Naught but a luxury, I think it unneeded,
I don't want your friendship, I'll manage alone.
This is the lie that I told myself, it nearly succeeded.
Times sands slowly falling, it has now been shown,
I truly can't live without you close to my side.
Will I be given a second chance? It is unknown.
Answers, I seek. Time to stow away my pride.
Outstretched are my wings, I take to the skies.
Do you think of me too? Or have I been cast aside?
To make claims of my changes would be filled with lies.
But know this, I will change. I'll no longer be rash.
Give me this chance to prove I can revise.
While I drift ever closer, my emotions clash.
Please don't push me away when I do arrive,
My Rainbow Dash.
A serene breeze rolled into Ponyville from the northerlies, carrying with it an oncoming emotional storm in the form of a dot on the horizon, soaring ever closer as it was brought in by the winds. This dot grew larger as it closed in, and soon a distinctive shape could be made out. It was that of a griffon. Gilda Griffon to be precise.
Having been driven from the town after some rather unscrupulous acts towards the friends of her former best friend; Rainbow Dash, it was unthinkable that she would ever be returning. Yet there she was, little more that a dot in the skyline, bobbing up and down as her mighty eagle wings beat in steady rhythm.
Say one were to venture into the mind of Gilda as she soared determinedly toward Ponyville, what they would find there would be a far cry from what they had been expecting. For it was not her intent to cause trouble, or to even stir up bad memories. Today, Gilda was on a mission that was of the utmost importance to her. Reclamation of her friendship with the pegasus pony; Rainbow Dash.
After her their not so recent falling out, Gilda had done her best to convince herself that she didn't need any friends. This proved unsuccessful as she very recently realized she had been deluding herself the entire time.
She needed her best friend back... Actually, no. She needed the mare that she had come to recognize as much more than that. There were few creatures in all of Equestria that Gilda had grown close to in any measure, and Rainbow Dash was the one that topped the list. Once upon a time, they were inseparable. They had each-others back and in turn, they had all they ever needed in one another.
Where had it gone astray? When Gilda was finally reunited with her old and still very best friend, she had been positively ecstatic. Unfortunately, she had neglected to take into account that Dash may have made new friends. So when Pinkie Pie kept coming into the picture, Gilda couldn't help but feel a little jealous. She did everything in her power to try and drive Pinkie away. This, combined with her general disrespect for the rules, lack of manners and confrontational demeanor had ended the day on a sour note between Gilda and Rainbow Dash. That night, Gilda spent the better part of it trying to drill it into her mind that she had never needed Dash, and that she should never have come to visit.
Gilda had been able to resist her feelings for little more than two months. Slowly, though, it became increasingly more difficult to ignore what felt like a coarse rope, tightening around her heart every time she so much as entertained an errant thought of her former friend. Surely enough, it got to her, and now, Gilda Griffin found herself descending into Ponyvilles town square.
Whilst setting down, Gilda could feel glaring eyes, burning into her back. She wasn't here for them, however, so Gilda paid them no mind. So far as she was concerned, they were still a bunch of dweebs. But they were also the friends of Rainbow Dash, meaning if she wanted to keep whatever chances remained of fixing what had been broken, Gilda had to play nice. This did not mean she had to interact with them at all if she could help it. Gilda kept her head held high, and her eyes pointed forward as she strode about the town in search of the distinctive rainbow pegasus.
In a town as small as this, it never took long for word to spread. The story of a griffon known to be the former friend to Rainbow Dash reached the ears of early every pony within half an hour, and a welcoming committee made up of a single orange earth pony soon came looking for Gilda.
Oh geez... Gilda thought to herself as she was approached by a not too thrilled looking Applejack. Of course it would be too much to ask that I could find Dash before any of these other dweebs found me.
“Just whaddya think yer doing back here, Gilda. We don't need none 'a' yer trouble makin' 'round here.” Applejack said. A frown worn on her face.
Gilda let out an exasperated sigh of annoyance and pointed a claw at Applejack as she replied. “Listen, I'm not here to start any trouble. I just want to talk to Dash.”
“Nd' what makes ya think she wants ta see you?” Applejack asked.
“I'm sure she can tell me so, herself, if that's the case.” Gilda retorted, glaring over Applejack. Making use of her predatory eyes and stature larger than that of your average pony to hold an intimidating presence.
Applejack took an involuntary step backwards, but her expression barely faltered. “Don't think ya can come 'round these parts 'nd expect everypony to turn tail and run. You really hurt RD last time you were here, I ain't lettin' it happen again.”
“Why would I bother coming back if I just wanted to hurt her again?” Gilda asked in earnest. Her eyes softened but her stance remained as imposing as it had ever been. “I'm not gonna fill you with any of that 'I'm a changed griffon' crap, because I still think you and the rest of Dash's friends are a bunch of losers. But I do miss my friend. You can't keep me from seeing her.”
The two creatures stood silently, staring intently into each-others eyes as they tried to uncover the others motives. Applejack remained skeptical of the griffin, but Gilda was right. She couldn't keep her from Rainbow Dash. “You best be watchin' yer act while yer 'round here, I won't tolerate no ill-doings. RD can judge you fer herself.”
With that, Applejack took a few steps backwards to signal that their conversation was through.
Without words, Gilda strode past Applejack, eyes forward, not even sparing so much as a second glance. Gilda would do her best not to trod on any hooves while she was here, that was the last thing the griffin needed to do. But that didn't mean she would go out of her way to be polite or friendly to any of them. She wasn't here to prove herself to any pony other than Rainbow Dash.
* * * * *
Ponyville showed no signs of the rainbow pegasus, no matter how hard and long Gilda searched. Her only other option would be to go directly to Dash's front door, which Gilda found a little more comforting. Their reunion would be away from the public eye.
Gilda set her feet down upon the front doorstep of Rainbow Dash's home in the clouds, and with trepidation, she struck the door three times with a curled claw. The sound of movement, followed with a 'Just a second!' showed that Gilda was right to think Dash would be at home.
The door swung open, and for a split second, Gilda experienced something she had been missing for a long time. Dash's welcoming smile as she came to greet her visitor. An experience that was short lived, however, as Rainbow Dash discovered who it was, standing on her doorstep. Dash's mouth opened and shut, her inability to find the right words caused her to stand there, stammering silently. The only legible word to make it past her throat being; “...Gilda?”
“Hey, Dash...” Gilda mumbled. Expecting a good chewing out from the mare of her rare affection. 'Why are you here? Go away, I don't want to be your friend anymore.' Gilda thought out Rainbow Dash's expected reaction.
“What are you dong here?” Rainbow Dash managed to choke out.
What should I say? Gilda brainstormed the right thing to say. Her first line may be her only. 'I missed you?' No. Too fluffy and lame. 'I'm sorry?' Maybe. But there's gotta be something better. 'I had to come back?' That sounds good. Not too mushy, but still well meaning. I think... “I had to come back...” Gilda said.
“Why? So you could try and get me to see things your way? So I would leave all of my REAL friends behind and come flying with you? No. You made yourself very clear the last time you were here, and so did I.” Rainbow Dash made to shut the door, but Gilda gripped the frame with her talons and asked her to 'Just listen.'
“I'm not here to try take you away from your new friends, Dash. I just...” Gilda's eyes betrayed her ever confident body language. They screamed for a chance to let tears flow freely, but Gilda would never let that happen. “...I'm sorry.” These words were foreign to her, she hadn't uttered them without a healthy dose of sarcasm before. So they may not have come across quite as earnest as Gilda had liked.
Thankfully, having been friends with Gilda for a large portion of her life, Rainbow Dash could understand exactly what she was trying to say. But did she believe it? “You're sorry? Okay. Is that all?” It wasn't that she didn't believe Gilda. But an apology wouldn't cut it, there was much more to it than that.
“C'mon, Dash. You gotta know it isn't that easy for me.” Gilda scratched the back of her neck and looked off into the middle distance. ...Though I guess it would be harder to lose my chance with you entirely. She thought to herself, lamentably.
“You can't be that sorry then.” Dash replied in a firm tone.
“ugh...” Swallowing back the little ball of unbridled pride that threatened to bring with it a retort that could ruin everything in an instant. “Look, Dash. I've been lying to myself about all of this for weeks now... I thought I could get along perfectly fine without any friends, and for the most part, that's kinda true.” Gilda sighed and drooped her shoulders. “But I can't manage without you, because you're more to me than that.”
“You have a funny way of showing it.” Rainbow Dash mumbled. Not at all impressed with Gilda's uncharacteristic emotional display. “If you were really my friend, you would have respected me and my other friends. Instead, you were mean to all of them, and you didn't even seem sorry when you left.”
“Believe me, Dash. I was. When I arrived in Ponyville that day, I was so happy to finally be able to spend some time with you again. You were the only friend I ever had, growing up.” Gilda's talons dug into the wooden steps where she stood. “It was hard, okay. It was hard to accept that you have other friends, now.” The faintest hint of desperation laced Gilda's voice and eyes.
Rainbow Dash's frown broke. “But... Why? Why would that be so hard to accept? So I made a few new friends as I grew up. Didn't you?”
Gilda gave Dash a looked that seemed to say; 'Are you serious?'. “No-one has ever been as cool as you, Dash. I could never get along with anyone else. I never wanted to get along with anyone else.”
It was all so confusing to Rainbow Dash. “But... Why!?” she cried. “I don't get it at all. A strait answer would be great right about now!” Dash shook her head and glared up at Gilda. “Why are you here!?”
Gilda decided to go for broke. All of this wimpy over emotional talking was getting her nowhere. She took one of Rainbow Dash's hooves softly into the grasp of her right claw. “Listen to me closely, Dash. Because this isn't something I say often. To anyone. Ever.” Gilda paused for a few seconds, hoping Dash wouldn't resist. Hoping she wouldn't push her away and slam the door in her face, while screaming at her to go away and stay away. “You were my only friend. And I mean that in the most literal sense possible. The only friend I've ever had. So it was natural that it didn't take long for me to see you as so much more than just a friend... Do you see what I'm trying to say here?”
Rainbow Dash looked down at the claw that was gently grasping her hoof. She then looked up into the eyes of the distraught griffin, standing on her doorstep. Of course this was why Gilda had been so hostile towards her other friends when she had come to visit, and why she couldn't stay away. This was why Gilda now stood before her, holding her hoof and trying her best to explain herself, when to any other pony, she wouldn't even trod the same ground if she didn't think they were worth her time.
“I th-think I do... But it would still be nice to hear you say it.” Rainbow Dash smiled and looked onto Gilda expectantly.
Tentatively, Gilda moved in closer, and rested her chin on Rainbow Dash's head. She curled her left foreleg around Dash and gave her the embrace she had been dreaming of for such a long time now. “I love ya, Dash.”
Rainbow Dash returned the embrace equally, and there they sat in each-others arms. Neither one wanting to be the first to relax their grip.
Despite the emotional scene, neither of them shed a tear. They just reveled in the warmth of one another, remembering times long gone of the moments they shared as best friends. “...I have one condition, if you want me to say it back.” Rainbow Dash finally broke the silence with a cheek-filled mumble.
“Watcha got for me, Dash? You know I can take it.” Gilda grinned.
“You got some apologies to make.” Rainbow Dash grinned back. “And once you've made these apologies, I'll say it in front of ALL my friends!”
–
So, what can I say about this? Nothing, really. Gilda is a character I've never really taken much of an interest in. Not to say I don't like her, as an antagonist, she's actually quite likable in that she is good at being a character one is meant to dislike. But yeah, I needed a challenge. Something to jumpstart my dying creativity.
So yeah, it's nothing special. It's a scene that has probably been done in a hundred different ways by a hundred other fanfiction writers. But it was new to me.
Hope you enjoyed it.
My Rainbow Dash; Part 2.
Reconciliation
“I know I've gotta say something to all of you, but I want to explain myself first. If you'll just bear with me.” It took a great deal of effort to hold her composure. It went against most of Gilda's natural instinct to be standing in Twilight Sparkle's living room, facing five ponies that were all waiting for her to make amends with each of them. Part of her mind nagged the griffin to do the bolt. To get away from these losers as fast as she possibly could. But the other, more sensible part of her mind, the part that reminded her how much Gilda stood to lose if she didn't swallow her stupid pride and stow her attitude.
As she worked out what it was she felt she needed to say, Gilda looked over the expressions of each of the six ponies that scrutinised her. Out of each, it was the orange one, Applejack, that seemed to be the least thrilled about her return. She was barely concealing a glare.
Surprisingly enough, the only one in the room with a clearly positive expression, in that she was literally bouncing on her hooves, was the irritating pink one. Pinkie Pie was positively beaming, obviously happy to see things have worked out for the best.
The rest seemed rather neutral. Twilight and Rarity were both showing mixed feelings about the griffin's return, but considering RD was happier than she had been in a long time, they were tolerating Gilda. Wonder why the cowgirl isn't acting the same way. The yellow one looked a tad frightened, though. Made sense, Gilda had given Fluttershy quite a scare when she was last here, it was pretty funny.
After taking a deep breath, Gilda started off her lead up to the apology she promised Dash she would make. “I don't have many... Any friends. As a young griffin growing up around a bunch of ponies, I was the outsider. Dash here was the only friend to this day that I have ever made. I know that probably sound sad, poor me and all that, but I don't care.” Gilda's shoulders half raised in a sort of nonchalant shrug. “She's the only friend I've ever needed and I guess I got it into my head that she felt the same. So when I got here and she had a whole bunch of other friends, I couldn't handle that. Didn't help nothing when I couldn't get any alone time with Dash, when the Pink menace- er, Pinkie Pie, kept showing up everywhere we went. But now I... I get it. Not that I all of a sudden feel that I need any more friends, but that RD is happy with you lot and I can live with that now. Because all that time I've spent wallowing in self pity, denial and regret has taught me that I need her. I need my only friend, and if I gotta play nice to all of you to keep her around then so be it.” Gilda's eyes trailed along the floor, their attention being easily stolen by pointless items about the room such as books, cushions or even dark spots in the wood. The griffin struggled to raise her eyes high enough to allow the six ponies in the room to look into them and judge her sincerity for themselves. “So... I'm sorry, okay. I ain't saying I've changed or that I'll be happy and nice, but you won't be getting any more grief from me.”
Rainbow Dash was, of course, the first to speak after Gilda finished off her long winded apology. She practically pounced on Gilda, pulling her into a nearly bone crushing hug. “Now that wasn't too hard, right? Whaddya say, girls?” RD looked around the room, smiling ecstatically, waiting for her friends to all show their support for the redemptive actions of an old friend.
Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy all smiled and nodded politely. “Everyone deserves another chance, especially if she's sincere in her apology.” Twilight added. “Oh of course, dear. But um... Do try and be civil amongst the rest of the ponies in ponyville as well.” Rarity nervously mumbled. Fluttershy said nothing, but she kept her chin up, and her smile present.
Pinkie Pie and Applejack were the ponies with the two most notable reactions. Pinkie had somehow managed to make her way onto Gilda's back, where she then joined in with Dash's hug. “Oh I just love how this has turned out, I said it to Rainbow Dash when you first left, I said 'She'll come back, Dash. She's your friend!' And you did, you're back and now we have a chance to start over and oh, oh, oh we should-” The excitable pink pony's hyperactive jabberings were cut short by an amused Rainbow Dash.
“Pinkie, she's just gotten back. You can at least wait a few days before you go full party mode on her.” Dash barely stifled a giggle as she saw Gilda practically bite her tongue and lock her talons into the floor, fighting back the urge to toss Pinkie Pie across the room. She's not cursing Pinkie out, either. That's a great sign! She idly thought as Pinkie apologetically zipped back to her place nearby the other five, with a sheepish grin stretched across her face. Pinkie's little outburst had lightened the mood somewhat for everypony in the room. At least... all of them other than Applejack.
There was a lot the orange pony wanted to say about this whole situation, but a part of her knew it was best she held her tongue. Unfortunately there was nothing she could to to conceal the unimpressed expression she wore as Gilda rattled off her reasons why she was such a... Well, a not-very-nice girl when she came to visit RD the first time. It wasn't that Applejack didn't believe Gilda. It wasn't hard to fathom the idea that the griffin didn't have many friends, and that she had latched onto Dash as a result. Nope, not hard to believe at all. Furthermore it was far from the truth to say that AJ was not happy for her friend. To see RD smile like that warmed Applejack's heart. The problem here was admittedly entirely for selfish reasons, and she knew that if she opened her mouth, a lot of very honest things would be said that Applejack knew she would very quickly regret saying.
It wasn't until after Rainbow Dash kept up her side of the deal that the drama machine seemed to kick into gear.
'Once you've made these apologies, I'll say it in front of ALL my friends!'
What Dash and Gilda had discovered when the griffin made her return, was that the friendship they had, had become something more. 'I love ya, Dash.' When Gilda had managed to squeeze out these four words, which held within them more affection then RD felt she could ever expect from the bird with the outward emotional equivalent of a six inch thick and heated titanium wall, her heart skipped more than a few beats, and although Dash herself was not one for open displays of mushy emotion, her expression gave away enough to show that the feeling was mutual. A deal was made, that if Gilda were to apologise to all of her friends, and promise not to cause any more trouble, Rainbow Dash would say those same four words, in front of all of her friends. The competitive nature between the two making this something of a challenge.
Dash called the ponies in the room to attention with a quick whistle. “I'm sure you guys have probably got a lot to do, it's a weekday after all and I'm probably keeping you from your duties. But while we're all here, there's something else I want to say.” There was a slight pause as everypony in the room could have sworn they saw the makings of a blush flush through Dash's face for a very brief second before the pegasus retrieved her confident smile and intertwined her leg with Gilda's. “Me and Gilda... We're much more than just friends now. And I'd like to say, in front of all of those I care a lot about, for the first time, that I love you, Gilda. You're the one for me.”
The atmosphere throughout the living room changed almost instantly. It was both surprised and confused. Even Pinkie Pie had simmered down, it took her a while to blink through all of the new information she had been fed before she could react accordingly.
“Woohoo!~ Love has been blooming all over the place recently! Are you gonna get married!? Oh the wedding Twilight's brother and Princess Cadance had was great! I can't wait for the next! Can I be a bridesmare? Arg! Silly me, Gilda just got here and I'm doing it again aren't I? I'm sorry I'll be quiet but it's just so exciting and I can't-” Once again, Pinkie's little outburst had proven to be just what was needed to ease the tension in the room. Unfortunately, not everyone there was as thrilled with the news.
A loud, dull thud cut Pinkie Pie off suddenly, as each of them found themselves wondering in unison where Applejack had gone to. For the ponies in the room, it was as though she had stormed out with no warning. Gilda's keen ears had been able to pick up on part of AJ's mutterings as she left. '...Ain't good enough for RD...' What's that dweeb's problem? Gilda shrugged it off. If Applejack had a problem, she can sort it out with Dash.
Rainbow Dash had apparently the same thought process, as mere seconds after Applejack stormed out, Dash, who was understandably confused and somewhat upset by this, apologized to Gilda and hurried after AJ. Much to the dismay of the griffin, who called out after her “Hey wait, don't-” it was too late, Dash was gone. Leave me with these guys by myself... Ugh, this is going to suck, I just know it.
–
And there this is. I imagine I'll only need one, maaaybe two more chapters to complete this little story arc I've got going. Just something to do in my spare time, so it may not take long at all for me to finish this one off.
