Rainbow dash flew brazenly through the clouds, passing them breezily as she practiced tricks for her 4th attempt at impressing the Wonderbolts this month. The first time Pinkie got a twitchy tail, tingly hooves, and eyebrow spasms which meant flying would be too dangerous that day. The other two attempts were both thwarted by the cutie mark crusaders needing help right after the Wonderbolts arrived. She loved those three fillies but they couldn’t go one afternoon without upsetting a hippogriff or getting trapped in a cave.
"Cutie mark crusader spelunkers my flank!" She mumbled angrily.
But today would be different. The Wonderbolts were doing a special airshow to commemorate the mayors 40th birthday and she would wow them after their performance with a new trick she invented that morning. It involved doing a sonic rainboom while punching through a series of clouds and drizzling a dazzling rainbow rain on the audience.
She lazily daydreamed about the performance. When she finished Soarin would eat a celebratory rainbow frosted cake with her, Spitfire would congratulate her on a job well done, oh and there would be so many sexy fan mares throwing themselves at her…
She got so wrapped up in her thoughts she didn’t notice the bright pink balloon floating in front of her until she crashed headlong into it and landed in its basket.
“Hiya Dashie!” Pinkie said happily, bouncing in the basket shaking it enough to make it sink a little. “You’re just the pony I was looking for!”
Dash awkwardly picked herself off the floor of the balloon and sighed “Yeah, I had a feeling I was. So, whatcha need Pinks?”
“I wanted to make sure I had the right timing but I thought there was someone you would want to talk to.” The party pony, as always, smiled but a glimmer in her eyes begged to be taken seriously.
“Now I know it’s been a while and you may not want to see her but she’s super-duper sorry and she really wants to apologize. She’s been learning to stop being such a meanie mc grumpity pants and I think they did a terrific job if I do say so myself. So please give her a chance, ok Dashie?”
Dash raised an eyebrow. There weren’t many ponies who could make Dash angry and beyond that make her angry enough that they needed special introduction. She had no idea who it could be until she heard a familiar beating of huge non pegasi wings behind her and saw a pair of sharp talons clasp onto the side of the balloon. These familiar appendages belonged to a large brown griffon with purple eye shadow and a very memorable attitude problem. Gilda Griffin. The “queenie meanie” herself.
“Hiya lame-o, came to say hi to the flip flops, dweebs, and dorks?” Rainbow dash spat at her sarcastically. Pinkie pie glared and she sat down quietly.
“I deserve that” Gilda frowned, her beak quivering a little “Look dash, I know I was a serious jerk. I crossed the line about a million times. I already apologized to Fluttershy, and Pinkie, and even the little old mare I scared. But the most important apology was saved for last. It’s been too long and I want to set things right.”
“Whatever you haveto say, you said at Pinkie’s party two years ago. You made that perfectly clear to me and all the other ponies there.”
Gilda flapped her wings uncomfortably but stood her ground “Now look dash, you were my best friend. We got each other through Junior Speedsters and had great times in Cloudsdale. You meant a lot to me and I treated like yesterdays birdseed. I’m really truly sorry Dash, and I’ll do anything I can to make this up to you. Please just give me a cha-”
Rainbow dash violently stomped the floor of the balloon, putting a crack in the wicker as she stared the griffon down “Who the hell do you think you are anyway? One day you’re a badass bird of pure awesome who doesn’t need anyone and the next you’re all sad and asking forgiveness? What happened to you? Who’s the real flip flop here?”
Pinkie pie held up a hoof and walked closer to Gilda for emphasis “This isn’t the same Gilda from years ago that’s why. We hate to hide things from you Dash, but Gilda has been getting a little anger management counseling and therapy from Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy. They taught her to be a better bird…lion… thingy. The point is, they worked super hard to help her the past couple months and all so she could tell you how she feels.”
Gilda sighed thinking about the sessions. Fluttershy’s overly calm sweet voice assuring her that her anger could be controlled and that it was “Umm… maybe a little… umm rude… to call people names and umm…. belittle their existence”, and Twilight Sparkle furiously searching through psychology books and diagnosing her with every disorder she could find. The two had meant well enough but they were a very odd couple to work with, and when one doctor is pointing her horn at you and yelling that you have antisocial personality disorder and the other is hiding behind a chair quaking in fear of your presence, recovery is a long hard road indeed.
Seeing how serious and pensive the griffon looked made Rainbow dash pause and think. “Wait, so you’ve been in Ponyville for months? Where have you been living? Why didn’t you just come to me in the first place?”
“Because I wasn’t ready to yet. I practiced talking to you a million times but every single time I called you a lameo, and screeched at you or I called you a dweeb and clawed at you. I don’t…DO things like apologies. At least I didn’t. I literally had to learn to be nice from the ground up, even though its uber uncool, I knew I couldn’t talk to you until I did. I want my best friend back Dash, especially at such an important time in my life.”
Dash nodded still full of suspicion and frowned. “You didn’t answer the other questions.”
Gilda and Pinkie looked at each other awkwardly and blushed.
“What?”
“I uh….” Gilda started rubbing her neck with her claw, “I’ve been staying with Pinkie in her room above sugarcube corner.”
“What ? Why the hay would you need to stay there? I mean no offense or anything but couldn’t you have gone to a hotel? Or stayed in cloudsdale? Why Pinkies place?”
Gilda blushed an even deeper red and smiled a bit “B...because…I uhh…. I wanted to live with my fiancé.”
Rainbow dash looked at Pinkie for a moment and Pinkie, an equally incriminating shade of red, nodded in agreement and beamed happily. Dash went wall eyed and stumbled backwards. The other two reached to help her but she had already raised her hoof in salute and flopped unceremoniously out of the basket and towards the ground several stories below.
Pinkie turned to her lover and frowned “I told you we shoulda let gummy tell her.”