F1 Equestria: Duels of the Century

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain

Formula One Equestria Duels series

Duel 1: RAR (Renault) VS PIN (Aston-Martin Red Bull)

Event Type: One-On-One Sprint Race (5 Laps)

"Hello, once again, all fans of motorsport! I am Flim and welcome to Round 5 of the Formula One Equestria Duels series! We are in lovely Catalunya, Spain for our race at the legendary Catalunya Circuit and with me in the booth once again, my brother, Flam!"

"Hello, all fans! But brother, we aren't alone in the booth this time. Are we?"

"How right you are! For this round only and many others to come, we will have some special visitors to join us in the booth! And today, ladies and gentleponies, may we welcome to the booth, Martin Brundle!"

"Hello, everyone. Great to be here,"

"So good to have you up here in the booth, Mr. Brundle! You've driven many races here at Catalyuna Circuit. What can you tell us?"

Well, when I raced in F1, this track was a lovely relief after the previous round at Monaco, which is the round after this. The track is known for drastically changing conditions. One day, a team might have the fastest setup in the field, only to suffer the next day. And since most of the track is more sweeping and straight, I have a feeling that the more powerful cars will have an advantage here,"

"Thanks for the great insight! Let's get into the Duels, shall we? In this round, Pinkie Pie of Red Bull will be facing off with Rarity of the Renault team! Looks like we have a cracker of a race to start of with!"

"So true! Two friends on opposite teams, both mentored by two great drivers once on the same team last year! What a coincidence!"

"Looks like were about to find out. They're off on their Rolling Start,"

Of all the rotten luck! Pinkie Pie thought, I hope that I don't upset her when I win, that would be very sad. Oooo! Maybe I'll throw her an apology party once the racing is over!

For the first duel, Pinkie had been paired up with Rarity. And this wasn't good at all. Rarity and the rest of the Renault team had been struggling in both seasons in the championship. Rarity was well down at the back of the standings with only three measly points to her name, placing her in 18th. Suri was no better, tied with Applejack for 20th in the standings. And worst of all, Renault was second-to-last in the Constructors standings, only three points ahead of McLaren. And in the main season, the team was only third-to-last, with both drivers tied for 12th in the standings.

Pinkie knew that a string of more losses and failings to make finals will break her unicorn friend, but Red Bull wasn't much better. They were 6th in the standings, trailing way behind their main rivals, Ferrari and Mercedes. Pinkie, Cheese and Oscura needed to push!

But Pinkie was unsure of what to do; lose the duel and upset the team or win the duel and upset Rarity even more. And when Pinkie tried using her Pinkie Sense to see what would happen to Rarity at the end of the race, but that didn't help either, as it kept showing up blanks.

All Pinkie could do, was just race her hardest and hope for the best.

The lights on the tree went green and the two set off on their rolling start. Pinkie trailed behind Rarity's white-and-purple R.S.19, as the mare in question followed the Mercedes pace car. In the one-on-one duels (not Qualifying), the driver who was the lowest in the standings out of the two started ahead of their opponent to keep the race fair. And that rule was fairly effective in keeping the field close together in the points.

Pinkie couldn't help but feel bad for Rarity, as the pace car pulled into the pits and the two rounded the final corner before going full throttle down the straight to begin the race.

And almost immediately, Pinkie's fears were realised.

Going down the back straight, Pinkie easily caught Rarity and passed on the approach to Turn 1. Passing through Turns 1 and 2, Pinkie's pink RB15 easily began to pull away from the Renault, which was struggling to keep up through Turn 3. Things only got worse and worse, as Pinkie continued to pull away from Rarity.

Nothing really much happened, except on Lap 2. When Pinkie crossed the finish line on that lap, the checkered flag was being waved from the signal box, to Pinkie's confusion. That was, until Pinkie's race engineer revealed what she didn't want to hear.

Half-way through Lap 2, Rarity called for mercy. The race was over and Pinkie had eliminated the unicorn via the Mercy rule. Much to Pinkie's regret.

As the pink mare took a 'victory lap', nothing was said by her over the radio. As Pinkie pulled into the pits, the enginners and Cheese expected her to celebrate her victory, only to see Pinkie leave the garage without saying a word. Once she had taken her helmet off, it was clear that Pinkie had changed. Her mane had deflated and gone straight, and her coat had lost its bright pink colour.

Pinkie had lost her bright colour, because her hoof had been forced...