One Stormy Afternoon

Part 4
"Not too late"

Chapter 1
"After the Storm"

Rainbow Dash bolted awake, more sweaty and disoriented than she had been after first training on the Wonderbolt's Dizzitron. She shot upright, her muscles tense; it was as if somepony had stuck a firecracker under her pillow and lit it. Had it not been for the weight of Pinkie Pie on her legs, she would have taken clear off and been hovering above the bed before she even knew what was going on.

She took a deep breath and slowly blinked her eyes, then began looking around the room... She was in Pinkie's room. Gummy looked down on her from the vanity with his glass eyes. Dash could remembered why she was there, though the pounding in her head served as an additional reminder... it wasn't as bad as she expected it to be. To her left she saw it was no longer raining outside. She could hear birds singing in the distance, the day was bright and sunny, and she could imagine Fluttershy leading them on in song from the sound of it. Pinkie was asleep by her chest, their hind legs intertwined in some complex web under the covers. Dash shifted her weight to get their legs untangled and Pinkie stirred, yet Dash's eyes went wide for another reason:

The bed was wet.

It was cold and wet. Dash knew the window hadn't leaked, and the wetness was most concentrated right about the place where she and Pinkie were locked together.

Pinkie wet the bed. Dash thought, looking over at the mare sympathetically. Whatever you do, Rainbow, don't laugh after she realizes what's happened.

The sleeping mare's face was scrunched up, not in her usual cute way... but as if she was in pain.

She must be having a nightmare. Dash thought, taking her free hoof and stroking the mane out of Pinkie's face. Pinkie instinctively drew toward the comfort, resting her head on Dash's shoulder. She was silent, yet she bit down hard on her lip, all the while continuing to wince. Dash waited and waited, not sure what to do.

Suddenly Pinkie placed both hooves on the bed (one on the mattress, one on her friend) and propelled herself upwards as if doing a push-up. Her eyes shot open, darting around the room almost in a frenzied panic. They turned to Rainbow and she watched the panic fade away... though Pinkie still cried after she took a breath and realized where she really was.

"Bad dream, Pinkie?" Dash asked, wiping the tear from her friend's eye.

"Un-huh," Pinkie replied, snuggling into her friend. "I'm so sorry, Dashie."

"Hey, you've got nothing to apologize for, Pinkie," Dash said, now rubbing the bruised side where Pinkie had placed her hoof. "Unless you're saying sorry for putting your hoof into my stomach, but... you didn't know what you were doing. It's okay."

Pinkie shook her head.

Dash raised an eyebrow.

"What is it, then?"

Pinkie looked up at her.

"In my dream I was really kind of mean to you. I'm sorry, Dashie..."

Rainbow Dash blinked, confused... thinking carefully about what to say next. She put a hoof to the back of her neck as she slowly spoke:

"Hey, uh... well, I'm here now. Whatever you did or said in your dream was all pretend, so... no hard feelings, okay?"

Pinkie nodded, rolling away from Rainbow and untangling their legs. Dash rolled back, too. As she pulled some of the covers with her, Rainbow heard familiar the crinkle of the garment she had put her friend in, and she also smelled the stale waste it was holding. It smelled like bad hay bits mixed with sour cider; Pinkie could smell it too. That wasn't the worst of it, though. The worst was felt. Pinkie froze, feeling the dampness of the covers.

"Uh-oh." The pink mare looked down at the covers, then up at Rainbow. "Dashie..."

"It's okay, Pinkie," Rainbow Dash said, confidently. "Accidents, err... in this case leaks happen. It's not a problem and I won't tell anypony."

Pinkie smiled, peeling back the covers, revealing not only her soaked diaper but also a heart-shaped wet spot... which only could have been made by two ponies. The two mares looked at each other, then down at the spot again, their mouths agape.

"... uh, guess we had too much cider," Pinkie said, giggling. "Looks like I'll be doing some laundry!"

Rainbow Dash was speechless. She lay there blushing, staring at the wet spot she helped create.

"It still would have happened, Dashie," Pinkie said reassuringly, breaking the silence as she poked her swollen crotch and smiled weakly. "I filled the diaper up all the way!"

"Are you going to want help cleaning all this up?" Rainbow Dash asked, blushing. "I... can't help but feel a teeny bit responsible for this."

Pinkie smiled at her cyan friend.

"Oh, that's so sweet of you to offer, Dashie, but..."

"But what?"

"I can take care of it." Pinkie let out a sigh, her mane losing a tiny bit of its frizz. "It would have happened even if you weren't here... I sometimes have that problem when I drink too much cider. Mrs. Cake won't be very happy about the mattress. I want to have fun with you the next time we see each other... not spend the next hour scrubbing bed sheets and flipping over a mattress. Besides... I really don't want to play this game anymore and it's all I can think about with you around."

The Pegasus's eyes went wide when she realized what Pinkie Pie was saying, but she still nodded at the end.

"You sure you're going to be okay?"

Pinkie nodded confidently.

"Super sure, Dashie." She made the motion of her patented Pinkie Promise, ending on a big (forced) smile. "See?"

"Okay, Pinkie..." Dash stretched, popping her neck. "Then I think I should take off for a while now that it's sunny. It looks like it's still early enough to prank a couple of hours from now. You're not too hung over or bogged down with those sheets... are you?"

Pinkie shook her head, smiling weakly.

"Everything I can do without the Cakes help I'll have done and drying in an hour..."

Dash smiled back, pulling Pinkie in for an affectionate noogie. The pink mare did not laugh, so Dash just hugged her tight and sighed. The Pegasus then turned towards the stairs without a word and stepped over all the stuff -- the chest, keg, and baby items -- and by Gummy. She gave a light pat to him and he blinked his eyes (as a way of saying thank you, Dash guessed). She turned around by the steps one last time to be sure.

"You're sure you're okay, Pinkie?"

Again, Pinkie nodded.

"Positive, Dashie."

"Okay," Dash turned around, preparing to descend the stairs.

"Ohh! Wait!" Pinkie suddenly chirped, causing Dash to stop and nearly stumble on the first step. "I do have one question!"

"About 5:00, by the fountain," Dash replied with a sigh, rolling her eyes. "Be sure to bring your best bag of tricks and we'll set up some good pranks!"

"That's not it, Dashie, but thanks!"

"Well, then..." The Pegasus looked back. "What is it, Pinkie?"

"Dashie..." The pink mare turned crimson the second time that day, looking as though she were ashamed. She bought herself a few seconds and slowly untaped the diaper... hesitating. She swallowed hard and just spat it out: "Dashie, what's cunnilingus?"

* * *

The question had given Rainbow Dash the chills, but she still explained the best she could. She was no Twilight Sparkle, that was for sure. The Unicorn would have given Pinkie a better, more clinical definition... something way less icky. Still, Dash tried, using terms like "partner" and "romantic activity" hoping to soften the vulgarity. Pinkie was far less grossed out than she had been in her dream, but she still turned a lovely shade of green at the thoughts racing through her head. Dash naturally had to ask:

"Pinkie... where did you hear that word?"

"Oh!" Pinkie blushed again, looking out into the blue sky. "I, uh... heard Lyra and Bonbon talking about it a couple days ago. I didn't want to interrupt, because interrupting is not polite and no pony who's good at taking turns interrupts, and... I just suddenly remembered, Dashie."

Rainbow Dash put her hoof on Pinkie's shoulder, rolling her eyes.

"Pinkie Pie... you are so random!"

The pink mare smiled back, feeling guilty as she hadn't exactly told the truth.

* * *

Dash took off shortly after that, not looking back this time. She eyed the clock on the wall before she she bolted from the restaurant (first needing to pick herself up and shake away the stars from having run nearly full speed into a locked door). She even remembered to lock it back up on the way out, though. The clock said it was around 2:30. Plenty of time

Dash had an agenda. Now that the clouds were clear she wanted to make a beeline for Sweet Apple Acres. The Acres and the Corner were reasonably close, and flying would be the fastest way to make it there... but Dash's head was still pounding from the drinking, so she ended up galloping. Even galloping made her squint in discomfort... the bright sun and humid weather didn't help either.

She darted by the library seeing Spike just coming out, wringing water from their doormat. He waved and she nodded, barely perceptible as she sped on in a blur. She passed by Rarity's Boutique -- center of town -- and was half way there. She passed Horte's Cuisine and could actually smell the food... she'd forgotten how much fun galloping through town could be, always preferring to be up high, looking down on everything as it unfolded... she was now a part of it and it felt so different.

She noticed out of the corner of her eye a familiar-looking pony sitting outside the restaurant, towards the very edge of the the property. If she didn't know any better, she would have said it was...

"Thunderlane?" She slowed down and turned in his direction.

She wasn't sure yet, being a good distance away... but the closer she got the more it looked like her mind wasn't playing tricks on her:

Cyan mane... dark coat. Pegasus... stallion.

This was Thunderlane alright. All alone. Had he been sitting just a bit closer to the other ponies he would have blended right in.

Rainbow didn't know why, but she was drawn to him. She guessed she just wanted to see how he was doing, now that it was all over with. The problem was, she wasn't sure she even had anything to say to him (much less wanted to say anything to him), yet her hooves padded in his direction... slowly. Curiosity got the better of her.

* * *

Thunderlane had his head down and was nursing a frothy beverage when Rainbow Dash approached. He didn't look up, but Rainbow could just tell he knew she was there.

"Hey there," she said calmly, despite having just dashed a mile. "Um... how are you doing?"

"Oh, it's Rainbow Dash," Thunderlane said between his teeth, looking up. "Come to further humiliate me, have you?"

Rainbow Dash smiled at Thunderlane, not in a cruel way... but as kindly as she could.

"I really shouldn't have called you out in front of everypony like that," she said. "That was really... unprofessional of me."

Thunderlane could have responded to that in many ways. Dash cocked her head as he sat there and shrugged his shoulders, appearing to be indifferent.

"Mmm."

"Look, I'm sorry... okay?"

Thunderlane turned to face her directly, smiled and raised his mug. Dash could smell the drink... it was cider.

"I know what the note originally said, Rainbow Dash," the dark stallion said with a chuckle. "You think I wanted to be stuck up there today?"

"Wait... what're you saying Are you saying you sabotaged Apple Jack's cider sales?"

Thunderlane laughed heartily, smiling at the mare as if he were a colt caught lying to his parents about spoiling dinner.

"You figured it out, huh?" The dark Pegasus looked up at her, bearing his contrasting white teeth while showing a bit of anger in his yellow eyes. "Instead of just leaving it alone, you had to showboat. I can't forget, you're Rainbow Dash... everypony just loves you."

"That's not true," Dash said, place a hoof behind her head. "Anyways, what you did was wrong. If you wanted to enjoy cider today, you could have just talked to me. I've been down here on the first day many times before because it's the easiest to get cider! Pinkie wouldn't have minded doing it without me... or waiting a day, knowing Pinkie Pie."

"Pinkie Pie just loves to have fun, doesn't she?"

Dash's ears had been perked and listening up to that point. They flattened against her head as she gritted her teeth.

"You know what, Thunderlane? You're making really it hard for me to have any sympathy for you."

"I didn't ask for it, Rainbow Dash." He held his hooves a few inches apart on the table. "This big... I had no idea how articulate Big Mac could be when he gets mad." He looked up at her. "He actually made me feel an inch tall. His Granny had to restrain him, and even then he only gave in because she asked him to."

"Well, you kind of deserved it... I mean, what you did was selfish and disloyal to all of Ponyville! Ponies depend on you to bring them the weather. You're lucky no pony got hurt trying to get home."

"It's for that reason I'm not going to be doing it again."

Rainbow Dash put both her hooves on the table.

"Wait. You didn't get fired, did you?"

"Oh, no... they simply removed me from being in charge and told me in a couple years maybe they'll try me again... if I'm lucky. I'm a lot luckier than you thought I would be, though, aren't I?"

Rainbow Dash wiped the sweat from her brow... even though she didn't like Thunderlane, she felt a little sorry for him.

Thunderlane smiled directly at her, but then looked past her, waving:

"Now if you don't mind, I'm waiting for somepony and it looks like she just arrived." Dash glanced behind herself to see Derpy Hooves coming with a huge smile on her face. "This is the one good thing to come out of today... that and this second-rate cider. Have a good day, Rainbow Dash!"

"Yeah, later," Dash said, quickly turning away and galloping past the incoming gray Pegasus into to the streets. Though talking to Thunderlane had been an exercise in futility and had started up a tiny red-hot flame at the base of her brain (which was aggravated by the pounding) she turned back in time to see her beloved co-worker now on his best behavior. He had gotten up from his seat and was actually pulling a chair out for Derpy, all the while smiling in a much more charming way than he had been. He knew how to act polite and nice... when he needed to.

Shaking her head in disgust she now trotted a little faster, away from the restaurant... with anger towards her destination. She couldn't believe what she'd just seen, but like the dream it was all in the past now.