Yu-Gi-Oh! Friendship is Magic

by moviemaster8510

Chapter 32: Gilda's Nightmare

It was late at night and everyone was asleep. Gilda was sleeping in the clouds that sat above the mountain, where Trixie was sleeping in her cart parked inside the cave. Trixie began having a dream of her time in Jr. Speedster Flight Camp.

Gilda was probably the same age as a young filly/colt when she first walked up to the entrance to Flight Camp for her very first day. Her parents died when she was an infant, and she was adopted by a loving pegasi family who weren’t fertile to conceive a child. They scraped up whatever they owned to see that she could be accepted. Gilda was feeling ready and happy as she strolled through the crowds of ponies making new friends with each other. But as she walked, all of the other ponies stared at her with a lack of acceptance in her eyes. Gilda felt a little more uneasy as more and more fillies and colts rejected her. She then came across three colts. One of them was a portly grey pegasus with three footballs for a cutie mark, and the others were Hoops and Dumb-Bell when they were colts. “Hey, who’s the new kid?” said Hoops. “My name’s Gilda,” she said. “Oh wow,” said Dumb-Bell, “get a load of Gil-duh over here.” The three colts just laughed at her. Gilda felt very hurt knowing she wasn’t being accepted for her being a griffin. “Leave her alone,” said a voice from behind. In flew in a blue pegasus filly with a rainbow colored mane and tail. “Well, well, well,” said Dumb-Bell, “if it isn’t our old friend Rainbow Crash.” The three colts laughed, but Rainbow Dash still kept a serious demeanor. “Save it,” she said. “Or do you want to do another race,” she said with a smirk. The three colts became embarrassed upon remembering how she beat them in a race the previous year. “Uh, that’s okay,” said Hoops, “we were just going to go.” They then walked away. “Wow,” said Gilda. “Thanks for that.” “No prob’,” said Rainbow Dash. “Who are you?” “My name’s Gilda,” she said with more confidence. “I’m a griffon.” “What’s that?” asked Rainbow Dash. “That means I’m half eagle and half lion,” said Gilda. “And all awesome,” said Rainbow Dash wrapping her arm around Gilda. Gilda beamed at being accepted by her new friend. They both walked to class together.

Throughout the school year, with Rainbow Dash at her side, Gilda was one of the coolest creatures at flight camp. Everyone wanted to hang out with her, talk to her, eat lunch with her, and sit next to her during class. Gilda never felt so happy. One day, however, Rainbow Dash was missing from flight camp. She felt nervous as she searched high and low for her friend. She then when she was done searching, Hoops and Dumb-Bell flew up next to her. Dumb-Bell spoke first. “Hey, there Gil-duh. Where’s your friend Rainbow Crash?” “You tell me,” said Gilda angrily. “I heard a rumor that she got kicked out of flight school. Something about napping through class and then flunking her classes.” “Not that it really matters,” said Hoops. “The point is your bodyguard is gone and now you’re all ours, Gil-duh.” They then began pushing her to each-other roughly chanting, “Gil-duh, Gil-duh.” As best as she could, Gilda saw no one else coming to her aid. She thought she would begin crying from her betrayal. But, instead something else snapped inside of her. As soon as Hoops was about to push Gilda to Dumb-Bell, Gilda used the momentum from the push to launch herself at Dumb-Bell and tackle him. She then began to wail on him. Hoops tried to pull her off from behind, but Gilda used her hind legs to buck Hoops off, knocking him unconscious. She still wailed on Dumb-Bell until a pair of teachers pulled her off of him. While she was still in reach, she spat on the battered Dumb-Bell before she was carried to the principal’s office.

“You got expelled?” cried her mom. “How could you?” “We gave you everything,” said her father, “and this is how you repay us?” “Shut up!” said Gilda. “I hate that school. I hate being bullied every day. I hate not having any friends, I hate everyone, and I hate you too.” With that she flew as far away as she could. It was the last time she saw her parents. She lived alone, and hunted for herself. At certain points she would visit numerous towns all over Equestria when the loneliness was too much to bear, but she still received the same lack of acceptance she got on her first day of Jr. Speedster Flight Camp, garnering a deeper and deeper hatred for the pony species. One day many years later, she was flying over Ponyville and happened to come across Rainbow Dash. Being her only fond memory of her childhood, she made a happy reunion with her old friend. “I can’t believe it,” said Rainbow Dash. “It’s been, like, ages since we were students at Jr. Speedster Flight Camp.” Gilda’s memories the traumatic experience of that institution caused her to try and change the subject. “I know, right?” she said as plainly as possible. “Hey, do you mind if I crash at your place for the night?” “Gilda,” said Rainbow Dash, “you’re welcome in my home anytime.”

The next morning, Rainbow Dash introduced Gilda to Pinkie Pie. I should try and act nice around her, thought Gilda as she casually conversed with Pinkie Pie as calmly as she could. With Pinkie Pie’s incessant following, Gilda began to feel less and less calm as her new side slowly seeped through. No, she thought. Rainbow Dash is MY friend. I won’t let them take her away from me again. She then sought to see that Pinkie Pie stayed away from her and Rainbow Dash. She then tormented many of the various ponies in Ponyville, including Fluttershy, who still had a vendetta against any pegasi (except for Rainbow Dash) after her last day at Flight Camp. At first, her making Fluttershy cry felt very satisfactory, but looking back on it through her dream and the atrocities she committed the past few days, she partly wished she could take it back. She then went to Pinkie Pie’s party with Rainbow Dash. After being pranked one too many times throughout the day, she finally lost it and took out her frustration on every pony inside the Sugarcube Corner where the party was held. Upon showing her mean side, Rainbow Dash disowned her as a friend. In reality, she felt extremely hurt that she was being cut off from the only pony she could call a friend. Still pent up with rage and despair, she told her off and left Sugarcube Corner. She remembered that in real life, she flew far away from Ponyville and never came back until the competition. In her dream however, before she could take off, she then felt violently ill. She convulsed on the ground and vomited a black oily liquid. She then saw the skin on her left arm begin to dissolve to reveal a metallic cannon where her arm should have been, similar to the one on her Meklord Astro Mekanikle card. Frightened, she then tried to pick up the down that fell and put it back on her arm, but her right arm changed into Meklord Astro Mekanikle’s right arm. She then stood upright on her legs, and screamed. The rest of her flesh on her body tore away as she fully transformed into Meklord Astro Mekanikle, growing 5 times her normal size. She then used her cannon arm to launch a beam of energy at the Sugarcube Corner, blowing it to smithereens. Any pony that was still alive from the blast ran away whilst on fire. She then saw a somehow unscathed Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash helping Fluttershy push away a support beam that was crushing her. Meklord Astro Mekanikle then aimed her cannon at the three ponies and finally blasted them all away.

Gilda woke up yelling and jerking upright. She looked at her hands and saw that they resembled her eagle-like talons. She sighed with relief. Of all the dreams she had ever dreamed, this one felt the most real. She then ran her hands through her feathery head, fell back on the bed and cried.

The sun broke the night several hours later. All of the humans plus Orion were up, dressed, and packed, having an early breakfast, looking over the bracket for the tournament. Alex and Orion would be facing Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, Lucas and Scott would be facing Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle and Zecora would be facing Trixie and Gilda, and Sammy and Maddie would be facing Rarity and Fluttershy in the quarter finals. Everything after that would be at the hands of fate. There was a knock at the door. There stood 3 pairs of royal guards with chariots. “Escorts from the Princess herself,” said one of them. All of the humans and Orion got into the chariots by 2’s, except for Sammy, Maddie, and Charley, who made room for 3. Before they left for Cloudsdale, they stopped at the hospital to see Applekjack, Apple Bloom, and Spike. It was still very early, but Twilight Sparkle and Zecora were all up as well to check on their comatose friends. Orion placed a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. She turned around to see Orion. He knelt down, putting his hands on both of her shoulders and said, “Everything is going to be alright. I promise.” He then hugged Twilight, who returned his embrace. All three escorts plus Twilight and Zecora’s escort then rode off into the sky towards Cloudsdale, to try and defeat Trixie and Gilda once and for all.