//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: The First Standoff // by bookhorse125 //------------------------------// Maggie acted skittish the whole time the two mares were walking through town, and Gusty couldn’t say she blamed her. Preparing not just a rebellion, but an armed revolution, under their current tyrant, was dangerous, and even that was an understatement. If you failed (and the probability of you not failing was about as likely as all the clouds just magically turning to cotton candy and raining chocolate milk), you would certainly be killed, along with the rest of your family, friends, and that one pony you bumped into at the market that you spent five minutes talking to. Rebellion in Grogar’s Equestria simply wasn’t tolerated. The headquarters for the Equestrian army was in a two-story wooden building with a jewelry shop on the first level called Ruby’s Jewelers.  It didn’t look all that impressive from the outside, Gusty thought, but perhaps that was the point. “Ah, good afternoon, Maggie!” the pony behind the counter cheerfully greeted them as they walked into the shop. He was a cream colored, thin stallion with a deep red mane pushed behind his ears. A pair of fancy looking glasses rested on his muzzle. “I see you’ve brought a friend.” “Ruby, this is Gusty. She’s new here. Gusty, this is Ruby.” Maggie tapped her hoof on the stone floor impatiently. “Ruby, is it okay if I look in your storeroom for a bit? I’m looking for something special.” Ruby tskd. “Maggie, sweetheart, this is highly irregular-” I know that,” Maggie insisted. “But you’ve done it a couple of times, and I thought that perhaps you could make an exception? Gusty here’s looking for something to give her mother for her birthday.” Gusty was impressed with the ease at which Maggie and the storekeeper came up with stories to cover their true intentions, if not a little scared. The willowy stallion sighed. “I’m afraid the storeroom is a bit preoccupied at the moment…” He took one look at Maggie’s pleading look and relented. “But I suppose… Just promise not to touch anything. It’s a bit of a mess in there.” Poking his head through a door behind the counter, Ruby called, “Oasis! Get in here and watch the shop for a bit. I’ll be helping these ponies personally.” A sunny yellow pony with deep blue eyes and a golden mane scrambled into the room and grinned, waving to Maggie and Gusty as she took her place behind the counter. Gusty couldn’t help but grin back. This pony had such a cheerful demeanor about her that Gusty liked her immediately. “We may be gone a few minutes,” Ruby warned, slipping a ring of keys off his necklace and passing them to the pegasus. “These unlock all the display cases, if you need something from the storeroom, wait until I can get it, do you remember how to use the register and-” “Oh my stars, yes,” Oasis laughed, tossing her golden braid over her shoulder. “I’ll be fine, now go do whatever it is that you need to do.” Ruby opened his mouth to protest, but Maggie was already by the storeroom door, so he sighed. “All right,” He conceded. “Shout if you need anything-” Maggie groaned and grabbed his hoof, pulling him in the storeroom. Oasis snickered, and Maggie gave her a strange look, like she wasn’t sure she should glare at the pegasus or share her smile. With a shake of her head, she ducked into the doorway, Gusty behind her. “Who’s that?” Gusty asked as Ruby shut and locked the door behind them. “Oasis is my apprentice,” the thin unicorn explained. “I know it’s a bit unusual, but she’s been a terrific help around here.” “But she’s a pegasus,” Maggie protested, tapping her hoof on the floor again. “Everypony knows that pegasi are bad news. Why would you-” Ruby gave her a look that shut her up. “As far as I’m concerned, she’s a pony, as am I, as are you. It makes no difference to  me whether a pony has wings or a horn or neither, and I hope you don’t care much, either.” “Are you sure it’s safe?” Maggie asked instead. “I mean, with-” “If I thought it wasn't, do you think I would risk it?” Ruby asked cooly, turning away from the door. Maggie fell silent, staring at the floor. The storeroom was messy; crates and boxes were piled up, making a sort of maze around the wooden shelves. Ruby navigated through them with ease, like he knew it like the back of his hoov. There didn’t appear to be anything that would indicate that this was a sacred war headquarters, but as they walked, Gusty noticed both Ruby and Maggie shoving certain boxes out of sight. “This is where we keep our bracelets,” Ruby announced in a loud voice. “And over here are our tiaras, if you’d like to take a look.” He continued to narrate his products loudly, walking off elsewhere in the room. “Come on,” Maggie hissed, pushing a stack of boxes aside to reveal a door, camouflaged into the wall. The red unicorn tapped her hoof against the door in the same way she had been tapping it against the floor: tap, tap-tap-tap, tap-tap, tap. The door creaked open, revealing a set of wooden stairs that sloped upwards precariously. Maggie set off up the stairs, Gusty a hoofbeat behind her. The staircase ended at a wooden door. Maggie reached for the handle, then paused and looked back at Gusty. “Look… don’t tell anypony about your brother. It might spark some… trust issues. And… you have to promise that you don’t tell… anypony else about what you’re about to see.” Don’t tell my brother you mean, Gusty thought sadly. “I promise.” Her friend gave her a small smile and took a deep breath before pushing open the door. The hushed conversation came to a halt. “Margret,” a stern voice, male and rich, scolded. “This is a private meeting.” A second voice, this one female, added in a more gentle tone, “I’m sure that whatever it is you need to tell us can wait just a few more minutes until we’re done.” Maggie bent her head in a polite bow. “With all due respect, ma’am, we don’t have long before ponies begin to get suspicious. Ruby is a wonderful pony, but even he couldn’t come up with a plausible explanation as to why it’s taking us half an hour to find a necklace.” “Us?” a third voice asked as the second muttered, “True.” Motioning to Gusty to follow, Maggie stepped into the room. “This is my new friend, Gusty. I… she wants to help.” There was no need to elaborate on what she meant. Blinking in the sudden light, Gusty looked around. The room was small with no windows. A table was in the center, currently strewn with paper. Three ponies were gathered around it. One, a tall gray stallion with a salmon pink mane; another a blue mare, her sapphire mane tied up in a bun; the third a storm cloud gray stallion not much older than Gusty, his slick black mane gleaming in the light of a single lamp. “Your name’s Gusty, I take it?” said the tall stallion, narrowing his eyes at Gusty. “What has Margret dragged in this time?” “Trout,” the mare scolded. She turned her teal eyes on Gusty. “I’m sure she’s a lovely young pony.” “Since when have we begun admitting ponies on the spot?” The younger of the two unicorn stallions glared at Gusty. “Don’t they have to complete the trials first?” “Since we’ve begun needing more numbers,” the mare snapped back, her wings flaring in indignation. “And, Storm, I seem to recall that you skipped the trials at your father’s request.” Storm’s face turned bright red, and he glanced at Trout, muttering, “That was a special circumstance.” “These are the times for special circumstances,” the pegasus said with finality. “Gusty, this is Professor Dolphin,” Maggie said into the silence that followed. “That over there is Storm, and his father, Trout.” Professor Dolphin studied Gusty, Trout looked at her dismissively, and Storm was glaring at the table and attempting to look busy by moving around papers on the table. “Gusty,” Professor Dolphin said slowly, “tell us about yourself. Why should we let you join our ranks?” Don’t trust these ponies, Ocean Breeze said in her head. Oh, fantastic, you’re still here, Gusty snapped. I seem to recall telling you to shut up and leave me alone. Or have all those years betraying ponies to the monster that killed Mom and Dad addled your memory a bit? Gusty, please, Ocean pressed, his voice desperate, you have to trust me- Looking to Maggie for encouragement, the red unicorn nodded, and Gusty took a deep breath. “There’s… honestly not much to say. I’ve had a pretty uneventful life up until now. I lived in the woods so I’ve only heard about how awful things are. But it was enough. Enough to make me want to die rather than live in a world where Grogar is in charge. So, if you don’t admit me, that’s okay. I won’t give up. I’ll do whatever it takes to free Equestria.” Trout’s expression was hardened and unreadable, but Professor Dolphin was smiling warmly at her, and Storm had even lifted his head to stare at her, open-mouthed. “Gusty,” Dolphin said, digging into the pile on the table and pulling out some papers, “welcome to the Equestrian army. Please fill out this form with all the personal information that we need to know, and report to training in two days at 8 o’clock, sharp. Maggie knows the way; she’ll show you. Give this to the instructor.” She signed a scroll with a flourish, rolled it up, and tossed it to Gusty, who caught it with her magic. She looked down at the sign-up sheet, grabbed a spare pen resting on the table, and filled out her name, birthday, gender, and species. “Why isn’t there an earth pony box?” Gusty asked curiously, scanning the form. Maggie cleared her throat and Storm snorted. “Earth ponies aren’t smart enough to handle the challenges of a revolution,” he scoffed. “Storm,” Dolphin reprimanded. Turning to Gusty, she said, “We typically use earth ponies as messengers, but very few have convinced us to admit them into our troops.” Gusty nodded, her eyes on a section where she was expected to list all her family members and close relatives. With shaky writing, she wrote DECEASED. As far as she was concerned, her brother was dead to her. You know, I think we might have an aunt or something in Fillydelphia, Ocean said in a voice that clearly was meant to cover any feelings of hurt. Gusty shoved down her guilt. Shut up. The tip of her pen hovered over the space to write her current address. Should she put the forest and hope somepony could find her when she was needed? Maggie seemed to sense her indecision, because she slipped up next to Gusty and whispered, “You can put my place. 817 Hoofington Lane. I figure you don’t really have a house of your own.” Gusty gasped. “Really? You mean it?” The unicorn shrugged. “I used to have a roommate, but he left to go live with his marefriend.” Her voice hardened momentarily as she said “marefriend”. “Anyways, I’ve got a spare room that’s just collecting dust, so might as well put it to good use.” “Thanks, Maggie,” Gusty said gratefully, penning down the address before passing the completed form to Dolphin. Her eyes lingered on the word DECEASED, but didn’t press it. “We should get going,” Maggie said, nodding towards the door. “Don’t want some ponies getting suspicious. Thanks again, professor.” Dolphin nodded. Gusty used her magic to take her scroll, and the two unicorns walked out of the room, shutting the door behind them. “I thought you hated pegasi,” Gusty inquired. “Professor Dolphin’s different,” Maggie said immediately, her tone defensive. “How so?” Maggie stopped on the steps, thinking hard. “I… I’m not sure. But she’s not like the other pegasi. She’s different.” “Maybe some other ponies are different, too,” Gusty pressed as they started walking again. “Maybe you just have to give them a chance to prove it.” Ruby saw Gusty’s scroll, took it, and put it in a small box, which he then wrapped in brown paper, held in place with a string. “I hope your mother likes the necklace you picked out,” he said loudly as they exited the room. “Come back anytime! Oasis, I’ll be just a while longer, there’s a few things I need to put back.” “Did you already pay for that?” Oasis asked hopefully as soon as Ruby had left. “For this? Oh-oh, yeah, as soon as I found the one I wanted,” Gusty lied. “Why?” she asked when the pegasus’ hopeful expression faded and her ears drooped. Oasis sighed. “I just wanted to do something. All I’ve ever done is clean up and bring in new orders and organize. Ruby’s the one who handles the actual shop. I guess I want to do something that really matters. But every time he leaves me in charge, it’s just an empty shop.” “Anypony with a brain would come whenever you’re behind the counter,” Gusty said spiritedly. “I know I would. And just because you don’t see the impact of what you’re doing doesn’t mean it’s not there.” Oasis’ ears pricked up. “You think so?” Gusty nodded. “I know so.” The golden pegasus grinned. Maggie looked conflicted. She eventually decided to leave. The door was open when Oasis spoke again. “Do either of you have plans for dinner?” Maggie froze, halfway out the door. Gusty said, “No, why?” Oasis fiddled with the tip of her braid. “Well, it’s just that my mom’s making hayburgers tonight, and she does them really good, so, I was just wondering. It’s perfectly fine if you say no-” “I’ll go,” Gusty interrupted. She had never had a hayburger before, but she’d heard all about them from Ocean, and they sounded delicious. “I don’t have any plans for the evening, anyway.” She looked at Maggie, who was clearly having an internal war with herself. Finally she said, “Fine. I do love a good hayburger.” Oasis squealed. She leaped into the air and started doing loop-de-loops. “I regret this already,” Maggie muttered.