//------------------------------// // Treading familiar territory // Story: Dead Birds // by Stray Dog Kane //------------------------------// Dinner was a bit late, or it just felt that way. Gilda and Fluttershy had to band together to get the desk holding the basement door shut out of the way, and that was after they got the CMC to finally realize they weren’t monsters. The foals even had the chickens take shelter with them down there. After that, there was a lot of hoof pointing, but it was all sorted out. Fluttershy was good at her job as she dismantled the arguments. Gilda could see how the pegasus was good with kids, seeing as the pony was able to follow the near mile a minute conversations the CMC were having over the meal. Meanwhile, her and Diamond Tiara were content to eat as a silent audience. The foals talked about several things, Hearth’s Warming gifts, ideas for misadventures, stuff she didn’t see a reason to follow right now. Apple Bloom seemed to try to get Diamond into the conversations, but the kid said she wasn’t interested. At least she said so, frankly the pink foal still looked shaken again. And by the sound of it, Tiara had a unpopular history too. Funny that, Gilda thought. “So, me and Dash are totally going to spend Hearth’s Warming Eve together!” Scootaloo said, with no consideration for the griffon at the table. “Wah!” Sweetie Bell looked shocked as she spoke. “Why can we just get together for Hearth’s Warming?” she asked. “Yah, whal’ ya an Dash will be on the clouds, we’d still be on tha ground,” said Bloom just as surprised and upset. “You could hang with your new friend there,” Scootaloo replied with some snark. Though her tone did change to sheepish when she didn’t just get Diamond’s ire, but Bloom’s as well. “Uh, just a thought,” she laughed nervously for a moment. “She’s better then, huh?” Gilda muttered absently. It seemed like a while ago, Dash met the door--at least she left no lasting damage beyond the obvious. Good thing Fluttershy told Dash to keep her distance. “My house is trashed, blank flank,” Diamond deadpanned to the others as she kept eating. “You aren’t going there.” “Ya can spend it at mah house, DT!” said Apple Bloom with a friendly smile. “We’d be glad ta have ya.” “Whatever,” Tiara said without interest. “Come on, DT!” Bloom continued. “Ah’m trying ta be nice here” Diamond Tiara just sighed. “Whatever,” she continued to grumble. “Why can’t you just, ya know, accept our good intentions?” asked Sweetie Bell, more upset than annoyed. “Because I’d rather be spending it with Silver Spoon, that’s why,” Tiara replied with another grumble. While Belle and Bloom looked quite upset by things, Scoots more or less shrugged. “Even now you think you are still better than us, DT?” Scootaloo added. “You're alone, and you still keep doing this. Who said you are entitled to have friends?” That hit a nerve somewhere. Seeing as Diamond Tiara not only glared back with such hate it looked like she was going to throw a plate at the offender, but she also struck her hoof loudly to the table. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed, or at least Fluttershy’s did. “Girls!” she said in a firm tone. The CMC looked a bit scared then, but Tiara simply groaned. “She’s our guest right now, and I don’t want you to bully her!” Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom clearly weren’t challenging that, Scootaloo did. “She wouldn't do the same…” she added. “She’d just be mean.” “That doesn’t matter,” Fluttershy said with a bit more anger with that look that seemed to weaken most resolves. The little pegasus didn’t just back down, she practically shrank back in fear from Shy. “It’s her choice, and I don’t want you guilt tripping her now!” “Ah jus wanted ta help…” Apple Bloom said sadly with her head down. “I know,” Shy said with a gentle mane rub to the red headed foal. “But you can’t force her to do this, ok?” “Ok,” said Apple Bloom as she nodded. While she was just a quiet witness, Gilda had found it hard not to follow this. What started to creep her out was how familiar this started to sound like. It made her uncomfortable when she thought about it, and it didn’t help that Diamond’s response to this drama was to give up and return to her meal, not bothering to follow any further conversation. After the meal, and with Fluttershy unintentionally flaunting her kid herding skills, Gilda figured she could use some alone time now. While she wanted to chill for a moment alone in the guest room, without any kids to bother her, things just didn’t work out that way. While that feeling of being followed was something she just made herself used to, this tag along was a bit new. At least the rabbit could be relied on to buzz off when she wanted to be alone, and the Snark just didn’t care. Pinkie simply just showed up and left just as quickly. But this new one seemed to look desperate for someone to be around. “What is it, kid?” Gilda asked without turning around as she climbed upstairs. “Can we talk?” Diamond Tiara said with some nervousness. “Maybe hang out?” “Can’t you talk to Fluttershy?” Gilda asked, finally turning and seeing how nervous the kid looked. “Seeing as she kind of, I don’t know, a doctor in this kind of thing?” “But she’s a quack!” Diamond said, annoyed. The fact this reminded the griffon of her first line about duck pony had her laugh a bit. “What?” she added. “Seriously?” Gilda said with a bit of a chuckle. “That’s a good one, I got to remember that!” “I’m being totally serious here!” Tiara stomped a hoof lightly. “Like, three patients ran from here in the past month.” “The real reason is funnier if you ask me,” Gilda stated with humor. Someday, she needed to ask that bunny how he did it. “But, seriously,” she said, ending the bit of comic musing. “What do you expect from me?” “Well….” Diamond rubbed her hooves together on the floor. She was scared, but even so, she still wanted to be here. It was then Gilda realized why the kid was struggling to find the words. The griffon let out a sigh, finding another weirdo who thinks they are now friends with her. Apparently, leaving her usual comfort zone had consequences. Still, at least the griffon knew better than to make things worse for either of them right now. “Alright, come on," Gilda said, and figured they could talk upstairs. The hallway would do. Fluttershy and the CMC would be downstairs, maybe hanging up decorations or something. "So, what is it?" Gilda asked as they both climbed up, then that kid started talking. “W-well, I never met a griffon up close before,” Tiara awkwardly stammered. “I-I mean you guys never come to Ponyville so…” Gilda was already rolling her eyes at the sudden childlike fandom she now had. “Are the stories they tell true?” “Which ones?” Gilda said off hand. “Stupid stuff? Someponies still think we dig with our beaks.” “What?” Diamond looked about as unhappy with that rumor as the griffon was. “Not something that stupid! The other stuff.” “Then what?” Gilda asked as she tapped her talon on the floor. “I read in a book that someponies tell legends of you guys being good goldsmiths,” Tiara began. “How much do you know about that?” “Meh,” Gilda uttered back. She never had as much interest in that stuff, even if the old empire was built on it. “So we dig up gold, fill bins with gold, make planks out of gold…” she trailed off at the last one. “I thought ponies were more into gems and stuff. I saw that one pony with a stupid looking dress with enough gems to to look…” “Tacky?” Diamond Tiara added with some enjoyment. “Does tacky mean “who the heck thought this was a dress design?”,” Gilda replied. “Or why would anyone wear that?” The pink foal started to laugh at that comment. “What? What’d I say?” Diamond put a hoof to her mouth, still chuckling. “It’s nothing,” she said. But after a bit, she looked a bit more serious. “If that’s true, is the stories about you guys being good guardians true too?” Now Gilda was a bit shocked anypony would even read into that, especially some random pony kid. It was practically part of the empire's pride in history books. “How do you even know that, kid?” Gilda asked back. “That from back during the wars we were in.” “I’m not as dumb as those blank flanks downstairs, alright?” Tiara replied, as though it had been obvious. “But it’s true, right?” “So what?” Gilda said with a shrug. “Awesome as were are, you ponies seem to be the “heroes” of this place,” she said, somewhat indignant. “We import orichalcum for you guys, and we invented that too,” she sighed a bit, feeling she had to ask. “You did know about that as well, right?” “I thought it was just gold…” Diamond Tiara said, looking aside, but looked back with confidence. “But dad told me it’s a mix of copper, gold, even pyrite.” She then notice the rather shocked look the griffon had looking at her, but Gilda got her composure back soon though. “Well, when you don’t got magic you gotta figure a way around it,” she said simply. “But that’s ancient history these days.” She had a bit of a smile then, this stuff was her childhood after all. “My dad would go on and on about it too. Even telling me stories about how griffons could take on dragons while most ponies were stuck with mithril and fighting over dirt.” “Seriously?” Tiara eyed the griffon with doubt. “You fought dragons?” “Meh, dad said us griffons used to seek out large monsters and…” Gilda noticed Diamond was unfazed, still not convinced. “Yeah, that might be bunko, whatever,” she ended that possible argument. “But it’s pretty sweet if you ask me!” she said with some disappointment. “So, why are you bringing up that whole “Gryphon guard” business anyway?” Diamond Tiara looked away for a moment. “It’s that mad pony,” she said with a shudder. “He came after me, and I’m...I’m scared of him coming back for me again.” she spoke fast, even stuttering a bit. “Y-you griffons are good at defending against t-these kind of things, right?” “So, what?” Gilda said as she scratched her head. “He hasn’t shown up yet. Besides, those other fillies…” Diamond apparently lost her strength, and either fell or sat down on the floor harder than expected. “Uh...you ok?” “No,” said Tiara, lying on the floor with a sad look. “Just that memory, just that…” She tensed up in fear. While Gilda was content to look on, she could see Diamond looked like she was pleading for her to do something. The griffon grumbled a bit in defeat. Maybe it was those stupid dreams affecting her mind, getting her to suddenly think on these things. Before all that stuff had happened, if some little filly asked her to be supportive she would have told them to go back to their herd. Besides, the other foals downstairs weren’t going to get through to this kid. Gilda felt some guilt in knowing this from experience. “Ok, so he’s got that effect on you,” Gilda answered with a sigh and a shrug as she walked over to the shaken filly. She sat next to her and even putting a wing over the foal. “Alright, tell aunt Gilda all about it.” She couldn't believe she was saying that. “That mad pony…” Diamond Tiara said. “He said some stuff, and Scootaloo...she reminded me of it.” “What do ya mean?” Gilda asked. “He said I don’t deserve anything,” Diamond said trembling. “That it’s all my fault things happened to me and stuff! That I don’t deserve my friend or anything if he could say anything about it.” “Yeah,” Gilda replied scratching her neck. “I’ve had that feeling from stuff too.” The kid looked at her a bit confused. “It’s a long story…” she brushed it aside. “So, what about it? He’s already some mad pony. Just one crazy jerk if you ask me.” “What if those blank flanks agree with him?” Tiara said as she looked down the hall and away. “Like they want to…do the same thing to me,” she muttered. “Blank...what?” Gilda didn’t quite understand the term, but put it aside. “I know scoot-head was being a dweeb about it, but Fluttershy sees that apple girl really cares. I can see why...” The kid gave her a sharp, angry look at that and Gilda looked sheepish. “Ok, maybe she does, alright? That kid did offer an invite to that party her family is having. Maybe she feels sorry for you too?” “I don’t want her sympathy…” Diamond Tiara hung her head as she spoke. “She’s some loser blank flank.” “Why?” Gilda asked without much surprise. “Your life sucks right now!” the blue eyed filly just looked aside, not answering. “You got reasons too, huh?” “Yeah…” Tiara lay her head in her hooves. “I just don’t want to be near her right now.” “So there a bunch of stupid goodie goods,” Gilda shrugged, still trying to help. “It’s a free meal, right?” “How am I supposed to talk to them?” Diamond asked, and while the mathematician answer was clear, the real one was something else at the moment. “So far, for me, it’s been playing a few board games and some simple conversation,” Gilda replied to the depressed foal. “Ya think these fillies sound stupid, you should have seen this diamond dog I knew.” Diamond sighed at that. “I don’t want to “have” to be their friend,” she said with hoof quotes. “I’ve spent enough Hearth’s Warming Eves alone to know it’s sucks, kid,” Gilda added with a wing rub. “If I were you, and I’m not, but if I was I’d take that invite. At worst, it will just be a quiet meal or something.” While Diamond Tiara could have taken that answer, but she gave Gilda a pretty hard question too. “What would you do if your old friend did this?” Tiara asked, and the griffon felt a jolt from it. “Just suddenly all bygones be bygones and stuff?” “I…..” Gilda’s eyes were wide with more than shock as she struggled for a good answer. “I don’t know….” She scratched her leg, more than a bit anxious. “I think about it sometimes, but that ain’t going to happen.” “But what if it did?” Diamond pressured. “We’re you two that badly off?” Gilda counted, hoping to shift this away from her and Dash for a moment. “Last I checked, you weren’t friends before this. Double that, she isn’t yelling about how everything's your fault...well, outside your head right now.” The answer took Diamond Tiara off balance a bit, kinda like it looked like it hurt. So Gilda decided to close it. “Just, keep it in mind, ok?” she finished. “Unlike the friend I know, it’s clear the apple kid is making an effort for you. She’s one of those sickeningly friendly ponies, not a prankster, so you know she won’t pull something.” “Ok,” Tiara finally looked up from the floor with a smile for once. “So, maybe she won’t rub it in. Do ya think?” It was quiet for a moment, neither side knowing what to say. “Yeah, I doubt it...anything else kid?” Gilda asked with a bit of a smile. “That mad pony still scare ya?” “N-not as much,” Diamond answered, taken a bit off guard on that. “Um, thanks?” “If you believe that whole “griffons best defenders” thing, I’m guessing me being here got you feeling safer at least, right?” Gilda would have been lying if she said that she felt no pride in that. “Yeah!” Diamond finally got up, still with a wing on her back. “It does!” She smiled to the griffon. “It’s kind of silly, but after that hug…” She scratched her mane, looking embarrassed. “...um, well?. It’s, like, weird. Like, some of that stuff that got to me just looked less...scary.” Clearly the kid was finding all this about as hard to describe as the griffon did. “Yeah…” Gilda rubbed her claw. “I’m not usually the cuddling type, so…” She had to think of a way to off awkward this. “Glad I could help?” “Totally did!” Diamond said happily. “I bet you could take that mad pony down even.” “Do they know who to look for at least?” Gilda asked. Maybe it was her ego feeling stroked, but the idea of fighting down something made the griffon feel energized. “Just in case, ya know?” “Dark green with brown eyes.” Tiara answered. Gilda felt her wings stand on end, no longer with a hold on the filly. It was not a form of excitement that caused that. “Sharp teeth….?” Gilda asked without thinking, her eyes staring into space. “Yeah, like a monster!” Tiara added, not noting the clear terror on the griffon’s face. “How did...Gilda?” Gilda didn’t even blink, her eyes were open too wide as she clattered the teeth she had. “Gilda?” While Tiara seemed to see the horror on the griffons face, she could only glimpse the tip of the iceberg of what was wrong. “This is gonna suck…” Gilda added to that, because it was going to.