Chapter 16: Family Matters

All of the ponies in Equestria's army were in extremely high spirits and for once Gilda shared their sentiments. The war was certainly over now. Grifforia's four waves of soldiers had been beaten and now their secret weapon had been totally destroyed by the combined forces of Gilda, Rainbow Dash, Lightning Dust, and Twilight Sparkle. There was no way that they could even think of fighting anymore. Gilda grinned as she chatted cheerfully with her friends. Rainbow Dash was standing close to her with a look of admiration on her face.

Gilda and Rainbow Dash had finally confessed their feelings of love to each other. Both the pegasus and the griffon were certain that the other wouldn't return their feelings but they were wrong. Now the two fliers were closer than ever before. Their friends congratulated them and all of them were extremely happy for the duo. Even Grayback offered some kind words to them. Gilda's face bore a rather mischievous grin as she lightly brushed her wing against Rainbow Dash's cutie mark. This action caused the rainbow maned pegasus to blush furiously in a color that would never be found in her messy multicolored mane.

"Gilda." she said in a shocked tone. "Did you just tip touch me?"

"Yep." Gilda said rather proudly. "Got a problem with it?"

Rainbow Dash grinned a bit as she brushed the tip of her wing against Gilda's flank on the spot where her cutie mark would be if she had one. Gilda didn't blush but it was a near thing. The two fliers laughed as they threw a foreleg around each other. Applejack looked a bit confused by what had just transpired.

"So is that like a hoof bump or something?" she asked in confusion as she stared at the two fliers.

"It's called tip touching." Twilight Sparkle explained. "It's a gesture done by pegasi, griffons, and alicorns to show their love and affection towards each other."

The orange cowgirl earth pony still looked a bit uncertain about what Twilight Sparkle had told her. Thankfully Gilda was there to explain it in much simpler terms.

"It's basically flirting." the griffon told Applejack and the cowgirl nodded her head in understanding as she figured out what she had witnessed. The group kept chatting with each other happily as they waited for Grifforia to surrender.

Suddenly a pony pointed in the distance and the whole crowd noticed that Grifforia's entire massive army of griffons was marching towards them. The ponies braced themselves for anything as the hundreds of griffons came to a halt roughly twenty feet away from them. Gilda's father stepped out in front of the crowd with Gilda's mother right beside him. The two griffons faced the army of ponies as the male spoke in a loud and clear voice.

"I want to make an announcement." he said in a firm tone. "I challenge Gilda to a duel."

Gilda stepped forwards in front of her army with Rainbow Dash right next to her. Gilda glared at her parents as her father explained the duel. The two of them would fight and this battle would determine the outcome of the war. Gilda looked a bit uncertain but her friends gave her looks that told her that they had full confidence in her, Gilda gave her father a firm gaze and she accepted the challenge.

"Good luck G." Rainbow Dash said as she gave her new marefriend a kiss on the cheek, much to the shock, outrage, and disgust of the griffon's parents. "I know ya can win this."

"I'm gonna take him down Dash." Gilda told her as she returned the pegasus' gesture which only infuriated her parents even more. "This guy tried to ruin my life and right now I wanna return the favor."

The two fliers grinned at each other and then Gilda approached her father. The two griffons stared at each other for a moment and then they lunged towards each other with thunderous roars.

The fight began and both griffons were battling to their fullest potential. Gilda was determined to give her father exactly what he deserved. He had abused her for years, kept her from making friends, sent her to a school to make her hate ponies, separated her from her best friend, and started a war against her hometown and her friends. Gilda was very eager to vent all of her anger in this fight. Gilda's father meanwhile really wanted to punish his daughter for betraying Grifforia by befriending and fighting alongside ponies. He was furious that his own flesh and blood would shame him by working with Grifforia's sworn enemies.

"How dare you fight alongside these mules?" he demanded furiously as he brutally attacked Gilda with an endless barrage of punches, kicks, and slashes. "How dare you betray your own kind?"

"Maybe because these 'mules' are my friends." Gilda shot back as she dodged, blocked, and countered her father's many attacks. "Maybe if I had more friends in Grifforia I would have had more reasons to side with Grifforia."

The two half lion half eagle creatures continued their battle as the crowd cheered their generals on. Gilda's friends were giving the brown and white griffon all of the support that they could muster. Grayback and his team were making themselves heard as they cheered for Gilda. They might not have been friends but they wanted Gilda to win so that they could avoid the punishment her father would give them. The soldiers of Grifforia cheered for Gilda's father but it was clear that their hearts weren't in it. It almost seemed like they didn't care who won or who lost anymore. They weren't supporting Gilda but they weren't antagonizing her either. The duo kept on fighting against each other.

Rainbow Dash watched from the sidelines as Gilda battled against her father. She cheered wildly for her longtime best friend who was now her marefriend. Rainbow Dash definitely wanted to see Gilda be victorious in this battle. While this was happening Gilda's mother was hissing insults towards Gilda.

"Such a pathetic weakling." she said. "Befriending mules like this."

This remark earned the female griffon a very hard glare from Rainbow Dash. The rainbow maned pegasus glared straight at Gilda's mother and snarled. She did not like what was being said about Gilda.

Gilda kept fighting against her father but soon enough he started to gain the advantage. He pummeled Gilda with an endless barrage of attacks and Gilda just couldn't keep up. She took hit after hit from her father. The brown and white griffon could barely dodge the attacks let alone fight back. Gilda's father smirked as he kept up his relentless and vicious assault against his daughter.

"I always knew you were weak." he said as he punched Gilda in the chest which forced her back. "I always knew that being friends with such weak creatures would soften you."

"Don't listen to him G!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "You can take him!"

Gilda's father grinned arrogantly as he kept attacking his daughter. Gilda was getting picked apart by her father and she couldn't even fight back. The fight with her father as well as her efforts to bring down the weapon had taken their toll on her body and now she was almost useless. Gilda collapsed onto the ground, much to the amazement and fear of her friends. Gilda's father stared down at her with a smug grin on his face. He raised his claws and prepared to deliver the final blow.

Gilda meanwhile was watching her father with her eyes barely open. Gilda knew that this was the end for her. She was just too drained to move. She closed her golden yellow eyes and braced herself for her inevitable defeat. The last thing she thought about was Rainbow Dash. Gilda's mind was filled with misery and regret as she thought about the pegasus pony that had been her best friend for a long time and her marefriend for not even an hour.

I'm sorry Dash. Gilda thought miserably as her father raised his razor sharp claws. I'm sorry I let ya down.

Gilda's father stared at his daughter for just a few seconds and then her brought his razor sharp claws down to finally end the war against Equestria.