The library was fairly crowded; the building was only a rural library and thus had never been intended to host so many people. All the elements of harmony were here plus Spike, Celestia, Luna, Trixie and until about a minute ago Kain who had stepped outside complaining of boredom. Celestia was personally unwilling to start until she had all the facts and the last person with facts was yet to arrive.

Heads turning towards the sound of the door opening the sun princess watched as Kain walked in with Gilda following.

‘She’s here.’ Kain said to no one in particular.

Celestia turned to Luna who was on her left ‘Come sister.’ Before she turned back to the group ‘Gilda and Trixie, we must speak to you both.’

Luna led the way through the door into the kitchen and Celestia followed with Gilda and Trixie in tow. Once they were all in the kitchen the door was closed and a sound barrier was cast, Trixie immediately bowed like she was on stage but Gilda did nothing.

‘Rise.’ The taller princess instructed. Turning to her agent Celestia smiled warmly ‘Gilda, You have performed very well today.’

‘Thanks.’ the griffin muttered sullenly.

Celestia noticed the resentment but chose to ignore it at present ‘You saved the lives of two of the elements and even saved Trixie here.’

‘Trixie could have saved herself.’ Trixie mumbled probably thinking that Celestia wouldn’t hear.

Celestia continued ‘You used the gauntlet I provided and figured out how to break Xath’s enchantment. I take it you’ve been keeping up with the assignments I’ve set you then.’

‘Yeah.’ Gilda nodded.

‘As I said before, you’re pleasing me and completing all tasks I set admirably, keep it up and you’ll be rewarded handsomely. For now though, take this.’ Celestia handed Gilda a left handed gauntlet that was a match for her existing one. ‘I expect you to master them both.’

Gilda looked at the gauntlet like she was holding a snake ‘thanks.’ Taking out the other gauntlet the griffon put them both on and held her hands in front of her face.

Luna spoke up ‘Are you sure that’s wise sister?’

Celestia payed no attention to her and turned to face Trixie ‘Now what are we to do with you?’

‘Do not ignore me!’ Luna shouted in her royal voice making Celestias’ ears ring in protest. Lowering her voice to a normal tone Luna spoke ‘we are not going to discuss this later, after you’ve done it, we’re going to talk about it now.’

Celestia turned to glare at Luna ‘Sister… Say your piece.’

Luna returned the glare but continued ‘I was not aware that you decided to give away the first gauntlet until this morning when you told me that you had already done so. You didn’t tell me you planned on giving the second away either. Indeed, I have not had a single idea what was going on with this situation since the moment Kain arrived in Ponyville. You’ve been keeping me out of the loop Celestia, I know for a fact you didn’t want me to accompany you here last time you came to this town.’ Luna shook her head and her voice grew harder ‘Now you’re standing there and giving away the power of antimagic to some hoodlum griffon while simultaneously congratulating her for ending the lives of two different people! No Celestia! You will not simply do this.’

‘Umm… I can give them back.’ Gilda spoke up while taking the gauntlets off and holding them out as if offering them in trade.

Celestia turned to her ‘Gilda put those away. You will be keeping them and you will master them; this is not something you can get out of.’

‘You plan on giving them to her anyway?’ Luna said aloud ‘I don’t care for how you handle your pets Celestia but I will not allow you to give away the gauntlets!’

Gilda shouted ‘I’m not her fucking pet and-’ she cut herself off at a signal from Celestia.

Having silenced Gilda with a hand motion Celstia spoke out in a very even tone ‘Luna… Fine. If you think I’ve been keeping you out of the loop than I will remedy that, but this is my kingdom and it has been mine for the past thousand years. I do want you to take part in the kingdoms affairs but for now understand this; I am a millennium you senior and I do not need to consult you for every decision I make. One day we will rule as equals but until you’re ready for that day I will handle things as I see fit. If you like then for now I will start to grant you more responsibilities, but in this matter I am decided, Gilda will have both gauntlets and will continue to serve me here in Ponyville.’

Luna and Celestia stared at each other for a while ‘Fine. But you cannot pretend that this matter is settled.’ Luna said breaking eye contact.

Celestia turned back to Trixie ‘Tell us of what happened to you.’

‘Uh, do you want me to be here for this?’ Gilda asked before Trixie had the chance to answer.

Celestia turned to the griffon ‘As my agent you have a right to know of some decisions I make and to even advise me from time to time. This is one of those times.’

‘Oh… Ok then.’ Gilda leaned back against a wall and crossed her arms.

Everyone then turned back to Trixie, ‘Please, continue your story’ Celestia instructed.

Trixie bowed again grandly ‘The great and powerful Trixie was traveling west towards Appleoosa. Trixie admits that her show has come under… hard times of late and she hoped perhaps that Appleoosa would provide the opportunity to er… get back on her feet being, a remote community with little contact with the rest of Equestria. Trixie simply deigned not to ride the train because it simply wasn’t worthy of her, instead she decided to travel there on foot because she likes sleeping under the stars. One night she made camp with a stranger who was passing the same way. This stranger was of course dazzled by my charm and magical talent and-’

Celestia decided now would be a good time to interrupt ‘Stop embellishing the tale and speak in first person. Remember that I’m yet to decide whether to send you to prison or not.’

The elder princess noted in the corner of her vision that Gilda was glancing between Trixie and Celestia, a look of realisation dawning on her face. No doubt this scene was starting to seem familiar to her.

‘Prison!’ Trixie gasped ‘But I was possessed! And I didn’t even hurt anyone!’

Celestia spoke almost casually ‘Attempted murder still carries a prison sentence, and find me a single law regarding exemption and possession, the most you could argue in court was that you were under the influence or maybe plead insanity, keep speaking in the third person and you might pull the latter off.’

Trixie gulped and began to stammer ‘B-b-b- but Trixie can’t go to prison! She’s innocent!’

Celestia nodded ‘which is why I’m giving you the chance to settle this with us right here where I can be more lenient. Now continue your story in first person without any more exaggerations please.’

Trixie nodded and continued nervously ‘Yes, yes er… I made camp with an earth folk named Braeburn who took pity on me. Two others arrived at the camp and we had something of a roadside celebration. The noise or the fire must have been visible from the air because shortly a man with wings and two horns arrived. He attacked and incapacitated Braeburn and the two others first, I tried to use my magic but for some reason the moment I tried to cast a spell I felt something wrap around me and press me into the ground.’

‘He then tied three strips of cloth around the three unconscious peoples’ heads. He tried to do the same to me but it didn’t work. Whatever magic he was trying to use wasn’t working on me.’

Gilda interrupted ‘I call bullshit.’

‘Pardon?’ Trixie asked and everyone turned to face Gilda.

Gilda spoke to everyone though she was looking at Trixie ‘You’re a horned folk whose talent is magic; Antimagic should be more effective on you than pretty much anyone else short of a greater folk. I call bullshit; you’re either exaggerating or lying.’

Trixie rolled her eyes ‘And I assume a griffon would be an expert on such matters?’

Gilda held up her gauntlets for Trixie to see ‘Technically I’m the most qualified antimagic user in this room, so yeah, as far as you’re concerned I am the expert.’ She turned to Celestia ‘Also it was in the books you sent me.’

Celestia nodded and turned back to Trixie ‘Well?

Gulping nervously and glancing worriedly between Celestia and her agent, Trixie continued ‘I-I-I don’t know… Er… I swear it’s the truth, he attempted to cast his enchantment on me and at first it didn’t work. Eventually he gave up with the strips and cast the spell on my hat, and then it worked.’

Gilda nodded ‘Yeah your hat was the possessed part, and it was way harder to break than the other enchantments.’

Nodding enthusiastically Trixie agreed ‘Yes see! That proves Trixie’s telling the truth.’

Celestia tilted her head to the left ‘It still doesn’t explain why you claim to be able to resist possession.’

Trixie could only shrug lamely.

‘Continue.’ Celestia instructed.

‘Yes um… being possessed was terrible. It was like having an ice cold snake constricted around Trixies… er… my brain, controlling my actions and crushing my mind, I could see and hear my actions like normal but I couldn’t do anything. For a week the four of us wondered through the wilderness together in the direction of Ponyville.’

‘When we finally arrived we split up, I went through town towards that cloud home and when I arrived I waited there for something. Eventually… Rainbow… Something, I don’t remember her second name but she arrived and the snake in my mind wanted to run forward and stab and stab and stab but I… resisted somehow. I didn’t want to kill someone and I sort of just struggled with the snake. I didn’t win the fight because I was still approaching her slowly and I was about to stab her when your uh… agent arrived and disarmed me before breaking the enchantment. And that’s the whole story.’
Celestia and Luna stared at Trixie together sorting through the events in their minds.

‘You claim that you resisted antimagic?’ Celestia asked.

‘Yes, princess.’ Trixie nervously nodded.

‘Gilda, did the other two who attacked you and Rarity seem to be at all hesitant?’ Celestia asked.

Shaking her head Gilda answered ‘No not hesitant, but they did have tears in their eyes like they were sad to be doing it. Also when I knocked one of them unconscious he got right back up, his pulse was lowered, his eyes were rolled back into his skull and he got right back up. Again, I call bullshit on her story.’

‘Is what she says about fighting the urge to kill Rainbow Dash true?’

Gilda paused to think about it ‘Well… When I was flying towards her she wasn’t walking like the other ones were. Her steps were all jerky like she was fighting to put her foot forward.’

Celestia considered what was said once more.

Luna spoke after a minute ‘Silver is an odd colour for a folks’ hair.’

Trixie blinked ‘I beg your pardon…’

Continuing her line of thought Luna spoke ‘Your hair… It’s not grey or white… It’s a metallic silver. I’ve lived for quite some time and I’m yet to meet a folk with metallic hair.’

‘Yes… You’re right sister; I’ve never encountered such either.’ Celestia considered Trixie and her attributes. ‘Still it’s an oddity nothing more.’ There was nothing that was particularly useful about her, unless you count possibly being slightly harder to possess as being a valued skill, there was nothing here that Celestia really had any use for at all. ‘You’re free to go.’

Trixie bowed low ‘Thankyou your highness, I-’

‘No’ Luna spoke aloud. ‘She’s not free to go; she’s to return to the palace with us.’

‘What?’ Trixie asked ‘But I thought she said-’

Celestia silenced her with a wave ‘Sister?’

Luna glanced at Gilda then back to Celestia ‘You have your pets, then I shall have mine.’

Thinking about it for a second, the elder greater folk could see no real reason to object. If Luna thought she had a use for this Trixie, fine; she could help herself, and if there was something important about silver hair then Celestia would hear about it eventually.

‘Very well then.’

Trixie sputtered ‘D-d-does Trixie have a say in this?’

Gilda let out a sharp laugh ‘No dude, you really don’t.’

‘Come Trixie.’ Luna ordered walking towards the door.

‘B-b-but I-’

Gilda shoved Trixie towards the door ‘Dude, just go with it.’

Luna led a still sputtering Trixie out the door.

Once the door was closed Gilda spoke shaking her head ‘Watching that… You played me like a harp when we met. How rehearsed is that prison bit?’

Celestia turned a cool gaze on Gilda and decided not to answer her question ‘Have you learned why it was you four who were attacked?’

Gilda blinked ‘Four?’

Nodding Celestia answered ‘Yes Kain was attacked as well.’

Gilda nodded ‘Oh. Well yeah I got a theory, and that just supports it.’

‘What’s your theory? Celestia asked.

‘There were four possessed people right? And they attacked me, Rarity, Kain and Dash right? Well we were the four people who went into the Everfree that night, and the guy that attacked me had this pinned to his band’ Gilda held out a small brown feather ‘And the one that went after Rarity had this.’ Gilda held out a long brunette hair. ‘We must have left some trace of ourselves in the clearing we all stopped at so my guess is Xath cast a spell using these which is how they were able to head straight to us.’

Celestia smiled. That was the conclusion she’d reached too.

Good, Gilda’s learning to reason, a valuable attribute. She will be a fine agent once her training is complete.

Time for a different sort of questioning. ‘How do you feel?’

Gilda blinked ‘What?’

‘I asked about how you’re feeling.’

There was a slight hesitation in Gildas’ response ‘Um… fine I guess. Why?’

Not answering, Celestia walked out of the room.
After A day like today she feels fine? Interesting…

Celestia heard footsteps behind herself and she saw Gilda run past her over to Rarity who was seated down looking shocked. As Celestia watched Gilda reached out to touch Rarity comfortingly but the horned folk flinched away and the griffon looked hurt.
Interesting... Very Interesting.

Celestia cleared her throat for attention. ‘Everyone I have something to tell you. As I’m sure you’ve all learned four of us were attacked this morning…’
---

Celestias’ speech droned on a little and Gilda couldn’t help but tune her out, she was more worried about the way Rarity was acting towards her. Seated with Dash on her left, Gilda couldn’t help but stare at the beautiful horned folk. Her mind was in a complete mess at the moment but she did her best not to let it show.
Rarity’s afraid of me.

It felt like a punch to the gut when she’d realised that, her stomach clenched and Gilda had had to fight not to do something stupid like rush over and… she didn’t know what she might do but it was definitely a bad idea.

Across the room seated next to Fluttershy was Applejack who had tears in her eyes. Oh she looked sad now but Gilda knew that Applejack was gonna be out for blood once her tear ducts had dried up, and that blood would probably be Gildas. This was not going to end prettily.
I shouldn’t have fucking killed him.

There was Kain leaning against a wall and looking bored, his earlier comments had disturbed Gilda greatly. The man was right, Gilda wasn’t sad about killing those two men; she was regretful that she hadn’t handled the situation better by breaking the spells before she’d killed them, but as to the fact that she caused the deaths of two men, she wasn’t sad in the slightest. And that was what disturbed Gilda, she was disturbed by how undisturbed she was.
I can’t be like him. I just can’t…

And Celestia standing there, seeming for the whole world like she actually was what she appeared to be, the sweet, loving, benevolent queen that everyone loved. But no, underneath that was a hard ruthless bitch, none of her pretty speeches ever mentioned being blackmailed. The griffon idly wandered if Twilight Sparkle had ever seen what Celestia was really like. But worse than the deception was this: Gilda knew that Celestia wasn’t done with her, not by a long shot. The princess was putting way to much effort into Gilda for her to simply be using her to keep an eye on Kain. No, once this mess blew over and if Gilda survived it all, Celestia would have plans for her.
She’s not gonna let me go, she was never going to let me go.

Rainbow must have noticed her turbulent thoughts because she reached over and put a reassuring hand on Gildas’ shoulder. Smiling gratefully Gilda mouthed thanks.

Rainbow was a great friend and that was that, she had always been way more understanding than Gilda had any right to expect. Sure they’d had their share of fights and they got on each other’s nerves now and then but the fact was the two of them just knew each other. Rainbow had to be the only person that had ever truly understood Gilda and she was the only person that wasn’t part of her family that knew about Gildas’ troubled family history. Sure she’d never learned it all in one place but she’d picked it up slowly over the years they’d roomed together. Thinking back on it the griffon realised that on two separate occasions she’d turned her back on Rainbow only to be received back with open arms. It made Gilda have to fight down the urge to just hug Rainbow in an over the top Pinkie Pie like display of affection.
Why’s she friends with me?

Apparently her thoughts had distracted her for so long that the princesses speech had ended and they were all instructed to return to their homes. Everyone left the room except for Celestia, Spike and Twilight.

Following the others out the door Gilda failed to notice the massive fist until it slammed into her face, knocking her off her feet. Working her jaw and rubbing her face Gilda looked up to see Applejack standing there with tears in her eyes and her fist outstretched. Everyone in the group just stared for a moment until Fluttershy ran forward to aid Gilda, but Applejack grabbed the back of her sweater and pulled her short. Fluttershy turned around and glared at Applejack until the farmer released her grip on the girl. Climbing back to her feet Gilda resisted all of the concerned vets attempts to aid her.

The group stared in silence for a minute until Applejack turned around and walked away without a word. Glancing between Gilda and the retreating figure, Fluttershy muttered a quick apology before running after Applejack. Smirking Kain shook his head and turned away, followed by Pinkie who glanced between Gilda and the retreating parties before saying something sentimental to Gilda and jogged away after Applejack. Rainbow sighed and looked forlorn before shaking her head and flying away leaving Gilda and Rarity alone together. Without saying anything Rarity turned around and walked away.

That hurt and Gilda wasn’t thinking about the punch. It felt like someone grabbed her stomach and just squeezed, they just gripped onto her stomach and yanked it out.
No… She can’t hate me… Please… She just- she can’t…

Breaking into a jog, Gilda ran to catch up to Rarity. For her part the horned folk made no attempt to speed up or slow down, simply ignoring the pounding footsteps behind her. When Gilda caught up she slowed down and reached out to put her hand on Raritys’ shoulder, which the horned folk just shrugged off.

‘Rarity…’ Gilda said aloud ‘I-I-’

‘You killed two people.’ Rarity finished for her. ‘This morning I saw you kill Braeburn.’ her voice was bland ‘and I can tell you’re not even sad about it. I knew Braeburn and you ended his life… to save my own.’

Gilda walked behind Rarity in silence. The griffon simply couldn’t think of anything to say in response to that, her mind was too clouded with her own mixed feelings.

‘I’m not even responsible for his death at all and I feel guilty.’ Rarity continued ‘I can’t help but think of ways that I could have tied him up or knocked him out or… any other way that he might not have died. But you… I don’t know what you’re feeling right now, but it’s not guilt…’

‘Rarity I-’ Gilda was interrupted once more that night.

‘There’s something wrong with you Gilda.’
That hurt.

Gilda blinked back tears and did her best to maintain her composure. They walked together to Carousel Boutique in silence.

They entered the building together, the two corpses from this morning were gone but the mess from the fight was still there. Gilda could see the patch of blood were she’d broken big macs nose; it was a small patch no bigger than a coin. Its size didn’t matter when it made Gilda think of Rarity pressed to the ground beneath Braeburn, with his fingers wrapped around her throat, her face turning purple as the life slowly choked out of her, her struggles growing increasingly feeble and finally ceasing, her form going limp.

Gilda couldn’t take it, she just couldn’t, she ran into the kitchen and came back out with a roll of paper towels. Falling to her knees she ripped off a sheet and started to wipe up the blood, it had long since dried and the paper towel did nothing so Gilda rubbed harder and harder to scratch the blood off. The paper in her hand tore and Gilda started using her claws to try and desperately scratch the blood off the floor. That wasn’t working very well either so without thinking Gilda licked the tip of her claws to try and see if moisture would help. Then she noticed the taste of blood in her mouth, the tiny chunks of dried blood that had been clinging to her claws were now in her mouth and dissolving on her tongue.
It tastes no different from deer blood.

Recoiling in horror Gilda spat blood from her mouth and almost ran away from the patch of blood.
It has to be different, it shouldn’t taste the same. What the fuck is wrong with me?

Bursting out the door onto the street outside Carousel Boutique, Gilda’s eyes were blurry with tears and she stumbled down the steps and fell flat onto her face.
When the fuck did I start crying?

‘Gilda!’ Rarity came down the stairs after Gilda.

Gilda put her hand to the ground beneath herself and began to push herself to her feet just as it started to rain. ‘You’re right about me, Applejack’s right about me, Kains’ right, I think Celestia thinks it and if so she’s right. I’m a fucking killer!’ Gilda sobbed out now that she was standing. ‘And I don’t even feel bad about it! I feel bad about not feeling bad but that’s not the same. It’s no different to me, killing a person; it’s the same as a rabbit or a dear or whatever… What the fuck’s wrong with me?’ Gilda asked now stalking back and forth while Rarity watched ‘Why did I have to be fucked up so bad!’ she shouted out rain coating her face ‘Why the fuck was Dash ever friends with me?! Why the hell are you being so nice to me?!’ Gilda’s voice was cracking now ‘I don’t deserve shit! Celestia’s right to want to use me! I’m fucking perfect for this life!’

‘What are you talking about Gilda?’ Rarity asked stepping closer.

Gilda laughed bitterly now ‘Celestia blackmailed me into staying in Ponyville. She wants me to keep you guys safe from things like what happened this morning. That’s why she’s been sending me books and shit and these’ Gilda pulled the gauntlets out of her pocket ‘at the library she gave me a pat on the head and told me what a good little dog I was.’

Rarity blinked with disbelief ‘Blackmail?’

‘Yeah you’d never think it would you? Celestia the hard core bitch…’ Gilda chuckled bitterly but tears were still flowing from her eyes ‘And the worst part is she won’t be done with me. Once this is over and Xath and Kain are gone there’s no way she’s not gonna want more from me.’

Rarity stepped closer to Gilda and put a hand on her shoulder ‘That can’t be true, I’m sure she-’

‘And Applejack and Kain… They’re both right… I’m nothing but a fucking murderer.’

Rarity hesitated ‘That’s not true.’

‘Yes it is!’ Gilda shouted ‘I killed two people Rarity, two people in one fucking day and I’m not even sorry!’

‘You killed them to protect me.’ Rarity stated.

Gilda nodded and gulped her mind now taking a different emotional track ‘and that guy on top of you… with his hands wrapped around your throat… and your face going purple… I think about that and I panic. I fucking panic, like there’s this pressure on my chest. And the bruises, I can still see them on your throat, those bruises… ’Gilda’s voice dropped to a low growl ‘I see those and I want to hurt something, I really want to feel something crack between my finger…’ Gilda stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Rarity ‘I can’t let you die… I can’t fucking let you die.’

Rarity slowly raised her arms and returned the hug ‘Gilda are you ok?’

‘No I’m not.’ Gilda stepped back shook her head ‘I’m a fucking mess. I just need… I don’t know what I need. I just… Let’s get inside.’ Gilda wrapped her arm around Raritys’ shoulder and pulled her up the steps into Carousel Boutique. ‘Look at me, you’re the one who nearly died this morning and here I am crying like a pussy.’

‘It’s ok to cry Gilda’ Rarity said. ‘I did once you left and I realized it was Braeburn who had been strangling me. I didn’t recognise him at first but once the shock from being attacked wore off I was terrified. I cried alone minutes after you’d left.’

‘Shit… I’m sorry I wasn’t there to-’

‘There to what?’ Rarity asked ‘You saved my life this morning and I’m grateful. You saved Rainbows life and if you’d stuck around to comfort me you wouldn’t have had time to save her. No you did everything right. I know you tried to knock them out without killing them first. Braeburn just kept getting back up and you did what you had to do at the time. I know Applejack doesn’t see it that way but you did everything you could.’

Gilda didn’t respond as the two of them just climbed up the stairs together, in her mind she thought she might have been able to put down Braeburn without killing him, she’d just forgotten it in the middle of the fight.

Rarity continued ‘To be honest I never knew Braeburn very well at all. I met him briefly when we stayed at Appleoosa. At the time he was a cheerful and hardworking man, the embodiment of the Apple families’ better traits. Now I remember him most for almost killing me, I know for a fact that he will appear frequently in my nightmares for months to come. The point is Gilda; maybe you should feel bad about killing him, but you saved me and maybe that’s why you don’t feel bad about it.’

Gilda knew that was wrong, but she didn’t voice that thought.

Rarity shook her head ‘I know you like to pretend you don’t care for those around you but I realise now how much what I said must have hurt you. You have been damaged in the past yes, but it was wrong of me to say there was something wrong with you. I’m very sorry I said that.’

‘It’s ok.’ Gilda said ‘I am pretty messed up.’

Rarity sighed ‘That’s not the point Gilda, if there is something wrong with you I should be trying to help you overcome the problem rather than using it to hurt you more.’

They came to the door that led into Gilda’s room ‘So are we going to the same room or are we just walking each other to bed?’

Rarity smiled gently ‘Good night Gilda’ and separated herself from the griffon, though Gilda still held onto her hand. Noticing Gilda’s hesitation in letting go of her hand Rarity turned around just as Gilda released it from her grip and turned around, hoping the lady hadn’t noticed anything odd.

‘Yeah… Night Rarity.’ She said over her should as she closed the guest room door behind her, she didn’t have the chance to see if Rarity had noticed her clinginess. The rain on the rook made a relaxing sound as Gilda climbed into her bed.

After a day like that, even with her mind as troubled as it was it didn’t take long for her to get to sleep. Her bruises from the fight sung a nice relaxing lullaby as Gilda’s eyes slowly fluttered shut.
---

Rarity patiently waited for half an hour before she silently slipped out of the room and down the hall to the guest room. Opening the door silently Rarity observed the Griffons unmoving shape for a moment before she was satisfied that Gilda was asleep and shut the door. Turning around Rarity silently tiptoed down the stairs and selected an umbrella from a fancy looking stand. Rarity opened the umbrella and stepped outside into to the night rain.

Walking through town she inwardly chided herself for stepping out into the rain without putting on something a little less lavish first. The sole cloud house in Ponyville floated just up ahead of her.

‘Rainbow!’ Rarity shouted out but heard no response. The weather captain was probably sleeping through the downpoor her team had created while she was occupied.

Sighing Rarity accessed the magic inherit to all horned folk and prepared a cloudwalking spell, which was easy enough to cast, especially since Rarity had improved drastically in her casting with the aid of Twilight Sparkle. Teleporting was hard, most mystic couldn’t manage a short one way trip across a distance of a few metres. Twilight sparkle was an absolute powerhouse of magic, as was her brother Shining armour, so she could manage a number of fairly long distance teleportations though it took a fair amount of effort on her part. Not too many horned folk ever bothered to learn much magic beyond basic levitation though that was easy and almost instinctive; Rarity however was a much better than average sorceress. Sure she was nothing compared to the element of magic but still she could manage a decent enough teleport when she had to.

Surrounding herself with magic Rarity popped out of existence briefly before slamming down onto Rainbows cloud porch. Ok, maybe she’d exaggerated her abilities, she could teleport, but that’s not to say she really should, her teleportation’s were always rough using more energy than they should and slamming her back into existence feeling disoriented. It was a good thing clouds were soft because Rarity fell to her knees when she reappeared, if the porch had been a regular one made of concrete or something Rarity would have scraped her knee.

Climbing to her knees and dusting herself of some imaginary dirt Rarity walked forward and knocked on the door to Rainbows home. ‘Rainbow Dash!’ she called out. ‘I wish to speak to you!’

There was no response so Rarity repeated her action until eventually the door was opened and Rainbow stood there rubbing her eye. ‘What?’ she asked looking unimpressed.

‘Did I wake you up?’ Rarity asked.

‘No but in about five minutes you might of.’ Yawning Rainbow popped her joints ‘What is it?’

‘It’s about Gilda.’

Sighing Rainbow stood back and allowed Rarity to enter her home ‘Yeah I thought it might be, how’d you get up here anyway?’

‘Teleportation and a cloud walking spell.’ Stated Rarity as they entered through the door and moved towards Rainbows living room.

‘So what did she do?’ the weather folk asked as she sat down on her couch.

Rarity blinked. ‘Nothing… Why what could she have done?’

Shrugging Rainbow answered ‘I dunno, I can think of a bunch of things that might tick you off.’

‘Such as?’

‘Well I imagine she wouldn’t be getting along with Sweetie too well so that could be it, or she broke something when she got frustrated or… She hit on you maybe?’

Rarity shook her head ‘Yes she’s had issues with Sweetie but we’re largely past that now and she hasn’t broken anything and no she hasn’t…’ Rarity blinked. Had Gilda hit on her?
Was that what that handholding was?

Rarity continued ‘Anyway I’m not here about anything like that.’

‘Then why couldn’t it wait till morning?’ Rainbow grumbled irritably but the question was obviously rhetorical

Rarity considered how best to phrase her request ‘When we returned to Carousel Boutique she had something of a breakdown.’

‘How bad was it?’ Rainbow asked sitting forward attentively.

‘Um…’ Pausing the horned folk continued ‘Not very bad I supposed, she cried a little and said a few things that I’m not sure she meant.’

‘Things like what?’ Rainbow asked intently.

Rarity blinked ‘She said she was a murderer for killing Braeburn and that other man, that Kain and Applejack were right about her and that she was panicked when Braeburn was attacking me.’

Rainbow nodded ‘Well that doesn’t sound so bad.’

Nodding Rarity agreed ‘I agree but it seemed to me like there was a little history behind a few of the things she said.’

Sitting back Rainbow folded her arms ‘So you waited until she fell asleep, before coming here, to get me to tell you about her private history behind her back?’ she looked very unimpressed.

Rarity coughed awkwardly shifting ‘Maybe.’

Shaking her head Rainbow sighed ‘Look: she never even told me her story, I just figured it out after a while. If she hasn’t told you yet then I know I’m not gonna, I know how freaking much she’d hate that.’

Rarity’s voice took on a pleading edge ‘Please Rainbow! I can see that she has some serious problems and I want to help her, but she won’t let me.’

‘No.’ Rainbow paused ‘Though…’ she trailed off.

‘Though what?’ Rarity asked.

Biting her lip Rainbow looked Rarity up and down as if examining her ‘Has Gilda?… Has she ever seemed?… Wait a second…’ A look of realisation dawned on her face ‘How did you get her to wear a dress?’

Rarity shook her head ‘Really Rainbow? Do you really want to discuss that now?’

Rainbow shook her head ‘No really I mean it. How did you get her in a dress?’

‘I just talked her into doing it for me.’ Answered the horned folk.

Rainbow sat back shaking her head wearily. ‘No you didn’t… Fuck… Alright I’m gonna tell you something about her but only because it’s not really private and only because it might involve you.’

‘How could it involve me?’ Rarity asked ‘I’ve only really had the chance to have known her for about a month and we barely even met before that.’

The athlete answered ‘I know, I’m not saying your part of the story, just that… Just listen will you?’

‘Erm… Okay.’ Rarity settled back into her chair.

Scratching the back of her neck awkwardly Rainbow spoke ‘I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that Gilda’s actually really vulnerable right?’

Rarity nodded cautiously.

Continuing Rainbow still seemed she was feeling awkward about talking about her friend like this ‘Like… she acts like she doesn’t care about the people around her, and like she’s all cool and stuff, but she’s actually really desperate for friends and even if she doesn’t think so herself, she’s really clingy to the friends she does have right?’

Rarity nodded again.

‘Well… Gilda’s only ever really connected with three people right? She’s only really had three good relationships… and no I don’t mean romantically, I mean like the literal definition of the word, as in two people just getting along. Of those three one ended really badly, one was me and that almost ended badly, and the last is the one I’m gonna tell you about in a second. I’m saying this so you know just how much what you do and say could affect Gilda. Basically she’s become attached to you and that means your now like the fourth, so if… Look when I say the other two ended badly I mean they ended really badly, so if things go badly here then it could get really-really nasty.’

A notable sense of concern started to rise up inside Rarity.

‘Back in flight school when me and her were rooming together, Gilda was… I wouldn’t call her the school bully but she was that scary kid who nobody messed with, and she did throw her weight around a little, so when one day I walked into the cafeteria and saw Gilda just sitting and talking to someone other than me it was a bit of a shock. That someone was a new girl in school, her name was Vivacious Velocity but we just called her V.’

‘V was a sweet sort of girl, like… she was cute in that quirky nerd hot way that you might describe Twilight or Fluttershy as. Well V got along with Gilda really well for some reason and I got along with her pretty well too. She was a pretty good flier, and hey, as far as I was concerned anybody who could get Gilda to open up was alright by me. Anyway during the last year of Flight school, Gilda returned to school from summer holidays and came out of the closet to me and V, about a week later V came out of the closet and she and Gilda started dating.’

‘They were going out for half a year until I noticed something odd about V, Gilda didn’t notice it but V started hanging out with guys a bit more and flirting with them and stuff. I told Gilda that I thought V might be cheating on her and Gilda told me to fuck off, we had a fight and we didn’t talk to each other for like a month. Now the thing was that V was never really gay, she was just… impressionable I guess. When Gilda came out it was sort of a “me too” thing and while she’d been having a relationship with Gilda, it was only really for the sake of it, she wasn’t involved in it like Gilda was. It turns out that for quite a while V had been seeing a bunch of people other than Gilda and she’d never really thought about if it would hurt her, she’d always not taken their relationship seriously apparently. Well Gilda found out and she took it really damn seriously.’

Rainbow shook her head ‘Now I wasn’t there when it happened, but this is the story I was told, and believe me there were rumours about it floating around for ages so this probably isn’t exactly what happened. Gilda walked in on V who was in the middle of a date with none other than the captain of the schools storm ball team. When Gilda saw V she shouted a bit and got pretty damn emotional apparently, like I said, I wasn’t there but a most people say she was crying and shouting and stuff. Now this is where there are a thousand versions of the story but the basics of it are that they fought each other and Gilda mopped the floor with that creep. One version had him throw the first punch and another said Gilda did, personally I believe she probably hit first. One had Gilda almost drown him in a fountain; my favourite had Gilda send him through a window before jumping on his chest and pounding his face in. I swear some people were even telling a version were Gilda broke his neck! Which isn’t possible cause the jerk’d be dead. Apparently V tried to get involved too cause she had a black eye when I saw her the next day. Whatever the details were the guy didn’t come back to school for like a month, and when he did he had new gold teeth so…’ Rainbow shrugged.

‘Anyway Gilda got expelled from school and came back to me to apologise for doubting me and stuff, I dropped out of Flight School soon after and me and her shared a shitty apartment for a while before I got this job in Ponyville, Gilda headed off to the wilderness and that’s… pretty much the whole story.’ Rainbow finished sitting forward in her chair.

Rarity blinked, as much as that was an interesting story she had two important questions. ‘How is that not a private story? Also why did you think that I should know that?’

Rainbow smiled answering ‘It’s not private cause everyone from flight schools knows it, hell I think Fluttershy could have told it to you. Seriously it was all people could talk about for like a week after, the captain of the storm ball team got his ass kicked by some angry bull dyke.’

‘And I think you should know it because Gilda’s getting really attached to you, hell she’s probably crushing on you as is. The thing is Gilda’s opened up to you more than you may realise and it would be seriously easy for you to hurt her at this stage and if you do hurt her than I promise that it won’t end well. So… just be careful alright?’

Rarity nodded in understanding ‘Yes I will certainly be careful but I still think I should know about her family-’

‘Yeah I don’t care, those zee’s ain’t gonna catch themselves and I think I’ve told you enough for tonight.’

‘Rainbow I-’

The weather folk interrupted ‘Rarity, given that you’ve been doing this behind Gilda’s back and the only reason I don’t plan on telling her about this is I don’t know how she’ll take it, I think you’ve pushed your luck far enough tonight. Take what I’m giving and walk. Do you need any help getting back to ground?’

Feeling frustrated Rarity stood up ‘No I can get home fine, but I think you should try to speak to Gilda, something’s bothering her and I don’t know if it has anything to do with today but she’s still refusing to tell me about it.’

Shaking her head Rainbow led Rarity to the door ‘No, if she has a problem then she’ll come to me. Until then it’s her business and I’m gonna respect her privacy.’

Rarity stopped at the door and crossed her arms ‘I don’t think that’s very loyal of you.’

Rainbows eyes narrowed at that and her voice took on an angry tone. ‘Don’t lecture me about my own element. Being loyal means trusting those I’m loyal too. Now go home.’

Still hesitating Rarity spoke ‘I don’t think-’

‘Good night Rarity.’ Rainbow repeated firmly.

Sighing Rarity stepped out the door and heard the door shut behind her.

Well that hadn’t gone as planned.

AN:
Thanks to timefather64 and XIII dragon for continuing to review and occasionally helping me with aspects of my writing, and a curse upon you both for making it hard for me to take this chapter seriously. Your jokes about “Princess Celery” and “My Gilda” respectively, made writing one particular scene in this chapter an exercise in frustration and me struggling not to burst out laughing.
The issues between Applejack and Gilda are not over here. I promise you I’ll be going places with that, but at the moment I’m focussing on building the tension between the two of them. Also some of you may be asking ‘What was up with that bit with Trixie?’ My answer to that is; ‘hold all questions please.’

Here are a few fic recommendations for some stories that I enjoyed this week:

Of interest is the story “Tales of Mystica”. If you like humanized fics (and if you’ve read this far into mine I have to assume you do) then check it out. It’s fairly awesome, even if it’s only in its early stages, and I have it faved so it should be easy to find.

“Banishment Decree” is also quite awesome; you’d be surprised just how tense a few scenes in there really are. Plus it features Pinkie as batman. How can you not be at least a little curious about that?

“U-Harmony” was absolutely hilarious. One of the funniest things I’ve read in a very long time, Rarity stands out as a total scene stealer to me.

And finally we have XIII dragon’s “Breaking Twilight”. This is seriously one of the top five pieces of Pony fiction out there; if you plan on reading anything on this list then out of all the things that I’ve recommended I recommend it the most. And no I’m not just saying that cause the guy’s nice enough to drop reviews for me. I’m saying that because it’s really awesome and you’d be doing yourself a favour by checking it out. Sadly it’s only on fanfiction because thus far I’ve been unable to convince the author to put it on FIMfiction. But if you’re reading this on FIMfiction I still encourage you to go over to fanfiction and read it. Seriously the time you’ve spent reading my story would be much better used reading this. I say again and I say it one last time; go to fanfiction and read that damn fic!
If you want help finding it from FIMfiction; it go to my profile and click the link to my fanfiction account, you should find it in my favourites there.