F1 Equestria: Duels of the Century

F1 Equestria Duel series

Alfa-Romeo Team garage
Aftermath of Duel 5

Celestia could't believe what she was seeing.

During the whole of the fifth Duel, Celestia was standing in the race box, alongside her own race engineer, Massimiliano Rossano. However, given the fact that this was the very first night race in the season, and she thought that her younger sister would do well in this race.

But to her surprise, Luna was eliminated again in the Duels, at the hooves of one of the Mercedes drivers.

The princess of the sun just stood there in shock as her sister's race engineer delivered Luna the fateful message. 'Final results: Viral, P1. Yourself, P2. I'm sorry, Luna, but you have been eliminated from this round,'

Celestia just stared at the results board, in complete and utter shock. It showed that Viral had cleanly and expertly defeated her sister, and had moved on to the final. She then trotted back into the garage, and kept repeating 'no' to herself. She just couldn't believe that her sister, the very princess of the night, had just been beaten during a night race.

Eventually, Luna's C38 pulled into the garage, and once inside, a completely disheartened Luna lifted herself out of the cockpit of the car, and trotted away in disbelief. However, when she sat down, Celestia came up to her and comforted her a bit. She then decided to ask the burning question. "Luna, what happened?"

"I don't know, sister," She replied, guzzling down a full bottle of water, "I really thought I had it in the final few corners. But I blew it again!" Luna then reached up, and grabbed onto her older sister's racing suit, looking up into her eyes, "Please, promise me you will win your Duel. Win your Duel for me!"

After a few moments of silence, Celestia then said, "Okay. I will win. For you, dear sister," But as she said this, a loud roar approached the garage. Celesta raced to the front to see.

It was Viral.

Although the others couldn't see, Celestia saw through the pegasus' visor with her magic, and saw that she was giving the Alfa team a very cheeky look.

As the Mercedes past by, Celestia just watched. Then, her expression became one of pure determination.

Without turning to Rossano, Celestia asked three questions about her Duel.

"When's my Duel taking place?"

"There's one Duel left before yours. So you're almost up,"

"Who am I facing?"

"Your opponent is Suri Polomare, driving for the the Renault F1 Team,"

Celestia let out a deep breath before asking the final question, knowing she wouldn't like the answer, "Which Mercedes team drivers made through to the finals?"

"Unfortunately, all three Mercedes team drivers are in the finals," Rossano then came around, and saw the look that Celestia was giving towards the Mercedes garage, "You're not planning on taking on those three drivers at the same time, are you?"

"Don't worry. Once I'm in the finals, I shall show that team they watch their backs," And after her little mini-monologue, she went back into the garage to get ready for her Duel.

One Duel later...
Duel 7: CEL (Alfa-Romeo) VS SUR (Renault)

"...And I must admit, that was one heck of a performance from Cheese Sandwich! Well, the racers are re-locking into the grid for the next Duel! Flam, introduce our next two drivers, if you please!"

"With pleasure, brother! Sitting on P5, driving for Renault... Suri Polomare! And against her, sitting on P6, driving for Alfa-Romeo, the Princess of Equestria herself... Princess Celestia! Looks like we've got an interesting Duel ahead of us once again!"

"Yes, I do agree! Alfa-Romeo is playing for a spot in the final, after her sister, Luna's loss to Viral Velocity in the fifth Duel. Renault on the other hoof, are playing for points. With a dismal 9th place in Australia, they are in a desperate need for points! So we've got two racers with really big motivations, which should make for a very interesting race!"

It's time to find out! The racers are locking into the grid once more!"

Celestia had to win this Duel. She had to avenge her sister.

But doing so wouldn't be an easy feat.

She had to survive five laps of racing, fight through nearly the entire Formula 1 grid and on top of that, make it to the line before her opponent! And in this round, she was pitted against Suri Polomare of the Renault team. According to season details from the team's boss, Renault had a pretty poor car this season and their new Alfa-Romeo C38 should be able to compete better than Renault's R.S.19. However, she was facing a very determined driver. A very powerful force, in Celestia's mind at least.

But she had to win this Duel. For Luna.

She looked up, and the first red light lit up. The princess engaged the clutch and went full throttle, the roar of her Ferrari 064 engine roaring amidst the other cars filled the air, dulled out by the cushioning in her helmet. The second light came on, and the pack readied for the jump.

Three lights...
Four lights...
Five lights...

Then, all the lights went out and the race began.

Out of the two, Celestia had gotten the better jump and immediately pulled alongside Suri's Renault. They remained wheel to wheel as they went into the first corner, where Celestia managed to gain the lead, but only for a moment before Suri regained the lead by getting the better line in Turn 2 and taking the lead.

But as she chased the light purple Renault into the next corner, she knew that there was a long race ahead.

As it turned out, Celestia wouldn't have to wait long to get her chance at redemption.

The massive pack of racers made it difficult to find a good point to overtake without hitting the other racers, but once they had gotten past the leader, the two ponies had a clear track ahead of them.

Now, the race was truly one-on-one.

And while Suri was able to hold off Celestia for a while, she couldn't hold her off forever.

And in Turn 8 of Lap 4, the princess made her move. After approaching right behind her, Celestia suddenly moved to the inside and got in to the lead.

All she had to do, was hold it.

And hold the lead, she did.

Over the course of the final two laps, Suri threw everything she had at the Princess of the Sun. But unlike Luna, she wasn't going to give up now or make a mistake. And no matter what Suri threw at her, the fashionista mare couldn't get past the Alfa-Romeo.

In the end, nothing stopped Celestia from taking the win.

After crossing the line, Rossano reported the good news, Final results. Yourself, P1. Suri, P2. Looks like it's safe to say that Luna has been avenged,

Although she was jumping for joy inside, she remained calm. "Yes, but only partially. Luna will be fully avenged when I've beaten the pony that defeated her in the final,"

And after a moment of silence, Rossano then replied to Celestia's ambition, We'll have your cars set-up for the race. Just be sure to do what you intended, alright?

"I promise," And with that, Celestia completed her victory lap and pulled into the Alfa team garage.