Unfortunately, Midnight didn’t see Pinkie anywhere and had no idea which way she went. Deciding to try the town market, he went there. As he stepped past various stalls, he heard all the salesponies shouting out deals about their wares, keeping his eyes peeled for the color pink.
“Where could she have gone?”
For a moment, Midnight thought he saw Pinkie but realized the pink mane wasn’t dark enough and then noticed it as the crowd parted just enough to show it was Fluttershy. She was busy leading some ducklings through the area.
Isn’t that just adorable? I think I’ll go say hi.
He made his way towards Fluttershy, seeing her walk backwards and making sure the ducklings followed single file, and speaking soft words of encouragement. But as her attention was on what was in front of her, she failed to notice the griffon she bumped into behind her.
“Hey!” the griffon snapped, and Midnight easily figured this must be Gilda.
She was indeed a griffon, half eagle, half lion, a brown leonine body, her forelegs were eagle claws, her eagle head covered with white feathers, her eyes yellow, and large brown wings. Those eyes, predatory and hostile, narrowed upon the butter-yellow Pegasus.
“Oh! Please excuse me.”
“I’m walkin’ here!” Gilda glared at the frightened pony.
“I-I’m sorry… I was only…” Fluttershy stammered softly.
“Oh I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” mocked Gilda. “Why don’cha watch where your’e going, doofus!”
Midnight felt a fury inside, a familiar protective urge he had felt from time to time since he was little, the kind of protective instincts a big brother has, seeing poor Fluttershy shaking, and Gilda taking a big inhale. Fluttershy’s eyes widened in terror, her ears plastered to the back of her head, her body frozen.
Midnight realized what was about to happen and shouted, “HEY!”
Gilda stopped and noticed him.
“What’s your problem, this don’t concern you!”
Midnight walked over, putting himself between poor Fluttershy and Gilda, as he glared at her.
“Turn around and walk away.”
“Walk away, huh?” Gilda sneered. “And what’cha gonna do to make me, bluey?”
“I’m warning you…!” Midnight narrowed his eyes.
“Thanks for the warnin’,” Gilda mocked as she took another breath, preparing to roar and scare them both off.
Midnight’s eyes and horn glowed as Gilda felt her beak clamp shut, her eyes bulged in shock, as she felt her wings pinned to her back and her body lift off the ground. She gaped nervously at Midnight, his eyes glowing white as he said in a low tone, “You’re going to leave right now, and you’re not gonna give anypony any trouble! Now make like an egg and beat it!”
Midnight used a telekinetic pulse and sent Gilda tumbling a fair distance away, everypony watching as the griffon shook her fur and feathers, looking furious.
“You’ll pay for that…!”
“I said, beat it!” Midnight fired another telekinetic pulse, this one striking the ground near Gilda, making her flinch that it’d been so close and her feathers ruffled at the sound of the ricochet. Growling but knowing this unicorn was not playing games, she gathered the remnants of her dignity and flew off.
Suddenly, everypony in the market started cheering and stomping their hooves, Midnight a little overwhelmed but smiling appreciatively as he waved them all off and turned to Fluttershy, still shaking.
“Are you alright?”
Fluttershy’s eyes were streaming with tears but she nodded. Midnight gently wiped them away, saying, “It’s okay, I won’t let her or anyone else bother you like that.”
“T-thank you…” Fluttershy whimpered as Midnight gently helped her up, Midnight giving her a smile.
“That was stupendous!”
They looked and saw Pinkie bounding towards them, “Good thing you showed up, Midnight!”
“Pinkie! What’re you doing here?”
“I saw the whole thing,” Pinkie explained, “I knew it! I knew that Gilda was a grumpy mean-meanie pants!”
You weren’t kidding!” Midnight agreed. “And neither was Thunderlane.”
“Well don’t worry,” Pinkie giggled, “cuz I got a plan.”
“And what might that be?” Midnight raised a brow.
“I’m… gonna throw her… a PARTY!” Pinkie cheered.
Midnight as well as Fluttershy gave her a look that was unmistakable. It read ‘are you serious’.
“Well that’s not all, silly-willies!” she waved them closer and whispered conspiratorially.
Everything was in place. Midnight hadn’t been certain of Pinkie’s plan until she’d explained to him and Fluttershy in great detail. Now, they were in Sugarcube Corner, ready and willing, now just waiting for everyone to arrive.
“I’m glad to see you and Pinkie took my advice, Midnight,” Twilight said to him.
“Well, when Pinkie decided to throw this party for Gilda, I decided I should get on board,” Midnight replied with a smile.
“So I take it you’ve met her, right?”
“Oh yeah,” Midnight answered with a raised brow, “She’s quite a card.”
“I look forward to meeting her myself!” Twilight smiled but looked around. “So where’s Pinkie?”
“With Rainbow Dash, scrounging up some party favors,” Midnight was looking forward to tonight.
“Hey Twi!”
They looked and saw Applejack waving Twilight over to the other side of the room. Midnight prodded Twilight’s shoulder, saying, “Go ahead, I’m gonna go check on something.”
Twilight nodded and went over while Midnight turned around, only to find himself face to face with Rainbow Dash. And the look on her face was not friendly.
“Just what are you up to?”
“Excuse me?”
“This party,” Rainbow was sounding accusatory, “Gilda told me about a blue unicorn giving her trouble earlier at the market. A blue unicorn without a cutie-mark.”
“Giving her trouble?! I think she left out a few certain details!” Midnight snapped at her.
“I don’t wanna hear it,” Rainbow snapped back. “Y’know, I was willing to let that trash wagon incident fly, but after hearing how much of a bully you are, I don’t want you here!”
“Are you even interested about why Gilda and I butted heads?!” Midnight demanded.
“GET OUT!” Rainbow screamed, drawing every eye in the room on her.
It took everything he had to not lash out, Midnight felt a desire to blast Rainbow but forced it down as he whispered, “Fine.”
He stepped past her, and ignored the smirk on Gilda’s face. But before he could touch the door, somepony yelled, "Now wait just a minute there, Rainbow!"
Everypony looked to see Pinkie giving Rain bow Dash the stink-eye.
"Gilda started the fight, not Midnight, and he only butted heads with her cuz' she was being mean to Fluttershy!"
"What?!" Rainbow gave a questionable look to Gilda, whose feathers look ruffled.
"Aw, c'mon Dash!" Gilda acted as though she were being persecuted, "You don't actually believe this doofus, do you?"
Rainbow Dash's brows furrowed, "This 'doofus' is my friend... Fluttershy, are ya here?"
"Here I am, Rainbow," Fluttershy held up a nervous hoof and Rainbow Dash looked at her.
"Fluttershy, was Gilda giving you a hard time today?"
Fluttershy noticed an evil look from Gilda that made her hesitate but then she saw Midnight look away sadly and continue towards the door.
"Yes! She acted horribly to me, just because I accidentally bumped into her! I was just trying to help some darling little ducklings across the street and I didn't see her. She said terrible things to me, but Midnight came to my defense."
"It's true, Dashie!" Pinkie nodded firmly, "I saw the whole thing!"
Rainbow gave Gilda a glare, the griffoness looking nervous.
"Gilda, I want the truth. Is this true?"
"Well- I- It's just- Oh come on Dash!" Gilda griped, "What do you care what these lame-os think or say!"
"I care because they're my friends," Rainbow went over to Midnight and invited him over as she also said, "and friends tell the truth and don't treat others the way you have been doing, apparently!"
"Dash! You can't tell me you'd prefer to hang with these dorks than with somebirdy as cool as me?!" Gilda growled.
"Gilda, this is not how I thought my old friends would treat my new friends, and if being cool is all you care about," Rainbow answered with a stern look, "then maybe you should go find some new cool friends someplace else."
"Rrgh, yeah?!" Gilda flared her wings angrily, "Well, you- You... are such a flip-flop - Cool one minute and lame the next! When you decide not to be lame anymore, give me a call!"
She turned to storm out but saw Midnight opening the door in mocking courtesy. She growled as she passed him by, only to yelp as Midnight slammed the door shut, hitting her rear end on her way out.
"Not cool," Rainbow commented, Spike adding, "Talk about a party-pooper!"
Murmurs of agreement and comments rang through the attendees as Rainbow Dash announced, "I'm sorry for bringing Gilda here, everypony. I can't believe what a jerk she really was."
"Don't sweat it, Dash," said Thunderlane as he walked up to her. "It just means we should all learn to be better judges of character."
"Yeah, and I really misjudged you, Midnight," Rainbow said apologetically to him. "I should've allowed you to give your half of the story rather than just take Gilda's word for it. I hope you can forgive me..."
"It's alright, Rainbow," Midnight levitated a cupcake to her. "It's not a bad thing to trust your friend, but you must always give the benefit of doubt."
"That's because trust works both ways, Dash," Thunderlane added.
"And Pinkie Pie, I'm really sorry she spoiled this awesome party you threw for her," Rainbow said to the party pony.
"Hey! If you wanna hang out with party-poopers, that's your business," Pinkie shrugged.
"Well, I'd rather hang with you, no hard feelings?" Rainbow held out her hoof and Pinkie accepted it.
*ZZAAP, ZZZTTT*
They laughed and revealed to everypony they were both wearing hoof-buzzers, spurring laughter from everypony else. when it died down, Twilight walked up to Pinkie, saying, "Hey, Pinkie, sorry i accused you of misjudging Gilda. Looks like I'm the one who misjudged you."
"It's okay, Twilight!" Pinkie assured, putting her foreleg around Twilight's shoulders, "Even you can't be a super smart, smarty-smart pants all the time. Come on, everypony! There's still a lotta party to finish!"
That night, everypony had a good time. Rarity won Pin the Tail on the Pony, Rainbow managed to get Midnight to open a can labeled 'peanuts', only for fake snakes to pop out, making everypony laugh, Pinkie served up another cake, and Thunderlane lost a hoof-wrassle with Big Mac.
When it was all over, Midnight and Rainbow talked with Twilight, who got an idea for her next Friendship Report.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I learned two lessons about friendship! Or rather, I learned one and my friend Rainbow Dash learned the other.
I learned it can be hard to accept when somepony you like wants to spend time with somepony who’s not so nice. Though it’s impossible to control who your friends hang out with, it is possible to control your own behavior.
Rainbow learned how trust runs two-ways, after she realized how she had misjudged somepony and another. Trust must be shared on both sides for a true friendship to survive, but so long as you have faith in a good friend and continue to be one yourself, in the end you’ll be able to tell the difference between a false friend and one who’s true will surely come to light.
Your faithful student,
Twilight SparkleP.S.
Once again, Midnight has surprised me.