Chapter 19: Victory Celebration

Everypony in the area looked at Gilda in confusion. The war had ended and now Grifforia and Equestria would be allies instead of enemies. What could Gilda have in mind for them to do? They had defeated all of Grifforia's solider and they had destroyed their secret weapon. Gilda had also defeated her father who had started the war in the first place. What was she planning?

"So what are we gonna do G?" Rainbow Dash asked her marefriend with slightly raised eyebrows.

"There's only one thing to do Dash." Gilda told her in a strangely serious tone.

Everypony waited to hear what Gilda was going to say. Suddenly a grin grew on the brown and white griffon's face as she continued to speak.

"PARTY!" Gilda yelled at the top of her lungs, much to the approval of her friends. All of them liked the idea of having a party to celebrate the end of the war.

Instantly everypony made their way to SugarCube Corner for a celebration. The war between Equestria and Grifforia had finally ended and all of Ponyville's citizens were celebrating this occasion. Ponies danced, chatted, and had a great time together as they partied well into the night. Twilight Sparkle and Trixie danced together in the middle of the room along with Rarity and Spike as well as a few other couples.

Gilda meanwhile was being showered with loads of praise by the local townsponies. Her tremendous bravery and leadership had helped Equestria win the war so everypony was thankful for that. Gilda grinned as she was admired by the ponies from around town. She chatted cheerfully with her friends for a while until Rainbow Dash came up to her.

"So G about that kiss." Rainbow Dash began slowly. "Does that mean you're my marefriend now?"

Gilda grinned at the rainbow maned pegasus pony before her and then she gave her a quick kiss on the lips. Rainbow Dash blushed furiously but she smiled all the same. Gilda grinned broadly at the light blue winged pony as she spoke.

"Did that answer your question?" she asked playfully as she stared at her blushing marefriend. A grin was starting to form on Rainbow Dash's face as she responded to Gilda's question.

"Yeah I think it did." Rainbow Dash replied in the same playful sort of tone with a smile on her face.

The duo kissed once again and their friends smiled. They had wanted to see Rainbow Dash find somepony that she loved and they had hoped the same for Gilda. They hadn't expected the duo to find love with each other but they knew that fate worked in mysterious ways sometimes. The two fliers were in blissful oblivion as they held each other in their forelegs and embraced each other. Rainbow Dash's hooves were on Gilda's shoulders while Gilda had her talons underneath Rainbow Dash's wings. They held each other tightly in their embrace as they kissed. The two fliers kissed for a while until they were forced to break apart in order to breathe.

Grayback and his team mingled with the others in the room and they had a good time. Gilda had given them thirty hours worth of freedom and they were going to use it wisely. Psyke had started to get along with the others in the room. He had especially hit it off with Pinkie Pie. For some reason the pink pony found Psyke's jokes to be wildly funny. Grayback had gotten along with some of the others and had even had a civil conversation with Gilda. For the moment he had put his rivalry with the brown and white griffon aside and focused on just having a good time.

Finally the ponies who had fled to safety before the war had returned. Most of them were either elderly ponies or very young fillies. The Cutie Mark Crusaders walked in and joined the party. It took very little time before they were dressed up in their rock band outfits and performing on stage. They didn't sing their theme song but rather they performed a few popular rock songs that the crowd enjoyed. After their performance was over, Vinyl Scratch made her way on to the stage and started up her turntable. The off white unicorn got the party to really start jumping. Every pony in the room was screaming, laughing, and having a great time.

Soon enough Gilda was asked to come onto the stage and she obliged. The crowd cheered for the griffon that had been their leader during the war as she grinned at her friends. Soon enough Rainbow Dash, Lightning Dust, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Grayback, Psyke, Monochrome, Chunker, and the pegasus lieutenant joined her on the stage and they were showered with praise and attention. The group of twelve grinned broadly at all of the compliments that they were receiving. The townsponies had praised them for all of their efforts during the war. Some of them had been leaders while others had been part of the destruction of Grifforia's secret weapon. After a minute or so, the group of twelve left the stage and rejoined the party.

Soon enough a clock chimed midnight and everypony decided that it was time for the party to end. After a few more minutes of partying, everypony decided to leave for their homes. The party had been a ton of fun but now it was time for everypony to get some much needed sleep. Gilda and Rainbow Dash went back to the cloud castle in the sky to get some sleep. Gilda laid down in her bed and Rainbow Dash slept with her. They pulled Gilda's brown and white blanket over themselves and snuggled next to each other comfortably. Rainbow Dash laid her head on Gilda's white feathered chest and enjoyed the soft feathers immensely.

"Hey Dash." Gilda said. "I've got pillows here ya know."

"I know." Rainbow Dash replied. "But this is way more comfy for me."

The two fliers were about to fall asleep before Gilda spoke up again. Her voice wasn't as playful as it had been a moment ago but rather it had a serious sort of tone to it.

"Hey Dash." Gilda began. "You remember when you told me to go find cool friends somewhere else since being cool was all I cared about?"

Rainbow Dash had a guilty sort of look on her face as she responded to the question.

"Gilda I didn't mean that." she told her. "I wish I never said it."

"Well Dash I didn't care about being cool." Gilda explained. "I never really did. I just acted cool 'cause I thought that's what you liked about me."

"Gilda I liked you 'cause you were a great friend." Rainbow Dash told her. "It didn't matter if you were cool or not."

"Yeah I know." Gilda said quietly. "That's why I stopped trying to act cool. I guess it worked huh?"

"Gilda you were always my best friend." Rainbow Dash said. "I didn't want to see ya leave. I wanted to take ya back as soon as ya left."

"Don't worry Dash." Gilda said. "I don't care about being cool anymore. All I care about is having awesome friends like you and the others."

Rainbow Dash smiled at this and was just about to go to sleep before she decided to say one more thing to Gilda.

"Hey Gilda." Rainbow Dash said. "You're still cool to me."

"Coolest griffon you've ever met?" Gilda asked.

"Without a doubt." Rainbow Dash assured her.

The duo grinned broadly as they started to finally fall asleep. Their energy had been drained during the war and being at that party didn't help much. The two fliers closed their eyes and spoke to each other one last time.

"Good night Dashie." Gilda said.

"Good night Gilds." Rainbow Dash replied.

"Love ya."

"Love ya too."

With that, the duo fell asleep with contentment showing on their faces. They enjoyed being in each other's embrace and they knew that their love for each other was true. The two fliers slept on for a while and their dreams were of each other. The two fliers were in a state of pure happiness that they had never experienced before. The two lovers slept on throughout the night as they stayed in each other's embrace.