[PD] let's go round again...

Breed: Abraxan Age: 5 Gender: Male
Traits: Tropical (enjoys the heat but hates
the cold) and Fast (bonus to speed rolls).

Dino hadn't hesitated to sign up for the Pegasus Derby. Sure, he was a capable enough rider that he was allowed to ride the winged horses unsupervised these days, but he couldn't resist the excitement of the competition. Even his fear of heights seemed to diminish when he was astride one of the abraxans or granians, knowing that they wouldn't let him come to any harm because they avoided it themselves. Unsurprisingly he'd been put into the advanced category, and interestingly he wasn't the only one assigned to ride Foxtrot. One of the friendlier abraxans, Dino had first visited Foxtrot when he was still a skittish colt, too young to be ridden but still at the stage of needing to be trained to fly on an halter alongside an adult abraxan. Since that time, he'd ridden the huge animal on several occasions but wondered whether the beast would get bored flying the same course several times. He was scheduled to fly later in the event along with the other advanced riders, and had been concerned that the horses would be getting tired by this time.

Having watched first the beginners and then the intermediate classes he realised that was unlikely. The courses weren't too long, but the final obstacle course seemed to change for each competitor, so there was no advantage to flying it either for the first or the fifth time. Finally it was his turn, and he approached Foxtrot with his hand outstretched, half an apple held out for the abraxan. Sure, whisky would have been a better offering, but Dino wasn't of age and he didn't think bribing an older housemate to get him half a bottle of whisky was quite within the spirit of the competition. Foxtrot accept the apple without hesitating, and while he was munching Dino climbed the steps and swung his leg over the horse's back. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again; already he was a good twelve feet off the ground.

Best not to think about that, he knew from experience. Just look straight ahead and concentrate on the obstacles they would be facing. "Okay Foxtrot, we're ready" he told the abraxan as they trotted to the starting lone. Foxtrot flapped his massive wings, clearly already anxious to take to the air. "Not yet..." Dino said soothingly, as the starting signal sounded and they headed towards what was hopefully going to be the relatively simple moving fence.

Rolled 1d6 : 1, total 1

Roll 1 = FAIL

The fence was rising and falling, but Dino was unconcerned. He'd tried something similar - albeit on a much smaller scale - with his pony Bellezza and she'd jumped it without issue. The trick was to time the jump so that you approached when it was at maximum height, trust that the horse knew best, and then you got it right almost every time. That's all there was to it.

Unfortunately Foxtrot thought differently. Dino supposed he couldn't blame him - after all, what was the point of having wings if you didn't use them. All the same though, it was annoying that he was using all of his considerable riding skills to convince the abraxan to jump the fence, only to be completely ignored as Foxtrot flapped his wings and simply sailed right over.

"Yeah, great job" Dino said, sarcasm dripping from every syllable as Foxtrot beat his wings harder and soared skywards. Frustrating though it was to fail the first and easiest obstacle, he couldn't really blame his mount for doing what he'd been trained to do. Indeed, Dino couldn't really think of anything for a moment - the unexpected upward movement had caused him to slam his eyes shut and cling a little tighter to the abraxan's mane.One deep breath, then another and he opened his eyes again, knowing they would soon be approaching the rings. These were more difficult, but he hoped that now they were airborne Foxtrot would be more co-operative.

Theoretically, all Dino should need to do would be to guide the horse, keep his head down and they would sail through this one. Theoretically.

Rolled 1d6 : 3, total 3

Roll 3 + FAST bonus 1 = (4) PASS

One beat of those massive wings and they'd sailed through the first ring before Dino could even think of guiding the abraxan. It seemed that either Foxtrot knew what he was doing, or actually liked the idea of flying through hoops, because the second one came as easily as the first. They were soaring out over the cliffs now, far higher than Dino was really comfortable with, but his love of the winged horses outweighed his fear of heights. The third ring was rotating slowly, but Foxtrot barely even noticed as they glided through that one as well.

The final two were moving, one vertically and the other horizontally, with only a matter of a few metres in between. In other circumstances Dino might have tried to guide Foxtrot, but he was doing so well without assistance the boy was reluctant to do anything that might put him off his stride - or wingbeat. As they approached, Dino had a moment's horrible fear that they had misjudged both timing and distance and the ring would come down too quickly and knock him off his mount... he squeezed his eyes shut and leaned forward over Foxtrot's neck, clinging to the enormous steed and trusting that he knew what he was doing...

A cheer went up from the crowd and Dino opened his eyes, sitting up straight again. They'd done it! He actually risked freeing one hand to wave triumphantly to the spectators, but just for a second because Foxtrot looked set to fly higher andfaster, away from the course entirely...

"Not yet boy, we're not done yet..." Dino called encouragingly, guiding the winged horse round towards the final challenge, the obstacle course. He'd already seen that it was subtly different for each competitor, but wondered what he was going to face. As an advanced rider, it wouldn't be anything so simple as a weather spell or another set of floating rings...

Rolled 1d6 : 5, total 5

Roll 5 (and I forgot Dino gets a +1 for being an advanced rider, whoops!) = PASS

They flew straight into pitch darkness. It was entirely unexpected; one moment Dino and Foxtrot had been flying in bright sunshine, the next they couldn't see a thing. naturally the abraxan was spooked, he reared and let out a deafening whinny, but Dino's reactions were fast enough that he simply clung on and waited for the giant horses' response to play out. "It's okay boy, it's just a trick" he yelled, and "keep going!", wishing he was allowed to use his wand to conjure a light. It was hard to know what was happening when they couldn't see, he felt so disoriented they might have got turned around in mid-air for all he knew.

The wind was rushing past more slowly, clearly Foxtrot had taken the sensible precaution of slowing down so he was less likely to hit anything. Despite knowing this was all part of the final set of obstacles, Dino was still struggling to figure out how he was supposed to deal with this. What did it look like to the spectators, he wondered. Did they just see a black cloud, or was he visible to them? The latter thought was uncomfortable, given how panicked he must have looked a few seconds earlier, and he took a deep breath as he squinted through the blackness.

Was it..? Yes! "Foxtrot, that way!" he called as he simultaneously guided the abraxan in the direction of what he hoped was a slightly lighter area. It was grey rather than black over there, he was sure of it...Dino encouraged his steed with words and gestures, promises of a whole barrel of apples and even that he'd somehow get hold of some whisky from an older student...but it was definitely getting lighter. Relieved, he felt Foxtrot speed up and they burst out of the darkness and immediately found themselves face to face with...a dragon?

It wasn't fully grown, perhaps wasn't even a full sized one, but it was breathing fire and circling around a fence which Dino felt sure they were supposed to jump before they could finish the course. "It's okay boy, we've got this..." he said, though other than flying fast and avoiding the plumes of fire there was little they could do. Foxtrot's speed worked in their favour; they circled the dragon and twice Dino felt the heat rushing past his face before the abraxan soared over the jump and they left it behind.

Looking over his shoulder to be sure it really wasn't following, Dino almost didn't see the small flags that were floating in midair. They were too small to be guide markers so...he had to collect them? "Foxtrot, I need you to get close to those..." he muttered, signalling the abraxan to slow and turn in the direction of the first flag. Trying his hardest not to look down Dino leaned over and managed to grab the first flag, shoved it in his waistband and then guided Foxtrot to the second. Naturally that was the other side so he had to lean that way, this time reaching out with his non-dominant hand. They weren't quite as close this time, he leaned a little too far and let out a small shriek as he felt himself start to slip, but he was holding on tightly and mangaged to right himself. By this time Foxtrot had figured out what was expected of him and flew straight for the third and final flag.

Dino collected that one easily, and to his relief he could see the end of the course. They'd done it! As they flew lower though, he could see a small space marked out on the ground. maybe eight feet square. "We've got to land in that?!" he demanded to nobody in particular, hoping his mount was going to obey as he guided them down into the tiny area. Foxtrot obediently landed with all four feet neatly within the square and stood, shaking his mane proudly as he folded his wings. Dino dismounted, grinning from ear to ear even though every muscle in his body was screaming with the exertion. They'd done it!