The Wind Under Your Wings

by Wanderer D

The Wind Under Your Wings Pt. 3

Gilda rubbed her beak and red puffy eyes with the flat of her claw before staring at Rainbow Dash with blatant incredulity, while the pegasus herself stared right back, wide-eyed. The stalemate continued until, with a faint scratch of metal on stone prefacing the inevitable, another picture frame finally came loose and crashed onto the floor.

The sudden sound and breaking glass snapped them both out of their stupor, the pair immediately looking at everything else but each other. This was a rule. This was the number one rule they had silently set between themselves years ago during flight camp.

They were not weak. They did not cry. They did not feel pity for each other.

If such an impossibility were to happen, then they would look the other way while whatever it was that made it look like the other was anything less than cool, passed and then they would both resume being awesome.

The problem was that no matter where Rainbow Dash looked, there were signs that Gilda was anything but okay. Trophies were broken, lying in a pile with the broken pieces of the shelves they had been on. Claw marks starting just above where the highest one would have been indicating just what had happened.

Cutlery and kitchenware were strewn around, with a fork sticking straight out from one of the walls. No matter where she looked, there were signs that her fri—Gilda was not okay. That's even ignoring the sniffles.

Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth and closed her eyes tight. Gilda never sniffled.

She turned around, glancing at the hunched-over figure of the griffon, desperately and obviously trying to put herself together, and thought furiously. What would her friends do? It took her a moment to think about it and she groaned internally. This could go really bad.

But she steeled herself and carefully approached Gilda, taking a deep breath before she carefully wrapped her hooves and wings around her.

She felt the griffon tense immediately, and Gilda's voice was little more than a hoarse whisper when she spoke up. "What are you doing?"

"I don't know, alright?" Rainbow Dash answered, leaning her chin on Gilda's shoulder. "It just… felt like the right thing to do."

"I-this is some dweeb p-powerplay you're pulling, Dash."

"I'll stop if you want." Rainbow Dash sighed, ready to let go, but was surprised when she felt Gilda's claw gently take hold of her hoof, pressing it against her feathery chest.

"No. Just… stay like this for a little while. You already made it awkward, let's just milk it for all that it's worth."

"Uh. Sure." Dash blinked. "Now that I've made it awkward."

They stayed embraced for enough time that when Rainbow Dash finally stepped back, she could feel pinpricks on her forelegs as the blood flow returned. She grimaced and stretched, moving her legs and hooves slowly and intentionally, trying to get the feeling to go over quickly. She watched as Gilda moved quietly across the place, picking up random objects and piling them on a small mound of salvageable things, and a much bigger 'scrap' pile.

"So, what brings you?" Gilda asked, not looking at her as she continued rummaging around.

"I uh, wanted to check on you," Dash said, carefully walking around things until she was standing in front of Gilda, with the two piles in between. She felt something crunch under her hoof, and looked down to a broken picture of the two of them, back when they were kids. She picked it up, carefully removing the pieces of glass before putting the picture itself on the 'salvage' pile. "I guess, it's a good thing I did."

Gilda stared at her for a moment, then looked down with a rather pained face at her broken stuff. "I wasn't going to do anything stupid."

"Maybe," Rainbow Dash granted, "but look at all of this, you can't tell me you're fine."

Gilda sighed, her shoulders visibly sagging before she jerked her head towards the entrance.

Rainbow Dash followed her and sat next to her at the edge of the cliff. The exact point where she had come in.

"This was my place," Gilda said after a moment. "After Flight Camp I got a couple of jobs, you know, the usual tough girl stuff." She motioned with her claw at some random pieces of armor. "Bodyguarding this Earth Pony, or joining the foreign legion for the minimum three years. I was all over the place, but the good thing was that I didn't have to spend my money. Finally, I ended up here, and I bought this place… I uh…" she coughed looking away.

"It's pretty cool," Rainbow Dash said. "It's too bad I couldn't see while it was in one piece. I can't figure out how you had the balcony made."

"Reinforced cloudwork," Gilda said, "I think you would have liked it. But I, uh… pulled the plug earlier today."

"I heard."

"Right." Gilda looked over her shoulder at her pad behind her.

"Is… this one of the reasons you went to Ponyville to look me up?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yeah," Gilda sighed. "Yeah, yeah. It is."

"Why didn't you invite me over instead of hanging in Ponyville?" Rainbow Dash asked, "we could have avoided all of that trouble!"

"I—"

"And you wouldn't have had to threaten Fluttershy, or—"

"They were stealing you from me!" Gilda snapped, then, wide-eyed clapped her beak shut with a loud smack.

"They weren't." Rainbow Dash sighed. "I'm here, right? Come on, tell me why you took things so personally."

Gilda closed her eyes. "I've been… in really rough places, Dash. I know up here—" she tapped her head "—that you can have any friends you like, and they probably don't have it against me." Her eyes took a pained look. "But down here…" she tapped her chest. "When I saw how happy you were there I just…" she trailed off mumbling something.

"I'm sorry, what?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I couldn't hear the last part."

Gilda looked conflicted, but she took a deep breath and let it out slowly before getting a serious expression and turning to look at Rainbow Dash straight in the eye. "I-I said that—I knew that you… had no reason to… come be with me."

Rainbow Dash blinked. "You mean visit? With a bachelor's pad like this? Hell yeah I'd visit."

"That's not what I mean."

They stared at each other, with each second making Gilda's crest feathers slightly puff out more and more. While Rainbow Dash stared right back with a slightly lost expression.

And then it hit her.

"Oh." She cleared her throat. "So, that time when we were younger and you kissed me because you wanted to practice for when the real thing happened with somegriffon you liked…"

Gilda looked away guilty, clearing her throat loudly. "Ah—yeah. T-that was the real, um, deal." She gulped. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Rainbow Dash said with a small chuckle. "I liked it." She immediately backed away when Gilda's head snapped back to look at her. "Whoa! Hold on! Just because I like kissing girls, doesn't mean…" She coughed. "Okay, it does mean that in my case, but that still doesn't mean we're happening."

Gilda looked up at her crest, and down at her feathers, all giving very vivid signals of where she was emotionally and mentally at that exact moment. "Um." She quickly used her claws to pat them down, then sat up straight and started preening, pretending indifference. "Oh?"

At that Rainbow Dash burst out laughing, and after a moment of guilty giggling in a most un-griffon-like manner, so did Gilda. They laughed for a while, just sitting together, right where they were until the mirth died and became a comfortable silence.

In the distance, over the sea, the sun slowly made its way down, the sunset slowly calming them as they stared at it all.

"I like you Dash," Gilda said.

"Duh," Rainbow Dash retorted. "Everypony does. I'm Rainbow Dash!"

"Yeah, but I really, really like you." Gilda looked up at the clouds. "It's stupid, but my big plan was to fly in, show my innate superiority to all your dweeb friends, and um… kiss you. And uh, bring you here." She touched the tips of her claws together. "To stay. With me. I've liked you since I was a cub and you were the coltish filly of the lot."

"Hey!"

"You've made me feel happy and appreciated," Gilda continued. "Coming to the camp was a big thing for someone like me, from Griffonstone… and you made it worth it. Even coming back here to work my ass off so I could go back the next two years. You were always my goal." She looked down at the balcony. "I never thought you'd say no."

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes, hearing Gilda's words and her sincerity. Could it work? Did she want it? Was it worth it?

"I didn't say no, exactly," Rainbow Dash spoke up.

Gilda stared at her. "Um. Yeah. You did. You pretty much told me to find some cool friends somewhere else."

"Well, yes." Rainbow Dash shook her head. "I was not in a good place an—"

"Hey, no need." Gilda interrupted her, urgency in her voice. "I did it to myself. Don't apologize for standing up for your dw—um, friends." She sighed and played with a stray piece of wood that hadn't gone down with the rest of the balcony. "I want to blame my upbringing, culture and… you know, excuses… but I should have known better. I'm sorry."

"It's not to me that you should be apologizing."

A pained expression crossed Gilda's face, but then she frowned and gave Dash a look. "Wait, you're telling me to apologize to Flutterspry and Pinkie Die?"

"Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, yes," Rainbow Dash corrected, standing up. "We'll fix your place up first though. I know how to reinforce clouds, and I think I saw a colony of Diamond Dogs nearby, I'm sure I can trade some of my gems for their help fixing the balcony."

"Wait, you want me to go back with you to Ponyville?"

'Ah, what the hell.' Rainbow Dash grinned and gave Gilda a peck on the side of the beak. "Only if you want to see if we can work out. If not, I'd like to have you back, but either way, apologizing to them, and getting to know them is the first step." She waited for a moment, then turned to look at Gilda, who was standing there with her beak hanging open.

Without a word, Rainbow Dash reached over and pushed the beak shut.

That snapped the griffon back into reality. "Seriously?!"

"Seriously," Rainbow Dash said, grinning. "Now, where's the guest room? You said that you wanted me over, right?"

With a pomf! Gilda's wings were wide open. "I—I only have… the king size bed."

Rainbow Dash instinctively had hers pomfed-up as well. She immediately channeled her inner Rarity. "Bold."

"Um. Yeah."

"Come on," Rainbow Dash interrupted her, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "I saw the sofa. Let's clean it up, and I'll crash there. We can get started on everything tomorrow."

Gilda's eyes slowly became less panicky and her shoulders sagged in relief. "Yeah."

Comments

[Nyerguds]

Welp, this didn't quite go in the direction I expected. Let's goooo

With a pomf! Gilda's wings were wide open. "I—I only have… the king size bed."

Rainbow Dash instinctively had hers pomfed-up as well. She immediately channeled her inner Rarity. "Bold."

Ha. Indeed.

[Herald of Opera]

It's good to remember the sheer "psychotic ex-girlfriend" vibes Gilda gave off in her first appearance.