July 20th, 993
By the time Rainbow Dash lands at the Wonderbolt Academy the tears in her eyes have dried. The saddlebags on her sides are starting to get uncomfortable, and not from their weight. Inside sits the reason she is back here at the Academy.
One side of her saddlebags contains the weather schedules that she has drawn up over the course of her short time as head weathermare. Rainbow dutifully reviewed them and thought through how they would have been implemented, which mares would get which positions, and how she would be able to work her portion both before she had gotten pregnant versus now. Then, they had each sat unused in the desk Doug keeps in his office.
The other side contains the reason she is called in to see Captain Spitfire. Normally she would be elated to meet with her idol, especially after her last visit, but Rainbow dreads the dressing down she knows she will receive. And so soon since her last buck up, too!
Rainbow gives another heavy sigh, again trying to suppress her desire to break down crying. Doug was curious why she received a letter with the meeting time, but Rainbow knows. She doesn’t know how they know, or figured it out so quickly, but she knows what is coming. Hopefully they let her stay on as a weathermare, even a junior one doing cloud runs. With no hope of advancement, ever.
Rainbow steels herself as she walks up to the door to Spitfire’s office. After a curt "Come in," she opens the door. Spitfire is sitting at her desk, reviewing various files, and looks at her, a long stare inspecting, analyzing the mare in the doorway.
Rainbow Dash is noticeably pregnant this time, devoid of the makeup she wore at the last meeting. She sets the saddlebags she is carrying on the floor and follows Spitfire’s commanding hoof, taking a seat across the desk. Spitfire flips through a couple of the folders on her desk before selecting one and pushing the others away. Spitfire looks at Rainbow Dash, who is sitting with a nervous smile on her face.
Spitfire folds her hooves under her chin, giving her a small smile, “So, Rainbow Dash, how have you been holding up?”
Rainbow tries to put on a good face and smiles, “It’s been going well, Ma’am. Clouds has been on vacation for nearly two months now, and the weather schedule I’ve been implementing has been going well. There have been some snags, but overall, it’s been good.”
“Yes, Dash, we’ll get to the weather schedule later. I know that’s what you were called in here to discuss, but I’m interested in you. How have you been doing?”
Rainbow looks down for a second, considering what she wants to say. “Oh. Well, pregnancy sucks. I feel tired a lot more easily, kind of like I’m flying around in a flight suit that doesn’t fit. I go for morning runs with Doug and that helps, but I find myself looking forward to taking naps more than I did before, which is saying a lot.” Rainbow gives a sheepish grin before frowning. “I’m a lot more… difficult to deal with after the naps. Like they aren’t having the intended effect, you know? And I can’t do my normal Wonderbolt workout for stress relief. Doug’s been, well, definitely better than when I started the weather work, but still holding back a little.”
“Yes, I suppose. Though it makes me wonder, and it’s part of the reason we are having this meeting. Do you feel like you’ve been able to keep up with the weather?”
“Oh, that hasn’t been a problem. Not yet anyway. Though the schedule we built…. Um…”
Rainbow scratches the back of her head as Spitfire gives her a questioning look. After a brief pause Spitfire continues, “Well, it’s good to hear that you are able to continue with your new responsibilities. Though, those hay counters over in Cloudsdale noticed a few… discrepancies with the schedule you built. A few things that seemed out of place.” Spitfire notices Rainbow’s worried look and reassures her, “Not that it’s a bad thing, necessarily. I think the results speak for themselves.”
“Oh, well, I mean the schedules been good but by no means perfect, there have been some days that-”
Spitfire interrupts her, derisively waving a hoof, “Yes, I read that in the report too. Almost all of the poor days were early on, and for a first time head weathermare you are now on a fairly impressive streak as far as keeping the weather to what it should be. Do you do a lot of modifications to the schedule, or to your routine?”
Rainbow scratches the back of her head with a hoof while looking at the floor. There is no chance she will lie, and she will have a hard time deflecting that question. “Well, I, myself, don’t modify the schedule...”
At Spitfire’s harsh glare, Rainbow continues, “I didn't think it was a bad idea, and, well, after I took a look at what he had made, I really wanted to give it a shot, you know? I didn’t think he’d get in trouble, or that I would… I mean, I made my own weather schedule, too!” Rainbow reaches in her saddlebags and pulls out a stack of papers, placing them on the desk. “I thought that you would want to be sure that I could manage every aspect of the job, and I did, I just…”
Spitfire gives Rainbow a reassuring smile, “Rainbow, don’t worry, you aren’t in trouble. Though I am happy you made a schedule of your own. It shows you aren’t trying to skirt the responsibility I gave you, that you are capable of hoofing this on your own.” At Rainbow’s smile she continues, “I was curious, myself, when the head weather manager in Cloudsdale came to me asking who had drawn this schedule up. She had, no offense, seen your work back when you were in school and didn’t think you were the one who came up with it. So, who’s the stallion you partnered with? It’s not Clouds, or he would have done something like this long ago.”
“Um, it’s not a stallion…”
Spitfire rolls her eyes. “Well, I doubt its a mare, you called it ‘he’ a couple of times,” Spitfire trails off as she looks at Rainbow, tilting her head to the side. “You don’t mean... “ Spitfire looks back at the two schedules. She points her hoof at the schedule Rainbow had been holding. “How long did it take you to come up with your latest schedule? The one you made?”
“Um, I think it was over the course of two days, so maybe eight hours of work? I did it on my breaks and instead of naps, and a little bit after work.”
“Okay, sounds about right for a two week schedule. How long did it take Doug to make his?”
A frantic looks comes over Rainbow's face, “Oh, please, I don’t want to get Doug in trouble for this. I was the one who decided to implement it, blame me!”
“Rainbow, your loyalty is admirable, and I promise you there will be no punishment for this. Now how long?”
Rainbow stares at the floor dejectedly, “Uh, I think the first two weeks took about eight. The next month, plus revisions, he did in about six. Hours, that is.”
Spitfire looks at Rainbow in shock, then back at the schedule. “Did he get a cutie mark in weather scheduling? He must have.”
Rainbow looks up at Spitfire, raising an eyebrow, “Uh, not that I’ve seen. Unless it shows up in a really weird spot. But I’ve seen most of his. Not like he covers them up, anyway.”
Spitfire shakes her head, unable to keep the smirk off her muzzle. “In any case. No, the reason the head weather manager wanted to find out was to offer him a job. This might not surprise you, but not a lot of ponies either enjoy or are particularly good at crafting weather schedules. The higher ups saw his work and said to themselves, ‘If we can get our hooves on that pony, and free up those other weather ponies to do what they really love? That would be a salt mine, for sure.’ Needless to say, they got me to liaison with you, figure out who it was, and get them on board officially.”
Rainbow continues to stare blankly at Spitfire; when she got the letter requesting (ordering?) her to meet with Spitfire about ‘her’ weather schedule, she was sure she had blown the opportunity given to her. Now, to hear they are offering Doug a job? Although, it will get her out of crafting weather schedules, and if there is something Rainbow hates more than getting woken out of a nap, it's having to make a schedule afterwards-
Spitfire interrupts Rainbow’s train of thought, “So, do you think Doug could come here, and discuss terms?”
Rainbow looks at Spitfire, then looks pointedly at the cloud surface they are standing on. Spitfire facehooves. “Right. I guess we might have to go to him. I suppose we can always mail him the topography information. He lives at Apple Acres?”
Rainbow nods, adding “Yes, but, do you think most pegasi will want to work a schedule built by a non-pegasi? Even if it works better?”
Spitfire looks up thoughtfully, “Hmm. You might be right. Got a good pen name for him?”
Rainbow nods with a smirk, “How about… Cold Digger?”
Spitfire nods, saying, “Alright, I’ll just,” before trailing off and staring at Rainbow. Rainbow returns an apple eating grin while Spitfire covers her face with her hoof again. “Well. Do you think he will be available for an interview now?”
Rainbow looks around, unsure. “I don’t think he had anything special planned until later today, just normal work. I think he could take the time off now.”
Spitfire nods, opening her desk and pulling a folder out. Rainbow gives it a sidelong look, trying to peek inside, but Spitfire merely puts the folder in a saddlebag before donning it and heading to the door. Spitfire sticks her head into a nearby office, telling Fleetfoot she is heading to Ponyville, before leaving with Rainbow.
Rainbow can barely contain her excitement; here she is, flying with the Wonderbolts! Well, more like the head of the Wonderbolts is following her, but she can’t help but throw in a few loops and twirls as the two make their way to Sweet Apple Acres. Rainbow looks back to Spitfire as she performs and can’t help but notice the smirk under Spitfire's otherwise neutral muzzle. Rainbow even gets a wingtip roll out of Spitfire as they land near the farmhouse, eliciting a squeal a she prances around.
As Rainbow finishes celebrating by the main house, the door opens and Doug greets them. “Welcome home, Rainbow; didn’t know you would be bringing a guest.” Doug exits the doorway, leaving it open for the two mares to enter. “Would you like anything to drink?”
Rainbow nuzzles Doug as she walks past, "Cider for me. I hope you don’t mind too much, but they found out about the weather schedule stuff.”
Doug nods glumly, looking over to Spitfire. She coughs gently, saying, “I’ll have water, or apple juice, thank you.” Doug walks into the kitchen, followed by Rainbow, while Spitfire stays in the dining room where she unloads her saddlebags onto the table.
Doug looks to Rainbow as he fills several glasses, “Anything I should be worried about?”
Rainbow shakes her head, “No. She said something about offering you a job, but was short on specifics. They could tell that I wasn’t the one who made the schedule, something about it not being my style.”
Doug ruffles Rainbow’s mane before grabbing the glasses and heading to the dining room. They sit down next to Spitfire, who takes her glass with a nod.
Spitfire starts, “Thank you for the drink. I don’t know how much Rainbow has told you, but I am Captain Spitfire. Normally, I wouldn’t be the one handling weather work like this. However, since I jockeyed to have Rainbow put in her current position the bill came to me when this… opportunity was found. It also saved needing a weather manager to come all the way here. As well, since they knew Rainbow had a great deal of respect for myself and the Wonderbolts in general, it was felt that she would be more likely to open up and for you to accept the position.”
Doug nods at this, asking, “I can understand that. Why are you telling me, though?”
Spitfire continues, “Mostly in the interest of full disclosure. I don’t want you to feel pressured with a captain asking you, or wondering why things seemed out of place. Moving on, one of the reasons I am here is to ascertain how competent you are as far as crafting a weather schedule and in dealing with unexpected obstacles in carrying out your plan. In addition, I wanted to get some insight as to how you come up with your plans. Also, to see if you were willing to work more widespread, or to see if you would be willing to train other ponies in your technique if not.”
Doug nods. “Well, I can’t see anything I disagree with yet. You just want to talk or do you have some sort of exam planned?”
Rainbow snickers at that, interrupting the two. She still isn’t able to believe her luck, that this is real. She quails a little at Spitfire’s glare, but when the captain answers Doug with, “Yes, I think an oral exam would be fine,” she bursts out laughing again. She keeps going for a good ten seconds before Doug, who was unable to keep from chuckling himself, says, “Alright Rainbow, that’s enough.”
Spitfire looks at Doug as Rainbow stops laughing. “Alright, first I would like you to explain your method and how you developed it, as well as what adaptations you made for Rainbow specifically.”
Doug looks at Spitfire, pondering her question for a few seconds before getting up and grabbing a pencil and a few sheets of paper. He writes some bullet points as he explains, “Well, there are a few longer subtleties mixed in, but the main improvement I saw was what I call micromanaging. It’s a technique I learned from some games I played before, and it boils down to fine control of a situation giving better results than trying to, how shall I say, get better ‘macro’, or focusing on the large picture.
“Take a simple problem: you need more rain over a farm, but want to keep a certain temperature in the surrounding area. The ‘macro’ method commonly used would have the weather ponies gather a few rain clouds, leave them over the farm, and move on to the next area. The clouds would give the proper amount of rain, but leave the farm colder than it should be; this coldness would then spread to the other areas, which might also be impacted by the spreading cloud cover. They could then compensate for this in other ways, but I’m getting ahead of myself for this example.
“I originally developed my method to make things things easier on Rainbow as she got more and more pregnant; she would have a bit more difficulty moving the amount of clouds that this ‘macro’ method required, both initially and then when the clouds were no longer needed. Instead, my method has her constantly repositioning the clouds, keeping a rotation of the rain over portions of the farm. This allows the farm to stay warmer overall, still have adequate rainfall, and limits the spread of the clouds. The down side to the method is it is more time intensive, and also timing sensitive. You can’t just move a cloud at any time; instead, at very specific times to very specific places. Getting the interactions down took a little while, which you might have noticed from how the weather schedule performed initially. It also requires fairly specific knowledge of the area that is going to be worked, perhaps more so than a mere topography chart would give.”
Later, as the interview concludes, Spitfire stands from the table. “Well, thank you Doug for the detailed explanations. I look forward to seeing how well it is implemented; the city of Fillydelphia expressed interest in being a test case of your system. Should it work there, we can continue adding cities as you are able.”
Doug looks to Rainbow, who smiles back at him, saying, “I know you enjoy doing this, and I feel comfortable speaking for Applejack in saying go for it.”
Doug nods as Spitfire pulls a contract out of her saddlebag. Doug gets a quill and ink pot before reading through the contract. When he gets to the end and makes to sign it Spitfire stops him. “Wait. Rainbow thought that the other pegasi might have issue with a human designed weather system, so we are going with a pen name. You will be known as Cold Digger.”
Doug gives Rainbow a deadpan look, while she returns a large smile. “What? I thought it fit you really well!”
Spitfire nods, “I doubt many ponies will figure it out, though the resemblance to your name is pretty uncanny. I mean, graves are cold, and dug is a lot like digger, right?”
Doug rolls his eyes, “Ya, and that it sounds like I’m only interested in my mares for their wealth.”
Rainbow smirks, looking at the contract. “Well, once you add a fourth city you’ll be making more than me on the weather patrol. Probably working similar hours too. What will you do with the money?”
Doug shrugs as he signs the contract. “I dunno. Start off paying off some of the bills here. If there is extra? Fluttershy loves working with the animals out near the Everfree, she could probably use a couple extra bits for feed and whatnot. Maybe save the rest? We’ll see.”
Rainbow winks at him, “D, you do that and you’ll have every mare in Ponyville vying for your affection.”
Doug scratches Rainbow’s head as he turns to Spitfire. “Anything else you need?”
Spitfire blows on the contract before rolling it up and returning the materials to her saddlebags. “No, I think that was it. I look forward to working with you, Doug.” Doug opens the door for her and gives her a hoof bump before she takes off.
Rainbow excitedly walks up to Doug as Spitfire flies off. She remarks with a smirk, “She totally would have banged you for that contract.”
Doug ruffles Rainbow’s mane again, which she pouts at. “Probably. But I wouldn’t do that, you know.”
Rainbow’s smirk grows larger, “You could have written in the contract, that she has to come down here once a week and bang you.”
Doug smirks back at her, humoring the mare further, “Yup, and right by it would be the line where you get to watch or join in. Also, what’s with you and banging? You feeling up for something?”
Rainbow scoffs, “Oh come on, seriously? It’s these pregnancy hormones, I can’t stop thinking about it. Also, Spitfire is totally awesome!”
“Not as awesome as the pegasi I’ve already got.”
Rainbow pouts in Doug’s arms. “Awww…”