Beyond the Sky

by Sight Watcher

Chapter 1: Chaos Within

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is copyright Hasbro

Beyond the Sky
Chapter 1
Chaos Within

In Equestria there are two worlds inhabiting the same planet existing parallel to each other.

The first world existed upon the very ground itself. On the surface earth ponies worked the fields, harvested the crops and unicorns used their magic to create marvels the likes of which had never been seen before. Their cities thrived and expanded into ever-growing metropolises on the ground. There was however a second world which existed far above the surface. Upon the clouds, traveling between jet streams and currents was a world separate from the earth. It was ruled by Pegasus ponies, who shared many qualities with their earth cousins whom they existed with peacefully. There is only one other intelligent, speaking species in all of Equestria who shared the rapturous thrills of flight with the Pegasus ponies; a species of daring and cunning that for thousands of years had been the masters of the skies. Following bloody events of the last century their numbers had dwindled, but these predators that had once been known for savagery now coexisted with their vegetarian brothers and sisters of the sky.

They are the griffons of Equestria.

Darting through the clouds far above the surface two giant, powerful wings cut through the air with speed and precision. A griffon in flight was a sight of majesty that had always left spectators in awe. The creature which was half eagle and half lion was a species born in a land of magic as an intelligent, proud, and incredibly cunning predator. It was the birthright of all griffons to be regarded as the fastest, most graceful hunters of the sky, but they were not monsters. Feathers and pelt were always diligently preened and groomed, with proper posture whenever they were grounded. The reputation of a griffon depended on appearance, style, courage, and above all else the indomitable will of a champion.

This griffon however hadn't been raised within the Griffon Nation. She was different.

Her eyes were outlined by light purple feathers which managed to enhance the movements of her eyes which scanned the skies as if searching for her prey. Those yellow eyes burnt with passion, and youth, and they were always serious. She was young, and her eyes sizzled with arrogance, and impatience, but to her core she was a griffon through and through.

Spreading her wings the griffin caught an upward current, performed an inside loop before gracefully her wings to her sides. There was a moment of freefall before she stretched out her legs, landing gently atop a cotton white cloud.

Her name was Gilda and she belonged to the sky.

Gilda spotted two other griffons in the distance and waited for them to join her. Nomiki had gray feathers and was the largest of the group while Selene was the smallest griffon of the group, a similar color pattern to Gilda, only her feathers were black with red highlights at the top of her head and around her eyes.

“Would you mind going a bit slower? Not all of us are into the racing thing.” Nomiki said as she laid herself across the cloud. Her posture and chiseled features sometimes made Nomiki seem like a statue. Emotional responses were something she never seemed to share.

“If Gilda has some energy to burn let here burn it!” Selene grinned. “I’m always up for seeing what Gilda can do.”

“You’d think she’d tire herself out by now.”

“That wasn’t even half of what I got!” Gilda pounded her breast with a claw. “Watch this!”

Launching forward off the cloud Gilda began picked up speed before beginning to turn, rising into a chandelle searching for an element she could use to her advantage. Her mind was filled with variables and calculations geared towards her performance.

What do I have to work with…Hot air from west…A few small clouds…Jet stream about fifty meters up…Ah-hah! Pop won’t mind if I borrow one of his moves.

Focusing her eyes on a storm cloud above Gilda’s wings snapped out launching her into the air once more with great velocity. Spreading her wings to their full width the griffon began to spin, wings cutting through the cloud and carrying it along with her creating a vortex around the griffon. Lightning crackled around the edges of the cyclone but never came close enough to harm the griffon.

Her friends watched from a distance. What they saw was something that could never naturally occur: a tornado rising out of a cloud and crackling with electricity which leapt and crackled in all directions. Spreading her wings Selene let out a hawk-like scream: A traditional griffon cheer. Selene’s polar opposite, Nomiki observed with cool detachment and a face of stone, but her eyes showed her full investment in Gilda’s presentation.

After the vortex had climbed to a high of roughly five meters Gilda’s wings snapped to her sides and she dived through the eye of the cyclone she’d created, just barely getting her body through without touching the electrified body of her creation.

Once she was clear her wings spread once more and she shot straight up rushing beneath the watching griffons while letting out a loud shriek, frightening them as they’d been too preoccupied watching the spectacle to notice Gilda had ever exited the tornado. Realizing what had happened Selene cheered even louder as Nomiki nodded her silent approval.

Smirking, Gilda landed in front of them as the vortex behind her settled returning once again to its gloomy prior state.

Nomiki herself to quietly clap her talons together in approval, while Selene could hardly contain her excitement, flapping her wings rapidly and hovering just above the cloud.

“That was amazing! Like the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen! Just- Wow! Positively the coolest thing on wings!”

“Just a little trick I been working on lately,” Gilda brushed her shoulder to shake the water from her feathers, keeping a nonchalant demeanor. “Just a personal little spin on one of my dad’s big moves, no big deal.”

“No big deal?! Are you kidding me? That was totally wicked!”

“I have to agree with Selene on this: You continue to impress, Gilda.” Nomiki remained perched on the cloud, a simple grin breaking her typically blank expression. This was the highest form of approval any griffon could hope to get from the gray feathered artist who hid beneath a mask of indifference.

“Yeah, I do it better now than I did back then.” Gilda knew the other griffons would applaud her performance. After all, they had no hope of accomplishing anything like it, nor did they have any desire to compete with Gilda’s talents. It caused their praise ring hollow with the self-riotous Gilda who had once been placated by such petty compliments from her peers, but was beginning to find herself bored with the other griffons’ commentary. She wanted their approval, but she was finding that their praise carried less weight each time she heard it.

Nomiki looked to the north, “I’ve had enough high-flying antics for one day.”

“We were thinking of grabbing a bite to eat at the forest. Want to come with?” Selene flew beside Gilda, eyes wide with the excitement of a puppy waiting to be played with.

“It wouldn’t be much of a hunt without the best flier in these skies at our side,” Nomiki said, casually joining the group above the cloud.

Gilda hesitantly looked back and forth between her two friends, putting up a small smile.

“Nah, I think I’m just going to enjoy some time to myself. I’ll just hang around shredding the sky by myself.”

“You’ve been having lots of that lately,” Nomiki brushed the feathers of her head to the side. “We’ll leave it to you Gilda. C’mon, Nomiki!”

“Aw, we’ll hook up later!” Selene joined Nomiki. “Keep on rocking, Gilda!”

“Later…”

Gilda looked over at the other two griffons that had accompanied her left and let out a sigh once they were out of earshot. They were her friends, but they were too different. They couldn’t hope to fully understand what it was she needed now.

Back in the day Rainbow Dash had never been a spectator. Her new friends were everything Gilda ever thought she’d need: cool, griffons, predators, all the same as Gilda with one fundamental difference: they had no interest in speed or daredevil feats through the clouds. They watched, they cheered, but they never joined Gilda in the rush of adrenaline which was what fueled the female griffon’s entire existence. Whenever Gilda introduced a new trick Dash would always chime in something along the lines of “That’s cool and all, but watch this!” Gilda missed that. What satisfaction was there in best when the competition was so weak? There was no value to her victories if there wasn’t someone who could best her.

Gilda had never felt fully welcomed or comfortable around the ponies despite her father being a respected dignitary known for attending countless socials in Equestria. As far as Gilda perceived, there were some things that fundamentally made it near impossible for the two to fully coexist. Ponies were vegetarians, they frowned upon a griffon’s natural need to kill and feed on the flesh of other living creatures. Ponies also didn’t understand a griffon’s devotion to the individual. For the most part, griffons are solitary creatures with only a few acquaintances and eventually a mate whom they would spend their entire life. Relationships were unimportant to griffons, but a life mate once acquired would be a griffon’s entire reason for existence. Griffons only had it in their hearts to love one other individual with all their heart and once one dies they never seek another mate. Gilda’s true love was with sky.

Gilda however had found something more than an acquaintance in a pegasus filly while being a part of Flight Academy. Rainbow Dash was the only pony who had ever tested Gilda’s own abilities. When she came to Cloudsdale Gilda had believed herself as being invincible, a sky ace of unmatchable skill, and her arrogance was what had driven her actions. One day however one little sky blue filly with a rainbow colored mane challenged Gilda to a race. Gilda had laughed at the challenger, immediately accepting the challenge. The race was close up until the final stretch when suddenly the pony had found a sudden burst of speed and beat Gilda by two seconds (a landslide as far as Gilda had been concerned). From that day forth the two continued to test and challenge each other all through their days in academy: races, aerobatics, speed, endurance, they competed with each other in every manner imaginable and Gilda had never felt more alive.

When they had flown together the griffon’s heart was aflame, for she had found a challenger who had pushed her to the peak of her abilities. Her pegasus friend was a rival but she had also been Gilda’s longest friend. They were the hotshots, the crème of the crop at the academy. Nothing was going to hold them back from becoming the best of the best. When it all ended Rainbow Dash had informed Gilda that she was moving to a place of her own just outside a small town called Ponyville. Gilda, as indebted to her friend as she was, had no desire to leave the griffon quarters of Cloudsdale to live a life constantly surrounded by ponies. She promised Rainbow Dash that she’d visit her once she’d fully settled down in her own Cloudsdale residence.

Gilda’s first time seeing Rainbow Dash since graduation had ended with disaster as the griffon had discovered that she’d been replaced by a motley crew of ponies with not a single flier among them. One in particular pony by the name of Pinkie Pie had seemingly gone out of her way to mock and torment the visiting griffon who wanted nothing more than a day in the sky. A griffon couldn’t be slowed by the life of those who spent their entire lives bound to the earth. But Rainbow Dash could. She’d rejected her old academy friend in an instant when push came to shove…Gilda had given one hell of a push that day.

Gilda at the time had believed it to be a bluff; a ruse meant to pressure the griffon into apologizing for her behavior towards the insufferable ponies which was something Gilda had no intention of doing. Griffons are absolute; they stand behind their decisions, and don’t show weakness to your enemies. She’d called that perceived bluff and had stormed off leaving Rainbow Dash with an ultimatum. Now close to a year later she still hadn’t seen Dash. She’d misjudged her friend’s devotion to those seemingly insignificant ponies.

Gilda nestled down into the cloud beneath her, resting her head off the edge. After a long morning’s flight and the accumulative impact of many sleepless nights Gilda’s body was beginning to rebel against her. Heavy eyelids fluttered and the cloud felt so incredibly comfortable beneath her, its malleable form perfectly fitting her body.

Looking down from the cloud everything on the surface of Equestria seemed so insignificant. Gilda had always seen the world from a hawk’s eye view never stopping to think of what life was like for those creatures forever bound to the earth. The very thought of living such a life sickened her.

Gilda wanted speed, she wanted the adrenaline that came with constantly facing death square in the eye, but she’d found over the past several months that she’d lost the motivation needed to reinvent herself. If she her wings were removed, if Gilda had to go on living without the freedom of flight she was sure she’d rather kill herself than live bound to the ground.

What gave Gilda purpose was her craft: the thrill of competition. She’d never held any jobs, nor had she ever actively helped her community. All that mattered to the griffon was continued practice of her art. Developing new tricks or pushing herself to her body’s limits was what brought her to catharsis. All of that seemed meaningless if she had no one capable of properly evaluation her skills!

Right now her body was telling her that for the moment she had reached her limits and sleep’s hand beckoned her with a seductive invitation. She’d done well and new a short nap wouldn’t hurt her. Besides, it was a freeing experience to sleep exposed in a singular cloud away from society. She’d often had such pleasure naps alongside Rainbow Dash in the years past.

As Gilda fell asleep a singular image crept into her mind: The image of a storm cloud with a rainbow pierced through it like an arrow cast from a celestial bow.

It was the first trick Gilda had ever given up the hope of ever accomplishing.

00000

“Wake up, griffon.”

When Gilda awoke she was still on the cloud, but something was different. All around clouds moved diagonally and vertically up and down instead of to the horizontal. Many of them had assumed a bright shade of pink and rained dark brown droplets onto the earth below.

Then Gilda felt something pulling at her paws.

“What the hell?!” Gilda found herself screaming aloud.

What had once been white was now a bright pink like so many of the other clouds around her. What felt to her paws and talon like cotton candy sucked and grabbed at the griffon like quick sand. It was thick as molasses and Gilda knew she couldn’t let it consume her!

Shrieking the griffon began to beat her wings trying to escape the surface but she couldn’t break free. Something was pulling her into the strange cloud which only seemed to grow in size each passing second. The substance felt to her paws like mud, and it pulled with a seemingly limitless store of strength. Gilda wasn’t simply sinking: it was pulling her in!

“This someone’s idea of a joke? Hah, hah, hah! Really fucking funny! Now get this off me before I tear your lousy throat out!” Gilda’s threats were empty, as tearing throats out was a far second on her priorities compared to getting free from the trap.

“I thought you were down with a good prank.”

The reply came as both a whisper and a hiss, seeming to creep into the griffon’s brain and excite in her such fear that she began her struggles anew. It was a voice that seemed to exist in her mind, filling her mind with poison, heightening her fear to an unbearable level.

I can’t allow my life to end like this! I have to escape. Have to get out of here right now! Think! Think! Got to use all my strength! Maybe I can break my legs free if I try hard enough.

Gilda’s wings flapped in long sweeping motions which only became more frantic as the material made its way past her knees. On one attempt Gilda put too much power into the motion and found the tip of her right wing trapped in the muck. Her struggle continued, her eyes wide with fear, but without her wings she knew there was nothing left she could do.

Gilda had heard hunters speak of animals who when caught in a snare would gnaw their own feet off if it offered any hope of life. With all four legs trapped the griffon couldn’t manage that even if she had the nerve to attempt. She was out of options.

Killed by a damned cloud…Is there a lamer way to go?

Tears began to well up at the corners of the griffon’s eyes as her neck began to recede into the mess. Griffons were told to face death bravely and without fear, but Gilda wasn’t able to contain her emotions. The event was so sudden, so unexpected, and she was so young that she couldn’t accept that this could be the end…but still, she sank all the same.

Gilda took a deep breath, expecting it to be her last as the sweet tasting device of her execution at last consumed her.

00000

“Wakey, wakey, Gilda!”

In an instant life returned to the griffon, all of her senses coming online at once.

Gilda awoke to the wide eyed face of a pink earth pony that Gilda immediately recognized as Pinkie Pie. Shrieking in both surprise and anger the griffon leapt to her feet. She smelt cake and frosting which was splattered across her feathers and coat from beak to tail. The location, Gilda couldn’t believe where was. Once more she stood in Sugarcube Corner, the place where she’d been humiliated, where she’d broken contact with Rainbow Dash surrounded on all sides by ponies of various colors and build.

“Uhhh…What happened?”

“Oh! You just took a nasty little bitty spill while playing pin the tail on the pony!”

“Oh…right.” Gilda placed a claw on her head, rubbing her forehead beneath her crest.

An all too familiar laugh filled Gilda’s ears.

“Bah-hah-hah, oh G, you can be such a klutz!”

“Dash?”

Gilda looked up. The sky blue Pegasus pony hovered over the floor looking down at the rattled griffon.

“The one and only! How hard you hit your head to forget that?”

“Heh, er, yeah…I guess that was pretty dumb of me.” Gilda knew this was the point in which she’d blown her fuse and gone on to really make a mess of things but this time around she felt confused instead of enraged. Right now she was too confused to feel much of any emotion about the pranks which she had sword occurred months ago. Had her departure all been a dream?

“You want another try at pinning the tail on the pony?” Pinkie Pie bounced up and down beside Gilda, offering the blindfold and pin.

“Ah-hah, ummm…I think I’m going to pass on that.” Gilda tried her best to smile, but what resulted as an awkward expression of confusion and of frustration brought on by the appearance of the earth pony.

“Okie-dokie-lokie! Guess I’ll go next!”

As another pony helped Pinkie Pie into the blindfold Gilda gently took a hold of Rainbow Dash’s right foreleg and pulled her to a corner of the bakery. She cupped her beak with a talon, hoping that none of the other ponies would be able to hear her.

“Dash, what’s this really about?

“What’s what about, G?”

"Are you mad at me over something? Is it because of how I treated Pinkie earlier?” Her spilled from her beak at a rapid pace, but she kept her tone to a hush. "Just tell me what the problem is and we can sort this out."

"Are you okay, G?" Rainbow Dash looked at her inquisitively. "You're acting kind of strange."

“Oh for the love of- You know what I mean! The pranks: I know you set them up and thus far I’ve managed to trip everyone of them, but could you please stop? I’ve had enough. Could you…let some other pony be the one to trip the pranks now? I’m really prank-ed out for one day.”

“Hah! You’re just paranoid G. No pony is out to get you! Just enjoy the party Pinkie put so much hard work into throwing for you!” Rainbow Dash pointed her left hoof towards the center of the room, forcefully turning Gilda's head to look in the indicated direction with her left foreleg.

Pinkie Pie, blindfolded and with the long needle used to pin the tail on the pony firmly gripped between her teeth was being spun around by her friends.

Something was wrong. Something was terribly, awfully wrong, but Gilda wasn’t sure what it was. Everything seemed to be just as she remembered it, but how could that be? Rainbow Dash was exactly how she remembered: full of energy, and constantly making wisecracks every time Gilda made a mistake. Pinkie Pie also was just as painfully annoying as Gilda had ever perceived her to be…

Pinkie Pie was let loose, walking up down dizzily trying to make her way to the tailless pony whose image had been tacked to the wall. Her comical antics resulting in multiple collisions with tables, the counter, and various other fixtures of the sweet shop which caused the ponies in attendance to giggle, but Gilda wasn’t the least bit interested in watching the game.

The longer Gilda observed the sweet shop and its occupants the more she began to realize that something was missing. First there was the various baked goods and candy that filled the shelf. They all looked perfectly edible, but when inspecting the labels Gilda realized they were nothing but blurred, incomprehensible scribbles.

Then there was the ponies themselves. All of them except for Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash possessed the same cheery expression without any variation. At first Gilda had dismissed this, but after a moment it had become disturbingly apparent that the suspicion was true. Immediately after this she realize aside from Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and the other ponies that now formed Rainbow Dash’s immediate social circle were the only ones possessing cutie marks. All the others were blank flanks. Gilda knew there were late-bloomers; all ponies got their cutie marks when they were ready, but this was five, ten, twelve mares and stallions without a single mark!

“Ah-hah! I think I got it!”

Intense pain shot through her body causing Gilda to shriek an avian cry of pain as Pinkie Pie shot forward, stabbing the needle deep into the griffon’s flank. Gilda tried to find the words to respond, or even acknowledge what had just happen so all that emerged was senseless babble which sounded like a bird stuck in a lion’s throat.

“Oopsie-daisy! My bad, Heh-he” she giggled. “Let me get that for you, Gilda.”

The pony slapped her hoof down on the needle and Gilda leapt in the air as electricity rushed through her body. Unimaginable pain cleared Gilda’s mind of all rational thought. When Pinkie was finished and removed her hoof from Gilda’s bloodied flank the griffon crumpled to the floor like a structure whose supports had simply given out beneath it.

“Oh Pinkie Pie, you’re such a hoot! That was simply shocking! Bah-hah-hah!”

Rainbow Dash cackled while Gilda regained her senses, pulling the needle from her flank before managing to stand up on all her limbs. She was still delirious from the shock, and her body ached all over. The parts of her mind that began to take focus were consumed with an overwhelming hatred for the pink earth pony standing not two feet in front of her. A primal, savage rage which griffons had long strove to banish erupted to the surface in an earsplitting shriek!

“You bitch!” Gilda’s mind wasn’t in control of her foreleg, or her talons when with lighting speed, and with claws fully outstretched, lashed out at Pinkie Pie.

Much to Gilda’s surprise her claws passed clear through without a hint of resistance. The smiling pony’s head looked at her unblinking and without the slightest indication of pain as it fell apart into four neat pieces exactly as Gilda had seen griffon chefs prepare bloody delicacies countless times when attending formal dinners with her mother and father.

Gilda looked in horror and back away stammering and looking at her bloodstained talons. She’d hunted before, she’d killed before, but never from rage, and never had she killed anything more than a rabbit. Nothing that smiled, nothing that spoke- she’d killed a sentient being in cold blood. Seeing the bloody stump of a neck where that jeering, mocking face had once been made Gilda want to vomit.

“I-I- I didn’t mean to do that. I would never- she stabbed me and I reacted. It wasn’t supposed to-” Horrified, Gilda turned to Rainbow Dash “I wouldn’t-”

Suddenly the griffon realized that the other ponies were all laughing uproariously. Gilda realized they’d been laughing the entire time from the moment the pony’s head had fallen apart to now.

“What the fuck are all of you laughing at!”

“Hah, just take a look behind you, G!” Rainbow Dash pointed a hoof somewhere behind Gilda, having hardly been able to contain her laughter long enough to utter the short response.

Gilda turned around and felt her stomach do a somersault as a new head seemed to sprout out of the bloodied stump with the same grin and bright blue eyes as before.

“No, no, no, no, no! That’s-”

“The old regenerating head trick! That’s a good one!” the baby dragon that seemed to follow the ponies around said while all the others continued to laugh.

“Classic, Pinkie Pie! Classic!”

“No, no, no – this isn’t real.” Gilda backed away into a corner. The ponies followed, quickly surrounding her. “This can’t be real.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” a male voice answered. “If you look at it in the proper light, of course reality is a matter of what you choose to accept as existing or not.”

In a flash of light a strange creature appeared before Gilda and the sweet shop now seemed to be but a painting which stared unblinking at Gilda, who could feel their laughter even in the silence.

“This goes back to an event which did in fact happen in your life so technically it isn’t real. But, reality I’ve found to be such a subjective term, as it is simply a matter of how you as an individual choose define the boundaries between fantasy and reality, my dear griffon.” The strange creature towered over Gilda. “Right now we are in a reality that defines your existence: your mind. All I’ve done is brought life to your memories and imagination…Of course, I’ve included a few of my own touches here and there to add to the flavor, but I’ve tried to keep it close to the book in my adaptation of your life.”

“What in the hay are you?”

The aberration laughed.

“Over an infinite stretch of time, crossing countless planes of existence which your simple little mind cannot even begin to comprehend I have been known as many things. In this world I am known simply as Discord and I know everything there is to know about everything and pony in all of Equestria. That includes you.”

“Discord? That’s nothing but a ridiculous old pony tale meant to scare young fillies. What are you really?”

Discord clutched his chest and looked away with an expression of mock agony

“Oh, must I be forced to preach to a non-believer! You would deny what you eyes see and what your body feels, griffon? My magic is a kind of magic you have never seen before and yet you try to deny my existence? For shame!”

“If you were divine why would you choose to walk around in such a stupid body? You look like something an over-caffeinated filly would scribble on her desk.”

“Oh-ho! Good comeback!” Discord laughed a moment at Gilda’s snappy retort for a moment before composing himself.

“I choose to exist in this world as you see me because there is no order to chaos, griffon. Some ponies long ago defined myself as being a draconequus, meaning dragon horse….But as you can see I’m an entire assortment of bits and pieces of other biological structures without sense or reason…Not that you’re one to talk, being half-lion, and half-eagle. Tell me: what biological sense does that make?” The draconequus laughed his sinister, glee filled laugh as his body seemed to stretch, allowing him to encircle the griffon. “You can’t tell me that there isn’t chaos in this precious world you live in.”

Had he created all of this? He controlled it all without seeming to do so much as bat an eyelash. Every time Gilda had seen unicorns, or even the two princesses of Equestria perform magic they had to show some concentration, some visible show of effort (most commonly being the glow of their horn) when they practiced magic. Discord had none of this. What could he do if he actually put effort into his magic? What she didn’t know terrified the griffon more than this dream world and more than the sinister body of her tormentor.

What can I do? How do I get out of here?

Gilda needed to get out of this place. Divine or not this Discord was a frightening figure. If she could distract him long enough perhaps she could find a way out of this hell he’d constructed from her memories. Perhaps one didn’t need to be omnipotent to utilize such magic, but it was still territory Gilda had no wish of exploring, nor did she wish to discover how far the creature’s power extended.

“You see, I’ve seen many worlds, but none quite so fun to toy with as this one. Ponies rule everything, griffons, dragons, and cockatrices run wild- glorious! This world is chaotic even without my subtle charms!” As he said the last two words he clutched a pony’s skull, which had appeared out of nowhere, all whilst twisting his elongated torso and limbs into a melodramatic pose.

“What is it you’re trying to do? Actually, scratch that. I don’t give a crap. Tell me what the fuck you want with me or let me go!”

“Oh ho ho! My, my, you are a spicy one, aren’t you, Gilda? So much anger, so much pride, but deep down there’s something beneath those sharp eyes and heart of fire. Deep down you’re just a chick crying for mommy and daddy, but you’re oh so good at keeping that weakness buried deep within.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. You don’t know me.” Gilda dug her talons into the floor, her lion’s tail flicking angrily behind her. She wished to let her primitive mind take control, to dive into her enemy and tear him to bloody shreds with her own claws and beak, but she resisted. It would undoubtedly be of no use to attack the devil.

“Of course I know you. I know everything! Twenty years ago two of the greatest griffon flight aces of all time, Captain Northwind of the Stormbirds married his lovely wife Zoe of the Sky Sisterhood. After two years of wedlock their joyous union brought about one fiery little chick by the name of Gilda who has tried her entire life to live up to the legacy of her parents.

“Your father, who has always been on good terms with the ponies of Equestria, sent you off to attend the academy in Cloudsdale, where he as a student had once set the academy speed record. There you met an ambitious filly by the name of Rainbow Dash where a most glorious rivalry and friendship was created. While there you were upstaged by Rainbow Dash’s first ever sonic rainboom which beat your father’s record and was a speed of which you were never able to best. This haunts you to this very day.”

Discord’s lips curled back unveiling a huge smile of pearly white teeth composed of mismatched teeth from numerous species. “That about sums it up, right?”

“Hr-umph! So you know some facts about what has happened in my life. Big deal. That doesn’t mean you know me.” Gilda was trying to be strong in front of the nefarious being, but he didn’t even acknowledge what she just said with so much as his body language.

“Tell me, Gilda, how does it feel knowing you’ll always be second best?”

“What?”

“Your friend, Rainbow Dash: has she not always been the fastest thing to grace the skies of your generation?”

“Yeah, well, no- I mean she was the coolest thing on wings, but she isn’t anymore. She isn’t that great.”

“So you’re claiming to be the best flier?”

“That is only the entire purpose of my life! Dash has speed and style but I’ve got what it takes to be a champion.” Gilda stood tall, trying to appear as strong as she could before the creature. “It’s in my blood to be the best.”

“Come now Gilda, you mustn’t be pleased being second to a pony. Your beak that tears, those talons that cut, and those wings that cut through the air are the marks of a predator. Are predators not supposed to be fastest? That is what survival of the fittest would imply.”

“Yes!”

“But you aren’t the fastest to come from your class. That honor went to one Rainbow Dash.”

“Pah! Big deal. I don’t care about the past.”

Gilda immediately realized there was no use in trying to lie to her host. He had apparently read her mind so she knew how he was about to respond.

“No big deal? My goodness! Weren’t griffons always the fastest? Your own mother and father used to be considered the greatest fliers of their generation. You were their only child. Naturally it was to be expected of you to carry on their legacy, but instead you were upstaged by your colorful little pony friend. When the dust settled you were left as number two while your friend carried all the praise and admiration of her peers. Then on top of that you lost her friendship when you decided that her new friends weren’t good enough for you. So now you’re a griffon without any drive forever to be left in mediocrity.”

The Draconequus grinned. He knew he’d hit his intended target and like a child standing over an ant colony with a magnifying glass he enjoyed watching his victim squirm. “Funny how things work out in the grand scheme of things isn’t it?”

“That’s not true! I’m still one of the greatest fliers in all of Equestria! Speed-shmeed, so what if she’s faster than I am? I’m ten times the flier she’ll ever be! Ponies will never match the air mastery that has been the birthright of all griffons!”

Discord’s response was once again only one of laughter. Each time he laughed Gilda could swear it felt more as if he was forcing his being into her soul.

“Point taken, my feather headed friend! Who needs speed when you have such style and awesomeness at the tips of your talons?

There was a moment’s pause as the draconequus took a moment to contemplatively scratch his chin.

“Oh!” Discord punched his avian fist into the open palm of his feline paw. “But what does that matter compared to a holder of one of the six Elements of Harmony? One who attended the Grand Galloping Gala and won this year’s young flier’s competition (which you were of course absent from). My, my, that seems more impressive than your little air ballet.”

Gilda’s talons clenched, digging into the surface beneath her. She knew it had only been a matter of time before Discord would get around to teasing her passion, but the words still caused her blood to boil.

“In fact, all of Rainbow Dash’s new friends hold one of the six elements. No wonder she was so quick to drop you. Why settle for second fiddle when you can be a part of the greatest power in all Equestria? Attend parties with the Princesses? Who would need a former school yard hotshot as a friend when you can have all of that? You were a dead end and Rainbow Dash abandoned ship before she got bogged down by your pettiness.”

Gilda didn’t know how to respond to that other than to turn her head away.

“Does that make you mad, griffon? Knowing that you’ve been beaten out by a simple group of ponies for your one true friend’s affection? Did Rainbow Dash know about your feelings for her? Does she know how miserable you’ve been since that day when you last saw her, when you rejected her?”

“I’ve had enough of your talk!”

“Have I ruffled a sensitive set of feathers? Oh my! You mean to say that she never knew? Oh, this is even better than theater!” His echoing laughter filled the space around her. “Your amour-propre it would seem relied oh so heavily on the praise of a single pony. Every other being on this plane simply isn’t cool enough to satisfy your pride. How the mighty predator has fallen. When your races first walked the earth your kind would have no doubt taken great pleasure in feeding on the flesh of these docile vegetarians, but now here you are, a griffon lost without the comfort of a little pony’s companionship. Hah!”

“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to? How do you know all these things?” Gilda couldn’t control her primitive mind any longer. The beast within was released and she surged forward with the intent to kill.

Discord snapped his fingers vanishing before the griffon could touch him. Gilda, puzzled landed on all four legs, looking left and right for the draconequus.

“Language, language, my dear child! Is that how you speak to the true master of Equestria? Didn’t your parents teach you better?” Another snap and he’d teleported in front of Gilda, his eagle left hand pinching Gilda’s cheek and shaking it vigorously. “Mommy and daddy wouldn’t approve of their little Gildy-wildy speaking with such vulgarity.”

“Shut up!”

“Why, there once was a time when with a single snap of my fingers all Equestria would bow before the glory of chaos!”

“I am not a pony! And if you’re so divine than what do you want with me?”

“I must admit, I get nothing but my own satisfaction toying with you, griffon. Your mind is just so ripe with passion, anger, obsession – it’s irresistible! See, chaos is a specialty of mine. With so many conflicting thoughts and emotions at work within you I couldn’t help myself. I had to experience it for myself…”

Gilda looked away from the cruel jester trying to find something else she could focus on. This world was not real, it was a distortion; an abominable recreation of a place she only half-remembered.

“You are not afraid of me. In fact you find my form to be comically misaligned, but there is fear in you, griffon. Fear of that which transcends physical form.”

Discord moved close, bringing his equine forehead an inch away from the stylized crest of feathers atop Gilda’s head, his bright eyes burning through Gilda’s heart and soul.

“All I am to you is a joke. A cruel joke, yes, but a joke nonetheless. You fear an aspect of my being, but it is not my physical presence. It is what I represent. All your life you’ve been mortified by the unknown, by variables outside your control, and that’s the idea that I represent: Chaos.”

Discord’s eyes widened and he cocked his head towards something unperceivable to Gilda.

“Oh for the love of…So very sorry, I’m afraid I’m going to have to step out for a little while; seems that some ponies don’t understand the meaning of divine right.”

Without warning a rubber balloon was stretched over Gilda’s head, constricting her neck and blocking all her airways.

“I’ll just leave you to your friends. Arrivederci!”

A snap and a flash of light and he was gone again, and Gilda was once again in the recreation of Sugarcube Corner.

All around her the ponies laughed as Gilda frantically tried to remove the choking rubber from her head. The griffon clawed at the balloon but found that she couldn’t cut or tear the material no matter how hard she tried. It filled her beak, blocked her nostrils and only seemed to tighten with each passing moment.

As her world began fading to black the only thing she could focus on was the ponies’ laughter. It echoed through her mind long after all her other senses had been silenced. All her failures flashed before her eyes. Every disappointment, shortcoming, and regret she'd ever had all were accounted for in those dark moments.

Then, in a flash, it was over.

Comments

[flying_griffon]

man that was heavy right there

[L4]

finally a fanfiction that doesn't make Gilda a crying, remorseful who needs to be redeemed. She didn't do much wrong, Pinkie how were at all a good person, anyway this was a wonderful fic for an awesome character.

[VampDash]

Deep down you’re just a chick crying for mommy and daddy