//------------------------------// // Her Race III // Story: Amethyst Star Isn't Prepared For This // by MagicS //------------------------------// Amethyst Star floored it. The sounds of engines flaring and hundreds of tires spinning and digging into the ground for traction made the yelling of the crowd almost imperceptible behind it all. Amethyst Star felt the vehicle beneath her truly come to life as she really gave it the gas and allowed it to start thundering down the racecourse along with all the others. They were all going full speed right from the start, storms of exhaust and dust being kicked up along the way as they made their way down the first straightaway of the course into the next area. Amethyst Star passed the starting line after just a second and was quite proud of herself for not instantly crashing. Okay, now let’s really see how this thing drives! She grit her teeth and watched for an opening in the cars ahead of her to try and make way into a better position. She could already see other racers trying to edge out and pass each other right from the start. There were ones probably attempting to do the same thing to her from behind. There wasn’t enough room between the cars in front of her for her to make any progress of her own yet though, the track was too narrow and linear right now, she’d have to wait for it to open up and get to all the alternate paths the others had told her about. At the moment the best she could do was hold her own position and make sure she didn’t fall further into the back places of the cars. First place was a far ways off, she didn’t think she’d be able to actually get first place but she still needed to make it her goal and try her best. If she was gunning as hard as she could for first then maybe, just maybe, she could place somewhere that would still get Fernie and them some prize money. Again as she ran this thing as fast as she could without hitting the cars in front of her she was happy to realize how smoothly and well it handled herself. Definitely made things easier for her than if it was shaking and stiff or slow to react. The goggles and windshield kept her eyes perfectly fine and the seatbelt kept her safely in place, everything was working as intended so far. No weird noises, no flashing lights, no popped tires, no accidentally hitting the nitro yet. Amethyst Star was buzzing along and the scarf she wore around her neck was flapping in the wind. She made it to the end of the stands and the portion of the stadium still bordered by the road and buildings of the city on one side where the track now started to widen and allowed more cars to pull up alongside each other and try to get ahead. This was her opportunity now too. “Looks like everyone has the same idea,” she said as she glanced to her side to see a few other racers in her group giving their cars a little more gas and trying to wind their way forward. There was still grass to her left right now and since no other drivers were going on it that probably meant it was against the rules, but she was still stuck in the middle of so many other cars that there didn’t look to be a way to get past any in front of her. No one was giving an inch or allowing her any room to maneuver, not that she could blame them. At the front and back of the column the cars were starting to spread out enough and starting to distance themselves from the others but in the middle it was still a jumbled and chaotic mess of metal vehicles all vying for dominance with one another. If I had a better starting position things would be different. She cynically noted. But she was holding on and doing a good job of not falling behind yet. That was all she could really ask for right now. Her vehicle picked up speed along with the others as they had more room to drive on and really got out onto the course, it didn’t take long before they left the city limits behind them and started driving down a part of the track that went into the nearby foothills before a large forest and more mountainous area past them. On the sides of the road were white painted wooden barriers meant to keep anyone from going off course. Amethyst Star sorely hoped she wouldn’t need them to stop her from crashing or anything. She saw the ground up ahead dip down, the first change in the course from being a simple and level run. The frontrunners disappeared from view as they went down the hill and a second later Amethyst Star’s stomach went up into her chest as she followed them. It was a sharp descent, and a quick one too, for the road quickly inclined and went back up a hill before dipping down again. A sequence of small hills in the course being the first “obstacle” for her. Amethyst Star could feel the tires of the car slightly leave the ground each time she reached the apex of one of the hills, jumping down on its way to the bottom along with the dozens of other cars. The suspension of the car was able to perfectly handle the stress though, the vehicle built for rough terrain and moves like this. Some of the drivers weren’t able to keep their speed up perfectly though, they landed wrong or started drifting or sliding along the dirt because their angle was off, allowing other cars that stayed straight and kept going full speed to pass them. Amethyst Star surprisingly being one of these as The Amethyst Flame shot down the last hill and make it back to level ground with one last bounce beneath her. Now in a slightly better position than before. It threatened to fill her up with hubris but she quashed that. Just stay focused on the race, nothing more. Up ahead she saw a very thick forest full of tall trees and the racecourse looked like it went right into it, but there was no way there was one path through there as wide as the road was now, the trees were far too close together for that. I wonder if that’s where the paths start to branch off from each other? Amethyst Star thought. If that’s the case I’ll be able to get ahead some more going the right way, can’t let anything else slow me down! The sight of a car ahead of her suddenly flying through the air made her eyes widen in shock. “What was that?!” She questioned. The answer to that came quickly as she saw more cars take off flying and she finally got farther enough to see a number of ramps on the ground that cars could either choose to jump off of or go around. Her jaw dropped this time at the insane obstacles, wasn’t it dangerous for big metal vehicles like this to do something like that?! Especially with so many of them out here. “No one told me about this!” She yelled. That wasn’t even it either. There were divots and bumps and pools of mud in the course now, it wasn’t just a normal straight length of dirt anymore, this racecourse was more than it seemed. Cars had to fight for position and avoid the obstacles along with the danger of hitting each other. Amethyst Star gulped, did she have the skill to navigate all of this? An oncoming ramp in front of her posed a challenging question: take the risk and jump it, possibly getting ahead of some cars, or do the safe thing and avoid it since she would probably crash due to her lack of driving experience. “Forget that! I’m not letting anyone pass me!” Amethyst Star gunned it right towards the ramp. The Amethyst Flame zoomed up and off it like a rocket, airborne with good enough hang time for Amethyst Star to grin and see the room she was making. She had even flat out jumped over another car! Her hoof kept itself pressed hard to the pedal and her front hooves were practically glued to the steering wheel, a mix of excitement and fear pounding through her body while the ground quickly approached under her. “Yeah!” She cheered right as the car hit the ground, and regretted that immediately as the shock almost made her bite her tongue. Her brain rattled around inside her skull while the car continued to bounce and threatened to go out of control if Amethyst Star didn’t wrangle it right after the landing. She heard the tires screeching beneath her and felt the vehicle shake and slide a bit along the dirt. She really didn’t want to spin out or hit anything else on accident after making that jump. Whether through luck or some latent skill she was able to keep the wheel steady and take back full control of the car, just barely dodging a mud pit as she straightened out and kept speeding towards the forest in the middle of the pack. She had gotten up by a few cars, more of a prize than she could have asked for. Almost at the forest, things are going even better than expected so far. She dared to think. “MOOOOO!” The startlingly loud moo broke her out of her euphoria. Amethyst Star looked forward to see a stampede of cows running across the racecourse around the front-runners. There were hundreds of them, all running on their short cow legs from one side of the track to the other. Cars were forced to dodge between them to avoid a horrific accident, some ended up careening into others or spinning out or hitting some other obstacle in their attempts. And yet the cow menace kept coming and coming, soon Amethyst Star would have to drive her hardest and most precise yet to avoid the fat creatures. “Is this intentional?! Was this supposed to happen?!” She yelled, absolutely flabbergasted at this strange turn of events and new obstacle. “Gah!” She pulled her steering wheel to the side to avoid a running cow and immediately had to yank it to the other side to avoid another. Her wheels tore fresh new tracks into the soft ground as she weaved in and out of the cows. They weren’t taking up too much of the track but there were so many of them running through it at once, their frightened and angry mooing was driving her crazy and she had to clench her jaw shut in concentration. There is something seriously wrong with what’s happening right now! That was the primary thought going through her head as she narrowly avoided one last cow and made it back to an unobstructed stretch of the course before the big forest coming up. She didn’t and couldn’t wipe the sweat from her brow, only renew her focus on the next leg of this insane racecourse that she was about to enter. Ahead of her she saw that her initial guess was correct, the trees and forest were too thick for the road to stay all together as one, instead five separate roads took off into the forest, each one only wide enough for one or two cars to travel down side by side at once. This was critical, which one was the best to take?