeling for a girl known for her shyness. Her friends all cheered and waved when the rotary under the hood started up. She could even see that Rarity had started a video call with Rainbow Dash.
Fluttershy U-turned in the opposite direction and gave them all a wave as she passed, making her way up to the top of the road, where the Drift Zone banners started.
"Can I get a radio check?" a voice asked as it came through the door speaker.
"Oh! Hello, who's this?" Fluttershy responded.
Maverick's voice came through the speaker again, "It's just me, making sure the radios are working. If you need any help or pointers just press the button labelled Radio on the center console."
"Alright, thank you!"
Pulling another U-Turn, she stopped infront of where the banners started. Giving it a second thought, she reversed to give a better run up to the corner.
It's just like Twilight said, clutch, oversteer, countersteer. That should work.
Fluttershy aligned the wheels with the road and shifted back down to neutral. Giving the gas a small jab sent small crackles out of the exhaust.
Let's do this!
She put the car in first and eased onto the throttle.
Second gear...
Upshifting to second, Fluttershy saw that the Zone was about twenty meters ahead.
Okay, into third.
The camera flashed as she hit third, Fluttershy was now in the Drift Zone. The first turn laid another thirty meters ahead.
She pumped the clutch and dropped the car down into second gear, the turn almost right in front of her. She could feel the back end starting to swing out.
Oversteer,
Remembering what Twilight told her, Fluttershy swung a left, initiating the drift. The weight of the car shifted as she was glided through the turn.
and then countersteer!
Pulling the wheel back to the right proved no match for the forces already set in motion. The car continued sliding left as she lost sight of the road, everything becoming a greenish blur. The Mazda skidded to a sudden halt, skewed across both lanes of the road. Fluttershy was very glad she had a helmet on.
"You alright there? Need any help?" Maverick asked through the radio.
"N-no, I'm fine. Just too much to the left is all," Fluttershy said hoarsely.
"I saw, you were also coming in very fast. If you come in slower, the turn won't be as sudden, okay?"
"Got it," she replied.
Alright, let's try this again... Fluttershy thought to herself. She couldn't be too displeased though, nothing ever goes right the first time.
Back up at the top of the road, she stopped closer to the Zone but still gave enough room for a decent run up.
The car accelerated, this time Fluttershy only got it to second before hitting the zone. She pushed the clutch in and let off, sending a power surge to the rear wheels as the RPMs started to bounce and the Mazda let out a high pitched wail.
The back end slid out again and she embraced it, pulling a softer angle to the left before pulling the wheel back to the right.
Woohoo! I did it!
The road before her continued on straight, so Fluttershy countersteered her countersteer, fishtailing the car through until it reached the next turn, a sweeping right.
Another clutch pump sent her into the turn earlier than anticipated. She pulled right, then forced it left. The sudden loss of grip and steering angle sent Fluttershy near the edge of the asphalt. Looking out of the passenger window, she could see she was only half on the road. The rear wheels kicked up dirt and flung it every which way, including at the group of girls watching.
Within her immense focus on steering the car through the corner, Fluttershy forgot to keep her foot on the gas.
Oh.....
Time felt like it slowed to a crawl as adrenaline coursed through her body, she slammed the pedal to the floor and let out a panicked scream, "Aaaaaaaahhh!!!!!!"
In mere seconds, the car swung back onto the road and she steered it through the last of the Zone banners, heart pounding and breath heavy. Fluttershy released her vice grip from the wheel, looked down at her feet, then back up at the road laid out ahead.
She let out a triumphant, "I DID IT!!" before checking her rearview mirror. She was pretty mortified to see five of her friends, and a phone, caked in dirt already making their way over.
Pinkie opened the door and gave Fluttershy a hug while the others gathered around, "That was super duper!"
Fluttershy let out a nervous laugh as she wiped some of the dirt off of her arm, "Hehe, yeah..."
Twilight was next to congratulate her on the newfound passion, "That really was awesome, you were so close to sliding right off the road, I can't believe you pulled it off!"
"I, um, can't really believe it either," the meek girl replied.
Rarity held her phone out, mud covering the bottom half. Rainbow Dash called out through the speakers, "That was so freakin cool! I recorded the call and I think I got it, you'll have to check it out!"
"Thanks Rainbow," Fluttershy said with a smile.
The girls stepped back from the Mazda as she drove back up to the top for another run. They made sure to stay much farther away this time.
4:00pm
After much more drifting and Fluttershy setting a new record for A-Class Drift Cars completely on accident, the group made their way back to Luke's mansion.
They had only just gotten through the door when a voice called out, "Hey guys, guess who's here!"
Six voices all shouted, "Rainbow!"
She rounded the corner and embraced them in a group hug, "Yep! Got allowed to leave Medical about an hour ago, so I came back here. I feel a lot better."
"That's great to hear, how's everyone doing?" Luke said, walking into the foyer. He was carrying a large roll of black vinyl wrap with a cutting knife in the other hand.
"We're doing great! What are you doing with that?" Twilight asked.
Luke looked at the roll clutched under his arm, "Oh, this? I was just about to go and put a sunstrip on one of my cars."
"Ooh! What one?" she asked.
Luke started walking towards the garage door, "Come have a look."
Twilight followed, curious as to what the car she didn't see earlier was. The rest of the group soon followed.
Luke flicked the light switch on to reveal that the two Gemeras and Focus RS were gone. Various car parts and tools laid scattered around the floor. The only car in the garage... Was something Twilight didn't recognise at all.
"What is that?" she said, pointing to the car in the middle of the garage.
Luke walked up to it and said, "Oh, this? You're gonna love this. It's a..."
He breathed in, then spoke.
"Ford Fiesta Mark-Six Zetec S Celebration Edition Number Four-Six-Two."
Twilight just looked at him with a blank look on her face, "It's a what?"
Luke let out a chuckle before explaining, "It's a Ford Fiesta. A really bright, and rare, Ford Fiesta."
The car currently being scrutinised was a small hatchback, finished in a bright eye-catching green. It sported a sizeable, yet simple, black spoiler on the back. Various aftermarket external mods had been applied, such as mud flaps, side skirts and a front splitter. Covering the entire roof was a vinyl decal of a white and black checkered pattern.
"Do forgive me for this, but... Why?" Rarity asked.
Luke looked lovingly at the car next to him, then at Rarity. "It was a limited run of just four hundred in this colour, each individually numbered. Ford never kept a record, but I'd estimate there's only two hundred still driving around. As for me? It was my first car. I've had it for almost five years now and I don't plan on selling it. I've made it my own."
Twilight looked it up and down, "It's bold, to say the least. Have you done anything to the internals?"
"The original engine only pushed out a hundred horses. I've engine swapped it with one from a Fiesta ST, the trim above, that pushed out about a hundred and fifty horsepower. It's getting almost five hundred currently."
Twilight smiled in approval and turned around to face her friends, "I just remembered to ask. Now that we're all able to get back behind the wheel, what about... We go on an expedition down to Silverstone? It's Friday today, we could do it over the weekend!"
Applejack clicked her finger and nodded. "Doesn't sound like a bad idea sugarcube. More racing Ah take it?"
Luke set down the vinyl he was holding and said, "Sort of. The thing is, on Sunday there's a huge event being held called FordFair. I was hoping to go this year. We'd leave on Saturday, stay the night in a nearby hotel, then have the whole day for it."
"So it's going to be a huge Ford meet?" Twilight asked.
"Pretty much. We can just walk around, check out the cars, I'm obviously going out on track and any of you are welcome to join me for it, so are you in?" Luke said.
Sunset spoke up first, "You already know me and R.D. are both in."
"I don't see why not, it sounds like fun!" Fluttershy replied.
Applejack also liked the idea, "If there's gonna be some big trucks there Ah'm all in."
Pinkie Pie just replied with, "Okie dokie lokie!"
Rarity gave her answer a few seconds of thought before coming to the conclusion, "Absolutely! Would we be passing through more forests? The landscape is absolutely divine, I must go and see more of it."
Twilight beamed and gleefully exclaimed, "Great! I'll go and start sorting out what I'm going to take with me. It might be best if we take the things from in our original cars..."
She paused and thought for a second, before turning around to face Luke again.
"Wait. What are we going to be driving? None of us have Fords."
Luke nonchalantly waved a hand, "Don't worry about it, I've got it covered."
Saturday - 9:00am
Warmth carried by a flittering wind danced throughout the thick forests and vast fields of Britain as another summers morning started. It was only nine o'clock, but the sun was already up and shining. As was Luke.
He was just making his way out of the front door. Twilight noticed as she was walking by and said, "Hey! Where are you off to?"
"Just gotta sort some stuff out regarding our weekend plans, Maverick and Haley will basically be in charge while we're gone, won't take a minute."
"Okay cool, I'm coming with!" she said, closing the door behind her.
"Okay, if you insist..."
At the Festival, Luke had flagged down Maverick and Haley. Twilight was beside them, listening attentively.
Luke passed a piece of paper with a list of cars written down over to Maverick, "Just wondering, do you think that you'd be able to get all of these... Say, I don't know... In the next four hours?"
Maverick read up and down the list silently muttering to himself before looking back up, "Mate, I know you're spontaneous, but that's gonna be tight. I'll see what I can do though."
"Cheers. It'll make the drive so much more fun," Luke said. He turned to face Haley. "I've got a question, how would you like to join us on the Silverstone trip?"
Haley looked taken aback, "I'd love to! But who's going to be running the Festival while we're gone? I can't just up and leave the place on its own."
"I've got some of the senior staff doing the important stuff. Other than that, this place runs itself. So, what do you say?"
Haley smiled and said, "Go on then, why not! It'll be a blast."
Twilight found herself deep in thought again, not paying attention to the conversation around her. She did, however, jerk her head back up when she thought she heard Maverick saying, "Eleven hundred horsepower."
"What was that?" she inquired.
Maverick and Luke sheepishly brushed it off, "Nothing!"
1:00pm
Twilight, her friends, Luke and Haley all found themselves in one of the Festival's loading bays. This one was emptier than most, being blocked off by barriers for an imminent delivery of goods.
"We're meant ta be leavin' soon, why have ya brought us out here for?" Applejack asked.
"Patience," Twilight replied.
"But..."
Twilight held a finger to her mouth, "Patience..."
Luke pointed in the direction of the goods in question, "Here it is! Here it is!"
Two semi-trucks made their way through the Festival and rolled to a stop besides the group. Behind them, a smaller van parked up directly next to Luke and Maverick stepped out.
"What do you lot think of the new van?" he asked triumphantly.
The front section of the van was bright orange, which faded into a pink along the first quarter. The pink lead into a darker purple, and finally a smooth white along the rear half of the vehicle. The letters 'HORIZON RACING TEAM' were sprawled out on the sides of the loading doors. Various brand logos and sponsors were dotted in strategic places to show them off. Upon closer inspection, Twilight recognised it as a Ford Supervan 3.
"No way!" she exclaimed, "You have a racing team?!"
Luke let out a small laugh, "We didn't up until our Silverstone trip was decided. I got all of this together in only two days, thanks to everyone's help."
All around the group, people were loading up various items related to motorsports; tires, pressure guages, spare parts, power tools.
An unnamed staff member handed Luke a large box, "Thanks Josh," he replied.
Josh nodded and hurried off to help unload more things, while Luke gathered everyone's attention.
"Alright guys! Firstly, I can't thank all of you enough for helping me literally form our own racing team in two days, especially Maverick!" — the two shared a quick fistbump — "He sourced us the seven cars that will be travelling with us to Silverstone, within the last four hours. Him, Haley, and our current reigning Superstars will all be going. This is going to be awesome, let's get those cars down and start our journey!"
The newly formed Horizon Racing Team shared a moment of celebration, before turning to look at their new rides.
The first truck began to release its contents. A 1970 Ford GT70 with a stunning bright blue paintjob was unloaded. It looked like the older GT40s that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans multiple times.
The next car off was a 2017 Ford GT with a Heritage Edition livery. The excessive use of carbon fibre and precise aerodynamics would give it a great advantage over other cars on the track.
The third car, a dark red 2018 Ford Mustang RTR Spec 5 was backed out onto the road. Fluttershy took a particular interest, expecting to have some more drift shenanigans around the Silverstone circuit.
As the first truck set off, the larger second trailer was also unloaded. A snow white 1977 Ford #5 Escort RS1800 Mk2 was first to be revealed. It sported a racing livery consisting of red and blue accents, shaped to look like parts of the UK's Union Jack flag. Various sponsors were also present around the car.
Among the lineup was a 1999 Ford Racing Puma in a dark blue with white stripes across the sides and top sections. Attached to the rear was a large wing to give it the racing look.
After the Puma came an unexpected car, a 2014 Ford Fiesta ST in bright pink metal flake. The HRE C109s it sat on were also bright metal flake, although purple. It had completely blacked out windows, along with mirror caps and a spoiler decorated in black paint.
Twilight had to hold in her laughter at the sight of the thing, however her laughter stopped once she saw the next car roll out. A black Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 was the last car to be unloaded, it had the full Track Package of carbon fibre wheels and a large wing for extra downforce. Two red stripes stretched across the length of the car, over the bonnet, roof and trunk. A striking contrast to the stealthy black that adorned the rest of the car.
Twilight looked around until she found Luke, engaged in a conversation with Haley. She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away.
"Yeah so about tha- whoa!"
"What's that." Twilight deadpanned face to face with Luke, pointing at the Mustang.
"It's a Shelby GT500, newest one, we only got it last week," he said.
"Okay cool, I think I've picked what I'll be driving,"
"Well I was thinki—"
"Nope, I'm driving that one," Twilight reaffirmed.
Luke just shrugged, "Okay, suit yourself."
As the two trucks made their exit, so did the rest of the commotion. All of the equipment needed for the cars was in the Supervan, which Maverick found himself at the wheel of.
Haley found herself in Luke's Fiesta, while he drove the Mk2 Focus RS. Rolling down his window, he called out to the girls, "Seven of you, seven cars! Pick whatever ones you want. Just one thing, check in the glovebox if there's a pass to get into Silverstone, you'll need it."
They all nodded and huddled together, deciding who would take what car.
"So, who wants to go first?" Pinkie asked.
"Ah think Ah know what you'll be takin, Pinks," Applejack said.
"Absodutelylutely! Pink car it is!" she said as she zipped over to the bright pink Fiesta ST and climbed in.
Applejack took one look at the array of cars and settled on her pick, "Ah've got it," she said, breaking away from the group towards the #5 Escort RS1800 Mk2.
Rainbow Dash was up next, "Anyone know how powerful that blue one is?" she asked, eyeing the Ford GT70.
"About two hundred horsepower," Twilight answered.
"Great! I'll take that one then. Something low power is just what I need right now," Rainbow said, sitting in the GT70 and starting it up.
The rest of the girls looked to Fluttershy, already in the RTR Spec 5.
"Sorry girls, I've gotta have this one!"
Rarity pondered which car to pick. Three were left, the GT500, GT and Racing Puma. She eventually decided on the Puma, the blue with white stripes beckoning the fashionista over.
"That just leaves you and me, Twi. I want that GT500," Sunset said, crossing her arms.
Twilight nodded, "So it does... And I'm willing to bet there won't be any others at Ford Fair either. Pick a number between one and five, if you get it right you can take the GT500. Sound good?"
"I'll take you up on that, Sparky! On the count of three, ready?"
"One,"
"Two,"
"Three!"
"Three!"
"Four!"
"Dammit!" Sunset begrudgingly said. She hopped into the GT Heritage while Twilight swaggered over to the Shelby. Starting it up elicited a roar from the 5.2 Litre Predator V8.
The cars already had radios connected in a style reminiscent of old Top Gear. Twilight's voice came in through the low static.
"You know I had to do it to em."
Sunset got on the radio and replied, "Oh ha, ha, very funny. I'm actually not complaining, this is quite nice."
Luke joined in, "Apart from the fact that you just scared the hell out of me, has everyone got their passes, and their maps set?"
He got responses of confirmation from the nine other people in the convoy.
"Great, then let's set off!"
The group slowly made their way through the exit of the loading bay, Twilight taking lead. The time was 01:30pm. A few sneaky photographers who had noticed the lineup were waiting by the exit, snapping photographs and taking videos. As they pulled out onto the main road, Twilight noticed the crowds of fans lining both sides, held back by barriers. They were pointing and smiling, happy to see such a diverse range of cars rolling through the Festival. She gave them a wave and a rather large rev to boot, getting some cheers out of the people watching.
Once everyone was out of the Festival gates, they stuck close together. They initially detoured up to Edinburgh, skirting around the city centre to avoid the copious amounts of traffic and coming out on the east side. Although this was the fastest route to Silverstone, it served another purpose.
3:00pm
Twilight pulled right into the Bamburgh Castle car park, the convoy slowly rolling through the entrance. It sat opposite the castle, overlooking the vast blue sea many feet below the rocky cliff edge. Everyone parked in the corner closest to the Castle and made their way over.
"So why're we at a castle?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Photoshoot opportunity, couldn't pass it up!" Twilight enthusiastically said, hopping in place.
"Good thing I brought the gear," Maverick said, holding an expensive camera rig.
A light breeze blew over the clifftop, making Twilight huddle slightly in the purple sweater she made sure to pack. She wandered over to a railing, looking out at the expanse of ocean as she just... thought. Not about science, or magic, or even cars, just diving head first into the depths of her inner mind. She noticed how odd it was being inside a real castle! Not many of those existed back home, especially in Canterlot City. Twilight looked out at the blue that held most of her vision, if she remembered correctly, directly ahead would be Norway.
I'd love to visit mainland Europe some day...
"Twiii, hey Twi!" Rainbow called.
Twilight jerked her body around, startled at the sudden calling behind her. She pushed her glasses upwards, "Um, yes?"
"Come on, let's get back on the road! It'll be dark by the time we get to this track."
Twilight checked her phone and found the time was only ten past three in the afternoon, however she obliged and started walking back down to the car park. Maverick and Luke were crouched down taking multiple pictures of the car lineup, if the sound of rapid clicks was anything to go by.
"Gotta get those angles bro," Luke said.
Maverick continued taking more photos, "You know it! These are gonna come out sweet."
4:30pm
Before long everyone was back on track for Silverstone and was heading southbound on the A1 motorway. After another hour of driving, they decided to pull in at a service station to refill the cars and grab some snacks.
Sunset Shimmer made her way out of the Greggs with a Sausage Roll, "Have you girls tried these? They're amazing!"
By five o'clock the convoy was once again driving. However, instead of taking lead like she had previously, Twilight opted to relax at the rear for a while. It didn't take long for the traffic to thin out around the group, as a long straight laid itself out and cut through the aisles of trees on either side of the motorway. Without warning she swung the Shelby left and blasted by everyone else, the acceleration pushing her into the carbon bucket seat. By the time she had let off the gas, the speedometer read 130mph. (209kmh)
Definitely the right choice picking the GT500, she thought to herself.
Quickly glancing to her drivers-side mirror, Twilight was about to indicate back into the fast lane when she noticed another car speeding to catch up.
Luke's Focus shot past the Shelby in a blue blur. Twilight trailed it with her eyes for a second before planting her foot down in an effort to catch up. To her surprise, it was rather difficult. The two were eventually side by side, cruising along at a slower and steadier speed.
Twilight flicked her radio on, "How about a race?"
"Sure, you want to do the honors?" Luke replied.
Both of them turned to face eachother, despite the distance, waiting for the signal to go. Twilight held three fingers up. She lowered one finger, then the second, and finally the last.
Both cars shot forward, green trees and silver railings going from somewhat recognisable to a blend of different colours. The force of the acceleration pushed the Shelby's front end up and made Twilight's eyes feel like they were going to roll back into her head, she had to wrestle with the steering wheel just to keep the car straight!
She glanced to the side mirror, expecting to have passed Luke. However, looking forward showed his Focus blazing ahead once again. It was an odd feeling, this brand new ultimate Mustang getting thrashed by a kind-of sporty hatchback. Nevertheless, Twilight flicked her radio back on and congratulated Luke on his win.
The pair continued to play catch-up with eachother until they were seemingly so far ahead, it would take the rest of the group a while to join them.
6:00pm
Twilight eased her car off of the motorway and parked up at another petrol station. Was this the fourth or fifth one? She had lost track by that point. Luke followed closely behind, his tank running low. Twilight pondered the oddity that she had filled her Shelby up at the last fuel stop, while Luke hadn't.
Such is the cost of having such a gas guzzling V8, but it's worth it just for the noise alone, she thought.
Once they were done, Luke and Twilight made their way inside the building, paying for the petrol and grabbing a few snacks to recharge before getting back out on the road. They moved the cars to fill up some empty parking spaces, as not to inconvenience other drivers. Twilight stood next to her car admiring it, appreciating the fact that it was still warm outside despite the evening beginning to set in.
"You know, I expected there to be more rain, but I haven't even seen it once!" she said.
Luke slowly looked up from playing a game on his phone. "Oh, Britain gets a bad rep for being so dull and grey, but it's really not like that. In the summer anyway."
Twilight turned away. She leaned on the rear wing and let out a sigh, "Yeah..."
Luke looked up again. With a hint of softness to his voice he said, "Hey, you okay?"
"I'm fine! It's just..." she gestured to the surrounding trees and cars passing by, "this, I guess. I've never really been on a trip like this, so it's all new."
"Yeah, I get that, but don't worry abou– Whoa!"
Twilight leant forward and wrapped her arms around Luke for a split second in a hugging embrace before quickly pulling back, her face a shade of deep crimson.
Luke looked back at Twilight, shocked, it was the last thing he had expected, "What was that for?"
Twilight looked up, face still red, "Just... Thank you. For everything you've done for us."
"You're welcome Twilight, it's been a blast having you at the Festival."
8:30pm
Just as the sun was beginning to dip beyond the thick trees and tall buildings, the Horizon Racing Team finally arrived at the Silverstone Circuit, parking outside of the luxurious Hilton Garden Inn. The building was more long than it was tall, reaching only six stories high, but stretched the entire length of the car park which was packed with other Fords. It was finished in a smooth modern white and had parallelogram shaped windows, giving a sense the building was moving at speed like cars on the track behind it.
Everyone gathered up the things that they'd need for the night and made their way into the front lobby. Luke was the first to enter, noting the theme of motorsport throughout the room. Coffee tables were expertly crafted from engine blocks, with portraits of famous drivers lining the walls. There was even a Formula 1 car hanging from the ceiling.
The decor got a few oohs and aahs out of the group as they checked in and soon split off to go to their respective rooms. Luckily enough, all of the girls got their own room together. Twilight opened the door and couldn't believe her eyes as she walked in, the description of 'room' was an understatement, it was more like an entire third of the top floor. Plush grey carpet sprawled out from end to end, with seven beds arranged around the perimeter. More racing memorabilia was hung up on the walls and dotted about, just like the hotel lobby with everything being a shade of white or black. The curtains were even chequered!
Rainbow Dash flopped down onto one of the massive beds nearer the door, "This is sweet! So bouncy."
Pinkie followed soon after, "I know right! We could totally stay up all night and we could play games and watch movies and eat popcorn and–"
The girls looked over to see her fast asleep like nothing had ever happened.
Rarity let out a small yawn, "I don't know about you girls but I think she might have a point, goodnight darlings."
That sounded like a pretty neat idea. Twilight made her way over to the fluffy bed by the large diagonal window, which still gave an impressive outlook over the dormant racetrack below. A few stray spotlights illuminated bits here and there, surely spots the girls would be dominating the next day.
It didn't take long for the fluffy embrace of the duvet to slowly pull her towards sleep. A resistance of excited thoughts tried to keep her awake, but Twilight forced them down. She'd need all the energy possible for tomorrow.
Sunset Shimmer's sleep-addled mind barely heard Twilight Sparkle's desperate pleas for the others to wake up. She turned in the comfy blankets and let out a groggy, "Just five.. more.. minutes."
Before she could get back to sleep, Sunset felt her arm pulled near enough out of its socket as she was thrust upward into a sitting position.
"Now, Sunset!" Twilight told her sternly.
"Fine, fine. I'm up," Sunset said, rubbing her eyes.
Now that everyone was up, Twilight ended her ruthless quest to dislocate arms and got ready for the day ahead. Her outfit of choice was a blue striped shirt, tied back hair and a purple skirt.
"The usual, I see," Rarity added, reflexively diving into her large suitcase to grab a makeup kit. Everyone stopped and gave her a curious look, "What?"
Applejack spoke first, "We're gonna be racin' again, Ah don't think you'll need any makeup today Rare'."
Rarity let out a huff, but put the kit away, "So be it."
While the sun was still making its slow ascent into the sky, the entire Silverstone track was visible from the room window. Twilight looked down below, a shimmering glint in her eyes, she couldn't wait to let loose out there!
Shortly after, the girls made their way down to the breakfast hall on the first floor, joining up with Luke, Haley and Maverick. The hall was decorated with glass tables which were filled with plenty of other Ford enthusiasts who were chatting, eating, and even taking pictures together. Twilight suspected that some of them had finally met in person after years of online talk, with Ford Fair being the biggest Ford event in the entire country. All of Europe, even.
She thought back to the things that her father, Night Light, would tell her when she was younger, that the best way to let people know about the upcoming meet was to leave a paper slip under their wiper, or if you wanted to ask for advice you had to visit your local shop in person. Now? Anyone can just send a text to their friend who was hundreds of miles away.
Although Twilight used to shrug these off, she had to give her father some credit. He was the reason she loved cars so much, and he wasn't exactly wrong either.
As part of the hotel's steep price, it included a pick-and-choose buffet. The group got their fill and grabbed a table near to one of the track-side windows before anyone else could. Twilight sat back, silently watching more of the people as she absentmindedly ate her breakfast, a habit from her time of solitude at Crystal Prep Academy. She noticed a lot of the tables were taken by specific groups, the '6SOC' club, the 'Fast Fords' club, even one titled 'The Ford Bible'.
A random voice called out from within the room, which pulled her out of her train of thought.
"It's half seven, let's go!!!"
There was a unanimous commotion as a few hundred hotel guests finished their breakfasts and made their ways out of the hall all at once. The Horizon Racing Team waited a few pensive seconds before joining the frenzied mass of people.
Unobstructed sunlight cast itself down on the world as waves upon waves of cars brandishing the blue oval slowly trickled into the Silverstone complex. Twilight peered around in awe at the various buildings lining the outer perimeter of the track itself, it was like a small and enclosed city, purely dedicated to the art of motorsport.
Everyone was funneled deeper into the heart of the track itself, a vast expanse of asphalt arteries with flat grass spots in between. Twilight checked her handheld map, Zone 15 was almost exclusively held for members of the Horizon Festival.
As the group moved ever closer to their designated zone, she noted it was elevated and gave an unobstructed view of the Wellington Straight section, she wondered what strings Luke had to pull to obtain such a good spot.
She focused back to the task at hand, expert maneuvering to line all of the cars up perfectly. Luke lead the way in his Focus, with Maverick at the rear of the pack. After much co-ordination, she flipped her Shelby off and admired the groups work.
Parked directly facing the track, perfect.
The atmosphere was beginning to pick up, the smell of petrol was in the air and everywhere Twilight looked, she could see swathes of different coloured vehicles.
The Horizon Racing Team fleet was already getting plenty of looks from other owners and spectators alike, one passerby even complimented Twilight on the GT500's carbon wing.
Luke sauntered over and tapped it, "Yep, that cost the better part of eighteen grand. I couldn't believe that at first, could you Twilight?"
Twilight was too busy gawking at an approaching car to answer. "What is that?!"
A random person chimed in, "Oh, that's uh... The Monster Fiesta."
That snapped Twilight out of her stupor. She couldn't tell what the car was at first, but deduced that it was another Mark-Six like the one Luke owned. That was, if you ignored the satin blue-to-purple paintjob, and extreme custom bodywork.
Bodywork was certainly a... Word that could be used to describe the exterior of the car. Every single body panel had been changed drastically, or completely replaced with one from a different car. The front bumper was devoid of all standard grilles and foglights, remaining almost completely open for air cooling. The rest of the car was just as outrageous, sporting different headlights, mirrors, no door handles and an enormous roof wing.
Twilight was about to respond, but the doors opened upwards in a scissor motion, she had to turn around to hold in the sheer amount of laughter at seeing them raised up like that.
That was, until she heard laugher coming from the car. Twilight whipped around to see Luke already walking over to the driver, though he looked oddly familiar.
"Lewis, I can't believe you made it!"
The two shared a quick hug, while Twilight watched on from a short distance. She was just about to scurry away when...
"Oh yeah! And this is Twilight, the top racer at the Festival this year!" Luke said, gesturing a hand to her.
Lewis smiled, "Hiya!"
Twilight smiled back, looking him up and down. Lewis had short brown spiky hair, almost identical to Luke's, atop a slightly more tanned face. However, he was on the opposite end of the fashion-scale, wearing a plain white t-shirt with denim jeans. The realisation finally dawned on Twilight.
She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, "So, are you two..."
"Twin brothers, yes," Lewis replied sheepishly.
Luke pointed his way. "Yep, while this guy has been travelling the world, I've been working on the Blurple Beast for the past few months."
"And I've gotta say, you've done a fantastic job! This bodykit couldn't be better."
That certainly shocked Twilight, "You created the bodywork?" she asked towards Luke.
He nodded an affirmative. "Plenty of times I've wanted to fob it off to someone else, but it went in for painting last week and was ready just in time for the show!"
Pondering why exactly, Twilight walked around the Fiesta, eyeing various elements of the design. She looked back and said, "I must ask... Why, exactly?"
Lewis smirked, with Luke not far behind, "Let me teach you about the era of Max Power..."
By nine o'clock, every stand was filled to the brim with Fords of various sizes and colours. Some were big and flashy, other's small and inconspicuous.
Twilight followed Applejack back towards the entrance they came in, Zone 16 being their destination. She intended to visit each club in an anti-clockwise pattern, finishing with the more expensive cars up by the Fast Ford section and the circuit start line.
"So you're tellin' me this is the truck section?" Applejack asked her car-inclined sidekick.
Twilight looked up from analysing one of the maps, "Yep, the Ranger and Raptor club should just be up here!"
True to her word, the two were greeted with a stunning lineup of new and old trucks. A few showed their age, rust permeating around wheel arches and in the pickup bed. Others looked as if they had just rolled off the production line, albeit with choice upgrades.
One in particular caught Applejack's eye, a brown-orange Ford Ranger. She let out a low whistle and strolled over to it, "This'd be perfect on the farm. Ah could see Big Mac driving this around, heck, Ah would!"
The towering behemoth dwarfed both girls, standing near enough eight feet tall on lifted suspension and thirty-seven inch tires. A bolt-on wheel arch kit only accentuated its presence above every other vehicle.
"Ah'm gonna find out some more info on this beauty, if that's alright with you."
Twilight nodded. "More than fine with me, enjoy it! I'm gonna go take a look around."
A few specks of green, the same as Luke's Fiesta caught her attention on the grass closer to where the track was. She wandered over, noticing a few yellow and red ones mixed in too.
They must also be Celebration Editions, how neat!
Truly, Twilight wasn't the most knowledgeable on Fords, but she had to admit that they were becoming increasingly interesting with every new car that came into sight. Hatchback Focuses sat next to tricked out Transits, with the occasional fastback Mustang sprinkled into the mix. For being just one brand, Ford sure had plenty of variety.
One brand, that gave Twilight pause. If this was a single companies' efforts, what else could be out there in the world of cars?
She stopped for a moment and leaned against a metal railing, tuning out the buzz of engines and chatter. She remembered her Japanese phase, when the Toyota Supra sounded like the coolest car to exist. That was the first real foray into cars for Twilight, other than the ones her father had shown her.
However those cars started to feel familiar, and she looked for something new. Something else to learn about. Thanks to Forza, she was moving onto the realm of supercars and hypercars. But even those began to feel the same, and eventually a Ferrari 458 didn't seem as exciting as it once was.
But that was just in Forza, the video game. Twilight realised she had never really been to an actual automotive event before, definitely nothing like this.
Even though some of the driving skills had become mere reflexes, she had never truly experienced the feel of a car, either. That changed the second she entered this world.
Twilight looked up, and took in everything around her. She noticed how ecstatic everyone was. From the largest Owners Clubs to the smallest of children, everyone had great smiles on their faces. The entire atmosphere was elated!
She once again pondered a thought... Is this what being into cars is really about?
Maybe, just maybe, it was.
Ducking and weaving through the cars, Twilight snapped the odd photo as she walked. She pointed her phone at a stunning silver Escort, but it wasn't in frame. She shuffled backwards and felt her leg briskly brush up against a cold and hard surface.
"Eep!" Twilight spun around, realising it was the back of a blue Fiesta, with the owner stood next to it, she held up both hands in embarrassment.
"Ohmygosh I'msosorryIhopeIhaven'tdamagedit—"
The older woman waved a hand. "Oh dear, don't worry about it! Nothing much is going to take this car down soon. I see you're getting pictures, I take it?"
Twilight nodded an affirmation. "Yes, it's simply brilliant how different the cars are, but they're all Fords!"
She looked down, noting that the thing she backed into was a rather sporty rear diffuser. A mischievous gleam crossed her eyes for a moment. "Say, where did you get this rear diffuser from?"
The woman followed where Twilight was looking. "Ooh, that thing! It's a Maxton Design diffuser, replaced the rather boring one that came from the factory. If I remember correctly, they're trading here, they should have a stand over in the trade section."
Twilight thanked her for the information and parted ways, both of them eager to see the full extent of Ford Fair.
Maxton Design, Maxton... I'll have to remember that for later, Twilight mused.
A sharp buzzing coming from her pocket instigated a reflexive grab for the phone inside. It was a Snapgap notification. Flicking it open showed it was Rarity who had sent the message.
Twilight! I'm across the bridge, Zone 14. Get over here ASAP!
Attached to the text was a very shaky selfie of Rarity with some sort of blue car behind her, and then another, and another, and another.
"Now I've got to see this."
The display hit Twilight's vision before she was done walking down the bridge that stretched out over the Silverstone Circuit. Rarity was beckoning her over with unhidden glee at the bottom.
"I get that it's cool, but what's the big deal abou—"
Rarity shuffled Twilight into position. "Look."
It looked like something straight out of a Forza lobby get-together. Twenty of the most immaculate Performance Blue Mark-One Ford Focus RS' sat in a perfect line, stretching all the way down the length of their club stand. Twilight estimated it to be about sixty meters from end to end.
It didn't take long for it to click, she couldn't help but grin. "I see what you mean, that is awesome."
"Isn't it! I don't know a thing about cars but I can appreciate the effort and satisfaction of such a sight, it's simply divine!"
Twilight wholeheartedly agreed, she probably wouldn't see something like it again.
The two girls chatted for a while, walking up and down more rows of monochromatic cars. They decided to figure out which colour was the most prominent from the top of the bridge, and after some intense scanning they decided that the most prominent was, of course, blue. The second being orange, mostly worn by Focus STs.
Rarity eyed a purple car somewhere within the swathes of others and dashed off to investigate, leaving Twilight to continue her quest to see every car this place had to offer.
Deep within the crowds and trade stalls to the left side of the bridge, a black and red banner stood tall and proud. Part of it was obscured, but it beckoned Twilight over with the end reading 'Design'.
Sure enough, the banner had lead her straight to the Maxton Design stall, also adorning a black and red colour scheme. Strung up on racks were products like bolt-on splitters, spoiler extensions, and side skirts. Twilight joined the line of eager customers, waiting to see what she could pick out.
After a brief wait, it was her turn at the table. One of the Maxton Design staff asked her, "Hi, how can I help today?"
Twilight reflexively pushed her glasses up. "Would you happen to have a rear diffuser for the mark-six Fiesta?" she said with a smile.
"We sure do, is it for your car?" the man asked.
"Oh, no, its for my, uh..." What do I actually call him? "Friend!"
Way to go Twilight... She could already feel the blush creeping onto her face. Luckily for her, the man paid it no mind, already off to grab the part she needed.
Once Twilight got over her mind malfunction, he was already back, with the large unibody diffuser stretching four feet in length. She paid what was asked and hefted the large piece onto her shoulder. Quickly realising that would probably smack someone in the face, she opted to hold it upwards instead.
It was an awkward shuffle back over the bridge, one which earned Twilight a fair amount of looks from everyone walking by, with the majority of people giving her ample space to pass. That awkwardness continued when she was wondering how to actually hide the diffuser. It would be noticed in the team van, and the rest of the cars had almost no practical storage room.
Twilight was back into her thoughts when suddenly, Pinkie Pie!
"Hiya Twilight, watcha got there?" Pinkie announced from behind her.
Twilight spun around and quickly shushed her. "Its a surprise for Luke but I can't let anyone know! Do you have any idea of where I could put it?"
Pinkie nodded excitedly. "I know just the place!" She zipped over to her chromed out Fiesta and popped the boot, before sliding down the rear seats. "This should be good!"
Breathing a sigh of relief, Twilight said, "Thanks Pinkie, have you checked out anything yet?"
"I sure have! Did you know that there's a Ford Sierra built in nineteen-eighty-nine in South Africa which has a three liter V6 engine and is only one of two in the whole country?!" Pinkie finished with a big breath.
"No, I didn't," Twilight replied, somewhat frazzled by the information overload.
Pinkie pointed in the general direction of it, "Its juuust that way! But I was about to go see Sunset out on the racetrack if you'd like to come with!"
Sunset out on the racetrack? "Sure," Twilight said, following a now bouncing Pinkie Pie.
"Yippee!"
Another short journey across the bridge lead Twilight and Pinkie to the entrance lane of the circuit, where plenty of cars were already eager to go. Sunset was beside her Ford GT, one of her arms halfway into the sleeve of her racing suit.
She nevertheless smiled at seeing them, "Heya girls! Mind helping me out a bit here?" Sunset said, pointing to her stuck arm with her free one.
After a brief shuffle and some help from the two girls, Sunset was zipped up in her racing suit, with a fiery red and orange colour combination that matched her perfectly.
The three exchanged brief recounts of what they had seen so far. Much to Twilight's chagrin at the bet she had made back at the Festival, Sunset had spotted another two Shelby GT500s amongst the sea of other Mustangs. She even had pictures to prove it.
Twilight didn't have much time to dwell on that as the sound of an airhorn alerted all the drivers in the pits to start their cars. Sunset grabbed her helmet and said, "You can watch me do a few laps if you want! Film it as well, kay?" before shoving her helmet on and running to jump into her car.
Seeing as she hadn't checked out the racing sessions yet, Twilight walked over to the railings and waited for all the cars to file onto the track, Pinkie following behind. The two were standing at the middle of the Wellington Straight with the cars entering to the right, which would have to do an entire lap before coming back around at speed.
Seeing as that would take a few minutes, Twilight flipped her phone to the Snapgap group and sent a text letting everyone know where she and Pinkie was. A few moments later, Fluttershy walked over, already wearing her race suit.
"Hey Flutters! You're going on track too?" Pinkie asked her.
Fluttershy grinned, twirling the keys to her Mustang. "Oh, yes! Once this track session is over, it's the drift session. I just couldn't pass it up."
"I didn't expect they'd have that many Fords that could drift," Twilight quietly mused.
Fluttershy nodded. "I sure didn't, but then, I found out there's a whole team who make them called the Hoonigans! They're also into rally and they saw how I handled that Mini in our last race. Well, they saw me here too and invited me to join them in the drift session. They said I could bring a passenger along if I wanted to!"
"That's nice of them! Who were you thinking of?" Twilight innocently asked, not thinking anything of that last sentence.
Fluttershy's grin turned sly as she said, "Didn't you say that you had never been drifting, Twilight?"
Twilight stared like a deer in headlights, before looking down at the ground. She didn't want to say no to Fluttershy, but she absolutely did not want to go drifting. It wasn't the sheer speed which worried her, it was the lack of control. Something of which drifting was fundamentally based on.
"Well, it would be nice, b-but... I don't really like drifting that much," she said, giving a nervous smile.
"Oh, please Twilight... Please?" Fluttershy pleaded, her eyes like those of a puppy. It was the weakness not one of the girls could say no to.
Swallowing the lump in her throat, Twilight begrudgingly gave in. "Fine. But you owe me, Fluttershy."
Fluttershy bobbed her head in glee. "Thank you Twilight!"
The track session wrapped up at eleven-fifteen, with all of the cars slowly trickling back to their respective areas and booths. Sunset pulled up just as Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were making their way back from the circuit's edge. She disengaged the Race Mode, which lifted the car up a few inches and retracted the rear wing, before slipping out of the door and giving the girls a rather large dose of helmet hair.
"I could totally get used to this, I've never felt anything like it in my life!" she said, giving the GT a loving pat on the roof. "Seriously Twilight, it's a track weapon."
"With how hot it must've been in that helmet, I bet it was," Twilight said.
"Well, at least you'd win that bet!" Sunset joked back. "But now, I'm gonna go get out of this suit, catch up with you girls later!"
Sunset flipped the GT back into drive and drove off, waving the girls goodbye. Just as she did, Fluttershy beckoned Twilight to her Mustang, already set to be unleashed onto Silverstone. Twilight made it a point to sarcastically trudge her way over.
She did, however, climb into the passenger seat and buckle herself up. Fluttershy handed her an open-face helmet, which she quickly shoved on. The car's V8 sprung to life, with an ear shattering din for anyone unlucky, or lucky enough to be standing behind. Fluttershy drove towards the entrance gates, where Twilight could see a few other drift-built Mustangs lined up. The rightmost car was one that looked familiar, a sixty-five Mustang in black with jutting grey swirls all over.
Twilight knew exactly what car it was, but she still had to ask, "Is that..."
Fluttershy beat her to it, "Ken Block's Hoonicorn? Yes. He'll be going out with us."
"That certainly is impressive, Fluttershy! Not that I doubted your abilities," Twilight nervously laughed.
With an all too knowing smile Fluttershy said, "Don't worry Twilight, you'll be safe with me."
After a few safety checks, the squad of vehicles rolled onto the track proper; a blue 1965 Mustang in the lead, with Fluttershy's RTR in second place, the Hoonicorn behind in third and a red Mustang at the rear. They crept along for the first hundred meters, revving their engines and drawing the attention of showgoers.
Gradually, the group began to pick up speed. Fluttershy shifted into second gear as the Brooklands turn came ever closer. The blue Mustang darted left towards the inside of the turn, with Fluttershy following suit.
"Its about to go sideways, Twi!" she said a second before veering right and kicking the clutch, sending the two sideways through the corner. Fluttershy held the wheel as Twilight scrambled to latch onto the door, her insides already churning at the increased G-force that pushed her to one side of the seat.
The motions lead the RTR out of Brooklands and into Luffield Corner. The four cars all simultaneously shifted into their third gears and Fluttershy increased the throttle to make sure she cleared the full corner. She wrenched the wheel in the opposite direction, diving straight into the apex of the sweeping right turn. Being a right-hand-drive car, Twilight had to peer over Fluttershy to look out of her window and see Ken Block following closely behind them. So closely, in fact, the cars were a mere six inches apart.
Fluttershy swung out of Luffield Corner and straightened the car up for a moment through the softer Woodcote Corner, which gave her a few seconds of thought as she focused on the moves of the blue Mustang a few car lengths ahead. The group was now out of Woodcote and into the Pits Straight section of the circuit, leaving only one thing for them to do.
The blue Mustang swung a hard right, before slipping to the left. Fluttershy followed along with the fishtail motions, going from hugging the perimeter of the track to almost clipping the inside wall in a matter of seconds.
Twilight was silent throughout most of the affair, though she couldn't help but let out a few uneasy noises and grip onto the door even harder as the forces swayed her body with each subsequent slide from one side of the track to the other. She was busy just keeping her breakfast down, and this was only after three corners!
Despite the fact that Fluttershy was towing the line between controlling and crashing the Mustang the two girls were locked into, she asked, "How are you holding up Twilight?"
"Just, fine... I, guess..." Twilight said through heavy breaths. "I'm gonna open a window."
She was already flicking down the button, allowing the window to roll down and let a rush of fresh air in as they ebbed and flowed through the straight section of the track, which helped to ease the pressure she felt, at least. Twilight could feel herself growing slightly more relaxed with the situation, now.
That let her truly take in what was actually happening, she glanced at the rearview mirror to see the Hoonicorn and red Mustang following with the pair mimicking every movement, if a couple of seconds apart from each other. Twilight noticed through the plumes of tyre smoke and flying rubber that the marks snaking across the track looked a lot like the transverse waves from her physics textbook.
Clunk
The bash knocked Twilight out of her focus, and she looked back to Fluttershy with the sharpest glare she could muster.
"Sorry, got a little too close to the wall," Fluttershy admitted with a very sheepish smile.
Twilight breathed another sigh of relief, she'd lost count of how many times she had, by that point. Luckily the Pits Straight section was coming to an end, with Copse Corner up next, taking the group into the second half of the circuit.
Okay, this wasn't as bad as I originally thought... Halfway through, this should be over in no time.
The leader of the group, the blue '65 Mustang, was preparing to swing through Copse. Twilight looked on as it jabbed right towards the inside wall, where she expected a quick move to the left side of the track before another clutch kick. Just as the Mustang veered left, a sudden slip of the clutch sent it into a frantic spin as it lost all grip in the rear wheels.
Just as frantically, Twilight grabbed onto the door as she clocked onto what was unfolding right before her eyes. Her heart jumped into her throat as she tried to scream for dear life, but nothing escaped. She tried to close her eyes, bracing for the impending crash, but they were locked open as she whipped between the careening car right in front of her and Fluttershy's stoic expression.
Without warning, Fluttershy shot as left as she could turn the wheel, putting her and Twilight in the middle of the track, on a direct collision course with the out of control classic.
In one fluid motion, she palm-spun the steering wheel rightwards with her right hand and pulled up the handbrake with her left, forcing the Mustang to enter it's own sideways spin.
Twilight managed out a strangled, "Fluttershy what the—" but Fluttershy paid it no mind, wrenching the wheel back to the left while practically punching the left shift paddle down to first gear before slamming the drive-selector into reverse. She kept the throttle pinned as the car swept itself backwards, arcing past the blue Mustang which was being dodged by the other members of the group.
Both girls peeked in their respective side mirrors, seeing that Copse Corner was awaiting their imminent entry. With a flick back into drive and another lightning fast palm spin, the Mustang surged right again, facing the correct way and as the new leader of the drift entourage.
Another effortless pull to the left sent the car sideways through the turn, before slowly righting itself as Fluttershy let her forceful foot off the throttle, letting the pair coast out of Copse and into the next straight section.
Twilight slowly pulled her dilated eyes from the windscreen towards her driver, hands gripped around the wheel with such force she wondered if it would break in two. Fluttershy said something, but it was inaudible through the sound of Twilight's heartbeat in her ears and the rush of pure adrenaline.
An errant thought lead her to remember the bottle of water she stowed away in the door card. She quickly grabbed for it and downed the entire thing before letting it drop unceremoniously into the passenger footwell. She looked back at Fluttershy, who was still focused on the track.
Fluttershy spared the shortest of glances. "Are you okay, Twilight?" she said a second time.
Twilight laid back in her seat, which wasn't all that comfortable being a carbon bucket seat. Nonetheless, she let out a long, deep sigh. "That... That was..."
She let the words hang, still wracking her brain over what had just transpired. Fluttershy replied with a calm, "I know... That was... Something, I guess."
Twilight had to agree on that, it certainly was something. She could still feel her heart thumping like it wanted to escape her body, the rushing in her ears had only just subsided, and she was breathing like she'd just ran a marathon. Despite that, it felt exhilarating! Was this really what she was missing out on?
"I've... I've never felt so terrified yet excited at the same time, you're a pro, Fluttershy!"
Fluttershy took her eyes off the track upon hearing that. "Really?" she asked, quite surprised at the sudden praise.
"Absolutely, and to think, we were so close to crashing if you hadn't pulled that reverse entry!" Twilight said with a spirited chuckle. Fluttershy joined her, both still in disbelief at the wild ride they had just experienced.
"I think I'm over the rush now," Fluttershy voiced once their mirth had faded.
Twilight nodded. "So am I, that was probably the scariest thing I've ever witnessed, though."
The two sat in relative silence for a moment before a voice came through the car speakers, "You okay, 'Shy?" one Ken Block asked. Twilight looked out of her window to see the other cars had formed on their left side.
"Mhm!" Fluttershy said into her radio, "Just a little startled after that entry."
"Wait, that was a first?" Ken asked.
"Oh, yes! I just reacted to avoid the other car, it wasn't intentional."
A pause. Then, "Wow! Colour me impressed, 'Shy. Think you can do the rest?"
Fluttershy looked towards Twilight, already with an affirming grin, "Absolutely!"
"Alright! We'll follow your lead," Ken replied before the radio switched off with a click. Foot to the floor, Fluttershy lead the charge into the corner combo of Maggotts and Aintree with renewed vigor. A sharp downshift followed by a powerful clutch kick held their car in the balance of the forces at hand, swinging from one side of Maggotts over to the other.
With no time to lose, the Mustang breached Aintree with minimal effort. Fluttershy held the wheel in lock with one hand, daring to edge nearer to the rim of the corner than any other. A backwards jolt signified the rear wheels had moved onto the gravel surrounding the track itself, giving her the signal she was a little off course. She wasn't worried, and neither was Twilight, who was looking out the side mirror to witness the backspray.
A jab of the throttle and another bout of countersteer put her car back on track, face to face with the Wellington Straight section. With practiced moves, fishtailing onwards was a breeze for the pink-haired driver, getting closer to the sides of the track with each rapid swing.
The footbridge loomed just up ahead, Fluttershy eased back on the gas and looked towards Twilight, "Lap two, ready to have some fun?"
"Oh yeah!" Twilight beamed, a wide smile across her face as they passed under the bridge.
With a smile of her own, Fluttershy slammed the gears up a notch and tugged at the handbrake, swerving backwards into Brooklands and initiating their second lap.
The midday sun-rays bounced off the glistening squad of cars as they rolled back into the pits, to the cheering of five particular girls and many more showgoers. As they pulled up to the pit crew, someone within the crowd started a chant of, "Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Fluttershy!" that quickly caught on, drowning out the cars themselves.
The named girl emerged from her trusty red Mustang, hands in the air and with a gleeful smile. She had gained quite a few fans through her quick reaction just before Copse Corner, turning a possible disaster into a true show stopping moment. She was already walking over to greet them.
Twilight wobbled her way out of her seat, legs feeling like jelly after such an experience. It would take some getting used to, but she knew she could add drifting to her lift of favourite driving activities.
Pulling her helmet off let Twilight notice the five friends all calling out to her and Fluttershy from the end of the pits. She walked over, making sure the jelly legs still worked.
"Sure was intense out there Twi, how'd ya hold up?" Applejack asked.
Twilight wiped her brow with a hand. Definitely sweaty by that point, but she shrugged it off. "Just fine, once I got over the shock. You all saw it, right?"
The girls gave various affirmatives. At least five cameras set up to record the track sessions had caught it. Rarity pointed over to a playback screen that was showing the golden moment.
"Fluttershy's got some serious skill!" Rainbow pridefully added, "Speaking of, where is she?"
Off to the side, Fluttershy was mingling with a group of fans, taking selfies and signing a few things. The girls watched for a moment, seeing just how talkative she was, a far cry from her usually shy nature.
A few strides away was the legendary rally driver Ken Block, doing largely the same. He was donned in his Hoonigan racesuit, having swapped out the helmet for a Monster Energy snapback.
"Everyone's raving about her, with fair reason too," Sunset said. "Let's go congratulate her!"
The girls walked over to join Fluttershy, giving her a well deserved round of applause. She noticed after a few seconds and turned to face them, "Hi girls!"
"Great work out there, Fluttershy!" Rarity said, giving her a high five. "That was a spectacular show you put on."
Fluttershy blushed slightly, "Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it. My heart was, well, racing out there!"
Sunset cheekily grinned, "I know what you mean."
Fluttershy continued on, "Wow, it is unexpected, though..." — she gestured to the crowd — "I never thought so many people would be watching."
"It's not every day we see a new driver make her debut," Twilight agreed. "I'm happy to say I was your first ride-along!"
"Happy to have you, Twilight," Fluttershy beamed. "It wasn't as bad as you thought, then?"
Twilight shook her head. "Definitely not, I take back what I said, its fantastic!"
"That was properly rad, Fluttershy," Ken said, walking over. "You've got potential, I can see it already. Maybe even more than me."
"R-really?" Fluttershy almost breathlessly asked, wide-eyed. This wasn't just anyone saying that. This was Ken Block, the man who practically embodied extreme motorsports. A spontaneous invitation from the Hoonigan team lead to this moment, as their fourth group member had to back out at the last minute. A gamble on an upcoming driver paid off for them, giving Ford Fair a pretty exceptional show.
"Definitely. And your co-driv– sorry, I mean passenger, enjoyed it too," Ken laughed it off, the mix between rally and Hooning sometimes becoming blurred for the incredible stuntman.
Fluttershy just smiled even wider, as did Twilight.
One of the Hoonigan team members was waving from their corner of the pits, which got the attention of Ken, and soon the rest of the group.
He turned back to Fluttershy. "Alright, I've gotta jet. Straight back to America for another big project... But before I go, I want you to have this,"
Ken took off his cap, and handed it to the awestruck girl. She took it with only slightly shaking hands before plopping it on.
"How do I look?" she asked.
"Like a true Hoonigan, and I'd like to think you're our newest honorary member."
Fluttershy nodded, "I'd love that! Thank you so much for today, Ken," she offered her hand, which he gladly shook.
He warmly said, "No, thank you for making the show even better. Don't ever stop, 'Shy."
With that, he walked back over to the rest of his crew, already cleaning up their cars.
Fluttershy turned back to her friends, long enough for Twilight to swoop in and say, "You are such a legend! And a member of the Hoonigans! Where do you even go from he—"
A loud rumbling cut her off. Everyone looked towards the culprit, Pinkie Pie, who bashfully twirled her hair. "Sorry! Must be getting hungry, there's a cafe around here, right?"
"Think so, Ah wouldn't mind checking that out," Applejack responded.
"Then that's where we'll head!" Pinkie enthusiastically started her bounce, before coming to a halt and zipping back.
"Anyone know where it is?"
The girls located the cafe sandwiched between Zone 1, 3 and 4, thanks to Twilight's handheld map. A quick walk over turned into a slightly longer one with both Twilight and Fluttershy darting off to look at various cars along the way.
They eventually found the cafe, a small yet permanent fixture erected close to the pit garages, in between two of the Ford Focus stands. It was built in a tan colourscheme, with a flat red and blue roof to match the Silverstone theme.
Walking inside greeted the group to a cool blast of air from the overhead fans. Rarity sighed in relief, her first bottle of empty sunscreen already tossed into the nearest bin.
When asked as to how it ran out so quickly, "My skin is delicate, darling. I will not allow the sun to ruin it!" was her reply.
Everyone moved towards a set of tables over by the large glass windows, facing back out into a Nitrous Blue mass of Mark-Three Focus RS'. Much like the lineup Rarity and Twilight saw, almost all of them were identical.
The cafe itself wasn't crammed, but it was busy, with many people having the same idea to get a few minutes out of the unclouded sun.
"I'm grabbing a water, anyone else want some?" Rainbow asked, volunteering to be the one to order.
Every hand shot up.
"Ahehe, silly question," she said, moving towards the counter.
A voice from the door said, "Grab two more, if that's alright!"
Looking that way showed Luke and Lewis adorned in their blazing Horizon Racing Team racesuits. Luke's hair was shaggy and ruffled, an opposite to how he usually had it. Lewis faired a little better, having just pushed it to the side. Both were caked in a layer of sweat.
They pulled up a couple of chairs and plonked down at the end of the table.
"Whew..." Luke started with a deep exhale, "That was fun!"
"Totally!" Lewis replied, a lot peppier than his twin.
After a couple of seconds, Luke piped up, "Oh! I need to introduce you all to Lewis, my brother."
He gestured towards the mentioned man. "He's been travelling around the world, checking out future locations for the Festival. A good few months in each location gives plenty of time to see if it's a good fit."
Various versions of welcomes were exchanged, just in time for Rainbow Dash to come back, hauling nine water bottles. Luke plucked two before she had a chance to sit down and passed one to Lewis. They wasted little time in gulping them down.
"You two were out on track, weren't you?" Twilight enquired, reaching over to grab a bottle.
"Yep, just been. It was pretty thrilling, to say the least," Luke said.
Wait a minute... Fluttershy gave the pair a quizzical eye-up. "You were out there, just now."
"We were," Lewis said.
"For the drift session?"
"We were..."
Twilight caught on to what Fluttershy had noticed, "What car were you in?"
Both brothers had an identical smirk, and they couldn't help but admit that they were in the red Mustang, at the rear of the convoy.
"It's not mine, it's Lewis's," Luke explained, "Ken asked if we wanted to tag along and we said sure. I was more along for the ride than anything else."
Certainly not what Twilight or Fluttershy were expecting. Fluttershy grilled the two on it, "So you saw all of Copse Corner? What happened to the other car? Are they okay?"
Both nodded. Luke answered, "We did, absolutely fantastic skills, by the way! I was still in shock by Aintree. As for the other car, it didn't hit anything. The driver was somewhat shaken up, but not enough to call it quits."
"That's good to hear, it must've been scary for you too."
Lewis agreed, "Certainly was unexpected, although by the point we were nearing Copse they'd already spun off to the side of the track. I know I couldn't have done what you did!"
Fluttershy wasn't used to all this praise, another thing to add to the list of things that were making her blush today.
"T-thank you," she said with a smile.
"So, what's up next?" Rainbow Dash asked to no one in particular, "We need a solid plan of what to do next."
Sunset took first pick, "It's twelve now. We can chill here for an hour, grab some lunch, then go back out as a group."
"Sounds good to me!" Pinkie said.
Rarity concurred, "Me too, it would do to get a nice respite out of the sun."
Fluttershy nodded her agreement, as did the others.
An hour later, the group felt much more energised and were ready to roll. They left the cafe, back out into the blistering sun and masses of crowds. Rarity dabbed more sunscreen on her extremities while Luke, Lewis and Fluttershy all left their racesuits unzipped.
Too hot to stay put for long, everyone made their way over to the garages lining the pit lane. They were currently housing a few racing teams, some merch shops, and parts manufacturers. Everyone gradually split off to check out different things, although Sunset and Twilight ended up together.
Sunset guided Twilight into one of the garages, teeming with lots of showgoers crowded around the red Ford GT sat in the centre. Her red Ford GT sat in the centre. It was in the process of getting swapped over to racing slicks by a few mechanics.
"I'd like to make you a deal, Twilight," Sunset proffered.
Twilight eyed the sleek car, "Sure, what is it?"
"I've wanted to give your GT500 a try ever since I laid my eyes on it, and I'll be going out for the track session at three. I was just wondering if you'd like to swap cars?"
A tempting offer if Twilight ever knew one. She was also interested in feeling the GT's raw racing abilities. Although it had less horsepower, and a way smaller engine, it had a higher zero-to-sixty and a much higher top speed than her Shelby.
She pretended to mull it over for dramatic effect. "Sure, why not? I'll go grab it closer to the time and we can just swap the keys."
"Sweet, cheers Twilight!"
Twilight waved a hand, "No worries, it'll be fun to drive such a machine around the track."
The pair departed the garage, exchanging pleasant conversation as they snaked among the crowds and cars of Zone 1. A jet black Fiesta caught Sunset's eye, and she pointed it out to Twilight.
They continued onwards, spotting a certain Rainbow Dash in the middle of Zone 5, surrounded by a skittles mix of Ford Focuses that tied into her namesake. They stretched in two large rows about thirty cars long, with a cluster of each colour represented. Red, to orange, to a few yellows, even some greens, and that was just the first row. The second continued into the light blues, dark blues, blacks, and whites.
Rainbow was at the centre of it all, turning and spinning at each new car. She eventually noticed Sunset and Twilight making their ways over.
"Hey guys! Fit right in, don't I?"
The trio spent a few minutes ogling and circling the Focuses, pointing out the minute differences between each one. Some were kept stock, whereas others had slight exterior upgrades. Then there were the ones that went crazy, with things like widebodies and massive rear spoilers.
"Typical Ford stuff," as Sunset eloquently put it. Twilight even came up with a scientific name, "The Ford Curve of Upgrade Insanity."
With Zone 5 checked off, they circled back towards the Cafe. Zones 1, 3 and 4 still hadn't been conquered by Twilight, and her quest to see every car this place had to offer was no joke.
Upon arrival, more Blue Ovals served to greet them. One pink Transit caught a lot of eyes, while a matte black Focus RS500 sat nestled between lots of other cars, making it a hard spot.
This was paradise for Twilight, by that point. She spent the better part of half an hour excitedly going from car to car, and row to row. Sunset and Rainbow were more than happy to endure her running commentary in the hopes she'd simmer down, before quickly realising it was a futile effort and lagging behind.
Twilight wasn't bothered in the slightest.
With three more zones now out of the way, the girls walked to the far end of the inner complex, where Zone 13 and 12 were situated. Zone 13 had a particularly good view of the circuit, where a dozen cars were already buzzing past. Even better than that, Fluttershy was watching them by the railing!
The gang annexed a soft patch of grass, choosing to lay down like a lot of other folk were. The mechanical hum of cars in the background became a soothing noise from the otherwise hectic day they'd had so far. Twilight tapped at her phone as the time clicked over to one-fifty. Race start wasn't until three, so she had an hour left to explore the rest of the fair.
She stopped the tapping and looked up, "Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, are you two going back out at three?"
Fluttershy shook her head while Rainbow nodded, "Sure am!" the latter replied, "I'll try it at least once. Never been into cars that much, but I won't say no to some racing!"
"Besides, with how much you exercise, it's probable you'll be better suited to it compared to myself," Twilight added.
Sunset looked over. "You'll love it Dash, I think Twilight has converted me to a car girl now."
Twilight leaned over to her like a zombie, repeating the phrase, "One of us, one of us, one of us," in a gravely voice before giggling.
She straightened back up with a smile, "No, but I get what you mean. It's nice to hear you're all enjoying this, even if you didn't ask to be here..."
Fluttershy innocently asked, "What do you mean by that?"
Twilight bit her lip and looked at the grass below her feet, "I'm sorry for dragging you guys into this mess, I know it's not a decision I can take lightly, but..."
She took a deep breath in. A small linger of guilt had sparked inside of her ever since her late night conversation with Sunset, and especially since talking to Luke about it.
A smooth, methodical exhale followed before Twilight admitted, "I'm not even sure if we can go back. And if we can, I'm not sure if I want to..."
Both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy looked pretty nonplussed at the revelation, while Sunset wasn't as surprised. She had already heard this before.
"Twilight..." Rainbow started.
"No, it's my fault," Twilight said. "And now I'm torn between staying here or going back home."
Fluttershy spoke up, "Well, I've taken to drifting so well because if we can't go home, I'll at least enjoy being here."
Rainbow agreed, "Yeah! It's not all bad, Twi. I'm just happy to have you guys, and it has been pretty fun."
"Yeah, it has," Twilight sighed, although she was already back to smiling. "Just don't tell the others, please. I don't think Rarity would take well to the news and Applejack would be heartbroken. I don't even know how Pinkie Pie would take it."
"Our lips are sealed, Twi," Sunset said. "Now let's go, I'm ready to race!"
Ten-past-two. Twilight had absolutely blazed through Zones 13, 12, 10 and 14 in just under twenty minutes. She had swapped to taking video of the cars rather than photos, only stopping to circle the most interesting ones.
That Liqui Moly Capri looked absolutely stunning, she had made sure to get all the angles of it to show to her father later.
The other three were close behind, thankfully.
"Okay, that's this entire side of the stands done. Now for the Special Displays!" Twilight called back as she walked past the insane lineup of blue Focus RS' from earlier in the day.
A quick stroll back over the bridge laid out a lot of familiar cars, no need to check those out again. The real treats were closer to the main entrance, bundled together on only a few stands. Nestled within the rows of cars, Twilight caught a glimpse of a certain Apple-named friend, and her all too recognisable stetson hat. She wasted no time in walking over.
Sure enough, Applejack was checking out a dual-color wrapped Focus RS. Red on one side, green on the other, Twilight thought it looked like a Christmas-themed wrap that was kept on through to summer.
"Howdy Twilight! How's the Fair been so far?" Applejack asked, sensing her presence.
Twilight twirled towards another flashy car she could see, snapping a photo, "Its been fantastic! Have you checked out the special displays yet?"
"Sure haven't, but Ah take it you're heading there now?"
Twilight nodded, already walking that way. "Hope you can keep up!" she called back jokingly.
Applejack chuckled, "Have ya seen the others?" she said, pointing back to the crossing bridge. The rest of the girls were only at the bottom.
Twenty-past-two, Twilight and Applejack arrived at the edge of the so called Special Displays. On the way over Applejack revealed that she had walked around all of the Zones, barring these, and even grabbed a bite to eat. She was just checking out some of the nicest trucks again. When an incredulous Twilight pressed her on how, she answered with, "I didn't go out on track yet, sugarcube,"
They started a slow and methodical sweep of the final few zones. For a car to be considered 'special', it either had to have immense value, be culturally significant, or be an immaculate example. A few oddities were sprinkled in, such as the South African Ford Sierra that Pinkie mentioned earlier. Twilight made sure to video that one extensively.
Applejack found a few cool ones, beckoning over Twilight as she did. A galaxy wrapped Fiesta was definitely to Twilight's tastebuds, as well as a fiery Ford Falcon painted in a glowing red.
That brought back memories of one particular thing for Twilight, Forza Horizon 3. The Australian-based game that preceded the world she was currently in. It left her with a nostalgic smile, pondering how both could be so different yet so warm in the summer months.
The final few cars were in sight by now, a small bunch of immaculate late-eighties Cosworths and Escort Turbos. She circled each one, closing in on all the finer details. Each curve in the bodywork and each small sticker that made the cars unique, allowing them to tell their own story.
Twilight took three triumphant steps over to a random patch of grass, signifying an end to her mission. She had seen every car Ford Fair had to offer! So had Applejack, who was already making her way through the last group of cars. She came to a stop next to Twilight.
"We done did it!" Applejack proudly said, high-fiving Twilight. "Every car in the whole place!"
Twilight couldn't help but grin, proud of herself too. She reflexively checked the time on her phone, two thirty-five. The other girls were meandering their way through the cars, happy to finally wrap up the main part of the day.
"Don't ever ask me about Fords again," Rainbow Dash proclaimed before downing a bottle of water.
"I'm glad we got to do this together," Rarity said. "This has been a lovely adventure, if a bit hectic at times."
"It's been the best!" Pinkie added, bouncing in place. "But shouldn't we get going? We have a race to win!"
Back at the Horizon Racing Team stand the team van, Fiesta and Focus were already gone, presumably moved to the pit garages. Twilight walked up to the bright red Ford GT she had obtained from Sunset. Pulling up on the butterfly doors she noticed that they were... a lot lighter than she was expecting.
She climbed in, albeit with no style at all. With how low the bucket seat was, it looked more like she had fallen in. The red 'start' button in the centre console was just asking to be pressed, and Twilight happily obliged.
The rear-mounted V6 jolted the car awake, settling into a rhythmic vibration after a few seconds. Twilight took a proper look around the cabin, feeling more like a spaceship on the road, where her eyes settled on a particular button... The lift system button. She didn't hesitate to activate it. The car immediately rose up at the front, and with another press so did the rear. A third press dropped the GT back into it's low slung race suspension. Another two pushed it back up.
"Having fun?" Sunset called from her new Mustang, giving it a few baby revs. The black bodywork and red stripes definitely gave the impression that the GT500 was Sunset's kind of car.
Twilight was like a kid at Christmas, she laughed as she said, "So much! I'm ready to go when you are."
One by one, the girls filed out of their designated area. The show-stopping GT and GT500 lead the way, creeping along the roads at a snails pace. It felt like all eyes were upon the group as they traversed over the bridge once more. Cars such as the GT never failed to bring out smiles amongst onlookers, with many hastily grabbing pictures. Twilight was glad she figured out the lift system moments before, lest she scrape the underbody of such a pristine racecar.
They slipped into a dimly lit garage on the edge of the pit lane. The team van was parked off to the side, toolboxes and parts already spilling out. Haley had the Fiesta off to the side, getting her hands dirty in the engine bay. Luke had his Focus up on jackstands, devoid of any wheels. A fresh set of racing slicks sat next to it, wrapped around lightweight carbon fibre rims.
Twilight hopped out of her GT and walked over, "Hey Luke! What's the plan?"
He pushed a wheel over to the car, letting it drop next to the rear axle. "First things first, can you pop the bonnet for me? There's a latch in the passenger footwell."
Twilight obliged, pulling the latch out and popping the bonnet to a satisfying click. She walked around to lift it up, revealing a mass of carbon fibre coverings.
"There's not much to see here," Twilight said.
Luke called out from the other side of the car, "There should be a few ratchets on top, grab the one with a flex-head and a ten millimeter socket—"
She did as asked, easy enough.
"—one of the air ducts next to the radiator has come loose. Should be a couple bolts holding it to the grille, they'll need tightening,"
Twilight took a deep breath and laid down to slide under the front bumper. It was a little hard to see in the light, but the two bolts were there. She gripped the first one with the ratchet and tightened it before repeating the process with the second.
After a few seconds she popped back up. "Done!"
"Sweet, hop in the drivers seat and turn it over," Luke instructed.
Twilight eagerly hopped into the lone bucket seat, which looked similar to the ones in her Ford GT. Upon closer inspection, she noticed it was from a Ford GT. She turned the key, eliciting a thunderous stream of noise that reverberated around the garage.
"Give it some throttle!" Luke yelled from under the car. Twilight did so, covering her ears with her hands... This was a whole new level of loud. She expected that a race exhaust had been fitted for some added performance gains. The Focus threw it's weight around with each jab of the pedal, before Luke jumped up and signalled for Twilight to cut it off.
"Yep, those are on tight. Cheers for that Twilight!" he said, letting the bonnet drop back into place.
"You're welcome, that was quite fun!" she said.
Luke was already hauling the old wheels back over to the team van. He surveyed the group's cars, "Are you all going out for the session?"
Everyone but Fluttershy nodded an affirmative. She glanced up from her Spec 5. "I think I'll watch," she said with a smile.
Twilight had a better idea, "You could do the starting honors!"
Fluttershy's head shot up. "Oh! Um... Sure, that'd be nice."
Luke whipped out his phone. "I'll text the organisers so they know to expect you. Give me a moment."
The rear door on the team van opened and Maverick clambered out, a few power tools and wrenches falling out onto the floor. He flung them back in and shut the door with a clunk. He triumphantly strode up to Luke and presented his finding with unhidden elation.
"I found it!" he cheered, arms outstretched before passing the small circular object to Luke, who wasted no time in attaching it to the front of the car.
Twilight walked over and took a peek. "A... Tow hook cover?"
Both of the men nodded. "It's all about the aerodynamics. I'm just glad we found it, I thought I had lost it ages ago," Luke said.
Twilight was about to enquire about it when a red light started flashing in her peripheral vision. Everyone looked up at the corner of the garage, a clock beside the light read 14:55pm. A few seconds later, an ear splitting din of engines rose up above the buzz of showgoers. The collective noise grew closer, and a barrage of other Ford vehicles from the other garages passed through the pit lane.
Everyone, sans Fluttershy, scrambled to their vehicles. Twilight wasted no time in powering up the GT and peeling out into the pit lane. She could see Sunset, Luke, and Haley turning out of the garage in the rearview mirror.
While the circuit itself felt somewhat familiar by now, the pit lane was still new to Twilight. A bend to the right eased out onto the track proper, just after the turn where Fluttershy pulled off her legendary reverse entry stunt.
A hiss of static came through the radio she had forgotten about, with Maverick on the other side.
"When you get out on track, warm up the tires by snaking from side to side. It'll help with grip once the session starts," he instructed. Twilight lead the peculiar dance across the asphalt, taking another peek in the rearview mirror to see everyone else doing the same. Even Maverick, driving the Supervan.
The team soon pulled up to the Pits Straight starting grid, settling in at the rear. All in all, there were only twenty cars and the Horizon Racing Team made up half of that. Twilight expected it wouldn't be too much of a setback. She looked around the sleek cockpit at all of the buttons and dials, the majority being crammed onto the steering wheel in a style reminiscent of F1 cars. The mode selector jutted out in the top left corner, and Twilight quickly flipped it into race mode.
It didn't take too long for a buzz to fill the air, coming from the network of speakers set up around the complex. The buzz soon turned into a voice as Fluttershy started to speak over the airwaves.
"Hellooooo Silverstone!" she gleefully announced, ringing out from multiple directions. "This is our final track session of the day! For all of our wonderful attendees today, please direct your attention to one of the capture screens highlighted on the event map, or make your way to a viewing location! Now, as for our drivers...
"I'm sure you've been briefed already, but I'll repeat it for the crowd, too. Remember to drive safely, no aggressive maneuvers or close overtaking—
"—That goes for you, Twilight." she quietly whispered into the microphone, though it was anything but. Twilight felt a sudden heat rush to her cheeks at being called out so publicly. Nevertheless, Fluttershy continued on, "If you're not going flat out, keep to the edges of the track, please! Our team will be monitoring lap times, so if you're in it to win it then give it your all!"
A brief pause, before Fluttershy announced, "Silverstone, are you ready?!"
The roar of cheering crowds reached a crescendo in the near distance. Twilight gripped the wheel, her foot edging closer to the throttle with each passing second.
"Drivers! Are you ready?!" Fluttershy exuberantly asked, getting a chorus of engines in response.
Twilight locked onto the overhead start lights, clenching the wheel tigher and tighter. Any moment now...
"Let's go!!"
Twilight slammed her foot down on the gas, catapulting the GT forwards with the squeal of rubber on asphalt. She couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh, feeling the G-forces shove her back into tight seat. She swung a hard left, all the way to the track perimeter, missing the Ford Focus that was ahead by mere inches.
Pulling the wheel straight again, Twilight pushed her red bullet down the grid with a clear sight to the lead position. It was a risky move, one that most would consider outright dangerous, but that didn't matter for her.
Without warning, one of the Fords ahead pulled right, blocking her access. At the same time, another two pulled left, going for the inside corner. She firmly pressed the brakes and slid the GT into the newly open spot, trailing behind the two that were now halfway through Copse.
She flashed through the gears back down to first, the engine audibly growling with each change just behind her ears. The track started to clear out, leaving an open corridor of space for Twilight to take advantage of. A quick glance at the side mirror showed her a clear rear, giving the go ahead.
The GT dove leftwards, jutting out and sitting central on the track. Twilight flicked the paddles up and rocketed through to second gear, spinning the tires as she did so. The car regained traction with an upshift into third gear, positively blazing ahead of everyone else.
Twilight shifted up into fourth as the straight came to an end, which slithered into the one-two combo of Maggotts and Aintree, with her foot still pinned on the throttle. The Ford GT's race suspension made the driving experience an awfully bumpy one, allowing for Twilight to feel every single vibration through the chassis itself. She could see why Sunset wanted to trade, now.
She also had to admit, it was starting to get slightly annoying, and it was an extra sense that took away from her concentration, such as checking the current speed and braking distance.
Oh... My speed, right.
Twilight glanced down at the dashboard, the large '130mph' staring back at her. She breathed in and held it in her core, ignoring the tingles of fear-fuelled adrenaline that were trying to pull at her focus. She felt relaxed, at ease, calm, knowing what her next move was.
With the edge of the track approaching, Twilight had little option but to slam on the brakes. She did so with as much force as possible, and a vice grip on the wheel to keep the car from violently spinning out under its own power. The car lurched forward, leaving strips of burnt rubber across the tarmac and a cloud of smoke to go with it. The rear wing shot up, helping to slow the GT down just a little bit faster.
It stopped just short of the outer curve. Not wanting to ruin the underbody by going any further Twilight wrenched the wheel to the right, pulling through into Aintree. She darted over to the inside of the track just as the radio started to spit static.
Luke filtered through the speaker. "Woah, you okay Twilight?"
"Yep! Perfectly okay, just hit the brakes a little late," Twilight replied with a relieved sigh.
"You're telling me, also, on your left." Luke said before the radio went silent. Twilight sat there for a moment, trundling along at the edge of the track. She peeked to the left to see a certain blue Focus easily keeping up, a small grin across the driver's face. He soon flicked the radio back on.
"How about another race?" Luke enthusiastically asked.
Twilight chuckled. "Didn't you already win the last one?"
"Let's make it interesting then, first one across the line wins!"
That... Actually sounds quite good. Twilight thought. With how track focused her GT was, it was sure to give her some advantage.
"Sounds good, whenever you're ready!" she said, ready to let rip on the gas again.
"Okay—" they looked to the track, brimming with excitement, "—go!!!"
Twilight gripped the wheel and opened the floodgates, pushing down on the pedal as hard as she could! She whipped a look to the left, Luke's car gaining distance ahead. The sound of the GT's engine became almost deafening as she slammed it into fourth gear and passed under the bridge. Just how fast was that car?
No time to ponder the question, the two were quickly approaching the Brooklands corner. Luke darted to the right just a few car lengths ahead. Twilight sensed an opportunity and reacted, easing onto the brakes and swinging a hard left. She pulled the steering wheel as far as possible, cutting into the apex of the corner.
Luke gave a frustrated growl from inside his Focus, having practically gifted the lead to Twilight with such a wide turn. No matter, she was midway through the apex, leaving a large gap to overtake. He jabbed at the throttle, pulling closer behind her. Within a few seconds he'd initiate the move and—
The GT banked a right across to the next apex, much harder than Luke had anticipated. Twilight was playing defensive, he concluded. He had no choice but to go wide again into Luffield.
Twilight glanced at her mirror as she wrenched the wheel in the opposite direction, success! The Focus was slowly but surely losing ground, which is exactly what she'd hoped for. With how good it was in the straights, this was her last chance to balance the playing field.
Luffield corner soon came to an end as Twilight pushed the car ever forwards. Every jolt through the chassis didn't even phase her by that point. She flicked into third gear as Luke exited the turn. There was a fair amount of distance between them, and she needed to make it count.
The GT blasted past the pit lane entrance, onlookers waving and cheering. Twilight aggressively put the car into fourth, checking the rearview mirror to see Luke on her tail. The Pits Straight laid just up ahead, the last stretch!
Twilight kept on the inside, a strobelight of red and white flooding her vision from the right, the GT only inches from the wall. Fifth gear came and went, the engine climbed higher in note.
Luke pulled left, leaving nowhere for her to go but forward. The starting grid laid bare on the track a hundred meters ahead. Twilight looked left, seeing the Focus edging closer. The bumper was level with her body as both cars blazed into the grid, and Twilight couldn't help but force her eyes forward again. A second later she crossed the line, and let out the pent up sigh she didn't even know she was holding.
Twilight flicked the radio on, her fingers like lightning. "Who won?! Fluttershy, who won?!" she demanded.
Silence.
She tried again. "Fluttershy?"
This time, she got a response, "Sorry, just looking over the footage! It seems that you did, Twilight."
"YES!!!" Twilight cheered, "That was amazing!"
"Very well played, Twilight," Luke said. "Wanna go again?"
Twilight looked over at him, grinning from inside his Focus. They locked eyes as she responded into the radio.
"Absolutely!"
Twenty minutes later, the track began to empty of cars. Twilight plodded the GT along, hardly making any use of the horsepower. She signalled into the pit lane and made her way through, pulling into the Horizon Racing Team garage. Maverick, Haley and Sunset were already parked up. She pushed the throttle down one final time, eliciting a passionate roar from the engine before turning the key. The engine cut out as she pulled the door open.
"That was positively exhilarating!" Twilight said, climbing out and pushing the door down. She couldn't help but stand back and admire the Ford GT she had just torn up the tarmac with. "I love this car..."
"You're more than welcome to drive it back, you know," Sunset said, sidling up next to Twilight. "I'm loving the 'Stang just as much, its amazing!"
Twilight smiled, "I'm glad you're enjoying it, how do you like the handling?"
The two traded quips on their respective cars, noting just how different they were, but still incredibly fun to blast around the track in.
Next to pull in was Applejack in her trusty Escort Mk2. The car sounded like it was far from done on track and ready for more. It's driver, however, couldn't say the same.
"Thanks for the great day, y'all!" Applejack called as she rolled the window down. "Ah've had tons'a fun out there,"
Rarity was close behind in her bubbly blue Puma, "Absolutely, darling, it's been a splendid outing!"
Not long after, Pinkie's Fiesta pulled in and parked up next to Rarity. She hopped out, buzzing with glee after such a fun track session.
"That was super! I almost had you, Rarity!"
Rainbow pulled in a moment later, her blue Ford GT70 coming to a halt beside Applejack. She flung the door open and stepped out with a competitive grin. She offered her hand to Applejack, who shook it in turn. "We totally gotta do that again, I was so close to beating you!"
Applejack chuckled. "We'll see, sugar."
It didn't take long for Fluttershy to run in through the garage door. "Hi girls!"
Twilight couldn't help but throw her hands up indignantly. "I do not overtake aggressively!"
Fluttershy let a giggle slip, "How did you start the race again?"
"Fair point," Twilight replied with a smirk, she couldn't exactly deny it.
A grumble made her reflexively look to the pit lane, only to see Luke swing his Focus into the garage and park by the team van. He turned the key, silencing the engine as he stepped out. Everyone looked towards him as he began to speak.
"That was brilliant! Thank you so much, all of you, for such a fun day. I have no doubts you're all gonna crush the Goliath in a week."
The girls cheered, they had become the Horizon Racing Team, tearing up the track and beating every leaderboard that stood in their way! Twilight took a step forward, one thing on her mind.
If you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver. ~Ayrton Senna
The Goliath awaits you.
4:45pm
The sound of various bits and bobs being shuffled around was evident throughout every car, trying it's hardest to drown out the hum of engines and activity that filled the encapsulating Silverstone air. From Zone 15 it was even more obvious to the Horizon Racing Team, who were currently working on making their exit.
Once the three o'clock track session wrapped up about fourty minutes later, the group had little in the way of things to do. Twilight had made sure to see every car on display, which meant that most of her friends did too.
Thankfully, the event offered a few more stands of various products and keepsakes in the same place that Twilight had purchased her little gift for Luke from. Some had keyrings and air fresheners, some had model cars. Others had Ford themed clothing items and a few were selling performance mods.
It wasn't until getting back to her Ford GT, with two large bags in tow, that Twilight realised she had almost nowhere to store the things she bought.
"I think we're set, is there anything left to pack?" Luke asked aloud, pulling the boot of his Focus RS down.
"All good boss!" Maverick called from the Horizon Racing Team van.
Twilight flicked the passenger door of her recently acquired Ford GT shut and looked at the surrounding vehicles, there was a small yet noticeable exodus towards the bridge out of the complex. Fords trickled their way out and onto the surrounding motorways or sideroads, hoping to beat the evening traffic that was soon to clog up junctions by leaving an hour early. She turned back to the inner area, grandstands and banners still waving proudly in the gentle summer breeze. Grass patches were starting to show more green than orange or blue at this point, a sign that it was also her time to go.
"Fine over here! I'm ready now," Twilight replied, having unceremoniously shoved her bags in the passenger footwell. She turned for one last look across the track grounds before sliding the GT's driver door open and climbing in. It took minimal effort of course, being made from the lightest carbon fibre and alcantara. She nestled into the snug bucket seat, hoping it wouldn't be too harsh on the long drive back to the Festival.
Alright, let's do this.
With a push, the car once again fired up a guttural grumble that settled to an idle tone a moment later, Twilight flicked the right paddle to engage first gear. She looked to her fellow racers in their cars for a mental headcount. Luke was there, Maverick too, Haley, the girls...
"Wait, where's Lewis?" she asked into the radio.
The radio crackled with Luke's response. "He's flying out to Mexico tonight, had to dip a little bit earlier. He told me to say thank you for such a fun day and wishes you guys well!"
Well, can't argue with that, Twilight concluded.
One by one, the group set off. Luke naturally took the lead, with Haley tailing close behind in the green Fiesta. The girls zippered themselves into the middle while Twilight took up the rear with Maverick. Down the ramp they went, leaving their perch atop Zone 15 for the lower asphalt and pulling left towards the main roundabout, passing the remaining scatter of track cars and showbuilds.
Twilight swung through the roundabout to the third exit, following behind Fluttershy in her Spec 5 Mustang. The central straight lead them past the special displays, now just a slightly compacted grass area.
It was a day incredibly well spent, and one that wouldn't be forgotten by any of the group for a long time. Twilight vowed to seek out events like this when she got back home, even if they weren't Ford exclusive. Something about the thrill of blasting around a track was just so captivating!
They eventually all made it to the main gate, passing through the car park and finally onto actual roads, a two way junction laid bare before them. The convoy snaked right, blasting by a few eager photographers that had set up curbside.
The shorth stretch of road came to an overpass over a busy motorway below, which was exactly where they were going. Luke signalled another right, slipping his Focus over to the A43 on-ramp that made it's way down. It didn't take long for the rest of the team to follow suit, their destination being almost halfway back up the country.
Twilight flipped her indicator and signalled out, finally on motorway proper. She snuggled back in the drivers seat, squeezing as much comfort out of it as humanly possible. The occasional chassis rattle would send jolts up her spine, signifying a bumpier ride than expected.
Hmm, Comfort Mode should solve that little problem.
Two and a half miles later, the A43 merged into the A5. A quick look at the centre screen showed that it was pretty much straight for the next five miles, and looking ahead showed it was devoid of cars. There was just one problem however, the roads were awfully thin. Twilight decided to hold back on being a speed demon for the time being.
She thought back to the first time she had asked Luke for a race, only to get absolutely demolished by his blasted Focus. They only came with three-hundred horsepower normally, right?
It clicked. Back at the Festival! Twilight swore she remembered hearing something about eleven-hundred horsepower, but wasn't paying attention.
She whipped the radio from the dashboard and spoke into it. "Luke, I forgot to ask. How much power is that Focus putting down again?"
"Oh, about a thousand and ninety-five, why?" Luke nonchalantly responded.
Twilight locked her grip on the steering wheel, caught between focusing on the road and trying to wrack her brain around that ludicrous figure.
"S.. So back at the Festival, that was..." she asked, incredulous.
"Yeah, eleven-hundred was the target, but five off isn't that bad in my book."
Taking a deep breath, Twilight refocused on the road ahead. The A5 was starting to widen up, and she could see a roundabout with a junction labelled 'M1' not too far off in the distance. She recalled the sheer length of that particular motorway, almost two hundred miles.
It was gonna be a long trip back to the festival.
7:00pm
Twilight let out a relieved sigh as she left the junction that signified the end of the M1 motorway, one hundred and twenty three miles from where she and the group first pulled onto it. She desperately wanted to look down at the satnav on the console screen, displaying how long it would take before they reached the Festival again.
I shouldn't, but maybe a peek won't hurt...No, Twilight, you don't want this to feel any longer than it needs to, don't look for the love of—
Three hours. Three. Hours. Left.
She cursed her eyes for betraying her. It wasn't that Twilight didn't like driving for long stretches, it was that motorway driving was just so boring and kept her from letting loose on the throttle. Going sixty on semi-busy roads was nothing compared to thrashing up the racetrack in a mix of adrenaline and excitement.
The radio started to spit static, something that had only happened a few times within the last two hours, Sunset came through the other end. "There's a service station up ahead, you guys up for a quick stop off?"
"Yes," Twilight groaned into her receiver. "I need to stretch my legs for a bit, got a severe case of numb butt syndrome over here."
Sunset signalled over to the left lane, followed shortly by Applejack and Haley, then Twilight. The rest of the group continued up the motorway in the right lane, though Twilight didn't expect them to get that far.
The now-quartet of cars rolled into the service station forecourt, which was surprisingly deserted for a Sunday evening. Twilight expected it to be busy with activity, being on a busy motorway and all, but was met with the odd car or two dotting the forecourt as she stopped beside one of the gas pumps.
She pushed the drivers door up, a small smile across her face at how the GT was becoming slightly easier to get in and out of, now that she had more experience. Twilight made her way around to the other side of the car, popping open the gas cap and reaching for the pump labelled 'Petrol'.
Twilight held the nozzle in place, occasionally checking to make sure she didn't overfill the tank as she jumped back into another session of just thinking. She couldn't help but look up from the car, noticing that beyond the wooden fence that surrounded the service station was a sight of plush, green countryside hills. Twilight didn't know exactly what it was, but she could feel a sense of warmth spark within her at such a view, a sense of belonging, staying here, in Britain.
Belonging. That was a word that hadn't come up in all of her introspective self-debates on what to do once the time to leave came... If it came at all.
The nozzle in Twilight's hand gave a short buzz, prompting her to focus her eyes back to the forecourt. As she reflexively pulled back, she noticed Haley looking at her from where she was filling Luke's Fiesta up.
"Are you okay, Twilight?" Haley asked, concern webbed into her tone.
Twilight nodded as she placed the pump back into it's location, flicking the GT's gas cap shut. "I'm fine, just spaced out a little. It's... A nervous habit."
Haley frowned a bit. "Is it the upcoming race?"
"Sort of," Twilight admitted with a sigh, though that was hardly the main reason. "What comes after is the problem, there's no telling if we'll be able to go home after it."
Haley looked confused for a split second, before realisation crossed her face. "I remember Luke saying something about that, that you all came from someplace else, right?"
They were walking across the forecourt by now, over to the door of the small shop kiosk to pay for their topped-up tanks. Haley held the door for Twilight as they both entered the shop. Sunset and Applejack were still filling up, given their choice of cars it wasn't too surprising.
"Thank you," Twilight politely said, stepping through the door. "Yes, this world was actually a video game I was playing when we all got sucked in, quite literally. It was jarring at first, but I've grown used to it by now."
Haley made no attempt to hide her intrigue, eyebrows raising at such exciting information. "That's so cool!" she replied with a smile. It soon turned to thoughtfulness as she continued. "So you think that winning the Goliath will be enough to take you girls home?"
Twilight stopped for a moment, letting her pass, that pretty much was her current theory, save for a few ones that were less than desirable. She eventually said, "Yes, I do. But without proper evidence, I can only theorise. That's the scientific way, of course."
Haley had a slightly knowing grin, glancing back at Twilight at she walked up to the counter and paid for both Pump 1 and 2. It took a second for Twilight to realise Haley paid for them both, rather than just her own petrol. She felt a heat rise to her cheeks before starting with, "Oh! Do you want me to pay you back or—"
Haley quickly waved a hand as she started for the door again. "Don't worry about it! The Festival has a whole budget for gas costs. Now, tell me more about this place you came from..."
The pair made their way back out to the station forecourt, Twilight happily explaining just where her and the girls came from and how they'd ended up at Horizon Britain, what Canterlot City was like, though she failed to mention most of the magical stuff.
"So I take it you're a science girl?" Haley asked after Twilight caught herself just about to delve into a lecture on some theoretical science.
"Yeah, I—"
A shrill whistle came from the third gas pump, where Applejack was already back in her trusty Ford Escort, though it was Sunset that spoke from the fourth pump at the far end.
"Yo, we're ready to roll, you guys coming or what?" she hollered.
Twilight and Haley shared a glance, they'd really gotten carried away with what was meant to be a quick stop for gas. They both walked over to their cars, though Twilight stopped short of opening the GT's door and continued with what she was going to say.
"I am, in fact, a science girl. What made you ask?" she implored with a playful smirk.
Haley turned to look at Twilight from inside the green Fiesta, hand on the key. "Degrees in engineering and physics, though any sort of science is interesting to me. If you're sticking around the Festival, I might have a few projects that could use your help!"
Getting back into her GT, Twilight pondered over such a thought. Engineering and physics must mean something physical, something big, something that just screams 'Horizon Festival' in every possible sense.
There was a small part of her that wanted to stick around for that, maybe.
7:25pm
"How far behind are you guys?" Maverick's voice rang through the radio. Despite everyone hearing it, it was directed at four specific people.
"Ten miles still," Sunset called a second later.
Ten miles? How fast was she going, one-twenty, one-thirty? Twilight honestly wasn't sure anymore.
"We woulda' been nearer your tail if a certain couple of girls didn't spend ten minutes chattin' at the gas station," Applejack statically quipped.
Haley came through next, "We've already said sorry!"
"Relax, guys, we've all kinda split up here anyway. Luke is blasting up the motorway with Fluttershy to avoid the rain, I don't even know where Dash is though." Maverick responded.
"You're telling me there's rain?!" Dash almost instantly called back, Twilight could only imagine what rain would do to her early-70s bucket-on-wheels.
For the last fifteen minutes, Twilight, Haley, Applejack and Sunset had been absolutely flooring it up the motorway. In the interests of group safety, and mainly Applejack's Escort having a lower top speed, Twilight had limited herself to about a hundred miles an hour for the majority of it, weaving by the occasional car that was on their way home from a nice weekend getaway.
Still, with a gap of ten miles between the four of them and the rest of the group, Twilight desperately wanted to go faster.
8:30pm
Rain, rain, go away, lock yourself in the pits of hell and never, ever bother me again. Twilight thought to herself, although it wasn't as bad as she was making it out to be.
A fresh wave of droplets blanketed her GT's sloped windscreen, blurring her ability to see through. Okay, maybe it was as bad as she was making it out to be. Most of them thankfully slid straight off due to this lovely thing known as aerodynamics. Despite that, the sheer amount of downpour was starting to worry Twilight, some of the cars really weren't built for torrential rain!
All the members of the convoy had pulled into another service stop around eight o'clock, grabbing some snacks for the last leg of the journey before they made their way back out onto the seemingly endless stretch of motorways.
It only took until quarter past for the rain to start absolutely pissing it down, in Luke's own words. Twilight couldn't help but chuckle at that, his and Fluttershy's frantic bid to escape it not working in their favor at all.
9:00pm
Twilight could just make out the sign that read, 'Edinburgh - 40 miles' through the ever-decreasing sunlight and ever-increasing wetness. She estimated it would take just under fifty minutes to actually reach the Festival at their speed, since the rain had no intention of letting up.
It also had every intention of making sure the group radios stopped working, too.
With no group banter to drown it out, Twilight quickly found the sounds of water pounding down on her car quite irritating. She flicked through a few of the infotainment offerings the centre screen had, one of them being a music app. Much to her surprise, a few of the songs from the Forza Horizon 3 soundtrack were queued up from the Pulse Playlist. Twilight happily tapped the play button on Tied To You and settled in for the last leg of the journey, letting the nostalgia of her first Forza game push back the sound of wind and wet weather.
9:45pm
The last song in the Block Party Playlist came to an end as the Horizon Racing Team found themselves back on familiar roads, slowly making their way through the village of Broadway, though it currently felt more abandoned than anything else. Thankfully, the Festival's copious amount of strobe lights were like an unobstructed beacon for the group to follow, just off in the distance.
Twilight didn't need to see that 'the windmill' was sat atop the hill to her left as she passed along the bend below it at a crawl, not that she could with how dark it was, all she could do was focus on the car ahead of her, Sunset's GT500. The sun had set more than half an hour ago, leaving the landscape shrouded in a fairly thick vale of darkness, only made worse by the rain that still wasn't letting up.
Haley and Maverick had shuffled to the rear of the pack just before the convoy reached the end of the motorway, the long, seemingly unending motorway that everyone was happy to finally be off of.
As the group passed by a sign that pointed to the Horizon Festival's south entrance, Haley's Fiesta and Maverick's team van banked a right onto the road leading to it, they'd drop off the vehicles and then head home for a well deserved rest. They both sounded off beeps of thanks, which the now eight-strong convoy happily returned.
It was a seemingly familiar yet eerie drive up towards Tarn Hows, consisting of only a few turns, allowing most everyone to take relief in the fact that they were only a few minutes away from Luke's mansion. They crossed through Ambleside as quietly as possible, the narrow village streets also desolate, though a couple of lights were on in houses that were passed.
It didn't take long before the girls could spot the dirt road that branched to Luke's mansion, happily trading tarmac for mud, sleep was just around the corner!
The cars filed into the driveway, one by one lining up until all eight were sat under the house spotlights, engines beginning to wind down and the rain becoming once again evident. Luke climbed out first and ran for the front door, key prepped in hand. Luckily managing not to slip in his mad dash, he shoved it open. Light from the foyer spilled out as he beckoned with a hand, signalling for the girls to run as well.
Sunset leapt out first, as did Rainbow Dash, pushing their car doors firmly shut before making their way inside. Rarity and Applejack went next, soon followed by Fluttershy, who almost slipped up before Pinkie Pie caught her from behind.
Twilight's attempt was made just that little bit harder by the butterfly door she had to contend with. She wrenched it open, sparing a quick glance to all of the merch she'd shoved into the passenger footwell. I'll grab it in the morning, she decided.
She ran for dear life, pushing an arm up in a feeble attempt to try and block out the rain. It only lasted a couple of seconds before she burst through the open door, landing square on the welcome mat. Luke quickly slammed the door shut, though Twilight wondered how he, anyone, still had energy after the day they'd had.
They shared a brief moment of silence, weary from such a journey. Sunset was the first to break it as she said, "So, that was pretty fun, right guys?"
"Sure was, sugarcube," Applejack tiredly replied, stretching her arms. "I gotta say, all that drivin' will have me sleeping til' midday tomorrow."
"I don't blame you," Rainbow Dash quipped, pushing a hand to her mouth to stifle a yawn.
Luke did the same before saying, "I definitely don't, I think we all deserve a day to just chill." He pushed his hands out in a mock 'chillax, bro' motion, "Any ideas for tomorrow?"
Oddly enough, Twilight didn't feel all that fatigued. Sure, her wrists felt practically hollow and her ankles felt like they could fall off at any second, but she felt quite happy in saying that her idea of chilling was driving. She furrowed her brow, contemplating what they could do after a cross-country venture that took them to one of the best racetracks in the world, not much could beat that.
Her mind turned to Edinburgh, she'd yet to fully explore the city. After being rudely interrupted by a certain someone, not once but twice, she felt like finishing it off her bucket list wasn't such a bad idea.
While Twilight was still pondering the question, Luke seemed to have gotten no answers from the others, "Okay, we'll figure out something tomorrow." He yawned again, already making his way for the master bedroom, "I'm definitely off to bed, night guys."
The girls all chimed back with goodnights of their own before turning to the stairs, leading to their temporary bedroom. Not even Pinkie wanted to stay awake for any longer, hopping into her bed and almost instantaneously starting to snore. Twilight guessed it took no more than three seconds.
Monday 9:00am
The sound of birds chirping could be heard ever so softly through an open window, the occasional rustle of a tree mixed within, which was pretty standard fare for a usual morning soundtrack.
No, the odd part was being unable to hear the distinct splattering of rain droplets from the night before.
Twilight almost forced her eyelids open, staring up at the ceiling as light streamed in from said window. She turned a groggy head towards it, still laid down on the bed, seeing that the weather outside was most definitely clearer than it was.
That gave her some energy to spring out of bed, and she briefly wondered if she was a plant that was currently photosynthesising...
Okay, maybe not.
Knocking the goofy thought aside for a moment, Twilight trudged over to the window and glanced down to the gathering of Fords that were parked haphazardly on the front driveway, making a mental note to go and grab the stuff she'd bought at Silverstone soon.
She swiveled back to the room, noticing that everyone was still asleep, as she glanced to the clock hanging above the door which read exactly nine in the morning, slowly ticking over into the first minute. Twilight contemplated waking the girls up, but graciously let them have a few extra hours in bed as she tiptoed towards the door, slipping through it and into the hallway without a sound.
The first thing she heard was the familiar buzz of a television in the living room below as she made her way downstairs, finding Luke intently typing away on a laptop while the morning news played in the background.
Twilight walked over a particularly creaky floorboard as she stepped into the room, alerting Luke to her presence. His eyes flicked up to her for a moment before dropping back down to the laptop, resuming the clacking of keys.
"Morning," he said aloud.
"Good morning!" Twilight cheerfully replied, pulling herself over to a large beanbag that was plopped opposite the coffee table, Luke definitely knew how to chill.
He paused his typing for a moment, looking over at Twilight, "Got anything planned for today?"
Twilight leaned into the beanbag, propping herself up to look back, "Well, I was thinking of taking a drive up to Edinburgh, check out some other things, that kinda stuff."
Luke nodded, then gently closed the laptop lid. "You sure you'll be fine on your own?" he asked, not even needing to broach the topic of a certain someone lurking those city streets.
Twilight stiffened a little, catching on to what Luke meant by that question, but eventually relaxed. She waved a casual hand in dismissal. "I'll be fine, plus I can always call you or the girls if I need to. That's enough, right?"
Luke quietly contemplated it, staring down at the laptop, eyes unfocused from anything specific. After a moment, he said, "I guess so, I'm not going to stop you—" his eyes shifted to Twilight's, "—but please, if you get into a situation, call me, I don't want you to get hurt."
Twilight could feel her heart warm at that, she hopped up from the beanbag and said, "You have my word that I'll call you if I need to."
Satisfied, Luke pulled the laptop lid back up and resumed his clacking, "Sounds good then, I recommend checking out Arthur's Seat if you're over that way, really good views."
"Sure, I'll check it out," Twilight replied, making her way to the door. She glanced back to Luke for a moment, eyeing the laptop. "What are you actually typing? I'm curious now."
Luke groaned, swivelling the laptop towards her, showcasing a giant spreadsheet full of various numbers and charts.
"Ugh, Festival finances." he sighed.
Swiveling the steering wheel to the left, Twilight left the gates of Derwent Mansion, commencing her solo retreat up to Edinburgh for a few hours. She pulled out onto one of the dirt trails that traced along the south side of Derwent Water, meandering through farmland and fenced off fields.
With great reluctance, she kept her Apollo Intensa Emozione under thirty miles an hour, thanks to some particularly muddy patches from the night before. No use in wrecking the whole underbody from offroading, right?
Twilight banked another left, finally spotting the A591 at the end of the dirt path, increasingly becoming uncomfortable through the stiff suspension of a car which was clearly not made to offroad. A quick clutch kick and a flick of the steering wheel sent the Apollo sideways towards the road, coming off of the loose dirt and onto solid asphalt. Twilight righted the wheel and jammed her right foot down on the throttle, upshifting straight into second gear. She blasted the car forwards, topping out at one hundred and twenty miles an hour. (193 km/h)
Her foot pulled back, bringing the Apollo down to slightly safer speeds as she weaved into a light S-curve along the river, fresh light rays bouncing off of the surface.
Another S-bend awaited Twilight, and so she leaned into it with fervor. The sharpness with which the acceleration threw her body backwards threatened to send the car sideways if she wasn't careful, but Twilight kept her balance, coming out the other side unscathed.
There was no music this time, the unmistakable V12 just behind her head bringing it's own flavour of sound as the car satisfyingly downshifted, a crackling flame or two managing to escape from the exhaust. Twilight kept her eyes focused on the road, though a fork laid up ahead. She could continue on the A591 and come out at the northernmost roundabout, or she could swoop right and approach Edinburgh from the south end.
After a split second of thinking, she had her answer. Twilight applied force to the brake pedal, swinging right onto the A697 through a thick canopy of trees. The Apollo banked all the way through the apex, on the wrong side of the road, flying out of the exit point with little to no effort.
Twilight was grateful that not many people seemed to be out that morning, she'd only passed one other car since leaving Luke's place. It gave her the chance to really let the Apollo fly!
And so she did, pushing into fifth gear along Whitewater Falls, only dropping back down into fourth to clear another chicane.
The road cleared out into a longer straight, letting Twilight climb all the way up to Moorhead Wind Farm, past the siding that she'd stopped off at once before for some coffee. This time, it was more of a blur as her car reached one hundred and fifty miles an hour. She looked to the left, seeing the clusters of buildings that comprised Edinburgh City just off in the distance.
The A697 lead into a Speed Zone that paved it's way back down the hillside, the Apollo triggering it with a click! and violent thrust of acceleration as Twilight took the first corner. It was the same as a rollercoaster, especially as the brief sense of weightlessness washed over her. The Apollo lived up to it's namesake, all four wheels momentarily losing grip on the declining tarmac as the hypercar gained airtime, flying forwards at breakneck speeds.
While it was thankfully shortlived, the car came down with an almighty crash, thoroughly rattling Twilight to her core. She wrestled with the wheel for a split second, pulling back on the throttle just a little bit. She confirmed the car was stable again and soldiered on, leaning it into a wide right turn and out the other side of the Speed Zone.
Twilight chanced a glance into her side mirror to see the Zone already disappearing as the car rocketed through an overpass above the M68 Motorway, Edinburgh drawing closer and closer. She continued up the A697 until it merged into the A171, only slowing down once the 'Welcome to Edinburgh' sign came into view.
The box junction that laid ahead was thankfully empty, Twilight flicked down a gear and turned right onto the road leading to Arthur's Seat. She didn't get a chance to accelerate like a wild bull this time, coming out of the short straight into a double roundabout.
Twilight's Apollo arced left into the first roundabout, the excessive aero around the car making it a breeze, to say the least. She held that left, merging through the second roundabout with ease and swinging through to the exit on the opposite end, foot regulating the throttle.
A final pull to the left signalled the beginning of Arthur's Seat, a monumental hill overlooking the south-east of Edinburgh City. Asphalt was traded back for dirt roads, prompting Twilight to reign in her speedlust... For now.
Two bundles of wooden benches and tables were situated at the top of the hill, lined by a fence with a particularly steep drop just on the other side. As Twilight pulled her car up the incline at a crawl, she noticed a few families that were sat down, doing typical family activities. Dogs ran and played off to the left side, with a few children in awe at the views over Edinburgh, but that wasn't the interesting thing.
No, the interesting thing was a Danger Sign placed right in the middle, perfectly lined up for a shot down to the road below.
I'm not even going to question the logic...
Twilight pulled right, sidling the car up parallel to the outside decor. The engine cut out a moment later as she flicked it into Park, removing the key from the ignition. She pushed the door open and stepped out into the cool, morning air, lapping at her face through a gentle breeze that was hardly noticeable at first.
But once it was... Twilight couldn't help but feel awfully chilly. What time was it again, around nine forty-five? Goosebumps were starting to prickle up and down her exposed arms, but she steeled herself, this wouldn't take long.
Twilight moved closer to the edge, folding her arms onto the fence for support. With the morning sun at her back, Edinburgh was bathed in light like it was nobodies business, cars and ant-sized people going about their Monday mornings. The city was just coming to life, it seemed. It wasn't clear how long she lingered for, caught in the snare of such a beautiful view. Occasionally she'd turn around, noting the sunlight that was bouncing off of the other hills all around her.
As she glanced back to the city itself, Twilight bit her lip. She could admire it forever from afar, but why do that when exploring it was even better?
With that thought in mind, she snapped a couple of pictures, just because, and walked back to her Apollo, reversing it down the path before setting off for Edinburgh proper.
Trying to find parking was impossible, Twilight concluded. She'd went down easily ten or fifteen roads, and not one had a single space available. Her thoughts turned to her knowledge of a few locations that might've had free spots, only downside being that they were over the other side of the city. Hardly ideal.
Moving at a snails pace thanks to reduced speed limits, she was glancing left and right for any sort of place to leave the car for a minute. As she drove under an overpass, Twilight spotted a small siding off to the left, opposite Edinburgh Train Station. The lack of no-parking signs made any sort of reservations vanish about claiming it as hers for the moment, so she maneuvered the Apollo sideways into it, backing as close to the pavement as possible.
With a park job well done, Twilight exited the car and embraced the city itself, practically at the heart of it all. She looked around, people were filing in and out of the station just across the road, delivery vehicles came and went as they pleased, all of it coming together in a symphony of ambient background noise that only a bustling city could produce.
Twilight forced herself take a deep breath, marshalling her thoughts. Where to check out first... The castle sounded like a nice idea, hopefully it wouldn't be too crammed with visitors at ten in the morning, right?
Pressing the lock button on the Apollo's key fob, Twilight made to take in the immediate surroundings. To the rear of the car, the overpass towered a good twenty feet above, casting the area she stood in with a sizeable shadow. The densely packed buildings that lined the rest of the space didn't help much, either, the whole space was pretty dark. She wasn't too worried, however, the area was busy enough that she doubted anything bad would happen to the car.
With little else to worry about, Twilight set off for the short walk up to Edinburgh Castle, unaware of the pair of eyes that lurked out of sight, transfixed to her retreating form.
12:00pm
Two hours had went by in a flash, Twilight couldn't help but admit, a satisfied smirk evident in her expression. She had done a fair amount of stuff in that time, checked out Edinburgh Castle, ran down to the Princes Street Gardens for a walk, grabbed a bite to eat at a relatively inexpensive cafe, even taken a ride on the trams that sliced through the middle of the city. All in all, it was a decent way to spend the morning.
A small gift bag swung at Twilight's side, the straps dangling from her fingers. She made quick work of storing it safely in the passenger footwell of her chosen hypercar, before rounding back to the drivers side door, ready to cruise back over to the Festival.
Fumbling with the key in her pocket, Twilight began to pull the door open when she heard the distinct low rev of a V8 engine coming to a halt. And it was close, too close, actually.
She turned around, staring at the trio of cars that had seemingly blocked her into the space, lined up in neat formation with little wiggle room for any car to get in or out. Two of them were fairly nondescript, black BMWs from the early 2000s, Twilight wouldn't have spared them a second glance. The other, however...
The blue paintwork wasn't particularly eye-catching, being a respectable ocean colour. The thing that made Twilight's blood run cold when she glanced over to it was the series of light scratches that adorned the front bumper. The events of that night flashed through Twilight's mind, she remembered the stomach churning fear that she felt at the start, followed by a burning drive to wipe the floor with her opponent, which soon gave way to a blaze of righteous anger, her veins searing at the memory.
Truly, Twilight wasn't one to get angry, but if someone was able to figure out which buttons to push, there was a whole different side of her that they'd come to regret revealing.
That bastard in the M3 GTR just had to show up now, didn't he? she thought. Now seriously wasn't the time!
She darkly muttered a curse, though it didn't really register, Twilight could hardly hear herself as the window began to roll down, the obviously-illegal tint obscuring the driver's face from view.
In that moment, Twilight had a choice. She could either see what the deal was, and potentially find herself in an unwanted confrontation, or scramble into her Apollo and run like hell, damages be damned. She eyed the two blacked out BMWs, unable to see through the tint on them as well, typical. They were probably filled with people she didn't want to mess with.
Twilight gripped the door handle, ready to throw it open at the slightest sign of trouble. Her mind went through the motions, lean forward, yank it up, throw herself back into the seat, pull the door back down. Forward, up, back, down.
She glanced back up, and sure enough, it was none other than Danny G, a particularly snide grin radiating it's way to Twilight, a grin that said, 'I run these streets.'
Twilight was about to find out if that was true or not.
"Well, if it isn't just the one I'm looking for, where's your boyfriend at?" he hollered from his car.
The insinuation that Luke was Twilight's boyfriend caused a clear blush to spread across her face, the heat making her cheeks burn. She shuffled in place, eyes darting everywhere like she was caught in the middle of an embarrassing moment back in middle school. She took a deep breath, all but willing herself to look Danny in the eyes again.
"That's...That's not...Never mind, what do you want?" Twilight asked, trying to keep her trademark snark from entering her voice, the type that was only brought out when someone challenged her knowledge on things like quantum mechanics.
Evidently, it didn't work. Danny appraised her again from the seat of his car, wondering if she was really in any position to be the one asking that question. Twilight figured it out at the same time, her face slightly blanching. She was literally the one backed into a corner here.
"The car," Danny abruptly said, nodding to Twilight's Apollo. "Hand it over."
Twilight stood still, like hell that was going to happen. There was nothing for it, she'd have to make a speedy getaway and worry about the damages later, unless...
She took another deep breath, letting the words she was going to say form themselves into a coherent sentence. With one hand gripping the door handle, Twilight spoke.
"Could I win it back?" she asked, cringing as she waited for an answer. Ball's in his court now.
"Huh..." Danny mused, confusion wracking his face for a split second. "Sounds fair, I've an idea..."
Twilight looked up, torn between shock and anticipation. No way did that just work...
"Follow me, we've got a thing up at the strip, few laps and fastest one gets the car. Sound good?"
With little in the way of choice, Twilight responded with, "Sure, lead the way."
Danny snorted, turning back to start up his car again. It rumbled to life, as did the other two BMWs. As Twilight did the same, the rear car slid backwards, allowing her to sandwich the Apollo between it and Danny's M3.
I'm locked into it now, may as well see where this goes... Twilight thought as the group pulled away, with her stuck in the middle.
The strip, or Greendale Airstrip as Twilight knew it, was one she was admittedly unfamiliar with. The short drive over from the city centre—which was really short, only sixty seconds or so—gave her time to figure out a plan of attack. As far as she knew, the actual runway had somewhat of a service road running along the perimeter of it, which now sat abandoned and disused. It came as no surprise to Twilight that the likes of Danny and his ilk would end up taking it over.
You know...there's still every opportunity to cut and run, you won't be here to deal with them again once the race is finished, said a nagging voice in the back of Twilight's mind. It was the sensible option, and arguably the safer option, but she wasn't willing to run the risk of encountering these goons again...and have them treat her, or the others, even worse.
No, if she could sort this out, she'd do it now, and Twilight left it at that.
Pulling through a left turn, Twilight laid eyes upon the airstrip proper. The service road filtered onto the main road through a lay-by where she could see a few cars lined up on the inside, their owners milling about and chatting. The ATC tower was in need of a desperate clean, with vines and shrubbery clouding any view of it's base. The strip itself wasn't bare, covered in various cones and formations of barriers to create an impromptu drift park. Twilight had to admit, she'd love to give it a go one day.
It didn't take long for the people present to start looking up, heads turning and eyes locking onto the four-strong convoy, one of them clearly an outsider. Twilight swung into the lay-by, with no warning before she felt a sense of dread start to spill into the pit of her stomach. She could feel the crushing blow of having all eyes on her as the air in the cabin became more constricted, a feeling she hadn't felt since the Friendship Games.
Shoving those memories aside through sheer force of will Twilight jerked a hand to open the door, letting it hastily swing up and out of the way, fresh air hitting her in the face. It was good timing too, when she peeked out to look around she could see Danny making his way over.
He stopped short, eyeing the fancy door mechanism for a brief moment before speaking. "Three laps, 'round the circuit, best two win, sound good?" he asked, in an almost professional tone, far from the aggressiveness that edged its way into his voice from all the times Twilight last spoke to him, which caught her off guard. He produced a small piece of paper, which Twilight hesitantly took. Glancing down at it, she could see it was a standard satellite image of the airstrip. The service road, or circuit in this case, was outlined in red.
"Sure, sounds good," Twilight replied, handing the map back. He nodded, turning on his heel and stalking back to the M3 that was parked behind her.
The pair maneuvered their cars to the centre of the road, Twilight's Apollo on the right, while Danny's BMW lay on the left. By now, even more people had gathered around to watch the impromptu street race, a fact that Twilight easily ignored. She had gotten glimpses of this place when driving by before, but the layout was unknown.
Steeling her nerves once again, Twilight watched as one of the people off to the side made their way into the middle of the road, another early-twenties boy with scruffy brown hair. He didn't wait for any fancy theatrics to take their course, simply pointing at each car and yelling a, "Ready?!" at them.
Twilight's head almost involuntarily bobbed a nod as he pointed at her, watching intensely as the guy pushed his arms out, into an upside down V shape, three.
His arms swung up next, jabbing directly outwards into a T shape, two. Twilight could feel her fingers itching on the plush alcantara of the steering wheel, her foot flexing with a barely restrained urge to decimate Danny, his BMW, and to finally see this through.
She took a deep breath, eyes ripping back to the boy who stood ahead. His arms travelled upwards, exposed hands pointing straight to the sky as Twilight watched a one leave his lips. Her brain wracked itself over and over, her body moulded itself to the bucket seat as she looked dead ahead.
It all happened so fast. Twilight sensed his arms moving down from her peripheral vision, a blurry GO! managing to flit through the air, clear enough for her to hear. Her foot rammed the throttle down, both hands keeping the wheel stock-still as the full might of the Apollo's beating heart unleashed itself, flinging the car forwards as the race began.
Never. gets. old! Twilight thought, her middle and ring fingers snaking out to upshift the car into second. She felt the weight on her eyes, pushing them back at the G-force of such a rapid launch. A lightning fast glance to her left told her that Danny went through the same, his car neck-and-neck with hers.
Swinging out onto the road proper, Twilight kept her gaze locked to her rival, the BMW keeping pace with her Apollo no problem. Her emotions ran wild, trepidation sinking in at the fact that this wouldn't be such a cut and dry race, and if it came to it... Would she really give up such a car? Go back on her end of the supposed deal?
With no time to ponder the thought, Twilight's ears picked up the shift in engine note from the rear of the car, her fingers instinctively flicking out to push it into third gear. Facing forward again, she made sure to follow the inside line of the road, vaguely remembering that the service road would be on her right.
Another paddle flick put the car in fourth gear, the surroundings becoming an exceptional blur that threatened to take her mind off of the current task. Twilight edged out further from the inside line, gleaming a hint at the fork that laid ahead. She banked right onto the service road again, Danny hot on her heels, the BMW evident in her passenger side-view mirror.
The road curved into a hard right. Twilight rapidly downshifted to meet it in time, still eyeing the blue BMW as her car swung into the turn, blocking his ideal path. It was a small edge in her favour, though defensive racing was hardly her preferred style.
Blasting out of the apex and into a short straight, the Apollo rocketed through to third gear once again, keeping to the right. Twilight was preparing to move over when she noticed an increase in blue from the left window, twisting her neck to find Danny's M3 side-by-side with her and gaining an alarming lead. With a left turn up ahead, she knew she had just lost the ideal racing line.
Crap! Twilight chided herself mentally. She was still unsure of how much of a power advantage he had on her, if any at all, but she needed to win that lead back by the end of the lap, and keep it for the other two.
Acting on pure instinct, she filed in behind Danny for the next turn, cutting into his slipstream. It was a lighter turn this time, allowing Twilight to keep the throttle relatively pinned, moving into fourth gear as they moved into a longer straight section.
Glancing around the BMW's rear, she could see a little bit of the circuit up ahead. Someone had conveniently left tires on one side of this straight, relegating the cars to the left side. Beyond those, a stray fence split onto the road, and just beyond that...
Train tracks.
By the time Twilight remembered her past antics—letting the unstoppable Flying Scotsman mercilessly shunt her virtual car down the tracks as she laughed from her gaming chair—she was already cresting them at near on a hundred and fifty miles an hour, the Apollo's underside grazing the metal rails in a brilliant shower of sparks.
It lasted for a little under a second, much to Twilight's delight. She wrestled the wheel back into it's normal position as the car made contact again, still following Danny's slipstream.
A grunt escaped her lips as his car jerked out into the middle of the circuit, cutting off any attempts at an overtake. Twilight's knuckles turned white as she gripped the wheel with ferocity, steering the IE into a sweeping right turn. She desperately searched for an edge she could grasp onto when it clicked...up ahead should be a few construction barriers, placed in a way that narrowed the circuit width significantly.
It was a glimmer of hope, and Twilight eagerly took it. She wrenched the steering wheel left as the pair went through a short straight section, pushing the car to the outer perimeter. Danny kept his distance, swinging through the inside line.
As they both leaned into the next turn, another right, Twilight observed how the Intensa Emozione was gaining distance, growing closer to being neck-and-neck with the M3. Danny's car may have had the same—or more—power than hers did, but it struggled to place it efficiently enough in the corners.
Twilight couldn't help but crack a grin, straightening the wheel out as the two cars started onto the next straight, bright orange construction barriers on either sides just up ahead. A look to the left told her that her body was in line with the back of the BMW's bonnet, a two foot lead at the most.
Okay, here goes nothing...
She all but kamikaze'd the steering wheel rightwards, yanking the paddle up into fifth as her hypercar flew by the barriers, knocking their positions. From her peripheral vision, she could see the mass of blue BMW slowly back off, having no choice but to slam on the brakes and give the lead back to Twilight.
Won't let that happen again...defense it is, she thought.
Clearing the train tracks for a second time with careful consideration, Twilight threw the Apollo's weight around, dipping and flowing to follow the ideal racing path into the next two turns, a shallow left and hard right.
As the Apollo left the final right, Twilight came upon the gathering of spectators at the start line, blazing through and kicking off Lap Two with a decent lead, their gazes fixed at her car's arrowlike form. She glanced a look back in her mirror as the main-road section of the route took it's course, taking satisfaction in seeing Danny a few seconds behind. She looked back up just in time to see—
"Oh fuck!!"
—the big box truck coming right at her. The might of a thousand gods surged through Twilight's arms to force the steering wheel left in a flash, her foot almost crushing the brake pedal as she avoided an absolutely fatal crash by no more than an inch.
Danny's eyebrows shot up from inside the cabin of his recently tuned track weapon as he witnessed the sleek, who-knows-how-expensive hypercar somehow miss a full frontal collision with a lorry. He was already over in the left lane by the time it passed him, horn blaring in shock at the pair's reckless antics. Two thick rubber skids were now evident on the asphalt, a smattering of tire smoke clearing away as he pushed harder to whittle away at the lead Twilight had gained so far.
He couldn't help but respect such a quick reaction, the whole race would've been pointless if the car ended up half-crumpled.
Twilight ripped a hand away from the steering wheel, clenching it down hard on her chest in an attempt to stop her heart from bursting. She took in a deep breath, foot loosening on the throttle ever so slightly. A few seconds, or an eternity later, she let it back out, willing her nerves to be calm again. With a resolute thought of, I'll process it later, Twilight flexed her foot down to put the throttle back at full power.
The first corner came into sight for a second time, Twilight flipped over to the brakes as she felt the asphalt become rougher, the vibrations rattling in and around the cabin. She eased the Apollo straight through the middle of the turn, keeping up a defensive streak that was unwilling to be broken. A reflexive upshift into second allowed a moment's pause, for Twilight to gauge the upcoming straight section, something to give her more of an edge over Danny.
If I trick him into thinking he has a chance at overtaking...
Acting upon the strategy like lightning, Twilight kept the wheel firmly centered, craning her neck to see the reflections bouncing from the passenger side mirror. A haze of blue became apparent after a second, preparing to execute an overtake. As the Apollo moved into the second turn again Twilight jerked the wheel left, abruptly cutting off the opening she had deceptively left for Danny.
Twilight's eyes locked onto the driver's side mirror, watching as her competitor slammed on the brakes and wracked with the steering wheel to keep it steady. She turned her focus to the road once more, ramping the throttle up and bracing for the inevitable jump and bump that came with the railway tracks just up ahead.
Outside of the speeding carbon fibre bullet, sopping blades of grass and slippery spare tires found themselves stripped of the leftover moisture from last night's excessive rainfall. The sheer force of wind power that exuded from the two fighting vehicles was enough to shudder even the surrounding wood fencing.
The tracks came and went without issue, thankfully. Twilight lined up her next laser-focused move, flicking through to the outer edge of the track with every intention to pull off another wild divebomb through to the second half of lap two. She switched her feet, steadily applying more pressure to the brake pedal in preparation for the corner's apex.
As if an untimely ghost had crept up on her while her back was turned, the oceanic blue nemesis revealed itself on Twilight's right side, the bodywork mere inches from her skin and separated from her by only carbon and atmosphere.
It prickled at the fear deep within her. At this stage Twilight knew the implications of such a maneuver, bracing herself to swing the wheel whichever way was necessary. Her breath hitched, eyes darting to and from the car as her foot struggled to hold the throttle, the urge to fall back threatening to consume it.
Don't...you...dare... Twilight silently warned. Her eyes flickered to the window, a glimpse of a hand reaching for the wheel and—
Danny's BMW swerved. Twilight had little choice but to commit, yanking her steering wheel left and pulling back on the throttle in an attempt to salvage the situation. She swung wide, the feeling of trepidation spiking as the transfer of a wheel onto loose dirt rattled the chassis, and her entire body in turn, with a terrifying bump. The Apollo jerked and bobbed, suspension flailing as the rapid loss of grip set itself up to spin the car out. Twilight wrung her hands around the wheel as tight as she could, her left hand accidentally brushing up against the shifter paddle with enough force to initiate a downshift.
Her adrenaline increased tenfold as the engine's tone jumped higher, the Apollo twitching in an effort to stay on track. It held strong, with one final jerk to the right the car flung itself back across the asphalt, smoothly settling in the middle. As Twilight calmed her mind and the shaking that rocked her hands quickly dissipated, she was increasingly becoming more fed up of Danny's dirty antics. Was fair racing really that hard these days? She glanced back up, and sure enough, Danny was leading the way, a clear two seconds in front.
It was a stark contrast to the first lap. Twilight knew she would need to make up that lost distance, and fast.
"Fine... I'll play by your game," she grumbled. Let's do this.
Snarling in frustration, Twilight slammed the right paddle down, the V12 growling with a deeper baritone as the RPMs dropped. The Apollo rocketed out of the next corner, a sparkling of rainwater in it's wake.
Her rival paved the way into the next straight, with the orange construction barriers serving to constrict the rapid flow of their racing antics. Due to the helpful nature that—most—of the laws of physics still applied in Horizon, Twilight lined her car up with Danny's slipstream, effortlessly gliding through the barriers. Not a second later, an unexpected crash made itself known above all of the other noises flooding Twilight's eardrums. She looked up and witnessed the telltale shatter of wooden fencing, an explosion of broken wood chips coming from the front left corner of the BMW.
Danny was thankful for the fact that his car just shrugged it off, though the paint would definitely need a touch up. Twilight was also thankful that it was his car taking that impact and not hers.
"That was a good idea," she sarcastically snarked. "I can do one better."
With an abrupt twist of the wheel, she veered the car right just as it passed over the slick rail tracks in a speeding blur. Twilight pulled the wheel straight again, thundering up the outside edge of the shallow left corner while Danny took the inside line, hoping to regain lost time with a daring kamikaze move through to the last corner, the tightest turn on the entire circuit.
As if the car was on rails itself, Twilight engaged the brakes, fully swinging the wheel right into the corner and hugging the interior as much she could without slipping a wheel into the dirt again. She saw the mass of blue enter her peripheral vision as the Apollo pulled into second gear through the exit, daring to snap the wheel left just a little bit and—
Crrrunch!
Twilight's body went rigid. That wasn't meant to happen. Her eyes followed the BMW as it slowly edged forward, unaware that she was yet to shift up into third gear, the frantic yell of the redline completely silent to her ears.
At once, Twilight felt her senses flood; the shock of the impact wearing off. She flicked the paddle with enough force that she swore she could feel the distal bone in her finger brush up against the exposed carbon. Her heart sank as she clearly watched the BMW cross the start line at speed, it's rear end all but a few feet ahead of the Apollo's nose.
Twilight crossed it not half a second later, outright scowling at the thought of cocking up such a surefire victory in the second lap. She refused to dwell on it, slamming the car into fourth at 130mph and blazing out onto the main road for the final lap.
Weaving back into the slipstream of Danny's car, Twilight was rapidly forming another strategy. By the time the road section was over not five seconds later, she had it:
Do absolutely nothing.
Danny checked his rearview mirror once, then twice, then three times. His car blasted out of the first corner once more as he pushed the gearstick up into third. The tuned V8 just ahead of his feet growled in response, providing a little bit more power as the body panels around him rattled like a spray can.
I really need to get that sorted... he thought, checking the door mirror this time to see the sleek hypercar's position behind him still hadn't changed.
An almost indignant scowl crossed his face. "Really?!" he wondered aloud. Was this girl going to hassle him for two laps and then just give up on the final one, practically hand the car over through inaction? No, she couldn't be that stupid.
If that bloody scrape back there is anything to go by... Maybe she is.
Though that raised another question. Danny shifted up into fourth, clearing the slight left turn and pulling onto the next straight as he pondered it... How would he replace the left fender of a hypercar he didn't even know the name of?
That'd come later, he rapidly concluded. The train tracks coming up again demanded his immediate attention, holding the wheel firm as he passed over them with another bump. As the car came to land, he once again glanced in his mirror to see Twilight's car mirroring his car's movements perfectly.
It unironically began to unnerve Danny, though he wasn't sure as to why. An easy win was an easy win, even better with such a big prize involved. But the gnawing pit in his stomach continued to grow, the razor sharp headlights of the Apollo throwing beams into the mirrors that signified a thinly veiled warning of attack.
It wasn't a matter of how, it was a matter of when.
Danny took a deep breath, steeling his nerves as the next corner sprang foward; the hard left he had used to slip through on the previous lap.
Alright... Do your worst... he thought, pushing the brakes and easing into the turn.
Twilight watched as the Beamer ahead of her entered the corner a little too warily; it was clear Danny wasn't going for sheer speed anymore and cutting the ideal racing line. No, he was trying to play a game of preemptive defense, leaving an opening on the inside apex of the turn that was too small, followed up by a swift flick to the left, blocking off any outer edge Twilight may have used.
He was getting worried. Good.
From this position Twilight knew she had to act fast, as Danny would only become more wise to her tricks with each turn, eventually snuffing out any chances of an overtake before the lap's end.
Twilight flew through the left turn with ease, still hot on his tail at around 70mph. The minor straight ahead provided enough width to jerk her Apollo to the left, coming up on the very outer edge of the next turn, a slippery right.
She watched Danny lean his car into the inner edge, with the perimeter exposed and enough track width to fit the Apollo, Twilight went for it.
Her foot crunched the throttle down, feeling the Apollo push her back as it's furthermost wheels ran along the edge of the asphalt. Danny had obviously took note of her daring move, the thrum of the M3's V8 beginning to take on a heavier baritone; no doubt he was pinned to the throttle as well.
The two cars acted as if they were magnetised together, thundering out of the corner at the exact same time. Twilight forced her gaze forward, willing herself to ignore the bright blue that spilled in from her peripheral. She could not screw this last bit up...
A horn began blaring from somewhere and, after a split second, Twilight realised exactly where it was coming from, the train tracks.
...
Twilight didn't even think about what she did next. The mere instant she felt the Apollo's tone change she up shifted into fifth gear, foot locking itself to the gas pedal. The orange construction barriers sweeped in on the left side of the car, prompting her to jerk the wheel ever so slightly to the right to avoid them.
All of it; the Apollo and BMW's engines screaming in each of her ears, the horn blaring from just beyond the trees to her left, her own heart burning as it threatened to outright explode—
Silence. Numbness. Twilight couldn't even feel her fingers gripping the wheel for dear life. She watched, helplessly, as the broken remnants of the fencing gave way to the racecars passing over the tracks. Twisting her head left to see, out of the teardrop shaped passenger window, almost a thousand tons of black steel barreling directly at her, maybe twenty feet away from the door of the car, Twilight expected the worst.
She blinked...and it was gone.
Twilight snapped her head forward again, her senses spilling over in a wonderful eruption. She fumbled for the wheel as if her fingers were new and unused, getting enough of a grip on it to wrench it left and pull the Apollo through the second to last turn.
She wasted no time switching her foot to the brakes a second later, throwing the car across the entire width of the track and into the final turn's apex. If Twilight had bothered to care, she would've noticed her opponent's car jerk at the movement, slamming his brakes on and whipping to the left.
A gathered crowd of spectators flanked the finish line, something Twilight honestly didn't even notice until she had the chance to focus on something other than having to call Luke up to explain how she was now Apollo-less and needed a lift.
Thankfully, that wasn't going to be the case. Twilight all but sealed the deal, keeping her foot firmly planted as the Apollo carried them both across the finish line, the engine singing of their victory; bouncing again and again into the redline.
It was nothing short of absolute power, thrumming at Twilight's fingertips—fifteen hundred horsepower on tap, and she couldn't be more thankful.
With the comforting thought that she'd be keeping the Apollo for a little while longer, Twilight gently wound down the speed, slowing to a crawl in the middle of the main road. As she swerved back round to where the crowd had begun to converge on the track, she had another thought;
I need to get the hell out of this car.
Twilight elbowed the door open as the Apollo finally came to a hissing stop, throwing her seatbelt to the side. She immediately fell to her knees on the wet asphalt, willing herself to not immediately scream in realisation that that was the closest she had ever come to actual death.
Turning into a she-demon by magic and peer pressure? Fine. Saving a woodland camp from a corrupted Gloriosa Daisy while battling her own inner-demons? Easy!
But this... It was just too much.
Okay...okay...let's finish this off for good. Twilight whispered in her own mind, the thought mostly drowned out by the thrashing noise of pure adrenaline. Shakily standing up, she couldn't bare to look at anything other than her own feet.
Her knees still threatened to give out, and her eyes were glazed with unshed tears, but the shallow sound of a closing door made Twilight look up. Danny slipped out of his car, his lips pressed into a thin line as he shuffled over.
He stood a few paces away, letting the silence drag on for a moment before saying, "I gotta admit, haven't seen anyone race that good in ages..."
He paused for a moment, and Twilight swore she could see him shrink in on himself. It was almost amusing seeing the man who all but lived by dirty tricks acting so meek—almost.
"You're certainly something," he continued, trailing off and leaving the 'something' rather open-ended, though Twilight decided to take it as a compliment.
"...Thank you?" she replied, frankly unsure of how to take praise from someone who had caused her no end of trouble, from a cut up arm to tens of thousands of dollars in hypercar damage.
Looking out at the open area around the airstrip, Twilight was loathe to admit but she had actually kind of enjoyed that race. A small smile began to form as she turned back to Danny.
"I take it the car's still mine?" she sarcastically asked, placing a hand on the door as her smile spilled over into a full blown grin.
In a surprising move, Danny insisted, "Why of course, you've rightfully won your prize!" He finished with an exaggerated bow and a put-on posh accent, pulling back up with a small grin of his own.
That got a small laugh out of Twilight. Feeling the suffocating tension once woven between them slowly fading away she said, "Heh, I'm glad we could end this on relatively good terms, you know?"
Danny's smile slipped a little, and he sheepishly scratched at the back of his head. "Yeah, it's been...memorable."
"Memorable, that's a good way to put it," Twilight snorted, though it did little to suppress the slight chuckle that followed. She pushed herself from the Apollo's door and held a hand out, which Danny hesitantly shook.
"It's been a pleasure, Twilight," he said after pulling back. "I was gonna say sorry for, ya know, all the previous stuff. I was hanging around some of the wrong people in the club and—"
"It's fine."
"Really?" Danny asked, surprised at the instant response.
"Yeah," Twilight replied, her voice perfectly stoic. "I get it."
And she did, in a sense. The events of the Friendship Games were largely down to peer pressure, mostly Principal pressure. Not that she was in a rush to let anyone know that information, however...
Danny still looked abashed, but he was already pulling his car key out. "Well, take care of yourself, maybe I'll see you around Edinburgh?"
"Heh, we'll see," Twilight responded, flipping the Apollo's key between her fingers.
After a couple of lopsided smiles the two finally parted ways, walking back to their respective vehicles. Twilight climbed back inside the Apollo and put it into gear, pulling out onto the road without a care in the world.
As she made the short drive back towards the motorway, one thing did spring to mind;
What the hell am I going to tell the others?
The drive to the Festival did little to quell the thundering cascade of emotions that were brewing within Twilight as she gripped the steering wheel harder and harder. With nothing in the way to distract from what had just happened, she was left wracking her brain as the old village houses of Broadway began to spill in on either side of the road.
I almost freaking died! Twilight repeated in her mind. Could she honestly say that she trusted Forza-Logic™ to pull through each and every time? Would a full impact collision from the train have ended in severe whiplash, outright death, or just an odd sensation as her car was effortlessly carried down the tracks with no damage at all?
Twilight knew that an overenergetic drive to investigate scientific hypotheses wasn't exactly the most healthy of coping mechanisms when dealing with the things that went wrong in her life, but she also didn't care. She ground her whirring brain, choosing to focus on the simple act of driving as the Festival's east gate laid itself out before her.
She swung around to the entrance of the central building, pulling up in one of the bays and quickly vacating her trusty car. Feeling the summer breeze was a welcome sensation from the stuffy cabin air her car had to offer.
"Maybe I really do need a break from racing, just for a while..." Twilight muttered as she pulled open one of the glass doors. Stepping through, she was greeted by an uncharacteristically empty lobby. The polished marble flooring left little in the way of dirt marks, and the reception desk was bereft of any staff.
She looked to the right, noting that the condiments table had many empty coffee cups strewn about, and there was only one person she knew here that drank coffee.
Twilight also knew that the opposite wall had recently been covered in a massive live feed display that a certain someone was excited about because he could pretty much see it from his office.
She whirled around, finding Maverick, Haley, and all of her friends staring wide eyed, shock emanating from each of them like radiation would from a nuclear reactor core. Just above their heads, Twilight could spot a red flashing dot hovering where the Festival was, with a trailing pink line showing the entire route she had driven that day—
Twilight scanned the screen, finding exactly where she was hoping wouldn't have come up.
—including the numerous laps around a greyed out Greendale Airstrip, text plastered over it saying, "KNOWN CRIMINAL ACTIVITY, NO RACING!"
Another thing caught her eye, in the corner of the screen was a dashcam clip, documenting the exact moment that two speeding cars threw themselves across two lanes of traffic, the leading purple car narrowly missing a collision with the vehicle filming it.
Twilight's face went ice cold, watching the backs of her friends, waiting for any sort of movement. She wracked her brain trying to figure out a solution; ideally to deal with the race first before trying to explain it to anyone. Excessive emotions were never good, and Twilight was still a solitary woman when trying to deal with them, especially if it was anything personal. This was personal, between her and Danny, right?
Her foot moved closer to the main door, hoping that she could slip back out while their attention was focused on the screen wall. She was just about to twist her body and bolt for it, when she heard an unusually stringent voice call out from behind her, "Don't even think about it, Twilight."
She whipped back around, Luke was perched in the doorframe of his office, one arm resting on it in a relaxed fashion...
His expression was anything but—steely, almost accusing. It really didn't suit him, Twilight thought, but neither did the idea of her getting into trouble over this.
"I think you have some explaining to do," Luke continued, gesturing over to a corner of the lobby filled with...beanbags.
Twilight slumped her shoulders, knowing she had well and truly been caught. "Well... Where do I start?"
