//------------------------------//
// Griffon the Brush Off 
// Story: The Impact of Humans on Ponies 
// by the koopanater 
//------------------------------//

It was another day in Equestria, and Xavier was taking it to walk around town. It was a week since the applebuck incident, and Xavier decided to get out of the house. He was wearing the same red shirt from before, with his hoodie on his waist again, and his bandanna was still there. He wasn't taking it to sight see, however, he was actually looking for a job for some money. After he was in his home for a while, he came to a big realization that he had no money nor personal items, so he decided to look for a way to get them.

"Easier said than done I guess." Xavier mumbled to himself. "How does a human get a job in a world where the things are fitted for hooves. I haven't seen a single place that could-" 

"Excuse me?" Xavier jumped up at the voice that broke his thoughts. Turning, he saw a mare with a pink coat and a well kept blue mane. "Oh, I'm sorry about that, but I came to see if I could get your help."

Xavier looked at her with confusion. "Um... Sure?" The pony gestured to follow, so he did as she explained. "You see, I work at the spa in town, and the water there hasn't been heating properly. I'm worried that something happened to the water heater. When I saw you, I remembered that you made that curtain at the ceremony, so I thought you could help."

Looking at her, Xavier seemed a bit hesitant. "Um, well, I do dabble a bit in this stuff, but I don't know if I'm the best at it." Pausing for a second, he began to decide. "B-but if you think I can help, I'll try my best."

Smiling, the mare showed him that they were at the spa, to which Xavier was impressed as they entered. Guiding him to the backrooms, the mare showed him the heater. "Here it is. Before you begin, do you need anything?"

"Well, I will need some tools. I would get my own, if I hade any... So could you find me some? Also, once I find the problem, I'll make a list of things I will need to start repairs, so be ready for that." Nodding, the mare left to collect some tools, leaving Xavier to examine the heater. After looking over the heater though, he saw no problem to the device on the outside, nor heard anything. Looking at it confused, his eyes diverted to a circuit box nearby. When he saw it, he had an idea and went over to it. He stopped when he stepped in a puddle. When he stepped in it, things clicked in his head as he knew the problem, so he went over to the box and opened it up, revealing the problem he thought was there.

"I have the tools." Looking over his shoulder, he saw the mare with a belt of tools in her mouth. She came over to him as she was curious. "Um, did you find the problem with the heater."

"Well, yes and no." Xavier answered, earning a confused look from her. To explain, he showed her the circuit box, revealing a few parts burnt out. "It wasn't the heater with the problem, but the power system that's the problem. There is a leak somewhere in the ceiling, which caused water to drip down here, probably hitting this stuff, frying some of the pieces in the process, making it harder for the heater to get energy to heat the water. If you could get these parts somewhere, I can replace them and get things running again." She nodded to him as she handed him the tools. Xavier decided to make a list of the parts for her to get so she didn't get confused as he got to work.



"Aaanndd, there we go."

Xavier was finished with the circuit box as he closed it. It was a few hours to fix the thing because some of the parts were rusted, but he managed. Grabbing a rag, he wiped his face as he turned to the mare.

"All right then, that should do it Lotus. Just get that leak all patched up and things should be good."

"Thank you Xavier, I will make sure that is taken care of." Lotus informed him.

"Good, wouldn't want me coming over again to do this all over again."

"Well, maybe you should come back over." Lotus said, confusing Xavier. "We've been looking for somepony to have as a maintenance pony for the spa, but I think that we found someone."

Hearing this, Xavier was shocked. "Wait, you want me to be your maintenance crew?"

"Of course, you seem to know what you're doing, so why not? In fact..." Lotus reached behind her and grabbed a pouch and handed it to Xavier. Looking inside, he was shocked again to see it was filled with coins. "That should be enough to pay for the good job."

Looking at the pouch, Xavier was stunned. "I-I can't take this! I-I-"

"No, you earned that from your good job. If you didn't come to help, we would be closed for a lot longer."

Despite Xavier's thoughts, he looked over at the circuit box and thought it over. Looking back over, he gave an answer. "I-I guess if you guys need a maintenance crew, I could do that."

Smiling, Lotus and Xavier left the room for the latter to leave for the day. "If you guys need me, you know where to find me I guess. Thank you for the offer as well." Smiling at him, Lotus bid Xavier goodbye as he left the spa with the pouch in hand. "This should be able to cover the costs to get some new tools for me, and maybe some extra just in case." Xavier thought to himself. Looking around, he decided to treat himself and get a smoothie at a nearby shop.



Getting his smoothie, Xavier decided to sit at a table near the market to enjoy the rest of his day. As he was drinking his smoothie though, something broke his tranquility.

"Hey!"

Looking over, he was surprised to see Fluttershy in front of a griffon. The griffon had white feathers and brown fur along her body, with a bunch of larger feathers on her head covering one of her eyes. Taking a closer look, it looked like the griffon was yelling at Fluttershy. Knowing that she couldn't take that sort of stuff, Xavier ran to help her.

"Hey, griffon!" The griffon looked for a second before Xavier pushed her away, getting in between her and Fluttershy. "Back away from my friend!"

Reorienting herself, the griffon saw Xavier and growled. "No, you back up, you... clothed... ape, thing! This doesn't concern you anyway!"

Looking unimpressed at the insult, Xavier held his ground. "You made it my concern when you decided to yell at my friend. Now leave!"

Looking him over, the griffon noticed something and smiled. "Oh yeah, sure, I'll leave, if you give me your bits." 

Looking at where she was, he realized that she saw his pouch that his money was in. "S-seriously! You're going to put a price on this!"

"Hey, if you don't want to pay, I can go back to business." Hearing this, Fluttershy whimpered, to which Xavier growled. He ultimately decided to grab the pouch and toss it to the griffon, who looked pleased. "Heh, thanks buddy. Anyway, I gotta bail, all these lame ponies are driving me buggy. Later." The griffon flew away as the area became more relaxed. Seeing that she left, Xavier helped Fluttershy up.

"Are you ok Fluttershy?" Fluttershy simply nodded in response, clearly shaken up by the recent events. "Good, now what happened?"

"I can tell you!" Looking over to the voice, he saw that it was Pinkie with a not-so-happy expression. "That griffon's name if Gilda, and she is old friends with Rainbow Dash. I would say that's good, but she is mean. I just wanted to hang out earlier but she kept driving me away! Now she was going after Fluttershy because she was guiding some ducks!"

Frowning, Xavier looked less than pleased. "Well, we can add greedy to that list, and I just earned that..."

"Um, not to offend you, but where did you get the bits?" Fluttershy asked quietly, to which Xavier sighed. "Well, I kinda got a job at the spa as maintenance, but we can worry about that later! We need to tell Rainbow about this."

"NO!" Xavier jumped when Pinkie appeared in his face. "We can't, Gilda won't let us near her. And besides, she won't believe us!. But don't worry, I'll solve this, Pinkie Pie Style!" Xavier shuddered, fearing for what she was going to do.



"Why am I not surprised"

Xavier was currently in Sugar Cube Corner with an unimpressed look on his face as Pinkie was greeting ponies who entered for the party she was hosting for Gilda. At first, Xavier thought that Pinkie would use the party to mask a revenge plan, but it turns out that she was doing this just to get Gilda to open up and become friendlier. While everypony was along with it (Though they haven't meet Gilda nor know who she is) Xavier and Fluttershy were hesitant.

"Um, P-Pinkie Pie?" Fluttershy said as she and Xavier approached her. "Are you sure this is a g-good idea?"

"Yeah Pinkie, you sure?" Xavier asked. "I mean, she seems to be very mean, so maybe a party isn't-"

"Don't worry your pretty little heads about mean old Gilda." Pinkie said as she patted both of their heads. "Your auntie Pinkie Pie's got it all taken care of."

"I'm a year older than you." Fluttershy said annoyed.

"And I think you're younger than me..." Xavier said confused.

"Gilda!" They were interrupted by Pinkie exclaiming excitedly as they turned to see her hopping to the griffon in question not looking impressed. "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 said as she extended her hoof to shake. Gilda looked at her a bit weirded out, but reached to shake, only to be electrocuted. As Gilda fell to the floor from shock, Pinkie revealed that she had something strapped onto her hoof as she giggled, with Rainbow joining in.

"Oh Pinkie Pie, the hoof-shake buzzer. You are a scream." Rainbow laughed as Gilda got up grumbling. "Come on G, I'll introduce you to some of my friends."

"Right behind you Dash." Gilda said as she turned to Pinkie and began to whisper at her. Unfortunately, Xavier couldn't hear them, or at least Gilda since Pinkie seemed content at being loud like she always was. It was then that Pinkie began to speak to the room.

"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." Gilda looked like she was about to punch her, but the crowd cheering made her force a smile as Pinkie lead them the snack table. "Help yourself, Gilda."

"You sure this isn't a prank?" Gilda looked a bit hesitant at a bowl of vanilla lemon drops. Xavier went and took one and ate it, having no reaction other than a bit of joy in the candy. Seeing him eat the candies, she felt it safe to eat herself. "Huh, well I guess it's fine." Gilda said as she took one for herself, before her face became red and she ran around saying "HOT!"

"G, the punch." She said as Gilda ran over to drink it, only to find that the cup was rigged to spill onto her, earning a bunch of laughs from the room as Pinkie spoke. "Well, whaddya know, pepper in the vanilla lemon drops, and the punch served in a dribble glass!"

"Ha! Priceless, priceless!" Rainbow chuckled as Gilda found a cup of water not rigged and took it all in one drink. "Yeah, hilarious." Gilda spoke sarcastically as she spotted a bunch of presents on a table. Running over to it, she grabbed a cylindrical present and began to open it. When it opened, a bunch of toy snakes flew out, startling her. Of course, Everypony got a laugh out of it as Applejack spoke.

"Spittin' snakes. Hah, somepony pulled that prank on me last month."

"Ha ha, I bet I know who that was." Gilda said sarcastically as she looked at Pinkie, who looked at her Innocently. Xavier looked confused though.

"Why are all of these pranks happening? Is this Pinkie's true plot, or is this somepony's else's handy work?" Xavier thought to himself as he popped another peppered lemon drop into his mouth.



The party was in full swing with Fluttershy having her birds to sing a song and everyone was having a good time. Even Xavier was smiling a bit, finding himself having a decent time, popping lemon drops into his mouth. The party only stopped as Pinkie brought out a cake bigger then her.

"Cake time, everypony!" Pinkie exclaimed as everyone came over.

As everyone came over, Spike looked at the cake with excitement. "Hey, can I blow out the candles?"

"Why don't we let Gilda blow them out." Twilight said as she walked over. "She is the guest of honor."

"Exactly!" Gilda said as she slid in, knocking Spike out of the way. When Gilda blew out the candles, she gave a look of pride, at least until the candles relit themselves, replacing her pride with confusion. She began to blow out the candles over and over, with them always relighting when she did, getting the entire room to laugh.

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

"I don't remember putting those on the cake." Pinkie said with a smile. "But they are still funny!"

"Ha ha, yeah, funny..." Gilda said sarcastically as she glanced around with rage until Rainbow spoke.

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

"No way, Dash. Like I said, I'm down with a good prank." Gilda said, putting on a façade of happiness. With the reassurance, Rainbow went to get some cake while Gilda looked at another, less pony, being in the room. Walking over, Gilda looked at Xavier with anger. "Hey, buddy. I don't know what your game is, but I'm warning you right now, quit it!"

Xavier looked at her with mild annoyance. "What, are you talking about all the pranks that are going on? Well, I'm not the pranking type of guy, alright. Plus, I don't even know about where these pranks are." He said as he reached for another lemon drop. Gilda was about to go deeper, but she was interrupted by Applejack. 

"Hey y'all, it's pin the tail on the pony. Let's play."

"Oh, my favorite!" Rarity said as she came close to the toy tail. "Can I go first? Can I have the purple tail?" Rarity reached down to grab it, but the tail was suddenly snatched out from underneath her by Gilda. "Well, I am the guest of honor, so I'll have the purple tail."

"Yeah, you should definitely get to go first. Let's get you blindfolded." Pinkie said as Spike came over and put a Blindfold on Gilda, then proceeded to spin her around, Earning many disagreements from Gilda. "Now that we've blindfolded you and spun you around, you can pin the tail. Now just walk straight ahead and pin the tail." Pinkie said as she lead Gilda over to a poster.

"Now just walk straight ahead and pin the tail." Gilda mocked. "Psh, yeah right. This is another prank isn't it? I'm going this way." Gilda began to walk the opposite way of the poster despite Pinkie's warnings. While walking, she stepped on a glob of frosting, sending her sliding into Xavier. The two kept sliding into the kitchen, ending up colliding into cake supplies. When the two left, they were covered in cake and Gilda had the tail on her beak, looking like a mustache.

"Um, Gilda? You pinned the tail on the wrong end." The entire room erupted in laughter, with Xavier joining in as well, seeing how ridiculous he looked. Gilda however snapped, roaring out, scaring everypony and sending Xavier onto the floor.

"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!" Gilda pointed to Pinkie. "You are queen lame-o with your weak little party pranks! Did you really think you could 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." Gilda said as she went for the door, realizing that Rainbow as not coming. "Come on, Rainbow Dash. I said, we're leaving."

Rainbow gave Gilda a disappointed look before speaking. "You know, I was the one who set up all these weak pranks up at this party, Which makes me queen lame-o." Everyone gasped at learning who was responsible for all the pranks as Gilda looked speechless. "Yes, it seemed that they were all aimed at you, but it was just dumb luck that you set them all off."

Gilda finally came out of her shock and began to give accusations. "N-no way. I-it was Pinkie Pie and t-the ape, they  set up this party to trip me up, to make a fool of me."

Pinkie and Xavier gave a look of disbelief "Me? I threw this party to improve your attitude. I thought a good party might turn that frown upside down.. "

"And I was a victim of a few of the pranks as well, so I can't take the credit."

"And you sure didn't need any help making a fool of yourself." Rainbow said, getting in between the groups "You know, this is not how I thought my old friends would treat my new friends. If being cool is all you care about, maybe you should go find some new cool friends someplace else." She said firmly, but with a hint of hope in hoping that she would change for her. Unfortunately, Gilda growled at her.

"Rrgh... yeah? Well you, you... you are such a, a flip-flop, cool one minute and lame the next. When you decide not to be lame anymore, gimme a call." Gilda said as she left, leaving the room quiet and Rainbow with a disappointed face until Twilight approached.

"Rainbow, are you okay?" Twilight asked as Rainbow looked back at her. "Huh, oh, yeah. Just need some time to myself." Before anyone could do anything, Rainbow flew out of the building. The girls were about to chase her, but Xavier stood in front of them. 

"Wait, girls. Maybe I should go find her." They looked at him with confusion and concern as Xavier explained. "Look, I think I can help her, just trust me on this gang, please." The girls looked at him leave the building, all of them looking worried for the two.



Looking around, Xavier managed to find Rainbow on top of a hill, looking out in sadness. Seeing her, he called out to her. "There you are Rainbow, I was wondering where you were."

Looking over, she sighed. "Oh, it's just you, Xavier. Didn't I say that I wanted to be left alone?"

"Well yes, but you seem to need someone right now." Xavier said as he sat next to her. "You want to talk about it?"

Seeing as he wouldn't leave, she sighed. "Well, I feel guilty for bringing Gilda here in the first place, and not realizing who she was. She was nicer when we were younger, but I don't understand what happened to her."

"Rainbow, you didn't know honestly. I doubt anypony will put it against you for Gilda's actions. Though to be honest, you've earned both my trust and respect." Rainbow looked at him confused. "Well, you've shown me just how loyal you are today. You only left Gilda when you were shown her true colors to us, and when Gilda decided to leave, you wanted to stay with us. And even when you saw those colors, you were willing to give a chance to Gilda for her to be loyal to you and change. And when she left, you were both disappointed and saddened. Disappointed by losing a friend you were loyal to for so long and sad that you had to say goodbye to someone you cared about for so long. It may seem cruel to you, but to me it just proved to me how loyal you are to your friends. So..." Xavier stands up and smiles at her. "I'll accept you as a true friend. I had my doubts before with friendship, but I'll give it a chance with you. Now let's start over, I'm Xavier and I'm happy to be your friend." Xavier offered his hand to her.

Rainbow looked at him and smiled. "Well, I'll play along I guess. The names Rainbow das-" Rainbow took Xavier's hand, only to be electrocuted. Flying into the sky, Xavier was snickering as he showed his hand, revealing a buzzer. Seeing it, Rainbow smirked.

"Heh, I think I found the appeal of these things." Xavier said as the two of them began to laugh. "Hey, we should head back to the party. Everypony's worried about you and it's a party."

Rainbow looked at him and smiled. "Heh, let's go then, friend." Xavier nodded and the two went back to the party. "By the way, you do know that those lemon drops are for pranking, right?"

"Well yes, but I like spicy and sour things, so they kind of grew on me..." Xavier said bashfully as Rainbow looked at him with an amused face as the two went back to Sugar Cube Corner.