//------------------------------//
// French Connection 
// Story: Race to the Finish 
// by DGJabberwocky 
//------------------------------//

"Wait... So you're telling me that you're from another world that is full of magical talking ponies? And you're a unicorn? The one with a horn?"

Sunset nervously smiled and nodded, "Uh... Yes..."

Slipstream stopped wheeling back and forth and massaged his temples. She gulped and asked, "You believe me... Don't you?"

He snorted, "Kid... I believe you, alright. Trust me when I say, no one can come up with THAT elaborate a lie. I've had people lie to me before, and your story is not even the most fantastical. The last person who lied was a prick called Sprout. Kid was talented and he was my former teammate, but we later found out that he was selling some of MY data to his old team, who happened to be our biggest rivals, and lied about it for six months. My boss found out and sacked him on the spot and got him a lifetime ban from racing. The cherry on top was me giving him a massive knuckle sandwich to the nose. I just have a couple of questions though... Firstly, if I existed in that world, what species would I be?"

Sunset tapped her chin thoughtfully, "I'd probably say that you'd be a pegasus. The pony with wings."

Slipstream grinned, "Cool! Anyway, thanks for the heads up. Better I find out now than for this to be exposed in a more awkward way, that would definitely end with me checking myself into a loony bin."

The teenager rolled her cyan eyes, "Jeez! Melodramatic much? What was the other question?"

"Oh yeah... If your world is a parallel world, then does a Sunset Shimmer exist in this world? If you do happen to bump into her, are you gonna have to explain it like a long lost twin theory?"

She shrugged, "When I first arrived in this world, I didn't find any records of her at all. Maybe she lives elsewhere, maybe she doesn't exist. I'll probably cross that bridge when I get there."



A few days later, Slipstream found her frowning at a circuit map. He wheeled up and raised an eyebrow, "You okay, amigo?"

She continued frowning, "This map is really confusing. Track seems insanely long."

Something clicked in his head and he took a peek over her shoulder. The puzzle pieces fell in place in his mind and he let out a guffaw, "Y-you're looking at the wrong map, kid! One sec!"

He rushed to the computer, booted it up and began typing. Then he saved one image and printed it out before handing it to her. Sunset glanced at it, "Yeah this looks a lot different."

Slipstream grinned, "The one that you were looking at, is the Circuit de la Sarthe, where the endurance racers compete. We're running on the Bugatti Circuit, which is a shortened version of the same track."

She tilted her head curiously, "Endurance racing? What's that? And how long is the original circuit?"

He winced a little, "About 8.5 miles, or 13.6 kilometers."

Her eyes widened, "And the shorter track?"

"2.6 miles or 4.1 kilometers, approximately. Now for your other question, endurance races are a LOT longer. These races last between eight hours minimum, or 12 hours or 24 hours, maximum."

Sunset yelped, "Seriously! How the heck can only person ride or drive for 8 hours, let alone 12 or freaking 24!"

He retorted, "Don't be silly! You have three or four people sharing one bike or one car and they all take it in turns to race. And unlike what we do, there is mid-race refuelling. We normally top up the tank at the start and that tides you over for the rest of the race. I know for a fact, that Sunny, Hitch, Zipp, Izzy and Pipp's friend, Misty Brightdawn, is an endurance racer. She's part of my academy, and she's pretty good. Anyway, you don't have to worry about that, just focus on this track. But if you really want to, we can fly in early and cycle around the track, so that you can really get the scale."

Some days later, the group flew over to France for the race weekend. On Tuesday, they all drove to the track in a rental car, before bringing out their bicycles. As Slipstream hand-pedalled down the front straight, he explained, "So this start-finish straight is universal and the first turn is the fast Dunlop curve and feeds right into the Dunlop chicane." 

They all followed him, as he took the optimal lines. He pointed to his right and continued, "Now normally, we take a right into the hairpin at Chapelle. However, we're going straight on to the next left-right sequence at the Forest Esses. Next up we have a right hand turn into Tetre Rouge. This feeds us onto the really long Mulsanne Straight."

After a while, there was a right-left-right sequence of corners, which Slipstream called the Daytona Chicane. According to him, "The Mulsanne Straight was normally a six km long straight, but underwent modifications because of some fatal high speed accidents."

Soon, he guided the group through the left-right-left Michelin chicane. By the time they reached the Mulsanne corner, Sunset was already puffing. They took a short break to munch on some sandwiches, before continuing. Everyone steadily pedalled until they braked for the left-handed Indianapolis corner, followed by the right-handed Arnage corner. After a short straight, they all gentle turned right, then a slight double left and then right again and then left before straightening out. The group continued cycling until the left-right Ford chicane sequence, and then the final left-right sequence that fed them onto the front stretch.

Sunset slowed down and wheezed, "Whoa! That was a long lap! How long does it take to complete a lap on a motorbike and in a car."

Sunny replied, "Well, according to Misty, the bikes don't run on the full track, only the cars do, and the lap record is three minutes and 17.297 seconds."

Sunset Shimmer could only utter, "Wow!"

They took the next couple of days to explore the city of Le Mans and sample the food. Then Friday arrived and practice began. Before the session, Sunset, Zipp and Hitch cycled around the shortened layout that she would be racing. Then Zipp dropped some news, "So in a couple of weeks' time at Mugello, I'll be making my debut as your teammate, my first of two wildcards I've chose Mugello and Austria. Hitch is going to have his wildcard races at Australia and Malaysia."

Just then Pipp exclaimed, "Guys! Did you hear the news? I believe India's been taken off the calendar for this season. There are plans to let that be the season-opener next season because the anticipated weather was not suitable."

Hitch moaned, "Shame... I liked that track. Was fun to ride on. But I can understand why. Last year it was held in late September and it was crazy hot! If I'm not mistaken, Apex nearly fainted after the race. I heard from a friend that the month of March should be a bit cooler in India."

After a while, it was time for the bikes to have a go on the Bugatti Circuit. Right off the bat, Sunset Shimmer was up among the leaders, eventually finishing the opening session in 2nd place. Practice 2 saw her struggle with different conditions and she ended the session in 11th place, but qualifying saw a slight improvement with 7th place.

Finally, it was time for the race and Sunset was raring to go. Back in Canterlot, Fluttershy had woken up, thanks to her alarm. She quickly glanced around her, because the girls were at her house for a sleepover and the five of them were all sprawled out in the living room. She turned the TV on and lowered the volume, to not disturb the girls. However, a sleepy voice drawled, "Flutters? What are you doing up do early? It's five in the morning?"

She squeaked and turned to see Rainbow Dash rubbing her eyes. She saw the TV as the starting grid was shown and smirked, "Didn't take you for a racing fan, Shy. Who are you taking up- Wait... WHAT THE F**K?"

Rainbow's startled exclamation woke the other girls and they were indignant. Rarity snapped, "Rainbow Dash! Watch your language! A girl needs her beauty sleep-"

Rainbow exclaimed, "We found Sunset!"

That had the other three girls fully alert. Applejack's eyes widened, "What the hay! What in tarnation is she doing, all the way in France? And is this live?"

Fluttershy's shoulders slumped, knowing that the jig was up, "Yes, its live... Round 5 in France. I found out about her during the second round in Portugal. Two weeks later, she was racing in Texas. I begged Flash Sentry to buy me a ticket, because he was also going to watch."

Pinkie perked up, "Wait... So he knew that she wasn't Anon-A-Miss? Why didn't he tell us?"

Applejack deadpanned, "Would we have believed him? Anywho, simmer down, I want to see how Sunset does."

As the lights turned green, Sunset got a decent start and maintained her position. In Fluttershy's house, the girls cheered as she slipped into 6th place. Two laps later, she was up to fifth and sniffing out a potential podium. However, at the double right-hander at Turn 6, it went horribly wrong. Sunset dove down the inside for fourth, but suddenly the front of the bike washed out from under her. A collective groan erupted from the Countess Racing Team, and back in Canterlot, the girls also exclaimed in dismay.

Sunset tried to pick up her bike and check for damage, and sure enough there was too much. Her first DNF of the season. She numbly allowed herself to be led away and given a ride back to the Countess Racing garage. Upon reaching, Slipstream was the first to hug her and comfort the girl.

Rarity pointed, "Who's that in the wheelchair."

Fluttershy answered, "Her boss. His name is Slipstream and he's a former world champion. Won the title at the age of 17, the youngest champion. However, he suffered a crash in the following year, that left him paralysed from waist down. Since then, he's been recruited as the team principal of Countess Racing."

Rarity's ears perked up at the name, "Countess? Any connection to Countess Coloratura?"

"Mhm! Countess Coloratura owns the team, and she hired Slipstream to be the team principal. I guess one thing led to another and Sunset was recruited."

Back at Le Mans, Sunset elected to stick around and watch the race, but she was miserable. Once it was over and everyone had cleared out, Countess Racing was among the last to leave, Slipstream rolled his wheelchair up, "Hey kiddo. Walk with me?"

They were soon driving out of the circuit and towards a large cathedral. After parking the rental car, Slipstream led her to a large graveyard, with a number of gravestones. He knelt next to a couple of tombstones and placed a few flowers on them. The 22-year-old spoke softly, "I wanted to show you this. Back in 1955, during the 24 Hours of Le Mans, one of the worst accidents took place. Reports say that around 84 were killed, mostly spectators. My granddaddy was a spectator, along with my grandma. They were racing fanatics and it was their 25th anniversary present. Dad was so devastated that he quit racing. When I was young I kind of got bit by the racing bug. Dad tried to dissuade me for a couple of years before giving in. So he and mom decided to finance my career instead."

He turned to see Sunset nearly frozen in front of two tombstones. He wheeled over and she said, "Those are the names of my parents! I-I-it says here that she was pregnant with a girl and wanted to name her Sunset Shimmer..."

Her voice cracked and he hugged her tight. Slipstream gently rubbed her back, "There, there, amiga. You feel better?"

She took a deep sniff and wiped her nose, "Y-yeah... I'll be okay... I just realised that she would have been much older than me, if she was alive... Shall we go?"

The two of them shuffled away and left the cemetery after paying their respects.