15TH OCTOBER 2023
------B-202, SUNNY HEIGHTS, CANTERLOT CITY------
It was now 3:00pm here in Canterlot City. Sunset had just returned to her house after school. It had been quite a day, with a decent amount of homework being assigned, and three tests next week. Sunset decided to play a bit of RaceWorld before getting to her first assignment. Sunset turned on her setup, and opened up RaceWorld. The RaceWorld logo came up, but however, instead of the main menu of the game, something else came up.
It was a video. That was not that odd, since videos like this one usually played after a major update to show whatever new features and cars had been added to the game. However, it had been only two weeks since the last major update to RaceWorld. Such updates usually came once every few months. Sunset decided to take a look anyways. As the video began playing, she realised it was definitely not an update. It showed a man standing in front of four Porsche 911 GT3s. He was speaking into the camera.
"Hello, lucky player! You've been selected as a candidate for RaceWorld Academy, where you'll learn to race a car in real life! We're holding a series of qualifiers, to select ten lucky young people to join RaceWorld Academy! If you get first place on the leaderboard in one of the final qualifiers, you're going to RaceWorld Academy! The first qualifier is on the 17th, so start practicing now, racers! Good luck!" said the man, as the video ended.
Sunset couldn't believe her eyes. Was this real, or were the developers giving them a belated April Fools joke? That was when her phone rang. It was Thrustmaster who was calling. "Yo, Speed Queen, did you see that video?" asked Thrustmaster.
"Yeah, Thrustmaster, but it just feels like a very late April Fools joke." said Sunset.
"Nope, it's real alright. That video only came to some of the RaceWorld players, not all. It's all over the news in the motorsports world. It's an actual contest, being sponsored by both RaceWorld and Porsche. Its part of that new FIA series that begins racing next year, the Road Car World Championship. Apparently, a new Canterlot City-based team, Thunderbolt Motorsports, will take one of us as a main driver!" said an excited Thrustmaster.
"I heard about that team! Aren't they new to motorsports entirely?" asked Sunset.
"Yeah, their owner, Soaring Surfer, is an adventure sports magnate. He also owns a private jet charter airline. The guy's quite the gearhead, so he's finally decided to get into the world of motorsports."
"Huh. I've heard of him, but I never knew he was a car guy. So, he's the mastermind of this?"
"Yep, he's the guy behind this entire plan. There is quite some skepticism in the pro racing world about this, though, which is not surprising."
"I know, right? Anyways, I'm going to quickly check the news, see you later, Thrustmaster!" said Sunset, hanging up the call. She opened up a news app on her phone, and went to the sports section. The trending article read, 'THUNDERBOLT MOTORSPORTS TO TRAIN GAMERS TO RACE CARS IRL'. Sunset opened the article, and read the whole thing. She was surprised at how big a gamble Thunderbolt was taking, being so new to motorsports. Sunset realised this could be her chance to become a real racing driver. She realised the only reason why the video had come only to some of the players was that they were some of the best players of the game.
Sunset instantly selected a car, and joined one of the online lobbies. She had to practice, if she wanted to get this chance to be a real racer. The starting lights appeared on her screen, as the race was about to begin. Sunset thought to herself, how amazing it would be, to race on a real track. The race in-game started, and Sunset, along with all of the players, zoomed off the starting line. In this case, the track chosen was the Fuji Speedway in Japan, a track Sunset dreamed of racing at in real life, due to it being a very underrated track, and its views of Mount Fuji.
Sunset quickly passed most of her opponents, gunning towards the player in first place. It was a player who she had raced against multiple times in the game. A person whom she also happened to know IRL. It was Lightning Dust, Rainbow Dash's old rival. Lightning Dust was a car girl, unlike Rainbow Dash. Even in a video game, she was extremely reckless. Some people never changed, no matter if they were in the real or virtual world.
As Sunset attempted to overtake Lightning Dust, Lightning Dust dangerously blocked her, causing Sunset to almost rear-end Lightning. Somehow, Lightning Dust had made loopholes to work around some of the game's rules, so that she didn't get banned for being reckless. Oh, well. Sunset began accelerating towards Lightning Dust again, getting on Dust's virtual rear bumper. Sunset wondered what kind of setup Lightning Dust had, since she was not lagging at all, while some of the other players were lagging a bit.
The virtual duel continued between the two players as they accelerated their cars, leaving the other players eating their exhaust fumes. Sunset then tried to overtake from the outside, as they entered the final lap. It was a short race, only two laps. As they entered the final turn, Sunset quickly slammed the brakes, and overtook Lightning Dust successfully from the inside, as Dust locked up and went too far outside. As Sunset accelerated towards the finish, she could imagine Lightning Dust probably screaming at her computer screen, and probably even breaking her setup.
Sunset didn't waste much time on the awards menu, and went straight to the schedule of the RaceWorld Academy contest. The first qualifier was in two days, on the 17th. There were two more qualifiers after that, and then, a final eliminator round on the 30th, so it would last just under two weeks. Sunset instantly got ready to run a few more races. This was the only way to fulfil her dreams of becoming a real racing driver.