//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Harmony House // by Cookie_Girl //------------------------------// Together they walked back to the front lawn. Fluttershy went off on her own before there were too many people. Gilda occasionally glanced sideways at Rainbow Dash as she grew curious about something. "So, I don't know if it's rude to ask or whatever, but why are you blue?" she asked and pointed at Rainbow Dash's arm. "Oh, it's a full body tattoo." the speedster replied without skipping a beat. "What!?" Gilda exclaimed in alarm. Then she pictured it happening and her face turned red again. Rainbow Dash couldn't resist anymore and laughed out loud. "You should see the look on your face!" she said with some difficulty as her laughing interrupted her ability to speak. After she calmed down she continued. "It's not really a tattoo. It's part of my mutation, helps me absorb extra solar energy to fuel my power." Gilda facepalmed. After a moment she removed her hand from her face and leveled a deadpan glare at Rainbow Dash. She then bust out laughing herself. "Alright that was a good one. Up high!" she told her and held up a hand. "I knew you had a sense of humor." Rainbow Dash said as she high fived Gilda. "Of course now I'll have to get revenge!" Gilda swore the oath with a raised fist. "Very amusing girls, but we're going to be late at this rate." Rarity reminded them. Then to Gilda she said "And she gets everyone with that joke darling, welcome to the club." "Well thanks. It's always nice to know I belong with my fellow weirdos." Gilda said sarcastically. They began walking again, but Gilda found herself curious about something else. She looked over to where Spitfire was talking to a slightly older woman with pale multicolored hair. "So only three Wonderbolts?" she asked them. "Seems kinda small for a super team." "Don't really need anymore than that." Applejack told her. "Ain't never a whole lot of trouble in town and they don't get involved in police buisness. Besides they already got everything covered. Spitfire's got the massive energy blast, Sorin can fly and stop bullets, and Surprise...have you met Surprise yet?" "She tried to electrocute me." "Then you know what she's like." Applejack nodded. "Imagine her actually fighting instead of just goofing off." Gilda shuttered as the thought of an angry Surprise invaded her mind. "There are a couple more, but they aren't here all of the time." Twilight explained. "The reserve members include Fleet Foot with enhanced speed and reflexes, and Rapid Shot who can fire a very large number of low level energy bolts from his fingers in very little time." "Don't forget about your brother and Cadence." Rarity reminded her. "Well yes, but Cadence is more of a teacher, and Shiny is really just a P.E. coach. They don't do any hero work anymore." Twilight explained again as she waved off her friend's comment. "But they were the first Wonderbolts!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Yes, but they retired in favor of training and helping others with their abilities." she countered back. Gilda interrupted the speedster's reply with an important question. "Your brother is named Shiny?" "Ahem, yes, uh...would you mind not letting him know that you know about his nickname?" Twilight smiled sheepishly. "Sure whatever." Gilda shrugged and stuffed her hands back into the pockets of her jacket. "So what's he actually called?" "Shining Armor." Twilight told her. "Force field powers." "How bout you? What's your power?" Applejack asked Gilda. "...I don't want to talk about it." she told them, and hunched her shoulders to make her jacket fit better. "Now hold on a darn minute! We introduced ourselves and told ya bout our mutations. Why caint ya do the same?" the country girl asked. "Applejack, if she doesn't want to talk about it she doesn't have to." Twilight told her friend. "And she probably has a good reason anyway." "Does my dad kicking me out of the house and calling me a freak qualify as a good reason?" Gilda asked bluntly. "Oh my goodness..." Rarity stepped forward and briefly hugged Gilda. "...and that was for...?" Gilda asked while taking a step back from her. Rarity composed herself before speaking. "I apologize for that." Her eyes showed the kind of old sadness that could give no more tears. "I know what it's like. When I discovered what I am my mother was none too pleased. She became rather passive aggressive and refused to look at me or even speak directly to me. My father ignored it at first, but when he found out how I was dealing with my depression over the matter he had had enough. My parents haven't lived together for over four years, and my little sister doesn't have a permanent home because I am a mutant." Gilda just stared at the elegant girl who was so different from her and yet had been through something so similar to her own situation. "Take your time darling. Rest assured you can stay here as long as you need to." Rarity promised her. Rainbow Dash gave Applejack a super fast punch to the arm, and jerked her head at Gilda. Applejack sheepishly stepped up to Gilda. "Sorry for bein rude. I have a habit of gettin a little overprotective." "Yeah whatever, it's cool." Gilda accepted the apology and turned to keep walking. Then she stopped and stared at the new size of the crowd. "That is a lot of people." she stated simply. The other girls all looked at the crowd, and blinked. They had expected a few reporters and of course the family members of the new students...but this was verging on ridiculous. There were easily over a hundred people on the lawn, and more outside the gate. Oddly enough there appeared to be no police officers despite the crowd being an obvious hazard to people's safety. "... Well I guess it's not everyday that someone who once went toe to toe with Doctor Doom, and won, opens a school for superpowered teenagers." Rainbow Dash said. "Didn't Headmistress Celestia once put a dent in Iron Man's helmet when she slapped him?" Applejack asked. "She focused solar energy into her hand and turned it into an impact grenade." Twilight explained. "That was back before he had proper energy shielding though." "In other words the school being opened publicly like this is a big deal." Rarity summed it up for them. "I can't be here." Gilda said as she turned around and started walking away. "What!?" Rainbow Dash caught her by the shoulder. "Why not?" "I don't have control of myself, and it's worse when there's a lot of people around." Gilda told her. She then looked back at the crowd and paled at the thought of what could happen. "And that is a lot of people." "Oh, sorry." Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head as she apologized. "It's cool, I just need some space until all of this is over with." Gilda explained and jerked her thumb at the crowd. Then she pointed at the building that they would all be staying at. "I'll take a walk around the palace." In the kitchen Surprise was making a large cake. She had teleported out of her Wonderbolts warm-up suite and into a chef's outfit. Her face and blonde hair were covered in sploches of white flour, pink and blue frosting, and sprinkles. Her clothes however were spotless. "Giant twenty layer cake? Check! Totally yummy frosting? Check! Get cleaned up so I don't embarrass anyone by showing up covered in flour frosting and sprinkles?" Surprise ran through her check list of things to do for the surprise party. On the last one she quickly teleported out of the kitchen and reappeared a moment later with her face and hair completely clean. "Check!" Now she just needed to move the two cakes into the reception area. "Huh!?" she stopped what she was doing and looked at the two cakes. "Wasn't there only one of those a minute ago?" Indeed where there had been one cake only moments ago there were now two. Both looked exactly the same. They were the same size. After a quick taste she confirmed that they were the same flavor of frosting and cake. "I know I only made one cake." Surprise said to herself. "So where did the second one come from?" The left cake then opened the three sets of eyes and its three mouths and growled at her. Surprise yelped and grabbed the first weapon she could. With frying pan in hand she leaped into battle and screamed her war cry. "Die demon cake!" Gilda was casually strolling along the estate grounds, slowly making her way around to the back yard. She was taking her time as she had a few things to think about. She needed a new home by the end of the summer because of her father's fear of mutants. The people here were mutants so wouldn't treat her badly for being one, though she would need to work on her self control. They were friendly enough, and even Applejack was nice when she wasn't being protective of her friends. She also has to deal with a similar problem as me, Gilda thought to herself. I wonder if she got the instincts too, like I did. As she kept walking she soon found herself passing a wide set of windows. A look inside revealed the room beyond to be the kitchen. The second look after her double take showed Surprise and a girl with pink hair and pink skin sitting on the floor. Surprise's chef outfit and the pink girl's white top with a pink heart on it, and pink skirt with three blue and yellow balloons on it, and blue shoes, and candy cane colored socks were all covered in frosting and sprinkles, along with everything else in the kitchen as the cake she had made was now destroyed. She could hear Surprise laughing. "Hahaha, You, hahaha, you were a, hahaha, You were a cake!" shouted the woman as she pointed at the pink girl who had begun laughing in an exact imitation of her. Gilda calmly sweatdropped and walked away. "The first one was bad enough, but a little sister is insane." After making her way to the back yard (which was massive) she saw a few older teenagers and a couple of adults all enjoying the sun and doing chores. A handsome blue haired boy and a beautiful pink haired girl were holding hands as they walked. An older man in what Gilda was sure was a tuxedo adjusted his monocle as he checked on the snack tables. Not far from where Gilda stood a large man, a giant really was setting up a table of drinks, mostly fizzy apple cider. "Hey can I get one of those?" she asked him. "Eyup." he told her and grabbed one to pass to her. When he turned around with the bottle in his hand it was nearly covered except for the neck. He pressed his thumb against the top and effortlessly popped it off, even though it was a twist top. "Wow! Thanks guy, uh sir." Gilda corrected herself before taking the drink. "Ain't a sir." he said in his baritone voice. "Only eighteen." "Oh! Seriously?" she asked and looked up at him. She was taller than most girls her age at six feet two inches, though Applejack had stood almost as tall, but he was definitely a whole foot taller if not more. He nodded his answer. "I guess you look older because of how tall you are. I just turned seventeen a few months ago. You don't look much older than me now that I'm getting a good look at you." As she finished talking Gilda raised her bottle to her lips and took a long drink from it. His cheeks turned slightly red and he kept glancing away from her. "Um, o-okay." Gilda sputtered and nearly spilled her cider as she realized how she must have looked. "I swear I'm not flirting with you I'm just awkward!" she said loudly and waved her empty hand in between them. "Who's your friend Macintosh?" asked the man in the tuxedo. "Oh uh um..." The fancy man raised an eyebrow at the giant and disapprovingly twitched his upper lip causing his mustache to tilt to one side. "A gentleman should always make proper introductions when he first meets a lady my good boy." "Yeah I'm a lady." Gilda said smugly. She then fanned her face as if she was hot and added a fake English accent. "Do introduce yourself why don't you." Macintosh stood there awkwardly. The dressed up man sighed and rolled his eyes. "Very well, I shall demonstrate, again." Macintosh dropped his head in embarrassment which caused Gilda to chuckle. "Ahem." "Sorry." Gilda apologized to the man. "So how does this work?" "First I introduce myself." the man told her. He quickly adjusted his monocle and ran a hand over his hair in case any had come out of place. "I am Fancypants." Gilda couldn't help herself, she doubled over and clutched her stomach. She had only just managed to pass her bottle of fizzy cider to Macintosh before she could drop it. She nearly fell over more than once as she lost her balance. When Gilda was done laughing she stood up straight and looked Fancypants in the eye. For his part the monocled and tuxedoed man had kept a straight face through all of this as it was hardly the first time it had happened. "Well introduce yourself." he told her. "My name is Gilda Griffin. ...sorry for laughing at your name." she grinned sheepishly. "It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance young lady. And I'm far past caring what the younger folk think of my name, no harm done." he said with a reassuring smile. Then he clapped his hands at Macintosh. "Well come now lad, your turn." "Uhm, my name is Macintosh Appleseed, and it is a pleasure for you to meet me." Fancypants sighed and shook his head. Gilda chuckled again. "I think you got that backwards dude, but I get the general idea." She reached for his hand to get her cider back. "And I'm guessing that you're Applejack's brother." Macintosh chuckled sheepishly and scratched his head. "Eyup. Oh, here ya go." He gave her back the bottle. "Thanks. So... Is this where I ask what mutations you two got stuck with?" Gilda shrugged. "Ah, no actually." Fancypants answered her. "You see my dear, Macintosh and I are not mutants." He definitely had Gilda's attention with that admission if her eyes going wide was any indication. "You see Macintosh here took the job of grounds keeper when it was offered to him after his family came into some financial troubles. Celestia and Luna agreed to loan them the money to keep their apple farm in exchange for him simply working it off. I on the other hand have been with the two sisters since they were young children. They were not even in their teens yet when their abilities first manifested, and I was hired on to care for them as their parents thought it best to hide them from the public." "Oh well...just don't take it personally if I get nervous around you. I only mutated a few months ago." Gilda told them, placing heavy emphasis on the word 'mutated'. She chugged her fizzy cider and threw the bottle away. She was about to say goodbye to them, but caught sight of Fancypants looking at her. "Young lady, I don't know what has happened to you, but I can assure you that whatever it was shall not happen again within this school. We will not let it happen. Anyone who has hurt you for being a mutant shall not be allowed on the property without your approval." "Nope." "... Nobody tried to hurt me." Gilda corrected them. She stuffed her hands back into her jacket pockets and glanced away from them. "I turned into a monster and nearly killed my dad. So he dumped me here." Fancypants' eyes softened and his mustache drooped a little. "Ah, I see." He then smiled kindly at her. "Well then it will be our duty to aid you in reconciling with your father." "Eyup." "...I tell you I turned into a monster and nearly killed my dad, as in with claws and stuff, and you want to help me go back home with him?" Gilda gave them both questioning looks. "Eyup." "Quite right." "... Are you high?" she asked them. "Nope." "I should think not." "... I literally tried to kill the only family I've had since I watched my mom die!" she yelled at them. "There is no reconciling from that!" Through most of this back and forth conversation Fancypants and Macintosh had kept their faces completely straight. Now their faces were masked with expressions of shock. Macintosh looked at the drinks and pretended to count them. Fancypants took off his monocle and put it in his pocket, then took out a white handkerchief in case of tears. "How long ago?" the older man asked. Gilda clenched her eyes shut when she realized that she had just shouted her biggest secret for everyone to hear. Everyone always assumed that she must have been messed up in the head because she had been so young, and she hated the looks people always gave her. It was like they expected her to be some pitiful sad little emo chick that needed to be on medication. "I wuz thirteen." Macintosh spoke up as he counted the bottles of cider. "AJ wuz eleven, and our baby sister wuz only four. Our pa was a mutant, could make plants grow real quick. A bran new apple tree sapling would be a ten footer in just a few months and would give the biggest juiciest apples you ever ate. Turned out it wuz his own life force that he put into the trees to make em grow. Plants didn't need much so it never hurt him none, but then I got sick. He tried making me better, but it wasn't enough. So ma told him to use both of their lives to heal me. I don't remember what they did to make it work but it did, and they died. I blamed myself for the longest, but my sister didn't and neither did our Granny." Macintosh turned to smile at the pretty girl. "My point is that neither you or me were in control of what happened and we shouldn't try to blame ourselves for it. You're pa might be scared but I'm sure he still loves you. Just give him some time." Gilda looked at him for a moment. Then she gave him a halfhearted 'whatever' and walked away from them. As she walked she could see the older boy and girl that had been holding hands watching her, she steered herself away from them. She could see an black woman with a black and white mohawk subtlety keeping an eye on her, she steered herself away from her as well. The only other person in the massive back yard was a woman who was tending to some gardening chores next to the entrance of a hedge maze. The gardener wasn't paying any attention to her or anything else so Gilda didn't mind being in the same area as her. Gilda stopped walking a few yards from the entrance to the maze. She took her hands out of her pockets and hugged herself. "Mom... "Gilda why did you hit that boy?" asked a brown haired woman in a leather aviator's jacket. "He called me pretty." said a six year old Gilda in blue jeans and a red monster truck shirt with her pale hair still cut longer than she liked. Gilda's mother chuckled and knelt down to talk to her better. "And what's so bad about that? You're a very pretty little girl." Gilda crossed her arms and pouted. "I don't want to be pretty, I want to be cool." The woman laughed some more and took off her jacket to put it on her daughter's little shoulders. "Listen to me Gilda. You just be you. I don't care what anyone else says you should be, or what they say you are. You just be you, and be proud. Okay?" "Okay." Gilda smiled up at her mother. "Good." she kissed her daughter's forehead. "Now let's go apologize for making that boy's nose bleed." "Ok, but if he calls me pretty again I'm gonna hit him again." Gilda promised. "In the ear." After a quick apology from Gilda, and a round of snacks paid for by her mother she was soon sitting on her father's shoulders to watch the airplane show. Her mother was one of the jet pilots and would be flying threw the air like a bird, like a superhero, like an angel. Yeah! Like an angel Gilda thought to herself. After a few sky writing stunts, some people jumping out of the airplanes, and a fake fight where the pilots shot at each other with machine guns that shot paintballs it was her mom's turn. A single jet was rolled out onto the tarmac. It was blue with a big gold eagle's talon painted on each side of the cockpit, and a set giant golden wings to match painted on the jet's wings. The Harpy. That was her mother's nickname in the Marines. She was the best pilot they had, and she never once got hit. The jet she flew for them had survived six other pilots, but they had all been killed by freak accidents. She was the only one that could fly it, and everyone else was too scared of its curse, so they retired it and sold it to her really cheap. Today, for some reason, a bit of extra paint had been added. Bright red streaks now made the talons look like they were dripping blood. The jet took off like an arrow from a bow. In a near vertical climb she looked like she was aiming for space. She rolled to the left in a spiral making it look like she had lost control, but then she pulled up into a half loop that left her flying upside down. The crowd was hypnotized by the beautiful acrobatics of The Harpy, both pilot and jet. Smoke. Inside the cockpit of the jet a sparking could be seen in the electronic systems. "Oh shit!" the woman said. Back on the ground her husband could see the smoke, and he knew that his wife didn't use any kind of effect. "Dambit! Gilda stay here!" he told his daughter as he set her down beside the boy that she had hit. "Ya wan a nacho?" the boy asked her. She ignored him, and his little sister peeked out from under her oversized Stetson hat so she could steal one. Gilda remained oblivious to everything else and continued to cheer for her mother. Her father had tried to tell the emergency response team that something was wrong, but they didn't know who he was or that he knew anything about what he was talking about. They just thought he was an overexcited fan. When he looked again The Harpy was coming down in a nosedive and rotating lazily. "Gilda cover your eyes!" he somehow managed to yell above the noise of the crowd. He ran to her where she was jumping up and down. "Gilda cover your eyes!" "No! I want to see mommy's trick!" she shouted. "Yay mommy!" Gilda stood in front of the entrance to the hedge maze in the back yard of the Harmony House. She stood there and hugged herself in her mother's jacket, and she did not cry. After a minute or two she grabbed the zipper with her left hand and the bottom of the jacket with her right, and she pulled it down. She reached up and grabbed the lapel of the jacket, and pulled it back over her shoulders. She lowered her hands and let the jacket slide down, her hands slipped through the sleeves and stopped at the shoulders to keep it from falling to the ground. And then Gilda spread her beautiful wings to their full twenty-five foot span. The feathers were a deep strong brown edged withe light grey at the very tips, making it look like they glowed in the sunlight. "Fuck you Dad." she said. "I'm proud to be me."