Destinies Intertwined

Twilight watched the armored changelings as they all kept their focus on the captured ponies. There were a total of six, Twilight thought she could use her magic and fight them off, but some more appeared behind her. “Twilight…” Comet whispered.

“I know…” Twilight closed her eyes, and began to charge her horn.

They all looked at Twilight not knowing what she was up to. One of the changelings asked, "What are you doing?"

Twilight finally opened her eyes, and suddenly outstretched her arms, opened her palms, and a bolt of magic sent both changelings into the ground.

Everyone couldn’t believe their eyes! “YES,” Applebloom was heard yelling.

The other changelings saw their men down and rushed toward Twilight.

Twilight could feel them approaching, she whirled around and charged her magic again. "Stop!"

The changelings stopped at her warning.

Twilight put her hands down and discharged her magic. "If you move any further, I WILL kill you.” There was no way she would kill them, but she had the capabilities, and they didn't need to know.

The changelings started to point their weapons at her, but their ears perked up at a faint sound before they flew off.

Twilight stood down knowing that they all left.

“Wow Twilight," Scootaloo said, “I didn’t think that would scare them off.”

“It didn’t; something else summoned them. Most likely, it was their leader.”

"Chrysalis?!" Derpy cried out.

"N-no... at least I don't think so..." Twilight wasn't feeling sure, these could very well be Chrysalis, but at the same time, these changelings look… different, as if they were another race altogether.

Was Khai lying?

******

Next day....

“Hello? Dash?”

Rainbow Dash awoke to poking on her arm, along with the sound of an all too familiar voice. He opened her eyes groggily to see Gilda staring her in the face. ”Geez!" Dash exclaimed. "Why are you in my house?”

“I’m not in your house; you’re at the station.”

Rainbow Dash looked around and saw that Gilda was telling the truth; she was at the station. The question is, “How?”

"Y'all remember?" Applejack said, "We were meetin’ Gilda here?"

Rainbow glared at Applejack. “I know that, but how did I get here?”

"We walked, but by the time we got here ya conked out." Rainbow suddenly noticed something Applejack was holding. "What is that?"

"'That," Gilda spoke up, "Is Garuda, my baby."

He took a good look at Gilda. The first thing to come out of her mouth was, “He looks so cute… Are you sure you didn’t steal him?”

“I think I have the stretch marks to prove it…”

"Well...that was something I didn't need to know..." Rainbow muttered.

“You didn’t believe me, so I figured you would want proof.”

Applejack decided to interject, "How bout we go to Sugarcube Corner and talk about all this?"

“Okay. Oh and do you know where I can get some baby formula?”

"Ah reckon the grocery store by Rarity's place has some, we can getcha some there."

"We can?" Rainbow asked.

"Yes we can."

“And if they recognize me?” Gilda questioned.

“Then they’ll have to deal with me. Besides, look at that little face, I know they can’t resist a baby.” Applejack reassured her.

Gilda looked at Garuda. She had to admit, he was pretty cute, even if she did say so herself. "Okay...thank you."

“Don’t mention it, but if you try to do anything funny, I’ll snatch that baby and buck you into the next year.”

"Okay, but if you do anything to my baby, I'll have to rip off a limb or two, and trust me, it can happen."

“Trust me, he’d be in safer hands.”

“Good…”

“ANYWAY, let’s go see if we can find some milk, and I’m gonna guess diapers,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Yeah… that one I wasn’t so fortunate on either,” Gilda pointed out.

“Okay… Just don’t change it in public.”

“Right…”

*****

“TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT!” Pinkie shouted as she hopped into the library.

Twilight was looking at a book on changelings. “What is it Pinkie?”

“Do you remember that meanie pants, Gilda?”

“How could I forget?”

"I know right? She hurt Fluttershy's feelings and kept acting like a jerk and-"

"Okay, Pinkie, I remember. But why are you bringing her up?"

"Cuz I just saw her at the train station with Applejack and Rainbow Dash!"

"Really? What's she doing back here?"

“I don’t know, but if must have something to do with that baby she’s holding.”

“Baby?”

“Yeah, she was walking around with this baby.”

"Hmm... That's strange..."

"What is?"

"If the baby's hers, who in their right mind would want to be in a relationship with Gilda? Unless...

“Unless what?" Pinkie gasped, "She stole it!"

"Possibly, or maybe she didn’t intend on having that baby.”

"Whadda ya mean? Can't you choose when to have a baby?"

“Well… I really don’t want to say this, ever, but shou could have spent a night with someone and she happened to have the right conditions to have one.”

Pinkie gasped again, "So you can get a baby from sleepovers?!"

“Trust me, it wasn’t a casual sleepover.”

"Oh... They must’ve really had a good MERF fight!"

“MERF?”

"Yeah! You know those cool toy guns that fire those squishy darts?"

“Oh… No. It’s… Oh forget it!”

"Okey dokey lokey! So why am I here?"

“You were telling me that Gilda is here.”

"But I thought you told me to forget it?"

"No I meant- Ugh! Did you see where they were going?"

"They said the grocery store."

“Oh, okay. Did you warn Fluttershy and Rarity, along with every other pony in Ponyville?”

"Well duh! You were the last one!"

“Okay. After that last episode, there’s no telling what she’d do now.”

"Yeah. I better make sure the Cakes are alright! They had this humongo order and might need my help!" With that Pinkie bolted out the door, "See ya Twi!"

“Um… Okay, see ya later…” Twilight went back to her book, but…

“What was that all about.”

Twilight looked at Spike who was just now entering the room. “Oh, hey Spike. I see you finally decided to join the living.”

Spike just responded with a fake laugh.

“Anyway, guess who’s back in Ponyville…”

“Um… Trixie?”

"Nope, bigger."

"Chrysalis?!”

“Too big.”

“Can I get a hint?”

“She used to be Rainbow Dash’s friend.

“Um… Oh, what was her name. She was a griffon right?”

“Yes…”

“Let’s see…” Spike thought for a few minutes before… “Gilda?”

“Right, she’s back, and this time with a baby.”

“Gilda with a baby? Who in their right mind would want to be with her?”

“That’s what I said.”

"Maybe she kidnapped it?"

“It is possible.”

“Or maybe she… You know… Same thing that happened to me?”

“Again, possible. We don’t know until we look at her records.”

"But how could you get her records? Wouldn't they be… wherever she moved to?"

“Yes, so I’ll have to call Griffopolis’s city hall and make a public records request.”

"Or you could ask her."

“If she did rape someone, do you really think she’d admit to it?”

"If she raped someone, would she even keep it?"

“Hm… Good point, but I’m gonna call them just in case.”

"Okay, I think I'll head over to Sweet Apple Acres, Applebloom said she got a new ARMO set and she said she wanted to build it with me."

“Oh, well go ahead.” Then it hit Twilight. “Spike, before you go, there’s something you need to know.”

"What?"

“Some Changelings raided the meteor shower.”

"What?! Are you okay?!"

“Yes, but there are two reasons why I brought that up. One, it might happen again; two, Applebloom was there when it happened.”

"Y-you don't think Applebloom is a-"

"No, but she and her friends happened to be there at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

"Oh...do you think she'll be upset if I go?"

“What do you mean?”

"I'm a dragon, and it might scare her...not to mention my...incident.."

“Spike, when was the last time you were with her?”

“Last night when we were building the Star Decimator.”

“And did she react negatively?”

“No…”

“Then don’t worry about it, but you might also want to tell her about your wings.”

"Oh?"

"Well, it's sorta similar to a cutie mark, so it might help her."

“Oh, okay.”

"And Spike?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember, I love you."

“I love you too, Twilight.”

*****

Gilda, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack were in the grocery store trying to find diapers and formula, unfortunately it was proving to be a difficult task, since, well, ponies weren't as large as griffons, so finding the correct size was hard.

“And yer sure nopony would sell them to ya,” Applejack asked.

“I’m sure,” Gilda answered, “But I wish I knew how the sizes translate to griffons. I’m getting dizzy just looking at them.”

“No kiddin’,” Rainbow commented. “Wish Twilight were here; she’d know.”

“Think you should go get her,” Applejack asked.

“Maybe, but she probably got her nose in some book right now.”

“True, I mean, there was that changeling invasion.”

“Wait, what?!”

"Yeah, 'Bloom told me ‘bout it, but Twilight scared em off."

“Twilight? Scaring off Changelings?”

“Technically, something recalled them,” Twilight said from behind, “but I did threaten them.”

"Really? You threaten?"

"Yes, it was the only thing I could think of at the time..."

“Well, they were intimidatin’ the kids.”

“Yeah…”

"So...what's a changeling?" Gilda asked.

They all looked at Gilda. “Well, you know what a pony looks like, right Gilda,” Rainbow asked.

“I’m lookin’ at three now, so I should.”

“Well, changelings are basically that with insect features and they can change into different people.”

"So, there were some runnin’ around last night?”

“Apparently. Oh, and Twilight, do you know which size diaper would be good for a baby griffon?”

“Oh. Um… I don’t know,” Twilight said, “Where is the baby, maybe I could determine what size it needs from there.”

"He's right here," Applejack handed the small bundle to Twilight.

“Aw… He’s so cute. Are you sure you didn’t steal him?”

“Why does everyone keep asking me that,” Gilda asked. She reached into her bag and pulled out a birth certificate. Twilight looked at it and found that Gilda is definitely the baby’s mother.

“Garuda, huh? Pretty strong name for a little guy.”

"He got me through a lot; he needed a strong name."

"Oh..."

"Yeah, put me through a lot, though. But it was worth it."

"Well, weren't you gonna explain everything over at Sugarcube Corner?" Applejack asked.

“Well, that was so I’d get that question out of the way.”

"Ah."

"Gettin hungry AJ?" Rainbow asked.

“I am actually, but we still need to-” Applejack stopped after she saw Twilight levitating the package of diapers with her magic.

“Will this much do,” Twilight asked.

"How on earth did you-"

"Well, I did raise a baby dragon. A baby griffon’s around the same size."

"Wow...thanks Twilight..." For the first time in Gilda's life, she was speechless.

"But, promise me you'll take care of Garuda?"

“Uh...of course I will...I just…”

“I have had a little taste of motherhood with Spike, so I know how hard it is.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, he recently reached puberty. Long story short, it went a little out of proportion when I thought he was just turning away from me, but it turned out that he was just growing up. But it didn’t exactly help when a changeling assaulted him sometime after.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, I can’t really go into detail as to WHAT happened, but… I did learn that as a result of his puberty, he’s now growing wings.”

“Wait, growing wings?”

“Yeah, he complained about his back hurting and I saw those two bumps. I later did some research and there it was in black and white.”

“Wow… So when will they stop growing?”

“In about a month.”

"Need someone to teach him flying?" Rainbow asked.

“Oh yes,” Twilight said. “Too bad Garuda won’t be able to fly by the time Spike’s wings grow; he might get a wingmate.”

“By the way, where is Spike,” Applejack asked.

“Oh, he’s at Sweet Apple Acres with Applebloom, or at least he’s on his way there now.”

“Oh yeah, Bloom said she had had some fun puttin a model set...or somethin’...”

“ARMO? Yeah, Spike loves those.”

“Okay, what in the world is ARMO,” Gilda asked.

“They’re these building sets that use bricks that connect...kinda hard to explain to be honest… Shining or Spike could do a better job.”

“Oh…”

“So, are we goin’ or what,” Rainbow asked.

“Oh, yes. We just need to pay for the diapers,” Twilight said.

“And the formula,” Applejack added.

*****

Spike knocked on the door to the Apples’ house. After waiting a few moments Big Mac came to the door. “Hello?”

“Howdy,” Big Mac said.

“Um...is Applebloom here?”

“Eeyup.”

“Oh, okay, may I see her?”

“Eeyup. She’s in her room.”

Spike entered the house, but then something occurred  to him, “Uh, where is her room?”

But before Big Mac could answer, Applebloom came in. “Howdy Spike! Glad ya came!”

“Yeah, me too. So what’s the new set you got?”

“I’ll show ya in my room,” Applebloom led Spike into her room, which was next door to Applejack’s. The first thing Spike saw was her collection of ARMO sets. “Wow! You have a lot!”

“Thanks,” Applebloom blushed, then went behind the chest of drawers and pulled out a small box.

Spike raised an eyebrow, “That’s it? An AT-E1? You can build those in your sleep/”

“Hey!” Applebloom placed the set on the top of her drawers and placed her hands on her hips, “I happen to love this little guy, this is like my fifth one...But…” Applebloom reached under her bed and pulled out-

“AN AT-AS AND CARRIER?!?!?!?!?”

“Oh yeah…”

“Wow! You get a nice allowance!”

“Well… I’ve been saving since last Cider season, but I did buy a few other things since then, like a couple AT-E1s, but it definitely wasn’t easy.”

“Wow… I can really help you with this?”

“Uh-huh, if you want to…”

“Yeah I do!”

Applebloom grinned, “Well then, let’s get to work,” She grabbed the AT-E1 set and had opened it up.

“Seriously?!”

“Well, we might as well get this out of the way.”

“Yeah, let’s.”

They both got on their knees and got to work.

*****

Applejack held open the door for the other girls and the baby. “Thanks, AJ,” Twilight grinned.

“Sure, Sugarcube.”

The girls walked to one of the four-chair tables and everyone except Rainbow Dash sat down. “So what does everyone want?”

“I think I would like a bran muffin,” Twilight said.

Everyone looked at her.

“What? Haven’t been feeling regular lately.”

Applejack raised her eyebrow, “Whadda ya mean? ‘Not feelin’ regular’?”

“It’s nothing I can say at the table, or in public for that matter,” Twilight blushed.

“Uh...okay… What about you two?” Dash looked to Gilda and AJ.

“I’d like some cherry pie.”

Now Applejack was getting the odd looks.

“What? Girl can’t eat everything apple.”

“Okay...Gilda?”

Gilda had to ask, “Got anything with protein?”

“Well, there’s always milk, but… Hm… Hang on, I’ll go check.” Rainbow left the four to meet with Mrs. Cake at the front counter. “Hey, uh, Mrs. Cake, do you have anything that has protein.”

“Well, there’s always milk,” she joked.

Dash faked a laugh.

“But we do have milkshakes and smoothies.”

“Oh, okay, I’ll be right back.” Rainbow went back to Gilda, “They have smoothies and milkshakes.”

“Um… I think the smoothie would be the better option. Just don’t get me anything with coconuts. I don’t why, but it never seems to taste right with me.”

“Okay…” Rainbow went back to the counter.

"Have you made your decision?" Mrs Cake asked.

“We have. We would like a cherry pie, a bran muffin, a strawberrry banana smoothie, and a slice of lemon cake."

"Okay, I'll get that right out."

"Thanks," Rainbow reached into her pocket and pulled out some money, "Here ya go."

"Thank you."

Once Mrs. Cake gave Rainbow Dash the food, Dash walked back to the table. “Okay, here you are ladies. One bran muffin, one cherry pie, and one strawberry banana smoothie.”

"Thanks, Dash." Twilight smiled before taking her bran muffin.

"Yeah, thanks, Sugarcube." Applejack took her pie.

Gilda stared at her smoothie. “This isn’t going to drip on my shirt, right?”

“Nope.”

“Or make me breath fire…?”

“Nope.”

“Anything I do need to know?”

“Nope.”

“Okay…” She took her smoothie and took a sip. She shrugged it off. “Thanks.”

"Yeah."  Rainbow sat down and dug into her cake.

“Was her askin’ about the drink really necessary,” Applejack whispered to Rainbow.

Rainbow whispered back, “Well, in her defense, she did set off every single prank the last time she was here…”

“You do know I can hear you, right,” Gilda remarked.

"Well ya did." Applejack pointed out.

“Yeah… By the way, which pranks were meant for me?”

“Only two: the candles and the presents,” Rainbow answered, “The rest were fair game.”

"I see," Gilda took another sip of her drink. She turned to Twilight, "Like your bran muffin?"

“Huh?”

"Your muffin, you like it?"

“Not really, but what else could I eat? I need more fiber.”

“And probably a toilet,” Dash murmured. Then… “Ah, regular… I get it.”

Twilight's cheeks turned red, "Yeah..."

"Do you need to talk to a doctor?" Applejack asked.

“No, I think this should help.”

“Alright…”

"Okay, Gilda, I'm afraid I've gotta ask, how did you get a baby?" Rainbow asked.

“I don’t want talk about it.”

"Well, fine...but...could you at least tell us who the father is?"

Gilda thought about it for a minute, then… “His ‘father’ is a spoiled prince.”

"Blueblood’s?" Rainbow teased.

“Who’s he?”

"Princess Celestia's nephew, he's a real brat."

“Oh… No.”

"Griffon Prince?"

“Garuda wouldn’t have been a full griffon if it were anything else.”

"I was just kidding."

“Anyway, we hooked up because… well… I was a little desperate for money.”

"I thought your parents were well off, couldn't they help?"

“After what they heard about here, they didn’t want anything to with me.”

“Oh. Please continue.”

“Well, after that night, he paid me, but a week later, I found out that I… well…” She looks at Garuda.

“How'd the dad take it?"

“Wanted nothing to do with him, especially since…” She pulls out a magazine and points to the cover, “News got out that he spent the night with some ‘peasant’.”

“Ouch…”

“So yeah, nobody wanted to have anything to do with the griffon who… Disgraced? Would that be the right word?”

“Yeah.”

“Disgraced the prince. I had to deliver Garuda in a cardboard box.”

The three girls stayed silent.

“What? It was either that or in the middle of the sidewalk. But someone eventually found me just as I finished and he took me to a hospital.”

"Well, that's good." Rainbow said.

"Have your parents found out," Applejack asked.

“They moved before I could tell them.”

"Are you going to?"

“Why should I? They already kicked me out. Imagine what would happen if I told them I had a baby out of wedlock.”

"But they are your parents, and his grandparents." Twilight said.

“Trust me, it wouldn’t work that way. Even if I did want to tell them, where would I find them?”

“And I guess that added to the frustration, because you DID punch a random pony.”

“Wait, what,” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, this pony came up to me and said some stuff about me and my baby, stuff that I wouldn’t expect to hear coming out of her mouth.”

"So...you did it for Garuda?"

“Well, it went on for a week before I did it, but yeah…”

“Why didn’t you just report her? What she was doing was harassment, something she could be charged with.”

“What did you think I was trying to do? They didn’t want anything to do with me.”

“And that’s when you got three months of jail time…”

“Yeah… But looking back, I did deserve it,  I couldn’t see Garuda for three months, I was put in a cell, and… well… everyone couldn’t stand me as it was. All of that made up for what I did to you guys.”

“Maybe, but Garuda deserve any of that?”

"No...and...sometimes I think I don't...deserve him. Like I'm a bad mother."

"Well, you were willing to protect him...kinda..."

“And you did keep him after he was born. On top of all that, he’s still here,” Rainbow Dash pointed out, “So you must be doing something right.”

"I guess, it's just he's all I have, and I don't want to treat him badly."

“Well, you won’t have to go through this alone. I mean, we’re no spoiled prince, but at least it’ll get you somewhere.”

"You'd help me?"

“Yeah, I’ll even let you sleep at my place until we get you back on your feet.”

“I can’t, Where would you sleep?”

“I could always the couch.”

"But after everything I did?"

“After what you’ve been through, I’d say ‘Enough’s enough’.”

“I don’t know…”

“Don’t make me kidnap you.”

“Alright! Just stop doing that.”

"Doing what?”

“Pressuring me to stay at your house.”

“You gave me no choice.”

"Well, I guess I'll stay with ya..."

“Good."