The Alternate After Party

by Blackdrag-rose

V: Work? Who said anything about work?

Rocket yawned as he stretched his wings, morning had come to Ponyville and he was ready to get some valuable training in today.

"Your just like Applejack," came a remark from an already awakened Rainbow Dash, "You wake up just as early as she does, but I guess it must have rubbed off on me as well."

Wait...Rainbow Dash, the pony who had spent more time asleep then she did awake, woke up as early as Applejack did every single day. Rocket guessed that made sense, considering that the weather had to be right for the apples and all the other food to grow correctly.

"Come on dude, the girls will be waiting at Sugarcube Corner for breakfast," the mare continued, shrugging off the last bits of her sleep, "and then you and me will get to work with the weather team."

Rocket sighed; where he had been a unicorn in the past he hadn't had to get a job with as fast as everything had happened, but now that he was a pegasus he was being offered a job. So he was getting training from the fastest pegasus in Equestria and he was also getting a job. He didn't know if that was a good thing or if it was a bad thing.

"Come on dude, we don't want to be late."

Rocket shook off his own drowsiness and followed the mare out of her house, still surprised that the mare had been accommodating by letting him stay in her own house. Something told him that Discord had messed with this timeline more then he should have, but he was also feeling that he should just forget about everything. He suspected that he would be meeting Sunset yet again.

~Sugarcube Corner~

"Hiya guys," Pinkie shouted, welcoming the groups of ponies into the building, "Who's ready for breakfast?"

Fluttershy and Tick had been the first ones to arrive, arriving at the store at least a minute before Applejack and Peachy entered the building. Their meeting was set for eight, so with it being five to eight they already knew who was going to be late. Rarity, who hadn't been given a guest, arrived three minutes early with a stallion in tow, though he seemed more interested in the building then anything else. Twilight came in with their new friend Sunset not too long after Rarity arrived, just one whole minute before the meeting time.

"Dash is going to be late again," Pinkie said, noticing the seconds tick down as she stared at the nearby clock, "Not good, both she and Rocket will be late."

"Calm yourself sugarcube," Applejack would have tried to calm the mare down, but she knew that trying to calm down Pinkie was just asking for trouble, "I'm sure that the two of them will be here any second."

"Calm yourself Pinkie," Dash said, she and Rocket entering the building, "We're here and I'm starving."

"Oh Rainbow, only you would think of food at a time like this," Sunset chuckled, it was nice being around the Elements as if they were all friends. Only thing was that the stallion form earlier was across the store and had likely not noticed her at all.

As everypony got seated and shared stories with each other while they waited for whatever Pinkie had planned for their morning meal. Sunset, however, hightailed it over to where Rocket was standing, which happened to be him staring at what appeared to be chocolate strawberries.

"He's here," she whispered, pretending to be interested in a random item she looked at, "That crazy stallion from earlier is here."

"I noticed," Rocket replied, paying more attention to the item he was staring at, "I was hoping that he had left the town and would, more importantly, leave you alone." The stallion in question was currently sniffing something in the corner of the store. "But if that's whats he's going to be doing I bet he will have forgotten all about you in general."

"What trickery is this?" the stallion asked, staring at his reflection in the glass, "Evil glass has my soul. Begone evil Windigo spirits."

"Yeah, on second thought he is completely insane," Sunset replied, shaking her head as she ignored the stallion, "but at least he isn't chasing me right now. I'm already tired of him and his name calling."

"Curse you Windigo," the stallion continued, heading towards the door, "I will find you and restore the balance you have upset."

"Rarity, you always bring the weirdest stallions to our meetings," Rainbow chuckled, watching the stallion leave as Rocket and Sunset joined them.

Rocket sighed, pretending to listen to the ponies around him while he considered what was going to happen in the coming days. When the meal was over he knew he and Rainbow would join the weather team and deal with the clouds all around the town. He was truly interested in learning something new, something that wasn't related to the unicorn magic he had lost thanks to Discord.

"Come on dude," Rainbow said, snapping him back to reality and making him realize he had been absent minded for the last half hour, "We've got to meet the weather team at nine and we need to get you some goggles before then. We've got a building next to the mail store that serves as our meeting place. I'll just swing in, get you a pair of goggles, and we'll be on our way."

Rocket and Rainbow left Sugarcube Corner, only slightly taking to the air so they could pass over any traffic before landing in front of the building that housed the weather teams supplies and roster. Rainbow walked in and looked around, finding her own locker and grabbing her own goggles before finding the supply room, knocking over a box on accident. She easily found the box she was looking for, grabbing a second pair of goggles as she realized that she other box was full of wooden boards for when they needed repairs.

Rocket stood outside the building, watching the streets as he waited for Rainbow Dash to reappear and he saw something that made him reconsider the stallion from earlier. Walking up the street was the stallion, but he continued to stare at whoever he passed until he came face to face with Rocket.

"Ah, the foolish blue stallion from earlier." the stallion said, spinning his shard around, "You stop my mission once already, I will not allow it to happen again. You will feel my wrath."

"Hey Rocket, I found...the other...pair of...goggles?"

Rainbow walked out to find the strange stallion from earlier holding a crystal shard up against the throat of her new teammate, who was staring at the stallion. She had no idea what was happening, but she wasn't about to allow the stallion to hurt her teammate.

"Hey buddy, what the buck do you think your doing?" she shouted, already taking an offensive position as the stallion looked at her.

"Ah, the rainbow mare from earlier," Tonto spoke, "Do not interfere with my mission."

"Buck you mother bucker," Rainbow said, bucking the stallion in the mouth so hard that she likely shattered some of the poor stallion's teeth.

Rocket was surprised, he was expecting Applejack to have such a force behind her kick, yet Rainbow clearly had been practicing. He didn't feel sorry for the stallion; he had deserved it when he threatened him.

"You okay?" Rainbow asked, "That stallion is beyond crazy."

"Of course I'm fine. Shaken, but just fine," Rocket was still surprised Rainbow had that kind of power, "At least now he will think twice about messing with any of you guys."

"Heck yeah. Oh, nearly forgot," she said, tossing the other goggles to Rocket, "We've got some sky to cover."

Rocket held onto the goggles, slipping them on and making him feel more like his old self, the old him that wore sunglasses all the time. Somehow the goggles just felt right. He chuckled and followed Rainbow Dash into the sky, eager to see how the weather team truly dealt with the clouds and the weather. Maybe after all of this he would learn more about her interest in the Wonderbolts and the Daring Do books. Who knows, the two of them might have more in common then he and his wife Rose did.