Chapter 2: A Memorable Race
“Hurry up, Gilda! I can already see the place!” Natalya shouted, taking a brief respite from her flying when Ponyville finally came into her sights. When she heard no sound from her travel companion, she scanned the skies around her. A sigh escaped her when she saw that Gilda was far behind her.
“Whatever…” Natalya grumbled before resuming her flight towards the town. Between preparing for the trip and the time it took to get to Ponyville, it had been over a week since she had made the deal with Gilda to introduce her to Rainbow, and with her destination so close, waiting around was not an option.
With a literal bird’s-eye view of Ponyville, Natalya could see that the majority of the town consisted of wooden houses that shared roughly the same design scheme along with thatched roofs. The south part of town bordered a sprawling, wild forest while the rest of the area surrounding the town seemed to be used as farmland. There was one structure that really stood out among the simple structures, and it was a half castle and half giant crystal tree thing on the northern part of Ponyville.
A couple of nearby ponies noticed Natalya when she landed in the middle of the street on the outskirts of town. They stopped to wave and even say hello, but the griffon gave them all no more than a glance.
So this is Ponyville, huh? Looks boring. Natalya heard a couple of wing flaps and some panting to her side. “About time you caught up,” she said out loud without looking back.
“Well, excuse me,” Gilda snapped. “Not all of us are professional athletes. Couldn’t you at least wait a few more minutes before entering Ponyville?”
“Nope. Anyway, we’re here. So where’s Rainbow?”
Gilda groaned between pants. “Oh, come on! You’ve been pushing me almost nonstop since we left Griffonstone.”
“So? You got here in one piece. Just means we have more time to do what we came here to do. Now, hurry up.”
“Yeah, yeah, just give me a minute to catch my—”
In the span of one second, something that sounded like an explosion and party favors going off rattled their ears before a pink blur tackled Gilda to the ground amidst a shower of confetti.
“Gilda!”
Natalya blinked. A pink earth pony with an even pinker, poofy mane had her forehooves around Gilda’s neck in a tight clutch. With the frighteningly-huge smile on the pony’s face and Gilda’s face turning purple, Natalya was not sure if this was some sort of attack or a hug gone wrong.
“P-Pinkie… Can’t… breathe…” Gilda rasped, using one of her claws to feebly slap the pony’s hooves.
“Oops, my bad,” Pinkie replied, releasing Gilda with a sheepish laugh. “Sorry, I was just so super duper excited to see you again, Gilda.”
“Just be glad that I know that this is the norm for you.” After Gilda took a few breaths to recover from the violent hug, she smiled at the pony. “I’m glad to see you too, Pinkie.”
Pinkie grinned again before turning to Natalya. “Hi, my name is Pinkie Pie! What’s your name? Are you Gilda’s friend?”
“Natalya and no.” Natalya paused, recalling her first talk with Gilda. “Wait a minute, Pinkie Pie? Does that mean you know where Rainbow lives?”
“Oooh, you’re here to see Rainbow?”
“Something like that. We, uh, met during the Equestria Games, and I want to settle something with her.”
“Okie dokie lokie! She lives down this way. Follow me!” Pinkie turned around and started pronking down the street.
Before Natalya could follow Pinkie, Gilda stepped in front of her and sternly reminded, “Be nice. You promised.”
Natalya rolled her eyes and walked around Gilda. “I said I would try. As long as your friends don’t do anything annoying, there won’t be any problems.”
With a sigh, Gilda moved to walk by the hopping Pinkie’s side while Natalya was content at staying in the rear.
“So, Pinkie, how did you know I was here anyway?” Gilda asked while they walked down the road. “We had only been in town for a few minutes before you found us.”
“Itchy back and tingly hooves,” Pinkie replied without missing a hop.
Natalya and Gilda paused to say “What?”
“Itchy back and tingly hooves,” Pinkie repeated, still happily hopping. “It’s one of my Pinkie Senses. I get these weird feelings whenever something is about to happen. Itchy back and tingly hooves means a friend from far away is coming to visit, so I absolutely, positively had to find them and give a proper welcome!”
“Oh, right. Rainbow mentioned something about your senses.” Gilda chuckled. “Well, you certainly got me good. I’m still a bit sore from your welcome. By the way, I heard something go boom right before you got me. Was that also you?”
Pinkie turned around and nodded. “Yep, that was my party cannon!”
Again, Natalya and Gilda stopped. “Your what?”
Natalya’s eyes widened with horror when Pinkie reached somewhere to the side and plopped a cannon in front of her. It was about the size of the pony’s body, but Natalya was more worried about the fact that the barrel was pointed directly at her.
Before either of the griffons could do anything, Pinkie pulled the string on the cannon and fired. Instead of cannonballs or fiery explosions, the griffons were showered with confetti.
“Gilda…” Natalya said with a deadpan face as confetti danced in front of her eyes. “Your friend is annoying me.”
“Just take it easy, Natalya. I know Pinkie can be a bit much, but she means well. You’ve only known her for a few minutes. Give her some time. You don’t want to make things worse with Rainbow.”
“Fine, but if she points that cannon at me again, she’s going inside it.”
The three of them resumed their trek to Rainbow after Pinkie somehow stowed away her party cannon when noone was looking. After walking for a while, Pinkie asked, “So Gilda, I know Natalya wants to see Rainbow, but what about you? Were you just so excited to see your friends again?”
“Well, yeah, of course, but there’s two other reasons why I came here. One was to bring Natalya here. The other reason is, well, I was kind of hoping you could help hook me up with some more baking stuff.”
Pinkie gasped. “Sure! I’m going to make sure you have enough ingredients to make all sorts of delicious treats for all your new griffon buddies for a really long time!” She gasped even louder. “Oh! Oh! Oh! I know! I can teach you all of my recipes!”
“Uh, really? That… that would be great. If you have the time, that is.”
Pinkie hopped backwards to land on Gilda’s back and hugged her. “Of course I have time for a friend. When I’m done with you, you’ll be able to make so many new friends with your baking! Maybe you’ll even get Griffonstone to have cakes! You’ll be a cake hero!”
Gilda chuckled. “I’m not so sure about being a cake hero, but making more friends does sound nice.”
“Of course it does! You can never have enough friends. Now, how long do I have to train you?”
“That’s actually a good question. I was hoping to stay for at least a few days, but…” Gilda turned her head to Natalya.
Catching Gilda’s unspoken question, Natalya said, “However long it takes for me to get what I want from Rainbow.”
Gilda and Pinkie glanced at each other with a shrug as they continued walking. After a few more minutes of traveling, Pinkie finally stopped hopping and announced, “And here we are at Rainbow’s place!”
Seeing nothing but the road and grass, Natalya asked, “Is this a joke? There’s nothing here.” Feeling a tapping on her shoulder, she turned to see Gilda pointing up with an unamused stare.
Following Gilda’s direction, Natalya tilted her head up and saw a sizeable home floating in the sky. It was entirely made out of clouds and there seemed to be trickles of liquid rainbow dripping down one side.
“Huh…” was all Natalya could utter.
“So, do you need me to carry you up there, Pinkie?” Gilda asked.
“Nope, I got it!” Pinkie reached into a nearby bush and pulled out some sort of flying machine. It was a chair attached to two sets of bicycle pedals with a propellor on top. Everything was attached together by what looked like to be candy canes.
Natalya’s eye twitched. It was not the fact that Pinkie had a flying machine ready that bothered her, especially after seeing the party cannon. It was the fact that the flying machine was easily bigger than the bush it was pulled out of.
As Pinkie checked her vehicle, Natalya said to Gilda, “So this Pinkie friend of yours… She has this freaky sixth sense thing, has a cannon that she can conveniently take out or put away at a moment’s notice, and after seeing her take out that flying thing out of that tiny bush, I have to ask, isn’t she some sort of magic thing that just looks like an earth pony?”
Gilda shrugged. “That’s just how she is. I don’t know how she does all that stuff. All Rainbow could tell me was accept the fact that Pinkie is Pinkie. She told me that one of her other friends tried to study Pinkie and ended up catching on fire or something like that.”
“I see…” Natalya watched as Pinkie got into her clunky candy contraption and began slowly gaining altitude. “Your friend is weird.”
“Yeah, can’t really argue against that.”
Pushing aside her thoughts on the physics-breaking pink pony, Natalya flew towards Rainbow’s house alongside Gilda and Pinkie.
Now that she was in the air, Natalya could see more than just the underside of the cloud home. Built on top of a giant cloud, the structure was shaped like a tower that was two or three stories tall with plenty of windows along its walls. Each level was held up with decorated cloud columns. Rainbows from the top of the tower and another from behind stretched toward the edge, turning into liquid that dripped for a short distance off the cloud before disappearing.
Pretty sweet place actually, Natalya thought when she landed on the small pathway leading up to the house. Could do without the rainbows though. How the heck do those things even work?
As the trio approached the front door, a blue blur suddenly shot out of one of the windows, heading back down to town with a rainbow trail behind it.
Pinkie promptly pulled out a megaphone out of her mane and shouted through it, “Rainbow! I got a surprise for you!”
Rainbow immediately curved, drawing a large rainbow arc in the air to loop back to the cloud they were on. She slowed down to hover in front of the group, and she had a saddlebag on her side. “Pinkie? What are you…” She gasped when her gaze flicked to the griffon standing next to Pinkie. “Oh my gosh, Gilda?”
Gilda smiled and waved. “Hey, Dash.”
“Dude, what are you doing here? Er, not that I don’t want to see you. It’s just that it’s only been like, what, one or two weeks since we visited Griffonstone?”
Gilda chuckled. “Yeah, well, I was hoping to pick up some more baking stuff, but more importantly, I wanted to see you dweebs again.”
Natalya loudly cleared her throat, getting Rainbow and Gilda’s attention. “Aren’t you forgetting something, Gilda?”
“Uh, yeah. So, Rainbow, I brought someone to meet you,” Gilda stated, waving her claw in Natalya’s direction, even though Rainbow was already giving the other griffon a wide-eye stare. “This is—”
“You!” Rainbow cried out with an angry scowl while pointing a hoof at Natalya.
“Huh… Guess you were right about her holding a grudge,” Natalya said to Gilda with a bored look.
“What is she doing here, Gilda?! This is the jerk from the Equestria Games that I told you about!”
“Er, yeah, about that… Just hear me out, Rainbow. This is Natalya, and yes, she is kind of…” She glanced in Natalya’s direction. “rough around the edges, but I wouldn’t be here without her. She pretty much paid for all the—”
“Loaned, not paid,” Natalya pointed out.
“Not now, Natalya!” Gilda hissed in Natalya’s direction and then focused back on Rainbow. “So, yeah, she pretty much is covering my travel expense until I can pay her back, and all I have to do is, uh, lead her to you.” She finished her explanation with a sheepish grin.
“Uh, okay?” Rainbow cocked her head. “Why does she want to see me?”
“Because I want to race you,” Natalya answered, stepping toward Rainbow.
Rainbow snorted. “And why do you want that?”
“To prove that I’m better than you.”
“Uh, pretty sure the silver medal I got from the Equestria Games would say otherwise.”
Natalya tensed up and replied with gritted teeth, “That was just because of my lousy teammates. I want a match with just you and me.”
“Hmm… Yeah, not interested.”
“Why not?”
“Why should I do something you want?” Rainbow folded her forehooves across her chest. “I didn’t like you when you dissed my team at the Equestria Games, and you’re not exactly changing my opinion of you right now. Frankly, I would rather have nothing to do with you at all.”
“Well, that could happen if you just race me. That’s all I’m here for. Give me what I want, and I’ll head straight back for Griffonstone.”
“Wait!” Pinkie suddenly piped up. “So if Natalya leaves right after the race, does that mean Gilda has to as well?”
Rainbow’s scowl went away at the same time Gilda’s eyes widened. An “Uhh…” escaped both of their mouths.
“Oh, come on!” Natalya yelled.
“Pinkie does have a point,” Gilda said with a disappointed sigh. “Without Natalya around, I don’t really have the bits to stay here, especially because I planned to grab some baking ingredients. And even though she’s not exactly the best travel companion, it wouldn’t feel right letting her fly back to Griffonstone alone.”
Natalya huffed. “I’m not some hatchling that needs someone to hold my claw.”
“It’s more for the benefit of the ponies that will have to deal with you if you get lost.”
Natalya shot Gilda an unamused stare.
Rainbow chuckled. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out. We have some time because I can’t exactly race right now. I was actually on my way to Fluttershy’s before you guys stopped me. She left her stuff at my place when she stopped by earlier.”
“So that’s why you’re carrying Fluttershy’s bag!” Pinkie chirped, pointing at the saddlebag Rainbow had. The bag’s clasp was adorned with three pink butterflies.
“Can’t returning some dumb bag wait until later?” Natalya asked.
“Yeah, not really,” Rainbow answered. “She’s got all sorts of herbs and medicine stuff in here, so I think I need to return these as soon as possible. I’ll decide what I’m going to do with you after that.”
“Oh! I got a great idea!” Pinkie cheered. “Why don’t we all go to Fluttershy’s? That way, Gilda can apologize to Fluttershy.”
“Wait, what?” Gilda promptly said.
“You know? For what you did to her the last time you were here?”
Rainbow’s eyes narrowed at Gilda. “What did you do, Gilda?”
“N-nothing,” Gilda quietly replied as her gaze darted away from Rainbow’s.
“Gilda…”
“Okay, okay… So, uh, Fluttershy might have bumped into me, and I might have overreacted…”
“Overreacted, how?”
“I, uh, sort of, maybe roared right in her face…”
“Which made her run away crying,” Pinkie added.
“Not helping, Pinkie!”
“I actually don’t see what’s wrong with that,” Natalya chimed in. “She was the one that bumped into you.”
“You’re not helping either, Natalya!”
“Gilda…” Rainbow said again with a warning tone.
“Rainbow, I know that it sounds bad, but that was the old me. You know that I’m a different griffon now, and I really do feel bad that I did that to her.”
Rainbow took a deep breath. “Well, that’s good to hear.” With a soft smile, she continued, “And, yeah, I know that you changed, and I know that change includes knowing when to apologize, riiight?”
Gilda sighed and nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll apologize to her.”
“Aw yeah! I’m totally going to enjoy watching this,” Rainbow stated as her grin grew bigger.
Gilda rolled her eyes, but she had a small grin on her face as well. “Don’t push it, Rainbow.”
Natalya sighed, burying her face into her claws. Stupid ponies and their friendship. Is it too much to ask for a simple race to prove I’m the best?
Eventually, the four of them made their way toward Fluttershy’s. It was a cottage located a good distance away from any other buildings, and it bordered the huge forest next to Ponyville. There were green leaves covering the entire roof, and part of the path to the front door was a bridge over a small stream. The surrounding area was dotted with bird houses and animal burrows, making the place alive with all sorts of wildlife.
“What is this place? Some sort of zoo?” Natalya asked as they walked toward the front door. A quick glance around revealed that there were rabbits, beavers, birds, and other woodland creatures frolicking around the cottage. There was even a bear sitting down to the side, but it appeared to be docile, judging by the cup of tea that it was drinking.
“Nope,” Pinkie replied. A second later, she cocked her head, and her mouth scrunched up in thought. “Or is it? I don’t know. All that I know is that Fluttershy is super good with animals and loves to take care of them. I’m pretty sure she actually has more animal friends than pony friends.”
“That doesn’t sound creepy at all,” Natalya murmured.
“Why would it?”
“Nevermind…”
Trotting up to the cottage with Rainbow, Pinkie began banging on the front door with her hoof.
“Hey, Fluttershy, it’s Pinkie and Rainbow!”
A moment later, the door opened about halfway. Natalya could not see much of the pony except for some pink mane, and she almost missed the soft greeting of “Oh, hello, Pinkie and Rainbow. Is there something you need?”
“I got your saddlebag here, Fluttershy.” Rainbow used her wings to take off the saddlebag and present it to the slightly ajar door. “You left it at my place.”
“Oh my goodness, thank you so much, Rainbow.” The door flung open, revealing a yellow pegasus that was attached to the pink mane. “I have been looking all over for this.”
Natalya scrutinized Fluttershy as the pegasus took the bag in her forehooves and begin sifting through it. Do I know this Fluttershy from somewhere? I feel like I've seen her before.
“Oh, Fluttershy, there’s also some friends that we want you to meet,” Pinkie informed. “They’re standing right over there.”
“Huh?” Fluttershy looked up from her bag and saw the griffons. Her pupils shrank into tiny dots before she let out a terrified scream and rushed back into her cottage, slamming the door behind her.
“So, um, that went well… Guess we can skip the apology?” Gilda asked hopefully.
“Nope! You’re doing it, and you’re doing it right!” Rainbow commanded. “Pinkie, you go in and get her, while I make sure Gilda doesn’t run away.”
“Aye! Aye!” Pinkie saluted and then went inside the cottage.
As they waited for Pinkie to retrieve Fluttershy, Natalya thought it was the perfect time to ask, “So, are you going to race me, Rainbow?”
Rainbow glared at Natalya. “Seriously? You’re asking that now?”
“As I recall, you said that you were going to decide after you gave back your friend’s bag, and I’m pretty sure you just did that.”
Rainbow groaned. “Well, yeah, but we got more important things here than just your stupid race. I’m much more interested in helping my friends than doing something you want.”
Natalya huffed. “Fine, finish your stupid apologies, but I’ll be on you again as soon as it’s done.”
Rainbow opened her mouth to fire a retort, but she stopped when the cottage door opened. A wide-eyed Fluttershy was seated on her haunches with Pinkie gently pushing her out the door and toward Gilda.
“Come on, Fluttershy. I already told you that Gilda isn’t going to do anything mean to you,” Pinkie coaxed. “Just give her a chance, okay?”
A quiet, squeaky “Okay” was uttered from Fluttershy.
“Uh, hey, Fluttershy,” Gilda greeted with a sheepish smile.
“H-hi, Gilda,” Fluttershy softly replied, her eyes constantly darting in all directions.
“So, I, uh…” Gilda tilted her head up and rubbed the back of her head with a claw. “I just… you know… wanted to apologize… for, uh, scaring you the last time I was here in Ponyville.”
“Okay, apology accepted. Thanks. Bye.” Fluttershy scrambled onto her hooves and tried to head back into her cottage, but Pinkie easily blocked her and flipped her right back around to Gilda.
“Fluttershy, don’t be rude,” Pinkie chided. “Yes, Gilda might have been a scary meanie before, but now she’s a nice griffon that’s only slightly scary.”
“Seriously, Pinkie?” Gilda said with an indignant huff.
“Of course I am. You’re my friend!”
Gilda rolled her eyes before focusing her attention back on Fluttershy. “Look, Fluttershy, like Pinkie said, a bit poorly I might add, I’m not the same griffon as before. You don’t have to worry about me roaring at you or anything else bad.”
“Oh, um, th-that’s nice…”
A moment of silence passed between them before Gilda rubbed the back of her head nervously. “So, uh, yeah, sorry and all that. We good?”
“Well, um… If you don’t mind me asking, are you okay if I spend time with Rainbow when you’re around?” Fluttershy shrank back into Pinkie. “Sorry…”
Gilda cocked her head. “Uh, yeah? All I did was, um, scare you. I don’t think I actually told you to stay away from her.”
“Oh, I meant… you know, back when you were in Junior Speedsters Flight Camp with Rainbow.”
“What are you…” Gilda’s eyes widened. “Oh crud.”
“What? What happened?” Pinkie asked eagerly.
Gilda groaned. “Seriously, Fluttershy, you remember that after so long?”
Fluttershy nodded. “Mhm…”
“What happened?!” Pinkie asked again.
“Yeah, I would like to know as well, considering I seem to be somehow involved in it,” Rainbow added.
Gilda sighed. “Well, you remember how we hung out a lot during camp?”
Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, we pretty much rocked all of the stuff they threw at us. Those were some pretty awesome times.”
Gilda smiled. “Yeah, they were…” Her face returned to a neutral expression. “And then you made friends with Fluttershy and introduced me to her.”
“Yeah, I also remember that. Too bad we couldn’t all hang out together. It seemed like Fluttershy always was busy with something.”
Fluttershy made a sound that was a mix between a whimper and a squeak.
“Yeah… About that…” Gilda looked to the side, away from everyone else. “I sort of told Fluttershy to leave us alone.”
“What?!” Rainbow cried out angrily. “Why would you do that?!”
Gilda winced from Rainbow’s shout and then took a deep breath. “I wish I could say that I was young and stupid at the time, but we all know that I was pretty stupid the last time I came to Ponyville as well. Fluttershy was an awful flyer, er, no offense, so I thought she wasn’t cool enough for us. But I also tried to push Pinkie away, so I think the real reason is that I wanted all of your attention.”
“Gilda…” Rainbow calmed down, a slightly sullen look replacing her angry face. “You could’ve, I don’t know, talked to me or something.”
“You’ve been to Griffonstone. Talking it out isn’t exactly our specialty. Hoarding is, and I guess I tried to hoard you all to myself.” Gilda turned back to Fluttershy with a regretful frown. “Guess Fluttershy kept that in mind all these years, and my last visit here pretty much reminded what I did to her.”
Fluttershy meekly nodded under Gilda’s gaze.
Gilda sighed. “Fluttershy, really, I know I’ve been pretty rotten to you, and I’m so sorry for all of that. I know it’s probably kind of dumb of me to ask, but, um, could we maybe start over? I promise to make it up to you and stuff, and it would be pretty cool if we could eventually be friends.”
“Um, well…” Fluttershy looked to Rainbow and Pinkie, receiving nods from both of them, and then stared at Gilda. She took a deep breath. “Okay…”
“Woohoo!” Pinkie cheered. “Now, hug!”
Gilda and Fluttershy stared wide-eyed at Pinkie. Getting an excitable nod and hooves clapping from the earth pony, they looked back to each other. Gilda slowly wrapped a claw around Fluttershy’s neck in a one-arm hug, while Fluttershy gently patted the griffon’s side.
“Eh, I’ll take it,” Pinkie said with a shrug.
Gilda let out a sigh of relief. “Good. Oh, and for the record, Fluttershy, I don’t think you’re an awful flyer. I mean, you flew in the Equestria Games, so you’re actually pretty good.”
Natalya, who had been waiting and silently complaining about the long apology, suddenly perked up. “Wait a minute!” she cried out, causing everyone to look at her. “Fluttershy was one of the ponies on Rainbow’s team?”
“Uh, yeah, she was,” Gilda replied.
Despite receiving a glare from Rainbow, Natalya continued. “No wonder she looked so familiar! But seriously, Gilda, Fluttershy was pretty good? Were you even watching the same race?”
“Natalya, you better watch what you say next,” Rainbow warned.
“What? That your friend is a lousy flyer?” Natalya said without any hesitation.
Fluttershy whimpered and hid behind her mane.
“Don’t you dare make fun of Fluttershy!” Rainbow shouted, trotting closer to Natalya to look her directly in the eye.
“I’m not really making fun of her if I’m stating the facts.”
Rainbow growled. “Well, you know what? Fluttershy might not look like it, but she’s actually a really good flyer when it matters.”
Natalya snorted. “Yeah, I really doubt that. Stop pretending and just admit that your friend can’t do anything without help.”
A few sniffles could be heard from behind Fluttershy’s mane.
“Alright, that’s it!” Rainbow flew straight for Natalya, a forehoof reeled back for a punch.
Natalya immediately poised herself to dodge, but she did not have to when Gilda snatched Rainbow out of the air.
“Let me go, Gilda! I had enough with her!” Rainbow shouted, squirming in Gilda’s grasp.
“I know, I know. What she said was uncalled for.” Gilda shot Natalya a scowl. “But trust me, you don’t want to get into a brawl with a griffon. There has to be another way to settle this.”
“Fine! Just put me down!” As soon as Gilda released her, Rainbow marched right up to Natalya, pushing herself right into the griffon’s face with a menacing glare. The intimidating effect was slightly diminished since Natalya was an inch or two taller. “You want a race? Then you’re getting a race! I’ll put you in your place and maybe that will shut your stupid mouth up!”
“Wait, Rainbow!” Pinkie suddenly popped up between Rainbow and Natalya. “What about Gilda? We don’t want her to leave with Natalya right after the race, right?”
Rainbow blinked. “Oh, right. Um…” After a moment of thought, she resumed glaring at Natalya. “Yeah, we’re racing! But on one condition. You have to stick around Ponyville so that Gilda won’t have to leave and foalsit you.”
Natalya shrugged. “Fine, whatever, as long as we can finally get things done.”
Rainbow nodded and after waving a hoof to Gilda to come over, she flew straight up into the air. Natalya and Gilda followed her, leaving Pinkie on the ground to comfort a distressed Fluttershy. When they were high enough to see the entirety of Ponyville, Rainbow landed on a cloud with the griffons.
“You see that castle all the way on the other side of town?” Rainbow asked, pointing to the giant crystal tree structure in the distance.
“Yeah. Is that the finish line?” Natalya asked.
“Nope, that’s the halfway point. You get there, circle around it, and come back to this cloud. Gilda, you mind staying here?”
Gilda nodded. “Sure, no problem.”
Rainbow turned to Natalya, giving the same cocky grin that plagued the griffon’s thoughts since the Equestria Games. “Ready to lose again?”
A flash of irritation ran through Natalya, but she kept a stoic face. “Hardly. Now that it’s just you and me, without any teammates slowing us down, you’re going to see that I’m the best.”
“Yeah, the best. The best at not coming in first!”
Natalya and Gilda stared at Rainbow with raised eyebrows.
“What?”
“Sorry, Rainbow, but that was pretty lame,” Gilda informed.
Rainbow let out an annoyed grunt and looked straight back at the castle. “Whatever, let’s just race.”
“Guess I got to count down for you dweebs as well.” Gilda flew ahead to hover above the starting point. Raising a claw, she began, “On your marks…”
Natalya and Rainbow moved to the edge of the cloud, poising themselves for takeoff.
“Get set…”
Natalya could already feel her heart start to pound. She was not going to admit it out loud, but Rainbow was the best flyer she had ever seen, excluding herself, of course. The thought of beating this worthy opponent excited her. She had waited for this for so long, and she knew that she was going to remember this race for a really long time.
“Go!”
Natalya and Rainbow were gone from the cloud before Gilda’s claw dropped down all the way.
Speeding her way high above Ponyville, Natalya tried to focus on the castle checkpoint, but her eyes constantly flicked to the side where her opponent was. After seeing Rainbow at the Equestria Games, she was not surprised to see that the pegasus was matching her speed without breaking a sweat.
Natalya increased her speed, pulling ahead by a few inches, but Rainbow quickly closed that distance and even took a slight lead. Natalya exerted herself to pull ahead, only for Rainbow to recover her lead a few moments later.
Their flying tug-of-war continued, neither one of them allowing their opponent to escape more than a few inches. They were judging each other’s abilities, pushing themselves harder and harder to overcome their opponent. With their impressive speed, it was not long before they approached the tree castle.
Natalya suddenly surged ahead and then placed herself in Rainbow’s flight path in hopes of startling the pegasus. However, instead of hearing any gasps or yelps, she saw Rainbow rush past her from above.
I am not going to lose to a stupid pony! Natalya seethed as she pushed herself to catch up. Rainbow had positioned herself right in front of Natalya and left little room between her and the castle walls. As the two of them raced to fly around the castle, Natalya gritted her teeth and put on another burst of speed, heading straight for the pony in front of her.
Instead of trying to fly around Rainbow, Natalya tried to squeeze in between the pegasus and the castle walls to try and force Rainbow to make a wider turn. She did not expect Rainbow to try and make the turn regardless.
Natalya winced as she rammed headlong into Rainbow’s side, sending the pegasus tumbling through the air and into a nearby cloud.
Shaking off her daze from the impact, Natalya was glad that griffons were slightly bigger than ponies. Doubting that anyone would believe that what she did was an accident, Natalya took the opportunity to regain the speed she lost, rounding the castle to head straight back to Gilda. She was certainly going to get an earful later, but right now, she still had a race to win.
About a third of the way on her return flight through Ponyville, Natalya spared a look behind her to check on Rainbow’s progress. To her surprise, she did not see any trace of the other racer.
I didn’t actually hurt her, did I? Natalya knew that she might bend the rules every now and then, but she was never so desperate that she would intentionally hurt anyone, especially if that someone was able to give her a good challenge.
Natalya eventually caught sight of a familiar rainbow trail high in the sky. Her brow furrowed with confusion when she saw what Rainbow was doing.
Rainbow was a fair distance behind Natalya, but instead of heading straight for the finish line, the pegasus was flying at an upward angle. She was actually getting further away as time passed, making it seem like Natalya would be the sure winner.
But Natalya knew better.
Focusing her full attention back to the cloud Gilda was sitting on, Natalya tapped into her reserves to madly sprint toward the finish line. Rainbow was adamant over winning for her friends’ sake, so the pegasus was definitely up to something. Natalya knew that she needed to finish the race before the pony could enact her plan.
Natalya made it to the home stretch between the outskirts of Ponyville and Fluttershy’s cottage before she saw, felt, and heard what Rainbow was planning.
A deafening bang rang through the sky, startling Natalya into a halt. She barely was able to turn and look around before something blazed past her, kicking up a huge gust of wind that briefly sent her spinning. When she got back her bearings, her mouth dropped wide open with awe.
Over the center of Ponyville was an enormous ring, almost as big as the town itself, that rippled and coalesced with all the colors of the rainbow. It was the most brilliant thing she had ever laid eyes upon, and yet she took no joy in seeing it. At the very center was Rainbow’s trail, except instead of fading away after a second, it remained in the air with more vivid colors, clearly marking Rainbow’s flight path.
Rainbow had been flying higher so that she could descend rapidly, allowing her to produce whatever that explosion of rainbows was. Natalya’s eyes followed the rainbow trail as it passed next to her, leading her back to the starting cloud where Rainbow Dash was already high fiving Gilda. Whatever that rainbow thing was, it propelled Rainbow halfway through Ponyville and past Natalya in a matter of seconds.
I… I lost… was all Natalya could think as she hung in the air. A heavy weight lodged in her chest, making it hard for her to breathe.
Losing was such an unfamiliar feeling to Natalya. She prided herself in being able to outfly any griffon, and she even got to participate in a couple of small competitions with ponies, all of which she won with deft ease. The sting of her loss in the Equestria Games was subdued because she blamed her teammates, but her defeat just now was all her.
There was no excuse this time. Natalya had lost, and Rainbow was the better flyer.
Eventually, Natalya recovered from her shock to notice that Rainbow and Gilda were no longer on the cloud. Switching her attention to Fluttershy’s cottage, she saw that Rainbow was surrounded by her friends as they cheered for her.
As Natalya stared at the scene, her claws clenched, trembling with anger. Finally, with a growl, she rocketed toward the group. Pinkie’s loud cheers of “Yay! Rainbow Dash! You did it!” could be heard long before Natalya got close, but as soon as she landed next to the ponies with a heavy thump, everyone fell silent and looked at her.
“What was that?” Natalya demanded with a snarl.
“Um, I’m not sure, but I think I beat you,” Rainbow replied with a smirk. “Even when you played dirty.”
“What was that freaky rainbow explosion thing that you did?!”
“Oh, just a little something called the Sonic Rainboom.”
“A Sonic Rainboom? What in the world is that?”
“Oh, it’s when Rainbow goes zoom,” Pinkie explained, sitting down on her haunches so that her forehooves could accompany the sound effect. “And then she goes faster and faster until boom and then she goes all fwoosh and makes the sky go all wow!”
Natalya shot Pinkie a deadpan look before turning to the other three. “Can someone give me an explanation that’s not insane?”
Rainbow shrugged. “I don’t really know the specifics, but it’s basically something that happens whenever I go really fast. As a result, I go from super fast to crazy awesome fast.”
“Yeah, that’s not much more help, but at least you confirmed that this Sonic Rainboom thing makes you go faster. Tell me how to do it.”
Rainbow stared at Natalya for a second and then burst out into laughter.
“Don’t you dare laugh at me!” Natalya yelled, her wings splaying out in anger. Her sudden display made Fluttershy yelp and hide behind Pinkie. “You might have beaten me this time, but when I learn how to do this Sonic Rainboom, I’ll be the best again!”
When Rainbow recovered from laughing, she said, “Dude, sorry to disappoint… Actually, I’m not disappointed to tell you that it isn’t going to happen.”
“What’s it going to take to make you teach it to me?”
“Look, the Sonic Rainboom is my signature move. Nopony else in Equestria is able to do it.”
“Well, good thing I’m the fastest griffon outside of Equestria.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yeah… I don’t think that’s how things work. Regardless, I’m still going to give you a big, fat no. In fact, if I could teach the Sonic Rainboom to others, I would give you an even bigger, fatter no. Besides, I don’t owe you anything. Despite you being so horrible to my friends, I still gave you your stinking race, which I should remind you that I won.”
Even though Natalya wanted to retort, she bit it back. She knew that she was not on Rainbow’s good side, and she really needed the pegasus to teach her. “Look, crashing into you was really an accident. I was just trying to scare you away. But even when you got thrown off-course, you pulled off that Sonic Rainboom and… beat me…” she said through clenched teeth.
Natalya paused to take a breath. “Flying is what I’m good at, and I need to know how to do a Sonic Rainboom to get better. I’ve never seen anything like it. I know that you don’t like me, but I’ll do whatever it takes to get you to train me.”
Rainbow let out an annoyed sigh. “I guess I can admire your determination, but it doesn’t change the fact that I still see you as a massive pain. And even if I was willing to give you a shot, it’s going to be impossible for me to teach you. I don’t fully understand how the Sonic Rainboom works, although I’m pretty sure it’s more of a pony thing and not meant for griffons.”
“Well, I’m more than willing to try. And you probably do all sorts of flying training, right?”
“Yeah, I guess, but not just for the Sonic Rainboom.”
“I’ll take whatever works, even if it means watching you train so I can try and pick up some new techniques.”
“So you’re basically going to be stalking me?” Rainbow asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Call it whatever, I don’t care. I’m going to be keeping my eye on you whether you like it or not. It’s not like you can get rid of me either. Don’t forget that I agreed to stay here for Gilda’s sake.”
Rainbow let out a long groan and turned to Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Gilda. “Any of you got an idea what I should do with her?”
Fluttershy and Gilda shook their heads, but Pinkie was rubbing her chin with a forehoof in pensive thought. Suddenly, Pinkie’s eyes widened, and a massive grin spread across her face.
“Oh, oh, oh! I know what you can do, Rainbow!” Pinkie chirped. “You should totally try and make Natalya your friend!”
Everyone looked at Pinkie with varying degrees of skepticism and a hint of disgust.
“Are you kidding me, Pinkie?!” Rainbow and Natalya yelled at the same time. Pointing at each other, they also yelled, “Why would I want to be friends with her?!”
Pinkie giggled. “Because both of you love to do all sorts of cool, awesome stuff with flying, and liking the same things is one of the best ways to make new friends.”
“But Natalya has been nothing but mean to all of us!” Rainbow protested.
“True, but remember when Gilda used to be a meanie-weanie grouch?” Pinkie asked, which was promptly followed by some grumbling from Gilda.
“Well, yeah, but Gilda and I go way back. Natalya is just… Natalya,” Rainbow replied.
“And I have no interest in making friends,” Natalya added. “I only need Rainbow to make me a better flyer, that’s it. Besides, griffons don’t do friendship.”
Gilda raised a claw in air to point down at herself. “Uh, hi, griffon here that’s really digging the whole friendship stuff. Just saying.”
“You be quiet.”
“Come on, why don’t you give each other a chance?” Pinkie tried to push Rainbow and Natalya together, but both remained in place and refused to look at each other. “I bet that if you two got to know each other better, you’d become great friends!”
When Rainbow or Natalya did not budge, Pinkie hopped in front of Rainbow and started to plead with big, shimmering eyes and a pout. “Come on, Rainbow, why not give it a shot? It would make everypony much happier, and I bet that if Natalya becomes our friend, she can help Gilda spread friendship around Griffonstone.”
“Yeah, that’s never going to happen,” Natalya stated.
Rainbow quietly mumbled to herself, her gaze switching between Pinkie and Natalya. Finally, with a heavy sigh, she looked to Fluttershy and Gilda. “What do you guys think?”
“Oh, I, um, agree with whatever you choose,” Fluttershy replied.
Gilda shrugged. “I’m kind of in the same boat as Fluttershy. I’m still kinda new to this whole friendship thing, and you guys are the experts.” She paused. “But… it would be nice if I could get some help. Trying to share friendship with an entire town by myself is kind of nuts…”
Rainbow facehoofed. “Yeah, I was afraid you were going to say that…” She groaned and turned to Natalya. “Alright, here’s what’s going to happen. You can hang out with me. Now, I’m not saying we have to be friends, but at the very least, we need to try and stop arguing so much if we want anything to get done.”
“I suppose that’s a fair point,” Natalya admitted.
“I’m not finished. I know you want to learn about the Sonic Rainboom by watching me, but it’s not like I train all day. I do other stuff like working at my job and hanging out with my friends. If you have a problem with my schedule, this isn’t going to work out.”
Natalya rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I get it.”
“I’m still not finished.”
“Seriously?!”
Rainbow frowned. “And that brings me to my last point. You might be a good flyer, but the reason I don’t like you is because you’ve been a big jerk to me and my friends. Keep that up, and you can forget any chance of me helping you. However, if you manage to behave, I suppose I can try and give it a shot in teaching you whatever I know about the Sonic Rainboom.”
“So in other words, you want me to be all nice and polite?” Natalya summarized, using her claws to draw air quotes.
Rainbow snorted. “Yeah, I don’t think you’ll ever reach that point. I’m just asking you to tone down the insults and rough stuff.”
“Fine… I guess I can try…”
“Good, and you can start by apologizing to Fluttershy.”
“I have to do what?!”
“Apologize to Fluttershy,” Rainbow repeated, pointing to the yellow pegasus doing her best to hide inside Pinkie’s tail. “Do it right, and I’ll believe that you’re going to try and behave.”
“Can’t I just give her a bunch of bits instead?” Seeing that Rainbow was not budging, Natalya groaned and looked in Fluttershy’s direction. “Fine, I’m sorry,” she said flatly.
“Not good enough,” Rainbow immediately informed.
Natalya fought back the urge to growl and took a deep breath. “Fluttershy, I’m sorry for calling you a lousy flyer…”
Pinkie’s tail quietly mumbled something back as the pink mane sticking out of it bobbed up and down in a nodding motion.
When it was clear that Natalya was not going to say anything else, Rainbow sighed. “Well, I guess that’s the best we’re going to get out of you.”
“Yay! Now we’re all sort of friends!” Pinkie cheered, rushing to Natalya with outstretched hooves. “Come on, let’s make it official with a hug!”
Natalya stuck out a claw, holding Pinkie at bay by her head. “Yeah, no hugs.”
“So now that all of that is taken care of, what should we do now?” Rainbow asked. “I’m pretty much free, and there’s still plenty of daylight.”
“Teach me the Sonic Rainboom?” Natalya suggested. She sighed when all she got was a glare from Rainbow. “Was worth a shot.”
“How about we head to Sweet Apple Acres?” Pinkie chimed in.
“I guess that sounds good. Any reason why?” Rainbow asked.
“So Gilda can apologize to Granny Smith for scaring her!”
“Oh great… Another apology… Yay…” Gilda said flatly.
“I know, right? You’re going to have so much fun, Gilda!”
Gilda made a sound that sounded like a groan and a sob mixed together as Pinkie started pushing her towards Sweet Apple Acres.
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If Natalya was voiced, what would she sound like?
Yep -- more fun than a barrel of monkeys for Gilda.
7652733
To be honest, I haven't put any real thought into it.
I love how Pinkie is sort of taking charge. I hope she continues to be a big part of all of this.
Pretty sure you need pony magic for a boom to work.
Yeah Rainbow! Kick that Griffon's ass!
Haha.
This is an amazing story.
That is a wonderful summation of "Feeling Pinkie Keen" told through RD and Gilda.
Perhaps she feels kin to lions and eagles.
Aaaand that confirms a trait pushing Natalya beyond a combination of three existing characters.
Gilda having been possessive and mean at Flight Camp to Fluttershy makes perfect sense.
Nitpicks/suggestions:
"an anguished wail" seems like a good fit.
your stinking race, which I should remind you I that I beat you so badly at.”
(yeah, "at which" would be better grammar, but that's not how she speaks.)
Okay, I don't care what anyone says, this is the best griffon story I have ever seen. 10/10 this is getting it's own folder just for it. You my friend have earned my respect as a fellow writer with this story you've made.
An excellent summation of the mystery that is Pinkie.
8602046
Yep
Good point, it's funny hearing her say that
Well, it looks like Natalya has finally seen it flat-out that she's slower than Dashie. Surprisingly, she hasn't suffered that much of a blue screen of death for it. If she sticks around in Ponyville for awhile, some of this pony stuff may even rub off on her. And if not, well, at least Gilda can bring home some more good recipes
Hm. She reminds me of pre-reform Sunset Shimmer.
Here's another mistake that nobody's caught yet: