//------------------------------// // Still phobic of Water? // Story: Redemption // by BillyGoatHicks511 //------------------------------// The two ponies spent the next two hours talking about many things. It takes a while for two friends to get back on track with how things have been for the other. And Since Rarity was able to go on break, she intended to take as much time as possible reminiscing on old memories, and gaining new ones with Twilight Sparkle. They talked about many things. They talked about personal endeavors, other accidents they had in the past, and also the subject of work came up. In fact, it was the first thing that came up. “So what do you do now of days?” Rarity asked Twilight once they found a table to sit at. The purple pony played with her food for a little bit. The sight of it sent off internal reflexes inside her mind telling her to flee. Hospitals aren’t typically well known for their cuisine. But knowing that salt, pepper, ginger, spices or any other form of food additive would be able to cause an allergic reaction due to her pain killers, she decided she would rather have stale food. She looked back up at Rarity, and smiled. “I still manage a library of sorts. I sell books and art now.” Rarity raised a brow. “Really? That’s fascinating. I never figured you’d actually sell your books.” Twilight chuckled slightly and waved her hooves in a calming motion. “Oh no no no, I still keep those books,” Twilight informed her estranged companion. “I just now get paid to buy books and then resell them.” Rarity finally figured it out. “Ahhh, so you’re a book retailer.” “That’s right,” Twilight stated. “Comic books, to be more specific.” “Really now,” Rarity stated enthusiastic and filled with curiosity. “What a coincidence. Just two weeks ago we had an old friend run by a comic book store. Remember a certain bully by the name of Gilda?” Twilight finished sipping her tea (which was bland and filled with no flavor), and then responded to Rarity’s question. “Definitely. She stopped by my shop two weeks ago as well.” This caught Rarity’s attention immediately. Her usual fashionable and refined mannerisms were quickly thrown to the wind to be replaced by a curious and downright concerned attitude. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, Gilda went to your shop?” “Yeah,” Twilight responded in a matter of fact way. “I was very eager to meet her. I mean, after her story got blasted on the news for a little bit, I’m pretty sure every pony wanted to get a glimpse of the indestructible griffon. But I never was expecting her to stop by my shop while I was there.” This sentence confused Rarity. “So wait…..you weren’t expecting to see her at your shop…..but you knew she would visit the shop sometime?” “Mmmhhmm,” Twilight stated. “I left a note on her cart a few days before she came and visited me. This was strange because I wasn’t expecting to see her go to the funeral procession. I mean, after that horrendous train accident; it must’ve been hard for her to cope with seeing all those dead ponies.” This really caught the marshmallow mare’s attention. “Wait! That was your note?” “Oh, you were there too?” Twilight stated somewhat surprised. “Yeah,” Rarity replied almost out of breath. Something was starting to make sense, and she didn’t like what that ‘something’ was. “Oh, well that’s a shame,” Twilight said, referring to herself. “I should’ve stayed. I could’ve visited with all of you girls at once again. Don’t take this the wrong way, but, why were you there with Gilda?” “She got rid of her apartment back in Filidelphia and is now living with the Apple family on their farm,” Rarity explained. And, due to the fact that her gossiping nature wouldn’t allow her to depart from such a topic without adding a hint of spice to the conversation, “I hear that Big Mac and Gilda are becoming quite the item.” This caught Twilight’s attention full on. “Really?” she stated; eyes wide with surprise. But it was a happy surprise. “Oh yeah,” Rarity described. “She won’t tell any pony this but I have a feeling that Gilda believes Big Mac is that ‘one’ special somepony.” Twilight looked back down at her tea. “From what you’ve told me, it sounds like Gilda doesn’t talk about a lot of stuff.” Rarity cocked a brow. “Whatever do you mean Twilight?” “Well, think about it,” Twilight stated. “Gilda meets me, at my shop, two weeks ago, and tells nopony about it, it’s obvious that she’s got something to hide.” “Yeah….” Rarity stated to herself as her thoughts quickly drifted away. Her eyes fell to her side as she began to follow these said thoughts. These thoughts were filled with outrageous rage and terrible, bitter anger. ‘How dare that Griffon not tell any pony that Twilight Sparkle was alive?’ she thought. Or, ‘I was Twilight’s friend long before that griffon came along. I have a right to know how my friend was doing, and she did nothing!’ As these thoughts progressed so did their anger. And as most ponies know, Rarity was a mare that rarely got mad. Oh no, she simply just got ‘even.’ “So how’s Gilda doing now?” Twilight asked with concern for her marshmallow pony. “Oh, she’s doing fine,” Rarity responded. “She had to help out with Pinkie Pie today in setting up some cake for a party. She has to work today and tomorrow. The party is supposed to be big.” And that’s when the light bulb went off in her head. The refined pony gained a mischievous grin. “Say Twilight,” Rarity began. “I just realized that if I haven’t seen you, I’m pretty sure the rest of the mane six hasn’t either.” “Actually, Rainbow Dash visited me yesterday before the accident,” Twilight responded. Rarity shrugged and tossed her hoof in the air, “Regardless,” she stated (on the inside however, she was boiling with rage. Rainbow Dash even knew and told no pony! Now, there were two on Rarity’s hit list involved in her elaborate revenge heist). “I was thinking that, if I can sign you out of the hospital tomorrow afternoon, we can hold a welcome back party.” Twilight smiled brightly. “Really?” she stated with glee. “That would be amazing! I’ve been dying to see all my friends again.” “Don’t worry, we’ve been dying as well to see you too,” Rarity told her. At that particular moment, the two ponies, although both wanting a party, wanted the party for complete different reasons. Rarity simply wanted revenge; and the best revenge always involves humiliation. Gilda and (unfortunately) Dash would be placed on the hot seat. Questions would be asked and answers would be given or by Celestia, Rarity will choke answers out of them. They had to own up to the biggest mistake they’ve made ever. And it would be slow, tedious, awkward, and filled with tension; just the way Rarity liked it. Twilight however thought; ‘she fell for my trap. Perfect!’ *the next day* Yesterday was pretty hectic. Today was just miserable. It was as if all discord had broken loose inside Sugarcube Corner; or at least it had in Gilda’s mind. In the midst of all the orders flying in during lunch shift, the Cake’s had requested assistance in the cake they had prepared the night before for the party today. Pinkie had to help the cake’s which left Gilda behind the counter. And with each passing pony; with all their silence, dumb expressions, and their inabilities to order something in no less than 2 minutes flat, Gilda was becoming more and more impatient. It also didn’t help that her head ache’s had made a comeback. At first Gilda blamed the workout the night before. Maybe she worked out to hard and pulled something in her brain (……….it happens; sorta). Whatever the case, taking orders from stupid Neanderthals of ponies didn’t help subside the headache’s one bit. In fact, it increased the pain of the headaches tremendously. After 2 hours of working behind the counter, Gilda started to realize that something was incredibly off. It almost seemed that the headaches were coming at her at specific times. Then she realized that while the attitudes and behaviors of the clients were indeed infuriating, they did not invoke her headaches. It was only when she took their bits and coins, and actually touched their hooves that Gilda received a tremendous throbbing pain in her skull. Why was skin contact causing headaches? Then she realized that with each bit taken in, with each headache she received, it was almost as if she was seeing something. There was always a flash of bright light, and intense pain, a strange noise, and then she was back to reality. It was starting to make Gilda panic. She made the sudden realization that she had not had headaches this bad ever since the train accident. In fact, this head ache was like the train accident. And that’s when it clicked. Her eyes went wide. Her pupil’s dilated. She was shocked and filled with fear. These were not headache’s she was experiencing. This was her superpower; instinct; the ability to know when something bad was about to happen, or if some pony had done bad things. Case in point; she distinctly remembered one order where a mother had ordered two cupcakes, one for herself, and one for her child. Gilda had noticed that the child seemed different. Most fillies were bright and filled with energy. This one seemed cold, frighten, and intimidated by some strange outside force. When Gilda had taken the mother’s money, in her white flashes of headaches, she heard the distinct noise of a child screaming ‘Mommy,’ and then something which sounded familiar to striking. Perhaps the mother was abusing her child. At the time, Gilda shrugged it off as a headache. But now, Gilda felt ashamed and frightened. She was ashamed for not doing anything. She was frightened because now she knew what these headaches meant. So what would she see in the next customers? As she started focusing on what the headaches told her, she began to worry. It was almost a sickening experience; to see what some ponies had did to others in the past. The acts of violence or depravation that Gilda saw were terrible enough. The worst part however was that it felt like an invasion of the customer’s privacy. It was unintentional voyeurism, and Gilda felt ill about it. One male pony handed her some bits, and she had a vision of a cart running towards a sidewalk. On the sidewalk stood two other ponies. The customer was in the cart and leaned out to break a bottle of whatever over one of the sidewalk pony’s’ faces. The cart sped off as the customer screamed ‘go back to the woodlands were you belong,’ and then the vision faded. Another customer, a female, handed her some bits, and she saw something truly awful. In her white, blinding vision, she saw a poor defenseless male stallion strapped down to a bed, gagged and in pain. The female pony (the customer) stood at the side of the bed near a fireplace, and in the fire, she began heating a poker. Once the rod was hot, she stood above the young stallion (who, In Gilda’s fleeting vision, looked like he belonged in Jr. High) and chuckled. She whispered seductively, “Mommy needs to punish her baby,” and then stuck the poker to his skin. Flesh burned and the stallion screamed; not in pleasure, but in pain. And then the vision was over. The last customer before Gilda had to leave came in wearing a long trench coat and a strange straw hat. He asked for a chocolate muffin, and Gilda reached into the display case and removed one for the colt’s order. “That will be $3.75.” The colt complied and pulled out the cash, and as he handed it to her, she took it. Just like before, one of her talons touched his hoof and she had another headache. A white light flashed in her eye and her vision unfolded before her. In her vision, she saw the customer standing on the street corner. A young filly, no more than Applebloom’s age, walked past him. He whispered loudly, catching the young colt’s attention, and he whispered “Hey Kid, try this out.” He opened up his trench coat to reveal narcotics; narcotics that were recreational and highly illegal such as moon patches, vraxion, DMZ and moon rocks. The kid slowly walked over and paid the stallion with the trench coat and received a bag of moon rocks and vraxion. As this happened, the vision began to fade, and the unmistakable sound of a mother was heard, screaming at the top of her lungs “MY BABY, MY BABY IS DEAD! WHY?!? WHY?!?!?!?” Gilda came back to the real world in a flash. Like the vision before it, she was somewhat troubled. A small sweat began to break out on her forehead. Her eyes were still somewhat dilated and she had to breathe heavily for a bit. To the customer, it appeared the Gilda was becoming ill. “Hey, are you ok?” the stallion in the trench coat asked. Gilda could’ve done the rational thing. She could’ve told the stallion that she was fine and just went on about her business, placing the money into the register and leaving it at that. In fact, that’s what she should’ve done. But for some reason, she couldn’t take it anymore. She was compelled to know the truth. Was she really seeing the truth, or was her brain bucking with her? There was only one way to find out. She reached across the counter and grabbed the stallion’s trench coat, tugging at him hard. This action was met with some resistance, as the stallion started to shout “hey!” really loudly. To any onlooker, this wouldn’t look good in Gilda’s favor. The stallion was generally frightened with what was happening, while Gilda had a wild eye look of a griffon pushed to the edge of insanity. To any onlooker, it appeared that Gilda was the aggressor. In fact, there was an onlooker; Pinkie Pie and the Cake’s. “Gilda! What in the name of hopping trombones is wrong with you,” Pinkie shouted as she raced to the counter, trying to pull Gilda back. The Cake family was equally shocked, and tugged on Gilda’s feathers as well. As this happened, Gilda’s talons had finally reached inside the frantic stallion’s trench coat. She began searching endlessly and was starting to feel relieved, feeling absolutely nothing there. But then she felt the thin resistance of a baggy. And when she felt the mushy outside of the contents in the bag, there was no denying it. This stallion did carry drugs, and if her vision did anything, it only told her that this stallion also sold to minors. It was such a tremendous shock that Gilda forgot about the scene before and simply lost all her strength. She went flying backwards into Pinkie and the Cakes as they finally were able to pull Gilda away from the customer. The customer, as predicted, acted with complete discuss. In his anger he shouted “You ponies are crazy! Keep that Griffon on a leash,” and he fled Sugarcube Corner in rage. The group on the floor gradually got up, with Gilda being the first to do so. She pulled herself up and off the pile by placing her talons onto the counter and yanking herself up. After a few seconds of catching her breath, she felt a consolidating hoof touch her on the left shoulder. She heard Pinkie Pie asking “Gilda? What the heck happened there?” From the floor, as they emerged, Mr. Cake asked “Gilda, what’s going on?” In a daze, out of breath and possibly out of her mind, Gilda huffed “I don’t know…..it’s just……today has been……..headache’s……I don’t even…..so sorry…..” “Were the customer’s driving you up the wall today?” Mrs. Cake asked. With a long, solitary pause helping Gilda reclaim her thoughts, she stated “Yes.” At that particular moment, the phone rang. Mrs. Cake went to the back room to answer it. Pinkie left her hoof on Gilda’s shoulder, wanting to make sure that her new friend was actually Ok. After the few seconds of silence, Mr. Cake made his concerns noted when he suggested to Gilda “Why don’t you take the rest of the day off? It’s obvious that you need some rest from last night and I hear that you have a party to go to today as well.” “Yeah,” Pinkie added. “You don’t want to be a great big meanie pants to our friends today.” “Pinkie!” Mr. Cake scolded. “What?” Pinkie said, unsure of how what she said was offensive. “No, she’s right,” Gilda commented as she hid her head into the space where her arms folded over each other. “I just don’t know if I have the time to go and where to go.” Coming back into the room, Mrs. Cake added her two cents. “Well, it looks like you will have to leave early. You need to pick up Applebloom.” “Why’s that?” the Griffon stated concerned. “It seems Applebloom’s been in a fight at school.” As Gilda approached Mrs. Cheerlie’s classroom, she felt a million thoughts traveling through her head all at the same time. All of them could simply be summed up by the emotion of pure shock. How in Equestria did Applebloom, the kindest and simplest of earth fillies, get into a fight at school; a school brawl no less. When Gilda received the news, she did what any rational being would do, and called the school, asking if what happened actually happened, and how it happened. Apparently, a teacher had noticed Applebloom taking on 5 other earth ponies, all male, viciously attacking them and bucking one of them in the teeth. When the teacher approached them, the 5 all fled, and Applebloom was left to take the heat. But apparently, she was beaten up as well, as apparent by the lacerations to her face and the blood trickling down her nose when the teacher sent her to the office. Usually Applejack dealt with things like this involving Applebloom. They were rare, but when and if they did happened, it was usually Applejack who gave the talk or who picked her up from detention, which was what Gilda was doing now. Today, Applejack had to deal with the assailment of fruit bats and trying to rid them once and for all. So it was Gilda who had to fill in for today. She waited outside the door, feeling strange sense of fear. Realizing that she better get the process over with, Gilda knocked on the door three times and waited. When the door opened, Gilda did not meet Cheerlie. Instead, a sub was called in on that day and so Gilda met her. She was a tall, yellow Pegasus with a brown mane which contained white highlights. She nodded her head, and exclaimed “You must be Gilda.” “Yes maim,” Gilda stated swiftly and with much respect; subs need as much respect as possible. “Please come in,” The Pegasus instructed. As Gilda walked in, she saw Applebloom. There could’ve never been a more perfect portrait of a disobedient student if she saw one. The fore hooves were crossed over each other and Applebloom’s face had distorted into a strange pout. She had a bloody piece of tissue shoved up her nose to stop the bleeding. While she did look angry, Applebloom also looked confused and Gilda didn’t like it one bit. “Applebloom,” she stated. “Look at me.” The apple sister looked up at Gilda very quickly, and then immediately turned her gaze away once more. Gilda looked at the teacher in disbelief. “She usually never acts like this,” Gilda stated in shock. The teacher nodded her head. “She was perfectly ok this morning,” the teacher commented. “She was the perfect angle. I just don’t see how she could’ve gotten into a fight. “ “That’s because you weren’t there to see what I saw!” Applebloom interrupted loudly and filled with anger. Gilda returned AppleBloom’s outburst with one of her one. “And what exactly did you see?!? Please, tell us!” “I don’t want to tell the teacher!” Applebloom screamed. “I only want to tell you.” This type of rude behavior was simply unbecoming. It shocked Gilda tremendously. This wasn’t the Applebloom she knew and love. This wasn’t the little sister she wished she always had. Something was troubling the crusader greatly and Gilda needed to find out exactly what it was. And if Applebloom wasn’t going to tell it with the teacher present…… “Go wait outside, I’ll talk with the teacher and sign the things I need to in order to release you,” Gilda commanded. Then, looking to the sub, Gilda added “If that’s ok with you?” With a sigh, the Pegasus nodded her head and said “Applebloom, you’re free to go.” The yellow filly hopped out of her desk and immediately galloped out the door. Gilda just stared onward, feeling completely discombobulated by the whole experience. She looked to the teacher in absolute astonishment. Gilda realized that this may be the first time she ever, truly, was at a loss for words. “I just don’t know what’s gotten into her,” Gilda stated. “She usually is so nice at home, and around me she’s always on her best behavior.” “Why’s that?” the Pegasus asked, voiced laced with true concern. “She’s always trying to impress me. I’m like a hero to her or something,” Gilda replied. The teacher hummed in agreement. “I see, especially considering your circumstance.” “You’ve obviously seen the news,” Gilda commented. “Oh yes,” the teacher said. “I was so surprised. It had been at least 25 years since we last met. And I was like, ‘how strange is it to see someone you know on the news.’” ……………………….. Gilda froze. Everything in her froze. Her heart froze, her mind froze, and even her perception of time seemed to stop at that particular moment. What the teacher said, it caught her attention drastically. Speaking with a dry throat of anxiety, she said “An old friend?” The Pegasus took off her glasses. “You really don’t remember me do you?” Gilda shook her head ‘no,’ slowly. The teacher sighed. She motioned for Gilda to sit down and Gilda complied. The sub took her position behind her desk and began to tell her story. Gilda was captivated, and when the story was finished, silence was all that filled the room. “I was a lifeguard at the Cloudsdale pool,” she relayed. “One day, the daycare brought all the little ones to the pool for a summer pool party. I remember I heard some screaming, and I turned my head and that’s when I saw you. Two bullies were dunking you under water and were keeping you there for a long time. I went in to rescue you because eventually, you didn’t come back up. Your heart wasn’t beating for three minutes straight. You were literally dead for three minutes…..but I was able to bring you back and you told me ‘please don’t tell my mom and dad, they’ll beat me.’…..naturally I was shocked to hear this, and so, wanting to make sure that your parents never found out, I told the medical officers presence not to write the incident down. It’s been a secrete of the Cloudsdale public pool ever since. Some of the parents there even use you as a story to tell their little ones why they shouldn’t horseplay under water. You’ve become a legend of sorts. “ As stated before, all that remained in the room was silence. Gilda sat there, totally immersed, and with a single tear falling down her eye, Gilda heard the words that made Gilda realize that she was, indeed, breakable. “Still phobic of water?” When Gilda and Applebloom made it to sweet apple acres, Applebloom finally told Gilda what happened at school. They waited outside on the back porch to talk to each other. “These five boys were picking on this one mare because she had a strange cutie-mark. It was of a lantern. They told her that it was lame and started shoving her into a locker and it made her cry……it made me cry too……so I stopped it. I jumped in and I started kicking their flanks……I had to stop it……I get teased all the time for having no cutie mark and this mare was getting teased for having one?” “You shouldn’t have gotten involved like that,” Gilda informed her quote unquote little sister. “You know better than to start fights. You should’ve got a teacher.” “I know but…..there was no time. I had to stop evil when it was present. That’s the hero’s code right? To defend others when they need to be defended.” That’s when Gilda saw it. It plagued the back of her mind but she concluded that Applebloom got into the fight strictly for another reason entirely. But now, it was confirmed. Applebloom was, indeed, trying to impress Gilda. Applebloom was trying to be like her role model; trying to be like a hero. “I’m no hero Applebloom,” Gilda said. “I’m just an ordinary being,” The sniffling almost killed Gilda, but watching Applebloom’s face shrink wrap itself in tears tore Gilda’s heart to pieces. “No you’re not!” Applebloom cried. “Quite saying that!” And with that, Applebloom rushed into her room, leaving Gilda dumbfounded and sadden out on the front porch. Eventually she went inside and told Applebloom to get prepared for the party at Carousel Boutique. Neither one of them talked to each other as they got dressed and ready. As Gilda flew towards Carousel Boutique, she noticed that Applebloom was acting strangely. It appeared as if though she was hiding something, and because Applebloom sat on her back, Gilda couldn’t conclude if these assumptions were accurate or not. But she decided to let the little earth pony have her secrete. She, like Gilda, had already been through enough trouble for one day. Another thing she noticed was that Macintosh’s cart was parked to this side of the Boutique. The sight of this caused Gilda’s heart to soar. In Rarity’s terms, her beau had arrived, and Gilda couldn’t wait to see him; so much so, that she landed quickly, leaving Applebloom safely behind her, and opened the door exclaiming loudly “MACKIE! YOU'RE HERE T-…….” Gilda’s words got stuck in her throat when she saw the sight before her. Mackie, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie all stared at Gilda with disgust. Rainbow Dash sat in the back with the face of awkward pain. Meanwhile, sitting with her back facing towards her, was the one mare that shoved fear into the griffon’s heart. Sipping some tea in her wheel chair, Twilight Sparkle turned and greeted Gilda with “Gilda! It’s so good to see you again. Please, join us.”