//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Sundered Skies // by GTPGuy //------------------------------// Fluttershy walked steadily through the Everfree Forest, keeping her head behind her rose-colored mane. She stared at the ground intently, her eyes swinging left and right as she observed the terrain around her. It wasn't long before she came upon what she was looking for-a single white feather lay discarded on the ground, bent and broken. A few more steps, and a deep furrow decorated the trunk of a nearby tree. A few more steps, and claw marks were clearly evident in the ground around the pegasus, even through the mud that decorated the forest floor. Fluttershy stopped walking, and her abrupt halt caused a slight disturbance in the branches above her. Her ears, fine-tuned to the noises made by animals, quickly alerted her to the fact that these noises were not ones that would've been made by the fierce storm that currently howled through the wild forest. The delicate pegasus coughed gently, uncovering her face slowly and looking up towards the source of the disturbance. "Uhm, Gilda? Are you there?" An abrupt, crackling thunder was unleashed as a terrifyingly large shape plunged through the branches that kept Fluttershy from seeing her. Gilda's voice was rather flat-Fluttershy could find no emotion in her voice or her eyes. "What do you want?" said the griffon, striding forward until her beak was mere inches away from the pegasi's eyes. A squeak emerged from Fluttershy and she scrambled backwards. "Oh, well, uhm, uh, we, we kind of, uhm, needyourhelp!" The pegasus was now quaking in fear, her mane taking up its customary position that obstructed anyone's sight of her face. Gilda laughed loudly, her voice cracking like the snapping of branches through the small clearing the two currently occupied. "Your hero Rainbow Dash made it abundantly clear that she didn't need me around anymore!" "Oh, uhm, yes, uhm I know that, but, well, uhm, this is kind of about Rainbow Dash. I don't really, uhm, know the details, but, uh, she kind of needs you right now I think." And despite what Gilda tried to show, what Fluttershy said still caused an icy dagger to make its way into Gilda's heart. "What the buck do you mean she kind of needs me?" shouted Gilda, her eyes pouring anger at the pegasus that cowered before her. "She doesn't need me! She got rid of me! She ditched me like I was a bucking Wonderbolt hater!" "Uhm, I'm sorry about that Gilda but, uhm, that really isn't our fault and, uhm, well, we really think it would be best if you helped us." "Yeah, that would be a bucking great plan, given that Dash HATES me! You're out of your mind if you think I should help her!" The griffon's amber eyes were brimming with tears and she abruptly closed them, closing herself off from the pegasus in front of her once more. **** "Dash? DASH!" A choked sob escaped the griffon, her throat constricting and her eyes tearing. She quickly blinked away the tears, temporarily ignoring the prone and motionless pegasus that so scratched at her heart. Instead, she turned her eyes to the gaggle of pegasi that stood, silent and accusatory, around the two lonely fliers. "WHICH ONE OF YOU BUCKERS DID THIS?" screamed Gilda, her wings flaring in a display of aggression and strength that no pony could match. She vibrated with the intense cocktail of rage and sadness that currently occupied her bloodstream, and she could hardly keep her brain on track as she hunted for the ones that had hurt Rainbow. A single pegasus stepped forward, his trepidation evident. "Well, none of us here did this, honestly." When he saw the darts of rage still being shot at him through the eyes of the griffon he dared confront, he did a slight back-trot. "No, really! She kind of-well, she kind of limped out from the alley over there-" indicating the aforementioned location with a slight dip of his head, "and then ended up laying down like you can see." The griffon looked at the assembled ponies with disgust. "And none of you thought to help her? Bucking idiots!" And with those parting words, Gilda scooped her multicolored friend up gently in her talons and flew towards the Cloudsdale Hospital. ~~A short while later~~ Gilda lay on the floor uncomfortably-as she had grown accustomed to, a pony city wasn't accustomed to griffon residents and didn't have any kind of furniture suitable for "her kind", as the nurse had so kindly put it. And despite the fact that she was the sole occupant of the only piece of furniture that the griffon could even fit in, Gilda was not the slightest bit jealous of the rainbow-maned pegasus that lay in the bed, breathing in a deceptively peaceful manner. The randomly spiking machine (which Gilda would be the first to admit she didn't understand at all), and the extremely tensed-up nurse that waited in the corner of the room in case of any kind of... dangerous malfuctions... happened to the currently resting pegasus in front of her, were the only clues that Gilda had that her charge was still in trouble. She reached out with one claw, gently resting it on Rainbow's cloth-sheltered leg, looking at the pegasi's bright blue eyelids. "Dash... you better be okay..." And Gilda's eyelids found a strange desire to mirror the ones that were directly in her sight-line, and she drifted into sleep.... And when the blue pegasus finally cracked her eyes open, it was to the sight of the griffon trembling on the ground-her claws scratching at the floor with fearsome strength, and her feathers rustling as she drifted through what Dash presumed was a troubling memory. It took a few moments for her to realize that she was all hooked up to some machines and that this, in fact, wasn't the house that Dash had been left in (and subsequently shared with the very same griffon currently on the floor). Disoriented, the pegasus swung her head around in a slight panic. It wasn't until she caught sight of the nurse in the corner of the room, sleeping lightly enough to blend into the background, that she realized where she was. Dash didn't try to escape the cloth confines that she was currently stuck in out of fear of upsetting the hospital staff, and instead let out the shoutiest whisper she could muster in Gilda's direction. "Gilda! Hey! Gildaaaa! Gilda, wake up! Gilda?" **** "Gilda?" The gentle pegasus was concerned-the griffon in front of her hadn't reopened her eyes for nearly a minute now, and tears were leaking out and blending with the rain that dripped down on the two winged beings. "Gilda? Do you, uhm, want to talk?" "NO! Jus-Just go, alright!" came the strangled cry of a response. Fluttershy quickly began to shift into her motherly-love mode. "Gilda, I'm here for you... We are all willing to help you my dear..." "You don't get it! Just go! I'll help you find Dash, alright? Happy? Just don't-" Gilda's voice cracked. "Don't expect me to be happy with ANY of you if she's been hurt. You better not have hurt my Dash-" Gilda sobbed angrily once, before taking to the skies and leaving a thoroughly saddened Fluttershy in her wake. The yellow pegasus scuffed her hoof in the mud gently, before setting off in the search for Dash as well, her heart filled with concern for the unhappy griffon that she had just confronted. **** "Ze-corrrrrr-a!" "Ah, young Applebloom-you are far from the farm! What is the cause of your alarm?" "Well see Scootaloo wanted to go talk to Rainbow Dash but Rainbow Dash was sad and then she left and Scootaloo didn't know why so she was worried so we decided to become Cutie Mark Crusaders Search and Rescue and we started to look for Rainbow and then we split up so we could search for Rainbow better and I decided to come here because you have magic potions and please help!" Applebloom took a deep breath after her panicked speech, her eyes wide as she awaited a response from the mysterious zebra. "So it is the rainbow pegasus you seek?" Applebloom nodded energetically. Zecora reached up to one of the shelves and grabbed a luminescent blue potion. "Perhaps this potion will give you a peek..." The bottle was uncorked and poured into the stony cauldron, the liquid swirling and bubbling as it slowly resolved itself into an image that horrified the two. "Zecora do you know where that is? We need to go fast!" cried Applebloom. "Indeed I do, unfortunately your friend is close to the grave. We will need some potions, bandages, and likely some magic, if her life we are to save." The zebra quickly gathered a handful of supplies, tossed them in a saddlebag, and galloped out into the forest, Applebloom hot on her heels. **** Scootaloo was moving fast. Her wings were flapping as fast as she could make them, and she was barely able to dodge all the brush that got in her way. Her eyes tracked back and forth, searching for the telltale rainbow that would give away Rainbow Dash's location, and blinked back tears as she sought her idol. It was a long ride, but she entered a small clearing and saw her-the coolest pegasus in the world, sleeping on the forest floor... Sleeping... in a pool of blood? The filly stopped abruptly, her stomach rebelling and expelling the small apple pie that she had for lunch. She abandoned the scooter and hastily ran towards the fallen pegasus. Scootaloo buried her head in Rainbow's mane, tears leaking relentlessly from her eyes and sobs escaping her muzzle. "Rainbow... please wake up! Rainbow you can't leave me!" The cyan pegasus cracked a single eye open, her entire body aching. She had just enough strength to lift her head, staring at the crying filly next to her. A series of coughs escaped her, rattling her body and sending sharp pain spiking through her nervous system. "Man Scoots, what are you doing here? This is a rather-" another few coughs came from the cyan pegasus. "A rather sorry state for you to see me in." She gently extended her wing over the sobbing filly, wincing slightly as she discovered that the bones in the wing had taken a serious pounding. "We, we were" the filly sniffed, "Cutie Mark Crusaders... Search and Rescue... We didn't think you would actually... need it... But you can't go! How am I supposed to be a great pegasus without you?" Rainbow Dash smiled at the young filly under her wing, even as her head slammed back into the ground with a meaty thunk. "You don't really need me to be great Scoots... You're already a fantastic pegasus..." And the half-open eye of the filly's idol closed, and she went silent, re-entering a feverish land of memory and dreams.