Gilda punched the cloud, watching it explode into nothing. Sadly, there was no satisfaction to be had. It was always like this in her life. Whenever she had something worth keeping, she would lose it.

She sighed and flew down to the cave she had found. It wasn’t perfect, but it was at least cozy, and she was more predator than prey enough to be left alone by most forest denizens that were roughly her same size.

The distant thunder made her frown. It was just her luck that the Everfree would have no weather control. She smirked. Actually, it reminded her of the good old days, when she was just a chick. Before… Gilda growled and clawed at the wall in frustration, roaring in anger.

I promised myself I wouldn’t think of that time again! she thought furiously before a last, half-hearted swipe at the clawed stone. She slid down to the floor just as the thunder thrummed through the cavern again and the first drops of water splashed on the leaves outside.

She leaned against the wall, watching the tempo of the rain increase. It was going to be good storm. A flash of angry red and blue, followed by a cracking boom made her start. Scratch that, it was going to be a crazy storm! Just like the one that brought me here!

The unnatural lightning struck again in the distance and howling wind blasted through the trees, buffeting her feathers and forcing her to jump onto her paws, staring in awe at what was transpiring. Could it be?

The storm increased in power, making her hesitate. This was a wild storm. There was no telling what would happen if she flew out of the cave.

But… Gilda took a couple of steps back, before taking a deep breath and gathering herself. With a challenging growl, she took a running leap out, opening her wings. Her wings strained under the hurricane-like winds, and she was aloft in less than a second, fighting her way through the rain and lightning bolts.

She didn’t even know what she was looking for, exactly. When the storm had brought her here so long ago, it had been the same. But… if I can see them again… maybe, even go back and see mom…

She struggled and dived, swerved and pulled herself up, trying to find a sign… anything at all that would give her an idea of what she had to do, or where to go, but her efforts seemed futile. She looked over her shoulder, down at the trees and the distant location of her cave.

She immediately noticed the dye in her feathers washing away. She was completely drenched now, and the continuous pour of the rain finally did its job, removing the last of the white and brown she had dyed her feathers with religiously for several years now, revealing plumage as red as the lightning around her.

The storm intensified and dark clouds started spinning right above her creating a vortex not unlike the eye of a tornado, fed by flickering lightning and…

“Glittering magic?!” Gilda gasped, eyes widening. “This is it! Just like that time!” she pushed her wings harder and harder, fighting the push of the wind, unable to get to the eye of the storm. Flashes of light and debris flew around her, forcing her to dodge desperately.

A voice pushed through the howl of the wind, speaking in strange words and eye wavered, rippling like the center of a lake and suddenly she was looking at a face she never thought she’d see again.

“It's you!” the griffon gasped.

“Merv?!”

“That’s not my name!” Gilda shouted back, eyes shimmering with happy tears. “I’m called Gilda!”

“Merv! I can’t hear you! Are you okay? You’ve grown!”

“It’s been years, you dimwit!” Gilda shouted back, gritting her beak and trying to get closer.

“Merv! Merv!”

The sky seemed to groan and for a second everything became still. Then the whole of the storm whirled into itself in the blink of an eye, clearing the night sky of clouds, lightning and wind, concentrating into a spinning sphere of energy that hovered in front of her.

Gilda blinked. “Oh, fudge.”

The sound of the explosion woke up every pony in Equestria, most notably a certain pegasus who lived right next to the forest and had remained blissfully unaware of the storm until now.

She gasped as a blast of wind pushed its way out of the forest, sending branches, the occasional chipmunk and one large red predator flying out of it.

Fluttershy hurried down to the collapsed griffon. She slowed down when she was close enough to see her objective was still alive and breathing and took a moment to admire the reddish-pink plumage and fur. She had never seen the like.

Griffin usually were a mix of brown and white, with the odd albino or solid black… but she had never heard of such a coloration. “Oh, my… are you okay, miss griffon?”

Gilda’s eyes slowly opened, and she regarded the worried pony with a mix of resignation and exhaustion. “The Ancient Bears must hate me,” she muttered, ignoring Fluttershy’s wide-eyed recognition and letting her eyes stray to the sky above the Everfree. She felt her strength and will ebbing away, and mumbled: “They have to if they made me land in the dweeb’s front-yard.”

The last thing she saw was Fluttershy calling out for her, before everything went black.

Author's Notes:

It's not much, but see if you can guess the crossover. :P

Here's a hint (note: if you google it, you cheated): Magic and mystery are part of their history...