Round 2: Bahrain
Final Race (24 laps)

Grid Positions

1. Akula (Mercedes-AMG Petronas)
2. Viral Velocity (Mercedes-AMG Petronas)
3. Twilight Sparkle (Mercedes-AMG Petronas)
4. Lightning Dust (Scuderia Ferrari)
5. Celestia (Alfa-Romeo)
6. Oscura Galaxia (Aston-Martin Red Bull)
7. Chrysalis (HAAS)
8. Cheese Sandwich (Aston-Martin Red Bull)
9. Pinkie Pie (Aston-Martin Red Bull)
10. Big Macintosh (McLaren)
11. Rarity (Renault)
12. Fluttershy (Red Bull Toro Rosso)

"Ladies and Gentleponies! Welcome once again to the Formula 1 Equestria Duels! We are under the cover of the night sky at the Bahrain International Circuit for the second round of the Duels! And under the beauty of night, the next race is about to begin! Flam, my dearest brother, please introduce our key drivers!"

"With pleasure, brother! Looks like we've got a white-wash of a race today! The big three of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas team are in in a 1-2-3 position on the grid, taking all the top spots on the grid. We saw the performance of their ace drivers in the first round, and it looks like they are in a great position for a victory here. Although, Lightning Dust of the Scuderia Ferrari team is just behind them, on Position 4, but I doubt that is enough to stop the trio of Twilight Sparkle, Viral Velocity and Akula from running away with a victory!"

"Uh, uh, uh! Just hold onto your horsefeathers, brother! You're forgetting something! Princess Celestia herself in on P5, and she is looking for some Mercedes blood! After her sister lost to Viral Velocity, she made a promise that she would beat the Mercedes team in a clean victory. And when Celestia makes a promise, she makes sure that she keeps it!"

Well, looks like we're about to find out! The race is about to begin! The drivers have already completed their Formation Lap, so we are ready to go!"

It was Celestia's time to shine. And a chance for the Alfa-Romeo team to gain some glory.

But she knew exactly how hard that task would be, as she had four very talented racers ahead of her. Those drivers were Lighting Dust, Twilight Sparkle, Viral Velocity and Akula. In that order. However, she was feeling more confident that what Luna would be if she was in the final, as she had some experience against the Mercedes drivers and two of the Ferraris in Melbourne. However, she couldn't get cocky.

'Radio check,' Rossano reported, asking for a radio check.

"If Luna is there, please tell her that I will grant her this victory!"

'Okay, your response was crystal clear. We've got about 12 seconds to the start of the race,'

Celestia acknowledged this and then turned her attention to Lightning's Ferrari and the three Mercedes cars in front of her. She knew she had some work ahead of her in order to fulfill her sister's wish.

And suddenly, the first red light came on. Instinctively, Celestia held down the clutch and engaged full throttle. Pretty soon, the roar of Formula 1 engines echoed out into the night of the desert.

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

The five lights stayed on for a split-second before switching off and the race in the desert began.

"And it's lights out, and away we go!"

Celestia got one of the best jumps off of the line, and was able to get alongside Lightning going down the straight and into Turn 1. In the front, Akula was able to hold the lead, while Twilight was able to get alongside Viral. In the back, the rest of the pack were in a massive clusterfuck behind the five leaders, all taking different lines through the first three turns. And they were so close, the cars were only inches from touching.

Since the back-runners were so close, there was bound to be an accident. And going into the first three turns, there was an accident. Going into the second turn, Cheese Sandwich in his RB15 made to get around the corner, but as he tuned, he found himself running into Chrysalis. His front-right tyre collided with Chrysalis' rear-left tyre, knocking her off for a moment. To make matters worse, the hit had punctured Chrysalis' tyre, leaving her to fall behind.

"F***! Aaaaaah, f***! Puncture! Puncture!" She cried out, as she started to fall behind the back, watching a massive sheet of sparks erupt from underneath Cheese's car.

'Mode punc. Mode punc,' Her race engineer called out, as Chrysalis switched the car to Mode punc.

"F****** stupid! F****** stupid!"

But the problems didn't stop there. Hitting Chrysalis had knocked something loose on Cheese's car, causing the bottom of his car to scrape against the track, kicking a massive wall of sparks. But at the moment the sparks kicked up, Fluttershy in her Toro Rosso had been drafting him, and quickly found herself being showered in those sparks before pulling out of the slipstream and passing Cheese on the straight.

Although both her and her car managed to survive the encounter, Fluttershy had caught quite a shock.

Not much happened for the next few laps. But up in the front, Celestia had managed to get past Lightning in Turn 13 on Lap 7.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the pack, there was a battle for 8th, between Big Macintosh and Rarity. While going down the straight towards Turn 11, Big Macintosh had his DRS active has he gained quickly for an overtake on the inside. However, while going through the corner, Rarity turned in on Big Mac. And just like with Cheese Sandwich and Chrysalis on the first lap, Big Mac's front-left tyre hit Rarity's back-right tyre. But instead of causing a puncture, the contact caused Rarity to spin out.

"Ah' hit Rarity," Macintosh reported to his crew chief, "But the front wing look okay ta' me,"

'Hold on. We're checking, Macintosh,' His race engineer then said.

Going into Lap 10, Celestia had managed to catch up with Twilight, but needed to get past her. Meanwhile, Viral had managed to get past Akula for the lead. But as Celesta made a move to get past Twilight on the straight towards Turn 11 (who had DRS enabled to catch up with Akula), all of a sudden, the front end of her Mercedes suddenly kicked up and sparked. Somehow, her cars had hit its own front wing and knocked some of it off, which kicked up a lot of sparks. And when some of the sparks hit Celestia's C38 as she was passing Twilight, the princess of the sun caught quite a shock. But not only was her car undamaged, the incident had caused Twilight to slow down and allowed her to get past Twilight. Not only that, but Lightning Dust was also able to get past Twilight.

In Lap 12, another battle had took place, this one between Rarity and Cheese Sandwich for 9th. Going into Turn 1, Rarity tried to overtake Cheese on the outside, but he pulled the switchback on her and regained his position. But Rarity wasn't going to give up. As they headed down the straight towards Turn 4, Rarity activated her DRS and tried again to get past Cheese on the outside. And after almost coping a face-full of sparks, Rarity managed to pull around Cheese.

But as Cheese took the inside line, he went wide and hit Rarity's R.S.19. But as Cheese raced off ahead and as Rarity raced after him, sparks started flying underneath her front-right tyre.

She had a puncture.

'Rarity, we have a puncture front-right. Take care, puncture front-right,' Rarity's race engineer reported, as Rarity slowed down and went off course.

"That incompetent, uncouth, cheese-eating stallion! I cannot believe him! I cannot believe!" Rarity cursed as she pulled her car to a stop, out of the final.

On Lap 17, the two Red Bull teammates of Pinkie Pie and Oscura Galaxia were locked in a battle for 6th place. However, while they teammates, the data showed that Oscura was setting faster laps than Pinkie. So, Pinkie was given the team order to let Oscura past the next lap and let her race after the leaders. But as they approached the first corner, as Pinkie moved to take the corner wide to let Oscura get past, but she didn't moved over enough, so when the dark unicorn made to get past her, the two made contact, with Pinkie's back wheel running over Oscura's wing.

"What was that?! She hit me! I gave her plenty of space!" Pinkie complained, as Oscura managed to get past in the second turn.

With only four laps to go, Celestia had finally caught up to the two Silver Arrows in front. But now, she had to get past the current season leader, Akula, before she could get to Viral. And no matter what she tried, the princess couldn't get past him...

...until Lap 22.

Going down the straight that led to Turn 4, Celesita was able to get on the inside line going into the corner and managed to get a better line and overtook Akula in the corner. But then...

...as the two exited the corner and hit the outer rumble strips, Akula suddenly lost the back-end and spun out. And although he was able to turn around and keep racing, the demon lord had to pit for some new tires.

And Celestia's luck was about to get even better. Going into the final few laps, Viral's Mercedes may have been leading the race by a substantial amount, but all of a sudden, she started to drop off of the race pace.

"There's something strange with the engine, buck! WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" Viral questioned desperately, wanting an answer to the sudden loss of power.

'W... we have no H-Recovery, Viral,'Her race engineer reported.

"Yeah, but... I can't-OHHHH MY GODDESSES!"

'And keep calm, we need the car home,'

"Alright, I will try... I'm keeping calm,"

But as the laps ticked by, the front of the pack began catching up with Viral. And going down the back-straight, she was quickly caught by Celestia's C38 and lost the lead. But then it got worse for her, her engine trouble caused her to drop from first all the way to sixth.

Celestia just managed to get past Viral, the same pony that had defeated her sister in the Duels. All she needed to do was hold the lead for a few more laps. However, now she had another opponent to worry about.

Lightning Dust.

With an embarrassing loss to Rainbow Dash in the first round, she desperately needed to get some points. Although Ferrari had a very comfortable position in the standings so far, if Celestia won this race, Alfa-Romeo would overtake Ferrari in the standings. And Lightning didn't want to lose a position in the team championship to some second-rate team.

Throughout the rest of the race, Lightning hammered on the tail of Celestia. But nothing she tried worked, and by the time the checkered flag flew, Celestia had won the race by a full second. Lightning had to settle for second. Twilight had managed to slip into third, with Oscura taking a close fourth. Akula's spin had hurt him and he had to settle with fifth. Viral's engine trouble hurt her more and finished in sixth. Chrysalis, despite the incident with Cheese Sandwich on the first lap, was able go get back up the order and take seventh. Behind her, was Cheese Sandwich, who took eighth. Then, was Pinkie Pie, who took ninth. Fluttershy performed her best race so far and got tenth, and last across the line was Big Mac. The only driver not to finish was Rarity, due to the puncture caused by Cheese Sandwich.

Celestia couldn't believe what she had just accomplished. She had raced against and beaten, yes, beaten, not one, but all three Mercedes drivers! Luna definitely had been avenged.

'Finished in P1! Absolutely masterful driving, Celestia! A nice chunk of points for us! Very well done tonight!' Rossano congratulated, as Celestia went around on her victory lap, waving to the crowd whenever she could.

"A very great performance indeed! I just want to say a big thank you to the engineers. The car just fell amazing tonight. And thanks to everyone and everypony that came out tonight. You've currently been very good support for me. And I just want to say thank you for the season I'm having,"

'Looks like it's fair to say that Luna has been avenged for this round,'

"Yes, she has," And with that, Celestia pulled her car into the victory box and got out to celebrate with her team.

Author's Note

Driver's Championship

1. Celestia (CEL) - 37 points + 1 (for Fastest Lap)
2. Akula (AKU) - 35 points
3. Viral Velocity (VRL) - 23 points
4. Rainbow Dash (RBD) - 19 points
5. Lightning Dust (LTD) - 18 points
6. Chrysalis (CHR) - 16 points
7. Twilight Sparkle (TWI) - 15 points
8. Oscura Galaxia - 12 points
9. DangerDean (DNG) - 8 points
10. Yona (YON) - 6 points
11. Cheese Sandwich (CHS) - 4 points
12. Sandbar (SAN) - 4 points
13. Pinkie Pie (PIN) - 2 points
14. Rarity (RAR) - 2 points
15. Fluttershy (FLT) - 1 points
16. Applejack (APP) - 1 point
17. Big Macintosh (BMI) - 0 points
18. Gallus (GAL) - 0 points
19. Ocellus (OCE) - 0 points
20. Luna (LUN) - 0 points
21. Suri Polomare (SUR) - 0 points
22. Spitfire (SPI) - 0 points
23. Gladmane (GLA) - 0 points
24. Silverstream (SIL) - 0 points

Manufacturer's Championship

1. Mercedes-AMG Petronas - 73 points
2. Alfa-Romeo Racing - 50 points
3. Scuderia Ferrari - 45 points
4. HAAS F1 - 16 points
5. Aston-Martin Red Bull Racing - 14 points
6. Williams F1 - 10 points
7. Renault F1 - 2 points
8. Red Bull Toro Rosso - 1 point
9. McLaren F1 - 1 point
10. Racing Point - 0 points