Rubbing sleep from her eyes Rarity awoke with a yawn and a leisurely stretch. After she was finished yawning Rarity looked around and recalled the events of yesterday.

Fluttershy was lying in the bed across from Raritys’ and sleeping peacefully. Rarity was careful as she stood up not to awaken her.

Normally her morning ritual would involve much careful grooming and a lengthy amount of time spent at the closet deciding what to wear, but this morning Rarity had no closet of clothes and only a hairbrush to run through her hair. Despite this she completed her morning ritual as best she could and went downstairs to the library in the same rumpled clothes she’d worn into the woods yesterday. The lady was beautiful enough to actually pull the look off but that didn’t change the fact that she felt terrible for appearing in someone else’s home garbed in such an awkward fashion.

At the base of the stairs she was greeted by a guard who shoved a spoon and a bowl of oatmeal into her hands. Rarity guessed he was one of the guards they’d escaped from yesterday, judging by the scowl he reserved for her. Rarity really couldn’t blame him for being annoyed at her. Celestia had seemed incredibly angry last night and had been shouting at the guards when they’d arrived so Rarity suspected the man blamed her for the trouble he’d been in and really, it sort of was her fault. Plus maybe the spell she’d cast had been a little bit over the top.

Rarity smiled at him and said ‘Thank you.’ as pleasantly as she could.

The man just grimaced at her and walked away.

Rarity sighed and sat at a coffee table and began to delicately eat. A few minutes later and Rainbow and Gilda came down the stairs where they were also greeted with oatmeal. Rainbow sat down and ate her food while Gilda remained standing and pretty much drank it out of the bowl like it was a cup. This irritated Rarity but she didn’t mention it. Gilda finished her meal first and Rainbow did as well shortly after her while Rarity was the last to be done. The guard came back over and collected their bowls while Rarity idly wondered where Twilight was. This was her home after all and Twilight had been nothing short of enthusiastic the last time Rarity had slept here.

For that matter where were Applejack and Pinkie too? The library usually only had one room prepared for people to sleep in. Twilight must have moved some extra beds in at one point or another. Applejack was probably at the hospital, now that Rarity thought about it, but she still didn’t have any idea where Pinkie was.

A guard in the corner got out a pack of cigarettes and lit one, Rarity wrinkled her nose in faint disgust at the smell and the dirty habit. Normally Rarity would have objected to smoking indoors, let alone in a library with books and paper lying around, but Rarity decided not to say anything because she felt guilty about the flash bang spell she’d used on the guards yesterday.

Maybe it had been a tad bit unnecessary bit she’d never gotten to use that spell before and how was she supposed to know how painful it could be? Sure she hadn’t been standing too close to it at the time, but she got a good idea of how painful it must have been for the guards that had it go off right next to them.

‘Hey, can I get a cigarette?’ Gilda asked the guard across the room.

The guard looked at the griffon and shrugged before tossing the packet to her. The griffon caught it and pulled out a cigarette before tossing the packet back to the guard and reached into her pocket for a lighter. It was a cheap plastic commercial lighter. Gilda put the cigarette between her lips and raised the lighter to her mouth.
‘I thought you quit.’ Rainbow said while glaring at the griffon.

Gilda glanced up at her ‘I did. Haven’t smoked for… I dunno, three years now… At least.’

‘Then why have you got a lighter?’ the element of loyalty asked suspiciously.

Gilda looked at the lighter in her hands then back up at Dash. ‘So I can start a fire easier.’

‘Why would you need to light a fire?’

Gilda blinked at Rainbow ‘Maybe because I’ve been homeless for the last year and living in the woods. Lighting a fire with flint is a pain in the ass, so I just bought one of these now and then.’

‘Bought or stole?’ Rainbow said angrily.
Gilda shrugged ‘Usually stole. Unlike you Rainbow I don’t have a job so I can’t exactly afford most things.’

‘Why don’t you get a job?’

Gilda laughed at that ‘Are you kidding me? A flight school drop out with a criminal record who smells like a bum because she has no soap and has to wash herself and her clothes with charcoal? And on top of that they’ve got a bad attitude and eat meat?’

‘You could still get a job. You just need to try harder.’

The griffon laughed at that again ‘Find me a job and I’ll freaking hug you man. Think I didn’t try? Living alone ain’t exactly fun.’

The conversation trailed off so Rarity decided to try and revive it a bit ‘So… why are you restarting now after three years?’

Gilda looked over at her, the cigarette in her mouth still unlit ‘you were there yesterday right? You saw that whole thing with us almost dying? I still don’t really know what the hell happened or why the fuck I’m even involved.’
Rarity didn’t like being cursed at but she maintained her outwardly cool demeanour ‘So after one bad day, you’re just going to just give up on three years?’

Gilda thought about it for a minute ‘Yup.’ and raised the lighter to the tip of the cigarette. The cigarette caught the flame and Gilda leaned back, she didn’t even get to take one good drag before Rarity took the cigarette away from the griffon with her magic.

Floating the small device over to her Rarity spoke ‘You may be willing to but I’m not going to allow a friend to waste all the work they put into quitting. My father used to smoke and tried to quit multiple time. I know how hard it can be.’
What Rarity didn’t mention was that her father died of lung cancer despite quitting on 13 different occasions. It was part of the reason Rarity detested the little things.

‘Also I can offer you a job. Lately all this sword training has put me behind and I need an extra hand at the carousel boutique to help me keep up to date.’

Gilda blinked at her in surprise ‘I don’t know anything about fashion and I don’t know how to make clothes.’
Rarity had suspected as much. But really she wasn’t offering this job to Gilda because she thought the griffon would be particularly helpful. True, work had backed up a little, and she had thought about hiring help, but the truth was Rarity was doing the griffon a favour.

‘I suspected as much. Regardless you can still be helpful to me. Simply having someone around to fetch things or help keep track of supplies or even modelling for me on occasion would help me greatly. Of course, if I were to hire you, I’d need you close at hand because quite often we’ll be working all night, so you’d be staying with me and my sister. That means paying rent which I would deduct from your pay. Also there would be no smoking in my home so this little habit here will have to stay gone.’ She floated the still lit cigarette back over to the Griffon.

Looking at Rarity then back to the cigarette, Gilda hesitated to accept the offer. Rainbow nodded emphatically at the griffon.

Gilda took the cigarette out of the air and squashed it under her foot. ‘Alright, I’ll take the job.’

Rainbow broke into a wide grin, turned to Rarity and mouthed slently to her ‘Thank you.’

Rarity waved a hand in a gesture of ‘It’s nothing, I insist.’

Gilda looked like she was about to speak again when the library door banged open and Princess Celestia strode in. Rarity was glad to note her dress didn’t have a large blood stain on it.

‘Rainbow I’ll speak with you first. The two of you can wait here.’ The princess commanded.

Rainbow glanced at Rarity before she stood up and followed the princess into the kitchen. Walking over to the seat, Gilda sat were Rainbow had been moments before. Rarity noticed the glow of magic coming from under the kitchen door and felt a little nervous.

Rarity decided to distract herself by conversing with her new employee. ‘So you said you have a criminal record. Dare I ask what’s on it?’

Gilda looked at her and said ‘Nothing special. Few bar fights, a bit of vandalism and hunting without a license.’

Rarity nodded in understanding and looked back to the ground. Quite concerned about the vandalism and bar fights, she hoped she wasn’t making a mistake by hiring the griffon.

‘Hey, Rarity?’

‘Yes darling?’ Rarity turned back to Gilda.

The Griffon hesitated before answering ‘Just then you said I was your friend.’

‘I did?’ Rarity didn’t really recall the moment.

‘Yeah, when you took my cigarette.’ The griffon wasn’t looking at Rarity when she spoke instead sitting with her legs up and appearing to be as uncaring as possible.

Rarity thought about. It was sort of an offhand thing at the time. ‘I did. Didn’t I?’

The griffon put her feet down. ‘Well did you mean it?’

Rarity couldn’t help but note that underneath all that casual swaggering there was a lot of hope in the Griffons voice. Thinking about it for a second, Rarity realised that she didn’t have any negative feelings towards Gilda. In fact she pitied her a little, and the griffon had been invaluable yesterday. Rarity considered the Griffon and what she knew of her and decided that yes she could become friends with her.

‘I guess I did. But then it is quite hard not to be friends after a day like yesterday.’

‘Oh… Cool.’ The griffon leaned back into the chair and resumed pretending not to care and Rarity pretended she didn’t know how important this must be to Gilda.
---

Rainbow felt a little like she was being locked in when Celestia closed the door to the kitchen. This feeling wasn’t helped when the princess used magic to create a dome surrounding the two of them, even if Rainbow recognised it as the spell Rarity had used to muffle sound just yesterday.

‘Sit down.’ The Greater folk instructed while indicating one of two chairs that had been moved into the centre of the kitchen.

Rainbow sat in the chair as she was bid by the princess, while Celestia sat in the chair across from her.

The silence lasted for a minute before Rainbow decided to speak. ‘So… Am I in trouble?’

Celestia sighed ‘No. I can’t exactly punish you for saving a man’s life. Plus you’re in a hard enough situation as it is without me adding to it.’

‘So… what’s this about?’

The princess looked at her ‘Yesterday your risked your life and the life of two friends to save a man who in the past has caused you nothing but pain. What I ask is, why?’

It took the sky folk a second to comprehend what the princess was asking her. ‘Well… I guess it was because… I couldn’t just leave him there.’

‘Yes. You could have left him there, and you should have left him there.’

Rainbow felt confused ‘What? I don’t-’

‘Rainbow… Your life, Raritys’ as well, or any of the elements of harmony for that matter, is worth more than Kains. Simply put: If Kain were to die tomorrow, it’d be a setback, if you were to die tomorrow, you would be irreplaceable. You and all the other elements of harmony are incredibly important to the future of Equestria and on top of that all of you are needed to defeat Xath. Kain on the other hand is a man who has some skills which are useful at the moment.’

‘Not only was it foolish of you to risk your life like that, it was selfish. Thousands of people all across Equestria are reliant upon you and your long term survival. Even on the short term Xath is too dangerous to be allowed to simply run rampant.’

‘Think about it. As an Element of Harmony it’s no longer your right to risk your life. If you were to die, others would suffer. Not just your friends and family but Equestrians who need you even if they’ve never personally met you.’

Rainbow felt guilty hearing the princess saying this to her but also a little shocked. To hear the princess compare the value of one life and another was… It just seemed wrong.

‘Even if we were to forget that you’re an Element of Harmony the fact is your risked the lives of two close friends by rescuing Kain. If all of you were to die think about what would happen to your friends and loved ones. If Kain were to die, nobody would miss him.’

‘As the element of loyalty I expect your first priority to be the well-being of your friends. Anything less than that would be failure. Secondly I expect you to be loyal to Equestria and by extension me. By risking the life of Rarity in aiding her you failed in both regards.’

‘As a friend it is your duty to think about the wellbeing of your friends and the consequences your actions will have. As the element of Loyalty it is your duty to the rest of the world to stay alive and healthy and to prevent the other elements from coming to harm as well. Your actions last night were actually selfish. Think about that. Now go outside and send Rarity in.’
---

Rarity came through the door feeling quite nervous. When Rainbow stepped out she looked shocked and… guilty, of all things. Now it was Raritys’ turn to face the princess and she felt a creeping nervousness writhing in her stomach. Of course she maintained her composure and did her best not to let her feelings show.

‘Sit down please’ the princess indicated a seat that was set interview style before her. Rarity knew about proper etiquette when conducting oneself around royalty so she curtsied to the princess the way a someone who’d been summoned before the throne would before taking her seat.

Celestia looked bemused ‘Huh. Rainbow Dash didn’t curtsy. Please no formalities. I’m about to lecture you and I can live without the bowing and scraping for once.’

Rarity waited for the princess to begin.

After taking a second to consider her words Celestia spoke. ‘Rarity, you present something of a difficulty to me. Rainbow behaved in a manner that was unbefitting of the element of loyalty, you on the other hand have behaved in a manner completely in keeping with being the element of generosity.’

‘The elements of Generosity and Kindness share a lot in common, that’s why you and Fluttershy get along so well. Both Kindness and Generosity both share the trait of placing the wellbeing of others before that of your own. You risked your life to rescue Kain using what resources you had available to you at the time, those resources being Rainbow and that Griffon.’

‘Gilda’ Rarity interrupted.

‘Gilda then. Rainbow failed as the element of loyalty because she allowed two friends to be put into harm’s way by not considering her actions. You on the other hand considered your actions carefully and behaved exactly as the element of generosity should. That doesn’t change the fact that what you did was wrong.’

‘Despite the horrible way he has treated you and your friends you still found it in your heart to rescue him. I’m telling you not to do that again. Kain is not a man deserving of your generosity. I can’t tell you to not try and help others in spite of yourself because that would mean you stop being the element of generosity, and there would be no reason to try and protect you anymore than the average citizen. But you need to consider whether or not people are deserving of your generosity.’

‘Remember the diamond dogs? In the end you took their jewels and they let you go? The first instinct of the element of generosity should have been aid them in their quest for jewels, but you didn’t. Why? Because they’d kidnapped you and harmed others. They were not deserving of your generosity. Kain is one such man. He does not deserve you risking your life to save him. He’s on his last chance as it is. Do you understand?’

Rarity nodded but internally she felt conflicted by what she’d just been told. How could she not have tried to help Kain? How could she have been expected to leave anyone in the company of that monster, Xath? Rarity had never thought about aiding the diamond dogs, she’d never considered that maybe they might have needed her help. At the time all she’d thought about was turning the situation to her advantage.

‘I can see this is something you hadn’t thought about. You should go and think about what I’ve said. Please send in Gilda next.’

Rarity stood up from her seat and was about to curtsy but hesitated when she remembered the princess had told her not to. Without bowing Rarity walked to the door and stepped out.

Seated where Rarity had been Rainbow looked deep in thought while Gilda was standing again and leaning against a wall. The guard was still in the corner smoking and the room had begun to stink.

‘Gilda, the princess wants to speak to you now.’ Rarity spoke aloud.

The griffon nodded and walked through the door and into the kitchen. Rarity took a seat and sat quietly contemplating the princess’s words. The guard in the corner finished his cigarette and reached for his packet to light another.

‘Pardon me but would you mind taking that outside?’ Rarity asked the guard and batted her eyelashes ‘This room doesn’t have very good ventilation.’

The guard just smirked at her and continued to light his cigarette. Rarity narrowed her eyes at the man and seethed with frustration.
---

Gilda Swallowed nervously when the door was closed behind her. In her mind she was outright panicking. The griffon had never gotten along well with authority, hell; she had a problem keeping a civil tongue just talking to a guardsman, the stupid pigs. And here she was sharing a room with Princess Celestia herself, the most powerful being in the entire world, who raised the sun every morning and set it every night, who had the power to banish Gilda to the moon. Worst of all; this awe inspiring being had reason to be angry with Gilda.

I don’t want to go to the moon!

Gilda had to work very hard to not voice that thought.

Living alone in the Everfree woods for so long meant Gilda was barely up to date on recent news and happening in the world. Sure she knew that Rainbow Dash and the other were the elements of harmony or whatever, but she didn’t really know what that meant. Yeah she knew they’d defeated nightmare moon and Discord, but she didn’t know how or why that had even really mattered. Well actually she knew why they’d had to defeat discord; when those pink clouds had started raining chocolate milk she’d been worried that something had gotten mixed into her drinking water.

But beyond that she knew next to nothing about the whole situation. It had never occurred to her that Rainbow had risen in importance in the world and was now brushing shoulders with the princess. Well, princesses; because now that new one Luna had shown up and that third she’d never heard of before suddenly became a household name.

The point is; Gilda was worried and had absolutely no idea what to expect. Deciding to try and be all respectful and stuff Gilda bowed at the princess. What she had not expected to hear was the princess laugh at her.

Gilda straightened quickly and asked more aggressively then she should have ‘What’s so funny?’

The princess raised an eyebrow at her pointedly.
‘ I-I-I mean…uhhh… What’s…What‘s so… Humorous?…… Your uh… Highness?’ Gilda stuttered out at the princess.

The princess looked at her and chuckled again. ‘You just bowed as a minor lord of the court would if he were trying to attract the interest of a lady of higher station then himself. As amusing as the scandal might be the thought of the words “princess dates young female miscreant” printed across every new papers does not fill me with joy. Plus you’re not really my type.’

Gilda blushed furiously.

Did I really just hit on princess Celestia?

‘If this were a formal setting as a lady you might curtsy to me but seeing as how you are a normal citizen you’d be expected to prostrate yourself on the ground.’

As much as she was afraid of the princess there was no way this griffon would ever be caught dead “prostrating” herself in front of anyone. The thought of anyone doing that made her feel vaguely disgusted.

The princess continued ‘But this is an informal setting so no bowing or curtsying is required. Now please have a seat.’

Gilda took the seat and for once didn’t try to put her feet up or force a casual air. That didn’t seem like the right way to get far with the princess. After examining the griffon for a minute while Gilda shifted uncomfortably under her scrutiny Celestia decided to speak.

‘So how did you get involved in this?’ Celestia asked.

Gilda thought about it for a minute. ‘Well… I’m childhood buddies with Rainbow and uhhhh… We had a falling out last year and I came into town the day before yesterday to try and fix things between me and her and she told me I should come to her practice sessions or whatever and so I did and then that Xath guy showed up and yeah… That’s sort of it.’

Celestia tilted her head at Gilda ‘I understand that you’re of the homosexual persuasion. When you say “falling out” do you mean that you were friends or that you were dating?’

What have I got fucking sign above my head that says” I screw ladies”? How the hell could Celestia know that?

Gilda looked disgusted ‘Dating Rainbow!? fuck no!’

Celestia raised an eyebrow at the griffon.

‘Ummm… What I mean to say is… I never dated Rainbow because well… I may swing that way but she doesn’t and uhhh… It’d be like asking out your sister or something you know?’

‘So you think of her that closely?’ the princess asked.

Gilda blinked ‘What?’

‘I mean do you think of her as a sister?’

The griffon crossed her arms and sat back. For a second she forgot who she was talking to ‘I don’t see how that’s any of your business.’

The Celestias’ eyebrow raised again. ‘I don’t think you understand just how serious your situation is.’

‘Why what did I do?’ The griffon asked remembering who she was talking to and panicking again.

Celestia listed the items off on her fingers ‘Well one you have a criminal record and you assaulted a guardsmen, two you may be a threat to the elements of harmony, I’m yet to decide on that and three you know things about Xath, Kain and this whole situation that I’m not entirely willing to make public yet. So at the moment you should carefully consider the fact I’m still deciding on whether to send you to prison or not.’

At leas it's not the fucking moon!

The Griffon completely panicked ‘But I didn’t- But there was- and I saved that guy- and like… I can’t go to fucking jail!’

‘And you won’t if I can ascertain that you’re not a threat the elements.’ Celestia said to the Griffon in her motherly calming and reassuring voice.

The Griffon calmed down visibly under that voice.

‘Now. Tell me, do you think of Rainbow as a sister?’

The Griffon shrugged ‘Shit, I dunno ummm… I was an only child and like, my parents were pretty messed up people so I never really knew what a family was like… I guess when we roomed together I got a lot closer to Rainbow then I ever did anyone else. Yeah I suppose she’s a sister to me…’

Celestia nodded ‘How about the other elements. How do you feel about them?’

Gilda thought about it ‘Well… I like Rarity, and Pinkie seems annoying but Ok. I haven’t really met any of the others.’

Celestia considered the Griffon for a minute. ‘How do you feel about Kain?’

The griffon answered instantly ‘I don’t like him and I don’t trust him.’

‘Why?’

Gilda thought about it. Kain reminded her of her dad in that he had that same predatory walk that almost no folk have. But Gilda had that walk too… No it was more than that. When Gilda had talked to him at the night club it’d seemed like he’d wanted to hurt Gilda, not just that he had to. Gilda could see it in his eyes, the same look her father had had. A sort of wildness, a calculating look, a… It was hard to describe. Gilda recognised the look Kain had and compared it with the look her father got when he got drunk, or went out to find a fight, or took Gilda hunting, except she couldn’t remember Kain not having that look. Except when he’d been limping through the woods of course. Then he’d looked just plain delirious.

Apparently the griffon hadn’t said anything for a while because Celestia repeated her question ‘Why?’

‘Because he’s dangerous.’ Gilda concluded. ‘He’s just… He makes me think of a wolf. And not like a… lone wolf howling at the moon or a pack animal but like… He just seems like he wants a fight to start. Like he wants a reason to come after you and he’s checking you out for weaknesses.’

Celestia nodded and smiled at Gilda ‘I feel the same way exactly.’

Gilda seemed confused ‘You do?’

The princess ignored the question ‘Which is why I have use for you. How you like to avoid prison?’

Gilda blinked. ‘I would like that very much.’

The princess continued ‘Unfortunately I need Kain. He’s definitely the only blade master in Equestria and the only blade master in the whole of the known world that I know of. We need him to defeat Xath, so he’s training the elements in sword craft. I don’t like this. I don’t want him in the same room as the elements. Under normal circumstances I might have sent him straight to prison the moment I met him. Unfortunately these are extenuating circumstances. I have taken certain precautions to prevent him from causing harm to the elements but I fear they may not be enough. What I need is someone close to the elements who can help protect them from him should he become out of control without exposing them to the danger he presents. After the events of yesterday I fear he may be even more of a danger. You’ve seen the hard edge of life; you know what a dangerous man is and what it means to live with one.’

‘What I’m offering you is this; you will stay here in Ponyville and train with the other elements under Xath. You will protect them and watch over them to make sure that the worst doesn’t happen. If something should happen you are to do everything in your power to keep the elements safe. You will report to me about Kains’ behaviour every day. If you think there is a risk of something happening you let me know.’

Gilda nodded in understanding. Yeah she could do that, she wanted to stay in Ponyville anyway. ‘Ok I can do that.’

‘Good.’ The princess leaned back ‘So you know, I see a certain degree of that wolfishness to you as well but to a far lesser extent.’ The princess leaned forward and there was a dangerous glint in her eyes. She spoke quietly but the voice thundered though Gildas’ skulls like a lion’s roar. ‘If you dare harm any of the elements then I won’t just banish you to the moon. I’ll make you wish you were dead, the wounds Kain suffered will seem petty compared to what I’ll do to you. The elements mean a lot to Equestria and I will admit that I have a certain attachment to them myself so understand how serious I am when I give you this task.’

Gilda swallowed nervously and nodded enthusiastically.

‘I’m glad we understand each other. Now do you have a place to stay in Ponyville? I understand that at the moment you’re jobless and homeless.’

‘Oh... Umm. Yeah Rarity offered me a job and a place to stay just ten minutes ago so…’

The princess chuckled ‘Generosity strikes again. Very well then stay at the carousel boutique, I’m sure Rarity will find some use for you. You may leave now but do not speak of what we discussed in hear today. I will send word to you tomorrow providing more detailed instruction. Tell the others that training will resume tomorrow and you’ll be joining them.’

Gilda looked surprised ‘Training… How? I saw the state Kain was in.’

‘Is it really your place to question me?’ the princess asked pointedly.
‘…No’

‘Training will resume tomorrow and both you and Kain will be there for it. That is all you need to know.’ The princess said. Celestia then waved her hand at the door indicating that Gilda should use this chance to leave.

Gilda nodded in understanding, she stood up and stepped out of the room back into the Librarys main room. Rainbow and Rarity both looked up at her expectantly.

‘So… what did the princess say to you?’ Rainbow asked.

Gilda looked at Rainbow ‘Apparently I’m going to be joining you for training.’