Spitfire and Rainbow Dash stayed in the restaurant long after their plates were emptied, their table cleared, and their appetites sated. Both fliers watched the stage with rapt attention on the griffon sitting on a lonely stage, a pale spotlight washing him in its soft glow. Every song he put his heart and soul into, pausing only long enough to mutter a shy 'thank-you' between songs as the ponies surrounding him made their accolades clear. His demeanor between songs, as well as his soft singing reminded Rainbow very much of Fluttershy. It was a stark reminder to the young weather manager that Griffons weren't all like Gilda.

Eventually his set came to an end, and after packing away his guitar, he sat at the bar where the Club had provided him a free meal and drink. Rainbow and Spitfire took that as their cue to leave. They each deposited a few bits into the Griffon's tip jar and purchased a copy of his album before they left.

The rain had stopped by the time they exited the Club, the amber glow of the street lamps reflecting off the small accumulations of water on the damp streets and sidewalks. A gentle breeze put a light chill in the air, sending a mild shiver through both mares. They kept close as they walked.

"Thanks again for buying dinner Spitfire," Rainbow said for at least the fourth time that evening, "you really didn't have to do that."

Spitfire smiled kindly, "I know I didn't have to, Dash, but I wanted to."

"Fine, then I guess I'll just have to walk you home." Rainbow grinned. Spitfire found herself taken aback by the suggestion. She had never heard that before from any pony she had dated.

"Hey now," She protested, "I'm a big filly, I can walk myself."

"Yeah, but your wing is messed up." Rainbow pointed out, "I can fly back to my place no sweat."

Spitfire was about to protest when she noticed the pleading look in Rainbow's eyes.

"Fine, just this once." She acquiesced, a blush creeping up her cheeks.

Rainbow grinned, happy for the small win. The pair enjoyed the quiet walk back to Spitfire's hotel that was located in a wealthier part of town. Both mares paused outside of the hotel's pavilion, Rainbow was rendered speechless by the opulence of the building, even though it was more or less what she expected.

"Whoa, you guys stay here?" She marveled aloud.

"Usually. Sometimes different places offer better group deals."

"Wow, must be nice to be famous."

"It has some perks." Spitfire admitted, a peculiar feeling tickling at the back of her mind. It was almost like a disappointment that the evening had to end, something she couldn't recall feeling before with any date.

"So, Dash," She turned to face the younger mare "how was your first date?"

For all her bravado and pride as a tough pony, Rainbow found her heart fluttering at the question, "I—It was awesome!" She exclaimed.

"Glad to hear it," Spitfire replied, genuinely glad to see the weather mare happy "So, want to do it again sometime?"

Rainbow felt her heart stop momentarily. It didn't seem real; her idol was asking her out for a second date! Fear and indecision threatened to overwhelm her. Before she could psyche herself out, she decided to take the jump.

"S—sure! That would be awesome." She smiled; her cheeks burning red and a slight tremble running through her athletic frame.

"Great! What are you doing Wednesday night after your shift?

"Um…well," She paused a moment to think, "I, uh, I hadn't really thought about it. I've never been to Manehattan before."

"Well then, how about you and I meet up at Perry's Cherry Diner again, and from there we'll make it a date."

"O—okay, that would be cool!" Rainbow smiled nervously.

"Awesome, 6:00 sound good?" Spitfire asked, making an educated guess as to Rainbow's work schedule.

"I'll be there!" Rainbow affirmed happily.

"Great! I'll see you Wednesday Dash." Spitfire winked before disappearing into her hotel. Rainbow felt her cheeks burn again, but what struck her as more curious was how strange she felt being left to herself again. With a flap of her wings, she took to the skies. A good flight would clear her head.

Spitfire felt a peculiar spring to her step as she made her way up to her room, humming to herself the whole way. What she had expected to be a miserable start to a miserable month had proven to be one of the best days she had in recent memory. It had been a no-pressure, no-commitment day with a likeable mare, which was more than Spitfire could say for any of her prospects since she became Captain.

Her tail swished happily as she came to her suite, if Wednesday was half as fun as today had been, maybe the next couple months wouldn't be so bad after all. Fishing the key from her saddlebag, she unlocked the door and pushed it open. Her thoughts were distracted by the crumple of paper underhoof when she stepped into the darkened room.

Looking down she spotted a folded sheet of paper, now crumpled along the section she was standing on. Quirking her eyebrow curiously, she made her way fully into the room and closed the door before opening the note. She quickly recognized Rapidfire's impressively sloppy writing.

'Hey Spits, I swung by around six to see if you wanted to grab some drinks with us, but I guess you're out by yourself. Soarin picked me for the El-Tee spot, I think I'll get him a gift. Do you think he likes Marshmallows or would he find that cannibalistic? Can't be too careful. I'll stop by and see how you're doing tomorrow if I can. Hope you've kept outta trouble.

…

Buck it, who am I kidding; just don't do anything you want Arcus, Mom, or Dad to read in the papers.

-Rapid

p.s. I took your uniform for cleaning. The buckin' thing stinks.'

Spitfire facehoofed, the note reminded her of a slew of issues that could prove highly problematic if she continued to date Rainbow Dash. She put the note on her nightstand, determined not to let the challenging realities of her life ruin a great evening. Those could wait until morning, and Spitfire couldn't think of a better time to think about those issues than when she would be out on the town scouting out places to take Rainbow on Wednesday. Her mind made up, she tossed her saddlebags onto the king size bed and raided one of the small bottles of wine from the well-stocked minibar her room contained before she started the water for a hot bubble bath. While she waited for the tub to fill, she uncapped the small bottle and slipped a straw into the bottle-which she loudly slurped from.

'Eloquence, eat your heart out.' She snickered to herself.

Across town, in her decidedly less opulent hotel room, Rainbow Dash lay in her cloud bed, flat on her back, with a Daring Doo book resting on her chest. Two laps around the city hadn't cleared the thoughts from her head, nor had several chapters of Daring Doo, and she highly doubted brushing her teeth would prove much more helpful.

The day had been like a strange dream. A perfectly boring morning interrupted by a surprise encounter with her personal idol. An idol that then took her out on the first proper date she had ever been on and seemed genuinely keen on a second date. Rainbow pressed her hooves to her face and groaned.

She could kick a dragon in the face, charge the physical incarnation of chaos, and gleefully dive into a brawl with just her five friends against hundreds of changelings, but the prospect of seriously dating a mare was terrifying to her. Fluttershy and her Dad would be fine with it, but what about her other friends? What about her coworkers? What would it do to her chances of one day joining the Wonderbolts?

"What am I gonna do?" she lamented quietly. Sleep avoided her for most of the night.

By the time the sun had crested the horizon, Rainbow was already in the Manehattan weather office. The whole concept of a formal weather office was an alien idea to her Ponyville mindset. Then again, in Ponyville she only had to worry about a few dozen employees to cover all of the town's weather needs. Their 'office' in Ponyville was whatever shop they all agreed to meet at for breakfast. In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best setup for the poor pegasus who was running her normal team during the exchange program.

Manehattan's staff was in the hundreds. Just on a logistical level, it was an unprecedented challenge for Rainbow. Still, Rainbow was not a quitter. If she could handle a day around Pinkie Pie, how much crazier could running a large weather team be? With a deep breath and a brave grin she stepped into her new office.

"Today is gonna be awesome!" She declared proudly.

'Today is gonna suuuuck.' She lamented. Three hours after her bold declaration, she found herself standing in front of several dozen Pegasi, each wearing a color-coded vest to denote their team.

"This is a battery cloud." Rainbow explained for what she was reasonably sure was the fourth time. She tilted her head towards a baseball-sized lump of gray cloud in her hoof, "Well, technically it's just a clump of regular cloud that I charged this morning, but that's not the point. It is roughly 4000 volts of electricity, which is roughly the yield of a static shock."

"W—what are we supposed to do with it?" asked a nervous sounding mare whose name Rainbow hadn't learned yet. Either way, her blue vest told Dash all she needed to know.

"You're on the rain team, right?" Rainbow asked, erring on the side of caution.

"Y—yes ma'am. I'm Dewdrop." She introduced herself. Rainbow forced a pleasant smile even as she was screaming inside.

"You don't do anything. Like I explained earlier, the rain teams are to keep clear of the thunderheads at all times. Only the cloud-pushers and the lightning wranglers should be handling them."

"W—what happens if one of the rain ponies handles them?" Dewdrop squeaked. Rainbow found herself wondering if Fluttershy had a long-lost sister.

"You might get a static shock if the cloud is inactive, or you could be on the receiving end of a full lightning bolt if the cloud is primed. Either way: Do. Not. Risk it." Rainbow growled.

"Thunderheads are the lightning wrangler's jobs," interrupted a light green stallion wearing an orange vest, "why are the cloud pushers here too?"

Rainbow answered by flying over to the stallion and holding the battery cloud close to his nose. The stallion yelped as his snout got zapped by the little cloud.

"There are only fifteen lightning certified Pegasi in Manehattan." Rainbow explained, "For a city this size, with all the clouds your team has to handle, there should be at least 60. Minimum."

"What's that got to do with my crew?" The stallion pouted, rubbing his tingling nose delicately.

"I need Pegasi with natural lightning resistance, which is why I can handle this cloud without getting zapped."

"So you're gonna zap all the cloud pushers?" an amused stallion in a yellow vest postulated. Rainbow did know his name, Flash Cloud. He was the senior lightning wrangler in Manehatten.

"Well, your crew is gonna help with that." Rainbow smirked, "just for the sake of timeliness."

"Sweet." Flash grinned, eyeing the green stallion with nothing less than wicked intentions. The stallion didn't miss the look.

"I know where you live, Flash." He warned.

"I know where you nap, Headwind." Flash retorted cheerfully.

"Oh for Pete's sake." Rainbow mumbled as the two stallions exchanged playful insults. "Do you two need a few minutes in private?"

Both stallions stopped their bickering and faced Rainbow, Headwind mortified, Flash laughing his plot off.

"N—no ma'am!" he choked between laughs, "I'm good!"

"All right then," Rainbow hoofed the battery cloud over to him "I want a list of all the cloud pushers with potential to be certified for lightning wrangling by the end of the day."

Flash saluted, "You got it boss lady."

Rainbow smiled and dismissed Flash with the wave of a hoof before turning her attention to Headwind. "Alright, you get to come with me. We're gonna start placing these clouds right or my name isn't Rainbow Dash!"