//------------------------------//
// Griffon the Brush Off 
// Story: A New Hero 
// by Alex The Lone Wolf 
//------------------------------//

Episode 5 – Griffon the Brush Off

"RAINBOW DASH!" I heard in a sing-song voice outside. I shook my head and started for the front door to see what was going on. When I walked outside, I saw Twilight. I walked up to her.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Pinkie Pie was just looking for Rainbow Dash." She answered.

"Why?"

"I don't know… Pinkie Pie was talking about her all morning." She said with a sigh.

"Hmm…"

Suddenly a rainbow flashed out of nowhere, blowing a huge wind at us.

"I'm guessing that was Rainbow Dash…" I said.

"Mhmm." Twilight replied.

After, we saw Pinkie Pie bouncing all the way where Rainbow Dash was headed. There was a moment of silence until Rainbow Dash came back in a slouchy way, while Pinkie Pie continued skipping. They moved to a building near us. Pinkie Pie noticed me and waved. "Hi, Alex!"

She then turned to Rainbow Dash and began telling her to move a cloud.

"Over to the right. No no, a little to the left. Oh wait, back to the right." Pinkie Pie told Rainbow Dash, which Rainbow Dash moved the cloud, boringly and a little annoyed. " Now a little leftish while staying rightly. STOP. Hmm. Maybe a few inches to the south. Now a couple centimeters north. Okay. One more smidgimeter to the—

"PINKIE PIE!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

"Uh, I mean, perfect. Now wait for my signal." Pinkie Pie responded. She began sneaking around. I then noticed, after a few seconds, Spike came out. Pinkie Pie signaled Rainbow Dash, causing her to kick the cloud. Thunder boomed, scaring Spike. He dropped the handful of scrolls he was carrying with both of his hands. Pinkie Pie smiled at him as Spike continuously hiccuped. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie began snickering and soon started laughing.

"Oh Rainbow Dash, we startled Spike into getting the hiccups!" Pinkie Pie laughed.

Rainbow Dash chuckled.

Spike chuckled along as well. "Good one, Pinkie – He hiccuped. – Pie! – He hiccuped again. - You're always pulling a fast one – Hiccuped… - on me. -Hiccuped.- Nnaa-

He tried to pick up one of his scrolls, but due to his dragon breath and hiccup combination, he ended up sending it.

"Oh no, you're not hurt are you?" Pinkie Pie asked, worried.

"Ne-eh, don't be - silly, dragons are - fire-proof." Spike continued to hiccup mid-sentence.

"Oh, okay, good." Pinkie Pie replied. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash burst out laughing again.

He picked up more scrolls, but he accidentally sent them all too when he hiccuped.

"I wish the same thing - were true with scrolls…" Spike announced.

Spike tried to pick up the spare scrolls on the ground but with each one he tried to pick it up, he kept sending it when he hiccuped.

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash continued laughing.

"Have you ever SEEN anything more hilarious?" Pinkie Pie asked Rainbow Dash.

"I can think of ONE thing." Rainbow Dash replied. She kicked the cloud again, scaring Pinkie Pie this time.

She screamed. After a few seconds, she began laughing and hiccuping at the same time.

Twilight sighed after she had enough. "I'm going to go read a book…"

She left back towards her home.

"I didn't take you for a prankster, Pinkie Pie." Rainbow Dash told Pinkie Pie.

"Are you - kidding? - I love to pull pranks. It's all - in good fun, and Pinkie Pie lo - oves to have - fun!" Pinkie Pie responded, continuing to hiccup.

"You know Pinkie Pie, you're not as annoying as I thought. You wanna hang out?"

"That'd be - I'd really - When do - I mean - When would you –

Rainbow Dash placed her hoof on Pinkie Pie. "A simple nod would do."

"Mmm-hmm." Pinkie Pie responded, and they went off to do whatever they were going to talk about.

I sighed. Well I told Fluttershy, we could hang out today. I guess I could go see what she is up to. I began walking towards Fluttershy's home.

When I arrived, I looked around but I couldn't find her outside. However, she walked out of her home, shortly, with a bag of food in her mouth. She saw me and smiled. She gently placed the food on the ground.

"Hi, Alex! I'm so glad you could come!" She said.

"Thanks… What are you going to go do?" I asked.

"I was going to go feed the fishies today, want to help?"

"Sure, okay." I grabbed the bag of food with my mouth and placed it on my back. Fluttershy and I began walking towards where Fluttershy was headed. We were on the edge of the land, where a creek flowed by, containing fishes and other sea life creatures. I placed the bag on the ground.

"Thanks, Alex." She said. "You can just grab some pieces of the food and throw it out to the fishies." She grabbed the food with her mouth like she said, and threw it out to the fishes that hopped around in the water.

"Okay…" I tried doing the same, stumbling a bit while trying to grab the food and throw it out to the creek.

Fluttershy looked at me and giggled. She continued feeding the fishes. I followed her example and got used to it after a while of practicing. While we continued to feed the fishes, Fluttershy looked behind her and noticed some more fishes and a turtle, opening their mouth real happily for some food too. However, I noticed something fishy (no pun intended) about another turtle hanging around with them.

Fluttershy walked up to it and noticed something weird about it too. She was staring at it, trying to figure out what it was, even tapping on it. It made a squeaking sound and its head flopped around.

"What is this…?"

I found out it was some kind of squeaky toy that was a fake turtle.

I sighed. Fluttershy looked back at me.

"It must be one of Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash's pranks…"

"Huh…?" Fluttershy asked, clueless.

I walked over to the fake turtle and noticed the rope that was attached to it but hidden underneath the water.

"Just forget about the turtle, it's not real." I showed her what I meant.

"Oh…" she replied.

We finished the last of the food.

"Thanks again, for helping me, Alex." Fluttershy said with a smile.

"No problem, is there anything else you need help with or want to do?"

"We could go into town, maybe see if any pony wants to do something."

"Alright."

We walked to town but noticed Twilight walking a few feet away from us. She looked annoyed while she was carrying a bag of something. We walked over to her to see what was happening.

"Hey, Twilight." I called.

"Hm?" She looked towards me. "Oh, hey Alex…"

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

She sighed. "I guess… Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash replaced my ink with invisible ink and I HAD to go get more… they even messed up my experiment…"

"I'm sorry Twilight… they even tried to prank Fluttershy, but for some reason, they didn't do anything…"

We continued walking with Twilight.

"I know they are doing it for laughs and fun… but some people find it annoying… like me…" Twilight said.

"You should be careful, Alex. They might be after you next." Fluttershy advised me.

I shrugged.

We stopped by Twilight's home. She invited us in. We saw Spike reading quietly in the corner.

"I was trying to study, taking notes of my experiment…" Twilight began talking as she placed the new ink near her paper and pen. "If they mess up my studies one more time—

"TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT!" Pinkie Pie barged in, screaming her name.

"Pinkie Pie! NOT NOW! I'm totally not in the mood for a prank!" Twilight replied.

"No! No! I promise I'm not pranking you!"

Twilight sighed and opened a book, which she began reading.

"Rainbow Dash has this griffon friend and she's being a REALLY BIG MEANIE!"

"Pinkie Pie, are you sure that this friend of Rainbow Dash is really so mean?" Twilight asked as she continued reading, flipping the pages with her magic.

"Um, YEAH! She keeps stealing Rainbow Dash away, she pops my balloons, and she told me to buzz off! I've never met a griffon this mean! Well, actually, I've never met a griffon at all, but I bet if I had, she wouldn't have been as mean and grumpy as Gilda!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"You know what I think, Pinkie Pie?"

"Hmm?"

"Well, I think... you're jealous."

"JEALOUS?"

"Green with envy." Spike added, who was listening on to the conversation. "Well, in your case, pink with envy."

"Well, yes. Jealous." Twilight continued. She stopped reading the book. "Listen, Pinkie, I don't want to upset you, but just because Rainbow Dash has another friend doesn't make Gilda a grump. I mean, perhaps it's you, Pinkie, who needs to improve her attitude."

"Improve MY attitude? But I... D... B.. Th... " Pinkie Pie continued stuttering. "Gilda's a... D... Are you seri..." She screamed with frustration.

She left and slammed the door behind her.

"Wow…" I finally said. "I've never seen Pinkie Pie so upset…"

"Well Pinkie Pie was having so much fun with Rainbow Dash, she probably just got really jealous when she saw Rainbow Dash with her other friend."

"Maybe…" I added.

"Oh!" Fluttershy suddenly exclaimed. "I just remembered that I have to help some baby duckies walk through town… do you mind if you help me, Alex?"

"Not at all, let's go." I replied to Fluttershy. I told Twilight farewell and walked with Fluttershy.

We went to a pond where a mother duck and her babies were swimming along the water. Fluttershy sweetly called them to follow her. We continued to escort them through town. We reached the part where several ponies were running stands, buying fruits, or hanging around the café.

"Alright little ones, this way, this way." Fluttershy softly spoke to the ducks. "Mama duck, you're free and clear."

However, she bumped into some strange creature I had never seen before.

"HEY!" The creature exclaimed.

"Please, excuse me." Fluttershy politely asked.

"I'M WALKIN' HERE!" The creature yelled now.

Her attitude and choice of words angered me…

"Oh, um, I'm sorry. A-a-I was just trying to..." Fluttershy tried to apologize, slowly backing away.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The creature mocked Fluttershy. "Why don't you just watch where you're going, doofus?"

The creature began walking towards Fluttershy while Fluttershy could only back away. I immediately jumped in front of Fluttershy and prevented the creature from making any move further.

"NO! Why don't YOU watch where YOU'RE going!" I yelled at the creature.

She roared loudly as thunder, but I didn't move anywhere.

"Is that all you got?" I continued challenging the creature with my body filled with rage.

"Alex…" I could hear Fluttershy calling my name very worriedly.

"All these lame ponies are driving me buggy. I gotta bail." The creature backed off and flew away. What a coward…

I turned around to see Fluttershy begin sobbing.

"It's alright Fluttershy…" I tried to help her. "She's gone…"

She, however, continued to cry.

"C'mon." I said and took her back to Twilight's house.

When we were inside, Fluttershy was still sniffling a bit.

"What happened?" Twilight asked as she approached us.

"Some…thing… was bullying Fluttershy…" I told Twilight as I placed my front leg around Fluttershy.

"What thing?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know… some creature that had… a body of a lion… and a head of a… eagle…" I responded.

"A body of a lion… and a head of a… WAIT!" Twilight ran to her shelf and began shuffling through books.

"What is it?" I asked.

Twilight pulled out a book and began flipping through the pages. She gasped when she found the page she was looking for. "It must have been that griffon Pinkie Pie was talking about!"

"Griffon?"

"Pinkie Pie must have been telling the truth!"

"Well, what are we going to do about it?" I asked.

"I don't know…"

However, there was a knock on our door. Twilight answered it, revealing the pony to be Pinkie Pie. She invited all of us to a party. Before we could tell her what we just realized, she left as fast as lightning.

"Okay…" Twilight said. "That was weird…"

"Hey Fluttershy…" I called her as I was still trying to cheer her up. "Why don't we go to that party? Maybe that will cheer you up."

Fluttershy looked at me, still sniffling a bit. "Okay…"

Twilight, Fluttershy, and I walked over to the party Pinkie Pie was hosting.

"Welcome!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed to us.

"Pinkie Pie… What's this party for?" Twilight asked.

"Gilda!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

Twilight gasped and Fluttershy whimpered.

"Gilda? Pinkie Pie, are you crazy? She—

"Don't worry your pretty little head about mean old Gilda, your auntie Pinkie Pie has got it all taken care of!" Pinkie Pie interrupted, patting Twilight's head. She moved to the door, noticing Gilda walk in. "Gilda! I'm so honored to throw you one of my signature Pinkie Pie parties, and I really, truly, sincerely, hope you feel welcome here amongst all us pony folk."

Pinkie Pie held out her hoof. Gilda hesitated for a moment, but she reached out to grab it but was instantly shocked. Pinkie Pie laughed and so did every pony else.

"Oh Pinkie Pie, the old hoof-shake buzzer. You are a SCREAM." Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Yeah…" She chuckled nervously. "Uh, good one, Pinkie Pie…"

"Come on G, I'll introduce you to some of my other friends."

"Right behind you Dash." She replied, however, she told Pinkie Pie something that I couldn't make out.

Nonetheless, Pinkie Pie giggled at each comment she made.

"Everyone, I'd like you all to meet Gilda, a long-time, dear friend of Rainbow Dash. Let's honor her and welcome her to Ponyville." Pinkie Pie announced, even hugging Gilda.

All the ponies cheered.

"Please help yourself!" Pinkie Pie offered.

Gilda walked over to some candy on the table. "Vanilla lemon drops. Don't mind if I do." She said, beginning to chew. After a few moments, she made a sour face and released a roar of fire. "HOT!" She cried out. Pinkie Pie even roasted a marshmallow with the flames.

"G, the punch!" Pinkie Pie yelled over to Gilda.

Gilda raced over to the punch bowl. However, she had an unexpected surprise with the glass.

"Well, whaddya know, pepper in the vanilla lemon drops, and the punch served in a dribble glass!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"Ha! Priceless! Priceless!" Rainbow Dash laughed.

Gilda raced over to another drink that was prank free. She chugged the drink and gulped. "Yeah, HILARIOUS." She said, sarcastically.

"Hey G, look! Presents!" Rainbow Dash pointed to several boxes of presents lying on the table. Gilda immediately ran over to the presents, excited.

She began opening a cylinder one, but several fake snakes shot out of the can and surprised her.

Ponies laughed.

"Spittin' snakes." I heard Applejack. " Heh, somepony pulled that prank on me last month."

"Ha ha. I bet I know who THAT was." Gilda responded, sarcastic with her laughter again.

"You DO?" Pinkie Pie asked.

I didn't understand, was Pinkie Pie pulling all those pranks?

Later on with the party, Fluttershy had started directing the birds' song. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie came out, exclaiming, "Cake time everypony!"

"Hey, can I blow out the candles?" Spike excitedly asked.

"Why don't we let Gilda blow out the candles, Spike. She IS the guest of honor after all." Twilight replied to Spike.

"Exactly!" Griffon pushed over Spike and moved over to the cake.

She began enraging me again. I was about to go up to her, but Pinkie Pie placed her hoof in front of me.

Gilda took a deep breath and blew out the candles. Yet, flames appeared on the candles again. Gilda noticed this and tried to blow out the candles another time, but they turned on anyway.

Every pony began laughing. Gilda continued to try blowing out the candles but she failed every time.

"Re-lighting birthday candles, I love that prank! What a classic." Spike announced.

"Now, I wonder who could've done that!" Pinkie Pie said.

"Yeah, I wonder…" Gilda replied.

Spike literally began digging through the cake. "Mmm, who cares? This cake is amazing!" He came out on top.

"SPIKE!" Twilight scolded.

"What? It was great, try some."

I could see that Gilda was getting annoyed and angry.

"Hey G, you're not upset about some silly candles, are you?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"No way Dash, like I said, I'm down with a good prank." Gilda replied, trying to keep her cool…

"Come on then, let's have some cake." Rainbow Dash ran over to the cake.

After a moment, Applejack announced another event. "Hey y'all, it's pin the tail on the pony. Let's play!"

"Oh, my favorite game. Can I go first? Can I have the purple tail?" Rarity asked.

"Well, I am the guest of honor; I'll have the purple tail." Gilda quickly retrieved the tail. I started realizing that the whole time at the party, she was acting like a child…maybe even worse than a child. I really disliked her… just like those other ponies that acted JUST like her…

"Yeah, Gilda should definitely go first. Let's get you blindfolded!" Pinkie Pie encouraged.

"Hey what- ugh—

Spike quickly blindfolded Gilda.

"What are you doing? Rrrah."

Pinkie Pie spinned Gilda around.

"We're spinning you around and around and then you pin the tail on the pony. Now just walk straight ahead and pin the tail." Pinkie Pie directed.

"Now just walk straight ahead and pin the tail." Gilda mocked. "Heh, yeah, right. This is another prank, isn't it? I'm going this way." She turned around the exact opposite way the poster was at.

"Wait. The poster is this—Pinkie Pie tried to warn.

Gilda, finally getting her just desserts, slipped on cake icing while she was walking. She crashed in the other room and came out with the tail on her beak.

"Uh, Gilda? You pinned the tail on the wrong end." Pinkie Pie pointed out.

All the ponies laughed, causing her to finally burst into flames, figuratively. She roared in anger. "THIS is your idea of a good time? I've never met a lamer bunch of dweebs in all my life. ...and Pinkie Pie, you, you are queen lame-o with your weak little party pranks. Did you really think you can make me lose my cool? Well, Dash and I have ten times as much cool as the rest of you put together. Come on Dash, we're bailing on this pathetic scene." Rainbow Dash didn't move though. Instead she had an angry expression on her face. "COME ON, Rainbow Dash. I SAID, we're leaving."

"You know Gilda…" Rainbow Dash spoke. "I was the one who set up all those weak pranks at this party."

"WHAT?" Gilda gasped.

"OOH." Pinkie Pie said.

"So I guess I'M queen lame-o." Rainbow Dash continued.

"Come on, Dash, you're joshing me." Gilda responded, laughing weakly.

"They weren't all meant for you specifically; it was just dumb luck that you set them all off."

"I shoulda known, that dribble cup had Rainbow Dash written all over it." Pinkie Pie shared.

"No way. It was Pinkie Pie." Gilda continued to be a stubborn child, trying to act "cool". "She set up this party to trip me up, to make a fool of me."

"Me? I threw this party to improve your attitude. I thought a good party might turn that frown upside down." Pinkie Pie replied.

So is that what Pinkie Pie meant?

"And you sure didn't need any help making a fool of yourself." Rainbow Dash stood up to Gilda. "You know, this is not how I thought my OLD friend would treat my NEW friends. If being cool is all you care about, maybe you should go find some new COOL friends someplace else."

"Yeah?" Gilda stuttered. "Well you, you, you are such a, a flip-flop: cool one minute and lame the next."

I finally spoke, "There's the door Gilda, I think YOU should leave."

Gilda noticed I was the same pony she had seen earlier. She growled and suddenly lunged towards me. Before she could attack, something amazing happened. The whole area was engulfed in light, just like when we were against Nightmare Moon. However, there were no Elements of Harmony with us… unless…

Gilda was pushed back to the floor. Every pony was surprised, but a little amazed.

Gilda's eyes grew large. She shook her head and spoke. "When you all decide not to be lame anymore, gimme a call."

She immediately left afterwards. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy immediately dashed over to me and asked if I was alright.

"Yeah… I'm alright…" I responded.

"NOT cool." Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Wow, talk about a party pooper… I wonder what that flash was anyway?" Spike wondered.

Every pony began talking about how awkward the scene was and wondered, what just had happened, was all about.

"I'm sorry everypony, for bringing Gilda here." Rainbow Dash apologized. "I didn't know how rude she was, and Pinkie Pie, I'm really sorry she ruined that awesome party you put on for her."

"Hey, if you want to hang out with party poopers, that's your business." Pinkie Pie cheerfully replied.

"I'd rather hang out with you. No hard feelings?"

"No hard feelings."

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash both shocked each other when they shook hooves. They both revealed that they each had the shocker button on their hooves. Every pony began laughing. Twilight walked up to Pinkie Pie.

"Hey, Pinkie, sorry I accused you of misjudging Gilda. Looks likes I'm the one who misjudged you." Twilight apologized as well.

"It's okay Twilight, even you can't be a super smart smarty smart-pants all the time." Pinkie Pie accepted her apology. "Come on everypony, there's still a whole lotta partying to finish!"

Every pony laughed again.

Pinkie Pie continued the party, and everyone else continued to have fun. I actually didn't want to be separated from my friends… I felt like… I wanted to belong… Although, I still wasn't used to "partying" so I tried to enjoy the party, but I stood back and watched, talking to Twilight and the others while they continued to make sure I was alright.

Once the party was over, I helped Pinkie Pie and the others clean up the place.

"Boy! That was the best most funnest party ever!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "I can't wait for another one!"

Twilight smiled and looked over to Spike. "Spike?" she called.

"I'm on it." Spike delightfully followed.

"Dearest Princess Celestia," Twilight spoke. "Today I learned that it's hard to accept when somepony you like wants to spend time with somepony who's not so nice. Though it's impossible to control who your friends hang out with, it is possible to control your own behavior. Just continue to be a good friend. In the end, the difference between a false friend and one who is true will surely come to light. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

She smiled at every pony, then at me. Spike was about to send the letter, but Pinkie Pie stopped him.

"WAIT!" She exclaimed.

"What?" Spike asked.

Pinkie Pie was snickering. "Don't—Don't—Don't forget to send her some ink!"

Spike looked at the ink and shrugged. He combined the letter and the ink and sent it.

Pinkie Pie burst into tears from laughing.

"What was that all about, Pinkie Pie?" Twilight asked.

"I made Spike send her Invisible Ink!" Pinkie Pie continued to laugh.

"PINKIE!" Twilight scolded.

However, soon every pony, even Twilight, began laughing. After most of the ponies had left with a farewell, I walked outside and stared at the moon, thinking about today's adventure.

"Hi, Alex." I heard Fluttershy's soft voice beside me. I looked over at her to see her looking at me.

"Hi, Fluttershy." I responded.

She began rubbing the dirt with her hoof again and looked around while she spoke to me. "I just wanted to… thank you… for standing up for me… earlier…"

"Oh… it's alright… I can't and won't let ANYONE try to be a bully to my friends… I won't accept that."

Fluttershy giggled a little and smiled. "Well then… I guess I'll head home…"

"Okay, Good night Fluttershy."

She looked at me for a moment and suddenly embraced me. She held on for a few seconds while I could only be confused and surprised. When she pulled away, she was looking away and blushing very much. She began to gently fly back towards her home.

I sat there in awe with the same expression on my face. It left me so speechless that I didn't even know when I started to head back home…