Forbidden Feelings Ch. 9

Rainbow Dash awoke to the sun streaming in from the small window, placed high in the room, gently playing over her face. Scrunching her snout, she slowly opened her eyes and, looking down, found Scootaloo snuggled up next to her, head curled into her chest. The sun wouldn't awake the filly for a while, so Dash decided to just lie there and bask in the moment.
What they had shared last night was magical. She forced herself to ignore the tiny twinge deep within her that tried reminding her how intrinsically wrong this was, and looked down once again at the tiny pony next to her. A smile ghosted over Scootaloo's snout – she was probably dreaming still. She refused to accept that she'd somehow corrupted her young companion: after all, Scootaloo was the one who'd come on to her! And how could something that felt this good for the both of them be bad?
Putting those thoughts out of her head, she lay there for a few more minutes simply content to be next to her young companion. Eventually though, she became aware of the stickiness and matted fur surrounding her nethers. She'd simply been too tired yesterday, what with her impulsive trip and the ensuing excitement, to bother cleaning herself before going to sleep. What's more, she felt pangs of hunger growing.
Pegasi were the lightest of the three pony races and thus could afford to eat less: the only big energy consumption came when flying, and Rainbow had been doing enough of that the day before that she really felt the need to fill up now. Groaning, she realised that whether she liked it or not, she'd have to get up and face the day.
Well, the decision was made, and Dash ever being the impulsive pony, rolled out of bed with a sudden effort and sat back down on the edge to wake Scootaloo, laying a hoof on her shoulders and shaking gently. The motions she made waking up were so cute that they brought a grin to Rainbow's face: the filly slowly stretched out her front hooves while her rear ones did a little jiggle to shake off the sleep. Her violet eyes gradually slid open and Scootaloo smiled sleepily at the sight of Dash above her.
“C'mon, sleepyhead, up you get. Rise and shine, it's a beautiful day, yadda yadda yadda.”
“Aw... but I was sleeping so well...”
“Yeah, but we gotta move. Must get this key back to Ms Prim and Proper out there, get washed up, and most importantly: get food. Dunno about you but I'm about to die of starvation over here!” she finished with a wink, and went into the shower alcove. She was just about to turn the shower on when she assaulted by the orange filly who bowled into her, giving her a hug.
“Let's shower together, Rainbow!”
“Heh, as you like, Scoots.”
It didn't take very long for them both to get washed. As Dash busied herself with soaping and rising both of their bodies, she thought back to how she envied Applejack and Rarity for having little sisters. She could see herself spending more time with the cute inquisitive little bundle of fun currently running hooves through her purple mane, with her head back and big round eyes closed.
The intimacy of the shower was over too soon as they got out, dried, and ventured out of the room towards the reception of the weather factory. Passing through the door that automatically opened for them, they entered the giant atrium and made their way to the reception desk near the entrance. The huge room was dotted with ponies going to and fro: the obvious stream of workers checking in at the desk and then passing into the factory proper, a few early birds who already had their lab coats going to different areas of the factory, and a small group of smart-looking ponies.
The latter caught Rainbow's eye as they marched straight in from the entrance and swept past the reception desk, quietly talking amongst themselves. From the deferential glance the snooty Miss Cloud shot them, they were probably members of the managing board of the factory. While Celestia could give broad directives concerning the weather in Equestria, the board had almost complete control over how those directives were carried out – they could mandate the quota of rain or snow per region, and requisition water from towns or cities to help meet the requirements of the factory. As a result of such powers, they were de facto one of the most important groups of Equestrian society. Dash had been so naïve all those years ago when she took the weather for granted.
Meanwhile, Scootaloo was absorbed observing another group who had just entered the factory. A few foals were running circles around an elderly grey pegasus, who was holding out one hoof with a pained expression on his face, desperately trying to calm his charges down. He let his head fall in resignation and began making his way to the reception as fast as his rowdy foals would let him. Reaching the desk just before Dash and Scootaloo did, he raised his voice to be heard over the foals' incessant chattering.
“Miss... Pink Cloud, was it? My name is Evening Light, and I'm a teacher in Cloudsdale Primary. I believe we arranged our trip to the factory by letter a couple of weeks ago. ”
“Ah yes, Mr Light. Of course, let me just get your passes...”
Scootaloo lost track of what the receptionist was saying as she eagerly turned to Rainbow and poked her in the side. Dash turned with a start, her attention drawn from the board ponies.
“Hey Dash, you heard what the teacher said?”
“Um... no, kiddo. I was kinda distracted. Which teacher?”
“This grey pony right here, Rainbow! He's called Evening Light and he teaches at the primary school in Cloudsdale. He's bringing his class to visit the factory!”
Dash fixed Scootaloo with a blank stare. “...and?”
“When am I ever going to visit the factory with Cheerilee, Dash?”
“Ah. I see how that could be a problem, yes. You want to join his class for the tour?”
“Duh, Rainbow!”
“Okay, okay, kid. I'll see what I can do.”
The duo waited as the receptionist sorted out the passes and explained to the teacher how the tour would work. If he could distribute the passes while she went to get a foreman to bring them hard hats and show them around, the tour could get started very soon, she said.
The stallion turned round and starting barking instructions to his pupils, who quickly quieted down at his finally authoritarian tone, while the receptionist made her way to the factory proper in search of the tour's guide.
When Rainbow saw that he'd more or less finished handing out the passes, she made her way up to him.
“Good morning, Mr... Light?”
“Good morning!” came the amicable reply as the pegasus turned around to greet her. He paused for a second, scrutinising her features. When he turned his head to glance at her cutie mark, a broad smile made its way onto his snout. “Well, I'll be! You're Rainbow Dash, from Ponyville, aren't you?”
Dash blushed as she answered, “Er... yup! That's me! How did you know?”
“Oh please, Miss Dash, you're too modest. Saving Princess Luna? Defeating Discord, and that beastly Queen Chrysalis? You've done many good things for Equestria. Word spreads like wildfire, you know!”
The blush on Rainbow's face deepened even more as she muttered out a tame “th-thanks,” though she couldn't stop herself from again feeling a twinge of resentment that the stuck-up receptionist somehow didn't know who she was.
“So anyway, what can I do for the famous Element of Loyalty?” the teacher went on.
“Well, this filly here's called Scootaloo.”
The pegasus bent down and ruffled Scootaloo's mane. “Such a charming name! And what a beautiful filly. Your daughter?”
Dash's breath caught in her throat, but she forced herself to speak calmly. “Ah, no, I'm just taking care of her for the weekend.” She was pleased when the teacher gave no indication of thinking anything was off in her story. “Anyway, we were just leaving, but couldn't help overhear that you're bringing your class for a tour of the weather factory. Would it be possible for us to tag along?”
The elderly stallion's grin grew wider. “You're in luck, Miss Dash! I have two passes left over from a couple of colts who had to stay home sick today. You're very welcome to join our little tour.”
Scootaloo gave a few little hops in excitement, and once the pegasus hung a pass round her neck, eagerly bounced over to the group of foals milling nearby. She introduced herself to the others with a big smile and immediately began chatting away with a few students.
Dash accepted the last pass from the stallion, hung it around her neck, and with a little laugh, said “I seem to be at a disadvantage, here. You know so much about me and I barely know your name!”
“Let's remedy that, shall we? I'm called Evening Light, and I teach one of the classes at Cloudsdale Primary.”
“That's odd, I can't remember you from my little time there.”
Evening Light sighed as he explained, “You don't remember me because I wasn't there, Miss Dash. I've only been in Cloudsdale a few years – I'm originally from Manehatten, you see. I had to come back to take care of a family member, and decided I rather liked it here after all. I was a very good teacher back in my home city, so getting a job here was pretty easy.”
“Oh, I'm sorry. Is your relative okay?”
“Thankfully, yes. But let's talk about that charming filly Scootaloo. Just look at her! She's integrating with the other foals so well already.”
“Heh, yeah. She's a real gem. In Ponyville there are hardly any pegasi of Scootaloo's age, so she's probably making up for lost time!”
“And how come you're here together so early on Celestia's good Sunday?”
Rainbow's heart skipped a beat as she desperately tried to think of a convincing excuse, but luckily she was spared by a cheery shout from a tall burly pegasus making his way towards them carrying a bunch of hard hats. The receptionist was close behind him.
“Hi, all! I'm Snow Joy, and I'm a foreman at this here big factory. Now who wants to go inside?”
An excited shout rose from the pupils and Scootaloo as they ran towards him.
“Hah, okay kids, slow down, one at a time. I'mma just pop one of these here hats on your little heads and we can be off.”
Dash and Evening Light waited for all the foals to have a hat on before walking up to the foreman. He turned to them with a smile, preempting them.
“Gotta make a fun scene for the kids, huh? You must be the teachers.”
“Ah – well... not quite...”
“We're with the foals,” interjected Evening Light. “I gather your tour is really quite something to the young ones!”
Rainbow shot the teacher a look of gratitude as the foreman nodded, and with a smile as he turned to lead the fillies and colts into the factory. “It sure is, Mr Light, and Miss...?”
“Dash,” Rainbow said.
“Ah yes, Miss Dash. Have I seen you before? You look a bit familiar... Well, in any case I've got it from here. You both just lie back and enjoy the ride, as it were.”
Dash wore a silly grin on her face as the group passed through the massive doors into the factory proper. The first room they passed through was the snowflake laboratory, where pegasi worked all year round to hoof-make each snowflake for the winter in Equestria. The foreman waved to the ponies at work as he explained colourfully to the fillies how intricate and yet important the work done in this room was to the weather. Rainbow smiled as she remembered giving her friends a similar, but less well explained tour when they were kind enough to magically accompany her to the Young Fliers competition.
After a few minutes, Snow Joy finished his talk and they moved on the next giant hall, where Equestria's rainbows were made. Ponies swarmed all over the hall at every height, stirring and mixing the various colours and ingredients, as the foreman gesticulated animatedly to help his talk along – indicating various processes that went into producing the beautiful phenomenon. They slowly passed through the room, and the elderly stallion had to reprimand his pupils once or twice not to taste the finished rainbows in the ground pools. He probably knew about the less than pleasant taste, Rainbow thought.
Passing on to the cloud room, Dash was impressed by how Snow Joy simplified the weather for the young foals. She remembered being bored out of her mind at times, when she had to study hard for her job, but the foreman's talk was both fascinating and easy to understand for the pupils. They were visibly excited as they listened and passed through the massive vats which converted bucketfuls of water into puffs of steam, later to be worked into proper clouds and distributed through Equestria.
It took a few minutes more for the talk to end, and for the foreman to walk the group back to the atrium of the factory amidst the groaned protests of his young charges. As they reached the entrance, and the foals burst into an animated discussion about the tour he turned to the two adult ponies with a big smile on his face.
“It's in cases like these I love this here job. Nothing makes me happier than getting young ponies excited in our fine field.”
Evening Light stepped forward and gave Snow Joy a hearty shake of the hoof. “Thank you so much. I've never seen my pupils this excited about something school-related! Your talk was excellent.”
“Well, I've always been able to explain the weather pretty well and get ponies talking about it. Just living up to my name!” Evening Light and Rainbow smiled as he turned to the young pegasi and asked them to return the hard hats. The all jostled against each other as they struggled to undo the straps fastening them and give them back. Once finished, he turned back the the two and apologetically said, “Well, that's it I'm afraid. Back to the daily grind for me! Thanks for the distraction.”
“No, thank you!” came Light's rejoinder.
“My pleasure,” the foreman called with a wave of the hoof as he set back into the factory to resume his ordinary duties.
Dash looked over to Scootaloo who was excitedly waving her hooves in the air as she discussed something with a couple of other pegasi. She turned to face the elderly teacher and began, “I don't really know how to thank you, Mr Light.”
“Nonsense, Miss Dash. And please, call me Evening. I get enough 'mister's' from the foals – I don't need to be reminded of my age.”
Dash chuckled as she replied, “Well then I'll insist on you calling me Rainbow, Evening.”
The faintest shadow of a blush ghosted over the pegasus' face as he resumed speaking. “Anyway, Mi- er, Rainbow, truly no thanks are necessary. You're a hero to Equestria in my eyes, and helping out is the very least I could do. Look at your charming Scootaloo, too. It seems she had quite the time.”
Rainbow looked over at her young companion. “She sure did,” she said in a low voice.
“I'm terribly sorry to leave your fascinating company, Rainbow, but I must take the pupils back. Their parents are probably worrying where they are by now.”
The sadness that was threatening to come over Dash lifted as she giggled at the shameless flattery. “Well, goodbye then. And thanks again, Evening.”
The teacher walked over to his group of foals and started trying to herd them towards the exit while Rainbow called Scootaloo over. She made a pouty face for a second, then said a few goodbyes and trotted over to Dash.
“So what did ya think of the show, kiddo?”
They started walking towards the reception desk as Scootaloo launched into hundred-mile-an-hour speech mode. “Ohmygosh it was amazing the snowflakes looked so cool and the rainbow room was huuuuge and I didn't know the weather was so complicated but that guy was really nice and he explained everything well and thank you so much for getting me into the tour with them!”
“Aw, it's okay, Scoots. I'm glad you had fun.”
They finally got to the reception and Rainbow dropped the key onto the desk. The snooty Pink Cloud shot them a glance and nodded in acknowledgement while talking to another pony, and the two swept by towards the outside, taking a deep breath as they emerged into the cool morning air.
“So, Scoots. What do you want for breakfast?”