//------------------------------// // The best kind of prize is a surprize // Story: Dead Birds // by Stray Dog Kane //------------------------------// Back upstairs, as Gilda now waited on dinner, she figured a bath was in order. After a nice soak and a wash off, she dried herself off and took a look in the bathroom mirror. For once, her appearance looked healthy. Or at the very least not so low looking. “Least I’m looking good for once,” Gilda said as she let herself smirk for a moment. She figured that good nights sleep had to be why. She even found the energy to flex her forelimbs, and let out a playful growl. It wasn’t silly, it was cool to her. But that was when she noticed something. It was in the mirror, or behind it. She didn’t know what it was, but she felt it in there. The thing she saw in the basement in there! It’s odd presence felt like a sharp glint in the corner of her mind. She reached to open it, but relented for a moment. The last thing she needed was some white pony jump scare. What if it was that “The Snark” creep? Or something just like him? But, after looking at the mirror with a claw out for a moment, Gilda steeled herself. The griffon was tired of running around, so she opened it like a door to reveal--- Oh no! was her first thought on seeing it. It was the worst thing she could imagine. “HI GILD-!” was the sound that came before mirror cabinet it was slammed back shut. Gilda ran from the bathroom back to her bedroom, but even then it was there too. Just under her bed she could see it looking at her with bright blue eyes. “How did…!” Gilda stated in surprise. “Get out of there, you little...!” She pulled her annoyance out from under the bed in a quick motion with her anger building, and it just kept talking. “Hi Gilda!” Pinkie Pie proclaimed, not understanding the trouble she was in. “Anyway, I was hoping we could…” As she spoke, Gilda pulled her by her hair to the rooms door, growling all the way. “Save it!” Gilda yelled back as she opened the door and threw the pink annoyance out, shutting the door promptly. She let out a sigh of relief, but only to notice the nightstand drawer. “Why...?” she said with a groan, her eyes rolled again. That feeling was there, lurking inside in. With a sigh, Gilda walked over and pulled the drawer out. Somehow, the pink pony popped her head out from it. “...maybe talk.” Pinkie continued. “I mean…” And Gilda shut the drawer closed again, with the head popping back down as the drawer closed. Then after a pause, the griffon opened it again. “...I don’t want to have any hard…” shut, open. “...feelings!” and shut again as Pinkie tried to keep a sentence going. Gilda felt her eye twitch. If she wasn’t dreaming, what was causing this? That pink pony can’t fit in a nightstand drawer! she thought in anger. How the heck is she doing this! Then, when Gilda noticed what was behind her, she lowered her head. She muttered, as she put a claw on her scalp, letting out a despaired laugh. “Why me?” Gilda uttered grimly. “Wow,” Pinkie said with a bit of shock from behind the griffon. “That a sad laugh you have!” While the pony was sounding worried, the griffon didn’t care. “Why are you tormenting me?” Gilda said without looking up, her voice strained. “Just go away!” “Me?” Pinkie said putting a hoof to her chest with a gasp. “I don’t want to torment you.” She promptly lifted Gilda head to look her in the eye. “Does this look like a face that intends to do you harm?” she said as she did her best soft, but dementedly energetic smile. “...You’d be surprised,” Gilda said, now looking away and giving the pony a quick shove. The pink pony landed on her rump. “...I might…” Pinkie said with a less enthusiastic tone, but then went back to jolly as she bounded back up. “But that doesn’t matter because I just want to bury the hatchet.” Then she paused for a moment, with a sudden terrified look, only causing Gilda to look at the pony awkwardly. “What now?” Gilda muttered. “Just---not in whatever way some people keep thinking,” Pinkie Pie said, waving her hooves in front of her and smiling. “Not in the head, or face, or belly, or leg, or…” As she recited this she counted on invisible to anyone but her: notches, or fingers or---Gilda noticed the pink pony now got her doing it! Gilda shook her head and growled in annoyance. “Will you just---and how’s this going to fix things?!” she said with a angry look and gritted teeth. “Your little party cost me a LOT, pink-o!” “I thought it was free…” Pinkie said, innocently missing the point. “I could give you another party, also free too!” But she could then see how that wasn’t helping, with the griffon still looking angry, and the pink pony now looked deflated. “Can’t we all just get along?” she asked, with a hopeful look and a smile. “Not with you…” Gilda uttered grimly as she turned to leave the room. “You’re just another weirdo, and one that still ticks me off, so if...” As she reached the door, she knew the pony was behind it. She looked back to where Pinkie was, finding she was no longer there. And, now abandoning normal logic, Gilda peeked through the keyhole. She could see the pink pony waving back to her from the other side. “Just get lost you wacko!” Gilda yelled at what she saw. But as she pulled her head away, she already knew what was behind her now. Without missing a beat, she turned to glare at the pony again. “I hate you! I hate you so much, so just buzz off already!” she shouted Pinkie. “But, that doesn’t have to be forever,” Pinkie Pie said with a look of terror. “Forever is such a long time! Do you really want that? I don’t!!” There was a pregnant pause as Gilda looked in a bit of shock. “I DON’T!!” It was then a loud quacking noise sounded, following that serious sounding statement. Both sides now were staring in shock. The dramatic tension fell out with neither side speaking for a moment. “Wha….?” was Gilda word on things, having not blinked since the start of the pony’s outburst. Though that quack sound had her back away a bit. “Oh, sorry.” Pinkie said, somewhat embarrassed. She had noticed her sound horn on the floor, with her hoof having just stepped on it. From her embarrassment, she went back to mirthful again. “Guess I stepped on it! Silly me huh?” The pony then scratched the back of her head with her hoof, her tongue to the side, trying to ponderous or something. Gilda couldn't tell with this pony. “Maybe if you could do stuff?” Pinkie said. “Fun stuff, stuff that is fun and makes you less of a…” Gilda was quite tired at this point and raised a talon as she let out a cough. “Insane weirdness aside,” she said flatly with a tired look to the pony. “You got nothing, now get lost.” “Well…” Pinkie said with a gleeful look as she rubbed her hooves together, not taking in the griffons unhappiness. “I know I can’t throw you a party now, but I can bake you a cake and it even won’t explode either!” Then she was back to that counting thing: “...Or have candles that don’t go out, or have frosting made of salt, or have Granny Apple in a swimsuit and a soft cloth hat…” Pinkie continued, but could see the look on the griffons face. It was only getting less pleasant as the pony went on. “....I’m not selling this am I?” she added in a low voice. “No,” Gilda added with a stoic, blank expression. “You’re not.” The two looked at each other. One looking nervous, the other looking like she was going to throw a pony out a window. But it didn’t come to that, Gilda still had something to say. “How do I even know you ain’t here to prank me?” She demanded. “Just so Dash can laugh at me again?” she asked as that was still a pressing issue to her. One she would never let go. “That’s easy, G!” Pinkie started gleefully and simply. “For one, she’s never mentioned you, not even once. And she still doesn’t know you came back yet!” She then gave the griffon a hug. “But I won’t tell, that’s a Pinkie promise.” “You don’t have pinkies…” Gilda said without changing her expression, and despite the pony hug. Taking the opportunity, she flicked the pony’s nose with her talon. “Now let go of me.” Not quite tweaking a beak, but the griffon knew it still stings. “...I know.” Pinkie said with disappointment, letting go and trying not to let the sting bother her. “I’ll still try to sneak you in a cake though.” She was back to friendly. “I’ve listened in, you’ve been a trooper with stuff.” “Knew something was there…” Gilda muttered to herself, looking aside. “But why’d it have to be you?” she asked with a sigh. “Think we could hang out then?” Pinkie asked, being hopeful. “Maybe share that cake?” “And do what?” Gilda mumbled back as she looked down. “Get reminded about the stuff that annoy me? Heck no.” “No silly,” Pinkie said, apparently not getting the point of the statement. “I want us to move forward.” She grabbed Gilda’s neck, wrapping a foreleg around her as she pointed her other hoof to the sky. The griffon could only look in confusion as Pinkie spoke with some kind of purpose with her hoof in the air. “I, and many others like me, envision a world were at last, you, Rainbow Dash, and the spirit of friendship come together,” Pinkie Pie said with certain strength. “With it helping us all mend together…” Gilda simply looked to the side as this speech continued, doing a mouth movement with her claw as the pony went on and on for what felt like minutes. “Dear Celestia, it will be beautiful!” Pinkie finished, her hoof in the air still, then slowly lowering for attempted dramatic effect. Gilda still wasn’t getting it, and she really didn’t want too. “Ok…” was her only word on it. “So you are mental, and I’m going to go nuts too soon too, right?” The pink pony let her go, spinning away. “Had enough of this silly stuff.” “It’s not just about being silly, silly!” Pinkie said with her regular mirth. “It’s about knowing the meaning of Hearth’s Warming, so keep your chin up!” She patted Gilda’s chin in an upward way. “Maybe then we can talk, maybe share stories and learn stuff about each other too!” The pink pony’s leg rang, and Gilda wondered if it was just her that could hear those bells in her ears. “Oh,break’sover.seeyoulater.bye!” Pinkie Pie leaped under the bed after that word jumble, and in an eye blink the pink pony was gone. With the rush over, the griffon figured it was a good time to let her legs give out, landing on her belly. She let out a depressed sigh, as she put her claws over her lowered head. “Why is it only the freaks that never leave me alone?” Gilda groaned to no one.