Her question was met with silence from both of the two other girls. Fluttershy seemed to pale a bit, as if she was afraid. Dash glared at Shy and clenched her fist. Twilight made an assumption that yes, they did in fact know each other, due to the way they had reacted. "Talk to me. I won't let you both leave me in the dark about whatever this is about."
"Hmph," Dash replied, crossing her arms, "I know this murderer."
Fluttershy seemed unfazed by the bold accusation. She simply stared at Dash with her usual calm eyes, though the fear was still there. "That's a bit harsh, considering I was able to save you, Rainbow."
"You think that was a good thing? Do you honestly think you saved me?" The athlete's voice was weak, as if it would crack. "Well, you didn't. You let Gilda die, and you waited until she was dead so you could take the kill for yourself."
"Who's... Gilda?"
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The sky had just begun to set, and it seemed to be another beautiful night. The air was quiet and calm, and the only sound that Rainbow Dash could hear was the grunting of her best friend as they ran. Gilda was of muscular, an almost mannish build, with spiky silver hair and piercing golden eyes. They jogged together every day after school, and today's session had ran just a bit longer than usual.
Once every few minutes, they would exchange glances and smiles, to reassure the other that they were just fine. They had been running at an even pace, but ever so slightly Dash began to slow. Gilda grew up on the New York streets, and from that she had gained the gift of incredible stamina. Running for your life after stealing something nearly every day taught a girl a thing or two. Dash had found her one day when she went out to New York to catch a Wonderbolts show and took pity on her. She took Gilda back to her home, and decided that the two of them would live together.
Gilda turned to her side to shoot Dash the usual reassuring grin, but when she wasn't directly at the girl's side, she chuckled and stopped running. "Tired, Dashie? Yeah, I guess we've done enough for today." Dash nodded and wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead, grateful for the break. The two began walking at a more reasonable pace, making their way home.
It wasn't long before Rainbow felt some of her energy come back, certainly enough to make their time walking home more interesting. "Race ya home!" She began to quicken her pace, turning so she was running backward facing Gilda as her own way of taunting. "What, the great Gilda, without enough energy to take me on?"
Gilda rolled her eyes in response, chuckling. "Yeah. Whatever, Dashie, I'm just tryin' to take a well-earned break, like I thought we both were."
"Chicken, are we?" She smirked and closed her eyes, still running backward. "Whatever, guess you lose before you even try."
A few feet ahead lay a busy intersection. "Dash." Gilda said, a sort of urgent tone in her voice. Her friend simply ignored her. "Dash." She prodded, urgent for her friend's attention.
Due to their speed differences, even if Gilda sprinted she wouldn't make it in time to escort her friend safely across. "Dash, look out!"
Dash opened her eyes and stopped running, but she was right in the middle of the intersection. "Huh?" The car that had been nearing her, however, wasn't so fortunate. The driver slammed down on the brakes as hard as he could, but it wasn't enough. The cold exterior of a red truck connected with Rainbow. A slur of profanities escaped the driver's lips as he stopped and exited his car, rushing over to see if the girl was okay.
Gilda was frozen in shock as to what she'd just witnessed, but she snapped herself out of it and rushed toward the scene to be with her friend. Her body was limp. No signs of breathing or even a faintly beating heart. Gilda felt tears threaten to emerge, but she instead turned her sorrow to rage. Turning to furiously face the driver who'd hit her, she shouted, "What the fuck is wrong with you?"
The man looked as if he were going to cry. Good, the asshole better, Gilda thought as she continued to glare at him. "Miss, I tried, I did... I hit the brakes, but..."
"But what? It's not like you can bring her back to life. So don't even try to give me that sympathetic shit." She picked up Dash's body in her arms and stood up. "Leave."
"B-but don't you want me to at least call an ambula-"
"Oh, please. You know it won't do any good, and I sure don't need your sympathy." She felt rage begin to build up inside her as she gazed down into the lifeless eyes of her friend. " I told you to get out. Go before I make you."
The man didn't have any rebuttal and did as told, getting back into his car and frantically driving away. "Dashie..." She muttered as tears began to flow down her face. There was no one to act fine for, not any more, the guy was gone and she could mourn for her best and only friend.
After a few moments, she shook her head and began trekking home, the body of Dash in her arms. She couldn't remember the last time she didn't want to run or at least jog home, but she didn't. She walked in silence.
When she arrived home, Gilda made her way to Dash's room and gently laid her on her bed. She sat on the edge then, refusing to leave her. She hung her head low and began to shake weakly, as if afraid. "Oh, Dash... I should have protected you. You never deserved this and you never got to join the Wonderbolts... It should have been me. If I could..." she paused, as if the words she wanted to say got caught in her throat. "If I could bring you back to life, I'd do it in a heartbeat."
From the corner of the room, a voice called to her. "Would you like to?"
Gilda snapped out of her state to gaze at the intruder. It was a small white catlike animal, with pink glowing rings on its body and its lips appeared to be stuck in a grin. "Who are you? How did you get in here?"
"Those questions are hardly important, given your current situation," it responded, "but I'm Kyubey. As for how I got in here... that's not important. You should really be thinking about the question I asked you."
"The question you..." she had to think for a few moments about what it had said. "You asked me if I wanted to bring Dashie back to life. Of course I do."
The creature- Kyubey's- tail flicked and it stepped closer to Gilda. "I can make that happen, you know. Just make a contract with me and become a magical girl, and you'll have your friend back."
"Bullshit," she rolled her eyes, clearly not believing a word out of the creature's mouth. "But-" her eyes trailed to the corpse of the only person who'd ever cared about her, and something dawned on her. "But say it all was real." She closed her eyes, expecting the creature- presumably a figment of her imagination- to be gone when she opened them. "Then I wish for Dashie to come back, perfectly fine. So I guess that means I make a contract with you."
She opened her eyes to see that not only was Kyubey still there, but levitating in front of her was a pristine silver gem encased in a dazzling light. "That is your soul gem, proof of our contract. Take it and your friend will live." She did as told, reaching out and grasping the gem. The light faded a bit and then burst, flooding the room in a light of twinkling silver. The intensity of it forced Gilda's eyes shut.
When she once again opened them, she immediately turned to see if Dash was alive. Physically it looked like she wasn't. Gilda put a hand softly against her chest to feel something weak but indeed there. A heartbeat.. Dash's heartbeat..
A few minutes later, Dash's eyes opened and she lifted up the upper part of her body, rubbing the back of her head as she did. "Man, my head's pounding like crazy... Gilda?" She gazed at her friend with curious, confused eyes. "What happened? Last I remember, we were jogging home-" her sentence was stopped by her friend embracing her in a tight hug.
"Don't worry about it, Dashie. You fell and blacked out and I had to carry you home." She chuckled and pulled away slowly from her. "Clumsy idiot."