//------------------------------// // Brushing Off the Griffon // Story: A Little Change Season 1 // by StarryCandy //------------------------------// “That will be 20 bits please,” The store clerk said. I was at the grocery store picking up some fruits to make a fruit tart. Ivy’s doing that, since I’m not good at cooking. As I walked out of the store and into the Main Square, I can see Pinkie going around asking something. I really don’t wonder what. “Hi, I'm looking for Rainbow Dash. Have you seen her? Hi there, have you seen Rainbow Dash? Okay, thanks anyway.” I walked towards the direction of my home. That’s when I heard, “Hey Star, before I ask Twilight, do you know where Rainbow Dash is?” I kinda freaked out. “WHOA! Pinkie, I have no idea where Dash is. I haven’t seen her.” I answered. “Oh. That’s okay.” Pinkie trotted off to Twilight, who pointed out exactly where Dash was. Then what I saw was that Dash was flying off somewhere. Pinkie was bouncing off, following her. LATER Ivy was handling the tart in the oven while I was drawing because I’m bored. Then while I waited, I played with my phone. When Ivy came back with the fruit tart, it looked cold. “Something’s wrong with the tart.” I told Ivy. “Huh?” Ivy looked at the tart as if she doesn’t know what happened. I heard laughter. Pinkie and Dash were laughing and holding what looks like a can of colder-rizer. I glared at them, and then smirked. Then I swooped down and left Pinkie and Dash wondering where I was. “BOO!” “AHHH!!!!” Pinkie, Dash, and Ivy all screamed. I giggled. Pinkie and Dash both joined in. Ivy just smiled and shook her head. NEXT MORNING I heard swooping when I woke up the next day. I stared at the window and saw Rainbow Dash and a griffon laughing about something. I decided to open the window and talk. “Rainbow Dash?” I asked, peeking out the window. Dash looked over at my direction. “Oh! Hey!” Rainbow Dash waved me over. I swooped from my bed to my bathroom to my door to where Rainbow and the griffon were. “Hey. My name’s Star and-huh?” I saw pink cut me off in mid-sentence. “Hello! Star! Hi! Dashie! What’s! Up?” Pinkie Pie said between breaths. “What are you doing-“ I trailed off when I saw Rainbow tell the griffon where she’s going. Then when she was gone, the griffon grabbed Pinkie by the neck and said, “If you cross paths with me and Dash again, I swear it will be the last time.” Pinkie looked very scared or something. I decided to follow the griffon to see what happens next. As I went where she went, a balloon appeared out of nowhere. “Star! Come over here!” Pinkie was ushering me. “Pinkie Pie, you are LITERALLY right in front of me. How can I come over?” I asked. Pinkie literally tugged at my ear and told me something that sounded like a party plan, with Rainbow Dash already planning the pranky part of the party so we can get some sweet revenge. Well, Pinkie anyways. SUGARCUBE CORNER. Pinkie was greeting everyone at the door while the other guests made themselves comfortable and settled down. Twilight and Fluttershy were having a conversation. “You've met Gilda, right? What's she like?” Twilight asked. That must be the griffon’s name, I thought. “Oh, um, well, I'll tell you later, Twilight.” Fluttershy answered right back. While Pinkie Pie welcomed the other guests, Fluttershy walked up to her and asked, “Um, Pinkie Pie, about this party for Gilda. Umm... Do you really think it's a good idea? I mean–“ “Don't worry your pretty little head about mean old Gilda. Your auntie Pinkie Pie's got it all taken care of.” Pinkie answered right back, patting Fluttershy on the head and bounced off, obviously seeing someone, while Fluttershy just said back, “I’m a year older than you.” “Gilda! I'm so honored to throw you one of my signature Pinkie Pie parties, and I really, truly, sincerely, hope you feel welcome here amongst all us pony folk.” Pinkie greeted. Gilda grunted, as if she’s not amused. Seriously, Gilda? Pinkie’s parties are lots of fun and action-packed as always. But there are some things here that aren’t even normal… As Gilda shook with Pinkie, she activated a buzzer of some sort, because of the electricity that is zapping her right now. Everyone started laughing, including me, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. It was priceless! Rainbow said, “Oh Pinkie Pie, the old hoof-shake buzzer. You are a scream.” “Yeah! Uh, good one, Pinkie Pie.” Gilda managed. “Come on G, I’ll introduce you to some of my other friends.” Rainbow gestured. “Right behind you Dash.” Gilda mustered, and then eyed Pinkie Pie. “I know what you’re up to.” “Great.” Gilda groaned quietly. “I know what you’re planning.” Pinkie giggles. “Well, I hope so. This wasn’t supposed to be a surprise party.” “I mean, I’ve got my eye on you.” “And I got my eye on you.” Pinkie shot right back. Gilda gave up trying to reason with her. And so, Pinkie Pie continues with her introduction. “Everyone, I'd like you all to meet Gilda, a long-time, dear friend of Rainbow Dash. Let's honor her and welcome her to Ponyville.” Everypony cheers, and me? I cheer quietly, since I saw what happened with Gilda and Pinkie Pie a few hours ago. Pinkie gestured Gilda to a bunch of vanilla lemon drops. “Please help yourself.” Pinkie gestured politely. Gilda looked pleased. “Vanilla lemon drops. Don’t mind if I do.” She said, and then popped one in her mouth. A few seconds later, Gilda spewed out what looked like Flamethrower. “HOT!!!!” Dash showed Gilda some punch in a glass. “G, the punch.” Gilda ran over there just to get a glass, but the punch just spilled all over her. Everypony was chortling. “Well, whaddya know, pepper in the vanilla lemon drops, and the punch served in a dribble glass.” Even Rainbow Dash can’t help but laugh so hard. “Priceless. Priceless!” Gilda finally got a sip from punch, and then gulped. “Yeah, hilarious.” “Hey G, look, presents.” Dash pointed over to the presents table. Gilda walked over to the table, and then opened a present. The present exploded in her face. Everypony burst out with laughter. Applejack said, “Spittin' snakes. Hah, somepony pulled that prank on me last month.” Gilda said back through sarcasm, “Ha ha. I bet I know who that was.” Pinkie looked at her. “You do?” After a while of partying right on the spot, birds started to chime, and everypony gathered at the gigantic cake. “Cake time, everypony!” Pinkie announced. “Hey, can I blow out the candles?” Spike asked. “Why don't we let Gilda blow out the candles, Spike? She is the guest of honor after all.” Twilight said, pushing Spike aside. “Ugh.” I feel bad. Gilda shouldn’t be the guest of honor, but let’s see what Pinkie had planned for this time. “Exactly.” Gilda bragged, as she walked over to the cake, ready to blow out the candles. She did, but the candles flickered back on, and leaving Gilda to keep blowing at the candles, while everypony else laughed at how silly it was. I managed to squeak a giggle, but since I saw most of these kinda pranks on PonyTube, I wasn’t so amused. Spike started to laugh. “Re-lighting birthday candles, I love that prank. What a classic.” Pinkie pretended to think. “Now, I wonder who could’ve done that.” “Yeah, I wonder.” Gilda said. Spike dove into the cake. “Mmm, who cares? This cake is AMAZING!” “Spike.” “What? It's great, try some.” Spike said, shoving a bite towards Twilight’s direction. “Hey G, you're not upset about some silly candles, are you?” Rainbow teased. “No way, Dash. Like I said, I’m down with a good prank.” “Come on then, let’s have some cake.” Rainbow left, while Gilda stood there innocently until the perfect moment to swoop Pinkie Pie behind the cake. I caught her by two whole seconds. “Hey y'all, it's pin the tail on the pony. Let's play.” “Oh, my favorite game. Can I go first? Can I have the purple tail?” Rarity reached for it, but then Gilda rudely snatched the tail away from her. “Well, I am the guest of honor, and I'll have the purple tail.” “How rude.” I whispered to Ivy, who was quiet. “Yep.” “Yeah, Gilda should definitely go first. Let's get you blindfolded.” Pinkie stated. “Hey what-- ugh-- what are you doing?” Gilda groaned as she was blindfolded and given the purple tail. “We're spinning you around and around and then you can pin the tail on the pony. Now just walk straight ahead and pin the tail.” Pinkie Pie instructed. “Now just walk straight ahead and pin the tail.” Gilda mocked. “Humph, yeah, right. This is another prank, isn't it? I'm going this way.” Gilda turned 180 degrees and walked away from the poster. “Wait. The poster is this—“ Pinkie told her, but she wouldn’t listen. Gilda slipped on the materials that were used to make the cake. Pinkie came over and joked, “Uh, Gilda? You pinned the tail on the wrong end.” Everypony laughs again, but none of us notice that the fact Gilda is turning so angry she is going to pop. “This is your idea of a good time? I've never met a lamer bunch of dweebs in all my life. And Pinkie Pie, you! You are queen lame-o with your weak little party pranks. Did you really think you could make me lose my cool? Well, Dash and I have ten times as much cool as the rest of you put together. Come on Dash, we're bailing on this pathetic scene. Come on Rainbow Dash. I said, we're leaving.” Gilda nudged Rainbow to gesture their exit, but Rainbow Dash just stared at her angrily. “You know Gilda, I was the one who set up all those weak pranks at this party.” Rainbow admitted. Gilda gasped. ”What?” “Ooh.” Pinkie said. “OH! BURN!!!!” I yelled from the back of the room. “So I guess I'm queen lame-o.” Rainbow Dash said. “Come on, Dash, you're joshing me.” Gilda said uncertainly. “They weren't all meant for you specifically, it was just dumb luck that you set them all off.” Rainbow said. “Well, there’s a classic, Gilda.” I replied. “I shoulda known. That dribble cup had Rainbow Dash written all over it.” Pinkie realized. “No way. It was Pinkie Pie. She set up this party to trip me up, to make a fool of me.” Gilda said, defending herself. I was sure Pinkie was just being Pinkie, trying to twist Gilda’s mood. Sure enough, Pinkie said, “Me? I threw this party to improve your attitude. I thought a good party might turn that frown upside down.” “Though the pranks weren’t that well played for a changed griffon, Pinkie.” I piped in. “True, true.” Pinkie Pie agreed. “And you sure didn't need any help making a fool of yourself. You know, this is not how I thought my old friends would treat my new friends. If being cool is all you care about, maybe you should go find some new cool friends someplace else.” Rainbow told Gilda. Gilda seems miffed. “Yeah? Well you, you, you are such a, a flip-flop: cool one minute and lame the next. When you decide not to be lame anymore, gimme a call.” She shrieked, and then ran out of Sugarcube Corner. Well, that happened. Now Gilda’s gone, and we can party normally. I just hope it’s permanent. Everypony started whispering since Gilda had left abruptly. Even Twilight was baffled. “I'm sorry everypony, for bringing Gilda here. I didn't know how rude she was. And Pinkie Pie, I'm really sorry she ruined that awesome party you put on for her.” Rainbow Dash apologized. “Hey, if you want to hang out with party poopers, that's your business.” Pinkie replied. “I’d rather hang out with you. No hard feelings?” Rainbow Dash stuck out her hoof. “No hard feelings.” Pinkie joined her hoof with Rainbow’s, and an electrical zap coursed through both their bodies. They turned their hooves, and saw the button wristbands they put on for the prank. They both started laughing. Nopony cared, and we just partied for the time being. Lesson: Dearest Princess Celestia, Today I learned that it's 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. Just continue to be a good friend. In the end, the difference between a false friend and one who's true will surely come to light. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.