Twilight Comet thought of herself as a rational and logical mare.

Admittedly, yes there were times when she would get a little neurotic and let her imagination get the best of her. Such as when she had first met Rainbow Burst. Twilight had been so caught up in reading Mysteries of Meteorology and Wonders of Weather -- specifically, an article that theorized that there was a perpetual wind high up in the atmosphere (which if harnessed could increase travel distance in one direction) -- that she had been late in starting work on her cloud clearing for The Summer Sun Celebration. Plus, she had shushed a representative of Princess Celestia's. She was late and had been disrespectful. As soon as her boss had found out, she would have had a mark on her record. She would have been fired. Nopony else would ever hire her because she now had a black mark. Worse, she would never be able to join The Wonderbolts. She would be forced to leave Equestria, or get a job of questionable reputation.

None of that ever happened, but it was what she had thought at the time.

However, barring the occasional bout of paranoia or panic attacks when her neurosis and anxieties got the better of her, Twilight Comet tried to look at things with ration and reason, trying to come up with the most logical explanation possible.

As far as she was concerned, there was only one explanation for what was happening.

I'm dreaming, Twilight concluded as she laid in the darkness. That has to be it. Just a dream. Any second now, I'll wake up and find myself back in my loft, on the floor, tangled up in my sheets. Yes. That has to be it. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and moved to get back up.

Opening her eyes, the apples stayed apples, and the orchard stayed an orchard. Even Gilda was still there, picking up an apple and taking a bite. The griffon stood there as she chewed, her golden eyes focused on the emerging pegasus.

Not a dream then, Twilight thought with a sigh. Pushing her wings out, she shoved the rest of her apples away as she stepped forward. Ears pulled back, she straightened up to look at Gilda.

"What are you doing here?"

Gilda shifted to sit, balancing on her hind legs as she brought the empty eagle claw to her chest, her beak open in an expression of (mock) pain.

"Can't I just stop by to see an old friend?" Gilda asked.

"We weren't exactly what I would call 'friends,'" Twilight said as she shook off the crash. "As I recall, you basically forced me to do your flight camp homework for you, then refused to let anypony else bully me because I was your 'egghead dweeb.'"

"See, it wasn't all bad," Gilda replied with a smirk (how did she do that with a beak?). "I kept other ponies from picking on you."

A snort escaped Twilight as she rolled her eyes.

"Seriously," Gilda said. "I was on my way to Equestria anyways, heard about the whole" -- she did this odd thing with her claws that Twilight did not under stand -- "'saving the world from eternal darkness' thing or whatever, so I thought I'd stop by and hang out for a while. See how you're doing, and all that."

Taking a step closer, Twilight's eyes narrowed as she looked at the griffon.

"And if you happen to get a little bit of fame and celebrity by proxy?"

"Pfft," Gilda huffed out as she pushed Twilight away from her. "Come on, Twi. You really think I care what a bunch of lame little ponies think of me?"

Twilight was tempted to argue, but it was rather difficult. As long as she had known Gilda, there had always been an attitude of... contempt?... toward ponies. Certainly a sense of superiority. Pretty much saw all of them as "lame," as she would put it.

"The fact you're this whole 'big hero'" -- Gilda repeated the motion -- "just means that you aren't as much of a big dweeb as the rest of them. You're still not cool, but you're not as lame as you used to be."

High praise, indeed. thought Twilight, shaking her head.

"Okay," she said instead. "Assuming what you're saying is true, then how did you find me?"

"That was easy," Gilda replied. "The paper mentioned the whole thing happened in Ponyville, so I knew that. The rest was just flying high enough and waiting to see your butt trail."

A blush formed on Twilight's face at the colorful choice of names for her contrail.

"Really," continued Gilda, "I thought it would take longer. Leave it up to your uptight attitude to making it easy for me."

She moved closer to Twilight Comet, a wing reaching out to poke the pegasus in the side.

"Come on. We can hang out, you can show me around, maybe I can even get you to have some actual fun for a change."

"I have fun!" Twilight snapped. "I have lots of fun!"

"Right, sure, whatever you say," Gilda replied in a tone Twilight recognized as not believing her at all. "So how 'bout it?"

A -- rather large -- part of Twilight Comet was very tempted to say no. After all, Gilda was not exactly what she would call a "friend." A more accurate description would be "antagonistic associate." Yes, they knew each other, but it was mostly because one -- Gilda -- forced another -- Twilight -- to do things for her in exchange for not "pounding you into pony paste" as Gilda had put it on several occasions. The only upside was that if any others tried to bully Twilight, Gilda would scare them off, most often with threats of gelding. All the same, the griffon's behavior was never friendly or kind.

At the same time, another part of Twilight wanted to agree. It had been years since she and Gilda had seen each other. It was possible that Gilda had changed in that time. Twilight certainly had. She was not quite as much of a shy introvert as she had been back in flight camp. This could have been Gilda's awkward way of trying to build an actual friendship with somepony that she had sort of known in the past.

Still another part of her pointed out that if she was with Gilda, she would be able to keep an eye on the griffon and make sure she did not cause too much trouble around Ponyville.

"Okay," Twilight sighed out. "Just let me tell somepony about the apples here so they don't end up rotting on the ground, then I can give you a tour of Ponyville."

"Sounds like a plan. Lead on."

Moving away from Gilda and the apples, Twilight took off and started flying toward the farmhouse. The Apples would want to know that the fruit of one tree had been knocked free. Even if they were bruised and could not be sold, there was no reason to let them rot and go to waste. The family could eat them, or Applejack could use them for juice or pies.

Applejack!

Turning her head, she looked back.

"Uh... Gilda? Did you happen to see anypony else when you came to see me?"

"No," Gilda answered. "Like I said, I caught sight of your butt trail thing--"

"Contrail."

"-- whatever -- and came straight to you." She then smirked. "At which point you went straight into a tree." Her eyes then narrowed. "Why?"

"...Just... wondering..." Twilight replied. She put on a smile before looking away. Her pace slowed down as she went. If her timetables were right, the entire Apple family would be up by now and eating breakfast. By slowing down, Twilight was trying to time it so that they would arrive after everypony had finished eating, but before they started on their chores for the day. Then she could tell one of them, and they could go out to the crash spot and pick up the apples.

She just had to hope that Applejack was busy with the dishes or something that kept her from seeing Gilda.

Reaching the farmhouse, Twilight landed in front of the steps, followed by Gilda not too far behind.

"Uhm..." Twilight turned to Gilda, "...maybe you should wait out here?"

"Pff, fine. Whatever." Shifting, Gilda sat in the grass of the front yard.

Hopefully that deals with that danger, Twilight thought as she made her way up the porch. Before she could touch the door, it opened to reveal Big Macintosh standing there.

"Oh. Hey Ma--ACK!" Twilight cried out as she was suddenly shoved aside by Gilda.

"Well, hello," Gilda purred out with a grin. "Aren't you big for a pony." She leaned in. "You know, I don't normally go in for prey species, but I could just eat you up... in other ways." She gave a wink.

Macintosh's lips pursed as his gaze shifted to take in the griffon in front of him. One of his wings gave a flicker.

"Enope," he said as he turned around and walked back into the farmhouse. "Nope, nope, nope, nope."

Quick as she could, Twilight got up from where she had landed and shot for the door. She was just in time to see Big Mac disappear into the kitchen.

"Uh, Gilda?" Twilight said. "Maybe you should--"

"What the hay is going on?" Applejack called out as she stepped out. "Big Mac just came into the kitchen repeating 'nope' and practically shove-- YOU!"

"HEY!" Gilda called out with a grin. "If it ain't good ol' Crabby Snack. How ya doing?"

Instead of giving a coherent answered, Applejack let out a bellow of rage. Wings flapping, she shot forward, flying through the house to tackle Gilda and slam her into the front lawn. Raising up a forehoof, she slammed it into the griffon's beak.