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Story 4

Chapter 4: Where the Changing Starts

By: SleeplessScribe

The sight of her licking her chops was hilarious. It took a decent bit of effort to keep from laughing as I nudged her through the gate. “Meet me back at the fountain when you’re done and I’ll show you the house, alright? There I’ll answer all your questions. And hey, don’t take too much, we don’t want the animals dying off.”

She rolled her eyes at me, turning back to the forest. “If you say so.” With that, she took off, leaving me with one more stop before everything came together.

I had to go across the city again to the Market District, slipping into the florist shop. The place was always amazingly organized, with potted plants, a floating garden, and even a few small trees in the back. Each section was well marked, and each section was further separated by season. A small voice came from behind the counter, but when I looked there was no one there.

“Just a moment, I- oof!” The mare was carrying far too many seed packets in her forelegs, and she stumbled out of the room behind the counter. I managed to get to her and help her steady herself, but not before she dropped a few of the packs. Poor girl had dirt stains all over her white coat and her light brown mane. Cerulean was the oddball of the three of us, getting most of her traits from out mother, even down to her magenta eyes. Her usually curly mane was a mess, random hairs sticking out and most of her curls hanging down straight.

“Cerulean! What happened, you look horrible!”

Her lips curled inward, forming a thin line across her face. “Well thanks, love you too. Just an accident with one of the plants. Today’s been so busy, I’ve just been all over the shop. Petunia’s on her way back from a delivery right now, so it’s just me. Anyway, what’s up?”

After a deep breath, I prepared to give her a long and convincing story after I told her. However, when she saw my face, she shot me a glare. “This is about that griffin you were with earlier, isn’t it? Let me guess; no houses, you offered our guest room, right?”

I sighed, trying to keep my focus on her. “You’re as sharp as ever. Look, I know how you feel about them after what happened, but the first thing you need to know is that she’s a female. I’m sure she doesn’t have any ties to what happened to you. Not only that, but I’ve told you time and time again what’s in the past is done, and nopony thinks of you any differently because of it.”

She slammed her hooves on the counter, gritting her teeth. “Maybe not everyone, but you’ve seen how some of the others look at me! With her hanging around us, that’s only going to convince them even further that what happened to me was completely within my will. All they’re going to think now is that our whole family is a bunch of sick, mixed-breeding beast lovers!”

Now it was my turn to do the hoof slamming. Getting angry was never something I did often, in fact, it happened so rarely that me raising my voice like this sent shivers up the spines of pretty much anyone around me. “Cerulean! That was both racist and extremely hateful! Listen to me, girl! You know me well enough to know that I wouldn’t do this without good reason. You may think your past experiences with griffins was horrific, but I should be living proof that not all of them are bad, and Gilda shows a shit ton of signs of abuse! I haven’t told her everything I know yet, but I plan to. Cerulean, she needs a home. She needs strong friends. Please, sis, you don’t have to talk to her, or even look at her. Just, please let her stay.”

She shook her head, letting out an “ugh” before turning back to me. “Whatever. I’m only doing this for you, Cobalt. She can stay, but don’t expect me to have anything to do with her.”

Before she could react, I had her in a tight hug, rocking her from side to side. “Thank you, sis, thank you!”

Now that I had the approval of both my sisters, all that was left was to wait on my friend to return from her hunting. I didn’t expect her back any time soon, but luckily for me, I was gifted with a way to occupy my time.

Graffiti was forbidden in any building not within the borders of the art district, and the unicorn wasn’t even making an effort to hide his lack of talent. Walking up behind him, I shouted as loudly as I could and prepared for a chase. “Stop! You violated the law! Graffiti is a 70 bit fine, now pay the court or serve a sentence!”

They always chose the resist arrest option. However, this fool made a grand mistake; when he took off, he headed straight up the south road, and Ol’ Red was still on duty. Now, there have been times where criminals have outrun me, managed to get past the crossbowmen in our sentry towers, and even gotten over the wall, but in all the years I’ve been in the guard, nothing has ever gotten past Red.

I couldn’t even resist singing the little song we had written about him as we approached the main gate. To get his attention, I sang it loud, and he immediately turned our way when he heard it. “Come on, somepony, why don’t you run? Ol’ Red’s itchin’ to have a little fun! Come on, buddy, let’s see if you can be the first one to get past Ol’ Red!”

He didn’t have a chance. Before Red could even get close to the budding artist, he was laid out on the ground, two scaly talons holding down his forelegs. Both Red and I just froze, staring at the griffin girl with wide eyes. “What? I heard you shout and rushed over to help. What’d this idiot try and do?”

The unicorn tried to struggle, but Gilda moved to allow Red to hold him down. With one hoof, he kept the fool down on the ground for good. “Clown thought he’d gain some recognition by spray-painting the side of someone’s house. Twister, you mind taking him in?”

She shook her head, knocking him over his own and lifting him onto her back. I was surprised she could even lift him, as small as she was. Red and I exchanged nods and a hoof shake, both turning to Gilda now. “Dang, Gilda, you got some speed if you came all the way here from… wherever you were.”

My friend kept her eyes on me, even as she addressed Red. “Eh, I was on my way to the square, anyway. I just took a shortcut to cut him off.”

We both made our way back to the town square after Red was done patting Gilda’s back. There were already ponies working on cleaning up the paint, but we could still make out enough for both of our jaws to drop.

On the wall, in bright red, all capital letters, was “Get out, squawk!” I turned to Gilda, whose head was lowered and her teeth were bared. Reaching over, I wiped some of the blood she had missed off her beak, putting my foreleg around her. “Let’s go, Gilda. He’s going to be tried for a lot more than vandalism now. That’s a straight-up hate crime.”

She didn’t say anything, but also didn’t put up any resistance as I led her past the gates into the federal area. The two paths in the road came together again if you went far enough and led to a large, stone staircase. At the top, there was already a house under construction, but mine was a bit higher up. There were stairs on the left and the right, and each led to a different platform that had been carved into the mountain and now served as stable foundations for pegasi to make their homes. I didn’t think Gilda would take much enjoyment at the view right now, but once we got to my place in the center of the first row on the right, I knew I had to show her at some point.

As soon as we were inside, Gilda screamed and wrapped her arms around me. “Damn it, damn it, damn it! Everywhere I fucking go it’s like this! Everywhere I fucking go!” She began to beat her fists against my chest plate, and as I took it off, along with my boots, and brought her to me, she began to cry.

The first room you came in consisted of a small kitchen beside the door that opened up into the living room, and I led Gilda onto one of the two couches on either side of the coffee table in the center. She was still crying even after I sat down, but I still kept my voice low. “It won’t be for long, Gilda. I promise you, I’m going to make sure everyone in this city knows that intolerance and racism will be met the guard’s own form of prejudice.”

She looked up at me for a moment, and I did my best to dry her eyes. “I did promise I’d tell you what I knew when we got here, as well. From what I’ve gathered, you had problems with abuse from someone much larger than you, and it was someone you used to look up to, have little to no experience with legitimate greetings, and obviously have never really had a place you felt you belonged in. How right am I?”

The bright yellow eyes were still a bit misty, and widened as I finished talking. “How did you figure that out?”

I lifted her onto the couch, allowing her to lean on me a bit as I cleared my throat. “When you spoke to both Bellows and Ol’ Red, you never made eye contact and you lowered your voice. However, I noticed you standing up straighter than normal, and your chest was puffed out a little. To me it seemed like large males bring back memories, causing you to address them vocally with respect, but prepare yourself physically to defend yourself. You were a nervous wreck when trying to speak to Bellows, and I’m not sure if you noticed, but he actually held his hoof out when I first introduced you to him, but drew back with you didn’t respond. As for the feeling of belonging… well, you pretty much proved that to me.”

Gilda’s gaze shifted downward as she lifted herself off of my shoulder. “How did you know it was abuse?”

That was a question I wanted to avoid, but I had promised to be honest with her. “I saw the scar under your left wing and got a small glimpse of the one on your chest, beneath the feathers. That coupled with your body language is what made me think you were beaten.”

She let out a long sigh, laying down on the sofa as a cat would. “My father. For seventeen years, he’s despised the fact that his first born child was a female, and he was already sexist to begin with. He’d hit me, cut me, and the typical stuff, but he’d also do shit like burning my wings with hot stones, leave me out in the woods after breaking my legs, and cruel bullshit like that. It was like that with my mother, too… he hated us. I don’t know what the fuck I did, but he hated us! I tried to run. I enrolled in a summer flight camp, and I tried before to find a new home after that for a whole year! It just… no matter where I went, Cobalt, nobody wanted me around! Do you have any idea how that makes me feel? I… I try to hide behind a mean, cool attitude, but deep down, I feel so broken.”

Staying calm was my priority right now. Gilda felt she could pour her heart out to me now, and I wasn’t about to let newfound anger for a horrible father get in the way of helping my friend. I picked her up again, holding her close to me. As a guard, it wasn’t my job to be some psychiatrist, and it wasn’t even in my job description to actually be a friend to the citizens, but as far as I was concerned, making others happy was more important to me than fighting monsters, and Gilda needed special attention if she was going to have a happy ending. The great thing about being captain was that shifts were designed without me actually being around, and I had my lieutenant, who preferred the office to the front lines, take care of my paperwork for me. Basically, I was free to give this griffin as much attention as she needed.

“You don’t need to feel hated anymore, Gilda. If it means anything at all, you have me. I’m very grateful that you’ve chosen to give trusting me a chance, and I promise I won’t betray that trust.”

I felt her talons wrap around my hoof as she looked up again. Her eyes were dry now, but the expression on her face was still a little forlorn. “Cobalt. You know griffin culture. There’s a reason I’m so withholding when it comes to trust. I won’t lie… I have friends in Ponyville now, I don’t fully trust them. Not even Dash, not after what happened the first time I was there.”

The hand she had around my hoof was now against my scar, and the hoof was on top. “Gilda, I know. You’re not just trusting me with your past, you’ve decided to share everything with me. I know how trust works with griffins, and I can promise you I’ll be here to share your burdens. Believe me.”

She pulled me into another hug, sniffling before she spoke. “How do you do it? I’ve only known you for a few hours and you’ve managed to befriend me.”

I couldn’t help but smile as I patted the girl’s back. “I try really hard. That should tell you just how much I care, Gilda.”

Somehow, my friend managed a weak smile, gently hitting my shoulder. “I’d stop with all that, Cobalt. I’ve given you my friendship, but if you keep it up, I might just fall in love.”

The smile grew as she saw my reddening face, and eventually she started to chuckle. “That’s what you get for all those flustering jokes you made.”

Gotta hand it to her, she did a pretty good job of giving me a taste of my own medicine. With a nervous chuckle, I rubbed the back of my head. “You feeling any better? Think a kiss would help?”

I leaned forward, puckering my lips and making fake kissy sounds, causing the griffin to press her hand against my face and push on it. “Didn’t I say stop? You’re an idiot, Cobalt!” The great thing was that I had gotten her smiling again, and that in itself was a reward.

“I try my best, Gilda. Cheered you up, didn’t I?” After she rolled her eyes, I stood up and brought her with me. “You want to see that room? I’m sure you’d like to test out the bed.”

Son of a bitch, I did it again. After a brief silence, I threw my hooves up in front of me, shaking them as both of us began to blush. “That is not what I meant! That is not what I meant at all!”

We stared at each other for a moment before laughing again, having to wipe our eyes before I led her down the hall. At the end of the hall was one of the bathrooms, with the other one being the first door on the left. The second door on the right was our guest room, featuring a large, circular bed with a bookshelf, writing desk with a lamp, and a bedside table. It wasn’t much to us, but Gilda’s dropped jaw and wide eyes told me it was more than she had ever had. “You’re seriously letting me stay here?”

All I could do was nod before I found myself in another hug, almost falling down as she did. “Well that’s certainly a way to say thank you!” Don’t ask me why, but I had a habit of closing my left eye whenever I was about to surprise someone, and this time was no exception. “I noticed you had some money in your bag too, and I do believe I’ve got the perfect job for you.”

The new look on her face told me she already knew. With her eyes half closed and a small smile she got off me and helped me up. “Let me guess. You want me in the guard because of the two criminals I helped you catch, right?”

I gave her a nice pat on the back, my eyes still closed as I grinned. “See? I knew you were more than just good looks! You’re a smart one, too!”

At this point, my teasing was making her less flustered and just making her roll her eyes. With a smug smile, she gently pushed me into the wall and walked back out to the living room. “Cobalt, I’m warning you. I think I feel myself slipping, and another comment like that might make me kiss you.”

Of all the things she could possibly do, she just had to choose the table turning route. Not only that, but she was a whole lot better and getting me flustered than I was at getting her this way. It didn’t help that you could at least tell I was joking, but Gilda sounded completely serious. Had it not been for her expression, I actually would have thought she was. “See, Gilda? All it takes is some time with me, and it’s instant therapy!”

Let me just say this: in all my nineteen years of being alive, I don’t think I’ve seen anything as pretty as genuine smile from that griffin. Her cold exterior was starting to melt, and seeing the girl that dwelled within was just… amazing. “Red wasn’t too far off, I guess. It took a lot longer than he said, but just… having someone I can confide in makes me feel so much better. Thank you again, Cobalt.”

We both sat down on the couch, and she leaned her head on my shoulder. “It’s what I do, Gilda. So what do you say?”

She lifted herself off of me with that smile still on her face. “It’s a start. I guess your ‘seal of approval’ doesn’t get me instant promotions, does it?”

After another light chuckle, I shook my head. “Sadly, it doesn’t. What I can do, however, is try and get you a position that won’t have you standing in one place all day. A street route or a sky patrol would be best. However, you are going to need training, but with me, basic stuff should only take a day or two.”

I waited for her to at least give me a nod, and when she did, I got up and put all my armor back on. “Looks like I’ll get to give you that tour of the headquarters sooner than I thought.”

-*- *- *-

The fortress was a lot bigger on the inside than the outside view made it look. There was actually an entire back wing I didn’t see with a full-sized hospital. After Cobalt had taken me through the entire base, he brought me back to the lobby and into the right wing where all the offices were. It was organized in a similar manner to the Office Post, which is what the real name for the Paper Palace was, with multiple hallways with rooms on both sides. I was brought to the center that all the halls converged to, where the entire wall was blank save for the door before us.

We were greeted by a light green unicorn in silver armor akin to Cobalt’s gold, except for the fact that she wore a helmet. She was busying herself with a stack of papers, taking one sheet down at a time, reading through it, and either crossing something out or scribbling at the bottom. It was kind of funny how she didn’t realize we were there until my friend cleared his throat, causing her to jump and turn to him.

“Oh! My apologies, sir, it’s been a busy day. What did you need, Captain?”

She didn’t seem to even notice me, and it wasn’t until Cobalt actually pointed me out that she turned my way. “Shatter, I need a new name added to the payroll, a new shift schedule to account for our newest recruit, and I’d like for you to re-map the street patrols or the sky patrols, it’s your choice.” He then turned to me with his eyes still on her. “Shatter, this is Gilda. Gilda, this is my lieutenant, Shield Shatter. If you ever get to see her magic in action, you’ll learn how she got that name.”

Reaching my hand out to her would have probably been my first course of action had I bet met with something other than a judgmental glare. With chin now resting against her hooves, she addressed Cobalt while still looking at me. “Sorry, Captain, but all routes are filled. Remapping them and rescheduling will take hours of work and a mandatory briefing for all those affected.”

His response was quick and short, but in three words he managed to shoot down any possible argument the officer could’ve presented. “I don’t care.”

Her eyes widened and she turned to her superior. “Excuse me?”

Cobalt stood up, placing both his hooves on the desk. “Need I remind you that I could simply do this myself, seeing as how that kind of paperwork is, indeed, the captain’s responsibility? Shatter, you’re here because you don’t like being stationed or patrolling around, but remember that I call the shots, so get it done by noon tomorrow. Things are going to start changing in Meadowbrook, starting with intolerance in my soldiers. You look at Gilda here, and all you see is a griffin, but one way or another, I’m going to make it so that you, and everyone else in this city learns to see beyond what’s outside and look here.”

Both the unicorn’s and my attention was drawn to the hoof that was now on Cobalt’s chest. He was right, and I reached my hand out to the lieutenant. Smiling was a bit much, but I did manage to avoid scowling, at the very least. “I promise I’m not like what you think all griffins are.”

The brown eyes shifted from my hand to the colt and back to my hand several times. “Sir, you know I respect your authority and your judgment. If you truly believe this one is different,” the corners of her mouth slowly began to turn up as her hoof met my hand, “then I guess working a bit of overtime wouldn’t be too much of a hassle. Welcome to the guard, Gilda.”