It was a quiet mid morning in Ponyville. Right up until a Rainboom shattered the sky. Most of Ponyville was used to such an event every now and again, so paid it no mind. What did get the attention of the citizenry is when a second Rainboom cracked the sky.

“Oh look, Rainbow’s taught Rainbow how to Rainboom,” Spike snarked.

“I’d be surprised, but they’d both probably say something about how awesome they are if I asked,” Duskfall sighed.

“Well, yeah, it is two Rainbow Dashes,” Spike said as if Dusk’s thoughts hadn’t even been worth vocalizing.

“I am unsure as to how to deal with this. How to I refer to Rainbow Dash and not insult Rainbow Dash?” Harmonia wondered.

“I don’t think pony Rainbow would be too upset if you called her Loyalty while her human counterpart is here,” Duskfall suggested.

“That may be the best solution,” Harmonia didn’t look happy about it, “I am calling for Loyalty and Pinkamena now.” The map flickered to life, Rainbow and Pinkie’s Cutie Marks hovering over Griffonstone. Harmonia looked concerned for some reason.

“What’s the matter?” Duskfall asked.

“I did not power on the map. I merely called out for Loyalty and Pinkamena. This is…bothersome,” Harmonia complained.

“Why? Is something the matter?” Duskfall inquired.

“Not as such. The map acting without my conscious command is merely a source of consternation,” Before their conversation could continue, both Rainbows arrived at the castle.

In pony form, it was fairly easy to tell human Rainbow and pony Rainbow apart. While the mirror messed with age for Equuis denizens going to the human world, it seemed to leave age untouched for humans visiting Equuis.

At 22 years old, it was quite easy to tell pony Rainbow was a full grown mare. Her body proportions in concert with her exercise routine gave her a hard edge, but not enough to be considered stallion-like. Her wings, while slightly bigger than an average Pegasus mare, were fully grown and all her adult feathers were in.

At 17 years old, human Rainbow was just ever so slightly not fully matured. Her face had yet to lose that final bit of softness around her muzzle that was indicative of puberty. Her wings were very slightly stumpy looking next to pony Rainbow, due to not having finished their final growth spurt. She was also shorter than pony Rainbow by two or three centimeters.

“So, what’s up? Another world ending villain to stop?” Elder Rainbow asked.

“Nothing so dramatic, Loyalty,” Elder Rainbow’s ears twitched but otherwise didn’t comment, “I was merely hoping to send you and Pinkamena to Griffonstone for personal reasons.”

“Gilda?” For the hard time people liked to give Rainbow about not being book smart, she could be very intuitive when she wanted to be.

“I…yes. I know how much what happened between the two of you bothers you. Gilda will be at the center of a minor harmonic dissonance event. Truly, if it were not for who was involved, I would not have brought it to your attention at all. Getting involved in mortal politics is something I will leave to the Alicorns,” Harmonia’s dislike for politics was plain on her face.

“Wait, you’re friends with Gilda?” Rainbow the Younger asked in surprise.

“Former friend…I kinda helped chase her out of town and I’ve felt awful about it ever since,” Elder Rainbow confessed, “What’s she like in your world?”

“We used to go to the same school until she got accepted to Crystal Prep and I went to Canterlot High. We never really spoke to each other before then, but we were aware of each other at least. Then Gilda fell in with a bad crowd, started smoking and drinking and vandalizing. Eventually she got caught and last I heard she was in juvie. She’s become something of a legend in the school district,” Rainbow the Younger explained.

“The kind of girl you tell horror stories to your kids about to scare them straight,” Duskfall quipped.

“Sounds about right,” Rainbow the Younger nodded, “So how’d you wind up friends with someone like that?”

“We met in Pegasus flight camp in Cloudsdale. Er, that’s where young Pegasus fillies and colts are sent to learn the basics of flight and weather control. Gilda is a Griffon, so that instantly caught my attention. She should’ve been at a Griffon flight camp, even if half of them are shitty drains on taxpayer bits,” Elder Rainbow growled out that last bit, “Anyway, she was bullied by some of the others and we both know how we feel about bullies. So I stepped in to defend her, got half my primary feathers plucked off, and the rest is history.”

“Rainbow! You never told us you got plucked in flight school!” Duskfall exclaimed. Rainbow looked embarrassed.

“It isn’t something I like to talk about. It’s about the most embarrassing thing someone can do to a Pegasus. To help out someone getting bullied? Totally worth it,” Elder Rainbow said confidently.

“That sounds just as badass as when I broke my arm protecting Flutters,” Rainbow the Younger said with a smile. The two Rainbows hoofbumped.

“What’s up fillies?!” Pinkie burst into the room with her usual subtlety.

“Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to head out to Griffonstone and restore Rainbow’s friendship with her old friend Gilda,” Duskfall joked, “As usual, should any of your party be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your existence. This message will self destruct.”

Rainbow the Younger started snickering, but the two ponies didn’t get it at all. Harmonia shook her head good naturedly.

“That is an accurate summation, even if you could have delivered it without the joke, Duskfall,” Harmonia lightly rebuked.

“Alright, Pinkie and I will be ready to go in a couple of hours,” Elder Rainbow stated and started to walk out the door.

“Wait! Can I come too?!” Rainbow the Younger suddenly asked, “It’s a long weekend and I have nothing better to do!”

“Have you finished your homework?” Duskfall asked.

“Ugh! Yes, mom, I finished my homework!” Rainbow the Younger grumbled.

“Well, this is pony Rainbow’s show. As long as your homework is finished and she says yes, you can go,” Rainbow the Younger instantly turned the full force of her puppy dog eyes on her elder counterpart.

“I don’t have a problem with it,” Elder Rainbow started hesitantly, “But wouldn’t it be weird if two Rainbows showed up in Griffonstone? I don’t want to freak everyone out.”

“Everyone already knows the Changelings are living in Ponyville. If anyone asks, just tell them she’s a Changeling who’s a super big fan of yours,” Duskfall shrugged, “Do you have any problems with this, Harmonia?”

“While certain missions may be delicate and require the ones I pick and no more, this is not one of them. If the human Rainbow and Loyalty agree, then I see no reason to stop them,” Harmonia responded.

“YES!” Rainbow the Younger cheered.

“If you’re me and you’re gonna be hanging around Equuis for any amount of time, we were gonna get you your first adventure sooner or later anyway,” Elder Rainbow quipped.

So that was how, a day later, the Rainbows, Duskfall, Moon Dancer, and Pinkie came into Griffonstone. Duskfall couldn't deny the part of her that had been Twilight. Twilight had always wanted to travel abroad and the Griffon Empire was top of the list. Moon Dancer had tagged along mostly because Duskfall had asked, but she wouldn't deny she wanted to see the former seat of the Griffon Empire.

“This place is a dump!” Pinkie declared.

“Griffonstone has been a mess ever since they lost the Idol of Boreas. The Griffon Empire moved their government to Whitestone and has all but declared that to be their new capital,” Moon Dancer remarked.

“I knew it was bad here, going off what Twilight has heard from the Griffon ambassadors, but seeing it for myself is something else,” Duskfall sighed, her inner scholar and historian heartbroken by the fall from grace Griffonstone had suffered.

“How could anyone stand to live like this?” Elder Rainbow asked sadly.

“Ever since the local economy collapsed after the death of King Guto, the Griffons of Griffonstone have been locked in a cycle of self pity and anger. They’ve refused help from Celestia and their own government. They’re just content to wallow in their misery. Not that Griffons are the happiest bunch at the best of times,” Duskfall remarked.

“So much history, so much culture! All lost over some wounded pride,” Moon Dancer grumbled. It was probably for the best that neither Moon Dancer nor Duskfall would see the state of the local library.

“Well, we’re not gonna find Gilda by standing around,” Rainbow the Younger pointed out. So the group entered Griffonstone proper and bore witness to countless small acts of bickering and strife.

“Wow, this place almost reminds me of Detroit,” Duskfall snarked, “No, wait, that isn’t fair. This place is still way better than Detroit.”

“You’ve been to Detroit?” Rainbow the Younger asked.

“Not me, personally, but one of Tom’s cousins lived in that God forsaken city and he visited once. It was exactly as miserable as you might expect,” Duskfall tried to clear her head of the bad memories.

“It still strikes me as very strange how Earth cities and Equuis cities share a lot of very similar names, even if the difference often comes down to a bad pony pun,” Moon Dancer observed.

“Yeah, but Detrot is a pretty nice place, going off Twilight’s memories. Detroit is a post industrial revolution boom town that’s devolved into a hive of scum and villainy. OK, I may be exaggerating, but not by much,” Before their conversation could go any further, a voice called out.

“How are there two of you?!” The group turned to see none other than Gilda. The Rainbows shot each other a look.

“Hello Gilda. Come play with us~” The Rainbows said in sync. Speaking of weird differences between Equuis and Earth, how did they have a Kubrick but not a Spielberg? If anything, Duskfall would’ve assumed the opposite to be true.

“Fuck that shit!” Gilda tried to get away so quickly she tripped over her own feet. Elder Rainbow flew over to her.

“Sorry about that, the setup was just too perfect to resist,” Elder Rainbow said as she helped Gilda up. The Griffon glared daggers at Elder Dash.

“That doesn’t explain why there are two of you, you fucking creep,” Gilda growled.

“That one is a Changeling who’s a huge fan,” Elder Rainbow explained.

“Drone #25947532 reporting for duty!” Dashie the Younger chirped happily.

“She does realize all the Changelings have names right?” Moon Dancer whispered to Pinkie and Dusk.

“They also have serial numbers,” Pinkie pointed out. The other two looked at her.

“How do you know that?” Duskfall asked.

“I asked, silly,” Pinkie giggled as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“What do you losers want?” Gilda huffed.

“We’re actually here for you,” Elder Rainbow confessed.

“What, so you can run me out of Griffonstone too?” Gilda sneered.

“No! Gilda…I fucked up. I fucked up real bad. I treated you like shit that day and there’s no excuse for it. I would like to know why you yelled at Fluttershy though,” Gilda wilted a bit.

“I don’t know. She was just walking along, minding her own business when she bumped into me by accident. It wasn’t even a hard bump. I just completely freaked out for no reason. Then she ran off in tears before I could talk to her,” Gilda looked at the dirt beneath her, “You were right to run me off. I really am just a jackass.”

“Hey, none of that! Doesn’t matter if you’re a jackass, you’re my jackass, got it?” Rainbow Senior asked as she got into Gilda’s face.

“I would’ve thought jackass would be a racial slur or something,” Rainbow the Younger whispered to the others.

“Jackass isn’t used to refer to a male donkey on this side, so no racial connotations. So while not offensive in that way, the term is considered quite crude. Think calling someone a limp dick and you’re in the general ballpark,” Duskfall explained.

“Ah, got it,” Rainbow Junior nodded in understanding.

“Even if you’re here saying that, I’m sure Fluttershy hates me and never wants to see me again,” Gilda sighed.

“Gilda, you know Fluttershy! We spent so much time together at flight camp. She’s just about physically incapable of hating anyone. If you don’t believe me, come with me back to Ponyville and talk to her yourself!” Rainbow the pony offered.

“I can’t,” Gilda held up a claw to forestall Elder Rainbow’s protests, “You caught me in the middle of something. I’m going to find the lost Idol of Boreal!”

“ARE YOU INSANE?!” Elder Rainbow exploded.

“How else am I supposed to fix this shithole? The only other thing I’m even good at is making those scones Grampa Gruff taught me how to make and everyone hates those things!” Gilda snapped.

“You can fix the scones! You can’t fix your broken neck if you go into the Abysmal Abyss!” Elder Rainbow argued.

“What’s so dangerous about this Abysmal Abyss, aside from being in serious need of some rebranding?” Rainbow the Younger asked.

“Powerful winds that will send even the strongest flier into jagged outcroppings of rock, that’s what! If you want to be a kebab, Abysmal Abyss is your one stop shop for your funeral needs!” Rainbow Senior spat angrily.

“I grew up around here, Dash! I know it’s dangerous, but I’m not gonna fly like an idiot!” Gilda reached into her saddlebags, “I have rope and rock climbing shit. I’ll be fine.”

“Yes, just like the dozens of other brave explorers who have tried to reclaim the Idol of Boreal? I’m sure the bloody smears they left behind will cheer you on as you succeed where they failed,” Duskfall’s voice was dripping with sarcasm.

“You wouldn’t understand. I have to do this,” Gilda sighed.

“Usually when people say ‘you wouldn’t understand’ that means the reason they do have isn’t a good one,” Moon Dancer noted.

“Why?! What have these assholes ever done for you that you feel the need to KILL YOURSELF trying to help them?! I know I’m supposed to be Loyalty and all, but Loyalty needs to be reciprocated or it dies. Just because they’re all Griffons like you are doesn’t mean you owe them anything, especially not your life!” Rainbow Senior shouted.

“What am I supposed to do, Rainbow?! I don’t want anyone to suffer like I did, but if this town doesn’t change that’s exactly what’s going to happen, over and over again! Griffons around here only care about themselves and their bits, but I can change that if I find the Idol! If you’re not going to help me then get out of my way!” Gilda moved to walk past Elder Rainbow when she nearly plowed face first into Pinkie.

“Is a hunk of gold really gonna make these Griffons happy? I think you already know the answer to that,” Pinkie said without her usual manic energy. Rainbow Junior looked like she was seeing a horseman of the apocalypse.

“Maybe, maybe not. It’s not like it’s gonna hurt anyone if I do bring it back,” Gilda’s face was set in grim resolve.

“We’ll help you,” Pony Dash finally decided, “It’s a damn fool thing to do, but I’m not abandoning you again.”

“I, uh, I dunno how much help I’ll be with the climb, but I can make cakes and stuff to celebrate when you return!” Pinkie promised.

“We don’t have cakes,” Gilda noted.

“NO CAKES?! OK, then muffins,” Pinkie declared.

“None of those either,” Gilda seemed to be getting a sadistic glee out of Pinkie freaking out over lack of baked goods.

“THEN WHAT DO YOU HAVE, YOU DEPRAVED ANIMALS?!” Pinkie shrieked like the damned.

“Scones,” Gilda held up one of the offending “baked goods”. Pinkie glared at it suspiciously before gobbling it up.

“WHY?! First those muffin shaped sickness inducers and now rock cakes that aren’t nearly as good as real rock cakes!” Pinkie sobbed.

Was Pinkie talking about some kind of rock cake she made on the rock farm? Or perhaps Pinkie was spending too much time with Discord.

“You’re staying with Pinkie,” Elder Rainbow instructed Dash the Younger.

“What?!” Rainbow Junior protested. Old lady Rainbow pulled the young whippersnapper closer.

“You’re not as strong a flier as I am yet and you’re nowhere close to familiar enough with a pony body to go rock climbing,” Loyalty’s Bearer explained.

“I guess you have a point,” Human Rainbow pouted.

With that decided, Gilda, Duskfall, Moon Dancer, and Elder Rainbow purchased the extra supplies needed for their expedition and headed out to Abysmal Abyss.

“Alright, so Moon Dancer and I will be trying to curb the wind as much as we can while also reinforcing the rope,” Duskfall explained.

“Even if the rope winds up more magic than rope,” Moon Dancer muttered. It couldn’t be denied that the rope they had bought looked horribly frayed, “Anyway, I’ll be staying up here, both to serve as spotter and to help Duskfall anchor the spells along the rope and the canyon. Any questions?”

“Nah, I think we’re good,” Rainbow said as she tightened her helmet around her head.

“Sorry for dragging you into my mess, Rainbow,” Gilda apologized.

“Forget about it. What kind of friend ditches at the first sign of trouble?” Rainbow asked as she secured herself with the rope, feeling it tingle from the mana being forced through it.

Soon the trio of Gilda, Dash, and Dusk were descending into the Abyss. Even with Duskfall and Moon Dancer fighting against it, the savage winds of the Abyss threatened to blow them away at any second. It was also a lot more difficult than it could have been, since Dusk had to focus on the descent and maintaining the spells. However, with only the two of them, this was the only way to ensure the spell matrixes remained stable.

“Rainbow,” Duskfall panted, “I’m going to need you to help me brush up on my physical education after this is all over.”

“Sure thing, Dusk,” Duskfall couldn’t see Rainbow’s face, but she knew the prismatic mare was smiling.

The wind howled and Duskfall swore the rope would break at several points, magical reinforcement or not. Eventually, the made it to an outcropping of rock and there they found a huge skull.

“Well I’ll be stuffed, the Arimaspi was real,” Gilda breathed in surprise.

“You live in a magical world with manticores, dragons, and ponies that move the celestial bodies, yet the Arimaspi is what tested your suspension of disbelief?!” Duskfall couldn’t resist the urge to snark at that.

“Ah, shaddup ya magical pony princess,” Gilda sulked.

“You’re only proving my point~” Duskfall sang.

“So, if the Arimaspi is here, then where’s the Idol? Did it fall further into the Abyss? Did we miss it on the way down?” Rainbow questioned.

“Well, good thing you brought me along. I can cast a spell to…OH COME ON!” There, on the ledge opposite the skull, was the Idol of Boreal.

“Who’s the suicidal lunatic now?!” Gilda crowed.

“You are, featherbrain,” Rainbow huffed.

“Fuck you too, Rainbow,” Gilda laughed.

“Maybe we can joke about this after we’re safely out of a very deadly abyss?” Dusk suggested as she lifted the Idol in her magic and placed it safely into her saddlebags. That was when a sound came up out of the Abyss. At first it sounded like a strong gust of wind, but soon resolved itself into a bone chilling howl. The trio looked at each other.

“Good plan!” Rainbow squeaked.

“Let’s go!” Gilda agreed.

They scrambled back up the Abyss faster than was completely safe, but they weren’t of a mind to risk whatever made that howl coming up to get them.

“So…how many explorers do you think that thing has eaten, whatever it was?” Duskfall asked darkly once they reached the top. Moon Dancer was shivering slightly while warily eyeing Abysmal Abyss.

“Dude, not cool,” Rainbow groaned.

“We’ve gotta show everyone that we got the Idol of Boreal back!” Gilda exclaimed. With a quick teleportation, they were back where they had left Rainbow the Younger and Pinkie. What they did not expect was the flock of Griffons swarming the pair.

Pinkie and human Dash had apparently been quite busy while the others were away. They had set up a baking stand and seemed to be selling baked goods of all kinds, including scones. Judging by the Griffons acting more like locust, they rather liked the baking. Suddenly all four of the expedition felt very weary.

“I’m just going to give this dumb thing to Grampa Gruff later. I guess the pink menace was right. Maybe the happiness was there all along, they just forgot how to express it,” Gilda sighed.

“Gross oversimplification, but none of us are psychologists. If anyone has the power to teach someone else how to smile again, it’d be Pinkie,” Duskfall noted.

“Is that other me cooking?!” Sure enough, Dash the Younger was currently whisking together what looked to be icing and she looked to be having a grand old time.

This was doubly strange when the extent of pony Dash’s cooking skills was ordering takeout. Elder Rainbow was pretty much banned from the Cake’s kitchen and not even Applejack’s baked bads stunt had managed that! Whenever Twilight had asked about it, Rainbow and Pinkie both clammed up. Rainbow of Loyalty walked up to the stand.

“How are you cooking?!” Dash Senior demanded to know. Human Dash looked at her like she had grown a second head.

“I love to cook..? I do it all the time with my folks. Don’t you?” Human Dash asked confused.

“Our Dashie can’t cook her way out of a paper bag! It’s super weird! Not Sweetie Belle setting orange juice on fire weird, but still kinda weird,” Pinkie chirped.

“How did Sweetie Belle set orange juice on fire? I’m pretty sure our Sweetie Belle isn’t that bad!” Human Rainbow exclaimed.

“Not even Discord knows how Sweetie Belle manages her cooking catastrophes. Sometimes I wonder if an extra dimensional demon of some kind possesses her whenever she cooks. Yet I have no proof, and so I must cling to my bed sheets at night and tremble in fear for what might be lurking just around the corner,” Duskfall droned in her best eerie voice.

“You are a fucking dark pony princess,” Gilda noted.

“Trust me, if you knew, ‘dark’ wouldn’t even begin to cover it,” Duskfall let out an evil chuckle.

“OK, if more ponies were like you, they’d be alright,” Gilda snarked, “So, how’d you get the whole damn town to come out for your snacks?”

“Well, we started by adding baking powder to those scones,” Pinkie began.

“Then I threw in a dash of cinnamon for good measure,” Teenage Dash added.

“After we started baking them, a couple of Griffons wandered by to see what the good smell was,” Pinkie continued.

“We fed them a fresh batch of scones and they kinda went wild. Almost like they’d never had anything edible before in their lives,” Young Dash quipped.

“That’s probably closer to the truth than you think,” Gilda pointed out.

“Well, once the Griffons were hooked on the scones, I thought to myself ‘Pinkie, you can’t just let this be a one hit wonder’, so I pulled out all my emergency cooking supplies and with Lil’ Dashie’s help, we’ve been fixing up cakes and muffins and even some fresh made bread!” Pinkie happily exclaimed.

“Yeah, before we knew it, word of mouth had hit the whole town and we were flooded,” Rainbow the Younger said as she pulled a tray of cupcakes out of the oven.

“This is great and all, but what happens when you all have to go home? Sure everyone is happy now, but it won’t last forever,” Gilda said with no small measure of frustration.

“Good food encourages conversation. Conversation encourages friendship. Friendship encourages people to help each other and hopefully fix up Griffonstone! I’ll just teach you how to bake, Gilda. Then you can spread the love to your people just like you wanted to!” Pinkie offered.

“Yeah, I think I’ll take you up on that offer,” It wouldn’t be an easy road, but it was one Gilda was determined to walk. If she could make things even a tiny bit better for someone else who was in a situation like she had been in, then it was absolutely worth it.

Author's Notes:

A few interesting things here.

One is that I'm going to have the human 5 and Sunset pop up in Equestria from time to time. Now, having the human 5 be copy and paste of the Mane 6 would be fantastically boring. So I'm going to be adding in some, hopefully, unobtrusive differences that help set them apart as individuals. For example, Pony Dash can't cook to save her life. Human Rainbow has cooked dinner with her family for almost as long as she can remember and found a small passion for it.

Gilda's change in motivation reflects closer to what I had Dash think about back in A Human, a Pony Princess, and a Mistake. Also added in the fact that Gilda knows Fluttershy, because if they went to flight school together, then no duh Gilda knows Fluttershy. Even if they weren't friends directly, Gilda would know that Flutters is Dash's friend.

I'm sorry it took me so long to write this chapter. Honestly, I'm just feeling kinda under the weather and bone tired. Kinda killed my usual writing speed. I'd try to sleep it off, but between insomnia and being blackmailed to watch my baby brother's puppy every day, I haven't gotten more than 2 hours sleep per day over the last 4 days.

(You think I'm joking about the blackmail, but I'm not.)

The price one pays when you're naturally nocturnal and have insomnia besides. Trying to keep normal people hours is a real fast way to make one want to commit not alive.