"Rain on Your Parade”
2

The streets of Ponyville were quiet, even for early morning. The sound of Carrot Top's watering can could be heard from across the street. The few early birds who didn't go to the Acres welcomed the silence.

Wearing an elegant robe, Rarity slowly cantered out from her Boutique. She looked into the dawn sky and sighed, as a yawning Sweetie Belle came up beside her. Turning to look back at her sleepy-headed little sister, the posh Unicorn grinned.

"We missed the sunrise, Rarity," pouted Sweetie Belle.

"Tomorrow is another day, Sweetie," Rarity assured her sister, putting a foreleg around her. "Cider sales are a Ponyville Holiday, after all... don't stay up late again tonight and perhaps we'll see it then."

As the Unicorn hugged her little sister and kissed her forehead, she thought she heard something... a strange grinding noise in the distance. She perked an ear, now hearing the laughter of two mares along with it. She was most certain she not imagining this -- the sound grew quickly in intensity and volume.

Sweetie Belle turned her head just in time to see something very large -- both round and pony-shaped -- come up over the hill near their home at blistering speeds. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash passed them in a blur, leaving Rarity shaking her head in disbelief. Sweetie Belle tried to wave, but they were long gone by the time she even put up her hoof.

Pinkie and Rainbow took turns riding the keg like two lumberjacks in competition. Their pace was quick and effortless; Celestia's sun had only barely risen when they made it to the bakery.

The duo was excited to be making the best of the day. All they had to do was drop the keg off in Pinkie's room, then they could put this whole mess at the farm behind themselves...

* * *

Unlocking the bakery door with a big key, Pinkie turned to her cyan friend and smiled.

"Um... where are the Cakes?" Rainbow Dash asked, as she noticed all the lights were all out. "They'd normally just be opening up about now, wouldn't they?

"Oh, they're out at a convention," Pinkie replied, pulling the keg in. "And they won't be back until tomorrow afternoon! They even took the little Cakes with them in case they weren't able to find a sitter. We're completely home alone."

"Why wouldn't they be able to find a sitter?" Rainbow Dash asked, shutting the door and locking it up tight.

"'cause of Cider Season, duh! "No pony's usually available but lil ol' Pinkie... and they wanted to give me the day off so I can go out and enjoy it."

Rainbow helped her to the stairs, grinning at the thought:

"Well, that's pretty cool of them."

They began ascending the stairs with the keg, Pinkie pulling and Dash pushing. They made such a great team that neither of them had to tell the other to push, pull, or stop. They were even able to carry on their conversation without much of a problem:

"They are pretty awesome bosses. The best I've ever had!"

"Pinkie, they're the only bosses you've ever had," Rainbow smirked. "Unless you count your parents back on that rock farm."

"You know I don't like talking about that, Dashie," Pinkie Pie said, her grin quickly turning into a grimace.

They came to a sudden stop. Though Rainbow continued to push, it was too awkward to continue without Pinkie's help. Looking over the side of the keg, Dash could see her friend's face plain as day. Pinkie's expression was unreadable, her eyes glazed over as if daydreaming. Dash then felt her grip start to loosen...

Without thinking, Rainbow Dash put her weight against the bottom of the keg. She knew deep down that she was too low to hold the keg up on her own, and it would probably just topple over her if Pinkie let go. Just as the Pegasus felt the keg begin to tilt, Pinkie snapped back to herself, and began pulling it up the last couple steps on her own.

"And yeah! Now that I think about it, I'd still call them my best bosses ever."

Wide-eyed, Rainbow didn't dare argue this time. She cautiously stepped around the barrel and helped push it to the side of Pinkie's bed.

* * *

At first Dash kept an ear open to hear what Pinkie was going to say next. She was naturally worried she might have struck a nerve, but all the pink mare did was sit down beside the bed and go "whew!" wiping the sweat off her brow. Dash was hot and tired from lifting the keg, too, so she did the same. The cider both ponies had drunk made them feeling light, but far from tipsy. Together they looked out the window at the morning sky.

"Those're pretty pink clouds, Dashie," Pinkie said, looking out as the Pegasai above gathered darker clouds, turning the sky nearly red.

Dash focused on the weather for the first time since her falling out with the Apple family. She couldn't believe what she was seeing on this, of all days, the first cider sale of the Season:

Thunderlane, you feather brain! She thought, looking out into the red skies with Pinkie. Even you should know "Red skies in Morning..." I hope you're not doing what I think you're doing.

One closer look into the clouds confirmed it... Rainbow's eyes grew wide for a split second before she closed them, rubbing her temples in frustration. She then sighed:

"Pinkie, I'm sorry to say... it's going to storm soon."

"How do you know that?" The pink mare responded, giggling. "Did your Dashie Senses tell you?"

"No," Rainbow Dash replied, rolling her eyes. "But my weather pony sense did..." She recited the full adage. "'Red Skies in Morning, Sailors Take Warning.' Red skies mean the weather teams are gathering storm clouds Pinkie... I learned that a long time ago in Weather School."

"Aww... but that'll ruin our fun."

"Yeah, it will, and a lot of other ponies fun, too... but we might be able to make it out for a little while if we hurry." Dash smirked at her pink friend, giving her a noogie. "But I think first I have to go have a heart-to-heart talk with Thunderlane about this."

"Aww, please don't be mean, Dashie. I'd hate to think of you hurting one of your co-worker's feelings over a little rain."

"Oh, I won't..." Dash rubbed her hooves together with an evil smirk. "I just want to know what, in the wide, wide world of Equesteria he thinks he's doing up there."

Without another sound Rainbow got up, opened Pinkie's window, glanced back at her with a smile, then flew out in a flash. Pinkie watched as her rainbow-maned friend trailed up into the wild, blue yonder.

* * *

Rainbow Dash flew higher and higher in no time. She had no clue what Thunderlane was thinking, but she was about to find out. Up, up she went, until she was looking at the largest team in the sky... beside them the dark, cyan-maned stallion leading, holding her clipboard. She approached the team and set her hooves firmly on the cloud, looking their leader right in the eye:

"Thunderlane! What the hay is wrong with you!?!"

"I'm happy to see you, too, Rainbow Dash," Thunderlane replied, looking a bit shaken up from Dash's entrance but still managing to keep his composure. "What brings you to Cloudsdale on this, your one requested day off all year?"

"You're going to make it storm on the first day of cider sales!"

Thunderlane rubbed his face with a hoof.

"I know what I'm doing, Rainbow Dash," he said, calmly, passing her his clipboard. "And we've been setting it up for the past two hours. I have orders... see?"

Rainbow looked at the clipboard. It had on it the usual instructions for her team -- temperature, humidity, wind power, and visibility for the day. She noticed, however, that a few of the words on the clipboard were smudged. She immediately addressed Thunderlane about this:

"Why's it look all smudged and runny in places?"

Again, Thunderlane rubbed his face with a hoof and blushed:

"Derpy volunteered to 'assist' me this morning, instead of being on Cloudbusting Patrol, and was responsible for bringing me my clipboard..." He chuckled nervously. "I think she's got a crush on me. Anywho, she clumsily flew through a cloud and got my instructions all wet. They're still readable, though, so no harm done." He laughed. "Pity the instructions aren't smudge proof!"

Workers gathered around as Dash continued to read the daily plans for weather, flipping through pages. For the most part it was still quite readable, and from the feel of things Thunderlane was interpreting the instructions pretty well. A few letters were smudged, words were a bit hard to read here and there, but any pony with the tiniest bit of knowledge about the weather could easily fill in the blanks, even Apple Jack. Numbers were still legible, and that's what mattered. Dash got to the last page with special instructions for the day. They were wet, but easily readable: Make it storm at 7:00 BM until 2:00 DM.

"Thunderlane," Dash said, smirking at all of her co-workers who had gathered around. "I think you misread this. It says make it rain at 7:00 PM until 2:00 AM. That's tonight... ponies will be at home then so it'll be okay. It's an easy mistake to make..."

Several larger, slower-looking weather Pegasai started laughing at their leader. Thunderlane's name was being whispered by a few others, followed by the words "told ya," and "he so totally doesn't know what he's doing," and "Rainbow Dash set him straight!" Dash ate this up... they wanted her to lead.

Thunderlane looked at his plans, hoofing through them, then up at Dash. His tail twitched in irritation as his eyes flitted in the direction of the whispering, but his head remained facing Rainbow. He sighed deeply... appearing ready to admit the error, but he didn't:

"I am not misunderstanding, Rainbow Dash," he said, confidently, turning the clipboard back towards her. "You are. See? It says 7:00 AM until 2 PM. That's what we're doing."

"Thunderlane," Dash said, trying to keep calm. "This doesn't make any sense! You'll be raining all over ponies and ruining Apple Jack's first cider sale! She'll be furious at us... and I've already made her whole family mad enough for one day, trust me."

"I'm just following orders," he said, turning back to his co-workers and motioning for them to get back to work with a hoof. "Apple Jack can pack up and try again tomorrow..."

"Hey, if you're not sure just message Control and we can-"

"Rainbow Dash, I am completely sure," he said with authority, as he turned towards his Pegasai and resumed directing them with his hooves. "If you message them for me you'll just be going over my head and, you know that's not cool. Your expertise is appreciated, but I can handle it."

Dash heard a roaring screech in her left ear as she face-hoofed in frustration, ready to scream.

"Alright, Thunderlane," she said, turning away. "But if Apple Jack or some other pony writes the Weather Station an angry letter, which I know they're going to... you're going get it. Not me, not Derpy. The best you can hope for is that they just never put you in charge again."

"That's not going to happen," The stallion replied, not bothering to look in Dash's direction any longer. "Or if it does, it won't matter. I'm sure there's a reason they want me to do this today. Have a nice rest of the day!"

Rainbow didn't even hear him wishing her well... she was already gone, headed back towards Pinkie Pie's.

* * *

Rainbow Dash could have screamed at this point as she headed down towards the Sugar Cube Corner at almost full speed. How could Thunderlane possibly be that dense? She didn't know whether or not she was letting him dig his own grave or had just given up trying to reason with him. in a day it would all be over, but she knew at least Apple Jack would be quite unhappy. She stopped in midair:

Apple Jack already hurt me, she thought. She threw me off her farm... Maybe this is good payback for that?

She shook her head, gritting her teeth:

"What am I thinking!?! She's my best friend! I love her!" Dash resumed heading towards Ponyville. "At least I might have half an hour to prank with Pinkie Pie... if I get there soon enough."

Dash was now racing towards the ground below. Once she was low enough to make out the individual ponies' color she slowed down and drifted towards the Corner... where Pinkie's window was still open.

"Pinkie, I'm back!" Rainbow said, floating through the window. "Ready for some pranking?"

"Wow, Dashie!" Exclaimed Pinkie from her bed, holding up the empty mug she must've still had on hoof from earlier. "You took so long I thought I'd try some of my cider." The pink mare belched. "It's really good! I got a keg... so I want you to have few mugs with me to make up for the ones you didn't get filled."

The Pegasus took one look at Pinkie and smirked... she was quite tipsy. Not yet drunk, but closing in on it.

"Uh, no thanks Pinkie... that's your cider." Dash chuckled. "How many have you had?"

"Oh, just three," Pinkie replied, sloppily pouring herself another. "I normally get five, just like you wanted, and might get a little extra silly by the end."

Rainbow Dash had already had two ciders and hardly felt a thing. Pinkie Pie was definitely a light weight by comparison... even though she weighed a good twenty pounds more than her athletic friend.

"You sure you don't want any?" Pinkie asked, looking down at her mug. "You can have this one."

If it'll keep you from drinking it, Dash thought, as she approached and gently took the mug from Pinkie.

"Whew! That's my Dashie!"

Rainbow proceeded to drink the fresh, tangy, strong cider... and moaned in ecstasy. It was the best of Apple Jack's cider since, well... ever.

"It's better than I ever remembered!" exclaimed Pinkie, filling up a different mug she pulled out of nowhere. "One more!"

Rainbow Dash nearly spit her cider everywhere, but managed to gulp it down quickly in a way that really hurt her throat. Pinkie was already drinking her new mug down and by the end was wearing a cider beard. She smiled at Dash as she offered to refill her mug. The Pegasus already knew this was probably the way they were going to spend their morning...

"Pinkie Pie..." Rainbow Dash chuckled, passing her the mug. "You are so random!"

Author's Note

I origionally stopped writing this at the end of Part 1, Chapter 1 for about 6 months. I think the mood shifts a bit due to the time between starting and stopping.