She was hardly the first car that had made it to the forest. Already she could see a couple dozen going down the various paths in front of her, and she’d need to make her own decision very quickly. A quick look at the others saw most of them going down the center and right-of-center paths, only leaving two or three going down the two left ones. Obviously they knew something she didn’t about these paths, there was clearly a reason why most would stick with those others. But if she joined them the paths didn’t really allow for her to ever pass anyone else due to their narrowness. It’s possible that the two left paths were more dangerous or longer or something but they also looked like the only way for her to make any progress and get further ahead on this leg of the course. It was a risk, just like the ramp, and it was one she had to take.
“Here’s to nothing,” she pulled her wheel to the left and shot down the left most path going into the forest.
This wasn’t just a straight road like the one leading to the forest from the starting line, it winded through the trees and she had to twist and turn the car back and forth to avoid hitting anything. The forest was so heavy with thick trunks and foliage that she couldn’t really see the other paths anymore now that she was on this one. Which might have been a good thing since now she could focus entirely on her own driving.
The road was a lot rougher compared to the smooth ride she had had on the earlier part of the course, natural little bumps and holes caused the car to shake each time it went over one and she could see deep tracks dug into the ground from one or two cars ahead of her that added to the ruggedness of the forest path. A few fell branches that lay across the road created the most minute of speed bumps, she just hoped there weren’t any fallen trees blocking the way up ahead.
The downside to going through a forest like this where the road constantly turned and snaked sideways was that you couldn’t go as fast as possible, Amethyst Star had to repeatedly let up on the gas and put on the brakes to keep on the road and not hit anything. This probably wasn’t too bad though since she imagined all the other paths were similar in this way, the trees probably didn’t allow for any simple and straight path through the whole forest.
“I really hope this was the right decision...” Amethyst Star said as the leaves from a low hanging branch brushed right over her head.
She could hear traces of the other cars on the same path as her, their engines rumbling loudly from up ahead and the occasional loud thump as they went over a particularly big bump or branch in the road. It didn’t look like she’d be able to catch up with any of them but it gave her some relief knowing there were at least a few others that took this path too. Maybe she could still get ahead of a lot of other cars if she kept up what she was doing.
A sudden hairpin turn caused her tires to screech in protest as she slammed on the brakes and jerked the wheel to keep from sailing off into the forest, she could feel the car tilt and the right-side tires briefly leave the ground before plopping back down. Amethyst Star licked her lips, a bit worried about how badly that could’ve ended.
But if she thought the road was rough before she was about to be in for a rude awakening.
“Oh crud,” she blanched as she looked ahead and saw dozens of cut logs that had been dropped over the road. Big enough that they could be a serious problem to her car and numerous enough that it was impossible to avoid them. Even if it might end up with her crashing she had to drive over them. “Is this just another obstacle?”
Her tires hit the first log and her car lurched up as they climbed over the wooden obstruction, the log being slapped towards the back tires before they too chewed it up and made it over. Amethyst Star grit her teeth the whole way as the car groaned and vibrated. She couldn’t go quickly over these logs, it just wasn’t possible. She constantly bounced up and down in her seat as the big tires crawled over the uneven logs, thankfully nothing got caught and the unicorn driver was able to keep the car from slipping out of her control. The amount of logs on the ground and their varying sizes still made the trip an unsteady and inconsistent up and down the entire time over them but Amethyst Star didn’t lose too much time on them. Even though she winced each time the undercarriage of her car was struck.
When she finally made it over the last one she gunned it once more and sped down the forest path. No more obstacles in the way just yet.
Gotta make up for that lost time! She thought as she started taking turns at possibly a bit higher speed than she should be.
Occasionally she passed through areas of the forest that were less dense and she could see to her sides the other cars on the different paths far off in the distance. Only for a split-second though until more trees covered them up. When it came to the cars that should still be on the path ahead of her though she had even less signs of. There were still tracks in the road from them but she neither saw nor heard anything else of them. Had they gotten that far ahead of her?
“So now I really do have to make up,” Amethyst Star narrowed her eyes and sped on.
It would’ve been nice if she knew how big the forest was, or had an estimate on how long it was supposed to take her to get through here, instead she had no idea if she was making good, bad, or just plain average time through this leg. In fact she really had no idea how long the race was supposed to be on the whole, or how long it took for the car to run out of fuel. Was she gonna be driving this thing for hours? These are really questions she should’ve asked Fernie and the others now that she thought about it. The fuel gauge actually looked like it was kind of low...
“Whatever. Just drive, that’s all that matters,” she shook her head and told herself.
Of course it couldn’t be that simple, something new came up for her to think about. A fork in the road ahead.
Oh great, right or left? Amethyst Star bit her lip, she couldn’t see very far down either of them and she was coming up on the fork fast, not giving her much time to choose. Whatever, they both look the same and left has been doing good for me so far.
She pulled the wheel to the left and zoomed further on into the forest. Hopefully this was a better route to take than the right path.
Well whatever the right path had been for a while this left one was pretty straightforward. She cruised through the forest at top speed, even more detached from the other racers at this point, it was like she was on a solo run. Fine by her. The ability to totally focus on her own driving was welcome. Her tires crunched over pebbles and twigs lying on the road, kicking up dirt and mud behind them, the increasingly muddy dirt road not a problem at all for The Amethyst Flame. Not yet at least. To Amethyst Star’s dismay the ground grew wetter and muddier the farther she drove until her wheels were sinking an inch or two deeper than they should be. Splashes of water and mud were being sprayed out, into the forest, behind the car, and up along its sides, making it a dirty mess.
She checked her speed and saw that she was still going full speed but if the mud got worse or deeper it might really drag down her car.
“Come on, come on,” Amethyst Star pleaded with the world to let up on the mud as she kept her hoof on the pedal.
That didn’t amount to much though.
The mud continued to get deeper and stickier, slowing down her tires and dragging them halfway down into the ground. Now she could hear them struggling, hear them having trouble with turning and getting any purchase as they spun beneath her. The speed of The Amethyst Flame slowed considerably as it tried to plow its way through the molasses. And that’s what it was, a thick molasses that kept pulling the car in deeper, forcing Amethyst Star to slam down on the gas pedal harder to keep the vehicle from flat out stopping.
Unfortunately not only did her car still get trapped in the mud while the wheels spun uselessly but the engine really didn’t like that extra pressure and the light came on, forcing her to remove her hoof from the pedal.
Amethyst Star slammed her hooves on the wheel in frustration. “Ugh! Now what?”
She tried tapping the gas pedal down a few times to see if it would get her anywhere but the car was stuck. At least the light had gone off when she stopped holding the pedal down all the way. But what could she do now? She thought about using her magic to try and partially lift the car out of the mud. But she probably wasn’t strong enough for that and it might even be against the rules. The engine and tires just didn’t have the power in them to get out of this mud pit, no matter how she turned the wheel to try and angle them or how hard she pressed on the gas to get the car to react.
“This is hopeless!” She headbutted the wheel and shut her eyes. “Why did I have to go this way? Stupid, stupid, stupid, I never should have gotten involved with this, it was just another mistake and now I’m ruining things for someone else again.” She started disparaging herself, the doubts crawling up into her head again. “I should’ve just walked straight home, I should’ve just ignored everything and gone home. I should’ve known just wanting to help some other ponies wouldn’t change anything for me.”
She lifted her head from the steering wheel and opened her eyes that were starting to get puffy and red.
Her gaze drifted to the large yellow button right next to the steering wheel.
The nitro. Was this the time to use it? Was it the right kind of situation? Fernie said she only had two uses of it and Amethyst Star wasn’t sure it would even help here. The road was straight and had plenty of room for her but would it actually get her out of the mud and on her way in the first place? It was supposed to be a speed and power boost…
“Aw, whatever. Might as well,” she frowned and stepped on the gas, pressing the nitro button an instant later.
And what an effect it had. Amethyst Star was pressed back against her seat by the force of the car taking off. The nitro rocketed her car out of the mud with no problem at all and her hoof reflexively slammed on the pedal while she gripped the wheel in fear and tried to keep dead straight as the car reached previously impossible speeds, the needle on the speedometer completely stuck flat on the high side while the trees of the forest blurred by in a flash.
“Was this really necessary?!” Amethyst Star said in terror as the car practically flew on its own power through the last bit of the forest.