Scootaloo's Race

by RushingWind-01

Chapter 6: Not A Rookie Anymore

Two days after the Rookie Tournament, Scootaloo wanted to see Rushing Wind for some training to prepare herself for the Amateur Tournament. She also asked Rainbow Dash to come along.

"Is it true that you also raced Rushing Wind once?", Scootaloo asked.

"Of course I did. Beat him by a huge distance. He may swerve through the turns gracefully, but when it comes to sheer flying skill, nopony is matched up with me.", Rainbow Dash said confidently.

"Sure you beat him...", Scootaloo thought and rolled her eyes. There was no challenger that Rainbow Dash couldn't defeat. Actually hard to believe that Rainbow didn't participate despite her awesome speed.

The two soon got to Rushing Wind. "Ah, I've been waiting for you two. Especially for you, Scootaloo."

Scootaloo expected this, but she saw a strange look on Rushing Wind's face. "Are you okay?", she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go.", he said, and the three went into the underground facility. Rainbow Dash looked around.

"Jeez, this is very advanced. I never thought someone like you would pull this off..." She had a surprised look on her face.

"Well Scootaloo, are you ready for training?", Rushing Wind asked.

"I sure am!", Scootaloo said. But she saw that Rushing Wind kept looking back. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's okay, and we can get started soon." Rushing Wind made sure that Rainbow wasn't watching. "But first... I have to do something..."

He grabbed Scootaloo, quickly took her into a room and shut the door. Rainbow Dash saw that in the last blink of an eye and wanted to open the door, but it was locked from the other side.

"Hey! What are you doing in there?", Rainbow Dash asked in severe worries.

Rushing Wind strapped Scootaloo to a machine, grapplers grabbed her wings, and instantly, her trauma from the time where her wings were cut off returned. "No... No! What are you going to do to me this time?", Scootaloo asked terrified.

"Relax.", Rushing Wind said, "I have to enhance your wings a little bit. You built up the flying muscles to go faster, but with enhanced wings, you can go even faster."

Some welding arms came down and worked on Scootaloo's wings. The process went off very fast and when it was over, Scootaloo was relieved. For a second there, she thought that Rushing Wind would cut off her wings again.

Scootaloo flapped her wings. They felt a bit more powerful than before.

"Combined with your flying muscles and these enhanced wings, your top speed has increased to 141 miles per hour, a bit more than 7 wing power. How about we test that right now?" Rushing Wind knew that Scootaloo couldn't say no to a speed test.

"Sure! I can't wait to see how I'm doing!", Scootaloo said excited.

"We have to do one more test, though. Come with me.", Rushing Wind said. The two left the welding chamber, and Rainbow Dash instantly checked her sister-like friend from all sides. "Are you okay, Scootaloo? Did he harm you too much? What happened in there?"

"Relax, Rainbow.", Rushing Wind said, "I only enhanced Scootaloo's wings a bit, so she can fly faster. We're going to the Wind Tunnel to test that. Wanna come along?"

Rainbow Dash has never seen a Wind Tunnel before, so she said: "Yeah, of course."

The three Pegasi went into a huge, silver room with a huge fan on one end of the room.

"Alright, Scootaloo. This here is the Wind Tunnel. The perfect place to test your balance. When we start the test, a wind blow which is as powerful as your top speed will blow from upfront, and soon, other fans around this room will simulate sudden wind gusts.", Rushing Wind explained.

"Isn't this a bit... dangerous for someone like her?", Rainbow Dash asked.

"Aw, Rainbow, you worry way too much. I'll be fine.", Scootaloo responded.

"Right. The other fans are covered with solid gratings so that she can't fall in. Safety first, you know?", Rushing Wind said.

And then, Rushing Wind and Rainbow Dash left the testing room and went into the control room. Over a microphone, Rushing Wind said to Scootaloo: "Are you ready?"

"I am! Start this thing up already!", Scootaloo said in excitement.

Rushing Wind started the fan in front of Scootaloo. It spun up faster and faster, and Scootaloo flew against the powerful wind as fast as she could. She evenly matched with the speed of the wind in front of her, and the feeling of the rush of speed was amazing.

"Watch out for the gusts, Scootaloo!"

Since Scootaloo was lost in thoughts, she totally overheard Rushing Wind's warning, and then, a sudden gust from the right threw her out of balance and she crashed on the ground.

Rainbow Dash rushed over to her sister-like friend. "Are you okay, Scootaloo?"

"Yeah, I'm fine... What was that?", Scootaloo asked, still a bit dizzy.

"That, Scootaloo, was a wind gust. A wind gust can always come out of nowhere, so you need to be prepared for that.", Rushing Wind explained.

"He is right, Scoots. If you feel a sudden wind gust, then try to stay in balance.", Rainbow Dash told her, "Just focus on keeping a straight line, okay?"

"Okay, I will.", Scootaloo said. And then, the second run started like before with Scootaloo matching the speed of the fan in front of her. Then came the sudden wind gusts. When Scootaloo felt the first one, she tried to countersteer against it, and it worked! Scootaloo maintained her balance and was still flying straight. Even from the other directions, the gusts couldn't get her out of balance.

"Watch out, Scootaloo! I will increase the gust power!", Rushing Wind warned her.

The first gust came from the left, and it came so sudden that Scootaloo had slight trouble keeping her balance. But as she got used to those powerful gusts, she managed to stay straight.

A few moments later, the test was over, and Rushing Wind said: "Not perfect, but that was really good. You should also know that this throw out of balance can also happen when a competitor bumps into you. The most important thing is that you always keep your balance when you're coming in hot."

Then came the test track. "Remember this track, Scootaloo?", Rushing Wind asked.

"I do... But it looks different.", Scootaloo responded.

"I added a few more obstacles to make the track tougher. And some tracks are a bit tighter than before.", Rushing Wind said, "Some tracks in the later tournaments will be tighter than the ones you raced on, and you need to get a feeling for that. So, get out there and show me what you got!"

Scootaloo went to the starting line and waited for the signal. When the light turned green, she took off. A few seconds in, Scootaloo realized that Rushing Wind wasn't joking - the test track sure got tougher with all these obstacles and tighter tracks. The first 4 lap run she did was abysmal. Rushing Wind came to her.

"Okay, Lesson One: You're not a rookie anymore. Live with it. Lesson Two: Every obstacle you face on the track can be dodged, you just need to memorize where they are. And if you do, your time will be better.", Rushing Wind explained.

With those tips, Scootaloo tried it again. While she used Lap 1 to memorize the position of the obstacles, she raced like a whirlwind over the track in the following three, although she scratched the walls a bit trying to move super fast. Her time was way better, though.

"Nicely done, Scootaloo.", Rushing Wind said, "Though I saw that you scratched the walls a bit when you were trying to move faster. What happened?"

"I think I lost the balance a little bit... There were two tight turns in a row.", Scootaloo said.

"Taking tight turns fast is key.", Rushing Wind said, "But it's even more key to keep your balance. It's all about weight shifting to take your turns quickly, and normally you do this by doing a technique called 'Air Braking'."

Both Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were puzzled. "What in Equestria is Air Braking?", Rainbow Dash asked.

"This is a technique in which you can stop one of your wings to slightly shift your weight to help you turn into the direction you want to. This is also helpful when taking hairpins.", Rushing Wind explained.

However, both fellow Pegasi still couldn't figure it out. "Alright. Watch this."

Rushing Wind took off and gained some speed. Then, as he flew, he stopped one of his wings and instantly took a tight turn. Another stop, and he showed off an almost instant 180 turn. Then, he came back to the two.

"And that is something where Air Braking will help you.", Rushing Wind said.

Feeling brave, Scootaloo wanted to try the track again. Utilizing the technique from Rushing Wind, Scootaloo was able to finish the first lap way faster and was also able to improve in the three remaining laps. Rushing Wind was impressed.

"Wow, nicely done. Any other Amateur would have to practice a lot to beat that time you just pulled off. And keeping your performance consistent is not easy when you do more than three laps.", Rushing Wind said.

Scootaloo was excited. She got better and better at flying, and she felt ready for the next tournament.

"Just a bit more training, and you will sure place very high in the tournament. I hope you're up for that.", Rushing Wind said.

Author's Note:

Scootaloo's training has paid off. She's almost ready for the Amateur Tournament.

Air Braking is also a technique from 'Wipeout', which is used in the same way like here, to take tight turns way faster.

What do you think will happen in the first two races of the Amateur Tournament? Write your expectations in the comments!

Comments

[Bronycommander]

NIce work! Hmm, I suspect she has to do dodge some obstacles and fight to stay in first place.

And say, have I ever told you my head canon about Scoots?

[RushingWind-01]

10622561
I think you even told me about it if you mean the scene you described in a private chat.

[Bronycommander]

10622611
That she is a late bloomer, instead of handicapped?

[RushingWind-01]

10622612
I think that's the one.

[Bronycommander]

10623060
Mhm. As I said, sorry if I unsettled you about that with Ray

[RushingWind-01]

10623063
No biggie, really. :)

[Bronycommander]

10623084
Was guilty conscience, given you went silent in the PM after it.