"You know, this is not how I thought my old friend would treat my new friends. If being cool is all you ever care about, maybe you should find some new cool friends someplace else."
"Yeah?" the griffon snarled as she flared her wings out at the sky blue pegasus. "Well you.... you... You are such a ... flip-flop. Cool one minute and lame the next. If you decide not to be lame anymore, give me a call." With that, the griffon turned and strolled out the Sugarcube Corner, slamming the door behind her.
"Not cool," Rainbow Dash said.
"Wow. Talk about a party-pooper."
Dash turned and looked. Standing beside her was Spike. The purple and green dragon had his head tilted toward Dash, but his eyes still looked at the door. Others started to talk among themselves, shocked at the way the griffon had acted.
"I'm sorry everypony," Dash said, "for bringing Gilda here. I didn't know how rude she was. And Pinkie Pie, I'm really sorry she ruined that awesome party you put on for her."
"Hey," the pink earth pony said with a smile, "if you want to hang out with party-poopers, that's your business."
"I'd rather hang out with you," the pegasus said with a smile. "No hard feelings?" She held out a hoof.
"No hard feelings," Pinkie replied, reaching out her own.
The two touched hooves. Their bodies tensed as they jumped in the air, manes and tails frizzing out. A buzzing sound filled the air. When the two finally pulled apart, they were both laughing as they showed that both had used a hoof buzzer on the other.
"Come on everypony," Pinkie Pie said with a hop. "There's still a whole lot of partying to do."
The other ponies smiled as they began to enjoy the party again. They continued to enjoy the refreshments, play games, and hang out talking to each other. With two exceptions.
One was Shining Armor. The white unicorn stallion with the electric blue mane and tail smiled as he looked around, watching the other ponies. As he did, something seemed wrong. Looking around again, it finally clicked.
Rainbow Dash was gone.
The young stallion made his way through the door that was open again. Looking up, he scanned the sky. The pegasus was a very fast flyer, so he probably would not be able to see her directly but.
Ah-ha! Spotting the rapidly fading remnants of her rainbow contrail, Shining started to run, following it as best he could. It was made more difficult by the fact that Rainbow Dash was able to fly straight over Ponyville while he had to keep to the streets and go around the buildings. Fortunately, he was able to figure out which direction she had headed and where she was most likely to end up.
The rainbow maned pegasus sat on a hill overlooking a field. Rainbow Dash's wings were open, but drooped so the tips were touching the ground. Her head was low between her shoulders, and moving closer, it could be seen that her ears were pinned back.
Shining Armor tried to make as much noise as he could when walking up toward the pegasus, not wanting to sneak up on her. Pretending he noticed neither the small sniffle nor the pegasus reach up to wipe her face, he moved to stand beside her and cleared his throat.
"What are you doing out here?" she asked, turning her head enough to look at him from the corner of her eye.
"I could ask you the same thing," he answered as he sat down beside her. "Notice that you took off from the party. Want to talk about it?"
"No!" She turned her head away from him and dropped to lay on her stomach, heading resting on her hooves.
Shining Armor shifted to get more comfortable. He looked up at the sky, watching it darken with the start of sunset. Soon the stars would begin to appear in the darkest part.
"I can't believe I did that," Rainbow Dash finally said. "Gilda's been my friend for years and I kind of just kicked her out of my life. Some element of loyalty I turned out to be."
"It's not like you turned her away for no good reason. I mean she did kind of put you in a position of forcing to choose between you and your other friends. Plus, it does seem like she was pretty unpleasant, even if you don't believe what Pinkie Pie says."
"That's the other thing," she groaned as she rolled onto her back. "I can't believe that Gilda's changed so much. She and I used to be awesome friends. Now she just... seems like a bully. What could have made her change like that?"
Shining Armor looked up at the sky again. He chewed on his lip as he looked at the stars beginning to appear. One of his ears gave a flicker.
"Maybe," he said slowly, "the problem isn't that she changed. Maybe the problem is she hasn't changed as much."
"What?" Rainbow Dash turned to look at him raising an eyebrow.
"Well," Shining Armor shifted to look down at her, "You knew her years ago, right?"
"Yeah. Back in flight school. What's your point?"
"First question, did you hang out with anypony else?"
"No." Rainbow Dash answered. "Most of the other ponies there were kind of lame."
"Did that include Fluttershy?"
"Fluttershy wasn't there. She was already on the ground learning about animals or something."
"Okay." Shining Armor rubbed his chin and thought a moment. "What about me? If I had been around back then, would you have thought I was lame?"
"A pony that would rather read some boring old book than race and do stunts?" Rainbow Dash shifted. She let out a sigh before turning her head away. "Yeah. I would have thought you were totally lame back then."
"Do you think I'm lame now?"
"No. You're not exactly cool, and definitely not as cool as me."
"Of course." He gave a roll of his eyes.
"But you're an alright stallion. Especially how much you care about your little sister."
"Okay," Shining Armor said with a nod. "Next question. Remember how we met?"
"Yeah," Rainbow Dash answered, looking away as she remembered crashing into the newly arrived unicorn.
"Would Gilda have apologized for crashing into me?" he asked.
"Are you kidding? If she crashed into you, it would have been your fault for getting in her way to begin with."
"And the younger you?"
Rainbow Dash shifted again. She rubbed at her chin as she looked at sky, considering the question.
"Honestly?" the pegasus said as she looked at him. "I probably wouldn't have stuck around. Would have been off and flying away before you even realized what happened."
"What about being forced to apologize to Twiley?"
"You would have had to catch me first!" She smirked. The smile faded as she let out a small sigh. "I don't know. I mean, I would feel bad for hurting anypony, especially a foal, but..." Her eyes narrowed as she looked away. "Admitting I did something wrong and apologize for it? Doesn't really sound like me when I was younger."
"Okay," Shining Armor said, "I think I've made my point." He gave Dash a gentle poke. "Since your days in flight school, you have grown up and matured. It seems Gilda hasn't, or at least as much as you."
"I guess," Rainbow Dash sighed, "but I still feel bad. Like I turned my back on a friend."
"If her friendship means that much to you, why don't you write to her?" Shining suggested. "Let her know that if she's willing to be nicer to other ponies and apologize, you're willing to still be her friend."
"What if she doesn't? What if she doesn't write back?"
"That's her choice. At the very least she'll know that you're willing. Speaking of letters," the stallion moved to stand up, "I need to write a letter to Princess Celestia. I also need to apologize to Pinkie for thinking she was just being jealous."
"Okay. Hey. Don't tell anypony about this, okay? I do have a reputation to keep."
"Sure," Shining said as he started to walk off. A thought caused him to stop. A grin spread across his lips as he turned back and looked down at the pegasus lying on her back in the grass.
"Speaking of Pinkie Pie," he said, "I don't think she would leave until you were laughing."
"Yeah, but she's not here," Rainbow Dash replied. "And no offense, but you are no Pinkie Pie."
"True," Shining Armor admitted, "but I do know something I've used with Twiley that is guaranteed to work."
"Oh?" Rainbow Dash looked at him, raising and an eyebrow. "And what would that be?"
Grinning, Shining Armor let out a small chuckle. The stallion then took a deep breath. As fast as he could, he lowered his head, pressing his mouth against Rainbow Dash's stomach before blowing as hard as he could.
"Pblpblth!"
"AH!" Rainbow Dash screamed out before laughing. "Ha, ha. Stop it! Ha ha ha. That tickles." The mare twisted and kicked, trying to get away and protect her stomach from the ferocious raspberry it was getting. Her wings gave a flap, sending up a cloud of dirt.
That was when the pegasus an idea of her own. Reaching out with her wings, she slipped the edges under the unicorn and started tickling at the sides of his stomach. Shining Armor stopped blowing on Rainbow Dash's stomach as he moved to get away from her feathery assault.
"No fair," Shining Armor said as he moved back. "I don't have any feathers."
"That's because you're not as awesome as me." Rainbow Dash said as she moved to sit back up. "That'll teach you to try and blow on my belly."
The two looked at each other, grinning and chuckling slightly.
"Alright," Shining Armor said. "You win."
"That's right," the pegasus said while puffing out her chest. Deflating she looked down at the ground. "And... thanks. For listening."
"Any time. OW!" the unicorn let out a yelp of surprise and a little pain as he was punched in the shoulder.
"Just don't get used to it," Rainbow Dash said, looking at him. "Not exactly one for mushy heart to hearts." With that, she gave a flap of her wings and took off. Flying up into the air, the pegasus quickly took off and vanished from sight.
Shining Armor rubbed at the spot as he watched her go. Once the initial shock wore off, he got up and started walking toward Ponyville. First he would go back to Sugarcube Corner to apologize to Pinkie Pie and enjoy the rest of the party. Then he would go back to the library and write a letter to Princess Celestia.
This had actually been a little surprising. He may not have gotten along well with Rainbow Dash when he first arrived, but he was glad to have met her. It was actually nice to see another side of her. It had also been fun getting her to laugh and cheer up.
She smells pretty nice, the stallion thought as he made his way back to the party.
