//------------------------------// // Chapter 13: Attack at Catnada´s wall // Story: Gusty the Great book 2- The crusades // by Dianabel //------------------------------// “Is everypony ready?” Moochick asked once he came out of Magic Star´s home. His soldiers exited next. After them, followed Gusty, Buttons, Lancer, Glory and lastly, Starswirl, who was having some trouble moving in the armour he was given by the earth ponies. “Yes, sir!” the earth ponies raised their hooves in front of their foreheads. “We are as well.” Gusty answered after checking her comrades. “Are you sure you have everything you need?” Shady asked Magic Star, as the latter crossed the door. Magic Star chuckled. “Don´t ask me! You´re the one who packed for me.” she replied teasingly. “I know, but maybe I forgot to pack something important. I don´t want you to find an army or Katrina herself and lacking supplies because of me.” “Knowing you, you probably didn´t forget anything.” Magic Star reassured her. She opened her bag and checked it to show Shady that she had nothing to worry about. She mumbled to herself all the objects she saw in her bag. “Yes, everything I need is in here!” Shady smiled, slightly calmer after hearing those words. Though they didn´t mean to interfere in a private conversation, the unicorns couldn´t help but overhearing their conversation. “Oh, ye´re not coming?” Glory asked Shady surprised. “Oh no, no!” Shady shook her hoof. “I couldn´t possibly fight against soldiers or Katrina. I mean.” she scoffed. “Look at me! I´m not built for fighting and I have zero combat experience.” “Well, neither do I.” Buttons said in reply. “Technically, you do.” Lancer pointed out. “You have fought against an ophiotaurus, an army of diamond dogs, and two witch-hunters.” “Oh, that counts as combat experience?” “Mhm.” Lancer nodded his head. “Huh.” Buttons raised her eyebrow, both surprised and intrigued by that fact. “I´d love to come with all of you, but I would only make things more difficult for you.” Shady continued speaking. “I wouldn´t want you to fail because you had to protect a weak and helpless pony.” “Don´t say that, Shady.” Magic Star surrounded her friend with her foreleg. “But it´s true.” Gusty´s heart wrenched. She was familiar with that feeling of uselessness and making things worse for everpony. When those thoughts appeared in her mind, she felt pain. But after hearing Shady saying those words, she discovered a new and worse kind of pain: seeing others going through the same as her. Because she knew how ugly that felt, she couldn´t stand that suffering in others. Frowning in determination, Gusty knew it was her turn to speak. “No, it´s not.” she told her firmly. “I haven´t known you for a long time, but I know that you are a strong pony and a fighter. Otherwise, you wouldn´t be standing here.” she said as she walked towards her. “I used to think I wasn´t strong too, and to be honest, I´m still not sure! But I do feel a bit stronger, and I guess that´s because I´m doing this for somepony else. Perhaps that´s what you need to realize how strong you are.” Shady stayed quiet, reflecting on Gusty´s words. “Wow. Thank you for those words, they´re so kind. But I still think that staying here is a better idea. Besides, somepony needs to look after Magic Star´s house and herbs.” “Don´t worry, we understand. I just wanted to make you see that you´re stronger than you think.” Moochick´s throat clearing redirected everpony´s attention to him. “Sorry for interrupting the conversations and the farewells, but there´s an attack we need to do.” “Of course! Sorry for the delay.” Gusty scratched her scalp apologetically. “We have to go.” Magic Star said to Shady before they hugged each other. “Stay safe.” “You as well.” They waved their hooves at each other as she ventured with her comrades into the forest. Once everypony vanished in the distance, Shady´s expression changed from a smile to worry. She worried about what awaited Magic Star and the unicorns, especially Buttons and Gusty. They might be of a different breed and not have known for a long time like Magic Star´s case, but they earned Shady´s trust when they saved her from the witch-hunters. Though she loved tending to everypony´s needs, making them feel comfortable, and carrying on with her parents´ business, there were rough moments as well. From rude customers who liked making fun of her to customers who took it too far in their entertainment at the expense of her. Though she had got better at it over the years, Shady still had problems to assert herself, so she was always grateful when somepony helped her or stood up for her, such as Magic Star. Her departure from the inn pained her a lot, since she was the one who defended her. When Buttons helped her and fought the witch-hunters for her, she was reminded that she wasn´t alone. And Gusty´s words… Could they be true? They just sounded so genuine. No matter the answer, Shady had one thing clear: She could trust her. She radiated such warmth, as if she was a benevolent spirit telling you that everything will be ok. She looked at Magic Star´s dried herbs, hoping that a miracle would happen. “May the Great Seedling protect you.” she prayed. Afterwards, she observed the silver thistles hanging from the rooftops. She raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Though they had been upset about the sun before, the unicorns were now missing the sun. Ever since they left Magic Star´s cottage, dark clouds had been blocking the sunlight. There was not a single moment when they let the sunlight escape, even when they reunited with Moochick´s other troops. Lancer looked at the clouds in fear. “Is everything ok?” Glory asked worried after noticing his expression. “Hm? Oh! I´m fine, don´t worry. It´s just I´m a bit tense.” “Well, I suppose that even after having years of experience, one can´t help but feeling tense in these situations. I also got very nervous when I had to heal grave wounds.” “Of course. But this is a bit different. I mean, it´s very superstitious.” he scoffed. “Says the most logical pony ever.” “What do ye mean?” Lancer sighed. “Perhaps it´s just a coincidence, but whenever we battled on cloudy days, something bad happened. Whether it was a death, a surprise attack, or something none of us expected.” “So, you´re having some kind of bad omen?” “It´s silly, I know.” “Well, I wouldn´t say so.” Starswirl intervened “We are fighting Katrina after all, and she uses dark magic. I wouldn´t be surprised if she cast a dark spell on us.” “What are you unicorns talking about?” Moochick asked suspiciously. “Nothing!” Lancer lied, worried about what they would think. “Look, just because we let you go along with us doesn´t mean that we trust you. You´d better not be conspiring against us, because earth ponies are known for not being merciful to their enemies. Consider this as a warning.” “No worries, Moochick. I´ve heard their conversation.” Magic Star spoke in their favour. “They´re not talking about that. They´re just worried about what´s coming next.” Moochick´s hard expression softened after he heard Magic Star. She was a wise sage after all. Plus, she was also an earth pony. He threw one last suspicious glance at Lancer, Glory and Starswirl before turning around. The unicorns shared uncomfortable glances. The whole journey had been full of this tense energy between the earth ponies and the unicorns. Except for Magic Star, none of them said a word to them. Some earth ponies looked at them with disdain, others in fear, and others in curiosity, as in Knightshade´s and Alonzo´s case, who quickly turned their gaze away whenever the unicorns noticed they were being watched by them. Gusty took a quick look at the earth ponies before talking to her comrades. “Perhaps you should tell them what you just told us.” Gusty suggested to Lancer. “Oh yeah, great idea!” he said sarcastically. “Let´s make them think worse of us by telling them that a creature with magic is having a bad feeling about something and scaring them off. What could go wrong?” “Wait, you can do that?” Magic Star asked shocked. “On the contrary.” Gusty continued, ignoring Magic Star. “If I were them, I would appreciate if you told me that you were sensing something was wrong.” “Yeah, I would very much appreciate that!” Magic Star repeated. “Well, that´s because you´re you Gusty.” Lancer continued talking to Gusty, ignoring the earth pony once again. “Not everything you feel or think applies to everypony. Besides, I´m not Lucena. I can´t see the future or sense that something´s wrong. This is just me being superstitious.” “So, you have no paranormal magic?” Magic Star asked him, but once again she was ignored. “Starswirl, I know ye didn´t study black magic, but can ye detect its presence when it´s not so obvious? Glory asked Starswirl. Starswirl shook his head. “I´m afraid is not that easy. It´s a well-known fact that evil is not always that obvious. The same applies to dark magic until it´s late. But I think we should be prepared for anything.” Starswirl´s words left Gusty reflecting. She looked at Moochick and decided to walk to him. “I´ll be back in a second.” she said as she made her way through some earth ponies, politely excusing herself if she hit them. “But didn´t Moochick say that you were forbidden to-” Magic Star started to ask but was interrupted by Lancer. “Don´t try to change her mind because it´s impossible.” Buttons advised her. “Normally, I would stop her, but I am with her in this one.” said Lancer. Despite some bad looks and complaints from the earth ponies, Gusty managed to get to Moochick. “Um… Sir Moochick? Can I talk to you for a second?” she addressed the elder leader politely. Moochick, Alonzo and Knightshade, who weren´t aware of Gusty´s presence, turned around and looked at her in an expression of surprise. Moochick´s showed slight anger as well since she had defied his orders. “What are you doing unicorn? Don´t you know you´re supposed to be in the back?” he asked her upset. “Firstly, you can address me by my name.” she said, tired of being called by her species name. “And secondly, I know what you said but this is important. It´s about Katrina´s magic is. I have a companion that knows about the dangers of black magic, and perhaps he can tell us how to fight it if he has enough information.” Moochick looked at Alonzo and Knightshade. The two earth ponies nodded their heads. “Alright.” Moochick accepted her request. “What do you want to know?” “All I know is that she wears a potion, but what spells can she do?” “Firstly, tell me the unicorns can do.” he commanded, looking at her with some suspicion. “Oh my, I hope to remember all of them…” Gusty muttered under her breath before clearing her throat. “Well, there´s elevation, illumination, teleporting, transforming objects into others or altering their properties… and some more. Some of us have magic connected to some kind of force. For example, mine is connected to wind.” “In that case, there´s not much mystery to it for you, unicorn. They´re very similar.” Moochick bluntly replied. “In some way, but Katrina´s magic is black magic. This is a type of magic that unicorns are not familiar with, mostly because we haven´t been educated about magic at all, but also because it´s something very dangerous to get involved in. The only reference of black magic I have is Grogar and I´m not sure if his and Katrina´s magic are-” The earth ponies turned their heads to her, staring in shock. “Wait. What do you mean with not being educated about magic?” Knightshade interrupted Gusty. “Well, all I know about magic is thanks to Majesty and my companion Starswirl. Before I joined the rebellion, the only spell I knew was elevating objects because that´s all we are allowed to do. Grogar forbid unicorns from using other spells and kept any information about history of unicorns and magic very well hidden from us.” “So, you´re not Grogar´s pets?” Alonzo asked. Gusty raised her eyebrow confused. “What?” “We all believed that Grogar was more benign with unicorns for their magical abilities.” Moochick explained. “You see, legend says that when he conquered Bridlengton, he gave earth ponies the hardest of jobs, treating us like beasts of burden. Many ponies died of suffocation, dehydration, fatigue, or wounds from lashes.” “That´s terrible.” said a shocked Gusty, covering her mouth with one hoof. “Our ancestors related some encounters with unicorns when they were transported to some places to work. They said that they had lighter jobs, mostly servitude. They contributed that to the fact that you had magic, and being the opportunistic tyrant he is, he decided to make use of that magic for himself. So, they thought that he taught you spells and gave you an education as long as you worked for them.” “Well, compared to your jobs, ours are lighter, even though we can also work on agriculture, but that´s not very common. However, make no mistake. Grogar also mistreated us. We would also get flogged and harsh work conditions, we were stripped of our knowledge of magic, and sometimes from our magic as well. I remember being very scared when I was taken a slave as a filly because I thought that I was going to be taken to Grogar so he could take my magic and grow more powerful.” “Wow, I suppose that´s like taking your whole essence from you. Sounds terrible.” said Alonzo. “Hmph.” Gusty nodded. “Then we can assume that you don´t know how to cast spells to hurt others, right?” Moochick asked her. “Exactly.” Gusty answered calm, until she realized that Moochick mentioned dark spirits. “Wait, what do you mean with summoning dark spirits?” Despite her question, the earth ponies didn´t answer. Instead, they stopped walking to admire the horizon. High above, on top of a promontory, there laid a castle. Although she was too far to appreciate it in detail, Gusty could tell that it had a simpler appearance compared to Grogar´s castle. Nonetheless, it was still an imposing building. Bellow the castle, there were several houses. Nearer the castle, there were the tallest houses, with roots formed of tiles, which probably belonged to Katrina´s servants. And at the bottom, there were the simplest houses, shorter and strawed roofs, meaning that they belonged to ponies. It was clear this was a city, and a big one too. It was clear they had arrived to their destination: Bridlengton. “Well… This is going to be more difficult than I thought…” Buttons bit her lips nervous as she looked to the castle. “Which one, getting into the castle or into the city?” Magic Star asked her. Buttons winked perplexed. “What do you mean?” “While the castle is the first thing in the city that catches the eye of any wonderer, the moat surrounding it should not be an exception.” Knightshade answered in reply. “A moat?” Starswirl asked confused. “You see that big ditch?” Alonzo pointed at the moat. “That is a moat. It is used as a defence mechanism for cities or castles so that is more difficult to intrude.” “Huh, that explains why underneath the capital´s gates there´s water.” Gusty muttered to herself. “And how did ye manage to conquer cities before with obstacles like this?!” Glory asked scared. “With lots of patience and faith, my friend. Lots of patience and faith.” Lancer surrounded his hooves around Glory and patted him. “Don´t worry. You´ll get used to it.” “Indeed.” Moochick nodded. “But now that I think about it, maybe we can facilitate things a little bit…” he smirked as he looked at Gusty. Everypony except Gusty seemed to have understood the message, since they all had some sort of expression in their faces. Just like their leader, the earth ponies stared at Gusty with a wide smug grin in their faces, with the exception of Magic Star who pressed her lips nervously. On the other hoof, the unicorns´ reactions were the complete opposite. Glory and Starswirl covered their mouths as they looked at each other, whereas Lancer and Buttons seemed to be very upset about what was going on the earth ponies´ minds. “Um…” she looked around everypony. “Why is everypony looking at me?” “You know what? I´m starting to think that maybe trusting these ponies wasn´t a good idea after all…” Lancer said to his companions, as they were being dragged like captured criminals. The earth ponies tied the unicorns by the neck in a line, Gusty being the first in line. There was rope around their horns as well. “Don´t worry. As much as they want to get rid of you, deep down they know that this alliance will be fruitful one way or another, even if they don´t understand your magic.” Magic Star reassured them. “Or at least I hope so…” “It´d better be. Otherwise, I´ll show them that unicorns are good at physical fighting as well.” Buttons threatened. “Sh! We´re getting there.” Glory shushed everypony. “Halt!” Moochick said to everypony once they were in front of the walls. Everypony looked at each other confused by the lack of soldiers at the keep. Even Gusty, Buttons, Glory, Starswirl and Magic Star, who had no knowledge of warfare knew that it was a must to have somepony watching over the horizon to prevent attacks or warn their ruler. But to those who did have warfare experience this could mean two things. One: Katrina´s soldiers were very incompetent or so dissatisfied with their jobs to the point of not caring. And two: they managed to spot them very far away, or spirits forbid knew they would attack today, and they are preparing a surprise attack. Moochick turned to his subjects and nodded his head at a mare that was carrying a trumpet. She took a deep breath, hoping to deliver a beautiful sound, but instead, the sound coming out of the trumpet was anything but graceful. Everypony stared at her, which made her smile apologetically. “Sorry. Must be full of saliva.” she said as she cleaned its inside. Fortunately, the second try was successful. “Now, we´re talking!” “Is that some kind of rebellion theme?” Gusty asked Knightshade. Although he was uncomfortable by the fact that a unicorn´s head was close to his, he couldn´t help but smile at Gusty´s enthusiasm. “Hm.” he nodded his head. Even after the trumpet, there was still no sight of a guard. “Hello?” Moochick yelled. Again, no response. The ponies stared at the wall, expecting something to happen. “Hello?!” Moochick repeated, in a louder voice. “Hallo! Who is this?” a grey cat replied. “It is Moochick, leader of the earth-” Moochick widened his eyes in realization. “Wait a minute, you already know who I am! Why do you ask?” “Of course, I know who you are, I was just teasing you! You know, so you have a laugh after your death!” he prepared his bow to shoot an arrow at him. Immediately, every soldier prepared their shields and ran in front of him to defend him. Moochick, however, was unfazed. He rose his hoof as a signal not to attack yet. “We have not come here to attack. Not if you listen to our proposal of negotiation.” “Negotiation?” “It has come to our ears that there´s a dangerous criminal unicorn named Gusty alias Wind Warrior walking free in the empire. We´ve also heard that our great emperor Grogar will give a great reward to the ruler that brings her to him, isn´t that right?” “How did you get that information?!” “I´m afraid that rumours spread fast. In any case, we believe we have her.” “Well, I´m afraid that it´s too late! Uh… We already have her, you see?” Everypony frowned confused. “What?!” Moochick asked. “He says they already have her!” Alonzo said to his leader. “They must have confused Fizzy with you.” Starswirl said to Gusty. “I don´t think so.” she shook her head. “Katrina saw me when I was serving Grogar. She must have told her soldiers how I look like.” “Are you sure you already have her?” Moochick raised his eyebrow skeptically. “Oh yes! She´s very nice. I almost feel bad for her!” Just as the ponies suspected, the cat wasn´t alone. In the keep he was in, there were two more cats hiding behind the wall. “I told them we already have her.” the grey cat whispered to his companions, making them cover their mouths in laughter. “Well, I think there must have been a confusion. Because the pony we captured matches the description better. Show her!” Moochick ordered the soldier that carried the unicorns. “Move!” the earth pony yelled at the unicorns as she pulled the rope around Gusty´s neck. The other earth ponies moved aside to make way for the prisoners. The grey cat widened his eyes surprised. “They do have her!” he thought aloud. “Really?” a black female cat poked her head to watch but the grey cat pushed it down. “So, can we negotiate now?” Moochick asked. The grey cat stretched his lips and looked up while thinking his answer. “Ok. What is it that you want?” “Let us pass and take us to Katrina so she can listen to my proposal: In exchange of the criminal, she must stop persecuting and mistreating all earth ponies, giving them the right to keep a larger part of their crops! If she does, we will no longer rebel.” “What about the other unicorns?” the black cat poked her head out again. “Will you stop doing that?!” the grey cat pushed her down again. “Let me take a look. Hm… The only one that is familiar is the Gusty one and the blue one. Lancer, one of Majesty´s most loyal soldiers. As for the other ones… I´ve never seen them but I don´t think they´ll give us a good reward for them, since they look… unimportant.” The cat laughed hysterically. On contrast, Glory, Buttons and Starswirl frowned upset. “Excuse me, but they are more important than you´ll ever be!” Gusty said in their defence. “Oh! She´s feisty. I like it.” the cat smiled in admiration. “So, will you let us pass or not?” Moochick asked persistent. “Wait!” the grey cat reached out his paws before ducking down. The cat left the ponies waiting for some time. They looked at the keep anxiously, wondering if this was a trap or if the cat truly believed them. Some minutes later, the grey cat showed himself along his companions: the previously seen black cat and an orange cat. “Ok! My good friend will send Katrina the message. In the meantime, we´ll keep an eye on you.” He and the black cat made a `I´m watching you gesture´. After patting his back, the orange cat nodded and ran off. Though so far their plan seemed to go smoothly, they were also aware that it could take a turn at any time, so they were still tense. Yet they also felt some relief. Unfortunately, that relief didn´t last, as the orange cat came back too soon. “Wait a minute. Didn´t Katrina say they were working together?” he asked confused. Everypony widened their eyes. “Is there a chance that Katrina´s potion gives her the power to spy us?” Gusty asked Starswirl. “Very likely.” he responded, just as nervous. “Dude! You ruined the surprise attack.” the grey cat scolded the orange cat. “Well, I guess this isn´t necessary anymore.” said Lancer. Every unicorn lightened their horn to free themselves off the ropes, leaving the earth ponies both surprised and scared of what they were capable of doing. They took their swords and shields and prepared for attack. “CHARGE!” Moochick yelled as he rose his sword. Some earth ponies took their bows and arrows and prepared to shoot the cats, but the latter were faster and managed to shoot first. “INCOMING!” yelled Alonzo. “FORMATION!” Moochick yelled. Every earth pony formed groups and covered themselves with their shields, putting it over their heads or in front of their chests. Of the unicorns, Lancer was the only one who used his shield. The rest didn´t have time to react, so they used their magic to form a force field instead, which thankfully was also effective. Both the earth ponies and the unicorns stared at each other, shocked by their tactics. “Huh, that´s actually a smart move!” Lancer said in honest admiration. “You lucky fools… That is one great advantage!” Knightshade said in reply, observing the unicorns. “Can they hear us?” an earth pony asked curiously. “Aye, I can!” Glory replied. “Magic Star.” Moochick turned his head to her. “On it!” she exclaimed as she opened her bag, protected by her comrades. She took out a sling and a potion. She laid the potion on the pocket, tied the sling around her hoof, swung it and thew it towards the keep she was the closest to. When it got to the top of the keep, the potion left out a green smoke, which made the garrison cough. “Nice shot!” Buttons said shocked. “What potion did you throw?” Starswirl asked curiously. Magic Star didn´t need to reply. Soon after, the smoke cleared out. The cats that received the potion seemed to be dizzy. “What happened?” one of them asked while looking at his companion. The other cat started laughing. “What? What´s funny?” “Your fur is purple. He he he!” Scared the cat looked at his paw. Truth to be told, his fur was still in its original colour: brown. However, just like his companion, he saw his fur purple. He started laughing as well. “Oh, you´re right! HA HA!” The other cats on the keep started laughing as well. “Why are we laughing?” one of them asked. Starswirl covered his mouth at realization. He slowly turned his head to Magic Star, who was smirking in pride at how her plan worked perfectly. Then, she picked up some stones and more potions and ran to another keep. “Now, unicorns!” Moochick ordered them. Lancer, Buttons, Glory and Starswirl took a deep breath before blasting the cats with their magic and throwing them off the keep. As they attacked, Moochick made signs to groups of earth ponies, guiding them where to go. The ponies that stayed with him went to the gates. Meanwhile, the cats in the other keep stared scared at the unicorns. Then, they looked at their boss, the grey cat, asking him what to do with their terrified eyes. “Ok now I get why they say unicorns are dangerous.” the black cat bit her lip. “Don´t stop attacking you fools! Throw arrows, stones, anything!” the grey cat ordered his surrogates. “You!” he said to the orange cat. “Go warn Katrina.” The orange cat widened his eyes. “Are you sure? Because you know what will happen.” he replicated. “You know that sooner or later we´ll have to…” the black cat reminded him, even though she was just as uncomfortable with the idea as he was. The orange cat sighed. “Ok.” The grey cat patted his back before he left. Then, he turned around abruptly when he heard yells. He saw soldiers flying around a tornado and sent far away. He and the black cat stared shocked at Gusty, just like the earth ponies. “Sorry!” Gusty apologized to the cats she hurt. “What?” she asked to the earth ponies after noticing their stares. Taking advantage of the fact that she was distracted, the grey cat took his arrow and bow and threw an arrow on her direction. Starswirl was the first one to react. “Gusty!” he yelled as he jumped to push her away. Gusty whimpered as Starswirl landed on her back. They observed at how the arrow landed on the spot she was in. Gusty held her chest. “Oh my! Thank you.” she smiled at him. Starswirl blushed and smiled in embarrassment. Just before he could say you´re welcome, a stone was thrown in their direction. Luckily, Gusty paid enough attention to stop the attack with the shield. She smiled back at him once they were safe. “You know you can throw it back at them, right?” Knightshade said to them. “Like this.” he smiled as he saw a stone coming. He turned around and stood in his two forelegs to hold the shield with the forelegs. When the stone reached the shield, he pushed it back to the keep, hitting a cat in the head. Starswirl and Gusty widened their eyes, as that stone seemed to be very heavy. He raised his eyebrow playfully. Meanwhile, Moochick and some of his troops ran to the gates. They turned around and stood in two legs. “On my signal!” the earth pony yelled. “Whoah, whoah. You´re seriously planning to break the gates just like that?!” Lancer asked. “Even Majesty who´s the most powerful unicorn I´ve ever known needs a battering ram to do that. No matter how strong our magic is, we still can´t-” “Kick!” Moochick ordered his surrogates, completely ignoring Lancer´s rant. The earth ponies kicked the gates, making them tremble. The vibration was felt by the cats in the keep and the ponies near the gates. Lancer´s head shook so hard that once the shaking stopped, he fell and his eyes went sideways. After throwing one attack, she went to assist Lancer why stopping some arrows with her shield. “You were saying?” Alonzo raised his eyebrow. “Now, that´s a barry strength ye have!” Glory complimented the earth ponies as she helped Lancer get up. “Of course! Why do you think Grogar used us as burden beasts?” he replied back. “Now keep on defending us before we end up killed!” Lancer shook his head. Afterwards, he raised his hoof to his forehead, with an expression of humility and embarrassment. Glory playfully smiled at him as he left. As she looked to the main keep, she realized something. Originally, there were three cats standing in the front. And now, there were only two. She saw the orange one leaving but he hasn´t come back in a time. “Where did you go, kitty?” she wondered to herself. Although it was a cloudy day, at the first trace of light, Fizzy woke up. The first thought in her mind was finding a way to get out of the dungeon so she could help Amina, the friendly spirit she talked to last night. Although she woke up very confident in getting out soon and easily, the reality was way more different. Hours passed, and she still found herself pacing around frustrated with an idea block. “Come on, think, think.” she softly hit her forehead. “There has to be something you haven´t thought of!” “That´s not true.” the guard told her. “You have thought of everything! In case your tiny brain hasn´t registered it yet, you ain´t coming out!” Fizzy rolled her eyes. She had been dealing with that guard as soon as she woke up. She stared at the chain attached to the wall, which gave her an idea, though not a very good one. Fizzy was known for coming up with the wackiest of ideas, but even she knew when an idea was way off reality or it wouldn´t work, and this one was the case. However, what else she could do? She sighed. “Here goes nothing…” she said after picking up the chain. She inhaled deeply and expired slowly before pulling the chain with all her strength. As expected, it didn´t work, but maybe after many attempts, it would come off the wall. And with a little bit of luck, maybe she could use it to break the door lock. However, judging by how many pauses she had to take to breathe, this would take a long time. There even came a moment when she fell to the floor on her back. She whimpered from exhaustion, pain and frustration. The guard laughed at her attempt. What´s worse, things were not going to get easier. “Good morning dearie…” the last voice she wanted to hear greeted her. Her eyes widened. Afterwards, she clenched her teeth and pulled her eyelids down. “Ay no…” she muttered. She sat down and looked at Katrina´s victorious smirk indifferently. “Hey. Nice to see you.” she greeted back sarcastically. “Laugh all you want, although I´m afraid now it´s not the best moment.” Katrina giggled. “You see, I´ve located your precious friends.” “You what?!” Fizzy held the bars. “I said I located your friends. And no matter how many alliances they do, they won´t be able to go against what I have in store.” she grinned as she looked at her potion. “Pretty soon, your so called Wind Warrior will be in my paws and brought to Grogar. As for you… Well, if I were you I´d be enjoying what´s left of your pitiful life, because you´re bound to lose it soon enough.” she scratched her chin with her claw. In response, Fizzy hit it, but Katrina didn´t seem to affect by it. “Not if I can help it!” Fizzy roared. “And how, huh? You can´t use your magic nor you seem physically strong.” she teased her. Contrary to what she and every cat, pony or any creature thought, Fizzy was smart. She looked at her potion and realized how close Katrina was to her, which made her come up with the best idea she could ever have had in her life. Faster than a cat, she picked the potion and started to pull towards her. Katrina gasped and wrestled against Fizzy for the potion. Seeing how determined the pony was into getting her potion, she pulled out her claws and scratched her cheek, making her let go of the potion. Once her paws were free, she conjured a ray to hit Fizzy. The poor unicorn flew against the wall. “DON´T YOU EVER DARE TO DO THAT AGAIN, YOU HEAR ME?!” she yelled at her. Fizzy´s ears lowered in fear. Up until now, she thought that Katrina was just an arrogant powerful cat. Although she knew she was capable of hurting her friends, she never imagined how scary she could be when she got angry. Just like Grogar, she was not a force to be played with, which is the reason why he kept her around. Some dungeons above Fizzy´s, Posey observed everything. Just like Katrina, she was planning to visit Fizzy, however the cat arrived before her. After witnessing how she hurt Fizzy, Posey decided it was time she took action. But she ran into an obstacle. “Posey? What are you doing here?” a masculine voice said. Her ears perked up. She turned her head around and saw Apricot, one of Katrina´s soldier. Posey took out a knife and laid it near his throat, making him raise his paws. Posey put her other hoof over her lips, telling him to be quiet. Unfortunately, Katrina´s sharp cat hearing perceived Apricot´s voice, despite being soft-spoken. She looked upstairs and frowned. Slowly, she walked upstairs and caught the pony and the cat off. They gasped horrified. “Yeah, that´s what I would like to know about, Posey.” she hissed. She looked at Apricot. “Aside from why you´re pointing your knife at Apricot. You´re not betraying me in any way, are you?” she walked to her menacingly. Posey walked backwards in response. “No, no. I just-” “She simply got scared!” Apricot said to Katrina. Katrina raised an eyebrow suspiciously. Confused, Posey arched an eyebrow at Apricot. “There are cats who like to scare her and she doesn´t like that, so she carries a knife around to scare us of. I know because I´ve seen it. I think she was just looking for you and we crossed paths.” he smiled nervously. “And why are you here and not in the fortress?” Katrina asked in return, now advancing towards Apricot. “I uh… Bring news…” “What news?” “The-the-” “The what?!” “The city´s fortress is under attack!” Apricot spat out. “They are here!” A smile drew in Katrina´s face. She chuckled. “Good.” she turned backwards to speak to the guard and Fizzy, especially the latter. “Now if you excuse me, I must go.” Fizzy crept to the bars. “You evil witch! You won´t get with yours!” “Oh. I´m afraid I already have” she turned to the guard. “Have as much fun with her as you want.” she said to him before leaving. “Gladly.” the guard replied after chuckling. “Now, I think I haven´t tortured you enough. How about we fix that?” he said as he pointed his spear at her. Luckily, before he could do anything, Posey kicked his head, leaving him unconscious. She took the keys and opened the dungeon. Fizzy hugged her, surprising her. “Ah, I´m so glad to see you!” Fizzy said to her. “Um… Same…” answered Posey, not so sure how to react to a unicorn hugging her, though a part of her said there was nothing to worry about, since that unicorn was her friend. “Are you alright?” “Yeah. A little hurt from Katrina´s attack but,” Fizzy shrugged. “I´ve dealt with worse. Anyway, I have something very important to tell you!” “Me too! But you go first.” “I know who the Weeping Roar is! It´s a spirit named Anima. And she´s not evil she´s just broken! She lost her cubs and she misses them and she´s with Katrina because she believes she´ll help her retrieve her cubs.” “Amina? What a beautiful name that means soul.” Posey commented. Seeing that she was getting off topic she shook her head. “Anyway, I do know about Amina´s story. But here´s where things get worse. Katrina found her cubs and offered them to the dark spirits so she could get the potion.” “What?!” “Yeah, and now she´s planning to offer her to them so they can grant her more power. And not only her, she´s planning to offer your friends and the earth pony rebels!” “And probably us too.” Apricot added. The mares turned their heads to him. He rubbed his crossed arms. “Katrina is planning to send the dark spirits to attack at the fortress. I know that she didn´t offer us but dark spirits take more than they give. They´ll probably take some of my comrades too.” “Then what are we waiting for? Let´s stop her!” Fizzy stomped her hoof against the floor. “Do you have any idea of where she could be now?” she asked Posey. “I do. Follow me!” Katrina opened the gates of her bedroom balcony. From there, she could catch sight of the battle at the fortress. She looked at the potion before closing her eyes and reciting these words: “Shadows, take the light. Make them run in fright. Make their eyes turn white. And bring me what is mine. What is mine.” Once she was done reciting her chant, she smiled wickedly as she watched the horizon. “Run, run little warrior.” she mocked Gusty. Suddenly, every cat and pony fighting at the wall started hearing a haunting melody. Both sides stopped fighting to figure out where that sound came from. “Wha-What is that melody?” Glory asked scared. Magic Star and Starswirl froze in fear. They shared looks and nodded at each other, confirming their worries. Knowing that they were the experts at magic, Gusty knew that this was Katrina´s doing. Another thing that caught her attention were the cats´ reaction. Just like them, they were full of fear, hiding their tails between their legs or embracing each other, preparing for what was about to come. “Quick everypony! Form a circle and light your horns!” Starswirl ordered his companoons. “But why?” Buttons asked frightened. “Just do it! I don´t have time to explain.” “Starswirl, what´s going on?” Lancer asked upset. “He knows what he´s doing. Trust him.” Gusty supported Starswirl. Though confused, the unicorn did as told. “I knew something bad was going to happen.” said Lancer. “You know what, if I were you, I would form a turtle with these on.” Magic Star adviced the earth ponies as she passed them silver thistles. Some had time to do as Magic Star commanded but others didn´t. In the blink of an eye, something took some earth ponies away. Afterwards, they weren´t seen. “What was that?” an earth pony asked. Everypony got their spirit when what took the earth ponies away made themselves visible to the ponies. They were black phantasmagorical creatures of different forms whose movement were like the flames of a fire. They roared at the ponies. “Dark spirits.” Magic Star said as she fearfully stared at them.