Chapter 4
“You sure you want to relax in this dump?” Gilda peered at several ponies who were staring at the two gryphon pilots on vacation. After the queen gave the order to take several days off, they packed lightly and flew their jets to Talon AFB, located just outside of Ponyville. They checked in at a tavern called “The Golden Apple”, known for not having prejudice against gryphons.
Several pilots were already checked in when they got there. They immediately knew who they were and asked questions about their previous flights. One pilot hit on Gilda, but only managed to receive a punch to the beak, which quickly disheartened the others from trying. Razorwing kept telling her to relax and enjoy herself, but all this place did was bring up bad memories of a certain rainbow maned pegasus.
Razorwing was busy buying several long silvery trout. Throwing several bits the sellers way, he returned to her side. The fish vendor was a new addition to Ponyville after the gryphon kingdoms took over. What most ponies didn’t know was gryphons really disliked the taste of pony. The abundance of gossip about the subject didn’t help with trying to calm any pony from their beliefs. Snapping up one of the fish, he smiled at Gilda.
“This place is not a dump, my friend. I’ve heard good things about this quaint little town. You just need to warm up to it.” Throwing another fish to snap up, another talon grabbed it out of the air.
Gilda held the fish up and lightly smacked him on the beak. “I already told you, I’ve been here before and didn’t like it then. What makes you think I’ll like it now?”
Sighing, he stopped to fully look at her. “Why must you be so close minded, Gilda? Not all ponies are bad. Have you spoke to the bartender at the tavern we stay at? He’s quite the talkative one.” Gilda didn’t say anything and just kept walking, leaving Razorwing alone in the marketplace. She kept walking until she reached the town limits. Looking to the sky, she spotted Rainbow Dash’s cloud house, still in good condition.
I can't believe I'm actually doing this.
Flying up to the front door, she hesitated to knock. "What am I doing? It's not like she lives in this place anymore.“ Pushing the door open, she walked inside the living room.
“Hey gilda! what’s up?”
Hearing the familiar greeting Rainbow usually gave her in the past, she looked around the room, but didn’t see any one with herself. “Great, now I’m hearing voices.” She rubbed a talon across her face in agitation. The place seemed untouched, except a fancy rainbow styled dress and several magazines littered the floor. A trophy case was displayed on a wall to her left, filled to the brim with a variety of trophies. Examining several of the awards, she stopped to eye a photograph among them. It was Rainbow Dash and herself posing with the rest of their class in Junior Speedster Flight Camp. She was giving her a noogie just when the camera flashed, making them seem out-of-place. On reflex, she looked at the same talon she used to give the noogie, flexing it slowly.
“Was I really that bad of a friend, Dash?” The nostalgia was starting to get too much as she started to get misty eyed. Rubbing away the tears, she replaced the sadness growing in her heart with anger. Clenching her fist, she punched the trophy case and smashed the picture inside. The glass from the photo and case, cut into her fist and arm, but she didn’t care, the anger easily overwhelmed the pain.
Going over to the kitchen, she washed her hand to clean out any specks of glass and small amount of blood that seeped out. Throwing ice-cold water on her face, she roughly dried her hand and face with a small towel hanging on a rack. She was about to leave it on the ground, but decided instead to neatly hang it back up. Leaving her once-best-friend’s house, she shut the door. "Why did I go in there? Was I hoping to find something? Shaking her head, she dove off the side of the cloud, back toward ponyville.
- - - -
The day had gone by rather quickly as the sun began to set. “The golden Apple” was packed with customers, gryphon and pony alike. Razorwing had taken a booth in the corner with three other pilots and shared several stories about where they were from and what they might do when the war was over. He spotted Gilda enter the tavern and motioned her over to join him, but she just gave a head shake before heading upstairs.
“Is she OK, Razorwing? Usually she’s all... Angry.” The gryphon to his left, Cloudcutter, asked.
Letting out a sigh, he set down his mug of cider. “If you want to find out, by all means, go right ahead.” He was starting to get worried if Gilda was really all right. She was a tough gryphon to break under stress, but recently he started to have doubts.
All the pilots exchanged looked at each other. “Uh... I’m sure she’s fine.” Clyde, a gryphon sitting on the other end of the booth said nervously.
A female gryphon sitting right next to him decided to play it smart and quickly change the subject. “So, Razorwing, is it true you play the guitar on your free time?” Sylph asked, her talons holding her head; her eyes held a sultry gaze toward him.
Ever since he came to Ponyville, she always had that dreamy look on her face when they ran into each other. He found it rather annoying, but kept his opinions to himself. That's not to say he didn't enjoy the attention of a female, but right now the war crushed such things. Nodding his head, he took a sip from his mug of cider.
“Yes, before I was old enough to join the service, I found music a favorite hobby of mine. I haven’t played it in so long, I’m probably out of practice.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that wide smile on her face. “Here it comes... “
“Well, why don’t you play us a song or two?” Clyde suggested, which surprised Razorwing slightly, expecting Sylph to say it first.
Razorwing sighed, motioning for Clyde to let him out of the booth to go upstairs. Stopping in front of the door nearest the stairway to the right, he knocked on it, knowing Gilda was probably in there. After no response from a second knock, he turned the doorknob and walked in. The room was dark, but the hallway light let him see Gilda fast asleep on her bed in front of him. She didn't even bother to go under the covers and flopped on the bed.
Not wishing to wake her up, he quietly pushed the dufflebag out from under his bed and reached under. Feeling his talon bump against something, he grabbed on and gently pulled out his acoustic guitar. Pushing the dufflebag back under, he started to go downstairs, but stopped at the small hallway in their room. Gilda began muttering in her sleep.
“... I wish... Cool as you... Dashie... “
Razorwing smiled and quietly closed the door, leaving his friend to dream. Heading back downstairs the other pilots greeted him back. The booth didn’t have enough room for him to play so he grabbed a stool and sat in front of the group. Putting his arms across the guitar in his lap, he eyed the group of pilots. “So, what should I play first?” He listed off a couple of songs he remembered, but no one seemed to like them.
“Didn’t know my fellow hunters in the air were so... Picky,” he frowned. The bell from the tavern doorway rang as some pony entered. It wasn’t the bell that interested him, but the noise coming from outside. Placing his guitar down on the stool, he opened the door again to find two fillies putting on a show in front of the tavern. The white one was singing beautifully, while the orange one had a harmonica in her hooves. Both of them suddenly stopped and went wide-eyed upon seeing him stare down at them.
The orange pegasus filly with a short, purple mane spoke up first. “I’m sorry, we both didn’t mean to... “ She stuttered. “We were just trying to get our cutie marks and make some money. We’ll go someplace else, come on Sweetie Belle.” The two fillies started to get up and leave.
Razorwing held up a claw to stop them. “Wait, I didn’t mean to scare either of you. I was just curious, where did you learn that tune? I haven’t played that song in a long time.”
The white filly with a purple and pink mane visibly perked up, but warily watch his claw. “Scootaloo and I learned it from a strange cowpony that came to town a month ago. He didn’t say much, just gave Scootaloo this harmonica and the lyrics; said to never give up trying. While we still haven’t gotten our cutie marks playing the song, it’s kinda relaxing.” Scootaloo agreed, nodding her head.
Smiling, an idea for came up. “I was about to play my guitar inside, but no songs could be agreed upon. Would you both care to join me inside for a trio?”
“Idunno... “ She eyed Razorwing warily. “You promise not to eat us up when we’re not looking?”
Slightly offended, he puffed out his chest. “I don’t eat ponies, little one.”
“I told you that gossip Rarity keeps telling you isn’t true!” Scootaloo whispered.
Giving an exasperated glance at her friend, she looked back at Razorwing. “Fine.”
Sweetie Belle went inside first while the gryphon kept the door open for the little fillies. Snickering could be heard coming from the booth his fellow pilots were sitting, but he ignoring them. Grabbing two more stools, he placed them next to his. As the two fillies jumped up, he sat down in the middle, tweaking his guitar. “Forgive me, if I’m a bit rusty. I haven’t played this thing in a long time.”
When they began, the entire tavern went silent; all eyes stared at Razorwing, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. The song started off awkward at first, but slowly they started to synchronize as one.
- - - -
Your hooves upon
A deadpony's gun and you're
Looking down the sights
Your heart is worn,
And the seams are torn
And they've given you reason to fight...
And you're not gonna take what they've got to give
And you not gonna let them take your will to live
Because they've taken enough and you've given them all you can give
And luck won't save them tonight
They've given you reason to fight
And all the storms you've been chasing
About to rain down tonight
And all the pain you've been facin'
About to comin' to the light
Your hooves upon
A deadpony's gun and you're looking down the sights
Your heart is worn,
And the seams are torn
And they've given you reason to fight.
And you're not gonna take what they've got to give
And you not gonna let them take your will to live
Because they've taken enough and you've given them all you can give
And luck won't save them tonight
They've given you reason to fight
And all the storms you've been chasing
About to rain down tonight
And all the pain you've been facin'
About to comin' to the light
- - - -
As the last note slowly died out, Razorwing glanced around the room. Silent tears ran down the cheeks of gryphons and ponies alike; the bartender had stopped cleaning glasses to listen as well. In front of him, his fellow pilots had their mouths hanging open in amazement.
“You think they liked it?” Scootaloo whispered.
A single cheer came from behind them, followed by a loud uproar as the packed-to-the-brim tavern broke out of the trance the song gave.
“Yeah... Yeah, I think they did.” Razorwing smiled.
- - - -
As night slowly fell over Ponyville, the customers thanked Razorwing and the fillies for an amazing performance. Before each of them left, they threw bits into a bucket the bartender let them borrow. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle gaped at the amount of bits they earned and thanked Razorwing for letting them perform together.
“Not a problem, I had as much fun as you two.” Helping with keeping the door open, he watched the fillies balance the heavy bucket on their backs and leave the tavern. Letting out a content sigh, he went back to the corner booth and sat down. Seeing the empty mug left when he picked up his guitar, he casually spun it in place on the wood table. The creak of floorboards made him look up as he noticed Gilda had come back down and sat down at the end of the booth. The sullen expression she had, kept his mouth shut as he crossed his arms; waiting for her to speak.
"Your performance woke me up." She grumped
"Sorry," he apologized. "It was a good song though, every one in the tavern enjoyed it."
Gilda shrugged. "It was all right, I guess."
Rubbing his arms slightly in thought, he sighed. "I'm not one for drama, but this--"
“I know what you're going to say Razorwing. I've been acting a bit weird ever since we've been in Ponyville and you at least deserve to know why."
Nodding, he leaned back in his seat. "You read my mind, Gilda."
Taking a deep breath, she let it all out. She explained who Rainbow Dash was; what happened in Ponyville and the party where she lost her best friend; why she joined the Gryphon Army and to seek revenge at Rainbow Dash; and finally her visit to Rainbow Dash's house and that it may be her fault they seperated.
After she finished, the bar was silent except the slight squeak of the bartender cleaning mugs; serving the sparse amount of customers still awake. Razorwing decided to finally break the suffocating awkwardness.
"That's quite a lot to take in and to be honest, I'm flattered you decided to tell me this. Although I don't know why."
"You're the only one down here who had a chance of actually caring." She joked, chuckling lightly." She looked at the several ponies still in the bar casually.
"I always listen to any problems my fellow hunters have. Distractions just get in the way during flights."
“Mind if I ask you something?"
He rolled his eyes. "Gilda, were you not listening when you first joined Feather Squadron? It's an open door's policy. So by all means, speak your mind."
"Why did you join the Gryphon Air Force?"
Relaxing a bit, he sat back. It was an easy enough question. “To serve the queen of course. I’ve always been loyal to our monarch ever since I became old enough to fight.” He cocked is head to the side, interested where she was going with this.
“So you’re loyal to Queen Steelfeather. Not our recent queen, Goldwing?”
“I’m loyal to whoever holds the crown, Gilda.” Leaning his arms on the table again, he looked at her. “Why? What is this all about?” He noticed her fidgeting and felt she was slowly showing another side of herself he's never seen before.
“I’m... I’m having doubts about this war. Like I said, I only joined because of my anger toward Rainbow Dash and that was so long ago.” The plumes on the top of her head hid her face, but he could hear the sadness in her voice. “She made a fool out of me, Razorwing. I hated her so much, but after thinking about it for so long, I'm starting to finally realize... It was all my fault. I wanted to impress her by being cooler than her, but all I did was make myself look like a big jerk.” She stayed silent while Razorwing thoughtfully rolled his jaw, having trouble knowing what to say. He let out a sigh.
“By the queen, I’m not good at this sappy stuff... “
“What you did in the past doesn’t matter... " He narrowed his brow when she looked away, trying to hide her crying. "Gilda, I know you’re crying and I’m not going to judge you over it. Now please, look at me.”
Lifting her head, Razorwing got a good at her. The usual mask she wore when acting “cool” was long gone; the Gilda hiding under it was broken and bitter. “You need to face Rainbow Dash again and ask for her forgiveness, Gilda. I hate seeing you like this." He felt the need to hold her talons in his, but felt she wouldn't accept the gesture. "I’m going to ask you something and I want the queen’s honest truth.” He looking her dead in the eye and she didn't look away. ”Do you not want to be a part of Feather Squadron any longer?”
The question stabbed at her pride, but that was long gone when she came down and fell apart in front of him. Nodding her head, she turned away, not wanting to see his reaction for her decision.
“I see... While this isn’t a formal discharge, it is still within my power to do so.” Getting up from the booth, he walked next to Gilda, his palm displayed in front of her. “Your badge, please.” Still looking away from him, she ripped the badge from her flight-suit and dropped it into his palm. Looking at the small golden feather, he closed it around his fist. “As leader of Feather Squadron of the Gryphon Kingdoms, you are hereby... Discharged.”
The bartender was wise to keep his business to himself and focused on cleaning the place, his back turned away from the two pilots. Gilda flinched at the last word, but said nothing. Putting her head on the table, she covering it with her arms. Seeing it as a sign to leave her alone, he went back upstairs. Before he did, he looked at her one more time, sadness obvious on his face.
“I’m so sorry, Gilda.”
- - - -
Gilford walked through the white hallways of Canterlot Castle, toward a large ante-chamber. Flanking him were two gryphons in silver ceremonial armor, covered in gold filigree. The steel polearms they carried had the same look, but it was all for show anyway. Reaching the large room ahead, he spotted Queen Goldwing pacing back and forth in front of two large copper doors. Her assistant, Bluntbeak, looked ready to pass out.
“Your sense of time is atrocious, Bluntbeak!” The queen yelled, obviously mad at him yet again. “I was having a nice, formal dinner with several of the--might I be so bold--handsome generals when you show up and ruin it. He better be here soon, or I swear I’ll--” Her rant was cut short as Gilford decided to come to his rescue by letting out a loud cough.
“Good Evening, my queen.” He did a overly-flourished bow, which brought a smile to her face.
“Ah, hello Mr. Gilford.” Straightening herself from her previous bout of anger. “How was your stay at the detention center? I hope you took it to your liking?”
“It was fun while it lasted.” Letting out a coy smile.
“What are you talking about? That place is nearly impenetrable. You can’t say we lost Stalliongrad.” She laughed at the thought. Looking at the smile the gryphon was still giving her, she frowned. “Well at least tell me you got what you needed from there.” A hopeful look in her eye.
Nodding slowly, he pulled out a small notebook from his coat pocket and handed it to her. Taking it gently and opening it, a wicked grin formed on her face. If she received word that the entire gryphon kingdom had exploded, that wouldn’t have stopped the laugh she produced. It echoed though the entire castle, sending shivers down every gryphons spine.
“Most excellent, Mr. gilford. I should have you become my new assistant!” Throwing a look at Bluntbeak which made him cower. “We shall begin immediately!” Walking toward the double copper doors behind her, she ordered the guards next to them to throw them open. Behind the doors was a simple circular room. The floor had several glowing runes carved around a gloomy pillar of darkness in the center of the room. Reaching the entryway into the room, several gryphons were hard at work keeping the runes from failing. Goldwing walked up to one of the gryphon runemasters and cleared her throat.
“You have returned, my Queen. Have you brought the three secrets to complete the pact?” Not taking his eyes off the rune. His voice sounded hoarse, yet he did not slump or show any sign of fatigue.
“Yes, yes. I brought it.” Waving the notebook in the air, the rune-master smiled.
“Then we may begin.” Releasing his hold on the rune, its power slowly faded away. The other gryphons followed suit, causing the pillar of dark to fade away also. “I suggest we begin while it is still dark. We wouldn’t want to have the princess gather strength under the sun again.”
All the gryphons looked at the tall white Alicorn slumping in chains. Her once flowing colorful mane around her hooves in a puddle, it’s vibrancy long gone. Opening her eyes, she got up and looked at them, a mix of defiance and sadness in her eyes.
Looking at the small notebook, Goldwing felt her heartbeat increase. “Soon I will have my wings back. Soon... I will become the most powerful queen in the known world!”