“Twilight! Twilight!” Pinkie’s voice thundered as she pounded on the front door of the library. “Twilight! TwilightTwilightTwilightTwilight!”
“It’s a library. The door’s not locked,” Twilight pointed out after opening the door. She looked slightly annoyed. Seriously, it was a public building. What was with all the knocking recently?
“Fluttershy’s in trouble!” Pinkie informed her as if Twilight hadn’t just snarked at her.
Twilight was gone, Pinkie being bowled over by nature’s rapid attempt to restrain an equal parts furious and worried super-pony.
Now that Twilight was paying attention and knew what to look for, she could pick out the sound of sobbing in the white-noise her sensitive hearing generated. With well practiced ease, she followed it back to Fluttershy’s cottage.
On her approach she noted that she didn’t hear the sounds of a struggle, so busting down the front door would probably do more harm than good. X-ray vision determined her course of action when it revealed Fluttershy in her bedroom shaking with sobs, surrounded by a multitude of her animal friends.
She quickly opened the front door and entered. She was soon in Fluttershy’s room, and became the recipient of a rather impressive death glare from Angel Bunny. He did not look happy, and in fact Twilight could feel the ambient magic in the room swirling very slightly around his rage.
It was no wonder he ruled the Everfree animals. For an animal’s emotions to tap into ambient magic, and for its care of another to trigger such an emotional response… Twilight’s respect for Angel formed and rose a few notches.
That didn’t stop her from seizing the magic in the air as he directed it at her and effortlessly rip it from his subconscious control. Her horn flared to life and she lifted every animal in the room off the floor, clearing a path for her to approach Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy, what’s wrong?” Twilight asked, enveloping her friend in a hug. She let the animals go as well, and they kept their distance, barring an equally worried Angel, from the powerful Unicorn.
Fluttershy sniffed, making an effort to stop hiccupping so she could speak. “I… I was… I’m sorry!” she exclaimed, before once more delving into hysterics.
Twilight rubbed a hoof along Fluttershy’s back in a soothing motion, and just held her friend. “I’m here. Just let it out,” she whispered.
---
Twilight’s eyes glowed a dangerous red as she flew towards Rainbow Dash’s home, a furious scowl adorning her features.
After Fluttershy had finally calmed, she had explained that she had literally bumped into a Griffon while leading a duck and its ducklings to their new home. She had tried to apologize, but only got insulted and roared at, scaring the ducks into a panic and scaring Fluttershy. Not knowing what to do, and unwilling to possibly get attacked, Fluttershy ran/flew home. After that she mumbled something about bad memories, but Twilight couldn't get anymore out of her.
Twilight managed to get a description of the Griffon, and was somehow not surprised that it matched Pinkie’s description of Gilda. She was quickly beginning to think Pinkie was right the first time, that this was one of those really aggressive and mean Griffons. She certainly wasn’t the first Griffon to think that Ponies were weak due to their peace-loving nature. She wouldn’t be the first to be reminded why Ponies were the peacekeepers of Equus either.
She left Fluttershy to the care of her animals, extracting a promise from Angel Bunny that he would take care of her. He had, of course, been insulted. No pony needed to tell him to take care his best friend. Then she went into town to get an account of how Gilda had behaved while in town, and the picture being drawn was slightly confusing.
When she was with Rainbow Dash, Gilda was crude, rude, and slightly obnoxious, but otherwise she behaved. On her own, Gilda was a boar of person, and more than one resident of the town had seen her being insulting or belittling to others. One pony had even caught her stealing from a stall, but had hesitated on calling her out due to witnessing Gilda tear Fluttershy apart verbally beforehand.
So now she was on her way to Rainbow Dash’s house to tell her the news. She only hoped the polychromatic Pegasus would be reasonable. And if Gilda was there… she had a Plan B.
She wasn’t entirely sure what to expect on her approach to the rather fancy cloud home Rainbow Dash owned. That thought gave her a brief pause, her train of thought derailing. Rainbow worked a managerial position on Ponyville’s Weather Control Team. It was not a high paying job, so how did she afford a house like this? The overall shape could be credited to creative manipulation of the cloud, but there was a liquid rainbow fountain out front. That stuff was expensive, as was the license needed to handle the rather volatile material.
And then the reason for her visit to said home returned, and she shook her head to refocus herself. Still maintaining her flight, since Unicorns couldn’t walk on clouds like Pegasi, she knocked on the door. The cloud door. Which emitted a loud thudding sound with each strike.
Twilight’s eyebrow twitched, but she ignored it for now. She’ll have a mental breakdown over magic’s blatant disrespect for physics later.
The door opened to reveal Rainbow Dash, who looked mildly surprised to see her. The surprise turned into a smile after a moment. “Twilight! Come in,” she stepped back to let Twilight float in. “I’d offer you a seat… but I think that would be pointless,” she pointed out with a smirk.
Twilight smiled back. “Yeah. Wouldn’t want you having to do an insane dive to catch me, would we?” she asked.
Rainbow giggled. “I mean, I could do it easily, but no point in doing something pointless, since you could fly and all.”
“Hey, Dash! Who’s at the door?” a voice unfamiliar to Twilight rang out from the next room. And the a Griffon stepped into the room, and Twilight knew instantly by description alone that this was Gilda.
Rainbow’s eyes lit up. “Oh! Twilight, this is my old buddy from flight school! Twilight, meet Gilda the badass Griffon. Gilda, meet Twilight the badass Unicorn,” she introduced the two.
“Badass, eh?” Twilight noticed Gilda’s eyebrow twitch, but she maintained a rather convincing smile as she extended a claw to Twilight. “High praise from Dash. I assume it has something to do with the fact that you’re flying without magic?”
Twilight shrugged. “That’s a bit of a story. She tell you about Nightmare Moon?” she asked.
Gilda’s eyes narrowed and flickered to Rainbow. “No… Nightmare Moon? Seriously Dash? You go to an early Nightmare Night or something?” She grinned. “Oh! Wait, I know! You dressed up as the Mare in the Moon and scared a bunch of kids, didn’t you?” she laughed. “Classic. Wish I had showed up earlier for that.”
Well, so far she seemed crude and inclined to enjoy pranks a bit too much, but nothing malicious… yet.
Rainbow Dash's eyes were darting around awkwardly, and then they zeroed in on something with obvious relief. “Oh, that’s a neat necklace Twi. What’s the occasion?” she asked.
Twilight looked down at the sapphire gem hanging from her neck by a leather cord. She looked back up at Rainbow and Gilda, who was also looking at the necklace curiously, with a smile. “This? Spike gave it to me as a gift this morning. I promised I would wear it for a few days before I put it in my jewelry box.” She shook her head. “Eventually he’ll figure out I’m just not the type of mare that likes these kind of things,” she said with a sigh.
“Spike?” Gilda asked. “He your coltfriend or something?” she asked curiously.
Twilight snorted, as did Rainbow Dash. “No, he’s my assistant. I have guardianship over him until he’s an adult, and he likes to help me manage the Golden Oak Library, where I live,” she explained.
Twilight was surprised to discover she was enjoying her conversation with Gilda. Maybe everyone was just overreacting to the fact that a Griffon was in town?
Gilda frowned. “A library? You live in a library? Gag!” she stuck her tongue out. “Laaaaame!” she drolled. “Books ain’t no good for anything but kindling if you ask me.”
...She would burn. Slowly, and painfully. Twilight would personally light the fire and eagerly dump as much kerosine on it as she could.
She snapped out of her quick moment of rage just in time to catch the tail-end of something Rainbow Dash was saying.
“-hink that was a little harsh?”
Gilda looked at Rainbow Dash with a frown. “I thought you agreed with me?”
Rainbow shrugged. “I think books are boring, yeah, but saying you should burn them? To Twilight? That would be like someone else telling us to clip our wings. Books and magic are her passion, Gilda.” Her eyes looked into the distance slightly. “If nothing else, you gotta respect a pony’s passion, at least when around them.”
Gilda shivered. “Clipping my wings… no thanks. I’d sooner die.”
Rainbow started to nod, but stopped. Then she slowly spoke. “I think… if it was for my friends, I’d give up my wings in a heartbeat. Not for anything else though.” She glanced away, and Twilight caught the barely mumbled. “Maybe for Fluttershy…”
Gilda was staring at Rainbow, as if she didn’t understand what she was seeing. “...You changed, Dash,” she said, making it sound like an accusation.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Well, yeah. Everypony changes eventually. That’s what growing up is about, isn’t it?” she asked.
Twilight nodded. “Life is change. If we never change, we never learn. If we never learn, we never get better. And if we don’t get better… we fail the survival game.”
Gilda thought about that for a moment, before nodding slowly. “I guess I can see that. Never let it be said I’m not able to be better.” She grinned. “Hey, Dash, you mind getting something to drink for… Twilight?” At Twilight’s nod, she continued. “For me and Twilight?”
Rainbow dash nodded and moved off to another room. Once she was gone, Gilda turned to Twilight with an unreadable expression. “Yes?” Twilight asked, forcing herself not to tense.
“...Nightmare Moon. What happened?” Gilda asked quietly.
Twilight stumbled mentally, having not expected that. “Er… I’m sorry?” she half-asked.
Gilda grunted. “Dash doesn’t get evasive like that unless something really bothers her, and Nightmare Moon bothered her to the point of changing the subject. Why?”
Twilight was slightly surprised at the clear concern on the Griffon’s face. Whatever else she may be, it was obvious she cared about Rainbow Dash. “... Long story short, Nightmare Moon is… was… real, tried to plunge the world into Eternal Night. Rainbow, myself, and four others stopped her, and nearly died a few times in the process,” she gave the highly condensed version.
Twilight gave Gilda a little credit. She didn’t immediately scoff in disbelief. She frowned. “... That must be what the extended Night a few weeks ago was about,” she reasoned, but her frown only deepened. “No… there’s more. If that was it, Dash would have been bragging up down left right and center to anyone that would listen for half a minute.”
Twilight thought for a moment, then remembered Rainbow’s reaction to her saving Fluttershy. “I stopped Nightmare Moon from killing Fluttershy, and Rainbow was extremely relieved over it. To the point of hysterics, which is odd now that I know her better,” she mused.
Gilda scowled at the name. “Tch! That wimpy Pegasus… I still don’t know why Dash gives her the time of day. She’s a failure of a Pegasus that’s so scared of the sky she refuses to live in Cloudsdale.”
It was Twilight’s turn to frown. “That was uncalled for. Fluttershy never did anything to you,” she admonished, and also made a mental note that there was apparently some history between Fluttershy and Gilda.
Gila glared almost hatefully at Twilight, surprising the mare for a moment. “Don’t talk about things you don’t know about!” she growled quietly. “That stupid Pegasus deserves everything she gets and then some!”
Twilight’s frown became a glare. “I’m only going to ask you once. Please stop insulting my friend,” she said with some steel. “Or else.”
Gilda stared Twilight in the eye, and smirked at what she found. “You’re serious,” she said, her hackles beginning the rise. “You’ll fight me over this, won’t you?” Twilight only continued to stare at her, tensing. Gilda laughed. “Ha! Alright, fine!” She reared up, raising her claws. “You asked for it!” She brought the claw down, intending to rake it across the Unicorn’s face. It would leave a scar, and likely hurt like holy hell, but Gilda wasn’t aiming to kill. Slightly maim, yes, but not kill.
Twilight stopped it cold with her foreleg. She capitalized on Gilda’s shock to grab hold of the Griffon’s arm tightly.
Rainbow came rushing in at the battle-cry from Gilda. “Hey! What’s going-Yikes!” She had to quickly duck to avoid a projectile Griffon, thrown by Twilight.
Rainbow looked at the hole in the kitchen wall Gilda’s body made, and then turned to Twilight.
“She attacked me,” Twilight defended, raising her hooves.
Rainbow nodded. “I got that when I heard the yell. You could have at least aimed for a window though. Do you know how hard it is to repair cloudstuff walls?” she asked in annoyance.
Twilight was surprised. “You’re… not angry?” she asked.
Rainbow shrugged. “I’d like to know why you’re fighting, sure, but Gilda loves a good scrap and likes to pick fights with people she knows can take it,” she pointed out.
Twilight didn’t have a chance to respond due to an angry Griffon rushing back through the hole in the wall and tackling her, sending them both through the closed door.
“Come on! Really?!” they both heard Rainbow Dash call angrily over the now destroyed door.