Go to where ponies were. It was a statement that was easier said than done. Halfway to Ponyville, it had started to rain. Luckily, Gilda’s poncho kept all of the rain off of her. It pitter-pattered across the pseudo-leather; creating light plopping sounds. The wind blew slightly, causing the poncho to ruffle. Her talons and lion’s paws created soft crunchy and squishy sounds as she continued to walk towards Ponyville. None of these sounds distracted Gilda from her intense train of thought however.
Where was she supposed to go? What was the one place, where she could interact with hundreds of ponies, and not have a single one notice her?
She knew that her major ability was the power to be unharmed and sustain incredible amounts of physical injury. That was truth. She also knew that combined with this ability, she had the power of over-exceptional strength. That was also a truth. But the power that she had which made her equivalent to comic-book superheroes was the great power of existential observation; instinct. Her instinct could only work if she could physically interact (touch) other ponies. She had to physically touch them, and not have the pony notice this contact.
Where could she go where a simple brush up or touch was just a common occurrence? She had to go to someplace where ponies would be packed in tight, with no way to move without getting touched. But where?
As she arrived in Ponyville, she heard the ambient hiss of steam trains, followed by the bells and whistles, with a conductor shouting “all aboard,” off in the distance. It made her smile. No one would expect anything strange about an unsuspected touch at a train station.
She climbed the stairs of the Ponyville train station, feeling as though she had an Alicorn-like power. Everything around her began to feel heavy. It was as if all her surroundings were becoming important for some transcendental reason. She felt EPIC. It was a glorious feeling.
It was much better than the sadness.
Once on top of the stairs, she scanned the train station, looking for a place to stand. Her plan was simple. She would let the ponies come to her. All she had to do was find a place where she could stay at, where ponies would be shuffling pass her and constantly bumping into her without a single conscious thought concerning this interaction. She smiled when she noticed the path by the exit gates seemed particularly packed with ponies.
She made her way to a middle-ground, somewhere where she would be in the middle of the road, yet not in anyponies way. Once she found it, she stood absolutely still, only moving an inch when the first pony bumped into her.
Just as she predicted, like what happened at sugar-cube corner, a roaring headache crashed through her skull, accompanied by a white light and a burning vision. Apparently, the pony that bumped into her was a female. She knew this because in her vision, the central character was a female earth pony. In the vision, a lime green earth pony spoke to a grey stallion over the counter of a jewelry store. She asked for the grey stallion (who apparently worked at the jeweler) to grab the farthest watch on the highest shelf. While turned and blinded, the lime green female reached over the counter and stuffed two very high priced bracelets into her satchel. No one would ever notice. No one ever did.
Gilda’s mind leapt from the vision back into reality. She began to scan the crowd looking for a medium sized, female, lime green earth pony. Sadly, as she stared into the crowd, nothing sparked her attention. She couldn’t see shit. But the worst part was, before she was even 15 seconds into the search, another random pony bumped into her and another vision appeared.
In this vision, she was greeted by the presence of a zebra lying on the concrete ground. The zebra was bloodied and beaten. It was also a male because Gilda knew Zecora and this zebra looked nothing like her. No, it was a male zebra, and he was dying. He was also whimpering, and spitting out and coughing up blood with each beg for mercy. Above him, was the pony who smashed into Gilda earlier. It was a blue colt with a gray mane. Popping his neck, he proclaimed to the half-dead zebra whom he had destroyed “go back to Africa!” with a laugh and no remorse before galloping away.
The vision faded, and Gilda was left stunned. She scanned the crowd for that particular blue colt so that she could find him, apprehend him and bring him to justice. Again, the pony was lost in a sea of other ponies, never to be seen again. At this point, Gilda thought about why she was even doing this. Of course, it was her destiny, but what would she do after she caught the guy. Sure, she was going to bring him to the cops, but what then? How was she suppose to distinguish when, where, and why that stallion broke that poor zebra? What he did was wrong, but why was it her duty to make sure he paid? Maybe he had already suffered the consequences. So what was she to do?
Suddenly, another pony bumped into her. This one provided a vision that was the worst of the three. It sickened her to her core. It terrified her to the point of weakness. But the prevailing emotion that she felt after experiencing the vision was anger. This anger was so powerful, that all other emotions simultaneously dissipated when the vision ceased to be.
In the vision, there was a lady unicorn. She had orange fur and a blue/purple mane a tail. She was also drunk and passed out on a bed. Obviously this was a party situation. The room she was in somehow felt like it wasn’t this unicorn’s room. On top of that, loud music played in the background.
This unicorn wasn’t alone.
In the room with her, was a forest green stallion unicorn with a brown mane. He stared at the lady in fascination. He continuously rubbed her flank. He spoke softly and with a nervous tone.
“You’ve had too much to drink right?” he proclaimed.
The lady unicorn coughed, turned over, and vomited the contents of her stomach.
The awkward teenage male unicorn just continued this creepy action of rubbing her flank while speaking softly.
“I doubt you’ll remember anything from tonight,” he commented.
The lady unicorn continued to twist and turn on the bed; lost in her haze of alcohol consumption.
After a few more moments of staring, the male unicorn noticed that the door to the bedroom was slightly opened. He using his magic, he closed the door. He locked it tightly, as he wished not to be disturbed. He crossed over that line that one has for personal space, when he crawled on top of the bed; hovering over the lady unicorn. He placed on unwelcomed tongue in between her lips.
And he raped her.
Gilda didn’t see anything that would’ve been considered unsanitary; but she saw enough. She saw enough to cause her rage to boil over. She stomped her way through the crowd of ponies, pushing and shoving each of them out of the way. She didn’t want to lose this one. The last two, while wrong doers, had no personal affect on Gilda’s conscious.
But if she lost this one, she would never forgive herself. This time, she wanted to kick this pony’s teeth in. This time, she wanted his skin to be set to flames. This time, she wanted to watch him suffer. This time it was personal.
She was elated when she was a green neck and a brown mane amongst the crowd. She automatically recognized the guitar cutie mark from her vision. As the stallion moved, she noticed his facial features and she concluded that this wasn’t a mistake. The guy she was stalking was the guy from her vision who bumped into her earlier.
She kept moving forward. Although pushing and shoving, no pony ever noticed her. The art of stealth was new to Gilda, but it proved to be an art she was good at. She kept moving until she was approximately a few feet from the unicorn. That’s when she saw a sight that caused her jaw to drop.
There were two older ponies, one a female unicorn and the other a male earth pony. One was light purple with a white mane, the other one was green with a yellow mane. They were obviously this Unicorn’s parents; for they were hugging him and the purple female kissed him on the cheek. And he was happy, and the parents were happy.
Gilda started to back away. This was wrong. If she attacked this stallion now and brought him to justice, she would appear to be the enemy. It would never hold up in trial. And for another thing……who knows how long ago the incident in her vision took place? Maybe it was just a simple mistake on the unicorn’s part? Did he deserve to die? Gilda felt that way but……he had family too…..
Who was in the wrong? Should any pony die? Is one sin truly unforgiveable?
Gilda felt like throwing up. Her insides started twisting due to her massive amount of confusion. Her brain started shouting words of self-doubt. The words bounced off the walls of her cranium, echoing down to her inner core. She felt lost. It was like the sadness was happening all over again.
If her destiny was to be a superhero, how would she achieve that destiny? When, where, and how will she receive her redemption?
She didn’t half to think about it too long. As she continued to back up, her tail touched a pony behind her. The vision began again. The bright white light faded into view and suddenly she was transported somewhere else. She could feel her brain pulsate from pain as she watched the vision played out in front of her. She also felt fear.
In the vision, she was in a house. The door bell rang and a blue stallion with a dark brown mane walked towards the apparent front door of the house and opened it. On the other side of the door, was a white stallion with no mane whose very appearance frightened Gilda greatly. He had that wild stare behind heavily lidded eyes which made Gilda uncomfortable. His large stature was positioned in a threatening stance. And he had that soft smile which Gilda immediately identified with crazy ponies.
When the door opened, there were no noises for several seconds. A long period of silence fell into the scene played out in Gilda’s head. Once that period of silence was over, the blue stallion asked somewhat intimidated, “Can I help you?”
“…may I come in?” the bald white horse answered.
Another period of silence. “What?” the blue horse asked.
“You’re house is very beautiful,” the white stallion replied. “….I want it……may I come in?”
Just like the stallion in her vision, Gilda felt a cold sweat go down the back of her neck. This white stallion had something wrong with him. Whether or not he was actually a menace, that had not been determined. But there was certainly a screw loose somewhere.
Like any rational pony, the blue stallion replied. “No.”
There was a violent flash. The contents of Gilda’s vision sped up double time. Everything went in an extremely fast pace. She saw the white stallion storm in and decimate the home. The blue stallion was beaten into a defenseless pulp. The white maniac stormed upstairs and emerged seconds later with two children, a boy and a girl, screaming with tears going down their faces, yelling “mommy, mommy!”
The last thing Gilda saw and heard before the vision faded, was the shrill scream of either the children or the mother, and then she saw the corpse of the father. Blood trickled out of his eyes, nose, and mouth. His body lay sprawled in profane positions. He was just a lifeless shell of the blue stallion that once was. And before the spirit left his body, he coughed, “Someone….save my children…..save them-”
Gilda crash landed on earth with a thud. Her eyes widened and her pupils dilated.
Now there was an objective. Whether or not she could bring the stallion to justice that was not the major concern. The major concern was the children. Where were they? What happened to them? Could she still save them?
While breathing heavily due to the intense revelation, she saw the milky white fur pony in the crowd. She noticed that, ironically, his cutie mark was a screw. It was impossible for her to lose track of the stallion once she was locked on. Knowing that she had a mission objective to fulfill, she kept up gracefully.
This is where her life would begin. This was the Alpha and the Omega. This was her redemption, which she had to fulfill, so help her Celestia.
And there was never a hint of sadness left in her soul afterwards. It had dissipated. It had disappeared.
She was free.
It was her duty to set others free as well.
At this point the rain had started to torrentially down pour after Gilda left the station. It was becoming quite difficult to follow the white stallion in the rain without losing him. But she made do. It seemed as if every step she took, the gravity of the situation weighed down upon her even more. And, if that wasn’t enough, with each step, the rain got worst and worst.
Occasionally, Gilda would scram behind a bush or a tree to make sure she wasn’t detected by the insane renegade. This was only when it seemed like the stallion was about to peer over his shoulder. Apparently, he never caught Gilda because she led him up to the house.
This was where Gilda had to stop. She had to breathe slowly. Correction; she was trying to breath slowly. It was the same exact house in her vision. It was a large house, by itself in the middle of Ponyville. It lay at the end of a great hill. It’s large size and isolated surroundings gave off the impression of doom equivalent to that of a haunted house. Everything was falling into place. Gilda had no idea what would happen once she went inside, but it frightened her.
She stuffed down her feelings and kept a straight face. She had a job to do; a redemption to fulfill. There was no time for second guessing. It was all in or nothing.
She waited 5 seconds after the evil stallion entered the room before she took her first step. She was careful not to make any noises once she went inside. She closed the door behind her softly, as she gazed into the shithole that the house had turned into.
The front door opened up into the living room. To her right, was a TV blaring constant static. There were two doors to her left spaced far apart which lead into bedrooms. Pass the last door was on open hallway which lead to an office, a bathroom, and the master bedroom. If one were to walk into that open area and stand in the office, to the right of that office space was the door which went outside. If one were to step outside that door, and turn to their left and walk straight, they would hit a patio. Under the patio was a pool, covered with tarp for its retirement. Inside the office space, if one were to look to their left, they would see another open space which went into the kitchen, which was in front of her. Also, in front of her, were the stairs which went only upstairs. In the kitchen, pass the stove which lay on the far end of the kitchen, was another door, which lead to the laundry room. That room had stairs which lead to the basement. It also had another door which went to the same patio mentioned before. Gilda couldn’t see all of this, but she would soon scourge the entire area in her grand adventure.
The scene she saw was not a pleasant one. Trash had been thrown all over the place. A couch had been torn to shreds. Blood stains were visible on the carpet. The house smelled of fear and death. The house symbolized destruction in Gilda’s mind. It was the theoretical hell that she had to go through, in order to get into heaven. The constant blaring of static was an eerie and maddening annoyance.
The sound of shattering glass snapped Gilda’s attention back to reality. This was followed by the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. A troll like grumble came from the white psychotic emerging from the top of the stairs. Her uttered hysterical obscenities and stumbled as though her were drunk, or pissed, or maybe he was even both at the same time.
Before the white stallion even caught a glimpse of her, Gilda found shelter inside the closest bedroom. There was a few seconds of terror and suspense that Gilda experienced after closing the door behind her. But, after she heard the refrigerator in the kitchen open, Gilda wiped away the sweat brewing on her brow, and gave forth a relieved “whew.”
Then the depression set in as she started to analyze her surroundings.
It was a small child’s room. It was a girl’s room as well. Gilda could make this out from the walls painted pink and the random stuffed animals spread out across the floor. She felt immensely sad. A poor child, a poor, young, female child had possibly gone through the worst trauma imaginable. At best, the child had escaped. At worst, the child was dead, only after having the worst pain imaginable inflicted upon it.
Gilda turned around and peered out the peep hole to see what the white stallion was doing. He was lying on the couch, drinking the beer, and watching nothing but the static. This was odd, but maybe not unusual for psychotics.
Suddenly, she heard something. A light glitch in the air caused Gilda’s ears to perk up. It sounded wet and organic. It was a sniffle. It was coming from the closet.
Gilda slowly approached the closet. Her heart raced as she tried to prepare herself for what she was about to see. As she got closer, she could distinctly pick out two voices coming from the closet. One was feminine, and the other was masculine. One sounded older than the other. Gilda related these noises to her vision and automatically assumed that she was going to see the two foals that she saw in her vision.
She was right.
But she was still shocked to find the two foals looking up at her with glassy eyes. The eyes were filled with terror. The eyes were red not only from crying, but also from exhaustion. Across their bodies, several lacerations and bruises were discovered. The worst injury was found in the older brother. His left eye contained chunks of broken glass. There was vomit on the floor of the closet. And even after seeing all of these grotesque images and adding them up, Gilda was not surprised. She knew that there was something much worst to be discovered soon.
The children looked up to Gilda, amazed and terrified by this new stranger. The stranger lifted a talon to its beak, making the ‘keep quiet,’ symbol. With a soft, motherly voice, the hooded figure (Gilda) told the children “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to save you.”
The once exhausted frames filled with delight and oxygen. Could this be true? Was their hell finally over with?
Gilda snapped off the duct-taped bondages tying them hog-tied style. Once they could move, they hugged Gilda ferociously. Gilda returned this hug, tears coming down her face.
When she opened her eyes, she noticed something that made her want to throw up. There was a crusty white substance found on their fur. It smelled awful and Gilda had a gut suspicion that she already knew what it was. She was too afraid to come to the conclusion by herself though.
So, after ripping off the duct-tape covering the older brother’s mouth, she asked him, “what did the bad colt do to you?”
The older brother appeared to be old enough to be out of primary school. He already had a cutie mark, (a paint pallet), and his leaner body tone indicated that he was possibly a teenager.
So he knew the gravity of the situation when he told her, without missing a beat, what the stallion did to him and his sister. “He molested us both.”
Gilda’s heart sank. Her stomach flipped. Her muscles became loose and she started to shake uncontrollably. If she was a weaker being mentally, she would’ve passed out.
Although she was already at her lowest spiritually, Gilda’s emotions crashed when after removing her gag, the little filly proclaimed in a lisp “please save mommy.”
The children told Gilda that their mother was upstairs. When Gilda gazed through the peep hole again, much to her excitement, the psychotic was gone. She took a deep breath, bracing herself for her newest objective. She told the kids to stay put and that she would be right back, and she exited the bedroom.
She noticed that the criminal was in the kitchen fixing himself something to eat. Without making a sound, she went up the stairs and entered the newest section of the house. To Gilda’s right was a door which went into another bathroom. To Gilda’s left was another bedroom. In this bedroom, there was a TV and a radiator. Tied to the radiator, was a tan unicorn with blonde hair. She appeared to be dazed, disoriented; quite possibly, she was dead.
That didn’t stop Gilda.
She walked over and began to undo the bondages tying her to the radiator. These bounds were not duct-tape. There were stronger ties like the ones some would find in action-figure boxes. They were wrapped around the lady’s hooves so tightly that the skin was broken and there was dried blood.
As Gilda tried to untie her, she heard the female cough out something. Gilda was unsure of what she said so she leaned down to listen to her. She was expecting something like “you saved us,” or “thank you.”
She was not expecting a low and raspy cry telling Gilda to, “Watch out.”
Searing pain traveled through Gilda’s skull as a glass bottle broke itself over it. Two hooves collided with her back and proceeded to stomp her out. She rolled over to see her attacker, the white stallion, with rage painted across his face, viciously kicking her in the chest. One hoof caught her in the beak, and Gilda felt pain.
But she knew that she couldn’t be injured.
She scratched the stallion’s chest with her claws, causing him to jump back a bit. This gave Gilda enough time to get up and tackle him. They fell to the floor were Gilda began scratching and punching him.
He rolled over on top of her and bit her ear. A large screech of pain came out of Gilda’s mouth. Her tail wrapped around the white stallion’s neck and chocked him. She extended her wings, which kicked him in the mouth, causing him to fly back.
She got up off the ground, and using her wings, she charged right at him. He ducked, causing her to hit the glass. The window broke, but didn’t shatter. Seeing this, the stallion found a way to end the fight for good.
Using his teeth again, he picked up Gilda and slammed her head once more into the window. The window fully broke and Gilda lay exhausted on the window frame. The Stallion began kicking her back once more, using both his fore legs and hind legs. Gilda turned and swiped the air. The white stallion used his hind legs and bucked Gilda right in the face. The force of the kick was caused her to tumble lifelessly out of the window.
She was free falling. Her world was constantly turning upside down every three seconds. Since the poncho she wore was made for earth ponies, there was no room for her wings to extends, and so, she was unable to fly. Suddenly, she struck the side of the patio, causing her body to bounce off and flip several times in the air. She continued to drop. Time was lost in space.
PLOP!
The falling had stopped. Gilda was tired. She felt terrible, but was uninjured. She was confused because of the fact that where she landed, and the ground which she was laying upon at that moment, didn’t feel hard like grass. In fact, if felt soft, and squishy.
Unsure of what was happening; Gilda slowly got up and studied her surroundings.
Her heart stopped when she saw the tarp started to undo itself.
Gilda was in the pool. She was on the tarp and she was trapped. She was being sucked into the water, with no way to escape. Her only weakness was devouring her like she was food. In a panic, she tried to fly again, but that just caused the tarp to sink in faster. She felt water go down her lungs and she coughed.
And then everything went black.
Flashes of her blue reality would happen very quickly and would alternate at times. She flailed all her limbs about in panic, hoping that she could escape the tarp. But she couldn’t. More water was entering into her lungs. This was the end. This is where she would die. Eventually, Gilda stopped fighting, and the tarp slowly began to wrap around her.
THUNK!
A large piece of metal pierced through the top of the water and struck Gilda in the head. Unsure about what just happened, Gilda tossed her limbs about once again in a panic. Eventually, she noticed that the piece of metal stayed were it was at, and in her straining eyes, she recognized it as the stick that one uses to clean their pool. Gilda latched onto it with her talon, and yanked on it hard, twice.
She felt herself slowly reemerging. She struck the surface of the water and breathed beautiful air. She coughed and gagged and eventually realized that she was at the edge of the pool. Using her strength, she prepared to lift herself up.
Suddenly, she felt two pair of small teeth latch on to either side of her wings and pull her out of the water. Once she was on the ground, she looked up to see whom had assisted her.
The two children from earlier stared at her, awestruck by her enormous size as she stood in the rain. The poncho she still had on created a great silhouette. Her face was hidden and she seemed like some great angel.
There was a moment of pause as Gilda stood up, trying to figure out what to do next. In that moment of silence, the young filly asked Gilda, “Are you a superhero?”
Gilda felt her heart tug. This was her destiny. The sadness had now been destroyed. This is where she belonged. “Yes,” the griffon replied before taking off towards the basement door. She knew what she had to do.
The beer sprinkled gently down the hooves of the past out female, as the insane white stallion continuously spat upon her. No remorse, no shame, no dignity was found inside his soul. In his eyes, this was just a way to pass the time. Dumb bitch couldn’t suck worth a damn; might as well taught her and spit upon her as well.
If he were to have paid attention, he would’ve heard the strange creek from behind him. He would’ve seen the shadow’s changing on the walls. He would’ve noticed the hooded vigilante coming back from the grave; stalking closely behind for the purpose of revenge. Most importantly, if he would’ve paid attention, he would’ve had time to react before Gilda caught him in a choke hold.
But fortunately, for the sake of pony nature, he didn’t pay attention, and Gilda was easily able to choke him out, and grip tightly, with the sole intent of ending his life.
He gasped and moved backwards as far as he could. Gilda used her back claws and wrapped them around his waist tightly, keeping her off the ground. He moved harshly against the wall, slamming Gilda. He jumped and pushed Gilda into the wall again. Just like before, nothing happened. The wall started to crack and a perfect outline of Gilda body emerged.
Air started to constrict. The enemy yelled in vicious smite and fear. He spun Gilda around like a rag doll. Still, however, Gilda hanged on tightly. The white stallion started elbowing Gilda straight in the face. He used enough strength to where Gilda found herself seeing stars. Nevertheless, this only caused her to tighten her grip. Her beak should’ve been reduced to powder long ago, but her bones stayed as strong as her conviction, and that was saying something.
The mentally unstable stallion screamed a ferocious cry of defeat. He moved his body quickly and slammed Gilda in the wall behind him three more times. More holes were added into the walls, and her body remained solid. The lamp was knocked off its bed top and chairs and table’s had been over turned. Gilda remained latched.
Then, the criminal fell on his knees, and with a quick jerk of Gilda’s arm, she snapped his neck, killing him instantly.
Her breath was heavy and animal like. She growled as she tugged on the male’s neck, insuring his death. He spat blood, and his eyes rolled back into his skull. She laid him down gently, as his dead body collapsed to the floor.
She was victorious.
Her redemption was complete.
After a few seconds of complete disbelief, staring at the body, Gilda finally snapped herself back into the realm of existence, and ran towards the mother. The mother seemed to be asleep. The cuts in her wrists Gilda could now analyze more deeply, and the griffon discovered that they were infected. She had not left this radiator for possibly days. When Gilda undid the bounds, immediately, both hooves flew up and wrapped around Gilda’s neck.
The mother whispered, “Thank you,” and then died in Gilda’s arms.
Gilda was frozen in time. This single handedly was the deepest and darkest moment she had ever experienced. She laid down the mother slowly, and when she turned her head, she saw the two children standing in the door way. One of them held a phone, and told her that they called an ambulance for mommy.
Gilda placed a finger to her beak, and like the mysterious ghost that she appeared to be towards the children, her wings broke through the back of the poncho, and she flew out towards the night sky.
When he awoke, he felt weightless. The lights danced strangely off his eyes. He remembered that he was awaiting in the living room with his two sisters, wondering where Gilda went to after they discovered that she had left the farm. Big Mac, Apple Bloom, and Applejack had all been worried sick. They stood up as long as they could. But eventually, around 2:00 am, they fell asleep in the living room.
It was now 3:30 am, and Big Mac felt as though he was being carried. He looked around his surrounding and realized he was traveling upstairs. He was dumbfounded when he realized that he was being carried…..
By his Girlfriend.
The look on Gilda’s face was what caused Macintosh to grow silent. She had a thousand yard stare. Mentally, she was not back on earth. Big Mac felt as though he wasn’t on earth either. This was such a strange moment. And it defiantly wasn’t the most masculine position to be in; to be carried by your girlfriend.
It wasn’t too long before Big Mac realized that they were heading towards Gilda’s bedroom. By the time they turned upstairs to enter her room, Gilda looked down at Big Mac.
She smiled.
His face, his look, the way his golden mane cascaded down his red fur, it broke the spell that she had been in ever since she left the hypnotherapist’s office. She kissed him, deeply and passionately, and slowly, she laid him down on the bed.
Rationally, Big Mac knew what was happening. But still, he had to ask, “Gilda…..what’s going on?”
The ex-bully; the once confused Griffon; the lost but now found Gilda replied with a chuckle, “I had a bad dream.”
She took the sheets and covered them both under it. She blew out the candle beside them and whispered lustfully, “Make me forget.”
For the rest of the night, they made another dream together; one of peace, and of love. The best part was, it was all actually happening.