“Dash, the hay do I do?” Gilda louringly asked. “I can’t just go back and tell everyone to just wait it out. Might as well stay in this… what the hay do you call it… ah, yeah, club.”
“Yeah, say hello to our Empress. Ain’t she just a darling?” Rainbow mirrored the griffon’s tone. “Well, she gave you something for your time, at least. That’s already more than I would’ve expected her to.”
“You mean this?” Gilda reached into her bag under their table, returning with the emerald pendant, “And what I am supposed to do with this, exactly? It really looks like she’s laughing at me. I can’t sell this and even if I could I wouldn’t, and I think she knows it.”
“What’s the deal with this piece of junk? It’s just a fancy necklace.” Rainbow gulped some beer from her bottle, passing the initiative to Gilda.
“This ‘fancy necklace’ is older than your whole damn town! It was a family heirloom in Grover’s dynasty!”
Rainbow whistled,
“About… six hundred years, or so, right? Never got why you, folks, are obsessing with old things so much. I mean, if you like shiny things, you can have better ones now. Also, the Canterlot Castle is still older than your necklace by a few hundred years… or was older, anyway,” the pegasus grinned across the table.
“Dash, anyone ever told you you’re stupid?” Gilda shot back.
“Pretty often, actually,” Rainbow pointed at her eye, which was shining black even through her blue coat. “That’s Rarity’s way of saying it.”
“Hah! You got beaten up by that stuck up? Really? Damn, you got soft. Gimme that.” Gilda seized Rainbow’s bottle for herself.
“Yeah, laugh it up. You know, she’s a lot stronger than she looks. All of that running around with some nonsensical palace business must’ve been good for her.”
“The hay did you two even fight over? Can’t imagine it being anything ordinary,” Gilda put the bottle back on the table, after having had a good swig.
“Well, it did get sort of ordinary in recent years, we really don’t get along much now. Not after that stiff sold us all out. You meeting Nightmare Moon instead of Celestia is partially her doing,” Rainbow gloomily retorted.
“Would’ve never thought she is the money taking type,” Gilda scratched her chin.
“It’s not money, G. Actually, coming to think about it, I don’t know the hay did she even get out of this. Hag just keeps wiping hooves at her and Rarity keeps loving her more for it. I don’t get it, it can’t be just the privilege of licking Hag’s shoes.”
“Maybe she just likes the taste. Listen, Dash," Gilda returned back to business, "you know anyone around here who might be able to help? Twilight doesn’t look she’s interested and I don’t know anyone else here.”
“Nah, Twilight would’ve helped you if it was up to her," Rainbow waved dismissively. "Hag just keeps her to sit in the archive and research stuff, basically what Twilight always did anyway. Twilight thinks she can do some good from that position, I guess to each her own delusions. At least Twilight doesn’t lick her butt, unlike Rarity does.”
“Ain’t you are an officer in her army?”
“It wasn’t exactly voluntarily,"Rainbow grumbled. "Me and AJ tried to kill her, and she sent the two of us away to fight changelings instead. At that point resisting was pointless.”
“Well, you’re still here. She let you two go, didn’t she?”
“And what the hay am I supposed to do instead? I don’t, exactly, have any choice now either. I am not getting any other job with this kind of reputation and I don’t have AJ’s farm to live off," Rainbow grabbed back her bottle with a sharp movement.
“Also, I don’t exactly go around killing anyone for her. Now I just sit around the barracks all day, doing nothing besides signing papers and annoying her Imps, and getting paid for it. She also gave me my own unit to train as I see fit. Could be worse, I guess.”
“Imps?”
“Yeah, the Imperial Guard, those goons that stand around the palace.”
“Heh, Imps, I like that one," Gilda grinned slightly. "So, you know anyone who could help?”
“Well, you can try Cadance. Hag kinda left her alone in the Crystal Empire. I don’t think she’ll have a lot to offer you though,” Gilda sighed and dropped her head on the table.
“Your place is a real dump these years, you know that? It’s almost as bad as home.”
“Toast.” Rainbow grabbed the bottle again and finished it in a few gulps.
“Might as well try dragons or hippogriffs at this point,” Gilda continued. “Actually, I never tried seaweed before.”
”Look, G, I’ll have a word with AJ, she might have something for you. It’s all apples, but it’s something, right?” Gilda sighed again.
“I really hope your apples can grow up till the next year, otherwise we are all done for,” Gilda finished with a thud on the table.
“Yeah, you need a bit more than this one bottle with the odds like this.” The pegasus mournfully eyed the now empty bottle.
“Dash, I’ve got a job to do, I didn’t come here to drink!” Gilda flared.
“Well, let’s start with this shiny bit,” Rainbow offered. “Knowing how Hag is, she gave it to you for a reason.”
“Yeah, to laugh at me. This thing is priceless, don’t get me wrong, but I can’t do anything with it.”
“Tell me why it’s special.”
“Well, it was sort of like a part of the royal accessories, until Guto fell on his face and ruined everything. The rumor says that it could turn the winds to give speed to knight hosts and ships, but it’s just a fairy tale from Grover’s times. No one ever seen it actually doing that.”
“Well, my place at Ponyville is free if you fancy. Should be kinda dusty at this point, though.”
“Yeah, Dash, exactly. Any other ideas?”
“Honestly... I dunno,” Rainbow gave up.
“Exactly. Mind if I stay for a while? I need a little time to think about how to tell other griffons they are going to die.”
Gilda stood up from her chair.
“Well, my place at Ponyville is free if you fancy, should be kinda dusty at this point, though.”
Rainbow Dash took her turn to stand up and followed her Griffon friend out of the club. A stallion at the next table asked for his bill.