When the Moon saved the stars

by kittypetro

The helmet of loyalty

The moment they walked off the boat, everypony looked around in awe. The griffin kingdom was full of mountains, and most of the buildings were either carved into them of built on it’s peaks or on the mountainside under rails of wood and rope.

“Come on guys” Gilda said, stretching her wings. “No time to dilly dally, we have something to do.”

“She’s right” Luna said nodding. “Lead the way Gilda.”

Gilda rose from the ground. “You follow on the ground, but I need to stretch my wings. There is nothing like Griffin Kingdom air beneath your wings.”

“That I believe” Spitfire said, the Pegasus getting into the air herself, doing a few loops. “Wow this feels wonderful.”

Gilda grinned and led the way, flying through the town they were in, out towards the wilderness.

Soon she stopped. “All right guys, see that huge mountain?”

Everypony looked up, seeing the tallest mountain Anypony had ever seen stand before them.

“That’s where I need to go… so can you guys wait here? We don’t have much wildlife here that you can’t handle.”

“No worries Gilda, you go do your thing” Vinyl said, sitting down enjoying the sights.

Gilda nodded and flew up toward the mountain. As she did, her eyes glazed over and she had a strong feeling in her chest, feeling as if something was leading her. Finally she stood near the mountaintop, seeing a huge entrance into a cave. Entering it she barely reacted to seeing a huge dragon there waiting for her.

It was a dark gold, with black spikes, the entire body taking up almost 90 per cent of the cave.

What Gilda noted was that this dragon was no ghost… it was fully alive. It looked down at her.

“And who are you?”

Gilda blinked, realizing at the pitched tone that the dragon was a girl.

“Gilda the griffon, substitute for the holder of the element of harmony, my friend Rainbow Dash.”

The dragon looked at her. “I’m Tanith, the original holder, but I suppose you already know this. So, why is a mere substitute here? What happened to your friend?”

“Starvoid the cold locked her up in the sky. I need your artifact to set my friend free and kick Starvoid’s flank.”

Tanith looked at Gilda. “Damn straight you need to save your friend, no way one can leave a friend hanging… It’s a good thing you have wings, you will need it in your trial. It’s pretty straightforward, go through there and get to the other end without getting crushed to death.”

Tanith looked at Gilda. “And I will not have any lame complaints, if you are loyal to you friend you should do anything if it means helping out, capishe?”

Gilda nodded. Tanith rose her giant tail and revealed the cave entrance.

Gilda walked through the door, bracing herself as she came out into the interior of the cave. Looking down she whistled, seeing a flow of lava pass under her.

“Right” she said flapping her wings. “Let’s do this thing.”

And with that she flew up into the air. The moment she did, a burst of warm wind forced her upwards. Gilda managed to get control just as she was about to crash into the roof, noticing with a gulp that a few seconds later she’d been impaled on the sharp rocks on the sealed volcano top.

Gilda growled and went into a dive, fighting against the hot air currents the volcano provided, once again the hot air blowing upwards. Gilda gained control just a moment to late, scratching her left claw on the rocks. Landing on a platform Gilda grunted in pain. Damnit this was impossible, how in the world was she going to do this? Gilda closed her eyes.

'Dash... what do I do?'

In front of her minds eye she saw a young Rainbow, grinning at her. Gilda huffed. Of course... just keep going on. Just like old times huh Dash? Gilda shook off the pain and jumped into a dive towards the magma. She kept going lower and lower, straigthening up just as the hot magma vere inces away. The hot air still forced Gilda up but whenever she came to high she went down into another reckless dive. After a while rocks started falling from the ceiling, forcing Gilda to now and then having to duck away. It was hard, it was fast, and Gilda loved every single second of it. Finally she reached the end, seeing a large helmet lying on a pedestal.

Taking it with her claws she looked it over, seeing a few bumps here and there but else it was as if it had just been made. Turning to her left she saw an opening, walking through it to end up in the entrance were Tanith was waiting.

“Got the helmet did you?”

“Yeah… what does it do?”

Tanith looked at Gilda who was still looking over on the details of the helmet.

“The holder of the element of loyalty has one responsibility… to make sure his or her friends are never in any form of danger. Even if that mean you have to put yourself on the line you do your best to keep your friends safe… when you wear it and activate it’s powers, the helmet of loyalty create a barrier around you and your friends. It will repel most kinds of magic, but will not last forever”

“Got it” Gilda said, placing the helmet on her head, covering her neck and head.

“Take good care of it” Tanith said, closing her eyes and laying down, intending to go back to sleep. “And take care of your friends too.”

And with that Tanith closed her eyes completely and fell asleep, Gilda turning and flying back to her friends, landing with a thump next to them.

Author's Note:

Because Loyal can sometimes mean reckless and stupid... just look at all the crazy shit Rainbow does