The birds chirping outside wake you up, you slowly open your heavy eyes, you never liked the mornings. You notice and absent feeling, there’s nothing holding on to you. You look over and notice Gilda’s gone. You look around the room and there’s no sign of her.
You slowly stand and stumble out of the room. You give yourself a small shake, just to wake up. You blink a few times and click your tongue, the feeling of being asleep slowly leaving. You duck down and head downstairs. As you reach the bottom of the stairs you hear shuffling in your living room. You poke your head around the corner and see Gilda pacing back and forth.
“Good morning.” You say. Gilda looks over at you and gives a very faint smile.
“Morning.” She says, she continues to pace.
“Why the pacing? Something on your mind or are you trying to ware down my floor?” You ask jokingly. Gilda looks over at you, her face was calm but you could see something was wrong in her eyes.
“Just thinking.” Gilda says plainly.
“Thinking about what?” You prod.
“You.” Gilda says plainly again.
“What? Why me?” You ask a little shocked.
“Because, I’m a little confused. Why are so open with me, we’ve only known each other a few days, and now you’re letting me into your home and are willing to move out with me. Why?” Gilda asks. You’re at a loss for words, you don’t know what to say, she did have a point, you did only know her for a couple days and now you’re letting her into your life as if she were a childhood friend. You mind had trouble forming what to say, but you finally peeped something out.
“Because we’re rare, and the ponies don’t get that. Griffins are rare in these parts of Equestria, and these ponies don’t like us, I’ve been in this town a year, and only recently the ponies of this town have opened up to me living here. I know how hard it is to live amongst these bigot ponies, and I hate to see others treated like that. There’s a Zebra how comes to town from the Everfree, and when she comes every god damned pony in this town runs and hides, just because they don’t understand her. I know how it feels to be different here, and I hate seeing others treated that way. That’s why I’m helping you; I don’t want you to be treated differently because of how you look. We may have feathers instead of fur and we may have hands and feet instead of hooves, but we are the same as any pony on this god damned planet.” You explain. You were amazed at your little rant.
Gilda seemed to be amazed as well, her mouth hung agape and she stopped pacing. Gilda hung her head; she looked down at the floor.
“You don’t know why they shunned me. I lied to you.” Gilda said, a very shameful tone to her voice. You step closer to her, but she shrinks and takes a few steps back.
“What do you mean? What really happened?” You ask, keeping your tone low, try to make her more comfortable.
“I’m the reason they’re mad at me. It was all my fault, I started a fight at the party the pink pony threw for me. I was the reason for my own downfall.” Gilda says, she looks away trying to avoid your gaze. You simply look at her.
“Gilda, it’s okay. You don’t have to hide anything from me, I’ll be here for you, always.” You say, you reach out and place you talon on her shoulder to comfort her, you feel her tremble under your claw. She looks back up at you, the tears welling up in her eyes.
It hurt you to see such a strong girl have a complete breakdown like this. The days you spent with her proved that she was a strong independent griffin, something you wish you were, but now something has broken in her. Now she’s a quivering mass of tears, and that hurt you to see. You wanted to help her in any way.
“Why, why are you doing this?” Gilda asks, her voice cracking under her tears.
“There’s something you should know.” You say. Gilda looks at you confused.
“W-what?” She stammers.
“Ever since I met you and Dash, I felt something, something I can’t explain easily. I found a strange attraction to you. Why? Hell if I know, maybe it’s because you’re the first female griffin I’ve seen in years, or maybe it’s something else, but whatever it is, it’s right. I dread the moments we’re apart, I revel in joy when we’re together, and I fear I’ll never see you again. So please Gilda, stay here with me.” You say, your heart stops, you’re kicking yourself on the inside. What are you doing!? You idiot, now she’ll leave for good! Your inner voices are screaming.
Gilda looks up at you, no hint of anger in her eyes. Her eyes meet yours and time stops. You find yourself staring into her golden eyes, staring, not moving and not thinking. Silence follows. Time seemed to stand still, nothing moved, nothing made a sound.
You notice Gilda moving now, she was leaning forward towards you, you also lean in to her, she raises her head slightly to meet yours, her beak touches yours, a click could be heard on contact. She leans into you more, strengthening the kiss, you close your eyes and enjoy in what was happening, you heart was also beating a mile a minute. You could feel your cheeks becoming warmer. Gilda reaches up and places her claw on the back of your head, pulling you closer. You happily go along with it, leaning in even more.
A few seconds of holding the kiss Gilda breaks off for air, she gasps and looks at you.
“I like you too.” She says. You smile at her and pull her into a hug.
“Gilda, will you stay?” You ask again.
“I can’t, not with Dash here. That’s why I’m planning on leaving, that’s why I asked you to come with me.” She says.
“But, what of my home here, what shall do with it?” You ask, repeating what you said last night.
“Sell it.” Gilda said simply.
“I can’t, no one will buy right now.” You say.
“You don’t know that, someone could buy it right now.” Gilda says.
“It’s not that simple, it’s a legal nightmare.” You say, you see Gilda getting frustrated at your excuses.
“Well whatever you do, I can’t stay here, the ponies here hate me and Dash lives here, so I can’t stay for more than a day.” Gilda says.
“Don’t worry, I’ll think of something.” You offer.
“Okay, fine, do what you want.” Gilda said, visibly annoyed at your excuses.
You felt bad about giving half-ass excuses about why you couldn’t move, but they were all true, no one would buy right now and changing the deed is a long and annoying legal case.
“Gilda, what’s your story? When did you meet Dash?” You ask, nothing more popped into your head, so you decide to get to know Gilda a little better.
“We grew up together. We went to a flight camp called Junior Speedsters, it was an okay place, met a lot of ponies there, but only one actually tried to be my friend.” Gilda explains.
“Dash?” You interrupt. Gilda nods then continues with the story.
“She was the only one to actually take the time to talk to me and get to know me; she was a true friend, and the greatest enemy. The environment of Junior Speedsters was, tense, to say the least. The instructors pushed us harder and harder every day, it was the worst. Fortunately Dash and I were top of the class, so the instructors didn’t mess with us much. Anyway, the other kids were brutal, they didn’t like the idea of a non-pony being top of the class, and they tried everything to take me down. They rigged the flight course with obstacles to slow me down, needless to say, it didn’t work. Then one day Dash beat my record. You know the Cloudsdale raceway?” Gilda asked.
“Yeah.” You reply.
“Yeah, I set the record lap time on it. Eighteen seconds, I was very proud of that record. Then about a month after I set it, Dash beat it. A flooring fourteen seconds, I think her record has yet to be beat. Anyway, after she broke my record she began very cocky, almost too cocky. She boasted non-stop for a week afterwards, I didn’t blame her, but it was still annoying. After she shattered my record the instructors pit us against each other almost every day. They tried making us into these unstoppable machines, any sign of weakness and you were grounded for a week, it was tough and brutal, but Dash powered on through. I let my emotions get the best of me one day, I went berserk on the track, the instructors caught that and I was grounded for two weeks and confined to my quarters. But everyday Dash came and visited me, she truly is the best. In the two weeks I was grounded I taught myself to hide my emotions, from both Dash and the instructors. It was better that way.” Gilda explains.
“So they would punish you for showing emotion?” You ask.
“Yeah.” Gilda sighed.
“That’s not right.” You say.
“They don’t care; all they were concerned about was the money, my parents paid way too much for me to go to that school.” Gilda says, her tone slightly disgusted.
“Why would your parents send you to a place like that?” You ask.
“Picture perfect I guess. On the pamphlet they don’t show you conditions are truly like.” Gilda says with a shrug.
“Lying to the public, that’s not right.” You say.
“If you think about it, all of the Wonderbolts came from Junior Speedsters, so it would put a bad light on the school if the world knew the Wonderbolts were abused into being the best.” Gilda explains.
“I guess you’re right, still don’t like the idea of abusing children just because they can’t fly fast.” You say in disgust.
“Could be worse, none of died, so that’s a plus right?” Gilda says in a joking tone.
“I guess.” You say, not impressed that she would so easily pass off the abuse as a joke.
“So yeah, that’s how I met Dash, after we left the school she stayed in Cloudsdale for a year before moving here. She helped me a lot with personal demons.” Gilda says, she winces when she says demons. Almost as if she wasn’t over them.
“What kind of demons?” You ask, prodding her deeper for information on her past.
“Family stuff, nothing you need to know about.” Gilda says; her words like daggers.
“Alright,” You say in defeat. You look outside; the sun has risen all the way now. You look back over at Gilda. “We should head to Cloudsdale today and see if we can find you a place.” You offer.
“Probably a good idea, we should go now before all the ponies get outside.” Gilda says.
“Alright lets go.” You say.
You walk towards the door and reach for the handle, but before you can grab the handle you hear a knock. You freeze, your mind is racing. You look back at Gilda and she too is frozen, a look of fear on her face. You signal her to go upstairs, she nods and heads for the stairs. There is another knock, you watch Gilda as she climbs the stairs, and once she was out of sight you open the door. You’re a little surprised at who you see; a light blue mare with a rainbow mane.
“Uh, hey.” Rainbow Dash says.
“Hey, what’s up?” You reply.
“Nothing much, can I come in?” She asks.
“Uh, sure.” You say nervously, you open the door all the way and step aside to let Rainbow Dash in. She walks in and looks around.
“Nice place, seems a little small for a griffin though.” She says.
“Yeah, I might be moving out soon, I don’t know yet.” You reply.
“Oh, where to?” Rainbow asks.
“Back to Cloudsdale, more space there.” You say.
“I see,” Rainbow says. “Did you hear about Gilda?” She asks. You feel your stomach churn when she says that.
“No, what happened to Gilda?” You ask, already knowing what happened.
“She got really aggressive at a party thrown for her; she started insulting my friends, so I told her to leave if she didn’t like it.” Rainbow explains.
“Why would she get so aggressive at a party for herself?” You ask.
“I don’t know, I was hoping you knew something, you were getting pretty close to her.” Rainbow asks.
“No, I haven’t seen her since yesterday morning.” You say. Dash shrugs.
“Hopefully she went back to Cloudsdale, she seemed happier there.” Dash says with a sigh.
“What happened between you and Gilda in Cloudsdale?” You ask.
“Huh? What do you mean?” Dash asks in confusion.
“Gilda mentioned yesterday that you two were very close, she told me about Junior Speedsters and what it was like there, she also told me you helped her deal with personal issues. What kind of issues?” You ask.
“She really told you all that? Wow, you guys must have been closer than it looked like. Yeah I helped her after school. When we were let out she had changed, she changed a lot. She was more to herself and she didn’t really talk much, plus her attitude was very violent and aggressive. But I don’t blame her, I was very much the same, we had to be violent if we wanted to stay first on the board. When we left I was going to stay with her for a few days, just to make sure she didn’t kill anypony. But that’s also when we learned of the worst possible thing. When we got to her house her parents were gone.” Rainbow explained.
“They moved?” You interrupt. Rainbow shakes her head.
“No, they passed away, and the school didn’t tell Gilda. When she learned of her parents passing, she lost it. She couldn’t control her anger or her other feelings. She had a full blown mental breakdown. It was scary to see, but luckily I was there to help her. Ever since she learnt of her parents passing she’s been a little stuck up. But I think that’s a good thing, if she can move on and not think about it as much, I think that’s good.” Rainbow explains.
You were shocked, completely shocked, why would Gilda keep this from me? You think. You just stare off, lost in your thoughts, you couldn’t think of why Gilda would keep this from you.
“When I left Cloudsdale,” Rainbow started. “Gilda was devastated. I was her only friend back in Cloudsdale, and I know that for a fact, she was hard to get along with, she became snappy and even more aggressive, it was a sad transformation to see. One day she very closed off but still willing to talk, and then the next day she’s completely closed off, not willing to talk to anypony and ready to rip your head off if you crossed her path. I’m glad she found you; it seems like she’s really opened up, I’m sorry I drove her away. Anyway, I should be going. Good luck finding a place in Cloudsdale. See ya later bro.” Rainbow says.
“Yeah, I’ll see ya around.” You say, you continue to stare off into the unknown thinking about everything Rainbow Dash just said.
Rainbow walks to your front door, and looks back at you, she had an almost sad look on her face, she looks down then leaves the house. You hear fumbling at the top of the stairs. You look over and see Gilda coming down the stairs. She has tears running down her face.
“I’m sorry.” She says quietly.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” You ask.
“I didn’t want to worry you; I didn’t want to give you my burdens.” She says.
“You could have told me, I understand why you’re defensive but you still could have told me.” You say. Gilda walks closer to you.
“I know I could have told you, but I was afraid to. You have to understand, I was going to tell you, I just didn’t know how.” Gilda says, the tears now flowing down her feathers.
You stay silent, just lost in your thoughts. You didn’t know what to think, you were angry that she didn’t tell you about her family, but at the same time you could understand why she didn’t tell you. It was all just too much for you right now.
“I need some air, I’ll be out.” You say with a flat tone. You walk towards the door but you’re stopped by a tugging on your arm. You look over and see a quivering Gilda grasping onto your arm.
“Please don’t go.” She says. The look the bears on her face is devastating, it bore a broken sadness, something no one should ever experience. It really tore you apart, seeing her like this. You needed some time, time to think.
“Come on, we’re going to Cloudsdale.” You say. Gilda sniffs and nods, you can’t help but feel guilty for her sadness, you heart ached and tore itself apart thinking about her state.
You open the door and wait for Gilda to pass through; you step through behind her and close the door. Gilda takes a few steps forward and takes off; you look at the dirt path outside your house, dark blotches where her tears hit the ground. You wince, unfold your wings and head for the sky. You see Gilda flying a little far ahead; you flap your wings harder to catch up to her, you scan the skies around you, there was a fair amount of clouds and a few that looked like they were going to drop rain at any second.
“Hurry up slow poke!” Gilda calls back. You look at her and give a little smile, it made you happy to see her get a little spunk back. You catch up to her, she looks at you but you can’t read her emotions right now. You look forward and see Cloudsdale coming into view.
“Any ideas on where to look?” You ask.
“Not the heart of the city, houses are always expensive there, let’s try the outside of the city, there’s bound to be some houses there for cheap.” Gilda says.
“Good idea, the cheaper the better.” You say. Gilda nods.
Soon the two of you were in the border of the floating city, on the western side next to the rainbow falls. You haven’t been to Cloudsdale in a year now; it looked completely different, tall buildings and more ponies. Even this early in the day it buzzed with activity; weather ponies coming and going, mail ponies making their rounds and the occasional street cleaner pony, which was odd to see because Cloudsdale never had any litter. You and Gilda set down in the center of town; the clouds were hard under your feet.
You almost don’t recognize the city; a lot has changed since you left. Still, you didn’t have time to think about it, you needed to find a place for Gilda. Gilda grabs hold of your arm and drags you down one of the side streets, heading towards the Rainbow Factory, something inside of you wanted to run from that place, maybe it was all the rumors you’ve heard of that place, or maybe it was something else, either way you didn’t like it.
“This way, there are a few places for sale down here.” Gilda says. She still has a death grip on your arm; you could feel her claw cutting off circulation to your claw.
“Can loosen up a little, I can’t feel my hand.” You ask. Gilda looks back at you and chuckles.
“Yeah, sorry. Houses go fast here, wanted to get a jump on the market.” Gilda says, she loosens her grip on your arm.
“I was thinking the other side of town; I have bad memories of this place.” You say.
“Okay, wouldn’t hurt to check.” Gilda says, her tone was very rushed, she was also moving very fast.
She lets go of your arm and spins herself around and begins in the opposite direction. You stumble to catch up to her.
“Gilda, why’re you going so fast? We have all day.” You say.
“I don’t know, I just want to do this fast, the sooner the better ya know?” Gilda says over shoulder. You shrug and continue to follow her at pace.
The two of you make it through the floating city, dodging the ponies that didn’t move, the streets were crowded now, and the daily city commotion was in full swing. Now you remember why you moved to Ponyville, the noise, you couldn’t stand the noise. The business of the city seems to have increased; you don’t remember it ever being this busy.
“Come on, I see a few for sale signs down here.” Gilda says, she grabs your arm once more and pulls you down a little side street.
The way the clouds were modeled here was interesting, the street was modeled like the cobblestone streets back down in Ponyville, and the houses looked the same, but bigger of course. The prices listed on the signs were pretty low as well. It was affordable, spacious, and you could actually see yourself living here.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down there,” You think. “You’ve known her for what, three days now? Now you’re planning on moving away with her?”
“No, I mean, maybe?” You reply to yourself.
“Seriously? You’re going to leave your friends back there for some girl?” Your thoughts beat into you.
“Some girl, some girl!? No, I’m doing this for her, she’s lost everything, and now I’m the only one left in her life, I’m not letting her down.” You argue back with yourself.
“Okay lover boy, do what you want, just remember those you left behind.” You inner conscience echoes.
You were lost in your head, your inner self was telling you to stay in Ponyville, but your gut told you to stay with Gilda, you were torn. You wanted to stay with Gilda, make her feel wanted again, but you also wanted to stay with your friends back in Ponyville, whichever choice you made you’d be hurting someone. Your head began to ache the more you thought about it. You shack your head, trying to get the thoughts out, that’s when you notice Gilda was talking, you snap back to real life and look at Gilda, and she looks kinda pissed.
“Uh, pardon? I was miles away.” You say.
“This place looks good huh?” She asks. You look up at the cloud made house, it looked like yours back in Ponyville, same shape and design, only difference was this looked bigger, big enough to fit a griffin or two.
“Yeah, looks good. How much is it?” You ask.
“Two thousand bits.” Gilda says.
“Not bad, the lowest I’ve seen in this part of town was six thousand, and that was a year ago.” You say.
“Should we get it?” She asks. That’s when your thoughts come back, it’s either live with someone you’ve only known and abandon your friends, or go back to Ponyville and leave someone who has been crushed and destroyed alone. You could feel your head ache returning.
You had to think fast, you could see Gilda growing impatient. You shut off your brain and wing it.
“Yeah, put our names down.” You say. You brain comes back with a vengeance, your thoughts screaming at you.
Were you crazy? Probably, but you really didn’t care anymore, the deed was done and there was no turning back now.
Gilda screams with delight, she throws her arms around your neck and hugs you tightly. You return the hug and smile slightly; your thoughts were scolding you.
“Thank you.” Gilda whispers in your ear, she leans over and kisses you on the cheek. You release her from the hug; she looks over at you with a smile on her face.
“For you, it’s no problem.” You say. Gilda smiles at you then leans in and kisses you on the beak; she pulls back with a very, saucy, look on her face. You smile back at her.
“Well, I guess I should head back home and get started on selling my home. You should start here with the deed for this house, I’ll see you later?” You say.
“Definitely.” Gilda says, she winks at you and flies off.
You unfold your wings and take to the skies, you head for home.
“Idiot! What was I thinking; I don’t have that kind of money!” You say aloud. You were quite angry with yourself, why would you abandon the friends you worked so hard to get?
None of it mattered now, you were moving away, most likely never going to see them again, and you were moving in with someone you actually cared about. Things could be worse.
You glide through the clouds, you drop through. You flap a couple times to keep yourself just below the clouds now. You look over at Ponyville which was now coming into view. It was raining there; it was raining rather hard actually.
It looked too dangerous to fly through; you feared getting hit with lightning. You head for the ground. You feel the rain hitting you on the way down; you bring in your wings a little tighter, increasing your speed to the ground. Once you’ve landed you shake off your wings and fold them to your sides. You walk along the dirt path leading into Ponyville, it was soggy and muddy from the rain, your feet splashed and squished along.
After a few moments of walking you made it to Ponyville, you walk past your home on the way to the city hall; you went from the dirt paths to the cobblestone streets of the square. Only a few ponies were out, mostly foals and fillies playing in the puddles. You walk past it all, mind set on a single goal, selling your house as fast as possible. You walk up the stairs at the front of city hall, you wipe your muddy feet on the small straw mat they have outside the doors; you put one claw on the door and push it open.
You look around the inside, it was surprisingly bright, and it almost hurt your eyes. You look over at the front desk, there was a very bored, charcoal colored mare sitting behind it. You walk over to the desk and the mare looks up at you.
“How can I help you sir?” She asks.
“I’m looking to sell my house.” You reply.
“Alright, I’m going to need the address and the reason for selling, and then you’re going to have to fill out these forms.” The mare says. She reaches under the desk and places two forms on the desk, she slides the over to you then slides a pen over.
You look down at the papers. It was a standard selling contract, nothing to fancy or complicated.
“Thank you.” You say. You take the pen and papers; you walk over to one of the wooden benches to fill out the forms.
The bench was cold and uninviting; you sit and look down at the forms. You sigh and begin filling them out. About ten minutes later you’re done. You stand, stretch and head over to the desk to hand in your forms.
The mare takes your forms and looks them over. She looks back up at you.
“Moving to Cloudsdale huh, what for?” She asks.
“More space, my house here is getting a little small for me.” You say.
“Alright, well sir, bring this slip to the bank informing them that you have legal forfeited your property deed, they’ll pay you the amount owing, you’ll have seventy-two hours to move your belongings out.” The mare explains.
“Thank you. Take care now.” You say.
“Have a good one sir.” The mare says back.
You turn and leave city hall. You head over to the Ponyville General Bank to get your money. The rain has died down, now it’s only a light spit compared to the downpour you had to walk through to get here. You arrive at the bank; it was a big building, tight security too. You walk through the doors; it too was surprisingly bright on the inside. You approach one of the tellers, this one was a stallion, he looked shifty, but looks can be deceiving.
“Good Afternoon sir, how may I help you?” He asks.
“I sold my property.” You reply, you slide the slip over the counter to the teller. He looks at the note and looks back at you.
“Okay sir, please wait here.” He says. He turns and walks out of view. You look around, more ponies were out now that the rain had died down, and ponies were now coming and going from the bank. The teller returns with a hefty bag of bits in his mouth. He plops it down on the counter, it make a heavy clang when it hit the counter. He slides it over to you.
“There you go sir, four thousand bits. Anything else?” He asks.
“No, that’ll be all.” You say, you take the bag and tuck it under your wing; you nod at the teller and leave the bank. Wow, faster than I thought. You think.
You head home now, you needed to start packing. On your way home the rain stopped. You look up and see some weather ponies clearing the clouds away.
You finally reach your home; you push the door open and look around. You sigh thinking of all the time you spent here. You drop the bits in the living room. You head for the basement. You rummage around in the basement looking for some boxes, you find a few, and in fact they were the same ones you used a year ago when you moved here. You bring them upstairs and begin packing, a tear rolls down your cheek.
A few hours later you’re done. Your boxes are all full, now you needed to get them to Cloudsdale.
You hear a knock on the door, you walk over and open the door a crack. You peek out and see Gilda; you open the door completely to let her in. She steps in and looks at your stack of boxes.
“So this is it huh?” She says looking around.
“Yeah, this is it.” You reply.
“How much?” She asks.
“Four thousand.” You say.
“Wow, that’s a bit.” She says.
“Yeah.” You say in a monotone voice.
“I’ll help you get your stuff over.” Gilda offers.
“Okay.” You reply, not changing your tone. Gilda lowers her head and faces you.
“I know it’s not easy, but you know it’s for the better.” She says, her tone soft and caring.
“Yeah, I know. It’s just hard.” You say, your voice cracking a little. You can feel tears welling up in your eyes. Gilda leans over, kisses you on the cheek and pulls you into a hug.
“It’ll be okay, you have me… And I have you.” She says.
You close your eyes; you feel the tears running down your cheeks. You sniff and open your eyes. You hug Gilda back, you feel her rub your back. She lets go of you and looks you in the eye.
“Let’s go cry baby, we have work to do.” Gilda says in her old joking tone. It did cheer you up a little to see her with her old spunk and personality back. You wipe your nose and walk into the living room. You pick up a box and fly out the door; both you and Gilda carried one box at a time over to the new house.
An hour later you and Gilda moved all the boxes to the new house and begun unpacking. It was getting dark now, so you two only unpacked the kitchen supplies and the bedroom fixtures.
The sunset was amazing in Cloudsdale, you loved how the clouds took on the color of the sunset or rise, the city was no different. The city became as pink as the sun; it really was a sight to see.
You rummage through the kitchen and pull out an old bottle of wine, it was the gift your parents gave you when you moved out, you’ve never opened it.
“What’s that?” Gilda asks.
“A present from my parents, I’ve never opened it.” You say. Gilda opens a cupboard and pulls out two wine glasses.
“Well there’s a first time for everything.” She says while setting the glasses down on the table.
You take one of your claws and dig it into the soft cork, you twist the bottle and the cork comes right out with a delightful pop. You flick the cork onto the counter and pour the wine into the glasses. Once there is a healthy amount in each glass you stop pouring.
You pick up one glass and Gilda picks up the other. You raise your glass.
“To new beginnings.” You say.
“To new beginnings.” Gilda says, she raises her glass to yours, the glasses tink together.
You smile at Gilda and take a sip from your glass.
You look out at the setting sun. It was now a crimson color, it made the city shimmer.
Like the setting sun you forget all past transgressions, and like the rising sun you start a new chapter of your life. A new happier chapter.
So on the wings of a dream you end this chapter and move onto the next.