//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Two new faces // Story: Gusty the Great book 1- The beginning // by Dianabel //------------------------------// Gusty was awaken by the sounds of casseroles. “TIME TO WAKE UP YOU VERMIN!” Unlike her workmates, who got off from bed and went to have breakfast, Gusty was still asleep. However, Bray didn´t realize that, as he was busy counting the names of every worker. He only did once everypony left. He widened his eyes when he saw Gusty sleeping. “You´ve got to be kidding me.” he thought aloud. For a moment, he was about to leave and not wake Gusty. If she was asleep, then there was nothing she would be able to hear or tell Majesty. But if he did that, Grogar would find out that he was disobeying him. He rolled his eyes as he sighed frustrated. “Oi! Didn´t you hear?!” he hit the casserole with the spoon. “It´s time to wake up!” But the only thing Gusty was stretching and turn her back on Bray. The donkey scoffed. “How dare she?!” He walked to her side and hit the casserole in her ear. “WAKE UP!” He finally woke Gusty up, but at the cost of getting kicked in the muzzle. “Yes sir!” Gusty said as she sat on her bed and put her hoof on her forehead as a sign of obedience. She gasped when she realized what she had done. “Oh… I´m so sorry! I didn´t mean to hurt you. Are you alri-” Bray put his hoof on front of her so she didn´t get closer to him. “Don´t.” he said firmly. Then, he forced a smile. “Please.” he sighed frustrated. “Ugh, I think you broke my nose you stupid vermin!” “I´m sorry…” she looked around, looking for something she didn´t seem to find in the room. “Wait here, I´ll go to the kitchen.” “Do you think I´m so stupid to let you go in there and let you steal food?” “It´s not for me, it´s for you. You need something cold if you want the pain to be relieved.” Bray was completely caught off guard by those words. Sometimes, there had been ponies in the castle who had had similar incidents like this with him, and none of them offered to help him before he told them to like Gusty just did. On top of that, from her tone, he could tell she wasn´t doing this out of fear but for genuine concern. This left him so confused. Why was this unicorn who had shown some defiance to his orders helping him now? “Is she messing with me?” he thought while arching an eyebrow. Before he got to open his mouth, Gusty had already arrived with a bottle of wine. “What do you think you´re doing?!” Bray asked upset. “Don´t you know that´s the finest wine in the whole empire? Besides, now it´s not the time to drink!” Gusty, who was initially taken back by his reaction, looked at the bottle of wine. “Oh.” she said in realization. Then, she chuckled. “I didn´t bring this to drink. It´s for your muzzle.” Bray blinked. “What?” “Before I came here, when one of my fillies got hurt, I used to put a cold container on their injury. And this is the freshest thing I could find in here.” Although not so convinced about the idea, he didn´t have a better idea. So, he had no choice but to follow her advice. “Give me that!” he took the bottle from Gusty. “Go to work!” “From what you told me, I´m pretty sure now it´s breakfast time.” “Whatever. Just go! NOW!” Gusty rushed out scared. Once he made sure she was not around, he put the bottle on his muzzle. She was right. As it was cold, it relieved the pain somehow. Although he didn´t want to admit it, he couldn´t help but admire how good that idea was. Why didn´t he think of that? This also made him confused about her intentions. Sure, she had defied him more than once before but after having put her through such humiliation the day before, she still did this little act of kindness that no creature, neither Grogar, would have done for him. But of course, this could have been an act of cunning. Like Grogar always said, feminine charms were easy to fall for. But that wasn´t the impression Gusty gave him. Plus, she looked like she had no idea what she was doing! However, that didn´t mean she could have her moment of lucidity. His thoughts were interrupted by Drog, who was looking at him estranged. “Sir, what are you doing?” Bray blushed in embarrassment. “What are you looking at?!” Drog looked away and pretended to be distracted looking at anything else. By following some ponies, Gusty managed to arrive to the room where every worker had breakfast. As she was waiting in the queue for food, she noticed the stares of the mares. Like the day before, Gusty felt uncomfortable. She was worried that she had caused a bad impression on her workmates forever. But after what had happened, she came to the conclusion that it was best not to think about their opinions, otherwise her winds might get out of control and bring grave trouble. When her turn came, she was served a minuscule ration of hay, though she didn´t complain as she was used to small rations. And then, came the most horrifying moment for Gusty: choosing her sit. Though an action that might seem meaningless, choosing in which table to sit had always been difficult for her in her previous job. Her goal in mind was always to sit in the table without ponies, which was sometimes impossible. If there weren´t any, she would sit on the floor at a corner and eat there. However, she was in a different environment now. It was bigger and with stricter rules. It was highly likely that they wouldn´t let her sit in the corner. Gusty sighed exasperated. “Why does everything have to be difficult in here?” she thought exasperated. But what Gusty didn´t know was that her problem was about to be solved in an instant. Just not in the way she would have liked. “Hey!” she heard a female voice calling her. Gusty turned and her eyes dropped in shock when she realized who was calling her. The same unicorn she yelled at the day before. She quickly turned around to avoid eye contact with her. “Tell me this isn´t happening, please this isn´t happening!” she whispered to herself. At that moment, she would have rushed out the room, but her body prevented her from doing so, as it literally froze in fear. Instead, her legs started to shake and looked away, helplessly trying to calm herself down. Her heartbeat raised as the unicorn approached her, as well as her breathing. “Excuse me.” the mare touched her shoulder. Gusty yelped while jumping back. Seeing that she was looking at her a bit estranged, Gusty regained her composture. “Oh, uh… Hi! Uh…. How you´re doing?” “I´m fine, what about you?” “Um…. Fine?” Gusty giggled nervously. “Eeh… It was nice to see you but I got to go and have breakfast. See you later though!” Gusty prepared to run away. “About that, I was thinking…. Would you like to come and sit with us?” Gusty blinked, completely caught off guard by that question. “What was that again?” “I said if you want to have breakfast with me and my friend.” “You´re not mad at me after what I did to you yesterday?” “Nope. I mean you were soaked, injured, your dress was broken, and you seemed very stressed so I can understand why you reacted like that.” Gusty was completely in shock. If this had happened in her previous workplace, they would have yelled at her, but this unicorn was instead offering her a place to have breakfast. It was so strange for her that she felt that she didn´t deserve, so without thinking it, she refused. “No, it´s not-” But as she answered, she remembered a dialogue between her and Majesty. “Always bear in mind that you are about to be in an environment that is against you. Anything you do or say can be used against you in the future. So, I´d advise you to be very careful with who you talk to.” “You mean to interact the least possible with the other ponies?” “Don´t isolate completely either. That will make it more obvious that you´re hiding something. You can talk to other ponies just don´t get too attached to them. However,” Majesty smiled confidently. “you need to remember that you´re not the only unicorn who´s working for me.” “Oh right. So, they are the ones who I can talk to the most?” Majesty nodded. “Alright. And what are their names?” “You´ll have to ask them.” Gusty raised her eyebrow curiously. “Wouldn´t it be easier to spot them if you told me their names?” Majesty raised her eyebrow in return, only with disdain and a little bit of frustration, which made Gusty wish she hadn´t said anything. “Ok.” she got up from her sit. “Let´s revise everything. What´s our strategy all about?” “Uh… Espionage?” “Mhm. And what does a spy need in order to be successful?” “Being mysterious?” “Quite close.” “Hiding secrets.” “That´s right. Secrecy is really important, like I´ve told three times or so.” she threw Gusty a hint. “And what would you do at the castle if I told you the names of the other unicorns working for me?” “I would look for them.” “I see. Let´s just say I am Grogar, alright?” she started walking towards Gusty. The unicorn´s ears dropped as the queen got closer to her. “What would I do if my most loyal and competent lackey noticed the same unicorn he hired was asking for the names of various unicorns?” Majesty grew more upset. “You would suspect something…” Gusty replied in whispers. “Grogar is famous for torturing ponies. So I don´t think you want to see that in first hoof.” she approached to her ear. “Remember, put me in evidence and nopony will be there to save you the morning they put a noose around your neck.” Gusty gulped. “I´m sorry, my queen. I asked because I wanted to make things easier…” “I´m sorry but I´m afraid you didn´t sign for something easy. No matter what ideas you might want to carry on.” “But if I don´t know their names, then how will I know who´s on my side?” Majesty chuckled. “If anypony reaches to you and invites you to be with them, you´ll know they´re on our side.” “Soo… Is that a yes?” The unicorn´s voice made Gusty come back to reality. She shook her head. “Huh? Sorry, I guess I completely immersed into my thoughts.” The unicorn laughed. “That´s alright. It always happens to me. In the minute I least expect it, I start thinking about my own stuff that I completely lose track of reality until Bray comes and yells: `What are you doing dumb pony? Get back to work!´” That unicorn´s imitation of Bray got a chuckle out of Gusty. Maybe it was because she put her hoofs on her hips or her faces were priceless. “So you want to have breakfast with us?” the unicorn offered Gusty a hoof. Gusty looked at the hoof and then at the mare. There was something so warm and welcoming about her, such as her smile or her eyes full of cheer, that ensured anypony that they could trust her. After she remembered her conversation with Majesty, Gusty couldn´t help but admire how good she was at picking ponies for espionage. “Yes.” Gusty said confidently. “¿Ha dicho que sí? ¡Ha dicho que sí!” she exclaimed surprised and happy at the same time. But she quickly regained her composure after she remembered she was not alone. “I mean… Great! I´ll lead you to our table.” she quickly turned to Gusty. “Please pretend you didn´t see that.” “That´s alright.” Gusty reassured her. “Nge yamba tamnge shekiu.” The unicorn raised her eyebrow. “What does that mean?” she asked curiously. “It means I speak another language. Just like you.” “And my friend too. I´ll present her to you.” They walked to a table where there was a pink unicorn sitting. “I see you managed to bring her.” she said after swallowing her food. The unicorn laughed. “Yes.” “But isn´t she the mare who yelled at you yesterday?” Gusty blushed in embarrassment. “Yes. But I still want her to sit with us.” The other unicorn shrugged. “Sounds fine for me. You can sit there.” she pointed at a chair in front of her. Shyly, Gusty sat on the chair. “First of all, I want to apologize for yesterday.” she told the mare that had invited her. “I shouldn´t have yelled at you like that.” “I already told you it was ok. You don´t need to apologize, really.” Gusty smiled sadly. “And secondly, thanks for inviting me.” “No, no, I should thank you for coming with me!” “Fizzy has always liked making new friends but she gets too excited and instead scares unicorns away.” the other unicorn explained. “So, your name is Fizzy.” “Ajá. And this enchanting unicorn next to me is Buttons.” Fizzy put her foreleg around Buttons. “She´s from Prance whereas I am a proud Boricua!” “She means she´s from Puerto Caballo.” Buttons explained to Gusty. “Anyway, nice to make your acquaintance ma cherie. What´s your name?” “Gusty.” “And from your horn I assume you´re from other place.” Buttons pointed at her own horn. “Either that, or you were born here but your parents came from another place.” Gusty looked at her horn. “Oh… Yeah, I was born in the Himarelaya. It´s a mountain range very far away from here.” “I heard that there are unicorns living there.” Fizzy commented. “Are you one of them?” Gusty nodded. “But don´t think that every unicorn living there is the same. There are many different groups of unicorns with different traditions. Specifically, I belong to the Sharta.” “Interesting.” Gusty smiled briefly. She always loved talking about her home with her daughters but talking about it with other ponies was also exciting. “So what brought you to work in here Gusty?” Buttons asked. “The same thing that brought you here.” Gusty smirked. “Of course. The desire of survival, am I right?” Gusty was expecting Buttons to mention Majesty, however, the reason she took her mission in the first place was for survival, so she assumed she was explaining why she started working for Majesty. “So now that we are together, are we to start talking about-” She was interrupted by Bray. “YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES LEFT!” Fizzy gasped. “I haven´t even started to eat!” she said before she started to gobble up her breakfast as fast as she could. “Well, that´s what happens for not focusing, Fizzy.” Buttons said before taking a mouthful of hay. Then, Gusty realized that she didn´t take anything to her mouth either. She gasped. “Neither did I!” Buttons widened her eyes. “Oh great, now I´ll have to take care of two absent-minded unicorns.” Buttons thought aloud before taking a sip of water. Luckily the two of them were able to finish their breakfast in time. “Now what do we do?” Gusty asked them. “Now, the mares that work at the kitchen, take everything to the tub and wash it.” Fizzy explained. “I am one of those mares.” “And Buttons?” “No, I work as a seamstress in the castle.” “Really? I was also a seamstress in my previous job!” Gusty said excited. “You had another job?” Gusty widened her eyes and blinked, realizing her mistake. She cleared her throat. “Let´s just forget I said that, shall we?” Fizzy and Buttons looked at each other. “Alright.” Fizzy replied. “I´ll see you at lunchtime!” “Bye Fizzy.” Buttons said to her. “Bye.” Gusty said softly. “So what´s your job at the castle?” Buttons asked her. “I´m actually not sure. Bray just gives me tasks. Yesterday, for example, my first task was to water thorns.” “The thorns? But those things move and prey on you!” “Oh believe me, I learned that on the bad way.” “And did it curl around your rear leg?” “Yeah. How do you know that?” “You´re limping.” Gusty looked at her leg as she walked. “That makes sense. Well, it still hurts, I mean, they did a good scratch in there.” “Did you have time to heal it?” “No. Plus, I don´t have anything to cover it with!” “Mhm, maybe we´ll have to sanitize it later. But for now, use this to cover it.” Buttons untied the apron from her dress. “No, no, it´s not necessary, really.” Gusty refused. “I have many more like this, don´t worry. Could you show it to me?” Gusty pulled her skirt up so Buttons could see the scratch. The pink unicorn whimpered. “Sacrebleu, that´s a big scratch.” she said surprised. “But still something we can heal.” She tied the apron around her leg. “Et voila. At least that will prevent from any germs entering there.” “Thank you Buttons.” “You´re welcome.” “Dusty! Dusty!” Bray called Gusty. “Where are you Dusty?” Gusty sighed frustrated. “There he comes…” she said to Buttons. “I´m here! And it´s Gusty not Dusty.” Bray turned around. “Aah, there you are.” he said with a satisfied smile that faded when he saw Buttons. “Shouldn´t you be sewing pants or shirts or whatever?” Buttons rolled her eyes playfully. “Duty calls. Have a nice morning.” “You too.” Gusty observed Buttons with a warm smile as she left. Although she had just met her and Fizzy, she could tell that she was feeling something she didn´t feel around anypony aside from her family for a long time: comfort. Despite being reserved or having odd behaviours, they still treated her kindly. She was looking forward to being with them again at lunch time, something very new for Gusty. It was a bit alarming and fuzzy feeling but also one that she liked. “Hello?” Bray asked as he shook his foreleg in front of her to make her come back to reality. “Eh? Oh! Sorry sir. How is your muzzle? Did my trick work?” Bray got nervous by that question. He was grateful to her but at the same time he didn´t want to make her think that he warmed up to her. “Let´s just say my muzzle still hurts. But less.” he whispered the last part, although Gusty was able to hear it. “I´m glad, I guess.” Both Gusty and Bray looked away and didn´t say a word to each other for a few seconds, a, uncomfortable time for both Bray and Gusty. “So…. What is my next task?” Bray chuckled mischievously. “You´re taking food to the emperor.” Gusty´s ears dropped and her eyes widened like dishes. She bit her lip nervously.