Note: Ok, when I did the chapter I HONESTLY didn't expect it to end how it did.... But somehow the words seemed to come together on their own and well... I wanted to have it expand a little more on Gilda and Josh... Don't worry, the funny will come on in the next chapter. I promise.

Btw, Cascade from the last chapter... she's another creation of my friend, Ryuzaki. A great friend and a great inspiration.
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"So let me get this a-straight", the italian accented voice on the other end of the phone repeated to the gryffin holding the reciever, "Ya a-want 20 of our 32-inch pizzas, 2 of each of our specialty pizzas, 6 orders of every one of our side dishes, 10 litres of soda, and 5 full chocolate cheesecakes?"

"Did I stutter? Yes! That's what I want!", Gilda snapped. At hearing the order played back, immediately the stomaches of Applejack and Rainbow Dash began to turn, Meowth and Josh just looking in abject shock at the gryffin.

"Madam, if we do that, we'll have to close the parlor down for hours! Last time we did that was after that Champagne douche and we STILL are struggling to make up for the loss! Motherfucker wouldn't pay a dime!!"

At this, Gilda grinned. "Well, this order is for a couple of contestants aiming to topple Champagne... and if we win, he may be out of your mane for GOOD!"

"This wouldn't be for Rainbow Dash and Applejack would it? The caller ID shows the number coming out of Ponyville."

"The very same! Help us and I'll pay double what the cost is!"

At this, the eyes and jaws of everyone else in the room seemed to grow double their original size and from the silence on the phone, they could tell the pizza worker was the same. A few minutes passed before he spoke again.

"We'll do it on one condition..... Make sure they win and let Champagne know the manager's family will be laughing at him failing and seeing him crumble like a little bitch!"

Gilda just cackled before she replied. "That would be a pleasure I would do with so much desire!"

"Alright then, that'll come out to 300 bits! It'll all be ready in less than an hour."

"Less than an hour??", Gilda remarked in surprise, "For that big of an order?"

"Trust me... everyone at ThickCrusts Ultra Pizza has a grudge with Champagne... and to see him fall will be great fun. We'll be using every worker we have on it!"

Another grin spread over the avian's beak before she spoke. "Just deliver it to Ponyville Urgent Care Hospital, Room 052. We'll be waiting... ALL of us!"

"Yes ma'am!"

Listening to the other end hang up, Gilda set the phone down and finally took notice of the group of awestruck faces. "What??"

"Gilda, HOW DO YOU HAVE THAT MUCH MONEY?!", Rainbow Dash blurted out, "DOUBLE what the order costs... for THAT MUCH FOOD!?"

"You didn't rob a bank, did ya?", Meowth asked nervously, "We're not gonna get a bunch of cop ponies surrounding us, are we?"

"Relax, you two...", Gilda waved their concerns off, "I've done a lot of work on the GFC."

"GFC?", Applejack asked, scratching beneath her stetson curiously, "What the hay is that?"

"Gryffin Fighting Circuit.", Gilda replied, flexing her claws in pride, "You're talking to a 3-time Equestrian World Champion after all."

"Wha??", Rainbow Dash sputtered again, "How come you never told me that before??"

"I TRIED to!", Gilda remarked, "But that pink friend of yours kept butting in! Why do you think I got so aggravated?!"

"I thought that it was because you were just concerned with being cool above all else!"

Gilda sighed and rubbed her head in frustration before she spoke. "Dash, I took a break from my fighting days to come visit you. I hadn't seen you in years and every time I tried to have fun and talk with you, Pinkie Pie would interfere! It got me pissed off! Wouldn't it do the same to any of you?!"

None of them said anything for a few moments before Josh finally spoke. "Why didn't you just ask Pinkie to let you two have some private time?"

"Dash DID! But that pink bubblehead didn't take the hint!"

"That doesn't explain you scaring Granny, stealing that fruit, and making Fluttershy cry!", Applejack snarled.

"How'd you hear about that???"

"Pinkie Pie told us everything after you left...", the cowpony replied.

"Wait.... you made Fluttershy CRY?!?", Josh growled. But the act made his headache return and he fell backwards into the pillow.

"Yes.. I did all those things.... Scaring Granny, that was just me trying to have a little fun. Stealing the apple... I was gonna go pay for it later, but I never got the chance... even though I did leave a couple bits at the fruit stand as I left Ponyville..."

"What about Fluttershy?!", Dash demanded, "What about her, huh??"

Gilda just sighed and rested her claws in her lap. "Ok, so that I went a little far on... I was just stressed from not getting to spend much time with you! I was always looking over my shoulder for that friend of yours.... Being a high-ranked fighter can make you a little bit paranoid, wondering if someone's going to try to attack you for your fight purse or kidnap you..."

"But you're Gilda Clawden! You're like the fiercest Gryffin I ever met!", Rainbow Dash insisted.

"I thought she was the only one you ever met, Dash.", Applejack remarked.

"Nah, there were a few others in flight school... but most of them were just slackers. I was the only one who really put in an effort. But even a fierce competitor can be worried! I've heard stories about fighters on the circuit being kidnapped or even murdered just for losing a fight!"

At this, they all had to concede, especially Josh. He could remember back in his world reading stories in the paper about martial artists and boxers being attacked for not throwing fights and some of them even dying from their injuries.

"So why'd you call her weak on the phone??", Dash asked again.

"I didn't think she'd want to see me after I screamed like that at her. Hell, if it wasn't for your friend, I wouldn't have bothered ever coming back here!!"

"But you did come back here...", Josh whispered, struggling to lean up in his bed, "You saved me and helped me get back home.... I can't say I'm thrilled about you screaming at Fluttershy... Hell, I SLAPPED the last pony who did that!"

"It's true.", Applejack nodded, "Rarity told me Josh smacked her for making Flutteshy and Pinkie Pie cry."

"Woah...", Gilda gasped, sincerely shocked, "You did that??"

"Gilda, I don't care WHAT kind of trauma someone goes through... to make gentle ponies cry and to compare being nearly torn to bits to being vomited on.... I just can't allow that!"

"You're referring to what happened with the EPA, aren't you?", Gilda remarked, "I remember reading about that before one of my fights. The opponent never showed, saying they had a relative who'd been attacked by Thoroughbred and knowing he struck again made him too scared to leave his house."

"I can't say I blame him..", Meowth remarked. Even though he hadn't been awakened during the attack, Luna had shown him footage of the whole ordeal from start to finish. Although where she got all those cameras was still something that puzzled the cat-pokemon. "If I had someone on da loose who tried barbequing one of my family members, I don't know if I'd eva' leave Rainbow Dash's home!"

"Yeah, but I also read the news report that said Dash helped Josh stay awake while she and her friends were freeing him. I never thought I'd see her doing something so... romantic."

At this, Rainbow Dash and Josh just blushed, looking at each other.

"Well... love can make you do some amazing things.", the cyan pegasus said shyly, "It can even make you willing to get yourself a little bloody..."

"Yeah..", Josh blushed embarrassed, "Sorry about coughing up blood when you were helping keep my mind awake."

"Josh, you'd been stabbed all over your body and you were suffering from 4th-degree burns!", Applejack reassured him, "I think your reaction was pretty normal."

Gilda just looked at her pegasus friend and the bare-chested human in the bed in front of her. She hadn't really gotten a good look at his face before, half of it covered in blood from pieces of the bottle cutting his face and the hot sauce scalding it. But now from what wasn't wrapped up in gauze, she could make out a countenance that looked like it had been through hell and back and was willing to go through it all over again. His lone hazel eye was focused on the pegasus nearby, twinges of a smile creeping onto his face even with his teeth stained red, a side-effect of some of the blood in his lungs being shot up his throat due to the currents of electricity raging through his heart and frying his organs. Dr. Whooves was amazed that the teen was still alive after all that. His chest, heaving softly with each ragged breath, looked young and smooth, even with the droplets of crimson that decorated it. His hands were resting at his sides, helping him sit up in the bed as if he was laying against the arm of a couch. Altogether he looked pretty much nothing like the humans she'd read about back in her textbooks... No he looked a lot cooler.

"Josh.... I think I would have done the same.", she grinned, her face giving the teen a look of sincere compassion, "At least you're safe..."

The human grinned, but winced. "I can't believe he tried to kill me...", he muttered, "I knew he was a bastard..... but to allow me to die...."

"He's evil... pure and simple...", Applejack remarked sadly, "He only cares about himself and making others lives a living nightmare!"

Rainbow Dash nodded, resting her head on his chest and letting him rub her mane. "He almost took my sweetie-wing.... I would have lost my sanity if he had..."

"Ok, seriously...", Gilda remarked, making a gagging noise, "Easy on the lovey-dovey stuff!"

"Yeah...", Meowth winced. As much as he was happy that Josh had found love, this was getting too sappy even for him.

"Actually..", Gilda interrupted, "Would the 3 of you mind leaving the room a few minutes... I want to have a talk with Josh."

At this, Rainbow Dash gave a noticeable swallow and Applejack and Meowth stood guard in front of him. "Why??", the cowpony snarled, "We may have made a truce, but how do we know you're not gonna try something when it's just you two in here!"

"Let her....."

Hearing Josh's weak voice, the two ponies and cat-pokemon turned to him in alarm.

"Josh??" Are you sure???", Meowth asked.

"I have a feeling I know what she wants to ask.... It's ok...."

Reluctantly, the 3 of them left the room, but not before Rainbow Dash turned towards Gilda. "Gilda... if you so much as TOUCH him the wrong way... I'll make sure you're clipped.... PERMANENTLY.."

Gilda didn't say anything, but merely nodded as she watched the others leave and shut the door behind them before turning to the human in the bed.

"Ok, spill it...", she remarked, strutting over to the teen, "How'd you do it???"

"How'd I what??", Josh asked, positioning himself against his headrest, "How'd I get here? Celestia did that!"

"No.... How'd you bring yourself to stay!"

At this, Josh gave her a puzzled look on what was exposed of his face. "What do you mean?"

"Josh, the Equestrian Pony Alliance threatened you, they tried to kill you, hell they burned you to the goddamn BONE! Yet you stayed..... if it was anyone else, I KNOW they woulda turned tail and bolted without ever looking back! Why'd you stay??"

Josh didn't respond, but did something that impressed Gilda instead. He reached towards the bandage on his face and tore it off, exposing his eye. The flesh was still pretty scorched and there were still traces of dried blood below the ball, but other than that it seemed to be functional.

"Eahh.. Think I can use that now...."

"Ok that...", Gilda marveled, "That was actually cool!"

Josh just sighed and placed his face in his hands before running them back up through the mess of bloody bandages covering a major part of his skull. "Gilda.... do you know how old I am?"

"Um....."

"I'm 15. I'm 15 years old.... I've been alone since I was 10. This is the first sembelance of a home I've had since I became a teenager.... I've lived in an empty house with nothing but broken memories and a set of relatives who'd rather see my head in a bag... all thinking I was responsible for deaths that I would never carry out because of a goddamn rumor...."

Gilda just whistled as she listened to the teen speak.

"I don't give a god-fucking-damn what a group of bigots tries to do to me... I don't care what Champagne does to me.... I don't care what anyone does to me.... I.... will... not.... lose.... my.... home!!!!!! NOT AGAIN!!!"

Josh just clenched his fists and punched the headrest behind him in anger, startling Gilda. She'd thought SHE had a temper, but this was anger at its rawest.

"I will let them fry my brain.. I will let them burn my flesh... I will let them electrocute my bones.... I will let them destroy my body.... But I will never... NEVER... let them take away my new home... NO ONE will take away that.... nor will they take my friends... OR my love! I will give my life before that happens! This is my light.... I won't let ANYONE turn it out!!!"

"Ok, easy, easy!", the gryffin soothed. She had never seen such raw emotion, such rage before... and she'd seen it all. She'd been in fights, attacked muggers, come across more than her fair share of abuse.... but this... this was an anger all of its own. The look in his face was indescribable and immediately... she realized that she was looking at someone... who could protect Ponyville... someone who could even save the world... or if his heart was corrupted... watch it burn to the ground. "Maybe.... maybe I should bring the others back in... I think I got all the information I wanted out of you..."

Josh nodded with a growl and just let himself sink back into his pillows, massaging his bandaged temples. His head was throbbing from all he'd just said and letting his anger getting to him. He'd had a few temper issues even back in his world. He could remember when he attacked a classmate for mocking him about his dead parents... he'd bashed the kids head open to the point where they could see their own brain in the massive puddle of blood that he'd fallen into. The boys stitches were STILL very visible and very ugly and it took almost a year before anyone got the nerve to so much as LOOK at him again, terrified the wrong remark could set him off.

Laying in the hospital bed and watching Gilda leave the room, he knew she was talking to Rainbow Dash, Meowth, and Applejack about what she'd heard and he didn't even care. He'd just been through the gates of hell TWICE and he'd seen and felt death come upon him. Champagne... Thoroughbred.... they'd both tried to end his life... and if it hadn't been for that special water of Gildas... Champagne would have succeeded. It made him realize that even in a place like Equestria... there would still be people and ponies out to see him buried.... as they would his new friends.

But he'd never let that happen. What he'd told Gilda Clawden was straight from his heart. He would fight for Ponyville... for Rainbow Dash... for all his friends... even if he lost it all in the process... He was more than their friend. He was their protector.... and it was his new duty not just to give them his wisdom.... but his defense. Yet... he could feel maybe Celestia hadn't brought him entirely here to teach them.... maybe... she'd brought him here for them to teach him....... he didn't know anymore...

All he knew was what was happening in the now. He was laying in a hospital bed in room 052 in Ponyville Urgent Care Hospital. He'd been brought back from the brink of death by a gryffin and special water and said gryffin, a cat-pokemon, and two talking ponies, one of whom he was now in a relationship with... who he'd given himself to... were all waiting outside and in a discussion while they all waited for a gigantic pizza order to arrive. If someone had told him that would happen last year, he woulda pissed himself laughing. Yet now nothing like that fazed him. He didn't think anything could even surprise him anymore.

"ALRIGHT! PIZZA'S HERE! WOO!!!"

Hearing Gildas cheer and letting a faint grin come onto his face, he knew the gigantic order had arrived, the short timeframe incredible. Yet.... like before......

Nothing fazed him.... not anymore....