Songs of Innocence

Chapter 16: Ponies of a Feather

Ponyville's train station, later that day

"Gilda!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Dash!" Gilda exclaimed back.

The two shared a brief hug, both grinning widely at finally being able to see each other again. 

"I feel like I haven't seen you in forever. You and Pinkie Pie coming to Griffonstone felt like it happened decades ago. Do you have a problem keeping promises or something?" Gilda smirked, teasing her friend for not visiting her like she said she would. Luckily, Rainbow didn't take it personally.

"Yeah, I know... I actually think the last time I saw you was when you and everycreature came to help us fight Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow. We didn't exactly have time to talk..." the pegasus rubbed her neck, thankful that she actually had a chance to be with her best friend again.

"Well, I don't blame you for not bothering to come over to see just some random griffon like me... since you're a member of the Wonderbolts now."

Rainbow gasped, "How'd you know?!"

Gilda chuckled while blushing, a sign that she was about to admit something she considered embarrassing. "I... used to check the list of members once a month because I wanted to see if you made it on. Seems you did... I always knew you'd make it."

Rainbow grinned. If there was one thing Gilda cared about, it was her. Maybe a bit too much, actually. She was still kind of Gilda's only friend, and thus, the only creature she really thought about. That's not to say that she wasn't doing a good job at making friends with other griffons back in Griffonstone, but all of her relationships there paled in comparison to her friendship with the rainbow-maned pegasus she affectionately nicknamed "Dash".

"I get it. Hey, now that you're finally here, why don't we do some flying like we used to?"

"Sounds great. Hopefully Pinkie Pie won't get in our way again."

The two began to walk to a place they could leap off the ground and race through the sky. But just as Rainbow's competitive spirit flared up like a flame with gasoline poured onto it, suddenly, Gilda asked, "Uh, why does she have wings?" She pointed towards the pink pony she was just talking about, who was walking down the street far away from them. Her focus ruined, Rainbow tried her best to answer... but then she realized she didn't actually know what happened.

"I don't know, actually..." she scratched her head.

"Oh, I can answer that!" a familiar voice suddenly chimed in. 

Gilda sighed, realizing their race had been halted before it even began as Rainbow looked around to see who was speaking to them. As it turned out, the voice was Innocent Sun's, and she was coming right towards the pegasus, who was scrambling to find an answer as to why Sun would think it was a good idea to say hi to her at this exact moment.

"Oh, hey... Can I help you, Sun?" Rainbow sighed coldly.

"Uh, well... Today is the day that Twilight said we should hang out to get to know each other. You remembered, right?" 

Then, Rainbow's mind blue-screened for a second. 

"That was today?! Oh, come on!" she groaned. It had completely slipped her mind that she had to hang out with Sun on Twilight's orders today... or maybe she pretended to forget, in hopes that she wouldn't have to hang out with the unicorn. Either way, she realized at the worst possible moment that she had to choose between telling Sun to go away (which would be honest, but the bluntness of it might hurt Sun) and hanging out with Gilda, or telling Gilda to go away so she could keep her promise to Twilight, which just wasn't happening.