Chapter 7
As Gilda hovered in the air above me I could feel all this anger swelling inside me and it took everything I had not to punch her in that stupid beak of hers.
“You've got a lot of nerve showing your face back here after what you pulled Gilda. I hope for your sake you've come to apologize.”
She scoffed in mid-air. “Ha! Yeah right, me apologize to a dweeb like you? As if.”
I decided not to do anything to her until she did something underhanded or despicable, then if she tried to harm any of us I’d annihilate her. “All right, if you’re not here to apologize then for what purpose?”
She gave an evil smile and outstretched her claws. “Revenge.”
I raised my fist and cracked the knuckles on my right hand. “Well if you’re that insistent on getting your butt kicked why didn't you just say so?”
She chuckled a bit. “Not just you hay for brains, now I want revenge on all of your friends.”
I scoffed “Ha! You’re kidding right? There’s no way I’m going to bother Rainbow and her friends to deal with a problem I could handle myself.”
Gilda looked unimpressed then looked at my side and saw Screwball. “Oh I get it, you’re afraid of getting embarrassed in front of the runt, is that it?”
That made me angry, I teleported behind Gilda and she didn't even notice, when I got behind her I pinched her left shoulder tight enough to hurt her a little and so that she would notice me. When she did I leaned in closer to speak no louder than a whisper
“Listen closely griffon, that ‘runt’ as you call her is my daughter, she’s called Screwball and that’s the only name you will address her by unless you want to be in a hospital for the next month.”
She got out of my grip and turned around. “An empty threat, you got lucky last time and now i'm gonna take you seriously.”
I chuckled a bit underneath my breath. “You honestly think you can beat me after last time? Let me tell you something, what you saw last time wasn't even half of what I’m capable of.”
Gilda disavowed my statement. “You’re bluffing; you were probably trying your hardest to beat me and won by just a tiny bit.”
I scowled at her over confidence. To prove to her how much power I had I raised my hand to the air and opened my fist, a ball of energy began to build and it just kept growing and growing in diameter. I could have made it bigger but I stopped when it was about the size of a tree. Gilda looked up at it with fear.
“You see this ball Gilda? If I dropped this ball right now it would be strong enough to wipe out you and probably this entire town. That’s how strong I am and that’s how much power you’re dealing with if you want to mess with me or my friends.” I forced the energy back down into my hand and waited for her reaction.
“Oh what, you think I’m scared? You’re just trying to get me to run away so that you don’t have to embarrass yourself fighting me.”
I descended to the ground back next to Screwball; I could clearly see that Gilda wasn't going to back down unless she got a fight.
"Why do you even want to fight me, let alone all of my friends?"
Gilda didn't really give me answer, she just looked away from me with an angry expression on her face. Although she didn't say anything I had a feeling I knew what it was.
"Oh I get it, you're having an image problem." I said matter of factly.
This got her attention. "What?"
"Yeah it all makes sense. You probably consider yourself one of the coolest people that ever lived so it must really hurt to see Rainbow Dash give you up for some other ponies who you consider inferior."
"Shut up." She said
I started pacing around. "You don't really have any other redeemable traits do you? All you've got is your edgy and in your face attitude and i'll bet when that fails you you're lost. You don't exactly know what to so you came back here to try and win Dash back..."
"Shut up!" Gilda said.
"Absolutely pathetic." I took Screwball and we began to walk away.
"I said...SHUT UP!"
I turned around to address her once again but before I could I saw her claws smack me right in the face. Her blow made me recoil and I put my hand up to the part that she hit. I felt something inside me click and I was done being nice.
“That's it feather bitch, you want trouble? Well you just got trouble."
I snapped my fingers and summoned all six of my friends to my side; a lot of them looked confused as to what just happened.
“What are we doing here? I was just in the library reading a book and then poof here I am.” Twilight said
“Sorry to bother you girls but we've got trouble.” I pointed to Gilda who was standing a few feet from us and suddenly all the girls
were on their hooves looking focused and ready to attack.
“What do you want Gilda? Same thing as last time I assume?” Rainbow Dash said
“Oh dash, always so brash you assume I’d just keep trying for the same things over and over again. No, this time I’m taking out my anger on all of you and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”
Rainbow growled. “Arrogant freak, how dare you…”
I raised my hand signaling Rainbow to stand down as I formulated a plan to get us out of this situation.
“Well, if you’re so confident in yourself Gilda then why don’t we make a sport of it?”
I snapped my fingers again and from the ground raised a pentagon wire cage with two bleacher stands and four rows next to it. As they rose up from the ground Gilda looked a bit surprised.
“What’s with the ring?”
“I just thought that maybe you’d like to set an example to the other ponies in town about how serious you are by showing off your fantastic skills. And now to get a crowd.”
I pulled out a microphone from my pocket and spoke into it.
“Mares and gentle colts!” My booming voice got the attention of every pony in the approximate area. “Some of you may be wondering why this stage has suddenly appeared out of the ground, and if you haven’t you probably need to get your eyes checked.” A few ponies chuckled at my joke. “In any case we've got a special event for you tonight, I’m sure some of you remember Gilda here who visited town not too long ago?”
Most ponies shot her dirty looks. “Well in any case she’s here today to test her might against the seven of us in a one on one cage match.” The ponies got excited and some of them clapped. “This will be a fight unlike any you have ever seen folks, the tough griffon with a heart of acid going up against six of Ponyville’s poster ponies and one walking freak show. Truly a fight that cannot be missed, am I right?”
Now the ponies were really getting into the spirit of things and started cheering. “Here’s how it’s going to work: Gilda will go up against one of us and we will fight until the other is knocked out, if Gilda wins she’ll continue fighting after her injuries have been healed and if she can defeat all of us than she’ll have proved that she has muscle to back up her empty threats.”
“Hey!”
“So, be here in one hour to see this feathery foe go up against her first opponent, the pegasus who’ll knock you out faster than she can fly, Rainbow Dash! Are you excited ponies?” I was met by an uproarious applause. “Then I’ll see you all in an hour, don’t miss it.”
As the crowd dissipated I turned and faced Gilda. “You hear that Gilda? They’re really excited for the match. The only question is, who are they rooting for?”
I smiled confidently knowing that Gilda must be getting nervous. “Whatever, I’ll see you guys here later. Don’t be late.”
With that Gilda flew off leaving the seven of us to prepare.
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Twilight asked.
“Positive, did you see how she reacted after I made sure her display was going to be seen by at least two dozen ponies? She’s scared.”
“No she wasn’t. I looked at her the whole time and she still looked the same, super mean and no fun at all.” Pinkie said.
“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong Pinkie; you see everybody deals with fear differently.” I pulled a cupcake out of my pocket and started throwing it up into the air and catching it. “When dealing with fear some people like to pretend that everything is fine and some people like Gilda try to look tough on the outside but deep down…” I squished the cupcake in my hand. “It crushes them, she’ll crack I’m sure of it.”
Twilight thought about it. “Hmm, from a psychological perspective that does make sense, but out of curiosity why did you pull out a cupcake to talk about fear?”
“If only you knew.” I started licking my hands to get the icing off. “Mmm, red velvet. Well, we’d better get ready for the fight. Dash, I’m sorry for putting you on the spot back there but I thought you’d like to get at her first.”
Rainbow gave me a look of determination. “You thought right, Gilda’s my friend and last time I thought I could solve this peacefully.” She brought her hoofs together. “But if the time has come to fight, I’ll fight.”
“That’s what I like to hear, everyone get to training and we’ll meet back here in fifty minutes.” I grabbed Screwball’s hoof. “Come on Screwball, let’s go.”
I led her back home and inside. We walked through the halls together until I found the room I was looking for. I opened up the door to reveal a solid white room.
“Ah, here we go.”
Screwball looked confused. “What are we doing in a white room?”
I smiled at her ignorance “This isn't just any white room sweetie, this is the pinnacle of my power: a training room.”
“But why is it all white?”
“Well it’s because the room itself is slightly psychic.”
“Psychic? What does that mean?”
“It means it has the ability to access people’s brains and read their thoughts. This room is designed to create challenges unique to the person who enters it with random difficulties and enemies with several ways of completing them. I usually have it set for random challenges however I can change it directly with a thought.”
I pointed my finger and suddenly weights and training equipment started to sprout out of the ground. “There now I can train and for you…” I pointed my finger at the other side of the room and sprouted a make shift playground complete with a jungle gym, monkey bars, swings, and slides. “A play ground to play in, hope you like it.”
Screwball looked giddy as she ran over to the playground while I snapped my fingers, changing my sweat shirt into workout clothes. I pumped weights, did push ups and sit ups, and even ran around a large track to increase my strength speed and flexibility while Screwball played on the swings. At one point I was doing pull ups and had a rather...interesting conversation.
"I have to get stronger, I have to beat her at her own game."
"Or you could just kill her."
I wasn't thinking that. "What? Who said that?"
"Ah good you can finally hear me, and as I said why not just kill her? It would be so much easier to kill her than to do this idiotic fighting match. You have literally dozens of ways to finish her painfully and quickly why not use them?"
I shook my head. "No, I have to follow the rules."
"What rules? You mean the ones you set for yourself about not killing? Not to burst you heroic bubble or anything but didn't you kill a timber wolf not a week ago?"
I hated to admit it but it was right. "Well...that was different, it was a mindless monster."
"Uh huh, and tell me wasn't he just doing what all animals do? Searching for food and defending themselves from predators? Did that really deserve death? Don't lie to yourself buddy you did it and you know you liked it."
I got off the bar. "I'm not lying to myself, i'm lying to you."
In my mind I could hear him chuckle. "Oh you stupid human...I am you."
Those last few words unnerved me, that thing couldn't be me I wasn't like that. But...it was in my head so I don't know what to believe, it didn't talk back to me so for the time being I believed that it was gone.
Forty five minutes went by pretty fast and soon I had to get ready to go fight. Once I had cooled down and switched into my normal clothes I led Screwball out of the room.
“Well I think that was a pretty good workout, I defiantly feel a bit tougher than normal and that’s without magic. What about you Screwball? Did you have fun?”
“Yeah, that was fun! So what’s next?”
“Well, I just need to go in my bedroom for a second and then we’ll go to the fight okay?” She nodded and I headed to my room to prepare.
Screwball waited for about five minutes until she got restless. She walked inside the room. “Hey, what’s taking so long?” When she walked in however there was no one there but she did notice a note on the bed. She trotted over, sat on the bed, and read it.
Dear Screwball,
I’m sorry that I left you unexpectedly but this is something that I didn't want you see. There’s going to be a lot of violence at this match and I don’t want you seeing it all, I’m sorry if you’re disappointed and possibly angry with me but I’m asking you to please respect my wishes and stay home until I get back.
Screwball didn't want this and she prepared to get up and find her father but when she tried to get up her whole body felt heavy and she couldn't, she also began to get sleepy. As she fell down on the bed she looked at the bottom of the paper and saw some additional stuff.
P.S: I know you aren't going to stay home it just doesn't seem like you, so just in case you don’t want to stay home (which you probably don’t) I coated this paper in a high powered sedative to put you to sleep. Don’t worry, you won’t be out too long and by the time you wake up I’ll be back home. Have a nice nap.
As Screwball finished reading the letter she passed out.
Back at the arena with only five minutes left before the match Rainbow Dash was preparing to fight Gilda as I teleported right in front of her.
“Hey Rainbow, are you ready for the fight?” I asked
“Pretty much, but to be honest I’m a little nervous.”
“That’s natural, but why are you nervous? Usually you’re so confident in your abilities I would have thought you’d be ready for this.”
“I am ready, but it’s not just me I’m worried about it’s all of our friends.”
I was confused. “What do you mean?”
“Personally, I think we’re the only two people strong enough to take her down. I mean you took her down without even trying, and I’m pretty strong and fast enough to dodge her but I’m not sure about the others. Applejack's kicks are pretty strong but she’s also kind of slow, Fluttershy would be too scared to fight, Rarity is too uptight to do anything so ‘un lady-like’, Twilight probably hasn't been in a real fight in her life, and Pinkie…well actually I’m not sure about her.”
“I wouldn't bet against Pinkie in a fight but I’m not sure if she’s up to it either.”
“If we fail, Gilda could end up really hurting our friends and I can’t let that happen.”
I thought about what she said and she was right, that was something I hadn't thought about. This required me to change my plans quickly and after racking my brain a bit I came up with something.
“Oh, that’s a really bad idea but it just might work.”
Out of my jacket I pulled out a white boutonniere and put it on my jacket. “Hey Rainbow, I thought about putting on a flower to spruce up my outfit, tell me what you think.”
She moved closer to observe the flower and when she got close enough it sprayed her with gas, she began to get woozy and fell backwards while I caught her stopping her from hitting the ground.
“What…did you-”
I pointed at the boutonniere. “This is a fake flower Rainbow, filled with knockout gas. I’m going to take on Gilda myself…without my powers.”
“Wha…but you can’t…I-“
“Sh sh sh sh, just let the chemical do its job. You aren't fighting today and our friends don’t get hurt on my watch, and that includes you.”
“You…jerk.” Then she passed out. I had to hide her in a nearby bush so no pony would find her. When that was taken care off I rushed over to the ring where Gilda was already inside and preparing to fight Rainbow Dash. I pulled out that microphone from my pocket again and started the show.
“Mares and Gentlecolts! Take your seats because the fight is about to start.” As ponies filled up the seats they looked excited for what was about to go down, I even saw the rest of the mane six sitting in the rows waiting to see her friend fight. if only they knew what was about to come.
“In the first corner weighing in at 237 pounds we have the fighter with nothing nice to say but she talks anyway, the slicer of nicer ponies like yourselves, Gilda the griffon” The crowd audibly booed but was silenced when Gilda gave them an angry look.
“And in the other corner weighing in at…” I stopped for a moment to build up tension. “Folks there’s been a change in the program, in the other corner weighing in at 145 pounds, he’s nuttier than peanut brittle and twice as delicious, he’s got the power to be the man of hour and he’ll make it rain chocolate, give it up for...Bedlam!”
With that I ran out into the arena and through the door. “Bedlam, that’s a good name I think I’ll keep that one.”
Gilda looked surprised. “What are you doing here? I thought I was fighting Dash.”
“There’s been a change in plans, unless you’re scared to fight me?” I asked confidently.
“What? No, I just don’t want to fight you because it’s unfair, you've got all that power and junk.”
“Well, that can be easily fixed.” I held out my open hand and then suddenly a crystal ball appeared, and then slowly that crystal ball began to be filled with red until it was full. “Done, I've put all my magic in this ball so now I’m just a man. Twilight, catch!” I threw the ball into the crowd and Twilight caught it with her magic.
“Now that that’s taken care of, I think it’s about time I taught you a lesson.”
“Heh, there’s nothing you can teach me runt.” She said snidly
“Oh there’s always something new you can learn, let’s start with getting your ass kicked 101.”
Gilda psyched up and charged at me, as she prepared to slash me with her claws. I jumped up dodging her attack and elbow dropped her back causing her pain. Unfortunately, she pushed me off her back and onto the ground and then she kicked me with her back claws sending me across the floor, and it hurt.
I grabbed my chest as I got up and prepared to fight again. “What’s the matter Gilda, afraid?”
“Disappointed. You’re not a real fighter.”
“Oh, I know what this is about, maybe you’d rather be fighting a girl.”
That got her angry, she lunged at me and started punching me mercilessly in the stomach seven times, she pushed me up against the fence and I could only escape by kicking her in the jaw with my longer legs.
I moved away from there trying to get some space between us. When she wasn't looking I made a punch for her but she dodged and punched me in the back, I turned around and tried to punch her again but this time she grabbed my first in her claw then she grabbed my jacket with her other claw and lifted me above her head, spun me around a few times, and sent me flying to the other end of the arena. I got up feeling the pain in my stomach and jaw grow as the crowd cheered at the display while my friends covered their eyes.
A little ways away Rainbow finally came to and realized what had happened. “That idiot!” She quickly got up and headed toward the ring where she saw me on the ground trying to get up. “Will!” She rushed over to the cage and tried to open the door only to find that it was locked. “What do you think you’re doing?”
I got up slowly and rather painfully. “Teaching her a lesson she’ll never forget.” I ran at her again punching only to have her dodge and then punch me in the face sending me to the ground again.
“Gilda, stop it!” She pleaded.
“He asked for it, whatever happens to him now it’s his fault.”
I got up again and faced her, wiping the blood away from my mouth. “So when are you gonna start, has been?”
She growled as she kneed me in the stomach and I retaliated by grabbing my hands together and hitting her over the head. This didn't hurt her that much as she slashed me across the chest with her claws causing a big mark on my chest, she then bitch slapped me across the ring. She walked closer to me slowly, then she rolled me onto my back, got on top of me and started slashing over and over again causing even more cuts and pain.
Breathing heavily I looked up at her. “I don’t have any powers, and you’re still too old and too weak to knock me out.”
That finished it she grabbed me by the collar, raised me up and with one big uppercut sent me across the ring again but this time I stayed down, and everything faded to black.
“Get up runt, I’m not done with you yet.”
She walked over to me and turned me over on my back. “Hey, are you in there?”
She was that my eyes were closed and I wasn't moving, she picked up my arm to see if I would get up and it fell to the ground, worriedly she put her head against my chest and felt that there was no rising of air, and no heartbeat. She looked back at me in horror.
Pretty soon every pony understood what was going on, looking in horror at the scene or turning their heads away. My friends were the one that took it the hardest, they all looked horrified and Pinkies hair went straight. Quickly, they rushed down towards the arena as Rainbow Dash flew over the gate and into the arena she rushed over to me and put her head against my chest to see if I was still there. Then she punched Gilda in the face.
“What have you done? How could you do this to someone?”
Gilda just looked at the infuriated Rainbow Dash with fear and regret. “I…I don’t know. I didn't mean to kill him, I just wanted him to back down.”
“Just to BACK DOWN?!? You piece of shit, I’LL KILL YOU!”
She began punching Gilda again and again trying to get her anger out until her friends came in and held her back.
“NO! No, let me go, let me go!” At this point Rainbow couldn't take it anymore and broke down into tears.
A few minutes later every pony left leaving just the six ponies I had known the closest huddled around my body. Pinkie was the first to walk up to me.
“Willie, I didn't know you very well but you seemed very nice. You liked it when I threw you those unexpected parties, you mad me that chocolate rain cloud which I still like to use whenever I’m feeling a bit down, and… you were a great friend.” She lent down and kissed me on the cheek. “I promise you, I’m going to give you the best funeral service ever and then maybe we’ll stop feeling so bad.”
I opened my eyes slowly, still feeling the effects. “I’m flattered Pinkie…” They all looked at me with faces of shock and joy, and Pinkies hair began to gain volume. “Even in death, you’d want to throw me an awesome party, that’s dedication.”
When I stopped talking they all rushed me and gave a great big hug, which hurt because of all my injuries.
“Guys, I’m still really hurt so please be gentle.”
They all backed away slowly until Rainbow got up in my face. “What the hay was that? Why would you do something so stupid, we all thought you died.”
I smiled “Ah, but I was only pretending to be dead. Twilight pull out the thing from my left pocket.”
She used her magic to reach into my pocket and then pulled out a needle. “It’s a needle.”
“I had that little thing in my pocket before the fight. If you’ll recall…”
Flashback…
She then bitch slapped me across the ring. When I was on my stomach and no pony was looking I pulled out the needle and injected it in my arm and quickly put it back in my pocket. That’s when Gilda came over and flipped me on my back.
“The needle was filled with a toxin which lowers your heartbeat to two beats per minute, keeping you alive but making it seem like your dead.
“You wanted her to see what it would feel like to kill someone.” Twilight said, fully realizing my plan.
“You think it worked?”
Everyone was too preoccupied to notice Gilda walk over to us. “It worked.” She reached down and helped get me on my feet. When I was on my feet, I stumbled a bit about to fall over when Twilight and Pinkie came over and helped me up.
“Twilight, do you still have my magic?”
“Yeah, here it is.” She levitated the ball into my hand and I absorbed all the magic back into my body.
“Oh yeah, oh that feels so much better.” I said, glad to have my powers back.
“Yeah, but you've still got tons of cuts and bruises all along your body.”
“Right, I need to heal, can you take me back home?” They nodded as we started walking off, until I stopped them for a moment. “Oh and Gilda…” She looked at me. “If you can ever find the goodness in your heart again, you’ll be welcome back into this city. I know it.”
She gave me a blank stare and then just flew off without saying a word.
Screwball woke up from her forced nap and saw me walk in the house with the two other ponies.“Huh?”
“Hi sweetie, how was your nap?”
She observed me closer and saw all my injuries. “What happened to you?”
“Nothing, I just fell down some stairs.”
“You look really bad.” She said, a bit worried at my exterior.
“It was a lot of stairs. Twilight, can you guide me into that room?”
We walked into my blank room and I snapped my fingers painfully and summoned a Vita-chamber from Bioshock.
“What is that?” Twilight asked.
“Advanced healing technology called a Vita-chamber, this thing will heal me before sunrise tomorrow but I need to stay inside it and I can’t get out. Pinkie, while I’m inside can you take care of Screwball for me?” She nodded. “Thank you. Now I just need to push the button to open the doors.”
I pushed the big red button and the doors opened, the two ponies put me gently on the ground. Then they pushed the button sealing me in the chamber and giving me time to fall asleep after a very strenuous day.