The moon was just fading, ready for the sun to take its place. Most creatures at this time would still be sleeping, trying to obtain maximum amounts of slumber from the long night before it officially ended. But not Smolder the dragon. Since the second half of the night had begun, an urging feeling of exploration and lateral thinking had nagged her to the point of being unable to sleep. For a couple hours she fought it off, but now it had become too much to bear.
Sliding out from under the covers, Smolder reached under her bed and carefully slid out her board, ensuring no sudden sounds were made. Standing upright, she held it under one arm and tiptoed across the room, her little dragon feet pressing down on the carpeted aisle without so much as a rustle or scratch. Turning the door handle smoothly and slowly, she eased it open - surprisingly, without any squeaks. It seemed like Twilight had been keeping extra tabs on the maintenance staff to lubricate all hinges.
“More power to those trying to sneak out,” Smolder thought, fighting back a snigger, and slipped through the door before quickly shutting it.
Out in the halls, vision was minimal. Only a few lights were on, and they were dimmer the further you were away from them. Shaking her head to try dislodge the heavy feeling of slumber, Smolder gripped her board and walked down the hall in one direction, trying to remember where the gym was located. Most of the school’s floor was carpeted, which meant it was impossible to push off and glide. However, the gymnasium had smooth, hard tiled floor, which had a small amount of overall traction, but could allow wheels to glide across it nonetheless.
After five minutes of running down stairs, peeking around corners and tiptoeing down halls, Smolder finally found the gym and grabbed the door handle. To her surprise, it was unlocked. Pushing the door open, she flipped a switch, lighting up one end of the room. Carefully shutting the door, she walked over to the lit area and set the board down, and stepped back.
With a claw to her chin, she stared at it, pondering over how she stood on it and the resulting movements when she moved her feet. She knew pushing down on one end would cause the other end to rise up - basic principle of a first-class lever. However the upwards force was so strong that she fell off on her first attempt. It seemed to be a matter of how much effort was exerted on either side by her.
Hopping onto the board, Smolder pushed down on the tail - but gently, exerting an equal force with her front foot, then gradually imbalancing the pressure until the tail touched the ground. However, her pressure was still almost all in her back foot, causing her to fall backwards… again.
“Ow!” she yelped, biting her lip to muffle the sound. Through half-closed eyes, she caught sight of the board slapping the ground and rolling away… and it came to her.
Just redirect the effort of pressure.
Back on the board, Smolder rose up the nose, but lifted some pressure off the tail and back into her front foot. A slight wobble was achieved before she transferred all of the pressure to her front foot, thus slamming the board back down. Tightening her legs, she “pulled” the board back with her thighs to stop it sliding outwards, then relaxed and adjusted her posture.
Repeating the process, she then got the tail to just gently rest on the ground, and used her upper body to turn a little, before continuing with bringing the nose up the down.
For the next half hour, Smolder kept hopping on and off the board, trying to get a proper feel for it. She pushed off and skated down to one end of the gymnasium in a straight line, then pushed off in the other direction. She shuffled her feet and took note how each slight movement led to various positions and their effect on her balance. Then a short scene flashed through her head. It was a day in Fluttershy’s class, where Gallus was fiddling with a quill pen. He’d put it between two claws and by rapidly alternating the pressure and movement of each one, the pen flicked back and forth - or up and down - rapidly.
Glancing at the board, Smolder wondered: could she sort of “hold” the board at opposite ends and then flick it one way?
Walking back over to the board, she thought again for a second. It would make sense to flip the board from upside down to right side up, so she turned the board upside down and put one foot on the tail’s backside. Pressing down a little, she slid her other foot under the front - just behind the nose - and jumped up. In a second or two she was on her back, groaning in pain with her legs knotted together.
“What happened?”
Repeating the process - albeit with some back soreness and wing pain - Smolder found herself continuously falling backwards with her legs twisted together. How could she do this properly?
Slowing down her movements, she soon noticed it: her back foot was locked and stationery, instead of rising and coming around to catch the board like the other foot had. Additionally, her body was also fixed and not shifting sideways as the board flipped. Realizing her mistakes, Smolder set the board down wrong side up, slid her front foot underneath, and jumped up, shifting her body weight in the direction the board would flip. As soon as the board went past halfway to vertical, she slid her back foot out of the way and rose it up, allowing her front foot to spin the board over. Right as the board turned right side up, she quickly slid her back foot around to catch the board… and missed, causing her front foot to exert too much pressure… and the board slid out.
And she was on her back again.
“Argh! Come on, dragons are better than this! But it’s fun trying to see how this can be done with little moves exerted properly. I just have to get the little moves right.”
Smolder flexed her arms and rubbed her sore wings, slid her foot under the upside-down board, and tried again. After twenty tries, she finally got it.
“Yes!” she squealed, before slapping her hand over her mouth. Thankfully, nopony entered, and the silence continued on. Having accomplished an extraordinary feat, she rested the board on its side and lay sideways on the gym floor, slowly flexing her wings to relieve the soreness in them and giving her leg muscles a rest. However, all the while her eyes kept glancing at her board, triggering a set of thought processes in her mind that hadn’t been exercised before. She couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a large, virtually endless pool of tricks and movements possible with the board - all just waiting to be discovered.