Legion of Shadows

by Strythio


Loyalty

Still hogtied, Gilda eyed her surroundings while the guards trotted down the main road. Being hauled off to prison in this fashion had been a fantasy and a fear of hers in the past, and in the darkness of a sleeping Canterlot, it seemed fitting that she also prepare for her own execution. However, it had been mission success. Within a short time, Sunset would be able to free herself from prison, hopefully link up with Lightning Dust and Trixie, and still have enough time to bust her out before sunrise.

As she was none too gently thrown hoisted towards the looming building that no doubt served as the Equestrian prison, it being rather small, humble, and lightly guarded, she could not help but reflect on how much faith she was putting in those ponies to at least attempt to break her out. It certainly had been a change from when she had first met the lot.




Getting into the Canterlot Caves had been one thing; escaping by accident had been another. After entering the cavern, Gilda had wandered for what felt like days in the Canterlot caves; they had been cold, dark, and very maze-like in construction. She swore more times than she could count before she literally stumbled her way down and out of the accursed labyrinth. It had been a graceless fall, with her wings barely lessening her fall as she crashed through branches, leaves, and all manner of things on her way down to the ground.

But finding her way to Ponyville had to have been the worst for her at the time. Bruised, cut, and exhausted, Gilda stalked through the empty streets of the small town, avoiding street lights as if they would expose her in a moment's notice, and bring about the entire Equestrian Guard upon her head. Or worse, attract the attention of the group those assassins had belonged to.

The last time she had been in Ponyville, she had not fit in very well by the end of the day. She did not expect anything different, and had been glad that it had been nightfall when she almost literally stumbled into the place. Despite her weariness, there was only one location that she could think of to take refuge in this time of need.

She did not need a guide to fly up to the cloud home, where the resident Wonderbolt aspiree lived. No, she did not need a map to know exactly how to get through the first main hurdle. Rainbow Dash's home was not locked down tight, nor was it generally open to visitors. Gilda knew that the moment she set talon on the cloud, Rainbow would know that she had an intruder.

So unlike her walk over where she attempted to hide herself from potential peering eyes, Gilda refrained from trying to hide or conceal herself. Considering the sort of trouble that she was in, that would only make things worse. No sooner did Gilda enter through the real front door did she come face to face with a fluffy living room and a cranky cyan pegasus.

"What are you doing here?" Dash's emphasis on "you" made it clear that she was not pleased to see her.

Not exactly shocked about this, Gilda replied, "I need a place to crash, if you don't mind Dash."

"I thought it was made pretty clear, that if you can't get along with my current friends-"

"I do not need to even stay any longer than sunrise." Gilda tried not to sound desperate, but these were dire times for her.

Dash's reaction, however, seemed to be attuned to this sense of desperation. The pegasus knew her well enough to know that she was not a begger, and that she would have sooner forced her way in than attempt to bargain.

Dash eyed Gilda suspiciously for this reason. "What trouble are you in?"

As much as she wanted to lie and say 'none', Gilda reasoned that it would not be long before Dash found out the truth, or at least some version of the truth. It was better to sugarcoat than to outright omit the facts, or so she believed at the time. "Got caught up in the middle of someone else's job up in Canterlot. Long story short, I've been framed for something that I did not do."

Dash stepped aside, a sort of unspoken permission that Gilda could enter. However, she was not through questioning the griffon, and did not yet close the door behind her, in case she needed to swiftly throw the wounded beast back into the wilderness. "How do you know that you have been framed? Maybe you are just jumpy because you actually did do it."

To be technical she did assassinate her uncle, but it had not been her intention. Nonetheless, knowing how dense Dash could be when it came to sorting out things of that sort, Gilda decided it was best to stick with the story she had constructed rather than deviate. "I need rest. One night, breakfast only if you are willing, and then I am out of your mane. Please? "

That last word nearly stung Gilda's tongue, especially since she was already inside the home, but it seemed to butter up Rainbow enough for her to nod. "Alright, one night, and that is it. If I catch you trying to lift anything I will send your feline ass to the moon and back. Got that?"

Gilda nodded, and after taking a few more steps in as to allow Rainbow to close her front door, Gilda collapsed atop the cloud floor. She did not even bother looking for covers, or rummaging for some sort of snack, despite her gently rumbling stomach. And of course, if she decided to anyways, thanking Rainbow Dash for her compliance could come in the morning.


She had slept very peacefully, considering the kind of day she had had. Her awakening, however, was to the strike of lightning and the roar of thunder, the latter of which actually being what disturbed her. Gilda shot awake, finding that she had been moved into a single room in the fluffy abode.

It was an oddly plain cloud, with no ornaments, propaganda, or even any signs of a door. If Gilda did not know any better, she would swear that she had been put into a panic room. She knew that Dash was not one to have a bare room for just any reason.

"Have a good sleep Gilda?"

The voice emanated from above, but when Gilda looked up, all she saw was more cloud. And yet, it sounded clear as day, as if the speaker were right next to her.

"Dash?" Gilda did not care much for pranks, particularly when she was the target of them. This smelled of a prank, one that Gilda could not afford to get caught up in.

One part of the wall parted, revealing Rainbow Dash standing with a smirk on her face. If Gilda did not know any better, she would assume that Dash was merely a step away from coming onto her. Well, to be honest, she was not so sure she did know any better at this point.

"Got some things in the mail for ya," Dash casually stated, walking towards Gilda, "Seems you are still using my pad for your mailing address."

Gilda had completely forgotten that she had put Dash's place as her residence when she had signed up for the tournament. The mare had never really made mention of it prior to now, nor took the trouble to come and find her to contest this issue. If it was an issue that is.

Dash stopped just a few feet from Gilda, as if the place had already been marked for this moment. "Just have to ask, did you intend on ever coming to get your championship belt?"

With a stomp of her hooves, a large and wide belt of sorts dangled from the ceiling mere feet above Gilda. The shiny gold plate had Gilda's face on it, engraved with the words: "Champion". It had a numerous splotches of blood on it too, however, and this above all else disturbed Gilda. She was beginning to get an idea of what this was all about."Did it come that way?"

"I don't know," Dash stated, growing more serious with every word, "How about you tell me?"

Gilda realized that if she did not start deflecting the heat, she was going to end up in a serious situation. Not that she could not take on Dash on her better days, but every part of her situation made it unwise to seriously injure Dash. She didn't need another life on her talons, presuming she could take it. Not to mention if she ended up losing she would still get in trouble for fighting her in the first place, and would only add further injury to her previous injuries.

"I know this looks bad, but I had nothing to do with, that." Gilda pointed towards the belt, assuming that incident was what she spoke of. Sure, the fights were known to get unclean at times, but the belt's shine and appeal was hard too decipher as a result of the crimson stains. "I was just there..."

"Yeah, I know."

Gilda gave Dash a confused looked. How did she know, and more importantly, what did she actually want to know if she knew that she was innocent of any doing in those matters? Or was this still a part of some very elaborate prank?

"The equicidal jerks who are responsible wanted you dead," Dash explained, now standing a breath's distance from Gilda, "Gilda, whoever they are, they are a real threat to Equestria. Unlike a potential assassin like yourself."

For the record, she had already assassinated once, but that had been unintentional, and bringing that up would not help her case. "What do you know of this?"

Rainbow took a seat on her haunches, gesturing with her wings for Gilda to do the same. Dash, wanting to have a conversation whilst sitting calmly in the middle of the floor? As suspicious as that was Gilda complied with the suggestion, and looked her former friend in the eye, searching for any warning signs.

"Due to the strange magic that threw everything out of whack, I ended up, temporarily, in the arena. They, whoever they are, were on their way out. They chatted amongst themselves about sending a "message", a signal. They figured with your death and the collateral, it would help advance whatever they had planning-"

"How convenient," Gilda mused, folding her arms.

Dash shot her a look of irritation at being interrupted. When Gilda relaxed her posture, Dash continued.

"I didn't recognize them as they were all in costumes and disguises, but one was definitely a unicorn. Gilda, who the hell did you piss off?"

Gilda rolled her eyes. How was she supposed to have known? Sure, she may have taken her match a little far in the opinion of some, but the following event seemed very planned out. Her actions could not have spontaneously spurred them into action. Not to mention if Dash had been there-

"How did you get back?" Gilda eyed Dash suspiciously, "Wouldn't they have killed off any witnesses?"

"Magic." Dash did not seem to feel the need to explain any further, until Gilda raised a brow in dissatisfaction.

"Hey, who's asking the questions here?" Dash challenged, putting a hoof to Gilda's chest provocatively, "Who are they?"

It was at this point that Gilda regretted not asking her father how he had even gotten there, much less how they all left with their lives. "Dash, I do not know who they are. I just know that they are probably the same ones who tried to kill me in Canterlot."

"You were in Canterlot?" Dash removed her hoof and seemed genuinely surprised.

That meant that she had likely not gotten the full memo for what she had actually been framed for. Or maybe the assassin reference had been the result of Dash not knowing the meaning of the word, and using it alongside "murder" without separating the victim's importance. Either way, all of this questioning made Gilda feel that she had overstayed her welcome, and might should have taken a nap out in the woods rather than endure further interrogation.

"Anyways, it was nice dropping by, but I really have to be going," Gilda stated, looking around the cloud room for an obvious escape route that did not involved going through the pegasus or the floor, "Thanks."

"Not so fast." Dash once again put a hoof to Gilda's chest as she began to rise. This time, Dash exerted enough force to cause Gilda to take greater notice and return to her sitting position. "There are some loose ends that we need to tie up first."

Oh great. She should have read the fine print when she allowed herself refuge with her old "friend".

"Apologize to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, and then you can go." Dash removed her hoof and got back to all four hooves; her body was tense, as if at any moment she would react.

Gilda understood that this was not the time to take Dash as a joke. Going to her own fours as well, Gilda made it clear her opinion on the idea. "Listen, I can swallow enough of my pride to apologize to the softie, but like Tartarus if I am going to apologize to that pink interloper."

The tension in the room increased, as neither individual wanted to give ground. It remained like this for a few moments before the entire cloud home reverberated. It was subtle to the point in which none of the furniture shifted, but strong enough to cause Gilda to feel it acutely. Dash had another visitor.

Dash flew off, presumably towards the front door, in order to answer it. In this moment, Gilda figured now would be a good time as any to escape, and promptly turned in the other direction. However, before she could do so, curiosity got the better of her. Who would actually come to visit Dash by flying up and onto her cloud home? She only had one pegasus friend that she noted, with the others being unicorns and earth ponies respectively. And she knew dang well that that yellow pegasus would not have landed on the cloud hard enough to cause those vibrations. Whoever had come wanted Dash's attention, just as Gilda had last night.

Despite her better judgement, Gilda crept in the direction that Dash had been seen taking off. It was largely in vain, to creep around the cloud home, as her footsteps would not make much noise anyways, but habit was habit. And it was hard to break, even as she entered an open room. There were a few couches, a newspaper that had not been touched as of yet, and of course a fireplace.

"What does she need a fireplace for?" Gilda wondered aloud. Among insulation, clouds were exceptional. Not to mention how she even intended on fueling the fire. Reasoning that it was for mere display rather than usage, Gilda found her talons grasping the newspaper, rattling it noisily as she brought it up to glance at the headline.

Assassination! King Grackus of Griffia is dead, making him one of the last of the royal family to recently be executed.

Gilda squawked in surprise, at least in part because of the latter half. One of the last of the royal family? Who else had fallen prey to their enemies?

King Grackus Bellamy, along with Charles Bona the Second were found in the Griffon royal guest chambers dead, with the assassin believed to be Gilda Bellamy. An eyewitness reports seeing Gilda atop of the corpse of Charles with a terrified, guilty expression upon noticing the witness. Antoine Bellamy, brother and commanding officer respectively of the two victims, declined to comment.

Gilda grimaced. Her father had not bothered to suggest that she was in fact innocent? Not even a "let's not jump to conclusions here" statement? Gilda flipped through the pages fervently, searching until she found the remainder of the article. Skipping the summary of the previous page, Gilda's eyes grew wide as she read the next portion.

Antoine has recently called for a thorough investigation. Dratina, Queen of Draconia, proclaimed this a "great tragedy that must be looked into". Celestia and Luna both have yet to make a public announcement regarding the incident. Griffia is in turmoil over the latest lost of its leader, and according to our sources, they are demanding the return of both Gilda and Antoine, along with the bodies of the aforementioned victims. Again, Celestia nor Luna have made a public response, but it is presumed that they will comply with the latter request.

Gilda noticed the distinct lack of mention of who was supposed to be in charge back in Griffia now that Grackus was dead. For her, that would have been priority information; whoever wrote this article clearly did not consider that she would ever actually read it, much less be concerned about who was running her home country. Then again, it was an Equestrian newspaper.

A newspaper, in Rainbow Dash's home? How much had that pegasus changed since their friendship days to actually spend the effort to get a newspaper delivered to her home?

Gilda was interrupted from her thoughts by a crashing noise, very unusual considering that they were atop a cloud. Alerted, Gilda stalked over to the source, only to enter another chamber and see a tangle of mane and hooves as two pegasi dueled each other at the front door. One was Rainbow Dash, she could tell by the rainbow mane. The other, however, had a light blue coat and an amber mane, with brilliant gold stripes. Gilda noticed sunlight just across the scuffling mares; her ticket out was the still open door.

On one talon, she could help out Dash, but Dash seemed to have things handled; a swift hoof to the jaw sent the other pony sprawling into another room, with Dash very shortly pursuing. Without another moment to lose, Gilda made a break for the exit, passing by the chamber just long enough to get slammed in the side by a body about her size. She hit the opposing cloud-wall and broke through it, rolling atop the chamber that she had awoken in earlier, just mildly stunned.

The rainbow tail near her beak let her know the owner of the body that just stopped her from making her escape. Dash scrambled to her hooves, standing in front of Gilda defensively as the opposing pony entered the doorway.

"Dash, let's not make this any harder than it has to be," the other pony warned, narrowing her eyes at Gilda, "Gilda is a wanted criminal, and she needs to be brought in for proper investigation."

"You are a fine one to talk Lightning Dust!" Dash spat back, wings flared upwards as if about to strike, "I saw you there in the arena. You are in league with those murderers!"

Hold on a minute, didn't Dash just earlier state that she did not recognize any of the assailants from the championship match, and that for sure one of them was a unicorn, not a pegasus? Now Gilda's interest was piqued for certain, as now she was dealing with sompony involved in whatever was going on. This Lightning Dust for now held a special place in her mind. Gilda stood next to Dash, eyes scanning Lightning for any sign of backing down.

Lightning hesitated now, seeing as she was seemingly outnumbered. "Listen, Antoine wants her back safe and sound. If she keeps running, it is going to look worse than it is. Come on Gilda, you know that you can't run for very long here in Equestria. You stick out like a broken wing while it is daylight hours."

The species joke underlying the plea was almost enough to cause Gilda to charge at the pegasus. But she knew better than that, for up to this point, Dash had been the only one caught smacking the other pony around.

"I can take her back to Canterlot myself," Dash insisted, "I feel she would be much safer with me!"

Oh, so Dash did intend on taking her back to Canterlot to turn her in. Some friend. Gilda would have stated this coyly, but she had to acknowledge that both mares intended to take her in; she could not take on both of them, and she knew that she could not outfly Dash. She needed a distraction.

"Well, what's in it for me if I go with you?" Gilda inquired, trying to sound as on the fence as possible, "At least with Dash I can catch up. Plus, I know that she will take me straight there."

Lightning paused for a moment. Dash glanced over at Gilda before focusing her attention back on Lightning.

"I can tell you what is going on," Lightning offered, "In exchange for your cooperation. I might even can even ensure that you don't get the guillotine."

"The what?" Gilda had not heard of said machine, but for some reason, it seemed vaguely familiar to her.

"It's a method of execution that results in you losing your mind, if you catch my drift," Lightning explained, "Heads are already rolling. If you want to join them, go with Dash and get yourself turned into the Royal Guard. Or, come with me and be back in the talons of your father. Your call."

Damn, this was not where she wanted to be. She had hoped that Dash would interrupt and begin fighting again, but for once, the pegasus was being incredibly patient. Much to Gilda's detriment. Dash had changed quite the bit, and it was not the good kind of change as far as Gilda was concerned. It was the kind of change that made it harder to predict her actions. She could not answer immediately, for if she did, then that would leave her exposed to the wrath of the mare turned down. Not that that was a huge issue, as it would be 2v1 no matter her decision.

"There is no guarantee that you even know her father," Dash challenged, pointing a hoof towards Lightning and arching towards her, "She could be lying."

"Yeah, and you told the truth about not recognizing anypony at the arena either." Gilda reasoned now was a better time than any to bring that up, especially since it would delay her having to make her decision.

"At the time, I didn't!" Dash insisted, looking at Gilda through the corners of her eyes, "But when Lightning came knocking asking if I had seen you, it flashed back to me."

Gilda had yet to take her eyes off of Lightning, and could tell that the pegasus was slowly backing away from the duo. Which seemed odd, since Gilda was her target.

Just as Dash returned her attention to the intruder, the sound of fireworks sounded in the distance, the popping noise causing Gilda to jump. This resulted in Dash rushing forward, and Lightning retreating into the living room. Almost as if in slow motion, Gilda noticed a small rocket slowly break through the cloud floor.

"Oh shi-" she began before it burst into a brilliant array of color and sound. The bright flash, worst of all, had been blue in color, sending Gilda not just into a splitting headache, but also into a land filled with nothing but the color blue. Or at least, that is what her head was telling her.

Her ears ringing, Gilda relied on her sense of touch to stumble backwards, only to find herself being slammed in the front. Rather than hitting a wall, she went through the floor, once again reminding her of why most flying creatures did not tend to live in the clouds. Too unpredictable in stability when enough force was applied.

With the feeling of air all around her, Gilda struggled to get a grip on her tackler, which she successfully did. Finding the pegasus' wings, she managed to catch ahold and pry the pony a few inches from her, only for a hoof to make contact with her throat. Forced to release her attack and clutch at her neck in reflex, Gilda now flapped at her wings in order to try to get a sense of control over her descent. However, her wings seemed to be held by some force that did not have a definite texture, and before she could further react, her body became completely bound in the position she fell with what felt like rope made of straw.

Just her luck, for her vision was beginning to become far less blue, and her ringing ears slowly rang to the tunes of normalcy. Her headache hadn't left yet, but that didn't matter as her beak became restrained in a manner similar to the rest of her body, albeit, on a smaller scale.

Rather than crashing into the ground, she softly hit the ground, only to have complete darkness overtake her. Clearly having been bagged in some sort of sack, Gilda attempted to cry out in anger, but only could hear the muffled cries of a restrained beast. It was not a very appealing sound to her.

"What if that would have missed?" some mare lashed out, clearly not entirely pleased, "What if you would have actually hit her?"

"We are looking for the assassin, not the daughter," another mare curtly pointed out, "Neither of which we really need to bring in alive."

"Like hell if we don't Trixie," another voice, this one famailar, scolding, "Trust me, he wants his daughter alive. If she is brought to him dead, all hell is going to break loose."

"What is he going to do?" Trixie retorted, "Declare war on Equestria?"

"Mention our involvement in you know what."

At this point, Gilda decided it was a good time to struggle some more, perhaps in the hopes of getting her bonds loose. Since her talons had been tied around her own neck in a grasping fashion, she had very little ability to free herself by cutting her bonds with those. She needed to see where she was, to get her bearings. There had to be something nearby that she could use.

"Involvement in what?" the first mare inquired, "What else have you two done?"

"There is a market in Equestria for both the living and the dead," Trixie explained, "To put it shortly, I took care of the living department while Lightning Fuss here took care of the dead department. It's business, not personal."

Gilda attempted to screech out in dismay, but again her muffled cries went on deaf ears.

"Tch, I am not so sure hanging around with you two was my best bet," the unknown mare commented, "Fleur may have had her reasons for not trusting you."

"Oh please, Fleur is one of the receivers of the living department." A hoof sharply kicked Gilda in the stomach. Based on the voice, Gilda assumed that it had been Trixie's doing. "The streets of Equestria have alot of corners that need working. And Fleur can't keep her build and work them all herself."

"Fleur is actually not very fond of working corners," Lightning jested, "Hell, I remember when I first met her for my first assignment. I was less impressed with her curves than with her management skills. Never seen a funeral go south that fast in my life."

Gilda kicked out, feeling satisfied when her foot connected with some pony's leg, the sound of falling weight almost bringing a smile to her beak.

"Yeah well, we need to get this griffon out of here. No doubt Rainbow Dash will prove troublesome if we don't." Some grunting, and then a pause.

"So, how did we intend on, you know, hauling a griffon the size of one of us through Ponyville and onto a train to Canterlot without drawing suspicion?"

Trixie's question apparently stumped the other two, as there was a long silence afterwards. Even Gilda had stopped moving to hear what their response might would be.

"Hot damn, I didn't think that far ahead on this one," Lightning admitted, "I thought we would just fly her out, but the way Antoine made her out to sound, I thought it would be like, a kitten. This pussy is about as large as we are."

"Griffons are technically both avian and feline, so I don't think that's an appropriate label," the other mare pointed out, "Besides, I know of a place where we can at least hide out that is nearby."

"Oh really?" Lightning seemed intrigued at this if Gilda could go by her tone.

Either that or she was preparing for a sarcastic remark when Trixie cut in. "Either way, we need to get a move on. I think I saw a rainbow streak up in the clouds."

Despite her protests, Gilda was hauled over in the sack. The more she struggled, the less space she seemed to have to maneuver with, until it was so tight inside that she could hardly breath without moving the entire bag. As much as she now wanted her to, it seemed that Rainbow Dash would not be coming to her rescue.

"Let's take her to a public place nearby," the other mare spoke, "I have an idea."