Chapter 113

BUZZ!…

BUZZ!…

BUZZ!…

“Mmmrrrh…”

BUZZ!

With a husky grunt, Rainbow Dash stirred. After squeezing her eyelids together, she opened them to have a look around her bedroom.

BUZZ!

“What the…?” Rolling over, she wiped her hair from her face and looked at the bedside table just as her phone lit up another time.

BUZZ!

“Who the fuck is this?” Dash peeled the covers back and sat upright on the edge of her bed to reach for the phone. She stopped, however, when that ever-present feeling of nausea once again permeated her stomach. She clutched her midsection and winced, closing her eyes.

“Oooooh…” she moaned as she exhaled slowly, lips pursed. “God, I hate the mornings.”

She waited a moment for the feeling to pass, but it never did; rather it stabilized just enough to let her gag reflex subside, and with a deep breath she slowly reached for her phone and turned it on.

A grumpy sneer curled Dash’s lip. “The hell’s he want?” she muttered as she tapped the icon to open her messages.

GOLDEN ARROW: Hey Dashie!

GOLDEN ARROW: Hey Dashie!

GOLDEN ARROW: Hey Dashie!

GOLDEN ARROW: Hey Dashie!

GOLDEN ARROW: Hey Dashie!

GOLDEN ARROW: Hey Dashie!

GOLDEN ARROW: Hey Dashie!

GOLDEN ARROW: Hey Dashie!

GOLDEN ARROW: Hey Dashie!

GOLDEN ARROW: Hey Dashie!

GOLDEN ARROW: Hey Dashie!

GOLDEN ARROW: Hey Dashie!

GOLDEN ARROW: Hey Dashie!

GOLDEN ARROW: Hey Dashie!

GOLDEN ARROW: Hey Dashie!

GOLDEN ARROW: Hey Dashie!

GOLDEN ARROW: Hey Dashie!

GOLDEN ARROW: Hey Dashie!

She groaned and hung her head. “Dammit, Golds, it’s my fucking day off.” After a sigh, she lifted her head and typed her answer.

RAINBOW DASH: WHAT???

A reply came fast.

GOLDEN ARROW: What u doing

RAINBOW DASH: Trying to sleep

GOLDEN ARROW: Wanna hang out today? I got something I wanna show u

Another message popped up before she could reply.

GOLDEN ARROW: Not my dick

She groaned and shook her head.

RAINBOW DASH: Can’t it wait?

GOLDEN ARROW: I guess it can…if u don’t want ur xmas present early that’s fine

The rainbow-haired girl perked up, her brow rising in synch with her intrigue.

RAINBOW DASH: ???

GOLDEN ARROW: Today’s a good day for it, all the snow from last week is pretty much melted so we should probably jump on it

Rainbow Dash shook her head, confused by the message. “What the fuck is he talking about?” Curiosity had gotten the better of her, and now she was wide awake and anxious to know what he had in store. The entire prospect was alien; she and Golds hadn’t hung out together much —especially alone— so this sudden invite, even with a specific reason like an early Christmas gift, was quite unusual.

RAINBOW DASH: Where r u?

GOLDEN ARROW: Out front. I’ll honk my horn

Bemused, Dash quickly shook her head and scowled.

BEEP BEEP!

“The hell?” she muttered, looking over her shoulder at the bedroom window and then back at her phone, sighing.

RAINBOW DASH: OK fine. Give me a minute to get dressed and I’ll be right down

GOLDEN ARROW: Kewl

She turned her phone off and stood without thinking, and before she had a chance to set it on the nightstand, a fresh wave of nausea swept over her. She froze and placed one hand over her belly, eyes closed as she waited for it to pass.

“Oooh…” she breathed. “Come on; you got this… you got this… it’s no different than any other day.”

Once the feeling stabilized, Rainbow Dash set her phone on the table and headed for her dresser only to be stopped yet again by the illness, this time causing her to wretch violently. She cupped a hand over her mouth, hoping it would pass. It didn’t, and she heaved against her palm once more before using her magic to zip to the bathroom.

*****

Down in the parking lot, I sat in my truck, waiting.

I glanced at the clock on the radio display. Damn, Dashie, you take almost as long as Rare to get ready!

Finally, after one more sigh, I glanced at the front of her building just as the main door opened. Rainbow Dash emerged, wearing a black coat with wide, yellow and white strips around the arms and shoulders. Her hair was in a pony-tail with her bangs swept across her forehead, ears topped by a pair of gray earmuffs.

As I watched her approach, I placed my finger over the power lock button, ready to lock the doors just as she was about to grab the handle. When she was about twenty feet away, however, Dash took a quick look around to make sure no one was watching, and then she zoomed up to my truck and quickly opened the door.

It was too fast for me to react, and I balled my hand into a fist, having missed my chance. Dammit!

“Hey, Golds,” she greeted as she climbed in.

“Hey, Dashie.”

She closed the door and then looked at me, chuckling. “Heh! You were gonna lock me out, weren’t you?”

I paused for a moment, frowning. “Pppfft! No. I’m not an asshole, Dashie.”

“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes and reached for the seatbelt. “So what’s going on? What’s this about an early Christmas present?”

I was about to answer when I noticed the smell of mint wafting through the cab. She’d brushed her teeth, obviously, but I couldn’t help but detect traces of a certain distinctive sourness. I quickly shrugged it off though, figuring she’d used one of those organic toothpastes that don’t really work.

“We’ll get to that, Dashie,” I said, “but first I gotta stop by Timmy’s for some coffee.”

She cocked a brow. “Um… why do you need coffee?” she asked, pulling her phone out to set it on the center console.

I shrugged. “I like it. Can’t I like it? Is it OK with you if I like it, Dashie? AM I ALLOWED TO LIKE IT!?”

Dash put her hands up. “OK, fine! Jeez! I was just asking!”

Laughing at her response, I turned the key and woke the clattering beast that lived under that bulbous, blue hood, then I faced the rainbow-haired girl again. “I’m just fuckin with you, Dashie. So where’s the nearest Timmy’s from here?”

“Uh…” She stopped for a moment to think. “Oh, there’s one just down that way,” she said, pointing off to our right. “Close to Sunset’s apartment, actually.”

“Sweet. Let’s roll.” I pulled the shifter down into drive and we turned onto the street, rumbling our way to the coffee shop.

Dash was right; I knew the location as soon as I saw those instantly-recognisable brown and red striped awnings shading each window. It was literally just around the corner from Sunset’s building.

We pulled into the parking lot and entered the drive-through lane. I rolled the window down as we approached the speaker, which allowed a wisp of diesel exhaust to enter the cab.

“Mmph!” Rainbow Dash covered her mouth when the smell hit her, and she closed her eyes.

I threw a glance in her direction. “What, you don’t like that?”

She shook her head quickly, keeping her hand over her mouth.

I threw the shifter into park and shut the engine off, which was mandatory in drive-throughs—if you wanted them to hear your order, that is. A few seconds passed in silence, followed by a not-so-enthusiastic female voice that came from the speaker.

“Welcome to Tim Hooftons, how can I help you?”

“Hey there, how are you this morning?” I replied cheerfully.

A pause, then: “Good. What can I get you?”

The voice —although flat—seemed strangely familiar, but with the poor sound quality of the speaker I had difficulty placing it.

“Uh… just one sec,” I said, rubbing my chin as I scanned the menu.

I knew I wanted a coffee, but I was having a small craving for something to eat as well. Nothing overly sweet, like a frosted doughnut; maybe just a-

”Would you like to try our new barbecue potato wedges?”

Mildly annoyed by this, I glowered at the speaker for a moment and then shook my head. “No. Thanks.” Then I turned to Rainbow Dash, whispering: “I fuckin hate when they do that shit.”

Dash just rolled her eyes as I turned back to the speaker.

I drew a breath, studying the menu. “Uh… OK. I’ll have a… large double-double and uh… one old-fashioned plain.”

”I’m sorry, we do not sell antique aircraft at this establishment,” the voice replied flatly.

Scowling, I turned to Rainbow Dash, who snorted and shook her head.

“What the...?” she whispered as she stifled a chuckle.

I turned back to the speaker. “Wow… TGIF, eh?” I chided. “I didn’t ask for an airplane, I want a plain doughnut—you know, without frosting or any of that crap on it.”

A pause. “Is that everything?”

I turned to Rainbow Dash again. “What do you want?”

“Oh…” She quickly raised a hand and shook her head. “I’m good, thanks.”

“You sure?” I asked, surprised. “I’m buying.”

She shook her head again. “Nah, I’m good. Thanks though.”

“Alright,” I replied, turning back to the speaker. “Yup, I guess that’s it.”

”Your total is five-sixty; please drive ahead.”

I started the truck and pulled the selector into drive. We slowly rolled ahead, the noise of the engine echoing off of the building as I stopped next to the window and waited. I glanced at Dash again, wondering if the exhaust smell was bothering her. Next to the building, the breeze that had brought it into the cab before was now blocked by the wall, so the smell wasn’t too bad and I decided to leave it running.

Rainbow Dash had turned away and was looking at something across the street. It was then that saw her phone —which was still on the center console— light up, its vibration drowned out by the engine. Not expecting anything interesting, I glanced down and read the message that popped up, showing the date and time, and who the text was from.

SOARIN: Hey r u OK? I heard you passed out at work yesterday

Struck by this, I my eyes snapped up to look at Dash.

She was still looking the other way. A few seconds passed before she sighed, which I took as a cue that she was about to turn back, so I spun my head around to face the drive-through window.

Dash must have turned back as expected; I heard her snatch the phone from the console, most likely noticing the message and wanting to hide it, unaware that I’d already seen it.

As I began to wonder if Dash was feeling up to our trip —or if she would tell me if she wasn’t— the drive-through window opened, and inside stood a tall, young woman in a light brown uniform, complete with a visor that sported the coffee shop’s name. Behind that visor was a large hair clip, holding in place a large coil of wavy, red and yellow hair.

Both she and I paused for a moment when her big turquoise eyes landed on mine. A coy grin then appeared on her face, and she held the cup of coffee out to me.

“Sunny?”

She cleared her throat and spoke loudly to counter the noise of the engine. “That’ll be five-sixty, please.”

“Oh, shit. Hang on.” I reached into my pocket just as Rainbow Dash burst out laughing.

“HAHAHA! Holy shit! Sunset!? You work here?”

Sunset shrugged. “Yup. Gotta pay that rent, you know?” she replied as I dropped the money into her hand, being careful not to touch her so she wouldn’t freak out and throw the coffee. “So what are you guys up to today?” she asked as she handed the cup to me.

“Nothin,” Dash shouted so Sunset could hear. “Just chillin.”

I set my coffee in the cup holder and gave Sunset a stern look. “That was some pretty poor customer service back there. I think I need to speak to your manager about that.”

“Pfft!” She laughed. “I knew it was you; I could hear your truck coming.”

“Oh…” I gave her a little smile and a wink.

“Oh, hey...” She grabbed a little bag from the counter and held it just above her head. “Don’t forget your doughnut,” she said as she slowly passed —or flew, rather— the package through the window. She slowly tilted the bag, banking its trajectory towards me, all the while imitating the sound of an airplane.

“Gimme that!” I barked as I snatched it from her, making both her and Rainbow Dash laugh out loud. “You and your fuckin Wright Brothers shit…”

Rainbow Dash spoke up as I set the doughnut bag on the center console.

“Hey Sunset, when’s your shift done?”

She leaned on the ledge with her elbows. “I just started actually,” she replied. “I’m not off ‘til three.”

“Aw, that sucks. I was gonna say, you should come hang out with us if you’re almost done,” Dash explained.

Knowing already what I had planned, Sunset glanced at me and smiled. “Nah. I would, but I can’t. Sorry. You guys have fun, K?”

I placed my hand at the top of the steering wheel. “Alright. Thanks for the coffee, Sunny.”

“Don’t mention it,” she said, swooshing her index finger to motion us along. “Now go on, get outta here before I start gettin wet.”

“Oops! Right,” I chuckled as I released the brake pedal to let the truck roll away. Her magic honestly hadn’t crossed my mind until she mentioned it, and she was probably starting to feel it build already.

“Wow,” Dash mused as we rolled onto the street and hammered on toward the outskirts of town. “Inter-dimensional unicorn, mind-reader, CIA infiltrator, university graduate, numerous time world saviour: now working at Tim Hooftons.”

“Hey, gotta start somewhere, Dashie. That’s how careers are built,” I chuckled, followed by a sip of coffee. “Oh, and you forgot ‘turned into a horrible winged monster.’”

“Oh yeah.” Dash ruminated for a moment, rubbing her chin. “Ya know,” she continued, “that... technically wasn’t the last time that happened.”

I looked over at her, surprised. “Oh?”

“Yeah, she actually turned into that thing on a regular basis.”

“Really.”

“Yup. Happened all the time; uuuusually about once a month.”

I was just beginning another sip of coffee by then, but when I realised the joke she was making, I shot her a look. “Wow, Dashie.”

“Heh heh!” She chuckled, followed by a long, howling yawn. “Haaaauuuugh!… shit.” She smacked her lips. “So, where are we going, anyway?”

“To my place,” I replied before having another slurp.

“Really? For what?”

“You’ll see when we get there.”

*****

About fifteen minutes brought us past the edge of town. Not long after that, we were headed down the wooded road that meandered like a brook through the seemingly endless forest.

I’d noticed that Rainbow Dash was quite lethargic when I first picked her up, which was further corroborated by the text message she had received. But, as time went on, her spirits seemed to awaken and she became rather spry and excitable as our destination drew closer, so my worry over her condition soon melted away and we became engaged in conversation.

“So how’d you become a mechanic, anyway?” she asked as she twirled a multi-coloured strip of pony tail around her finger.

I looked over at her, and then back at the road. “Well… see, after so many centuries of the same old shit, I was used to being around horse-drawn carriages n’ stuff like that, as you can imagine.”

She nodded.

“Uh, it was around the turn of the 20th century that I started seeing these noisy, smelly things scooting around by themselves without any horses—and to be honest, I thought for sure it was just gonna be a fad. I was wrong, obviously. But anyway, I became fascinated by these things, and I wanted to learn more about how they worked and all that kinda stuff. Blah blah blah, long story short, I eventually got a job at an assembly plant to see how they were built and what made them tick.”

Rainbow Dash whistled. “Fuck man, that’s crazy. That must have been a pretty amazing thing to see, eh?”

I nodded.

“So what happened then?”

“Well, I did that for a few years, but then I got involved in both world wars, so I kinda had to leave the trade for a while. When I finally came back to it in the late forties, cars had changed so fuckin much I basically had to learn them all over again. Factory jobs were harder to get by then though, so I got a job in a garage and got into the service and repair side of things instead.”

“So… what, you’ve been doing it ever since or what?”

“No,” I sighed, to which she raised a brow. “The whole thing with the CIA started not long after that, so I did that for a while until I ended up on the run from them, and I’ve basically worked on cars off and on since then—basically anytime I was able to settle down somewhere long enough to need a job.”

“Jeez. That sucks, having to deal with that crap all the time.”

“Well, I should be in the clear now, thanks to Sunny, Rare and Flutters... at least for a bit.” I turned to face her. “Of course, I’ve said that before, so…”

Dash folded her arms. “Hopefully. You deserve to catch a break.”

I deserved to catch a break? I think I could consider it caught.

I snickered, thinking about the previous weekend in the upstairs bathroom at Pinkie’s, when I had the pleasure of giving a Sunset yet another dose of the magical mystery cure. To my delight, Rarity had opted to stick around for the session; she and Sunset had clearly just finished an intense discussion about Sonata, as well as the suits, and the two of them seemed quite eager to make it up to one another—so much so that there were times when I wasn’t even a part of the action.

Instead, I was sitting on the edge of the tub, watching them intensely and passionately reconcile their differences —which at one point, consisted of a pair of screaming white legs wrapped around a frazzled mound of red and yellow, followed by the same thing with the roles reversed— while I waited for an opening in which I could literally insert myself.

Luckily, I hadn’t been completely left out in the cold; after those two had satisfied their cravings for one another, both sets of lips ended up wrapped around me — both one at a time and simultaneously— after which I found myself inside Rarity, then Sunset… then Rarity again, followed by Sunset again and so on and so forth. One climax after another was had, bent over that vanity while the other watched and pleasured herself. The only thing I had to be mindful of was making sure I reached completion inside the right girl, which I did, much to Sunset’s relief—after a rather close call.

I had become mesmerized by the round, pale cheeks of Rarity’s derrière slapping my hips to the point where I hadn’t noticed how close I’d gotten, and there was barely anough time to make the switch from alabaster to amber before the flood gates opened—though I think the fashionista might have gotten a tiny spurt before I left.

Yes, between that and Rarity, the red-head certainly enjoyed her share of ‘white’ that evening.

I must have been daydreaming because I suddenly realised I could hear Rainbow Dash’s muffled voice calling to me from somewhere in the back of my mind.

“Yeah, both of ‘em…” I muttered, without thinking. Then I gave my head a shake and looked over at her. “Oh… huh?”

“Uhh… weird, but OK.”

“Um… so Dashie,” I asked, snatching my drink from the cup holder to sip away at the second half. “How do you get around?”

“Huh?” She curled her lip and raised a brow.

“Like, what do you do for transportation? You don’t have a car, do you?”

“Oh… well, no, I just use my magic... most of the time.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “I don’t really like doing it in front of too many people; kiiiiinda freaks them out a little. And no, I don’t have a car.”

“Right,” I replied. “So, what if it’s raining? Or snowing? How do you carry home ten bags of groceries?”

She waved me off. “That’s easy. I just call an Uber or something. Or I take the bus.”

“You ever think about getting a car?”

Dash paused and shrugged one shoulder. “Uh, I dunno. I’ve been getting by fine without one, so I don’t really think about it. Why?”

“Well, I got to thinking,” —I cleared my throat, admittedly a bit nervous— “I was wondering if you wanted that old Diplomat to drive.”

Rainbow Dash grimaced, her eyes shifting to the side. “Uhh… you mean that old car from the rescue mission?”

I nodded.

“Wwwwwhy?” she asked, confused.

I shrugged. “Why not?”

“Well…” she rubbed the back of her neck, cringing. “It’s… kind of a neat car, I guess, but it’s pretty old. And isn’t it, like, really bad on gas?”

Obviously, she didn’t want it, but she was having a tough time saying no.

“Yeah, I mean, it was bad on fuel, but… I’ve made a few updates to it. Should be a lot better now.”

“Well, maybe, but…” She paused and then shook her head. “I just… don’t really need a car. Like I said, I’ve been getting along fine without one.”

“Wait, what about the dinners at Flutters’?” I asked. “Don’t you hate having to hitch a ride with Rare all the time?”

She looked down at her lap for a moment. “I… well, kind of, I guess-“ She stopped suddenly and looked at me with suspicion. “Hey... this isn’t the early Christmas present you were talking about, is it?”

Hesitating, I looked ahead through the windshield. “Yes,” I said stoically, looking over at her again.

“UGH!” She slapped a hand over her face. “Seriously? That’s my present? You, pawning your junk onto me?”

“Hey now,” I raised the drink, extending one finger to point at her. “This is the rescue car we’re talking about here. I mean, we brought Flutters HOME in that thing! It was even in a gun fight with us; Flutters took out a whole motorcycle gang singlehandedly—from the driver’s seat!”

Dash smirked a little. “OK well… I guess that is pretty awesome, but still… I don’t know if I wanna drive around in some old rust bucket is all.”

I shook my head and huffed. “Dashie… it’s a southern car. It’s got no rust whatsoever.” I took the last sip and set the cup in the holder. “Look, I made a few improvements to it, like I said. Why don’t you at least have a look at it? We’re almost there anyway; what could it hurt?”

She rolled her eyes and leaned back in the seat, folding her arms. “OK, fine. I’ll look at it—but don’t get your hopes up about me taking it!”

“Cool. Thanks.” I glanced at her once more. “And if you still don’t want it even after seeing it, you don’t have to take it. No questions asked.”

She nodded, and we continued on in silence, listening to the engine as it chattered away at us.

Rainbow Dash began to fidget soon after, moving her arms from a folded position downward to hug her stomach.

“Ooh…” she groaned quietly, looking across the cab towards me. “Damn. I wish I got something to eat now. I’m getting kinda hungry.”

I glanced at her and then down at the center console, where the light brown bag was sitting with the doughnut still inside. I picked it up and held it out to her. “Here. You can have my doughnut.”

She looked surprised. “Really?”

“Yeah.” I gave her a smile as she took the bag. “And if you decide you don’t want the car, we’ll call that your Christmas present instead.”

Dash scowled, then snorted as she took the pastry from the bag.

I chuckled and looked forward again.

*****

We pulled onto the laneway to my shop not long after she’d finished the doughnut.

With a turn of the key, the big blue truck rattled into silence. Rainbow Dash and I jumped out and shut the doors behind us.

Parked closer to the building was a large car. It was shrouded in a light gray cover, which hung down over the wheels and flapped gently in the breeze.

The rainbow-haired girl sighed as we ambled towards the concealed vehicle; she rubbed her chin and gave her head a shake.

“Uuhhh… why is it under a cover?”

“I told you, Dashie: I made some updates to it. Plus, it’s technically a present, so…”

“Alright... if you say so,” she said dubiously, folding her arms as she stood a few feet from it.

I continued on until I reached the rear of the car, where I bent down to take the edges of the cover with my hand. I stood up straight next, ready to yank the cover free.

I paused, however, and looked her way, hoping the raise the anticipation, the excitement of it all.

It wasn’t working all that well. She waited silently, deadpanned.

“Are you ready, Dashie?”

“Uh-huh,” she replied, digging some doughnut from her molars with her tongue.

“Get ready…” I continued, “to be blown away; to have the shit knocked right out of your ass; for your mind to be completely blo-“

“Dude, seriously!” she cut in somewhat impatiently. “I’ve seen this car before, remember? I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal about this.”

Wooden-faced, I stared at her for a moment. Then, without warning, I yanked the cover from the car in one quick snap, revealing the newly made-over Diplomat.

A fresh coat of paint covered its metal skin; one of a deep charcoal gray, with just enough metallic in it to give it a faint bronze edge. The sun gleamed along the endless, sharp lines of its hood before dropping abruptly at the front end, where the vertical lines of a silver grille sat between two pairs of square headlights, under which ran two rows of square holes right out to the corners of the fenders. A straight, chrome bumper was the foundation on which all of these features sat.

Down the center of the hood —and over the roof and rear deck lid— was a twelve inch wide stripe, lined with every colour of the rainbow, starting with red closest to the driver’s side and transitioning through the spectrum until violet was reached on the far side. Its weight rested on a set of simple, but larger-than-stock silver alloys, wrapped in shiny new tires.

Rainbow Dash was motionless—and speechless. Her brows had risen and her jaw had dropped; those wide, cerise eyes of hers danced around the gleaming edges, taking in every detail of the old car’s new lustre.

I rolled the cover into a ball while she gaped at the glimmering Dodge, tossing it aside and then approaching her, chuckling. “Well? You wanna head back to town? Maybe we can get you some new socks instead.”

She put a hand out and shook her head slowly, keeping her eyes glued to the new paint job. “No… wait, wait… I better, uh… do a quick walk around, to… you know… check it over first.”

“Be my guest,” I said, gesturing to the car as I turned my head the other way, looking off into the woods.

Rainbow Dash circled the car in silence: inspecting, scrutinizing... drooling. A smile had seeped its way into her features by the time she’d reached the driver’s rear quarter panel and placed her hand on the trunk lid, looking back at me.

“Golds… did you paint this?”

I nodded.

She was silent for a moment as she stole another glance at the rainbow stripe that ran the length of the car before facing me again. “Like… for me?”

I nodded again.

She furrowed her brow and glanced at the car yet again. “But… all this work; what if I didn’t want it?”

I shrugged. “I’d just paint over the stripe. No big deal.” I folded my arms and leaned closer, grinning. “But I knew you’d want it.”

She shook her head, chuckling. “But why me?”

I held my hand out. “Because you don’t have a car, first off, and I really didn’t want to scrap this thing; it was in way too good a shape to let it go.”

“Yeah…” she turned and looked down the length of the car again, sighing thoughtfully.

“Plus, this car’s been through a lot with us. I mean, it brought Flutters home, you know?” I pointed to the edge of the trunk lid. “That spot right there, where your hand is:” —she looked down at it— “Sunny jumped from that very spot and tackled a guy off a motorcycle… at seventy miles per hour.”

Dash faced me and raised a brow. “Heh… wow. I’m not gonna lie, that is actually pretty cool,” she said, followed by a sly smirk. “Even though she works at Timmy’s now.”

I chuckled, looking down at my feet. “Yeah… hopefully no one ever tries to rob that place. They’ll be in for one hell of a beatdown.” Looking up at her again with a smirk, I made note of her expression, wondering what she was thinking. “Well, Dashie?”

“Well what?”

“What do you think?”

She folded her arms and looked the car over once more. “Uh… it does look amazing, I’ll give ya that, but still… I dunno.”

This surprised me.

“I just don’t know if I really need the expense, ya know? The insurance… and the gas,” she continued as she faced me again. “But it IS pretty cool. You did an awesome job making it look good.”

I sighed and reached into my pocket. “Here,” I said as I pulled out a small, triangular metal key and held it out to her. “Maybe a test drive will change your mind.”

Dash was hesitant. “Wait, but… there’s no plates on it,” she said as she tentatively reached for the key.

I shook my head. “We’ll be fine out here. These back roads are pretty deserted. I’m sure we can get away with taking it out for a little tour,” I said, dropping the key into her hand. “Just take it for a quick spin, and if you’re still not sold, then we can head back to town and… then…“

My sentence fell off when I noticed Rainbow Dash’s expression—or lack thereof. She stared at the ground, her eyes glassy, her skin faded to a pale bluish-gray. Her mouth hung open, her breathing was shallow, and on the exposed portion of her forehead were bullet-sized beads of sweat.

“Dashie?”

No response.

After a short pause, I reached out and nudged her arm. “Hey…”

Finally, her eyes crept upward to meet mine. “Huh?”

“You feeling OK?” I asked, becoming worried. “You look a bit pale.”

“Wha?… Nah…” Her voice sounded weak. She shook her head slowly, waving me away with a limp arm. “I think I just… ooh, ate that doughnut too fast, that’s all.”

“No,” I said, stepping over to the front door and opening it. “Here.” I pointed to the driver’s seat. “Come sit down a minute.”

Keeping one hand on the car, Dash slowly made her way over and sank into the seat, stretching her feet out to let her heels rest on the ground.

I watched as she sat there, slouched over, forehead buried in her hands, and my mind suddenly raced back to the text she’d received earlier.

Did I drag her out here with some kind of stomach bug?

I felt remorse at the prospect; granted, I had been excited about unveiling the car to her for the previous week, but perhaps I should have paid more attention to her demeanor before we left town and came all the way out here. Although, if it was that bad, why wouldn’t she have said something about it?

I placed a hand on her knee. “Hey…”

She responded with a deep breath; her face remained buried in her hands.

After removing my hand from her, I scratched the back of my head, looking down at the gravel to my right. “Sorry, Dashie. I didn’t mean to drag you out here all sick like this.”

She raised her head as I turned back to her, just enough to let me see her face.

“Come on,” I said, nudging the side of her leg with my knuckles. “Let’s head back to town. We can do this some other day.”

She glared at me suddenly, looking slightly annoyed. “What? No way,” she complained. “We’re already here; just... give me a minute. I’ll be fine.”

“You sure?” I leaned on the roof next to the rear door, watching her.

“Yeah.” She nodded, holding her hand open to study it for a moment. “I’m just uh… a little tired, that’s all. I was up late last night and then you got me up early, so…”

I sighed at her stubbornness and took a quick look around the surrounding woods. “OK. Fine.” I stood and walked around the back of the car, hands in my pockets, wondering how this was going to play out. Hopefully she didn’t end up puking all over the interior that I’d just shampooed the cat-shit stench out of.

I opened the passenger door and got in, closing it behind me. “You think you’ll be OK to drive?” I asked.

Dash sat up and rolled her shoulders. She tilted her head to one side, then the other. “Yeah… I’m good,” she said, lifting her feet into the car as she rotated in the seat to face the steering wheel.

I watched intently as she reached out to pull the door closed and then tipped her head back to rest it against the seat.

“It’ll pass,” she said quietly, eyes drifting shut. “Just gimme a minute.”

I nodded quietly and then cleared my throat. “Alright, well…” I chewed my lip as I looked around the interior. “As you can see, I didn’t do much in here other than clean it up a bit; there’s no reproduction parts for these interiors, so there really wasn’t much I could do with it.”

She opened her eyes to have a look around while I talked.

“The dash board was cracked from the sun —it’s hot down south, you know?— so I made up this piece of carpet to cover it,” I explained as I ran my hand over the furry, blue covering that lined the dashboard. “It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot better than staring at a bunch of cracks—unless those cracks happen to be Rare, Flutters or Sunny’s bu-”

Dash’s hand sprang up. “DON’T… finish that,” she warned. “But yeah… it looks fine.”

I glanced at her for a second and then pointed at the radio. “I uh… this thing originally had an Eight-Track player, if you can believe it, but it was fucked —chewed a tape up— so I got an aftermarket radio with USB ports and Bluetooth and all that shit. I replaced all the speakers, too, just cuz the old ones were sounding pretty rough. No amp or subs or anything like that though, but if you want some, I can get-“

She shook her head and waved dismissively. “Nah, that’s OK. I was never a fan of those big, thumping car stereos. I kinda hate that, actually.”

“Oh… well you’ll probably be happy with it then. It sounds pretty good, I think.” I rubbed my chin, studying the rainbow-haired girl. “I’ll show you later though, I don’t wanna go blasting you with a bunch of loud music when you’re feeling like this.”

She glanced at me, then shook her head and sat forward. “Nah. I’m fine, Golds,” she insisted, wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand, leaving some of her spectrum-laden bangs stuck to her forehead afterwards. “Let’s check this thing out.”

Some of her complexion had returned, granting me a bit of relief as I watched her slip the little key into the ignition and turn it forward.

“Do I gotta, like… pump the gas or anything?” she asked, looking my way after a pause.

I shook my head. “Nope. Just turn the key and go,” I said confidently.

She did, and the old car roared to life. Its exhaust note was quite unexpected, given the car’s regal appearance—rainbow stripe aside.

“Oooohhh…” Her eyes widened. “That actually sounds pretty good.”

“Give it a rev,” I urged.

She pumped the accelerator and the entire car rocked, answering the call with a throaty roar; not overly loud, but with a very definite ‘don’t fuck with me’ tone.

A smirk forced itself onto her features. “Damn! Did you put exhaust on this thing?”

I nodded.

“Nice. It sounds good for an old beast.”

“Well…” I scratched my brow. “Actually… it’s not the same engine.”

Rainbow Dash looked over at me, surprised. “You put a different engine in?”

“Yeah. Me and Twi, actually.”

She cocked a brow. “Twilight helped you?”

“Yeah man. She made the motor mounts,” —I let out a snicker— “so if the engine falls out, blame her.”

“Heh…” She took a moment to listen to it purr, blinking occasionally. “So where’d you find an engine for this thing, anyway?”

“Oh...” I glanced ahead through the windshield. “I snagged a wrecked Dodge pickup from the junkyard for cheap. It had a good five-point-seven Hemi, so I-“

Rainbow Dash gasped suddenly, her face lighting up as she turned to look at me. “You got me a Hemi!?”

“Yeah I did. Overdrive tranny, too. This thing’ll cruise like a fuckin pro on the highway, Dashie; no joke.”

“Oh man…” She quickly reached over her shoulder to buckle her seatbelt. “OK… now I gotta try this thing out.”

“Go for it,” I said as she pulled the shifter down into gear. “Just take ‘er easy though; don’t go all crazy until you get a feel for it.”

“So how much power do you think this thing’s got?” she asked as the old machine rumbled around the curve. Her mood had returned rather quickly, and she was clearly excited to see what’d been done with the old car.

“Uh… factory? I think these came with about three-fifty horse, but don’t quote me.”

“Nice,” she replied, turning onto the paved road and then accelerating rather aggressively. “Damn, man! I’m barely even touching it!” she laughed.

“Yeah, it goes pretty good.”

We drove for a few minutes without talking, listening instead to the rumble of the engine. I couldn’t help but feel a good bit of pride in my work; the old car felt wonderful, and I could tell by the smile on Dash’s face that she thought so too.

“What do you think?” I asked, glancing her way. “Not bad, eh?”

She nodded. “Yeah, man. This old thing actually feels amazing.”

“Yeah. The front end was tight, but the shocks and springs were saggy so I replaced them and put all new brakes on it. But…” I raised a hand of warning. “The A/C still doesn’t work; I didn’t really have time to check it out, but going into winter I wasn’t too worried about it. Come springtime I’ll get it workin for ya.”

“Sweet.”

I watched her for a moment, letting my eyes trace down her leg to her foot, which held the throttle just enough to keep the car at an easy cruising speed of fifty miles per hour. A mischievous smirk crept onto my face, and I nodded at her foot.

“Hey, why don’t you drop the hammer on this old girl? See what she’s got.”

Dash looked over at me, smirking. “Yeah? Should I?”

I nodded. “Give her shit.”

“OK,” she said, gripping the steering wheel tightly and taking a breath.

After a short psyche-up, Rainbow Dash stomped the gas pedal to the floor.

All hell broke loose.

There was a faint hiss from up front, followed by the roar of the exhaust behind us. The rear tires promptly broke loose, puking clouds of white smoke out of the wheel wells as they screeched like a pair of banshees, sending the car into a tailspin.

“OH SHIIIIIIIIIT!” Rainbow Dash screamed, eyes almost bugging out of her head. She released the throttle, but it was too late; the car was already skidding sideways, completely out of control. Steering into it was no use, and so the car spun around and screeched along the pavement when she stomped the brake pedal, locking up and skidding on all four wheels until we finally came to a stop on the shoulder, facing the way we came.

“WOOO!” I whooped, laughing as I looked through the windshield at the cloud of dust and tire smoke left in our wake. “Did you see that shit, Dashie!?”

Rainbow Dash was stiff as a board, panting deeply as she gripped the steering wheel with knuckles whiter than Rarity’s. Turning slowly to face me, those cerise eyes of hers were like pinpoints and her mouth hung open in awe—and maybe a bit of panic as well.

“What… was THAT!?” she screeched.

“Awesome, that’s what!”

She scowled as the colour slowly returned to her face. “What the-… I thought you said this thing was like… three-fifty horse? Cuz it kinda feels like a bit more than that.”

I raised a finger and shook my head. “No-no, I said it came from the factory with about three-fifty. This one obviously has a bunch more becau-“ I stopped suddenly, closed my eyes, and slapped a hand over my forehead. “Oh shit! Sorry, Dashie. I forgot to tell you about the Procharger.”

Her eyes widened. “The what?”

“Yeah, I put a supercharger on it.”

“You did WHAT!?”

Seeing her reaction, I let out a hearty laugh.

“Dude, that’s totally not funny! It would have been nice to know that, don’t ya think? I almost fucking crashed this thing just now!”

“Nah.” I waved her off. “You did fine.”

Incredulous, Dash watched me for a moment before exhaling and facing forward again. “Fuck…” she whispered, listening to the purr of the engine as it idled innocently, ready to unleash another mountain of torque at a moment’s notice. “So...” she said, rubbing her temple. “How much power does this thing make?”

“Uuhhh…” I stared up at the headliner. “Probably about five-fifty, maybe six-hundred? I’m not too sure. It’s hard to say without putting it on a dyno.”

Dash recoiled in shock. “SIX-HUNDRED!? That’s... that’s like a Viper!”

I shook my head. “Not really. Vipers are a lot lighter and they handle better, but still…”

She shook her head, blowing a lungful from pursed lips as she looked out over that long, shiny hood to study that strip of colour down the center.

“Well?” I said, raising a brow. “You want the car? Or do you wanna go back to town and pick out some socks?”

She sighed, and then turned to me with a tight-lipped stare. “I’m not gonna lie… I kinda want the car.”

I clapped my hands together. “Nice! Good choice, Dashie. I knew you’d love it.”

“Well, just hang on…” she said, holding a tentative hand out. “How much is this gonna cost me?”

I paused, unsure of what she meant. “Huh?”

“To buy the car off you.”

I shook my head, brows furrowed. “What? Dashie, I already told you: this is a Christmas present.”

Her eyes widened. “What? Whoa, whoa, whoa. You’re… giving it to me? For nothing!?”

“It’s not for nothing, Dashie,” I smirked. “It’s for you.”

Author's Notes:

For anyone wondering, this is what an '81 Dodge Diplomat looks like: