0700 December 24th

Stalliongrad

Ever have one of those nights that you will never remember? I had one two nights ago, and somehow ended up getting myself into a situation that I can't get out of. But, before I fill you in on what happened, let me tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Gear Ratio, and I am a unicorn. My cutie mark is that of a set of three cogs, signifying my mechanical engineering special talent. That being said, my passion is cars. I'm not really a driver though, my profession is that of a mechanic. Ponies come in with a car and I fix it, whether it needs a simple oil change or a complete overhaul. That's pretty much all you need to know about me, now, on to my situation, or at least what I've been told. As I said, I can't really remember much.

That night I was in a bar in Stalliongrad called the Bannered Mare. I was in there to meet a friend, but then something happened. I'm not exactly sure what happened, all I know is that I woke up in a garage on the outskirts of the city the next morning. Now I'm freaking out at this point, thinking that I had angered the wrong group of ponies, such as the mob, and they were going to torture me. But after a while of nopony coming at me with a power drill or magic, I began to get curious. So I started to look around the garage when I got a big surprise. Sitting out front, gleaming in the sunlight was a 1971 EMC Javelin, painted a menecing shade of black. At least it would be menecing if it didn't have my ugly mug on the hood. Yeah, it had a picture of me on it, so I assumed it was mine. Stupid? Yes, but what other explanation was there? As I slid behind the wheel, I saw a note taped to the dashboard, it read:

Here's the car you requested. We made all the adjustments that you asked for. Now remember, we have your family, so if you don't win the Running of the Leaves, you   can say goodbye.

~Red Moon

It was at this point that I realized just how badly I had screwed up the previous night. Of course, I had no idea if he was telling the truth about my family, so I had to go along with it. I was wondering what this Running of the Leaves was when I saw a flyer in the passenger seat. Apparently it was a cross-country race from Stalliongrad to Ponyville, with the grand prize being one million bits and a one-off Ferrarity 458. I couldn't care less about the prize though, as I was racing for my family, and I just had to win. Though, I began to wonder if this car was the best for the job. After all, it wasn't made for the kind of racing that I thought was ahead of me. But, it was all I had. And the race was to begin the next morning.

And now, I find myself at the start line, with less then ten minutes to go. What will happen, I don't know. What I do know, is that it will be quite a wild ride.