"I ate way to much," Whined Twilight.
"I didn't even know you could do some of those things with apples."
"If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, my hospital bills for the next decade are going to drop."
"That or you'll never get you Phd."
"Shut up Spike. Who do we need to see next?"
"A pegasis named Rachelle, though is says she prefers to be called Dash. She's the weather supervisor for the region, supposed to make sure there aren't any clouds for the afternoon."
Twilight looked up at the quite obviously not clear sky, "Wonderful job she's doing, and how do we even find her?"
"I dunno, just ask, I guess." I cast about for someone that looked like they knew what they were doing, but I soon gave up on that and settled for someone I recognized. For instance, the pink ball of ADD bouncing her way down a side street. "Excuse me!" I called.
"Who, me?" She asked, spinning about a few times before she faced us. "Hello!"
"Yes, hi, nice to meet you, yadda yadda yadda, you get the picture." I wasn't going to ask why she was pushing what looked to be a cannon down the side street. "Do you know where we can find one Rachelle Dryden?"
"Rachelle, Rachelle, Rachelle, OH! You mean Dashie! She's up on that hill over there!" Indicating a small rise just outside town, "But she doesn't like being woken uuuuuuuup" She sing-songed at us.
"Yeah, sure, fine, got it, bye!" I was getting out of here ASAP, that girl gave me the creeps and Twilight looked dead on her feet, and it wasn't even noon yet.
The walk up the hill was blessedly uneventful, what came after, not so much. We found her sitting against a garishly painted flightcycle* and snoring loudly. She looked to be a few years older than Twilight and sported a tomboy cut to her rainbow striped hair. She was a bit shorter than Twilight - though still a little taller than me - and had the compact body of a runner. She was wearing the skin tight flight suit that all weather teams wore, hers being a light blue. She didn't have much in the way of assets, but you can't go wrong with skin tight body suits.
Twilight nudged her a few times with her foot and the snores abruptly cut off, "Wha?"
"Miss Dryden, I presume?" Twilight asked.
"Yea, waddaya wan?" Rachelle, or Dash, if you prefer, yawned and stretched slowly before getting up.
"I'm supervising the Summer Sun Celebration this year and I would like to know why there are no less than 18 clouds in the sky?" Her tone made seem less a question and more an accusation. Miss Dryden looked sheepish for a second before smiling winningly at Twilight. That's when I noticed her eye colour, magenta, weird.
"Well, don't you worry about it, I'll have it cleared up right after I'm done my nap." The pegasus lay back against her machine, "Don't worry about it."
"Yeah, not happening." Twilight moved to nudge Dryden with her foot again, "How did you even make supervisor with that kind of attitude?"
"What can I say, I'm good at what I do."
"Bullsh-" I slapped my hand over Twilight's mouth.
"What my sister is trying to say is that we find it hard to believe that you are as good as you claim based upon your current performance."
She almost looked offended, "Are you saying that you think I'm a liar?"
"N-" This time it was Twilight that shut me up.
"Yeah, I bet you can barely fly, let alone take care of clouds. Lazy people like you couldn't get anything done even if they tried."
"Oh yeah, you think that, do ya?"
"You bet your rainbow hide I do."
"I can clear this sky in 10 seconds flat."
"Is that before or after you finish crying about how bad a flier you are?"
"Grr, you watch!" The woman jumped into her flightcycle and activated the mechanisms. The screens lit and she pulled some goggles off her head and over her eyes, "Ten seconds!"
"I doubt it!" Twilight yelled back.
As the flightcycle powered up, I'm not ashamed to admit, I was impressed. The thing was sleek, more than just a brand new model, this one looked custom made. But it was my sister who took my attention while the thing slowly floated up into the air. "Wow, my sister, the emotional cripple, not only antagonizing a woman you just met, but using her anger and pride to manipulate her into doing what you wanted, colour me impressed."
She blushed a little and rubbed the back of her head, "Yeah, guess the stress of the day just got to me is all."
"Nah, it's cool, but hey, sky's clear."
"Yeah, it is, isn't it."
"What did I tell you, ten seconds flat." Was the voice from behind us. We looked back to see one miss Dryden climbing out of her vehicle and looking pleased with herself. "How do you like them apples?"
"Please don't mention apples." Twilight's sounded like she wanted to vomit, "I don't think I want to see another apple for the rest of my life."
Dryden chuckled at that, "Well, I guess that means you've met Applejack then? She's a friend of mine. Hey, maybe we can be friends too?" Dryden grinned at Twilight.
"I'm sorry miss Dryden,"
"Dash, please, I insist."
"Dash then, you see I really need to be going, I have a lot of things to do and I can't waste time with idle conversation."
"Oh." Dash looked a little crestfallen, "See you then."
"Spike, come along." Twilight turned toward town.
"Hey, Twi'?" I had seen something on my list that looked familiar, "You mind if I sit the next one out?"
She looked at me distractedly, "Sure, just don't make trouble." She walked down the hill and towards town hall. I was lost in my own thoughts for a moment before a heard a polite cough beside me. I looked over at... Dash. She looked like a lost puppy. 'Oh for Celestia's sake, don't look at me like that, you'll make me feel bad.' I stared for a moment before silently proffering my fist for bumping. She smiled like the sun and tapped her knuckles lightly against my own.
"Have a nice day miss Dash." I said as I walked away.
Rainbow Dash looked about after her new friend(s?) and wondered what to do. Shrugging, she had lain down against her machine before she thought, "Wait, what was that guy's name?"