//------------------------------// // Writing is Expression -The Worst Idea Ever // Story: Dumb Luck // by Wild_Heart //------------------------------// Some book I write to like it can actually read itself, this is stupid, November 2 Okay, uh...So apparently, I should be keeping a 'diary'...Buck that, that sounds lame. A 'journal' of what I think. So, the first entry is supposed to be what I think about all these horseapples. Long story short, I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to be more...Personable, she calls it. I already know what my problem is. I'm a jerk because I think pretty much everyone but me is a total lame-o. Scratch that, everyone but me IS a total lame-o. Some of the ponies from Flight School were kinda cool, I guess. Dash was, until she picked these dorks over me. But you can't stay in Flight School forever, and so here I am, talking to a princess wannabe about how to act 'right'. And writing in a book like it can read itself. --- While she was here in Ponyville, Gilda didn't have a house. Instead, she stayed in the Everfree forest. Partly because that was the only way to avoid Pinkie Pie, who she didn't feel like talking to, and partly because that was the only way to avoid Rainbow Dash, who she didn't feel like talking to or looking at. Right now, the Gryphon was propped against a tree, sitting on a particularly thick branch, and scribbling in a book with the most bored expression any living creature could possibly make. The quill stopped and she stared at the paper which had barely had a quarter filled. She had no idea she could write that small, she never noticed when doing exams in the academy. A brief thought came to her: That this seemed lazy and sloppy, and that she should write more. Gilda closed the journal and put it in a hole she'd carved from the tree before any more crazy thoughts like that could manifest. "Okay, recap. Why am I doing this? Why do I even care what any pony thinks about me?" The first thing that came to mind was employment. After getting out of the academy, the gryphon had tried to get a job. She'd gotten close a few times, but the only gigs she could land were lousy menial labor work. Terrible pay, terrible conditions, bosses that were bigger jerks than her. But any other job wouldn't take her because of how she acted. Gilda would admit her work ethic wasn't very strong, but at the same time, she had a charm to her, didn't she? She wouldn't have been so big in Flight School if she hadn't. Yet here she was, jobless. She didn't have a place on a flight team, and the Equestrian military deemed her unfit for service because of 'behavioral problems', so she couldn't even go with that. Gilda eventually decided that she had to do SOMETHING about this. She knew Dash had a pretty sweet job in the weather service, so she came to Ponyville. She had just arrived in town when she thought that maybe, just maybe, Dash might not welcome her with open wings. Gilda had stood on the edge of Ponyville, feeling like an idiot. She decided to turn back, and go find someone else willing to help her net a career, but then she heard someone call out to her. She had looked to the source of the voice, seeing a white unicorn with a blue mane that was trying way too hard to look fancy. Gilda considered just flying away and leaving her there, but she couldn't think of anywhere else to go. So she'd ended up reluctantly talking to this unicorn, and said pony somehow managed to convince the gryphon to stick around and learn from her. "Seems more like she wants me to write my life story, or something," Gilda said to no one in particular, taking a look at the journal from the corner of her eye. She half-considered picking it back up again, but shook her head quickly. "What am I thinking? I'd rather talk to Dash than waste more time with that thing!" She stood, spread her wings, and drifted to the forest floor. She was hungry, and hunting was something to do, besides. --- The journal Still don't know why I bother with this stupid thing November 3 I'm amazed. Today wasn't a total waste of time. See, I always thought it was normal for ponies to act like complete egotistical jerk-offs. That's just how pretty much everyone in Flight School acted, so I just assumed...Not that I'm still not the closest thing to cool this town will ever get, but hey. That's why I was so surprised when Dash told me off. After all, she used to act like that too. I also met this pony today that seemed so familiar, but I can't put a talon on it. She's this yellow pegasus with a pink mane, and she's really damn quiet. Pretty annoying. I think I saw her the last time I came to ponyville, actually. The one who bumped into me. Yea. That. I feel guilty about that, I guess. I didn't mean to get so mad at her. I don't even remember why I did. Maybe I'll say sorry later. Maybe. But right now, I'm more concerned about where I've seen her b- Gilda's head shot up, her eyes wide. She totally remembered now. Flutterklutz. "I went to Flight School with her! Didn't she disappear after that time where she fell to the ground? I thought she was dead! Maybe she just dropped out." A nearby bird was staring at her for the sudden outburst. Gilda gave it a death glare. "What're you looking at, punk?" The small avian wisely ditched, leaving behind an embarrassed gryphon. She got to writing again, trying to forget that happened. Just remembered. How could I forget Fluttershy? Sheesh, she couldn't do ANYTHING right. Rainbow Crash has that nickname for a reason, but this filly could barely take a step without tripping herself up, let alone get off the clouds! I remember Dash used to stick up for her, so I'd tease RD about being her fillyfriend. That always got her feathers ruffled. Now I really DO feel bad about that. I guess RD's protectiveness of her rubbed off on me, because I started doing it too. I got to wonder, though. Exactly how did those punks live with themselves messing with her? I mean, buck, those eyes will get you every time. Well, that's besides the point. I'll do it tomorrow. I don't feel like it right now. Her cottage is on the edge of the Everfree, so I don't even have to go into town to talk to her. --- Gilda ended up going to town anyway. There'd only been one pony she'd ever apologized to on a regular basis, and Dash wasn't the kind to really care about apologies. She could assume that this was normal for ponies, but if that was the case, why did she feel like she even had to apologize? No, she was going to ask Rarity. She'd spent almost her entire life assuming something stupid, and she'd never get better at this 'healthy social interaction' if she didn't stop doing that. The gryphon took a wary look to her left, right, and above before she approached the boutique from an alleyway on the other side of the street. Maybe she was a little paranoid of being seen by Dash, but Gilda just wasn't in the mood to deal with her right now. Dash could be one of the most unreasonable punks the avian knew when she was mad, and she didn't let go of grudges easily, either. But she'd been lucky so far not to run into her or- "I see you! UUUUUUUUUH!" Oh Orion why her why now! "You're GILDA! Rrrrr! What are you doing back here, you bully!" Gilda slowly turned, eyes wide and a nervous grin on her face. There was a pink pony there with an absolutely terrifying scowl. Pinkie Pie. Gilda backed up to the door of Rarity's home and business, and pressed her back to it, stalked the entire way by Pinkie. The ponies in the streets gave both of them a wide berth. "I...Uh...Hey! Is that a party over there?" That was completely lame, and Gilda knew it, but the impression she got of this particular pony the last time she was here was that the party lover wasn't the brightest lamp on the street. And somehow, it worked. "Really?!" Pinkamena's head turned quickly, the scowl replaced by a bright smile. As she saw no party, she looked confused, and her gaze snapped back to where Gilda had, before, stood. "I don't see a...Heeeey! You tricked me!" She huffed and stamped her fore-hooves in front of the now slammed and locked door. Gilda, on the other side of said door, wiped her brow, and slumped. A white unicorn stared at her in surprise and annoyance from a sewing machine she had been feeding bits of cloth through before she'd been rudely interrupted. "Geez, that pony is buckin' scary..." Rarity's brow furrowed, and she shook her head disapprovingly. "Language, Gilda!" The gryphon thought of giving her a glare in return, but took a deep breath instead, and raised up her claws in a gesture of surrender. "Now, who is scary, and why have you so unceremoniously barged into my residence?" "That...Pinkie Pie. She cornered me and..." Gilda chirped in shock as the very same pony popped out of a potted plant, pointing at her menacingly with a hoof. Rarity shrieked, but less in surprise at this occurrence, and more in horror of the dirt now on her carpet. The fashionista set about cleaning up the mess as Pinkie advanced on the gryphon. It wasn't as though Gilda couldn't handle herself in a fight. She was a gryphon, after all, and that meant that, in general, she was a rather deadly combatant and more than a match for any pony. But when Pinkie is angry, it's not exactly the easiest thing to stay brave. Gilda could think of a few things more dangerous, but none of them nearly as terrifying. Which is why, with the party pony approaching, she thought it prudent to blurt out, "I'M HERE TO SAY SORRY TO FLUTTERSHY," as loudly and quickly as she could. At that, Pinkie's attitude took a complete 180, and she was right back to being as happy as a clam. "Oh well that's okay then! But Fluttershy isn't here, silly! This is Rarity's house!" "Which you are tracking so much dirt through," wailed the unicorn, who was still trying to get all the dirt out of her floor. "Oops..." Pinkie looked apologetic, and offered Rarity a smile. "It'll come right out, I bet! Anyway, this is Rarity's house!" "Uh...Yea. See, I dunno how I'd apologize to her." Gilda was still eying the earth pony with distrust. "I don't really do that often. Let's get one thing straight here, though." Pride took over as she grabbed Pinkie's muzzle, pulling her in closer. "I'm only doing this because I want to. I still think you're lame, and I still don't like you." She realized that wasn't doing her any favors, and she let go, dropping her head. If that effected Pinkamena at all, she didn't show it. "...But I guess I need your help." "I have JUST the thing, too! But you have to promise me something! You won't be mean to ANYPONY while you're here! Not even mean ponies!" Gilda raised a talon to protest, glaring holes at the violently pink equine. 'Don't tell me what to do' was what was coming to her mind, but Gilda forced it back, and took a deep breath to regain control of herself. She didn't notice Rarity smiling at her showing at least this bit of self-control. "Okay, I promise." "Cross your heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in your eye! Saaaaay it!" "What?! No, that's stupid!" Gilda gave Pinkie an incredulous look, wondering what the hay she'd been drinking to make her think the avian would agree to such a lame, idiotic thing. Pinkie shrugged and plopped down onto her haunches, Rarity barely moving a hoof out of the way before it was sat upon. "Then I won't help you." Folding her arms, the earth pony turned her nose up, and head to the side. Gilda couldn't help but laugh at the childishness of that act, and smirked. "Fine. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. That good enough for you?" "You didn't do the motions!" Gilda blinked rapidly, and Rarity cleared her throat, leaning a bit closer to her pink friend. "Pinkie, dear, I think that's going a bit too far. Take what you can get." She flashed Pinkie her best winning smile, and after a few tense moments, the Element of Laughter relented and stood back up. "Okay, now listen, this is my idea..." --- Gilda's journal, November 4 That went about as well as I thought it would. It wasn't a disaster, but I didn't really get anywhere, either. So Pinkie's idea was to give her a bunch of flowers. Rarity called it a 'bouquet'. She seemed like she didn't Pinkie's choice of flowers, but I really don't care about this symbolism of flowers crap. I'm pretty sure most ponies don't care about that either. She gave up, and I walked to Fluttershy's cottage alone. I made it pretty clear I didn't want either of them coming with me, but I know I saw them spying on me. Whatever. Anyway, so I got there and knocked, and she opened the door. Then she immediately screamed and slammed the door shut. I kinda expected that, honestly. Orion, she's cute when she's like that. I swear that if you had too much exposure to her, you'd explode or something. Well, I tried to get her to open the door, but it was completely quiet in there. I just said what I came to say, left the flowers there, and that was that. I'm sure she got the message, but I'll try again tomorrow. You know, I think I like this writing thing. Maybe I'll start writing something other than what happens to me. But what? I guess that's what this whole 'inspiration' thing is for, but how do I get t "E-Excuse me...Ms. Gilda?" The gryphon jumped, nearly dropping her quill. She set it in her journal, slammed the book shut, and glared over the side of the branch she'd been nesting on. The pale-yellow pegasus that had spoken squeaked at that expression, and lowered herself to the ground. "I-I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me-!" Gilda blinked, her glare completely vanished, and replaced with a look of astonishment. "Flutterkl-I mean, Fluttershy? What're you doing here?" The pony didn't respond, she just kept trembling. Gilda frowned, and glided down to her side. Feeling very awkward, she laid a claw on Fluttershy's shoulder. "Geez, dweeb, I'm not gonna hurt you. I just wanna know why you came out here." Gilda admitted to herself she was a little mad, but that was mostly because the Everfree was dangerous, and she didn't like the thought of the pegasus getting herself hurt. Getting slightly braver in the face of not having been eaten yet, Fluttershy lifted her head and stammered for a moment before gathering herself enough to talk. "I was wondering if...If you really liked me that much..." She then buried her face under both forelegs, squeaking. Gilda was completely unsure of how to respond to this, but she definitely wasn't thinking the same thing Fluttershy was. "Yea, look. When we were in Flight School, I saw how much Dash liked you. I didn't get it, but I figured if RD wanted to stick up for you, you had to be worth something." She paused for a moment. "Do I really want to tell her this crap? Ah horseapples, might as well just jump in all the way." Gilda cleared her throat and continued. "So I dunno if you noticed, but I kinda...Well, I kinda started helping you out. Behind the scenes and crap. When you got bullied, I'd show the dweebs what it was like to be on the receiving end, things like that. So, yea, I guess, as lame as it sounds, I do kinda like you. I felt real bad about yelling at you last time I was in ponyville, so I decided to make up for it." The gryphon was still absolutely clueless about what Fluttershy really meant, but Fluttershy was clueless about Gilda being clueless. "It's a totally lame excuse, but I kinda didn't recognize you at the time." Fluttershy just blushed more and more as Gilda went on, and after a few moments of utter silence, the avian muttered something about having to do something important. Before she could fly back up, though, the pegasus broke the awkward lull. "MaybeyouwanttodosomethingsoonIguessImeanifthatsokaywithyou!" Gilda froze, and forced a smile on her beak. She knew that Fluttershy's interests were as boring as buck, and that she shared absolutely none of them with the ranger. But she needed to learn how to stand things like that, didn't she? Rarity did say that Gilda should pretend to be interested in what others had to say, even if she wasn't. The gryphon wasn't sure she had the patience for that kind of ordeal, but attempting with someone she actually had something to lose with would be good practice at the very least. "Uh...Sure. I guess we could have lunch, or something." She rubbed the back of her head with a claw, then added, "I guess there's no restaurants that serve meat around here, but I can eat fruits." "Why is she blushing so much? Is that how she acted in the Academy? I seriously don't remember." "U-Um...That...That sounds...Nice." Another awkward silence followed, and Gilda was beginning to wonder if this pony had a screw loose. Eventually, though, Fluttershy spoke. "A-At....Noon?"\ "It's lunch. Of course noon." Gilda had a flat look on her face, but she instantly regretted it when Fluttershy cringed. "...Don't be such a dweeb. I'm not going to bite." The avian hesitated as she realized going out for lunch would probably get her seen by Dash or that dork she was going out with. Or was she married? Gilda found herself wishing she'd paid more attention to that when she spoke. "Actually, let's eat at your pad. I don't really want to go to town." "OkayIwillseeyouthenbye!" And Fluttershy dashed off, leaving behind a very confused gryphon. "...She's cute, but she has problems." Gilda went back to her nest to finish that entry. --- Anyway, I was saying that I should probably ask Rarity about writing tips. Does she write? She seems like she would. Fluttershy just dropped by. She was acting really weird, asked if I wanted to hang out. Not really, but I guess I should. I owe her that much after all this time. I told her a little too much, maybe. I said yes, we could get lunch, and...Wait a second. Wait a damn second. Oh crap. She was blushing. I gave her flowers. We're going to eat together. This is a bucking date. Pinkie, I'm going to kill you!