Race to the Finish

Sunset Shimmer was suddenly awoken by some buzzing on her cell phone. She looked around bleary-eyed and then grabbed her phone by rubbing her eyes. Apparently, Fluttershy was texting her, and she replied back immediately.

SS: Shy, it's 8 in the morning! I was just having a lie in.

FS: Eep! I'm so sorry, Sunset. I wanted to know if you were okay with the girls contacting you again. I still haven't given them your new number, despite Pinkie constantly shooting me puppy-dog eyes.

Sunset sighed and texted back: Fine, you can tell them my new number. I've got to face them eventually. Can't keep running away from my problems.

FS: Also, I thought you should know, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo publicly confessed in front of the whole school. Of course, there was a massive outrage, but Principal Celestia and Luna warned everyone that they would be expelled if they resorted to violence. As it is, the girls have a six month suspension from school, will be strictly monitored at home and at school, and mandatory detention for the next two years.

SS: Tell Applejack that I'm sorry, but they are getting no sympathy from me. If they just talked to us, this whole crap could have easily been avoided. Heck! I would have been open to them hanging out with us. Now that they pulled this crap, I'm not ready to forgive them for a long time.

FS: I understand... Oh... Umm... Rainbow's just texted me. She and the girls want to see you and apologise face-to-face. So...

SS: I'll ask Slipstream to book five tickets for Catalunya this weekend. Just like last time, someone will be there to pick you up.

SS: Listen, I gotta go. The boss is here and he's taking me to his motorcross track.

With that, she set her phone aside and freshened up before letting Slipstream enter her room. They were all residing in Slipstream's cozy villa in Andorra la Vella. After a light breakfast of scrambled eggs, they headed out for some motorcross.

After a few days, they took a train to Catalunya, while their equipment was brought to the the track by freight truck. They reached on Wednesday and took time to rest up before going sight-seeing. Then on Friday, Slipstream left the hotel, early morning and headed to the airport to pick up the girls. As it turned out, they had booked a different hotel to the one that the team were staying in.

It only took half an hour of waiting, but he finally spotted Fluttershy. She was with a group of four other girls, a blonde wearing a Stetson hat, an athletic-looking girl with prismatic hair, a girl with wild curly pink hair, wearing the biggest smile he had ever seen, and posh-looking girl with purple hair. The last one was looking very grumpy and he observed that she had the most bags.

The blonde was the last one to enter his rented and modified minivan, because she had to stuff 16 suitcases inside the car. Safe to say, she was also looking pretty annoyed. Slipstream asked, "How long were you kids planning on staying here?"

The blonde replied with a Southern twang, "Just for these three days."

He pulled out of the driveway and gestured to the luggage, "You girls sure didn't pack like it."

She grumbled from the shotgun seat, "Consarn it Rarity! Ah told ya we were only gonna be here for three days. How many darn outfits did ya pack?"

The purple-haired girl, who he presumed was Rarity, sputtered, "Well I never! A girl always has to look her best! And I do need various choices of clothes!"

The lone male gaped, "Did you pack your entire wardrobe! How the hell did you manage to get through the check-in counter with all of them!"

Blondie massaged her temples, "She actually had to leave behind 30 more suitcases."

His eyes shrank, "Th-th- 30! Are you moving house?! Jeez kid! Either you've got issues or you're a serious hoarder!"

The girl with the prism hair sniggered, earning a glare from Rarity. Finally, he addressed his passenger, "So Blondie-"

"The name's Applejack.", she then pointed to the girls in turn, "You've met Fluttershy, ah assume. That one's Rainbow Dash, that's Pinkie Pie and that's Rarity. Pleasure ta meet ya."

He introduced himself, "Call me Slipstream. I'm the team principal of Sunset's team, so I'm basically her boss."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow, "You seem pretty young. I figured you'd be a lot older. Most coaches and team bosses I've seen in Soccer or American Football or Baseball are usually in their 50s or 60s."

He paused, "I... am going to take that as a compliment... To be frank, had things played out differently, I'd still be riding and competing for more championships. As you can tell by the wheelchair, I had an accident when I was in the prime of my career. Was competing to try and win my second title. Broke my spine and ended my career prematurely at the age of 18. Now, I'm 22 and thankful to still be involved in racing."

Rainbow asked, "So, how did the crash happen?"

Rarity snapped, "Rainbow Dash! That is rude and insensitive!"

He chuckled, "It's okay, kid. I'm not offended. Frankly, most of the crash was pretty fuzzy for me. I only saw videos of it afterwards. Golly! I was lucky to be alive!"

Fluttershy dug out her phone and surfed the Internet, "I found the video!"

She handed the phone to Applejack, who placed it on the dashboard. In the video, they saw Slipstream riding, relatively alone on the track. Heading into a downhill right-hander, his bike bucked him off and he skidded to a stop on the track, where he lay winded.

Applejack winced, "Gosh! That looked nasty!"

He just spoke, "That's actually pretty tame for a rider. It gets worse from here on out."

They watched as he slowly picked himself up, then Fluttershy screamed as she saw another bike ram into Slipstream's body from the side. The impact, sent him flying in the air like a rag doll and he slammed into the catchfence, back first.

Rainbow Dash sucked in a breath, "Yeesh! You're lucky to be alive!"

He nodded, "Aye, and I thank whoever's my guardian angel, for that."

Pinkie spoke up for the first time, "So when can we go meet Sunset?"

"Whoa! Hang on there, kid. I got to take you to your hotel first. I'd suggest you sleep off the jet lag. It's 2:45 in the morning, and the practice sessions start by 8:30 with the junior categories. Sunset will be hitting the track at 10:45AM."

He eventually pulled up to a decent-looking hotel and the girls disembarked. He waved over a nearby bellhop and spoke to him in rapid Spanish. The bellhop's eyes widened when he saw the mountain of luggage. Slipstream slipped a 100 euro note in the bellhop's front pocket and murmured in Spanish, "My condolences."

The next morning, he woke up after getting barely a few hours of sleep. As he he passed Sunset, who was eating cornflakes, he murmured, "That girl Rarity's going to be a nightmare for any vacation. She had around 12 suitcases, all full of clothes. She also had to leave another 30 suitcases back in Canterlot."

Sunset nearly snorted milk out of her nose, "Pfft! That sounds like Rarity, alright. Knowing her, all her clothes will be insanely expensive. Remind me to tell her to keep a close eye on her things, so that they don't get stolen."

On the way to the track at around 8AM, Sunset drove so that Slipstream could catch up on his sleep. At around 10 in the morning, Slipstream went to pick up the girls. As he drove, he handed a package to Fluttershy, who was riding shotgun, "You remember the drill, right? Got your tickets, VIP passes, ear plugs, everything."

Rainbow drawled, "Why would we need earplugs? The bikes sounded fine on TV."

He snorted, "Kid, on TV you have control of the volume. On the race track, these bikes are Loud, with a capital L. I'd prefer it if you five didn't rupture your eardrums. Now, first things first, I'll take you to our motorhome, so that Sunset can speak to you in private. Can't have your little teenage drama play out in front of the cameras, or it'll ruin her reputation."

Rarity hummed, "I do hope she forgives us. We hurt her really terribly, with little to no evidence."

After a half an hour drive, they pulled up to the track, and Slipstream guided them through the crowds. Eventually, he took them to their motorhome and asked them to wait there. Eventually, the door opened and Sunset Shimmer walked inside. She spotted the girls, and in an instant, her posture became guarded.

She neutrally spoke, "Girls..."

The atmosphere was very awkward. Then Applejack stepped forward, taking off her hat and holding it to her chest. She said, "Sunset... I'm mighty sorry for all that we put you through. Ah'll admit, it was our fault for blindly accusing ya, especially when we had no proof-"

Sunset suddenly snapped, "That day when you confronted me, I was so depressed and hurt that I was even feeling suicidal! If Slipstream and his team hadn't got to me..."

None of the girls had anything to say to that. Then Sunset spoke, "Tell me this, if you hadn't caught Apple Bloom red-handed, would you have continued believing that I was Anon-a-Miss? Fluttershy already told me that it took her a week after school started, to figure out that I was innocent."

Pinkie quipped in a small voice, "It took me two-three weeks to figure it out as well. I mean, how can you keep posting secrets when you're not even showing up to school. Sunset, I am so, so, so sorry for being a big meanie meanie-pants"

Rainbow gaped at the two girls, "Pinkie! Flutters! Why didn't you say anything!"

Applejack deadpanned, "Would you, me or Rarity have believed them?"

Rarity's eyes were also downcast, "She's right... We were downright cruel to Sunset. I know this may mean little to you, but for what its worth, I am truly, terribly sorry. I should have been a better friend."

Rainbow also looked ashamed, "Yeah, same. Sunset, I was probably the worst one. I was a total b*tch. I'll completely understand if you never forgive me or want to be friends ever again."

Sunset was quiet for a very long time, and then she finally spoke, "Girls? I've been doing a lot of thinking during our time apart. Six months ago, I would have probably cussed you out and slammed the door in your faces. But now, I understand why I was the primary suspect. I've got a lot of anger issues and I've been working on that with my psychiatrist. I will admit, our relationship is never going to be the same again, but I'm willing to give it a second chance."

She spread her arms out and looked at them expectantly. Pinkie was the first to react, leaping into the hug and bawling away. One by one, the girls made it one giant group hug. After a while, there was a knock on the door of the motorhome, "Hey kid! You finished making up with your friends? We've got 15 minutes until practice begins!"

Suddenly, as if a switch had been flipped, she adopted a different and more cheerful persona. She gave the girls a nice tour of the paddock before taking them to her garage. Sunset even introduced them to Sunny, Izzy, Zipp, Pipp and Hitch, and they all got along very well. Pipp and Rarity were exchanging fashion tips and gossip, Zipp and Rainbow were talking about general sports. Izzy and Pinkie were having a small prank war, while Fluttershy and Applejack were talking to Sunny and Hitch.

Right off the bat, Sunset Shimmer was in excellent form. Initially she made a few mistakes, accidentally going onto the closed off sections of the track. However, she soon recovered to deliver a strong ride, running 2nd with five minutes remaining. She came back in for a final setup adjustment, and was back on her way. However, faster times soon dropped her down the order and she ended the session in fourth.

Returning back to the garage, she had a big smile on her face, it was a good day in the office. In the second practice session though, she was able to finish 5th fastest, and that was still satisfactory. When she returned, the girls wrapped her in a group hug. Then, Saturday arrived, and it was time for qualifying. Sunset Shimmer was again looking in excellent form, sitting in 2nd place with five minutes to go. However, lap times began to tumble and she was eventually classified in 5th place.

Then came Sunday, race day and Sunset was looking pumped. Hitch managed to sneak onto the podium, but Zipp's race ended when her bike chain snapped. Just then, the girls spotted Sunny Starscout taking Sunset Shimmer to the rear of the garage. Out of curious interest, they followed the pair, noticing a pair of tennis balls. Applejack and Rainbow asked,"What's up with that?"

Fetlock, who was doing his bodyguard duty, answered, "This is a reflexes exercise. It's a bit of a tradition that we do here. Helps keep the skills sharp."

Rainbow mused as she watched Sunset catch a ball without even looking at it, "That looks awesome, but pretty tough!"

Fetlock smirked, "If you think that's tough, you should see Sunset's BATAK board?"

"What's that?"

"I'll explain later."

Soon afterwards, Sunset ventured out for her sighting lap and then settled on the grid. She went over her data and then uttered a short prayer on the grid. Finally, the riders all completed their formation lap and were waiting for the lights to go green. Sure enough, the red lights went out and Sunset got a great launch. In the garage, the girls all cheered as she went-five-wide for the lead, heading into the first corner.

Unfortunately, she did not brake late enough, and had to settle for 2nd, behind Slick Shifter. All through the lap, Sunset was all over Slick Shifter's tail, with the soft tyres really working wonders. They stayed like that for three laps, before Sunset finally struck. She dived down the inside at Turn 10, but was forced to sit up at the exit and was overtaken back. On the next lap though, she dropped to third place behind a charging Apex, to the dismay of her friends.

However, with 19 laps to go, they had a reason to cheer again, as Sunset had bagged 2nd place again. She then began harrowing Apex for the next few laps, but then disaster struck. At Turn 10, she suddenly lost the front end, with 14 laps remaining, and a big groan erupted from the stands and in the garage. Rainbow Dash moaned, "Gah! She was so close!"

Slipstream took a few deep breaths, "It's not over yet! Look! She's picking the bike up! Sunset can still salvage points!"

Sure enough, the redhead picked the bike up and checked it for damage, before rejoining the race. The girl was all the way down in 20th place when she got back on the tarmac. There were now 13 laps remaining, so there was plenty of time to salvage points. The laps ticked by as Sunset closed the gap to 19th place and eventually overtook her opponent. Then with six laps remaining, she found herself in 17th place, two places away from the points. Sure enough, she hopped up another place. Two laps later, she finally managed to sneak into 15th for a single point, and then followed that up with 14th. There was a cause for worry, when she got a track limits warning, but she eventually crossed the finish line in 13th place.

As she rode back to the garage, she was consoled by her friends and her team. Slipstream softly spoke, "You did good, kid. The soft tyre was a risk, but it was worth it. Accidents happen, but as least you managed to pick it up and salvage points. Like I told you before, we're still a young team, so there is no expectation to try and win. Don't force the issue. if we win, all well and good. If we don't, then maybe it wasn't meant to be. We're still learning and taking things a step at a time. Next weekend is going to be a fun one, because we're off to Mugello. Now, come on, let's go say goodbye to your friends and we'll pack it up and go home."