"So... Princess Gilda huh?" I asked as we walked towards the cloud casle. It was near the center of the giant cloud, so we had flown 4 hours to get here. The sun was nearing the horizon, but it wasn't quite sunset yet. Luna had tried to call back a few times, but I had turned the ringer off. I had a feeling she was calling to send me back to Ponyville, so I didn't want to answer.

"Yeah, don't remind me."

"Isn't it a good thing to be royalty?"

"Heh you would think so, wouldn't you?" She trailed off and looked into the distance.

"... You wanna explain why it isn't?"

"No."

"Good, I'm all ears."

"..."

"..."

*sigh* "Nopony ever wants to be friends with me... well, they do, but it's because I'm a princess, not because they like me..."

"Well, for what it matters, you seem to be pretty ok to me." She gave a short laugh.

"Thanks, I guess..."

"Though, to be fair, it's not like you're giving them much to like."

"Whaddya mean?"

"I mean you act like a bitch."

"Well... I used to try to be nice..."

"... Annnnnd?"

"Oh, I got bored of it."

"Liar."

"Hey! Why does it matter to you anyway?"

"Because I'm bored and have nothing better to do than talk to you."

"... You suck."

"Nah, I lick."

"Oh Celestia you did not just say that!"

"Hey, you walked into that one. So, ya gonna tell me why ya stopped being nice?"

"Well... everypony took advantage of me to get something. Money, popularity, the works. It got old after awhile, so I started being mean."

"Wow, you're suprisingly easy to get a confession from."

"... I feel better telling somepony this stuff. You just seem cool enough to understand I guess..."

"So, when exactly did you meet Dash? Before or after you started being a bitch?"

"You know, you should be more careful around me. Insults, fighting me, I could get you in serious trouble."

"After the fight those guards put up? No trouble at all, I'd just beat whatever you threw at me. Besides, you're only the second princess I've ever fought."

"... What?"

"Yeah, fought Luna too."

"... Wow, what a rebel."

"Anyway, Dash. When'd ya meet her?"

"It was after I started being mean. She had an attitude of her own. She didn't care that I was a princess."

"Well I guess that make two of us."

"You don't care?"

"Nah, I deal with royalty on a constant enough basis to get over it."

"... So, you never told me how Dash was..."

"Hmm... lets see... Well, she got accepted into the Wonderbolts, adopted a daughter, and is now friends with Daring Do."

"... WHAT?! Her life sounds AWESOME! Wait, why did she adopt a kid? She's only like..." Gilda paused to count on her talons and think back. "22 right? Why'd she get a kid so soon?"

"Wow, she's 22? That makes her older than me... Anyway, the kid really looks up to Dash, and she recently almost froze to death. We found out she was an orphan, and RD decided to adopt her."

"Yeah, sounds like Dash alright... You're younger than Dash? Huh, you're so huge I never woulda guessed."

"That's what she said." Gilda face-... taloned?

"Dang it, walked into it again. Well, how old are ya?"

"21. You?"

"Same. Well how'd she get into the Wonderbolts?"

"You remember the race I had with the Wonderbolts?"

"Oh, you mean the epic loss?!" Gilda started laughing.

"Yeah, that one. Dash was there too, and I threw the race so that she would win and get asked to join."

"... You lost ON PURPOSE?"

"Yeah."

"... Wow... I guess I was wrong about how cool you were. You are officially awesome."

"Don't care."

"What DO you care about?"

"Nothing really. Not anymore.... I left everything I had to care about in Ponyville."

"Dude, what a bummer..."

"So, I've been meaning to ask, why are your... bangs... feathers... These things..." I ruffled her slightly purple feathers. "Purple?" She slapped my hand away.

"Hey, hands off the merchandise!"

"Oh, so you're for sale? How much?"

"Ugh! You know what I mean! Don't touch the Princess!"

"Ha, whatever."

"... I dye them with berries."

"Why?"

"So that I can look different. Look around." I did as instructed. I saw a bunch of gryffins. "See? They all look almost the same. The girls are a bit smaller, sure. We aren't like ponies though, it's hard to tell us apart. The purple... I dunno, makes me feel independent I guess." I nodded.

"I guess I can understand that. I've got the opposite problem. I wanna stand out LESS."

"Why? It must be nice to be unique."

"Yeah, when you aren't so unique that no one will like you..."

"I thought you had lotsa friends."

"Not what I meant. Anyway, let's get inside shall we?" We had reached the cloud castle, and I pushed open two giantic cloud doors. Inside was a giant cloud hallway that seperated into several other halls. Right down the middle was a huge red carpet that led all the way down the hall. At the VERY end of the hall, there were two thrones rising out of the ground. There were gryffins there, but they were to distant to make out. "So... should I be worried about your dad?"

"Do you like your limbs?"

"Most of them."

"Then yes, you should be worried." I scoffed and started down the hall.

"Ah, visitors! We haven't had visitors in ages, have we honey?" One of the gryffins boomed. The voice was male and very loud. It had a regal air about it which demanded respect. Which of course made me less inclined to give it.

"Look dear, one of them is out daughter! What is that with her though?" As I walked closer to the thrones, I could begin to make out the King and Queen. The Queen's voice was soft and high. It carried the same amount of authority as her husband, but it came across as more asking for respect than demanding it like the king. I decided I liked her. Gryffins were naturally bigger than ponies, but the King was roughly a half foot shorter than an Alicorn! He was well muscled, not as much as Steel, but close. He had a gold circlet on his head. Not very ornate, but royal-looking anyway. The Queen was just a tiny bit shorter than him, but her crown was much more elaborate and had jewels laid into the sides. I reached the thrones and nealt down on one knee. Gilda continued walking forward to her parents.

"Gilda dear! You must spend more time at home! You're gone far too often!" The king said jovially. "Now, who is this intruder you have allowed into our realm?" He didn't let a hint of anger seep into his voice. A little impressive actually, but I wasn't going to buy a nice act.

"You can save the false display of emotion your highness, you aren't fooling me." I stood up from my kneel. The king frowned at me.

"Why, whatever do you mean?" He asked innocently.

"Knock it off, I can see you're no diplomat. Obviously you don't hold this position with words." The king's frown deepened.

"Oh, is that so? What makes you say this?"

"Simple, your circlet. Obviously not the choice of a king that never does anything for himself. Were you a diplomat, your crown would be very decorative and fancy, like your wife here. I'd imagine she's very good with words." The queen smiled and nodded. The king's frown turned into a scowl.

"Alright fine, you got me. I'm not a diplomat. Now tell me why I shouldn't kick you clear off my cloud!" He said irritably.

"Because I do what I want. You could try to get rid of me, but you'd fail. By the way, your daughter needs better guards."

"He beat 'em all in about 20 seconds." Gilda continued. The king's face softened.

"Ah, a warrior eh? My kind. So, how did you meet my daughter?"

"She attacked me and I bitch-slapped her out of the air." Gilda flinched and the king's scowl returned.

"You struck my daughter?"

"Yeah. Then she got a really good swipe in right above my eye, see?" I pointed to the blood. "She faked me out like a champ. You should be proud." The king smiled.

"Is this true dear?"

"Uh... yeah... I got him pretty good I guess... He didn't even blink though..." The king turned back to me.

"Well, I must say, you got some balls to come in here and admit to striking my daughter to my face. Tell me, how'd you get those scars on your chest?" He indicated my still healing X.

"Fighting an Ursa Minor. Apparently you need weapons of legend to hit them. Nopony told me before I went after it though."

"You fought a constellation monster? Wow, I admire your bravery!"

"Eh, it's no big deal. Anyway, I'm just here to make sure you won't actively try to 'kick me off your cloud' while I'm here. I'm just traveling as of now, and I didn't want to have to beat too many gryffins while I'm here."

"Well, I see no harm in allowing you to stay with us."

"Excuse me? I didn't mean here, I--"

"Nonsense. It's refreshing to see a fighting spirit like you. I insist you stay with us for the duration of your time here."

"... If you insist I suppose. One thing though, I need to stay near Gilda, or I'll lose my wings and fall right through these clouds." The king frowned again.

"What nonsense is this?"

"You see, I can absorb the magic of anything I'm around. I lose it if I'm seperated from whoever I absorbed it from for too long. If I leave Gilda for too long, I'll lose her magic and fall through the clouds."

"This had better not be some attempt to get with my daughter..."

"Never your highness."

"Fair enough, I will believe you for now..." He turned to Gilda. "You will accompany..." He turned to me. "What is your name?"

"... Steven."

"You will accompany Steven here for as long as he is visiting."

"What if I don't want to?" Gilda retorted. The king turned red and inhaled, but I cut him off.

"Then I will leave before I fall to my death." Gilda flinched and turned to me.

"I... I don't have a problem with it..." The king returned to normal and nodded.

"Good, you are dismissed." He waved his talon at us in a shooing motion. Glida rolled her eyes and motioned for me to follow her. We walked back down the hall and turned into another dividing hallway.

"So, is he bi-polar or something? That was a lot of different moods in one talk." I asked. Gilda gave me a confused look.

"What's bi-polar?"

"Nevermind. Nice dad you got there." I was heavy on the sarcasm. Gilda laughed.

"Oh, you enjoy him as much as I do huh?"

"Oh infinitely. Whatever happened to me liking my limbs by the way?"

"I guess he was in a good mood. Nopony has ever talked to him like that before, you're pretty brave."

"Or just crazy."

"... Yeah, good point."

"So, why so nice? You didn't act like this when I met you."

"Don't get used to it."

"Will do."

"... So, what do ya wanna do?"

"I dunno, what do you usually do for fun around here?"

"Well, I usually practice playing music at my house."

"Wait, you have your own house? Why? I thought you lived in the castle..."

"Would you wanna live with 'his highness'?"

"Good point. Well, can I hear you play?" Gilda blushed.

"I-I don't usually play in front of anypony..."

"Huh, what happened to the confident punk that hit me in the forest? C'mon, you're gonna play me a song!" I grabbed her talon and pulled her back down the hall and out of the building.

"... Geez, you don't take no for an answer huh?"

"Yes, I don't. Now, which way to your house?" Gilda pointed off towards the nearest edge of the cloud continent. We both took off and headed towards her house. We flew for about 30 minutes before we reached where she said her house was. It was perched right on the edge of a huge hole in the cloud continent. We could see straight through to the ocean below. "Wow, that's pretty."

"Pfft gonna get all sappy?"

"Maybe. Let's go inside." We walked into Gilda's house, and it looked... Punkish. The walls were white like every other cloud house, but the inside was plastered with all sorts of posters of various rock bands and such. There was a random collection of rock instruments laying around on the ground. "So, which one do you play?" There were drums, guitars, a microphone, but Gilda passed all of them.

"I... Don't practice with these, these are for my band and we only practice together."

"Then what do YOU play?" Gilda was blushing heavily.

"Just... don't laugh ok?" I nodded in agreement, and she reached behind one of the posters on the wall. She pulled out a small metal case, and turned away from me to open it. I heard some metal clink together, and when she turned back around, she was holding a flute.