Rainbow Dash zipped across the cloud obstacle course, weaving in and out through the scattered loopholes with nearly perfect timing, only slowing down to manage the sharpest curves. Faster and faster she pushed herself. She had to beat her old record, and she wasn't about to leave one bit of effort left unspent.
The filly had only been at the Junior Speedsters camp for less than a week but had already set the instructors aback with her raw talent. There was a half-joking saying among some of the other Junior Speedsters that Rainbow Dash wasn't a pony but some kind of sentient lightning bolt, along with a dozen other ridiculous 'facts'.
Three instructors watched from the ground in borderline awe.
“My goodness, I think she's gonna break the all-time,” one of the instructors stated.
“I don't think she's a pony. She's half-lightning or something.”
The third took his eyes off the filly for a moment and looked around. “By the way, has the late arrival shown up?”
Another averted his attention from Rainbow Dash. “Not yet.”
“Do we even know anything about her?”
“Just name and species.”
One of the teacher squinted her eyes and pointed. “Wait. You think that's her?”
The other two followed the hoof to a small griffon holding a briefcase nearly as large as she was under her arm. She had a nervous air about her, beak quivering while clutched to her briefcase as if it were her shield and refuge. Her other clawed grasped something golden and shimmering, but none of the three could tell what is was. Clear Weather flew over to greet her.
Unfortunately, Gilda was facing the other direction when the instructor came upon her and gave a loud yelp of fear when she turned back around. The briefcase arced out of her arm and the golden object she had been thumbing fell out of her grasp as well. The teacher tensed, preparing to grab both of the griffon's possessions but was cut short. They were both gone.
The teacher scanned the path where the briefcase should have traveled only to find empty skies.
“It's okay,” the griffon said.
He turned back to see the small flier had the briefcase under her arm once again, and the small golden thing in the other.
“Wait. How did you—”
“I caught them.”
“I didn't even—”
“Didn't even what?”
“Nothing. So, welcome to Junior Speedsters! How have you liked it so far?”
“It's a big camp.”
“Why, yes. Probably the biggest in Equestria!”
The small griffon stared at him blankly.
Clear Weather tried to shift the subject. “Um, so, when did you arrive?”
“Just now. The chariot driver to here was really rude.”
Chariot driver? How rich was this kid?
“Well, you'll find Junior Speedsters is the friendliest place in the entire skies. So, I'm Clear Weather. What's your name?”
He smiled in hopes of making the griffon feel more welcome.
She looked down and thumbed over the small golden thing that Clear Weather could now tell was a locket. She paused a moment and looked up.
“I'm Gilda. It's short for Grizelda.”
“Why, that's a beautiful name.”
“I'm named after my grandma.”
She looked ahead and blinked a few times. “Grandma—” she whispered and began a series of short breaths.
“Uh oh,” Clear Weather muttered. He knew what was about to happen and motioned for the other two instructors to go grab all the tissues they could find.
The crying came seconds later. A tsunami of tears rolled forth as she wailed right there on the cloud. Loud sobs broken up with slightly less noisy sniffles.
Clear Weather patted her on the back in a futile effort to console her. Where were those tissues?
“Hey there!”
Gilda's crying stopped and she turned to her left to be greeted with the outstretched, blue hoof of Rainbow Dash.
Gilda rubbed her eyes. “Huh?”
“C'mon, don’t leave me hangin'!”
The griffon slowly, carefully balled her claw up into a fist and bumped it against Rainbow Dash's hoof.
“I'm Rainbow Dash!” she said when the deed was done. “And you're?”
The griffon sniffed back the rest of her tears. “Gilda.”
“Aw man, I thought for sure I had the coolest name here.” Rainbow Dash laughed.
Gilda managed to force a smile.
The pony pointed to the griffon's luggage. “Hey, you need help putting that stuff up? There's a really awesome bunk nopony's claimed yet!”
Gilda looked up to Clear Weather for some kind of confirmation.
“Usually the instructors assign bunks, but—”
He looked down at Gilda to see another crying spell coming on and quickly changed his mind. “You're a late arrival so we'll make an exception. Uh, Rainbow, if you'd show her new bunk?”
Gilda handed the suitcase to Rainbow Dash, who took the handle in her mouth and motioned for the griffon to follow her.
“This is gonna be awesome!” the filly said through her teeth. “I haven't had a flight buddy until now! We can learn the X-Strike, the Brain Crusher, that one move where you go 'Zzzzzzzzzzt-BOOM!'. The Zoom Flash, the Zoom Bash...”
The other instructors finally appeared with several boxes of tissues only to see Rainbow Dash walking away with her new friend.
“Crisis averted?” one of them said to Clear Weather.
“Yep. Lucky for us, Rainbow's got a pot of gold for a heart.”
A brown blur darted around the forest to avoid its pursuers. It feined, corkscrewed, and u-turned in and out of the brush. It twisted, loop-de-looped and dead-stopped between the trees. Every few moments it would turn back its head to check the distance between itself and the two hunters.
“There she is!” one would cry and plummet down to the forest only to find dust.
“She's over there!” the other would say and dive in for the catch, only to catch a claw full of mud.
The prey finally caught a moment's rest when it managed to find refuge behind a thick tree. It clutched its chest for deep, heavy breaths as the two business-suit-clad, sunglasses-wearing griffons flew right past her.
“Aw man!” Gilda cursed, “I can't keep this up forever!”
She held out her claws and began counting off. “I tried the Pirate's Hook, the Long Haul, the Wailing Dive—”
Gilda threw up her arms. “Nothing throws these guys!”
“Hey!” one of her chasers shouted, “I heard something over there!”
Gilda scowled. “Me and my big beak!” she exclaimed before rocketing towards the edge of the forest. The two griffons chasing her locked on and followed.
She managed to lose them again near a creek and this time they vastly overshot her position, giving her time to think.
The griffon pinched the bridge of her break in concentration as she leaned up against a boulder. “C'mon, brain, I really need you to not be a dweeb right now.”
She mulled over plans of escape and methods of distraction, but her mind wormed its way back the beginning. Gilda had been on the lam for weeks, living on whatever she could find in the moments she wasn't being chased.
The group of griffons that chased her had started off big, but when she proved to be too fast for the slowpokes, they called in the specialists. She outpaced them as well, but these two were persistent. And smart. Not once had they fallen for her 'exploding fish' trap that had scared off everyone else.
Gilda realized she had strayed off-topic and knocked her head once to regain focus. “I mean it, brain.”
Raw speed for the thicker forests in the north? No, they'd just box her in. Oh, maybe she could hide in the river and ride the current to freedom? Nah, too obvious. Didn't she spot an abandoned mine back there? Actually, she'd probably just get lost in it.
Every scenario she painted in her head ended in failure. She sighed and looked up at the canopy. “Where am I, anyway?”
She listened intently for any signs that her two attackers were near or ready to spring a trap. A very, very faint sound of flapping wings far away answered her and was moving away. Good, they were combing the area and facing away from her.
She took a deep breath and within a second, the griffon had launched herself into the air. Another second and she had cleared the highest tree. Suspended in the air, she put on claw on her brow to survey the land below.
There was a very thick, almost jungle-like mass directly in front of her. On the very edges the forest gave way to the ordered fields of a small town. Beyond the forest and the town was a massive mountain, partly covered in clouds with regal city on t—
“Ponyville." she hissed. That was a town she never hoped to see again. Unless it was on fire or something.
She dove back down to the earth before she spotted and kicked up a flurry of dirt.
“Of all the places I have to get chased to!” she sighed. She had burned more than a few bridges when she last visited there and it wasn't as if Ponyville had a thriving griffon population to blend in with. That abandoned mine was looking more and more appealing by the second.
Her angst stopped when she arrived at a revelation. “Rainbow Dash! I mean, I sort of had a falling-out with her, but Rainbow Dash!”
She had seen the pegasus' cloud home, but the fact hadn't registered until that moment. Ponyville might have been a dead end, but she always had a talent for mooching off old friends (or ex-friends). It couldn't hurt to at least try, right? When she heard the two hunters circling back, her brain vetoed every other option.
“Gonna regret this,” she muttered. Making a beeline straight for RD's house would definitely get her spotted. The slow approach was needed until the final stretch, so she oh-so-carefully slinked down as low to the ground as she could to sneak by and—
“Down on the ground!”
The stealth plan disintegrated instantly. Gilda summoned every drop of juice she had and sped out of the forest so fast that she ripped the leaves straight off trees. The two other griffons followed and the game was afoot once again.
Gilda had lost them behind a mountain. By pure luck, the mountain was also inhabited by a young territorial dragon which allowed her to slip away in the confusion. From there, it was a straight path to RD's home.
Even though she was in a town that hated her guts, on the run from the fuzz and generally sleep-deprived and hungry, she wasn't gonna let that show to Rainbow Dash. She had to be cool, she had to be confident. She had to bang on the door and scream for RD to let her in.
A few minutes passed before Gilda realized the pony wasn't home. She did the only respectful thing and picked her favorite talon to place into the side of the door. With a few deft turns, there was a fluffy click as the door opened.
“Heh. Didn't teach us that in Junior Speedsters.”
Gilda entered the home and shut the door behind her with her back paw. She glanced around to see that RD had done some redecorating since she last visited and—was that a dress? She walked over to the closet and pulled out Rainbow Dash's colorful Gala gown. She stuck out her tongue in disgust.
“Ugh, RD. Didn't know you were such a girly girl.”
She reached over to put the dress back when a small grunt sounded from beneath her. Her tight nerves commanded her to screech like a banshee and cling to the ceiling in a single motion. Her teeth chattered and her body quivered when she finally gathered enough sense to look back to the floor.
Standing there was Tank, looking at the griffon with large, soulful eyes.
“What the heck are you?” she said, unhinging herself and stooping down to get a better look, “You some kind of turtle?”
Tank said nothing.
“If RD's running around with a turtle, she must be really losing it.” she announced to no-one. It did make her recent failures seem a little less burdensome, after all.
Tank grunted again and caught Gilda's attention.
“What?” she snapped, and the tortoise immediately retreated inside his shell. Tank scrunched himself even tighter within his portable house when Gilda's stomach roared.
“Oh man, I could eat a walrus,” she said, rubbing her belly. She glanced over to the kitchen. “I wonder if RD has any snacks?”
Gilda found a sack of potato chips in the back of one of the cupboards after she had turned the rest of the kitchen inside-out. She had reclined herself on a couch in the living room as she munched away on the salty treat.
Halfway through the bag, she heard Tank grunt again. She looked over to see the small critter staring at her bag, slowly licking his lips.
“No way,” she growled, “get your own bag.”
Tank made a sorrowful rasp and rolled over on his back, continuing to stare at the bag.
“No.”
Tank lifted his head up and down.
“I said no! Can't you turtles hear!?” she yelled.
“It's a tortoise, actually,” a timid voice squeaked behind them.
Gilda raised her head above the couch and turned toward the entrance. Fluttershy was there, halfway through the open door with a basket of cleaning supplies on her back. There was a long beat where the griffon and the pegasus stared at each other, blinking the only interaction between the two.
Gilda was the first to scream, Fluttershy followed. Even Tank joined in out of a need to feel included.
Fluttershy left a puff of yellow smoke in her wake as she zoomed out the door. The basket she was carrying spun in the air for a second before clattering to the floor, spilling its contents everywhere.
Gilda paused for a moment before darting over to the open door and taking a peek outside. Fluttershy was quickly becoming a small dot as she sped off towards Ponyville. Gilda slammed the door and turned to Tank.
“Alright, here's the plan. We're gonna make this house look exactly like it did when I first got here, then RD will think her sissy friend is crazy! Then I'll show up like it's nothing and she'll be sure to help me lay low!”
If Tank had lips, he'd have been frowning as the exhausted griffon's feathers became even more ruffled and her eyes took on a maniacal twinge.
“This plan's gotta work! I am not getting caught by those turnip-counters in the cheap suits!”
True to her word, Gilda managed to restore the kitchen and the living room back to their original state. No sooner had closed the last utensil drawer then she heard the door open and two sets of hooves walk in.
“She was on the couch and the whole house was a mess and I'm pretty sure she got into your junk food stash!”
“She has some nerve coming back here and messing up my—”
Rainbow Dash trailed off when she got a good look at her home only to find that everything was in its place. She looked back to to her friend with an arched brow and Fluttershy ran ahead.
“Gilda! She was right there! Horrible posture and everything!” she nervously explained.
A loud, dry sigh hit both of them. They turned to Tank, who had his eyes fixated on the stairs leading up to the second floor.
The confused Fluttershy and now-skeptical Rainbow Dash walked up the stairs to find the intruder. When they were out of sight, Gilda jumped down from the ceiling above the entrance door and silently walked over to the tortoise to give him his reward.
“Here, my end of the bargain.” she whispered, tossing him a potato chip, which he slowly began to nibble. “Don't tell RD about this, huh?”
“Tell me what?”
Gilda's spine went cold as she turned to the open entrance to see Rainbow Dash standing there with a grimace.
“Rainbow Dash!” Gilda choked out, “How—”
“I knew if you were really here, you'd try to wiggle your way out of it.”
“I—”
Fluttershy slowly walked in behind Rainbow Dash as she continued her rant.
“I mean, what the hay? You're a jerk to my best friend, to everyone in Ponyville, and now you come back to raid my kitchen? That is not cool."
“Look, RD, it's—”
“You didn't even go for the good chips! I think that bag you ate was like two years out of date! Anyway, you got some nerve coming back here! Why I outta—”
“I'm...sorry, Dash.”
“And that's the worst part! You can't even apologize that—wait, what?”
“Yeah,” she stumbled on, “I was a jerk. But I really need a place to hide out for a while.”
“Hide out?” Fluttershy asked, “What did you do?”
Gilda rolled her eyes. “I didn't 'do' anything! One day I'm just minding my own business and a bunch of suits start talking about a bunch of crazy stuff! Then they chased me!”
Rainbow Dash held up a hoof. “Wait. Two griffons? Business suits? Sunglasses?”
“Yeah, how'd you know?”
“I saw them around Ponyville before Fluttershy told me you broke into my house.”
“I said I was sorry!”
“Uh huh. I asked if I could help and they just muttered something about official griffon business.”
“Oh jeez, they're closer than I thought! RD, you gotta let me stay here until they leave!”
Rainbow Dash turned to Fluttershy with a playful look. “I dunno. What do you think, Fluttershy?”
“I don't know.” Fluttershy, answered. “What do you think, Angel?”
Fluttershy had brought the rabbit along on her back in case Rainbow needed some extra muscle in evicting the griffon. Angel pulled one of his paws across his neck, making a tiny "kssssssccchhh" sound while he did it.
“Good point, Angel.” Rainbow Dash replied.
Gilda's white feathers somehow turned even paler. “I'm not kidding, RD! You have no idea what they'll do to me if I get caught!”
Angel hopped from Fluttershy's back to the dense cloud floor of Rainbow Dash's home, wandering off to another part of the house with a disgusted look on his face.
In a surprising move, Gilda sat down and brought her her clasped claws. “C'mon, Dash,” she begged with tears in her eyes.
Rainbow Dash did a double-take. “Woah.”
She hadn't seen Gilda like that since—
“Gilda!” Rainbow Dash called out. She hadn't seen her friend all day and was starting to wonder if they'd be able to practice together at all. “Gilda, if you're working on cloud camo lessons you're doing really well but that's not until next week!”
As she trotted past some bleachers, she heard a low, sniveling sound and turned. “Gilda?”
She walked behind the bleachers to find Gilda sitting on the ground, staring at her locket. She fought back the sobs as the cloud below her absorbed her tears.
“Hey, Gilda. You okay?”
Gilda jumped slightly at Rainbow's voice. She didn't even turn her head to acknowledge her. “Yeah.”
Rainbow Dash walked closer to see Gilda's locket. “You know, I always see you carrying that with you.”
Gilda sniffed loudly and cleared her throat. “Uh, yeah. My grandma gave it to me. Grandma Griz. She gave it to me right before she...” she trailed off.
The pegasus leaned in closer. “Uh, hey! I didn't know that thing had a picture!” she said, pointing to the small photograph inside the opened locket.
A black and white photograph showed an even younger Gilda on the lap of a lady griffon. The adult griffon's face was out of frame but she was still waving to the camera in her incredibly elaborate dress and fancy gloves.
“Grandma Griz was really cool.” Gilda explained, “I mean, she was really my great aunt but I always called her grandma and it just kind of stuck. She always had these really awesome stories, the funniest jokes—she knew more about pranks than anyone.”
Gilda was silent for a moment before she continued.“I think she was the only person who really ever noticed I was around. Before you, anyway.”
Rainbow blinked. “Don't you have a dad? A mom?”
Gilda sighed. “They're around, but they're always busy. I've got a big family. Big, important family.”
Rainbow tilted her head for a moment. Her eyes lit up with revelation. “Hey, I've got a big important family too!”
Gilda managed a weak laugh to the relief of Rainbow Dash. “You do, huh?”
“Yeah, you haven't heard of them?”
“I don't think so.”
“Yeah, we're famous all over Equestria. We're the defenders against the—” Rainbow Dash said and faced away from Gilda. When she turned back, she had contorted her face into a poor imitation of some deformed creature's. “Cloud monsters! Oooooooh!”
Rainbow lurched in a parody of Frankenpony's gait as she began to playfully chase after Gilda. The griffon stumbled back before scrambling to her legs and ran out of the bleachers laughing, with the shambling filly in close pursuit.
Every instinct Rainbow Dash had was screaming at her to kick Gilda out the door, but the memories held her judgement. She hadn't realized she had completely zoned out and didn't regain attention until Gilda snapped her claws in front of her face.
"Hey, RD! You there?"
RD shook her head and case off the distant memory. “I guess you could crash here until they leave. But on one condition! You gotta apologize to Fluttershy!”
“Why? What'd I do?”
Rainbow Dash hardened her face at Gilda, who nervously scratched the back of her head.
“Oh, yeah. That.”
Gilda's pride was telling her that she didn't need to apologize, but the consequences of those two square birds getting their claws on her were much, much worse. The griffon slowly walked up to Fluttershy and beat down her brain's protests that humility was for chumps.
“Look, Fluttershy, I—”
Gilda's apology was cut short when Angel appeared out of nowhere to deliver a running kick to Gilda's backside. The two ponies flinched at the sound of the impact and could only barely keep up with the blurry brown and white blur that was sent careening out the front door.
Rainbow Dash chased after Gilda before she hit the ground. Fluttershy looked at Angel in shock. Angel dusted off his paws, his work concluded.
The half-conscious Gilda felt something grab her and exclaim 'gotcha!', which was enough to shake her back to reality. She looked up to see a frowning Rainbow holding her from under her arms.
“Angel likes to hold grudges.”
“You think!?”
The pony's ears twitched and she looked up toward the horizon. “I think your friends found us.”
Gilda followed Rainbow Dash's gaze to see two quickly-approaching spots and the bright glint of sunglasses.
The griffon wrenched herself from Rainbow Dash's hold and rocketed towards the Everfree Forest.
There was no way Rainbow Dash would be able to help Gilda while she flew off in panic, so decided to address the root of the problem.
“STOP!” she screamed at the two griffons as they moved to fly past her. The intensity of her command made them stop instantly, their heads turned towards the pegasus.
“Official—“
“Griffon business, I know!” Rainbow interrupted. “I didn't know your business was chasing my friend!”
Rainbow Dash jerked back slightly. “Friend?” she thought.
She cast off her doubt. Yes, Gilda was her friend, if a seriously lapsed one. And she wouldn't let two punks haul her off to some dank dungeon and throw away the key!
“Yeah, my friend! Where do you two get off making Gilda miserable trying to take her prisoner? If you want her, you'll have to go through me!” Rainbow Dash said, throwing up her hooves in a boxing pose.
One of the griffons pulled off in sunglasses in shock. “You know Her Highness?”
“Of course I do! We go all the way back to wait wait what?”
The other griffon cleared his throat. “I think my associate here has said too much and is going to fill out a mountain of paperwork on proper state security protocols when we get back. Official griffon business, ma'am. Besides, I think you're lying.”
“I'm what!? That's it, put 'em up!”
“She not lying.” Fluttershy said, floating down from the cloud house. A small locket with a golden chain hung in the pony's mouth.
“Gilda's locket,” Rainbow Dash muttered, “She still had it? Where did you get it?”
“Angel's kick must have forced it off of her. Here, Mr. Griffon. I'm pretty sure it's Gilda's.”
“You're really just gonna give it to them like that? After all Gilda did to you?”
“Gilda's been on the run without any sleep or food for at least a week as far as I could tell. I think that's punishment enough.”
Rainbow Dash chose to ignore that comment as she took the locket and gave it to the griffons. They opened it up and studied the picture. After a few seconds, the griffon holding the locket snapped it shut and looked up to the ponies with a slightly softened expression.
“We'll discuss this inside.”
When they were all gathered in the living room (except Angel, whom Fluttershy had sentenced to a time-out on the ground below) the griffons introduced themselves.
“I am Merrion this is Lou,” he began. “We are members of the Royal Guard of her Majesty's Person.”
“You don't look very royal guard-y," Rainbow Dash observed, "Where's your royal guard armor?"
“Ahem. Her Highness has developed an acute case of madness and we've been persuing her so we may deliver her back to the capital. Some real civilization ought to do her some good.”
Rainbow Dash scratched her head. “You keep calling Gilda Her Highness. I think you got her confused with someone else.”
The two griffons looked at each other and back to Rainbow Dash.
“You haven't heard?” Merrion asked.
“Heard what?”
At that instant, a loud crash echoed through the entire cloud house and the fluffy foundation shook. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and flew over to the door, opening it. There was Derpy Hooves, making her daily newspaper delivery. The grey pegasus handed the paper to Rainbow Dash and saluted before taking off in a slightly wobbly pattern. Rainbow Dash walked back and set the newspaper down on the table.
Lou snatched it up and pointed towards the headline. "Here!"
Rainbow squinted. “Griffin royal line decimated in freak jelly accident?”
Fluttershy covered her mouth. “Oh my.”
“A tragedy,” Merrion said, “but the time for mourning can come later. Right now the throne sits empty, and Grizelda is the only worthwhile heir."
Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Wait, Grizelda? Gilda? Gilda 'once ate a worm on a dare' Gilda? Okay, now I know you have the wrong griffon. Trust me, Gilda's the farthest person from royalty ever.”
Lou held up the opened locket. “This here. This was taken when Her Highness was just a child. That is the late Queen Grizelda I's lap she is sitting on. She passed not long after this picture was taken.”
“Grandma Griz.” Rainbow Dash thought aloud. Gilda always made offhand comments in Junior Speedsters that made her suspect her camp buddy's family was rich, but royalty?
“If you know her this well,” Lou said as he snapped the locket shut, “maybe you could assist us in convincing Gild-Her Highness in coming back to the Griffon Kingdom with us.”
“You mean like, talk to her?”
“That would be the plan, yes.”
Rainbow Dash pondered over it for a moment before arriving at her answer. “Alright, I'll do it. But you two have to stay here.”
The two griffons nodded. Satisfied, Rainbow dash flew out the door and toward the general direction of Gilda's retreat.
Fluttershy attempted to pass the time with the two stern griffons by telling them every animal and critter fact she knew.
The Everfree Forest was a dangerous place to go in alone, but Gilda was tough and more of a danger to the forest's perils than they were to her.
Luckily for Rainbow Dash, the griffon left a very messy trail through the undergrowth. She hadn't searched for an hour before she discovered a sleeping Gilda on top of a moss-covered rock.
“Gilda?” Rainbow Dash inquired. The griffon lazily opened her very pink eyes, wet eyes.
“Oh, hey Dash.” she said, and pointed to her eyes. “I tripped and fell into some dirt.”
“That happens.” Rainbow replied. “Um, those griffon guys stopped by my house. They told me some things.”
“Guess I couldn't hide it forever.” Gilda answered.
“So what really happened?”
Gilda stretched and jumped off the rock. “I was in some no-name town when I got the news. It's all anyone talked about for months.”
"Another soda!" Gilda barked at bartender.
"Haven't you had enough?" the barkeep replied with a skeptical look while she shined an empty root beer mug.
"I'm not flying tonight. Keep 'em coming."
It had been months since Gilda's falling out with Rainbow Dash. At first, she just reassured herself that she could simply fall back on what she had done for all those years after Junior Speedsters, drifting, but it wasn't the same. Their argument nagged at her. She would never admit she was in the wrong, but something felt wrong.
Come to think of it, she had been feeling off ever since she woke up that morning, but she couldn't figure out why. It was a different feeling than she got when she thought of her ex-friend, so what was it? It was almost as if something really serious was about to happen and she hated serious stuff; it gave her headaches.
Gilda had brought up the soda to sip when when the bartender spoke up.
"Say, don't I know you from somewhere?"
She paused, just for a moment, before taking her drink. "Nope. Just some random griffon down on her luck."
The bartender shrugged and resumed her cleaning.
Gilda went through six more sodas and had poured herself another glass when she heard a door open in the back of the store. She felt it slam as well, the force jangling some of the glasses that sat on the bar's shelves. The bartender and Gilda both looked toward the direction of the sound and just a few seconds later the 'employees only' door flew open, revealing a young griffon who was very much out of breath.
The bartender set down her glass. "Al? You're an hour early. What's the rush?"
The griffon took in a few more gulps of air before looking up. "Ms. Ginnny, I heard and I had to come tell you."
"What's so important that it can't wait for the newspaper tomorrow and you have to barge in here and scare my customers?"
Al turned to the rest of the rough-looking patrons of the bar, who were now staring at him intently.
"The royal family, they've—there was an accident."
A shiver went up Gilda's spine. "What kind of accident?"
"The—the bad kind."
Al gave more details about the accident and which members of the royal family were casualties while Gilda looked ahead in horror. After the griffon had given most of the details, Gilda suddenly sat up with an insincere smile. The entire bar reverberated with the scrapes from her stool as she cut the stunned silence of the griffons that had just learned that nearly the entire royal line had been severed.
"Welp that's terrible news but I really gotta get going!"
Ginny did a double-take, still shell-shocked by the grim news. "Y-you still owe me that tab."
Gilda pulled out a large sack of coins and threw them on the table. "Heh heh, I sure do! Here it is and also some extra in case some people come around asking if I was here. Because I wasn't. Bye!"
Before the barkeep could question Gilda's strange behavior, she was gone, the swinging double-doors to the bar and empty soda glasses being the only signs that she had been there at all.
“You didn't care?”
“Not really. The rest of the family liked to pretend I didn't exist so I did the same for them. And I figured they'd just get some random noble to take up the spot. I decided to keep my head down until then.”
She huffed. “Didn't turn out that way.”
Gilda drifted in and out of a fitful sleep in her old, filthy bed. She had rented out a room in a tiny inn in the middle of nowhere in hopes of planning her next move, but she was quickly running out of options. Word had gotten out that she was in fact the only adult heir and once people remembered she existed, posters of her had appeared at nearly every civilized section of the country.
It was by pure luck the innkeeper was an dumb hick.
She jolted up when three loud knocks came from the first floor, followed by the sound of the large oak door opening. Gilda quickly dismissed the noises, her frazzled brain unwilling to accept it as anything but some other travelers stopping in to spend the night. The other possibilities of who they might be were too terrifying to consider.
A huge wave ore relief washed over her when she heard the visitors turn around and close the door behind. Probably just some group asking directions. She waited for a while to see if the noises would return and when they did not, sleep overcame her.
She woke up that morning feeling a bit better than usual, at least better than average since she had gone into hiding, and quickly walked downstairs, thanked the innkeeper for the room and journeyed outside.
When she had reached the end of the small road that led to the inn, someone spoke from behind her.
"Ms. Gilda?"
She whipped around to see a griffon in a brown coat and red tie, holding out a very serious-looking badge. He was flanked by two large and equally-serious griffons in police uniforms.
"Would you please come with us? We'd like to ask you some questions."
Gilda eyes darted around. "Uh, sure! I just need to make sure I've—OHNOISTHATADRAGON?"
The griffons spun around to face the fake threat. When they turned back to find she was gone, the investigator threw down his badge in a rage.
"Why do we keep falling for that!?"
“You never just told them no?”
“I… couldn't. Can't.”
“You can't? Why not?”
Gilda looked away into the deeper parts of the forest. “I knew this wouldn't last forever.”
Gilda's eyes dilated as the royal butler activated his ancient camera. As the dapper griffon came out from under his dark cover to inspect his photograph, he frowned.
“Oh dear, Your Highness. I appear to have missed your head.”
“Let me see.” Queen Grizelda said. The butler complied and handed her the developed picture.
The queen chucked. “They always did say the camera takes off a few pounds. This photo's perfect.”
Ernado the butler gracefully took the photo and left the room.
As the butler closed the door, the queen underwent a minor coughing fit.
Gilda stood up on both legs. “You okay , Grandma Griz?”
The queen lightly tapped her chest and her coughs momentarily subsided. She looked down on her niece and smiled. “Oh, just this dusty old castle.”
“Or ghosts!” Gilda cheerfully added.
“Big ghosts!” Grizelda announced as she threw up her arms. “With giant, pumpkin heads!”
The queen and Gilda spent the rest of the afternoon playing hide and go seek. Grizelda, despite her age, managed to keep up with the little ball of energy until the years caught up with her and she sat on the massive royal bed to take a breath. She had done the impossible and worn Gilda out as well, who was stretched out over the bed, her small chest slowly rising up and down.
The queen smiled. “You'd make a great queen.”
Grizelda would never know that Gilda was not actually asleep and her words of praise would be remembered forever.
“I never realized it until I was older, but Grandma Griz was just as lonely as I was. I know Uncle Garland and Aunt Grendel were never close to her. I think I was the kid she never really had.”
“She didn't like her kids?”
“Even when I was a little I could tell Uncle Gar was just waiting around until he could be king. And don't get me started on Grendel.”
“But since you're the only one left—”
Gilda waved her claw. “It wasn't that bad. I think most of the kids made it out fine. I'm just the only one where there wouldn't be a big long regency.”
Gilda frowned. “But there's no way I'm letting them put a kid through that. All the arguing, politics, responsibility—I knew I was gonna have to go back eventually, I just wanted to think things over. That's why I ran.”
Rainbow Dash walked over to console her friend. “There any way I can convince you to come back with me?”
Gilda managed a smile through her tears. “Forgive me for being a big, dumb jerk?”
“Done.”
Fluttershy had moved onto the subject of knitting and the two griffons were on the verge of bored tears when the knock at the door came.
The pegasus walked over to the door and answered it, then turned back to the griffons. “Mr. Merrion? Mr. Lou? There's someone who wants to see you.”
Rainbow Dash waked in first and a slightly sullen Gilda followed. Both the griffons practically jumped out of their suits with excitement.
“Your Highness!” they both said at once.
“Yeah, yeah,” Gilda sighed, “do your worst.”
“Your Majesty, we have to have a coronation immediately!”
Merrion was near hysteria. “We've spent so many resources trying to find you that we don't even have a coronation ceremony ready!”
“The castle's a mess!”
“The kingdom's behind schedule!”
“The crown's in peril!”
“STOP!” Gilda shouted and the two guards froze. She fought back an urge to order them to do something ridiculous after all the trouble they had put her through. “Look, guys. I know the kingdom's all big on ceremony, but can't we just do the coronation here?”
“Here?” Merrion asked. “In a village? Your reign would become a laughing stock!”
Gilda seized his head and turned it toward the window. There Canterlot shined in the midday sun on top of the spire mountain.
Merrion adjusted his glasses. “That—that could work.”
Celestia was busy reviewing matters of state when the massive double-doors to the throne room burst open to reveal a royal guard.
“Your Majesty!”
Celestia lowered the letter. “Yes?”
The guard continued to pant for another few seconds before he recovered and removed his helmet. “Your Majesty, the Griffon Kingdom has found their queen.”
“That’s good news,” she replied, “but you didn’t have to run all this way to tell me.”
“They found the queen in Ponyville, Your Majesty. She’s right behind me!”
Two whooshes of air filled the court and Celestia raised up a hoof to shield her eyes. When she lowered it, two suited griffons stood there, saluting her.
“Princess Celestia! We submit to hold Her Royal Majesty Queen Grizelda II's coronation at Canterlot at the most convenient date for both states!” Merrion stated.
"As is protocol for in The Royal Charter on Emergency Coronation, Chapter 2, The Crown will deliver the request in person!” Lou continued.
“In person?” Celestia asked. She was happy that the griffons managed to find a new monarch, but every griffon king and queen she ever knew wouldn’t dream of holding their coronation at Canterlot.
Gilda slowly walked into the throne room; she wished that the two hadn't made such a fuss. The two griffons turned and bowed to her as she approached Celestia. Merrion looked up with a horrified expression as Gilda took in breath to speak.
“No no no Your Majesty!” he shrieked, “You must bow first! And you your legs are in the wrong place for decent posture! I haven’t heard you use the royal ‘we’ once! And where were the trumpeters to announce your arri—”
Gilda grabbed his beak and dragged his face close to hers. “Your queen commands you to cram it.”
The new monarch’s scandalous words sent whispers and murmurs through the crowd of nobles. Gilda released Merrion and began to speak.
"Hey, could—"
Lou came to her side in a loud whisper. "My Queen! Such a request must be documented on parchment! Verbal demands are tantamount to a declaration of war!"
Gilda barely restrained herself from wringing her guard's neck. She settled on giving a very loud growl that echoed throughout the entire court. While the griffon queen was arguing with herself on whether or not to dispose of Lou, the other guard dug into the pockets. He withdrew a phoenix-feather quill and a high-quality roll of parchment.
"Your supplies, Your Highness."
Gilda scowled at him, snatching the stationary away. With a grumble she began to write, shoulder turned aside from the two guards so they couldn't nitpick something else.
After a few seconds of scribbling, Gilda faced her guards. Her annoyed expression turned to near rage when she saw Merrion holding bottle of red wax and a stamp. Gilda didn't even dignify the next step with a sound. She stamped the document, rolled up the scroll, threw it into Merrion's claws and pointed at Celestia.
The guard took the item and bowed, calmly walking over to the pony princess. He bowed again to the co-monarch and held the scroll upward for Celestia to collect. The princess kept any comments about Gilda's horrific penmanship to herself as she scanned the parchment.
Princess Celerystia,
Could I bum your castle off you for a few days?
Rarity was making last-minute adjustments to the coronation dress as Gilda and Rainbow Dash talked.
The pony leaned over to see an uneasy Gilda in the mirror. “Nervous?”
“Pshaw, I don't get nervous, RD. I get angry.”
“Still. You alright?”
Gilda pondered Rainbow's question. “You know what? I think I am. I'm gonna make being a queen awesome again.”
“Hey yeah you are!” Rainbow Dash enthusiastically replied, and high-hooved Gilda. When it connected, a mischievous grin came to Rainbow Dash. “Hey, wanna do something stupid for old times’ sake?”
Rainbow Dash whispered something to Gilda. Rarity didn't pay it much mind until they both took to the air of the room, singing.
Junior Speedsters are our lives
Sky-bound soars and daring dives
Junior Speedsters it's our quest
To some day be the very best!
Author's Note
All credit to Geomancing for the picture. He draws good horse. :3
