Redemption

by BillyGoatHicks511

Broken Glass

Two weeks passed by after Gilda had visited ‘Limited Edition’ and nothing unusual had happened since. She basically fell into the same routine much like the one she fell into days after the accident, once she got acquainted with the Apple family and started doing work around the farm. Only this time the sadness was haunting her. Back then, the sadness was just a vague reminder that she (i.e. Gilda) was doing something wrong. If not that, the sadness back then symbolized that something in her life was amiss, but she couldn’t put her talon on it.

This time, however, the depression was thick. It was like a fog which left her blind and dumbfounded. Part of the reason why the sadness was attacking her so strongly, was because it wasn’t just the usual ‘lost in the world,’ depression that she usually had. It was mixed with a terrifying guilt; guilt that she, Gilda Griffon, knew that Twilight Sparkle was alive and yet she was telling no pony about it. It made her sick to her stomach knowing this fact, and yet she still remained silent and commanded Applebloom to be silent as well.

She had her justifications for her continued stillness on the matter. For one thing, Twilight was crazy. It didn’t take too much thinking to realize this fact. Anypony who thought that superheroes were real was crazy. It was delusional and irrational to say the least.

There was also a sense that Twilight was maladaptive in her behavior. She seemed to pose a threat to herself and Gilda as well. Gilda knew that Twilight would be likely to inflict pain upon herself (i.e. Twilight) due to the fact that the purple pony tried committing suicide years ago. As for why the purple unicorn posed a threat to Gilda, the griffon couldn’t identify a single logical reason as to why. It left her tossing and turning in the middle of the night, and most of the time, she didn’t get one wink of sleep.

Was it because Twilight was right? Maybe Gilda was supposed to be a superhero? Or maybe it was something much simpler. Maybe Gilda felt like she was filling in the hole that Twilight left in her friends’ hearts. If the purple pony returned, it would signify the end of Gilda’s connection to her new-found friends.

Regardless of these excuses, Gilda still felt overwhelmingly guilty for not telling Applejack, or any of the mane six, that Twilight Sparkle was alive and somewhat well. This guilt, added with her usual depression, made the two weeks an almost inescapable void that would swallow her whole.

However, there was one stallion which brought her out of the depths and made her forget about everything.

All throughout the two weeks of hell, the best part of the day was working alongside Big Mac. She didn’t care that she had to carry a bigger work load than usual. As long as it gave her the opportunity to talk to Big Mac, she always felt happy. The two were off to a brilliant start in their relationship. The date proposed by Gilda Griffon would come up on the weekend of the second week. In the meantime, the two weren’t prudish in their actions, and would try to find ways to sneak off their work and nuzzle against each other under a shady tree. Sharing kisses between the two became so casual, that it was comparable to somepony passing the salt along the dinner table.

Then, the day of their date arrived, and Gilda was filled to the brim with excitement and anxiety. This delightful terror overshadowed any of the guilt and sadness that Gilda would typically experience. Thus, that night was the greatest night of her life. In hindsight, the date and details as to what they did on that day weren’t unusual. In fact, it was almost clichéd. But because being with her stallion in public killed off any sense of depression, Gilda placed this day as one of her fondest memories.

Gilda was dressed to the nines in what must’ve been the most fashionable suit in pony history. She did have some help with Rarity in selecting a dress; on two conditions. One, the dress couldn’t be too sissy-ish. And two, she could NEVER, EVER tell Applejack. It wasn’t the fact that Gilda was terrified of what Applejack would do if she found it. She had her suspicions that Applejack already knew that Gilda and Big Macintosh were in a relationship together. What terrified her was if Applejack knew, then Rainbow Dash would know soon and Gilda would be SO EMBARRASED. She honestly wouldn’t know how to live down Dash’s teasing if she ever found out.

Big Mac was dressed in a masculine red bowtie and black coat. The look of how small the black coat was over Mac’s ripped muscle tone sent shivers down the Griffon’s spine. Mac knew what kind of impression he had upon her. He wasted no time winking at her very lustfully when he and Gilda met up in their favorite rendezvous; the tree to which they would share kisses during work. Gilda was very tomboyish and brute and tough at heart, but in that moment, she felt weak in the knees. She almost fainted.

The date consisted of an elaborate and extravagant dinner in one of ponyville’s most luxurious restaurants which Gilda was surprised that Big Mac could afford. Afterwards, the two saw a movie which was listed as number one by all film critics at the time of it’s released. Sadly, and yet ironically, the film was a documentary about the “Mare-do-well,” incident and how the merchandising of the “Mare-do-well,” products took off like a storm. Gilda did her best to smile throughout the movie, but it was getting difficult and she felt sick to her stomach. If only Mackie knew how closely related the “superhero” movie genre was to her.

Besides that, the whole date had been spectacular. Even after the movie, Gilda was swept right off her talons and paws once more when Big Mac noticed a certain chocolate stand and offered to buy Gilda some treats. They shared the chocolates together on the way home. They taunted and prompted each other into kissing by placing a chocolate in their mouth and asking the other to taste it. It made Gilda’s heart soar.

The most memorable moment of that date was when Gilda and Big Mac shared a kiss on the front porch door, same as they did a day and two weeks ago when Gilda asked for this date. It was a simple kiss, but it was strong. Big Mac had grown quite use to kissing a woman with a beak, and learned very quickly how to make the griffon light headed. The kiss between the two lasted for about 7 seconds, and when they pulled away, a long trail of salvia was strung between their two lips. This made Gilda laugh.

Then, they heard a loud crash. It was loud enough to make Gilda jump. She turned towards the source of the noise and became pale white with fear and terror. What she saw was simply the ONLY thing she did not want to see on this eventful night. It was all going so well.

Why did Rainbow Dash have to be at the Apple family farm challenging Applejack to hoof wrestling only to witness Gilda and Big Mac sharing a passionate moment together?

Rainbow smiled, and then shouted, “HA! I KNEW IT! I SO TOTALLY KNEW IT! APPLEJACK OWES ME FIFTY BITS!”

---

And that is how Gilda found herself with Rain bow dash 3 days later back in Fillidelphia. Rainbow Dash did indeed receive the fifty bits and decided to put the bits to good use. Knowing that Gilda worked as a security guard at the Filidelphia Eagles stadium, she began looking up dates as to when the Eagles would be playing a home game. Once she found it, she planned on getting the bits to buy the two tickets, so that she and Gilda could basically have a ‘girl’s day out,’ together. But a girl’s day out between these two always had an added kick to it, and thus, made the offer from Dash so tempting that Gilda had to accept.

It was on that day, that everything changed forever.

They had just made their way from the train and they had trotted their way to the Eagle’s stadium, waiting patiently, yet eagerly in line to buy tickets. Although Gilda still felt that strange mixture of guiltiness and sadness, the fact that she and her best friend were doing something that was almost considered tradition, made Gilda feel so giddy inside. It was exactly like old times. Nothing had changed a bit between the two, and Gilda felt so happy.

Once they got up to the counter, Rainbow Dash found the pouch of bits and placed them on the counter. “Two tickets, 50 yard line please,” Rainbow Dash asked.

The response she received was, “Oh sweet Celestia. Gilda is that you?”

Gilda looked up and almost screamed with excitement. Behind the counter was a brown mare with a tan mane; otherwise known as terry. While Gilda worked at the stadium, Terry and Gilda became like two amigos. Terry had that same tomboyish charm that Gilda had and both were pretty much the counterculture of feminine stereotypes.

This wouldn’t count as a moment in which they displayed such attitudes, as they giggled and squealed with excitement as soon as Terry ran out from behind the booth and hugged Gilda.

“Holy cow Gilda!” Terry announced as they embraced each other. “It’s been way too long.”

“Same here,” Gilda replied as they hugged.

“I mean, I saw in the news that you survived that accident and I was like, ‘holy cow, Gilda’s one tough chick.’ But then again I already knew from experience,” Terry announced as she pulled away from Gilda.

The reminder of her survival had become common for Gilda anytime she was out in public. She caught some stares and some brief looks. Sometimes, she was even asked for an autograph and a picture (the saddest example of this was when a filly bound to a wheel-chair went up to Gilda and commented “if you can survive a train crash, I can survive being crippled,” Gilda still gets choked up thinking about that particular incident). So when Terry brought it up, Gilda brushed off the comment as casual conversation.

“You’re not going to believe me when I say this, but that train accident was actually sort of a blessing in disguise,” Gilda somewhat truthfully stated. “I mean, because of the accident I found a new line of work which I actually enjoy.”

“Really? What’s that?” Terry asked curiously.

“I’m working on an Apple farm,” Gilda stated. Terry looked somewhat flabbergasted and Gilda had to laugh. “I know, I know, it’s strange. But its simple work and the job includes free food and free housing.”
“Now that’s always nice,” Terry said with a smile. “Free housing would be great right about now. Did you know the rent on my apartment actually went up twenty percent?”

“Seriously?” Gilda squawked. “That’s crazy! You need to kick your land owner in the balls.”

“Yeah, I know,” Terry stated, “But it ain’t worth it. It’s best just to work double time down here at the stadium.” There was a bit of silence between the two before Terry stated. “You know Gilda, Free housing and food is awesome, but I bet you there’s another reason why I haven’t seen you in so long.”

Gilda smiled. “How right you are Terry. Seriously you can read me like a book.” Gilda took a deep breath, and then told her. “The truth is……I actually found my boyfriend after the train accident.”

Terry smiled. “Well I’ll be damned. Mrs. Gilda, independent, ‘I don’t need no boyfriend,’ Griffon found someone to ruffle feathers with.” The brown pony laughed.

“Yep,” Rainbow Dash commented. “I gave her a lot of crap when I heard about it. I’m Rainbow Dash by the way.”

Terry’s eyes widened. “The Rainbow Dash. Great jumping Luna’s! I’ve heard so much about you from Gilda. She said you two were like peas and carrots.”

Rainbow smiled. How right she was. “Yeppers. In fact, that’s why we came down here. It’s a little tradition for us to go out and see a storm ball game at least once in a year together.’

“Hey, don’t worry about the tickets. I’ll give you whatever seat you want for free,” Terry stated.

Rainbow’s eyes widen like saucers. “Seriously?!?!”

“Yeah. Anything for Gilda,” Terry commented as she nudged the griffon in the shoulders. “Seriously, nothing has been the same ever since you left security. The new guys suck. Did you know what happened today?”

“No,” Gilda replied.

And that’s when Terry said it.

“Some purple pony in crutches came in with fake tickets and the two dummies still have her in the interrogation room. In fact, she said she was looking for you. I believe her name was ‘Twilight spittle,’ or something?”

---

Dash was pissed!

All this time, all this time Gilda knew that one of her closest friends was alive, and she told NOPONY! Dash signified this anger, by refusing to talk to Gilda as they walked down the inside corridors to meet Twilight Sparkle in the interrogation room. She showed her anger by stomping as loud as she could as both she and Gilda walked down the halls. From the way Gilda’s head ducked, Gilda seemed afraid. Good! Rainbow Dash hoped that the guilt was just eating her up.

But there was another reason why Dash was silent and didn’t blurt obscenities or scream or throw punches like she usually would do when angry. She had yet to see Twilight Sparkle. Although the odds were not in Gilda’s favor, this could be a huge misunderstanding. What if they got to the interrogation room and there was some pony in a different shade of purple named Twilight Spittle? It would be so embarrassing if Rainbow Dash lost her cool now and that was the case.

When they reached the door, Dash took a peek inside. There she was. The mane cut and the purple coat where unmistakable. Rainbow Dash lost her shit. She slammed a hoof against the wall next to Gilda’s face, and screamed.

“WHAT THE BUCK GILDA!” Dash exclaimed. “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?”

Gilda was slow and hesitant to speak. Yet when her voice came out, she seemed calm and collective. “Dash, I can explain.”

“OH YEAH, LIKE I HAVENT HEARD THAT ONE BEFORE!!!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

Gilda decided that enough was enough and basically just let it all out.

“She thinks I’m a superhero,” Gilda stated to her pony friend.

The gears in Dash’s head began to jam. “…..what?”

“She thinks I’m a superhero like Batmare, Spider Mare, the Equestrian Torch,” Gilda continued.

“…do you realize how INSANE that sounds?!?” Dash retorted.

“Exactly,” Gilda replied. “Which is why I didn’t tell you that I saw her when I went into Limited Edition the other day,” Gilda lowered her voice, and began to stress her words calmly to her friend. “Look, the mare in there is not the Twilight Sparkle you once knew. She may remember you, she may even still be your best friend, but she is NOT the same. Something in her head snapped.”

“What a bunch of horseshit!” Dash proclaimed.

Gilda, in righteous fury, opened the door to the interrogation room. “Fine, go in and see for yourself,” Gilda stated to her friend.

“…maybe I will,” Dash spat back. She composed herself and then trotted into the room.

But no amount of composure could’ve prepared her for what she saw when she got up close.

First thing Rainbow Dash noticed, were her crutches. There were two on both of her fore hooves, and as she sat on her flank in the chair, it gave off the impression that she was spider-like. The second thing Dash noticed was the fact that she addressed Gilda before her. “It’s good to see you again Gilda,” Twilight commented. And then Twilight looked and noticed Dash.

“Dash,” Twilight stated in shock, almost out of breath.

Tears welled up behind Dash’s eyes, and she ran towards Twilight and hugged her tightly. Fortunately for Twilight, nothing broke. Dash tried to restrain her cries within her throat, but with no such luck. She made choking sounds before finally succumbing to the sobbing. Gilda watched this from the doorway, and wondered why in the world would she try to disrupt friendship like this?

Dash pulled away, “Twilight….you’re alive.”

Twilight smiled, “Aren’t I always?”

Dash shook her head as Twilight pulled up a chair for Dash to sit in. Dash took the chair and smiled as she spoke to Twilight. “I mean, this is crazy….it’s been like years…..I have no clue what to ask you or where to begin.”

“Neither do I,” Twilight acknowledged. “It’s been so long I think I’ve forgotten how to talk to my friends.”

At this point, Dash looked behind her and noticed Gilda. A deep scowl went across the neon-blue Pegasus’s face, and she turned back to Twilight with a smile. “Well, for one thing, I guess we can start by talking about Gilda.”

Gilda looked bamboozled and bewitched. This was outright childish. Gilda knew that she had done wrong, why subject her to more torment?

“Yes, lets,” Twilight said with a smile. “I have so much to talk about referring to old Gilda here,”

In the back of her mind, Rainbow Dash was curious as to why Twilight would say that. But in the precociousness, Rainbow Dash simply shrugged off the comment. She was just glad to see her friend once again. She also was really looking forward to humiliating Gilda, making sure the Griffon would never pull a stunt like this again.

“You won’t believe what Gilda said about you,” Rainbow Dash commented. Her smile continuously got bigger due to her happiness. “She said that you believed she was a superhero.” Rainbow Dash laughed. “I mean, isn’t that crazy?!?”

Twilight frowned. “It’s not crazy. In fact, I think it’s true.”

Dash’s smile suddenly vanished. It took a while for her to process the words, but when she did, it struck terror into her heart. “…what?” she stated, hoping to Celestia that she misheard what her old friend said.

“It took some deep thought, but the more I think about it, the more my theory starts to make sense,” Twilight proclaimed. “There are still many holes to work out but, all in all, I say there’s a 75 to 85% chance that I’m right.”

Dash had studied Twilight’s eyes while the purple pony spoke. She watched for any signs of insanity or derangement in those eyes. The certain features Dash was searching for blew up right in front of her eyes when she actually studied them. By the end of Twilight’s short speech, Dash was awestruck and filled with dread. She turned to Gilda, puzzled by the whole thing. The griffon returned Dash’s look with a nod of her head.

‘Gilda’s right,’ Dash thought with horror. ‘Twilight’s gone.’

She heard Twilight laugh to herself under her breath. That laughter, although like a whisper, scared Rainbow to death. She couldn’t be gone! Something was up.

“Twilight……are you ok?” Dash asked with concern as she raised a hoof to Twilight’s head; an instinctive response to see if the sick were getting sicker.

“Never better,” Twilight stated with a smile. Then, she looked to her fore hooves, and raised the crutches. “I mean, of course I still got my disease to handle, but I try to manage.”

“Disease?” Dash inquired shocked.

“Osteogenesis Imperfect,” Twilight informed her old friend. “Basically, my bones are like glass.” The purpled pony laughed. “I was a little worried when you went to hug me. I was afraid I’d lose a section of my spine.”

Dash looked towards the ground, dazzled.

Twilight shot her left eyebrow up inquisitively. “Um….are you ok?”

Dash returned her comment, filled with anger. She wasn’t angry at Twilight, she was just mad. She was mad at Gilda, she was mad at this….thing that Twilight had become, she was mad at the world; she just had so much pent up anger that she had to let it out.

“I asked you that question,” Dash stated with vigor as she began to stand. “What, did one too many falls break your mind too! Twilight, do you realize how insane your theory sounds?!? Superhero’s belong in comic books and fantasy because THEY DON’T EXIST!”

What terrified Gilda and Dash even more was the fact that Twilight remained calm, cool, and collective just as she was before the conversation took a strong turn for the worst. She huffed out a disappointed sigh, and then said, “I have proof that states otherwise.”

“What proof?” Dash asked with a mix of skepticism and actual wonder.

“Well, first of all, after my talk with Gilda,” Twilight began as she acknowledge the griffon standing in the corner, “I’ve came up with three points which support my theory. Point #1. Out of 200 passengers, Gilda is the sole survivor who emerged miraculously unharmed. Point #2. I assumed Gilda checked old records and files once she received the letter on the windshield, would I be correct?”

Gilda slowly nodded her head. Dash was a little confused but then remembered the day Big Mac attacked the priest, and then realized, ‘wait….twilight placed the card on the windshield?’

“Good,” Twilight responded to Gilda. “Because that just supports my second point, which is even before the crash, she suffered multiple accidents and never once was injured or sick growing up.”

“What about the cart accident?” Dash asked amazed.

“That’s just one of the many holes in my theory, but in comparison with the theory as a whole, it’s actually not that big of a deal.”

This set Dash off. “NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL?!?!? SHE COULD NO LONGER PLAY STORMBALL!”

“I have a theory to that as well,” Twilight responded still cool and collective. “I believe that if she truly was injured, she would’ve received some x-rays with her medical documents.” She turned to the Griffon, who now seemed to be shrinking away in embarrassment. “Did you receive any x-rays?”

When Gilda spoke, it blew Dash’s mind. “No. It just stated that I had a wing injury.”

Twilight smiled. “I believe that Gilda is suffering from a strange and distorted version of post-traumatic stress disorder, and in her autopilot stage after the accident, she told the doctors that she was injured, but she really wasn’t.”

“Why in Equestria would she say that?” Dash said shocked. “Stormball was her life.”

“I don’t know. It’s another hole in the theory. A much bigger hole, but I believe some Hypno-therapy might help Gilda remember the events.” Twilight was silent for a few moments. Her eyes darted away and stared off into the distance. Then, she turned back to Dash.

“But my third and final point……..I believe it might be the biggest factor to comprehend.” Twilight then looked at Gilda. “Gilda, you said that you feel a type of Sadness every morning, is that true?”

Gilda was somewhat surprised that Twilight brought this up into the conversation, but all she could really do in reply was nod her head and support what the purple pony just said.

Twilight looked Rainbow Dash and Gilda straight in the eyes, and began her lecture. “There’s a term passed around in the comic book fan community which refers to when a protagonist has a moment where he decides to down the cloak and cowl. We call this ‘the calling.’ It basically means that even though it took a radioactive spider or a red sun to make the character super strong or have x-ray eyes, The character always had this compelling notion to do something, they just were not sure what that something was. They felt out of place in the world; different.”

“They felt like they were underwater, and that the way to the surface is right in front of them, but they just don’t know how to reach it,” Gilda spoke aloud, realizing what Twilight was saying. It basically all summed up to the fact that hedonism went along hand in hand with the superhero life style. If it felt right, chances are, it typically was right.

“When was the last time you were happy?” Twilight asked.

This question somewhat ticked off Gilda and she responded with a crude stare and a bark. “Just three days ago. My boyfriend and I went out on this date and I couldn’t have been happier, even if I went to heaven.”

Twilight nodded her head. “Then it’s meant to be.” Twilight stated. “But let’s talk about everything before Ponyville,” Twilight clarified. “What is it that you decided to do, after you left the flight academy?”

Gilda shrugged her shoulders. “I became a security guard,” she stated in a matter of fact way.

“But why?” Twilight asked inquiringly.

“The pay was good,” Gilda stated. “It was an easy job to acquire, and beside Stormball, it made me-”

And that’s when it struck her. That’s when she realized what Twilight was trying to refer to in her conversation. It was a revelation. It scared Gilda because it a sense, it somewhat meant that Twilight was right. She didn’t want to admit it, but aside from the fact that superheros only exist in fantasy, Twilight was hinting at something right.

“….happy,” Gilda stated out of breath.

“Exactly,” Twilight remarked like a scientist exclaims ‘eureka.’ “Don’t you think that’s kind of weird? That you choose this job on your own even before you realized what was at stake?”

Rainbow Dash looked at this and laughed. It was absurd, but the fact that Twilight showed some of that ‘librarian,’ attitude she once had in her speech, it reminded Dash of the old days. “You got a strange brain Twilight Sparkle.”

“You’ve could’ve been a million other things,” Twilight continued with Gilda. “You’ve could’ve opened up a chain of restaurants, you could’ve been a writer or a musician. There were a million jobs to choose from but in the end, you choose to protect ponies.”

After Twilight had said this, a thick cloud of silence fell amongst the three. It became very clear, very quickly as to what just happened. Twilight had won. Gilda wasn’t going to fight crime anytime soon, but she somehow, in some way, brought some evidence to light that made her argument compelling, if now downright scientific. The expression that Gilda and Dash had on their faces could be summed up into one word; speechless.

Then, Twilight smiled. “Now, all I need is your credit card.”

Dash remained stunned. Gilda, however, cackled. Then, she started to chuckle, until finally, she released so much laughter that Dash thought her friend went off the deep end with Twilight. She was laughing so hard that she couldn’t breathe and she had tears in her eyes. Finally, the laughter subsided and Gilda began to wipe the tears away as she looked at Rainbow dash.

“….it’s an inside joke,” Gilda said with a smile.

---

Just a few minutes later, the three found themselves waiting in line at a hot dog stand, waiting to grab some grub before the gang. Gilda decided that maybe she had treated Twilight a little too harshly. Sure, her ideas were unorthodox and strange, but then again, whose wasn’t? Gilda decided a long time ago that nobody was ever normal, and Twilight wasn’t an exception to this rule. The Griffon decided that she needed a way to apologize to Dash and giver her Pegasus friend a way for her and Twilight to catch up on lost time. What better way than through a Stormball game.

The cyan blue Pegasus was just shaking with excitement; stoked to have her friend back. “Are you a big sports fan now of days Twilly?”

The purple unicorn smiled meekly as she tried to balance herself on her crutches. “It’s starting to intrigue me.”

Gilda noticed how the crowd in front of them started to diminish. “Usually the fans start to take their seats five minutes before kickoff.”

Some unidentified pony brushed her shoulder.

And then it happened. Just like it did on the train, another one of her headaches occurred. The ringing in her ears got violent, and suddenly, she had visions. She saw a gun, tucked away in a scarf around a pony’s neck. And she heard gunshots. She groaned in agony as the head – ache attacked her frontal lobe.

“Gilda?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously and filled with concern. “What’s wrong?”

And then it was over. In a flash, everything was gone. It was almost like a dream. She still stood in line and everything was normal. The only exception to the normalcy was that Dash and Twilight were looking at her funny.

Suddenly, Gilda got this compulsion. It was something she had to do.

“I’ll be right back,” she told them.

She walked towards the front of the line and noticed another old friend of her back when she was a security guard; Howard. Howard was a colt with a grayish-blue coat and a white mane. He was one of those “smooth talkers.” They’re the type of colts who always try to seem hip and cool when in actuality, they were somewhat low in self-esteem. The only difference between Howard and most cool cats was that Howard was actually able to pull it off and become good friends with Gilda for a while.

Gilda made her way towards Howard, and tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey Howard,” she began.

The pony turned his head towards her and smiled. “Hey! Gilda! What’s happin sister?”

“Nothing much, just came here to watch the game,” she stated.

“Right on, right on,” Howard replied.

“Hey, could you do me a favor?” Gilda asked politely. Howard shot her back a corked brow. “Could you start scanning the line for weapons, I have a feeling that something bad is about to happen.”

Howard shrugged. “Sure Gilda. I mean, when you and I worked together, when you had a hunch, 99% of the time you were right, am I right?”

Gilda smiled. Howard returned the smile and then asked the crowd to start walking towards him before grabbing their food and began to search their pockets. Suddenly, Gilda felt a hoof tap her on the shoulder and noticed that Dash and Twilight had walked towards her while she was talking to Howard.

“What’s going on?” Dash asked.

Gilda motioned her hands towards the line, telling Dash and Twilight to focus there. “See that pony in the camouflage scarf?” she asked.

The two ponies squinted to find him, but they did eventually. He was in the crowd. He had a brown coat, and yellow mane, and of course, a camouflage scarf. He seemed nervous. Dash and Twilight looked back at Gilda, wondering what the Griffon was thinking.

“Sometimes fans like this one try to exercise their right to bear arms,” Gilda explained. “Once the beer starts flowing and their team starts losing, somepony in the stands ends up dead.” Then she pointed at the rope which all the ponies were lined up at in order to get food. “If he has anything he’ll get out of line.”

The three watched as the brown pony started to look more and more flustered. He started shaking, pacing back and forth, and trying desperately to look up ahead in the line, just to see who was up there. The three watched with anticipation, wondering what this brown pony was going to do next. Then, just like Gilda predicted, the brown pony ducked under the rope and started to walk away from the line. Dash was curious.

“Huh,” Dash stated somewhat perplexed. “That was odd.”

Twilight, however, was stunned and filled with surprise. “How did you do that?” Twilight asked Gilda breathlessly.

“Do what?” Gilda asked as she shrugged her shoulders.

“How did you know that that pony had a gun?” Twilight confirmed.

“I didn’t know that he had a gun,” Gilda defended herself. “It was just a suspicion. Sometimes when I use to work here, I would get major suspicion and I would act on them. You know; instinct and all.”

“And you’re instincts told you that he had a gun?” Twilight asked again.

“I don’t know……I head this picture in my head of a Colt.45 Magnum. But he might not have been carrying a weapon at all. He could’ve just been carrying a knife.” Gilda replied.

“But you thought it was a gun,” Twilight said with emphasize.

Gilda tried her best not to scowl. She was really trying to become friends with Twilight. Unfortunately, her face started to distort. “I don’t want to play this game no more,”

Dash raised an eyebrow. “What are you implying here Twilight?”

The purple pony sighed as she began to explain her ideas once more. “Look, the typical comic book machine exaggerates certain elements of the main protagonist to give off superpowers; x-ray vision, climbing walls, super speed; stuff like that. I have a theory, that all these superpowers came from real people, but they weren’t super powers at all. They were just people with extraordinary gifts pertaining to certain senses; x-ray vision might’ve been just some pony with really good eye sight. The super speed could’ve come from the story of some pony like rainbow dash.”

Then, using her crutches to support herself, she looked the Griffon dead on in the eye. “What I’m saying is, what if you’re superheroes ability, beside the inability to get hurt, is also something simpler, like instinct?”

Suddenly, the three could hear the roar of the crowd. Rationally, they realized what was happening. The teams were walking out onto the field and the game was about to begin. Gilda was extremely excited and so was Dash. The two almost ran away before they remembered that they had Twilight with them.

When they looked back at Twilight, something didn’t look right. She just stared at the ground……for a very long time.

“Hey Twilight, you coming?” Dash asked.

Twilight snapped her head up like she had just been awakened from a dream. “What….um….no thanks. I actually just remembered that I have some important work back at the shop. New orders are coming in and I got to get the art sealed and organized.”

Gilda and Dash were somewhat confused by this, but they didn’t let it bother them. They both assumed that aside from being a little different, Twilight was also a working Mare and probably had a lot on her plate.

“Well, ok. See ya later,” Dash stated.

Twilight turned and began to wobble away. She didn’t even say goodbye.

---

A few minutes later, Twilight was outside the stadium, waiting to catch a ride. Typically, she would try to catch a cab and if she was able to let the princesses know ahead of time, she also was able to have free private rides. The princesses spared no expense. But today, Twilight decided just to go for a cab. She sat down on the park bench and sighed. Although bored, Twilight had to admit that it was a beautiful day out. The sun was shining and there was a slight enough breeze to make everything not too hot or too cold.

She heard some hoof steps and turned her head to see who was walking past her, and her jaw literally dropped.

It was that brown mare from the line; the one Gilda assumed was packing heat.

And then something clicked in Twilight’s brain. It was a stupid idea, but the purple pony was filled with so much convection that she just had to set her idea in motion. Basically, everything she said so far was just theory. But if she could obtain the weapon from the brown colt, then maybe it would be too big of a coincidence for Gilda to avoid. She would have to believe her then.

She stumbled putting her crutches back on her fore hooves, but eventually was able to do it in time. She quickly sprung up from the park bench and started to follow the brown mare. After a couple of yards of straight up stalking the poor colt, she called out, “HEY!” hoping he would respond.

It didn’t look like it, but Twilight knew that he heard her. For one thing, he jumped as though he got super cold all of a sudden. Also, he began to speed up.

Twilight did her hardest to keep up with him, but due to her disability, she got out of breath super easily. It was also hard to keep a direct pace when trotting with crutches. She still called out “Hey,” and would randomly throw in some words like, “Do you have a minute?” or, “I just want to ask you a question.” This continued on for several minutes before the brown pony did something that struck fear into her heart.

He trotted down some stairs.

She looked at the stairs before her which lead to the train station. She looked back at her crutches, realizing what an impossible task this was before her. Her heart began to race. Several voices in her head screamed, pleading “Don’t’ do it! You can’t!”

But she had to. She was too compelled to just give up. And so, she tried.

She stepped forward.

Everything was actually going smoothly. The stairs went into two separate sets. There were about ten stairs, a brief area where everything was flat, and then ten more stairs. She got through the first ten just fine. She took everything slowly and eventually made it to the middle area. She smiled. She was going to do this! She was going to be able to make it down some stairs for the first time in months.

Then, everything went horribly, horribly wrong.

On the second stair of the second set, her left crutch slipped out from her grasp. She began to stumble forward, trying hard to find her balance. Her pace picked up, and soon she slipped. She was airborne.

Both crutches were lost in the air. They floated down for what seemed like an eternity. When they collided with the stairs, they shattered, for the crutches were made of glass;

Much like Twilight’s bones.

Pain spread throughout every inch of her body and she started to cry as she tumbled down the stairs. Her cry was gurgled with pain as she realized that she probably screwed herself up royally this time.

She ended up on the floor of the metro stairs. She was crying, loudly. She began to scream as she realized that she had failed once more. She was never meant to leave the house. She was forever fragile, forever made of glass, and would remain on one side of the spectrum for the rest of her life, with no one on the other end.

Or so she thought.

For in the briefest moment of pain on the metro floor, Twilight opened her eyes and noticed the brown colt ahead of her had stopped to see if she was following him. After his suspicions were confirmed, he began to hop over the turn stiles.

Falling from his scarf was a Colt.45 Magnum.

Comments

[Kit Kage]

He never knew why his parents had given his little brother such a strange name. What he did know was that he loved his little brother, even if he was a dwarf. Small enough to ride in his brother's favorite scarf, it was the little colts favorite way to travel during the colder days of the year. Being such a loving brother, he indulged his younger sibling, especially after the teasing the other children had given him over his name. They could be so cruel to his little bro, just for having the misfortune to be named .45 Magnum.

[Lelouch Vi Britania]

1753649
that was a good read.

on another note, twilight: ouch!

[Wet]

1753649
Oh I Geddit.
Good Chapter As Well XD

[BillyGoatHicks511]

1753649 BWHAHAHAHAHAHA Nice!

[Woodenbrony27]

1753649
Oh my god.... YES!