Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash had been spending most of the day going around Ponyville pranking their friends with sneezing powder, disappearing ink and watercolors. However, when their pranks reached Fluttershy, Pinkie decided to stop, since she was far too sensitive for even the most basic pranks.

“You are right,” Rainbow Dash admitted. “We need another victim, made out of tougher stuff.”

Pinkie suddenly had an idea. “I’ve the perfect candidate.”

Sunset was sitting at the café as usual, waiting for her coffee and cupcakes while reading the local newspaper.
When her cup of coffee arrived, she tried to lift it up with her magic, but it remained on the table, so she simply lifted the liquid instead, taking a bite out of it like if it were chocolate before swallowing and continue reading.
She discreetly turned one of her ears into a thestral one and listened closely.

“That doesn’t count, she barely noticed!” came the voice of Pinkie.

Then the voice of Rainbow chimed in. “I’ve an idea.”

Sunset waited patiently, and after a slight breeze passed over her, she took one of the cupcakes and looked at it with the corner of her eye.
Clearly something had been spilled into it, but she took a bite out of it anyway, not even flinching.
‘Oh, the old hot sauce. Sadly for you girls, I actually like hot stuff. You’ve to try harder than that.’

“Come on! Not even a flinch?!” Rainbow complained.

“She’s a hard one to break. What else do we have in our arsenal?” Pinkie asked, and there were a few seconds of silence until Rainbow responded.

“Two joy buzzers, a spilling cup, spitting snakes, and relighting birthday candles.”

“Give me the joy buzzer.”

Sunset waited patiently until the pink pranker walked up to her before exclaiming. “Pinkie! Good to see you!” She extended her hoof to her, and when the prankster tried to use the joy buzzer against her, she made it switch hooves with her magic, shocking her instead.
“Trust me Pinkie, you don’t want to start a prank war with me,” she warned with a smile.

“You’re pretty good,” Pinkie admitted once she recovered from the shock. “You should join us tomorrow!” she offered while Rainbow joined them hovering over the table.

Sunset returned to her newspaper. “Would do so gladly, but I’m under a promise after the ticket incident.” She then had a devilish smile. “I could give you some ideas though.”

Rainbow rubbed her hooves together. “Oh, that would be great.”

The three spent the rest of the day discussing possible pranks to do and who the victims could be, and even Savoir Fare gave some suggestions with the condition of not using any of them in the premises of the café.
Once they were finished, each pony returned to their homes to sleep until tomorrow.

The next day, Sunset visited the bowling alley to give bowling a try, and found it quite more difficult than she imagined.
She was on her last turn, and she had only knocked twelve pins in total with no strikes.
Sunset concentrated, holding the ball in her magic, and tried to calculate the trajectory so she could finally make a strike. She pulled the ball back, and- “Hey Sunset!” -launched it into the ceiling, embedding it into the wooden roof.
Sunset turned around, finding the excitedly oblivious face of Pinkie Pie, and frowned. “What did I say about pranking me?”

“It’s not that, I need your help!” the pink pony explained.

“What happened now? An ursa is about to attack the town?” Sunset uninterestedly asked while she pulled the ball out of the celling and tried to mend the broken wood as best she could.

“No, that’s next chapter. I need some bullying advice.”

“Wait, what?”

“Well, I was about to go do more pranks with Rainbow Dash, but she was with an old friend from Junior Speedster Flight Camp that wanted to do some flying sessions that Rainbow promised her-”

“I was referring to the ursa-”

“-so I waited until later and tried to join in but she called me Stinkie Pie and told me to make like a bee and buzz off-”

“That’s a classic, but the ursa-”

“-so I went to Twilight and told her about how mean she was but she told me that I was just jealous-”

“Understandable, but the ursa-”

“-which made me mad, but then I wondered if she was right, and then I thought-”

“Candy, the ursa-”

“-Sunset is a bully; she surely knows how to recognize one. So I came to the bowling alley and explained it to you.”

“Ok, makes sense, but what’s with the ur- wait, how did you know I was here?”

“You mentioned it in the past chapter.”

Sunset’s brain short-circuited a little. “Let’s tackle one thing at a time. Show me this friend of Rainbow.”

“Sure thing, just follow me. I will tell you the rest of the story on the way,” the pink pony said before jumping to the exit.

Sunset rolled the ball behind her without looking, and when she reached the door, heard it make a strike.
“I will be back!” she declared threateningly to the machinery before leaving.

Sunset and Pinkie started to follow Gilda around town, seeing her scare Granny Smith with her tail and stealing an apple from a produce stand.

“See! She’s a meany meanpants and a thief,” Pinkie declared pointing at Gilda.

Sunset raised an eyebrow at her companion. “Pinkie, you just described ninety nine percent of the griffon population.”

“What do you mean?”

“Griffons are selfish, rude, and greedy by nature. It’s part of the reason why their kingdom is basically a ruin now.”

Pinkie looked sad. “Really?”

“Yeah, kind of a sad story. Equestria is not as ‘sunshine and rainbows’ as most ponies think. At least outside of pony territory.”

“So, it’s okay that she steals and is mean to everypony?”

“No, it’s not an excuse, just an explanation.” Suddenly they both heard a roar, and looked as Fluttershy ran away crying from Gilda. “I take it back, that was uncalled for, she is a bully.”

“Hm, what should I do?” Pinkie wondered.

“Well, usually Celestia just scolded me, but that never worked permanently, so I guess finding the root of her problems, or maybe appeal to her inner feelings to reach an understanding.” She turned towards Pinkie, but the pony had already left. “Fine, I will do it myself.” Sunset summoned her wings and flew into the air. “I just need the element of surprise.”
She dive-bombed into Gilda, grabbing the griffon by the neck.
“Surprise!” she exclaimed before teleporting both to a cloud where she let go of the griffon.

Gilda looked around disoriented until she saw the batwing pony. “What? Who are you?”

“I’m the step-older-sister of a friend of a friend of your childhood friend.”

Gilda looked at Sunset for a couple seconds. “What?”

“I’m here to bring you a prediction of your future.”

Gilda shook her head. “You look cool and all but-”

“You’re going to lose your friendship with Rainbow Dash soon,” Sunset warned her, starting to fly in circles around the griffon.

“What do you mean? We’re friends since childhood!”

“Yeah, and how many years have you two not being together?”

Gilda made a raspberry. “That’s irrelevant. She knows I’m the coolest around.”

“Irrelevant, uh? Because there’s no way she made new friends in all those years, right?”

Gilda turned her head to look at the circling mare. “You mean those lame ponies? She will dich them as soon as she realizes that she doesn’t need them anymore.”

Sunset started to fly backwards now. “What’s lame about saving Equestria from eternal night?”

Gilda looked at her confused. “What are you talking about?”

Sunset faked surprise. “Oh, I think pony news don’t reach your kingdom. Did you ever wonder why a couple of days ago one night got extra-long all of a sudden?”

Gilda shrugged. “We assumed Sun-butt just fell asleep or simply forgot.”

“Well, the truth is, Rainbow is a national hero now. Because she has friends, that wield friendship as a weapon… Somehow.”

Gilda seemed confused and a little… offended? “Dash is a national hero? Why didn’t she tell me about that?”

Sunset started to fly upside down. “Maybe she just wanted to spend time with you rather than brag your ear off.”

“Ha!” Gilda exclaimed, pointing a claw at the unicorn. “So she does consider me more important than saving the world with her lame friends.”

Sunset sat on the cloud, “The point you’re miss-” and fell through it, having to fly back up. “I can’t cloud-walk? Whatever.” She turned back to Gilda. “The point you’re missing is that Rainbow has other friends now. Close friends. And if you antagonize them and treat them badly, Rainbow will be angry at you. And after that, it can even be calculated mathematically.”
Sunset summoned a blackboard and wrote in it:

If we assume X > Y.

5 friends x X number of years + magical friendship > 1 childhood friend x Y number of years.

Gilda didn’t look convinced. “You’re missing a variable nerd.” She scratched the blackboard with her claw, making Sunset cover her ears, adding ‘+ coolness’ to her equation and inverting the greater-than sign.

Sunset rubbed her ears. “Well, my warning remains. Do as you please.” She then made the blackboard disappear. “Ponyville is that way.” She pointed, and Gilda simply took off at top speed.
Sunset sighed. “Well Candy, is up to you now.”

“I got it.” Pinkie said, popping out of the cloud for a second before going back down.

Sunset was a little less surprised than she should, and simply caught the pink pony with her magic. “What are you going to do?”

“A party to improve her sour attitude. You told me they’re grumpy and rude and their kingdom is not a very happy place, so I thought that giving her a nice welcome party may improve her mood,” Pinkie explained with a smile. “And you’re invited too.”

Sunset thought about it for some seconds, considering Gilda’s previous response to her warning and her overall opinion of ponies and Rainbow. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I will make it, but where are you going to host the party?”

Sunset waited patiently at the top of Sugarcube Corner, hearing the party devolve form celebration and laugh, to screams and an eventual resolution.
She saw Gilda exit the building, and before she could fly away, she caught her wings in her magic. “So, did my prediction came true?” she asked with a coy smile.

Gilda looked at her with an almost palpable fury. “Unless you want a fight, let go of my wings, and go away!”

Sunset thought about it for a second. “You know what? I do want a fight.” She teleported them both to the top of a mountain near Ponyville, releasing the magical hold from the griffon. “Have at it Grease.”

Gilda groaned and launched herself at the pony, trying to tackle her with her bigger, heavier body, but Sunset simply put up a shield and pushed griffon behind her, making her land face-first in the dirt. “So, is coolness still a variable?”
Gilda stood up and turned around towards the unicorn, claws outstretched for a quick slash. She was confident that she was faster than the pony, but her plan failed as Sunset teleported a few steps back every time she made a swat at her body. “I gave you a warning, but it wasn’t enough for you. Nopony could’ve made you understand, you had to see it for yourself.”
Gilda pounced at Sunset, but the unicorn teleported away, and she hit a rock instead. “So, what now? Is your friendship with Rainbow just gone? After all those years together in the camp? Aren’t you going to try and take it back?”
Gilda grabbed the rock and throwed it at Sunset, but the unicorn simply blasted it into pieces. “You know, I had a discussion with a pony about pride making you do harm to yourself and others. But in your case, it seems like this ‘coolness’ that you hold so dear just made you lose the only friend that seemed to care about it.”

Gilda threw another rock at her. “Why do you even care?!”

Sunset dodged the projectile and got closer to Gilda. “Because the pink pony that you believed was conspiring against you, only to find out that she tried to make you feel better and welcomed after you were rude to pretty much anypony besides Rainbow, asked me to.”

Gilda took a moment to take deep breaths before asking. “Then why are we fighting?”

“Because it’s good to vent,” she responded matter-of-factly. “Are you done venting?”

Gilda picked up a rock as big as her and slammed it down where Sunset stood. “Now I am.”

“Good, let’s get to the talking then,” Sunset said while getting down from the rock that would’ve crushed her.

Gilda sighed and sat down on the ground. “You were right. I lost my friendship with Rainbow.”

Sunset sat in front of her. “Because you thought that the pranks were of Pinkie and not hers. But let me ask you something; If you did know they were Rainbow’s, would you not get angry?”

Gilda took a moment to respond. “No, I would get angry anyway.”

Sunset Tilted her head to the side. “Because you don’t like pranks, right?”

“Yeah,” the griffon admitted. “I don’t like to be made fun off.”

“And how did Rainbow didn’t know?”

“I never told her; I didn’t want her to-”

“Think you weren’t cool?”

Gilda looked down. “Yeah.”

“This whole ‘being cool’ thing seems to only bring problems to you.”

Gilda looked angrily at Sunset. “It’s what made us friends!”

“What the pink one told me sounded different. The first thing you wanted to do when you arrived was a flying session with Rainbow, right?”

The anger in the griffon faded as quick as it had appeared. “Yes. Just like old times.” She smiled as she remembered her first day in the camp, where Rainbow stuck up for her in front of some bullies who mocked her for not flying.
‘Bullies like the one I am now.’ She concluded, ending the memory.

Sunset gave her a warm smile as she realized that the griffon had finally lowered her walls. “Do you want to fix it?”

Gilda looked at her with a little hope. “I can?”

“Yes, but you will need to apologize-” Gilda groaned. “-to everypony.” She groaned even louder. “The longer you take, the more difficult it will be, so I will teleport you back to the party.”

Gilda stood up rolling her eyes. “Fine, fairy godmother.”

“Good luck Grease.” Sunset lighted her horn and sent Gilda back to Sugarcube Corner, and then moved herself back to the roof to hear the exchange.

Gilda seemed to hesitate on knocking on the door, but eventually gave a nervous, very hard hit on the wood, calling the attention of the residents.
Luck be had, the one opening was Pinkie.

The griffon looked like she was about to be interrogated by the royal guards. “Hi Pinkie… can I… come back in?”

“And why would we do that?” Rainbow asked, joining Pinkie at the door.

Gilda took some air to try and calm herself. “I’m really sorry about how I treated you two. Especially you Pinkie; you actually tried to give me a warm welcome to the town, which I didn’t really deserve, and I just kept being rude with you and everypony.”

Pinkie didn’t have time to respond since Rainbow got right in Gilda’s face. “I thought you said that we were all lame, that you would find cooler friends somewhere else.”

Gilda took a step back. “There’s nopony cooler than you Dash. And let’s be real, you’re my only friend.” Rainbow’s expression didn’t change in the slightest. Gilda looked at the ground. “When I left, I realized how empty being cool is if you don’t have somepony to be cool with. I don’t want to lose our friendship over such a silly thing.”

Pinkie managed to get in front of Rainbow. “Is it true that every griffon is rude and mean in your kingdom?”

“Yeah, there’s no real friendship there. No welcome parties, everyone is out to get you, and the worst is that you’ve to be like that to stay there.” Gilda sat on the ground, her sight never leaving the ground. “That’s one reason for why I went to the camp. Probably the only reason I managed to find a friend.” Rainbow and Pinkie looked at each other and got closer to whisper in each other’s ears.

Gilda closed her eyes, feeling like she was waiting the order of a judge, and stood still for a couple of endless seconds, until Rainbow finally gave the sentence.

“We will forgive you-” Gilda looked at her with shimmering eyes full of joy. “-but on one condition.” The griffon nodded, ready to do anything. “You have to apologize to everypony in the party.”

“And the town,” Pinkie added.

Gilda smacked herself on the face and groaned. “Okay, I will do it.”

“And…” Rainbow added, and the griffon looked at her from between her claws. “…Tomorrow we will do the Junior Speedster Flight Camp chant, in front of all of my friends!”

“Oh, come on!” Gilda exclaimed before looking at the sky. “This better be worth it fairy godmother!”

After hearing all the apologies, Sunset decided to return home and get some well-deserved sleep, but as she pulled the covers over her body, a thought couldn’t get out of her mind.

“Am I the fairy godmother of friendship?” she asked to nopony in particular.
She had been helping Twilight with her friendship problems since day one, and now she even fixed Pinkie’s and Rainbow’s problem with Gilda.
Was this her role in the whole magical friendship thing? To give aid to whoever needs it? And then get…

Sunset frowned. “Nothing, I’m getting nothing.”

She turned her head and went to sleep.
This couldn’t be it, she wanted something better. She deserved something better.

She needed something better.

_{She hoped for something better.}

Author's Notes:

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Sunset made a full recovery: Constitution has been restored.

Sunset learned a new skill: Bowling (novice)

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I've a weird idea for a comedy short story that I want to make, so next chapter will take a little while to be released.

I will be watching you.