//------------------------------// // 'False Friend'? Or True Friend? // Story: PONY POV SERIES SEASON 8: FINALE! // by Alex Warlorn //------------------------------// The Bounteously Exultant Point of View of Four Roof Glove Discord, long may he commiserate ‘Hope is worse!' I pouted. ‘Oh wait! Hope is good now! Hope is a force of chaos! Let's hear it for hope! Ah, it brings a tear to my eye. Or maybe I'm just sad about the million years it's going to take me to crazy-glue that Element back together... What, nothing to say? Shouldn't this be the part where you tell me that hope is illogical?' (Wind Whistler's Notes: On the contrary, to believe such a thing would be a shallow worldview indeed. Hope is believing that the troubles of the present can be resolved in a favorable outcome. Given any mortal creature's limited perception of reality, the multitude of possible futures, and the fact that as long as one is alive, one can still act to bring about positive change... hope is not illogical. Queen Majesty, for one, never lost hope, not even on her darkest day.) Nightmare Nhilis' gaze slowly moved along the ponies that were lined up to oppose her, staring at them one by one. "Eenie, meenie, minie... moe." My poor misguided princess seized Rainbow Dash and teleported her across the field, throwing up another black wind barrier with a swish of her wings. Rainbow's chanfron, criniere, and flanchard were all one highly flexible but interconnected form-fitting piece, so she couldn't just slip out of it. Did it hurt Nhilis? Probably, but I seriously doubt she cared. It certainly did no serious damage. "Pfft, this again?!" Rainbow Dash reared up, her wings and hooves unrestrained by Nhilis' grab. "If you think I'm gonna just stand here while you chant another one of those creepy spells at me... whoa!" With her magic, Nhilis hauled Rainbow Dash close, wings pinned to her sides, and then she lunged with her horn. For a heartstopping moment, it looked like she meant to stab Dash in the eye, but instead she slipped her horn under the headpiece to touch Dash's forehead... +++ Rainbow Dash "You know now that there are other worlds," The voice of Nightmare Nhilis boomed inside my head, so loud that I wanted to fold my ears and clap my hooves over them. "You've seen this, but here's a truth you haven't seen." The rest of the world had turned gray and ghostly. Beneath Nightmare Nhilis' barding, things pushing out from underneath her skin, ew, gross! My friends looked like ghosts, moving their mouths but sounding far away, and the creepy shapes flying around looked solid and real. Even DISCORD looked solid! Wait, over there... Is that another Apple Bloom, solid looking, putting up a 'Battle Does Not Go Beyond This Point' sign? UGH! Ignore it! "I don't care what kind of crazy haunted hayride you've cooked up," I shouted. "I'm not making you never-heard-from-again! I'll have enough to apologize to your parents! I'll stop whatever you've got planned, and then I'll stop you!" Nhilis lit her horn again, and gravity decided to work overtime. My whole body, magic armor and all, suddenly felt ten times heavier! Even the ground around me began to sink into a bowl shape. I'm pretty sure this wasn't gonna give me super strength like in Dragon Egg Z, though. Oh my gosh, Pinkie Pie! Yes, she got into the barrier to help me like she did for Sweetie! But... she can't seem to notice me or Nhilis! She pulled out a compass and a dowsing rod, but they're just spinning in circles! Nhilis moved to block my view of her. "There are many different Equestrias, just like in your favorite comics where the heroes go to alternate worlds, but only one of them, the Heart World, is the true Equestria. The others are just cheap knockoffs. And the Heart World isn't this one." She grabbed my chin with her hoof, forcing me to look at her. "That's right, blue streak. This Equestria: FAKE!" A shockwave of stronger gravity hit me. "You, me? FAKE. Your friends and everypony you know? FAKE!" Again! "That happy little foster family life you have with Scootaloo? FAKE! FAKE! FAKE! FAKE!" UGH, it hurts! Too heavy! Can't move! "None of it is real! IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO EXIST! We're all a bucking mistake! An over extension of a misinterpretation of a miscommunication! So just GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE and chew on that nastiness for a while!" I... I wonder if my armor is supporting my bones right now... If she squeezes much harder, I won't even be able to breathe. And... what she says... it echoes in my head over and over and over. I try to just throw it off, but it won't stop. Since when the buck do I care about this metaphysical egghead talk? Then I see images flashing in my head. Like those... those nightmares I was having before... The ones were I was a traitor working for Discord, and fighting a grown up Scootaloo. Did Nhilis... Did she put those pictures in my head too? (Prism Rush's Notes: No, Rainbow... it wasn't her.) These are worse. They're not awful or scary... What makes them worse is how normal they all are! My friends being my friends, me being me. Just living our lives and fixing up our weekly problems in half an hour. I even see myself as a Wonderbolt. Heh, I always knew I'd make it. But... Me and Scoots... we're not together. She looks up to me... she believes in me... We hang out together, but we're not family. We're not under the same roof. Scootaloo doesn't come to me when she has a nightmare. I don't get her notes from school. I don't have to deal with all the parental headaches and troubles of looking after a filly. And Scootaloo has loving ponies who look after her in this version of Equestria, even if they aren't her parents. And she can't fly. Scootaloo never had to save a brainwashed Sweetie Belle from Queen Leech. She and her friends stayed safe out of the crossfire, and Chrysalis got kicked out of Canterlot in an afternoon... living to cause grief for Equestria another day. Scootaloo and her friends get to just be fillies, never getting caught up in us having to save the world and... I'm a jerk, blowing up the Weather Factory's winter wing just so I don't have to not see Tank for three months. Am I really that alone? +++ Rainbow Dash's eyes were as wide and round as dinner plates, tears running freely. Her head, wings and tail were all touching the ground. "None of this, none of us were ever meant to happen," finished Nightmare Nhilis coldly. Rainbow Dash's Element of Loyalty began to shine brightly, and the ruby glow spread along the lines engraved in her barding. She rose, almost like she was wearing an exoskeleton to move a crippled body, each high-gravity hoofstep making another small crater. Rainbow raised her face to the Nightmare, defiant, even streaked with tears. "Ugh." Nightmare Nhilis rolled her eyes. "Do I have to spell it out more clearly? You're loyal to fakes. You love is fake. You're fighting for a fake. Your feelings are fake. The Element you wear means nothing. It's all a pretty lie! Are you that blind? Or are you being fed more pep-talks by the meddlers?" Rainbow Dash breathed in and out shakily, haunted yet determined. "No. It's just me." "Fine. Go on, let's have the trite 'No you're wrong!' punch." "... It's true, I'm not the Heart World's Rainbow Dash... and I have NO regrets! She didn't get to know Scoots like I have, but we're still the same pony where it counts. Here, there, Equestria is still a place you can trust griffons, zebras, ponies, donkeys, and the rest to be treated as equals. Where you can count on the Royal Guards to be decent creatures who don't exploit people for 'protection money.' Where my friends have problems, but we aren't psychos. I'm THIS Rainbow Dash, this is MY Equestria, MY friends, MY WORLD, MY FAMILY! And I wouldn't have it any other way!!!!" (Prism Rush's Notes: Fake, is she? She's real enough to avoid repeating my mistakes, you pint-sized Nightmare Eclipse.) (Nightmare Nhilis' Notes: 'What the Hell? Who are you?!') "Dashie, there you are!" And that was when Nightmare Nhilis realized she'd let go of Rainbow Dash. = Intertwined - Wonderful 101 = The sound of noise makers and exploding confetti filled the air as Nhilis took a hit square in the face from Pinkie's party cannon. Rainbow Dash drew on her harmony armor and accelerated impossibly quickly, shoulder-tackling Nhilis right into her own barrier. The barrier exploded into dissolving fragments as they blasted through. While Nhilis was still righting herself in the air, Apple Bloom threw a potion filled with a blue liquid. Nhilis caught it with her telekinesis, but magic-sensitive runes on the bottle glowed and shattered the glass, releasing a blue cloud. Nhilis inhaled it before she could think to hold her breath, and suddenly began violently sneezing out diamonds, her muzzle covered in blue polka-dots. Apple Bloom had a little voice in the back of her head, one of the left over memories of when she rewrote the world, warning her that poison joke WOULDN'T work on Discord or his pieces, but a Nightmare was fair game! Apple Bloom would have thrown together a potion of Ponyville General's best antidepressants and Pinkie Pie's laughing gas to break through Nightmare Nhilis' despair, but she had a feeling that magically enforced depression wouldn't be cured so easily. Even if it had worked, it wouldn't have been its end. With no help from Discord, Nightmare frantically began purging the curse from her body, but Applejack took the opportunity to lasso her, using the force of Rainbow's throw to spin her around and toss her again... right at Rarity and Sweetie Belle. Nhilis readied herself for another black magic attack, but instead the sisters both let out a vocal performance as undeniable and beautiful as King Leo's oceans, and for the first time, Nhilis felt herself disrupted! She crashed into a wall of soapboxes, courtesy of Twilight Sparkle. Behind it, Trixie conjured a 21-rocket salute of fireworks that Spike lit on fire and launched straight into the Nightmare. Nhilis snapped her wings in front of her like a shield, blocking the fireballs, but not the deafening boom. The Royal Sisters criss-crossed past her, twin wingblade spells forcing her wings open and weaving a gust that pinned her in midair. Princess Gaia glided towards her, mirrors floating in her magic all around her, and every one of them reflecting the Stare. Behind her, Scootaloo was carrying Silver Spoon, who held Diamond Tiara's crown, the jewels within shining with rainbow light of a familiar magic. With Sweetie and Rarity's hymn still echoing in her mind, Nhilis came within a hair's breadth of just letting whatever would happen... happen. The Nightmare narrowed her eyes, her expression suddenly hardening. She forced her eyes closed and lashed out, bucking Princess Gaia right in the forehead. The force of the kick made Princess Gaia feel like her brain was splitting in two... she'd never experienced a strike to the horn before. She flew backwards, bowling over Scootaloo and Silver Spoon, who weren't able to get out of the way in time, and all three skidded across the ground and went down in a tangle of limbs. The magic in the crown faded away. Fortunately, Scootaloo had caught Silver Spoon, and her cape had negated the worst of it. Fluttershy, however... felt all sensation in her horn fade away... and the earth pony muscle mass and connection with all life was silenced along her sense of the mana around her. Those around her saw her horn turn to blue light and dissolve into ghostly butterflies before she even hit the ground, a blue butterfly weakly fluttering away. "... That was it..." Fluttershy got to her hooves shakily. "I'm so sorry, everypony... that was my limit. I couldn't hold it any more." (Princess Luna's Notes: It's no use. Fluttershy's like a foal doing feats meant for grown mares... it's incredible she lasted as long as she did.) +++ The rabid Timber Wolves re-assembled themselves again and again, every time Dame Cheerilee blew them up, but with their brains being eaten by termites, they started coming back together wrong: a head where a paw should be, the legs backwards, a tail on the belly. Finally, Cheerilee smashed their heads and set the poor creatures on fire. The termites cooked along with their hapless hosts. As Cheerilee watched the rabid animals burn to ash, she felt Princess Gaia's presence fade, and with it, her blessing. Cheerilee's wings and armor dissolved into ghostly blue butterflies, who hovered around her just long enough to bear her safely to the ground, before flitting away in every direction. Granny Smith hobbled out of the Apple family home at once to help the exhausted teacher inside. Meanwhile, Zecora and Cupcake had successfully destroyed Nightmare Nhilis' shade. The two had been pushed to their limits when the shade suddenly grew bigger and far more aggressive. It had been a close call, but with tag team tactics and Angel providing distractions, they'd kept the shade from hurting anypony in Ponyville. 'Oh, to have saved our town, for gorgon venom to've put it down, what I wouldn't give. At least we live.' Zecora sighed. If only she'd thought to bring a few petrification grenades, they could have defeated the foul spirit much quicker, perhaps even captured it until a purification ritual could be prepared. They were simple to make, if one did not bungle the handling of the rare gorgon venom and turn oneself into a statue. The zebras considered them perfectly equine, a fine way to capture enemies without killing or poisoning them, since any petrified victim could be restored using phoenix tears with no ill effects, assuming the statue didn't break, or a freak wind didn't send the gas back in your direction. For some reason, ponies thought of them as inherently vile weapons. 'I wish I'd thought to give Apple Bloom a jar or two, but my pony friends would not like that if I am to speak true. Even in hooves as mature as that young filly's, it would not be wise to bestow such a weapon willy-nilly.' Just like Cheerilee, as Gaia's power faded, the blue butterflies brought them safely to the ground before fading away completely. The ponies of Ponyville came out of hiding by ones and twos, and then they cheered and stamped their hooves, galloping out to greet the heroes of the hour. 'I admit, at their cheers I cannot help but grin, considering that as an outcast in this town I did begin.' +++ The ponies, being ponies, rushed to make sure their friend was alright. Nightmare Nhilis cleared the poison joke's curse from her system, forcing it to see that its pranks weren't funny. Discord cringed at this act towards his creation. "What are you waiting for?" The Nightmare stood tall, spreading her wings intimidatingly. "Play your next trump card. I will crush them one by one until only despair remains." "I'm sorry, everypony," Fluttershy said. With the sudden loss of her earth pony strength, her legs were so wobbly that she couldn't even stand. "It's my fault. Everypony did their part except me." Princess Luna put a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. "Do not be so downcast, Princess Gaia, you did as well as could be done. 'Tis possible to make no mistakes and still be thwarted. Some things are simply beyond one's control." "An excuse to make weak, useless ponies feel better about themselves," Nightmare Nhilis said, but nopony bothered to taunt her back. "You just rest, Fluttershy," said Twilight Sparkle. "Fluttercruel, look after her, please?" "Got it." - Twilight Sparkle What none of us wanted to admit was that we could all use a rest. I briefly considered asking Nightmare Nhilis for a time out. After all, if we were too exhausted to fight, we were of no use to her, right? But I knew what her response would be. The more tired we were, the more frustrated we'd get, and more likely we'd be to cross that line and make her never-heard-from-again. In spite of, or perhaps because of our relentless attempts to do this without tragedy, we'd been fighting almost constantly. The copies, the armies, the Detachments, and trying so many different ways to contain or subdue Nightmare Nhilis. And the more desperate the situation got, the more desperate our tactics were going to get, and Nightmare Nhilis knew it. My next idea was for us to just retreat... but I didn't want to think about what Nightmare Nhilis would do to the rest of Equestria if she got impatient. The Princesses stood as our stone wall between us and Nightmare Nhilis, but would they even last, if Nhilis stopped playing around? The Crusaders had regrouped in the rear, and the rest of my friends had formed up on me. I wanted to take in all their faces, all their feelings, every variable and detail to calculate where we all stood, physically and mentally. But I was starting to feel like I'd been awake for three nights straight, around the time that Spike starts seriously considering secretly switching me to decaf. I just couldn't put the pieces together. Not good, not good at all. Nightmare Nhilis began to leisurely trot towards us. +++ A shadow flew past overhead, and a shrill cry echoed off the towers of Canterlot. Just a hawk out hunting, Twilight thought... until the shadow banked and came back around for another pass. A golden brown blur zoomed out of the sky, broad wings pumping hard to pull out of her power dive... and then the griffon made a perfect touchdown in front of the ponies. "Yo," said Gilda. She started towards them, then paused, taking in her surroundings... the magical armor, Nightmare Nhilis, the warzone that the park had become... "Um, did Nightmare Night come early this year?" The ponies watched with mixed emotions. Pinkie Pie gasped. Twilight lifted a hoof, curious. Rarity sniffed and turned away disdainfully. Fluttercruel growled, grinding her teeth. The foals, Spike, and Trixie just looked at each other, shrugging and shaking their heads. "No way..." breathed Rainbow. Then her hopeful expression crashed. "Ugh, now Nhilis is making fakes to pretend to be our friends? Like I haven't seen that one before!" But Applejack looked more amazed than she had when Discord had confessed to doing wrong. "No, Rainbow! You've got it all wrong. Ah swear, that's really her!" = Mumen Rider Theme 'Cyclist of Justice' - One Punch Man = "Hey Dash, I got yer letter," said the griffon nonchalantly, as if the letter had been mailed only yesterday, with a worn smirk that was not unfriendly. 'Gilda. If you're ever willing to accept my other friends instead of ditching them, I know that we can still be friends too. We had plenty of good times and I want to think they meant something to you too like they do me. Waiting for you too. Rainbow Dash.' (Prism Rush's Personal Notes: Gilda... you're awesome.) "Heard you and your pals took care of a little bug infestation," said Gilda smugly. Then she froze with a muffled squawk... she'd just realized that the two particularly tall folks in front were really the rulers of Equestria, and not costumed ponies on stilts. "Uh, hi! Your Pony Majesties! Lovely day we're having! Nice kingdom you got here!" "Well, duh! You don't pull off an impossible stunt without getting noticed! Ponies were talking about me becoming the youngest Wonderbolt in history! ...Then I couldn't do it again. At all. And they began to call it a fluke. An accident, that the rainboom happened on its own, and I just happened to fly inside it. Then suddenly, nopony had time for a one-trick pony." - "Well, Fluttershy is, well, Fluttershy. And all it did for Gilda was earn her a few new enemies and marks on her permanent record after she clawed some ponies who claimed I faked the whole thing." "She always kinda had an edge to her, but she wasn't always a sadistic bully." - "Treasure the Gilda who was your friend, find her again if you can, but protect your other friends from the Gilda that isn't if you must." 'So... This is the false friend that Twilight mentioned in her report,' Princess Celestia thought. And not having ruled Equestria foolishly for the last thousand years, she chose not to bring up the subject in front of the griffon in question. Princess Celestia put on her best 'I am not going to banish you to the moon' smile. Princess Luna meanwhile, kept a stern but unhostile expression. 'I've seen their dreams,' thought Princess Luna. ‘Gilda's and Rainbow Dash's. In some, they reconcile. In others, a friend grovels, begging for forgiveness. Or the argument never happened, or it was an evil clone or changeling imposter. In a surprising number, they blow up a towering shallow 'evil' monster version of their friend to justify their bad blood and their own moral high-ground. Now, we'll see which way reality goes.' Gilda scratched her crest awkwardly, eyeing Nightmare Nhilis warily. "I'm... guessing you're kind of in the middle of something. It's okay, I'll just come back later and..." Nightmare Nhilis cleared her throat. "Yes, if you don't mind..." Pinkie Pie cleared the gap between her and Gilda in a single bounce, throwing a forelimb around the startled griffon. "Aw, you can't leave now, silly! We've only just met again!" Surprisingly, for Pinkie Pie, she was just holding Gilda, rather than squeezing the stuffing out of her like a younger Pinkie would have. Her head pivoted towards Dash like a creepy puppet's. "Dashie! What postage did you send that letter?!" "What? It was first class, I swear!" shouted a flustered Dash. "I made sure Derpy didn't bake it into a muffin or something!" Gilda casually disentangled herself from Pinkie Pie and shoved her back a pace. "Can we not do the hugging thing?" She blinked. "Hey, you, you look ... is something different about you?" "Oh it's nothing, Gildie! I just wear my mane differently to reflect the fusion of my split personalities." "... I have no idea what to say to that, and don't call me Gildie! Now then..." Gilda fixed a piercing glare on Fluttershy, and her feathers ruffled. Every muscle in Gilda's body tensed. "You." ‘Oh dear,' Fluttershy thought. 'Maybe it's a good thing I lost my horn before she showed up.' "Um... H-hello, Gilda... It's been a long time since flight camp, hasn't it?" 'Mom, can I come out and beat her up for making you cry?' 'No!' Fluttershy thought sternly. 'But mom-!' whined Fluttercruel. 'No means no! If ponies can forgive Nightmare Whisper, I can forgive Gilda! I touched Gilda's heart as Nightmare Whisper: I could've been her.' 'Like she could've been a rock salesgriff?' 'This ISN'T nonsense, young mare! She was unsure, unconfident, and shy! Sound familiar? Rainbow stood up for us, to the same bullies After flight camp I found where I belonged, but Gilda faced MORE bullies at home! Can you say I wouldn't've become a meanie too?! There's enough refusing to let go here.' "Uh, hello?" Gilda asked, waving her claws in front of Fluttershy. "You makin' faces at me?" "What? Oh! Of course not!" Fluttershy smiled twitchily, trying to keep her hooves from shaking. "I'm just... thinking! About how nice is it to see you again, Gilda. I mean, who doesn't like to meet up with old camp-mates?!" Applejack quietly face-hoofed. 'Cut the buffalo crap, Flutters,' thought Gilda. 'I don't know what's more embarrassing, you turning me into a chick, or me enjoying it. It's just too bad that, you know... Dash couldn't have been there too, so we could have been kids and had fun together... Yeah, it's too bad, cause I'm never doing that again! Ever. Cause I'd never accept if you offered me. Cause I'm totally chill with how my fledgelinghood was, totally.' "A-hem!! The One and Only Trixie demands an explanation. What the buck is going on here? Who is this griffon, and why is she stealing Trixie's spotlight?" Silver Spoon and Sweetie Belle looked relieved that somepony else had asked first. Scootaloo started whispering in their ears, since she'd heard her guardian mention Gilda a few times, while Apple Bloom could have sworn she remembered SOMETHING about a griffon named Gilda, something she'd rewritten, but couldn't for the life of her remember what! It certainly had nothing to do with Gilda showing up here and now! (Interviewer's Notes (Unicorn): Trust me dear, sometimes these things just happen.) Gilda gave Trixie a sidelong glance. "Well, you can tell The One and Only Trixie that the name's Gilda, and I'm Rainbow Dash's best friend. What's it to you?" "-I- am the One and Only Trixie! And I thought Pinkie Pie was Rainbow Dash's best friend." Gilda growled at that last part. "Nuh uh!" said Pinkie Pie quickly. "She's MY best friend, but doesn't mean I'm HER best friend!" +++ Rarity Why weren't any of us telling Gilda to turn around and leave for her own safety and parlay with her at a better time? Well, for one thing darling, seeing Gilda here was almost more surreal than anything Discord had done today. It felt like an age had passed since Rainbow Dash had sent that letter, rather than a year at best. I must confess, I'd forgotten all about it, and I dare say most of the others had as well. It was like Gilda had stepped out of a time portal from a distant era... back when our major concerns were just helping each other recover from trauma rather than having to save the world again. Gilda had been a thug before: was this the Gilda Rainbow Dash was friends with? Well! Just because we were caught up in a battle with a dark magic powered up Nightmare with the mind of an emotionally unstable filly was no reason to be rude! Especially to Rainbow Dash's old friend, looking for a fresh start. Assuming, of course, that we could stop Gilda and Trixie from biting each other's heads off, before ponies exchanged words they'd regret... again! "Well, if yer the One and Only Trixie, why do you talk like she's somebody else? Ya got split personalities or somethin'? And One-and-Only? Seriously? Yer parents named you that?!" "'The One And Only' isn't a name, you philistine, it's a title! All the world's a stage for the Showpony Supreme, the One and Only Trixie Midsummer-Night of Lulamoon!" She posed dramatically, covering half of her face with her fluttering cape. "Pfft! Bet you can't say that three times fast." "At least I can say it without sounding like I swallowed a gravel pit!" "Now, girls! Play nice!" said Twilight Sparkle. Rainbow Dash dropped in from above, nudging Twilight to one side. "Trixie, this is Gilda, my old friend from flight camp. Things went south last time she came to Ponyville, but I decided to give her a second chance! Sound like anypony you know?" She spun to face Gilda next. "Gilda, this is Trixie! She's not your replacement! Twilight's the one who's super-buddy-buddy with her! We're just friends!" "Oh... " Gilda and Trixie said at the same time. They blinked at each other suspiciously, then snorted and turned turned their heads away from each other. (Interviewer's Notes: (Unicorn?): I just know those two will become the best of friends... if they don't kill each other first.) Gilda finally brought her attention to Sweetie and her friends. "So, who're the pipsqueaks, Dash?" She smirked. "Any of ‘em yours?" My sister and her little friends frowned at the 'pipsqueak' comment, but either Gilda was oblivious, or she didn't care. Dash grinned, glancing away. "Kinda no... and yes! This one is Scootaloo. I look after her now! And these two are AJ's sister Apple Bloom and Rarity's sister Sweetie Belle. The other one is Silver Spoon. She's... well, she's a friend we're helping out." Spikey-Wikey, who had been bouncing back and forth, frustrated at not being able to get a word in edgewise, chose this moment to jab a claw towards Gilda and shout, "And you couldn't have shown up at a worse possible time!" Gilda glared right back at him. "Hey lizard breath! I was gonna come right away after reading Dash's letter!" +++ Gilda Which is like, totally true. I was gonna zip straight to Ponyville, right after I opened that letter and read Dash's apology. I would have flown so fast I would've set the friggin' world record! What? Don't say I chickened out! Don't ever say that to a griffon! Even if, well, it's kinda true... Didn't opened Dash's letter until after Daydream-Flutters tried to put Equestria in diapers. Maybe it reminded me of good times with Dash, or it was kinda a 'near never-heard-from-again experience', but I got the courage to read it. Makes me wish I could've stuck around Cloudsdale longer instead of home to Griffonstone. No matter the place, living takes bits. Thankfully, unopened letters aren't worth anything to thieves. "Oh really, now?" the lizard said. "Then what have you been doing all this time?" I struck a cool pose and raked my claws through my crest, but I could tell some of the ponies were getting tired of my squawk. "Oh, you know, just cool adventures and stuff, but you don't want to hear about all that." "On the contrary, good griffon!" said Princess Luna, jumping in out of the blue. She had a strangely forced smile, and she kept glancing at something behind my back. "We simply must know what misadventures befell you, after you opened Dash's fateful missive!" "Seriously?" I scratched the side of my face, leaning a bit to the side. "You sure? Most griffons fly away just when I'm getting to the good part. Guess they can't handle the sheer concentrated awesome!" I cleared my throat and waved my claws dramatically. "So there I was, flying straight back to Ponyville so Dash and I could make up and be besties again. At least, that was the plan! "Ya see, I might have run into some lousy weather and had to make a quick pit stop at this spot in the mountains. Some crazy sphinx was like, ‘Riddle me this, if the ponies moved out of Ponygypt, would it belong to the sphinxes or the griffons?' Trick question, I said... sphinxes had it first, but us griffons had it last before the ponies did. Of course, the sphinx didn't see it that way, so we had to discuss the matter." I grinned, making a fist with my claws. "Griffon style." Yeah, yeah. The implosion of the Old 'Gryphon' Kingdom was so specular it remains the stuff of legends. Bite me! "The local fuzz didn't have much of a sense of humor about us roughing up the place. Typical! I was still trying to explain when I got thrown way off course by this huge migration of super lame-o butterflies. "I got so turned around that I had to stop in another bar for directions, and this crazy griff says he's really Boreas in disguise, and he won't let me leave until he's told me his secret life story. "Next thing I know, I've agreed to talk sense into this griffon chick. Turns out, she was gonna bring that jerk Arimaspi back to life, so he could cure her dad's curse! Pfft, like that was gonna go well." "Boreas?" wondered Scootaloo aloud. "Arima-who now?" "The god of the griffons and the jerk who stole his magic idol thing," said Rainbow Dash, munching popcorn from one of the paper buckets that Pinkie Pie was hoofing out. "Whoa, did I just answer an egghead question before Twilight?" Fluttershy smiled sheepishly. "That was... a really educational summer flight camp." Gilda was still going strong. "... and all of that other stuff was before I flew into this weird magic storm and got thrown into an alternate universe where this old goat ruled the world and the former hero ponies were his slave-minions. That adventure just wouldn't end! I thought I'd never make it back to my Guard unit. What, I didn't mention I was in the Royal Griffonstone Guard? Eh, I'll tell ya that one later. That's a whole other story." No need to tell ‘em I got conscripted because I could cook! "After all that, I was due for some leave time, and I was just about to fly to Ponyville too, when this some crazy hen said she was Astra in disguise. Blah, blah, epic fetch quest, only I could journey to the Theater of the Broken Wall and recover some ancient book written by some gal named Rasa about the rise of the first griffon tribes. I didn't think I could get many bits for it, so I gave it to a Daring Do cosplayer. "Later, my squad buddies and me worked security for a royal wedding in Saddle Arabia. Thought about signing on for another tour of duty, but eh, I never quite fitted in." They never did appreciate my cooking! (Interviewer's Public Notes (Pegasus): Let me guess, the groom was replaced by an evil imposter?) "Hey! How'd you know? We got 'em though. Let me tell you, so many griffs and other creatures got involved in that, I never could keep them all straight! And after that... hey, what's with the looks?" +++ As Gilda blinked, wondering why the ponies were all backing away, a dark shadow rose higher and higher behind her. When the shadow blotted out the sun, Gilda cocked her head, then turned around and peered upwards. "Oh, right... you. What are you supposed to be? Nightmare Moon the Third?" A towering Alicorn made of seething black shadows glared murderously down at her. "I am Nightmare Nhilis!" she roared. "And you will know despair!" The griffon blinked once. "Go buck yourself." The monster's lantern-like eyes shrank to little white points of light. Gilda either didn't notice or didn't care about the hollow aura of 'wrongness' that so greatly disturbed the ponies. Maybe her senses weren't honed enough to notice the inconsistencies. Or maybe she was just that thick. The shadowy dark Alicorn grew even larger, big enough to crush the griffon under one hoof. Gilda just raised an eyebrow. The 'shoulder conscience' sized Discord popped up and quickly got in between them. "You really should hurry and support your friend over there. You know, by her side? Behind the invincible princesses? You wouldn't want to make her look bad, would you?" Gilda caught sight of the transparent miniature draconequus... and made a strangled high-pitched squawk, shaking like a leaf. Discord winced, idly scratching his cheek. "Oops. Excuse me, I forget, how did I crush your soul again? There's been so many. That aside, you should clear some distance before-" The memories flashed through Gilda again. Thoughts composed of only 'Fight or flee?' ‘Food or threat?' A brain that valued a living pony only its next meal, driven only by blind instinct and surrounded by its natural prey. "This is payback you bastard!" Gilda let out an ancient Gryphon Empire war screech and began wildly slashing at Discord, so fast her claws were a blur. Of course, Discord was an immaterial spirit, but Nightmare Nhilis behind him was not. The flesh and blood griffon tore through the shadowy illusion, her claws raking across Nhilis' chamfron. Gilda screeched and flapped her wings, slashing with her hind claws too and pecking savagely with her beak. (Wind Whistler's Notes: Dissy, that was an insensitive, and dare I say, idiotic inquiry.) 'Sorry?' (Wind Whistler's Notes: I am not the one to whom apologies for that transgression should be directed towards!) 'I should have given those two fiends better instructions on their contract to keep trouble out.' = The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time- Ganondorf's Theme = "That's your best? Disappointing." Nightmare Nhilis backhoofed Gilda. The force of earth pony strength knocked her out of the air, but the half-lion landed on all fours, growling. Gilda shook herself out of the berserker frenzy, and was disappointed to see that she hadn't damaged Discord OR Nhilis much. Her claws had cut deep along the chinks in Nhilis' armor, but not deep enough. Nhilis casually healed a tiny cut on her cheek. "I'd hoped that you, not bound by pony hypocrisy, were here to do what had to be done, but you just don't have the stopping power." Gilda jerked a thumb-claw towards herself. "I've stopped plenty!" "If only you'd come armed with your service crossbow or claw extensions. Too bad you just brought yourself." "I came here for Dash, not for you, loser! I don't know you from Griffgamesh, but if yer that Super-freak's pal, then you better watch out!" "Discord's along for the ride, I'm my own master now. If it's any consolation, when I die, I'll drag Discord down with me, and we'll both get everything we deserve." The Nightmare transformed into a grayish pink griffon: bigger, meaner-looking, and burlier than Gilda, covered in dark magic runes. She assumed a menacing pose, spreading her wings and raising her tail. "You have no reason to stay here and fight a battle that you can't possibly win. Go away." Gilda narrowed her eyes. "Rainbow Dash is fighting you... why? What'd you do to her?" "I made her think I was going to chop off Scootaloo's wings. What about it?" "Then I got reasons! That filly is part of Dash's flock!" Gilda leapt at the giant griffon, clawing and snapping at her neck, but Nhilis brute forced her into the ground, tanking Gilda's attacks. "Oh I'm sorry! Didn't you hear? Introducing new characters at the finale is in bad taste!" The giant griffon grabbed Gilda by the head, and with her flailing, slammed her beak first into the ground. "GILDA!" Rainbow cried out. (Prism Rush's Notes: GILDA!) +++ Discord Lamp Frame Switch Celly... Lulu... I can see it in your eyes. All those years we grew up together. Those eons we spent hanging out before. The times we fought after. You think I can't figure it out? You know this beatdown on Gilda is the first real chance your ponies have gotten to rest. The more tired, worn out, and frustrated they get, the more my princess is in control, and the more likely they'll do something they'll regret. You know they need this time to rest. Oh right, we're dealing with ponies who can't stand seeing another creature get beaten to a pulp without it overriding their common sense. Too bad you lost Sunbutt Junior. At least she'd have the guts to sacrifice a pawn, if that's what it took to stay in the game. But you, you just can't do it, can you, Celly? Not you, not Miss 'I love all my ponies and every creature great and small Element of Kindness Celestia.' You don't complain when tabloids write horrible things about you, and some of your micro-brained subjects actually believe that amusing drivel. But these ponies who have gotten to know you? Who have spoken to you face to face? It'd break their little hearts if they saw you being less than perfect. You can't let somepony get hurt for your sake, even if it's the sensible solution. That's why you didn't wait until somepony else had Chrysalis's attention and then blew her head off when she wasn't looking, nor did you blow her to ashes with your full power even if it meant giving some of your subjects a permanent sun tan. Morning Star always said you were truly Your Mother's daughter, just like Strife truly is My Mother's, and he was right. And you, Lulu, Element of Loyalty. You know better than Celly that unless you have an insanely huge advantage, there's no such thing as victory in battle without sacrifice. Even if the winner isn't making the sacrifice. Asking the Element of Loyalty to just stand by and watch her friend get pummeled? You're willing to do it, it's the higher loyalty to the greater good, and you know these ponies will hate you for it. Your sister will be forced to make a show of detesting you for such 'cold heartedness' when you know the alternative is for them to heroically rush to the outcome my princess wants. You'll do it so your sister won't have to. I wish watching you two squirm was fun like it used to be. Instead I'm saddled with feeling sorry for you, and with a nagging voice in my head telling me right from wrong! It's like I've forgotten Teacher Morning Star's creed: 'Never feel sorry for anyone!' "I would not describe my observations as 'nagging,' and you clearly can remember that creed. You are simply no longer emotionally comfortable following it." Shut up, ghost of Wind Whistler! The cavalry is late, as usual. Sadly, that means I'm going to have to step up and seize the moment. Ahem. 'Do pardon me for interrupting, but shouldn't you put a barrier up, dear? You wouldn't want those meddling fillies to rescue their friend before you've had your way with her!'' She didn't even respond. I guess we're not on speaking terms right now. Too bad Goatcord, my inner crazy, was how I did a lot of my large scale chaos magic, and now I've lost him! So how much agency do I have over my own power still? ... Only that much? That's not encouraging. So, it's come to this... Fencing Square Ziggurat Discord must ... repeat a trick! How will I ever forgive myself? Lightning struck, and even my surprise looked surprised. The ponies weren't about to stop for my summon however, so using what I could still do without my beloved insanity, I managed to whistle up a barrier around my princess and our feathery guest star: a simple job of some ever shifting checkerboard patterns layered on top of each other, neatly censoring the violence within. Typical ponies, their first instinct was to crash into the problem head first, but this gave Celly the excuse she needed. "My ponies, stop!" And figuring that my barrier had some hidden peril they couldn't see, Celly's little ponies obeyed their goddess without question. This also saved Eris from getting trampled by the stampede. I managed to stretch out from my princess, pop out the other side, and get back to my typical size, just for show. "You again!" Rainbow Dash growled at Eris. Eris ignored her, busying gawking at herself. "Heeeey, what's with these clothes?!" She tugged at her bright blue vest with white-gloved claws, then yanked on her matching blue boots, but none of it would come off. "What am I, some kind of pixelated rodent?" Then her eyes bulged in horror. "Black shorts with white trim?! THIS IS PURE EVIL!" I massaged my temple, feeling a pan-dimensional headache coming on. "What are you complaining about? The focus group said they look wonderful on you." "I'm a nudist, you jerk, and proud of my nudism! THIS IS OPPRESSION!" The ponies nodded at each other in silent agreement, it was their Celestia-given right to go around naked. Even Rarity had to support that, though she did fume and shake her head a bit. "Have you all forgotten that Gilda is in danger, every moment we delay?!" "That's right!" I declared, hamming it up. "And the only way you're getting through the barrier is to pass Eris' challenge!" "Like blue blazes we are!" AJ snapped. "We're done with your games!" shouted Spike. Twilight sighed heavily. "I'm disappointed in you, Discord. I thought you were done with all this." I whipped out a Griffcord hand-puppet and threw my voice to it. "Ah, but I still have my sadistic side, remember?! BWAAHAHA!" I didn't know what was worse, the disappointed look on Fluttershy's face, or the look of grim confirmation on Fluttercruel's. "If we have to break through, we will!" shouted Rainbow Dash. "I already took out cross-dresser-you all by myself!" The unicorns' horns all lit up. "Ah, ah, ah! You COULD break through it, but you'd not be able to save Gilda ANYWAY because you'd use up too much energy. Like it or not, if you want to get to her you'll simply have to play along." "We'll FIND THE STRENGTH INSIDE! WE ALWAYS DO!" Twilight Sparkle shouted heroically. AJ had a sick look on her face. "Twilight, NO WE WON'T." Twilight looked at Applejack, shocked, as did their friends. The Princesses stayed nice and quiet, playing their parts. "W-What?" "...Discord AIN'T LYING this time. Ah HATE tah say it, but it's the truth. We're on our last legs here, Twi. If we brute force this, we're done." Ugh, I hate those eyes of hers, staring into my soul like this! Alas, they leave me no other way. Heh, manipulation through Honesty herself, at least that's a little change of pace. "B-But the Princesses could..." "Blow the whole garden away? Look, Ah'm the LAST one who wants tah say it... but Discord is tellin' the truth and we're wastin' time arguin' instead of gettin' through this cockamamie jig of his!" Rainbow Dash looked angry and hurt and scared... and I didn't feel the least bit like smiling when I saw it. Thankfully I'm a good actor. "SO WHAT IS THY GAME, DISCORD?!" Lulu demanded, waving her forehoof. A snap of my fingers turned the puppet into a sitar, which I strummed mystically. A rainbow anchored by an animated sun and moon descended, bearing a boombox that joined me in playing peaceful trance techno music. = Medusa Bay (Lonesome Search) - Ecco The Dolphin Sega CD = A plastic balance board and pillow appeared underneath and in front of Eris. Matching items appeared before each of the ponies. "Can you match my moves?" The foals prepared themselves for a game of Prance Prance Revolution. "First, assume the Upavistha Konasana pose." Eris hugged the pillow, laid her head on the side, and split her legs apart. "WHAT DA HAY IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE?!" Applejack exclaimed. "Yoga?" blurted out Rarity. She glanced at her friends and only got bewildered looks in return. "Exercises for relaxing the mind and body, darlings. Some minotaurs on a mountaintop came up with it, and now it's all the rage in Canterlot." "Precisely!" crowed Eris. "There's only one way to decide the ultimate fate of our battle. I challenge you to a peaceful, restful yoga pose-off!" "You gotta be kidding me!" said Pinkie Pie, trying to copy Eris. "I mean, even my spine doesn't bend that way!" "She has you there," I said. "Why don't you show them..." I snapped my fingers, grinning wickedly. "Pony style." Poomf! "I hate you so much right now," snarled Eris the pony. The hurricane cutie mark on her flank gave me the stink eye. "Cease your bellyaching! I took the clothes away, didn't I?" "Fine!" She glared at the ponies, like she was taunting them to a duel to the death. "Match me if you can!" Rarity snorted and perfectly assumed the pony version of the pose that Eris had named. Slowly and begrudgingly, the others followed. ++++ = One Punch Man Emotional Soundtrack re created『ワンパンマン 』BGM Sad theme JACKONTC RE CREATION 10You = Gilda's talons were pinned, but not her paws, and she kicked both of them into the giant griffon's face. Nhilis' head snapped back... and that was all. Gilda's attack had only annoyed her. "Get rid of that barrier. This is pointless if they aren't watching." Discord wrung his claw and paw. "My princess, have you forgotten everything I taught you? The things the audience can't see can often leave the strongest impact." He neglected to mention that he had muffled the sound too. "Hey, lady!" Gilda started ramming her paws repeatedly into the bigger griffon, like she was laying into a punching bag. "I thought... you said... you didn't have a reason for fighting me!" "You would have made Mimic proud," Discord remarked. Nobody listened. "They care," said Nhilis. "That's enough. Not that it means much. I forgot that I could threaten to step on a caterpillar, and they'd rush to stop me." "Like I said, you messed with Dash. Plus, you're THAT THING'S buddy, so that's two reasons I have to pound your stupid face in!" "He is not my buddy." Discord cringed. The Nightmare griffon lunged, snapping with her beak. Gilda darted left and right as best as she could, escaping the giant bite marks left on the ground behind her. "And now yer trying to mess me up, so yer nuts if you think I'm gonna lay here and take it!" "That's it?" the Nightmare asked, in the mild confusion of someone seeing an insect act in an odd way. "You don't care why I'm trying to hurt you, just to trigger your old friend?" "No! I don't give a flying feather about yer reasons! What matters is what yer doing! What do you think I am! A pony?!" Gilda clawed her way through the soft earth and finally broke free, launching herself into the air. The giant griffon followed, but before she could get oriented, Gilda leapt onto her back, scratching and biting. The giant griffon turned into a pinkish gray dragon and whipped around, throwing Gilda off. Then she slammed Gilda with her tail, sending her tumbling away. Nhilis pointed a talon accusingly. "You shouldn't have come here. You've served your purpose. You came to Ponyville just so Rainbow Dash could see what a REAL friend Pinkie Pie is, while you were a false friend." "THAT'S A LIE!!!" Gilda screeched, seeing red. She zig-zagged towards the dragon to get at her unguarded underbelly. "Those who have served their purpose should be disposed of." "I'LL DECIDE WHAT I'M SUPPOSED TO DO!" At near Rainboom speeds, Gilda rammed the dragon's underside, prying at the larger bulkier scales. "Jealous of cutie marks?" the dragon sneered. "AS IF!" "Now who's the liar?" The dragon shrank down back to a Nightmare, who blasted Gilda with her magic, knocking her back. The Nightmare teleported behind her, shifted into a dragon again, and wrapped her claws around Gilda, slowly crushing her. "You're not curious about where 'Nightmare Moon the Third' came from?" "NOT ONE BIT! I've seen some crazy droppings this year! Doesn't change a thing!" Gilda pressed back against the mountain of draconic strength. The drakaina gradually dug her claws into Gilda. "This adventure has no further need of you. Just stop. Go crawl into a corner and pray I don't notice you again." "You know what makes griffons a bunch of losers?" remarked Discord. "They chose to reject their natural born instincts!" "Who asked you?" Gilda savagely bit into the drakaina's left index claw, right where the scales met at the joint, only stopping when she burned her tongue on hot dragon's blood. Nightmare Nhilis involuntarily let go of Gilda and whipped her claw about. "How could you injure me in this form!? Dragons can skinny dip in lava. I don't believe this!" "Believe it or not, it's still there!" Gilda snapped back. The drakaina breathed an inferno at her. The former Junior Speedster managed to get out of the way with only her tail set on fire. Still in the air and with no time to think, Gilda whipped her tail into her talons and smothered the flames, enduring the pain. "You know I'm toying with you, right? I could disintegrate you in a second!" "Then why HAVEN'T you, gluepot?!" Gilda angled her wings and dove along the drakaina's spine, hoping to claw Nhilis' eyes before she could shape shift again. "Because our world's ridiculous rules won't let me!" roared the drakaina with a weird echo. "THEN YOU CAN'T!" Gilda came up to the dragon's face from behind, claws extended and talons ready. "But maybe we can have a nice uplifting story about you becoming a helpless invalid!" Gilda just managed to give Nhillis a poke in the eye, only to get swatted away like a bug before she could do any real damage. Gilda wondered if that broke any bones, or maybe she'd imagined that cracking noise. Gilda hit the ground, bouncing and skidding to a stop. The drakaina shank back down, shifting into an Alicorn as she landed. "I could break your spirit with a touch, but for some reason I'd rather watch you squirm. I guess I'm just a worthless bully after all. It's kind of a relief, actually." Gilda coughed. "Been there already. I got better. What's your excuse?" "I'm an emotionless abomination with a slew of emotional dark spirits inside me." "Sucks to be you!" Gilda threw a talon full of dirt in the Nightmare's eyes and tackled her head on. The ground gave way, skidding beneath Gilda's paws, but the Nightmare herself took the hit without even bracing her hooves. "Silly kitty-birdy. Don't you know the final enemy is always unbeatable, except to the A-list heroes? Harden." The soft garden dirt beneath them turned into a patch of flat stone. At the same moment, Nhilis shape-changed into a towering minotauress, her breasts covered in dull pink fur and her horn nibs a lifeless gray. She grabbed one of Gilda's forelimbs and hefted her into the air. Standing at her full height, Nhilis repeatedly slammed Gilda into the cold hard ground, with all the passion and malice of a working water pump. "Want to start counting off how many of those hollow bones of yours I'm breaking? Sorry, but you just aren't interesting or all that important in the grand scheme of things. Prove me wrong if you can. Villains of the week should dissolve back into the nothingness that spawned them once their job is done. You'll come back into being when the important ponies have need of you again." "Typical... pony... ego," croaked Gilda, with a bloody smirk. Nhilis idly wondered how Gilda could smirk with a beak, then shrugged and continued to slam Gilda like a rug needing a beating. "There is a hierarchy in the world. Be grateful you're above the Royal Guard who steps on a landmine to let the important ponies know they're in danger." "Go... buck... yourself!" "You should thank me!" The minotauress got bored of the sound of griffon against flat rock and threw Gilda across the enclosure, which by Discord logic was as big on the inside as it needed to be. Gilda landed in a heap. "If I decided to break your soul with a word, you'd wind up all emotionally vulnerable. By the time Rainbow Dash finished helping you discover your new, caring, goody-goody self, you'd be a pony with a beak and claws." Nhilis shifted to her pony shape, teleported on top of Gilda, and began stomping her in the back. "Of course, they could just use the Elements and fix you right up, but they always seem to forget about those for broken creatures who aren't main characters!" Gilda wrapped her tail around one of the Nightmare's armored legs, and managed to pull her hoof out from under her. Nhilis instinctively spread her wings out to catch herself, and Gilda took that chance to leap up, grabbing the wing and twisting it. Nhilis simply grabbed Gilda with her telekinesis and smashed her into the barrier Discord had set up. The Nightmare shoulder-slammed her from behind before Gilda could aerokinetically escape. Gilda got her face knocked into the barrier over and over until she felt her beak crack. "You know, I'm going to beat you to a pulp no matter what you do. I'd ask you to just lie down and take it so there'll be less pain, but you and Rainbow Dash would both rather suffer for some stupid abstract idea about 'not giving up' or 'not giving me the satisfaction'-" "Abstract, huh? What do you call that horseapples you're spouting?" "What?" "All your squawking about some creatures being important and others trash, how's that any better? Maybe I never wanted to be a Guard, but when I was? I did stuff that mattered!" So what if most of it had nothing to do with being a Guard? "I'm plenty important!" The Nightmare let go of her, and Gilda slid to the ground. "Everyone thinks they're important, the hero of their own sad little story, but cold hard reality says otherwise. Most live in blissful ignorance, and think they're on top because of their own merits, or that everypony has a fair shot." Gilda rolled her eyes. Even that hurt. "Oh yeah, life's not fair, boo-hoo! I've known that since I hatched! Some are born with all the luck and the rest of us have to struggle to get by! You actually think I don't know that, you idiot?!" (Wind Whistler's Notes: Actually her actions are perfectly logical. As Nightmare Nhilis is extremely unlikely to show any mercy at this stage, inconveniencing her for as long as possible to better the odds of those who come after is a better use of one's time than laying down and dying.) Nightmare Nhilis kicked Gilda in the gut, leaving blood on her sharp hoof. Gilda coughed and sputtered. "Lion/eagle griffons are descended from royalty. You could have been Princess Grizelda, one of the last Royal Gryphons, carrying that legacy passed down from King Grover I, to King Guto XIV, to you on your maternal grandmother's side. Too bad you're a failure from a family of failures of a kingdom of failures of a species of failures born of the most cataclysmic failure in history. Maybe if Boreas and Astra were around to lead you like the dragons have Tiamat and the ponies have Celestia, your civilization wouldn't be a pathetic joke." Instead of asking how Nhilis knew Gilda's family tree... she struggled and got to her feet. It was harder than it should have been. Some of her joints weren't moving the right way. "Screw you. Boreas and Astra know we don't need our talons held! Unlike you ponies who need a bajillion goddesses around just to hatchling-sit you!" "They're not here to babysit," said Discord. "They stay here because they want to be among their friends, in the flesh." He gasped and covered his mouth in shock at his own words. Gilda and Nhilis both looked at Discord, stunned... they'd forgotten he was even there. (Prism Rush: Don't just stand there! Go, go!) Gilda moved first, punching the Nightmare so hard she heard bones crack and turned the Nightmare's head. Blood covered the grass Gilda had been laying on. She spread out her wings like they were rusted gears and flapped once, lifting her lion claws to kick Nhilis in the face again. Keeping up her momentum, Gilda grabbed Nhilis' head and slammed the Nightmare's muzzle into her knee. Again, there was sound of bones cracking. A beam of white magic shot out from the Nightmare's horn, but Gilda dodged it with quick reflexes, only feeling a slight sting in her side, and she kicked the Nightmare in the ribs. Nhilis transformed back into a teenage drakaina, but Gilda grabbed her claw, flapped her wings for a burst of extra speed, and threw her into the ground so hard it made an imprint. Gilda panted and wheezed. Her head swayed dizzily. The teenage drakaina burst into flames, and rushed Gilda while still transforming. Gilda felt something stab her, but that was okay, the flames would cauterize the wound. Gilda noticed blood on the barding, and she wasn't sure it belonged to Nightmare Nhilis. Well, Gilda had a lot of blood on her, so it must have evened out, right? The Nightmare back hoofed Gilda again, spinning her and knocking her to the ground. Stupid body was being lazy, not moving the way Gilda was telling it to. "You should go back to baking scones, Grizelda." Gilda grimaced. "Ix-nay on the one-scay!" Then there was a wet crackling sound, and Gilda found her legs frozen in a dumb block of ice. Some stupid black thorny vines wrapped around her wings. Squawking Nightmare! She'd show her, just as soon as the ice melted. Then the brambles wrapped around her tail, pinning it down, and briars wrapped around her beak. Ghostly purple skeleton-ponies lifted her wrapped-up-self, moving like puppets. Dang, their touch was colder than the ice... or did it burn like ice? Either way, they turned her around so she was face to face with Nhilis. The Nightmare's eyes narrowed, seeing Gilda's smug grinning face. "I know it's going to be something idiotic, but tell me what you're smiling about anyway." The plunder vines around Gilda's beak parted so she could speak. Instead of answering, Gilda chanted as loud as she could, even if it felt like knives were stabbing her chest when she breathed. Junior Speedsters are our lives, Sky-bound soars and daring dives Junior Speedsters, it's our quest, To some day be the very best! "The buck? You hate that cheer." "Yeah, but I know Dash loves it." Nhilis stared at Gilda for a long moment, her expression devoid of emotion. "I'm done with you." (Prism Rush's Notes: No. Not Gilda... Not again!)