Race to the Finish

A week later, they were all on a flight to Austria for the next race. As she looked down from the airplane window, Rarity gave a soft squeal, "Heavens above! This place is gorgeous!". Fluttershy also nodded, "Indeed! I love those lush forests, the hills, and the scenery in general!"

Slipstream grinned, "That's why I called it the prettiest race track in the world. Nothing beats this track when it comes to scenery. Another reason why I love it, is because it is the shortest and fastest laps around the track. You'll see it tomorrow. For now, we'll head to the hotel and rest up after we land."

The next few days were full of sight-seeing and sampling of local cuisine. On Thursday, they headed to the Red Bull Ring for a small walk around the track. After the first corner, Slipstream pointed out, "Hey Sunset! You see that left-right kink? That wasn't there a few years ago."

Rainbow piped up, "How come?"

Slipstream exhaled as he wheeled himself, "Man! I remember it like it was yesterday. Turns out, this used to be one long straight, that ended in a tight right hander. Around that time, there was an almighty accident. I was leading the race on the opening lap, and a big crash unfolded behind me. Two riders, Tumbleweed and Redline collided at nearly 200 mph. Their bikes rushed straight on through the gravel and grass, without the riders on them, and began wrecking. One of them flashed right in front of my nose, just as I was entering Turn 3. The other bike also barely missed my teammate. He damn nearly had a Code Brown, and I actually did!"

Pinkie cocked her head, "Code Brown?... Oh... Ew..."

He snorted, "Stewards red-flagged the race immediately to make sure the riders were okay, and to clean up the debris. All of us riders went back to the pits, and I had to rush in and change my underwear. Anyway, since then, they added this corner to slow the bikes down a little."

Then he turned to Sunset, "Kid, I need to warn you about this. On this track, you need to watch out for the track limits. It's enforced on every track, but it's a lot stricter around here."

Applejack put her hands to her hips, "Whatcha mean by that?"

"To put it simply, Going off the track can be seen as gaining an unfair advantage. So the officials have to monitor everyone carefully. Most times, you'll have that lap time deleted or get a grid drop. During a race scenario, you will drop positions if you go over those white lines. So no matter what happens, Stay. On. The. Tarmac."

Finally, it was Friday and time for practice. The opening session was fantastic, as Sunset posted the sixth-fastest time. However in session two, she lot the front end in the opening minutes. The girl lost around 10 minutes while Gear Wrench and his crew repaired the bike. Finally, she was back out on track, but disaster soon struck again. Exiting the first corner ahead of Garble, he suddenly kicked out at her bike and she was sent crashing at high speed.

Rainbow Dash had to be restrained from storming to Garble's garage and starting a brawl. Slipstream himself, was a face of utter calm, and when Garble returned to his garage, Slipstream briskly wheeled there. Izzy whistled slowly, "Wow! Boss man is REALLY mad!"

Next to her, Kerfuffle nodded, "Yep! He rarely loses his temper. But the last time I saw him that angry, some crazy fan stalked his best friend, Pocket Rocket and got way too handsy with her. Slipstream cornered that creep and beat the everliving daylights out of him. His rival/friend, Blitzkrieg also joined in. Both of them got fined 50 grand each, but they said that it was worth it. Since then, Rocket never travelled anywhere without pepper spray and a taser. She and Blitzkrieg got married last year, Slipstream was best man."

As a shaken Sunset trudged in, fortunately unhurt, there were raised voices to their left. Hitch and Applejack hurried out, in case the situation escalated. They were just in time to hear him yell, "Hijo de puta! Podrías haberla matado. ¡Que te jodan! ¡Con mucho gusto aceptaré la multa! Pinchazo"

Hitch winced and whispered to Applejack, "He said, 'Son of a b*tch! You could have killed her! F**k you! I'll gladly accept the fine! Prick.'"

Inside the Canterlot Racing Team garage, Sunset was given a once-over. She was fine, aside from a few bruises. The bike was a bit banged up, but the crew got to work right away. Even Rainbow Dash and Applejack jumped in, after borrowing spare team uniforms.

Sunset was back out with five minute to go, and she had slipped down to 9th place by then. She did improve to 8th, and remained there until the chequered flag. In the media pen, Slipstream wasn't holding back. He bluntly said, "Personally, what he did was unacceptable. I'm not sorry for going there looking for a fight. He could have killed her with that stupid stunt. If I were his team principal, I would have taken him to the back of the garage and kicked him out of the team. There's no place for those kinds of stunts in racing. These riders are already risking their lives, without some idiot acting like it's a game of Road Rash."

The next day, qualifying did not go her way as Sunset Shimmer was all the way down in 14th. Just like always, she did her usual pre-race rituals. Before leaving the grid, Slipstream leaned in, so that his forehead was touching her helmet, "Listen kiddo. We're a little further down that we would have liked. The mid pack is usually dangerous because there is a chance to be caught up in a crash. Just, stay clean, stay on the bike. No heroics into the first corner. At least get some points."

Soon, she was off for her final sighting lap with the other riders. As the lights went green, Sunset Shimmer got a decent start. She was already up to 12th by the third corner. When the opening lap ended, she was up to 11th. Moments later, Dynamo barged past her to put her back down to 12th. It got worse a few laps later, as Sunset slipped down to 13th. The tumble continued as Sunset went down to 15th with 18 laps to go.

Luckily, Snowstorm ahead of her crashed, and she was promoted up to 14th. Things were a little quiet for a while, until Sunset crept up to 13th with five laps remaining. For the remainder of the race, she did her best to hunt down 12th placed Powerslide. At long last, the chequered flag waved, and Sunset Shimmer had to settle for 13th place, her second-worst position till date.

After the cool-down lap, she rode in and parked up. Slipstream wheeled over and side-hugged her, "It's okay. The hot streak had to end sometime. We'll get them next time. We're back in Spain next weekend, Aragon circuit, this time."