Applicant Name: _________
Lovey smiled. Oh! This was an easy one. She knew her name. Lovey Dovey.
Any Prior Experience? yes no
Her nose scrunched up and she tapped the pen to her chin. Now this was a tricky question. How was 'prior experience' defined? She had orchestrated a rain shower once for a couple to force them to hide under a tree where they shared their first kiss, but that was a special occasion. And all she had really done to orchestrate it was beg a weatherpony to do it for her. But she had been a part of it, so did that count as experience?
With a shrug, she circled yes.
Specialties: ____________________________________
Oh, this was even easier than her name. She had lots of specialties—so many, in fact, that she had to extend the line to fit them all. Love at first sight, rivalry turned into love, unrequited love, young love, old love, love confessions... Love!
Preferred Weather Duty: _________
What types of weather duty even were there? She had never paid much attention in the years of school she had gone to, and once she got her cutie mark, she set off to start following love lines across Equestria. She knew there was coordinating, which was sort of like matchmaking, wasn't it?
She furrowed her brow. But she was trying to quit matchmaking, so maybe weather coordination wasn't for her. She wasn't very good with clouds, but it was never too late to learn something new! Oh, but if she had a choice, then she wanted to be in charge of... Happy weather!
Availability: _________
Lovey almost whimpered. Oh, no wonder ponies complained about finding jobs. She had no idea the applications for them were so nosy. It was a good question, though. Was she available? Magnate had sort of broken up with her. Reluctantly, she wrote down the best truth she could offer: It's complicated.
Okay. That was it. This wasn't so hard after all! Just answer a few questions and she had a job? She slipped out of the lounge seat and walked up to the receptionist at the front desk. "I'm done!"
"Great!" The mare took the clipboard and glanced it over. Then there was a long pause. She glanced up, back down, up, and down. "Well, okay then! I'll give this to Mr. Weatherhead. He'll be out once he looks this over. Thanks for your patience!"
While the receptionist trotted off down the hall behind her desk and into an office, Lovey returned to her seat with a small hum. She didn't know what song it was that she was humming, but it was nice to listen to. The tune was slow, soft, and... sad. Her wings drooped as she went silent.
A head poked out of the office and stared at her. She lit back up, raising a hoof to wave at him, but he disappeared before she could get her hoof in the air. Just as she started to lower it to her lap, his head slid back into view, along with a hoof holding a clipboard. He glanced down at it, looked back at her, at it, at her, and then shrugged.
"Miss Dovey?" he called.
"That's me!" She jumped out of the seat and skipped across the room toward him, her wings fluttering. "How are you?"
He smiled and gestured her inside his office, where he took a seat behind the desk. A wooden nameplate informed her that his full name was Weatherhead Honcho. "Fine, fine. Lovely weather today. A little overcast, but we can't let it get too hot, now can we?"
Lovey just nodded as she sat down. Honestly, she didn't know a thing about weather, except that clouds were involved and sometimes it was sunny and sometimes it rained.
"Now, I see that your availability is listed as complicated. That's fine. We can work around that! Are mornings or evenings better for you?"
Lovey tilted her head. "Huh? Well, I suppose mornings are best, so I can..." She trailed, her gaze lowering. Can what? Spend time with Magnate? But they were starting over. What did that even mean? She straightened up and smiled. "I can work with whatever, Mr. Honcho!"
He chuckled and waved a hoof. "Weatherhead is fine. Honcho sounds like I should be running a cart repair shop or somethin'." He dropped the hoof down, tapping her application form. "So, you can work whenever, and you like to work with—" His gaze flicked to her cutie mark. "—love." After a pause, he cleared his throat. "Well, we can work with that. The central park and downtown area are prime locations to find lovers on dates. That work for you?"
Just in case the excited fluttering of her wings wasn't enough of an indication, she eagerly nodded and chirped, "Perfect!"
"Great! Well, if you don't got anywhere to be, I just saw Snowdrift walk by outside. He should be just about ready to start his shift, so we can flag him down and you can shadow him."
Lovey jumped into the air and clapped her hooves. "Oh, I'm not busy at all! I'm completely free! Shadowing sounds like fun!"
With a small huff, Weatherhead pushed himself out of his seat. "I'll get the paperwork sorted out later, then. The sooner you can get trained, the better." As he went out the door and rounded the corner, he hollered, "Snowdrift! Wait up a sec!"
The light blue stallion that was halfway down the hall stopped and looked over his shoulder, the white fluffy curls of his mane bouncing from the motion. "Huh?" He turned around with a bright smile. "What's up, boss?"
"We've got a new potential recruit." Weatherhead nodded toward Lovey, who hovered beside him, her excitement almost palpable. "Mind letting her tag along while you work your shift today?"
"Hi!" Lovey waved as she lowered to the ground. "I'm the new recruit! Potentially, I guess. I mean, I'm definitely me, and I'm definitely new, and I—"
Weatherhead cleared his throat. "So, Miss Lovey, if you'll just tag along with Snowdrift for today?"
Lovey bounded forward to stand beside the pegasus in question. "Yes, sir, boss, sir!"
Snowdrift gave Weatherhead a small salute before turning his smile on Lovey. "New recruit, huh? Well, let's see what you've got! How about some cloud clearing? Today's supposed to be nice and sunny with only minor cloud coverage, but those clouds are starting to gang up over central park. Ready to hit the skies?"
"Okay!" Lovey followed him to a locker room, where he grabbed two pairs of goggles—one for himself and the other for her. "So how does cloud clearing work?"
Snowdrift shot her a sideways glance. After a moment, he burst into laughter and waved a hoof in her direction. "Right! 'How does cloud clearing work?' Good one! We're going to have lots of fun together, I can tell that already!"
Lovey laughed, though she didn't know why. That didn't answer her question at all. But he seemed to think it was funny, and he was the professional weatherpony, so it had to be funny!
Or maybe what he thought was so funny was how the goggles didn't fit, not even a little bit. She tried fiddling with the strap, but trying to follow him, wave at ponies they passed, and fiddle all at the same time just wasn't working. She settled on aligning the goggles with her eyes and tilting her head back to keep them in place.
Just outside a door was a wide platform that—as Lovey glanced over the edge to confirm—was two stories up. That seemed to check out with the flight of stairs they had climbed. Snowdrift stood at one end, giving his wings a few flaps to stretch out the muscles.
"Ready?"
Lovey nodded. "Yes, sir!" She fluttered her wings, tossed her head back, and ran alongside him to get a running start on taking flight.
"Always make sure to stay aware of your surroundings," Snowdrift hollered over the wind whipping past them. All the tall buildings lined up in neat rows made for perfect little wind alleys! "Stay high to avoid possible collisions! It can be hard to see around all the corners."
"That makes sense!" Lovey followed him up above the skyscrapers. Once they were high enough, the wind settled down and they eased into a casual glide. She put one hoof on the goggles to keep them in place so she could look down at the view below.
The city was a bustling mass of ponies, stone, metal, and glass. Green spaces were few and far between. It was nothing like Ponyville, which was free and open and more nature than civilization...
"All right, recruit!" Snowdrift flared his wings to slow to a halt. "Show me what you got. Clear those clouds and get that sun shining!"
Lovey nodded. "Okay!" It couldn't be that hard, could it? Pegasi did it all the time! She just had to show the cloud who was the boss. And she was the boss!
She locked her sights on a nearby cloud and flew toward it, forehooves extended to deliver the dispersing blow. Unfortunately, when she struck it, her hooves merely sunk in to the fluffy material.
"Uh..." Snowdrift flapped around her in a circle. "Uh, that's not right. Try again?"
Lovey's ears drooped as she tried to pull her hooves out of the slowly darkening cloud, but to no avail. Was she stuck? She was stuck! And why was the cloud turning dark? And starting to rain?
The soft white color had turned a dark, depressing grey, and rain poured down in a steady shower. That was about the only thing she remembered about clouds—they were emotional sponges and reflected the mood of the pegasus touching them. But that would mean she was sad. She wasn't sad!
"I'm fine," she mumbled under her breath. The cloud rumbled. "I'm fine!" She blinked a few times as her eyes tried to mimic the cloud with tears. "I'm fine!"
"No, no, no," Snowdrift lightly chided, flying closer to get a better look. "We want a sunny day, Lovey."
She slumped forward, her hooves sinking deeper into the cold fluff. "I know Sunny Day…"
"Are you stupid?" a voice asked from behind her. "Stop touching that cloud. You're obviously too sad to be trusted with one."
Lovey blinked and craned her neck to spy a sage pegasus resting on a cloud, his ears pinned back. "Huh?"
"Rossby! I thought you were going to work on that attitude?" Snowdrift set one hoof on his hip, the other giving a scolding shake. Then, with a sigh, he looked back at Lovey. "But he does have a point. Do you want to talk about it? I mean, not to pry, but you're raining."
"I'm fine!" She winced as the downpour grew heavier, just like the strange weight on her chest she was trying to ignore.
Rossby groaned, his wings flapping twice to send him and his cloud drifting closer. "Okay, since you obviously don't know how clouds work and Snowdrift isn't being any help, I'll do it." He pushed his glasses up and stared at her. "Stop feeling."
Lovey sniffled. "Stop... feeling?"
"Yeah. Just clear your mind, or whatever. Stop thinking about whatever it is that's making you sad and just stop feeling."
"But I'm not—" The cloud rumbled again, and she sighed. "I'll try."
She closed her eyes and tried to imagine nothing. She tried not to think about Magnate, or how she had messed up, or how she didn't know what she was going to do.
Kra-kum! Lightning shot out from the side of the cloud, startling a squeak of surprise from her and one of the two stallions.
No, no. Don't think about not thinking about those things. That was just thinking about them! She needed to stop thinking. Just...
... be...
... empty.
Silence filled her ringing ears. Slowly, Lovey opened one eye to see her hooves free of the cloud, which had returned to being white and happy-go-lucky without her influence. She looked away from it and caught sight of a stray love line. Just like that, the switch flipped on. They were everywhere: red and pink lines all zipping through the air, each one wanting her attention.
Snowdrift clapped his hooves, but Rossby just hopped over to land on the cloud so his face was near hers and asked, "What are you doing here?"
A knotted line trailed behind him, leading off into the distance.
Lovey tried to smile and tear her gaze away from it. A knot? She could fix that. It was wrapped around itself and wound tightly, but—no. She had to forget about love lines. "I-I'm learning to be a weatherpony."
Rossby huffed. "Well, you suck at it."
"Rossby!" Snowdrift reached out to grab him by the ear, ignoring the yelp of surprise. "Okay, young stallion, you're coming with me. I've overlooked your behavior since you just transferred here last week, but enough's enough! Time for a formal complaint!" He tugged Rossby closer and flashed a smile at Lovey. "Sorry, can you wait here? I'll be right back! Maybe practice your cloud clearing some while I'm gone?"
"Oh, sure!" She punched the cloud with one hoof, keeping a smile on her face as it started to turn grey. "Don't worry about me!"
As they flew away, Lovey sighed, letting her mind clear so her hoof slid free of the cloud's grasp. Rossby's love line would be fine. It could untangle on its own, or he'd just find somepony else.
Her ears drooped at the thought. Magnate could just find somepony else...
Kra-kum!
Lovey jerked away from the cloud she hadn't realized she'd been leaning against. This was no good. She was fine! Tears started to well up in her eyes and she did the only thing she could think of: she fled.
She didn't want to keep having the clouds remind her of how she was trying to not feel! She didn't want other, more experienced weatherponies judging her. She just wanted to climb into bed and sleep off this awful, heavy feeling of... something. She didn't even know what it was.
There were too many ponies crowding the entrance to the apartment complex, so she flew up to her kitchen window and peered inside. Derelict was right in front of her, eyes wide in surprise, a knife and an apple frozen in her magic.
Lovey smiled. "Can I come in, pretty please?"
Derelict blinked a few times as her magic undid the latch and lifted the window up. "Well, this is a surprise. I thought you were starting your new job today?"
"I was." Lovey grunted some as she twisted herself around, trying to find an angle where her shoulders would fit through the narrow hole. "I was until—oof!" Angle found! She tumbled into the sink, legs and wings sprawled in every direction. "I was until I wasn't. Maybe I will tomorrow, though."
Derelict tilted her head to the side. The knife resumed its work of slicing the apple. "Are you all right?"
Lovey nodded and righted herself, hopping down to the floor. "I'm fine! I've had worse tumbles before."
"I mean, how are you feeling?" Derelict took a bite of one slice, staring at Lovey. She was seeing again, wasn't she? She always saw. Sometimes, Lovey thought maybe she saw too much. "You seem... off."
Off. Was that how she was feeling? Off sounded right. Yes, she was off, but it was okay. She'd been called off all her life. She shrugged and repeated, "I'm fine."
Derelict hummed for a moment, tapping the knife's handle to her chin. "Actually, I believe off isn't quite what I'm trying to convey. You seem less pink than normal, which is a difficult metric to quantify, considering all of you is pink. But, there it is. You seem less pink."
Lovey glanced down at herself. She seemed just as pink as she was the day before. A light frown formed on her lips as irritation seeped into her voice. "I'm fine."
"In my experience, when a pony says they're 'fine', they mean the exact opposite."
That bit of irritation erupted and sent a burning sensation through her blood. Her wings flared out as she yelled in a way she didn't even know she was capable of, "Would you stop it?! I said I'm fine, and I don't want to talk about it!"
Derelict raised one brow and just stared.
Lovey slapped a hoof over her mouth, the fire snuffed in an instant by overwhelming surprise and regret. "Derelict, I—" Her ears folded back. "I'm so sorry, that's not like me!"
"I'm aware." Derelict rolled her shoulders in a shrug and offered one of the slices of apple. "Are you hungry?"
Tears welled up and one fell down her cheek. She had yelled! Lovey had yelled! That was an absolutely un-Lovey thing to do! "I'm—" She sniffled and jumped into the air, zipping out the kitchen, through the living room, and into her bedroom. "I'm sorry!"
The door shut behind her, and Lovey gasped for air. A small tremble shook her wings as clenched her eyes shut and tried to clear her mind. If she could just stop feeling, like Rossby said, then maybe...
A weird sensation drifted from her ears and down her spine, almost as though she were losing all sensation of hot and cold, leaving her feeling numb.
Maybe, without feeling so much, she'd be a better pony. The kind of pony that didn't make clouds cry.