The Talon Organization

by Billy G Gruff

Rating: mature
Tags: Human, Applejack, Drama, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Other, Thriller, Gilda
Length: 6794

10 years ago, a troubled teenager with a juvenile record by the name of Gilda came in possession of a Geode, a magic stone that gave her supernatural power. Its corrupting influence over her lead her to become the head of the Talon Organization.

Related to the "Applejack gets into a Barfight" story, and to a looser extent (in terms of her powers) "Never try to kidnap Fluttershy" as well.

10 years ago, a troubled teenager by the name of Gilda found a Geode while spending time in Juvenile detention. The power granted to her by this stone allowed her to become supernaturally strong and agile, and even grow huge wings and talons when pushed hard enough. It was with this power that she escaped captivity. However the Geode had a corrupting influence over her. Her petty crimes soon ramped up in severity until she could barely recognize herself in the mirror anymore. With her cunning and corrupted personality she eventually formed the Talon organization, a formidable criminal syndicate that has begun to earn international clout among the other mobs in the world. It is a sensitive time in her organization, and the deals she is planning on making will either make or break the progress she has made so far.

A blast from Gilda's past may throw a wrench into her schemes. A self proclaimed super heroine has emerged in the city, and her rainbow colored crime fighting has been causing issues for her business. This individual seems to have blue wings and is extremely fast. She has a hunch on who it might be, but she would rather confirm such suspicions... personally.

Contains Rarijack ( Applejack x Rarity) as well as some other pairings.

May or may not add a sex tag depending on how mature I'm planning on this getting, though this will by no means be a clop.

also contains: Super heroes, crime, conspiracies, darker side of the magic we know and love, and more

Published 2017-02-03 00:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-03-07 18:10:05 UTC

The identity of The WonderBolt

The identity of The WonderBolt

The ocean was alive tonight. The storm that was brewing outside of her limo was bordering on hurricane levels. Anything that wasn't held to the ground by bolts or their own mass was dancing about in the wind and rain that was falling nearly sideways. Normally Gilda would never have left her office building during such a torrid storm, but she had business to attend too. Thankfully the Limo was practically sound proof, making the pounding winds incredibly muffled to her ears.

The woman was dressed very formally with an expensive brown raincoat that complimented her white hair that fashionably draped over one of her golden eyes. Her legs were crossed, adorned with two knee high boots that were as reinforced and tough as they looked. She stared off into the distance as she took a drag of her cigar, letting the tendrils of smoke fill her lungs and sooth her spirit as they danced around inside her. As she slowly let the smoke plumb out of her mouth they pulled up to their destination. It was a warehouse her organization owned, and inside was some information she needed to retrieve.

Her men were at the door with an umbrella ready for her to come out. Gilda stepped out of the black vehicle with the regal authority of a lioness, not even looking at her hired hands as she walked towards the guarded warehouse doors. Everything about the way she moved read like an noble predator stalking its prey. Her eyes were sharp as an eagles even in the near blackness of this stormy night. She did not even need to slow down as the guards opened up the doors for her and closed them promptly as her and her cohorts passed through. There was no question among them who was in charge.

Now that she was inside she could hear the muffled sounds of fists meeting flesh and the pleading whimpers of a man who was desperately trying to get out of the situation he found himself in. As they turned the corner she saw one of her burlier goons smacking around an orange haired fat man whom was tied to a chair. It was the only place in the warehouse that was lit up, a cone of light that was made visible by all of the dust in the air in this place. Judging from the amount of blood on the floor and on the torturers white shirt, they had been at this for a long while.

Upon noticing she was there, the man backed away from their obese captive. She could feel her lip curl in derision as she looked over the pathetic sack of flesh. The battered man on the other hand looked like he was trying to smile in a mix of fear and excitement upon seeing her.

'You came. I'm so glad ma'am."

"So...Snips is it? My men here tell me that you want to exchange the identity of The WonderBolt for a pardon."

He nodded shakily, "I'm so very sorry, I didn't know that suitcase was yours. I never would have dreamed of touching it if I had known."

She breathed in more smoke from her cigar, the tip of it glowing a menacing shade of orange as her eyes closed. The hopeful man looked at her in anticipation as she breathed out her answer.

"Out with it fat man, I do not have all night."

"Of....of course, does this mean that..."

"If you finish that question you'll find what my employee here was doing was mere love taps in comparison to what I'm capable of. If you want this to end you best have credible information."

Fear filled his swollen eyes as he nodded profusely from his place in the chair. Gilda could practically hear his already overworked heart pounding through his his chest and against his restraints. His body was reacting like prey which knew that its predator was going to catch it, no matter what it tried. Fight or flight, pure animalistic instinct firing on all cylinders, threatening to override the man's mind and turn him into a gibbering beast.

"I went to high school with her. Its not really a secret to people who went to Canterlot high that her and her friends started getting strange powers. They even saved us a couple times."

Gilda grew a bit more interested in what he was saying. Though she did not outwardly show it, puzzle pieces she had already gathered in her mind were finally coming together as she heard the obese man huff out each syllable.

"Were those friends by any chance those other heroes that were making the rounds a few years back?"

The fat man nodded, swallowing excess saliva down his throat, making his chins bulge like a frog as he continued. "yes, I know them too. We didn't keep in contact after highschool, and we never were really close friends per say, but I do know their names."

Gilda walked over to him into the cone of light from the dangling, flickering lamp from overhead. His quaking body shook more violently the closer she got to him, each patient movement of her powerful body firing off warning signals in his mind. He had not noticed it before, but her irises were golden and reflecting the light streaming from over his head. It added even more to the dangerous, nearly feral aura she had about her, barely contained by the guise of modern civility.

"I'll be honest with you fat man," She whispered in his ear, making his blood run cold with each word she painstakingly pronounced, "I had a hunch who The WonderBolt might be for some time now. However this little conversation has helped me solidify that theory."

"Please...I'm just a barber...I have a family...." His eyes watered with fear. He knew what was coming and he could do nothing to stop it. He didn't want to die like this, but no matter what he tried he couldn't get out of his restraints. Not that he'd dare make his struggles visible under the gaze of this beast like woman.

"Rainbow Dash received her powers about ten years ago correct?"

His bluish skin visibly blanched at this question "How did....?"

Gilda moved her face so she was practically touching noses with the man. Her golden eyes were like an eagles, and they were taking over his entire field of vision as he dared not look away from her.

"i didn't want to think it was her. We were childhood friends you see. Used to go to the same summer camp together every year. She was one of the best friends I ever had you see."

He gulped for the hundredth time since she had been there. His body was so stressed from being in proximity with this monster that he feared he'd have a heart attack. His heart was thumping so fast that it felt like it was threatening to burst, each pump filling his ears like an aggressive drum beat, growing faster and faster the more he noticed it.

"But one thing led to another and I found myself in Juvenile detention instead of summer camp. One time in Juvie, about ten years ago, I discovered something I didn't have before...."

Snips barely had time to react as he was wrenched off the ground. Metal groaned and concrete cracked as they were ripped from the warehouse floor and lifted up casually by Gilda's arm. She didn't even look like she strained as she pulled off the feat of strength. No muscle in her body tensed as it happened, her expression hadn't even changed as he was now held uncomfortably over her head at an angle. His four hundred pound body wasn't causing her arm to shake or her grip to loosen. Her body might has well have been made of steel with how statuesque she was holding him in place, holding his gaze as she said her next sentence.

"Its interesting how life works like that."

Snips squealed as his body was flung across the room. The wall rushed towards him, and he tried in vain to put his arms out to brace for impact, though they would not budge from his restraints. His death had come swiftly, splattering wetly against the wall as his bones crunched at impact. The chair shattered and chains clanged as they struck as well, some of the links of metal penetrating the concrete and remaining in place as the meat, fat and blood slid down the wall. His body was barely recognizable as it plopped to the ground with a wet thud, blood and bodily fluids pervading the floor and mingling with the near black fluid dripping down the wall from the impact.

"Clean that up. I have an old friend I need to catch up with."

She hadn't even looked mad when she had thrown the man to his death. Her expression hadn't changed in the slightest. The action for her had been as simple as breathing. She didn't even take enjoyment in anymore, it was just instinct at this point, cold uncaring instinct.

"Do you want us to put a hit out on this Rainbow Dash?"

She sucked in more smoke from her cigar before replying. "Not yet. I do however want intel on these other friends of hers. If they are those heroes I want to make sure they do not get any funny ideas. This week is far too important to have some vigilantes poking their heads in where they do not belong. As for Dash, I'll see about handling her...personally."

WonderBolt, the hero of Justice

WonderBolt, the hero of Justice

Nothing was more freeing than being in the sky. Even after ten years of being able to do it there was nothing else that could give Rainbow the rush that speeding through the sky did. The wings on her back pumped with magical force that was far stronger than the size of them would suggest, and her freshly grown pair of pony ears enhanced her sense of hearing several times over. She had her ears trained on the sounds of the police talking on their intercoms about the criminals they were perusing. The vehicle they were perusing was going ridiculously fast, to the point where they were barely keeping the several ton metal beast in check as they recklessly weaved through traffic.

If Applejack were still a hero, she would have sped up towards their vehicle in her low riding motorcycle, soundly stopping their momentum with a single downward punch from her powerful fist. Rarity would have been able to just trap the vehicle in her Hologems, probably stopping them with minimal damage to the car with how good she was with those things. Flutters could just send a swarm of insects in there and sting and bite them into submission, and even twilight could have lifted the whole thing up into the air with her telekinesis. And Pinkie...

She shook her head back into the moment and peered through her goggles toward the car. A news chopper had pulled up beside her to catch a shot of their local hero in full costume flying to the rescue. Dash snapped back into the moment and took on an exaggerated salute that The Wonderbolt was known for. The forums that talked about her antics had called her persona cheesy and lame, but she got the job done.

That action had got her into the mood of a super hero once again. She looked down at the car chase with adrenaline pumping through her veins, pushing her forward with a near giddy excitement as she reached for her power.

She loved the feeling of time dilation. It felt like a warm cup of cocoa on a cold winter day and a chilled glass of lemonade on a hot summers day at the same time. That satisfying feeling filled her body as her perception of reality slowed to a crawl. Sounds grew longer and deeper in pitch, details began to seemingly freeze in time and grow more pronounced, and her alertness of the world around her seemed to grow a thousand fold. In this state, she was the only one in her perception that was moving normally, though to the rest of the world it seemed like she was now a rainbow colored blur in the sky streaking through the air at beyond super sonic speeds.

It was a power development that had happened five years ago. It had changed her from crashing into everything with how fast she was going to be able to have perfect maneuverability while outpacing nearly everything that moved on the planet. It was Twilight who had told her that this power was a type of "time dilation" , and she had helped Dash through the new growing pains such an ability brought.

Dash, The Wonderbolt was now ready to deal with the car chase swiftly and decisively. The vehicle was now nearly standing still in her eyes, making aiming her attack all the easier. She crossed her arms across her near flat chest and performed a front flip in the air before sticking her armored legs straight out and locked together. As her body came down on top of the hood, it bent and crumpled like she weighed thousands of tons. In a sense she did, as the relative kinetic energy she was putting out was more than enough to flatten a car. The force her slow decent had cause had ripped the engine right out of its foundations and punched it slowly through the concrete of the street. Large chunks of rubber from the front tires was already slowly ripping from the vehicle as the warping metal shredded into them. The two goons were not wearing seat belts. She watched them with a smirk as they slowly crashed through the windshield, enjoying the warped expressions of surprise on their faces that one could only see with an extreme slow motion camera without her powers.

She had to be careful touching them. If she tried to hit them or even pat them lightly, they would feel it as if it was smacking them at near mach speeds. She had to treat them like they were made of the most fragile things in existence while she was in this temporary state. it had taken her months to learn her own strength like this, and it was not without their accidents.

Ever so lightly, rainbow placed her palms on their chests, following their momentum and slowly bringing it to a stop to make sure she didn't break too many bones in the process. When she had come out of the state she was holding two unconscious men in her arms and watching the speeding police cars screech to a halt at the sudden intervention that had just transpired. To the rest of the world her little stunt had been so fast that it almost seemed like she had teleported into the car instead of flew into it.

"I believe these belong to you officers" She said in her cheesy heroic voice, beaming from ear to ear at a job well done in her book.

"Thanks WonderBolt, we'll take them from here."

Rainbows face lit up when she heard that familiar lightly raspy voice of the purple haired police officer. Dash had to fight every instinct in her body to stop herself from rushing the adorable squirt whom wore her police uniform so well. Scoots had grown up so fast over the years, turning from her adoring fan into the model of law enforcement that she embodied as she quietly talked into her radio. She had developed quite the sporty physique in the academy, and she was known to turn a number of heads from both sides of the fence now a days. Too Dash however, she might as well have still have been a kid playing dress up.

While dash was near squeeing from seeing her young protegee in a police uniform, the young cop was looking far from amused. Exasperated would have been a far better word to describe the kind of mood she was in as she walked forward, listening to the ranting and raving of her police chief in her ear about the super heroes meddling in their chase.

Officer Scootaloo breathed in and out slowly, trying to quell her irritation at the amount of paperwork Dash had just made.

"Look, Rai-er- Wonderbolt, my boss is kinda getting irritated with all of your vigilante stuff, you know you don't have any problems with me," her tone suggested otherwise, but she tried to keep those opinions to herself, "... but you might want to get out of here before the others move in."

"Whaaaat?"

Scootaloo's irritation increased tenfold as the hero persona Dash put on shattered and was replace with a whining "Whaaaat?"

The younger woman pinched the bridge of her nose in fustration and embarrassment as her idol complained loudly, immaturity lacing every one of her syllables.

"come on, I thought we just got over this whole 'demonize the vigilante' thing, I got a key to the city for goodness sakes! FROM THE MAYOR!"

"HALT! I demand some answers as to why you are interfering with police activity!" The rotund police chief made his way out of his vehicle, jabbing his finger towards The Wonderbolt as he nearly waddled over. Dash groaned and rolled her eyes behind her goggles before going into the dilated state again, flying off before the man could even take another step. From the pedestrian perspective the only thing left of her was a fast disappearing rainbow trail. Officer Scootaloo's embarrassment and frustration lingered far longer than the rainbow streak had.

//////////////*Later that day*///////////////////

Applejack's face was bordering on the lines of irritation and concentration as Rainbow complained on about her day. The farm woman was having such a nice time with Rarity before their seemingly permanent house guest had arrived back from her patrol. Apparently she was upset about the police force being on her neck again for being a super hero for the millionth time and Applejack just could not be bothered with paying any more attention than that.

No, Applejack was focused on the task at hand, which was figuring out what was going on with her truck. Her arm held up the front of the vehicle casually at an angle, thousands of pounds of rusted metal doing nothing to make her arm shake with strain. She barely felt the weight of the vehicle, but she made sure to be mindful of it regardless as her Rarity was kneeling underneath it. Aj's eyes were freely looking over the woman dressed in a lightly baggy pair of overalls and a tight undershirt that just looked too good on the fashionista. The blotches of oil on her clothing and on her cheeks as she looked studiously at the under carriage made Applejacks heart thump and face flush in a way that even her girls most stylish outfits didn't. Even the tasteful little ponytail she had donned for their mechanic work was enough to get her mind into fuzzy and warm fantasies, so much show that the farm girl nearly jumped at Dash yelling at her.

"APPLEJACK! ARE YOU LISTENING?"

"Whu huh?" Applejack snapped to reality and adjusted her hold on her truck as she looked at the pouty rainbow haired woman in front of her.
For the second time today Dash saw someone pinch the bridge of their nose before talking to her.

"Sugarcube I'm sorry, but y'all already know how ah feel about this super hero nonsense y'all keep wanting to do. It was fun when we were teenagers and maybe when we were in college but its time to move on gurl."

Rainbow ran her fingers through her hair in frustration before gesturing to the display of strength that Applejack was doing. It was like she was watching Applejack refusing to say two plus two equaled four.

"COME ON AJ, look at what you are doing and TELL me you were only meant to do farm work."

"What do y'all mean by 'only'? Ah'll have you know..."

"Applejack darling, this frame is entirely too rusty, its no wonder you are having trouble driving it. There are a few places where it looks like its going to simply split in two..."

Applejack snapped her attention back to the smooth voice of Rarity and knelt in a bit to where she was, still holding up the truck without so much as a tremble in her arm even in this new position. Their shoulders brushed together as she looked to the areas her girl pointed to elegantly with her wrench. Sure enough her assessment of the wear and tear on the old girl was distressingly accurate.

"Ahh geeze.... That's gonna take some doin ta fix..."

"Well at least we are starting to see some of the issue down there..." Rarity gave her a playful nudge with her shoulder saying this. Their eyes locked, and Aj couldn't help but bite her lip at the twinkle in Rarity's eyes. It just made Rainbows presence all the more intrusive.

Dash meanwhile was watching the hearts practically flying between the two of them as they ignored her, and it made her tap her foot in frustration, as well as a slowly growing pang of loneliness that hit her for the second time today.

"Ugh! Fine, I guess you don't care about my problems..."

"Rainbow Dash" Rarity chided sharply as she got up and waved a wrench in her direction. Even dressed as she was she held an air of a fashionista about to have her latest line of clothing walk a runway. "You know we love you dearly, but we've heard this song and dance before. It would be wise for you to start thinking about more... reasonable lines of employment. You know..."

"One that actually PAYS," AJ added through gritted teeth.

"Yes, that. Why not join the police force instead of running away from them? You'd still be fighting crime that way. Scootaloo absolutely adores it."

"I can't use my powers on the force Rarity." Rainbow Dash groaned out, "They practically want to lock me up for helping them out for crying out loud."

"And one of these days they are going to figure out how to do it, and when they do that'll cause problems for us too. That's a best case scenario. Worst case..." Applejack slowly brought her vehicle down to the ground as Rarity maneuvered out from under it as she continued talking, "Worst case is that some thug out there gets a lucky pot shot on you and we lose our best friend. You know how much Rarity would cry if you got killed on us?"

"Oh PuLEASE Applejack, you'd be blubbering way worse than I would be."

"Ah would be crying on the inside thank you very much." Applejack held her head up high upon saying this, only for Rarity to wave her hand flamboyantly and do her signature series of dismissive sounds. Aj had to fight back a smile at that as she tried to look solemn.

"If you guys had my back like the old days you wouldn't have to worry about things like that." Dash had the tone of a petulant child as she said this " I know for a fact that Rarity's hologems or whatever can stop a bullet, and Fluttershy and Sunset were so good at gathering intel we were able to stop crimes before they even happened! We were such a good team."

"Fluttershy left the country years ago Dash, and Sunset Shimmer is an Attorney now. Poor Twilight is still in no shape for any of that after... what happened."

Silence fell between them all as memories of that day began to flood their minds. Each of them reacted to the memories differently. Applejack's face grew just a little more stony. Rarity on the other hand looked just a hint more vulnerable than before, rubbing her shoulder reflexively as she got closer to AJ. Dash on the other hand was staring at the ground, her bangs covering her eyes as she tried to keep the emotions from flooding out.

"Pinkie didn't mean any of it." Dash's voice sounded broken and hollow. It sounded more like she needed reassurance than anything else. Applejack and Rarity moved in swiftly, hugging their friend with as much gentleness as they had for each other. They didn't dare speak what had happened. The memories of it was still far to raw years after the fact .

It was five years ago. Pinkie Pie had had an accident with her powers. She was a party clown for childrens parties. She was quite popular, known for going above and beyond for really reasonable rates. Parties she worked were the life of the town, even when they were just for little kids, like her last one had been. They couldn't be more than grade schoolers with doting yet lightly annoyed parents. Pinkie had had more than enough energy for all of them, setting up decorations and even baking their cake with all the flair she was known to have. She had been so excited that day that she hadn't realized she was charging the party supplies with her magic.

Kinetic explosives

It had happened so fast, and once it had begun she could not stop it because of the shock she was in. The first thing to explode was the birthday cake. The soft and happy boy that blew out the candle had disturbed the charged cake just enough to set off the magic. Batter went everywhere. The explosion had rended his tiny arms too shreds, flecks of meat and bone flying through the air as now acidic cake batter clung to the pieces of him that didn't fly off in the blast. His mother desperately tried to get to him from the thick pink smoke that eerily glistened with sparkles, trying in vain to get the corrosive material off of her already dead son's face, screaming louder and louder with each attempt.

Kids and parents lost their legs as the confetti that had settled on the ground ripped into them like land mines. Within seconds the brightly colored had turned into pink fog of hell and screaming, and then all at once in had grown silent. The only one who had been left alive was a kneeling Pinkie Pie who could only stare at the carnage before her in stunned silence. She had not moved from that position until the police had long since arrived onto the scene in response to the loud explosion and noise complaints. She was entirely unresponsive, not speaking a word to anyone or even acknowledged their existence as her dilated eyes stared forward in a state of shock. The only reason anyone had known what had happened in such detail is because Sunset had read her mind, and she had to recover from what she had seen as well.

Pinkie's mind couldn't take what she had seen. No matter how loudly the police had questioned her from her monitored bed in the hospital, they could not get her to react. They had police stationed where she was and she was cuffed, but it was looking like Pinkie was going to be trapped in that shocked state for the rest of her life.

If it had ended there, that would have been enough of a tragedy, but unfortunately fate had decided that it wasn't done. Though her friends had taken away the geode from Pinkie in secret, she was so attuned to it that she still had access to its powers miles away from where it was. For all they know, the geodes power eventually just becomes part of them after awhile. It was in that hospital in the dead of night, cuffed to the bed and staring unblinkingly at the ceiling that she started to laugh. It was small at first, a weak chuckle that slowly grew to a louder laugh, till it was a strained staccato that threatened to suffocate her from the lack of oxygen she was getting.

Police and Nurses alike rushed in to subdue her as she thrashed around, her maniacal laughter causing the more religious people on the floor to make symbols and prayers warding against the evil they felt emanating from that room. That fear was validated as an explosion issued out from her room, and blood and body parts splattered from out of her open door, followed by eerily sparkly pink smoke. There had been a moment of hushed silence until Pinkie had staggered out of the room, blood drenching her nightgown and face as she grinned at her prey. Everyone that was in her line of sight was methodically killed in blasts of pink smoke, and those that were hiding were caught in the blast radius and the flying debris. By the time their super hero team had responded the Hospital had turned into a war-zone. Helicopters and police vehicles were burning along with the hospital as Pinkie walked unsteadily through the pink mist that covered the area. She had been labeled a super villain by the media that had lived long enough to report from the scene.

It had taken everything they could to beat her, and by the time they had, they had lost Pinkie's body in the rubble of the hospital that had imploded from the altercation. Thousands of people died that day in one of the most tragic events the country had ever seen, and it had involved one of their best friends who had just snapped.

The fight had broken the will of many of them. Fluttershy left the country without saying a word, and they could not even begin to guess where she had went too. Twilight, who had still feared her alter ego Midnight too that day had smashed her geode in a fit of panic and attempted suicide. She had only been stopped because Rainbow had found her. The broken girl, who was so smart and had such a promising future begged Dash to let her go, to let her die so she didn't kill anyone like Pinkie did. Twilight was still heavily monitored to this day in a psychiatric facility. The others each hung up the playful super hero costumes they had made for themselves and sworn off ever doing it again and moved on with their lives in different careers. The WonderBolt; Rainbow Dash was the only active super hero out of the whole group, and it had remained that way ever since.

The Job search

The Job search

Dash had regained her composure by the next morning, but their emotional moment had not removed the elephant in the room. The rainbow haired woman could feel more and more that she was imposing on the hospitality of her friends the more she went without a job. She had tried to hold employment in the past, but between the boredom she had felt behind various counters and in backrooms as well as the numerous absences she had fighting crime did not give her the most glowing resume on the planet. She really could not even use her speed as an advantage for a job position. Every time she used it, no matter how minor, it produced an iconic rainbow streak in the wake of her movements. Her hair alone was pushing it when it came to her identity, but using her power out of costume would just make her secret identity that much harder to keep. Honestly she felt it was the worst kept secret ever, but there was just enough of a barrier between her and her alter ego that the cops hadn't come banging on her door with questions.

With this in mind she had set out early in the morning for another round of job hunting, her suit hidden underneath her clothes just in case something happened.

"Alright, I'll see what I can get today!" Dash called out to Applejack who was already working out in the fields. The farm girl lifted a large bale of hay she had just wrapped up and casually tossed it into the growing stack before waving her off.

"Aren't all the applications online now a days?"

Dash scratched behind her head and flushed slightly at that. "I uh.... i've been running into a lot of dead ends on that front." She called out.

"Get a better resume and that won't happen gurl, now git, happy job hunting!"

////later that day///

Her spirit was soundly broken. So many places in town pretended they didn't have physical applications with her. Still others that had once employed her ranged from consoling to flat out irritation as they turned her down. Her reputation as an unreliable employee had preceded her pretty much everywhere she had went, and it did no favors for her job prospects. She could use her speed to get to a new city relatively fast, but the commute between the two cities and her civilian persona being present on both ends on an above ground job would raise far to many suspicions. The cops were on her enough as The Wonderbolt without blowing her cover.

She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed someone walk up beside her and say her name. It had taken several tries from the stranger to even get the rainbow haired woman's attention. Dash looked up at an amazonian looking woman in a stylish fur coat and tastefully spiked white hair. She reminded Dash of a mix between a bird and a cat in a way with the way she walked along side her in her expensive looking garb.

The realization of who the warmly smiling woman was didn't hit her until several long seconds of dumbly staring at her handsome looking face. Handsome was the word too use with her. She was attractive, and clearly female, but her masculine appearance lent itself to that descriptor more than beautiful did. She did not wear much makeup either, though it did not take away from how dark and full her eye lashes were. Dash could see in her minds eye a version of this woman that was much smaller and cuter, with big sparkling eyes begging for someone , anyone to be her friend.

"Gilda? Gilda!" Dash held nothing back as she hopped to hug the taller woman. She didn't even come up to Gilda's shoulders and from what her arms was feeling the woman was built like a tank underneath her velvety coat. The white haired woman returned the hug with an affectionate pat on her back. Dash couldn't help but blush a little at how solid and strong Gilda seemed, and how her head seemed to fit perfectly into the crook of her neck. She smelled of Cigar smoke, and from how pleasant it felt to her nose it must have been a notably expensive brand.

It had felt like yesterday when it was Gilda that was the scrawny runt of the two of them.

" Come on! Lets be camp buddies!"

"R...really?" Gilda had asked so shyly, giggling a little as the proud Dash ruffled her hair.

"Sure! Lets be buds forever!"

Gilda held her out and looked dash over. Rainbow became distressingly aware of the red tie, her white button up shirt was tucked in to her khaki pants that she hated so much, and the most uncomfortable pair of leather dress shoes she was wearing, along with the manila folder in her hand.

She squeaked a little and flushed an even deeper shade of red as the statuesque woman plucked the envelope out of her feeble grasp and opened it up.

"Job hunting eh? How is that going?"

Dash nervously rubbed the back of her head and laughed "Not so great. I think the whole town got me blacklisted."

Gilda laughed at that, but it didn't carry the tone of being condescending or mean. It was a sympathetic laugh of someone who had definitely been in her shoes before. Gilda tucked Dash's envelope under her arm and gestured her to follow.

"Come on, I'll get ya some coffee and we can work on some of those woes of yours."

Part of Dash wanted to protest and get back to her fruitless search, but the rest of her was all to happy to follow her old friend's lead. She prayed that her thumping heart wasn't too loud as she walked next to the taller woman.

//////In The Coffee Shop//////

"So why are these nice places refusing to hire a cutie like you anyway?" Gilda asked as she handed Dash her order and sat down in the booth beside her. They could have sat opposite of eachother, but instead the tall woman had penned the rainbow haired woman into the window seat, which would require Dash to ask her to move if she wanted to get out. Somehow she had a feeling Gilda knew she wasn't going to ask that without a LOT of effort on Dash's part. Dash was known to be a bit thick when it came to noticing things, but the way her body was reacting to Gilda's presence left very little to misinterpretation.

"Well uh... My attendence wasn't so hot, I had...other matters to attend to that got in the way of work, if you get what I mean."

Gilda nodded lightly and looked down playfully at the smaller woman as she took a long sip of her coffee. Her gaze was enough to sent an electric shock through Dash as she shifted nervously in her seat. She felt like she was a rabbit being eyed by a hawk that was circling from overhead and there wasn't a hole to dive into.

Dash had never, NEVER had romantic feelings for anyone while she was in school, and even in the years following it. People were starting to suspect that she just didn't have a sex drive, that all that energy was dedicated instead to sports and competition, or into the thrill of hero work. Now here she was, inexperienced as a child being eyed down by her old friend that had the distinct feeling that she was far more mature in this department.

"I could help with your problem." Gilda said, placing her coffee down and leaning casually back in the booth. Dash's eyes lit up at this, almost forgetting the cocktail of new emotions she was going through as she looked up at Gilda.

"Really? You know someone who's hiring?"

"I am." Gilda said with a calmness rumble in her voice that came from smoking for years. She lit up a cigar as she looked over the resume Dash had and took a few puffs.

"Um...Ma'am, this is a no smoking section..." a waitress said as she looked nervously at Gilda. The white haired woman swiftly pulled out a a several crisp hundreds, and Dash's eyes balked at the sight of her casually handing it to the nervous waitress.

"It is for right now if you don't mind. that'll cover the meals of anyone inconvenienced by my little habit. You can keep the change afterward."

The woman looked at the smooth bills and nodded enthusiastically. "O-Of course ma'am, as you wish. Th...thank you very much."

Dash's mouth was opening and closing in surprise as she took another look at Gilda. She had vaguely noted it before, but she was wearing very expensive clothing. She had seen these kinds of material among Rarity's collection as she designed her latest lines. She couldn't even begin to name off any of the types of cloth they were, but she knew it was the kind that Rarity payed special care to not waste.

Smoke billowed out in graceful tendrils from Gilda's pursed mouth, making mesmerizing patterns over her their table before dissipating, leaving the pleasant smell of the cigar in its wake.

"I own a number of businesses, I'm sure I could work something out for you. Depending on how willing and able you are to work I can even snag you some positions with good money attached. You interested?"

Dash nodded happily at this, beaming from ear to ear at the prospect of finally snagging a job.

Gilda had a nearly private smirk as she looked at the looked at her old friend. Perhaps handling this little problem would be easier than she thought... still, she had to be prepared for the worst case scenario.

She could afford no hesitation when it came to how this week needed to go, even for someone like Dash.