Appledashery

by Just Essay

(Not) Taking It Slow

“Nnnngh!” Rainbow Dash burst through a cloud, swinging her hooves like a quartet of murderous pendulums. She spun about and thrashed another bed of mist, dissolving it to trailing ribbons. Holding her breath, she backflipped through the sunny-air and plummeted down through four clouds in a row. As they dissipated above her, she flapped her wings, propelled herself straight back up, and gathered the mists with her twirling feathers. At last, she braked in the air, launching the collected bits of cloud high up into the atmosphere. They dissolved from the sheer speed with which they were propelled towards the wild blue yonder.

From two cloudbanks away, a shrill whistle could be heard. “Celestia almighty, Rainbow!” Candy Mane smiled from where she was leisurely bucking a column of vapors to bits. “You’re chomping at the bit to get work done today!”

“Yeah, Rainbow!” Thunderlane grunted, kicking another cloudbed into submission before wiping his sweaty brow. “What’s with the extra spring in your flap?”

“So what if I’m on a roll today?!” Rainbow Dash grunted as she rolled past the two, arcing her wings and turning her entire body into a blue drill bit. With spiraling motions, she shredded a stream of clouds into nothing, further casting sunlight over the rooftops of Ponyville below. “Got lots of weather to clear!”

“We know that, but…”

Thunderlane craned his neck to follow Rainbow’s wild motions. “Why so gung ho about it? I mean… it’s just weather flying!”

“What do you mean ‘just weather flying?’” Rainbow panted, hovering equally at their level--but only for a millisecond. She darted off like a torpedo and knocked another cloud to smoky ribbons. “Nnngh! Ponyville depends on us to get the weather in shape just as the Climate Commission wants it! Today’s forecast is clear and sunny!” She waved with her forelimb. “Come on! Let’s get to the northern sky already!”

As she throttled towards the horizon, Candy Mane and Thunderlane drifted after her. They exchanged nervous glances, blanketed with amused smiles.

“But… what’s the hurry?” Candy Mane shrugged in mid-flight. “We can clear the sky here in twenty seconds flat!” She winced. “Erm… not to steal a certain awesome pony’s monicker…”

“That just means you’re learning!” Rainbow’s voice shouted from a distance. It was still hard to hear from the sheer rumblings her accelerated flight made over the distant cloudtops, now growing thinner and thinner as she did an entire afternoon’s work in mere moments. “Why not do a job when you can do it fast!”

“Uhhh…” Thunderlane gulped and suppressed the urge to glare. “Because we are being paid by the hour!”

“Yeah! Just chillax, Rainbow!” Candy Mane smirked. “We’ve got the easiest job in Equestria! Let’s not go bonkers with it!”

“Easiest Job?!” A burst of thunder: Rainbow Dash suddenly hovered in front of the pair, gawking into their faces. “You k-kidding?!” her voice cracked. “Weather flying is… is a friggin’ art, that’s what it is!”

“Art…?” Thunderlane’s face scrunched up.

Candy Mane giggle-snorted, waving a hoof between them. “Oh, Rainbow, please…”

“I mean it!” Rainbow frowned, panting as she folded her forelimbs. “It’s in our blood! Pegasi are built out of loyalty… to perform loyal duties! We shouldn’t be treating weather flying like… like…” She tossed her mane back and shrugged. “I dunno! Some chore?! We should be lucky that we’ve been given the opportunity to do this day in and day out!” She smirked. “And in a place as cool as Ponyville, for that matter!”

“Pffft--Yeah right.” Thunderlane rolled his eyes.

Rainbow glared at him. “You got a problem with Ponyville?”

“No, but I’m not exactly thrilled about kicking clouds for barely enough bits to pay my student loan over the next four years,” the stallion grumbled.

“Is bits all that’s important to you?”

“Well, no, but come on, Rainbow Dash…” Thunderlane swatted her shoulder playfully. “That’s the one place where the luck is at. The fact that they’re paying us for this.”

“Not to knock your enthusiasm or anything, Rainbow…” Candy Mane winced slightly. “But they’ll pay us even less if we get it all done super quick.” She gulped and put on a brave smile. “So, for all of our sakes, could we go about it… erm… a tad bit slower?”

“Pffft! You kidding?” Rainbow grinned and pointed towards the Everfree Forest. “We can make up for it doing Everborder Patrol later on!”

Candy Mane squeaked in fright, her entire body flinching.

Thunderlane’s eyebrows were like gravestones. “Everborder… Patrol…?”

“Yeah!” Rainbow grinned wickedly. “That’s where the really sick clouds form that are worth kicking into submission!”

“That… uhm…” Thunderlane scratched at his scalp. “Rainbow, Everborder Patrol isn’t due for another two months…”

“Sooooo?” Rainbow Dash flew over and draped a forelimb over each pony’s hovering shoulder. “Let’s get a leg up and see what loyal weather fliers are really good for! Ya wanna earn bits, right? Something like this would really pay us time and a half!”

“Uhhhhh…” Candy Mane sweated nervously “Eh heh heh heh…”

“You know what, Rainbow?” Thunderlane gently moved her forelimb off his shoulder. “How about you just take five for the rest of the afternoon?”

“Huh?!” Rainbow’s face hung in horror. “Slack off on the job, you mean?! Never!”

“No! No no no!” Candy Mane waved her hooves. “Nothing like that! It’s just…”

“You must have drank a wholllllle buck-ton of coffee this morning,” Thunderlane said, suppressing a chuckle.

“Heeheeheee…” Candy Mane held a hoof over her smiling muzzle. “We don’t mean to offend you, Rainbow. It’s just that… there’s no need to turn this into a battlefield.”

“But… but…” Rainbow Dash’s ears drooped “Why’s it suddenly a big deal to practice some really sick flying skills?”

“We were gonna ask you the same thing.”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip. She glanced down at the distant earth below.

“Don’t you worry, Rainbow.” Candy Mane winced as she and Thunderlane drifted leisurely towards the next batch of clouds. “We’ll tell the Commission you worked evenly with the two of us. Heck… you’ve earned all of our bits today, for all we care.”

“Heh… yeah! Thanks for making this day exciting!” Thunderlane waved as the two flew towards the other end of Ponyville’s airspace. “Feel free to keep practicing your sick moves!”

“Yeah! Those last two spinning moves were pretty killer! You’ll thrill the Wonderbolts for sure!”

As they fluttered beyond earshot, Rainbow Dash grumbled. “Hmmph… Yeah…” She drifted down until she sat on the branch of a tree overlooking a steep hill. “Knock them senseless.” Wincing, she tilted her head down and flexed her limbs beneath her. The medicine’s effect was starting to fade. It would just be a matter of hours now.

Gritting her teeth, Rainbow shook all over. Rather than growl, she burst up into the air with a single flap of her wings. Rocketing westward, she burst a big hole in a cumulonimbus cloud, dashing it apart from the inside out.

Comments

[Tchernobog]

Rainboooow, what's wrong!

[InCaptivity]

Sometimes I forget Im supposed to be reading an AppleDash story here. Id like it if we got back into that zone soon.

[zaponator]

Way to rain on her parade, guys.
For real, though. I like that the last chapter showed just how much flying all super-crazy-like means to her. Doing those stunts, going fast, it's one of the few things she really has left in life. It can make her truly happy.
So, yeah, nice going, Thunderlane!

[LucyHorseThing]

Wait, Candy Mane..? I'm suddenly in the mood for Muffins.

[Dash32]

Holy crap! 152 more chapters to go!!!

[Metal Aura]

This chapter echoes the sentiment expressed in my previous comment. RD is losing the skies piece by piece from her dad to her house to her place in her work environment. She needs to diversify her interests a bit. (Bad pun intended)

[AppleTank]

Trying to fight off the depression, but can't escape the pegasi depression simulator.

[arancaytar]

... You need a new job, Dashie.