It was a quite day. The morning sun had risen, and the creatures of Equestria were peacefully going about their days. Well, mostly.

*Bang*

*Clatter*

"Get back here!" A griffin yelled in anger as he ran into a pile of empty boxes.

"Buck off!" A young griffin flipped him off as they continued to run.

"Oh why you!" He was enraged as he spread his wings and took off after the young one.

Glancing back, the young one took a sharp turn into an alleyway of sorts. A few hops and a boost from her wings, they easily maneuvered through different heaps of useless trash and discarded materials.

"On your left!" She yelled and overtook another griffin, who was walking. "Hah, sucker." She muttered and tied a bag of bits around her neck. "Today just keeps getting better."

"Get back here!" The griffin who checked her wings to see her bag gone yelled and sprinted after her.

The young one intentionally cut a rope as she fled, making a a tent collapse behind her.

"HEY!" Two griffins, who were playing with cards yelled out in anger as they tore through the fabric to get out.

"Easy!" The young one celebrated, only to run into another griffin.

"Wha-hey! It's you! You stole my apples!" That one admonished her furiously as he tried to grab her.

"Buck you!" She yelled and swiped with her claws, shallowly cutting into the limb.

Getting stunned for a second, the griffin held his limb. With the chance, the young one instantly fled with a grimace.

"Get her!"

"She ran that way!"

"Catch the little brat!"

Hearing them all coming after her, the young griffin had to figure something out. "Oh, that works."

"Where is she!?"

"She took my bits!"

"My bits as well!"

"Liar, I know you only have dried bread in your place!"

"What would you know?!"

Hearing them fighting, the young one sighed to herself as she relaxed her body. She'd have to stay there until they all left. Shifting to a slightly more comfortable position, she was careful no to make any noise as she peered through a hole in a newspaper. Luckily, she'd found just enough to hide herself by propping it against a wall.

Minutes passed as a brawl eventually happened. With others joining in, in hopes of gaining something. Still, it finally calmed down as griffins were hurt, and they refused to fight anymore.

"Alright, coast is clear." She mumbled to herself as she finally started to move.

There were a few unconscious griffins lying on the ground. Not worth looting since everything they had will already be gone.

"Ugh, this one. Just why'd you have to be not blind?" She grumbled in an annoyed voice as she looked down on the griffin.

"Gotcha!" He yelled and tried to grab her.

"Nope." She dodged him easily and spread her wings. "See ya!" And she took off.

"Oh no you don't!" He yelled and flew after her.

It wasn't exactly a smart move as the young griffin turned sharply and went out of sight. Quickly following, he turned sharply as well, only to slam into a wall. "Agh."

"Sucker!" The young griffin, revealed to be floating above, mocked him with a grin as she bit into a piece of bread. "Should've learned to fly better!" She yelled and flew off.

"I'll get you, you little thief!" He yelled after her as he struggled to use his wings.

"Shut the buck up!" A random passerby shouted in annoyance.

"What'd you say, punk?!" He instantly shouted back as they proceeded to fight.

"Ugh, that was lucky. Good thing I flew higher." The young griffin mumbled to herself as she carried a single piece of bread with her.

Tucking it close to her chest, she was happy as she eventually reached a shabby shed made out of wood. Pushing away the wooden board acting as a door, she let light into the dark house as she happily skipped over to a bed of feathers on the ground.

"Finally, I was starving." She mumbled cheerfully and laid down, earning a small groan as her back let out a few satisfying cracks.

*Crack*

She bit into the bread, making cracking sounds at the dryness of it. With a distracted gaze, she daydreamed about her earlier chase, acting as some entertainment as she savored the bread. Once she was done, she got up and moved to the middle of the house.

*Clack*

She removed a piece of wood to reveal a secret stash.

"And, that makes it, uhh, enough." She was a bit unsure as she opened a green bag to reveal a pile of bits. "Let's see. August, August, fifteenth? I think it hasn't passed yet." She mumbled as she dug through the bits to pull out a poster and read it, though she couldn't. "Speedsters Flight Camp, I think. I'll finally be able to get out of this garbage dump."

"YOU!" Suddenly, another griffin shouted angrily as she stepped into the house.

"What the!?" The young one was surprised as she roughly hid the stash as she turned around. "Who are you!"

"Me!? I'm Gilda! The only dang fisher in this dump! The one you'vebeen stealing from for five whole years!" She was furious as she pounced on the young griffin.

"Gah!" She was caught off guard and struggled to break free. "Let go!"

"Not until you pay me back!" Gilda yelled as she looked around. "Ooh, what do we have here?" She said greedily as she spotted the pile of bits. "That's gotta be enough for me to go Las Pegasus. I can strike rich with that!"

"Hey! That's mine!" The young one kept struggling.

"Ugh, enough." She said and grabbed her by the throat. "I don't know about you, but I've lived in poverty long enough. No creature should care about a little kid like you."

"L-Let, go." She lost her breath as her vision started to darken.

"Hey, I'll at least thank you for this windfall. You were a wonderful surprise." She kept talking as she drew her face closer. "So, really, thank you."

With their beaks practically touching, the little one could barely even think. When the eyes see dark spots and lungs are shriveling, head punding as the ears become muffled. And when death was nearby, consciousness faded, instincts took over.

*Slice*

*Splat*

"Ahg." Gilda was left stunned as her strength slowly left her.

*Thud*

The young griffin fell to the floor weakly.

*Cough*

She was coughing heavily as she slowly caught her breath. Finally being enough to think, she slowly lifted her claw in front of her face.

*Drip*

Her claw was stained with fresh blood as horror almost took over. A heavy metallic scent overtook her senses as she closed her eyes, focusing on not puking. Finally, with minutes passing, she barely calmed herself down.

"Did I?" She muttered.

With her heart beating heavily, adrenaline was an all time high as she forced herself on her legs.

"Gilda?" She asked, weirdly expecting an answer.

When silence was all that returned, she got closer.

"You, are you dead?" She asked carefully.

Finally understanding, she took a small step back. Unable to think fully, she felt herself stepping on paper.

"Ah, I think I'll leave early." She eventually came to that decision.

Swiftly closing the zipper on the ends, she put it on her shoulder with a slight struggle and turned to the door.

"Alright. It's simple. I just need to get there, and ask to join." She mumbled to herself and carefully stepped around the cold body. "Born in Griffonstone. I'm ten, I think? And, uh, name." She stopped as she reached that question.

Turning her head, she glanced one more time at the dead griffin.

"Gilda." She muttered and flew off.

"Gilda." Moon called her with a bored gaze.

Gilda didn't respond from her nest hanging from the treehouse.

"Gilda!" She called again.

Still silence.

"Ugh, she's prolly sleeping." Moon muttered and started to ascend via a dark column that rose underneath her. "Gilda!" She yelled once she reached her.

"Wha!" Gilda was surprised as she swiftly turned to Moon.

"What the fuck, you were awake?" Moon asked with a small frown.

"I, yeah, whatever. What do you want?" Gilda asked with a slightly harsh tone.

"Well rude." Moon grumbled playfully as she gave a chuckle.

Though not seeing Gilda react, she dropped her grin.

"You good?" Moon asked.

"I'm fine, just. I'm thinking about my life." She replied.

"Life huh? Eesh kid, don't. It looks fucking depressing from the outside. I should know, I spent more than three months with Floral." Moon said as she climbed up. "So, what's the matter?" She asked and laid down next to Gilda.

"I, really don't want to talk about it."

"Seriously, you're talking like you committed some big crime. Well, I guess you did. Not many others can say they've fought squads of Royal Guards, and then trained agents from a secret organization."

"Yeah, big crime." Gilda mumbled and looked away slightly.

Noticing that it wasn't working, Moon thought of something else. "Hey, I'm thinking of asking Floral to build us wardrobes or something. I'll probably be getting a bunch of dresses or whatever as gifts soon enough." She said in almost bragging tone.

"A fucking wardrobe?" Gilda said in small disbelief.

"Yeah, no matter how much they annoy me. Clothes are clothes. Shit, we can even store weapons in there if we feel like it."

"Weapons? In a wardrobe?"

"Yeah, then it'll be a real wardrobe wouldn't it?"

Gilda cracked a chuckle at that. "That was fucking horrible." She commented.

"Yeah, yeah." Moon dismissed it. "So, feeling better?"

Taking a few moments, Gilda gave a small sigh. "Yeah, I guess." She said without much energy. "You ever kill?" She suddenly asked.

"I kill almost every other week here, Gilda."

"No, I meant." She sighed again. "Have you ever killed, a conscious, sentient being."

"Oh." Moon was shocked to say the least. "Well, no. Not really. I've only ever killed wild beasts before. When I had a clear mind that is." She answered.

"Heh, I guess I have something over you then." Gilda joked with a dark tone.

Though, Moon couldn't quite grow a smile at it.

"It's, honestly a bit weird. I never forgot, but I stopped thinking about it after, like a week." She said as she lost her smile. "When I first got admitted into the Junior Speedster's Flight Camp, I had to fill out a bunch of forms. Even then, just like I how collected the admission fee, I stole everything."

"Kid." Moon said softly.

"Even my birthday, I just copied it off of a random colt. There was supposed to be parent signature, I roughly forged a signature of the oldest griffin I knew. Grampa Gruff, he didn't even know I went to flight camp." She laid it all out as she thought back on that day. "Nervous, in a completely new place. Nothing to call my own except some old bag. I stole that off some sick griffin that was dying."

"Hey, you don't have to. Nothing's forcing you." Moon comforted her.

"It's just, i-it's, just, confusing, Moon. Even my name, I stole that from a fisher, who I kept stealing fish from for over five years." She complained as a few tears started to leak out. "In flight camp, I thought my life had changed. But, the day that I graduated, I just went back to stealing. I thought it was okay back then, just a fish or two, but I also knew I was letting others die because of it! And now I'm just, just, here? Peaceful? Not fighting for my life. Not a fugitive. Just, living?"

"Why didn't you talk about it earlier?" She asked carefully as she placed her hoof around Gilda's shoulder.

"I don't know." Gilda answered weakly. "I was just, confused. I thought it was over when the guards came for me that day. Then it just, blew over? No, downsides? No drawbacks to it all? No consequences to literally everything?"

"Hey, life's just like that sometimes. It sucks at times, then it doesn't at other times. It's something I learned from Floral's ramblings."

"I guess. I just, don't really understand it. I always thought it'd come back to bite me in the flank, and it did. Then it kinda just, blew over?"

"It's fine, Gilda. Sometimes life just, gives a freebie. You can only accept it and move on." Moon said as she thought back on herself.

"But, it just keeps coming back. That one single moment. Ever since things started to calm down around here, I just keep remembering that."

Moon gathered her words for a second. "You know, it's not that different from what I do." She said with a weak smile.

"What do you mean?"

"I've had my share of accidents. And I don't forget them, but I try to not let it bother me." She explained and looked at Gilda in the eyes. "The past is the past. You can't change it. But, you can learn from it, then you can forgive yourself."

Gilda stared blankly, countless thoughts hidden in her eyes. Then she gave a single chuckle. "That was from Floral, wasn't it?"

"Eh, more or less." Moon gave a shrug. "Z is thinking of going back to Ponyville to gather some materials for potions. Says she needs something with cap-er-something, to make that self defence thing you were talking about. She wants to know if we want anything while she's out."

"Some soda, or something." Gilda said, in a slightly better mood.

"Aight. You can talk to me if you want to, alright?"

"Alright, thanks."

"It's fine. We're basically family here." She said as a single thought appeared.

"Yeah, sure. And Floral's probably the dad." She gave a chuckle.

"Hah. Yeah. Bastard's basically a parent at this point." Moon joked and stood up. "Take a nap. It usually helps me."

"Got it."

"Good." She said and hopped off.

"Past is the past." Gilda muttered as she laid her head on her claws. "I guess it's as straightforward as it could get."

With different thoughts, she laid on her back and looked upwards. Noticing the ropes being rather tight, she came to a single conclusion as she decided to get up.

"Should probably ask Floral to help with that."

Author's Note

I know I was thinking of something to write here, but I forgot. So, thanks for reading.