"I can't believe I'm doing this."
"It- It's not that bad, is it?"
Receiving only a low grumble in response, Fluttershy ducked back under the protective cover of her mane, just as eager to escape the confrontation. Why, oh why in Celestia's name was she doing this? This was a terrible idea! Who came up with this plan?
The answer to both questions, as was usual for most of the unusual twists in her life's path, was Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash had not been happy when she had caught her old friend Gilda being mean and snarky to her friends. She'd been even less happy when she'd found out the truth about the griffon's interaction with Fluttershy. Shoving her off with angry words wasn't enough, and so she had made an ultimatum.
"Make up with Fluttershy, or we're through."
Gilda, rough and tough as she was, had her weaknesses. The threat of losing her one and only chill friend (seeing as other griffons didn't really 'do' friendship) was a big one.
And so here they were now. Gilda and Fluttershy. The brash birdcat and the bashful birdhorse, trying to 'make up' through an outing that neither of them really wanted to be on.
"I-If you really want to leave, that'd be okay with me," Fluttershy managed to squeak out despite her still very-much-present fear of the much larger creature. "We can just not go and say we did."
She expected an immediate agreement, maybe even a word of brusque thanks, but was surprised by a sigh. "Can't. Dash would know. She's real serious about this. Mare's probably going to spend an hour grilling me about this just to make sure I actually did it."
"Oh." Once more the pair lapsed into silence. For a few minutes, only the sound of their beating wings filled the empty space between them. Eventually, if only to try and distract herself, Fluttershy spoke up again. "If we're going to try and get to know each other, maybe we could talk for a bit?"
Gilda huffed in annoyance. "What's there to talk about?"
"W-Well," Fluttershy took a deep breath and tried to convince herself that Gilda was nothing more than a very smart animal. "We can talk about what we like and dislike, maybe creatures we know, where we grew up. That sort of thing."
Her attempt to reconciliation earned her another snort of derision. "Yeah right. Like any of that matters. I doubt we know anyone in common other than Dash, my chickhood is none of your business, and why would you care about what I like?" She smiled, a near-predatory glint in her eye and Fluttershy swallowed hard. "I bet most of the things I like would drive you away screaming."
They probably would. From what little Fluttershy knew of the griffon, they seemed to be polar opposites. But she had to make the effort. Rainbow Dash wanted them to make it work and she wanted to be able to be friends with her friend's friends.
"You can tell me anyway."
Gilda smirked and the gleam in her eye turned truly wicked. "Oh yeah? Well don't say you didn't ask for it. There's a game we play back home called Chicken Smash. You find a cliff and fly straight at it as fast as you can while everygriffon places bets on who will turn away first. Somtimes the loser is who turns away soonest, sometimes the loser is who doesn't turn away soon enough. Sometimes there's not even a winner. It gets pretty brutal."
"Why- why would you do that?" Fluttershy gasped. "That sounds terrible for everyone involved."
"Not the betters on the sidelines. You can make a lot of bits with good betting." She chuckled, reveling in the discomfort she was causing. "And then there's Dragon Poking."
"D-Dragon poking?"
"Yeah. You find a dragon, one of the big old ones that's gone wild and feral, sneak into it's den and poke it while it sleeps."
"And then?"
"Then?" Gilda asked with a note of confusion, "Then you get the heck out of there before you're nothing but crispy cinders!"
"Oh." Fluttershy responded, somewhat lacklusterly for Gilda's taste. "I thought there might be another step. Like if you confronted the dragon. That's what me and my friends did."
"You?" the griffon asked incredulously, "I'm supposed to believe that you of all the namby-pamby ponies faced down a dragon? Not likely."
"I did," Fluttershy insisted, a surprising firmness to her voice. "You can ask Rainbow Dash if you don't believe me; she was there too. She watched when I yelled at it and made it leave."
"Made it..." Gilda stumbled at trying to respond to that. True, the claim was ridiculous, but she had also invoked Rainbow Dash's support. And while Dash might boast and brag about feats, she'd never make one up.
"Huh. Okay. So I'll give you that. Maybe you're not totally lame. I mean, Dash does seem to like you for some reason."
Fluttershy smiled at that. It wasn't much, but it was a start. She opened her mouth to respond, but Gilda beat her to it. "So, where the heck are we going anyway? You never said."
Fluttershy brightened. "Oh! Yes! Well, after hearing Dash talk about us trying to find some common ground, I thought I should try to find an activity we might both like."
"Ahuh," came the unimpressed reply, "And let me guess: you came up with zip, so we're doing some namby-pamby pony thing instead?"
"Not at all. We're-" But Fluttershy was cut off by the sound of a tremendous roar. It shook the skies and sent birds flying from their nests in every direction. Even Gilda momentarily lost her cool.
"Monster!" She cried. "Every griffon for themselves!"
"No, wait!" Fluttershy, raising her voice for the first time in the conversation, cried out. "Don't panic. That's what we're here for."
Gilda paled. "You- You brought me out here to feed me to a monster!? Oh sweet Boreas Idol, what kind of madpony are you?!"
"No!" Fluttershy ducked down towards the trees and pulled aside some of the canopy. "Look!"
Hesitant of the possible madpony, but her cat-like curiosity driving her on, Gilda approached. When she peered through the foliage, her eyes widened.
Bandersnatches. Dozens of them. From infants the size of a pony to ancient elders as large as dragons. They crawled around a wide crater completely hidden from overhead view by the thick, viney canopy. Around the rim of the crater rose a high fence and a small house-like outpost. A pony stood there, waving, seemingly unconcerned by the horde of deadly creatures behind her.
"Come on," Fluttershy urged, "She's waiting for us."
Confused and wary, Gilda followed the buttery pegasus down to the landing where the other one waited. When they landed, she greeted them warmly.
"Fluttershy! So glad you could make it, and just in time too." She turned to Gilda and offered a hoof. "Dr. Quill, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. This is the friend you were talking about, Fluttershy?"
"Yes. I thought she might like to come see this."
"Yeah, what exactly is... this?" Gilda asked, finally fighting down her fight-or-flight reaction and finding her voice.
"This," Dr. Quill said with a flourish, "Is the Equestrian Royal Bandersnatch Sanctuary, a joint effort of the Royal Institute of Science, and the Crown. Here, we protect the last remaining specimens of a species nearly gone extinct. Here, here, come look."
She beckoned them over to the railing, giving them an optimal view of the crater below. The bandersnatches paid them no mind, and continued their strange lives, flitting about on waspish wings and getting into minor scuffles with one another. Gilda took it in with a wary eye.
"Huh. That's... kinda neat. I've never seen a bandercatch."
"Bandersnatch," the doctor corrected with a chuckle, "And you haven't seen anything yet. You see, the bandersnatches exhibit a very special behavior about this time of year. They- oh! Look! It's starting!"
She pointed down into the pit where, as though by some unseen signal, all the creatures had begun to move at once. In seconds they had formed a circle of every member of their herd. Then one began to sing.
It was a strange, strangled noise, but oddly beautiful in its own way. One by one, the others joined in, adding their voices to the growing chorus. Twenty, fifty, a hundred or more voices rang out in impossible harmonies that rattled the trees and shook the earth. It could have lasted a minute or an eternity, but when it ended, the trio of observers found themselves speechless.
Gilda found hers first. "That was-"
"Wait for it-" the doctor interrupted.
Nothing moved for a second... two seconds... and then two bandersnatches flew at each other with chattering warcries! They fought and clawed with every weapon in their formidable disposals. Soon others joined in the fray as well.
Once more, Gilda was speechless, even as the Doctor cheered them on. "Whoo! Go Beta! You can do it! This is your year!"
Gilda turned to Fluttershy slowly. "What... is happening?" She was even more surprised to see that the pony seemed unbothered by the violence. "And can you stand to watch it?"
"You see," Fluttershy began, "Once a year, the Bandersnatch have a very special ritual. After they gather and sing, they all fight to see who will be the Alpha in the coming year. As to how I'm okay with it, well," she shrugged. "It's natural. It's a part of what makes their species so special. Look, see there?"
She pointed at where one younger fighter was losing. In the process of failing a sidestep, it took a mighty slash across the chest, sending it flying backward. But after it hit the wall, it stood back up, peeled off a large portion of its damaged scales and jumped back into the fray.
"Bandersnatch scales are so hard that one of the only things that can cut them is the claws of other Bandersnatches. So since they can't reach well across their own long bodies, they need the others to help them shed their skins so they can molt and grow."
She turned and gazed into the pit as violence and kindness twisted together into a strange dance.
"You see, I thought watching this might be something we could both enjoy. Me, getting to see rare animals do a rare event, and you getting to watch violent gladiatorial combat. Was I right?" She glanced up, only to see that she'd lost her guest's attention.
"Go Vorpal!" Gilda yelled into the commotion. "Are you just going to take that lying down? Get back up and kick his tail!"
Fluttershy giggled softly and moved to take the viewing spot by Gilda's side. It seemed this had been a good choice after all.
The sun was setting, casting long shadows across Ponyville and across two creatures who stood in the street waiting on a third.
"So," Fluttershy started, having become much more at ease around the griffon after their day together, "Did you have a good time?"
"Heck yeah!" Gilda exclaimed, before suddenly reeling herself in as a blush formed across her facial feathers. "I-I mean, it was pretty cool. I guess, technically it's wasn't terrible, y'know."
Fluttershy smiled at that. "I'm glad. I had a good time too. I'm glad Rainbow Dash put us up to this."
"Say," Gilda suddenly changed the subject, scanning the road. "Where is she anyway? She said she'd be here."
"So you guys make up or what?" Rainbow Dash yelled as she came in for a sudden landing, kicking up a cloud of dust as she did so.
"Dash!" Gilda exclaimed, before suddenly pulling the pegasus close to whisper, "How come you never said your friends were this awesome?"
Dash blinked in confusion. "Uh, what?"
"You made her sound like such a dweeb! All you ever said was 'she's so shy' and 'she's scared of everything'. Why didn't you tell me about the monster fight club?"
Rainbow's brain tried to process that. She turned to Fluttershy. "Hah?" Fluttershy merely giggled.
"Well, I suppose I'd better be off," the yellow pegasus announced, "I have to feed my animals before it gets too late."
"Oh. Right. You have to leave." Gilda's mood seemed to worsen at the mention. She perked up as Fluttershy placed a hoof in her talon.
"But, that doesn't mean we can't do this again sometime," she said softly, "That is... if you'd like."
The blush that had just managed to fade returned in full force. "Y-Yeah. You know, I think I would."
With a smile, Fluttershy turned and started to trot away. "I'll see you later then, Gilda!" she called back over her shoulder.
Unseen by her, not a smirk but a genuine smile grew across Gilda's face. "I guess I will. Huh. Another pony friend."
Rainbow Dash still looked confused. "I think I missed something, but... I guess it worked out?"
