Rainbow Dash's schedule for the afternoon was a beautiful piece of work, skillfully optimized to get the most out of every hour. Even the pauses where carefully timed to allow her to make the most out of her speed and endurance. It was a masterpiece of time-management, and like any masterpiece of time management, it was completely destroyed due to uncooperative weather.
She was standing outside of the gym, ineffectually shielding herself against the rain with a newspaper. The streets where emptying as the ponies searched for shelter. Rainbow Dash gave the entire world a disapproving glance, but the universe continue to mess up her plans without reacting.
”Aaargh, that rainstorm came from out of nowhere!”, she said to herself, “I really hope the cloud patrol have it fixed before the race, there's only two days left!”
There was no use trying to fly in this kind of weather, so she had no choice but to drag herself across the wet clouds back to her house.
Rainbow Dash's house where usually located right above Ponyville, but for the Pigeon Run she had docked it at the Cumulonimbus Docks. The advantage of Cloud over other building material is that it makes any home a mobile home. just put some sails on it, create a strong enough wind and you could take it anywhere, the sky is literary the limit. The Cumulonimbus Docks where created with this in mind, it is a place where visiting ponies can dock their homes and create temporary streets of cloud-houses.
When Rainbow Dash approached her house, she found two ponies standing outside of it, arguing. One of them where Tam-a-line, the other was Fluttershy.
“...look, I TOLD you once already”, Tam-a-line said, “Rainbow Dash SAID I could stay here!”
“Well, we'll just know when she return don't we?”, Fluttershy said.
“Lay it off, this isn't your house, y'know.”
“But you barely know Rainbow Dash, you met her yesterday!”
“So what?”
“Whats the matter, you two?”, Rainbow Dash asked, and the two ponies turned to look at her as she was walking down the docks.
“Miss Binoculars here won't let me into the house!”, Tam-a-line said.
“She said birdwatching was a worthless hobby for losers!”, Fluttershy said.
“Birdwatching IS a worthless hobby for losers!”, Tam-a-line said.
“Stop it you two!”, Rainbow Dash said, “'Shy, Tam-a-line here needed a place to stay for the race and I said she could use my couch, is it going to be a problem?”
Fluttershy could see Tam-a-line blowing a raspberry from behind Rainbow Dash's back.
“Certainly not,”, she said, “unless she wants to make it a problem.”
Having two friends who where on bad terms with each other together under the same roof during a rainstorm is never a fun experience. Thankfully, here house was large enough so that they could each find a different corner to brood in as the rain where crashing down outside, like a colony of liquid lemmings throwing themselves off an apocryphal cliff.
There was no clock ticking in Rainbow Dash's house, but there almost needed to be one to complete the scene. It was a tableau of utter boredom, at least until they heard a knock coming from the door. It was an erratic knock, but after some meandering, it did find a consistent rhythm: “Knockety-knockety, knock knock”.
Opening the door, Rainbow Dash found two wet ponies, Rainbowshine and Derpy. They both had very different expressions, Derpy looked perky, but Rainbowshine seemed less than amused.
“Hi 'Shine!”, Derpy said, “you wanna come out and train with us? Come on!”
“Haven't you noticed the rain?”, Rainbow Dash said, “Now is NOT a good time to train.”
“That's what I told her, “Rainbowshine said, “but she insisted!”
“You didn't have to come with me, “Derpy said, “I wasn't gonna force you.”
“Meh, not much else to do right now anyway...”
“I like the rain!”, Derpy announced, “it feels so nice and cool and afterward, there's puddles you can jump in!”
There was a brief silence as Derpys stomach started to rumble.
“That reminds me, Rainbow Dash said, “have any of you eaten yet? No? I'm starting to get hungry, too”.
The mood of the household was instantly brightened, not only by the prospect of food, but also because at least they had a mission: to make dinner. Rainbow Dash where kinda low on supplies, but she had enough ingredients for a simple meal. The four ponies (Derpy voluntary stayed out of the kitchen, since her and plates do not mix well....) divided their duties, Rainbow Dash and Tam-a-line agreed to cook if Rainbowshine and Fluttershy could take care of the dishes afterward.
“So...”, Rainbow Dash asked Tam-a-line, “what do you think we should make?”
“How about Cloudsmash?”, she asked, “that's nice and easy.”
Rainbow Dash didn't expect such a quick and definite reply, she had figured that Tam-a-line was about as enthusiastic as a cook as she where (that is, not very...).
“That's a great idea! Rainbow Dash said, “I don't think I've had that since I was a little foal.”
Cloudsmash was a Cloudsdale specialty. There where many variations, but at its core it consisted of mashed potatoes and boiled carrots served with a creamy white sauce. It took a skilled chef to make the dish presentable, but anyone could make it tasty, as the rest of the ponies soon discovered after some initial skepticism.
The dinner conversation was dominated by birds since the subject came up as Fluttershy was challenged to explain what was so special about birdwatching.
“Oh, there's just a ton of amazing birds out there”,she said, “some that nopony has ever seen before...”.
She went on to talk about the red-bellied woodpecker nesting outside the Evergreen forest, the two-headed Gandaberunda and the vain Oozlum bird that flies in chaotic inwards spirals trying to admire its own tail-feathers.
”you mean its trying to stick his own head up its butt?!” Tam-a-line said”,
”I wouldn’t put it like that, but pretty much, yes...” Fluttershy replied.
She told her some of her own bird-stories, like the time when she tried to rescue a bird from princess Celestia, not realizing it was a phoenix, and soon the two ponies where laughing together as friends.
”I never knew there are so many awesome animals in Equestria, did you really stare down a cockatrice? ”
”That's great”, Rainbow Dash said, “But could we please talk about something that is NOT birds?”
There was another knock on the door, his one was a pretty standard “knock-knock”, only it sped up slightly when repeated. Rainbow Dash opened the door and outside there where a pair of young ponies that looked slightly confused and apprehensive.
”hello, we heard Tam-a-line was there?”, one of them said.
“She is”Rainbow Dash said, “Tam-a-line!” she yelled back inside the house, “there's somepony for you at the door.
“What is it about?”, Tam-a-line said as she walked towards the door.
The first pony at the door lowered her voice slightly and said, ”We where looking to score some Peppermint Rush....”
”I'm sorry”, Tam-a-line replied, “I'm all out, unless....”, she turned toward Rainbow dash with pleading eyes, “'Dash”, she said, “would you help me make some more?”
“I don't know....”
“We'll split the profits, of course”,she said, “Let's see, on a normal batch I earn about...”, Tam-a-line whispered a number to Rainbow Dash and it caused her eyes to widen in disbelief.
“Really? And I get half of that?”, Rainbow Dash said,
“I gotta pay you back for letting me crash here somehow, don't I?”
”I guess so, what do you need?”
She was interrupted by Fluttershy who came to the door.
“I heard you from the kitchen”, she said, “I don't want to stop you from earning some extra bits but... well...” she paused for a moment.
“Peppermint Rush is ILLEGAL to make!”, she exclaimed.
“Well...”, Rainbow Dash said, “If people don't hurt others with it, maybe it has no business being illegal?”
“I suppose so...”
“Well, I'm certainly not going to say no to extra money, how about you?”
Fluttershy looked away for a moment.
“I'm sorry...”, she said, “I'll try to find another place to sty until the race, and if I can't find one, I'll just fly home, I guess..”
Fluttershy turned around to leave.
“It's nothing personal”, she said, “I'm not going to be angry at you, I just don't want any part of this.”
There was an awkward silence as she walked out and it took Rainbow Dash and Tam-a-line a moment to realize that the two young ponies where still standing at the door, puzzled by the whole scene.
“Don't worry”, Tam-a-line said to them, “there will be more Peppermint Rush later, just come around here some time tomorrow night.”
Satisfied with this, the two ponies bid farewell and left.
Derpy and Rainbowshine was still sitting at the table. Derpy was finishing her third portion of Cloudsmash.
“This is delicious!” she declared as she took another big bite.
“What's happening out there?” Rainbowshine asked, “where did Fluttershy go?”
Rainbow Dash explained the situation to them.
“...so Fluttershy didn't want to help us out”, Rainbow Dash said, “but how about you?”
“Does this mean we'll get more Peppermint Rush?”, Rainbowshine said.
“Well, obviously.”
“Then I'm in”, Rainbowshine said.
“And how about you Derpy?”
Derpy looked at Rainbow Dash for a moment and her eyes spun around.
“You want me to explain to you again?”
Derpy nodded. Rainbow Dash did so and at the end asked the same question as before.
“You need to do something?”, Derpy said.
“Yes”
“And you need me to help you do it?”
“Probably, yes”
“Then I'll help you do it!”, Derpy said, “it wasn't really that difficult.”
Rainbow Dash sighed.
“Alright”, Rainbow Dash said, “Tam-a-line could get most of the ingredients herself, but she needed help to get the most important ingredient, Breeze-mint A friend of hers grow it in an underground greenhouse. Well, under-cloud since we're not on the... never-mind! The City Guards are suspicious of her, but she thought we could probably get there unnoticed. But in case there IS any trouble, we'll need a plan, Derpy? can you cause a scene if needed?”
“Can I?”, Derpy said, “Most of the time people tell me NOT to cause a scene...”
“And where do I come in?”, Rainbowshine asked.
“You'll help me look for trouble while I deal with the Greenhouse-people.”
The three ponies went out on their mission to fiend the Breeze-mint. According to Tam-a-line, the greenhouse where located into the Cloud Forest, and to get there, they had to use their Orienteering skills. Rainbow Dash was in charge of reading the map and she worked hard trying to match cloud-formations and giant mushrooms to the symbols and signs on the map.
It wasn't easy to get into the mindset where you thought of giant red and yellow mushrooms as tiny blue squares, and could see cloud-elevation in the pattern of entangled lines across the map. And even if you could get into that mindset, there where still the fact that the forest looked about the same all the way trough. Finding the tiny differences in the pattern of mushrooms, algae, lichen, flying rocks and cloud-formations was a grueling exercise.
“Are we lost yet?” Rainbowshine said as they where walking down a pathway.
“I'll tell you when we are lost, all-right?”, Rainbow Dash responded, “You try reading the map if you think you'd be so much better at it!”
“You're doing fine”, Rainbowshine said, “I'm just getting a bit frustrated, it's all”.
“I know, I HATE orienteering”, Rainbow Dash said, “My gym teacher always made me do it if I caused too much trouble playing Dodge-ball... okay, NOW we are lost!”.
She threw her hands up into the air and sat down on a toadstool. The forest around them was completely still, apart from a few stray brids and the slight counter-clockwise rotation of the cloud-cover that rested over the giant mushrooms. Rainbowshine didn't have the heart to voice her anger. She just slumped down besides Rainbow Dash and the two ponies looked utterly defeated. Derpy, on the other hand, looked curiously chipper.
“What are you so happy for?” Rainbow Dash asked her.
“She said we should look for a small glade, right?”, Derpy said.
“right”
“with a giant mushroom in the middle?”
“Right”
“And a Rainbow Pool at the side of it, shaped like a bunny?”
"Right!"
“I think I found it!”, she said and pointed to the cloud next to them, which did indeed match her description.
“All-right, 'Shine”, Rainbow Dash said, “notice any trouble?”
Rainbow Dash scanned the area, she didn't think the Rainbow Pool looked all that much like a bunny, more like a duck.... But besides that she couldn't see anything wrong, at first, anyway... the forest was peaceful and alien, as was the norm for this place. The only thing that made this place any different from the hundreds of glades they had already passed by was that this one seemed slightly more occupied. If you had a keen enough eye, you could spot all the little signs that told you that this more than any other place where a place where ponies would stop by to rest and/or party. She was getting ready to call it when she spotted something in the distance.
“Yes!” She said, I see a couple of ponies over there, they might be City Guards.”
Might be' was putting it mildly, these Guards where not exactly inconspicuous. Even from their hiding place some distance away, they could see their mistrustful leers. They looked like they would hoofcuff a toadstool if it where capable of looking at them funy.
“All-right”, Rainbow Dash said, “It's your turn, Derpy!”
Derpy where shoved out of the fog. After a second of confusion, (which she spent spinning around), she got a hold of herself and flied towards the guards... and she promptly crashed into them.
“What are you doing here, civilian?”, said one of the Guards.
“I...”, Derpy began, searching for words, “I was looking for birds, I heard a Thunderbird had been spotted in the area, and I wanted to see it. Birds are great! Tell me, have you heard about the Oozlum bird? It keeps trying to stick its head up its own butt!...”
The guards looked at each other as Derpy went on. She played the role of diversion admirably and it gave the other two enough time to approach the giant mushroom.
As instructed, they knocked twice on the mushroom, and it sounded hollow. A small hatch opened which exposed a pair of suspicious eyes.
“Password?”, the pony on the inside asked.
“Hopscotch”, Rainbow Dash replied, “Tam-a-line sent us.”
“Yeah, she sent a letter, told me to look for a girl with a parrot for hair”
“Excuse me?”, Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
A door opened up form the inside of the mushroom. The two ponies went in and the door quickly closed.
“Watch your step”, the door-pony said and led them down a dark spiral staircase.
Because of the rather cramped and stairway, the ponies where unprepared for how large and elaborate the underground greenhouse was. Well, under-cloud, since... never-mind!
Anyway, the rows and rows of Breeze-mint plants that where growing here was the only flowering plant they had seen so far in the entire forest, which mostly consisted of fungi and lichen. They where enlightened by a system of mirrors and lenses of a design that could affectionately be described as “backyard tech”.Rainbow Dash and Rainbowshine where greeted by a large red pony with an unkempt mane and round purple sunglasses.
“Tam-a-line is making Peppermint Rush I heard?”, he said without even an introduction, “and of course she had to send a couple of rookies, she never learns!”.
He suddenly seemed to realize other people in the world existed.
“Oh, no offense to you”, he hastily added, “here, take this bag of leaves and please leave before you attract attention with that mane of yours, and tell Tam-a-line that she owes me.”
He ruffled the hair of Rainbow Dash as she gave him a look filled with daggers and venom.
“There is NOTHING wrong with my mane!”, she said.
She was about to go on complaining, but Rainbowshine stopped her.
“We better leave now before Derpy runs out of birds”, Rainbowshine remarked.
As they went out, they collided with Derpy, who was flying towards the mushroom in high-speed.
“I couldn't hold them off any longer”, she explained, “they are coming here and they look suspicious, we need to fly!”
They leaped into the air in unison and began flapping their wings. Without looking back they darted towards what they hoped was roughly the direction of Cloudsdale.
“I don't see them anywhere”, Rainbow Dash said after they had flown for a couple of miles, “I think we lost them.”
A shot of magic rang out from behind her and when she turned back she saw the two guard ponies holding a piece of fabric that supported a unicorn. Their eyes where homing in on them, and by all appearances, they where excellent fliers.
“Oh crap”, she said.
Hoping to confuse the guards, They steered towards a collection of small clouds and zig-zagged around them, but the guards persisted. Behind the clouds hey found a thick misty cloud that they dived into, and soon they where embraced by fog. It was hard to see, but it didn't matter. For them, all that mattered was the general direction, while the guards had to catch a very specific target.
“I think we're safe for now”, Rainbow Dash said, but that assessment was quickly dis-proven when she glanced behind her. She saw a series of bright lights that where working on dividing the fog into tiny spiral whips that glided away with the wind.
“Crud”, she exclaimed, “there's a spell for clearing fog? That's it, we're doomed!”
“Maybe not!”, Rainbowshine said, and she started to kick some of the more solid segments of the cloud in front of the guards.
“Great thinking!”, Rainbow Dash said, “it buys us at least five seconds of time, let me think... UP!””
The three ponies made a sharp upward turn, too steep for the guards to follow and they lost them in the mist. Stray cursing and shots of magic rang out from underneath, but it was too late, by the time they managed to clear the fog, the three ponies would be long gone.