"Where do you think you're going?"

Gilda froze. She had been absolutely certain she hadn't woken her fellow partygoer. My instincts aren't what they used to be.

The griffon turned and saw Scootaloo approaching, still swaying slightly. Gilda had been through this kind of morning often enough to recognize what the pegasus was going through. She smiled inwardly. Not used to the good stuff, hm?

"What happened? Why are you here? Why are you leaving at this uncelestial hour?" Scootaloo staggered closer to Gilda with each question, until they were beak to muzzle and Gilda could see the bloodshot eyes and smell the mare's breath. She quietly thanked the Lords of Virtue for making the griffon sense of smell as blunt as it was. She needed her senses about her right now.

"Well, in order: You drank way too much at the party last night, until RD and I had to carry you home; I'm here because RD worried about you and wanted someone around; and I was leaving because I could tell you were sober enough again. Can I please leave now?" Gilda turned her eye away at that last question.

"Anywhere in particular you have to be? At 9 on a Sunday morning?" Scootaloo shook her head slightly. "This doesn't make sense. Besides," her voice dropped a little, "there are a few things I wanted to try with you."

"Stop." Gilda winced at how panicked she sounded, a far cry from the resolve she'd been aiming for. "You went far enough last night, and who knows where we'd have ended up if you hadn't passed out."

"What do you mean, 'far enough'?" Scootaloo looked confused. "You wanted this just as much as I did. What changed all of a sudden?"

"I had time to think." Gilda found she still wasn't able to look Scootaloo in the eye. "You deserve better than me."

Scootaloo laughed in disbelief. "What in the hay is that supposed to mean? I thought you were over all that self-loathing. You said so yourself, back at the hospital."

"This isn't about me, kiddo. It's about you."

"Like Tartarus it is!" Scootaloo shouted. "I'm not a foal anymore, you know. I've seen my friends go on dates, while I was out training, always training. I know how these things go, and I want someone awesome to share my life. And I think you just might be that someone."

"Awesome? Me?" Gilda laughed bitterly. "Are you mistaking me for another griffon, by chance? I'm anything but awesome. I was stupid enough to go claw-to-hoof with an insane evil goddess, even provoke her, and I've got this," she pointed at her eyepatch, "to remind me of exactly what a bad idea that was. I'm an old hen no tercel would have looked at twice even before I was crippled, at least five years past my sell-by date. And you have the gall to call me awesome?" Gilda fixated Scootaloo with a withering stare. "Be quiet, grass-eater. I won't weigh you down."

Scootaloo held Gilda's gaze. "And you still say this isn't about you? Don't make this out as some kind of noble sacrifice, beakface. You're still beating yourself up because you're not what a griffon is supposed to be." She pointed to the necklace around Gilda's throat. "That element chose you for a reason. You can make your own way, but you first have to come to terms with who you are."

Slowly, the pegasus stretched out a hoof and touched the knot of scars on the griffon's head. "To take a page out of Sweetie Belle's book, I believe in you. You pulled me out of my dream. Perhaps I can finally repay you for that."

Gilda lifted a claw and gently pushed Scootaloo's hoof back. "I'm not ready for that. Not yet. I'm not a good griffon to be around right now, much less be with."

"You know where you can find me once you change your mind." Scootaloo hesitated for a moment, then she threw herself forward and hugged the griffon. "No matter whether you need a friend or something more."

"Thank you, Scootaloo." Gilda softly released the hug and stepped back, an impish grin curling up the sides of her beak. "Perhaps I'll take you up on those things you wanted to try. Someday."

***

Two years later

Scootaloo had just lain down for her afternoon nap when the bell rang. I told everypony a dozen times I don't want to be disturbed at this time of day. Will they ever learn?

As she made her way to the door, the bell rang a second time, more insistently. "Sheesh! Alright, I'm on my way!" Scootaloo threw the door open, ready to give whoever was waiting outside a piece of her mind, but the words died on her lips when she recognized her visitor.

"Hey, kiddo." Gilda smiled. "Long time no see."

"What...?" Scootaloo pressed one hoof against the doorframe to keep from keeling over. "That's it? For two years you vanish off the face of Equestria, and all you have to say is 'long time no see'?"

The griffon lowered her gaze, and Scootaloo noticed that she wasn't wearing an eyepatch. "I'm sorry, Scootaloo. I had my reasons, but could we talk this over somewhere else?"

"Sure. Come in." Scootaloo turned and led Gilda into her kitchen, where she pulled a bottle of cider and two glasses from a cupboard. "Sorry, I don't have anything else here right now. I just came back..."

"...from the Trottingham games. I know. I was there. You were fantastic."

Scootaloo took a sip of her cider, desperately wishing for something stronger. "Why are you here, Gilda? Now, after all this time?"

The griffon still wouldn't meet her gaze. "Shortly after the party, I learned that my mother had died. We'd never been really close, but as the eldest surviving hen, I still had to go back home and take care of everything." Slowly, Gilda turned her good eye towards the mare. "And when I came back, I heard about you and Storm Eye."

Scootaloo understood. "You kept your distance because you didn't want to see me with another mare." She felt bile rise up in her throat. "And now that she dumped me, you come in as the white knight and save me from my lonely fate?"

A low hiss escaped the griffon's throat. "It's not like that, Scootaloo. Besides, you split up over four months ago."

"How do you...?" Scootaloo stared at Gilda. "You kept an eye on me. Why would you do that?"

"What, I'm not allowed to keep up with what my friends do? It's not like I broke into your house and went through your stuff to get this info, kiddo. I've been in touch with RD and Derpy all this time."

"Derpy?" That little tidbit managed to push back Scootaloo's anger for the moment. "You and Derpy?"

"We've become friends - nothing else, before you get any ideas. After all, if the Elements of Diversity are needed again, we need a way to put the band back together." Gilda smiled. "She's a really nice one, once you get to know her a bit. Anyway, I thought of barging in when I heard about what Storm Eye had done to you." The smile vanished abruptly, and Scootaloo heard Gilda's claws unsheathe.

"I wanted to pull her wings out feather by feather until she had learned her lesson. You do not hurt my friends like that." Gilda threw a quizzical look in Scootaloo's direction. "Why did she do it, anyway?"

"I...if I'm honest, I provoked her. I thought I could get her to change her mind, and I did some really stupid things to show her I still loved her." Scootaloo hung her head. "She probably had to do what she did to finally get it into my thick skull that it was over."

"She dumped you in full view of the entire town, Scootaloo. No matter how dumb you were about it, no one deserves that." Gilda drained her glass, still trembling slightly.

"Water under the bridge, Gilda. The question is, what are you doing here?" Scootaloo forced the thought of Storm Eye back, focusing instead on the griffon before her. One thing at a time.

"RD is worried about you, Scoots. She told me..." Gilda broke off as Scootaloo descended into a fit of giggles. "What's so funny?"

"You..." Scootaloo fought for breath. "You called me Scoots. You've never done that before, and it just sounded weird. I liked it."

Gilda blushed, turning her gaze away again.

If there was one word Scootaloo would never have associated with the griffon, it would have been 'cute', yet there was no other way to describe her right now. For a second, the bitter, hurt hen vanished, leaving just a bashful little chicklet.

"Gilda? Why are you really here?" Scootaloo stepped around the table and looked the griffon in the eye. "Did you come as a friend, or is there more to this?"

Gilda sat upright and held Scootaloo's gaze. "I'm here to be whatever you need right now, Scootaloo. RD told me you've been hiding in here, only coming out for your competitions, and that's not the Scootaloo I know."

"That's not what I was asking." Scootaloo pushed closer to Gilda until their faces almost touched. "If this was just about Dash worrying, she would have come herself. Why are you here?"

"I'm here because I made a mistake two years ago," Gilda answered, so quietly that Scootaloo had to strain to hear her, even this close to her. "I had a chance with you, and I blew it. If all you want to be is friends, that's fine, I can live with that. But..."

"But you want more." Scootaloo's voice had dropped as well. "How much more, exactly?"

"I'm not sure." Gilda pulled her head back a few inches. "I've never done this before."

"You..." Scootaloo took a few seconds to realize what the griffon meant. "You've never been in love?"

"Not since RD. I'm not even sure if this really is love. Perhaps..." Gilda was abruptly cut short as Scootaloo darted forward and pressed her lips to Gilda's beak. The kiss was exactly as awkward as one would expect a meeting of muzzle and beak to be, and Scootaloo was fairly certain she'd cut herself on the beak's edge.

After Celestia knew how long, Scootaloo finally withdrew, tasting blood. "Did that help?"

"I don't know," Gilda panted. "Are you sure you want this?"

"I wouldn't do it otherwise." Scootaloo went over to the sink and spat out a little of the blood. "How do you griffons kiss, anyway?"

"Hey, it's not my fault your mouths are so soft and sensitive, you know?" Gilda grinned, but it faded quickly. "Where do we go from here, Scoots?"

Scootaloo turned back to Gilda. "I have no idea. Where do you want to go?"

Gilda rose and hugged Scootaloo, running her claws through the pegasus' mane. "It doesn't matter, as long as you're there."