Redemption

by BillyGoatHicks511

Heavy Lifting

The game was spectacular. The Filidelphia Eagle’s came out by just a two point conversion in the fourth quarter against the Manehattan Giants. The final score was Filidelphia: 22, Manhatten: 21. The stadium went into a complete uproar once the Eagle’s successfully completed their conversion. Although impossible to detect through the cataclysmic wall of sound, Rainbow Dash and Gilda were defiantly the loudest. If not the loudest, the two were at least the most cheerful out of all the stadium goers on that day.

Once everything was said and done, the griffon and the pony piled onto another bus carriage to take them home. Bus carriages were all the rage in Filidelphia. The strongest and fastest ponies would pull large, humongous, zeppelin sized carriages filled with tons of ponies to and from their destination. Although Dash and Gilda could’ve flown back home, after the game experience, the two were somewhat lazy and tired, and decided to take the easy way home. The bus carriage would take them to the train, and the train would take them back to Ponyville. Gilda had a three step plan waiting for her when she got back to the farm. Step 1; work out. Step 2; shower. Step 3; sleep; beautiful, gracious sleep.

Once inside, Gilda took the seat closest to the window, hoping to possibly catch some extra zzz’s on the way home. As the bus carriage was pulled by 4 large stallions, Gilda looked out the window and suddenly noticed something. She tapped Rainbow Dash on the shoulder (who was equally tired and about to fall asleep in her chair) and told her to check out what was going on outside. What the two friends saw certainly was interesting. It wasn’t typical to see a large ambulance carriage located right next to a train station entrance.

“Huh?” Gilda stated aloud, somewhat intrigued. “I wondered what could’ve happened there.”

“Who knows?” Dash stated, equally intrigued yet tired. “Somepony must’ve fell down the stairs.”

The two shrugged their shoulders at this sight and simply talked some, rested some, and waited until their carriage arrived at their train station, which lead to Ponyville. On the train, the two drifted off into peaceful slumber.

---

The Griffon was jolted awake when the train stopped and her blue cyan Pegasus friend shook her. Gilda groaned and looked at Dash with tired and irate eyes. Rainbow Dash returned the look with a prankster’s smile.

“Wake up sleepyhead,” Dash told her friend.

Gilda smiled and begrudgingly got up from her seat. There was a minor discomfort in her ligaments as she did this. She heard several bones pop but eventually, once she was on her talons and feet, she was able to shake of her weary daze and move out of the train. Once off the train, Dash and her parted with a hug and the two flew in their separate directions; Dash to Cloudsdale; Gilda to Sweet Apple Acres.

Although dark, in the night sky, Gilda was able to detect Sweet Apple Acres and noticed that something was somewhat strange. Once she landed home (she mentally smiled at the sudden realization that she referred to the farm as home), she saw several fillies all out in the field. All of them seemed to be running in a pattern of some sort. Without warning, Gilda felt a body bump into her and fall to the ground. Looking down, she noticed Applebloom, holding a storm ball and smiling back at the Griffon.

“Hi Gilda,” Apple bloom said in her thick southern accent.

Gilda smiled and picked up the filly, brushing her off. “Hi Applebloom. Playing hoofball?”

“Nah,” she replied. She gestured towards her group of friend from school who were waiting in a semi-huddle behind her. “We’re actually trying to learn how to play stormball. We were hoping you’d join and help us out. Please?”

Although Apple Bloom placed on her best puppy dog eyes (and it was hard to say ‘no’ to those eyes), Gilda smiled and looked at Apple Bloom along with all her friends (Gilda was somewhat surprised to see that more than just the CMC were on the farm to play). “I’m sorry to say but, it’s impossible for earth ponies to play stormball. Stormball requires for the players to be able to fly. But don’t worry. Hoofball is basically the same thing. Besides, I couldn’t help you anyways. I had that accident back in college, remember?”

Apple Bloom looked dismayed. “Yeah, but Twilight said-”

Gilda’s eyes went wide and before the little filly could say any more, Gilda placed a talon to her muzzle and told her “SHHH!” Apple bloom looked somewhat frightened, but Gilda’s eyes assured her that she meant no harm. And so, after the initial couple of seconds of shock, Apple bloom calmed down and waited for Gilda to explain why she had her talon over her mouth.

Meanwhile, Gilda looked around, praying to Celestia that neither Big Mac, nor an especially Applejack were nearby. If either one of them heard Apple Bloom talking about Twilight Sparkle, questions would be raised; the questions would then turn to accusations, and before anypony or griffon could stop it, a full out argument would emerge and Gilda did not want that. Luckily for Gilda, no pony besides Apple Bloom and her friends were in sight. Gilda calmed down and removed her talon.

“I know what Twilight said,” Gilda stated, “But she also said that I was a superhero and that’s just crazy, right?”

Gilda anxiously waited for Apple Bloom to shake her head. Sadly, although Apple Bloom did perform this action, the griffon could tell that there was no heart in it, and that Apple Bloom still believed that Gilda was a superhero. It was time to change the subject.

“and as fun as it would be to help you guys out,” Gilda told Apple Bloom. “I have to work out right now.”

The little filly’s eyes shined like stars. “OHHH! Can I help?”

Gilda corked a brow in confusion. “Uh…..I guess so,” and the two went into the barn while the band of little fillies dismissed their game, hoping for a rematch soon.

Gilda’s heart raced as she pushed up on the bench press bar. She couldn’t believe how heavy everything felt. Her eyes were practically bulging out her skull and her face was turning red due to lack of oxygen. Still, however, from some mere miracle, the Griffon was able to complete 10 sets of bench presses before placing the bar on its stand above her. Once free of the weight, Gilda breathed a sigh of sweet relief. Then she got up, and stared her spotter down.

“How much did you put on there?” Gilda asked Apple Bloom.

The little filly stood in front of Gilda with a blank expression. This caused Gilda to get somewhat frightened and so she took the initiative of checking the weights herself instead.

The Filly and her ideological older sister were in the basement of the Apple Family house. Unlike the rest of the house, which was warm, welcoming, and family-friendly, the basement was cold, and dark, and somewhat disturbing. Gilda immediately recognized this would be the perfect place to put a workout room and so, after receiving her first paycheck within the first month of her stay at Sweet Apple Acres, the griffon acquired a bench press, several dumbbells, a ‘horse-flex personal training system,’ and a treadmill. It wasn’t easy to get all of those assets for a reasonable price, but she got it done, and was happy to be keeping her body in shape. Like Dash, she loved working out and got a runner’s high (or in this case, a flyer’s high) when doing so. Sometimes she would ask if any one of the Apple’s would help spot her, but most of the time the griffon spotted herself. Today, Apple Bloom decided to take the responsibility, and so far, as Gilda concluded from realizing how much weight she actually lifted, the filly wasn’t doing a good job.

Gilda turned towards Apple Bloom, shocked (with herself and the filly). “You put too much. That’s 250 pounds.”

Apple Bloom gasped. “Oh. I’m so sorry. How much can you lift?”

Gilda was still somewhat dazed. “That’s the most I’ve ever lifted,” she stated awestruck. Then, she realized she had to be serious. “It’s ok right now Apple Bloom,” Gilda stated in a sister-like tone. “But that could’ve been very dangerous. One of us could’ve gotten hurt.”

There was a small silence that followed this. Gilda began to think

“Why don’t you go upstairs and I’ll finish up down here, ok?” Gilda said to Apple Bloom.

“No,” Apple Bloom retorted quickly. “Let me help you, I’ll take it off. I’ll help you right.” And before Gilda could even deny the filly’s request, Apple Bloom had moved behind her and began to work on the weights.

As this happened, Gilda went deep into her thoughts. ‘250 pounds?!?!?!’ she thought to herself. ‘Sweet Luna. The most I ever lifted before then was 180. I should’ve torn a muscle. Something should’ve broken. It was hard to do but I did it….and now I don’t even feel sore. What the buck?’ That confused Gilda the most. Although it was a strain, Gilda should’ve suffered more than just a typical burning in her muscles. But even now, the burning sensation was gone, replaced with a high that she could’ve even have dared to imagine; as if it was her calling to lift as much weight as possible.

Meanwhile, behind her, Apple Bloom asked, “Do you think you’ve could’ve beaten up Hoof Lee?”

Gilda sighed at this. These types of question were bombarded upon her once she showed up at Sweet Apple Acres all those months ago after the train accident. To summarize it completely, Apple Bloom was mystified that something so large was actually living with them, and so, in typical filly fashion, she began to ask Gilda if she could beat anypony up. One time, she even asked if she could beat up the princesses. Her response was ‘even if I could, I doubt I’d be allowed to.’ Eventually, after a couple of months, the questions died down. But all that changed after Gilda discovered Twilight at ‘Limited Edition.’ Now the questions were thrown at her in full force, and Apple Bloom was always the hardest to dismay from a question.

After Gilda was done sighing, she responded, “No.”

“I mean, if you knew karate,” Apple Bloom clarified.

“Still no,” Gilda sang, somewhat amused by Apple Bloom’s enthusiasm.

“Well, what if he wasn’t allowed to kick, and you were like really mad at him?” Apple Bloom proposed.

Gilda smiled a little bit at this. Seeing a filly’s mind at work is somewhat amusing. On the other talon, if Gilda didn’t stop this now, it would continue. But, maybe it always would continue. So Gilda just brushed off these questions like she always did before, and simply replied “No Applebloom.”

Apple Bloom walked back into Gilda’s vision and took her place standing in front of her. Gilda saw this as her cue to get back to the weights. She began to lay down and place her talon’s on the bar. Something felt funny. She probably wasn’t looking at it right, but there seemed to be more weight than less. The Griffon shook off the doubts and pushed on the bar a little bit to move it forward, and then she began to do her reps.

Something was wrong. Something was terribly, terribly wrong. Gilda was on the verge of passing out. She had never lifted this much weight in her life. She was in immense pain. Her muscles were on fire. It was as if every cell in her body was screaming ‘AIR! WE NEED AIR!’ Gilda knew that she should stop.

But something egged her on. Something got her flustered. There were nagging thoughts nagging at her. All of them could be summed up basically saying ‘you can do it. C’mon. it’s not that hard. One rep.’ and so, curiosity got the better of her, and she began to let down and then back up for the rep.

Her face looked like a cherry tomato. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. When she let out her breath, she let out more mucus than carbon dioxide. As she pushed up, she realized that she basically felt the same way she did during her last rep. she was hurting, but wasn’t tearing a muscle. And although it was a strain, she was able to actually lift the weights. In fact, she was able to do three reps, before she finally got tired, and then placed the bar back on its stand. She leaned up to face Apple Bloom.

“How much did you actually take off?” Gilda asked curiously. Either Apple Bloom didn’t take off much, or her muscles actually were affected from Apple Bloom’s earlier experiment.

Neither was the actual outcome. Instead, Apple Bloom looked down, away from Gilda’s gaze, and uttered two words that not only shocked Gilda, but caused her mind to do mental back flips.

“I lied,” Apple Bloom stated apologetically.

It was as if an explosion had taken place in Gilda’s mind. Her eyes went wide, and every feather on her body was standing on end in major shock. There was only one logical conclusion. But it didn’t make sense. Still, even questioning her reality, she said the words exactly.

“You….added?” Gilda said in shock.

The little filly moved her head up and down, saying ‘yes.’

Gilda, surprised and filled with absolute interest turned towards the dumbbells. Once she read the weights, he jaw dropped. Not only did Apple Bloom add more, she added so much more that Gilda was unsure if she should’ve even been able to pick the bar off the stand. And just like before, this left her wondering why she didn’t feel any pain. The soreness had dissipated one more.

“How much is it?” the anxious Filly finally asked.

“300 pounds,” Gilda stated awestruck.

“….Let’s put more,” Apple Bloom stated excitedly.

What scared Gilda the most, wasn’t the fact that Apple Bloom sounded so excited to add more weight and possibly kill Gilda, but that Gilda herself, was excited to try her suggestion.

And so, more weight was added. And more and more weight was added over and over again. Each time felt exactly the same. Gilda felt some minor pain, but that’s just natural in a general work out. But this couldn’t be natural. There was nothing natural about a griffon lifting 320 pounds. Not to mention the fact that after lifting the said 320 pounds, she went on to lift 350 without breaking a sweat. It was sheer insanity. The two down in the basement continued like this for several minutes.

And then, after about 5 reps of Gilda’s latest weight, Gilda placed the bar up and asked Apple Bloom how much she put on.

Apple bloom said three words……three words that left the biggest impression on Gilda’s psyche for many years to come.

“All of it,” Apple Bloom responded.

Gilda got up immediately. She analyzed the bar and dumbbells. Her face was shocked and her beak was held open, agape and surprised. There was over 385 pounds on the dumbbells, not including the bar. If she did the math correctly, the griffon would’ve realized that she was lifting 400 pounds total. Did it hurt while she was lifting, yes. But no…..no soreness. No torn muscles, no broken bone…….

And then her thoughts retreated to something a doctor told her when she awoke from her accident almost a year ago “You don’t even have a scratch on ya.”

“What else could we lift?” Gilda was surprised to realize that those words actually came out of her own mouth. Nevertheless, she still wanted to see how far she could go before she actually thought she couldn’t lift no more.

And so, Big Mac and Applejack were brought into the basement to see what Gilda and Apple Bloom had been up to for the last hour. Gilda demonstrated what the two had been doing, by picking up the bar, complete with dumbbells……with only one arm. What amazed everyone, even herself, was that she was able to do two complete curls. Afterwards, she placed the bar back into its holder, and Gilda began to feel wobbly; not sore, just tired.

Big Mac rushed to her side. “Are you ok?”

Gilda smiled. “I never felt better.”

Applejack got a dirty grin. “Boy howdy. Big Mac, you better watch yourself. If you get out of line, it looks like my reparations ain’t going to hurt the worst.”

Gilda laughed at this for a little bit. Even Big Mac got a chuckle. Although one of the most humblest and simplest of farming stallions, he did have some pride. That pride, he had to swallow. It’s not every day when you realize that your girlfriend can practically lift a cart filled with hay with only one talon.

Apple Bloom broke the silence. “We was wondering if she could pick you guys up.”

Big Mac’s eyes got real wide. “What?”

Gilda laid her talons on to his shoulders and began to smile. “Mackie, it’s ok. If it hurts, I’ll stop immediately.”

“Gilda, are you crazy,” Applejack retorted from the back. “There’s no way you can lift us and the dumbbells at the same time. I mean, how much are you lifting right now.”

“400 pounds,” Gilda state without any reserve.

A pin drop could’ve been heard a mile away. Now the sudden realization of everything kicked in. Not only was Gilda able to lift 400 pounds, but she didn’t a second ago with one talon. And from the way she was acting, although somewhat out of breath, she was in no physical pain.

“How are you not sore?” Big Mac asked his Griffon.

“I’ll probably be sore in the morning,” Gilda told him. “But…for some reason…..I don’t care. I want to see how far I can push myself before reparations.”

Big Mac got a look in his eye that Gilda noticed before. It was a look of worry. But Gilda dismayed his fears. She casually pecked him in the check. He blushed, but realized there was no need for embarrassment. Now that Applejack knew about their relationship, there really was nothing to hide.

Gilda reassured her stallion. “Mackie,” she said. “I promise you this. I would not hurt the one you love, because in the end, that would only hurt the one I truly love.”

Big Mac and Applejack casually trotted over to the dumbbells. That got on either side and held on tightly, hoping to become weights. Gilda laid down on the bench press, and placed her talons on the bar. This was it. No turning back. She kissed her tail-feather goodbye, and began to push up.

It should’ve been impossible. The bar should’ve fallen down and slammed into Gilda’s chest. The bar should’ve broken some ribs. All of this should’ve gone horribly wrong in some horrible way. In a logical world, that would’ve happened.

……..but……miraculously, Gilda was able to lift them up in the air. It was insanity. Applejack was quoted along the lines of saying, “Boy howdy!” as loud as she possibly could when she got lifted into the air. Big Mac simply laughed as he realized that his girl was quite possibly the strongest being he had ever met in his life, both mentally and PHYSICALLY! Eventually, eveypony in the room laughed. And Gilda, while doing her reps with the two ponies in place, laughed as well.

This, was single-handedly, the weirdest/happiest moment of her life.

---

Meanwhile, in the Filidelphia hospital, a nurse was currently doing one of her mandatory procedures with a new patient. The nurse held a clipboard close to her eyes and began reading off the injuries her new patient sustained in whatever accident she was in. The chart said that her patient simply fell down some stairs, but the list of broken bones was so large that the nurse suspected that there had to be something more at play than just a simple fall. She got her answer when she noticed that chart stated her patient suffered from “Osteogenesis Imperfecta.” ‘That explains everything,’ thought the nurse. Still, however, she continued to read.

“You have a fracture of the carpus as well as several fractures sustained in the sixth, seventh, and eight ribs,” the nurse read off. “But the worst of the injury however was sustained in the right back leg. You’ve suffered a spiral fracture. There were 14 breaks. It’s completely shattered….”

The nurse paused to look at her patient. The nurse felt so bad looking at the mare lying in the hospital bed. She seemed so depressed, dazed, and confused. What made it even worst was that she saw that her patient was trying to get away from the reality of the situation. The mare had that look in her eyes of pure torture. She wanted to escape, and the only escape she had was provide in her mind. The nurse felt the need to address this.

“Ma’m,” she asked. “Are you ok?”

The purple pony in the hospital bed sighed bitterly with disappointment. “They call me the mare of glass bones,” Twilight Sparkle announced to herself.

---

Rarity washed her hoofs one last time. She felt overburdened with all the work she had to do. However, being generous, she decided that she needed to find a way to help out. She received this opportunity, when she learned from Nurse Betty, that extra hoofs were needed at the center of disability in Filidelphia to help recovering patients in physical rehabilitation.

And so, Rarity got suited up, and followed the nurse she was paired with on that day, and got behind the lunch counter to serve the food. It was somewhat sad seeing all these ponies, filled with many injuries line up waiting to be served what only could’ve been considered ‘slop,’ food, in Rarity’s humblest opinion.

But the smiles that these broken ponies and fillies, stallions and colts gave off filled Rarity’s heart to the brim with happiness. They were amazingly happy even though the food looked so gross. They just were happy to have food at all. And their happiness lifted Rarity’s happiness. It was all turning out to be a good day.

The last pony in line scooted up in her wheel chair. Before even analyzing the pony, Rarity asked, “Can I help you,” politely and filled with joy.

And then the pony looked up.

Time could’ve stopped in that moment. Rarity felt like she was going to faint. The pony herself, in the wheel chair, looked as if though she would have a heart attack as well. The two stared into each other’s eyes for a long time. Years. It had been years since they last seen each other, and now, they have finally, reunited.

“Twilight Sparkle?” Rarity stated, jaw slack with disbelief.

Twilight smiled. “It’s good to see you again.”

Comments

[Y1]

Hmm... I haven't seen the movie in a while but you seem to have taken that scene a bit further than it did. I seem to remember them using paint buckets or something. Still, I suppose she is a gryphon and a large one, so her standards of 'unusually strong' are quite a bit higher. Think about what would happen if she just punched someone like that. They're pretty much just go 'pop'.

[Wet]

Do You Even Li-
Oh..
#1
Movie? This Is Based Off Something

[BillyGoatHicks511]

1819598.........huh? I'm confused as to what your comment meant.

But, if you're asking if the stories based off a movie, then yes. The movie is called "Unbreakable," It's M Night's follow up to the sixth sense, and it's his last great film before he went completly bonkers and made "signs."

[Lelouch Vi Britania]

1825050
heres hoping this story doesn't end the same way the movie does, because I like twilight when shes not insane, and that movie's twist came out of nowhere.

[Joy Stick]

[The Sorcerer Supreme]

gilda's power level is over nine thousand!!!!!!