Rainbow did not like being here, not in the slightest, stuff like this was absolutely outside her comfort zone. Under normal circumstance she’d either let the problem solve itself or let someone like Twilight or Applejack handle it, but in this case Applejack was the problem so that ended that option and she’d let a week go by before she said anything so there was that option gone too. Rainbow hated getting involved in her friends business but this time she felt it was necessary. Applejack was getting out of hand and Rainbow knew that someone had to rein her in. Rarity had done enough by taking Gilda in, Fluttershy was part of the problem, Twilight had refused to see that there was a problem and Pinkie was… well Pinkie was Pinkie, you couldn’t expect much in the way of seriousness from her.
Am I really doing this?

With a sigh Rainbow raised her fist and knocked on the door. Waiting a few seconds and hearing no response Rainbow raised her fist and knocked again. A moment later the door opened from the inside and the massive form of big mac loomed there.

‘Miss Dash.’ he said with a nod.

‘Hey Big Mac, is AJ in?’ Rainbow asked.

‘Eeyup.’ Mac was openly staring at Rainbows face, Probably because she had a massive black eye.

‘Can I speak to her?’ Rainbow asked trying to ignore his uncomfortably intense gaze.

‘Eeyup.’ He then turned away and closed the door. Rainbow could hear his heavy footsteps as he walked away. Turning her back to the door Rainbow waited at the edge of the porch. It was a nice night and Rainbow stared at the stars to pass the time.
They’re pretty enough but I’ll never get how Twilight can spend all night watching them.

A few moments later and Applejack walked out onto the porch. ‘Hey Rainbow. What brings ya out here this evening?’

Rainbow turned around to face her friend feeling determined to see this through ‘Hey AJ, We need to talk.’

Applejack sighed and crossed her arms ‘Is this about Gilda? ‘Cause ah know what you’re gonna say.’

Shaking her head Rainbow answered ‘No this isn’t about Gilda, though it is part of the problem.’

‘What problem might that be?’ AJ said crossing her arms.

Rainbow stopped and considered her words.
How do you tell your best friend that they’re acting like a bitch?

‘Alright… I’m not gonna beat around the bushes, and I’m just gonna say it.’ Rainbow took a breath of air in ‘I think you need to stop treating everyone like they’re made of glass.’

Applejack blinked ‘Pardon?’

Rainbow sighed ‘You don’t even realise you’re doing it do you? Look, just today you dislocated my shoulder and had to help me pop it back in. What did you do to Fluttershy this week?’

‘Ah don’t understand your point.’ AJ said shaking her head.

Rainbow started to feel irritated, the way she always felt when she couldn’t quite get the point across.
Is it really so hard to understand?

‘Look, with me at practice you don’t hold back at all, with Gilda I think you’re actually trying to hurt her, but again you’re not holding back, but with everyone else you barely tap them.’

‘You’re complaining that Ah’m not hitting my friends enough?’ AJ said with what sounded like disbelief.

‘Yeah pretty much! I’m saying that you’re coddling them, I don’t know why Kain’s letting you get away with it.’ Rainbow continued.

‘You’re saying you want me to hit Fluttershy?’ Applejack said completely deadpan.

‘Yeah!’ Rainbow said feeling satisfied that Applejack finally understood.

Applejack just stared at Rainbow for a second, she opened her mouth to say something but then closed it. Eventually she spoke ‘Rainbow, sugar…’ That sentence was never finished, she just shook her head looking confused and walked back inside, closing the door behind her.

Rainbow had a sinking feeling that AJ didn’t understand what she’d been trying to say.
Damn it. I’ll have to corner her later.
---

Kain strode through the door of Carousel Boutique feeling quite angry. The bell rang as Kain burst inside out of the night air.

Rarity was in the room taking the measurements of a women that Kain didn’t recognise.

‘Where’s Gilda?’ Kain asked aggressively.

Rarity glanced over at him before returning her attention to the customer in front of her ‘It’s not business hours Kain, if you’re going to come in you must knock.’

‘What about her?’ Kain said waving his hand at the lady being measured.

‘Bon-bon’s a friend of mine, and she also knocked.’ Rarity answered.
Bon-bon? Seriously? Her name is Bon-bon? What the fuck has Celestia done to the world!

‘Whatever. Where’s Gilda?’ Kain asked.

‘Upstairs in the kitchen. Why do you need to see her?’ she turned around but Kain was already gone.

Halfway up the stairs Kain noticed a smell in the air, something he hadn’t smelled for too long; meat, glorious meat. Following his nose Kain burst into the kitchen and saw something that made his mouth water; a piece of steak cooking in a frying pan. Standing over the stove was Gilda turning the meat with tongs, hearing the sound of the door opening Gilda glanced around smiling but her grin dropped when she saw Kain.

‘What are you doing here?’ she asked coldly.

Kains’ stomach chose that moment to growl. ‘Where did you get meat?’ he asked.

Glancing back at the stove Gilda turned to face Kain with her whole body ‘I have a hunting license? Why do you want some?’ she asked with a smirk while crossing her arms.

Looking between the sweat delicious meat and that shit eating smirk Kain prioritised why he was here ‘No. I came to ask you about this.’ He slammed down a letter with Celestias’ sun symbol emblazoned on the back.

Stopping to pick up the letter with slightly greasy hands Gilda read it briefly ‘What’s the question? She’s basically telling you not to take any of my stuff. I thought even you’d be able to understand that.’

Kain gritted his teeth ‘You know there’s more to it than that. Why do these orders only apply to you? Why did she send them now?’

Gilda shrugged in a frustratingly deliberate way ‘How should I know?’

‘You know because you’re Celestias’ agent in Ponyville!’ Kain shouted. ‘You know as well as I do that the bitch set you here to keep an eye on me!’

‘Celestias’ agent? Do you even here yourself man?’ Gildas’ sneer widened ‘You sound completely fucking paranoid.’

‘Don’t play dumb!’ Kain snarled ‘What has she given you that she doesn’t want me to have!’

Gilda shrugged. ‘No clue what you’re talking about.’

Kain seethed. Gilda was a terrible liar; Kain knew that she was just trying to make him angry so he decided to take another approach.

‘How did it feel?’ he asked sitting down on a stool.

‘How did what feel?’ Gilda asked with an irritated look.

‘Killing someone for the first time.’

Gilda looked shocked ‘What?’

‘When you killed for the first time, was it part of some sort of initiation?’ Kain asked carefully gauging Gilda’s responses.

‘Initiation? Into what?’ Gilda asked sounding confused but a little afraid.

‘I don’t know the details, but I imagine it had something to do with becoming her agent.’

‘What the fuck are you going on about?’

Kain continued as though uninterrupted ‘At first I believed your story.’

‘What story?’

‘You were just a child hood friend caught in the middle of a bad situation. It sounded reasonable, but over this past week I’ve noticed some things about you.’

‘What things?’ Gilda asked exasperated.

‘For one thing there’s the way you fight. It’s a highly unusual technique, at first you just seem like a dumb brawler, dirty shots, heavy punches, grabbing people and throwing them around in general. But then you throw in a different move, a really sharp punch or kick, short but fairly powerful, uses low energy, high efficiency but low payoff. The sort of attack a guardsmen is taught but taken to the next extreme, a lot more aggressive and crippling. What at first seemed like a brawler actually has a good defence, which you just underestimated and now your arm is hurt or you’re unsteady on your feet, a perfectly baited trap. You see the brawler move in closer for a big blow, but instead of that, they’ve moved inside your defence, and you’re taking quick jabs everywhere, it’s all you can do to hold them off. Then they move back and you know you’re not just fighting some idiot. Now you try to approach them differently, expecting more jabs, but what you get is a heavy blow that you just didn’t see coming. And that’s it, the fight’s over and you lost.’

Gilda blinked ‘Yeah… That’s how I fight but what’s that got to do with anything?’

‘It’s much too effective for just anyone to know. You were taught to fight this way, and you’ve backed it up with personal experience. Obviously no one taught you to use a sword but I bet you’re handy with a knife.’

Gilda laughed when she realised what Kain was implying. ‘You think I’m some kind of hand reared agent for Celestia? Part of some… Secret police or some shit! Dude that’s completely insane.’

Kain shrugged ‘It may sound that way, but I wouldn’t put anything past Celestia if it means protecting her people. Another reason I suspect you is you’re a woodsman and not just a decent one; you were able to track someone who was flying, through the Everfree forest, at night time. I know damn near nothing about tracking and even I know that takes a lot of skill. Skills that aren’t taught to anyone anymore, because the whole world’s vegetarian now, and nobody needs a nice piece of venison.’ He waved a hand at the meat roasting oh so deliciously in the pan.

‘Dude, I’m a griffon, a carnivore, we hunt by instinct.’

Kain nodded ‘True. But what you did that night was well beyond the abilities of the average griffon even in my time, and the families that I knew always taught their sons how to hunt, not their daughters. Then there’s the fact that you’ve killed before. Believe me I can tell.’

‘I’ve never killed anyone’ Gilda shook her head ‘anyway your theory is retarded. I’m childhood friends with Dash remember? Known each other since flight school.’

‘True…’Kain paused ‘but then you could have been planted there by Celestia for all I know. It wouldn’t surprise me if Celestia knew who the elements were from birth and surrounded them with people like you to help keep them safe.’

Gilda actually looked amused by this ‘So because I can fight and hunt I’m some kind of undercover agent for Celestia? Placed near Dash since childhood and now I’m here to do what exactly?’

‘Keep the elements safe from me and Xath, or anyone else for that matter. I think it’s pretty convenient that you accidently came to town the week that I arrived.’

Gilda shook her head ‘You’re fucking insane.’
Maybe.

Kain continued ‘I don’t know if you are what I suspect or not, but I know Celestia put you here, and I know that she knows you’re a killer.’

Gilda hesitated ‘I’m not a killer.’

Kain smiled ‘If I can recognise that look than you can bet she recognised it too.’

Gilda just shook her head ‘I don’t know what you’re really doing here but you’re getting kind of annoying. If you’ll excuse me I want to eat my dinner.’ Then she turned around and took her venison steak off the pan.

Kain stared at her back for a second then glanced at the meat, he felt his stomach growl.
God I miss meat.

Kain turned and walked out the door.

Celestia sat in her office reading various reports about a handful of different situations that all required intervention in Equestria and the rest of the world. Just a hundred years ago the pile of reports would have been several times the size of the one before her, but Celestia’s careful hand had calmed the world down considerably since then. Now her job was much easier, war was almost non-existent and crime was rare throughout most nations. Of course she still had to maintain her network of spies and infiltrators the world over but it was far less urgent now than it had ever been.

The memories of the long nights spent under candle light, rooting out organised crime, sending orders to end the lives of war starters and unravelling endless political schemes all with the goal of keeping Equestria safe. Her goal eventually was forced to grow as a side effect of her desire to see Equestria safe. Now that goal was to keep everyone, everywhere, as safe as possible. No matter how hard she tried there would always be crime in the world, and nations other than her own would always try to start something but overall every nation in the world was doing better than ever before.

Sacrifices had been made, innocent people had suffered, certain paths of knowledge were destroyed never to be discovered again and Celestia had done things that would never be known by anyone. But the world was safer than ever before, and if that was the price of keeping Equestria safe, then that was the price she had payed and wold pay again.

A knock on the door distracted her.

‘Come in.’ she called out in her regal voice.

The door opened and a servant came in. ‘A letter from Ponyville your highness, it was sent via the machine you had delivered.’
What does Gilda want at this time of night?

Celestia frowned and picked the letter out of the man’s hand with her telekinesis, it unravelled in mid-flight as it floated towards her.

Celestias’ frown deepened as she read the letter:

“Celestia, Kain stopped by Carousel Boutique wanting to know about the letter you must have sent him. He rambled a bit and wanted to know about the stuff you sent me. I didn’t tell him anything but I think he might break in or start spying on me or something. If you want to keep the stuff you sent a secret you may want to send him orders telling him not to look but I really don’t know why you’re sending me this stuff so I don’t know if him knowing matters or not.”

“Also can I ask you to send me a bow stave? You’ve been sending me all this other stuff over the past week and I know a lot of it couldn’t be easy to get so I figure asking for a black yew bow stave wouldn’t be too out of line, because I am working for you at the moment and this is the first thing I’ve asked for. Not that I’m ungrateful for some of the stuff you’ve been sending me or anything but why are you sending it to me? I’ve been reading the books you sent like you ordered but why do you want me to read them?”

Celestia summoned a quill and ink pot as well as some blank paper. Kain wasn’t too much of a concern but she would prefer to keep some of the things she was sending Gilda fairly quiet for the moment. It wasn’t so much Kain knowing about it that concerned her but Kain getting his hands on… the gauntlet, for example, would be a bad idea. Still it wouldn’t do to have Kain try to break into Carousel Boutique or start following Gilda around all day.

What Celestia found concerning was Gildas’ comment about not knowing why she was sending her equipment and materials. The griffon obviously knew but didn’t want to admit it to herself. Gilda definitely had the potential to be an effective tool in Celestias’ hands, but she needed a few of those rough edges sanded down.
Putting pen to paper Celestia wrote:

“Gilda.”

“I will send orders to Kain via Twilight regarding your concerns, thank you for the warning, caution is a trait I always encourage.”

“Regarding your request for a black yew bow stave I can provide that. Feel free to request equipment or objects from me if you think they will aid you in the task I’ve set. But know that this is not an offer to be taken lightly, anything I send you should be for the benefit of your mission, not personal amusement.”

“Finally regarding your question about why I’m sending you this equipment: don’t be foolish. You know why I’m sending them to you and don’t pretend otherwise. The books I’ve provided are educational and will help you learn some of the things you’ll need to know while working for me. The equipment will help you should problems arise and I expect you to learn to use that gauntlet effectively. Some of the skills you need to learn can’t be taught via books but we can cross that bridge when we arrive. Do not make the mistake of thinking that you can pretend this is anything other than it is. You work for me, and that’s all there is to it. I expect you to learn these skills and to do as I say with those skills I’ve provided you with.”

“Princess Celestia.”

Using her magic Celestia burned the letter and sat back to think about the situation at hand.

Her network of spies and infiltrators had been growing smaller and smaller for the past twenty years. They simply hadn’t been needed as much. Celestia had been willing to let that happen but the changeling invasion of Canterlot had convinced her that in order to protect Equestria she would always need her spies and informers. The events of this month had convinced her she’d need something else as well. Gilda was the start of that something else. If the griffon couldn’t be forged into the tool that Celestia needed, than she would find someone who could and leave Gilda to rot in Tartarus.
---

The next evening Rainbow was once again waiting outside the Apple family home. Last night’s talk had definitely not gone as planned as far as Rainbow could tell. Todays practice session had been the worst one yet in regards to AJ acting like a mother hen. Now she was trying to protect Fluttershy not just from Gilda but Rainbow too!

Throughout the whole day AJ had deliberately been partnering herself with Rainbow and Gilda and when Rainbow finally got in the ring with Fluttershy, AJ had been watching the whole time.

Kain hadn’t even payed any attention to it, he seemed very focused on Gilda, who despite his best efforts was actually improving with the sword. Rainbow and Rarity had been trying to catch her up in their spare time and Gilda had improved drastically from her first day of flailing the sword around like a club. Now she was better than most of the girls and starting to approach Fluttershy in terms of skill.

This only freaked out AJ even more and it had gotten the worst it had been yet when AJ knocked Gilda flat out unconscious. Normally Rainbow tried to let people handle their own problems but no one else wanted to get involved on this one and she felt like someone had to intervene.

Knocking loudly, Rainbow waited for a minute before the door opened and Applejack herself stood there wearing her trademark hat.
Seriously! Indoors at night and she’s still wearing that dumb thing!

‘Hey AJ.’ Rainbow smiled as she said it.

‘Rainbow.’ Applejack said with a nod but didn’t return the smile ‘What do ya want?’

‘Get your boots on. We’re going for a walk.’ Rainbow responded. A walk obviously meaning a long talk… Right?

Applejack examined Rainbow for a second ‘Ya know what? Why not? Gimme ah minute ta find ‘em.’

About three minutes later the two of them were walking down the path back towards Ponyville together. It was a fairly cool early spring evening and even though the sky had been clear all day the evening could get fairly cold.

Applejack opened up the conversation ‘Rainbow I got something to say to you about Gilda.’

Rainbow nodded ‘That’s not why I’m here but yeah we need to talk about that as well.’

‘Gilda’s a bully.’

Rainbow laughed at that ‘Actually I’d call you the bully right now.’

‘What!’ Applejack exclaimed.

Rainbow looked back at Applejack ‘Yeah you heard me. On her first day here you beat the crap out of her. From the moment she got in the ring with you to the end of the day you did nothing but try and hurt her. I was the one who eventually had to show her how to hold the freaking sword right!’

‘She hit Fluttershy!’ Applejack exclaimed.

‘That’s another thing.’ Rainbow argued ‘Let me ask you this. If Gilda hit me like that, would you have reacted the same way?’

‘… Well that’s different-’

‘How’s it different?’ Rainbow pointed her thumb at her black eye ‘Gilda did this to me just yesterday and you didn’t even blink. Fluttershy didn’t even get in the ring with Gilda before you started freaking out. I could see you watching the whole thing out of the corner of your eyes. Don’t pretend you weren’t.’ she accused pointing her finger at Applejack

‘Ok maybe ah was. What of it?’ Applejack crossed her arms.

‘I’m saying it’s been more than a week since Xath and you’ve been treating everyone except me like they’re made of glass. Fluttershy especially.’

Applejack didn’t say anything.

Rainbow continued after a pause ‘For some reason you’ve been acting like an overprotective mother and I’m telling you to stop because you’re not helping anyone.’

‘Well what am ah supposed to do? Just watch when that feather head nearly kills Fluttershy?’

Rainbow nodded ‘Yeah pretty much. Look, when Gilda gets out of line, we’ll call her out on it, what we don’t do is beat the crap out of her. Fluttershy can take care of herself AJ and she’s not going to stand on her own two feet with you standing over her.’

Applejack didn’t respond.

Rainbow continued ‘Yeah I agree with you that Gilda’s being a bit rough on everyone, I’m gonna speak with her tonight, but at least she’s treating everyone the same. She fights me, just as hard as she fights you, just as hard as she fights Fluttershy. You on the other hand, you’re fine with me but you seriously try to hurt Gilda and everyone else you barely tap. It’s not fair, by treating them like that you’re showing that you don’t respect them.’

‘Of course I respect them!’

‘I know you do, how couldn’t you after what we’ve been through together? But the point is you have to start treating everyone the same.’

They walked in silence for a minute.

‘Well?’ Rainbow asked.

‘Ah’ll think about it.’ Was all AJ responded with.

Rainbow nodded. Applejack knew she was wrong but was just too stubborn to admit it, but hopefully by tomorrow she’ll start trying to stop patronising everyone

‘Ok that’s all I’m asking. I’m gonna go see Gilda, do you wanna come?’

Applejack shook her head ‘No thanks. Ah’m sure you figured it out already but me an her ain’t exactly seeing eye to eye.’

Rainbow nodded. For the moment Rainbow could live with that but one way or another all her friends were going to be friends. ‘Alright then I’ll see you tomorrow.’

‘Bye.’

Turning and flying away into town Rainbow let herself breathe the night air deeply.
Luna sure knows how to make a nice night.

Landing just outside Rainbow walked up and knocked on the door.

‘Who is it?’ A voice Rainbow recognised as Rarity’s called out.

‘It’s me’ Rainbow shouted back ‘Can I come in?’ Then she heard something that sounded a bit like Gilda shouting but she couldn’t tell what was being said.

A moment later the door opened and Rarity was standing there saying something loudly over her shoulder ‘Don’t be ridiculous you look fine.’ She turned back to Rainbow ‘Come in.’ then in a hiss she added ‘Don’t laugh.’

Walking in feeling curious about the cause of the shouting, an idea began to form in Rainbows mind but she quickly crushed it as ridiculous. When she saw what she wasn’t supposed to laugh at Rainbows first reaction wasn’t to laugh but to stare open mouthed. Never in all her years on this earth had she ever imagined she’d see this, she’d heard stories but had never quite believed them until now. They’d just seemed so… impossible but here was the evidence standing before her.

‘Don’t say a fucking word.’ Gilda said as threateningly as she could. Of course in her current state it wasn’t very threatening.

‘Language!’ Rarity pouted but Gilda ignored her instead focussing her intense gaze on Rainbow. It was clear that the griffon was trying to be as intimidating as possible but it just wasn’t going to work in her current state.

Rainbows left eye twitched.
Control yourself Rainbow.

‘You’re wearing a dress.’ She said dumbly.

‘That’s right. What of it?’ Gilda asked right back.
It’s pink! The dress is pink, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, this is the greatest moment of my life!

‘Nothing of it.’ Suppressing the urge to smile but not succeeding Rainbow tried to carefully school her responses.
It has flower patterns! And ruffles! How did this happen? What godly forces conspired to create this moment!

‘It looks perfectly… fine… on you.’ Stop twitching that eye.

‘Fine… I’d say she looks Fabulous?’ Rarity said looking cross.
Fabulous. Gilda looks fabulous…

Rainbow couldn’t help it; a thin guffaw escaped her lips before she controlled it. Then that it was it; Rainbow broke down laughing simply unable stand anymore.

‘You’re in a dress!’ Rainbow shouted out as she finally gained enough control to stand ‘I’ve met your mother and heard the stories but I never dreamed of this moment.’ Wiping a tear from her eyes she smiled at Gilda ‘How are you in a dress? It’s like a… I have no words. How the hell did anyone convince you to…’ Turning to face Rarity ‘What did you threaten her with? Has she got a phobia I never knew about?’

Rarity shook her head and put her face in the palm of her hand.

‘Alright that’s it; get me out of this thing right now!’ Gilda shouted. ‘Rainbow I’d strangle you but I know I can’t run in this thing.’

Rarity sighed as she used her telekinesis to help extract Gilda from beneath the layers of cloth. No sooner was she done then Gilda dived into her usual garb, it looked like a homecoming when she pulled the leather jacket on.

‘Why were you wearing a dress?’ Rainbow asked with her vicious grin firmly in place.

‘It’s my job’ Gilda said as she yanked the zipper up on her jacket ‘Remember? I work for Rarity.’

‘It took me all afternoon to convince her to try that on!’ Rarity pouted ‘I needed a model and now thanks to you it’ll be ages before I’ll be able to convince her to wear another dress for me!’

Gilda sighed ‘Look Rarity, I know you’re my boss and all but there’s got to be something else for me to do around here.’

Rainbow input ‘Why don’t you just do some sowing or something?’

Rarity shook her head ‘because she doesn’t know how to sow.’

‘Yeah she does.’ Rainbow said not noticing the glare she was receiving from Gilda ‘How else do you think she made that Jacket she’s wearing?’

Gilda hissed ‘Rainbow… remember how back in flight school how I didn’t want anyone to know that? Well that hasn’t changed.’

‘You made this?’ Rarity asked as she approached Gilda looking quizzically at the Jacket.

Rainbow ignored Gildas’ protests and answered Rarity’s question ‘Yeah back in flight school Gilda made herself a new jacket from some leather she tanned and a bunch of parts she harvested from another jacket she brought from a store.’

‘Why?’ Rarity asked. ‘Why not just wear the jacket from the store?

Rainbow shrugged ‘I dunno. But she did it like once a year. She’d go out hunting and come back with leather and fresh meat. Then she’d spend a day breaking apart a different jacket into its materials, write a bunch of stuff down about how it was stitched together and how big each piece of fabric is before using the instructions she just wrote and all the pieces to create basically the same jacket but out of leather. Then she’d burn the instructions and what was left.’

‘May I see?’ Rarity asked Gilda who glowered between Rarity and Rainbow before reluctantly taking the Jacket off again and handing it to Rarity. Examining the Jacket carefully Rarity muttered under her breath before handing it back ‘That’s not bad actually. It’s far from the most complex piece of attire to create and you just copied someone else’s work but still, it’s not bad for what it is.’

‘Thanks’ Gilda muttered as she snatched it back and put it on once more. Turning to face Rainbow she asked ‘What are you here for anyway?

‘What?’ Rainbow blinked her purpose here completely forgotten. ‘Oh right!’ She exclaimed once she remembered. ‘Yeah Gilda I need to talk to you about well… It’s not a big deal but basically could you hold back a bit in sword practice?’

‘Hold back?’

Rainbow nodded ‘Yeah, I mean just yesterday you gave me a black eye.’

‘Sorry about that.’

‘Nah its fine.’ Rainbow said waving her hand ‘But just dial it back a little you know? Like we don’t need to kill each other before we get in an actual fight.’

‘Why? Did someone complain?’ Gilda asked with a look of faint surprise.

Rainbow shook her head ‘No one did, but the way you’ve been coming to practice, someone could get hurt more than they need to you know? Plus Applejack might lay off you a bit if you hold back a little.’

Gilda shrugged ‘I guess I can do that. I honestly hadn’t thought it was an issue.’

‘It’s not really but it could become one.’ This was much easier than talking to Applejack had been. Rainbow stood up ‘It’s been fun and I’ve seen things that I will never forget but I better go home.’

‘You better not tell anybody about the dress.’ Gilda warned looking serious.
Oh there’s no way that Pinkie’s gonna find out every last detail about this situation, and there is clearly no way that I’m going to use this moment to pull an epic prank on you.

‘Don’t worry dude. See ya.’ And with that Rainbow left the boutique.
---

The great and powerful Trixie was absolutely terrified. Her magic wasn’t working, she was being held down by some unseen pressure and the horned face that stood above her grinned ear to ear in a truly frightening way.

‘Let Trixie go or you shall feel her wrath!’ Trixie demanded.

The face only grinned more as it leaned in closer and took the hat off her head. The horned man didn’t say anything as it walked away from her and started to do something to her hat. Trixie couldn’t tell what was being done in the flickering fire light but she could see beyond the fire three more people sitting passively in hunched over positions. The fire light was reflected in lines of tears leaking down their faces.

The grinning monster returned a moment later and placed that hat back on Trixies’ head. That was the last thing she remembered before she blacked out.

This chapter was uploaded a day early because it was more or less finished by last Thursday and I had nothing better to do. I do not plan on making early updates a habit, so don't get used to it. Also would someone please leave a freaking comment? just to let me know I'm not posting this stroy here for no reason.
Also with the bit with AJ and Gilda some of you may think I'm bringing up an issue and resolving it in the same chapter, believe me I'm not. Next chapter things are gonna get worse between the two of them. Much much worse.