A dark figure skimmed the top of the trees in the Everfree forest, seemingly completely ignorant of the numerous dangers likely a few feet below. For one particular manticore, the shape of the creature flying so low was unfamiliar. The predator followed the flying shape below the tree line after having caught the unmistakable scent of blood. Though wary of prey it hadn't yet encountered the way it occasionally banked and slowed its speed told the manticore it was wounded. An easy meal under any circumstance. It took only a few minutes for the beast decided take flight towards its prey, breaching the tree line and going a little higher before diving down towards its target.

Having heard the rustling of the trees the unaware target stopped and looked around. A shadow passed over the griffon as something obstructed the light of the nearly full moon. Looking up, it let out a loud squwak as it spotted the leonin creature almost upon it and raised an arm defensively. They collided mid air and fell to the forest floor. Amid the snapping of branches and roars of the hunting beast could be heard proclamations of how "lame" this night was.

A little ways outside of Ponyville, in what would be considered modest for a cloud house, a sky-blue mare with a prismatic mane and tail laid on her couch. It was well past midnight and Rainbow Dash was once again without much to do. She'd already gone over the last few pages of the last "Daring Doo" book that'd been released, and was quite restless. She'd once complained about how boring her nights were to her friends. The most knowledgeable of her friends, one Twilight Sparkle, insisted that if Dash maintained a regular sleep schedule then she wouldn't have problems going to bed at night. That was the whole point though! All the cool and fun things happened at night, and and Dash thought it was crazy that ponies went to bed just as things started getting intense outside. Not that she'd had any real experience with the Equestrian nightlife; she honestly didn't know where to look. Every once in a while she would hear some sort of commotion outside and be ready to go in an instant. In general though, her theory of the more wild side of Equestria after dark was proving itself false. Besides which, naps during the day were something she wouldn't give up for the world.

All of this was why she was currently seeing just how long she could keep a pillow held aloft with all four hooves while laying on her back. She'd forgotten to retrieve her stop watch, but by the time she'd realized she was started. She was mentally counting the seconds and decided tacking on two minutes would be more or less fair.

Ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine... She counted mentally, imagining there was some sort of record for her to beat.

"Keep a regular sleep schedule she says." Rainbow Dash mused aloud, "I take naps every day; doesn't that count?"

One-hundred ten, one-hundred twenty, one-hundred thirty...

"She's one to talk anyways, Celestia only knows how many all-nighters she pulls just reading books!" She grumped to the fluffy white room. "Two-hundred, two-fifty, three-hundred..."

Wait a second.

Rainbow Dash paused with a puzzled expression.

"I lost count." She announced after her moment of silence, "I am so bore-Ah!" Something slammed into her front door, prompting her to roll off the couch and take cover beneath her coffee table. She quickly recovered and stood up with all the bravado she could summon as though someone were watching her.

"Wasn't scared." She assured herself.

Whatever had run into her door should've also punched a hole in it judging by the volume of the impact. It was one thing to break cloud structures, and an entirely different one to destroy them. Since it didn't that meant it was either enchanted or alive. Rainbow Dash was suddenly worried for any poor pegasus that might have slammed into her house so hard. She flew to her door expecting the clumsy mailmare to be making a late night delivery for whatever reason. When she swung the door open something distinctly not a pony fell forward and onto her. Dash groaned and it groaned; they shared several pained groans before Dash regained the pressence of mind to speak. Whoever landed on her was heavy.

"Get off of me, come on!" She attempted to wiggle out from under the heavy form. Something very uncomfortable was pressed between them and one end of it was starting to dig into Dash's skin.

"Y-yeah, push me to the left." A familiar voice whispered as the body atop Dash shifted.

A gloved hand pressed on her chest as Dash automatically complied with the instruction. With a quick heave Dash was no longer pinned and took the opportunity to stand up and back away from her uninvited guest.

Large wings, long tail that ends in a ball, Dash began mentally marking off evidence confirming what she suspected. bigger than me, hands... Clutched tightly to the intruder's chest was a length of some segmented material, the end was bulbous and came out to a point.

"Didn't you miss me at all?" The question came between ragged breaths, but still managed to maintain an edge.

Gilda Rainbow Dash recognized the voice of her best friend, once upon a time, in an instant.

The sky-blue mare was stunned into silence. Instead of answering she moved over to the wall and flicked on the overhead light. She regretted it instantly.

The dark of the room had kept the numerous wounds running the length of the griffon's body hidden. As well as the blood, both dried and fresh matting fur and feather alike. On her chest was what once must've been armor similar to a breast plate. It was made of a finely polished wood, but it had been splintered and was hanging partly off. In one hand was the stinger taken from a manticore, it too was dripping blood.

"It's not as bad as it looks." Gilda spoke up again, "I think I've been poisoned, so it's actually worse."

"N-no! What is this, huh?!"

Gilda threw her head back onto the cloud floor with a huff. The quick exhalation led to a serious of hacking coughs.

"You yell at me and insult my friends, then leave? Now you're back in my house uninvited and you're bleeding everywhere!?" Dash was beyond horrified by the sight of all the blood. Once long ago she'd seen Gilda eat a freshly killed rabbit; the memory had haunted her dreams for several months. A prickly suspicion ran through her body, and she looked down to find that her fur had patches of blood from where Gilda had made contact. She ran outside and expelled the contents of her stomach over the edge of her porch.

From inside Dash heard more coughing that may have began as laughter. "I guess I owe you a meal to replace that, huh?" Gilda was only half joking, but it didn't stop the pegasus from retching at the thought of food.

"It doesn't work like this Gilda, so you'd better have an explanation or you should get out." Dash's words didn't match her tone in the least. On the outside she looked furious at the intrusion; on the inside she was horrified by the state Gilda was in.

"Explain the blood?"

Dash fixed her with a stare.

"I was attacked, I guess." Gilda shrugged, trying to get into an upright position while being nonchalant about the pain that lanced through her..

"Why are you wearing armor, were you expecting to get attacked?" Dash asked without missing a beat.

"Jeeze since when was this an interrogation?" Gilda grinned slightly. Her rainbow maned friend wasn't smiling with her.

"The first time yeah. The manticore," she responded brandishing the severed stinger, "I didn't realize I was flying over the Everfree Forest. Blood loss makes you miss minor details. I saw your house and not much else."

"Blood loss..." Dash muttered, eyeing the blood covering her and Gilda. "Why did you come here, why not the hospital?!"

"In case they couldn't do anything about the manticore poison. So I could make things right between us if nothing else. Also I didn't know if this town even had a hospital; what with it being in the middle of nowhere." Gilda failed to completely suppress her laughter after reminding herself of a genuine and genuinely stupid concern she'd had the last time she was in Ponyville. Her small chuckle turned into another series of painful coughs.

"Don't talk like that Gilda, you're going to be fine. I'll get you to the hospital and they'll make you better; then you can say whatever you want."

"Dash, don't start crying now. I know you're tougher than that." Gilda teased when she saw the tears welling up in the pegasus' eyes. "Do you really want my last memory of you to be you crying?"

"Stop it!" Dash demanded, "I'm taking you to the hospital and you're going to live."

Though she trotted in place for a moment to gather her nerves, Dash quickly wiggled under her friends arm. She shuddered at the sensation of a fresh patch of her friends blood staining her coat.

Gilda was heavy. There was no two ways around it. Rainbow Dash grunted with the effort of lifting her friend.

You saved four ponies during free fall, you can carry your dying friend to the hospital! Dash screamed mentally. The thought alone was enough to get her moving.

"You alright, am I too fat?" Gilda joked.

"I don't know what part of this you think is funny, Gilda. You're bleeding all over my house, I just want you out alright?"

The two shared a look where Gilda could see the effort her friend was putting forth to match her own humor. It visibly sickened Dash to make light of the situation, but she would do it to make sure the griffon didn't feel alone now.

"I'm sor-"

"Hush, you get to apologize after you aren't dying; now help me fly your butt to the hospital.

With that Dash began to walk towards the door, pulling Gilda partly over her back as she went.

"We're going to do a tandem gliding maneuver, think you can handle it?" Dash asked, honestly concerned.

"Sure except for the part where we crash into a tree like we did the last time we tried this stunt." Gilda remarked, a wry smile tugging at her beak.

"Then I'll pick the path, you just follow my lead. Keep your left wing out."

Gilda was a good deal larger than Rainbow Dash making it difficult to maneuver accurately. To her credit, though, she managed to stay on course to the hospital. Dash hadn't thought as far ahead as she would've liked; something she realized when the flying duo began a less than gradual descent towards the ground. Landing softly was out of the question, and any landing they managed would likely worsen Gilda's condition.

"Hey Dash, that ground is coming at us pretty quick." Gilda chuckled slightly in her delirium.

Dash jostled her bleeding friend onto her back and started to flap as hard as she could to slow their fall. Despite her effort the landing was rough on athletic pegasus' body. Her legs buckled the moment she touched the ground and all of Gilda's weight came down on her. She wasn't out yet, she needed to get her friend help and she was going to do just that.

"Wait right here I'll get you help."

The landing had severely jarred the already staggered griffon, and she responded with a weak moan.

The next half hour was a blur to all involved. None of the nurses on staff had been able to handle the numerous wounds and copious amounts of blood oozing from them. It was expected of them when the idea of a nosebleed would make them squirm slightly. Luckily, for patient and nurse alike, there was an unicorn doctor on call who had at some point in his life seen worse and was able to manage the situation with professionalism.

He kept the nurses out of the room except to deliver the items he requested; which included a second bed, as Gilda was substantially larger than most ponies. He wore a stern expression as he worked. The professional mask soured once the manticore poison was mentioned. The manticore's severed stinger was sent off with a nurse, much to her disgust.

Rainbow Dash, for her part, hobbled back and forth in a corner of the room as she watched the doctor clean and dress her friends wounds. During a pause the doctor observed the limp in her pacing and called in a nurse to examine her. When she refused to leave the room the doctor didn't press the issue. This was an abnormal case that required some exceptions be made, as he'd never even operated on a griffon before.

It was another hour and a half after their arrival that the doctor deemed the patient concluded the task of treating Gilda's wounds done; then another hour after that, did he deem her "in the clear." The hospital already had a supply of antitoxin that was effective against manticore poison; it was especially fortunate as producing some from the stinger would've taken far too long.

After the doctor's declaration he checked on the limping pegasus in the room. Dash was much more interested in getting to Gilda's side as the doctor tried to hold her still. Eventually he relented again and let the insistent mare to her friend's side.

Rainbow Dash watched her friend breath for a while. She stared intently at the rising and falling of a griffon nearly mummified by antiseptic soaked bandages.

"What are you looking at?" Gilda asked softly, followed by several deep breaths punctuated with coughs.

"Why are you acting like this isn't a big deal?" Dash said, as tears began rolling down her face. She felt infinitely relieved to hear her friend speak after what they'd been through.

"I wasn't worried for a second, I knew you'd make everything work out." Gilda spoke with a little more strength in her voice. She reached out with her good arm towards her friend.

Dash moved to quickly to meet her friends hand, heedless of the sharp talons. Gilda buried her hand in the rainbow mane and began scratching her friends head.

The feel of the dexterous digits working over her scalp soothed Dash immensely. So many years ago she'd marveled at the griffon's ability to seemingly "turn off" the sharpness of her claws.

The blissful smile on Dash's face made Gilda crack a warm smile of her own. The hand worked it's way out of the mess of hair and up to an ear. Feelings of nostalgia washed through both of them, as memories of the many times previously Gilda had treated her friend to a petting.

The hacking cough Gilda couldn't fight back broke them both out of their reverie. They stared into each other's eyes, both realizing simultaneously that the other had something to say.

Gilda cleared her throat and as loudly as she could manage said, "I'm so sorry for everything."

Dash choked up instantly, fresh tears streaming down her face. She reared up, gripped Gilda in a hug and buried her face in the bandaged up chest of her friend. Her sobs were audible as she cried into Gilda's breastbone.

The tough griffon winced at the initial contact, but upon seeing the doctor move to protest the treatment of his patient scowled and raised a claw as if preparing to strike at him. The doctor held his tongue.

"We're having a moment here, jerk. Why don't you-" Gilda stopped herself and looked down to see Dash looking up at her, tears still in her eyes.

"Thanks doc, we got it from here." She corrected herself pulling Dash's head back against her chest.

The doctor got his nerves back and quickly exited the room.

"Promise me you'll be alright, and I'll forgive you." Dash's said, her voice muffled by fur and bandage. She seemed calmer, as her speech was not interrupted by sobs.

"Not going to lie, I'm pretty messed up right now-"

Gilda saw the tears beginning to well up in Dash's eyes, as her words were clearly not the ones Dash wanted to hear.

"I promise." She said quietly, giving up on playing the nonchalant one while laying on what was almost her deathbed. She buried her face in the frazzled mess of her friend's mane, and began to let all of her worries pour out.

Dash clambered the rest of the way up onto the doubled up hospital bed and held her friend while she wept. They stayed that way the rest of the night; secured in each other's embrace.

Author's Note

This story is part of a world I'm trying to set up in conjunction with another fic of mine.