Race to the Finish

by DGJabberwocky

Negotiations

About an hour later, they pulled up to a large imposing building with a horse statue in front of it. The school was empty and Slipstream frowned, "Hey Sunset, are you sure your principal will be in the school? Isn't it the Christmas vacation? Surely she would have gone home by now and the school should be empty."

The girl replied, "Actually, it's relatively well-known that she and her sister Luna do stay in the school for a week after it lets out. Something about last minute paperwork, I know this because I used to help her out often. Today is supposed to be her last day in the office."

He shrugged, "If you say so. Why don't you stay here in the motorhome and make yourself comfortable. Rara and I will take care of everything."

Soon enough, Rara wheeled him up a ramp, mostly because the ramp was icy. Her footsteps echoed through the empty halls and eventually they happened upon the Principal's Office. Rara took a deep breath and then knocked on the door. A gentle voice called out, "Come in!"

Rara opened the door and wheeled him in. At a desk, sat a tall woman with alabaster skin and multi-coloured hair. Her moderate heliotrope eyes lit up in recognition, "Coloratura! What a pleasant surprise! It has been ages! You graduated, what? Three years ago? Who's your friend?"

Rara smiled, "Hello Principal Celestia, it has been a while. Gosh! I missed this place. I actually came here because I need a favor. This is my business associate, Slipstream. He's a former motorcycle racer before an accident ended his career. We have a small situation..."

Celestia leaned forward and threaded her fingers, "Go ahead, I'm listening."

Slipstream spoke up, "Ma'am, the basic premise is that Coloratura here, is establishing her own racing team. She's probably going to be the first celebrity race team owner. She hired me to be the team principal, so Coloratura is basically my boss. We came to Canterlot to look for a potential rider and we think we found them. She's one of your students, a Sunset Shimmer."

Celestia smiled, "Oh that's wonderful!"

Then her smile froze, "I... don't suppose you heard about what's been happening lately, with this Anon-a-Miss business. She has been getting some of the blame for it. I personally don't think its her, though. She's changed a lot, and even at her worst, this seemed too on the nose. Unfortunately, mine and my sister Luna's hands, are tied."

Slipstream nodded gravely, "I heard about that, straight from the source. I guessed that she could use some time away from this environment, which could be potentially toxic. I figured that if she's not there and secrets are still being posted, it should eliminate her from the suspect list. Hopefully by then, the culprit slips up or the students are smart enough to put two and two together."

Celestia leaned back and asked, "So you wish to keep Sunset away until the situation is resolved?"

His cheeks reddened and he rubbed his dark brown hair sheepishly, "Um... Yeah... About that- We were planning to sign her for a one-year contract for our team."

Her posture changed instantly. She sat up straight and peered him carefully with her eyes narrowed, "A one-year contract? But that would mean that she would miss a year and possibly repeat it. Also, she's 15 years old. Should she really be competing in such a dangerous sport at such a young age."

"That's why I was hoping to talk to you. My idea is that you or the faculty forward me the lesson plans and I can teach her. As for exams and tests, just let me know the schedule and we can set up a conference call so that the invigilator can supervise her during her paper. Just a heads up though, Fridays till Sundays are usually the race weekends, so she will be racing at the time. Also, I completely understand your concern. I've been competing at the top level of motorsport since I was 16. Won the championship at 17, and then had my career-ending accident at 18. But many of us riders have been competing since we were very young. I knew some ladies who began go-kart racing when they were just four years old, just like I did. Don't worry, this is just a one-year contract. If she wanted to continue racing, that choice will be up to her."

Celestia leaned back and cupped her chin. She thought about it for a really long time. Finally she sighed, "Very well... I'm going against my better judgement here, but I trust you because Coloratura vouches for you. Please do not make me regret this decision. My only fear is that if she stays here, this Anon-a-Miss situation will spiral out of control and the students will be very vindictive. Please give her my best."

He handed her his business card and said, "My cell phone number is on that, along with my email address."

She tucked the card away in her breast pocket. Celestia smiled, "It was a pleasure to meet you. Between you and me, I hope this situation resolves itself. By the way, how will I be able to watch the races? I was a bit of an adrenaline junkie when I was little, and I like sports."

Slipstream replied, "If I'm not mistaken, the Cloud Sports Network is picking up the broadcast for this season. The first race of the season is in March. Before that, I'll need to prepare Sunset. Get her registered as a rider, get her a Superlicense, sign the contract officially, unveil the bike, and then testing begins in February."

Celestia raised an eyebrow, "A Superlicense? What's that?"

"It's a special license that ensures a racer is eligible to compete in an officially sanctioned racing series. Of course, you do have to have a regular license as well."

---

After a while, they rejoined Sunset in the motorhome. Rara called out, "Hey Sunset! Can you share your home address? We'll need to help you pack up ASAP. I mean, you're probably not going to be home for a while. Don't worry, we've sorted out everything with Celestia. She will be forwarding the lesson plans to Slipstream and he'll be teaching you during the off days. As for your exams, you'll write them remotely and email your answers to her."

Sunset gave them directions to a relatively ordinary apartment complex. She waved to a cheery woman with light cerise skin and freckles, and the woman also had moderate and light purple curly hair. Sunset said, "Hi Mrs Petunia Petals! How are you this morning? How's the husband? Anything in the mail for me?"

Petunia Petals waved back and spoke, "Hello dearie! Currently, there's nothing yet in the mail. You've paid your rent last week, if I'm not mistaken. Also, Sunny Skies is pretty hard at work running for mayor of Canterlot City."

Sunset smiled, "Mrs Petals, I wanted to let you know that I will be out of town for a while. Probably a year, at most. If you want, you can rent my apartment to someone else who needs it."

Her eyebrows raised, "Oh... Does it have to do with that young man in the wheelchair there?"

"Yeah... He's technically my boss. Turns out, he is a team principal of a motorcycle racing team and I've just been recruited on a one-year contract."

The woman's eyes lit up, "Oh dearie! That's wonderful! Well I certainly wish you all the very best. I'll miss you terribly. Now, why don't you pop upstairs and clear out your room. When you're done, just hand me the keys and I'll take care of the rest. When you do return, I'll be sure to save a room just for you."

---

Over the next few days, Slipstream and Sunset got a lot of paperwork done. She underwent medical checks, physical training, simulator work and he gave her a crash course in understanding data. Apparently, Physics was one of her best subjects, so she took to the information like a duck to water. Two days after the New Year, they booked a flight to Spain because he managed to get her entered in the Rookie test.

Their team was officially called Countess Racing and was powered by Aprilia. He explained to her, "We've got a bunch of different manufacturers competing. Ducati has some of the fastest bikes, but we're not far behind in speed, along with KTM. I also know that Yamaha and Honda have been struggling, and there are talks of Suzuki, Kawasaki and BMW joining next year."

She tilted her head curiously, "BMW? I thought they only manufactured cars?"

"They do both", came the reply.

Then an idea struck him and he called out to a group of teenagers hanging out by reception, "Hey Pipp! Could I borrow you and your friends for a sec?"

A teenager with pale light grayish fuchsia skin and violet hair falling over one moderate spring bud green eye, came over. There were four others with her, three girls and one boy. She waved and spoke in a posh accent, "Hi Slipstream! What do you need me for?"

"You're on social media, a lot, aren't you? I know that racing's not your thing, unlike your sister and Hitch. How would you like to be Sunset's social media manager?"

Her eyes sparkled as a big smile plastered itself on her face, "Really?! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!"

A girl with light gray skin and brilliant rose-colour spiky hair with moderate cyan highlights drawled, "What about us?"

Slipstream replied, "I know that Sunny Starscout and Izzy Moonbow aren't that big on racing either. I'd hate to split you guys apart, so I'll find something for you guys to do as well, within the team."

He turned to a girl with grayish mulberry skin and moderate cornflower blue and cobalt blue frizzy hair. She was pretty much bouncing in place, "Izzy, how would you like to be Sunset's PR officer. Zipp and Hitch, I've managed to convince the officials to let us have four wildcard entries. Zipp, you will run two wildcard races, Hitch, you'll run the other two."

Then he turned to the last girl, "As for Sunny... I'm not sure of what you've got an aptitude towards. For now, I want you to just be Sunset's umbrella girl until I find something else useful for you. That alright?"

All five nodded and he said, "Okay, all you, except for Pipp, may go. Pipp I'm gonna need your help. Sunset, can you tell her about Anon-a-Miss? In case those vultures that call themselves the media, start snooping, she can fix your reputation. If you need me, I'll be looking for accomodation."

Sunset explained about Anon-a-Miss, and to her relief, Pipp Petals was very sympathetic. Then the girl made up her mind and extended a hand, "Okay, could you give me your phone?"

Sunset eyed her carefully, "Uhh... why? We're sticking together for most of the year, right? My phone's switched off, because I'm not in the mood to be bombarded with hate mail."

She gestured slightly impatiently, "Just give it. I'm going to deactivate your MyStable profile."

Pipp Petals switched the phone on and ignored the constant pinging from the messages app. She visited Sunset's profile and then handed her the phone, "Here, just download all the images and videos from your profile and save them somewhere."

She did so and Pipp promptly deactivated her account and then turned off the phone. She pocketed it, "I'll ask Slipstream to buy you another phone and change your number. I have a feeling that the heat will still be on. Give it about a week and I'll switch your phone on. Oh, and my advice would be to save all your friends contacts. Sure, you may be persona non grata at the moment, but once your innocence is proven, would you be willing to forgive them?"

Sunset thought about it, "Hmm... Maybe not immediately. The girls really hurt me badly. After they apologize, I'll let you know when I'm ready to forgive them."

Comments

[The Unseen]

I loved the first iteration of your story, and I can't wait to see how the second iteration turns out. Good luck, I eagerly await your next chapter!

[DGJabberwocky]

11856726

As I mentioned in my Author's Note, I crammed in too many characters in the first version and pretty much wrote myself into a corner. Also, I've been writing on FFN and AO3, and I also have my full-time job, so updates are gonna be sporadic

[JCY2k16]

Pipp, I'm being honest when I say: For Sunset's sake, I hope this plan of yours works.

[Speedy Silverstreak]

Hmmmm.... I wonder if Harely-davidson made top tier race bikes. I know they've made different classes of race bikes but I'm not sure superbikes.

[The Unseen]

11857275
I believe in the 90s, they made a superbike called the VR1000

[Speedy Silverstreak]

11857361
Looked it up. That thing looks awesome