Reconciliation

“Reconciliation”

By

TheBigStallowski

Gilda stood and watched as the crowd from the funeral dispersed. She was now in Ponyville’s cemetery, her mind wandering to all sorts of different places. Hell if she knew where. All she could do was idly sit in the grass in the bright spring daylight. Despite the tone of the the day’s events, it was quite a rather beautiful Spring day, probably Ponyville’s first in a while. Did Dash leave a note for the weather team to do this, or─!

“Gaa!” She nearly took flight as she felt two taps on her wing which suddenly jarred her from her thoughts. Gilda turned over to see Pinkie Pie standing at her side.

Pinkie’s usually fluffy, cotton-candy-like mane was still down and deflated just as it had been during the funeral service. Her coat even looked as though it were duller than usual. “H-hey, Gilda.”

“Hey… Pinkie Pie, right?”

“Yeah, that’s the name!” the pink earth-pony tried to say with some degree of positivity, but her efforts fell flat on their back. She looked down at the ground sheepishly. She was the exact opposite of the usually cheery mare Gilda had met when she first came to Ponyville. “Rainbow’s friends and I are getting together at Sugarcube Corner later today, you’re welcome to come over with us. It’s only right, you know?”

Gilda stood there, dumbfounded. The last time she was here in Ponyville with all her friends, it ended in disaster. She’d made a fool of herself, and with the way she acted towards Rainbow’s friends? Was it really right for her to show up? “I-I’ll, I’ll think about it, Pinkie. Thanks.”

“Okay, it starts at 3, so we’ll all be there.” Pinkie managed to bring herself to smile, looking up at the griffon. “I’ll even make some cupcakes for all of you! I think we all need something to cheer us up, that’s what Rainbow Dash would want from us.” And with that, Pinkie made off back to the crowd of her friends. Gilda couldn’t help but notice it, but a little color seemed to return to the expressive mare’s coat. Taking Pinkie’s words into account, Gilda took off. She needed to be away from this negativity.

§

Just getting away from negativity? Easier said than done. That’s how Gilda felt as she sat on the park bench reading Rainbow Dash’s obituary in a newspaper. Apparently it was some filly that had found her after she’d hung herself. Gods, how horrible that must have been… she wanted to take a nap, but napping on the park benches is generally discouraged. Didn’t want to seem like some kind of vagrant. And she still had an hour before she was supposed to be at Sugarcube Corner.

She’d read the obituary several times over already, it had been written by Twilight. It was a beautiful piece; it had captured everything about Rainbow Dash perfectly, and the fact that it was written by a princess? That made it all the better. At least she stated that she wanted a smaller funeral, just for her friends and family. Her gaze shifted towards the picture of Rainbow Dash. It was her in her flight-suit from the Cloudsdale Games, smiling with confidence and fierce determination at the camera.

Then, something seemed to click. She did this, she committed this. She did this to her friends! Gilda thought to herself. She chose to do this, and didn’t even leave us an explanation as to why! She…

Gilda stopped herself. No. Don’t think about that. She assured herself. Don’t think about that she mentally repeated. She needed to be distracted. Her work had let her take the week off, the manager there was a pretty relaxed and relatable stallion, young guy.

Should I even be going to this thing? It’s not like I was part of their group, anyway, she thought. Wasn’t much to do in Ponyville other than going to Sugarcube, but it’s not like she had any friends up in Cloudsdale. There were plenty of bars there, though… Do I really wanna spend another night just getting wasted? Is that really gonna do anything for me? she wondered. It was a nice way to forget, though. Sitting in a nice and cozy bar, letting some stallions and even some mares sweet-talk her...

Gilda stood, stretching her wings. No. That’s not what Rainbow Dash would want. Okay, maybe she’d like the sweet-talking, but not tonight. She looked in the direction of Sugarcube Corner. “Not like last time. You’re killing me here, Dash. But this is for you.” She then trotted towards center town.