"S-so er.. well I accidentally ordered two of tickets and you're the least dweeb-y..."
>Gilda smacked a curled talon into her own forehead in exasperation
>"No, that isn't going to work. Ughhh...why is it so hard just to say it out loud?"
>She flopped down on her bed, staring up at the high ceiling of her room
>"It's not like [spoiler]she'd[/spoiler] ever want to go out with you anyway."
>The melancholic griffon rolls over and picks up the picture of her and Rainbow Dash embracing from the nightstand
>She knew what it said on the back, written by Rainbow Dash the day they had taken it on that old, polaroid camera
>'To Gilda, you're a pretty cool griffon. We should hang out more, love RD'
>The 'RD' was encircled by a heart, and there were even 'X's and 'O's
>But then she had gone to school in Cloudsdale and had, it seemed to Gilda, forgotten about the griffon friend she had met so long ago
>That was all going to change though
>Gilda had worked her tailfeathers off for enough bits to move to the pegasi city and take schooling there
>No ponies had been willing to host a griffon as an exchange student, so it had been up to her to get there on her own
>Now, with enough money saved, she was well on her way
>A peal of thunder reminded her why she hadn't already gone to Cloudsdale
>For nearly a week, her home had been engulfed in a ferocious storm, though it was rather normal for the season
>But the weather teams were working day and night to clear the skies, and tomorrow was the projected day to finally have blue skies again
>Until then, all she could do was practice how she was going to ask Rainbow Dash out
>With a quick flap from her wings, she scooted over to the full body mirror once more
>"Hey, Dash. If you're tired of hanging out with all these dweebs, we could go have a good time. I got two tickets to that Horsefeathers concert. I know they're like, you're favourite band so I figured I'd bring you along instead of some other dweeb."
>She gave her best grin to the mirror, then frowned and tried again
>"So uh...those idiots at the box office gave me two tickets to the Horsefeathers concert. I was gonna scalp some dweeb for it, but I remembered you liked them so, do ya wanna go with me?"
>Another frown, and another try
>"Hey Dash, you like Horsefeathers? Well guess who just happened to get two tickets. Yeah, I'm pretty awesome, come on, let's get going."
>Another attempt at a winning smile, promptly turned upside down and discarded
>The griffon flopped down on her bed, unshed tears forming in her eyes
>"Who am I kidding, she'd never want to go out with a griffon. She's probably got goo-goo eyes for some lame pony on the cloud kicker team or something."
>With a heavy sigh, she grabbed the framed picture of her and Rainbow Dash and pulled it close to her chest plumage
>"All I gotta do is be confident. That's it, just ask her and don't take no for an answer. Who could say no to me anyway?"
>Her pep talk did little to restore her spirits and she sighed heavily and rolled over
>Finally, she closed her eyes, but muttered under her breath before drifting off to sleep
>"You're good to me, Dash. Just stay that way."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
>The sun shone brightly into the den of a young griffon who had fallen asleep clutching a picture of her best, and only, friend
>The young creature's eyes opened and immediately squinted at the invading light
>Then a smile dawned on her face
>The sun shining must mean the sky was clear, and if the sky was clear
>In a haphazard rush, Gilda grabbed her sack of money and a pre-packed bag of supplies
>Almost as an afterthought, she tossed the picture of her and a blue coated, rainbow maned pegasus pony into the bag
>With that, she took of with a start, flying west towards the pegasi capital, Cloudsdale
>It was only a half a days travel to the skytropolis, which meant Gilda would be arriving just before Dash got out of school for the day
>Gilda had, of course, dropped out of school, she just didn't see the point in an education, it wasn't like she planned to do anything that needed it anyway
>After that, her parents had kicked her out, saying if she was done with school, she could go and support herself
>It hadn't been the best parting, but it didn't matter anymore
>She was on her way to see her best friend in the world
>Maybe she could practice asking out Dash again while she flew
>...
>A headwind had slowed Gilda's flight by quite a while
>The sun was far lower in the sky than she had anticipated, which meant Dash was probably home already
>But the determine griffon went to her school anyway, a forlorn hope in her heart that Dash was on a team or something dweeby like that
>Arriving at the entrance to the school, she took a deep breath and began walking towards the shadowed entry
>But to her utter suprise, and certainly not displeasure, Rainbow Dash came trotting out of the institute wearing a smug grin on her face
>The griffon immediately dashed over to her friend and tackled her in a hug
>"Hey loser, it's been a long time since I've seen you!"
>Realizing that it wasn't just some random weirdo attacking her, Rainbow Dash hugged back
>"Gilda! Oh my gosh it's been too long! What brings you to Cloudsdale?"
>Gilda pulled away from the grinning pegasus and started digging around in her back with a free claw
>"Well, those dweebs at the box office gave me two tickets instead of one, I dunno why. You don't like Horsefeathers do ya?"
>The griffon smiled, knowing the answer already but simply teasing her friend as she was wont to do
>Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped open and she squealed in excitement
>"That's only like, my favourite band ever! How'd you get tickets? They were sold out months ago!"
>Gilda punched Dash in the arm playfully
>"Hey, you know me, Dash. I'm not some lame-o that has to bother with that kinda stuff. So do ya wanna go? Cuz otherwise I'm just gonna scalp some poor dweeb at the door."
>Rainbow Dash's grin faded to a grimace and she looked down at the stairs she was sitting on
>"Hey, what's wrong? C'mon, these are front row freakin' tickets! We can see how many dweebs we can knock out in the mosh pit!"
>The pegasi rubbed her forelimb nervously
>"It's just...I'm already going to it. Orion, the guy who heads up the competitive flyers team got backstage passes and asked me to come along. I just couldn't say no!"
>Her words hit Gilda like a pallet of bricks, the griffon felt physically ill
>"B-but, I always thought...you 'n' me..."
>Rainbow Dash refused to meet her friends tearful gaze
>"I'm sorry, Gilda. We can still hang out if you're in town for a while..."
>The griffon shoved Dash over, tears burning lines down her cheeks
>"You dweeb! I go all out for you, and this is how it goes down? I saved up for months, MONTHS, to afford these tickets, and all you can say is sorry?!"
>Rainbow Dash laid on the steps, too shocked to move away from her enraged friend
>"You know what, forget it! You can take those backstage passes and shove 'em up your boyfriends tail-end! And here, you may as well have these too!"
>With that, she threw down the two tickets, followed shortly by the picture of her and Dash embracing
>And then she was gone in a flurry of feathers and tears
>Rainbow Dash slowly moved and picked up the picture of her and the griffon
>She read the back and couldn't hold back the onslaught of tears it brought forth
>And the pegasus couldn't help but think, as she laid there clutching the broken-framed picture and crying, she'd lost the only friend she could have ever counted on
----------------------------------------------------------------------
>Through the skies of the pegasus city, a distraught griffon blindly flew
>She didn't care about what the other ponies that saw her thought, none of it mattered anyway
>Hot tears soaked her feathers and burned her eyes, making her flight path erratic, as though she were drunk
>Finally she stopped
>She had reached the edge of the skytropolis, where there were no other beings around
>That suited her just fine, she wanted to be alone anyway
>She stared at the West horizon, at the sun turning the horizon to the colour of blood
>There was one being who knew what it was like to be alone at least
>Gilda knew Celestia had banished her own sister, and had spent the last nine or so centuries raising and lowering both the sun and the moon
>Well, maybe she wasn't entirely alone then, she at least had those momentus things to look after her
>Plus all the guards
>Maybe she wasn't a being that understood true lonliness after all
>The cloud Gilda rested on absorbed the tears that fell from her face
>The long day was finally catching up with her, and she let out a long yawn
>Emotional distress or no, she knew she'd have to sleep
>So the traveller to the foreign land closed her eyes, but even there, all she could see was a laughing blue pegasi that she had known once
>A pony that was willing to take her as she was, and not try to change her disturbing, at least to ponies, habits
>"Rainbow Dash, why can't I just forget you."
>And with that utterance, she fell into the cold arms of sleep, resting on her bed of dark clouds, and hoping for a better tomorrow
----------------------------------------------------------
>Gilda woke up to the rain pattering on her wings and a clap of thunder
>As she curled around herself, she felt and obstruction at her midsection preventing her from balling up
>Whatever it was, it was warm, soft, and slowly expanding and contracting
>She twisted her neck, and to her surprise saw Rainbow Dash curled in a little ball underneath her wings
>Gilda was confused first, then touched
>Dash must have combed the entire city to find her, that or just asked around about a griffon flying through a pony city
>Either way, she had actually made an effort and succeeded at it no less
>And what's more, she had done it for her friend, Gilda, inspite of the way that the griffon had spoken and acted earlier
>Maybe the young griffon wasn't so lonely as she thought
>She extended her wings and covered the ball of blue fur and feathers, then curled in a tight ball around her only friend
>And despite the rain, she fell into a fitful sleep, not cold now, but warm, as though laying beside a fire
------------------------------------------------------------------
>When the day finally broke over the cloud city, Gilda woke with the sun
>And then sneezed violently
>Beside her, Dash was startled awake, flying straight up into the sky, while Gilda fell, her inner ear messed up from the sinus clogging
>Dash quickly shook off her surprise and streaked down toward her stricken friend like a comet
>Gilda tumbled head over tail, her wings flapping, desperate to catch the air and right herself before she became a smear on the ground
>But the way she was tumbling combined with the maddened, almost unconscious flapping of her wings, made it impossible to correct her earthward descent
>Rainbow Dash caught up with her friend and screamed at her over the wind
>"Stop flapping, just let yourself fall! You've got plenty of room left before you hit the ground, just trust me!"
>Gilda looked at Dash through her somersaulting, took a deep breath, and stopped flapping her wings with a conscious effort
>After a few seconds, the tumbling slowed then stopped, now she was falling back first towards the ground
>Even with her sense of balance shot, she could recover from this
>She partially extended one wing to roll herself over, then snapped them both open when she was facing the ground
>And with her recovery complete, she swooped away, back into the sky
>And Rainbow Dash was right behind her, making sure no more mishaps happened
>Soon enough, they landed on a nearby cloud to take a breather
>Gilda embraced Rainbow Dash and squeezed her with much more force than needed
>"Oh my gods, thank you Dash. I'd have died if it wasn't for you."
>Dash nuzzled the shaken griffon back, squeezing her with a similar amount of force
>"What happened back there, Gilda? Usually you're almost as good a flyer as I am!"
>Gilda chuckled and released the pegasus from the embrace
>"What do you mean almost, Dash? I'm a way better flyer than you!"
>Rainbow Dash struck the haughty griffon's chest with  her hoof
>"I'm serious! You could have died, what happened?"
>Gilda looked uncomfortable with how much weight Dash put on the situation
>"I-I don't know. I just could get my balance back. And I--"
>She was cut off by a violent sneeze, followed by sniffling
>"Heh, well I guess I know what's wrong with me now."
>Rainbow Dash looked shocked for a mment, then rolled over on her back and started laughing
>"Y-you couldn't fly because you got a cold? That's priceless!"
>The a massive sneeze propelled her through the clouds she was laying on
>Gilda immediately took off after her friend, but didn't have to go too far
>The blue pegasus pony was stuck in a dark cloud that was evidently thicker than other ones
>Now it was Gilda's turn to laugh at her friend
>Midway through Dash's antics, Gilda got the hiccups
>Her hiccups were an odd thing, halfway between a gulp and a cheep
>Finally, two large pegasi, weather workers by the looks of them, came over and yanked her out
>One of them, a grey coated pegasus with a two by four as a cutie mark scolded them
>"You two kids had better get home. We've got a doozy of a storm to kick up and you don't wanna be anywhere near it."
>The friends looked at each other with a gleam in their eyes
>Dash was the first one to speak up
>"My place?"
>Gilda grinned back at the blue pegasus
>"I'll race ya!"
>And with that, they took off like twin lightening bolts
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>The two arrived at the door to Rainbow Dash's house at a dead heat, and they were both breathing heavily
>The sky had darkened since they departed the outskirts of the city, and rain had just started to fall
>The two had raced through the city in the sky, thrown about by their lack of balance and random sneezing
>But they had finally made it
>As they burst through the door into her home, Dash shouted at the top of her lungs
>"Mom, Dad! I'm home!"
>No replies came
>The rainbow maned pegasus shrugged, it wasn't unusual for her parents to come home later, after all
>So the two tromped to the bathroom and towelled themselves off
>Then it was downstairs to the fireplace, which Dash set alight, and they cuddled under a blanket in front of it
>Gilda finally had enough of just sitting there and spoke up
>"So I've never seen your place before. It's pretty flashy."
>Rainbow Dash giggled
>"Yeah, my mom and dad made it themselves. Apparently they wanted it to look like the palaces that the generals had back in the old days. I think it's way too flashy though."
>Gilda snickered at what she figured as an understatement
>"Yeah, with that giant rainbow fountain that comes outta the roof and flows off the cloud? That's just too much!"
>The two laughed again, then fell silent with Gilda looking into the fireplace
>"Hey Dash...I'm sorry about yesterday. I overreacted big time, and I was a total dweeb. Think you could forgive me?"
>Rainbow Dash was stunned at what the griffon was saying
>In all the time she had know Gilda, the aggressive creature had never once apologized for anything
>That made it all the more serious for what the pegasus did next
>"Hey, Gilda, it's okay. In fact, I've got something for ya."
>With that, she galloped up the stairs to her room to get whatever it was she had in store for Gilda
------------------------------------------------------
>When Dash came back down the stairs after a time rummaging through the mess in her room, there was someone downstairs besides Gilda
>The blue pegasus bounded down the stairs happily
>Now she could explain why Gilda needed a place to stay and beg them to let her stay
>She knew they'd say yes, who could refuse a face like hers?
>"Hey mom! Gilda needs to stay here for a little while. Is that oka--"
>She came into sight of the entryway and her voice stuck in her throat
>At the door stood Cloudshine, one of he neighbours, next to a tearful Gilda and...
>And a police officer
>"H-hey...where's my mom and dad?"
>The officer looked down at his hooves, removing his patrol cap
>Cloudshine stared at her, eyes welling with tears, and Gilda
>Gilda was sobbing
>And that was what sent the poor filly over the edge, and she started screaming
>"Where's my mom and dad?! What happened to them?! Why aren't they here?!"
>Gilda flew up to her and took her under her wing, pulling the distraught filly close
>Rainbow Dash struggled against the embrace, but Gilda was far stronger from hunting for food most of her life
>And then Cloudshine spoke into the silence that had only been broken by a filly sobbing uncontrolably
>"Your mom and dad were on their way home when the storm reached its peak. They had been working late and were both very tired. Then a crosswind picked them up and...and."
>The police officer finished the sentence that the brokenhearted neighbor could not
>"They were blown into a cumulonimbus and struck by several lightening bolts. They died instantly. I'm so sorry."
>Rainbow Dash kept crying into Gilda's soft feathers, the only sound in the silence besides the clap of distant thunder and the pattering of rain
>Gilda was the next one to break the silence
>"Hey you two, thanks for all that crud, but could ya get outta here? Dash need to recover."
>The griffon was barely holding back her tears as she spoke
>The officer spoke up against her, however
>"Look, kid, I can't do that. It's against proto--"
>He was cut off as Gilda flared her wings and screeched at him
>"Get outta here before I send you both to Tartarus! You think that Dash needs this crud right now from the ponies that just told her that she's an orphan? Get out!"
>Both the ponies were taken aback by the sudden outburst of aggression, but left the two alone and quietly exited the house
>Gilda tried to take Rainbow Dash's mind off the news she had just got
>"Hey, Dash, what was that thing you wanted to get for me? C'mon, you know I ain't patient!"
>She gave a weak smile to her devastated friend who looked back then pushed a small, boxlike object over to the griffon
>It was wrapped and everything, Gilda wondered when she had the time to do this
>Then again, Dash had been upstairs for a good ten minutes
>No matter, Gilda carefully opened the present, ensuring her sharp claws wouldn't damage the contents
>And to her everlasting surprise, she found something she didn't expect to see again
>The picture of her and Dash hugging, framed in a frame with stylized hearts and such around it
>The pairs faces were encircled with a heart drawn in crayon and the initials "GG + RD" crawled inside it
>She turned it over, and the words on the back made her burst into tears and hold Dash even tighter
>The words that had been there before were scribbled out, and new text was placed below them
>'To Gilda, I'm sorry about the concert thing. I turned down the guy after I saw you. If you still want to go see Horsefeathers with me, you'd be awesome. Please, just don't leave me alone. Love, your little Dashie'
>And folded under the frame, just peeking into visibility, were the tickets to the concert
>Gilda put the picture down and hugged Dash with her forelegs and wings
>And the pair stayed like that for hours
>The sun finally broke in the Eastern sky
>But two unlikely friends had already broken under the eyes of lightening and the voices of thunder
>Neither had slept at all that night, and neither were likely to sleep very well in the forseeable future
>But it didn't matter, they still had each other
>Finally, the blue one spoke in a cracking, quavering voice that had been torn by sobs for hours
>"Gilda...what am I gonna do? I don't have any other family, and I don't wanna have some other pony trying to be my mom. They're gonna take me away and make me go to another family..."
>Gilda's eyes widened and her hackles rose at the statement
>"No way is anybody, pony or otherwise, doing that to you, Dash. They'll have to go over my dead body to get to you. And they don't have the guts to do that."
>She looked into the pegasus' bloodshot eyes, knowing hers looked little different
>"We'll find a way to get through this crud, Dash. You and me against Equestria, right? Just like it was always meant to be."
>The griffon reached out a talon towards Rainbow Dash, and she stared at the limb, not entirely understanding what it meant at first
>But when she finally got it, she pressed her hoof into Gilda's talon and pulled herself up
>And so, under the dawn of a day that chased away the spectres of a horrific night, two friends held each other
>And they both knew in their heart, neither would ever let go