Cloudy With a Chance Of Larceny

by CoastalSarv

In which Dash eats ensilage pudding

This fanfic is built upon the My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic cartoon. I don't own it, that would be Hasbro.

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Chapter Two - In Which Rainbow Dash Eats Ensilage Pudding

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Rainbow Dash woke up with a jerk and a gasp. She was in darkness, neither on a cloud nor in her own bed. Instead, she was in a smaller bed painted pink, in a room hung with posters of fairy tale characters and androgynous-looking colt singers. A collection of butterfly-winged fairy ponies made of paper hung just over her head. Rainbow Dash rose groggily from the bed in stunned silence as the door to the room slowly opened and a thin ray of light speared her blinking eyes.

"Are you awake, darling?" said Rarity as she peeked through the door. Rainbow Dash realized she was in the room Sweetie Belle used when she stayed with her sister.
"I have to get to work!" said Rainbow Dash and rubbed her eyes. Rarity turned on the lights in the room, momentarily stunning the pegasus.
"First" said Rarity "it is evening already. Second, Twilight contacted your forestallion, Mr. Beaufort Scale, and told him you couldn't work today because you were ill." Rainbow Dash started to protest but Rarity interrupted her. "He was very understanding and said you had worked yourself ragged the last week and that he had feared you would fall ill or have an accident. So don't worry about it."
"Why am I in your house?" asked the weathermare as she sat down on the bed again.
"You collapsed on your way to work and Applejack and Twilight took you to the nurse. When it turned out to be just lack of food, water and over all sleep, she just prescribed rest. Since none of us could get to your house and someone would need to keep an eye on you, we lodged you here, it was the closest and my work is just one stair away. Sweetie Belle isn't here this week so I made her bed for you."

Rainbow Dash looked away from Rarity. "You wouldn't have needed to do that." she mumbled. "I can take care of myself..."
"Nonsense!" Rarity chided her. "I didn't even need to check on you that much, since Pinkie Pie was here whenever she could get a break from work." Rarity pointed to the bedside table, which had a heap of heart-decorated paper boxes on it. "She brought you flowers and chocolate every time, that's why the table is covered in chocolate like that."
"Where did the flowers go, then?" said a stunned Rainbow Dash.
"We're having them for dinner, with some ensilage pudding." said Rarity.
"Ensilage? I'm not a sick foal!" Rainbow Dash groaned.
"Well, you need some filling food, and we are all eating it" Rarity said and looked stern. "If you can walk, please get yourself into the bathroom across the hall and wash up. Fluttershy got your... toiletries from your home and I put them there." Rarity shuddered at the memory of the plastic bag with a very old toothbrush, a steel comb missing a few teeth, and a bottle of the rather cheap SOAPOO - ITS A SOAP AND A SHAMPOO! brand FOR SPORTSCOLTS. "I need to be sure the ensilage doesn't burn. Come down when you're ready."

The Elements of Harmony were gathered in Rarity's dining room, which made it pretty crowded, but it wasn't the first time. Aside from the fact that Rainbow Dash didn't say much, and that the others constantly kept pushing her to eat more ensilage pudding and flower salad, and to drink more water and juice, it was a fairly normal dinner between friends. But when they reached the dessert - a huge apple pie brought by, of course, Applejack, and a jar of strawberry-blueberry-raspberry-gooseberry-cloudberry ice cream brought by Pinkie Pie ("I invented the flavor! Twilight should like it because it is scientiriffically tastulous!"), Applejack turned to Rainbow Dash and looked at her seriously.
"Dashie, sugarcube, what has gotten into ya? Yer normally the opposite of hardworkin', an' the least likely of us, I'd say, to work yerself sick. Is it yer trainin'? Do ya lack money and haveta work overtime? What is it?"
Rainbow Dash munched her pie and avoided Applejack's gaze. "It's nothing big. There have just been a lot of weather disturbances lately, so I haven't been able to work as fast and take my naps. Well, or eat lunch."
Fluttershy swallowed, cleared her throat and spoke up. "That doesn't explain why you haven't slept at night or eaten dinner, Dash. I... saw your bed in your house and your kitchen, not that I meant to pry or anything. And you don't get this tired just from missing naps, if you don't mind me saying so. I know more about... animal medicine than pony medicine, but I'm sure of that." She quickly hid her face by turning it to the apple pie on her plate.

"It's just a work thing" said Rainbow Dash. "Thanks so much for helping me, but I'll be more careful now and you needn't worry about it."
"If there is trouble at your work I could use my... government contacts and find out." said Twilight "The weather service is a public business, after all. But I would much rather my friend tell me why she is becoming ill than having to spy on her."
"No one needs to spy on anyone! We'll help you!" shouted Pinkie Pie. "We're your friends, and besides it would be our duty as citizens!" Everypony stared at her. "Oh you heard what Twilight said! The weather belongs to everypony! Dash could swear us in as her deputies, or something like that!"
Rainbow Dash sighed and licked icecream from her nose. She had been really hungry. It was a long time since she had a real, hot meal. She looked at the others, actually meeting their eyes.
"Someone is stealing from my work. I... feel kinda responsible, so I've been trying to keep a watch at night. Guess I had a hard time sleeping anyway. And those thefts have caused trouble with the weather just as I said, so I haven't had time for my usual naps during the day."
"Wait" said Rarity "what is there to steal from the weather service?"
"Well" said Rainbow Dash. "weather, of course. Duh!"

After the mares had cleared the table ("Oh don't worry about the dishes, I'll do them later!" said Rarity) they removed to the tea room, as Rarity insisted on calling her living room when she had tea there. (Sometimes she would insist it was "the library" though not within earshot of Twilight Sparkle, who questioned the libraryness of a room with just one bookshelf.) After Pinkie Pie had finished putting some drops of tea in her sugar, Rainbow Dash started to explain.
"It began a little over a week ago. I'd just put some clouds - not actual rainclouds, mind you, just basic clouds - in western Whitetail Woods. I... went away to do something else, but then I had to go back there after like two hours or so. The clouds - gone! They hadn't drifted off in the wind as planned, they sure hadn't dried up or rained away. So somepony must have grabbed them. I looked all over for them, and missed most of my day. The boss was less happy about that, even less happy about the cloudnickers. Then, it continued... every day we lost several clouds, gusts of wind... even pieces of rainbow and some bolts of lightning. None of us have been able to catch 'em at it, even when I started get up at night and fly patrols around Ponyville." She sighed and looked out Rarity's window.
"I am the fastest flier in Equestria. I should be able to do this. But..."

"Ya can't be everywhere at once, so they steal where yer not right now." Applejack looked sympathetic. "Ah admire yer hard work here, Dash, but nopony can do what yer trying to do." Rainbow Dash looked flustered.
"But why would anypony steal weather?" said Twilight Sparkle. "Everypony already has weather, right?" The others looked at her.
"Yer a city filly alright" said Applejack. "Farmponies might want more rain, millers an' sailors might want more wind. Celestia alone knows why someone would want a rainbow..."
"I think it would be awesome to have a rainbow!" said Pinkie Pie. "Well, not enough to steal one but they look great."
"Oh. I hadn't thought like that." Twilight frowned. "But Applejack is right, Rainbow Dash! You have shown empirically - that is, by experiencing it yourself - that you cannot catch the thieves that way. If we help you, I am sure we can figure out another way to do it."

"Aren't we forgetting the easiest one, Twilight darling?" said Rarity and sipped her tea daintily. "Shouldn't the police do something about large scale thievery of important public property? Why haven't Mr Scale reported it?"
"Oh he did!" said Rainbow Dash. "But there are no guardponies here in Ponyville, closest station is in Canterlot, and they said that unless something bigger happens they simply can't send umpteen police pegasuses to sit on every cloud over a tiny unimportant village."
"So this isn't 'big' to them?" said Rarity angrily.
Applejack broke in. "Ah can sorta see what they mean, Rarity. 'Cause Ah read ma weather almanac every day, and haven't seen anythin' missin'. The weather hasn't become worse yet, despite what Dash says here. What's up with that?"
"Well, they haven't stolen anything big over the town itself or the farms, I suppose since then anyone just need to look up and see who they are. Anything going wrong with the scheduled weather has been where they stole something and we couldn't get new parts there in time, and that was in the wilds around here, where there aren't many ponies."

"Uhm..." Fluttershy started to speak. "Maybe... maybe I can..." She looked down in her tea.
"Can what, Fluttershy?" said Twilight gently.
"I could talk to my animal friends and see if they know anything. They might have seen somepony they didn't recognize flying with a cloud, or noticed the weather being wrong."
"Fluttershy, that's great!" shouted Twilight, though Fluttershy shrank back from her enthusiasm. "That's how we will do it!" She turned to Rainbow Dash. "Not even you can be everywhere at once, but not only are there animals in the wilds, there are ponies working and traveling and whatnot. There are somepony almost everywhere. Somepony must have seen something - not just taking something but moving it! I mean, they either have used the weather they stole…"
"That would make lots of winds and rain out of nowhere" Rainbow Dash interrupted.
"Or they stashed it somewhere to sell it or use it later… "
"The clouds would make one big heap" exclaimed Rainbow Dash.
"...and then they must have moved it. There is no chance all that could have bypassed every eye in Ponyville!" Twilight finished triumphantly.

For the first time in a long while Rainbow Dash looked both happy and energetic. "That sounds really smart, Twilight! If we just know who did it is the rest is easy."
Twilight blushed a little, but now she was in her organizing mood. "Fluttershy, tomorrow you ask your animal friends. Applejack, see if you can ask your fellow farmers, because you know ponies in the countryside. Rarity and Pinkie Pie, check the same in town. Rainbow Dash, ask your friends at work and check with your boss so you can make a list over what has been stolen. Your boss might already have a list, he probably has to send one to his bosses. And I… will do some research."
"Twi', Ah don't think there are books on recent weather thievery in Ponyville" said a doubting Applejack.
"Not books - but newspapers. The first thing ponies do when the weather fails is to write a Strongly Worded Letter to the local newspaper. Besides, this might be bigger! They might be stealing weather from more than one town, and they might sell it somewhere else. Newspapers love to report about crime, even small crime. And when newspapers have nothing to write - " and pony society was quiet and peaceful " - they love to write about strange things people have seen... like weather disappearing." Twilight looked confident. "So starting tomorrow, we will solve this mystery together, Rainbow Dash, don't you worry." Rainbow Dash looked happy but a bit embarrassed.

"I'm going to start tonight!" said Pinkie Pie. "There are night-open places and I know them all since that's when you have parties. I'll ask their customers!"
"Jus' don't have too much sugar" said Applejack. "Ah'm gonna make a sweep tonight as well as Ah get home - Ah should catch a lot of cows, and they see much when they graze."
"Well, everyone who can manage it starts tonight, sure!" said Twilight. Everyone looked at Rainbow Dash. "That doesn't include you. You should go back to bed."
"But I slept all day!" said Rainbow Dash. "I'm not tired!"
"Well, if you absolutely cannot sleep, go training then" said Rarity. "But no aimless patrolling or worrying, darling"
"Training?" said Rainbow Dash
"It has been long since you did train, hasn't it?" said Rarity and smiled. "Remember, we might need the fast and fearless Rainbow Dash before this is over!"
"Well - I guess you're right. I'm a sportspony, not a guardpony." Rainbow Dash drained her teacup and left, just stopping to grab the Pinkie Pie praline pile from Sweetie Belle's bedtable. "See you all tomorrow!"

As the other ponies started to drop off, Rarity turned to Twilight Sparkle, who as usual had ended up in the leader role. "This isn't over yet" she said sternly.
"Well, of course not! We will have to catch those thieves before Rainbow Dash can stop worrying and Ponyville's weather is safe" said Twilight as she packed her bags with some gems for Spike, a gift from Rarity. Rarity looked solemn.
"That's not what I meant. What I meant was that it is strange enough for Rainbow Dash to work herself sick over troubles at work. She is far too... laid back for that. But to give up her training? What could make you stop reading for a week, Twilight Sparkle?"

Comments

[bradhadair12]

I'm intrigued. Let's see how this little story goes

[CoastalSarv]

5329
Thanks! I know exactly what will happen in the story, I "just" have the obvious chore of writing it down.