Friends, Forgiveness, and Magic
I Am Vengeance
The bell rang, signaling the end of the school day at the Peaceville Schoolhouse. Zecora was almost finished packing up her stuff so that she could return home. She paused and smiled as a group of ponies approached her. “Hello dear Snips, Snails, Tiara, and Spoon. What can I do for you on this fine afternoon?”
“Hi Miss Zecora. We want to join the school newspaper,” Diamond Tiara announced confidently.
Zecora nodded. “Ah, you wish to join the Peaceful Press? To lose your cutie marks, I would hazard a guess. The challenge could make you all much wiser. But I cannot hire you, for I am just the paper’s advisor. If you truly think being journalists is your fate, talk to the editor Featherweight. If there are no other questions, I must be on my way. I wish you all a very good day.”
Silver Spoon led the way to the area of the schoolhouse that held the newspaper club. “The editor is Featherweight?! How is this the first time I’m hearing about this?”
“I’m not surprised you don’t pay much attention to the school paper. The Peaceful Press is a joke!” Diamond said. “But that’s why we’re joining it. With our leadership, Diamond’s Cutie Mark Destroyers can propel the Peaceful Press to new-found glory!”
“Okay, cool. But back to the fact that Featherweight is the editor? Featherweight, the guy who just lost his cutie mark?” Silver groaned.
“Well, wouldn’t that mean we’re on the right track for losing ours?” Snails asked.
“Exactly,” Diamond said as she pushed the door open and walked inside with a confident march and her head held high. The four of them went straight to the editor’s desk. Featherweight was a pegasus colt with a yellowish-gray coat and brownish-orange mane and tail. “Featherweight, we’re here to join the Peaceful Press!”
Featherweight blinked down at them. “Oh? Um…okay. We’re a little understaffed anyway. I think we have some hats and notepads on the supply shelf. If you don’t have your own cameras we have a few on the equipment shelf over there, but please don’t break or lose them. You have to pay for them if you do, but I guess that won’t be a problem with you.”
“Oh, totally. My dad is very generous with his allowance,” Silver said with a slightly boastful smile.
“…I meant that I know you’ll be careful, but sure.”
“Wait, that’s it?” Diamond asked.
Featherweight shrugged. “Um, yeah. That’s it, until you guys can find me a story. Then I’ll have to make sure it’s good enough to run and uh…yeah.”
“We won’t let you down!” Snails said as he snapped a salute. Snips followed with his own salute and eventually Diamond and Silver gave their own.
Minutes later, Diamond and Silver were armed with pencils and notepads while Snips and Snails were armed with cameras. “Okay you two, make sure you document everything newsworthy. I want something BIG for our first story,” Diamond said.
“Ooh! We could do a story on the Chaos Corner, eh?” Snails suggested.
Diamond shook her head. “No. The Chaos Corner is exciting, but it’s not exactly news anymore.”
“I wrote a letter and got a reply back from one of the writers who works on the Mane-iac comics. We could do a story about that,” Snips said.
Silver smiled and rolled her eyes. “I guess that might be good. But a whole page on one letter? I dunno. Maybe we could do a story on Mary Mare. Can you imagine the mayor’s assistant in a mane dyeing scandal? Who wouldn't wanna read about that?”
“That’s good…but it’s not new! We need something fresh and juicy!” Diamond insisted.
“Ooh, what about that? That looks newsworthy, eh?” Snails said. The others looked to where he was pointing. Diamond recognized the brown coated, dark-brown haired earth stallion as Doctor Hooves. Or was that Time Turner? Either way, the good doctor was sneaking into the Equestria forest.
“That doesn’t look like the safe path to Zecora’s house. Why’s he going into the Equestria forest? I thought it was really dangerous in there,” Silver said.
“Oh it can’t be that dangerous. Come on guys, this is just the sort of fresh and juicy news we need!” Diamond grinned as she followed Doctor Hooves into the forest, her friends tagging along behind her. They went deeper into the forest as they followed him, making sure to keep out of sight. Soon the doctor ducked into a small cave within the forest. The four kids leaned their heads into the cave to see what was going on. It appeared that Doctor Hooves was having an argument with…a rabbit.
“Look, I’m sorry but my supply has been completely used up! I can’t make any more if there’s nothing to make it with!” Doctor Hooves cried.
The rabbit thumped his foot angrily.
“Please, I’m sorry. I’ve been sorry since this whole mess started. But it’s been years! Maybe it’s run its course now!”
The rabbit scowled.
“Look, you know what…no. No, I’m done talking with you. You should all know that I’m sorry for what I did, but I’m not going to keep getting bullied by ‘precious Angel bunny’. We’re done,” Doctor Hooves said.
The rabbit hopped over and kicked him. Doctor Hooves winced and almost aimed a kick of his own at the rabbit before he lowered his leg. “Goodbye Mister Angel. …If nothing else, tell them I wish her good luck.” As the stallion and rabbit began to leave the cave, the Cutie Mark Destroyers quickly broke into a gallop back to Peaceville.
“That was brilliant! Tell me you guys got a photo!” Diamond said as she ran.
“Yep! Made sure the flash was off so they didn’t see us, but it didn’t look too dark in that cave,” Snips said.
“Perfect! ‘Doctor Hooves involved in Secret Conspiracy with Angry Rabbit!’ Ooh, that’s just the kind of thing that will propel us into stardom!” Diamond giggled.
“Wait!” Silver shouted as she screeched to a halt. The others stopped too and looked at her. “…Are we going the right way?” The fillies and colts paused as they examined their surroundings. None of the trees looked familiar. “Oh no, are we lost?!”
“We’re not lost,” Diamond argued. “We came in through…this way,” she said as she pointed in a random direction. “Now let’s hurry back and get this story written up for the paper.”
“Um…guys? What should we do with this guy?” they heard Snails ask. They turned around to see a timberwolf puppy yipping and jumping around him in a circle.
“A timberwolf? What’s this thing doing out here? Don’t the puppies stay with their moms?” Silver asked. The four of them jumped as their heard a horrendous howl. Soon, a very large and very angry timberwolf jumped out from the bushes, snarling at them.
“Ah heh…this isn’t what it looks like…he followed us, honest!” Diamond said, trying to placate the angry timberwolf as they all backed away from the pup. But it looked like the wild tree monster wasn’t willing to listen to them. As the younger timberwolf pup ran back home to its cave, the adult timberwolf began chasing the terrified fillies and colts through the Equestria forest. The mother didn’t seem to care that her baby was no longer in any nonexistent ‘danger’ and was only looking to exact revenge. The Cutie Mark Destroyers screamed as they ran as fast as their legs could carry them, desperately hoping they were running in the direction of Peaceville.
“What are you pipsqueaks doing?!” The four of them found their path cut off by a furious griffon as Gilda flew in from the sky and landed in front of them. “Get behind me NOW!” she ordered as the timberwolf approached them. The timberwolf roared at them and Gilda charged at the beast. She punched it in the jaw, flew around and kicked it in the back, and sunk her talons into its thick bark as she clawed at it. She then launched herself high into the air, before coming down in a miniature Brave Bird’s Blitz, her body sending bolts of red lightning at the timberwolf and leaving it a scorched pile of branches and leaves.
The Cutie Mark Destroyers stared in awe at the short battle before them. Once the timberwolf was defeated, Gilda flew back over to them. “What were you four thinking, out here in the Equestria forest with no one else with you?!” She held up a talon when they tried to answer her. “Nope! I’m sure your folks will wanna hear about this once we’re outta here. It won’t be long before the ugly tree dog regenerates itself, so let’s hurry. I’ll carry you boys in my claws. You girls get on my back.” She lowered herself to the ground as Diamond and Silver climbed on her back. She picked Snips and Snails in her claws, before standing up and unfolding her wings. “Hold on tight, but for sky’s sake do NOT yank out my feathers!” She then flapped her wings and flew out of the forest.
“Diamond Dazzle Tiara, what were you thinking?!” Filthy Rich asked as he glared at his daughter. “You know you’re supposed to only take the safe path to Zecora’s house. Any other place in the forest you’re ONLY allowed to go with a responsible grown-up accompanying you. But instead, you take yourself and three of your friends out into the forest with no idea where you were going! What do you have to say for yourself young lady?”
Diamond lowered her head in shame. “…I’m sorry daddy. You’re right…there isn’t really anything I can say to make this sound better. We were going into the forest to try and find a story for the Peaceful Press. But we won’t go in there anymore, unless it’s to visit Miss Zecora. I’m sorry.”
Her dad sighed. “Alright then. Since you know what you did wrong and you’re not going to do it again, I’ll try to be fair with your punishment. You’re grounded for a week. You’ll only leave the house to go to school and then straight back here. If you want to play with your friends, you’ll do it here where I can see you all. You can’t go to the Chaos Corner, but I’ll let you play any games you want here at home. Does that sound fair?”
Diamond opened her mouth to complain…but it did sound like a much nicer punishment than she was expecting. “Yes daddy.”
Filthy Rich nodded as Diamond went up to her room. He turned around and smiled at Gilda. “As for you, thank you for saving my daughter and her friends.”
Gilda puffed her chest up with pride. “Ah, you know. A hero like me couldn’t just let the little pipsqueaks be wolf food.”
“I am curious though…what were you doing out in the Equestria forest?”
“Oh. Uh…don’t tell the kids this but I was out doing, ya know…griffon stuff.”
“I’m afraid I don’t follow.”
“…I was out hunting, okay? Fruits and veggies are okay and I buy meat from the market most of the time. But I grew up hunting my own food back home. So I was out in the forest hunting.”
Filthy Rich grimaced slightly but quickly recovered. “Ah yes. Well as long as your…meal…wasn’t sentient, that seems to be in order. Now back, to rewarding you for your heroic act.”
Gilda blushed a little. “Eh, you don’t need to do that…”
“I insist.”
“Well, a reward would be nice if you’re offering…” Gilda said as she brushed her talons along her chest feathers.
“And then she blasted the timberwolf with a HUGE Brave Bird’s Blitz! KABLAM!” Snips cheered as he related the story to the kids of Peaceville Schoolhouse. It was recess and all the colts, fillies, and changeling nymphs had gathered to hear what happened the other night.
“So cool!” Scootaloo said as she listened to them.
“Yeah. But then we all got grounded when Gilda took us home,” Silver grumbled.
“Aw, that sucks,” Sweetie Belle said, offering them a sympathetic look.
“Still, Gilda saved you all from an angry timberwolf! Gilbert will wanna hear this!” Scootaloo said. As some of the other kids gave her strange looks, she explained. “Gilbert? Gilda’s cousin? He was here for the Best Young Fliers Competition before he went home. He’s president of a fan club in the Crystal Empire for the Elements, and I know he’ll wanna hear about this!”
“What were y’all doing in the forest anyway?” Apple Bloom asked.
Diamond spoke up. “We saw these a stallion and a rabbit getting into an argument in the forest. Personally, I totally think there’s a conspiracy going on. But you’ll have to read about in today’s edition of Peaceful Press!” She smiled confidently as some of the other colts, fillies, and nymphs groaned.
Apple Bloom blinked. “Um, DT? Can Ah take in private with ya fir a sec?”
Diamond smiled at the thought of spending alone time with the only filly in school more popular and richer than her. “Of course Apple Bloom!” She followed her to other side of the playground, where nobody else was at the time.
“So…y’all joined the school paper?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Totally! I see it as like, the perfect way to get un-cutie cursed. Plus, somebody can finally turn that old joke of newspaper into something people would actually want to read,” Diamond explained, smiling proudly.
“Uh huh. And yer plan fir that involves conspiracy? Ya know, most folks don’t really take conspiracy stuff seriously.”
“Sure they will! I mean, Doctor Hooves getting bullied by a fluffy little rabbit? People would love a story that juicy!”
Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. “Juicy?”
“Oh yes. And after that, I’m sure Peaceville is just FULL of stuff that could make the gossip columns.”
Apple Bloom’s eyes widened. “Gossip? Uh, slow down DT. People don’t like gossip.”
Diamond blinked in surprise. “They don’t?”
“Ah mean…yer supposed to write about the news. Like, what’s right in front of everyone. That way if someone wasn’t there to see it, then y’all were. But ya can’t go snooping into someone’s private life.”
“Why not?” Diamond asked.
“Well…folks have secrets! An’ they don’t like those secrets being, ya know not-secrets! It could hurt people feelings,” Apple Bloom insisted.
Diamond rolled her eyes. “What about celebrities? Journalists spy on them all the time and reveal their secrets.”
“Ah never heard of anything like that happening. Even if it did, it ain’t right.” Apple Bloom paused, biting her lip before she spoke again. “Ah…Ah had this…friend once. Her name was Gabby Gums. She worked for the paper too.”
Diamond raised an eyebrow. “Gabby Gums? I’ve never heard of her before.”
“Uh…exactly! Ya see, she got in real BIG trouble when she spied on ponies and wrote ‘bout their secrets in the paper. She had ta write a big apology to everyone, but it wasn’t enough! She hurt ponies too badly and then…she was never heard from again!” Apple Bloom finished dramatically.
Diamond gasped. “What happened to Gabby Gums?”
“Ah just told ya…she was never heard from again!” Apple Bloom smiled weakly. “Besides, how would ya like it if someone wrote about your secrets?”
Diamond sighed. “I wouldn’t. Okay, we won’t write any gossip. But what are we supposed to write about?”
Apple Bloom smiled. “Easy. Why, y’all were just telling folks the news just now. Y’all should write about Gilda saving y’all! People love hero stories like that!”
Diamond blinked. “But I thought journalists weren’t supposed to write about themselves.”
“Nah, ya just have to keep it professional. Y’all can say you were there, just don’t write any personal stuff in the paper.”
Diamond grinned as she saw the story coming together. “Thank you so much Apple Bloom! Guys! New plan!” she yelled as she ran back to meet with Silver, Snips and Snails.
Apple Bloom smiled and walked back to meet with Sweetie and Scootaloo. As she walked, a pink filly with a crazy mane stopped her.
“Excuse me, did I hear you mention Gabby Gums?” the filly asked.
Apple Bloom stopped, her eyes darting from left to right. “Um…nope,” she lied. She quickly ran back inside the schoolhouse as the bell rang.
The filly watched her and the other kids enter the school. Snapping her fingers, the filly changed her form back into Pinkie Pie. Pinkie rubbed her chin in thought. After a minute, she was still puzzled. Her face a mixture of thoughtfulness and frustration, Pinkie snapped her fingers and disappeared.
“And then I blasted the tree mutt with a Brave Bird’s Blitz straight to the muzzle! KABLAM!” Gilda said as she retold the event to her friends in the Chaos Corner.
“I heard. It’s in the Peaceful Press,” Sunset Shimmer said as she levitated a copy of the paper onto the table for them to see.
“I made the news? Awesome!” Gilda beamed as she picked up the paper and read through it.
“Well congratulations Gilda. You certainly deserve the praise,” Rarity said.
“Aw, if I had been out hunting I coulda helped you take that timberwolf down,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Why would you be out hunting?” Chrysalis asked.
“Well…I wouldn’t be but…oh, you know what I mean!” Rainbow said.
“I tell ya, between this and when I pinned down Trixie during the whole crazy spell thing, I’ve been pretty amazing lately!” Gilda said with a smug smile.
Sunset and Trixie winced. “Could we please not talk about the Inspiration Manifestation?” Trixie asked.
“Indeed. Instead let’s talk about Eris’ latest letter!” Discord suggested as he teleported from one side of the room to the other. He reached into his ear and pulled out a letter. “‘Dearest Onii-chan Discord. I recently spoke with dearest Uncle Discombobulate-sensei-sempai-kun. He said he just finished his latest invention, the Internet! He then said that he would begin inventing computers to use the Internet sometime next week. And then he told me something very strange. It sounded like it began with ‘troll’. Clearly, our dear uncle forgot to take his medicine. I will send him more electric eels tomorrow. I send you my love and this fruit pie.’”
Discord paused as a pie flew out of the letter and hit him in the face. His long tongue cleaned his face and ate the remains of the pie in one gulp. “‘Sincerely your loving Oneesan Super Kawaii Eris.’”
“Seriously, why does she talk like that?” Smog asked.
Nightmare Moon shrugged, having given up on figuring out the reasons behind the various quirks that Discord and his family had. She glanced at the one clock that actually told the time in the Chaos Corner. “Looks like your lunch break is up Gilda, Rainbow.”
“Oh shoot! Thanks for telling us. Come on G, there’s still a bunch of thunderclouds out there we need to bust!” Rainbow said before she flapped her wings and zoomed out of the Chaos Corner.
Gilda chuckled. “A hero’s work is never done,” she said before she flew off too.
Sunset frowned. “I wouldn’t call clearing a few tiny clouds hero’s work, but whatever.”
That afternoon, Gilda’s head poked out from behind a cloud as she heard a baby crying. A baby earth pony with a yellow coat and purple mane in a pink carriage was hurtling down the hill and towards a cliff. Gilda quickly flapped her wings and leapt off the cloud, quickly zooming over and grabbing the carriage before it could go plunging off the cliff. Ponies that were nearby cheered as Gilda carried the baby and the carriage back over to the baby’s mother, a pink earth pony mare with a blond mane and tail.
As she got close to the mother, Gilda suddenly gasped. “Oh no! There’s something wrong with her!”
The mother gasped too. “What? What is it?”
Gilda chuckled. “She’s not cheering for everyone’s favourite hero!”
The mother frowned. “Excuse me, my baby almost falling off a cliff is not a joke!”
Gilda stopped chuckling. “Okay sorry, that wasn’t nice. I was just joshing ya. My bad.”
The mother sighed and happily hugged her baby as Gilda handed her over. “That’s okay. Thank you so much for saving her.”
Gilda beamed with pride. “Eh, it’s cool. Happy to help.” As the mother and her baby walked away, Gilda heard camera flashes going off. She turned around to see Snips, Snails, and older ponies taking pictures of her. She grinned and flexed her wings as she posed for pictures.
As the other Elements caught up with the rest of the crowd to see what happened, Discord huffed. “Inconceivable! To think someone would build a road leading right off a cliff, and with nothing blocking anyone from falling off!” He snapped his fingers and created a strong fence made of super thick green jelly along the cliff.
Nightmare nodded. “Good thinking. It’d be terrible if someone actually fell off.”
“Is jelly really a good substance to use though?” Sunset asked.
Discord snapped his fingers and conjured up a battering ram. On his command it smacked right into the fence. The jelly fence jiggled a lot but the battering ram was unable to break through. “Trust me, the jelly is to soften the impact. And to snack on a little. It would take something far stronger than a speeding baby carriage to break through.” Discord huffed again. “No fence on the cliff. And people call ME irresponsible!” His eyes widened as a watch on his tail buzzed. “Oh dear, is that the time?” He snapped his fingers and donned a red wig, a purple suit, and clown makeup. He then snapped his fingers again and disappeared.
“What…I…why…clown?” a confused Nightmare asked.
“Take Trixie’s advice: don’t take it too seriously.” Trixie said.
“That was amazing Gilda! Can we get an interview? We’re with the Peaceful Press!” they heard Diamond Tiara exclaim.
Gilda grinned. “Sure. The public needs to know how awesome I am.”
“Oh there aren’t enough words to describe your awesomeness!” Snips said as he and Snails kept taking pictures.
Trixie frowned at her two biggest fans as they praised Gilda. Sunset narrowed her eyes as Gilda kept posing for pictures.
Rainbow huffed. “I can think of a few words. And modest isn’t one of them.”
Smog raised an eyebrow at them. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means, well…don’t you think she’s taking this a little far?” Sunset asked.
“She’s just playing to the crowd,” Smog said.
Trixie frowned as Snips and Snails jumped around Gilda. “It seems like she’s just bragging a little.”
Discord appeared before them in a flash of light. He rubbed the remaining clown makeup off his face and snapped his fingers again. “Jealousy?”
Rainbow stared at him. “What?”
“I said jelly. Want some?” he asked as he held out a plate of green jelly.
Rainbow pushed the plate away. “No thanks. Maybe later.”
Discord shrugged and then looked at Gilda. “It’s nice to see Gilda out and about more. Before the Young Fliers competition she mostly kept to herself, aside from us. I heard Gilbert set up a fan club for her and all of us in the Crystal Empire.”
Rainbow frowned “A fan club too? Is that so?”
Rainbow grumbled. “Okay, this is kinda getting annoying. I think this hero stuff is getting to G’s head. She’s been bragging nonstop.” She, Sunset, Rarity, and Trixie were outside near the Chaos Corner, listening to Gilda talk about all of her heroic deeds to a large group of kids. Diamond and Silver were there, jotting notes down like mad.
“And then I zoomed into the well! I tell ya, it was a long way down that dark well. But little Aura was trapped down there and someone had to get her out! I thought to myself, if I can stop an angry timberwolf and a crazed unicorn-”
Trixie winced.
“-then saving that kid would be no problem! Thinking back on it, it’s been a crazy couple o’ weeks. Good thing I’m here to be my awesome and heroic self!” Gilda bragged.
“Don’t forget arrogant,” Sunset muttered. Rainbow, Rarity and Trixie nodded.
“And of course, there’s the day when Dash and I stopped that collapsing porch. Good thing we were both there, I tell ya five old ponies and a broken porch is pretty heavy.” Gilda flapped her wings and hopped off the stage, walking over to where the other Elements were sitting at the back of the group. “Hey Dash! Come get a picture with me! I might not have been able to save the old timers without ya. Might.”
Rainbow flashed a quick smile for the camera, then turned away from her friend and scowled. As Gilda went over to talk some more with the kids, Rainbow went over to her friends. “Hey girls, can I run an idea by you?”
The next morning, Gilda was signing an autograph for a young filly with a white coat and blond mane and tail. “Here ya go kid.”
“Some day, I wanna be just like you!” the filly cheered.
“Thanks kid. Though I dunno if you wanna be just like me. I may be awesome, but I crash almost as much as any stunt flier. Plus I’m an omnivore and something tells me you wouldn’t be big on eating meat.”
The filly shook her head. “My dad says to always try something before I say I don’t like it. I could eat meat!”
“Kid, I appreciate the thought but it’s cool. Aim high kid, but do it in a way so people know what makes you special.” Gilda chuckled as the filly gave her a hug. “Love ya too kid. Now go on, get outta here.”
As the filly ran home Gilda flapped her wings to take off, before a voice stopped her.
“Aim high, but do it in your own way? Inspirational Miss Gilda.” Gilda turned around to see a unicorn mare with a dark pink coat and a blonde mane and tail. “Good morning Miss Gilda. I don’t think we’ve met before.”
“Wait, hold on. Name’s on the tip of my tongue, uh…” Gilda snapped her talons as she tried to remember the name. “Sunflower? Sunset’s cousin?”
Sunflower smiled. “Yup. I might even be Big Macintosh’s cousin, if you take a close look at the family tree.”
“Uh…cool?”
Sunflower blushed. “Sorry, you mentioned me being Sunset’s cousin and…never mind. I came here to Peaceville for Family Weekend, but I couldn’t make it until afterwards because I missed the train and I had to wait for the next one and then that train was late…but you probably don’t care about that.”
“Not even a little,” Gilda said with blunt honesty.
“Right. There IS a reason I came by to talk with you though.”
Gilda shrugged. “Okay, I got nothing better to do and nobody to save at the moment.” She grinned. “Did you hear about the time I saved-”
Sunflower held up a hoof. “Yes, I have heard. That’s what I wanted to talk about. You know…getting to celebrate your accomplishments is amazing, isn’t it? I bet if feels amazing, with ponies thinking of you as this super-powerful hero?”
Gilda grinned. “Heck yeah!”
“Right. But you don’t want that power to go to your head, if you know what I’m saying?” Sunflower said. “I mean…it’s like those Mane-iac and Shadowmane comic books, you know? They wear a mask so that they can have a normal life outside of being heroes. They don’t do it for popularity, they do it because saving lives is the right thing to do. And even though they’re not trying to look awesome, they still do!”
Gilda tilted her head in thought. “Huh. Ya know, I was checking out a Bravely Blue book a while ago and Smog convinced me to try some of those comic things. The action in it is freaking awesome for a kids’ story!”
Sunflower smiled. “Right. Of course, ponies like Shadowmane don’t brag too much about their accomplishments. I mean, beating up bad guys like Eternal Twilight and saving lives is great! But when you start talking about how saving a clumsy kid from a well and making it sound like you were going down into Tartarus and back…people might stop taking you seriously.”
Gilda frowned. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying, well…do you really need to tell everyone how amazing you are when they’re doing that for you? Lots of comic book heroes just smile and hug fans when they get cheering crowds. They don’t brag about a battle that just happened.”
Gilda poked a talon at her. “Are you saying I’m bragging?”
Sunflower held her hooves up to placate her. “Only a teeny, tiny, little bit. I want you to celebrate your accomplishments Gilda. But don’t forget that your friends have done great things too.”
“Of course my friends have done great things! I needed Dash’s help when that porch collapsed! And do I really need to explain all the other times my friends and I’ve been awesome?”
Sunflower smiled. “No, you don’t. I’m only suggesting that you don’t go too far with the, ahem ‘heroic speeches.’”
Gilda sighed. “Okay, I get it. Maybe I’ve been saying ‘I’m awesome’ a little too much lately.”
Sunflower patted her on the back. “Only a little. Now I know you already scheduled an autograph session this afternoon and you don’t want to disappoint those kids. But after today, why not just relax? Give the whole hero thing a quick rest?” Sunflower reached into her bag and offered Gilda a glowing blue crystal, filled with magical energy. “Here. Even heroes need a little recharger. Do the pegasus crystals work for griffons?”
“Eh, well enough,” Gilda said as she took the crystal and crushed it in her claws, absorbing the magic within it. “Thanks Sunflower, good talking with ya. Say hi to Sunny for me.”
Sunflower smiled as she watched Gilda fly away. She smiled wider as she saw her cousin come down the road. “Hi Sunset. Feeling better?”
Sunset nodded as she levitated some dark purple cloth behind her. “Yes, just needed to get some things for Rarity. Was Gilda just here?”
Sunflower nodded. “I had a talk with her. She said she’d slow down on the bragging.”
Sunset stopped and raised an eyebrow. “You got Gilda to give up? Gilda? Just like that?”
“Yup.” Sunflower glanced at the purple cloth. “So what does Miss Rarity need that for?”
“It’s for something uh…private,” Sunset said. “Why don’t you explore town for a bit? I’ll let you know when I’ve got lunch ready at Clear Crystal Caverns.” Sunflower smiled and began walking into town. Sunset frowned in thought. “Gilda give up? Unlikely. Better proceed as planned,” she muttered to herself.
That afternoon, Gilda was outside signing autographs for another group of fillies, colts, and nymphs. And her talons were getting a little sore from all the signing. She considered using her beak, but that might snap the pencils.
At that moment, someone screamed for help. A changeling that Gilda recognized as Chrysalis' friend Iris was falling out of the sky, screaming that her wings weren’t working anymore. On closer examination, it looked like one of Iris’ natural wing-holes had acquired a large rip in them, making her left wing unusable.
“Ah darn! Save that scrap for later kid!” Gilda said as she pushed away from one filly giving her another scrap of paper to autograph. Gilda quickly flapped her wings and launched into the air. Unfortunately Iris was pretty far away from her.
Just as Gilda was catching up to Iris, someone else appeared. A pegasus pony wearing a full body dark purple suit with dark blue hoof-gloves and a cape, a dark blue mask, a dark purple and blue hat, and a bright blue M symbol was flying through the sky. The pony managed to catch Iris before Gilda could and slowly flew back down to the ground, setting the changeling down safely. A crowd formed to cheer for the mysterious pony, but the newcomer flew off.
“Holy muffins! Mary, did you see that?” Gilda looked over the crowd to see Mayor Derpy and her assistant Mary Mare joining the crowd. “I’ve never seen that brave pony before!”
Mary smiled. “Neither have I! But it looks like Peaceville has a new hero! I dub this new masked hero…The Mysterious Mare Do Well!” The crowd cheered louder than ever.
Mayor Derpy titled her head in thought. “Hey Mary? What’s the town’s law on vigilantism?”
Mary blinked in confusion before smiling in understanding. “I believe vigilantism is only when the hero fights crime. And well, it’s a little early to be thinking of that. Peaceville doesn’t even have much of a crime rate,” Mary said.
“Oh. Okay just checking!” Mayor Derpy smiled and joined in on the cheering. “Yeah, Mare Do Well, woohoo!”
“Huh. Mare Do Well?” Gilda said to herself. “…Cool. Less hero work for me to do, I guess.”
The next day, Gilda looked up from the cloud she was resting on to see a bus full of screaming ponies hurtling down the road and towards the same cliff that Gilda had rescued that baby from earlier. For a second, Gilda thought about just leaving the bus be. If Discord’s fence didn’t save them, the new Mare Do Well would. But…better to be safe than sorry, she decided. Gilda launched herself off the cloud and flew to stop the bus.
“Never fear, Gilda’s here!” she couldn’t help shouting as she griped the bus in her claws from behind and pulled in the opposite direction. But as strong as Gilda was, she was having trouble slowing down a speeding bus full of ponies. She dug her back paws into the ground to slow it down but the friction caused her paws to shoot back up. Growling in angry determination, Gilda put her paws back on the ground and tried to ignore the pain. Right before the cliff, Mare Do Well appeared in a flash of light. Her hat lifted off her head, revealing a glowing horn underneath the mask. The bus was caught in a magenta aura as it lifted off the ground and slowed to a halt.
“Whoa!” Gilda let go of the bus as the ponies got off to kiss the sweet ground. “Nice save Mare Do Well! Hey, you got a sec? I want to talk…” Gilda trailed off as Mare Do Well teleported away. “…Or just leave like a jerk,” Gilda growled under her breath. “That’s fine too.”
Gilda flapped her wings and flew away from the bus. “That’s weird. Coulda sworn I saw her with wings when she caught Iris, but now she’s showing up with magic…wait a minute.”
Nightmare laughed. “Me? Mare Do Well? That’s a good one Gilda.”
“Oh, you’re not fooling me Nightie! Who else has wings and a horn?” Gilda argued.
Nightmare shrugged. “Gee, I dunno. Discord can disguise himself as a pony.”
“Why not go with Captain Goodguy then?”
Nightmare nodded. “True. Pinkie Pie could do it, but I don’t know if she would. What about Chrysalis? What about the whole changeling hive? Changelings have wings, magic, and natural shape shifting abilities. They’re also a little closer to Mare Do Well’s size. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a little bigger than most ponies.”
“Okay, whatever. But the magic aura thing was purplish, not green.”
Nightmare sighed. “I don’t know, maybe it was Princess Twilight?”
Gilda snorted. “Yeah sure. Superhero Princess Twilight Sparkle,” she laughed. “Good one Nightie.”
Nightmare snorted too. “Okay, that is a pretty silly idea.”
Gilda stopped laughing and flapped her wings. “Well Chrysalis’ hive is my best bet so far. Catch ya later!” As Gilda flew out of the library, Nightmare let out an uneasy sigh
As Gilda flew toward Chrysalis’ hive, she heard a crash down below. She touched down in the marketplace to see a changeling and a minotaur glaring at each other. She recognized the minotaur as Iron Will, one of Sunset’s friends.
“Iron Will was clearly in line before you!” Iron argued.
The changeling angrily buzzed his wings. “Sorry, I didn’t see you.”
“When someone tries to block, I show them that I rock!” Iron shouted.
“…Good for you. You want to go one spot before me, go ahead. No need to yell about it,” the changeling said.
“Oh…Iron Will appreciates it. Just watch where you’re going next time. …Oh, uh pardon me. Do you know where I can find Queen Chrysalis?”
“Sure. Hive’s that way,” the changeling pointed out.
“Iron Will thanks you.” With that, the minotaur stomped away. Seeing that there was nothing else to the crash she heard, Gilda shrugged and began flying to Chrysalis’ hive too.
“What do you mean you haven’t got a picture yet?!” As she heard another person yelling, Gilda stopped to see Diamond arguing with Snips and Snails in the market.
“Sorry DT, but we can barely get a glimpse of her!” Snips said.
“Aw, what is she, shy?” Diamond scowled. “Mare Do Well is the hottest news out right now, we NEED a picture of her!”
“‘Sup squirts? Didn’t your dad ground you?” Gilda asked as she touched down by them.
“Oh hi Miss Gilda. We’re working for the Peaceful Press right now. Dad says as long as I stay where ponies can see me, we can still work for the press,” Diamond said. She pointed at Snips and Snails. “Can you believe these two haven’t gotten a picture of Mare Do Well yet?!”
“Yeah, I can. Whoever she is, she’s slippery. I tried to talk to her after she and I caught that runaway bus, and she just left that scene! If you ask me, there’s something suspicious about her,” Gilda muttered
Diamond’s eyes widened. “Suspicious?”
“Sure. Why all the mystery, am I right?”
Snails raised a hoof. “Don’t all heroes have a secret identity?”
Diamond shook her head. “Hush Snails. We’re already looking for exciting news, but NOW it can be juicy too!” She grinned. “I can see it now: Mare Do Well, Masked Hero or Mysterious Menace! Why does she wear the mask? What’s she have to hide? Is she a ‘she’ at all? We need answers! And photos!”
Snips and Snails groaned. “But she’s too fast for us to get any photos!” Snips whined.
“Then try harder! I want pictures of Mare Do Well, darn it!” Diamond yelled.
Gilda watched the kids run off and shook her head. “Mare Do Well this, Mare Do Well that. Whole town’s going nuts. Well…more than usual.”
Gilda flapped her wings and flew off to Chrysalis’ hive. She stopped as she saw what looked like Iron Will yelling at Chrysalis. “Chrysie! Leave her alone!” She landed in between the minotaur and changeling queen. “You got a problem with her, you got one with me bud!”
“Oh, this griffon wants to take on Iron Will, does she? Oh, I’d hate to be you right now! Because Iron Will’s gonna rain down a world of hurt, unless Iron Will gets what he came for!”
Gilda grinned savagely. “Bring it! I’ve been looking for a fight!”
Chrysalis wrapped both of them in a green glow and pushed them away from each other. “Both of you, stop this! Gilda, thank you for coming to my aid but I can handle this.” Chrysalis faced Iron. “Mister Will, I’m sorry but Iris was injured.”
“What? Why didn’t you say so in the first place? Iron Will demands to see her so he can make her feel better!”
“Right now all she needs is peace and quiet to rest and recover. As for your date, she asked her twin sister Ingrid to fill in for her,” Chrysalis explained.
Iron snorted angrily. “What do you take me for? You can’t just replace Iron Will’s girlfriend with her twin!”
“Ingrid knows what the form looks like.”
“Iron Will doesn’t care what Iris looks like on the outside! I love her for who she is!”
Chrysalis’ eyes widened. “You…love her?”
Iron’s eyes widened. “Er, that came out wrong. Please don’t tell Iris I said that, we haven’t been dating long enough for that. I don’t want her to feel uncomfortable.”
Chrysalis smiled. “I won’t tell her. In the meantime, could you please go on your date with Ingrid? It would help Iris feel better to know that your date wasn’t wasted.”
Iron huffed. “Fine.” Chrysalis looked behind her and waved her hoof. A changeling exited the hive’s entrance and stopped before Iron. With a look of intense concentration the changeling engulfed herself in green flames, turning her into a muscular yet pretty female minotaur. Iron examined the pretend-minotaur. “It does look like Iris’ disguise. Very well, but ONE date only! And Iron Will demands to see Iris when she’s feeling better!”
“Of course. You two have fun,” Chrysalis said as she waved to Iron and Ingrid. Turning back to face Gilda she said, “See? I handled it.”
Gilda groaned. “Yeah, yeah. It just looked like the big guy was gonna punch your fangs out from where I was.”
Chrysalis smiled kindly. “Thank you for your concern. But I do have wings, magic, and a small changeling army.”
Gilda twirled her talons together as she nonchalantly asked, “So Iris is in bed, huh? How tall is she again? Anywhere near, say Mare Do Well’s height?”
Chrysalis smirked. “You think one of my changeling friends is Mare Do Well? I suppose it could be a changeling, but whoever he or she is, it’s not one of mine. We’ve been busy helping Iris recover after one of her wing-holes ripped. Mare Do Well actually saved her.”
At that moment, Discord appeared in a flash of light. “Girls! Mare Do Well just saved a bunch of construction workers! She was really something, flying in and-”
“What? Where was this?!” Gilda shouted.
“Across town from here. So back to my story: she came flying in and…”
“Flying? Not teleported?” Gilda asked.
“Yes. Now if someone could stop rudely interrupting me?” Discord said as he shot a look at her.
“You’ll have to save that story for later buddy. I gotta talk to this mare!” Gilda flapped her wings and flew off.
Discord watched her fly away before turning to Chrysalis. “So what were you talking about before I got here?”
Chrysalis stared at him. “…Makeup and cute boys,” she lied.
Discord smirked. “Sure you were. Pull my lizard leg next, why don’t you?”
Chrysalis sighed. “Would you like to come in for a visit Discord?”
“Sounds delightful!” Discord snapped his fingers, donning a bowtie, a monocle, and a crown shaped like a clock, before following her inside.
After no sign of Mare Do Well, Gilda had decided to keep searching tomorrow. The next morning she was flying around Peaceville again, trying to forget about the whole Mare Do Well craze. She screeched to a halt and hovered in midair as she heard what sounded like a huge river. She looked in the direction the sound was coming from. “What, and now the dam has broken too! Are you kidding me?!”
Gilda flew over the river of flowing water, eyeing it nervously as she tried to think of what to do. As impressive as griffon strength, flight, and weather manipulation was, there wasn’t much she could do against a flood. A Blitz wouldn’t work. Maybe she could create a tornado to slow it down? A miniature one maybe, but she’d need to round up some pegasus ponies for a tornado big enough to contain that much water. Feeling helpless, she growled and shouted, “Discord! Need some help here! Discord? …Pinkie? Anyone?!”
At Gilda’s call, Mare Do Well jumped out from behind some bushes and stood heroically by the edge of the flood. Mare Do Well lifted her hat off as her horn glowed with an aqua-coloured aura. Hundreds of rocks and pieces of the broken dam began to float toward the dam, fixing it piece by piece until the dam was repaired and the flood slowed to a crawl.
Gilda hovered in midair, watching as the flood stopped. “Wow. Good job. Listen Mare Do Well, I need to talk to you about…” she trailed off as she turned around to see the masked hero had vanished. “…Or just do THAT again! I oughta nail her hooves to the ground!” Gilda fumed. She grumbled even more as she saw Mare Do Well flying overhead, wings clearly visible under her costume.
Gilda felt her rage reach its boiling point as she heard another crowd of ponies cheering as they watched Mare Do Well fly away. “Don’t you guys have anything better to do?! And why didn’t any of you help out?” she asked as she saw a few unicorns in the group. The crowd just stared at her in uneasy confusion. “Ugh, whatever you dweebs!”
Gilda grumbled as she and her friends entered the newly reopened Sugarcube Corner that afternoon. Discord noticed her anger, but misinterpreted the reason behind it. “Oh cheer up Gilda! I know this new Sugarcube Corner that the Cakes have set up is nowhere near as good as my own store, but we are here to offer our support! Still, I know you much prefer my own chaotic batches of baked goods, so I’ll throw in some extra the next time you visit.”
Mrs. Cake smiled as the Elements, Rainbow, and Rarity came in. “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner!” Her husband Mr. Cake, an orange earth stallion with a red hat and bowtie, smiled too. “What can we do for you?”
“Surprise us!” Discord said, tossing some money onto the counter. As the Cakes prepared them all a plate of cupcakes, the Elements found a table. Unfortunately for the griffon a conversation about the masked mare soon began…
“Trixie must say, this new Mare Do Well can do some amazing things! Not as great or powerful as Trixie, but still amazing!” Trixie said.
“I was impressed by that spell she used to fix the dam,” Sunset added.
“It does seem like something that would require quite a bit of magic,” Nightmare said as she flipped through the menu.
“Magic shmagic. Did you see how fast she can fly? Whoosh, whoosh!” Rainbow said as she made some flying gestures with her hooves. “She’s gotta be the second fastest mare in Peaceville! Second only to me!” Gilda shifted uneasily.
“Here you are,” Mr. Cake said as he brought them their snacks.
“Thank you. Sorry about keeping the old Sugarcube Corner as my new Chaos Corner. But I take it you are enjoying the new location?” Discord asked him.
“Oh yes! Miss Applejewel was very generous when I spoke with her, it was the least I could do to agree to this new location. She even helped start the funding for this store!”
“That’s nice. Now shoo,” Discord said as he grabbed one of the cupcakes with his long tongue and began snacking.
Rarity grimaced a little as Discord ate rather messily, but she smiled again as she added her own thoughts about Mare Do Well. “Have you seen her costume? If you ask me, she’s a hero in fashion!”
“And she’s modest and humble,” Sunset said. “That’s what’s important in a hero.”
Nightmare glanced at her. “I don’t know if she’s that modest. Besides, saving lives is what’s important in a hero.”
“Sorry, were we still talking about Mare Do Well? Very well…” Discord cleared his throat. “She is vengeance! She is the night! She is Mare Do Well!
“Oh brother,” Nightmare muttered.
“She is the terror that dashes in the night! She is the jar you can never open! When there’s trouble you call MDW!”
“Jar?” Smog muttered.
“Her costume isn’t purple. It’s eggplant!” Discord said as pulled out an eggplant from his ear.
“What?” a perplexed Rarity said.
“And I’m done,” Discord finished. “Anyone else?”
“Um…she really cares about everyone,” Chrysalis offered.
Gilda couldn’t take it anymore. “What, and I don’t!”
The others stared at her, surprised at her outburst. “What’s wrong with you, Gilda?” Smog asked.
“What’s wrong is that not long ago, I was saving everybody. WE were saving everybody! Now some masked mare shows up and it’s all everyone talks about! She’s not even that great,” Gilda growled.
Rainbow smirked. “Sounds like someone’s jealous.”
“What?!” Gilda shouted, the feathers on her head ‘poofing up’ in shocked anger. Rainbow, Rarity, Sunset, and Trixie all laughed at the sight. Feeling frustrated and a little hurt, Gilda quickly smoothed her feathers back.
Nightmare, Chrysalis, and Smog looked a little uneasy as the three unicorns and pegasus laughed. Discord let out a confused chuckle. “Ah ha, ha…why are we laughing?”
Gilda growled as her claws clenched into fists. “Laugh at me, will ya?”
“Ooh, I got one more! Don’t make Gilda angry! You won’t like her when she’s angry!” Discord said cheerfully.
“Oh shut up!” Gilda snapped. She flapped her wings and flew out of Sugarcube Corner.
“Yikes. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen her that angry,” Nightmare commented.
“Meh, she’s just being jealous. She was milking that whole hero thing way too much,” Rainbow said dismissively.
“I don’t follow,” Smog said. Before she could answer him, Sunflower walked into the store.
“Sunny? What was that about? I saw Miss Gilda leave just now and she looked furious,” Sunflower said with concern.
Sunset smiled. “Don’t worry about cousin. We’re taking care of it.”
Sunflower scratched the back of her head. “Sunset…you know, you’re the kindest and smartest mare I know…but even smart people make stupid mistakes.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about Sunflower. We’re trying to help a friend, no mistake there,” Sunset answered confidently.
Sunflower bit her lip nervously. “I don’t know…”
The next morning, Gilda was resting out on a thundercloud, rereading the letter Gilbert had sent her about the Elements of Redemption fan club he’d set up. She heard Scootaloo’s voice shouting up to her. “Hey Gilda?”
She hopped off the cloud and flew down. “‘Sup squirt. Don’t you usually hang around Dash this time of time?”
“Today’s different. Sorry, could you open this?” Scootaloo held out a jar of peanut butter.
“Oh. Sure.” Gilda popped the lid off and handed it back.
Scootaloo smiled. “Thanks. I missed breakfast and I wanna make sure I’ve got a snack for when I go to the Mare Do Well parade! You wanna come?”
Gilda’s eyes narrowed. “A parade? How is that ‘modest and humble’? Lousy mare…” she growled.
Scootaloo glanced up. “Why were you on a thundercloud?”
Gilda glanced up. “Weird…it was normal when I sat on it.” She paused for a second before her eyes narrowed again. “So a parade, huh?” Scootaloo led Gilda back into the Town Square where Mayor Derpy and Mary had set up the stage to celebrate Mare Do Well’s recent heroics.
“Hi everybody! Hi Sparkler, hi Dinky!” Mayor Derpy said as she smiled and waved at her kids in the crowd.
“Miss mayor?” Mary whispered.
“Yes? Oh, right. Welcome everyone to our thank you parade for the Mysterious Mare Do Well!” The masked mare leapt out and tore through the banner on the mayor’s cue. The crowd cheered as Mare Do Well posed for the cameras.
The cheering stopped as Gilda flew up onstage. “Oh yes. Thank you very much, mysterious masked Mare Do Well,” she said with as much sarcasm as possible. “Hey, come here a sec. I wanna get a picture…” she grinned as her talons reached for the mask. But Mare Do Well flapped her wings and flew away from the parade. Gilda angrily chased after her into the deserted alleys of Peaceville. She then launched herself high into the air before coming crashing down onto Mare Do Well.
Gilda grinned victoriously at the mare pinned under her. “Let’s see what’s behind the mask!” She grabbed the mask with her beak and yanked it off. Staring up at her was Rainbow Dash.
Gilda jumped off, completely flabbergasted. “W-what? What...it…no…”
The other Elements and Rarity appeared with a flash of light as Discord teleported them all there. “Yup. We all played Mare Do Well at different times,” Sunset said as she walked by Gilda. “I used my magic to fix up the dam.”
“The Great and Powerful Trixie assisted her during the dam repair. And Trixie saved that bus full of ponies by herself!”
“I did all the other stuff! Saving Iris, those construction workers, and so on!” Rainbow exclaimed proudly.
“I made the costume! Fabulous, don’t you think?” Rarity said with a smile.
“I actually wasn’t part of this,” Nightmare said. Chrysalis and Smog nodded in agreement.
“Sadly, I was mostly there for support. I informed them of any disasters and I was there in case Mare Do Well couldn’t get the job done,” Discord explained. “Of course, I wanted to use Captain Goodguy for the prank but that would have been predictable.”
Smog and Sunset glanced at him. “Prank?” Sunset asked. She shook her head and turned to Gilda.
The eight of them looked at Gilda to see what she had to say. She didn’t say anything for several seconds. Finally she whispered, “…Why?”
“Well, to show you how a hero is supposed to act,” Sunset smiled calmly.
“And a real hero doesn’t brag,” Trixie said with a wink. That line, coming from the 'Great and Powerful Trixie' of all ponies, was the final straw. Her friends took cautious steps back as they witnessed Gilda’s claws and face twist with more anger than they had ever seen from her. Gilda’s thought were so filled with rage, she was having a hard time thinking clearly. And then her head cleared up.
Gilda turned away from them, flapped her wings, and flew away. “…Hey!” Rainbow shouted as she flew up ahead of Gilda and stopped her in midair. “Where are you going? We…”
“Move.” That quiet command made Rainbow pause. She stared into her best friend’s eyes to see tears falling out. Without another word, Rainbow moved and Gilda flew away.
“What happened?” Sunset asked as Rainbow flew down to them.
“I dunno…I think we hurt her feelings,” Rainbow said quietly.
Nightmare sighed. “This is why I had doubts about your plan.”
Before Sunset or Trixie could voice their concerns, Mayor Derpy, Mary, Sunflower, and the Cutie Mark Destroyers arrived on the scene. “Rainbow Dash is Mare Do Well? Oh, this is gonna win us a journalists’ medal!” Diamond cheered.
“You’re Mare Do Well? Darn, I should’ve realized that. Boy, I feel stupid now,” Mayor Derpy said, her head lowering in shame.
Sunflower stared at Rainbow and her cousin. “Sunny? What’s going on?” Sunset gulped and explained what happened to them. By the time she was done, Sunflower was staring at her in horror. “Sunset, I already told you I got Gilda to stop bragging! Why would you do this?”
Sunset flinched. “I…I was trying to teach her to be modest and humble. I didn’t want the praise to go to her head…like it did to me.”
“Sunset, your time as King Sombra’s student has nothing to do with Gilda’s situation! And what about you two?” Sunflower pointed at Rainbow and Trixie.
“I…I wanted to help my friend,” Rainbow whispered.
“Trixie was doing the same thing as Sunset! Teaching Gilda to celebrate her accomplishments, not brag about them!”
“But you brag all the time,” Discord pointed out.
“It’s my job to brag!” Trixie argued. “I need to say how amazing I am. But Gilda didn’t need to brag about being a hero.”
“Yes, she didn’t. And she realized that when I talked to her. Sunset, why didn’t you listen to me?” Sunflower said.
“I-I…I didn’t believe you. I thought she was too stubborn to listen to you.”
“I know griffons are a proud and stubborn race. But Gilda’s your friend. You should know her better than that.”
Sunset closed her eyes. “You’re right.”
Diamond turned to Silver, Snips, and Snails. “Um, maybe now’s not the best time for that Mare Do Well story?” she said quietly.
“Miss Tiara is right. We need to find Gilda and cheer her up!” Mayor Derpy declared.
Meanwhile, Gilda was at the edge of the Equestria forest, totally not crying into the storm cloud she was resting on. Around her neck was the Element of Zeal. It was proof that she had helped protect Everfree, that she was a hero. It was also a symbol of the friendship she had with the other bearers. She didn’t know what to think of it.
“Gilda?” She looked up to see Princess Twilight softly landing on the storm cloud. “Are you alright?”
Gilda quickly wiped her eyes. “I’m fine! I wasn’t crying.”
“I never said you were. Are you okay?”
She stared at the alicorn. “What are you doing here, Princess Twilight?”
“No need for formalities between old friends. Call me Twilight.”
“Fine, Twilight. What are you doing?”
Twilight smiled gently. “Originally I came here today because of this Mare Do Well nonsense…but now I’m here for you. I ask again, are you okay? You look rather tense.” Gilda grumbled to herself instead of replying. “…You know, I read that a trusted friend giving you a massage can really relieve tension. I could help you relax your paws, talons, feathers, anything that feels sore.”
Gilda raised an eyebrow. “A princess giving me a massage?”
“A friend giving you a massage.” After a moment of hesitation, Gilda laid down on the cloud and let Twilight’s hooves massage her. “There, doesn’t that feel better? Now…why don’t you tell me what happened?”
Gilda sighed and told Twilight what happened. From her bragging, to her talk with Sunflower, to Mare Do Well, and finding out her friends created the masked hero just to humble and humiliate her. “…Which brings us back to now. And now you probably think what they did makes for some dumb friendship lesson or something.”
“Oh no Gilda. If I were in your place, I’d be furious at my former friends for stabbing me in the back.”
Gilda looked over her wing at the surprising hostility coming from Twilight. “I dunno if they ‘stabbed me in the back’. They said they were trying to teach me a lesson…”
“Gilda, Nightmare Moon agreed to be my student. She is not a teacher, I am.”
“So they made a mistake…”
“I hardly think laughing in your face was a mistake.”
Gilda scratched her head. “They didn’t laugh at me…did they?”
“They did worse than that. They lied to you, they upstaged and humiliated you. They are supposed to be your loyal friends, and they betrayed you.”
Gilda frowned. “W-what are you trying to say? You’re just making me angry.”
Twilight smiled gently. “Good. You need to use your anger. If you bottle all you frustrations, they’ll explode out of control. That’s what lead to my defeat as Eternal Twilight. You need to let the anger flow through you.”
Gilda sighed. “Okay. You want me to get angry now so I don’t explode and turn evil later.”
Twilight smiled as she watched one of Gilda’s feathers darken. “Yes. Use that anger. Think about what those ponies did you.” Gilda clenched her claws. “Think about how they made you feel. Let go of yourself. Let your mind break. Let your bones shake. Let the darkness in you overtake.”
Gilda’s eyes snapped open at the strange and sinister phrasing. She saw lightning bolts zap around the much larger thundercloud, growing in strength and numbers. She turned around to see her feathers turning dark purple. She looked at Twilight to see a wicked grin as her body turned to mist. “You again?”
The being once known as Eternal Twilight smiled. “Don’t think about me. Think about your former friends. How they lied to you. How they fear you. How they simply used you to power their Elements.”
“No…I won’t let you hurt them…” Gilda growled as her claws and eyes darkened.
“Why not?” she felt herself say against her will. “They hurt us. They lied to us, they broke your trust, they’re afraid of us! They rejected me! They're history! Those Elements…they’re all my enemies!”
Eternity raised Gilda’s claws and smashed them into the storm cloud. Lightning exploded and zapped everywhere as her new griffon body absorbed the lightning. “Hmm. This may not be an alicorn’s body…but the anger more than makes up for the power.” Eternity grinned as she flew towards Peaceville.
Back at the stage, Mayor Derpy had given everyone an abridged version of what happened, trying to make the situation sound less harsh than it was. “And now it’s really important that we find Gilda! Mary will start organizing any volunteers into a search party. Does anyone have any questions?”
“No, but I have a challenge!” The crowd looked up to see a reversed Mare Do Well, her costume a yellow and red instead of purple and blue as tiny lightning bolts zapped along her costume. “I am the Nefarious Ne'er Do Well! And I won’t leave until Mare Do Well has fallen before me!”
Rainbow frowned at the bizarre newcomer, her mood already turned sour by the day’s events. She flew up and kicked the masked pony in the chest. The pony immediately crumpled, revealing that it wasn’t a pony at all but the discarded Mare Do Well costume. Its colour returned to normal as it became inanimate again. Rainbow glared at the costume. “The hay was that?! Is this someone’s idea of a joke?”
“Like the joke you played on me?” a voice hissed. The crowd gasped as electric energy swirled above them, reforming into the corrupted Gilda. Every inch of her body was dark purple and crackling with lightning bolts. Her draconic eyes glared down at them. “Hello again, Nightmare Moon, Rarity. We really must stop meeting like this.”
Rainbow stared in horror as her eyes watered. “No…Gilda…”
“Eternity…release her at once!” Nightmare demanded as her horn and eyes glowed.
“Oh, Eternity is such an old name. I shall take a new one to fulfill my purpose. For I am the horror that haunts the darkest of nights. I am the conflict that poisons your minds.
I am Vengeance.”
“Gilda…no, not her!” Rainbow cried.
“Oh yes,” Vengeance hissed. “You set her up. You lied to her!” She chuckled darkly. “I’m going to enjoy frying you selfish fools!” Vengeance raised her claws and shot out a bolt of lightning at the crowd.
Discord reacted faster than anyone and created a shield with a snap of his fingers. “Guys, Eternity’s back! And she made Gilda go psycho!”
“Yes we got that, thank you Discord!” Sunset shouted over the lightning bolts Vengeance continued to blast at the shield. “If you could get the Elements now, that’d be great!”
Discord quickly snapped his fingers and the Elements appeared around the Element Bearers necks and head. As Nightmare straightened out her armor and the Element of Power, she spotted the obvious flaw in their plan. “Eternity…uh, I mean Vengeance has Gilda’s element! How do we get it from her?!”
“Well I could try yanking it off her neck. Although I don’t see Sweetie Belle so the question of who gets to wield it is tricky,” Discord said as Vengeance began to summon several huge thunderclouds.
“I’ll do it!” Rainbow shouted. “I was the one who came up with the Mare Do Well idea, and G got hurt because of it. Now’s my chance to prove I’m her friend. Because I never leave my friends hanging!”
Vengeance smirked evilly. “Are you sure that will solve the conflict between you? Gilda already thinks you tried to replace her as the town hero. Now you want to replace her as the Element of Zeal? She’ll NEVER forgive you.”
“I never meant to replace her!” Rainbow cried. “I wanted to help her! And...she needs me now. Discord…let me out of the shield.”
“Good luck!” Discord said cheerfully as he made a pegasus-sized hole in the shield.
Trixie glared at him. “DISCORD! Have you lost your…never mind, Trixie knows the answer.”
Rainbow flew up to Vengeance, her pegasus magic reducing the pain caused by the lightning storm. “Come on G! You have to fight it!”
“The only fight taking place shall be between you and us. You wanted to play the hero. Now you’ll fight the villain you created.”
“You’re not evil, G! You’re my friend!” Rainbow cried.
“Friend? You don’t care about her!” Vengeance hissed.
“I do, and I’ll prove it.” Rainbow held her hooves out. “I won’t let my friend suffer anymore. So let her go…and take me instead.” She let out a weak chuckle. “Heh, I bet you’re more used to possessing ponies anyway.”
Vengeance stared at Rainbow as the lightning storm weakened slightly. “Give me one good reason why I should do that.”
“Because…I didn’t think this would actually work. I expected you to blast me. I don’t really have a good reason…except that you asked me for one.” Rainbow eyes widened. “I have no idea why but…you want to possess me.”
Vengeance smirked as she sunk her left claw into Rainbow’s side, turning her cyan coat to dark purple. “You’re smarted than you look Dash.” Her other claw removed the Element of Zeal and forced around Rainbow’s neck. “But not as smart as you had hoped. No matter what body I wear, I’m not relinquishing my only weakness that easily.”
Rainbow stared at the Element around her neck in distress, before her lips curled into a smirk. Her coat turned completely dark purple as her rainbow hair began to flow magically, much like Nightmare Moon’s and Eternal Twilight’s used to. Looking back up at the uncorrupted yet completely drained Gilda, Vengeance smirked. “Look at that. Dash does care about you. A pity she can’t save you now.” Vengeance grabbed the griffon with her magic and threw her at the ground.
Nightmare quickly flapped her wings and flew up to Gilda, before she reached out with her magic and caught her falling friend. Gilda shook her head and stared back up at the possessed Rainbow. “No! Dash you gotta fight her!”
“A shame, I was looking forward to trying a Blitz. But now, with Rainbow Dash’s body and my own power enhancing our abilities, the damage I cause shall be greater. At this level, a Sonic Rainboom…could obliterate Peaceville!” Vengeance laughed. “And then Elements of Redemption, you will see MY world. A world without mercy or hope for forgiveness. My revenge shall be eternal!”
“Hi there Queen Meanie! Excuse us, is this a private party?”
“Or can WE join?”
The crowd gasped as Pinkie Pie teleported in with a flash of light…revealing that she had also brought the great dragon Spike.
Vengeance blinked in bewilderment. “Pinkie?”
“Yoink!” Pinkie sang as she zipped over to Vengeance, yanked off the Element of Zeal, and tossed it to the bearers down below. “Catch!”
Sunset grabbed the Element in midair with her magic, and levitated onto Gilda’s neck. “Come on Gilda! Peaceville needs its heroes back!”
Feeling her Element recharging her mental strength, Gilda stood up straight and grinned. “You’re darn right, it does! Hang tight Dash!”
Vengeance fired a death glare at Pinkie. “TRICKSTER! Traitor! How dare you…” Her eyes widened in horror as the power of the Elements of Redemption blasted toward her. “NO! Not again!” The tremendous power engulfed her again, ripping away the spirit of conflict from Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow shook her head as she regained her senses. “Ouch…” she moaned. “Not cool…”
The angry spirit hissed. “No. I will NOT flee again! I am indestructible! I am revenge and conflict eternal!”
“Boy, she sure loves to talk about herself!” Pinkie laughed. “In fact, all this talk is making me hungry. Spike?”
“With pleasure.”
Spike took in a deep breath before exhaling a huge stream of fire at the purple mist. The angry spirit screamed in pain as it felt its energy being burned away. Before the spirit could retreat, Spike opened his huge jaws and snapped them over the purple mist. Spike smiled in satisfaction as he swallowed the spirit whole.
Smog’s jaw dropped. “He…ate it. Spike just ate Vengeance.”
Pinkie giggled and floated up to Spike’s eyes. “You okay there, Spikey-wikey?” Spike grimaced at both the nickname and the taste in his mouth.
“Bleh. Evil does not taste good.”
Pinkie giggled and laughed. “No, I don’t think it would!” She snapped her fingers and made a giant-dragon sized can of ginger ale appear. “Here ya go! Sometimes you just need a little ginger ale to wash out the taste of evil.”
As Spike drank the ginger ale, Pinkie smiled at the Elements. “Sorry I didn’t get here sooner. I didn’t even notice you guys having a battle until that meanie Eternity possessed Dashie. Anyway, we need to get back before Princess Twily gets mad. See ya later alligators!” With another snap of her fingers, Pinkie and Spike vanished.
The entire town was quiet for several minutes. Eventually, Mayor Derpy timidly spoke up. “Um…maybe we should all go home and try to…cool our heads and uh, figure stuff out?”
Sunset sighed as she stared at Rainbow and Gilda. “I couldn’t agree with you more, mayor.”
Gilda sighed as she and the others sat in Nightmare’s library. “Why? Why did you all cook up the masked mare thing? Why did you lie to me like that?”
Sunset spoke up. “They had nothing to do with it. Trixie and I were worried that the attention would go to your head.”
“Stop Sunny. You two helped, but I was the one who came up with the idea first,” Rainbow said. “I wanted to give you an example of how a hero was supposed to act G. I didn’t want you to become so wrapped up in fan clubs that you might forget to save people.”
Gilda frowned. “Dash, you know I’d never forget something like that.”
“I know. The only other reason I can think of is maybe…I was a tiny bit jealous of you,” Rainbow admitted.
“If I was bugging you that much, why didn’t you talk to me?” Gilda asked. “Sunflower did and I listened to her.”
“We didn’t really know that at the time. I thought you wouldn’t have listened unless we used extreme measures,” Sunset said.
Gilda held up a claw. “Okay. I get it. You guys can stop apologizing. My turn,” she sighed. “I guess I should have acted with humble-ness and modesty and all that nonsense. Even when others outshine me. Like Mare Do Well. I’m sorry I got carried away. And I am really, really sorry I let myself get angry enough to let stupid Eternity or Vengeance or whatever its name is take over me.”
“Darling, take it from someone who has shared in your pain,” Rarity said. “The despair and anger you felt was simply the spark that started the fire. That vile monster is the one who fanned the flames into an inferno. We do not blame you for Eternity’s actions, just as you all did not blame me.”
“So to recap, everyone forgives everyone?” Chrysalis asked hopefully.
“Trixie hopes so,” Trixie moaned. “Trixie thinks one of those lightning bolts hit Trixie in the face. How does Trixie look?”
Chrysalis examined Trixie’s soot covered face and electrified mane, coat, and tail. “Um, you look wonderful,” she lied.
Trixie gave her a dizzy smile. “Aw, how sweet of you. Discord, can you fix Trixie’s face?”
Discord snapped his fingers, vanishing the camera he just used to photograph her face. “Of course dear Trixie!” as he snapped his fingers again. “Say Nightmare…when was the last time you wrote to Princess Twilight?”
Nightmare smiled. “Way ahead of you. Smog?”
That afternoon, a letter was sent to Princess Twilight.
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle
Today, many lessons have been learned. My friends Sunset, Trixie, and Rainbow tried to help a friend learn a valuable lesson, and yet we ALL learned something today.
‘Sup Princess. Gilda here. After I saved a few ponies around town all by myself, I started to let the attention go to my head. I ended up bragging and even though nothing bad happened because of it, someone might’ve gotten hurt if I hadn’t been careful. Sunset’s cousin Sunflower talked me outta it and taught me to act with…grace and humility.
Hey TS. RD here. I tried cooking up this awesome plan to help my friend, but instead I ended up accidentally hurting her. Today I learned to stop rushing to conclusions and to slow down and talk with my friends.
Sunset Shimmer here, Your Majesty. I learned to listen more to your close friends and family. Sometimes they know something that even a smart pony like me doesn’t.
The Great and Powerful Trixie wishes to write that you should always be proud of your accomplishments. Today Trixie learned that she should not have listened to Sunset and Rainbow! Show the world that you shine! Bragging solves everything!
Nightmare Moon completing this letter, Your Majesty. Please forgive Trixie, she was a little dizzy when writing this. The big lesson that we ALL learned today is this: You should always try to expect the best from your friends and never the worst. They may not always be right, but they will always care about you.
Your friends, the Elements of Forgivness