20 - Old Friends
Rainbow Dash landed just outside of the entrance to the Everfree Forest. In the dark of the night, it was difficult to make out anything at all, and her ears detected nothing but the sounds of the crickets chirping all around her.
“What am I doing out here?” she asked with a sigh. “Of course she’s long gone by now…” Flapping her wings, Rainbow Dash turned around and flew back towards her cloud home. She entered through the window leading into her bedroom and found that Trixie was still resting peacefully in the bed, hugging the pillow Rainbow Dash had slipped in to act as a substitute whilst she was gone.
Carefully, Rainbow Dash removed the pillow and slipped back into the bed as slowly as she could, taking care not to wake up the mare next to her who was… staring with wide-open eyes and a sly smirk. “A little midnight fly to calm your mind?”
Rainbow Dash laughed nervously as she sat up straight. “Did I wake you up? Sorry ‘bout that.”
“Trixie is a master of deception,” Trixie said as she sat up and held the pillow she was hugging moments ago in her magic. “Did you honestly think that she would fall for amateur stuff such as this?”
“I just needed to clear my head a little and didn’t wanna wake you,” Rainbow Dash explained.
“About that griffon, right?” Trixie asked, using her magic to turn on a nearby lamp next to Rainbow’s side of the bed. “You’ve been acting off ever since that encounter.”
“It’s… personal…”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie is willing to lend an ear,” Trixie said, turning her head away and scratching the back of her neck as her face turned a slight shade of red. “I mean, you’ve helped Trixie before in the past, twice. It’s the least Trixie can do…”
“It’s kinda a long story.” Rainbow Dash felt something pushing the back of her head and suddenly found herself lying faceup in Trixie’s lap.
“Then you’d better get started, because the Great and Powerful Trixie wants to hear it.”
With a sigh and a smile, Rainbow Dash took a moment to decide where she should begin. “Well, things were kinda rough back in flight school…”
Rainbow Dash stomped angrily down the halls of the Cloudsdale Flight Academy’s dormitory whilst grumbling beneath her breath. The halls were empty, because it was well past the time that students were allowed to be out. Rainbow Dash was the exception, because she had been called to the principal’s office on account of her fighting with the other students.
Ever since she had entered the academy, Rainbow Dash had had nothing but grief from the older students, and also from three colts in her classes. Her rainbow hair made her stand out, which it turned out was the worst thing you could do in a place like that. Not only that, but it seemed that making a declaration of becoming the future leader of the Wonderbolts had caused the older students to ‘challenge’ her to ‘make sure she was ready’. Rainbow Dash knew better, though. She knew that it was just bullying.
Today was no different. Hoops had hidden her lunch from her when she turned her back for just a few moments, and when he returned it it was half-eaten, so Rainbow Dash lashed out and kicked him in the face. She was pulled away by the teachers and put into isolation for the rest of the day, then called to the principal’s office and, of course, a letter was sent home to her parents.
She was finally let out after curfew had passed. It was clear that the teachers considered her a danger to the other students, but she didn’t care. She didn’t care for much at that point.
She opened the door to her dorm room and stepped inside, finding her roommate Gilda sitting on her bed. “‘Bout time they let you out,” Gilda said as Rainbow walked in.
“Well, duh,” Rainbow Dash said as she threw her bag to the floor and flopped onto her own bed. “Didn’t you see what I did to that guy?”
Gilda scoffed. “Hoops is a weakling,” she said. “And he totally deserved it. Why didn’t you just tell ‘em that?”
“‘Cause I’m no tattle-tale,” Rainbow said with a glare. “Even if I was, the older kids already have it out for me. What d’you think they’ll do if I tell on ‘em?”
“Well you gotta do something, Miss ‘Future Captain of the Wonderbolts’.” Rainbow Dash simply huffed and turned away, causing Gilda to lose her smile. Falling onto her back, she added, “Why not move to a different flight school. There are plenty to go to with way better reps than this.”
“If you think that, why don’t you move?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“‘Cause I’m a griffon. Ponies know better than to mess with us. ‘Sides, my folks at home wouldn’t shut up about it if I dropped out of a school they spent good money gettin’ me into.”
“You know that ponies talk about you behind your back, right?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“… I know.”
“They dis you ‘cause you eat meat and you got those weird claw things,” Rainbow added.
“Yeah, I know,” Gilda said through gritted teeth. “Look, it’s different for me, alright? Griffons that live in Equestria gotta have a good education on their record if they wanna work anywhere decent. But you don’t. You can go to any flight school and still have a shot at the Wonderbolts.”
Rainbow Dash sighed. “Yeah… but I don’t wanna just be a Wonderbolt. I wanna be the best Wonderbolt. The teachers at this school are the best, some are even former Wonderbolts themselves! If I wanna be the best, this is the only school there is…”
Gilda leaned her head to the side to see Rainbow Dash looking down at her pillow with an angry, trembling face. “Well, good luck with that,” she said, getting the pegasus’ attention. “I usually think your kind are just dweebs, but you’re actually kinda cool.”
A ghost of a smile presented itself on Rainbow Dash’s face. “Thanks…”
“You’re still dumb, though,” Gilda said with a grin. “But I’ll be rootin’ for ya, so just hang in there. When you become the next leader of the Wonderbolts, you can rub it in all their faces.”
Rainbow’s smile grew bigger and she nodded. “Yeah! You got it!”
The following day Rainbow Dash spent in isolation yet again, and the day after she was released. She was told to go the gymnasium, presumably to make up for the physical examination she missed out on the previous day. When she arrived, she found that the large room was empty.
She waited for about five minutes before she heard hoofsteps approaching from behind. Turning around she found her least favourite bullies: Ditch and Pitch, and their ‘leader’, Knot. Knot was the principal’s son, which made him especially cocky and arrogant.
The three of them approached Rainbow Dash with wide, toothy grins. “Heard ya hurt Hoops somethin’ bad two days ago,” Knot said, stepping closer to Rainbow Dash whilst his two lackeys stopped. “Surprised they let you outta iso this early.”
“Guess I got lucky,” Rainbow Dash said, keeping her eyes on Knot and extending her wings to keep them at the ready. “What d’you want?”
“I just thought you might wanna see somethin’ interestin’ we found a few days ago,” Knot said, throwing some photographs at Rainbow’s hooves.
Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened as they fell upon the first photograph in the pile. It was her kissing another pony. Another filly.
“As if your hair wasn’t bad enough, but you’re also a fillyfooler!” Knot laughed, his two friends joining him as Rainbow’s face turned red from both embarrassment and rage.
“SHUT UP!” she demanded.
“Wouldn’t it just be totally embarrassing if these pics found their way into the school’s newspaper? Everyone in the academy would know in one afternoon.”
“Y-You wouldn’t…”
“Oh, I would,” Knot said, scooping up the photographs and turning around. “As the director of our school’s newspaper, it’s my job to report the truth. Of course, if you weren’t a fillyfooler, that’d be a different story, but the only way to prove that would be to…” Knot turned around with a devious grin. “Well, if you kissed a colt, I guess that would be enough.”
“T-That’s all? Y-Yeah, of course I can-”
“Ah-ah! Not just any colt will do.” Knot rubbed a hoof against his chin in thought. “If you really wanna prove me wrong, you’ll have to kiss him.”
Ditch and Pitch stepped aside to reveal Snowflake, a scrawny white pegasus colt with tiny wings, known by many students as the weakest in the academy, and rumoured by many fillies to be the very origin of ‘cooties’.
“H-Him?” Rainbow Dash asked, her wings and ears drooping as she stared at the uncomfortable-looking colt.
“That’s right. Just one quick kiss and I’ll consider you totally straight.” Knot waved the photographs in his hoof tauntingly. “What d’ya say? A good deal, isn’t it?”
Rainbow Dash gulped, staring at the colt, and then the photographs, and then the colt again. With a nod, she slowly made her way towards the colt.
“Heh. She’s totally gonna do it,” Ditch whispered to Pitch.
“This is gonna be rich!” Pitch whispered back.
“S-Sorry,” Snowflake said as his eyes fell to the floor.
“Just shut up and let’s get this over with,” Rainbow Dash said angrily as she closed her eyes and leaned forward. After what felt like an eternity or torment, she felt her own lips meet with the colt’s… followed by the sound of a camera snapping beside her. Rainbow’s eyes widened and she backed away, turning to find Knot pointing a camera towards the two.
“Awww, so sweet,” Knot said. “And what a lovely little story. ‘Future leader of the Wonderbolts, not only a fillyfooler, but also a two-timer’!”
“W-What?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “But you said-”
“Hey, I only report the facts!” Knot said, holding his hooves up innocently whilst his devilish grin stayed plastered onto his face. His two friends were in hysterics, and Snowflake was trembling as he backed away from the fuming Rainbow Dash.
“You… You…”
“Careful now,” Knot warned. “Hit Hoops, you get isolation. Hit me, and-”
“BUCK YOU!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she ran forward, but stopped as a brown blur rushed into the scene from the side and clocked Knot’s face with its fist. The blur stopped and revealed its true form. “G-Gilda!”
“Sorry, Dash!” Gilda said, panting heavily. “I saw these guys comin’ this way so I followed ‘em. I should’ve come out sooner…”
“W-Why’d you do that?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Do you know what’ll happen if the principal finds out? You’ll be expelled!”
“… Yeah, but at least you won’t be,” Gilda said.
“W-What?” Rainbow gasped. “B-But you said-”
“Look, I can still live with bein’ a flight school dropout. But you can’t be the best if you get yourself kicked out of here, right? And stop crying, you dweeb!”
Rainbow Dash jumped and reached a hoof towards her eyes. Indeed, tears were welling up and rolling down her cheeks. “You… idiot…”
“Knot, are you okay?!” Pitch asked as he shook his friend’s body that was lying on the floor.
Knot groaned and climbed to his hooves, rubbing his injured face as he glared towards the griffon. “You bitch… Just you wait until my dad finds out about-”
“Dude, he’s here!” Ditch told Knot.
Knot looked to his left to find his father and a couple of other teachers walking towards the group. “Dad!” Knot shouted in surprise as he ran towards his father. Rainbow Dash and Gilda both started to sweat nervously. “Dad, expel that griffon now! She punched my face!”
The principal nodded and Gilda’s head hung low. “I know. I saw.” The principal put his hooves on his son’s shoulders and glared down at the colt. “And if you were growing up in my time, you would be lucky to get away with just that!”
Gilda and Rainbow Dash looked up in shock. “W-What?” Knot asked. “What are you-”
“Do not think you can outsmart me, boy! I was once Captain of the Wonderbolts! Whenever there is disarray in my troops, I sniff out the source!” The principal turned to Rainbow Dash. “Yesterday, while Miss Dash was in isolation, I took the time to question students about the incident and what I heard was some shocking testimony. So shocking that I didn’t want to believe it, so I had planned to talk with her alone, but then I find out that somepony had lured her towards the gymnasium.”
“What? You mean he told me to come here?” Rainbow Dash asked.
The principal nodded. “Yes, and when I got here I found him bragging about how he would destroy your reputation after you had kissed that colt.”
“B-But Dad-”
The principal grabbed his son by the ear, causing the colt to cry out in pain and struggle against his father’s hold. “You two! Come with us!” he ordered Pitch and Ditch, who both nodded silently through their fear. “And Miss Gilda,” the principal added, turning to the griffon, “Though I appreciate that your actions were in defence of Miss Dash, you are aware of this school’s policy on physical confrontation.”
Gilda nodded. “Yes, sir. I’ll pack my bags later.”
The principal raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?” he asked. “Clearly you didn’t read our terms of conduct like you were asked to. Miss Gilda, as this is your first offence, you will be let off with three days detention and a written apology to my son.”
“Apologise?!” Gilda shouted. “To that-”
“Just take it!” Rainbow Dash said, lowering Gilda’s claw with her hoof. “Better than being expelled, right?”
Gilda huffed and hesitantly conceded. “Fine…” She leaned over and whispered to Rainbow Dash, “But I’m not writing it neat.”
Rainbow Dash rolled hey eyes. The principal turned to leave with his son and his son’s two lackeys. “Well then, I will let the three of you have the rest of the morning off. But I expect you to be back in your classrooms by this afternoon. And Miss Dash, the next time a student is causing you trouble, I would appreciate if you made my job easier and simply tell me.”
“But that’d just make them come at me even worse,” Rainbow Dash said.
“That is what anonymous counselling is for,” the principal retorted before leaving.
Snowflake followed after the teachers quickly, whilst Rainbow Dash and Gilda remained behind for a while in silence. When she felt that the teachers were far enough away, Rainbow Dash asked, “Why did you do that?”
“I already told you why,” Gilda said.
“That wasn’t a reason. You hardly know me. Why would you stick your neck on the line for me like that?”
“What d’ya mean, ‘hardly know you’?!” Gilda shouted. “We’ve been friends this whole year and we’ve hung out together lots of times!”
“But it’s still only been a few months,” Rainbow Dash said.
Gilda simply stared at the pegasus for a few seconds before responding. “Alright, fine. You wanna know what it is? … I don’t exactly have many friends.”
“I got that,” Rainbow said bluntly, causing Gilda to narrow her eyes.
“So I don’t exactly wanna lose the one friend I got, you dig?” Gilda scratched the back of her neck as she flexed her wings nervously. “And besides, you’re pretty cool, y’know that?”
“Well, yeah, but what does that-”
“I don’t mean your style or your street cred or anythin’. I mean… you’re the first pony I’ve met that doesn’t see me as a monster, or a freak, or even a griffon. You just… see me and that’s pretty cool of you…”
Rainbow Dash blushed. “Oh… Well, I just thought you were an awesome flyer, that’s all…”
Gilda cleared her throat. “I can’t believe I’m sayin’ all this.”
Rainbow Dash giggled nervously. “You have a sweet side?”
“I’m just answerin’ your question!” Gilda shouted. “Fine then! Next time you ask me somethin’ I just won’t talk!”
“You know,” Rainbow began, “You’re the first student I’ve met that doesn’t avoid me or give me a hard time. Because of my reputation, the others just either want nothing to do with me or see it as a chance to get in with the older students. You just kept being my friend, though.”
“Like I said, it’s because you’re cool,” Gilda said. “Which isn’t easy for a pony,” she added with a grin.
Rainbow Dash extended a hoof, confusing the griffon. “This’s called a hoofbump,” she explained. “Two ponies bump their hooves together to show respect.”
“I haven’t got hooves,” Gilda pointed out.
“That’s fine. You can use that… what is called? A ‘thrift’?”
“‘Fist’,” Gilda corrected.
“Right. You use that to bump my hooves.”
“… Why?”
“Because it shows we’re friends! And the more we do it, the longer we’ll still be friends!”
Gilda blinked before her contorted into a gag. “Forget what I said. You’re a dweeb, just like the rest.”
Rainbow Dash felt a vein growing in her head and grabbed Gilda’s fisted claw with her free hoof, bumping it with her outstretched one. “There! Friends for life!”
“So lame,” Gilda muttered as she shook the ‘lameness’ off of her claw. “How ‘bout ‘you watch my back, I’ll watch yours’. That sounds way cooler, don’t ya think?”
“That makes it sound like we can’t defend ourselves,” Rainbow Dash said. “How about ‘sisters in hooves’?”
“No. Hooves.” Gilda sighed. “The bump thing’s fine. Just don’t explain it to others and we can still make it look cool when we do it.”
“You got it!”
“Oh my. It sounds to me that the two of you should have been friends forever.”
Gilda huffed and fell onto her back, resting her head on her two claws whilst Fluttershy resumed bandaging the griffon’s wounded wing. “Yeah, but things don’t always go the way they ‘should’ve’.” Gilda’s eyes shifted quickly to Fluttershy. “By the way, you tell anypony I’m here an’ I’ll make those guys at flight school seem like wimps.”
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that,” Fluttershy said with a smile. “I always respect the confidentiality of my patients.”
Gilda raised an eyebrow. “You a doctor or something? I figured you were just a medic, or a nurse at best.”
Fluttershy giggled and blushed as she pressed down gently on the wing, causing Gilda to wince. “No, nothing like that. I’m actually an animal caretaker.”
Gilda froze and stared at the humming pegasus in shock. She then glared and a talon shot forwards before grasping Fluttershy’s neck. “You’re a vet?! You mean you’re treatin’ me without the right freakin’ skills or a know-how?! And a freaking vet?! Do I look like a mutt to you?!”
Fluttershy paled as she gently pushed against the claw grabbing her. “I-I didn’t mean to upset you or anything, it’s just that you looked hurt and I thought I could-”
“BAH!” Gilda pushed Fluttershy back and flopped down onto the bed, turning her back to the gasping pegasus. “Whatever! It’s probably better this way, anyhow.”
Fluttershy took a moment to regain her composure. Slowly, she stepped forward, intent on finishing her work on Gilda’s wing.
“It’s fine,” Gilda said. She heard Fluttershy yelp behind her.
“B-But-”
“I said it’s fine!” Gilda shouted. “Why don’t ya go check on your other ‘patients’ and let me get some shuteye?!”
Fluttershy wanted to refuse, but she could see that her patient was agitated and, quite frankly, dangerous. With a nod, Fluttershy turned to leave the room.
Gilda waited until the final hoofstep confirmed to her that Fluttershy was downstairs and then groaned as she rolled onto her front and stretched out her injured wing. “Damn that smarts,” she whispered. She could see a small golden object in the corner of her eye and tilted her head to see what it was. It was a bell. Gilda reached forward and picked it up. “Little dweeb. Like I’m gonna use this to-” Gilda winced as a bolt of pain passed through her body and she immediately relaxed her wing, though that didn’t seem to do much good either.
With a disgruntled groan, Gilda placed the bell down and turned to her bandaged wing, flexed her claws, and then shredded the bandaging with a few swift motions. She then picked up the bell and rang it. Moments later, she could hear Fluttershy approaching from behind.
“Y-Yes?” the timid mare asked.
“You did a crap job bandaging my wing,” Gilda said, pointing to the injured wing with torn bandages hanging from the feathers.
“Oh my. I-I’m so sorry, I thought I-”
“Just fix it already,” Gilda said, resting her chin on her talons and closing her eyes. “Well?”
Fluttershy approached the griffon and picked up some fresh bandages from the first aid box resting by the bed. She could see the telltale claw marks on the shredded bandaging and smiled, unrolling the new bandages and getting to work on the injured wing.
“You know why Dash an’ I broke up?” Gilda asked, startling Fluttershy.
“You mean the party when you came to Ponyville? I… remember it, yes.”
Gilda hesitated for a moment before continuing. “Well, we were on thin ice long before that.” She felt Fluttershy stop and cleared her throat. The pegasus yelped and resumed immediately. “… Dash and I were a thing at one point. Near the end of flight school. We decided it was best ta just stay friends in the end… Or rather, that’s what Dash decided.”
“Oh… I’m sorry to hear that,” Fluttershy said, her ears drooping to the sides of her head.
“Trouble is, Dash knew I still wanted us to go steady. She kept her distance from me, even moved all the way ta Ponyville and made excuses for why she couldn’t visit me for a long time.”
“I’m sure that isn’t the reason,” Fluttershy said.
“Can you think of a reason she would leave Cloudsdale for an earth pony town like this?”
“The rent here is much cheaper than in Cloudsdale… is what she told me.”
Gilda remained silent for a moment before simply huffing. “Whatever. Point is, she knew, and she hated me for it. The fight was just the final straw. After the fight, I decided to just get over Dash. Long hours on the job and longer hours at the nightclub, maybe find someone else and in time, I wouldn’t feel anything for the little traitor.”
Fluttershy fidgeted her hooves nervously. “I don’t… I don’t think that Rainbow Dash ‘betrayed’ you…”
“What d’you call it, then?”
“I think she was just upset… I don’t think that she intended to hurt you then… m-maybe…”
Gilda coiled her claw into a fist and slammed it down onto the mattress beneath her. “Yeah? Well it doesn’t matter. The stupid pony wouldn’t stop bothering me anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I couldn’t forget about her!” Gilda sighed and shook her head. “I couldn’t just… replace her with somebody else, and I couldn’t concentrate on my job when I kept thinking back on the day we had that fight. I dunno, I guess I just felt like I was runnin’ away or something… I came back here without much of a plan and what do I find? Dash’s already with another pony.”
“Trixie.”
Gilda nodded. “I tried to leave again, but I couldn’t make up my mind. Stay and try to talk to her, or run away and try to forget again? It was so frustrating I just lashed out at her all of a sudden and then tried to cool off in the Everfree Forest. After that… Well, I think you can guess.”
Fluttershy nodded, looking down at the injured wing and thinking back to how she had found Gilda limping weakly out of the forest earlier that night. “Um, maybe it isn’t my place to say, but I don’t think that Rainbow Dash ever hated you. The two of you have been friends ever since flight school, and I know that Rainbow Dash isn’t the type of pony to throw away a friend so easily.”
“… Maybe you’re right,” Gilda muttered. She remained silent for the next several minutes until Fluttershy was finally finished.
“I’ll let you rest up here,” Fluttershy said. “If there’s anything you need, just call.”
Gilda moved her wing ever-so-slightly. “I can hardly feel anything,” she said in an amazed tone.
“I did the best that I could, but I’m afraid I’m not familiar with griffon wings… I’ve treated eagles before though, so I tried to use the same techniques here.”
Gilda turned to Fluttershy, whose eyes shifted about nervously as the griffon simply stared at her. Fluttershy then took a step back as the griffon extended her fisted claw. “Hey… you’re alright,” Gilda said with a grin.
Fluttershy smiled and timidly lifted her hoof, bumping it with Gilda’s fist.
“But remember, you tell anypony that I’m here or about what I said tonight-”
“I won’t say a word,” Fluttershy assured her patient before picking up her first aid box and leaving down the stairs.
Gilda rolled onto her back and stared up at the wooden ceiling above her, thinking back to her encounter with Rainbow Dash earlier that day. “Damnit I’m stupid.”
Dawn broke in Ponyville and the morning sunlight seeped through the open windows of Rainbow Dash’s home. Rainbow Dash groaned as she rolled onto her front, burying her face into her pillow in order to avoid the intrusive light and continue her peaceful slumber.
Trixie would ordinarily take the chance to curl up close to Rainbow Dash, but today she had a different goal. After listening to Rainbow’s story last night there was a nagging feeling in the back of the showmare’s mind. Rainbow Dash told Trixie that she was okay, that there was no need to worry.
But Trixie knew that Rainbow was just putting on a strong face. She knew this because it was the same face that Trixie had endured in the mirror many times in her past, and it was a face that could only belong to one who was hurting more on the inside than the outside.
“You just keep sleeping a little longer,” Trixie said before giving her marefriend a quick peck on the cheek. “You helped Trixie out before. It’s time to repay that debt.”
Trixie left the house and approached a small cloud resting outside, disconnected from the rest of the house. She then climbed onto the cloud and used her magic to gently move it down towards the ground and gulped. “Should’ve got a bigger cloud,” Trixie muttered as she crouched down low. “Let’s see… If there’s anypony in Ponyville who’ll know where Gilda is, it would be…”
Fluttershy settled down into her couch with her favourite book and a hot cup of tea with just a little milk and all of her animal friends had gathered around to listen to her reading. Fluttershy loved peaceful reading time with her friends, and tonight was no except-
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
Or perhaps tonight was going to be an exception. Wondering who could possibly be at her door at such a late time, Fluttershy put her book down and excused herself from her animal friends. “I’ll be just a minute,” she said, ignoring Angel’s protest of stomping on the couch as she made her way towards her front door. As the door opened Fluttershy was surprised to see Trixie on the other side.
“Greetings! No doubt you must be thrilled to receive an early-morning audience with none other than the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie declared as she stepped inside before Fluttershy could even invite her in.
“Oh, of course. Come on in,” Fluttershy said with a smile, before turning to her grandfather clock with a confused look on her face. “But, it is early. I haven’t even had my breakfast yet.”
“Yes, well, Trixie wanted to surprise Dash so I had to leave while she was still asleep,” Trixie explained. “Trixie felt that you would be the best pony to ask for aid in this endeavour.”
“You want my help with something?” Fluttershy asked. Trixie nodded. “Well of course I’d be happy to help however I can, but why would I be the best pony to go to? Surely there are others who can offer you better help than me.”
“You’re the best lead Trixie has because you went to the same flight school as Rainbow Dash,” Trixie said. Fluttershy tilted her head and Trixie continued. “You see, an old friend of Dash’s showed up yesterday.”
Fluttershy nodded. “Gilda.”
“Right, and- Wait. How did you know that?”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened and sweat started to drip down her head. “Um… lucky guess?” she squeaked with an innocent smile that grew wider as Trixie eyed the pegasus suspiciously.
“Hm. Fair enough.” Fluttershy breathed a relieved sigh whilst Trixie continued her story. “Anyway, it was clear to Trixie, keen-eyed as she is, that this was troubling Rainbow Dash.”
Fluttershy’s ears drooped down as she turned her gaze to the stairs. “O-Oh… she was?”
“Yes, and then reason is clear: Rainbow Dash misses Gilda.”
Fluttershy’s ears perked up quickly and she turned her gaze back to Trixie. “She does?”
“Unfortunately, she doesn’t know what she wants to do. She wants to talk with Gilda, but it seems she’s afraid of how such a meeting might go.”
“But they should talk!” Fluttershy interjected quickly. “I mean, the two were once such great friends… I’d hate to see them lose that over one little fight. Also, who knows? Maybe Gilda wants to make up just as much as Rainbow Dash does.”
Trixie shrugged. “Well, Trixie doesn’t know enough about this Gilda to make a judgement call on that, but Trixie does know Rainbow Dash enough to see when she’s in pain. And it… it’s about time that Trixie finally repays the kindness that Dash showed her many months ago.”
Fluttershy smiled. “Oh, Trixie. You don’t have to worry about that. Rainbow Dash is always happy to help ponies, whether or not they pay her back.”
“Regardless, this is something that Trixie wants to help Dash through,” Trixie said with finality. “So Trixie was wondering if you knew where she could find Gilda. Since you went to the same flight school as Dash, Trixie thought that maybe you might know.”
Fluttershy shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I wasn’t that close to Rainbow Dash yet. And… Gilda scared me back then, so I didn’t really learn much about her… A lot of ponies and griffons scared me back then…”
“But you must have an idea, right? Maybe there’s a particular place that griffons like to stay in Equestria?”
Fluttershy looked over to the stairs and shook her head again. “I’m sorry…” ‘I told Gilda that I wouldn’t tell anypony that she’s here…’
Trixie sighed. “Oh well. It was a leap of faith to begin with.”
“But, if I do happen to run into Gilda, I’ll be sure to tell her that Rainbow Dash wants to talk to her,” Fluttershy said, smiling as she continued to stare at the bottom of the stairs.
Trixie nodded her head. “That would be much appreciated.” Trixie walked past Fluttershy and opened the cottage’s front door. “By the way, don’t forget that Trixie is performing a show to celebrate you all saving Equestria again.”
“I’ll be sure not to miss it.” Fluttershy waved goodbye as Trixie left the house, closing the door behind her with a sigh. “… I’ll let her get some rest and tell her later. Her wing still needs to heal.”
As Trixie walked down the pathway leading from the cottage she pondered in her head what she could do next. She could run all over Ponyville asking its citizens if they know anything, but that would take a long time. Perhaps just the weather team? Maybe if she knew where they were.
Trixie reached her cloud and began to climb on, but stopped as something to the left of her caught the showmare’s eyes. An entrance into the Everfree Forest, but the trees were scratched and leaves and twigs were scattered all over the floor.
Trixie moved closer to investigate when she saw brown feathers mixed in among the leaves. “Brown feathers and claw marks… Could it be?” Taking a step forward, Trixie entered the dimly-lit forest, her horn alight to help her see where she was going.
Fluttershy settled down into her couch with her favourite book and a hot cup of tea with just a little milk and all of her animal friends had gathered around to listen to her reading. Fluttershy loved peaceful reading time with her friends, and tonight was no except-
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
‘Oh come on!’ Fluttershy thought as she glared at her door, getting up as Angel Bunny threw his paws into the air and fell onto his back on the couch. As Fluttershy opened her front door, she found Rainbow Dash on the other side. “Oh, Rainbow Dash. What’s-”
“Hey, Fluttershy. Sorry if I’m botherin’ you, I was just wondering if Trixie came by here.”
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “Well, she did, but how did you-”
“Thought so. I found the cloud she used yesterday just down the path leadin’ to your place.” Rainbow Dash poked her head inside the house and looked around. “She’s not still here, is she?”
“No. She left a few hours ago.”
Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her head. “That’s weird. Nopony in Ponyville has seen her this morning. And her cloud is still tied to the ground just past the river.” A thumping sound was heard upstairs, following by the sound of a window opening. “What was that?” Rainbow asked Fluttershy.
“Um… a bear?” Fluttershy replied with an innocent grin.
Gilda touched the cloud with her claw and narrowed her eyes as she looked it over slowly. She then turned her head towards the entrance to the Everfree Forest. The same entrance that she herself had used the previous evening, with her feathers on the floor.
“She said she was lookin’ for me.” Gilda turned back to the cloud and found a strand of silver hair on it. She picked it up with a single talon and sniffed it, and then turned back to the forest once more. “She did. She went lookin’ for me in the forest.”
“Gilda!” Gilda turned to find Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy running towards her, the latter panting as they came to a stop before the griffon.
“You told her,” Gilda accused the yellow pegasus, who squeaked and hid behind Rainbow Dash.
“S-She forced it out of me.” Fluttershy explained.
“A bear?” Rainbow Dash asked in a sceptical tone, tilting her head and casting a suspicious look over Fluttershy.
“Okay! It wasn’t a bear! It was Gilda!” Fluttershy cried as she crouched down and covered her head with her forehooves, her hind legs shaking and Angel Bunny facepalming on the couch behind her.
“Gilda, listen, I wanted to talk to you,” Rainbow Dash said, taking a step forward, but stopping when she noticed the silver hair that Gilda was holding. “Is that-”
“It’s your precious marefriend’s,” Gilda spat. She looked towards the forest and the two pegasi followed her gaze. “She went lookin’ for me in there. The idiot.”
“No way!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she took off towards the forest.
“Wait!”
“I can’t!” Rainbow stopped and turned towards Gilda. “Don’t you get it? Trixie’s been in there for hours and she still hasn’t come back yet! Something must’ve happened!”
“Yeah, and just how’re ya gonna fine her?” Gilda approached Rainbow Dash, stashing the hair inside of her feathers as she moved. “You ponies are useless when it comes ta tracking. You should leave it to us professionals.”
“Gilda…” Rainbow Dash smiled and nodded. “Let’s go! … Uh, Fluttershy, maybe you should stay behind and-”
“N-No,” Fluttershy said, her legs shaking as she stood tall and kept a firm look on her face. “T-Trixie’s a friend, and if she’s in trouble in there, she’ll need help getting out.”
“But-”
“I said no, and I mean no,” Fluttershy said. “I’m going, too.”
Rainbow Dash simply stared at Fluttershy in amazement, and then grinned. “Alright, have it your way.”
“We’d better hurry,” Gilda said. “I wanna get this over with already so I can ditch you losers.”
With a nod, the two pegasi followed Gilda into the Everfree Forest to find their friend.
“This would be a bad time to fall asleep,” Trixie told herself as she rocked slowly on top of a tree branch, her eyes flickering as she gazed down at the pack of snoozing timberwolves beneath her. Looking around slowly, Trixie could find no way down that wouldn’t result in broken legs, or waking up the timberwolves. “Darn it. They’re finally asleep, but Trixie is too-” Trixie broke to yawn. “-To tired to cast any powerful magic…”
In hindsight, Trixie was well aware of the timberwolves’ unnatural ability to regenerate and perhaps shouldn’t have continued to fight them, but rather focussed more on running away. “What’s done is done. Now Trixie just has to figure out a way to get out of here…”
A bird squawking in the air caused Trixie to jump, but she soon recovered and silently cursed the loud creature for startling like that and quickly checked to see if the noise had stirred the timberwolves from their slumber. To her distress, it had… but then to her delight, the pack of wolves turned tail and fled deeper into the forest, their howls growing quieter as Trixie stared off into the distance with a confused look.
Another squawk caused Trixie to look upwards, where she found a large bird hovering in the air, its wingspan easily more than the size of the branch that she was on and its claws looking sharp enough to rip her to shreds with next-to-no effort. Its feathers were a jet black with some pure white mixed in there, and it did not seem happy to meet the mare in the tree. “A roc,” Trixie whispered, before gasping at the sounds of more squawks behind her and turning around.
Five… ten… fifteen rocs, and still more beyond the trees. Trixie saw some nests higher up in the trees and her face paled as she realised where she was: right in the middle of a roc nesting ground.
Trixie turned back to the roc before her and saw its black feathers turning white. She had read that a roc’s dark feathers turn white when it becomes aggressive, meaning that she was now in even more trouble than when she was dealing with the timberwolves. The roc squawked one more time and then dove towards Trixie. Trixie didn’t have much room, so the only way that she could dodge was by falling backwards and quickly grabbing onto the branch with both hooves.
Now dangling precariously twenty feet above the ground, Trixie watched as the roc backed up and prepared for a second strike. As the large, winged creature moved in, Trixie removed one of her hooves and searched her cape, pulling out a small black ball and throwing it into the roc’s face. A cloud of smoke startled the bird and forced it to back away, though the close proximity also caused Trixie to start choking, too. Through her teary eyes, Trixie managed to replace her hoof back onto the branch and slowly began to shimmy to the right, making her way to the edge of the branch where she could climb onto the adjacent tree.
As she grabbed a hold of the branch with her right hoof, it suddenly snapped and fell to the ground, leaving her stuck with just one hoof hanging onto the edge of what little tree branch remained. The smoke was gone and the roc was ready for round three. In her current position, she couldn’t reach into her cape to pull out another smoke bomb, and casting a spell was risky… but her only chance, so closing her eyes, Trixie channelled energy into her horn and…
“HEADS UP!” A griffon suddenly dove in from above and scratched the roc’s back with its sharp talons.
Trixie felt herself being grabbed from behind and before she could make sense of what was happening there was rainbow-coloured hair in her face. “Y’know, when I said we should hang out more, that wasn’t quite what I meant.”
“What? Rainbow…” Trixie shook off her surprise. “You never said that.”
“Huh? Uh… yeah I did.”
“No you didn’t. You just wanted to make a lame joke, didn’t you?”
“Ugh, whatever… Are you okay?”
“Well despite the fact that we’re surrounded by more rocs than I can even see, the Great and Powerful Trixie is just fine…”
Rainbow Dash looked around to find that, just as Trixie had said, the group had become surrounded by rocs. Fluttershy shied slowly behind her friend whilst Gilda flexed her talons, sweating as she kept her eyes on the closest rocs.
“Ah!” Gilda started to fall for a second, before flapping her right wing harder to keep herself in the air.
“Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked. “Oh dear. Your wing is still hurt. I knew it.”
“Since when did Equestria have creatures like this in it?”
“Fluttershy, can’t you like, stare them down or something?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I-It doesn’t work that way,” Fluttershy explained. “They’re protecting their nesting ground. The stare only works if the target is misbehaving or isn’t trying to protect anything.”
“Protect? We’re outnumbered! How could they think we’re a threat?!”
“It doesn’t matter how few of us there are,” Gilda said. “All that matters when an intruder enters your nesting ground is protecting your home and your young.”
“So what do we do if we can’t fight ‘em?!”
Gilda groaned as she lowered a little further down. “Are you ponies really so stupid? In a situation like this, we do what your kind does best.”
Rainbow Dash turned to Gilda with a raised eyebrow. “Which is?”
“RUN!” Gilda shouted as she grabbed Fluttershy and turned around to dart through the forest.
“… Oh. Right.” Rainbow Dash kicked forward, carrying Trixie through the trees after Gilda and Fluttershy.
Trixie reached into her cloak and threw a second smoke bomb at the pursuing birds, before putting her forehooves around Rainbow’s neck for safety.
After much running through the Everfree Forest, taking many detours to lose the pursuing rocs and entering areas of dense forest where they could not be followed, the group somehow managed to elude the dangerous predators and find their way out of the forest. According to the time on the clock tower on the distance, it was just a little past noon.
“Finally outta there,” Rainbow Dash said as she took a heavy breath. She looked over her shoulder with a glare to the showmare sleeping on her back. “All because you did something so stupid and reckless. You’re lucky you’re passed out right now…”
“Um, she only did it because she wanted to help,” Fluttershy said.
“Yeah, but it doesn’t change anything,” Rainbow said. “She’s gonna be in for it as soon as she wakes up.”
Gilda stared at Rainbow Dash for several seconds, her beak shut tight as words spiralled through her mind, eager to be heard by the pegasus. She just couldn’t decide what, if anything, she wanted to say. “Nngh!” Gilda grabbed her shoulder and kneeled to the floor as a powerful jolt passed through her body.
“Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked. “Maybe you should lean on me for support.”
“I’m fine,” Gilda said as she stood up, wincing at the pain that it caused. She felt a hoof on her foreleg and turned to Fluttershy.
“I really think it would be best if you let me help you,” Fluttershy said, her tone a disturbing mixture of calming yet angry. “Now.”
Gilda felt sweat run down her body as she stared at the not-so-meek pegasus with a black aura surrounding her body. “S-Sure thing…” she said as she wrapped her foreleg around the pony, using her as a crutch.
Now it was Rainbow Dash who was staring at Gilda. Their eyes met and silence fell around them. “Hey,” they both started in unison. The silence returned and lasted even longer this time.
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, froze for a solid two seconds, and then closed it again. Gilda scratched the back of her head, her eyes wandering as she tried to not look at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow felt something on her back trembling and raised an eyebrow.
“UGH!” Trixie jumped off of Rainbow’s back and pointed a hoof at her marefriend. “Will you just say something already?! This is what you wanted, right? A chance to talk to her again?”
“Y-Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said in a surprised tone. “But I mean, it kinda happened really fast, so-”
“I don’t care! The Great and Powerful Trixie went out of her way to arrange this meeting between the two of you, so you had better not waste it!”
“Man, she’s loud,” Gilda said, gaining Trixie’s attention. “And pretty dumb, too. What d’you see in her, anyway?”
“How dare you-”
“Eh, she’s not so bad when you get to know her,” Rainbow said with a sly grin. “‘Sides, she’s got a cute side, too.”
“Since when were you into anything cute?”
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Guess I’ve just changed a bit from my flight school days.”
Gilda scoffed. “I’ll say. The Dash I knew back then was like a totally different pony.”
Rainbow frowned. “But I’m still me, y’know?” Rainbow Dash sighed and scuffed a forehoof against the ground. “… Look, G, I’m sorry about what happened before.”
Gilda shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I guess it was sorta my fault too, a bit.”
“You know, I really miss hanging out with you. Not many ponies around here can fly very fast.”
Gilda chuckled. “I know what ya mean. For a pony, you sure can give a griffon a run for their money.”
Rainbow Dash extended her hoof. “So… friends again?”
Gilda starred at the hoof for a few moments, before grinning and nodding her head. “Sure,” she said as she bumped the hoof with her fist. “Just keep that pink one away from me and we’ll be good,” she added.
Rainbow Dash giggled and nodded her head. “I’ll tell Pinkie to give you a little space. At least until you get used to her. So, wanna catch up later?”
“Sounds cool to me.”
Rainbow nodded and then turned to Trixie, who almost jumped out of her fur the second those hard eyes fell upon her. “Right, let’s go,” Rainbow said, grabbing Trixie’s ear and dragging her away, ignoring the showmare’s protests as they moved.
Meanwhile, Fluttershy and Gilda began to head off in the opposite direction, back towards Fluttershy’s cottage. “I’m so glad that the two of you were able to make up in the end,” Fluttershy said. “I always hate to see a rift between friends.”
“Well, there’s just somethin’ about that pony that makes it hard to hold a grudge against her,” Gilda said. “You were right. There’s no way she’d abandon a friend ‘cause of one little fight. It’s kinda difficult to hate a pony like that.”
“… And her relationship with Trixie?”
Gilda’s eyes narrowed for a moment before she simply gave a dismissive shrug. “Hey, if she wants to tie herself down to a dweeb like that, that’s her call.” Gilda looked down towards the ground as she continued to move with Fluttershy’s help. “Well, I guess it was kinda cool the way Trixie tried to help us like that…” she muttered. “There are worse ponies Dash could’ve fallen for, that’s for sure.”
Fluttershy frowned. She didn’t have to be the Spirit of Kindness to sense the sadness in Gilda’s heart. Forcing her best smile, Fluttershy said, “Hey, when I get back, I’m going to read a story to all of my animal friends. If you’d like, you’re welcome to sit with us.”
The griffon eyed the pegasus for a second, seeing nothing but a genuine, kind smile that was almost brighter than the sun being pointed her way. “A story? … Sure, why not? Got nothin’ better to do, I guess…”
“OWOWOWOWWWW! Dashie, how many times must Trixie apologise before you let this go?!”
“Let it go?!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she stopped to look at Trixie. “You could’ve been killed in there! You know how dangerous that place is!”
“It was daytime! There was only a slim chance that Trixie would’ve been attacked!”
“Monsters in the Everfree Forest still lurk about in the early morning, and you know that!” Rainbow Dash scooped up Trixie and took off into the air. “Not to mention you faked being asleep just to get a lift outta there!”
Trixie pouted as the two arrived at Rainbow’s cloud house. “Trixie was tired and didn’t have the energy to run. Besides, she knew you were going to be angry at her for going off all alone.”
“Well you got that right.”
“But Trixie only did it because you were feeling blue!” Trixie protested. “No pun intended.”
Rainbow Dash looked down at Trixie, pouting in her forelegs, and sighed. “… Okay, look, I get that you wanted to help me, and that’s cool and all, but I don’t want you to help if it puts you in danger like that. Just promise me, the next time you’re gonna do something reckless like that… don’t do it on your own. At least let me come with you, okay?”
“… Okay,” Trixie said with a nod. Rainbow Dash lowered the showmare onto the cloud floor and the two nuzzled together for a moment. “Trixie apologises for worrying you like that. Rest assured that the next time Trixie puts her life at risk, you will be there by her side.”
“… Not… quite what I was goin’ for, but it’ll have to do,” Rainbow Dash said, shaking her head with a chuckle. “Anyway, thanks for trying to help.”
Trixie blushed and nodded her head. “It was nothing…” Trixie yawned suddenly, reminding the showmare of just how tired she was. “If you don’t mind, the Great and Powerful Trixie thinks she’ll hit the hay for a bit…” Trixie said as she rubbed her eye.
“Sure thing. I was gonna go meet Pinkie Pie today, so I guess I’ll see you when I get back.” The two shared a farewell kiss before Rainbow Dash left her house and flew quickly towards Ponyville. ‘Man, how lucky am I to have an awesome marefriend like that?’
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Gilda-Shy shipping?
4405402 Gilda-Shy shipping.
Yuki, I am loving the possible ship of these polar oppisotes you have going on.
I guess you could say that Gilda's approach to romance is...
... once bitten, twice 'Shy.
I am definitely liking this chapter and the direction you are going with Gilda is very interesting so I am curious to see where that goes because Fluttershy really does do a great job of balancing out Gilda's faults no matter what the relationship between the two is.
4411607 That's terrible.
4411607
Don't you be griffon me bad puns now, y'hear
I too am excited at the prospect of Gilda-Shy shipping. ^,^
Gilda-Shy shipping!
Great chapter i loved it. And the gilda - shy ship i honestly never thought of i wonder how you will play this out.
4411607
That made me laugh more than it should have you get free muoustaches
Good writing of Gilda, here. I liked the limitation you put on the Stare, too. Always thought some writers make the damned thing too powerful.
This should have been said a couple chapters back, so I'll try to comment on the more current chapters soon.
, to 
. Major win, brony.)
Yukito, I really appreciate your stretch of the MLP random, particularly during the table-top arc. That you featured an antagonist from an older gen was cool (had to wiki that character, which in itself can be fun but tangent inducing). What's more, since the chapters were published before the end of the season, it was all the more exciting to know who they were beforehand. (The girlfriend's reaction to me identifying the character went somewhere from
As for the more current material, well... I declare, I've really enjoyed the accuracy of individual canon characters, and the limited, tight usage of OCs. I have a particular soft spot for more exotic ships, and that multiple rarities have popped up is quite good. This is a choice piece to follow, and I'm glad I have.
Wait, I thought Dash was talking to Tri---
oooh, sneaky.
"And that's why I'm the element of Honesty.
"
From how quick Fluttershy is to back down from arguments, one might think she's weak-willed or a pushover. This is a mistake few ponies make twice.
Hm.... yeah, that vessel is a bit odd, but it could be seaworthy.
4426673 ya thats true but there is one thing i could of put in to make it better on the roc scene gilda kills the one that attacked trixie not just rakeing its back with her claws would be a cool scene in my mind's eye