Left to her own devices, Gilda decided to take a little stroll downtown. And oh, was she a naughty little pigeon. Fluttershy was a victim of verbal abuse and Pinkie Pie, the pony everyone loved (with the obvious Lavender exception), had been downright bullied. The entire town was in an uproar about it. With Rainbow Dash nowhere in sight, it was the town's word against her oldest friend's, and Dash's Loyalties could be called into question in a situation like this.

Everypony who cared gathered in the town hall to discuss the situation.

"We have to do something about her, she's terrorising the town. We'd chase her off if she wasn't an exchange student." said Carrot-top. Some of the ponies agreed with her, muttering a chorus of concurrence.

"It's not as simple as that, she's Rainbow Dash's friend." Derpy argued. Among those that had agreed before, some of them mumbled their resignation at that fact.

"Being a friend of one of the town's heroes is no excuse for her behavior. She has to go!" Lyra countered. More ponies voiced their agreement.

"And how do we expect to get rid of her? We're not exactly the Royal guard, and she's no reindeer." challenged Cheerilee. There was a pregnant pause as everypony considered their options.

"What about Dusk Shine?" a random pony asked. The others looked to Cheerilee for a response.

"Dusk may be a dead end. Gilda's actions aren't affecting his own work or life, so he'll have no reason to fix our problem unless it's one he shares." the Plum teacher replied, putting hand to chin in deep thought.

"There's no harm in asking him." said Carrot-top.

"Please, after a conversation with that stallion, you end up leaving the Library feeling worse than you did when you went in. I asked him to help me with some of the Stallion designs and after he declined, I felt like I needed a cold shower." Rarity argued, waving her hand around as if to dismiss the very notion.

"I'll ask him. He's less likely to say no to me. If that's okay with everypony." Fluttershy piped up. Everypony looked at her, making the shy mare feel very uncomfortable.

Fluttershy knocked timidly on the door. It was barely audible for a wolf to hear, yet somehow, Dusk had heard it. When Fluttershy saw him at the door, he looked a little frazzled to say the least. He was panting, sweating; his mane was all over the place.

"Fluttershy.... what's up?" he asked, out of breath.

"Um.. have I come at a bad time?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yes, but I don't see a better one on the horizon... come in." As he opened the door, Fluttershy was assaulted with the smell of perspiration.

"Have you been working out?" she asked as she sniffed the air, wrinkling her nose at the result. Dusk closed the door and coughed.

"Yeah, kind of. It's a new routine I'm working on. I'm trying to keep all areas of my mind active. That includes the physical, inquisitive and the arcane aspects of the... neo-cortex. So, what can I help you with?" he asked, unusually chipper.

"Um... well that is if you don't mind, Gilda, the Gryphon has been hurting everypony's feelings, as well as their livelihoods. Everypony knows that you're the one to come to if there's trouble beyond our ability to fix." she began. Dusk raised a brow as she poke.

"Not sure I... like that." he said, panting still.

"I'm sorry." she commented.

"Not your fault... so you want me to... what, scold a Gryphon?" he asked.

"Well, Applejack said something else, but I'm not comfortable saying those words." she replied. Before more words could emerge between the two, Trixie entered with a gardening mask and a scented spray can, spraying the room.

"Honestly Master, you really need to find a new exercise regime. It smells like sex in here, and believe me, I've had my fair share of sexual encounters. I was even raped a few times, and it felt great." she boasted. Dusk just stared at her.

"For Celestia's sake, Trixie, Nopony wants to rape you!" Barb asked as she entered from the kitchen, holding a hand towel to her mouth.

"What an awful thing to say!" Trixie commented. Fluttershy was beyond confused. She looked to Dusk for clarification.

"Well I suppose I could use one of your exercise regimes. I always enjoy doing a round of nothing." Dusk said, taking Fluttershy by the arm and leading her up to his room. Fluttershy couldn't get out of that situation with Dusk quick enough.

"Um... what was that all about?" she asked.

"I have no idea. Ever since I turned Barb back into a female dragon the two have been... well you saw for yourself... gayer than my sister, that's for sure." he said.

"You think there's something there?" she asked.

"I hope so. Then Trixie can deal with Barb's snoring. I've had to replace several bed sheets in the last three months because she keeps sending them to Celestia in her sleep." he said.

"That's terrible!" Fluttershy commented.

"Yes, and the bitch never sends them back. Keeps saying Luna steals them for her collection." he grumbled. Fluttershy put a hand to her mouth in surprise.

"Oh, my." she uttered.

"I mean what would Luna want with a collection of my bedsheets?" Dusk asked. Fluttershy raised a brow. Did Dusk really not see what Fluttershy saw? "Anyway, about Gilda," he began. Fluttershy brought her attention to the conversation at hand.

"Will you help?" she asked.

"I'm afraid I can't." he replied. That was not the answer Fluttershy wanted to hear. Her ears drooped slightly.

"Oh."

"You see, this is a personal matter between Gilda and Rainbow Dash. With the touchy relationship between Gryphons and Ponies, it's highly likely that even Rainbow Dash would consider the fact that you would all try to get rid of her by inventing lies. Then Its your word against her's. My input would undoubtedly just help Dash sway over to Gilda's side even more."

"So what should we do?" Fluttershy asked.

"Find Rainbow Dash and plan to have her see how horrible Gilda really is. Then let her decide for herself who to back." he replied.

"But nopony can find Rainbow Dash anywhere." she complained.

"She's bucking clouds for the weather company right now."

"Oh." she said sheepishly. "Hold on, how would you know that?"

"I memorised her weekly schedule. By the way, you've got five minutes before your Angel bunny starts storming the market looking for his Lunch." he replied, looking at his watch. Fluttershy gasped and rushed for the door.

"Okay, thank you Dusk, I'll see you later!" she called as she ran down the stairs and out the Library.

"Right... time to crack Pi." he said, clapping his hands together and rubbing them in anticipation.

Author's Note

This is the end of the chapter and the Gilda side-story. You all should know what happens, it's pretty much the canon ending, only Pinkie's party was a plan to make Gilda look bad in front of Rainbow Dash. All the while, Dusk couldn't care less.

'Til next time folks!