It's Time To Lay Your Sleepy Head...
"Dweebs...Every one of them."
The figure scowled as she peers from over the cloud to the ground below. Observing the frolicking, joyful, carefree ponies of Ponyville, She shifts her angry gaze from pony to pony. She searches and searches until her eyes fall upon that pink mane. That pink bouncing bundle of annoyance that had set up everything from the beginning. But she was not her prime target. Not yet. She would save that one for second to last. The final target being her old former best friend, of course.
So, She searches again. Until finally her eyes come upon another pink maned pony, One with a yellow coat and pegasus wings.
"Wait... I know that dweeb. The one that bumped into me. Oh, This'll be good. What better way to get back at Dash than to start with that weakling."
The gryphon flew from cloud to cloud quicker than anyone could see. This is what she was waiting for, The yellow pony was all alone, defenseless, and most importantly, was someone she knew was one of Dash's closest friends. She narrows in quickly and quietly, Weaving effortlessly around all the nearby clouds. Finally, She flies in behind the timid little pegasus, catching her off guard and dealing a hard blow to the back of her head. She then picks her up and carries her off to deal with her in a place far away from any possible witnesses.
~~~
What... What happened? ...My head-
"Hey! You awake yet, Dweeb?"
Fluttershy slowly opens her eyes, Her head aching immensely. Her vision blurs a bit as she glances at a somewhat familiar silhouette staring back at her.
"Oh, Good, You're finally awake. I was about to just dump your head in the tub to wake you up, But now I can do that while you're awake."
She then feels a claw grabbing the back of her neck, lifting her up into the air. Just as she is about to ask what's going to on, She is then plunged face first into a tub of ice cold water. She struggles against her assailant with all her might, But can't even manage to get her face out of the water. Before she can even get a coherent thought together, She is pulled back out. She coughs and gasps for air, Only to be shoved back into the water. Time seems to move painfully slow submerged in the water, Faintly hearing the laughter of the towering gryphon behind her. She is suddenly pulled back out of the water, Once again coughing up water and gasping for air.
"Having fun yet?"
"Gilda... Why-"
Before Fluttershy can finish her sentence, She is dunked once again into the stinging cold water. She can faintly hear Gilda taunting her while nearly drowning her.
"Why, Gilda, Why?~ Ugh, You're such a chump. I can't believe Dash turned her back on me for you losers. What makes you so much better than me, Huh?!"
Gilda pulls her prey out of the water yet again to bring her face to hers.
"Well, I'm waiting, Spaz!"
Fluttershy takes deep, gasping breaths to try and catch some air, Staring into Gilda's eyes pleadingly as she tries to reason with the brute of a creature.
"Gilda, I know you and Rainbow Dash were friends for-" Gilda suddenly headbutts Fluttershy.
"You don't know anything, Dweeb!"
Gilda then rams her head against Fluttershy's repeatedly. The little pegasus' forehead cracking with every hit. Gilda relents only to shove Fluttershy's bloodied and brushed face back into the water.
"You could NEVER know anything. There is nothing about you that makes you better than me. And I'll make Dash see that when I'm through with you and the rest of them."
Gilda then picks Fluttershy up and tosses her to the floor. Fluttershy's vision blurs as she tries to get her bearings, Choking up equal parts water and blood. Just as she gets on her feet, Gilda smacks her back down and steps on her head.
"I could easily pop your head like a grape if I wanted to. But I want something out of you first."
Fluttershy glances up at Gilda with dazed eyes, Not even completely sure of what's going on anymore.
"...Beg. ...Beg for me. Tell me that you're soooo sorry and beg for me not to put you to sleep for good."
Fluttershy eyes begin to run with tears. Even in the state that she's in now, She partly knows what Gilda's going to do to her. The only thing she can think about right now is how her friends will miss her terribly.
"Do it."
She then thinks of all the animals at her home. Some of them are still in bandages and still need help just to feed themselves, Let alone other things that need to be done. And Angel Bunny, Poor Angel won't know what to do with himself.
"DO IT!"
She tries to gather up the strength to at least say something. But the only thing that comes out are the soft sobs of her crying. She is not ready to go yet. Not while there's still so much to do.
"Geez, You're pathetic."
Gilda then grabs Fluttershy by her mane and lifts her up. Fluttershy's soft yelping giving Gilda a chuckle as she grabs Fluttershy's left wing and stretches it out.
"Can you even fly with these? You're a pegasus and yet you live on the ground. So why do you even have these?"
Just as Fluttershy is about to respond, A loud snap is heard. A sickening crack followed by a very sharp pain reverberating from Fluttershy's left side. Gilda had broken her wing, Though it feels more like she tore it from it's very socket. Gilda then releases her hold on Fluttershy's wing, The now loose appendage drops and swings at Fluttershy's side. The other wing flapping frantically beyond her own control now that the immense pain is Fluttershy's only focus.
For the first time since she first woke up, Fluttershy screamed out loud.
Gilda then snatches the other wing and gives it a quick twist, Breaking it as well. She then drops the flailing pegasus. Fluttershy immediately falls to the floor, Screaming with tear-filled eyes as she tries to crawl away. Gilda grabs her tail to keep her in place, But that doesn't stop the broken pegasus from trying to get away anyway with Gilda laughing at her desperate attempt.
Gilda then releases her grip, Giving Fluttershy the chance to scurry away as best as she can. All the while, Laughing harder as she bumps into nearly every furniture in the hut. Finally, Blinded by both pain and tears, She bumps into Gilda. She immediately retreats in a blood-curdling shriek of dismay and terror. Gilda grabs her tail again and proceeds to lift her into the air with it. She then smirks and begins tossing Fluttershy around, Slamming her against the floor and some of the furniture. Chairs breaking into splintering chips, Tables folding in and burying Fluttershy in the wreckage, The very floor cracking under Gilda's constant bludgeoning, Fluttershy being used as her blunt instrument.
At last, Gilda simply holds Fluttershy by her tail, Letting her dangle in place. She then simply drops her. Fluttershy lands on her head and slumps onto the floor in a broken, beaten, and bloody heap. Gilda takes a moment to gaze at her handy work, Smiling as she imagines the rest of Rainbow Dash's friends in a similar state, or worse.
"Heh, This was too easy. And I bet the others will be just as pathetic. Rainbow Dash will have to be my friend again once the rest are out of the picture."
She then looks around the ruined mass that was her hut and her furniture.
"Oops, Maybe I should've just drowned the pitiful thing after all. ...Oh well, Something to consider for the next four dweebs."
Suddenly, The crippled mass of yellow, pink, & red begins to cough. Gilda groans aloud and grabs Fluttershy's tail again, Lifting her up to see her face. The next instant, Something strikes Gilda's throat and her breath is cut short. She drops the pegasus to grasp her throat and tries to get her breath back. Fluttershy haphazardly lands on her hooves and staggers a bit while trying to balance herself. Once standing well enough, She turns to the currently suffocating griffon. Gilda's breath returns slightly, Giving her a chance to at least breath as she takes in the current scene. Fluttershy was now looking at Gilda, Her legs just barely holding her up, Her wings hanging at her side and touching the floor, Her face hanging down and dripping blood. Gilda could only assume that the little pony had bucked her throat as she was being lifted up and started towards her in a fit of agitated rage.
"You..."
Gilda halts her approach, Hearing Fluttershy speak.
"You say something, Twerp?"
"You... You're not... going to hurt anypony else."
Gilda blinks at the statement, Raising a side of her brow inquisitively. She could barely believe the pony was standing, Let alone speaking.
"Oh yeah? And who's gonna stop me? You?! Ha! What a laugh. I'll just break those legs of yours and then twist off your head by your mane!"
Gilda grabs Fluttershy's mane and jerks it up to force her to look as she prepares to punch her face, Only to stop in mid-stride. There was something keeping her in place, Something that froze her movement. She didn't know what it was or why she couldn't move. But she knew it had to be the little pony currently staring into her eyes. Suddenly, Looking into Fluttershy's eyes, She realized why she couldn't move. Those eyes, The piercing glare of those pupils, The burning glow of those retinas. Those very eyes that were once crying out of fear and pain, Were now staring into Gilda's very soul, burning a hole straight through her entire being. Suddenly, Gilda let go of Fluttershy's mane and backed away. She didn't know what was taking control of her, It was a foreign emotion that Gilda had never even thought about until now.
"You will never hurt anypony else. Especially my friends!"
Gilda could only continue to back away from the now pursuing pegasus. She now realized what this strange feeling was that consumed her and compelled her to flee for the hills.
Fear. Simple, Incapacitating Fear.
"Just look at what you've done! Do you really think Rainbow Dash will be friends with ANYONE who has done THIS to even one of her best friends? You should be ashamed of yourself!"
Gilda backs herself into a wall, And even then still tries to get away from the debilitating stare of those searing, terrifying eyes
"What do have you to say for yourself?"
Gilda remains silent, now visibly trembling as Fluttershy brings her face directly to Gilda's.
"Well!?"
In an act of desperation, Gilda flails wildly at Fluttershy, Pushing her away to give her the precious space she needs to crawl away.
"Stay away from me, Freak!"
She quickly crawls up to the wreckage of her dining table and grabs a leg, throwing it at Fluttershy to knock her further back. The leg smacks Fluttershy squarely in the face, Dropping to the floor immediately afterward. Fluttershy now looked back at the floor with her eyes closed. Gilda suddenly felt the release of whatever grip her stare had on her and smiled triumphantly.
"Ha! Thought you could scare me with that pathetic bluff? You're done now!"
Gilda then grabs an entire half of the table and charges at Fluttershy with every intention of smashing it against her face.
"You make me lose..."
Gilda paid no mind to what she passed off as yet another bluff and reaches back to give the rambling twerp everything she had with this one swing.
"I BLOW MY FUSE!!!"
Fluttershy stared even harder at Gilda, Freezing her in place yet again as she the turns and bucks at Gilda's stomach. Grounding the towering gryphon who is now holding her stomach. Fluttershy then hops onto her back and grabs a wing with her mouth.
"You break my wing; Here comes the sting!"
Fluttershy then pulls the wing so hard that it not only tears from it's socket, But tears off completely, Taking flesh, fur, and feather alike with it. She then kicks off the screaming bully to pick up a leg of the table. Carrying it in her mouth as she approaches the once again fleeing gryphon.
"You make me whine; I'll break your spine!"
She then jams the leg into Gilda's back and bucks the newly inserted weapon, Breaking the wooden fragment from the wound up and lodging the rest of it into Gilda. She then grunts, annoyed that her initial strategy didn't work as planned. She then stomps on the remaining wooden splinter as she jumps off the flailing, desperate Gilda. Landing in front of her and then kicking and bucking at her face over and over again.
"You bruise my face; You'll know your place!"
She then stops just to move to the side and grab Gilda's other wing. Gilda meekly moans through a broken and bloody beak, Barely seeing Fluttershy's movement through swollen, blackened eyes.
"You hurt my leg; I'll make you beg!"
Gilda then shrieks incoherently, Weakly trying to shake Fluttershy off of her. Seeing that she wasn't going to get Fluttershy off of her, She gives up and swallows her pride.
"preath... shtopf..."
"What's that? I can't hear you."
"preath... I'm shorry."
"Sorry? ...You're sorry?"
"yeph... preath, shtopf."
Fluttershy then bites into the wing harder.
"You apologize; I PENALIZE!!!"
She then pulls the wing out of it's socket, Stopping just short of ripping the skin off as well. She then drops it to the floor and begins stomping on it. Gilda tries frantically to grab Fluttershy to get her to stop, When Fluttershy suddenly bites into Gilda's claw and begins dragging her across the floor. She then jumps over Gilda to bend her arm backwards and snap it. Afterwards, Fluttershy jumpstomps on Gilda's head, Jumping off to land in front of her. It is at this point that Fluttershy actually looks over Gilda's being.
Gilda's body is a bloody mess and has a broken table leg stabbed into her, Her face is bruised and broken beyond recognition, And her only remaining wing is broken beyond repair. Gilda is in worse shape than Fluttershy now. This is further emphasized when Gilda released a wheezly moan of agony. All at once, Fluttershy calmed down and saw the damage she'd done. Gilda's beak was broken to a point where she'd have a hard time breathing properly for months, And that's assuming she lives through the bleeding from her wing and stab wounds. And then there's the recently broken arm and now severely damaged head. Gilda made no other sound than the wheezing. The horrible, nerve-grating, bone-chilling wheezing. And then she coughed, It was a sound similar to a choking dog. Fluttershy took in all of this and came to a single horrible conclusion.
Gilda is dying. Even if she tried now, The damage is too great to handle without assistance. Fluttershy looked over Gilda further and saw something else that she'd missed until now. Gilda was now openly crying. Her broken body topped with her broken pride, Gilda was crying. There was nothing Fluttershy could do to ease the pain. She had nothing on her and Gilda's hut was too much of a wreck as is to find anything of medical value. Gilda's agony filled gasps, Her blood-filled coughs, Her torn and broken wing, Her other wing ripped from the flesh and bone itself, Her back penetrated by a broken table leg, Her twisted arm. Gilda would have to suffer through all of it until her last breath.
Now it was Fluttershy's turn to cry. She had done the single most horrible thing she could do to another being, No matter how brutal her own beating was. She had left Gilda a miserable, barely living husk of a creature suffering of pain that couldn't be properly described. Of all things she would want to do, She'd want to take back all the damage she'd done to Gilda. But she knew that wasn't possible, Neither was easing her pain. There was only one thing she could think of to try and relax the dying griffon in pain.
Fluttershy inched her way to Gilda's side, Laid down next to her, And softly nuzzled the side of Gilda's head that seemed the least damaged.
"I know, Gilda... I know."
She wanted to say more to help Gilda to relax, But even what she was doing now seemed to only set Gilda further on edge. Being this close, She can now tell more clearly how bad it was for Gilda. She was minutes away from dying. Fluttershy could think of nothing else to do, And tried something just to try and relax Gilda during her final moments.
At first, She stuttered out of sheer nerves. But then softly, The words came.
Hush Now~ Quiet Now~
It's time to lay your sleepy head~
Hush Now~ Quiet Now~
It's time to go to bed~
Even through her singing, Fluttershy could hear Gilda's breath becoming less frantic. She could feel Gilda's restless shuffling easing down to a content idling. She even chanced a look to see Gilda's eyes, Though still crying and filled with an inner plea to be spared the cold and cruel embrace of death, were showing signs of a peaceful surrender to Fluttershy's melody.
Drifting off to sleep, Leave the exciting day behind you~
Drifting off to sleep, Let the joy of dreamland find you~
Hush Now~ Quiet Now~
It's time to lay your sleepy head~
Hush Now~ Quiet Now~
It's time to go to bed~
Fluttershy had started to repeat her chorus a third time when Gilda had coughed, blood splashing out of her mouth again, before giving a long, raspy sigh. Fluttershy stopped and held her breath, Waiting for a sign of life, any sign, before doing anything else. It must have been five minutes to the rest of the world. But to Fluttershy, Waiting for Gilda to breath again felt like an eternity. Finally, She accepted that Gilda was gone. She wanted to move, But could only lay there some more, Mourning for the life that she herself had taken. A life that would never be replaced. A life that was once a very close friend of Rainbow Dash's, Who also was a dear friend of Fluttershy's. She felt sick and disgusted with what she'd done. So much so that she threw up onto the floor next to her away from Gilda's corpse, Not wanting to further do harm to her. Fluttershy then passes out next to the broken shell of Gilda, Losing consciousness due to the grueling ordeal she'd withstood.
~~~
A loud bang erupts from outside the hut, Stirring Fluttershy to a half-awakened state. Through hazy eyes, She can make out a familiar cyan silhouette with a rainbow hued mane. She then saw an even more familiar white blur jumping down and hopping towards the near thoughtless pegasus.
"A..An..Angel?"
Fluttershy was able to at least say this much before her vision faded yet again.
The next time she wakes up, She is lying on her back. Her vision slowly focusing around her surroundings. She wasn't in Gilda's hut anymore, And Gilda wasn't anywhere to be seen either. She started to move, Only to have the painful reminder of her broken wings searing through her body. Not to mention the fact that she was also bound to the bed by wrappings covering most of her body. She'd have been startled to the point of panic if she didn't notice the white ball of fluff curled up by her side.
"Angel Bunny?"
The bunny's ears shot up immediately, Followed by Angel's head. Angel then gives Fluttershy a relieved smile and nuzzles against Fluttershy.
"Oh, Angel, I thought I'd never see you again."
Fluttershy wanted to pet the dear bunny, But could only settle for feeling the faithful bunny nuzzle against her side. Angel then sits up and motions for Fluttershy to wait a moment. The bunny then hopping down from the bed and speeding towards the door and giving it a healthy kick.
"Angel! What are you-"
Suddenly, The door opens. And one by one, All of Fluttershy's friends pour into the room. The very sight of each of their faces, It was enough to bring tears to her eyes and a smile on her face. She was finally seeing her friends again. And the rest of the day would be one long reunion of good friends. Friends who would see to the prevention of anything that would threaten not only them and their friendship, But everypony in Equestria.
That night, Fluttershy had Spike take a letter to the princess.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Today, I have learned that every moment is precious. Every moment spent with friends,
Every moment spent with family, Even the moments you spend with your pets and animal friends.
Because one day, They may not be there anymore, or worse, You may not be there anymore.
It is really important that you spend every moment with the ones you love so that no matter what,
Those moments will always be there in their hearts as well as yours.
~Fluttershy
~ Inspired by Boredom
Author's Note: THANK LUNA THAT THIS IS FINALLY FINISHED!!! Geez, I started this stupid thing back in October. >_> I really REALLY hated writing all of that first half. But then I made it to the second half and then I found that everything was breezing by. :D Amazing what holding out for the good part can do to a writer. ...Right then, I'm going on a writing hiatus. I'll probably never write another big story like this again and just stick to the small ones like Peace In The Storm. It's easier that way because I'm too lazy to write a 50 chapter epic or something.
Edit: Forgot my pen name thing. -_-
