ECRL: The Wonderhawks

by WildFire15

Lets Get Started

The next morning, Rainbow Dash found herself drowsily gliding across Ponyville. She was never meant to get up at this cursed hour and she didn’t care how often Applejack told her waking early would make you healthier or anything. Fluttershy always said waking to bird song was the most wonderful thing in the world, but Dash just found it to be an inconsistent alarm call.

Her mind was also making room for worry between the annoyance and drowsiness. She had been meant to read through the rule book since their test flight before Heath Warming yet at most all she’d done was skim through it. She’d fallen asleep while trying to memorise the flag signals last night and couldn’t remember the difference between the black with orange circle flag or the yellow and orange wavy line flag, though one of them defiantly had something to do with wind.

She missed the old windmill the first time over, having been looking for the sails before remembering they had been removed some time ago. She spotted the varnished wooden building on the second pass with Concorde unlocking the front door. He had a saddle bag on that appeared to have several groceries in it, so she dived straight towards the door, doing a quick flip before landing as silently as a cat next to him.

Concorde paused, completely bemused for a moment before looking at her.

“Mornin’” Concorde said. “Nice flip.”

“Forward flip for style.” Dash grinned.

“Not a perfect finish, might have to dock a point.” He added grinning, referring to her stance that looked vaguely like a gymnast’s finishing stance.

“Huh?”

“Nowt, nowt. Get yourself inside, Fleet wants to start as soon as possible.”

“Nowt?”

“Aye, nowt. Nothing.” Concorde added.

Concorde pushed the door open and allowed Dash to go in first. The living room and adjoined kitchen were surprisingly tidy after one of Pinkie’s parties. Fleetfoot was busy sticking things to a white board while Maffett and Ratchett placed chairs and beanbags in front of it.

“Did you guys clean all this?” Dash asked, slightly surprised.

“Yeah. Couldn’t get comfortable in that bed even without Maffett snoring the place down, so did some bits and bobs down here. Managed to go through all our milk from cups of tea, too.”

“So they’re not kidding when they say Yorkshire ponies are big tea drinkers?”

“That’s an understatement.” Fleetfoot said. “Morning, by the way.”

“I don’t snore!” Maffett suddenly shot back at Concorde.

“You do. I’d have felt all scared and lonely if you didn’t.” Concorde grinded back. Dash just looked confused.

“What?” Concorde asked, seeing her expression.

“Are you two toge-”

“No.” Both Concorde and Maffett injected before Dash could finish her question.

“So she snores that loudly?”

“I don’t snore!”

“Come on Ratchett, back me up.” Concorde prompted. The unicorn didn’t look up.

“I don’t think I’m allowed to say anything.” He replied, putting a beanbag in place as Concorde burst out laughing.

“Did I miss anything?” Spanner asked as he came down the stairs, followed by Lightning Dust who looked like she hadn’t slept at all.

“Whoa, you look terrible Dusty.” Concorde remarked. “You ok?”

“No. I couldn’t sleep from the noise underneath me.” She said, rubbing her eyes.

“Concorde’s room is under yours. You’re the snoring one, stal!” Maffett commented at Concorde.

“No I don’t. I’ve been told I sound like a kitten purring.” He said mockingly.

“If I had a kitten that made a noise like that, I’d put it down.” Spanner remarked.

“I think that’s enough bickering this early in the morning.” Fleet said over them. “Make yourselves comfortable and I’ll get started.

***

Fleetfoot finished pinning sheets and paper and scribbling notes on her board as the others got comfortable, the racers each on a beanbag in front of their spotters. Concorde passed out a few apples he had bought while he’d been out that morning, tossing one into the air that got impaled on Ratchett’s horn.

“Right,” Fleet started once she’d finished writing. “When we’re done playing around, we’ll get started.”

Her words went totally unnoticed while Concorde tossed three more apples into the air, each landing perfectly in his, Dash’s and the now fully awake Dust’s mouths.

“Ah, kettle!” Concorde suddenly exclaimed through a mouth full of apple.

“Anyone want a cuppa?” He called asked as he left his half eaten apple and trotted over to the kitchen. Fleet just sighed as she put her pointing stick down.

“Of course!” Maffett replied, sneaking onto Concorde’s vacated beanbag.

Rainbow noticed Lightning noting something down and when she leaned over to get a better look saw it was a list of slang words.

“It’s almost like learning another language.” Dust commented when she realized Dash was looking, rubbing her eye.

“Want a drink, Dupond et Dupont?” Concorde asked, drawing confusion from Dash, Dust and Fleet.

“Huh?”

“You two.” He repied, pointing at Ratchett and Spanner. They just looked at him, unsure how to react.

“Dupond and Dupont?” They said in unison.

“Well do you want one or not?”

“Milk, one sugar.” They replied in unison, ignoring Concorde’s amused look.

“What’s Dupond et Dupont, though?” Dash asked

“You’ll find out.” Maffett said, smirking as if she was in on the joke. “He loves his French comics.”

“He speaks French?”

“Oui.” Concorde replied. “Ma mere est de Maneaco.” Dash and Dust just looked completely bemused, having never expected someone with that accent suddenly speak what sounded like perfect French.

He just smiled as he gave Ratchett and Spanner matching blue and white stripped mugs, though they didn’t seem to notice as they drunk in unison.

He then carried over one which he placed where Maffett had been sat, a dark blue mug with ‘Strawberry Blonde Mug’ written on it, before presenting Fleet with a steaming blue mug down with a bright 35 on it. She took it from him and took a quick sip as Concorde turned around and realized Maffett was sitting in his beanbag.

“Jump in my grave as quickly, would you?” as he walked past to retrieve the final mug, which was white with ‘Total Mug’ written on it.

“Maybe.”

“Children!” Fleet said firmly before she lost their attention as she put her mug aside. “You’ve been chosen for this team as you are the best the Wonderbolts Academy or the team Captain Spitfire has seen.”

“Spitfire shares a desire to see talent raise to the top with the leader of the newly reformed Red Hawks, Hurricane, so we’ve decided to work together to do just that.”

“Dash and Dust, you may be asking how flying in the Equestrian Cloud Racing League could possibly help improve your ability as a performance flyer? Well, my personal philosophy is to jump in the deepest end possible and work it out from there and believe me when I say the ECRL is tough.”

“In a routine, you’ll always know where your teammates are going. In a race, you don’t have that luxury and you will be required to think and react in a matter of split seconds in very small spaces in some cases.”

“The three of you can learn something off each other that has the potential to make you even better then you already are, but before we get to that point I want to make sure you’ve done your research and learning of the rules.”

Dash and Dust gulped in unison.

“Seeing as you’re already across this sort of thing, Concorde,” Fleet continued, turning to the slightly worried Dash and Dust. “I’ll ask you two: What does the blue flag represent?”

The others watched Dash and Dust as they thought. Dash knew she had seen a blue flag in the list of rules but she couldn’t for the life of here remember what it meant. While she thought, Concorde rolled Maffett out of the beanbag and jumped back onto it.

“Right, for those at the back with the Daring Doo books hidden in their rule books,” Fleet started, making Dash look awkward as there actually was a Daring Doo book in her rule book, though she had been using it as a book mark. “The blue flag means the race leader is about to lap you and you have to let him or her through.”

“Flag signals are race control’s method of informing you about significant events and hazards during the race.” Fleet continued. “The most commonly used flags are the Equestian national flag to start the race, the yellow flag to inform of danger and not to pass, the green flag to inform the danger has pass and you can carry on racing and of course the chequered flag to inform of the end of the race.”

“Lightning,” Fleet turned to Dust. “What is the difference between a single still yellow flag, a waved yellow flag and two waved yellow flags?” Everyone looked at her while she thought.

“Is it how serious the accident is?” She offered eventually.

“Technically yes.” Fleet replied after mulling the answer over. “But more importantly it’s how much of a danger an incident poses to those on track. Double waved yellows means there’s marshals on track.”

“And be prepared to stop.” Concorde added.

“I don’t think you can take part in that, Corde.” Maffett said. “You’ve got an unfair advantage, there’s nothing you don’t know about racing.”

Maffett quickly snuck around the back of the three Pegasus to Lightning Dust.

“Ask him to name every pony who’s won at Maneaco.”

“He knows every one?”

“That’s even more unfair.” Concorde said “My grandparents live down there so I’m pretty much across racing lore there.”

“Well go on.” Rainbow Dash prompted.

“Well, you asked.” He replied, adjusting himself in the beanbag and taking a moment to think. “Grover, Dreyfus, Chiron, Novulari,” He started, rattling off the names without stopping for breath as Maffett giggled harder and harder while the others looked more and more stunned. “Velcodade, Mercedes and Hest.”

There was a slightly stunned silence once he’d finished, interrupted by Maffett’s giggling.

“Don’t give me that, I’d bet you could name all the Wonderbolts captains.” Concorde challenged with an amused smile.

Dash launched into a similar list, naming each Wonderbolts captain as quickly as Concorde had named his racers. “Firestorm, Lightning Charger, Spitfire.” She eventually finished.

“I think you’ve out nerded me, Dashie me dear.” Concorde replied, smiling. “Speaking of flyers, is the list official?” He asked Fleet. She just pointed to a list attached to the top corner of her white board.

“It’s not an official list, those don’t have your names on yet and we haven’t decided what our team’s going to be called.” Fleet said as the assembled ponies read the list.

It consisted of ponies Dash knew of and ponies she had never heard of with their race numbers and team names.

1 - Mercedes - MER - Silver Arrows
2 - Nicki Hest - HST - Vargarna
03 - Typhoon - TYH - Chasers
4 - Zip Line - ZIP - Chasers
5 - Ekstrom Falun - EKM - Swan Speed
7 - Blitzen - BTZ - Reindeer Racers
8 - Power Drive - PWD - Vargarna
9 - Quicksilver - QSL - Silver Arrows
15 - Wolke Schwade - WLK - Fancypants Racing
19 - Lotus Steam - LTS - Chappony Engineering - Rookie
21 - Velocidade - VEL - Embraer Faze Correr
29 - Dawn Wisp - DWP - WildFire Racing
30 - Red Rum - RED - Champion Cloud
34 - Skyline Datsun - SKY - Nissaddle
36 - Auroras Encore - ARE - Champion Cloud - Rookie
40 - Aperto Jnr - APR - Fancypants Racing
46 - Rossi Dottore - ROS - WildFire Racing
51 - Wildfire - WLF - WildFire Racing
52 - Concorde Cayley - CRD - TBA - Rookie
67 - Riggwelter - RIG - Team Blacksheep
84 - Leciec Wartki - LEC - Swan Speed
99 - Jorge Rapido - JOR - Caballo Carreras
?? - Lightning Dust - LTD - TBA - Rookie
?? - Rainbow Dash - RBD - TBA - Rookie

“Why are we at the bottom?” Rainbow asked, though Lightning seemed to have noticed something else.

“Cayley?”

“Aye?” Concorde said, arching an eyebrow.

“Your surname’s Cayley?”

“Aye it is, Dusty” He replied, looking slightly amused.

“You’re at the bottom because you don’t have numbers yet, I made up your shortened names for the TV a while ago.” Fleet injected to answer Rainbow’s question. “The organisers have been pestering me for an answer so if you two have a number in mind?”

“Fifty nine!” Lightning said instantly.

“Ok.” Fleet said, scribbling down the number. “Rainbow.”

“Fifty eight.” Rainbow said with a grin. Lightning looked annoyed as Fleet wrote the number down.

“I choice fifty nine because it’s my lucky number. Any reason you choice fifty eight?”

“It’s my lucky number.” Rainbow replied with a smirk, though neither Lightning or Concorde believed her. “How ‘bout you, Corde?”

“I’ve always raced as fifty two.” He stated. “One of my favourite racers, Doncaster Kiveton-Park, had that number too. He actually officially gave me it when I met him once.”

“Officially? Was there a ceremony?”

“With flowers and everything.”

“If we could move on, Children.” Fleet injected, drawing their attention. “I want you to be familiar with the tracks as well as the competition.”

On the other side of the board which Fleet was pointing towards was a list of circuits with a few small diagrams. Rainbow recognised a few names, the first one especially as she’d been there a few times, if not to watch the races.

Cloudsdale Grand Prix - Cloud (WB)
Grand Prix of Baltimare – Street (WB)
Vanhoover Challenge -Road (RH)
Dodge Coaster – Dodge Junction (New) – Cloud (DJH)
Towcesterstone – Trottingham – Road (RH)
Maneaco Grand Prix – Street (RH)
Le Manes Grand Prix – Road (RH)
Fillydelphian Grand Prix – Cloud (RH)
Windy Valley Raceway – Yorkshire (Reinstated) – Cloud/Road (RH)
Baytona 200 – Road (WB)
Rantakallio – Cloud (RH)
Canterlot Grand Prix – Cloud/Street (WB & RH)

“Dodge Junction’s official now?” Concorde asked.

“It is. Hopefully they can keep the track in one piece all weekend.” Fleet replied, checking the diagram marked ‘Dodge Coaster’, which featured interlocking rings of cloud.

“What’s the WB and RH mean?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh, it’s who’s performing before each race, either the Wonderbolts or the Red Hawks. Part of the contract for the Dodge Junction race was to let their local team, the Hornets, fly beforehand from what I was told.”

“More importantly, I’ve noted the track type next to each. We’ll have go-karts as a supporting race on road and street tracks, even Windy Valley and Canterlot where they’ll take a different route.”

“That go-kart track at Windy’s great.” Concorde remarked.

At that moment, there was a knock on their door.

“That had better be Rarity with your suits.” Fleet said, stepping around the team and heading for the door.

“Didn’t realize you were having them sent to her.” Ratchett said, rubbing his moustache.

“Seeing as she’s willing to design the suit livery, I figured it’d be best.” Fleet replied as she opened the door. Rarity was indeed there, levitating three enormous bags.

“Did you start without me?” She asked.

“You only missed the boring stuff.” Dash smiled

“I’m sorry I’m late, these horrible things only just arrived.” She said, levitating the bags through the door.

“Do you want a cuppa?” Concorde asked, climbing out of his seat, grabbing the empty mugs and trotting back over to the kitchenette.

“Why yes, please.” Rarity said as she levitated and dropped the suits by the sofa “Do you have any flowery earl grey?”

“Er, we have Trotley’s.” Concorde shrugged. Rarity actually gasped in surprise.

“You drink that stuff?”

“Aye. In fact, as you’re going to be our sponsor, you’ll have to try a good hearty cuppa rather then that wishy washy stuff. It’s tea bag, milk, sugar and then water here, me dear.” Concorde smiled. Rarity just looked at him like he was some sort of heathen.

“Now we have the suits, why don’t you try yours on, Dash?” Fleet said.

“Sure.”

***

It took a while, but Dash was eventually fully kitted out in the plain white leather suit, open face helmet, goggles that fit flush in with her helmet, a mouth guard which covered anything her helmet didn’t and matching boots. It felt uncomfortable and limited her movements, not to mention creaking at every small movement. Her wings were still fully exposed, as was her tail, making her wonder what the point was.

“Hover.” Fleet prompted.

Dash did so, hovering a few feet in the air and holding her legs out. In this position, it felt more natural as the material didn’t pull awkwardly against her. She couldn’t help but notice Rarity rapidly scribbling something down on a notepad, though.

“What good does that mouth thing do?” Lightning asked.

“Well, it won’t stop any broken bones” Concorde said offhand “but it will save you re-growing huge chunks of skin.”

“I can hardly move!” Dash commented, allowing herself to drift back to the ground.

“Don’t worry, it’ll soon wear in. Just takes a bit of time.” Concorde smiled.

“Well, as it’s midday, you can have a break if want. It is a lot to take in after all.” Fleet sighed.

“Well food wise I wouldn’t mind some more of those bakewell tarts Pinkie brought last night.” Concorde said.

“And those caramel slices!” Maffett added.

Before they could carry on, there was a knock at the window that drew everyone’s attention. Pinkie Pie was stood there with an enormous grin on her face and an even bigger plate full of cakes and tarts balanced precariously on her head.

“That mare’s found an easy way to my heart.” Concorde remarked.

“Does she always do things like that?” Fleet asked.

“Only when you least expect it.” Rainbow smiled.