"Aw yeah! This is what I'm talking about!" Rainbow Dash cheered as she looked at the Cutie Map. Seeing both her mark and Pinkie's floating over the map of Equestria. "Looks like I get to see some action!"
Pinkie was bouncing around the room! "WE GET TO GO ON A FRIENDSHIP MISSION!"
"And it looks like you're being summoned to Griffonstone." Twilight noted as she looked at the map. "You two could learn so much!"
Rainbow Dash's boastful mood was shot down a few mere seconds after hearing the destination of her and Pinkie's friendship mission. Pinkie then zipped over to her. "Hey Dashie? Isn't that where that meany pants old friend, Gilda, lives?"
"Yeah..." Rainbow Dash said with a frown. "And now we gotta go to place where her people live. Chances are that I'm gonna see her mug again."
Twilight sighed at seeing Rainbow Dash's foul mood. "Would you feel better if I had someone from Burst's team go with you?"
"I guess having Steel by my side would make it a bit more bearable." Rainbow Dash said with a sigh. Sure enough, she was off to Griffonstone alongside Pinkie and Steel.
Steel took note of Rainbow Dash's foul mood. "I take it you're less than thrilled to be headed for your old friend's home?"
"You have no idea." Rainbow Dash said with a scowl.
Steel put an arm around his girlfriend. "Hey. Maybe not all the griffons are as bad as she is."
"That's not the problem!" Rainbow Dash snapped! "The problem is that Gilda was a total jerk to all my new friends! Maybe she wasn't as good a friend as I thought she was."
Steel gave Gilda a small smile. "Or maybe she just forgot to be a good friend after the two of you parted ways. Me? I regularly write to all my guard buddies back at Canterlot and I drop in on them every now and then. The point I'm trying to get across is that maybe this could be a chance for the two of you to patch things up. I'm not saying you gotta be all buddy-buddy with her, but at least try to get on speaking terms with her."
"Steel...." Rainbow Dash let out a defeated sigh. "I can't make any promises."
Steel pulled Rainbow Dash into a hug. "And I'm not gonna force you to Rainbow." Steel then saw the entrance to Griffonstone. "Looks like we're here." However, the group was shocked to see how run-down everything looked. "...What in Tartarus happened here? Looks like the place was hit by a tornado." Steel then noticed a griffon walk by. "Hey? Could you-?" The griffon just shrugged Steel off. "Geez! What's their problem?!"
"Maybe you'd care to retract that earlier statement of yours about griffons?" Rainbow Dash suggested.
"Nah. Some of them are WAY worse than that." A familiar voice called out. The three turned their heads in the direction of the voice, and saw Gilda laying bored on the roof of a house. She turned to face them. "Oh. Rainbow Dash." She then noticed Pinkie and frowned slightly. "Puffball." Gilda then directed her gaze at Steel. "Guy who's got guts made of titanium."
Steel blinked. "Close. My name's Steel." Steel then took another quick glance at Griffonstone. "Care to tell us how everything fell apart? We heard that this place was once the most proud city on the face of Equestria."
"Yeah!" Pinkie chimed in. "Didn't your king have an idol that filled everyone with pride in being griffons?"
Gilda sighed. "We don't have a king anymore. But who cares about some stupid idol anyway? We're doing fine on our own without it."
"You best believe we care about that idol!" An old griffon called from a window in what was assumed to be Gilda's house. "That idol was the best darn thing to ever happen to us griffons!"
Gilda rolled her eyes. "Great. We woke up Grandpa Gruff."
"Can you tell us more about the idol?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Gruff nodded. "I can. For a few bits." Pinkie handed over the bits, and Gruff told then all about how the Idol of Boreas had filled the griffons with a great sense of pride. And how it had been stolen by a monster and lost to the Endless Abyss and that there had been no king since then.
"...Wow." Rainbow Dash said in shock. "That's so-"
"Pathetic." Steel interjected. Rainbow and Pinkie were in shock at Steel's remark! "I won't lie. Hearing that you lost a precious relic to your people makes me feel for you. But just because the idol is gone doesn't mean your pride has! You could still have pride! Pride in how far you had come since your greedy beginnings!" Steel sighed. "But you were just willing to let go of your pride as soon as the idol was out of the picture. And none of you seem to be willing to do something about it. How far you've all fallen." Steel looked to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie. "But I guess it's an easy fix. Find the idol. Get everyone's pride back. Want some company on your search Dash?"
Pinkie then zipped over to Gilda. "I'll stay with Gilda and try to fix things here!"
Rainbow Dash nodded, and took off with Steel to the Endless Abyss with rope in tow. "The winds here aren't like any we've seen before!" Rainbow Dash noted as a gust blew past her as she and Steel climbed down the cliffside.
"No kidding!" Steel replied as another fierce gust blew past him! "It's like there's a mini vortex that's sucking the wind in!" He then spared a glance at the abyss below. "And I wouldn't want to fall in!"
Rainbow Dash nodded, and scanned the area. Her eyes lit up when she spotted the idol! "Hey, I see it! There's the Idol of Boreas!" Rainbow Dash tried to swing herself over to the idol, and scooped it up! "Yes! I got it!" However, the ropes started to snap! Fortunately, the rope caught on a branch! "That was way too close!"
"Yeah...no kidding." Steel said as he tried to maintain a cool head. "Dash? Leave me."
"What?! Why?!"
Steel sighed. "Look. The branch won't be able to hold both of us for long. Plus, the idol's only adding to the weight. If I manage to swing you loose, you'll be able to get help. So leave me."
"No...no I can't do that!" Rainbow Dash protested! "I'm not gonna leave you!"
Steel shook his head. "Dash. I'll be fine. I can hold my own. Why's it such a big deal that you're leaving me here?"
"BECAUSE I DITCHED YOU WHEN DISCORD WAS LET LOOSE!" Rainbow Dash screamed! She then closed her eyes. "I might not have been in my right mind when I did it. But the fact remains...I deserted my friends when they needed me! I left them! And some part of me still has a lot of guilt for abandoning them! Abandoning you. And I couldn't live with myself if I did something like that again." Rainbow Dash looked into Steel's eyes. "You're too good for me y'know? You put up with how hot-headed I am, and bear how impatient and reckless I can be. And you take me down a peg when you need to. Heh! Listen to me getting all mushy. And it takes us hanging over possible death to get me pouring my heart out to you."
Steel sighed, and slowly smiled. "Well, no one I'd rather be left hanging with than you."
"Nice of you to try and make light of the situation." Rainbow Dash said with a chuckle.
"HEY!" Rainbow and Steel looked up to find Gilda and Pinkie looking over the ledge. "Need a lift Dash?" Gilda asked.
Rainbow smiled. "What's it look like to you?" Gilda flew down to help Rainbow Dash and Steel and managed to help her get loose. However, the branch holding her and Steel gave way and Steel began to fall! "STEEL!" Rainbow Dash immediately took off in an effort to grab onto Steel!
"Dash...what're you doing?!" Steel cried out!
Rainbow Dash grabbed onto Steel! "Like I said! I'm not leaving you! And I can't think of anything more disloyal than letting you fall without doing anything to help you!" A white glow soon enveloped the two, and soon faded! Gilda and Pinkie were waiting at the top and soon found a rainbow streak whoosh past them! Rainbow Dash soon landed with Steel in her arms. Her wings now had a rainbow lightning pattern bordering them, and a rainbow-magic aura covered her hands! "Wait. Did I just become an Avatar?! This...is...AWESOME!"
"My hero." Steel said with a loving smile. "Wait. What about the idol?"
Gilda shrugged. "Eh. No big deal. I was giving some thought to what you said earlier. Maybe I can help make things better here. Plus.." She then fist-bumped Pinkie. "Puffball here is pretty rad." She then received one of Pinkie's famous crushing hugs. "Yup. Rad."
"All's well that ends well." Steel said with a chuckle. "I think you know what to do when we get home Pinkie."
Pinkie beamed! "AVATAR ASCENSION PARTY!!!"