Direction

by Darth Link 22

Camp Out

Gilda decided that she hated camping.

Okay, the part before sleeping hadn’t been too bad. At least, the part before sleeping and after apologizing to everyone. Making s’mores and telling ghost stories was enjoyable. Even the cookout, even if she was asked to eat her fish separately. She had long gotten used to the ponies and their distaste for meat, and even in flight school had eaten in a separate room.

No, it was waking up on the ground and being reminded why she preferred a bed over a sleeping bag.

Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo had slept soundly, and Trixie was apparently used to traveling around in her caravan, but for her, it was a nightmare. If it hadn’t been for her desire to get back in Rainbow Dash’s good graces, she probably would have flown off by now.

She woke up before the sun had truly peaked over the horizon. Looking across the tent, she saw Rainbow Dash had tossed and turned out of her sleeping bag. Scootaloo had slept with more peace, and Trixie...

Trixie was gone.

For a moment, Gilda wondered if she should be worried. She had been told of the horrifying things Trixie had done under the influence of dark magic, and had met her to see exactly how crazed she was. What if she had been acting friendly, waiting to strike? However, she immediately saw the problems with that. Much more likely, she had simply woken up and stepped outside.

Gilda left the tent. She looked around, and managed to catch sight of Trixie just as she was entering an outhouse. That solved that little mystery.

Gilda scanned the area and saw Fluttershy sitting alone, watching the sun come up. For a few moments, she wondered if she should go over and talk to her.

She had just decided it was a bad idea when Fluttershy turned and saw her. There were several things that Gilda had expected her to do next. One of those things was not for her to wave her over. But that’s exactly what Fluttershy did.

Gilda was paralyzed by shock for a few moments, but she felt her body move toward the Pegasus.

Gilda took her seat, feeling very awkward, a feeling that was alien to her. She always thought of herself as the cool one, not realizing that everyone being afraid of you didn’t make you cool. Still, being too blind to know how she was affecting others was a comfortable feeling.

When Rainbow Dash had called her out that day in Ponyville, she didn’t know how to react. She had defaulted to anger, a safe emotion when faced with something she didn’t understand, and fled. She pushed those feelings down inside her by concentrating on her anger.

Over the next few months, a new feeling arose. It was a feeling that she had permanently lost something that was important to her. She hated feeling it. She pushed it down, reminding herself that Rainbow Dash had betrayed her.

The feeling didn’t go away. That made her even angrier, and angrier, until finally, the feeling was more intense than any denials she could muster.

And then she was sad and regretful. And she didn’t know what she could do.

She had considered trying to apologize to Rainbow Dash, but how? At the party, sure, she could have been taken back. Maybe a few days later, after things had calmed down a bit. But how could she honestly go to Rainbow Dash now? “Hey, Dash, It took me months, but I managed to realize I was a jerk.” Yeah, that wouldn’t have gone over so well.

Then Trixie had come along, and tried to recruit her into her plans. She had considered going to the authorities, but a new feeling had overtaken her in that instant: fear. Who knew if she had some sort of eyes on her? She was too afraid to try and tell anyone.

And then she found Trixie’s associates come through and steal the coin back. They seemed uninterested in her. Suddenly, she felt safe. And what’s more, a feeling of excitement and dread filled her.

Now she would have an excuse to go back to Equestria, and to confront Rainbow Dash.

The initial meeting hadn’t been nearly as bad as she had thought, and it had been a relief. She had never imagined that meeting Fluttershy was a million times worse.

“Gilda?”

Gilda was brought out of her thoughts. She realized that they had been sitting for quite a while in silence. The awkward feeling was intensified.

“Yeah?”

“Why didn’t you like me in flight school?”

That had not been the question that she had been expecting, not by a long shot.

“Because you didn’t like to do anything I thought was fun and Rainbow Dash always wanted to hang out with you. There really wasn’t another reason.”

“So I didn’t do anything to upset you?”

“You existed. I really didn’t need another reason. I wasn’t... I’m not a good creature.”

“Oh, good. I was afraid that I had done something to upset you.”

Gilda looked at the pony that she had spent her flight school bullying with an expression like she had just seen her sprout an extra head. “You were worried about upsetting me?”

“Oh yes. I was really hoping that the three of us could be friends. You made Rainbow Dash so happy, so I thought...”

Well, that felt like a dagger to the gut. Guilt started rising up again. She turned away from Fluttershy and watched the sunrise. It was back to being awkward. She hated this feeling. She was beginning to remember why she never let herself become vulnerable before.

“You’re way too much of a doormat,” she said.

“That’s what everypony says,” she said. “I think Iron Will has taught me to stand up for myself.”

Gilda cocked her head. “Iron Will? That motivational speaker? You took his class?”

“Yes. I wasn’t completely satisfied, but I learned to be more assertive.”

There was another awkward moment of silence. Gilda wasn’t much for small talk.

She was grateful when she saw Trixie exit the outhouse. She walked back toward the campsite in a glaze, only noticing that Gilda and Fluttershy were watching her when she got close. Seeing this, she joined them in their circle.

“Um, hi,” Trixie said. She clearly wasn’t one for small talk either.

“Hello,” Gilda said. The two hadn’t spoken much last night. Well, they had, but it had been awkward socializing. That had been the theme of last night.

Fluttershy rose to her hooves. “I need to make sure that Angel Bunny is well fed,” Fluttershy said.

Despite her attempts to be nice, this earned an eye roll from Gilda. She had met that rabbit last night, and had immediately taken a dislike to him. He had been spoiled, constantly demanding Fluttershy’s attention. She was thankful rabbits were silent, she could only imagine the whines and wails if it could speak.

As Fluttershy walked off, Trixie and Gilda looked at each other. After a moment of silence, Gilda spoke. “So, uh... nice to meet you when you aren’t all dark magic crazy.”

Trixie winced a bit, but muttered out a “Thank you.” She looked away, but said, “It’s nice to meet you under... better circumstances.”

There was an awkward silence again. Conversation was not a strong suit of either of them, at least when they weren’t dominating the room.

“What’s Griffinstone like?”

The question caught Gilda off guard for a moment. But only for a moment. There needed to be conversation, and Trixie had just provided it.

“Really dusty and boring. Pretty military. Just about everyone has to do some kind of military service at some point.”

“I heard that things fell apart there at some point. Something about an artifact going missing?”

“That was just a rumor,” Gilda said. “No clue where everyone’s getting that from. We’re not as touchy-feely as ponies, but we’re not all in ruins either. Still, I don’t think many of the griffons care much about politics. There’s hardly any elections.”

“No elections? So you’re a dictatorship?”

“Well, I guess you could call it that,” Gildsa said. “But the thing is that no leader that tried to act as one lasted very long. There’s only one way a dictator can be removed, and every griffon not only knows it, they know that the population won’t hesitate to do it to any griffon that they don’t like.”

“Sounds dangerous,” Trixie said.

“Not really. There are calls for resignation long before it gets to that point. Despite what you ponies think, you aren’t the only civilized race around.”

“Hey, I knew that.”

“You knew that because you came from Canterlot. The first time I was here none of these yokels... uh, I mean, townsponies... even knew what a griffon was. They were still nice...”

Her words drifted off into mumbles. It was clear that she was regretting several of her choices.

“Zecora mentioned something like that,” Trixie said. When she saw that Gilda was giving her a confused look, she went on. “A zebra that lives in the Everfree Forest. Everypony here thought she was some weird pony at first...”

“Wait, there’s a zebra here?” Gilda said, suddenly sounding interested.

“Yeah. Why?”

“I’ve always wanted to meet a zebra,” Gilda said. “We learned about them in school. There was a war fought between our countries a few centuries ago, and I thought they sounded cool.”

Trixie gave her an odd look, something she was used to. With how militant that griffins were, the fascination with war that the culture pumped into every hatchling was a stark contrast to the ponies, who viewed war as an ugly necessity at the best of times. It was one of the things that had made her an outcast in flight school... except to Rainbow Dash.

“You wanted to meet one that was the enemy?”

“Centuries ago, over some political squabble that both sides eventually agreed was a stupid reason for war,” she said. “But in the academy... not Flight School, but the military academy... we learned all about their tactics and everything. The war wasn't pleasant, but it left a lot of cool stories.”

Trixie was more than a little weirded out, but tried to keep her composure. “I’m sure Zecora wouldn’t mind meeting you...”

“Thanks,” Gilda said. The word came out in an odd tone, as if Gilda had never used it before.

They sat in silence for a bit. They noticed the ponies coming out of their tents, greeting the morning. After a bit of silence, Gilda spoke up.

“Those ponies that were with you,” Gilda said at last. “You have any idea where they went?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care,” Trixie said. “I want to put that part of me in the past. I hope that I never hear from them again.”

---

It wasn’t hard to make Lightning Dust angry, but she was getting angrier than usual at the moment.

Red Hoof had continued non-stop on his trip to wherever he was going. Lighting was beginning to consider abandoning him, but she knew that wasn’t an option. If she left, she’d be easy pickings for the guards that had a price on her head.

She had asked Red where they were going several times. Red had only stared at her a bit before continuing on, whenever he bothered to acknowledge her at all.

They moved further north. They slept in the most out-of-the-way inns they could find. They ate whatever looked like a common order, and never ate more than anypony else. They wanted to make absolutely sure that there was nothing special or unusual that would make them stick out in their minds.

At one town, Red Hoof bought them both coats. Lightning Dust realized why not long after: they were close to the colder climates of Equestria. They were really in this trip for the long haul.

Three days later, as the snow got heavier, she finally snapped. “Where are we going? I mean it this time. Where are we going?”

“The Crystal Empire.”

Lightning Dust was stunned. She hadn’t actually been expecting an answer. In fact, now that she thought about it, this was the first time she had ever heard her companion talk.

Red Hoof kept going, and was several hoofsteps ahead before she started to gallop after him.

“Wait, why are we going there?”

Red Hoof stopped again, nearly causing Lightning Dust to hit him. She fumbled, and ended up falling on her face. When she looked up, Red Hoof answered her question.

“We’re going to meet my superiors. They’ll be willing to give you work.”

“What kind of work?”

“Does it matter? Who else will have you? You’ve already committed a crime against the Elements of Harmony, who are government officials, and jumped border while trying to escape the law. Every nation that cares about its relationship with Equestria will be after you, and you simply won’t survive in any area that doesn’t. Don’t act like you can get indignant with me.”

There was a long moment of silence as Lightning Dust turned over what he had said. She knew that the guards would be looking for her, and she knew that sticking with her mysterious companion was her best bet. But hearing her situation being put so bluntly caused all her fears to come forward. It was truly hitting her for the first time what situation she was in.

She shook herself out of her daze to find that Red Hoof had continued his trot. She sat there for a few moments, pondering what to do. Finally, she flapped her wings and followed him.

“What’s your boss’s name?”

Red Hoof didn’t answer. She knew better than to ask again.

Comments

[SuperSonicHeroes]

Nice to see this update again! A slow chapter but still a fun one. Hearing a few more of the differences between this and canon was fun, especially the part where Gilda said she actually wanted to meet Zecora.

I wonder who Red Hoof is working for? There is clearly a lot of important stuff involving him. For someone that Trixie only initially hired as pure muscle, he seems a lot smarter than he lets on.

There was a long moment of silence as Lightning Dust turned over what he had said. She knew that the guards would be looking for her, and she knew that sticking with her mysterious companion was her best bet. But hearing her situation being put so bluntly caused all her fears to come forward. It was truly hitting her for the first time what situation she was in.

Normally I would be surprised that Lightning is only now realizing how screwed she is, but I can believe that she is so full of herself and arrogant that she never considered it until now.

[Gazer]

Yea! Update! So very happy!

[sonicfan05]

Sweet! It's been awhile since this story was last updated!

[Comickook]

REALLY good job on this latest chapter. Again, took quite a while, but was very much worth the wait. The exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are all pretty well done in all the right places. I particularly liked Gilda chats with Fluttershy (with the latter finding out exactly why the former did not like her and the latter also admitting that she didn't make trouble for the former in the hopes that they AND Rainbow could all be friends together) AND Trixie (particularly the details of THIS Universe's version of Griffonstone [I'm betting Gabby is probably half-medic, half-messenger as those would be the two most helpful and least violent military-related jobs a griffon could do]). And, yeah, Red Hoof taking Lightning Dust to the Crystal Empire was some good foreshadowing for later on (especially with Lightning FINALLY realizing just how deep the doo-doo she is in is).

Anyway, splendid job on this latest chapter and I will definitely be looking forward to the next chapters of "Through the Mirror", "Integrations" and "Raising Spike".

[Bloody_Tofu]

Oh wow! So glad to see this again. Reread time.

[xonxt]

10132633
yeah, I definitely need a reread. I have no idea what's happening, why is Gilda camping with the others, who's Red Hoof...

[FanficReader920]

Had to read the TV Tropes Page to catch up, but now that I have, I’m so glad this is back!

[Fanskapet]

god i am so fucking lost all i remember about this story is twilight Went into mirror and is gone for 30 Days still good

[FiredragonX]

Glad to see your still working on this story and we get to see Lightning Dust and Red Hoof again. Whatever they planning it isn’t good.

[GMZ_Casper]

Lightning is about to see how much she had just messed up with her life. And it seems Gilda and Trixie is slowly coming to term with their past.

It's nice to see this again. Hope you're doing good with this whole virus nonsense.

C&C:
Lighting was beginning to consider abandoning him…
> Correction: ‘Lightning’.

[Orphan]

10161209
me too
I don't even remember anything before Gilda's apologies, and that was because reread them to jog memory

[Yami Vizzini]

Cute character moments there! Not to mention an intriguing glimpse or two at the wider world of this continuity.

[Teraunce]

This story gets a 9.1 out of 10 aka an A+ for Excellence. I love what you've done with the heroes plus Trixie and Gilda. I hope this updates soon.