• Member Since 9th Sep, 2014
  • offline last seen March 19th

LightningSword


Me. Take it or leave it.

E

One of Fluttershy's worst fears has been realized: Gilda's back in town, and once again the little yellow Pegasus is the target of her ire. Due to past events, it seems logical that Fluttershy would be scared to death this time around. But Fluttershy's a different pony, and Gilda's about to find out how different.

Just as Fluttershy is about to find out, after quite a bit of roaring and screaming, just how different Gilda is deep down inside.

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 121 )

“Gilda. You don’t scare me.”

There was another pause, longer this time, and Gilda stared back at Fluttershy as if insulted.

“What?”

“You heard me,” Fluttershy shot back. “You don’t scare me. Because you’re a bully. And I’ve fought bigger bullies than you. And won.”

“Yeah, right!” Gilda snorted. “Like you could—”

“I’m not finished,” Fluttershy cut her off with a raised voice. “I’ve fought bigger bullies than you’ll ever know. The kind of bullies that have done things that would make the feathers on the back of your neck stand up. I’ve fought bullies that have commanded armies, enslaved whole cities, caused eternal night, and threatened to destroy all of Equestria! And all of them were way scarier than you’ll ever be! So don’t you dare think you’re the scariest thing I’ve ever seen! I’ve made friends with ponies who were ten times worse than you!”

Gilda merely continued to stare. “What are you talk—”

“And that’s another thing! You don’t know me! You don’t have the right to call me names and think I’m some little helpless wimp! I’ve fought monsters and villains and helped saved Equestria so many times! I’m stronger than you’ll ever bother to know, because all you see is that scared little pony you upset all that time ago! Well, that scared little pony’s not so wimpy anymore, and she doesn’t let anypony bully her anymore!”

By now, the pugnacious look in Gilda’s eyes was gone. “That’s not—”

“And don’t you judge Rainbow Dash by her friends!” Fluttershy went on in an almost screaming voice, now taking steps forward. “If I judged Rainbow Dash by what kind of friends she has, that would include you, and that would mean she is a horrible pony with horrible taste in friends! Because you do nothing but insult ponies and make them feel small and weak, and nopony would want to be friends with a pony or a griffin like you! Rainbow Dash may not be perfect, but she’s a hero too, and I’ve helped her save Equestria, so I know she’s good inside, but you, Gilda, haven’t shown anypony that you’re anything more than a cold, selfish, bitter old meanie who only feels strong by making everypony around her feel weak! And Rainbow Dash has much better friends than you, friends that know not to pick on smaller ponies, because the only kind of pony who would do that is a bully!”

I absolutely loved Fluttershy's speech here. It's about high time someone stood up to Gilda, even if she's still learning about friendship. I think Rainbow Dash would be very proud of Fluttershy here, even if she would also be a bit sad that Gilda still returned to bully her oldest friend.:fluttershysad: But I'm also happy Gilda's lesson about friendship from Pinkie and Rainbow Dash still stuck and this just isn't bashing of a character. Great story Lightning!

7697909 Thanks for the like and fave. I'm so glad you enjoyed. :twilightsmile:

It was only a halfhearted smirk at first, but it soon flourished into a full-fledged grin, and the warmth doubled.

:lunahuzzah: (if only that was an emoticon)

“The ducks. They’re kinda cute . . .”

Depends how carnivorous griffons are in your headcanon, but I'm having fun imagining Gilda being torn between ducks are cute and ducks are dinner.

This was a nice read. Fluttershy, solving friendship problems with judiciously applied kindness. Gilda, introduced to Fluttershy-style friendship. Only good can come of this.

7697910 Hey, it was a great story. You deserved that like and fave!:raritywink:

Now if only Lightning Dust could be redeemed...

7697952 Hey, maybe for all we know she's learned her lesson off screen. Hey Lightning, maybe you could write a story about Lightning being redeemed. I'd love to see it, as she's a great foil for Rainbow Dash.

Another great job Lightning. I like it so much.

7697969 I'd have to see "WonderBolt Academy" again to get a feel for LD's character. But I don't see why not. :twilightsmile:

7697975 Thank you! :pinkiehappy:

I just said that I don’t like you very much, and that’s only because of the way you treat me. If you tried being nicer, we’d be much friendlier to each other.”

That's not true and you know it. You called her a monster—to her face. So no, this went beyond "dislike" and please don't pretend that it didn't.

This was cute, wonderful, fantastic and an awesome read! I didn't spot any errors so it must be nice editing wise. Great job!

Now that was truly awesome! Fluttershy's come a long way since that first heartbreaking encounter with Gilda, and you did an amazing job showing it! :pinkiehappy:

Fluttershy being confident and assertive? Gilda being genuinely repentant and nice? Cute little duckies, complete with one named Howard? How can I not enjoy this story?! :yay:

I'm having a really hard time pinpointing when exactly this is supposed to take place. Because this isn't like post-Griffonstone Gilda in the first half, but it isn't like pre-Griffonstone Gilda in the second half.

Anyway, this is an alright story through and through. I will say that it's maybe a little a contrived that they wound up in the literal same situation. I feel like you did that specifically to show how much Fluttershy has grown. Another situation would have worked fine.

As for Fluttershy herself, I think maybe she's a little too aggressive. I can't imagine her going on a massive tirade like that. In Scare Master, and other times where she stands up for herself, she's generally more level-headed and calm. Still, this wasn't terrible, so good job.

Damn, only 29 likes and in the featured box already!?

*added

7698183 I'm taking it as "This instead of Griffonstone."

I was crying while reading this. But it was totally because my eyes were burning. Eeyup.

Assertive Shy is best Shy!:pinkiehappy:

Fluttershy (or other shy character archetype) going off like this is probably my second favorite type of fic to read of all time. (My first favorite is domestic writing blurbs -- where characters aren't really dealing with anything, it's just an author writing about a normal moment for one of them)

It seemed a touch out of character for Gilda, but that was the whole point of the story, no? I liked it. Definite fav.

wow way to go Fluttershy you did it .:pinkiehappy: WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOO

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7698638 Thank you all so much for reading and favoriting!! :raritystarry:

7698752 Thanks for favoriting! :twilightsmile:

This was a really cute story & almost brought me to tears. Even though I don't usually read feelsy stuff, I'm glad I did this time. :3

7698967 Thanks for favoriting! :pinkiehappy:

I like the way Gilda is portrayed in this. Going by her actions in the Gryphonstone episode, she reacted in a similar manner; all bark no bite.

Shit, now I feel feels.

TGM

This was alright. I thought Fluttershy was maybe a little too aggressive, as JumpingShinyFrogs said, but it wasn't too outside of the character she's taking on in season six.

I don't really understand what you were trying to do with Gilda, she seemed like a nicer person {Griffin? whatever.) after the Griffonstone episode, I don't think she'd fly all the way to Ponyville and start insulting Dash's friends again while trying to reconcile with her, but other than that, it was alright.

Thumbs up.

7699215 I really appreciate that. My plan was to make Gilda frustrated that Dash treats her pony friends better than Gilda, and have her take her frustrations out on Fluttershy before she could apologize properly. I guess I didn't make that obvious enough. :twilightoops:

7698649 you're welcome:pinkiehappy:

Hey, congrats on getting featured!

Great story light
fun fact while i was reading

“You know, they are kinda cute . . . .”

When i saw this line i really had to look back and re-read it because i was SURE that it said
“You know, you are kinda cute . . . .”
:twilightoops: :derpytongue2:

7699557 LoL, understandable. Lots of fics like this end that way. :rainbowwild: Thanks for the fave!

Honestly, this is a bit generic. By and large, this really does nothing that the average story of its type doesn't do. It just mostly updates it for the current season, brings it up to date with a Fluttershy who has ~seen some shit, mang~.

Still, that doesn't make it bad and what it does, it does well. No upvote, but no downvote either. A strong middle-of-the-road entry to a used-up genre. Solid job.

Sometimes it's nice to have some almost shameless well-intentioned fluff! I think I'd rather accept this as canon, lol.

> only barely catching the satisfactory look on Gilda’s face.

"satisfactory" would mean that Fluttershy is judging Gilda's smile to be acceptable. I think you mean "satisfied" here.

7699738 I had trouble deciding which of the two would sound better in that context, whether Fluttershy would be judging Gilda or whether Gilda would be satisfied to begin with. :applejackunsure:

7699785
I find Fluttershy to be one of the least judgmental ponies around. Here she goes as far as saying she doesn't like Gilda because of her actions, but she never judges her as a bad person.

7699798 Very true. But their actions are a different story. She would only be judging Gilda's actions in this sense. Then again, is Gilda satisfied? Is that even a logical reaction in that context?

I think that line needs a quick fix . . . . :facehoof:

A duckling named Howard in Equestria... That is just precious... OH! And it gives me an excuse to play THIS.

Definitely on point here. Fluttershy was fantastic. Great job with this.

7697909 Dude, spoiler that shit please.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Fluttershy replied, “my lips are sealed." I don’t have to, anyway, she continued in thought as she glanced up and down the sides of the street—the onlookers were only just now dispersing, whistling tunelessly or staring awkwardly into the sky as they meandered away.

Besides that, nice job! You have yourself a fav and a follow. :twilightsmile:

And all I could think of is a certain someone from Undertale that cried...then ran away.

I wonder what happened to the ducks the first time around... :rainbowhuh:

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