Gilda’s Greatest Mistake
Special thanks for proofreading goes to KillJoy and A Brony Life 42
Cover art origin came from this link.
Following the events of her party, which was seemingly planned to go horribly wrong, the vexed gryphon flew over the multi-colored town of Ponyville, her nausea growing more as the kaleidoscope of colors would hurt any foreigner’s eyes. Not only had she been made a fool, but had also lost her best friend. Rainbow Dash was really her last ally in the world, and with nothing to do, and nopony to converse with, the feathery hybrid decided to reminisce with her old time buddy. Now, with the spectrum manned mare thoroughly displeased with the bird like being, she sought ways of releasing pent up anger, and what better way of doing this than being the bully she was.
Spotting a young filly scooting through the outskirts of town, passing trees and shrubs on her mode of transportation, Gilda decided this was the perfect target to physically vent with. She swooped down, landing with beads of gravel sprawling from the impact, startling the filly as she came to a screeching halt. This purple maned filly stared at her with both fear, and amazement. “Wow, that was cool!” she complimented, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that before, the way you landed, the amazing precision, awe hoof strikers, you could compete with Rainbow Dash!”
Just the sound of that infernal name taunted Gilda’s ears, teasing her in remembrance of the not-so distant events. She was now teetering to the edge of ruthless rage, but decided to cool it for one moment, and said, “So… you like Rainbow Dash, huh?”
“Oh, yeah, she’s my idol! I wanna be just like her when I grow up; maybe even better!” the orange filly excitedly jumped, fluttering her wings with such confidence in her response.
“Well,” Gilda scoffed at the filly, “you’d have to be pretty good to be like her. How high can you fly?”
“Oh… I can’t actually fly yet… I’m not that good at it.”
Gilda smirked at this juicy piece of Intel and asked, “Then why bother?!”
The purple manned filly tilted her head in bewilderment, looking at the hybrid with a bland characterization, “Huh?”
“What’s your name, kid?”
“Heh… it’s S-Scootaloo… What’s yours?”
“Gilda… and why would you chase such a meaningless dream if you can’t even fly?” Scootaloo looked around in puzzlement and gulped before the gryphon continued. “If you’re not even able to take towards the sky yet, why try? You’ll never be anything but a small, weak and insignificant worm that everypony laughs at! Why don’t you take your stupid scooter and ride off a cliff? You’d be doing everyone a favor!”
The confused filly began to back up and said, “I… I-I don’t like this… I’m outta here!”
Preventing her escape, Gilda grabbed the handle bars and yanked the poor pony off, sending her to the rough terrain of sharp rocks. She tried to stand, but was grabbed by the neck, sent desperately gasping for air. With a quick beat of her majestic wings, Scootaloo was dragged upwards and behind, her neck scrapped by the gryphon’s talons as droplets of blood painted the grey canvas below. Suddenly, they stopped high above the world; Gilda exchanged grips from hind to forelegs as she stared into the filly’s eyes. “I’ll help you fly… right NOW!”
Tossing the filly, and coming to an inert halt, with precision and perfect timing, Gilda’s fist tightened, punching the filly in her head, sending her in spirals toward the Equestrian earth. Roaring winds sent her mane in dismay, stinging her cheeks as they randomly flailed whipping at her sides. With slight consciousness, she looked down to see the ever expanding ground and shrieked at the reality of the situation. She tried to spread her wings, but fear denied her the ability to do so. For the first time in the filly’s life, she felt a new phobia of heights.
Seconds before impact, Gilda snatched her by the hoof, holding her upside down as she teased the traumatized filly, “Awe, the kid’s shaking!” Twirling her around by the tail, and with a flick of her talons, Scootaloo was sent flying to a tree, her back taking most of the damage with her final breath drawn. Blood seeped from her snout, and black bruises shrouded her left eye. A scar ran down the filly’s head, possibly a concussion.
“Huh, wimp,” Gilda smirked at the beaten filly gasping in her breaths. She left the pony there, weak and shattered to wallow in her own blood and wounds. If it wasn’t for Fluttershy flying overhead, she might’ve died.
The Pegasus brought Scootaloo into the Ponyville infirmary, praying she’d be alright. Rainbow Dash received word about the incident and immediately came to her aid. Lying on the gurney, Scootaloo was fighting for her consciousness. Rainbow felt tears build up, and almost escape, but those were made of anger. She vowed, Whoever did this was going to pay.
the Pegasus walked up to the crippled being and asked, “Who did this?”
Scootaloo tried to lift her body and huffed, “It was some gryphon… her name was G- ... Gilda.”
Rainbow had a feeling this was her ex-friend’s doing, but how could she have known she would stoop so low as to harm an innocent filly. Rage built in her chest, and hot blood was churned vigorously. Her heartbeat wasn’t just felt now, but could be heard by both her, and Scootaloo. Closing her eyes, trying not to scream, she just stood there, boiling in her anger, melting in the fury of her emotions. Lust to avenge the filly coursed through her body. She left, not saying a word. Once outside, Fluttershy left and asked Rainbow, “What are you planning on… uh, doing?”
“You don’t wanna know.”
Her voice was cold, the harshest Fluttershy ever heard. This wasn’t Rainbow anymore, but a defender, a friend, and the one who wouldn’t let Scootaloo be pushed around like this. Her wings spread wide and proud, lifted her up and in one single, spectrum blast, she was off, headed to wherever Gilda might be at this moment.
High above the clear blue sky, the pegasus searched for her target. Her aggravation reached new levels with every moment that passed by, wanting desperately to spot the gryphon and have her vengeance. Soon, one lone cloud with a feathery being resting on it was detected. She floated there for a moment, seeing Gilda nice and comfy while her victim lay in the hospital bed, teetering on the edge of death; the thought alone infuriated Rainbow as she lost all sense of peaceful thoughts. Scorching through the skies, making her way towards Gilda, hooves extended and ready for the fight that was surely unavoidable, she impaled her like a speeding bullet.
Gilda felt the devastating impact of Rainbow’s hoof on her chest, clearing her head of the blissful dream she was enjoying. The two began descend to the ground with increasing velocity, the cone barrier once forming a bit too late. The gryphon’s wings extended to stop her a few feet away from the ground, shattering the barrier before them, both landing firm on the surface below. “What’s gotten into you, Dash?!” Gilda quipped at the cerulean Pegasus.
“I’d never think you’d do this! You beat that filly up, and nearly killed her! What’s gotten into me? What’s gotten into YOU?!” The spectrum maned mare retorted.
Instead of trying to be understanding of the situation, Gilda began to chuckle and laugh, throwing Rainbow over the deep end. One hoof punched that smile right off the bird’s face, forcing her to lose some balance on impact. Another was grabbed by her talon, but was soon ripped free only to return. Punch after punch was dealt onto Gilda’s beak, a few landing on her eyes. Eventually, she tried to return the damage, but this was a futile exercise. Rainbow blocked every blow and dodged all her attacks as adrenaline coursed through her veins, time seemingly to have slowed down just for her. For fifteen minutes, the two exchanged fists, brawling with each other while rising once more to midair. Slowly, they settled on the ground again, both tired and hurt. Rainbow backed up, little blood dripped from her lip that got cut by Gilda’s claw. The gryphon, on the other hoof, was thoroughly wounded and barely conscious.
The spectrum maned Pegasus spat the sour, red liquid to the ground, looking at her half-beaten foe, “This is a new low for you… you think you can go around beating on little fillies like it’s nothing?! You need to learn right from wrong… and I’ll HELP!”
With a graceful loop and a mighty flap of her wings, she charged with intent to hospitalize Gilda. Mere inches from the gryphon’s beak, Rainbow abruptly came to a sudden halt, pivoting one eighty degrees as she hopped from the ground with a sucker-buck matching the speeds of a Sonic Rainboom, its cone and the hoof itself uppercutting Gilda beneath her chin.
THUD! Gilda’s body came to a slow bounce on the rigid gravel surface, beaten to a pulp as her dilated eyes watched the vaults of heaven above in disbelief. Scootaloo would’ve looked fine in contrast to her. Cuts and bleeding puffiness coated her feathered body. Rainbow thought of just leaving her there to bleed out, but decided to carry her to the medical facility to heal. If she just abandoned her, that would make Rainbow just as corrupt as her friend when she left Scootaloo there, hurt and alone.
Entering, she instructed the nurses to take her in, but also make sure they had extra security guarding her room. Rainbow entered Scootaloo’s walls to see the small filly in bed, tears running down her cheeks. The purple manned filly slept peacefully, and Rainbow swore, from that day on, she’d be there for Scootaloo, to make sure she’d be safe from harm if it ever approached her way again.
“R-Rain... bow Dash?” Scootaloo’s eyes saw the pegasus lean over her, whipping some strands of her mane away from her ruffled forehead.
“Relax... everything’s going to be fine, trust me... I won’t let Gilda hurt you again, alright?”
The orange filly smiled, something Rainbow hadn’t seen her do yet. One single drop of salty water left her eye, slid solemnly down and landed on the filly’s hoof. She watched Scootaloo slip into the dream path she wished to follow due to being so exasperated from the fight. Now, being able to leave her there with the warmth of medical care, Rainbow brushed the mane of the filly once more, the strands of hair that coated her eyes with one last phrase before exiting the scene.
“Don’t Worry, Scootaloo. I promise.”
