Dash's cerise eyes locked with Agilene's as she spoke, lighting up as the mare mentioned "all the news" she had heard about the pegasus, although their glow dimmed a bit when the word "reckless" was mentioned. The mare shrunk slightly into her corner of the booth, unsure if Agilene was being sincere or offering some sort of a backwards compliment. Then again, Rainbow Dash may not have made the best first impression on the mare... "I'm not reckless, I'm-" she stopped herself short in mid sentence, her eyes darting to the table again as she sighed. "Okay, okay, maybe I am a bit hasty at times. But what can I say? I'm a mare of action." Dash paused once more, finally shifting her gaze back towards Agilene. "The media and I have a rather... complicated relationship. At one point I was consumed by keeping up my own appearance for them. They would call me a hero... And I liked that. But after the Mare-Do-Well incident, I realized that it was only a label. I'm just a normal, awesome Pegasus with normal, awesome friends. Point is: I wouldn't trust everything the media says about me."

The rainbow-maned mare trailed off, diverting her eyes again as she took a sip from her drink. It was obviously a low blow to her ego, but perhaps she was just trying to cover her own flank. Despite Dash's good intentions, other ponies would occasionally cast her in a bad light due to her antics. And that was an even worse blow... It'd be better off to come clean right from the beginning.

"Aaaaanyways~," she continued, taking another large sip before sliding her cup to the end of the table. "As far as your question goes, Rumina appeared like she was teleported because she was teleported in. The reader won't find out who or why until later, but Rumina's mother poofed her into the nearby village to save her from capture. Her parents were being chased across the country-side by a Pegasi regiment, and... Well, I'm not sure what I want to do with her parents yet. If they evade capture, they would probably continue west. But if they do get caught... They would probably get axed... Any ideas for that, maybe?"

Rainbow Dash would then turn her attention to Marked, passing over a few papers to read once he was ready. "This is what I've come up with for the Pegasi in particular. With Commander Hurricane leading, they would be quite militaristic in nature. Hierarchy would be determined by rank, and there would be a no tolerance, no failure regime. I'm not sure if you know the history behind Commander Hurricane, but he was a rather cold and callous individual. But he was fearless, and he knew how to get the job done. His arrogance would be his undoing, though. Seems to be a common thing with many of the Pegasi leaders, even today."

Rainbow Dash merely watched comically as Marked continued to struggle with the removal of his attire, as well as unclasping that brick that he called a bag. The mare would offer to help, of course, but she wasn't entirely sure how comfortable the stallion was with other ponies invading his personal space, especially if it was a mare. Even then, Rainbow Dash couldn't really think of a way to help, and would most likely just make things much worse. Instead, the mare simply chose to sit and stare at the menu, occasionally peeking over to watch Marked's progress. She'd give him a bit longer before ordering, finding the idea of hot cocoa to be more and more divine as the stallion proceeded to describe what he would like to eat.

"Well, in that case..." The Pegasus paused, watching Agilene as she stood up to go order something, deciding to wait until she came back to start in on her awesome ideas. If she was willing to stay and participate, she might as well start from the beginning, right? "My writing style would perhaps be best described as adventure. With authors like you and A.K. Yearling to take inspiration from, how could I do it any other way?" Dash chuckles to herself, but so far doesn't make any moves to reach for one of her papers littering the table.

"So here's the basic jist... Playing off of the idea that all the races were at each other's throats before Equestria itself was formed and the Hearth's-Warming Eve legend took place... What if we were never brought together? What if we lived in constant fear of each other, each race holed up somewhere where the other couldn't easily get to?" Rainbow Dash would let that sink in for a moment before continuing. It was hard for her to conform the idea to words while remaining interesting at the same time. "Now imagine, if you will, a Pegasus filly appearing out of the blue in a remote Earth village. Nopony knew where she came from, but she was accepted into a kind-hearted family willing to take care of her, despite her differences. Without going into long, boring detail, her ultimate task through the story would be to unite the three races against a common foe."

The mare trailed off again, wondering why that sounded so much better in her head... Oh well. It was certain to garner at least some interest, right? She was playing well out of her field of expertise, and if she thought she could get away with it, Dash would have most certainly written something entirely too cliche`like random destined hero number one goes and beats up random egotistical villain number two. With explosions. And other awesome things. But for now, Dash just left it at that, curious to see any reactions the two might have, if any.

Rainbow Dash couldn't help but giggle at the mare's joke, although it seemed to be short lived as the author himself burst through the door, earning many of the same, prying looks that the Pegasus had received earlier when she careened into the door. "Looks like I might be fine-tuning his entrance..." The cyan mare muttered to herself, waving Marked over to her table.

She was very pleased and relieved at the stallion's arrival, although the state he found himself in made Dash frown a bit... Had she known that it was going to rain this bad, she might have taken some preemptive measures against it. Scratching her head, the mare now couldn't help but wonder what exactly the weather schedule stated. She might have some flanks to chew out later...

"Glad you could make it, Marked! Truth be told, I was a little late myself... I do apologize about the sudden onset of weather, though. It seems like nopony was expecting this little torrent. Come, have a seat.~" Rainbow Dash would clear off some of her paperwork from the opposite side of the table so Marked could have somewhere to set his bags, careful not to get any of it out of order. "I'd offer my drying services again, but I'm not so sure that would go over so well inside an establishment like this. Or any building, for that matter."

The mare chuckled nervously... Obviously another bad joke. She seemed to have quite a knack for doing that, but her intentions were in the right place, at least. Dash blinked as the mysterious mare finally introduced herself, albeit not towards her. Still, she had a name to work with now. "Ah, Agilene Flow... It's a good name. Well, Agilene, you're more than welcome to join us if you'd like. It's the least I could do after scaring the tails off of everypony in here. I'll even get you a drink, if you'd like."

Rainbow Dash was obviously trying to make the best impression she could after her earlier blunder. While normally everypony would pass it off as a stunt and have a quiet chuckle at her expense, she would rather not be scolded for something crazy she did... The Pegasus did that enough to herself as-is.

Rainbow Dash blinked, processing what the mare had just said. "Whoa... Shots fired. Ooookaaay..." The Pegasus put her index card away, scooting over in case the mare in question wanted to sit. Even though there was a perfectly good spot across from her... She averted her gaze a moment, clearly knowing where this conversation was going to lead. Rainbow had heard that particular phrase many times before, and what followed was nary a good thing.

"Yes, I'm Rainbow Dash. The one and only, naturally." The Pegasus blinked again, realizing that she wasn't helping her case if she didn't keep her ego in check. "Okay, look... I wasn't paying attention and I crashed into the door. I was late for an appointment, and I had a lot on my mind. It wasn't my intention to disturb you or any other pony here, so... I apologize."

Ohhhhh man, I'm in trouble now... What if she's the owner of this establishment? What if Marked comes in to see this? Rainbow Dash frowned a bit as she scolded herself, but otherwise remained silent to hear what the other mare had to say.

"Let's see... We can put something here... Something there... An adjective over here... Oh, what's that word... Harrow! Oh, yes, that's a good word. Harrowing... adventure..." Rainbow Dash continued to mutter to herself, scribbling madly with a broken pencil that she tightly gripped between her teeth. Considering the mare didn't write much, it had become rather messy over the course of the few pages she did manage to write, but nevertheless, it seemed to earn her seal of approval. The mare sighed, dropping the half-eaten pencil on her desk, now littered with crumpled up pieces of paper. It had taken her quite some time, and a good amount of frustration to get something started... Perhaps too much time. Dash glanced at the clock ticking away furiously on her wall, something that she had tuned out hours ago due to its monotonous, almost furious sound as she attempted to fly through her rough-sketch of an idea. Two... Three... Four? The mare blinked, trailing the clock's hands several times to make sure she had read it correctly. "Oh horse-apples!" she exclaimed, sweeping off her desk with a mad sweep of her hoof before gathering her freshly-written pages, stuffing them into a small satchel as she hurriedly latched it onto her side. The time read 4:05 pm, merely five minutes after she was supposed to meet Marked at the cafe. While it was far from uncommon for the self-proclaimed 'fastest flier in Equestria' to be punctual and on time for many of her meetings and appointments, this particular meetup was one she didn't want to be late for.

"Ohhhh maaaaaan, I'm in for it now! First you don't have anything prepared, and now you're going to be late! Well, I'm already late, techinically, BUT THAT'S BESIDES THE POINT!" Rainbow Dash continued to berate herself as she literally flew across several rooms in her house, gathering materials that should have already been packed, like extra pencils and paper along with various sources, and her own latest edition of the Daring Do novels. Once everything was set and in place, the Pegasus leaped out her balcony window, haphazardly leaving it open as she soared like the wind to the cafe below. Despite her speed and her inability to keep the satchel still across her side, it would still take a couple minutes to reach her destination. The mare flew just above the majority of Ponyville, probably provoking some reaction out of the populace below. Except... Nopony seemed to be out and about... Rainbow blinked, slowing some as she searched to determine the cause of such an absence. It was only then that she realized it was raining, and furiously at that... The Pegasus scowled, not being able to recall a schedule for rain, but resumed to high-tail it to her destination nonetheless. As long as she kept moving at this speed, she and her satchel would remain dry... Right?

That is until Rainbow Dash flew right into the door of the cafe with a solid thud, flopping to the ground as she started to count the stars that were circling around her head. "I... I meant to do that. Just testing to see how strong the door was, haha...heh..." The mare laughed nervously to herself, although nopony was around to witness her crash. Nopony that she could see, anyways. A large clap of thunder prompted the mare instantly to her hooves, properly pushing the door open to let herself inside. Unsurprisingly, Dash was met with several concerned faces as she closed the door behind her. Out of all the eyes that were now trained upon the cyan Pegasus, none of them seemed to be those of Marked... Which was good... She thinks. "I, uh... Was testing the door," she repeated to herself, watching the patrons as they returned to their normal conversations. "Yeah, we're scheduled for pretty strong winds. Don't want that door blowing in on ya, haha..." The mare frowned, her argument sounding quite unconvincing... But much to her relief, nopony seemed to pay attention to her as she trotted down one of the isles, making her way towards the back window. Perhaps she wasn't as late as she thought...

Rainbow wouldn't order anything just yet, preferring to wait for her companion to show up. She'd simply stare out the window at the torrent of rain, hoping that Marked would show up despite the current conditions. Eventually, the mare would pull out the contents of her satchel, spreading it all over the table as she began to put some 'finishing touches' upon her project. If anything, Dash would like to make a good first impression upon the author concerning her writing style, which could easily be defined as awesome. The mare grinned to herself, resuming her work until something tore her away from it.

"Ohhhhhh, I dunno~..." Rainbow replied with somewhat of a sarcastic smirk, once again poking fun at the stallion. "I mean, I have so many clouds to patch up and thread together. You'd be surprised just how intangible the things are. You know... Being condensed water and all..." The mare trailed off, shifting her gaze towards the sky which was clearly blanketed by an unbroken, gray mass of clouds. She frowned a bit, her joke immediately lost, even if it was a bad one. "Well, would you look at that! Looks like I'm free the rest of the day.~" The Pegasus blinked, returning her cerise gaze back to the author along with an awkward grin in hopes that she didn't make a terrible impression in making that blunder. "Sorry. I'm horrible at teasing, I know," she stated rather bluntly, searching the stallion's features for any kind of negative reaction. Truth was, she was just as nervous as Marked was, and she did a terrible job of hiding it. The persistent twitching and swaying of her tail was perhaps the most noticeable thing, probably in an effort to keep some part of her moving in anticipation.

"How about... Four in the afternoon?" Rainbow continued, brushing her mane out from in front of her eyes. "It's early enough where it won't be crowded, but late enough we can stay and enjoy their evening specials. I'll even buy. It's the least I can do for an awesome author like you offering to help me out on this." Now that she thought about it, what exactly did she need help with again? What material should she bring? Were her ideas good enough? Well, of course they were, coming from somepony like Rainbow Dash... But that was besides the point. She would only have a hoof-full of hours to come up with something that Marked could work with. She sighed inwardly... So much for a good nap before the meeting.

Rainbow Dash blinked, curious about Marked's sudden twitch as she tilted her head a little to one side. Her curious implication didn't last long, however, as it suddenly registered that the stallion was offering to bring one of his books. Like, to read! From the author himself! Oh, maybe she could get it signed, and-- The Pegasus stopped herself, realizing that a goofy smile was plastered all over her face. Keep cool, Rainbow Dash. It's just... a book. A book that she's never read before, full of who knows what. Adventure? Suspense? Horror? All three? This could possibly be the best book ever written, and the author just offered to bring it~--

The mare stopped herself again, shaking her head as she cleared her throat, hoping that she didn't make too big of a spectacle out of herself. "That would be... So! Awesome!" Despite her attempts, Rainbow Dash couldn't help but prance in place, if only for half a second before catching herself again. "Umm, yeah," she giggled nervously, trying to play herself off as cool at the same time. "What time do you want to do this thing? I'm free practically all day, every day. Unless I get pony-napped by Pinkie. But that's a completely different story."

Rainbow Dash looked Marked over carefully at first from her cloudy perch, examining his reaction, but more importantly, his well being. Despite her giving a warning in what she thought would be plenty of time to brace himself, Marked didn't seem to have been quite ready for her stunt. Then again, now that Dash stopped and thought about it, nopony could truly be ready for it, even if they had experienced the Rainbow Dry before. It was just simply that awesome. The cyan pegasus beamed brightly at Marked's... remark, offering a rather proud nod of approval with outstretched wings, like she had won a gold medal or something. "Yup!" she exclaimed, now standing on all fours. "That would be a Rainbow Dry. Consider yourself lucky; I don't get to do that very often anymore. Most ponies get... uh... What's that word? Irate? With me. The last time I did this, I had a very angry unicorn come after me with the very cloud I was sitting on. I think it just kinda comes as a shock to them, even if they know what to expect." Rainbow Dash shrugged, now looking over her shoulder to see multiple ponies staring her down. She wasn't quite sure how to gauge their reactions, but she was going to go with the word 'speechless'.

"Maybe if I gave them five seconds," Dash continued, rubbing a hoof thoughtfully against her chin. "Aaaaaanyways, sorry if I didn't give you enough time." The mare finally decided to hop off of the cloud entirely, lazily poking it out of the way, most likely towards Applejack's stall, before moving to stand in front of Marked. As the stallion reflected his preferences back on her, Rainbow Dash began to cycle through different places without a second thought. Her first idea was her very own loft, but when the pegasus opened her mouth to mention it, she suddenly remember that she would have to find a way to get Marked up there. She frowned at herself, quickly abandoning that particular idea while she pondered upon new ones. The cafe? Too bland. Park? Maybe... The Plaza they were standing in now would be too crowded, and most of the outdoors-y diners would likely be busy. Swimming hole? Nah... Rainbow bit her bottom lip, looking in every direction for new ideas. After a few moments of making various, strange faces, Rainbow puffed out her cheeks and finally gave an answer. "I guess we can use the cafe. Not quite my style, but they do have excellent food. Count me in!."