March 29th, 993 Domina Solaria

It is a chill Tuesday afternoon - or Genday as Doug is getting into the habit of calling it - and Doug finds himself resting at the edge of the farm, tired after an early morning and long day’s work. It won’t be long before he heads to Carousel Boutique to spend the night with Rarity, the same as he does on Lauday, and Applejack lets him off a little early so he isn’t too sweaty when he arrives.

He relaxes under the shade of one of the eastern trees, the second of the two textbooks Rainbow Dash gave him propped up on his legs. He’s rereading it, going through parts that describe how the various clouds and other weather phenomenon interact with each other.

It’s a huge section, dependent on all sorts of factors like the temperature, dew point, wind speed, and barometric pressure. Other books, ones Rainbow Dash has mentioned but not read, go even more into depth about the interactions. It’s enough to boggle the mind of many a pegasus, and Rainbow Dash is probably - scratch that, without a doubt - at the front of the line of pegasi who wish nothing more than to chuck the entire book off a conveniently high cloud.

Doug glances up, seeing that familiar dash of cerulean against sky blue, smiling as he adjusts his back against the tree.

“Hey, Dash!” he greets fondly, a hand raising to give a friendly wave. He slips a white cloth embroidered with a red apple, teal diamond, and three colored lightning bolt - courtesy of Rarity - into the textbook.

“Sup,” Rainbow Dash replies huskily, gulping down big breaths of air. Saddlebags drop to the grass, books and loose papers threatening to spill out. She wedges her head underneath his arm, rolls her sweaty back into his side, and raises a single wing.

“No second time today?” Doug quips as he sets the book to the side and dutifully stretches the sore muscles of Dash’s wing.

“Nah,” Rainbow Dash says as she groans, the numbness Doug’s hands leaves her wing a blessed relief compared to the earlier burning. “I think just this morning was enough.”

“Alright,” Doug says, his disappointment palpable, if a little over exaggerated. It doesn’t help his case when he fills his lungs before loosing a melodramatic sigh, blowing hot air all over Rainbow Dash’s mane and ears.

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash playfully struggles, sweaty enough as it is. “Come on, dude! That tickles!”

“Does it now,” Doug says, grinning as he takes another deep breath.

Rainbow Dash’s other wing poofs out, buffeting him in the side before coming up to block her mane from him.

Doug merely holds his breath, waiting patiently. His hands keep tracing over her wing, locking her in place as he smooths out the kinks in her muscles.

After a few long seconds of nothing happening Rainbow Dash chances a peek, only for Doug to unleash a torrent of breath. She yelps as she hunkers down, only for him to chase her down and keep blowing on her mane and ears.

“Okay, okay, you got me,” Rainbow Dash concedes, a smile plastered across her muzzle. She rolls to ponyloaf, Doug able to work on her other wing. Her voice loses a little bit of her brashness as she asks, “Um, you don’t think Applejack minds, do you?”

“That you take her morning turn with me?” Doug says, his lips pursing slightly.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash says reluctantly. “I mean, she never asks for the morning after I got you that night.”

“Well, she does have the night to look forward to,” Doug consoles, starting to preen her wings. They’re quite out of place, looking like Dash went straight from her weather duties to practice flights. “And I don’t think her drive is quite as high as yours.”

“Heh, I guess,” Rainbow Dash says, feeling better but still a little deflated. “Rarity still takes both shifts.”

“That she does,” Doug says jovially. He frowns as it doesn’t seem to improve Rainbow’s mood very much. “Something else bothering you?” Doug asks, moving along her long primaries.

“Well…” Rainbow Dash says, dropping down a little and resting her head on her hooves.

“I don’t think it’s your flight,” Doug says, rubbing his hand on her coat and grimacing at the stickiness, “even if you are a bit sweaty.”

Rainbow Dash waggles her wings, generating a light breeze. “Nah, it’s just…” she glances at her saddlebags, gulping.

Doug follows her gaze. “Worried about the upcoming schedule?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash says dejectedly. “It’s pretty basic. Any rookie could do better.”

“Hey, I’m sure it’s not that bad,” Doug says, scratching into her coat a little deeper. He loves the way her muzzle pops open as her neck arches back, a momentary relief of whatever is worrying the pegasus. “Mind if I take a look?”

“You?” Rainbow Dash asks as she recovers, cocking her head as she turns to look at him. “You, like, just finished those books!” She points to the bookmark he has near the end.

“I’m re-reading them,” Doug corrects, reaching up to muss with Rainbow’s mane. It ends up looking about the same. “Plus, it can’t hurt, right?”

“I don’t know,” Rainbow Dash says reluctantly. She’s frustrated with how casually Doug talked about reading through the materials. They’re stupidly dense books, filled with all kinds of numbers and words she’s supposed to understand. “It’s supposed to be me being head weathermare, right? That means I come up with the weather, and I schedule the teams. I don’t just get to dump that off on anypony else!”

“I guess,” Doug says, a little disappointed. He wants to see the results of Rainbow Dash’s efforts, even if they aren’t all that impressive. He’s listened to Applejack rant about how the earth ponies figure out their side of the equation, such as how much rain they want, sunlight, temperature, that sort of thing.

Rainbow Dash sighs, disappointed with herself. It’s okay for a Wonderbolt to get help, right? Especially in areas that they’re struggling. “It’s just,” she starts, slowly at first. “This whole thing is getting me down.”

“Oh?” Doug says, glad Rainbow Dash seems to be opening up.

The pegasus rolls to her back, spine across Doug’s belly, her head next to his as she stares up at the clear sky. “You know,” she says with a low moan. “Things aren’t working out the way that I thought. I wanted to be up there!”

She points to the open skies, imagining herself flying around with a streak of rainbow behind her. Then her hoof swings down, unenthusiastically thumping against the grass. “But now all my best days are done.” She forces herself to look at her saddlebags, dreading what’s inside. “And fears and doubts are all I’ve got.”

“Hey,” Doug reassures, his hands reaching around her forelegs to rub at the soft belly. He takes a deep breath, savoring the feeling. When Rainbow Dash winces, like she’s expecting him to blow on her ears again, he pushes past her and blows air down her neck and tummy, tickling her a different way.

Rainbow Dash giggles, squirming in his lap as his hands taps against her taut muscles, a deep echoing feeling reverberating inside her.

~Bum-bum-ba-dum~

“I bet there’s a light,” Doug says as he taps, trilling a few notes against her fur as he reaches lower. He doesn’t quite get to her teats, stopping just before them, and finds the spot beneath her rib cage to offer the best percussive pulses. One hand lets up to rub at the spot where he imagines a certain foal is growing. “Shining deep inside.”

“Oh, yeah?” Rainbow Dash huskily replies, her body sliding up against his in time with his hands beating against her belly. She loves the contact, quickly feeling herself getting ready for a second round. She’s tempted to roll over and start now, but it would interrupt that catchy tune. “Beneath those fears and doubts?”

Doug drops his hands a little lower, squishing the small mounds. “Just squash ‘em.”

Rainbow Dash playfully swats at his hands, giggling. “Time to be awesome, huh?”

“You’re already awesome,” Doug reassures, letting up to go back to tapping at her tummy. “The question is, how is the rest of the world going to see that?”

Rainbow Dash takes a deep breath as she glances to her saddlebags. It takes a great deal of effort to pull away from Doug but she does, immediately returning to the same position. She pops open the bag, pulling out her final draft of May’s weather schedule and passing it to Doug.

He takes it, not really liking to have to give up drumming on Dash, and flips through the pages.

“So,” Rainbow Dash interrupts, holding his hand against her. She tries to go still, unable to quell the quick beating of her heart. “Do I feel any different?”

“Um,” Doug says, frowning at the distraction. The report is like Rainbow Dash had said, a bit basic, and he sees some areas that could use improvement. He gently squeezes her side. “I mean, I’m no expert, though I’d like to be, but you seem about the same.”

“Oh,” Rainbow Dash says, her legs gently pulling against her body.

“Why?” Doug smirks to himself as he goes back to the schedule. “You start using some of Rarity’s conditioner?”

“What? No!” Rainbow Dash exclaims. “I’d never use her pink bottles!” Doug can’t hide his chuckle, and it takes about a second for Rainbow Dash to realize her mistake. She claps her hooves to her muzzle, and when that doesn’t work she spins around, planting her hooves next to Doug’s head.

“You better not,” she starts, only for a hand to go to her singular weak spot. She grunts in pleasure as she collapses, the hand sliding from behind her left ear to her new singular weak spot behind the right.

“You have nothing to worry about,” Doug says as he strokes the pegasus. His other hand props up the pages, continuing to read.

Rainbow Dash lets out her breath, relaxing against him.

“The other mares already know.”

Next Chapter: Ch. 83 - Dendrobates Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 36 Minutes