Chapter 7: The Party
Gilda and her new friends had been practicing for the whole week. After a week's worth of hard work, Pinkie Pie finally decided that they were as ready as they could be and she scheduled the party. Gilda was nervous about the potential humiliation as well as how Rainbow Dash would react to what they had planned. They had made the final adjustments to their preparations and were waiting for the right moment to put their plan into action. Meanwhile Rainbow Dash was talking to her friend Twilight Sparkle as they walked down the road towards the party. They were totally unaware of the surprise that would be in store for them, or more specifically Rainbow Dash.
"I can't wait for this party." Rainbow Dash said with excitement in her voice. "Pinkie Pie said she even had a surprise planned."
"Well I hope this surprise isn't a bunch of pranks." Her friend Twilight Sparkle replied. The purple alicorn looked Rainbow Dash in the eyes as she continued. "You remember what happened last time right?"
"Yeah." Rainbow Dash responded. "Don't worry I'm not planning any pranks. I've learned my lesson from G-Gilda."
Rainbow Dash turned away from Twilight Sparkle. She refused to let the tears come. She wasn't going to let that happen. Not in front of her friend.
"Something wrong Rainbow?" Twilight Sparkle asked, with concern in her voice.
"Nothing. Just that Gilda came back about a week ago." the pegasus responded quietly.
"Really, what happened?" Twilight Sparkle asked. She knew what Gilda's attitude was like and she was worried for her friend's well being. Rainbow Dash noticed the alarm in her voice and calmly told the story.
"Like I was gonna forgive her after what she pulled." Rainbow Dash huffed angrily after she finished her story. "She didn't mean that apology."
"How do you know that?" Twilight Sparkle asked. "She could really be sorry."
"Oh please." Rainbow Dash replied. "Sorry is not in that griffon's vocabulary. Besides you saw how she acted at the party."
"But the two of you were best friends." Twilight Sparkle insisted. "Maybe she wants to make it up to you."
"Well she's gonna have to wait." Rainbow Dash replied. "I have a party to go to today and I know she won't be there."
"How do you know she won't show up?" Twilight Sparkle asked. "Did she say anything to you?"
"No." Rainbow Dash admitted. "But you heard what she said about you and everypony else that was there last time. She wouldn't want us around her. We're too lame for her."
Twilight Sparkle saw the anger in Rainbow Dash's eyes and decided that it would be best to steer the conversation towards anything that wasn't Gilda.
"Have you seen Spike at all?" she asked. "I haven't seen him all week and it's a lot harder to do my studies without him helping me."
"Haven't seen him all week." Rainbow Dash replied in a much calmer voice. "I haven't seen Fluttershy in a while either."
"Neither have I." said Twilight Sparkle. "I haven't even seen Pinkie until she invited us to the party."
Rainbow Dash got a serious look on her face, which was soon replaced by a look of alarm.
"You don't think Gilda did something to them?" she asked in an urgent tone.
"I doubt it." Twilight Sparkle assured her. "We'd have heard something. Besides if she wanted revenge, she wouldn't have gone after Spike. He did nothing to her."
"What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash demanded.
"There are only three ponies that I think Gilda would hate by now." Twilight Sparkle said seriously. "Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and-" Twilight Sparkle stopped herself just in time but Rainbow Dash took the hint.
"Me." she finished flatly.
"Yes but that's how I know she has nothing to do with it." Twilight Sparkle insisted. "You're just fine and Pinkie Pie was all right enough to plan a party and invite us, so Fluttershy and Spike are probably just busy doing something else. You know how much Fluttershy cares for all those animals and Spike, well he's probably trying to figure out some way to impress Rarity."
"I hope you're right." Rainbow Dash responded. She had her doubts, but decided to keep them to herself for now.
Thew two of them had finally arrived at the party and had met a few of their friends. Applejack was there. So were Rarity, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom as well as many other ponies. Even Princess Celestia and Princess Luna showed up. But Spike, Fluttershy, and even more surprisingly Pinkie Pie were nowhere to be seen. Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle exchanged glances but decided not to say anything. It was definitely a strange thing to see a party with no Pinkie Pie in sight. It was even more strange that the pink pony was missing since she was the one who was throwing the party. Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle were definitely concerned, but they put their worries aside. Hopefully they'd see their friends soon enough.
A couple hours earlier.
Gilda had just finished practicing one final time as she waited for Fluttershy and Spike to show up at Pinkie Pie's house. The three of them would then arrive at the party where Pinkie Pie was putting the finishing touches on the decorations. They would show up a while before anyone else would. They'd use that time to go over their plan once more and get everything set up. Gilda heard a knock on the door and she knew it was them. Gilda opened the door to greet Spike and Fluttershy. Then Gilda closed the door behind her and the three of them headed off to where Pinkie Pie's party would be: SugarCube Corner. Once they were inside the building, they saw how much work Pinkie Pie had put into it. The place looked beautiful. It wasn't just the usual balloons and streamers, but instead it was more elegant. Granted it still had that cheerful Pinkie Pie feel to it, but it was a much more refined and elegant looking version of her style. The equipment that they had brought in the day before was arranged perfectly on a stage that had been built at the end of the room.
"Looks like everything's ready." said Gilda. She was still nervous about the plan, but she was willing to go through with it if it meant getting Rainbow Dash back.
"Pinkie you did a wonderful job." Fluttershy complimented.
Spike gazed in awe at the decor. "You may have even out done Rarity." the dragon said.
This statement caused the others to look at him with surprised expressions on each of their faces. It was rare for him to think anypony did something better than Rarity, seeing as he had such an obvious crush on her. However, they knew that he meant the compliment and it meant a lot to Pinkie Pie, who blushed a bit and was thankful that her face was pink instead of any other color. The time trickled by as they went over their plan one last time and practiced as much as they could. They checked the time and noticed that the party was about to start. They got themselves set up along with their equipment and waited hidden behind a large red curtain. A lone microphone stood on the other side in plain view of anypony that was there. They heard the voices of many ponies and waited a little bit longer. Pinkie Pie peeked her head out from behind the curtain and saw Rainbow Dash among the crowd of ponies. She was talking with Twilight Sparkle. Pinkie Pie withdrew her head and gave Gilda a nod which the griffon returned. Pinkie Pie stepped through the curtain, while the others waited for their cue. Pinkie Pie approached the microphone and tapped on it.
"Hi everypony." She said in an energetic tone. All the ponies continued chatting as if they hadn't heard her. "Um hello?" she repeated uncertainly. Why weren't they paying attention to her?
"Pinkie." She heard somepony whisper. Pinkie Pie turned around and saw Fluttershy. "The mic has to be turned on first." The yellow pegasus quickly withdrew her head back into the curtains.
"Oh I knew that." Pinkie Pie said, as she flipped the switch to the on position and greeted her guests. This time they heard her and they stopped chatting so that they could give her their attention.
"Thank you all so so so so so much for coming to this very special party." She said with excitement in every word. "I have a very special treat for all of you. I have some friends with me and we'd like to show you something that we've been working on for a while. We hope you like it." She retreated back into the curtain. There were whispers among the crowd. What was she talking about? Who was with her?
"You ready Gilda?" Pinkie Pie whispered.
Gilda had never felt so nervous since the Mid Terms. She felt like she could puke, run away, or just pass out at any moment. After a reassuring smile and a small hug from Pinkie Pie, she gulped and nodded. Pinkie Pie got herself set up as Gilda took a deep breath and walked through the curtains before her nerves got the best of her. Any small quiet noises that were being made by the crowd were instantly silenced. Gilda noticed that everypony there was giving her a look of anger and she knew exactly why. Ignoring all the evil eyes, the griffon began to speak.
"Thanks for showing up everyone. I know that I'm the last griffon you'd expect to see. I have a very special treat and it's for a great friend of mine. Or rather what used to be a great friend of mine." She glanced towards the floor for a second before turning behind her. "You guys ready?" she said with determination. The curtains rose up and revealed Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Spike behind her. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were holding guitars while Spike was seated at a drum set. The ponies started playing their guitars and Spike started banging on his drums while Gilda waited for her moment. When her moment came, Gilda started to sing.
Author's Note: At this point I would recommend that you open up a tab in your internet and look up the song "One Little Slip" by the Barenaked Ladies. That is the song that Gilda is singing and it is also what inspired me to write this story.
She sang a song that perfectly described her situation. She sang about how her life had been a disaster and that she was alone. She sang about how everything had started with good intentions yet turned into a giant mess. She sang about how she had overreacted and how Rainbow Dash knew everything else. Then she as well as Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Spike sang about how it had been one little slip up. Gilda then sang about how her situation was a confusing mess.
During the brief pause between the verses Rainbow Dash gave her friends a glance of pure shock that they returned. Seeing Gilda sing was surprising enough but Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Spike being her band was just astounding. When Rainbow Dash had been told that there would be a surprise at the party, she was expecting anything. But this was beyond surprising.
Gilda then continued her song. She sang about how she had made the wrong decisions and had missed a couple signs along the way. She sang about how she lost all of Rainbow Dash's respect and affection when she humiliated herself. She sang about how she had gone on what she had assumed and how that had been what caused everything to spiral out of control. Then she and her band repeated the line about Gilda had made one little slip up which was followed by Gilda repeating the line about the confounding mess her life had become.
Gilda then sang about how she felt that she'd never be able to live in Ponyville until she lived down the one mistake that had been haunting her since she left. She sang about how everypony would forget about her mistakes when they realized how she'd redeem herself.
Gilda nodded her head to the beat as Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy played their guitars and Spike played the drums. She waited until it was time for her to continue singing again. In the crowd Gilda's former best friend watched the griffon's performance in awe. Rainbow Dash never knew Gilda could or would sing and she was stunned by this display. Was this whole performance for her?
Gilda sang once again about how she had had good intentions at the start. She sang about how everything turned into a big mess because of her overreacting. She sang again about how Rainbow Dash knew what happened afterwards.
The four on stage sang about Gilda's slip up once again.
Gilda sang a quick line about how she'd made one little stumble which was followed by a big ungrateful slip.
Gilda sang her last lines about the confusing mess her life was, as Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Spike played their last notes. When the song was over the four of them took a bow. The audience clapped, cheered, screamed, whistled, and made a great deal of noise as the curtain closed. Gilda looked at her friends and spoke almost silently.
"You three are really great friends." She whispered. "Thanks."
"No problem Gilda." Pinkie Pie said as she hopped over to the griffon and gave her a hug which the griffon returned.
"Don't give us all the credit Gilda." Fluttershy said. She had definitely started to warm up to Gilda ever since the griffon apologized. Fluttershy used to be scared of her, but now she had realized that Gilda really wasn't all that bad.
"Yeah." Spike agreed. "They're cheering for you as much as they're cheering for us."
Gilda smiled a little. "I just hope Rainbow Dash liked it."
"I bet she loved it." Pinkie Pie said cheerfully. She just kept hugging Gilda and the griffon didn't mind at all.
Meanwhile in the audience, Rainbow Dash sat in complete shock that her former best friend would do what she had just witnessed. One of the things that Gilda never did since Rainbow Dash had known her was sing. Gilda singing was something that the pegasus had never thought would ever be a possibility, and yet it had happened.
"That was amazing." Rarity said in an awe-filled whisper. She had been impressed by the decorations, and now she had been even more impressed by the performance.
"That griffon may be meaner than a snake but she sure can sing." Applejack agreed. Aside from Rainbow Dash, Applejack had the most negative feelings about Gilda since the griffon's first visit to Ponyville, yet even she couldn't deny that the show Gilda had put on was spectacular.
"Rainbow what did you think of it?" Twilight Sparkle asked. The alicorn had been watching her friend's reactions closely throughout the song, wondering what the pegasus was thinking.
"Oh yeah they were great." Rainbow Dash said hastily. Her friends gave her an exasperated look at her remark, as if she was missing something that was painfully obvious. Glancing at the three ponies with an annoyed look, Rainbow Dash spoke up again.
"What?" she said defensively. "I said they were great."
"You just don't get it do you?" Rarity said, while shaking her head, as if Rainbow Dash had ignored a fact that was staring her in the face.
"What?" Rainbow Dash asked in an irritated tone. She was getting tired of her friends giving her that tone as if she wasn't seeing something that was right in front of her. As far as the pegasus knew, she'd done nothing wrong.
"Gilda!" her three friends said at once, causing the pink and purple eyes of the light blue pony to widen in surprise.
"She sang that song for you. It was her apology." Rarity said with a glare.
"Didn't you notice how well it fit with what she did before?" Applejack said angrily.
"I told you that she wanted to make it up to you." Twilight Sparkle insisted.
"But what should I do?" Rainbow Dash asked in a confused tone.
"Go and talk to her!" Her friends nearly shouted in unison, shocked that anypony could be so clueless.
Rainbow Dash immediately got up from her seat and ran towards the stage, ignoring the crowd of ponies. If Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy helped her does that mean that they've already forgiven her? the pegasus wondered, as she pushed the curtains out of her way, and was face to face with Gilda. Upon noticing the arrival of Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie let go of the griffon and took a couple of steps backwards. She felt that it would be best to leave the two of them alone to talk.
"I guess you figured it out." Gilda muttered, while looking down at the floor.
"My friends figured it out for me." Rainbow Dash admitted sheepishly. The pegasus had a small blush on her face, as she rubbed the back of her head with her hoof.
Gilda lifted her head up so that she could look her former best friend in the eyes. The duo then stared at each other so intently that they didn't even notice the curtain rise.
"Rainbow Dash I'm so sorry for everything I've done. I was a total dweeb." Gilda said. "Please can you forgive me and can we be friends again?"
Rainbow Dash looked at Gilda as her golden yellow eyes pierced her soul once more. The crowd was making small noises of sympathy but neither the pegasus nor the griffon paid them any mind.
"Oh Gilda." she began. "That was the nicest thing you've ever done for me but we can't just be friends."
Gilda let her head droop down until she looked at the floor. I did all of that for nothing. She thought miserably. All of that planning, all of that hard work, and Rainbow Dash still hates me. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Pinkie Pie's crestfallen, disbelieving face. She had been so enthusiastic about helping Gilda and now it seemed like it had all been in vain. Even Spike and Fluttershy were in shock at Rainbow Dash's response.
Rainbow Dash put her hoof under Gilda's chin and slowly lifted the griffon's head up until they were looking into each other's eyes. Gilda unwillingly stared into the pink and purple eyes of the pegasus pony and wondered what she was going to say.
"Let me finish." Rainbow Dash said. "We can't just be friends. We have to be best friends."
Gilda's golden yellow eyes opened wide in surprise. "Y-you mean it?" she asked in a stunned tone. She couldn't believe her ears. Had Rainbow Dash finally forgiven her?
Rainbow Dash closed her eyes, smiled, and nodded. Gilda was so overcome with happiness that she hugged the light blue pegasus, not even caring that approximately a hundred ponies or maybe more were watching. Rainbow Dash returned the hug as the crowd cheered.
"I missed you Dashie." Gilda whispered softly.
"I missed you too Gilds." Rainbow Dash whispered back.
The pegasus and the griffon just hugged each other even tighter. They didn't care who was watching or what they were saying. Their pride didn't matter to them since they had both finally gotten their best friends back after so long apart. They felt each other's tears fall onto their bodies. Their tears were not of sorrow but instead they were tears of joy. All of a sudden, Pinkie Pie zoomed towards them and threw her forelegs around them. Taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth wide.
"GROUP HUG!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.
Right after Pinkie Pie made that announcement, Fluttershy and Spike joined the hug. Soon enough Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight Sparkle were with them. Then the Princesses joined, as well as the Cutie Mark Crusaders. After only a moment, everypony in the room had joined the hug. They had stayed in that group for what seemed like an eternity. When they finally broke apart, everypony started conversing among themselves, leaving the pegasus and the griffon alone to catch up. Spike found Pinkie Pie standing near the punch bowl. A smug grin appeared on his face as he approached the pink pony. He was finally going to get a date with Rarity.
"So Pinkie." He began. "You remember the deal right?" He grinned at the party obsessed pony with a sense of accomplishment. Pinkie Pie finished her cup of punch and, with a warm smile, she dragged Spike over to Rarity and explained the deal to her. After hearing about the situation, Rarity had a small frown on her face. She scolded Spike for not helping Gilda out of the kindness in his heart like Fluttershy did. With his eyes closed, Spike hung his head low feeling ashamed of himself.
"Besides." Rarity continued. "If you wanted to go on a date with me why didn't you just ask?"
Spike was feeling deflated. This was going horribly. He thought getting a date with Rarity would be easy but now it seemed like she hated him. "I thought you'd say no." he said in a soft voice.
"And why would you think that?" Rarity inquired.
Spike had no clue what to say in response to the unicorn's question. Rarity spoke up again.
"Well why not ask me out now?" she said.
"Um okay." Spike said nervously as he shuffled his feet. "Rarity do you want to go on a date with me?"
"I'd love to Spike." She replied with a warm smile. Rarity was a little surprised that Spike would actually ask her out but she was definitely flattered.
Spike was so overcome with happiness that he fainted and hit the floor with a loud thud causing Rarity and Pinkie Pie to laugh hysterically. Spike stayed on the ground for almost an entire minute before he finally opened his eyes. Once Spike eventually regained consciousness he and Rarity made plans for their date. Spike might not have had wings but that didn't stop him from feeling like he was floating on air.
