Rain Booze

The clock was ticking ... tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock. Rainbow Dash could not stop staring at the white, fluffy cloud floor. All she could hear was the mumbling behind the door that lead to the dreaded boss's office. She, along with a couple of other employees, were called forth for reasons unknown to them. She could do nothing but worry about what was going to happen to her in that office. Sweat started falling from above here eyelash, down to her chin. Her teeth were clenched in fear of what could happen to her weather pony career.

She kept thinking all the "what if"s she could that would cross her mind. What if they found out that I was actually fine that one day I called in sick? What if they think that I was the one who lost that cumulonimbus a few days ago? What if my boss wants me to work even harder? Each thought made her worry even more, there were too many things that could go wrong. She also has never been called into the boss's office, so she did not know what to expect.

The door knob of the office turned very slowly, making a slight creaking noise as the metal gears rubbed against each other internally, in the door. As the door opened, Rainbow could only hear the sound of her heart beating rapidly, coupled with her heavy breathing. Out of the door came a somber orange pegasus who was walking very slowly, mumbling something odd while a tear came out of his eye. Behind the crying stallion came the boss sticking his head out. He looked directly at Rainbow with his green eyes and said something that she could not make out because it was drowned out by the sound of her heartbeat. He then became angry after she did not respond and walked over to her and nudged her with his left front hoof.

"Excuse me miss Dash, I would like to have a word with you in my office." the boss said, still barely audible to Rainbow. She was paralyzed in fear, all she could do is nod while staring into the sea of brown in the boss's coat. He turned around impatiently and walked back into his office. Rainbow soon followed.

"Take a seat." the boss said while sitting down himself. The room had a poster of him while he was still in his prime, working as a weather pony. He had a very large build, this made Rainbow feel even more intimidated. She kept looking around the room nervously, but she eventually sat down after a few seconds.

"I'd like to talk to you about your performance in your work as a weather pony." the boss projected his voice, it echoed throughout the room " It would appear that you have some overconfidence in your ability to control the weather in Ponyville. This has lead to some problems." The boss's head rested on his front hooves and he wore a serious expression. Rainbow did not like the way this conversation was going. "Before I get to my final point, I would like to tell you something that we, the higher ups, have noticed. You have repeatedly allowed Ponyville's weather to decline until the entire area is covered in clouds. You then insist on taking all of the clouds in one flight. Your job description was to," the boss picked up a piece of paper at his desk and started reading it aloud "'keep the weather in check in accordance to the predetermined schedule Mondays through Fridays from nine o' clock AM to six o' clock PM.' This means that you were supposed to keep the skies clear throughout the day, not just part of it. I would not have minded if you took small breaks, but the ones you were taking allowed Ponyville to fill with clouds. I now must tell you, you are being demoted to your former position as a rainbow factory employee."

The words that went into Rainbow's ears flushed out the nervousness she held and replaced it with confusion. This confusion did not last long before being turned into anger. "Demoted?!?!" she quickly retorted "I'm the best flyer out of all the weather ponies! Why don't you demote Jump Train? He can barely keep his head up while he redirects the clouds in the Everfree Forest!"

The boss gave Rainbow a disapproving look. "I don't think talking back to your employer will increase your chances of getting your position back. Just be glad I decided against firing you completely; with the current economy at hoof I doubt that would be an optimal outcome for you." Rainbow rolled her eyes before he could continue "You are to report to the rainbow factory tomorrow morning at nine o' clock, sharp. You can pick up your uniform at the front desk, there you will be shown where to go. If you have any questions you can ask one of your coworkers."

Rainbow nodded, she was very unhappy with this turn of events. As she stood up, the boss said farewell. She did not respond.

She trotted out of the office and into the hallway. Then she quickly flew out of the building, angrily, and started flying home. All she could do during the flight was watch the sun go down.

Once she got home she immediately jumped into the shower to wash out her worries. Each drop of water burned her skin, reminding her that she had to accept this fate, no matter how angry she is about this whole situation. After drying off she hopped into her bed and tried to sleep. As the minutes past by, she became more and more restless. She kept thinking of how hard she worked to get to where she was, and how she had to go back to the dirty rainbow factory again. But as she drifted to sleep, her anger fades, and she realizes that she really has no one to blame but herself.

Morning crept by after several trips to the bathroom, and many dreams that she is glad that she does not remember. Her morning routine is unchanged. She has to brush her teeth after eating a cruddy breakfast. When she tries to push the toothpaste out of the tube, it all comes out, making an unsightly blue mess. Immediately after cleaning it up, she flosses, Tank the tortoise flies toward her. She then walks past him without saying anything. The tortoise blinks, then follows her. Rainbow then walks back to her kitchen and pulls out Tank's food box. The box drops out of her mouth, the little pellets scatter across the floor. She then proceeds to clean up the mess while her pet eats just about half of the food on the floor. After one last trip to the bathroom, she shakes her thoughts out of her head and quickly exits her home.

The flight to the rainbow factory seems unusually long. Upon arrival to the building, Rainbow sees that she was travelling so slow because of her feathers being so rustled from the previous night, making them not very aerodynamic. She looks up to see an all to familiar factory, the one she hoped never to come back to. Then she walks through the main entrance. She pulls out her work card and puts it into her slot on the wall to the left. The names printed on the wall for each slot are in very legible print, except hers. It was obviously written in pen at the last minute. She then walked to the front desk. The mare there clearly did not get enough sleep last night.

"Um ..." Rainbow cleared her throat "I'm Rainbow Dash, and I'm here to pick up my uniform." The front desk mare took a long look at her until she was convinced that she really was Rainbow Dash. The pink pegasus then turned around to take out a large pile of white cloth and gave it to her.

"Make sure it fits" the pegasus said with a high pitched voice that you would expect to only hear from somepony holding their nostrils closed. "You're locker number and combination is on the paper in the front pocket. The locker rooms are down that hallway, third door to your right."

Rainbow then put the uniform onto her back and walked slowly to the locker room. She could hear each step she took very clearly. When she came to the locker room she saw another mare who seemed very thin. She had an off white coat, and a curly green mane that went down to her chin. Her tail seemed very messy and was cut short. She smelled like burning toast, but she unsuccessfully tried to cover it up with perfume, so the combination made it make Rainbow want to gag. Rainbow cautiously approached her locker, it was number 104. The lockers were stacked, but because they were for pegasi, they each were nearly two meters tall. She had the middle one, the second from the top. She flapped her wings until she came to an appropriate distance to the locker. She put in the locker code. The locks were those that you would put on luggage. After putting her things in the locker and changing into her new uniform, which had a green stain on it, she noticed that the smelly pony had left the room.

She closed her gray locker and descended to the cloud floor. She really did not want to be back working at the factory, but she also did not want to be late on her first day. So she walked to the factory room at a leisurely pace. The factory room was very large and there were cobwebs in every corner. She then remembered that she had to check the clipboard to see which job she was assigned to do today. She scrolled through all the names until she found her own. She was to go to mix the rainbow liquid in vat number seven. She flew on over to the vat, which was across the entire factory room, and found that the smelly pony was working in vat six. She took the giant mixing stock and started slowly stirring up the colorful liquid. The smell of the white pegasus next to her became gradually stronger. Rainbow decided to concentrate on her work.

She thought about the tutorial on mixing rainbows. She had to make sure to mix it at a slow and steady pace, mixing it to fast would cause the colors to react with each other, making a brown mess. After going over the procedure for a couple of hours, she felt that an incredibly awkward feeling arise. She then noticed a bright purple pegasus fly upwards to the middle of the room. With a loud, booming voice she yelled "Lunch break!"

Rainbow was very relieved that she could take a break. She had to follow everypony else to the cafeteria. She just remembers that the food here tastes very bad, but she did not bring her own lunch so she will just have to deal with it. The food is served in a buffet style. She grabs her food, a dandelion sandwich with a side of hay fries, and she pays for it at the cash register. The entire process takes quite a while, and by the time she sits down the hay fries are cold. The table she sits at is round and has gum lodged under it, which touches her leg when she sits down. Then, as if by fate, the smelly pegasus sits right next to Rainbow. She felt a little uncomfortable not only because of the smell, but because she does not know this pony. There are also plenty of other seats so she wonders why this pony would choose to sit right next to her.

Normally Rainbow would speak up, but she really is not in the mood. After several bites into her dandelion sandwich, she decides that she can not take this awkwardness any longer. She tries to think of a topic to talk about, but can not think of anything that would not increase the level of awkwardness. But instead of Rainbow saying anything, the smelly pegasus starts the conversation.

"You're new here aren't you?" she has an unusually low and scratchy voice.
"Yes I am ..." Rainbow says, avoiding eye contact.
"Then *cough* you must be Rainbow Dash *cough*" Rainbow was not really sure if this pony was coughing the entire time or not, she was too concentrated on the awkwardness. "My name is Underhoof"
"Oh, nice to meet you, Underhoof" she gave a very large smile, hoping that Underhoof would start making this conversation more interesting.
"Are you that *cough* pony ... with the thing ... you know ... the element of loya-*cough*-lty?"
"Yeah I am!!!" Rainbow exclaims with excitement. She finally meets somepony who knows about her awesomeness.

The conversation goes on for the rest of the lunch break. Neither of the pegasi had the chance to finish their meals, but they have to return to work. Luckily, both of them are working on stirring the rainbow liquid, so they can continue their conversation. Rainbow almost forgets that she is here because of her demotion during her conversation with Underhoof. The day goes by quickly and work is over all too soon. At the locker room, the two pegasi say goodbye to each other and Rainbow happily trots to the exit.

It does not take long for her to realize that she forgot her wallet at the locker rooms. It must have fallen out of her bag when she put it in her locker. After retrieving her bag she hears some footsteps. It sounds like whoever is outside is in a hurry. But Rainbow continues to put her wallet in her bag while humming a happy tune when a thought comes to mind. What if that pony is a thief? She then immediately spreads her wings and flies through the hallway, following the footsteps. She ends up in the factory room, most of the lights are off, giving it an eerie appearance. But that does not stop Rainbow Dash from trying to catch this culprit. She then sees that this pegasus walked all the way to the area that she was working in today.

"Aha!" Rainbow jumps out at the burglar with a proud stance "I've caught you red ..." Her voice trails off when she sees that the burglar is Underhoof. This confuses both of the pegasi, they are frozen in place and do not know what to say.

"I can explain." Underhoof said with a shaky voice. Rainbow wants to tackle her, but she decides against it; doing so would cause their friendship to go badly.

"Okay, then go ahead" she seems doubtful, but hopes that Underhoof really has a good reason for sneaking around.

"Have you ever heard of rain booze?" Rainbow does not, so she gives her a puzzled look. "It's really good, it's the brown stuff *cough* that you get when you mix rai-*cough*-nbow liquid too fast. When you taste it, you will be put in hea-*cough*-ven. It's also a great stress reliever."

Rainbow was going through a lot of stress because of the turn of events, so she decided to go along with it. She allowed Underhoof to proceed with the rainbow liquid, turning it into a brown tinge. She then collected it into a very large bottle, Rainbow followed her when she started to leave.

"Wait!" Rainbow yelled, right behind Underhoof " If you want me to keep quiet about this, then you have to let me have some." Underhoof stared at her for a short period of time, then nodded. She signaled her to follow. The two pegasi flew out of the factory and towards a very sketchy part of Ponyville that Rainbow has never been to before. They arrived at a beat up house that looked like it was very structurally unsound.

Underhoof opened the front door with her key. It was odd, because it seemed like she was having trouble fitting the key in. As soon as they walked through, Rainbow was bombarded with the smell of burnt toast. She tried to breath through her mouth. When they walked into the dining room, she noticed that the table had a bloodstain on it. She tried to ignore it. Underhoof hands her the bottle of brown rainbow liquid and walks into the kitchen. She returns with another bottle.

"This is probably your first time" Underhoof says, excitedly. "Which is *cough* why you should enjoy it to the fullest! Alright on three, we'll dr-*cough*-ink it. One ... Two ... Three!" The two of the of them chug the bottles of rain booze in a minute. Rainbow kept on looking down to see if she should stop at any point during the drinking.

As soon as Rainbow looks forward, she starts to feel a wave of pleasure go through her body. Everything seems to have a nice sparkle to their appearance now. Underhoof says something, but she can't hear a thing over the loud ringing in her ears. Rainbow smiles the largest smile she has ever made. The two pegasi continue to lounge around the house.

Rainbow starts to feel light headed, everything goes blurry. Underhoof yells something, but the ringing is still drowning it out. Rainbow collapses and then her vision goes black.