//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Venturing into the lion´s den // Story: Gusty the Great book 1- The beginning // by Dianabel //------------------------------// The more she got closer to the castle, the more Gusty´s breath fastened, even though she still had some miles ahead of her. Ever since she first got to the capital, the castle intimidated Gusty. Whether it was by its visibility from afar or the pointy pinnacles, she felt as if it was a warning from the emperor. Just by looking at the castle, a pony already knew it wasn´t a good idea to go right in there or mess with him. And today, she was about to do the exact opposite of that advice. Like everypony, Gusty was terrified of Emperor Grogar. Back home, she had heard stories about him. He was an emperor from a far away land that had reached their territories and kept them under his control along many other lands he had conquered since then. Luckily, they had more freedom there, as it was very far from him, but his influence could still be noticed. She had also been told that he was the cruellest creature that had ever been in this world. She couldn´t help but feel bad for the ponies who lived closer to him. Little did she know that she would be one of those ponies. Not only that, she was a pony who was going to work against him in the very place he lives! One little misstep, and she, her family, the queen and everypony who worked for her, would be dead. What´s worse, a potential misstep was the failure of controlling her magic. Which is why, she was focusing on her breath instead of thinking all the possibilities that would happen. “Don´t worry Gusty. Everything is gonna be ok. You can do this. You´re capable.” she kept muttering to herself as she breathed. She sighed heavily. “I can´t believe I´m doing this!” she put her hoof on her forehead. “Oh… Why did I think this was a good idea? Chila?!” She yelled the last word out loud and angrily. Everypony walking around stared at her. Gusty blushed in embarassment and covered herself with a hoof. “Maybe I shouldn´t go…” After realizing what she had just said, she shook her head and scowled. “No! You already said yes. There´s no turning back, you know that.” she looked at the castle, gulped, frowned confidently and kept walking. As she walked more into the capital, Gusty realized that how little she knew the city. There were still tons of places she hadn´t been into despite having lived there for years. She even had to ask for directions! At least nopony judged her for that, which made her feel relieved, as it reassured her that she wasn´t the only one who had that problem, as ponies have very little leisure time to go around investigating the city. But if she could do this more often, she definitely would! After all, she always enjoyed a little adventure. Finally, after wondering through many unknown corners of the capital and stopping ponies to help her, she finally got to the castle. Her mouth hung wide open when she saw the castle just before her. It was much more terrifying than watching it from the distance. She didn´t know how tall it was until now. The towers and its spires were so tall that they reached the sky. She also realized that not only the pinnacles were pointy, but also the arches on the gates and windows, which made it more terrifying. On top of that, there were lots of detailed carving of various horrifying monsters in its walls, as well as gargoyles. She was right, the emperor used the castle as a warning not to mess with him. But it also reminded ponies of their position. Right now, Gusty was feeling powerless and small. What did she have against a creature who owned this castle? What´s worse, thousands of ponies must have died while building this, which made Gusty more uncomfortable. She was so impressed and terrified by the castle that she completely ignored what was happening around her. “HALT!” a voice yelled from the keep towers at the castle´s walls. The voice made Gusty come back to reality. “Huh?” she muttered. She looked up to see troggles pointing their spares at her from the watch towers. “WHO GOES THERE?” one of them asked. Intimidated by the spares, Gusty took a few steps back. But then she remembered Majesty´s instructions. “Don´t let them intimidate you, otherwise they´ll know something´s going on.” So, she took a few breathes before answering. “Firstly, can you hear me?” she put her hooves at both sides of her mouth. “WHAT?!” the troggle put his hand behind his ear. “Ok, that didn´t work.” she cleared her throat. “I said, can you hear me?!” she raised her voice. “IF YOU HAVE NOTHING TO SAY, GO AWAY!” another troggle told her. Gusty massaged her temples. “CAN YOU HEAR ME?!” she yelled. “Aaah! YEAHH! NOW WE DO!” the troggle replied. “Finally.” Gusty said to herself. She cleared her throat again. “GOOD. I´M HERE BECAUSE I WANT TO WORK AS A MAID IN THE EMPEROR´S CASTLE!” The troggles looked at each other and threw suspicious glances at Gusty. They nodded at each other. “Keep pointing! She could be lying!” then, he turned to Gusty. “Don´t move!” he ordered her before he rushed out. “WASN´T PLANNING TO!” she replied back. Gusty had to wait to figure out what the troggle was doing. Seeing that the troggle was taking long, she started feeling anxious. What if they had already discovered her? Are they going to bring her to the emperor as an intruder? Doubts started going through her mind. Noticing a very small gust of wind, she gasped horrified and started to breath. If it were for her, she would breathe slowly like she usually does, but if she did, the troggles would suspect she was hiding something. She breathed quickly with her nose, while looking at the troggles. Suddenly, the wall´s gates started to open slowly. Gusty´s ears perked up. Whatever she was about to find, she had to be prepared. It could be an ambush or the emperor himself. Her breath fastened while her ears dropped in fear as the gates opened more. She could feel she was running out of air, but she knew she couldn´t pass out. “Open now please!” she thought to herself. But what she saw once the gates let her see what was behind them, made her relax, although it also surprised her. There was no ambush, nor the emperor was there. But instead, there were troggles… with a donkey? Gusty blinked as she checked the donkey. He was brown and wore an orange hood. Around his waist, he wore a black belt with various golden keys hanging from it. She heard many stories about the emperor and the troggles, but none of them mentioned a donkey. What did that donkey have to do with Grogar? Nonetheless, she quickly got an answer when the donkey opened his mouth. “Oi! What are you staring at?!” he told her aggressively. Gusty´s eyes widened. “Oh. Sorry.” she apologized. “Oh, I know what you´re thinking.” The donkey walked towards Gusty. “How is a stupid creature like the donkey doing here in the high elite? Well, I´ll let you know that I am way smarter than your kind will ever be!” he put his hoof on Gusty´s nose. “So don´t you think that you can easily fool me! I know you´re planning something against the emperor, which why you´re here, am I right?” Gusty was feeling threatened by the donkey. But she remembered Majesty´s words and tried to act cool. “Um… No.” “Then why are you here?” the donkey raised his eyebrow. “I´m just looking for a job.” “Why?” “Because I need food and make a living.” “Well d´uh! But why here?” Gusty bit her lip. She didn´t want to do it, but she had no other choice. She sighed. “I tried to get one around the capital, but I failed.” “And why that is?” Gusty started getting frustrated by the questions. “Because they´re not looking for more applicants.” “Have you got any work experience?” Gusty widened her eyes and bit her lip. If she told him that she did have work experience, he would ask her why she´s not working there anymore but if she lied, maybe he wouldn´t get her. “You seem a bit puzzled by this question.” he grinned mischievously. Luckily, Gusty came up with a solution. “Are you asking me because you´re looking for the best for the emperor?” she said with an innocent tone. “Of course!” he answered confidently. “I mean, I do look for the best for him because he´s the best but let´s just say that your kind is…” the donkey took some time to think the next words. “Bellow good quality.” “U huh.” Gusty nodded with a smile, even though she was upset by the donkey´s comment. “So… since we are bellow good quality, that means that even though a pony has never worked, you still accept them for work, am I right?” “Well, I wouldn´t accept you for cooking but I would accept you for a simple job such as sweeping or cleaning the floor. Buuut,” the donkey narrowed his eyes at her. “I must say it´s a bit that a pony like you comes here looking for a job in times where a wannabe queen unicorn is sending ponies to spy on the emperor by making them pretend to be ponies in need of a job at the castle.” he said as he approached his face to Gusty, which made her walk backwards. Gusty gasped softly. Majesty had told her that she had been using this strategy for a long time, but she didn´t tell her that the emperor already knew her strategy. Could this mean that her strategy was beginning to fail? This could be crucial information. “Why did you gasp?” the donkey raised his eyebrow suspiciously. Gusty looked back at the donkey. “Is that happening to the emperor?” she put her hoof on her mouth. “I had no idea.” she lamented. The donkey widened his eyes. “You mean you have no idea of what´s happening?” “Well… I haven´t heard rumors from pony folk about an unicorn recluting ponies. But the strange thing is that no soldier has ever warned us about her.” she gasped. “Is it because this is a secret of state?” The donkey blinked shocked. “You know what? Forget what I just said. You´re in.” he turned to the troggles. “False alarm, just a dumb pony looking for a job.” The troggles stopped pointing their spares at Gusty. “Don´t you dare to tell any creature about what I told you. Specially the emperor, you hear me?” he put his hoof on Gusty´s nose once again. Gusty nodded while putting his hoof of her nose. “Then shut your mouth and follow me!” Once she made sure nopony was looking Gusty left out a huge sigh of relief and breathed heavily. “Why are you still?! Move you vermin!” the donkey called her. Tired of his bossy attitude, Gusty rolled her eyes and followed the donkey. As Bray opened the castle´s gates, Gusty was left in awe. Even the ceiling was as high as the castle´s towers! At the top, there were pointy vaults, which were held by enormous pillars. Though not very bright, there was enough light provided by chandeliers and torches at the wall, as well as the windows. Speaking of them, Gusty noticed that they had some decorative motives at their top. At front of her, beneath the stairs, there was a huge stained window of the emperor. As she watched the architecture, questions were wondering her mind: “How on earth was the castle built? How many ponies´ deaths did it take? How can it be so imposing and scary yet so strangely beautiful at the same time? Noticing that Gusty was still to admire the place, the donkey and the troggles accompanying him turned around and stopped going upstairs. “Ha! I see you´re impressed.” the donkey smiled cockily, which called Gusty´s attention. “It´s normal. I guess that for simple pony folk like you this must be so shocking since you usually live in much simpler homes.” his smile turned into a serious face. “But as intriguing the castle may be to you, I have to remind you that this is not a tour.” Gusty raised an eyebrow confused. “But you´re showing me the castle, right?” she replicated as she caught up with the donkey and the troggles. “If that´s not a tour, then I don´t know what that is.” “I mean, yes it is, but this isn´t leisure tourism, that´s what I meant.” “That makes more sense.” “Ok, will you stop being so insolent?” “I wasn´t being insolent.” Gusty replied upset in her defence. However, seeing that she was getting on his nerves by talking, something she could deduce by his death stare, she realized that it would be better to be quiet. “I mean…” she smiled apologetically. Then, she cleared her throat. “Yes, sir. I apologize for my behaviour.” “Good.” the donkey replied. As they walked through the castle, the donkey told her which part they were in, what was that room´s purpose, and most importantly, which rooms it was forbidden to enter in, for example the castle´s library. “This is the castle´s library. You´re not supposed to enter here. Never.” “Never? Even for cleaning?” “Never.” he emphasized as he scowled at her. “Understood?” “Yes sir.” Gusty nodded nervously. “The castle´s library, the emperor´s study and bedroom, as well as the reunion room are forbidden to enter.” “Well, actually, you can enter the reunion room only to serve food and once it´s empty if you want to clean it.” a troggle corrected him. Gusty´s ears perked up. The amounts of information she could get by doing that. Look down to the left, she smirked softly while raising an eyebrow. “Ok, your job is to accompany me and to guard the castle, not to correct me!” the donkey scolded him. “Sorry sir.” “But anyway, entering to one of those rooms can be punishable by death, you hear me?” Gusty nodded. Various minutes passed by, and the tour wasn´t still over, as the castle was enormous. But there was one thing that confused Gusty. Shouldn´t have he showed her to the emperor before showing her the castle? She stared at the donkey and looked away whether he noticed her stares. Eventually, he narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Is there something troubling you?” he asked her intimidatingly. “Well… I do have a question.” she looked up in thought. “Two in fact.” The donkey raised his eyebrow. “Go on.” “Firstly, what is your name sir?” “Ok. Ok.” he scoffed while raising his hoof. “If is what I think it is, let me clarify something. We´re not here to be friends. I´m the emperor´s confidant and therefore I am in a much higher position than you and anypony here. You are nothing compared to me, missy.” “I already know that.” Gusty replied somewhat upset by that answer. “It´s not like you constantly remind us every moment in our lives.” she muttered the last part. “What did you say?” “Nothing!” she lied innocently. “I just asked because I was curious.” “Well you know how the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat, so you should be careful with that. But in that case, Bray is the name. But don´t call me by my name!” Bray ordered her angrily. Only the emperor can do that.” “Yes, sir. And… When are we going to see the emperor?” Bray and the troggles stopped walking. “What did you say?” Gusty´s ears dropped. She gulped and walked backwards. “I asked if we´re going to see the emperor…” she answered shyly. Bray and the troggles blinked. Then, they held their laughter, only to end up bursting in laughter, which estranged Gusty. “Oh dear,” he wiped out a tear. “Did you hear her? She thinks…” he brayed as he took air. “She thinks we´re seeing the emperor. Oh, that´s the funniest I´ve ever heard!” he kept on laughing with the troggles. While a bit upset by their laughter, Gusty was also relieved as she thought she had got into trouble. So she simply exiled air through her mouth. Once he was done laughing, Bray answered Gusty´s question. “No idiot. We´re not seeing the emperor. Who do you think you are to see him just like that anyway?” “I.. thought that you presented new employees to the emperor.” “Well, no we don´t. The emperor can´t afford to waste his time with ponies.” he said the word `ponies with disdain´. “I´ll tell him that there´s a new domestic employee though, if that makes you feel better.” he scoffed. “Where did you get that silly idea?” “I don´t know…” Gusty looked away as she lied. Since she was presented to Majesty, she figured that it would be the same with Grogar. They entered to a corridor. “This is the most boring part of the tour, I warn you, as there´s absolutely nothing here. Just decorations and other stuff.” Bray told her. “But since the emperor likes everything super clean, then you´ll have to clean it, that´s why I´m showing it to you.” As Bray was talking, Gusty noticed something that contradicted what he was saying. There was something there apart from decorations. And that thing was a door. “Um… what about that door over there? Is it chambers?” Bray gasped dramatically when he realized his mistake. “This is that corridor, is it?” The troggles nodded nervously. He ran to Gusty, who was checking the door curiously. He blocked her way. “It´s forbidden! Super forbidden!” “I wasn´t going to enter. But is it some special room like the library?” “I can´t tell you. Just,” he joined his hooves. “Don´t enter here.” he faked a smile. “Like I said, I wasn´t going to enter.” “No, no. I mean the corridor.” “Then why are you showing me-” “I SAID YOU CAN´T! OK?!” Bray snapped. “Don´t ask questions. Let´s get out of here.” Bray sighed. “The emperor is going to kill me for this if he finds out.” he mumbled to himself. “Don´t tell him about this, eh?” he said to the troggles, who nodded energetically. “How can I have mixed up the two corridors?” As they left, Gusty stared at the door. “There must be something really precious and secret behind that door if he doesn´t want me to enter there. What could it be?” she thought to herself. “And… This is where you´ll sleep.” Bray told Gusty as he opened the door. Gusty widened her eyes. “Oh… It´s so… Crowdy.” she commented nervously. For Gusty´s surprise, she didn´t get a tiny bedroom for herself and a few more ponies. Instead, it was just two endless lines of bunk beds at both sides of the room. This was going to complicate things for Gusty, both to sleep and to deliver information to Majesty´s messenger. “I´m so sorry, but this is no inn missy.” “So… which one is my bed?” “We´ll have to see that.” Bray checked every bunk bed. In each of them, there was a label in which featured the names of the ponies sleeping there. Gusty was worried that her bed was going to be far away from the door, as that would make her task much more impossible. Fortunately, Bray didn´t take too much time in answering. “Found one!” he took a fountain pen. “What´s your name?” “Gusty.” “Gusty.” he repeated as he wrote her name in the label. “Ok, you´ll sleep on the bed bellow.” Gusty sighed in relief. At least she had somewhat of a less risk to wake one pony up. Still, she had to be careful. Bray noticed her sigh. “Why are you sighing?” “Because I´m afraid of heights.” she thought quickly. “Should have thought that before entering to a castle literally as tall as the sky.” he said under his breath. He cleared his throat. “Now all you have to do is wait until the emperor tells me what job to assign you as. Don´t worry, you have great company.” he smiled mischievously as he left. The troggles narrowed their eyes at Gusty. The unicorn hugged her tail as she laughed nervously.