4: Revelations
Misperceptions v2
By: Winter Quill
Adapted from the original "Misperceptions" by Arbiter Balemead
4: Revelations
¬Gilda stretched out her wings in the center of the library, spreading them out as far as they could go. She had slept well enough but her wet feathers were all out of place and it was going to take her an hour of preening just to get them neat again. She wasn’t going to argue, it was better than having spent the night out in the storm.
Rocking her head from side to side she tucked her wings against her back and walked up to a window, pleased to see that the skies had almost cleared. Only a few clouds hanging in the air over the town and few of the weather ponies were working to get rid of them. By all rights it was a beautiful summer day.
She let out a sigh and folded her talons on the window sill, dropping her chin on top of them. The upper half of the sun was over the horizon and rising slowly into the sky. The job of the princess who controlled the movement of the sun, even in the Griffon Empire. That control had been the cause of the first and fourth Griffon-Equine wars, though that was centuries in the past.
There was something relaxing about watching the sunrise, no matter who controlled it. It shined across the city, drying the muddy ground while the color of the sky slowly turned into a perfect shade of blue. It almost made up for being battered around in the rain storm… almost.
Gilda heard the sound of hooves coming down the stairs but didn’t bother to look. There was only one pony who it could be.
“How did you sleep?” Twilight asked.
“Better then outside,” she replied, flicking her tail along the floor.
“That’s good. Spike is making breakfast, would you like to join me in the kitchen?” she asked.
The idea of a pony breakfast didn’t really appeal to her, it was probably oats in milk or something equally bland. Even so she had allowed her to spend the night so there was no reason for her to turn down the meal. "I would be happy to," she replied, and oddly meant it, as she followed Twilight into the kitchen.
"I know you don't like tea, is there anything you do like?"
"Juice would be fine," Gilda replied, sitting down in front of the table. As she expected the baby dragon had set down a bowl of oats on the table in front of Twilight as well as another glass of tea. A few moments later the dragon brought her a glass of apple juice.
She took the glass in her talon, sipping at it and enjoying the flavor and wondering where her breakfast was. Her answer came as a surprise when she started to smell the unmistakable scent of bacon. Her mouth began to water as she licked her beak, she hadn't had bacon since she left home months ago.
Twilight laughed, covering her mouth with one hoof. "I thought you would like something a bit more meaty, so I had Spike pick up some while we were out yesterday," she said with a smile.
"You didn't have to do that," she replied, blushing again as Spike brought over a small tray with a dozen thin strips of bacon sizzling on it. The young dragon set the tray down on the table and gave her a wary smile.
"Cooked with the finest in dragon's fire," he said with more than a little bit of pride.
"Thank you," she said to the young dragon, then turned her attention back to the pony. "And thank you as well."
"Oh, don't mention it. It's the least I can do for a friend," Twilight said, followed by a honest smile before she returned to her own meal.
The griffon blushed a bit more as she picked up the first piece of bacon and bit into it, savoring the flavor as it rolled down over her tongue. Did Twilight really think of her as a friend, or was it just a slip of the tongue? From the look on her face she wasn't having any second thoughts about it.
Gilda took another drink of her juice and gave the pony a smile before going back to her meal.
"So, we're going to see Applejack today?" she asked as she ate another strip of bacon. They were perfectly cooked, crisp without being crumbly, juicy without being floppy. Apparently dragon fire was the best way to make it, she would have to remember that.
"I have to send a letter after breakfast but that will only take a moment."
She nodded and fluttered her wings as she continued to eat. "Is there anything I need to know?"
Twilight laughed softly. "You're asking me like this is a covert mission. She's the Element of Honesty, so she never tells a lie and is really good at spotting one. She's not a pony you should try and fool. You didn't do anything to Applejack that you didn't do to me, so I'm sure she will accept your apology. She's a hard working pony and you might have to help out of the farm to get her attention, but it wouldn't be too much work."
Help around the farm? It wasn't like she was against hard work, but if it was what it took to apologize to Applejack she would do it. She used to help out her Grann around the family estate, as well as her school work and playing on the Stormball team. She was pretty sure she could manage any work she might find.
"I can do that," she said.
The pony nodded and wiped her muzzle with a napkin. "I'll be back in a moment, I need to write that letter," she said, standing up from the table.
Spike was at her side in a moment, holding a quill in one hand and a piece of parchment in the other. "I'm ready!"
Twilight smiled and leaned down to nuzzle the top of his head. "Not this time Spike, I need to write this one myself," she said, using her magic to take the writing implements from him. Without another word she walked out of the kitchen.
The young dragon watched her go, "That's weird, she always has me write her letters."
Gilda shrugged out her wings. She didn't really have an answer for him on that subject, not that he was even talking to her. The purple dragon shook his head and brushed back his spines before he started to walk away from the table.
He was almost out the door when she found herself speaking up. "Spike?" Causing him to freeze in place before slowly turning around to look at her, crossing his arms across his chubby belly. He didn't say a word but the look on his displeasure on his face said at all for him.
"Would you like a piece of bacon?" she asked, pointing at the tray.
"Nah, I prefer gems."
The griffoness nodded and fanned her wings again. "Well, thank you for making it for me."
He nodded slightly, then left her to her own devices. It was clear the young dragon didn't like her very much, which was funny as she had never meet him before returning to the library. Or had she? She thought back to the party as she ate her bacon, trying to remember if he had been there... a few moments later she had a flash of a purple dragon digging through the cake with trick candles.
Gilda let out a sigh and covered her face with a talon, another person she owned an apology to. "At this rate I'm going to need a party to apologize for the party," she grumbled.
"I'm sure Pinkie Pie can arrange that for you, in fact she's probably already planning one," Twilight said as she came back into the room, a scroll levitating next to her flank.
"I doubt she would do that, not after what I did," she replied as she ate the last of her meal.
With a laugh the unicorn shook her head. "She like her parties, she would use any excuse to throw one. She even has parties to celebrating having a successful party."
"Really?" she asked, finding it very doubtful.
Twilight smiled, floating the scroll over to Spike as the dragon came back into the room. "I've given up trying to understand Pinkie, I've just learned to go along with whatever she does."
Without a word Spike took the scroll and burnt it with his fire, but instead of turning to ashes it became green smoke. It swirled up through the air then slipped out the window like it had a mind of its own, which might even have been true.
The pony nodded and flicked her long tail. "It's a bit of a walk to Sweet Apple Acres, you ready to go?"
Taking the last piece of bacon in her claws, she ate it quickly then gave her friend a smile. "I'm ready."
* * *
Sweet Apple Acres was located on outer edge of Ponyville, it was a longer walk then it had looked at first and by the time they had started to come upon apple trees Gilda's talons and paws were starting to ache. She thought about making her way by air but she didn't want to leave Twilight behind. At least the long walk had given her time to get her wings decently preened.
They were walking along a low wooden fence, the boards aged and warn from years in the weather. On the other side of the fence were tree after tree filled with apples. They were of mixed ripeness, one section of trees would have bright fresh apples, another would have small ones that were still growing. There seemed to be an order to it, but she couldn't quite tell what it was.
Finally they came to a section of fence that had fallen off the fence posts. A large red pony stallion, wearing a equally large yoke, was in the process of repairing it. He had a log braced against his flank as he hammered in a nail with his horse shoe.
"Hello Big Macintosh," Twilight said politely as they stopped in front of the stallion. He paused and looked up from his work, setting down the nails held in his mouth.
"Well, howdy Miss Twilight," he said with a smile. "Who is this ya've brought with ya?"
Twilight gently tapped the griffon in her flank, making her jump and fan out her wings.
"Er... I'm Gilda," she said.
"Pleased ta meet ya Miss Gilda. I'd shake yer claw, but my hooves are a bit full," he replied, motioning to the broken fence.
"Thanks okay, Big Mac. We're just here to see Applejack, where can we find her?" Twilight asked.
His eyes narrowed slightly to look at the griffon and mare. "She's out by the barn."
"Thanks," she said, giving a nod to the stallion and starting back down the road. "Thank you," Gilda added, following after the unicorn. They walked along the road for a few more minutes before coming to a large open gate. They turned off the road and onto the winding path that cut its way through the trees until they came up to a large barn.
There were two ponies standing inside the door, an adult mare with a bright orange coat and a yellow foal who was bouncing around from side to side, her red hair flying around as she did so. They were both facing inside and didn't see the approaching women.
"Applejack," Twilight called out.
The orange pony lifted her head up, a large Stetson hat perched on top of her ears. "Hello Twilight, Gilda," she said, still looking away from them.
"How did you know I was here?" the griffon asked, not liking the rather unpleasant tone in the earth pony's voice.
Slowly she turned around, her eyes narrow as she reached up to pull her hat down over her head. "Pinkie stopped by and told me ya were in town. Now what in the hey are you doin' here?" she asked, taking a step forward, the foal moving deeper into the barn.
Gilda gulped and flicked her tail slightly. "Well, I was here too--"
"Ya know what? I don't much care," she snapped, punctuating it with a slam of her hoof. "As long as you aren't plannin' on screamin' at Pinkie or Fluttershy again, you can do whatever ya'all want."
"Oh... I forgot to mention that she was as mad at you as Rainbow was," Twilight muttered, taking a step back from the earth pony.
Gilda pulled her wings to her flank, trying hard not to ruffle out her feathers as she eyed the purple unicorn. It would have been nice to know what she was getting into before she found herself up to her feathers in it.
Finally the griffon took a step forward, and lowered her head slightly. "I just... I want to apologize to you for what I did the last time I was here."
"Ya do, do ya? Well good for you, it's 'bout time. Why are ya talkin' ta me about it?"
She found herself at a loss for words, she wanted to explain the logic behind apologizing to all Rainbow's friends, but the more she did it the less it felt like it was enough. "Erm--"
Twilight took a step forward to explain. "Gilda is trying to make amends with everyone she wronged, to fix a broken friendship. I firmly believe it has a chance if at least one pony--er--griffon has the will to fix it."
"And you're helpin' Gilda with this?" Applejack asked, she wasn't accusing her of anything, she was simply curious.
"Well... yes," the unicorn replied.
With a nod, the farmer turned her attention back to Gilda. "So, ya're here seeking forgiveness, tryin' to fix your friendship with Rainbow?"
She nodded.
Applejack, reached up and pushed her hat back, turning her full attention to Gilda. "Ya seem to know that ya did wrong,"
"So, will you accept my apology?"
"No, I won't."
Gilda's wings dropped down to smack against the ground. If Applejack felt the same way about her as Rainbow Dash did, and she wouldn't accept her apology what was the chance that Rainbow would? "I see," she said, slumping down slightly. "I'll go," she whispered, then started to turn in palace.
"Not so fast there," the farmer added, taking a quick step forward. "I ain't going to accept your apology 'cause words ain't enough. Ya yelled at my friends, insulted everyone in Ponyville and scared Granny Smith out of her wits. Now ya want to make nice with us all in the hopes to get Rainbow Dash back, but unless ya start actin' different then ya did before, your words are just words."
Twilight jumped to her defense. "But, Gilda has changed, I've seen it."
She turned to look at the unicorn. "Sorry Sugar, but she's only been in town a day or two. Hardly long enough to prove that she's changed."
"Well I believe she has."
Applejack bit her lip, looking between the unicorn and the griffon. "Then I'm willin' to let her prove it."
"Thank you," Gilda said, picking her wings up.
"You're welcome. I'm sure I'll see ya around," the earth pony replied. "Now if ya'all would excuse me. I got work to do," she said, then turned back and vanished into the barn.
Gilda look in a long breath, feeling her feathers ruffle a bit as she let it out. "That could have gone better," she said.
"If Applejack is willing to give you a chance then I'm sure Rainbow Dash will as well. Just keep on acting like you are and you'll prove yourself to both of them," Twilight replied.
She nodded, she had changed, really she had. At least that's what she believed, the trick was going to be in proving it to Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. It shouldn't be too hard, she just had to kept acting like she was, instead of insulting every pony around town. She could do that, she had been doing it ever since...
"Where's your cutie mark?" a young voice asked from her side.
Turning her head she was surprised to see the young foal standing next to her, her red hair pulled back with a large bow and the look of curiosity in her orange eyes.
Beside them Twilight laughed. "Griffon's don't have cutie marks, Apple Bloom."
"Oh... that's weird." the foal said, looking back at Gilda. "How do you know what your special talent is?"
"We don't have special talents, not like ponies. That's what makes you special, you can learn what you're best at, but we're never sure," she replied, reaching out with one talon to gently fluff the top of her mane. "And what's your special talent?"
Apple Bloom blushed a bit and turned to look at her unblemished flank. "I don't know yet."
Gilda was surprised, she had never seen a pony without a mark before. She gave Twilight a look, hoping she would come to her rescue. Luckily the unicorn was quick to understand the unspoken question. "It takes time to discover your special talent, I'm sure you'll find it someday soon."
The foal smiled a bit. "I wish it could be today, but I got chores to do around the farm and you don’t earn your cutie mark by doing chores. I bet it will be tomorrow!"
"I bet it will," Twilight said.
Apple Bloom smiled and nodded. "Tomorrow!" she said, then turned around and trotted back into the barn with her sister.
Twilight and Gilda started back down the path towards the road, the sun filtering through the apple trees that lined the way. As they walked the griffon thought about what Applejack had said, that she had insulted everyone. A small part of her wondered if she had really changed, or was just hiding who she was to win back her old friend. She thought she had changed, she knew it deep down, but was it true?
Finally she let out a sigh and looked at Twilight. "Do you really think I've changed? Do you really think that this could all work out?"
Twilight nodded. "Of course I do, there is something different about you," she said, looking over to the griffon. For a moment the two locked eyes, looking into each other for before the unicorn jerked away from her amber eyes and back to reality. There was a strained moment of silence between them as they both tried to regain their composure.
“As for you and Rainbow, everything has a chance to happen and anything is possible. I've seen all kinds of things that no pony would have believed possible until it happened. I mean, Discord made clouds out of cotton candy and it rained chocolate milk. I believe that you and Rainbow can be friends again, and everything you've shown me makes me believe you're willing to put in the effort needed to win her back... and you seem like a better person then you were before."
"So, anything is possible?"
Twilight smiled. "Anything."
* * *¬
Gilda’s feet were killing her as they neared the outskirts of town, ever step sent a jolt of pain up her legs and into her back, making her grind her beak and thrash her tail from side to side. She found herself glancing up to the sky, wanting to get off the ground. Instead she found herself not watching where she was going and tripped over a root in the road. Letting out a squawk she crashed forward, landing beak first in the hard packed dirt.
“Are you alright?” Twilight asked, turning around and moving to the griffon’s side.
“I’m fine,” she lied, brushing a talon through her feathers to shake off most of the dirt.
She shook her head. “I may not be Applejack, but even I can see you would rather be flying. It does seem to be the perfect day for it.”
A hint of a smile crossed over Gilda’s face. “Well, I could use some practice... you know, to pass the time until Rainbow gets back.”
“That’s fine, you go ahead,” the unicorn said, a moment later her eyes lit up with an idea. “Can I watch?”
That caught the griffon by surprise. “I don’t see why not, and you don’t really have to ask,” she replied, fanning out her wings.
“Oh, yeah... of course... I don’t have to ask,” Twilight said, cocking her head. Her ears twisting to the side as she pawed one hoof at the ground, a hint of a blush showing through her purple coat.
Gilda flicked out her tail, bracing herself before leaping into the air. She stretched her wings as she flew into the clear blue sky, feeling the warmth of the sun on her feathers and fur. She spun through the hair over Ponyville, getting a feel for the air currents and updrafts caused by all the buildings. When she felt comfortable she turned to fly over a large park, happy to see Twilight sitting on a small on a small hear nearby, watching intently.
When she was ready she started to really fly, doing spirals, loops and rolls in the air. Dipping down low over the park and Twilight before taking off high into the air. She was showing off, and she knew it, even though there was no reason to do so. She could see the pony watching her with wide eyes, her eyes tracking her across the sky, an enraptured look on her face.
After about half an hour she came in low and slide to a stop in the grass next to Twilight, she smiled at the unicorn and preened a little bit.
“That was fantastic, you fly so differently then Rainbow Dash. She’s faster and uses more complicated tricks, but you’re more graceful in the air. It’s similar, yet completely different,” she said with a smile. “It was amazing,” she added a moment later.
Gilda preened a bit more, trying to hide her blush. “Amazing?”
“Amazing,” she repeated.
The griffon smiled and fanned out her wings. “Would you like to see more?”
“I would love to!”
With a smile she flapped her wings and took back into the air, smiling down at the librarian. It was nice to have someone to watch her again, and one who seemed so honest in what she thought of her abilities. She rose into the air, getting ready to do a series of somersaults combined with spins, but on the way up a blue blur whizzed past her, knocking her off course.
Gilda let out a gasp as she pulled back, her wings tucking against her flank and causing her to lose lift and stall. She twisted to try and recover but only managed to cause herself to go into a spin. She found herself twisting her body, flicking her tail quickly to try and stop her horizontal motion before pulling up to a hard landing, her talons digging into the grass and pulling up some chunks of it.
“What’s up, G?” a familiar high-spirited voice shouted from above her in the air.
The griffon lifted her head up to see the familiar cyan form of her old friend hovering a hundred feet above her. “You just love showing me up, don’t you Dash?” she asked with a bit of a smile.
“You say that like I need to try,” the pegasus replied, slowing sinking down towards the ground.
Twilight ran over at a full gallop, sliding on her hooves to a stop next to Gilda. “Are you okay?”
She brushed her feathers back over her head, trying her best to keep her cool detached look, but she fact that the unicorn would even ask made her smile. A few moments later Fluttershy hovered down and landed a short distance from the three of them, a look of worry on her face.
A hint of a frown crossed over Dash’s muzzle as she moved over to the yellow pegasus and wrapped a wing around her. “Seriously though, why are you in town, Gilda?”
Gilda felt a rush of emotion crash down over her, this was it, the moment of truth, after all that she had done for the past few days, all that she said, it came down to this. Eye to eye with her old friend, who she had yelled at and dismissed. Now that the moment was upon her she found that her beak was dry, her feathers on her neck ruffling out.
“I... I came here to apologize. You know, for the last time I was in town,” she said, the words sounding empty even as she spoke them. She closed her eyes, looking away from her old friend, not sure what else she could say.
“Really?” Rainbow asked. “And why is that?”
This wasn’t going to be easy. “I was a bad guest,” she said, struggling for the words. The blue pegasus didn’t seem to be impressed with this, a frown starting to pull at the corner of her muzzle. “I said a lot of things, a lot of bad things, and I acted like a jerk and done things I shouldn’t have done.”
“Like?”
She took in a long breath, and looked at Twilight. She had a worried look on her face but motioned for her to go on. “Like yelling at Pinkie, and insulting you and your friends at the party just because I was angry at some pranks. And for roaring at Fluttershy, she wasn’t even in my way, I just... I wanted to have a rumble and she was escorting the ducks... and it was stupid, I was so stupid,” she voice caught in the back of her throat, the words getting hard and harder to say. “I was a complete idiot. I was jealous of your new friends just because they were your friends. Then I got mad, and frustrated, and I didn’t even pay attention to what you were doing.”
She shook her head, finding that she was starting to tear up, she tried to fight it, but she just couldn’t hold it back. Not now, not anymore. “I was a fool, and a jerk. I should never have said those things to you, none of it was true. You were happy with your friends, and I should have been happy for you. I shouldn’t have hurt you.... I should... I should have been a better friend,” she dropped to the ground, starting to sob in earnest. “I should have been better...”
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I am still mad this story is not getting the love it should be. you are doing a great job with it. please don't let you lack of readers stop you form writing more of this.
2249084
You never know what the future might bring.
As for the story, I'm somewhere in the middle of Chapter 8 or 9 (can't remember off the top of my head) and getting into 100% original stuff, so we'll see how it goes from there. :)
memecrunch.com/meme/1RKD/please-sir-i-want-some-more/image.png
I like this version much better than the original because while it follows the same events as the original you give it your own flavor that makes it more. I also want to let you know that Sweet Apple Acers is actually spelled Sweet Apple Acres.
nice story. good read. will continue.
"aged and warn" should be "aged and worn".
"Twilight sitting on a small on a small hear nearby" --> "Twilight sitting on a small hill nearby" perhaps?
"an jerk" should be "a jerk", 'a' only becomes 'an' when the next word starts with a vowel otherwise its 'a'...
and for the record i have no idea why this alone caught my attention and bugged me so much...
5106852
Fixed it for you. :)
And thanks for catching it. I know how those little things can just grate.
Really?