Tempest looked around the bustling town of Ponyville. Despite how many times she said settling down here wouldn’t happen because the town was too saccharine for her tastes, she always found herself returning for one reason or another. Maybe it wasn’t a place she wanted to stay forever, but it was comforting to spend at least a little time here.

…Maybe she was going soft.

And apparently she wasn’t the only one thinking the same thing about the town.

“Yo! Tempest! Weird to see you out here!” Gilda called out, flying down from the skies right in front of her.

“Hey Gilda,” Tempest said with a soft smile. “I could say the same thing. I don’t see Rainbow Dash anywhere.”

“Eh, she’s probably at Wonderbolts practice or whatever,” Gilda shrugged.

“So why come all the way to Ponyville then?”

“The fuck was I gonna do, stay home?” Gilda scoffed before lightly punching Tempest’s shoulder. “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be stealing treasure or sparring with Shining Armor or something?”

It was a legitimate question, one that Tempest didn’t exactly have the answer to. “I could…but I just wanted to come back to Ponyville, you know?”

“...Yeah…”

The two turned their heads towards the center of town, seeing all the townsfolk joyfully going about their carefree lives.

“With how happy they all are, you’d totally forget some sort of disaster happens to them almost every other week,” Tempest snarked.

“Might be because they have a party on the weeks they aren’t under attack,” Gilda sarcastically added.

“Hosted by a pony who will find literally any excuse to throw a big, loud, over-the-top party…” Tempest sighed.

“Uh-huh…” Gilda idly nodded as she kept staring, almost wistfully, at the townsfolk. “...Totally not my vibe, though!”

“Yep, that’s why you bothered to travel allll the way from Griffonstone…” Tempest sneered, lightly jabbing Gilda in the side.

Gilda was quick to defend herself. “Hey, the whole reason I hang out with Dash here is because my hometown SUCKS. At least there’s stuff to do here. Even if it is singing songs half the time.”

“So why not move here?”

Tempest’s question pierced through Gilda. “What?”

“You already have a friend living here, and you clearly wanna live somewhere better, so why not?” Tempest pointed out.

“Like it’s that easy,” Gilda scoffed. “You think I can just afford to move out? In this economy? Besides, I don’t mind traveling. But…if I ever get the chance to move, I would like to settle down somewhere nice.”

Tempest let out a mocking snort. “You think a rock farm’s gonna be nice?”

Gilda’s beak hung open, hesitating to speak before glaring at the somehow mind-reading Tempest.

“What? Was there something wrong with what I just said?” Tempest tilted her head up with the most insufferable smirk on her face. “Unless you were planning on taking her to Griffonstone instead…”

Gilda physically cringed at the idea. “Ugh, pass! Besides, I don’t think I’m gonna convince her to give up the family business of…farming rocks.” Saying it out loud only reminded Gilda how weird the concept was.

“Hey, with how dull it is, you’ll still feel right at home,” Tempest laughed.

“Ha! Fair enough. But what about you?” Gilda pointed at Tempest. “You gonna be a vagabond the rest of your life?”

Tempest let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t know. I still feel like I have a lot to atone for…” Her head tilted down with a bit of guilt as Gilda raised hers to laugh.

“You’re still on your ‘apology tour’? Sheesh, all I did was make Fluttershy cry once and she was begging me to have an orgy fling with her!”

“Wow, schoolyard-level bullying, nice. And you wanna call yourself a tough girl,” Tempest shot back.

Gilda playfully rolled her eyes and lightly shoved Tempest. “Well, sorry we can’t all almost conquer Equestria, Miss Dark and Brooding!”

Tempest leaned back into Gilda, mostly to dig her elbow into the griffon’s rib. “Well, traveling’s nice, but I don’t know if I really have a place in this world yet.”

Gilda wrapped an arm around Tempest’s neck just to make sure she couldn’t get away. “Really? I’m pretty sure there was a bright and sunny place in Hope Hollow that has your name on it…”

Gilda looked down to check, and sure enough, Tempest was struggling to get out of her grip as she started blushing. “Y-You don’t know that! There’s always the ship!”

“The ship that’s also gonna stay in Hope Hollow?”

Tempest eventually broke free from the headlock, crossing her hooves with a huff.

“C’mon, a town as bright and colorful as that NOT having someone living there named ‘Fizzlepop Berrytwist’? It’s practically made for you!” Gilda kept lightly punching Tempest’s shoulder until she eventually relented and started giving playful jabs back.

“Wish I could say the same. ‘Gilda Pie’ doesn’t have the same sort of catchiness to it…”

Gilda’s eyes widened as she started blushing, too. “Hey hey! At least give me a few more dates or something with her before I try and make something like that happen!”

Tempest looked up at Gilda with a short laugh. “You’re dating somepony who farms rocks with beautiful gems inside, you think you’re the one who’s gonna present the pretty ring?”

Gilda didn’t need to say anything, she just lightly tapped her claw against the accessory wrapped around Tempest’s horn.

“...Oh…right…”

The two started laughing, eventually leaning against each other.

“Heh, look at us, kinda looks like we’re dating each other,” Gilda chuckled, putting her arm around Tempest just to add to the picture.

“Gilda, I’m flattered, but Celaeno and Kerfuffle are already enough for me,” Tempest teased.

“Shut up. I’m just thinking about if things turned out differently. ‘My girlfriend beat up the princesses’ would be pretty sick bragging rights. Besides, I already know how good you are in bed.”

“That you do,” the unicorn chuckled, blushing slightly at the memories, then blushing harder realizing what she could do for her now. “Is this your idea of flirting, or just a weird way of pre-planning for the orgy?”

“C’mon, it had to cross your mind at least once, right?” Gilda said, trying to egg her on.

“Hm…a few times, I guess,” Tempest conceded. “But I’m definitely not complaining about what I got.”

Gilda rolled her eyes. “Yeah yeah, twice the girlfriends, fucking brag about it more, why don’t ya?”

“I might. Any more hypotheticals cross your mind lately?”

Gilda’s eyes went to the side for a moment. “Well, since you asked, it’s kinda funny how I ended up with Limestone and you ended up with Celaeno.”

Tempest curiously raised an eyebrow. “Really? How so?”

Gilda casually shrugged. “Back-breaking labor seems more like your thing.”

“And plundering for treasure seems more like yours,” Tempest nodded, with both of them now imagining Tempest whacking rocks with a pickaxe and Gilda in full pirate garb.

“You wanna switch?” Gilda asked, her offer still mostly a joke.

“You sure? Kerfuffle’s very energetic,” Tempest warned, also mostly joking.

“So long as you’re ok with Limestone being surprisingly needy.”

The two started chuckling again. “How about we just save it for the orgy?” Tempest proposed. “I’m sure we can make some sparks fly…”

Gilda grinned as she bumped fist to hoof. “Deal.”

Author's Note

Ponyville's great if you don't mind the 30 minute timeblock for shenanigans every Saturday morning.