//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11: Something´s off 
// Story: Gusty the Great book 1- The beginning 
// by Dianabel 
//------------------------------//

“And that´s why I didn´t sleep well last night.” Fizzy told her friend Buttons as they had breakfast.

Buttons blinked with her eyebrow raised, trying to process what Fizzy just told her. 

“You know this is just another dream of yours, right?”

“But this time I was awake! Or at least half asleep.”

“I´ve told you a thousand times, nopony in our room gets up in the middle of the night. In all of the years I´ve been here, this has never happened to me.”

“That´s because when you fall asleep you literally lose track of the world.”

“Isn´t that what sleeping is about?”

“Yeah, but the castle could be burning and you´d still be asleep! Once you fall asleep, nothing can wake you up. My sleep isn´t as deep as yours.”

“Besides, we got along with Gusty! And when you got along with a pony, that pony still hangs out with you. This is just your insecurity talking in your dreams.” she put her hoof on Buttons´ shoulder.

“I hope so. But it felt very real.”

“Don´t all dreams feel very real?”

“Yes. But this one felt realer than usual.” Fizzy put her hoof on her temple. “Do you think I´m getting crazier?”

“You´re not crazy nor you´ve never been crazy. Eccentric? Yes, but crazy? Never! You just doubt your likability. But don´t worry. Gusty will keep talking to us and she still likes you. You´ll see when she comes to sit with us. Talking about her, she´s a bit late isn´t she? I hope she has enough time to have breakfast.”

“Maybe she didn´t see us. Do you want me to look for her?”

Suddenly, Buttons spotted Gusty sitting alone on the background.

“Oh, never mind, there she is. Gusty! We´re here!”  Buttons called her as she energetically shook her hoof.

Gusty´s ears perked up when she heard Buttons´ voice. She gasped scared and turned her head in the opposite direction.

“Don´t look at them. Don´t look at them.” she told herself.

Meanwhile, Fizzy and Buttons watched her reaction.

“Did she- Did she just ignore us?” Fizzy asked confused.

“No, she might have not heard us. Or maybe she did hear us, but she thinks it comes from that direction. Gusty! Behind you!”

“TIME´S UP! GET TO WORK!” Bray exclaimed.

Everypony stood up and left to carry on their respective duties.

“Well, we might have not been able to have breakfast with her but don´t worry, we might have better luck at lunch.” Buttons said to Fizzy as she took everypony´s plate.

“Or maybe we see her at work if Brays gives her duties that are near us.”

“Remember Fizzy, it´s just your mind.” she embraced Fizzy with her foreleg.

“It´s just my mind.” she repeated while she smiled at her friend.

But when she wasn´t looking, Fizzy looked at Gusty, who was behind her, with worry.





As Fizzy was kneading a dough in the kitchen, she noticed Gusty looking around the room, as if she was looking for something.

“It looks like she needs help.” she thought as she raised her eyebrow playfully, seeing the chance to talk to Gusty.

Noticing that they made eye contact, the two mares looked away and turned around. Although Fizzy wanted to talk to Gusty, she was also anxious that she scared her and thus didn´t want to be around her anymore. But at the same time, she also noticed that Gusty wasn´t feeling ok either, which gave Fizzy some hope that she still liked her.

“As Buttons said, it´s only my mind.” she reminded herself before jumping into action.

“Hey! How´s that dough going?” a unicorn asked her.

“Almost!”

She quickly finished kneading the dough and passed it to her.

“Hey, would you mind doing this one for me?”

“Why would I do that? It´s your job not mine.”

“I know. But I need to tell her something.” Fizzy pointed at Gusty.

“You´ll talk to her when you´re finished. And you still have a lot of work ahead.”

“So I guess it´s a no, right?”

The unicorn raised her eyebrow.

“Es un no.” she whispered. “Ok, got it. Sorry for disturbing you.”

When the unicorn wasn´t looking. Fizzy looked at Gusty.

“How am I going to talk to her?” she wondered.

She quickly noticed a broom near Gusty.  Maybe Bray had ordered her to sweep, even though she was busy at chopping food at that moment. Then, she looked at the counter and noticed a jar full of flour. She approached it to her until it fell to the floor.

“Oops.” she said with fake worry as she covered her mouth.

Quickly, the other unicorns in the room turned around and saw the pieces of the jar and the flour on the floor. Naturally, every unicorn, except Gusty, got mad. Some groaned and others complained.

“Fizzy!” 

“You clumsy idiot.”

“Watch what you´re doing!”

“Ok, who´s the one tasked with cleaning the floor?” a unicorn asked.

Nopony said a word. Instead, they looked at each other, asking and replying the same question with their eyes. Gusty already knew the answer but wanted to see if there was another unicorn who was assigned with the same task. Seeing the silence didn´t break, Gusty raised her foreleg while sighing quietly.

“I think it´s me.”

Gusty´s voice made Fizzy´s ears perk up. She smiled in victory. Gusty approached Fizzy´s spot and started sweeping the flour and the pieces, avoiding eye contact and communication with Fizzy at all costs. However, the other unicorn wasn´t going to make it easy.

“Oh dear, I´m so so sorry. Remember when I told you that my head´s always in the clouds and thus I was scolded all the time? Well, this is what I´m referring to. Hope you can forgive me for adding you work.”

Gusty widened her eyes. Fizzy´s sentence demanded an answer. Although Danny told her not to speak to any of them, she knew there would be times where inevitably she had to speak. And this one of those moments.

“Nah. Don´t worry, it´s ok.” Gusty simply replied.

She made a tiny smile. Though short, these would be the moments she could talk to them, so she had to enjoy them.

Fizzy noticed Gusty´s smile, which made her relieved, as she still liked her. However, she didn´t continue speaking. She knew she was quiet but the day before Gusty followed their conversations. Why wasn´t she now?

“So…. How did you sleep? I would have asked you at breakfast, but it looks like you didn´t find us.”

Gusty´s smile dropped.

“Oh… Yeah, I… I actually prefer to eat alone.”

Fizzy raised her eyebrows.

“You do?”

“Yeah…”

“Then why did you come with us yesterday?”

Gusty started to sweat. She rushed the sweeping.

“Because I thought it would be rude to refuse.”

“I see. Well, you can eat alone if you want but when you finish come to talk with us.”

“I can´t either.”

Fizzy was starting to get a bit suspicious.

“But why?”

“Because… I eat slow and by the time I finished Bray would be calling us.” Gusty smiled nervously.

“Well, then I´ll eat fast and come to you.”

For Gusty´s luck, she finished sweeping before she could ask that question.

“Well, all´s clean! I´m afraid I can´t talk no more. Bye!” she said fast.

She rushed to the other counter and puffed relieved. Fizzy stared at Gusty.

“What is wrong with you mija?”





Buttons searched Gusty between all the ponies at the lunchroom from her seat but couldn´t spot her anywhere. However, she noticed Fizzy coming to her.

“So, did you see her?” she asked her friend as she sat down.

Fizzy didn´t answer by speaking. Her worried face told Buttons everything.

“Oh dear, what happened?”

“We talked.”

“And?”

“She smiled at first but then she started telling me that she preferred to be alone at lunch time.”

“Well, it´s normal. Yesterday she told me she was shy.”

“Yeah, but it seems that she doesn´t want us to be around her.”

“What did I tell you this morning?”

“That this was my insecurity. But this is different. I know that she likes to be around me. Our souls connected the first time we spoke!”

Buttons narrowed her eyes.

“I also liked Gusty and would love to meet her more, but… We´ve known her for a day. One day. You can´t say that about a unicorn that you´ve just met.”

“Of course I can! Only by feeling my soul connects with another I know a friendship is worth it! Why do you think I kept talking to you when we first met?”

Buttons was going to reply, but had no argument to refute Fizzy´s.

“Touché. I just don´t want you to consider best friend somepony you´ve known for a day.”

“No, but she has the potential to be one!”

“I know she does.” Buttons giggled in agreement.

“But at the same time, she avoids me. She finished our little conversation abruptly and didn´t talk to me afterwards.”

“Maybe she has a hard time opening up. But don´t worry, eventually she will.”

“But yesterday she was more open!”

“But that doesn´t take off the fact that she´s shy Fizzy.”

“You´re acting as if nothing´s wrong because you haven´t talked to her.”

Buttons widened her eyes and then narrowed them.

“Are you insinuating that I´m not taking this seriously enough?” she asked upset.

“No, I´m just saying that you´ll change your mind when you talk to her.” Fizzy crossed her forelegs.

“Fine, fine. I´ll talk to her and I´ll make you see you´re wrong.” Buttons slammed her hoof against the table.

“NO SLAMMING AT THE TABLE!” yelled Bray.

Buttons groaned while Fizzy held her laughter.





Buttons hummed a melody as she fluidly sewed every piece of cloth together or fixed shirts or trousers. She was about to finish her stitches when suddenly Bray burst the door open, making her wrinkle the cloth.

“But I´ve told you I´m not good at sewing…” Gusty shyly told Bray.

“And I´ve told you that I don´t care. If you have trouble, ask for some help and that´s it. Now if you excuse me, I must resume my duties.”

Gusty turned to the room, checking everypony who was on it. So far, she didn´t see the mare she was looking for but for her misfortune, she saw one that she knew.

“Ah Gusty! Glad to see you here! Come sit next to me!”

Gusty tried to find another seat but all of them were occupied. So, she had no choice but to sit next to her.

“How are you doing? I haven´t seen you during the whole day!”

“Fine, I´m fine.” she said fast, avoiding eye contact with her.

“Good. Oh! By the way, Fizzy told me that you prefer to be alone to eat and I´ll tell you that´s ok. You don´t have to sit with us if you want to.”

“Aha.” Gusty replied as she started to sew.

After these few words with Gusty, Buttons understood what Fizzy meant. Yes, she was shy the day before, but today she was being shyer, when it should be the contrary or at least the same level of shyness. Plus, right now she was giving quick answers to end conversations whereas yesterday she continued them. And worst of all, she didn´t even look at her.

“Maybe she´s focused.” she tried to reason before jumping to that conclusion.

She came back to her wrinkled shirt. She sighed frustrated. It was going perfectly until Bray came in. She threw it to a pile of used cloths.

“Could you pass me some white cloth, please?”

Gusty looked around to find the white shirts.

“Sure.” she replied while giving her the cloth.

“Thank you. And some thread?”

“There you have it.”

“Merci, you´re being so helpful.”

Gusty smiled briefly while looking at her, enjoying Button´s company without having to speak much to her. At least she could be around Buttons or Fizzy when her duties were the same as theirs.

Slowly, she finished sewing a shirt. But she realized that she ran out of thread. And the only way to get more was by asking Buttons. Although she preferred only to speak when they spoke to her, this time was going to have to be different.

“Um… Buttons could you pass-”

She couldn´t finish her sentence as she was struck in awe seeing Buttons sewing. In the time she sewed a shirt, Buttons had sewn four or five! She was incredibly fast at sewing the pieces together. What´s more, the stitches were flawless.

Buttons noticed Gusty staring at her.

“You want something, chérie?”

Gusty quickly turned her head.

“Uh no. No.” she replied before beginning a new shirt.

Gusty groaned whenever the cloth stretched. And it was many times. As a result, Buttons noticed Gusty struggling. Before talking to her, she observed how she sew in order to know what the problem was.

“Looks like your cloth is stretching a lot, doesn´t it? And that´s because you have few pins. Here take some.” she passed her a box of pins.

Gusty stared at the box.

“Oh! Uh…Thanks.” she said as she took the box.

“Put all the pins you can. It makes a difference. Trust me.”

“Oh. Ok.”

Gusty put many pins together wherever she could. Once she couldn´t put more, she continued sewing.

“Oh, it´s much easier this way!”

“See? I told you. I see you have some difficulties sewing. I could show you some tricks if you want to.”

“Really?” Gusty asked excited.

“Yes of course! Just tell me when you´d like to begin.”

Gusty was so happy. If she improved, she would be able to do many gifts to Celestia and Luna and fix her mother´s dress. However, she remembered that she was not supposed to do that for Buttons´ security. So, her excitement dropped.

“I´m afraid that would be never.”

“Never? But you seemed so excited about it.”

“It can´t be, ok?” Gusty said abruptly and continued with her work.

Buttons stared at Gusty for some time before resuming with hers.





As always, Fizzy and Buttons sat next to each other for dinner.

“You talked to her?” Fizzy asked.

Buttons nodded.

“And?”

“Something´s off.”

“HA! I told you, didn´t I?” 

“She did exactly the same thing you told me. But you know what´s the weirdest thing? The weirdest thing is-”

“That she seems she doesn´t want to do it.” Fizzy ended Buttons´ sentence.

“Right out of my tongue! Did she also smile and seemed comfortable around you but then suddenly brushed you off?”

“Yup.”

“But why would she do that?”

Fizzy and Buttons took some time to think before answering. Then, Fizzy came up with a possible reason.

“I think I know why!”

Buttons widened her eyes.

“Spill it out!”

“This has to do with what I told you at night.”

Buttons rolled her eyes.

“I already told you that was a dream.”

“Do you remember what I heard?”

Buttons sighed frustrated.

“`I´m sorry. I´d love to talk to you more but I can´t. It´s for your safety. Hope you understand´.”

But after she said those words, Buttons realized what Fizzy meant.

“Ok, maybe it wasn´t a dream. But safety from what?”

“Maybe she´s carrying some burden from the past and she doesn´t want to tell us because she thinks it might be a toll on us and thus that´s why she said it was for our safety, referring to it as mental safety?” Fizzy suggested.

Buttons blinked.

“That´s actually a pretty good explanation. But what could that burden be?”

“Who cares? Whatever that is, we need to help her see that she´s worthy of having friends!” Fizzy slammed her fist against her hoof.

“But… what if she did something really bad in the past? Like,” Buttons looked around her before continuing. “murdering an unicorn?”

“Does Gusty strike you as the kind of unicorn that would do that?” Fizzy raised her eyebrow.

Buttons looked up while she thought her answer.

“Yeah, it´s ridiculous, what am I talking about?” Buttons said in agreement. “Ok fine. I´m in.”

“Wepa!” Fizzy exclaimed excited.

“But please, tell me whatever you have in your mind isn´t one of those ridiculous, non-sense schemes with crazy ideas you always have in your mind. Because if you want this to work, it´s going to have be better than that.”

Fizzy looked from side to side, avoiding eye contact with Buttons, who massaged her forehead while sighing frustrated. Then, Fizzy smiled nervously.

“Of course, it is. Magnifique.” Buttons muttered under her breath. 

Fizzy shrugged.

“We are friends. You should know that at this point.”

“Ok but whatever it is, just tell me, so it works. What is it that you plan to do?”





It was night. Everypony, including Fizzy, was asleep. But the unicorn awakened when she heard a noise. She quickly shut her eyes as if she was asleep, though she could still hear somepony´s steps. She opened them when she heard the rattle of sheets. She looked down and noticed Gusty getting into bed. Once she made sure she was asleep, she hung her head upside down. She saw that Gusty was smiling, which made Fizzy smile warmly at her.

“At least the dream ends happily this time.” she whispered to herself before going back to sleep.