A Friend Returns

by AlwaysTheCurious

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Rainbow Dash, Romance, Gilda, Slice of Life, Gore
Length: 5658

Gilda show's up in the dead of night begging for Rainbow Dash's forgiveness, as her life slowly leaves her.

Gilda has been moved to seek out the only real friend she ever made and make amends. Multiple obstacles along the ensured that she was knocking on death's door and Rainbow Dash's at the same time.

~~~~

Now with sequel Gilda and Dash's Glorious Conquest

Published 2013-04-09 04:20:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-03-03 17:30:57 UTC

Holding on by a Single Friend

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.

Bold Requests

Celestia's sun rose all too quickly the next morning. Gilda was the only one to suffer the unwanted radiant warmth of a new day, as Dash's head was buried snugly against her chest. Not wanting to disturbed her sleeping friend she was forced to stay awake with her thoughts. She thought about the forgiveness she'd been granted by the only friend she'd ever really had. She thought about the soreness of the recently bandaged wounds said friend activated slightly with her contact. She thought back to two dead assassins and a dead manticore that she'd encountered. And finally she thought about the letter that moved her to seek out her friend in the first place; a letter said friend deserved to read. Gilda owed Dash some sort of explanation.

Gilda was shaken from her reverie by the gruff voice of a stallion in the hall. "I thought ponies were supposed to take injured animals to that mare by the Everfree, not here."

"Big bird though." Gilda heard the gruff voice conclude as the door swung open.

"Griffon actually." Gilda corrected off-handedly, causing the stallion to freeze mid stride. A dustpan filled with Gilda's large brown feathers flattered to the floor when he saw the imposing predator taking up two beds.

"I-I uh... Meant no offense miss, your feathers are very nice." The stallion laughed nervously and prayed he wasn't digging a deeper grave.

Gilda sighed as she resisted the temptation to make a joke about how the stallion was a big wuss. Rainbow Dash still clutched to her chest reminded her that she was going to honestly try to do better.

With a quick chuckle Gilda said, "Don't sweat it dude, I should be apologizing for making the mess you had to clean up."

"Now if you don't mind me saying, I've had to clean up my fair share of blood since I've been here." The stallion started, as he moved farther into the room. He seemed much more at ease knowing the large predator wan't as ill tempered as he'd thought.

"That being said, I've never seen so many messes in so many places. The only thing I ever hear about comes from the nurses and they were very keen on not talking about what happened last night. Would you mind satisfying my curiosity?"

Gilda mulled it over for a while, while she watched him clean. Her first thought was that it wasn't any of his damned business, but that was the old Gilda; the new Gilda was much friendlier to strangers. At the very least pony strangers; after yesterday's events griffons who were strangers were permanently on the 'Do Not Trust' list.

"You want the whole story or just the hospital bit, I'm not going to lie I was pretty woozy from blood loss. My recollection of that will be pretty lacking."

"I don't suppose the nurses were the ones that got you all bloodied up, so how'd that happen." The janitor's dustpan, broom and other cleaning supplies lie forgotten near the door; he seemed more than happy to forget his duties for a firsthand telling of the most interesting patient he'd ever met.

"That," Gilda said with a laugh, "is a pretty awesome story. As much as the whole getting attacked thing sucked I feel pretty good about surviving a fight two-to-one."

For the first time in a long time Gilda felt the desire to brag about an accomplishment, she guessed it had something to do with holding the most boastful pony in Equestria in her arm. Then she set in on the start of her tale.

"The first fight was with a couple of assassins. Normally when just one assassin gets the drop on you you're supposed to be finished, but i guess I got lucky. The knife from the first one went right in my back a few inches more and he would've paralyzed me; they must've been counting on me not being able to react because I caught the second one before his blade even connected. So I had a knife in my back, a griffon on my back trying to choke me, and I was barely keeping another griffon from sinking his blade into my heart. I did the only thing I could think of-" She paused for dramatic effect, the stallion leaned forward slightly, clearly on the edge of his metaphorical seat.

"Oh jeeze, I'm acting like Dash." Gilda lowered her head slightly, in shame.

"Who?" The stallion questioned, to which Gilda shifted her arm to better present her sky blue friend. She hadn't realized just how well hidden dash was tucked against her body and under a wing.

"Oh that Dash." The stallion smiled knowingly, "She's been in here a few times herself. She's a good pony, but you're far from being as bad as her in any respect."

"Hey what's that supposed to mean? I'm awesome!"

"You're awake?" Gilda asked, a touch annoyed that Dash's outburst had startled her.

"Yeah, but I uh-" The rainbow maned pegasus was clearly trying to come up with a good excuse, "I was comfortable and you were telling a story, and stuff."

"Right." Gilda said with a roll of her eyes.

The bandaged griffon tried to release the pony in her embrace; Dash simply held on tighter to her friends chest.

GIlda drew in a sharp breath through a clenched beak as a new wave of soreness swept through her body.

Rainbow Dash reacted very quickly to her friends pain and spouted an apology as she released her grip. She fell out of the bed and collapsed onto the floor unceremoniously.

Gilda grunted and took in a few shaky breaths. "I've had worse." She muttered in response to her friend's multiple statements of how sorry she was.

“That’s what it was sounding like, but I didn’t mean to make it worse.” It was clear to both Gilda and the yet unintroduced stallion that Dash was beating herself up over her mistake.

“Dash.” Gilda said forcefully. The mentioned mare straightened up to attention quickly, “Don’t sweat it, it’s not like I warned you or anything anyways.”

“Alright G, that’s uh- Thanks.” The flustered mare finally accepted that Gilda wasn’t upset with her.

"You're cute when you get like that, Dash." Gilda said with a smirk.

“Yeah?” Rainbow Dash replied somewhat excitedly, before her expression soured.

“I’m not cute.” She corrected, indignantly.

“If you say so.” Gilda chuckled, casting a knowing look to the stallion in the room.

The janitor wisely shrugged to stay as neutral as possible.

A fairly awkward silence descended upon the room. Gilda seemed lost in thought during the extended silence and the stallion in the room went back to his work.

In reality Gilda was studying Rainbow Dash, almost sizing up her oldest friend.

“So listen Dash.” Gilda started up again, “I’d just bail, but doctors don’t particularly like that. Could you fly back to your place and get my pack. I need a few things out of there. Unless I landed on you too hard.”

“No I got it.” Dash insisted suddenly, “Just- uh... Be here when I get back.”

Gilda nodded and smiled in response. She watched as Rainbow Dash stretched her wings before pushing the window open and taking flight. The sound of many ponys’ daily activities drifted into the room through the now open window. Gilda found herself both calmed and set slightly on edge by the sound; she couldn’t begin to guess the cause of the latter emotion.

“When does the doc’ make his rounds?” Gilda asked as the janitor was finishing his cleaning.

“Probably already started. He should be along soon; your room just happens to be near the end of the hall on this floor. Surprised there hasn’t been a nurse in yet.”

“I’m sure they’re scared and doing rock paper scissors to see who has to come in here.”

She received a blank look from the stallion.

“Right, pony. It’s a hands thing.” She explained, showcasing her flexible digets. The explanation seemed to be good enough for him.

It wasn’t long before his cleaning was done and the janitor had to excuse himself.

“Name’s Clean Sweep by the way, miss. When you’re up to it I’d like to hear the rest of that story.”

“Sure thing.” Gilda wheezed out as she tried to fight back a laugh.

Seconds after the janitor’s exit both he and Rainbow Dash were missed sorely by the bedridden griffon. Briefly she considered escaping through the still open window to stretch her stiff muscles. Letting her wounds heal naturally had never been a problem in the past and probably wouldn’t now.

It wasn’t long after Gilda had resolved to go through with her escape plan that the door opened and in walked a doctor accompanied by a mare with a red mane and wearing a nurse outfit. The mare seemed particularly steel faced as she came in, and the doctor looked tired. Gilda guessed she’d been told the story from last night and was expecting some kind of gruesome scene. When she saw a clean room and and large bandaged griffon her expression softened considerably.

“Hey doc, so when can I get out of here?” Gilda started up, still eyeing the window.

“With the injuries you had when you came in it could be a week or so before you’re released. This is nurse Redheart by the way, is it alright if she helps me change your bandages?”

“Yeah, whatever. ‘A week or so’ isn’t going to work though. I need to be out of here by tomorrow at the latest.”

The doctor picked up a clipboard at the end of the bed while Nurse Redheart started on the bandages.

As the white mare worked she said, “I’d like to apologize for the behavior of our nursing staff last night. Ponyville is a small town, and none of them have ever had to take care of a griffon before. A patient is still a patient, though, and they seem to have forgotten that last night.”

“Didn’t even notice honestly. Too much blood loss and stuff.”

“Multiple lacerations and knife wounds. The doctor on call last night patched you up but I’d still like to make sure you aren’t going to bleed out internally. It’ll take some time.”

“It’s fine doc.”

“My goodness.” Redheart said suddenly.

A pile of discarded bandages lay next to Gilda on the bed. What the bandages had been covering up was apparently slightly raw skin and a few thin patches of missing fur. If it weren’t for the stitches still there from the previous night, it would’ve seemed as though Gilda was simply very aggressive about scratching itches.

“See, it’s fine.” Gilda repeated.

“I’ll admit to not knowing too much about griffon physiology, but this seems like an exceptionally fast rate of healing.” The doctor started, clearly fascinated. “Is this typical of griffons?” He asked carefully, hoping he wasn’t offending the large griffon with his questions.

“If I answer your questions will you take my money and let me leave today?” She answered his question pointedly.

“It may not be the most professional thing I’ve done, but in this case you apparently know more about your body than I do. I think I can discharge you today.”

Gilda thought for a moment unconsciously twirling the dirty bandages between two talons.

“Griffons recover from wounds faster than ponies do. So I’ve noticed. It’s why I’ve tried really hard in recent times not to get into fights with ponies. I've actually taken up hunting prey again."

She made a mental note to get some food at some point.

"This though," she said indicating the newly healed skin. "this is unique to me and my blood. This kind of 'healing' runs in the family."

"It's also the reason I'm bigger than an average female griffon." She paused in thought, and then shrugged.

"You do that whole doctor-patient confidentiality thing right?"

"Of course." The doctor said without pause.

"Her?" Gilda asked pointing to the nurse.

"Yes she as well. So long as I don't believe it likely to bring harm to anyone else I will tell nopony what you say here."

"I'm what’s left of the last true royal blooded griffons. According to someone in Canterlot, guessing it’s a unicorn since the letter that told me so just appeared one night.” Gilda shrugged to conclude her story, stretching out her muscles as she started rolling off the bed.

“Tell nobody.”

“It won’t leave this room.” The doctor said, holding a hoof over his heart.

“Yeah it will eventually. Just don’t be the one to let it slip.”

Wonder what’s taking Dash so long. Gilda looked out the still open window with a frown.

“Before I discharge you there is the matter of the-”

“Yeah, bill I got you.” Gilda interrupted him, “I have the number for an account in Canterlot that you can charge.”

The doctor waited expectantly.

“It’s uh- in the bag my friend went to get. I hope.” Gilda sighed awkwardly. “I’ll just go get it myself actually. I’m starting to think I didn’t finish off the griffons from last night. I hope they didn’t follow me.”

Gilda was then next to the window in two powerful, though fairly stiff strides. Before the doctor could protest at all she was out the window.

And falling to the ground, as her wings refused to obey her immediately. Only after she had safely landed on all fours from a second story fall did it register that her entire body ached from the previous night.

GIlda decided to stretch before trying to take off again, as the hospital receptionist came out to see what had hit the ground. When the powerful griffon raked the ground with her talons the mare wordlessly retreated back to the safety of her desk.

Quick stretches found Gilda much more able to flap her wings. Satisfied that she could actually fly now she took off towards her friends house as quickly as she could. Her ascent was slow, but after a few powerful beats she was tearing through the skies towards the cloudhouse just on the outskirts of town.

When Gilda arrived she saw the door to Dash’s house was open, but everything was dead quiet. She didn’t know whether this was good or bad, but decided it was both until she found her friend. Unarmed and unarmored she was increasingly concerned about having to face off against the assassin’s that had attacked her, if the were indeed here. Her concern for herself was overshadowed by her worry for Dash’s safety.

Talons at the ready Gilda charged into the house to find…

Rainbow Dash reading the second page of a three page letter.

Gilda relaxed instantly.

“I was going to tell you about that today. I would’ve told you last night, but saying sorry seemed more important in case-” Gilda didn’t finish the thought. From the way Rainbow Dash cringed, she’d finished it in her head.

“I’m fine now though, and since you’ve read through that I bet you have some questions.” She concluded.

Rainbow Dash held up what Gilda recognized as the envelope the letter had come in and said, “This letter is stamped with the royal seal. You knew that, right?”

“I’d never looked into it, but that explains where the bits were coming from.”

“What bits?”

“There’s a series of numbers at the bottom of the last page. It’s apparently for the account of whoever sent me the letter. They told me to go ahead and buy stuff for my trip back home.”

“So then what the letter says is true? You’re actually royalty?” Dash asked excitedly.

“Something like that. Whoever the griffon king is now is only in power because nobody can challenge him. Since you’re sort of in-the-know now I have a question for you-” She paused as though she expected Dash to already refuse her request.

“Yeah?”

“The end of the letter is encouraging me to go home and take back the throne since I have ‘the right to rule,’ but I can’t do it on my own. So…” Again Gilda hesitated, waiting for the moment when her friend would catch on and say she was crazy.

“I mean feel free to say no any time.” Gilda rubbed her arm awkwardly.

“Spit it out, G.” Dash urged.

“I want your help starting a revolution and taking down the current griffon king.”

As Gilda expected, Rainbow Dash was speechless.

Author's Note

This is the end of this fic. When I close up some of my larger multi-chapter fics I'll be working on the sequel this is setting up. Right now the title of the sequel is "Gilda and Dash's Glorious Conquest." Obviously a working title.