The sun peered through the window and the light shone on Rainbow Dash's closed eyes. She quickly shifted until her eyes were out of the sun so she could go back to sleep. She accidentally bumped into Tucker, causing him to fall off the bed and crash into the ground.
"You're still here?" Rainbow Dash yawned.
"Yeah." Tucker grumbled as he got off the floor, rubbing his chin. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"You were going to go talk to our boss yesterday to tell him why we haven't shown up, but then you forgot so you promised to go today, remember?" Rainbow Dash asked as she pulled the cover back up so she was completely covered from the rays of the sun.
"Fuck, is today tomorrow already?" Tucker groaned.
"Yes, today is tomorrow. Now go."
"Why can't you do it?"
"Because you said you would." Rainbow Dash said quietly after a few seconds of remaining silent.
"I say a lot of things." Tucker said, but was met by a pillow to the side of the head. He looked back at the bed to see Rainbow Dash glaring at him.
"Go."
"But it's so early." Tucker whined.
"Go."
"But-"
"Go!" Rainbow Dash snapped, grabbing another pillow.
"Alright. Jeez." Tucker muttered, quickly flying out the window to avoid being hit by another pillow.
Tucker begrudgingly flew to Cloudsdale's Weather Control building. He stumbled tiredly through the door, creating a loud noise as he crashed into the ground.
"Are you alright?" The receptionist asked, getting out from behind her desk.
"Yeah, just tired." Tucker sighed, getting off the floor. "Is he in?"
"Yes, and he's been wanting to talk to you."
"Is he mad?"
"Very?"
"Will he fire me?"
"Probably not seeing as you came to him, rather than him doing vice versa." The receptionist smiled. "He would have been really mad to do that."
Tucker nodded and quickly trotted through the door and into the gym. Something about it made him adopt a small smile. Hoops, Score and Dumb-Bell were nowhere to be seen. Remembering why he was here, Tucker took a deep breath and nodded on the door to Inclement's office.
"Who is it?" Inclement asked from inside.
"Tu-"
"Where have you been?" Inclement snapped. "Get in here, now!"
Tucker opened the door with his teeth and quickly ran in. He saw Inclement sitting at his desk, which he expected, but was surprised to see Hoops, Score and Dumb-Bell standing in front of the desk. Score and Dumb-Bell stared indifferently at Tucker, but Hoops shot him a glare.
"Do you have anything to say for yourselves?" Inclement asked.
"Did they not show up to work either?" Tucker asked curiously.
"No, but we'll get to that after they've left." Inclement said roughly, sharing a look with the others. "I'm talking about what happened in Ponyville."
"Oh, you heard about Tex?" Tucker laughed briefly, stopping only when he saw the look on Inclement's face that showed him he was in no mood.
"This Tex pony has stirred up some problems with the pegasi up here." Inclement said, sinking further into his chair.
"She's the definition of problem."
"We're in hot water now. Word is getting around that the pegasi I hire aren't up to standards. They're saying that this place needs better management, what with me hiring four idiots who couldn't handle one mare." Inclement said. He paused for a brief moment, before slamming his hoof onto the table. "One. Mare. Now I'm not saying you should have hit her, but how in Celestia's name did she manage to embarrass us all like that."
"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything."
"That's just it. You didn't do anything. When they were in trouble, you walked away."
"Trust me, I know Tex. It doesn't matter how many you would have sent at her, she would have done just as much to them as she did to those three. That's why I told them to run." Tucker said, motioning his head at Score ad Dumb-Bell.
"And running is supposed to be better?"
"Look at Hoops, then look at those two. Which one's look better off?"
"Why didn't you help?" Hoops asked, continuing to glare daggers at Tucker.
"Are you kidding? She would have just used me as a weapon on you."
Inclement coughed abruptly, causing Hoops to look away from Tucker.
"Are there any other reasons you did not get involved?" Inclement asked. Score, Hoops and Dumb-Bell all turned to see if he had ditched them for any other reason.
"It was kind of funny."
Inclement flashed a quick smile, one that only Tucker saw, but he cleared his throat and glared for a few seconds at each of them when their gazes returned to him.
"I guess we could-" Dumb-Bell began.
"Don't. Do. Anything." Inclement said, pausing icily after each word. "I will sort this out. You three have done enough. Get out of my office so I can talk to Tucker."
Score, Hoops and Dumb-Bell quickly ran out of the room, jumping at the chance to not be there in case Inclement got angrier. When Dumb-Bell slammed the door behind them, Inclement motioned towards a chair.
"I'll stand." Tucker said.
"Very well." Inclement said, being surprisingly docile. "How have you been?"
"Uh, good I guess." Tucker said nervously, knowing that Inclement was just beating around the bush.
"That's good to hear." Inclement smiled pleasantly. "How is Rainbow Dash?"
"Fine."
"Great. You been busy a lot?"
"A bit." Tucker said, then formed a quick idea. "It's just that Tex is my friend and she came to town. I went to Ponyville to greet her, but she was fighting those guys when I got there. And I know her well. If you interfere with her, she'll hit you just as hard."
"Oh? And where were you before then?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean where were you for the two weeks after you were supposed to come in?" Inclement yelled, completely dropping the pleasantries. "Why weren't you here all this time? Where have you and Miss Dash been? Why didn't you contact me earlier? Why-"
"Someone I know got killed." Tucker said quietly, hoping to stop his anger.
"Oh." Inclement said, eyes growing genuinely soft. Inclement tapped the desk awkwardly, feeling sorry for having yelled at Tucker. "I'm sorry to here about that. Were you two close?"
"Not really, I've just known him for a long time." Tucker said admittedly.
"Nevertheless, I apologize. Did he have any family?"
"Not that I know of."
"That's a shame. If you ever do meet his family, give them my regards."
"Why?" Tucker asked with a laugh. "He's better now."
Inclement's eye twitched and his face returned to it's dead serious expression.
"Wha-"
"Get back to work. You both owe me ten hours for not showing up." Inclement snapped, flicking Tucker and Rainbow Dash's schedules at him. "And that time starts in an hour. If you're late again, you're fired. Both you and Miss Dash."
And with that, Inclement grabbed Tucker and threw him out of his office, just to slam the door as Tucker crashed into the ground. Tucker got off the floor and collected the schedules and looked at them.
"Shit."