1 day remain until they are all rabbits
Gilda's eyes opened and then quickly shut again, what with that light from the window shining in her face. She was back in bed, and apparently Fluttershy must have put her there after the mess last night.
That meant the pegasus was going to be asking more than a few things when she found out Gilda was up. The griffon let out a groan, today was going to suck hard.
This was one of those days where it isn't worth getting out of bed, so she wasn't going to. At some point Fluttershy was going to come up for her, sure, and that was going to be a can of worms when it came. But for now she wanted to forget it, lay down, and just sleep.
Good news, Ruzka was there, and in her current mood she gave him a hug for the first time in ages. Nuzzling him like she used to when she was---where was she again? He was back at home far away, where she left him, several years ago...
While that was a nice thought of her bear being there, Ruzka didn't breathe either. Gilda’s eyes shot open, finally taking in the fact she was hugging a still asleep Fluttershy. At least she hoped she was still sleeping, or she could hope this was a dream as well.
But that wasn’t so, this was reality. Gilda did her best not to freak out.
"Mmm," Shy wasn't helping matters. Doubly on the fact that her hooves were now caressing the claws that were around her.
The griffon gulped and while she did try to pull herself away, nice as she could, to avoid waking Fluttershy up. It didn't take.
"Mm?" Now Gilda was doomed as Fluttershy was roused. "Gilda? Are you awake?" The griffon clenched her teeth in mute terror to her question. “Um, Gilda?”
Maybe it helped, or maybe it didn’t, but even the mare sounded a bit tense right now. Maybe as much as the griffon was.
"Uh, yeah," Gilda soon answered and let the pegasus go promptly, quickly scooting herself as far from the pony as she could. Or off the bed, that worked well enough aside from the drop.
"Argh!" She yelled before the thud. “Stupid fregging…” she grumbled after.
Letting out a groan, Gilda just lay there as the flutter pony was now up. She looked off the bed at the fallen griffon.
"Are you ok?" Fluttershy asked, looking sympathetic to the griffon’s plight.
"No worries," Gilda muttered back grimly. "The impact has done wonders for
the tension I'm feeling." the pony shook her head at that answer. "What just happened to me anyway?"
"I heard you screaming last night," Fluttershy answered. "I wasn't sure a first,
but then I heard you running through my house..." She reached out with a
hoof, offering to help the griffon up. "But it’s ok, you’re awake and it’s safe here." While the soft scene would beg that Gilda to give the pony her claw, that didn’t happen.
"How much trouble am I in?" she asked as she got herself up and dusted herself
off.
"Don't worry about it." Shy's smile didn't seem too worrying to the griffon at least. "At
least you didn't use several tea bags this time." She rubbed her neck, even having a giggle.
"You did make a mess in my desk again, but that's ok."
Good news: was at least this wasn't more dreaming, Gilda let out a sigh of relief to that.
"But, why did you go down there, Gilda?" Fluttershy asked, and there went that relief with one question. The griffon needed a good lie, now.
"Uh, panic?" Gilda answered, hoping the pony would buy it. "I freaked out hard, and it was a dark house, ya know?" At least part of it wasn’t made up. “Guess even I didn’t know where I was going, huh?”
"And the pill bottle?" Shy seemed coy, and hopefully didn’t smell fear.
"Lucky guess?" Shy seemed to get a light laugh from that, likely from the Gilda’s delivery. "Uh, why was I in bed with you again?" she moved the topic away from her incident, wishing the pegasus would as well.
"Do you remember when..." Shy answered, and Gilda recalled the conversation last night, cutting her off by groan. It made it more than clear her displeasure on the Shy’s plain to help. “I...hoped you would have felt more safe if someone was there.” Fluttershy added.
"Yeah..." Gilda moaned as that odd sounding promise the night before came to mind. "Ah man..."
"I’m sorry, I didn't mean to make things more awkward between us," Shy said in defense.
"Too late," Gilda replied, not yet removing her claw from her face.
"I’m really sorry," Fluttershy said as she got out of bed. "I'll go get breakfast ready, and give you some space too, ok?" Judging by the pleading look, she might have wanted this awkward moment to be quickly behind them as well.
Gilda simply nodded and Shy left the room. For a moment, the griffon rubbed her head letting out another groan. At least Fluttershy's face wasn't as red this time. But Gilda was unsure about her own though, lacking a mirror.
It seemed Ponyville was actively trying to top that silly cuddle hug she gave her brother once. To which Gilda had two words for that situation.
"Shoot me," she grimly muttered in annoyance to no one.
She sighed and finally left for her room, if only to get into a less awkward place.
Returning to the room, she noted any evidence of her brief fight with “The Snark” wasn’t there. After noting which she decided to collapse onto her own bed. She felt safe in the knowledge he wasn't there, letting out a sigh as she lay for a moment.
Despite it, despite that bad memory of the night before she felt better now. Kind of, hugging a mare pony in bed aide. Maybe it was due to the Snark being so distant at the moment, or perhaps she was just feeling safer about this stuff perhaps?
Gilda grumbled to herself as she tossed and turned a bit.
“Where the heck's my mind at?” she muttered to herself. “This ain’t me…”
Maybe the pills were doing something to her mind, making her more agreeable to this pony loopyness.
It still didn’t undo the past, but for some short moments that past felt much further away than it ever had ever been. Either it was numbing the pain or, more creepily, changing her. Still, somehow Gilda the Good Griffon (GGG) made her gag.
Not happening if I got anything to say about it dweebs. She added to her thoughts.
Eventually she got over it, at least over feeling she was going mental and forgetting who she was. Breakfast was likely ready now and the last thing she needed was Fluttershy deciding the griffon wanted breakfast in bed, that idea made her cringe. She headed downstairs and found the house quiet. No breakfast, no hoofsteps, just all deathly quiet.
“Ok,” Gilda said, looking around in an unsure voice. “Either I’m in trouble or she is.” It was then some white rabbit tugged her tail. After a flinch, she looked to see Angel with a concerned look on his face, and not exactly himself for one. “What do I look like, a bell? Do I ring or something to you?”
He hopped over to a window and pointed outside, and the griffon walked over and took a look. Outside was the chicken coop with Fluttershy just standing there outside with a pair of chickens next to her. While Angel seemed to think it was important by how he looked, she didn’t.
“So?” Gilda said to the rabbit with a sigh. “What do you want me to do?”
His answer had the griffon finding herself being thrown out Fluttershy’s new door with a muddled expression on her face. All she could do was simply dust the snow off her feathers.
“How the…oh forget it,” Gilda stated as she shook her head. Regardless, she walked over to where Fluttershy stood--- and then knew why she was just standing there.
The coop was a mess, a nasty one too. Parts of it were broken apart and a few icy patches of red did not bode well at all.
The chickens the pony was with were clearly spooked, running little circles around the pegasus and clucking. They froze for a moment as the griffon drew near, but then seemed to calm down a bit when they saw who it was.
“Hey…” Gilda started in a low voice. Fluttershy looked back at her with tears in her eyes. “What happened here, Fluttershy?” The pegasus only seemed to tremble as she pointed to the coop. “Yeah, I can see that,” she said with a bit of a annoyed tone, but even so looked with worry at the mess.
“Henretta and Tweety were scratching on the front door,” Shy said, still teary eyed. “They said a monster came last night...they hid in my shed and...” She stopped then, trying to stabilize herself. Her surviving chickens barely clucked as well. “It’s horrible.”
“Yeah…” Gilda agreed quietly. “This does suck.” She would have faceclawed at her poor choice of words. “Um…” She couldn't believe she was going to ask, but she did. ”Are you ok?” she said to the shaken pegasus.
Somehow, Fluttershy seemed less taken aback from the question the griffon asking it was.
“They suffered the worst of it,” Shy answered sadly. “They hid all night, fearing what would happen to them.” She hugged the hens, comforting them with a soft voice. “But don’t worry, we’re here now. It’s going to be ok.”
While Gilda might have wondered where the “we’re” had come from, but that question was bogged down by the amount of awkwardness she felt by that statement. So instead she just looked at the ruined coop, somehow the gore felt less cringe worthy at the moment.
“Ok,” Gilda said with some uncertainty. “Can I have a look inside?” Shy quietly nodded, and looking inside the coop it didn’t get much better.
More blood for one, and what she figured was the rest of the chickens--give or take. Whatever came through there had torn them apart, some parts were missing, some intact but clearly left to bleed to death. But what did stand out was whatever it was didn’t intend to eat what it killed.
What a waste of good poultry! Gilda thought, well, before she flicked her head with her own talon. Now wasn’t the time for food ideas. Too much death was in the air.
“Ok, so it a slaughter house here,” Gilda simply muttered to herself. She looked back the other winged ones. “Guess you can write off other survivors.”
Despite her obvious report, the pegasus seemed uninterested in answering for the moment. She was apparently still coddling the chickens that had survived, so it was quiet for a moment.
“Er…” Gilda felt like repeating herself, but the pony shook her head.
“I know,” Fluttershy finally answered with a sad, but unfazed voice when she looked back up. “I already looked inside.”
Sure, at this point even, Gilda was getting used to some pretty nasty things. Even wondering how Fluttershy was taking it so bad when she showed up at first. But despite the fact she’d already looked at that carnage, the pony seemed to be more interested in the living then the visceral horror of the dead. Which to the griffon was a strange thing indeed.
“So... gonna do something about it?” Gilda asked, scratching the back of her head as she looked down.
“I...was thinking of giving them burial.” Fluttershy wasn’t quite smiling, but less trembling. She then gestured to the chickens near her legs. “They’ll be staying with us at my house for now, so I hope that’s ok.”
“Um, sure,” Gilda replied, and the fact the chickens seemed as glad as Fluttershy was at her acceptance only made her feel more uncomfortable. One of them even left the pony’s leg and went to one of hers, giving it a hug much to the griffons growing dismay.
“Um, er, ah…” Gilda stuttered in reaction, awkward with a chicken on her leg.
“It’s ok,” Fluttershy said softly at the worried looking griffon. “Can you escort them to the house? I need to get something from my shed before I head back.” While Gilda would have felt better to ask if she could go to Fluttershy’s shed, the chickens seemed to plead with the griffon.
Gilda sighed. “...Alright, come on.” She said, and gestured for the little birds to follow her. She walked a bit before she noticed the chickens were still where they were standing. “What?” The pair still looked at her. “What?” she shouted back.
“Is it ok if...um…” Shy dug her hoof in the snow as she asked. “Can they...ride you?” The griffon grit her teeth at that. “It’s just to the house, and they could use the body heat, so please?” she pleaded.
Gilda grumbled as she walked back to the chickens. “Alright…” she said reluctantly. “Just get on, alright?”
While she just wanted to get through this odd bit, the pair leapt on to her back with some delight. As if to say “Well if you insist. Onward G and don’t spare the horsepower!”. That statement alone gave her enough reason to feel a bit used.
At least her walk back was uneventful, but annoying with small riders on her. The griffon felt she couldn't reach the house fast enough, but there it was. When she got to the door she pushed it open and let her riders off.
“There, you’re here,” Gilda said with no joy. But the chickens looked at her for a moment. “What now?” she groaned. “What’s it now?”
That was when both of them leapt up and hugged her neck with their wings. Not strangling though. It was soft, nice even. When the pair let go and landed back on the ground they looked at her with relief, one even waving as it went inside. The weirded out griffon could only look on as she shut the door.
With that task done, Gilda walked back to the ruined chicken coop. Her mind was still trying to make sense of of what just happened. Awkward though it was, even as she saw this beneath her--and recalling more than a few chicken dinners she enjoyed back at home--it all felt good to her.
It was then some of that craziness made sense at last, from all that prattling she had felt dragged by. It really had gotten to her. Not the Snark, he had gotten to her enough already as is. It was what Pie and Shy had been going on about. Annoying, whiny, and childish as it all sounded she could see a point for a moment.
Or maybe it was just the dreams. She liked that story and she was sticking to it!
“What do you think did this?” Shy asked the griffon as she arrived at the ruins. A cardboard box on the pony’s back.
“No clue,” Gilda replied, glad to be brought out of her current mental monologue. “Whatever it was, it wasn’t hungry. It just came and wrecked the place.”
“It also didn’t leave any footprints,” Fluttershy added, putting a box down in the snow. “Maybe it flew?” The question had a knee jerk reaction.
“You ain’t thinking I…” Gilda was about to ask.
“No,” Shy interrupted, shaking her head and looking serious. “I never thought you did this.”
“T-that’s a r-relief.” Gilda stated as she looked down with a sigh of such. She just had to hope the pony never knew of her nightly escapades, but still--“You’re gonna bury them in that box?”
“It’s to collect them,” Fluttershy said somberly. “Burying them will have to wait for now, but we can still get their bodies to a safe place till then.”
“So you want me to…” the pony nodded back as Gilda began to ask, and she didn’t sigh for once. “Alright, so how are we doing this?”
The griffon made the effort to gather the bits and pieces, handing them to the pony who then quietly and gently put them into the box. Despite what the griffon would have expected, the pegasus wasn’t squeamish to her task. At least not as much as she’d have thought.
“Ya know, I thought this stuff…how much does this get to you anyway?” Gilda asked with a bit of confusion to this as she handed the last body over. “You were all crying and stuff, now it’s like it doesn’t faze you. What’s up with that?”
“I never saw so many...die at one time,” Shy replied as she laid the last one to rest. “That part was a shock to me.” She paused for a bit. “I’ve raised carnivores, ya know?” Fluttershy added a bit of humor with a stupid smile. “I know and understand meat eating creatures.”
“Raised carnivores, right…” Gilda uttered with a sigh and a bit of a laugh.
Though, with the bodies boxed it was Fluttershy that needed a moment to herself. She put her hooves on the box as she looked down on it.
“Um, Gilda?” she said, not looking back up. “Can you please get Angel for me?”
“Uh, sure,” Gilda answered back, feeling a bit concerned. “Any reason why?”
“I need to talk to him,” Fluttershy uttered, as she looked up with a sad look.
“Uh, what about me?” Gilda asked feeling worried. Maybe being a third wheel, maybe something else.
“You can head inside for now,” Fluttershy said as she looked to the griffon with a sad smile. “It’s ok. I just need him to tell the others the bad news, and you need your rest too.”
“Kay.” Gilda nodded back and headed back to the house. Everything felt quiet, not even the wind seemed to make a sound as the griffon returned.
Stepping inside, she could see Angel, Heneretta, and Tweety quietly mingling. The bunny seemed to know why she was looking at him, putting on a vest and hat. She moved to the side, holding the door open as he hopped outside without a word--so to speak.
Thing were officially heavy right now, so the griffon decided to sit back and watch how it worked out.
Eventually, the chickens dozed off in the living room near the fire. Likely as the two had been awake all the night before. In time Fluttershy and Angel were back, the pony petting the rabbit on the head before he hopped away.
This kind of grief had been alien to Gilda, ever since she had only been grieving for herself before gathering even she wasn’t worth it. Then it was just her griping about why anything else was. As she let herself get lost in thought in her sad recent past, she found the pegasus had put a wing on her side as she was now sitting next to her.
“I’m sorry, breakfast is going to be late,” Fluttershy said calmly, as though the events of a moment ago were that much farther away than half an hour.
“I...kinda forgot,” Gilda replied back awkwardly. Apparently even Shy knew how funny it was for a griffon to forget to eat. “Can you get it started at least?” she added with a sheepish grin at the pony’s humor.
“Sure,” Shy said with a soft smile. She got up and trotted to the kitchen as Gilda had to wonder.
How did something with a yellow pony and a bunch of small animals get so emotional? Also, why the heck did she want to be part of it too?