Gilda was waiting at the kitchen table when she heard the door open. Judging by the nervous male voice, Edward was here now.
He had better be up for clearing up a few things, She thought.
“So...is she asleep right now or what?” Edward said, likely with his eyes darting in the living room. He was still a wimp, like he always was.
“Well she was awake the last time I saw her.” Fluttershy was much calmer than he was, that’s for sure. “Don’t worry so much.”
“Yeah.” he cleared his throat to call out. “Gilda, ma’am? G? Si….”
“In her you dip!” Gilda shouted back to him from the kitchen, and she could hear him jump too. After a pause, the pair came in. “Been awhile, huh Ed?” she said to the guy griffon.
Edward looked about a well as he ever did, namely shaky and somewhat nervous. Clearly some things don’t change.
“H-hey Gilda!” Edward said tensely with a wave. “Y-you lookin good.” He forced a laugh. “Healthy, stable, and not even a drop of blood on you. That’s great.” He then gave a nervous thumbs up.
“She’s been recovering,” Shy said, pulling him a chair at the table. Despite her being upbeat at the moment, the griffon still took pause. “I think she’s more relaxed than she was before.”
“That’s sounds great,” Edward added, not taking the seat yet, nor looking away from Gilda. “So, you're better now? Like, really better? Because…”
“Just sit down Ed, will talk,” Gilda said simply with a firm tone. Edward gulped and sat down. Fluttershy went to cooking, which the female griffon saw as a good opportunity.
“So, how long have you been in this place, ma’am?” Ed said in an attempt to break the ice. “Only just saw you the other day.”
“A couple days, you?” Gilda replied back, tilting her chair back a bit.
“Got here on the same day I saw you,” Edward started, likely going into detail. “I was kinda hoping to find some R&R, ya know?” He had a nervous laugh. "Well, what I can get anyway this far from home."
“You ever think to head back to the empire?” Gilda asked.
“Do you even know how much it costs to take a trip back home?” Edward seemed more sure for a moment, if upset. “Even if you try a land and sea route, it’s still too much for what I got," he sighed with some defeat.
“Guess neither of us have checked with the folks…” Gilda added with a somber feeling. “Could be dead for all we know…so how’s work?” She didn’t want to dwell of family any more than the sibling did.
"After that last job blew up, I’ve been trying to find some steady work,” Edward sighed sadly. “It...didn’t work out so well...” he sighed again with a low laugh. “Got part time in town though! It’s a start.” he joked. “Then I can get to doing some real stuff again.”
“Then how were-” Gilda was about to ask, but the other griffon had other ideas.
“Details, details," he cut her off. Sometimes, the loser gets passionate enough not to fear her. "I also figured I could find more work here. Somepony needs an accountant in this town, right?”
“I never checked…” Gilda gave her two gold pieces.
“And why do only ponies do banking jobs in most places?” Edward added before a pause. “It due to the cutie marks, isn’t it?”
“Right…” Gilda replied, quite sick of his rant. “You do remember that old job?”
“Y-yeah.” Edward said, and looked more afraid at that question. “That didn’t end so well, even you know that. So lets just-”
“I don’t,” Gilda said, eyes narrowed.
“Eh?” Edward’s eyes widened and he looked uncomfortable. The verbal jolt was enough to have Fluttershy briefly look up from the stove.
“I got this blank after I hit that bar,” Gilda said as she tapped her head. “The one near the north route Deal was trying to plot out. Remember?” She gave him an expectant look.
“Yep, yep,” Edward replied with a quick nod. “But you were out when that fight started.”
“F-fight?” Fluttershy interrupted the story.
“Bar fight,” Gilda said with some humor. “Those things happen at outposts all the time. It’s that time I must have fought guard ponies and….”
“But…” Edward interrupted with a talon up.
“But what?” Gilda growled back with a smug smile, no longer leaning in her chair. “I was told I might have fought some guard ponies, and they were at that bar right? So...”
“There were no guard ponies at the bar!” Edward yelled back. While the other griffon was ready to deck him, she was aware how bad it could get with Shy being right there. So she let him continue. “It was just those minotaurs, that horned griffon and some regular ponies.”
“Say what?!” Gilda was in disbelief. Now her eyes were wide, more than a little dumbfounded by that fact.
“I guess after you got that one mad enough, he smashed that bottle on you…” Ed tried to get back to the story, but was interrupted again.
“I decked him good, right?” Gilda asked with a humored grin and a smile.
“No, you were on the floor, knocked out,” Edward explained. “He...hit hard.”
Gilda’s beak dropped to that part. Somehow Edward looked more sheepish, though that was due to what he knew was coming next. He covered his face with the edge of his hat.
“What!” the now Gilda said with some outrage after her shock. “I was out that easy? Argh!”
Shy tried not to laugh. “Take it easy, Gilda,” she said firmly. “It’s in the past.” This caused Edward to calm down a bit as well, seeing as he lifted his hat again.
“Get on with it!” Gilda said, dejected. “What happens next?”
“Well, Package Deal found out you had left the campsite, so me and him went to that bar when we heard the ruckus," Ed continued. "I went in while Deal stayed outside.” He looked a bit concerned, gulping a bit. “You were already on the floor, and that minotaur was talking smack about you. Then it got worse.”
“Guards?” Gilda asked.
“See, this other griffon called out the bartender, saying he’d been given pet food instead of a decent meal,” Edward added with a shrug. “And this other minotaur went all berserker too.”
“Too many flagons….” Gilda muttered with some humor. “You'll never find harder core wine drinkers than minotaurs...or angrier.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Edward continued, scratching his neck with a sigh. “Things got violent pretty quick, so I dragged you under a table so you wouldn't get stomped. Then I was waiting for any lulls in the action to get you closer to the exit, hoping Deal had Silver Bell call some guards to the fight.”
“Didn’t I do anything at all?” Gilda asked, feeling left out of her own story.
“Well…” he began. Edward now had a funny look on his face, despite Gilda sad look. “You started mumbling ‘Sure I’m indecent, hate is such a exciting emotion.’ or something like that.”
The girl griffon only looked more embarrassed.
“Oh, come on!” she said angrily, not exactly from rage. Now Fluttershy was giggling, and even Edward was trying hard not to himself. Likely only stopped by the griffon next to him.
“Sorry, miss Gilda.” Ed took a breath to calm himself. “It wasn’t all fun though, Deal spent that whole night shouting at both of us, and had me take up scouting duty for you. And you know how bad my flying is….” He looked painful at that part.
“Like how father called you a adult chick for most of your life?” Gilda added, Edward nodded back. “So, why’d I wake up in a asylum?” Edward looked surprised at that question.
“You don’t remember?!” he yelled in disbelief. The sudden shift, even for Edward, caused the shy pegasus to duck instinctively. “When Deal lost it? When Bell died? Any of it?”
“Woah!” Gilda was wide eyed too now. “She’s dead? Oh man...” She felt a bit of a pause. H-how’d...when…?” She wanted to ask how, but was unable to at the moment. She just held her head.
“U-um…” Fluttershy chimed in to break this tense moment. “Maybe we should have dinner first, if that…”
“I’m good for eating!” Edward said promptly, doing his best to get out of the story he was telling. “Foods sounds like a good thing! I’m so hungry I could eat a leng spider like a big lobster!”
Gilda faceclawed, how long ago did he start to wonder if giant spiders taste like crab? She wasn’t getting her questions answered now, but then again, she may as well roll with it.
“Fine…” Gilda groaned back. “But we’re getting back to that later, alright? Stuffs been weird...”
Edward quickly nodded but said nothing.
Gilda hadn't taken notice of the groceries in her bit of excitement. Fluttershy was apparently quite serious about that dinner plan she had. Fish, some chips, side salad, fruit. This pegasus could do well for parties, at least the quiet kind.
Somehow things got to small talk, despite where Gilda mind was with the past questions. Mostly it was Edward’s sad misadventures--what a pain.
“...And after I hitched a ride here, I first tried to find some work,” Edward went on, recounting how he’d even got to Ponyville. “You know, what with that economics degree I got back when?” he asked Gilda.
“The one you got when you decided to avoid advanced flight training?” she replied while taking a drink of the juice provided, tomato.
“The same one!” Edward said without any sense of irony. “Sure, sure I could have just taken a prospecting job, maybe even make myself a manager, but I figured I’d see better opportunities in the pony kingdoms.”
“Less people to laugh at you,” Gilda remarked, taking more air out of the male griffon’s sails.
“Welllllll, yeah!” Ed said as he scratched the back of his head with a grimace. “Still nothing big yet, but I did find someone to put me up for a while though. Also, I saw this cute white mare too.”
Fluttershy looked a bit surprised, Gilda was not. “You?” she laughed. “Trying for a hippogriff?” Edward looked panicked, as he knew what she was getting at.
“W-well, not now, maybe?” he stammered nervously. “I mean, I can make a plan, or work around it.” He only seemed to get worse as he could see both girls in the room were looking at him. “I-I mean, she’s got business cred and stuff! Ya know? A-and m-maybe, somehow, maybe we could, well not too fast, I mean I only tried to talk this one time and…” He was going to keep talking, so Gilda stopped it.
“Edward,” Gilda deadpanned with a claw up. “Settle.”
Ed’s rant came to a quick halt. “Yes ma’am.” Fluttershy looked surprised, looking between the two griffons for a moment.
“Um…” she began. “Are you sure...I mean how well do you know her?”
“Well, with all the gems this mare has around she must dig a lot!” Ed replied, now less flustered. “And she’s plenty organized, I’d think it could work. Er, maybe I mean, I’m not sure how to talk to her and she seems about the same so…”
There was a pause as the male griffon caught his breath. While Gilda just took this time to keep chewing as she ate, Fluttershy seems downright entranced by his devotion. Or maybe she just humored him.
“So, got any dating tips?” Edward asked. Shy looked at Gilda and vice versa.
“You asking me or her?” Gilda asked pointing between the two. Edward just shrugged. “Geeze…” She rolled her eyes. Despite this, Fluttershy stayed supportive.
“Try to follow your heart,” she told him earnestly. “Is it hard for you to be assertive?”
“Kinda?” Ed replied with a groan. “Guess I’ve been used to being told what to do.” Gilda knew why he was giving her that look.
While Fluttershy continued to give him a few tip of dating, the girl griffon just ate in silence. She’d have to wait for her answers for now.
Also, where did Fluttershy get this lemon butter? More fish need this, and some crab meat and--as Gilda mind wandered into a field of dreams of good sea food, one question ruined her good mood.
"How long have you two known each other?" Fluttershy asked. “Did you grow up together?”
Aw crud, Gilda thought, Shy asked the worst kind of question.
"Um, well...." Edward seemed to know it too. He now looked like he was asked to hunt a tiger all by himself, and he was going to wet himself from the terror of it. So, Gilda cut it herself.
"From back in the old empire, we went to the same school," she said simply and hoped to move on, but it didn't work. Fluttershy must have been more serious to know than expected.
"We're you close?" she added, and now the second worst question was asked.
To be fair, Edward also looked more scared to talk further, looking like he was about to duck. But, Gilda was more embarrassed as that mockturtle story came to her mind. But she knew the pony was unlikely to drop this question. So, she may as well throw the runt a bone.
"He's my older brother, alright?" Gilda said with a sigh.
Fluttershy looked shocked at this revelation, and Edward was more so. He nearly went slack enough to slam his beak into the table with his body about falling over. But he snapped out of it, calming his nerves by returning to his eating. He likely prefered if his sister would explain to the confused pegasus.
"You are..." Fluttershy said and blinked for a moment, still in shock. "Then why were you...?"
"Dad’s ashamed of him and he annoys me," Gilda answered quietly. "Mom seemed to coddle him though, when she wasn't busy. And she made me promise not to let older guys take his lunch money."
"I've been used to being hen pecked for a while..." Edward said off hand, and resumed eating. The pegasus looked upset by all this, for obvious reasons.
"Why would you treat your own brother like this?" she said with a bit of outrage.
"Hey, I wasn''t always mean," Gilda defended herself as best she could. "I mean, I hung out with him."
"Mom asked," Edward piped in, he was starting to enjoy this as the girl griffon let out a groan.
"Yeah, she asked, whatever." she said and shrugged. "Dad was a lot meaner to him than I ever was."
"Oh my!" Fluttershy said with concern, putting a hoof on the male griffon shoulder. "Was he abusive?" Edward didn’t quite answer, still chewing. He seemed to enjoy the attention though.
"To him, duh," Gilda replied, and could see why Shy looked more upset. "Me? Dad told me I was going places, even wanting me to join the Tiger Jager squads.” She looked aside. “But, ya know, I'm not interested in some lousy jungle hunts," She chucked a bit.
"Tiger Jager?" Fluttershy asked.
"Tiger hunters," Edward answered after swallowing. He looked to the pony with a bit of humor. "Think of the one thing griffons truly dread..."
"Meh," was Gilda two cents on it. "I'm more for the skies and leaving schmucks to eat my dust!"
"So you went to match wits with pegasi," Ed added with a bit of mockery. "Don't think that..."
"Zip it!" Gilda snapped back, shutting him up. She wasn’t sure when she told him that story, or how sober she was at the time. Either way, she didn't need his version of her story.
"Gilda, please," Fluttershy said with a sigh, holding her hooves up. "Have you two been able get along?"
"Well..." Edward began with a bit of a smirk that filled Gilda with dread. "With the right tempering, sis here is a real friendly drunk." The girl griffon had a look of agony on her as he said that. "Remember that one place with the karaoke?"
"I'd rather not..." Gilda said, holding her beak with her eyes closed. "Do you realize how stupid that was?"
"But you got this tremendous singing voice, despite your faults," Edward said with a smile. "It’s the closest thing to kind words that came from you back then. It helped you mellow out, ya know?"
"It still looks embarrassing to me," Gilda replied grimly. "I felt like a joke..."
"Are you happy...with your work...." Edward sang from memory.
"Stop," Gilda said cautiously.
"One night she started to, shim and shake..." And another song came from him.
"Stop it," she deadpanned.
"...Let's go to the ocean, we can be free. Live your life, just go through to motions...." Edward sang. Oh, that last song did it.
"ED!" Gilda roared at him. Now Edward ducking for cover. Fluttershy gave her a dirty look for a moment. "I ain't a song bird, alright?" she sighed, calming herself. "And ‘I love U’ is a stupid, sappy song for little girls."
Edward seemed to take that as an all clear. "Didn't mean it wasn't cute sis," he said, getting his head up. "Seemed better to me then you drinking alone and angry as usual."
"Just can it," Was Gilda’s answer with a grumble. “Least I didn’t dance on a table.” Edward sighed and moved on.
"So on a different topic, you got any plans for the coming holidays sis?" Edward asked calmly. "I mean, sure we got issues, but between you and mom you're still the only family I have."
"Meh," Gilda answered him. "I got nothing. And besides, I hate the holidays remember?"
"Heh, I forgot..." he replied, scratching his neck and looking down. "Still, no reason to keep being bitter all the time right?" Edward added, looking back up.
The conversation went on, Fluttershy asking about griffon stuffs from a eager guy who liked talking about them. It all struck Gilda as silly, so she just enjoyed her meal in silence. At least they didn’t got back to family matters again, she wasn’t in the mood for it.
After the meal ended, Edward being the sap he was, helped with cleaning up. His sister sat patiently as this went on. After he was done she asked the big question.
“So…” Gilda began when the boy griffon left the sink. By the hairs on Ed’s neck, he knew the question was about
“Um, are you sure you want to ask about...that stuff?” Edward said with a look of terror. “I-I mean, that could give you nightmares and…”
“I’m there,” Gilda stated seriously. “I’ve had nightmares for a while.”
“Well, I know you were sent to Canterlot asylum…” Ed replied, slowly walking up to the table.
“So was Deal,” Gilda said matter of factly. “I met him there too.”
Edward looked surprised, but kept his nervous smile. “So, uh, he doing better I take it? he asked.
“He tried to eat me.” Gilda said. She wasn’t letting him get out of this, she was quite serious. Even as Edward gulped a lump in his throat.
“Your boss tried to eat you?” Fluttershy said in a slow, scared tone, trembling where she stood.
Ed looked a bit defeated, sitting down with a nervous jitter and tried to collect himself. Shy, despite looking like she was just terrified, sat down as well.
“You wanna tell me why?” Gilda said with narrow eyes.
“Well, after you were out of it, I had to scout. And we were running short of our deadline so-” Edward continued the story where he left off.
"When'd I wake up?" Gilda cut to the chase. "Did I wake up?"
"You were in a bit of a stupor still," Edward said. "You weren't up until after things got worse. By then we lost the road and the weather changed for the worst." He looked chilled. "And this thing was stalking us, like some wolf that could fly…
“W-what?” Fluttershy asked like a child. “I’ve haven’t heard of flying wolves.
“Neither did I,” Ed added seriously. “The thing smashed the wagon's wheels and ran off. It had these creepy black eyes...." He started to tremble. “It even blew snow at us until Silver managed to scare it off with a few ringing bells.” He had a bit of a soft laugh. “Who’d of thought, huh?”
“Ok...” Gilda said, looking aside. “...and the others?” That got him out of his trembling, now he was still, if only looking away. “How’d stuff get worse?
Edward continued as he looked to the side and he rubbed his neck. “Well, we were still stuck in that snowstorm,” he said. “Deal blamed you, seeing as you were out of it for several hours. You know, drunk with a blow to the head, sis?” While Gilda might have felt annoyed by that comment, she didn’t speak up. “So, when Bell got sick, you were up and made a run for for help. Good news was, your head was clear then.”
“Yeah…” Gilda said, trying to remember, it was still a blank and hazy. “Did I come back at least?”
“Yeah, you did.” Ed’s tone didn’t get better, he scratched his talon into the table. “But, Silver Bell was dead by then.” That hit a bit of a cord, both mare and griffon looked on in silence. “Deal just stood there after that.” Things felt pretty somber then, Edward let out a sigh as both Gilda and Fluttershy looked saddened. “I tried to bury her, but he seemed against it. Guess he needed time, ya know?” Edward scratched his beak a bit. “Least I hoped that was it.”
“Guess I know why he went nuts now,” Gilda muttered without humor. “Didn’t know it got that screwed up.”
“I flew off for a bit, give him some space, ya know? But when I came back….well….” Edward’s eyes trembled with fear, much like his talon on the table. He looked down and shook his head. “He was eating her,” he muttered quietly.
“SAY WHAT?!” Gilda yelled. Fluttershy seemed to duck under the table, like a kid hearing a horror story. Edward about ducked as well, but Gilda was now holding him in place. “How? Why?” she said with a bit of her own shock. “Why would he even do that?”
“I don’t know!” Edward shouted as he shook his head, not wavering from his sister. “I guess he snapped, I don’t think he was starving!”
“So, he wants the other white meat now, huh?” Gilda added a bit of grim humor to it, but Edward looked much worse for it, a lot worse.
He looked her in the eye as he said it. “He...already had it…” While Gilda gave him wild look, figuring he’d go on, he still paused. She was about to yell again, but a quiet pony prevailed.
“Take it easy,” said the Fluttershy with a firm but soft voice. Gilda glared back, she didn’t waver. “Please, put him down.” She wasn’t being loud, but if felt that way right then.
Gilda took a breath and let him go.
“I know this parts going to sound crazy, but...when you came back he saw you and took a fruit knife,” Edward continued in a tense voice. “H-he hadn't seen me a-and I watched so….” He looked more and more shaken. “He got on you back and started stabbing, biting...you were screaming and…” As he spoke, something broke.
Somehow, Edwards story just faded into the background as Gilda’s head felt like it was going to pop with her brains coating the walls and her face dangling on tendon thread.
She could see a few pictures going by: Package Deal yelling, Edward whimpering in the snow, then finding Bell’s guts hanging out of her half buried body.
It was all downhill from there.
She remembered screaming, trying to get him off. Then Deal digging her eyes out with white hot pain as she lost balance. He kept on cutting, never going for the neck or the organs, just giving a new slice to her sides as she frantically tried to run without the use of her eyes, consumed by darkness.
He didn’t laugh, just muttering under his breath with each new cut.
After so much of it, she collapsed into the cold snow. She was crying out for anyone to help her, while her life was flashing by. It was then her thoughts went to the party, the worst moment of her life that was leading her to much worse now.
She hated Rainbow Dash for doing this to her. She hated her new friends too for the joke they made her into. Why can’t they die in some cold forsaken forest? She just wanted to rip Dash’s wings off and eat them in front of her, just to watch the pain and suffering in her old friends eyes. Then it became a blur, and a memory.
She was up to kill those party ponies and Dash, but they weren't the same.
The guard ponies in armor were drawing the line in the snow, yelling for her to stay back. Then that faltered as they cried out in terror.
“Stay back.” “Don’t come any closer!” “NO!!!!” were among to shouts as her icy claws got ready. Then the rest was a mess of gore and broken plates of armor as the image hazed, from party to forest and back again.
She shrieked in a horrific voice her insults that they couldn't even tell why she said them. It was enjoyable, fun, every part of her grief and anger had an outlet then. They all died without a clue why and she felt, even then, her delight at the power she had.
She felt safe, that no pony was going to ruin her day again. That was because she was going to ruin the heck out of theirs. Months or more of bitterness came forth in that rush and, despite the blood and screams, she enjoyed every moment of it. Each second of that vision delighted Gilda as she could feel her stomach turn in disgust. But in an instant, even that sickness was past.
At the end of that spree and eager to have another she saw her face, or what was left of it then.
It was all messed up, with shapeless tendrils writhing where parts of her head were not. Blood-soaked feathers. fur, and beak. She looked like a dead bird, a torn up bird one you would see on a road side. All grey and bony, she could even see her ribs through her skin.
That’s when the wail came, like something stirring a spoon in the top of her head. It hurt until she felt nothing else.
While Edwards’ little story would have illuminated a few good points, his sister didn’t hear it anymore. Edward and Fluttershy may well have panicked when Gilda’s eyes rolled back in her head as she fell out of her chair.