Rainbow Unicorn: Griffon Grief

by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof


Branching Out

After heading back to the road and searching, Twilight Comet was able to find Gilda again, who it turned out was hiding in the same tree as before. A small part of Twilight found it kind of funny that the big tough griffon had run off and hidden in a tree. But over all, she felt kind of bad for Gilda.

"It's okay," Twilight said. "You can come down. Everything's fine."

"Fine?" Gilda said, eyes wide. "Fine?!" She leaned down. "There was a manticore in that house. A MAN-TI-CORE! How in the name of Tartarus can everything be fine?!"

"He's just a friend that Flowershy made in The Everfree Forest that came to visit."

A squawk of surprise escaped Gilda as she dropped from the tree. Eyes wide, she leaned toward Twilight, beak nearly touching snout.

"Friend? Friend?! Are you seriously telling me that that scared little pony is actually friends with that thing?"

"...yes..." Twilight answered slowly. "Once she took the thorn from his paw, he was actually pretty friendly. How about we go back, you and--"

"NO!" Gilda cut in. "Absolutely not. No way. No how. I would sooner go through Tartarus than go back to where a manticore is. Don't care how 'friendly' some crazy pony thinks it may be."

"Okay, we won't go back. At least not until... Manny... decides to go back to the forest. Let's just go to the hospital and get you patched up."

Gilda shifted and her eyes narrowed (one did at least, the other having swollen from the bruising).

"I don't need a hospital," she growled out.

"One of your eyes is nearly swollen shut, and your beak has hairline fractures and is covered in dried blood!" Twilight shouted, her wings flaring out. "For all we know, you could have a concussion or some other severe head trauma seeing as you've suffered from dizziness. You need to be examined to make sure it's not serious or there is any other internal trauma."

"I'm fine," Gilda retorted. "You're just being overly paranoid. Probably because it was your marefriend that attacked me."

"She's not my marefriend. She is my oldest and closest friend though. None of which matters, because this isn't about Applejack." Twilight reached up with a hoof. "This is about you." She poked Gilda in the beak with it, catching a slight twitch that she assumed was a wince of pain. "At the very least you need to get cleaned up and bandaged."

"Fine," Gilda huffed, "but no hospital."

A growl of frustration bubbled from Twilight's throat. Why was Gilda being such a difficult pain in the plot? More importantly, why in Equestria was she putting up with it? It was not like they had been old friends or anything. Gilda had basically been a bully and Twilight one of her more fortunate victims. With what Twilight had seen so far today, Gilda had not really changed. At least not for the better. Still very stubborn, still somewhat antagonistic, and seeming to always trying to be the big bad griffon. Twilight had things she could be doing other than trying to show an ungrateful griffon around Ponyville and try to get her the proper medical help. She could just fly off and leave the stubborn bird brain to her own stupid fate.

Twilight's eyes closed as she let out a sigh. That was not true. Not at all. As annoyed as she was, Twilight could not simply abandon Gilda and leave her to suffer. And as irritating as the griffon was, she had come to see Twilight and hang out. It would be mean to just walk away from that. Besides, maybe if Twilight kept trying, she would be able to get through to Gilda and see a nicer side of the griffon.

Assuming one even existed.

The problem was, what could she do now?

"Okay," Twilight's mouth said as her mind still tried to come up with a plan. "How about the library?"

"Library?" Gilda repeated, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yes, the library," Twilight confirmed. "They should have some first aid books and maybe even a medical kit we can use."

"Library," Gilda repeated again. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised that you would want to go to a library and use books of all things to deal with a problem." She let out a snort of laughter. "Still, better than going to the hospital. Lead on, dweeb."

The nickname got a snort of annoyance from Twilight Comet, but she did not say anything. Instead she resumed making her way along the road to Ponyville. As they got closer to town and the morning grew later, more ponies were around. Some of them smiled and waved at Twilight as she passed, recognizing her from around town or work. Others stopped and stared, eyes wide as they watched Gilda walking by.

Three particular mares got the griffon's interest. Her eyes narrowed as she puffed up her chest and flared out her wings.

One of the mare's gasped before the three of them all fainted.

"Gilda," Twilight snapped, ears pulled back, "stop scaring them like that."

"What, me?" Gilda asked as innocently as possible. "I didn't do anything. Not my fault that they're such wimps they faint at the sight of a single griffon. Even if it is as one as awesome as me."

In truth, it was not really as impressive as Gilda was making it out to be. The three mares that had fainted had developed a reputation of doing such at the slightest provocation. "Them girls'll faint at the drop of a hat," Applejack had once said. Twilight was not sure if it had been literal or hyperbole, but she had noticed that at least one of them would faint when Big Macintosh walked past. Admittedly, Big Macintosh was a big stallion, but she had never noticed anything very intimidating about him, and certainly nothing so frightening to faint over.

At least they were not able to cry out "the horror, the horror."

While the adults seemed somewhat frightened by Gilda, the foals were absolutely fascinated. Time and again, they would stare at her as well, but with the wide eyes of wonder when seeing something new.

"Geeze," Gilda sighed out after having to move past her third or fourth group of awe-struck little ponies. "You would think they had never seen a griffon or something."

"They haven't," Twilight pointed out. "This is a small town and not really much of a tourist spot yet. Most of the ponies here are pretty much just used to earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns. Before Spike and Rainbow, the closest thing to another species is a zebra they're all afraid of." She let out a huff of frustration and gave a shake of her head. "As far as I know, there haven't been any griffons around." She then turned to look at Gilda, raising an eyebrow. "So you should be on your best behavior to try and make a good impression."

"Why, Twilight," Gilda said as she stuck her head in the air, "I am the very model of griffon behavior."

If she was joking, Twilight did not find it very funny, and if Gilda was serious, it was not a very comforting statement.

The two of them continued on, taking in the part of town they could see as they went, and the reactions of ponies that passed by. Before long, a large tree started to come into view.

"There it is," Twilight stated, "the Ponyville library."

"...It's a tree..." Gilda said, looking at it.

"Yes, it is. Go ahead. Make whatever tree jokes you have. Get it out of your system."

"What do you mean?"

"It practically happens every time the library is seen for the first time," Twilight explained. "'the local branch, the root of understanding, planting the seeds of knowledge,' and those are the one that I have heard repeatedly."

"Whatever," Gilda said. "Let's just get in and get what we need."

Reaching the door, there was no sign indicating whether it was open or closed. Twilight checked the door and found it unlocked, so she and Gilda went inside.

"Rainbow?" Twilight called out. "Spike?"

The sound of running along the wood floor echoed through the library. It grew louder, followed by thumps of jumping along the stairs. At the base of the case appeared the familiar little purple dragon, a large smile on his face which quickly vanished. After letting out a little cough, he leaned against the banister.

"Oh, hey Twilight," Spike said. "Thought I heard somepony down here. What... is that?" he asked, eyes wide as he pointed past Twilight.

"Spike, this is Gilda," Twilight said, motioning behind her. "Gilda, this is Spike."

"You didn't tell me the library was run by a lizard."

"I'm a dragon," Spike said, eyes narrowing.

"Aren't you small for a dragon?" Gilda asked. "And... kind of wingless?"

Spike's eyes narrowed as he pushed off the banister. Straightening himself up, he puffed out his chest and took a deep breath.

"Spike," Twilight Comet cut in before he could express what he thought, "Gilda was kind of beat up and needs a little help. If you have a book on first aid -- preferably with information on griffons in it -- and a medical kit we could use, I would appreciate it."

The puffing up vanished as Spike turned his attention back to Twilight. A small smile tugged at his lips as he scratched behind one of his ears fins.

"Well, the medical kit's in the bathroom," he said, "and Rainbow is still using it at the moment. We have a couple of medical books and field survival manuals though. I can grab a couple of them and--"

"Oh... my... tail tuft," Gilda suddenly said. She pointed a talon at Spike. "You like her."

Spike suddenly froze, eyes wide. Twilight blinked and turned to Gilda.

"Why are you surprised?" she asked. "Of course he likes me."

"What?" Spike and Gilda both cried, eyes wide and pupils shrunk down to pinpricks.

"Why are you two acting so weird? Spike and I have known each other for a while now. We're friends. Why would we be friends if we didn't like each other?"

Spike sagged a little as he let out a breath. Gilda stared a moment longer, then started to snicker. Before long, it turned into a full laugh.

"Oh, geeze," she cried out. "I don't... I don't believe it. You don't know? Seriously? He's crushing on you."

"...what?" Twilight asked, blinking. She turned toward Spike. "What makes you think he..."

The rest of the words caught in her throat as she caught sight of the look on Spike's face. The young dragon was biting his lower lip as his eyes started to tear up.

"This is hilarious," Gilda declared as she wiped at one eye. "I mean a tiny thing like you in love with a mare like her. What would she even see in you? I mean seriously, just--"

Spike shoved past the two of them and ran for the door. He threw it open as he went, leaving it open as he left the library.

Twilight and Gilda stood there, Twilight staring at the door. It was true? Spike had a crush on her? How? Why?

"What's his problem?" Gilda asked.

Anger suddenly flared up in Twilight, making everything thing turn red.

Turning, Twilight Comet punched Gilda in the cheek as hard as she could.