Shoofly entered the bunkhouse to find a group of guards all waiting around in the common room.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Everyone wanted to see Radish off on his big date,” said Spats.
“Oh, yeah. Are we sure she’s not another Warmblood? Or a changeling, for that matter?” asked Shoofly.
Bunker Buster lowered his voice. “Gazeta -you know, that new palace correspondent- has been looking into her for us. Light Fantastic is well-known around Midtown. Been running an art shop for six years. Originally from Cirruscinnati. No criminal record.”
Radish emerged into the common room, wearing a new powder blue linen shirt and dark corduroys.
“So, how do I look?” asked Radish.
“Like a dreamboat!” assured Spats. The rest of the guards murmured in assent.
“Thanks, guys.”
“So, where are you taking her?” asked Cairn.
“That revolving restaurant downtown. I’ve always wanted to check it out.”
Shoofly raised an eyebrow. "Uh, you're taking a pegasus girl... to the highest place you could think of?"
Radish froze. "Is... is that bad?"
"I mean, how would an earth pony feel if their date took them to a farmer's market?" asked Zero.
Radish thought about it. "It would be... hokey... at best. At worst, they'd feel stereotyped..." Radish paced the floor in a panic. "I've fucked myself, haven't I? I've ruined everything before even the first date!"
"Rad! Calm down!” said Maple Bar. “A girl doesn't go to dinner with a guy for the restaurant. She goes for the guy."
“Mape, I’ve got one chance to make a good impression with this girl. Everything has to be perfect.”
“Rad,” said Spats, approaching him, “you know the most important piece of dating advice any of us can give you?”
“Be yourself?”
“Exactly.”
“But myself is me,” sighed Radish.
“And that’s amazing,” said Spats. He turned to the room. “Tell him, guys.”
“You’ve worked with dragons!” said Maple Bar.
“You discovered the Storm Centurions’ final resting place!” said Cairn.
“You brought home the lost tribe of bat ponies!” said Bunker Buster.
“You waltzed with a princess!” said Zero.
“You took down a crime ring!” said Shoofly.
“And you fought off the changeling horde!” said Spats. “Light Fantastic should be worried about making a good impression on you.”
Radish looked down at himself. He straightened his cuffs. “Thanks, friends.”
Radish and Light Fantastic stepped out of a taxi in front of Ditzy’s, Downtown Canterlot’s famed revolving restaurant. Light looked up at the building. Radish braced himself for her reaction.
She raised an eyebrow. “You took me- a pegasus- to the highest place you could think of?”
“Well, uh…”
She smirked and punched his shoulder. “You big dork. Come on, I’m hungry.”
They entered the lobby and took the long elevator to the top.
“You know, I’ve never been here,” said Light, reading the menu on the elevator wall. “All my friends say this place is too mainstream.”
“Too mainstream? I didn’t even know that was something to worry about.”
Light smiled. They reached the restaurant level and were shown to a booth aside one of the tall curving windows. Radish pressed his face against the glass and gazed out at the sky.
“Whoa,” he said.
“Whoa, what?” asked Light.
“I’ve never seen clouds up close like this before. I didn’t know they were textured like that on top.”
“Most aren’t. That cloud is for walking on, so it has a non-slip surface. Weather clouds have spongy areas where you can stick your hooves in. And decorative clouds are delicate, so they’re not really made to be touched at all.”
“Huh. I never knew any of that. The pegasi I know never talk about clouds.”
He heard Light chuckle. He turned to her. “What?”
“It’s just that… talking about this stuff takes me back to my first job. I started off as a cloud shaper.”
“You worked a weather job?”
“Yeah, but not for very long. They canned me for getting too wild with the shapes. So I turned that into a new career- making cloud sculptures.”
“Sculptures? Like for parks?”
“For galleries and collectors. I could adjust their transparency, tweak their colors, even get them to rain on themselves- like a fountain that doesn’t need plumbing.”
“I’ve never seen a sculpture like that.”
“They don’t last long at lower altitudes. You only see them in the highest pegasus cities.”
“Then how’d you end up in Canterlot?”
“I wanted to expand my skill set to more universal media. Canterlot was the artistic center of Equestria in those days, so I came here hoping to learn from the best.”
“Is it not the artistic center now?”
“Nah. That’s Seaddle.”
“I guess I know even less about art than I thought I did. Hey, do you know what Frosty Dawn’s Untitled #17 is supposed to be?”
“Mmm hmm. Apprehension over major life changes.”
“Oh,” said Radish, looking off to the side.
“What?”
“I thought it was a bug.”
Light leaned back. “A… a bug?”
“Sorry.”
“Never apologize for an honest interpretation of a work.”
“Okay.”
“But… a bug?”
“I won’t apologize.”
“Good.”
Radish and Light exited the restaurant. Radish waved for a cab.
“So…” he said, looking down.
“So…?”
“So, the last time I got this far into a date, she tried to stab me. I don’t know what to do now,” admitted Radish.
Light leaned forward. “Well, normally, this is the part where you’d ask for a second date.”
“Can I have a second date?”
Radish entered the bunkhouse common room. Spats was on the couch reading. He looked up at Radish.
“Rad! How’d it go?”
Radish smiled. “We’re seeing each other again next weekend.”
“Fabulous. Need suggestions on where to take her?”
“No need. She’s taking me to the farmers market.”