Direction

by 206-Ginge

Getting a Room

Moving was hard enough in its own right. Uprooting your home and attempting to transfer it into a strange place that never could quite be the same was not only physically exhausting, but also emotionally distressing. No matter how many framed pictures you put on the wall, no matter how many posters you put in your bedroom, no matter how much more space you have in your new home compared to your old one, you still cannot convince your brain that it’s right. You can’t tell yourself that you’re not just going to go back home when all of this is done. Your brain can’t quite force itself to believe that this is your home now. Even your old mattress feels strange, that Wonderbolts poster looks slightly different, and everything that once made your house a home seems off in the strange new space.

It probably didn’t help Gilda that she not only was moving from one house to another, but she was also moving away from her family, her entire species, really, to stay with the pegasi of Cloudsdale, cramped in a dorm building by herself for the first time in her twelve years of existence.

Her parents had been saving up for the expensive camp. It was a six-month extended stay flight school. Her dad dreamed of Gilda becoming the first griffin member of the Wonderbolts, although everyone, including Gilda, knew that such a dream was as farfetched as Celestia refusing to raise the sun. That didn’t stop him from convincing his wife to send off their only child for the longest amount of time either of them could conceive.

Gilda would be spending her birthday in Cloudsdale, with her only method of communication with her parents being letters sent every week from both their home in the Griffin Lands and Gilda’s dorm at Junior Speedsters Flight School. In other words, little to no communication at all. Gilda had never been the talkative type, not with her parents nor with her schoolmates. That was part of the reason her parents thought she would benefit from the camp. She’d be forced to learn social skills, forced to get along with the pegasi around her.

While Gilda likely could have crossed the ocean separating the griffin lands from Equestria with her wings alone, her many bags forced her to ride a boat. After several teary goodbyes from her mom, a few hugs that she returned physically but not emotionally, and a blow of the ship’s whistle, she was gone, watching the shoreline become smaller and smaller as she distanced herself from what was to be her old life.

Gilda sighed and sunk into a seat on the deck of the boat. She was one of about fifty passengers on the ferry between Beakland and Baltimare. Most of the passengers were griffins, though there were a few earth ponies and unicorns scattered about. The pegasi who had to travel between the Griffin Lands and Equestria were probably too proud of their flying abilities to use the ferry, although it would probably be quite less strenuous on their wings. It was a solid six-hour flight, with no places to rest, between Fillydelphia and Pawsburgh, the two cities located at the points the ocean was the smallest. The ferry only took about three hours, and didn’t force you to fly the entire distance.

Gilda shook herself out of her train of thought and got out her packet from Junior Speedsters again. She was going to be sharing a room with a pony, a filly by the name of “Rainbow Dash”. She also knew she was going to be the only griffin at the camp. Her dad had to jump through a few very expensive hoops to make this happen. She appreciated all the consideration, but it was all a little much for her. She wasn’t entirely sure she’d fit in at all with the pegasi at the camp, and she certainly didn’t know if she’d be able to enjoy sharing a room with one of them. It didn’t strike her as appealing, that’s for sure.

Gilda slid the packet under her seat and closed her eyes. She had to get up early to make her way to the ferry dock, and she was exhausted. A three-hour nap sounded excellent to her ears. The last thing she thought of before drifting off to sleep was the menu at the camp. If she was stuck eating lame-o pony food for six months, she might just have to leave before the camp ended.

---

The door creaked open and Gilda bolted to an upright sitting position on her bed. She’d arrived before her roommate and was taking advantage of the fairly comfortable cot, but now it seemed she’d avoided meeting the other camp attendees for as long as she could.

Gilda spotted the filly as she poked her head out around the corner of the small hallway from the front door to the sleeping area of the dorm room. The filly visibly jumped at the sight of Gilda on the bed, and her hooves instinctively dug into the grey carpet in an effort to force her conscious mind into retreating. However, the filly was quickly able to get over her nerves and spoke her first words to her new roommate:

“Oh, um, hi there,” the pony started. “Didn’t think you’d get here before I did.”

“Hey,” Gilda mumbled in response. She stretched her wings out and scrunched up her face, in an attempt to help her mind become alert again after her short nap.

“Um…” the pony searched for something to say, eyes darting around the room, teeth biting down on her lower lip. “I’m Rainbow Dash.”

“I know,” Gilda said with a small smile. “I’ve read all about you.” She motioned to her packet, which was sitting on the nightstand next to her bed. She had, in fact, seen Rainbow Dash’s picture before, so the rainbow mane didn’t throw her off. The thunderbolt cutie mark wasn’t in the photo Gilda received from the camp, but it wasn’t terribly remarkable, either.

“Oh, right, the packets…” Rainbow Dash trailed off as she craned her neck to look in her saddlebags for her own packet. Grabbing it with her wing, she opened it. “You’re…” her eyes scanned the documents, wing turning pages until she found was she was looking for. “Gilda, right?”

“The one and only,” Gilda said with a plastic smile.

“Sorry, I’ve been too excited about the camp to read too much about my roommate, I guess.” Dash ran a nervous hoof through her mane, eyes darting to the side.

Gilda had to admit she was slightly disappointed that Rainbow Dash wasn’t quick to know her name, but she could understand getting lost in the swarm of various other papers and schedules. “It’s cool, I only really remember yours because… well…”

“Right, they told me about, um, well, you.” A nervous smile found its way onto Rainbow Dash’s face, and she hastily put the packet back into her saddlebag. “It’s cool that you got into Junior Speedsters as a griffin, you must be a really good flyer.” Her voice was still quite shaky, despite the fact that she’d been conversing for a while now with her new roommate. Gilda internally snickered at how nervous the filly was. It wasn’t like she was going to jump off the bed and eat her if she said something wrong.

“Nah, just got rich parents,” she said, leaning back into a reclined position on the bed. Despite the fact that she found Rainbow Dash’s behavior amusing, it did help her relax a bit, since it let her know she wasn’t the only one with “new species” issues. “Sorry if that disappoints you.”

“I… I guess it’s understandable…” Rainbow Dash kicked a hoof at the ground. “I mean, I’m here on scholarship myself, but-“

“You gonna unpack or what?” Gilda interrupted, leaning forward slightly. “You don’t have to just stand in the hallway all day, you know. Plus, orientation is in, like, half an hour.”

“Oh, right, yeah, my dad’s probably wondering why I’m not coming back to tell him where my room is so he can help me move in.” Rainbow Dash backed up slowly as she mumbled her reply. “I, I guess I’ll be right back…”

“Want me to help with anything?” Gilda offered, craning her head to see around the corner as Rainbow Dash opened the door to exit.

“No, no, it’ll be fine, my dad and I will take care of it, I only have a few bags anyway.” Rainbow Dash closed the door with a flourish, and Gilda was just about to lean over to look at the schedule for the first day when she heard it open again.

“Right, so that’s the door to the bathroom, got it,” Rainbow Dash remarked, attempting to trick her mind into having some confidence but failing miserably. “So, then… I’ll see you in a bit, Gilda.”

“See ya,” Gilda said as the door closed.

Alone again, Gilda stared at the first day’s schedule, the only complete schedule she was given in the camp packet. She noted the start of orientation at 2, the 11:00 lights-off time, the dinner at 5:30, the after-dinner free time…

Her thoughts drifted to her new roommate. She was here on a scholarship. She was probably very, very athletic. Gilda wasn’t here to be competitive, per se, but she certainly didn’t want to feel like the weakest flyer. While one pony turned out to be perfectly pleasant, or at least not intimidating, she could only imagine if she turned out to be the weakest flyer at camp, as the camp’s only griffin. Ridicule would come hard and fast, and empathy would be at a premium.

She shivered slightly and put the packet back on the nightstand, opting instead to organize her unpacked supplies. The camp had provided two small dressers, one on either end of the fairly cramped room. Gilda had sort of just tossed everything into whatever drawer she pleased, but now she went back and separated her toiletries from her sunhats.

She’d gotten through a good chunk of organizing when the door burst open with a loud bang, followed by what sounded like a stack of papers being dropped on the floor.

“Oh, no,” the voice of Rainbow Dash gasped with pathetically unbelievable amounts of over-dramatization. “My books! They’re ruined! They’ll be all wrinkly and impossible to read now!”

“Yeah, yeah, tell that to the trees that were chopped down to make those,” a male voiced countered. “They’re fine. Pick ‘em up and dust ‘em off. You’d better read at least a little bit, or else your mother’s going to have a few words to say.”

“Fine, Dad,” Rainbow Dash sighed back. The sound of rustling paper filled the dorm room, and soon Rainbow Dash rounded the hallway corner again, this time with a box in hand.

“Oh! Right! Dad!” Rainbow Dash began as she noticed Gilda. “Come meet my roommate!”

“The griffin? Is she here?” A darker-blue rainbow-maned stallion came out of the hallway and turned to look at Gilda, immediately extending a hoof. “I’m Rainbow Dive, pleasure to meet you.” He was carrying a box with his two wings, an impressive feat.

“My name’s Gilda,” Gilda said, a plastic smile on her face. She was a lot less comfortable with the aggressive stallion than she was with Rainbow, probably because she was now outnumbered by ponies.

“I just want to say, I think it’s great the camp let you in. I always thought any species with wings should be given opportunities like this, so I’m quite happy that you’ll be able to take advantage of the camp.” Rainbow Dive said all this while still shaking claws, or rather, hoof and claw with Gilda.

“Um, well, thank you,” Gilda stuttered back, an uncomfortable frown on her face.

“Well, I gotta drop Dashie’s stuff off and get going, I’m working the night shift,” the stallion announced as he finally broke grip with Gilda, turning to “Dashie” instead. “C’mere, kiddo.”

“Dad, not in front of my new roommate, plea-“ Rainbow Dash was cut off by Rainbow Dive’s vice grip hug, which nearly choked the air out of Rainbow Dash’s throat.

“I’m gonna miss you, Dash,” he said softly, holding Rainbow Dash’s muzzle in his hoof, a few tears welling in his eyes. “You’d better write every week, and kick flank out there.”

“I’ll definitely do both, Dad,” Rainbow Dash said softly, stealing a quick glance at Gilda to see if she was being judged for her dad’s tearful goodbye. “You know me. I’m the fastest flyer in Equestria! I’m the only one who’s ever done a sonic rainboom!”

“I know you are, kid, but listen to me.” Dive held Dash’s muzzle slightly closer to his own. “Don’t let your trademark arrogance get you caught napping while somepony else outperforms you. You really are the best, but only if you do your best.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Rainbow sighed, blushing slightly.

“Hey, Rainbow pride, eh?” Dive took a step back and held a hoof up.

“Rainbow pride,” Dash agreed, and bumped his hoof with her own.

Dive trotted to the door and looked over his shoulder as he opened it. “Bye, Dashie.”

“Bye,” Rainbow Dash said with a wave of her wing. The door shut and Dash collapsed on her bed with a groan. “Sorry about that. He’s a little-“

“No, no, it’s fine,” Gilda cut Dash off. “My dad was the same way when I got on the boat here.”

“You took a boat?”

“Well, yeah,” Gilda said, a bit defensive. “I had to get from the Griffin Lands to Cloudsdale before two o’clock, I wasn’t exactly going to fly. Especially not with my bags.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s a good point,” Rainbow Dash said, turning to lay on her side, facing Gilda. “I guess parents are just a bit clingy. I mean, I’m 15, I’m not exactly a filly anymore.”

Gilda gave Rainbow Dash a raised eyebrow. “You’re still living with your parents, as far as I’m concerned, that makes you a filly.”

“Whatever,” Rainbow Dash shrugged off Gilda’s statement and turned back to lay on her stomach. “I’m still more mature than they give me credit for. I could take care of myself if I had to.”

“I hear you, ‘Dashie’,” Gilda said with a smirk.

“Shut up!” Dash playfully threw her pillow at Gilda’s stomach and got up to unpack. Gilda just snickered and went back to her own unpacking projects. She had to hurry, since orientation was in fifteen minutes and she wasn’t entirely sure where she had to go.

After a bit of unpacking, Rainbow Dash looked at the clock on her nightstand. “Oh, shoot,” she said, “Orientation starts in five minutes.”

“Crap,” Gilda mumbled, dropping the last of her makeup into a drawer. “We should get going.”

“Yeah, do you know where we’re supposed to go?” Rainbow asked, grabbing Gilda’s packet from off the nightstand.

“Well, I don’t know where it s or how to get there,” Gilda admitted.

“I guess we’ll just have to find out together,” Dash said with a smile, and they both headed for the door.

Comments

[flyingace11]

Good start. I am excited for more, make it soon!