UPDATES:

1: Completed the Apple Spectrum title page.

2: Started work on a commission.

3: Requests are available when I say so on my profile page on FiMFiction.

4: Demanded I become AbsoluteAnonymous' artist. Succeeded.

5: Enjoy chapter 3, my readers. Please be a nice dear and leave a review. Any questions? Post it in a review or PM.

Thanks, Mr. Masato/Arby Works.

The Apple Spectrum: Chapter 3:

Intense Apocalyptic Hurricane Rainbow Blast

3:1: Pegasus VS. Equestria

"Consarn it, Rainbow. Why can't y'all jus' buck like a normal pony fer a change?"

"Too slow. Storm coming. Silence your face my little pony." Rainbow spat out in a hurry.

One week after the swim at the lake, Rainbow and Applejack are busy at work bucking apples. Several pegasi above zip around, positioning clouds here and there for a storm in several hours time. Rainbow denied the break Applejack gave her in favour of keeping up her consistent working habits on the farm. This causes several problems; one, being Rainbow decided to applebuck as fast as she possibly could, two, she is ruining several apple barrels, and three, it's flipping Rainbow Dash. All she's doing is zipping around and practically slamming headfirst into a tree trunk. Applejack sighed, watching her pegasus friend somehow ignore physics to avoid skull fractures... and knock down apples while she does so.

*SMASH*

While sighing, Applejack trotted towards the source of the crash just a few apple trees down. Visibly, the tree had been tilted over, its apples falling off of the shuddering tree and behind it lay a groaning pegasus pony, rubbing her head. Applejack chuckled, fighting back the urge to relentlessly slaughter the rainbow maned cyan pony for the almost destruction of one of her trees.

"Applejack, the tree attacked me. Otherwise I would have knocked the apples off." Rainbow said, stumbling to her feet.

Applejack let out another chuckle at Rainbow's attempt to cover her moment of weakness, merely deciding to go along with the ruse. "Ah 'spose that th' tree also knocked i'self over, ah presume?" Applejack shifted her tone to one full of sarcasm.

Rainbow shook herself, still dazed from the crash and stopped to look at the tree. Indeed, it now had a tilt. Rainbow sighed. She spat at the ground and kicked dirt over it, anything to postpone the inevitable chewing out.

"Y'know, ah think y'all should jus' leave fer the day." Applejack said with a drawn out sigh, rubbing her forehead with a hoof.

Rainbow winced and her face turned into a scowl. "What, don't think I can handle this? It's only one crash." she trotted slowly towards Applejack.

The golden pony turned her head up to glare at Rainbow with a dull stare. She sighed once more and placed a hoof on Rainbow's scruff to prevent her from walking forward.

"No, ah jus' don' think it's very safe fer th' likes of ya right now." Applejack attempted to use her best voice to mask the annoyance.

Rainbow shook off Applejack's hoof and stepped back. "The trees aren't gonna do anything." she fluttered her wings, preparing to take off for some more sky-bucking.

Applejack practically stomped on Rainbow's tail. "Ya jus' said th' trees attacked ya." Rainbow flinched and gave a sheepish grin, mumbling a few words. "An that's not what ah meant. Ya won't be safe from me 'cause I'm tryin' my darndest t' not buck ya t' th' moon fer damagin' mah tree." Applejack said with hard emphasis on the last words.

Rainbow froze up, looking to her friends face to see Applejack's eye twitching as she stared at the sky. Rainbow took a few steps back slowly, all while Applejack merely let loose a few ominous chuckles.

"Uh, hey, is that cloud calling my name! Gotta go!" Rainbow shot off from the ground, zipping up over the trees before flying towards Ponyville Town Hall.

Applejack chuckled, before turning around remembering why she wanted the pegasus gone. She let out yet another drawn out sigh, trotting towards the tree to pick up the fallen apples.

Rainbow soared through the skies towards Town Hall to recheck the cloud plan for tonight before actually getting to work. Bad enough she's helping Sweet Apple Acres, now Ponyville needs its largest storm of the month. Down below, several ponies pruned several loose branches off trees. The storm isn't going to be too bad, but it never hurt to be safe.

She slowed down, descending at a calm pace, but not too calm for Rainbow Dash. She landed directly on the ground in front of Town Hall and trotted through the doors, wasting no time. Upon entering, she ran into the most unlikely thing possible.

"'sup, flip-flop?"

Rainbow stared with an odd glance at the sight before her; Mayor Mare with a distraught look on her face, shaking hooves or... her hoof with the claw, of Rainbow's long-time griffon friend who bore an annoyed face...

"Gilda. Hi. Hello. What's up? How are you? Why? What is this, I don't even..." Rainbow blurted out towards Gilda.

The Mayor's hoof was released from Gilda's claw, both looking equally disgusted at what must have occurred prior to Rainbow's entrance.

"Nothing. Just striking a deal with some lame o' ponies." Gilda's attitude didn't seem to change from when they last saw each other. Rainbow hoped that Gilda would have changed by now and gave an annoyed glare at the griffon. "Ponyville needed extra help with their storm and I figured why not, I could use a couple extra bits. Don't expect me to care about my job, though." Gilda walked towards Rainbow as if to shove her, instead passing by to exit.

"Still queen lame-o, 'Dashie'?" Gilda asked before leaving.

"Still rude, brush-off?" Rainbow replied with an angered face only visible to the Mayor.

Gilda stared at Rainbow from behind, snorting with a few chuckles. She shook her head and stepped out.

"Figures." Gilda took off into the skies after.

Rainbow growled before scoffing and turning her attention to the Mayor.

"Why did you ask for her help? I mean, I'm not mad, it's just that she doesn't exactly get along with most ponies." Rainbow asked as she trotted over to a room in the Town Hall where the Weather Forecasts are stored.

The Mayor sighed. "I apologize, I really should have talked with you, but even I know when we need an extra set of hooves on the job. Several pegasi quit after that tornado so we're shorthooved. Gilda promises that she can help in return for payment." the Mayor said, walking over to a desk in the more office-like area of Town Hall.

Opening a filing cabinet, Rainbow fumbled around the Forecasts of the Week to find that the Weather Plans aren't present. She slammed the drawer and began to mess through the rest of the office to find that Forecast.

"Shorthooved will be the least of our worries, I totally forgot what we're supposed to be doing... err, I mean, I need to refresh my memory." Rainbow shouted out from the office while the Mayor began to record Gilda's assistance plus her eventual pay. "And I can't... find... that... blasted... Forecast..."

"Hmm, Gilda did look at it. Maybe she left it out here." the Mayor replied, writing in the ridiculous amount of bits Gilda weaselled out of her before leaving.

Rainbow shot out of the office and began to trot around the more open part of Town Hall in her search for the Weather Forecast. Observing the room did nothing so Rainbow floated up to the upper level to search around. Low and behold, in some random corner lay a crumpled paper that when Rainbow opened up, had the Weather Forecast. Rainbow sighed before taking the paper into her mouth, fluttering into the air, and back down to the ground.

"It was upstairs. Crumpled up." Rainbow let out a sigh as the paper floated down to the ground.

"Well, that griffon was making a lot of trouble, knocking chairs over." the Mayor said, finalizing the record before folding it up and slipping it into an envelope.

Rainbow studied the Forecast, which called for enough rain to last for a total of 30 hours, starting at 3:30 PM after students are done school, ending at 9 PM the next day. Rainbow smirked. She lucked out, as they would finish bucking by then and tomorrow is Thursday. Applejack and Rainbow are going to Troronto along with Big Macintosh, Rarity and Spike, for some reason. She attempted to fold the paper up properly, but wound up crumpling the paper more than before. She sighed, roughly folding it and walked into the office to set it into the Forecasts Drawer.

"Rainbow, if you see Gilda, could you give this to her? It contains her record if she ever needs to..." she paused, pondering the words. "'explain' where she got the money from." the Mayor said, holding it out.

Rainbow nodded, wanting to resist the urge. She ignored it, trotting forward and taking the envelope out of her hoof. Finding nowhere else to put it, she sighed and decided to pin it against the back of her head with her goggle straps during the initial starting of the storm.

"Leaving to prep the Weather Team. And tell them that Gilda is helping." Rainbow said, trying to hide her emotion as the Mayor nodded.

Rainbow put the envelope in her mouth and walked outside, flapping her wings. With a hearty Rainbow Dash grunt (if that's possible), she took off into the sky towards the usual landing pad Rainbow would sometimes make. Seven Pegasi already lay in wait, all with annoyed looks on their faces. Rainbow sped up, arriving faster and slowing down as she landed atop the cloud. All pegasi looked to Rainbow.

"That griffon friend of yours showed up and proceeded to rant on and on about her flip-flop friend." one spoke up, oblivious to the mentioned "flip-flop".

Rainbow sighed, slapping her hoof against her face. She dragged it across her face before stopping, staring at the pegasi , trying to hold back what anger built up when Gilda arrived. He turned her head, setting the envelope behind her wing.

"The griffon is named Gilda and she was just hired to help with the weather after Fluttershy... y'know." Rainbow rubbed the back of her head.

The pegasi all groaned in unison.

"So it's true?"

"She's helping us. Just great."

Rainbow had been prepared for the reception of this news, but she didn't think she'd actually have to prove she was prepared. She sighed and stepped forward.

"Alright team, or... what's left of the team, we're shorthanded and you know it. She's not going to be permanently helping us." she paused, thinking of a reason. "I mean, she does think ponies are lame." she snorted, remembering the outburst Gilda had.

The Weather Team stared at Rainbow with unbelieving expressions. Rainbow realized that telling them that wasn't probably the best way to instigate teamwork...

"Okay, just do this for your dear future Wonderbolt, Rainbow Dash... just do what she says if she gets bossy for the time being, please?" Rainbow asked in her best forced tone of urgency.

The team still stared at her with blank stares, not satisfied. Rainbow sighed, knowing that they will extort this to the fullest possibility.

"Uh, do what Gilda says and I'll... I dunno, give you a free VIP ticket when I'm a Wonderbolt?" she replied, a little more desperation in her voice.

Their frowns grew smaller but not completely. Rainbow's eye twitched,

"Fine, I'll give you all a darn raise. Two extra bits an hour. There, are you happy or do you wanna extort me for my house too?" Rainbow stomped her hooves around the best she could on her landing pad cloud.

The Weather Team ponies all replaced their frowns with smiles the instant Rainbow mentioned a raise. Rainbow sighed and kicked some cloud up.

"Whatever, just get the job done and be back by 4:00 PM to punch out. We've got two hours, folks. Lets not waste it doing what only I'm allowed to do; laze around." Rainbow said, looking off into the distance with her attempt at a proud stance. Several pegasi snickered before taking off. Rainbow snorted. "Hey, I've got a family to feed and I gotta work with you lazy joes slacking off." Rainbow said with a painfully obvious sarcastic tone in her voice as her pegasi took off.

A total of nine pegasi in the Weather Team. Some feel that the Ponyville Weather Team was fine on its own, merely opting to work elsewhere or leave to Cloudsdale entirely. Rainbow sighed. It is now quiet, and she had to ponder her plan of action. Of course, ever since Twilight came, nothing is normal anymore. The landing pad she stood on seemingly imploded into itself, forming a very small amount of water. Rainbow, a slight shock as she spread her wings into a flutter keeping her airborne while Gilda's letter flew down to the ground. She sighed and turned, hearing chuckles from a very familiar voice.

"Haha, condensing clouds is still fun. You shoulda seen the look on your face. It surely was hilarious." Gilda's voice boomed out, having not seen the cyan pegasus' face.

Rainbow tried her best to be mad and annoyed at Gilda, but instead couldn't help as a few chuckles escaped her mouth before turning into a fit of laughter.

"Fine, you got me there but don't think this changes anything." Rainbow allowed herself to calm down. Gilda did the same, giving Rainbow an almost blank stare. "I remember how you acted last time you came to Ponyville, Gilda."

Gilda sighed. "Hey, I've totally changed, Rainbow. I don't think ponies are lame-o's." she said in a dull tone.

Rainbow nodded. "Good. Then that means yo-"

"Just you."

Rainbow looked at Gilda with surprise, wondering if this is another one of Gilda's mean-spirited jokes. She continued staring, not seeing a change in Gilda's expression.

"Lame-o flip-flop, why couldn't you have stayed cool?" Gilda said, her expression changing to a more solemn look. Rainbow merely looked, slowly loosing her anger and annoyance at the griffon.

"We were friends first. Why did you choose them over me...?" Gilda asked, her voice threatening to lose its more coarse tone.

Rainbow had completely lost her anger and annoyance, instead replaced by slight guilt and even a bit of regret. She bit her bottom lip as Gilda shook as if holding back a violent urge.

"I spent all the time possible with you when you first came here, I rejected my other friends because I knew you weren't staying and when the one time came where you came across a situation that you didn't like, where I was the cause, you lost it." Rainbow paused as Gilda zipped forward toward her, inches away from her face. Her attempt at holding tears showed on Gilda's face.

"Says the one who chose to humiliate me in front of everypony." the griffon shot back, her voice betraying her words.

"They weren't all meant for you. You just happened to get in the wa-"

Gilda gave Rainbow a shove back, coming off as a bit of a surprise to the Rainbow pegasus. Gilda had never gotten this physical towards anybody else, even if it was just a shove.

"I heard this story a hundred times, Dash. I don't care about that." Gilda growled at Rainbow up close, the pegasus not backing down or replying.

"... whatever, hurry up, flip-flop. We've got work to do." Gilda spun around and quickly wiped the few tears onto her feathered arm before taking off in the general direction of the Cloudsdale cloud delivery buildup.

Rainbow zipped towards the area just outside of Ponyville where most clouds are bunched up due to the cliffs redirecting the wind. The clouds often scatter given some time but it's better to work when they gather up. Already she could see Gilda zipping around, shoving several pegasi away as she grabbed clouds before zipping around over to another part of Ponyville. Rainbow shook her head, trying to shut out the minor guilt Gilda made her feel. The next little while continued like this, the pegasi and Gilda continuing their job of spreading out the rain clouds in equal distribution. Gilda kept to herself but still didn't hesitate to act in verbal aggression to her co-workers if they drew near.

After half an hour, Rainbow felt she had to talk to Gilda even if it meant Gilda once more shoved the pegasus in aggression. Rainbow waited until the first wave of cloud bunches were taken care of and floated towards Gilda who sat on a small chunk of cloud she tore off to sit on. The cloud is just large enough to support the two of them and Rainbow floated over, setting herself down next to the griffon who sat with a leg sprawled out, knee raised and her left arm resting on the knee.

"Thanks for your assistance." Rainbow stated as both stared in the oncoming wave of clouds before it bunched up.

"Whatever, loser." Gilda retorted, anger in her voice.

"Do you wanna race before we work again? I mean, not often somebody can race me in the air." Rainbow thought back to her race with Fluttershy; she definitely had potential to match her, but not right now.

Silence overtook the two, almost driving Rainbow to insanity. This always was the worst part of a conversation; the silence following a question.

"Last one to your cloud home to here wins." Gilda said, shoving herself up to her talons.

Rainbow smirked. She shot up right after Gilda. "You're on! Loser has to do one extreme dare!" Rainbow fluttered her wings and placed herself in a ready-to-take-off position.

"Yeah s-GO!" Gilda took off before Rainbow could fully prepare herself.

Rainbow gasped in surprise before arching her brow and taking off in a fit of determination to catch up to the griffon. Gilda had taken an odd sense of desperation as she flew faster than her usual racing speed. Rainbow wondered how aggressive Gilda felt right now. She soon realized that she's losing. Rainbow grit her teeth and picked up her pace, going at her usual desperation flight speed. She caught up to Gilda quickly and zipped passed her. Gilda only watched in disbelief as Rainbow pulled ahead with little trouble and merely growled and flew at her top speed. She ever so slowly caught up to Rainbow when the cloud home came into view. Noticing this, Rainbow took off at her top speed possible, slowly creating a cone as she threatened the sound barrier. However, the cone never attempted to form it's deepest stages as Rainbow hadn't been going fast enough. She crashed onto her doormat, bouncing off of the door and rolling back towards the cloudy porch. Gilda touched down seconds after that. Rainbow stared off at Gilda with giddiness but that died after Gilda's face displayed nothing but anger.

"Grr, darn it! I can't even beat you at a simple, stupid race, let alone this supposed 'friendship' crap." Gilda kept shaking her head, slashing away at the cloud she stood on.

Gilda let a few roars escape her mouth while Rainbow watched on, slightly annoyed that her griffon friend still couldn't get over that. She did bring it on herself so Rainbow saw no reason for Gilda to still be upset over water under the bridge.

"Darn it, why couldn't I have been a pony? Then I could have been cool enough for your books and then y'know what? We could have been the coolest pegasi ever." Rainbow stared on in confusion. "It's because here I am in Pony country as a Griffon. I'm the black sheep and I understood that. It's why I became cool so being the black sheep was awesome. Then you came along and were the only one to come close to my coolness." Gilda ranted on while Rainbow looked down, her mind deep in thought.

"And now, I can't even beat you in a race because I'm not a stupid pegasus. Lost my coolest... only friend to a buncha lame-o ponies and..." she kicked some more cloud up in her fit of anger before fighting several tears.

"BAH HA HA HA!" Rainbow burst out laughing, rolling on the cloud behind Gilda.

The mentioned griffon spun around with wide eyes, surprised at Rainbow's outburst as she allowed herself to fall apart in a fit of totally uncool display of emotion. Her face contorted into one of anger, gritting her teeth and her brow arching as far as they would. She stomped (as best as she could on a cloud) to Rainbow who still continued rolling around. Gilda grabbed Rainbow by the shoulders and lifter her up, the cyan pegasus laughing away even as Gilda picked her up.

"You'll be laughing a lot harder when I bust your teeth in, 'Dashie'!" Gilda shouted right into the mare's face.

Rainbow attempted to stop laughing, hiccoughing as she wiped her eyes of tears. Rainbow let out a few more huffs, attempting to breathe normally again.

"S-sorry G, it's just that I suffered from this just last week." Rainbow said, unable to hold back smiles at the coincidences.

Gilda stared at Rainbow and dropped her onto her cloud. Rainbow fell down on her rump and merely leaned back onto her elbows.

"What're you talking about? Suffering from being a griffon?" Gilda growled, clenching her claws.

"No, I mean, I raced a friend of mine who is an Earth Pony and I got real mad because I couldn't beat her in a race because she has a higher endurance and stamina rate than I do, even if I am a totally awesome athlete." Rainbow rolled onto her hooves, stumbling to her feet as a few laughs threatened to escape once more.

Gilda cocked her head, loosing her growling and the clenches talons. "Yeah, so? What about losing your friends or rather, your only friend?" Gilda demanded again.

Rainbow cleared her throat. "That's happened before, believe it or not." she remembered back to when Discord returned to Equestria. "My friends abandoned me, and I did the same. I felt horrible but I also had to choose between my friends and Cloudsdale." she paused. "... which turned out to be an illusion but I still lost them, even for a bit... it was the worst feeling ever and to be honest," she turned to Gilda who still had a somewhat angered look on her face, "when you left, I was devastated. I mean, yeah, you were mean to my friends and I told you to basically leave and find cooler friends, but when you left, kinda felt like a part of me was taken too." Rainbow stepped forward as Gilda fell back down onto her behind on the cloud, shaking her head. "You were my best friend from Junior Speedsters Flight Camp. Maybe you aren't my best friend anymore, maybe that has changed and maybe you're still peeved at me from tossing you away so easily, but you're still the most awesome griffon I know and as far as I know, you still can pull a good prank. You just need to learn how to take it when one is done on you." Rainbow trotted over and sat next to the griffon who struggled to hold back a few tears of her own.

"Darn it, Rainbow Dash... stupid flip-flop being all mushy... this is totally not cool, just like... like..." she paused, thinking about it. "... like me. I'm not cool. I overreacted and got angry over some stupid pranks." Gilda couldn't stop as the floodgates broke and she buried her face into her arms.

Rainbow couldn't help but lift a wing up and wrap it around the griffon's shoulders, shuffling closer to completely wrap around her. Gilda merely hid her sobs well, hiccoughing every few seconds.

"I'm sorry... or something. I'm just not cool enough to hang out with the Best Young Flier of Equestria." Gilda said as her sobs died down.

Rainbow gave Gilda a rather hard nudge in the shoulder, smiling at the griffon as she turned to look at Rainbow.

"Hey, anybody who says that is not cool enough to be a griffon. Pony up... err, griffon up and get your act together, otherwise Captain Dash will have to dish out the punishment in place of the Junior Speedsters Captains. On your feet, Junior Speedster!" Rainbow said in her usual, captain-y tone.

Gilda snorted and quickly rubbed her eyes dry. "Whatever. You're still a flip-flop... sympathetic and sorry one minute... then the same, cool, future Wonderbolts captain the next." Gilda shot up, stretching her back out.

Rainbow followed suit, standing up next to her friend who seemingly fixed her attitude. Gilda gave Rainbow a rather hard shove into her cloudy ground, Rainbow merely falling over and rolling on the soft substance. Gilda and Rainbow both let out a series of laughter. While distracted, Gilda felt herself be tackled as she hit the cloudy ground, Rainbow on top. The two proceeded to wrestle around on the cloudy home in an attempt to pin the other down... and not the usual wrestling. They kept up their same rough and tough attitude as they grunted and picked and tossed each other around, leaping through the air in body slams. After a few minutes, both were exhausted from the horseplay and eventually blue-skied each other, panting after their wrestling match.

"Heh... that was... almost as fun as... *huff* fighting the entire Senior Speedsters our second day of camp..." Gilda spoke out.

Rainbow chuckled at the memory. "Yeah... Hoops and Dumb-bell got caught in it like a bunch of... well, dumb-bells." both friends laughed.

"And then Captain Lightwing started chasing us..." Gilda spoke out.

"We tricked him and he flew through a cloud pillar. It was too hard and he was stuck for hours." Rainbow replied.

"Remember when the Wonderbolts came to give a presentation on stunts?"

"Oh yeah, I remember when we all tried to do their simplest stunts. Only you and I came close."

"Yeah, we totally destroyed the bleachers after we spun out of control."

"That totally ruined my mane, cutting some of it off. Hah, I looked like a boy for months."

"And all the so-called 'real boys' called you 'Rainbow D-"

"SO THEN WE GOT CHASTISED..."

"Haha, c'mon, they're just words, Rainbow."

Gilda gave Rainbow a light nudge on the shoulder before rolling over and pushing herself onto all fours while Rainbow followed suit.

"Thanks again for your help with the weather today. The Mayor..." Rainbow paused.

Gilda looked over at Rainbow for a second before flapping her wings. Rainbow let out a short scream.

"AUGH! I totally forgot, the Mayor gave me a letter to give to you! Legal stuff! Must have! Lost! Ponyville! Town! Forgot goggles too! AUGH!" Rainbow shouted before flapping her wings quickly and flying towards the town.

"Hey wait up, Rainbow Dash!" Gilda said before taking off after the pony.

Few seconds later, the pegasus and griffon appeared over the town, Rainbow frantically looking around. She attempted to spot her landing pad which...

"Shoot! Where was my landing pad? I put it under my wing and I had to fly because you condensed the clouds and I dropped your letter." Rainbow turned to Gilda who pondered.

"Well, we were near the outskirts of Ponyville..." Gilda rubbed the tip of her beak before Rainbow took off.

Gilda had almost been surprised, but she remembered-this is Rainbow Dash. She waited for nopony. She chuckled before taking off after the cyan mare. Moments latter, Rainbow came to where she hoped the landing pad was before diving straight down towards the mild forest below that threatened to direct her into the Everfree Forest itself. Gilda sighed and opted to stay in the air and let Rainbow find it-she did know what the letter looked like. But... letters are blank...

Rainbow landed on the ground with a thud, not caring about the minor pain her legs felt upon the hard impact. She zipped around the immediate area, over fallen branches, over dried leaves, around the various small, medium, and large trunk trees. After a while, she came upon a clearing which had been probably a frequently used hike-rest. A fireplace, a few logs set up as makeshift benches and on two sides of the clearing, trails leading to wherever. She searched this clearing before sighing, not noticing it anywhere. A few shuffles due to wind occurred now and then. She probably had to head back and start wave 2 of the clouds and after wave 2, the rain would start. Rainbow grit her teeth and shouted, kicking at the ground.

"A spectacular pegasus with sky-high pride, what makes you furious at the ground outside?"

Rainbow turned to one edge of the clearing to spot a familiar Zebra, once whom was thought to be an evil enchantress; Zecora. Having a house inside the Everfree Forest is odd enough in its own sense but what is much more odd is how Zecora always showed up at odd times.

"Oh, hey Zecora. I just dropped a letter about half an hour ago or... something and I need to find it because it's re~eally important." Rainbow spurted out, frantically searching about.

"He~ey, Rainbow, wave 2's gonna start! Hurry up or my dare is null!" Gilda shouted from above.

Rainbow looked up, a worried expression over her face. Zecore smiled as Rainbow began to zip around the clearing into the bushes.

"Your desperation certainly shows, fortunately I found your postal minutes ago." Zecora reached into a saddlebag, pulling out a letter.

Rainbow stared at Zecora for a second before sheer glee exploded onto her face. She zipped towards Zecora and snatched the letter out of her mouth.

"Thank you, Zecora!" Rainbow said, waving at Zecora.

"You are welcome dear Rainbow Dash, I wish you luck in your cloudy task." Zecora waved before proceeding down the trails.

Rainbow nodded and took off into the sky, zipping up towards where Gilda stayed. She made sure the letter stayed in her mouth and Gilda looked at Rainbow with an annoyed stare. She swiped the letter out of Rainbow's mouth and tore it open.

"Thank Celestia a close friend found it, otherwise I wouldn't have myself." Rainbow said, looking towards the cloudy armada.

Gilda stared a few seconds before shrugging and ripping the letter in half and letting it fall down to the ground. Rainbow stared in disbelief at the paper before looking up to Gilda.

"But, I, look, important..." Rainbow couldn't find the proper words to describe what just happened.

"I've seen these loads of times. I never hold onto money long enough to need these legal records. Everybody gives me these 'cause I often get into trouble with guards, but mostly because of my attitude..." Gilda trailed off, examining the clouds in the distance.

"Why don't you hang onto your money?" Rainbow asked as they flew slowly towards the clouds.

Gilda sighed. "I spend it on food and places to stay or bribes." Rainbow looked to Gilda.

"Bribes? Places to stay? Gilda... are, are you homeless?" Rainbow asked the griffon.

She grit her teeth but Gilda had to face the truth. "Yeah. Only real home was the Academy in Cloudsdale. After that, just became a drifter." she said.

Several pegasi had already begun to move clouds across the now very cloudy sky of Ponyville. Rainbow thought about her next words, but decided to wait.

"Meet me at my house after we're done. I wanna talk." Rainbow said as she began to speed up.

Gilda sighed, not seeing much choice. "Whatever."

Again, the next half hour continued like this. Sorting out the clouds that came from Cloudsdale and as the last bit of clouds were set into place, the bell below rang out signalling the end of school. Only a little bit left before they had to actually start the storm in question. Rainbow simply watched, somehow noticing that they had done the job faster than when they had the full weather team before. Gilda really helped out. Rainbow saw Gilda speeding off towards her house, allowing the team to finish it. Rainbow sighed. She wanted to chase her friend, but she had to finish her job.

10 minutes later, they had finished and Rainbow bid the Weather Team farewell. She wiped her brow, having accumulated... sweat? No, this job isn't that hard. Merely water brushed off from the clouds. She took off towards her cloud home to see Gilda sitting in a cloudy recliner set up directly on her front "lawn".

"Took you 10 years. What, did you stop to take a nap?" Gilda chortled.

Rainbow chuckled before touching down. "Now now G, you took off before we finished." Rainbow shuffled across the clouds, loving the sensation of her hooves scraping against the cloudy surface.

"Anyways, Gilda... why don't you live in my house while I'm gone?" Rainbow quickly spat out.

Gilda stared at Rainbow with confusion. "Why? You not living here? And..." she paused.

"No, I'm currently at Sweet Apple Acres helping my friend during a competition. I have to constantly come up here and check on Tank and feed him and as much as I love the little guy, it is kinda tedious and it really would be nice to have somepony house sit for me. You don't even have to pay. That way you're close by and we can not have that awkward 'Spending all my time with you because you're leaving soon' event like last time." Rainbow paused while Gilda thought it over.

"Speaking of which, I really think you should talk to Pinkie Pie. You did accuse her of a lot." Rainbow said.

Gilda looked at Rainbow as if the pegasus is insane. She shook her head.

"Uh uh. No. No way, I can't. She totally hates me." Gilda drooped her head, standing up out of the recliner before bucking it into loose cloud.

Rainbow smirked before setting her hoof on Gilda's shoulder.

"Now now, G, Pinkie isn't like that. Also: you lost, I dare you to talk to Pinkie Pie." Rainbow said with brimming confidence.

Gilda's eyes widened before she grunted, kicking more cloud up. Rainbow released her hoof and chuckled as Gilda cursed herself for losing.

"Fine, fine... I'll do that right now just to get it over with." Gilda walked to the edge of the platform and extended her wings. Rainbow cocked her head to the side. "Just tell me if the door's unlocked. You can go do your thing with your friend." Gilda asked as she bent over and prepared to dive to the ground.

Rainbow nodded her head and paused. She then slapped her forehead and let out a sigh.

"G, I'm actually going to be gone the next two days after tomorrow. I'm going to Troronto for some stuff." Rainbow said.

Gilda turned her head in shock. "So this entire bonding thingy we just did set us up for something that has to wait three days. Perfect, Rainbow. Just amazing." Gilda grunted and dived off.

"See you in a few days, Gilda." Rainbow said as the griffon dived through the clouds.

Rainbow sniffed, taking in a big breath before letting out a long exhale. She looked off towards Sweet Apple Acres and decided to get the show on the road. She jumped off of her front lawn and fell to the edge of the mass of storm clouds ready to unleash rain upon Ponyville. She spun in the air and bucked one cloud and then, dominoes. The rest of the clouds felt the impact through it's lighter mass and began to slowly spout rain as it picked up turning into a regular storm. Satisfied, Rainbow zipped off to Sweet Apple Acres.

"Ah wonder if'n Rainbow's ever gon' be a Wondebolt?" Applebloom asked, leaning on a table as she stared out the window watching the storm start up.

"Now now, Applebloom, y'all know that she will. At least she shoul' be, ah'm gonna win m'self free tickets t' her shows and ah can't very well do that if she ain't no Wonderbolt." Applejack said, walking over to Applebloom, peering out the window.

Both ponies examined the skies for any sign of the cyan pegasus. Applejack simply wanted to make sure Rainbow arrived so they could sort things out regarding tomorrow. After a few seconds of scanning, a little multi-coloured blip shot out from above the hills of trees. Applejack smiled as she walked over to the door. She opened it up just in time for Rainbow to slow down from her high speed and land on the ground. She looked up to see her stetson-clad friend waiting with a smile on her face.

"... uh, hi, Applejack. Beautiful weather we're having." Rainbow said, mostly as a joke but unsure what to say of the situation.

Chuckling, Applejack backed into the house. "Don' you go spoutin' that 'chatter' nonsense, Rainbow. Ah know ya too well t' believe y'all will seriously mean that." Applejack said as Rainbow shook herself off of the little rain she got on her before stepping in and closing the door.

"So, why're you all waiting here for me and stuff?" Rainbow asked, waving to Applebloom who hopped down from her chair and rushed over to Rainbow.

"Well, two bits of news t' start, RD. One: ah've allowed Applebloom t' help an she'll be comin' with us t'morrow." Applejack said.

Rainbow smiled and looked down at the glowing filly. "Isn't it great? Ah kin fin'ally help m' family with them apple stuff!" Applebloom shouted with glee as she bounced around the two mares.

"Hehe, good for you, 'bloom." Rainbow looked at Applejack. "I actually have some news too." Rainbow paused to allow an interjection.

"Well shoot, what's it? Ah can say m' second tidbit after y'all." Applejack walked towards the stairs, but not before talking to Applebloom. "Applebloom, ah'll be upstairs fer a bit. Tell Big Macintosh what ah told ya." she shouted.

"Will do!" Applebloom enthusiastically replied to Applejack before zooming into the kitchen.

Rainbow noticed how Big Mac always seemed to be in the kitchen lately, but thought nothing of it and followed Applejack up the stairs.

"I met Gilda and she's staying at my house for now." Rainbow said.

Applejack stopped when she reached the top of the stairs and looked at Rainbow with a concerned look. "Come again?"

Rainbow trotted passed Applejack and headed to Applejack's room. "I ran into Gilda. We talked and, to be honest, she's sorry for what she did. Told me some things, I told her what I learned recently because it turns out, she's sad that she was a griffon!" Rainbow said, pushing open Applejack's door.

Applejack walked after Rainbow, entering and plopping herself down on her bed. "Ya don't say...?"

"Yeah, I couldn't believe it. Said that because she's a griffon that I pushed her away for my pony friends. I decided to have none of that and so I proceeded to give Gilda my best Captain's lecture... most of which was done in my normal voice." Rainbow snorted before flopping down on her rollaway bed.

"Heh, well ah'm glad y'all reconciled things with yer ol' buddy, but why is she stayin' at yer place?" Applejack asked, laying down on her bed.

Rainbow nuzzled her pillow, finding it's softness unbelievably welcoming. "I'd rather not say, but she is house sitting while I'm, y'know, not there. Would help to have somepony there on a daily basis for extended amounts of time, why not somepony or somegriffon I know." Rainbow rolled back in her bed, looking at the ceiling. "Now, what's that second tidbit of news?"

Applejack sighed, smiling as she stared at the ceiling.

"When we arrive in Troronto t'morrow, ah was thinkin', why not go and have that dinner at th' restaurant we couldn't last time? Th' Rainforest Cafe. Ah'll tell ya th' news there." Applejack exhaled while Rainbow let out a grunt.

"Now I'll never go to sleep. Thanks for the tease, 'jack." Rainbow pretended to throw a hissy fit, tossing her blanket into the air and kicking at the airborne fabric.

Applejack laughed as Rainbow finally let loose a chuckle , allowing the blanket to fall on her body. She stretched out in the bed and yawned.

"Going t' sleep a lil' early there, Rainbow?" Applejack asked.

Rainbow thought and nodded. "Yeah, I actually feel a little tired. I'm still not used to my odd hours here on the farm... I think I'll 'nap' until dinner." Rainbow got comfy in the bed and almost immediately felt herself going to sleep.

"Wake me when... *yawn* dinner is done, please..." Rainbow asked before she started snoring.

Applejack chuckled; that was the fastest time she'd ever seen anypony or anything go to sleep. "Sure, sugarcube." she rolled off of her bed and walked over to Rainbow who lay sprawled out in a position that made her so open to various forms of light-hearted attack. She smirked deviously and opted for one.

She bent down and nuzzled Rainbow before fixing her blanket.

A blush appeared on Applejack's face and she made sure that the blanket covered Rainbow's body up to her neck. She felt a pressure building in her chest as Rainbow smiled in her sleep, rolling slightly to nuzzle the blankets.

"Y'all really look defenceless, sugarcube." she said, and then she walked off out the room, closing the door as quietly as possible.

Notes:

1. Special thanks to user Civille/Bellum_Civille as my editor. Even if he hasn't edited anything in weeks.

2. Special thanks to ganonfan117 for his enthusiasm towards my fic. Special thanks to an anon for being so lenient and accepting to my hiatus. Special thanks to Lonewolf.007 for being a big goddamn tease with his AppleDash fic. Which is better then the Apple Spectrum now. I'll change that. And thanks to Endymion Blue for his review.

3. Special thanks to all those who track. I am thankful even if I don't personally PM you that I am.

4. Please check out "Just Friends" by Lonewolf.007; the aforementioned better AppleDash fic, please check out "The Pinkie-verse" and "Old Friends" by Civille/Bellum_Civille, and please check out Blazing Run through the Animal Kingdom by Arby Works. AKA me. It stars Trixie.

Thanks, Mr. Masato/Arby Works.