//------------------------------// // The light before we land // Story: Dead Birds // by Stray Dog Kane //------------------------------// “Gilda, knock it off! Geeze!” That was the words of the someone that now batted the griffon’s claws away. Now, Gilda’s eyes were open as her head looked around in a panic. She was up in a cold sweat, and ready to tear something apart. And she could see Rainbow Dash was looking worried about it, hooves out and looking just as scared as she was. Why were they on a cloud? The griffon let it sink in for a moment. Her and Dash were on a cloud, Ponyville was in distance, and now the pony was trotting closer to her, if uneasy. “Hey, hey.” Dash put a hoof to Gilda’s back. “Guess you had quite a nightmare, huh?” She still looked in good humor. Even so, Gilda was tense, even shaky right now. She took a deep breath before speaking. Last thing she needed was to sound like a scared child right now. “Yeah…” Gilda said scratching her neck and shaking off that old fear she remembered. “It was nasty, worse than anything you’ve ever seen.” “Try me!” Dash said jokingly back. “I bet I’ve seen things thing that would turn your head white.” Gilda jabbed at Dash for her bad joke. But couldn't help but find herself laughing at it as well. Things looked pretty good for once, just like old times. “So you're still coming back to town today, right?” Dash asked the griffon when she stopped laughing. While she looked expectant, Gilda was confused. “Like you promised?” “What?” was Gilda take on the matter. What was going on again? “Don’t tell me you forgot?” Dash face hoofed with some annoyance. “After I forgave you, I told you to come to town today. Remember?” While Gilda couldn't really recall that, she just wrote it off. “Heh,” she muttered for a moment. “Guess I’m not quite awake yet.” She shrugged innocently. “Why did I come back after you brushed me off?” Even she couldn't believe it worked out so well. “Well, first…” Rainbow Dash began with a kind smile. “You had the backbone to say you were sorry about what happened at the party.” She stopped at that point to give the griffon a pat on the back. “That was cool of you G, don’t forget that,” she added. “Then we got to talking, so then I had the idea to invite you to a new party.” While Gilda felt a reason to worry, Dash seems to read her mind. “It’s not a prank!” she continued with a groan. “I want to have you meet my friends, for real this time. There pretty cool too, ya know, in there own way.” “Yeah…” Gilda said looking away for a moment, trying to get her bearings. “So, who were they again?” While Dash did roll her eyes, she still tried to be upbeat. “Applejack, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike,” she answered. “Who’s Spike?” Gilda asked briefly. “He’s a dragon,” Dash replied with a smile. “But he’s cool, and can be a lot of fun to hang around with too.” “Ok...” Gilda said, trying to recall what was there the last time. If it was that small purple dinosaur she might have seen, she was asking for her money back. “So come on,” Rainbow Dash said, now airborne and waving an inviting hoof. “Once you get to know them, you’ll see why they’re my friends.” Dash’s smile seemed to say it all, things were going to be alright. “It going to be sooo cool!” “S-sure,” Gilda replied as she took flight as well with her own smile. Soon they were soaring through the skies to the city square. After landing, things still looked good, well kind of at least. The spring weather, the bright sun, and ponies with bright colors were walking around. While Gilda was feeling like she was going to regret coming there again, it was then she noticed something. First a pony waved to her, then another did. “Uh, Dash?” Gilda asked as she looked around feeling uncomfortable. “What with all this?” “Welllll…” Dash sounded playful on that, and that can’t be good, or at least Gilda felt that way. “Me and Pinkie had this idea,” Now that can’t be good at all. “We were thinking that the problem was you weren’t able to connect with anyone so…” “Uh…” Gilda tried not be annoyed,or at least not creeped out. It’s was good to finally have her best friend back, but still this was making her nervous. “So come on, my friends are waiting for us.” Dash gestured to her and trotted off. “We’re just inviting you back, no biggie.” They walked and trotted through town, even having a bit of time to chat about. Jobs, misadventures, bugs--Dash had been through a lot it sounds like. Gilda couldn't recall what was being said, but it was still a shame she wasn’t there. It would have been fun to see it for herself. Where was she with all this stuff happening? The more she thought about it, the more her head hurt, and the more sick of those other ponies she got as well. They were still trying to be friendly to her, but it just made it worse. It just felt too perfect to her. At last, they were at their destination, and the party was there too. A banner was there to welcome Gilda back. Punch and cookies were by the door, everything looked cool. And a group of five ponies were wanting to meet with her. For anyone else, this was a dream come true. But for the griffon, however, she was feeling some kind of panic building inside her body. “I...Don’t…” Gilda started, slowly backing away. This had gotten weird fast, to downright sappy at this point. Creepy, even freakish, and all this niceness had her feathers on end. But Dash was still at her side. “Hey, it’s okay,” Dash said with a hoof on her wing, pushing the griffon forward. “Go ahead, they don’t bite.” While she was trying to be encouraging, it wasn’t working. Eventually, Gilda got to walking into it, joining the party despite herself. “Hey Gilda, hey!” Yelled Pinkie Pie to her. “I’m so glad you came back!” “Um, yeah….” Gilda answered with a nervous tone. “So...um...sorry?” No amount of words could properly display how out of her element she felt right now. “Don’t y’all worry bout it now.” Applejack said. “Dash here’s been telling us all about how ya changed after all this time,” she added proudly. “Good ta know ya got off that high horse.” “Um…” Gilda replied, she had no idea what they were on about. “And quite delighted you learned how to humble yourself as well dear,” said Rarity next. “That’s what ah just said Rare.” Applejack added with a facehoof. “No you didn’t, you just said about some kind of high horses.” Comically, Rarity didn’t get the meaning yet either. “It just a figure of speech Rarity,” said Twilight Sparkle, ending the argument. “Getting off your high horse means humbling yourself to relate better with ponies you saw as beneath you.” She pointed to Rarity. “I imagine you could say it like …” While the purple princess pony went on, Gilda slowly backed away from the crowd to where the punch and cookies were. They weren’t cake or lemon drops, but they would do for now. As she got a nice, not dribbling drink, she saw a short lizard. “Hi!” he said with enthusiasm. “Is it true you're moving here?” The griffon felt like a twig snapped in her mind. Her wings and tail were now up as her eyes shot wide. Then a near spit take, then it happening, with the purple lizard soaked in punch. “Wha…?” Gilda said with surprise and a still dripping beak. “WHAT’D YOU SAY?!” “Holy guacamole!” said the now wet Spike. “What was that for?” “When did I…” While Gilda was about to ask, but other concerns came. “I-I mean, I didn’t, I just…” Her stumblings seemed to get some attention, which would have made it worse if she didn’t realize the answer that came to her. This was a dream, she was dreaming and she let herself forget it was. Then there was the other problem: this wasn’t something she’d have asked for. “Whoa!” the Princess Twilight said as she trotted over. “Spike, what just happened?” she asked with concern. “She punched me…” Spike replied jokingly, waving his lizard claws and still dripping. He was oddly not upset at all, or not as much a the griffon expected. More bemused than upset as he explained what happened. “Guess I kinda startled her!” he added with some humor. “I...um…” Gilda added, still unsure what to say. “Hey, don’t worry about it,” Twilight said as she smiled to the girl griffon, she levitated some paper towels over to her wet dragon. “It was an accident. Don’t worry about it, Gilda.” As the purple pair walked away to clean up, Gilda refilled her cup and hoped that it would relieve her nerves. “Ok, so it’s not real, got that,” she muttered to herself. “Just got to find out what the heck is going on with all of it, wake up and…” She took a few breaths then took a drink, then refilled the cup again. As she looked back to the crowd, they still all looked like they were very friendly, or could be. It was getting hard to tell as the griffon only felt more bitter. Sure, they gave a friendly wave her way, that was for sure. But it was all an illusion, make believe. More of that stupid hot air she was beyond sick of. What was the little dragon talking about her moving here anyway? After what happened last time? The idea of it told her more reason to get out while she could, before it got ugly for her again. “Hey…” A hoof on her shoulder caught her off guard, and Gilda turned her head to she Dash looking worried about her. “Gilda, what’s wrong? What’s got you so nervous?” “It’s a lie,” Gilda answered back suddenly, swatting the hoof away. “It’s all a lie!” In a rush, the griffon ran, then flew as fast as she could. She could hear a “comeback!” being yelled after her, but she kept going. She hoped Dash wasn’t chasing after, if she caught up with her things would get worse. Finding the forest, she landed, ran inside, and kept running. After some distance, she slowed down, taking a few deep breaths now feeling exhausted. Gilda finally sat down by a tree. It was there she wept. She knew this was a dream, pills and what not, and Rainbow Dash wouldn't do this or anypony else either. The griffon knew that from experience, and they weren’t friends anyway. If they don’t care enough to get off their own high horse, why was she going to for them? All those pills did was make her forget who she was, making her confused. The ponies were just messing with her now, fooling her into a sense of security, then pulling the rug from under her claws when she woke up. All Fluttershy was doing was outright lying to her face about things, and when she woke she would just be back where she was. She would still be in a place that doesn’t want her anyway but loved to pretend it did. “Now that’s the most sensible thought you ever had, little bird,” said a notable voice. “Now you’re getting it!” the Snark added. “Leave me alone, freak!” Gilda yelled to her visitor. “Just leave me alone!!!.” Regardless, that white pony popped in, sitting on a tree branch. “Why?” the Snark said with mock sadness. “I have so much love to give to you.” Gilda hit the tree letting out a childish grunt, but all it did was make him smile. “You're sick of this false dream land too, am I right? I’ve been thinking the same thing…” “What about it?” Gilda said with grumpy groan. “It’s not like you got any answers.” The pony lept from the branch, landing next to her. “What if I did?” he said, lifting Gilda’s head to face him. “What if I could wake you up from this nightmare?” the Snark added as he put a claw on her shoulder, it was cold and reassuring. “Which one?” Gilda said without energy, still feeling sad. “Those nightmares that are the same awake or asleep,” he explained as he rubbed her shoulder earnestly. “It's that old friendship issue. From her burning you, to you needing to give her a knuckle sandwich, to the fact you can’t even trust these ponies for anything.” He smiled as he looked her in the eye. “Either or, it never left your mind, weighing you down like they want it too,” the Snark said looking seriously as Gilda’s still drooping eyes. “Now, I can promise you one thing...” he added, pointing a hoof under her chin. “I can help you get that pony to regret ever turning on you." “H-how?” was Gilda’s answer, now wide eyed and and not as shaken. It was then she heard some movement nearby. “Gilda, are ok you in there?” said an odd voice not far from her tree. “Well, first we’re going to need some privacy for this.” With no warning, “The Snark” grabbed Gilda’s head. “Wakey, wakey!” The griffon’s felt her head fill with electricity. Her body tried to convulse, but couldn't. The shocks were so painful that her head was feeling like it was being pulled apart in several directions. “Eggs and bakey!” the Snark yelled with enjoyment.