Atop of a secluded mountain, where the wind ceased to violently blow, a lone griffon sat cradling a photo. She glanced down at the picture, hot tears stinging her face as the snow blew against it. She could hear herself sobbing, she could feel herself shaking, the cold seeping deep into her body, surpassing her feathers. She didn’t want to, but she couldn’t stop staring at the shaking photo in her claw. In it sat a blue-colored Pegasus mare, a smile on her face nearly as bright as the chromatic colors of her mane. Next to the mare was a beaming griffon, happily squeezing her friend into a half-hug. Across the bottom of the photo, written by mouth in permanent ink, read ‘Friends for life’.
She shivered again, the coldness stinging her body as more tears streamed down her face. Her heart was throbbing like a painful metronome, each beat signaling just as much, if not more pain than the last. The pain was welling up inside her now as she crumpled up the photo, still holding it in her shaking claw. She looked away, tears coming freely from her tightly closed eyes. She knew from her shaking figure that if she stayed in the snow any longer she could very well freeze to death. Ice had already begun combing over her claws and feathers, making her body that much colder. She didn’t care though; she didn’t care about anything anymore. On the contrary, she welcomed death’s sweet embrace as she was already knocking on its door. No one would care if she dropped dead anyways, it was fitting, in her opinion, that she froze in solitude.
The griffon opened her eyes again, looking to the sky above. The clouds were gloomy and hung below the sky like a thick blanket. Snow was falling in blizzard like proportions from the ocean of clouds. Tears still streamed down her coldly stung face, refusing to let up. She felt like just laying their, falling down on the snowy terrain and slipping into a deep, and hopefully, permanent sleep. She couldn’t get up and fly away; she lacked the strength to, both mentally and physically. She had spent so much time in the cold now that it had sufficiently sapped all of her energy. If anything, she could very well die this night. She sighed, a deep and heavy sigh. So, this how she’d go out then? Dying with a whimper in a lonely snow valley, no one even knowing what happened to her until some random hiker or Pegasus found her frozen corpse. The griffon laughed coolly to herself as she kept her eyes fixed on the overlaying clouds, out of all the ways she could die, she’d never thought it’d be this way.
Suddenly, a small opening appeared in the cloud ceiling, showing the blue sky that rested above. She brushed it off as nothing, probably just a cloud moving in a different direction from another one. But, her theory was soon disproved, as a brighter spec of blue came through the opening, and began to rapidly speed towards the ground. Was that…?
The feathered beast shook her head violently, struggling to stand up from where she was sitting just moments ago. It couldn’t be, there was no possible way. She shook the snow off of her head, starting a run at break-neck speed towards the blue spec’s direction. As it came closer and closer, its shape and colors became more apparent. It was… it was a mare, a Pegasus. But, there was something that made her different, that allowed her to stand out. Could it be? The griffon’s run had been replaced with a sprint, her body going as fast as she could force it to. She leapt into the air, spreading her feathery wings out and catching the drift of the wind, using it to haul herself into the sky.
Sure enough, it was just as she had expected, and it boggled every part of her mind. It shouldn’t be true, it couldn’t be true, but it was. The griffon quickly made a beeline to the Pegasus, using her wings to stay in a still hover above the ground. The mare in front of her stopped suddenly in surprise, nearly crashing into her.
“Hey, watch where you’re going!” The blue pony spat in an angry tone as she wiped the snow from her eyes. Upon receiving clear vision again, she studied the figure in front of her; almost instantly her expression softened, being replaced with a kinder and more worried one “Gilda…?”
Gilda shook her head, staring in pure amazement at the mare in front of her. So this was happening then, either that or her body temperature had dropped to the point where she was seeing hallucinations. She closed her eyes, opening them once again to the same exact mare, the mare that was now giving her a look of confusion.
“Rainbow Dash…?” The griffon asked, her voice shaky and quiet as a few more unintentional tears ran down her face. The Pegasus only smiled, gently wiping the tears off of her cheek.
“Yeah G, it’s me,”
Gilda couldn’t contain herself as she became overwhelmed by emotion, she suddenly moved forward, pulling the mare in front of her into a deathly tight hug. The Pegasus gave a surprised “whoa” before she gently returned the hug, holding the griffon close to her. Gilda didn’t know why or how she was here, but she was here, she had found her. The creature began to cry into her friend’s shoulder, squeezing tighter.
“There there, it’ll be alright,” Dash’s voice was soft and understanding, or at least was trying to be as she patted the feathered lion-eagle’s back.
“How did you even find me?”
“Shhhh” The mare’s voice was pleasant and quiet, something that happened only once in a blue moon for her. Gilda listened, resting her head against the pony’s chest and softly crying. All of the sudden, things seem to feel less cold. She allowed her friend’s warmth to seep into her body. It was bliss, she didn’t care if there was no explanation for it, it didn’t matter.
When she opened her eyes, she was on the ground again. The griffon looked rapidly from side to side, trying to piece together what had just happened. Her eyes stopped upon a figure on top of her. Had she blacked out? Now she was holding her fast asleep friend close to her body, instead of being held close by her. She blinked, looking around, they were still in the snow valley, right on the spot she had been sitting previous to seeing Dash. She shrugged lightly, laying back down and holding the sleeping pony close. She assumed that it was probably just a small blackout from one too many hours in the snow. She closed her eyes again, enjoying the feel of her friend’s softly beating heart upon her chest. She had never admitted it, not to anypony, not even to the pony she was holding right now, but she loved Dash. She was in love with her, as deeply as a griffon could fall for a pony. She couldn’t explain it, or why or how it happened, she only knew that she began to fall for her Pegasus friend during flight school. But it was still love all the same, right? A wide smile graced her beak as she tightened her grip on her friend, holding her ever so closely.
She opened her eyes again; nothing was different this time, thankfully. She was in the same snow valley, on the same hill, holding the same pony. The same pony who now felt abnormally cold…
Gilda jumped, looking down at the snow floor below. Where… where was Dash? She combed the ground with her eyes, searching every last centimeter. She was gone. But how? How did that even happen? Was… was she dreaming? She shook her head again, turning all around, searching for something, anything to let her know her friend hadn’t just left, or that she had been there in the first place. After she turned all the way around, she was faced with something she never expected. It was Dash, but, something was… off…
Her chromatic mane had been replaced with varying shades of fading black. Her eyes matched the color of her mane, black, nothing but black in them. She stared the griffon down, an expression of disappointment and anger on her face. She looked just like she had the day they had last seen each other, minus the black hair and dead eyes, when she had been embarrassed in front of a whole room of ponies. She didn’t even say anything; she just kept staring at her with that lifeless look in her eyes. Gilda had to admit to herself; even as tough as she was, with her friend staring at her like that she was cringing up in pure terror. Was she really seeing this, or was this a figment of her imagination? She couldn’t believe it, it just looked so terrifying. She just wanted it to be over, hoping that it was all just a dream.
Gilda opened her eyes once more; she was back on top of the hill again, still cradling the photograph in her claws. Had she just dreamt all of that? She sighed heavily, crumpling the photo and throwing it in the nearby snow. She ran a claw over her head, stopping at her eyes to wipe her wet tears. Why did she have to be such a jerk? Why did she have to yell at that stupid yellow pony? She could still have her friend, her crush, if she hadn’t been a royal piss of a griffon. But it was too late now, she had flown for so far and so long, she wasn’t even in griffon territory anymore. She cried, sobbing into her freezing claws. One thing was sure enough, she was alone, Dash wasn’t there, and she had just had some pretty vivid dreams.
She lay down on the frozen ground below, too tired to fly and look for shelter or sustenance. Would she die here? She didn’t know. Did she care? She honestly didn’t. Her eyes blinked open one last time, looking at the blank and lifeless snow terrain beside her. She let the snow and frost blow over her feathers, nulling her into a forceful and unintentional sleep.