Controlling the Beast Within

It was right after I turned the corner into the second floor that I froze in place, feeling my heart begin to slowly pick up in speed as my face became one of pure shock. I could hear hoofsteps coming up from behind me, followed by a hushed gasp.

“Wh-What..?” Twilight sputtered out. I could hear the tension in her voice building. “Who did this?!”

The room was, in a lack of words, a mess. Books had been pulled off the shelves, and thrown about the room in no particular manner. A violet vase that had been sitting atop a small table in the corner of the room was now shattered on the ground, the table now smashed around it. Slowly stepping further into the room, I could see Twilight’s bed had been shredded to pieces. Shards of glass also littered the floor close by, due to one of the windows having been busted.

Grinding my teeth and throwing my vision to the wide-open door to my own room, I could see that it, too, had been given similar treatment. My attention was then pulled to the sound of small, light sobs from a distraught-looking Twilight. Spike was soon coming up the stairs, apple fritter in claw before freezing at what looked like a rouge hurricane had ripped through the top floor of the place. Said pastry was now on the floor as the small dragon quickly waddled over to the crying Twilight.

“W-Who would do such a thing?”, she quietly wept, levitating a clawed-up book over to herself. She was soon hugging tightly to Spike, him trying his best to comfort his caretaker.

“I-It’s gonna be alright, Twilight...”, the little reptilian whimpered. “We’ll have this place cleaned up in no time!”

I could feel the growl in my throat wanting to escape, and I quickly did my best to hold it back before it had the chance to come out, resulting in an odd-sounding grunt. Whatever had done this obviously did it as an act of anger. Nothing from what I could see looked missing, so it couldn’t have been a theft attempt. And since the coward had immediately left after hearing that someone had returned home, that also left out an attempt at attacking the homeowners. Although, I could only suspect that. Had Twilight and Spike come back before me, things may have happened differently.

They might have known I could handle myself, and fled due to it.

I didn’t make any attempt at showing it, but I was slowly pacing about the room, taking small sniffs here and there. I tensed up slightly when I finally caught a whiff of what, or rather, whom I was slowly suspecting had committed the crime. And they were going to pay...

Turning over to Twilight, and walking over to her side, I gingerly placed my hand on her shoulder, causing the little unicorn to look up at me with red, teary eyes that only made my blood start to boil even more.

“I’m gonna find who did this, Twilight.” I said in a far more calm voice than I could believe. “I’ll be back.” And before she could even speak up, I was bounding down the stairs and out the front door.

I paused for only a moment once outside, glancing over my shoulder just in time to see Twilight and Spike just exiting out from the stairwell. They were sharing mildly concerned expressions on their faces, though Spike’s was slightly more angered than the unicorn’s. With a slight nod of my head, I was gone, running down the streets of Ponyville, straight off to the outskirts.

I should have figured that someone like her would have attempted to get back at me somehow. But I hadn’t figured it would be this soon, and as an act of vandalism to the pony giving me shelter. Gritting my teeth, I quickened up the pace before skidding to a halt due to a multi-colored blur swooping down in front of me.

“Oy!” Shouted the cyan pegasus, now holding a hoof to my chest with a confused look on her face. “Where you off to in such a hurry?”

It took me a moment, though not as long as normal, to calm myself into being able to speak. “Someone broke into the Library...” Dash’s eyes went wide at just that, before narrowing some. I could tell she was already preparing herself to speed right over to see for herself, but I caught her tail before she could. “There’s more, though.” She gave me a somewhat agitated glare, more likely from me having stopped her. “I think I know who did it.”

“Well, spit it out already!”, she yelled, forcing herself from my grip and flying a few feet before me.

I lowered my brow, tightening my fist as I felt the name coming up like bile. “Gilda.”

Rainbow’s expression immediately became mixed, at best. “W-What?!”

I shook my head, trying to think of a better reason than ‘I could smell her all over the room’ as an excuse. “She’s the only one that would have a reason to do such a thing, Rainbow. I mean, she obviously didn’t look too happy about all that crap that was going on back then, but there may have been more to it than that.”—Like me apparently being a sworn enemy to her species—“And if that’s not enough, the window was smashed in. Meaning that the one who got in and caused a catastrophe had to have flown out from the second floor.”

Rainbow Dash’s expression had gone from being a bit uncertain, to angered, to just disappointed. “I don’t get why Gilda would go and do something like that to Twilight’s library…”

Diverting my gaze back toward the direction I had been attempting to go in the first place, I let out a small sigh. Surprisingly, I wasn’t feeling so much of a need to have the griffin's head on a pike anymore, thanks to talking with Dashie. “...I was actually just on my way to find out for myself.”

Rainbow’s ears perked up slightly at that, and she was soon in my face again. “I’m coming with you!”

I pushed her back a bit, frowning. “I think it may have been me that brought on her doing this in the first place. I’ll take care of it.” She was about to interject, but I was quick to continue and cut her off. “Why don’t you go and fetch the other girls? I know Twilight was in a real state of distraught when I left.” Her expression faltered a bit at that. “She’ll probably need her friends there to help Spike in comforting her, as well as helping to reorganize the entire upstairs.” Again, her ears flattened slightly as a frown covered her muzzle.

“...Alright.”, she mumbled, before taking off into the air, looking down at me. “...Just be careful. Gilda’s no pushover.”

I felt the smirk forming before I knew it, giving her a thumbs up. “I’ll be fine. Just make sure Twilight is okay.”

And with that, we both went our separate ways. She to go find the others, and tell them what had happened. And me to go pay a visit to an oversized chicken with a stick up her ass…

—————————————~o~O~o~—————————————

I’d made my way into the Everfree Forest after an hour or so. I’d gone in with the assumption that, if I was a bitchy griffon who wanted to antagonize someone who’d not only kicked her ass, but showed her up in front of a crowd, which, not only, includedher childhood friend, but was ALSO done wrong by a monster that her kind had been sworn to eradicate... Then I’d more than likely wait someplace close enough for them to come and find me. And the place I’d likely think of just so happened to be the biggest, spookiest, and most secluded place around, which would be a great place for me to hide in wait…

...Right. Remind me to question my thought-processing skills at a later time.

“...I just wish she’d have picked a place with fewer bugs.”, I stated flatly to myself, swatting a mosquito for what felt like the billionth time, now.

Letting out a mildly agitated groan, I continued going further into the forest, being sure to keep a mental note on which direction I’d come from. I knew it only had to be later in the afternoon, but the entire forest was so entangled with itself, that practically no light was shining through the canopy above. It was for that reason that I was somewhat thankful for being the monster I had become; My night vision was saving me from tripping over far too many uproots and large stones that littered the already uneven forest flooring.

“Come on out, already!”, I shouted into the darkness, not really questioning my sanity for doing so in a place like this just yet. “You got the balls to go and trash my landlord’s place, why not come and pick on me?” There was the smallest rustle of a tree branch to my left, and I let my nerves get the better of me. “Or are you too scared to face me, dweeb?”

I didn’t even need to wait a few seconds before there was a loud roar of anger from the same spot from before, a large, winged form leaping out and diving at me.

Immediately dropping to the ground and rolling to the side, I narrowly missed getting my face clawed off by a set of sharp talons. Scrambling back up to my feet, I watched as the griffon landed several yards ahead of me, my eyes quickly beginning to glow a fiery amber. Her face and beak were twisted in some sort of distortion that could only say that she was really pissed off right now.

“I’ll show you who the dweeb is!”, she shrieked, coming at me rather quickly.

She wasted no time trying to rip me to shreds, throwing slashes at me left and right. I was partially scared to death that one of them would eventually hit me, but with my senses starting to kick into overdrive, I was finding myself ducking and outmaneuvering her by just the tiniest bit. This, however, only seemed to get her more and more enraged. Which caused her to get sloppy. I was half thanking whatever lucky stars I had that she didn’t appear to be trained in taking on ones like myself.

With one dive backward as she attempted to uppercut me with her talons spread open, I quickly regained my footing before diving forward, bringing my clenched fist back and letting it fly forward. The resulting ‘bwak’, followed by a heavy gasp, was from my fist slamming into her stomach. The griffon flew back about ten feet before slamming into a tree, her eyes opening widely on impact before she slowly fell forward onto her stomach, shivering immensely.

Slowly advancing upon her, I made sure to make as menacing a growl as I could muster. Considering the wolf was already begging to be let out to play with what it considered a new chew toy, it actually sent a mental shiver down my own spine. Stopping when my form was hanging right over the avian-beast, I knelt down so my face was inches from hers. Her own eyes were slightly squinted, but all too hate-filled as she stared right back into mine. She was struggling to get up, but I was guessing I must have hit her right in the diaphragm, as she was having a great deal of trouble catching her breath.

“...All you had to do was stay away.”, I said in that same calm voice I’d used earlier. “If you weren’t going to get your shit together, you could have just pretended that we all didn’t exist. That we were just dweebs that deserved no attention.”

She was starting to get up, now. I stood straight, releasing a small sigh. In a quick, fluid movement, I grabbed the griffon by the throat, a bit surprised to find that I was able to hold on well enough with a neck as thick as hers. She instantly began to try and break free, grabbing onto my arm with one talon, while trying to kick at me with her lower paws. It was troubling, but the adrenaline pumping through my entire body aided me in ignoring the pain she was leaving in my abdomen. I slammed her back against the tree, causing her to halt in her actions once more, hissing in pain.

“But that just wasn’t enough for you, was it?!”, I yelled out in her face. “You just had to leave your mark! Be the Big Bad Birdie!”

She glared down at me with one eye, the other closed tightly as she choked out “...G-Go f-fuck yourself!”

I lowered my head, hiding my expression from her before bringing back my free hand and slapping her right to the side of the head... Hard. She fell to the ground as I released her with a cry of torment before laying on the ground in agony. My reaction was slowly releasing a sigh with a shake of my head.

“...You know, you could just make this easier on yourself.”, I whispered, watching her. “Contradictory to whatever you’re probably thinking, I really don’t take pleasure in causing pain to others.”

Despite her damaging appearance, she actually managed to let out a mocking laugh. “I-I bet you d-don’t, mutt!”

I tightened my jaw at that. “You’re honestly going to bring that into this?” I turned around, walking away a few steps before turning around abruptly to see her trying to get onto all fours once again. “I don’t give a damn about whatever war your kind had with the wolf ponies before me! I am not one of them!”

Gilda continued to stare me in the face, likely wishing it’d burst into flames, until she was standing tall once more. Albeit, a bit more wobbly than before. “I don’t care about that...”

I stared into her eyes, trying to get through to this thick-skulled creature. “Then what is it? Why can’t we just talk like civilize-” I was cut off by her slamming into me.

I flew back a bit, sliding several feet on my back before coming to a stop, wincing a little as I placed my hand over my chest. “Ch-Cheap shot…”

The bully just stared at me, sick and twisted pride shining in her golden-yellow eyes. “Why would I talk with a loser like you?” She began to stalk towards me, any signs that she’d been down a few moments ago gone now.

Getting back up to my feet, I straightened myself out with a few pops from my joints. I really didn’t want to have to kill her. Whether Rainbow said it or not, I knew she still had feelings for Gilda, and wouldn’t want harm to come to her. And even though I knew Gilda was one of the biggest bitches I’d run into for qui—Well, there was Nightmare Moon, but…—...Still, I knew this stubborn-ass bird wasn’t completely bad. Just… A really mean lady. And that didn’t really give me the right to snap her neck…

Glaring back at the still-approaching griffon, I found my mind bringing up something that, at first, seemed rather random. I was the Element of Wrath, or so I’d been told, and I was fighting someone who seemed to have quite a lot of wrath in them. The sudden awareness of the irony caused a chuckle to come out of me. Gilda only snarled at the sudden sound, though.

“What the fuck are you laughing at, dork?”

I could only shake my head, keeping my smile. “I’m just...”, I started slowly coming to a different mind frame as more and more thoughts started to come to mind. “...starting to feel sorry for you.”

The clenched talon that soon found itself slamming into my face told me that she didn’t quite find it as amusing as I did.

Landing on the ground with a loud thud, I began propping myself up with my arms, spitting out a glob of blood before getting back up to my feet. I couldn’t help but notice that I still had managed to retain that stupid smile.

“Who in Tartarus do you think you are?!”, Gilda cried out leaping at me. I barely managed to dodge her advance, ducking to the side. “I don’t need any of your damn pity!”

I couldn’t help but start to see that perhaps what this griffon really did need, though, was pity. I mean, what exactly was wrong with this creature? It couldn’t have been just the pranks that had been bothering her. That would have been trivial, at best, to get this upset over. And yes, I did force her to leave town in front of other ponies, but there was more to it than that. She’d come to see her old friend that day, and instead, she had to deal with Pinkie. Add onto the fact that she thought the same mare was trying to embarrass her in front of her own friend… My eyes widened slightly.

...Who did nothing.

I was just about to receive another slam in the face when the words left my mouth. “...You felt betrayed.”

The closed talon paused a hair’s width in front of my nose, shaking with what I was sure was pure rage. I’m sure my own face was scrunched up in mild reaction, thinking I was about to look uglier than I already was. But when I noticed that there was no more movement coming from the griffon, I hesitantly began to continue.

“...Rainbow. You felt that she was betraying you. Ditching you for her new friends.” I could hear her start to growl from behind the talon in my face. “I can understand why you’re upset!”, I spoke out, praying to any deity that would hear me out to force this griffon to listen. “You didn’t go there with the thought of having competition! Add the fact that you felt you were being threatened by the ‘new girl’, and believing your so-called friend wasn’t doing anything about it…” I swore I could hear what sounded like a held-back sniffle.

Slowly tilting my head to glance towards Gilda, I got a clear look at what the griffon’s face looked like. She was still burning holes into me with her glare, and the twisted snarl her beak was shaped into had anger written all over it, but… There were tears slowly streaming down from her eyes.

“...It wasn’t Pinkie Pie that was doing all those pranks at the party, Gilda. It was Rainbow Dash.” That caused her to flinch slightly, more than any of the impacts my fists had. “She was just trying to have some fun with you. And yes, while I know Pinkie Pie can come off as one of the biggest annoyances ever created…” She gritted her beak slightly. “I know she didn’t want to get in between the two of you as friends. If anything, she just wanted to be your friend, too.”

I ever so slowly lifted up my hand, before lightly placing it on the outstretched talon she’d kept balled up into a fist. She recoiled from it as I thought she would, but I was persistent, taking hold of it firmly with a small look of determination on my face as I steadily lowered it. “I’m sorry for what happened to you, Gilda. But you shouldn’t have taken out your anger on Pinkie. Or Twilight’s place. If you really had such a big problem, you should have just talked to Rainbow Dash about it. I’m sure she would ha-”

A punch to the face soon had me on the ground once again, groaning a bit. “...H-Have seen that coming.”

“Shut! Up!”, she yelled out, forcing her eyes closed. I could distinctly hear a different tone in her voice this time around, though. “D-Don’t think that a stupid dweeb like you can get inside my head! You don’t know me!” My hand once more on her talon caused her to open her eyes in both frustration and distress.

I could feel blood dripping out from my nose, which I’m sure only made my smile all the more disturbing, but I nonetheless continued on. “No. You’re right. I don’t know you.” Her expression slowly started to show more signs of unease, rather than blatant anger. “But I’m willing to. If you’ll let me.”

Her eyes stared down at me like I was insane, and for once, she appeared to be speechless. She was still shivering, but I was unsure if it was in anger, or just from the sheer emotional exhaustion the both of us were likely beginning to go through. After all, I could literally smell it.

Forcing myself up and onto my feet once more, I felt myself tumble slightly before I could catch my footing. Attempting to try and stable myself, I grabbed hold of the only thing close enough to reach; Gilda. Trying to wrap my arms around her neck to help steady myself, it turned into more of an embrace than anything else. I couldn’t quite see her expression anymore, though I definitely heard the gasp that escaped her beak. To tell the truth, I was sort of surprised by the whole thing as well. Frozen in place like that for what felt like hours, the two of us didn’t seem to move until I felt a talon place itself onto my back.

And then I was flying through the air again.

Landing with a hard thud, I couldn’t help but sneer at myself, figuring I once again walked right into that one. However, when I opened my eyes to look back at the griffon, I almost had to hold back a laugh. All of her feathers were standing at end, her cheek feathers oddly showing off a darker shade of pink. Her expression though, as I’m sure one would assume, was not very amused.

“Y-You…” She was stumbling over herself to try and form her sentence. “You…!” Closing her eyes and shaking her head immensely, I could only guess that she was trying to think of a word that would really strike me in the gut. Destroy me both physically and emotionally, and leave me speechless, with no way of recuperating anytime soon. The only thing she seemed to find was, “Idiot!”

And with that, she turned around before jumping off into the air, vanishing into the darkness. I may have laid there for another ten minutes or so, just staring up at the tree branches above me while trying to comprehend what had just happened. But I eventually forced myself to get back up, groaning at the sore spots I now sported. I could feel my face was a bit beaten up, some stinging from cuts across my stomach, and was pretty sure my chest was bruised as well. But given a bit more time, I figured my wolfiness would have all that taken care of.

Popping my neck, I let out one last sigh before glancing about the area. I couldn’t hear or smell any signs of the crazy griffon, and figured she must have been long gone by now. So, with a small smile forming on my lips, I turned around and began slowly walking the trek back to Ponyville, humming a tune I remembered from back home along the way.

Thankfully, nothing had decided to jump out at me on the way back. I once more found myself making my way through the emptying streets of Ponyville, the sun nearly set in the distance. I’d healed away all of the minor injuries, but could still feel soreness from my face and chest. With only a handful of stares coming from those still on their way home, I kept my cool quite well, I think. I even waved at a few of them, my dorky, bruised face managing something between a smile and a grimace. Needless to say, I didn’t get many waves in return…

Act like they haven’t seen a used and abused man before…

Before long, I could see the library coming into view, a sudden chill beginning to crawl up my spine at the thought of something. Through all the fighting and emotional strain that I’d been going through for the past couple hours, I had managed to overlook one small detail. I had no clue what kind of excuse I was going to give to Twilight for my appearance, or any of her friends if they were still there. Sure, I had gone and told her I’d “take care of it”, but I wasn’t quite sure how believable a story of “me fighting off a griffon, and then making said griffon fly off in embarrassment” was going to go over with them.

Even if it was pretty much true. She might as well have just yelled “Baka!” at me, before fleeing away to mope about her hidden desire to be noti—

I paused for a moment, staring wide-eyed at nothing as that thought went through my head.

...Nahhh. Now you’re just really reading too much into things.

Shaking my head, and remembering about Twilight, I started to hope that maybe she’d just be happy that I was fine. A bit banged up, but still functional. The image of her fussing over me, and trying to make sure I was alright made me chuckle.

Perhaps she’ll bring me up to bed, and tuck her avenger in, too. Maybe even read me a bedtime story!

Coming up to the door, I hesitated for the briefest of seconds before slowly opening it and entering into the comforting warmth of the home within. Glancing around a moment, a small smile creeping onto my worn-out face, I turned once more to close the door behind me. The thought of going out and getting a lock for it tomorrow swished around my head, figuring it’d be a good idea if any more, raging, hormonal chicks attempted to mess with me. All my thoughts, however, were pushed aside when I heard movement from behind me, followed by a hushed intake of breath. Glancing over my shoulder, before stumbling around to face the overwrought look on the little, purple unicorn’s expression.

I responded the best way I could think at that moment.

“Hey, Sparkler.” Her gaze was scanning me up and down, before settling on, what I could only guess were the black and blue markings covering my face. “I had a pleasant chat with the culprit. We shouldn’t be having any more troubles with them.”

Whatever energy that had been managing to keep me standing this long seemed to have washed clean out of me right at that moment, due to the fact that I quickly found myself losing my balance and falling forward. However, the ground never came to give my lovely face an endearing embrace. Instead, I felt the tingling sensation of magic sweep over me, holding me upright. And before I knew it, I was in the embrace of a sniffling unicorn, who wasn’t doing such a great job at trying to stay calm.

“S-Sorry I took so long gettin-”

“Shut up.”, she muffled into my shoulder. Pulling herself back to look up at me with those big, saucer-like, violet eyes of hers, she soon began to grow a rather crossed expression. I didn’t even attempt to stop the hoof punching me in the arm.

“Are you CRAZY?!”, she yelled, right into my face.

“...Define craz-” Her raising her hoof to take another chance at pummeling me made me cut my question mid-way, taking hold of the foreleg. “I’m kidding!”

“You’ve been gone for hours!”, she scolded, shaking free from my grip, looking me up and down again. “A-And… What happened to you?!”

A smirk slowly formed over my face as I let out a small sigh. “...I tripped?” Oh, the look that she gave me. Shaking my head, I looked back at her with a mildly somber tone to my voice. “I went after the one who trashed your room. I found them out in the Everfree Forest, and well…” I trailed off, glancing away.” ...Got in a tussle with them.”

“Who was it?”, she asked, seeming to calm herself down a bit, though still keeping her look of petulance. “Rainbow Dash mentioned you having an idea earlier, but wouldn’t tell me who…”

I faltered momentarily, diverting my gaze before looking back at hers. “Gilda was the one who came and trashed the place.” Her look turned to one of surprise and confusion. “She was upset for… numerous reasons, but felt that I was the one to let it all out on. Since I was the one that made her leave town.” I lowered my head as guilt started to wash over me. “I’m just sorry that she targeted the treehouse as punishment…”

Twilight lowered her head as well, letting out a small sigh. “It’s not your fault, Nick.” Giving her head a shake, she looked back up to me with a small smile. “I’m just glad you’re alright.” I gave her a small smile in return, slowly starting to feel the pain in my face receding.

“Even though it was incredibly dangerous, and extremely idiotic of you to go and attempt to confront Gilda, let alone any griffon…” She let out, rolling her eyes as she released me, trotting away.

I couldn’t help letting out a laugh, getting back up to my feet. “You still haven’t worked out the fact that I don’t always do the smartest things.”

With a flick of her tail, followed by me starting to levitate off the ground, Twilight simply glanced over her shoulder and gave me an innocent look. “Then perhaps you and I should have another study session about yourself.”

A cold sweat began to run down my temple at the idea. “U-Uh, no no! It’s fine!” I was not put down, though. Instead, I seemed to only follow her toward the stairwell.

“Oh, but how will I ever learn, then?”

“...Trial and error?”, I suggested with a shaky grin.

She almost seemed to ponder on that, before shaking her head. “Fine. But you’re only getting off the hook this time because Spike’s sleeping.” Thank you, you wonderful little bundle of scales! “He really worked hard in helping set everything back the way it was.”

Again, however, I still found myself being carried up the stairs in her magical grip. “...Then what are you still doing with me?”

Staying silent while she took to the top of the stairwell, glancing over to where her little dragon assistant was still sound asleep, she continued on to my spare room before opening the door and levitating me in. She quickly followed after, finally saying in a hushed tone, “I’m making sure you don’t go wandering off like you usually do, and getting right to bed.”

My brow furrowed at that. “You’re rewarding my actions for today by locking me in my bedroom…?”

“No, I’m not ‘locking you in’.”, she replied with a roll of her eyes, laying me down on my bed. “Just…” She seemed to stop and think for a second before she took hold of my blanket, and tucked me in. “...making sure my hero gets a good night's sleep.” She ended that with a small grin, blinking her eyelashes at me.

I wasn’t quite sure how I should feel about this. Part of me was slightly put off at her sudden change in behavior, while another part of me figured she was just trying to get back at me for having worried her as much as I had. It wasn’t really that big of a deal, though, since I didn’t really feel like a midnight stroll anyway. But then there was the part of me that was laughing its ass off that I had actually gotten tucked in by Twilight Sparkle.

“Alright, I guess I’m not really in any shape for a walk anyway.”, I said, giving in. She was already turning away to head off to bed with a small grin plastered on her muzzle when I called out in mock confusion. “Wait, no bedtime story?”

“Good night, Nick!”, was the only thing she replied before my door closed itself.

Welp, so much for trying.

With a soft sigh, I took a moment to get comfy before staring up at the ceiling. It was then that I started to let my mind recollect what had happened today, and what it foretold.

I probably haven’t heard the last of Gilda… Which I actually have mixed feelings about. I felt like I was actually getting through to her, but it’s really hard to tell when you’re getting punched in the face a lot. Hopefully, she won’t cause any more property damage. I don’t even know how Twilight managed to find enough bits to pay for— Oh, I completely forgot about Berry Punch! Gah, I was gonna go look into her job offer… Well, I’m sure she’ll understand if I go see her tomorrow and explain what happened.

Closing my eyes, I allowed myself to slowly lul into a quiet state of mind, yawning as my exhaustion finally won over me once more.

Well… Whatever happens, I’m sure it couldn’t be any worse than today.

And with that piece of optimism lingering in my head, I slowly drifted off to sleep.