//------------------------------// // Chapter 19: The trial // Story: Gusty the Great book 1- The beginning // by Dianabel //------------------------------// Inside a dark and quiet room, Majesty lit one of the candles in front of a painting, a very important possession for the crownless sovereign. She left the stick with which she lit the candle in front of the candlestick. She sighed as she looked at the painting. It consisted of two unicorns, one stallion and one mare, dressed in regalia. The latter was holding a baby in her hooves. As much as she adored the painting, it also made her sad. Those two ponies´ dreams never came true. None of them got to wear crowns on their heads, as well as their ancestors. The crowns would have made the painting more perfect than it was. “Don´t worry, father.” she spoke to the stallion in the painting. “Bit by bit, I´m getting close to what our family deserves.” She bowed before standing up. She turned to a sword and a wooden piece of a unicorn, surrounded by candles as well. As always, she hesitated to come near them at first, mainly due to the toy but she would end up coming near them. She sighed heavily as she sat down in front of them. “Don´t think you got away this time, young colt.” she said to the toy as she lit the candle. “You might be separated from me but I´m still your mother.” “Plus, I think by this point you´re tired of seeing your father all the time. No offence to him, though. At least you got to know him more than I did.” she chuckled sadly. “The plague took him away just a few years after we got married. But I guess he must have told you that already, hasn´t he?” Seeing that it had caught dust, Majesty picked up the wooden figure and cleared it out with her hoof. She smiled melancholically as she checked it. “I know that grew out of toys, but this was your favourite when you were a foal.” Noticing that tears were forming on her eyes, Majesty shook her head and quickly left it in place. She rubbed her eyes as she got up. “I must go. I´ll see you next week.” she said as she left. Just as she turned around, she saw a unicorn in front of her. “My queen.” Majesty gasped. She put her hoof on her chest. “Don´t scare me like that.” she scolded. “Knock before you come in.” “Sorry, my queen.” he apologized. “I didn´t mean to interrupt you. I know this time is sacred. But I bring important news.” “What news?” Gusty waited nervously for Majesty to arrive. She constantly breathed in and out as she rubbed her hooves together. Meanwhile, Glory took care of her injuries, something she took some difficulty with because of Gusty´s hooves movement. “I don´t mean to sound rude but would you hold your hooves still? Otherwise, this will take more time.” “Huh? Oh! Yeah sure. Sorry, it´s just I´m really nervous. And I cannot be nervous.” “Well, you should. But at the same time, I understand you want to preserve some dignity.” “Not because of that! I mean, yes I´m nervous because I´m going to have explain to Majesty that her work of a lifetime blew away because of me, but I don´t want to make it worse with a tornado!” “What do you mean?” “Apparently, since I was a filly, my magic is connected to my emotions. Normally, I can keep it under control but when I´m feeling something intensely… This has brought me a lot of trouble in the past and it still does.” “So what ye´re saying is that if ye get too nervous, ye make some sort of tornado?” Gusty nodded. “It doesn´t have to be in the form of a tornado, but it always brings trouble.” “I see.” Glory simply said, while looking away in thought. “Now, this might hurt a little.” she said while putting the cloth on Gusty´s wounds. Gusty groaned somewhat. “Do they look bad?” “Ye have lots, but nothing too grave. The ugliest one though, is the bruise on your neck.” Gusty caressed her neck. She closed her eyes. “Did he strangle you?” Gusty nodded. “Many times. And he hit me too.” She couldn´t stop replaying the scene in her head. She remembered it vividly, even the smallest details, such as the illumination of the room. But what she most remembered were Grogar´s cruel words and the pain they induced, as well as his hits or magic around her neck. Throughout her life, Gusty has been close to death many times, whether due to starvation or illness, but none of those experiences were as scary as the one she had today. She started crying. Noticing her anguish, Glory put her hoof on her shoulder. Although she was still angry for what she did, she also understood that what she went through was really traumatic, so she wanted to show some empathy, even though she didn´t know what to say exactly. Suddenly, one of the unicorns Glory was with at the castle, called her. “Glory, Majesty wants to see her.” “Tell her we´re coming.” The unicorn nodded and rushed out. Glory turned to Gusty. “It´s time.” Gusty gulped but held her head high. “Ok.” As Gusty walked accompanied by Glory through the assembly, she felt the angry and cold looks of every unicorn who worked for Majesty. She searched for Buttons and Fizzy, as she knew they would have faces of concern for her, but she found neither of them. She did find Clover though, who was biting his lip nervously. Though the stares made her feel uncomfortable, they were nothing compared to Majesty´s. Her angry stare could pierce into a pony´s soul, which made it very scary, almost as Grogar´s Gusty even dared to think. But at least Majesty´s eye lacked that diabolical touch that Grogar´s eyes had. As she got closer to her, she noticed that Buttons and Fizzy were in front of her, which surprised and estranged her. She approached her head to Glory´s ear. “Um, I know I´m the least convenient pony to ask this, but why do Buttons and Fizzy look like they´re going to be tried?” “Because they are going to be interrogated.” “Wait. What? I thought it was only going to be me!” “Well, Majesty needs to know if they are trustworthy before they join.” Gusty sighed. “Fair enough I guess.” Once she was standing in front of Majesty, along her friends, Glory bowed to Majesty and left them both. Gusty gulped and laughed nervously as she shook her hoof. “It´s nice to see you again my queen.” “I´m afraid the feeling isn´t mutual.” Majesty responded coldly. “In fact, we weren´t supposed to meet again. But from what I´ve heard, you caused such a great fuss that my spies had to come here back again.” Gusty´s nervous smile dropped, as well as her ears. “I said very clearly that if you were to be caught, you wouldn´t count on my protection anymore. But it seems that you have committed a far worse crime: you revealed our secret organization.” Majesty emphasized the last sentence, getting angrier and angrier. “Not only have you endangered all of us, what you have done could cost me the work that has been passed through generations! I´m not going to let it all fade away because of a coward and backstabbing unicorn!” Gusty looked down in shame. “Nevertheless, I´m going to give you a chance to explain yourself.” Majesty continued. “I´ll ask some questions and you´ll answer me honestly.” she walked to Gusty. “If you lie to me, I´ll immediately blast you off in front of everypony. So if you want to live, choose your words carefully. Understood?” “Yes, my queen.” Gusty replied softly. “And the same goes to you two.” she said to Fizzy and Buttons. “Remember that the only reason you´re here is her, which means that you are also suspects.” “But we haven´t done anything.” Fizzy replicated. Buttons kicked her friends leg. “Ouch! I mean… Yes uh… Majesty?” “My queen.” Majesty bitterly corrected Fizzy. “Oh!” she laughed nervously. “Yes, my queen.” “What about you?” Majesty asked Buttons. “I have nothing to say, my queen.” Buttons simply replied. “Everything´s clear.” “Very well. Coming back to you,” she said to Gusty. “Could you explain me how Grogar caught you?” “I… I got into his study.” Everypony gasped. “You got into his study.” Majesty recapitulated. “Hm. How bold of you. But it was an impulsive action. If you had planned it carefully, you wouldn´t have got caught.” “I know.” “Were there any other times when you almost got caught?” “Um…” Gusty stayed quiet. “Remember. Answer honestly.” Majesty reminded her threateningly “There was a time where Bray locked me in a dungeon because he suspected of me.” “And why is that?” “Both he and Grogar were suspicious of me from the beginning. He knew you were sending spies to the castles, your majesty. And when I came in, he saw the perfect chance of confirming it.” “I know. But what did you say for Bray to send into a dungeon?” Gusty looked down. “That he was right to suspect me. But because I was new!” she added when she noticed Majesty widening her eyes. “But you sort of implied that you knew what was happening…” Gusty looked away while she clenched her teeth. “Um… Your Majesty?” Fizzy raised her hoof. “Can I say something? Me and my friend were around when that incident happened.” Majesty raised her eyebrow. “You may.” “Alright. You see, the reason she said that was because she was defending me. I tripped on my dress´ skirt and my hoof hurt me so bad that I was limping, don´t worry I´m ok now. Anyway, Bray thought that I was just pretending so I didn´t have to work. But this unicorn,” she pointed at Gusty. “Stood up for us, as a good friend would.” “So, what you´re saying is that she befriended you.” Gusty covered her face with her foreleg. Fizzy looked from side to side. “Would it be a bad thing if I said yes?” “So, not only did reveal yourself and all of us, but you also disobeyed my order of not getting attached to anypony that wasn´t a spy?” Majesty asked Gusty. Although Gusty took the responsibility for what had happened, this was the only thing she found no blame in. “Well… She was the first unicorn that talked to me. And from what you said, anypony who reached me and invited me to be with them was somepony who worked for you.” “Wait. You actually thought that we worked for her?” Buttons asked Gusty. “Yes.” “That adds to the explanation why you stopped talking to us all of the sudden.” Buttons thought aloud. “Didn´t Glory reach you?” Majesty asked Gusty. “No ma´am. I didn´t have the chance.” Glory replied. “Did she tell you anything about us?” Majesty asked Fizzy and Buttons. “No. Not a word.” Buttons replied. “In fact, once she discovered that she spoke to the wrong ponies she stopped talking to us!” “Yet you two are standing here, which means that she ended up telling you.” Majesty´s answer caught Buttons off guard. She stretched the collar of her dress while clearing her throat. “But she only did when she was running away from Grogar.” Buttons smiled nervously. Majesty raised her eyebrow unamused. She turned her head back to Gusty. “When he caught you, what did Grogar ask you?” “No. He asked me who else was working for you, but I replied I didn´t know.” “Then why are they here and not in the castle?” “For protection, my queen.” Glory interceded. “It was my idea. If Grogar caught one, he would catch the others. So, I decided that we came back here.” “Did you tell him where we´re hiding?” “No. He didn´t ask that, and even if he did, I would have refused to answer.” “Good, that means we have time to prepare ourselves.” “For what?” “Thanks to your little imprudence, Grogar is going to search the whole capital. One way or another he´ll find this place. But we´re not leaving yet, I still have a question left. Why did you say to everypony you were part of a rebellion I was leading?” Gusty sighed. “Because… I wanted to make ponies see that Grogar´s a creature like the rest of us.” The unicorns raised their eyebrows confused. Majesty frowned. “We´re nothing like him. I´m not like Grogar! He´s a monster.” “No, no. You misunderstood. I´m not saying that we should have sympathy for him. Throughout so many years, we think that Grogar is a superior creature that has no weaknesses and who will torture us forever. But that´s not true. You have taken back your rightful territories. And you´re not the only one who´s revolting, earth ponies and pegasi are as well! That made me think that Grogar may not be as unbeatable as we think he is. He can be vulnerable as well. I thought everypony deserved to know that. And not only did I want to tell this to ponies, I wanted to make Grogar see this as well. He´s wronged us too many times, it was time somepony put him on his place.” As she offered her explanation, ponies´ attitudes towards Gusty changed. They were still angry at her, but they understood that she didn´t do it with malice. Majesty´s stare became less harsh. “After your words, I can see that you didn´t this out of cowardice, nor you had any intention of betraying me. In fact, I really admire what you meant to do. Unfortunately, what you´re causing those ponies is death. Thanks to what you did, Grogar´s going to torture them to confess things they didn´t do and will probably be executed. So, while idealism can be hopeful, don´t let it take over.” Gusty covered her mouth. She didn´t think of that when she decided to do it. Her eyes filled with tears. “I didn´t mean for them to pay. They didn´t- Why would he-” Gusty couldn´t finish her sentence due to the guilt and shame she was experiencing. “Let me tell you something I wish I had known when I took my father´s hoofsteps.” Majesty told Gusty. “In war, you have no control of who lives, who dies and who tells your story. That´s how it is.” Gusty paid attention to Majesty´s face. She thought to see some vulnerability, even some sadness in her eyes. But the unicorn quickly recovered her composure. “That´s everything I had to ask. Thanks for replying honestly.” “What´s going to happen to her, my queen?” Glory asked her. Majesty looked at Gusty. “I spare your life. But you understand what happens if you get caught.” “Yes.” Gusty admitted sadly and calmly, despite being unnerved by the fact that she was going to be unprotected. “You may leave now.” “Thank you, my queen.” “Wait!” Glory exclaimed. “There´s something else you need to know.” she told Majesty. Gusty widened her eyes. She knew what Glory was going to say. She shook her head at her. “What? What do I need to know?” Suddenly, Danny Hooves opened the main gates. “Queen Majesty!” he yelled as he ran, catching everypony´s attention. “Danny!” Majesty exclaimed surprised. Everypony looked at each other frightened and worried. Majesty raised her hoof, asking them to remain calm. “Queen Majesty, is the newbie with you?” “You mean me?” Gusty asked. “Oh there you are!” “Danny, what´s going on?” Majesty asked him. “Well, the thing is that Grogar has already sent guards all around the capital. But they´re not searching for us exactly. Right now, his main target is her.” he pointed at Gusty. Majesty stared estranged at Gusty. “Did you upset him that much?” she asked her. “Well, if somepony had thrown me to the wall, I would be very upset.” Buttons said. After Buttons said that, everypony stared surprised at Gusty. “That´s exactly what I was going to tell you!” Glory told Majesty. “She has wind magic! We think it´s her.” “Is it true?” she asked Gusty. “No, of course not.” she lied. “What are you talking about? We saw how you did a huge gust of wind that sent him away!” Fizzy said excited. Gusty scowled at Fizzy. “It can´t be…” Majesty whispered. “Can´t be what?” Fizzy asked confused. “Prepare yourselves! We´re leaving now!” Majesty ordered everypony. Everypony nodded and ran to get their personal belongings. Gusty was about to turn around, but Majesty put her hoof on her shoulder. “Wait! Don´t leave yet.” she told her. “You´re coming with us. Wind Warrior.”