It was nighttime when the vizier Jabber stood at the highest balcony overlooking the city from the palace, the mare in the moon shined brightly this night. Next to him a ghostly cloud of dark yellow billowed into existence with bright grey eyes.
“I sense a coming trouble. It appears a mimic has managed to sneak into your well guarded palace. Remember master, if you don’t protect what is mine you will lose my aid. Now we wouldn’t want that would we?” The gas cloud chuckled darkly. “There was a powerful gathering of magic that can rival even my phenomenal cosmic powers today, it gathered to put on a show that you were witness too. Be wary, for the forces of good seek to bring you and me down. If you do not heed my warnings you will pay dearly.”
“What power could take us on? The power we wield shall bring them to their knees.” The vizier turned and walked back into the palace throwing his thoughts back at the jinn. “Something that can rival our powers combined is nonsense!”
“You fool, should even one being reach that which binds me to this realm your fall will be as swift as my own.” Slowly the cloud of dark yellow fog dissipated and waited for the enemies next movements, it would do it’s best to aid the twisted mind as it was a kindred spirit of causing pain and misery. Too bad stupidity was always in great supply, but never in demand. Their enemies were small in numbers compared to all the enthralled guards under their command, but no less a threat that could end their reign of terror swiftly before its power could grow any further.
Behind the palace on the Butte, Fluttershy stood there staring at the griffon who just stared back in surprise. After a moment the griffon was the first to come to her senses.
“Dweeb, what in the buck are you doing here of all places!” The only reason Gilda hadn’t bothered to turn around when the others were excited about something is because she was used to them getting their hopes up. Also that she couldn’t understand any of what they were saying, she was the odd one out as the first foreigner to be forced into this situation. She had been stuck here for three weeks and surviving off what food she could steal in the palace when those messed up guards weren’t looking. She’d never berate those dumb sun dried grapes with her wrath ever again.
The griffon looked like she was still relatively strong and somewhat healthy; this made her of lower importance to Fluttershy since her injuries weren’t immediately life threatening. Only now did Fluttershy bother her since it was important as things were growing a lot colder, the night was as lethal as the day was in the desert and Gilda thus far apparently survived by pure determination and grit.
Gilda was beginning to think that the best way out was to slide down the side of the butte while accepting any injury that came to her. The problem with that is if she even survived to reach the bottom there were humongous scorpions, gigantic poisonous snakes, giant flesh eating worms and monstrously oversized fire breathing scarabs. The very reason why this butte was used as a place to put captives was that the sands behind the palace were teeming with death incarnate. She didn’t believe those were the only threats to anyone willing to pull a runner, just the ones she had seen so far every time she was stuck out here.
“You poor thing, that monster of a stallion ruined you’re wings, talons and had you hurt a lot didn’t he.” Fluttershy touched the bare skin of Gilda’s left wing with a comforting hoof. Gilda flinched and suddenly spun around to slam the pony to the ground for invading the lion bird’s personal space. She could feel the anger from the griffon’s right talon strangling her slightly as it gripped her neck. Even with this kind of reaction Fluttershy had already forgiven Gilda for acting like this. The griffon was after all stripped completely of her pride and shaved of her dignity; as such the shy pony had expected this reaction.
“I don’t need your pity or sympathy spineless!” Gilda immediately flared her featherless wings in a manner that could be seen as threatening, if her appearance hadn’t been missing a lot of the key features for the intimidation factor. “Now why in Tartarus are you here!”
“I was just trying to help every pony, camel and griffon here.” Fluttershy gasped out through the grip on her neck, Gilda was still doing pretty well despite being forced into slavery. She glanced at the ponies and camels watching her with worry at being assaulted like this, she just gave them a sad little smile and shook her head telling them not to help her.
The female Saddle Arabian natives hunched together and stayed where they were praying for their soft spoken angel’s safety. They felt like she was a figure of purity and that her friend of shifting shapes was her bodyguard with a fake fierce appearance. They thought Chrysalis might have even been a freed genie that was friends with the angel that came to them in their time of need. They only hoped the angry one didn’t do her any permanent harm.
“Did I ask for your help?” Gilda grunted while squeezing Fluttershy’s neck causing the pony to wheeze in pain. She had never liked the shy mare very much and was just as aggressive as ever to her.
“It doesn’t matter whether you asked or not, I would try to anyway.” Fluttershy’s comment was met with pain as she was lifted up slightly and slammed back down. Pain erupted from the back of her head from the rough treatment she was receiving. Gilda causing her pain was also something Fluttershy expected and forgave, after a year of following the griffon around she understood how Gilda worked well enough. She knew Gilda loves that pony that Tress had termed as the world’s densest living object, alongside also having the world’s densest material where said objects skull was concerned. “Take it out on me as much as you want Gilda. I’m actually glad to see you’re relatively healthy, but I am sad that you ended up like this. You didn’t deserve this.”
“If really you insist I’ll happily oblige.” Gilda tightened her grip on Fluttershy’s neck making it very hard for her to breathe. “I even bet after I left Rainbow was all over you as her best friend once again wasn’t she?”
“To be fair… I always knew you… were like me.” Gasping in some air, Fluttershy suddenly felt the grip relaxed a little when Gilda had a confused expression on her beak. After she almost blacked out, she was slapped across the face by the griffon bringing her back from the brink.
“I’m nothing like the loser you are!” The moment Gilda screeched this she received the fiercest glare she had ever seen before on the ridiculously soft dweebs face. Gilda felt her heart almost stop and a large amount of primal fear swept through her body from the piercing glare.
“I know I’m a loser, but that wasn’t what I was talking about. Although there is one thing I’m not a loser in and that is actually having friends who don’t care about that.” The real Fluttershy had mentally left the building for the moment, Gilda had taken notice and completely let go of her and backed away. It was a quiet and gentle if very pronounced dark rebuke and Gilda couldn’t find her voice because of the stare Fluttershy had planted on her. The shy butter coated mare kept her voice low and didn’t raise it an octave as she stayed completely focused on those two amber colored eyes. “You know at one time I actually wanted to talk to you personally and help you with Rainbow Dash, if only you had bothered to ask without pushing me away. I wasn’t going to stand in your way Gilda; in fact I liked your spirit, determination and bravery. I can see those qualities in you still, but you’re a sad bitter griffon that keeps pushing away every single good thing that comes your way and for what? You call me a coward, but then you turn and run away from one good thing after another because of fear of what anybody would think if they knew about you? Does your pride in how others perceive you matter that much? To think you’re the griffon who fell in love with my friend. I looked up to you because you were brave enough to approach Rainbow Dash with your feelings laid bare to her. You shared the sky with her in simple joy of just being in her presence, but you never told her how you felt did you?”
Gilda tried to say something, but she didn’t want to give away something that Fluttershy couldn’t have possibly...
“You’re gay like I am. I understand why you act like you do and I’m willing to continue excusing your actions unless you can prove to me that you aren’t running from your emotions like scared cub with your tail between your legs. You also likely recognized that I was gay too the instant you started becoming friends with Rainbow Dash. I tried to be friends with you for an entire year Gilda. You belittled me, you hurt me and you were overly territorial of my friend’s time. Did you know that when I left, she hadn’t noticed that I stopped coming around?” Moving closer so that she was face to face with the griffon, Fluttershy stopped short of their noses touching. “Rainbow Dash is quite oblivious, she was your first real friend and I know the feeling. You must have fell in love with her so fast, it frightened you how deep into your heart she wiggled without effort. It must have annoyed you so much that she didn’t notice your feelings given you never talk about them because you thought it wasn’t cool to do so. You were scared of what she would think, what others would think and it leads me to believe you are secretly just as shy as I am. The only difference between us is that you’ve got a tougher exterior to hide all your insecurities in. Tell me why you came to Saddle Arabia and then go over there with the rest of them and lend your strength to others for once, they need all the warmth they can get or one of them might not even survive another night. Maybe it will help you be less selfish instead of hiding who you really are behind all that anger and violence. If you are going to hurt anyone, then let loose all your anger onto me. Show me how much you truly hate yourself for who you are and that you aren’t the friend Rainbow thought you were. Show me that Rainbow was wrong to put even an ounce of trust in you.”
“I’m not...” Gilda tried to be defensive; she tried to deny it after Fluttershy seemed to be finished with her tirade. She couldn’t back away without falling off the cliff as Fluttershy moved forward and placed her mouth over Gilda’s beak and shoved her tongue down the griffon’s throat. It took Fluttershy only a split second to dominate Gilda’s anger with a simple deep kiss. After Fluttershy pulled away Gilda was silent for a moment before she opened her beak. “I don’t really understand the Saddle Arabian language at all. My reason for even being here in the first place abandoned me as soon as we got here, especially when that crazy Saddle Arabian head honcho jerk started doing that weird grey eye thing to those guards. Excuse me.”
Fluttershy silently watched with that same hard stare as Gilda, with her tail between her legs, moved over to the frightened slaves. After a moment their fears were eased as the griffon took roost next to a shivering mare that looked to be very cold and she threw a featherless wing over her and pulled her in tightly to share her body heat with the mare. Fluttershy continued tending to those who needed a kind or soft word while Gilda watched.
Chrysalis eventually arrived with blankets and they all started snuggling together under them for warmth, the changeling was even witness to the griffon with Fluttershy and another mare snuggled together. Like a newborn Gilda cried clutching to Fluttershy who held her gently comforting her until she fell into a peaceful sleep. The changeling came up to them and draped a blanket over them while smiling as Fluttershy looked up at her with a smile of her own.
One day Rainbow would have that cantankerous brave griffon that could coach her to being the best Wonder Bolt that she could be, all it would take was a little patience and some kindness to bring Gilda back to who she could be. Maybe Fluttershy would even be both Gilda’s and Rainbow’s best mare.
“What’s up with her? Her emotions are all over the place.” Chrysalis thought the positive emotions were nice; Fluttershy especially bled a lot of her heart warming passion in the changeling’s direction filling her up after her flight through the cold air of the night. She lit her horn and cast a warming spell over all that were sleeping on the butte.
“It’s nothing to worry about; she just has some things she needs to sleep on. She’s actually an old friend of mine that hasn’t had a bit of kindness thrown her way in quite a while. So have our friends figured out a plan yet to help all of them?” Getting a nod at her query, Fluttershy gave her wings two happy little flaps and she settled down to rest. She was incredibly tired from her long day. “Yay…”