Author's Note

In this universe, I've decided that Canterlot City is in New Jersey, not too far from Atlantic City.

Testing (Part 1)

7TH FEBRUARY 2024

------40,000 FEET OVER THE PERSIAN GULF------

It was 2:30am in this part of the world, despite the early hour, in the luxury confines of the Bombardier Global 7500, everyone was awake. The private jet was currently over Lebanon, and was soon going to begin its descent towards Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi. Pre-season testing would begin soon, at the Yas Marina Circuit in the city. The cars had already been flown in on a cargo plane, and had already been shipped in. Sunset was excited to race this track in real life, as this was where the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was held. It was usually the ending race of the F1 season, and Sunset was excited to race this track IRL.

The private jet belonged to Soaring Surfer. One of the jets from the charter firm he owned, he could requisition one from them at any time they wanted. The flight had started the previous day. They had began the nonstop 12-hour flight to Abu Dhabi from Newark Liberty International Airport. The whole core team of Thunderbolt Motorsports was aboard the plane. Sunset, Comet Flash, Hot Rocket, and some of their pit crew and strategy analysts were all in their seats aboard the plane. Soaring Surfer himself was also aboard the private jet, relaxing in his cabin. He was probably getting up already, in preparation for their descent into Abu Dhabi.

As they all settled in their seats as the pilots announced the beginning of their descent over the jet's P.A. system, and that they were currently somewhere off the coast of Saudi Arabia. As the descent continued, Surfer came out of his cabin, and got into one of the jet's luxurious seats, to prepare himself for their arrival in Abu Dhabi. As the descent continued, they could feel the plane banking towards Zayed International, and those who were sitting on the right side of the plane could see the lights of Bahrain in the distance. The passengers were all extremely alert, as they had slept for most of the flight to help fight off the jet lag.

As the plane descended lower and lower as it came closer to the airport, they could all see the lights of Abu Dhabi come into their view, and the city came closer towards them. The lights inside the plane went out, as the pilots announced over the P.A. system to get ready for landing, as they closed towards the airport. As the plane began its final turns to line up with the runway, they could hear the roar underneath, as the landing gear was lowered, and saw the landing lights came on. Soon, they were over the runway, and at exactly 3:20am, they felt the plane touch down with a smooth bump on the runway of Zayed International Airport.

After landing, the plane exited the runway and taxied down to the VIP terminal. Surfer had already arranged cars for them, to come and take them to their hotel, which was located near the Yas Marina Circuit. The plane taxied to the VIP terminal, and parked at its spot there. There were a few other private jets there, but not as imposing as a certain one. It was a Boeing 737-800, an airliner that had been converted for VIP usage. It had the logo of Rich Racing on its tail. It belonged to Filthy Rich and his team. That was not surprising at all, thought everyone on Soaring Surfer's Global 7500, as they got off the plane, and despite the late hour, the high temperature of the desert country that was the UAE hit them all hard.

They all went into the VIP terminal, got all their passport checks, and then headed to the exit, where the vehicles Surfer had arranged were waiting for them. There was a small convoy waiting for them. There were two black Mercedes V-Class vans, for the pit crew and analysts, a white Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII for Soaring Surfer, and two white Mercedes S-Classes for Sunset and Comet Flash. Once everybody was inside the vehicles, they all began heading towards their hotel. Thankfully, the track was just ten minutes from the airport. It also adjoined the Ferrari World theme park run by Ferrari themselves, so that was an added plus.

The vehicles reached the hotel at around 3:45am. Everyone took their luggage, went into the hotel, and checked into their rooms, to get a few hours of sleep before the first day of pre-season testing would begin, at around 8:30am in the morning the next day. Sunset and Hot Rocket would especially need it. They had to do good on the track, so they could show how well they would handle real racecars, as until now, they had only driven the road cars. The race cars had also been revealed in December, and the design had been loved by everyone in the car world.

As Sunset went off to sleep on the luxurious bed in her one-person room, she began thinking about some of the strategies she would use on track, and ways to show off to her friends on track if they came to see a race physically. For now, they would be watching them online, since they wouldn't be back in the US for a while. She also had to figure out how to get a top 5 finish within the first five races of the season. That would be the hardest challenge, thought Sunset, as she slept off in her extremely cold room, thanks to the AC in the heat of Abu Dhabi.

9TH FEBRUARY 2024

------YAS MARINA CIRCUIT------

The team, despite a bit of jet lag, were up early, at 7:00am, did some strategy work, and then, headed down to the track, and entered their pit quarters for the next week, where they would be spending a lot of time. Their cars, fresh from the factory, were already there. Their livery reveal was amazing, and had been done by world-famous pop star Countess Coloratura, whose recently founded tuning firm was sponsoring Thunderbolt Motorsports. Sunset would be running the #14 car, and Hot Rocket would be running the #9 car.

Thunderbolt's Porsche 911 GT3 Rs were black, with stripes of blue and green on them, reminiscent of the 'oil slick' paint job used by a famous Japanese tuner on their racing cars. Sunset admired this machine, that she would be driving today, as they got ready for the session. So far, they had been the first team to arrive at the track, but now that it was 7:30, the others were arriving now, including Rich Racing.

Soon, at 8:30am, the first pre-season testing begun, and Sunset was leaving the pits. Comet Flash wouldn't just be her trainer, he would also be Thunderbolt's crew chief, so he would be talking to Sunset on the radio from the pit box. Sunset admitted that Rich Racing had done a good job on the design of their Ferrari 296 GT3s, as she passed their pit box. Their Ferraris were painted a single shade. Rosso Corsa, the iconic Ferrari red color. They had logos everywhere, including a dollar sign on the front, which was the logo of Filthy Rich's resort firm. Sponsoring his own team, thought Sunset, as she headed out, and hit the gas, followed by Hot Rocket behind her.

Temperatures were starting to rise in the Middle East, and due to the hot conditions, the temperatures could rise up to 54 degrees Celsius, being a desert country. Thankfully, the cars had AC, which was surprising, given it was a race car, but it would activated only if the temperature inside the car went above 32 degrees Celsius. As Sunset began her laps, she was surprised how different the GT3 R was different from the road car. It had more power, of course, having almost 570 horsepower, but it also handled much differently, being lighter than the road car. Plus, the seats were also uncomfortable, being carbon fiber racing seats.

As Sunset continued to make laps of Yas Marina, she started to feel more comfortable in the car, as testing continued. However, the track soon started to get more crowded, as more cars started to enter, including the Rich Racing Ferraris, who began driving very aggressively on entering the track, and even more so when the Thunderbolt Motorsports Porsches appeared in their rear-view mirrors. Filthy Rich wanted to get back at Sunset for stealing his resort site from him, thought Sunset.

Plus, some of the other drivers also started getting aggressive around them, probably because they didn't want gamers on a real track. In fact, when Sunset came in for her first pit, one of her pit crew members gestured to open the small window, and asked her, "So difficult compared to using a controller, eh?" and laughing at her. It took Sunset quite a bit of willpower to not punch him in the face.

The rest of the session was rather uneventful, and the end of the first day of testing, at around 4:00pm, the team had gathered a lot of data about how their two drivers performed, and how the cars were holding up, especially in a hot country like Abu Dhabi. They were extremely tired, that they couldn't even head to Ferrari World like they were planning to.

10TH FEBRUARY 2024

------YAS MARINA CIRCUIT------

The next day, the team was up a little later than usual, around 7:30am. For the second day of testing, they would be checking the car's aerodynamics by using flow-vis paint, which they would put on the main aerodynamic parts of the car, such as the rear wing, the front lip, and the other parts, so that way, the paint would streak in the slipstream, and would show just how well the car's aero was.

There were only three factory-run teams on the grid this year. They were Ford, Nissan, and McLaren. The others were all private teams running with factory support, bar one team that was running Honda NSXs, of which Honda had ended production the previous year.

As testing began once more, at 8:30am, the Thunderbolt team, due to the time it took to apply the flow-vis paint to the cars, didn't get running until almost 9:00am. As they headed out, they faced more aggressive driving, and during the session, on turn 3, one of the Mustang GT3s from the Ford team almost wiped Sunset out. Sunset came back into the pits a little later to see some results on the aero, fuming. "That asshole of a Mustang driver almost rear-ended me! What was he thinking, trying to make the Mustang memes true out on the track?" asked an angry Sunset. "I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind when he comes in!"

"Whoa, first of all, young lady, keep that temper down, okay? Thank Gods we didn't find that out mid-season. We don't want any fistfights out on track." said Comet Flash. "Second of all, I looked at the replay. You were going quite slow on that section and you drove onto the racing line, as he was speeding up. That was your fault, so you'll have to apologise to that guy. Anyways, you should get that chance soon, looks like he and the other Ford driver are coming in for a pit." explained Comet Flash

At that, Sunset glared at him. "Look, I'm still your crew chief, so don't give me that attitude, kid! Look, it's not gonna get any easier, but you gotta keep a lid on that temper of yours. You're only gonna make our jobs harder if you keep blowing up like that, and you certainly won't be liked by the fans either! Go down to the Ford pits and apologise to him, he's coming in now." said Flash.

Sunset glared a little bit more, before finally relenting. "You're right. With some of my experiences at school, it's way too easy for me to lose control of my temper. I'll go apologise to that guy, Silverstreak, right?" said Sunset.

"You do that." said Comet Flash, a little not as uptight now. "I'll have the pit crew make some changes to your setup, and also, I'll see how the aerodynamics fared, we've been out for almost one and a half hours now. You're almost in the top 10 now, and Hot Rocket's in 6th currently."

Comet Flash went off to the mechanics' zone, and Sunset went over to the Ford pit area, just as Silverstreak, a 36 year old American known for the silver streak in his blue hair, got out of his purple and orange Mustang GT3. Sunset grimaced a little at the car, though. She didn't really like the new Mustang, compared to the old one. Thankfully, despite the fact that Sunset was a gamer, he didn't seem to hold any prejudice against her, and he was quite understanding.

"Shoot, we were all rookies at some time or another." said the older driver, in his trademark Texan accent. "We've all made mistakes very early on in our careers. You're lucky that I'm a nice guy. There are some riders on this here track, who won't be so kind. Also, I think your boss would have told ya, but had this been an actual race, that would have been a slam-dunk penalty. If I'm not mistaken, that kinda offence nets you a 3-place grid penalty. Do it too often, and the penalty increases to 5, then 10, then back of the grid. Worst case scenario is a one-race ban."

"Thanks, Silverstreak, I'm relatively new to this world."

"It's alright. You're gonna face some opposition from them other drivers out there, since ya got selected by a video game, and didn't really come from big money, like some of the others here. It's gonna be tougher for ya, since most of us have been racing go-karts and touring cars for years. Always remember, if you mess up in a game, you can reset. Mess up out here, there are consequences." said Silverstreak, as he began to get back in his car for the next round. "Meet ya later." said Silverstreak, as they parted ways, and Sunset headed back to her pits, to grab some electrolytes, and head out again.

The rest of this session too passed uneventfully, apart from one incident, where one of the Lexus RC F GT3s being driven by a Japan-based team crashed into a barrier after a surprise tire burst. Thankfully, its driver was unharmed, and the session was temporarily yellow flagged. By the end of the session, Sunset had made it into the 9th fastest time, and the car had also performed admirably.

As the second day of testing ended, it was a good day for the team, and Thunderbolt was starting to get some good attention, from people who had been watching the first day of testing. As Sunset and crew went back to the hotel, they just hoped they could beat Rich Racing this season, as long as they didn't try any dirty tricks.