Concorde landed on his grid spot and exhaled gently, letting his eyes close for a moment.
Here he was in race three, stood in tenth position as some of his fellow competitors made their way past him to their own grid positions. They were the best in the world, ponies he had a huge amount of respect and admiration for, but right now they were the enemy. They’d give him no quarter and he would ask for none. The aim was to win and while he knew he wasn’t good enough, he wasn’t going to hold anything back.
He opened his eyes, aware of the world around him. Everything was set. The wind was rolling over him from behind, which would help everyone’s start.
“Just waiting on a couple stragglers.” Maffett informed Concorde as Nicki Hest glided past and into his position. “Everyone’s in position.”
Concorde shifted his hooves to get the best possible jump he could. Being a tarmac track he couldn’t shift it to make a better jumping off point but it would mean that, barring reaction time, everyone will get a fairly similar start.
He focused up at the gantry, seeing the pony holding the Equestrian flag, some mare who was apparently a voice actor but he’d forgotten her name. Everything went quiet as he held it aloft and waited.
Waited.
Waited...
Waited……
Go!
As the flag fell Concorde leapt forwards in unison with Wolke directly ahead of him, driving his wings backwards perfectly with a fresh gust of wind that propelled him and the rest of the grid forwards.
He hugged the inside, seeing Power Drive drifting over into the pony sized gap there was between Concorde and Wolke, but he wasn’t going as quickly. A quick glance to the right revealed his only option to keep his speed by going around Power Drive wasn’t available as Aperto was directly next to him, leaving Concorde pinned to the inside.
The first corner approached quickly and Concorde had to run with the situation he was in where he’d lose a position or two to those on the outside with more momentum. He managed to slow at the right moment to avoid hitting Power Drive, but he could see ahead that Wolke wasn’t slowing fast enough.
Whoever was on Wolke’s right didn’t see the Bavarian pony’s mistake and the two collided, not fast enough to knock either of them out of the air but enough to cause them to head away from the apex and towards the run off and causing the pack behind to slow to avoid them.
This left Power Drive with a sizable gap to fly into, which Concorde followed. As they turned into turn two, Concorde glanced to the right to see if anyone was there and strangely enough, there wasn’t.
Concorde focused on following Power Drive up towards turn three, opting to stay in line into the corner. He took the opportunity to take a quick look over his left shoulder to see who was behind him and was surprised to see at least a second’s gap behind.
“Quicksilver’s out.” Maffett informed Concorde as he powered up the straight after turn six. “He tangled with Aperto after Wolke and Jorge touched. You’re safe in eighth at the moment.”
That was music to his ears as he checked the wind sock before turning into turn seven. It was still moving slightly, so he decided to match Power Drive’s pace through the long turn eight. He could see that he and Power Drive were still close to the pack ahead, but for the moment attacking wasn’t his best option.
As they raced out of turn ten Concorde made sure he was tucked in behind Power Drive as they went down the back straight. He made sure he was as thin as possible as their speeds increased, this body getting shaken to the core as those ahead of him broke the sound barrier. Even with his vision shaken into a complete blur he could see he wasn’t losing much in the slip stream, or at least nowhere near as much as he had been before.
Concorde moved slightly to the left after they exited the turn eleven kink to see the pack ahead. The leaders were just approaching turn twelve while he and Power Drive were chasing Dawn Wisp, who was flying in the middle of the track to defend but Power Drive wasn’t looking to attack. With his wing out of the slip stream, Concorde could feel how strong the wind was getting. Being at the back of the pack was helping him as they were impeded by the worst of the wind.
He picked his slowing spot, remaining conservative as they went into the last few corners. Ahead of Power Drive and Dawn Wisp, Concorde recognised Ekstrom, Nicki Hest and Rossi with Mercedes and Zip Line leading at the end of the first lap.
He was right on the tail of some of the best flyers in the world, including three champions. He was giddy with excitement as they finished the first lap.
“You’ve got a two point nine seconds gap to Blitzen behind you.” Maffett informed him over the radio.
“Got it.” Concorde confirmed. “Going to plan my next move.”
***
Six laps of planning passed with next to no real options presenting themselves. Concorde was able to corner quicker than some of those ahead, but if he did manage to make an overtake it would still leave him vulnerable into the best overtaking spot on the track at turn twelve, which he couldn’t utilise himself.
There had been plenty of overtaking ahead of him, however. Mercedes led the pack after passing Zip Line into turn seven while Hest, Ekstrom and Rossi were swapping positions almost constantly. Power Drive and Dawn Wisp seemed to be planning their moves as well as they hadn’t even tried to overtake those ahead yet.
“Blitzen’s catching by point three of a second a lap.” Maffett updated Concorde. Blitzen had shaken the pack he was in and was setting fastest laps to catch back up with the lead pack.
“Go dark.” Concorde instructed Maffett.
“Going dark.” She replied, letting him know she wouldn’t say anything unless it was important.
If Blitzen was catching, he had to start making moves forwards now rather than dilly dally as he currently was. As they were only in turn eight, Concorde had to wait. Turn three would be his best option, possibly a late dive into the corner as Power Drive prepared to enter it with a slightly wider line then Concorde was using, which would enable him to make use of his cornering speed to try and make a gap that would protect him down the back straight.
As Concorde made his way through turn twelve, he took a glance over his shoulder to see Blitzen was now around about a second behind him. With the sort of slipstream he’d be getting, he could easily pass Concorde on the next lap or the one after.
Over the line Concorde tucked in as close behind Power Drive as he could, guess his slowing point so he didn’t lose any momentum through turn one. As they went through turn two, Concorde waited for his moment as the curb came into view over the crest of the hill they were going over. As soon as he saw it, barely a second before his usual slowing spot, he dived for the inside of the corner. Power Drive disappeared from the corner of his eye as they approached turn four and Concorde’s usual look into the corner as he turned didn’t reveal him, meaning he’d made the overtake stick.
Now was the time to push as he threw himself through turns five and six and towards seven. Dawn Wisp and the pack ahead were helping Concorde along, but they were slowing slightly earlier then he was and preventing him from pushing as hard as he’d like. Through turn eight they didn’t cause a problem but as they approached turn nine, Concorde started to worry.
He had seen out of the corner of his eye when cornering that he hadn’t dropped Power Drive at all. He had to get as much of a slipstream off Dawn Wisp as he could as they went through turns nine and ten and down the back straight.
As the pack went through the turn eleven kink, Concorde glanced to his right to see if Power Drive was still directly behind to see that he wasn’t. Unless he’d crashed, he had to be looking to make a move down the straight into turn twelve, so Concorde stayed to the inside of the track as those head headed for their slowing point (or made overtakes of their own).
Being out of the slip stream, Concorde felt the full force of the wind as he beat his wings for all his might. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Power Drive drawing level with him as they reached the half way point of the straight. With momentum on Power Drive’s side, Concorde’s only option was to get into the corner first, so he moved back to the middle of the track and prepared himself.
He had to slow earlier then Power Drive because of the tighter line he’d be on, but as he turned in he drew back alongside the more experienced racer. They were side by side on the short approach to turn thirteen, but Concorde now had no choice but to accept losing out as they turned into it and following in his wake through turn fourteen.
Concorde sighed in slight disappointment as he re-evaluated his options for overtaking. His thoughts were interrupted when he realised Blitzen was on his inside into turn one far too late to do anything about it. He was now back down to ninth at the start of lap eight with another fifty to go and he really hoped he wasn’t going to spend the whole race staring at someone’s backside.
***
Ten laps passed as Concorde watched those ahead battle for position. He still didn’t have much of an opportunity to make his way up the order as Mercedes and Zip Line tried to make a break while Blitzen made his way past Power Drive and then Dawn Wisp with his sights set now on Ekstrom.
Nicki Hest and Rossi were the only non-movers at the moment, which was a surprise as they weren’t exactly known for their reserve. Still, it wasn’t a short race and holding back for a later attack may work out, as Maffett had pointed out when Concorde voiced his frustrations to himself and forgot he still had a radio.
He at least had nothing to worry about from behind at the moment. Being on the back of the lead pack had the benefit of drawing him away from the rest of the field and he was now over five seconds ahead of the pony in tenth. He didn’t know where his team mates were, but as they weren’t directly affecting his race he wasn’t particularly bothered.
As the pack went down the black straight for the nineteenth time, Concorde looked ahead to see if anyone was making a move. With Blitzen having advanced up the order, Ekstrom was looking to make an escape himself and was looking to pass Hest as they approached turn twelve.
Concorde hung back slightly, Power Drive and Blitzen having a similar idea as Ekstrom went into turn twelve side by side with Hest. In the short run to turn thirteen, Hest came back over on his line as if Ekstrom wasn’t even there, but even on the outside he was able to stay level and into turn fourteen and onto the start finish straight, Ekstrom was able to make the move stick.
Hest wasn’t letting Ekstrom keep the place as he immediately tried to overtake into turn one, shoving his way onto the apex of the corner, but Ekstrom pulled back ahead through turn two and pulled across Hest’s nose into turn three.
With his momentum interrupted, Hest was in danger of being overtaken by Blitzen as they headed into turn seven, but he wasn’t close enough to make the pass. Through turns eight, nine and ten and down the back straight Hest had to occasional glance to the side, but kept in line until turn twelve, where he darted out as he and Ekstrom started to slow, with Power Drive making a slightly more reasoned move on Dawn Wisp behind.
They were both headed for the same apex, the one ahead unaware of the one behind until too late as the pair collided. Hest’s body hit the upper part of Ekstrom’s wing and caused it to buckle, immediately losing lift and causing him to hit the ground, sliding off into the run off area. The impact caused Hest to wobble hugely in the air, taking him off the track as well but he remained in the air and threw himself back on track as Power Drive completed his move on Dawn Wisp.
Hest didn’t have much concern for Dawn Wisp’s presence as he shoved his way between him and Power Drive, but with his loss of momentum, Power Drive was able to pull away and Concorde was presented with an opportunity.
He took a wide line into turn fourteen and squared off the corner, allowing himself more room to accelerate and found he’d passed Dawn Wisp before they even reached the back of the grid. His momentum even brought him alongside Hest as they slowed for turn one.
Seeing no reason to waste this second opportunity, Concorde pulled out to make an overtake at the last possible moment, heading for the apex as Hest started to turn in. He looked over his right shoulder to see he and Hest were going to be side by side out of the corner, the Danish pony having the inside line for the long turn two.
However, as Concorde went to turn right he found that Hest wasn’t interested in the normal racing line. He was staying as wide as he could, keeping Concorde pinned to the outside line of the track. He was even actively watching Concorde, as if making sure he was going to ruin Concorde’s attempt at an overtake.
Hest was known for hard, borderline dangerous racing but Concorde wasn’t going to buckle. He stayed on line around the outside, leaving the pair of them vulnerable to Dawn Wisp but with the longer way to go, Concorde lost out and Hest got back ahead before turn three. However, now he’d turned his attention away from Concorde he saw Dawn Wisp was coming and veered over to curb his advance. Again, Concorde had the advantage as the inside of turn three was left completely undefended and he went through into what was now sixth position.
Power Drive had pulled away as he pursued Blitzen, Rossi, Zipline and Mercedes ahead. Concorde afforded himself a look at the wind sock on the outside of turn seven as he chased after the pack and saw it was almost getting pulled off the post. As the straight between turns six and seven was in a dip he couldn’t really feel it, but as he exited turn seven he got it’s full force behind him which catapulted him up the straight far faster than normal.
He prepared himself as he turned into the opening of turn eight, making himself less of a target as the wind hit him whilst fully tilted over. He couldn’t avoid it completely as his line took him wider then he’d like and threatened to put him off the track before he finally exited the turn.
“Corde, you’re sixth. Ekstrom’s out and Dawn Wisp and Hest are just outside your slip stream.” Maffett informed him. Power Drive ahead was just assay close enough to give Concorde a slip stream and with the heavy wind holding the pack up he should be able to stick with him down the back straight.
Concorde kept his focus forwards, making sure he was fully in the slipstream of pack ahead as the wind picked up again, going slightly sideways as he went through the turn eleven kink on the back straight. He angled himself slightly into it so as to provide as little resistance as possible and he actually started to gain on Power Drive just ahead of his slowing point at the end of the straight.
Through three corners and over the start finish line and Concorde was only just over a pony length behind. He afforded himself a look over his shoulder and saw that Hest and Dawn Wisp were almost two seconds behind now, well outside his slip stream and, for the time being, safe.
***
The laps ticked by as Concorde observed those ahead of him. Hest and Dawn Wisp were busy scrapping with each other and had lost another two seconds to Concorde at the back of the lead pack, which provided him with all the time he needed to see what the fastest in the world did.
As he entered the final third of the race, he had worked out their potential weaknesses and even improved on his own and started to catch slightly into turn twelve while slowing. It would give him a chance to do a late block pass but he’d have to rely on the reactions of the pony he was overtaking to ensure there wasn’t a crash.
It was true that he could just sit back and cruise to the end of the race in a near guaranteed sixth, which would be an amazing result for him, but he knew there was potential to do better. Not to mention he didn’t like being considered ‘conservative’.
As the lead pack exited turn ten and rocketed along the back straight, Concorde decided he’d make a move. Power Drive ahead wasn’t escaping him with only a pony’s length separating their outstretched hooves, but as they went through the turn eleven kink Power Drive opted to keep to the racing line and headed to the right side of the track.
Concorde stuck to the middle of the track, still not gaining but Power Drive seemingly hadn’t noticed him. With no pack in his way, Concorde could see what was happening ahead and Zip Line and Rossi were side by side, hugging the left side of the track as they fought. As the pair threw their wings out to slow, Zip Line started to wobble and collided with Rossi. Concorde slowed as fast as he could as Blitzen and Power Drive dived to the lift to get to the apex as Zip Line and Rossi flat spun away, leaving a wide gap for the three of them to get past.
Once through turn twelve, Concorde looked over his shoulder to see what became of the pair of them were still airborne but well off the track. Rossi throwing a somewhat rude gesture at Zip Line as the pair reoriented themselves and got back on track, but they were now well behind even Hest and Dawn Wisp, who had started to gain.
As Concord turned his attention forwards, he saw that Power Drive was now having a go at Blitzen into turn thirteen, the defending Blitzen trying to pin Power Drive to the inside of the turn so he had the inside into turn fourteen.
With them both so far over to the right and focused on themselves, there was an enormous gap on the left. Concorde didn’t even take a moment to think about any potential move and dove straight into the gap, now the inside of turn fourteen as they headed over the line.
Concorde stuck to the middle of the track as they headed towards turn one, taking a glance to his left to see if they’d try and attack.
“You’ve got space, Corde!” Maffett shouted over the radio, getting wrapped up in the excitement.
Concorde was excited too as the reality dawned on him that he was, on merit, second in an Equestrian Cloud Racing League race. Mercedes in the lead had gained over a second during the chaos, but now Concorde had some sort of space as they headed into his strongest section of the track. He had to push to make sure he’d get a hold of the position ahead of the back straight, so he threw himself through turns one and two, up the hill and into three. He flapped his wings as fast as he could and rolled side to side faster than he had before as he tried to find every ounce of speed he could through the first sector of the lap.
“Gap?” Concorde prompted as he headed down the short straight to turn seven.
“Half a second. Power Drive, Blitzen and Hest are close together.” Maffett replied as Concorde went through turn seven.
He had to get turn eight absolutely right if he wanted to escape, or at least stand a chance of holding off an attack into turn twelve. He lined himself up carefully on the approach and tilted in.
He hit the first apex perfect, but as his turning arch took him towards the second apex as gust of wind picked up. His inside wing nearly tucked underneath him and he had to turn out of the corner to make sure he didn’t lose lift and crash.
“B*******!” He nearly shouted to himself as the apex drifted away and he headed towards the outside line of the track. Once he’d regained lift on his inside wing he turned back into the corner and flapped his wings hard to try and at least stay ahead, but Power Drive was already alongside him.
There was nothing he could do to stop Power Drive overtaking him into turn nine, but as they turned up the hill and through turn ten onto the back straight, Concorde was at least able to get in behind Power Drive and ahead of Blitzen.
Power Drive was able to draw away out of the corner and up towards the turn eleven kink and Concorde knew he’d have little to help him against Blitzen, who was likely already eyeing up a move. As they came out of turn eleven, Concorde hugged the left of the track again and kept an eye out over his left shoulder and sure enough Blitzen was gaining on his outside. He had to do something to hold off Blitzen, so Concorde started moving right to try and impede Blitzen’s line.
Blitzen looked over, the look in his eyes seemingly wondering what the young stallion was doing before backing out of the attempted overtake before they slowed for turn twelve. It was an overly aggressive move, but it held Blitzen off as they turned in.
Concorde caught a glimpse of something out of the left corner of his eye before he was suddenly struck by something going quite quickly. The impact spun him around clock wise and took him off the track before he’d realise someone had hit him in the middle of the corner. After a full spin he found he was still airborne and close to the track. He quickly returned to the track careful not to fly into Dawn Wisp .
“What the f*** was that?” Concorde asked Maffett as he flew across the line, though now he could see the order ahead he knew what ‘that’ was.
“It was Hest. You’re sixth with Rossi about three seconds behind.” Maffett replied.
“That mother f***er, he used me as a brake!” Concorde said angrily.
“Calm down, Corde. You’re still in a good position and there’s fifteen laps left.”
“I was f***ing second!”
“And now you’re sixth, just make sure you stay there.” Fleetfoot suddenly injected over the radio.
Concorde really wanted to argue back, but as Dawn Wisp started to inch away through turn one and two he realised he didn’t have the luxury. He chased after Dawn Wisp through the lap and onto the back straight, but Concorde wasn’t close enough to benefit from a slip stream and Dawn Wisp pulled away.
With a sigh, he resigned himself to his current position.
“Keep me up to date on the gap to Rossi.” Concorde asked Maffett as he crossed the line, but it seemed he was in for a quieter end to the race.
***
The remaining laps ticked down slowly, Concorde now very much on his own as Dawn Wisp drew away and Rossi fell slowly back. The chequered flag came as somewhat of a relief as Concorde rounded the final corner and glided over the line.
He let his head and legs droop as he glided along, breathing heavily in exhaustion and frustration. He had been running in second for nearly a whole lap in only his third race and it was his own mistake that cost him the position.
“Good work, Corde. A solid sixth place is nothing to sniff at.” Maffett said reassuringly.
“I know, but I could have been second.” Concorde sighed, still disappointed.
“I know, but there’s still plenty of races to go this year. You can still get that podium yet.”
Concorde raised his head as he glided around the track, up towards turn seven where Dawn Wisp, who'd managed to overtake Blitzen on the penultimate lap, was and Nicki Hest were seemingly engaged in a slagging off match. A level of fury built up in Concorde at the sight of the Dane and he hurried up to catch them.
“Don’t come crying to me, just because you’re not good enough.” Hest shot at Dawn Wisp before taking off towards turn eight.
“That’s big, coming from you!” Concorde instinctively shouted. He’d watched Hest racing for years and knew full well he’d only been successful because of his dirty racing tactics and hearing such a hypocritical remark always made him angry.
Before Concorde could chase after Hest and knock him out of the air, Dawn Wisp put his own hoof up and caught the young stallion.
“It’s not worth it.” Dawn Wisp said simply. Concorde still had furious eyes locked on Hest as he disappeared, but after a moment he managed to take a deep breath and accept that Dawn Wisp was indeed right.
“Good race, by the way.” Concorde said, offering Dawn Wisp his hoof, which the older racer shook.
“It was, though you were pretty aggressive with your defence.”
“I had no choice, I couldn’t out drag any of you.”
“Still, you do need to be careful with moves like that. I imagine it kept your fans entertained at the very least.” Dawn Wisp said, indicating to a field of banners on the outside of turn eight, where normally no one stood.
Concorde looked over confused, before realising they were all banners for himself, Dash and Dust. There were a few ponies among the banners, but front and centre was Pinkie Pie, leaping up and down and waving several flags as he went past.
“How long’s Pinkie been there?” Concorde asked Maffett as he waved back.
“Outside of turn eight? All weekend. Haven’t you noticed she’s barely been in the stable?” She replied, though Concorde’s lack of a response answered her question.
Concorde smiled as he flew back, waving back to her. He made a mental note to buy her a drink later for her efforts.