Girls and Bridle Ch. 09.2

"Let us out of here!"

"No. And for the tenth time, keep quiet."

"It's been five days already, and nobody has taken care of us yet."

"The lawyers are very busy."

"Busy, my ass. We are the only two prisoners here."

"You are not prisoners. We are simply detaining you until a lawyer has time to look into your case. Now keep quiet. Eleventh time."

Sophie relentlessly insisted. The first of the three Triple Crown races was supposed to start in a few minutes, and she was still stuck in this police station cell with Brittany as a co-cellmate. She was aware that even if she had been released, she wouldn't have been allowed to participate in the event, but at least she would be able to watch it on TV.

Brittany was as anxious but had preferred not to say anything, letting Sophie exhaust her voice instead. But since words hadn't yielded any results so far, she decided to take things into her own hands. She grabbed her metal cup, tossed the water on the ground next to her crappy bed, and walked up to Sophie who was still tugging on the bars.

"... Move aside, moron."

"Shut up, Britt. They have to let us watch the race. It starts in twenty minutes."

"I know that. Move."

"Ah! Whatever!"

Unable to make the sheriff's assistant react, there was nothing to lose in letting Brittany try. So Sophie returned to her corner and let her enemy attempt something. Brittany wasn't the most polite person in the world, so it was very possible that things would get much worse from here and that they would even end up with additional charges. But at this point, who really cared?

Penny had not visited them. Stardust had not visited them. They had no idea how their ponies would be able to participate in the race without them. This unknown was probably the nastiest part of their punishment. So there was no real risk in letting Brittany do her worse.

Using her metal cup, Brittany began rattling it on the prison bars, loudly and most annoyingly. Very loudly. The metal-on-metal noise was downright unbearable and guaranteed a reaction. The policeman immediately stood up and came to warn her.

"HEY! Stop this!"

"In your dream, moron. Bring us a TV so we can watch the race."

"I said NO! Both of you are going to stay quiet in your cell until the lawyer comes to see you."

"I don't care about that. We just want to watch the race."

Brittany resumed her rattling, right in front of the man, and when he tried to take the metal cup away from her, she hit him on the knuckle with it.

"OW! Are you crazy? I could charge you for assault on a police officer."

"I don't care. Bring us a TV."

"NO! And keep quiet."

The policeman returned to his desk and resumed his paperwork... and Britany resumed the rattling.

This time, the man ignored her, assuming that not reacting to her childish ruckus would eventually make her stop. But Brittany was strong.

"Bring us a TV."

"..."

"Bring us a TV."

"..."

"Bring us a TV."

"Silence!"

"Bring us a TV."

"..."

CLANK!

Sophie placed her two hands over her mouth when Brittany threw her heavy metal cup very hard directly at the man's skull. There was no doubt that he would feel that one tonight.

***

"Happy now?"

"Yes."

After placing a small black and white TV in front of the jail door, the sheriff's assistant returned to his desk, holding a towel full of ice on his head. His two small prisoners were out of their minds, and it was probably better to comply before they found a way to set fire to the police station.

Sophie and Brittany dragged one of the beds near the jail door and sat on it, side by side, not realizing that they had never been this close without attacking each other physically. In this instance, their teamwork had allowed them to get what they wanted, so an informal truce was in order.

On the small screen, a bunch of little ponies was about to line up for the first of the three most important races in the world, but because of the poor quality of the screen, it was impossible to see much detail. They only began to understand what was going on when the camera switched from one team to the other, displaying the members' names.

The first two teams presented weren't what neither of the two jailed drivers was looking for, but Brittany had a heart attack when the third one appeared on the screen. It was Hemlock and Nightshade, and the driver was Xiuying, someone she didn't particularly like to say the least.

"WHAT!? What is this bitch doing in MY cart!? I can't believe Stardust did that to me! I'll kick her in the head when I get out of here."

Obviously, Brittany was impulsive. At least, Sophie was around to bring her down to Earth.

"Relax, idiot. It's a good thing for you. Xiuying is a very good driver. It probably cost Stardust a fortune to hire her on such a risky contract. If there is someone who can make your ponies perform, that's her."

"Whatever! She is still a bitch!"

Two more teams were presented but, again, they were not who Sophie wanted to see. Somehow, all the other competitors felt a bit irrelevant, as if this race would only be between Stardust and Penny stables. The visceral rivalry between the two houses was undeniable and couldn't be avoided.

But when the last team appeared on the crappy TV screen, Morning Star with her bright star sewn on her bridle's forehead and Moonlight with her moon similarly applied, Sophie had a heart attack when she saw who was driving the cart. It was a small and cute lady, dressed in white with flashy show pony makeup, and who looked too happy to be there.

Ivory!

As Sophie tried to breathe with her paralyzed lungs, Brittany didn't miss the opportunity to bask in cruelty.

"Bhahaha! Sophie! You are sooo fucked!"

"..."

"Ivory is everything but a driver. What an imbecile!"

"HEY! Don't talk like that about her. She let you watch her show the other day!"

"True. I don't hate her. But seriously. You are sooo fucked!"

Sophie brought her heels to the mattress and hugged her knees. What did Penny do? Why? Why Ivory? The small show pony didn't have ANY experience in racing and wouldn't even be able to come up with a somewhat decent strategy to fight against all those other professional drivers. As much as she hated to admit it, Brittany had a very valid point.

Penny's team was fucked.

***

"Hahaha! Moon, Star, smile for the camera! Oh, right, you are wearing a bite. Still, push your chest out and try to be gracious. The world is looking at us."

Proudly and excited about being broadcasted live on national TV, Ivory yakked all kinds of nonsense to her two nervous ponies. Sure, Penny had instructed her not to take any initiative and let Morning Star's instinct do all the work during the race, but she had not mentioned anything regarding the part that came before it.

"Penny said it was okay for me to wear my white outfit if I wanted to. She checked the rules and said it was okay. Haha. I would feel bad to be in front of a camera without wearing it. You know, habits. She just said I couldn't wear my pony boots and bridle because it would be weird. But at least I can wear my ponytail."

As the improbable team zigzagged around to warm up, another driver came close to them.

"Hey! Ivory! What the heck are you doing here?"

"Oh, Xiuying. Hi. I'm driving for Penny."

"I see that. I didn't know you were a driver!?"

"Oh, I'm not. I know nothing about racing. But it's fun. I got scared at first, but then I learned to like it and..."

"Okay, okay! I get it... Well, I don't. But good luck. You'll need it."

"Right!"

"And put your helmet on. The race is about to begin! That's mandatory."

"Oh! Right!"

Too proud of her white ponytail, Ivory decided to wait until later before hiding it with the dusty helmet that Penny had found for her little head. Good looks were important. She leaned forward and grabbed it from the side of the seat, and planted it on her small head.

"Woot! Look at me! I'm a racer!"

"..."

"..."

At that point Morning Star and Moonlight were pretty convinced that they had been abandoned. Racing and winning were up to them and nobody else, particularly not their cute dead weight sitting on the springy seat of the cart they were pulling, no matter how adorable she was. Nobody today would reassure them, assist them, or guide them to victory.

Simply put, the word strategy has been erased from their vocabulary. What was to come next, a most probable fiasco, would be frozen in history.

At least Morning Star knew how to read, thanks to her passion for racing magazines, so when the officials called her cart number and directed them to a specific gate, she could identify which one it was by looking at the numbers at the top, something she had never had to do before.

Well trained by Sophie, she and Moonlight entered the gate and then pressed their foreheads on the metal door in front of them. The good thing about this technique was that they didn't need a driver to perform a good start. Morning Star had done this a million times and was possibly the most skilled at it, but even though Moonlight mimicked her, she was not nearly as prepared as her elite companion. So instead of feeling the gate movement, she would simply focus on Morning Star and attempt to rocket forward as soon as it would be logical to do so. As for Ivory, she probably would just scream of terror, so she should be ignored.

***

"Come on, Moonlight! Don't mess this up this time!"

"Shut up, Sophie! You know your ponies are incompetent. And I tell you, if Xiuying fuck up this race, I'll punch her in the face."

"Would you stop with violence for once, Brittany! I'm trying to watch a race here!"

"Screw you and your stupid ponies!"

"Whatever, turd! The race is about to start. Just watch the TV and keep quiet!"

Quickly enough, a countdown could be heard, and the rusty gates swung open.

Clank!

It was an amazing sight for the spectators both on-site or in front of the TV. Before them were the six best racing teams in the world, and the way they all exited the gates simultaneously, as if they were all on the same wavelength, as if they were all connected by an invisible force, was nothing but impressive. They all had a perfect start...

... Except for one team.

Sophie's fingers quickly plunged inside her hair.

"AAAAH! Moonlight messed up again! What a horrible start! They are already so far behind."

"Haha! Hemlock and Nightshade are first! Good girls!"

Brittany and Sophie experienced drastically opposite emotions during the first few seconds of this first Triple Crown race. Already a few lengths behind everybody, Penny's team had no chance to win this unless everybody else would crash or get disqualified. Stardust's team, strong as ever, managed to get the very advantageous position on the side of the rail, and it was unlikely that any other team would be powerful enough to pass them. This race already had a taste of defeat and victory.

Gripping the bars separating them from the small black and white TV, the two excluded drivers still experienced the thrill of a true race, the good and the bad.

***

"YAY! You are so good, Morning Star! We are going so fast!"

No! Not at all.

Even if Ivory screamed her irrational positivism, it didn't make Morning Star's situation any easier. Moonlight had a terrible start and almost tripped, causing the cart to jerk sideways, killing all possibilities to build a crucial momentum. Now they were so far behind already before they even reached the first turn.

Usually, Sophie would have jumped in and told them to calm down and refocus before coming up with a magical strategy to solve the issue or, at least, dampen the impacts of the mistake. But she wasn't around, and Ivory was as useful as a hay bale. All that Morning Star had left to work with were Penny's words.

Earlier this week, the old lady, calmly and confidently, explained to Morning Star what she expected of her. She was not to use any strategy. She was not to analyze and comprehend what would happen around her. She was not to worry about a screaming Ivory or an inexperienced Moonlight. She would be racing alone from a certain point of view.

Herself accompanied by her passion for racing.

Two actions were generally required during a race. Run and sprint--the two actions at the core of all racing. Morning Star could do both very well, and in fact, they were the only things she knew how to do. The entirety of the rest was the responsibility of the driver. So, in her instructions, what Penny had asked her to do was not that special. Run, and when she felt that sprinting was required to win the race, she would trigger it, and Moonlight would just have to keep up and help with the pulling.

This simplicity was somewhat reassuring, but now that everybody was well ahead of them due to her atrocious start, a question popped up inside her brain a bit sooner than she had expected.

Would now be a good time to sprint? So soon into the race?

Morning Star had no idea. She wished Sophie was here, but since she wasn't, nobody would provide her with a decision. All she knew was that she was far behind the pack and needed to somehow finish this long lap before them if she wanted to win.

So, before she even reached the first turn, she decided to go for it, not understanding that she might exhaust herself before the end of the race.

She gave her all. A sprint seemed important.

***

"NOOO! IVORY! What are you doiiiiiing!?"

"Bwahaha! Sophie! Your team is sooo stupid! A sprint at the beginning of the race. What a bunch of idiots!"

"Nooooo!"

Sophie grabbed her pillow and placed it on top of her head. In a few seconds, her ponies would run out of energy, and no matter how many positions they would gain with this bold move, they would fall back behind all the other teams who would manage their race better. This time, Brittany seemed to be correct with her offensive assessment.

Also overjoyed by something else, Brittany showed a rare smile.

"Haha. My ponies are still first. They are doing amazing. Maybe Xiuying doesn't suck as much as I thought."

The pink ponygirls, Hemlock and Nightshade, were indeed doing very well.

***

"Perfect, Hemlock! Perfect, Nightshade! You are just perfect! Keep that pace, and we will win! We got this!"

No matter how Xiuying had unconditional love for Tiantang Zhi Ma, no matter how much she loved driving the love of her life, her lover wasn't the ponygirl who was pulling her cart at the moment. Tiantang was sitting in the stands with the rest of the crowd, trusting her remotely, not on the race track. Xiuying's ponies were Hemlock and Nightshade, two of the strongest ponygirls on the surface of the Earth, and it showed.

Wearing their blinding pink latex suits and meticulously maintained harnesses, the two athletes were exactly what Xiuying had described. Perfect. Stardust had paid her to drive them for this race, but at the moment, it felt as if it should have been the other way around. She should have paid for the privilege to drive the best team in the world.

Was this incredible performance due to Hemlock and Nightshade being a couple on top of race partners? Their synchronism was flawless, their energy was balanced, their will to win was unbreakable. There was no messing around, their obedience was absolute and stunning. They did every single thing Xiuying had asked them to, even if she wasn't their regular driver, proving how well trained they had been.

Xiuying didn't look behind often. The other competitors were not too far, but never in a lifetime could they find the energy and strength required to pass her ponies or even just catch up to them. As for Penny's team, they had committed a big mistake and had ruined their race right at the start. Before even reaching the first turn, the team she had feared the most had disqualified themselves.

After the last turn, entering the last straight to the finish line, Xiuying was convinced of her victory, but she still had a job to do. Driving. It was not the right time to relax. She took a quick look behind to make sure all previous thoughts were still valid and returned her gaze toward the finish line, not noticing right away that something was extremely wrong with her assessment.

"Haha! Nobody can catch us now and... Wait... WHAT!? HOW!?"

A panicking Xiuying returned her eyes to the teams behind her, and on the outside lane, where nobody ever rode, were two black ponygirls with a very white driver screaming in the seat. And they were coming at her FAST.

Instinctually, Xiuying screamed an ultimate command at her two pink ponies while whipping their reins hard.

"SPRINT! SPRINT! FASTER! FASTER! NOW! NOW!

Unsure about what was going on, Hemlock and Nightshade didn't argue per se, but they were already at their maximum. Xiuying had already ordered them to initiate their sprint while they were exiting the last curve. They knew how fast they were going, so what was the big deal.

They tried nonetheless, but it didn't seem to soothe Xiuying's distress. The Asian driver kept pressuring them.

"YAAA! YAAA! FASTER! FASTER!"

And that's when the most bizarre thing in the history of racing happened. There were only twenty meters left to the finish line, but Morning Star and Moonlight passed them at a speed that didn't make any sense.

This last twenty meters had been enough for Penny's team to finish one length ahead of Stardust's team and steal the victory.

"..."

"..."

"..."

***

"..."

"..."

Sitting on the cheap bed behind the bars separating them from the crappy black and white TV, Sophie and Brittany couldn't say anything. They were both trembling and unable to comprehend what they had just witnessed.

Sophie attempted to replay the race in her head to figure out the part she had missed.

Morning Star and Moonlight messed up their start and immediately fell behind, way behind. Then they began a sprint, easily catching up with the other teams and passing them effortlessly, all that while staying in the outside lane to avoid the traffic, which should have made their job ten times harder. And then, in the last straight, they accelerated even more and passed the best team in the world, Hemlock and Nightshade, to finally win the race.

Simply put, they successfully sprinted an entire track that was almost four times as long as what they were used to on the Super Cup circuit.

Simply put, again, what they have done was purely impossible.

"So... Sophie?"

"What?"

"Your ponies..."

"... Yeah? What about them?"

"They are fucking not normal."

"... Yeah. I agree."

At the moment, there was something comforting about being on the same page with another expert.

***

"STAR! LOOK AT THE CAMERA!"

"MOON! SMILE FOR US!"

"IVORY! TELL US ABOUT THE RACE!"

Poor Ivory. She was so small, and there were so many reporters trying to interview her and her ponies or trying to take pictures. As a show pony, she was very much used to being the center of attention, but this... this was way too much. Frankly, those reporters were rough, disrespectful, they pulled on her arms desperately trying to make her look in their direction, but she didn't want to.

Penny had told her very clearly that, right after the race, she should bring the ponies back to the racetrack stalls where she would meet them. But for some odd reason, all those people rushed to her as soon as she left the track making her little trip very difficult.

"Aaaah! Move! Move! Leave us alone! Go see someone else!"

Moonlight and Morning Star were also in trouble. They had unfastened their wrist from their waist, but they still had trouble going through the crowd. Telling them to go pound sand was also not an option since they still wore their bit.

Not used to this kind of madness, Moonlight was about to punch one of them, but Morning Star, more used to fame, prevented her from doing so. Something odd was going on, but a bad action would have been immortalized forever. Morning Star, the most famous ponygirl in the world, knew better and couldn't let this happen.