The heavens break into tiny blue shards between Gilda's wings, reflecting the sky upon itself in waves of sapphire. Clouds whirl and twine around the griffon as she spirals into the sky, then flings her impressive wingspan to either side, letting the winds scatter around her. Up here, the rest of the world falls away to nothing, and all that's left is her caterwauling thoughts, ripping each other up until the problems fall out and her mind is at peace again.
Usually, for this reason, nothing is more therapeutic to Gilda than a good flight out. All the sky seems to turn into a great beast, reminding her of what she was made for and where she will always be welcome. Even now, she can feel a bit of that peace, rippling under some undisturbed surface in her mind. But the problem she's come up here to escape today is too big to tear up in the sky and leave amid the clouds.
Because, simply put, when Gilda returns to the ground, the problem will be waiting for her again.
And it's not really even a problem.
Gilda lets clouds twine around her talons as she drifts more peacefully through the skies now, her thoughts wandering from flying to something far down below.
She's not sure when it really started. One second, you're wandering the streets of Ponyville alone, because once again you tried to visit your so-called best friend Rainbow Dash, and once again, the two of you had a fight. The next second, a gray blur has knocked into you at full velocity, dazedly fluffing out her wings and apologizing profusely for the crash as she tumbles backwards. And although you just yelled at a pony for this same thing a few days ago, you look into beautiful yellow cross-eyes and feel the roar die in your throat now.
Then, this random mailmare asks you if actually, could you help her find the way to a certain address on a package, because her vision is doing even worse than normal right now! and even though you barely know the town, you agree to help her. And then you help her with the next address. And the next.
By the time the sun is setting and her mail route is done, you've ended up smiling every time she does, and cracking jokes that make her let out this adorable laugh. Then you're asking to hang out with her again, and she's giggling and saying yes, and then you split ways with this fuzzy feeling.
Gilda's been hanging out with Derpy for almost a month now. All the time, really. It seems like every time Derpy has a day off, or Gilda's not practicing flying, they're attached at the hip doing some dumb pony hangout that Gilda would've rather died than be caught doing just a few months prior.
The transformation is unnerving, really. One dumb pony (who's terrible at flying, really!) has captured Gilda's mind and heart in such a short amount of time. She tries to keep up the sour, prickly attitude with every other pony she talks to, but it feels so fake now. So difficult. Every time she starts to growl at someone, or swipe an apple from a market stand, she thinks of how Derpy would react to seeing this side of her, and it dies right there.
Gilda's hardly the same griffon she used to be. Does she want to be that griffon anymore?
And there's the weight of her realization, too. She knows she's in love. She's not stupid. There was that nice griffon girl who shared her pencils in elementary, and then there was Rainbow Dash back when they were kids at flight camp, and then there was that one douchebag (actually- was that even love?), and then Rainbow again for a bit, and... the point is, she knows this feeling well.
But to fall for someone like this? A clumsy pegasus pony who trips on her own hooves, spends her days off baking for fun, and greets even the meanest of folk with a clueless smile?
Oh, Gilda could never deserve a mare like her!
The griffon beats the air with her wings, and goes shooting upwards into higher welkin. The wind swirls around her and rustles her feathers. It slows her racing thoughts just a little.
Gilda's knows she's always been cruel. She's a growling, snarling, clawing mess of a griffon, raised all her life to fight and kick to prove her strength, and never feel guilt about who gets hurt in the process. Derpy feels like the stark opposite of everything Gilda knows- a ray of sunshine, determined to live happily despite the struggles she's been presented with since day one. Some days it almost seems like this tiny pony keeps being positive because she lives to spite her difficulties.
Derpy has every reason to roar and growl like Gilda, especially with the way some ponies treat her, but she doesn't. There's no way Gilda could ever...
Her talons touch the soft, trodden grasses on the edge of Ponyville, drawing her from her reverie. The town sprouts from the ground just up ahead, growing into a twining forest of stone and brick and straw, welcoming Gilda into a place not made for her. The griffon stores her still-racing thoughts into some closet at the back of her mind, and saunters her way into town. Her wings fold and twitch back, sharpening her silhouette and pulling her head into a more regal posture. Ponies who remember previous angry encounters with Gilda glare at her, but the fiery looks now slide right off her. I don't care. I'm not here for you.
The gravel paths of the town lead her to the only place in Ponyville where Gilda feels comfortable: the post office.
A bell jingles, announcing her entrance, and almost immediately a pair of gray ears perk up from behind the counter. A curious face pops up after it, and after a moment of hard squinting, Derpy Hooves smiles excitedly. "Gilda? Gilda! It's you, right?"
"Yes, it's me!" The griffin calls out with a smile. Warmth blooms in her chest instantly as she pads forward, meeting the pegasus at the counter. Derpy blinks rapidly as Gilda comes into slightly clearer eyesight, giggling. "You showed up at the perfect time. I just finished my shift!"
The gray pegasus, rather than walking round the side of the counter, chooses to scrabble over it, for reasons unknown to either of them. She stumbles unceremoniously onto the ground, then quickly pops upright, fluttering her wings excitedly. "I have a super neato plan for today!"
Gilda finds herself unable to resist smiling. Derpy sort of has that effect. "Yeah? Usually I'm the one doing the planning! What do you have in mind?"
Derpy trots past Gilda, practically out the door already. "Follow me! It's a surprise!"
The bell on the door jingles shut behind the two of them.
Dusk always paints the cliffs near Ponyville in beautiful colors. Not too long ago, Gilda would come up here to watch the sun go down alone, burning holes in the sky with the force of her glaring. She's sure parts of the dirt haven't recovered from the way her talons would scour the land in fits of rage.
It feels different to be up here when you're happy. Instead of it feeling like all the world is beautiful except Gilda, this time it feels like she's found the source of the beauty herself. She turns to smile at an excited Derpy trotting beside her, the pinkish-lavender colors of near-nightfall painting the silver pegasus in starlight.
"Here!" Derpy stops just short of a rolling cliff. It's not a long fall- none of the geography surrounding Ponyville is really rugged terrain, except for Ghastly Gorge- and the whole place is covered in swaying, silvery grass, dotted with pinpricks of wildflowers.
Gilda looks around, waiting for something to happen. Nothing does.
"Um... cool cliff?" She tries.
Derpy giggles, playfully swatting a wing at her. "No, silly! I know you like flying fast, so... I figured we could race!"
It takes Gilda a second to believe her ears. ".. Race?" The griffon narrows her eyes at Derpy, believing for a moment that this is some elaborate prank. Some bitter part of her expects Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie to spring from nowhere and laugh at her. The nicer, newer part of her begins to believe her friend is serious. "Uhm, Derpy, aren't you..." Gilda begins to raise a talon to gesture at Derpy's eyes, when suddenly the pegasus seems to transform right in front of her.
The silvery mare snaps into an almost perfect flight position, her wings splayed to either side of her in a perfect subtle arc. A golden flicker of challenge flashes in Derpy's eyes, catching the dying sunlight. It'd be a rather intimidating display, if not for the admittedly hard-to-ignore offset of her eyes. It still kind of is, in spite of that. "You scared, birdie?"
Scared is not the right word to describe what Gilda is feeling at the moment. In fact, her feathers not being on fire right now is truly a feat.
"Well?" Derpy flutters her wings.
Gilda finally manages words, breaking through her hesitance. "Alright. You're sure?" She slinks next to Derpy, assuming a similar flight position. The pegasus only nods. Gilda solidifies her resolve.
"Ready... set... GO!"
Both fliers explode off the edge of the cliff in a flurry of wingbeats and feathers, surging forwards. Gilda hardly uses strength behind her takeoff, turning to see how Derpy is doing.
What she sees is perhaps the most unique thing in the world.
Midair, Derpy twists. Her wings catch the air flawlessly as she rotates fully to almost look like shes laying on her back while flying. Her front hooves stretch forward, and with a surge of her wings, she takes the lead from Gilda.... while upside down.
The sight fills Gilda with such equal awe and confusion that she almost falls right out of the sky. Her head manages to keep up just in time, though, and she kicks her flying into full drive. As Gilda eats Derpy's cloud-dust, it suddenly seems incredibly stupid that she ever worried about needing to be slower for Derpy.
The two of them race forward, wobbling between first place. Gilda banks, Derpy twists, the two of them stay almost perfectly at odds. Gilda finally manages to catch up to Derpy, neck-and-neck, only to foolishly look over and realize her opponent is smiling at her.
While still upside down, Derpy catches Gilda's eye, and winks at her.
Gilda's wings actually miss a beat this time, and she falls for a few heartbeats before re-catching the wind. Her breath is completely lost and she can hardly focus on flying, let alone racing. The end of their race route pulls up in front of her, and she stumbles back onto solid ground, wings drooping and lungs burning.
Derpy excitedly jumps around, giggling and flapping her wings in celebration of her victory. Her hooves giddily dance across the silvery grass, and her hair's a mess of pale locks from the wind ruffling it. She's beautiful. Gilda stares for a moment, but when Derpy catches her looking, she quickly puts on a bemused scowl.
"What are you celebrating about, cheater?" The words seem harsh, but Gilda's tone is just grumpy.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Derpy smiles back coyly, walking over to the griffon.
"Oh please. That's the oldest trick in the book." Gilda's tail flicks at Derpy, and she pretends to be mad for a few more seconds, before her gaze slides back to focus on Derpy. "Where'd you learn to fly like that? I thought you..."
"Couldn't?" Derpy's voice is flat for a few seconds, and Gilda wonders if she's accidentally insulted Derpy by admitting to making such an assumption. The pegasus tosses her mane with a sigh. "I couldn't for a little while, I guess, yeah. When I was younger, I used to be the best placer in Cloudsdale's young flier brackets. But over time, my strabismus got worse." She waved a hoof in front of her lazy eye, the one that always drifted towards her snout.
"Rainbow Dash mentioned some star filly that started crashing on every obstacle course, back when we were kids. I didn't realize that was you." Gilda blinked at Derpy in surprise.
"Yep. We were in the same bracket. She used to place lower than me." Derpy smiled amusedly, then turned away, brow furrowing. For a moment, it seemed like she was debating whether or not to go on, but after a moment she shrugged her wings and kept talking. "I couldn't see as well as I used to after a while, but.. I found out that for some reason, when I looked at things upside down, even if they were still blurry, they just made more... sense?"
She tilted her head at Gilda. "I tried to re-enter the bracket with my new way of flying, but they liked that even less than when I crashed all the time. They said I was making a mockery of their system, or whatever- disgracing the 'art of flying'. I was 10." The last part came out softer than the rest.
Gilda narrowed her eyes. "You were just doing things the way that made sense for you!"
"That's not how they saw it, I guess. Or maybe it is, and that was the kicker. I think they just didn't want any foals who were.. 'different' to be the face of Cloudsdale's young stars. Certainly not ones who were unsightly."
Gilda dug her talons into the dirt, tail lashing. "You're not unsightly." She mutters.
Derpy 's head snaps up to look at her. "What?"
"Have you been telling yourself that?" Gilda tilts her head in a distinctly birdlike way at Derpy. "That you're not... nice to look at?"
"Well..." Derpy spread out her wings, as if gesturing to all of herself. She especially made a motion to her eyes, and Gilda found that all the rage she used to have towards others was suddenly directed instead at the world, the clouds, the grass. She wanted to claw them all to bits and make them into a new world where the amazing mare in front of her never doubted that for a second.
"Derpy. It's not bad that you fly different, it's not bad that you have problems with seeing, and you're certainly not unsightly! For Celestia's sake, you're beautiful-!" Gilda stops her big stupid beak just a moment too late. Her fur bristles. "I didn't say that last part."
The mare just stares at Gilda for a long moment, like an old computer processing an image. "What was that?"
Gilda took in a deep breath, and sighed. She was many things, and changing into many other things, but a coward was not about to be one. "I said you're beautiful!" It came out in a big burst of air. "Because you are! You're the nicest, most amazing pony I've ever met, and-" she sighed, "and I don't know how you stand to be around someone as mean as me. I know you know how I act with others."
Derpy was looking at her like she held the sun between her wings. Lightning crackles through Gilda's legs. This wasn't her first rodeo with love, but it.. certainly felt like it right about now. She looked away, rooting her eyes to the grass under her talons.
A gray hoof gently guided Gilda's chin back to face Derpy, who was now standing a lot closer and smiling warmly at her. Gilda could practically feel Derpy's breath on her beak as she spoke, nearly shorting out her stupid lovey-dovey bird brain. "I can stand to be around you because I knew this was in here. Because I've seen it come out over and over lately."
Every feather on Gilda's body fluffed out. "I- you don't know what you're talking about."
"I do! You're a lovely person, Gilda. You say it's a miracle I gave you a chance, but... it's just as amazing that you gave me a chance. Half of Ponyville won't even make eye contact with me some days. You're a really amazing griffin, Gilda. I really do like you."
Warmth floods Gilda's face. "I... really like you too." She startles, and clears her throat, finding confidence against the clamor in her chest. "I think I love you."
Derpy brings her wings up to fold around the two of them, giggling. "I know, Gilda. I love you too." She gently presses the tip of her muzzle to Gilda's beak. Gilda's head is spinning and she feels dizzily like she might fall through the world. The griffon wraps her larger wings around the two of them, overlapping them with Derpy's wings, and it seems to steady her racing thoughts.
After a long moment, Derpy finally moves away. "Well, come on, then. Wanna do a rematch?" She trots back to the cliff edge, flapping her wings in the draft. Her eyes are still full of warmth for Gilda, and the air smells like all the blooming wildflowers around them, and the sun's just about to fall below the horizon. The world seems to have scattered love across the land.
Gilda decides that maybe, just maybe, a griffon like her could deserve to have this. She settles next to Derpy, extending her wings.
"Alright. Rematch."
They shoot off from the cliff, leaving flower petals and the song of laughter in their wake.
Author's Note
hi!! i hope you guys enjoyed this!! i really like gilda x derpy, and i wanted to introduce this incredibly rare pairing to fimfiction. also, i got to pump all my derpy headcanons and some good disabled rep into this!
i also wanted to twist the ship dynamics. i think the default expectation when you hear about this ship would be derpy tripping over her hooves crushing hopelessly on a carefree, rugged gilda, but i wanted to do something different. don't get me wrong, derpy is definitely still super in love on her end, but i wanted a different characterization for both of them. i adore when love changes a character for the better. i also wanted to write about what its like to be neurodivergent/disabled and just loved for who you are.
hope you guys enjoyed!! this is my first story on fimfiction so if you wanna SMASH that favorite button and follow button i'd love you forever <3
