The sounds of air horns nearly deafen me while cheering fills the atmosphere as the racer in front of me is released. They're in a cheap kart. Plywood panels nailed together at right angles covered in paint. The wood's not even sanded down. Thin bicycle wheels with a single block brake that hovers just over the axle. It's a terrible kart to compete in. But I know they're not here for competition. They're here for fun.
Gravity slowly pulls their kart down the gravel fireroad. It's not steep whatsoever. You'd barely be able to notice the angle of the slope if you were walking on it. But we're not walking on it today. We're racing.
I release my disc brakes and roll to the start line. After coming to a stop under the start banner a stallion with a reflective vest comes over.
"You'll be released in one minute!" He hollers over the cheering spectators. "Release your brakes on the 'go' and don't jump the start!"
I nod in understanding and he walks over to the support holding up the banner to pick up his green flag. They repeat that at every race. I'm kinda sick of hearing it, but what can you do? Start riot? Revolt maybe?
I begin a brief overview of my kart and equipment. I check the straps of my cream helmet and reposition my aviator goggles. I tug on the buckle of my harness then put my attention on my kart. My kart's green with a yellow stripe along the center of it. My tires are a steel alloy and have small disk brakes on the hubs. I shouldn't need to use the brakes much on this course so I swapped them out earlier with a lighter option. I depress the brake pedal to check for any sponginess or excessive give. Rubber has recently started being manufactured so everypony started putting them on karts to make them safer on low traction trails.
The course consists largely of gravel fireroad with trees lining the sides. There are a few limestone cliff faces here and there but none that you drive near. Not near the ledge at least. You're near the base of a short one near the end. But It's only about seven feet tall at its peak so it's not that impressive anyway.
"30 seconds!"
The crowd grows slightly louder at that. Ponyville ponies have the second loudest crowds of all the other places I've been. Canterlot being first. Canterlot's the final race of the season. This race is the qualifying race for that one. Top five fastest competitors get to race there. I'm third in points for the season. First suffered a broken axle in yesterday's practice and can't compete and second spun out today and currently has the fifth fastest time, so I just have to get a faster time and knock him out. Fourth place doesn't have enough points to get first even if he wins this race and Canterlot's race. If I qualify today and compete in Canterlot I'll have enough points to get first place in the season and win. So basically this is the final race for me.
"10 seconds!"
The crowd starts counting down with the announcer and noise makers start making noise, as they're supposed to.
"5!"
"4!"
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
"GO!" The announcer yells and starts to wave his green flag. The crowd is insanely loud. I release my brakes and begin my descent. The dust from the racer from earlier is still in the air but has dissipated a great amount. The trail has a very slight right turn and I take the inside to prepare for the left hairpin coming up. I slow slightly for the hair pin and hit the apex perfectly. I go into the long left turn where ponies line the inside behind hay barriers. They're all cheering and hollering. A few pegasi perform tricks in the air as I race by. At this point I'm going quite fast. Maybe about 25 mph and still increasing speed. I can see Ponyville through a large gap in the trees ahead of me. It's a beautiful site. But after the gap comes a crest which I need to hit straight to avoid slowing down. Most racers slow down to avoid an accident because they hit the crest while turning. I spot the crest ahead and get as close to the inside as I can without hitting the hay. The crest is about fifty feet away. I straighten out the wheel and gain distance from the barrier as I head towards the crest. I wouldn't take this line if it weren't for the fact that the trail straightens out at the crest and that taking it throws me in the perfect position to take the narrow right chicane that comes immediately afterwards. If the turn had continued I would have taken the outside then straighten out and aim towards the inside just past the crest.
I assume no other pony has taken the crest this fast. Considering the ponies that I'm able to see have worried faces. I feel bad for making them worry but I know what I'm doing. I hit the crest and go airborne. Car angled in the air in a wonky manner. My right rear tire hits the ground first, followed by my left rear then front tires. The suspension that I don't have absorbs all the force expertly. Meaning 'ow'. After regaining control of the violently rotating steering wheel I carry my speed through the narrow chicane just as I had practiced yesterday. Ponies cheer loudly but I still hear a raspy yet feminine voice excitedly yell, "DID YOU SEE THAT!"
I can't help but smirk at that. I've done dozens of things at least 20% cooler than that before. But hearing the reactions always makes me a little bit giddy.
The fireroad turns left but the course goes off onto a steep dirt trail. Its only slightly steeper than the fireroad but my conserved speed gives me a few inches of air. Not a lot but enough to get a cheer from more ponies.
I'm going at least 45 mph as I exit the slope of the hill and enter a clearing. Now It's flat but a 180 degree left turn is coming up. Luckily the turn is on a large banked berm to help keep riders from losing control. Ponies sit on bleachers on the sides of the turn and on the inside area between the trails that the turn connects, but not on the side over the berm, because racers could fly over and land in the stands, which would be bad. The turn has a very large radius, so I don't have to slow down.
The crowd sees me approach and cheers loudly. I enter the turn and my speed and the banked angle of the berm pulls me down into the seat. The force makes the kart extremely sensitive but I maintain my line. I hold control of the kart as it tries desperately to spin itself out. I'm at the middle of the turn and I'm at the very top of the berm. My wheels throw dust up into the air behind me. I come down from the berm as I near the exit of the turn. I've tuned out the sound of the crowd by now and I'm completely focused on the race.
I exit the clearing and reenter the woods. There's another slope now and I increase speed going down it. The course transitions back onto the fireroad from earlier which comes in from the left. The slope lessens a little, just enough for me to maintain speed but not gain any. I go over a tiny wood bridge which crosses over a thin shallow creek flowing to my right. A long right turn comes up which has ponies lining the outside and inside behind hay barriers. I raise a hoof and wave at them as I pass. I cross over another wood bridge which goes over the same creek from earlier but this time the bridge is bigger and there's a small valley starting forming around the creek. I take a long left turn with more ponies but this time it's just a 90 degree turn and doesn't cross over the creek again. It's a short straight from here.
I feel the small bumps of the kart riding over the gravel on my body and the vibrations in the steering wheel on my hooves. The air races against my muzzle and I smile at the sensation. A cliff starts to rise on my left and a valley brings the trees down lower on my left. I'm at the final turn. It's the most dangerous part of the course. Ponies on top of the few feet tall cliff start to holler at my arrival. I ignore them and put my focus on the turn.
The turn is incredibly dangerous. But the organizers ignored the racers' complaints and kept it. It's a decreasing radius turn with potholes and bumps on the inside near the cliff and patches of deep gravel on the outside with a hay barrier outside that. But the worst part is that the turn is off-camber. It's only minuscule, but off-camber is still off-camber. The organizers probably wanted a crash to occur here. Why they would want that I don't know. Maybe they're bored.
I put pressure on the brake and steer into the turn. I feel the force of the turn pull me to the left but my bucket seat keeps me from sliding. I barely manage to control the rear wheels from sliding out and the front wheels feel like they're barely maintaining grip.
Then I see it. A kart has flipped onto its side and its taking up the middle and outside of the trail. It's the kart that took off before me. There's a bunch of ponies crowding it. I don't have enough room to safely slow down, and I can't turn towards the inside or I'll understeer straight into them. I straighten my wheel and slam on my brakes. I'm hoping that the deep gravel and hay can slow me down enough to keep me from going over the edge.
Both front wheels lock up as I aim just left of the group. But then my brake pedal dips down and my front right wheel unlocks and starts to rotate. The kart veers to the left as I counter steer right and the brake pedal drops all the way to the floor just as my left wheel starts to rotate. I'm forced to jerk the wheel all the way to the left to avoid spinning the kart from my previous counter-steer and flipping the kart. I successfully keep kart pointed straight. Which means I'm pointed straight at the hay barrier, which does nothing to slow me. The bales of hay weren't tied together like they're supposed to be.
The front of my kart drops instantly. The front digs into the dirt and I'm catapulted into a somersault. I'm spinning so fast the sky and earth mix together. I close my eyes out of instinct. I hear the carnage. I hear wood smashing, branches being torn, thuds, there's so much sound. I feel every hit my kart takes. My helmet takes a hit from something, hard. My forelegs are thrown about willy nilly. My harness digs deep into my chest. Should have padded it.
I come to a rest in the creek from earlier. It's flowing extremely slowly. It's so shallow that a few normal sized rocks break the surface every so often. It's about two feet wide. The valley is very steep. The trees aren't as dense near the edges as they are further up the valley.
I get tunnel vision and feel dizzy, but it goes away after a second.
It's very quiet. I don't hear anything. No rustling of the leaves, no birds, nothing.
I taste blood. I should probably check myself out.
My head's resting on the right side of my cockpit, I choose not to move it yet, don't want to get dizzy. I reach under my chin with my left hoof to undo the strap of my helmet, only to feel no strap. I realize that my helmet's gone. My goggles are gone too.
The tunnel vision comes back but leaves again just like earlier, but this time my eyes become unfocused as well.
I undo the buckle and work my forelegs out of my harness. All without moving my head. I bend my joints to make sure they work. I notice an unwillingness to move in my right fetlock. I raise it up to examine it. It's bent at a right angle to the side. The tunnel vision thing happens again and leaves just like the first time. I lower my right foreleg on the outside of the kart and let it hang.
I stare off into the forest as I start to hear sound again. I hear ponies yelling in the distance. I hear the wind and the leaves. The quiet flow of the creek is relaxing. Blood drips into the creek from somewhere on my head. Maybe multiple somewheres. Who knows.
My vision feels like it's zooming out but nothings getting smaller. I close my eyes for a few seconds.
I open them to see an orange pony on my right shouting up the hill.
"Ah found the colt! Get them medic ponies down 'ere quick!"
I raise my head then rest it on the rollover bar and stare at the sky. I know I said that I wouldn't move it, but I forgot that in the moment. I rest my eyes for a few seconds.
I must have passed out after resting my eyes. I'll try not to do that again.
I see in my peripheries the orange mare turning towards me. She notices that I'm awake and steps over to me.
"Yer hurt pretty badly there colt. I'd suggest not movin’ for right now."
I blink and give an extremely small nod. She gives a slight nod as well just before her ears swivel behind her and she turns around.
I hear new voices but tune them out as I focus on fighting off the sudden wave of nausea that just appeared. I frown deeply and clench my eyes for a few seconds as I feel sick. I open my eyes again but keep the frown. I feel awful, but there's no pain yet. Maybe that's the trade, no pain but I feel sick. It'll hurt soon though I bet.
Some pegasus ponies come through the trees with a stretcher. There's three of them. All wearing white vests with a red cross. Two of them are holding a stretcher while the third comes up to me.
She starts to ask me questions but I start gagging and dry-heaving before I could answer her. My eyes are clenched shut again and start clambering out of the kart. I don't know why, I just felt that I really needed to. They help me out of the kart and put me on the stretcher rather than try to stop me.
I assume that they're flying me towards the hospital because I can't think of anywhere else that they'd rush me to.
During the flight I start to feel short of breath. I feel winded and start moaning in-between short gasps for air. I wish I'd have been knocked out in the crash rather than experience this. I feel like I'm dying.
I know I arrive at the hospital when I start hearing voices and the clops of many hooves. But I couldn't care less about that as I'm trying to breath.
I feel myself get put on a gurney and something pricks my foreleg at the same time. I start violently coughing and try to open my eyes at the same time. The few glimpses I caught while coughing showed blood spatter on the gurney and myself.
That's hemoptysis. I learned that in forensics science just before coming to this race. Isn't that funny? I think it's funny. It's getting harder to think. It's probably whatever they put in me.
A chill runs through my body and I feel warm immediately after. I feel like my field of view increases and things feel like they happen multiple times. Blackness envelops my peripheries and everything zooms out extremely fast. I can't feel my body anymore and my thoughts are slowing.
...
...
I think I forgot to put on a hose clamp after I installed those smaller brakes...
...
...
...oops.
Author's Note
Imma leave the ending up to the imagination. It's also my first fic, hope it was okay.
