Author's Note

Okay, first off, sorry for the shout-out you'll encounter in this chapter, trying to tone them down. And secondly, huge thanks to PonyJosiah13 and Magic Step for helping me work out some of this chapter and future story plot points. Give them a huge pat on the back for me eh?

4: Gilda

Perhaps needless to say, Sól wasn’t exactly pleased per se about her lover having decided to turn to slaughtering innocents.

Becoming a blazing inferno looking like a demon straight out of Múspellsheimr, she screeched and roared right to the heavens, firing a pure blast of solar energy that punched a hole right through the clouds. Her twin steeds, Árvakr and Alsviðr whinnied and stamped their hooves in fear of the wrathful goddess as she roared out: “I WANT HIS HEAD, HE DARES? HE DARES BREAK THE ANCIENT LAWS AND TURN HIS JAWS TOWARDS THE INNOCENT?” Sól bellowed out, the ice and snow beneath her melting away in her tremendous fury. “I DON’T CARE IF YOU HAVE TO BRING IT TO ME ON A PIKE! I WANT MY HUSBAND DEAD, DEAD YOU UNDERSTAND? MAY HE BURN IN THE FIRES OF HELA’S INFERNOS FOREVER MORE!”

Turning their heads and averting their eyes to avoid being blinded from the waves of searing heat and the celestial glow the angry solar entity was giving off, both Gilda and Twilight nodded rapidly in fear.

“Yes… Yes, we’ll bring him to you! Relax, you’ll have your husband returned to you in no time, but we’ll bring him back to you alive if only so you can get the honor of dealing with him yourself.” Twilight stated, choosing her words deliberately, and carefully. “After all, is it not best an angry wife deals with her impetuous lover herself?”

“Quite true, Twilight Sparkle,” Sól stated venomously, her tone making Twilight shudder out in fear. Noticing the young lindworm’s terror, Sól calmed herself. “I… I apologize for all that, young dragoness. It is hard for me to contain my fury sometimes. Solar goddess and all,” she joked weakly. Twilight looked less than amused. “Right. Sorry… Anyways, I shall consort with Thor and try to quell his fury against you and the blasphemy you committed against Allfather Odin. Yes, I do know about that,” Sól continued making Twilight let out a very undragonlike small squeak. “Storm Gods, so quick to fly into a fury…”

“Like you just did a few minutes ago, nearly broiling us to a crisp?” Gilda thought, wisely not voicing these thoughts aloud upon seeing how quickly the sun could turn against you.

“Rest assured,” Sól stated, "I will find a way to clear away this storm system and give you a much safer flight through this island chain. Be careful, however, as even if I were to calm Thor that doesn’t mean the skies will be entirely safe. My husband’s sister, she still lurks in the shadows and night is her realm.” she warned before flying back up into the heavens and however she managed to do it, a few minutes later the storm finally subsided, and thundering clouds gave way to clear skies perfect for night flying.

Stars dotted the night sky like little white dots upon a dark blue canvas of a painting, and the ribbons of the Northern Lights were soon visible, making a perfect cover for flying through the night. For the next few hours, the twosome pressed on through the island chain the moon and stars as their guide till it finally came time to rest.

Eventually, Gilda and Twilight found the perfect rest stop for the night, this old abandoned village built on the side of a rocky cliff face, largely exposed to the elements. It was no small wonder that it had been abandoned in the long run, and had now fallen mostly to ruin since with ladders and even walkways between and leading between or up to homes now having fallen into disrepair. Gilda spotted a house that was perfect for their needs, and probably could shield them from the cold night winds for the most part.

Gesturing to it, Gilda nodded at Twilight and the two flew over to the entrance and tucked in their wings as they landed inside.

“And hey, if it still isn’t warm enough, we can snuggle up together,” Gilda teased, with Twilight blushing and balking at her suggestion. “Who says I’m kidding? That warm hearth of a fire burning inside your belly would be perfect for a good snuggle.”

Looking up towards the blue and green ribbons of the sky that painted a beautiful portrait in the late night air, Gilda smiled at the sight of the famed Aurora Borealis. It was something she never had gotten the chance to see back home, but she’d always wanted to.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” Twilight whispered in awe. “You always hear tales about it, but seeing it for yourself…”

“Yeah, I know right?” Gilda whispered in transfixation reminded possibly not for the first time that the world was much larger, and more beautiful if not sometimes far scarier than she could possibly have imagined. In some ways, it made her feel very small, considering she was just one lone griffon -Well, now one lone griffon and a dragon companion- up against a world and it’s ever-changing mysterious forces.

“Words never can do it justice…” Twilight whispered back, her eyes glistening with tears of wonder.

“You know, heard tales from the Iñupiat, back when I was over in their lands for a time -long story really- that they believed that the Aurora, it was in fact made up of the spirits of small children who died really early on in life and that if you flew too close to it, they’d cut off your head and use it for games of Iñupiat football,”

“...Okay, thanks for that. Thanks for ruining it for me.” Twilight deadpanned with half-lidded eyes. “...Yep, definitely going to have nightmares tonight,” she muttered.

“Sorry Twi,” Gilda apologized, looking sheepish. “I just like to, when I travel the world and meet someone like you, share the tales I’ve collected. It gets rather lonely talking to yourself, ya know?”

“Well,” Twilight smiled as she draped a wing around Gilda, the griffon’s eyes widening in surprise. “You’re not alone now are you?”

“No… I guess I’m not,” Gilda smiled and to the sounds of the gentle waves lapping up against the shorelines far below her she began to drift off to sleep. “I guess I’m not…”

Gilda found herself amongst the desert sands of Egypt, walking through a blinding sandstorm colored the shade of crimson, a stone path beneath her slowly being eaten away and eroded by the grinding sands. Flaming torches were on either side of her, illuminating her path through the howling desert seemingly untouched by the winds. Evil laughter permeated through the air, a high pitched cackle that sounded like the rattling bones of death itself. Lightning flashed through the skies in bright white streaks.

Gilda knew who was responsible, it could be none other really. There weren’t many mythological figures in any sort of pantheon who had control over the powers of the sand and the storms.

“Seth…” she whispered to herself in fear, her feathers on the back of her neck standing right up as she felt… something breath behind her. More high pitched cackles and at that Gilda unsheathed her claws ready for battle, even if she knew challenging this particular god was folly. She would not go down without a fight.

“Bring it on Seth!” Gilda challenged, seemingly without a hint of fear in her tone though her quivering body betrayed her.

“Oh, you’re a brave one aren’t you?” the Chaos God said from somewhere behind her, and Gilda whirled around to strike but met nothing but empty air. The torches began to blaze with an infernal nightmarishly crimson flame. “Challenging me in my realm, and on my battlefield! You have no power here, little Falcon!”

Gilda blinked out in shock, her eyes changing color briefly. One gold, the other silver like the moon itself.

“You haven’t told her yet have you?” Seth laughed, his massive dog-like form becoming briefly visible through the raging storm clouds which were rapidly swirling above her in a funnel-like manner. “Your little secret?”

“What little secret?” Gilda asked, genuinely confused as to what Seth was talking about. By Múspellsheimr, she didn’t even know why she was here to begin with!

“Oh, so you don’t know?” Seth gasped, holding a hand over his jaw in shock. “My my, you’ll be in for quite a shock when it comes around!”

Suddenly, a blast of pure hot flame, blue in shade hit Seth right in the chest making him let out a nearly ear-splitting roar of pain.

“WHO DARES?” Seth snarled out, his jaws snapped and biting at the air, and Gilda looked upwards to see this pure white dragoness scything through the sandstorm, a sun on her hindquarters blazing bright with heavenly flame. Her back spines, they glowed with this ethereal yellow light, same with her twin horns.

“Begone Chaos-Bringer!” the white dragoness roared out, accompanied by the trumpeting of battle horns as armor covered her head, legs, and torso. Her tusks extended themselves and began to glow with this same ethereal yellow light before her neck glowed blue and she fired off another stream of hot scalding blue flames like a furnace.

“You… You dare show yourself here, mortal serpent?” Seth roared out, swiping out at the dragoness with one of his two symbols of his power, the was-sceptre. Nimbly dodging this strike, the dragoness fired off another blast of her inferno flame as Gilda was beginning to call it. “Stand still!”

“What, and let you hit me?” the dragon teased. No, she was outright daring -yes, you read right, daring!- Seth to try and hit her again even as she blasted him once more with a scalding blue flame.

“DAMN YOU!” Seth roared out, before vanishing and taking the storm with him leaving nothing but the clear blue skies above Gilda, a sharp contrast to where she was before.

Flapping her wings once more, the pure white dragoness landed on the sand dunes next to Gilda, some of the heat radiating off her making the sand below her steam and broil till she turned off her flames, for lack of a better phrase.

“Listen, I can only talk to you for a few minutes, give or take. I’ve already used up some of my time in this world fighting off that creature,” the dragoness stated her battle armor vanishing. “Whether that was really Seth or not doesn’t matter, it expended some of the energy my sister gave me to even come into this realm.”

“Who… who are you?” Gilda stammered out nervously.

At this, the dragoness smiled warmly. A warm motherly smile, one that promised home-baked chocolate chip cookies and all that and promised that at the end of the day everything was going to be alright.

“It’s Celestia,” the dragoness answered. “Were you scared of me, and of Seth?”

“Y-Yes,” Gilda whispered quite ashamed of herself. “Seeing all of that power on full display, it terrified me…”

“To me? Fear? It’s like a superpower,” Celestia commented nuzzling Gilda comfortingly. “Fear makes you strong. A wise man once told me this, a very wise man indeed and I listened. He said: Let me tell you about scared. Your heart is beating so hard. There's so much blood and oxygen pumping through your brain, it's like rocket fuel! Right now, you could run faster and you could fight harder. You can jump higher than ever in your life. And you are so alert, it's like you can slow down time. What's wrong with scared? Scared is a superpower! It's your superpower! There is danger in this room, and guess what? It's you. Do you feel it?” Celestia recited, repeated and placed her claw on Gilda’s chest. “What about Seth? Do you think he was scared?”

“No… No, not at all.” Gilda whispered, feeling just that little bit wiser.

“Loser!” Celestia mocked. “Let me tell you this, never be afraid… to be afraid. Let that fear in, don’t let it control you, but let it in. Now, be mindful of my daughter, okay Gilda?”

“Y-Your daughter?” Gilda stammered out in confusion not even questioning how this Celestia knew her name. Her eyes widened in shock. “You don’t mean…?”

“Yes, I do,” Celestia confirmed with a nod. “Be mindful of her. She’s in over her head now, and she needs a guide. Yes, she’s intelligent, but she’s rash and overconfident in her abilities at times, not to mention she doesn’t remember herself completely. She needs someone to steady her, keep her balanced. Can you do that for me Gilda?” Celestia asked, even as she began to fade away. “It’s no small responsibility, let me warn you now. So answer carefully.”

Gilda didn’t even need a second to think about her answer. She dragged Twilight along with her on this mess, chasing after the son of Fenrir and now she had to help her. “Yes, I can do it.”

“Thank you…” Celestia whispered as the whole realm turned to black…

When Gilda awoke, she found herself turning her head to avoid Sól’s morning sun shining directly in her face. Twilight was already awake, soaking up the morning sun in her scales and letting it warm her body. Given who Gilda now knew her mother was, this made a lot of sense to her. It seemed each Dragon had an element, and Celestia’s line was connected to the celestial bodies aptly enough. Her element was the sun, and although Twilight’s seemed to be the stars if the mark on her hindquarters was any indication there was a bit of Celestia’s solar power in her as well. To be honest, if not for the lavender scales and purple spines Twilight would have been her mother’s spitting image.

Gilda fought back a sniffle. She knew Twilight didn’t remember everything, Celestia had told her as much. Imagine, not remembering your own mother! Gilda, for a brief moment, wondered if Celestia had tried to contact Twilight and if she had succeeded. However, given how much of a strain it seemed to be for Celestia to be able to contact her she doubted the dragoness had succeeded with Twilight.

She may never know really, and for all she knew Twilight didn’t even know who Celestia even was. Gilda now understood exactly why Celestia had tasked her with protecting her daughter. Twilight didn’t remember all of her abilities, whatever they may have been, so she didn’t know just how powerful she could be or how to even use these abilities. For the upcoming fight with Sköll, this was hardly reassuring.

But Gilda swore, no she promised Celestia she would protect her daughter at any and all costs.

“Ready to go?” the griffon hen asked as she walked up alongside Twilight unfurling her wings.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Twilight replied with a small, worried smile before it faded. “We’ve got a god to smite.”

Unleashing a challenging roar towards the heavens, almost as if to say “Sköll, we’re coming for you, so watch your back!” the dragoness then took flight with a mighty flap of her leather wings with Gilda soon to follow her...