Lightning Dust was one of the first to get back to the grid after the warm up lap, landing on her eleventh place starting position and immediately doing some last minute stretches.
“The last flier’s currently in turn nine.” Spanner informed her. “You should have about a minute before the race starts.”
Dust rolled her eyes, disappointed they’d make her wait for so long. She watched Concorde glide past and land on his eighth place starting position and start stretching as well. This was her chance to put him in his place; firmly in her shadow. She was better than him and Rainbow Dash combined and on these streets, she was going to prove it.
“Last flier’s coming through turn twelve.” Spanner said.
“Just tell me when they’re getting the flag ready.” Dust replied, not wanting a breakdown of the movements of everyone behind her.
“Very well.”
Dust made sure her suit and helmet were tight, so she’d look good on the cameras as she whistled past her opposition.
“Grid’s full and the flag’s getting ready. Good luck.” Spanner informed her and Dust looked up to see he was right.
She readied herself to pounce off the line as the Equestrian flag was held up by one of Baltimare’s Baseball players. He held it up for barely a second before waving it down to start the race.
Dust leapt forwards, flapping her wings to pick up speed as those around her did the same. She focused on Concorde to see where he would go, but he seemed to be accelerating faster than she was and getting away.
“On your right!” Spanner said over the radio and Dust glanced over, seeing the tip of someone’s nose starting to go down the inside of her.
There was no way she was going to start losing positions and especially not before they even reached the first corner, so she moved over to the right to put whoever it was off trying to overtake.
Once satisfied whoever it was had backed off, Dust focused forwards again and suddenly realised just how close to the first corner they were. The field had slowed down and were turning into the corner ahead, so she did everything she could to slow down and not t-bone someone.
She was just about able to do so and found herself stuck between three ponies and the wall at the apex of the corner with no room to manoeuvre. As the field accelerated out of the corner, she had to pull to the right to get some breathing room and realised those who had been on her outside were getting out of the corner faster.
“Stick to that side and try and overtake into the hair pin. Slow early to compensate.” Spanner said over the radio as Dust accelerated up the straight. She could see there were now five ponies separating her and Concorde and the realization made her angry.
She dived into the hairpin; far too fast she realized after a moment and missed the apex. Blitzen, who was ahead of her, saw her coming and backed out of the corner, allowing Dust to shoot by in front of him though Dust managed to get herself back under control before the wall.
She reoriented herself, now practically next to the wall on the outside of the hairpin and saw not only Blitzen go back ahead, but also Dawn Wisp, Power Drive and, to her near fury, Rainbow Dash.
Only three corners into the race and she’d lost several places. Being on the better line, Rainbow Dash accelerated out of the corner quicker than Dust could as she gave chase.
“You’re sixteenth.” Spanner informed her. “Rainbow Dash ahead, Skyline behind.”
Dust didn’t answer, his words washing over her as she was furious this could have happened.
“Typhoon had a coming together with Hest and Ekström at turn one. Ekström’s just gone off track so he’s out, but keep an eye out for Typhoon coming back through the field.” Spanner added and again Dust didn’t pay him much notice.
She chased as hard as she could over the next few corners, past the pit lane entrance and into flowing corners at the back of the track.
“Just so you know, the wind’s picked up down the main straight.” Spanner informed her. “You’ll need to work harder but you can slow later into turn one.
“Shut up, I’m racing.” Dust snapped, shocking Spanner in silence for a few moments.
“Fair enough.” He eventually said as Dust went through turn nine. “I’ll let you know if anything important comes up.”
Dust followed Dash’s tail as they approached the last few corners, acting as a multi-coloured rag to a fuming bull as Dust snap rolled right and then left, prepared to propel herself past down the main straight.
Dust went to flap her wings before her left wing caught the wall at the apex, jarring her suddenly left. She quickly managed to pull her wing away from the wall and get it moving again to maintain lift, but her momentum was destroyed and more racers shot past her as she desperately tried to get back up to speed again.
“Calm down, Dust.” Spanner said over Dust’s frustrated swearing. “Take a lap to cool down and then get in rhythm. There’s still a long way to go and you can make up ground.”
“What do you mean ‘get in rhythm’?” Dust shot back.
“I mean get some clean laps in and build up your pace.” He answered. “You’re twentieth at the moment, but you can make it back up.”
Damn right she could. Now was the time to start pumping in repeats of her qualifying lap. She threw herself into the corners, slowing late and hard in order to try and catch back up with Velocidade ahead. Each slowing point brought her gradually closer over the next few laps, but Spanner still hadn’t taken the hint to be quiet.
“Dust, you’re going to over exert yourself.” He said over the radio after only three laps. “Slow more gently into corner.”
“I’m trying to catch back up.”
“That style of slowing only works in qualifying; you’ll just tire yourself before the halfway point.”
“I’m right on Vecrodad or whatever his name is.”
“You’re quicker then Velocidade, yes, but you’ll still tire yourself. You can use that style of slowing to overtake, but don’t do it lap after lap.”
“Whatever.” Dust sighed as she followed Velocidade out of the last chicane, this time being careful to give the turn fourteen apex a wider berth.
She chased Velocidade down the straight, but as soon as they reached the start/finish line she realised she’d be able to simply fly straight by him on the straight and did so, slowing late and hard again to make sure she was ahead.
“Good move.” Spanner commented. “Leciéc is next, one second ahead. Rainbow Dash is in thirte-”
“I don’t care what they’re doing!” Dust cut him off.
“Right, ok.” He replied after a moment. “I’ll leave you to it, shall I?”
“Yes.”
With that, Spanner went quiet and Dust continued on as hard and fast as she could.
***
Dust pushed for all she was worth through every corner, lap after lap. After her disastrous first lap she’d managed to make her way up from twentieth to sixteenth, setting the fastest lap in the process. It wasn’t good enough, but she still had over half of the race to go and she was confident she could get into the points.
But around lap thirty, things started to change. She’d felt niggling strains building up over time but now her wing joints were starting to ache horribly from the continued effort of accelerating and slowing down and the pain was only getting worse.
“So, do you believe me now?” Spanner asked flippantly as her lap times rapidly plummeted over the next five laps, finally saying something other than time differences.
“Get stuffed.”
“Take ten laps to get your breath back.” He continued, unfazed.
Dust beat her wings as they continued to nearly beg her for respite, but as much as it pained her to admit it she did need to rest.
She started to take more time over slowing and stopped accelerating with as much vigour as Maverick, who she'd been chasing, got away. It didn’t take long for Dawn Wisp, Velocidade, Auroras Encore and then Leciéc to catch back up and pass her either, which only caused to infuriate her more as each slipped past. All her hard fought progress was wasted.
The ten laps ticked by almost painfully slowly as she watched Leciéc get further away, not to mention putting up with being told the rate at which Typhoon was catching.
“Ten laps, Spanner. Is that enough or not?” Dust asked as she crossed the line for the tenth time, her annoyance not subsiding. The aching hadn’t fully gone but her wings felt significantly better than they had ten laps previous.
“I’d say so, get going and remember to slow and accelerate more gradually.” Spanner answered. “Typhoon’s a second behind after he clipped the turn six hook.”
Dust didn’t answer as she started pushing, almost immediately starting to pull Leciéc back towards her. Progress was much slower than before as she reluctantly followed Spanner’s advice, but it didn’t take as long as she initially worried it would to catch and pass him on the run into turn three.
She carried on for the next few laps, everything feeling painfully slow as she closed steadily in on Aurora ahead. It seemed he was reacting to her catching him and trying to speed up.
“You’re point two of a second faster than Aurora at the moment.” Spanner informed her. “Just so you’re aware, Typhoon seems to be waiting around point eight of a second behind you, likely for a rest.”
Dust wasn’t concerned about Typhoon, but as she followed Aurora through turn eight, she saw him bobble slightly. The mistake put him slightly off line and she closed in on him into turn nine. He managed to exit the corner well enough to keep ahead, but Dust was right on his tail as they exited turn fourteen and hurtled down the main straight.
Rather than following the racing line, Aurora stayed on the right side of the track to prevent Dust from having the inside line. It didn’t bother her, he was slower than her down the straight, so she ducked to the right and was suddenly reminded there was a strong breeze.
If she was standing still, it would be a comfortable breeze on a sunny day, but at the speeds she was travelling it felt like a sudden, strong gust hitting her straight in the face. The surprise impeded her advance just enough to leave her on the outside as they slowed for turn one, Aurora staying ahead as Dust filed in behind him.
As they accelerated out of turn two, Dust tried to jink around Aurora to get the inside line into turn three, but he was ahead of her and defended the inside line again.
“Dust, drop back slightly.” Spanner said as they headed through turn four.
“Drop back? Why would I drop back?” Dust asked, the request making no sense to her.
“You’re faster on the straight but if you’re far back enough Aurora won’t have time to prepare a defence.”
It was an interesting thought, but it made some form of sense so she opted to follow it this time.
Through the chicane, Dust glided a little longer so Aurora had a bit of a gap as they headed into the tail end of the lap.
As they came out of turn thirteen, Dust noticed Aurora glance over his shoulder and she knew she had the advantage. His moment of looking behind was enough to leave him slightly off line as Dust nailed the last chicane.
She had the run on Aurora as they hurtled over the start/finish line, gaining on him at a vast rate of knots and while he partially followed the racing line, sitting in the middle of the track in case he needed to block, Dust took the opportunity and jinked right onto the inside line.
She’d barely gone a few inches when her flank collided with something. Almost instantly she was facing and heading for the wall that had been to her right, bouncing off it and landing on her belly on the track.
She screwed her eyes shut as she slid along the track, slowly spinning as she went. Her leather racing suit held up against the tarmac as she hoped not to collide with the wall on the outside of the first corner. After a moment that felt like an eternity, just waiting for the impact, she opened her eye and saw she was sliding towards the escape road next to the first corner. She soon slid to a halt, where she jumped back into the air and flew up the escape road that would allow her to re-join the track.
“You ok, Dust?” Spanner asked, concerned.
“What the hay was that?” She asked in return as she accelerated back onto the track behind Leciéc as he hurtled past.
“Typhoon.” He answered. “He darted out to go around you just as you were going to go around Aurora. Safety Kart’s coming out, so slow down and line up behind Leciéc. Do not over take!”
Dust sighed as she noticed yellow flags being held out at every marshal post she passed, along with a large board with ‘SK’ written on it.
“Once you get in line, weave a bit and put some pressure on your wings, keep them warmed up for the restart.” Spanner informed her as she lined up behind Leciéc. She’d lost three places thanks to that collision, but at least she was right behind them again.
“Typhoon’s stuck under the air fencing on the outside of turn one and they have to detach it from the barriers to get him out, so this may take about four laps.” Spanner added.
“How many’s left?”
“Twenty laps left and you’re nineteenth. You feeling ok?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She lied, still furious.
“You don’t sound fine.”
Dust was about to answer back before she noticed a constant stinging pain in her nose. Without thinking, she touched it to see if it was further injured and the pain intensified drastically.
“Dammit, I think my nose’s broken.” She cursed, now acutely aware of the pain and bleeding.
“Right, come into the pits and we’ll sort you out.”
“No, I’m carrying on.”
“Don’t be daft, come in and we’ll have you sorted and back out on the lead lap.”
“Then I’ll be last.”
“There’s only three behind you and you’ll be right on their tails.”
“I’ll still be last.” She retorted as she went past the pit entrance.
“Listen, Dust;” Spanner said calmly. “Either you come in willingly or you’ll get disqualified. I know a broken nose isn’t going to stop you flying but it still counts as an obvious injury as you could choke on your own blood and if you have another crash you’ll do far worse damage to yourself. I’ll have a medic ready and waiting for you on the next lap.”
Dust rolled her eyes at the near enough order. Disqualification would look terrible on her score card, so she might as well get it over with. As the line of flyers glided slowly through the first corner, almost all of them looked over to see the air fence had been pulled away and three medics were knelt around Typhoon on the floor as they checked him.
One of the medics reached for something and Dust got a clear look straight into Typhoon’s eyes, who gave her a pretty venomous look. She continued towards the hairpin, not particularly concerned as he could complain and cry all he liked; it was his fault, she felt.
As instructed, Dust entered the pit lane, slowing to the painfully slow glide they were required to do. Spanner stood by their stable with the lap board to let her know where to pull in and, as promised, he had a medic stood next to him.
“Right, hold still.” The unicorn Medic said as Dust landed, magically pulling Dust’s mouth guard out and away from her nose so she didn’t cause more pain. “Yep, that’s a doozy but it’ll only take a minute.” The Medic smiled as Dust spat blood into a nearby drain.
Dust tried to keep herself from screwing her face up as the familiar feeling of searing magic worked its way around her face. It seemed every second took agonising hours as Dust was well aware the field was getting away from her, especially when she heard the track commentator say Typhoon had been taken to the hospital and the air fence was being put back in position.
“Right, you’re good to go.” The Medic eventually confirmed, though Dust’s nose was still extremely painful and sensitive as Spanner put her still blood soaked mouth guard back on. Without even waiting for Spanner to say anything, Dust set off down the pit lane and back onto the clear track.
“Safety kart’s coming in at the end of the next lap. You’re twenty-third with ten laps to go.” Spanner informed her. “Line up behind Riggwelter and stick with his speed until the green flag’s announced and you come onto the main straight, then you should be able to pass him into the first corner.”
Dust didn’t answer. She was now about half a lap behind the field and she flew quickly in order to catch back up, still aware of the taste of blood.
Dust hustled to get back on the tail end of the field, just assay catching back up with Riggwelter as the pack started to slow and bunch up as the leader prepared to make their jump out of the last corner.
“Green, green, green.” Spanner said as the pack made their way through the final two corners, those ahead speeding up as the race restarted.
Without a word, Dust ducked around the outside of Riggwelter as he was held up by the concertinaing pack, but almost immediately realised her only route was straight into the wall on the outside of turn fourteen so she backed out as the pack accelerated away.
“Pick your passes carefully, Dust.” Spanner advised. “Everyone’s going to be fully rested and pushing like mad to the end.”
Dust again ignored him as she tried to make up for backing out on the exit of turn fourteen. She closed back in on Riggwelter by turn one and managed to get onto his inside ahead of turn three.
Most of the flyers were packed towards the inside of turn three, so she backed off slightly sooner to make sure she’d slow down enough. Ahead, she saw someone go for an inside pass and collided with someone, the pair of them tumbling towards the air fence on the outside of the corner, the griffin Maverick hanging back slightly before hurtling through the gap the two had just accidentally vacated.
In the moment she’d been watching them crash, Dust realised she wasn’t slowing enough so she threw her wings and legs out as far as possible to stop, almost at a dead halt on the apex of turn three with Riggwelter next to her. She quickly thrust herself out of the corner and was now ahead of him.
“Good move. That was Aperto and Power Drive going off but I doubt they’ll have enough pace to catch back up in the remaining laps.” Spanner informed her. “Next up is Aurora who had a bad restart.”
There was now less than a second gap between Dust and Aurora, close enough for her to feel the turbulent air left in Aurora’s wake. As the pair finished the lap, Dust went to dive down Aurora’s inside but he closed the gap before she got into it, forcing her to jink to the left to avoid a collision.
Dust tried to turn back into the corner, but had to turn away again as Aurora managed to occupy the space she was aiming for first, getting a better thrust out of the corner so Dust couldn’t look into turn three.
She followed him through the rest of the lap, not in position to do much more then follow him. As they came back onto the main straight again, Dust stayed on the racing line to try and trick Aurora into doing the same, but he remained on the inside, defending the line. She tried to cut back in to get a better thrust through turn one, but Aurora cut across in front of her again, impeding her as he had the previous lap.
Again, Dust was forced to stay behind him for another lap, this time following Aurora closely out of turn fourteen onto the main straight. Tucked right up behind, Dust had the least of the breeze to fight and was much faster as she jinked to the left to try and go around the outside of the still defensive Aurora.
This time, however, Aurora started to move over to the left as Dust did, forcing her wider and impeding her corner entry more. Dust tried to cut back underneath him to get the inside line, but he was able to turn tight enough and as he did accidentally whipped Dust in the face with his tail.
A spike of pain blasted through her recently broken and repaired nose and she involuntarily yelped. She was more than just angry now as they accelerated out of turn one.
Sick of playing around with him, Dust immediately threw herself towards the inside of the track before Aurora’s line took him there and forced herself into the gap as he drifted over to try and defend again. With so little space, she had to raise her wings and glide on perilously little lift, but she was able to keep on the inside of the corner and Aurora was forced to let her go through.
As she was first onto the apex of the corner, she decided to nearly come to a complete halt to force Aurora to stop before thrusting hard out and onto the short straight towards turn four, leaving Aurora well behind and fending off Riggwelter.
“Nice one, if somewhat aggressive.” Spanner came over the radio. “Just so you know, the stewards are calling your incident with Typhoon a racing incident so don’t worry about any penalties.”
“I’m racing, darn it! Stop bothering me!” Dust shot back, sick to death of him.
“Just thought you’d like to know. Eight laps left.”
***
Despite pushing with all her might, the gap between herself and Velocidade didn’t close enough. There was a moment when she thought she’d catch him into turn three, but Dust caught a slight breeze on the back of her inside wing and bobbled just enough to destroy what hopes she had of catching him.
Dust exited the last corner and saw the chequered flag waving, a feeling of relief and extreme annoyance washing over her as she went past.
Leciéc, Lotus Stream, Velocidade, they were right in front of her and if she had one or two laps more, she could have passed them.
“That’s a nineteenth place finish. All things considering, not a bad job Dust.” Spanner said. “You showed some good speed out there. Vanhoover should play more to your strengths so don’t worry too much.”
“Rainbow Dash slipped back to fifteenth while Concorde finished eighth after clipping the turn six hook a couple times.” He added, not that Dust cared.
It had been a brilliant opportunity and it had been ruined. Starting the moment she gets back to Ponyville, she’d double her training and make sure those mistakes don’t happen again.