Old Paths, New Directions

by An-Twan Star

Gilda: An Honest Opinion? (Original draft)

This is not a fifth chapter to Old Paths, New Directions. This is just the original draft.

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“What do you know about Ponies?”

This was the question that had been plaguing a Griffon's mind and dreams ever since she had a falling out with her best, and only Pony friend. This question was the whole reason why she was even in Equestria.

A small talon shot into the air. “Yes, Gilda?”

The dream flowed from one place to the next, neither coherent, nor indecipherable.

“And just WHY do you know so much about PONIES, you don't need to hang with those lame-brains now that I'M around! Unless, of course, you want to eat them.”

“Wha... N-no, it's not like that!”

“Exactly, now, make like a bee, and fly away home. Gimme a call when you're done being a dweeb.”

Time held no bounds in the dreamscape.

“Man am I glad to be done with that exam. Ugh, I can't believe I once actually liked those foul creatures.”

“Heh heh, You sure were lame back them. Just stick with us Griffons and everything will be smooth sailings.”

“Oh I ain't goin' anywhere other then on an awesome summer vacation.”

“Unfortunately the only place I'm going is straight to after school detention. I'll catch you later, G.”

“Ja.”

Even the best laid plans can fall astray.

“WHAT IN TARTARUS IS THIS!!!”

“A report card.”

“And what is the highest grade!”

“Uh, A plus?”

“Yes, A plus. A PLUS ON THE FREAKING PONY TEST!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!”

The flow turned into a torrent, with no rhyme nor reason.

“Why don't you make like a bee. BUZZ OFF!”

“We're sending you to a flight camp in Equestria for the summer.”

“You think they're gonna let you back in after that.”

“You're dorking up the skies Stinkie Pie.”

“These Ponies are driving me buggy, I gotta bail.”

“If being “cool” is all you care about, then why don't you go and find some new cool friends someplace else.”

“NOT. COOL.”

“ENOUGH!”

At this command, everything ceased to exist.

The dream became very lucid for Gilda. An ethereal dome had been formed overhead, with the deep purple of Gilda's subconscious swirling ominously outside. With a disturbing clarity, she cast her gaze on the Sandmare descending into the dreamscape. Touching down, The Alicorn spoke.

“Fear not, fair Equestrian.”

Though she would never admit it, Gilda was actually shaking. She knew all about the Nightmare and the reputation that preceded the Alicorn. After all, the dreamscape was used as a recruitment device during the Lunar Rebellion. Any fear felt by the Griffon, however, was lost as indignation took its place.

“I am not an Equestrian!” Gilda barked, drawing herself onto her hind legs to meet the Princess's height.

“Not by species, no,” Luna responded to the maddened Griffion.

Gilda grabbed the sides of her head. “Gah, why are you even here, don't you know how very bad this is for you!”

“Hm, I'm sure your personality has been very bad for many ponies.” Luna stated while watching an image of Gilda roaring at Fluttershy, a hoof placed under her chin..

A quick swipe of talons ended that particular vision.

“Not your greatest achievement, I'm sure.”

Gilda howled in frustration.

“Get out of my head!” the swirling mass that was Gilda's subconscious began bubbling furiously. “Look, Princess Luna, you seriously don't know how dangerous this is for you, no, for Equestria. You could start a war!”

“I guess we don't want that on our conscience now do we.”

“Yeah, I bet we don't. Now piss off!”

Gilda was going to continue with a lengthy tirade until Luna's ears perked at a ringing in the distance, not unlike a loud noise in a city that you eventually just get used to.

“Well, it seems like forces beyond our control will pull us apart.” Luna said as she began to fade from view.

“HEY! Get back here, dweeb! I'm not through with you yet!”

“The waking world calls you, Griffon, don't keep her waiting.”

“NIGHTMARE!” Gilda screamed out the Griffon Deity's name before realizing that she was sitting up in her bed.

Taking a minute to catch her breath, the Griffon cast her golden gaze to the offensive ringer sitting atop the nightstand. Gilda swung a fist at the alarm clock, but stopped short. Extending a talon, she gently pressed the off button, bathing the bedroom with silence. Utilizing the quiet reprieve, Gilda got on all fours and began her routine Griffon morning maintenance. She arched her back in a feline fashion while stretching out her still curled up avian talons as far as they could go, nearly touching the bed with her beak. Holding that position, Gilda stretched one rear leg out at a time, feeling a rough purr work its way up from her chest to her throat.

After working the kinks out of her back and limbs, Gilda set about her next order of maintenance. Plopping back down onto the bed, the Griffon unfurled her massive wings and appraised the damage.

'Ugh, I just preened these things last night, I must have been tossing in my sleep. I can't believe I let that lame-flank Princess crawl in my head.'

Unlike in Equestria, Griffon society remembered the Nightmare and the Lunar Rebellion's recruitment of Ponies and Griffons alike through the power of dreams. After Princess Luna's return and The Longest Night, the Griffon military went from peacetime to its maximum readiness. And the Gryphus-Equestria Pact, the longstanding peace treaty, almost came to an end.

Seeking a diplomatic solution, Celestia invited a delegation from Gryphus to discuss Luna's return. And after weeks of bitter negotiations, both sides came to an agreement that forbade Luna from Dreamwalking any of Gryphus's citizens or their embassy workers and diplomats living in Equestria.

Gilda's purr turned into a growl. 'They must have forgotten about lowly carrier pigeons like me.'

Gilda dipped her beak into the left wing and began smoothing out the feathers, also using a talon to speed up the process. As a Royal Gryphus Messenger, Gilda had been drilled by her superiors the importance of a quick and efficient delivery between Gryphus and the various embassies scattered around Equestria. The inside joke of messengers is 'The Post is Always Late.' Unfortunately for the government of Gryphus, somegriffon from way back in the annals of time took off with this phrase and said, 'The post is always late, so don't worry.' From that day forward, messengers have been jokingly using it as an excuse to take it easy and see the sights. Sadly, the novelty was lost on Gilda.

Finished with her once-over of her wings, Gilda hopped off the bed onto the cloud floor and made her way through the dark room to the door. Before leaving, she glanced at the clock. The digitized number 4:30 glared back in an accusing red light. The letters “MON” were displayed in smaller text in the bottom right, but with no less venom.

“Waking world my ass, the sun ain't even up yet!”

Mondays were not Gilda's favorite due to the long haul flight that would take up her entire day. The flight would span from Cloudsdale all the way to the Gryphus main embassy in Manehatten, then to the Castle's front gate in Canterlot, then back to Cloudsdale just in time for sunset and for a zombified Griffon to crawl back into bed. Gilda's weekly Manehatten to Canterlot journey, not counting the extra miles to and from Cloudsdale, was one of the longest flights for Royal Gryphus. Second only to the trans-ocean route to Gryphus, which was about twice the length on a round trip.

Gilda made her way into the living area of her small cloud home. Like most cloud homes, this one was designed with a large living area in the center, with rooms arrayed in a semicircular fashion around the perimeter. Flipping on a light switch revealed the living area and its attached kitchen. The Griffon sauntered over to the small bathroom, but stopped to give a glare at her study. The study, unlike the rest of the bluish white cloudstruction, had walls lined with bookshelves and a green carpet to give a more cozy feel. The desk was littered with writing utensils and loose papers. Gilda regretfully frowned at this.

'My pony research, the true reason why I’m in Equestria.'

Sparing only a moment of her time, Gilda continued into the bathroom. After emerging a few minutes later with the crust out her eyes, the Bald Eagle Griffon headed for her kitchen to get a small snack, which in this case was a cup of lukewarm coffee and a stale biscuit. Gilda took a quick glance at the map that was magnetized to the fridge while gnawing down the tough bread and using the coffee to soften the blow. After finishing breakfast and downing the coffee, Gilda set the mug on the table and grabbed her black leather jacket off the back of the kitchen chair. Slotting her wings through the allotted holes with practiced ease, Gilda then slipped her fore-limbs into the sleeves.

Standing on her hind legs, Gilda got her brown letter satchel with the Gryphus Crest stitched to its side and threw the strap over her head and onto her right shoulder — and the bag under her left arm. While fiddling with the strap to make sure the bag wouldn't interfere with the action of her wings, Gilda went to the fridge and got her mid flight meal, a lemon flavored sports drink and a plastic wrapped veggie sub, and stuffed them into the bottom of the satchel. Gilda took a final glance at the clock and found herself ready to go to work. She had set a very finite time schedule of waking at 4:30, out the door by 5, be in Manehatten by noon Eastern Equestrian Time, and to Canterlot by 5 PM Central. After that, Gilda was off the clock for the rest of the week.

After turning out the light, Gilda opened the front door and entered the lamp lit street. With breath turned to mist in the cool morning air, Gilda looked up to see the first twinge of purplish light in the eastern sky. As diurnal predators, Griffon eyes were specifically attuned for daylight hours, with emphasis on distant viewing and color distinction. As a result, it was uncommon for Griffons to fly at night under anything less then a full moon.

“Perfect, right on schedule.”

On the back of the mail satchel was a secondary strap. Gilda stretched out her wings and wrapped the strap around her body, securing the bag in place. Gilda then checked her pockets for her house keys and the hard case of her aviators, not wanting to burn her retinas out on another beautiful sunrise. After checking for sunglasses and locking the front door, Gilda went out into the middle of the street.

Unlike her ex-friend Rainbow Dash, Gilda followed the rules and scanned the skies and roadway for Ponies before taking off. It was legal for Ponies to take off directly from the street during nighttime and other low traffic hours. Any other time they would have to use one of the many “Launchpad” pavilions scattered around the city. It was Rainbow Dash's unconscious disregard of the rules and other Ponies which quickly made her, and by extension, Gilda — very popular with the local authorities. This ultimately forced the former to leave for Ponyville.

'I stopped you doing that after you got caught and the judge sentenced us both to community service for three months!' Gilda didn't try to fight the scowl on her beak. 'Kept you grounded, then you left for Lameville like that Butterfly Pony. Musta' thought I was smothering you or sumthin'.'

Gilda shook the memory out of her head and oriented herself to face down the street. The lamps that lined either side of the street were used as makeshift guideposts for Gilda's takeoff run. She started walking a slow pace down the street, then sped up to a pace known in Equestria known as a 'trot'. Gilda shivered at the prospect of trotting like a Pony. Luckily for Gilda, her street was generally empty at this hour, because Celestia forbid, if anypony saw the tough as nails Griffon trot...

'They might get the wrong idea and think I have a creepy fetish or somethin'.'

Without losing any momentum, Gilda fell into a crouch and coiled the muscles in her back legs. With an almighty thrust, Cloudsdale was shoved downwards and a Griffon fell into the sky. Gilda's wings began to work with the air, each powerful stroke bringing her higher above the city. Other ponies were just starting to fill the Cloudsdale airspace, with most of them heading to the Weather Factory for work, as did Gilda for a stint. After Junior Speedsters, Gilda found herself alone and abandoned in an alien country. Seeing a friend in need, Rainbow Dash invited the Griffon into her home. But Gilda was still coping with the rejection by her kind.

It turned out that Spectrum, Rainbow Dash's father, was a senior plant manager, and seeing Gilda start to lapse into depression firsthoof, offered the Griffon a job at the Weather Factory. Gilda fiercely objected to the charity, stating that it wasn't the Griffon way and that she didn't have anything of equal value to barter. She eventually came to the conclusion that simply being a good employee was worth its weight in gold to the elder Pegasus, and only then, did Gilda take Spectrum up on his offer. True to her word, Gilda became the best employee she could be, even respected by the more senior employees. And the job, plus hanging out with Dash after work occupied enough of Gilda's time to keep her out of despondency. Sadly, this would not last.

Unfortunately, Gilda was only a de facto employee, and as such was only a placeholder until somepony more qualified was found for the job. And at the start of the next hiring period, Spectrum had to make a painful cut to his staff. Gilda would be terminated, but on the condition that she could choose her successor from a pool of job seekers, with unexpected results. Gilda and Spectrum could have petitioned against the former's termination, but at the end of the day its very hard to argue with a Cutie Mark.

After gaining enough altitude, Gilda banked away from Cloudsdale and headed due east. With Cloudsdale quickly disappearing behind, Gilda did a very routine navigational check. To her south were the foothills of the Unicorn Range. In the southeast was the snow-capped Mount Equus, the orange sunrise lighting it up like a torch. Behind was Cloudsdale, And the east brought pain to Gilda's eyes. Not wasting another second, the Griffon pulled out her shades and relived her eyes of the glare. Stretching out below and to the north was the breadbasket of Equestria, nothing but rolling farmland as far as Gilda's eyes could see.

As the sun trudged further into the sky, Gilda focused on flying as efficiently as possible, using the thermal updrafts to their fullest potential. After doing this for a few hours, Gilda reached the Crystal River crossing. Just ahead was where the Vanhoover-Manehatten line turned toward the latter city after dog-legging northeast out of Canterlot. This was also another navigation point for Gilda, all she had to do was follow the tracks. Looking around once more, she could faintly make out the mist of Neighagra Falls to the north, and the Foal Mountains in the south. A puff of steam in the east caught Gilda's attention.

The steam came from a train trundling down the tracks — heading due west. Even from her position a few thousand feet up, Gilda could still make out the train in good detail as it passed under. Being a creature of the sky, Gilda felt some misplaced pity for the ponies that needed to travel by ground based means. The sharp whistle, though dulled by the altitude, hit Gilda's ears. Being careful to not lose her sunglasses, Gilda glanced down to see one of the Ponies operating the train lean out the window with his hat off, waving. Without much thought, Gilda rocked her wings in the traditional Pegasi salute, her “cool” image forgotten for the moment. The pony apparently saw this because he put his conductor hat back on and retreated into his cab. The neutral look on Gilda's face darkened to a small frown after this.

“Ugh, I'm acting like a dweeb more everyday,” Gilda lamented, knowing full well that her plastic facade had been steadily melting ever since losing Rainbow Dash's favor.

Gilda was spared anymore thought by the tearing winds of turbulence, pulling her around the sky. After the brief shock and stabilizing her flight, Gilda put concentration back into her wings and powered through the wind shear. After several altitude adjustments, the Griffon found a smooth spot in the air. Gilda saw that she was now flying over the low mountains where the rail line dove into a tunnel, beyond this were the outer boroughs of Manehatten. After passing over the hills, Gilda began her descent towards the island.. From below Gilda all the way to the ocean was the outer borough of New Yoke City. And, connected to the mainland via the aptly named Manehatten Bridge, was the city of dreams. And it disgusted Gilda to no end.

New Yoke was one of the first settlements founded by the Three Tribes as they descended out of the northeast into the new land of Equestria. After settling in the area, the representatives of each tribe voted to make the town the Equestrian capitol. New Yoke stayed this way from its inception up till after the Griffon war and the coming of the Celestials, when the capitol was moved inland for safety in the future. After that land developers began looking at the unpopulated island and saw a great place for a dockyard and a naval base. This was the first iteration of Manehatten. It's current form, however, was by far the most ambitious.

Gilda suppressed a reflexive gag at the sight of the newest addition to Manehatten's collection of skyscrapers. Not only was the obsidian, modernist building the tallest in Equestria. But it also had a gigantic Horse's head being constructed on top. Gilda looked away and banked toward a building that was only about half the height, the Gryphus embassy. Gilda looked down at a bank clock tower and saw that it was quarter to twelve. Once landed on the Embassy's top deck, Gilda got her legs for land and looked for signs of life. Finding none, the Griffon sat down and leaned her back against the railing that encircled the top deck.

Knowing that she had time to kill Gilda decided it was time for lunch. Placing her shades on top of her head, Gilda fished her snack out of the bottom of the satchel, setting the items in between her outstretched legs. When Gilda first started this job, she quickly found out that her satchel, when exposed to cold air at altitude, made an excellent cooler for snacks. Picking up and unwrapping the sub, Gilda nibbled off a corner of the sandwich. While eating, Gilda tried to at least appreciate the metropolitan skyline. Most of the buildings either didn't capture the patience of the Griffon, or were just too hard to look at. The only one that did catch Gilda's eye was the Art Deco skyscraper that used to be the tallest before horse head took its rightful place.

Once done eating, Gilda popped the top off her drink and took a swig of the sour nectar contained within. At the sound of the rooftop entrance opening Gilda hopped up onto her back legs, being careful not to spill her drink in the process. One of the many embassy workers, a small Peregrine Falcon Griffon. Made his way towards Gilda. The aforementioned Griffon got ready to finally leave the overdone city for another week, but immediately fell stale when she saw the bailiff's empty talons. Seeing this, Gilda gave a look that screamed “where is it” which the bailiff easily picked up on.

“My apologies, ma'am, the cargo is still being printed up. I should be back with it in about fifteen... ah, here we go.”

Gilda followed the bailiff's gaze into the sky to see a turquoise Pegasus with a flaming copper mane coming in to land. Gilda guessed that this was her Equestrian counterpart by the Celestial Crest on her saddlebags. Once the Royal Messenger touched down, Gilda got a good look at her flank. Emblazoned on it was a talent mark comprised of a lightning bolt with three golden stars below it. Without an actual name to go by, Gilda simply dubbed the Pony Lightning Strike. As the bailiff tended to the new arrival, Gilda unknowingly put on her old, “cool” persona. She paid little attention to the small talk between the Griffon and Pegasus. Instead, Gilda began fussing over her long feather crest, making sure they were at their awesome best. Once the bailiff finished up with the Pony and went back inside Gilda began to pay attention to what the Pony was saying.

“Aw yeah!” the pony cheered. “Five hours flat! I bet I'm the fastest Pegasus in Equestria! Maybe the whole planet.”

Gilda emitted an almost audible gasp at this.

'Celestia, she's just like her!'

Gilda began to take a liking to this brash Pegasus, But her mind stopped this notion dead.

'Why don't you go find some new, cool friends someplace else.'

This hit Gilda, hard enough to drive tears into her eyes. Her grip relaxed, almost dropping her drink and letting the plastic wrapper in the other talon fly off into the sky. Bleary eyes noticed that Lightning Strike had moved over to an alcove by the entrance with a few vending machines. Seeing the pony occupied with her purchase, Gilda began furiously scrubbing at her eyes with the back of her talon. 'What's going on! I've never cried over Dash before. Why now?' Gilda glumly thought while trying to salvage her facade, but it was mostly damage control at this point.

Seeing Lightning Strike hobble away from the vending machine with her purchase in hoof caused Gilda to quickly throw her sunglasses over her eyes. Gilda was a Griffon, and as a griffon, she could not let a pony see her cry. With acting “cool” out the window, Gilda adopted her second persona, callous indifference. With a flat expression and a thousand yard stare, she would fend off anything thrown her way. And if that failed, Gilda had a leather jacket and avaitors to back her up. This wouldn't be the case, however, if the hooves clopping closer were any indication. Outwardly, Gilda looked like she just didn't care. Things were different on the inside.

'Go away, go away, go away, go away,' Gilda chanted in her mind to the sound of each hooffall, hoping to will away the Rainbow Dash knockoff. At the same time, she silently hoped that she would be rescued by a binder full of diplomatic cables that needed a ride to Canterlot. The pony arrived at the rail and placed her front legs over the top. She wasn't too close as to be annoying, but close enough to know what would happen next.

“Wassup.”

If Gilda wasn't frustrated now, then she was downright charitible. With an audible clack, Gilda slammed the cap onto her bottle and screwed it shut with deliberate twisting motions. If anything, this only enticed the pony to press the issue.

“Geez, what's got you all rattled?” The pony shifted positions, mirroring Gilda's posture. “I hope its not me,” she muttered.

'Naw, it couldn't possibly be you,' Gilda thought with a heavy snark.

“No its just,” Gilda scratched at her eye. “The bright... buildings? Yeah, the buildings are bright,” Gilda nodded.

The pony took a tone of mock-offense. “What's wrong with the buildings?”

“Hm, what's wrong with the buildings? Maybe its that Griffons used to own this island. Then after the war it was given to Equestria. And they honor them by putting a gigantic horse's head on a skyscraper.”

“A gigantic horse head! What are you talking about?”

The pony followed Gilda's outstretched talon to the eyesore.

“Well that's new.”

“Yeah, so...”

Gilda fell silent, wondering why the heck she was even conversing with this pony. Lightning Strike, as it were, was busy examining the horse head.

“Dang, that head is huge. I hope that's not what the owner looks like!”

Gilda gave out a hearty guffaw. “I would hope not, because that's one ugly dude.”

After sharing a laugh, the pony extended her wing. Gilda met this with an arched eyebrow.

“Ah shoot! I was schooled about this. Here.” she extended a foreleg.

Gilda tentatively hovered out a talon, then very slowly wrapped her digits around the hoof.

“Hoo kay,” the pony shook the talon. “Name's Lightning Dust.”

“Gilda.”

A pregnant silence befell the duo, only to be broken a second later.

“So... Gilda?”

“What?”

“Well, you're probably the first Manehattenite that's ever told me the island's deep secret.”

“Who said I was from Manehatten.”

“I kinda took a guess by your accent.”

This time it was Gilda that took the offended tone.

“What's wrong with my accent?”

Lightning Dust fidgeted nervously. “Um nothing, nothing at all. Its actually kinda nice.”

“Hold on,” Gilda held up a halting talon. “Let me get this straight. First your on me about the buildings, and now your on me about my accent. I see how it is.”

Lightning Dust decided that a change of subject was in order.

“Say, since you're delivering to Canterlot and I happen to live there, we should make the trip as a wing. Ya with me!”

“Uh... sure,” Gilda awkwardly scratched the back of her head. “We're headed the same way so it makes sense, right?”

Lightning Dust stared blankly at Gilda's forced smile, then brightened up with a smile of her own.

“Exactly.”

The sound of the rooftop doors sliding open caught the attention of the mares. The same Griffon from earlier made his way toward the duo.

“Sorry about the wait, ma'am. Here, let me load you up.”

Lightning Dust hid her snickering behind a hoof as the embassy worker filled Gilda's satchel with the missives from Gryphus. Once he had deposited the documents, the nameless Griffon wished them well before disappearing back into the embassy. Gilda finished off the rest of her drink and made to throw the bottle away, but was stopped by the mare that was giggling like a lunatic beside her.

“What the heck is so funny!” Gilda snarled.

Lightning Dust did her best to speak through her chortling. “Load you up!”

Gilda developed a look of pure confusion at this.

“Load you up...” Then it clicked.

“Ugh, whatever!”

Gilda stalked away from Lightning Dust's annoying horse laugh and threw her empty bottle in a nearby recycle bin. Then she went over to the Pegasi recovery deck that jutted out from the side of the building. Checking that her cargo was secure, Gilda spread her wings and simply fell forward off the deck. Once she caught some air, Gilda craned her head around to see Lightning Dust gallop off the platform in some sort of flying leap.

About an hour later Gilda found herself over the forest community of Hollow Shades. But she was too irritated to care about the scenery. Gilda didn't know if it was the extra weight slowing her down, the way the lapels of her jacket rustled in the wind, or the turquoise horsefly following just off her wing.

“So at that point I was like, what's the quickest way to clear clouds — then it hit me! I would use a tornado! So I says to my wingpony...”

Gilda didn't pay much attention to Lightning Dust's rambling epic about her time at flight academy — instead she focused on simply getting the lane trip over with. Meanwhile, Lightning Dust's story continued unabated.

“I was in the funnel and my wingpony must have been carrying to much speed, because I began losing it. I remember calling out, then the tornado spat me out — and my wingpony shortly after. It was the worst spin-out ever, I barely recovered in time.” Lightning paused and took a shaking breath. “As I spun uncontrollably down, I saw her get ejected from the funnel — and with nopony to control it... And for some insane reason, a hot-air balloon just happened to stray into our restricted airspace.”

Gilda began paying close attention to the mare who was now wildly gesticulating with her fore-limbs.

“At this point my wingpony, who I had lost sight of, shot after the occupants of the balloon. They had been ejected from the tornado and were in freefall. I tried to join the other Pegasi in the rescue attempt, but I just couldn't fly anymore. Every time I tried to lift off, my wings faltered. It reminded me of a parent biting a foal's tail to prevent them from running off.” She gave a long, drawn-out sigh before continuing. “It was like my body no longer wanted to put up with my recklessness.”

“So I just stood there as the ponies fell, trying to get my wings to work. My wingpony by this time had made it below the ponies and was compacting a cloud layer to stop their fall. It must have worked, because they hit the cloud and bounced up into the waiting arms of the rescuers.” Gilda saw the expression on Lightning Dust's face morph into a sad smile. “I felt so much relief to see them saved that my wings began to work and I looped in joy. I flew over to the group of ponies while coming up with some kind of explanation, but I didn't know what I was getting into. It turned out that the balloonists were friends of my wingpony, and had come to visit her. If I had known this, I don't think I would have acted so horribly.”

Lightning's voice dropped to a whisper.

“That's how I got kicked out the academy.”

Gilda mulled over everything about Lightning Dust's story. It seemed Lighting, much like Gilda, had used a rotten personality in her life that ultimately got her nowhere.

'Almost makes me feel sorry for her. I'm still irritated by her though, but I can put up with it.'

Until Lightning spoke again, any sorrow or remorse strangely missing.

“You want to hear about how yours truly became a royal — Ack!”

Lightning Dust squawked in displeasure as Gilda aggressively flared her wings, dragging herself down to a full stop. Lightning Dust deftly evaded and came to a rest next to Gilda.

“What's the deal with the brake-checking, dude!” the pony shouted.

Gilda slowly took off her sunglasses and put them back in their hard case, which she pocketed.

Sigh — “look, Lightning Strike-”

“It's Dust! Lightning Dust!” she protested.

Gilda grabbed her own forehead with a talon. “Fine, Lightning Dust. When you first came by me on the deck, I did what I was supposed to do and put on a friendly face.” Lightning Dust scoffed at this. “I only agreed to be your wing because it would be awkward not to.”

“Just what are you saying?”

“I just — I don't think I'm ready for another Pony friend yet.”

“Oh, what were they like?”

Lighting couldn't see it through the feathers, but a vein was pulsing above Gilda's eye..

“Gods give me strength,” Gilda groaned. “Alright, how about this. I challenge you to a race.” Gilda pointed a talon at herself. “If I win, you have to leave me be forever. No talking, no friendship, no nothing. If we run into each other on our runs, you pretend I don't exist, got it!”

“Hm,” Lightning stroked her muzzle with a hoof. “A race you say? And if you win, you get left alone.”

Gilda nodded an affirmative.

“You're on, but only if the loser has to become friends with the winner.”

“Sure,” Gilda agreed, not fully comprehending the wager. Gilda pointed to a cloud high in the sky to the west, specifically chosen because it suited her natural climbing ability. “That cloud will be the finish line.”

“On three, one, two — three!”

Gilda watched with mild amusement as Lightning Dust shot upward into a climb towards the cloud. Gilda opted to get as much speed as possible before beginning her climb. Gilda utilized a strong tailwind coming off of the rugged peaks of the Foal Mountains to gain even more speed. Once she had enough, Gilda pointed her beak skyward and quickly ascended into the heavens. Strong wings acted like giant air scoops as powerful strokes pulled the Griffon ever higher. Up above and slightly behind was Lightning Dust, who at this point had lost all her energy and was now struggling to reach the cloud. Gilda, however, had no trouble making up the altitude difference.

With an assurance of victory, Gilda punched through the cloud and touched her back legs down onto its surface. Seeing the Griffon win still didn't deter Lightning Dust from at least finishing the race. Gilda watched with an impish grin as the panting Pegasus pulled herself onto the cloud. Despite her loss, Lightning still had a cheeky smile on her face as she looked up at the larger victor.

Gasp — “I must have gotten out of shape in my downtime.”

Gilda had her talons firmly placed on her hips as she regarded the Pegasus.

“And just what are you still doing here,” Gilda glared.

Lightning Dust's grin didn't falter. “Its only good taste for the loser to finish the race.”

“Yeah, but why are you still here?”

“The wager was that the loser had to befriend the winner.”

“Dude, I don't know what planet your on, but I won. And the winner gets to be left alone.”

Lightning Dust went in for the kill.

“But the loser-” Lighting let the word hang, “has to become friends with the winner.” Lightning Dust pointed a hoof at herself. “And I lost.”

Gilda lost the ability to work her beak, and the stonewall expression she maintained began to sag uncontrollably.

Lightning continued on. “ So as your new-” Lightning gave a dramatic bow, “honorary pony friend, your wish is my command. If you want to be left alone, so be it.”

At this point, Gilda had fallen completely silent, with only one thought in her head.

'How did I fall for that.'

“So, what is your command?” Lightning asked the brain dead Griffon. She waved a hoof in front of Gilda's face.”He-llo, anypony home.”

“Ugh!” Gilda waved the hoof out of her face. “Knock it off!”

Lighting Dust continued to stare questioningly.

“Let's just get to Canterlot.”

“Sounds like a plan, Gil.”

“Then I'm going home!”

The sun had already started its descent when Gilda and Lightning rolled into the outskirts of Canterlot. The Castle, Gilda's destination, overlooked the city from its lofty perch on the mountain. Lightning pointed down towards the suburbs below.

“That's where I'm from,” Lightning stated. “Boring, I know.”

“Uh huh,” Gilda grunted.

“Well, I'll just let you be. Unless you need my help finding the castle, of course.”

“I can handle myself, Da — I mean Dust.”

“Cool.” Lightning turned away but came back a second later. “Oh yeah, If we're flying like this next week, you're telling the sob story.”

“Oh har har,” Gilda emitted a sarcastic laugh. “Very funny, don't expect an epic like your academy tale, though.”

“Alright,” Lightning turned away for the final time. “See you next week!”

Once Lightning Dust peeled off towards wherever home was, Gilda made the final hop to the Castle Gates. She landed at the open portcullis and waited for the guards to retrieve the mail. One of the guards approached Gilda, but said something completely unexpected.

“The Princess has requested your presence,” the guard said in their all to formal tone.

“Come again?”

“The Princess has requested your presence,” The guard repeated.

“Did she say why?”

“No ma'am, just said to retrieve you. Follow me.”

'I could run, but I would only be safe until I fell asleep.'

Gilda contemplated dropping her satchel and flying away, but decided it would be wise to just follow instead. As the guard led Gilda through the courtyard and into the castle proper, she began feeling a sense of deja vu. A faint memory of being here with her parents on royal business scratched at the back of Gilda's mind. As they moved down the hall, Gilda averted her eyes away from the stained glass window — which contained, among other things, Rainbow Dash.

'I wonder why they want me. Maybe they want to off me before I tattle, not like I'm lame enough to do so.” Gilda had a particularly scary thought. 'Or they want to turn me into — Gasp — a pony so they can legally look inside my head.'

“Here we are.”

Gilda stopped to see the door to Princess Celestia's private study.

“Is there anything special I have to do? Do I have to bow?”

'Please don't tell me I have to bow!'

“You can just be casual on this visit.”

'I can be casual — alright, now I'm scared.'

The guard gave a light rap on the door before opening. Gilda followed the armored stallion inside to see Princess Celestia hunched over a too small desk — working on her daily business as Equestria's ruler.

“Ah, Gilda,” she greeted the Griffon in her usual comforting tone. “You can hand your cables to the guard.”

Gilda opened her satchel and pulled out the heavy binders, which the guard expertly balanced between his wing roots. “You're dismissed,” Celestia told her guard.

The stallion closed the door behind himself — leaving Gilda alone with Celestia in her study. Seeing that the Princess was busy scratching at her documents — and unlikely to stop anytime soon, Gilda's eyes wandered the room. The only thing in the room that truly caught her was the other avian sharing the room. Celestia's pet Phoenix stirred on her perch, cawing softly at the Griffon in her space.

“I heard you had a visitor last night.”

Gilda immediately settled on the Princess. “Yeah?” she growled. “And what of it?”

Celestia dropped her quill into an inkwell and cleared the desk of documents, stacking them neatly on the side.

“My sister, bless her heart,” she began. “After her “cleansing” by the elements, Luna has had difficulty adjusting to modern society. Some things carry over quite easily through the centuries, but many things — are lost in translation.” Celestia got on her hooves and went to retrieve something from a filing cabinet. “Her dream-walking ability can be used for good, and bad. But time only remembered one of those traits.”

“Look Princess,” Gilda began. “Its not something I'm gonna lose sleep over — I mean, I'm not bothered too much by it.”

“That's good to hear, but it's not the reason why I have summoned you.”

“So why did you summon me?”

Celestia sat back down at the desk with a stack of yellowed scrolls hovering beside her.

“To talk about you.”

Gilda unconsciously backed up a step. “Wha... m-me? You must have the wrong Griffon.”

“I'm sure I have the right Griffon.”

“And what about me do you want to know?”

Celestia sighed. “What happened?”

“What do you mean what happened?”

“One of these might be able to clarify,” Celestia began to rifle through the stack of papers. “I have a student in Ponyville,” she said as she worked. “She's a good kid, but a bit of a shutout. I have her send a correspondence whenever she discovers something profound about friendship.” Celestia pretended to not notice Gilda's eye roll. “Here,” Celestia handed Gilda a paper. “Read.”

'What is this, a love letter?'

“Dearest Princess Celestia. Today, I learned that its hard to accept when somepony you like wants to spend time with somepony who's not so nice...”

Gilda trailed off, her expression hardening the further down she read. Once done, she slammed her talon down on the hardwood desk. Gilda felt righteous indignation burn inside her chest, then disappear as quickly as it came — leaving an uncaring feeling behind.

“A false friend, huh. Is that all I am to you dash?”

Celestia spoke softly. “That may or may not be true. But this is only one of many opinions expressed that day. If that is what Rainbow truly thinks of you, we may never know.”

“Well, Princess. Maybe what happened is that my best friend — who I hadn't seen in years — decided it would be fun to throw a sham party for me when I would have been happy with just hanging out. Maybe it was Pinkie Pie unable to take a hint. Maybe its the fact that I couldn't keep my job at the weather factory because I didn't have a goddamn cutie mark!” Gilda's fiery voice dropped to a whisper. “Or maybe its because I was left to fend for myself by my parent's and Grizelda. Why am I telling you this! You don't care.

“Oh?”

Celestia reached into the pile of letters once again, pulling out a piece of college ruled notebook paper. “This mar change your outlook.”

Gilda grabbed the letter and began to read, slow realization creeping onto her features. It was the letter Gilda sent to Celestia when she was first dumped in Equestria. The one in which she spilled her guts about her situation and how she felt about it. Gilda's beak began to quiver.

“Y-you actually read this?” Gilda asked, disbelief evident in her voice.

“Of course.”

“B-but, I-I... it was your response.”

“And do you remember what my response was.”

Gilda racked her brain. “Not offhand no.”

Celestia nodded. “I see.”

“Well, Gilda, you can consider that my barter.”

“Huh?”

“Showing you that letter carried some weight. Do you not have something equal to offer?”

Gilda took a glance around the room. “I suppose I do. Its not much though.” Gilda sat down. “When I was a cub, I used to be a big fan of ponies. I knew all sorts of crazy pony facts, I was even friends with a group of colts and fillies at my school — until she came.” Celestia's questioning gaze signaled Gilda to continue. “Grizelda was a perfect Griffon, prideful, brash, rude... hated ponies — and that made her very popular very fast. One day, she found out that I was friends with the ponies and gave me two choices. Either I stick with the ponies and face complete humilation, or I join her little clique.” Celestia frowned, knowing where this story was going. “After that day, all the ponies looked at me like I was Grizelda.”

“A few years later it was finals, and the clique decided to intentionally fail the Equestrian Society test. Now this was fairly common, students would get good grades in other fields so they wouldn't get held back. Accept I had been falling behind in several classes. And in order to not flunk, I need an incredibly good grade on the test. I got an A+ with extra credit. This did not go over well with Grizelda. After that, my parents sent me to flight camp for the summer. Before I left, Grizelda taunted me, said they wouldn't let me back in. I didn't believe this until I was given an envelope after camp with a task and a key to a house in Cloudsdale.”

“And out of spite, you didn't try to learn any thing from ponies?” Celestia asked

Gilda nodded.

“Then that's all I need from you.”

Gilda looked out the window, and to her shock, saw the slanted rays of sunset. “Shit!” Gilda exclaimed. “ I got to get going.”

“Indeed.”

Celestia walked to her window and opened it, exposing the balcony. “You can take off from here.”

Gilda quickly brushed passed and readied for takeoff, but stopped at Celestia's voice.

“Instead of telling griffons a story about ponies, you should tell ponies a story about Griffons.”

A few hours later found Gilda in her least favorite room, her study. She had drawers pulled out while looking for a piece of paper. Once found, Gilda read it, muttering the suggestion over and over.

“Tell a story about griffons, tell a story about griffons...”

Gilda began to giggle softly as she cleared her desk of loose papers. Then, she began pulling books off the shelves.

Gilda had a story to pen.

Comments

[Muet]

[Seether00]

I am not sure what Gilda learned here.

[Skunkiss]

Wow, that was excellent!

In fact, it was so good that "Complete"-tag must be nothing but a horrible mistake!

There is going to be some kind of second chapter or sequel, right?

...

RIGHT?

[nightwalker]

I liked the story overall, it was a good bit of character building and background for Gilda. The world building parts I really liked, with the designated urban launch pads, landing decks, and street lights that double as landing lights. Loved the term carrier pigeon, will have to steal borrow myself.

I did like the idea of her and Lightening, and can certainly see that going someplace in the future. I will echo the comments given already for wanting to see more done in this storyline.

My only real complaint, which became a progressive irritant as things went on and certainly not helped by the story's length, was your constant use of Gilda. Going through, something like 75% of the times it's used should be replaced with her, she, or another appropriate pronoun. It should show up once, maybe twice in a typical paragraph. She is your only character for so much of this story, you don't have to use her name so much to remind the reader of who the sentence relates to. At least it gets better after Dust shows up and it serves its intended purpose in the dialogue. Then there's the over use of capitalization (Pony, Pegasus, and Griffon most egregiously). A simple Find-and-replace would fix that.

But, overall, a good first effort. Let's see where it goes from here.

[An-Twan Star]

4866710 Thanks for the comment, nightwalker. I'm glad that you liked the world building and Lightning Dust's inclusion in the story.

As for the criticisms, well, it seems we both share the same sentiments. I wasn't sure about capitalizing all the ponies, pegasi, and griffons used in the story. I also knew that I was overusing Gilda, I didn't want the pitfall of LUS, but I went a little too far in the other direction. My biggest concern, however, was the ending. There was so much more I wanted to explore between Celestia and Gilda, but wound up skimming over.

I believe I will rewrite this, but I wan't to wait for the contest business to end. And due to length concerns, I will probably split it into two parts.

ATS

[Starlight Nova]

4867260 What does LUS stand for? Have you ever considered submitting this story to Equestria Daily? You can find out how to do so here.

[NobleValor]

4867260 Probably for the best. It does seem to lack a certain luster. (Not that my submission was anything to brag about ) I think I shall look forward to reading it again when it has been 'smoothed over.'

[An-Twan Star]

4927679 Lavender Unicorn Syndrome, or LUS. Basically found in stories that use WAY to much character description in place of character name and/or appropriate pronouns.

[Unknownlight]

I really enjoyed this story. The Gilda here is a lot calmer and more thoughtful than most portrayals of her I see, and I really liked it. I thought that Lightning Dust was maybe a little too similar to Rainbow, but I know that was the point, and it's not really a big deal.

(I'm glad to see that Gilda is still getting excellent, in-depth, well-characterized stories about her five years after her solitary episode appearance. Us fanfic writers are weird.)

[Inferno demon Dash]

Sorry for not reviewing the other chapters before, wanted to make sure could get into this first. You done a very, very great job and I'm excited to read more of this story soon.