Race to the Finish

About a week after Mugello, Sunset Shimmer found herself outside Slipstream's office. She knocked and opened the door to find him poring over several sheets. He looked up, "Hey Sunset, what's up?"

She shuffled on her feet, "I... I wanted to ask a favour. Is it okay if I go back to Canterlot High and get some closure? I really didn't want to put it off any longer."

He put down his pen, "Kid, you do know that you're under contract, right? You read all the terms and conditions. You break the contract early, there'll be a financial penalty. I like you, kid and I really do NOT want to take you to court, but I will."

Sunset frantically waved her arms, "No! No! No! I'm not quitting the team! I was just thinking of making a short trip back to Canterlot and face my school mates. We have a month until the next race, right? I just want to get this thing out of the way. Plus, I'm starting to miss my friends. Don't worry, I will be back soon, I promise."

He nodded, "I can respect that, you can go. Just make sure to be back, no later than two weeks before the race weekend. Sorry about the questioning, but I had to be sure that you were coming back and honoring the contract. I know we've had a bit of a slump lately, but then the season is long."

She shook her head firmly, "I'm not afraid! I would never break such a contract! Heck, this is as bad as breaking one of Pinkie Pie's Pinkie Promises."

He smiled, "Good! Glad we're both on the same page. Do you need me to come with or you're okay on your own?"

"I'll be fine. See you in two weeks."

About a week after she left, Sunset called him up, "Hey Slipstream, my friends wanted to ask a favour."

"Hola! Fire away!"

"Right, so... Applejack's family run an apple farm called Sweet Apple Acres and they market all sorts of products-"

"So you want our team to take Sweet Apple Acres as a sponsor?"

"Yeah, Pinkie's work place, Sweet Shoppe and Rarity's Boutique as well."

He stroked his eyebrows, "Well... I'm gonna have to talk to Coloratura for that. Since she owns the team. I'll ask her to talk to Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity. They'll have to sign a sponsorship contract up until the end of the season. Heh... You know something? In a way I'm glad you called up with this. We've been having some issues with funding, since Rara's been paying out of her own pocket. She's a nice girl and it doesn't sit right with me, to take advantage of her generosity so much."

"Sounds fair. I'll let the girls know. By the way, the school reunion thing went way better than I expected. Got a massive public apology from the school, AJ's grandmother, Granny Smith also told me that she had been considering disowning me as an honorary Apple, before the confession from Apple Bloom. Those three are still too ashamed to look at me."

Finally, with a week until the race at Assen, Sunset flew back and met with the team at Assen. However, she wasn't alone as she brought her friends with her to the Netherlands. Slipstream picked them up at around seven in the morning and grinned, "Hola! You're just in time! I wanted to introduce to some of the local cuisine!"

Pinkie leaned forward, her baby blue eyes glinting, "OOO! What've you got for us!"

Slipstream pulled his modified van into a fairly out-of-the-way breakfast joint. He spoke, "I've been to this place a few times. I like to call this a hidden gem, because not many visit this place, but the stroopwafel is to die for."

"What's that?"

He explained, "Well... it's just a thin, round cookie made from two layers of sweet baked dough held together by syrup filling. Everyone in the Netherlands loves this stuff, and I can see why!"

Pinkie's mouth began watering, and when the food finally arrived, she closed her eyes and took a bite. Immediately, her eyes popped open and she had an odd look on her face. She moaned, "Soooo! Gooood! Any chance that they can give me the recipe? This thing is gonna sell like crazy!"

The next moment, there was a Pinkie-shaped dust cloud, followed by said girl racing into the kitchen. Several minutes later, she tottered out, looking as if Christmas came early.

For the rest of the week, the girls went sight-seeing in Assen. Though there was one incident when Rainbow Dash wandered off and returned afterwards, a little traumatised. She just gasped, "I saw things that I can never unsee."

He took one look at her and had to guffaw, "Oh man! You accidentally wandered into a red light district, didn't you? Sorry, that was my fault. I hoped to never expose you lot to this kind of thing, but Netherlands is notorious for red light districts and narcotics hubs."

Finally, it was Friday and practice had begun. Sunset rode off for some exploratory laps while Slipstream and analyst Feedback had their faces glued to a laptop, looking at data. Just then, Slipstream spotted Rarity sitting in a corner and sketching. Occasionally, she would glance up at one of Sunset's spare suits, and go back to sketching. He wheeled over, "Hola, what are you up to niña?"

She replied, "To be honest, I was just going over some ideas to improve the look of Sunset's racing suit. The colour scheme is nice, but I'd love for it to stand out even more and make her look gorgeous!"

He raised an eyebrow, "What do you have in mind?"

She tilted the sketchpad and he had a look. His eyes widened and his pupils shrank, "OH HELL NO! Nuh-uh!"

Rarity recoiled, absolutely affronted. Her outraged voice gasped, "I do beg your pardon!?"

He snapped, "Jewels and gems adorning the suit is a HORRIBLE idea, and I'll give you three reasons. First of all, this isn't a fashion show! In any case, she's going to be riding and the suit's going to get dirty. Also, do you have any idea how goddamn expensive this is going to be?."

Slipstream raised a second finger, "Second of all, the bike weighs around 157 kg or 346 pounds. We're talking about a 15-year-old kid lugging a near 350-pound bike, and the jewel-encrusted suit only adds extra weight. Third, the last time some idiot used jewellery, it ended really badly. A couple of decades ago in Formula One, the Jaguar Racing team was promoting a heist movie at the Monaco Grand Prix. They embedded a diamond worth $250,000 on the nose cone, to promote the movie. Sometime during the race, one of the cars crashed and the diamond got dislodged and got lost. Till date, no one knows what the hell happened to it, whether it got lost in a sewer or some lucky cabrón pinched it and got rich. Look, there is a high chance that Sunset could crash at some point, and the jewels could get lost. In the worst case scenario, bits of it can break off and possibly injure her. Do you want that on your conscience?"

The girl was rendered speechless for a minuted. She composed herself and stammered, "I-I never thought about it like that... I'm sorry, sometimes I let my creative muse just run wild at times. I need to remember to take in customer preferences. Thank you for knocking some sense into me, Slipstream."

He doffed his cap in her direction, "Any time, kiddo."

When practice one ended, Sunset was struggling to get to grips with the track and ended up 14th. Fortunately, they tweaked the set-up for second practice and she finished that session in 3rd, behind Slick Shifter and Velocity. Then came qualifying and Sunset was looking a little off the pace. With about five minutes to go, her best time was 1.7 seconds off of provisional pole, putting her in 12th place.

Feedback and Gearwrench made some final adjustments before sending her on her way. Unfortunately, she went out in a massive group, so there wasn't much space out on the track. It only only worse when Dynamo attempted to muscle his way through, only to crash out. Fortunately, Sunset's penultimate lap was able to see her move up to 11th before her final run. Finally, the girl moved up to 9th briefly, before a late improvement from another rider saw her drop to 10th, and that was her final starting position.

Sunday arrived and it was raceday. A late grid penalty for a rival promoted her up a spot, on the outside of the third row. As soon as the lights went out, Sunset got a great start and dove down the inside of several riders. The move worked a little, as she moved up to seventh. With 25 laps to go, she made a move for 6th place, despite a slight wobble. Two laps later, she broke into the Top 5. On the very next lap, she was re-overtaken but tried to fight back with little success, so Sunset settled for 6th for the moment. The laps ticked by and she was trailing P5 by 0.7 seconds. Fortunately, it just seemed like she was taking a breather and saving tires, because she steadily closed back up and was on the attack.

Try as she might, she was unable to make an impression on the riders ahead of her. What made things worse, was that the riders behind were beginning to catch up. Eventually, she was relegated to seventh place, but still in a massive battle for the final podium spot. At some point, Bullet and Dynamo got their elbows out and amped up the aggression, while Velocity was trying his hardest to escape.

With six laps to go, a recovering Dynamo barged past another rider called Drift, and Sunset wasn't about to decline an open invitation. Eventually, Drift managed to sail past her again, as his Ducati was much faster than her Aprilia. Eventually, her pace began dropping and Sunset lost touch with the group. In desperation, she accelerated and tried to push harder to catch up. However on the last lap, it cost her dearly. She leaned a little too far and lost the front end of the bike, crashing out of the race.

A big groan of disappointment erupted from the Countess Racing garage. Sunset Shimmer was on her hands and knees, as she gingerly tried to get up from the gravel. She checked the bike, but it was now unrideable, so her race was done. Sunset hitched a ride on a marshal's scooter, who dropped her off near her garage. Entering, she was surrounded by the girls in a group hug. Slipstream gently pat her on top of her helmet, "You did okay, kid. Mistakes happen. I guess the pressure got to you, eh?"

She nodded, "Sorry about the bike."

He waved her off, "It's okay, nothing we can't fix. As long as you're okay. Do you want to see the rest of the race, or should we pack up?"

She mumbled, "Let's pack it up. Where are we off to next?"

Slipstream checked his calendar and froze, "Oh crap! We're off to Germany next week."

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, "What's so bad about Germany."

He wearily said, "The Sachsenring track and I have some history. That's the same track that ended my career as a rider. This is going to be the first time I'm heading to that track, since my accident."