//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4: Discovering secrets 
// Story: Gusty the Great book 2- The crusades 
// by Dianabel 
//------------------------------//

Gusty lowered the cloak to see the unicorn´s face better. His fur was grey and his mane dark blue. Though not very big, he had a bushy beard. 

“How could we have confused a unicorn with those things?!” Gusty yelled angry at herself before covering her face with her hooves.

“I have no idea.” Fizzy replied. “What were those things anyway?” she asked Glory.

“Diamond dogs. They are Crunch´s servants. I knew it was not a diamond dog because otherwise he would have gone underground.” Glory said. “But a unicorn was the last creature to come to my mind.”

Gusty gently shook him to see if he could wake him. Seeing no response, she looked worried at Fizzy.

“Is he…” Fizzy asked Gusty.

“I´m not so sure. But he doesn´t respond.”

“Let´s not jump into conclusions.” said Glory. “First, we need to check if he´s breathing. Leave it to my hooves.” she stretched her forelegs. 

She opened the unconscious unicorn´s mouth holding his forehead and chin and got her ear closer.

“Oh geeze… Maybe we shouldn´t have used the shield, Fizzy.” she said.

“Well… It could have been far worse. We could have used a sword!” Fizzy laughed nervously. “Besides, I´m pretty sure he survived that. Right?” she asked insecure.

Glory shushed them both. After some seconds, she moved her head away.

“Good news, he´s breathing.”

Gusty and Fizzy sighed in relief.

“And when will he wake up?” asked Fizzy.

“Depends on how hard the blow was.” Glory replied after she checked if the unicorn´s pupil reacted to the light from her horn. “In my opinion, he´ll be up in less than one day. He might have amnesia for a day and difficulties to pay attention, I believe his head will be a bit cloudy. It´s possible that he has balance or walking problems as well.”

“Wow, how do you know all that?”

“Before I was a spy, I used to be one of the army´s nurses.”  Glory smiled.

“In that case, we´ll have to nurse him when he wakes up.” Gusty said.

“I don´t know…” Lancer shook his head. “Maybe this is a good thing. We still don´t know why he was watching us. Who knows, maybe he could have hurt us or who knows, maybe he works for Grogar or one of his allies!”

“Why would a unicorn work for Grogar or his allies?” Fizzy asked confused.

“I don´t know, some ponies must be brainwashed, or maybe Grogar threatened to hurt his family? Look, I´m just trying to make you two feel better! Why do you have to make it so difficult?!” 

Fizzy raised her hooves on defence whereas Gusty rolled her eyes while shaking her head.

“I don´t see that possibility too far-fetched.” Buttons agreed with Lancer. “If he´s innocent, why did he run away?”

“That´s actually a good question…” Fizzy thought aloud.

“Thank you!” Lancer exclaimed.

“One thing´s for sure, he´s not with the diamond dogs.” Gusty assumed. “Otherwise, he would have attacked us with them.”

“Maybe not the diamond dogs, but he might be with Katrina.” Lancer said in response to Gusty´s theory. “Her territories are around Trottingham after all.”

“He could be a spy.” Glory supported Lancer´s opinion.

“But if I was a tyrant desperate to capture my enemy, I would have sent soldiers as well.

"Who´s to say he´s alone?” Fizzy asked. “Maybe his plan was for us to follow him and lead us to Katrina´s soldiers.”

“Hm… To me it seemed like he didn´t want us to see him. I didn´t see his face but I could tell he was frozen in fear.”

“But what if the reason he ran away was to warn the other soldiers?” Buttons asked.

“He would have been yelling if that was the case, wouldn´t he?” Gusty raised her eyebrow. 

“So you´re saying we should trust him?” Lancer asked.

“Not really. You make good points, but I also see some inconsistences so I´ll give him the benefit of a doubt. Nonetheless, I still think we need to take precautions.”

“What Majesty would do is tie him up and interrogate him.” Glory replied. “I suggest we did the same.”

Everypony nodded their heads. Gusty picked him with her forelegs

“Do any of you have rope?” Buttons asked.

Glory looked on her bag.

“I´m afraid not.” she lamented.

“Me neither.” Lancer clicked his tongue

“Nope. And after the ophiotaurus, I learned I can´t use water.” Fizzy put her hoof on her chest. “So, I can´t help you.” 

As they were talking, her ear perked up when she heard groans. She gasped when she saw him frowning.

“He´s waking up!”

Immediately, everypony turned their heads to the unicorn. Slowly, he opened his blue eyes. He grunted as his blurry vision turned into a vivid image of Gusty staring him. He gasped slightly when his eyes met Gusty´s.

“Who are you?” he asked confused. “A spirit of light? Am I dead?”

Gusty widened her eyes. Fizzy and Buttons held their laughter. Glory blinked surprised and turned her head to Gusty to see ger reaction.

“Seriously?” Lancer thought aloud as he raised his eyebrow.

Gusty laughed nervously.

“Nope. I am just regular unicorn. Just like you.”

Once he listened to Gusty´s words, he quickly recovered conscience. He blushed in embarrassment.

“Oh!” he cleared his throat. “Glad to know.” he looked around to avoid eye contact with Gusty. “What is this place?”

“You are at the Sherhoof forest.” Glory replied.

Carefully, the unicorn moved his head from right to left to take notice of Glory, Buttons, Lancer and Fizzy.

“Yeah… I think this is the same spot I saw before something hit me in the head and everything turned black.” he massaged his temple. “I don´t remember what I was doing.”

“You were looking at us. And you ran away when I saw you.” Gusty explained. “Do you remember now?”

The unicorn raised his eyebrows as he gasped slightly.

“Aaah, you´re the ones who weren´t captured by the diamond dogs! And then you exclaimed `there´s one of them!´ and you chased me until I lost conscience. I suppose you must have thrown something at my head.”

“A shield to be precise!” Fizzy showed him her shield. “Mine and Gusty´s doing.”

Buttons gasped. She covered her mouth with her hoof.

“Fizzy, don´t tell him our names! We don´t know if we can trust him.”

“You just told him my name.”

Buttons blinked.

“Dang it.” she frowned.

“Wait, wait.” Gusty raised her hoof to quiet them. “You mean you saw everything?” she asked the unicorn.

He nodded.

“I was just picking up some fruits for tea when suddenly I heard screams. That´s when I saw your camping and ponies fighting the diamond dogs. But they all failed. And then I saw you.”

“Did you see a pony with a crown?”

“I saw a mare with something shiny on her head, but I´m not sure if it was a crown.” 

“Did you see if they killed her?” Lancer asked worried.

The unicorn shook his head.

“No, I only saw her being dragged down but she seemed conscious.”

“Oh, thank goodness.” Glory put her hoof on her chest.

“So, that thing on her head was really a crown?”

“Yes, it was.”

“But only monarchs wear crowns and right now, Grogar is the only ruler here.” he widened his eyes. “Unless….” he turned to Gusty. “You don´t have the crown by any chance, do you?”

“Yes.”

Gusty took out the crown of her bag and showed it to the unicorn. Glory and Lancer gasped horrified. Fizzy and Buttons simply widened their eyes, surprised that Gusty would do such thing.

“What are you doing?!” Lancer asked scared.

“That´s Majesty´s crown! You can´t show it just like that!” Glory gently reprimanded her.

“Trust me guys. I know what I´m doing.” Gusty reassured them.

Glory and Lancer shared worried looks. Gusty looked intrigued at the unicorn as he examined the crown.

“This design… It looks like the one from the kingdom of Maragon!”

The unicorns gasped surprised.

“He knows about Maragon.” Lancer said to Glory.

“But how? I thought we were the only ones who knew.” said Buttons. “I mean, none of us knew about the kingdom until we joined.”

“You know about Maragon?” Gusty asked him.

“It was the kingdom of unicorns before Grogar came. However, if I understood history well, Grogar dethroned the royal family and killed them all, establishing the capital of Tambelon in Maragon´s capital.”

“The kingdom is history. But not everypony in the royal family died. There were some survivors. And they have been fighting to restore it. That mare with the crown you saw is Majesty. She´s the last descendant of the royal family. And we´re helping her.”

“So… You´re warriors?”

“Aha.” Gusty nodded.

The unicorn sighed in relief.

“For a moment I thought you were bandits.”

Fizzy scoffed.

“Why would you think we were bandits?”

“To be honest, you followed me and hit me with a shield.” he said angry. 

Fizzy and Gusty scratched the backs of their heads.

“Yeah… We apologize for that.”

“And also because the diamond dogs were capturing you and all the camping. But now that we clarified this misunderstanding, I know you are no harm. And I´ve learnt something that means a lot to me.” he smiled sadly. “I´ve been lacking hope of things getting better lately but discovering that there are unicorns fighting against Grogar gives me some.”

Those words resonated in Gusty´s head. She may have heard time and time again that she was in something extraordinary ever since she joined Majesty´s rebellion, but this was the first time she heard it from a stranger. That phrase took a whole different meaning after knowing she was helping a pony in need.

“I´m glad it does.” Gusty smiled tenderly at him. “And those words mean a lot to us as well.”

The unicorn didn´t expect Gusty smiling t him, so he felt his heart pounding a little faster.

“I… I´m glad they do.”

“I´m sorry to interrupt the conversation, but we need to get going.” Lancer intervened nervous. “We have to save our leader after all, otherwise we´re doomed.” 

“And it will be all our fault!” Glory chuckled nervously.

Fizzy and Buttons bit their lip.

“Yeah, you´re right.” Gusty agreed with Lancer and Glory. “Well, it was nice meeting you. But now we must resume our journey. She laid her hoof on his shoulder, making him freeze in surprise. “Hope we meet again one day.”

“Wait! I want-”

Since they were busy talking, they didn´t notice the clouds covering the whole sky until a thunder roared. Afterwards, it started to rain.

“Seriously?!” Lancer yelled.

“It´s ok.” Gusty said to calm everypony down. “We can take refuge in the camping.”

“You realized it´s destroyed, don´t you?” Buttons pointed out.

Gusty checked the surroundings to find that Buttons as right. The tents were either torn apart or down.

“Huh. I didn´t notice.”

“You didn´t notice. Really?”

“It´s ok. I can offer you refuge.” the unicorn offered.

Everypony, except Fizzy who was distracted playing with the rain, turned their heads to him.

“You would?” Glory asked.

“Yeah! Besides, I need to show you something. I think it would be of your aid.”

They looked at each other, unsure to trust him. However, they needed a refuge too. They nodded.

“Ok. Take us there.” Gusty told him.

“Right this way.” the unicorn led them.

They waited until there was some distance between him and them to talk.

“Are we sure this is a good idea?” Lancer asked everypony.

“Not really but what other choice do we have?” Buttons replied.

“Don´t worry.” Gusty reassured them. “I don´t think that he will harm us, but we´ll have to be aware of our surroundings and be ready for anything. And try to act normal, ok?”

Glory shrugged.

“If that´s the only way…”

“Fizzy?” Gusty asked.

“Huh, did you call me?” she asked.

They stared at her upset.

“What? I was experimenting with my magic! And with a good reason. Look!”

She pointed at her creation, which enabled her not to get wetter by the rain.

“Huh. That´s actually a good idea.” Lancer commented.

“Are you coming?” the unicorn called them.

“Yes, we were just waiting for her.” Gusty replied.

The unicorn sneezed.

“Don´t worry.” he sniffed. “Take your time.” he smiled.

Gusty stared at the unicorn with worry and sympathy.

“What´s your name?”

“Starswirl.”

“Starswirl, you can come under this…” Gusty stared at Fizzy´s creation, wondering how to call it. “`watery umbrella´.” she smiled a bit embarrassed.

Starswirl chuckled.

“Thank you.”





Underground, there were ponies pulling carts full of gems or digging, accompanied by foredogs and collector diamond dog.

“Faster!” the foredogs yelled as they lashed the ponies´ backs.

Most of the ponies were unicorns but there were exceptions. Such as a yellow earth pony with two long pink braids with hanging colourful decorations.

“I think there are some here.” she said before she took the shovel to dig..

When she was done, the foredog pointed at the hole so the collectors identified the gems.

“So?” the foredog asked after some time.

“Jade.” one of the guards poked his head, leaving the many jade stones he carried in his forelegs. “Again.”

The foredog groaned.

“Isn´t there another gem that you can´t find?!” she yelled at the earth pony.

“Before I came here, I never searched for gems in my life.” the earth pony replied calmly. “However, my father collected jade stones, that´s why I know how to find them. Where are came from, they were more valid than gold. So no, I don´t know how to find other gems.”

“Then why on earth would Katrina offer you to us?!” she yelled frustrated.

“Crunch won´t do a meeting with her unless she offers him a slave. But don´t worry, it´s just for one day.”

“But we don´t want to dig only jades for a whole day!” one of the collectors said.

“Look on the bright side.” the earth pony smiled. “Jades have a beautiful color. They can make beautiful accessories. Besides, it can treat caries.”

“We don´t need treatment for caries!” the other collector showed his deteriorated teeth. “Our teeth are totally fine.”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

“Out of my way! Out of my way!” Gaueko yelled.

Every pony and diamond dog stepped aside. They stared at the enchained unicorns. Despite having been captured, Majesty held her head tight and walked dignified. However, whenever she saw a unicorn staring at her, she felt shame she tried not to show. The diamond dogs whereas the earth pony stared curiously.

“It can´t be! Is that Majesty?” one of the diamond guards around the earth pony asked. 

“Welcome back to your kingdom!” Gaueko said to Majesty.

Majesty frowned at the dog, hurt by that comment. She held her head high. Gaueko and his minions laughed at her.

“Her kingdom?” the earth pony said confused. “I thought it was Crunch´s.”

“Nah, nothing important.” the foredog flapped her paw. “Majesty´s just a unicorn who believes that she will free unicorns by overthrowing Grogar reconquering the cities, including this one.”

“She intends to overthrow Grogar and Crunch?”

“Why are you that surprised? From what I´ve heard earth ponies are trying to overthrow Katrina.”

“Yes, but one thing is overthrowing Katrina, and another is overthrowing Grogar. But now that I think of it, if Grogar was overthrown, what would happen to Katrina?”

“Nothing. Only unicorns would be saved. Majesty only cares about the unicorns, not about earth ponies like you. If Katrina does not intervene, then she´ll still keep her kingdom and have you enslaved.”

“But she´ll have to intervene one way or another. Majesty will have to confront all the allies in order to get to Grogar, right?”

The foredog shrugged.

“Don´t get your hopes up. Crunch will probably bring Majesty to Grogar before that ever happens.”

The earth pony raised an eyebrow.

“That sounds like you care about me.”

The dog raised her ears.

“No, I don´t! I´m just pointing out the reality to crush your dreams. Because that´s what we do! Right guys?”

The two collectors barked in agreement.

Suddenly, a group of injured diamond dogs arrived, receiving lots of stares.

“Gaueko! Gaueko!” one of them yelled. “Where is Gaueko?”

The foredog and the diggers ran to them.

“He´s on his way to the throne room to talk to Crunch. What is it?” the foredog explained.

“I need to talk to him. We didn´t get five of Majesty´s soldiers. One of them could be the Wind Warrior!”

The foredog gasped dramatically.

“We need to get to him quickly!”

The diamond dogs ran away. The earth pony was left alone, with the cart attached to her back. She sighed.

“I guess I´ll have to keep finding jades. Now I´ll never know how the story ends.”

“Which story?” a feminine voice asked.

The earth pony gasped and turned around to find Katrina.

“Master... I didn´t know you were finished with your reunion with Crunch.”

“Oh Posey…” she started caressing her mane. “You know dogs and cats are natural enemies, so I try to spend the least time around that violent stoned dog. But now I might want to stay a little longer before coming back home after hearing what you said. So dearie, I know that you are exhausted from collecting gems but I need you to do me a last favour…” she smirked.

Posey´s ears dropped.





“Crunch! Crunch!” Gaueko yelled as he opened the gates letting his workmates, Cavall and Gwyllgi enter. “Guess what?”

“WHAT DO YOU WANT? DON´T YOU SEE I´M BUSY?!” Crunch asked upset.

The three diamond dogs widened their eyes afraid. Gaueko clapped his paws together.

“We interrupt because we bring news.”

“What news? They´d better be good because I´m not in the best mood.”

“You´re never in a good mood.” Gwyllgi mumbled.

“What did you say?!”

“Nothing!” she faked a smile.

“Is it because of Katrina, sir?” Cavall asked.

Crunch grunted.

“I hate that cat…” he massaged his temple. “We made a deal to help each other catch Majesty and her warriors but I bet in the minute she sees a chance, she´ll betray me and take them all for herself!” he stomped his paw.

Gwyllgi and Cavall took a step backwards.

“Actually, this has to do with the news we´re bringing. We captured Majesty and all her warriors!”

Crunch´s ears perked up.

“You did?” he asked surprised. 

Gaueko nodded with pride.

“Including the Wind Warrior?”

“Including the Wind Warrior.”

“Bring them to me!”

“Right away!”

Gaueko and Cavall opened the gates. The guards entered Majesty and the captured unicorns.

“Well, well.” Crunch said as he went downstairs to walk to Majesty. “Looks like luck is not on your side anymore, your Majesty.” he chuckled.

Majesty frowned determined.

“We shall see Crunch. Because your soldiers haven´t caught us all.”

Crunch, Gaueko, Gwyllgi and Cavall widened their eyes.

“What?!” Crunch asked angry.

“Your soldier forgot the most important soldier.” Majesty smirked. “One that could change everything.”

“We caught the Wind Warrior, right?” Gaueko whispered to his comrades.

“We took everypony in the camp. One of them must be her!” Gwyllgi replied.

“Don´t believe me?” Majesty asked Crunch. “Go on! Check among all of us and compare it to the picture Grogar gave you.”

Crunch took a quick glance of all the captured unicorns and then looked at the wanted poster. He groaned as he clenched his teeth in fury. 

“Oh no…” Cavall mumbled while hugging his comrades in fear.

“You liars!” he yelled the three diamond dogs. “You told me you captured all of them!”

“We did, sir.” Gaueko said in defence of himself and his workmates. “We captured all of them!”

“Then how come she is not here!” Crunch pointed at the picture of Gusty.

“Aaaah, so that´s how she looked like!” Gwyllgi thought aloud.

She covered her mouth. Gaueko and Cavall stared at her angrily.

“YOU DIDN´T EVEN REMEMBER HOW SHE LOOKED LIKE?!”

“They didn´t remember, I did!” Gaueko said.

“No you didn´t.” Cavall told him.

“But there was no unicorn that looked like that in the camp sir!” Gwyllgi replicated. “If she was, we would have captured her!”

“Yeah.” Cavall agreed. “We captured all of them super quickly. None of us were injured in the process!”

Just after he said that an injured door passed through the corridor.

“Gaueko?” he asked for his name.

The three diamond dogs froze when they saw the injured dogs. They covered their mouths when they realized that they had forgotten a small detail.

“The unicorn that ran away…” Gaueko murmured. “They were the ones that followed her. I completely forgot about them.”

When the injured dog realized he was in front of the throne room, he stared at Crunch in shock. He tried to run away but Crunch stopped him.

“YOU AND WHOEVER IS WITH YOU! COME HERE!”

The injured dog had no choice but to obey. With the help of the foredog and her two collectors, they all entered to the throne room. Once the gates were closed and the corridor was empty, Posey, who was hiding behind a wall, ran to the gates and spied through the whole the two gates left.

“What happened?” Crunch asked clenching his teeth.

“There was a unicorn that ran away, and we followed her. There were five remaining but then one unicorn attacked us.” the injured dog explained. 

“She was incredibly fast! By the time we prepared for the attack, she already punched us!” another of the injured dogs added.

“Did she use wind?”

“No but I think I saw one levitating herself and her friends.”

Crunch scowled at Gaueko, Gwyllgi and Cavall. They laughed nervously.

“You are a trio of idiots!” he said to the three diamond dogs.  He turned to the injured diamond dogs “And you are weaklings! Being defeated by a unicorn just like that. Look at you! You can barely move.” he stood up from the throne. “Which means that you are no longer of use to me.”

Every dog in the room gasped. Even the unicorns were terrified for the diamond dogs. Posey gasped softly. Crunch walked towards them.

“No!” the foredog put herself between Crunch and the injured dogs. She spread her forelegs to protect them. “Please, sir. They have risked their lives to accomplish their mission.”

“Out of my way Sarama!” Crunch pushed her away.

Sarama watched in fear as Crunch approached the injured dogs. Once he was in front of them, he closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were full of a white light. Slowly, the injured dogs turned to stone, much to all the witnesses´ horror, even though they covered their e. Once they were completely petrified, Crunch crashed the statues to pieces. He turned to Gaueko, Gwyllgi and Cavall.

“If you do not wish to have the same fate, bring me the wind warrior before Katrina finds her!”  he ordered them.

The three diamond dogs gulped as they nodded.

“Right away sir!” Gaueko replied.

The three dogs ran away. Posey hid before the diamond dogs opened the gates. Once she made sure she was unseen, she left the castle to meet with Katrina, who awaited inside a carriage.

“So?” Katrina asked Posey.

“Apparently, Crunch has captured Majesty and her warriors.”

“And?”

Posey doubted before continuing.

“But they didn´t capture all the warriors. The Wind Warrior is still free.”

A smile drew in Katrina´s lips.

“Interesting… Looks like I´m going to get the bigger lot.”

She chuckled evilly.