Rainbooms On the Mind

Chapters

Prologue: Let the Games Begin
Chapter 1: "Friends"
Chapter 2: A Memorable Race
Chapter 3: Just Acquaintances
Chapter 4: The Princess of Friendship and Books
Chapter 5: Training
Chapter 6: A Most Epic Battle
Chapter 8: Bucking Apples
Chapter 9: Competitive Spirit
Chapter 10: A Night Flight
Chapter 11: Bit by Bit
Chapter 12: A Sweet Treat
Chapter 13: Getting Schooled (Part 1)
Chapter 14: Getting Schooled (Part 2)
Chapter 15: Crash
Chapter 16: Downtime
Chapter 17: Celebration
Chapter 18: Natalya Time
Chapter 19: Winging It
Chapter 20: Return
Chapter 21: Learning Experience
Chapter 22: Sleepover
Chapter 23: Playdate
Chapter 24: Dress and Stress
Chapter 25: Racing Hearts
Chapter 26: Downfall
Chapter 27: Get Better
Chapter 28: Visitors
Chapter 7: Pranking Spree

Prologue: Let the Games Begin

This was it.

She had finally made it. Years of hard work and training had led her to this, and she was only one step away from achieving her goal. Today, she was going to prove to everyone that she was the best. Everyone was going to know who Natalya was and respect her.

Natalya opened her eyes, snapping herself back to reality. She might be almost there, but that meant there was still work to do. With a sigh, she sat on the floor and stretched out her legs in front of her. Flexing her wings, she slowly leaned forward, touching her outstretched paws with her claws.

A particularly loud grunt from one of her teammates in their shared locker room made Natalya pause, but she promptly tuned them out and returned to her stretches. She had waited too long for an opportunity like this, and she was not going to let anything distract her.

Eventually, Natalya finished up her stretches, and she stood back up to move in front of one of the mirrors in the room. Despite her best efforts to keep herself cool and collected, she felt her mouth twitch upwards, and the griffon in the mirror smirked right back at her.

Evidently, maintaining her calm demeanor was a tad more difficult than she thought, but she supposed showing a little bit of excitement was understandable, even for her. After all, she was moments away from competing in the legendary Equestria Games.

The Equestria Games, a revered event that came only once every few years where the best athletes from all over the land gathered to compete in an array of sports that would test the limits of their strength, speed, and skill.

While each occurrence of the games was monumental just because of their sheer magnitude, this instance of the Equestria Games was already proving to be more than a few steps above the rest. The games were being hosted in the Crystal Empire, the fabled home of the crystal ponies that had returned after being hidden away by an evil unicorn for a thousand years. Furthermore, the event was made even more special this time around because it was being overseen by not three, but four pony princesses, a first due to the newly-crowned Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle. Between the remarkable location and its royal guests, this year’s Equestria Games would no doubt be forever remembered in the history books.

And yet all of that did not matter to Natalya. She could not care less about any prissy, pompous, pampered pony princesses or places of supposed magical importance. She was here for one thing only and that was to win.

Assuming my teammates don’t screw up. Natalya glanced out of the corner of her eye at the two griffons still performing their warm-up routines.

When Natalya got word that tryouts for the Equestria Games were starting, she was more than ready to show off her flying prowess. However, much to her chagrin, the only flying event was the aerial relay race, which meant that she had to fly with two other griffons to participate. Fortunately, she had little trouble finding teammates. Unfortunately, even before she saw them fly, Natalya knew that she was going to be carrying the team.

Her first teammate was Gaston, a male on the stocky side and pretty much brown on one half and browner on the other half. The other was Giselle, a lithe female with gray-blue feathers on her wings and head with a lighter shade of gray covering the rest of her. Both of her teammates were admittedly good fliers, but they were nowhere near her caliber.

Turning back to the mirror with a sigh, Natalya looked herself over, making sure she was all ready to go. Her dark-gray wings were preened, and her gray fur was smooth and sleek, not a single tuft sticking out that would interfere with her flying. She lifted a claw to brush away one of her white head-feathers, revealing dark-gray circles that bordered her blue eyes. After straightening out the four short feathers on top of her head, two on each side, she gave the mirror a confident grin.

Everything looking good for the best flier in the world.

There was a gentle knock on the locker room door, and a crystal pony mare poked her head inside.

“Um, the aerial relay race is about to begin. You have about two minutes before I have to take you to the field,” the mare informed.

“Alright,” Gaston acknowledged with a nod to the mare.

“Got it, thanks,” Giselle replied.

Natalya merely waved her claw, not even turning her attention to the crystal pony.

The griffons quickly finished their last minute preparations, including slipping on their purple team wristbands with a lightning bolt and a griffon claw crossing over each other. Right on the dot, the same crystal pony entered the room two minutes later to lead them out.

“Can you believe we’re actually going to compete in the Equestria Games?” Gaston asked as they followed the mare through the stadium tunnels, his chest slightly puffed out with pride.

“I know,” Giselle agreed with a grin. “I never imagined that I would ever be involved in something this huge. I don’t think I ever felt this nervous and excited ever before.”

“Well shake it off or whatever,” said Natalya, her gaze fixed straight ahead. “You can’t afford to have any distractions.”

“And here we go again…” Giselle muttered with a roll of her eyes.

“Yes, here we go again.” Natalya turned to glare at Giselle. “It feels like I’m the only one with their head straight. This is a competition, so stop acting like starstruck tourists. I came here to win, so the both of you better not do anything to mess that up.”

“We’ll be just fine, Natalya,” Gaston interceded with a huff. “This isn’t our first time in a competition.”

“Yeah, we want to win too,” Giselle chimed in. “We’re just not so stuck up like a certain other griffon that spends all of her time criticizing her teammates.”

“Then stop giving me things for me to criticize,” Natalya replied.

Gaston grunted. “Whatever, let’s just hope that you’ll get that enormous head of yours off the ground.”

“Oooh, really original. Not like I ever heard that before,” Natalya dryly replied. “And you won’t have to worry about my flying, or have you forgotten who’s the best flier in Griffonstone?” She smiled inwardly at the silent glowers her teammates shot her, pretty much confirming her boast.

Gaston took a deep breath. “Look, Natalya, we’re only a few minutes from starting the race. Do you think we can keep things civil for a bit longer? We’ll race, get our medals, and then we can go our separate ways and never have to deal with each other again.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Natalya shrugged and strode on ahead.

“I can’t wait to get this over with,” Giselle grumbled quietly. “Then I wouldn’t have to put up with that loud mouth any longer.”

“I feel the same way about your whiny butt,” Natalya shot back.

If the crystal pony was bothered by the argument that had just transpired, she did not show any sign of it while she continued leading the griffons without even glancing back at them. Eventually, they arrived at the end of the tunnel, and the mare instructed the griffons to wait until they were called out onto the field.

It was not long before they heard “And last of all, we have the Griffonstone Team!” ring through the air.

Natalya immediately took flight, racing out onto the field and ignoring the annoyed cries of her teammates.

Natalya had already seen both the humongous size of the stadium as well as what had to be thousands of ponies sitting in the audience during the opening ceremonies, but taking it all in once again sent a shiver down her spine. It was not a shiver of nervousness, however. It was one of anticipation. She was no stranger to performing and racing in front of others, but the Equestria Games was easily her largest audience yet, and soon, they would all see that she was not only the best flier in Griffonstone, but the best flier, period.

Landing at the starting line, Natalya took a quick stock of the competition. Including her own, there were five teams. Obviously, all of her opponents were Equestrian pegasi. Most of the ponies she glanced at took no longer than a second, but in the end, there were two teams that caught her attention.

The first team donned gray jerseys with a picture of a rainbow sprouting from a cloud. Even though this was her first time seeing them so close, Natalya had heard about them plenty of times. They were the Wonderbolts, a team of daredevil performers that consisted of the best fliers in Equestria. To Natalya they were the only ponies that posed a threat to her victory. Of course, she was not worried that one of them could possibly beat her. No, she was worried that Giselle and Gaston would not be able to hold their own against them.

Natalya sorely wished that the aerial race was a solo affair, but supposedly, the event organizers chose to make it a relay race to promote friendship, teamwork, or whatever lame thing that ponies liked. That just meant she was just going to work all that much harder to make sure she won.

Shoving aside her worries, Natalya looked at the other team that caught her eye. With a heart over a ribbon in the center of their yellow jerseys, Natalya did not know anything about those ponies except overhearing that they were from someplace called Ponyville. There was an ordinary-looking yellow mare with a long, pink mane, but Natalya was much more interested in the two other pegasi.

There was a huge, hulking stallion, bigger than any pony or griffon Natalya had ever seen. The white stallion with an amber buzzcut actually looked to be more muscle than actual pony. Combined with his comically-tiny wings, the stallion looked more hilarious than intimidating.

The other pony of interest was a sky-blue mare. Natalya could tell that this mare was the leader of the team just by the way she was confidently speaking to her teammates, but she was more interested in the pony’s unique mane. Granted, her interactions with ponies were limited, but she was pretty sure that a mane that had all the colors of the rainbow was not a common thing. While Natalya would have thought a rainbow mane would be pretty tacky, the mare pulled it off with her short, messy style.

Natalya was going to keep an eye on the second team. Not because she thought they were good, but because she had a gut feeling that they were going to provide a good laugh.

“Attention, racers!” bellowed a white stallion clad in purple and yellow ceremonial armor as he strode up to the starting line. Natalya remembered his name was Shining Armor, but she forgot why he was so important.

“Welcome to the aerial relay race! The rules are simple. Each team has three members who will take turns to fly around the course,” Shining Armor continued, waving his hoof in a broad gesture over the set-up around him. About half of the stadium’s field was riddled with tall poles of varying heights that were holding up large hoops. They formed a vague circle that led back to the starting line.

A pegasus mare flew over to the starting line and started passing out the relay horseshoes to the teams. Natalya watched as Giselle, the first flier on their team, took the horseshoe and clutched it tightly in her claw. Giselle caught Natalya’s stare, and they shared a curt, annoyed glare at each other.

“To complete your flight, you must fly through every single hoop and then pass your team’s horseshoe to the next member. The last round of fliers will have a little extra to do. Upon completing their run of the obstacle course, they must finish the race by heading for the finish line above us,” Shining concluded, pointing a forehoof straight up.

Natalya let out a quiet growl when she turned her gaze upwards to the finish line perched on a circular platform high above the center of the course. I should be the one flying last, not Gaston! I still can’t believe we had to resort to drawing stupid straws to pick!

Flying last for Natalya was not just about the glory, even though she really would like to soak up the awesome feeling of crossing the finish line first. The extra stretch at the end would give her more time to compensate for any of her teammates’ failures if they happened to lag behind.

After one final check to make sure everyone was ready, the teams were instructed to get into positions. Natalya and Gaston stepped to the side, leaving Giselle and the other beginning fliers at the starting line.

Shining Armor raised his hoof into the air. “Racers, on my mark!”

Giselle and the other racers bent their legs, bracing to launch themselves into the air.

“Get set!”

The audience fell silent.

“Go!”

As soon as Shining Armor swung down his hoof, every racer sprang into the air. Clouds of dust and grass kicked up behind them, and the stadium exploded with the roars and cheers of the audience.

Natalya flew up with the pegasi when Shining Armor waved his hoof at her and the other second flyers. When she was situated over the starting line, her eyes swiftly zeroed in on the racers, and a curse escaped her beak at what she saw.

Just like Natalya had feared, one of the Wonderbolts, a mare with a blue-green coat and a white mane that was named Fleetfoot, was in the lead with Giselle in second place by a small gap.

“Come on, Giselle… Pick up the pace…” Natalya groused with a frown. Much to her frustration, Giselle could not follow her quiet commands and was unable to close the distance with Fleetfoot.

With a loud groan, Natalya’s gaze flicked over to take stock of the rest of the first flyers. She had to bite back a laugh when she saw that the muscular stallion from Ponyville was in last place.

Natalya had jokingly thought that the stallion would be a lousy flyer due to his disproportionate body, but now she was seeing it actually happen. The stallion’s wings looked like they could barely keep the pony in the air with all his muscular weight literally dragging him down. Furthermore, the stallion’s increased girth was doing him no favors, making it difficult for him to clear the hoops that could fit two normal-sized flyers.

Of course, Natalya could not watch the comedy routine for long. She turned her attention back to Giselle to find that the situation had worsened. Giselle was approaching the starting line, but judging by the noticeably heavy panting and uneven wing flaps, she was exhausted. The gap between Giselle and Fleetfoot had widened, and one of the other pegasi behind her was even creeping up.

Natalya took a deep breath as the Wonderbolts and even another team switched off before her. Despite the irritation building up inside her, she knew losing her temper would just make things worse.

Okay, I just need to make up Giselle’s lost time, outfly a Wonderbolt, and give Gaston enough of a head start to win. Easy, right? Natalya asked herself, stretching her claw toward Giselle.

As soon as Natalya felt the relay horseshoe in her claw, she gave a powerful beat of her well-trained wings and rocketed away from the starting line.

Already, Natalya could feel her body spur into action as the wind rushed past her. She could feel the adrenaline coursing through her. She reveled in relying on her instinct to navigate every obstacle and immersing in the sheer excitement of pushing herself to the limit. The only thing better than the thrill of racing was winning, which was exactly what she planned to do.

It took less than three seconds for Natalya to deftly outpace the mare in front of her and take back second place. She did not look back at the pony she passed, her full attention focused on flying through each hoop and Soarin, the pale-blue Wonderbolt stallion in front of her.

Natalya rapidly closed the distance, but Soarin was doing his best to keep himself flying through the center of each hoop, making it difficult for her to squeeze past him. At the speed they were going, there was almost no chance of her overtaking Soarin without missing a hoop. She expected nothing less from the pony that was second in command of the Wonderbolts, but she had no doubt that an opportunity would come up soon.

When they reached the halfway point of the course, Natalya finally saw her opening when Soarin listed down and to the left. Putting on a burst of speed, Natalya raced forward and just as she arrived at another hoop with Soarin, she tilted herself slightly to the right and aimed for the edge of the hoop. She could almost feel the tip of her wings graze the metal hoops, but she cleared it without losing any speed, giving her the room to surge forward.

As soon as Natalya saw that she was ahead of Soarin, she veered right into the Wonderbolt’s path. A smirk crossed her face when her sharp hearing caught a gasp behind her. She did not have to look back to know that Soarin had to slow down to avoid crashing into her. It was a risky move, but it had paid off and bought her a few precious seconds to secure first place.

With no ponies in her path, Natalya was able to fully focus on speeding through the rest of the course to try and put as much distance between her and the competition. By the time she arrived back at the starting line to thrust the horseshoe into Gaston’s waiting claw, she was already relishing in her inevitable victory.

We got this in the bag, all thanks to me, Natalya congratulated herself.

With Gaston’s departure, Natalya looked behind her to check on the competition. She was elated to see that Soarin was still at least a few seconds away. Even with Spitfire, the fire-orange-maned Captain of the Wonderbolts, raring to go, Natalya doubted any pony could catch up to Gaston at this point.

Confident that she had already won, Natalya took stock of the rest of the pack. They were way behind with about a quarter of the course to go, but there was one pegasus that Natalya could not help but chuckle at.

Bringing up the rear was the yellow pegasus of the Ponyville team, flying at a speed Natalya was sure she could beat in her sleep. The huge wall of meat that flew first had already put the Ponyville team at last place, and now the yellow pegasus had pretty much secured their loss.

Natalya chuckled. She was right. The Ponyville team was a good laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothing much. Just those slowpokes on the Ponyville team,” Natalya replied.

“What?!”

Natalya blinked and turned her head to see that the yeller was none other than the rainbow-maned mare. “Oh, you’re on the Ponyville team.”

“You’re darn right I am!” the mare cried out with a scowl. “And you take back what you said about my friends!”

Natalya shrugged. “Sorry, dude, but I’m just calling it how I see it. Your teammates have been stuck in last place the entire time.”

“That may be true, but they’re doing the best they can!”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “Why am I not surprised? Almost makes me wish I took the time to watch you at the tryouts to see what sort of miracle your team managed to pull out of your flanks.”

“Why I oughta—”

“Look…” Natalya leaned her head closer to the mare’s. “I can tell that you’re different than your friends. You actually know a thing or two about flying. Here’s a little advice. Friends or not, your teammates are dragging you down, and you need to dump them if you want to even think about winning.”

“I am never going to abandon my friends…” the sky-blue mare growled through gritted teeth.

Natalya backed off, shaking her head with disappointment. “Whatever. It doesn’t matter to me. Soon, I’ll be out of your mane and on my way back home with a gold medal.”

To Natalya’s surprise, the rainbow mare smirked at her. “Gold medal, huh? I think you should take another look at the race.”

A tinge of dread ran through Natalya as soon as she heard those words, and she slowly turned around to check on Gaston.

“What?! No!” Natalya shrieked. While she had been distracted by the Ponyville team, Spitfire had not only switched off with Soarin, but she had actually passed Gaston.

That… That idiot! Natalya was seething. She could see Gaston was trying to catch up, but he was no match for Spitfire. The captain of the Wonderbolts was not only keeping the lead, she was inching away from the Gaston. Natalya had no doubt she would have already won the race if she flew last. Instead, she had no choice but to watch her victory slowly slip away.

“Well, too bad about scoring first place,” taunted the rainbow mare. “Hope you enjoy third place.”

Natalya’s claws balled up and trembled with anger, but just as she was about to fire back a retort, she caught onto the rainbow mare’s last words. “Third place?”

The mare only flashed a coy grin at Natalya before turning around, reaching out a hoof toward the yellow pegasus that had finally made it to them. As soon as the horseshoe was passed, the rainbow mare was gone.

Natalya’s eyes shot wide open, hardly believing what she was witnessing. It took her brain several moments before finally accepting the truth about what she was watching.

The rainbow mare was fast. Really fast.

Natalya could tell that the speedy mare was going all out right away instead of saving it for the final stretch, but it did not make the sight any less incredible. With her blistering speed, the mare effortlessly weaved through the course, leaving the other ponies and Gaston behind her in ten seconds flat. Natalya would have had a tough time keeping track of the speeding blur that was her opponent if it were not for a distinct rainbow trail that was left behind.

By the time the talented mare’s speed finally tapered out, she was going head to head against Spitfire as they made the steep climb toward the finish line.

Natalya already knew that she had lost the race, but that did not matter as much to her anymore. It was her teammates’ fault after all. No, she was more concerned about something else.

That rainbow mare is good… Maybe even as good as me… Natalya begrudgingly admitted to herself.

Natalya barely heard the explosive cheers when Spitfire pulled slightly ahead at the last second, winning the race for the Wonderbolts, and she almost did not notice Shining Armor summoning them over to the center for the medal ceremony. All of her attention was focused on the pegasus with the rainbow mane.

As they all walked over to Shining Armor, Natalya made a beeline for the mare. “What’s your name?” she asked with a glare.

The mare gave her a cocky grin that Natalya was sure she was not going to forget for a long time. “It’s Rainbow Dash, and don’t you forget it.”

Chapter 1: "Friends"

Natalya was walking far off the beaten path. Nobody but her and the rugged landscape the griffon kingdom was known for could be seen. Gravel and dirt crunched beneath Natalya’s feet, but their noise was drowned out by the howling winds. Eventually, she arrived at her destination, stopping right at the edge of a cliff. She stood right before an enormous canyon that stretched further than she could see in both directions.

Natalya craned her neck forward to look down into the chasm. This was the Abysmal Abyss, a large gash across the land near Natalya’s hometown of Griffonstone. Most griffons avoided the area due to the powerful winds that constantly blew through the entire canyon. Getting caught in the treacherous gales could easily toss anyone around like a toy before hurling them into the jagged rock walls.

A brief chill ran through Natalya as she braced herself for what she came here to do. Just one more step would send her tumbling down into the craggy abyss where light could not even find its bottom.

Natalya leapt forward.

With her wings tucked securely to her side, Natalya fell into the Abysmal Abyss. Her descent followed a misshapen, zigzag path as the winds pushed her in every direction. A particularly strong gust suddenly hit her, sending her careening toward a wall, and that was when Natalya finally spread her wings open. But instead of trying to steer herself away from the canyon walls, she rode the current, increasing her speed.

Adrenaline coursed through Natalya as she allowed the rocks to come closer and closer until even her reckless instincts finally made her pull up. Battling against the elements, she had to focus all her energy and attention in navigating the winds to carry her out of the precarious position she put herself in. Her body was constantly twisting and turning to adjust to the winds that came from every direction, but she was able to make a steady climb until she ascended high above the clifftops, safe from the gales.

Not bad… Not bad at all Natalya congratulated herself, a tiny smirk forming despite her heavy panting.

While flying around in the Abysmal Abyss was pretty much asking for an injury or worse, Natalya had found a spot where the canyon widened into a huge, expansive area. The place was wide enough to easily fit the Crystal Empire’s stadium inside it. The winds were still a force to be reckoned with, but the open area neutered them to more manageable levels, and the ample amount of space also allowed more time for any daring flyer to maneuver through it.

Flying in the supposedly-safer area was still a crazy idea, but for Natalya, she swore that it was the kind of intense training needed for an intense athlete like her. It also helped that she enjoyed the thrill and excitement that flooded her body with every run.

Now for some more wingpower exercises, Natalya told herself after she caught her breath and began flying back down into the canyon.

Natalya proceeded through her grueling series of exercises that involved either powering against the wind or flying with it to test her control. Instead of keeping track of time, she measured how much stamina she had left. Upon feeling her wings starting to get tired, she decided to wrap things up with a few stunts before she would take a break and chalk up another flawless round of training. Catching a nice, strong gust, Natalya began shooting through the canyon.

The name’s Rainbow Dash, and don’t you forget it.

Natalya growled when images of the rainbow-maned pegasus from the Equestria Games flickered through her mind. Stupid pony… She closed her eyes and shook her head to try and get rid of the mental image of the mare with the cocky grin. When she reopened her eyes, her breath hitched when she saw the rock wall was mere inches away from her.

Reacting on instincts, Natalya instantly banked hard to the left, her wings almost completely pointing straight up and down and her right arm and leg slightly extended toward the upcoming cliff face. She hissed as her right arm and leg were roughly dragged across the rocky surface for a second before she used them to push herself away from the rocks with all of her might.

Natalya’s narrow escape from crashing put her right back into the open where the Abysmal Abyss’s winds immediately took her, and she struggled to keep herself under control. Unable to right herself, she had to carefully navigate her way through the winds with awkward flaps and body twists. Eventually, she was able to get a shaky flight path and slowly gained altitude until she was high enough for the winds to die down, allowing her to finally regain control without fear of being blown away.

Gasping for air and covered in sweat, it took Natalya a few minutes until she calmed down enough to process what happened. A long, frustrated groan ripped through the air, which was followed by a long string of curses. When her anger eventually receded, Natalya took one more deep breath and then began flying at a sedate speed along the edge of the Abysmal Abyss.

It happened again… It’s been two months since I saw her and yet she still manages to annoy me, Natalya thought while she scanned the ground beneath her. Ever since she saw Rainbow Dash fly, Natalya had wondered if the pegasus could actually match her speed. At the time, it was only a passing interest, so she did not feel the urge to waste her time by pursuing the matter. It did not help that she was still peeved that Rainbow knocked her team down to a shameful third place. Getting Rainbow’s name from the pegasus herself right before the medal ceremony was the last time they interacted with each other.

Much to Natalya’s chagrin, instead of fading away, the nagging thoughts of Rainbow only grew, and they were starting to distract her during training. She wished that she had settled the matter by challenging Rainbow to a race at the Crystal Empire or at least got some more info on the mare. All that she knew was that Rainbow came from Ponyville, and with her limited exposure to Equestria, she had no idea where that was.

What was she going to do? Go search for Rainbow? It would probably take her weeks to find Ponyville, not to mention having to waste even more time looking for the mare in the town.

Natalya shook her head. Her bits and time were valuable, and she was not going to waste them just to satisfy a curiosity. As much as Rainbow was distracting her right now, chasing after the stupid rainbow mare was an even bigger distraction. She would eventually get back to her normal self, and Rainbow Dash would be nothing more than a faded memory.

After a few minutes, Natalya found where she had jumped off earlier and plopped down on her haunches next to one of the few bushes that managed to grow in the area. Reaching inside the vegetation with her left claw, she pulled out her saddlebag that she had hidden inside it and then inspected her right claw and foot.

Thankfully, she made it out of her near-collision relatively well. While her arm and leg were still stinging and had a bunch of scratches, there did not seem to be any serious gashes or signs of bleeding. There was no need to waste any of her supplies to treat her injuries. A good night’s sleep was all that she needed.

Picking up her saddlebag, Natalya decided that it was time to head back home. Even with her minor injuries, it did not take long, partly because she was such an awesome flyer, before the town of Griffonstone came into view.

While Griffonstone was her home, Natalya had to admit that for a city built in the heart of the kingdom, the place was kind of a dump. Instead of green grass and flowers, much of the place was covered with dirt and rocks. The living conditions were not ideal either. Shoddy, wooden shacks that could barely fit one griffon lined the makeshift roads or on the branches of tall, dead trees. In fact, the hotel suite she got to stay in during the Equestria Games was actually bigger than most griffon homes.

“Home sweet home…” Natalya said to herself with an empty laugh. She landed on the rickety roof of someone’s house to take a look around. Gazing toward the center of town, she spotted a bunch of griffons gathering. Since most griffons usually kept to themselves, a group of them often meant something entertaining was going on. With nothing else to do, Natalya made her way over to the commotion.

Natalya could smell what was going on before she reached the group. Wafts of a sugary scent hit her, making her mouth water a bit and her stomach quietly rumble with approval. Somebody was baking, and it smelled awesome.

Landing at the edge of the group, Natalya tried to get a closer look, but the crowd of griffons was too thick to wade through. With an annoyed huff, she was forced to step aside and partake in one of her most hated activities: waiting.

After a few boring minutes, the crowd finally started to clear up, allowing Natalya to finally see the baker. A female griffon was exchanging some sort of pastry for bits from her cart, which was essentially an oven and shelves on wheels. She had a brown body, dark-brown wings, and her head was made up of white feathers. Her yellow eyes were surrounded by gray-purple eyeshadow, and three long, white feathers with a tinge of violet at their ends stretched out from the top of her head to hang over her face.

When the line was finally down to one last female griffon with green accents in her white headfeathers, Natalya started making her approach to the baker.

“Thanks, Greta. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Natalya heard the baker say to her customer as they finished their transaction.

With a smile and a wave good bye, Greta flew away, leaving Natalya alone with the baker.

The baker looked in Natalya’s direction and gave a casual wave. “Hey there, you here for a griffon scone too? I still got a few left.”

“Maybe…” Natalya replied. As much as she hated to admit it, she had developed a bit of a hankering for sweets during her stay in the Crystal Empire. “They any good?” she asked, even though the delicious smell that still lingered in the air was tempting her to submit to the baker’s goods.

“Well, I would think so. They’re my Grampa Gruff’s secret recipe, and everyone else before you sure seemed to like them.” The baker pointed to her side with a talon.

Looking in the direction the baker was pointing, Natalya spotted a few griffons sitting around while munching on scones. What was odd was that they had big smiles on their faces and seemed to actually be having a civil conversation with each other.

“Nothing like some good food to lighten up the mood, huh?” the baker said with a chuckle.

“I guess…” Natalya mumbled.

The baker then grabbed one of the scones in her talons and waved it around. “Come on, I know you’ve been eyeing these. Try one of Gilda’s Griffon Scones. They’re really goooood,” she said in a sing-song voice.

Natalya’s eyes followed the scone swaying left and right in the other griffon’s claw. She had to admit that the pastry did look tasty. It was a round cake almost as big as her claw, and it had an acorn on top. She wondered if it tasted as good as it smelled. Finally, with a sigh, she said, “Fine, Gilda, was it? How much?”

“One bit,” Gilda replied with the smirk of someone who knew they made another sale. “And you’re that competitive flyer, Natalya, right?”

“Yeah, whatever.” Natalya fished out a bit from her saddlebag and flicked it towards the baker.

“Thanks, hope you like it,” Gilda said, holding the scone out while catching the bit in her other claw.

Natalya plucked her purchase in her talons and tilted it left and right as she inspected it. She remembered trying out Gilda’s so-called scone before and almost broke her jaw trying to bite into it. However, the griffon scone she was holding now was completely different. It was soft, and given how she had been lured in by the smell alone, it seemed that the pastry had changed for the better. Seeing nothing in her food that might send her to the bathroom or the grave, Natalya took a small, cautious bite of her bought scone.

Natalya’s eyes shot open when the taste of nuts and sugar filled her mouth, and she had to fight back the urge to gobble up the rest of the snack in one bite. The scone was sweet, and the fluffy texture made it a delight to eat. While Gilda’s scone was not as great as the grub from the Crystal Empire, it still hit the spot.

“Good, huh?” Gilda asked with a small smile of pride.

“I’m actually surprised it doesn’t taste terrible,” Natalya answered, eyeing her scone again.

Gilda’s smile faltered. “Gee, thanks for the compliment,” she dryly replied.

“Just be glad that I was actually hungry enough to give you a second chance. I’ve tried your stuff before and it looked, tasted, and felt like rocks.”

“Oh, right. Yeah, I’ll admit my stuff from before was pretty much trash, but I got some cooking tips from one of my friends when she was here, and she even gave me a bunch of baking powder.”

Natalya merely shrugged and finished off the rest of her scone with a few more bites. It tasted better now that she was not suspicious of it.

“Well, regardless of what you said, it seems that you enjoyed the scone,” Gilda remarked. “I’ll be selling these scones for a while until I use up all of the baking powder. After that, I’ll try and figure something out.”

“What? Your so-called friend not happy with their share of the profits?”

“She is my friend,” Gilda immediately retorted with a glare. “Like an actual one that cares for you and is fun to hang out with… without needing something in return. The reason I can’t get more baking powder is because my friend lives too far away.”

Natalya chuckled. “You almost sound like a pony with all that friendship junk.”

“Yeah, well, that’s probably because my friends are ponies.”

“Seriously? You’re friends with ponies?” Natalya blinked. “Wait, you mean there are ponies here in Griffonstone?”

Gilda shook her head. “They already went back home to Ponyville yesterday.”

Natalya stiffened up. “Did… Did you say Ponyville?”

“Uh, yeah. Why?”

Natalya opened her beak, but she stopped and slowly closed it back up. Earlier, she had committed to forget about Rainbow and concentrate on her training. But now, there was a potential source of info she could use to find Rainbow quicker. After mulling it over for a few more seconds, she asked, “You wouldn’t happen to know where Ponyville is, would you?”

Gilda slowly nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been there once. Why? Planning a visit?”

“You could say that.”

Gilda quirked an eyebrow. “Really? Why would you want…” She paused, stared at Natalya for a moment, and then smirked. “Let me guess, you’re looking for Rainbow Dash.”

Natalya’s eyes widened. “How… How do you know that?”

“I pretty much connected the dots. I thought about why you would want to visit Ponyville, then I remembered that your team went up against Rainbow’s at the Equestria Games,” Gilda explained calmly. “Rainbow sure stole second place from you, huh?”

“I didn’t lose to her!” Natalya roared, shoving her face into Gilda’s. “It was all my lousy teammates’ fault that we did not win!”

Gilda chuckled as she stepped back from the seething Natalya. “Look, I heard about you and your obsession with winning around town. It’s pretty obvious that if you want to see Rainbow, you’re bothered that she’s faster than you.”

Natalya growled. “Nobody is faster than me.”

“You haven’t gone against Rainbow.” Gilda did not even flinch at the scathing glare Natalya was giving her. “I’m sorry, Natalya, but just because you think you’re the best, doesn’t mean that you are the best.”

Then I’m going to just have to fix that then,” Natalya thought as she did her best not to lose her temper. “Just give me some directions to Ponyville and how to find Rainbow.”

“What are you going to do? Race her?”

“That’s none of your business!”

Gilda rolled her eyes. “So that’s a yes then. Well, too bad you didn’t catch her yesterday. Would’ve saved us both a bunch of trouble.”

“Yesterday? Wait, don’t tell me Rainbow Dash is your baking powder friend?!”

“Actually, Pinkie Pie is the other friend that gave me the baking powder, but otherwise, yes, my friend Rainbow Dash was here yesterday.”

Natalya let out a frustrated growl, and her talons dug into the dirt.

“I’m surprised you missed them, to be honest,” Gilda continued. “The two of them aren’t exactly subtle, and they were here for a good part of the day.”

“I was training out at the Abysmal Abyss and spent the night camping out there,” Natalya grumbled.

“Ah… Actually, now that I think about it, Rainbow did mention you,” Gilda added.

Natalya’s foul mood receded, and she looked at Gilda with a perplexed face. “She did?”

“Not by name, but she does remember you from the Equestria Games. How did she describe you again?” Gilda tapped her chin with the tip of a talon. “Ah yes, I believe she called you a self-centered, arrogant jerk that’s going to be sorry if you ever make fun of her friends again.”

Natalya scoffed. “She’s still hung up about that?”

Gilda frowned. “Rainbow is fiercely loyal to her friends. She does not tolerate anyone doing or saying bad things to them.” She sighed and looked down at the ground. “I should know. We were pretty good buds when we were young, but I almost ruined that by being a jerk to her other friends. I’m just glad we finally made up when she came here.”

“Blah, blah, blah, I don’t care about your stupid friendship problems. Would you hurry up and tell me how to get to Rainbow already?”

Gilda scowled. “And why should I? It sounds like all you’re going to do is cause trouble for her and her friends.”

“Because I got what every griffon wants.” Natalya reached into her bag and pulled out a small, jingling pouch. “Turns out the Equestria Games give out decent cash prizes, even for third place. Not to mention how much I made selling off the hotel stuff I looted over there, she added to herself.

Gilda stared at the pouch of bits for a few seconds before she shook her head. “No thanks.”

“What?! Seriously? You would really give up bits for some dumb ponies?”

“My friends are not dumb!” Gilda shouted before taking a deep breath. “Look, I know we griffons really love bits, but there are more important stuff in life.”

“Like friendship?” Natalya asked sarcastically, wiggling her clawss mockingly.

Gilda huffed. “Actually, yes. Think about it, if we got everyone in Griffonstone working together, we could actually improve this dump we call home.”

Natalya scoffed. “Yeah, good luck with that. So is there anything I can do to make you tell me how to get to Ponyville?”

“Not likely, and even if I did, there’s no guarantee that Rainbow will want anything to do with you. As you might guess from her description of you, she’s not exactly fond of you. You were a big jerk to her. Rainbow likes a challenge, but she can really hold a grudge as well. Wouldn’t surprise me if she refuses to see you just out of spite.”

Natalya frowned. The possibility of going through so much trouble just to be snubbed was not exactly a productive use of her valuable time and money. After a few moments of thought, she asked, “So you’re Rainbow’s friend, right?”

Gilda quirked an eyebrow. “Uh, yeah? I think we established that.”

“Then how about you come with me?”

Gilda froze. “W-what?”

“You can guide me to Ponyville and then convince Rainbow to race me.” Natalya took a deep breath. “And you could… I dunno… Maybe keep an eye on me for your precious friends’ sake.” She had to resist the urge to make a gagging sound.

“Um…”

“I promise to try and keep things… civil…” Natalya added with a sigh.

“It would be awesome to see my friends again…” Gilda tapped her beak in thought. “Could also get some more baking stuff from Pinkie…”

“So you’ll do it?”

Gilda sighed. “It does sound like a pretty cool idea, but I’m not exactly swimming in bits. I already burned a bunch to get a seat at the Equestria Games.”

Natalya shot Gilda a deadpan stare. With a loud, frustrated sigh. “Fiiine. I’ll give you some bits to help you get there…”

“Aww sweet! Thanks!”

“But it’s just a loan! From the looks of things, you’re going to make a killing with the cooking stuff you’re going to bring back here.”

Gilda shrugged. “Alright, that sounds fair. I’m just glad I’m getting to see Rainbow and Pinkie again.”

Natalya blankly stared at the claw Gilda held out toward her, silently asking for a clawshake. Her eyes flicked up to Gilda’s eager face and then back down. With a sigh, she shook Gilda’s talon. “Then it’s settled. We’re heading to Ponyville.”

Look out Rainbow, Natalya is coming for you.

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.

Chapter 3: Just Acquaintances

Shortly after the two ponies and two griffons left Fluttershy at her cottage to tend to the animals, Pinkie let out a huge startled gasp. Apparently, she had left an oven or five running in her haste to welcome Gilda. More worried about the cookies and cupcakes she was baking than the potential fire hazard, she rushed home, but not before making sure that Gilda would not try to skip out on the apology to Granny Smith, as well as promising she would catch up later.

Natalya welcomed Pinkie’s absence, allowing her to take a break from the poofy, pink pony’s perkiness. It also meant that they would not have to walk. Rainbow took to the air and guided the griffons in a short flight to Sweet Apple Acres.

When it came into view, it quickly became obvious that Sweet Apple Acres was one of the biggest farms in Ponyville. Natalya could see a couple of fields dedicated to growing corn, grapes, and carrots, but those were a paltry amount compared to the main crop. True to its name, Sweet Apple Acres consisted of acres and acres of apple trees. The forest of apples stretched as far as the eye could see.

Taking in the enormity of Sweet Apple Acres, Natalya quickly noticed a familiar pony standing at the beginning of the path leading up to a large, red farmhouse.

“So, does anyone know how Pinkie got here before us, even though we were flying and she ran off in the opposite direction earlier?” Natalya asked as they flew over to the waving earth pony.

“Nope,” Rainbow replied simply.

“Figures…”

As soon as the three flyers landed, Pinkie hopped toward the more friendly griffon. “Hey, Gilda, guess what? I talked to Mr. and Mrs. Cake, and they said it was alright that I can use Sugarcube Corner’s kitchen to help teach you!”

“That sounds awesome.” Gilda paused. “Uh, just to be sure that I remember things right, you live and work with the Cakes at Sugarcube Corner?”

“Yep.”

“Then yeah, that sounds awesome. It would be cool to finally be able to see how a real baker works.”

Tuning out the conversation, Natalya took a look at the apples growing on a nearby tree. Even though she did not eat apples much, the ones in Sweet Apple Acres were easily the biggest and most colorful that she had ever seen.

The delicious-looking fruit brought upon a pang of hunger, reminding Natalya that she and Gilda had skipped lunch to get to Ponyville faster. With Pinkie, Rainbow, and Gilda still busy talking to each other, Natalya snuck into the orchard. Once she was sure that the others could not see her, Natalya flew up and plucked an apple from a nearby tree with her talons.

Up close, the apple looked even more delectable, and Natalya opened her beak to take a bite. However, she froze when someone yelled from below, “Hold it right there, you thievin’ varmint!”

Looking down, Natalya saw an earth pony mare galloping toward her from somewhere deeper in the apple orchard. She had a orange coat with her wheat-yellow mane and tail tied into ponytails with red bands, and a brown Stetson rested on top of her head.

“What do you think you’re doin’?” the mare asked with a stern glare.

“Eating an apple,” Natalya casually replied, playfully tossing the fruit up and down in the air with her claw.

“Well, that ain’t exactly your apple.”

Natalya snorted. “Seriously? You got like thousands of them growing here. One apple isn’t going to hurt you.”

“While that is true, it’s the principle that matters. Stealin’ just ain’t right.”

“Applejack, we heard you yelling! Is everything alright?” Rainbow shouted, emerging from behind some trees with Pinkie and Gilda.

“Yeah, I’m alright, Rainbow. Ah’m just tryin’ to give this griffon here a lecture about stealin’.”

“What the hay, Natalya?!” Rainbow cried out, flying up to the griffon with a scowl. “We take our eyes off you for one second, and you’re already making trouble!”

Natalya sighed and rolled her eyes. “I was just going to take one apple…”

“So this griffon is with you, Rainbow?” Applejack asked, no longer looking mad now that her friends were here.

“Yeah, she is. Sorry about her, Applejack. She’s not exactly easy to deal with.”

“Ah noticed,” Applejack dryly replied before turning back to Natalya. “Look, Natalya was it? Ah’ll go ahead and let this matter slide, on account of you bein’ Rainbow’s friend.”

“We’re not friends,” Natalya and Rainbow blurted out.

Applejack blinked. “Uh, okay, how about acquaintances?” Receiving mumbles of agreement, she continued saying, “Anyways, Natalya, Ah certainly don’t mind sharin’ some apples, but in the future, Ah would very much appreciate it if you at least ask instead of just outright takin’ things.”

“Yeah, yeah, fine,” Natalya said with a roll of her eyes. She promptly bit into her apple, releasing a burst of flavor and juice into her mouth. “Huh, not bad. Not bad at all.”

“Thank you kindly.” Applejack tipped her hat and nodded in thanks. “Always nice to hear others enjoy the Apple Family’s work.” She then turned to Gilda with a smile. “So what’s your name? In case you haven’t heard, mine’s Applejack.”

Gilda smiled back and held out her claw balled up into a fist. “It’s Gilda.”

“She’s the griffon that was once Rainbow’s friend, but then she wasn’t when she visited Ponyville a while ago, but then she was again when Dashie and I went to Griffonstone, and then she also became my friend,” Pinkie added.

“Well, it’s good to finally meet you!” Applejack bumped Gilda’s claw in greeting. “Rainbow and Pinkie told us what happened when they got back. So, what brings y’all here?”

“Uh, well…” Gilda’s side was nudged by an elbow from Pinkie. With a sigh, she admitted, “I’m actually here to see Granny Smith.”

Applejack’s eyebrow rose with surprise. “Granny Smith? What for, if you don’t mind me askin’?”

Another nudge from Pinkie made Gilda sigh again. “I have to apologize for pranking her.”

Applejack chuckled. “Well, that’s mighty kind of you. Wish that Rainbow and Pinkie had the decency to do that whenever they go on a pranking spree.”

“Hey, we apologize!” Rainbow protested.

“Only if Ah catch you two doin’ it.”

“Pranking spree, huh?” Gilda frowned at Pinkie. “Why do I have to apologize for one prank if you two do it so much?”

“Because we choose our targets very carefully so that nopony gets hurt. We also try to do our pranks right so that our targets have a bit of fun as well,” Pinkie explained. “Granny Smith is old, and you just plain scared her! Who knows what you could have done to her.”

“Really, Pinkie, Ah appreciate the concern, but it’s not that big of a deal,” Applejack remarked. “Granny Smith might be old, but she’s tough. One little scare is nothin’ to her.”

“But Applejaaaaack,” Pinkie whined. “It still isn’t right. Haven’t you both heard that you’re supposed to respect your elders?”

Applejack sighed, her mouth tugged slightly upwards in a knowing smile. “Plenty of times. It’s a lesson Granny drills into our heads at least once a week.”

“Grampa Gruff too,” Gilda answered. “At least, the times I actually bother to listen to him.”

“And shouldn’t you be extra nice to them because of all the things they do for you?” Pinkie slyly grinned, nudging Applejack and Gilda with her elbows.

Gilda sighed. “I suppose… Grampa Gruff might complain and runs his mouth a lot, but I guess I should be thankful for some of the things he taught me. Fine, I get it, Pinkie. I’ll go ahead and apologize to Granny Smith.”

“Pinkie did make a good point, and an apology certainly wouldn’t hurt,” said Applejack. “At the very least, she would love to meet somepony new. Anyway, she should be inside, so let’s all head in.”

“Well, you guys go ahead and do the apology thing,” said Natalya as she turned to fly away. “It doesn’t involve me, so I think I’ll just stay out here. Maybe even snack on a few more apples, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh no, you don’t!” Rainbow immediately protested, flying right in front of Natalya. “You’re coming inside with us so that we can make sure you won't cause any more trouble!”

Gilda and Pinkie walked with Applejack down the path and into the farmhouse, while Rainbow herded an annoyed Natalya right behind them.

“Hey, Granny, Ah’m back, and Ah got a few friends with me!” Applejack called out as soon as the group stepped inside the house, entering the living room area.

“Ah’m in the kitchen!” a slightly shaky voice replied. “Bring them right in!”

As Applejack led the group to another room, Natalya was able to get a quick look at the place. The furniture was not adorned with lots of frivolous details, favoring function over form. Many knickknacks, accessories, and decorations were also lying around, and most had vintage, weathered appearances, as though they had been passed down for generations. The walls were also filled with pictures of various ponies, many of which bore some sort of resemblance, making Natalya briefly wonder how big the Apple Family really was.

Natalya’s attention was drawn away when she caught whiffs of something baking, and it only grew stronger as the group moved into the kitchen.

Inside, an elderly mare with a green coat was washing some dishes in the sink. Her mane and tail had faded into a gray-white and were tied up into buns, and her face was thinner than the average pony and riddled with wrinkles.

“Hey, Granny, somepony here wants to see you,” Applejack announced as she walked over to the sink. “Why don’t you let me take over here while you go say hi?”

“Well, that sounds mighty fine to me. Thank you, Applejack.” Granny Smith dried her hooves with a towel and turned to the group still standing at the doorway with a warm smile. “So, which one of you wanted to talk to Granny?”

Gilda was swiftly pushed forward by Pinkie. After shooting a glare at Pinkie, she looked back at Granny Smith. “Uh, it was me. You probably don’t know me, but my name is Gilda.”

“Nice to meet you, missy. Can’t say Ah recall seein’ you before. We don’t exactly get many griffons here in Sweet Apple Acres. What can Ah do for you, Gilda?”

Gilda glanced away and rubbed one of her arms with her claw. “Actually, you did see me before, or rather, a part of me. It was quite a while ago, but when you were shopping in the market and stopped at one of the stands, I used my tail to scare you. You thought it was a snake, and you ended up trying to run away.”

“That’s mighty kind of you to come apologize to me.” Granny Smith rubbed her chin in thought. “So how long ago was this again?”

Gilda shrugged. “Like I said, it was quite a while ago. I can’t remember exactly when.”

“I think it was around the time Applejack was so stubborn that she tried to go through apple bucking season all by herself,” said Rainbow.

Applejack paused from doing the dishes to frown at Rainbow. “Gee, thanks for bringin’ that up.”

Rainbow smirked. “No problem, Applejack.”

Granny Smith’s cackle filled the kitchen and gave Gilda a hearty thump on the back. “Really? That long ago? That’s old news, missy, especially since it was such a small thing. Besides, a bit of a scare every now and then does me good. Keeps my mind sharp and my body movin’.”

Gilda chuckled. “Well, regardless, sorry for the scare, and sorry that it took so long for me to apologize. Let’s just say I wasn’t in a good mood that day, and I live far away from here.”

Suddenly, a loud ringing came from the oven.

“Ooh, just in time.” Granny Smith slammed her hoof on a nearby timer shaped like an apple and trotted toward the kitchen oven. “Tell you what, Gilda. For being such a sweet thing and traveling all this way just to see this old mare, how about Ah treat you and your friends to a little snack.”

The aroma that Natalya smelled earlier grew more intense when Granny Smith opened the oven. Sugar, apples, and other sweet things she could not identify filled the air, and she found herself leaning forward to see what Granny Smith had made.

With a thick cloth in her mouth, Granny Smith put her head into the oven, extracting a sizeable pie in her protected teeth. She quickly trotted across the kitchen, kicked the oven door closed with one of her hind legs, and set the steaming dessert on the nearby table.

“Oh sweet!” Rainbow cheered. She hastily took a seat at the table, her mouth literally watering. “You make the best apple pies, Granny Smith!”

“Ain’t that the truth, Rainbow!” Granny Smith agreed with a cackle. “Now let’s hurry up and chow down! Applejack, bring me a knife!”

After Applejack did as she was told, Granny Smith started cutting up the pie and doling out the slices.

"Careful now. It's fresh out of the oven, so be careful that you don't go burnin' yourselves," Granny Smith said as she doled out the first piece to Gilda.

Natalya received the second piece, and heeding the warning, she took a small, careful bite. Despite the intense heat almost scalding her, she had to resist letting out a moan of delight. Gooey and cooked to perfection, the apples almost melted inside her mouth. The apple she had earlier was nothing compared to what she was having now as hints of cinnamon and other flavors tantalized her tastebuds. Even the flaky, golden-brown crust was delicious. She had thought the Crystal Empire served good food, but this apple pie was easily the best thing she had ever tasted.

“Oh man, that was good,” Natalya could not help saying, finishing her slice before anyone else. She used one of her talons to pick at her teeth. “Wish you could make something even half as good as this back in Griffonstone, Gilda.”

“Gee, thanks, Natalya,” Gilda dryly replied. “But you’re right. I would be so happy to be able to bake something as delicious as this. Your apple pie is awesome, Granny Smith.”

“Aww, thank you kindly, Gilda,” Granny Smith, giving the griffon a wrinkled smile.

“Oh, right, Pinkie mentioned that you were kind of a baker,” Applejack remarked. “How’s that goin’ for you?”

“Surprisingly good,” Gilda replied. “After Pinkie helped my scones taste better, it took a bit for word to get around, but once it did, business has been booming. It’s only been like a week or so, but I’ve pretty much sold out every day. The problem is that the baking powder Pinkie gave me is only going to last me so long, and it’s not exactly easy nor cheap to get more in Griffonstone.”

“So you came here to pick up some more while you’re visiting Rainbow and Pinkie?” Applejack guessed.

“As well as anything else I could try out. Pinkie is going to help me, and she even offered to teach me a bunch of new recipes.”

“That’s right, and I’m going to make sure Gilda is going to be able to make all sorts of cakes and other stuff for Griffonstone when I’m done with her.” Pinkie placed one forehoof on the table and raised her other high into the air. “Nopony should live without cake!”

“Hooves off the table, Pinkie,” Granny Smith lectured.

Pinkie’s hooves immediately went to her chest, and she grinned sheepishly. “Oops, sorry, Granny Smith.”

“That’s alright, sweetie.” Turning to Gilda, Granny Smith asked, “So, from what Ah’m hearin’, Griffonstone doesn’t really have much in terms of bakin’, huh?”

Gilda shook her head. “I’m pretty sure that’s the main reason why my scones sold so well. Most griffons in Griffonstone don’t really have the time or patience to cook anything meaningful, and even if they could, they'd much rather keep it to themselves. It would be nice to brighten things up over there when I learn how to bake more stuff.”

“Well, nothin’ like some good food to help bring everypony together. How about Ah help you out a bit as well? Ah certainly don’t mind sharin’ some of my recipes,” Granny Smith stated. “Give me a few days for me to sort out the old noggin.” She tapped her head with a hoof, producing a conking sound.

“That would be great, Granny Smith. Thank you so much,” Gilda said gratefully.

Applejack looked in Natalya’s direction. “What about you? Aside from our little talk outside, you’ve been quiet, Natalya.” She stared at Natalya for a moment and then cocked her head. “Actually, now that Ah get a good look at you, Ah feel like Ah’ve actually seen you before.”

Natalya shrugged. “Well, I don’t recall seeing you before, although to me, a lot of you ponies look the same. The last time I was in Equestria it was in the Equestria Games. I was the fastest griffon in the aerial relay race.”

“Ohhh right, so that’s why you looked familiar. So is that when you became fr—er, acquaintances with Rainbow?”

“You could say that,” Natalya answered, not wanting to go into further detail to touch on her loss.

“So you came here to see Rainbow?”

“You could say that,” Natalya repeated.

“Yeah, she did,” Rainbow explained instead. “She wanted to challenge me to a race.”

“Guessin’ you won then,” Applejack remarked. “Saw your Sonic Rainboom right over Ponyville.”

“Of course I did! I beat her without breaking a sweat!” Rainbow announced, sitting up straight with her muzzle held high with pride.

Natalya glared at Rainbow and picked up a crumb left on her plate in her talons. Taking one second to aim, she flicked the crumb at Rainbow and scored a direct hit as it bounced off the mare’s muzzle.

“Hey!” Rainbow’s hooves flew right up to the attacked muzzle. “Don’t do that!”

“Then don’t annoy me,” Natalya hissed. She might be coming to terms with her loss, but that did not mean she liked it.

Rainbow sat up, slammed her forehooves on the table, and gave Natalya a venomous glare. “Funny, I could say the same about you!”

Natalya rose up as well, her claws thumping heavily on the table to growl at Rainbow. Her beak was inches away from Rainbow’s muzzle as they angrily glared at each other.

“Rainbow, Natalya! Sit down!” Granny Smith bellowed in a tone that felt like it shook the room. “What did Ah say earlier? No hooves on the table! That includes claws as well.”

Natalya and Rainbow slowly sank back down into their seats, mumbling “Sorry, Granny Smith…”

Pinkie, Gilda, and Applejack exchanged nervous glances amongst each other as a quiet descended on them. Clearing her throat, Applejack asked carefully, “Uh, so how about those teammates of yours, Natalya? They doing alright?”

Glad for the change in topic, Natalya took a deep breath and answered, “I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to them since the Equestria Games ended. And before you ask, no, they aren’t my friends. I only signed up with them because it was the only way I could compete. Honestly, I’m glad that I don’t have to deal with those two dead weights anymore.”

“Oh, um, okay then…”

Again, silence filled the room, but it only lasted for a few seconds when a loud knock came from the front door.

Applejack was already out of the kitchen, saying “Ah’ll get it!”, before anyone could react.

Natalya glanced at her empty plate and then to everyone else’s, noting that everyone had finished their slice. “Hey, Granny, got any more pie?”

Granny Smith gave a small start. “Oh, er, uh, sorry there, Natalya, I don’t. Ah didn’t expect so many guests to drop by. It would take a while for me to bake a new one.”

“Natalya, don’t be rude,” Gilda chided.

“What? I’m just asking. We don’t get stuff like this at Griffonstone, so I would prefer to enjoy some good food while we’re here.”

“Rainbow Dash is here?!” a new voice suddenly cried out.

An orange blur suddenly blazed through the kitchen doorway to stop right by Rainbow, revealing a pegasus filly with a magenta mane. She was looking up at Rainbow with a wide grin and big eyes.

“Oh, hey, squirt.” Rainbow smiled at the filly and ruffled her mane with a hoof. “What brings you here?”

“Sweetie Belle and I came to get Apple Bloom so that we could hang out,” the filly replied.

“Okay, so where’s Sweetie Belle?”

The filly blinked. “Oh, right.”

“Ah sent her up to Apple Bloom’s room,” Applejack explained as she reentered the kitchen. “We all know that you want to stay here for a bit since Rainbow is here.”

“Totally!” The filly nodded in thanks to Applejack before turning right back to give her full attention to Rainbow. “So, what have you been up to, Rainbow?”

Rainbow chuckled. “Well, I’m sort of showing a friend from out of town around.”

The filly’s eyes widened, as though just noticing that there were others sitting around the table.

“Hi, Scootaloo!” Pinkie loudly greeted, her hoof almost a blur as she waved at the filly.

Scootaloo, however, was more interested with Natalya and Gilda. Staring at both of them, she uttered, “Whoa, griffons…”

Gilda chuckled. “So, you’re Scootaloo, huh? Rainbow talked about you quite a bit when she visited Griffonstone.”

“Really? What did she say?”

“That you’re a cool filly that can do some awesome tricks on her scooter.”

“Yep, sure sounds like me!” Scootaloo stated, her chest slightly puffed out with pride. “So, what’s your name?”

“I’m Gilda, Rainbow’s friend from Junior Speedsters Flight Camp.”

“Gilda?” Scootaloo cocked her head in confusion. “Hey, Rainbow, is this the same Gilda that you’re always complain—”

Rainbow slapped a hoof over Scootaloo’s mouth and chuckled nervously. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about, Scootaloo. You must have heard me wrong. I didn’t say Gilda. I said, uh… um… Hilda? Yeah, Hilda!”

Gilda snickered. “Seriously? Hilda? Come on, Rainbow, fess up.”

Rainbow groaned. “Okay, okay so I might’ve complained a bit about you.”

“More like a lot,” Scootaloo corrected.

“Whatever! The main thing is that it happened all before we made up.” Rainbow gave Scootaloo a little noogie. “I just haven’t gotten the chance to tell this blabbermouth here.”

Gilda chuckled. “Don’t worry, I understand. I did the same thing with you when I left the first time. Good to know that we were both thinking of each other, albeit, in a sort of weird, angry way.”

“Yeah, I’m glad that we’re friends again.” Rainbow focused her attention back on Scootaloo and turned her towards Natalya. “Anyway, Scoots, this is—”

“You’re Natalya, aren’t you?” Scootaloo uttered, her eyes widening with awe.

Natalya, who had been resting her head on a propped up claw in boredom, perked up. “Oh, you know me?”

“Yeah! You were in the Equestria Games! You were so awesome! You were so fast! You even beat a Wonderbolt!”

Even if it was just a filly, Natalya grinned at the praise. “Thanks, kid. I am pretty awesome, huh?”

“Uh huh! You’re almost as awesome as Rainbow Dash!”

Natalya’s mood dropped like a brick, and her eye twitched with annoyance. It did not help that she could hear the stifled laughs from Rainbow and Gilda.

“Hey, Scootaloo, you ready to go yet?” another new voice asked.

“Yeah, we would like to get goin’ before it gets too dark out,” chimed yet another voice that had the same accent as Applejack and Granny Smith.

Two more fillies were standing at the doorway. One was a unicorn with a white coat, and her mane was both pink and violet. The other was a yellow earth pony with a huge dark-pink bow that was almost as big as her head and resting in her red mane.

“Oh, uh, yeah, sorry, girls. I’m coming!” Scootaloo scampered away from the table to join her friends.

“Be back by dinner time, Apple Bloom!” Applejack called at the fillies as they ran out of sight around.

“Ah will!” the earth pony filly’s voice responded.

A moment later, Scootaloo poked her head through the doorway. “Oh, and I can’t wait for tomorrow, Rainbow! See ya!”

Rainbow waved at the departing filly with her hoof. “Me too, squirt. See you then.”

After hearing the door slam shut, marking the exit of the fillies, Natalya asked, “What’s happening tomorrow?”

“Oh, I’m hanging out with Scootaloo,” Rainbow informed.

“How long?”

“Uh, all afternoon.” Rainbow’s eyebrow went up. “Why?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe you could do something more interesting and productive than hanging out with fillies, like say teaching me the Sonic Rainboom.”

Rainbow groaned, and her hoof met her face. “No, Natalya. Like I said earlier, I have stuff to do, even though you’re here, and hanging out with Scootaloo is very important to me. I’m definitely not backing down from that. Would you stop asking me about the Sonic Rainboom?”

Natalya folded her arms across her chest and huffed. “Then at least tell me when you’re going to work with me. All this waiting around is getting on my nerves.”

“Kind of like a certain griffon is getting on mine…” Rainbow grumbled. “As for me helping you train, I just don’t know yet. Look, I get that waiting sucks, I hate it too, but I’m still figuring things out. You and Gilda kind of arrived unexpected, so I’m kind of winging things at the moment. I promise, if you behave, I’ll make time for you, got it?”

Natalya sighed loudly. “Got it… I hope this is going to be worth it. I think I’ve been toning it down just fine, right?”

Gilda and Pinkie both said “Meh.”

“Would hate to see you without you holdin’ back,” Applejack said with blunt honesty.

Natalya buried her face into her claw. “Oh, for crying out…”

“So, you four got anymore plans for today?” Granny Smith asked. “Would help if Ah knew all four of you will be stayin’ for long.”

“No thanks, Granny Smith. We got other stuff we can do with Gilda and Natalya,” Pinkie replied.

“Please don’t tell me I have to apologize to anyone else,” Gilda pleaded. “I’m all for this friendship stuff, but all this apologizing really takes a lot out of me.”

“Aww, don’t you worry, Gilda,” Pinkie said as she patted Gilda’s head. “I think that oughta do it for now, but don’t forget that apologizing is an important thing in friendship.” Her eyes suddenly grew wide, and a wide grin appeared on her face. “Oh, oh, I know where we can take Gilda and Natalya next, Rainbow!”

“Really? Where?” Rainbow asked.

Pinkie then leaned over to whisper into Rainbow’s ear, and a similar wide grin formed on Rainbow’s face. “That’s a great idea, Pinkie!”

“Why do I suddenly have a sinking feeling that something bad is going to happen to me?” Gilda asked.

“You’re just being paranoid, Gilda,” Rainbow retorted. “You’re just going to meet a princess. What could go wrong?”

Chapter 4: The Princess of Friendship and Books

“Man, this place looks even bigger up close,” Gilda commented while she, Natalya, Rainbow, and Pinkie stood right outside of the crystal tree castle.

It had been a bit of a trip, considering that Sweet Apple Acres and the castle were on opposite sides of Ponyville. While they had to walk, since Pinkie did not have an oven emergency to pull her away this time, Natalya at least got a chance to see what Ponyville’s residents were like. Many of the ponies they passed along the way gave them a wave or said hello, which Pinkie was sure to reciprocate in kind. It felt like everyone knew everyone. The open friendliness of the ponies was a stark contrast to the gruffness of griffons.

Up close, the castle was even more impressive and shinier. A few golden steps led up to a tall double door of the same color. The base of the castle was made up of dark-purple crystals which gradually shifted to white and light-blue as they climbed up. Purple towers rose out of the middle of the crystalline trunk with a great balcony on one side and even more rooms on the other. On the very top of the castle was a large crystal star that seemed to sparkle in the sunlight. While not as grand as the one in the Crystal Empire, Ponyville’s castle was still impressive in its own way.

However, Natalya was more interested in the sun that was setting. With a sigh, she had to concede that there was no chance of getting in any training after whatever business Gilda and the ponies had within the castle was over.

“So how did this place get built so fast?” Gilda asked. “It hasn’t been that long since I last visited, and I’m pretty sure I would have noticed a giant crystal tree.”

“Um, magic?” Rainbow offered.

Gilda rolled her eyes. “Of course… So, this princess, um, Twilight Sparkle, was it? She’s a friend of yours, right?”

“She’s one of our best friends!” Pinkie informed. “She’s really smart, and she can also do all sorts of cool magic stuff that nopony else can!”

“So, she’s like some princess of magic then?” Natalya asked, unable to recall anything about Twilight from the Equestria Games, probably because she paid little attention to anything but her aerial race.

“Nope, friendship.”

Natalya slowly blinked. “You’re kidding…”

“Nope!”

Natalya turned to Rainbow. “She’s kidding, right?”

Rainbow snickered and shook her head.

“You ponies are weird… What’s next? Oh wait, don’t tell me, this is the Castle of Friendship…”

“Wow, how did you know?” Pinkie asked.

“Wait… I was just…” Natalya groaned and slapped a claw into her face. “Oh, for crying out…” She let the claw slip down her face and took a deep breath. “Okay, whatever. Are there any special princess rules I need to know?” Regardless of being a princess of something as lame as friendship, Twilight was still a princess, and Natalya knew that she had to tread a bit more carefully.

“Nah,” Rainbow replied. “Twilight is cool and not into all of that formal stuff. In fact, she would prefer that you treat her more like a regular pony.” Her eyes narrowed at Natalya. “But that doesn’t mean you can be a jerk to her, got it?”

“Yeah, yeah… I know…” Natalya acknowledged with a dismissive wave of her claw. “Don’t worry, getting on the bad side of a princess is not something I plan to do.”

The group walked up the steps, and Rainbow knocked on one of the doors with her hoof. Shortly afterwards, the door opened to reveal a short, purple dragon with green ridges on his back.

“Hi, Spike!” Pinkie cried out before anyone else could say or do anything. She waved enthusiastically at the dragon despite being only a few steps away from him.

“Uh, hey, Pinkie, and hey to you too, Rainbow,” the dragon greeted. “What’s up? You girls usually don’t knock.”

“Yeah, but we have some guests here that Twilight should meet,” Rainbow explained, her left wing unfolding to wave at the griffons. “Thought it would be a better to give you a little bit of a heads up in case you and Twilight need a moment to prepare.”

“Well, we got nothing really going on today, and I bet Twilight will be glad to meet your friends.” Spike smiled at the griffons. “Hey there, I’m Spike, number one assistant of Princess Twilight.”

“Hey, you’re that dragon from the Equestria Games, aren’t you?” Natalya asked, recalling where she had seen Spike before.

Spike stood up straighter with a smug grin. “Yep! You remember hearing about all the awesome hero stuff I did or how I melted that giant chunk of ice that was about to squish everypony?”

“No, I remember how epic it was when you totally messed up the anthem after the aerial relay race,” Natalya corrected. Spike’s blunder had entertained her enough to momentarily make her forget about her loss to Rainbow.

Spike’s smirk was completely wiped off his face, and he hunched over with a loud, depressed moan. “Oh… Right…”

“Natalya!” Rainbow and Gilda angrily shouted from both sides.

Remembering that she was talking to the princess’s personal assistant, Natalya hastily added, “Er, what I meant was that it was totally cool that you were able to push through the whole anthem, even though it was obvious that you didn’t know the words and had like thousands of ponies watching you. That takes guts. You sure caught my attention.”

Spike stood back up a bit and eyed Natalya warily. “Really?”

“Yeah, totally.” Natalya glanced at the others. “Right, guys?”

“Oh yeah. So brave. Best song ever!” Rainbow, Gilda, and Pinkie all nodded and murmured in agreement.

“Huh, I never thought of it that way. Guess I was sort of cool because I didn’t break down or run away. Still, it would’ve been nice if I could’ve not embarrassed myself in front of so many ponies. Regardless, thanks for the pep talk.” Spike shrugged and then started pushing the door wide open. “Anyway, why don’t you all come in?”

“Twilight is just reading in the library, as usual,” Spike explained while the ponies and griffons moved into the castle. “Just wait one moment while I go get her.” After closing the door, he hurried toward the staircase on the opposite side of the entrance and headed up to the second floor.

The first thing Natalya could not help but note once she was inside was that there were a lot of doors. Every hallway she could see were filled with doors, and in many places, they were so bunched together that she guessed that some rooms had at least three or four entrances. With each door bearing the same exact green and white checker pattern, Natalya could only imagine how difficult it would be to find a specific room.

Many of the walls had large outlines of stuff like clouds, trees, and mountains. Maroon carpets with simple white patterns stretched through each hall, and there were a couple of tapestries hanging from the second floor walkways. Aside from the overpopulation of doors, the place was not overbearingly fancy like Natalya expected from a pony princess.

“Hello there. It’s always nice to meet somepony new. I’m Twilight Sparkle,” a mare’s voice called out from the stairs.

Natalya turned to see Twilight descending the stairs with Spike right behind her. Twilight was a purple alicorn with a dark-blue mane with streaks of magenta and violet running through its middle. Curiously, Natalya noticed that Twilight wore no crown or any other form of accessory, something that set her apart from the other princesses Natalya saw during the Equestria Games.

“Twilight, meet our friend!” Pinkie instructed while she literally pushed Gilda toward the alicorn. “This is Gilda!”

“Oh, Gilda, it’s so nice to finally meet you,” Twilight replied, giving the griffon a warm smile. “Rainbow and Pinkie have been talking a lot about you since they came back from Griffonstone, and I never got the chance to meet you when you first came to Ponyville.”

Gilda rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “Yeah, considering how I was back then, that’s probably a good thing. Regardless, it’s an honor to meet you, Princess Twilight.”

Twilight’s smile wavered for one second, and she shook her head. “Just Twilight is fine. There’s no need for titles. Just think of me as like any other pony here in Ponyville. So what brings you to Ponyville?”

Gilda pointed to Natalya, who was standing by herself halfway down the hall since Rainbow had moved to Gilda’s side. “Her, actually. Natalya over there needed me to guide her here so that she could race Rainbow. While I’m here though, I’m looking forward to spending some time with my friends, and Pinkie is even going to teach me a bunch of baking stuff.”

“Ah yes, Pinkie did mention you were a bit of a baker. If she’s going to teach you some of her recipes, I’m sure that all of Griffonstone will be lining up for your creations when you go back.”

“That’s the plan!”

“Well, good luck with your baking, and I hope you enjoy your stay in Ponyville.”

“Thanks, Twilight.”

Twilight turned her attention to Natalya and Rainbow. “Now, I’m guessing you two already raced, given the fact that I’m still reshelving all the books that were knocked down by the Sonic Rainboom.”

Rainbow winced. “Yeah… Sorry about that, Twilight.”

“You don’t have to apologize, Rainbow,” Spike stated. “She likes reshelving.”

Twilight sighed dreamily and let out a wistful sigh. “Yeah, I do…”

Rainbow cleared her throat. “Yeah, before we lose you to another one of your weird book fantasies again…” She then waved a hoof at Natalya, beckoning the griffon to come over. “Natalya, introduce yourself, nicely.”

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Natalya briefly raised a claw in a nonchalant wave. “Sup, I’m Natalya.”

“Hi there, Natalya,” Twilight greeted, unfazed by the griffon’s curt introduction. “I remember you from the Equestria Games. You were an amazing flyer.”

Natalya opened her beak, but stopped and blinked. “Uh, thanks.” She had gotten a few similar compliments back in Griffonstone, but this was the first time she heard it in a sincere tone.

“So how did your race with Rainbow go? Did you have fun?”

Natalya glared at Rainbow, ready to retort if the pegasus was going to brag again. To her surprise, Rainbow kept her mouth shut and only gave her a roll of her eyes.

“Er, I guess from the look of things, Rainbow won,” Twilight guessed, her gaze shifting back and forth between the racers.

“Yeah, she did,” Natalya begrudgingly admitted.

“That’s not a surprise.” Twilight shrank back at the sudden venomous glare Natalya shot at her. “Er, w-what I meant was that the probability that Rainbow won was extremely high, given the fact that she was able to use her Sonic Rainboom.”

Natalya huffed. “Yeah, I was there. That Sonic Rainboom clinched the race for her, so that’s why I intend to learn it myself.”

Rainbow responded with a loud sigh of annoyance, earning her yet another scowl from Natalya.

Twilight’s eyes widened with surprise. “Oh, you want to learn how to do the Sonic Rainboom?”

“Of course. The Sonic Rainboom will easily make me the best flyer.” Natalya’s eyebrow went up. “What? Is there a problem?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, no. Not really, anyway. It’s just that Rainbow is the only pony that can pull off a Sonic Rainboom, and I haven’t heard of anypony else being able to do anything that comes close to it. I don’t think anypony really understand how it works.”

“So what? You’re telling me to give up or something?” Natalya asked in a harsh tone.

“N-no, of course not. I’m just saying that we don’t know a lot about the Sonic Rainboom, so who knows if it’s something that can be replicated by others.”

“That’s pretty much what I told her, but she refuses to listen,” Rainbow said with a scoff. “It’s not going to happen.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll make it happen,” Natalya shot back.

“Well, I guess there’s no harm in trying,” Twilight remarked. “But Natalya, you do have to understand that it’s likely going to be a difficult process.”

“You think that’s going to scare me? I’m no stranger to hard work and training. I’m fully prepared to do whatever it takes to learn the Sonic Rainboom.”

“Well, I can see how determined you are with this matter, so I wish you the best in your endeavor.” Twilight turned to Rainbow. “So you’re going to help her, Rainbow?”

Eyeing Natalya warily, Rainbow replied, “Yeah, I promised her, but only if she continues to behave. I’ll tell you what she did earlier another time, but the gist is that she’s really getting on my nerves.”

“Just give it some time, Rainbow. Your first impressions of each other might not be the greatest, but that doesn’t mean you two can’t change things. I’m sure that you and Natalya will warm up to each other over time, and maybe even become friends.”

“That’s what I told her!” Pinkie happily remarked.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Rainbow grumbled.

Natalya kept her beak shut. While she wanted to say she was not interested in making friends, those words probably would earn her a stay in some sort of friendship jail cell.

When no one said anything for a few seconds, Pinkie put on a big grin and pushed Gilda forward again. “So, Twilight, there’s another reason Dashie and I thought it would be a good idea for Gilda to meet you. Gilda is trying to spread friendship in Griffonstone, so with you being the Princess of Friendship and all, you ought to have all sorts of tips for her!”

“That’s a great idea, girls!” Twilight cheered with an eager smile. “I would be happy to help!”

“Wait, that’s why we’re here?” Gilda asked, her gaze shifting between the three ponies.

“Well, of course we wanted you to meet another one of our friends, but I think Twilight can really help you, Gilda,” said Rainbow, placing a forehoof on Gilda’s shoulder. “After all, you are kind of still new to this whole friendship thing, and there’s no better expert than Twilight.”

“I guess that’s true.” Gilda shrugged and nodded at Twilight. “Alright, I wouldn’t mind getting a few tips.”

“Excellent!” Twilight’s horn pulsed with a magenta glow, and a stack of books almost as tall as her appeared by her side with a burst of light. “And don’t worry, I've got all sorts of notes and reports that could help you out!”

Gilda pointed at the stack of books with a shaky talon and wide eyes. “Th-those are all the stuff you have on friendship?”

“Oh no, of course not.” Twilight smiled innocently, eliciting a sigh of relief from Gilda. “That’s just the introduction.”

Gilda’s eyes grew even wider, as though they, as well as the rest of the griffon, wanted to escape the impending literature. “Oh crud…”

“I’m so excited! I get to teach and help bring friendship to the griffons! We've got so much work to do, Gilda!”

Gilda slowly backed away as Twilight’s face started to twist into a maniacal grin. “M-maybe some other time. It’s getting late, so Natalya and I need to find a place to stay for the night.”

“Oh, I suppose…” Twilight paused, sat down on her haunches, and started tapping her chin in thought. “Unless…” She gasped and happily clapped her forehooves together a couple of times. “I got a great idea! Why don’t you and Gilda stay here for the duration of your visit? That way, we’ll have plenty of time to teach you more about friendship!”

Gilda balked. “Here? In the castle? With you?”

“Of course. With just me and Spike living here, we have plenty of rooms available.”

Gilda glanced around nervously. “Uh, that’s really nice of you, Twilight, but you don’t have to do that for us.”

“Speak for yourself,” Natalya interrupted. “Need I remind you whose bits are funding this trip?”

“Just go with it!” Gilda hissed.

Natalya smirked at Gilda before saying to Twilight, “Staying here sounds cool to us.”

“Splendid! Now, come on, Gilda! We've got a whole night of studying to do!” Twilight cheerfully stated.

Instead of following Twilight, Gilda bolted in the opposite direction, only to squawk when her entire body was engulfed in Twilight’s magic and was lifted into the air.

“Oh, don’t be that way, Gilda. I know learning something new can sometimes be a bit intimidating, but I promise you that everything’s going to be alright,” Twilight said in a soothing tone and winked.

“No! Put me down! I hate studying!” Gilda cried out while she was dragged through the air behind Twilight. “Help!”

Natalya, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Spike all watched Twilight disappear up the stairs, listening to Gilda’s cries grow quieter and quieter.

“So, it kind of feels like we threw Gilda under the carriage,” Natalya remarked when they could no longer hear Gilda.

“That’s because you did,” Spike pointed out.

“Yeah, we did,” Rainbow repeated with a chuckle. “But she’ll be fine. Twilight might be an egghead that might be a bit, uh, much with her lectures and lessons, but I think she’s smart enough to not overdo things.”

Spike grinned. “Wanna bet?”

“I have to read all of those?!” Gilda’s voice suddenly boomed through the halls.

Rainbow blinked. “Uh, maybe Gilda is going to have to do a bit more work than I thought.”

“I’M GOING TO GET YOU ALL FOR THIS!”

Rainbow promptly yawned loudly. “Oh, would you look at that? I must be getting tired. I should be heading home now, see ya!” she said while backing toward the entrance. As soon as she finished speaking, she threw open the front entrance and shot off into the sky.

Pinkie pronked her way toward the entrance as well, but the carefree smile she wore told how she did not have a sudden urge to leave like Rainbow. “I should get back to help the Cakes. I promised to help clean up Sugarcube Corner tonight.” With a hearty wave, she bellowed, “Bye, Spike! Bye, Natalya! Make sure to say bye to Twilight and Gilda for me too as well! I’ll see you all tomorrow!”

“So, do all your friends always act this weird?” Natalya asked when she was left alone with the dragon.

“Not always, but it does feel like at least one of them has some sort of episode once a week,” Spike answered with a shrug. “Takes a bit to get used to, but hey, at least they keep things interesting.”

“No surprise there.”

“Anyway, I guess I should show you to your room, assuming you’re still staying despite them,” Spike said, pointing a claw upstairs to where Gilda was presumably being held prisoner.

Natalya shrugged. “Yeah, I’m not worried about her. Lead on, dude.”

Natalya was guided upstairs and unsurprisingly, there were many more of the same doors as downstairs. Despite them all looking the same, Spike guided Natalya to a room without any trouble.

“So here’s your room,” Spike said as he opened one of the many carbon-copy doors.

The room was actually pretty standard with a bed and night stand on one side while a desk and dresser stood on the other. Opposite to the door was a glass door leading outside to a small balcony with just enough room for a pegasi or griffon to land or fly away from.

The suite Natalya stayed in during the Equestria Games was actually bigger and fancier than this room, but since there were no guards in the castle and Twilight seemed to be more of a bookworm than a princess, it was actually pretty fitting.

“This should do just fine,” Natalya remarked, still scanning the room.

“Alright, cool. I’m going to check up on Gilda and Twilight to see how they are doing. If I’m lucky, I can convince Twilight to keep things simple, for Gilda’s sake. If you need anything, let me or Twilight know, okay?”

Natalya nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

As soon as Spike exited the room and closed the door behind him, Natalya went straight for the bed. With no one around to watch her, she let out a long, weary sigh. Today had been exhausting. The flight to Ponyville, the race with Rainbow, and then going all around town to meet ponies had really tired her out.

Thinking about the day’s events and what was most likely going to be a hectic schedule in the upcoming days, one question popped up into her mind.

“What have I gotten myself into?”

Chapter 5: Training

Natalya groaned when a ringing blared in her ears. Turning over in her bed toward the nearby nightstand and blearily opening her eyes, she saw the infernal alarm clock that she requested from the night before, chiming away at her sanity. She raised one of her claws and let it drop onto the clock, putting an end to the noise.

Now that silence had returned, Natalya continued lying in bed, barely moving a muscle. However, after a moment, she groaned loudly and began stirring herself awake. As much as she would have liked to return to her slumber, she had things to do. Another groan later, Natalya rolled off the bed and onto her legs.

Keeping her hind legs situated, Natalya slowly stretched out with her claws, letting them slide across the floor. Her front half sank closer to the floor while her back arched upwards, similar to how a cat would stretch. She moaned softly, hearing and feeling her bones pop and her kinks work out.

Now more awake than drowsy, she moved on to doing her morning routine of stretches and exercises. Just because she was traveling did not mean she could slack off on her training. Yesterday had thrown off her schedule, and with how much pony food she had, delicious as it was, it also meant she had extra calories to burn.

Her workout lasted for around half an hour before she called it quits. Standing back up and now fully awake, she moved over to the window to open it and proceeded onto the small balcony.

Spike had given her a room with a great view, allowing her to see more than half of Ponyville. It was still pretty early in the morning, but Natalya could see a fair amount of ponies out on the streets. Most of them probably were the ones who had shops and businesses that they had to get ready before the rest of town woke up.

Natalya only spent a few minutes taking in the sights before she started to turn back into her room. However, she paused when she saw a familiar rainbow trail zip through the sky.

Natalya quickly zeroed in and watched Rainbow Dash fly from cloud to cloud, making them disappear with a buck of her hooves. There were a few other pegasi doing the same thing, but Rainbow was easily clearing her section of the sky faster than the others.

Natalya poised to fly toward Rainbow, but she froze when a grappling hook suddenly shot up in front of her and grabbed onto the railing of the balcony. She leaned forward to see who dared to intrude, and a pink box on top of a pink mane appeared in her vision.

Natalya sighed and backed away. “What are you doing, Pinkie?”

“Good morning, Natalya!” Pinkie greeted, jumping up and landing on the balcony in front of the griffon, the box on her head barely budging despite all the movement. Pointing to the box, she explained, “I thought you and the others would like some tasty breakfast treats from Sugarcube Corner!”

Not wanting to turn down free food, Natalya nodded. “I guess I could go for a bite, but did you really have to climb up to my window? Why didn’t you bother one of the others?”

“Well, when I checked Gilda’s room, she was still asleep. I don’t think she would’ve appreciated me waking her up, considering the last time I did this sort of thing for Twilight and Spike, who, by the way, don’t want me knocking on their windows as well.”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “Gee, I wonder why…”

“I know, right?”

Not wanting to continue this conversation, Natalya reached toward the box to grab some of whatever Pinkie brought, but her claw was promptly batted away by a hoof.

“Hey!” Natalya cried in a miffed tone.

“Not here! We should eat this in the dining room so that we can share it with the others.”

Natalya frowned. “I just need one quick bite. I saw Rainbow flying around, so I want to catch up to her.”

Pinkie shook her head. “Rainbow is working now, so you probably should not disturb her.”

“But all she’s doing is kicking clouds. How long does that take?”

“Not long, because she’s super fast, but there are loads of other stuff she has to do like bringing rain to all the farms as well as all sorts of boring paperwork.”

Natalya huffed. “So in other words, I have to wait for a chance to get her to train me… again.”

“Aww, don’t worry, Rainbow will have time for us a bit later. She’ll come find us when she’s done.” Pinkie started pronking toward the door, the box still somehow affixed to her mane. “Come on, let’s eat! I’m starving! I only had a dozen cupcakes before I came over!”

With her breakfast bouncing away, Natalya followed Pinkie out of her room and down the stairs. Whether it was Pinkie’s weird sense thing or just because she was familiar with the castle’s layout, Pinkie led Natalya into a large dining room without any trouble.

Taking up about half the room was a long, rectangular table covered with a pristine, white tablecloth capable of seating a great number of guests. However, Pinkie headed right for the nearby corner where a smaller round table stood that could fit around six to eight.

With a flick of her head, the box Pinkie was holding flew up into the air and landed in the center of the table. Pinkie then promptly pried the box open, pulled out a cupcake, and stuffed the entire pastry inside her mouth.

As Pinkie moaned very loudly with delight over her sweet treat, Natalya peered into the box to make her breakfast selection. The box was filled to the brim with a variety of cupcakes, cookies, donuts, and scones. Based on Gilda’s and the other ponies’ words, Pinkie and the Cakes were very capable bakers, and it showed. Each item looked just as good as the next, making it hard for her to decide.

A few moments later, Natalya finally picked out a blueberry scone with her talons and promptly bit into it. As expected, the pastry was one of the sweetest things she had ever tasted, and she decided that going to find Rainbow could wait for a bit.

“Morning,” Spike greeted, entering the room right as Natalya wiped out her scone. When he noticed the box of goodies on the table, he perked up and immediately rushed over. “Oh hey, you brought breakfast! Thanks, Pinkie!”

“You're welcome, Spike!” Pinkie chirped back. “Since Gilda and Natalya are staying here, I thought it would be nice to treat everypony to a nice, yummy Sugarcube Corner breakfast!”

“Well, I’m certainly not complaining.” Spike grabbed a glazed donut from the box and stuffed it into his mouth. “Saves me from making breakfast for everypony,” he added with a full mouth.

“So where’s Gilda? I’m so excited to see how she likes the stuff the Cakes and I made!”

As if on cue, the dining room door opened again. This time, Twilight and Gilda, the last of the castle’s current inhabitants, strolled in. Although, to be accurate, only Twilight strolled in with a smile on her face and a warm greeting to everyone else.

Gilda’s eyes were barely opened, and she groaned while she slogged over to the group, her legs dragging along the floor. Sitting down at the table, she let out another loud groan before letting her face smack into the table with a heavy thump.

“So, Gilda, how was your friendship lesson with Twilight?” Pinkie asked cheerfully.

Gilda groaned again and feebly raised her claws toward Pinkie’s neck.

Twilight looked at the slumped Gilda, as though just noticing the griffon’s lethargy. “Um, maybe I kept her up a bit too late.”

“You think?” Spike snarked. “Not everypony can survive on books like you, Twilight. I thought I told you to take it easy on Gilda.”

“You did. I just…” Twilight glanced away and lightly tapped her forehooves together. “I forgot.”

Spike rolled his eyes. “So, uh, what should we do about Gilda? Wait, is she even moving?”

“I got it!” Pinkie grabbed a cupcake from the box and a small bottle from somewhere inside her mane. She opened the bottle with her mouth and turned it over the cupcake, drizzling a thick, red liquid onto the pastry. Once the cupcake was sufficiently coated, Pinkie set the bottle down and trotted across the table toward Gilda. She then not-so-gently opened Gilda’s beak and shoved the cupcake inside.

“Really, Pinkie?” Twilight asked with a deadpan face.

Pinkie snickered. “Yep!”

Twilight sighed. Without a word, she disappeared in a burst of magenta light, only to reappear a few seconds later with a glass of milk floating beside her.

“So, what exactly is happening now?” Natalya asked.

“You’ll see…” Spike informed, watching Gilda closely.

Gilda’s eyes suddenly shot wide open, and she sat upright immediately. With a roar, she opened her beak wide, releasing a burst of flame out of her mouth.

“What… How…” Natalya glanced at the bottle on the table and got a better look on the label. “Seriously? Hot sauce?”

“My special brand!” Pinkie proudly declared.

Twilight rolled her eyes and floated the milk toward Gilda. “Here, Gilda, milk is the best neutralizer for spicy foods.”

Gilda quickly snatched the milk out of Twilight’s magic and drained it in a matter of seconds. Slamming the glass down on the table and panting heavily, she glared at Pinkie. “What the heck, Pinkie?!”

“Sorry, Gilda,” Pinkie apologized, even though she had a hoof over her mouth and a few snickers escaped her.

Gilda huffed angrily. “Pinkie, I was kept up all night by Twilight! I’m not in the mood for pranks right now!”

“Um, I would like to apologize for that, just saying,” Twilight managed to squeeze in.

“Sorry, Gilda, but I needed to wake you up!” Pinkie explained.

“Couldn’t you have thought of something else?!” Gilda argued, still fuming.

Pinkie smiled uneasily. “Sorry, Gilda. The hot sauce was the first thing that came to my mind. I wanted to wake you up because I was so excited that we’re going to spend more time with each other today. Guess I got a bit carried away.”

Gilda groaned. “Yeah, right… A bit… Fine, I’ll let it slide, considering I owe you, but just be more careful. Next time something like this happens, do something else like splashing water on me or getting me a cup of coffee.”

“Yeah… We don’t keep coffee around,” Spike informed. “Don’t want Pinkie getting into it.”

“Why would…” Gilda stopped with her beak agape. After a moment of standing still, she slowly nodded and sat back down. “Okay, maybe hot sauce isn’t so bad.”

Pinkie folded her forehooves across her chest and pouted. “The Cakes won’t even let me have decaf.”

“I don’t blame them.” Gilda selected a scone from the box and munched on it. “You’re already hyper enough as is. Things would get pretty freaky if you did manage to get some caffeine in you.”

“Like what?” Pinkie asked, her head tilted in curiosity.

“I already blocked that part of my mind for sanity purposes.”

“That’s weird, Rainbow often tells me the exact same thing.”

“Speaking of Rainbow, when is she going to get off work?” Natalya asked. Now that her hunger was sated, she was eager to get to training.

“Oh, today is only a half day for her,” Twilight informed. “Actually, she should be done really soon.”

“Really? I don’t remember her mentioning that last night.”

“Twilight just tries to memorize the schedules for all of our friends, which is totally not creepy at all,” Spike answered.

“No, it’s not!” Twilight indignantly protested. “There’s nothing wrong with knowing the optimal times to visit our friends as well as making it easy to plan group activities.”

Natalya stood up and headed for the door. “Well, I heard Rainbow’s pretty much done with work, so I’m going to go see if I can find her.”

“Aww, just stay with us, Natalya. Since you and Gilda are rooming in the castle, I bet that she’ll come here as soon as she’s done. Besides, we still have plenty of tasty treats,” Pinkie said in a sing-song voice, holding the box of sugary goods up for Natalya to see.

Natalya stared at the tempting treats. Her eyes glanced back to the door for a second before she let out a huge sigh and returned to the table. Ignoring Pinkie’s giggles, she snatched a jelly-filled donut from the box.

Stupid, tasty pony food, Natalya cursed while she spitefully enjoyed her second pastry. She usually made do with a simple and light breakfast, but with all the delicious, and more importantly free, stuff Pinkie brought, she could not help but indulge herself.

The sweet breakfast continued with light conversation passed between everyone. Even with Pinkie’s voracious appetite and everyone else having at least two helpings, they had only eaten about half the box’s contents before the dining room door opened once again.

“Hey, Rainbow,” Gilda greeted, being the first to notice the pegasus lazily fly toward them.

“Sup, everypony.” Rainbow’s gaze swiftly focused on the open box sitting on the table. “Oh, cool, I’m starving!”

“So, Rainbow,” Natalya began. “When are we—”

“Can’t talk. Eating.” Rainbow rushed over to the table and immediately began stuffing her face.

Natalya grumbled under her breath and chose to take out her frustration by eating yet another pastry.

After Rainbow wolfed down two donuts in ten seconds flat, Twilight asked, “So, Rainbow, how was work?”

Rainbow shrugged and swallowed before replying, “Meh, nothing much. Busted some clouds and then another round of helping the new weather manager get up to speed. I’m telling you, the pony they got to replace me is so forgetful.”

“Replace you?” Natalya repeated. “So what, you got a promotion or something?”

“Nah, I’m just switching to a part time position. Don’t have as much time anymore now that I got Wonderbolt training.”

Natalya’s eyes bulged when some food went down the wrong throat. She coughed and hacked loudly for a few moments until her airways were clear. Staring at Rainbow, she cried out, “You’re a Wonderbolt?!”

Rainbow smirked. “Yep.”

Natalya glared at Gilda. “Why didn’t you tell me?!”

Gilda shrugged. “You didn’t ask.”

“In Gilda’s defense,” Rainbow added before Natalya got the urge to strangle someone, “I’m not part of the main team… yet. I’m on the reserves. Still, it means I’m getting close, and who knows, maybe I’ll be an actual Wonderbolt by as soon as next season.”

“Should’ve known you were on the best flying team in Equestria. After all, you somehow were able to beat me,” Natalya begrudgingly admitted. Honestly, she was surprised that Rainbow was not on the main roster already. From what she saw at the Equestria Games and from her own race against the pegasus, Rainbow could fly circles around the current Wonderbolts.

“Aww, that’s a nice… sorta nice thing to say, Natalya,” Pinkie cooed.

“It’s not a compliment. It’s an observation.”

“So, what’s the plan for today?” Gilda asked.

“I have to go back to Sugarcube Corner soon,” Pinkie replied. “But you’re coming with me, Gilda! I’m going to be baking all day, and in the meantime, you can watch and learn all sorts of stuff from me and the Cakes.” She gasped and grabbed Gilda with both of her forehooves. “You can be like my assistant!”

“Er, sure,” Gilda agreed, backing away from the uncomfortably close Pinkie. “Helping you out in the kitchen is the least I could do with all the stuff you’re doing for me, and being able to learn at the same time sounds like a win-win to me.”

“What about you then?” Natalya asked, her gaze on Rainbow. “You free now?”

“Don’t you remember that I’m hanging out with Scootaloo today?” Rainbow reminded with a slight frown.

“I do, but doesn’t she have school or something?”

“Yeah, but it’s parent teacher conference week. She gets out at lunchtime today.”

Natalya frowned. “But that’s like two hours away. What are you doing until then?”

“Well, I…” Rainbow paused. “Er, I usually take a nap after work, but…”

“You better choose your next words carefully,” Natalya warned in a low, grave voice. “I’m really getting tired of you putting me off.”

“Hey, don’t you take that tone with me!” Rainbow shot back.

“Now, now, settle down, you two,” Twilight directed. “We can settle this without things getting out of hoof. Rainbow, I know you’re probably tired since you just got out of work, but from what I’ve gathered, you can still give Natalya training advice and directions without exerting yourself too much.”

“Do I have to?” Rainbow whined.

“You did promise her.”

Rainbow groaned. “I guess I did. I still think trying to teach her the Sonic Rainboom is a waste of time, but I don’t want to look like a flake.”

Natalya grinned. “About time something goes my way.”

“As for you, Natalya,” Twilight spoke up again, her gaze on the griffon. “Do remember that Rainbow is giving you her free time to help you. You should try to be more understanding and grateful to her. Take it easy on her, and don’t forget to not wear her out with her time with Scootaloo later.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll keep those things in mind.”

Twilight nodded happily and then turned to Gilda. “And that’s another lesson in friendship, Gilda: mediating for your friends. If you want, we can discuss—”

Gilda quickly got up. “No! No more lessons!” She wrapped one of her arms around Pinkie’s body and beat a hasty retreat toward the door. “Come on, Pinkie! We’re leaving!”

“Bye, guys!” Pinkie waved as Gilda rushed out of the room with her.

Twilight, Rainbow, and Natalya sat silently, still eyeing the door with varying amounts of amusement and confusion. An audible crunch made them turn to Spike as the dragon nibbled on a cookie.

“Told you to take it easy on her, Twilight,” Spike casually remarked, taking another bite of his cookie.

Shortly after Gilda and Pinkie fled the castle, Rainbow led Natalya to the park for their training.

The park was several blocks long with trees and patches of flowers dotting the grassy landscape. Pathways stretched from each midpoint of the park and intersected with each other in the middle in a cross shape. Plenty of benches were set up along the pathways for ponies to sit down and admire the scenery.

“Alright, don’t forget that I’m helping you only until school is out,” Rainbow reminded as they landed in a corner of the park where there were no ponies around to disturb them. “Once Scootaloo gets here, I’m all hers, got it?”

“Yeah, yeah, got it,” Natalya replied in a bored tone. “Hopefully, I’ll at least get something for me to practice on alone until you have more time. That way, I won’t have to pester you as much.”

“Then let’s hope we’re both lucky enough for that to happen…”

Ignoring Rainbow’s remark, Natalya asked, “So, what’s the first thing I need to do?”

“Um, you well… You fly really fast.”

“Well, that’s obvious. What else?”

“Uh, you have to be really, really fast?” Rainbow offered, sheepishly grinning.

Natalya stared at Rainbow with a deadpan face. “Are you serious?”

“Hey, I told you that I don’t really know how the Sonic Rainboom works! I just know that it happens when I go really fast!”

“Well, there’s gotta be something else. Some technique, something to do with the wind, anything?”

Rainbow slowly shook her head. “Uh, no, none that I can think of. All that I can come up with is go really—”

Natalya shoved her face into Rainbow’s. “Stop telling me to just go really fast!”

“Okay, okay, sheesh,” Rainbow grumbled, backing away from the loud Natalya. “I guess you could… Er, wait that won’t work… How about, uh, no… G-give me a moment!”

Natalya gritted her teeth, and her talons dug into the grass. “Rainbow… I’m going to…" She closed her eyes and slowly took a calming breath. “Fine… Whatever… Just make it quick…” she muttered and then walked away.

I waited this long just for this?! Natalya screamed inside, punctuating it with a stomp. She had not even started training, and she was already getting a headache. She could not believe that Rainbow was just trying to laze through teaching the Sonic Rainboom. It was just as bad as Rainbow trying to keep on putting it off.

But as much as Natalya wanted to just storm off or berate Rainbow some more, she knew that she had to restrain herself so as not to drive Rainbow away.

Natalya continued to take deep breaths, feeling her headache subside with each moment. By the time she began to calm down, she felt a tapping on her shoulder and turned around to find Rainbow with an uneasy smile on her face.

“Er, hey, Natalya,” Rainbow said cautiously. “I know this whole training thing hasn’t gone exactly as you expected.”

“That’s an understatement,” Natalya uttered bitterly.

Rainbow winced. “I guess that’s kind of true. Well, to be honest, I—”

“Spare me the sympathy. Tell me you thought of something that will help.”

Rainbow slowly nodded. “Okay, yeah. So the first time I did the Sonic Rainboom was during a race in Junior Speedsters Flight Camp.”

“Wait, isn’t that the same flying camp where you first met Gilda?”

“Um, yeah, it was.”

“But… but that means that you were just a filly back then… You mean to tell me that you’ve been able to do the Sonic Rainboom since you were a filly?” Natalya was finding it hard to believe that it was very much possible that she could have lost to a very young Rainbow.

“Well… yes and no. While I did do my first Sonic Rainboom as a filly, it would take years until I was able to do it again. My second one was during the Best Young Flyer Competition, which was a bit after Gilda first visited me in Ponyville. After that, I’ve been able to pull off the Sonic Rainboom pretty much anytime I wanted.”

Squashing the unease that was growing in her, Natalya asked, “So what does this all mean for me?”

“Both times were when I was in Cloudsdale. Now, Cloudsdale is a pegasus city not too far from here, and it floats high up in the clouds. I pulled off my Sonic Rainbooms by starting from there and then diving all the way down to the point where I almost hit the ground.”

Natalya nodded in understanding. “So in other words, I need to do a steep dive from really high up. But what about when we were racing? It didn’t seem like you need to make that big of a dive.”

Rainbow shrugged. “I guess it got easier the more times I did it.”

“Well, at least you gave me something to start with. I don’t think I ever tried a steep dive for so long. Anything else I should know?”

“Um…” Rainbow’s mouth scrunched up in thought. “I’ll let you know if something comes up.”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “Figures… Might as well work with what I got.” She launched herself straight up into the air, with Rainbow following after her a second later. The two of them rapidly gained altitude until Rainbow called out to Natalya that they were high enough.

Able to see the entirety of Ponyville as well as miles of the surrounding forests and fields below her, Natalya glanced over at Rainbow. When Rainbow looked in her direction, Natalya nodded at the pegasus and tucked in her wings.

Natalya angled herself so that her beak was pointed straight down as gravity took over and began dragging her down. She soon had to narrow her eyes into slits to help shield them from the stinging winds blowing into her face.

Down and down she fell as the ground rapidly drew closer, but even though Natalya could feel that she was indeed, in Rainbow’s words, going really fast, she had no idea if she was doing things correctly or not. There was no explosion or loud bang that would have marked the beginning of her own Sonic Rainboom.

When Natalya was a few seconds away from cratering into the ground, she spread her wings and pulled upwards, allowing her to glide a short distance and land safely.

Natalya breathed a small sigh, only slightly winded from her descent. She did not feel anything special or different from her normal flying during her dive. While a tad disappointed, she reminded herself that expecting some sort of miracle on her first try was naive thinking. She knew she was in for some hard work, and she was ready to keep on trying until she got something.

“So not bad for your first try,” Rainbow commented, landing beside Natalya. “You were going pretty fast, but not fast enough.”

Natalya sighed more heavily this time. “You know, just telling me to go faster is not helping.”

“Sorry, but that’s the only thing I can think of. I was following you at about the same speed, and I wasn’t feeling it.”

“And what would it be?”

“Oh, it is…” Rainbow blinked. “Oh, I just thought of something else.”

“Do tell,” Natalya said sarcastically, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

“Well, every time I’m about to do a Sonic Rainboom, I feel something pushing back on me, kind of like wind resistance but more like a wall… But not a hard one, like more soft and stretchy.”

“So this is new information that you just so happened to remember?” Natalya asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Hey, don’t give me that look. I’m pretty much winging it trying to teach you since I never thought about teaching the Sonic Rainboom to anypony. Just be glad that I remembered this thing after only one run.”

Biting back a need to criticize again, Natalya instead asked, “So what do I do if I feel this wall? Go faster?”

“Pretty much. Every time I punched through that, the Sonic Rainboom went off.”

“Good to know I have something to shoot for now,” Natalya remarked before taking off once again.

Natalya continued to do dive after dive, but she never felt a hint of the so-called wall Rainbow mentioned. With Rainbow unable to come up with any more advice, Natalya experimented with all sorts of wing flaps, angles, and other methods that might help increase her speed, but it still was not enough.

After numerous attempts, Natalya settled down on the ground for a breather, but that was interrupted when she heard a buzzing sound. It started off faint, but it was steadily growing louder. Turning to the source of the noise, Natalya spotted a familiar orange shape rapidly coming toward them, and she groaned, realizing her time with Rainbow was up.

Scootaloo was riding on a blue scooter with red wheels, and only a tiny bit of her magenta mane could be seen peeking out of the purple, white-striped helmet she was wearing. The buzzing sound was actually coming from Scootaloo’s wings as the filly rapidly beat them as a means of propelling herself on the scooter.

“Well, Scootaloo is here,” Rainbow remarked, waving at the filly rushing toward them. “You’re free to hang out with us, if you want.”

“Nah, I’m just going to keep on training. While your methods are questionable, you at least gave me enough info for me to work by myself.”

Rainbow shrugged. “Suit yourself, but at least stay long enough to say hi to the squirt.”

Natalya tsked. “Fine, whatever.”

“Hey, Rainbow Dash. Hey, Natalya,” Scootaloo enthusiastically greeted as her scooter skidded to a stop near the two flyers. She hastily parked her scooter to the side, hung her helmet on one of the handles, and rushed back to Rainbow and Natalya.

“Hey, squirt.” Rainbow smiled and ruffled the filly’s mane.

“Sup,” Natalya curtly greeted with a blank face.

“You ready for a whole afternoon with the most awesome flyer ever?” Rainbow asked.

“You bet, Rainbow!” Scootaloo cheered. “Is Natalya joining us?”

Natalya shook her head. “You and Rainbow go do whatever you two plan to do. I just stayed to say hi before I go train some more.” She leaned slightly toward Rainbow and whispered, “That good enough? Can I go now?”

Rainbow gave an unamused look at Natalya. “Yeah, yeah, go ahead. Scootaloo and I will be hanging around here. Just don’t get into trouble,” she said with a dismissive hoof wave.

Glad that she did not have any babysitting duties, Natalya flew to the opposite end of the park to continue her training. With a routine to work on and something to shoot for, she just needed time to practice and refine her technique.

Her routine of flying up and down resumed, and she planned to keep at it until Rainbow was free again. However, she soon found out that it was going to be a bit tougher to stay on her schedule than she thought.

While she was certainly no stranger to training, she at least kept things interesting with a variety of workouts. Flying up and down with little changes for what felt like hours was getting boring. Annoying as Rainbow was, Natalya even began to miss the incessant “go faster” advice that the pegasus constantly told her. At least that helped distract her from the monotony.

Eventually, Natalya decided to take another break, both from her exercise and her boredom. Cutting her latest dive early, she flew back across the park and found Rainbow and Scootaloo right where she left them.

“Keep it up! You’re doing great!” Rainbow shouted as Natalya watched from a distance.

Scootaloo jumped up into the air. Her eyes were clenched shut, and her face was scrunched up in concentration as she rapidly beat her wings until they were nothing more than a blur. However, despite all of her efforts, Scootaloo only managed to hover in the air for a few seconds before collapsing down onto the ground with a frustrated groan.

Rainbow instantly moved toward Scootaloo and helped the filly up. “Hey, nice try there, squirt. You actually got a bit higher this time.”

“Thanks, Rainbow,” Scootaloo replied half-heartedly.

“You feel like trying again, or do you need a break?”

Scootaloo took a deep breath. “I’m going again.”

Seeing that Rainbow was obviously trying to teach Scootaloo how to fly, Natalya continued to watch the pair. Rainbow would constantly shout out encouragements and tips as Scootaloo tried her best, but every attempt ended with the filly falling to the ground a few seconds later.

During one of Scootaloo’s attempts, Natalya landed right next to Rainbow with a soft thump, but the pegasus did not even spare her a glance. All of Rainbow’s attention was on Scootaloo.

After watching Scootaloo fail a couple more times, Natalya uttered out loud, “She can’t really fly, huh?”

Rainbow whirled around immediately with the fiercest scowl Natalya had ever seen on the pegasus. “Don’t you dare, Natalya…” she warned in a low voice.

“Chill, dude, it was just an observation,” Natalya replied, unperturbed by Rainbow’s attempts to melt her with her scathing glares.

An “Oof” from Scootaloo made them both turn to see Scootaloo sprawled out on the grass once again.

“You alright there, squirt?” Rainbow asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Scootaloo promptly started flapping her wings again.

“So I might not know that much about ponies, but can’t fillies around Scootaloo’s age fly already?” Natalya asked quietly.

“Why do you want to know?” Rainbow asked warily.

“Just curious.” Upon seeing Rainbow glare at her with suspicion, she added, “Don’t worry, I’ll behave. I even said hi to her, like you asked, remember?”

Rainbow continued to eye Natalya for a few more seconds before she let out a sigh and focused back on Scootaloo. “Yeah, it’s true. Scootaloo should be able to fly, but she just can’t yet. Still, while it does kind of suck, I’m not worried. Scootaloo is just a late bloomer. She’ll get it, especially since I’m helping her.”

“If you say so.” Natalya glanced over at Rainbow again and noticed the intent stare the pegasus had on Scootaloo. “You really seem to like this filly.”

“Well, duh. She’s my sister… unofficially.”

“Unofficially?”

“We’re not from the same family, but that doesn’t matter because we care for each other just as much.”

The sound of Scootaloo falling onto the grass once again and then letting out a loud, frustrated groan grabbed Natalya and Rainbow’s attention.

Before Rainbow could do anything for Scootaloo, a familiar, perky voice shouted, “We brought cookies!”

Pinkie was pronking her way towards the group with a small, pink box bouncing on her mane. Gilda was right behind Pinkie, hovering just above the ground with a similar box in her claws.

“Just in time, you two,” Rainbow said as she helped Scootaloo up. “We really could use a break, right squirt?”

“Yeah, sure,” Scootaloo mumbled, her gaze glued to the ground while Rainbow nudged her towards Pinkie and Gilda.

Natalya joined the group as Pinkie laid out a red and white checkered picnic blanket and Gilda opened the boxes to reveal dozens of chocolate chip cookies.

“These look great, Pinkie!” Rainbow complimented, grabbing a cookie in a hoof and passing it to Scootaloo. “Thanks!”

“Thank Gilda too,” Pinkie replied, stuffing her mouth with three cookies at once. “She made a bunch of them as well.”

“Even though I was just following your instructions and you were literally looking over my shoulder all day?” Gilda dryly asked.

“Hey, it was still your claws doing the work. Besides, you learn more by doing rather than listening, so listen to me telling you that you’re doing great!”

Gilda rolled her eyes, but she had a small grin. “Thanks, but really, save the compliments for when I can make something without you holding my claw.”

Pinkie tilted her head. “But I didn’t hold your claw. Ooh, does that mean you want me to hold it now?” She reached towards Gilda’s claw with a hoof.

Gilda jerked away from the hoof as though it was some sort of monster. “No! That’s not what I meant! Just eat your cookies, Pinkie!”

“Okie dokie!”

As the five of them spent the next few minutes happily munching on the cookies, Natalya’s gaze started to wander. She glanced at Scootaloo, who was sitting between her and Rainbow, and paused when she saw that the filly was staring straight down at the half-eaten cookie at her hooves. Now that Natalya thought about it, she was pretty sure that she did not notice Scootaloo reach for any cookie since they started eating.

Rainbow must have just noticed the same thing because a second later, she asked with concern.“Hey, you alright, squirt?”

“Yeah…” Scootaloo replied in a low, weary tone.

“Well that doesn’t sound very convincing…”

“It’s nothing, Rainbow…”

“I know something is wrong. What’s up?”

Scootaloo remained silent.

Rainbow softly nudged Scootaloo’s side with a hoof. “Come on, Scootaloo. Just tell me. We’re sisters. You know I’m always ready to help you, right?”

“R-right…” Scootaloo’s gaze was still fixed on the blanket, and she stayed silent for a few more seconds before finally looking up at Rainbow and ask in a quiet voice, “Am I… Am I ever going to be able to fly?”

Rainbow’s eyes widened. “Why… Why would you ask that, Scootaloo? Of course you’re going to be able to fly.”

“Really?” Scootaloo sighed and hung her head. “Rainbow, I’m grateful that you’ve been giving me lessons, but we’ve been going at this for months. Every other pegasus in my class did not even need half that time to learn how to fly, and yet, all I can do is barely stay in the air for a few seconds.”

“Alright, so things might be a bit different for you, but we just have to keep at it. Look, I know it’s frustrating for you, but you’ll eventually get it. I promise I’ll do whatever it takes to get you flying.”

Scootaloo shook her head. “Sorry, Rainbow, I just… I think we’re just wasting our time.”

“Don’t say that, Scootaloo…”

“Huh… Too bad then. Guess you’re never going to fly, kid,” Natalya nonchalantly commented, her gaze more focused on the cookie in her claw.

Scootaloo simply slumped to the ground with a groan.

Ignoring Rainbow, who was giving her a glare that looked like she was about to shove her hoof down the griffon’s throat at any moment, Natalya continued, “Seriously, you aren’t going to fly with that kind of attitude. You have to keep your eye on the prize and keep going for it.”

“B-but what if there’s something wrong with me, and I can’t ever fly?” Scootaloo asked.

“You’re certainly not going to fly either if you sit around and whine all day, which is kind of what you’re doing right now. You have to want it and be ready to do whatever it takes to succeed. That means crushing anyone that gets in your way and being willing to do anything to come out on top.”

“Okay,” Rainbow chuckled sheepishly. “You don’t really have to go that far, but Natalya does have a point. While there might be a teeny-tiny, little chance that you might not be able to fly, that chance becomes a sure thing if you choose to give up. It’s hard, yes, but it will just make it all the much sweeter when you finally do fly.”

Scootaloo’s eyes flicked back and forth between Rainbow and Natalya. “O-okay, I guess I could at least try for a bit longer, right?”

“Whatever you say, squirt, but that doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on you.” Rainbow playfully nudged Scootaloo. “You got to do the time if you want to be a pro like me.”

Scootaloo smiled softly and began eating her cookie. “Alright, Rainbow.”

Everyone went back to the cookie picnic, but it was more enjoyable now that Scootaloo was livelier and actively participating in any conversation. Natalya was content with just eating her share of cookies in silence.

“Hey, Natalya, could we talk?” Rainbow asked quietly.

“I think we’re already doing that.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I meant privately.”

“Do I have to?”

“Just get over here!” Rainbow barked, pulling Natalya up with her forehooves. She led the griffon a short distance, and once there were nopony nearby that could overhear their conversation, she smiled softly. “Look, I just want to say thanks. What you said to Scootaloo really means a lot to me.”

Natalya scoffed. “I didn’t do it for you. I was just getting tired of hearing her whine.”

“Well, whatever the reason, you still did a nice thing for her. Scootaloo’s flying is a really sensitive issue for her, and it doesn’t help that some spoiled brats in her class make fun of her. This isn’t the first time she got a bit depressed, but it’s definitely the first time she even thought about giving up.

“I’m glad you talked to her. Even if some of the things were a bit much, I think hearing some encouragement from another awesome flyer beside me did her a lot of good.”

“Okay, sure, whatever. Yay me, woo hoo…” Natalya uttered in a deadpan voice. “Is that all?”

“Look, I’m telling you all of this because, believe it or not, Scootaloo thinks you’re kind of cool. Not as cool as me, of course.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, because I’m awesome,” Rainbow said with a smirk.

Natalya simply stayed silent with a deadpan face.

“Just trying to lighten the mood,” Rainbow grumbled. “Anyway, while you were off by yourself, Scootaloo asked me a bunch of questions about you like what kind of flying stuff you do, what do you do in your free time, and all that kind of stuff. And after that whole spiel you gave her, I’m sure she respects you a lot.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?”

“Because if you’re going to hang out with me, you’re likely going to be seeing her more as well.” Rainbow took a deep breath. “I also want to say that I’m glad that you have a non-jerk side. While you made a pretty awful first impression, it does look like there’s more to you than I thought. Maybe Twilight and Pinkie were right. If we hung out some more, maybe we could actually be friends.”

“I’m not interested in friends. I just want to learn the Sonic Rainboom.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, but seriously, I’m willing to give us as friends a shot. I’m not expecting us to be all buddy-buddy right off the bat, but at least we can try. It would make things a lot easier and fun for us.” Rainbow smiled and extended her forehoof toward Natalya. “So, what do you say? Friends?”

Natalya glanced down at the hoof. “Ehhhhh…”

“Oh come on, work with me here. Would you rather me going back to hating your guts? I’m sure that’s going to make teaching you the Sonic Rainboom fun.”

Natalya sighed and bumped Rainbow’s hoof with a balled-up claw. “Fine, whatever. Just don’t expect me to be all nice.”

Rainbow shrugged. “Well, it’s a start. Now, come on, let’s get back to those cookies before Pinkie finishes them all.”

Chapter 6: A Most Epic Battle

Author's Note

I have no regrets writing this chapter.

Chapter 6: A Most Epic Battle

“Go, go, go! You gotta go faster!”

Natalya flashed a brief glare at the hovering Rainbow as she flew past the pegasus. Once she was high enough, she paused for a moment to get ready for yet another attempt at making her own Sonic Rainboom. Rainbow was still shouting encouragements of some kind, but Natalya blocked out the noise. With a deep breath, Natalya dove straight down.

The all too familiar feeling of the wind rushing past her encompassed her entire body as she rocketed toward the ground. She kept herself aware for any shift or change that would herald a Sonic Rainboom, however, just like the countless tries before, there was no hint of the colorful phenomenon.

It had been two days since Natalya’s first training session with Rainbow. Gilda had been spending most of her time baking and learning at Sugarcube Corner with Pinkie, while Natalya was able to continue to train with Rainbow.

As they had agreed, Natalya and Rainbow were trying to be on more friendly terms with each other. Rainbow was doing her part by being less critical of Natalya’s gruff behavior, although there was still the occasional complaint. She was also making a noticeable effort to spend more time with Natalya instead of complaining and trying to put it off.

“Come on, Natalya, you can do better than that!”

Although, Natalya was beginning to wonder if the extra time with Rainbow was a good idea.

While Natalya was irritated that Rainbow was still unable to come up with any additional tips to help make her own Sonic Rainboom, she was more annoyed that Rainbow was stuck on repeating the one not-so-helpful advice of flying faster. It was like Rainbow believed that chanting the same words over and over again would somehow magically help. To Natalya, those yells were more of an annoying distraction grating on her nerves than actual encouragement.

Natalya was tempted to just tell Rainbow to shut up, but she willed herself to stay silent. A part of her was hoping that Rainbow would eventually spout out something helpful, and another part had a feeling that once she did open her beak, a few choice words that she had been keeping to herself would escape and likely anger Rainbow.

As much as she hated to admit it, she needed Rainbow to help with the Sonic Rainboom, no matter how tiresome the pegasus was. She also did agree to be on more friendly, or at least less hateful, terms with Rainbow in exchange for more Sonic Rainboom training. Since she was not familiar with being nice, she found that the easiest way to not antagonize Rainbow or her friends was just to try and keep her beak shut more, which meant less complaining and criticizing.

“You’re getting there… Er, I think… Some more speed oughta do it!”

Giving Rainbow no more than an annoyed huff, Natalya flew up into position before shooting straight back down toward the ground once again. Rushing past the noisy, blue blur of a pony, she tucked in her legs as much as she could, furiously flapped her wings, and did anything else she could muster to increase her speed.

Alas, yet again, she was forced to pull out of her dive when the ground got close enough. Instead of flying straight back up to go for her umpteenth attempt, she landed on the grass, took a deep breath, and let out a deafening cry of frustration that rang through the air. Fortunately, Rainbow had chosen a grassy field right outside of Ponyville as their training grounds so she did not have to worry about any ponies whining that she scared them.

Taking a few deep breaths after her brief outburst, Natalya tried to collect herself, but she was having difficulty doing so. Her stress levels had been slowly building up throughout the day, and a throbbing pressure within her head was starting to become bothersome.

She knew that trying to learn the Sonic Rainboom was not going to be easy, but the repetitive failures were wearing away at her patience. At the very least, she should have seen a tiny bit of progress by now, especially given her flying prowess, but so far, she had seen nothing of the sort. It did not help that Rainbow was unable to do anything but shout at her.

“Hey, you alright there, Natalya?” Rainbow asked as she flew down toward the griffon.

“I’m fine,” Natalya replied tersely.

“You sure? That roar earlier kind of says otherwise.”

“I’m fine,” Natalya repeated with an annoyed huff. “Just leave me alone.”

“Sheesh, what’s got all of your feathers in a bunch?”

“Nothing, I’m fine,” Natalya said once again.

Rainbow sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, anypony with eyes can tell that you’re not exactly fine right now.”

“Whatever, I’m going back to my training.” Natalya launched herself into the air before Rainbow could respond. When she reached a high enough altitude, she then angled herself downwards for another dive, only to stop when Rainbow move into her flight path. “Move,” she ordered, glaring at the new obstacle.

“Look, you’re all worked up and stuff,” Rainbow remarked. “You’re going to mess up if you keep going like this. Why don’t we call it for today?”

“Not a chance. The sooner I get the Sonic Rainboom down, the better.”

“Fine, then how about a break?”

“Don’t need one.”

“Yes, you do.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do!”

“No, I don’t!” Natalya scoffed. “I’m not some hatchling you have to look after.”

“Well I do if you’re acting like one!” Rainbow groaned and slapped her forehoof into her face. “Look, I’m trying to be nicer with you, and that includes making sure you don’t hurt yourself by being a hardhead. At least tell me what’s bugging you all of a sudden. You seemed to be doing fine until that whole roaring thing, and now you’re so tense.”

Natalya merely gave a grunt and tried to fly around Rainbow, only to be blocked by the pegasus again.

“Come on, tell me!” Rainbow urged.

Natalya kept silent and tried to fly around Rainbow, but the pegasus easily intercepted her once again. They then proceeded to zip through the sky as Natalya tried to evade Rainbow but was foiled at every attempt. With Rainbow’s annoying meddling now actively interfering with her training, along with all the other complications she had been facing, it was not long before Natalya reached her tipping point. She let out a loud cry that rent through the sky and then barked, “Fine! You want to know what’s bothering me?! It’s you!”

Rainbow’s eyes widened for a second before narrowing down into a deadpan glare. “Hey, I know you’re not happy that I’m trying to look out for you, but—”

“It’s not just that!” Natalya snarled. “It’s everything that you do!”

Rainbow growled. “Hey, what’s the big idea?! This is the thanks I get for helping you train?!”

“Helping me? All that you have told me was to keep on flying up and down, and your so-called encouragements are just a nuisance to my ears!”

“I’m trying to cheer you on! Also, I do believe that you also need speed to pull it off! It’s not my fault that my training methods don’t work for you!”

“Telling me to go faster over and over again is not a training method! It’s pure idiocy, just like you! It’s no wonder I haven’t been able to do anything with your useless advice!”

Rainbow scowled and turned her head away. “Or maybe you can’t do it because you're just not good enough,” she mumbled quietly.

Rainbow probably did not mean for Natalya to overhear her, but the griffon’s keen senses heard it anyway. Natalya’s claws balled up in anger, and the thought of lunging forward to vent her anger on the pegasus in a physical way crossed her mind. Still, she retained enough clarity to know that attacking a close friend to one of the pony princesses would land her in deep trouble.

Unable to stand Rainbow’s presence and to also prevent herself from doing anything brash, Natalya flew away as fast as she could with an angry snort.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?!” Rainbow’s shouts promptly came out.

“Away from you!” Natalya shouted without looking back.

“Well, I’m not done with you, feather brain!”

“Too bad! I’m done with you!”

“You come back here!”

Natalya ignored Rainbow and concentrated on flying straight ahead and away from the pegasus. The insults continued to assault her from behind, meaning that Rainbow was giving chase, but despite the rage in the pegasus’s tone, it quickly became apparent that she was running out of verbal ammo to shoot at Natalya.

“You suck! And, uh, you smell! A-and… and um… yo momma’s fat!”

Natalya’s flight came to a screeching halt. Even though Rainbow’s lame insults went in one ear and out the other, one of them caught her attention. While she was still angry, some of it was replaced with a mix of confusion, surprise, and a hint of amusement. “What was that last thing you just said?” she asked, slowly turning around to Rainbow.

“Uh…” Rainbow stopped as well and blinked, as though just realizing what she just said as well. However, she recovered quickly and looked Natalya right in the eye with conviction. “Yeah, you heard me! I said yo momma’s fat!”

“Seriously?” Natalya could not help but utter with a raised eyebrow, wondering if Rainbow was actually going where she thought she was going.

“Yeah! And, uh, in fact, she’s so fat that when she falls out of bed, she falls out both sides!”

Natalya let out a snort of amusement. Rainbow had thrown down the gauntlet, and as silly as the situation Natalya knew that she was getting into, she could not help but retaliate. “Oh, really? Well, yo momma’s so fat, she fell asleep trying to get up.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened, clearly caught by surprise. Her mouth opened and closed several times before she narrowed her eyes into an almost-eager glare.

Natalya also glared at Rainbow. The tension from her anger was still present, but she had willingly stepped into the battlefield. There was no way she was going to run now.

As though an unspoken agreement passed between them, Natalya and Rainbow landed on opposite sides of a nearby cloud, their legs slightly spread and bodies lowering slightly down to the cloudy surface in a battle stance.

Rainbow was the first to break the silence, a small smirk appearing on her face. “We really doing this?”

“Guess so… What? Already know you can’t keep up with me?” Natalya quipped.

“Bring. It. On.”

As Natalya and Rainbow silently eyed each other, both waiting for their opponent to make the first move, a sudden breeze passed over them, making their hairs and feathers flow in the wind in an almost-majestic manner.

Natalya suddenly attacked first. “Yo momma’s so fat that I broke my neck thinking about her!”

“Yo momma’s so fat, she broke the family tree!” Rainbow immediately fired back.

“Yo momma’s so dumb, she stayed up all night to catch some sleep!”

“Yo momma’s so ugly, her pictures hang themselves!”

“Yo momma’s so ugly that when she went into a haunted house, they gave her a job offer!”

“Yo momma’s so fat that when she fell, no one was laughing but the ground was cracking up!”

“Oh my gosh, that was a good one!”

Both mother slanderers quickly turned their heads upon hearing a familiar third voice to see Pinkie and Gilda sitting on a nearby cloud with a bag of popcorn the size of a pony’s head between them.

“Sup,” Gilda greeted with a casual wave of a claw.

“Uh, when did you two get here?” Rainbow asked.

“Just a few seconds ago,” Pinkie answered.

“Okay… And why are you two here?”

“Pinkie got one of her weird Pinkie Sense thingies a little while ago and told me that there was some sort of doozy about to happen with you two,” Gilda informed. “And by the look of things…” She shifted herself into a more comfortable position and grabbed a clawful of popcorn. “This gonna be good.”

“Seriously, you even brought popcorn?” Natalya asked with a deadpan face.

“To be fair, I did not even know Pinkie brought popcorn, and I'd rather not think about where she even hid it.” Gilda stuffed the popcorn into her mouth. “Not going to question free food,” she added with her mouth still full.

Natalya rolled her eyes before turning her attention to Pinkie. “And how are you staying on that cloud? I thought earth ponies couldn’t do that.”

A lock of Pinkie’s mane started moving around like a tentacle and reached into the center of Pinkie’s mane. It rummaged around a bit before emerging with a small, cloud-shaped necklace hanging onto it.

“Twilight enchanted me this with her cloudwalking spell. She thought it would make it easier for me to hang out with you all.” Pinkie giggled. “It’s a charm with a charm that works like a charm!”

“Somehow, I think you would manage fine without it,” Natalya murmured, unable to take her eyes off Pinkie’s freaky hair tentacle as it put away the trinket and then snapped back into place like it was normal.

“So, you two going to get back to it?” Gilda asked. “I came here for a show.”

“I’m not here just to entertain you,” Natalya groused.

“Oh, come on! I got front row seats, a bag of popcorn, and do you know how much work it was to carry Pinkie up here? She’s heavier than she looks!”

“Hey, are you calling me fat?!” Pinkie cried out with a frown.

“No, I’m saying that you’re an odd pony that I’m pretty sure is bending the rules of physics and probably other sciencey junk.”

“Oh, okay.” Pinkie nodded and smiled. “Twilight pretty much says the same thing, although with a lot more bigger words.”

“Anyway,” Rainbow spoke up. “I’m not sure I’m up for continuing either. This all started because we were arguing, but I think we calmed down.” She turned her head to Natalya. “You going to tell me what was bugging you earlier?”

“Maybe later… If I feel like it…” Natalya half-heartedly replied. “If I tell you that I do feel a bit better after that little… whatever we did, would you let me get back to training?”

Rainbow sighed and replied in a tired tone, “Yeah, yeah. Knock yourself out.”

“Awwww,” Gilda whined. “I was hoping for a good show.”

“Me too…” Pinkie agreed with a sad frown. She perked up a moment later with a hopeful smile. “Oh, I know! How about you two make it into a game?”

“A game?” Natalya and Rainbow both echoed, each with a skeptical eyebrow raised.

“Yeah! You two should square off against each other until one of you can’t continue, or maybe Gilda and I could judge who had the best stuff at the end!”

“So in other words, a competition…” Rainbow’s mouth slowly turned upwards into a grin. “Yeah, I could definitely get into that! You in, Natalya?”

Natalya frowned. “I already wasted enough time. I should get back to—”

“Oh, lighten up, Natalya!” Rainbow interrupted. “Seriously, you’re always so, uh, serious. No wonder you’re always so on edge.”

“Yeah, I bet that you would have a lot of fun,” Pinkie chimed in. “It would help you become less of a grumpy pants!”

“Well, excuse me for focusing on more important things than a silly game,” Natalya retorted.

“Come on, you looked like you were getting into it just a few moments ago,” Rainbow remarked.

“I was… I was just caught in the moment.” Natalya’s gaze drifted to the side. “You caught me off-guard when you started this whole thing. Seriously, you were getting desperate when you were following me.”

“Right… Whatever you say…” A devilish smirk crossed Rainbow’s face. “You know what I think? I think you’re just afraid you’re going to lose to me… again.”

Natalya shot Rainbow a dark look while Pinkie and Gilda both uttered, “Ooooo…”

“You going to take that from her, Natalya?” Gilda goaded.

Natalya scoffed. “I’m not getting pulled into this over a single—”

“Bawk, bawk, bawk!” Rainbow clucked as she got up on her hind legs and hooked her forelegs around so that they touched her sides. As she strutted around the cloud, she flapped her forelegs around like short wings while continuing to cluck.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Natalya mumbled, staring at Rainbow with a deadpan glare.

“I think Rainbow is calling you a chicken, Natalya,” Pinkie pointed out.

“Gee, thanks, Pinkie.”

To make matters worse, Gilda flew over to their cloud and joined Rainbow’s antics. As Rainbow and Gilda continued to circle around the cloud in their chicken dance, Pinkie remained on her cloud, but it was obvious that she was snickering behind the bag of popcorn she held up to her face.

After a few seconds of incessant clucking in her ears, Natalya buried her face into a claw and groaned. “Fine! I’ll humor you idiots! Now, would you cut that out!?”

Rainbow immediately sat down on her haunches, while Gilda flew back to sit next to Pinkie. Both of them smiled innocently at Natalya.

Natalya rolled her eyes. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“That’s the spirit!” Pinkie cheered. “Sort of!”

Natalya sighed as she and Rainbow took their places, standing on opposite sides of the cloud. They slowly circled around the cloudy platform, keeping their gazes on each other like two predators sizing up their prey.

“Alright then, guess I should start the ball rolling.” Rainbow cleared her throat. “Yo momma’s so fat that when I have to go around her, I have to ask for directions!”

Natalya could not believe that she got dragged into this, but now that she was, she might as well give it her full attention and come out of it as a winner. Clearing her own throat, she fired back, “Yo momma’s so fat, her shadow weighs at least forty pounds!”

“Yo momma’s so ugly that when you dropped her off at the grocery store, you got fined for littering!”

“Yo momma’s so ugly, someone broke into her house just to cover the windows!”

It did not take long for Natalya and Rainbow get into the heat of battle. They launched their barbed insults at each other, one right after the other, with not even a moment’s rest between them. It was an epic fight that was said to last for eons, and their eloquent verbosity put even the most talented poets to shame. Legend has it that mothers all across the land wept in sympathy for two of their sisters that were subjugated to such abominable torture.

“Yo momma’s so fat, you could slap her belly and ride the waves!”

“Yo momma’s so fat that when she walks by the window, you miss the entire day!”

“Yo momma’s so fat that when she fell in love, she broke it!”

“Yo momma… Um…” Rainbow blinked. “Uh… Oh shoot…”

Natalya smirked. “Giving in, Rainbow?”

“O-of course not! I just… Yo momma’s so fat… that she, uh, should watch her weight?”

Natalya smirked. “So much for that. Guess I’m the winner.”

“I’d say you got to give at least one more good one if we really want to give it to you, Natalya,” Gilda remarked.

“Alright then. Yo momma’s so dumb, she…” Natalya paused and slowly blinked. “Huh…”

Gilda chuckled. “Looks like the both of you finally ran out of steam.”

“Wowwee! That was so awesome, you two!” Pinkie cheered, clapping with her forehooves. “I learned so much! I bet you both did your mommas proud! Where did you two learn so much about each other’s mommies?”

“You’d be surprised what the weather team likes to do whenever we have some downtime,” Rainbow replied.

“Ooh, maybe you should invite me over whenever that happens again. Sounds like fun!” Pinkie turned her attention to Natalya. “What about you?”

Natalya shrugged. “Just picked it up in Griffonstone. You know how griffons can be. Even when we’re trying to pass time we’re insulting each other.”

“Yep, I can attest to that,” Gilda chimed in.

“Anyway, since Rainbow and I ended at the same time, I believe it’s up to you and Gilda to decide who wins,” Natalya stated.

“Hmm, let’s see.” Gilda tapped the underside of her beak in thought. “Would it look like I’m playing favorites if I pick Rainbow?”

“Yes,” Natalya stated flatly.

“Then I pick Rainbow,” Gilda replied with a cheeky grin.

“Of course you do…”

“Oh yeah!” Rainbow proclaimed with a huge smile. She flew up a little bit into the air and started doing a victory dance.

“Well, then I pick Natalya,” Pinkie chimed in.

“What?!” Rainbow froze and dropped back onto the cloud to stare at Pinkie incredulously. “Pinkie, you’re supposed to pick me! I was supposed to win!”

“But I thought Natalya made some really good ones. Besides, me picking Natalya means you both win!”

“Uh, no, that means nopony wins. It’s a draw.”

“Oh…” Pinkie mouth shifted to a thoughtful frown and then back to a smile in the span of a second. “Then that means nopony lost!”

“Well, I guess…” Rainbow huffed. “But I wanted to win…” she mumbled.

A part of Natalya was disappointed that she did not win either, but another part of her reminded her that this was all just a silly waste of time. Glancing away from the complaining Rainbow, she noticed that the sun’s position had traveled a good distance across the sky since they had started the whole ‘Yo Momma’ battle. “Wait, how long were Rainbow and I going at it?”

Gilda shrugged. “Not too sure. More than an hour at the very least, which is actually really impressive.”

“More than an hour!? I wasted that much time?!”

“Wasted?” Rainbow stopped moping to quirk an eyebrow at Natalya. “I wouldn’t say wasted. While it would’ve been nice for me to win, I still had a ton of fun, and I’m pretty sure you did too.”

“Nope.”

“Hey, I saw you smiling once we got things rolling, and not the being-a-jerk kind of smile you use when you’re mocking others. Come on, you mean you can look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t have at least a bit of fun?”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “Fine, maybe a bit…” Or maybe quite a lot. She also had to admit to herself that she felt more relaxed as well. “But that doesn’t matter. Point is, I could’ve used that time to work on the Sonic Rainboom. You and I both know I’m still nowhere close to getting it.”

Rainbow sighed. “Well, it’s something, I guess. At least, you mellowed out a little. Still wish you would do something else besides train all day. I get wanting to get better and stuff, but it’s also kind of boring doing the same thing every day.”

Natalya let out a dismissive snort. “Whatever, it’s not like you have to watch me train. Go do something else if I’m boring you.”

“Hey, I said I would try and spend more time with you, and I meant it. I’m not going to leave you alone. Like it or not, you’re my responsibility while you’re staying here. Besides, I’m not really that bored. I mean, the whole battle thing we did was really awesome. Maybe we need to think of some other activities that you might enjoy.” Rainbow paused as her mouth slowly turned upwards into a grin.

Rainbow suddenly flew over to Gilda and Pinkie’s cloud. “Hey, huddle up, you two. I got an idea! Natalya, don’t go anywhere!”

Natalya watched with a bored stare as Rainbow, Pinkie, and Gilda all got up on their hind legs and formed into a huddle position, resting their forelegs on each other’s backs. Whispers immediately filled the air, but Natalya was unable to discern any words, partly because she was not interested in listening.

“That’s a super idea, Rainbow!” Pinkie suddenly yelled out.

Gilda’s entire body tensed before she slapped a claw across Pinkie’s mouth with a growl. “Not in my ear, Pinkie!” She received a muffled apology in return.

“So, you two alright with it?” Rainbow asked as the three of them broke the huddle.

“Of course I am!” Pinkie cheered after Gilda removed her claw. “It’s going to be such a superriffic time! Think of all the stuff we can do with the four of us!”

“Yeah, I’m in too,” Gilda answered. “Just make sure I’m not going to be on the receiving end of anything, got it?”

“So, what are you three planning and how can I get out of it?” Natalya asked.

“Oh, you’re not getting out of this, because you’re going to like this! Tomorrow, we’re taking you on a pranking spree!” Rainbow announced.

Natalya stared blankly at Rainbow. “Pranking? Seriously?”

“What, you never gone pranking before?”

“Of course not. It sounds like a lame, childish thing.”

“What?!” Pinkie leapt onto Natalya’s cloud to rush into the griffon’s face. “You’ve never gone pranking before!?”

“No…” Natalya pushed Pinkie back. “I just said so.”

“But pranking is so awesome, especially when you see the faces of ponies when you get them good!”

“Then go without me. I'd rather use that time to practice.”

“Come on, Natalya,” Gilda urged. “We’ve kind of been doing stuff in pairs since we got here. Taking a day off to do something together is not going to kill you.”

“Yeah, and I promise that if you do this, I won’t bother you about taking another day off or break,” Rainbow added.

“Oh really?” Natalya gave Rainbow a skeptical look.

“Of course! Well, for maybe a day or two.”

“Gee, you sure know how to make an enticing offer,” Natalya dryly remarked.

“You need to come with us, Natalya!” Pinkie cried out with a slight commanding tone. “All work and no play makes anypony a dull pony, and it’s my mission to make sure everypony is having the best time ever! You need to have fun! I’ll make sure of it.”

Natalya flinched slightly at Pinkie’s words, and judging by Rainbow and Gilda’s attempts to slowly move away from the pink pony, even though she was on another cloud, they heard the sinister undertones within Pinkie’s promise as well. Glancing away from Pinkie, Natalya conceded, “Well, I guess I could give it a shot…”

“Yay! You’re not going to regret it!”

Chapter 8: Bucking Apples

Natalya let out a groan and twisted around in her bed. She had been rudely awoken by an incessant pounding from somewhere nearby. Cracking open her eyes, she saw from a clock that it was only slightly earlier than when she usually got up.

She was no stranger to getting up early. Back in Griffonstone, she had disciplined herself so that she would be fully warmed up and limber to face whatever training was on the agenda by the time most griffons struggled to get out of bed. Even though her stay in Ponyville had thrown off her schedule, she still tried to maintain her workout routine whenever she could.

That being said, just because she was used to waking up early, it did not mean she was fond of doing so. She hated mornings, but facing it was a necessary evil.

As the pounding continued and her mind shook off some of the dregs of sleep, Natalya was able to identify the sound as a hoof knocking on glass. With another, much louder groan, she sat up, turning her head to the window. She was hardly surprised to see a waving Pinkie standing on the balcony.

Tempted as she was to just leave Pinkie outside and maybe catch a few more precious minutes of sleep, Natalya dragged herself out of bed. She made sure to grumble and curse during her trudge to the window.

Opening the window, Natalya stood in front of Pinkie, straightening up to her full height so that she could look down at her visitor. “Pinkie…” Natalya uttered in a seemingly neutral tone, the kind that could easily lead to smashed furniture and much louder voices if the wrong answer was given.

“Good morning,” Pinkie greeted with a smile.

The two of them stared each other, neither of them making a move or saying a word. Feeling that something was off, Natalya scrutinized Pinkie. She noticed that Pinkie’s smile was not as wide or perky, and even her mane was not as poofy as usual.

And then it hit her: Pinkie and silence did not mix.

Natalya could already guess what was wrong, and a short yawn from Pinkie quickly confirmed her suspicion.

“Guess even you’re not immune to mornings,” Natalya remarked. It was comforting to find out that Pinkie did indeed have her limits, even if they did sometimes defy reality and reason.

“Yeah, I only had three cupcakes before I came here,” Pinkie replied. “Don’t worry, once I get a couple more in me, I’ll be back to my pinky, perky, peppy, plucky, pony self.”

“Have you ever thought about maybe cutting back on the sugar?”

Pinkie’s eyes flew wide open for a moment as she emitted a loud gasp. She then narrowed her eyes and frowned at Natalya. “Never!”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that’s what I figured. Anyway, why are you here? You better have a good reason for waking me up early.”

“I came here to see Gilda. If she still wants to do today’s baking lessons and help with the big order, I kind of need her now. We got a lot of stuff to do if we’re going to finish in time.”

“If you haven’t noticed yet, this isn’t Gilda’s room,” Natalya flatly stated.

Pinkie giggled. “I know that, silly. I thought that I could check up on you in case you were still sleeping. It’s kind of a kill two birds with one stone thing… but with griffons… Actually, killing is a meanie thing to do. Why would I try to hurt you or Gilda with a stone? Maybe I should say I got two griffons to eat one cupcake? But wait, I have plenty of cup—”

Natalya clamped her talons over Pinkie’s mouth, silencing the pony. “Pinkie, get to the point,” she commanded and then retracted her paw.

Pinkie nodded. “You should be getting ready to go help Applejack and Rainbow with applebucking! You don’t want to be late!”

“How can I be late? It’s not like we set up a time.”

“Well, Applejack should already be done with her breakfast and is now getting ready to start her chores. Knowing Rainbow and that there’s going to be cider later, she’s likely over there as well. You don’t want them to start the fun without you, right?”

“I wouldn’t call what we’re doing today fun, but I guess you kind of have a point. If those two are all ready, then I might as well join them.” Natalya sighed. “Something tells me this is going to be a long day.”

“That’s the spirit! I’m sure that you’ll have a good time with Rainbow and Applejack today. Now, I have to go get Gilda before the Cakes get worried. See you, Natalya!”

Natalya gave Pinkie a half-hearted wave as the pony trotted across the room and exited out of the door. Since she was in a hurry, Natalya decided that she would cut her morning workout short and make do with just a few quick stretches before she headed out. Her warmups only took a few moments, briefly interrupted by a loud squawk coming from the direction of Gilda’s room. As she proceeded out onto the balcony to take-off, she paused when she saw a cupcake lying on the ground.

Obviously a treat left by Pinkie, Natalya plucked the cupcake off the ground and promptly bit into it. Given the number of pears Pinkie was lugging around yesterday, Natalya was hardly surprised to taste the fruit mixed within the frosting. Satisfied with her sweet, simple breakfast, Natalya began her flight to Sweet Apple Acres, finishing her cupcake along the way.

Natalya quickly spotted Applejack when she made it to Sweet Apple Acres. The mare was emerging from one of the storage barns with a wagon full of baskets in tow. Applejack unhitched her load next to a second wagon also brimming with baskets.

Natalya dived down at Applejack, landing with a loud thump right behind her and causing the mare to jump and whirl around with wide eyes, only to let out a sigh when she saw who it was.

“Geez, you scared me, Natalya,” Applejack remarked, the faintest hint of a frown crossing her face.

Natalya merely shrugged in response.

Applejack frowned for another second before she sighed. “Well, regardless, thanks again for helpin’ out today, and Ah appreciate you even comin’ in early.”

“Actually, Pinkie barged into my room and kind of urged me to get going because you were going to start working soon. Since we never set up a time to meet, I figured now was as good time as any.”

Applejack idly scratched the back of her neck with a forehoof. “Really? Ah forgot that? Sorry about the confusion, but in my defense, Ah was still shaken up by the, uh, prank you four pulled on me yesterday.”

Deciding not to comment about Applejack’s pear-phobia, Natalya slowly turned her head from left to right, scanning her surroundings. “Rainbow here yet? Pinkie also said that she would be here.”

“Got here a few minutes before you, in fact. But since Ah still needed a bit to get ready and you weren’t here yet, she went off to try and squeeze in a quick nap.”

Natalya cocked an eyebrow. “Seriously? She wakes up early so that she can come here to sleep?”

“Whether it’s cider or sleep, Rainbow can’t get enough of it.” Applejack chuckled quietly and then hitched herself back into one of the wagons. “Ready to start?”

“Shouldn’t we get Rainbow?”

Applejack gave a knowing grin. “Don’t worry, we’ll grab her on the way. Just hook yourself up to the other wagon and we’ll head out.”

Natalya shrugged and moved over to the second wagon. The harness was a simple, metal loop that wrapped around her midriff, and with a minimal amount of fiddling with her claws, she was able to hook herself up. All set, she nodded to Applejack, and the two of them proceeded into the orchard.

They had barely walked for a minute when Applejack told Natalya to stop and unhitch from her wagons. As Natalya worked herself out of the metal loop, she paused when she heard a loud snore from somewhere nearby. Glancing at Applejack, she was met with a smirk and a hoof pointing upwards.

Natalya looked up to see a familiar rainbow tail dangling from one of the tree’s branches, and she could also pick out hints of sky-blue behind the leaves.

“Rainbow does this often?” Natalya asked.

“All the time,” Applejack replied.

“I’m guessing you want me to fly up there and wake her up.”

“Nope, Ah got a better idea.” Applejack swiftly grabbed a few baskets from her wagon and set them up around the tree. She glanced at Natalya and then back up where Rainbow was. “Hey, Natalya, could you scooch a little bit to your left?”

“Uh, okay?” Natalya uttered slowly, moving as she was told.

“Good, now if you don’t mind, just stand up on your hind legs and hold out your forelegs straight out.”

Natalya cocked her head in confusion, but again, did as she was told.

Applejack suddenly bucked the tree. Amidst the usual deluge of apples that came raining down, there was a yelp as Rainbow fell off her branch and into Natalya’s waiting paws.

“And that’s how you get rid of varmints who go snoozin’ in our trees.” Applejack snickered while she watched Rainbow squirming in Natalya’s grasp with her eyes still closed.

“Ugh, what the heck, Applejack?” Rainbow groaned and slowly opened her eyes. Her eyes flew wide open when she saw that a displeased Natalya was only inches away and staring right at her with a flat look. “Uh, morning?”

“Sup,” Natalya greeted dryly. “Now get off me before I drop you.”

“What?” Rainbow craned her head to the side to see what she was lying on. “Oh, uh, sure.”

When Rainbow used her wings to fly up a little and then landed back on her hooves, Applejack said, “Alright, that’s enough fun for now. If you two are ready, I really would like to get things started now.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Natalya replied.

“Just one quick question,” Rainbow stated.

“Cider tastin’ is around lunch time,” Applejack informed.

Rainbow blinked. “Never mind then.”

Applejack flashed a smirk at Rainbow. “Anyway, like Ah said yesterday, we’re behind on the applebuckin’, so that’s what you’ll be helpin’ out with. All you have to do is get the apples into the baskets. No need to carry any of them back. Big Mac and Ah will take care of it later. Just harvest as much as you can in this area, but don’t push yourselves too much either. Got it?”

“Got it,” Natalya and Rainbow answered simultaneously.

“Good. Now Ah gotta get movin’ to my section. Sorry that Ah can’t stick around to show you the ropes, Natalya, but Rainbow should be able to help you out.” Applejack hitched herself up to her wagon once again. “Ah’ll come find you two when it’s about time for the cider tastin’. Thanks again for all the help.”

After Applejack left, Natalya was eager to try out applebucking herself and zipped back to the wagon she brought to grab a bunch of baskets. As she began arranging around a nearby tree, she asked, “So this applebucking, all you have to do is kick the tree really hard?”

“Uh, actually, there’s more to it than that,” Rainbow replied.

Natalya paused. “Like?”

“Um…” Rainbow went silent for several seconds. “Yeah… I got nothing…”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “This is Sonic Rainboom training all over again…”

“Hey, you try listening to Applejack yammer on about apples! She’s almost as bad as Twilight whenever it’s something apple-related.”

“And yet you seem to do decent enough.”

“Er, yeah. I just kick them as hard as I can.”

“So pretty much what I said earlier…”

“Right… Hey, I just wanted to point out there’s more to applebucking than kicking trees hard… I just don’t know what those things are.”

“Sometimes I wonder why I follow you around…” Natalya sighed and finished setting up the baskets around the tree. Once that was done, she positioned herself with her rear facing the tree, just like how she saw Rainbow and Applejack. Taking a deep breath, she put her weight onto her forelegs and raised her hind legs to attempt her first applebuck.

Unused to the new position, Natalya soon felt herself tipping over, and she had to frantically flap her wings to prevent herself from falling. Hearing a stifled snicker, she immediately looked up to shoot a withering glare at Rainbow.

“Sorry, sorry!” Rainbow apologized, waving her forehooves defensively. “I tried to hold it in, honest!” She cleared her throat. “Uh, yeah, it takes a bit to find your balance and stuff. Just try it again, and I promise, no laughing.”

Natalya slowly nodded, her hostile gaze lingering on Rainbow for a few seconds. She eventually returned her attention to applebucking and once again reared up her hind legs. Again, she felt herself unbalanced and had to jerk her body to save herself. She was glad that Rainbow kept her promise and just watched her in stoic silence.

Natalya continued to try and get herself situated. Each attempt brought about a slight shift in her stance and a bit more confidence in her posture. Eventually, she felt that she had found the right stance for her and was able to try her first real applebuck.

Taking one more deep breath, she reared up and kicked out with her hind legs in one smooth motion. She felt a slight stinging sensation flood her body, but she was more interested with the satisfying thump she heard when she hit the tree.

Hastily turning around, she expected to catch a glimpse of the apples dropping out of the tree. She was extremely disappointed to see that not even a single fruit dropped into any of the baskets or onto the ground.

“Um, at least you got the bucking part down,” Rainbow chimed in.

Natalya shot Rainbow a quick glare that clearly stated that the comment was not helping. Turning her attention back to the tree, Natalya hastily got back into her bucking position and kicked the tree a second time.

Again, Natalya’s buck did not yield anything.

Natalya growled and commenced throwing out bucks one right after the other. She tried aiming her kicks at different parts of the trunk. She tried shifting her weight around with her bucks. She even tried backing up a bit before charging at the tree and then spinning around to deliver her bucks.

Nothing worked, and each failed buck added to her frustration.

Eventually, Natalya had enough, and with a loud growl, she bucked the tree one more time, this time channeling as much of her strength as she could. Pain flooded her senses as soon as her legs impacted the wood, causing her to collapse to the ground. She took no small comfort in the fact that she finally got one apple out of the tree, especially since she felt that apple conk her on the head.

“Whoa, you okay, Natalya?!” Rainbow asked, rushing over to the downed griffon’s side.

“Just fine…” Natalya replied, taking deep breaths through gritted teeth. “It was more of the shock that got me.”

After resting for a few minutes, the pain ebbed away enough for her to slowly get up. Once she was on her feet, she tested her limbs and was pleased to find that it seemed like there were not any real injuries, even if her hind legs were still stinging a bit.

“You just keep on relaxing for a bit longer,” Rainbow recommended. “If it’s alright with you, I’m going to get started with my own bucking. I haven’t really done anything yet since I was watching you.”

Natalya made no argument, gingerly laying back down on all fours. She watched as Rainbow walked over to the tree that she was working on and bucked it. Her eye twitched when she saw a shower of apples come down, and she could not help but let out a scoff of annoyance.

Rainbow promptly let out a long sigh. Without turning to Natalya, she said, “Yeah, yeah, I know it looks like I’m trying to show you up, but I’m not trying to. Don’t forget that I have been applebucking for a few years. It’s not really fair to compare the two of us, especially since this is your first time.”

“I know…” Natalya got back on her feet, albeit a bit shakily with her still-sore legs. “Doesn’t make it any easier watching you do it so effortlessly.” She walked over to the wagon, grabbed a couple of baskets, and moved toward a new tree.

“Wait, you’re going to try again already?” Rainbow asked with a worried frown.

“How else am I going to get better at this?” Natalya answered as she laid down the baskets around the tree.

“Well, yeah, I guess, but you did kind of hurt yourself. Shouldn’t you at least rest a bit longer?”

“I've dealt with worse.” Natalya quickly turned around and began bucking the tree. She made sure to try and not overexert herself again.

Rainbow silently watched Natalya buck with little success for a few moments before letting out a sigh. “Alright fine, you keep trying with your applebucking. I got my own bucking to do. Just don’t forget you can pick the apples too if you don’t get it down.”

Natalya incoherently mumbled her understanding, her attention still focused on trying to buck the apples out of the tree.

Rainbow sighed again. “Just don’t hurt yourself again, alright?” she said before starting her own applebucking.

Natalya continued to try and perfect her applebucking technique, but was met with little success. The apples refused to yield to her bucks, and all she was rewarded with was sweat and pain.

Every now and then, Natalya would have to take a break, both to relieve her sore muscles and her growing stress. She would also take the chance to glance at Rainbow, who was slowly clearing the trees surrounding her. Since Rainbow needed an average of three bucks to harvest most, if not all, of the apples in a tree, Natalya tried mimicking the pegasus’s applebucking posture and movements.

And yet no matter what Natalya tried, she could not get a single buck that was remotely successful.

By the time Applejack finally came back, Natalya’s legs were aching and likely full of splinters, she was exhausted, and her best record was two apples in one buck, although she was pretty sure that it was only because those fruit were already on the verge of falling themselves. Needless to say, she was not happy with how things turned out.

“Very nice job,” Applejack cheerfully complimented, surveying the filled baskets littering the area. “All of this is gonna help a great deal in gettin’ us back on schedule. You two really pulled through, and Ah greatly appreciate all of your hard work.”

“Well, that’s just how we awesome flyers do,” Rainbow proclaimed with a proud grin.

Natalya kept silent, but she stole a quick glance at the pegasus. She wondered why Rainbow made it sound like they did roughly the same amount of work. After all, Natalya knew well enough that she only picked several trees worth of apples just to make it look like she did something productive. Rainbow had harvested far more trees with her applebucking skills.

“So, uh, I believe there was another thing that I was supposed to help out with today?” Rainbow’s grin was now full of eagerness bordering on desperation.

Applejack chuckled. “Yeah, yeah, Granny should be just about done with the cider. On top of that… and she’s gone…”

Natalya turned her head. The only signs Rainbow had been standing next to her just a moment ago was the pegasus’s telltale rainbow trail heading in the direction of the farmhouse and an audible “Sweet!” off in the distance.

“Well, we better get movin’,” Applejack recommended, walking past Natalya in the direction Rainbow vanished to. “If we don’t hurry, Rainbow’s gonna guzzle down the whole batch of cider before we get a taste. Oh, and Ah was about to say before Rainbow flew off was that Granny also made some lunch as a thank you for helpin’ us out.”

Natalya nodded and followed Applejack. With the sugar of Pinkie’s pear cupcake long gone, she was starving. Given how tasty Granny Smith’s pie was the last time she was here, Natalya also hoped that some good food would help improve her mood after all of her failed applebucking.

It did not take long during their walk before Applejack asked, “So, how was applebuckin’ for you?”

“Alright,” Natalya replied quietly.

Applejack stared at Natalya, one of her eyebrows rising and disappearing into her hat. “Oh really?”

Natalya sighed. “No… It…” She paused to find the right word for her experience. “It sucked.”

“Yeah, can’t say Ah wasn’t expectin’ that.”

Natalya stopped walking and glared at Applejack. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Sorry, Ah didn’t mean that to sound bad.” Applejack also stopped to bow her head in apology. “Let me explain. You see, my family have been applebuckin’ for generations, and Ah never heard of a griffon being able to do it.”

“There’s always a first time for everything,” Natalya grumbled as they resumed walking.

“True, and that’s why Ah let you go ahead and try out applebuckin’ for yourself. Sorry to hear that things didn’t work out for you.”

“That’s an understatement. I spent almost the entire time trying to get a decent buck, but my best was only two measly apples.”

“So you’re admitting that Rainbow pretty much did most of the work?”

“Why? Got a problem with that?”

Applejack shook her head. “Nope, just glad that you’re tellin’ the truth and givin’ Rainbow credit for her work. Still, the way Ah see it, you both worked hard for Sweet Apple Acres, even if you don’t have as much to show for it in the end.”

“Whatever…” Natalya mumbled trying to act nonchalant, even if her pride was still slightly bruised. “The main reason I did this was to try and build up my strength for the Sonic Rainboom, not to be an apple farmer.”

“If you say so.”

Their conversation came to an end, and they continued walking in silence.

“Still would’ve been nice to at least get more than two apples…” Natalya complained a few steps later.

Applejack chuckled lightly. “Yeah, that is pretty disappointin’.” Before Natalya could voice a complaint, Applejack continued, “But Ah don’t think it’s fair to be so hard on yourself when the odds are stacked against you.”

“What do you mean?”

Applejack cleared her throat. “Well, Ah didn’t want to tell you all of this earlier and possibly discourage you. You know, in case things did happen to work out for you. But since they didn’t, well, Ah guess it’s time you learn a bit more about applebuckin’. You see, there’s a reason we’re called earth ponies. We have a special bond with the earth, including the stuff that grows from it.”

“So are you saying that you can talk to trees or something like that?”

“In a way, yes,” Applejack replied, taking Natalya’s quip with stride. “It’s hard to explain, but to put it simply, we have like a sixth sense sort of thing when it comes to plants. It lets us know how they are doing so that we figure out the best way to care for them. We can even sort of communicate with them to get them to do certain things. Now, it’s not anythin’ fancy like makin’ stuff instantly sprout out of the ground. Just little nudges or requests.”

“Like making the trees give you their apples?” Natalya asked.

Applejack nodded.

“So I suck at applebucking because I can’t talk to some stupid tree?”

“Hey! Have some respect!” Applejack chastised. “But yeah, something like that. You just don’t have that connection.”

“Then what about Rainbow? She seems to do pretty good without being an earth pony.”

“Twilight explained that to us one time, but to be honest, a lot of it went over my head. Somethin’ about how all ponies have magic within them, so we all share some traits. Earth ponies just happen to better with all of that when it comes to plants.”

“So what you’re saying is that I can’t applebuck because I’m not a pony,” Natalya summarized with a frown.

Applejack shrugged. “That’s my theory anyway. Ah’m no researcher like Twilight. For all Ah know, you could end up buckin’ like a pro with just a bit more practice. Just don’t be surprised if nothing happens if you try again either.

“Sorry if Ah’m rubbin’ you the wrong way, but Ah figured that Ah should be honest with you. Ah’m happy to let you keep tryin’ your hoof at applebuckin’, but Ah also don’t want you goin’ crazy over it if it ends up bein’ somethin’ that’s impossible for you to do.”

Natalya had no response to give, so she continued walking forward in silence, mulling over Applejack's words.

After some more walking with neither of them talking, Applejack added, “You know, Apple Bloom once challenged Rainbow to a little applebucking contest. The face Rainbow had when she found out Apple Bloom could easily outbuck her was priceless."

That got Natalya to break her silence with a quiet chuckle.

Chapter 9: Competitive Spirit

Natalya and Applejack went right in through the front door when they reached the farmhouse. They had barely taken a step towards the kitchen when the house was filled with a loud moan that would make other ponies blush.

“Uhh…” Natalya had stopped moving, still processing what she had just heard.

“Yep, Rainbow’s already enjoyin’ the cider,” Applejack remarked, undeterred by Rainbow’s indecent noise.

They walked into the kitchen to see Granny Smith standing firm in front of the refrigerator with a wooden spoon in her hoof, while Rainbow was trying to get past the elderly mare.

“Come on, Granny Smith,” Rainbow begged, holding out an empty wooden mug. “Can’t I get anoth—Ow!”

Granny Smith waved the wooden spoon she used to whack Rainbow’s head. “Now listen here, missy, I already gave you three helpins. Ah need others to taste test this batch.”

“But… But… Cider,” Rainbow whined.

Granny Smith tossed her wooden spoon to the side and somehow brought out a frying pan from behind her. “No. More. Cider,” she warned, waving the frying pan menacingly in Rainbow’s face.

Rainbow immediately sobered up and backed away. “Yes, ma’am.”

Applejack chuckled, walking toward Granny and Rainbow. “Guessin’ our cider is a hit with you, huh, Rainbow? Then again, you would love our cider even if we put dirt in it.”

Rainbow glanced at Applejack with a raised eyebrow. “Hey, I like cider, but I’m not that desparate.”

Applejack smirked. “Sugarcube, Ah’ve seen you literally eat dirt when you spilled your cider in it.”

Natalya’s eyebrow rose, aiming a smirk of both incredulity and amusement at Rainbow. “Seriously?”

Rainbow’s face became more red than blue. “N-no!” She tried to look away from Applejack and Natalya, but her eyes kept on flicking back at them, and she squirmed under their inquisitive gazes. She soon let out a loud groan. “Alright, fine! I-It was one time, but give me a break! I was really thirsty after standing in line for hours for it!”

Even though she was snickering, Applejack nodded in agreement. “Yeah, yeah, Ah know how crazy cider season gets. Hopefully you won’t have to resort to that anymore. We’ve been workin’ on things so that we’ll have more cider available. Now, would you mind movin’ over so that maybe Natalya and Ah can have a taste before you drink it all?”

Rainbow sighed and reluctantly nodded. She moved away from the refrigerator, dragging her hooves with her head slightly hung. Granny Smith followed Rainbow, keeping a watchful gaze on the pegasus.

Applejack opened the refrigerator, revealing the prized treasure inside. Occupying almost the entire middle shelf by itself was a big pot, and a fresh wave of apple aroma swept the kitchen. Grabbing two mugs and a ladle from a cupboard, Applejack quickly filled up the cups from the pot.

“Here you go,” Applejack said with a smile, presenting one of the mugs to Natalya. “Sweet Apple Acres famous cider, now with a little something extra!”

Natalya took the offered mug, careful to not get any of the froth that was creeping over the edges of the mug onto her claws. This was going to be her first time tasting cider, but given Rainbow’s fanatic craze over them, she figured that the amber liquid was at least decent.

She brought the mug to her beak and took a small sip. Immediately, she could taste why Rainbow loved the drink so much. The apple drink had just the right amount of sweetness with a hint of tartness that amplified its flavor, and it was made all the more better by quenching her thirst after being in the sun for so long. There was also a different type of lingering sweetness dancing on her taste buds, and while she enjoyed it, she could not identify it.

“WOO WEE! That was good!” Applejack cheered after taking a gulp from her own mug. “Just what Ah needed after all that applebuckin’. Ah would say this recipe is a success, Granny.”

“It better be!” Granny Smith voiced. “Ah spent so long fiddlin’ with it until Ah got it just right. What do you think about it, Natalya?”

“It’s good,” Natalya answered simply.

“Just good?” Applejack asked. She had an amused smile as her eyebrow rose.

“It’s really good?” Natalya retorted with a raised eyebrow of her own. “If you’re looking for some sort of detailed review, you’re going to be disappointed. I’m not some fancy food critic.” She took another sip of her drink, and as she slowly lowered her cup, she added, “But I guess I could also say that I wished I had discovered cider a lot sooner.”

Applejack chuckled. “Guess it looks like our new recipe is two for two now.”

“So what’s new about this cider anyway?” Rainbow asked.

“Just tryin’ some different blends of spices,” Granny Smith replied. “The big difference is that we added in some maple syrup to the mix.”

“We recently started doin’ business with some ponies who harvest maple syrup, so we got a whole batch of it as a gift.” Applejack explained. “We’ve been addin’ the stuff to some of the other things we make, and we figured that puttin’ some in our cider was worth a try as well. From the looks of it, it’s gonna be a big hit once cider season rolls around.”

Natalya brought up her mug for another sip, but she stopped short of her beak when she noticed out of the corner of her eye that Rainbow was staring at her. However, when she lowered her mug, she found that Rainbow’s eyes were glued to her drink instead. She quietly snickered as she slowly moved her mug up and down, making Rainbow’s eyes follow the cider vessel.

“Dude, you have problems,” Natalya remarked when she saw Rainbow clutch her empty mug between her forehooves even tighter and a strand of drool dripped from the pegasus’s mouth.

“Ah swear, Rainbow…” Applejack sighed and shook her head with a soft smile. “Alright, alright, give it here.” She took Rainbow’s empty mug, filled it up with cider, and hoofed it back to the thirsty pegasus. “You did help out a bunch today. But this is your last one, you hear?”

“Thank you!” Rainbow hastily grabbed her mug with both forehooves and took a big chug. When she brought her mug down, her cheeks were slightly puffed out.

“Again, you have problems,” Natalya reiterated as she watched Rainbow blissfully swish the cider around in her mouth.

“Well, Ah’m gonna take a quick nap,” Granny Smith informed, slowly trotting towards the kitchen entryway. “Ah also made stew for you lot, so feel free to help yourselves. Just make sure there’s enough for Apple Bloom and Big Mac later.”

“We will!” Applejack assured. “Thanks, Granny!”

After Granny Smith left, Applejack went back to the cupboard and took out three bowls, setting them down next to the stove where Granny Smith’s pot was simmering. With her mouth, she picked up another ladle and used it to start filling up the bowls. Once the three bowls were brimming with steaming stew, she spat out the ladle and announced, “Soup’s on, everypony!”

Natalya, Rainbow, and Applejack each took a bowl and moved over to the nearby table. Rainbow and Applejack sat on opposite sides, directly facing each other, while Natalya sat on the side between the two.

Natalya’s mouth watered when she looked down at her bowl. Granny Smith’s stew was a creamy soup chock-full of potatoes, onions, carrots, and other vegetables. While the cider did a wonderful job in relieving her parched throat, Natalya was eager to have something more filling in her stomach.

Seeing that Applejack and Rainbow already had their faces literally in their bowls and making loud slurping sounds, Natalya went ahead and raised her bowl in her claws, taking a gulp of her stew. As expected, the stew was delicious and quickly filled her body with a pleasant warmth.

Between the refreshing cider and the hearty stew, Natalya almost completely forgot about the disappointment she felt about her applebucking. Almost.

“Oh man, I so needed that,” Rainbow stated, raising her head from her now-empty bowl. She let out a burp.

“Yep, nothin’ like Granny Smith’s homemade stew to recharge after a full mornin’ of work,” Applejack agreed. “In fact, Ah could sure go for seconds.”

“Me too!” Rainbow promptly declared, following Applejack to the stove with her bowl. “I’m starving! I bet I could eat more than the both of you combined!”

Applejack stopped just right before she grabbed the ladle in her mouth and slowly turned her head back to Rainbow. “Oh really? You think you can out-eat an Apple?”

“You bet I could!”

Applejack grinned. “Well fine! If it’s an eatin’ contest you want, then it’s an eatin’ contest you’re gonna get!” Her grin disappeared when she turned back to look back into the stew pot. “Er, scratch that…”

“What? Scared?” Rainbow prodded. She was grinning widely as though she had already won.

“Well, yeah. Scared of Granny. There’s not enough for an eatin’ contest between the two of us. Granny would tan both of our hides if we didn’t save any for Apple Bloom and Big Mac.”

Rainbow’s grin swiftly vanished, mollified by the looming danger of Granny. However, it returned a moment later. “Okay, then we’ll see who can finish their bowl first. Sound good?”

“You’re on!” Applejack swiveled her head toward Natalya. “You want in on this, Natalya?”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “No, I’d rather enjoy my lunch instead of guzzling it down,” she replied before resuming her meal.

“Fair enough.” Applejack hastily filled up hers and Rainbow’s bowls.

The two ponies rushed back to the table with their stew. Both of them gripped the sides of their bowls with their hooves while they intensely glared at each other.

“Natalya, can you count us off?” Rainbow asked.

Natalya glanced at the ponies with a bored gaze. “You two are really doing this, aren’t you?”

“Yep,” both ponies promptly replied, not taking their eyes off each other.

Natalya grumbled about ponies being weird. She cleared her throat, and in a hasty, half-hearted tone, she called out. “Ready, get set, go…”

As soon as she uttered “Go,” Natalya winced when Rainbow and Applejack almost slammed their faces into their bowls. The contest only took a few seconds, but it was a few seconds of horribly obscene noises and food splatters that would be forever etched into Natalya’s mind.

Rainbow and Applejack both lifted their heads at the same time, slamming their forehooves on the table and yelling out “Done!” They blinked at each other before jerking their heads to Natalya

“Who won?!” they demanded.

Natalya huffed with annoyance as she grabbed a rag from the table and wiped a splotch of stew that had landed on her beak. “I just want to say that what I just witnessed was both disgusting and nauseating. I don’t think I’m ever going to see anything so revolting for the rest of my life.”

“Yeah, yeah, we traumatized you for life. We get it,” Rainbow dismissed. “Stuff like that tends to happen quite a bit with us. More importantly, who won?”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “I don’t know. It looked like you both finished at the same time.”

“Oh come on!” Rainbow and Applejack complained loudly.

Natalya shrugged. “Not my problem.”

“Then we need a tiebreaker to show that I’m the best!” Rainbow proclaimed.

“You mean to show that Ah’m the best,” Applejack amended.

“No, me!”

Natalya’s eyes shifted back and forth as Rainbow and Applejack argued. After a moment, she cut in by asking. “You two have a thing going on or something?”

That got the two ponies to stop and stare at Natalya with raised eyebrows.

“Really?” Rainbow asked incredulously. “Me and Applejack?”

Natalya shrugged. “Just a wild guess. You seem like one of those bickering couples.”

“Well, we’re not.”

“You know, you’re not the first one to say somethin’ like that,” Applejack pointed out.

“AJ and I are just friends,” Rainbow explained. “It’s true that we tease and argue with each other a lot, but it’s all just for fun. We just really like hanging out and trying to one up each other.”

“Yeah, we have a ton of fun with our competitions. Some of them can get pretty crazy like a starin’ contest while covered in bees or seein’ who can stay the longest in a haunted castle. Of course, we do normal stuff as well like horseshoes, eatin’ contests, or our favorite, hoof races.”

“Hoof races?” Rainbow blinked. “Hey, that’s it! We should do a hoof race!”

Applejack nodded eagerly. “Oh yeah, we haven’t done one for some time.”

“And we used to love doing those.” Rainbow turned to the griffon who was picking at the last of her stew. “Hey, Natalya, I think you should run with us as well.”

Natalya raised an eyebrow. “And I want to be dragged into this, why?”

“Well, since you think applebucking might help with the Sonic Rainboom, I figure the same could be said for running. I’ve raced with Applejack loads of times, so maybe you could add that to your training.”

“Running, huh?” Natalya mulled over the idea. She slowly nodded after a moment. “I guess that seems like a viable idea.”

“Cool, so that means you’re in, right? I’ve never got to do one with Gilda, and I want to see how fast griffons can go on land.”

“So you want me in a hoof race… with you two…” Natalya repeated slowly.

Rainbow cocked her head. “Um, yeah? I think I said that like two or three times now.”

“Somethin’ wrong, Natalya?” Applejack asked. “Don’t feel like racin’?”

Natalya hastily shook her head. “No, no… It’s just…” She paused for a second and took a breath. “I’ll do it.”

“Cool!” Rainbow excitedly got up and flew over to the entryway. “Let’s go!”

Applejack kept her gaze on Natalya for a second before shrugging. She calmly trotted after Rainbow. “Ah guess Ah can squeeze in beatin’ you in a race before Ah get back to work.”

“More like me beating you! I’m going to smoke you so hard!”

“We’ll see about that. Now come on, you two, Ah know the perfect spot to have our race.”

Natalya quietly followed behind Rainbow and Applejack, content on letting the ponies continue to jeer at each other.

In truth, Natalya felt uneasy with the prospect of a hoof race. While she had participated in and won many competitions, they all involved flying. She could not recall a time when she did any serious running. It took her a few moments to accept it, but she knew that the chances of her actually winning the hoof race were very slim. Still, she figured that a top athlete like herself would be able to at least make it a close enough race.

Applejack led the other two racers out of the house and through the orchard. A short walk later, they came to a wide dirt path with apple trees bordering its sides.

“See that lone tree at the end?” Applejack pointed to an apple tree in the distance that was slightly taller than the others. “That’s the finish line.”

“Taking it easy with a short race today, Applejack?” Rainbow teased, flashing a cocky grin at the farmer.

A short race… Right… Natalya drawled in her head. The tree Applejack pointed out seemed to be the size of a speck at this distance. She had a feeling the runners in the Equestria Games did not have a course this long.

“You sure you alright, Natalya?” Rainbow asked, getting Natalya’s attention. “You’ve been quiet since we stepped outside, and you’ve kind of got that faraway look or something like that.”

“I’m fine,” Natalya tersely. “I was just thinking about things.”

“You can sit this race out if you’re not up to it.”

“I don’t back down from a challenge.”

“What about that eating contest a little while ago?” Rainbow asked with a slight smirk.

“I don’t back down from a challenge that is not disgusting and makes you look like a fool,” Natalya rephrased.

Rainbow chuckled. “Sure, if you say so…”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “Can we just get this race over with?”

Rainbow and Applejack nodded and moved to either side of Natalya.

“Alright, rules are simple,” Applejack stated. “First one to touch the tree, wins. No pushin’, shovin’, or anythin’ else of that sorts. We’re runnin’ a clean race. Also, if it wasn’t obvious, no flyin’ for you winged folk.”

Natalya scoffed. “Obviously…”

Applejack grinned. “You’d be surprised how many times Ah had to tie Rainbow’s wings up until she finally learned her lesson.”

“Not like I needed them to beat you in just about anything,” Rainbow shot back. “Anyway, I think we’re all ready to go now. Natalya, would you like to do the honors?”

“Sure, I guess.” Natalya turned her gaze toward the finish line tree and lowered herself into a starting position. A quick glance to her sides showed that Rainbow and Applejack had poised themselves into similar stances, their eyes also on the figurative prize.

Taking one final deep breath, Natalya began counting down in an even voice. “Three… Two… One… Go!”

Natalya rushed forward to try and get an early lead, but that quickly failed when she was left in Rainbow and Applejack’s dust, literally. The ponies had kicked up a cloud of dirt and dust when they blazed past Natalya, catching the griffon off-guard.

Off to a bad start, Natalya was already beginning to regret agreeing to the hoof race. Quickly recovering, she shut her eyes, tilted her face toward the ground, and charged straight through the cloud. When she cleared the dust, she raised her head to see how far behind she was.

Natalya’s breath hitched when she saw that her opponents not only had a healthy lead over her, but they were also increasing their distance at a steady rate. Gritting her teeth, Natalya tried to pump her legs even faster in a desperate attempt to regain some ground. Alas, all that did was halt the gap between them from widening even further.

She soon felt her legs starting to burn with the sudden exertion that was demanded of them, but she had weathered through worse. Knowing that she was capable of pushing herself a bit more, she mustered as much speed as she could out of her legs. Her efforts were rewarded as she noticed that she was managing to slowly, but surely, close the gap. A win was definitely out of her reach at this point, but at least she could keep some of her dignity intact by making it a narrow loss.

Her hopes were dashed when her opponents put on a sudden burst of speed and sprinted toward the finish line.

Natalya slowed down to a stop as she watched the ponies rocket away from her at a speed she knew that she could not match. Panting heavily and feeling her legs wobble slightly with exhaustion, she knew that she could not maintain her sprint for the rest of the course. While she likely had the stamina to finish the race at a more sedate pace, what was the point? She lost, plain and simple. She never stood a chance.

It was not the loss that was bothering her though. It was how much she had lost by.

She had been running on full steam right from the start and was barely able to keep up, while the ponies were easily able to reserve their energy for that last push during the final stretch. Taking a quick glance behind her, she saw that she had passed a bit over the halfway point. With the ponies reaching the finish line, that meant that Rainbow and Applejack had almost covered twice as much distance as her.

Natalya knew that she was going to get less than desirable results from the race, but she did not realize that it would be this awful. Even though this was her first real attempt at running, the skill gap between her and Rainbow staggered her.

Not even bothering to watch who finished first, Natalya turned around and launched herself into the air. Flying away from Sweet Apple Acres, she heard someone yelling from behind, which she assumed was Rainbow calling for her. She ignored the calls and kept on flying. To her relief, the yells soon stopped, and there was no sign of anyone coming after her.

Natalya went straight back to the castle, flying into her room through the window. After locking the window and the door, she plopped herself onto the bed. It was still early in the afternoon, but her sore muscles and foul mood declared that she was done for the day.

Her time at Sweet Apple Acres did not go according to plan. What was supposed to be an attempt at some new training had turned into a showcase of how much more Rainbow could do than her.

Natalya had prided herself over her flying skills, and she had spent all of her time refining that. It was hard enough to accept that Rainbow was possibly a better flyer, but now she saw that the pegasus had her beat in other areas as well.

She had set out today in hopes of finding something new. She definitely learned something alright.

Natalya learned that she might not be as good as she thought.

Chapter 10: A Night Flight

One thing that Natalya wished that her room at the Castle of Friendship had at the moment was a tiled ceiling. At least then she would be a little less bored while she stared at the ceiling from her bed. It was nighttime, and going to sleep was proving to be more difficult than she had hoped.

Since she had returned to the Castle of Friendship after the hoof race, Natalya had confined herself to her room so that she could recompose herself after the events at Sweet Apple Acres.

Twilight, Spike, and Gilda, after she had returned from helping Pinkie, took turns checking up Natalya when they noticed something was wrong with her, but Natalya had turned each of them away, not even opening the door to address them. Natalya had even heard Rainbow’s voice from somewhere outside her room at one point, but to her relief, the pegasus had left without bothering her.

Some time after the moon had risen, Natalya wanted to call it an early night. She was pretty tired from her time at Sweet Apple Acres, but more importantly, she wanted today to just end already. However, just because she wanted to sleep didn’t mean that her thoughts would stop nagging her from the back of her mind.

And so, Natalya had been laying in bed for who knows how long, waiting for sleep to finally take her.

Something started tapping on the window, but Natalya did not budge or even take her gaze away from the ceiling. She already knew that it was Pinkie again, probably here because Rainbow or one of their other friends told her about the situation. While Natalya was finding the pink pony more and more tolerable, she was in no mood to suffer through any of Pinkie’s theatrics at the moment.

Natalya shifted herself on the bed so that her back faced the window, hoping that Pinkie would get the message to leave her alone.

The tapping only grew louder.

Groaning, Natalya buried her head under the pillow and squeezed it over her ears to try and block out Pinkie. All that did was provoke the tapping to transform into more of a pounding.

Natalya growled, trying to tune out the noise, but the incessant pounding continued. It did not take long before her irritation overwrote her desire to be alone. Throwing her pillow aside, she sat right up and shot her most withering look toward the pony at the window. “Pinkie! I’m going… to…” She trailed off, her anger abating when she saw a different pony instead. “Rainbow?”

Natalya stared at the pegasus standing on the balcony right outside the window, waving at her with a soft smile across her face. Quickly getting over the initial surprise, Natalya’s first instinct was to just leave Rainbow out there. After all, Rainbow was the main reason she was in such a gloomy mood, and she did not want the pegasus to see her like this.

As if sensing Natalya’s reluctance, Rainbow frowned and began knocking on the window again.

Guessing that Rainbow would not be turned away as easily as the others, Natalya got out of bed with a long, annoyed groan. Opening up the window, Natalya used the same words she used on her other visitors. “I’m fine. Just leave me—”

“Do you wanna go flying with me?” Rainbow interrupted.

Natalya blinked several times. “What?”

“Do you…. want to… go flying… with me?” Rainbow repeated slowly.

It took several more moments before Natalya was able to fully process Rainbow’s sudden invitation. “Really? Now?” Her eyes flicked up to glance outside. “Kind of late to do any training, don’t you think?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I’m not asking you for a training session. I just want us to do some flying together.”

“What’s the difference?”

“We’re just doing this for fun.”

“Where are we going?”

“Nowhere in particular.”

“So you just want us to fly around without going anywhere…”

“Pretty much.”

“Then what’s the point?”

“Because it feels good to fly?” Rainbow’s eyes narrowed, carefully scrutinizing Natalya. “Don’t tell me that you only fly when you’re training or racing.”

Natalya opened her beak to protest.

“And traveling to someplace doesn’t count either.”

Natalya paused, racking her mind to dispute Rainbow’s claim. After a few moments, she slowly closed her beak.

“Seriously?” Rainbow uttered incredulously.

Natalya let out an annoyed huff. “You should know by now that I don’t like wasting my time. If I have free time, then I usually use it to train some more.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, but still… Look, I get that you want to be the best and all that, but I think you’re forgetting to enjoy flying. All you think about is your training and racing. No wonder you’re so wound up.”

“I’m fine with just the way I am.”

“Yeah, you’re fine as the grumpy griffon ready to bite somepony’s head off if they tick you off,” Rainbow remarked dryly. “You know, the only time I can recall you being not so serious and actually happy was when we all went pranking. You had fun that day, right?”

“Yeah… I guess…” Natalya reluctantly confessed.

“Then come flying with me. I was right about you having fun with the pranking thing, and I guarantee you’ll like this.”

Natalya shook her head. “No thanks.” She was getting weary of Rainbow’s persistence and just wanted the pegasus to leave. She was grateful that Rainbow at least had the tact to not bring up what happened at Sweet Apple Acres.

Rainbow shrugged, her mouth twitching into a faint, mischievous grin. “Alright then, if you don’t want to fly, then should we talk about what happened earlier at—”

“Stop,” Natalya commanded sternly. She should have known not to tempt fate. “Just stop, Rainbow.”

“Well, I’m not leaving until we either go flying or we talk about what happened.” Rainbow proclaimed, her face reverting to a serious one. She barged into the room before Natalya could stop her and sat down on her haunches. “Take your pick.”

Natalya growled, glaring at Rainbow with narrowed eye. “Or I could take the third option. You know, the one where I just throw you out myself.”

“There’s also the fourth option where I could come back with Pinkie,” Rainbow retorted with a devilish grin.

Natalya groaned in frustration and clapped a hand into her face. She knew that Rainbow could and would definitely follow up on that threat. Backed into a corner, she settled with picking the lesser of two evils. “Fine, we’ll go flying.”

Nodding in satisfaction, Rainbow turned around and flew into the air.Once she was a short distance away, she glanced back at the griffon still standing by the window. “You coming?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming…” Natalya was tempted to just shut the window, but the threat of Pinkie still loomed over her head. Sighing with resignation, she spread her wings and flew after Rainbow.

They flew up into the sky, eventually stopping at a high enough altitude where there was little chance that they would be disturbed. Not that it was really necessary Natalya thought as she looked down at Ponyville and could see that many houses had already gone dark, its occupants having gone to sleep.

“So what now?” Natalya asked, looking back to her companion.

“You just fly,” Rainbow replied. “Do whatever you want.” As an example, she flew upwards and backwards, performing a quick loop de loop until she returned to the same spot she was just at.

“I still think—”

“No! No thinking! We’re trying to break you away from your normal routine. You just do whatever comes to mind.”

Sighing yet again, Natalya flew away from Rainbow. With no idea where to go or what to do, as well as not really feeling like like doing anything, she just flew around the vicinity in a sluggish, lazy speed.

Stupid Rainbow. This is such a stupid idea, Natalya thought to herself. She tried to ignore the fact that stretching her wings and getting some fresh air after being cooped up in her room all day had already cleared her head a bit.

Glancing back over to Rainbow, Natalya saw that the pegasus was flying all over the place, her direction and speed changing on a whim. She seemed to like using clouds, either using them as obstacles to fly around or just charging through them with childish glee. Despite the random nature of Rainbow’s flight path, there was a sort of grace in the pegasus’s flying, and Natalya could catch glimpses of serene smiling upon Rainbow’s face.

A few minutes later, Rainbow stopped her flittering and moved in front of Natalya’s path. “So that’s it? You just want to go in circles at that speed? You’re barely even flying!”

Natalya huffed with annoyance. “Honestly, I don’t really care, and even if I did, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do.”

“It’s just flying!”

“Remember when you keep telling me to ‘go faster’?” Natalya reminded flatly.

“Ugh, fine.” Rainbow scratched in chin in thought. “Well, the first thing to do is put in a bit more effort and give this thing a chance. How about you just follow me and do what I do? You don’t have to copy me exactly, just do what you feel like doing.”

Natalya shrugged. “Sure, whatever. How long are we going to do this anyway?”

“Whenever you think you’re done.”

“I think I’m done now,” Natalya announced immediately. She was rewarded with an unamused gaze from Rainbow. “Fiiine… Lead the way…”

Rainbow led Natalya through the toward a cluster of clouds. Putting on a small burst of speed, she quickly weaved around each and every one of them, her body not touching a single one. When she arrived at the last cloud in the group, she charged straight into it, emerging out of the other side with a whoop.

Natalya followed Rainbow by going over the clouds, bypassing all the obstacles. She still thought Rainbow’s idea was pointless, and Rainbow did say to do what she felt like doing.

However, as Natalya continued to trail behind Rainbow, her unenthusiastic attitude began to change. Despite flying in rather sedate conditions, Natalya was starting to find the experience oddly soothing. Instead of the wind battering her body at high speeds, which was exhilarating but also harrowing, she was able to feel the cool, refreshing air gently flow around her. They also flew at a speed where she did not have to exert herself as well as not be bored by a sluggish pace.

It did not take much longer before Natalya was matching Rainbow’s speed and following the pegasus everywhere without cutting corners.

Eventually, Natalya felt a bit more adventurous and caught up to Rainbow so that they were now flying side by side. When her flying companion looked at her, Natalya gestured her head in the direction ahead of them. Rainbow smiled and nodded, reducing her speed slightly so that Natalya could take over the lead.

Following Rainbow’s example, Natalya led Rainbow on a merry chase through the sky as they danced around clouds and relished the night air.

At one point, Natalya aimed for another cluster of clouds, but instead of avoiding them, she barreled straight through them, making them burst upon impact. Nothing like some senseless destruction to burn off some energy and stress.

Suddenly, Rainbow shot past Natalya. When she was a short distance in front of the griffon, she did three loops in quick succession. Upon finishing the third loop, she stopped and spun around to flash her cocky grin at Natalya.

Natalya scoffed, a small smirk upon her face. Taking the unspoken challenge, she flew forward, blazing past Rainbow. When she built up enough speed, she pulled up, beginning her own loops. Completing three loops was child’s play, so instead of stopping after her third loop, she continued into a fourth, except this time, she leaned to her side, making her whole body spin during the loop. Completing her final loop with a twist, Natalya brought herself to a halt and mentally patted herself on the back, knowing that she did her trick flawlessly.

Turning back to Rainbow, Natalya was met with a slow clap and a smirk. Rainbow then waved her hoof at Natalya, gesturing the griffon to start this time.

Natalya nodded and immediately flew forward again. She began with a loop of her own, however, when she reached the halfway point, she straightened her flight path. Now, she was not only flying in the direction she just came from, she was also flying upside down. After flying far enough so that Rainbow passed underneath her, she angled her body toward the ground, finishing her loop and stopping right back where Rainbow was hovering.

Rainbow scoffed playfully. She took a look around the area and then bolted toward another group of clouds. Using her hooves, she pushed the clouds around until they formed a line, leaving some space in between each one of them. Once all the clouds were in place, she positioned herself slightly below the beginning of the cloud formation.

Rainbow quickly flew a short distance away from the clouds before doing her half loop, setting her on an upside down path toward her clouds. Still flipped around, Rainbow veered left around the first cloud and then hastily changed her direction, shooting through the gap between the clouds and circling the right side of the second cloud. She continued weaving around each cloud, not touching a single one. After clearing the final cloud, she did a quick flip, uprighting herself, before shooting back through the clouds, bursting through every one of them.

Natalya playfully rolled her eyes as Rainbow stopped in front of her with a grin. Gesturing with her hand, she motioned Rainbow to start the next round.

Their impromptu follow the leader session had turned into a sort of stunt competition. They would take turns doing stunts, and their opponent would mimic it, adding some sort of flair or trick to make it better. And yet, despite them trying to one up each other, Natalya did not feel the pressure to win. She was having fun.

Eventually, Natalya had enough and chose to land on a cloud. With a long sigh, she flopped onto her back, letting her whole body sink into the soft surface. A few moments later, she heard a quiet thump as something settled in the space next to her. A quick glance showed that Rainbow had also lay down next to her, except she had flipped herself around so that her body went in the opposite direction and only their heads were beside each other.

“So, how do you feel?” Rainbow asked.

Natalya took a quick self-assessment of herself. Even though she was feeling tired after their long, but enjoyable flying, she felt calmer. The sinking feeling that had been in her gut since Sweet Apple Acres was still present, but some of the weight had been taken away.

“Not bad, actually,” Natalya replied. “Admittedly, better than I was before you kicked me out of the castle.”

“Heh, figured that would help. Nothing like a bit of nighttime flying to help work out some stress, especially if you’re having trouble sleeping.”

“I figured that this was all a setup, but since it was helpful, I’ll let it slide. How did you know I was having trouble sleeping anyway?”

Rainbow cleared her throat nervously. “Well, I was kind of watching you through the window for a bit before I knocked…”

Natalya turned her head to deliver a flat gaze at Rainbow. “Really? I expect that sort of thing from Pinkie.”

“Hey, you’re not the easiest griffon to approach. I wanted to make sure you weren’t in a ‘I want to punch stuff” mood.”

Natalya mulled over the statement for a second and then nodded. “Fair enough. Still creepy, though.”

“Noted, but to be fair, you kind of pushed me to do that.”

“And how is it my fault?”

“Hey, I wanted to check up on you earlier, but after Twilight told me that you refused to talk to anypony, I figured that you would give me the same treatment.”

“You… would have been correct.”

“Hence the whole creepy watching thing and getting you out of the castle plan.”

There was a brief pause before Rainbow cleared her throat.

“Soooo… Do you, uh… Do you maybe feel like talking about what happened at Sweet Apple Acres?” The bravado Rainbow possessed since she knocked on the window had suddenly vanished.

Natalya immediately shot down the question. “No. You said that I either fly with you or talk. We flew. End of discussion.”

“But I…” Rainbow’s face scrunched up in annoyance before she let out a disappointed sigh. “Fine, I was just checking…” A few seconds later, Rainbow asked, “Can I, uh, ask you about something else then?”

Natalya shrugged. “Depends on what it is.”

“I was just wondering, is there some other reason you want to be the best so much? I mean, I get you want to win, and winning is great and all, but…” Rainbow mumbled under her breath, choosing her next words carefully. “It may be possible that you have a slight obsession with winning…”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “I see it more as a healthy appreciation. And you already answered your own question. Winning is great.”

“So you just like the thrill of winning. That’s it?”

“The thrill, yes, but more importantly, I want the benefits winning brings.”

“Benefits?”

“Bits and fame, of course.”

“Oh… Right…”

“You sound disappointed.”

“Well… Those things are nice to have and all, and I certainly wouldn’t mind having more of either one, but you make it seem like those are the most important things.”

Natalya scoffed. “You’ve been to Griffonstone. What’s the main thing griffons care so much about?”

Rainbow sighed. “Bits…”

Natalya nodded. “And do you know what’s the second thing griffons pay attention to?”

“Um…” Rainbow’s face scrunched up in thought. After a few seconds, she shook her head. “I dunno.”

“Power. While it’s not as important as bits, it’s still enough to get some influence.”

“Power? You mean how strong a griffon is?”

“It can mean different things. Yes, strength is one example. Having the right connections is another. For me, it’s flying, and since I’m the best flyer in Griffonstone, I can get some respect without having to show off the bits I win.”

“Oh, um, I guess that makes sense. Still though…”

“What?”

“It’s kind of… Actually, never mind…”

Another lull descended upon their discussion. This time, the silence stretched for several minutes, and Natalya was beginning to think Rainbow was done talking. That was fine with her, since it was probably a good time to get going.

“Do you, uh, do you want to know who won?” Rainbow suddenly asked.

“Won what?” Natalya asked in a weary tone.

“The hoof race, what else?”

Natalya sighed. “Sure, why not?”

“I won,” Rainbow informed, her voice regaining its confidence along with some cockiness.

“Of course you did…” Natalya muttered under her breath.

“Although, it’s more of an unofficial win…”

Natalya glanced at Rainbow with a raised eyebrow. “Unofficial win?”

“Well, if you ask Applejack, she’s just going to tell you that we touched the tree at the same time, but I totally I touched it first by like half, no, a quarter of a second!”

Natalya’s eyebrow rose higher, a small laugh threatening to escape her beak. “Yes, I’m sure you did,” she dryly agreed.

“You’re darn right I did!” Rainbow proclaimed with a smirk. After a brief pause, her smirk fell, and she continued in a quieter voice. “You know, after I finished the race, I got worried when I saw you were gone.”

Already knowing where Rainbow was going, Natalya quickly responded, “Yeah… Still not interested in talking about that.”

“Oh, come on, Natalya!” Rainbow cried out exasperatedly. “I’ve been patient and nice with you all night long, but I can’t take it anymore! We need to talk about what happened!”

“Like I said, not interested.”

Rainbow groaned. “Look, I’m not asking us to talk about sappy stuff like our feelings, but I still want to know exactly why you left. I’m not asking for much. I just want to make sure you’re alright.”

Natalya’s reply was to turn her back to Rainbow.

“Would it help if I made a Pinkie Promise to not tell anypony else?”

Natalya blinked and looked back at Rainbow. “What’s a Pinkie Promise?”

“Pretty much a promise but enforced by Pinkie.”

Natalya blinked again. “So what happens if you break a Pinkie Promise?”

“You know how Pinkie can do all sorts of weird stuff? Well, imagine that when she’s angry with you.”

Natalya did as she was suggested. She shivered a few seconds later. “Okay, that’s scary.”

Rainbow nodded slowly. “Nothing is worse than breaking a Pinkie Promise. So, feel like talking now?”

“Let me think about it.” Natalya promptly turned away from Rainbow again. “Nope.”

“Come on,” Rainbow coaxed. “I’m just looking out for you. I know today has been a bust for you, and you’re having a bit of trouble coping with it. You can talk to me about it, and I promise to not think any less of you, no matter what.”

Other than a huff, Natalya remained silent.

“Natalya, take it from me, bottling up your frustrations is not the way to go,” Rainbow informed, her voice gaining a stern tone. “Talking with my friends about my problems usually helps me, and I want to do the same for you. Besides, between the pranking and this outing, I’m two for two now, so chances are I’m right about this as well.”

Natalya groaned. Rainbow made a decent point that she had been right about trying new stuff, but talking about her problems was such a foreign concept. She had always dealt with her problems by herself with sheer will, time, and stubbornness. Even if she somehow got the inconceivable urge to talk to someone else, a griffon in Griffonstone willing to lend her a listening ear was almost as rare as a griffon giving their money away.

Then again, Natalya was not living in Griffonstone at the moment. Here in Ponyville, there were others that actually cared for her. So far, there had been ups and downs during her visit, but the ups have so far been pretty enjoyable.

She still had her doubts, but given the circumstances, talking to Rainbow might be worth a shot, especially if the pegasus was promising not to say anything about their conversation to anyone else. At the very least, Rainbow would probably be able to convince the others to stop nagging her.

With a sigh, Natalya sat up on her haunches and faced Rainbow. “Just do the stinking Pinkie Promise first, then I’ll think about it.”

Rainbow hastily shifted to her haunches as well, an eager grin upon her face. Drawing a small ‘x’ across her chest with a forehoof, she recited, “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” She ended the promise by gently jabbing her forehoof into a closed eye.

Natalya’s eyebrow went up. “That’s the Pinkie Promise?”

“Yep.”

“You made it almost seem like some sort of big ritual or something.”

Rainbow shrugged. “That’s just how it is. Soooo… are you going to…”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “Fine, but only because I know you’ll just keep pestering me about it.”

“Works for me.”

Natalya fidgeted into a more comfortable position, keeping her gaze away from Rainbow. She was still unsure about this, so she just blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“I lost the hoof race, plain and simple.”

“Uh, no offense, but we all kind of already knew that.” Rainbow flinched when Natalya shot a death glare at her. “Er, sorry.”

“Anyway,” Natalya continued, softening her ‘I’m going to kill you’ glare on Rainbow to a ‘I’m going to hurt you’ glare. “I lost, yes, but I was expecting it. After all, it was the first time I'd ever been in a hoof race.”

“Wait, wait, wait, hold on,” Rainbow interrupted, waving a forehoof at Natalya to stop. “You seriously never been in a hoof race before today?”

“That’s what I just said.”

“So was that why you were acting weird when Applejack and I wanted you to race with us?”

“Pretty much.”

Rainbow frowned. “You do know that you didn’t have to race with us, right?”

Natalya gave the same answer she used when Rainbow and Applejack first asked her to the hoof race. “I don’t back down from a challenge.”

“Even if your chances of winning were like next to nothing?”

“I didn’t want to just give up, and I thought that I could at least give you a bit of a challenge so that I look somewhat good.” Natalya scoffed angrily as she thought back to what actually happened. “I was proven horribly wrong. You and Applejack were almost to the finish line by the time I reached the halfway point.”

Rainbow winced. “Oof, ouch. So you flew away because you were embarrassed at losing so horribly?”

“No!” Natalya cried, her wings flaring out in indignation and making a startled Rainbow fall backwards. She took a deep breath and slowly folded her wings back to her sides. “Okay, maybe a bit. The main reason I left was because the loss got me thinking about how much I sucked at applebucking and hoof races.”

“Well, it was your first time with those stuff,” Rainbow explained, getting back on her haunches. “It took me a bit before I got the hang of them, and look at me now.”

“That’s just it though! You’re already good at those things! On top of that, you manage the weather! And those are just the stuff I know about you. Who knows what else you’re good at?”

Natalya got up and started stomping back and forth on her half of the cloud. “Do you know what I’m good at? Flying, that’s it, and guess what? You’re better at that than me! You’re able to do so many different things while I’ve been working on my flying for so long just to be second best compared to you!” She stopped moving and glared at Rainbow. “You’re just plain better than me, and it’s infuriating! It makes me almost want to punch you!”

“Uh, but you’re not going to, right?” Rainbow asked warily, scooting away from Natalya.

Natalya took several deep breaths and sat back down. “No, not unless you give me a reason to.”

“I’ll, uh, keep that in mind…” Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief. “Anyway, I’m sorry that you feel like I’m better than you, but I’m sure you’re good at some stuff that I’m not. What else do you do besides flying?”

“Other than being able to hold myself in a brawl and intimidate others, I can’t think of anything else.”

“Oh…” Rainbow rubbed the back of her head. “Really? Nothing?”

“Nope. I keep telling you, I devote as much time as I can to my flying.”

“Right, but I just…” Rainbow groaned. She folded one forehoof across her chest, and her other forehoof tapped her head in thought. “Wait, so what do you do if you can’t fly, like when it’s bad weather or you get injured?” she asked a few seconds later.

“Not much. I try to stick to my workout schedule to keep myself fit. With the extra time, I either sleep some more or just wander around Griffonstone to see if anything interesting goes on.”

“So no hobbies or any other thing that might interest you?”

Natalya sighed. “No…”

“Wow, I knew you gave it your all for flying, but not to this extent… What happens if you somehow can’t compete anymore?”

“I…” Natalya’s breath hitched. The weight she had been feeling in her gut all day suddenly grew heavier. After a moment of racking her mind, her gaze drifted down to the cloudy surface. She quietly answered, “I… I never really thought about that… I do have a decent stash of bits, but that’s not going to last forever.”

Rainbow’s brow furrowed with worry as she stared at the suddenly sullen Natalya. “That’s… Well, do you have anypony at Griffonstone that could help you out until you get back on your hooves?”

Natalya shook her head.

“But I thought that you at least get some respect because of your racing.”

“Exactly. If I can’t race anymore, then there’s no reason for other griffons to pay attention to me anymore.”

“But that’s just…” Rainbow let out a frustrated growl. “Stupid, self-centered griffons!” She blinked and looked to Natalya again. “Er, no offense.”

Natalya shrugged. “It’s just how griffons are.”

“Well, at least Gilda’s different, and she would definitely help you out. And if she can’t do it for some reason, then you could always come back to Ponyville. I would be glad to help you out.”

Natalya scoffed, not even looking at Rainbow. “If you say so…”

“I’m serious, Natalya. You ever run into trouble, you come find me. You’re my friend, and I always help my friends.”

Hearing the conviction in Rainbow’s voice, Natalya’s eyes shifted to her companion. “You know, I answered a bunch of your questions, now it’s time for me to ask you one.”

Rainbow blinked. “Oh, uh, sure. Shoot.”

“Why are you so insistent in making me your friend? I know that I haven’t been making it easy for you.”

“Why do I want to be your friend? Well…” Rainbow scratched her head in thought for a few moments. “I know that one reason is because I like being able to hang around an awesome flyer like you.”

“But aren’t you training with the Wonderbolts or something like that? They’re supposed to be pretty good at flying as well,” Natalya pointed out.

“Yeah, and they’re cool and all, but there’s the whole being professional thing that kind of puts a dampener on things. Doesn’t help that I’m still just a reserve member. But with you, I don’t have to worry about all that stuff.

“I also think that you’re somepony I would like to get to know better. Sure, you might be annoying and arrogant and a jerk and—”

“Get to the point,” Natalya said flatly.

“But I know that a bunch of that stuff is just because you live in Griffonstone. Gilda was kind of like you at first, but look at her now.

“When you’re not getting angry, you’re pretty good at keeping calm and collected, and even though you kind of overdo it, I have to respect your drive to always improve yourself. There’s also the fact that despite your ‘tough griffon’ attitude, you have your moments, like when you cheered up Scootaloo.”

Natalya groaned and had to look away. “I knew that was going to come back and bite me in the flanks. I just did that to stop her from whining.”

Rainbow chuckled. “If you say so. Regardless, she still thinks you’re awesome, and I’m glad that you’ve taken a bit of interest in her.”

Rainbow glanced away, her hooves tapping the cloud beneath her. “There’s actually one more reason I want to be friends with you, and it’s kind of big. You actually remind me of a friend I once knew when I started training at the Wonderbolt Academy. She was a lot like you, except without the whole being a jerk thing.”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “Gee, thanks…”

Rainbow flashed a quick smirk. “Anyway, she was an amazing flyer. She could do awesome tricks and when it came to speed, let’s just say that she could easily give the both of us a run for our bits.”

“So she was really talented.” Natalya nodded. “Yeah, I can see why you think I’m like her.”

“I thought you would.” Rainbow’s smirk slowly shifted into a frown. “The thing is, she wanted to be the best… at any cost. At first, I thought she was cool and all, but I started to have second thoughts when I saw how reckless she could get. She pushed herself to the limit by adding as much danger and challenges to her training as she could. Not only did she risk hurting herself, but others as well. The worst part was that she didn’t care if her dangerous stunts ended up affecting others.”

Rainbow took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “One day, one of her stunts didn’t go so well… Some ponies could’ve gotten really hurt or…” She gulped. “A-anyway, she got into a bunch of trouble for that. Part of her punishment was kind of like a probation thing where the officers kept a close eye on her. I had hoped she would stop her reckless behavior, but when it became clear that she wasn’t going to change, she was finally kicked out of the academy.”

“So what is she doing now?” Natalya asked.

“Don’t know. She left without a word, and I’ve never heard from her again.” Rainbow sighed and shook her head. “Sometimes I wonder if I could’ve done more to get her to stop flying so recklessly. All I did was gave some weak protests. At the very least, I wish that I was a better friend so that she would’ve at least kept in contact with me after she left. I just feel sorry for her. Her dream of becoming a Wonderbolt was shattered, just because she was trying too hard.”

Natalya sighed, turning her head from the gloomy Rainbow. “I guess I can kind of see why I remind you of your old friend. Does that mean I’m some sort of replacement for her?”

“What?” Rainbow’s head jerked up to Natalya. “No! Of course not! There are similarities, yes, but I like you for being you. The point of that story was to tell you that you can’t be too obsessed with winning and being the best. Otherwise, you lose sight of things that might end up ruining your life. I don’t want that happening to you.”

“My life is just fine the way it is.”

“Really?” Rainbow cocked an eyebrow. “The way I see it, all of your training and stuff sounds really stressful, and you leave no room to have fun or relax. It’s no wonder you’re so uptight and on edge. You can’t keep going like this. Look at today. You kind of had a mini breakdown.”

Natalya frowned. “I wouldn’t call it a breakdown of any sorts…”

“Dude, you locked yourself in your room for most of the afternoon and well into the night.”

Natalya could not come up with a good argument against that and settled with a withering glare at Rainbow.

“Yeah, yeah, glare at me all you want. You know I’m right. Now, I’m going to take a wild guess and say that you never took a break or a vacation.”

“That may be a possibility…”

“Then why don’t you do something else during your stay in Ponyville? Instead of training all day, you should chill out and take it easy. I’ll make sure you get the proper chillaxing.”

Natalya’s eyebrow went up again for another of Rainbow’s new terms. “Chillaxing?”

“Yep, the best way to get some rest and relaxation.”

“I don’t like the sound of that. I’m not going to lounge around all day because you tell me to.”

“Okay, maybe we don’t have to chillax all day. We can find something else to do.” Rainbow perked up. “I know! We can find you something else to do besides flying like a hobby or something. Look at Gilda, she’s having the time of her life learning how to be a baker with Pinkie.”

“I don’t want to be a baker!”

“Not that! I mean the time of her life part! I’m sure that with my help, we can find something else for you to be interested in while you’re in Ponyville.”

Natalya stared at the eager grin on Rainbow’s face. “You’re really dead set on this, aren’t you?”

“Yep. Just give it a try, Natalya. I still think what I have in mind will do you a world of good. We can start off with a trial run, give it a few days or maybe a week. If for some bizarre reason things don’t work out…” Rainbow sighed. “Then we can go back to all day training and all that stuff…”

Natalya stared off into the distance. She had thought she had her life all figured out, but after meeting Rainbow at the Equestria Games, new thoughts and changes seem to be coming at her left and right. In particular, she did not like the discovery that she might be focusing too much on just flying. It was a harsh truth, but probably a necessary one she had to learn.

Being with Rainbow had been overwhelming at times, but Natalya had to admit that it has not been all bad. It was both frustrating and enlightening to hang out with the pegasus. And now, Rainbow was proposing some pretty drastic changes to her life. At least she knew that Rainbow would be there to help guide her. It actually was kind of nice that someone was watching her back.

Natalya made up her mind, letting out a long, deep sigh. “I… I guess I can take a bit of time off. I did get a nice amount of bits from the Equestria Games, after all.”

“Sweet!” Rainbow cheered, popping into the air with a hoof pump.

“But I’m still going to fit in some training when I can! I haven’t given up on the Sonic Rainboom, and I refuse to go soft because I slacked off too much.”

Rainbow chuckled. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.” A hoof suddenly went to her mouth right as she yawned. “Oh man, I’m beat. We’ve been out for a long time. You ready to hit the hay?”

Natalya nodded. “Yeah, sure. All this talking was tiring.”

Rainbow smirked. “If you say so. Come on, I’ll fly with you back to the castle since my place is in the same direction.”

Flying back to the castle was a simple feat of gliding down to the tallest, shiniest structure in Ponyville. Looking through the rest of town, it seemed like the rest of Ponyville had gone to sleep. They were the only ones still awake, but only for a short while longer.

Arriving back at her window, Natalya flew into her room. Her talons clacking softly on the crystal floor, she turned her head back to the pegasus still hovering right outside.

Rainbow smiled and waved. “Good night, Natalya.”

Natalya nodded and started walking back to bed. As she heard Rainbow flew away, she stopped.

“Wait, Rainbow…” Natalya called out.

There was some quick flapping before Rainbow’s voice returned. “Yeah?”

With her back still toward the window, Natalya drummed her talons on the floor. After a few seconds and a deep breath, she turned her head to Rainbow, a faint smile across her face. “Thanks… For looking out for me…”

Rainbow smiled widely. “No problem, Natalya. I’ll see you around.” With her farewell said, she flew away into the night.

Natalya went straight to her bed, flopping right into it. Her time with Rainbow had physically and mentally exhausted her, and she knew that the following days were going to bring big changes to her. And yet, despite all of that, she felt a strange sense of ease and calmness.

It did not take long before Natalya fell into a restful sleep.

Chapter 11: Bit by Bit

Just a little bit more and then I’ll be done.

Natalya dipped her brush into the paint can she was holding and then carefully started the last part of her painting.

It had been a few days since her visit to Sweet Apple Acres and the subsequent night flight with Rainbow. As Rainbow had suggested, Natalya had lightened up on her training, giving her time to do other things.

With one last yellow stripe over some light-blue, Natalya was finally done with her painting. She shoved the brush into the paint can and flew down from the second story of the building she had been hovering in front of this whole time. As soon as she touched the ground, she dropped off her paint supplies amidst a pile of a few other cans of different colors.

Next to the paint cans was bucket filled with water. Picking up a sponge that was floating in the water, she started to clean her claws of the paint that had dripped onto them. After a few good scrubs, she checked her claws and sighed when she saw that only a few tiny flecks of paint had been removed while several big splotches still remained. Considering the weather-resistant paint she had to use, she knew that it was going to be a while before she was clean.

As she continued to scrub away, Natalya’s gaze drifted back to the building she was in front of. Flanking the front door were display windows, and through the glass, she could see bags of candy with more colors than she had ever seen before; chocolates in all sorts of different shapes and sizes, lollipops as big as her head, and many other sweet treats. There was also a small poster hanging on one of the windows telling her to ‘Try out the specialty: Bon Bon’s Bon Bons’.

“Pony names are weird,” Natalya mumbled to herself, shaking her head at the punny poster.

Eventually, Natalya finally got her claws cleaned and just when she tossed the sponge back in the bucket, the door to the shop opened.

“Are you done already?” a beige earth pony mare with a curled mane of dark-blue and pink asked, walking out of the shop toward Natalya.

Natalya pointed a claw up. “See for yourself, Bon Bon.”

Bon Bon did as she was told, looking up to where Natalya had pointed. She let out a small gasp. “Oh my. The store sign looks just like new! You did an incredible job, Natalya!”

Natalya shrugged nonchalantly, although she did allow herself a small smirk.

Before she had started, the sign had dirt caked up in several spots and much of the paint was chipped and faded. Scrubbing off the dirt was not difficult, merely time-consuming. The hard part was the painting. Her artistic skills were matched by her applebucking proficiency. Fortunately, all she had to do was trace over everything with a fresh coat of paint, but it still took a bit of time before she got the hang of it.

The restored sign vividly broadcast the words ‘Ponyville Sweet Shop’ in large, dark-blue block letters. Following the words was a picture of Bon Bon’s cutie mark of three teal and yellow striped wrapped candies lined up vertically with the middle candy sticking slightly to the right.

Natalya allowed Bon Bon some time to stare in wonder at her hard work, but after a few minutes passed, she cleared her throat, grabbing the attention of Bon Bon.

“So, is that everything?” Natalya asked.

“If you could just move all of these paint cans into the backroom, then yes, that’ll be everything.” Bon Bon sheepishly smiled. “Sorry that I can’t help with that, but since it’s still business hours, I can’t really get my hooves dirty at the moment.”

“Yeah, I get it.” Natalya started gathering up the painting supplies.

“Thank you for all of your help.”

“You can thank me by paying me the bits we agreed on.”

“Of course.” Bon Bon chuckled and opened the door for Natalya.

With her hands full, Natalya made her way to the backroom at the rear of the store, briefly glancing around the shop’s interior. Shelves lined each of the walls, and just like the display window, they were stocked fully with all manners of sweets. There was also a large table that occupied the center of the room, laden with extravagantly-decorated sweets with a bouquet of candied flowers as its centerpiece.

Thanks to Pinkie already overdosing her with sugar, Natalya did not feel the need to purchase any candy of her own and proceeded into the backroom. After dumping the paint supplies, she came back out and met Bon Bon at the nearby store counter.

“Thank you again, Natalya,” Bon Bon said before bringing out a saddlebag and a small pouch from behind the counter and sliding them across toward Natalya. “Here’s your bag, all safe and sound, as well as your payment.”

Natalya’s first order of business was to check her saddlebag to make sure that all of her belongings were still there. She did not have anything worthwhile in her bag and she doubted that Bon Bon would try to steal from her, but it was a habit that had formed early in her life.

Finding everything in place, Natalya turned her attention to the other item on the counter. Picking up the pouch in her claws, she gave it a good shake.

My favorite music, Natalya thought when she heard the heavenly sounds of bits jingling from within the pouch.

“I threw in a few extra bits as thanks for your hard work,” Bon Bon remarked cheerfully while Natalya began counting her earnings.

“Oh, um, thanks,” Natalya uttered, briefly glancing up at Bon Bon before returning her attention to the bits.

“I’ve been meaning to fix up my sign for a long time, but I just kept putting it off,” Bon Bon continued. “I would’ve asked my friend for help, but honestly, she can sometimes be a bit too eccentric and probably would’ve added her own personal touches. I’m glad that you answered my job posting.”

“Yeah, sure, no problem,” Natalya replied. She had been only half-listening while she was counting her bits. Finding that she was indeed paid extra, she stashed her payment in her saddlebag and nodded to Bon Bon.

“Well, everything is all settled, so I’m going to head out now,” Natalya informed.

“Wait, there’s one more thing.” Bon Bon reached below her and pulled out a small paper bag filled with brown cubes. “Another little something for your help.”

“What is it?” Natalya plucked one of the cubes in her claws, eyeing it carefully. She felt the cube give slightly when she gave it a soft squeeze.

“Toffee. I made a whole batch this morning. It’s one of my specialties.”

“And toffee is?”

“Um, caramelized sugar, to put it simply.” Bon Bon cocked her head. “You never heard of toffee before?”

“We don’t get much candy in Griffonstone. In fact, I don’t know the names of half the things you got in this store.”

“Wow, Pinkie wasn’t kidding when she said you guys were lacking in the sweet department. All the more reason for you to try out my toffee.”

Natalya eyed the cube in her claws for another moment before shrugging and popping the candy in her mouth.

“Not bad, not bad at all,” Natalya complimented. She savored the taste of caramel and chocolate, and even after the toffee had melted away, the taste still lingered in her mouth.

“Thanks!” Bon Bon replied, smiling with pride. “I’m always glad to hear somepony enjoying my sweets. So, uh…” She leaned forward and eyed Natalya in interest. “You’re one of the two griffons that’s staying at Twilight’s castle, right?”

“Yep.” Natalya tossed another toffee into her mouth. “Other one is Gilda, and she spends most of her time at Sugarcube Corner.”

Bon Bon nodded. “Yes, I did see her working with Pinkie the last time I went there. How long are you two going to be in Ponyville?”

Natalya shrugged. “Dunno. Gilda is learning friendship stuff with Twilight and baking with Pinkie, so who knows how long that will take.”

“What about you?”

“What is this, an interrogation? What’s with all the questions?” Natalya asked, an eyebrow raising in suspicion.

“Sorry,” Bon Bon apologized with a sheepish smile. “It’s just been a slow day, so I could use a bit of gossip to help pass the time. We don’t get many griffons in Ponyville. Sorry again if I’m coming off as rude.”

Natalya shrugged. “Whatever. It’s not like you’re a secret agent or something like that, especially if you can make candy like this.” She popped another toffee into her mouth.

Bon Bon coughed lightly. “Right…”

“As for what I’m doing, I’m spending my time with Rainbow.” Natalya had to pause and think for a few seconds. “To be honest, I’m actually not too sure what I’m doing with Rainbow though. I was supposed to be training with her, but she wants me to spend some time relaxing instead. We’ve been kind of going back and forth.”

“So then how did you end up deciding to help fix up my sign?”

“I needed something to do when Rainbow has to do her weather job, so I started taking up odd jobs around town.”

With some help from Rainbow, Gilda had convinced Natalya that they needed to start pitching in at the Castle of Friendship. Besides helping out with the chores, Gilda thought it would also be a good idea if they earned some bits to help out with the groceries and maybe even buy gifts for Twilight and Spike.

Natalya was still resistant to the whole helping out thing, but she was receptive about the earning bits part. She asked Twilight if there were any ways for her to earn some quick bits and was informed of a public board at town hall that ponies could post stuff on, including requests for help. Twilight had mentioned something about helping ponies and friendship, but Natalya was more focused on the bits that many of the jobs were offering.

While Natalya would much rather be training than painting signs, cleaning windows, or other odd jobs, the bits she was making was more than worth it. It turned out that ponies were more generous with their money than griffons. Like Bon Bon, many ponies she worked for even gave her more than they originally offered—something about a tip.

Natalya was still unsure about Rainbow’s recommendation to ease up on her training, but it was hard to argue against her growing bit pouch.

Stuffing one more toffee into her mouth and stowing the rest into her saddlebag, Natalya said to Bon Bon, “I need to get going. I’m meeting up with Gilda.”

Bon Bon nodded. “Okay, thanks for keeping me company. Feel free to come back anytime, and make sure to tell your griffon friends about my shop.”

Deciding to not tell Bon Bon she was a bit lacking in griffon friends, Natalya merely nodded and left Bon Bon without a word. Stepping out of the shop, Natalya flew straight for town hall, which was where she was supposed to meet Gilda.

Sitting in the center of town and standing at three stories tall, Ponyville’s town hall was one of the hardest structures to miss, second only to Twilight’s giant, shiny castle. Tall, arched windows covered the circular building, and each story had a platform that completely encircled the exterior walls. The structure was topped off with a steeple, adding even more to its impressive height.

Seeing no sign of Gilda when she landed in front of town hall, Natalya went over to the public board hanging next to the main entrance, directing her attention at the ‘help wanted’ section.

“Already looking for your next job?” Gilda’s voice came from behind a few moments later.

“You’re late,” Natalya complained, turning to the other griffon.

“Yeah, sorry about that. The Cakes’ foals were clinging onto me, and it took a while before Pinkie could get them off me. Those foals are pretty darn cute, but they can also be pain sometimes, literally. Pretty sure I lost half of my feathers with their grabby mouths.”

“Sucks for you. So, we heading over to Fluttershy’s to get some fish?”

“Yep.” Gilda reached into her own saddlebag. She pulled out a small pouch like Natalya had received and shook it, sounding the familiar jingling of bits. “The Cakes just gave me another payment before I got here.”

“Wait, that’s where you’ve been getting your bits from? I thought you were just learning stuff from them and Pinkie.”

“I thought so too, but I guess they think I’m doing enough to be counted as an assistant. I know that they’re also grateful that I give them more time to spend with their foals.” Gilda put her bits back into her bag. “You ready to go now? I don’t have too long before I need to head back to Sugarcube Corner.”

Natalya nodded and took to the sky with Gilda, heading towards the outskirts of Ponyville where Fluttershy’s cottage was.

“I’m actually surprised that Twilight is cool with us eating meat and all,” Natalya remarked once their flight path was set. “I was kind of expecting her to freak out, on account of ponies being plant eaters and all.”

“Yeah, I talked to Twilight and Spike about it after you brought up the subject.” Gilda delivered a flat gaze toward Natalya. “Seriously, you could’ve done better than just blurting out ‘I want meat!’ last night during dinner. I think Pinkie would’ve shown more subtlety and tact than you.”

“I’m just getting really tired of all the salads and vegetable stuff.”

“What about all the bakery stuff that Pinkie and I make?”

“If I keep eating pastries, I can kiss my racing days goodbye because I’ll be too heavy to even get off the ground.”

Gilda snickered. “Now that would be a sight to see, but I get your point. To be honest, I’m hankering for some meat as well.

“Anyway, going back to what you said earlier, Twilight told me that most ponies are actually alright with meat eaters. Something about being culturally-insensitive to other species and tolerance and some other friendship stuff. I’m guessing that you don’t want me to give you the details.”

Natalya nodded. “Good guess.”

A short time later, Gilda’s looked to Natalya again, her eyes narrowing into a warning glare. “Now, before we get there, do I have to remind you what you have to do when you talk to Fluttershy?”

Natalya groaned and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, you told me last night and again this morning. I’ll behave.”

“Good.”

“Speaking of which, I find it kind of weird that Fluttershy sells fish on the side. She doesn’t seem like that type.”

“You know, you could maybe listen to Twilight more instead of making crazy assumptions like that.”

“Meh,” Natalya replied with a quick shrug.

“For your information, Fluttershy takes care of all sorts of animals that visit her, so she always has fish on hand for the animals that eat them. Since there’s not really a big market for fish in Ponyville, it’s easier to get fish from her instead of searching for ourselves. Twilight even said that’s how Spike gets his fish.”

“Really? Spike eats meat as well?”

“Well, duh. He might be a little dude, but he’s still a dragon, and they eat all sorts of stuff. Actually, now that I think about it, we should bring Spike back some fish as well.”

“Why do…” Natalya closed her beak and gave Gilda’s recommendation more thought. While she was uncomfortable with the notion of spending extra bits on someone else, she supposed that a little present for the dragon was called for. After all, Spike was cool with her and Gilda living with him, not to mention all the cooking and cleaning he does.

“I guess that’s not such a bad idea,” Natalya half-heartedly agreed a moment later.

Gilda’s eyes widened with disbelief. “Really? You’re actually okay with doing something nice? I expected you to at least complain about your bits.”

Natalya let out an annoyed huff. “Well, I was going to, but I know that if I did, you and Rainbow would just lecture me later. Besides, I guess the little dude does kind of deserve it because of all the stuff he does for us.”

Gilda blinked a couple times and then a grin started to sprout on her face. “Yeah, you’re pretty much right.”

“Plus, I bet that we could get him to cook our fish for us as well if we do this for him,” Natalya hastily added.

Gilda chuckled. “Sure, whatever you say.”

“Hey, guys!” a familiar voice called from behind the griffons.

Natalya and Gilda both stopped their flight and turned around to see Rainbow Dash speeding toward them.

“Hey, Rainbow!” Gilda greeted cheerfully.

“Hey.” Natalya waved lazily at her friend. “Thought you had work today.”

“I was able to finish early,” Rainbow replied. “You know me. I do everything fast, including getting things done. I was looking around for you two. Where are you guys headed to?”

“Fluttershy’s place to get some fish,” Gilda answered.

“That’s cool.” Rainbow blinked. “Wait, Fluttershy’s?” She slowly turned her gaze to the other griffon. “Uh, Natalya…”

“Gilda already told me to behave,” Natalya flatly stated.

“Er, great, yeah, you should definitely do that, but that’s not what I was going to say. You see, um…” Rainbow bit her lip. “The thing is, there’s a chance that Fluttershy might get a bit scared when she sees you. You know, because of the last time you met her when you… uh...”

“Called her a lousy flyer that can’t do anything by herself?"

“Seriously?” Rainbow’s nervous tone was replaced by flat disbelief.

“It’s pretty much exactly what I said.”

“Well, yeah, but…” Rainbow facehoofed. “Just don’t do anything like that again. Please?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Natalya replied half-heartedly.

Fluttershy’s cottage came into view, and the three flyers descended upon their destination, landing on the short dirt path leading to the cottage. Rainbow took the lead, trotting right up to Fluttershy’s door and knocking on it, while Gilda moved up to stand on Rainbow’s right side.

Thinking that she should probably keep a bit of distance away from the skittish Fluttershy, Natalya stayed back and leaned on the fence that bordered the right side of the path.

A few seconds later, the door opened slightly, followed by a familiar, meek “Hello?”

“Hey, Fluttershy,” Rainbow greeted.

“Oh, hello, Rainbow,” Fluttershy replied, her voice losing its previous caution as she opened the door a bit wider. Her attention turned to the griffon next to Rainbow. “Oh, Gilda, you’re here too. Hello.”

“Hey, Fluttershy,” Gilda said back in kind with a smile.

From where she was standing, Natalya could only see a small part of Fluttershy’s mane peak out, meaning that she was out of Fluttershy’s line of sight. Deciding to let Rainbow and Gilda handle things, Natalya remained silent and hidden.

“So is there something you two need?” Fluttershy asked. “Not that I’m unhappy to see my friends, of course.”

“Actually, yeah,” Gilda answered. “Twilight told me that you sometimes sell fish to Spike, and since griffons kind of also eat meat, the both of us are here to buy some fish from you as well, if that’s alright with you.”

“Sure, I always have plenty on hoof for the… Wait, both of us? Rainbow, you eat fish?”

“Er, it’s not for me. It’s for…” Rainbow pushed the door wide open, finally revealing Fluttershy to Natalya, who was still casually leaning on the fence.

So much for staying hidden. Natalya casually waved at Fluttershy with a “Sup.”

“Oh, hello, Natalya.” Fluttershy blinked. “Wait, Natalya?” The pupils in Fluttershy’s eyes shrunk into pinpricks, and she let out a shriek before shutting the door in everyone’s face with a deafening slam.

“So… I guess you left quite the impression on her last time, Natalya,” Gilda commented after they all had been staring at the door for a few seconds.

“Yeah, I kind of noticed,” Natalya replied, injecting as much sarcasm as she could into her tone.

“Not gonna lie, I was half-expecting this exact thing was going to happen,” Rainbow informed.

“So this is what you mean by a bit scared?”

“More or less.”

“So, what now?” Gilda asked. “It would suck if we don’t get our fish, but I don’t want to push Fluttershy or anything. It hasn’t been that long since I settled stuff with her, and I don’t want to ruin that.”

“Don’t worry, leave it to me. Wait here a minute.” Rainbow flew up to a window on the second story, opened it, and went right into Fluttershy’s cottage.

It did not take long before Natalya and Gilda heard Fluttershy yelping as a loud crash was heard from somewhere inside the cottage. It was soon followed by animals chattering and then the splintering of wood. They briefly glanced at each other, shrugged, and then shifted their attention back toward the home. It was not much longer before the cottage door opened again with Rainbow standing in the entryway.

“All fixed,” Rainbow announced. “Fluttershy is getting the fish ready, and she wanted me to ask how many you two want.”

“Well, since this is our first time doing this, I think just two for each of us. Oh, and we also wanted to get some for Spike as well, so I guess that makes six?” Gilda glanced over at Natalya and received a nod.

“Be right back.” Rainbow rushed back into the cottage, leaving the griffons alone again.

Eventually, Fluttershy came to the door with a large paper bag held in her mouth, although it was slightly difficult to tell if it was of her own free will, due to the fact that her hooves were skidding across the floor as Rainbow pushed her from behind.

“Uh…” Gilda uttered while she and Natalya stared at the odd sight.

“She’s fine,” Rainbow assured. She placed Fluttershy in front of Gilda. “Come on, Fluttershy. Start with Gilda.”

“Right. Here you go, Gilda.” Fluttershy stepped forward on her own volition. As she placed the bag in Gilda’s waiting hands, her gaze constantly shifted in Natalya’s direction.

“Thanks, Fluttershy.” Gilda lowered herself onto her haunches, took off her saddlebag, and began rummaging through it. “Natalya, you mind paying your half first while I put these fish away and get my bits?”

“Sure.” Grabbing her share of bits from her bag, Natalya walked up to Fluttershy, whose eyes were getting wider and wider as the griffon approached her.

“Here.” Natalya stretched out her hand with bits toward Fluttershy. She tried to ignore Fluttershy’s shaking legs and eyes darting around. As Fluttershy continued to stand mutely in front of her, Natalya was starting to get annoyed, but she tried to hide the irritation in her voice.

“You going to take it or—”

Fluttershy suddenly grabbed the bits with a forehoof and ducked behind Rainbow.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow cried, sidestepping away from Fluttershy’s huddling form. “I told you she’s not the same griffon was when she first came to Ponyville.”

“I-I know,” Fluttershy quietly replied.

“Then why are you hiding from Natalya?”

“I’m sorry, Rainbow, but I can’t help it. I tried to not think about it, I really did, but I keep remembering how mean and scary she was from before.”

“But she’s changed, I swear…”

“It doesn’t feel that way to me…”

“But she…” Rainbow sighed and shook her head. “Never mind. It’s fine, Fluttershy.”

“Are you sure, Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked, slowly getting back on her hooves.

“Yeah, it’s… it’s fine, Fluttershy.” Rainbow took a deep breath. “It wasn’t fair of me to simply ask you to not be afraid, especially within just a few minutes. I don’t want to force you. Just try and give Natalya another chance the next time, okay?”

“O-okay,” Fluttershy muttered quietly. “Thank you, Rainbow.”

“Sorry that things got pretty awkward,” Rainbow apologized to Natalya.

Natalya stared at Rainbow for a moment before shrugging. “No big deal.”

“You going to be alright, Rainbow?” Gilda asked.

“Yeah, of course,” Rainbow answered a bit too loudly. She paused to clear her throat. “Let’s just finish up here so that we can get going.”

“If you say so. Here’s my payment, Fluttershy.”

“Thanks…” Fluttershy meekly replied. She took the bits from Gilda, but her gaze focused on Rainbow. “Um, Rainbow, I’m really—”

“Fluttershy, I told you, it’s fine,” Rainbow assured, smiling softly. “Just keep what I said in mind, okay?”

Fluttershy opened her mouth, but she slowly closed and nodded silently instead.

“So, if everything is settled, I think we should go now,” Rainbow suggested.

Everyone muttered their mutual agreement, and after saying their thanks and goodbye to Fluttershy, the griffons and Rainbow flew away from the cottage.

As they made their way back to the Castle of Friendship, Natalya found herself glancing over at Rainbow multiple times. Despite Rainbow’s claims, she knew that the pegasus was not as fine as she was letting on, and she wondered if her friend was going to be alright.

Natalya also wondered why she started being concerned about Rainbow.

“Hey, you guys mind if we land?” Gilda suddenly asked.

“What’s up, Gilda?” Rainbow queried.

“I want to take a look at the fish Fluttershy sold us.”

“You know you could’ve done that at Fluttershy’s place if you’re worried that she gave us bad fish,” Natalya pointed out.

“Fluttershy would never do something like that!” Rainbow quickly protested.

“I trust Fluttershy too,” Gilda added. “I just really want to see what kind of fish we got, and I thought it would be rude to check out her goods when we were right in front of her.”

“Fair enough.”

“I’m pretty interested in seeing the fish as well,” Natalya stated.

“Cool.” Gilda glanced down and pointed at a lone tree below them. “There, that’s a good spot.”

The three of them dived down, converging on the spot Gilda pointed out. As soon as they landed, Gilda unpacked her saddlebag. Natalya looked around and could see Fluttershy’s home far off in the distance. The sound of rustling paper prompted her to quickly turn her head back to find Gilda hastily digging through the paper bag, pulling out one of the fish that was wrapped in even more brown paper.

“Oh man, these look awesome,” Gilda said gleefully, carefully peeling back the paper to reveal a fat, blue fish. “She really gave us the good stuff.”

Natalya nodded, her attention also seized by the fish as well. It felt like forever she had some decent fish, and she could feel her mouth start to water. “Man, I hope Spike knows some good fish recipes.”

“Me too. Tonight is going to be awesome.” Gilda smirked and in a teasing voice, called out, “Hey, Rainbow, you want to join us for dinner?”

When no response came from Rainbow, the griffons looked up to see the pegasus looking back in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage.

“Yo, Rainbow,” Natalya called out loudly.

Rainbow jumped up a bit at Natalya’s voice. “Huh? What?” She turned back to the griffons. “Uh, sorry, you were saying something?”

“Dude, I know you’re still hung up about Fluttershy and me.”

“What?” Rainbow scoffed loudly. “No, as if. Why would you think that?”

“You kind of learn how to read faces when growing up in Griffonstone. It helps prevent you from getting cheated out your bits. Honestly though, it’s not that hard to see that you’re dwelling on the Fluttershy thing. You get kind of loud when you were trying to cover it up.”

“She’s not wrong,” Gilda agreed. “I actually asked us to stop so that I could talk to you after I was done gawking at the fish. Natalya just beat me to the punch.”

“You two are…” Rainbow stopped when the griffons glared at her. She let out a long sigh and let her shoulders drop. “Alright, yes, I’m really bummed out Fluttershy did not get along with you, Natalya.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that, Rainbow,” said Natalya. “I’m not bothered by it at all.”

“Yeah, I know that wouldn’t get to you, but it would’ve been great if you and her became friends like Gilda did.”

“Does it matter if I’m friends with her or not?”

“It would be so awesome if you could. You’re pretty much on good terms with the others. Twilight and Pinkie are a given. Applejack thinks you’re alright, and minus the prank we pulled on her—expect some payback, by the way—Rarity is fine with you as well. Fluttershy is the only one of my friends that has a problem with you, on account of the whole being scare thing.”

“So in other words, you want me to be buddies with all of your friends?”

Rainbow rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah, pretty much…”

“And why is that so important to you?”

“Um…” Rainbow’s gaze shifted to Gilda.

“Oh, I think I get it,” said Gilda.

“What? Get what?” Natalya asked.

“Rainbow doesn’t want a repeat of what happened between her and me when I visited Ponyville last time.”

“You mean when she chose her pony friends over you?”

Gilda winced. “Yeah… But it’s not like I didn't deserve it…”

“Gilda’s right,” Rainbow confirmed. “I… I don’t want to go through something like that again. Having to choose between her and the others was horrible. When she left, I felt like I betrayed her. The worst part is that over time, things got twisted. I started to blame her for what went wrong, convincing myself that she was nothing but a jerk.”

“Yeah, pretty much the same thing happened to me as well. It really sucked when I pretty much lost the only friend I had at the time. It felt like a piece of me went missing that day. That soon got replaced by anger. I thought that Rainbow betrayed me, and I didn’t need her anymore.”

“When we met again at Griffonstone, our anger toward each other almost prevented us from fixing things.”

Gilda walked over to Rainbow and draped an arm across the pony’s back. “Lucky for us that Pinkie was there to help out, and now here we are, best buds again.”

Natalya gave the duo a slow clap and a deadpan face. “Great story, you two. So riveting. Changed my life.”

Rainbow and Gilda performed a collective eye roll.

“Rainbow, I get that you’re worried that I might do something that would come between you and your friends, but keep in mind that unlike Gilda, I’m not actively antagonizing any of them.

“Well, I wouldn’t say I was actively antagonizing them,” Gilda protested. “More like hoarding Rainbow to myself with lots of angry shouting as a side effect.”

Natalya shot Gilda a flat look and then returned her attention to Rainbow. “Point is, it took Gilda less than one day to mess things up.”

“Hey!”

Ignoring Gilda, Natalya continued, “I’ve been here for, what, two weeks? And like you said, Fluttershy is the only one who has a problem with me. I think I’m doing decent enough.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Rainbow admitted, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. “I just would feel a lot better if you did manage to become Fluttershy’s friend.”

Natalya sighed. “That’s not going to be easy. To be honest, I find her whole shy behavior annoying.”

“O-oh… I see…” Rainbow fell to her haunches and her body slumped with disappointment.

“Natalya…” Gilda said in a chastising tone.

Natalya groaned and had to look away. The sight of the dejected Rainbow was causing a slight stir in her chest.

“Look, Natalya,” Rainbow spoke up. “I get that Fluttershy’s shyness can be a turn off. I sometimes even wish that she could be a bit more courageous, but then I remember the other good stuff about her. Give her a chance, Natalya. Fluttershy is a great friend, and you’ll be amazed by how kind she can be.”

“Do I really have to?”

“I’m not expecting anything right away, but like I asked Fluttershy, could you just give it a shot? It would mean so much to me.”

Natalya sighed, her gaze still avoiding Rainbow. She did kind of owe Rainbow with all the support and help the pegasus had given her, even if some of those things were irritating. Other than finding her a bit annoying, Natalya did not have any real quarrel with Fluttershy. Trying to be on friendly terms with Fluttershy in order to appease Rainbow did not sound that bad of a deal, and Rainbow did say all she had to was give it a shot.

If I’m going to get on Fluttershy’s good side, what’s the quickest way to do it? Well, Gilda patched things up with her… Natalya stiffened up when she recalled what happened during her first day in Ponyville.

Oh right… She did that… Aw crud…

Burying her face into her hand, Natalya muttered, “I can’t believe I’m going to…” She let out another weary sigh and faced the direction that they had flown from a few moments ago.

Well, might as well get it over with now instead of letting it loom over my head.

“Come on, we’re going back to Fluttershy’s,” Natalya ordered, turning back around to her companions.

“What? Why?” Rainbow’s eyes narrowed. “What are you planning?”

“Probably something really stupid…” Natalya said before flying off on her own. Partly because she wanted to get it over quickly and partly because she did not want to explain herself to the others, she raced across the sky as fast as she could.

Arriving back at Fluttershy’s cottage, Natalya quickly landed and moved up to the door. She raised a fist to knock, but she stopped when a thought came to mind. Backing away, she turned around and waited for the others to catch up.

When Rainbow and Gilda arrived a few moments later, Rainbow rushed right up to Natalya.

“Natalya, what are you planning?” Rainbow asked again.

“I’m giving it a shot, like you said.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened. “Wait, really?”

“Yes, so hurry up. Knock on the door and tell her it’s you.”

“Uh, why?”

“Do you think she’ll open the door when she finds out it’s me?”

“Good point,” Rainbow conceded with a slight frown. She moved up and rapped her forehoof on the door, calling out, “Hey, Fluttershy, open up. It’s Rainbow again.”

Shortly afterwards, Fluttershy opened the door. “Hello, Rainbow. Did you forget…” Her gaze flicked to the side where Natalya was standing. She let out a yelp and her hoof reached for the door.

“Oh no you don’t!” Natalya shot out an arm and grabbed the door to prevent Fluttershy from slamming the door again. Her eyes widened for a second when she was almost jerked forward by Fluttershy’s desperate tug on the door. Either Fluttershy’s surprising strength was from adrenaline-fueled fear or the seemingly dainty pegasus really was stronger than she appeared.

“Natalya!” Rainbow angrily yelled. “What are you—”

“Fluttershy! I’m just here to talk to you! I’m not going to do anything to you, but I will drag you out myself if you don’t sit your butt down now and listen to me!” Natalya bellowed before Fluttershy retreated into her cottage or Rainbow tried to stop her.

Natalya could feel everyone’s eyes on her as everything went quiet.

“O-oh… Okay…” Fluttershy squeaked out a few moments later, falling back on her haunches and looking up at Natalya with wide eyes.

“Natalya, I’m trying very hard not to throttle you right now,” Rainbow warned as she huffed loudly.

“Yeah, whatever you’re doing, I’m pretty sure you’re doing it wrong,” Gilda remarked.

Natalya whirled around and demanded, “Quiet, you two. I’m not going to hurt her, but if I’m doing this, I’m doing this my way.”

Rainbow and Gilda both glared at Natalya, but they nodded and took a step back.

Breathing a small sigh of relief, Natalya turned back to Fluttershy. She slowly released her hold on the door and was relieved to see that Fluttershy did not try to make a second attempt at slamming the door shut, even if the pegasus was staring at her fearfully and looked ready to bolt at any second.

“Fluttershy, I wanted to say to you…” Natalya began slowly, but stopped as her next words caught in her throat. She took a deep breath for another try.

“I want to say…” Natalya grunted and glanced away. Usually, it was easy for her to say what was on her mind, but now, the words refused to come out. Then again, these were words she thought she would never have to utter. It did not help that she could still see Rainbow and Gilda glaring at her out of the corner of her eye.

Taking another deep breath, she looked back at Fluttershy. “I wanted to say…” Her willpower faltered again, and she had to avert her gaze once again.

Despite the fear in her eyes, Fluttershy leaned forward.

“Um, are you alright?” Fluttershy asked with concern.

Seeing that Fluttershy was actually being braver than her, Natalya rallied her thoughts and managed to blurt out, “I wanted to say thanks for the fish!”

“Oh, um, you’re welcome,” Fluttershy said at the same time Rainbow and Gilda uttered, “What?”

Not the right words, but at least it’s a step up from stammering like an idiot, Natalya mentally chided herself.

“So is that what you had to say to me? Because if it was, and if it’s okay with you…” Fluttershy spoke up when Natalya remained silent. “Could I maybe go now?”

“Yeeee—No.” Natalya took another deep breath. “I wanted to say something different. I didn’t mean to thank you for the fish.”

“You should though,” Gilda called from behind.

Natalya flashed an angry glare at Gilda before returning her attention to Fluttershy. “Fine, whatever, yes, thanks for the fish. Moving on. What I really wanted to say was…” She metaphorically and figuratively dug her claws into the dirt.

“I… am…” She closed her eyes and then mumbled the last word under her breath.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear that last part.” Somehow, Fluttershy’s tone made it seem like it was her fault that she could not hear Natalya.

“I’m… ry…” Natalya mumbled a little louder, still refusing to look at Fluttershy.

“Could you maybe repeat that a little bit louder?”

“I’m… orry…”

“I’m so sorry, Natalya, I really am. I just can’t seem to—”

“I’m sorry, okay?!” Natalya bellowed. She grunted and turned her head to the side. For some reason, she also heard a squeal that suspiciously sounded like Rainbow.

“O-oh. Oh my. I certainly didn’t expect that.” Fluttershy bowed her head. “Thank you for apologizing, Natalya.”

“Shouldn’t you ask what she’s apologizing for, Fluttershy?” Gilda helpfully added.

“Gilda!” Natalya roared, whirling around and ready to plant a fist in the other griffon’s smug face.

“Um, that’s alright, Gilda,” Fluttershy replied. “I’m fine with—”

“No, Gilda is right, Fluttershy,” Rainbow interrupted. “Natalya needs to do it.”

Natalya groaned. “Rainbow…”

“It’s the right thing to do, Natalya. Besides, you made it this far.” Rainbow gave her a big, proud smile. “You got this.”

Natalya groaned again and dragged a hand down her face. “Fine, but Gilda, you better sleep with one eye open tonight!”

Gilda shrugged and showed off a smug smirk. “Worth it.”

Turning back to Fluttershy, Natalya let out the longest sigh she had ever made in her entire life. “Fluttershy… Look, I’m sorry… About the thing that happened when I first arrived in Ponyville. You know when I told you stuff… I guess that while I was doing that, I was maybe kind of harsh on you.”

“Kind—Mmphf!”

Natalya and Fluttershy look over to see that Rainbow had clamped her forehooves on Gilda’s beak.

“Keep going,” Rainbow urged Natalya before returning her attention to restraining Gilda’s quips.

Returning her attention to Fluttershy, Natalya continued, “So, yeah, sorry and all that stuff. I should’ve been more careful with how I talked to you.”

Fluttershy smiled softly. “Thank you so much, Natalya. I’m really glad that you’re apologizing for what you said to me.”

Natalya’s eyebrow went up. “I’m not apologizing for what I said though.
Fluttershy froze. “W-what?”

“What?” Rainbow added as well.

Keeping her focus on Fluttershy, she explained, “I’m just apologizing for how I talked to you. I still believe in what I said. You seriously need to shape up. Look, the thing is, Rainbow wants me to try and be your friend, but the thing is, your timidness irks me.”

“Er, Natalya, maybe you should call it quits now,” Rainbow suggested.

“My way, remember, Rainbow?” Natalya got a groan from Rainbow in reply.

“I’m sorry about my behavior,” Fluttershy apologized.

“See, that’s what I mean! If I said the same thing to someone in Griffonstone, we would be getting into an argument or even a fight.”

“O-oh my, I would never do that!”

“Yeah, I figured, but still, you got to at least stand up for yourself. Being a complete pushover is not going to help anyone.”

“Sorry, Natalya.”

Natalya slapped her face into her palm. “Fluttershy, you’re not helping.”

“I’m s—Um, nevermind.”

Natalya sighed. “I’m probably going to regret this, but I’m going to make a deal with you. I’m going to try to be nicer to you, but in return, you have to try and be less… you.”

“Um, me?”

“I think she means that you need to try and be more assertive,” Gilda clarified.

Natalya nodded. “What she said.”

“Oh…” Fluttershy looked down as one of her forehooves drew circles on the floorboards. “Well, to tell you the truth, I really am working on it. I’m just doing baby steps because I don’t want to go overboard like last time.”

Natalya cocked her head. “Last time?”

“Let’s just say that Fluttershy upset a few ponies when she went to a seminar on being assertive,” Rainbow informed.

“That’s it? That doesn’t sound—”

“And she kind of literally tossed a few ponies around and might have caused some property damage.”

Natalya and Gilda both blinked and stared at Rainbow.

“Her?” the griffons asked, pointing at the blushing Fluttershy trying to hide behind her mane.

“Hey, I keep telling you guys, Fluttershy might be shy, but she’s a lot stronger than she looks,” Rainbow proclaimed proudly. “Don’t mess with her.”

“Thank you, Rainbow.” Fluttershy emerged from her mane to show her gratitude toward her friend with a smile.

“Uh, okay, I guess… I’ll just take your word about her then, Rainbow,” Natalya remarked.

“So, Fluttershy, you’ll work on being more assertive, er, without the whole angry rampage thing, while I try to be nicer to you. Do we have a deal?” Natalya asked, extending a hand toward the pegasus.

Fluttershy stared at Natalya’s hand for a moment and then smiled softly.

“Deal,” Fluttershy proclaimed, bumping her hoof into Natalya’s hand. “So does that also mean we’re friends now?”

“Let’s just say we’re on a trial session for the time being.”

Fluttershy giggled. “Okay.”

Natalya breathed out a huge sigh of relief. Finally, it was over. Despite all odds, she had managed to patch things up with Fluttershy. She had to commend herself for not making a mess of things, and she was more than happy that this torturous experience was over with.

She turned around to tell Rainbow and Gilda that she was ready to go, but she stopped when she saw the smug grins on her companions’ faces.

Natalya rolled her eyes and before the inevitable teasing came, she hastily said, “Alright, this is as much as I can suffer through. I’m leaving,” before shooting past Rainbow and Gilda and into the air.

Unsurprisingly, it did not take long for Rainbow to catch up to Natalya.

“So, that was probably one of the weirdest apologies I’ve ever seen,” Rainbow remarked when she flew up to Natalya’s side.

“Whatever.”

“First you pretty much threatened her, then it took forever for you to say something, and even then, you said the wrong thing. When you finally said you’re sorry, you went ahead and finished things off by making a bargain.”

“Your point?”

“Watching you apologize had more ups and downs than a roller coaster ride.”

“It’s not like I have a lot of experience apologizing. Wouldn’t be surprised if it was my first real one either.”

Rainbow chuckled. “Yeah, can’t say I’m surprised to hear that either. For what it’s worth, even though it was, uh, different, you did good. I know that wasn’t easy for you, and it means a lot to both me and Fluttershy that you did that. Thank you, Natalya.”

“Yeah, well, I figured that you were going to keeping on moping around until I fixed things up. With you already cutting down my training time, I can’t afford you to be distracted.”

“Sure, whatever you say,” Rainbow replied with a smirk.

“Plus, I’m likely going to buy fish from Fluttershy again, so maybe I could persuade her to give me a discount once I’m on her good side.”

“Uh huh.”

“You’re not buying any of this, are you.”

“Nope.”

Natalya sighed. “Fine… To tell you the truth, I’m not too sure why I decided to go through with it. If I had to guess, it’s because I felt like I owe you.”

Rainbow’s smile vanished. “Oh… You do know that’s not a good reason to make an apology, right?”

“Yeah, well, it was probably going to happen eventually, so I decided to just get it over with right away. Despite my protests, you’ve been able to get me to do stuff, and as much as I hate to admit it, most of them ended up doing something good for me.”

“I would hope so. I keep telling you, I’m your friend, and I got your back.”

“I get that now, so thanks… friend…”

Natalya watched as a gleeful smile grew on Rainbow’s face, bigger than the one she had when Natalya apologized to Fluttershy. Even though Natalya found it a bit silly to get so worked up over some trivial words, she had to admit that it was kind of nice to see that she made Rainbow smile like that.

“Hey, Natalya,” Gilda called out, moving up to Natalya’s other side.

“What?”

“You do know that Twilight is going to have a field day when she hears about what you just did, right? I bet she’s going to give you some big, old speech or lecture.”

Natalya’s blood ran cold. “Don’t you dare tell her…”

“She’s going to find out eventually,” Gilda said with an evil grin. “After all, she’s the Princess of Friendship.”

“But she… Well, I could… Maybe if I…” Natalya sighed, resigning herself to her doom.

“Aw crud…”

Chapter 12: A Sweet Treat

Natalya’s apology to Fluttershy was awkward, tense, and uncomfortable. It was possibly one of the toughest things she ever had to do.

Fortunately, going through the Fluttershy ordeal had made Rainbow very happy, and Natalya intended to cash in on Rainbow’s good mood. The very next day, Natalya half-asked, half-demanded that she could do Sonic Rainboom training instead of whatever Rainbow had planned for the day, and the pegasus obliged without a single complaint.

And so, Natalya was back to flying up and down above one of the fields on the outskirts of Ponyville.

“You’re getting faster, Natalya,” Rainbow remarked, flying over to Natalya when the griffon took a breather after one of her many dives.

“Not fast enough though,” Natalya grumbled. She did indeed feel that she had improved a bit, but she still had not felt a single instance of the so-called wall that Rainbow said was the beginning of the Sonic Rainboom. It felt like she still had a lot to learn.

“I’m sure you’ll see more results eventually. I’ve seen all the hard work you’ve put in, and I would be genuinely surprised if you didn’t manage to pull it off, or at least something like it, by the time you leave Ponyville.”

Natalya glanced at her friend with a raised eyebrow. Rainbow had been doing her own flying the whole time; however she somehow was always ready to shout Natalya some form of advice or encouragement whenever there was a lull in the training.

Natalya used to find Rainbow’s often-loud encouragement irritating, but for some reason, it did not feel like that today. In fact, she kind of liked having Rainbow show her support.

“Of course,” Rainbow continued with a small smirk. “None of that is gonna happen unless you get your butt back up there and show me what you can do!”

Natalya smiled faintly and nodded. She poised herself to fly up, but she stopped when a familiar buzzing followed by someone shouting “Hey, guys!” from below. Looking down, she saw that Scootaloo was rapidly approaching them as she rode on her scooter and waved at them with one hoof.

“Hey, squirt!” Rainbow shouted back, flying straight for the filly.

So much for watching me get back up there, Natalya thought with a sigh. As she wondered if she could just continue training by herself, she watched Rainbow land on the ground and happily greet the filly with a big smile. Scootaloo then said something that made Rainbow laugh, after which Rainbow then commenced giving the filly a friendly noogie.

After watching the happy pair for a few more moments, Natalya flew down towards them, reasoning to herself that she needed a break anyway.

“Hi, Natalya,” Scootaloo greeted with a smile when the griffon landed.

“Hey,” Natalya casually replied.

“Still trying to pull off the Sonic Rainboom?”

“Trying is the key word…”

“Well, you got Rainbow helping you out, and she’s the best when it comes to the Sonic Rainboom.”

“Uh, isn’t she the only one who can do it?”

“That’s what makes her the best,” Scootaloo replied matter-of-factly.

Rainbow chuckled. “She got you there.”

Natalya responded with a roll of her eyes.

“So, what’s up, Scoots?” Rainbow asked. “Just here to watch two awesome flyers?”

“Actually, I was hoping to ask a favor,” Scootaloo remarked. “You see, we got show and tell at school, and my turn is coming up tomorrow. I was wondering—”

“Say no more, Scoots. I’ll be happy to do show and tell with you again and give your classmates another dose of the Dash.”

“Um, thanks, Rainbow. I really appreciate it, but, uh…” Scootaloo chuckled nervously. “I kind of wanted to bring Natalya instead…”

Natalya would have laughed at how Rainbow’s jaw almost slammed into the ground if she was not occupied by her own wide-eyed stare at Scootaloo.

“Her?!” Rainbow cried out incredulously, pointing a hoof at the griffon. “You pick her over me?!”

“Looks like I’m the more popular one now,” Natalya could not resist taunting with a smirk after recovering from her own surprise.

Rainbow frowned. “Seriously, Scoots, did I do something wrong? I thought I was the awesomest…”

“And you are, Rainbow!” Scootaloo hastily assured. “I wanted to pick you, but Miss Cheerilee told me that I’ve brought you in too much and had to choose something else.”

Natalya sighed. So much for small victories.

“Oh, well, I guess that makes sense,” Rainbow said, returning back to her usual self. “Actually, now that I think about it, she might have a bit of a point. You have used me so many times, I even lost count.”

“But that’s because you’re the best! There shouldn’t be such a thing as too much Rainbow Dash!”

“Well, you’re not wrong there either, squirt.”

“So, will you please come to my school tomorrow, Natalya?” Scootaloo asked, shifting her attention to the griffon.

Natalya was about to refuse, but she paused at the eager face that was looking up at her. All she could utter instead was, “Uh, I’m not sure…”

“Please? You don’t have to do much. I’ll be doing most of the talking, so all you have to do is stand there and maybe answer a few questions. I know that you’re busy with your training, but my show and tell won’t take that long, promise.”

“But why me?”

“Well, you are the fastest griffon.”

Natalya’s eyebrow went up. “Oh? So you know about that?”

“That’s what Rainbow told me, but I definitely can see why. After all, you beat Soarin during the Equestria Games, and Rainbow also said you almost beat her in the race you had when you first arrived in Ponyville.”

Natalya felt a twinge of irritation at that second part, but she kept her calm demeanor.

Scootaloo scuffed the ground with a hoof and smiled sheepishly. “I just, um, I just think you’re really cool, Natalya. Not Rainbow Dash-cool, but a different kind of cool… Like Natalya-cool, which is a different kind of cool but not less cool.” Her face scrunched up in confusion. “Uh, you get what I’m saying?”

“That you think I’m cool?”

“Uh, right!” Scootaloo nodded eagerly. “So will you do it?”

Natalya sighed. “Look, kid, I don’t think—”

“Pleeeeeeease?” Scootaloo begged, looking up at Natalya with wide, hopeful eyes.

Natalya had to turn away from the pleading face Scootaloo was giving her, only to flinch at the sight of Rainbow’s smirk. Even though it was clear that Rainbow was amused by the whole scenario, Natalya knew that she was also expecting her to make the correct decision.

Stifling a groan, Natalya turned her back to both ponies, making sure that she could not see either of their gazes. After a long sigh, she mumbled, “I… I guess if it’s not going to be too long…”

A sudden weight latching onto one of her legs made Natalya whip her head back around to find Scootaloo hugging her.

“Yes! Thank you, Natalya!” Scootaloo cried out. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

“Uh, sure, whatever.” Natalya glanced over at Rainbow to see the pegasus giving her a wide smile and nodding in approval. She rolled her eyes and then looked back down at the filly still clutching her leg.

Natalya shook her leg a little to dislodge Scootaloo, but the filly did not budge, oblivious to Natalya’s actions over her continued thank you's. For a kid, Scootaloo was surprisingly strong, and Natalya could feel her leg starting to get numb from the lack of circulation.

“You can let go of me now,” Natalya ordered, making sure she was loud enough to be heard over Scootaloo’s chanting.

Scootaloo went silent and looked up at the flat gaze Natalya was giving her. Smiling sheepishly, she finally withdrew from Natalya. “Heh, sorry. I got a bit excited.”

“I noticed…”

“Well, looks like I have to take the day off tomorrow anyway,” Rainbow remarked. “Gotta come and see this show and tell.”

“Let me guess. You want to make sure I behave?” Natalya asked.

“Maybe a bit.” Rainbow grinned. “But more because I think this is going to be hilarious.”

“Somehow, I don’t share the same sentiments.”

“Let me rephrase that then. I think it’s going to be hilarious for me.”

Natalya was about to make a retort, but an unfamiliar voice calling out made the three of them look up.

“Rainbow, I’m so glad I found you!” a pegasus mare shouted as she flew toward them. The mare had a coat with a faint tinge of grey. Curiously enough, her green and magenta mane was styled in a way that reminded Natalya of Twilight’s.

“Hey, Blossomforth. What’s up?” Rainbow greeted the new mare when she landed. “Oh, but before you say anything…” She placed a hoof on Blossomforth’s shoulder and turned the both of them to Natalya and Scootaloo. “Guys, this is Blossomforth. She’s one of the assistant weather managers. Blossomforth, this is Scootaloo and Natalya.”

“Hi there,” Blossomforth said with a pleasant smile. “Nice to meet you two, especially you, Scootaloo. Rainbow often talks about you at work.”

“She does?!” Scootaloo cried out, gleefully jumping into the air and slowly falling back down as her wings buzzed in excitement.

Blossomforth nodded. “She says you’re very energetic and that you’re a pro with your scooter.”

“That’s totally me!”

Blossomforth giggled and then turned to Rainbow. “So, I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

“No, not really. We were just chatting,” Rainbow replied.

“Then if you don’t mind, Rainbow, I need to talk to you about some work-related stuff.”

“Something wrong?”

“Um, a bit. That’s why I need to talk to you.”

“Alright, alright.” Rainbow looked to Scootaloo and Natalya with an apologetic look. “Sorry, but I really need to take care of this. You guys don’t mind, right?”

“Of course not, Rainbow,” Scootaloo promptly replied.

“Just make it quick,” Natalya urged. She walked over to a nearby tree without waiting for a response.

Circling around the tree, Natalya found her saddlebag that she had brought along. Letting out a weary sigh, she sat down and grabbed a water bottle from her bag.

Natalya greedily chugged her bottle, reveling in the refreshing water that went down her parched throat. Her training might be on the monotonous side, but that did not make it any less tiring. When she stopped for air, she had already drained more than half of the bottle.

After a momentary break, she raised her bottle for some more water, but she paused when Scootaloo approached her from the other side of the tree.

“Hey, Natalya. Is it alright if I wait with you?” Scootaloo asked. “I don’t want to distract Rainbow while she’s talking about work.”

“Sure,” Natalya replied before drinking from her bottle again, taking small, measured sips this time since she had quenched her thirst earlier.

“I want to thank you again for doing the show and tell with me tomorrow,” Scootaloo said as she sat down next to Natalya.

“You’re not going to give me another hug, are you?”

“Uh, heh, no.” Scootaloo gazed at the grass beneath her with a sheepish smile. “Sorry about that as well.”

Their conversation quickly died, and an awkward silence fell between them. Not sure what to do with Scootaloo sitting next to her, Natalya pretended to be busy by drinking the rest of her water, making sure that she took her time as she hoped Rainbow would finish her talk soon.

“I, uh, I also wanted to thank you for the encouragement you gave me the other day,” Scootaloo eventually said when Natalya was reaching the end of her bottle.

“Oh right, that. Yeah, it’s not a big deal. I just felt like helping out since I’ve seen similar stuff in Griffonstone.”

“Really? There are griffons who have trouble flying as well?”

Natalya nodded. “Of course. It’s not like everyone is born a pro flyer. Everyone needs to put in the time and training to learn how to fly. It’s just that some need more time than others.”

Scootaloo sighed. “Yeah, I know. Rainbow tells me pretty much the same thing. It’s just hard being the only pegasus in my class that hasn’t been able to fly yet, and it doesn’t help that I get made fun of about it.”

“The other pegasi giving you a hard time?”

“Actually, no. They’re all nice. The problem is Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They’re two snobbish earth ponies who think that they’re better than everypony else just because their parents make a bunch of bits.

“They like to target me and my friends just because we don’t have our cutie marks yet. Me being unable to fly is one of their favorite things to tease me about.”

“Then you just have to keep working at your flying until you finally get it. That way, you can shove it in their bratty muzzles,” Natalya suggested.

Scootaloo grinned. “Yeah, I can already imagine the look on their faces.”

“And if they continue to give you trouble, a solid punch to their faces should do the trick.”

Scootaloo laughed, but it quickly faded when she saw Natalya’s deadpan face. “Er, wait, you’re serious about that?”

“Yes.”

“Oh…” Scootaloo glanced away and rubbed the back of her neck. “Um, no offense, Natalya, but Rainbow kind of mentioned that I should be careful about taking any of your advice if it involves hitting others…”

“Of course she did,” Natalya dryly uttered with a roll of her eyes.

Losing interest in the current conversation after her solution was turned down, Natalya stashed her now-empty bottle back into her bag and pulled out the toffee that she got yesterday. Bon Bon had given her a generous amount of toffee to start with, and since she ate the sweets sparingly, Natalya still had over half the bag left. Quickly popping a toffee into her mouth, she savored the sugary treat and was glad to find out that it did not lose any flavor despite being a day old.

“Is that toffee from Bon Bon’s?” Scootaloo asked, quickly noticing the presence of candy.

“Yep,” Natalya replied as she continued chewing. “Took up a job to spruce up her store sign yesterday, and she tossed in this stuff along with my payment.”

“That’s cool… So how is it? I never actually tried it before, but I heard it’s really good.”

“It is.” Natalya tossed another toffee into her mouth right as her first one was almost gone.

Several toffees later, Natalya noticed out of the corner of her eye that Scootaloo was still staring at the bag in her hand. When she turned her head to the filly, Scootaloo swiftly looked straight ahead, trying to make it look like she was not sneaking glances.

Natalya watched Scootaloo for a few moments and then looked down at the half-filled bag of toffee. With a sigh, she held out the bag to Scootaloo. “Take one.”

Scootaloo looked to Natalya, her eyes slightly widened in surprise. “Wait, what?”

“You want one or not?”

“Y-yeah, of course!” Scootaloo hastily grabbed one toffee cube in her hooves and smiled at Natalya. “Thank you.”

Natalya watched as Scootaloo shoved the candy in her mouth, following it up with some delighted hums while she chewed on the toffee. As expected of any kid, Scootaloo stopped chewing all too soon, her sweet eagerly devoured in haste.

“That was great,” Scootaloo chirped. “Can’t decide if I like Bon Bon’s candies or the stuff at Sugarcube Corner more. What do you think, Natalya?”

Natalya shrugged. “They’re both good, but in different ways.”

“But if you had to pick only one, who would you choose?”

“Sugarcube Corner,” Natalya replied without hesitation.

“Why’s that?”

“Pinkie Pie.”

Scootaloo blinked and then slowly nodded her head in understanding.

Natalya went back to eating her toffee, but a few cubes later, she paused again when she noticed that Scootaloo’s gaze was still flicking over to her sweets. “You know, you’re doing a terrible job of trying to make it look like you don’t want more toffee.”

Scootaloo’s face flooded with red, and she abruptly dropped her gaze to the ground. “S-sorry.”

With another sigh, Natalya set the bag down on the grass between them. “Go ahead, just don’t take too much.”

Scootaloo looked to the bag and then up at Natalya, her mouth slightly open with awe. “R-really? You’re sure?”

“Thanks to Pinkie, I’ve eaten more sugar since I came to Ponyville than my entire life. I’m already trying to cut down on the sweets, so you might as well take some more toffee now before they go bad. Besides, I could always buy some more if I wanted to.”

“Okay, um, thanks, Natalya.” Scootaloo grabbed her second toffee in her hooves and quickly ate it with a delighted smile.

Natalya still was not sure what compelled her to give some of her toffee to Scootaloo. She had not given away anything before, unless she knew she could get a favor or something else out of the deal. She very much doubted that Scootaloo could do anything for her, and yet, she did feel a twinge of amusement as she watched the filly chomp down on another piece of candy.

Natalya reached down to grab a toffee of her own, but she stood up and spun around when she heard a “D’aww” from behind to see Rainbow and Blossomforth watching her with big smiles on their faces.

“That was so nice of you, Natalya,” Blossomforth complimented.

“It really was,” Rainbow agreed, smirking in a way that almost screamed ‘I knew it’.

Natalya huffed and turned her back to the ponies, trying her best to ignore the creeping heat in her cheeks.

“So you two done talking about work?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yes, we are,” Blossomforth replied. “I actually have to head back to the office now. I just wanted to say goodbye before I left.”

“Oh, well, goodbye then, Blossomforth. Nice to meet you.”

“See ya,” Natalya mumbled, turning back around to give Blossomforth a lazy wave.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Blossomforth,” Rainbow bade.

After Blossomforth flew away, Scootaloo cocked her head curiously at Rainbow. “Tomorrow? Are you going to be able to still watch my show and tell?”

Rainbow sighed and shook her head. “It’s the new weather manager that’s replacing me. She’s a nice pony and all, but she’s still getting used to all the new responsibilities. She messed up some stuff today. Blossomforth can handle some of the things, but I have to go in tomorrow to sort the rest of it out. Sorry, guys. I really wish that I could watch you two, but that looks like it’s not gonna happen.”

“It’s alright, Rainbow,” Scootaloo assured. “I know that you’ve been busy going back between your Wonderbolt stuff and helping the weather team. I’m just glad you still make time for me at least once a week.”

“Of course! What are sort-of sisters for?” Rainbow replied happily. She trotted past Scootaloo, making sure to ruffle the filly’s mane playfully with a hoof. As she sat down in front of Natalya and Scootaloo, she grabbed a toffee cube and popped it in her mouth.

“Who said you could have one?” Natalya asked, staring at Rainbow with a raised eyebrow.

“What? She gets to have a bunch, but I can’t even have one?” Rainbow asked, pointing at Scootaloo.

“Yep.”

Rainbow’s eyebrow went up as well while she stared at Natalya. Keeping her eyes on the griffon, Rainbow’s hoof began inching for the toffee bag again.

“You’re going to lose your hoof if you do it, Rainbow,” Natalya warned.

Rainbow only grinned and continued toward the candy.

“I’m warning you. Don’t do it.”

Rainbow stopped inches away from the toffee and slowly began retracting her hoof. But just as Natalya thought the pegasus had given up, Rainbow’s hoof shot forward and grabbed another toffee.

The toffee did not even make it into Rainbow’s mouth before Natalya tackled the pony into the grass. Rainbow tried to squirm away, but Natalya's experience and slightly bigger body easily pinned the pegasus to the ground.

“First I get picked for show and tell and now this.” Natalya smirked at the pony trapped beneath her. “Guess I still can beat you at some stuff.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, good job,” she congratulated dryly. “Now, get off.”

“Let me think about it…” Natalya’s gaze went up, as though she was giving the idea some thought. After a moment, she looked back down at Rainbow and smirked again. “Nope.”

Rainbow stared flatly back at Natalya and then turned her head to Scootaloo. “Hey, squirt, a little help?”

Scootaloo, who had been stifling her giggles the entire time, shifted herself into a more comfortable position. “Nah, I’m good,” she answered right before she tossed a toffee cube into her mouth.

“Guess all it took was a little candy to make me her favorite,” Natalya taunted.

Rainbow groaned. “You both suck,” she complained, although a faint smile graced her mouth.

Natalya chuckled and let Rainbow go. She even allowed Rainbow to finally have some toffee, but not before she and Scootaloo made a good show of enjoying the candy without her.

As they sat together and finished off the toffee, Natalya found herself not minding the fact that her break from training was taking longer than she had expected.

Chapter 13: Getting Schooled (Part 1)

A damp Natalya walked into her room, a towel draped around her neck and a half-eaten Sugarcube Corner donut from last night in her beak. After spending the morning with a round of odd jobs, coming back to the castle for a quick shower and bite was needed, especially since she had an appointment to keep later on. Sitting down on her bed, she began drying herself off while she also chewed on her impromptu snack, letting out a sigh of content now that she had a moment of respite.

“What are you still doing here?!” an indignant, all-too-familiar voice suddenly shouted from her window.

Natalya rolled her eyes. “I thought you were going to be busy at work today, Rainbow,” she remarked, continuing her business without even turning to her visitor.

“I am! Er, sort of… I had to get Twilight to look at and sign some stuff for the office really quick. I figured I would fly past your window and take a peek into your room on my way out.”

“That’s not creepy at all,” Natalya dryly commented before tilting her head back, dropping the rest of her donut into her mouth.

“Not the point! You’re supposed to be doing the show and tell with Scootaloo!”

“I still got time,” Natalya replied with her mouth still full. She hurriedly finished off her snack before continuing. “Look, I squeezed in several quick jobs earlier, so I had to come back to the castle for a quick shower. I don’t think things would go well if a dirty, sweaty griffon suddenly appeared at the schoolhouse.”

“But you…” Rainbow paused, her face scrunching up as if holding back a few choice words, before she let out a groan. “Okay, I guess that’s true, but seriously, Natalya, you should already be there.”

Natalya huffed with annoyance. “I just told you, I still have time. I’m supposed to get there near the end of her class. Between you showing me where her schoolhouse was yesterday and my speed, I can get there in a flash. If I leave now, I’m just gonna end up waiting around and being bored.”

“But what if you—”

“Of course, if a certain pegasus won’t stop pestering me, I’m not going to able to finish getting ready and then I’ll be late for sure,” Natalya warned, finally turning to Rainbow with a glare.

Other than a huff and a frown, Rainbow shut her mouth and kept quiet.

Natalya took only a few more minutes to towel herself off as well as getting her hairs and feathers in place. She was still slightly damp in a few spots, but a natural blow-dry from the flight over to the schoolhouse would take care of that. The important thing was that she looked, more or less, like her usual, dashing self again.

“You done yet?” Rainbow asked as soon as Natalya tossed the towel aside.

“Dunno. Are you done with your annoying nagging yet?”

“Well, I wouldn’t be nagging you if you would just hurry up!”

“How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not going to be late!” Natalya gave Rainbow another glare, this one more scathing than the last. “Rainbow, you’re really getting on my nerves. You got a problem with me? Oh wait, let me take a wild guess. You think that I’m going to try and ditch the show and tell, that I’m actually going out of my way to ruin a kid’s day.” She let out an angry scoff. “Gee, thanks for thinking so highly of me,”

Rainbow's eyes widened, the fight in them suddenly gone. “Wait, wait, wait, I’m not saying that at all!”

“Really now? So then why are you on my case more than usual today?”

“Well… Because it’s Scootaloo’s presentation and… It’s just…” Rainbow sighed, her gaze dropping to the floor. “Natalya, I’m sorry… I know that you wouldn’t leave Scootaloo hanging, and I’m sorry if I made it sound like you were. I guess… I guess that I’m just a bit antsy about this whole thing.”

“A bit?” Natalya repeated flatly.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Okay, maybe a bunch, but can you blame me? I won’t be there to help smooth things over if something goes wrong, and no offense, but you’re not exactly, uh, kid-friendly, if you know what I mean.”

It was Natalya’s turn to roll her eyes. “Oh please. You act like as if I don’t know how to behave around kids. Look at Scootaloo. She seems to like me well enough.”

“Well, yeah, but you’re going in front of a whole classroom of fillies and colts.”

“I get along with kids just fine. In fact, there was the time when…” Natalya went silent as she quickly sifted through her memories. A few seconds, she switched to a deadpan face. “Okay, maybe you should be a bit worried,” she admitted, realizing that Scootaloo was the only child that she had any extended interaction with.

Rainbow groaned and planted a hoof in her face. “Just… Just be careful with what you say, alright? I don’t want to hear that you somehow started a brawl at the schoolhouse.”

“Well, there goes my whole presentation,” Natalya dryly remarked.

Rainbow’s hoof dragged down her face, revealing an unamused stare. “Natalya…”

“Sheesh, relax, dude. I’m kidding. I might not have much experience with kids, but I do have common sense.”

“That’s not so reassuring…”

Natalya shrugged. “Dunno what else to tell you. This presentation is gonna happen, so you’re just gonna have to suck it up and trust me.”

“I know, I know…” Rainbow took in a deep breath and let out the air slowly. “Natalya, really, I’m sorry for bothering you so much. It’s just that, you know that Scoots is like a sister to me, and I want the best for her. Tanking this presentation could really ruin her school-cred.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Natalya said with a sigh. “I know that I’m not getting any friendship awards or whatever anytime soon, but seriously, I got this. I don’t want to screw this up for Scootaloo either. Don’t go spreading it around, but I think she’s growing on me.”

Rainbow chuckled softly. “That’s obvious, but it does make me feel a whole lot better to actually hear you say that out loud. Guess I really don’t have anything to worry about.”

“Well, duh.” Natalya’s gaze drifted to the side and lingered on the clock on the wall. “Although, maybe you should kind of worry if you’re gonna continue keeping me here with your yammering.”

“What?” Rainbow glanced in the direction Natalya was looking at and then balked. “Oh shoot! I need to get back to the office! And you need to get going!”

Biting back the urge to make another sarcastic quip, Natalya merely nodded and flew out the window with Rainbow.

“Say hi to Scoots for me, and good luck!” Rainbow bade before the two of them shot off in different directions.

It did not take long before Natalya’s destination came into view, easily spotting it from a distance. The majority of Ponyville’s structures comprised of thatched roof buildings, but the schoolhouse’s red walls and white trimmings made it easy to distinguish. If that was not enough, there was also a small bell tower on the roof of the building as well as a red flag waving from the top of a flagpole near the entrance.

As Natalya landed on the path leading up to the school and began walking to the door, she noticed that the nearby playground was in a sorry state. To name a few, the swings of the swing sets were being held up by frayed ropes that looked like they would snap at the slightest movement, the merry-go-round was tilting onto its side with one handle jutting into the air, and one of the teeter-totters was snapped in half.

It looked as if some sort of monster had rampaged through the area a season or so ago. The idea was not actually not so farfetched since she recalled Twilight mentioning that Ponyville did in fact suffer the occasional monster attack.

Turning her attention away from the derelict playground, Natalya knocked on the schoolhouse door, and a moment later, it opened, revealing a mulberry earth pony mare.

“Oh, you must be Natalya,” the mare greeted with a welcoming smile. “You’re here for Scootaloo’s show and tell, right?”

Natalya nodded. “You’re the teacher?”

“Correct. My name is Cheerilee, and I must thank you for coming. This is going to be a wonderful opportunity to learn about griffon culture. I’m sure the students, as well as I, are going to enjoy what you have to say.”

“Wait, what I have to say? But isn’t this Scootaloo’s presentation?”

“Um, yes, that is true, but it’s not like she’s showing off a toy or an accessory. You’re able to speak as well and help teach the children.” Cheerilee’s smile faltered. “Were you expecting something different?”

“Scootaloo said that she was going to do most of the talking, and all I had to do was maybe answer a few questions.”

“Oh, well, um, I suppose that is fine then…” Cheerilee chuckled nervously, an uneasy smile on her face. “So, uh, should I prepare the class for the show and tell?”

Natalya shrugged. “I guess.”

Cheerilee stared at Natalya for a second before turning her head back toward the classroom. “Alright, class, we’re going to wrap up today with Scootaloo’s show and tell presentation,” she announced, her earlier trepidation replaced by a clear, confident voice. “Scootaloo, please come here and prepare with your guest. Everypony else, go ahead and take a break, but please keep the noise down.”

Amidst the students’ chattering that started up from within, Natalya heard the sound of a piece of furniture sliding against wood, shortly followed by hurried hoofsteps. Less than a second later, Scootaloo appeared by Cheerilee’s side, looking up at the griffon with a broad smile.

“Hey, you made it!” Scootaloo chirped.

“Yeah, here I am…” Natalya replied, her enthusiasm only a fraction of Scootaloo’s. She cleared her throat. “Oh yeah, I saw Rainbow before I got here. She says hi and good luck and maybe some other junk like that.”

“Awesome!”

“You’re friends with, Rainbow?” Cheerilee asked.

“They sure are!” Scootaloo answered before Natalya could speak. “They do all sorts of awesome flying together!”

Cheerilee looked down at Scootaloo, one of her eyebrows slowly rising up. “Scootaloo, just curious, what are you going to talk about in your show and tell with Natalya?”

“About how awesome she is, her flying, and how she did in the Equestria Games, of course,” Scootaloo answered without hesitation.

Cheerilee shook her head. Despite the disappointed sigh she let out, she also wore a slightly amused smile. “I should’ve known… Well, that’s fine, Scootaloo, but if it’s not too much trouble, could you please try to at least spend a bit of time talking about griffon culture? It would give the class some new and exciting things to learn about.”

“Uh, sure, Miss Cheerilee. Whatever you say,” Scootaloo replied with less confidence.

“Well then, shall we get started?” Cheerilee asked. When she received nods from Natalya and Scootaloo, she led them back into the classroom.

Natalya heard a few gasps as soon as she stepped into the schoolhouse. They were followed by a flurry of whispers, but between her keen hearing and a few students failing to keep their voices quiet enough, she was able to pick out a few comments.

“Whoa, Scootaloo brought a griffon!”

“Isn’t that one of the griffons staying at Princess Twilight’s castle?”

“I think I saw that griffon hang out with Rainbow Dash a bunch.”

“But I saw that griffon painting something at Bon Bon’s shop once.”

“Like, really? Why would she bring that here?”

Natalya quickly zeroed in on the last speaker. It was a pink earth pony filly with a pampered, well-groomed mane of white and violet with a tiara resting upon it. The filly did not notice Natalya’s glare because she was talking in a haughty tone to a grey earth pony filly that was seated right next to her.

“Alright, everypony, settle down,” Cheerilee instructed, guiding Natalya and Scootaloo to stand front and center of the class. “As I said earlier, we’re going to finish off today with Scootaloo’s show and tell presentation, and she has brought in a special guest.” She waved a hoof at the griffon. “Class, this is Natalya. Please say hello.”

“Hello, Natalya,” a monotone chorus promptly greeted the griffon.

“Uh, sup.” Seeing the many eyes focused on her, Natalya’s heart skipped a beat when she realized that she was standing in front of a bunch of fillies and colts that were going to watch her every move and hang onto each word she uttered. Despite having plenty of experience in performing in front of others, somehow, this group of students was unnerving her more than the thousands of ponies at the Equestria Games.

“Please give Scootaloo and Natalya your full attention,” Cheerilee instructed as she sat down behind her desk that stood in front of the blackboard. “Scootaloo, you may start whenever you’re ready.”

“Alright, everypony, listen up!” Scootaloo announced loudly, raising a hoof in Natalya’s direction. “This is Natalya, the fastest griffon in Griffonstone and probably even the fastest griffon in Equestria!”

Natalya glanced at Scootaloo for a moment, pushing down the urge to smirk. She had never advertised the fastest griffon in Equestria part, but she was certainly not going to refute that probably-true claim.

“Natalya is a such a cool griffon! She knows how to play it cool, she’s a hard worker, and the best part is that she’s an awesome flyer, just like Rainbow Dash! In fact, she was in the—” Scootaloo paused when a colt that was noticeably smaller than everyone else in the class in the back raised his hoof. “Uh, yes, Pipsqueak?”

“Where’s Griffonstone?” Pipsqueak asked with an accent Natalya could only describe as ‘fancy’.

“Oh, well, um… It’s, uh…” After being quiet for a few seconds, Scootaloo looked up at Natalya with an apologetic, pleading face.

“Griffonstone is far to the east,” Natalya answered.

“How far?” Pipsqueak queried.

“Uh… Really far?” Natalya wanted to kick herself for such a lame answer, but it was honestly all that she knew. She might have traveled around a bunch, but they were all for some form of competition, which meant that she paid little attention to anything else, such as the lay of the land.

Fortunately, Cheerilee promptly added, “Your old hometown of Trottingham is pretty much on the eastern border of our nation, Pipsqueak. The griffon kingdom and Griffonstone is just beyond that.”

“Whoa, that is really far,” Pipsqueak commented, his eyes wide with awe.

Natalya breathed a small sigh of relief for Cheerilee’s rescue. It was barely a minute into the presentation and she had already almost blundered the first question asked. She had assured Rainbow that she would not mess up the presentation, and she certainly did not want to disappoint Scootaloo. She was going to have to be more careful if she was going to keep both pegasi happy.

“As I was saying,” said Scootaloo, restarting her presentation. “Natalya was in the Equestria Games. She flew in the aerial relay race with her team and even got a medal!”

“Well, yeah, but, like, only third place,” the haughty filly from before added. “Would’ve been interesting if she actually got first.”

Natalya was starting to dislike that filly.

“Diamond Tiara, that is not a nice thing to say,” Cheerilee scolded. “Please apologize.”

“Sorry,” Diamond replied in an unapologetic, bored voice.

Cheerilee sighed and then waved at Scootaloo and Natalya to continue.

“Natalya might have came in third, Diamond Tiara, but it still doesn’t change the fact that she’s an awesome flyer!” Scootaloo declared, undeterred by Diamond’s earlier put-down and focusing her explanation toward the filly. “During her part of the race, she started behind a bunch of ponies, but not only did she take first place, she beat Soarin, one of the Wonderbolts! You should’ve seen her!”

Natalya allowed herself a small smirk. Even though she did not win the race, it was still nice to hear that others had noticed her obviously superior flying skills.

“Uh, duh, I did see it,” Diamond stated in a deadpan tone. “My daddy got me front row seats.”

That was when Natalya decided that she did not dislike Diamond Tiara. She detested the filly. She could now see that Diamond was just one of those rich kids who liked to flaunt their wealth. Granted, Natalya knew that she was guilty of doing the same thing with her own money at times, but at least she earned those bits herself, not like this spoiled brat who hid behind her daddy and likely never lifted a hoof to do anything in her entire life.

“Yeah, so what?” Scootaloo retorted. “I got to actually be on the field as Ponyville’s flag carrier! That’s even better!”

“Pfft, whatever. Who cares about that?”

“Sure looked like you did when you spent a week sulking over how my friends and I beat your lame performance!”

“Ahem…” Cheerilee uttered, instantly causing the two fillies to clam up and swiftly look at the teacher. “Scootaloo, Diamond, this is not how you’re supposed to settle a dispute. You should be talking to each other in a calm, civilized manner. Furthermore, this is supposed to be show and tell time, and the both of you are being discourteous of Natalya’s time.”

“Sorry, Miss Cheerilee,” the fillies apologized, their heads bowed.

“Thank you, girls. Now, Scootaloo, please continue.”

“Right. So, anyway, Natalya came here from Griffonstone with another griffon named Gilda, who just so happens to be an old friend of Rainbow Dash as well. While Gilda is learning about friendship from Princess Twilight and baking stuff from Pinkie Pie, Natalya here became quick friends with Rainbow because they’re both so awesome! They now hang out a bunch, doing flying tricks, pulling pranks, and other fun stuff. Best of all, Natalya is even training with Rainbow Dash to do her own Sonic Rainboom!”

Natalya flinched when Scootaloo mentioned her Sonic Rainboom training. She did not think to ask the filly to skip that piece of information. While it was not meant to be some sort of big secret, Natalya still would rather keep her attempts at the Sonic Rainboom under wraps until she got something significant to show.

Amidst the excited chatter Scootaloo’s news had sparked, a pegasus colt with a light-gray coat and a darker-gray, slick mane quickly raised his hoof. Not waiting to be called upon, he asked, “Natalya, is it really true that you’re trying to do the Sonic Rainboom?”

Natalya nodded. “Yep.”

“Do you think you can do it?” a thin, lanky pegasus colt asked. “Um, not trying to be mean or anything, but Rainbow is the only pony in Equestria who has ever pulled it off.”

Natalya sighed. “You know, you’re not the first pony to bring those stuff up. Yes, I know all those things, but remember that I’m the fastest griffon. I think I got a decent chance of pulling it off.”

“So, uh, doth that mean the training ith going well?” a filly with a lisp inquired.

“Not exactly…” Natalya glanced away and scratched the side of her head with a talon while she formulated a good explanation. “I admit that progress has been slow, but if it was going to be easy, Rainbow wouldn’t still be the only pony who has done it.”

Before another student could ask a question, Cheerilee rapped her forehoof on her desk. When the room went quiet, she said, “Alright, class, perhaps we should give Natalya a break from this line of questions. Scootaloo, we’re starting to run low on time. Maybe we could let your classmates ask Natalya a few things about griffons?”

“Uh, sure, alright.” Scootaloo turned to the rest of her class as a few hooves went up in the air. She pointed at one of the students, a chubby colt sitting in the back. “Snips?”

“Is it true that griffons eat meat?” Snips asked.

“Yep,” Natalya replied, causing a few of the other students to utter ‘Eww’.

“Class, be polite,” Cheerilee immediately chastised the disgusted students. “Just because ponies don’t eat meat, doesn’t mean that you should frown upon others that do. Be respectful of other ponies’, or in this case, griffons’, culture and way of life.”

After a few mumbled apologies from the students, a lanky colt next to Snips asked, “So if griffons eat meat, does that mean they also eat ponies?”

Natalya’s eyebrow rose in amusement.

Cheerilee was not as amused. “Snails!” she cried out aghast. “Griffons certainly do not eat ponies! Apologize to Natalya right now!”

“Sorry, Miss Natalya,” a sheepish Snails mumbled, slumping into his seat.

Natalya snickered, not at all offended. “It’s alright, and just to confirm, no griffons don’t eat ponies.”

“So what’s Griffonstone like?” Pipsqueak asked.

Natalya had to take a pause to formulate the right words to describe her hometown. It did not take long for her to come up with the perfect answer.

“It’s a total dump,” Natalya uttered nonchalantly. She watched as many of the students’ eyes widened, and murmurs filled the classroom. Turning her head slightly, she saw that Cheerilee had a similar look like her students, and a glance down to her side revealed Scootaloo looking up at her with her brow furrowed in confusion and concern.

“Um, what do you mean by that, if you don’t mind me asking?” asked a filly that Natalya recognized as Sweetie Belle, one of Scootaloo’s friends.

“Well, compared to Ponyville, it really does look like a dump.” Seeing the inquisitive stares of all the students, silently pressing her for more, Natalya sighed. “It’s… it’s just really run down. Many buildings are dingy shacks with barely any room, and there’s dirt and dead plants everywhere. We have almost no stores and even then, they don’t have much. In fact, Gilda was the only one who had any decent grub around the whole place. Trust me, Ponyville isn’t as spectacular as say the Crystal Empire, but it’s still loads better than Griffonstone.”

“So was Griffonstone always, uh, a dump?”

“As far as I can remember.” Natalya paused for a second, glancing up at the ceiling in thought. “Actually, no, I heard things were different before. A really long time ago, there was a griffon king who united the griffons because he had some sort of really cool idol. That idol became Griffonstone’s most valuable treasure and it was passed down from king to king.

“During that whole time, Griffonstone was doing really well, but fast forward a bunch of generations and then it was invaded by some sort of monster.”

Natalya’s gaze returned to the class when she heard a few gasps. She was greeted by the sight of all of the students leaning forward, literally on the edge of their seats, and staring at her with rapt attention.

“What kind of monster was it?” one of the students asked.

“Um, hold on.” Natalya racked her mind to try and remember the details. “I think it was, yeah, it was kind of like a minotaur, but also kind of like a goat. It also had one big eye, and it stood taller than a house.”

“So what did the monster do?” somepony else asked amidst the excited chatter from the other students.

“It broke into the place where the idol was kept, beat up the king and his guards, and then ran off with the idol. A bunch of griffons chased down the monster, but it ended up falling, along with the idol, into the Abysmal Abyss, a huge gorge not too far from Griffonstone.

“That was the last anyone ever saw the idol. The Abysmal Abyss is said to be bottomless, and along with the treacherous winds that always run through it, searching for the idol was impossible.

“When the idol disappeared, so did the unity of all the griffons. The king at the time just gave up, and no one stepped up to replace him once he was gone. Things just fell apart, and that’s how Griffonstone became a dump.”

A few moments after Natalya finished the mini-history lesson, she noticed that the classroom was silent.

“Uh, not much of a happy ending, huh?” Natalya remarked, letting out a nervous chuckle as she saw the disappointed looks on some of the students’ faces. When a filly eventually raised their hoof, she leapt at the opportunity to break the uneasy silence. Recognizing the filly, Natalya hastily pointed at her and called out, “Apple Bloom?”

“So, uh, why doesn’t anypony do somethin’ to fix things now?” Apple Bloom asked.

Natalya mentally cursed as she was thrown up against another hard question. “Because… Because griffons just aren’t like that. Unlike you ponies, we’re not nice and don’t play well with others. Getting us to work together on something is a real hassle. In other words, most griffons just care about themselves.”

Again, an uncomfortable silence descended upon the classroom, and Natalya was beginning to calculate the repercussions of suddenly fleeing the scene.

“But that Gilda griffon is not like that, right?” a pink unicorn filly piped up. “She was nice and even gave me a few cookies that she made when I visited Sugarcube Corner over the weekend.”

“Uh, yeah, I guess she’s one of the exceptions.”

“There’s also Gustav,” a chubby, gray colt pointed out. “He’s a famous dessert chef that travels around Equestria, and he’s also known to be pretty nice.”

“Well, I guess that’s why he lives in Equestria instead. Some griffons just don’t fit in Griffonstone so they decide to move out.”

“Class, this is actually an important life lesson,” said Cheerilee. “You don’t judge somepony or somegriffon based on where they came from or their species. You have to get to know them first. While Natalya says that Griffonstone has many not-so-pleasant griffons, that doesn’t mean there’s no nice griffons either.”

“Are you one of the nice griffons too, Natalya?” Snails asked.

Natalya blinked. “Um…”

“Of course she is!” Scootaloo promptly leapt to Natalya’s defense. “She’s fun to hang out with, she shared her candy with me, and she encourages me when I have trouble with my fl—” She stopped to let out a single cough. “My, um, uh, flower… picking…” She let out another cough. “Point is, I wouldn’t have brought her in if she wasn’t nice and cool!”

Despite thinking that ‘nice’ was exactly the right word to describe herself, Natalya did appreciate Scootaloo’s vouching for her.

“Okay, everypony, I think that will be it for Scootaloo and Natalya’s presentation. Class, please thank Natalya for taking the time to visit us.”

“Thank you, Natalya,” the class parroted back. There was a bit less monotony in their voices from when they first greeted the griffon.

“And that also brings us to the end of today,” Cheerilee added. As soon as those words left her mouth, the sound of paper rustling and bags being opened filled the air as all of the children immediately began packing their belongings.

“Now don’t forget to finish your reading before the next lesson,” Cheerilee instructed, even as a couple students had already gotten out of their seats. “Have a nice day, everypony!”

Natalya had to jump out of the way as all the fillies and colts stampeded for the door, almost trampling her in the process. When the dust settled, only her, Scootaloo, and Cheerilee were left.

As Scootaloo went back to her desk to hastily pack her stuff, Natalya decided to wait for Scootaloo outside and headed for the door.

“Natalya, could I speak to you for a few moments before you leave?” Cheerilee asked, making the griffon turn right back around.

Natalya shrugged. “Sure, I guess.”

“Is it about our presentation?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yes,” Cheerilee admitted. She smiled at the filly. “But don’t worry, Scootaloo. While it was a bit different, you did just fine. I just wanted to talk to Natalya about something in private, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh, uh, sure, Miss Cheerilee. I’ll wait for you outside then, Natalya,” Scootaloo stated before rushing out the door.

“Let me guess, you actually thought the presentation was awful,” Natalya remarked as soon as Scootaloo left.

“Oh, no, no, no.” Cheerilee swiftly shook her head. “Like I said, it was different.”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “You can stop trying to sugarcoat it. Just give it to me straight.”

“Well, the first thing I want to say is that I’m sorry for the rude behavior of some of my students. It’s likely that this is their first time meeting a griffon up close, but that doesn’t excuse them from asking such untactful questions.”

“Yeah, well, kids are kids, and it’s not like a few weird questions are going to bother me. Besides, those were nothing compared to some of the stuff you hear in Griffonstone.”

“I’ll, um, take your word for it. I’m glad to hear that you’re not offended,” Cheerilee said, putting on a weak smile before it disappeared a few moments later. “Anyway, um, about the presentation… I will admit that it was quite unorthodox and actually perhaps a bit much for the children.”

Natalya groaned softly. “Great…”

Cheerilee swiftly added, “But I wouldn’t worry about it too much. I’ve had to teach them about difficult subjects more than a few times. Sometimes, you have to nudge them out of their comfort zone to broaden their minds.”

“I guess… So what I’m hearing is, I didn’t mess up… Or at least not too badly.”

Cheerilee laughed softly. “No, Natalya, you did not mess up at all.” She took a breath. “So, was that story about the idol true?”

“More or less. A couple of old geezers back in Griffonstone like to talk a lot about the ‘good old days’,” she explained, drawing air quotes with her talons. “Whether you want to or not, you’re going to hear things, including that story. I don’t remember all of the details, but I think I hit all of the major points.”

“And the state of Griffonstone?”

Natalya merely nodded.

“Oh dear… I heard a few things from Pinkie, but I thought that she was exaggerating.”

“Yeah, it’s not exactly someplace you want to go for a vacation.” Natalya shrugged. “But what can you do? You get used to it, especially when you grow up with it.”

“Isn’t your friend Gilda trying to change that by spreading friendship in Griffonstone?”

“She sure can try, but it’s going to be really tough. A lot of griffons only know how to take care of themselves. You can’t even get one to give you the time of day, that is, unless you pay them for it.”

“Ah, yes, Pinkie also mentioned the griffons' obsession with their bits. And it’s true that changing a pony or griffon can be a daunting task, let alone a whole town of them. Still, if Gilda can make even a few griffons to become more like you and her, you would be surprised to see how much a small group of friends can accomplish.”

Natalya was about to ask Cheerilee what she meant by ‘more like her’, but she stopped when she put some more thought into it. She had come to Ponyville to trounce Rainbow in a race. Instead, she had eventually became friends with her former nemesis, even becoming best friends with the pegasus. Since then, her words became less harsh, and she had even started doing things for the sake of others, such as apologizing or giving up her time to show up as a show and tell project for a filly.

Ponyville, or more specifically, Rainbow, had changed her.

“Natalya?” Cheerilee spoke, breaking the griffon out of her musing. “Are you alright? You suddenly went quiet.”

Natalya shook her head. “It’s nothing. Just got lost in thought. Listen, I gotta head out now.”

Cheerilee nodded. “Alright then. Thank you again for coming. I’m sure the students had a great time with you, and they will remember your presentation for a long time.”

After exchanging goodbyes with Cheerilee, Natalya exited the school house. She took a quick look around the immediate area, seeing a few kids that were still hanging around but no sign of Scootaloo. Figuring that she should at least check in with Scootaloo before leaving, Natalya took to the air in search the filly.

Chapter 14: Getting Schooled (Part 2)

“Where is she?” Natalya muttered from her perch on top of the schoolhouse, ignoring the few weird looks she was getting by some lingering students.

After her talk with Cheerilee, Natalya went outside to find no sign of Scootaloo and had flew up onto the building to get a better view of the area. Since she had stayed inside for around ten minutes tops, Natalya doubted that Scootaloo had wandered off too far, especially since the filly said that she would be waiting for the griffon.

While Natalya was not too worried, the filly’s mysterious absence still made Natalya feel slightly uneasy. She then realized that she probably should be a bit more worried; Rainbow would likely kill her if something really did happen to Scootaloo.

Just as Natalya was about to broaden her search by flying up and doing a quick circle around the area, she spotted a very familiar magenta tail peek out from behind a large tree not too far from the schoolhouse. Immediately, she flew right over to the tree, picking out a few choice words for the filly for wasting her time. However, Natalya’s plan changed when she soon heard that Scootaloo was not alone.

“Like, really?” Diamond’s condescending voice rang. “That presentation of yours was so lame!”

“At least it was better than your presentation when you showed off one your tiaras… again!” Scootaloo shot back.

“Um, excuse me? My newest tiara is the best one yet!”

“It looks exactly the same as the last one,” Scootaloo stated flatly. “I couldn’t even tell you were wearing a new one.”

Diamond scoffed. “Well of course somepony like you wouldn’t notice. Only ponies as sophisticated as me and Silver Spoon can truly appreciate its beauty. It has diamonds in it that are like one carat bigger than the last one.”

“Hate to break it to you, Diamond, but nopony cares about what you put on your head.”

“At least Diamond’s tiara was better than that griffon of yours,” Silver Spoon added. “It was such a downer when she talked about her hometown.”

“Well, who asked you, Silver Spoon?!” Scootaloo shouted back heatedly.

Natalya was able to quietly fly closer and land on a thick branch near the top of the tree without alerting any of the fillies to her presence. It was not much of a hiding spot, but as long as no one looked up, Natalya would be able to watch everything.

From her vantage point, Natalya could see that Scootaloo was backed up against the tree with Diamond and Silver, the grey earth pony with glasses that Natalya saw sitting next to Diamond, standing in front of the pegasus.

Although Natalya did not disagree that her talk about Griffonstone was kind of a mess, she could tell that the two fillies were pestering Scootaloo for their own amusement. Sure, she probably should sweep in and break up the argument, but she first wanted to see how Scootaloo handled the bullies.

“Like, seriously, your show and tell was a total bore,” Diamond complained.

“Yeah, all that you talked about was her flying, just like you always do whenever you bring Rainbow,” said Silver. “So lame.”

“Hey, Rainbow and flying is always awesome,” Scootaloo defended. “And just like Rainbow, Natalya is also awesome. It’s not my fault that you two don’t understand how great flying is.”

“Oh yeah, like you’re the expert on flying,” Diamond sarcastically retorted. “Because you have so much experience with it, right?”

Natalya noticed that Scootaloo stiffened up, but her attention was more focused on giving Diamond a baleful glare as her talons dug into the tree branch.

“W-what do you mean by that?” Scootaloo asked warily.

“You can’t fly, duh.”

Scootaloo flinched. “Y-yeah, so what? I know it sucks, but it’s not like it’s going to stay that way. Unlike you two, I know the meaning of hard work, and I’ve been giving it my all to finally get me flying.”

“And how’s that working for you?” Diamond asked with a devilish smirk.

“Uh, well, it’s still a work in progress…” Scootaloo’s gaze dropped to the ground, but a few moments later, she looked back up at Diamond. With renewed confidence, she declared, “But I got Rainbow coaching me, and Natalya has been helping out as well! They’re two amazing flyers, and with their help, it’s going to happen!”

“Oh please, you’re the only pegasus in our class that still can’t fly. There are even foals that can fly! You’re just wasting everypony’s time, and all your babbling about flying is so annoying.” Diamond walked forward and poked Scootaloo in the chest. “Seriously, just give it up!”

Alright, that’s it. Natalya jumped down from the tree branch and deftly used her wings to reduce her speed to a safe level while still landing with a heavy thump that caused all three fillies to jump and quickly turn to her.

“Natalya?” Scootaloo uttered in surprise as a small smile grew on her face.

“Hey,” Natalya casually greeted, turning toward Scootaloo.

“How did you—”

“I got tired of waiting and went looking for you.”

“Oh, uh, sorry about that.” Scootaloo pointed at the other two fillies. “Those two were being jerks and wouldn’t let me go.”

“Yeah, I figured. Just give me a sec while I deal with them,” Natalya instructed before shifting her full attention to Diamond and Silver.

“We weren’t doing anything,” Silver Spoon quickly defended. “Scootaloo was actually the one who was bother—”

“Save it,” Natalya barked, silencing the filly. “I was actually watching for the past few minutes, so don’t even bother trying to lie.”

“Fine, you caught us. Congratulations,” Diamond sarcastically confessed. “We’ll just leave then.”

“Oh, I’m not done with you two just yet.” Natalya stepped toward the earth ponies, almost stomping her foreleg into the ground. “I heard what you two were saying, especially you,” she stated, pointing at Diamond.

“Yeah, so what?” Diamond challenged, even though she and Silver slowly backed away.

“I really don’t like it that you two are picking on Scootaloo because she can’t fly.” Natalya took another step closer to the fillies and raised a foreleg as she flexed her hand, making sure they could see her sharp talons. “I have half a mind to do something about that.”

“Wait, you can’t do anything to us! We’re just fillies!” Silver protested.

“Doesn’t matter to me. All I see are two ponies that are in need of a good lesson.”

“Hey!” Diamond shouted. She was scowling angrily, but the effect was diminished by her quivering legs. “Y-you better not lay a filthy hoof on me! If anything happens to me, my daddy will get you!”

“You think that scares me? You heard what Griffonstone was like. You and your daddy have lived a pampered life while I was fighting to survive. Whatever daddy can dish out, I assure you, I’ve been through worse.”

Natalya slowly took another step forward, only to suddenly let out a roar and lurch forward with her wings fully spread out.

Diamond and Silver yelped and threw their forelegs around each other as they stared up at Natalya with wide, fearful eyes.

Natalya scoffed. “Alright, now that I got your attention, listen up, because I’m going to say this only once: You two are to never bother Scootaloo again. If you do, I assure you, that I will find you and make you pay. Got it?”

Diamond and Silver feverishly nodded their heads in compliance.

“Good. Now, I suggest that you two scram before I decide to give pony meat a try.”

Natalya kept her eyes on the fillies as they hastily got on their hooves and scampered off. With the troublemakers now long gone, she took a calming breath before turning around to the remaining, more important filly. She paused when she saw that Scootaloo was looking up at her with wide, unblinking eyes.

“Uh, you alright?” Natalya asked warily. She could not tell if Scootaloo was looking at her in fear or awe. She really hoped that it was the latter.

Scootaloo mutely nodded in reply.

“Then what’s with that look?”

“Because… that… was… so… awesome!” Scootaloo cried out, clamping her forehooves up to squish her cheeks as she made a squee sound.

Natalya disguised her breath of relief by clearing her throat. “Okay, uh, cool. So how come you were all the way out here? You said you were going to wait for me outside the schoolhouse.”

“Sorry about that,” an abashed Scootaloo apologized. “When Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon started bothering me, I tried to get away and hide behind this tree when they got distracted. Obviously, that didn’t work out.”

“Where’s Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle then? Aren’t friends supposed to stick by your side and help get you out of jams?”

“We’re planning to do some crusading for our cutie marks later, so I told them to go on ahead to start setting things up, since I was waiting for you. Guess Diamond and Silver could not resist ganging up on me since I was alone.”

Natalya was about to say that taking a swing at one of the fillies would have shut them right up, but she held her tongue when she realized that Rainbow and Twilight would likely disapprove. Instead, she said, “Rainbow told me some spoiled brats liked to bother you. I take it those two were them.”

Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah, they’re a real pain. They think that they’re better than everypony else because their parents are rich and like to rub it in everypony’s face. While they make life for everypony miserable, my friends and I get targeted more because we still don’t have our cutie marks. They’ve had it out for us for what feels like years.

“Actually, now that I think about it, they’ve been worse than usual. Probably because student pony president elections are coming up soon. Usually, Diamond wins because her mom is the president of the school board, but this time around, Pipsqueak is running against her.”

“Pipsqueak?” Natalya recalled the colt that asked the first question during the show and tell. “That tiny dude with the funny accent?”

“Yep! He’s actually pretty popular, and some of the stuff he wants to do if he becomes president are really cool. I hear that he even wants to go up to the school board to get them to fix up the playground. Diamond has a good chance of actually losing, so it’s no wonder that she’s more snippy than usual.”

“Makes sense. I know that I’m definitely not my usual charming self if a competition doesn’t go my way.” Natalya glanced back at the dilapidated playground. “So what happened over there anyway?”

“Oh, all that stuff was broken by a giant centaur named Tirek that almost took over all of Equestria by sucking the magic out of everypony,” Scootaloo replied nonchalantly.

Natalya slowly turned her head back to Scootaloo, her eyebrow raised. “Seriously?”

“Yep. Feels like this kind of stuff happens at least once a season or so.”

“Okay… So, uh, how about that presentation?”

“Oh, you were awesome!” Scootaloo declared with a broad smile. “I got to talk about your awesome flying, and I learned some stuff about Griffonstone. Some of my classmates even told me they thought the presentation was cool.”

“Really?” Natalya asked with a hint of disbelief. “So everyone liked everything?”

Scootaloo’s smile shrunk. “Um, yep!” Her smile wilted even more at Natalya’s scrutinizing gaze. Eventually, she sighed. “Okay, so some of them might have mentioned that the Griffonstone part was kind of iffy…”

“Yeah, I kind of figured. That was one of the things Cheerilee wanted to talk about.”

“We’re not in any trouble, are we?”

“Nah. She thought that it was a bit much, but still thought it was acceptable for you guys.”

“That’s good.” Scootaloo sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. “And sorry that you had to do all that extra talking about griffons and Griffonstone. I should’ve known that Miss Cheerilee would want you to talk about griffon stuff.”

Natalya shrugged. “It’s cool.”

“Well, the good news is that despite the weird parts, I think that, overall, my classmates liked us. I’d definitely say that our presentation was a big success.”

Before Natalya knew it, Scootaloo had her forelegs around the griffon’s chest.

“Thank you, Natalya,” Scootaloo said full of gratitude. “I had a lot of fun doing the show and tell with you. And thank you for also taking care of Diamond and Silver for me.”

“Yeah, well…” Natalya slowly raised one of her arms above Scootaloo’s head and moved it up and down, her hand barely touching the filly’s mane in a patting motion. “No problem, Scootaloo. And if those two start giving you too much trouble, just let me know. I would be more than happy to set them straight.”

Scootaloo giggled. “Will do!”

“So I guess that you should be heading off to meet your friends?” Natalya asked when Scootaloo let go of her.

“Yeah, we got some good stuff planned for today. What about you?”

“I think I’ll try to do some training by myself. Rainbow said she probably won’t be able to see me until tomorrow.”

“Alright then. Good luck with that, and thanks again for everything!” Scootaloo gave Natalya one last quick hug before running off.

Natalya watched Scootaloo and only after the filly was out of sight did she take off toward the outskirts of Ponyville. When she arrived at the field where she usually trained with Rainbow, she landed on the grass to do a few quick warm-up stretches before returning to the air to start her training.

It did not take long for Natalya to notice that something was wrong as she worked on her diving. The main problem was that she could feel that she was not reaching the same speeds she was achieving during her last training session. Despite not feeling tired, her movements were on the sluggish side, and even her drive to keep going was much lower than usual as each attempt took longer before she mustered the will to fly back up.

Stopping for a break to try and figure out what was wrong, Natalya’s gaze began wandering around. She was by herself, which was not a surprise because, according to Rainbow, hardly anyone came here. Her training back in Griffonstone was always done in solitude, and she even preferred it that way. For some reason though, now she felt a bit uncomfortable, like something was missing.

Then it hit her.

There was no Rainbow flying close by. No Rainbow shouting out encouragements. No Rainbow at all.

Natalya had grown accustomed to Rainbow’s presence during her training. While Rainbow was still not able to come up with anything that would give Natalya a major breakthrough toward the Sonic Rainboom, it still felt nice to have the pegasus’s support. Natalya knew that Rainbow was growing on her, but she did not realize that her friend might have actually become a vital part of her training routine.

I don’t seriously need her around to do my training… Do I? Natalya asked herself. Hoping that it was not true, she tried to shake off her unease and resumed her flying.

Despite her efforts to power through, Natalya saw that she was still not flying up to her usual standards and soon decided that she had to call it quits. She had probably only spent about half an hour of training, but it just was not worthwhile to continue with her half-hearted flying. She convinced herself that it was just an off day, and the next time she happened to do some training alone, things would be better.

When Natalya flew back to the castle, she noticed that Twilight was standing right in front of the main entrance and speaking with a tan earth pony stallion that had a sleek, black mane and was wearing a shirt collar around his neck, complete with a red tie.

Figuring that it was not her business, Natalya stayed in the air and flew toward her room’s window. However, she was soon stopped when Twilight suddenly teleported in front of her in a burst of magenta light.

“Oh good, you’re home, Natalya,” Twilight greeted.

“Something up, Twilight?”

“Actually, yes. Um, there’s somepony here who needs to talk with you.”

“Oh?” One of Natalya’s eyebrows went up with intrigue, and she looked back at the stallion still standing in front of the castle doors.

“He, um, well…” Twilight’s gaze drifted to the side as she tapped her forehooves together nervously. “This might sound weird, but he actually says that you threatened her daughter.”

“Oh.” Natalya's eyes went down halfway into a bored stare. “Let me guess, that’s Diamond Tiara’s father?”

“Uh, yes. Wait, don’t tell me that there’s some truth to his claim?”

“Maybe, but doesn’t matter. I’m not interested in him.” Natalya flew around Twilight to get to her room, but the alicorn promptly teleported right back in front of her.

“Natalya, this is serious,” Twilight stated, frowning sternly. “Did you seriously threaten Diamond?”

“Yes.”

Twilight’s eyes bulged and she sputtered a few times. “W-what? Why?!”

“She and her friend were bothering Scootaloo.”

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay, at least you have a good reason, but that doesn’t change the fact that you threatened somepony’s daughter. You have to talk to him and tell your side of the story.”

“Somehow, I don’t think he’ll really listen to what I have to say.”

“Trust me, he will. Filthy Rich is a pretty understanding pony. Just talk to him. It will only take a few minutes, and it could very well save you a lot of hassle later on.”

“You’re not going to let me ignore him, are you?”

“That would be correct.”

Natalya let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine, let’s get this over with,” she conceded, allowing Twilight to lead her back down to the castle doors.

“Filthy Rich, this is Natalya,” Twilight introduced as she and the griffon landed in front of the earth pony. “And Natalya, this is Filthy Rich.”

“Sup,” Natalya greeted the stone-faced stallion.

Filthy’s eyebrow rose over the casual greeting. “Um, yes, hello there… Please, call me Mr. Rich. So, Natalya, I take it Princess Twilight has explained why I am here?”

“Yep,” Natalya answered in a bored tone.

Filthy did not reply, as though waiting for Natalya to continue, but after a few seconds he cleared his throat. “Yes, well, is it true that you threatened to eat my daughter, Diamond Tiara?”

“Yep.”

This time, Filthy let out an annoyed huff and frowned. “Natalya, this is a grave matter. You scared my child, and I do not appreciate you making light of the situation. I have half a mind to go straight to the proper authorities and press charges against you.”

“Mr. Rich, please, there’s no need to do that,” Twilight said hastily, stepping in between Natalya and Filthy. “Natalya has a perfectly—”

“Twilight, I got this,” Natalya interrupted, gently but firmly pushing the alicorn back with a wing as she moved back in front of Filthy. “Alright, so I’m just going to take a wild stab in the dark here. Your precious daughter came home in tears and cried over how I, the big, mean griffon, swooped down on her and did the whole threatening to eat her thing.”

“Yes, that is pretty much true…” Filthy cautiously replied, his eyes narrowing at Natalya.

“Well, you’ll be happy to know that she was telling the truth.”

Filthy’s frown morphed into a scowl. “So you are admitting—”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Natalya stated cooly. “But I’m not done yet. Let me ask you this: Did she tell you what she was doing before I did all of that stuff?”

Filthy stared at Natalya for a moment and then quietly admitted, “No, she did not.”

What a surprise, Natalya thought before continuing her explanation. “Well, then you might be interested to know that your daughter and her friend were picking on another filly who happens to be a friend of mine.”

The scowl on Filthy’s face softened. “I see… But you—”

“Still not done yet. Anyway, this friend of mine, Scootaloo…” Natalya noticed that Filthy drew in a sharp breath, and she filed that information away for later. “I did a show and tell thing at the school with her, and I had to stay back for a bit to talk to the teacher. When I found Scootaloo again, your Diamond and that Silver friend of hers were harassing her about our presentation. Granted, our show and tell thing wasn’t the greatest, so a bunch of stuff that they said was actually true.”

“And yet you still saw the need to confront my daughter?” Filthy asked. “Even though she might have just been critiquing on your presentation?”

“Hmm… I suppose you do have a point if Diamond really was just commenting about the presentation… Too bad that wasn’t the case. Diamond went on to insult Scootaloo about her wings and not being able to fly, even telling her to give up on trying. Once she said those things, I had to step in.”

Filthy winced. “I see… While I am still not happy that you threatened my daughter, I suppose that you did have a somewhat good reason for doing so.”

“A somewhat good reason?”

“Now, now, I understand that Diamond’s insults were a bit out of hoof, but—”

“No, you don’t understand,” Natalya accused. She walked closer to Filthy and used her small height advantage to loom over the pony. “Now you listen here, and you listen good. I come from Griffonstone. I’ll spare you the details, but the gist is that we don’t have much going on for us over there. But if there’s one thing we can be proud of, it’s our ability to fly. It’s one of the few things that let us truly be free and let us escape the crud in our lives. Flying is something griffons live for. You do not mess with a griffon’s wings or their flying, and I have no doubt that pegasus are the same.

“You may not know it, but Scootaloo is having trouble with her flying, but I’ve seen how much she has worked for it and how much it means to her. Having someone make fun of her and trying to discourage her is one of the last thing she needs. I like her spunk, and I’m not going to let anyone mess with her, got it?”

Both Twilight and Filthy stared at Natalya, who was breathing a bit heavily after her spiel, their mouths slightly agape.

After a few seconds, Filthy closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. As he slowly let it out, he opened his eyes back up and nodded. “Very well then. Forgive me for not understanding the gravity of the situation. I will concede that you had a valid reason to confront my daughter.”

Natalya only let out an irritated huff in response. She was sure that Filthy did not completely grasp the importance of her tirade, but she still had to give the stallion credit for actually agreeing with her. Dealing with him was not going as bad as she thought.

“However, the fact remains that you had placed a threat on my daughter, and I will not allow you to lay a single hoof on her. Because I now understand the reasonings behind your actions, I am going to offer you a deal. I will drop the whole matter and tell Diamond to not bother Scootaloo again. All that I ask in return is that you agree to stay away from my daughter.”

“Thank you, Mr. Rich,” Twilight promptly spoke up. “That is very generous of you, and I’m sure—”

“Yeah, no deal,” Natalya interrupted.

“What?!” Twilight and Filthy both incredulously cried.

“Natalya, you could resolve this whole thing right now,” Twilight continued. “Why would you turn Mr. Rich’s offer down?”

“Because I know that Diamond won’t keep up her end of the bargain,” Natalya answered.

“Natalya, I assure you that I will sit her down and make sure she does not bother Scootaloo,” Filthy added.

“So how many times have you done that before?”

Filthy blinked. “Pardon?”

“This isn’t the first time Diamond has had a problem with Scootaloo,” Natalya accused. “Scootaloo told me that Diamond has been bothering her for a long time.”

“Well, I suppose that might be—”

“Don’t pretend to be all innocent. I saw your reaction when I first mentioned Scootaloo’s name. You know that she likes to mess with Scootaloo. Whatever you’re doing with Diamond, you’re doing it wrong.”

“Are you saying that I don’t know how to raise my own daughter?!” Filthy fumed.

“Considering how much of a brat she is, yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. You can keep talking to your daughter, but she’s just going to go back and bother Scootaloo. Well, that’s not gonna happen anymore, so long as I’m around.”

“Now see here, Natalya,” Filthy protested in a raised voice, glaring at the griffon. “Yes, Diamond has had issues with Scootaloo and her friends, but you cannot just threaten her. She’s a filly for goodness sake!”

“So?”

“It means that she’s still a child! She doesn’t know any better!”

“Doesn’t matter. Look, Ponyville might be all nice and dandy, but there’s a whole world out there, and I can assure you, it’s not always pretty. I’ve seen others get into a lot more trouble for saying the wrong thing. You are very lucky that I’ve been hanging out with Twilight and Rainbow, otherwise, Diamond wouldn’t have been left off with just a warning.”

“Regardless of what you have seen, here, we are civilized ponies, Natalya, and you shall not touch a single hair on Diamond!”

“You know that you can’t protect her forever, and you’re not doing her any favors by fighting all of her battles for her. She thinks that she can do anything, when in reality, it’s the exact opposite. One of these days, her mouth is going to get her into a lot of trouble, so I suggest that she either learns how to fight her own battles or that she learns to shut her mouth.”

“Diamond is smart enough to avoid something like that from ever happening. Yes, there will come a time when I won’t always be there for her, but by then, she will have grown up to be a fine mare who will be more than capable of dealing with brutes such as you.”

“So in other words, you’re just going to wait and hope she turns out alright.”

“She will be more than alright.”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “Yeah, this isn’t going anywhere anymore. I’m done.” She marched right for the castle, ignoring Twilight and Filthy’s calls for her, and slammed the door behind her as she went inside.

Fuming, Natalya headed straight for the kitchen where she hoped that a snack would alleviate the foul mood Filthy put her in. Upon entering the kitchen, she grabbed a box of leftover Sugarcube Corner pastries from the counter and pulled up a chair toward the table in the center of the room.

Plopping herself onto the chair, Natalya extracted a donut and began taking out her anger on the innocent pastry by viciously chomping down on it. Probably not by coincidence, the donut was a very similar color to Filthy Rich’s coat.

Gobbling down her delicious donut in silence, Natalya was already starting to feel better over her dealings with Filthy, even when she knew that it was likely the stallion would be going to the guards about her. She was not worried though; It was not like she had done anything big… yet.

As Natalya reached into the box for another pastry, she hoped that she was not developing a stress eating habit. She was trying to limit her intake of sugar, but it did not help that Sugarcube Corner’s delectable goods were readily available, especially since many of them were free from when Gilda brought them home. Fortunately, after only a bit of time and several sweets later, Natalya had completely calmed down and was slowly nibbling on a scone that was already in her claws.

“Natalya, you around here?” Twilight’s voice called out.

Not doubting that the alicorn was going to give her a lecture about their talk with Filthy Rich, Natalya was tempted to remain quiet, however, she knew that it would just be delaying the inevitable. There was also a good chance that Twilight was not happy with how she handled things, and Natalya did not want to further irritate the pony giving her a free room.

After letting out a long sigh, Natalya called back, “In here, Twilight.”

A few seconds later, Twilight walked into the kitchen, her eyes swiftly focusing on the box of pastries. Her horn glowed and a second chair started moving toward the table at the same time a muffin flew out of the box. Letting out a quiet, weary moan, the alicorn sat down next to Natalya before taking a huge bite out of the floating muffin, letting out a hum as she closed her eyes.

“So that Filthy dude is gone?” Natalya asked.

Twilight let out an exasperated sigh and her ears flicked in annoyance. “Yes, he’s gone…”

“Cool.” Natalya could almost sense the eye roll behind the alicorn’s closed eyelids.

The two of them spent a few moments nibbling on their respective pastries before Twilight stated, “Filthy Rich is not happy with you.”

“Not a surprise there,” Natalya said as she finished off her scone.

“But I did manage to talk him down. He’s not going to do anything.”

Natalya glanced at Twilight with a raised eyebrow. “Really now?”

“Yes, because I told him that you would not touch Diamond.”

Natalya had to restrain herself from slamming her fist onto the table. “I said that I’m not okay with that,” she reminded, trying to not let anger bleed into her words.

“I know, but it was the only way to placate Filthy Rich. You didn’t exactly make things easy when you stormed away.”

“It’s not like he was going to say anything else worthwhile. I bet that after I was gone, he complained about me before demanding you to do something to protect Diamond.”

“Well… You’re not exactly wrong there, but you also missed the part where I pointed out that you made several valid points, even though they could’ve been told in a more diplomatic manner.”

“I don’t waste time trying to sugarcoat things.”

“Yes, I noticed,” Twilight remarked flatly. “You should give it a try though. Finding the right words makes it easier for others to listen to you and not want to call the guards instead.”

Natalya shrugged. “Whatever.” She was treated to an unhidden eye roll from Twilight.

“Anyway, you were right that Diamond has also had problems in the past,” Twilight admitted. “The thing is, Filthy Rich knows that, but he doesn’t do enough to stop it.”

“In other words, he doesn’t want to do anything to daddy’s little girl.”

“More or less. I don’t think the mother is helping either. I’ve met her and she is really stuck-up. I think she’s even encouraging Diamond’s behavior.”

“Oh goodie… so does that mean I get a visit from mommy soon?” Natalya asked with as little enthusiasm as possible.

Twilight shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. It seems like Filthy Rich is the one who gets involved whenever Diamond does something. As long as you don’t do anything to Diamond, you should be fine.”

Natalya scowled. “So, assuming I even think about leaving Diamond alone, what’s stopping that brat from bothering Scootaloo?”

“Well, I did point that out to Filthy Rich, in a nicer way, of course. Since that seemed to be your main concern, I was able to get him to agree that if Diamond does get out of hoof with Scootaloo again, you are allowed to confront her.”

Natalya grinned and punched her open hand with her other hand. “Sweet.”

“Confront her verbally. You are not to lay a single hoof, claw, or whatever else on her!” Twilight pointed at the griffon with a hoof and gave her a stern glare.

“Aww, you’re no fun.”

“Do not hurt her, Natalya! I mean it!”

Natalya made an amused snorting sound and leaned back in her seat. “Relax, it wasn’t like I was actually going to.”

Twilight blinked, and her hoof slowly lowered back to the floor. “Wait, you weren’t?”

“Nope. I know that I’m rough around the edges, but I do at least have some decency.”

“But the way you were speaking earlier… I mean, you didn’t hesitate, and you were speaking with so much conviction. You really had me worried.”

“That was the plan. It’s called a bluff.”

“So basically, a lie.”

“Pretty much. Filthy just has to believe that I’m going to do something and that will maybe spur him to put in a bit more effort to disciplining that spoiled kid of his.”

“But that’s so deceitful and wrong!” Twilight cried out, suddenly standing up as she placed her forelegs on the table. “You shouldn’t have to threaten or intimidate others to solve a problem!”

Natalya gave the alicorn a flat glare. “Twilight, I know that you’re the Princess of Friendship and like to stick with the being nice stuff, but that’s not always going to work. Sometimes, you need to suck it up and go for a more forceful approach if you want to get things done. Be honest, you've had to deal with someone and being all nice and friendly to them didn’t work.”

“Well…” Twilight was quiet for a bit as she searched her memories. Eventually, she slowly nodded. “I do suppose you have a point…” She returned to giving Natalya a stern look. “But that’s only for extreme cases. For all the other times, things can be solved so that everypony is happy if you took the time to understand each other.”

“Yeah, well, you have your way and I have mine.”

“Just try it, Natalya,” Twilight recommended, softening her gaze as she sat back down. “I know that you’ve been slowly accepting friendship, based on what Rainbow has told me about your times together. You’d be surprised how often it works.”

“Yeah, well…” Natalya paused when she saw the pleading look Twilight was giving her. Glancing away, she grumbled, “I’ll… I’ll think about it.”

“That’s good enough for me.”

“Yeah, yeah… So is that everything?” Natalya got a nod in reply. “Good. I think I’m going to head up to my room and chill for a bit.”

“Alright then, Natalya. See you later.”

“See ya,” Natalya replied as she got up and made her way out of the room.

“Oh, Natalya, there actually is one more thing,” Twilight called out, making Natalya glance back at the alicorn. “I just want to say that I still don’t really approve of your methods, but I’m proud of you for standing up for Scootaloo. I’m sure Rainbow would feel the same way.”

Natalya stared at Twilight for a few seconds. Unsure of what to say, she merely gave Twilight a nod in thanks and resumed her walk back to her room.

She had no more plans for today, so she considered going to bed a bit earlier tonight so that she be well-rested for tomorrow. Rainbow would be free again tomorrow, and Natalya could already hear the pegasus badgering her for every single detail of the show and tell with Scootaloo. Natalya was also curious to see how Rainbow would react when she told her about how she dealt with Diamond and Filthy. It was sure to be amusing.

Not only that, but it should be easy to get Rainbow to train with her again, and after the barrage of questions about doing her own Sonic Rainboom during the show and tell, Natalya knew that she had to take things to the next level. She just needed to figure out how.

Natalya was looking forward to tomorrow.

Chapter 15: Crash

“How was it?”

Natalya rolled her eyes and turned around to find that her visitor had already let herself into her room through the window. “Hello to you too, Rainbow.”

“Yeah, yeah, good morning and all that junk. So, how was it?”

“How was what?” Natalya asked, feigning ignorance as she walked around Rainbow.

“The operation where they removed the stick that was in your butt. What do you think I’m talking about?! The show and tell with Scootaloo, of course!”

“Oh, yeah. It was alright, I guess.” Natalya shrugged and then flew out the window. She glanced back and snickered at the annoyed look Rainbow shot her.

“What do you mean ‘alright’?” a miffed Rainbow asked a moment later when she swiftly flew to Natalya’s side. “You can’t just leave it like that! Give me details, man!”

“Fine, fine… Oh, first thing is that I totally wasn’t late, so you were being all annoying for nothing.”

“Hey, I already said I was sorry about all of that yesterday.”

“Just making sure you keep that in mind for the next time something like this happens. So, yeah, I got there and Cheerilee let us start after a few minutes. It pretty much went exactly like Scootaloo said it would. She talked about my flying and stuff, and I then answered a few questions.”

“So everything went smoothly?”

“Yep, even the part where I told them Griffonstone was a dump.”

“That’s good.” Rainbow looked forward, only to do a double-take. “Wait, what?”

“I went on to tell them how much crud goes on back there.”

“Uh, I’m not sure if—”

“And I don’t want to forget about the part where I said that most griffons are selfish jerks.”

“Alright, either you’re screwing with me or—”

“In fact, things went so well, Cheerilee held me back to talk to me.”

Rainbow shot in front of Natalya and whipped around to look at the griffon with wide eyes. “Dude, you said you weren’t going to mess this up!”

“And I didn’t. Yeah, I admit that things got kind of awkward when the kids started asking about Griffonstone, but it actually turned out alright. And, before you ask, yes, I did say those things, but the kids still seemed to like it.”

“What about Cheerilee?”

“She was just double checking some of my Griffonstone facts. She didn’t have a problem with me or Scootaloo.”

“So you’re absolutely, positively, a hundred percent sure that the other kids and Cheerilee liked it?”

“Yep.”

“And Scootaloo is absolutely, positi—”

“Yes, Scootaloo is fine and happy with how things turned out,” Natalya interrupted.

Rainbow let out a sigh of relief and smiled. “Awesome, dude. You really pulled through for me and Scootaloo. Thanks.”

Now, here comes the fun part.Natalya cleared her throat. “You know, that’s only half the stuff that went down,” she said before Rainbow resumed flying. “Things actually got more interesting after the show and tell.”

“So you even hung out with Scootaloo afterwards?” Rainbow grinned. “Glad to hear that you’re spending more time with her.”

“That’s one way of putting it. While I was talking with Cheerilee, Scootaloo waited outside for me. When I found her again, she was being pestered by those spoiled brats, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.”

“Here we go again…” Rainbow grumbled. “They’ve been bothering Scootaloo and her friends for as long as I can remember. When are those two going to get a life and leave Scootaloo alone?”

“Since yesterday, if they know what’s good for them.”

Rainbow eyed Natalya curiously. “I’m not sure I like the sound of that. What did you do?”

“I might or might not have suggested that if they mess with Scootaloo again, there would be consequences…”

“What kind of consequences?”

Natalya grinned. “You know me well enough to figure that out.”

“You threatened them, didn’t you?” Rainbow flatly asked.

“Yep.”

“So you actually threatened two fillies?”

“Yep.”

Rainbow slowly blinked. “Dude, what you did was wrong… so wrong… With that being said…” A grin blossomed on her face. “You are awesome. I’m not sure if I should be a worried or proud that you actually did all of that, but the main point is that you did it for Scootaloo’s sake. I’m so glad that you've got her back, even if it’s in a morally questionable way.”

“Yeah, well…” Natalya glanced to the side. “I had to pick up the slack since you were busy that day.”

Rainbow chuckled. “Sure, whatever you say. Gotta admit, I’ve been wanting to tell those two fillies off as well. Guess you beat me to the punch.”

“And maybe that’s why they haven’t stopped bothering Scootaloo. They needed something more than just a weak scolding to make sure they learn their lesson.”

“Yeah, can’t really argue with that. The thing is, Diamond is usually the one that’s calling the shots. Diamond’s dad, Filthy Rich, is a pretty decent guy, but the problem is that he really spoils Diamond and doesn’t do much to discipline her if she gets into trouble. It’s why Diamond thinks she can do whatever she wants, and it’s pretty much true with how she has her dad wrapped around her hoof. In fact, I’m kind of surprised that she hasn’t sicced her dad on you.”

“She did.”

“Wait, what?” Rainbow’s eyebrows furrowed with worry. “Filthy Rich visited you? Is everything alright?”

Natalya went on to retell how she went back to the castle to find Filthy Rich and Twilight waiting for her, leaving out the part about her unproductive training. She told how Filthy wanted her to stay away from Diamond, and she enjoyed describing how she called out the stallion on how he was doing an awful job at controlling his daughter and that he needed to do something before Diamond inevitably messes with the wrong person.

“Oh man, you really let him have it,” Rainbow remarked. She snickered for a bit before taking a breath and shifted to a more serious face. “Still, even though you’re right about a lot of stuff, I doubt that he took all of that lying down. What did he say to you at the end?”

Natalya shrugged. “I don’t know. Something about not touching Diamond for like the fifth time. Honestly, I wasn’t paying attention when I just walked away.”

“You did what?! You mean you didn’t settle things with him?!” Rainbow cried, almost flying into Natalya. “Dude, I don’t want to worry you, but Filthy Rich has quite a bit of influence around town. He could really stir up trouble for you, assuming he’s not doing so already.”

“Chill, dude.” Natalya said, moving away from the pegasus invading her personal space. “You forgot that Twilight was also there. She managed to talk him down after I was gone. Probably was for the best I left; things were getting heated between me and Filthy, and I might have started to let my claws do some talking. Actually, now that I think about it, I should’ve just let Twilight go all princess on him from the start. Would’ve saved everyone a bunch of hassle.”

Rainbow shook her head. “That’s not how Twilight flies. She tries her best not to throw around her princess title and prefers that others treat her like a normal pony. She likely just talked to Filthy Rich while being all friendly and understanding.”

Natalya sighed. “Yeah, she probably did. She gave me a lecture later on how I should try doing those same things.”

Rainbow chuckled. “As much as I liked you letting Filthy Rich have it, Twilight does have a point.”

Natalya released a disgruntled huff in response.

“Hey, it’s not like you’re starting from square one. Your apology to Fluttershy was huge, and I also know that some of the ponies you’ve done jobs for think that you’re pretty nice as well. You’re definitely going in the right direction. Just keep at it.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. I’ll try to watch my mouth a bit more or whatever. Now, can we stop talking and work on my Sonic Rainboom?”

Rainbow chuckled. “Already figured you were going to ask for that. Come on, we’re almost there.”

Within a few minutes, the two of them had arrived at their usual training field. As they touched down on the grass and started their warm-ups, Natalya got Rainbow’s attention to tell her of a plan that she had formed last night.

“So, Rainbow, I’ve been thinking,” said Natalya. “I’ll admit that hanging out and doing other stuff with you has been nice, but don’t forget the main reason I’m here. I need to learn how to do the Sonic Rainboom. It’s not like I’m going to be staying here in Ponyville forever.”

Rainbow froze for a second and then sat down on her haunches, her ears folded backwards slightly. “Oh yeah… I haven’t really been thinking that you’re gonna have to leave one day. I’ve gotten used to having you and Gilda around. It’s been a blast, and I’m sure gonna miss you two when you do eventually go back.”

“Yeah, well…” Natalya’s gaze drifted away and she sighed. She then promptly shook her head. “Look, the point is, our time is limited, and I still haven’t made much progress with the Sonic Rainboom. This flying up and down thing you’re having me do is just not working.”

“Sorry, Natalya, but like I’ve said before, I just don’t know any other good ways to train you. If I had thought of anything else, I would’ve already brought it up with you. Seriously, I really wish I could be of more help.”

“And you will, because I’ve thought of something new.”

“Really?” Rainbow straightened up with attention and smiled eagerly. “Alright then, shoot. What do you got in mind?”

“Nothing hard. You’re just gonna do the Sonic Rainboom while I’m flying right behind you.”

Rainbow’s smile disappeared. “Uh, what?”

“I’m going to try drafting to go faster.” Seeing that Rainbow was still quirking her eyebrow in confusion, Natalya rolled her eyes. “I’m going to ride your slipstream. You know, by using you to reduce the air resistance on me or whatever the scienc-y explanation is.”

“Yeah, I get that, but, uh, isn’t using me as a crutch kind of defeating the purpose of you doing your own Sonic Rainboom?”

“Well, duh. This is so that I could get a better look at the Sonic Rainboom. I need to see and feel how you do it up close. You keep telling me what to expect, and it’s not helping. I should at least be able to pick some stuff up so that I can do the necessary adjustments for my own Sonic Rainboom.”

“Okay…” Rainbow bit her lip. “I guess I get what you’re trying to do…”

“I hear a ‘but’ coming…”

“But I don’t think it’s a good idea. You remember that wall I told you about? You don’t know how many times I crashed trying to break through it.”

“A bit late to be worried about that, don’t you think?” Natalya pointed out with an annoyed frown. “I’ve already been trying to hit that wall for a long time.”

“Yeah, I know, but at least you’re gradually building yourself up to that point. I don’t know if you’re ready to do this plan of yours.”

“You’re saying that I can’t keep up?” Natalya asked irritably.

Rainbow hastily shook her head. “No, I mean that you might be trying to skip too many steps. You’re going to go at a faster speed than you’re used to, and it doesn’t help that you’re going to have to concentrate on following me. Feels like all sorts of stuff could go wrong.”

“You want me to go back to training twenty-four, seven then?”

“What?” Rainbow jerked a bit in surprise. “Of course not.”

“I don’t either, to be honest, but the Sonic Rainboom is my main priority. I have to do something to get things moving, whether it’s doing even more of the same old stuff or try something new.”

Rainbow groaned and buried her face in her hooves. “Natalya… I just think your plan is going to get you hurt. Like, yeah, I already thought of something.”

“What?” Natalya asked with a huff.

“Well, the Sonic Rainboom makes this huge shockwave when it goes off. With you flying so close to me, you’re just going to get blown away.”

“Hrm…” Natalya scratched the side of her head in thought with a talon. She knew that Rainbow was just fishing for an excuse to not go through with her plan, and it did not take long to figure out an easy fix.

“That’s not a problem, Rainbow,” Natalya stated, pretending to not see her friend’s disappointed pout. “The main point is for me to get a feel of how you do the Sonic Rainboom. I can learn a bunch just from experiencing the moments right before it. You don’t actually have to do the Sonic Rainboom, so just fly away when you think it’s about to happen.”

“But then you might be flying into that wall with almost no warning.”

“You can wag your ears, right?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Then that’s how you’ll signal me when you’re about to fly away.”

“But—”

“Rainbow, you’re not going to change my mind!” Natalya bellowed. “So stop making excuses and just do it!” She soon felt a pang of regret when she saw that Rainbow was reeling back and staring at her with wide, hurt eyes.

Taking a calming breath, Natalya said in a quieter voice, “Look, Rainbow, I know that you’re worried about me, but I really want, no, need to do this. I really think it’s going to help me get that much closer to the Sonic Rainboom. I know it’s going to be dangerous, but I’m no stranger to training under extreme conditions. Did I ever tell you that I do a whole lot of flying in the Abysmal Abyss back in Griffonstone?”

“Wait, really? The Abysmal Abyss? The same Abysmal Abyss that has the super strong winds?”

Natalya nodded. “That’s the one.”

“How in the world are you able to fly in that?! I tried flying around in it, and it took me like two seconds before I got a face-full of rock.”

“I’m just that good,” Natalya fibbed, neglecting to tell Rainbow about the safer spots she frequented. “If I can withstand the Abysmal Abyss, surely I can try this plan of mine, right?”

“Well…” Rainbow closed her eyes and groaned. “Fine, you win. I’ll go along with this crazy idea of yours, but on one condition. If it doesn’t look like it’s working or if it gets too dangerous, we’re calling it off, got it?”

Natalya sighed and reluctantly nodded. “Got it.”

“Good. So, do you want to do a couple of regular flying exercises before we attempt this?”

“Nope, we’re jumping right into it.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Of course we are…”

The duo flew high up into the sky, an act that Natalya had done countless times since she had started training with Rainbow. Hopefully, this bold plan of hers would finally mark a turning point for her.

Natalya nodded toward Rainbow, and after a brief sigh, the pegasus nodded back with a weak smile before starting her flight.

With Rainbow going in a wide circle and at a sedate speed, Natalya was easily able to move behind the pegasus. As they continued to fly around, Natalya was getting annoyed with how they were accelerating at a sluggish pace, and Rainbow’s frequent glances back at her were not helping. Regardless, Natalya knew that she was asking a lot out of Rainbow, not to mention the fact that the pegasus was being careful for her sake, so Natalya continued to follow in silence.

It took what felt like forever, but Natalya was glad when they finally reached speeds that she was more accustomed to. Not too long after that, Natalya noticed that Rainbow had started to wiggle her ears. Knowing that it was much too early before Rainbow was supposed to pull out, Natalya figured that the pegasus was about to start the dive while also testing the signal.

A few seconds later, Rainbow sharply angled her flight path downwards, and Natalya followed right behind her.

Natalya still felt uncomfortable whenever she thought too much about how Rainbow was faster, and this plan was just another reminder of that same notion. However, right now, as she blazed through the sky faster than ever, she felt no such irritation.

Following Rainbow as they rapidly descended, Natalya could barely hear anything but the wind around her, and everything but the pegasus in front of her was nothing more than a blur. She was reaching new limits, albeit with Rainbow’s help, and it excited her. Her blood was pumping, and every part of her was urging her to keep going.

Then she saw it: Rainbow was wiggling her ears again.

Natalya tucked in her limbs as much as possible and braced herself for the impact with the wall that stood between her and the Sonic Rainboom. She felt excitement course through her, knowing that she was moments away from possibly making her own Sonic Rainboom. Whether she would actually be able to do it or not, Natalya knew that something big was about to happen.

Suddenly, Rainbow pulled up, almost instantly disappearing due to the speed they were going, while Natalya continued hurtling towards the ground. Immediately, she felt the air pressure shift, and she finally understood what Rainbow meant by "the wall". It felt like she was trying to pierce through some sort of invisible force that was pushing back on her. With her coveted Sonic Rainboom so close to her, Natalya gritted her teeth and mustered all of her strength to pierce through the wall. All she had to do was punch through it, and she would finally be the best again.

But it was not meant to be.

To her horror, Natalya was brought to a screeching halt. Her mind barely processed what was happening before she was flung backwards half a second later.

Sent tumbling through the air, Natalya tried to right herself, but she was spinning too fast and unable to regain her bearings. Trying to remain calm, she spread her wings to at least try to slow her descent.

Everything came to a sudden stop when Natalya heard a deafening crack at the same time pain exploded from her right side. She barely registered her battered body hitting the ground as the pain swiftly flooded the rest of her body and darkness filled her vision.

“N-Natalya? C-come on, dude. Get up.”

As Natalya slowly returned to consciousness, she sorely wished that she was not. Her awakening senses were registering the aches and pains racking the entirety of her body, and she desperately wished she would pass out again.

“Y-you’re fine, Natalya. A crash like that isn’t gonna do you in… R-right?”

Unfortunately, even with her eyes shut, the sound of an all-too-familiar voice, as well as a gentle prodding, was keeping Natalya awake.

“Ugh, shut up, Rainbow…” Natalya managed to croak with a raspy breath.

Rainbow gasped loudly. “N-Natalya! You’re alright!”

“Alright is totally not how I would describe myself right now. Just be quiet and let me go back to sleep.”

“Nuh uh! We got to get you checked out!”

Natalya replied with nothing more than a moan and refused to stir. A moment later, she hissed in pain when Rainbow poked her in the belly with a bit more force.

“Seriously, dude, you really need to go to the hospital.”

“I’m fine,” Natalya replied, despite feeling to the contrary. “I’ve been in crashes before. Nothing a bit of rest and maybe some bandages won’t fix.”

“Oh yeah… You’re totally fine after smashing into that tree, and your wing is totally supposed to bend like that.”

“My wing?” Natalya finally opened her eyes. It took a while before her blurry vision focused and adjusted to the change in brightness. She was lying on her left side near the base of a tree with a large crack in its bark that undoubtedly marked her impact, and Rainbow was sitting in front of her, looking down at her with concern.

Slowly, Natalya raised her head to check on her wings. Her breath hitched as soon as she laid eyes on her right wing. Sticking out from her, the mangled wing was bending at an almost ninety-degree angle, and several of her primaries and secondaries were also stuck out of place. When she tried to move the crippled wing, it would hardly budge and instead send a fresh of wave of pain coursing through her.

Natalya did not need a doctor to know that her wing was broken.

“Great… Just great!” Natalya shouted, slamming her left fist into the ground. She had suffered a broken wing before back in Griffonstone, and it took her a few weeks before she could fly again. She could not afford a major setback like this. Not only would she be wasting time that could be used to learn the Sonic Rainboom, but she would also have to rebuild her strength and fitness when she got better.

“I’m so, so, so sorry, Natalya,” Rainbow apologized. “I was still flying away from you, so by the time I finally saw what happened, you were too far away. I just couldn’t reach you in time before you hit the tree.” She bowed her head and whimpered. “Again, I’m so sorry, Natalya. I’ve told you a bunch of times that I got your back, but when you really needed me, I screwed up. This is all my fault and—”

“Rainbow, shut it,” Natalya uttered in a soft, but commanding tone. She was still angry, but it was directed at herself and the situation she was in. After taking a deep breath, she said, “This is on me. You warned me that my plan was dangerous. I took a risk, and now I have to pay the price.”

“Still, if I had been a bit faster or paid a little more attention, I might have—”

“Seriously, quit whining, Rainbow. What’s done is done. Just focus on getting me patched up.”

“Oh, uh, right. Good point. Can you get up?”

Taking another deep breath, Natalya rolled onto her stomach, her aching body protesting. Planting all four of her legs into the ground, she slowly raised herself, only to squawk and fall right back down when pain flared in her right foreleg.

“Natalya!” Rainbow’s forehooves reached for the griffon, but she stopped, an unsure look on her face. “Uh, what’s wrong? What can I do to help?”

“It’s my right foreleg. It’s also busted up,” Natalya answered. She let out a loud groan born from frustration and pain and let her head fall back onto the ground. “Which is just fantastic! Looks like I’m not going to be able to walk either! Can anything else go wrong?!”

“Easy, Natalya… Easy…” Rainbow said softly, placing a gentle hoof on Natalya. “I know this sucks, but—”

“This is beyond sucking, Rainbow!” Natalya bellowed right into the pegasus’s face. Her composure had eroded now that she realized she was in a much more dire situation. Losing her ability to fly was a harsh enough blow, but not being able to even stand had pushed her over the edge. She had never felt this helpless before, and all she could do was let her emotions take over.

“I can’t fly or walk!” Natalya continued to rant up into the sky. “I’m going to be stuck in bed for who knows how long and not be able to do anything! By the time I get back to flying, no one is going to know who I am, and it’s going to take forever for me to crawl back to where I was before! Everything is ruined! I might as well just kiss my flying career—”

Natalya froze when Rainbow suddenly sat down beside her and wrapped her forehooves around her neck in a hug.

“Wh-what are you doing?” Natalya asked, her anger temporarily frozen.

“It’s going to be alright, Natalya,” Rainbow said in a soft, calming voice that Natalya never heard her friend use before. “I’ve been here before. I know it’s frustrating, but you’re going to get through this. Out of all the ponies and griffons I’ve ever met, you’re the toughest, and I know that once you get your head back together, you’re not going to let something like this keep you down.

“And you won’t be alone when you’re doing all of that. I’ll be there every step of the way to help you recover, and I’m sure our friends will do the same. Not only that, but the hospital here in Ponyville has all sorts of cool medical stuff, and I guarantee that it won’t take too long before you’re up and flying again.”

Rainbow pulled back and smirked. “Of course, you can just continue to just lie here and keep on shouting at the sky, but knowing you, I think you’ll want to get started on your recovery as soon as possible. After all, didn’t you just tell me to stop whining so that we can concentrate on getting you fixed up?”

Natalya stared at her friend for several seconds, slowly blinking as her anger seeped out of her. “Rainbow, that… that was…”

“Yeah?” Rainbow leaned forward, smiling softly.

“That was pretty corny.”

Rainbow immediately shifted into a deadpan face. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“Now I wish that you broke your mouth in the crash.”

Natalya chuckled softly. “But I get the gist of what you were saying. I’m not gonna get better if I stay here. I really hope that you weren’t exaggerating about how good the hospital is.”

“They’re the best. Still, that leaves us with a bit of a problem: How are we getting you to the hospital?”

“Couldn’t you just go there and get them to send some ponies to pick me up?” Natalya paused. “Wait, shouldn’t you have already done that while I was unconscious?”

“Yeah, about that… When I got to you, I kind of panicked… A lot… I’m going to be honest with you, Natalya. I was really scared that you were hurt, er, I mean, hurt a lot worse than…” Rainbow waved a hoof over the injured griffon. “So, yeah, I wasn’t really thinking and pretty much just ended up watching you and trying to wake you up. Luckily, it didn’t take too long for that to happen.”

“Well, thanks for the concern, I guess, but that means you still need to go and get the hospital to pick me up.”

“Yeah, I guess I should. I’m just worried about leaving you alone…” Rainbow sighed and looked around. She perked up and got on her hooves a moment later. “Oh, I got a great idea. Wait right here. I’ll be back in ten seconds flat!”

“Sure, not like I’m actually able to go anywhere,” Natalya mumbled as Rainbow flew up into the sky. Unable to track Rainbow without aggravating her injuries, she lay back with sigh.

Ten seconds later, Natalya heard Rainbow land and raised her head to find her friend standing with a cloud about the size of a bed floating right next to her.

“Neat idea, huh? You get on the cloud and I can push it to the hospital. Why wait for me to send a bunch of slowpokes when I can take you there myself?” Rainbow boasted. “Saves time, and I won't have to worry about leaving you alone.”

Natalya nodded in agreement and began the grueling task of standing up. Carefully, she raised herself up, making sure to not use her injured foreleg. With one limb missing and her body still racked with pain, she almost lost her balance again, but Rainbow rushed forward and helped prop the griffon back up.

“I got you, Natalya,” Rainbow assured, pressing into Natalya’s right side with her own body while avoiding the injured areas. “Just take it slow and lean on me.”

Natalya nodded and leaned her weight into Rainbow as she hobbled over the few steps to the cloud. With the grace of a pregnant sloth, she flopped onto the cloud and lay on her left side. She was grateful that clouds were soft, allowing her to shift more toward the center of her impromptu transport without much trouble.

“Ready?” Rainbow asked as Natalya settled in.

“Yep, go for it,” Natalya replied.

Natalya saw Rainbow promptly fly around to the back of the cloud. After a second, they began to rise into the air while also moving toward Ponyville.

The trip was uneventful, and even though Natalya could tell Rainbow was still concerned about her injuries and was making sure they were not going too fast, they made good time, and it was not long before the hospital came into view.

Pushing the cloud right up against the main entrance of the large, three story building, Rainbow helped Natalya get down before giving a strong buck to the cloud to make it disappear with a ‘poof’.

Limping into the hospital with Rainbow, the first thing Natalya saw was a wide desk in front of them with one earth pony mare seated behind it and filling out paperwork with a pencil in her mouth. The mare had a white coat and had her pink mane done up in a bun, and it was obvious that she worked here with the nurse’s cap that rested on her head.

“Hello, welcome to the Ponyville Hospital,” the nurse greeted without looking up as she hastened her scribblings. “How may I help…” The nurse trailed off when she dropped her pencil and finally looked up with a smile, only to swiftly shift into a deadpan face. “Oh, Rainbow.”

The nurse let out an exasperated sigh and reached under the desk, pulling out a thick binder about half the size of a pony with two hooves. She unceremoniously dropped the binder on the desk with a loud thud, opened up the binder, and began writing into the binder with her pencil.

“Alright, you know the drill, Rainbow,” the nurse said in a bored tone. “On a scale of one to ten, how much pain are you in?”

“Zero. I’m completely fine, Redheart,” Rainbow stated with a hint of pride and a smirk. “I’m not the one who needs to be seen today.”

Redheart looked up in surprise. “Really?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yes, really. It’s my buddy here, Natalya, that needs help. She was training and crashed into a tree. Busted up her right leg and wing.”

Redheart nodded and swiftly trotted into a nearby room, reemerging a few moments later and pushing a gurney. “Here, let’s get you on this, Natalya,” she instructed, parking the gurney next to the griffon. “Rainbow, get her other side and help me lift her up.”

With Rainbow and Redheart’s help, Natalya carefully climbed onto the gurney, hissing in pain as she rolled onto her left side. The gurney was not as forgiving on her injuries as the cloud.

“So, on a scale from one to ten, how much pain are you in?” Redheart asked as she grabbed a clipboard that was hanging on the gurney’s side and hurriedly started writing on it.

“I don’t know. A seven or eight, I guess?” Natalya replied.

“Mhmm… Okay, second question: On a scale from one to ten, how much is this Rainbow’s fault?”

“Ten, definitely ten.” Natalya let out an amused snort as Redheart made a big show of writing down her response.

“Wow, I am so glad that I hauled your ungrateful butt here,” Rainbow uttered with an annoyed huff.

Natalya chuckled. “Yeah, yeah, thanks for that. But seriously, what’s up between you and Redheart? Seems like she doesn’t like you.”

“Gee, you think?”

“Oh, it’s not that I dislike Rainbow,” Redheart informed. “It’s just revenge.”

“You’re still hung up about a few harmless pranks?” Rainbow asked.

“Remember the maple syrup incident?”

“Hey, it grew back, didn’t it?”

Redheart rolled her eyes, hung the clipboard back on the gurney’s side, and shifted her attention to Natalya. “Anyway, Doctor Horse should be free now, so if you’re ready, I can take you in to see him. He will check you over and figure out the proper course of treatment for you.”

“Sure. Might as well get it over with,” Natalya agreed.

Redheart trotted around to Natalya’s head and began pushing the gurney down one of the hallways beside the front desk as Rainbow followed them. They only passed by a few rooms before Redheart stopped the gurney in front of a closed door.

“Doctor Horse, I have a patient that just came in and she needs to be examined,” Redheart announced when she knocked on the door.

A moment later, an amber-colored unicorn stallion wearing glasses and a white doctor’s coat opened the door, and his eyes quickly took in the sight of the two ponies and one griffon on a gurney.

“Ah, hello again, Rainbow,” Doctor Horse greeted with a smile. “Seems like you’re not the one that has to be examined today, for a change. Nurse Redheart, what’s the situation?”

“This is Natalya,” Redheart informed, reading from the gurney clipboard. “She had been training with Rainbow until she crashed into a tree. She’s still in pain, and she’s worried that her right foreleg and right wing are both broken.”

“Well then, we should check that out right away. Bring her in.”

As Redheart pushed Natalya into the center of the room, Doctor Horse’s horn glowed, moving a glass screen taller than Natalya with a metal frame and mounted on wheels from the side.

“Are you able to stand for a minute, Natalya?” Doctor Horse asked as he moved the device in front of Natalya. “This x-ray machine will let us get a quick look to see if you do indeed have any broken bones.”

Natalya nodded and gingerly got up. Rainbow and Redheart both moved to help her, but she waved them off, wanting to keep some semblance of pride and independence. Her body protested as she slid off the gurney, but other than a few bouts of pain, she was able to stand up without any real trouble.

Doctor Horse quickly moved the x-ray right up against Natalya’s side, covering the griffon’s entire body. “Alright, try to move your right legs slightly forward… Okay, now spread your wings as much as you can… Good, good, that’s it. Just stand like that for a few moments and… There we go.”

The x-ray was slid away from Natalya, and the screen was flipped around, showing a perfect picture of the griffon, or at least, her skeleton.

“Alright then let's see here…" Doctor Horse inspected the x-ray for a few moments before pointing at the picture's right foreleg. "Well, the good news is that your right foreleg is intact. You merely suffered a sprain. We’ll have to put it in a brace, but after a day or two of some meds and rest, you’ll be able to walk perfectly. Now for the bad news…”

Doctor Horse’s hoof moved up to the image's wings, and Natalya already knew the diagnosis from the image’s fractured bones.

“To put it simply, you have several broken bones in your right wing. I suspect that it took the brunt of your collision. I’m sorry, Natalya, but until they’re fixed, you won’t be doing any flying.”

Natalya groaned and hung her head. Even though she had already knew the answer before she even got to the hospital, hearing the final verdict still made her heart sink. A hoof resting on her back made her turn her head, and she was met by Rainbow softly smiling at her.

Nodding at her friend, Natalya looked back to Doctor Horse and asked, “So give it to me straight, doc. How long am I going to be out?”

“Let’s see…” Doctor Horse rubbed his forehoof across his chin in thought. “Assuming that griffon physiology is similar to a pegasus and that you have no negative reaction to the medications, I would say about a week before you can start flying.”

Natalya’s eyes bulged. “Wait, really? Only a week? You’re serious?”

Doctor Horse nodded. “Yes, I’m serious.”

“Wow… I just… Wow… Rainbow said you guys were good, but I didn’t know you were that good.”

“Well, a big part of that is because we’ve had to patch her up many, many times,” Redheart quipped. “Rainbow is a frequent flyer here, if you get what I mean.”

“Gee, thanks, Redheart,” Rainbow said dryly.

“Anytime, Rainbow.”

Doctor Horse chuckled. “Well, it’s always nice to hear praise about our work. We do take pride in giving our patients the utmost care, but a good deal of credit should be given to a nice zebra who lives in the Everfree Forest. She makes all sorts of potent potions that help ponies recover.”

“A zebra that lives in the middle of a scary forest and makes potions?” Natalya raised an incredulous eyebrow. “What? Is she some sort of witch?”

“That’s Zecora,” Rainbow explained. “And yeah, a lot of ponies, including me, thought that she was some sort of witch or enchantress at first. But after some of us got to know her, we became friends and found out that she’s actually really cool.”

“Yes, she is. With her help, we’ve been able to concoct many helpful treatments, such as this…” Doctor Horse used his magic to open a cabinet filled with a variety of small bottles, all labeled with names and ingredients that had way too many syllables.

“Redheart, Rainbow, could you please help Natalya back onto the gurney?” Doctor Horse asked, floating a vial with a cork seal out of the cabinet. An audible pop was heard as the vial was removed from its cork as it moved toward Natalya. “She's gonna want to be sitting down when she takes this.”

After Natalya was back on the gurney, she grabbed the bottle with her uninjured hand and took a whiff of the medicine. She immediately gagged and thrusted it away from her face. “Ugh, it smells nasty! What is this?! Processed sewer sludge and rotten garbage?!”

Rainbow chuckled. “Yeah, I had the same reaction. Wait until you taste it.”

Natalya inspected the brown ichor sloshing around in the bottle and almost gagged again. “Doc, do I really have to drink this?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Doctor Horse answered. “It’s a vital part of your treatment. Not only will it greatly help in mending your bones, it should also ease your pain. You know the saying: The worse the medicine tastes, the more effective it is.”

Natalya groaned, but slowly nodded in agreement, accepting her vile-tasting fate. A dose of bitter medicine was much more preferable than spending who knows how long without the use of her wings. Of course, that did not mean she had to like it.

“Any chance of getting some water to wash this down with?” Natalya asked.

“Sorry, but it works best without taking any food or liquids,” Doctor Horse explained, much to Natalya’s dismay. “Oh, and before I forget, this medicine will make you drowsy, so you’ll likely fall asleep soon after taking it.”

“You sure that it’s not because of the taste that will knock me out?” Natalya sighed. “Well, I’m going to be stuck here anyway, so I might as well catch some z’s.” Natalya looked down at the vial again and took a deep breath. “Bottoms up, I guess…”

Natalya tilted her head back and drained the vial in one quick swig. Even though she tried to aim the medicine so that it would go straight down her throat, she could not completely avoid tasting it. She knew that it was going to be bad, but to her surprise, it was not.

It was utterly terrible.

Natalya immediately dropped the vial and had to clap her hand over her mouth when she gagged. She almost burst into tears when some of the foul liquid came back up and assaulted her tongue, somehow tasting even worse the second time around. With a muffled scream, she swallowed the last of the medicine and immediately gasped for air.

“GAH!” Natalya shouted. “That was awful! You sure you didn’t serve me poison or something, doc?!”

“If I had a bit for every time somepony asked me that…” Doctor Horse mumbled with an amused sigh. “Are you feeling drowsy yet, Natalya?”

“I…” Natalya paused as her eyelids started to droop, and her body started to grow heavy. “I think so…”

“Good. That means the medicine is already starting to work. While you’re asleep, we’ll go ahead and treat your injuries. By the time you wake up, you should be resting in one of our beds.”

Too tired to process a proper response, Natalya merely nodded as she continued to drift off. Her eyes kept on opening and closing as she tried to stay awake, but each blink made her eyelids heavier and heavier. It was not long before she could not even open her eyes anymore.

The last thing she heard was Rainbow telling her, “Get some rest, Natalya. I’ll be sure to be there when you wake up.”

For some reason, Natalya really liked the sound of Rainbow’s words. Not knowing if she willed herself or not to show a smile, Natalya drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 16: Downtime

Equestria shook.

A terrible quake rocked the land. Fissures and cracks splintered the streets of Ponyville, and houses came tumbling down. Even Twilight’s magical castle could not withstand the onslaught and toppled over into a pile of rubble. The land was torn asunder, and it seemed like the end of the world was nigh.

Or at least, that was Natalya thought when some sort of deafening noise jarred her awake.

Moaning softly, Natalya stirred as her senses registered a myriad of unpleasant ailments. She was sore all over, moreso on her right side, and her body felt like a lead weight when she tried to move. There was even an unpleasant taste in her mouth for some odd reason.

Slowly opening her eyes, Natalya saw that she was in a bed, but not one that she could recognize. In fact, she could not recognize the room she was in. The walls were blue-green with wooden paneling on the lower parts, while the ceiling was dark-green. The room was roughly the size of the one she was staying at back at the castle, except that she could only see half of it, due to a white-green curtain to her right that was hanging across the middle of the room. There was also something odd about the air, as though it had been scrubbed clean.

Natalya groaned as she tried to get up, only to stop when the blankets that had been covering her slipped off. Some sort of light-green gown covered most of her body, but she was able to see a few small bandages were placed on various parts of her. More importantly, her right foreleg was folded over her chest and put into a sling.

Seeing her injury jumpstarted her mind, and memories of recent events quickly came back to her. It did not take long for her to figure out that she must have been put into a hospital room after the nasty medicine put her to sleep.

Natalya sighed as she looked down at her sprained foreleg that was more or less confining her to the bed. She was never the type to just sit around and do nothing, and she was not looking forward to the impending inactivity. Still, that would probably only last a day or two. There was another part of her that she was more worried about.

Taking a deep breath, she moved to prop herself up. Despite her weary body making her sluggish and clumsy, she eventually was able to sit up and rest her back on the bed’s headrest, allowing her to get a clear look at her right wing.

Natalya's broken wing was fully extended and bound in so many bandages that she could only see the tips of her outermost primary feathers. Some careful testing revealed that she could still move her wing a bit as a whole, but beyond the joint connecting to her body, her wing was kept in the same rigid position by the bandages.

Another sigh escaped Natalya while she continued to inspect her wing and mourn her temporary flight disability. It was going to be a long week.

A booming noise suddenly rocked the room, making Natalya jump. Her eyes widened when she realized that the sound was the same one that had woken her up. Even more disturbing was the fact that the terrible sound came from inside her room.

Slowly, Natalya turned her head to the left, toward the source of the sound. Her breath hitched when she was met with a gruesome scene.

Rainbow was sitting in a plain, wooden chair in the corner, fast asleep. The lower half of her body was hanging over the edge of the chair while her head rested on the backrest. Since she was also slightly facing Natalya, it allowed the griffon to see that Rainbow’s tongue was lolling out as a strand of drool dangled from the side of her mouth.

A gruesome scene indeed.

Natalya found herself unable to do anything but stare at Rainbow’s undignified position. It was like watching a train wreck: a horrible sight to behold and yet something that she could not take her eyes off, no matter how hard she tried.

Rainbow suddenly unleashed a mighty snore, and Natalya finally discovered the mysterious sound that had been plaguing her.

“Well, you said that you would be there when I woke up,” Natalya murmured, smiling slightly at the comatose pegasus. “You didn’t say anything about you being awake… or making me sick to my stomach.” She figured that she should let Rainbow know that she was alright, not to mention having had her fill of the pegasus’s rather disgusting pose.

“Yo, Rainbow, wake up,” Natalya hailed.

Rainbow replied with a snort, remaining asleep, as the drool strand broke away from her and landed in a tiny puddle at the base of the chair.

Natalya snickered at the gross, but also amusing action. “Man, almost wish I had a camera for this.” She froze when a sudden flash went off behind her.

“Nailed it!” a distinctive, chilling voice shouted right afterwards.

Slowly, Natalya turned her head again, and her vision was flooded with pink.

“Hi, Natalya!” Pinkie chirped, her face inches away from Natalya’s.

Natalya slowly blinked. “Pinkie,” she greeted back in a deadpan fashion. Either she had finally gotten used to Pinkie’s antics, or she was too confused to yelp about how the pony had somehow got onto the bed without noticing. Both thoughts disturbed her deeply.

Logic dictated that Pinkie had probably just been hiding or had somehow snuck in, for whatever odd reason. Too bad logic could not explain how and why Pinkie was able to overhear Natalya’s mumbling and be ready with a camera in her hooves.

“How are you feeling?” Pinkie asked, still invading Natalya’s personal space.

“Crowded. Mind backing off?”

“Okie dokie!” Pinkie hopped off the bed, stuffing the camera into her mane before she landed. “I’ll be sure to give you Rainbow’s picture later.”

“Uh, right, thanks. So what are you doing here, Pinkie?”

“To see you, of course! You got hurt, so Gilda and I decided to come visit you after our shift at Sugarcube Corner was over.”

“And how did you know I was here?”

“Achy back, shaky knees, twisty tail.”

“What is that supposed to…” Natalya paused. “Oh right, your freaky Pinkie Sense.”

“Yep! Achy back, shaky knees, twisty tail means that Rainbow ended up in the hospital.”

“But I’m the one that got hurt.”

“But she still ended up in the hospital, right?” Pinkie pointed at the still-sleeping Rainbow in the corner.

Natalya opened her mouth to refute, only to close it a second later. With a sigh, she admitted, “Got me there. So where’s Gilda? You said that both of you came to visit.”

“She’s probably still on the way. She’s bringing a bunch of tasty treats from Sugarcube Corner. The ponies here in the hospital are super nice and helpful, but when it comes to their food, it’s just blech,” Pinkie remarked, sticking her tongue out in disgust at the end.

The door to the room opened, and Redheart trotted in, putting on a smile when she saw Natalya.

“Ah, you’re awake, Natalya,” Redheart greeted. “I thought I heard noise coming from your room.” Her attention shifted to the pony standing by the bed. “Pinkie, I didn’t even know you came in. When did you get here?”

“When Natalya wished that she had a camera to take a picture of Rainbow,” Pinkie promptly answered.

Redheart stared at Pinkie for a few seconds, then at the sleeping Rainbow for another moment, and finally looked to Natalya.

“What?” was all Redheart uttered.

Natalya shrugged.

Redheart shook her head. “You know what? Nevermind.” Moving over to the bed, she grabbed a clipboard that was hanging on the footrest of the bed. “So, Natalya, if you’re feeling well enough, could I ask you a few questions to check up on you?”

“Sure, shoot.”

“Any signs of fatigue?”

“N—”

“And please remember to be honest,” Redheart reminded softly, but sternly. “We only want to make sure you get the proper care, alright?”

Natalya blinked and then nodded. “Okay, I guess I’m still feeling kind of tired, even though I just woke up. How long was I out anyway?”

“A few hours. It’s late in the afternoon now. As for you feeling tired, that’s expected, given what you’ve been through.” Redheart paused to scribble some notes with a pencil attached to the clipboard by a string. “Okay, on a scale of one to ten, any pain?”

“Three, I think. A bit sore everywhere.”

“Also expected. As long as you don’t develop any severe pain, we have nothing to worry about.” Redheart made another note on the clipboard. “So besides feeling kind of tired and sore, do you have anything else bothering you, like coughing, chills, numbness, or any other abnormalities?”

Another loud snore from Rainbow made everyone turn their heads toward the pegasus.

“And that is one of the main reasons we try to give Rainbow her own room whenever she ends up here,” Redheart flatly informed.

“Does that count as an abnormality?” Natalya asked, pointing a talon at Rainbow.

“Of course, but let’s focus on things that actually can be fixed.”

“Then I got nothing.”

Redheart nodded and made one last note on the clipboard before hanging it back on the bed’s footrest. “So, Natalya, just to let you know, fatigue and soreness are normal. It means that your body is working hard on recovering, which also means that the medicine is working.”

“That thing better have worked. I still can taste that nasty stuff in my mouth.”

“Ooh, I can help with that!” Pinkie gleefully chirped before taking a cupcake from somewhere behind her and stuffing it into Natalya’s beak.

Natalya shot Pinkie a glare, but she ate the cupcake in silence as the sweet dessert made quick work of the lingering, unpleasant taste of the medicine.

“Pinkie, please refrain from shoving cupcakes or any other sort of food into patients’ mouths,” Redheart chastised.

“Aww, why not?” Pinkie asked with a disappointed frown.

“Because it’s an obvious choking hazard?”

“Really? I never had that problem before, and I eat cupcakes all the time.” Pinkie pulled out another cupcake and inhaled it without chewing even once.

“Well, you’re… unique. Just please be careful about what you shove into other pony’s mouths, preferably not doing it at all.”

“Okie dokie!”

The door to the room opened again, and Gilda walked in with a small box tucked under a wing. “Hey, Rainbow. Heard you ended up in here and…” She trailed off when she noticed who was in the hospital bed. “Natalya? Wait, you got hurt too?”

“Gee, thanks for the concern,” Natalya dryly replied.

“Er, sorry. I was just surprised. Pinkie just got one of her weird sense things and said Rainbow was in the hospital.”

“Well, she’s right there.” Natalya pointed at Rainbow in the corner.

“Uh, so what’s wrong with her?” Gilda asked, staring at the slumbering pony.

“Nothing,” Natalya informed.

Rainbow snored again.

“Well, nothing that’s supposed to be treated at the hospital.”

Gilda frowned slightly. “Pinkie, you made it sound like Rainbow got hurt.”

“All I said was that Rainbow ended up in the hospital.” Pinkie waved a hoof over Natalya. “See? Rainbow ended up here because she was with Natalya! Geeze, I had to explain the same thing to Natalya. You two really should pay attention more.”

Natalya and Gilda both groaned in response and facepalmed.

“Wait…” Gilda let her paw slip off her face and looked at Pinkie again. “Pinkie, why are you here already? I thought you were going leave Sugarcube Corner later to clean up the kitchen.”

“I did!” Pinkie answered, along with some happy bouncing. “Everything is spotless.”

“Uh huh…” Gilda stared at the pronking pink pony with a flat gaze. “So you managed to clean the entire kitchen and beat me here?”

“I took a shortcut.”

“That doesn’t…” Gilda sighed. “Never mind…” Shifting her gaze to Natalya, she asked, “So what happened to you? You doing alright?”

“Rainbow and I tried something new for my Sonic Rainboom training.” Natalya answered. “Ended up busting my wing and right foreleg.”

“That sucks. How long are you going to be out?”

“The doc said my leg should only take a day or two to get better. As for my wing… About a week…”

“Ouch. A week without flying? That must be killing you.”

“What?!” Pinkie cried out, her face suddenly in Gilda’s as her forehooves shook the wide-eyed griffon’s shoulders. “You mean Natalya is going to die because she can’t fly?!”

“Pinkie! Get off me!” Gilda yelled, trying to pry the panicking pink pony off of her but failing. “I didn’t mean it literally! She’s just unhappy that she can’t fly!”

Pinkie blinked. “Oh.” She backed away from Gilda and grinned sheepishly. “My mistake.”

Gilda glowered at Pinkie before taking the box from her wing, which had miraculously remained intact the tussle with Pinkie, and placing it on a nearby table. “Well, here’s a couple of snacks from Sugarcube Corner, Natalya. Just, uh, ignore the fact that most of the stuff here are Rainbow’s favorites because I thought, well, you know…”

“It’s cool. Food is food,” Natalya remarked.

Redheart cleared her throat, grabbing everyone’s attention. “If you don’t mind, I need to review with Natalya about what we did while she was asleep, as well as explain how the rest of her treatment will go.”

“Wait!” Pinkie hollered. “I bet Rainbow would want to hear this. We should wake her up.”

“Very well. May I be the one to wake her up then?”

“You’re going to do another revenge thing, aren’t you?” Natalya half-asked, half-stated.

“Perhaps,” Redheart replied with an innocent smile.

“Then sure. Go for it.”

“Wait, revenge thing?” Gilda queried as Redheart trotted over to a cupboard at the side of the room.

“Long story short: Rainbow pranked Redheart,” Natalya informed.

“Ah.” Gilda nodded in understanding.

Redheart pulled out a pillow from the cupboard with her mouth and then merrily trotted moved over to Rainbow. Standing up on her hind legs in front of Rainbow, Redheart grabbed the pillow with her forelegs and raised it.

“Wait,” Gilda uttered. “Are you seriously—”

With a mighty roar, Redheart quickly twisted her body and swung back around, smacking Rainbow right in the face with the pillow, knocking the pegasus to the floor with a surprised grunt.

“Boom! Right in the kisser!” Pinkie declared before falling to the floor in giggles.

“Oh Celestia, I have been waiting for so long for a chance to do that,” Redheart stated as she released a sigh of contentment.

“But don’t you have plenty of opportunities to do stuff like this when Rainbow has to be treated?” Natalya asked.

“Well, I do try to be professional when that happens,” Redheart replied, dropping the pillow on the groaning Rainbow that was sluggishly writhing on the floor. “While Rainbow might not be my favorite patient, I am not going to endanger her health just for some petty revenge. With that said, I have no qualms with giving her special attention since she is here and not as a patient, for once.”

“Guess I don’t have to worry about getting the same treatment as Rainbow then, huh?”

“Not at all, so long as you don’t pull any pranks on me.” Redheart smiled coyly. “Although, if you want to be sure, you could maybe save me a Sugarcube Corner pastry or two for later.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Natalya promised with a hint of amusement in her voice. Redheart had spunk, and she liked it.

“Ugh, what the hay, Redheart?!” Rainbow spat in a raised voice as she stood up to glare at the nurse.

“You’ve slept through all the noise that has been going on here, so I figured that a more physical approach was needed,” Redheart informed.

“Couldn’t you have at least poke me or even shake me first?”

“Must’ve slipped my mind,” Redheart confessed with faux innocence. “Anyway, I’m about to talk about Natalya’s treatment. Did you want to be awake for that or not?”

Rainbow shot Redheart one more glare before stomping over to Natalya’s bedside.

“Alright then, if there’s no further interruptions…” Redheart paused and looked over everyone else in the room. Receiving only silence in response, she continued, “So, Natalya, while you were asleep, we placed your foreleg in a brace to reduce any chance of straining it further. Like Doctor Horse told you, it should only take a day or two for it to recover. As for your wing, we put it in a splint to make sure your bones mend properly and that should take around a week before it’s better. There were also a number of scratches, bruises, and cuts, but they’re all minor things that are inconsequential and were easily treated.”

“I’m guessing you’re going to keep me here the entire week,” Natalya uttered softly. It was still difficult to hear that she was going to be bed-ridden, so hearing it again from Redheart put a lump in her throat.

“That depends. Your foreleg won’t take as long to heal. While you’re here, we’ll be keeping an eye on you, as well as performing a daily scan. If everything is going alright by the time your foreleg gets better, we can discuss the possibility of allowing you to go home, or rather back to the Castle of Friendship. Keep in mind that if we do let you leave, you’ll still have to come back for daily checkups until your wing is fixed.”

“Fine with me. Better than being stuck here all week.”

“Figured that you would say something like that. So, does anypony have any questions before I leave?” Seeing no one taking up on her offer, Redheart nodded and trotted toward the door. “Then I’ll leave you girls alone. Just make sure you keep the noise levels down, alright?”

After Redheart left, Rainbow turned to her friend. “So, how you doing, Natalya?”

“Alright, I guess.” Natalya looked down at her braced right foreleg. “Still bummed out I have to go through all of this though. I’m not looking forward to how bored I’m going to be stuck in this bed, even if it is only for a day or two.”

“Oh, I know the perfect thing for that! I’ll be right back!” Rainbow declared before she dashed out of the room.

“I could throw you a party if you’re bored,” Pinkie offered.

“Uh, Pinkie, I don’t think Redheart would want that,” Gilda warned. “She doesn’t want us to be too noisy.”

“Aww, but this would’ve been the perfect place for a party. We could’ve played gurney racing!”

“Yeah, I definitely think that Redheart would not like that.”

“Really? I thought Redheart and the other nurses didn’t mind the last time. They even joined in on the fun by playing tag with me and then carrying me outside.”

Gilda faceplamed.

“Yeah, as interesting as that sounds, I’m gonna pass,” Natalya stated. “I don’t think a party in my condition is a good idea.”

“Then how about I promise to throw you one after you get out?” Pinkie asked with a wide grin.

“Look, Pinkie, I’m just not into par—”

“Don’t try to fight it, Natalya,” Gilda interrupted. “A party is going to happen, whether you want it or not, which is not exactly a bad thing. Pinkie’s parties can be pretty cool once you get used to them.”

Natalya paused and then looked back at Pinkie, who was nodding fervently. With another sigh, she conceded, “Fine, but I’m not ready for any big shindig. Just keep it small, like the three of us and Rainbow. Maybe a few other close friends, if we really have to.”

Pinkie brought her forehoof to her head in a salute. “Aye aye!”

“They still have it!” Rainbow almost-shouted as she flew back into the room and brought a book to Natalya’s face. “You’re definitely not going to be bored when you get a look at this, Natalya!”

“Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone?” Natalya read the title of the book out loud. On the cover was a light-gold pegasus mare with a mane of various shades of gray. She was wearing a pith hat and a green field shirt while she swung on a vine over a pool of alligators.

“Wait, you read, Rainbow?” Gilda asked with wide eyes as she pointed at Rainbow’s book with a talon. “For fun?”

Rainbow flinched and slowly turned to Gilda. “Er, yes?”

Gilda stared at Rainbow. At first, her face showed no emotion, but it was soon broken when her mouth twitched upwards as a snicker escaped her.

Rainbow groaned. “Yeah, yeah, I read books now. Go ahead and let it out, Gilda…”

“Nah. it’s—snrk—cool,” Gilda replied, her grin growing wider. “I’m, uh, I’m just going to step outside for a sec.” She calmly exited the room, slowly closing the door behind her.

Rainbow sighed. “Wait for it…”

“BAHAHAHA! I can’t believe it! Rainbow is an egghead now!” Gilda’s voice boomed as soon as the door clicked shut.

“Just to let you know, I would be joining her if I wasn’t stuck in this bed,” Natalya said to an unamused Rainbow.

“You do know that this book is also good for smacking griffons, right?” Rainbow retorted, hefting the book up in her hooves.

Natalya, Rainbow, and Pinkie all waited as Gilda’s laughs continued, the hospital walls doing nothing in drowning out her cacophonic laughter. A few minutes passed before Gilda finally settled down, and shortly afterwards, she reentered the room with a broad grin.

“Sounded like you had a lot of fun,” Pinkie remarked.

“You have no idea, Pinkie,” Gilda replied.

“You done?” Rainbow asked flatly.

“Sure am…” Gilda snickered one last time. “Egghead.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes and grumbled.

“But really, Rainbow, if you like reading now, that’s cool. Just keep in mind that I’m going to josh you about this for a long time.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Rainbow, letting out a snort before raising the book up triumphantly. “But seriously, you guys, this book is about Daring Do! She’s an awesome pegasus explorer who goes to all sorts of cool places, find magical artifacts in old temples, gets out of all sorts of dangerous traps, and fights bad guys!”

“So?” Natalya asked.

“So?! Dude, Daring Do is the best! She’s athletic, cool, brave, adventurous, and strong.” Rainbow grinned. “Kind of reminds you of somepony, right?”

Natalya and Gilda briefly exchanged glances before shaking their heads.

“Nope.”

“No.”

“Nobody I can recall.”

“Definitely not anyone I know.”

“Oh, oh, wait! I know!” Pinkie hopped up and down excitedly. “It’s, uh, it’s…” She stopped hopping, and her face scrunched up in thought. “Uh, I got this. It’s, um, uh, Applejack?”

“Applejack?! Really?! I’m ten times more everything than her!” Rainbow cried out and pouted. “Ugh, you guys suck.”

“So, Rainbow, you expect me to read? Hate to break it to you, but that’s not my sort of thing,” Natalya informed. “Plus, it’s kind of hard to hold a book when I’m down a foreleg.”

“Just give it a shot. I’ll even read it out loud for you.” Rainbow rushed over to her sleeping chair and pushed it by Natalya’s bed. “I’ll guarantee that you’ll love it before the first chapter is over!”

“And that’s my signal to leave,” Gilda stated. “I’m pretty beat, and I don’t feel like staying around and becoming a nerd like Rainbow.”

“Hey! Daring Do is not nerdy stuff! It’s awesome stuff!”

Gilda snickered. “Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night.”

“I should probably go back to Sugarcube Corner as well. The Cakes usually want me to watch the foals for a bit so that they can take a break,” Pinkie added.

“Well, thanks for coming, you two,” said Rainbow, while Natalya just nodded at Pinkie and Gilda.

“Bye, guys! I’ll be sure to throw you that party when you get better, Natalya!” Pinkie promised as she pronked out the door.

“I’ll let Twilight and Spike know what’s going on when I get back to the castle,” Gilda remarked, along with a lazy wave as she headed toward the door. “See ya.”

When Pinkie and Gilda were gone, Rainbow plopped on the chair with a huge grin, her hooves holding up the book. “So ready for some Daring Do?”

“No, but I’m guessing that you’re going to read it to me regardless,” Natalya replied.

“You got that right.”

Natalya quietly groaned and lay back in her bed. “Fine… It’s not like I can get away.”

“That’s the spirit!” Rainbow opened up the book and cleared her throat before she began reading.

“As Daring Do trekked through the tropical jungle…”

To Natalya’s surprise, the story almost leapt right into the action when Daring Do went up against a pack of predators in the jungle after only a few sentences. Despite her earlier misgivings, Natalya ended up sitting quietly through Rainbow’s reading. After a dozen or so pages, she had to admit that the book was holding her interest, even when Rainbow paused to give the occasional squeal of delight whenever Daring Do did something awesome.

A knock on the door some time later stopped Rainbow’s reading as she exchanged glances with Natalya. “Maybe Twilight and Spike came to visit after Gilda told them,” Rainbow guessed as she set the book on the bed and trotted over to the door.

“Hey, Rainbow!” Scootaloo greeted as soon as the door was opened.

“Scootaloo? What are you doing here?”

“I was at the castle with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. We were asking Twilight for some books for a homework assignment when Gilda came back and told us what happened to Natalya. Is it alright for me to see her and wish her well and all that stuff?”

“Of course you can! Right, Natalya?” Rainbow asked, even though she was already ushering the filly in.

“Yeah, it’s cool.” Natalya smiled faintly as Scootaloo hurried into the room and climbed up onto the bed, sitting down at the foot of it.

“Hey,” Scootaloo said.

“Hey,” Natalya greeted back. “You got here pretty quick. Gilda left not too long ago.”

“I came rushing over as soon as I got the news.” Scootaloo glanced away and rubbed her foreleg. “I, uh, I just got kind of worried and really wanted to check up on you.”

“Well, as you can see, I’m doing alright… relatively speaking. Having a sprained foreleg and a broken wing is a real downer, but it’s not like I’m in any danger. At least, Rainbow has been sticking around to keep me company, even if she is trying to turn me into an egghead with her book.”

“Daring Do?”

Natalya nodded.

“Yeah, I was kind of surprised too when I found out that Rainbow liked to read, but after I gave it a try, all I can say is that Daring Do is so cool! She’s almost as awesome as you and Rainbow!”

“Thank you!” Rainbow cried out. “See? Scootaloo gets it!”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “So, anyway, how was school today, Scootaloo? In particular, did Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon give you trouble again?”

Scootaloo shook her head. “Nope. They didn’t even say a single word to me or my friends.”

“That’s good.” Natalya looked down at her braced foreleg and then her injured wing. “As you can see, it might be a bit tough for me to confront those two if they step out of line again.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s almost time for student elections anyway, so Diamond is busy getting ready for that. Besides…” Scootaloo sat up and flexed her forelegs. “I’m a tough pony like you and Rainbow. I can handle those two.”

Natalya chuckled softly. “Alright then, but if they do happen to start bothering you again, let me know. I’ll find a way to teach them a lesson, even if I have to run them down in a wheelchair.”

“Oh man, I would so love to see that.” Scootaloo giggled for a bit before returning to a soft smile. “But really, Natalya, don’t worry about it. I really appreciate you looking out for me, but right now, what’s more important is you concentrating on getting better.”

Natalya’s grin grew a little wider. “Alright, if you say you got a handle on things, then I suppose I can just take it easy. Good thing too, since a sprained foreleg and a broken wing is not exactly something I can walk off, and it’s going to take some time for me to get back in the air.”

“It’ll be alright. You’re a cool, tough griffon. You’ll be up and about in no time. And besides, this sort of thing happens to Rainbow a bunch and look how awesome she still is.”

“Really? You too, squirt?” Rainbow asked in mock indignation before she ruffled Scootaloo’s mane with a smirk. “It’s like everypony wants to talk about my crashes today.”

“I’m certainly not complaining,” Natalya quipped.

“Oh, of course you wouldn’t.”

Natalya smirked and then turned her attention back to Scootaloo. “Thanks for coming, kid. I’m feeling better because of your visit.”

“Well, you gave me all sorts of encouragement, not to mention getting Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon off my back. It’s my turn to do a little something for you.”

Rainbow placed a hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder. “That’s really cool of you, Scoots. Unfortunately, I think you should probably head home now.”

“What? Why?”

“Sorry, Scootaloo. I know you want to stay and keep Natalya company, but it’s getting late.”

“Aww, do I really have to go?”

“I’m glad that you want to stick by your friend, but you also can’t stay out too late because it’s a school night. You can visit Natalya again tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I’m not going anywhere,” Natalya pointed out. She managed to shake her injured foreleg a bit. “Seriously, I’m going to be stuck here for another day or so.”

“Then I’ll be here right after school tomorrow,” Scootaloo proclaimed.

“Sounds good, squirt,” Rainbow agreed. “So, need me to fly you home?”

Scootaloo shook her head. “I’m fine. You stay here and keep Natalya company.”

“You sure?”

Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah. I think Natalya could use you around more than me right now.”

Rainbow chuckled and ruffled the filly’s mane again. “You’re a good kid, Scootaloo. See you tomorrow then.”

“See ya, kid.” Natalya waved goodbye with her free arm and smiled.

Once Scootaloo left, Rainbow sat back down on the chair and opened up the book again. “So, ready to get back to the awesomeness that is Daring Do?”

Natalya rolled her eyes and lazily waved her free arm, signaling Rainbow to go ahead.

Rainbow promptly resumed reading, but Natalya only listened through a few sentences before she let her mind wander, her gaze staring at the wall opposite of her.

“Yo, Natalya,” Rainbow called a few moments later as her hoof suddenly waved up and down right in front of Natalya’s face. “You’re not even paying attention and missing prime Daring Do material here.” She sat back down on the chair and looked at the griffon with concern. “You alright?”

“Yeah, I was just thinking.”

“About what?”

“Just about stuff that happened today.”

“Still bummed out that you’re grounded?”

“No, well, yes, but not exactly what I was concentrating on. Just thinking about why Gilda, Pinkie, and Scootaloo all visited.”

Rainbow cocked her head. “What’s weird about that? They heard you got hurt and wanted to visit you to show that they cared about you.”

“Technically, Gilda and Pinkie came because they thought you were the one who got hurt.”

Rainbow shrugged. “Okay, maybe they did, but that was only because Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense was a bit off. You saw how they were all concerned about you. I’m sure they would’ve come if they knew it was you that got hurt as well. And what about Scootaloo? She heard what happened, and she came rushing right over. Is it really that weird to have friends visit you in the hospital?”

“Kind of, yes.”

“What? Why?”

“I’m just a bit surprised that they want to spend time with me when I’m like…” Natalya waved her arm over her injured limbs. “This…”

“Well, for your information, friends stick by your side through the good times and the bad. In fact, when the bad times come rolling around, that’s when you need friends the most so that they can help you out.”

“Heh, yeah. Gotta admit, without you sticking around, I probably would’ve been in a bunch of trouble.” Natalya sighed. “I guess I’m still getting used to this whole friendship deal. Things are just so different here than in Griffonstone. If something like this happened to me over there, griffons either don’t care or find a way to use my weakness to their advantage.”

“That’s never gonna happen here, and if somepony is lame enough to actually try that…” Rainbow put the book down and flew up into the air to perform a bit of shadowboxing with her forehooves. “Just lemme at em, and I’ll teach them a thing or two.”

Natalya snorted in amusement. “Yeah, I’m sure everypony is quaking in fear,” she dryly quipped.

“I’m serious, Natalya. If somepony messes with you, I’ll kick their flanks.”

“I know you would.” Natalya smiled. “Thanks, Rainbow.”

“No problem, Natalya.”

“And… Well…” Natalya paused for a few moments. “I guess I should also thank you for the other stuff today. Trying to warn me that I was biting off more than I can chew, helping me to the hospital, keeping me company, you know, all that looking out for me stuff.” She paused for a breath. “So, yeah, thanks, Rainbow. I’m glad to have you around.”

“Whoa, a genuine thanks from the great Natalya.” Rainbow gasped, bringing her forehooves to her face in mock shock. “I cannot believe it. I’m so honored! I should check with the doctor and make sure it’s not just a side effect from the meds.”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, gloat all you want. Just don’t expect me to do something like that again for a long, long time.”

Rainbow chuckled. “Sure thing. And for the record, I’m glad to have you around too. Hey, if you want, I can even ask to stay the night with you.”

Natalya snorted in amusement. “Okay, I know I just fessed up a bunch of feelsy stuff, but I’m not getting that soft. It’s not like I need you around all the time. There’s only so much Rainbow I can take.”

“Because I’m too awesome?” Rainbow asked as she wagged her eyebrows.

“More like too annoying.”

“Well, regardless, there’s plenty of time left before your bedtime, soooo…” Rainbow opened up the book again and grinned eagerly at Natalya. “Ready for more Daring Do?”

Natalya let out a huge, exaggerated sigh. “I suppose…”

Rainbow immediately continued reading the story out loud.

Natalya sat back, a faint smile on her face as she enjoyed both the story and Rainbow’s presence.

Maybe this week isn’t going to be as bad as I thought.

Chapter 17: Celebration

Yet again, Natalya’s stay in Ponyville had lured her into doing something she had never dreamt of doing before: Reading for fun… voluntarily.

Natalya had never found the urge or need to pick up a book. After all, she was an athlete, and time spent reading meant time not being used to help her win competitions. It did not help that the Griffonstone Library was nothing more than a group of shelves containing worn out, torn books that had been left out in the open for who knows how long.

But here she was, sitting upright in her bed at the Castle of Friendship with a book in her paws.

It had been a few days since Natalya’s failed attempt at jumpstarting her Sonic Rainboom training. Her sprained foreleg had mended, and the hospital allowed her to return to the Castle of Friendship while her broken wing continued to heal. However, Natalya did not regain as much freedom as she had hoped; Doctor Horse had ordered her to refrain from putting too much exertion on her foreleg, which meant that Natalya could not do many of her exercises, nor take on some more odd jobs for bits.

With her choice of activities severely limited, Natalya turned to the Daring Do books that Rainbow introduced to her. While she did not develop the same fervent zeal for Daring Do like her friend possessed, Natalya had found the explorer pegasus interesting enough to warrant further reading into the book series.

Fortunately, Twilight had found out about Natalya’s newfound interest in the Daring Do series and had lent the griffon her entire collection. Natalya balked when she found out that there were more than two dozen Daring Do books.

Finishing another chapter in the book, Natalya’s eyes needed a brief respite from the extensive reading. She placed a bookmark with Twilight’s cutie mark, also on loan from the alicorn, between the pages and closed the book.

Setting the book aside, Natalya shifted in the quilt that was draped over her lower half and made by Fluttershy. She leaned over and reached toward her night stand for a bottle of apple juice, one of several that had been gifted by Applejack. After taking a huge swig of juice, she placed the bottle back on the night stand, next to a box of pastries from Pinkie and Gilda.

Natalya was still getting used to all the attention she received since her crash. Besides Rainbow and Scootaloo, the other friends she had made had visited her in the hospital at least once to give her a kind words and a get well gift.

Even Rarity made an appearance to give her a new white and dark-grey scarf, which now hung on a wall hook near the door. Natalya was surprised to receive a gift from the unicorn, given the fact that her first interaction with Rarity participating in a prank on her.

Once she was situated back into a comfortable position, Natalya picked the book back up to continue her quiet reading.

“Yo, Natalya!” Rainbow hollered as she barged through the door. “You gotta come—Oh hey, you’re reading Daring Do and the Abyss of Despair! Did you get to the part where Daring Do—”

“Stop. Just stop, Rainbow,” Natalya warned without taking her eyes off the book. “Knowing you, you’re just going to blurt out something and spoil the story for me.”

“I only made that mistake once, and Twilight didn’t have that big of a breakdown. But, yeah, I get your point. Glad to see that you’re catching up on Daring Do.”

“It’s just something to pass the time while I get better.” Natalya looked up from the book. “So, what do you want, Rainbow?”

“Pinkie is throwing a huge party at Sugarcube Corner, and I came to get you. Hurry up, Twilight and Spike are waiting on us.”

Natalya made an annoyed grunt. “Wasn’t that party we had when I got out of the hospital enough? We had it here in the castle with you, me, Gilda, Pinkie, Twilight, and Spike.”

“This party isn’t for you. It’s a Cute-ceañera.”

“A Cute-cewhata?”

“A celebration for when a pony gets their cutie mark.”

“Ah…” Natalya raised the book so that it covered her face. “Not interested.”

“You sure?”

“Mhmm…”

“Even when the Cute-ceañera is for somepony you know? Somepony that you like?”

Natalya lowered her book slightly so she could peer over the top at Rainbow. “Who?”

“I’ll give you a hint.” Rainbow moved to the side of the room and pointed at a drawing stuck to the wall with a piece of tape.

The picture was crudely drawn with crayon. On the left side was a blue pony stick figure with a rainbow mane, and on the right side was a white one with patches of dark-grey, along with a small dark-grey triangle in front of its face. Between those two figures was a smaller orange pony with a magenta mane, and at the bottom of the drawing were the words “Get Well Soon Natalya!”

Natalya lowered the book even more, revealing her whole face to Rainbow. “Scootaloo got her cutie mark?”

“She sure did! Along with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. They got matching cutie marks, which is like beyond awesome!”

Natalya did not know that much about cutie marks, but she did know that getting one was a big deal for ponies. It was like a rite of passage for a growing kid.

“I have to go, don’t I?” Natalya asked.

“You know that she would love to have you there,” Rainbow pointed out.

“Yeah, I do.” Natalya sighed, placing the book aside and sliding off the bed. “Alright, alright. I’m going.”

Since Natalya was still grounded, she and Rainbow exited her room and headed downstairs, where Twilight and Spike were waiting for them at the door.

“You guys ready to head to the Cute-ceañera as well?” Rainbow asked the purple pair.

“We sure are!” Twilight proclaimed. Rolls of parchment and a quill appeared next to her in her magic. “I can’t believe it! Matching cutie marks! It’s such a rare, phenomenal occurrence! I have so many questions to ask them!”

“Uh, Twilight?” Spike spoke up, poking the alicorn’s side. “Maybe you can save that for another day? We’re going to a party, and I don’t think the Crusaders want to spend the entire time answering your questions.”

“Yeah, Twilight,” Rainbow agreed. “Cut the research schtick out for once. Let the fillies have their fun.”

“But… but… research…” Twilight pouted and whimpered. She then sighed and nodded, magicking the parchment and quill away in a burst of light. “I guess you’re right. They certainly deserve it, and it is their party after all.” She then turned and smiled at Natalya. “Good to see that you are able to attend the Cute-ceañera as well, Natalya.”

“Rainbow would’ve gotten me there one way or another anyway, so I might as well go willingly,” Natalya replied.

“You got that right!” Rainbow cheered. “Now come on; we can keep talking while we walk. We don’t want to be late.”

As the four of them left the castle and began walking toward the party, they quickly noticed that more than a few ponies were heading in same direction, no doubt attracted to the Cute-ceañera as well.

“So how are you doing with the Daring Do books I lent you, Natalya?” Twilight asked as they made their way down the street. “I know that Rainbow already read the first one to you while you were in the hospital.”

“I finished the second one last night, and I’m now working on the third one,” Natalya answered. “I have to admit, it’s making my recovery a lot more bearable.”

“Knew you would like it. Nopony can resist Daring Do,” Rainbow commented, gently elbowing Natalya with a smug grin. “You know, there’s a Daring Do convention coming up. Twilight and I already got tickets, but you—”

“No,” Natalya flatly rejected. “I might be interested in Daring Do, but I’m not that interested.”

“Aww, come on! You gotta come! Daring Do will be there to talk about her latest adventure!”

“You mean the author, A. K. Yearling, will be there to talk about her latest book, right, Rainbow?” Twilight amended, flashing a stern glare at the pegasus.

“Oh, um, right! I meant A. K. Yearling because Daring Do is totally not real,” Rainbow amended, flashing an all-too-wide grin.

Natalya glanced back and forth between Rainbow and Twilight’s odd exchange, but she shrugged it off, dismissing it as a Daring Do fan thing.

When they reached Sugarcube Corner, the party was already underway as a huge crowd of ponies celebrated in front of the bakery.

Pinkie must have predicted the large turnout and had set the party up outside. Multiple long tables had been placed around the area, all laden with various confectioneries. Just about every single inch of the area was decorated as a plethora of colorful banners and balloons were tied to various fixtures all over the place. Pinkie and Gilda could also be seen patrolling around the party, quickly resupplying any tables that were running low on sweets.

The main attraction was one larger banner was hanging above the entrance to Sugarcube Corner, depicting what Natalya presumed to be the Crusaders’ new cutie marks. The matching cutie marks were three vertical stripes of red, pink-white, and violet in a shield shape with a magenta symbol within a dark-violet one at the center. Those objects in the center were the only things that differentiated the cutie marks from one another, One was an apple within an apple, while another was a music note contained in a star. The final one was a pegasus wing around a lightning bolt, which Natalya was sure belonged to Scootaloo.

Unsurprisingly, at the center of the crowd and right in front of Sugarcube Corner were Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle, along with Applejack and Rarity, as pony after pony walked up to them to congratulate the fillies.

“I’m heading over to Scootaloo,” Rainbow informed. “You guys coming?”

“I think it’s better to just let the Crusaders and their sisters, official and unofficial ones, be the center of attention at the moment,” Twilight suggested. “We can catch up with you girls later.” She paused to point to the side where a familiar, yellow pegasus was standing in a less crowded section. “I see Fluttershy over there, so Spike and I are going to join her for a while. You want to come as well, Natalya?”

“I’m going to wander around a bit and grab some grub,” Natalya replied. “Might as well have my fill while I’m here.”

Rainbow shrugged. “Sounds fine to me. Just remember to eventually come and congratulate the fillies. See ya!”

Walking off on her own, Natalya waded through the crowd, heading toward one of the farther tables where there were less ponies. She eventually came to a table where there were hardly any ponies around while still offering her a view of the Crusaders and their sisters standing in front of the bakery. More importantly, there was a large tray of tantalizing muffins that were neatly stacked neatly into a small pyramid. She quickly reached forward, only to pause when a grey hoof suddenly darted in front of her and swiped several muffins.

“Hey!” Natalya cried out angrily.

“Oops, my bad,” a bubbly voice apologized.

Natalya turned her head to glare at the rude pony. It was a grey pegasus mare with a postal worker cap on top of her blonde mane, and she was stuffing the muffins in a saddlebag she wore on her side. However, when the mare looked back up at Natalya with an apologetic face, the griffon quickly lost her scowl.

“Sorry about cutting in front of you,” the pegasus apologized. “It’s just that—”

“What’s the deal with your eyes?” Natalya asked. She could not stop staring at the mare’s eyes. For some odd reason, only one eye was focusing on her while the other was staring off to the side.

“Wow, not even going to try and dance around it, huh?” the mare commented. However, the soft smile on her face showed that she was more amused than offended. After taking a breath, she said, “I have exotropia.”

“I have no idea what that means.”

The mare rolled her eyes, which was made all the more impressive by them going in different directions. “The informal term would be derp eyes. It’s something that developed while I was a filly, and it affects my depth perception.”

“Ah…” Natalya slowly nodded, even though she did not fully understand it. “Uh, I guess I’m supposed to say sorry or something?”

The mare giggled. “It’s alright. I’m used to it, and I’m happy living here in Ponyville as a mailmare. The name’s Derpy, by the way,” she said as she raised her hoof forward.

Natalya bumped Derpy’s offered hoof in greeting with a fist. “Natalya.”

“So, as I was saying, I’m sorry about earlier. I really enjoy muffins, and I often forget my manners whenever they’re around.”

“Well, uh, it’s alright, I guess.” Natalya was finding it hard to stay annoyed at the upbeat, positive nature of this pegasus.

“Say…” Both of Derpy’s eyes focused on Natalya for a moment before one of them drifted in a different direction again. “You’re the griffon that’s been hanging out with Rainbow Dash, right?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Could you please give this to Rainbow?” Derpy requested, taking out an envelope from her saddlebag and holding it out to Natalya. “It’s a priority express letter for her. I knew Rainbow was going to be here, but…”

Derpy looked over to where Rainbow was still chatting and laughing with Scootaloo as they continued to be swarmed by other ponies and smiled. “I don’t want to disturb such a happy moment, but at the same time, I still have some other priority deliveries to make. If you could get that to her when she’s free, I would very much appreciate it.”

“Alright, I guess I can do that,” Natalya agreed, taking the envelope from the mailmare.

“Thanks!” Derpy hastily stuffed several more muffins into her saddlebag and one last one into her mouth. “See you later, Natalya,” her muffin-muffled mouth bade before she flew up into the air.

Natalya watched the odd pegasus leave for a few seconds, the mare swaying left and right as she flew away, before she looked down at the envelope.

“Wonderbolt Headquarters?” Natalya murmured, her eyes slightly widening at the sender’s address. She knew that Rainbow was in the reserves for the Wonderbolts, but this was the first time Natalya had seen or heard the premiere flying team contact the pegasus.

An urgent letter from the Wonderbolts… Does this mean there are orders in here for Rainbow? Natalya wondered as she tucked the envelope under her free wing. She gazed back in Rainbow’s direction, waiting for the crowd to clear up.

Fortunately, it did not take much longer before there was a lull in the ponies going up to the Crusaders. Shortly afterwards, Applejack and Rarity went off together, leaving behind the fillies and Rainbow. Natalya decided now was the best time and hurried toward the free ponies.

Scootaloo quickly noticed her approach and enthusiastically waved her over. As Natalya made her way over to them, she saw Scootaloo say a few things to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle before those two scampered off into the crowd.

“Natalya!” Scootaloo chirped, running over to the griffon. “How’s the wing?”

“It’s doing alright. Could do without it getting itchy all the time though.” Natalya smiled softly and patted Scootaloo’s head. “Congrats on the cutie mark, kid.”

“Thanks, Natalya. I’m really glad that you could come.”

“Yeah, I pulled myself out of bed once I found out this party was for you. Well, you and your friends.” Natalya pointed at the cutie mark that now adorned Scootaloo’s flanks. “I know that cutie marks have something to do with your special talent, so what’s yours supposed to mean?”

“I want to know too,” Rainbow added. “I was so excited to hear that you got your cutie mark, I didn’t hear how you actually got it.”

“Well, I’m going to need some help from my friends to explain it.” Scootaloo waved at somepony behind Natalya. “And here they come now!”

Natalya turned to say hi to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, but she paused when she saw two different fillies instead.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were moving toward her, although not of their own volition. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were pushing the two pompous fillies from behind. Even with their rears parked onto the ground and their hooves desperately digging into the dirt, Diamond and Silver could not escape. They whimpered when Natalya’s eyes narrowed at them.

“Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon…” Natalya said in a low, ominous tone. “You two bothering the Crusaders again?”

“No, we’re not! Honest!” Diamond begged. “Tell her, Apple Bloom!”

“Sweetie Belle! You said she wasn’t going to do anything to us!” Silver Spoon cried out in fear.

“Uh, Natalya?” Scootaloo poked the griffon’s side, grabbing her attention. “You can calm down now. I know this is going to sound weird, but Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon really are our friends now.”

“Say what?” Natalya and Rainbow uttered at the same time, staring at Scootaloo as though she had grown a horn on her head.

“Did I hear you right?” Rainbow continued. “Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, the same two fillies that have been bothering you and your friends so much for like forever, are now your friends?”

“Uh, yep,” Scootaloo replied.

“If it helps, we didn’t say they were good friends,” Apple Bloom chimed in.

“That doesn’t help at all, Apple Bloom!” Diamond hissed.

Natalya sighed, lamenting the lost opportunity to torture some fillies again. “Could you girls just hurry up and explain how these two…” She pointed at Diamond and Silver. “helped you get your cutie marks?”

“The student president election happened,” Scootaloo explained. “Pipsqueak asked me, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle to be his campaign managers to help him win.”

“Which we totally nailed!” Sweetie Belle chirped. “It was a landslide! We crushed Diamond so bad! She only got one vote out of the entire class and that’s only because she voted for herself!”

“Uh, Sweetie Belle?” Silver pointed at the glaring Diamond Tiara.

“Oops.” Sweetie Belle chuckled nervously. “Sorry, Diamond,” she apologized, earning her an eye roll from the offended filly.

“Anyway,” Apple Bloom said, picking the story back up, “Silver blew Diamond off because Diamond would not listen to her advice. Even though we weren’t too fond of Diamond, we felt sorry that she had a fight with her friend and followed her just to make sure she was okay.”

“We ended up finding out that it’s her mother that is pushing her to be all high and mighty,” Sweetie Belle explained. “In truth, Diamond is not sure she really likes doing that kind of stuff, but it’s pretty hard to say no to your mother.”

“We invited Diamond back to our clubhouse to make friends with her,” Scootaloo told. “Suddenly, Pipsqueak came in and told us that the school board wouldn’t cough up the bits for a new playground. Diamond wanted to tell everypony that Pipsqueak couldn't keep one of his campaign promises so that she could take over being student president. Luckily, we were able to convince Diamond to not do that."

“So, I ended up standing up to my mother. It felt so good to finally get her off my back.” Diamond took a deep breath. “I’m done with being the kind of pony my mother was making me. From now on, I’m going to be the pony I want to be, which includes me not treating other ponies like they’re beneath me anymore.”

Looking Natalya in the eye, Diamond said with conviction, “I know that you’re protecting Scootaloo, and I’m sorry for all the mean things I said to her. I promise that I won’t be doing that anymore.” She then put on a nervous smile. “So, uh, please don’t hurt me?”

“And I’m sorry too, Miss Natalya!” Silver Spoon hastily added, throwing her forehooves around the pink filly. “Diamond and I have been friends for so long, her mother’s teachings also kind of rubbed off on me as well. Most of all, I didn’t want to go against her mother and possibly lose my best friend.”

Natalya stared at the cowering fillies, unsure what to do. She glanced over at Scootaloo and received a nod and smile from the filly. With a sigh, she conceded, “Alright, I guess if you two really are friends with the Crusaders now, I don’t have to keep my eye on you. Just make sure to keep things that way, and we won’t have any problems, got it?”

“Got it!” Diamond and Silver immediately complied, both letting out a sigh of relief.

“So, uh, am I hearing this right?” Rainbow asked. “You three got your cutie marks by getting Diamond to mouth off to her mother?”

That got all the fillies to giggle.

“Can you imagine all the trouble we would get into with adults if that really were true?” Sweetie Belle mused.

“We kind of already have been gettin’ into trouble for a long time, what with all the stuff we did to try and get our cutie marks,” Apple Bloom pointed out.

“Well, we didn’t quite finish how things turned out,” Diamond remarked, and she turned to display her tiara cutie mark. “The Crusaders helped me realize what I should be doing with my special talent. I always knew that I was good at bossing ponies around, but they helped me realize I should be leading ponies to get things done. I got my parents to buy the new playground equipment, and I helped direct my classmates to install everything.”

“That’s when we learned that we really liked helping others,” Scootaloo explained. “We want to assist others in getting their marks and help the ones that already got theirs but don’t fully understand what they mean. When we decided that’s what we wanted to do from now on…”

The Crusaders hastily gathered together to show off their flanks. “We got our cutie marks!” the Crusaders shouted in unison.

“Wow, that’s so cool!” Rainbow gushed. “It’s even cooler that you girls are going to be helping all sorts of ponies.”

“Dedicating your life to help others, huh?” Natalya mused. “That’s quite a heavy load for a couple of fillies.”

“Yeah, we know it’s not gonna be easy,” Apple Bloom admitted. “But it’s what we really want to do from now on.”

“And we really love helping other ponies out!” Sweetie Belle cheered.

“Which is a totally awesome thing to do,” Rainbow complimented. “I have no doubt you girls are going to improve the lives of so many ponies once you get things rolling.”

Natalya slowly nodded in agreement. She might not fully understand the whole cutie mark business, but she could still see that the Crusaders had set some lofty goals for themselves.

“Hey, can we go find Pipsqueak?” Diamond suddenly asked. “Maybe we can convince him to make me vice president!”

“You girls go on ahead,” Scootaloo said. “I’m going to hang out with Rainbow and Natalya for a while.”

After a quick goodbye, the two other Crusaders and two former bullies rushed off into the crowd, leaving Natalya, Rainbow, and Scootaloo behind.

“So, you meet anypony interesting while Scootaloo and I were busy?” Rainbow asked Natalya.

“Actually, yes. I talked to that mailmare Derpy.” Natalya took out the envelope from her wing. “She was busy and asked me to pass on a letter to you.”

Rainbow grasped the envelope in a hoof. She let out a gasp and her eyes bulged when she saw who was writing to her, and in a blur of movement, she shredded through the envelope and pulled out the letter inside.

“Who’s it from, Rainbow?” Scootaloo asked.

“The Wonderbolts,” Natalya informed since Rainbow was too busy hastily reading through the letter clutched in her forehooves.

“Really?!” Scootaloo’s wings buzzed in excitement. “What’s it say?”

“SWEEEEET!” Rainbow elatedly cried out, launching herself high into the air and doing a hoof pump.

“Well, somepony is lively,” Rarity commented, emerging from the crowd to join the group. “Given Rainbow’s exuberance, I take it something good has happened?”

“Oh, it’s more than good! It’s awe—No, super awesome!” Rainbow said as she descended back to the group. “I’m going to be the backup member for the airshow in the upcoming Royal Garden Opening at Canterlot!”

“Oh my gosh! That’s fantastic, Rainbow!” Scootaloo cheered.

“Simply marvelous, darling!” Rarity congratulated.

“Uh, so you get to sit on the sidelines of this airshow?” Natalya asked.

“Well, yeah, but I’m going to be the only reserve there,” Rainbow replied. “That means that if one of the regular Wonderbolts isn’t able to perform, I get to fill in for them. Of course, the chance of that happening is extremely rare, so it does look like I’ll just be benched the entire…” She paused for a few moments and then switched to a flat gaze. “Wow, way to be a buzzkill, Natalya.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Natalya snarked with a small smirk. “But, I guess it’s still pretty cool. They picked you out of all the other reserves, so that means something, right?”

“That’s right, Rainbow,” Scootaloo agreed. “They got their eye on you. You’re another step closer to becoming one of the main Wonderbolts!”

“Not to mention that you’ll be able to attend the soiree that’s happening along with the opening,” Rarity added. “I haven’t told any of the others yet, but I’m actually going to be attending the opening as well.”

“You are? That’s awesome!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Hey, you think that we could get the others to come?”

Rarity shook her head. “I don’t think that’s possible. As far as I know, tickets have been sold out for weeks. I guess I could ask around, but I very much doubt it will do any good. I was lucky that Fancy Pants was able to secure me a spot, but I doubt even his influence would be of assistance now.”

“Oh…” Rainbow deflated. She gave Natalya and Scootaloo an apologetic look. “Sorry, guys.”

“It’s alright, Rainbow,” Scootaloo assured. “I’ll just wait until you’re one of the main Wonderbolts.”

“And watching others fly isn’t really my thing,” Natalya stated. “I’m guessing that you’ll be gone for a few days, huh?” To her surprise, a sinking feeling hit her when she uttered those words.

“Oh, right. I should probably check when they want me to come in and all that stuff.” Rainbow looked back at the letter. “Seriously?! Tomorrow?!”

“I suppose that is a bit tight, but it is understandable,” Rarity reasoned. “The opening is only a week away, and the Wonderbolts need to bring you up to speed with their routine.”

“Yeah, I know that, but…” Rainbow sighed and turned to Scootaloo. “I just promised Scootaloo that we would do some more flying training tomorrow.”

“Rainbow, come on! It’s the Wonderbolts!” Scootaloo argued. “Forget about me!”

“You sure, Scootaloo? I know that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle will be with their families tomorrow, plus I feel pretty rotten that I might be backing out of a promise I made to you just a few moments ago.”

“I officially release you from the promise you made to me.” Scootaloo sat down and spread her forehooves in an upwards and outwards flourish for emphasis. “Seriously, Rainbow. Just go. I’ll be fine. You can help me train any other time.”

Natalya’s gaze flicked over to the filly. Despite Scootaloo’s urging, Natalya could hear the disappointment the filly was trying to mask. She knew that spending time with Rainbow was likely Scootaloo’s most favorite thing to do, but here she was, putting on a brave face so that Rainbow can do something that she loved.

Natalya already liked Scootaloo, and this act only furthered her fondness for the filly. In fact, she felt an urge to ponder if there was something she could do to help.

“So, just throwing it out there... ” Natalya said out loud after a few moments. “How about I take over Scootaloo’s training tomorrow instead?”

Rainbow, Scootaloo, and Rarity all shifted their gazes toward Natalya.

“That’s quite the generous offer there, darling,” Rarity complimented.

“Really? You’d do that for me?” Scootaloo asked eagerly.

“Why not? I got a lot of free time now,” Natalya reasoned. “I’ll have even more if Rainbow does go to Canterlot. What else am I supposed to do with it all? Lay in bed and read Daring Do all day?”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.” Rainbow smirked and draped a wing over Scootaloo. “But I guess spending time with the squirt is more important.

“Still, are you sure you’re up to this, Natalya? I know that you’ve been coming to more of our flying lessons, but you’ve only just watched us.”

“Yeah, I’ll admit I’m not much of a teacher.” Natalya glanced over at her injured wing. “Doesn’t help that I got this as well. Still, it’s better than nothing, and at the very least, maybe Scootaloo will be fine with hanging out for a bit.”

“That sounds more than fine, Natalya!” Scootaloo cheered. “I’d love to spend more time with you.”

“Then it’s settled,” Rarity proclaimed. “Natalya will spend some quality time with Scootaloo so that Rainbow can fulfill her duties as an upcoming Wonderbolt.”

Rainbow looked to Rarity, Scootaloo, and then Natalya, letting out a resigned chuckle as she smiled. “Guess I’m going, huh?”

“That you are, darling. I would appreciate having a friendly face around during the opening’s party, and I suspect that you’ll have a fun time as well mingling with the Wonderbolts. In fact, I can even take the train with you to Canterlot. I was planning to spend a few days checking on the Canterlot Carousel anyway.”

“Really? That would be cool of you, Rarity. I bet that I could talk to some ponies and get you in to see some of the practice runs.”

“That sounds splendid, darling.”

“Looks like you two got everything planned out already,” Scootaloo remarked. “I can’t wait to hear all about it when you come back.”

“Well, we got to start packing first, but that can wait until after the party, and knowing Pinkie, there’s still plenty of party left to go,” said Rainbow. “But, uh, right now, you guys mind if Natalya and I talk for a bit?” When Natalya opened her beak, Rainbow rolled her eyes at the griffon and quickly added, “And before you say anything, smart mouth, I mean in private.”

Natalya smirked. “Yeah, sure.”

“Sure,” Scootaloo complied. “I should get back to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle anyway.”

“And I should really go say hello to our friends,” Rarity remarked. “Oh, and Rainbow, do make sure that you save some time to see them so that we can tell them about our Canterlot plans, alright?”

“Will do, Rarity,” Rainbow said with a salute. “Come on, Natalya, it should be quieter inside Sugarcube Corner.”

Natalya and Rainbow headed inside the bakery, finding the place pretty empty due to all the festivities being outside. Pinkie and Gilda periodically went in and out of the kitchen to bring out more food for the party, but they left the pair alone after a quick explanation from Rainbow.

“So, what’s up?” Natalya asked as they moved to a corner of the bakery.

“I wanted to thank you for filling in for me for Scootaloo,” Rainbow answered with a grateful smile.

“No big deal. Like I said, I got nothing better to do.”

“And you also like Scootaloo.”

“That too.”

Rainbow chuckled for a second before her gaze drifted to the ground. “I also want to say sorry.”

“For what? I don’t recall you annoying me today, at least not yet.”

Rainbow tilted her head slightly. “So you’re not at all bothered that I’m going to be gone for a whole week?”

“Should I be?”

“Aren’t you bummed that I won’t be around to help you train? You were all worried that time is running out for you to learn the Sonic Rainboom before your crash.”

Natalya pointed at her broken wing with a talon. “Did you forget about this? It’s going to be a few more days before the cast comes off, and I’ll probably need another few to rebuild my strength. I can’t do anything about the Sonic Rainboom right now.” She then glanced away and sighed. “Plus, I know this is a big deal for you. And well… you’ve done a bunch of stuff for me, so I guess I could help you out a bit by covering for you.”

Rainbow smiled. “Thanks, Natalya. I owe you one.”

“You sure do. Once I’m better, we’re getting back to my training.”

Rainbow chuckled softly. “Got it.”

“So, is that everything?”

“Just one more question…” Rainbow put on a cocky smirk. “You gonna miss me?”

Natalya’s eyebrow went up. “No.”

“You sure? I know that I’m gonna miss hanging out with you.”

“Sucks to be you then.”

“Aww, don’t be like that,” Rainbow teased, her smirk growing wider. “You know that you will. Remember what you said in the hospital about being glad to having me around and being all mushy and—”

“How about I just slap a stamp over that big mouth of yours and ship you off to Canterlot right now?” Natalya asked, giving Rainbow a forceful nudge while she tried to stop her mouth from twitching upwards.

Rainbow cackled, playfully sticking out her tongue at Natalya before she exited Sugarcube Corner.

Natalya snorted in amusement and slowly walked over to the bakery entryway, watching Rainbow head toward Scootaloo.

A sigh escaped Natalya. She realized that she had never spent more than a day away from Rainbow since she came to Ponyville, so spending a week apart was a bit of a daunting thought. While at first she saw Rainbow as another competitor to crush, Natalya had grown to enjoy the companionship the pegasus gave her.

A small smile crossed her face when she saw Rainbow say a few words to Scootaloo before the filly tackled Rainbow to the ground in a hug.

Maybe I’ll miss her a little bit.

Chapter 18: Natalya Time

There was not much to the Ponyville train station. Located at the edge of town, the station contained a wooden train platform with a ticket vendor, and right next to it was a small building that served as both a waiting area and an office.

Natalya was yawning as she leaned her left side against the wall of the train platform in Ponyville, careful to not let anything touch her splinted right wing. She had been sleeping in more than usual during her recovery, but she had gotten up early this morning so that she and Gilda could meet Rainbow before the Wonderbolt backup boarded the train to Canterlot.

Rainbow and Scootaloo were already at the station when the griffons arrived. While Scootaloo was her usual perky self, Rainbow was less of a morning pony, a large yawn escaping her while her eyes were drooping halfway down. Nonetheless, despite the morning grogginess afflicting some of them, the ponies and griffons greeted each other with smiles.

They spent a while chatting with each other, but as the train’s arrival started to draw close, Natalya began to wonder about Rainbow’s missing traveling companion.

“Where’s Rarity?” Natalya asked. “Twilight and Spike went to her place earlier to help her out, but there’s no sign of any of them.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” Rainbow dismissed. “Rarity never passes up a chance to visit Canterlot. I bet that she’s doing her ‘fashionably late’ thing again. It’s another one of those fancy-schmancy stuff she likes to do.”

“I don’t think that works quite as well when it comes to trains.”

“Hey, I see them!” Scootaloo suddenly shouted. “There they are!”

Natalya blinked when she looked in the direction Scootaloo was pointing. “Does she always pack that much stuff?” she asked, seeing Rarity, Twilight, and Spike approach the train station with about a dozen or so suitcases split among them. It was a stark contrast to the two saddlebags that Rainbow had packed for the trip.

“Pretty much,” Rainbow replied. She then called out to the approaching luggage mountain. “Hey, Rares! I know we’re going to be gone for a week, but this is a bit much, even for you!”

“Did you forget that I will be working at the Canterlot Boutique as well?” Rarity argued when she got closer. “Naturally, I brought some of my work with me. The majority of my luggage actually consists of finished creations that I plan on putting on display there.”

“Oh, right.” Rainbow grinned sheepishly. “Should’ve figured you would be bringing stuff to your Canterlot shop. Sorry, Rarity. I thought that you packed all sorts of makeup and clothes for yourself like you usually do.”

“And who says I didn’t? One must always look her best at any occasion. I even made sure to pack several dress changes for the party,” Rarity declared with a faint, smug smile. Her smiled faded when she took a quick look around the train platform. “I take it that Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie are not going to be able to see us off.”

“Chill, Rarity. We don’t need some big send off. It’s only going to be a week. You know that Applejack has got her morning chores and that Fluttershy has to catch up on her animal patients since she went to the Crusaders’ Cute-ceañera yesterday.”

“And mornings are usually the busiest time of the day at Sugarcube Corner,” Gilda added. “Pinkie was nice enough to cover for me so that I could be here.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to be rude and imply that they had to be here,” Rarity defended. “I know that they have their own responsibilities to deal with, and I would be a terrible friend to try and monopolize their time. It’s just a shame that we could not say one last farewell to each other.”

Pinkie did say she would try to make it to say a quick goodbye,” Gilda informed. “But it’s kind of far from here to Sugarcube Corner, so I don’t think she’ll be making an appearance.”

Suddenly, a pink blur rammed into Rainbow and Rarity, grabbing them and lifting them slightly into the air. “Bye, Rainbow! Bye, Rarity! I’m going to miss you two so, so, so much! Have fun in Canterlot, and make sure to bring me back a souvenir! Okay, bye!”

As fast as it came, the pink blur was gone, leaving behind Rainbow and Rarity both sprawled on the floor, their eyes wide with shock after being viciously hugged.

“I guess Pinkie made it,” Spike helpfully pointed out.

Gilda sighed. “The thing that disturbs me the most is that I’m more surprised that she didn’t leave behind some pastries rather than how she just did all of… well, that.”

The pink blur suddenly returned, circled around Gilda once, and then zipped away before anyone could react.

“And don’t forget to give them their snack, Gilda!”

Gilda looked down at the box of pastries that she was not holding a few seconds ago and then back to Rainbow and Rarity. With another sigh, she thrust the box into Rainbow’s hooves. “Here, Pinkie wanted me to give these to you.”

“Uh, thanks, Gilda.” Rainbow stashed the pastries into one of her saddlebags. “And thank Pinkie for us the next time you see her.”

“You’re welcome!” Pinkie’s voice echoed from somewhere.

“I think she knows already,” Gilda flatly stated.

“Yeah, I noticed…" Rainbow dryly replied.

"Twilight, Spike, do you mind lending me a hoof to make sure I have everything?" Rarity requested.

"No problem, Rarity," Twilight obliged with a smile.

"Anything for you, Rarity," Spike fervently replied, rushing over to the white unicorn.

With Rarity, Twilight, and Spike busy, Rainbow turned her attention to her other friends, starting with Gilda. "Anyway, thanks for coming to see me off, Gilda.” She started rubbing the back of her neck with an uneasy smile. “And sorry that I’m going away for a bit, especially since we haven’t spent too much time together since you got here.”

Gilda scoffed. “Please… It’s not like you’re my only friend anymore. Pinkie’s cool, and she has been keeping me busy. I’m learning a ton of stuff from her, not to mention that she’s actually pretty fun to hang with, even with the freaky things that she does.”

Gilda wrapped a foreleg around Rainbow’s neck and turned both of them toward Natalya’s direction . “Besides, you got your hands full with this girl here. She needs you more than me. You even went and made her tolerable to be around.”

“Seriously?” Natalya uttered, quirking an eyebrow at the other griffon.

Rainbow snorted. “Gilda’s just impressed with how much you have changed, Natalya.” She squirmed out from Gilda’s grasp and went over to pat Natalya’s side. “I am too.”

Despite only giving a huff in response, Natalya felt a hint of pride at Rainbow’s praise.

Rainbow then moved toward Scootaloo with a big smile. “And Scootaloo, thanks for being such a good sport about this. I promise that I’ll make it up to you when I get back.”

“Don’t worry about it, Rainbow,” Scootaloo assured. “This is a golden opportunity for you, and I wouldn’t dream of letting you pass it up. I want you to just concentrate on the airshow and show the Wonderbolts what you’re made of.”

Rainbow chuckled. “Yeah, I’ll do my best to wow everypony with my awesome bench sitting skills.”

“There isn’t anyone else I know who’s better at sitting around and doing nothing,” Natalya quipped.

“Hey, who knows?” said Gilda. “Maybe you’ll get lucky and one of the Wonderbolts will have to step out because of, I dunno, a sick mother.”

“Yeah, like that’ll ever happen,” Rainbow dryly remarked.

“Well, whatever happens, good luck out there, Rainbow,” Scootaloo stated.

“Thanks, guys,” Rainbow said, smiling at the two griffons and filly around her.

A loud whistle made everypony on the platform turn their heads to see the train finally approaching the station.

When the train came to a stop and opened its doors, a few ponies exited the transport, but more ponies promptly came out of the waiting area building to replace the disembarked passengers.

While Twilight and Spike helped Rarity load her luggage onto the train, Rainbow began saying her goodbyes.

“You be good while I’m away, alright?” Rainbow said as she patted Scootaloo’s head.

“Will do, Rainbow,” Scootaloo promptly replied.

Rainbow turned her head toward the griffons. “And you two, you’re gonna behave while I’m away, right?”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “You think we’re seriously going to get into trouble?”

“Yeah, don’t you know who we are?” Gilda asked in a mock hurt voice.

“So I should be saving up my bits to bail you guys out of jail when I get back?” Rainbow asked flatly.

Natalya shrugged. “Well, you did say you always got my back…”

“True…” Rainbow smirked. “Then again, that super-limited, deluxe Daring Do edition is coming out soon…”

“So you’re choosing a book over your friends… Egghead!” Gilda chirped in a singsong voice.

Despite being at her expense, Rainbow rolled her eyes and laughed along with the others.

“Rainbow, darling, hurry up,” Rarity called from right inside the train’s doors. She was only carrying one small bag in her magic, the rest of her luggage presumably loaded onto the train. “We’re going to be leaving any moment now.”

“Coming, Rarity!” Rainbow shouted back before giving Scootaloo a hasty hug and a hoof bump to each of the griffons. “Catch you guys later!” she bade as she dashed into the train.

A few moments later, another whistle blared as the doors were closed and the train started moving.

“Bye, guys!” Rainbow shouted as she and Rarity stuck their heads out of one of the train’s windows and waved with a forehoof. “We’ll see you all in a week!”

The griffons and the ponies left on the platform responded with their own goodbyes and waves as the train chugged away from the station. It was not long before even the puffs of smoke from the train disappeared over the horizon.

“Well, I should hurry on over to Sugarcube Corner and help Pinkie,” Gilda informed as she took to the sky. “See ya!”

“Spike and I will be returning to the castle to finish up some princess paperwork,” Twilight informed while Spike climbed onto her back. “Are you two still going to do your flying lesson today?” she asked, looking at Natalya and Scootaloo.

“We sure are!” Scootaloo enthusiastically replied. She turned to Natalya with wide, eager eyes, her wings buzzing with excitement. “When can we do it?”

Natalya shrugged. “I don’t got anything else to do today. We could start now if you wanted to.”

“Sure! I made sure I got the entire day free to spend with you! Today is Natalya Time!”

Twilight giggled. “Remember to go easy on Natalya, Scootaloo. She still has to be careful with her wing.”

“Don’t worry, Twilight, I will.”

“Then have fun, you two.”

Parting ways with Twilight and Spike, Natalya and Scootaloo headed straight to the park where Scootaloo usually did her flying lessons with Rainbow.

On the way, Scootaloo talked about her plans for the Cutie Mark Crusaders; her joyful enthusiasm to help other ponies was infectious. Natalya found herself cracking a smile a few times, even when she realized she would have scoffed at the same topic if she had heard about it a few weeks ago.

The others were right. She really had changed a lot.

“Alright, like with Rainbow, you have to start with some warmups and stretches before you do anything,” Natalya directed when they arrived at the park and found an empty spot.

“Got it!” Scootaloo swiftly began sliding her forehooves forward on the grass, stretching her body while she fully extended her wings.

Not wanting to just stand around, Natalya joined Scootaloo in her exercises. While Natalya knew that she probably should still be taking it easy, there was no harm in doing some light stretches, minus the wing stuff, of course. She had to keep herself fit for when she could resume her own training.

As they did their warm ups, Nataya kept a close eye on Scootaloo, gently nudging the filly into better positions when needed and even teaching a few of her own techniques to the filly.

“So, just to remind you,” Natalya said when they finished warming up. “I’m not much of a teacher, so don’t get bummed out if your training today doesn’t go as well as if Rainbow was here.”

Scootaloo shook her head and smiled. “That’s alright, Natalya. I already know that the chances of me suddenly flying today are pretty low. I’m happy to be able to spend some time with you.”

“Oh, uh…” Natalya felt some heat flood her cheeks. “Right, um, thanks…” Clearing her throat, she suggested, “How about you do the stuff you usually do with Rainbow, and I’ll try to point out anything that you may be able to improve?”

Scootaloo nodded and immediately began vigorously flapping her wings. Her face scrunched up in concentration while she slowly lifted herself into the air. She hardly made it past Natalya’s head before she fell back to the ground.

“So, uh, that was… alright,” Natalya commented slowly. “But you’re moving your wings too fast. Remember what Rainbow said? Start off with bigger, slower motions.”

“Right, got it.” Scootaloo got back up and started flapping her wings again. While they were still going at a rapid pace, they were noticeably slower than the previous attempt. However, it did not make much difference when Scootaloo dropped back to the ground a few seconds later.

Natalya and Scootaloo’s time together soon fell into a pattern. Scootaloo would try to fly several times and failing before Natalya offered a suggestion to try and improve the next round of attempts. But just like Natalya observed in Scootaloo’s previous lessons with Rainbow, no matter how hard the filly was trying, she could not fly.

Eventually, after countless attempts, Scootaloo found herself sprawled on the ground yet again. However, instead of getting right back up, she merely flopped over onto her back and stayed on the grass, her chest slowly rising up and down as she panted.

“You alright, kid?” Natalya asked, walking closer to peer directly down at the filly. “Not giving up, are you?”

Scootaloo lazily shook her head. “Nah, just need a breather. Could we take a break?”

“Sure, that’s cool.” Natalya moved to sit on her haunches beside the resting filly. She remained silent, letting the filly rest, while she tried to think of something she could do to help. Natalya felt a bit guilty that practically all of her advice were only reiterations of Rainbow’s words that she overheard from Scootaloo’s previous lessons with the chromatic pegasus.

“Hey, Natalya,” Scootaloo suddenly spoke, sitting up on her own haunches. “Are there any special griffon flying stuff that might be able to help me?”

“Not sure. From what I’ve seen, griffon and pegasi pretty much go through the same type of training,” Natalya pointed out. “In fact, didn’t Gilda go to the same flying camp as Rainbow and Fluttershy?”

“Yeah, they did.” Scootaloo sighed. “So guess I have to keep doing the same thing and hope something finally happens, huh?”

Natalya let out a single, hollow laugh. “Pretty much how I feel with my Sonic Rainboom training. I’ve been doing the same routine for almost as long as I have been here in Ponyville. Rainbow tries her best to help, but it feels likes I’m going nowhere with it.”

“Same with me learning how to fly.” Scootaloo sighed again. “It’s just taking so long, and although I’m not going to give up, it does get pretty rough sometimes. I wish there was some sort of special trick or training that I could do to speed things up.”

“Well, being impatient can make things worse if you’re not careful.” Natalya pointed at her injured wing. “Take it from me, if you try to rush things without doing the necessary preparations, you’re only setting yourself up for a nasty fall… literally.”

Natalya paused. “Wait, fall…” She tapped her chin in thought. “Actually, now that I think about it, there is one griffon method that may help you out. It’s specifically used for griffons that have trouble learning how to fly.”

“Really?! That’s perfect for me!” Scootaloo swiftly got up on her hooves, rushing up to the griffon with eagerness clearly written in her eyes. “What is it?!”

Natalya slowly turned her head left and right. “Know of any cliffs around here?”

Scootaloo tilted her head. “Uh, cliffs? Why do we need a cliff?”

“For the griffon training thing.”

“Oh…” Scootaloo gulped. “Um, Natalya, what exactly are we going to do?”

Natalya turned back to Scootaloo with a straight face. “Nothing complicated. I’m just going to push you off a cliff.”

The color drained from Scootaloo’s face. “W-what?”

“But I’m guessing there’s no good cliffs around here. Not to worry, we can use a cloud instead,” Natalya declared. “Then again, I’m grounded, and if you could get to a cloud yourself, it kind of defeats the purpose. Maybe we could ask some random pegasus to take you up there instead.”

“Uh…” Scootaloo’s mouth hung wide open, and her eyes were bugging out, darting left and right as though desperately searching for an escape route.

Natalya chuckled. “Relax, kid. I’m not going to be kicking you off any cliffs or clouds. Pretty sure that if I did, Rainbow would do the same to me, and that’s after she made sure my wings were broken.”

Scootaloo let out a huge, slow breath. “Oh, thank Celestia… You really got me, Natalya. You were saying some crazy stuff. I should have figured you were making it all up.”

“Who said I made it up?”

Scootaloo blinked. “Wait, you’re serious? Griffons actually do that?!”

“Like I said, it’s for helping griffons who are having trouble learning how to fly. Granted, it’s usually reserved as a last resort.”

“But that’s so dangerous! How does that help?!”

“Fear can be a powerful teacher. You’d be surprised what you can do once your body goes into fight-or-flight mode, or in this case, flight-or-splat.”

“But what if a griffon doesn’t learn how to fly before, um, you know, the ground?”

“Don’t worry. There would be someone watching to make a last moment save if needed… usually. Of course, you don’t tell the ones being dropped that.”

“Oh, that’s good…” Scootaloo sighed with relief.

“You were thinking that we let them hit the ground, didn’t you?” Natalya dryly accused.

Scootaloo froze. “Uh…” She squirmed under Natalya’s scrutinizing gaze. With a gulp, she quietly confessed, “Um, the thought might have crossed my mind?” She then bowed her head and hastily muttered an apology.

Natalya merely chuckled. “It’s alright. I haven’t exactly been putting griffons in a positive light, and I would be lying if I said every griffon who was dropped came out unscathed. Fortunately, nothing really serious ever happened.”

“So what happens if a griffon doesn’t learn from being dropped?”

“Then we do it again. Even though it’s usually not as effective as the first time, it’s still enough to get your adrenaline pumping. I know the whole idea sounds pretty crude, but it works. Most griffons who have trouble flying end up getting it within a couple of tries.”

“Most griffons?”

Natalya hesitated. “Well, every now and then, there’s a griffon that needs more work than the others.” She paused again, glancing away from the filly while her talons idly scraped the ground. “In fact… when I was a kid, there was one griffon I knew of in Griffonstone who was in a situation like yours.”

“Really?” Scootaloo asked, staring at Natalya with rapt attention.

Natalya nodded. “She was pretty much the last kid in her group that still could not fly, even after being dropped countless times. And yet, despite all of her failures, she didn’t give up. She stuck to her training, putting in more time and effort than anyone else. When other griffons needed to be literally kicked off clouds for the falling thing, she was charging off the edge herself. Eventually, it paid off. One day, things just clicked for her, and she finally was able to fly.”

“Whoa, she sounds so cool!” Scootaloo gushed with starstruck eyes. “So did she do anything special to make her fly?”

Natalya shook her head. “Like I said, just a lot of hard work and training. Even after she started flying, she kept on training and became one of the better fliers in town.”

“So I’m guessing that you want me to be like that griffon and keep training? Because even if it doesn’t look good right now, things will somehow work out later on?”

Natalya chuckled lightly. “Pretty much. You might be off to a bad start, but doesn’t mean you can’t pull ahead later on. Like that griffon, you have potential within you, just waiting to come out.”

“You sure seem to know a lot about this griffon. Are you like friends with her or something?”

“I wouldn’t say that. Let’s just say we know each other enough.”

“Then maybe you can introduce me to her one day!” Scootaloo chirped. “Maybe she has some tips that could help me!”

Natalya stiffened up for a moment. “Uh, I don’t know about that. She’s really busy, and even then, she doesn’t really like to talk with others. Sorry…”

“Aww…” Scootaloo’s elated mood quickly deflated, her wings slowly folding back up as her ears drooped slightly.

Natalya could only stare at the downtrodden filly for a few seconds before she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Well, I guess I could see if I could arrange something…”

“Really?!” Scootaloo perked right back up with an eager grin.

“Yeah, but remember, it’s not a guarantee that it will happen. Got it?”

Scootaloo nodded and smiled. “Got it. Thanks, Natalya!”

“Yeah, yeah…” Natalya got back on her feet. “So, ready to do some more training?”

“Uh, one more thing, Natalya.” Scootaloo’s forehooves tapped nervously on the grass. “Maybe, um… Maybe we could try doing that dropping me thing sometime?” she requested quietly.

One of Natalya’s eyebrows went up. “You do remember that I was kidding around with you, right? You don’t have to do that.”

“Yeah, but if I really want to fly, I need to be willing to try anything, no matter how scary it is. It might be crazy, but if it works for griffons, then it could work for me. I have to at least try.”

Natalya chuckled. “Alright, I guess we could give it a shot, even though I sort of ruined the surprise for you already. But like I said, it’s a last resort, and we still got a ways to go before we should even consider it. I’m sure that we’ll have to get Rainbow’s approval as well. Still, if you somehow still aren’t able to fly by the time that comes, I would be honored to kick you off a cloud.”

Scootaloo made an amused snort. “That’s probably one of the weirder things a friend has said to me.”

“Not much of a surprise, considering the weird friends we got.”

Scootaloo giggled. “That’s true.”

“Alright now, up and at em, kid,” Natalya ordered. “I let you have a long enough break, and there’s still plenty of daylight left. Who knows? Today might be your lucky day, but we’re not going to get anything done if we keep talking.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Scootaloo saluted and then promptly resumed her training under Natalya’s watch.

While Scootaloo might not fly today, or tomorrow, or even a few seasons down the line, Natalya was sure that one day, the filly will get her wish. Natalya even found herself hoping that she would be there when that day finally came.

Chapter 19: Winging It

One of the biggest assets an athlete could possess in any competition is a calm, focused mind. Getting nervous only leads to careless mistakes, and one tiny error could easily mean the difference between a narrow victory or defeat.

Natalya liked to think that she held such a trait. Sure, she knew that she might lose her temper every now and then, but when the time called for it, she could remain calm in the most harrowing of situations.

Now was not one of those times.

Natalya was never good at sitting around, and waiting on an exam table in a hospital room was no exception. Restless, she kept on fidgeting around while her eyes frequently flicked over to the clock on the wall as she cursed the tardiness of the usually-punctual doctor. Her movements constantly crinkled the sterile paper that covered the table, and her talons nervously tapping on the furniture only added to the cacophony.

The day had finally come. The day Natalya had been waiting for what seemed like eons. She was finally going to have the splint removed from her wing. That is, if there was nothing wrong, hence her anxiety. She was grateful that her recovery time was vastly shorter than her initial estimate, but it also meant her burning urge to fly again was compacted into the shortened duration.

A few more minutes of agonizing waiting passed before there was a knock on the door, and to Natalya’s joy, Doctor Horse and Nurse Redheart then stepped into the room.

“Hello, there, Natalya. Sorry for being late to your appointment,” Doctor Horse apologized. “Today’s been hectic with one delay after another. I’ve been playing catch up with my appointments all day.”

“You know, you would save a whole lot of time if you skip right to removing my wing splint, doc,” Natalya suggested.

Doctor Horse chuckled. “I’m afraid that’s not how things work. I know that you’re eager to have your wing back again, but we still have to check you over. I assume that your foreleg has not been giving you any troubles?”

Natalya sighed, disappointed her suggestion was turned down, even if it was a long shot. “Nope. Foreleg is pretty much all back to normal.”

“That’s good to hear,” Doctor Horse replied with a nod. His horn glowed with magic, and the x-ray machine that Natalya had become familiar with moved toward the griffon. “Then let’s move onto what we’re all here for. You know the drill, Natalya.”

Natalya nodded. She had returned to the hospital for several x-rays since her foreleg had healed, so she promptly hopped off the table and stepped behind the machine without any further instructions. After raising her right wing and stepping forward on her right foreleg, she held still.

The machine soon started up with a soft hum. Natalya felt a faint tingling sensation as magic and technology got to work in making a picture of her insides.

“And there we go,” Doctor Horse proclaimed a moment later, sliding the machine away from Natalya and then turning it so that everyone could see the skeletal image.

“So, how is it, doc?” Natalya asked, trying not to sound nervous as she analyzed her own image.

“Hmm…” Doctor Horse trotted closer to the machine, his face inches away from the skeleton Natalya’s right wing.

Natalya held her breath in anticipation. As far as she could tell, there were not any broken bones in her picture, but that did not mean there was no abnormality a medical professional like Doctor Horse might find.

To Natalya’s immense relief, Doctor Horse eventually turned to her with a broad grin and nodded.

“Good news, Natalya,” Doctor Horse declared. “Your wing looks to have healed up just fine. We can remove your splint now.”

Natalya let out the breath she was holding, unable to stop a grin from forming. “That’s awesome to hear, doc. I don’t think I could have taken another day stuck on the ground.”

“While it’s true that you should be able to fly again, I’m afraid I must reel in your excitement a tad. You see, I am aware of your rigorous flying regime, so I must ask you to wait at least a few more days before you go back to that routine. Your wing needs some time to regain its strength, and we don’t want you to risk overexerting it and injuring it again.”

Natalya sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I kind of already expected that. Don’t worry, doc, I’ll take it easy. I’m just happy to not be grounded anymore.”

Doctor Horse nodded in satisfaction. “That’s what I wanted to hear. Now, I’m afraid that I have other patients to attend to. Like I said, I’m extremely busy today. Nurse Redheart will take over for me and see to your splint removal.”

“Don’t worry about it, doc. As long as I get my wing back, I don’t care what you have to do.”

Doctor Horse chuckled. “Thank you for your understanding. I’ll let Nurse Redheart get started right away. Goodbye, Natalya, and congratulations on your recovery.”

Redheart, who had been silently standing by the entire time, stepped forward while Doctor Horse made his exit. “Now, Natalya, let’s get that thing off you. Please lie down on the table so that we can get started.”

Natalya hastily got back on the table while Redheart made a quick trip to a nearby cabinet and then came toward the griffon with a medical shear in her hoof.

“So, Rainbow is still up in Canterlot?” Redheart asked as she started to carefully snip away at the bandages covering Natalya’s wing.

“Yeah, for another few days,” Natalya answered.

“Shame. I suppose I won’t be seeing her around anytime soon. Well, at least until she gets into her next inevitable crash.”

“Gonna miss harassing her?”

“Yes, in fact. Annoying Rainbow has become something of a guilty pleasure for me, not to mention a fantastic way to blow off some steam.”

“I would say that you have a problem if the stuff you do to her didn’t amuse me so much. Still, aren’t you a bit worried that Rainbow might retaliate with another prank one of these days?”

“After what happened with the last one, I very much doubt she would be so impudent to try and target me again. Combined with the numerous times I’ve taken care of her as a patient, it’s why she lets me get away with the things I do to her. At least I have the courtesy to keep things mild.”

“What did Rainbow do to you anyway? I recall something about maple syrup.”

“I won’t go into detail, but let’s just say things had to be shaved…” Redheart stopped for a moment, her eyes narrowing in annoyance. “Many things…”

Deciding it was best not to press any further, Natalya merely nodded and allowed Redheart to resume dismantling the splint in silence. It did not take much longer before Natalya felt her renewed wing be freed from its confines.

“There we go. All done,” Redheart announced, removing the last piece of the splint. “How is it?”

Natalya turned her head to inspect her healed wing. Other than needing a good wash and some preening, everything seemed to look fine. She felt a slight soreness when she slowly opened and closed her wing, but it was overshadowed by her joy that she will be able to fly as soon as she got out of here.

“It’s a bit stiff, but otherwise fine,” Natalya commented while she continued to flex her wing.

“Not a surprise, considering it had been stuck in the same position for a whole week,” Redheart reasoned. “But there’s no pain, right?”

“Nope.”

“Then that leaves one final check before I let you go.”

Natalya groaned. “Another test?”

Redheart smiled in amusement. “Oh, don’t be like that. It’s something that I’m sure you won’t mind at all.”

“And that is?” Natalya asked skeptically.

“A short test flight outside. We have to make sure your wings are functional now.”

Natalya snorted. “Okay, you’re right about me not minding. Let’s hurry up then. I’m really itching to get into the air again.”

“Just remember to start off slow, alright?” Redheart reminded.

Natalya mumbled her agreement while she jumped off the exam table and exited the room. She hurriedly made her way through the hospital, not caring if Redheart was lagging behind. As soon as she stepped outside, Natalya spread her wings and leapt up into the air.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Natalya relished the rush of air around her body as she soared through the sky. Beating her wings and rising higher and higher, she felt free and strong. She had sorely missed this sensation, and it felt like everything was right in the world again.

However, after a few quick laps around the hospital’s airspace, Natalya’s giddiness petered out, and she noticed that she was nowhere near the extreme speed she usually achieved. What's more, her wing was starting to ache, prompting her to end her flight.

“Looks like you’re able to fly well enough, even if it’s not for too long,” Redheart commented when Natalya landed in front of her, having had observed the griffon from the hospital’s entrance. “I’m guessing your wing was starting to act up?”

“Yeah, it was getting uncomfortable, but nothing major,” Natalya reported.

“That should go away by itself over time. You can help speed things up by lightly exercising your wing, emphasis on light. Do that, and you’ll be back to your old self by the time Rainbow returns.”

Natalya nodded. She had already lost a good chunk of time because of her crash, and she really needed to get her Sonic Rainboom training back on track. She could not wait for Rainbow to come back.

“So everything seems to be in order with you,” Redheart remarked. “If you don’t have any issues or concerns, you are free to go.”

“Nope, I got it from here. See ya.” Natalya bent her legs to launch herself into the air, but she paused for a second before standing up straight. “Oh, and, uh, thanks for the help, Redheart.”

Redheart smiled. “It was my pleasure, Natalya. Remember to not push yourself too hard. Oh, and on the off-chance that you do manage to wind up back here, do remember to bring Rainbow with you.”

Natalya snorted in amusement. “I’ll be sure to do that.”

Natalya waved one last goodbye to Redheart and then took to the air. However, she did not fly for long before she remembered that besides getting her splint removed, she had not planned on anything else for today. Since Rainbow was still in Canterlot, her options were limited, so Natalya parked herself on the roof of a nearby house and pondered what she should do for the rest of the day.

Now that she could fly again, albeit at a temporarily, reduced capacity, she had no interest in returning to her room and reading more Daring Do. The books had been a good distraction, and she would not be opposed to delve further into the series, but that would have to wait for another time.

Making some bits from doing odd jobs was an enticing thought. Natalya knew that more than a few new jobs had been posted at Town Hall since her accident. However, she soon decided to shelve the idea a bit longer. All of her limbs might be functioning now, but she still was not a hundred percent recovered yet, and she did not want to risk getting injured again.

Natalya then wondered if maybe she should hang out with any of her other friends.

Scootaloo was the first to come to mind, but unfortunately, it was a school day. Not only that, but Natalya recalled the filly mentioning that she was spending the next few days doing Cutie Mark Crusader stuff.

Natalya quickly decided against spending time with Twilight and Spike. The two of them tended to busy themselves with books and paperwork, things that Natalya were trying to avoid at the moment. Plus, she already saw them every day, considering she was living in their castle.

Gilda and Pinkie were working at Sugarcube Corner as usual, but even if they were free, Natalya had little desire to see the pink pony. Natalya did like Pinkie, but the strange pony was better enjoyed in small doses. She was also aware that Pinkie wanted to throw her a party once her wing was healed, and Natalya preferred to deal with that later rather than sooner.

Applejack was going to be occupied with apple-related stuff, and since Natalya was avoiding doing anything strenuous today, it probably was not a good idea to visit Sweet Apple Acres. Even if she did not get roped into helping out with the chores, Natalya doubted that her standing around and distracting Applejack would be good for productivity.

That left only Fluttershy.

Despite the whole apology ordeal, Natalya knew that Fluttershy was still slightly skittish around her. It was not like she had done much to remedy things since she did not have much in common with the animal caretaker. And yet, despite their limited interaction, Fluttershy surprised Natalya when the pegasus visited her in the hospital and gave her a quilt, along with plenty of well wishes.

While the shy pegasus was not Natalya’s ideal choice to spend time with, Natalya did want to try to at least stay on friendly terms with Fluttershy, who also happened to be Rainbow’s oldest friend. She was not sure what exactly she was going to do once she got there, but she should be fine with winging it.

Concluding that it was worthwhile to pay a visit to Fluttershy, Natalya left her rooftop perch and started flying straight for Fluttershy’s cottage.

The flight over to Fluttershy’s place had a few minor complications. As Doctor Horse and Redheart had warned, Natalya’s right wing still needed time before it was fully restored. She already had a taste of her stunted flying, but now she was experiencing how much it was affecting her.

The wing was still stiff and was quick to tire, forcing her to fly at a sedate pace. She even had to stop for a break a couple of times. It did not help that the hospital and Fluttershy’s home were on opposite sides of Ponyville.

Eventually, Natalya arrived at Fluttershy’s home, but her journey had put her in a bit of a cranky mood. With her sluggish speed and several pit stops, she had probably taken five times as long to get here as it would have before her injury. She really hoped that seeing the yellow pegasus would be worth it, and she was not looking forward to the eventual trip back to the castle.

Wanting to immediately get some rest inside the home, Natalya landed right in front of Fluttershy’s door and raised a fist to knock. However, a sudden, loud roar from somewhere behind the house made her freeze for a second before instincts kicked in, prompting Natalya to make her way toward the noise.

Wait, what am I doing? Natalya asked herself, stopping at the side of the house. There was a good chance there was some sort of wild, angry animal in the backyard, and she should be flying away from it, especially since she was not in any condition to put up a decent fight. So why had she been going toward the scary sound instead?

Natalya racked her mind for a few seconds and then let out a groan when a yellow pony came to mind. Whether or not it was because she knew how distraught Rainbow would be if anything happened to her oldest friend, Natalya actually found herself being concerned about Fluttershy’s safety. She was actually putting herself at risk for Fluttershy.

Stupid pony morals.

Still, it did not mean she had to do anything crazy; she just had to carefully check the backyard and go report to someone if there was anything dangerous.

Pressing herself against the house’s wall, Natalya quietly moved forward and then peeked around the corner, into the backyard.

A towering brown bear more than twice her size was stomping around the wide open space behind Fluttershy’s home. Its roars were even louder up close, making Natalya wince from the thundering volume. Fortunately, from the looks of it, there was no immediate danger. The beast was flailing wildly, but it did not seem to be actually heading toward the house. As long as no one got close to it, Natalya figured that she could get help before any damage could be done.

Then Natalya saw Fluttershy walking right up to the bear.

What is that mare doing?! Natalya knew that Fluttershy was an animal caretaker, but there was no way the demure pegasus could calm a rampaging bear down. Natalya hastily tried to think of a way to get Fluttershy out of danger, but her time suddenly ran out when the beast noticed Fluttershy and unleashed a fierce roar right in front of the pony’s face.

Natalya sprung out of her hiding place to try and rescue the reckless pony, hopefully without being horribly maimed. After a few steps, however, she quickly skidded to a halt when Fluttershy leapt into action, moving faster than Natalya ever thought the delicate pegasus could ever do.

Fluttershy charged right between the bear’s legs, and before the confused animal could react, the pegasus flew up into the air and delivered a devastating hoofkick to its back with enough force to send it toppling forward. The bear did not even touch the ground before Fluttershy grabbed the beast’s left leg and braced her hind legs into its back. When they hit the ground, Fluttershy pulled on the held leg, making Natalya cringe as the bear was forced into a painful ‘C’ shape.

After a few moments, Fluttershy released her hold, her opponent’s lower half falling to the ground with a heavy thud. However, the animal barely had a moment’s respite before Fluttershy began jumping up and down, stomping her hooves into her victim’s brutally-battered, brown back.

Natalya was beginning to actually felt sorry for the animal, and she thought she spotted a few tears escape the bear’s eyes. Just as she wondered if she should intervene, Fluttershy grabbed the poor bear’s neck, and with a bloodcurdling warcry, she viciously twisted it, filling the air with the sound of breaking bones.

As the bear lifelessly slumped to the ground, Natalya was left speechless. It took her a few moments to realize that her beak was hanging wide open, probably since Fluttershy started her assault. In about twenty seconds, Natalya had witnessed Fluttershy violently subdue a hulking beast without breaking a sweat. She recalled Rainbow mentioning that Fluttershy was tougher than she looked, but Natalya had dismissed the idea.

Oh, how wrong she was.

As she pondered what she could do to stay on Fluttershy’s good side, Natalya noticed the pegasus gently land on the bear’s back and began rubbing her hooves into the corpse. Only, it was not a corpse, because the animal’s eyes opened while it started to make grunts of contentment.

“Oh, Harry. You really need to take better care of yourself,” Fluttershy softly chastised while her hooves continued to knead into the bear. “You have some tense muscles here that’s going to take a while to massage through.”

“Wait, you were giving that bear a massage?!” Natalya cried out incredulously.

Fluttershy yelped from the outburst and promptly fell off Harry, landing behind the bear. Her head slowly peeked out from behind Harry, and upon seeing the griffon, Fluttershy got up on her hooves. “Oh, um, hello, Natalya.”

“Hey. Uh, sorry for startling you,” Natalya apologized, taking a few steps toward Fluttershy but still maintaining a healthy distance from Harry.

“Um, that’s alright. I was just surprised since I was busy with Harry here.”

“Yeah, I noticed.” Natalya glanced over at Harry, noting that the animal did not seem to be in any pain. “So, uh, all of that crazy stuff you did was some sort of massage?”

Harry softly mewled, as though begging for something, and pointed at his back.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Harry.” Fluttershy hastily climbed back onto her patient and resumed digging her hooves into him, causing Harry to adopt a goofy grin as he emitted satisfied grunts.

“So, um, yes, Natalya,” Fluttershy said while she continued the treatment. “I’m just giving Harry here a massage. You actually had the same reaction as Twilight when she first saw this, so I know that it may have looked a little extreme.”

“A bit extreme?” Natalya repeated flatly.

“Well, Harry is a bear, plus he does get kind of cranky when his back acts up. This isn’t the first time I had to be a bit stern to properly treat an animal.”

“Well, massage or not, those were some very impressive moves, Fluttershy,” Natalya complimented.

Fluttershy’s cheeks grew red, and she tried to hide it by keeping her head down and focused on Harry. “Oh, um, thanks…”

Seeing Fluttershy’s embarrassment, Natalya decided to remain silent and allow the pegasus to finish her business. It still boggled Natalya’s mind to find out that Fluttershy knew moves that could subdue a bear, despite the non-lethal intent, and from the sound of it, the pegasus did this kind of thing on a somewhat regular basis. If Fluttershy ever applied those techniques to actual fighting, the seemingly harmless pony would be a frightening force to be reckoned with.

Natalya was really glad that she had apologized to Fluttershy.

“There you go, Harry,” Fluttershy announced eventually. She leapt off her patient, but was picked right back up in a bear hug. “Oh, you’re welcome, Harry,” she said with a giggle while the bear gently rubbed his cheek into Fluttershy’s. “Just remember to do your yoga exercises, alright?”

Harry replied with an affirmative grunt and slowly set Fluttershy back down. Waving goodbye the beat wandered off into the nearby trees, leaving Natalya and Fluttershy alone.

“So, um, sorry for making you just stand there, Natalya,” Fluttershy apologized, turning to her griffon visitor. “I hope you weren’t waiting around for too long.”

Natalya shook her head. “No, not really. It was actually pretty interesting watching you. I actually just arrived at your door when I heard Harry roar. Of course, I didn’t know what was going on at the time, so I rushed out here looking for you. Guess I got worried over nothing.”

“You were worried about me?” Fluttershy asked, her eyes wide with surprise.

“Er, yeah. Friends are supposed to watch each other’s backs, and we did agree we were friends, right? You even gave me a quilt when I was in the hospital. Thanks again for that, by the way.”

“Of course we’re friends, Natalya! I’m sorry if I made you think otherwise.” Fluttershy sighed and bowed her head in shame. “I know that we haven’t really talked to each other, and I admit that Rainbow even had to prod me to visit you in the hospital. I suppose that I’m still kind of afraid of you.”

Fluttershy whimpered. “Oh, you must think I’m such a bad pony. Here I am, too afraid to treat you like a proper friend, especially since you’ve worked so hard to be nicer.”

Feeling awkward, Natalya looked away and rubbed the back of her head. “Uh, it’s alright, Fluttershy. It’s not like I did much to help either. But that’s kind of why I’m here. I was thinking we could try to improve things between us since I have some time, on account of me still having to be careful with my wing.”

“Oh, that is such a great idea!” Fluttershy cheered with a hopeful smile. Her brow then furrowed in confusion. “Wait, your wing?” Her gaze drifted to Natalya’s side, and she gasped softly. “You got your splint removed. Congratulations, Natalya!”

“Er, thanks.” Natalya could hear the genuine cheer in Fluttershy’s voice. “Just came from the hospital where they took it off, actually. I can fly again, but not like normal yet, which kind of sucks.”

Fluttershy smiled sympathetically. “Rainbow has been in your situation a few times, and she gets very antsy knowing that she could fly, but not up to her usual standards. You, however, have been taking things very well.”

“Never been one to waste much time worrying. Besides, I at least can do something about it. The hospital says I can lightly exercise my wing, which should get it back to full strength when Rainbow returns.”

“That’s wonderful, Natalya. If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know.” Fluttershy paused for a second before shyly dropping her gaze to the ground. “Um, actually, if you want, I could help you out by giving your wing a massage. It should help it recover faster.”

“Uh, is it going to be like Harry’s?” Natalya asked cautiously. If Fluttershy was planning to give her the same treatment, Natalya was sure that her wing would just end up being broken again, along with every other bone in her body.

“Oh no, of course not. I know how to do massages for ponies as well. Er, and I guess griffons too, in this case. If it helps, I sometimes give a massage to Rainbow whenever she strains her wings.”

“Well…” Natalya shrugged. She was here to waste time, and if Fluttershy’s treatment was good enough for Rainbow, it was good enough for her. “Alright, why not? Just be careful.”

Fluttershy smiled and nodded. “Of course.”

Natalya followed Fluttershy inside. She had caught a few glimpses of Fluttershy’s home when she had apologized to the pegasus, but this was the first time she had actually been inside.

The living room was humble, lightly decorated with simple furniture. Unsurprisingly, true to Fluttershy’s dedication to her work, the animal caretaker had set up a number of birdhouses and animal basket-beds in the room. What did surprise Natalya was how neat and tidy the place was. Despite being a hub for many sorts of animals, there was hardly a speck of dirt on the floor, and everything seemed to be neatly arranged with nothing out of place.

“Alright, lay down and spread your wings please,” Fluttershy directed, leading Natalya to a green couch near the front window.

Natalya let out a satisfied sigh as she lay down on her stomach, just now realizing how tired she was. Apparently, the flight over here took more out of her than she thought, and she was glad to be able to relax her tired body on the comfy green cushions. Her respite was momentarily interrupted when she opened her wings, and she winced slightly from her still-sore right wing.

“Are you alright?” Fluttershy promptly asked, noticing Natalya’s discomfort.

“Yeah, just my right wing is all stiff and sore. Think you can do something about that?”

“I’ll try my best. Now, just relax, Natalya.” Fluttershy got up on her hind legs and moved to stand right beside the couch. Slowly, she placed her forehooves on Natalya’s right wing.

Natalya flinched from the touch, but she quickly relaxed as Fluttershy’s soothing rubs seemed to ease the soreness in her.

“Okay, you might feel a tiny pinch,” Fluttershy warned a moment later.

“Go for it. A tiny pinch is nothwaaaaaugh…” Natalya did indeed feel the tiny pinch, but what followed it could only be described as pure bliss. She let out a guttural moan, and her face flopped into the couch cushion.

“Oh my,” Fluttershy uttered with both surprise and amusement.

The next few moments were a blur as Natalya was not able to process anything, other than the heavenly feeling Fluttershy was applying to her wing. It was like a great weight had suddenly been released from her, leaving her weightless and suspended in a state of ecstasy.

Natalya was not sure how long her brain had shut off from the sensory overload, but she eventually descended from her euphoric high to regain her ability to form a coherent thought.

“Dude, where did you learn how to do this?” Natalya asked, humming in satisfaction while Fluttershy dutifully continued her ministrations.

“I picked up some basics to help treat animals, but I owe a lot to the ponies down at the spa,” Fluttershy answered. “Rarity and I go there almost every week, and I picked up all sorts of techniques from them over time.”

“You mean that they might be able to do something better than this?” Natalya asked with disbelief. She was having a hard time imagining what would happen to her if she dared to get a massage done by professionals.

“Well, you could visit the spa, and you probably should, since they’re so nice there. I just don’t think your next massage would provoke such a, um, dramatic response, since I’m helping you now. I can tell you haven’t gotten one for a long time, if ever. It’s no wonder you’re so…”

“Uptight?”

“Um, more like tense.”

“Whatever you say. But seriously, Fluttershy, this feels awesome. You’re right about me not getting a massage. I can’t even recall if I ever did get one, and now I kind of wish I’ve treated myself to some.”

“I’m actually quite surprised you haven’t gotten any, since I know that you would use anything to give you an edge in competitions. Massages can have all sorts of health benefits, many of which can help your flying.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t really believe that. I thought massages were just another one of those frou-frou pampering things, and I think it’s pretty obvious I don’t care much for those.”

Fluttershy giggled. “Rainbow had the same response when she got her first massage from me.”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “Plus, it’s not like we have this sort of thing in Griffonstone, and even if we did, I wouldn’t trust anyone there to touch my wings.”

“And here you are letting me touch them. Thank you for trusting me, Natalya.”

“Er, yeah, no problem. Friends are supposed to trust each other, right?”

“Yes, they do, and I’m glad we’re friends.”

Natalya mumbled an agreement, but other than that, their conversation came to a rest as Fluttershy continued her massage. While the initial burst of pleasure had subsided, Natalya was still relishing the soothing treatment Fluttershy was giving her. Her eyes were actually starting to droop from the relaxing treatment.

“You know, Rainbow really likes having you around,” Fluttershy suddenly uttered quietly, waking Natalya back up.

“Uh, thanks?” Natalya replied.

“And you really like doing stuff with her, right?”

“Yes?” Even though Natalya did not turn her head to Fluttershy, one of her eyebrows went up in curiosity. “Is this leading to something?”

“Oh, sorry. I just thought… Since you’re here and all…” Fluttershy paused to take a breath. “I just want to say that I’m happy for you two.”

“Uh… Thanks?” Natalya repeated lamely.

“I’m making things awkward, aren’t I?” Fluttershy asked, even though it sounded more like a statement.

“A bit, yeah.”

“Sorry.”

“Well, we got time now,” Natalya pointed out. “Tell me why you’re suddenly asking about me and Rainbow.” A thought came to her a moment later. “I mean, if you feel like it.”

“I don’t mind.” Fluttershy took a deep breath. “You know that Rainbow, Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, and I are quite different from one another. And yet, we’re the best of friends. In fact, I think our differences actually help make our bond stronger. That said, it’s also nice to have friends who are more similar to you.

“The thing is, we all cherish Rainbow’s friendship, but there are times when it’s hard to keep up with her. Applejack can kind of do that, what with all the competitions they get into, but she can’t follow Rainbow into the air. Twilight and I could fly with Rainbow, but we can’t match her speed. Well, Twilight technically can, but that’s if she uses her magic.”

“So I’m a good friend for her because I got the flying skills to keep up with her?” Natalya clarified.

“It’s just one of the things. You two actually have so much in common, like how you’re both so athletic and love to compete. It’s no wonder you two became such good friends despite, um, first impressions.”

“Yeah, okay, I get what you’re saying,” Natalya agreed. “Once Rainbow and I got past the phase where we were almost biting each other’s heads off, it was nice to have someone who understood my need to be the best so that I could crush my competition.”

“Um, how about other stuff like how you’re both brave, direct, and when you set your mind on something, you both don’t let anything stop you? Oh, and how it’s so adorable that you both dote on Scootaloo so much.”

Natalya could feel her cheeks redden. “Hey, uh, can we maybe hurry up and move on to the point of this talk?”

“Oh, right. Sorry. Well, the thing is, I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Ah, so there is a price for this massage.”

“What? Oh, no!” Fluttershy cried out aghast, her hooves rushing to her mouth in shock. “I didn’t mean to sound like I’m only giving you a massage to get something from you! I really do want to help you get better.”

“I’m kidding, Fluttershy. I doubt you’re the type to try and extort stuff out of others. Now, you mind?” Natalya pointed at her wing, which were missing a pair of hooves tending to it.

“Oh, sorry,” Fluttershy hastily apologized, swiftly resuming Natalya’s massage.

“No biggie. So, what’s the favor? I’m not promising anything right away, but I at least owe it to you to hear what you need.”

“Oh, um, thank you. So, do you remember what happened with Gilda’s last visit to Ponyville?”

“You mean how she was a big jerk and almost ruined her friendship with Rainbow forever?”

“Er, yes, exactly. The thing is, Rainbow was alright at first after Gilda left, but a day or so later, it began to really sink in to her that one of her oldest friends was gone…” Fluttershy sighed and shook her head with melancholy slowness. “She was devastated. For a while, Rainbow was coming to my place almost daily to let me help deal with her distress, since I was the only one who really knew Gilda besides her. We spent a lot of time talking about how she spent so much time with Gilda back at Junior Speedsters Flight Camp, and she constantly wondered if she could’ve done things differently in a way that might have kept Gilda’s friendship.”

“Did any of the others help?” Natalya asked.

“Rainbow actually made me promise not to get our other friends involved. I think she just didn’t want to worry them, especially since Gilda left such a bad impression on them.

“Rainbow did get somewhat better eventually, but her grief turned into resentment for Gilda. I’m pretty sure Rainbow’s opinion on all griffons soured as a result, and I heard she was very much against visiting Griffonstone with Pinkie. When she did end up going and saw Gilda again, the two of them didn’t want anything to do with each other. Thankfully, with Pinkie’s help, they talked things out and got together again.”

“Well, thanks for telling me all this,” said Natalya. “I knew that the whole Gilda thing was pretty rough for Rainbow, but I didn’t realize it sucked that bad for her. I’m guessing she’s alright now, since you’re able to talk to me about it.”

“Um, she didn’t exactly say that I could tell other ponies about that phase. In fact, she doesn’t know that I’m telling you this.”

Natalya’s eyebrow went up. “But I thought she had you promise not to tell her friends. I know that I wasn’t around at the time of the promise, but I think that it still includes me.”

“I promised not to tell Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, or Spike.”

Natalya smirked. “Oh, ho, ho! That’s quite sneaky of you. You’re surprising me a bunch today, Fluttershy.”

“Oh, um, sorry.”

“It was a compliment. Anyway, I’m guessing that this special insight is related to your favor?”

“Yes, Natalya. Yes, it is…” Fluttershy took a deep breath. “I want you to be careful, Natalya. You got an idea of how upset Rainbow got when she almost lost Gilda, and well…”

“You think that I’m going to ruin my friendship with Rainbow someday?” Natalya inquired.

Fluttershy whimpered and bowed her head in shame. “I-I know that there’s pretty much no chance of that happening, and I’m a horrible pony for implying such an awful thing, and you can hate me if you want, and… and…” She stopped and took a long, slow breath. “Just… Just don’t let Rainbow go through something like that again… Please?”

Natalya remained silent, staring straight ahead and hardly registering that the massage had stopped while she processed Fluttershy’s request.

“N-Natalya?” Fluttershy quietly asked a few moments later. “Are you alright? Are you… are you mad at me?”

“No, Fluttershy. I’m not,” Natalya replied evenly. “The old me would have. Then again, the old me wouldn’t be in this situation because of a lack of friends. Look, Fluttershy, I get what you’re worried about, but you’re getting worked up over nothing. I seriously doubt that I’ll let things fall apart like that.”

Natalya closed her eyes and sighed. “For the longest time, all I cared about was competing. Winning thrilled me, not to mention the prizes it usually brought were nice. Everything I did was to improve my chances of winning, and I did not tolerate having any distractions, which included friends. I thought I had my life figured out back then.”

“And then Rainbow showed me how much I have been missing. You know how much I resisted at first, but Rainbow was just so stubborn, which I guess is part of why I like her. She kept badgering me until I finally gave friendship a try. Gotta admit, it lived up to the hype.

“It’s been nice to be able to hang out with others, ones who actually care about you and do stuff for you without ulterior motives. Despite some annoying stuff, I don’t think I would want to go back to my old ways. So to sum things up, I’m happier, and a lot of is because of Rainbow. Honestly, she’s probably the best thing that has ever happened to me, so ruining our friendship is the last thing I want to happen.”

“Oh my…” Fluttershy uttered softly.

Natalya's eyes shot open, as though she was pulled out of a daze. “Er, too much? Not sure where all of that came from, to be honest. Maybe it’s the massage, or something about you making me feel more comfortable talking.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “No, that was…” She smiled. “That was beautiful, Natalya, and I’m very happy to hear all of that. Rainbow is pretty special to you, huh?”

“You could say that. She is my first real friend, after all.”

“Then I really don’t have anything to worry about,” Fluttershy declared. “You really do care for Rainbow, and even if you two do happen to get into a fight, I’m sure that the both of you will be able to get through it. The two of you have grown so close in just a few weeks, and after what you just said, I’m sure that your friendship with Rainbow won’t be stopping anytime soon.”

“That’s good to hear. I have no intention of letting things end with Rainbow.”

Fluttershy nodded in approval. “So how’s your wing? I didn’t want to overdo it, so I stopped while we were talking.”

Natalya slowly opened and closed her wing. The stiffness was almost nonexistent, and there was only a faint trace of the soreness that had been plaguing her earlier. “Wow, it feels great,” she uttered in amazement. “Thanks a lot, Fluttershy.”

“You’re welcome. I’m glad that I could help.”

“You certainly did help, a lot. You’re a miracle worker,” Natalya commented, still happily testing her wing.

Fluttershy partially hid behind her mane as she blushed. “It’s not that big of a deal, but if it starts bothering you again, feel free to come back again.”

“I’ll be sure to do that.” Natalya was not just interested in the massage. Fluttershy had a shy, but caring nature that Natalya was starting to find endearing, but behind the meek demeanor was an almost frightening amount of strength, which only made Natalya’s respect for the pegasus grow even more.

All in all, Natalya deemed her visit with Fluttershy a great success and would certainly not complain about meeting with the pegasus again.

“So would you like any tea or a snack, Natalya?” Fluttershy asked. “I’m sure that today has been quite tiring for you.”

Natalya shook her head. “I’m good, Fluttershy. I’m actually thinking of heading back to the castle now.”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind if you want to rest here more.”

“I really want to test out my flying after your massage. Besides, I likely still need some extra time to get back anyway, what with possible wing issues, so I might as well get an early start.”

“Well… I suppose that’s a good point. Just make sure to not push yourself too hard and get plenty of rest,” Fluttershy directed, her motherly, caring nature coming to the forefront.

Natalya chuckled. “Yeah, yeah, the hospital told me the same things.”

As Fluttershy walked with Natalya to the door, she added, “Before you go, Natalya, I’m very grateful that you took the time to come and talk to me. I’m sorry again for being nervous around you, but your visit has helped so much. I’m also very happy that I don’t have to be concerned about you and Rainbow.”

“Yeah, I’m glad that I did as well,” Natalya agreed, stepping outside the home. “It was a nice chat, and your massage was just the thing I needed.”

“Happy to be of service. Oh, and one last thing, Natalya. We talked a lot about caring for Rainbow, but I also don’t want you to forget to take care of yourself as well. Not just your body, but your feelings as well.”

Natalya gave a genuine smile to Fluttershy. “I’ll keep that in mind. I’ll see you around, Fluttershy.”

With a beat of her wings, Natalya took to the air and was elated to find that Fluttershy’s massage had indeed helped. Her right wing was easier to move around, and even though there was still some discomfort as she flew, it was only a fraction of what she experienced on the trip over.

As she flew back to the castle, Natalya’s thoughts soon went to Rainbow. The talk with Fluttershy had only renewed her fondness for Rainbow, and Natalya was eager to spend time with the pegasus again, and not just for training purposes.

Natalya could not wait for her best friend to return.

Author's Note

I'm going to be taking a small break from Rainbooms On the Mind. As much fun as it is to write about Natalya and Rainbow's shenanigans, I have hit a bit of a rut with the story and need to take some time off it.

However, that doesn't mean I'm going to stop writing. I actually will be writing a one or two chapter fic in the meantime about the MLP Movie. No, it will not be about Tempest Shadow, and yes, because I'm a shipper and proud of it, it will contain romance.

Chapter 20: Return

“You almost got what?!”

The cries of four ponies, two griffons, and one dragon echoed through Sugarcube Corner.

Rarity sighed in exasperation. “Rainbow darling, we haven’t seen our friends for more than a week, and that’s the first thing you say to them? Must you be so dramatic?”

“Really?” Rainbow uttered, giving Rarity a flat look. “You’re grilling me about being dramatic? Remember when forgetting the plates for a picnic was the worst possible thing?”

Rarity pursed her lips. “Touché…”

“Besides, I did get everypony’s attention.”

Applejack cleared her throat. “Sugarcube, this little shindig we threw together was meant to celebrate yours and Rarity’s return from Canterlot. We kind of were already paying attention to you two.”

“By the way, great thinking, Twilight,” Pinkie chirped, setting down a tray of cupcakes on the round table where they were all sitting. “Thanks for letting us have the party here in Sugarcube Corner so that Gilda and I don’t have to leave work.”

“Yeah, thanks for that,” Gilda chimed in. She took a quick glance around the empty bakery. “Even though we probably could have asked for some time off, given how slow today has been.”

“Oh, it’s no big deal,” Twilight replied. “I’m just glad that we were all able to make it here and listen to Rainbow and Rarity’s stories about their trip.”

“Speaking of, can we maybe let Rainbow explain how she almost got kicked out of the Wonderbolts?” Natalya asked, trying to hide her annoyance.

“Um, I would like to hear about that too, if you don’t mind,” Fluttershy quietly agreed.

“Not at all, you two,” Rarity assured. “I suppose we did get sort of sidetracked. It’s actually a magnificent tale, filled with mystery and intrigue. Our tale begins in the luxurious ballroom of Canterlot Castle, where Princess Celestia was hosting a wondrous reception for the Royal Garden Opening. Now, I was, of course, wearing a beautiful dress, made by yours truly, and—”

“I met Wind Rider, a Wonderbolt veteran,” Rainbow interrupted. “Long story short, he found out that I had a good chance of beating his long distance flying record, so he tried to frame me so that I would be kicked out of the Wonderbolts and not be able to break his record.”

“Rainbooooow,” Rarity whined with a quivering lip. “I was telling the story! You just gave away everything.”

“Rarity, it would take at least an hour to get through everything if we let you have your way, and I don’t got all day.” Rainbow paused and chuckled nervously. “Uh, no offense. Still super grateful for you saving my flank and all that.”

“Rainbow does have a point, Rarity,” Applejack agreed. “You do tend to spend a bit too much time on the, um, details. Ah can’t stay for too long either, on account of some unfinished chores back at Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Same here,” Gilda pointed out. “It might not be busy now, but Pinkie and I do have to get ready for the dinner rush.”

Rarity sighed. “Very well. I suppose in the interest of everypony’s time, I shall try to keep things… brief.”

“So, Rarity, how did you save Rainbow?” Spike asked, staring up in adoration at the white unicorn he was next to. “Knowing you, I bet that it was no sweat for you to save the day.”

“Yeah, I bet that she went all Hyaa! Woosh! Kapow!” Pinkie cried out, performing several karate chops with her hooves.

“Er, no, nothing like that, Pinkie,” Rarity told. “I was able to help Rainbow without resorting to such brutish tactics.”

“And she was awesome!” Rainbow cheered. “So the gist of it is that on the morning of the show, Wind Rider sent a fake letter to Spitfire, saying that she had to go and see her sick mother. However, when Spitfire’s mom arrived at the last training session, everypony knew that was something was up.”

“Wind Rider quickly accused Rainbow of sending the fake letter, given how she would have been put into the show with Spitfire gone,” Rarity continued the story. “Naturally, we all know that Rainbow would do no such thing, and we were fortunate enough to have until the show to try and prove her innocence. Inspired by Shadow Spade, the famous detective from my favorite mystery novels, I led the investigation, all while wearing a dashing outfit influenced by the same character. The two of us went about Canterlot, interrogating ponies, investigating the crime scene, and gathering clues, all to clear Rainbow’s name.”

“I gotta admit, at first, I doubted Rarity’s methods,” Rainbow said. “It seemed like that she was wasting time by looking at all sorts of useless stuff, but it turns out that those small things helped her figure out that it was Wind Rider all along. I’m telling you, Rarity was so awesome.”

“Thank you, darling, but you were awesome as well,” Rarity complimented. “You see, everypony, Wind Rider made Spitfire think that her mother had Pegacitis, so the poor dear went all the way to the Crystal Mountains to find an ice iris to cure her. It would’ve been very difficult to contact Spitfire, but Rainbow went to search for her, even when it meant giving up her chance to be in the show. Thanks to her amazing flying, Rainbow was able to retrieve Spitfire in time for the show, and she was given Wind Rider’s spot instead.”

“And it. Was. Awesome!” Rainbow gushed. “Flying with the Wonderbolts in a real show was the best thing ever! I got to do super cool flying tricks while a whole stadium cheered for us! And the best part is that all of this is gonna put me even closer to becoming a real Wonderbolt!”

As everyone else congratulated Rainbow and praised Rarity’s work, Natalya remained silent, mulling over an idea. It came up about halfway through Rainbow and Rarity’s story, and it was all that she could think about. When the chatter died down, she promptly asked, “So, just curious, you wouldn’t happen to know where Wind Rider lives, do you?”

“No,” Rainbow flatly replied, narrowing her eyes at the griffon.

“Well, that’s alright. I’m sure that we can find—”

“I mean no, don’t do it, Natalya.”

“Do what?” Natalya asked in an innocent tone.

“You are not going to track down Wind Rider and beat him up.”

Natalya groaned. “Oh, come on. Why not?”

“Because the dude has already been punished. There’s no need for us to do anything else.”

“It’s not like I’m going to do anything serious. I’ll just rough him up a bit.”

Rainbow sighed in exasperation. “Just let it go, Natalya.”

“Rainbow, the dirtbag framed you! He needs to be taught a lesson!”

“I gotta agree with Natalya here, Rainbow,” Gilda chimed in. “The dweeb messed with you and almost got you kicked off of the Wonderbolts, and we all know how important being on that team is to you. I’m even thinking of going along with Natalya to dish out some punishment of my own.”

“Now, now, girls,” Twilight spoke up. “What Wind Rider did was very wrong, but he has already punished for his actions. There’s no need to go after him, especially with violence.”

“Ah actually wouldn’t mind givin’ that Wind Rider a good buck,” Applejack grumbled.

Twilight groaned. “Applejack, not you too.”

“Settle down, darlings,” Rarity urged. “There really is no need for any of us to deal with that detestable stallion anymore. He had already been exiled from the Wonderbolts as punishment.”

“Heh, ironic,” Natalya bitterly remarked. “He tried to get Rainbow off of the team and instead, he’s the one who gets kicked. Still think that a little hurting is in order though.”

“Oh, he’s plenty hurting now,” Rainbow explained. “He was dishonorably discharged, so a lot of his accomplishments don’t mean anything anymore, which includes the precious record he was trying to protect. Everypony is going to know him more for being kicked off the team instead of his records. Trust me, the dude got his punishment.”

“Hitting him where it really hurts, even if it’s just his pride, huh?” Gilda mused.

“Well, Ah suppose that is a pretty darn good punishment,” Applejack conceded. “Just thinkin’ about how if a bunch of my rodeo records were suddenly declared meaningless is makin’ me mighty depressed.”

“Yeah, I guess that kind of pain is probably going to last longer than a good old-fashioned griffon payback anyway.”

“But…” Natalya paused when everyone looked at her, and she internally groaned, knowing that she was the only left who still has not back down yet. With a huff, she said, “Fiiine. If you really don’t think he’s worth it, then I’ll lay off as well. But I’m not making any promises if I happen to bump into the idiot.”

“Yeah, that’s cool,” Rainbow said, nodding in approval. “And thanks, guys. It really is cool that I have friends who are willing to get into a fight for me, and I’ll admit that I was tempted to take a swing at the dude myself.”

“So why didn’t you?” Natalya asked, still a bit peeved that they were not going to do anything to the pony that messed with Rainbow.

“Because I’m going to be a Wonderbolt, and Wonderbolts are supposed to be role models. I can’t just go around beating up ponies, even if they were a big jerk.”

“That’s very mature of you, Rainbow,” Twilight complimented.

“You bet that I’m mature! Gotta look good in front of the Wonderbolts in case they want to promote me to the real thing.”

“Yes, you are the epitome of sensibility,” Rarity dryly remarked.

“Wait, if Wind Rider is out of the Wonderbolts, doesn’t that mean that there’s an empty spot now for somepony like you, Rainbow?” Spike pointed out.

Rainbow sighed. “Yeah, it would be nice if things were like that, but Wind Rider was actually not part of the main team. He might’ve been a veteran, but he was also getting pretty old. He was kind of like a reserve, but better because he still got to be in some shows, like a super-reserve.”

“Still means that your chances of moving on up got better, huh?” Natalya asked.

“Yeah, and with word going around that Fire Streak might be retiring next season, maybe I’ll be the lucky one to replace him then.”

“Luck’s got nothin’ to do with it,” Applejack remarked. “You’re a great flyer, Rainbow, and Ah bet that you’re at the top of their list.”

“Yeah, and we’re all rooting for you!” Pinkie cheered. “And when you do become a Wonderbolt, we’re going to have a huge party!”

Rainbow chuckled. “Wouldn’t have it any other way, Pinkie.”

“So, anything interesting happen while we were in Canterlot?” Rarity asked.

There was a collective murmur of “No” and “Not really”, but Fluttershy announced, “Um, actually there was one thing that happened that I think Rainbow will be interested in.”

Natalya’s glanced at Fluttershy out of the corner of her eye but remained silent.

Rainbow’s ears perked up. “Really? What’s up, Fluttershy?”

“Well, Natalya visited me at my home a few days ago,” Fluttershy answered.

“Really? You never mentioned that, Natalya,” Twilight commented as all eyes focused on the griffon in question.

Natalya shrugged. “You never asked.”

“I… I suppose that is true…”

Everyone then turned their attention back to Fluttershy, silently asking her the same question.

With a slight blush, Fluttershy stated, “Er, what she said.”

“So, any reason that you two met up?” Rainbow asked, her gaze turning to Natalya. Her tone was full of curiosity and not a hint of accusation.

“Not really,” Natalya answered. “It was right after the hospital took off my splint. Since I still had to be careful with my wing, I figured that I could try and hang out with someone. I picked Fluttershy because I thought that things were still kind of… meh between us.”

Fluttershy nodded. “Natalya’s right. I was actually still quite nervous around her, so while we didn’t have any real issues between us, we also didn’t do anything together or even talk to each other. I’m very glad that she did come to visit. It really helped our friendship, and she was really sweet to me.”

“Natalya was sweet?” Rainbow, Applejack, and Gilda bewilderedly repeated at the same time. “That Natalya?” the trio said, all pointing to the griffon.

“I would probably be annoyed by that if being called ‘sweet’ wasn’t a first for me,” Natalya remarked.

“Um, sorry about that,” Fluttershy apologized. “You just were nice and polite to me, and you even got all worried when you thought that I was in danger.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Danger? What danger?” Rainbow blurted out as everyone else’s eyes widened with alarm.

“Oh, n-no, Rainbow. There was no actual danger. I was just giving Harry a massage, and Natalya heard his roars.”

A chorus of knowing nods and murmurs came from the ponies as they settled back down. Gilda, however, was looking at her friends in confusion.

“Uh, did I miss something?” Gilda asked. “Who’s Harry, and what’s the big deal about giving him a massage?”

“Harry is a bear,” Natalya explained. “A big bear, and Fluttershy’s massage looked like she was beating him up into a pulp. Seriously, she probably could take on any griffon back in Griffonstone if she actually used her moves for fighting.”

“Really now?” Gilda glanced at Fluttershy with intrigue.

“B-but I would never hurt anypony or any animal,” Fluttershy quickly protested. “Harry just requires some, um, unorthodox techniques because of him being a bear and all.”

“Still must’ve been some cool moves if you impressed Natalya. Never would’ve figured you would learn stuff like that, Fluttershy.”

“That’s our Fluttershy!” Pinkie announced, hugging the yellow pegasus. “She so sweet and gentle, but she can also kick your butt if you’re being a meanie.”

“Um, thanks, Pinkie,” Fluttershy muttered, sinking lower into her seat. “But I would prefer not to kick any butts, if that’s alright with you.”

“And we wouldn’t want you to, darling,” Rarity reassured, gently patting the shy pegasus’s head. “You are much too sophisticated and caring for those kinds of actions. How about we talk about something else, like what did you and Natalya do after the Harry situation?”

“Well, we had a lovely chat about her time here in Ponyville and how she’s making friends. I even gave her wing a massage when she told me she just had the splint removed.”

Rainbow grinned at Natalya. “So you got one of Fluttershy’s wing massages, huh? How was it? Really good, right?”

Natalya nodded. “I think that it was my first one ever, and even then, I could tell that she did a great job. I wouldn’t be surprised if it really did help my wings recover.”

Fluttershy partially hid her blushing face behind her mane, but her smile could still be seen. “I’m glad that I could help, but it’s really not that big of a deal.”

“Just take the compliment, Fluttershy. I’m sure that you know that I don’t say stuff like that often, so if I say it was an awesome experience, then it must have been an awesome experience.”

“Oh, um, right. Thank you for the kind words, Natalya.”

“Yeah, yeah, just don’t get used to it.” Natalya turned her attention to the other pegasus. “So, Rainbow, since my flying is back to normal…”

Rainbow snickered. “I was wondering when you were going to bring that up. While I’m cool with helping you train again, let’s at least wait for tomorrow. Scootaloo is getting out of school pretty soon, and I bet that she’s itching to see me.”

Natalya sighed and nodded. “Fair enough. Tell you the truth, I was actually half-expecting the kid to skip school to come to this thing.”

“Sounds like you two got along pretty good.”

“Yeah, we did. She actually spent most of her time with her friends, but we did hang out at least once or twice. The longest we spent together was the flying training we did right after you left.”

“And how did that go?”

Natalya shrugged. “It went alright. She kept on trying to fly, then I would give her some pointers. Unsurprisingly, I wasn’t really much help. She’s still having trouble staying in the air for more than a few seconds, but at least she wasn’t too bummed about it. We also just chatted for a while about stuff like flying, some griffon stuff, friends, and jumping off cliffs.”

Natalya resisted the urge to smirk when six ponies and one dragon stared at her with varying degrees of shock. Gilda was the only calm one, a faint, wry grin gracing her face.

“Um, could you run that last part by us again?” Applejack requested.

“And which part was that again?” Natalya asked innocently.

“Natalya, you know very well what we’re talking about,” a concerned Twilight stated.

“Oh, that part. Yeah, it was nothing much. We just talked about cliffs and high clouds. Some stuff about pushing and jumping as well.”

“Ooh, you mean like bungee jumping?” Pinkie asked.

“Er, no.”

As another round of confused and shocked looks went around the table, a snicker escaped Gilda, which was immediately noticed by Rainbow.

“Alright, you two, what’s up?” Rainbow accused, eyeing the griffons. “Gilda, you mind explaining things since chucklehead is too busy messing with us?”

“Yeah, sure,” Gilda complied. “Natalya is just talking about how griffons who can’t really fly are dropped from high places. It gives them an incentive to learn.”

“Wait,” Spike uttered, “but what if they—”

“Yes, we do catch them if they fail,” Natalya added. “And before you guys say anything, Scootaloo was asking me about any special griffon training stuff that she could do. I told her about it, and then also said that she’s nowhere bad enough to need that kind of thing. We’re not jumping or dropping anyone off anything.”

“Well, that is a relief to hear,” Rarity remarked. “Although, I must admit that the method in question does seem so… crude.”

“Not really,” Fluttershy refuted. “It’s just like what some of my bird friends do when they want to teach their hatchlings to fly. I never knew that griffons did the same thing.”

“Interesting…” Twilight murmured from behind a tall piece of parchment that she had summoned from somewhere. A quill could be seen dancing along the edges of the paper. “Our records on griffon customs are woefully outdated, and this is some valuable information,” she said, still jotting down notes. “Would you two mind me asking you a few dozen or so more things about the practice?”

“You know, I should really check on those cookies in the oven,” Gilda informed, suddenly getting up and heading for the kitchen.

“Cookies?” Pinkie tilted her head and scrunched her face in thought. “We weren’t baking any—”

“You’re coming too!” Gilda rushed back to the table, clapped a paw over Pinkie’s mouth, and carried the pink pony into the kitchen.

Natalya blinked, realizing that she had just been thrown under the carriage by Gilda. Turning her attention back to Twilight, she gulped at the sight of the knowledge-hungry alicorn staring at her with eager eyes.

“Uhh…” was all Natalya could utter.

“Actually, we should get going, Natalya,” Rainbow said, silencing the griffon with a bump to her side. “I want to stretch my wings a bit before we see Scootaloo. You do want to see her, right?”

Catching on to Rainbow’s ploy, Natalya promptly said, “Right, yeah. I do. We should leave. Like right now.”

“Oh, uh, I guess if you really have to go…” Twilight sighed, her ears and posture sinking in disappointment despite keeping up a smile.

“Don’t worry, Twilight. I’m sure that you can ask Natalya and Gilda your questions later tonight,” Rainbow suggested.

“That’s true. Yes, that will give me time to prepare my things and have even more questions to for them!” Twilight remarked, perking right back up.

Natalya’s head slowly turned to Rainbow, her eyes silently asking what the pegasus was doing.

Rainbow only flashed a cheeky grin at the griffon before chuckling at Twilight. “Just don’t overdo it again. Remember what happened to Gilda two weeks ago?”

“What? The mess wasn’t that bad,” Twilight argued. “It wasn’t like I was asking for much.”

“You asked her to write a fifty-page essay on what she learned about friendship,” Spike snarked.

Twilight coughed nervously. “Okay, perhaps that was asking a bit much from her.”

“Didn’t Gilda end up trying to hide in another room and barricade the door with furniture?” Rainbow asked.

“Yep,” Spike replied. “Could hear Gilda’s scream from the other side of the castle when she found out that Twilight can just teleport.”

Twilight groaned. “Okay, I get it. I’ll try not to overdo it.”

“Good to hear, and I’m sure that Natalya and Gilda would not mind giving you some more griffon info, right?” Rainbow said, eyeing Natalya and giving her a nudge.

With a roll of her eyes, Natalya conceded, “Yeah, I guess that’s fine. As long as it doesn’t take too long.”

“Absolutely,” Twilight agreed. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind, and thank you for this opportunity.”

Natalya and Rainbow then said their goodbyes to their friends, leaving them to let them talk some more, and exited Sugarcube Corner. With a nod to each other, they took off into the air, setting a course for the schoolhouse.

“So, I guess that you’re little joke kind of backfired, huh?” Rainbow teased during their flight.

Natalya groaned. “You could say that. It amused me to pull that trick on Scootaloo, and I thought I could do it again with you all.”

Rainbow snickered. “Too bad for you then. Gotta be careful when you talk about new stuff around Twilight. Have to say though, I’m a bit surprised that you didn’t outright refuse her or even try to run away like Gilda did.”

“Hard to say no to the pony who’s letting you stay in a castle for free. You butting in also didn’t help.”

“Hey, I at least got her to calm down. You probably would’ve been stuck with her all week if it wasn’t for me.”

Natalya shrugged. “Eh, I’m sure that I could’ve found some excuse to leave by myself eventually.”

Rainbow chuckled. “Sure you would have. Anyway, I was surprised to hear that you visited Fluttershy. Any reason why you did that?”

“What? I already told you. I just got the splint off and was bored. I figured that she was the only one not busy.”

“Uh huh…” Rainbow uttered in an unconvinced tone. “And?”

“And nothing. You’re looking too much into this.”

“Come on, I know that there must have been another reason.”

Natalya glared at the nosy pegasus. “You know, I’m already starting to miss not having your annoying prodding around.”

“Alright, alright,” Rainbow backed off, even though she was still smirking. “But really, that was so awesome of you to smooth things out with her. Makes me even more glad about the special gift I got for you.”

“Special gift?” Natalya repeated, quirking an eyebrow at her flying companion. “Is it some lame souvenir from Canterlot?”

“Something much cooler than that. You said that your wing is back to normal, right? And are you free this Saturday?”

“Yes and yes. I assume that this is related to my gift?”

“Yep, and that’s all I’m going to tell you about it. Er, after I tell you that there’s going to be a bunch of flying involved… And that it’s going to take a good part of the day.”

“A good part of the day, huh? Better be worth my time then.”

“Oh, it will!” Rainbow boasted. “Trust me, it’s going to be awesome.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Despite not knowing what Rainbow had planned, Natalya let a smile grace her face. “Thanks, Rainbow.”

“No problem, Natalya,” Rainbow replied, along with a quick salute.

As the schoolhouse drew near, Natalya said, “So while it’s still just you and me, I do have one important question for you.”

“Sure, shoot.”

“Are you absolutely sure that you don’t want me paying a visit to Wind Rider?”

Rainbow’s only response was a groan and a facehoof.

Chapter 21: Learning Experience

Natalya, like all griffons, possessed the ability to manipulate clouds. While griffons could not control the weather like Equestria’s weatherponies, she still could do basic things with clouds, such as walking on them, moving them, and breaking them apart. The latter method was actually one of her guilty pleasures.

Natalya could argue that busting up clouds was just another one of her training routines, but the reality of the situation was that she actually enjoyed the activity. After all, some mindless destruction every now and then was good for the soul.

“Ack!” Natalya squawked then sputtered when yet another cloud splattered onto her face.

Today, however, she was not having fun destroying clouds, mainly because she was flying right into them. It did not help that her face usually took the brunt of the impact, and while the fluffy objects posed little danger of causing any pain, the equivalent of a wet sponge smacking her in the face was not exactly a pleasant experience. It was even more irritating since the clouds always surprised her because she was literally flying blind.

“Dang it, Rainbow! That’s the third cloud I’ve flown into!” Natalya barked. “I know that you want this to be a surprise thing, but how long do I have to wear this stupid blindfold?!”

“Just a little bit more, I promise,” Rainbow’s voice answered from right behind, her forehooves right on Natalya’s flanks to guide the griffon. “At least I didn’t make you wear it until just a few moments ago.”

“And I guess that you still refuse to tell me anything about where we’re going, huh?”

“Yep.”

Natalya huffed irritably, but she begrudgingly replied, “Fine, but do a better job of steering me. I swear that you’re driving me into clouds on purpose.”

“No, of course not!” There was a slight pause, then Rainbow added, “Well, at least the ones after the first…”

Even with her blindfold on, Natalya turned her head and did her best to drill holes through Rainbow with her baleful glare. When there were no cries of anguish from the pegasus, she snorted her displeasure, faced forward again, and asked, “So why again did I let you think that blindfolding me while flying was a good idea?”

“Because you trust me?”

“To let me clear the sky with my face maybe.”

“Hey, at least we’re going in the right direction. Plus, we haven’t crashed either.”

“You say that like it’s an accomplishment,” Natalya dryly remarked. “Why do I put up with you?”

“Because we’re friends, duh.”

“I think that we’ve established that I don’t always make the best life choices.”

Fortunately, the next few minutes were free of any more face-clouds, and Rainbow soon led them on a slow descent.

“Can I take this stupid thing off now?” Natalya asked as soon as she landed, feeling grass underneath her paws.

“Just one second, aaaaand…” Rainbow replied as Natalya felt the pegasus turn her around.

“Here we are!” Rainbow cheerfully announced when she pulled off the blindfold. She swiftly flew up a short distance, a big smile on her face, and spread her forehooves wide in a grand flourish. “Welcome to the Wonderbolt Academy!”

Natalya slowly looked around and saw that they were on some sort of airfield. The field was built on top of a plateau that was roughly the size of a city block and also tall enough to be among the clouds. The area was covered in trimmed grass and small bushes. Set up on one side were several flags and a series of hoops to fly through, and a wide asphalt runway ran the length of the plateau, ending near a short rainbow stream that came from a rainbow waterfall up above.

Not too far away from the plateau, Natalya also noticed several buildings set up on a long strip of clouds. They all were grey, cylindrical structures with roofs made of clouds, and the largest one had the Wonderbolt’s insignia of a lightning bolt with wings on its sides mounted above its entrance.

“So, what are we doing here?” Natalya asked nonchalantly when she was done taking in the sights.

Rainbow’s smile and posture deflated, and she landed on the ground with a frown. “Really? That’s it?” she complained incredulously. “No ‘Oh my gosh, so awesome,’ or ‘Rainbow, you’re the best?’ Could you at least maybe even look surprised?”

Natalya merely shrugged in response.

Rainbow groaned and facehoofed. “You are such a buzzkill sometimes. You know that, right?”

“Yep,” Natalya agreed unabashed. “So, again, what are we doing here?”

Rainbow sighed and stood back up from her disappointed slouch. “The Wonderbolt Academy is where ponies are tested and trained to become future Wonderbolts. I came here when I started training to be in the reserves, but the actual team also does most of their training here. There’s all sorts of cool equipment and other workout stuff around, so I thought that we could do all sorts of fun flying things while we’re here. We might even find something to help you get your Sonic Rainboom.”

Natalya blinked and then admitted, “That’s… actually pretty cool.” She had not done any real training since her wing healed up, and a day with some professional equipment certainly sounded appealing, not to mention that she would welcome any help she could get for her Sonic Rainboom attempts.

Rainbow grinned at Natalya’s piqued interest. “And that’s not all. I even got a special guest that wants to meet you.”

“And who would that be?”

“That would be me,” a third voice answered as a familiar pegasus mare landed nearby.

Natalya instantly recognized the yellow coat and fiery mane of the new pony. Even though she had never personally met the pony, she had seen the mare plenty of times. It was also pretty hard to not know who the captain of the Wonderbolts was, even if said pony was not in uniform.

“Captain Spitfire, ma'am!” Rainbow promptly greeted, standing up straight as she saluted.

“At ease, Rainbow,” Spitfire replied with a lazy smile. “It’s just us, and we’re not in uniform. You’re safe from my yelling today… somewhat”

“Right, uh, sorry,” Rainbow apologized, relaxing her stance. “Anyway, thanks again for letting us come here, Spitfire. Hope that it wasn’t too much trouble.”

“Not at all. Nothing really going on today with almost everypony gone, and besides, even if it was, I told you that I owe you, especially after the whole Wind Rider mess.”

Natalya blinked. “Wait, so in other words, Rainbow, you cashed in a favor with Spitfire so that you could bring me here?”

“Pretty much, but don’t sweat about it,” Rainbow answered.

“Er, well, thanks, anyway.” Natalya now regretted a bit that she had not seemed so interested when they had first arrived. A favor from the captain of the Wonderbolts could do so much, and yet Rainbow had used it up without a second thought just for her.

“So, you’re Natalya,” Spitfire said, turning to the griffon. “I’ve seen your name pop up quite a few times in various flying competitions, but this is the first time that we actually get to meet. Well, if you don’t count the death glares that you were giving me back at the Equestria Games.”

“To be fair, I was giving death glares to you and Rainbow,” Natalya clarified.

Spitfire chuckled. “Guess that you weren’t too happy about the results of the race, and I can sympathize with that. You’re not the only one who can get a bit grouchy when you don’t win. No hard feelings, right?” She raised a forehoof toward the griffon with a smile.

Natalya’s gaze drifted over to Rainbow for a second before switching back to Spitfire. She then lightly bumped the offered hoof with a fist. “Sure, whatever.”

Spitfire nodded in approval and dropped her hoof. “I’ve actually been wanting to meet you for a while. I heard that you'd rather keep to yourself, but it’s hard to not want to meet the talented griffon that’s won quite a few competitions around Equestria.”

“Thanks,” Natalya replied calmly. Her lackluster response hid the surge of pride washing over her. Despite not caring too much about the Wonderbolts, it was hard not to get a least a little bit excited about receiving praise from the captain of Equestria’s premier flying team.

“Rainbow also told me that you’ve been working on learning the Sonic Rainboom for yourself,” Spitfire added. “How are you doing with that?”

Natalya sighed. “Could be better… A lot better. It’s been weeks since I started training with Rainbow, and it feels like I've hardly made any progress.”

“Tell me about it. I and a couple of other members of the team have been trying to learn it as well, but none of us have had much luck either. We’re still going at it whenever we can, but with the ways things are looking, we wouldn’t be surprised if Rainbow is the only pony that can pull it off.”

“Good thing that I’m a griffon then,” Natalya retorted.

Spitfire chuckled. “Good attitude, but I don’t think that’s quite how it works. I’m certainly not going to stop you from trying though. In fact, helping you is part of the reason that Rainbow brought you here. You’re free to use any of the equipment around here.”

“Cool, thanks.”

“However, before you go, if you two have the time, maybe you could check something out with me first. Don’t worry, it’s nothing boring. In fact, I’m pretty sure the two of you will like it.”

“Sure. What’s up, Spitfire?” Rainbow answered before Natalya could get in a word.

Natalya rolled her eyes, but she said nothing and followed Rainbow and Spitfire down the runway.

“You remember our famous air obstacle course, right, Rainbow?” Spitfire asked.

“How could I forget?” Rainbow replied. “You probably had us run it like a hundred times before I became a reserve.”

“Only a hundred? I must be getting soft,” Spitfire said with a smirk, stopping near the end of the paved road. “Anyway, we made a few modifications to the course since the last time you went through it, and I want to know what you think about it.”

Spitfire then pointed up to the course that was in the air not too far from where they were. “To start things off, we got our standard cloud rings to fly through. It’s not exactly the same thing you went through before, Rainbow, because we arranged them so that flyers will have to make tighter turns and altitude changes to make it through them all.”

After quickly mapping out a path through the rings, Natalya looked ahead to the next part of the course. At first, it seemed to be clear air space, but underneath that area was a line of purple and pink machines. Each machine looked like a cylinder on top of a square base, and they were roughly twice the size of a pony.

“Those are our cloud launchers,” Spitfire explained, noticing what Natalya was looking at. “For that part of the course, you just have to get through it while those things are spitting clouds at you. We use a special mix so that the clouds will actually have some ‘oomph’ to them instead of bursting on impact. We also just upgraded the launchers with automatic feeders, so not only do we not need ponies to constantly reload them, they can spit out a lot more clouds to mess up flyers. If you get hit by one, it will knock you off course, but it won’t hurt you… much.”

Spitfire then pointed toward four huge machines that were floating in the air, arranged in a two by two square formation. A pair of flags mounted on small clouds were set up some distance away from the nozzle of the machines, forming an invisible, horizontal line, with a second pair closer to the metal apparatuses.

“Normally, there would be a thunderstorm section next, but we haven’t got our shipment of storm clouds from Cloudsdale yet, so we’ll just skip right to the good stuff: our wind generators,” Spitfire proclaimed, a hint of pride in her tone. “Those things are capable of creating gusts that can blow a pegasus from here to Canterlot. While we usually just use them as another obstacle to avoid, I wanted to try something different. Instead of avoiding them, I want ponies to fly straight into the wind. The objective is to power your way from one set of flags to the other.”

“Um, I get that it’s a wind resistance kind of thing, but didn’t you just say that those things, and I quote, can blow a pegasus from here to Canterlot?” Rainbow asked warily.

“Would make for one interesting training session,” Natalya pointed out.

“Don’t worry,” Spitfire assured. “I’m not that ruthless. I had them turned down for the purpose of this exercise, but they can still pack a punch if you’re not careful.” She then turned back to Natalya and Rainbow with a proud smirk. “So, what you think about the new course?”

“Sounds like you made it a whole lot more difficult since I ran through it,” Rainbow commented.

“Got a problem with that?” Spitfire asked with an impish grin.

“Of course I do.” Rainbow flashed her cocky smirk. “I didn’t get to try it out.”

“That’s what I was hoping to hear. Besides the missing storm clouds, the course is pretty much ready. The thing is, we only finished putting it together the other day, so we have hardly been able to test it. It sure would be nice if a certain pegasus and griffon would help us out…”

“Sweet! I’m in!” Rainbow cheered.

“I wouldn’t mind having a go at it either,” Natalya added. “I’ve been too busy trying to learn the Sonic Rainboom, so this would be more like the intense workout that I’m used to.”

“Then it’s settled. You two get to try out the new obstacle course,” Spitfire confirmed. “Now, I would remind you guys that the purpose of this course is to test your precision flying in extreme conditions, but knowing you two, something tells me that this is just going to become another race.”

Rainbow grinned. “Of course we will! The both of us can’t wait to…” She trailed off, going quiet for a moment. Her eyes flicked toward Natalya, before switching back to Spitfire a second later. “Actually, we’re good with just sticking to the regular testing and training thing.”

Spitfire’s eyebrow went up. “Is something the matter?”

“She just remembered that I recovered from a wing injury not too long ago,” Natalya answered before Rainbow could. “Honestly, she’s just being a worrywart. Give us a moment to talk it over.”

Spitfire shrugged. “If you say so. I need to give everything a final check anyway, so let me know if you guys are ready when I get back.”

As soon as Spitfire flew away, Rainbow turned right to the griffon with an uneasy smile. “Hey, uh, it’s true that I’m a bit worried about your wing, but the main reason is… well… and I mean this in the most totally non-offensive way possible, but…”

“You’re worried that I might throw another hissy fit and storm off in anger if you win again,” Natalya flatly stated.

Relief flickered on Rainbow’s face before it scrunched back up. “Er, I wouldn’t say that…”

“So what were you going to say?”

“Um…”

“Well?” Natalya prodded after Rainbow remained silent for a few moments.

“Okay, fine. I might have said something like that.”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “Rainbow, you don’t have to sugarcoat it. We both know that I’m a sore loser.”

“That’s why I think that maybe we shouldn’t turn this into a competition. I remember how upset you got after our first race, as well as the hoofrace we had with Applejack. Besides losing your temper, you went all sulky and depressed for a while. I don’t want to see you like that again.” Rainbow paused for a moment and then hastily added, “Um, of course, this is all assuming that I somehow manage to win the race, and I’m totally not implying at all that you’re going to lose for sure.”

“Right…” Natalya drawled, unamused.

Rainbow chuckled nervously before taking a deep breath. “Look, Natalya, this is probably going to sound sappy and silly, but you’re a cool friend, and I rather miss out on a race than to risk our friendship.”

“Rainbow, I get your concern, but you know me well enough to know that I also don’t back down from challenges. And at the risk of also sounding sappy…” Natalya glanced away and idly scratched the side of her head with a talon. “While I might get angry if I lose again, I very much doubt that I would want to end our friendship. I like hanging out with you, and after all of the stuff that you’ve done for me, I can put up with you beating me in a race… probably. Just don’t go flaunting it around, unless you want my fist in your face.”

Rainbow chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Of course, this is all assuming that you do manage to win.” Natalya smirked. “You might be able to beat me in a straight up race with the Sonic Rainboom, but I doubt that you’ll be able to pull it off here. This obstacle course will be a whole ‘nother story.”

Rainbow’s smirk matched Natalya’s. “Oh, you’re on!” she cried out with a laugh, only to soften her smile and ask, “So we cool?”

Natalya smiled softly and raised a fist for Rainbow to hoof bump, which the pegasus promptly did. “We cool.”

“Everything is all set up for you two,” Spitfire called out as she returned, landing right next to the pair. “You guys worked out your thing?”

Rainbow glanced over at Natalya and then nodded at Spitfire. “Yep. We’re totally making this into a competition.”

“Totally did not see that coming,” Spitfire dryly remarked with an amused grin. “Gotta say though, I’m looking forward to watching this race.”

“Why watch when you can join us?” Natalya challenged. Given how she had already bested Soarin at the Equestria Games, she certainly would not mind the chance to beat the captain of the Wonderbolts.

“Yeah, why don’t you, Spitfire?” Rainbow agreed. “I can’t think of an awesomer race with the three of us all in it.”

“Tempting, but sadly, I’m going to have to take a rain check,” Spitfire apologized. “The whole point of this is for me to see if there are any kinks I need to work out of this course, and I can’t really do that when I’m concentrating on trying to beat you two. Plus, if anything goes wrong during the race, I’ll be ready to shut down the machines and get help.”

Natalya resisted the urge to taunt and goad Spitfire. As much as she wanted to test her skills against Spitfire, annoying, and maybe even angering, Rainbow’s captain did not sound like such a good idea if she wanted to let her friend keep her spot on the team.

Fortunately, Rainbow had no such qualms as she cried out, “Oh come on, Spitfire. We’re all pros here. The chances of us getting hurt are like zero, no, less than zero. You really need to get in on this. That is…” She devilishly grinned at the other pegasus. “Unless you’re scared.”

Spitfire snorted in amusement. “Really, Rainbow? Look, racing with you guys does sound like a lot of fun, but sadly, being responsible sucks. I have to make sure that the course is ready by the end of the week, so I really need to see how you guys do with it. Also, there’s the rule that there must at least be one pony on standby whenever the obstacle course is in use. It’s boring, but necessary, safety regulation stuff that could get me into a lot of trouble if I ignore them.”

“But you could…” A flat stare from Spitfire made Rainbow clam up with a sigh. Putting on a pout, Rainbow conceded, “Okay, yeah. I guess that your hooves are kind of tied now, huh?”

“Yep, but don’t worry. The next time we do something like this, I’ll be sure to set aside some time to show you two how a real pro flies.”

“Heh, looking forward to it.”

“Anyway, that’s enough yapping around,” Spitfire proclaimed. “You two came here to do some flying, so let’s get things started. First one to make it through the course and get back here is the winner.”

As they quickly lined up at the edge of the runway, Natalya snuck a glance at Rainbow, and her gaze met with her friend’s. Rainbow smiled back, and silently mouthed the words ‘good luck’. Without thinking, Natalya mouthed ‘you too’ right back, an act that surprised her, considering that she had never ever done that sort of thing before. Pushing aside thoughts on her perplexing action, she returned her focus on the course straight ahead.

It had been quite some time since she had been in a competition, and even though the last two instances ended up as losses, Natalya still missed the building anticipation and thrill of a race. Her heart was already starting to pound with excitement, and her wings were twitching to get in some extreme flying.

Yet despite her eagerness for the impending race, there was also some trepidation about going against Rainbow. Even without the Sonic Rainboom, Rainbow was still one of the most skilled flyers she had ever seen, and Natalya knew that this was not going to be an easy race for her to win.

As Spitfire moved to the side, Natalya shook her head and tried to clear her mind. She did not need those distracting thoughts if she was to have a chance at winning. The only thing she could do was fly her best, and if she happened to lose again, she would try not to complain… much.

“On your marks…” Spitfire began the countdown as Natalya and Rainbow bent their legs, poising themselves for takeoff.

“Get set…"

“Go!”

With a powerful beat of her wings, Natalya launched herself into the air. The familiar feeling of cutting through the air with unrestrained speed sparked sensations of thrills and elation within her, but she maintained her focus as she rocketed toward the cloud rings that made up the first part of the course. With Rainbow speeding along right by her side, it was a matter of seconds before they flew through the first ring at the same time.

As they dove, climbed, and veered through each and every ring, Natalya noted that, like Spitfire explained, the arrangement of the cloudy circles demanded some tricky flight maneuvers, and they made the hoops back at the Equestria Games seem like just a lazy flight. To make it through every one of them, Natalya had to not only concentrate on her flying but also constantly mapping out her flight path through the next several rings. It was taxing, both physically and mentally, and yet, she loved the exertion as it pushed her to the limit.

Throughout the entire first section of the course, neither of them managed to pull ahead for more than a second. At one point, Natalya was tempted to bump into Rainbow, her larger body more than capable of pushing the pegasus off course, or to try and block Rainbow like she had done to Soarin. However, the cloud rings were actually quite large, and they offered more than enough space for her and Rainbow to fly through them together, making such methods ineffective.

But even if the circumstances did allow her to interfere with Rainbow, Natalya doubted that she would have gone through with it. Natalya knew that Rainbow would never do that sort of thing, and she wanted to keep things clean, partly because she did not want to do that sort of underhanded stuff to her friend, and partly because she wanted to see if she could beat Rainbow without resorting to any tricks.

Eventually, the two flyers cleared the last of the cloud rings together, and they made their way into the second part of the course. As soon as they were over the first set of cloud launchers, a chain of booming sounds rang through the air, and Natalya barely had time to look down and see the machines rapidly fire pink balls of clouds right at them.

She and Rainbow jetted off in opposite directions as they dodged and weaved around the fluffy projectiles. More than once, Natalya narrowly missed getting hit as she barrel-rolled and evaded the barrage of speeding clouds. Except for avoiding the occasional irate griffon back at Griffonstone, she had never done this sort of thing before, and she was very thankful that her reflexes had been honed through all of her time in the Abysmal Abyss. And yet, despite the harrowing, intense situation, she was actually finding the ordeal kind of fun, and each projectile that she dodged felt like a miniature accomplishment.

When she finally reached the end of the section, Natalya noticed Rainbow returning to her side. A further glance made her smirk a little as she realized that she had managed to pull ahead, albeit only a small bit. However, her lead was short-lived as her brief distraction made her almost fail to notice one last cloud heading right for her. With less than a second to react, she banked hard to her right, and while she managed to avoid taking a direct hit from the projectile, she winced as the cloud clipped the tip of her left wing, making her spin out of control.

Fortunately, it only took a second for Natalya to right herself, but she cursed to herself when she saw that Rainbow had sped ahead, putting some distance between them. She saw Rainbow shoot a worried glance back at her, but the pegasus quickly returned her focus straight ahead when Natalya promptly resumed her flying to try and regain the lead.

The next part of the course was supposed to be filled with thunderclouds, but as Spitfire had mentioned, they were not set up, leaving nothing but a clear, straight sprint toward the wind machines. Natalya tried to catch up to Rainbow, but much to her chagrin, she could not close the distance. In fact, Rainbow was slowly gaining even more of a lead with no obstacles to encumber her. Cursing and growling to herself, Natalya focused on getting to the last part of the obstacle course, ignoring the growing pit in her stomach, and hoped that she could turn things around at the last part of the race.

Rainbow approached the first set of flags, marking the beginning of the wall of wind, and as soon as she did, her forward momentum came to a grinding halt, and Natalya could almost see the look of surprise on the pegasus’s face when she was actually pushed back. Rainbow swiftly redoubled her efforts, beating her wings faster, and she started moving forward again, but at less than half her usual speed.

Seeing her chance, Natalya surged forward into the wind wall. While it did take a moment to adjust to the sudden change, she almost laughed when she felt that the machine-generated winds were nowhere near as strong as the gusts in the Abysmal Abyss. With her speed barely affected, it did not take Natalya long to overtook Rainbow, who was still going at a sluggish pace. Not wanting to make the same mistake that cost her the lead earlier, Natalya kept her focus on what was ahead, although she did manage to catch a glimpse of Rainbow’s wide-eyed look of amazement when she passed the pegasus.

As soon as Natalya saw that she made it to the second set of flags, she pulled out of the makeshift wind tunnel and dove back toward the runway. Within a few moments, she was skidding across the pavement to stop in front of Spitfire.

“Not bad. Not bad at all, Natalya,” Spitfire praised.

Natalya gave a nod to Spitfire as she caught her breath and looked around. She did not see Rainbow since she had overtook the pegasus during the push through the oncoming gales, nor did she see her friend anywhere on the runway.

Did I do it? Did I really just—

“Congrats, Natalya. You won,” Rainbow said half-heartedly as she touched down next to the griffon, a small smile on her face.

“I did it? I really beat you?” Natalya could not help but ask.

“You sure did…”

“Huh…” was all Natalya could utter.

“You know, I expected you to be doing a lot more celebrating, or at least be rubbing it in my face for the next few hours.”

“I don’t usually make a scene when I win.”

“So you only do that when you lose, huh?” Rainbow snarked.

Natalya rolled her eyes. “I won’t deny that. But really, I’m not too sure why I’m not at least gloating about my victory. I guess that I’m still surprised that I actually managed to beat you.”

“Good thing that I couldn’t do my Sonic Rainboom then, huh?” Rainbow teased.

“Yes, it’s a very good thing that you didn’t,” Spitfire remarked. “A Sonic Rainboom would have wrecked the course, and you would have been spending the rest of your days scrubbing the entire academy with a toothbrush.”

“Heh, good one, Spitfire,” Rainbow said with a nervous chuckle, but she quickly clammed up when the Wonderbolt captain gave her a warning glare. Rainbow cleared her throat and hastily switched topics. “So, uh, yeah, Natalya, you really deserved the win. That was some really awesome flying.”

“No arguments here,” Spitfire agreed, also turning to the griffon. “You lost a lot of ground from that last cloud launcher, but when you reached the wind generators, I gotta say, I was really impressed. It was like they weren’t even on with the way you were just plowing through it all.”

“Yeah. I’ve seen Gilda stand up to some pretty powerful gales, but she doesn’t hold a candle to you, Natalya,” Rainbow praised.

“I did tell you that I train in the Abysmal Abyss all the time,” Natalya pointed out.

Rainbow's eyes widened, followed by a facehoof. “I totally forgot about that! No wonder you plowed through those wind generators.“

“What’s this Abysmal Abyss?“ Spitfire asked curiously.

“It’s this giant ravine not too far away from Griffonstone. The winds over there make the ones we just flew through feel like a gentle breeze,“ Natalya explained, purposefully neglecting to mention the safer spots where she actually trained.

Spitfire turned to Rainbow with a devilish grin. “So what I’m hearing is that I need to turn things up even more. Hope that you’re ready for more training, Rainbow. You might only be in the reserves, but here at the Wonderbolts, there’s always room for improvement.”

“Um, okay. I suppose that’s a good point,” Rainbow conceded. “So what do you have in mind?”

“One hundred laps around the perimeter now!” Spitfire barked, her relaxed visage suddenly replaced by a fearsome scowl. “Go! Go! Go!”

“Yes, ma'am!” Rainbow hastily blurted out before she took off and began speeding around the academy.

“I thought you said that you two were off-duty or something like that,” Natalya remarked, although she was not complaining about the amusing show.

“We are, but I wanted to see if I could still get her to do it. That, and I like yelling at newbies,” Spitfire said with a smirk, earning her a snort of amusement from the griffon.

Shifting her attention back upwards, Natalya watched as her friend flew around. Even if the academy itself was not that big, it was still impressive to see Rainbow complete lap after lap, each one being done in ten seconds flat. The pegasus was only a blur at the speed that she was going at, and she would have been hard to keep track of if it were not for her trademark rainbow trail. Without any obstacles to impede her, Rainbow’s speed was a marvel to watch, which Natalya recalled was how the pegasus first caught her eye back at the Equestria Games, even if it was with contempt at first.

“She sure is something, isn’t she?” Spitfire said.

“Yep,” Natalya replied, her eyes still tracking her best friend.

“How do you like hanging out with Rainbow?” Spitfire asked.

“It’s cool.”

Spitfire’s eyebrow went up. “Really? That’s it?”

Natalya finally looked at the Wonderbolt captain and shrugged. “What do you want me to say?”

“How about anything? Come on, Rainbow talked about you quite a bit when she was up in Canterlot for the royal garden opening.”

“Really?” Natalya uttered with a hint of surprise. “What did she say about me?”

“In short, you’re a giant pain in the flank, but at the same time, you’re actually a pretty fun griffon to hang out with, not to mention that you’re a pretty decent flyer.”

“Funny, I could say the same thing about her. I guess if I really have to say something, I can add that she’s just a really good friend. She’s done a ton of stuff for me without expecting anything back, and even though I complain about some of the things that she wants me to do, I have to admit, they eventually turn out to be for my benefit in the long run. Also, she’s not a pushover, since she’s not afraid to stand up to me if I’m doing something… questionable.”

Spitfire chuckled. “Yeah, she’s pretty good at that last part. I might be her captain, but I’ve been on the receiving end of her lectures at least twice. Remember what happened at the Equestria Games tryouts at Rainbow Falls?”

“Not really,” Natalya admitted. “I was only paying attention to my team back then.”

“Fair enough. Well, during practice, Soarin injured his wing and almost got into a nasty crash, but Rainbow saved him. He still had to go to the infirmary, so Fleetfoot, a longtime member of the team, and I were worried that we were going to be down a member for the qualifier, so we convinced Rainbow to cover for Soarin. At first, it was meant to be a temporary thing, but you and I know that Rainbow is talented. Really talented. So Fleetfoot and I decided to completely replace Soarin with Rainbow.”

“Don’t the rules say that you can only represent the town you’re from?”

“Yep, but even though Rainbow lives in Ponyville now, she used to live in Cloudsdale, making her eligible for our team as well. The rules also say that a pony can only be in one team, so having Rainbow join ours would get rid of the competition from Ponyville.”

“That’s quite ingenious,” Natalya complimented. “But I imagine that Rainbow wouldn’t go for that sort of thing.”

Spitfire chuckled sheepishly. “Well, we might have lied a bit… or a lot. Soarin got better, but we got him to just keep on resting while we told Rainbow that Soarin would not be able to make it. We even went the extra mile to make it sound like that we needed her.

“Having to choose between Ponyville and Cloudsdale ended up really stressing Rainbow out. She wanted to fly with us because of the whole Wonderbolt thing, but at the same time, she did not want to abandon her Ponyville friends. She ended up faking an injury to try to get out of having to make a decision, but when she got sent into the infirmary, she met Soarin and that’s when everything fell apart.”

“She gave you guys a friendship lecture?” Natalya guessed.

“She gave us a friendship lecture,” Spitfire confirmed with a nod. “She marched up to me and Fleetfoot and chewed us out, and we deserved it. We were jerks, and Rainbow was right to call us out. We were so concerned about winning that we not only were willing to bend the rules, but we also kicked a friend and fellow teammate to the side. Winning is great and all, but there are definitely things that are more important than it.”

“I get the same spiel from Rainbow, and as much as I hate to admit it, the idea is actually starting to stick,” Natalya said. “It’s probably her fault why this recent win over her feels a bit weird.”

Spitfire chuckled. “That’s Rainbow for you. I have to say, things have gotten more interesting since I’ve met her, and I think that I’m even a better pony because of her.”

“Then why not just promote her to one of the main Wonderbolt flyers as thanks?”

“Because I would get into a heap load of trouble. Just because I’m captain doesn’t mean I can do whatever I want. There are protocols and procedures that have to be followed. I also seriously doubt that Rainbow would like it if she made the team just because I played favorites.”

Natalya thought about it for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah, I guess I can see that. So what was the other time?”

“What other time?”

“You mentioned that Rainbow had lectured you twice. You just told me about one.”

“Oh, right. Well, the other time happened farther back, when Rainbow was getting trained to become a reserve member. A lot of it had to do with another pony, Rainbow’s old partner to be exact.”

Natalya was already pretty interested to learn more about Rainbow, but now her attention was fully grabbed. Recalling the night that she went flying with Rainbow way back, Natalya remembered how she was compared to the unnamed partner. At the time, Natalya did not care to dig into the issue, but now that their friendship had grown exponentially, Natalya admittedly wanted to learn more about the mystery pony, and who better to find out more about her than the captain of the team.

“Rainbow actually told me a few things about her,” Natalya informed. “The gist I got was that they were friends, but the partner got kicked out because of her recklessness.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it in a nutshell. The mare was good, but she wrecked a bunch of academy equipment and put a bunch of ponies at risk.”

“Mind telling me more about this partner?”

“Well…” Spitfire rubbed her forehoof on her chin in pensive thought. “I guess I could. You could get the story from Rainbow, so you might as well hear my side of things. Just don’t go around telling everypony where you heard it from.”

“Sure. Got it.”

Spitfire took a deep breath. “Rainbow’s partner was a mare named Lightning Dust. She and Rainbow were easily the top flyers in the class, so it’s no big surprise that they were paired together. Now, when we pair trainees together, one would be the leadpony while the other becomes the wingpony. Rainbow was the wingpony.”

“So Lightning Dust is a better flyer than Rainbow?” Natalya could not help but ask, a hint of disbelief in her voice.

“Not exactly. She and Rainbow are pretty equal in terms of flying skill. Lightning, however, stood out more because she was constantly pushing her limits during training and was willing to take daring risks to better herself.”

Spitfire sighed. “And I screwed up big time. I was so sure that she would eventually make a great addition to the team that I didn’t do my job of keeping her in line. I openly praised her risk-taking, and even though I noticed her reckless behavior, I looked the other way. Other staff members were voicing their concerns about Lightning, but me being the stubborn mare that I am, I pushed their complaints aside. Lightning was a very promising flyer, and I thought that her rash behavior could be worked on over time. But then came an incident that was too big for even me to ignore.”

“Rainbow mentioned that she pulled a stunt that almost got a bunch of ponies hurt,” Natalya stated.

Spitfire grimly nodded. “It was a simple cloud clearing exercise, but Lightning wanted to be the best, as usual, so she convinced Rainbow to help her make a miniature tornado to clear everything at once. Unsurprisingly, they lost control of it. That tornado ended up wrecking a whole bunch of stuff, but things really got dire when a hot air balloon with mostly non-pegasus ponies in it came up through the clouds. They were coming in to dock at our loading zone, but that’s kind of hard to do when a tornado tears up your balloon… Fortunately, Rainbow and the other trainees were able to rescue everypony.”

“And do you know what’s the worst part of that fiasco?” Spitfire asked, her frown deepening. “I was sitting in my office, doing paperwork, the entire time that all of that went down. So imagine my surprise when Rainbow burst into my office, went on a tirade about me rewarding dangerous, reckless behavior that puts other ponies at risk, and then quit the Wonderbolts.”

“Rainbow quit the Wonderbolts?” Natalya repeated, her eyes widening. She knew that being in the Wonderbolts was Rainbow’s biggest goal, and while she knew that things worked out eventually, it was still a surprise to hear her friend had given up on her lifelong dream, even if it was just a temporary thing.

“Yep, she got fed up with Lightning’s recklessness and me not doing anything to stop it. She had tried to talk to me more than once, but I ignored her. Seeing her Ponyville friends almost fall to their doom was more than enough to push her past her tipping point.”

“Wait, they were on that balloon?” Natalya asked in disbelief, her eyes widening even more. “No wonder she blew up on you. I know from experience that Rainbow puts her friends in front of just about everything else.”

“No kidding, and I respect that. So yeah, needless to say, I was feeling like a real idiot after Rainbow’s visit. I got my act together and after quickly confirming the reports with the other instructors, I apologized to Rainbow and made her leadpony.”

“And Lightning?”

“Demoted to wingpony and put on probation. Unfortunately, Lightning did not take the change well, and she continued with her recklessness, even with me keeping a watch on her. It didn’t take long for me to decide that she had to go.”

“So where is Lightning now?” Natalya asked. “I think that Rainbow wants to see her again. She still feels guilty that she didn’t do enough to stop her or something like that.”

“Sorry, can’t help you there. Rainbow already asked me the same thing. We didn’t keep track of Lightning after we kicked her out.” Spitfire slowly shook her head as she sighed again. “It’s my fault that Rainbow has to deal with this. If I did my job better, those two probably would still be hanging out as buddies. Before all of the mess, those two were really hitting it off. Even after the whole tornado incident, Rainbow still saw Lightning as a friend, going as far as trying to stop me from giving her the boot.”

“Seriously? She did that?”

“Yep, and since I owed it to Rainbow, I did give Lightning another chance. Sadly, things didn’t work out. Lightning just kept doing what she wanted and blamed Rainbow for getting her into trouble.”

A growl escaped Natalya. “You would think that she would be a bit more thankful that Rainbow stood up for her.”

“Lightning doesn’t even know because Rainbow wanted to keep what she did a secret. She didn’t want Lightning to think it was a pity case. A blow to Lightning’s pride like that while things were still so tense could easily have made things worse.”

Natalya wanted to grumble about how Lightning was too much trouble and how Rainbow should just forget about the mare, but she realized that it would only make her a hypocrite. After all, her own stubborn and rash behavior was not too far off from Lightning’s.

But at least I had the decency to listen to Rainbow…

“So hopefully I managed to help a bit,” Spitfire said.

Natalya nodded. “You cleared a few things up for me, and it’s good to know how far Rainbow will go if I go and do something stupid.”

“That’s just how Rainbow is. She might be a showboat and have a big head at times, but from what I’ve seen, once you’re her friend, you won’t find anypony more loyal than her.”

Natalya nodded and turned her gaze back up to watch Rainbow again, her talk with Spitfire giving her a new sense of appreciation for her first and best friend.

“By my calculations, she should almost be done,” Spitfire informed as she also looked up at Rainbow. “Just one little request before she gets back. Rainbow is my friend too, but things are kind of weird between us since I’m her captain and all. Doesn’t change the fact that she’s a good pony, and I want to see her succeed. You take care of her for me, alright?”

A few moments later, Rainbow finished her laps and swiftly dove back toward the runway. “And that’s a hundred!” she shouted as she landed right next to the pair. She was panting hard from her exertion, but she was sporting the cocky smirk that Natalya knew all too well.

“Nice work, Rainbow,” Spitfire praised. “Even if I did go easy on you.”

Rainbow chuckled weakly, and it was not just because she was winded. “Heh, yeah. Thanks for not making me do the usual five hundred laps.”

“I didn’t want to eat up all of your time since you brought Natalya with you.”

“Yeah, thanks for that. So what did you two do while I was up there? Looked like you guys were talking about something.”

“Nothing much. Just flying stuff,” Spitfire replied as she shot a quick glance at Natalya.

Taking the hint, Natalya nodded. “Yep. Flying stuff.”

“It was about me, wasn’t it?” Rainbow flatly asked.

“Maybe,” Natalya and Spitfire both replied.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Alright, alright, I get it. I’ll stop asking. So, Natalya, ready to get some training in?”

Natalya nodded. She did want to talk with Rainbow about Lightning, but since they were here at the Academy, as well as all of its equipment, the discussion could wait until later. She certainly did not want to waste all of the effort that Rainbow had gone through just for her.

“Know of any cool equipment that I might like?” Natalya asked with a soft smile.

An impish grin grew on Rainbow’s face. “Actually, I got the perfect thing in mind. Let me show you a little something called the Dizzitron…”

Chapter 22: Sleepover

It was the time of day when Celestia lowered the sun, allowing for Luna’s moon to take its place. For many ponies, this daily ritual was one of their favorite moments because during this celestial exchange, the sky was painted with a vibrant array of blues, yellows, oranges, and violets, creating a dazzling tapestry of colors. Multitudes of artists had drawn inspiration from the phenomenon, and the picturesque scenery was known to bring a sense of peace to other ponies.

In the skies not too far from Ponyville, however, a pegasus had something else on her mind besides enjoying the wondrous sight.

“Dude, I can’t believe that I almost barfed on Spitfire!”

Natalya chuckled while she flew alongside her complaining pegasus friend. “It’s your fault for letting Spitfire turn up the Dizzitron all the way, Rainbow. Besides, weren’t you bragging that you handled it like a pro when you first went through it?”

“Well, yeah, but I didn’t know that Spitfire also had the Dizzitron upgraded since then,” Rainbow argued. “I should’ve known something was up. She had that evil grin of hers that she uses whenever she has some killer exercise planned for us. I swear that mare feeds off of our misery.”

“Stop whining. I handled the Dizzitron just fine,” Natalya boasted with a smirk.

“It’s because you handled worse stuff when you trained in the Abysmal Abyss, isn’t it?”

“Yep. Turns out that being tossed around by deadly gales and avoiding sharp rocks are great incentives to learn how to quickly reorient yourself.”

“Cause that doesn’t sound crazy at all,” Rainbow complained. “Still, I got to give you props. As insane as you are, it’s so cool that you can actually fly around in the Abysmal Abyss. I tried to do it when I went to Griffonstone with Pinkie, but I just got tossed right into the cliff walls.”

“Well, you can’t expect to hold up to those winds after just a few tries. It took me a long time before I tamed those gales. Still, I guess that I can give you some tips if you ever decide to go back to Griffonstone.”

“Really?” Rainbow uttered in surprise as her smile grew wider. “That’s really cool of you.”

Natalya shrugged. “I do owe you for all of the training time that you spent with me. Just make sure to bring a bunch of first aid stuff with you. When I first started out, I had a hard time getting things to patch up all of the cuts and bruises that I got, and that’s only the small stuff.”

Rainbow’s smile disappeared faster than a cupcake in Pinkie’s presence. “Uh, maybe I’ll take up your offer later… much later. I’m not in a hurry to getting a face full of rocks.”

“No pain, no gain,” Natalya retorted with a smirk.

“I don’t think that saying applies when broken bones are involved,” Rainbow pointed out. “Anyway, let’s move on from bodily injuries and talk about how awesome today was instead. I wanna know how much you liked your visit to the Wonderbolt Academy.”

“Well, hanging out with Spitfire was pretty cool. I thought that she would be all uptight, but she’s actually pretty chill when she’s not barking orders at you,” Natalya replied. The conversation about Lightning Dust was in still on her mind, but she was waiting for the right moment to press Rainbow more on the former partner.

“As for the academy itself,” Natalya continued, “trying out all of the different training equipment was neat. I never really had access to that kind of stuff, so it was definitely cool to give them a whirl. I even learned a few things to help finetune my own training routine. Of course, the highlight of the day was me beating you at the obstacle course.”

Rainbow chuckled. “I was wondering when you were going to gloat about it.”

“It took a bit for my victory to sink in. Guess that I was surprised back then because I thought that I would have needed the Sonic Rainboom to beat you. Turns out that all I needed was to put you up against a little wind.”

“Yeah, a little wind,” Rainbow repeated, rolling her eyes. “Wait, does this mean that you don’t need the Sonic Rainboom anymore?”

“Of course I still need it,” Natalya answered. “I might be able to beat you in an obstacle course, but that’s only because you aren’t able to do a Sonic Rainboom in those conditions. In a straight-up race, where you have plenty of room to pull it off, I know that I still don’t stand a chance against you.”

“Guess that you’re not going to be happy saying that we’re good at different things, huh?”

“Nope. Just means that I still need to get better.”

“Should’ve figured that you wouldn’t give up on the Sonic Rainboom so easily.” Rainbow sighed tiredly. “Well, I’m glad that you at least had fun today. Right now though, I’m pretty beat. I can’t wait to get home.”

“Same here. All of that flying was pretty exhausting. I just wanna grab some grub and then chill for the rest of the night when I get back to the castle.”

“I had the exact same thing in mind for when I get home. Good thing that Ponyville isn’t too much farther. Let’s hurry up. I can already hear my bed calling me.”

Driven by the promise of rest, the two of them picked up their pace. It did not take long for the pro flyers to see Ponyville came into view, however, thanks to her innate eagle eye, Natalya noticed something off with the town.

“Yo, Rainbow, is there supposed to be a thunderstorm tonight or something?” Natalya inquired, halting her flight to get a clearer look in the dwindling twilight. “There’s a bunch of dark clouds over Ponyville.”

“Yep. Big one too,” Rainbow replied, stopping right next to the griffon. “Weather factory has a backlog of storm clouds that have to be used up.”

“So you managed to get us back in time to fly through a huge storm?” Natalya asked dryly.

Rainbow scoffed. “Of course not. Sure, the weather team got all of the clouds set up earlier than I expected, but we still got more than an hour before it’s supposed to start. I planned out everything perfectly.”

A chain of thundering booms echoed through the air, and the storm clouds flashed with lightning, releasing a torrential downpour that began drenching Ponyville.

“You were saying?” Natalya said flatly.

“What?!” Rainbow groaned and facehoofed. “Okay, this is so not my fault. I double, no, triple checked the schedule before we left. Some idiot must have messed up something because the storm was definitely not supposed to start yet. Seriously, those ponies really need to get their act together because I’m not going to be around when I become a full-fledged Wonderbolt.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. You’re cool, they suck, but let’s focus on the real issue here. How long is this thing supposed to last?”

“All night,” Rainbow answered with a defeated sigh.

Natalya let out a sigh of her own, but with more frustration and exasperation. “Great… Just great… So what am I supposed to do? Make a mad flight to the castle? I might play around in the Abysmal Abyss, but even I’m not keen on flying through a thunderstorm in the dark. Doesn’t help that I’m worn out after everything we did today. ”

“Um… Well…” Rainbow took a moment to think before a wide smile split her face. “You know what? Your awesome buddy Rainbow Dash has your back,” she declared, smirking pridefully. “My place should be outside of the storm zone, so you can crash with me for the night.”

“Spend an entire night with you?” Natalya tapped her beak in thought for a moment and then shrugged. “Eh, guess it’s better than sleeping on a cloud.”

Rainbow stared back with a flat, unamused gaze. “We really got to work on getting you to say ‘thanks’ whenever somepony does something nice for you.”

Natalya snickered. “Thanks, Rainbow.”

Rainbow nodded in satisfaction then waved at Natalya to follow her. Skirting around the edge of the mass of black clouds, it took only a matter of minutes to arrive at Rainbow’s place, which was hovering a safe distance away from the thunderstorm. They flew in through an open window near the front door.

Her talons clacking on the floor, Natalya took in her surroundings and could not help but let out an impressed whistle. Decorative columns flanked the front door, and not too far on the side was an almost pony-sized statue of a flying pegasus. The floor was paved with some sort of pale-green stone with a circular motif on them, and in between the cloud-shaped outlines that adorned the walls were tall, arched windows. Across the room was a staircase leading up to the second floor, as well as a balcony that looked down at the foyer. While it was no castle, Rainbow’s place was still an impressive sight.

“What’s with all of the staring?” Rainbow asked, looking back at Natalya, whose eyes were still combing the area. “You’re acting as if this is your first time here.”

“Because this is my first time here, or at least being inside. Most days, you meet up with me at the castle or somewhere else in Ponyville. The few times I’ve been to your place was just at your doorstep to pick you up. You never actually invited me in.”

“Really?” Rainbow scrunched up her mouth in thought for a few seconds. Her eyes widened a moment later. “Oh, wow. I really haven’t, huh? Uh, well my bad then. Guess I’m just not used to inviting ponies over since a lot of my friends aren’t pegasi.”

“Well get used to it because I wouldn’t mind coming here more often,” Natalya commented, returning to inspecting the room. “Being a weather pony must pay pretty well to afford a place like this. Seriously, it’s like a mansion here.”

Rainbow smirked, her chest slightly puffing out in pride. “Yeah, the pay’s pretty good, but the actual reason that this place looks so nice is because the weather factory often lets us take home leftover cloud materials. Not to brag, but I’m pretty good at cloud sculpting as well. I saved a bunch just adding to the place on my own over time.”

“That’s cool. So what about—”

A loud rumbling echoed through the room. At first, Natalya thought that it was thunder from the rainstorm outside, but the sheepish grin Rainbow was wearing, along with a small blush, told a different story.

Rainbow chuckled weakly and patted her stomach with a hoof. “Guess it’s time for grub. Come on. I got the perfect meal that we can whip up.”

“We?” Natalya repeated. “I guess that I could help, but I hope that you’re not expecting some sort of fancy feast because all I know is some basic cooking stuff.”

“Don’t worry. What I have in mind is easy to make. I’ll be in charge, and you can be my assistant.”

Despite her skepticism, Natalya slowly nodded, following after her friend and the promise of food.

The next room was a great room, complete with a kitchen, dining area, and a living space. Besides being well-furnished, Natalya noted that Rainbow was not kidding about not having visitors over often. A few food wrappers were scattered on the floor, and old magazines were thrown onto various furniture surfaces. Still, the place was not overly messy, and Natalya had no right to complain since she did not exactly keep her room at the castle perfectly clean either.

In the corner of the room, Natalya also noticed a sizeable turtle shell resting there. At first, she thought that it was simply an odd decoration, but to her surprise, Rainbow trotted over to it and gently knocked on the so-called decoration. A moment later, a turtle head poked out of the shell and smiled up at the pegasus.

“Hey there, Tank. How you doing, buddy?” Rainbow cheerfully greeted, rubbing the reptile’s head with a forehoof.

“You have a turtle as a pet?” Natalya could not help but ask in disbelief.

“First of all, he’s a tortoise, and second, yes, Tank here is my pet.”

“I do recall you talking about a pet, but I guess I never cared to ask about it. I just assumed it was a bird or something else that can fly.”

Rainbow chuckled. “Yeah, that’s what I thought I was going to get at first, but Tank here just won me over. Let me introduce you to him.” She smiled down at the tortoise and then waved a hoof at Natalya. “Tank, this is my good friend Natalya. Natalya, this is Tank, the best pet that I could ever ask for.”

Tank simply smiled at the griffon and slowly blinked, which Natalya assumed was the pet’s way of communicating.

“Uh, hi,” Natalya replied, giving a short, awkward wave.

Tank nodded in satisfaction, following that up with a yawn as he turned his head back to Rainbow. This earned him a chuckle from the pegasus.

“Alright, buddy, you can go back to sleep. Sorry for disturbing you. I’ll catch you tomorrow,” said Rainbow.

Tank nodded once again before his head retreated back into his shell, leaving the two flyers alone.

“So why a tortoise?” Natalya asked.

“I’ll have to give you the full story later since I’m starving,” Rainbow answered as she headed toward the kitchen area. “The gist of it though was that I had a sort of pet competition to determine who to pick, and one of the events was a race with me at a place called Ghastly Gorge. I had a little accident, and since Tank was the only one who stopped to help me out, how could I not choose a loyal guy like him?”

“I’m guessing that he stays here most of the time since he can’t fly,” Natalya noted.

“Actually, he can fly… well, sort of. Twilight whipped up this cool mini-helicopter thing for him, but yeah, even then, he still stays home a bunch. Fluttershy also often checks up on him for me since I’m sometimes away for Wonderbolt stuff, so even more reason why I don’t have to bring him out too much. Actually, we have a Pony Pet Playdate coming up in a few days. You can come see Tank in action.”

“Eh, I’ll think about it,” Natalya halfheartedly replied. “For now though, let’s hurry up and get our food.”

Once they were in the kitchen, Rainbow quickly pulled out a large pot from a hanging cabinet and then filled it with water from the sink. Once the vessel was more than half-full, Rainbow plonked it on the stove, fired up the appliance, and motioned for Natalya to stand in front of it.

“Just wait for the water to start boiling then you can throw in all of this stuff,” Rainbow instructed, pulling out three small boxes from another cupboard and then tossing them at the griffon. “About half of each box should be enough for us two.”

Deftly catching the items in her claws, Natalya could not help but raise her eyebrow when she saw that one box contained noodles, another with macaroni, and the last with lasagna pasta sheets. “So this perfect meal is just a bunch of pasta stuff?”

“That’s only part of it,” Rainbow explained. From the same cupboard, she took out several potatoes, and after grabbing a knife with her hoof, she began peeling and cutting the vegetables on the counter with surprising, well-practiced ease.

“Potatoes andpasta,” Natalya commented. “Carbo-load much?”

“Yep, top athletes like us need all the energy that we can get. Besides, this is one of my favorite meals.” Rainbow grinned and grabbed a small bottle from a shelf filled with a white and yellow viscous liquid and held it up with pride. “Especially when I add my family’s homemade secret sauce to it!”

“Uh huh… So what exactly is in it?”

Rainbow shot the griffon a deadpan face. “What part of secret sauce do you not understand?”

Natalya rolled her eyes in both amusement and resignation as she turned back to her assigned task. It did not take long for the water to come to a boil. Using her talons, she easily cut open the tops of the pasta boxes, and per Rainbow’s instructions, she dumped about half of each box’s contents into the bubbling water.

“Now what?” Natalya asked after setting aside the half-used boxes on the counter.

“And now we wait for stuff to cook. You can go ahead and relax while the master does her work,” Rainbow instructed while she threw the prepared potatoes into a second, smaller pot.

“Fine by me,” Natalya said, stepping aside to sit down at the dining table right outside the kitchen area. “So, what are your plans for tomorrow?”

“I’m heading to the weather office in the morning, and not just because I want to find the idiot that messed up today’s storm and give them a good buck in the head,” Rainbow answered without turning away from her cooking. “I have to help clean up the storm leftovers. Still, that shouldn’t take long because I can clear the sky in ten seconds flat.”

“So what I’m hearing is that you’re free to do Sonic Rainboom training after that.”

Rainbow snorted amusedly. “Should’ve figured that was on your mind. You sure that you’re up for it though? Sure, you did great at the academy today, but still, it hasn’t been that long since your, uh, accident. Maybe you should give your wing some rest tomorrow?”

“I’ve recovered from worse and got back to training just fine. It’s just been a while since I got any Sonic Rainboom training done, and I hope that all of the downtime hasn’t set me back. I really need to get things back on track.”

“Alright, alright, fine. I’ll make sure that we at least get some training in tomorrow. Gotta admit, I admire your dedication. Even I’m not that hardcore with my own stuff. Makes me wonder what you’re going to do if you do manage to pull off your own Sonic Rainboom,” Rainbow said offhandedly.

Natalya opened her beak to answer, only for her mind to draw a blank.

“Something the matter, Natalya?” Rainbow asked, noting the griffon’s pause.

“Nah, I’m fine,” Natalya brushed aside. “I do got something I want to talk to you about though. You remember that I was talking with Spitfire while she had you do those laps around the academy, right?”

“I was right about it being about me, wasn’t I?”

Natalya nodded. “Spitfire didn’t want to talk about it with you around, but she’s not here now, so sucks for her. Anyway, I got her to tell me about Lightning Dust and what happened between you two since you never gave me the details.”

“Oh…” For a moment, Rainbow just stood there, staring at the stove, the bubbling water being the only sound in the room. Eventually, with a sigh, she turned to Natalya. “Guess that I should’ve seen this coming since I told you about her. Sorry that I never gave you actual details though. It’s a touchy subject for me, but I still should’ve got around to telling you more.”

Natalya casually waved the apology off with her hand. “Not a big deal. It’s not like I really cared about it before.”

“So you care now because we’re such good friends now?” Rainbow asked, putting on a small smirk.

“I just had an interest in learning more about the pony that I remind you of,” Natalya retorted. “Besides, I had to talk about something with Spitfire while we waited on you.”

“Alright, sure.” Rainbow chuckled softly before taking a deep breath and shifting to a serious tone. “So, what about Lightning did you want to talk about?”

“Well, according to you and Spitfire, she’s stubborn, reckless, and does everything that she can to come out on top, so yeah, I get why I remind you of her. What I don’t get is why you want to waste your time with her when she’s nothing but trouble.”

“You do realize that you were pretty much the same way when you first came to Ponyville, right?” Rainbow pointed out.

“But at least I eventually took your advice… Well, at least some of it,” Natalya countered. “Lightning, however, ignored your help and even left you without a word. Plus, I have never put your friends in danger.”

Rainbow winced. “Yeah, that whole tornado thing really sucked. I’ll admit that even I was really mad at her at first.”

“So then why are you so hung up with her? Do you have a crush on her or something?”

“W-what?!” Rainbow yelped, her face growing hotter than the stove behind her. “No! We were just friends! Honest!”

For some reason, Natalya felt a bit of relief from Rainbow’s protest.

Rainbow took several deep breaths, her face regaining its usual cyan color. “Look, I know that Lightning has got a bad rep, but it’s not like she tries to hurt other ponies. It just happens because she’s too focused on her flying and doesn’t pay attention to the consequences of her actions. She just needs a friend to help put things in perspective and nudge her in the right direction, pretty much like how I did with you.”

“So how come it didn’t work with her?”

“You saw how intense Spitfire can be. With all of the Wonderbolt training we had to do, it did not give me a lot of chances to sit down and talk with her. Didn’t help that Lightning also hated how I replaced her as lead pony. Still, we were friends, and I should’ve tried harder.”

“Rainbow, I get that she was your friend and all, but you really need to stop stressing over Lightning,” Natalya stated. “What happened, happened. There’s no changing that. If you meet her again, cool, do what you need to do, but you also have to keep in mind that you might never see her again as well.”

“I know that!” Rainbow replied with a harsh glare and a raised voice, only to sigh and shake her head. “Sorry. It’s just that… it sucked when Gilda and I fought, and even though I hated how she was a jerk to the others, it still hurt to lose her as a friend. We patched things up when I went to Griffonstone, but maybe if I had done things differently back then, we could’ve avoided our fallout. That’s kind of what’s going on here with Lightning Dust. I know that there’s a chance I won’t ever see her again, but if I do, I want to be prepared to help her out.”

Natalya remained silent. She still thought that Rainbow should just forget about Lightning, and even though she wanted to argue more, it was clear that prodding Rainbow more would only upset the pegasus more, and Natalya did not want that. Fortunately, the silence did not last long as the cooking pots lids began to clatter loudly because of the escaping, bubbling water.

“Oh shoot!” Rainbow cried out, hastily turning around to shut off the stove and check on her cooking.

Natalya breathed a sigh of relief, glad for the interruption. Hopefully, it would also end their little dispute. While Rainbow finished preparing their meal, Natalya turned her attention to the burning question that was raised from Rainbow’s earlier comment.

What was she going to do when she learned the Sonic Rainboom?

When she had first came to Ponyville, Natalya’s plan was to beat Rainbow to prove that she was the best. Of course, that plan went out the window, and she had to add learning the Sonic Rainboom to her itinerary after her scathing loss. She figured that at most, she would be spending a week or two to learn what she needed from Rainbow before she would return to Griffonstone and her life of competing.

She did not expect that it would take so long to learn the Sonic Rainboom.

She also did not expect that she would become best friends with Rainbow Dash.

As Natalya mulled over her future, she was jarred out of her musing when a plate of what can only be described as a huge mess was shoved in front of her face.

“My famous pasta potato sandwich on sourdough!” Rainbow pronounced proudly before sitting down on the opposite side of the table with her own sandwich, her mood back to its usual energetic self in the presence of food.

As Rainbow commenced messily devouring her food, Natalya could not help but continue staring at the abomination in front of her. Toasted sourdough bread held the whole sandwich together, and after each bread slice was a sheet of lasagna pasta, followed by a mix of mashed potatoes, macaroni, and potato wedges. They all met in the middle, where a mound of spaghetti noodles and even more potato wedges were smashed together.

“Something up, Natalya?” Rainbow asked with her mouth full. “You said that you were hungry earlier, and yet you haven’t touched your food.”

“I am both disgusted and intrigued with how you managed to come up with this crime against nature,” Natalya bluntly explained.

Rainbow rolled her eyes as she swallowed, freeing up her mouth. “Trust me, it tastes better than it looks. Just try one bite, and if you somehow don’t like it, we can get you something else.”

“Fine, but if I die from food poisoning, I’m coming back as a ghost to annoy you.”

“Just shut up and eat your sandwich.”

Sighing in defeat, Natalya hesitantly picked up the monstrosity, the tower of carbs barely holding together in her talons. She had to open her beak wide just to take a bite out of the sandwich, but when the food hit her taste buds, to her surprise, it did not taste like a trainwreck. The myriad of flavors was odd, and yet, they somehow worked together to produce an oddly satisfying taste.

“So?” Rainbow asked, staring at the chewing griffon.

“Not bad. Weird, but not bad,” Natalya admitted as she proceeded to eat the rest of her meal, the sandwich tasting better now that she was not suspecting that it would kill her.

“Told you that you would like it.”

“You’re just lucky that I was starving. Now shut up and let me eat.”

Other than loud chomping and satisfied moans, most of which came from Rainbow, the two flyers sat in silence while they finished their meal. Unsurprisingly, Rainbow finished her sandwich first and sat back in her chair with a smile of contentment. “Oh man, that was good. I really needed that after those killer laps Spitfire made me do.”

“You do know that this is going to take us like a week to burn off all of these carbs, right?” Natalya commented, working on the last bits of her own sandwich.

“Please,” Rainbow dismissed with a wave of her hoof. “Pro flyers like us can burn them off in ten seconds flat. But that will have to wait until tomorrow because for now…” With a tired grunt, she got up from the dinner table and walked over to the living room area, unceremoniously belly-flopping onto the couch over there.

“I’m just going to chill for the rest of the night,” Rainbow explained as she lazily turned onto her back while one forehoof scratched her full belly.

Natalya quietly snorted in amusement at Rainbow’s not-so-majestic pose, but she could not deny that her friend’s idea had merit. Today had been a real workout, and as filling as the sandwich was, she was starting to feel lethargic as her body processed the heavy meal.

After finishing off the surprisingly delicious sandwich a moment later, Natalya went over and joined Rainbow on the couch, lazing herself on the opposite side and finding the cushions to be as soft and comfy as clouds.

It did not take long for Natalya to realize that even a simple, mundane activity like chilling with Rainbow was pleasant. While at first, the pegasus had been a major annoyance, Natalya had to admit that Rainbow’s constant badgering had led to much-needed stress relief, among other positive benefits. The very presence of her best friend brought a sense of contentment to Natalya, and she even had to admit that she always seemed to look forward to whenever they planned to spend time together.

However, her pleasant daydreaming gave way as her question from earlier once again crept to the forefront of her mind.

“Hey, Rainbow. We need to talk,” Natalya informed.

“Hmm? Yeah, sure,” Rainbow said, lazily waving a hoof while she remained on her back. “Go ahead. I’m listening.”

“You were wondering earlier what I would do when I eventually learn the Sonic Rainboom, and it got me thinking. You know, the only reason I came to Ponyville in the first place was to beat you in a race. After that, I was pretty much going to leave right away.”

Rainbow quickly sat up, giving the griffon her full attention. “Please don’t tell me that you’re leaving as soon as you learn the Sonic Rainboom.”

“Well, that was my plan at first…”

“But?” Rainbow asked warily.

“But now…” Natalya sighed. “You really are one of the best flyers I’ve ever seen, Rainbow, and when I first watched you at the Equestria Games, I saw you as a threat. I came to Ponyville to prove that I was better than you, but instead, I got my flank handed to me because of the Sonic Rainboom. Yes, it’s true at first that I was planning to leave as soon as I learned the Sonic Rainboom, but somehow along the way, we actually became friends… good friends.

“Rainbow, you know that I pretty much live for competitive flying, right? The rush of victory, the thrill of pushing yourself to the limit, and the satisfaction of crushing your opponents. For the longest time, that was all I needed. Now though, after spending so much time with you…”

“You want to keep hanging out with me,” Rainbow finished, softly smiling as she patted the griffon’s shoulder.

“Pretty much.” Natalya sighed again. “You know, things would be a lot simpler if I just kept on hating you.”

Rainbow chuckled. “Just could not resist the old Rainbow charm, huh?”

Natalya snorted in amusement, allowing herself a small smile, but only for a moment. “But seriously, I’m not sure what I want to do. I should be leaving Ponyville so that I can go back to concentrating on my flying and winning competitions again, but another part of me kind of doesn’t want to leave this place either.”

“Who says you have to leave Ponyville?” Rainbow asked. “You’re always complaining how Griffonstone sucks, so why not just move here? You can still go around and compete. You’ll just have a new home with awesome friends to cheer you on.”

“I did think about moving to Ponyville, but there are a few issues with that. First, there are too many things here that would distract me from my training.”

“Things like what?”

“Pinkie Pie,” Natalya stated bluntly.

Rainbow opened her mouth, frowned, then slowly nodded. “Fair point.”

“Speaking of training, I won’t have the Abysmal Abyss anymore, and even you have admitted it has done me a lot of good. There’s also the issue of me having to sink a bunch of bits in getting a place of my own because I doubt that Twilight will let me stay in the castle indefinitely.”

“Well, of course, I would help out with getting you a place, and I’m sure that the others would too.” Rainbow bit her lip. “But about the Abysmal Abyss thing… Yeah, I don’t think that there’s anywhere around that’s like that, and it’s not like I can take you to the Wonderbolt Academy anytime I want.”

“So you see that moving to Ponyville would not be so simple,” Natalya concluded.

“Yeah,” Rainbow conceded in a glum tone. “So it’s pretty much a choice between your flying or friends.”

“Gee, way to make it sound like I’m heartless,” Natalya huffed.

“What? What did I… Oh… Aw shoot,” Rainbow lamented, slapping a forehoof into her face. “Sorry, Natalya. I didn’t mean to make it sound like you were being a jerk. If it makes you feel any better, I can understand what you’re going through.”

“Do you now?” Natalya asked, unconvinced.

“I do. Really! While my situation is not as extreme as choosing a place to live, I still find myself juggling between Wonderbolt stuff and hanging out with my friends here in Ponyville. It’s not so bad now since I’m still a recruit, but once I become a full-fledged member, things are only going to get more complicated. Good thing that Twilight has been helping me plan things out since she’s a master at making schedules. Hey, maybe she can help you.”

“I don’t think that a little scheduling help will work on my situation.”

“I know. But I mean, she’s super smart and could probably come up with some ideas. Point is, you don’t have to figure this out on your own. The others and I would be happy to help you, and we’ll support whatever decision you make.”

“Thanks, Rainbow. At least, I don’t have to make a decision right now. Probably going to be a while before I finally learn the Sonic Rainboom anyway.”

“Yeah, we can worry about this later. Let’s just enjoy our time together now. Right now though, I want to enjoy my bed. I’m beat, and I got an early day tomorrow. You mind if I show you to the guest room so that I can hit the hay?”

“Yeah, sure,” Natalya complied, getting up from the couch.

Rainbow led the griffon back to the foyer, up the stairs, and into a hallway with several doors on each side. Apparently, like the Castle of Friendship, Rainbow’s place was a lot bigger than it looked on the inside.

“Bathroom is over here,” Rainbow informed, pointing to the first door on the left. “My room is two doors down on the right, which is right next to where you’ll be saying,” she finished, opening the first door on the right.

Looking into her quarters for the night, Natalya saw that the room was barely furnished, with only a bed, a small armoire, and a nightstand being the only pieces of furniture. It was a far cry from her room back at the castle, but at least the place was clean, if a bit dusty.

Rainbow chuckled sheepishly, noting the less than pristine state the room was. “Sorry that it’s not much. Again, don’t really have guests over.”

“It’s cool,” Natalya assured. “It’s only one night, and I’ve dealt with plenty worse.”

“Let me know if you need anything, although if you don’t mind, make it quick because I think that I’m going to pass out as soon as I get in bed.”

“I’ll probably do the same, so I should be fine.” Natalya paused for a moment and then added, “Thanks again for letting me crash here.”

Rainbow smiled and nodded. “No problem, Natalya. I’ll see you tomorrow. Night.”

“Night, Rainbow.”

Rainbow started closing the door, but she stopped halfway, pausing for a second before saying, “Um, Natalya?”

“Yeah?”

“For the record, if it wasn’t obvious, I would really like it if you did choose to stay.”

“I figured. Don’t worry. I’ll keep you in mind.”

Rainbow flashed a smile again before closing the door, leaving the griffon alone.

Exhausted from the day’s events, Natalya promptly threw herself into bed. She might have to make a big decision later on, but that can wait. For now, as sleep began to overtake her, she planned to enjoy her time with Rainbow while she could.

Chapter 23: Playdate

It had been a few days since Natalya went to the Wonderbolt Academy with Rainbow, and she now found herself right outside of her best friend’s cloud mansion, waiting for the pegasus to take her to the Pony Pet Playdate that she had been invited to.

There was only a few minutes left before they were supposed to meet up with the rest of their friends, and Rainbow was hastily helping Tank get ready. As this was her first time actually seeing the mini-helicopter, Natalya took the time to inspect the device while Rainbow strapped the flying gear onto the tortoise.

The base was a thin sheet of metal that looked like an upside-down bowl that snugly fit onto the top of Tank’s shell, and it was secured by a belt that wrapped around the bottom of the tortoise, looping in between his hind and forelegs. The flying mechanism itself was just two helicopter blades, although, curiously enough, the mast that connected the base to the blades reminded Natalya of the weather vanes that she had seen on quite a few houses in Ponyville.

“All good, Tank?” Rainbow asked after she finished setting up the mini-helicopter and then strapped on a pair of aviator goggles over the tortoise’s eyes.

From behind the goggles, Tank’s eyes slowly blinked as he lazily smiled and nodded.

“Awesome.” Rainbow then turned to her griffon companion. “So, how about you, Natalya? Ready to go?”

“Been ready the whole time,” Natalya replied. “You’re the one taking your sweet time.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Well, this playdate is for Tank, so I have to make sure he has everything.”

“Sure, but you do realize that we’re going to be late if we wait any longer, right?”

“Didn’t know you were that eager to get to the playdate.”

“I’m not. I just hate waiting.”

Rainbow chuckled. “Now that, I can relate to.” With a quick nod at her pet, she called out, “Come on, Tank. Let’s get going before Natalya here gets her feathers in a bunch.”

As Rainbow leapt into the air, a whirring sound made Natalya look down, and she saw the mast of the tortoise’s flying machine glow in a golden aura as the helicopter blades began to spin, quickly picking up speed until they were nothing more than a blur. Soon, the flying contraption slowly lifted Tank from the cloud surface, and the reptilian pet promptly flew after his owner.

Natalya had witnessed her fair share of odd scenarios since she had come to Ponyville, many of them thanks to a certain perky, peppy, pink pony, and now, she could add seeing a tortoise fly to the list. Snorting in amusement at both the spectacle and what her life had become, Natalya flew after Rainbow and Tank.

Observing the flying tortoise, Natalya noted that despite being a land animal, Tank appeared to have no issue with being airborne. However, regardless of Tank’s unnatural ability to fly, the mini-helicopter was not exactly built for speed, and Natalya had to keep a sedate, slow pace since Rainbow stuck close to her pet’s side. Fortunately, it also meant that her friend was nearby to help stave off boredom.

“So right before we had to get Tank ready for the playdate, you were telling me more about the pet race,” Natalya reminded. “Gotta ask though, why Ghastly Gorge? Anything interesting over there, or did you just feel like picking a remote place miles from town?”

“I was just flying around one day and scouted the place out when I found it,” Rainbow explained. “Turns out, it makes for a pretty awesome obstacle course if you stick to flying in the lower parts of the canyon. While it’s nowhere near as big or crazy as the Abysmal Abyss, there’s still stuff in there that keeps things interesting.

“There’s tall trees and rock formations to watch out for; not a lot of them, but enough that you have to keep your eyes open. Patches of brambles are all over the place, with one huge one near the middle. Sure, you can just fly over them, but where’s the fun in that? You gotta dive right in and weave your way through any opening you can find. Of course, if you’re not careful, they can be a literal pain in the flank… and a whole lot of other spots.”

“Uh huh…” Natalya uttered in a bored tone. “What else?”

“Well, there's this tunnel of wind.”

“Tunnel of wind?” Natalya repeated, curiosity tinging her voice.

Rainbow gave a wan smile. “Figured that would get your attention, but sorry to get your hopes up. Sure, it can get some strong gusts, but it doesn’t come close to the Abysmal Abyss.”

Natalya let out a disgruntled sigh. “Oh… So all you have to do to get through Ghastly Gorge is dodge some rocks and plants, followed by coasting through a little breeze?”

“I haven’t even got to the best part yet, which is avoiding the quarray eels.”

Natalya scoffed. “Eels? What’s so bad about eels?”

“They’re bad when they’re bigger than a house and have a ton of sharp teeth. You gotta watch for their nests, which are huge holes in the canyon walls, and there’s a huge group of them in the in the latter half of the gorge. Get too close to their nests, and they’ll pop out to try to gobble you up.”

“So let me get this straight. When you fly through Ghastly Gorge, you’re intentionally barreling through a horde of hungry predators just for fun, not to mention all of the other dangerous obstacles in your path,” Natalya pointed out flatly. “And you call me crazy for playing around in the Abysmal Abyss.”

“Hey, I gotta keep up with your insane training somehow,” Rainbow retorted with a smirk.

Natalya snorted in amusement. “Fair enough.”

With her boredom curbed, time flew quickly while Natalya continued to chat away with her friend, and before she knew it, they were nearing the park where the Pony Pet Playdate was being held. Natalya could see that Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity, along with their pets, were already gathered at a large tree that was surrounded by small, grassy knolls. Pinkie and Gilda seemed to not have arrived just yet.

“Hey, guys! We’re here!” Rainbow announced as she landed near the group with Natalya and Tank. They were promptly greeted in return by the other ponies.

Twilight had brought Owlowiscious, her pet owl. Despite living in the same castle as Owlowiscious, Natalya actually had hardly any interaction with the brown bird, mostly because the pet was both literally and figuratively a night owl.

Applejack was playing with Winona, a collie dog that Natalya had seen the few times she had been to Sweet Apple Acres. Somehow, Applejack was able to use her tail like another limb, the hairy appendage being able to both pick up a small stick and throw it for Winona to fetch.

Natalya rolled her eyes when she noticed the baleful gaze that she was receiving from the white rabbit standing on Fluttershy’s head. The rabbit, Angel, was the exact opposite of his name and showed nothing but scorn for the griffon whenever she visited Fluttershy’s hovel. Fortunately, it seemed like that Angel was at least smart enough to not mess with her, although that did not stop his spiteful glares. If she had to guess, Natalya figured that all of the hatred was a reaction to her meat-eating tendencies. That did not make the rabbit any less annoying though. It was a shame that Fluttershy coddled her pet so much because Natalya certainly would not mind seeing how far she could punt the seething fluffball of hatred.

The only pet that Natalya did not recognize was the white persian cat sitting on Rarity’s back, which was a given since she had hardly stepped foot inside of the dressmaking unicorn’s boutique. However, it looked like she was about to be introduced to the cat because Rarity was headed towards her and Rainbow with a smile.

“It’s lovely to see you two,” Rarity greeted. “Rainbow, always a pleasure, and Natalya, I’m so glad that you could join us.”

Natalya shrugged. “I didn’t have anything else to do today, so why not?”

Rarity’s smile faltered, but only for a second. “Er, yes. Quite… Anyway, I don’t believe that you’ve had the chance to meet my dear Opalescence,” she said, turning her head to look fondly at the cat still perched on her back and busy licking her paw. “Opal, why don’t you say hello to Natalya?”

Opal did not even spare a glance up at anyone as she continued to groom her paw.

After a few moments of Opal’s disregard, Rarity cleared her throat and sheepishly smiled. “She says hi.”

“Right… So where’s Pinkie and Gilda?” Natalya asked. “I don’t see them around.”

“Told you that we wouldn’t be late,” Rainbow gloated, elbowing Natalya’s side.

“Pinkie did mention the day before that she and Gilda would be helping the Cakes with a few things at Sugarcube Corner before they take the rest of the day off to come here,” Rarity informed. “They’re probably occupied with some last minute tasks and will be along shortly.”

“Speaking of Pinkie, what kind of pet does she have?” Natalya asked. “I’d like to be prepared in case it’s anything weird.”

“Oh, she has an alligator,” Rainbow said nonchalantly.

Natalya’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know what disturbs me more: the fact that Pinkie has an alligator or the fact that I actually believe that she has one.” She sighed in resignation and shook her head. “Anything I need to know about this alligator, or should I go ask the hospital to save us a few spots?”

“Now, now, no need to be so dramatic, Natalya,” Rarity answered. “Gummy, which is the alligator in question, has no teeth. Furthermore, he is practically an infant, so he is about the same size as Opal here. While he may be a bit odd, he is perfectly harmless. The worst that he can inflict on you is a vicious gumming, which is painless, if not a bit unpleasant.”

“So stay away from the weird alligator, got it.”

“You just have to keep away from Pinkie then. Good luck with that.” Rainbow chuckled with a smirk. “Anyway, I’m going to go take Tank to see his pet buddies.”

“Actually, if you don’t mind, Rainbow, I would love to have a little chat with you and Natalya,” Rarity stated before the pegasus could turn away.

“Really? Uh, well, sure, I could do that,” Rainbow agreed with hardly a question.

Natalya, however, did question the invitation. “Me? You want to talk to me?”

“I certainly do,” Rarity answered, putting on a pleasant smile. “You’ve been here in Ponyville for quite a while, and yet we’ve hardly got the chance to interact because I’m either busy with my boutique or you are flying off somewhere with Rainbow. While the others do tell me how you and Rainbow are so close, I thought that we could use this opportunity to maybe enjoy a little friendly chat.”

Natalya shrugged. “Sounds fine to me then.”

“Shouldn’t we first tell the others what we’re doing?” Rainbow asked. “I don’t want them to feel like we’re leaving them out or something like that.”

“Not to worry,” Rarity replied. “I already told them of my intentions earlier. We can join them whenever we want, although I do agree that we should not keep them waiting for too long.”

“Well, at least Tank here doesn’t need to stay with us. He’s been pretty eager to see his friends all day.” Rainbow looked down at Tank, who had been waiting patiently at her side. “Go on ahead, buddy. I’ll catch up with you later.”

Tank slowly nodded, and his mini-helicopter started spinning again as it lifted him into the air so that he could head toward the other pets.

“Opal, darling, would you be a dear and give us some privacy as well?” Rarity asked her feline pet sweetly.

The cat looked at her owner with a bored stare, but she complied and leapt off of Rarity, sauntering after the flying tortoise.

“So what exactly do you want to talk about?” Natalya prompted the unicorn. “You’re alright in my books, but we don’t exactly share anything in common.”

“Ah, but we actually do have at least one thing in common. While our interests might differ, you’ve become quite close to our mutual friend Rainbow. I really would like to try to get to know the griffon that caught her eye a little better.”

“Caught my eye? Really, Rarity?” Rainbow complained with a small frown.

“What’s wrong with what she said?” Natalya asked.

Rarity tittered softly. “Oh, Rainbow is just looking too much into my words.” This was followed by an impish grin at the pegasus. “That is, unless she has something to hide. You see, Natalya, when somepony catches your eye, one of the interpretations is that you find them attractive… oftentimes in a romantic sort of way.”

“Which I totally don’t!” Rainbow vehemently defended.

Natalya raised an eyebrow. “Really? You don’t find me attractive at all?”

Rainbow blinked and then smiled sheepishly. “Er, I mean, of course I do… in a totally platonic, non-lovey dovey, only as friends sort of way.”

Natalya snickered, relishing the way Rainbow was squirming uncomfortably.

“What about you, Natalya?” Rarity prodded. “Do you find Rainbow attractive?”

“Rarity…” Rainbow grumbled in a warning tone.

“Hmm…” Natalya quickly glanced over the pegasus. “Well, I don’t know about Rainbow being attractive, but I’d say she’s at least not ugly.”

There was a moment of silence while both ponies stared at the griffon before Rainbow groused, “I have no idea how I should feel about that.”

“It was a compliment… of sorts,” Rarity compromised.

“Can we just talk about something else?” Rainbow whined. “This is getting dumb.”

“I was just teasing you, Rainbow, but for your sake, I shall oblige. How about you two tell me about that little trip you took a few days ago? I heard that the both of you spent the entire day together, but I would like to hear the whole story straight from the two of you, if possible.”

“Rainbow got me into the Wonderbolt Academy to let me play with all of the fancy training equipment over there,” Natalya explained. “Spitfire was also there, and she was actually pretty fun to hang out with. Oh yeah, and there was the part where I wiped the floor with Rainbow in an obstacle course race.”

“And there it is,” Rainbow grumbled, even though a small smile betrayed her amusement. “When are you going to stop rubbing that in my face?”

“When it stops annoying you.”

Rarity giggled. “I take it that means you had a good time then, Natalya?”

Natalya nodded. “I have to admit, it was really cool of Rainbow to take me to the academy. I know that it wasn’t easy to set that all up.”

“Never get tired of hearing how cool I am,” Rainbow boasted, wearing a huge grin. “But yeah, I had fun spending the day with Natalya. We hit a bit of a snag when we got back to Ponyville because that huge thunderstorm had already started. Since I didn’t want Natalya to fly through the bad weather, I invited her over to my place.”

“How very noble of you, Rainbow,” Rarity praised. “Not only did you go through all of that trouble to give Natalya a memorable day, but you graciously opened your home to her because you were worried about her safety.”

“Yep, that’s me. I’m the awesomest friend ever,” Rainbow agreed without question. “Even cooked up an awesome dinner for the two of us.”

Rarity’s eyes widened. “You cooked?”

Rainbow’s good mood vanished as she gave the unicorn the stink eye. “Act more surprised, why don’t you?”

“I apologize, Rainbow. It’s just… It’s not exactly a secret how often you eat out, so you can see how some of us assumed that your cooking abilities might be a bit… subpar. Nonetheless, I do apologize for the misconception. I’m sure that you made Natalya a wonderful gourmet meal.”

“She made us sandwiches,” Natalya pointed out.

Rarity frowned. “Oh…” was all she uttered, but the amount of disappointment and loathing laced in that word could fill an entire room.

“Hey, there was some cooking involved!” Rainbow protested.

“Being able to boil up some pasta and potatoes isn’t exactly an achievement… especially when you’re just going to stuff them into a sandwich,” Natalya countered.

Rarity pursed her lips in a mixture of both disgust and uncertainty. “You put pasta and potatoes into sandwiches?”

“What’s wrong with that? I eat it all the time!” Rainbow stated.

Rarity’s eye twitched. “I see…”

“I had the same reaction, but to be fair, it tastes better than it sounds and looks,” Natalya remarked. “Even if I am still working off the carbs.”

“I’ll, um, take your word for it…” Rarity cleared her throat. “Regardless, Rainbow, I must say that I’m impressed with the lengths that you went through just for Natalya. You truly have become quite close to her.”

“Heh, yeah, well, Natalya and I are pretty much best buds,” Rainbow said as she smiled at the griffon. “I mean, no offense to you and the other girls, but you guys don’t share my love of flying and competing like Natalya does. We also like a bunch of the same things, and it’s fun to get on each other's nerves. I dunno, I just really like hanging out with her. That’s probably why I keep feeling like doing stuff for her.”

Despite smiling at Rainbow’s words, Natalya also felt a twinge of guilt. Even though it went against her stingy griffon instincts, she felt an urge to at least repay some of the kindness that Rainbow had been showering her with. She just did not know how she would go about doing that.

A stifled giggle from Rarity interrupted Natalya’s thoughts, bringing her back into the conversation.

“What’s so funny?” Rainbow asked, glaring suspiciously at the unicorn.

“Oh, Rainbow, it’s just how you talk about Natalya. One might think that…” Rarity cleared her throat and then shook her head. “Nevermind. It’s nothing important. I do, however, think that we might be starting to keep to ourselves a bit too long. Before we rejoin our friends though, I do have an important piece of business that I need to take care of, and that is to ask a favor of you, Rainbow.”

Rainbow tilted her head in confusion. “Uhh, okay? What is it?”

“I had received a special dress order a few days ago.”

“And what does that have to do with me?”

“The client is a pegasus mare, and coincidentally, her measurements are very similar to yours, so if you have the time…”

Rainbow blanched and then vehemently shook her head. “Ohhh, no! I am not letting you put all sorts of dresses on me all day!”

Rarity sighed wearily, as though she was expecting Rainbow’s outburst. “It’s only the one dress, Rainbow, and it should not take all day, a few hours at most.”

“But it’s gonna suck! You know that I hate standing around!”

“I am well aware of that, and I wouldn’t be asking you this if it wasn’t so important.” Rarity put on a stern frown. “Rainbow, need I remind you that I spent half a day to save you from being ousted from the Wonderbolts? At the end of that mess, you even said, and I quote, ‘I owe you one, Rarity.’”

Rainbow winced. “I might have said something like that.”

“You most certainly did… several times.” Rarity softened her glare and sighed. “Please, Rainbow. I apologize for being so insistent, but this order is for an important client that could do wonders for my reputation if I pull this off right. I’m even having a special shipment of fabric being shipped in to complete this dress. I really do need your help to make sure that I get everything right.”

Rainbow groaned and grumbled for several seconds before eventually calming down. Taking a deep breath, she said, “Fine… As much as it’s gonna suck, I don’t want to leave you hanging, especially since I really do owe you for saving my butt.”

“Thank you very much, Rainbow. I really do appreciate it,” Rarity replied, smiling gratefully.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. When do you need me?”

“You can come by as soon as tomorrow morning. However, you’ve made it obvious that you’re not comfortable with this, so I will understand if you need to take some time to get ready.”

“No, I’ll do it tomorrow morning. Might as well get it over with as soon as possible.” Turning to the griffon, she added, “Guess that we’re not hanging out tomorrow, Natalya.”

“Not necessarily,” Natalya replied. “I actually wouldn’t mind watching this whole dress thing.”

This drew surprised looks from Rainbow and Rarity.

“Er, I must say that I’m surprised that you’re interested in my trade,” Rarity admitted. “That being said, you are more than welcome to come watch.”

“Cool, I’m there.”

“You’re interested in dresses?” Rainbow asked in disbelief.

“No, but I’m interested in seeing you in one.” Natalya grinned impishly. “I think that it’s going to be hilarious to see you in some fancy getup.”

Rainbow facehoofed. “Tomorrow is going to suck.”

“Rainbow’s going to put on a dress?” a new voice suddenly boomed.

A moment later, Gilda dropped in on Rainbow’s side, grinning devilishly at the pegasus. “Dude, I am so totally there.”

Rainbow sat down on her haunches and gave herself a double facehoof. “Tomorrow is going to really suck.”

Natalya chuckled, amused by her friend’s anguish. However, her mirth quickly faded when she realized that something was missing. “Wait, Gilda, if you’re here, then where’s P—”

“Hey, Natalya! Meet Gummy!”

Before Natalya knew it, Pinkie had appeared in front of her and shoved a small alligator into her face. The green reptile promptly clamped onto her beak with its toothless maw.

“Aww, he likes you!”

Rarity was wrong. Being gummed by Gummy was not a bit unpleasant. It was extremely unpleasant.

Author's Note

As a heads-up, the next few chapters will be diverging a bit from the show's events. I first outlined and started this fic during Season 6, and because I've taken too long to finish this story, the next part will clash with the canon a bit. Sorry for the inconvenience, and I do hope that you'll still enjoy what's left of this story.

Chapter 24: Dress and Stress

Natalya never had an interest in dresses. She did not need to wear anything special to look good, nor did she want a big, poofy dress to interfere with her flying. She had never thought she would willingly step into a clothing shop, and yet here she was, inside of Carousel Boutique to look at a dress. Granted, she was actually here for the pony wearing said garment.

“Would you two stop staring at me?!” Rainbow demanded from the raised platform in the middle of the shop, shooting her griffon audience of two a baleful glare. “And wipe those stupid grins off of your faces!”

“But we’re just appreciating how… fabulous you look,” Gilda replied, the occasional snicker escaping from her beak.

“Yeah, you never looked better, Rainbow,” Natalya added, grinning impishly. “Maybe we should get you to play dress-up some more.”

Rainbow huffed angrily and took a step toward the hecklers. “When I get out of here, I’m going to make you two—Ow! You pricked me, Rarity!”

“It was an accident,” Rarity replied from behind Rainbow, a needle and spool of thread floating beside her in her turquoise-colored magic. “And it only happened because you are moving around so much. Please, hold still.”

“Not my fault! Those two chuckleheads are making it hard for me to concentrate!”

Rarity sighed wearily and glanced over at the griffons. “Natalya, Gilda, while I did allow you two to stay and watch me work, I am well aware that you are mainly here to tease Rainbow. I know that it’s all in somewhat good-natured fun, but I’m afraid that I must request that you two to either behave or leave. You’re distracting Rainbow, and by extension, interfering with my work.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it, Rarity,” Gilda conceded. “It was good while it lasted. I probably should be getting back to Sugarcube Corner anyway. My break kind of ended about an hour ago.”

“I don’t have anything better to do, so I might as well just chill here,” Natalya stated as she sat down and reclined herself on a nearby red fainting couch. She noticed that Rarity seemed to have quite a few of those lying around.

“That’s fine, but again, I must ask you to behave,” Rarity instructed.

Natalya pulled out a Daring Do book from under her wing and held it up to show the ponies.
“No worries. I brought something to keep me occupied.”

“Seriously?” Rainbow uttered in a deadpan tone.

“I’m just catching up on some Daring Do,” Natalya said innocently as she opened up the book and began scanning the pages.

“You had already planned to stay so that you can make fun of me all day, didn’t you?”

“Possibly.” Natalya smirked when she took a brief glance up from her book to see Rainbow’s annoyed face. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep quiet and behave.”

While Rainbow continued to glare at Natalya in suspicion, Gilda chuckled and announced, “Well, I should get going. Before I go though, Rainbow, there is one thing that I need you to do for me.”

“What’s that?” Rainbow asked warily, directing her skeptical gaze from one griffon to another.

Before anyone could react, Gilda suddenly pulled out a small camera from under her wing and pointed it right at Rainbow with a huge grin. “Say cheese!”

“Gilda!” Rainbow roared right as the camera flash went off.

“See ya, Rainbow! I might or might not use this photo against you in the future!” Gilda taunted as she rushed out the door.

Natalya snickered from behind the cover of her book and made a mental note to later ask Gilda for a copy of the photo.

Rainbow started to rush for the door, but she yelped when her body was bathed in Rarity’s magic and was slowly dragged backward.

“Rainbow, please!” Rarity chastised. “I don’t need you galavanting around Ponyville and ruining my work!”

“But Gilda… She…” Rainbow groaned and stomped angrily, unable to properly form words for a moment. With a growl, she finally managed in a low voice, “When I get my hooves on her…”

“Now, now, Rainbow,” Rarity soothed as she nudged the pegasus back onto the platform so that she could resume working on the dress. “There’s no need to make a fuss. I’m sure that if you ask Gilda nicely later, she’ll give you the photo right back.”

Rainbow turned her head to flatly glare at Rarity that practically screamed ‘Really?’. At the same time, Natalya peered over the top of her book to give the same exact expression at the unicorn. Even Opalescence came into the room to regard her owner with disbelief.

Rarity ignored the stares she was receiving while she concentrated on working her needle over the dress. “Of course, if that fails, you could just send Pinkie after her,” she added offhandedly, although a faint smirk graced her face.

“Now that’s more like it,” Rainbow cheered with a devilish grin. “I bet that I can even get Pinkie to help me come up with a great revenge prank for—Ow! Seriously, Rarity?!”

Natalya quietly laughed and went back to reading. It had been a while since she had picked up Daring Do, given how her time after recovering from her wing injury had been split between her training and hanging with Rainbow. It did not change the fact that she had actually been enjoying the adventure series, and she was glad that she had an excuse for some reading time, especially since she had the soothing background sounds of Rainbow’s groaning and moaning.

However, despite her desires to bury herself in the adventures of Daring Do, Natalya found her attention kept flicking back to her pegasus friend.

The dress Rainbow was modeling had a white embroidered collar around her neck, and red flowed over the rest of the pegasus’s body, the gem-decorated hemline stopping just before hitting the floor. There were a number of faint marks on different parts of the dress where Rarity planned to add to, but despite the unfinished work, Natalya had to admit, Rainbow looked good. Despite Rainbow’s usual carefree appearance, the dress somehow gave her a sense of grace and regality.

With her constantly sneaking glances at Rainbow, Natalya’s reading went at a snail’s pace, and about an hour passed before she finally got through one chapter. As she wondered if she could manage another chapter, Natalya noticed that Rainbow was starting to trot in place with an uneasy expression.

“Rainbow, if you don’t stop moving, the next time I prick you won’t be an accident,” Rarity warned.

“But I need to go to the bathroom!” Rainbow whined.

Rarity withdrew from her work, and with a flat glare and an equally flat tone, she asked, “Really, Rainbow?”

“Yeah, I really gotta go! Come on!”

Rarity let out a prolonged sigh of defeat and slowly nodded. “Fine, fine. Let me just quickly get this dress off of you.” With her magic, she helped slip the dress along Rainbow’s body while the pegasus hastily squirmed out of it.

“Thanks, Rarity!” Rainbow chirped as soon as she was freed and then she zipped up the nearby stairs.

“That mare honestly…” Rarity softly uttered while shaking her head. After taking a moment to carefully hang the dress on a nearby clothes rack, she turned to Natalya, putting on a pleasant smile. “Well now, Natalya, I’d say that this is the perfect time to have a little girl-to-girl talk. We have about half an hour before she returns.”

“Half an hour?” Natalya repeated, her eyebrow raised in skepticism. “I’m not sure if I should be more concerned by Rainbow needing that long to use the bathroom or you knowing how long Rainbow needs to use the bathroom.”

“The only thing that Rainbow is going to use in the bathroom is the window,” Rarity stated, pointing behind the griffon with a hoof.

Turning around, Natalya saw an all-too-familiar blur of blue with a rainbow trail zoom across Ponyville’s sky from a storefront window. “Huh… She actually ditched us.”

“Oh, she’ll be back… eventually. Right now, she’s thinking that she will just take a few minutes to stretch her wings, but then she will lose track of time because she’s having too much fun flying around. Eventually, she’ll remember that she has a prior engagement here, fly back to the bathroom in a panic, finally come back down those steps all out of breath, and then make an excuse of having a tough time in the bathroom.”

Natalya snorted in amusement. “So she’s done this a lot, huh?”

“Just about every time I manage to get her to model for me. It’s not always the bathroom; just most of the time. Admittedly, the first few incidents were vexing, but now I just feign ignorance and let her have her bathroom break.”

Natalya nodded and put down her book. “Alright, I guess that I can chat for a bit. What? Was I not good enough yesterday at the pet thing?”

“On the contrary, I enjoyed your sharp wit, and I have to give due respect to somepony who likes to get straight to the point. No, what I wish to speak to you about is a revelation that I had during our conversation at the pet playdate. It actually concerns both you and Rainbow.”

“Then why not bring it up yesterday at the park or even while you were dressing her up a few moments ago?”

“Because I do not believe that Rainbow is ready to talk about this. In fact, she might not even be aware of the situation that she is in. I fear that if I bring this issue to light, she might get defensive, or worse, make a rash decision that will have dire consequences. I’m only bringing this up with you so that you can keep an eye on her.”

Natalya frowned. “Is something wrong with her?”

“Not wrong, per se, but more of a… sensitive matter that you should treat with care.”

“Alright then. So what’s the deal with Rainbow?”

“Now, keep in mind that I am not one hundred percent sure that this is actually true, although I still believe that the likelihood is quite high, given my observations. Furthermore, I want to—”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “Would you just hurry up and spit it out?”

Rarity pursed her lips in annoyance before taking a deep breath. Looking directly into the griffon’s eyes, she stated, “I believe that Rainbow is developing feelings for you.”

Natalya paused for a moment, not sure if she had heard the unicorn right. “What?”

“Rainbow might be developing feelings for you,” Rarity repeated. “As in romantic feelings.”

“Yeah, I got that,” Natalya snapped. Seeing Rarity reel back in surprise, she stopped to take a slow, calming breath and then asked, “Why do you think that Rainbow is falling for me?”

“Well, Rainbow has been spending an extraordinary amount of time with you.”

“Most of that is me bugging her about the Sonic Rainboom. Even then, so what if we hang out a lot? We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“Of course, but even you must admit that the two of you are nearly inseparable. I dare say that lately, you’ve seen more of her than I and the rest of her other friends combined.”

“Whatever… That’s still not enough to make me believe that Rainbow is falling for me.”

“Then what about all of the things that she has done for you? Besides showing you the magic of friendship and helping you learn the Sonic Rainboom, which I must also point out is her signature move, she has treated you rather extravagantly, such as, setting up a private tour of the Wonderbolt Academy.”

Natalya slowly nodded. “Okay, I’ll admit that Rainbow has been super cool by doing all sorts of stuff for me, but again, it’s not like it means she’s in love with me. I’ve heard all sorts of stories about the six of you, and I know that you guys have done big stuff for each other too.

“Seriously, if all it takes to fall in love with each other is spending a bunch of time with each other and do a couple of big gestures, then you would’ve paired up with one of your other friends a long time ago.”

“Believe me, I’ve heard the gossip,” Rarity commented, along with a roll of her eyes. “Honestly, after all we’ve been through, I would be more surprised if there weren’t any rumors about relationships in our circle of friends. Did you know that some ponies have even written romance stories about us?”

Natalya grinned mischievously. “I wouldn’t mind reading some of those.”

Rarity frostily glowered at Natalya, but she lost some intimidation from the slight red growing in her cheeks. Clearing her throat, she swiftly continued, “Anyway, this isn’t about me or the others. We were talking about you and Rainbow.”

“Still? I thought that I made a pretty decent argument that this love junk thing is going nowhere.”

“Ohhh no. You’re not getting off so easily,” Rarity declared, eyeing the griffon with a determined glare. “While you do make some valid points, I still believe that Rainbow has become enamored with you. Did you see how she smiled at you when she was talking about you yesterday at the park?”

“Uh, yeah? I was right next to her. Didn’t seem like there was anything different with her.”

“That’s because you don’t have a fine eye for detail like moi. It was brief, but when she talked about you, I saw how her eyes lit up and had the dreamy smile of somepony smitten. Even her voice had nothing but admiration and reverence for you. Those are clear signs that Rainbow is in love.”

“Uh huh…” Natalya uttered in a bored tone. “So what makes you such a love expert?”

“I’ll have you know that I’m well-versed in the art of love,” Rarity defended, proudly sticking her nose up in the air.

Natalya narrowed her eyes as she scrutinized the unicorn. “Then I guess that means you’ve gone on a bunch of dates, huh? How many?”

Rarity flinched but kept her haughty pose. “A lady does not disclose such private details.”

“So that’s a big zero then,” Natalya interpreted, smugly grinning at the unicorn.

Rarity went on the defensive with a withering, deathly glare that silently threatened many stabbings with her needle, but Natalya was not perturbed and maintained her self-satisfied smile.

Eventually, Rarity relented with a sigh and confessed, “Fine, I will admit that I might be lacking in actual dating experience. Still, that doesn’t mean I’m lacking knowledge on the subject. I have read my fair share of romance novels, and because of all of the socializing that I do, I have picked up many social cues, including ones that deal with love. So while I might not have first-hoof experience with matters of the heart, I believe that I’m still at least more qualified than you about recognizing the signs of love.”

Natalya shrugged. “If you say so. Still think that this is just a pointless waste of time though.”

Rarity sighed. “Natalya, I understand your trepidations, and in truth, I got sidetracked trying to convince you of Rainbow’s feelings. Whether you believe that she is falling for you is not the main issue here; taking care of her is. As I said earlier, I am well aware that I might be blowing this out of proportion, but I’m only doing this because I’d rather err on the side of caution.

“You see, Natalya, love can be a wondrous thing, but it can also be devastating. A few wrong words can easily leave behind a grievous wound. You don’t want to accidentally hurt Rainbow, do you?”

“Of course not.”

“Then all I ask is that you exercise a bit of caution around her. Even if it’s not love, it’s clear that she cares deeply for you, and taking the time to put a little more thought into your words and actions can go a long way.”

Natalya sighed in resignation. “Fine. I guess that it’s not a big deal if I try to be more careful.”

Rarity bowed her head in gratitude. “That’s all I ask for. Thank you, Natalya.”

“So on the off-chance that you’re right and she does go all lovey-dovey on me, what do I do if she asks me out on a date? Do I just say yes?”

“Well, that depends. If I may ask, do you share the same feelings, or at least see a possibility that you could be marefriends with Rainbow?”

Natalya immediately opened her beak.

“And before you outright say no,” Rarity swiftly added. “I saw you sneaking glances at Rainbow the entire time she was modeling for me. Please take a moment and think carefully about your answer.”

Natalya grumbled but complied with the bossy unicorn’s instructions. There was no doubt in her mind that she was close to Rainbow. After all, the pegasus was both her first and best friend. She was also aware how much the plucky pegasus had improved her life. Despite the lack of winning and competing since coming to Ponyville, Natalya felt happier, and she had Rainbow to thank for all of that. It was getting to the point where it was hard to imagine how her life would be without her best friend.

Did she care for Rainbow? Without a doubt.

But did she love Rainbow?

“I don’t know,” Natalya eventually answered.

Rarity smiled faintly. “Then that means there’s a spark within you. Only time will tell if that spark will either ignite into a passionate flame.”

“Was that from one of your romance novels?”

Rarity did not answer for a few seconds, but she eventually pouted and slowly admitted, “Yes… Regardless, the point still stands that you do at least feel something for Rainbow.”

Natalya sighed heavily and dragged her paw down her face. “First friendship and now love… Why do you ponies have to make things so complicated?”

Rarity giggled. “Because friendship and love are both well worth the effort.”

A knock on the door drew their attention, and Rarity promptly made her way toward it. “I suppose that this would be a good time to end this topic,” she declared. “I know that I gave you a lot to think about, Natalya, but I really am just trying to help. I do think that you and Rainbow are perfect together, and you would make each other really happy if you decide to take your relationship further. Of course, that decision lies solely between the two of you. If you need any help or even just need me to lend an ear, my door is always open to you.”

Natalya mumbled out a quiet “Thanks,” as Rarity opened the door, revealing a pony standing next to a box about half their size. Oddly enough, the pony was wearing a cloak that covered their head and entire body, but Natalya was able to make out the light blue-green face of a mare from behind the hood.

“Hello there. How may I help you?” Rarity greeted the mysterious mare.

“Sup. Are you Rarity of Carousel Boutique?” the cloaked mare asked.

“I am, but I’m afraid that I am closed for today. If you come back tomorrow, I will be more than happy to help you find a more fitting ensemble than your, um, current attire.”

“I’m not here to shop.” The mare tilted her head towards the box. “I got a delivery here.”

“Delivery? You mean the special fabric that I ordered?”

“Um, I think so?” The mare glanced around at her surroundings and even up into the air. “Look, you can check it out before you sign if you want, but could we do it inside?”

“Yes, yes of course,” Rarity complied, swiftly moving away from the entrance. “Natalya, would you be a dear and help bring it in?”

Natalya sighed, but she did as she was asked and helped the cloaked mare push the box inside while Rarity hastily pushed aside some empty clothes racks to make room. As soon as the package was inside of the boutique, Rarity opened the box with her magic and squealed in delight when she peered inside.

“It is my fabric order!” Rarity cheered as she held up and inspected a piece of violet fabric that faintly shimmered in the light. “I didn’t think that it would come for at least a few more days. Thank you for getting this to me so quickly!”

The delivery mare smirked, and one of her hind legs kicked the door close. “That’s just how I do things.”

While Rarity continued to dig through the box, the delivery mare quickly shed her cloak, uncovering her body. Natalya immediately noticed the mare’s pegasus wings first before moving on to the slicked-back mane style with stripes of yellow and orange and the small saddlebag on the mare’s side.

“Whew. I was boiling in that thing,” the pegasus stated after she kicked the cloak aside.

“Then why wear it?” Natalya queried. “If you ask me, kind of makes you suspicious to walk around all covered up like that.”

The pegasus scoffed. “Whatever.” She turned to Natalya with an annoyed frown, but her expression softened when she eyed the griffon up and down. “Wait a minute. Aren’t you Natalya, that griffon who won a bunch of flying competitions?”

“Yeah.” Natalya smirked slightly, feeling some pride for being recognized for her accomplishments. “What? You a fan or something?”

“As if,” the mare said with an amused snort. “I’ve been in a few flying contests too, and it pays to scope out the competition. I’ve seen your picture pop up a couple of times from the contests you won, and I even heard that you flew in the air relay race at the Equestria Games.”

Natalya nodded. “I did.”

“Surprised an ace flyer like you only got third place. Let me guess: your teammates sucked and lagged behind everypony else.”

Natalya nodded again. “Pretty much.”

The mare let out a hollow chuckle. “I know the feeling. Sadly, that’s just how it is. You can be the best, but if you get stuck with somepony, they’re just going to bring you down.”

Natalya was about to agree with the mare’s statement, but she paused when images of a certain pegasus flashed through her mind. “Yeah, I can sort of agree with that. It’s just that there may be a time when you get lucky and end up with a really great partner.”

“Yeah, fat chance that will ever happen,” the pegasus uttered bitterly.

“It’s all here!” Rarity exclaimed joyfully, drawing the attention of the flyers. “This is going to put me way ahead of schedule. Again, I must thank… you?” She paused and stared at the now-naked mare with a perplexed expression.

“Uh, is something on my face?” the delivery pony asked.

“Oh, forgive me for staring. It’s just that you look familiar. Have we met before?”

The mare shrugged. “If we did, I don’t remember.” She then pulled out a small slip of paper from her saddlebag, along with a pencil, and held them up to Rarity. “Since you got everything, you mind signing it off so that I can go? I really need to head out.”

“Of course, darling,” Rarity complied, taking the offered items in her magic. After signing her name with a big flourish and giving the items back to the pegasus, she added, “I really am grateful for you swiftly bringing my package here. Would you spare me one more moment so that I can reward you for your prompt service?”

The mare grinned widely. “About ti—Er, I mean, yeah, sure, no problem.”

A familiar voice suddenly came from upstairs, saying, “Hey, Rarity. Sorry for taking so long. I was having a really tough time in the bathroom, and…”

Rainbow finally came back down the steps, but she froze, her eyes wide with shock, when she saw the delivery mare.

“Lightning Dust?!” Rainbow cried out.

“Rainbow Dash…” Lightning growled, scowling at the new arrival.

Natalya’s eyes shot wide open as she stared at Lightning. This is Lightning Dust? Rainbow’s old partner from the Wonderbolt Academy?

“Wha… What are you doing here?” Rainbow asked slowly.

“My job,” Lightning curtly answered.

“Your job?” Rainbow glanced at the box. “Wait, you’re a delivery pony?”

Lightning rolled her eyes. “No. I take on courier jobs. Ponies pay me to take stuff to wherever I decide to go.”

“So a delivery pony,” Natalya reiterated, earning her a scowl from Lightning.

“So, uh, that means you just decided to come to Ponyville?” Rainbow asked.

“I didn’t come here for you, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Lightning replied. “I only came here because there was a nice payoff for delivering this package, plus I heard the unicorn here is a good tipper.”

“I am both proud and offended by that statement,” Rarity chimed in.

“I was hoping that I could just get in and out without you even knowing I was in town,” Lightning explained.

“Well, this is Rarity’s shop, so there was a pretty good chance that I would be here,” Rainbow pointed out.

“Who’s Rarity?”

“Uh, one of the friends that I told you about? You know, the unicorn standing right there?”

“You think that I care to remember who your friends are?” Lightning shook her head and turned to the door, only stopping briefly to pick up her cloak. “Whatever. This is getting stupid. I’m out of here.”

“Come on, Lightning,” Rainbow pleaded. “I know that you’re angry with me, but can’t we at least talk it out? We were pals back at the academy.”

Lightning whirled around with a seething glare at Rainbow. “Why would I want to be pals with the pony who stabbed me in the back?!”

Rainbow reeled back in surprise. “What? I didn’t do anything like that!”

“You told Spitfire about the accident and put all of the blame on me!”

“Because it was your fault!” Rainbow barked back, no longer using a placating tone.

“I didn’t make that tornado by myself! If anything, you’re also to blame for the accident!”

“Yeah, it’s true that I helped you, but you were leadpony. It was your decision to make that tornado, and I didn’t have much choice because I’m supposed to follow your lead and support you.”

Lightning scoffed. “Yeah, thanks for the support. You were pretty quick to throw me under the carriage.”

“I had to do something! You were getting out of control! It would’ve been another story if you showed some concern about the accident, but you didn’t care at all that you wrecked half the academy or almost killed my friends!”

“Hey, everything turned out fine at the end, and it would’ve stayed that way if you hadn’t cried to Spitfire! It’s your fault that I got kicked out of the Wonderbolts!”

“You were just demoted! You got kicked out because you kept on disobeying orders and messing up other ponies!”

“I was trying to prove that I was better than you since you stole leadpony from me! Spitfire was totally fine with whatever I did until you tricked her! I bet that you only got into the Wonderbolts because you lied your way into it!”

“I got in because of my awesome skills! I don’t have to lie or cheat to get where I am now!”

“Oh yeah? What about Wind Rider?”

Rainbow blinked, her anger replaced by confusion. “The former Wonderbolt? What about him?”

“He was supposed to be in the Wonderbolt show at the Canterlot Garden Party a while ago. Imagine my surprise when I heard that he got dishonorably discharged from the Wonderbolts, and you took his place.”

“I didn’t do anything to him if that’s what you’re thinking. If anything, he did it to himself because he tried to frame me but got caught.”

“Really now?” Lightning said in a mocking tone. “Isn’t Wind Rider the same guy who held the long distance speed record? The same record that you said that you were going to beat?”

“That’s why he tried to frame me!” Rainbow protested. “He tried to get me kicked out to protect his record.”

“Ha!” Lightning snidely laughed. “Likely story. Face it, Rainbow. You only got where you are now because you framed ponies that are better than you’ll ever be. You’re nothing but a fraud!”

Natalya scowled and took a step toward Lightning, but she restrained herself to continue watching the argument in silence. As much as she wanted to give the blue-green pegasus a few good smacks, she did not want to ruin Rainbow’s chances of fixing things with Lightning.

“That’s so not true!” Rainbow protested.

“Then prove it,” Lightning challenged. “Prove to me that you actually deserve being a leadpony over me.”

“Fine!” Rainbow shot back with a growl, only for her to look confused a second later. “Uh, how?”

“Race me. If you beat me, then it might convince me that you’re not a phony. I’ll even listen to whatever you have to say.”

“Then I’ll do it,” Rainbow accepted, determination burning in her eyes. “So, what? Fifty laps around Ponyville?”

“Really? You think that by showing me you can fly in circles is going to impress me? No, we need something more extreme. I remember that you once told me about this gorge not too far from here.”

Rainbow blinked. “You mean Ghastly Gorge? Uh, I guess that could work.”

“Then it’s settled. Tomorrow morning. Ghastly Gorge. We’ll see who’s the better flyer.” Lightning stomped toward the door and opened it, but before she exited the boutique, she glared back at Rainbow and warned, “Oh, and I better not see any of your friends there. Don’t need them messing things up again.”

With those last words, Lightning finally left, slamming the door behind her.

Silence descended as Natalya and Rarity watched Rainbow sigh heavily, her shoulders sagging and wings drooping to the ground in dejection.

“Rainbow, are you alright?” Rarity eventually asked cautiously.

“I’m fine,” Rainbow mumbled. She sighed and then shook her head. “Okay, maybe not really. That… that wasn’t exactly how I wanted things to go if I ever saw Lightning again. I got carried away and just ended up getting into a shouting match with her.”

“It’s not your fault, Rainbow,” Rarity remarked. “She said some horrible things. I guess that she blames you for her expulsion, and that anger had been festering within her all this time.”

“Still doesn’t give her the right to wildly accuse you of all that stuff. I was this close to punching her in the face…” Natalya stated, holding up two talons with barely an inch of space in between them. “Multiple times.”

Rainbow chuckled weakly. “Thanks, Natalya, but I’m glad you didn’t.”

“I know, I know… You still want to try to make friends with her again.”

“Yeah, I need to at least try. I doubt that Lightning will be happy if I beat her tomorrow, but hopefully, she’ll at least cool down enough for us to talk things out without trying to bite each other’s heads off.” Rainbow sighed again and glanced at Rarity. “Sorry, Rarity, but I really don’t think I can do anymore dress stuff today.”

“Of course, darling,” Rarity immediately agreed. “I wouldn’t imagine asking you to do anything more for me after the harrowing situation you’ve been through. I assume that you’re going to go rest up and prepare for tomorrow?”

Rainbow nodded and then turned to Natalya. “And sorry to you too, Natalya. I can’t hang with you today or tomorrow.”

Natalya waved it off. “It’s cool. You just make sure you beat that Lightning.”

“Thanks, guys. I’ll, uh, see you later.” Rainbow smiled weakly at her friends, but it soon collapsed as she trudged out the door.

“I really do hope that Rainbow will be alright tomorrow,” Rarity said out loud after the pegasus left.

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on her,” Natalya stated.

“But Lightning said that she did not want to see any of Rainbow’s friends tomorrow.”

Natalya smirked. “Exactly. I just have to make sure that she doesn’t see me.”

Rarity chuckled softly. “Fair enough. I wish both you and Rainbow good luck.”

“Thanks, but we’re not going to need it for tomorrow.”

“That wasn’t the only thing I was talking about.”

Natalya rolled her eyes as she silently waved the unicorn ‘good bye’ and exited the boutique. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

Chapter 25: Racing Hearts

The next morning found Natalya at Ghastly Gorge. She was there to watch Rainbow’s race against Lightning Dust, but that was not scheduled to happen until later in the morning… much later. Of course, Natalya was not going to idly wait around until the competition. In fact, she had a very good reason to be there before anyone else.

Natalya had been flying competitively for years. She had earned many victories with just her flying skill alone, she was not afraid to admit that she had pulled off quite a few dirty tricks to come out ahead. Still, she had merely bent the rules but never broke them by outright cheating, and she never aimed to hurt anyone, at least not physically. Doing so would have only cheapened her so-called victories and disprove the fact that she was the best flyer. That said, she was not so naive to think that all of her opponents would share the same sentiments.

Years of experience had taught her to trust her instincts whenever she thought any of her opponents were acting suspiciously. Though her wariness sometimes skirted the line between caution and paranoia, her gut feelings had saved her from being cheated out of a victory a few times, and now those same instincts were telling her that Lightning Dust might be up to no good.

Given Lightning’s vehement argument with Rainbow yesterday, it was all too clear that the ex-Wonderbolt trainee harbored a deep-seated resentment for Rainbow, and Natalya was concerned that Lightning might resort to foul play in the upcoming race. It did not help that Lightning had an infamous reputation of doing anything to come out on top, and demanding Rainbow to not bring any of her friends so that she would be alone only made the conceited pegasus more suspicious.

Natalya did not like Lightning, and she certainly did not want her to lay a hoof on Rainbow. With every intention of keeping her best friend safe, Natalya planned to thoroughly scout around Ghastly Gorge in case Lightning had prepared something to help her win, or worse, set a trap for Rainbow.

As she started her flight over the canyon, Natalya could not help but immediately compare the differences between Ghastly Gorge and the Abysmal Abyss. For starters, Ghastly Gorge lacked the Abysmal Abyss’s supposedly neverending descent into soul-crushing darkness. Instead, the bottom of the gorge was clearly visible, showing that a small river ran through its middle.

The most notable difference was that Ghastly Gorge had far more vegetation. While the bottom of the ravine had a sparse amount of grass and some trees dotting the place, small forests spanned the clifftops on both sides of the gorge. With Lightning not wanting Rainbow’s friends to be present, Natalya was glad for the abundance of trees because they would give her cover so that she could keep an eye on the upcoming race.

Continuing her aerial surveillance from above the gorge, Natalya noted that while the canyon had several twists and turns through narrow passes, the majority of the area had plenty of open space. Tall rock formations and trees did litter the path, but with how far apart many of them were, they could easily be avoided with barely any effort. All in all, there were plenty of opportunities for the racers to pass each other.

Further along Ghastly Gorge, Natalya came to a section where a rock wall reached up to the clifftop, and the way forward would have been blocked off it was not for a tunnel burrowed right through its center. Even from a distance, Natalya could feel the breeze picking up as air was funneled into that crevice, and she realized that this must be the wind tunnel Rainbow had mentioned.

Wanting to experience it for herself, Natalya dove down, and even though she could feel the wind picking up, she flew into the tunnel without hesitation. Despite Rainbow already stating that things would be milder compared to Abysmal Abyss’s roaring gales, Natalya could not help but groan in disappointment when it felt like she was battling a gentle breeze.

Light coming in from both ends revealed that the tunnel was nothing more than a relatively short straight shot, and Natalya soon found herself emerging from the tunnel’s exit of in with no more than a few ruffled feathers to show for it. Letting out a slightly-dejected sigh over the boring experience, she smoothed out her feathers before resuming her scouting of Ghastly Gorge.

Not too far away from the tunnel, Natalya came upon a thicket full of bramble. Twisting branches and leafless trees were packed tightly together over a wide area, and every inch of them seemed to be covered with all sorts of spikes and barbs. She had seen a few patches like this along the way, but they were barely the size of a room. This particular spot had been completely filled with the bristly vegetation, spanning from wall to wall and easily the length of several Ponyville blocks.

Flying close to the bramble, Natalya carefully pressed a finger on the tip of a thorn. Though being exposed to the elements had dulled the sharpness of the spike, the fact that many of them were almost as long as her arm meant that they could still cause some damage if one was not careful. It was clear that trying to navigate through the prickly plants would be fraught with danger, and one wrong move could easily result in serious injuries.

Natalya then circled over the spiky plants several times, using her keen eyes to both survey the area as well as trying to spot anything suspicious. The bramble was densely packed, Natalya could see openings in the barbed brush that a flyer could maneuver through, although some of those spots would be a tight squeeze. It was going to be interesting to watch how Rainbow and Lightning were going to navigate their way out of the thicket.

After finding nothing out of place among the bristly plants, Natalya continued on, only to stop a short while later when she saw enormous holes, all larger than a house, dotting the rocky walls. Recalling the last details of Ghastly Gorge from Rainbow’s story, Natalya flew up to the clifftop and touched down on the grass. She picked up a rock about the size of her fist, peered over the cliff edge, and chucked the stone toward one of the holes. The rock produced a loud clattering echo when it struck the rim of the hole, and it continued to make a racket as it fell and bounced off of the cliff walls.

Several serpentine bodies soon slithered out from the holes, and their heads swiveled around to investigate the noise.

“So those are quarray eels,” Natalya said to herself, taking in the sight of the monstrous beasts. The giant eels had purple underbellies and head-fins while the rest of their bodies were magenta in color, and a line of white-pink spots started near their orange eyes and trailed down their sides. Their most prominent features were the huge fangs that jutted out from their elongated underjaws, the sharp teeth easily explaining how they were able to burrow through solid rock.

Most of the eels returned to their holes a short time later when they could not find anything to snack on, but one of them happened to glance up and spot Natalya. To the griffon’s surprise, its mouth twitched upwards, almost like it was smirking at her, and it made a show of snapping its razor-sharp teeth before it too retreated back to its home, prompting Natalya to resume her flight.

Natalya reached the end of the canyon without seeing any other obstacle of note, and her inspection of Ghastly Gorge had not turned up anything suspicious. She would have liked to do a more thorough search of the area, in case Lightning had something well-hidden, but with the sheer size of the gorge, not to mention the quickly approaching race, it would be an impossible task. She pretty much only had time to check things out on the return trip back to the beginning of the gorge before she had to worry about Rainbow and Lightning’s arrival.

It was about halfway through Natalya’s return trip when she spotted something in the sky that prompted her to immediately dive into the forest lining the clifftops. Situating herself on a branch near the treetop, she peered through a small opening in the canopy, narrowing her eyes as she zeroed in on her target: a cloud.

While a simple cloud would normally be an innocuous object not worth her attention, the fact that it was all by itself in an otherwise cloudless sky and floating at an unusually low altitude raised red flags. Furthermore, Natalya was positive that the rogue cumulus was not there before, meaning that it had appeared while she was flying toward the end of the gorge.

All signs pointed to someone planting that cloud there, and Natalya had no doubt that Lightning was the culprit. She was not sure what Lightning was planning, but for Rainbow’s sake, Natalya was not going to let it come to pass.

Staying under the cover of the trees, Natalya darted from branch to branch until she reached a tree that was right beneath the nefarious cloud. Perching herself on a branch near the canopy, she took a deep breath and then launched herself straight up at the fluffy threat. With her fists leading the charge, she literally punched through the cloud, bursting it into fluffy pieces, and just like she had suspected, a pegasus fell from the destroyed cloud, prompting Natalya to swiftly whirl around and brandish her claws in a fighting stance to quickly take down Lightning Dust.

Except the pegasus was not Lightning Dust, nor was she a pegasus.

“Twilight?” Natalya uttered in surprise. She lowered her claws and watched the alicorn frantically flap her wings for several seconds before she finally steadied herself and hovered in place.

“Natalya,” Twilight greeted back with a frown, and in an annoyed tone, she asked, “Why did you attack me?”

“Your cloud looked suspicious, and I didn’t know it was you,” Natalya bluntly explained. “What are you doing here?”

“Same reason that you’re here. Rarity told me what happened with Rainbow and Lightning last night, and she mentioned that you were going to be here. I was going to ask if I could join you, but you had already gone to bed by then, and when I checked your room earlier this morning, you had already left.”

“So you’re worried that Lightning might pull something on Rainbow too?”

“I’m concerned about Rainbow’s safety, yes, but not necessarily because of Lightning. The last time Rainbow raced here was for her pet competition, and she injured her wing. I know that you’re here to keep an eye on her, but I thought that I could help out, if that’s alright with you.”

Natalya nodded. “Why not? We both want to make sure Rainbow makes it out of here alive. By the way, you do know that Lightning technically doesn’t want us to be here, right?”

“That’s why I brought a cloud and was hiding in it.” Twilight huffed irritably and frowned at Natalya. “Well, I was until a certain griffon went and destroyed it.”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “No offense, Twilight, but it was a dumb idea. Your cloud being the only one in the sky was a dead giveaway that something was up.”

“Gee, how can I not take offense at that?” Twilight flatly said as her frown shifted to one of indignation, making Natalya briefly wonder how many different kinds of frowns she could make the alicorn do before the day is over.

“For the record, I was well aware of my cloud being out of place,” Twilight continued. “I was just using it as a temporary hiding spot so that I can conserve my magic for my actual plan.”

“And that would be?”

Twilight put on a smug grin, and her horn started shimmering with her usual magenta aura. With a burst of light, she disappeared.

Having seen the Princess of Books and Friendship teleport on a frequent basis, Natalya looked around to see where Twilight had gone, but after a few moments of fruitless searching, she grumpily uttered, “Did Twilight seriously ditch me?”

“Don’t worry. I’m still here, Natalya,” Twilight’s voice came from right in front of the griffon.

Natalya blinked and slowly extended a talon toward the source of the voice, which was gently pushed to the side by what felt like a hoof. “Uh, what’s happening?” she asked warily.

Twilight’s giggle could be heard right before there was another burst of light, and the alicorn herself reappeared right where she had been hovering a few moments ago. Still grinning smugly, she explained, “It’s an invisibility spell. With it, I’ll be able to watch Rainbow for the entire race without her or Lightning knowing that I’m there.”

“That’s cool. So you’re going to be down there, flying beside her as she goes through the gorge?”

Twilight’s smugness disappeared instantly. “Uh…” She glanced down at Ghastly Gorge for a few moments then looked back up at Natalya with a sheepish grin. “Maybe not that close. I’m not exactly a pro flyer like Rainbow, so I doubt that I’ll be able to keep up with her, especially since I have to concentrate on maintaining the invisibility spell.”

Natalya sighed in disappointment. “Somehow, I kind of expected that. Still, I guess that I can’t really complain since you’ll still be able to keep a better eye on Rainbow than me.”

“What were you planning to do?”

Natalya waved a hand over the trees growing at the top of the gorge. “I was just going to follow her from above while using the trees as cover.”

“Um, is it just me, or does that plan kind of rely on them not looking up during their race?”

“Well, excuse me, Princess,” Natalya replied hotly, earning her yet another different frown from the alicorn. “I don’t exactly have many options. Some of us aren’t magical pony princesses that can make themselves invisible.”

“True, but you do have the option of asking a magical pony princess to make you invisible.”

Natalya paused. “Wait, really? You can make me invisible too?”

“If you say please and try to be a little nicer to the pony who just wants to help.”

Natalya groaned, but she nodded in agreement. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. Sorry for all of the snark. This whole thing between Rainbow and Lightning has gotten me all worked up.”

Twilight relaxed and smiled. “Thank you for the apology, Natalya, and I get it. I know that I can get a bit crazy when I’m under pressure. Just remember that I want to keep Rainbow safe too, so let’s work together, alright?”

Again, Natalya nodded. “Sure. Now, can you please do your magic thingy and make me invisible?”

Twilight giggled softly. “Certainly. Now, just hold still…”

Natalya did as she was told, and she shivered when a cold sensation washed over her, almost like having a bucket of ice water dumped on her, but without the wetness. The chill did not last long as it was soon replaced by a warm sensation, and Twilight’s magenta aura filled her vision.

“All done!” Twilight chirped a moment later.

Natalya blinked, then blinked several more times when she noticed that her vision was still tinged with magenta. Looking down, she realized that the reason for her slightly-more-colorful vision was because her entire body was glowing with Twilight’s magic… which in itself was a problem.

“Uh, are you sure that the spell worked? I can still see myself… sort of,” Natalya informed, holding up one of her arms. The limb, along with the rest of her body, had become translucent but still clearly visible, even if she could see Twilight through her arm.

“Don’t worry, you’re completely invisible to me,” Twilight explained.

Wanting to test the validity of the spell, Natalya, once again, extended her arm toward the alicorn. This time no invisible or visible hoof stopped her, and she was able to gently boop Twilight on the nose, making the princess back up with her face scrunched up.

“Hey!”

Natalya snickered. “Sorry. Just wanted to test things out since it looked a bit weird.”

“The creator of the spell made it that way so that you can still see yourself. I read that they added that feature later because they were getting tired of bumping into things. And speaking of added features…”

Twilight’s horn glowed once again, and after the usual burst of light, the alicorn was now also wreathed in magic and translucent. “I made a modification of my own so that we will still be able to see each other. I’ll spare you the details, but in short, we’re attuned to each other because we’re both covered in my magic.”

“That’s convenient. And I’ll be able to fly the racecourse with Rainbow like this, right?”

“Yep. I’ll stay high above so that I can get a bird’s-eye view of all of you. Oh, and, um, as a reminder, you probably should stay behind Rainbow and Lightning. Don’t forget that although they can’t see you, they can still crash into you.”

“Oh… right… So basically I have to try to stay in last place.” Natalya let out a deep, elongated sigh. “Yay, fun…”

Twilight dropped their invisibility spell and had them land in the nearby forest so that she could conserve her magic for the actual race. They spent the rest of the time making idle chatter, but it was obvious that Twilight was getting nervous, with how she kept prattling on about various topics. Natalya could not blame her though, especially since she was on edge too, only half-listening to the alicorn while she scanned the sky for any sign of the pegasi. She could not shake the feeling that something wrong was going to happen during this race.

Eventually, Rainbow’s telltale colors were seen streaking toward Ghastly Gorge, landing near the beginning of the ravine. After Twilight reapplied their invisibility, the two of them made their way over to their mutual friend.

They found Rainbow walking around on the grass, clearly freaking out over the upcoming bout with Lightning. She was alternating between taking multiple deep breaths and pacing back and forth, but her attempts to try to calm down seem to do little good as she frequently checked the sky, no doubt anxiously waiting for Lightning.

“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Rainbow this nervous,” Natalya observed, making sure to keep her voice low enough. She felt a twinge of sorrow to see her best friend like this.

“This is her best shot at trying to rekindle her friendship with Lightning, so it’s not a surprise that she’s under a lot of pressure,” Twilight remarked, frowning in concern. “We should let Rainbow know that we’re here to support her.” She stepped toward the distressed pegasus, but she stopped when Natalya held an arm in front of her.

“Sorry, Twilight, but I don’t think that’s a good idea. We both know that Rainbow is not exactly good at being subtle, so there’s a chance that she’ll accidentally give us away. That’s sure to screw things up with Lightning.”

Twilight’s frown deepened, but she nonetheless kept silent.

It was only a few minutes later that Lightning Dust arrived. Like Rainbow, she left a trail behind her when she flew, except hers was teal in color with a yellow-orange lighting bolt streaking right through its middle.

Lightning dove straight toward Rainbow, not bothering to slow down when she neared the ground, and she landed a short distance away from Rainbow with a heavy thump that created a small gust of wind around her. Fortunately, Rainbow was able to recover from her anxiousness, and she seemed unfazed by Lightning’s dynamic entrance, although Natalya noted that Rainbow had a stiff posture, likely struggling to keep her nerves in check.

“So, you actually came,” Lightning said haughtily as she strode over toward Rainbow.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Rainbow asked, glaring at her ex-partner.

“I was half-expecting you to chicken out, but I’m glad that you didn’t. It will give me the satisfaction of proving that you’re a fraud when I beat you.”

“I’m not a fraud,” Rainbow replied tersely.

“We’ll see about that.” Lightning glanced around the area, her gaze passing over Natalya and Twilight without stopping. “You didn’t bring any of your annoying friends, right?”

“My friends are not annoying, Lightning, and no, I didn’t bring any of them. It’s just you and me.”

“Good. While I would’ve loved to have them here to see how much you actually suck, I’m not going to risk having them interfering. Now, come on. The faster I beat you, the faster I can get you out of my life.”

Letting out a sigh mixed with frustration and weariness, Rainbow walked with Lightning, and unbeknownst to the pegasi, Natalya and Twilight followed right behind them.

“So just a thought, but couldn’t you use your magic to do something to make Lightning lose?” Natalya quietly asked Twilight.

“I’m not doing that.”

“Not even a little? Just to mess with her?”

“Natalya, I’m not happy with Lightning’s behavior either, but what you’re suggesting is cheating!”

“I see it more as teaching an arrogant pegasus a lesson.”

“No… Just no…”

“Then can I at least give her a good smack?”

“Natalya…”

“Come on. I can even make it look like she had an accident.” Seeing the unamused glare the alicorn was giving her, Natalya pouted. “Fine… ”

Rainbow and Lightning soon dropped down to a ledge that not only overlooked a drop right into the beginning of Ghastly Gorge but also served as the starting point of their race.

“You sure you want to do this?” Rainbow asked.

Lightning scoffed. “As if I would pass up this chance to humiliate you.”

“But you do realize that I’ve flown through this place before, right? It kind of gives me an edge here.”

“It won’t matter. It will just prove how much better I am than you.”

“Figures,” Rainbow uttered along with an exasperated sigh. “Let’s just get this over with. You want me to count down?”

“Whatever. Just hurry it up.”

“Alright, alright…” Rainbow took a deep breath and then started the countdown. “Three…”

Natalya and Twilight nodded to each other, and the alicorn took to the sky so that she could observe the race from high above.

“Two…”

Natalya bent her legs, poising herself to drop down into the gorge with the pegasi.

“One…”

Natalya took her deep breath, her gaze fixed on her best friend. “You got this, Rainbow. Beat this sorry excuse of a pegasus,” she muttered quietly.

“Go!”

With Rainbow’s shout, the pegasi launched themselves from the ledge, rocketing down into the canyon, and Natalya followed right after them. The three of them soon pulled out of their dives and began speeding down the ravine, starting the race proper.

As expected, Rainbow’s flying skills were top-notch. Between her blazing speed and agility, she was able to zoom through the canyon, effortlessly weaving around any trees and rocks in her path, and although it was a bit of a struggle to keep up with Rainbow, Natalya was happy to see her best friend in her element.

However, to Natalya’s chagrin, Lightning Dust was not all bark and no bite. As much as Natalya did not want to admit it, Lightning was good, and the ex-Wonderbolt trainee had no trouble keeping up with Rainbow. Since they were pretty much evenly matched, Rainbow and Lightning ended up frequently trading the lead with each other, but never able to get ahead by more than a few inches.

While Natalya continued to follow behind Rainbow and Lightning, she also occasionally glanced up to keep tabs on Twilight, and each time, Natalya could not help but feel a bit disappointed at what she saw. The alicorn was undoubtedly talented in magic, but unfortunately, the same could not be said for her flying skills. Right from the start, Twilight had been lagging behind, and even when she had no obstacles in her path at her high altitude, she still struggled to keep up with the three athletes. Natalya just hoped that Twilight will be able to stay close enough to help out in case things go south.

As the race continued, Natalya noticed that Lightning was living up to her reputation of recklessness. The golden-maned pegasus would often cut it close when she swerved to avoid an obstacle, to the point where she missed it by a hair, and there were more than a few times where she squeezed herself through tight spots while Rainbow opted to fly around them instead. While those risky maneuvers were not enough to give Lightning a huge lead, it still allowed her to pull ahead of Rainbow more often.

In the distance, Natalya could see that the wind tunnel was drawing near, along with a small cluster of trees that stood right in the middle of the canyon. As they approached the trees, Rainbow tilted herself to the right to go around it while Natalya flew up so that she could go over it and keep watching both pegasi.

Lightning, however, charged right into a small gap in the middle of the trees. Unfortunately for her, it seemed that her luck had run out, and just as she was about to clear the trees, her left wing clipped a branch, and she spun out of control in a rapid descent toward the ground.

Natalya knew that it was in bad taste, but she could not help but smirk at Lightning’s accident, and she hoped that Rainbow will be able to use the opportunity to gain a huge lead. To her dismay, Rainbow only flew ahead a short distance before she noticed what happened and stopped in her tracks to worriedly cry out toward the other pegasus.

It looked like Lightning was about to crash, but she managed to right herself moments before impact, allowing her to align her legs with the ground to make a rough landing, her hooves sliding across the rocky surface a short distance until she came to a halt.

Rainbow let out an audible sigh of relief while Natalya’s was a quiet one of disappointment.

“Hey, are you alright, Lightning?” Rainbow shouted at the grounded pegasus. “If you’re hurt, we can even call the race off if you want.”

In response, Lightning yelled back, “Shut up!” before she swiftly launched herself back into the air and rocketed forward, causing Rainbow to yelp and promptly resume the race.

Although Natalya wished that her best friend would have capitalized on Lightning’s blunder, Rainbow was still able to stay ahead by a decent amount and was able to maintain that lead as they all entered the tunnel. The winds blowing in the confined space were loud, Natalya could hear the growls and cursing of an unhappy Lightning that was still trailing behind. It was music to Natalya’s ears.

Other than Lightning’s ire echoing all over the place, the three of them emerged from the other side of the tunnel without a hitch and with Rainbow still in first place.

When they arrived at the giant patch of brambles, the pegasi charged right into the thorn thicket without any hesitation. Knowing that she could not run the spiky gauntlet and watch both pegasi at the same time, Natalya resigned herself to flying above the obstacles instead.

Rainbow and Lightning quickly split up, each taking a different path through the barbed brush. Keeping tabs from above, Natalya could see that both pegasi were moving through the bramble without any trouble and at about the same speed. Looking ahead, Natalya could see that Rainbow’s and Lightning’s paths will merge near the end, followed by a straight line toward a small hole at the end of the bramble. The hole seemed to be big enough for only one pony to go through at a time, but it was the only viable option for both pegasi unless they wanted to waste precious seconds finding another exit to the side.

Since she was already in the lead going into the thorny thicket, Rainbow was the first to reach the final stretch of the bramble, and Natalya silently cheered as she watched her best friend rush for the exit.

“I’m not going to let you beat me!” Lightning’s voice suddenly echoed through the canyon.

Quickly switching her attention to the loud pegasus, Natalya saw that not only was Lightning also flying down the stretch, she was rapidly closing the distance between her and Rainbow.

By the time Natalya realized what was going to happen, it was already too late.

Rainbow was just about to make it through the hole, but Lightning came up and shoved her out of the way. The force of Lightning’s push made Rainbow lose control, causing the chromatic pegasus to slam her left side into a big branch of thorns and letting out a cry of pain that made Natalya’s heart stop.

As she rushed to her friend’s aid, Natalya noticed that Lightning had stopped to look back at Rainbow. She was too far away to see Lightning’s face, but Natalya had no doubt that the spiteful pegasus was gloating over the damage that she caused. She felt like her theory was justified when Lightning resumed flying a moment later, and although she wanted to chase after the hated pegasus and give her the thrashing of a lifetime, she had much more important matters to tend to.

When Natalya reached her friend’s side, she almost spoke up to reveal her presence, but she clamped her beak shut when Rainbow grunted and pushed herself off of the branch. As Rainbow slowly moved herself to perch on another nearby branch, careful to avoid the thorns, Natalya winced when she saw that several long cuts now streaked across the pegasus’s left side. Thankfully, they seemed to be all thin, shallow wounds, although a few trickles of blood were seeping out of them, marring Rainbow’s sky-blue coat.

“Stupid Lightning… I can’t believe she did that…” Rainbow mumbled to herself between heavy pants. She looked at her left wing and winced in pain. “Dang, that hurts…” A deep breath was taken, followed by a slow exhale. “Alright… Just work through the pain, Rainbow… You got this…”

Natalya could only gape in silence with both worry and amazement. A part of her wanted to speak up, to tell Rainbow that she should throw in the towel before she worsened her injuries. However, she could also see the determination burning behind Rainbow’s pained visage, and Natalya knew that this was much more than a simple race to her best friend. This was Rainbow’s chance to prove herself to Lightning and maybe shut the same pegasus up so that they could mend their friendship. Natalya did not want to distract Rainbow from her goal, especially since chances were that she would not be able to sway the pegasus anyway.

As Natalya pondered what to do, her choice was made for her when Rainbow took one last deep breath and then launched herself deeper into Ghastly Gorge, flying as though she had received nothing more than a scratch.

Indecision was replaced by guilt as Natalya wondered if it was alright to let Rainbow go. As much as she wanted see Rainbow win and teach the arrogant Lightning a lesson, it was shadowed by her growing concern for the pony that she had grown so close to. Shaking her head and reminding herself that she would not accomplish anything by idly standing around, Natalya sped off after Rainbow, resolving to protect her friend.

When Natalya caught up with Rainbow, she felt some relief to see that her friend seemed to be flying normally, but as she looked ahead, to her surprise, she saw that Lightning was actually not that far away. Normally, she would have been delighted to see that Rainbow still had a fighting chance of winning, but the fact that she had closed the gap with Lightning so fast was suspicious.

Something is up. With how Natalya had the advantage of not being banged up as either pegasus and having taken an easier path through parts of the course. With how much time has passed and her speed, Lightning should be a lot farther ahead. The only explanation is that she slowed down or waited for Rainbow, but why would she do that… Unless she’s planning to do something to Rainbow again. I swear that if that idiot so much as breathes on Rainbow… Natalya growled and clenched her fists. I’ll make her pay.

Leaving Rainbow behind, Natalya made a beeline for Lightning. Despite having the advantage of not being banged up as either pegasus as well as being able to simply fly over parts of the course, it still took a bit of time for Natalya to catch up to the arrogant pegasus, given how Lightning seemed to be flying at full speed again. When she did reach her target, Natalya positioned promptly herself a short distance above the arrogant pegasus. She was allowing the race to continue for Rainbow’s sake, but Natalya had no qualms to end it by taking Lightning out if it looked like she was going to play dirty again, and thanks to Twilight’s invisibility, she was perfectly ready to do just that.

That is, she was ready until a loud growl and some rumbling came from the side.

Reacting on instinct, Natalya barrel-rolled up and away from where the noise came from, and a moment later, she saw a giant mass of magenta fill the space where she had been just a moment ago.

“Oh right, the quarray eels,” Natalya muttered. She was so focused on watching Lightning that she did not notice that they had entered the monsters’ nest. Even though she was still invisible, she almost got eaten just because she was too close to Lightning.

Resuming her chase, Natalya made sure to keep some distance between her and Lightning, lest she accidentally get chomped on by giant razor-sharp teeth that were meant for the teal pegasus. She watched as Lightning seemed to have no problem avoiding the eels’ attempts to eat her, either effortlessly swerving out of the way of their attacks, or in the case of the slower ones, just simply zooming right by before they could reach her. Though Natalya entertained the morbid thought of Lightning getting snatched out of the air by an eel, it did not look like that it would come to pass.

Suddenly, a loud cry from behind made Natalya whirl around to see that Rainbow had entered the quarray eel nest, and the griffon balked when she saw that while Lightning was able to dodge the eels with ease, Rainbow was struggling to do the same. Falling behind was the least of Rainbow’s worries as she was barely able to dodge the strikes of the first few eels, and as more of the monsters tried to snap up the pegasus, Rainbow’s movements became increasingly sluggish.

Fear gripped Natalya when she saw that the reason Rainbow was having so much trouble was because her left wing was flapping awkwardly. It was the same one that had been slammed into the bramble earlier. She had thought that Rainbow was able to power through her injury, but it was now apparent that the stress of the intensive race was taking its toll on the pegasus.

And yet despite her troubled wing, Rainbow was still trying to brave her way through the quarray eels.

Realizing that there was no way that Rainbow could keep up her desperate dodging, Natalya sped toward the pegasus. As much as she wanted to see Rainbow come out of this race victorious, this was borderline suicide, and Natalya fully intended to pull her friend out of the race, by force if necessary.

But before she could get to Rainbow, another eel charged toward the pegasus, and to Natalya’s horror, she saw her friend grimace in pain as her wing locked up, bringing her to a standstill.

Just as Rainbow was about to become eel food, she managed to throw herself forward, avoiding the snapping jaws of the monster. It was such a narrow miss that the eel’s body brushed against Rainbow’s. Unfortunately, the eel was not happy at being denied its meal, and with its target unable to make a quick escape, the monster whipped its head to the side, smashing it into Rainbow and sending her careening at a downward angle.

“Rainbow!” Natalya cried out, swiftly adjusting her path to intercept the pegasus. “I’m coming!”

But her words fell on deaf ears as Rainbow continued to fall without moving. As Natalya beat her wings in desperation to try and get to the pegasus, she dearly hoped that Rainbow was just unconscious.

Unfortunately, with Rainbow unable to move, it made her an easy target, and yet another quarray eel slithered out of its hole to lunge at the comatose pegasus.

“Rainbow!” Natalya shouted, stretching her hand toward the pegasus. She did anything she could to try and muster herself to go faster and save Rainbow, but to her dismay, she was simply too far away. The eel, with its maw open wide, would get to Rainbow first.

Despair and hopelessness sank in. She was about to lose Rainbow, the pony that had drastically changed her life, the pony that had spent countless hours to help her become better, the pony that she cherished every moment hanging out with, the pony that had become an integral part of her life.

And she could not do anything to save her.

Natalya never felt so useless in her entire life.

Rainbow… I… I’m sorry…

Suddenly, there was a huge burst of magenta light, and Twilight appeared right in front of the eel. She immediately let loose with a huge blast from her horn, blasting the beast right in the face at point-blank range. The eel roared from the magical assault, and although Twilight’s attack left nothing more than a few burn marks, the eel was pushed back, and it swiftly retreated back into its hole.

With the immediate threat dealt with, Twilight teleported again, reappearing right below Rainbow and catching the pegasus in her magic, before she began moving with the pegasus in tow to a lower part of the canyon where the quarray eels were not nesting.

Natalya, who had witnessed everything, let out a huge sigh of relief, both for herself and for the rescue of Rainbow. So much had happened in such a short span of time, taking her emotions on a rollercoaster ride. She realized that she was drenched, no doubt from breaking out into a cold sweat from the terrifying experience, and her heart was beating faster than Pinkie on a sugar rush. In short, she felt like crud.

But Rainbow was safe, and that was all that mattered.

After collecting herself, Natalya continued to descend towards where Twilight had brought Rainbow, but she was only able to move a short distance before she had to swerve out of the way of an eel charging right for her. Though she was able to dodge the attack with ease, she wondered how she almost got turned into a snack, especially since Lightning was nowhere around. A quick check of herself revealed that she was not glowing anymore, and when she glanced at Twilight, she saw that it was the same deal with the alicorn. It was not hard to figure out that Twilight must have had to drop their invisibility so that she could use her magic to save Rainbow, but even without the luxury of flying unnoticed, Natalya was easily able to outmaneuver the quarray eels.

As she approached the ponies, Natalya could see that Twilight had shifted Rainbow into a horizontal position with her face pointing skyward, like she was lying on an invisible bed. Twilight was trying to both comfort and rouse Rainbow awake as she softly spoke words of comfort and gently stroked the pegasus’s head with her hoof. Despite her rapid breaths that put her on the verge of hyperventilating, it was clear that the Princess was doing her best to keep herself together to tend to her friend.

“R-Rainbow, you’re going to be alright,” Twilight said, panic creeping into her voice. “D-don’t worry. You’re safe. You’re fine. Everything will be alright…”

While Twilight continued to talk to the unconscious Rainbow, Natalya looked over the pegasus’s body. The good news was that Rainbow’s chest was slowly moving up and down, meaning that she was still alive, but the pained breathing she was making tore at Natalya’s heart. Looking over the pegasus’s body Natalya could see that it was covered with cuts and scrapes, even more so than from the impact back at the brambles. The most grievous injury was that her left wing was bent awkwardly, and Natalya did not need to be a doctor to know that Rainbow would be grounded for a while before she recovered from that.

The sound of Rainbow groaning made Natalya and Twilight both jump slightly in surprise, but they swiftly moved in closer and watched with bated breath as the pegasus slowly opened her eyes.

“Tw… Twilight? Is that you?” Rainbow asked in a raspy voice.

“Yes, Rainbow. It’s me,” Twilight promptly replied, nodding frantically while wearing a relieved smile. “Natalya is here too. We’re both here. You’re safe now.”

“Wha… What are you guys doing here?”

“We wanted to keep an eye on you in case something bad happened,” Natalya explained. Grimacing, she added, “We, uh, didn’t do a very good job.”

“And Lightning?”

“She’s long gone, I’m afraid,” Twilight said.

“Forget Lightning and forget the race,” Natalya stated. “Rainbow, you’re hurt… badly. We need to get you out of here.”

“But I—” Rainbow moved about in Twilight’s magic, only to freeze and hiss in pain.

“Don’t move, Rainbow!” Twilight cried. “Natalya’s right. You’re in no condition to race. We need to take you to the hospital now.”

Rainbow groaned again, although it was unclear whether it was due to pain or the fact that she had to drop out of the race. Nonetheless, she nodded and let her body go slack.

Natalya nodded to Twilight and said, “Alright, go ahead and teleport yourself and Rainbow to the hospital. I’ll fly over and meet you there.”

To Natalya’s surprise, Twilight shook her head and floated Rainbow over to the griffon. “No. You have to take her, Natalya.”

“Me? Why me? You can get her there faster with your magic.”

Again, Twilight shook her head. “Teleporting an injured pony can have all sorts of detrimental effects, and with how much energy I used to keep us invisible, I don’t think I can safely teleport the both of us that far anyway. It’s just too risky for me to do it. You have to carry her back to Ponyville. You’re faster and stronger than me.”

Natalya took a deep breath and nodded. Slowly, she moved her arms below Rainbow and gingerly raised them to the pegasus’s back. When Twilight ended her levitation, it left Rainbow being carried by the griffon bridal style.

“You comfy enough like this, Rainbow?” Natalya asked.

“As comfy as I’ll be while everything hurts,” Rainbow replied with a weak chuckle, only to hiss in pain. “Ow…”

“Save your strength. I’ll get you to the hospital as fast as I can.” Natalya glanced up at the giant holes in the canyon walls. “You better hold on tight. It’s going to be a bit of a bumpy ride until I get away from the eels.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Twilight stated, lighting up her horn. “I still have enough energy to keep them off of you.”

Natalya nodded and looked down at her precious cargo. “Ready, Rainbow?” Her breath hitched as Rainbow huddled closer to her chest before nodding in response.

Tightening her hold on the pegasus, Natalya flew straight up. She was soon set upon by an eel, but a beam of magic from below promptly hit its underside, making it roar in pain as its charge was halted. Several more eels tried their luck as Natalya ascended, but they could not get close to the griffon as Twilight blasted them all with her magic. With Twilight’s vigilant defense, Natalya soon cleared the clifftops.

“We’re safe now, Rainbow,” Natalya told her passenger as she immediately set off in the direction of Ponyville. “Just hang in there.”

“S-sure…” Rainbow mumbled. She went silent for a few moments, save for her ragged breaths, but eventually she spoke up again in a quiet voice that Natalya could barely hear over her flying. “H-hey, Natalya? I… I just want to say that I’m really glad that you came. I’ve had a lot of fun hanging out with you, and I just… I think that I… I… You…”

Natalya’s blood ran cold when she felt Rainbow go limp in her arms, and she swiftly came to a stop to check on her best friend. To her relief, she saw that Rainbow was still breathing, indicating that she had likely just passed out from pain and exhaustion.

Hugging Rainbow closer to her chest, Natalya resumed her flight back to Ponyville.

You’re going to be alright, Rainbow. I’ll make sure of it.

Chapter 26: Downfall

“Out of the way!” Natalya roared as she charged through Ponyville’s airspace, clutching an unconscious Rainbow tightly to her chest.

Despite earth ponies making up the majority of Ponyville’s population, it did not feel that way as Natalya had to maneuver around numerous pegasi in her way. It felt like every single pegasus in town decided that they would go flying today. With Rainbow’s life quite literally being held in her hands, Natalya could not afford any delays in her rush to the hospital, and she continued to charge through the crowded sky while shouting at the top of her lungs.

“Move it! I got an injured pony here! I—Hey, watch it!” Natalya snapped at a pegasus that almost could not get out of her way in time.

She turned her head to shoot a quick dirty look at the slow flyer, but when she turned her attention forward again, her eyes widened when she saw a distracted Derpy hovering right in her flight path. The pegasus seemed to be out doing deliveries and was too busy looking through her mailbag to notice Natalya until the speeding griffon was almost upon her.

Tightening her grip on Rainbow, Natalya swiftly swerved around the mailmare, narrowly missing a collision. Unfortunately, it was not enough to get by without startling Derpy and causing her to let out a startled yelp as her forehooves shot up in surprise, tossing a shower of letters all around her.

Okay, that was probably my bad, Natalya thought as she glanced back to see Derpy frantically flying around to catch the mail that was slowly falling like leaves. Natalya figured that she might have to apologize to the mailmare but decided that would have to be saved for later when she felt Rainbow stir with a pained groan, spurring her on toward the hospital.

It only took a few more moments to finally arrive at the hospital, and without even stopping to properly land, Natalya used her shoulder to ram right through its doors and immediately shouted, “I need help! Rainbow is hurt bad!”

The ponies waiting in the hospital lobby all looked at Natalya in wide-eyed shock, including Nurse Redheart, who was sitting behind the reception desk. However, it took Redheart only a second to recover her wits, and she only needed a brief glance at the injured pegasus in Natalya’s arms before she sprung into action.

“I need a gurney out here, stat!” Redheart shouted, galloping through a set of double doors down a nearby hallway.

In a matter of seconds, Redheart came rushing back through the same doors, along with two unicorn stallion orderlies towing a gurney in their magic.

“Quickly! We have to get Rainbow into the ER!” Redheart urgently ordered, her voice ringing with authority, as the unicorns stopped the gurney in front of the griffon.

Natalya nodded and allowed the orderlies to take Rainbow in their magic so that they could gently but swiftly place the injured pegasus on the mobile bed. As soon as Rainbow was settled, the unicorns promptly rushed her back down the hallway they came through, with Redheart and Natalya following right behind them.

But when the stallions took Rainbow through the double doors, Redheart stopped right in front of the entryway, blocking Natalya’s way.

“Redheart, move,” Natalya commanded in a calm yet threatening tone.

Redheart shook her head and stood her ground. “I’m sorry, Natalya, but only authorized ponies are allowed inside.”

“I don’t care. Rainbow went in there, so I’m going in too.” Natalya stepped forward to go around the nurse, but Redheart blocked the way with her foreleg.

This only brought a scowl to Natalya’s face. “I’m serious, Redheart. Let me through! I don’t want to hurt you, but I will use force if you don’t get out of my way.” When the nurse shook her head again, Natalya growled and reached forward to shove the mare aside.

However, Redheart not only avoided Natalya’s attempt to dislodge her, but she also responded with a push of her own, and Natalya was reminded of earth ponies’ inherent strength as she was forced to stagger a few steps back.

“Natalya, I understand that you’re worried about Rainbow, but trust us,” Redheart tried to console the aggressive griffon. “We’ll take good care of her.”

“It doesn’t matter! I need to be there for her!” Natalya reared up on her hind legs to both make herself more intimidating and try to push through, but she was once again held back by the nurse. She was trying to keep her anger in check and not outright attack Redheart, but it was getting tougher with each moment of desperation.

“Natalya, please!” Redheart pleaded, ducking her head to avoid a swipe of Natalya’s arm. “I don’t want to call security on you!”

“Bring them on then! I’ll take down whoever gets between me and Rainbow!”

Redheart let out a brief sigh, and Natalya heard her quietly say, “Sorry for this,” right before the mare lunged forward.

Natalya, not expecting the sudden offensive, was knocked onto her back when the nurse crashed right into her chest. Natalya tried to scramble back onto her feet, but Redheart was faster as the mare used her forehooves to pin the griffon’s arms.

Before Natalya could shout out another threat, Redheart sternly glared down at the griffon and asked, “Do you want Rainbow to get better?”

“Of course I do! What kind of stupid question is that?!”

“Then think about it. The doctors are already treating Rainbow by now. Do you think that they’ll be able to concentrate on helping her if a distressed griffon barges into the room? I know that you want to help and be there for your friend, but you might do more harm than good in this critical moment. The best thing that you can do for Rainbow now is to sit back and let us do our job.”

Natalya growled again, but she was able to restrain herself from throwing the nurse off her, though that did not stop her deathly glare. Mulling over Redheart’s words eventually cooled Natalya’s temper just enough for her to realize and concede that the mare made a fair point. As much as she wanted to be by Rainbow’s side now, she begrudgingly conceded that she would be able to do nothing but take up space and be a distraction.

With one last groan full of frustration, Natalya let her head drop to the tiled floor in resignation. “Fine, I’ll back off, but only because I don’t want to get in the way of your doctors. But you guys better fix Rainbow up, and I want to know anything that happens to her.”

Redheart breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. “Thank you for understanding, Natalya, and rest assured, we’ll do everything we can for Rainbow, as well keeping you updated about her condition.”

“Good… Now get off me.”

“Of course.” Redheart carefully stepped to the side and helped the griffon back up. “I want to apologize for tackling you, but well, I was running out of options. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

Natalya scoffed. “Please… A little push like that was nothing. You should see the brawls that I’ve been in back at Griffonstone. You’re actually very lucky that I was able to hold myself back, otherwise, well, you get the picture.”

“I’ll, uh, take your word for it.” Redheart cleared her throat. “Anyway, we should return our attention to Rainbow. If you are able to, could you please tell me what happened to her? Any information you give might help us treat her.”

With a sigh and a solemn nod, Natalya explained, “Long story short, Rainbow was challenged to a race in Ghastly Gorge, and her opponent played dirty. Rainbow was pushed into a bunch of brambles, injuring her right wing. Despite that, she refused to call it quits, so when she got to the quarray eel nest, her flying was all messed up. She did her best but…”

Natalya’s breath hitched as the anger and irritation that she had been keeping in check were washed away, replaced by grief. Her gaze dropped down as she recalled the terrifying moments that occurred just a little while ago. “Rainbow… She… That’s when she got hurt. An eel smashed into her side, and she was knocked unconscious… If Twilight and I weren’t there…”

When the griffon did not say another word after a few moments, Redheart quietly asked, “Is… is that when you brought her here?”

Natalya slowly nodded her head in response, unable to lift her gaze from the floor.

“I’m sorry, Natalya,” Redheart said, rubbing a gentle, comforting hoof on the griffon’s shoulder. “I know that it must’ve been difficult to see your friend get hurt, but you did a fantastic job getting her here. I promise you that we will do everything that we can to help her get better.”

“Rainbow… She’ll be okay, right?” Natalya could not help but ask, looking up at the nurse.

“Rainbow’s a hardy mare. After all, she has been in and out of here more times than I can count. I’m sure that she’ll be fine, especially since she has friends like you to watch over her. For now though, get some rest and let us do our job. I’m sure that you must be tired from everything that happened.”

Now that Redheart mentioned it, Natalya was feeling pretty beat, despite the fact that only half the day had passed. The adrenaline from a combination of anger and fear had been fueling her rush to help Rainbow, but now that she was calming down, the fatigue from both her desperate flying and witnessing the troubling events was setting in.

“Y-yeah, I guess I should take a break,” Natalya agreed wearily. “Also, uh, sorry for… you know…”

Redheart smiled softly and shook her head. “It’s alright, Natalya. I’ve dealt with many ponies who have done the same thing. It just shows how much you care for Rainbow. Anyway, I should go in and help the doctors. In the meantime, please get some rest.”

Redheart’s gaze then went down to Natalya’s chest, and she pointed at it with a forehoof. “Although, um, perhaps you want to go to the bathroom for a moment?”

Natalya looked down and winced at what she saw. Her chest feathers were ruffled from tightly holding onto Rainbow for so long but that was hardly noticeable due to the crimson splotches of blood staining them.

With the number of brawls that break out in Griffonstone, a few even instigated by herself, Natalya was hardly fazed whenever she got blood on herself. In fact, more often than not, she wore the red marks with pride, a symbol of victory when she bested an opponent. However, this time, she felt nothing but guilt and even a brief bout of queasiness at seeing her best friend’s blood.

“R-right… I’ll go wash up…” Natalya muttered as she parted ways with the nurse. She headed into the nearby bathroom and was glad to find the place empty, not wanting to deal with anyone else right now. Dragging herself over to one of several sinks, she planted her hands on the rim of the basin and slowly raised her head to look at herself in the mirror hanging on the wall.

Her usual regal, proud figure was nowhere to be seen. Instead, her reflection only showed a depressed griffon weighed down by guilt, grief, and fatigue.

“How could I have let this happen?” Natalya said to herself.

For the longest time, she believed that she was the best flyer, and while that ideal had been challenged since meeting Rainbow, Natalya still held onto the notion that she was an ace flyer. Now, however, she felt anything but that.

Even though she was able to keep up with Rainbow and Lightning during the race, she was always too slow or too far away to help her friend whenever she got into trouble, and when it mattered the most, it was Twilight who saved the day.

“Some friend I am,” Natalya cursed herself. She had gone to Ghastly Gorge to protect Rainbow, but despite her so-called pro flying skills, she could do nothing to save her friend from getting hurt. She had never felt so useless in her entire life, and she knew that if it were not for Twilight, Rainbow very well could have been…

Natalya planted one of her arms on the sink while her other arm clutched at her head as the events of Ghastly Gorge and Rainbow’s brush with death played in her head over and over again. There was no doubt that she cared about Rainbow, but she had not realized how deep her friendship with the pegasus was. Almost losing Rainbow had shaken her to her very core, terrifying her beyond measure.

An unknown amount of time passed as Natalya stayed hunched over the sink, stewing in sorrow, but eventually, she was able to pull herself together just enough to restore some semblance of composure and remind herself that Rainbow was still being treated at the moment. Though Natalya accepted that she could not be by her friend’s side right now, she would be ready to do so when the time comes, and that meant cleaning up and finally getting out of this bathroom.

Thankful that nobody had come in to see her in such a sorry state, Natalya grabbed some paper towels from the nearby dispenser, wetted them from the sink, and then began wiping at her chest. It took only a few minutes to clean off the blood, and after chucking the used towels into the trash bin, she splashed some cold water onto her face, both to clean it and clear her head some more.

Refreshed and somewhat clean now, Natalya returned to the lobby. A new nurse, this one a slightly chubby mare with a pink coat and a light-purple and white mane, had taken over the reception desk. There also seemed to be a few less ponies waiting around in the lobby than before, which was just fine with her because it would be easier to have some more alone time to compose herself. She was about to go find an empty seat in the corner when two familiar ponies rushed through the hospital entrance.

The first was Twilight, who was clearly out of breath, undoubtedly from both all of the spells that she had cast earlier and then rushing here. However, Natalya’s gaze locked onto the second pony.

For some reason, Lightning Dust was right behind the alicorn, but instead of wondering why the pegasus was here, anger and bloodlust clouded Natalya’s senses as she gritted her teeth and emitted a low guttural growl that made several nearby ponies back away in fear.

Twilight noticed the griffon and headed over to her, asking, “Natalya, how’s Rain—”

The alicorn cut herself off with a yelp when Natalya rushed past her with a burst of speed toward the pegasus behind her.

Natalya let out a roar brimming with rage, and Lightning only had time to widen her eyes in surprise before she was punched in the face.

Ponies screamed in fright when Lightning was sent skidding backwards across the hospital’s tiled floor, but Natalya hardly heard them as she pounced toward the downed pegasus with her claws brandished.

“I’m going to kill you!” Natalya shouted with no intentions of holding back.

“Natalya, stop!”

Before Natalya could reach Lightning and thrash the hated pegasus some more, a wall of shimmering magenta appeared in front of her, and she grunted when she crashed into the conjured barrier. Taking quick stock of her surroundings revealed that she had been trapped in mid-air within a sort of magical sphere. Recognizing the magenta magical aura, she promptly whirled around to scowl at the one responsible for delaying her revenge.

“Twilight! Let me out! Now!” Natalya bellowed. She banged her fists against her magical prison, the conjured walls feeling like thick glass.

“I’m sorry, Natalya, but you have to calm down first,” Twilight replied, her horn glowing with magic. “I’m not happy with Lightning either, but violence is not the answer. You can get into a lot of trouble!”

“I don’t care! She hurt Rainbow, and I’m going to make sure she pays for it!” Natalya shouted, continuing to pound away at her prison, despite the barrier not showing any signs of weakening. She did halt her assault when Lightning groaned loudly and stirred from the floor.

“Ugh, that freaking hurt,” Lightning complained, slowly getting back on her hooves. She then lifted a forehoof to her face, only to yelp in pain and quickly pull the limb away, wincing when she saw blood on her hoof.

“I think you broke my muzzle!” Lighting snapped, glaring at the still-trapped griffon.

“That’s a real shame because I was hoping to break a lot more than your stupid muzzle!” Natalya threatened.

“Oh yeah? I’d like to see you try now that you can’t cheap shot me again! Come on!” Lightning snarled and stepped toward the griffon, only for a magenta wall to appear in front of her.

“Lightning, no,” Twilight sternly ordered. “There will be no fighting. We don’t need more ponies getting hurt.”

“Tell that to your dumb griffon friend!”

“What in Equestria is going on over here?!” a fourth voice shouted, making Natalya, Twilight, and Lightning turn their heads to see an irate Redheart trotting over to them with a stern frown.

“She punched me!” Lightning stated, pointing an accusing hoof at Natalya.

“Because you almost killed Rainbow!” Natalya shot back.

Redheart blinked and looked over to Lightning. “You’re the one who challenged Rainbow to that race in Ghastly Gorge?”

“Yeah, so?” Lightning replied.

“Well, I would like to give you a lecture on recklessness, but I suppose that can wait. Let’s get your muzzle fixed up first,” Redheart said before turning toward the empty reception desk. “Sweetheart?”

The pink-coated nurse from earlier popped her head from behind the desk, warily eyeing Natalya as she answered, “Um, yes, Redheart?”

Waving a hoof toward Lightning, Redheart ordered, “This pegasus may have a nasal fracture, so please check her into one of the examination rooms and get a doctor to take a look at it.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Sweetheart complied, springing back onto her hooves with a nod. She then beckoned Lightning over to a hallway to the side. “Please, right this way, dear. We’ll fix you up in a jiffy.”

“I should’ve never come here,” Lightning grumbled as she walked over to the nurse. Along the way, she made sure to shoot an angry scowl at the contained Natalya, who reciprocated with a death glare, before she followed Sweetheart down the hallway.

With Lightning gone, Twilight sternly frowned at the griffon still encased in her magic. “Alright, Natalya. I’m going to let you go now, but if you go after Lightning, I’ll just trap you again. We really don’t need to make things worse, got it?”

Natalya snorted angrily, but she knew that she could not compete with the alicorn’s magic. “Fine,” she complied irritably.

Twilight’s horn stopped glowing, and Natalya’s bubble prison soon disappeared, letting her drop back onto the ground.

Right away, Natalya marched up to Twilight, pointed down the hallway where Lightning had gone, and demanded, “Why is she here?”

“Easy, Natalya. I went to tell Lightning what happened after you left Ghastly Gorge with Rainbow, and she asked to come,” Twilight explained. Her brow then furrowed with worry. “Speaking of… how… how is Rainbow?”

“I can answer that, Princess,” Redheart chimed in. “Rainbow is being treated in the emergency room right now. The doctors are still assessing the extent of her injuries as they go, but from the looks of it, Rainbow is not in any real danger.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” Twilight uttered as she and Natalya both breathed a huge sigh of relief.

“So how much longer until we can see her?” Natalya queried.

“I’m afraid that I can’t give a good estimate right now, but we will of course try to get her out as soon as possible.” Redheart then shot a cross look at the griffon. “Assuming that we don’t get interrupted by things such as reports of a certain griffon rampaging in the lobby.”

Natalya winced but quickly defended with, “Yeah, well, you know now that it was Lightning I was after. I had to get back at that idiot for what she did to Rainbow. You can understand why I did it, right?”

“I can understand it, but that doesn’t make it right, Natalya,” Redheart sternly replied. “I know that you’re angry with Lightning, but this is not the place to take it out on her. This is a place of healing, and we can’t have you causing such a disturbance, especially since there are ponies here who need peace and quiet to recover. You’re just making things more difficult for us to treat those who need help, including Rainbow.”

“Yeah, but—”

“No ‘buts’,” Redheart firmly stated. She kept her disapproving stare on the griffon for a moment longer before softening her expression with a sigh. “Natalya, I get that this is a difficult time for you and tensions are running high, but please try to behave. We can’t have you causing a commotion when we’re treating Rainbow and other patients. I know that you want to be there for Rainbow, but I’m afraid that if you cause any more trouble, we will have to make you leave. ”

Natalya bit back a retort. She wanted to protest against the ultimatum, but she could tell that she was already treading on thin ice with Redheart, and she believed that the mare really would follow through with the threat. She only wanted to help Rainbow, but instead, she was just complicating things.

“I understand,” Natalya conceded tersely, trying to suppress her irritation.

“Don’t worry, Redheart. I’ll keep her out of trouble,” Twilight offered.

“Thank you, Princess,” Redheart said, bowing her head to the alicorn. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to work.”

“Oh, before you go, would it be alright if I could get a piece of paper and something to write with?” Twilight requested. “I want to send a note to Spike to tell him what’s going on.”

“Certainly, Princess.” Redheart directed Twilight over to the reception desk, and after giving the alicorn the needed stationery, the nurse took her leave back through the double doors.

It only took a minute for Twilight to write what she needed. She held up the finished letter in her magic, and several small wisps of magenta fire leapt from her horn, onto the paper. The fire shifted to an emerald color as it quickly consumed the letter until all that was left was a trail of smoke that promptly flew out a nearby window.

“I also told Spike to spread the news to our friends,” Twilight added with the dragonfire mail sent. “So how—”

“Why did you bring her here?” Natalya asked irritably.

Twilight sighed. “Like I said, Lightning asked to come after I explained what happened to Rainbow.”

“And you just let her?! You do remember that she’s the reason Rainbow got hurt, right?!”

“Natalya, please. Calm down,” Twilight pleaded. “Remember what Redheart said? You can’t get into any more trouble.”

“I… You…” Natalya growled in frustration and then took a deep breath. It was not enough to get rid of all of her anger, but she did manage to quiet down her voice to ask, “Twilight, seriously. Why did you let Lightning come here?”

“Because I really do think that she’s concerned about Rainbow, even if she doesn’t really show it. Why else would she want to come here?”

“Maybe she just wants to get to Rainbow to finish the job,” Natalya remarked darkly.

Twilight grimaced. “I… I highly doubt that. Granted, it’s hard to tell what her intentions are with how quiet she went after I told her what happened, but… let’s just call it a hunch that bringing her here was the right thing to do. I know that you’re not pleased with her being around, but let’s not do anything rash. At least give her a chance to explain herself later, okay?”

“Not like I have much of a choice with you and Redheart on my back.” Natalya sighed. “Whatever. I’ll back down for now, but I’m still going to keep a close eye on her. And if it looks like she’s going to try something on Rainbow…”

“Um, I suppose that’s alright… sort of…” Twilight accepted before growing quiet.

Natalya glanced around to distract herself from the awkward silence that descended upon them, and she noticed that most of the ponies that had fled the lobby from her attack on Lightning had returned, though they all made sure to move to the opposite side of the room of her. Even Sweetheart returned to the reception desk after a moment, though without Lightning, who was probably getting looked at by a doctor.

Eventually, Twilight chose to sit down on one of the lobby chairs with an exhausted sigh. Seeing that there was nothing else that they could do, Natalya followed Twilight’s example and sat in a chair opposite of the unicorn.

Only a few more seconds of quiet transpired before Twilight asked, “How are you doing, Natalya?”

“I’m fine,” Natalya answered automatically.

“Um, are you sure? After what happened to Rainbow and then you blowing up at Lightning…”

Natalya sighed and nodded. “Fine, yeah. I could be better. Guess there’s not much use hiding it from you since you were there for everything.”

Twilight smiled softly. “I’m actually glad to hear that.”

“You’re happy that I’m not doing fine?” Natalya asked with one eyebrow rising in skepticism.

“Er... what I meant is that I’m glad that you’re opening up. You shouldn’t have to hide things from me or any of your friends either. I know that you and Rainbow were really close, so I can only imagine how much you’re worrying about her.”

“Yeah, I would be lying if I didn’t say I was having a rough time. What about you though? Rainbow’s also a close friend of yours, but you seem to be doing pretty well.”

“Oh, trust me. I’m pretty much one step away from having a panic attack, but I just have to keep reminding myself that Rainbow will be alright. She’s one of the strongest ponies I know, and even though she ends up here a bit too much for my liking, she always comes out fine. I don’t think that Rainbow will stay down for long if it meant it would leave her friends hanging.”

That got Natalya to chuckle a little. “Yeah, that does sound like her.”

A lull came into the conversation, but Twilight attempted to keep things going by asking, “Is there anything you want to talk about?”

“No offense, Twilight, but I think that I had enough feelings talk for now,” Natalya responded.

“We can talk about anything. We don’t really have much to do while we wait here, and to be honest, talking with you is helping me from worrying too much.”

“Guess it’s better than nothing.” Natalya tapped her chin in thought as she tried to think of something. “You know, Rainbow told me that she went with you and the others on all sorts of adventures. The few stories that she did tell me did sound outrageous, and even then, it felt like she was exaggerating the parts about her.”

Twilight giggled. “Rainbow does tend to embellish the truth, but I would be happy to tell you about our adventures, and I know the perfect one to start with. How about I tell you the time I first met Rainbow?”

Chapter 27: Get Better

Waiting was one of the necessary evils that plagued the world, sparing no one of its boring tediousness.

Unsurprisingly, being the speedster that she is, Natalya had a low tolerance when it came to waiting. Her time was precious, and she wanted things to be done as fast as possible. After all, time spent waiting was time not spent on training or winning. While her patience for waiting has improved a bit since coming to Ponyville, she still was easily annoyed when she was forced to idle around for an extended period of time.

Now, however, despite having had to wait around in the hospital for what felt like days while having to sit in uncomfortable plastic chairs that were slightly too small to seat anyone, Natalya barely made a fuss.

Natalya could hear her group of friends, who had all arrived at the hospital not too long after she and Twilight had settled down, talk about the adventures that they went on. However, as enticing as it was to hear more about the exploits and shenanigans her best friend had gotten into, Natalya was barely paying any attention to the stories.

She was much more concerned about the mare herself.

All of Natalya’s energy and attention was focused on watching the doors where Rainbow had went through what seemed like ages ago and was now being treated for her grave injuries from Ghastly Gorge. As promised, Redheart had been periodically coming out to give the group updates about Rainbow’s treatment, and being so eager to hear about Rainbow’s condition, Natalya did not want to take her eyes off those doors so that she could be the first to question the nurse whenever she appeared.

“And that’s how Equestria was made!”

“Wait, what?” Natalya could not help but break her vigil because of the odd statement. She joined another griffon, four ponies, and one baby dragon in staring at a grinning Pinkie, who was standing on her hind legs with her forehooves thrown up high.

“Uh, Pinkie, I know that you girls did some incredible stuff, but I don’t think that sounds right,” Gilda remarked.

“It doesn’t?” Pinkie replied, setting back down on four hooves. “Wait, what were we talking about again?”

A collective groan rose from the group while Rarity informed, “We were telling Natalya and Gilda about how we defeated Tirek, darling.”

“Oh right.” Up went Pinkie’s forehooves again. “And that’s how the Castle of Friendship was made!”

Gilda still stared at the pink pony incredulously, and she looked to the other ponies in the group. Receiving nods of affirmation, she shrugged and conceded, “Whatever, I’ll bite. You girls sure get into all sorts of weird but also cool stuff.”

With Pinkie’s orthodox interruption explained, Natalya switched back to watching the hallway, only to turn her head back when a purple hoof gently rested on her shoulder.

“You doing alright, Natalya?” Twilight asked.

“I’m fine,” Natalya automatically replied.

“You sure about that, sugarcube?” Applejack asked. “You’ve been antsier than a hog missin’ their daily mud bath.”

“So?” Natalya retorted, shooting an annoyed glare at the apple farmer. “You got a problem with that?”

Applejack held up her forehooves in a placating manner to try and calm the irritated griffon down. “Ah’m not tryin’ to pick a fight with you, girl. Ah’m just tryin’ to say that while we all know that you’re worried about Rainbow, you’re really gettin’ your tail in a twist about this.”

“Well, what else am I supposed to feel? Rainbow got hurt… badly! Of course I’m going to worry over her! And why aren’t you guys doing the same? I thought that you were all best friends with her!”

“Of course we’re all worried about Rainbow,” Fluttershy said, joining in the conversation. “Honestly, I was really scared too when we first got here, but Nurse Redheart has been kind enough to keep us updated. I’m not so worried since it sounds like that Rainbow will be just fine. It also helps that I have my friends here get through this. Do you maybe want to talk about it, Natalya? It could help calm you down.”

“Why do I feel like I’m getting ganged up on?” Natalya asked, her eyebrow rising slightly when she realized that everyone’s attention was now on her.

“We’re not ganging up on you, darling,” Rarity corrected. “We’re just concerned about you.”

“You do seem to be taking this harder than the rest of us,” Fluttershy noted. “We just want to help you, Natalya. We didn’t mean to make you feel bad.”

Natalya sighed. “I know, I know. Look, I get that I might be going overboard, but I just can’t help it. I know that Redheart says Rainbow will be fine, but I don’t think that I’m going to feel better until I actually see Rainbow with my own two eyes. You guys weren’t there when she got hurt… It was bad… really bad… I’ve just been all messed up since then.”

“You know, I think I get what you’re going through,” Gilda chimed in. “When I hung out with Rainbow all the way back at Junior Speedsters Flying Camp, we did a bunch of wild stunts, pulled some awesome pranks, and even got into a few fights with a couple of jerks. Obviously, we got hurt more than a few times.

“The thing is, you and I, we’re Griffonstone Griffons. We didn’t exactly grew up in a place that bothered with the friendship and caring stuff. We’ve seen plenty of others get hurt, and hardly bat an eye, however, as I hung out with Rainbow, I started to get weird feelings whenever she got hurt. I didn’t know it back then, but that was when I started becoming friends with Rainbow and cared about her wellbeing. So, uh, yeah, you’re probably going through something like that, but a lot more extreme.”

Before Natalya could say anything, Twilight quickly praised, “Wow, Gilda. That was a very insightful observation. Our friendship sessions are really paying off. I would love to hear more about the differences between ponies and griffons on how they integrate with friendship. Maybe we can find a correlation—”

“Er, Twilight, before you go into friendship nerd mode, maybe we should make sure that Natalya is doing okay?” Gilda hastily suggested.

“Oh, uh, right, sorry,” Twilight apologized sheepishly.

Mulling over Gilda’s words, Nataya remarked, “You’re probably right, Gilda, but it doesn’t really help me much. It just confirms what I’m already doing: worrying over Rainbow. This wait is driving me nuts. I just wish that the docs would hurry up and finish fixing Rainbow up, both for my sake and hers.”

“Maybe you’ll finally get your wish because here comes Redheart again,” Spike announced, pointing behind Natalya.

Natalya promptly turned right back around, and sure enough the white-coated mare had emerged from the double doors and was heading towards them.

“How’s Rainbow?” Natalya asked automatically, just like every other time that Redheart had came to the group.

Redheart smiled. “How about you all go see for yourselves? Rainbow is finally done being treated, and we’ve already moved her into a patient room to recover. I can take you all to see her right now.”

Before everyone else was able to barely make a move to get up, Natalya was already in front of Redheart, ready to go. Nonetheless, it only took a few more seconds for the rest of them to hastily group up behind Natalya.

Once everyone was ready, Redheart led them all down a hallway, adjacent to where Rainbow had went through a while ago. They passed a few patients and doctors as Redheart led them through the hospital’s interior, but Natalya barely paid them any attention. She was just moments from seeing Rainbow again, and she both dreaded and highly anticipated to see the state that her best friend is in.

Before long, the group arrived at a corridor of patient rooms, one which Natalya recognized from her hospital stay in what seemed like eons ago.

“And here we are,” Redheart announced, stopping at the first room in the corridor.

That was all the direction Natalya needed.

Redheart’s forehoof raised to open the door, but Natalya quickly brushed past the nurse, making the mare yelp, and slammed the door open as she rushed inside.

Natalya’s attention immediately zeroed in on Rainbow, who was sleeping in the hospital bed with her body slightly propped up by some pillows and a blanket covering her lower half. Though Natalya already knew that Rainbow was going to be in a sorry state, the sight before her still made her wince as she felt a tug at her heart.

A number of bandages dotted the pegasus’s face, and Natalya had no doubt that there were more hidden under the green hospital gown her friend was wearing. More bandages covered the right foreleg, but the same story could not be said about the other foreleg; nearly the entire leg was bound up in a cast, forcing it into a stiff, straight position.

When Natalya turned her gaze to Rainbow’s most important limbs, the wings, she winced again at the damage. Just like the forelegs, Rainbow’s right side was in a far better state than the left, with the right wing being plastered with only a few small bandages, although also in need of a good preening. The left wing, however, was almost completely wrapped up in bandages, with only the tip of her outermost primary feathers peeking out from the sea of white, sterilized cloth.

“Um, Natalya, do you mind if we squeeze past you really quick?” Twilight softly asked as she broke the griffon’s gawking with a gentle tap on the shoulder.

“Er, right, yeah…” Natalya mumbled, moving up to stand at the foot of Rainbow’s bed so that everyone else could get in.

Each of Rainbow’s friends promptly filed into the room, all of them either cringing or giving the sleeping pegasus a sympathetic look as they laid eyes on their injured friend. Redheart was the last one to enter the room, and she shot a brief annoyed glance at Natalya, but otherwise remained silent as she went to pick up a clipboard hanging at the foot of Rainbow’s bed.

“So, um, how bad is she?” Spike asked.

“The doctors were able to treat all of Rainbow’s injuries,” Redheart explained as she kept her focus on reading from the chart. “No permanent damages or potential long-term side effects have been noted, so Rainbow should be back to her old self once she fully recovers.”

Natalya let out a sigh of relief, along with the rest of Rainbow’s friends. She had a front-row seat from when Rainbow received her grave injuries, and one of Natalya’s worries was that the unfortunate incident would leave a lasting mark on her best friend’s life.

“That’s great news, Redheart!” Pinkie cheered. “So when is she going to wake up? I can’t wait to give her a ‘get well soon’ party!”

Redheart glanced up from the clipboard to sternly glare at the pink pony. “Pinkie, Rainbow has been through a lot and needs her rest. No parties.” Looking back down at the clipboard, she continued, “Anyway, it’s been a while since Rainbow was taken off the sedatives as the doctors finished operating on her. She actually should be waking up pretty soon.”

As if on cue, a groan from Rainbow made everyone’s heads turn to see the injured pegasus’s eyes slowly open and close slightly several times, each blink revealing her eyes a little bit more, until they stayed open halfway.

“Ugh, my head…” Rainbow croaked in a groggy voice. “Where… where am I?”

“Rainbow!” cried out the pegasus’s friends as they crowded toward the front of the bed, only to stop as Pinkie somehow jumped in front of them all as she shouted, “Get well soon!”

Redheart pushed through the crowd with surprising speed and bit down on Pinkie’s tail to drag the pink pony away, dropping her at the back of the group. “Pinkie, please do not shout right in Rainbow’s face!”

With Pinkie taken care of, Redheart quickly returned to the front of the crowd and herded them away from Rainbow. “As for the rest of you, I know that you’re all happy for Rainbow, but please remember that we should not crowd her. Give her room to breathe and settle down.”

“Wha… What’s going on… Where am…” Rainbow raised her head slightly, and her gaze slowly panned over the room, then the friends all staring at her with either wide eyes or concerned looks, until it finally settled on Redheart.

“Oh…” With a heavy sigh, Rainbow flopped her head back on the pillow, took a deep, long breath, and then slowly opened her eyes fully, only to stare listlessly up at the ceiling. “Hey, Redheart. So, what’s the damage?”

“Nice to see you too, Rainbow.” Redheart looked back down at the clipboard. “According to Princess Twilight and Natalya, the first set of your injuries came from crashing into a large pile of brambles at Ghastly Gorge. That explains the numerous cuts that were all over your body. Fortunately, none of them were deep and were all easily treated. Then there’s the part where you were struck by a quarray eel, which is responsible for most, if not all, of your more grave injuries.”

Rainbow winced. “Y-yeah, I remember trying to fly through their nest. Guess that didn’t work out too well. All I remember was that my body was hurting all over, and my wings weren’t doing too hot. All of a sudden, there was a lot of pain—I think it started on my left side—right before everything went dark.”

“The left side is where the quarray eel hit you, which matches up to what the doctors saw when they were operating on you. You were in a frightful state when you were brought in, but the good news is that we were able to treat all of your injuries so that you’ll eventually make a full recovery.”

“Glad to hear that, Redheart,” Rainbow said with a sigh of relief, only to pause as she glanced over her battered body, her gaze lingering on her bound left foreleg and wing. “So, uh, how long exactly until that full recovery?”

“Well, your right side managed to escape any serious injuries, so that part of you should be fine with a few days of rest. Your left side however… To put it simply, you’ve broken a number of bones, including ones in both of your legs and the wing. The doctors’ work combined with Zecora’s potions have helped a great deal in mending them, but I’m afraid that it’s going to be a week before you can walk on your own, and it will probably be close to a month before you’ll be able to fly like you normally do.”

The news of Rainbow being out of commission for so long made Natalya grimace, but noone noticed because they were all busy with their own expressions of sympathy or concern as they watched Rainbow groan loudly.

“Great… Just great…” Rainbow grumbled.

“Sorry, Rainbow, but we fixed you up the best we could,” Redheart stated. “The rest of it has to be left for your body to heal on its own.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know…” Rainbow mumbled.

“Is there anything you need right now?”

“Other than something that would get me out of here sooner? No, not really.”

“You’ll survive, Rainbow. You’re a tough one,” Redheart said with a smile. “Anyway, I’m sorry to say, but I do have to leave right now. I really need to go see some of my other patients. I’ll be back to check up on you later though, but for now, I’ll leave you to your friends. I’m sure that you all have a lot to talk about.”

Redheart hung the clipboard at the foot of the hospital bed as she made her way out, but when she reached the door, she stopped and looked back at the bedded pegasus. “And for the record, Rainbow, I’m glad to see that you’re okay. Call me if you need anything.”

Rainbow offered a small smile back. “Thanks, Redheart.”

As soon as Redheart left and closed the door behind her, Rainbow turned her attention to her friends. “Hey, guys.”

“Oh, Rainbow. We were so worried about you!” Fluttershy exclaimed rushing over to Rainbow’s side. She even used her wings to hover over the bed so that she could scan every inch of the injured mare’s body. “Are you hurt anywhere? Do you need anything? Is there anything I could do to make you more comfortable? I could fluff your pillow, if you want.”

“Easy, Fluttershy,” Rainbow replied with a chuckle. “Just like I told Redheart, I don’t need anything right now. I’m bummed that I’m going to be stuck here for a while, but otherwise, I’m fine. No need to fuss over me.”

“You sure gave all of us a fright, sugarcube,” Applejack remarked. “You really oughta be more careful.”

“Yeah, first the Abysmal Abyss and now this? You sure like to get yourself hurt,” Gilda teased with a grin, but it quickly dropped into a frown. “Seriously though, we just fixed things between us. I don’t want to lose you again.”

“Yeah, sorry, guys,” Rainbow apologized, sighing heavily. “I didn’t mean to worry you all.”

“It’s cool. It’s actually not as bad as you think,” Spike remarked. “Sure, it was rough at the start, but Redheart kept us updated while they were treating you, and we all calmed down when she told us that you were going to be fine. Well, most of us did. Natalya was a nervous wreck pretty much the entire time.”

Natalya glared at Spike and raised her arm to slap the dragon upside his head, but she froze when Rainbow asked, “Really, Natalya?”

“I, um, yeah, I was,” Natalya answered as she turned back to Rainbow. “You were really hurt, dude, and it freaked me out. I mean, only Twilight and I were there to see what happened, and for a while, things looked really bad.”

“Oh yeah, you guys were there at Ghastly Gorge. I do remember waking up a bit to see you guys saying stuff to me, although that part is still pretty blurry. What were you two doing there? Lightning didn’t want any of my friends there.”

“We know, Rainbow, and we’re sorry for going behind your back, but Natalya and I were worried something might happen,” Twilight explained. “We got to the gorge some time before you and Lightning arrived, and I used an invisibility spell on the both of us so that we can watch without disturbing you two. For the most part though, it was Natalya who kept an eye on you since she could keep up with you guys.”

“Yeah, a whole lot of good I did,” Natalya grumbled in a bitter tone.

“So, uh, what exactly happened when… you know…” Rainbow asked.

“What’s the last thing that you remember?” Twilight asked.

“Um…” Rainbow closed her eyes and gingerly rubbed her head with her free forehoof. “Yeah, I remember that I was really struggling with the quarray eels. I guess that the explosion of pain was when the eel knocked me out. I then remember you guys looking down at me, but after that, I got nothing.”

Natalya sighed heavily. “It’s my fault you got hurt. After Lightning pushed you into the brambles, I switched to flying closer to her to make sure that she wouldn’t mess with you again. That was a huge mistake. I was so angry because she hurt you that I didn’t think that I should’ve been watching you instead. By the time I noticed that you were in trouble, I was too far away for me to save you from the quarray eel. You… you were knocked unconscious, and as you were freefalling, another eel tried to eat you. Luckily, Twilight was able to save you with her magic… while all I could do was watch…”

“Natalya…” Twilight said in a soft, comforting tone. “It’s not your fault. You did the best you could, and when Rainbow did get hurt, you carried her from Ghastly Gorge, all the way to the hospital. Not everypony could carry an injured pony that far of a distance, and I doubt even fewer, if any, could’ve done it at your speeds. Rainbow would’ve been in a much worse condition if you hadn’t brought her here so fast.”

“Yeah, you did awesome, Natalya,” Rainbow agreed, smiling at the griffon. “I don’t blame you at all. It’s kind of my fault for pushing myself too hard, but really, it was Lightning who screwed me over in the first place. Speaking of, you guys know what happened to her after my, uh, accident?”

“After Natalya left to fly you to the hospital, I caught up with Lightning and explained what happened,” Twilight replied. “She ended up coming to the hospital with me, and she probably would be right here in this room too, but, um…”

“I punched her in the face,” Natalya bluntly finished.

Rainbow briefly paused. “Wait, really?”

“Yep, broke her nose. She had to get a doc to fix herself up,” Natalya continued with a proud grin.

“Whoa…” Rainbow uttered, staring at the griffon with wide eyes. A moment later, she dropped her gaze and let out a huge sigh. “You know, a part of me thinks that she totally deserved it, and it’s totally awesome that you would do that for me. On the other hoof though, I just can’t help but think how much it sucks that she actually did this to me. Where is she now? Is she still getting her nose fixed?”

“Nope,” Gilda answered with a scowl. “Redheart told us that the sleazeball snuck out after she got patched up.”

“Oh…” Rainbow took a few moments of thought before slowly shaking her head. “Well, whatever. After what she did, I’m not going to chase after her anymore. I got plenty of much cooler friends right here. Speaking of, I really should thank you, Twilight and Natalya, for saving my butt.”

“Anytime, Rainbow,” Twilight answered. “You’re our friend, and we don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

“Same here,” Natalya agreed. “And with all of the things that you’ve done for me, it’s about time I pay you back.”

“Heh, well, I think you paid me back a ton of times over,” Rainbow said with a chuckle, however, her mirth quickly faded into a frown. “Too bad that I’m out of commission for a while. I’m not going to be able to help you with Sonic Rainboom training, and it’s the best way I could think of to return the favor.”

Natalya’s eyes widened. “I… I didn’t even think about that.”

“With how crazy today was, I don’t blame you. Still, I’m really sorry that I screwed up your training schedule. I know that I’ve convinced you to not go at it so hard, but it’s been a while since we actually done a proper training session, and now it’s going to be even longer.”

“I…” Natalya went quiet as her gaze dropped to the ground.

“Natalya, you okay there? You’re not mad about the training thing, are you,” Rainbow cautiously asked, a bit of fear in her tone.

Taking a deep breath, Natalya replied, “Rainbow, I’m not going to lie. It does suck that I’ll have to put off Rainboom training for a long time, and yeah, this will likely set me back, but you know what?” Raising her gaze back to Rainbow, she stated, “I’m alright with that.”

“Wait, really?” Rainbow uttered, her eyes widened with surprise. “I know how much you want to do the Sonic Rainboom, and I feel terrible that we have to put it off for so long. Maybe when I get out of here, I still can do something to help like coaching or something from the ground.”

Natalya shook her head. “Nope. What I want is for you to concentrate on getting better, and not just because I want you flying with me during training.”

“Are you sure? I just thought—”

“Seriously, Rainbow. I’m kind of surprised that I’m saying this too, but I really do prefer you getting better instead of my training. In fact, I’m gonna be by your side until you get all better, just like you did for me. Well, except for the part where you left for Canterlot, but, uh, you get the idea.”

“Wow…” Rainbow uttered, her mouth slightly agape with amazement. “I, I don’t know what to say, Natalya. Thank you.”

A chorus of “D’awws” made the two flyers look to the side to see all of the ponies staring at them with wide smiles.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Natalya grumbled. “Magic of friendship and all that junk. Now, do you guys mind? We’re talking over here.”

Natalya rolled her eyes as the audience chuckled but also complied as they backed away to the other side of the room. Turning back to Rainbow, she continued, “Anyway, I’ve been meaning to ask you. Do you remember any part of me carrying you to the hospital?”

“Um…” Rainbow scrunched up her face in thought. “A bit, I think. Okay, yeah, I do sort of remember a part where you were holding me close to your body.”

“Do you remember a part where you were going to tell me something?”

“Uh… Honestly, no. That part is really hazy.”

“Well, you didn’t say much before you passed out. You did say how you were glad that I was there and that you liked hanging out with me.” Natalya shrugged. “Whatever, it’s no big deal. I was just curious. You were probably going to say how we’re such awesome friends or something like that.”

“Hmm…” Rainbow went quiet for a few moments, mulling over the memory, until suddenly, her eyes shot wide open.

“Oh…” Rainbow quietly drawled.

“Oh?” Natalya parroted. “So you remember it now?”

“Uh, maybe?” Rainbow replied, nervously grinning as her gaze shifted away from the griffon.

“Rainbow, are you feeling alright?” Fluttershy piped up, immediately rushing back to the bedside. “You’re starting to sound a bit funny. Oh, you’re even getting red in the face.” She then gently touched her forehoof to the injured pegasus’s forehead and gasped softly.

“Oh dear,” Fluttershy uttered, her brow furrowing with worry. “You’re getting a bit warm. Are you getting a fever?”

“N-no, I’m fine, Fluttershy, honest. I, uh… It’s just…” Rainbow whimpered and tried to slide more of her body under the blankets.

“Oh no! You must be feeling cold, and you’re getting even redder, Rainbow,” Fluttershy stated. “I think you are coming down with something. Let me go get Redheart.”

“No!” Rainbow yelped. “Fluttershy, really, I’m not feeling sick. It’s just, uh, it’s kind of embarrassing.”

“Embarrassing? Oh, is it that rash you have on your—”

“No! It’s not that!”

“Perhaps I could take a little guess as to Rainbow’s dilemma?” Rarity ventured, suddenly appearing by Fluttershy’s side to look down at the still-red pegasus. “Rainbow darling, forgive me, but I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation you and Natalya were having. Might I venture that your flustered state has something to do with answering Natalya’s question?”

“Uh, maybe?” Rainbow replied, defaulting to her previous answer.

“I’ll take that as a yes then,” Rarity remarked as she adopted a grin of predatory glee. “Rainbow dear, would you perhaps be more comfortable if the rest of us stepped out so that you could have some private time with Natalya?”

“Um, that… that might help, yeah…” Rainbow meekly answered.

Somehow, Rarity’s grin grew even wider as a high-pitched squeal of excitement emitted from her. Before anyone could ask if she was alright, Rarity quickly rounded up the others and herded them towards the door.

“Come along, everypony,” Rarity ordered without actually making it sound like an order. “Let’s give these two some privacy. I’m sure that the two of them have a lot to talk about.”

The whole time, Natalya had been watching Rarity, her eyebrow rising higher and higher with skepticism as the fashionista questioned Rainbow and ushered everyone else out of the room. Natalya’s eyebrow reached the peak of her physical and suspicion limitations when Rarity, the last one of their friends to exit the room, turned her head and gave a not-so-subtle eye wink before closing the door behind her, leaving the griffon alone with Rainbow.

“Yep, that’s not weird at all,” Natalya murmured as she turned back to Rainbow. “So, we’re alone now, thanks to Rarity, and it seems like she knows what you’re going to say to me.”

“What?! No! She couldn’t know…” Rainbow said with conviction, but a worried frown appeared a second later. “Could she?”

Natalya shrugged. “I dunno. It might help if you actually tell me what she might or might not know though.”

“Oh, right. Okay, well, um, it’s complicated… Like really complicated. It’s feelings stuff, so that automatically makes it a hundred times more tougher.”

“Don’t you tell me to be more talkative with others about things, including my feelings?”

“Yeah, yeah, I do, but just because I tell to be more open about that stuff doesn’t mean that I’m good at it. Just… just give me a moment to work this out.”

“You know, if this is so tough for you, maybe you can do this later,” Natalya suggested. “As much as I want to know what’s going on, you did kind of just woke up from an operation.”

“No, no, I got this… I think… It’s probably the meds or something, but now I feel like I really need to get this off my chest.” Taking a deep breath, Rainbow slowly pushed herself into an upright sitting position to look directly at the griffon.

“Natalya… I think… I… like you,” Rainbow finally stated slowly.

Natalya blinked several times and then her eyelids lowered halfway into a deadpan expression. “Okay, since it’s pretty much well-known that you like me, considering that we’re friends and all, I’m gonna assume that there’s more to what you just said. Otherwise, that was a very disappointing finish after all of that build up.”

“I’m working on it!” Rainbow snapped, followed by a groan. Taking another deep breath, she tried again and said, “Okay, I got this… Natalya… I think… I might like… like… you.”

Again, Natalya blinked a few times. “Okay… So, uh, still learning the friendship stuff, but what does it mean when you, um, double like someone?”

“Haha, very funny,” Rainbow remarked dryly with a small smile. The smile was soon extinguished when Natalya just stared at her blankly. “Wait, you’re not kidding? You really don’t know what I’m talking about?”

“Dude, you’ve been to Griffonstone. Not a lot of opportunity to learn about friendship or all of their special words or phrases.”

Rainbow groaned. “So after all that work, I still haven’t gotten through to you?”

“I’m sorry that my lack of friendship knowledge is making it hard for you to talk about your feelings,” Natalya snarkily replied, her words oozing with sarcasm.

This only made Rainbow groan again but louder. “Alright, fine. I guess here I go again. This is so stupid… I can’t believe you’re making me do this a third time. You know, I’m going to blame you if—”

“Just spit it out already!” Natalya barked.

“IthinkImightbestartingtoloveyou!” Rainbow words suddenly came out at a speed that only Pinkie could match.

Natalya took a few moments to process Rainbow’s response, carefully dissecting the mashed sentence word by word. When she finally interpreted Rainbow’s rushed response, she slowly blinked. “Huh… Rarity was right.”

“Wait, what?! She really did know?!” Rainbow cried out.

“Sort of. She had a hunch that you were developing feelings for me. Said that we were hanging out together a lot and that you were doing a bunch of stuff for me.”

“Oh… So it’s more like a lucky guess then.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you probably already figured it out, but Rarity is really into the romantic stuff. When she’s not fantasizing about her perfect prince, she’s pairing up everypony in Ponyville in her head. I guess after coming up with all sorts of crazy relationships in her head, she was bound to get something right.”

Squirming a bit in her bed and dropping her gaze to the blankets, Rainbow continued in a quieter voice, “So, um, yeah, I said it. I really like you, Natalya. It’s weird how we were pretty much at each other’s throats when we first met, but you’ve really grown on me. I look forward to every time we hang out, and whenever we go flying together, it’s as fun and exciting, if not moreso, as flying with the Wonderbolts. I admire your dedication to improving yourself, even if it does make you annoying and stubborn at times, and I also like how you’re not afraid to say what’s on your mind. You’re fun to hang with, and I guess that things just kept growing until, well, I realize that I started to see you as more than a friend. You know that I have a special connection with the girls, but I really do feel like I have a different but also special connection with you.”

Taking a deep breath, Rainbow glanced up at the griffon. “So, uh, what I’m trying to say is, do you wanna be my mare, er, griffon, uh, girl, girlfriend?”

“Uh…” Though Natalya had been keeping the notion in the back of her mind, thanks to Rarity, she did not expect that the fashionista would not only be right, but that it would be so soon. “I… I don’t know, Rainbow.”

“Oh…” Rainbow uttered dejectedly as her shoulders sagged and her gaze fell down to the bed blanket.

“I’m not saying no,” Natalya clarified, grabbing the pegasus’s attention again. “I just… I don’t know. I definitely do love spending time with you too, not to mention that I’m grateful for all of the stuff that you do for me. Thing is, I’m still getting used to friendship. You’re the first friend I ever made. Before, I didn’t have to really care about anything but my flying, but now that we’re pretty much best friends…

Natalya sighed. “When you got hit by that quarray eel at Ghastly Gorge, I’ve never been so scared in my entire life. I… I honestly thought that I was going to lose you, and that thought chills me to the bone. Even when I safely brought you here, I was all messed up from worrying about you. Caring sucks, man.”

Rainbow chuckled. “Sorry that we’re such good friends.”

Natalya briefly smiled before it faded a moment later. “Yeah, well, I don’t think that I’ve ever felt worse in my entire life like today, and that includes the crashes I’ve been in. At least then only a part of my body feels like crud.”

“So you regret that we became friends?” Rainbow asked quietly.

Natalya scoffed. “Of course not. While today sucked hard, it’s only one day. I definitely don’t regret all of the good times we had together. If anything, today has shown that I care for you… a lot. But do I care because I see you as a good friend, or is it because I’m also starting to get into the love stuff? How am I supposed to tell? How do you know that you’re falling in love with me?”

“And another thing, if I do agree to be your girlfriend, I’m pretty much also agreeing to stay here in Ponyville. It’s not a bad thing, of course, but you do remember what we talked about when I crashed at your place, right? My flying stuff would have to take a backseat. I do like it here in Ponyville, and I like doing stuff with you and the rest of our friends, but at the same time, it’s literally a huge life-changing decision.”

“Natalya, I get it,” Rainbow stated with a smile. “You don’t have to give me your decision right now. I actually already consider it a win when you said that you care about me so much and that you didn’t turn me down. You can tell me what your answer is whenever you’re ready.”

“Yeah, well. I’ll tell you one thing though: all of this friendship and caring stuff sure is making it harder for me to make decisions, and I don’t like it. So here’s what I want to do. I’m not ready to say we’re girlfriends or whatever you want to call ourselves, but I know that so far, all the new stuff you got me try, sometimes against my will, and I usually end up happier because of it.”

“Are you saying what I’m thinking you’re saying?” Rainbow asked hopefully, a gleeful smile rapidly growing on her face.

“Like I said, we’re not girlfriends yet, but I’m willing to keep an open mind, and we can do stuff that will maybe help me decide what I want to do.”

“Awesome!” Rainbow cheered. Her body moved to throw up her hooves in the air in victory, however, her legs barely budged, and instead, her face twisted in pain. “Ow! Ow! Ow!”

Rolling her eyes but also smiling, Natalya stated, “But before those stuff can happen, you probably should get better first.”

“Heh, well, just another reason for me to get out of here as soon as possible, right?” Rainbow replied, giving a smile of her own, although a pained one due to her movements a moment ago.

“And to help me with the Sonic Rainboom,” Natalya reminded.

Rainbow chuckled. “Of course. I’m looking forward to spending more time with you, Natalya.”

Chapter 28: Visitors

Equestria shook.

Or at least, that was what it used to sound like until Natalya had gotten more familiar with Rainbow’s deafening snores.

Roused awake by the noisy slumber of her best friend, Natalya yawned softly and slowly opened her eyes. Though the place was dim due to the lights being off, there was some sunlight filtering in through the nearby curtained window, allowing her to see that she was in the hospital room that Rainbow was recovering in. Glancing at the wall clock told her that it was pretty early in the morning, around the time that she usually woke up to get in some exercise before she started the day.

Another loud snore made Natalya turn her head to see Rainbow snoozing away in her hospital bed, reminding her that she ought to check on the injured pegasus.

After getting out of bed, Natalya stretched her limbs and slowly rocked her head side to side, having to spend a few extra moments to work out the kinks in her body. While it was convenient that the hospital provided a portable bed for her to sleep on, it was not exactly the comfiest, especially since she was getting used to the one back in her room at Twilight’s castle. Nonetheless, it was her choice to spend the night, and a little discomfort was well worth the opportunity to keep Rainbow company.

Quietly walking over to Rainbow’s bedside, Natalya looked over the pegasus’s body, her gaze lingering on the bandages covering the mare, especially the ones wrapped around the broken wing. Memories of yesterday’s race still lingered in her mind, and she still felt some guilt that she did not keep a better eye on Rainbow during the race. However, what was done was done, and she shoved the harrowing thoughts into the back of her mind. She was here to help Rainbow recover, and she could not do that if she wallowed in the past.

Hearing the room’s door, Natalya swiftly turned to see Gilda quietly peek her head through the slightly ajar door.

Gilda first observed the sleeping Rainbow for a moment before she switched her attention to Natalya and mouthed the question ‘How is she?’

Natalya nodded as she went over to the door, and the two griffons went out to the hallway.

“She’s doing alright,” Natalya explained after closing the door behind her. “Some of her injuries were acting up last night, but it didn’t seem too bad. They quickly went away when Redheart gave her some painkillers. Other than that, nothing really happened.”

“Well, at least it sounds like it’s nothing serious,” Gilda replied. “How about you? How are you holding up?”

“I’m doing fine.”

The sound of Rainbow’s snores came once again, the closed door doing little to muffle the blaring noise.

“Well, fine for the most part,” Natalya added with a sigh. “Fortunately, she doesn’t do this much, and it only started a few minutes ago.”

Gilda snickered. “Better you than me. So, what did you two do to pass the time?”

“Things are a bit boring here, but at least Rainbow and I got some Daring Do books from the hospital book cart to help pass the time.”

“I still find it hard that you of all griffons are now reading for fun,” Gilda teased, making Natalya roll her eyes.

“Yeah, yeah… Not like there’s a lot of stuff to do with Rainbow stuck in bed.”

“Fair enough. So you guys just read books all night? Nothing else?”

“Uh, I guess that we spent a bit of time talking about random stuff too.” Natalya’s eyebrow rose up. “What? Were you expecting something else?”

Gilda shrugged. “I dunno. Rarity said that you and Rainbow would be bonding.”

“Seriously? Bonding? What exactly did she mean by that?”

Gilda shrugged again. “Her words not mine. It’s also why she insisted that we all let you stay the night alone with Rainbow when you offered. She’s been acting all weird since the two of you mentioned that you were girlfriends. I mean, we’re all happy for you two and all, but she’s kind of taking it to a creepy level.”

Natalya snorted in amusement. “Rainbow did say that Rarity was really into the whole romance thing. She’s probably trying to push us to get more lovey-dovey or something like that. Don’t forget that Rainbow and I aren’t exactly girlfriends. We’re just aware that we’re interested in each other, and we’re taking our time to see where things go, especially since Rainbow’s stuck here.”

“I get it, and I’m cool with whatever makes you two happy. Gotta admit though, I think that it would be pretty sweet if you two really did get together.”

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” Natalya looked over the other griffon and felt a twinge of disappointment when she saw that Gilda came empty-handed.

“Looking for something?” Gilda asked, noticing Natalya’s searching gaze.

“Was hoping you brought some stuff to eat,” Natalya grumbled. “Food here sucks. Whatever. Just pick some stuff up from Sugarcube Corner for me and Rainbow when you can.”

“Don’t worry. I got you.” Gilda slightly raised her right wing, revealing a pink box that has become a familiar sight during their stay in Ponyville. She chuckled when she noticed Natalya’s eyes immediately locking on to the container.

“You’re not pulling my leg, right?” Natalya asked.

“It’s legit leftovers from Sugarcube Corner,” Gilda remarked, handing the container to Natalya. “I remembered how much you were complaining about the hospital food when you were forced to stay here, and I figure that Rainbow is the same.”

“Was starting to wonder what Rainbow and I were gonna do for breakfast,” Natalya said after accepting the boxed treats. “Glad that you solved that problem.”

“I’m glad to just be the food delivery griffon to you,” Gilda commented dryly. “Anyway, I probably should get going now. I just wanted to come check on you two before I head over to Sugarcube Corner.”

‘Sure, see you then, and don’t forget to bring more stuff later.”

Gilda rolled her eyes and turned. However, she stopped a few steps down the hallway and looked back. “Hey, Natalya? I want to say thanks.”

“Thanks? For what?”

“For saving Rainbow.”

“Uh, you’re welcome?” Natalya tilted her head in confusion. “Not sure why you’re thanking me though. I mean, it’s not like I was going to sit back and do nothing.”

“I know, it’s just…” Gilda sighed. “Look, I didn’t know it back then, but Rainbow really left her mark on me when we went to Junior Speedsters together. It was the first time I really felt a connection with someone, which you know is pretty unheard of for us Griffonstone griffons. Even after years apart, I still thought of her, which eventually got me to come here to Ponyville to visit her. You know how things go from there, so we’ll skip that part.

“What I’m trying to say is that Rainbow got the ball rolling for all of this friendship business. As cheesy as it is, you and I both know that we’re much better off with it in our lives. I can’t imagine how screwed up I would be if it weren’t for her. She’s my first friend and also special to me, so yeah, I care for her a lot, just like you obviously do.”

Natalya nodded. “Yeah, no denying it here. Rainbow really did change our lives. I can’t thank her enough for all that she had done for me.”

“Same here,” Gilda agreed. “Anyway, yeah, enough with the sappy stuff. I really do need to go if I don’t want to be late. Pinkie and I will drop by later after we close shop. And yes, we’ll be sure to bring more things for you to stuff your fat face.”

“You better not forget. See ya, Gilda,” Natalya bade and then headed back into the room.

Eager to dig into the pastries, she quickly made her way over to one of the hospital’s moveable tables and placed the treasured box down. However, right when she was about to open the container and go on a sugar binge, she heard Rainbow moan softly and started moving, prompting her to move to the bed to see the pegasus slowly open her eyes.

“Hey,” Rainbow said in a soft and weary tone.

“Hey,” Natalya greeted right back. “Did I wake you up?”

“It’s cool. I heard you talking out there earlier. Was that Gilda?”

“Yeah, she wanted to see how we’re doing before she went to work at Sugarcube Corner. She also dropped off some leftover pastries. You hungry?”

“Starving. The food here sucks.”

“Don’t I know it,” Natalya said with a chuckle. “Alright, let me help you up really quick so that you can eat.”

Natalya went over to a nearby cupboard and grabbed some spare pillows from inside it. Coming back to Rainbow’s right side, she slipped a hand behind the pegasus’s back and gently raised her up. Despite her caution, Natalya frowned in concern when she heard Rainbow hiss in pain, and she swiftly placed the extra pillows at the head of the bed so that Rainbow could lie back into a sitting position.

“You alright?” Natalya promptly asked. “Want me to ask Redheart for some painkillers?”

“Nah, I’m fine. Just kind of stiff from getting up.”

“If you say so,” Natalya mumbled, unconvinced. Regardless of her doubts, she went ahead to pick up and open Gilda’s delivery, revealing an assortment of half a dozen pastries, all unique and looking mouthwatering delicious. She flipped the box around to present the treats to Rainbow, letting her friend have first pick.

Rainbow slowly leaned forward to look at the baked goods, but despite not making anymore pained noises, Natalya could see the winces the pegasus was trying to suppress. She debated on asking how Rainbow was doing again, but she decided to at least wait until they had eaten first. She remained silent while Rainbow picked out a chocolate-glazed donut with her forehooves and then sat back onto the pillows.

Natalya placed the box back on the table and chose an apple strudel for herself. Biting into the pastry, sweetness flooded her taste buds, and she realized how hungry she actually was. With everything that had happened yesterday, she hardly had the time or will to eat much, and now her stomach was demanding her to make up for it. Before she knew it, the rest of the strudel was wolfed down in a matter of moments, and she promptly picked out a second pastry to make up for the skipped meals. Half of a muffin was demolished by her ravenous hunger, and she would have easily finished off the other half if it were not for a glance over at Rainbow that made her pause.

Rainbow had only taken a small bite out of her donut, and the reason why quickly became obvious. Staring at her friend, Natalya watched as Rainbow sluggishly moved the donut up to her mouth with her hooves to take another pitiful bite, the movements causing winces of pain to form on the pegasus’s face.

“Seriously, dude. Are you okay?” Natalya asked, putting her half-eaten muffin down on a napkin to rush to Rainbow’s side.

“I’m alright, Natalya. Don’t worry,” Rainbow protested. “Like I said, I’m just stiff from sleeping so much.”

“I would believe you if you weren’t going through the same thing last night. You know that the painkillers the docs gave you while you were being treated were wearing off, and now it looks like the dose that Redheart gave you is wearing off. Come on, Rainbow. I just want to help, and I’m not going to stop bugging you until you let me.”

Rainbow sighed in defeat. “Okay, I’ll admit that it does hurt a bit when I move, but really, it’s not that much. It’s actually better than yesterday.”

“Still, if you're having this much trouble just to eat, you need some more painkillers. I’m going to go get Redheart.”

“Ugh, fine. At least let me finish eating first. Need to get some sugar in me before I can take those nasty pills again.”

“Fine by me.” Natalya quickly reached forward and plucked Rainbow’s donut right out of the pegasus’s hooves.

“Hey!” Rainbow cried out indignantly.

“I said that I was going to help you and that’s what I’m going to do,” Natalya explained as she brought the donut close to Rainbow’s mouth.

“Seriously? You’re going to feed me?” Rainbow protested. “I’m not a foal, Natalya.”

“You said it yourself. It’s a literal pain for you to move. You need the rest, so shut up and eat.”

“It’s not that bad, Natalya!” Rainbow protested with a pout. “I can eat fine by myself.”

“No, you can’t! You need help, so open your mouth, or I’ll do it for you!” Natalya growled. She shoved the doughnut against Rainbow’s mouth, but the pegasus stubbornly refused to open up. Another shove smeared some chocolate onto the hair around Rainbow’s lips as the pegasus refused to budge, making Natalya groan in frustration and bury her face in her free hand.

Realizing that she was going about this the wrong way, Natalya took a deep breath, and said in a calm tone, “Look, Rainbow, I’m sorry if I was getting a bit rough there. I get that this is pretty weird for you, but guess what? This is weird for me too. I never thought that I would be hand-feeding a pony, but here I am. This is probably the most uncool thing that I’ve ever done, but I’m doing it anyway because I care about you. I want you to get better, and I’ll do whatever it takes to do that. So can you stop being such a loser and let me help you?”

“I…” Rainbow sighed. “Yeah, I’m sorry too, Natalya. You’re right. It’s awkward and pretty embarrassing to have you feed me. It’s just, despite ending up in here a bunch of times, it always sucks. I hate that I can’t fly or even get out of bed. It makes me all restless and feeling helpless, so you having to feed me just makes it worse.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Natalya replied. “I was frustrated too when I got stuck here after my crash, but it was bearable since you were around to help keep me from being bored out of my mind. Now, I can return the favor.”

“So all of this is just paying me back, huh?” Rainbow said with a smirk.

Natalya scoffed lightly. “You know that it’s more than that.”

“Yeah, I do. Thanks for taking care of me, Natalya. I’m glad that you’re here.”

“You can thank me by finally opening that big mouth of yours,” Natalya ordered, holding up the doughnut. This time, Rainbow complied, allowing Natalya to position a part of the pastry inside of the pegasus’s mouth so that she could take a bite.

And that was when the door suddenly swung wide open, and a frantic Scootaloo came rushing into the room.

“Rainbow! I heard what happened and… uh…” The panic in both Scootaloo’s voice and running came to a stop, her mouth hanging open in confusion as she beheld the scene before her.

Natalya still was holding the donut up to Rainbow’s mouth, the pegasus in the midst of taking a bite of the offered pastry. The two of them were frozen while they stared at the filly with wide eyes.

“Um, are you guys in the middle of something or…” Scootaloo cautiously asked a moment later.

“Just helping Rainbow with her breakfast,” Natalya explained, getting over the shock of the sudden intrusion. She focused back on the pegasus in question. “Come on, Rainbow. I went through all this trouble just to get to this point, so hurry up and eat. The faster you take a bite, the faster you can talk to Scootaloo.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes but complied by finishing her bite, taking a decent-sized chunk of the donut and prompting Natalya to put the leftover pastry aside on another napkin on the table.

“So, uh, is Rainbow alright?” Scootaloo asked as she moved to the left side of the bed, planted her forelegs on the bed’s edge to let her stand up on her hindlegs, and looked over Rainbow’s
injuries.

“Rainbow is fine… relatively speaking,” Natalya explained. Noticing the chocolate on Rainbow’s face from before, she grabbed a spare napkin and wiped the stain away. This earned her an annoyed glare from the pegasus, which she returned with a gloating smirk.

“Does Rainbow have trouble eating or something?” Scootaloo inquired.

“Yep,” Natalya replied while Rainbow was still busy chewing the donut as fast as she could. “It’s pretty much a literal pain for her to move around right now.”

“So Rainbow is in that bad of a condition that she can hardly move?” Scootaloo asked worriedly.

“I’m fine, Scootaloo,” Rainbow managed to answer, her words slightly garbled by the food in her mouth. She took a moment to quickly finish chewing and swallow her food so that she could say clearly, “It’s actually not that bad, but Natalya was worried about me and insisted on helping me out. Sure, I’m covered in bandages, but I’m not in any danger.”

“Well, I guess it’s good that you’re at least feeling okay… mostly,” Scootaloo remarked, letting out a small sigh of relief. “Still, how did all of this happen?”

“Long story short, I was challenged to a race in Ghastly Gorge by my ex-partner from the Wonderbolt Academy, and well…”

“The idiot practically tackled Rainbow out of the air, causing her to crash,” Natalya finished. “Rainbow tried to finish the race, but it didn’t work out so well, as you can see.”

“Ex-partner? You mean Lightning Dust?” Scootaloo queried.

“You know her?” Natalya asked, a bit surprised.

“Rainbow went to train with the Wonderbolts. I’m her number one fan. You think that I wouldn’t make her tell me every single detail of how awesome that is?”

“Good point.”

“I just can’t believe that Lightning would do this to you,” Scootaloo said, looking over the bandages covering Rainbow’s body. “You made it sound like you were good friends, or at least in the first part of training.”

“I knew that she was angry at me, but I didn’t know she would go so far as to make me crash,” Rainbow remarked. “Good thing that Natalya and Twilight were there to bail me out. Natalya even flew all the way from Ghastly Gorge to this hospital in record time, all while carrying my injured body.”

“Really? That’s so cool!” Scootaloo cheered. “Er, the her flying part, not you being hurt and all.”

“I get it, Scoots,” Rainbow said before looking fondly at the griffon. “Natalya’s a super cool friend, and I’m glad that she’s here. In fact, she's even going to stick by my side to help me out while I’m stuck here.”

Feeling her cheeks warm slightly, Natalya had to look away from Rainbow for a second and clear her throat. “Yeah, well, glad to help and all. Just want you to get better soon.”

“It’s good to hear that you have somepony awesome looking after you,” Scootaloo commented. “But what about the Wonderbolts? Are they going to be okay without you?”

“Injuries and other stuff happen, even with the Wonderbolts, so that’s why they have reserves like me to fill in when needed,” Rainbow explained. “Me being out is not gonna affect them, especially since there’s plenty of other ponies who can fill a spot if needed.”

A grimace formed on Rainbow’s face. “Of course, Spitfire is not going to be happy when she finds out what happened. She’s definitely going to chew me out because I got injured doing something so reckless outside of Wonderbolt stuff.”

“Eh, it’s just a lecture. That doesn’t sound too bad,” Natalya remarked.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she also makes me scrub the mess hall from top to bottom with a toothbrush when I get better.”

“That sounds pretty bad.”

“Um, so how long will that take? The you getting better part?” Scootaloo cautiously asked while staring at Rainbow’s injured wing.

Rainbow sighed. “I’m going to be stuck in bed for about a week, and I probably won’t be able to fly for a month.”

“That long?! But that’s like forever!”

“Tell me about it,” Rainbow grumbled. “It’s going to suck so bad. How am I going to do anything when I’m going to be grounded for so long?”

Suddenly, Rainbow’s eyes shot wide open, and she stared directly at the filly. “Oh my gosh, Scoots! I won’t be able to do flying lessons with you. I’m so sorry!”

Scootaloo shook her head. “You think I care about that now? I can wait for like forever if I have to. You’re the best sorta-sister ever, whether you’re helping me fly or not. I just want you to get better, Rainbow.”

“Aww, come here, squirt,” Rainbow said, gently patting the bed with her left forehoof. As Scootaloo fully climbed onto the bed, Rainbow grunted uncomfortably and reached toward the filly with her left foreleg. She slowly and awkwardly pet Scootaloo’s head, but judging by the wide smile on the filly’s face, she did not mind the clumsy touch.

“Thanks again for being so thoughtful for me, Scoots,” Rainbow praised while she continued to sluggishly pet her. “I know how much you love those flying lessons with me, so I’ll be sure to make it up to you when I get better.”

“You know, I could probably substitute for Rainbow like I did when she had to go to Canterlot,” Natalya offered. “We had an alright time together last time, right?”

“Alright? We had an awesome time together!” Scootaloo chirped. However, she quickly calmed herself down with a deep breath. “But, uh, as cool as that sounds, you’re helping to take care of Rainbow, so you should definitely keep on doing that.”

“You sure? It should be easy to get one of our other friends to watch Rainbow for a bit.”

“I know, but I think that Rainbow needs somepony as awesome as you to help her get better quicker. And, um, the quicker she gets better, the quicker we could maybe do my flying thing with the three of us?”

“That sounds like a really neat idea. I’m totally cool with that,” Rainbow instantly agreed.

“I’m cool with that too,” Natalya agreed, offering the filly a small smile.

“Yes!” Scootaloo cheered, throwing her forelegs in the air in joy. “Also, I know that I said I was okay with not doing flying lessons in the meantime, but it’s fine if I came here and hung out with you guys every now and then, right?”

Rainbow chuckled. “Scoots, you’re welcome to see us anytime.”

“Should we maybe tell her about us?” Natalya asked after leaning in to speak in a quieter tone to Rainbow.

“Sure, if you’re alright with it,” Rainbow replied.

“Tell me about what?” Scootaloo asked.

“Well, even though crashing and being stuck here sucks a lot, there is one pretty cool thing that happened as a result of it,” Rainbow explained. “You see, I pretty much have been liking Natalya more and more recently, and because of what happened to me, I kind of blurted that out to her. Turns out that Natalya has been sort of feeling the same way so—”

“You two are marefriends now!?” Scootaloo shouted happily, her wings abuzz with excitement. “That’s so awesome!”

“Sorry to burst your bubble, kid, but that’s not quite right,” Natalya intervened. “It’s true that we’re interested in each other, but we’re not at that stage. This is unfamiliar territory for the both of us, so we want to take things slow to get used to things. There’s also some other complications that we want to take care of first, such as Rainbow’s injuries.”

“Oh, okay,” Scootaloo uttered, her previous excitement curbed down to a small smile. “I guess that’s cool too, but if you two really did become marefriends, it would be the awesomest thing ever. You two are like the best flyers, so it makes perfect sense that you guys belong together.”

“I can’t argue against the ‘best flyers’ part at least,” Natalya remarked.

“Wait, does this mean if you guys become marefriends, Natalya would be staying in Ponyville for good?”

Natalya and Rainbow glanced at each other for a moment before the griffon addressed Scootaloo, “That would likely be the case, which is actually one of the complications that we’re going to have work through.”

“Complications? You mean, you don’t really like it here?” Scootaloo asked with a forlorn frown, looking up at the griffon with big eyes.

“I-it’s not like that,” Natalya said, having to glance away at the saddened filly. “I do like it here, especially since you and Rainbow are here. It’s just, well, to put it simply, Griffonstone is still my home. I might complain about the place a lot, but there’s still stuff there for me there, if you get what I mean.”

“Oh… yeah, that makes sense,” Scootaloo mumbled, her body slightly slumping over as she sighed in disappointment.

Feeling twinges of guilt, Natalya sighed and moved to the other side of the bed where Scootaloo is so that she could pat the filly’s head. “Sorry, Scoots. I know that it’s not exactly what you wanted you to hear, but I can’t pretend we have everything figured out already. That’s why I said we need time to work things out. For now, let’s concentrate on helping Rainbow get better, okay?”

“Oh, uh, right,” Scootaloo replied, slightly perking back up. “But, um, for the record, I would really like it if you ended up staying here in Ponyville too.”

“Yeah, I had a feeling you would, kid.”

“Hey, Scoots,” Rainbow said. “It’s cool of you to visit and all, but don’t you have school today?”

“Oh, yeah, but I still have plenty of…” Scootaloo looked up at the wall clock and blanched.

“Igottagoseeyaguyslater!” Scootaloo shouted as she leapt off the bed and rocketed out of the room.

“Well, that happened,” Natalya remarked with a chuckle, going over to close the door and then returning to Rainbow’s side.

“Heh, yeah,” Rainbow agreed. “She’s a good kid, and I’m proud of her. Of course, you handled her really well too.”

“What can I say? Being nice to her helps me stay on your good side.”

Rainbow smirked. “Uh-huh, sure.”

“But yeah… Scootaloo…” Natalya mused. “There’s just something about her that I like. Guess that’s another point for me staying in Ponyville, huh?”

“It does. She really likes you, and it would make her sad if you did end up leaving.”

“You’re trying to guilt me into staying, aren’t you?”

“Sorry if I am, but I’m just stating the facts. Of course, if you did leave, she’ll understand, although it would be nice if you visited every now and then too.”

“Just another thing for me to figure out.” Natalya sighed and walked back over to the table. She picked up the half-eaten doughnut and brought it back to Rainbow, holding it in front of the pegasus’s mouth. “But whatever. That’s for later. Time for you to finish eating, and don’t be a baby this time.”

Fortunately for Natalya, Rainbow allowed herself to be fed without a fuss. At the same time, Natalya went on to finish the rest of her own muffin. It only took her a minute to eat her fill, finally satisfying her belly, but it took Rainbow a bit more time to slowly, but surely, get through the donut.

“Alright, you had your food, so I’m going to ask Redheart for some painkillers,” Natalya stated before walking over to the door.

“Ugh, do I have to?” Rainbow moaned.

“Yes, you do, so shut up and behave. I’ll be back soon.”

“Not like I’m going anywhere,” Rainbow answered sardonically.

As Natalya opened the door and was about to head toward the nurse’s station, she heard the sound of squeaky wheels coming from the other direction, and she turned to see none other than Redheart pushing a moveable tray full of various medical supplies and medicine.

“Oh, good morning, Natalya,” Redheart greeted when she noticed the griffon. “Is there anything you need? I was about to come check on you and Rainbow.”

“Hey, Redheart,” Natalya replied. “I was about to go look for you too. Rainbow could use some more pain killers.”

“That’s not a surprise. She had a big procedure yesterday, so she’s likely going to feel sore. Fortunately, the pain should get less and less over the next few days.” Redheart then pointed to a tiny medicine cup filled with a brown liquid. “There’s Rainbow’s painkiller. Do you want to give it to her yourself, or shall I?”

“I can do it,” Natalya said, picking up the medicine in her hand. “She’s being a bit fussy.”

“I would be surprised if she wasn’t. Do you need me to hold her down so that you can force-feed her medicine?”

Natalya chuckled. “No worries. I can do that myself if needed.”

Redheart let out a long, dramatic. “What a shame. I would’ve loved the distraction. Oh well. Seems like you have this handled, so I’ll let you two be for a while longer. I’ll check on Rainbow after I make my rounds.”

“Sure thing, Redheart, and thanks,” Natalya said before she went right back into the room.

“Rainbow, guess what I got,” Natalya called in a sing-song voice and a slightly mocking tone.

“Yeah, yeah, I heard you two,” Rainbow grumbled. With a sigh, she conceded, “Just dump it all in. I want to get this over with as soon as possible.”

Natalya chuckled as Rainbow slowly tilted her head up and opened her mouth wide. Walking over to the pegasus, Natalya raised the cup above Rainbow’s mouth and swiftly turned it upside-down, the medicine sloshing right into the pegasus’s mouth.

Rainbow grimaced when the painkillers entered her mouth, quickly swallowing her medicine.

“Blegh! It tastes worse than last night!” Rainbow complained after making a few gagging noises. “Hurry up and give me another bite of something!”

Stifling her mirth over Rainbow’s misery, Natalya quickly grabbed a cinnamon bun from the pink box and held it up to Rainbow, who promptly took a big bite out of the pastry.

“Did you want to finish the rest of this or save it for later?” Natalya asked while Rainbow chewed away at the sweet. Receiving a shake of the head, she placed the cinnamon bun aside and patiently waited for Rainbow.

After a moment, Rainbow swallowed and let out a sigh of relief. “Man, glad that we had those Sugarcube Corner stuff ready to get rid of the nasty in my mouth. I bet that Redheart is doing something to it just to spite me!”

“I mean, you did prank her,” Natalya pointed out.

“It wasn’t that bad… I think… If you ask me though, she just really knows how to keep a grudge.”

“Uh huh, sure,” Natalya replied flatly. “How does your body feel now?”

Rainbow looked down at her left foreleg, beginning to slowly move it up and down. “Doesn’t seem to be bothering me now. As disgusting as it is, guess I can’t deny how fast those painkillers work.”

“Also gives me a good show when you have to take it,” Natalya teased. “Since you’re feeling better now, do you want me to—”

A knock on the door interrupted Natalya. Guessing that it was one of their friends, she went over to greet whoever was visiting, but when she opened the door, she scowled when she saw that it was none other than Lightning Dust.

“You…” Natalya growled.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Lightning answered, glaring at the griffon. “Look, I know that things are tense between us, but I just want to—”

“Nope,” Natalya uttered, slamming the door in Lightning’s face.

“Was… was that who I think it is?” Rainbow warily asked.

“It’s no one. They got the wrong room,” Natalya firmly stated, only to sigh when the knocking on the door resumed. This time, the noise was closer to pounding. Opening the door again, she quickly spat out, “Go away,” and then tried to shut Lightning out again.

However, Lightning swiftly thrust her forehoof against the door, preventing Natalya from closing it. “Hey, I’m not trying to start a fight, but I’ll force myself in there if I have to.”

“Go ahead and try it,” Natalya dared, balling up her free hand into a fist. “I would love an excuse to—”

“Natalya!” Rainbow called from behind, making the griffon freeze.

“What, Rainbow?” Natalya flatly asked, keeping her glare on Lightning.

“Just let her speak, alright?” Rainbow requested, sitting up so that she could better see Lightning.

“Seriously?!” Natalya shouted in outrage. “You’re going to bother with her after what she did to you?!”

“Hey, I’m not exactly thrilled to see her either, but if she came back to see me after you scared her away yesterday, it might be something important. Besides, you’re here if she tries to pull anything.”

“For the record, I wasn’t scared away,” Lightning pointed out. “I just didn’t want to deal with all of your friends.”

“Yeah, sure, you tell yourself that,” Natalya sneered. She looked back at Rainbow then at Lightning again, glaring at the hated mare who glared right back at her. Finally, after a few tense moments, Natalya let out a loud frustrated groan.

“Ugh, fine, but she’s not getting in,” Natalya conceded, backing off slightly just enough so that Rainbow could see the intruding pegasus but still being able to easily block Lightning from entering.

“And you,” Natalya warned, thrusting a talon up to Lightning’s face, “you try anything funny, and I’ll make sure that you never fly again.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Lightning grumbled while she stepped to the side so that she could get a better look at Rainbow.

“So, Lightning, why are you here?” Rainbow asked.

“I… I just want to talk to you, okay?” Lightning answered.

“Oh, now you want to talk?” Rainbow bitterly replied. “Gee, I sure wish that you felt like doing that yesterday.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it…” Lightning grumbled, her gaze drifting off to the side.

For a while, Natalya and Rainbow waited for Lightning to continue, but the reckless pegasus remained silent and hardly moved except for stealing the occasional glance at Rainbow.

“Well, are you gonna say something, or are you going to make me stand here all day?” Natalya demanded, finally having enough of the uneasy silence.

“Don’t rush me!” Lightning barked. “This is really weird for me, alright?”

“And you being here is making it weird for me and Rainbow, so hurry up already, or I’m throwing you out!”

Lightning scowled at Natalya, however the goading spurred her on to finally focus back on Rainbow. “Look, that princess friend of yours told me what happened during the race, and I get that I pretty much made you crash when I bumped into you.”

“Bumped into her?” Natalya incredulously repeated. “You practically slammed Rainbow right out of the air! You definitely did make her crash!”

“It’s not like I was trying to do that! I just, you know, wanted her to get out of the way.”

“You sure got me out of the way,” Rainbow stated, resentment clear in her tone. “Right into the bramble and messing up my wing.”

“Again, it wasn’t my intention. It just happened. Also, why did you keep going after that? Your wing was busted up, and yet you tried to catch up to me. You wouldn’t be in such bad shape if you gave up right there.”

Rainbow sighed. “Be honest, Lightning. If you were in my position, if you crashed instead, would you have given up?”

Lightning was silent for a few moments before slowly shaking her head. “Probably not.”

“And that’s why I kept going. I knew that you wouldn’t be satisfied with our race unless I gave it my all.”

“You really thought that you could actually beat me with a busted wing?”

“I knew that winning was a long shot, but figured that if I kept pushing on, it would at least get your attention. Whether I won or went against the odds to finish the race, I had hoped it would prove that I wasn’t a phony to you, and you would finally calm down enough to talk to me. Guess it sort of worked since you’re here and all, although I’m not sure if it’s worth it now.”

“Definitely not,” Natalya chimed in.

“Are you kidding me?!” Lightning blurted out. “You’re so hung up about talking to me that you risked your life?! Are you crazy?!”

“Yes, she is,” Natalya stated. “Not just because of the race, but because she went through so much trouble for your worthless behind.”

“Would you shut up?!” Lightning shouted at Natalya. “I’m trying to get some answers here, and you’re not helping!”

“Well, excuse me for interrupting,” Natalya sarcastically replied. “In case you forgot, you’re not exactly welcome here.”

“Natalya, I get that you’re mad at Lightning, but could you please cool it with the insults?” Rainbow addressed the griffon before turning her attention back to Lightning. “What do you mean you needed to get answers, Lightning?”

“I’m not sure, to be honest,” Lightning admitted. “Look, I’m not blind. I know that I sometimes mess other ponies up with my awesome flying, but you know that I don’t let small stuff like that bother me.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen that plenty of times back at the Academy,” Rainbow noted.

“For some reason though, when you got hurt, instead of pushing on like I usually do, I got this weird feeling in this chest. I could not help but to stop and look back to see what happened to you.”

“You did?” Rainbow uttered in surprise. She looked to Natalya for confirmation.

Natalya begrudgingly nodded. “She did. Though only for a little bit before she started flying again.”

“Does that mean you were worried for me?” Rainbow asked, turning back to Lightning.

“Me? Worried?” Lightning scoffed. “Why would I be worried for you?”

“I mean, you’re here to see me despite having a very angry griffon breathing down your neck, and you just admitted that seeing me get hurt made you stop. We were partners at the Academy long enough for me to know that you stopping in the middle of a race is a weird thing for you to do. Maybe you really were worried or guilty over what happened to me. After all, we were pretty good friends at the beginning of Wonderbolt training.”

“Sure, we were buds, until you stabbed me in the back.”

Rainbow groaned. “Not this again. For the last time, I didn’t try to get you in trouble! I followed you because you were lead pony, even when I didn’t like how reckless you were. However, when you endangered my friends’ lives though, that’s when I had it. I couldn’t stand the Wonderbolts letting you do whatever you want, so I went to Spitfire to tell her I quit.”

Lightning scoffed. “Yeah, sure you did. And I bet that they begged you to stay, and that’s why you’re now on the reserve team. Face it, Rainbow. You were jealous that I was lead pony, so you went crying to Spitfire and placed all the blame on me!”

“That’s not what happened, Lightning! I could not stand being around your recklessness anymore! That’s why I wanted to quit! I didn’t know what Spitfire was going to do. I just wanted out!”

“You were just using me to get some pity points with Spitfire!”

“I did not! If anything, I tried to help you by asking Spitfire to give you a second chance!”

“Like I’m supposed to believe that!” Lightning yelled, taking a step forward as she bristled with rage. “You screwed me over with the Wonderbolts! You’re nothing but a liar and a phony!”

“You screwed yourself over!” Natalya suddenly shouted at Lightning, pushing the pegasus back. Having had enough of the accusations flung at Rainbow, she joined in the fray.

“You want to know the truth?” Natalya snarled. “I actually talked to Spitfire, and for some reason, she had high hopes for you. She knew that you were reckless and all, but she thought that you would learn to control yourself over time.”

“Really? She thought that I was that good?” Lightning asked, switching from glaring in annoyance at the griffon to putting on a smirk of pride.

“Wipe that dumb smile off your face. Sure, Spitfire liked you at first, but when she heard how you lost control of the tornado, she knew that she couldn’t ignore the damage that you caused.”

“So in other words, Spitfire changed her mind after Rainbow tattled on me. It’s just what I’ve been saying all along.”

Natalya growled. “Get it through your thick skull: you’re more trouble than you’re worth! You might be a decent flyer, but that doesn’t matter at all when everyone wanted you out of the Academy. Spitfire had ponies complaining about you left and right, and she regrets not cracking down on you sooner. Even if Rainbow did not show Spitfire how much of an idiot you are, someone else would’ve done it.”

“Hold on, Natalya,” Rainbow called. “When did Spitfire tell you all of this?”

“It was when you took me to the Wonderbolt Academy to try out some training over there,” Natalya explained. “While you were doing laps around the place, I had some alone time with Spitfire, and we ended up talking about the two of you.”

“Oh, so that’s why you two were acting kind of weird back then.”

“Yep. She pretty much didn’t want you to know that I got this info from her.” Natalya blinked. “Oh…”

“Really smooth, Natalya,” Rainbow teased with a chuckle.

“Uh, hello, I’m still here, remember?” Lightning reminded in an annoyed tone.

“Trust me. I would rather forget you if I could,” Natalya grumbled.

“Well, too bad. I’m not leaving until I get what I need.”

“What you need is to get your head to stop kissing your behind for a few minutes. You’re so full of yourself that you can’t see what’s going on around you.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Think about it: if Rainbow was trying to screw you over, why would she go through so much trouble to just talk to you?”

This got Lightning to pause for a bit. Eventually, she shrugged and asked, “I dunno. Why?

“It’s because Rainbow wasn’t trying to screw you over. She was actually trying to help you.”

Lightning scoffed. “This again? Okay, now I know that you’re lying.”

“Like I said earlier, Spitfire knew that she had to do a better job at keeping you in line, but Rainbow convinced her to take it easy on you. Of course, with you being the massive idiot that you are, you wasted all of those opportunities until Spitfire had no choice but to give you the boot.”

“It’s true, Lightning,” Rainbow chipped in. “I did think you were cool when we first met, and I do respect your drive to be the best. It’s the recklessness and winning at all costs attitude that bothered me. I really did quit when I went to talk to Spitfire. I told her that I was sick of her not doing anything to you, but I honestly wasn’t trying to get you into trouble. It just happened.”

“And before you say anything,” Natalya swiftly reminded, “Spitfire had other ponies, including her staff team, complaining about you too. You would’ve gotten in trouble anyway, so don’t go piling all the blame on Rainbow.”

“Lightning, I know that you’re mad at me, but after you got demoted and I cooled off from you know, putting my friends in danger, I really did try to help you out,” Rainbow continued. “Everything that Natalya said was true. I still wanted to be your friend and tried to help you be less reckless so that you could stay in the Wonderbolts. However, you kept doing what you want. It sucked to hear when you got kicked out, and it sucked even more when you left without even saying goodbye.”

“Yeah, I’m not much for goodbyes, and even if I was, you were the last pony I wanted to say it to,” Lightning grumbled. “How am I supposed to believe all of this? For all I know, the both of you are just spinning this crazy tale.”

“For the love of… Agh!” Natalya let out a frustrated roar and glowered at Lightning. “Get it through your thick skull! Rainbow was trying to help you! You’re just too busy thinking that you’re the best flyer and are never at fault when in reality, everything is your fault! No wonder everyone at the Academy wanted you gone!”

Pointing at the injured Rainbow, Natalya continued ranting, “Does this look like someone who is out trying to get you?! Rainbow risked her life just to get you to listen to her! For some insane reason, she cares about you despite the headache that you are, and yet all you do is blame her for no good reason except to hide the fact that you’re a massive failure! You want to know what I think about you looking back at Rainbow during the race? It’s because you know that you screwed up and hurt the one pony that actually doesn’t hate your guts!”

“I’m not a failure!” Lightning bellowed back. “I made it to the Academy perfectly fine all by myself, but the moment I got forced to team up with Rainbow, everything fell apart! She’s just a loser that dragged me down and—”

“Alright, I had enough of you!” Natalya barked, her wings flaring out in anger. She shoved Lightning, almost causing the pegasus to fall backwards as she stumbled back a few steps. “All you’re doing is make up stupid excuses! You’re too much of an idiot to accept the truth, so I’m done wasting my time with you. Get out.”

Baring her teeth in a growl, Lightning took a step toward the griffon. “Hey! I’m not—”

“Get out now or I will rip your wings off and shove them down that big mouth of yours!”

Lightning’s eyes widened for a second before narrowing down into a murderous glare.

Natalya slightly raised her right arm, flexing a fist as she readied to retaliate if Lightning decided to charge at her.

However, after a few tense seconds, Lightning turned around without a word and walked down the hallway.

Natalya glanced around, noticing a bunch of ponies, including Redheart, were all looking at her with open-mouthed shock, but she did not care as she went back into the room, slamming the door behind her.

“Natalya, are you…” Rainbow quietly spoke, but Natalya, huffing heavily with rage, ignored the pegasus for now and stomped over to the opposite corner of the room, turning her back to her friend.

With a frustrated growl, she punched the floor, cracking the tile where her first landed.

Again and again, Natalya continued to pound at the floor, though not as fierce as the initial blow, working out the fury induced by the infuriating Lightning. Slowly, but surely, the strength in her punches diminished until eventually, she sat down with a weary sigh, her body slouching over with exhaustion.

Natalya closed her eyes and kept on taking deep breaths, one right after another, until she felt the last bits of her anger fade away. Even though Rainbow had been silent the whole time, she could feel the gaze of her friend on her back.

“I’m fine, Rainbow,” Natalya uttered, answering the unasked question that lingered in the air.

“You sure? I don’t think I’ve seen you that angry before.”

“Yeah, well…” Natalya sighed, finally turning her back around to Rainbow but keeping her gaze on the floor. “I got fed up with hearing that stupid mare’s excuses. All that she was doing was blaming you and insulting you. I couldn’t stand listening to her anymore.”

“Yeah, I could see that. You really let her have it, huh?”

“It’s what she needed to hear. Still, I guess I kind of killed any chances of you patching things up with her, huh?”

“Seems like it.”

“Obviously, I don’t think you should have anything to do with her, but I know that you’ve been kind of chasing her for a long time, so…” Natalya paused to slowly raise her head until she was directly looking at Rainbow. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, Natalya. It didn’t look like we were getting through to her, and I think you did do the right thing slapping her in the face with the harsh truth.”

“So you’re okay with what happened?”

Rainbow sighed. “I mean, I wish that Lightning and I could’ve resolved things, but it’s obvious that she’s not gonna listen to us.”

“You don’t need her anyway. If she can’t see the truth of how much you tried to do for her, then she’s not worth your time. You have plenty of friends who actually care for you.”

“As well as one maybe-sort-of griffon girlfriend,” Rainbow added with a smile. “I’m really glad that you were here to help out with Lightning. Things would’ve gone a lot worse without you. I probably would’ve ended up arguing with her for hours, only for her to leave me feeling like crud.”

“Yep, nothing like a little death threat to quickly end a conversation,” Natalya casually remarked.

Rainbow snorted in amusement. “You know, I probably would be a bit worried about that statement if I didn’t know you better.”

“I would think that you would know me better. After all, you are my maybe-sort-of pony girlfriend.”

Rainbow nodded, her smile widening. “That I am.”

Natalya smiled back and then glanced over at the box of pastries. “Well, you feel like eating a bit more? I dunno about you, but yelling at an airheaded pegasus left me a bit hungry.”

“Sure, I guess I can have a few more bites. I’ll even let you feed me without a fuss.”

“Is it because you‘re actually hungry or are you just starting to enjoy me babying you?”

“Yes.”

Natalya chuckled. “Alright then.”

Author's Note

Like I mentioned long ago, this fic was started and planned out long before Lightning Dust's reappearance in the show, but delays and real life has made this story proceed at a slow pace. I hope that this divergence from the canon Lightning Dust doesn't diminish the enjoyment that you might derive from this fic.

Chapter 7: Pranking Spree

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