Adventures in Community Service

Chapters

Prologue- The Winter Lab Went Boom
Caught with her hoof in the lightning jar/To Catch A Speedster
Mopping Up

Prologue- The Winter Lab Went Boom

Prologue

“Thank goodness we managed to get all of those snowflakes done in time. And a day early at that,” Merry May counted the row of barrels in front of her, only twelve more to load on and they would finally be finished. “Granted, we had to use some leftover templates from last winter but, I don’t think anypony will notice,” She went back over the list with a critical eye. ”Hmmm...”

“Check, check, aaaand check! Okay, all of our trial runs show that we’ll be good to go in a few hours time.” Merry May laid down the clipboard with a sigh and pulled the hard hat off of her head, pressing down stray pieces of mane. “But until then, I think we’ve all worked hard enough to get this place back up to speed! So how about a break?”

Only minutes before, the atmosphere had been a flurry of activity up and down the winter room floor. A delicate balance was maintained with several ponies checking and rechecking pressure modules and water thermometers, making sure the clouds were just right to produce the softest snow possible, with the correct amount of precipitation and snowflakes.

Now that all of the preparations were complete ponies began to shuffle out in clusters, happy with the progress, their good natured chatter following close behind in the echoing chambers.

“We’ve still got a few barrels of soft stuff to pull out of storage.” A brown coated stallion rounded the corner pushing a sack barrow in front of him, loaded down with a barrel full of snowflakes still needing to be loaded into the machine.

“Just leave it, Dumbbell, we’ve got enough time to finish loading the snow machine after I get something to eat,” Rainbowshine grit her teeth as she stood up to rub her lower back. “I mean, seriously, after all that heavy lifting I think I’m going to break in half.”

“Heavy lifting?” Dumbbell scoffed. “That’s a weird way to say sleeping behind the storage crates.”

“Shaddap, Dummy, I’m not in the mood to argue. It’s hard to sleep with so many ponies yakking and stomping around. Food now, work later.”

“No wonder I didn’t see you at your station, Shine,” Merry May crossed her forelegs. “I need everypony to be at top performance for seasonal changes, and I cannot have ponies sleeping on the job!”

“It isn’t my fault!” Rainbowshine complained, and cringed backwards when the other two ponies did not seem convinced. “I just couldn’t get enough sleep last night, you’ve got to understand that.”

A light opal colored pony named April Showers trotted by, overhearing the conversation. “I thought you were taking something for that,” she said.

“It’s none of your business, April!” Rainbowshine shouted as she went by. “As if I need to put up with everyone’s gossip.”

Dumbbell rolled his eyes. “Whatever, you lazy sack of feathers, lets just get to the lunch hall already. I bet it’s already packed in there.”

“Well, if we fly fast enough, we can make it to the Lofty Waffle instead,” said Merry, her small ears waggled with the sudden inspiration. “Mmmm, waffles for lunch, yes, I’m suddenly in the mood!”

The stallion smiled. “Not a bad idea.”

“What about your friend,” asked Rainbowshine as they went along. “Should we grab him?”

“You mean Hoops? Nah he’s good, packed his own-uh,” Dumbbell scuffed the floor nervously. “Well he packed something.”

Moments later the room was empty of ponies, all was quiet, and all seemed well.

In the lunch hall, the food was still fresh in their steam trays when it happened.

“Aw yeah, my peanut butter,seaweed, carrot, and camembert cheese sandwich! You’ve been callin’ for me all day haven’t you, sweetheart?” said a tall, orange stallion named Hoops as he slipped his prize out of the paper bag. “Well, worry no more, my love, we are together at last.”

Then came the explosion.

“What in Equestria was that?” a pony shouted. They all turned to look outside the large lunch hall doors. It was like a dull but intense pop; as if somepony had hidden a heavy-duty fire rocket in a nearby cloud and then lit the fuse, multiplied by ten.

Hoops shifted involuntarily, and nearly dropped his sandwich when his seat seemed to come alive, almost throwing him off. The whole floor started to vibrate. Several ponies shouted and jumped up, hovering on instinct.

“Was that an earthquake?”

“Don’t be a complete idiot, Ruby!”

“Then what was that? Where did it come from?”

“It sounded like it came from deeper inside the building.”

“Uh-oh...”

Everyone looked down. Hoops followed suit.

“Huh? What the—?”

“Why is there water all over the floor?”

“It’s flooding!” Even as this realization passed Hoop’s lips, the walls around him began to shake.

Just outside the main area, Dumbbell was only a foot off the ground when the shock wave reached him; it was enough to send a foreboding shiver down his spine. “Did you guys just feel that?” he asked.

“I felt it and I heard it,” Merry May said. She had been a few feet ahead of him, but was the first to land back on the cloud. “I can’t believe it! It’s like an earthquake!”

“But where did it come from?” asked Rainbowshine as she looked around for any possible source before turning back slowly and glancing very hesitantly up at the high fog towers. “Like, it can’t be the factory.”

At that moment there was another rumble and something absolutely impossible happened: lightning shot out of the fog stack, violently lashing into the sky. Another jolt came, even louder than the first, it was enough to actually knock Merry May off her hooves.

“It is the factory!”

Everypony on duty dropped what they were doing to run to the source of the noise and chaos, finding themselves right in front of the big double doors of the winter lab. They flew open with enough force to send everypony tumbling backwards.

“Wait, High Note, don’t get so close!” one of the other ponies shouted, but too late. The weather stallion was knocked back by a powerful blast of wind.

“It’s a meltdown!” a yellow pony named Parasol screamed. They all had to, just to hear each other over the rushing wind.

“We’ve gotta get out of here!” said another pony, and some of them turned to run.

“No, not yet,” Merry May and Dumbbell rounded the corner but were immediately stifled by the wind and knee-high water bursting out the door like a geyser. She strained against the wind and saw the emergency pressure valve, it was their only hope. “We can still fix this! Rainbowshine, come with me!”

Rainbowshine looked at the green pony in shock. “What, are you serious? There’s water everywhere in there, it’s a death trap!”

“Just fly over it!” Dumbbell shouted. He was already ahead of her, flying to the control panel. Sparks of electricity licked at its sides, making it glow a ghostly yellow.

Rainbowshine blanched, partly out of annoyance, but mostly from fear. “Auuugh, okay, okay! Wait for me, May!”

“It can’t wait, hurry up!”

Dumbbell somehow managed to reach the main control panel, but when he reached for the console to enter a shutdown sequence, he was stopped by a jolt of electricity jumping up and crackling angrily.

“Yikes! The whole thing is overloaded, I can’t shut it off!” There was a loud pop, and Dumbbell nearly fell into the electrified water when a metal bolt flew right out of the tank, striking his helmet just behind his ear. The pressure meter dropped into the danger zone as boiling grey clouds filled the room, laced with lightning as the tank whined in its effort to hold back the inevitable.

“Nothing's gonna work, May! It’s gonna blow!” Dumbbell dodged another flying piece of debris and flew for safety.

The pressure tank screamed as it expanded, more bolts were flung out. One hit a tube, shattering the glass to bits, letting the wind push the shards out into the thin group of ponies. In desperation, Merry May grabbed Rainbowshine and pulled her away from the valve wheel.

“It’s critical mass,” she yelled. “Abandon ship, ponies!”

“Hey, Bell, can you hear me! Wake up, buddy!”

Dumbbell lifted his head from the pillow and glanced around him. He blinked and squinted his eyes against the too bright light of whatever room he was in, the shapes therein were too vague for him to fully understand. That and the drumbeat of discomfort in his skull made trying to focus a painful chore, accentuated by the light, the white walls only intensifying the brightness. But the voice he heard, floating somewhere above him, was familiar, and soon the big orange blob in front of his face solidified into Hoops.

“What...in Equestria happened?” Dumbbell asked, his words slurred together as he spoke.

“That’s what we’re all trying to figure out right now. But it was a close call when everything exploded, you’re lucky we even managed to drag you out from under that pipe.”

A pipe had fallen on him? Dumbbell groaned as he shifted on the bed, but winced when he tried to move his legs, which felt hot and stiff. “ Well I’m not dead, I guess. That’s a good sign,” he blinked and looked around. “So I’m, what, at the hospital or something?”

“Nah, you’re not that bad off, believe it or not. Just a big bump on your head.”

That made sense, he could feel, he could feel the cloth wrapped tightly around his ears. Then Hoops laughed a little, then faltered. “And you...well you managed to fall on some glass.”

“Managed!” Dumbbell shouted, becoming more awake in his outrage. Memories of recent events had finally returned. “What do you mean managed? Like it was somehow my fault?”

“Woah, woah, calm down, bro! That’s not what I meant! I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Dumbbell fell back onto his pillow and flinched again. “Dammit.” Even sudden movements caught him off guard with slices of pain.

“You’ve got stitches in your leg so try not to move so much.” Hoops cautioned.

Dumbbell rolled his eyes. “Gee, thanks for telling me now, feather-brain.” His scowl only pulled a goofy albeit apologetic smile onto his friend’s face.

“Whatever,” he signed and looked around, he had never been inside of the weather management’s infirmary ward before. It was pretty small, just four beds with no curtains and a desk supplied with a few shelves of medical equipment sat across from them. He wasn’t surprised to see that one of the other beds was occupied. High Note was two beds over, his head wrapped in bandages. Dumbbell had remembered seeing the poor guy flying face first into a wall just as things started going south, and he looked pretty limp. But there was a deep rumbling snore, so his condition couldn’t be all bad.

“You have got to be kidding me...”

Despite their failure to save the winter lab, Merry May and Rainbowshine succeeded in keeping the resulting explosion from taking half of the weather factory with it. Though most of the east wing suffered heavy damages, the other sections remained untouched and functioning. After nearly all of the snow, sleet, and a few thousand coins worth of equipment were somehow forced through the tube like excrement out of a virally inflamed colon, it took hours to even begin the process of digging through the rubble.

“It’s a mess everywhere you go, isn’t it?”

“A mess...is...an understatement.” Rainbowshine said, breathing heavily.

She and a few other ponies picked their way over the debris. Picking up the smaller pieces of lab equipment as they went along. But the larger pieces, like the conveyer belt, was a challenge. It was the second heaviest thing in the room next to the pressure tank which lay a shattered steaming husk with big pieces of it’s shrapnel lodged into the walls.

Merry May swept all of the broken microscopes into a pile. “It must have been a meltdown.”

“But we went over everything, the calculations, all of those numbers, three times!”

“Well, accidents happen don’t they?” said High Note who was wearing a long wrap of gauze around his head.

“Accidents this big shouldn’t be allowed.” April groaned.

It wasn’t long before a professional clean up crew arrived to take care of the larger pieces of broken hardware, which left the disheveled crew of weather ponies with nothing else to do but go home for the day.

Some pony pummeling the other side of his bedroom door woke Dumbbell from his uncomfortable and admittedly not very deep sleep.

“Dumbbell open the door!” followed by more furious knocking, no, hammering at the door. The stallion groaned and rubbed his shoulder gingerly, it was going to be a while before the stitches could come out.

Bam bam bam! “Come on, Dumbbell open up! This is seriously important!”

“Ugh,” Dumbbell groaned loudly as he eased himself from his bed. “What in the name of Celestia do you want?” he glanced at his bedside clock and realized it was already eight in the morning, usually he woke up earlier than that, but the pain medication must have zonked him fiercely.

“I want you to open the door, I gotta tell you something!”

Dumbbell rubbed his forehead, he was certain that if he was going to open that door, he was going to kick it open and send it and Hoops flying to the other side of the apartment.

“I swear this had better be worth it.” Dumbbell grumbled as he opened the door. He was greeted to Hoops standing like an orange specter in his doorway, a smile wide across his face.
“You are not gonna believe this!” he shouted, right in Dumbbell’s ear.

“Hoops, you’d better tell me what it is before I kill you.” Dumbbell shouted back, regretting it immediately as it served to feed a growing headache.

“Dude, you will not believe this. The big explosion at the weather factory? That wasn’t an accident! Somepony did that on purpose! She wrecked the system!”

That was a weird conversation starter. “Wha, huh, who?” Too many different lines of information running through his pulsating skull to form a coherent question.

Suddenly Hoops slumped a bit. “On the other hoof she could totally be dead but we don’t think so because that weather room would have been a lot messier if you know what I mean.”

“Hoops what the hell are you talking about.” He eyed his friend wearily, wanting nothing more than to fall back into his bed. Not that he had much chance of going back to sleep at this rate.

“Are you seriously tryin to tell me some pony sabotaged the weather factory.”

“I won’t go into any details.” said Hoops. ‘Probably because he doesn’t know any’ thought Dumbbell.

“But I will tell you,” Hoops tried to stifle a laugh. “A real good guess on who the culprit is.”

Dumbbell rolled his eyes. “Alright, who?”

“Brace yourself.”

“Hoops! Who?!”

“Dude!” Hoops exclaimed victoriously. “It was totally Rainbow Crash!”

Author's Note

I know it has been a very long time since I've written single thing on this website! But I'm back since I have horse words on the brain.

I know that I already have an incomplete fic that is a sequel to "When Two Hearts are Daring" But when Tanks for the Memories came out, this idea started to over take it. Unfortunately the cards of life just fell in a way that I couldn't spend anytime writing even though I wanted to.

I might cancel "Weather Worms" and allow elements of it to become absorbed into this fic. How does this sound to the few people who still remember I exist? Probably not promising, but I will try to make it work.

Caught with her hoof in the lightning jar/To Catch A Speedster

The shroud of sleep still clung thickly to Dumbbell’s mind. He squinted his eyes at Hoops cautiously.

“Are you...being serious?”

Hoops didn’t reply verbally, opting to jump up and down from his forehooves to his back hooves like a schoolyard foal jumping rope, giggling like one too.

“Y-you’re serious.”

“Uh huh!” Hoops nodded goofily as Dumbbell desperately wiped sleep crust from his eyes.

“Dude, you’re not gonna believe this,” Hoops continued. “But while Merry May was heading the clean up crew she found some of Rainbow Dash’s mane trapped in one of the pipes!”

“Her mane...” Dumbbell mused, at least a dozen conflicting thoughts having a punch out in his brain.. “Wait, wait, this doesn’t make any sense! Why would Dash blow up the factory?”

“The hell should I know.” Hoops said with a shrug but his smile never left him. “Come on, Merry May and some of the others flew out to Dash’s place just a little while ago. If we hurry we can catch this goin down!” Hoops turned and left, leaving an incredibly vexed and confused Dumbbell to follow after him.

A short while later Dumbbell and Hoops landed on the clouds that made up the front “lawn” of Rainbow Dash’s rather illustrious looking home. Dumbbell often wondered how the mare was able to afford something like this, though he remembered her mentioning her dad getting a large inheritance at some point in the past.

Merry May was already there, accompanied by April Showers, Rainbowshine, and, to Dumbbell’s surprise, Dandelion Breeze, the weather factories fat, stuffy, and only security guard.

“Hey lover colts, I knew you two would show.” Rainbowshine winked, mashing a piece of gum gaudily between her teeth. She nodded her head towards the house. “I think she’s still asleep in there.”

“Of course she would be.” Merry May didn’t sound so merry, she looked like she could break a chain between her teeth.”Most if not all weather maintenance work is suspended indefinitely while the higher ups are investigating the explosion.”

“So what are we gonna do?” asked April Shower. Like Dumbbell she had been brought along shocked and confused by Rainbowshine, the pony who had told her Merry’s plan.

“We’re going to knock on Rainbow Dash’s door and demand that she-”

“May...be cool.” April Showers warned.

Merry May grunted, though from her it sounded more like a squeak. “Right, calmly...ask that she explain why I found,” she pulled a small baggy from under her wing, “THIS in all the wreckage!”

Inside was a long strip of tatty rainbow mane, not just a random assortment of colors that could be found in a rainbow but the exact colors in their exact order. It was very ragged at one end, like it had been violently torn out.

“I don’t know about you guys but I don’t know any other pony with a mane like that.” Hoops mused and his smile brightened. I think we have our culprit!”

“Shush!” Merry May whispered. “I don’t want her to know we’re out here.” her expression turned devious. “My guess is, if she did pull this awful stunt then she’ll make a run for it.” She held a hoof towards Dandelion. “Give me the net, Dandy.”

“This had better be worth it. That mishap in the factory may cost us our jobs, but do you know what else?” Dandelion Breeze grunted as he pulled a big coiled net from his saddle bag.”Stealing weather factory property certainly will.”

“Keep your turbulance to yourself Dandelion,” Merry May stated crossly. “If the culprit isn’t found the fault will be pinned on us. And we’ll all lose our jobs anyway.”

Dandelion’s look was sardonic. “I’m not the one who punches calculations into those noisy machines.”

“No but it is your job to guard those noisy machines,” Dumbbell had to get a word in. “How much can I bet you weren’t anywhere near the one place you were supposed to be when almost half the factory went nuclear.”

Dandelion puffed his feathers in intimidation but all it did was make his fatness more prominent. “Where I was isn’t your business! But I was doing my job regardless of my location!”

“Shush!” Merry May whispered. “Again!”

“Oops, sorry.” Hoops answered even though he hadn’t said anything.

“Anyway, I’m glad you two boys showed up. It might make this business a little easier.”

Dumbbell felt a frown easing onto his face. “What do ya mean.”

“When I confront Rainbow Dash I need you two to be ready with the net if she bolts.”

“What?” Hoops looked confused.

“So you already assume it was her.” Dumbbell said in disbelief.

“There’s just one way to find out,” Merry May insisted. “And if she did do it, she’ll be all the way to Whinneyappolis before we could even call the authorities.”

“If she didn’t do it then she has no reason to run.” Rainbowshine interjected. “And then we can laugh about it over some cider.”

“I really doubt she’s gonna take this that well.” Dumbbell grumbled.

“She’ll take anything with cider.” Rainbowshine deadpanned. “And if we lose our jobs over this, hey, she can pick up the tab, am I right?”

“Hide somewhere close by, and if she flies off just nab her in the net!”

“You do realize this is Rainbow Dash we’re talking about, right?” Dumbbell asked. “If she wants to get away from us, there's a good chance she will.”

“Now you two are good enough flyers,” April Showers piped up. “I’ve seen you two go at it in the cloud ball tourney’s, you’re both a team all by yourselves!” The compliment brought a blush out of Hoops. “Aw gee, thanks, April.”

Merry May rubbed her chin in deliberation. “Then hide in her floor or wall, that way you’ll be closer.”

Hoops looked aghast. “You want us to what?”

Dumbbell pressed his ears back in disgust. “Woah, woah, woah!” Dumbbell lifted a hoof, halting the conversation. “Woah, okay, you don’t just hide in some pony’s cloud wall,” he stated so matter of factly that Merry May squirmed.

“Yeah,” Hoops agreed. “That’s just wrong. Besides, a lot of pegasus homes don’t use that kind of cloud anymore.”

“Who here’s been inside her house?” asked Rainbowshine. A beat of silence, she turned to the brown stallion. “Dumbbell, right?”

“Uh well, I mean,” Dumbbell stammered. He avoided eye contact with the others. “I mean there was that one time, but uh, I didn’t mean to.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Rainbowshine nodded thoughtfully. “You’re dating, right?”
“No.” Dumbbell said with a dry, cracked patience which came from answering the same question a seemingly countless number of times.

“I thought Dumbbell and Hoops were the ones dating.” said April.

Dumbbell and Hoops glared silently at the mare.

“W-wait,” April Showers looked from one stallion to the next. “You’re not?”

Dumbbell rolled his eyes as Hoops stuck his face into some cloud to smother his laughter.

“But I mean, it’s just that everytime I see you, you two are always together, and, like, don’t you both share an apartment?”

“We’re roommates. And at this rate I would rather live on the streets than suffer anymore of Hoops’ cooking, so hopefully not for much longer.”

“I see. Sooo,you’re not?

Dumbbell lazily looked sideways. “No...”

April Showers coughed and mumbled something incoherent into her hoof.

“Anyway, I don’t wanna be caught like some creep hiding in a mare’s wall.” Hoops grimaced. “I have a reputation to maintain!”

“I’ll be talking to Dash at her front door, it’s not like you’ll be watching her sleep. I simply want you two on standby in case she freaks out.” said May. “But if you won’t then I’ll have Dandelion do it.”

“What?” Dandelion Breeze balked.

“Come on, Dumbbell, we’re counting on you,” April Shower’s bottom lip trembled. “We could all be fired by tomorrow!”

A silence hung over the group as they all waited for Dumbbell’s word.

“Alright fine,” Dumbbell finally conceded grudgingly more to peer pressure than to reason. “Every single one of you owes me.”

Hoops couldn’t be talked into the questionably criminal task of laying in wait so in the end, Dandelion Breeze was “volunteered” by vote. Hoops hid nearby as his presence would most likely tip Rainbow Dash off. The two remaining stallions flew underneath her house and eased into the cloud. Although passing through clouds was a completely silent action, they had to make sure to not move so much that they could be perceived from above. Crouched low, the two ponies listened as Merry May knocked on the large wooden door. While they couldn’t hear Rainbow Dash walking over to answer it, they could feel hoof steps through the cloud.

“Hello? Oh, hey, Merry May!” Silently they listened to the conversation above them. There was a brief pause.

“Uh, and April, Rainbowshine. What brings you all here at this hour?”

“Good morning, Rainbow Dash, hope we didn’t wake you up.”

“Nah, I’m good,” Rainbow Dash looked up at the sky. “It isn’t that early.”
She scratched the back of her head as her smile faltered. “Yeah, so, anyway...did you need something?”

“We don’t mean to be inconvenient but we do have a question we thought you might have the answer to.”

Not just an answer, “the” answer. At some point Rainbow probably realized what was happening since by now her smile was nothing more than a facade.

“Okay? What is it?” It was clear by the look on her face that Rainbow Dash was not going to like what she’d hear.

Merry May cleared her throat, her composure turned from friendly to serious. “My colleagues and I found this two days ago at the factory.” she produced the small bag containing the locke of rainbow hair. “And I’m wondering if you could maybe identify it.”

Rainbow looked dumbly at it for a few short moments. The gears churning in her head could practically be heard through her ears.

“That’s weird,” she said trying to kickstart a chuckle. “Heh, I have no idea why you think that belongs to me.”

“Hey Rainy Dash, is that a new mane cut?” Rainbow Shine pointed her hoof in interest and she took a step forward, bolder than Rainbow Dash seemed to have anticipated because she stepped back, allowing the mare to nearly cross the threshold. “Chick, I think you need to go ask for a refund,”. Rainbowshine smacked gum obnoxiously between her teeth. Chew,chew,chew, the bubble grew, exploding with a ‘pop!’, almost sticking to Dash’s nose. “Cause lookie lookie here!” Suddenlyshine lurched forward, getting behind Rainbow Dash, rubbing her hooves invasively through her mane. “Is that a bald spot?”

“Ouch! H-hey,that hurts!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

“Rainbowshine! Seriously?” April Showers grabbed Rainbowshine by her tail, pulling her back outside and behind herself and Merry May.
“Whats her problem?” Rainbow squinted in confusion and turned to Merry May and April for understanding, her ears went back when she registered the cold neutrality and shy guilt on their faces respectively.

“I don’t—I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Rainbow grimaced at the sound of Shine’s gross chewing. “I haven’t got a mane cut, and I don’t have any clue what you guys are on about.”

Merry May gripped the bag tightly in frustration. “Are you sure, Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow nodded vigorously. “I’m sure that I’m sure! I have no idea what that is or how it got into the snow fa—uh, I mean the weather factory!”

“What was that?” Merry leaned forward, her right eye pressed into a hard squint.

“What was what?” Dash asked.

“Rainbow Dash, I didn’t actually say where I found this.”

By now Rainbow Dash was sweating bullets.
“I mean—I was just guessing! With the accident, I just thought—”

“What are you saying, Rainbow Dash?” April Showers gasped, covering her mouth with her hooves.

“That’s a confession!” Rainbowshine pointed her hoof at Dash, leaning so far over April’s shoulder she was mere inches from falling over.

“W-wait! I didn’t say anything!” Rainbow Dash sat back on her haunches, her forelegs brought up as if trying to stop the avalanche of truth and blame from inevitably crashing on top of her.

“It would be easier for every pony if you were just honest with us, Rainbow Dash.”

Dash jumped up and stamped her hoof, though the effect lost its meaning on cloud.
“I didn’t do it!” she shouted, but the other mares were already moving in on her.

“Rainbow Dash, we found pieces of your mane inside the machine. I have no idea how you survived that but whatever you did, destroyed the entire winter wing of the factory.” Merry May stated coldly. As far as she was concerned there could be no other pony responsible.

“Please Dash, just come back to Cloudsdale with us,” April Showers was pleading. “I’m sure it was just a crazy mistake! If we just go there and talk this whole thing out, then I’m sure everything’ll be—”

“Sorry, April! I can’t!” Rainbow Dash stammered, backing away, ready to slam the door in their faces. “I gotta...I gotta go!” Then she did slam the door on them.

“Oh no, I am so dead, I am so so so totally dead!” It felt as if her whole house was closing in on her! Rainbow Dash looked around desperately, like an answer to her problem would suddenly jump out of the walls and grab her.

I’ll just fly, she thought. Nopony would be able to catch her then. She’d find someplace to hide, maybe at the library, or the farm or—

She could hear Merry May banging on the door and shouting at her from the other side of the door but couldn’t understand what she was saying. Not that it mattered, as far as Dash was concerned she was already gone. As quick as a flash, she opened her wings to take off.

Unfortunately her floor had other plans.

Dumbbell wasn't surprised when he heard Merry May screaming from his hiding place in Rainbow Dash’s floor, piercing with even a bit of base to it, and he could hear her clearly through a level of thick clouds.

“She actually did it?” Dumbbell murmured. “Somehow I’m not surprised.”

“I don’t want to do this!” Dandelion Breeze whined in a panic with the cloud net shoved between his teeth. “This could get me fired!”

“And if we don’t, we’ll get fired anyway, so buck up.” He could see Dandelion’s face twist up in an attempt to dredge some kind of courage but it was taking too long.

“Now!” Dumbbell yelled before flying through the cloud floor with a corner of the net clutched between his hooves. If he had waited a moment longer for Dandelion to get himself together, he would have collided headlong into a very quickly accelerating Rainbow Dash. Out of basically every pegasus in Equestria, she was the best at going from zero to one hundred in mere seconds, and that probably would have been enough to put his lights out. She saw him but her reflexes were too slow, Rainbow sailed into the net and out the back side of her living room wall.

If there was one thing four years of flight school hoofball had taught Dumbbell, when you catch the ball, you clung to it savagely, like the damn thing is your only lifeline. That memory came back to him as he felt his forelegs yank violently in front of him, and suddenly he didn’t have control of his flight path anymore. Dumbbell was pulled out of Rainbow Dash’s house when he heard shattered glass and Dandelion Breeze screaming, he glanced back to see the yellow stallion hollering and clinging to the net, or more accurately, tangled horribly in the coils. In his peripheral he saw smudges of purple, green, and lime appear from around Dash’s house, but at this rate they may as well not bother, even weighed down Rainbow Dash could outfly them all.

“Hey Dande!” Dumbbell yelled at the other stallion. “Flap your wings!”

“I c-can’t!” Dandelion yelled back in anguish. “G-glass!”

Dumbbell grimaced and turned to Rainbow Dash. “Hey, Crash!” Dumbbell opened his wings to try and slow the mare down, which worked only by a little. He tried to yell down at her but his words were pushed back into his face by the wind. “Why’d you do it?”

“I didn’t do anything!” Dumbbell could just hear over the wind racing around his ears, and the broken warbles of Dandelion Breeze screaming in pain and terror.

“Then why are you running?” In an effort to slow them down, Dumbbell flapped his own wings rapidly enough to create drag, if Dandelion were able to do the same it might have been enough to stop her, but at least his dead weight made him a little bit useful.
Just then Dumbbell saw a streak of orange flash past his vision. It was Hoops, Dumbbell’s best friend and one of the very very few pegasi who were not Wonderbolts that could keep up with Rainbow Dash in any remote sense, such as, being able to keep her in sight of the horizon line. Though Hoops was flying just behind the mare, the extra weight of two stallions and the net itself helped, Dash was still moving somewhere along the low end of the ‘breakneck’ spectrum. Hoops looped around the mare twice before settling just off to her left.
“Wow, Dash. Why are you flying in this net? You know that's gonna leave one heck of a mark.”

She ignored him and Hoops spoke again.

“What’s even the rush? We just wanted to chat! Isn’t there something you need to get off your chest?”

Rainbow growled continuing to heave against the weight and the net. “There's nothing to talk about so buzz off!”

Hoops shrugged and fell back to Dumbbell and Dandelion, grabbing onto the net. “Suit yourself!” He shouted. With a yell, Dumbbell and Hoops yanked the net violently, like they were trying to wrangle a large torpedoing shark. Against all odds Rainbow Dash’s speed greatly decreased, unable to flex her wings to their fullest, she became dead in the air as the two stallions threw her into a nearby bank of clouds. Dash and the net disappeared inside it with a soft “fwoof”. The stallions landed and proceeded to dig through the cloud for their catch.

“The jig is up, Dash. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.” Dumbbell said in a low even tone.

“Dude, you think she’s still gonna fight us?” Hoops asked under his breath.

“This is Rainbow Dash we’re talking about, when has she ever not wanted to fight us?” Dumbbell answered. Together they dug through the cloud until they found a pair of cyan back hooves sticking up, tangled almost untenably in the dark thunder cloud web.
“Yo, Crash. Having a nice nap?”
Rainbow’s back legs kicked out helpless yet defiant, they could hear her mumbling at them from below, probably something foul. Just then a strikingly high pitched yowl shot up from somewhere near by.

“Shit, it’s Dande.” Dumbbell said, looking for the source of the third stallions crying. “I think he flew through a window back there.”

“Yikes! I’ll get him.” Hoops said, leaving Dumbbell’s side to hunt for the injured stallion.

“Well...nothing left to do I guess but get you out of there.” Dumbbell said more to himself than the flailing cyan legs in front of him. Dash couldn’t free herself but it was easy enough for Dumbbell to pull her out. Still under the net, she stared up at him, her brows creased sharply and her back arched, as if she would spring away at any moment. But it was easy to tell the fight was out of her. Dumbbell smiled ruefully.

“So...decided to start the holiday off with a bang, huh?” It took a few minutes for April, Shine, and Merry May to finally catch up, just long enough for Rainbow to stew under the sounds of Dandelion Breeze’s pathetic wailing with Hoops trying uselessly to calm him down.
“What happened to him?” April asked after a shocked double- take.

“Uh, he’s actually bleeding pretty bad you guys. I think he’s gonna need to go to the hospital.”

“Is it bad?” April cringed.

“Not too bad but I mean,come on, can you hear him?”

Dandelion’s pained moan suddenly hitched, causing the group to flinch. Merry May turned to Hoops. “Hoops please, go get Life Flight.” she said.

“Back in a flash!” Hoops flew off in the direction of Cloudsdale while April took his place keeping the whimpering Dandelion company. She was better at it than Hoops as he quieted a little. When some amount of silence covered them Rainbowshine choked out an overly loud cough.

“So now that we have your attention, Dashy. Can you just be straight with us now?”

Rainbow Dash could have killed a flower with the look she gave.

“Oh Dash,” April whimpered. “Did you really do it?”

“Well I thought you all had that figured out by now, bright eyes.”

“You’re really not in the position to sass us.” Merry May stood squarely in front of the trapped mare,though any trace of hard anger seemed to have faded. “Do you have even the slightest clue the amount of trouble you’ve caused us?”

“I didn’t do it, you can’t prove anything!” Rainbow Dash stared up at her with vehemence, April and Dumbbell exchanged a hesitant glance before the stallion took a step forward.
“Listen, Dash, we found pieces of your mane all through the pipes-”

“ Did you fall in?” April Showers whined. “W-was it an accident?”

Rainbow’s back stiffened but she didn’t seem willing to admit anything, nor deny anything. Merry let out a long sigh. “This is getting us nowhere.”

It didn’t take long for Life Flight to arrive. They got Dandelion Breeze onto a stretcher and flew him off to the nearest hospital. April went along with them for his sake.

“So what do we do now,” Hoops asked once he’d rejoined the group. “About her?”

“Well in light of recent events there's only one thing we can do.” Merry said, “Take Rainbow Dash to the magistrate.”

Author's Note

Gaaah! I know. I'm the worst for taking this long to update. I swear I'll do my best to not do that again!

Mopping Up

When put under pressure Dash knew she wasn’t a good liar. Even more so in those rare situations where she was wrong. She would crack in ways that would make Applejack balk at her weakness.

“For now that part of the factory is quarantined for any unskilled personnel to sort through. Still a lot of stray electricity, broken glass, unstable machinery...and all that...so yeaaa, as much as I hate to say this, you’re not allowed in there. What a shame.” Rainbowshine’s line of conversation trailed away, leaving Dash in the wake of their echoing footsteps.

“Hey!” Shine looked over at Dash. “You wouldn't happen to know how to cook would you?”

Dash frowned. “Umm.”

“Nevermind just thought I’d ask.”

Rainbowshine continued, “Anyway you’re on good ole cleaning duty.” Shine opened a small closet off the side of the hallway and pulled out a mop and bucket.
“So for now you’ll be in the spring and summer sections for the next three weeks, scrubbing the walls, sweeping the floors,mucking out the rain containment vats,” Shine slid the cleaning supplies over to Dash. “Those vats can get really grimey,I mean, all that water came from lakes.”

Rainbow sighed as she grabbed the bucket.

“Don’t be so glum, star player. Maybe you can,uh, use this as some kind of wonderbolt training. Wax on wax off?” Shine chuckled, when Rainbow Dash’s sour expression dipped even further, it didn’t seem to have any ability to dampen the mirth.

“Are you done?”

“ Oh just one more thing,” Rainbowshine tapped the floor once. “Don’t try to clean this place in under ten seconds or whatever nonsense. There’s a lot of delicate pipes and stuff in these cloud walls that you could bust if you accidentally fly into them or something. I can only imagine how long you’ll be here if you break anything else.” Rainbowshine eyed her sternly. “None of that ten seconds flat crap, Dash. Do it right.”

“Fine” Rainbow Dash snorted, while dunking a rag into the bucket of hot sudsy water. “Are you done now?”

Shine stifled a giggle. “Yes. I am.” Rainbowshine started towards the exit. “I’ll be back in an hour.” Then Rainbowshine went away, and Rainbow Dash started to clean.

In an almost total silence, the passage of time felt slower than usual. Torturous even. No clocks on the wall to taunt her, the warm water in the bucket never cooled down as she polished the metal catwalks and scrubbed the cloudcrete walkways until she could see the ghost of her reflection
staring back up at her from the opaque surface. The face watching her back seemed duller. That was when she noticed a larger form appear in the reflection next to her.

“What’s up?”

Rainbow tried to shriek. It became a shrill squeal in her throat.
“Uh- yeah, hey. What’s up.” Rainbow Dash reoriented herself, looking up to see the disgruntled yet amused look on Dumbbell’s face before turning away again to cough. “I’m good.”

Dumbbell trotted around the immediate area, inspecting the floors and walkways with a keen eye. Dash felt a jolt of annoyance shoot through her. Who was this guy that he could just walk around casually like some kind of stiff nosed inspection pony, ready to boss her around or insult her ability to mop a floor?

“Looks like you’re getting the job done.” His voice held a delightful hint of approval and for just a moment Dash thought she had passed his inspection.

“Oh hey now, you missed something.” Dumbbell stood on one of the catwalks twenty feet above Rainbow Dash’s head, peering into a viewport into a room she could not see. “You forgot to clean the filtration vat.”

Dash cringed and backed away. “That thing is disgusting!”

Dumbbell blinked once, his expression betraying nothing. “Exactly why you’re supposed to clean it.”

“By myself?” Dash asked with a disbelieving scowl, Dumbbell watched her calmly from the catwalk.

“Yeeah, it’s your job.” Dumbbell pointed a hoof at her. Dash knew she only had one option, and brought the bucket, mop, and scrubber up to the catwalk and looked through the porthole at the one thing she had been dreading since the start. From her vantage point the filtration vat looked like a big empty mud hole, the sides dull and mottled from clots of dirt and whatever slimy residue, possibly three inches thick, was left behind after the pumps siphoned the groundwater to be purified.

Rainbow Dash knocked her head against the window. “I’m gonna be here all day...”

“It’s gonna suck,” Dumbbell nodded. “Smells like dead fish.”

Dash grimaced. “Definitely.”
She walked to the door leading to the filtration room. “At this rate, I’ll be spending the night in the rec room.” She tossed the supplies in haphazardly and was halfway in when she heard the stallion snort. She turned to see Dumbbell laughing spitefully.

“Oh just suck it up and say it, Dash. You want me to help you, right?” She could hear the eye rolling exasperation pouring from his voice and it made her hackles shoot through the cloud roof.
“Hey I’m willing to lend a hoof, or else you’re gonna be here til lunch time tomorrow.”

“Go away, Dumbbell.” Rainbow Dash could feel the disgusting heat of embarrassment spreading across her face, and she didn’t want him to see it.

“Come on, just admit it.” Dumbbell was adamant, closing the short gap between them, causing Rainbow Dash to crane her face away even further.

“No I don’t.” she practically hissed as she turned to enter the room, so distracted that she didn’t see the mop she had carelessly thrown in ahead of her. The alarm bells went off too late as she tripped over the wooden handle and pitched forward.

“Gah!” She saw the dark sludge running up to meet her when she felt her diaphragm being crushed in the grip of strong forehooves hauling her back over the edge of the vat.

“Whoopsy Daisy, Crasher.” Dumbbell lowered Dash onto the catwalk, giving her a chance to exhale. Had he reacted just a moment late and she would have been coated in lake sludge as her face peeled along the bottom of the tank. Rainbow blanched and looked at the stallion, bashful.

“Uh, thanks.” she fumbled with the mop and bucket just to give her hooves something to do.

“No problem.” Their voices echoed briefly then died in the silence. Rainbow Dash stood their watching him awkwardly, she tried to study his face, looking for malice or even just a little hostility but there was none. As that realization clicked, she felt her knees go weak and she sank into a sitting position on the catwalk, shoulders sagging she sighed dejectedly as Dumbbell sat beside her.

“Look on the bright side,” he said. “At least Spitfire helped you out of a jam. You could be facing a lot worse.”

A few alternative outcomes briefly flashed through Rainbow Dash’s mind. A few cold nights in jail? Or weeks in the Canterlot dungeons? Or maybe worse than both of those combined, she shivered, expulsion from the Wonderbolts.

Rainbow gulped. “You have a point.”

“And now that I saved you from the most natural mud facial you never wanted,” Dumbbell tabbed the metal walkway a few times. “Are you gonna stop being stubborn and let me help you?” This time she didn’t take much convincing.

“Yeah. I’ll go get the spare mop.”

Cleaning the dirty filtration vat went on with little issue. The muck peeled under the stiff sponge mops like butter curling under a butter knife, a mental analogy that made Dash’s stomach do pancake flips more times than she could count, but in a way that made the process easier.

“Oh and uh,” Dumbbell couldn’t hold back his grin. “Guess I shoulda told you that these vats are usually cleaned by two ponies.” Rainbow Dash gawked at him.

“No really, ya think?”

Dumbbell chuckled.

“And Rainbowshine didn’t say anything either.” she grumbled darkly. “Why didn’t she help?.”

“She could have,” Dumbbell answered. “But she asked me to do it instead, so I did,” he shrugged. “That’s sort of like helping. Isn’t it?”

“In a snide backwards thinking way, yeah I guess.”

With the grimy work done, the two ponies put up the equipment and went to wash their hooves. April Showers met them halfway there with a little pep in her step.

“Shine wanted me to tell you she’s gone on to the cloudesseum.”

Dumbbell nodded. “Alright, I’ll get there a little later.”

“She left?” Rainbow pushed her way between the two ponies. “She said she’d come back to check!”

April blinked once “Oh, Shine sent me.” she shrugged. “I was coming this way anyway so I didn’t see any problem with it,” She looked up and around at the pipes, floors, and walls and nodded solidly.. “Looks like you did a good job too!”

Dash’s body suddenly felt heavy. “If I have to scrub one more tile, the fur on my hooves is gonna fall off.”
Dumbbell who had been sorting through some equipment glanced at a nearby wall clock.
“Well looks like you’re in luck,” He grinned self importantly. “thanks to me, your shift ends early.”

“Finally!” Rainbow Dash stood, shuffled off the white jacket, and pulled the heavy hard hat away from her mane, which now looked even more out of sorts than usual.

“Any longer and I would have gone crazy!” Like a blue streak she put her factory work uniform away, and she was just about to leave before Dumbbell stopped her, blocking the exit.

“Woah woah, woah there, Crashy,” he said, amused by her sudden intense frown. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Uh, out?” she said. “Away from here. As far as possible?” she asked as she tried unsuccessfully to side step the stallion.

“Let’s try this again,” Dumbbell slapped a hoof on Dash’s shoulder. “Where do you think you’re going without me?”

A dark mood started in. “What are you talking about?” Rainbow questioned, pulling away from his grip.

“Don’t act like you forgot, Crash. You’re on probation, that means I have to keep an eye on you.”

“Yeah, I know, while I’m at the factory-”

“While you’re anywhere.” Dumbbell corrected.

“What?”

“Yep, remember what Spitfire said, you can’t leave Cloudsdale. At all.”

“And I won’t!”

“We, eh...,” Dumbbell interrupted her, waving a hoof as if to weigh her sincerity. “can’t trust you on that.”

April stepped forward, trying to avoid looking directly at the dark coals burning in Dash’s eyes. “Eh, I mean, what he means, uh. You fly so fast, Rainbow Dash that...you could easily spend a few hours in Ponyville and come back to Cloudsdale before anypony ever realized you were gone.” An awkward silence stretched between the three .

“I’m sure the restriction will only last for a few days!” April searched for something satisfactory to say. “It will only last while we’re over Ponyville.”

“Rules are rules.” Dumbbell backed her up.

Dash deflated. She had no choice. But she still hated this.

“Well if it isn't the force of nature herself, Hurricane Dash.”
Dash looked up to see Rainbow Shine, who tended to just go by the name Shine, walking over to her with two cloud balls in tow, one bouncing lightly in her outstretched hoof, and another tucked under her foreleg. “ So I guess she finally finished scrubbing everything," Shine looked towards Dumbbell. "You made sure she did the ducts too, right?"

"I had to keep showing her how to do it right but yeah, she did em." Dumbbell replied.

"Wow, I'm sitting right here." Rainbow Dash's teeth were clenched. "Don't talk over me."

"Sorry," Shine's attention returned to her. "You decided to join us for a game?”
“Not like I had a choice.” Dash groaned, seeming uninterested, but Shine eyed her scrupulously.
“Well you can always go back to your apartment and sulk if you don’t want to be here.”
Before Dash could speak up, Dumbbell interrupted. “Nah she wants to be here. Just not with me.” He didn't bother to hide his grin and Rainbow’s mad smolder deepened. “I don’t need a chaperon.”

"Oh you don't do you?” Shine blinked innocently. “If that were true then half the weather factory wouldn't be blown out right now, our jobs wouldn't be threatened, and you wouldn't be sitting here like a filly in time out,” Rainbow Dash didn't shirk away from these statements, she stared at Shine in defiance.

“But,” Shine tossed the cloud ball high in the air, catching it deftly. “Unfortunately reality isn't so rosey now is it.”

Rainbow Dash sat back, rolling her eyes and appearing disinterested. “I came here to play cloud ball, not so you can lambaste me.”

“Well it’s about time you got one.” Shine sneered. “You've always been a pony used to getting whatever she wanted.” Dash’s wing feathers bristled as she stood up immediately. “What did you just say?”

“I said messing up others just because they’re in your way isn't a new look from you, Rainbow Dash, and well,” Shine gave Dash a quick once over and wrinkled her nose. “It’s just as rotten as usual.”

Dumbbell shot an arm out, preventing Rainbow Dash from advancing on the other mare. He had become a literal wall between them.
“Hey ladies, ladies! It's time to cool off our tail feathers. What did we come here for? To argue?”
“I’m definitely here to blow off some steam.” Shine replied.
“And I’m here to play some cloud ball.” Rainbow Dash was still glaring at Shine as she stated this.
“Looks like we can do both.” Dumbbell pulled one of the cloud balls away from Shine and forced it into Dash’s arms. “I really don’t feel like breaking up a fight, and I really don’t feel like watching you both at the same time. So whatever this stink is, handle it in the arena, you two, okay?”

“Oh I’ll handle it in the arena alright.” Rainbowshine snorted and walked to the platform leading into the open sky colosseum, before taking the leap she looks back at Dumbbell and Rainbow Dash. “Are you two coming or what?”

“You ref.” Dash grumbled to Dumbbell as she pushed passed him, trying to beat Shine to the take off platform. She might have heard Dumbbell say something about regretting this but didn't really care to know.

It was at some point during the practice matches when Rainbow Dash realized how much pain her wings were in. It had been a good two hours and a heavy throb like a broken tooth ached all
the way along her humerus bone down to her primaries.

“You guys, timeout.” Rainbow Dash called and some of the activity lessened on the cloudisseum, though most continued without any pause while she floated to a platform, rubbing her left shoulder with a pained look. Above her April Showers caught the cloud ball and looked down at Dash.

“Want us to wait for you?” she asked. Rainbow Dash palmed her shoulder then shook her head.

“Nah, it’s good, I’m just going to rest my shoulder for a little bit. Rainbow Dash went towards the benches and sat down with a heavy sigh. Only a moment later Dash felt the twinge of pain return, darting in and out of her sensory awareness like small yet intense pen needles. Just as she was about to head for the locker room to grab some muscle cream, Dumbbell landed in the stand next to her.

“Need some help with that?” he asked, referencing her shoulder. Dash shrugged. “Sure, you got something to rub on this?”
“Just these miracle workers.” Dash felt his hooves press into the tenderness of her trapezius muscle.

“Oooh…ung…mm!” She clamped a hoof over her mouth, but the sensation was indescribable. The pain was just…leaving! Sliding away like hot oils down her neck, and out through the tips of her wings. “Where did you learn how to do this?” She breathed sharply and scowled when Dumbbell chuckled behind her.

“Just something I picked up from a masseuse who used to live up here a while ago, I think he lives in Ponyville now.”
“Ah, okay.” Rainbow Dash couldn’t allot enough brain cells to completing her sentence as Dumbbell’s applications cut through her shoulder and wing pain like soft butter.

“Looks like Shine did a real number on you. I don’t remember her playing this hard since flight school.”
In the cloudisseum, Rainbowshine deflected a cloud ball with a gust of wind powerful enough that the twirling cloud mass shot back to the other side, and straight through the opposite goal post before anypony could stop it.

“She must have practiced a whole lot.” Dash mused. Dumbbell sat next to her when he finished her quick massage. A few minutes passed by as they watched the other players passing and maneuvering deftly through the air.

“Yeah, we can barely get her to lift a finger in the cloud factory but out here she works like a dog,” he said. “Damn near every day since the last time you two had a 1 v 1 in the flight school arena.” There was a pause, Rainbow felt her ear twitch in annoyance when an awkward beat of silence ran between them. Dumbbell continued. “Do you remember that day?”
Rainbow Dash’s ears fell and a phantom pain ghosted across her back. “I remember,” she tugged absent-mindedly at a feather. “You got me kicked out of school.”

“That was the day after.” Dumbbell corrected. “After you broke Rainbowshine’s wing.”
Rainbow Dash’s back arched. “That was a long time ago, why bother bringing it up now?”
The stallion rolled his eyes. “I know you’re practically blind, deaf, and dense, but you can’t tell me that you haven’t picked up on the very un friendshippy way Shine’s been around you since you’ve been here,” He couldn’t help but smile. “She makes us look like the best of pals.”

In fact Rainbowshine’s wing was broken once…but-

“What happened back then isn’t important. It’s in the past.” she growled.

“And I’m pretty sure Shine was trying to break my wings. What I did was in self defense.” When Dumbbell’s grim expression failed to change she added.
“She was trying to kill me.”

“Oh yeah?” Dumbbell smirked, his eyes narrowing. “Pretty sure four years ago I was the one trying to kill you.”

“As if you had a chance.” Rainbow Dash muttered. In the span of that exchange, the awkward mood soured into something deep and regrettable, something Rainbow Dash couldn’t sound the depths of. She averted her eyes not wanting to face Dumbbell’s accusing gaze, that and she wouldn’t admit that she could not face it.

“What’s bothering Shine is bothering me,” Dumbbell’s tone hardened. “It’s bothering all of us. But she won’t tell us the truth. So I figured I might as well get the truth out of you.”
“None of that was my fault.” she whispered. Behind her Dumbbell snorted.

“That’s not the way she tells it.”

It was late evening when Dumbbell flew back to the apartment, a cloud of bemusement had followed him from the cloudesseum. He slipped the key back into his sling bag as he looked over the interior. From Friday evening to Monday night the place was usually empty at all but the most remote hours of the morning. At that moment it was quieter than a crypt since Hoops rarely if ever spent his free time at home, and for the most part, it was a mystery to Dumbbell just where he went or what he was doing. It was enough to concern him, but he struggled with the idea of it being any of his business to ask.

Dumbbell tossed his bag onto the couch in the living room and went to the kitchen, opened the fridge, and pulled out a ginger soda. Something cold with a sharp taste was just what he needed. He popped the top and tipped the bottle back. It wasn’t until that moment while savoring the drink that he noticed a light smell and a hissing sound behind him. He paused and looked over at the stove and saw the covered pot sitting on top of it, a small flame underneath, which was the source of the hiss.

Slowly Dumbbell took another gulp of soda and walked over to the pot and the smell became more pronounced. Something like cooked barley or corn, but none of the other accompanying smells that came with activity in the kitchen. The things Hoops liked to eat usually filled the apartment with a smell so foul it was baffling, but now besides the mystery in the cooking pot, all he could detect was baking soda and detergent, the typical smells of a spic and span and unused kitchen.

“That’s weird.” Dumbbell thought to himself as he leaned over the warm pot. It was dangerous, he was sure of it, but curiosity was getting the better of him.

“You’re back! Awesome!”

Dumbbell looked up and saw Hoops in the living room from over the bar. He was honestly surprised that Hoops was even there on a weekend, but looking at the pot gave him an idea.

“Yo, Hoops,” Dumbbell moved away from the stove. “Are you making something?”

Dumbbell rarely called anything Hoops did over a hot stove “cooking”. Maybe concocting, scalding, performing nuclear fission, as he learned a while ago, the hard way.

“I’m going out soon.” was the answer. It felt like he was dodging the question.

“Tonight?”

Hoops glanced at a clock on the wall. “Iiin a couple of hours, yeah.”

Dumbbell heard the bubbling ‘splorch’ of the contents in the pot and grimaced.

“You’re not...feeding her are you?” he asked.

“Well, actually I—”

“I’m not gonna to be your guinea pig.” Dumbbell said all at once, lowering his head with a scowl, the way a cornered animal would. “Not again.” The sudden desperate reaction caused Hoop’s mouth to split into a grin, and then he laughed.

“It’s not like that, dude! I’m taking her out.”

Dumbbell felt the tension leave his feathers and he breathed a deep sigh. ‘Thank the light.’

“But I do need a favor.”

Dumbbell was halfway out of the kitchen, soda in hoof when he stopped mid-step and inspected Hoops with a sideways glance. “I can’t cover for you tonight,” he stated. “I’ve got work in the morning.”

“It’s not that, I’m fine tonight.” Hoops offered quickly. “It’s something I need for the day after tomorrow, and nothing too bad.”

Dumbbell rolled his eyes. “Spit it out. What is it.”

“I need you to take my place on the night shift!”

“No way.”

“Aaaawww come on, Dumbbell, you’d be doing me a huge favor if you do this for me!”

“I can barely wake up early enough to get to the factory on time in the morning.” Dumbbell complained. “What makes you think I’d ever want to waste my perfectly good sleeping hours there?”

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing...well maybe he could at least a fraction, but had to turn his head away in embarrassment when his friend started to grovel at his hooves.

“So you want me to take your place during the night shift so you can go on a date...” he sighed. “Why didn’t you get this figured out way before now?”

“It isn’t my fault,” Hoops whined in that way that always made Dumbbell grind his teeth together. “The manager just threw me on the night schedule yesterday, but I've already planned my date with Autumn Leaf!”

“Another one?” Dumbbell asked. “Aren’t you going out to see her now?”

“Actually I’m going out to see Calico.” Hoops admitted nervously. “But three days from now I got a date with Autumn.”

Dumbbell dug his hoof into the carpet. “For the love of Neptune, you have got to be kidding!”

Hoops slowly shook his head. “Nope.”

“Then reschedule the other date!”

“What?” Hoops leaped to his hooves, seemingly appalled. “I never reschedule!” He gave Dumbbell a look as if to signify he should know better. “I’ve got a reputation to keep up, you know.” He shrugged. "Besides, I've already got reservations."

“Heh, right.” Dumbbell couldn’t help but raise a sardonic smile. “Tell that to Honey Rays.”

“That’s not fair,” Hoops groaned and looked away, wings drooping. “That was different.”

Dumbbell knew Honey Rays was crazy, but he wasn’t in a pitying mood. “Sure it was.”

But he had taken a moment to think about Hoops’ request, as last minute as it was, there could be benefits. The night shift was just a skeleton crew, meaning he would almost have free reign of the place and more free time to have to himself if he wanted. On top of that those aggravating protesters wouldn’t be around, plus the easy pay would be nice.

Hoops flopped backwards onto the plush couch and pulled a pillow down over his face, after a couple of deep sighs he started to mumble through it. “Ok, fine...I’ll just call up Autumn Leaf and...reschedule,” he sounded so pitiful that Dumbbell decided against letting him suffer any longer. It’d be better to end this quickly.

“Fine.” But then he added with no affection in his voice. “What's in it for me?”

Hoops' shoulders rose in a shrug as he mumbled through the pillow again. “My paycheck, I don’t need it.”

And that was all Dumbbell needed to hear. “Deal.”

Hoops flung himself off the couch a little too fast and almost tripped over the coffee table in front of him. “Really? Aw dude you’re the best!” He moved forward to wrap Dumbbell in a big hug. “A real pal!”

Dumbbell only realized too late that he should have dodged before Hoops was on top of him, crushing him into a bear hug. He wasn’t prepared for the weight and nearly fell over.

“Ugh, get off me ya big fog headed lame-brain!”

As it turned out Rainbow Dash was also assigned the night shift. Rainbow Dash reached the cloud depot and flew out into open air. The depot itself was a large room on the west side of the rainbow factory complex, sifted clouds through pipes, that eventually floated out of a gigantic upturned funnel on the outside. Ten other ponies were already hovering around the mouth of the funnel with their nets stretched over the holes to catch the light fluffy clouds as they drifted out and carried them into the open sky. These would be the last batch of clouds for the winter. Dash looked out across the factory’s expanse and saw something startling.

The sound of chanting was unmistakable.

“Nature is Not for Profit!”

“Say No to Engineered Weather!”

“Don’t Stop the Natural Order!”

“Who are those guys?” She asked Dumbbell who flew up beside her.

“Oh great, look whos here.” Dumbbell muttered with begrudging recognition. “Hey Shine!” he shouted. “Look, the protest pigeons are back!”

This surprised Rainbowshine who turned around. From her position near the depot Dash saw at least a dozen forms settling atop one of the suspended glass walkways. Half of them were holding big white signposts covered in bold black writing above their heads. They drifted in from whatever odd corner they came from, in small segments and flocks like migrating birds gathering at some ancient meeting place. For these pegasi that place was the weather factory. There were more of them that night, huddled but a street width away from the front entrance. Enough for the workers to get inside without feeling like they were about to get swarmed. She couldn’t understand why they were doing this. Surely they had day jobs.

“Oh no, not these guys again.” Rainbowshine groaned. “Hey Dumbbell, quick! Sic Dash on them.”

Dash didn’t acknowledge her insult. If the ponies on top of the walkway heard her they didn’t seem to take the hint causing the indigo mare to groan in resignation. “That’s just what we need.” Her voice ran thick with annoyance.

A few of the other weather ponies saw the gathering on the bridge and flew closer to get a better look.
“Oh no, not them again — do you see them too?” Merry May flew over head toward the smattering yet growing congregation.

“You are not allowed in this area!” May flew forward in an authoritative stance. “This is weather management property and airspace, please leave!”

None of the protesters moved and started chanting as if the mare’s approach was the signal to start. The weather mare tried again in vain to get the protest ponies to listen to her but they took no notice.

“Don’t waste your voice on them, May.” said Shine. Dumbbell nodded in agreement. “Yeah it’s not worth it.”

“It’s a good thing this isn’t storm season when these clouds would be full of electricity...” Merry May turned back, rubbing her temples in frustration. “I remember that debacle from last year. That stallion was in a coma for six weeks, what a mess! And to think they were starting to slow down! That is until that psycho decided to blow a hole in the place!”

There was a loud obvious cough and Merry May turned around to see Shine chuckling icily, Dumbbell broke eye contact and whistled nonchalantly, as a very downtrodden looking Rainbow Dash stood between them. May’s wings flared up in fright until she realized she had been overheard. “Um. Sorry, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Guess I deserve that. Don’t worry about it.” she tilted her head slightly. “So what exactly is a naturist?”

“The worst kind of pony.” May answered. “They want weather to happen on its own.” She rotated a hoof flippantly. “Naturally!” Dash noticed the wording on some of the signs. “Wow, seriously?”

“Truly chaotic. They sit out here all day harassing the workers and generally being a nuisance.” she sighed. “I’m going to the office about them, nobody let those ponies throw you off task, your duties are the same as always.”

“They aren’t as chaotic as some ponies.” Rainbow Shine mentioned icily, her head tilting slightly in the direction of Rainbow Dash who could do nothing but bristle in embarrassment.

“Welp let's get to work and leave the buzzards to security.” Dumbbell’s forced cheer breaking the tension before grabbing Shine’s’ attention and flying to the funnel, where another big poofy cloud peaked like a giant cotton ball, bellowing gently over the sides. Rainbow Dash followed Merry May inside, dreading all the cleaning that awaited her.