//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Whac-A-Dog // Story: Gusty the Great book 2- The crusades // by Dianabel //------------------------------// The dogs had a smug face as the ponies they walked backwards, unsure of what to do. They were surrounded outside and inside Starswirl´s house. “What are you going to do now?” Gaueko asked him as he and his companions giggled victoriously. Fizzy took a glance of Starswirl´s teapot. “Would you like some tea?” she asked innocently as she took the teapot. The three diamond dogs burst out laughing. “Seriously?” Gwyllgi asked as she wiped her tear. “You seriously think that you´ll dispose of us with a tea party?” “Hilarious!” Cavall exclaimed in laughter. “I´ll take that you´d like some. Though you´re going to need ice because it´s HOT!” Fizzy took all the tea and used it to hit the three dogs at the same time against the wall. Afterwards, she spilt the tea on them, giving herself and her friends the chance to run to a window at the back of the house. The three dogs yelled in pain. “Wow! You weren´t kidding when you said that she could manipulate water.” Starswirl said to Gusty. “Who´s laughing now, chuchos de mie-” Fizzy bragged. “Come on.” Buttons took her hoof so she could catch up with them. “It burns! It burns! IT BURNS!” Cavall cried. “Stupid pony!” Gwyllgi wiped her face. Gaueko growled in fury as a rabid dog. “You know what? I wanted to bring that darn pony alive to Crunch. But now I want to bring her DEAD!” He took his arch and an arrow. He pointed it towards Gusty, who was the last one to go through the window. She gasped surprised. “Watch out!” Lancer took her hooves and pushed her down. The bow landed in front of the ponies. Gusty sighed. “Thank you.” she said to Lancer. “You´ll thank me later.” he replied. “Right now, what we need to do is get away from here as fast as we can. It won´t be long until a diamond dog ca-” Everypony yelped alarmed when a paw got Lancer´s leg and dragged him down. Glory and Gusty grabbed his hooves. Fizzy and Glory held them to protect them from being dragged down. Buttons kicked the diamond dog´s head. The dog whimpered and let Lancer go. With Glory´s and Gusty´s help, he got out of the hole. “Get us from the ground! Quick!” Glory ordered Gusty. “Right away!” the unicorn nodded. As she lifted them and herself from the ground, Gaueko threw more arrows to them. Glory and Lancer took out their shields. Gaueko signed Gwyllgi and Cavall to the left and to the right respectively. They threw bows. “Ay ay ay!” Fizzy exclaimed panicked as she and Buttons took out her shields. To make matters worse, there were dogs that jumped to get them. Seeing they were very overwhelmed, Starswirl summoned a magical forcefield so they could think more clearly. “We can´t only defend ourselves!” Glory pointed out. “We need to attack!” “But how?” Buttons asked. “If we take the shield out, even if it´s for one moment, we´ll end up with a bow on our heads!” Fizzy pointed out. “Well, we trained for something all these months, didn´t we?” Lancer said sarcastically. “It´s true, but none of us are as skillful with the sword as you are mister!” As Glory and Buttons talked, Gusty assessed the situation. She looked at the diamond dogs and then at the Gaueko, Gwyllgi and Cavall. Lastly, she looked at Fizzy, Buttons, Lancer and Glory. She noticed each of them, had a talent. Fizzy´s was controlling the water, Buttons was physical self-defence, Lancer was an expert in the battlefield, and Glory knew everything about every creature. Maybe all of those talents could serve “I think I know how.” she said. Everypony turned her head to her. “You think?” Fizzy asked shocked. Gusty nodded. “So, our only chance of survival is listening to Gusty.” Lancer thought aloud. “Oh dear…” “I know I´m not the best strategist, but if you listen to my idea, maybe you can give me suggestions to improve and concoct a plan together. Does that sound good?” Everypony looked at Lancer. He sighed. “Fine. What´s your plan?” Gusty smirked as she raised her eyebrow. Meanwhile, Cavall tried to destroy Starswirl´s forcefield by throwing arrows at it, his attempts failing every time. However, the diamond dog stubbornly kept trying. “Grr!” Gwyllgi growled frustrated. “Will you stop it? You´re going to waste all of your arrows!” “That´s because you´re not helping me!” Cavall clapped back. “Maybe if we worked together…” “You idiot! Don´t you realize that even if we did, it´d still not break?! Do you seriously think that three arrows will destroy that thing?!” “Well, do you have a better idea?” As they argued, Gaueko didn´t take his eye out of the forcefield. Suddenly, he noticed it lowering. “Guys! Guys!” he shook his paw to quiet them. “It´s coming down.” Gwyllgi and Cavall turned around. As soon as they noticed the forcefield lowering, they prepared their arches and arrows. “You fools…” Gaueko said to the unicorns, even though they couldn´t hear him. “Coming back to the ground is a stupid idea that will cost you your lives…” Gaueko prepared to shoot an arrow, waiting anxiously for the forcefield to break. However, when it happened, it went faster than he imagined. In just a blink, the forcefield broke, four of the unicorns disappeared and one of them reappeared in front of him, most specifically Lancer. “Heeeey…” Lancer greeted him with a cunning smirk before kicking him to the ground and starting a sword duel against him. Buttons reappeared in front of Gwyllgi. Before the dog could react, the unicorn kicked her head. “Oh, you´re so going to regret that…” Gwyllgi threatened Buttons as she took her sword out. Buttons kicked her to the ground and took her sword as well, combining kicks and blows with sword movements. Lastly, Glory reappeared in front of Cavall. She knew that despite his small size, the dog was known for being extremely agile. Before you could attack, he attacked you already. So, Glory decided to play the same way. She disappeared and reappeared as fast as Cavall moved, attacking when he least expected it. Gusty and Fizzy were back to back, frowning at the diamond dogs in both sides. “You ready?” Gusty asked Fizzy with a smirk as she passed her canteen to her. Fizzy giggled as she opened both her canteen and Gusty´s. “Oh yeah.” Gusty inhaled and exhaled. “I can do this.” she muttered to herself. After closing her eyes, she ignited her horn. She got on two legs and when she put them on the ground, she created a wind that sent them flying away. “Did it work?” she said while opening her eye slowly. “Check it yourself.” Fizzy replied with a playful smirk. Gusty smiled when she saw the results of her idea. The diamond dogs were groaning in pain, massaging his backs. Then, she looked at Fizzy, who smiled back at her until she noticed some dogs coming towards them. She them with water and hit them against the ground. Gusty levitated herself and Fizzy before some dog underground could captured them. “Hold on!” she said to Fizzy as she held her hoof. She created a tornado. The diamond dogs tried to run away as fast as they could or dug to take cover. Others held on to what they cold such as grass or rocks. Though they were abundant, Gusty´s tornado managed to get some dogs. She made the tornado go faster to make them feel dizzier. Then she sent them away one by one. Some of the dogs landed over others and others against Starswirl´s house´s walls. One of them landed Starswirl. The unicorn teleported himself to the side to avoid the dog crashing against him. “What a mare!” he said fascinated. “Oh, that gives me an idea!” Fizzy exclaimed excited. Fizzy captured a dog and rolled it towards other dogs. They fell backwards as if they were bowls. “Strike!” she exclaimed before high hoofing Gusty. Despite feeling exhausted by the battle, the more Gusty fought, the better she felt. She had never felt so much freedom to experiment with her magic until now, let alone seeing the domain she could get if she let the wind flow. Words couldn´t describe the euphoria she felt whenever a new idea came into her mind, which was racing in possibilities. Despite fighting Cavall, Glory was able to take at times glimpses of how Gusty and Fizzy battled, which was pure chaos. She observed that they were so focused on coming up with ideas, that they didn´t realize that a diamond dog shot an arrow on fire towards them. “Girls, behind ye!” she warned them. The two unicorns turned around. Gusty´s first instinct was to send the arrow away and Fizzy´s was to extinguish the fire. So, the two sent wind and water to the arrow at the same time respectively. The water extinguished the fire, and the wind cooled the water, leaving a frozen arrow as a result. Both the unicorns and diamond dog observed the arrow intrigued. Gusty and Fizzy shared glances and then looked at the diamond dog. “Uh oh…” the dog muttered under her breath. She tried to run away but was trapped by Gusty and Fizzy in less than a second. The same would happen to the dogs around. “Glory, look!” Fizzy shook her hoof energetically like a filly that wanted to show something to her parents. Glory sighed in relief and smiled. Despite thinking that they were disorganized in their battling style, she had never seen that much passion in soldiers, probably because they were fighting in their own way. Majesty was too erratic in her teaching, thinking everypony´s fighting style should be the same, though she couldn´t blame her, as she didn´t have the same knowledge of magic Stasrwirl had. Glory also liked to stick with what she knew, but after seeing Gusty and Fizzy, she realized that maybe being more flexible with those whose fighting styles couldn´t fit Majesty´s could be useful. Besides, it was rare seeing somepony smile in the battlefield. Normally, Lancer described soldiers´ faces in battles as full of despair and exhaustion, and most importantly, hopelessness. Seeing Gusty and Fizzy smiling truly raised her spirit, most importantly, it brought her hope. And the reason why they were smiling was Gusty. Surprised, Gaueko turned his head to Gusty, who smirked smugly. He clenched his teeth while growling frustrated. “Everypony step aside!” Gusty said to Lancer, Buttons and Glory. Knowing what she was about to do, Gaueko looked around in panic, hoping there was something that could help him. He noticed Starswirl standing in the side, watching how the unicorns fought, which gave him an idea. Lancer noticed how he looked at Starswirl with a mischievous smile. “Don´t you dare!” he yelled at him. Gaueko made Lancer lose his balance. He ran to Starswirl and put the sword around his neck. The poor unicorn didn´t have the chance to defend himself, since Gaueko put a ring around his horn. “STOP FIGHTING!” After his yell, both the diamond dogs and the unicorns stopped fighting. The latter gasped horrified, especially Gusty, due the resemblance of that scene to that fateful day she became a widow. Her eaction peaked Gaueko´s interest. “Whoah, whoah. Easy.” Glory tried to calm him down. “You´d better do what I say or I´ll slit his throat! Understood?” The unicorns unlit their horns and lifted their hooves as a sign of surrender, the first and the quickest being Gusty, making Gaueko smirk. Seeing she was starting to hyperventilate, Fizzy held her hoof to remind her that she wasn´t alone. “Good. I want the Wind Warrior to come to me.” “Wind Warrior?” Starswirl thought aloud, confused about that name. Slowly, Gusty landed herself and Fizzy. “Let go.” she told her. “Please.” Fizzy nodded her head. As everypony else, she observed terrified how Gusty walked to Gaueko. The scared unicorn breathed in and out slowly to prevent a panic attack. “What do you want?” Gusty asked the diamond dog once she was right in front of him. “I want you to throw your sword or any weapon you have to defend yourself.” Gusty undrew her sword and dropped it, as well as her shield. “Good, now stay very still.” he smirked as he walked towards her, making sure everypony could see his sword. Everypony gasped. They tried to run to her but were held back by the diamond dogs. “Gusty!” Buttons called her name. “Don´t do it!” Lancer begged her. “Save yourself!” Glory asked her. “Don´t worry! I´ll help you.” Fizzy grunted as she struggled to free herself. “Let me go, you rascal!” she yelled at her captor. “If you try to fight, he´ll pay the consequences.” Gaueko pointed his eyes at Gwyllgi, who was preparing to shoot Starswirl. Gusty looked at Starswirl. From that fateful day, Gusty promised herself if something similar happened again, she´d do anything to save that pony, even if that meant death. However, she knew she was too needed as to die. Her daughters needed their mother. Her friends and Majesty trusted her to defeat Grogar. The fate of unicorns like Starswirl depended on her. She had to take charge in another way of the situation. She held her necklace and frowned at Gaueko. “Shoot on the count of three.” Gaeko ordered Gwyllgi. “One… Two…” “Don´t sacrifice for me.” Starswirl begged her. “Please.” Gusty shook her head. “Don´t worry. I won´t.” She ignited her horn and hit Gaueko´s left eye before he could reach three. Everypony and diamond dog widened their eyes or gasped in shock. Gwyllgi dropped her bow and arrow. Cavall was mouth agape. Gaueko dropped his sword and released Starswirl to cover his eye in pain. The unicorn ran away from him an took the ring out of his horn. Though he couldn´t see his face, he knew Gusty had make a scratch in his eye due to seeing some blood in his fingers after touching his wound. He chuckled menacingly as he turned around to confront Gusty. “Oh, you´re so going to pay that.” he threatened her before he growled. He jumped over her and put a ring around her horn. Afterwards, he scratched her neck, untying her husband´s necklace. Starswirl gasped horrified. “Gusty!” Fizzy exclaimed as she kept fighting the diamond dog that restrained her. He laughed maniacally as she saw Gusty trying to free herself from his grasp. “You shouldn´t have angered me. Otherwise, I would have brought you to Crunch alive.” he said as he took his shield and raised it to hit her head. Gusty closed her eyes. Starswirl gasped and scowled. “NO!” he exclaimed. Without realizing it, he blasted Gaueko and threw him away from Gusty, leaving every witness in shock once again. “Huh?” Gusty opened her eyes confused. Gaueko´s groan perked her ears up. By turning her head to the left she saw the diamond dog laying on the ground. She widened her eyes and turned to the right, where Starswirl covered his mouth with his hooves, astonished by what he just did. “Did you just see what I saw?” Glory asked Lancer. “Uh huh.” was all Lancer could articulate. “What did you do?” Gusty asked Starswirl. “I… I don´t know.” he replied as puzzled as Gusty was. “It just… came out of me.” “Who…” Gaueko grunted as he got up. “DID THIS?” he walked to Buttons, Lancer, Glory and Fizzy. “Which one of you magic freaks did this?!” “I hate to advocate for them, but they didn´t do this, sir.” the diamond dog holding Lancer said. “They all have rings in their horns.” he pointed at Lancer´s horns and then at Lancer´s and Glory´s. “See?” “Even this one, who´s putting up a fight, didn´t do it!” said the diamond do holding Fizzy. “Then that means…” Gaueko thought aloud. Starswirl froze when his gaze met Gaueko´s. “Well, well, well.” he clapped his paws together. “It seems like you can fight after all, mr Herbs! But from what I saw before, it seems like you haven´t got enough experience...” He started to walk towards Starswirl, inviting Gwyllgi and Cavall to follow him. The unicorn walked backwards to get away from them, but he was rounded. “So, let me and my companions teach you, shall we?” Gaueko continued as he and his companions prepared their fists and weapons. Fortunately, before they could lay a paw on Starswirl, Gusty took the ring out of his horn and pushed them away with a gust of wind. “I´ll distract them, you free the others!” Gusty told Starswirl. Despite being a bit insecure if he was able to attack again, he nodded. All he had to figure out which spells were the most adequate for battle and use them. He transported himself behind the diamond dogs that were holding Gusty´s friends captive and struck their tails. The dogs whimpered as they accidentally released the unicorns. He ascended himself and blasted all the dogs he could to give Fizzy, Buttons, Lancer and Glory time to free themselves of those anti-magic rings. As Gaueko stated, Starswirl didn´t have much experience fighting so he was very anxious. “Ok, ok!” he panted. “Somehow, I am surviving.” However, he didn´t noticed a diamond dog pointing his bow at him behind his back. He yelped when heard an arrow releasing. “Where is it coming from, where is it coming from?!” he turned his head from the left to the right. He felt something around his body that pulled him down, which avoided the arrow hurting him. Once he was on the ground, he checked that what pulled him down was Fizzy´s water. “You´re welcome!” Fizzy smiled at him. “Fizzy, I need you!” Gusty called her. “Right! On the count to three?” “Yes!” “Ok. One. Two. Three!” At three, they threw water and wind at the same time, trapping Gaeuko, Gwyllgi and Cavall in a block of ice. “Let´s go!” Gusty said to everypony. Fizzy raspberried at the three diamond dogs before running away. “Wait!” Gwyllgi shouted. “You can´t go! This isn´t over yet! Grr! I hate unicorns.” “How long do you think we´ll be here?” a diamond dog asked her friend. “The sun seems to be beating down today so hopefully, we won´t be very long. Nonetheless, it will take time.” the friend answered. “Guys, you realize that we failed our mission?” another diamond dog pointed out scared. The diamond dogs bit their lips. Cavall gasped. “It is true! What are we going to do now, Gaueko?” Cavall asked his superior fearful. “Crunch is going to kill us!” To his and Gwyllgi´s surprise, Gaueko wasn´t yelling at them. Instead, he was grinning at something. “Not yet.” he replied. “You!” he called an injured dog next to him. “Sir?” “You see a shiny, amber-coloured thing there?” The dog narrowed his eyes and raised his paw at the level of his forehead to get a better view, despite aching terribly. Despite the amount of grass, he was able to see a small sparkle. “I think so.” “Bring it to me.” The diamond dog nodded. Slowly, he managed to get up. Limping, he took the object and brought it to Gaueko. He chuckled when he saw the phoenix feather on a rope. “There it is.” “What is that?” Gwyllgi raised her eyebrow confused. “That, Gwyllgi, is the Wind Warrior´s necklace. I noticed how she held it when I threatened her friend.” “And what do you plan to do with it?” Cavall asked. “Keep track of her with it, of course!” Gwyllgi and Cavall looked at each other. “And how exactly?” Gwyllgi asked. “By scent, you idiots! We are dogs, remember?” “Aaah!” Gwyllgi and Cavall said in unison. “Pfft, that´s super obvious, I never doubted that!” Gwyllgi lied. “I just wanted to make sure you had the same idea as I.” “Same here!” Cavall exclaimed. Gaueko narrowed his eyes at them. “Yeah right.” “You want me to smell it, sir?” the diamond dog holding the necklace asked. Gaueko nodded. The diamond dog closed his eyes and sniffed carefully. He grunted as he knelt carefully and sniffed the ground as well. “You perceive her smell?” Gaeuko asked. The diamond go opened his eyes once he was finished sniffing. He turned his head back and nodded with a triumphant smile. “I got you mare.” Gaueko mumbled.