Chapter 2: Today's Forecast
‘Come on… work dammit ’ Jesse thought in frustration, hoping to mentally command the appendages on his back into obeying.
The wings remained resistant, sometimes giving an occasional flutter and sending foreign sensations down his spine, but refusing to cooperate any further. Rainbow Dash wasted no time locking herself in her room, not saying much else other than the expected “Don’t go in my room.” And “Don’t touch anything.” Leaving Jesse with plenty of time to examine the place.
Specifically, outside.
His mouth gaped the first time he beheld the exterior, quite understandably not believing his eyes as he watched literal rainbows flow away from the home like water. It took all his willpower not to try tasting the stuff, it looked so good.
From what he could see as he stood close to the edge, it looked like the house was it’s own completely isolated island. A bustling town sprawled out below, many spots of interest demanding his attention. It was a pretty sight, if not a bit terrifying from his current perspective…
After the shock of his location wore off, he sought to try and figure out his wings; in case he were to somehow fall through the clouds... he'd very much like to prevent the proceeding grisly end.
He jumped in place again and again, struggling to flex some unknown muscles in his back. His reward was more of the same, nothing. He didn’t want to be resigned to this floating island for too long… besides the obvious boredom, the local populace would quickly begin to question how a flightless pegasus made it up here in the first place.
By now he’d figured out walking, and was actually surprised at how easily he just… adjusted to the new walking style. Within only ten minutes of practice it felt like he’d been walking on them all his life, but the wings were a different story. He landed with a huff after the last of his numerous attempts to so much as glide, scratching at his chin and thinking hard.
‘How do baby birds learn…’ He thought as the answer popped into his head with a wave of unease, turning back to the nearby ledge. ‘…Instinct.’
With a bit of hesitation, he scooted close to it and looked straight down. His stomach dropped, a cold sweat suddenly covering him as he backpedaled a couple steps.
“What’re you lookin' at?” Rainbow suddenly asked as she landed with a thud behind him.
Jesse’s soul left his body, the sudden impact and question catching him completely off guard. His wings sprung open with a loud woosh as he reeled back, nearly falling over. Rainbow couldn’t help it and let out a muffled snicker at the stallions reaction, covering her face slightly with her foreleg in an attempt to hide her laugh.
Jesse caught himself with a swallow of his dry throat, shaking his head. “J-Jeez, do you always land like that?”
Rainbow answered with a shrug, walking up next to him and peering down to where he'd been looking. By now Jesse noticed his wings were still open, brushing his hoof through the feathers and shivering at the alien sensation he felt from his new appendage. He could feel the still tense muscle... the unfamiliar tightness in his back a strange new experience. Letting it ease up slowly folded the wing against his side as he practiced moving the new muscle around a bit.
“So... what were you looking at?” Rainbow asked again, turning to Jesse with a questioning look.
He blinked once at her, eyes flicking between the pegasus and ground below as he absentmindedly fluttered his wings. Should he tell her? Should he tell any of them... would that 'Discord' character be mad if he did? After all, he seemed to dance around the subject himself even though he obviously knew he was a human.
'Better safe than sorry...' Jesse decided, taking in a short calming breath and motioning to the ground.
"It's... really high." He admitted, a sheepish grin on his face as he slowly flexed his wings. "Not used to being this far up... is all."
Rainbow flashed him a look. “So… you took a weather job, but you’re afraid of heights?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I’m not afraid... but I thought it was for something else.” He replied, shaking his head at her suspicious glance. “Like… repairs. Weather related damages, that kind of thing. The highest I’ve ever been is on a roof, so…” He trailed off with another look to the edge.
Rainbow sighed and shrugged as she fell back, flapping her wings and lounging mid-air. “Well, I guess you’re not the only pegasus I know that’s afraid of heights.”
Jesse shook his head, casting an unsavory look at the pegasus. “I’m not scared of heights. Like I said… never been this high.”
Jesse wanted to be annoyed with the pegasus, but found himself instead impressed by her control as she moved in the air. She made it look simple, like a professional swimmer twisting and flipping in water as she sliced through the air with grace. If it was that easy for her, it really couldn’t be that scary… could it?
He flexed his wings, having grown comfortable enough with the limbs at this point after idly moving them around, and opened his eyes in surprise as a single flap lift him up a few feet. His wings spread out, causing him to slowly glide backwards towards the cloud and land with a bit of a stumble.
Just the single second of air time was enough to excite him, his breathing quick and his muscles still tense. The feeling of his body being held aloft for a moment was… unexplainable, a sensation he’s never felt before. Rainbow hadn’t seemed to notice his first test flap as she lazily scanned the town below.
He swallowed, flapping once more but this time trying to keep a steady rhythm. He clumsily flapped his wings, the beats a bit uneven as he moved higher and lower in place. Then it’s like something clicked into place, and Jesse steadied himself. He didn’t have to hold out his hooves for balance anymore, letting his legs dangle underneath freely as his wings made small corrections midair to keep steady. The smile on Jesse’s face was massive as he looked to the cloud under him in amazement, moving forward and back to test his maneuverability.
He quickly swallowed his excitement, reducing his large grin best he could to a small smile as he looked up to where Rainbow had been floating.
She was gone.
“Do you think-“ Rainbow began, appearing next to him and causing him to unceremoniously tumble to the ground.
He let out a small oof as he landed on the cloud, the sudden fright causing his wings to seize midair. Quickly standing up, Jesse looked back at the pegasus in annoyance as she rubbed her neck sheepishly.
“Heh… sorry.” She apologized, this time showing some guilt instead of laughing at his misfortune. “I was gonna ask, do you think you can get down?”
Jesse broke off his annoyed stare and looked back to the ground below with a hesitant nod. “Y-Yeah, I don’t think it’s a problem.” He finished, trying to sound confident.
“Uh huh.” Dash agreed, her tone unconvinced as she flew over to a nearby cloud leaking rainbow.
Jesse took a second to compose himself, before taking off into the air again. Just like before he hovered, not even struggling with his balance this time during takeoff. He stayed in place for a moment, before casting a glance to Rainbow to see her still lounging on the cloud.
Slowly he moved forward, looking to the ground far below as he crest the edge of the fluffy floor. The same sinking feeling in his gut returned with a vengeance as he hastily retreated back to the safety of the cloud island.
"Looks like a problem." Rainbow piped up from her spot.
Jesse looked back at the cyan pony in annoyance. "Easy for you to say, you made it look easy."
Rainbow glowed from the compliment with a smug smile. "I always do."
Jesse rolled his eyes, realizing he just unintentionally stroked the pony's ego. Rainbow laughed, and with a streak of color flew over to the hovering stallion as he wiggled slightly from the sudden burst of air.
Her hoof landed on his shoulder to steady him. "A friend of mine used to be pretty afraid of heights... I helped her kick the fear, so this should be easy." She started, looking at his wings. "First, you're trying too hard. Stop flexing your wings so much, especially on the upstroke."
Jesse blinked at the sudden lesson, before easing up on his wings a bit each flap. He realized his wings would bounce back nearly on their own after each downwards swing, almost halving the strain on his muscles.
Rainbow nodded once. "Better, now come on." She goaded, moving a few feet ahead and off the cloud edge.
Jesse glanced down, swallowing once. "I don't-"
"Don't look there, look where you're going." Dash interrupted, leaning forward and grabbing his two front hooves.
His panic spiked as she pulled him forward, dragging him through the air as she backed up.
"R-Rainbow! Wait, stop!" He pleaded, starting to look down.
"Hey!" She cut in, stopping him from looking as he locked eyes with her. "Look where you're going. Don't focus on anything else."
He nodded, view locked forward.
Blinking, Jesse stared towards the only thing in his field of vision. He couldn’t help it, but a part of him suddenly noticed just how big and expressive pony faces were… especially the eyes. He kept his gaze on hers, the magenta accented orbs watching him with rapt attention. Until she cracked a small cocky grin.
"See?" She started, taking a glance down. "Not so bad is it?"
Jesse looked down for a moment, seeing the massive fall below him again. This time however, the same sinking feeling in his stomach did not return. Instead, the sensation of wind against every part of his body -weaving between every strand of hair- assaulted him all over and he felt... free.
Rainbow let go, pulling away from the stallion as he stopped and hovered in place. Looking around, he saw he was almost twenty feet away from the house as it drift through the sky lazily.
Rainbow Dash flew back into his vision, stopping a few feet away and blowing a strand of her mane away. “So… what you said before. Were you really just looking for a job when you found that key?” She asked, watching him intently.
“Of course.” Jesse quickly replied, “I’ve been traveling for a while and... kinda bottomed out on funds. I didn’t mean to start all this.”
Rainbow shook her head. “…nah, it’s fine. I think I was too quick to judge cuz’ of last time.”
“Last time?” Jesse asked, tilting his head a bit as he barely noticed Rainbow's slightly panicked glance.
Rainbow waved one of her hooves quickly, dismissing the topic as she landed back on the cloud island. “Just a… problem with the last pony, he’s not really an issue anymore…” She assured, motioning towards the still flying green pony. “I mean, you don’t seem like a total dweeb yet.”
Jesse’s face contorted into a crooked half smile. “Yeah, you too I guess?”
Looking over the town, Rainbow gave it a slow cursory glance before staring back at him. “Well, if you do want a job… wanna give weather duty a shot? Since you're stuck here for a while anyway... even though I know it's not what you had in mind."
Jesse looked around at the scattered clouds all over the sky above the town with an uneasy look. “You’d have to explain a lot…”
“You a good visual learner?” Dash asked, stretching a bit in place and flexing her wings.
Jesse shrugged. "I'd like to think so."
Without another word, Rainbow took off like a rocket. The sudden wave of air nearly blew Jesse out of the sky as Dash raced past, ripping into a cloud moments later almost a hundred feet away. She took sharp turns, zigzagging from cloud to cloud as she tore into each one and barely slowed down.
The process was brief and after deleting the final cloud she landed with a hard slide, coming to a stop and kicking up a bit of white fluff as she pant. Jesse couldn't help it, staring back at her in shock with wide eyes.
"Catch all that?" Rainbow finally asked, wiping a small amount of sweat that formed on her brow. "Whew, made pretty good time I think..."
"You THINK?!" Jesse repeated back, looking over to the previously semi-cloudy sky which was now completely clear. "You... just destroyed the clouds?"
"Duh." Rainbow replied with a roll of her eyes. "We maintain the weather, that's the job. Ponyville's own weather-pony."
Jesse blinked, before nodding once. Pegasi control the forecast... made sense.
"But, if you're so good at it... why do you need a student?" Jesse asked, finally landing on the island next to her and giving his wings a momentary rest.
She looked back towards the nearby town, a slightly longing look on her face. "Well, with wonderbolt training ramping up I'm gonna be more and more busy... need to make sure someone can take care of the town whenever I'm gone."
"Wouldn't the... mayor or something handle that?" He replied, getting a shake of her head as she looked away.
"No... I need to make sure it's somepony great." She stated with a nod, pacing slightly. "Applejack's farm needs extra rain sometimes, not to mention Twilight complains whenever her telescope is blocked, and-"
"Nuance, I get it." Jesse interrupted, electing a look from Rainbow as she nodded with a sigh.
She continued, motioning a hoof to the town below. "It took me a while to get everyone's routines figured out... nopony was there to teach me." She paused, looking to Jesse. "I can't make the next pony go through that, no way."
Jesse nodded back, a knowing smile on his face. "Well, Devotion to your job is something I can respect..." He started, but slowly trailed off.
He hesitated on his next words. He wanted to tell her he'd be up for learning the ropes, after all... how can someone not want to try controlling the weather? But there was a single, small problem...
He didn't belong here.
There was too much that could go wrong, Discord could cause him more grief, Twilight could break the bond early, and even if none of that happened... he'd still be going home after just a month.
Rainbow spoke up, rousing Jesse from his thoughts. "Sorry... I didn't mean to pressure you into accepting." She said, flapping into the air and back over to her lounging spot by the falls. "You can do the cloud clearing tomorrow, think on it maybe."
Jesse liked the idea of waiting, it'd give him more time to think up some kind of excuse.
'For now, though...' Jesse thought to himself, looking out into the open air as he spread his wings.
With a single flap, he took off into the sky. He pushed harder with each stroke, trying to pick up speed as he went. Jesse tried to remember how Rainbow flew, the way she angled her body flat while pointing ahead with her hooves. He tried replicating it, wobbly uneven the first few attempts, before kind of replicating it.
His body stretched straight out, his wingbeats flapping behind him like drums as he slowly began to pant. Then he remembered another technique he'd been forgetting. Pulling his wings in slightly, he struggled to find the proper position until they seated correctly in place as he began his dive. His speed rapidly picked up, his angle of descent getting faster and faster.
Soon, the faraway land below was suddenly not so far as it rapidly approached. Flaring open his wings, he angled up into a glide as he soared a comfortable height over the town. The rooftops blurred below, about fifty feet down, as he rocketed past. Pulling back up, his speed carried him upward as he tried something risky.
Pulling back, further and further, eventually he crest the backflip and went completely upside down. The feeling was slightly nauseating as he evened out, successfully pulling off the loop with only a minorly upset stomach. The feeling knocked the wind out of him as he flew back over towards Rainbow's house, landing on the cloud floor and lightly shaking his head.
"Not bad, newbie." Rainbow commented nearby, slightly nodding. "Maybe I'll teach you some tricks next time too.
Jesse smiled slightly but looked away, a bit of embarrassment creeping onto his cheeks. He figured it probably looked like baby's first flight, he didn't think she'd be watching him. Rainbow went back to her lounging, snoozing by the lightly roaring waterfall as Jesse opted for going back to the house.
As he entered, he looked back up through the opening in the roof before flapping his wings and ascending. As he climbed to the second floor, he could see what looked like a couch on one side flanked by a night stand. On the other side of the floor was a single fluffy chair with a table and small lamp.
Another floor lay above through an opening like the last as Jesse continued up and peeked inside. Tons of workout gear lay strewn around, from a hanging punching bag to some nearby dumbbells.
How the dumbbells didn't fall through the clouds vexed Jesse more than anything he'd seen so far...
Lowering back into the second floor, Jesse landed near the couch and let out a small stretch. Back in his world it had been nearly late evening... but here it still seemed like early afternoon. Regardless, Jesse was exhausted. He knew he had a lot to worry about, like his car he'd left haphazardly parked the wrong way, or the contract Discord still hadn't explained the details of.
Or even how he kind of... liked Rainbow Dash?
He honestly thought she'd get on his nerves pretty quickly after he initially met her. She'd been almost hostile at first, and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to stand the ego she seemed to exhibit. But she promptly changed her attitude after a bit of talking, and Jesse was starting to feel a lot less worried about being stuck here... for the time being.
Stretching his body out on the couch, awkwardly fighting with his wings as he got comfortable, he settled for laying on his side. His right wing sprawled out under him as he shuffled in place, before giving a content huff. Part of him wanted to go sleep in his car, just to be himself again for a little while... but the visions of him floating away kept him from acting upon the idea.
He expected it to take longer to fall asleep here, but to his surprise it lulled him quickly into darkness.
The night passed swiftly, the moon hiding away past the horizon as the sun was soon to show itself. Not many ponies were even awake yet as the soft beams of sunlight bathed the cloudy house in it's warm radiance. All was silent inside Rainbow's home, a certain green stallion still napping inside. He didn't rise to the slight change in light, nor to the small woosh of wind shortly after.
But the following commanding tone roused him pretty good.
"Sun's up! Sun's up, lets go!" Rainbow Dash drilled, floating up from the hole in the center. "Morning showers ordered for Ponyville!"
Jesse leapt from his spot on the couch, tumbling over the back of it with an oof. Composing himself, he pulled over the couch and looked at Rainbow in surprise.
"But I-" He began, getting a shake from the pegasi's head.
Launching forward, she grabbed his front hoof and turned around. "No time!"
"Oh-" Jesse felt his breath catch in his throat as Rainbow pulled him so fast he could barely manage to hold his wings out.
By now the sleepiness was gone from his system, the jump-scare wakeup and bullet-train speeds a very sobering experience. She pulled him out of the house through a window, Jesse quickly steeling himself at the sudden sight of the ground far below.
Rainbow let go, letting him fly by himself albeit farther back than her. He struggled to keep up while it looked like she struggled to slow down.
"See those clouds?" Rainbow spoke up, pointing to a bundled grey mass in the distance.
Jesse peeked around her as he struggled to keep up. "Yeah?"
"Take them to Ponyville, quick as you can." She added, suddenly bolting off towards the clouds.
Jesse looked at the fading streak of color in startled amazement, before shaking his head and trying his best to keep up. He wasn't sure why she wanted his help all of a sudden, he hadn't even told her he wanted the job yet! He rapidly approached the clouds before noticing a large section of them careening his way. Tilting hard, he made a sharp bank right and narrowly dodged the mass. Looking back, he could see Rainbow pushing it with her front hooves as her wings beat furiously.
'Damn, she's bookin' it!' Jesse stared for a moment, before remembering his current task and picking back up speed.
Pulling up next to the other floating grey boulder of clouds he examined it closely. It was all bound together with... rope. Jesse wasn't gonna question it, and positioned himself same as Rainbow before pushing. He breathed in surprise as the clouds launched forward, barely any weight behind them at all.
'Okay... easy, I can do this' Jesse thought with a slight nod as his wings gave it their all.
He strained to look over the top of the mound, just to make sure he wasn't on a collision course with something. Jesse noticed how different these clouds felt than the last, like he was pressing down on a wet sponge and electing water to leak from where his hooves sank in.
"That's good! Now spread em' out!" He heard Rainbow yell from somewhere ahead.
He stopped his pushing and raised himself with a hard flap. Looking over the clouds, he saw Rainbow ahead as she pulled the ropes loose with her mouth. The clouds dispersed lazily into the sky all at once as Rainbow got to work spacing them out equally.
Jesse looked down at the rope and gripped it in his teeth. After some wiggling and struggling he managed to get it loose, the binding going slack as the mound broke apart rapidly. However, he wasn't prepared for the sudden expansion and took a cloud head on as it shoved into his body.
A loud crack of thunder suddenly filled his ears as lightning shot out from it's bottom. The sound rattled him as he quickly scrambled out of the grey mass and eagerly flapped back a few feet. He was damp, his clothes wet all over as he shook his head and whisked droplets of water from his mane.
Getting over the shock he leaned forward and flapped his wings, pushing the clouds down one by one into a single thick layer like the others. As he pushed the third cloud from the batch, Rainbow appeared on his right.
"What the hay, dude!" She whisper shouted, a look of nervousness on her face.
"S-Sorry." Jesse quickly apologized, doubling his speed as he pushed the clouds along.
She looked like she was about to continue her scolding, but took off to help move the rest of the clouds. They were very wide, covering decent chunks of land below as it darkened beneath their shadows. With the final one being placed Jesse looked up at the completed ceiling of clouds as Rainbow Dash stopped in it's center.
She gave it a few hard taps in sequence, before darting off past him.
He looked on at her for a moment as she tore away, slowly growing smaller until she stopped past the edge of the clouds and looked back. Then, a low rumble reached Jesse's ears as he realized she just hit the start button... and he was still under it!
He took off as fast as he could. The grey puffs raced past him overhead as he whistled over. It was no use, however, as the torrent of rain came forth anyway. It was light enough though, just extremely unpleasant. The rain stopped quickly as he left the coverage area and shook his head, throwing his wet bangs away from his vision.
Rainbow was gone, again. She was really good at that...
He spun and looked around, before peeking down and noticing her telltale color scheme on the path below... just outside the rain. It was a road near the entrance of town, and he could see the prismatic pegasus talking with another pony. Their beige fur was damp but covered by an umbrella, attached to a saddle resting on her back.
As he approached the pair, he just made out the end of the exchange as Rainbow huffed in annoyance.
"It won't happen again Mayor Mare... don't worry about it." Rainbow assured.
The mayor glanced to Jesse for a second as he approached, before focusing back on Dash. "Yes, well... I also noticed this downpour was supposed to be up before sunrise?" She asked, getting an awkward look from Rainbow as she turned away.
Shaking her head, the mayor huffed. "...good day." She said with tiredness, rolling her eyes and prancing off into the light drizzle.
There was silence for a few moments, before Rainbow slowly flapped her wings and began climbing. Jesse watched her go for a second, before following after her.
"...was that my fault?" He finally asked, coming up next to her as she looked towards him lazily.
She went to answer, but hesitated as she chewed her lip and nodded. "Kinda...." She started, looking ahead again. "-and, kinda' mine too. I was actually supposed to have that set up before morning, thought if I was quick I could do it last second." She paused with a sideways glance. "...sorry about the sudden wake up, by the way."
"Nah, it's cool. I'd never handled storm clouds before anyway. As you could probably tell." Jesse retorted, earning a giggle from the pegasus. "...what?"
"Those weren't storm clouds, they were barely light drizzlers." She answered, Jesse mouthing an 'O' back. "We'll clean them up in a few hours when they dry out..."
They flew in silence towards her house again, and she went straight for her spot by the rainbow falls to lay down. He watched her get comfortable for a second and quickly deflate into her usual napping form. That was, until she peeked an eye open and looked at Jesse.
"What?" She asked, getting him to look away awkwardly.
"Could you uh... teach me some of those tricks you mentioned?" He asked, getting a silent look from the pegasus.
The look was soon accompanied with a slowly widening smile, a burning fire behind her eyes as she sat back up and gave a small stretch.
"Oh, absolutely."