It was crushing. "Ponyville's greatest hero"? How could the filly who had run the Rainbow Dash Fan Club give that title to anypony else? Especially Mare-Do-Well, of all ponies! Even her little squirt had changed teams. Rainbow needed to do some thinking. It wasn't like her in the least, but there wasn't much else for her to do.
Was it something about her? Had she done something wrong? Perhaps she was a tad overbearing on those first few rescues, but everypony loved her anyway! Why would they change now?
And especially her friends. She was the Element of Loyalty, and she had always been faithful to that charge, but she had also expected a little of it in return. Like her friends standing by her when everypony else had deserted her. But no, even that was too much to ask. She had heard them lavishing compliments on Mare-Do-Well in Sugarcube Corner, and it just made her sick. Who's side were they on, anyway? She never left them hanging, so what made them so quick to leave her?
Maybe she should just give up the hero thing. She had been in a cold spot lately, since she showed up; maybe she should just let it all go and go back to being normal Rainbow Dash. Nopony really cared about her being a hero anymore, anyway.
NO! She would not give up that easily! She was Rainbow Dash, the best flier in Equestria! She was one of the saviors of Equestria, for that matter! Who did Mare-Do-Well think she was, upstaging her like that? Ponyville was her turf, and she wanted it back. Everypony had cheered for her before: she just needed to remind them why. And the only way to do that was to get rid of their distractions. Namely, one dark, brooding, faceless distraction.
The parade was still days away, and that left Rainbow plenty of time to plan one hero's downfall, and another's return. She spent a lot of her time the next day at home, just thinking about the issue. Normally she would act on the first impulse that caught her attention, but that had gotten her nowhere fast so far. No, she was going to think this one out and make a plan. Twilight would be proud.
It took some time, but Rainbow was able to figure out the one thing that she lacked: numbers. Mare-Do-Well had so many powers, she might as well have been three ponies wrapped into one. Raibow was an excellent flyer, but only one pegasus. She needed a friend. A powerful one. One that she could trust. This course of thought brought her back to her original dilemma: she had no such friends at the time. Everypony was so filled with the Mare-Do-Well craze that she knew that there wasn't a soul in Ponyville that would help her bring her down. In Ponyville. The words resonated in her mind, like a loophole in a contract would to a lawpony. She would have to look abroad.
Rainbow Dash, surprisingly enough, was not the best-traveled of ponies. Sure, she dropped by Cloudsdale every so often, and there were those trips to Appleloosa and Canterlot with the others, but that was generally where her travels ended. She barely knew anypony outside of those few pockets of Equestria, except for one. But even she wasn't sure she'd be able to go back to her. And asking for help, after what she'd done to her, was beyond crazy. Even Pinkie Pie would agree on that.
Zipping through the narrow skyways of Manehatten, Rainbow scanned her new surroundings for any sign the "friend" she had come to find. She had just pulled an overnighter flying to the city, though, and was dead tired. Sensing her own weariness (Was she accepting her limits now? This Mare-Do-Well business was really getting to her), she practically dropped down into the bar of a street-corner cafe. Raw carrot juice on the rocks was all she could think of to pull herself back into the air again, and thankfully they had plenty. A brown-winged stranger sitting beside her noticed the drink, and launched into conversation with her.
"An old friend of mine use to love that stuff. We would go for night-time flying sessions, and she swore it was the only thing that kept her going the next day."
"Funny. I used to go night-flying with a griffon in flight school, but she never liked it that much. Wait..."
"Dash?"
"Gilda?"
Back in a seedy apartment on the other side of downtown, an hour later, two former friends began to try and rekindle what had been lost so long ago.
"So you're not still mad?"
"No, Dash. When you told me I was being a jerk, I blew you off at first. But after I got home, I did some thinking. Totally not Gilda, I know."
"Hey, that bug's been going around lately."
"Anyway, I thought about it, and what you said made a lot of sense, Dash. I figured out I was being a complete jerk, and that's what cost me you."
"Gilda, don't get all mushy on me now."
"Like you said, that's going around. But when I figured that out, I knew I needed to make a change. So I moved here, got a job or two, and I've been trying to be a better griffon ever since. Make up for my jerkiness and all, you know."
"I'm glad to hear it, Gilda. Right now, I really could use an old friend."
"What's up, Dash? I know you wouldn't come just to visit. Something's not right with you. Spill."
"Have you heard of "The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well" ?"
"Kind of. I saw something about her in the paper. She's some big hero in Ponyville, right?"
"Yes. And she also ruined my life. I used to be Ponyville's big hero, until she showed up. Everypony loved me. I was a celebrity. Then she beat me to the punch on a few rescues, and now they're giving her a parade!"
"Ouch."
"That's not the half of it! All my friends are cheering for her. They won't stop talking about how wonderful Mare-Do-Well is. Even Scootaloo."
"Scoots? Dear Celestia, you've got a major thunder-stealer on your hands."
"You know it. Do you know that feeling, getting upstaged like that?"
"Are you kidding? Remember that one colt in flight school who kept doing flashy stunts to distract everyone when I was showing off my new tricks?"
"Yeah, I think so. The one who showed up with broken wings so often?"
"That's the one. I get your feeling, Dash."
"You may be the only one who does, Gilda."
"There's something more to this, Dash. You were never the breed to take this kind of stuff lying down. What are you thinking about?"
"Only because we're old friends, Gilda. I want to unmask Mare-Do-Well. Bring her out into the light for everypony to see. But every time I meet her she gets the better of me. She's got magic, speed, strength, not to mention wings. I just can't beat her alone."
"And you want my help, am I right?"
"Yes. You're the only one in Equestria I trust right now, Gilda. And you're the best flier I can think of."
"No argument there."
"Will you help me?"
The griffon paused in thought for a second. "Dash, the way I see it, before today I did nothing but cause you and your friends trouble. I owe you quite a bit for that. You know I'd do anything to help you out. Count me in."