Not limping at all, Gilda confidently strode out of the evening air and through the doors of Carousel Boutique. Ok maybe she limped a little. Mind you, anyone would be limping after having Applejack slam a wooden sword against their leg, hell; few people would still be standing without support.

‘Are you sure you don’t need help?’ Rarity asked concern in her voice.

And maybe Gilda wasn’t striding as much as she was just refusing to admit that her right leg should be taking shorter steps than the other and maybe it should be taking less weight as well.

‘I’m fine.’ Gilda snapped back at Rarity.

No Gilda absolutely did not need anyone’s help climbing up the stairs to the bathroom. About halfway up the stairs the muscles in her legs cramped up and she fell forwards and barely caught herself on the railing.

‘Oh!’ Rarity gasped running up the stairs to aid Gilda.

Rapidly climbing back to her feat Gilda pulled herself up placing most of her weight back on her left leg. Coming to a halt behind the griffon Rarity put a supportive shoulder underneath the Griffons arm.

‘I don’t want your fucking help!’ Gilda shouted and stumble jumped away from Rarity. Seeing the hurt look on Rarity’s face Gilda sighed and lowered her head. ‘I’m sorry but… I Just… ergh…’ Gilda turned and continued up the stairs.

Rarity followed her at a distance concern painted on her face, staying just close enough to help in case Gilda stumbled again. Arriving at the bathroom door Gilda turned back to Rarity.

‘I know you’re trying to help, but just… give me a minute.’ And with that the griffon turned around and limped through the bathroom door closing it behind her.

Sighing and leaning back against the door Gilda let herself sink to the tiled floor and basked in the relief of taking the weight off her bad leg. Burying her head in her hands Gilda went over the events of the day in her mind.
To think today had started so well.

Flipping through the morning paper, Rarity delicately placed a square of whole grain toast in her mouth and chewed a small piece off before returning the rest of the toast to a plate. Heavy footsteps alerted her to the presence of Gilda.

‘Hey Rarity?’ the griffon asked.

Looking up and removing her reading glasses Rarity answered ‘yes?’

Gilda held up a tin ‘There anywhere I can heat this up?’

Nodding Rarity answered ‘Yes, you can use the kitchen stove.’

Gilda nodded and turned away while Rarity returned to her reading. A moment later Sweetie Bell came rushing into the room.

‘Morning Rarity!’ she said cheerfully.

‘Morning Sweetie.’ Rarity answered while distractedly turning the page.

Rushing to her sisters’ side Sweetie asked ‘Did Derpy drop off the mail?’

Rarity nodded absently ‘yes.’

Sweetie stood next to her sister waiting for her to continue; when no more information was forth coming she nudged Raritys’ shoulder with her hand.

Sighing and looking up from the paper, Rarity took off her reading glasses. ‘Yes?’

‘Was there anything for me?’ Sweetie asked.

Turning to the right, Rarity picked up three letters from a counter with her telekinesis and floated them over to herself. Rarity caught them out of the air and handed them to Sweetie.

‘One of them was sent from Applebloom, the other two are for Gilda.’ She said before returning the, glasses to her face and turning her attention back upon the newspaper.

As distracted as she was Rarity failed to notice her younger sister taking all three of the letters.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Gilda came back in carrying a steaming bowl of tinned meat. Sitting across from Rarity, Gilda began to eat. The elder sister couldn’t help but notice the awful smell of the food. Looking up, Rarity watched as Gilda blew on a warm spoonful of gruel.

Noticing her audience Gilda smiled at Rarity ‘It tastes about as nice as it looks... Or smells.’

Rarity wrinkled her nose in disgust.
It must indeed taste awful.

Gilda took another mouthful before she continued speaking ‘My dad always used to joke about how he joined the guard for the fine dining.’ Chuckling Gilda kept eating.

Rarity blinked. That sounded like it was supposed to be some kind of joke. ‘I don’t understand.’

Pausing Gilda turned to Rarity and seemed to be deciding whether Rarity was making fun of her or not. ‘This canned junk is the only meat that retailers will stock and believe me, there’s no way you can get it fresh without a hunting license or an illegal session in the woods. So for a law abiding Griffon without a license, all their meals taste like cra… they taste bad. But in the guard, all soldiers are given their food prepared, so if a griffon joins they’re put on a special diet, and they can get fresh meat every now and then. So for most griffons, military rations literally taste nicer than a home cooked meal, which is ironic, cause you know, army food’s notorious for being cra… Terrible.’

Rarity nodded in understanding and smiled politely. It was kind of ironic when you thought about it and under different circumstances it may have been a funny joke, but no joke is funny if you have to explain it. Rarity returned to her newspaper and Gilda resumed eating in silence.

Sweetie spoke up breaking the silence ‘Hey Gilda?’

Turning to face the child, Gilda swallowed the food she had in her mouth. ‘What?’ she asked impatiently.

‘Why have you got a letter from Celestia?’ Sweetie asked innocently, holding the opened letter out to Gilda.

Gilda snatched it out of her hands and glanced over it quickly. ‘A better question’ she said looking up and fixing a glare on Sweetie ‘is why the hell where you reading it?’

Rarity heard this and looked up ‘Gilda!’ she snapped.

Gilda turned back to Rarity ‘you’re right, language, sorry.’ Before turning back to Sweetie ‘That other one for me too?’

Sweetie nodded cautiously. Gilda held out a hand and waited for Sweetie to give her the letter, glaring all the while. Hesitantly Sweetie placed the letter in Gildas’ hand, snatching her hand back suddenly, Gilda made Sweetie flinch.

Rarity watched this exchange with concern and decided to speak up ‘Sweetie you know better than to read other peoples mail. Now go to your room and get ready for school.’

Sweetie nodded enthusiastically and bolted to her bedroom and Rarity returned her attention to the Griffon who was now eating calmly.

Noticing that she had an audience again, Gilda hesitantly stopped, spoon halfway to her mouth. ‘What?’

Putting down the paper and taking off her glasses Rarity focussed her attention on Gilda. ‘What was that about?’

Blinking Gilda answered ‘What was what about?’

‘That, with Sweetie, just then.’

Gilda shrugged ‘She shouldn’t have been reading my mail. Besides it’s not like I did anything.’

Rarity nodded but continued to stare at Gilda.
But you made her think you were going to do something. I thought you were going to do something.

‘What was your family like?’ Rarity asked.

‘What?’

‘Tell me about your family.’ Rarity said pleasantly, like she was just making conversation.

‘Oh… well… There isn’t much to tell’ Gilda shrugged in a manner Rarity knew was deliberate. ‘I had two parents and a younger brother, standard family I guess.’

Rarity nodded but pressed on; there was something here that Gilda was swaggering casually about. ‘Oh I’m sure it’s more interesting than that. You mentioned that your father was in the guard.’

Gilda shook her head ‘No he was retired when I was born. That or they kicked him out; he was never clear on the details.’

Rarity continued along this line of questioning ‘So he was a military sort of man?’

‘Yeah, he was a real old school griffon, warrior pride and all that.’ Gilda stood, up her food finished, ‘I’ll just go drop these in the sink.’ She said raising her spoon and now empty bowl.
Now she’s running, there is definitely something she doesn’t want to talk about.

Standing up Rarity followed the griffon into the kitchen. ‘How about your mother?’ asking as though she was just heading in the same direction. If Gilda was threatening Sweetie then Rarity was going to find out why.

‘Um… She was way less strict then my dad. Wasn’t too worried about what we did.’ Gilda shrugged.
Again that shrug. Has it ever worked on anyone?

‘Did you get along well with your parents?’ Rarity asked.

Gilda gave Rarity an “are you stupid? Can’t you take a hint? Leave me alone please.” look. ‘I got along with them just fine.’
Ignoring the subtext of what was said Rarity pressed on ‘Tell me about your younger brother. How did you get along with him?’

Gilda scratched the back of her neck and looked at the ground ‘Um… Not so well, he was a bit of wuss so… Hey! I forgot to read my mail!’ and with that the griffon left the kitchen and returned to the dining room.

Now she’s changing topic, there is definitely some family history going on here.

Following Gilda into the lounge room Rarity watched as the griffon tore open her second letter. A look of confusion gave way to happiness as Gilda read its contents. Pulling a rectangular piece of plastic out of the envelope, the griffon put the card in her pocket and grinned. Then looking at the first letter, the one that Sweetie read, her face darkened as she read it, when she was done Gilda crinkled up the letter and shoved it in her pocket.

‘Bad news?’ Rarity asked.

‘No… Not really, just… There’s a package for me at the post office that I better get.’

Rarity blinked in surprise ‘Isn’t it a little soon for you to be ordering packages to this address, or getting mail for that matter?’

‘Yeah it is, isn’t it?’ Gilda said absently while pulling on her brown leather jacket. ‘I’ll be back in like ten minutes.’

Rarity nodded absently as she watched the griffon leave.
What’s she hiding?

Pulling herself back to her feet and off the tiled floor, Gilda limped over to the bathroom mirror.

Ok maybe this morning hadn’t been that great. Why was Rarity asking all those bloody questions?

But good things had happened that morning. For one thing waking up in a nice bed, plus getting a providers hunting license in the mail was pretty awesome, and she hadn’t even had to fill out any paperwork. A providers license translated to pretty much all the meat Gilda could hunt, yeah there was technically a bag limit, but there was no way Gilda would be able to work through an entire families monthly meat supply. Mind you the licenses’ awesomeness had been dampened a little by the letter from Celestia that accompanied it.
I’m not your fucking agent!

Gilda put her hands over her eyes and started to feel overwhelmed again.
How the hell did I get caught up in this mess?

Reaching into her pocket Gilda retrieved the scrunched up letter from Celestia, just reading it made Gilda want to put her fist through something.

“Gilda, working for me always comes with certain benefits, this hunting license is just the start. Please me and I can promise you, that you’ll be rewarded. Please me greatly and you’ll be surprised to find out the sky is far from the limit. Disappoint me and the trust I’ve placed in you, and a truly memorable cell will be reserved for you in Tartarus.”

The letter then went on in more detail to explain what Gilda was supposed to do in relation to her new job as Celestia’s “agent” in Ponyville. Some of it was downright frightening; for example what was expected of her if Xath arrived again or if Kain tried to hurt an element. Scrunching up the letter and dropping in the sink, Gilda turned on the water and reduced the paper to a sodden white pulp.
I just wanted to be friends with Dash again! Not end up with a fucking prison sentence hanging over my head or be personal agent to a fucking monarch!

Gilda unzipped her Jacket and dropped it on the floor, she was about to take off her travel worn white shirt when she noticed a new brown stain covering her collar. Stopping to examine it, Gilda recalled the memory of the events of that morning. That hadn’t been so bad either. A little annoying perhaps, but kinda nice in a weird way.

Normally she’d be skipping through the centre of town, but these weren’t normal circumstance at all. No today was one of those once in a blue moon days, were instead of joyously skipping everywhere she went, Pinkie trudged through town dejectedly.

Since the afternoon that Xath had arrived Pinkie just hadn’t been feeling herself. Her smiles just seemed so… limp after that. Like she didn’t actually feel happy but was instead she was smiling because that’s what she was supposed to do; Birds fly, fish swim and Pinkie smiles. Today though it seemed that fish were flying and birds were swimming because Pinkie was definitely not smiling.

The Cakes had been so concerned that they told her to take the morning off. Everyone else she’d met had avoided her the moment they saw her face. Hands in her pockets and staring at her feet she barely noticed it when she accidently found herself standing outside the post office. It was a good thing she was there because at that moment Gilda came out of the post office with a package under her shoulder.

‘Weird fucking way of overcharging.’ the griffon muttered under her breath.

Looking up Pinkie noticed Gilda.
Oh… it’s her.

Normally Pinkie would be happy to see petty much anyone but today all she saw was the bully, Pinkie was just in that kind of a mood. All Pinkie could think about right now was how mean Gilda was and how much she was going to make fun of Pinkie for crying. Turning around Pinkie started to walk away.

That must have alerted Gilda to Pinkies presence or something because the griffon looked up.

‘Oh, hey dude what’s up?’ Gilda asked approaching Pinkie. Then she saw Pinkies face ‘Oh… Shit! Not again...’

Looking around for some reason Gilda sighed and said ‘Fuck…’

Grabbing Pinkies arm, Gilda dragged her towards an outdoor café. Stopping at an empty table for two, Gilda pulled out a chair and dropped Pinkie in it before pulling out a seat and dropping into it herself.

Dropping the package onto the ground next to herself, Gilda leaned back into her chair and glanced over at Pinkie. ‘Fuck you Celestia.’ she muttered before leaning forwards to speak to Pinkie directly ‘What’s up?’

Pinkie just watched Gilda feeling confused.
What does she want?

Watching Pinkie for a reaction, Gilda leaned back into her chair ‘Come on dude, don’t make this hard on me. What’s got you sad?’

Pinkie blinked.
Is she trying to make me feel better?

The awkward silence was painful as the two merely stared at eachother.

‘Ahem.’ A polite cough came from their left. A waiter stood there ‘your orders please.’

‘We’ll order in a minute.’ Gilda said to him.

The waiter nodded and walked away as Gilda turned her attention back to Pinkie ‘Come on, what’s the problem?’

Painfully awkward silence returned as Pinkie continued to refuse to talk.

‘Hey Pinks.’ Another voice interrupted and Pinkie turned around and spotted Vinyl standing there, a cup of coffee in hand and trade mark sunglasses and grin firmly in place.

Strolling over and pulling up another seat Vinyl sat down ‘I noticed you two lovers lost in each other’s eyes and though I better kill the moment.’

Gilda looked at Vinyl relief flooding her voice. ‘Are you Pinkies’ friend?’

Noticing the sombre mood at the table Vinyls grin faltered ‘Yeah I guess so.’ Glancing at Pinkie she continued ‘Did somebody die or something?’

‘I don’t know’ Gilda said turning back to Pinkie ‘She’s sad and I can’t figure out why.’

Examining Pinkie critically, Vinyl appeared deep in thought. Leaning forward Vinyl snapped her fingers in front of Pinkies face. Eliciting no reaction from Pinkie Vinyl leaned back and sipped her coffee. ‘Dude you broke her.’

Gilda blinked ‘What?’

‘You broke Pinkie. What did you do?’

‘That’s it? “Your broker her”?’ Gilda asked sounding angry ‘That’s all you’ve got to say? Some fucking friend you are!’

Vinyl shrugged ‘What about you?’

‘What about me?’

‘Aren’t you her girl friend or something?’

Gilda sighed in frustration.

Just then the waiter appeared once more ‘Excuse me ma’am, your order please.’

‘Fuck off!’ Gilda snarled.

The waiter bowed away again.

Turning back to Pinkie, Gilda took a moment to collect herself. ‘Pinkie, we’re… friend’s right?’

Taking a moment to consider the question Pinkie hesitantly nodded.

Gilda continued that chain of thought ‘So... that means I’m supposed to make you feel better when shit happens right?’

Pinkie nodded again.

‘So… by refusing to tell me the problem you’re making me a bad friend. Cause, then I can’t help you.’

Pinkie nodded ‘We wouldn’t want you to be a bad friend now, would we?’ she murmured.

Gilda smiled and leaned back. ‘That’s right. Help me out and tell me what’s wrong.’

Pinkie nodded and smiled.

Just then the Waiter reappeared ‘Excuse me ma’am but can I take your order please.’

Rounding on the Waiter the griffon shouted ‘GO THE FUCK AWAY!’

Bowing out once more the waiter left them alone.

Looking back at Pinkie, Gilda asked ‘What’s the problem?’ much more calmly.

Pinkie thought about it. ‘I’ve just been feeling down since Xath.’

Gilda leaned back looking relieved ‘Oh… That’s all it is.’

‘That’s all?’ Pinkie said ‘We almost die and “that’s all”?’ she started to feel angry. Here she’d thought Gilda might actually care about her and when she explained the problem the griffon said “that’s all?”.

Gilda blinked ‘No not what I meant. I mean, I’m just real shit with dealing with emotions and stuff so I was worried it might be like, a problem with family or relationships or something that I wouldn’t be able to help with. Nah it’s perfectly normal for you to feel down after something like Xath.’

‘What’s a Xath?’ Vinyl asked sipping her coffee.

Gilda looked at Vinyl and said ‘I think you better go.’

Vinyl shrugged and stood up just as the waiter reappeared.

‘Excuse me ma’am but if you’re not going to order anything then I’m going to have to-’

‘Finish that sentence I fucking dare you!’ Gilda shouted standing up and coming face to face with the waiter ‘Passive aggressively approach this table one more time and I’ll crack your mother fucking skull open!’

The waiter stumbled back in shock and accidentally knocked the coffee out of Vinyls hand. The coffee sailed through the air and landed perfectly on Gilda’s face. The coffee rained down and soaked into her shirt, staining it brown. Silence descended on the four only to be broken by Vinyl laughing.

Gildas’ jaw tightened as she wiped the coffee out of her eyes, her eyes narrowed and the feathers on her head stood up as she stared at the waiter. The waiter gulped nervously as Gilda walked closer to him.

Leaning in real close to his face, Gilda said in a very low, very threatening growl ‘Get. The fuck. Out of here.’
The Waiter then turned and bolted like his life depended on it and as far as Pinkie could tell, it may have.

Turning back to the table Gilda glared at the still chuckling DJ. ‘What’s so fucking funny?’

‘You got coffee on your face.’ Vinyl snorted, completely failing to take the hint.

Sitting down again Gilda turned on Pinkie ‘Dude, after shit like that, feeling down is perfectly fucking normal. After the adrenaline wears off your left feeling pretty shit and most people perk back up after about a day, but you’re not used to feeling so bad so it’s going take a bit longer for you than most people. Add to that, that your friends almost died and you got a bloody legit reason for being depressed.’

Vinyl sat down at the table ‘Wait… Almost died? Seriously what the hell happened?’

Gilda fixed her glare back on the DJ before returning it to Pinkie ‘This is one of those things that usually just goes away on its own, but in your case I’d say it may be a bit more of a problem. What I suggest is you just take the day off and go find yourself something to feel good about. Alright? I’ve been there and I promise that if you try to feel better eventually you will.’ Standing up and dragging Pinkie with her Gilda picked up her package. ‘Come on, let’s go find something fun.’

Pinkie then couldn’t help but see Gilda in a new light. Normally Pinkie was an affectionate person, used to giving and receiving happiness from those around her and now Pinkie remembered why she was always so bouncy and friendly. Really Gilda hadn’t handled this very well at all; she’d gotten angry and frustrated and approached the situation like it was some kind of job. But the fact was she’d taken the time to help Pinkie for no reason other than concern for Pinkies wellbeing and more importantly she was willing to do what it took to make Pinkie smile again.

It was all the pink haired earth folk could do; she jumped at Gilda and wrapped her in a big hug. The griffons’ initial reaction was to try and push her off, but Pinkie determinedly clung on.

After a moment Gilda sighed ‘Whatever’ and wrapped her free arm around Pinkie.

Vinyl sniggered ‘That’s so lame.’

Gilda turned to her ‘Who the fuck are you anyway?’

Sighing Gilda began to peel the stained shirt off.
I don’t like hugs! But… That was kinda nice.

Gilda took the time to examine her reflection in the mirror. There were marks all over her skin, some of which were already darkening into bruises.
That training session was fucking awful. It wasn’t even a training session it was a bloody beat down!
Sighing and turning away from the mirror Gilda gingerly took off her pants, careful not to put any unnecessary pressure on her wounded leg. Hissing as she gently examined the thick black bruise underneath her skin, Gilda carefully stood up and limped under the shower. Turning the water on she tried to enjoy the warmth of the shower like she usually did, but right now, she couldn’t get any enjoyment out of it.
Now Applejack hates my guts. That’s the last thing I needed.

Applejack watched the fight with some concern, it looked to her like both Rainbow and Gilda were getting way to rough with each other. On the other side of the ring stood Kain and in the background Rarity and Pinkie were in another ring practicing their drills. Off in another ring Fluttershy and Twilight faced off, wooden swords clacking together as Twilight slowly but steadily lost another round. Applejack was without a partner so she stood here watching the new blood take on Rainbow.

The fight was interesting to say the least. It was obvious somebody at some point had taught Gilda to fight, and the griffon obviously had gotten experience from somewhere else. It was unusual because Gildas style seemed to be a weird combo of bar brawler and short tight movements designed to do as much damage as possible. Rainbow on the other hand was a blend of the techniques Kain had taught them and another weird style that Rainbow claimed was Karate. Turns out Rainbow lied about being a black belt, but she’d had lessons in the past and knew more about hand to hand on her first day then any of the other girls had.

The fight ended with Gilda putting her fist in Rainbows gut before following it up with a knee to the face sending Rainbow sprawling onto her back.

‘Round over, Gilda wins.’ Applejack called out.

‘Yeah!’ Gilda exalted ‘That’s what you get bitch!’ walking over to Rainbow, Gilda helped her back to her feat. ‘Told you that Karate was a load of shit.’

Rainbow smiled good naturedly at the banter ‘Hey! I won the second round!’

‘Yeah but I won the first and third’ Gilda smiled back a Rainbow ‘and I was totally blinded by your lame ass hair in the second one so that totally doesn’t count.’

‘Bull shit!’ Rainbow shouted ‘I won that round fair and square. Besides I-’

‘Ladies enough with the flirting.’ Kain called out making Rainbow blush and Gilda roll her eyes ‘Rainbow partner up with Twilight and send Fluttershy over here.’

‘Fluttershy?’ Gilda snorted as Rainbow walked away ‘you want me take her on in a fist fight?’

‘No.’ Kain shook his head as he appraised the griffon ‘I can see you can hold your own in hand to hand, now we’re moving up to swords.’

Gilda snorted and raised her arms ‘Hands or swords, Fluttershy? Come on.’

Kain just smiled at her ominously.

Applejack felt a little worry stir inside her chest at she thought of putting Fluttershy in the same ring as Gilda. That last bout with Rainbow had been dirty and viscous, Gilda did not hold back. Fluttershy could end up hurt.

Striding over to the rack, Kain pulled out an average sized wooden long sword which he tossed to Gilda. Catching it out of the air on the blade end, Gilda changed her grip so she was holding it by the handle. Applejack could tell that she’d never held a sword before.

Walking around the ring to Kain Applejack leaned in close to his ear ‘Are you sure this is ah good idea?’ she asked glancing over at Gilda. ‘There’s a fair difference between fist brawling and sword fighting. She ain’t even holding it right.’
Kain waved her away ‘I know.’

Applejack stared suspiciously at the eye patched man before returning her attention to the ring. Fluttershy approached the ring and took up her stance. Gilda didn’t have a stance to take up so she just copied Fluttershy.

‘Round one… Start!’ called Applejack.

Swinging her sword at Fluttershy like a club Gilda opened up with the first attack. Blocking the attack, Fluttershy countered with a quick poke to the gut with her own sword.

‘Round over! Fluttershy wins.’

‘What!’ Gilda shouted ‘Fucking bullshit! That didn’t even last five seconds, she barely tapped me!’

Kain smiled and nodded ‘Exactly, with a sword it barely takes a tap. Get stabbed in the gut like that with a real sword and your fight's over. Do it again; best two out of three.’

Gilda scowled and turned back face Fluttershy.

‘Round two… Start!’

Round two lasted longer than round one by about thirty seconds. Gilda managed to actually block an attack or two this time before Fluttershy caught the griffons hand with her sword and made the griffon yelp in pain and drop the wooden sword. To add insult to injury Fluttershy then gently placed her sword against Gilda’s chest.

‘Round over! Flutterhsy wins. Two in a row makes two out of three, Fluttershy wins this bout.’ Applejack announced.

‘What!’ Gilda screamed. ‘Fucking bullshit, there is no way in hell I just got fucked by this pussy!’

‘Well that what just happened.’ Kain said aloud. ‘Have another round, see if you can at least claim one round against fluttershy’ He said stressing the name.

Gilda seethed. It didn’t take much to see that Gilda was pissed.

‘Kain, I think you better stop this now.’ Applejack said to Kain.

Kain turned and glared at Applejack ‘who made you their mother? If I say they go again then they go again.’

Worry growing inside her Applejack turned to face the ring.

‘Round three...’ She reluctantly called ‘Start!’

At first neither party made the first move, simply staring at each other for a second or two, before Gilda moved forward rapidly swinging her sword in an oddly hesitant way. Countering the seemingly poorly conceived attack Fluttershy moved forward to get inside Gilda’s now open defence. Swinging her sword around for a tap to the neck Fluttershy was surprised when she felt Gild grab her sword arm and rob it of momentum mid swing. What was even more suprising was when Gilda used the hold to push Fluttershy away briefly before pulling her back towards Gilda. Applejack watched with horror growing inside her as the fist that was holding the sword slammed into Fluttershy’s face.

The punch connected solidly and Fluttershy was caught between two points of momentum; her movement towards Gilda and Gilda’s full shoulder and arm swing combined to lift Fluttershy off her feet and drop her to the ground. It was a brawler’s move, not requiring any finesse at all but that didn’t matter when it connected. A punch like that could break necks. Applejack stared in shock as Fluttershy hit the ground and didn’t move.

Gilda moved forward and placed her sword at Fluttershys’ neck.

Panic filled her and Applejack rushed into the ring to see if Fluttershy was unhurt. ‘Fluttershy!’ kneeling down next to her friend Applejack cradled her head.

It was a second before Fluttershy stirred and groaned ‘Ow…’

Applejack breathed a sigh of deep relief before standing up to face Gilda ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’

Gilda shrugged her shoulders ‘She’ll be fine.’

‘Fine!’ Applejack shouted ‘look at her, she’s lucky you didn’t break her damn neck!’

Gilda snorted ‘I’ve hit people before, I knew not to hit her too hard. What, do you think I’m an idiot?’

‘Ah think you’re a step short of being a murderer!’ Applejack shouted.

Rolling her eyes, Gilda deigned not even to respond to that.

Applejack felt an anger unlike anything she ever knew roll through her like a wave. How dare she? How dare anyone, hit Fluttershy and not even have the grace to be sorry about it. This griffon had known how delicate Fluttershy was, she’d seen her break down over almost nothing and now she was standing here moments after almost killing her and acting like it was no big deal.
Oh... if I ever get my hands on her she’s going to regret it.

Kain walked forward into the ring new. ‘New bout’ he called. ‘Applejack and Gilda, swords.’

‘What!’ Gilda turned to Kain, then glanced at Applejack then back at Kain ‘You haven’t even told me how to fucking hold this thing!’

Applejack strode forward and grabbed Gilda by her collar and threw her bodily towards the ring. ‘Get in the damn ring!’ she ordered.

Halting her stumbling Gilda stopped then looked at Kain then back at Applejack. ‘Son of a bitch.’ she murmured a look of realisation dawning on her.

Applejack didn’t care what Gilda had just realised; all she knew was that Gilda was about to learn what happens to people that hurt members of Applejacks’ extended family.

‘Round one… Start!’ Applejack shouted out.

Gilda shivered at the memory, that look in Applejacks eyes had said it all. ‘I’m going to beat the living shit out of you’. And she did. The rest of day for Gilda had been spent in sword bouts and practices with Applejack who had beat the crap out of her. After just one day Gilda new one thing for certain.
I fucking hate kain.

Kain had played her like a freaking fiddle. The bastard hated Celestia and because of Celestias’ orders he hated the fact that Gilda would now be training with them. Thanks to the pact he couldn’t do anything directly, so instead of simply beating the shit out of her himself, he’d manipulated Applejack into doing it for him. Kain wanted Gilda gone and he was making these training sessions as hard as possible for her.

Knowing that Gilda was going to get frustrated with Fluttershy he’d deliberately pitted the two together to give Gilda a chance to screw up bad, even going as far as to push for a third round. And of course it had been Applejack who was un-partnered at the time. When she hit Fluttershy Applejack went into full mother bear mode and wanted nothing less than to teach Gilda a lesson. So Kain just happened to partner Gilda with Applejack for the rest of the fucking day!
How the hell did I not see what he was doing! I didn’t have to hit Fluttershy like that, I’m such a fucking idiot!

Kain wanted Gilda gone, and because of the Pact he couldn’t go after her directly, so he was now setting up others to do it.
Turning off the shower and drying herself with a towel, Gilda stepped out of the shower. Her leg still hurt but it felt better after the shower. Dressing up again Gilda stopped in front of the mirror once more.
Tomorrow will not be a repeat of today.

Heading out of the bathroom and into her guest room, Gilda lowered herself into her bed. A moment later a knock sounded on the door.

‘Come in.’ Gilda said loudly.

A moment later Rarity came inside with a bowl of steaming slop.

‘I thought I better bring you dinner because you’re clearly having trouble walking. I’d recommend getting Fluttershy to look at that but for obvious reasons that may not be a good idea.’

Gilda smiled gratefully and propped herself up ‘Thanks Rarity… Yeah… about what happened with Fluttershy.’

Shaking her head Rarity set the bowl in Gilda’s hands ‘No I actually understand. I believe Applejack behaved quite brutishly in fact. You were in the middle of a sword bout and you conducted a move that allowed you to win. Perhaps it was over the top, but Fluttershy’s fine and the person most harmed was yourself.’

Gilda chuckled ‘Yeah… Something like that.’ She dug a spoonful of gravy soaked gristle out and slipped it into her mouth.

Rarity sat down on the end of the bed. ‘I had a talk with Pinkie.’

Gilda coughed a bit ‘What about?’ she asked once her throat cleared.

‘She says she had a great time in town with you, and you helped cheer her up.’

‘Oh that?’ Gilda shrugged ‘That was no big deal, she just basically needed a little cheering up after getting down after a hit of adrenaline. I was just glad it wasn’t something serious like family issues or whatever. If it had been than I don’t know what I would have done.’

Rarity smiled politely and nodded. ‘Speaking of family issues.’ Gilda froze spoon in mid-air. ‘I’m concerned about yours. I can’t help but notice the way you’re treating Sweetie. I was actually considering asking you to move out until I spoke to Pinkie.’

‘You were gonna kick me out?’ Gilda put the bowl and spoon down on the bedside stand.

‘I was considering it. But no, I don’t plan to do so. That said I’m still worried and I would like to know why you aren’t getting along with Sweetie.’

‘No Sweetie and me get along just fine.’

Rarity raised an eyebrow.

Gilda knew that wasn’t going to cut it ‘Ok maybe we don’t get along so well.’

‘Why not?’

Gilda sighed and leaned back ‘She just… reminds me of my little brother too much.’

‘How so?’

‘Look, it’s a long story and I-’

Rarity interrupted ‘Gilda. Please… tell me.’

Gilda sighed 'Look Rarity, I'm sorry about the way I've been treating your sister and I'll try to be nicer to her but I'm not gonna tell you about my family.

Rarity looked disappointed 'Why not Gilda? It's obviously bothering you and I think you may need to get it off your chest.'

'It's something I've never told anyone. And if things go to plan I'll never have to tell anyone.' Gilda looked at Rarity desperately hoping for her to understand what she wanted 'It's a bad story with a worse ending and I'm not gonna dump my problems on you. I promise I'll be nice to your sister but please let me keep my privacy on this one.'

Rarity nodded and stood up. For some reason the griffon still felt like she wanted to hold Raritys' hand.

Shut up, no I don't!

'Good night Gilda.' Rarity said as she headed towards the door. 'Just know that if you change your mind, I'm your friend and I'm here to listen.'

Only once the door was closed did Gilda realise how alone she felt whenever she was by herself.

And that’s the end of that chapter. It’s a bit longer than my usual chapter (just shy of seven thousand words).
This week I decided to experiment a bit with back and forth story telling and messing around with the linear order of events. I’m not sure if it added much to this chapter. I’m also not sure if made the time jumps clear enough.
I’ve decided to upload this chapter a day early for no reason other than I can.