“Pinkie, you’re so stupid that...” Gilda tapped a claw on her beak and squinted.

“That what?” Pinkie Pie replied, her mouth all geared up to laugh.

“That... you thought Mi Amore Cadenza was a place to keep your little black book.” Gilda forced a grin and held her breath.

“I... don’t get it.”

“Well, ‘Mi Amore’ is like ‘love,’ so...” A claw circled in midair as if to unfurl the scroll containing the rest of the joke.

“I got that part. It’s the rest,” Pinkie said while scratching her head.

“Well, ‘Cadenza’ sounds kind of like ‘credenza.’”

“Yeah... needs too much explanation. Not your best effort.” Pinkie reached a hoof up toward a far-off cloud. “Now, if you’d said I was so stupid that I thought Sugarcube Corner was the one who pronounced ponies dead from sugar overload, that would have been funny, because—” she glanced around to make sure nobody else might hear “—that’s actually come close to happening before.”

Gilda widened her eyes at Pinkie’s giggling. That seemed a rather morbid thing to joke about...

“Ah, just kidding, silly head.” Pinkie rolled onto her side to face Gilda, who kept a close eye to make sure she didn’t go too far.

“Careful, Pinkie,” Gilda said as she raised a foreleg to shove Pinkie back.

“Oh, I’m always careful!” Pinkie replied, but then raised an eyebrow and rolled her eyes upward. “Or is it never...?”

Pinkie lay on a woven mat of feathers. Over the last few seasons, whenever Gilda had molted, plucked a loose feather, whatever... she’d saved them all and had Fluttershy sew them together, and now Pinkie could come up to the clouds with her. “Do you like it up here?”

Pinkie nodded vigorously, then rolled onto her back again and crossed her forelegs behind her head. “Yeah. It’s always neat to see the clouds from this side.”

Propping up on a shoulder, Gilda stared at Pinkie, but it took her a while to notice. But when she did, she just gave back that same warm smile she always had—the one that said its target was already a friend, whether she knew it or not. “Pinkie, why was I such a jerk back then?”

“You just hadn’t matured yet,” Pinkie said through her toothy grin. “It’s okay. You simply had to get it out of your system, play all the pranks, yell all the insults, eat all the cupcakes, throw all the parties...” She scowled for a moment. “Wait, I think I took a wrong turn there.”

Gilda had to laugh. Did Pinkie do that deliberately, or did her mind just work that way? Pinkie probably didn’t know, either.

But like all things, laughter ends. Gilda flicked a wingtip over the lightning-bolt-shaped choker she wore and exhaled a deep sigh. “Why me? Why’d she leave this to me?”

Pinkie smiled and patted Gilda’s shoulder. “Because she saw something in you, silly! She knew there was a quality she liked, buried deep in there—” she poked a hoof at Gilda’s chest “—that she thought was special. She stuck by you when you didn’t feel worth it.”

Gilda frowned. “I know that last part. But why?”

“Duh!” Pinkie crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out. “Element of Loyalty!”

“I know,” Gilda said, her gaze wandering to the horizon. “But she didn’t have an obligation. She chose to.”

Pinkie could only nod. “My turn, then. Why me, Gilda?”

She puffed out her feathers and took a long breath. “Because I was awful to you. To everyone, but especially you. I figured if I was supposed to live up to this gig, I’d better start there. If I could win you over...”

“And you did!” Pinkie leapt over and hugged her, nearly making Gilda’s heart stop. Pinkie’s hind legs dangled through the cloud’s surface, and Gilda kept an iron grip on her. Crazy pony, trusting her like that. Trusting her...

Gilda hovered for a moment and let Pinkie roll up her mat. Then Pinkie glanced up at Gilda’s choker. “You don’t have to wear that all the time, you know.”

“Yes, I do.” She could never forget. Or repay.

Pinkie pursed her lips. “Tell you what. In honor of Dashie, let’s go pull a prank.”

“I don’t know.” Not exactly the image Gilda wanted anymore...

“C’mon. Applejack’s a good sport. And it’s for Dashie.” Who could ever resist that smile?

“Fine.” Gilda swished her tail. “But keep it low-key.”

“Ooookayyyy. But I can’t Pinkie Promise...”