Chapter 2: The Nightmare Begins

Many months after this incident, both Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle had forgotten about the pegasus' nightmare completely. Rainbow Dash had stopped asking Twilight Sparkle about the potion because she had something much more important on her mind. And that was spending time with her friends as well as her best friend Gilda the griffon.

Rainbow Dash grinned whenever she was around Gilda. While she liked Twilight Sparkle and the other ponies very much, none of them could compare to Gilda. There wasn't any romance between the two but somehow Rainbow Dash felt so much closer to Gilda than she did to any of the ponies that she had met. When she was around Twilight Sparkle or Applejack or any of the other ponies, Rainbow Dash always felt like she needed to swallow her pride to get them to keep liking her. However Gilda was much different than the rest of her friends.

Rainbow Dash felt that she could just be, well, Rainbow Dash whenever she was around the griffon. She let herself be as proud as she wanted to be because she knew that Gilda would never look down on her for it. Rainbow Dash knew that the griffon wouldn't try to change who the pegasus was or break off their friendship just because she might have had more pride than most ponies. This was a welcome change of pace for the pegasus since she hadn't felt this way about anypony aside from her one time friend Lightning Dust.

Rainbow Dash fought back her tears. She was not going to think of Lightning Dust. The memories of the daredevil pony were painful enough for the pegasus. She didn't want to relive them during a good day.

Rainbow Dash put her former friend from her thoughts as she raced around the skies with her best friend. After a quick race which Rainbow Dash won, she chatted with her friend.

"So G." she began. "Who was that pony you were talking to at the party?"

Gilda knew what Rainbow Dash was talking about. Recently Gilda had met a pony at her job teaching ponies how to defend themselves. The duo got along extremely well and the griffon thought that if the pony were to meet Rainbow Dash, they'd hit it off instantly. However, her friend had begged Gilda to keep her identity a secret. Apparently she didn't have the best reputation in Equestria and Ponyville was the last place that she should be living in. The only reason the pony lived in Ponyville was for financial issues. She couldn't afford to live in any other town so she was stuck with the worst possible choice of a hometown.

It wasn't like Ponyville was a bad place to live. The only complaints that Gilda had were that the restaurants didn't serve any meat and that there was next to no nightlife anywhere in the town. While her friends had treated her to a breakfast and dinner that included meat, they had admitted that it was a one time thing. The owners of the restaurant owed them a few favors so they used them as part of 'Gilda Appreciation Day' and they said that it was very unlikely that Ponyville would serve meat to its citizens. As for nightlife, well most ponies seemed shocked that anyone could like hearing loud music and cheering in the middle of the night. No, Ponyville was usually peaceful and silent when the sun was down.

The residents themselves weren't bad either. All of the ponies in Ponyville were extremely nice. However Gilda's friend was certain that they'd hate her and might possibly try to run her out of town. Gilda knew why her friend felt this way even though she didn't agree. Nopony ever mentioned her friend by name or reputation so Gilda was rather certain that she would be safe in public.

"Oh she's just a friend." Gilda replied. "We work together at the gym. She's pretty cool."

"Not as cool as me I bet." Rainbow Dash said with a grin.

"Nah but she's still cool." Gilda said.

"When do I get to meet her?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Sorry Dash can't do that." Gilda replied. "She's a loner. She talks to me but that's about it."

The pegasus nodded in response. She wasn't going to press the issue. Maybe one day she'd meet Gilda's friend. The duo continued to fly and perform awesome stunts when all of a sudden a scream pierced the air.

Rainbow Dash flew to the source of the noise and saw that a filly had fallen down a well. Wasting no time, she instantly dove in, grabbed the filly, and flew out. A crowd of ponies had gathered around the well and they applauded as Rainbow Dash lowered the grateful filly to the ground. Rainbow Dash showed off a bit before she flew back to the skies to continue hanging out with Gilda.

Later during the day, Rainbow Dash's flying was interrupted again. A baby carriage had gone out of control and was heading for a cliff. Rainbow Dash sprang into action and stopped the carriage just in time. Many ponies applauded and Rainbow Dash showed off a bit more before she headed back to the skies.

After her flying was over, Rainbow Dash walked around Ponyville and saw yet another disaster. A group of ponies had gotten together on a small balcony. Unfortunately the balcony had broken away from the rest of the building and it was plummeting straight to the ground! Rainbow Dash instantly flew underneath it and caught it. Then she lowered it down to the ground much to the approval of the townsponies. Rainbow Dash signed autographs for a bunch of awestruck fillies before she took off.

Later in the day, Rainbow Dash gave an interview about her heroism. She bragged a bit but nopony seemed to mind. Rainbow Dash had never felt so proud in her life. These ponies were really looking up to her. She even had her own fan club. After the interview was over she flew back to her house and talked to Gilda.

"Can you believe it G?" she asked. "I'm a hero! I have a fan club! This is AWESOME!"

"I'm proud of ya Dash." Gilda replied honestly. "You deserve this. I haven't seen you this proud in a while."

"Thanks G." Rainbow Dash replied. "Good to know you don't think I'm arrogant or anything. I thought you'd hate me."

"I could never hate ya Dash." Gilda told her. "I think you deserve to have as much pride as you want. I'm just happy to see ya smiling."

Rainbow Dash hugged Gilda and the duo went to bed.

Meanwhile a group of ponies were also discussing Rainbow Dash's heroics. Unlike Rainbow Dash and Gilda however, they were not as pleased.

"We need to do something about this girls." Twilight Sparkle said to the group next to her.

"I agree Twilight." Fluttershy said timidly.

"Rainbow's been actin' uppity lately." Applejack agreed.

"If this keeps up she'll become another Trixie." Rarity exclaimed.

Twilight Sparkle frowned at the fashionista's remark but she held her tongue. It wouldn't do any good for her to try and defend Trixie. That would lead to awkward questions which might end up causing the others to realize that Trixie was living in Ponyville. Aside from the showmare herself, only three living souls knew that Trixie was in Ponyville: Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and Gilda. The alicorn knew that she and Spike would keep silent. Gilda agreed to keep a secret and Twilight Sparkle knew that the griffon was being honest. What would Gilda gain by revealing Trixie's whereabouts?

"Which is why we need to put a stop to this now before it gets even more out of hoof." Twilight Sparkle said.

Then the five ponies huddled up and had a whispered discussion.