"Ahh, Cloudsdale! Long time no see!" exclaimed a tall, black pegasus stallion, taking a sip of cider. His navy-blue companion muttered something under his breath, looking at his glass suspiciously through his thick-rimmed glasses.
"What’s up, dude?" the black pony asked. "I brought you to the home of the most beautiful pegasi mares you can imagine, and since we came here, you barely said a word. Who are you, and what you did to the good ol’ Cloud Counter?"
"Nothing, I’ve just been wondering, why are we sitting in this pub instead of hanging out in the place where there actually are some mares, or do what I should be doing now, work," Cloud Counter deadpanned. His friend sighed.
"Work! You won’t cause an apocalypse if you don’t calculate something this evening. "
"Rainstorm, the whole balance of Equestria’s weather depends of my calculations…" the blue stallion started, but Rainstorm interrupted him.
"Besides, there are mares here. See those two at the counter?" he finished his cider, stood up and stroked his blue mane.
"Come on old nerd, gonna be my wingpony?" Cloud Counter rolled his eyes and followed him, awkwardly trying to use one of his wings to smoothen his chestnut-coloured hair in similar manner.
"Hello, ladies!" Rainstorm’s shout was probably heard even outside the “Cats and Dogs Pub”. He leant close to the younger, lilac mare, "My name’s Rainstorm. Don’t forget that name, ‘cause tonight you’re gonna scream it!"
Both mares looked at him unimpressed. Cloud Counter facehoofed (or rather facehoofed and facewinged at the same time). Because of that he hadn’t seen what happened later, but suddenly he heard a loud “thud!”. He uncovered his eyes and saw Rainstorm lying on the floor covering his face with front hooves and muttering some unrecognizable obscenities. The grayish—blue mare with a bow stood above him with murderous glint in her eyes. After a while, the black stallion managed to get up, gave her a painful look, and staggered to the bathroom on three legs, still covering his face with the fourth one. Leader down, wingpony has to accomplish the mission, thought Cloud Counter.
"Nice hook, girl" he said.
"Thanks," she smiled at him. "Was that… poor excuse for a stallion your friend?"
Cloud Counter started to think quickly. Rainstorm was his former classmate, after graduation they worked together for some time, and now they both were on business trip to Cloudsdale – yet he never called his loud and annoying companion a friend.
"Friend? No, not really. He’s my cousin. Complete douchebag. From Canterlot," last two sentences he said in a way suggesting that “complete douchebag from Canterlot” is the worst possible thing that can happen to a pony.
"Well, that explains many things…" said the other mare, her coat slightly darker than her friend’s. She also had the most improbable manestyle Cloud Counter had ever seen.
"Yeah, a black sheep of the family," he suddenly put on his (slightly fake) Trottingham accent. Not only because it annoyed Rainstorm, but also seemed to attract mares. "And now I have to foalsit him on his trip around Equestria."
"Oh, that’s sad," said the younger mare in rather bored tone. "By the way, my name is Flitter, and this is my sister, Cloudchaser."
"Cloudchaseah?" (for a moment he thought he overdid with the accent, but he carried on) "That’s an interesting coincidence – my name’s Cloud Countah."
"Like, from counting clouds?," asked Cloudchaser.
"Yeah, that’s kinda my job," he pointed his cutie mark – an abacus. "Many weathah teams rely on my calculations – I assess how many rain should fall on given area, and such stuff," he added. He liked talking about his job, but he chose to tell them only a bit about it, to make them interested without boring them to death. Besides, Rainstorm was still in bathroom. It seemed that Flitter hit him harder than Cloud Counter initially thought.
"Don’t ya think this place is a bit boring?" he asked the sisters. "How about going somewhah else?"
"How about your cousin?" Cloudchaser asked.
"Don’t worry, he knows the way to the hotel."
***
"Hello, chap! How was your night in Cloudsdale, the great town, where douchebags get a hit between the eyes and gentlecolts get threesomes with hot sisters?" shouted Cloud Counter, entering the hotel room. In fact there was no threesome, he said so only to piss Rainstorm off. After they left the pub they headed to the sister’s favourite club where they had few… well, as far as Cloud Counter’s analytical mind recalled, a bit more than few drinks, and they ended up walking staggering Flitter home. Cloudchaser helped her walk upstairs to her bedroom and came back to Cloud Counter, waiting at the door.
"So… I think I’ll go back to the hotel, I need to use some sleep too," he said and prepared himself to fly, straightening the wings in awkward stance, one wing higher than the other.
"Are you sure you’re gonna make it?" Cloudchaser asked. She felt rather fine, but she’d never risk flying under the influence. Or letting somepony else do it.
"Don’t worry…" he tried to take off only to feel a sudden head rush, and only by a stroke of luck he avoided faceplanting in front of her.
"Well, I think I’ll bettah walk…" he said.
"No need to hurry," she smiled. "You’ve said that your cousin probably got drunk after we left and is now sleeping, so no need to wake him up. Come inside, let’s have a cup of tea."
"Yeah… you’ve got the point, ‘Chaseah,"
"And drop that accent. You slipped with it so many times tonight that I lost count."
"Oh… sorry, ‘Chaser," he muttered as he entered the living-room. He sat on a sofa and looked around the room, immediately spotting a familiar uniform, hanging on a chair.
"Are you a Wonderbolts’ trainee?" he asked Cloudchaser, who was preparing tea in the kitchen.
"Yeah… but I doubt if I’ll ever become a Wonderbolt myself, there are lot of better fliers there…"
"Oh, don’t say that. I work with weather teams all over Equestria and I can recognize a good flier when I see one. And I’m sure that you’re good."
He could swear that when she came to the living-room with a tray and sat next to him, she was blushing slightly. He took his tea and noticed a framed photo standing on a drawer next to the sofa.
"Is that your boyfriend?" he asked, pointing on a picture depicting Cloudchaser next to the biggest stallion he’d ever seen. Unlike Rainstorm, Cloud Counter never hit on taken mares, besides, that guy didn’t look like somepony whom he’d like to annoy. He didn’t like staying in hospital that much.
"Snowflake? No, he’s my wingpony. Really nice guy, but not really my type. As you can guess, he’s not very talkative…"
Cloud Counter nodded and asked: "What is your type, then?"
"Smart guys," she answered quickly. A bit too quickly, Cloud Counter thought. "You know, they say it’s the new sexy…" she added, leaning to him. Behind the window, Celestia’s sun rose, enlightening the slowly waking-up Cloudsdale.
***
Cloud Counter smiled at his memories once more as he entered the hotel room. His previous attempt to annoy Rainstorm failed, as his colleague’s bed was empty. Perhaps he stayed in the pub drowning his sorrows, and surely he is angry at me for ditching him, so he won’t show up till he gets sober, Cloud Counter thought, falling asleep.
***
Several hours later he was woken up by knocking at the door.
"Whozzzere?" he asked half-consciously. The alcohol he’d drank had left his system and he felt a bit hung over.
"Royal Guards! Open the door sir!"
If this is one of Rainstorm’s stupid pranks, I’m gonna kill him, Cloud Counter thought. He went to the door and opened it. Behind it, there were two Royal Guards with serious expressions on their faces.
"Mister Cloud Counter?"
"Yes, officer," he said, trying unsuccessfully to straighten up his unkempt mane with one of his wings.
"We need to talk about your colleague, Rainstorm…"