When the griffon woke up that morning, she was warm. There was a heavy winter blanket on top of her, not a heavy blanket of winter. She could feel all her talons and toes. Her muscles still ached when she uncurled and stretched, but they only ached and didn’t hurt her anymore.
And there was another warm mass of fur and feathers lying at her back.
Gilda turned away from the window and sat up beside Rainbow Dash. The pegasus was sprawled out over half the bed, exactly as Gilda remembered she used to nap on clouds. “Come on, Dash,” she called. “Time to wake up.”
She had to try that twice more before she got incoherent mumblings and a batted hoof from the pony.
“Fine, be that way,” Gilda conceded with a sigh. She reached under the blankets and ran her talons along Rainbow’s ribs.
The blue pegasus nearly shot out of bed with a loud whinny. “Ack!! Not cool, G! No tickling!”
Gilda sat back, her tail swishing against the bedsheets. “Heh heh, that always did get your lazy flank moving.”
Rainbow rubbed a hoof over her face in an effort to finish waking up. “Well, now that you’ve gone and done that, what now?”
A loud gurgling was heard through the room as Gilda’s stomach answered for her. “Uh, I’m thinking breakfast. It’s been,” a self-deprecating grin cracked her beak, “a while since I had a real one of those.”
Dash sat up, tossing aside the blankets. “Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Twi cleared this place out pretty good before she left. Believe me, I checked. Not much of anything left for breakfast.”
“Your place then?”
“Not much better,” Rainbow replied with a grimace and shake of her head. Her chromatic mane fell about her neck and shoulders with its usual unkempt abandon. “We’ll have to do Sugarcube Corner if you want a proper meal.”
Her brain was still lagging behind her body because it took Gilda a few seconds to realize what that meant. “Sugarcube? That means-“
“That you have to apologize to Pinkie? Yes.”
Gilda ducked her head to avoid the pegasus’ hard glare. “You sure that’s something you want me trying first thing in the morning on an empty stomach?” she asked, hoping for any excuse to get out of even seeing the pink menace.
“This is important, Gilda,” Dash replied, using the griffon’s full name for emphasis. “You don’t have to become friends with her, but wouldn’t you like to at least bury the hatchet and rest easy? You know I won’t have my friends angry with each other. And Pinkie is my friend, too.”
Gilda groaned. “You’re not making this easy for me, Dash.”
“Hey, if I wanted to make it hard, I’d have you apologize to Fluttershy first!”
The full-body shudder was something she just barely managed to repress. “We’ll work up to that one, okay? Short flights first.”
Rainbow nodded and stretched her forelegs and wings. Holding her forelegs above her head, she gave her neck a twist that had it almost as far as Gilda could turn her own, though with a might more cracking involved. She settled things back into place and looked over at the griffon in bed with her, backlit by the morning sun. “You’ve always been my friend, G. Sometimes a little hard to get along with, but still my friend. I’ve always been willing to give you a second chance. Just don’t make me regret it, okay?”
The sincerity and warmth in the pegasus’ words touched Gilda deeply. Her throat was a little tighter when she answered. “I’ll do my... I won’t.”
She got a smirk in return. “At least you picked a good time of the year for trying to turn over a new leaf.”
“Why? What’s today?”
“It’s New Year’s Day,” Dash told her. “New year. New beginnings.”
Gilda brought a paw up to her face. “Dang it. I was supposed to come to work on New Year’s Eve. Boss is gonna skewer me for sure. And it was one of those ‘slip up one more time and you’re out the door’ situations, too.”
“G, you almost froze to death in a blizzard, just tell him that. If that doesn’t work, then I’ll fly there and knock some sense into ‘em myself!”
“As much as I’d love to see you throw down with him, I think I’m through with fighting for that dead-end job. Im’a get a new job! New beginnings and all that junk. Hopefully, something that stretches my wings and gets me out of town more often.”
“You mean like a deliverymare for Equestria Express? Or Royal Gryphus?”
“Dash. Do you really think either of those would hire some rough and tumble griffon? Let alone trust her with sensitive packages?”
“Well, G. Back in Junior… f-flight camp, I was the fastest pegasus there!”
“Yes, Dash. I’m sure everypony and their sister knows that by now.”
“Eh heh, yeah. I was the fastest, but I never really thought about the records I set. Until I enlisted for the weather patrol, that is.”
“Alright, I get it. Your records landed you a nice, cushy job. What’s it got to do with me?”
Dash began to smirk. “What I’m getting at, is those records talk, and while I set all the speed records, Gilda,” the smirk morphed into a smile, “you set all the endurance records. And those services will be positively drooling for a griffon with your skills.”
“I-I… wow, I never really thought about it like that before,” Gilda stammered out, her mind already looking at new opportunities opened up.
“Yeah, and when you combine all your records into one file, you get your resume. You do know what that is, right?”
Gilda stared back with a firm, ‘do I Iook like an idiot’ expression on her face.
“H-hey, if you stick around after breakfast, maybe we can catch Twilight and she can help you out.”
“Um, Dash? Whatever happened to short flights first?”
“Oh. I did say that, didn’t I? Oh! I know!” Dash jumped out of bed and hurried out of the room.
With a roll of her eyes and shake of her head, Gilda followed. She was glad the pegasus wasn’t there to see her wince when she finally got all four legs on the floor. At least the lingering stiffness started going away the more she walked. When she arrived in the library proper, Dash was still buzzing between bookshelves, frantically searching for something.
“Ergh, where was it? I just had it yesterday! Aargh!” The pony zoomed all over the library, nearly toppling the statue on the center table in the process.
Serves her right for rearranging the bookshelves.
“Ah hah!” With a cry of triumph, she returned with a book in her teeth. Passing it to Gilda, the griffon read the title aloud.
“Your Resume and You: The Comprehensive Guide.”
“Seeing as I’m the one in charge of this here library at the moment, I deem thee worthy of borrowing this book for as long as thou likest.”
“R-really? You’d do that for me? Thank you, Dash!”
The pegasus scratched the back of her head. “Yeah, I have my moments.”
“But, you’re suure Twilight won’t mind?”
“Oh come on, G! This is a public library, Ponies check out books like, all the time.” She frowned. “‘Least I think so. Never actually seen it happen. Anyway, it’s only one book, it won’t be missed,” she concluded, waving off the whole thing with a hoof.
The growling of Gilda’s stomach made itself known once more.
“Alright, time’s a wastin, and this bookhouse is crampin’ my style. I need some sky!”
"Sky is... something I haven't had in far too long," Gilda replied as she spread her great brown wings and gave them a few test flaps. For the first time in forever, they felt ready and eager to soar. "I'll be sure to go easy on you so it feels like old times."
The pegasus let out a merry, raspy laugh as she lifted into the air with a quick flap of her own wings. “Oh that's the way it’s gonna be now is it?” She started zipping around the library, swooping down to playfully taunt Gilda. “You think you can catch the fastest pony in Equestria, you old frozen turkey?”
For the first time in a very long time, Gilda let out a genuine laugh as a smile split her beak. Dodging the flitting pegasus once more, Gilda crouched and lept, catching her friend in midair and landing them in in a heap. Dash’s shrill laugh filled the library as Gilda’s talons found her sides again.
“Okay, okay!” Rainbow wheezed, managing to disentangle herself. “Enough of that! We have to get going if we want to avoid most of the hung-over ponies from last night and get us a good meal.”
Gilda shook herself out, settling her feathers. “Best thing I’ve heard all morning, Dash.”
Dash reached out and laid a soft, blue wing against Gilda’s brown-feathered shoulder. “Old friends?”
The griffon looked down at the wing that rested against her, then back up at the rose-colored eyes of the pegasus opposite her, the smile still on her beak. “Old friends.”
“Hopefully some new ones soon, too. If you’re willing to give them a chance, G.” She slid the wing off and folded it against her back once more.
Gilda bobbed her head in a nod, her golden eyes never leaving Rainbow’s gaze. “Yeah. I think I would be.”
The End