Misperceptions (v2)

by Winter Quill


5: Reconciliation

Misperceptions v2
By: Winter Quill

Adapted from the original "Misperceptions" by Arbiter Balemead

5: Reconciliation
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The three ponies stood in shock as Gilda crumpled to the ground, her feathers soaked with her tears as she cried great gasping sobs, her body shaking with each and every one. Twilight was the first pony to recover and moved quickly to her friend’s side, wrapping a leg around the large griffon’s shoulder and pressing her snout up against her feathers.

“Gilda?” she asked softly.

In response the griffon lifted her head before burring her face against the purple pony’s shoulder, her body shuttering as she cried. Gilda didn’t seem to be the type to cry, she was too tough for that. This shook them all as she gasped, trying to stop herself before starting to cry again.

Her oldest friend was the next to react, she moved to the griffon’s other side, placing a wing on her shoulder. “Gilda? Are you okay? What’s the matter?” she asked, worry lining her face and her wings dropping slightly. Even Fluttershy had moved up the griffon, a mix of emotions crossing over her face. It was clear she wanted to do something to help but wasn’t sure what to say.

“I’m so pathetic,” she whispered into Twilight’s ear. She looked up, her golden eyes red with tears, her feathers matted down over her cheeks. Her eyes locked with unicorn’s, the both of them freezing in place. There was a feeling between them, much like there had been earlier in the day and even the night before. She starred at the griffon, her eyes wide, not fully understand what was going on.

Gilda lifted her head and leaned in slightly, her beak pressing at Twilight’s muzzle for a moment. “I don’t deserve to be happy,” she said before leaping away from the ponies, her wings snapping out in the process. They slapped against Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, pushing them both away, then she jumped into the air and flew as fast as she could towards a distant cloud.

Twilight watched her go, feeling both worried and confused. What did she mean she didn’t deserve to be happy? Why was she running away from her friends? And why was she filled with a sense of regret as she watched the griffon vanish in the distance?

“Gilda!” Rainbow called out, leaping into the air about to follow after her friend regardless of what might have transpired between them in the past. She was brought up short as her tail snapped taunt, held tight with Twilight’s magic.

She craned her head around to look at the unicorn. “What are you doing Twilight? Let go!”

“No, Rainbow. I should talk to her, I’ve been helping her the last few days, she trusts me.”

The pegasus dropped to the ground. “First, there’s no way you could fly up to where she is. Second, you don’t know her like I do. I’ve known Gilda for years, you’ve know her for what, a week? She’ll open up to me.”

“Have you ever seen Gilda cry before?” Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow frowned a bit, turning back to look at where the griffon had gone. “Never, she just got angry before.”

“She’s changed,” Twilight said, releasing the multi-hued tail from her magic. “I don’t think she’s the same griffon as she was before.”

“But...”

“Let me go and talk to her first. I think she trusts me.”

Rainbow turned to look at the unicorn, then back up at the sky. She shifted her head back and forth a few times, trying to make up her mind before finally snapping her wings outwards. “I’m going—“ she started to say, the words dying as Fluttershy placed a hoof on her side.

“No, Rainbow. Let Twilight try to talk to her first.”

“But—“ she started to protest.

The yellow pegasus shook her head, her pink hair fluttering around her shoulders. “Let her help, she’ll talk to you when she’s ready.’

Rainbow Dash let out a low groan as she pawed a hove at the ground. “Buck it all, she’s my friend! I just can’t let her fly off, not when she’s hurt.”

“So is Twilight. She won’t hurt you, and won’t let Gilda be hurt. Trust her.”

“Oh, alright,” she said, finally relenting, her wings falling back against her side as she turned to face Fluttershy. “But only because you asked.”

Without a word the two pegasus rubbed their nuzzles against each other, a small look of content passing between them. Finally the cyan pony pulled away and turned to the unicorn. “Go Twilight, help her.”

Without a word Twilight nodded and closed her eyes, magic rolling from her horn to wrap tightly around her before she teleported. Winking through the spaces between spaces, finding herself in no place and all places at once. It was a strange feeling, the moment seemed to last forever yet take less than the flapping of a humming bird’s wing. She returned to the real world just under a small cloud, a familiar looking tail hanging off the side.

She gathered more power and cast the familiar cloud walking spell, one that she knew so well that it was almost second nature to her. As she felt the magic falling over her she cast the teleport spell again, this time it was a much shorter hop, taking her only a thousand feet into the air to appear on the could next to Gilda.

The griffon didn’t even jump as the pony popped into existence next to her. All she did was lift her head from her talons for a moment before dropping her chin back down on her paws. “Go away,” she said softly, the tears still running down her face.

Without a word Twilight laid down on the could next to her, leaning up against her leonine side trying to comfort her friend. They sat like that for a few moments before she finally found herself leaning down to rest her head on the griffon’s neck. “I’m here for you.”

“Just go away,” she replied, her voice thick from the crying.

Twilight shook her head. “No. I’m not going anywhere. I’m your friend and I’m going to be here even if you don’t want to talk to me. You can tell me what’s wrong.”

The griffon shivered and turned away, though not before fanning her wing out to drop it down over Twilight’s back. They stayed like that for a few minutes before she turned back to look at the unicorn. Then almost unbidden the words started to fall from her beak.

* * *

The memory didn't come easy, not at first. It was a memory she hated, but one that dug at her like a thorn in her paw every time she touched it. But now that she was here, on the cloud with Twilight, she found that the pain wasn't as bad. Her mind turned to three months before, the familiar memories coming back to her.

"Gilda! Get down here! I need your help," her Grann shouted up the stairs, her voice echoing through the walls of the house.

Gilda lifted her head from her soft bed, shaking out her wings. Letting out a groan she slipped out of the warm nest and stretched out her body. "Coming, Grann," she yelled back out her door as she rubbed her back against the scratching hook on the wall, getting that spot right between her wings that she couldn't ever reach herself. With a smile she walked out of her room, along the narrow hallway, and down the stairs, taking them carefully so as not to fall down them. The older griffon wasn't in the house anymore, but the wall of the dining area was wide open to the warm spring breezes.

"Grann?" she called out through the wide open wall.

"Over here Gilda," the voice came across on the wind from the smaller out building across the yard of the estate.

She moved quickly across the yard, the old building had been her playhouse when she was just a welp, but she hadn't been inside for years. It was just a place to her now, though a place that held a lot of memories for her. She took a moment to bask in the sunlight as it shown down from between the high peaks behind their home before moving on.

Gilda finally walked up to the entrance of the building, moving past a small cart that was pushed up against the wall. "Grann?" she asked again, stepping inside the dusty room, the floor creaking slightly under her. It looked smaller then she remembered and was filled with a number of crates and boxes.

"Thank you for helping dear, could you start gather the boxes marked with ‘toys’?" the elder griffon asked, looking out from behind some of the boxes. Her black feathers were streaked with dust, yet it somehow matched her perfectly made up face. She rose up, tucking her thin wings to her back as she started to pull something from a shelf near the ceiling.

Without a thought Gilda moved up next to her Grann and rose up on her hunches to get the box on the shelf, setting it down on the floor. "Why are we getting out the toy ones?" she asked, brushing the dust off of her chest.

"To donate, what else would we do with them?" Grann said with a thin smile as smile on her beak as she took the box under one leg and walked out of the building.

Shaking her head she started to sort through the boxes, setting aside a framed copy of the family shame and pulling out the ones that were marked as toys, peaking in a few of them. She remembered a number of the toys, she had even played with a few of the growing up. Most of them were antiques but still in good condition.

No matter how much she loved her Grann, she was simply too nice. The toys would have been worth a great deal more if sold to collectors, not just donated so some young welp could play with them while not knowing what they were holding. Even better she would make enough money to provided for her until the next tribute. But nooo... 'we should give them away', 'we should give them to the less fortunate', 'we should be better than others expect of us'.

Gilda sighed as she started on a number of crates by the open door, making sure they weren't stacked too tall for the elder griffon. Soon Grann had come back, starting to carefully pick up the boxes and load them onto the back of the cart. It was this point that she decided it may actually help if she made her suggestion instead of just thinking about it.

"Grann?"

"Yes, dear?"

She lifted herself up on her hind legs, folding her talons on the top of the stack of boxes. "You know, you should sell these toys instead of donating them. I'm sure a couple of my professors from university would love to have them and you'd make a lot of money."

"No Gilda, it isn't about the money. It's about what you actually DO with what you have."

She simply didn't understand it. "Then why are you donating these?"

"Not every child can afford toys like these, we're making it better for them."

Gilda snorted. "Well, maybe those welps should get some mon--" she was cut off by a slap of her the elder griffon's wing, which made her stumble back off the stack of boxes.

"Gilda Grypon, we don't talk like that," she snapped, shaking her head in disappointment. "You're better than that, and you know it."

With a sigh she turned away from her Grann, instead starting to look through the other boxes to find any more marked with toys. That was the sort of thing she was always going on about, and it just made her head spin. Why couldn't she just be herself if that's who she was? Why did she have to try to be anything else?

She heard an odd flopping sound from outside but didn't turn to look for it. It was better to stay low when Grann was angry. A moment later the house echoed with the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.

"If you dropped that box to give me more work, I'll get to it later," she muttered, picking up another box and adding it to the stack. Out the corner of her eyes she saw the Grann's tail laying on the ground by the door, the tail tuft laying in the mud.

"Grann?" she called out, but no response came.

Worry shot through Gilda's body as she carefully walked around the stack of boxes, moving towards the door. "Grann, are you okay?" she asked, her wings shaking as she looked around the edge of the door. The worry turned to a sick feeling as she saw her Grann laying on the ground, one wing twisted under her body, her eyes were half open, the light gone out of them.

She ran over to the elder griffon's side, pressing her claws against the flank, but she wasn't breathing.

* * *

Twilight pressed her arm over Gilda's back as she finished her story, "What happened to her?" she asked.

"It was a heart attack. I shouldn't have riled her up like that. I must have visited her ten times in the last year, and father said I shouldn't make her angry. Plus she was working herself so hard, she had asked me to come to help as she was organizing the whole estate. It was too much work for her... I shouldn't have said those things!"

"Don't blame yourself like this. You didn't know," the unicorn said.

Gilda shook her head. "But I did know! I knew that her heart was weak, she hadn't been able to fly for years. I shouldn't have said those things, I should have been bet--" she was cut off by a swift hoof across her face, her head snapping to the side. It took a few moments for her to register that she had been slapped... by Twilight.

Shaking her head, the griffon stared incredulously at the pony, her break half open. Twilight just sighed and looked back at her friend, their eyes locking together. The unicorn found herself looking deeply into the golden eyes, even though they were swollen and puffy from crying they still pulled her in. She couldn't look away from them; there was something deep and enchanting, so close and yet so far away. She leaned in closer, wanting to find out what it was as Gilda leaned in as well. There was a moment when she realized that she was getting lost in the griffon's eyes...

Without a word Gilda grabbed Twilight and wrapped her forelegs around the pony in a tight hug, a moment later adding her wings to the embrace. She nuzzled at the fur of her cheek in a manner that was a little more than friendly but not in bad way.

A jolt ran through Twilight's body, making her shiver at the griffon's touch. The hug felt good in a way she had never felt before. The close contact made her feel so very good, a blush rising up in her cheeks and ears. After a few moments she found herself nuzzling the griffon back, rubbing fur against feathers. Then almost without thinking about it she turned her head slightly to kiss Gilda on the cheek.

The griffon let out a sound that could almost be a purr and returned the soft kiss, her eyes closing as she just pressed up close against the unicorn.

Twilight cuddled up a little closer to the feather covered chest, feeling it rise and fall with each breath Gilda took. It felt wonderful to be so close to her, and the librarian had never felt anything quite like it before. The only time she had felt it before was when she was still in school and had been dating Shooting Star, he was a pleasant stallion and she certainly had feelings for him, but they hadn't been this strong.

She looked at the griffon, smiling when she saw the look of content on her beak. It was strange, she had know Gilda for only a few days, yet this connection between them felt stronger than the six months Star had been her special somepony. What did that mean?

Her head spun as she nuzzled her friend. Was she falling in love? Was this what being in love really felt like? Could she be falling in love? Was it even possible, what did the two of them have in common other then Rainbow Dash?

Lowering her head down, she looked at Gilda again. Maybe it didn't matter, didn't love conquer all? Every book she had read said love was worth trying for, worth fighting for.

But she didn't know Gilda, not really. Was it safe to be falling in love? Was it worth it, was she even ready? There were so many questions that made her head spin and she simply didn't know the answers. She didn't even know where to start finding them! It was too much for her.

Twilight pushed her way out of Gilda's embrace, making her squawk in surprise. "I--I'm sorry. This is too sudden, I'm not ready," she whispered, looking at Gilda for one last moment before she teleported away, leaving a confused griffon in her wake.