Rainbow Burst walked along the path heading back to Ponyville. Her horn glowed with a rainbow aura as she held a piece of bread with her magic. She took another bite, letting our a small noise of pleasure as she chewed.

"They had turnovers, fritters, and muffins," Spike stated. "Pies, cakes, even that cheesecake." He licked his lips, drooling slightly at the thought. "And out of all those things, that is your favorite? Really?"

"Are you kidding?" Rainbow asked. "First of all, this is like... the best jam I have ever tasted in my life." She took another bite, letting out another small noise of pleasure.

Spike rolled his eyes, giving a shake of his head.

"Second of all, look at it." She held the piece of bread out to him. "It matches my mane."

Across the surface of the bread slice lay a thick coating of the jam in question. Indeed it was a rainbow of colors, shifting in the traditional pattern of the rainbow.

Spike's eyes narrowed as a grin spread across his face.

"Wow, Rainbow. I had no idea that you were so fashionable and trendy."

Rainbow Burst looked at Spike in confusion as she brought the bread back to finish it.

"What are you talking about?" she asked around the mouthful of food.

"I mean, I never thought you of all ponies would choose a food because of how it complements her mane."

"What?!" Rainbow shouted, spitting crumbs all over the dragon. "That's not what I mean. I mean... it is what I mean but not how you mean... Wait. No. I mean that's...."

Spike's grin grew wider as he watched Rainbow become more and more flustered.

"Oh, forget it," Rainbow finally snapped, rolling her eyes. "Let's just move on. What's next on the list?"

Spike chuckled a little more at Rainbow's frustration as he pulled the scroll and a quill out.

"Let's see... Catering, check." He put a check mark on the page.

"Next is... weather."

Rainbow Burst and Spike looked up at the sky. Thick, puffy white clouds were scattered all across it, blocking out portions.

"Isn't it supposed to be clear?" she asked.

"Yeah," Spike replied. "There's supposed a..." he checked the scroll, "...Twilight Comet on cloud duty."

Rainbow continued to stare up, eyes narrowed as she scanned the sky. There were no pegasus ponies at all that she could see, but less one that looked like it was dispersing the clouds.

"...Maybe she's working on the other end of town?" Spike suggested.

"Maybe," Rainbow replied, "but maybe we should see if we can find her just in case."

Spike turned to Rainbow Burst, eyes going wide as his jaw dropped.

"You?" Spike gasped in surprise. "You want to actually and check on something to make sure that everything is okay just in case?" He narrowed his eyes. "Okay, who are you and what did you do with the real Rainbow Burst?"

"I know," Rainbow said. "I don't completely believe it either, but this is serious. Princess Celestia did entrust us to make sure everything is ready for the celebration. We have to do everything we can to make sure that things go as well as possible."

Spike looked at Rainbow a moment, saying nothing. He had known the rainbow maned unicorn his entire life. Prone to laziness, tendency to pull pranks, hates studying, fascinated with pegasi, he was familiar with it all. He even knew things about her few others did, things she would not even admit to herself if she could help it.

One of those was how much she cared about Princess Celestia's opinion. Despite acting up and causing trouble, Rainbow really wanted to make the princess proud of her.

"Okay," Spike said. "Where do you want to start?"

"First we need to talk to some of the ponies around here," Rainbow stated, "find out who knows Twilight and where she might be."

As Rainbow talked, Spike shifted, letting his eyes wander. He stopped when he caught sight of one particular pony, his heart seeming to race.

"Why don't we ask...her?" he suggested, pointing. Rainbow turned to look to where he was indicating.

Sitting on a bench nearby was a light purple pegasus pony with a darker colored mane and tail. A book laid on the bench in front of her, her nose nearly touching the pages.

"She's... beautiful," Spike said, still staring at her.

"Spike," Rainbow said with a grin, "do you have a little crush?"

Spike's jaw snapped shut as his cheeks heated up. He narrowed his eyes and glared at the grinning unicorn beside him.

"So what if I do?" he growled. "Besides, you're one to talk. I saw the way you were gushing over Big Macintosh."

Now it was Rainbow's turn to blush. She bit her lip as she looked away from the young dragon.

"How is poor Shining Armor going to feel?" Spike asked with a dramatic sigh. "After all this time of you secretly having a crush on him, only for you to find another the first time-"

"Okay, okay," Rainbow interrupted. "You made your point. Let's just go talk to her. Since you're so interested, you can talk to her first."

The two made their way over to the reading pegasus. Excited, Spike took the lead as he nearly ran up toward her. He stopped and cleared his throat, trying to look calm, cool and collected.

"Hey."

The pegasus mare continued to read, giving no indication of noticing the pair that had approached her, or hearing Spike. The young dragon watched a moment, before turning to Rainbow who just shrugged. Not getting any help from her at the moment, he turned back to the pegasus.

"Uh... Excuse me."

"Sshh!" the pegasus said, waving a hoof without even looking up from the book.

Spike blinked, staring a moment. Once again he turned his attention to Rainbow Burst, holding his arms out in front of him and motioning at the mare in question.

"Let me try," Rainbow whispered to Spike before turning to the pegasus.

"Hey."

"Hold on," the pegasus stated. "Just a few more pages."

"This'll just take a second," Rainbow replied. "We're looking for a Twilight Comet a-"

"What?" the pegasus asked, finally looking up from her book. "Why would....

"Is that," she pointed at Spike, "a dragon?"

"Yeah," Rainbow answered. "This is Spike, and I'm Rainbow Burst. We're overseeing the celebration and-"

"What?" The color seemed to drain from her face as her eyes grew wider. "But you're not supposed to be here yet. It's only..." She turned to look at the town clock.

"Oh no. No no-no no no. I was supposed to start cloud dispersion twenty minutes ago!"

Rainbow and Spike looked at each other for a moment, a little thrown off by the sudden panic.

"Uh..." Rainbow said. "I take it that you're Twilight?"

Twilight Comet suddenly shot up from her seat and grabbed Rainbow Burst, shaking her.

"Please, please please don't fire me!" She let go, shifting. "I can fix this. I can fix this. Just-" She stopped when Rainbow put a hoof on her mouth, stopping her.

"Calm down." Slowly she pulled her hoof away. "First of all, you're not getting fired. Second, you have plenty of time still since you need to have them all removed before dawn." She smiled. "And hey, if you need help, I could incinerate a few of the clouds for you."

"Thanks," Twilight said. "I appre.... wait." She turned to give her full attention to Rainbow Burst. "What was that last part?"

"'If you need help, I can incinerate a few,'" Rainbow repeated.

"You can't do that," Twilight stated.

"It's not problem," Rainbow said. "I don't mind helping out."

"No," Twilight snapped, eyes narrowing. "I mean you can't do that. It is im-pos-sible to incinerate clouds. They are made of water."

"Well I can," Rainbow snapped back.

"No." Twilight pointed a hoof. "You. Can't."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Well, watch this!"

Rainbow Burst stepped away from Twilight Comet and turned around. She looked up at sky, studying the clouds before picking one of them.

"That one," she said, pointing.

Once sure that the others had noticed it, Rainbow closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Her horn began to glow with a rainbow aura of magic, swirling with power. She then unleashed it in a beam of energy, aiming for the cloud. Although none of the group could hear it, there was a hiss as the blast hit, turning the water droplets back into water vapor.

"See?" Rainbow said with a grin as she turned back to Twilight.

Twilight's ears pulled back as she stuck her lip out, glaring at the unicorn.

"Very impressive," she said, although her tone indicated otherwise. "But... you did not incinerate the cloud. You can't incinerate it because, being water, you can't set it on fire. Technically, what you did, was vaporize it.

"Vaporize?" Rainbow repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Vaporize," Twilight repeated as well.

"That sounds so much cooler than 'incinerate,'" Rainbow stated with a grin. "Spike, write down 'vaporize.' We totally need to use it again some time soon."

"How do you spell that?" Spike asked as he pulled out a quill and paper.

"But..." Twilight started. "You... I..." She let out a groan of frustration, rolling her eyes. "Forget it!"

She gave a flap of her wings.

"I have work to do. Clouds are waiting."

With that she took off.

"Hey!" Spike shouted after her. "You forgot your book."

Twilight came back, grinning sheepishly as she picked the book up off the bench.

"Oh, heh. Sorry about that. Thank you."

"Anytime...." Spike nearly whispered as he watched her leave again.

"Okay," Rainbow said as she grabbed Spike in her magic. "Come on Romeo. We still have work to do."