Chapter 62: Gilda’s Demands

James sat in front the fireplace in a sparsely furnished room in the castle. It was a small meeting room with only two sitting cushions, fit for dignitaries with their royal-red plush upholstery, and a small, ornate walnut table with the images of the sun and moon carved into the top of the legs where they joined the table top. A fire crackled in the marble hearth, the light of the flames dancing with shadows and causing the finely woven tapestries covering the walls to have an almost lifelike quality to them. But the fire did little to warm him. He had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and was sipping on a cup of hot oatstraw tea. It tasted like eating hay, but Fluttershy had told him once that oatstraw was good for calming nerves. He didn’t think it was helping very much right now, though. His hair was a disheveled mess, and a shiver went through him as he took a deep breath and let it out with a sigh. A casual observer might have thought he was sick. In a manner of speaking, he was, but not physically so. His eyes were fixed on the table, although he wasn’t really looking at it. He was just trying to avoid the gaze of the pony on the other side.

“It’s not your fault, James,” Twilight reassured him again, sitting on her haunches on the cushion across from him, having just finished listening to his report of what happened in the armory with Theory Point. “She had everyone fooled. Nopony saw what she was doing.”

“Maybe I should have,” James responded, pulling his eyes away from the table and looking at Twilight. “There were signs. Signs that should have been a warning. Her risk taking nature … Her anti-establishment attitude … Her cultural rebellion. Her resistance to authority at the Academy. Her —”

“A lot of those qualities apply to Rainbow Dash too. Do you think she’s a traitor? Should I order the Royal Guard to bring her in for questioning just based on those traits?”

“No,” he said, looking down at the table again.

“When something like this happens, it’s natural to reflect on the past. To start looking at things and interpreting them as signs or warning signals that you missed and should have acted on. But we can’t start assuming someone is planning treason just based on risk-taking, or anti-establishment traits, or counter-culture interests. There was nothing, James. There were no warning signs you could have reasonably acted upon.”

“You’re right, Twilight. And I know that. But still, I wonder if there was something I could have done to prevent all this,” he said, forcing his eyes away from the table and looking at her again.

“You could spend the rest of your life wondering and never find the answer. So you need to stop focusing on that and focus on what we can do now. Do you think we can still catch her?”

James shook his head. “That was definitely something I should have done differently. I should have come to you right away instead of stewing in my own self-pity for the next ten minutes. I’m sure she’s left the city by now.”

“Again, what’s done is done. And you need to focus on what we can do now. Do you have any idea where she might have gone?”

“No. But even if we found her, I don’t think we’d learn anything from her. I did at least have the presence of mind to ask her if she knows where Luna is. She said she doesn’t and that no one involved knows anything more than they need to know to do their job. On that, at least, I believe she’s telling the truth. So I already know everything she knows about what her role in the whole thing was.”

“Then the fact that we probably won’t be able to find her isn’t a huge setback anyway,” Twilight responded. She opened her mouth to say something more, but the sound of a hoof knocking on the door stopped her.

“Enter,” she said, standing and turning toward the door. James also did the same thing, shedding the blanket he had around his shoulders to make himself look at a least a bit more presentable. The door opened and a junior Royal Guard messenger appeared, giving a salute to Twilight.

“My Lady, Gilda has returned. She knows where Princess Luna is. She’s currently in the infirmary and has … demanded that you attend to her.”

Immediately, James forgot all about Theory Point. Relief washed over him, sweeping away the darkness and gloom as a giant ocean wave sweeps away debris from a beach shore. Warmth flowed through him, banishing the chill that had taken hold of him and he began to feel almost hot in the small room with its glowing fireplace. The logical part of his mind tried to temper his elation by interjecting various pessimistic thoughts. Knowing where Luna is wast not the same as actually having mounted a successful rescue after all. And if Gilda had been discovered, they could move her before any rescue mission ever got there. He stomped those thoughts down in his mind, though. This was the first glimmer of hope they’d had in a long time. Like the first ray of sunshine penetrating through a small hole in dark clouds after a hurricane had past. And he wasn’t about to let those negative thoughts close up that hole.

“Tell, Gilda I’ll be right there, Private,” Twilight responded, bringing James’ attention back to her. The twinkle in her eyes, the way she held her ears, and the position of her tail all told him she was as elated as he was, and having just as difficult of a time concealing it.

“Yes, My Lady,” the guard responded with a salute, before turning and leaving.

As soon as the door had closed, Twilight turned to James and lept up on her hind legs. Impulsively, the two of them embraced each other, both of them releasing their excitement now. In their joy, they kissed each other briefly, before releasing their embrace. No words were said. None needed to be. Not that they had time for words anyway. Both of them wanted to get to Gilda right away and find out what she knew. Twilight magically opened the door and trotted out, James having to jog a bit to keep up with her.

“Where are you going?” she said, slowing slightly and turning her head to look at him.

“With you?” he responded, raising an eyebrow. At least he hoped he was. He really didn’t want to have to wait for the briefing to find out what Gilda knew.

“No you aren’t,” she responded, shattering his hopes, although that disappointment was nothing compared to the elation he still felt that Luna had been found. “You have a mission to the Changeling Empire to get ready for, remember? We still need to know whether Chrysalis really has been overthrown and the changelings have betrayed us.”

“The changelings!” he exclaimed. “I completely forgot about that! What with the whole thing with Theory Point, and now the good news about Luna.”

“You’ll know everything I know soon enough,” she said, resuming her trot down the hallway. “Inform the rest of the Royal Council to be in the briefing room in one hour!” she called out as her trot became a canter and she rounded a corner, disappearing from his sight. He stood for only a moment, watching where she had gone before turning and heading for the Council living quarters. In his excitement, he started at a fast walk, but then broke into a joyous run, nearly colliding with a patrolling guard as he rounded a corner.

“Sorry!” he called out behind him in an exuberant voice at the guard, who now had a confused look on his face. But James did not slow down. The guard just shook his head and continued on his patrol …

o.O.o

“Nurse!” Gilda yelled out again, impatience building inside of her as she sat up in the infirmary bed. She heard the clip-clop sound of hooves coming down the hallway. Shortly after, a sea-green unicorn mare appeared at her door.

“What is it now?” the nurse said, her ears plastered back on her head in annoyance.

“More hot cider, since you lame ponies don’t have mulled wine,” Gilda demanded.

“You haven’t finished the mug I brought you earlier,” the nurse responded, nodding at the bed table and then looking sternly back at her.

“That mug is cold,” she responded nonchalantly, dismissively waving a talon at it.

“It’s cold because you asked for it half an hour ago, and you never took even one sip from it!” the nurse responded, narrowing her eyes and stamping a forehoof slightly.

“I want a fresh mug that’s hot!” Gilda demanded again.

“Fine,” the nurse said, rolling her eyes and sighing in exasberation before turning and starting back down the hallway, walking passed the two Royal Guards stationed outside the door to the private room Gilda was in. The doctor who was taking care of her — a brown earth pony stallion — approached from the other direction.

“Can’t we discharge her, Doctor?” the nurse said, as the two of them stopped in the hallway. “You said yourself there was no reason for her to stay in the hospital.” Gilda had no doubt the nurse had intentionally said it loud enough for her to hear.

“I wish I could,” the doctor responded, glancing towards her room and then returning his attention to the nurse. “But I have orders from the Commander of the Castle Guard that she’s not to leave this room until Lady Sparkle gives her okay. Even if I discharged her, the guards outside her door would never let her leave.”

“Can we at least sedate her, then?”

He glanced into her room again, giving her a stern look of his own before returning his attention to the mare. “Don’t tempt me,” he said before returning to his rounds, the nurse continuing on her way to hopefully get the mug of hot cider she had requested.

Gilda sighed slightly, digging her talon into and out of the sheet on the bed, hooking a thread and slowly unraveling it, gradually destroying the sheet. Her wound had not been as bad as she had initially feared it was. The doctor had used some stitches to close it, given her a saline IV to rehydrate her after her long flight, and then had wanted to discharge her. But the guards at the door had forbidden it and said the orders from their commander were that she wasn’t to leave the room. Her demand that they bring Twilight Sparkle to her instead of take her to Twilight Sparkle had backfired on her, it seemed. If she hadn’t made that little demand, she could be out of the infirmary by now and meeting with the unicorn regent in some cosy, luxury meeting room in the castle. But now, she was stuck here until they had indeed brought Twilight to her. Given they wouldn’t let her leave, she had resolved to be as annoying to the staff as possible. Asking for multiple cups of cider that she didn’t drink. Asking for food only to then declare that it wasn’t fit for a peasant's dog to eat and ordering it to be taken back to the kitchen. If she was stuck here with them, she was gonna make sure they felt stuck here with her too. It was childish, she knew. But at least it gave her some small satisfaction of knowing she wasn’t the only one who was miserable right now. With any luck, she could unravel the entire sheet before Twilight got here. Then she could demand a new sheet as well, she thought as she plucked at the thread with her talon, continuing to pull it out.

The nurse returned a few minutes later, controlling two mugs of hot cider with her magic instead of just one.

“You have a visitor. Lady Twilight is here to see you, thank the Goddesses,” she said with annoyance before setting the mugs down on the bed table and turning to leave.

The nurse rounded the corner, and then Gilda saw Twilight walking towards her room, accompanied by a bat pony officer. The rank insignia on his armor indicated he was the captain of the entire Lunar Guard. Well, isn’t that special? I can command both the Regent and the Captain of the Lunar Guard to appear before me, she thought to herself with a chuckle as she prepared to rattle off her list of demands before she would give them any information. She might not have held any cards at the last meeting with Twilight, but now she held all of them. She smiled to herself, barely able to contain her excitement and desire to completely turn the tables on the purple unicorn.

“Ah yes, Twilight Sparkle. I’ve been expecting you,” Gilda stated regally. “Do come in. I have information that may be of interest to you.”

The bat pony with Twilight gave Gilda an incredulous look that clearly demonstrated how aghast he was that she would dare address the Regent of Equestria in such a disrespectful manner. Twilight herself just rolled her eyes, and neither of them said anything as they marched into the room. Only after they had stopped, did Twilight speak.

“The doctor tells me you were injured, but that he’s treated it. How are you doing?”

Gilda raised an eyelid slightly at she looked at the unicorn. Was that concern she had had her in her voice? Perhaps even a twinge of guilt about having forced her on this mission. For a brief moment, she was caught off guard, and her plan to make her demands started to unravel as surely as the sheet she was pulling the thread out of. But she quickly caught herself. If Twilight felt guilty? All the better for her, and the easier it would be to ensure her demands were met in exchange for the information she had.

“The wound was not serious. Not by gryphon standards anyway,” she responded.

“I’m relieved to hear that, “Twilight responded. Gilda was somewhat disappointed she had ignored the insinuation.

“Did anyone see you come here?” This time it was the bat pony that had spoken. His voice was gruff. The voice of a grizzled veteran accustomed to giving commands and having them obeyed. She also presumed he was accustomed to asking questions and getting answers.

“Yes, but he won’t be telling anyone else.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because he’s at the bottom of the Sea of Tears. Assuming he had time to sink to the bottom before the sharks got him. How you think I got injured?”

Twilight winced slightly at her response, but the bat pony only nodded, apparently satisfied with her answer. When neither the bat pony or Gilda said anything more, Twilight spoke.

“We may as well get right to the point, then. Where is Princess Luna”

Gilda smiled. It was time to play her trump card now. “We’ll get to that in a bit. Before we do, I have certain demands. You may have held all the cards when you had me in a dungeon cell, pony, but now it’s my turn. And no doubt you will agree that all the cards are in my talon now.”

The bat pony narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth, no doubt getting ready to chastise her for her disrespect to the Regent. But Twilight raised a forehoof, stopping him before responding in a calm and collected voice.

“I expected you would, Gilda. Well, what are they?”

Damn, she’s hard to fluster, Gilda thought to herself with disappointment. She had hoped to get more of a rise out of the unicorn and cause her to lose her cool. But she was proving much more patient and in control than she’d anticipated. Oh well, she might as well get on with it, she decided.

“First of all, you and I both know that thanks to all this, I’m guilty of treason as far the King is concerned, and I can never return to my homeland.” She was about to continue, but Twilight responded before she got the chance.

“You’ll be given full political asylum in Equestria, and a full housing and living allowance by the Royal Treasury. The housing and living allowance will be paid for the rest of your life, and you may live wherever you choose. Furthermore, if you wish it, you will be given full Equestrian citizenship, with all the rights and privileges of any other Equestrian citizen.

“As if I’d want to swear allegiance to your pony Princesses,” Gilda spat.

“I said if you wish it, you may become an Equestrian citizen. You will have political asylum in Equestria for the rest of your life, whether or not you choose to become a citizen,” Twilight responded calmly.

Gilda blinked, again caught off her guard not only by how easy this was turning out to be, but also how hard it was to rattle Twilight. But she still had one more demand. Surely the pony would balk at this one, wouldn’t she?

“Given my career in the Gryphon Army was cut short by this little escapade, I’m also going to lose my pension. So I —”

“Whatever your pension would have been, I’ll double it. Consider it Equestria’s thanks for the invaluable service you’ve provided to us. You’ll be able to live the rest of your life in luxury if that’s what you want, Gilda. Although I don’t expect it is. It’s not your style. I expect we’ll see you joining the Royal Guard or something.”

Gilda’s beak almost dropped to the floor, but she caught it and closed it again. That had been way too easy. Disappointingly easy. She had been prepared for a fight. She’d wanted to toy with Twilight. Instead, she’d given her everything she wanted without any fight at all. In fact, more than she wanted or had intended on asking for. Maybe the pony really did feel guilty about sending her on this treasonous mission? Maybe she really did care about her wellbeing? She felt all of her resolve to be argumentative and uncooperative melt away from her, like the ice melting from her wings when she’d been brought into the warm infirmary. Any desire to be confrontational left her as she responded in a calm, conversational tone.

“I know where she is. But rescuing her is going to be very difficult. The facility she’s being held in is concrete mixed with cold iron.”

“Cold iron? What’s that?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s one of our most closely guarded military secrets. It blocks unicorn magic. We’ve never actually deployed it in battle yet, so you’ve never seen it used before. But suffice it to say, the facility Luna is being held at is a trap for unicorns. They could teleport into the facility, but they couldn’t teleport out again, nor would they be able to use any magic while they were inside of the facility.”

Twilight frowned, clearly dismayed by this new development, and Gilda couldn’t help but feel a small twinge of satisfaction that the unicorn apparently hadn’t known anything at all about cold iron. At least it was one military secret the gryphons had been able to keep the ponies from ever discovering.

“Tell me more about the facility,” Twilight prompted.

“Most of it is underground, so it’s hard to spot from the air. In addition, there’s a canopy over it that prevents any of the light from the courtyard from shining into the sky. But the light is visible enough from the ground. The perimeter around it is guarded, but not heavily. They are relying mostly on the belief that the location is secret and that it’s very difficult to get into, even for unicorns. You won’t have any trouble taking out the guards around outdoor perimeter before being discovered. But getting inside is another story. The fence is tall, and rimmed with razor wire at the top. There’s only one gate in the fence, but that gate is also the only part that’s guarded full time. The rest of the fence is patrolled by a few roving guards.”

Twilight nodded once. “Does the facility itself have any weaknesses?”

“There are no windows. There are only two doors, opposite each other in the building. Both are heavily reinforced. The only potential weaknesses are two air vents on the roof. They are probably large enough to crawl through, but they are covered with thick screens and heavy bars. Getting them off without detection probably won’t be easy.”

“Could unicorns teleport in with the understanding that they’d have to fight their way out without being able to use magic?”

“Possibly, yes. But I know absolutely nothing about the interior layout of the building.”

“So they could end up teleporting themselves into a wall or something,” Twilight said with a frown. Gilda nodded in response.

“There’s one other thing that might be useful,” Gilda continued. “I found the facility by following a guard rotation there from Gryphon City. One of the guards that was due to rotate out — his name is Albinus — requested to stay there. Claimed he was having problems with his wife and didn’t want to go home. Thing is, I know Albinus and his wife, and they have the most loving relationship any two gryphons could have. And no gryphon in their right mind would request to stay on that duty. They are all terrified of Luna, despite the fact that for now, her power is contained. They all think she’s just biding her time, and could find a way to unleash her full wrath on them at any moment with no warning. Anyway, I think Albinus has befriended Luna, and may try to help her escape if a rescue comes. That’s the only explanation I can think of for why he would request to stay there after his unit was due to rotate out.”

“That will be useful, when the time comes,” Twilight responded.

There was silence in the room for several long seconds as Twilight and the bat pony processed the information she had given them.

“Is there anything else?” Twilight finally asked.

“Nothing, except the map in my pack, which is over on the chair,” Gilda responded, shaking her head.

Twilight nodded and then said, in a surprisingly compassionate tone, “Thank you for your service Gilda, I’m truly sorry I had to force you into this. But the survival of our entire world, and perhaps even the entire universe, hangs in the balance.”

“I’m starting to think I would have made same the decision even if you hadn’t forced me into it,” Gilda responded quietly. “The King may really be insane, or simply completely deceived by whatever it is that is communicating with him. What will he be king of if the world freezes to death? King of nothing, that’s what he’ll be … I would like to go on the rescue mission. I might be of some help.”

Twilight smiled, but shook her head. “Thank you for your offer, Gilda. But we already have a Bat Team Alpha unit deep inside the Gryphon Kingdom. They are just waiting for maps and orders.”

Gilda only nodded in response, feeling a slight tinge of disappointment.

“I’ll tell the doctor it’s okay to discharge you, and I’ll order the guards to take you to a guest room in the castle. I’m afraid you might have to share it for now, though. We’re pretty pressed for space with all that’s going on. Is there anything else you need right now?”

Gilda, thought for a moment before responding.

“Can you send the nurse in one more time?”

Twilight nodded. “I’ll do that. Do you mind if I get the maps from your pack?”

“Go ahead,” Gilda responded, motioning towards it with her beak.

Twilight used a little bit of magic to open Gilda’s pack, finding the maps neatly folded along the outer edge. She took them out, then closed the pack and turned her attention back to Gilda.

“Thank you again for your help, Gilda. I’m sure I’ll see you around the castle.”

And with that, she turned and left the room, the bat pony guard with her turning and walking alongside her. Gilda watched them until they disappeared around a bend in the hallway, then rested her head back against the upraised bed, picking up the hot cider and tasting it for the first time. It was still warm, although not hot anymore. It had the flavor of fresh apples, cinnamon, and nutmeg. She finished the drink quickly, wishing now that she’d tried it sooner instead of used it to torment the poor nurse. It was incredibly delicious … well, for pony food anyway. It wasn’t long before the unicorn nurse came walking down the hallway towards her room again, her ears back, her tail stiff, and a very annoyed look on her muzzle.

“What is it now, Gilda?” she asked in a voice that was every bit the match for her annoyed expression.

“I just wanted to thank you for taking such good care of me, and apologize for being such a pain in the ass to you.”

The nurse raised an eyebrow, blinked, and her expression took on a look of total conclusion. Then she simply shook her head a bit and turned, walking out of the room again and mumbling something about gryphons and their strange customs and behaviors. Gilda chuckled lightly, and got ready to leave the infirmary.