Nightmares Yet to Come

by Detectivefish

Interlude: Raindrops and Cloud Kicker

Somewhere, there was a distant buzzing noise. After a moment, Raindrops realised it was her alarm going off. With an irritated grunt, she lifted a hoof out from her bedsheets and fumbled around until she managed to find the offending source of the unwelcome noise. There was a satisfying click, but by then Raindrops realised it was far too late. She was wide awake, and that meant it was time to get up.
She got out of bed, checking her footsteps just to make absolutely sure none of Snail’s insect friends were underhoof. It wasn’t something that had happened yet, aside from that one time they’d broken containment and wound up in her bed, but better safe than sorry. Apart from anything else, the last thing she wanted to wake up to was something going crunch.
She made her way into the small kitchen-slash-dining room to find her parents already there, though using the word awake to describe her father was probably stretching the term a little, given he always seemed half asleep anyways. Her mother was bustling about, as she always did.
“Good morning, sweetie.” Shutterbug grinned an infectiously cheerful smile, “did you sleep alright?”
Raindrops hadn’t quite reached full awoken status yet, so she simply responded with an affirmative grunt. But Shutterbug grinned regardless.
“That’s nice. Oh, by the way,” she said, “I packed you some lunch.” She gestured towards the kitchen, where Raindrops could see sitting on the surface of the counter a brown paper bag, and which had helpfully been labelled with her name.
“Thanks.” Raindrops managed to get out.
“You’re welcome.” Her mother smiled, before bustling off, presumably to nudge Snails into getting up.
“What’ve you got on today?” Dewdrops asked, as Raindrops fixed herself some breakfast.
“Work, same as usual.” Raindrops replied, hopeful. It had been a relatively quiet few days for Ponyville, the little incident with the crazies aside, and Raindrops wanted to keep up that streak for as long as possible. Dewdrops just chuckled at that.
“Have fun.” He said, before going back to his paper.

---

It wasn’t that far from the house to Ponyville’s weather station, a mere few minutes flight for Raindrops, long enough to get the cobwebs out of her head. By the time she got there, she noticed some of her coworkers showing up as well, at least those who hadn’t been working the night shift, those ponies with the unglamorous job of making sure the Everfree’s particularly unpredictable weather didn’t ruin somepony’s morning. There was Airheart, wearing her scarf and flying helmet, as well as Blue Skies, who was happily singing some tune to himself. Inside, in the main room of the weather station, Flitter and Cloud Chaser were already there, busying themselves with something, likely looking over the work assignments for the day. That meant Cloud Kicker was already around somewhere, probably going over the schedule a dozen times. And naturally, Rainbow Dash wasn’t there.
Raindrops felt a small bite of irritation at that one, though she and everyone on the patrol would have admitted Rainbow Dash had been getting better the last few months, and would say as much to anyone who criticised her… though this wasn’t the most glowing endorsement ever.
“Morning, Rainy.” Flitter called out. Raindrops nodded back. She made her way to the break room, so she could stash her mom-made sandwiches, before returning to the main office, where some of the night shift were beginning to clock off.
“Quiet night?” she asked. Thunderlane looked over at her, and shrugged.
“Pretty quiet.” He said, “though we did see Pinkie Pie following somepony out jogging at about seven-ish this morning.”
He shook his head and chuckled. “Thought I was just hallucinating when I saw a bale of hay moving about, till Squall told me he saw it as well.”
Raindrops raised an eyebrow at this, wondering why Pinkie Pie was following somepony, especially that early in the morning. There probably was a reason, though whether it made sense to anyone else was likely a toss-up, and it was too early to play that particular game.
“Also, apparently Cloudsdale got back about Harsh Gale.” Squall chimed in.
“What did they say?” Blue Skies asked. Not that anyone needed to guess the answer.
Harsh Gale was one of the biggest problems Ponyville’s weather patrol faced, right after the Everfree, Rainbow Dash, monster attacks, and the Everfree again. A pegasus colt from Hoofington with a knack for causing havoc and infuriating scads of paperwork for all involved, the only thing that kept Harsh Gale out of the most fiendish and well-designed prison Equestria had was the somewhat significant hurdle of not existing at all.
Not that this seemed to slow him down very much. But he was tremendously useful if somepony, say, misplaced a storm cloud, or if something got smashed or broken, or someone (and no-one was naming names) accidentally wrote down the wrong thing because they’d not fully woken up from their nap and nopony had noticed before it was too late and suddenly the town had a hailstorm instead of a lovely afternoon’s sunshine. There had been many a confused and irritated letter from the higher-ups in Cloudsdale asking why nopony had been able to catch the colt, whose ability to elude even the tightest of nets was becoming the stuff of legend, and eventually he’d been shipped off to elsewhere by his family. That the ponies in Cloudsdale had started asking some serious questions might’ve prompted this drastic measure, but who was to say?
But a few days prior, some ponies had ‘borrowed’ a few clouds to deal with some crazies running around the town, and Harsh Gale had briefly returned, apparently having snuck out of the flight camp for criminally wayward youths he’d been sent to.
Not that Raindrops would admit to knowing anything about that.
Before the conversation could go further, there was a sudden whistle.
“Alright, ponies,” Cloud Kicker called out, motioning for them to pay attention to her, “everypony here who’s meant to be here?”
“Everyone but you know who.” Airheart called out. The look on Cloud Kicker’s face was impossible to miss.
“A-alright,” she declared, gamely solving the problem of Rainbow Dash’s absence by apparently ignoring it altogether, “assignments are written up on the board.” She nodded towards the large board taking up one of the walls, next to the maps of Ponyville and the Everfree and the schedule for the week’s weather. “Nothing exciting today, keep the weather as-is. Clouds and light showers of snow, but we’re not resurfacing anything today. A-any problems, you come talk to me. Now get to it.”

---

As might be expected from her name, Raindrops liked rain. She loved rain. She adored rain. The others in the weather patrol liked to joke that if she had her way, it would probably rain every day, until Ponyville was underwater or she was forbidden from going near a cloud again. Which was, Raindrops felt, just a little unfair. She liked rain, yes, but she wasn’t weird about it.
Usually.
In Raindrops’s eyes, snow was almost as good as rain, and maybe, maybe in some small aspects, better. So she had no problem moving about some snow clouds if need be. It was generally slow work, but it beat kicking stray clouds from the Everfree. Cloud Kicker was one of the few ponies in Ponyville who actually enjoyed doing that.
As she and Airheart and Blue Skies worked, the later sung, as he always did while working. And it was the way Blue Skies sung that, sooner or later, everypony else who was nearby would likely start joining in. Or at the very least get whatever he was singing stuck in their head for the rest of the day.
It was after about an hour before Airheart noticed something, and motioned to Skies, who got Raindrops’ attention. She looked around to see Cloud Kicker flying toward them.
“Morning, Kicker.” Blue Skies called out. Evidently Cloud was wrapped up in her own thoughts, as she jolted at the words.
“Hey.” She called back.
“You decided to join us today?” Airheart asked.
“M-maybe, a little.” Cloud said, trying to smile. Raindrops took that to mean Rainbow Dash probably hadn’t shown up yet, otherwise Cloud would’ve been busy trying to fill her in on the day’s schedule, and any of the forms she needed to sign off on.
The deputy weather manager got to work with the others, carefully helping move the clouds and keep the snow mixture steady. It was long and slow work that would probably take up most of the morning at least.
“So,” Raindrops heard Airheart call out, “Kicker, how’d the other night go?”
Cloud Kicker’s cheeks turned red, and she mumbled something to herself, suddenly looking more interested in the cloud than anything else. And while looking at the clouds was technically their job, no-one could look that interested in clouds. Airheart winced.
“That bad, huh?”
It was one of the worst kept secrets among the weather patrol that Cloud Kicker had something of a crush on Blossomforth, a pegasus mare who had a small shop in Ponyville where she sold perfume. It was probably known to most of Ponyville as well. Possibly even beyond, especially if Pinkie Pie knew. About the only pony who probably didn’t know was Blossomforth herself, because Cloud Kicker seemed incapable of talking to her (which more than once had made Raindrops wonder how the crush had arisen in the first place, but she’d never pried).
“I was going to.” Kicker murmured, as she nudged at the cloud with her hoof, though carefully, “but it just…”
Airheart nodded, not unsympathetically, as Kicker trailed off, while Raindrops tried not to wince herself. That might have been because there was more than one part of her that wanted to see Cloud Kicker finally work up the nerve to talk to Blossomforth. Partly because Kicker was her friend, and she wanted her to be happy, but also for other, much less noble reasons. Such as thinking they’d be very cute together.
“C’mon,” Kicker said, “back to work. Unless you wanna talk about Raindrops’ love life instead.”
“I don’t have a love live.” Raindrops said quickly.
“Well, that was fast.” Cloud Kicker smirked, but only for a moment. “Sorry, that was mean.”
Raindrops just snorted. Anypony else, she might’ve responded by getting angry, but with Cloud Kicker it was like kicking a dog.
Okay, she was a little angry, but she wasn’t going to do anything about it, besides maybe direct it at a few clouds.
“Know what you’d go for.” Blue Skies said, grinning. “I’ve seen those books you’ve brought to the lunch room.”
“We’ve all seen ‘em.” Airheart said.
“Anyone see if these clouds have any lightning in them?” Raindrops asked, knowing full well what the answer was. It had only been the one time she’d brought one of those books into the lunch room, and it hadn’t even been one of the more salacious ones. She’d figured it wouldn’t have been worth commenting upon, let alone for months and months afterwards, but apparently not.
“C-C’mon now,” Cloud spoke up, “leave Rainy alone, less you want to be cleaning out graupel tonight.”
That quietened up Airheart and Blue, and the two got back to work. Raindrops looked to Cloud Kicker, who tried looking nonchalant as she resumed working herself, which didn’t quite work, especially since Raindrops could see she was fighting down a small smile.
A short time later, as they were working, Raindrops saw Thunderlane show up and say something to Cloud Kicker, but from the way her face fell, it was easy to guess what that was, as she turned and headed back toward the weather station.

---

Eventually, the group managed to get their assigned work done, and began flitting back to Ponyville’s weather station for lunch break.
Raindrops made her way to her usual table with her bags, and saw Flitter grinning as she sat down.
“Momiches?” The mare asked. “That is so sweet.”
Raindrops snorted, as she removed the sandwich from its specially folded paper bag and prepared to eat.
“Don’t knock it.” Airheart said to her co-worker, “I wish my mom made me sandwiches.”
Raindrops short a glare in her direction, but the mare raised her hooves. “No, no, I mean it. It’s kind of adorable.”
Flitter frowned. “Your mom doesn’t even live in Ponyville.”
“Yeah,” Airheart conceded, “that is a problem.”
“Do you mind?” Raindrops asked.
“Sorry,” the two grinned, though not maliciously, and Raindrops went back to her sandwich, for a moment. Then she heard it, the sound of raised voices.
“The hay is that?” Flitter murmured, her ears twitching. Airheart, normally one of the more cheerful ponies in the weather patrol, sighed. She knew, Flitter knew, and Raindrops knew.
Without a word, Raindrops got up and marched out of the lunch room to the main room, where the unmistakable sound of arguing was coming from.
In the center of the room, Rainbow Dash was squared off against Cloud Kicker. It was supposed to be lunch time, so where there would normally have been at least a dozen or so pegasuses flitting about, instead there were slightly less, all with tickets to the show, though a lot of them looked torn between intervening or looking away. It was a Pegasus thing to flock together when there was a problem, even without the endless talks about team spirit they received from Rainbow and Cloud, but it was different when the problem was the bosses looking like they were one wrong sentence from tearing each other apart. Raindrops frowned and moved closer to the nearest pony.
“What caused it this time?” she asked. Sunlight looked at her, and just shrugged hopelessly.
“Hay if I know.” The mare admitted, “just one minute they’re talking, and then…” she gestured at the sight in front of them.
Actually, Raindrops wasn’t sure if it was a sight anymore. This was something else entirely. Rainbow and Cloud had argued several times before over the last few months, but this time it seemed angrier.
“- with the way you’re doing things!” Cloud Kicker was yelling.
“Yeah?” Rainbow Dash snorted.
“You’re never here, and when you are here, I have to clean up your messes!”
“That’s not true!”
Raindrops marched across the room, putting herself between the two of them.
“C’mon, you two. Knock it off. Let's just take a deep breath and calm down, shall we?” She said, looking between the two mares. As she looked closer, Raindrops saw that Cloud was trembling all over, and she wasn’t sure if it was anger or terror or both. But whatever was fuelling her motivated her to keep going.
“You’re a j-joke of a weather manager! You’ve only got the job via sucking up to the higher-ups in Cloudsdale, and you can’t even do it right!”
Rainbow Dash stopped. When she spoke again, it was with an alarming calm. “You know what? Maybe you shouldn’t come in tomorrow. Or the day after.”
Cloud Kicker’s jaw dropped, and her wings fluttered, her stunned expression mirrored on several of the ponies watching.
“You…” she said in a tiny voice, “I… you…” Then she scowled furiously, a sight so alien to Kicker’s features it just looked wrong. “You know what? Fine! I’m out of here! I QUIT!”
With that, Cloud Kicker turned and marched out of the weather station, slamming the door so furiously it was amazing it didn’t fall off its hinges. There was a long terrible silence, as Rainbow Dash stood there. After a moment, she came back to herself, and glowered at the room.
“What are you bums looking at? Get back to work!”
With that, she herself turned and stormed off towards the small room that theoretically served as her office.
“I can’t believe she did that.” Sunlight said, at just above a whisper.
Raindrops couldn’t believe it either. A part of her wanted to go after Cloud Kicker, but then she found herself moving towards Rainbow Dash’s office, not even bothering to knock as she entered.
She had been winding up to yell at Rainbow Dash, but the sight she saw on entry made her stop. Rainbow was, for once, actually behind her desk, stacked with any number of forms and notices, though not as much as most tended to expect. Mainly because of Cloud Kicker, in fact. It was a joke among the weather patrol, when they were certain Rainbow Dash wasn’t in earshot, that without Kicker, Rainbow’s paperwork would’ve probably taken up the entire room, or even come to life and try to attack her.
Presently she was frowning, but she was also slumped down. She looked… actually, if Raindrops had to pick a word, she’d have said exhausted, and that wasn’t something that could be easily said of Rainbow Dash.
“You here to yell at me?” she asked, with none of her usual bombast.
“That was the plan, yeah.” Raindrops admitted. Rainbow Dash nodded glumly.
“G’head.”
Raindrops had to take a moment, as her train of thought found itself hitting the brakes hard.
“What were you thinking, firing Cloud Kicker?” Raindrops demanded, though she was surprised there was less anger behind it than she’d have thought. Then she saw the look Rainbow Dash was giving her, and she got a horrible sinking feeling.
“Fire her?” Rainbow asked incredulously, “I wasn’t going to fire her.”
“You just had a screaming match in the middle of the office.”
“Hey!” Rainbow Dash’s wings flared, “that wasn’t me. Kicks just started in on me for no reason.”
“No, she didn’t.” Raindrops said, before she could even think of stopping herself. Rainbow’s wings flared again, dislodging some pieces of paper as they did.
“Alright,” she snapped, “so I was late, again, but I had a good reason. I just asked her a few questions, next thing I know she’s screaming at me.”
“What were you doing?” Raindrops asked.
Suddenly, Rainbow’s face scrunched up, her indignation now starting to fade. “I wuz…” she trailed off into mumbling.
“Sorry?” Raindrops found herself asking.
“I stopped by Fluttershy’s house to help her with some stuff, and it took longer’n I was expecting. Okay? You happy? Wasn’t just that I overslept this time.”
“So what about telling Cloud not to come in tomorrow?”
“I just thought she’d been under a lot of stress lately, so I…” A look of realization dawned on Rainbow Dash’s face that made Raindrops want to wince. “Oh. Oh. Ohh.”
She tapped her forehooves together. “Ponyfeathers.”
Raindrops took a deep breath, and then several more for good measure, visions of smacking Rainbow Dash upside the head swimming tantalisingly through her head, but given the situation it probably wouldn’t be helpful, and probably not as satisfying.
“I really screwed up there, didn’t I?”
Raindrops could only nod. “Yeah. You did.”
Rainbow shot her a look, but said nothing.
“What were you thinking of?”
“Putting her on stress leave.” Rainbow said. “I wasn’t gonna fire her.” She scoffed. “Not sure I even know how to fire her. Cloud’s the one who knows where all the forms are. And even if I did, I don’t wanna fire her.”
Rainbow started rubbing a hoof against her head. “Hoo, boy.”
Seconds ticked by, then Rainbow Dash looked up. “Hey, Drops, can I, uh, ask a favour of you?”
Raindrops raised an eyebrow. “You want me to go after Cloud and explain things to her for you?”
Rainbow grimaced. “Would you? I don’t think she’d want to listen to me now. And you’re the big time hero, isn’t this sort of thing in your job description?”
“Don’t think it is.”
“What if I made it an order?”
Raindrops chewed her lip. “Don’t think that’s in your job description either.”
Rainbow Dash sighed in irritation. “Could y’ just…” her ears twitched, and she frowned at the door. She looked at Raindrops. Raindrops looked at her.
“Well,” Rainbow suddenly bellowed, “if you think it’s so important, you go talk to her!”
There was the sudden sound of scurrying hooves and flapping wings, and at least one pained yelp of someone falling over, as everypony who’d been listening in at the door fled, and Rainbow Dash shook her head. Then she looked at Raindrops expectantly. After a moment, Raindrops realised what she was doing, and shook her head. “Maybe I will!” She leaned in towards Rainbow Dash, “but you have to apologise to her at some point. Today.”
The mare nodded. “Yeah, yeah, okay. I’ll do it, I swear.”
“I mean it.” Raindrops said sternly. Rainbow raised her hoofs.
“Chill, chill. I’ll do it, ‘kay?”
“I don’t have to make you Pinkie Promise, do I?”
There was a look of alarm on Rainbow Dash’s face, as if she expected Ponyville’s premier party pony to suddenly pop up out of nowhere at the mere mention of her name. But she didn’t.
“No, I’ll talk to her, I swear. Just…” Rainbow Dash sighed, “give her time to cool down first. Now, g’on. Go find her, make sure… make sure she’s alright.”

---

Raindrops hadn’t been expecting much luck in tracking Cloud Kicker down, but it didn’t actually take very long at all. The mare hadn’t gotten very far, and was curled up on a stone bench, not too far from the office. Somehow, her normally dishevelled mane and tail looked even more bedraggled than usual. And she was sobbing a lot (which, as a matter of fact, was how Raindrops found her).
This was a situation that would require finesse, and tact. Neither of which were exactly things Raindrops prided herself on, a lot of the time.
But she knew Cloud Kicker, or she thought she did. The mare had been in Ponyville longer than she had – possibly she’d been born in it, Raindrops wasn’t actually sure. She’d been in the weather patrol the day Raindrops had started, which wasn’t all that long ago really. She hadn’t been the deputy manager then, and she’d been slightly less nervous. And everyone liked Cloud. She was always there, maybe not always helpful, especially if she was having a panic attack, but she meant well and once she got going was one of their best workers, hence her being the deputy weather manager, even if that was because she was one of the few ponies who knew where all the paperwork was meant to go. Outside of Rainbow Dash, she got on well with just about everypony… It was hard to imagine the weather patrol without her there.
For an instant, Raindrops wondered if being an Element Bearer had something to do with her current crisis, if Cloud’s increased frazzled nature was from having to cover her suddenly charging off because there was one disaster or another that needed their help. Then she shoved it down. That was stupid thinking, and it wasn’t helpful.
“Hey.” Raindrops began carefully. Cloud Kicker stopped, and unfurled to look at her.
“I’m an idiot!” she wailed. Raindrops sat carefully on the bench next to her.
“No, you’re not.” She said, but this didn’t seem to work on Cloud.
“Yes I am. I got myself fired just because I was in a bad mood.”
“You’re not fired.” Raindrops said. Cloud Kicker blinked at her, and sniffled a few times.
“I’m… not?”
“You’re not.” Raindrops confirmed.
“Oh.” Cloud Kicker said, very quietly. Her cheeks started to turn red. “Now I really feel like an idiot.”
“You’re not…” Raindrops sighed. But Cloud Kicker wasn’t exactly listening, just sitting there sniffing.
Raindrops shook her head. Why couldn’t Carrot Top be around? Or Cheerilee, or Lyra, or Ditzy. Even Trixie. They were all better at this kind of thing than she was. They made it look easy. Cheerilee sidled in, and in twenty minutes (less if drink was involved) you’d swear she’d been your best friend for twenty years. Ditzy and Lyra and Carrot Top just exuded niceness, each in their own way, and as for Trixie… well, she could be charming, far more often than not, especially when she stopped trying to be charming. So where did that leave her? She wasn’t the pony for this kind of job. She was exactly the wrong pony.
But they weren’t there. It was just her. All she could do was try.
“C’mon.” Raindrops said, “let’s go sit down somewhere and talk.”
“Where?” Cloud Kicker blinked.

---

There was a rule in Berry’s Punch Bowl regarding the serving of drinks, specifically those of an alcoholic nature. Well, actually there were several, but the one that was important to the situation at present was thus: Anypony who’d had to deal with Rainbow Dash was served whatever they asked for ahead of schedule, no questions asked.
There had been similar rules for anypony who’d dealt with Trixie, which had given the Bowl a surprising boost in revenue during the early days of Trixie’s stay in Ponyville, but after a drop off in usage, Berry had rescinded that rule.
(Also, Berry had come to the realisation she rather liked Trixie most of the time, and didn’t want to risk losing her as a customer. Never mind that hers was the only bar in town. It was the principle of the thing, she maintained.
Strangely, Raindrops couldn’t recall ever hearing anything about Rainbow’s reaction to the same. Certainly, if she was aware of it, she’d never said anything.)
So it was that Raindrops and Cloud Kicker sat down at one of the small booths of Berry’s, largely empty due to it only being lunchtime on a weekday, Raindrops with a soda, since she was still on the clock, while Cloud had something that looked an awful lot like a beer.
Raindrops remained silent as Cloud drank her drink, waiting for the other mare to speak instead. She watched as Cloud Kicker emptied her mug without stopping for a breath.
“Think I needed that.” Kicker finally declared, before motioning toward the bar for a refill.
“Do you want to talk about what happened?” Raindrops asked. Cloud looked at her for a long while.
“No.” She said, “but I pr-probably should, huh?”
She shrugged. “I dunno what it was about. Just… one minute I’m my normal self, the next I’m just… angry.”
Cloud didn’t bother asking Raindrops if she understood that.
“Maybe it’s because of dealing with Rainbow all the time, or the way the last year’s gone or because… hay, I don’t know, because of Blossomforth. Or maybe I’m just an idiot.”
“You’re not an idiot.” Raindrops said instantly, but Cloud just scowled down at the table.
“Y’know, I took a job with the weather patrol because I thought it’d be nice and quiet and dull.”
Raindrops gave her a quizzical stare. “So, the fact Ponyville’s right next to the Everfree…”
“I thought that’d just be stuff…” Cloud Kicker sighed. “Stuff I could handle. Extra paperwork, but there’d be other ponies to deal with the actual weather and help sometimes. And then Rainbow turned up.”
Cloud groaned, and buried her head under her hooves. Raindrops decided it probably wouldn’t help pointing out Rainbow Dash had been in Ponyville for several years, maybe not as long as she had or as Kicker had, and Kicker was still there. It especially wouldn’t have helped to point out Kicker had only become deputy weather manager after Rainbow herself had become the weather manager.
“If it was just the Everfree and Ponyville, I could maybe deal with it, but the Everfree, Ponyville and Rainbow and having to deal with them all at once is just…” she groaned again, and muttered something Raindrops couldn’t make out.
And on that, Raindrops had to agree. All three of those were a bad combination.
“Rainbow has gotten better the last year.” She ventured, figuring she had to start on reconciling the mare before she showed up (if she showed up, part of her thought). Cloud didn’t look up.
“That’s not saying much.” She grumbled.
“But you admit she has gotten better.” Raindrops ventured. Cloud grunted, which Raindrops, no stranger to the monosyllabic grunt form of communication, took as tacit acknowledgement of her being right.
“And when it comes down to it, she does actually show up.”
Cloud’s expression darkened.
“Only showing up at the last moment is not a good quality, no matter how good she is once she’s there.” She said. “Maybe she should try showing up before the disaster’s had a chance to start.” Then the dark looked passed.
“Maybe it’s me. Maybe I should just quit.” Cloud murmured.
“You know,” Raindrops said, “I remember what happened last year. Just after the Longest Night, when Sunlight wanted to quit? Who was it who talked her into staying?”
Cloud Kicker tried looking away, but there was an odd twitch in the corner of her mouth, like she was fighting a small smile. Raindrops decided to press the advantage.
“Who was it?”
Cloud Kicker sighed. “Me.”
“Don’t sell yourself short.”
“She was being s-silly.” Cloud murmured, waving a hoof dismissively, “thinking Cloudsdale were going to fire her just because of her Cutie Mark.”
Raindrops said nothing. She had a suspicion it wasn’t so much fear of Cloudsdale’s higher ups that had nearly pushed the normally indomitably cheerful Sunlight to quit, but more the insane, angry alicorn touching down in Ponyville itself, and the thought that suddenly everypony in Ponyville would be looking at her and her sun-related Cutie Mark with suspicion. Which had been total nonsense, something everypony had been quick to tell her, even Rainbow Dash, in her own, Rainbow Dashian way.
'Don’t be an idiot.' As she had put it.
“She’s a good pony.” Kicker stated, “I didn’t want to see her ruin a good thing because of… because of fear.”
“You know half the weather patrol would probably go if you went.” Raindrops noted. Cloud grunted in response, and rolled her eyes.
“No, they wouldn’t.”
“Yes, they would.” Raindrops said firmly.
“Would you?” Cloud asked.
“Well, I’m pretty sure I have to stay in Ponyville because of the Elements, and I don’t really have the training or… or temperament for any other kind of job, so no. Sorry.”
“Plus, your little brother.” Raindrops grimaced a little.
“Yeah, I suppose there is Snails as well.”
“And your friends.” Cloud added. For a moment, the thought of Trixie flashed through Raindrops’ mind, grinning that particular grin Trixie tended to have when she thought she’d won an argument.
“Yeah.” Raindrops sighed, as she tried not to dwell on why only Trixie had come to mind, “my friends too.”
“I remember somepony saying, a year back, that she’d quit and take half the weather patrol with her if she did.” Kicker said. Raindrops raised an eyebrow. She had said that, on the day she’d first met Trixie. In fact, that had been how she’d met Trixie. The Everfree and Rainbow Dash had been acting up at the worst possible time yet again, but she hadn’t really meant it. She was surprised Kicker remembered that, since she’d been busy trying to deal with everything, since as it had turned out Rainbow Dash hadn’t even been there.
“Think they like you more than they like me.” Kicker murmured.
“They like you. Everypony likes you. More than they like me.”
“That’s not true.” Cloud said immediately, and Raindrops noted the surprising confidence in her voice as she said that.
“I like you, for one.” She added. “Are you going to tell me I’m wrong?”
The two of them stared across the table at one another, though judging by the way her eyes seemed to be sliding away, Raindrops had to guess Kicker’s heart wasn’t entirely in it.
“I’ve got a suggestion.” Cloud finally stated, “we both agree we’re liked by our coworkers and leave it at that.”
Cloud raised her glass to this. “Deal.”
Of course, with that topic moved out of the way, this left a long silence hanging over the table.
“This thing with Blossomforth.” Raindrops began, before she even realised she was saying it, “how long’s it been going on?”
Kicker shrugged. “I dunno. I think I first realized I had a crush on her about a year ago. Just before Hearth’s Warming.”
“So… why haven’t you asked her out?” Raindrops asked. Kicker winced.
“I want to. B-believe me, I want to. But it’s… every time I work up the nerve… I mean… I’ve tried talking to her, but this is Ponyville. There’s not a lot of reasons somepony like me would need to go into her shop, so… I was going to do it a couple of months ago, almost did, but then the Incident happened.”
“Oh, right.” Raindrops found herself looking down at her lemonade. The Incident had not been a high point of the year for anyone in Ponyville. A mix-up involving Zecora the zebra and a magical curse had turned every liquid in town alcoholic, and worse, made everypony in town want to spread the madness, until some of the foals undid everything. The town had been smashed up in the process, which led to the drama of that year’s Grand Galloping Gala, among other things. Afterward, there had been the tacit agreement that no-one was to ever speak of that day again, an idea which quickly proved somewhat problematic given the complicated clean-up required, and having to deal with government officials signing off the disaster relief money. So the agreement was reached to, if it was required, speak of it only as the Incident.
“You weren’t there that week, were you?” Raindrops asked, remembering back to the aftermath. Kicker grimaced.
“I was on that training course.” Raindrops nodded. She was pretty sure Rainbow Dash had been meant to go on that training course as well, but she couldn’t recall if she’d gone or not. Given the Incident had occurred just after the yearly Ponyville fair, though, it was a pretty good guess that Rainbow had probably found a reason not to go. In fairness, that had been a blur of a week, even without the Incident.
“And the Gala would’ve been perfect to try and talk to her. Big fancy shindig, all the reason I’d need to go to her store and ask her, but…”
“You didn’t go, did you?” Kicker shook her head.
“I was too tired to go to Canterlot.” She said. “Just crashed out after work and spent a day and a half in bed.”
“You did a lot of hard work.” Raindrops said, stopping herself before noting Rainbow Dash had as well. They all had. The Weather Patrol had worked themselves half to death fixing up the town, at least the bits related to the weather, after what had happened, and both Rainbow and Cloud had been at the center of it all. Not bickering, not goofing off or panicking. They’d been a terrifyingly well-oiled machine. Nopony had dared comment on it just in case it jinxed them.
“Bet everypony thought I was just going to freak out.” Kicker muttered. Raindrops squirmed at that.
“I wasn’t going to say that.”
Cloud sighed. “I do get worked up. But with Ponyville the way it was… it was beyond my worst nightmares. And when things are worse than you expected it to be, there wasn’t really anything left to panic about.”
After a moment, she made a half-smile. “And I wasn’t late for an exam I knew nothin’ about.”
“Well, you didn’t miss much at the Gala.” Raindrops noted. Kicker gave her a surprisingly sour look.
“If f-freaking Pinkie Pie could come away from the Gala dating some noble, I’d like to think I might’ve had a chance at talking to Blossomforth for more than five seconds. Let me have that, Rainy.”
“I just point out, there was a rampaging draqonequus part way through.” Also, thanks to the actions and plans of certain ponies, there had been a mass outbreak of truth-telling, which hadn’t helped anything. As far as unromantic ways to learn somepony had a crush on you went, it was right up there.
Cloud stared levelly at her.
“Rainy, can I just ask: Have you ever actually dated anypony? Because I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard you talk about anypony ever.”
Raindrops squirmed slightly under Cloud’s gaze, and suddenly found herself looking at the Punch Bowl’s ceiling. Sadly, there wasn’t much to see, as Berry had not had the forethought to adorn the ceiling with interesting frescoes. She instead settled for making a non-committal noise.
“Not even one date?” Kicker asked, a rising note of concern in her voice that Raindrops didn’t appreciate. “You must’ve had a crush on someone, at least, right?”
Raindrops shrugged. “Not really.” She admitted. “Always been busy, I guess. And I wouldn’t really have much to talk about anyhow. Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not one for small talk. Unless it’s about the weather.”
Cloud blinked at her for several seconds. “Huh.” She finally declared. “So, you’re not really the pony to be givin’ me romantic advice, are you? It’s not like in those books of yours, you know.”
Raindrops scowled for a moment, but if Cloud saw it she ignored it.
“It’s not like you just meet a pony and then just… fall in love. Ponies don’t work like that. Be nice if it did, but they don’t. You don’t randomly meet some great-looking guy or gal who’s completely smooth and- and charming and the skies turn pink and you start singing some duet.”
“None of the books I read are like that!” Raindrops said, defensively. And this, at least was true. None of the works of B. Ripper featured any singing whatsoever (at least, not printed. Once or twice there was mention of it, but never any lyrics, and so far none of Ripper’s works had been adapted to the stage. Or at least, not any Raindrops knew of).
“Oh, right.” Kicker scoffed, which made Raindrops wonder just whether it had been a good idea to let her drink as much as she had. “They’re not some obnoxious jackass you wanna strangle, but that one pony they meet breaks through to the nice pony beneath. Real ponies aren’t like that. Real life ain’t like that.”
Raindrops thought about this, and suddenly found herself thinking of Trixie, yet again. Probably because what Kicker was saying wasn’t too far removed from what Trixie might’ve said. She resisted the urge to shake her head. She was thinking entirely too much about Trixie today.
“Be nice if it was.” Kicker murmured.
“Yeah.” Raindrops admitted. “Wouldn’t it?”
There was the sound of the bar’s door opening. Raindrops looked up, to see Rainbow Dash approaching. Amazingly, she actually looked hesitant, especially when she got up to the table.
“Hey.” She said. “Is it okay for me to be here?”
Raindrops looked to Cloud Kicker, who looked at Rainbow for a long while. “I guess.”
Rainbow slid into the seat next to Raindrops, smiling awkwardly as she did.
“So…” she began, “ah… look, I just wanted to say… I’m sorry.”
“About what exactly?” Cloud Kicker asked, a surprisingly venomous edge to her voice. Rainbow bristled.
“Hey, you’re the one who got on my case! Like you’ve been doing for months!”
“You were late. Like you always are.”
Rainbow Dash briefly glanced at Raindrops. “I was busy!”
“Taking a nap? Or pranking someone? ‘cuz you sure weren’t doing your j-”
“Hey!” Raindrops slammed her hoof down on the table, jolting the two mares (and, she couldn’t help but notice, getting Fizzy’s attention at the bar). “For pony’s sake, the two of you have been arguing for months now. This is getting out of hoof, and it’s getting downright stupid. Now knock it off! Neither of you is leaving this table until you talk. This. Out.”
The two mares looked uncertainly at one another, and evidently felt it wasn’t worth noting that Raindrops was sitting between them. There was technically nothing stopping them from getting up and leaving. Or at least, nothing stopping them from trying. At that moment, Raindrops was sorely tempted by the idea of locking them in a room somewhere until they settled things, potential disciplinary action be darned.
“Now, Kicker, Rainbow did have a valid reason for not showing up on time today.”
“Thank you.” Rainbow said, stopping when Raindrops stared at her. Raindrops then turned her gaze to Kicker.
“And you know she isn’t going to fire you. So let her say her piece, okay?”
Cloud sat there for a moment. “’kay.”
“But, Rainbow, you’re not helping anyone by getting angry as well.”
Rainbow looked like she was about to say something in response, then stopped herself again. From the look on her face, that was something of a struggle itself.
“Doesn’t sound like you’re sorry.” Cloud shot at her. Rainbow snorted, her wings flaring, and then stopped.
“Look,” she said, her voice as icily calm as she could manage, “I don’t know what it was I did that’s upset you so much, but… I’m sorry. I am.”
Cloud looked from Rainbow to Raindrops. “Does she mean it?” she asked. Rainbow looked offended, but remained quiet as Raindrops stared at her.
“She does.”
For a moment, Cloud stared at Rainbow, her jaw shifting slightly. “Okay.” She eventually said, quietly, suddenly looking a lot smaller than she was. “Banging.”
Rainbow tried to subtly give Raindrops a look indicating her total incomprehension at what had just happened. It didn’t work, but fortunately for the ease of communication, Raindrops was just as baffled.
“Where’d that come from?” Raindrops asked.
“Just somethin’ I thought I’d try out.” Cloud murmured, as her cheeks started turning pink.
“Maybe put it back where you found it.” Rainbow Dash suggested, though not unkindly.
There was a moment as everypony seemed uncertain as to what to say next. They were in uncharted territory with Rainbow Dash apologizing to begin with, far off any metaphorical map. Here there were tigers, and goodness knew what else.
“Look,” Rainbow said, taking a deep breath, “I know I’m not… exactly the best pony to work with.”
Cloud Kicker snorted, though for a moment there was a look to her face that suggested, Raindrops thought, that it wasn’t so much what she’d said as her choice of words that Kicker had snorted at.
Rainbow Dash looked up for a moment, then looked around the bar. “This doesn’t leave this table, but… y’know those connections I’ve got up in Cloudsdale? It’s the Posey family.”
If Rainbow Dash had been expecting some sort of dramatic gasp from either mare, she didn’t get it. Cloud Kicker just frowned deeply.
“They got me this job so… so I could look after Fluttershy.”
Now Cloud’s frown deepened. “So you only got the job as, what, a bribe?”
“No,” Rainbow Dash said, “not a bribe!” She scowled darkly. “If it’s a bribe, it’s a pretty sucky bribe. It was just so I had a reason to be in Ponyville, and somewhere to work if anypony asked.”
Cloud Kicker raised a hoof. “Wait, hold on… they wanted you to look after her, and then gave you a job that is supposed to require your full-time attention?”
“Well,” Rainbow shrugged helplessly, “there was the old weather manager, but then she got that transfer, and they figured with my flying speed…" she began tracing her hoof back and forth across the table, as her voice got quieter, "and they knew my name…”
There was a horrible silence, as Kicker looked at her empty drink glass. “I don’t think I should drink any more.” She muttered, “otherwise I don’t think I’d stop any time soon.”
She looked quizzically at Rainbow. “Does Fluttershy know about this?”
Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I don’t think so. She probably just thinks I tagged along to Ponyville because I don’t think she could look after herself.”
“She lives right by the Everfree.” Kicker noted. “On her own.”
“She’s scared around ponies.”
“But the Everfree’s fine?” The mare asked incredulously.
“She likes animals.” Was all Rainbow could say. “And they like her.” She took a deep breath.
“Anyhow, that’s why I’m the weather manager. Not ‘cuz of my skills, just…”
“Because you agreed to look after a friend.” Raindrops said, firmly. Rainbow stared at her for a long moment, then nodded.
“Yeah. And I know I don’t… deserve this job. There should be somepony else in charge, anypony else. But there isn’t. And I can’t just quit.”
“And you can’t be fired.” Kicker said, “because then there’d be no-one to look after Fluttershy.”
Rainbow nodded. “Yeah. That’s the gist.”
“So that’s why you’ve been so… so… you, all this time?” Kicker asked. Rainbow grunted in response.
“But I’m trying, y’know,” Rainbow Dash continued. “After everything that’s happened, over the last year I mean.” She added just a little too quickly. “I want to be a better weather manager. Want to be…” she took in a deep breath, “less of a jerk.”
She tapped a hoof against the table. As she spoke again, she squirmed, as if every word was a struggle to get out. “And I guess, if I’m gonna be that, I might need you two to help.”
“Help?” Raindrops asked. Rainbow scowled a little.
“You know… maybe tell me when I’m being too much of a…”
“Jerk?” Cloud Kicker repeated, just the tiniest hint of amusement in her voice.
“Yeah. That.”
“You want some advice?” Raindrops spoke up, “there’s something a…” she paused as she gave her next words utmost consideration, “something a pretty smart pony said to me a while back. Keep trying. That’s all you can do. All anypony can do. Maybe you succeed, maybe you don’t. But the point is you try. You keep trying, and maybe you will eventually succeed.”
Rainbow Dash considered this for a moment. “Okay. Point made.”
Raindrops looked between the two of them for a moment. “Now, are there going to be any more problems between you two?”
“No.” Both mares said, almost simultaneously.
“You’re gonna behave?”
“Yes.”
“We’re not going to have any more arguments in the middle of the station?”
“No.”
“Because I don’t want to be doing this again in a month’s time.” Raindrops said. “Do you?”
“No.”
“Alright. Now shake hooves.” Raindrops said. They stared at her for a moment, and then reached across the table.

---

After the impromptu lunch, the trio made their way back to the weather station, so that everyone could see everything seemed to have worked out peacefully (though Raindrops couldn’t help but notice the looks Rainbow was getting when her back was turned). After that, however, Cloud Kicker just said she was feeling tired, and was going to go back to her house to rest. Raindrops insisted on flying with her.
Kicker’s home was out on the edges of Ponyville, a small two-floored affair that looked cosy enough (though she wasn’t sure she was the best judge on that. Any house with Snails in it tended to feel a lot more occupied than it should’ve, even without his ever-shifting collection of friends around).
“You sure you’re going to be okay?” Raindrops asked. Kicker just gave her a bemused smile.
“As sure as I was the last three times you asked. Really,” she said, “I’m… I’m fine. Or I will be. I’ve still got a job, at any rate. And you managed to spook Rainbow Dash into coming after me.” Her smile faded. “Shame it’ll probably wear off in a week or two.”
“Actually,” Raindrops said, carefully, “I don’t think it will. I think what happened today really startled her.”
Kicker stared for a long time, her cheeks beginning to turn red again. “Oh.”
She looked at Raindrops. “Well… Thanks. For coming after me. And sorting things out between me and Dash. And the stuff you said.”
“I meant it.” Raindrops stated.
“I know.” For a moment, she could’ve sworn there was something sad in Kicker’s smile, but it was gone.
“Look,” Raindrops said, carefully, “maybe you should try talking to Blossomforth while you’re on leave. Or just do something different. Go to the spa, maybe?”
“I might. Go to the spa, I mean. Just try and relax.”
“Promise me you’ll try and talk to Blossomforth. Just try?”
“N-no promises.” Kicker said. She stopped halfway through the door, and turned to look at Raindrops. “But Rainy, can I ask you something?”
“I guess.”
“If,” Kicker smiled slightly, “if I do manage to talk to Blossomforth, and something does happen, can I ask you something, as a friend?”
“Sure?” Raindrops said.
“Don’t try to help me. Please. I know you’ll want to do something romantic, but really, don’t.”
Raindrops began to say she’d never do something like that, then had to stop because there was no way she could think of that’d make it sound believable. Not that she had been seriously entertaining the idea, but she did know of several secluded spots around Ponyville which, with just a little bit of work and the right moment of sunlight could look tremendously romantic.
A pony could get strange thoughts watching clouds all day.
“Please?” Kicker asked. “Just let me do this on my own.”
“Alright.” Raindrops eventually managed to wrench the words out.

---

Cloud Kicker shut the door behind her, listening carefully for the sound of Raindrops taking off, and waited. Once she was sure the mare was gone, she made her way slowly up to the second floor of her house, and her bedroom.
In all her years knowing Cloud Kicker, Raindrops had never seen beyond the ground floor of her house, and certainly not Cloud Kicker’s bedroom. It was the bedroom of a mare who honestly never expected anypony but herself to see it, and probably didn’t care whether they did anyway, and it showed, in as much as that was possible. Mainly this just meant her bed wasn’t made.
Kicker allowed herself to collapse onto the bed. After a moment she let out a tremendous sigh, and closed her eyes.
“That was nice of Raindrops.” The voice of Spell Nexus intoned from behind her.
Cloud Kicker remained entirely immobile, but she still heard the weary sigh.
“Look at me, Cloud Kicker.”
Cloud didn’t move.
“Look at me.”
Again, she didn’t move.
“Look at me!” This time, she did move, startled by the force and tone of the command. Nexus sighed again as she turned around, sitting herself on the edge of her bed. Were it not for the black fur and the glowing eyes, the expression on his face could almost have been fatherly, possibly even concerned.
Some things looked better in the light of day. A pony with entirely black fur and glowing eyes was not one of them. To Kicker’s mind, it had always looked a little surreal. And it didn’t help that she knew what the mind behind those eyes was capable of.
“I’m sorry. I know you don’t like it when I yell, but we do need to talk.”
“Could’a just teeped at me.” Cloud Kicker grumbled. Nexus hummed.
“I felt this needed more of a face-to-face approach.”
Cloud Kicker snorted at that. “Wanna yell at me for nearly getting my flank f-fired?”
“I’m not going to do that.” Nexus said, in that oh-so-calm way. “Especially since everything seems to have worked out. But I would like to know what happened.”
“You were listening in, weren’t you?”
“There’s a difference between listening and listening.” He replied. “Though I did notice the massive flash of panic you were sending out.”
Now Cloud’s cheeks were turning red. “You all heard that, huh?”
“Felt it, is more like.”
Cloud groaned, and rolled back onto her bed. “Just kill me now.”
“Tell me what happened.”
Cloud waited for a moment. “You are going to have to tell me eventually. If I have honesty, it’s easy to forgive a simple mistake. Was this a mistake?”
She looked up. Nexus was still just standing there, staring at her.
“Was this about Blossomforth?”
“No.” Cloud said immediately. Nexus’s gaze remained fixed. “Maybe.”
She sighed irritably, which then turned into another groan, as she rolled onto her side again. At that moment, more than anything, she just wanted to go to sleep, and if at all possible not wake up for days. “I don’t know.”
“You still haven’t spoken to her?”
Cloud scoffed. “What am I supposed to say to her? Hey, I like you and I was wondering if you’d like to go out sometime. Oh, by the way, did I mention I’m a criminal?”
“Is that what this is about?”
Cloud Kicker shot Nexus a withering stare, or tried to at any rate. While she possessed several skills, withering stares were not among them. “It’d kind of kill any mood, don’cha think?”
“So you say.” He said, “though from what I’ve seen of Ponyville, I’m less certain.”
There Cloud Kicker had to admit there was an element of truth. A year ago, it might’ve sounded insane, but after everything since, there was a small part of her that occasionally suggested if she did manage to tell somepony the whole truth, assuming anypony believed her to begin with (and there was a big if), it’d just be another odd Ponyville story.
Nexus sighed again, and when he spoke his tone was not unkind. “How long have we known one another, Kicker?”
“Eight years.” Cloud said.
“And how long has this crush been going on?”
Cloud’s response was an inarticulate mutter.
“And in that time, have you actually managed to talk to her?” Nexus was giving her a look now. Or he would have been if she could meet his gaze. Instead he was giving her ear a look, which was slightly less impressive. “Do you think you’d be able to approach her even if it were not for this little thing of ours? Be honest.”
Cloud murmured to herself.
“I’ve… talked to her. Sometimes.” She said, deliberately not noticing the way one of Nexus’ eyebrows raised at that. “I mean, I don’t think she knows my name or nothin’, but… it’s not like I’ve never said anything to her at all. That’d be super-creepy.”
“Indeed.” Nexus said, carefully.
Cloud Kicker scowled again.
“No offense, boss pony, but if I don’t want advice on this from my actual friends, what makes you think I want any from you? Why is everypony so obsessed with my love life?”
“Because we care. And because some of us have some knowledge in this arena. Orange and Cake have managed the occasional dalliance. And Fleur is married.”
“Fleur,” Cloud Kicker practically spat, “hasn’t told her hubby anything about our little thing either. So she gets to keep being happily married to tall, dim and handsome.”
She muttered something foul under her breath about Fleur. Almost immediately she could feel the disapproving glare on her.
“What have we said about the name calling?”
“Don’t do it.” Kicker recited.
There was a moment’s quiet, as Nexus examined a book that had been sitting on Kicker’s bedside table. It was a surprisingly large tome, the contents of which would’ve shocked Raindrops had she known what her co-worker read.
“I don’t think it is Blossomforth.” Kicker stated, when the silence became too much. “It’s just… everything. It got to me, okay?”
Nexus frowned. “Eight years, Kicker. All I asked is that you keep an eye on Ponyville, and Raindrops. Not an unreasonable demand, all things considered. I’ve only ever asked of you what we both know you are capable of, and you have done so very well, up until this last year.”
Now Cloud scowled at Nexus.
“Yeah, and in return you deal with Rainbow Dash. I’m still waiting on that.”
Nexus sighed a long-suffering sigh, and rubbed a hoof against the side of his head. “We’ve been over this.”
“I know, I know.” Kicker said. “The time was never right, we needed to wait for the appropriate opportunity. All that stuff.”
“As I recall, you had conditions. What were those conditions?”
Cloud looked away from Nexus. “Don’t hurt her. Don’t hurt anypony.”
“I believe your exact words were ‘please’.” Nexus said. “And have I not kept that end of our bargain?”
Kicker remained very quiet. It was true. That bargain had been kept, and had probably saved Rainbow Dash’s behind from an unexpected visit from angry parties in the middle of the night more times than she’d dare to count, especially in the last year. And not just Rainbow, probably quite a few of Rainbow’s superiors back in Cloudsdale as well.
“Well?”
She gritted her teeth. “Yes. Yes, you have. But Rainbow’s still here.”
“As you might recall, Wedge was meant to handle that particular problem.”
“Until he got a face full of magic, yeah, I know.” Kicker said, wearily. “So why can’t we get somepony else to fill in? Indigo or, or Nutjob?”
Nexus’s eyes narrowed dangerously at that. “I’ve asked you not to call her that, several times.”
“Well, she is.” Kicker muttered. “Puissance ringing any bells?”
There was an incredibly careful pause, as Nexus’s tail swished back and forth. When he spoke again, it was with an eerie calm. “Puissance was a mistake.”
Nexus shook his head and continued. “Regardless, our temperamental friend doesn’t possess the skills required to assist with the Posey matter. At least, not in the way we’re talking about. And I think you’d agree, she’d draw unwarranted attention, especially now. And Indigo already has a job.”
Kicker made a noncommittal noise, but didn’t argue the point. “Doesn’t leave me a lot of options then, does it? And y’ can’t just get somepony else in.”
“No,” Nexus sighed, “not at this moment. Recruiting someone new would take too much time, time we don’t have.”
There was a pause before he added. “I would also point out, just for posterity, the little detail that if Rainbow Dash were to suddenly depart, you would become the head of Ponyville’s weather patrol in her absence. More work, more responsibility, more pressure.”
There was another long, sullen silence, as Kicker swore silently to herself. “I’ll try and find a solution to Rainbow Dash before summer. All I ask from you is a few months more. Can you do that?”
Cloud looked at Nexus, into those glowing golden eyes, knowing what their owner had done to those who hadn’t kept faith. And more importantly, knowing there was no real option to refuse. One way or another, she was going to agree.
“Fine.” She finally said.
Nexus nodded, and turned to go.
“Um.” Cloud Kicker said, as he went. It was quiet, but there was something about the specific harmonics of it that seemed to suddenly shove out all other noise, creating an all-consuming silence. “About Rainbow Dash, though…”
One of Nexus’s eyebrows slowly began to rise. Kicker could feel the blush starting on her cheeks, but something, and if she had to guess it would have been terror, spurred her to try and keep going.
“What if… I mean, just hypothetically, what if the Rainbow Dash thing kind of solved itself?”
“Solved itself.” Nexus repeated, his tone leaden. Cloud nodded.
“Are you saying you want to change the arrangement?”
“Well, uh…” Kicker faltered. What little courage she had managed to scrounge together just to ask the question, aided by the remnants of Berry’s finest beers in her system, was now sizzling away into nothingness under the prolonged staring she was receiving. “Maybe?”
Nexus just stood there, staring.
“I don’t know.”
“That would be a complication.” Nexus said.
“Yeah, I know.” Kicker said quickly, “but…”
“And what exactly do you want it be changed to?”
“Um…”
“Not, I hope, for something like assistance with Blossomforth.”
“No!” she cried instantly, “I didn’t mean that!”
“Good.” Nexus stated.
“But if Rainbow Dash didn’t need to be… removed,” Kicker murmured, “then…”
“We have a deal.” Nexus intoned. “Payment for services rendered.”
“I know.”
“It would be quite unfair to ask so much of you without offering something in repayment.”
“I know.” Cloud repeated.
“Can you be sure the Rainbow Dash situation has resolved itself?”
Kicker looked down at her hooves.
“M-maybe.” She murmured. “She did seem different, this time.” She tried meeting Nexus’ level stare. She wasn’t able to. She hung her head. “R-Raindrops thinks it’s different.”
Now Nexus murmured, rubbing his chin. “We’ll see.” He mused. “We’ll see. Though from what I’ve heard of Rainbow Dash, learning from her mistakes is not one of her defining attributes."
Nexus stood still for a moment, staring thoughtfully. "Tell you what, we’ll wait and see, and if you still want to discuss this, then we shall. We wouldn’t want to rush into things, now would we?”
He began to smile. And that was one of the worst parts of it, that it was a genuine smile, not smug or taunting, but actually warm. “And you are on stress relief right now, so at least you don’t have to deal with her for the next two weeks.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Cloud murmured. “If it’s okay with you, I’ve had a long day, several beers and no lunch. I’d just like to be alone right now.” As if on cue, she let out a yawn. “Maybe take a long nap.”
Nexus nodded. “Of course. But should you need anything, you only have to ask.”
With that, Nexus turned toward the small teleport beacon sitting on a small bookcase occupying one corner of Kicker’s bedroom. Before he put his hoof to it, Kicker spoke up.
“A-actually…” she said, “there was…”
Nexus raised an eyebrow at her. “Yes?”
“… do you have any advice, about Blossomforth?”
Nexus slowly lowered his hoof. “Did I give you the speech about confidence?”
“Yep.”
He nodded. “Then it’s a roll of the dice, Kicker. Like so many things. But, as it happens, I agree with Raindrops. Try and talk to Blossomforth. You don’t have to go straight to asking her out, just have a conversation with her about something. Anything, even. So long as you try.”
Kicker nodded. She didn’t bother saying she’d tried trying already, and it hadn’t worked. Several times, in fact.
“Banging.” Cloud muttered, causing the other pony to stop and stare even more quizzically at her.
“Kicker, stop trying to make banging a thing. It’s simply not going to happen.”
Kicker angrily waved a hoof in Nexus’s direction, before there was a flash of light and he vanished.
Left alone, Kicker curled up on her bed again. Between the dying embers of her anger, tiredness both physical and emotional and the beers, she was out like a light within a few minutes. It might’ve been some comfort to her that it was the quickest she’d gotten to sleep in some considerable amount of time.

Author's Note:

This was meant to be a largely light breather chapter, of sorts but some depth may have snuck in by mistake.