30TH OCTOBER 2023
------CANTERLOT HIGH SCHOOL, AMORE AVENUE, CANTERLOT CITY------
It was now 12:00pm here in Canterlot City, and since it was a working day, most people were at school or work, including Sunset Shimmer. Sunset was in her Algebra class at CHS, and she was a little annoyed about it. She wanted to stay at home, to prepare for the final Eliminator of the RaceWorld Academy entry contest. She had managed to qualify after finishing in the top 3 spots in all three qualifiers. The eliminator was this evening, and Sunset hoped to be back home before it started, so she could participate.
The decision that Thunderbolt Motorsports had made to put gamers on a real racetrack was extremely controversial, and arguments were being made about this through the world of racing. Some, including popular content creators, influencers, and even some now-retired racing drivers were towards this, but others were against this. A lot of them felt that they would just crash since they couldn't handle a real steering wheel. Thankfully, Sunset's friends, who were the only ones who knew that she had entered this contest, were supporting her.
Sunset was eagerly waiting for this class to finish so she could rush to her next class. Ms. Cheerilee was sure taking a while to explain the current concept. Lunch break was soon, thankfully. Sunset had thought about skipping school for once, but there was a Chemistry test in the next period, so she couldn't afford to skip school today. The bell rang a few minutes later, and all of the students ran for the cafeteria for lunch. Sunset pretty much ran to the cafeteria, so that she could get her food first and study for the test.
Thankfully, Sunset was able to get there first and do so, and just as she got to her seat, her friends joined her, having brought their own lunches. "Wow, Sunset, you're going quite fast today! I thought the eliminator of the contest was in the evening?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Yeah, but I want to be out of here before the contest starts. This is the only way for me to become a real racing driver!" said Sunset.
"I know, Sunset, but if you don't make it, you do need a backup plan, so you have to get a decent academic score for that reason." said Twilight.
"Sure. Let's memorise for this test. Mr. Cranky Doodle's gonna make it hard, I know that." said Sunset, grabbing her Chemistry book and beginning to revise the chapters. At exactly 1:00pm, Sunset and her friends, having revised for the test, entered Cranky Doodle's classroom for the test. Ten minutes later, the test began, and the whole class went silent, and only the scratching of pens was heard, as everyone tried to figure it out. Twilight was the first one to finish the test, finishing it in only ten minutes, followed by Micro Chips five minutes later.
Meanwhile, Sunset was still writing the test. However, the memories of racing still kept coming to her in the middle of the test. She could hear the roar of engines, smell burning rubber, see clouds of exhaust fumes and tire smoke... oops, she was getting carried away, realised Sunset, as she focused on trying to get a good score in the test. However, Sunset seemed to have trouble trying to focus, being so fixated on trying to get home soon to get in the eliminator, and enter RaceWorld Academy.
Sunset could only think about the adrenaline of racing in a real car, on a real track, oh, it was so amazing, but that was when Cranky Doodle shouted, "Only fifteen minutes left, everyone!" That shocked Sunset, who instantly began writing faster to complete the test. She had somehow forgotten the last three answers, and couldn't remember them, no matter how hard she tried, so she just wrote some random things that she hoped were close to the answers, and then submitted her test.
As Sunset left the class after the test, her friends followed her. "Sunset, darling, what happened? You seemed awfully distracted during the test." said Rarity.
"I know, but I just couldn't stop thinking about what life would be like if I got into RaceWorld Academy. Fame, fortune, living out my dreams on a real racetrack, oh my, that would be amazing!" shouted Sunset.
"I know, Sunset, but you do realise you might not have gotten good marks on that test." said Twilight.
"I actually got everything except the last three questions, so I'm getting decent marks on this test." explained Sunset.
"You still should have gotten higher marks on the test! You shouldn't have been daydreaming so much!" said Twilight.
"I know! Anyways, the next period is the last class, then I can go home!" said Sunset, running to her next class. She was a little annoyed at her friends, for rubbing it in that she had been daydreaming during the test. It was annoying alright, but she just couldn't stop thinking about what life would be like as a real racing driver.
Right after the last class ended at 3:00pm, Sunset hopped into her GT86, and sped off at very high speed, almost running over someone who stupidly tried to cross the road, despite seeing Sunset's car coming. Sunset didn't care about much else right now, apart from making it home in time to play the Eliminator. She began speeding up, going over 50 miles per hour, and drifting quite recklessly. Sunset didn't want to get pulled over, but she didn't want to go slowly either.
The adrenaline coursed through her veins as she raced through the streets of Canterlot City, just as she had done last month. She swiftly did so, arriving at Sunny Heights barely twenty minutes after she had left school, which was a record for her. She quickly drifted into her spot, almost avoiding her neighbor's Aztek, and switched off the car. Sunset ran if she was in a gunfight, quickly grabbing her bag, locking her car, and running up the stairs at high speed. She quickly opened the door, threw her bag onto her bed, and quickly turned on her computer, as she went off to change.
At exactly 3:30pm, Sunset, now changed into home clothes, got on her setup, ready for the Eliminator. Sunset selected her car, which was going to be the recently-added 992 generation Porsche 911 GT3. The rules of the contest said that the competitors only had to use the 992 GT3, that too, only in stock form. Sunset hadn't customised the car in any way, except for its paint, which matched her shade of yellow. This race would be held on a virtual version of the Nürburgring Nordschleife. It would last only a single lap, since the Nordschleife was such a long track.
Sunset spawned into the Eliminator lobby, which was still a few minutes from starting. She would be starting in fifteenth place, and there were 20 drivers in this lobby. Whoever came first would be the one of many drivers who would join RaceWorld Academy. There were 20 eliminators being held, if Sunset remembered correctly, so 19 others would join her at RaceWorld Academy if she won.
The other drivers began spawning into the game, and a few minutes later, it was time for the Eliminator to start. Sunset and all of the players revved their virtual engines, as the race start lights appeared on the screen, and their distinctive beeping sound began as they counted down. For Sunset, everything went into slow motion, as the lights went from red, to green, and she could hear nothing but the growl of flat-6 engines on her headphones, as all of the racers launched their cars from the starting line.
Despite it being in a computer screen, Sunset felt as if she was there, in the seat of the car, as they slowed down almost immediately for the first turn of the Nordschleife. The racers continued out of the corner, through Hatzenbach, speeding towards Flugplatz, the first dangerous corner on this track. Sunset remembered that Flugplatz in German meant 'airfield', which was due to how many cars literally flew in the air here, due to it being quite a sharp crest. Now, it wasn't so, since it had been renovated a while back.
As all the cars drove out of the virtual Flugplatz, Sunset had successfully fought to twelfth place, and it was going to get harder as they headed onto the fastest part of the Nordschleife, Kottenborn. This was a downhill straight, and all the cars accelerated as they went through it. Sunset's speed rose, from just 100 miles per hour, to 110, 120, 130... her speed kept increasing as they all went through Kottenborn, before entering Schwedenkreuz. Everyone was still flat out, going almost 200 miles per hour. They could hear nothing but the scream of the engines, as they continued through this section. Most of the cars were a while apart from each other, but Sunset was busy in a battle with a blue GT3 for 10th place.
This guy wasn't letting up, thought Sunset, as the cars entered Aremberg, before heading into Fuchsöhre, the next main corner. This was where Sunset would strike. It was another fast downhill, and just as they entered Fuchsöhre, both cars sped up, and Sunset was the first one to pull ahead. Man, that was fun, thought Sunset, as she entered 10th place with the blue car on her exhaust pipe. It then entered a series of switchback turns through the forests.
The whole road began to climb uphill, and the blue car stopped accelerating, just as he realised that they were about to go over the crest, which could be a jump if too fast. Sunset began hitting the brakes, as they both went over at the same time. Sunset's car went all four wheels off the ground for a split second, before it hit the ground thanks to her hitting the brakes just as they went over the crest. She could feel the jolt of the car hitting the ground through her setup, just showing the realism of the game.
Her opponent wasn't so lucky. He went over the crest way too fast, and his car went airborne, flying through the air, smashing into the ground hard on all four wheels. He lost control of his virtual car, and smashed into the barriers. Realistic damage and no reset were enabled, so his car was quite damaged, and he was out of the Eliminator. Sunset could imagine from screaming at his computer, wondering why he had been so stupid. Sunset was starting to catch up to the rest of the top 10, as the cars headed towards Bergwerk. This was the most notorious corner on the track, as multiple fatal crashes had occurred at this corner.
It was a pretty tight right-hander, right after that long fast section and a left-hand kink, which require for quite some hard braking from all the drivers. Sunset also braked, and during this, she successfully overtook one of the drivers from the inside, as he locked up his brakes and went outside, putting Sunset in ninth place. Sunset was now quite close behind the top 8 drivers, but they weren't going down without a fight, as they hit the gas again, and sped towards Kesselchen. This part was relatively fast, but the pace slowed down as they arrived at Steilstrecke, which was a long hairpin, where all of the drivers were forced to slow down, as they entered the hairpin, where the battle continued, as the guy in tenth tried to regain his place from Sunset. Just as he tried to overtake, Sunset slammed the door on him, keeping him back in tenth place.
As they reached the top of another crest, they entered the banked turns, Caracciola Karussell. It was quite a bumpy section IRL, due to it being made of concrete, and Sunset could feel the vibrations through her sim setup. She felt quite bad for drivers who had to race this section of the track IRL. It reminded Sunset of the NASCAR tracks she had raced in the game, albeit much bumpier and less steeper. All of the drivers successfully exited Karussell at the apex, and the race continued, as the tenth place guy continued to try and retake ninth from Sunset. However, Sunset kept blocking him, and continued accelerating towards the top 8.
It was quite a steep section that they passed through next, and soon after that, they were headed towards Brünnchen, aka the video corner of the Nordschleife. It was called also as majority of the Nürburgring videos online had been filmed from this corner, which was the main spectator area of the track. Sunset overtook guys in a battle at once as they passed that corner, putting Sunset in seventh place. Just a few more cars to pass now. They were just reaching Pflanzgarten, which had two big jumps. The guy in sixth place messed up on the very first jump, and his car went airborne. Well, he was out of the eliminator, thought Sunset, as she went into sixth. On this section, there was no room for error.
They then passed through Schwalbenschwanz, where Sunset made another overtake, and got into fifth place. From there, they entered Klein's Karussell, which would lead to the final main straight. Here, Sunset passed the drivers in third and fourth as they were in a battle, putting Sunset in third. As the cars began to enter the final main straight, everyone hit their virtual gas pedals, and the scream of flat-6s was heard again as they all began accelerating. This was where they could hit their top speed.
It was about to turn into a 200mph high-speed battle, realised Sunset, as the roar of the naturally aspirated V6 filled her ears. Just two more cars to go, and she would enter RaceWorld Academy. Sunset easily overtook the guy in second place, as his virtual engine overheated. Must have forgotten to disable the engine failures setting, though Sunset. Now only one guy was left, the leader. He was not going easy, blocking Sunset everytime she attempted to overtake him. Sunset tried from both the left and right sides, but he kept blocking her. He was definitely a pro, that was for sure.
Sunset thought of an idea, but couldn't use just yet. They had to reach the end of this straight first. Sunset kept attempting to overtake him as the end of the straight approached. Just as he was about to slam his brakes, Sunset slammed on them, pretty much, causing smoke to come from her tires. Thankfully, she didn't lock up. Her opponent braked a little later, but the speed difference was huge, and he oversteered, as Sunset overtook from the inside. Her left wheels were almost off the track, and the right side of her car was almost touching him. Sunset instantly hit the gas, and sped past him, as he tried to catch up. But now, there were no more opportunities to overtake, as Sunset zoomed through the final turns, and towards the finish line, now in first.
As Sunset passed the finish line, a video played on her screen. "Congratulations, lucky player! You've won the Eliminator, and now you're part of twenty lucky players who are off to RaceWorld Academy! Details will appear on the screen, so get to packing! You're heading to RaceWorld Academy on the 1st of November!" said the man on the screen from the announcement video.
Sunset instantly took off her headphones, and began dancing in her room. She was going to RaceWorld Academy. She would finally become a real racing driver, and fulfil her dream. Nothing could make her sad right now. She was over the Moon.