//------------------------------// // Chapter 23: The nice sheep // Story: Gusty the Great book 1- The beginning // by Dianabel //------------------------------// In a different city to the capital, the streets were full of busy ponies doing several tasks such as carrying heavy lifts in their backs. All of them had tiredness in their faces but some perked up their ears and lowered their heads to glare at somepony. “Sorry! Sorry!” a child-like voice apologized. The voice came from Gusty, who was a filly at the time. She was carrying two bags of wood much bigger than her at both sides of her back, making it more to control her movements so she pricked somepony from time to time, even if she didn´t mean to. “Watch where you´re going!” a mare yelled at her. “Sorry, I didn´t mean to!” Gusty would apologize. Luckily for her, she arrived at a street that wasn´t so busy. She quickly sat down as she panted aggressively. “Ok. Mama, papa. I´m so sorry for complaining about you taking so long to get home.” she said as she looked at the sky. “I took the wood at morning and I still haven´t got home. And it´s afternoon!” Gusty sighed tired. “At least now that master´s not home, I can take it slowly. Which means I can get some rest now.” But she could not be more mistaken. Her ears perked up when she heard a scream. She turned her head and saw a group of foals older than her throwing a hooded figure against a wall. From the impact, the hood fell, showing that its bearer was a sheep. “Careful with the hips! Don´t you see that I´m old?!” she exclaimed angry. “Maleducao.” she muttered under her breath. “Watch out with how you speak to us grandma!” the eldest of the foals ignited his horn. “Unlike you, we have more strength, we´re more agile, smarter and… we don´t limp.” he looked at her right rear leg. All the foals giggled maliciously. The sheep however, didn´t take it seriously. “Tú eres tonto, right?” she asked, but they didn´t hear her. Gusty frowned in anger. Without thinking it twice, she decided to intervene. “Hey!” she exclaimed to get their attention. Both the sheep and the foals turned their heads to Gusty. “Leave her alone!” She tried to walk to them, however, the lift of the two bags of wood made her walk in a strange manner rather than in an intimidating one. The foals laughed whenever she tried to recover her balance. “Or what little filly?” one of the foals said. “You´ll fight colts that are older and taller than you?” he walked to Gusty to intimidate her. Her ears dropped as she walked backwards. “Well, I…” “Because if I were you I wouldn´t.” “And if I were you I wouldn´t steal an elder. Didn´t your parents teach you to respect elders?!” “That´s the thing. We´re orphans you stupid!” After hearing those words, Gusty softened up. “Oh… I´m so sorry. I didn´t know. I myself had parents but they recently died and I felt devastated. I can´t imagine what it feels like not having them at all. It must be very hard.” The foal looked at her surprised. He looked back at his friends. “But I´m pretty sure they wouldn´t have liked what you´re doing.” Gusty continued. “Shut up you freak!” he pushed her. Gusty´s fell on her back, as well as the wood. The foals laughed at her. “Look at you! You thought that you could scare when you can´t even resist a push!” The sheep watched horrified at how they were treating Gusty, so she decided to intervene. “Ok, ok. Enough with her.” she said as she slowly got up. “You wanted to steal me, don´t you remember?” “Huh? Oh yeah! Give us everything you have!” the leader said. “I have some money.” she took a bag of coins from her cloak. When the colt was about to get it, she quickly moved it away. “Eh, quieto parao. What´s the magic word?” the sheep tilted her head. “What magic word?! I´m not in the mood for joking!” “It begins with a p…” “Haven´t you heard?!” “Pl…” Gusty raised an eyebrow confused. As the foal yelled frustrated at her, the sheep looked at her and winked an eye at her. Then, she pointed at the street. Gusty understood what she meant but she didn´t like that suggestion. “I can´t. What about you?” she mumbled. The sheep smiled at her, telling her everything would be alright. Slowly, Gusty left them. “Please… The word is please.” the sheep told them. “Can´t believe it took you so long.” The foal finally took it away. He was about to order his friends to go, but something golden around the sheep´s neck took his attention. It seemed like a pendant although he couldn´t see how it looked like, as it was under the sheep´s shawl. “Actually, I don´t want your money. I want that!” The sheep´s face quickly filled with fear. Before she could do anything, the foal had already put his hoof on it. Fortunately, she held it before he could take it away. “No no no! Stop! Stop!” she begged desperate. Gusty held her yells and turned around. She gasped. “Stop it!” Gusty commanded as she frowned up. Without realizing it, her horn lit and conjured up a wind that pushed the foal backwards. Everypony gasped and stared at her. The sheep was surprised as well. Gusty covered her mouth. “Oh, you´re so in trouble.” the foals´ leader smiled evilly. “Look for a troggle.” he ordered one of his friends. “We´re going to communicate a breach of the law of not using magic unless for work purposes.” Gusty said no word. She simply put her hooves in her mouth and fastened her breath. The sheep noticed that slowly, a breeze formed around her. Then, she looked at the foals laughing. She clenched her teeth and frowned as she exhaled air through her nose. She dug some soil with her front leg. Gusty widened her eyes when she noticed that something was shining underneath her shawl. Suddenly, the foals began to float in a blue aura. “What the? What is going on?” the leader asked. The aura moved them towards the sheep and turned their bodies so they would be facing her. They felt shivers when they saw her angry face. She channeled the magic through her hoof. “Back home, we had a word to call those who didn´t have shame. What was it like? Oh yeah. CARADURAS! How dare you?! First, you disrespect an elder and tried to rob her, then, you mess with a filly smaller than you that showed compassion and empathy for one of you and lastly you want to inform the troggles for something she did unintentionally?! Have you no sense of honor?!” As she spoke, her eyes glew, which frightened the foals more. Even Gusty was intimidated. “None of you are going to say a word! You hear me?! Because if you do, I´ll make sure you learn a lesson. Understood?!” The foals nodded their heads. “Now, apologize to her!” he faced them towards Gusty. From the fright, the foals couldn´t speak. “NOW!” she shook them- “We´re sorry, we´re sorry!” “Uh… No problem?” she giggled nervously. Gusty was mad at them, however, she didn´t want the sheep to do anything to her if she didn´t accept the apology. “Hey guys!” the foal that left to find a troggle said as he came back. “There´s one troggle around-” But after he saw what was happening, he decided not to continue. “There´s your friend. Remember: you talk, I´ll intervene.” “Yeah, yeah!” the foals shook energetically their heads. The sheep released them. Once they were on the ground, the foals ran away terrified. The sheep smirked satisfied. “That will do.” she turned to Gusty. “Are you ok chiquilla?” she asked with a much different tone to the one she used with the foals as she approached her. Much like the foals, Gusty was in shock. The sheep bit her lip when she noticed her face. “Sorry, I didn´t mean to frighten you. But sometimes you have to show you´re the one who´s in control. I´m not going to hurt you really.” she smiled tenderly. Her smile was so warm that it comforted Gusty. “Um… Ok. Thank you for defending me.” “Ay, it was nothing really. In fact, I should be the one thanking you.” “For what?” “For standing up to those foals! You put yourself in risk for me.” she put her hoof on her chest. Gusty widened her eyes. This was the first time “Well, it´s been nice to meet you. I´d love to talk more but I must get this to my master´s home.” she said as she put the wood back in the bags “Oh, don´t you want me to help you?” “No, no, it´s not necessary really.” “I might limp and not be young, but I can do some things. I can´t carry heavy lifts like yours but I´d love to help you with lighter ones. I don´t know how though…” “Well, you can use that… thing.” Gusty put her hoof on her chest. “Oh! No, no. I can´t use this in public. Not using magic unless for work purposes, remember?” “Well, you´re doing work.” “Yeah, but I can´t use it.” “But you just-” “Because there were no troggles around.” “Alright, then how about your cloak? I saw you took a bag of coins out of it, so I suppose you had pockets?” “That´s actually a good idea. You´re quite clever!” “That´s not true, anypony could have come up with that idea…” “Oh don´t be modest chiquilla.” she said as she opened her cloak so Gusty could put small pieces of wood on it. As she did, she noticed that the sheep was wearing something in her hoof. “Can I ask what is that you´re wearing in that hoof?” she asked as she pointed at it. “Oh! That´s a lift for my hoof. You see, long long ago, when I was born, one of my legs was shorter than the other. And that made walking very difficult. But with this it makes it easier.” “Is that why you limp?” The sheep nodded. “It looks a bit bothersome.” “Nah, what´s more bothersome is having to explain to strangers why you limp. Now that´s bothersome.” “Sorry, I didn´t mean to upset you.” “It´s ok, I´m used to it. Besides, you´re just a curious filly, not a rude grown up. My physical abilities might not be the greatest but my intellectual ones… Oof! In my village I was considered the smartest lamb because I knew many poems.” “Where was your village?” “It was in the land where Foaledo is found, chiquilla.” she sighed nostalgically. “Oh, I remember the olives and the mountains… My village wasn´t near it but in my homeland there´s a beautiful blue sea. Wish I could have seen it before I left.” her smile disappeared and turned into one of sadness. “But the important thing is that we come back to that place through our memories. And I have quite many. For example, when I was a very tiny lamb, I used to do the laundry in the river with my mother…” “After that moment, I understood how in the right my mother was. She always said: Think before you act. And I never listened to her. And look what happened!” “Wow, you really have many stories to tell…” Gusty said, somewhat tired of how talkative the sheep was. “I know, I know. Once I start, I never stop. But my family was far worse. Those never shut their mouths!” “Well, this is it. My master´s house.” “You are a slave?” the sheep asked sadly. Gusty nodded. “At the capital, there are creatures who trap foals and sell them. After my family died, I was completely on my own and I was captured by one of those. That´s how I ended up here.” The sheep looked down with guilt. “Hey, don´t feel bad. It´s not your fault.” The sheep shook her head with a sad smile. “One thing before you go, I wanted to say thank you for being kind to me. You remind me of magaga. That´s how we called our grandmothers back home.” “But of course, you are an amazing filly.” “No, I´m not.” “What do you mean by that?” “You only say that because you haven´t seen what happens when I´m feeling a strong emotion.” “I did. I noticed a breeze around you when you were scared.” “Whenever that happens, I only bring trouble with my winds.” “Trouble? You defended me with them!” “Yeah, but back home in the Himarelayas and when I came here, I did nothing with my magic but destroying crops or causing hurricanes!” “Wind is a complicated phenomenon. It can bring destruction, but it can also offer coolness in the hot days. So, it´s not necessarily a bad thing. It all depends on how you see it.” Gusty widened her eyes. This was the first time somepony outside of her family said something positive about her wind magic. “Well… I can also play some melodies in the wind…” she smiled sadly. “See? Not only your magic is beautiful, but most importantly, you have a kind heart. The way you sympathized with that foal was amazing.” “Well, my family always told me to be kind to others. Maybe that´s just what they need.” “I wish that was true. I wish that was true…” the sheep muttered sadly under her breath. “But there´s always a possibility! I think just because of that possibility is always worth trying.” The sheep gave her a warm smile. “Never change, chiquilla. Never change. You´ll go far. I can see it.” The sheep turned around and looked at the horizon. “I must go. They must be expecting me.” “Wait? You´re going?” The sheep smiled at the filly. “You´re not the only one who needs me, chiquilla.” “Oh.. I see…” “I mentioned before that I liked poems. Would you like me to tell you one before I leave?” Gusty nodded. “Well. Early woke up the count at a morning of June….” “After she told me that poem, she left. And that was the last time I saw her.” Gusty told Luna. “And the worst part is, I didn´t get to know her name.” “That´s a beautiful story mama.” Luna commented. “Though I´d love to know who that sheep was.” “Me too! Or at least know what happened to her. Who knows, maybe Majesty knows. Talking about it, I should probably come back. Or not, maybe they are looking for me already.” “Yeah, it´s very likely.” Luna agreed. Mother and daughter looked around the room. They were so focused on their thoughts and the story that they didn´t pay attention to their surroundings. The room they were in was pretty messy, with broken furniture and mirrors. “Is it me, or does this room looks like the most destroyed?” Luna asked. “Yeah. Something very big must have happened here. A fight I would say even.” Then, something rusty on the floor caught her attention. It looked like the pendant that the sheep was wearing, but maybe it was just her imagination. She walked to it, Luna following behind. “Mama? What is it?” she asked as Gusty picked up the object. There was no doubt, it was the sheep´s pendant. But the jewel it bore was broken. That´s when she knew what the fate of that sheep was. “This was her pendant. This is where her magic came from. But now, there´s only pieces of it.” she said with sadness. “So she was…” “Probably, yes. But by whom and how did it end up here?” Suddenly, Luna noticed something green on the floor. She approached it and pulled it towards her, cutting her hoof in the process. “Ouch!” “Lulu? Are you ok?” Gusty walked to Luna. “Yeah, I´m fine. It´s just a cut.” “How did it happen?” Luna pointed at the green thing. “Luna, I told you to be-” Gusty couldn´t finish her phrase. She realized that the green thing had the silhouette of her face. “Is that… You?” Luna asked. Gusty did not answer. Shock didn´t let her speak. “Mama?” As she looked up, she noticed more green pieces. She ran to them. She sat down in front of them, picked one and joined it to the one she had. Her theory was proven right, since the pieces fitted perfectly, a small light appearing when together. The two ponies looked at each other before Gusty continued. Slowly, Gusty solved the puzzle. Once it was complete, her eyes widened. Together, the green pieces made a picture of Gusty underneath Grogar´s head looking down at her, his eyes in a frown. Gusty also had a determined look on her face. Gusty panted heavily. Now everything made sense. She covered her mouth with her hooves. “She chose you mama… She chose you.” Gusty said no word. Slowly, breezes started to appear.