//------------------------------// // Chapter 18: Have you heard the rumours? // Story: Gusty the Great book 2- The crusades // by Dianabel //------------------------------// Life back at Grogar´s castle was just as exhausting and stressful as what Gusty and company were going through. Emperor Grogar tortured unicorns to get new information about Gusty, which always ended up in failure. He also forced the pegasi and earth pony slaves to work harder, as well as the troggles. The troggles most loyal to Grogar didn´t complain, since they thought they were honouring their saviour. The ones who secretly opposed him, however, were not that happy about it. One of those troggles, most specifically Drog, was way more sleep-deprived than before, so he leveraged the times he was alone sleep. Right now, he found himself resting against a column in the garden. Near where Drog was sleeping, the diamond dogs dug a hole to snuck out their heads and noticed the troggle sleeping. “Hey wake up!” Cavall exclaimed, but his attempt didn´t work. The dogs shared glances. “Hey! Wakey wakey, it´s working time!” Gwyllgi clapped, but once again, there were no results. Frustrated, Gaueko scrubbed his paw throughout his face. “HEEY!” he yelled. “GAH!” Drog woke up in a jump. “I´m awake! I´m awake.” he exclaimed while looking around around. “Finally! Come over here!” Gaueko ordered him. Drog blinked confused. “Are you diamond dogs? Whatever are you doing here?” he asked while standing up and walked to them. “We need you to do us a favour.” answered Gaueko. He and his accomplices picked up a tied and muzzled female tuxedo cat and threw it to Drog, who caught on time before she fell to the ground. “What the?” he wondered aloud after gasping while looking at the cat. “We need you to tell Grogar that this kitty cat was sent by the earth ponies to send him a message.” Cavall ordered him. The cat shook her head to Drog. “If you tell him we had something to do with this, I´ll make sure you get taken care of, ok?!” Gwyllgi threatened him. “We have plenty of friends bigger and strong than any of you!” “Ok, ok! But why would you want me to say that? Or better question, why did you bring us a captured cat?!” Drog asked confused. “Just bring her to Grogar!” Cavall commanded him in response. “Besides, she carries a note that explains everything.” “Diamond dogs, out!” Gaueko exclaimed while they crossed the arms. Afterwards, they went back underground and closed the hole. Drog winked perplexed. The cat´s muzzled cries brought him back to reality. He put her on the ground to untie the handkerchief around her mouth. “Please, don’t say anything! You´ll bring us death!” the cat begged him. “Whoah, whoah! What are you talking about? What happened?” “Read the letter.” Drog noticed a paper hanging from the ropes. He picked it up and opened it to read it. The letter said: With the help of Wind Warrior, we have overthrown Katrina. Our land is back on the hooves of earth ponies. You and your other allies are next! Drog stared at the letter in shock. “Is this true?” he asked the cat in disbelief. “Or is it a scam designed by the diamond dogs because they want something from Grogar?” he raised his eyebrow in suspicion. “No, no it really happened. Katrina captured one of Majesty´s knights so she and other four unicorns went to Coltlogne to retrieve her and in doing so they must have encountered the earth ponies on the way, and I don´t know how, but they formed a coalition and they burst in the town despite confronting dark spirits at the wall! Then, they invaded the caste and defeated Katrina.” “And what happened to her? Did they… You know…” Drog fidgeted his fingers. “Well, not directly per say, but the Wind Warrior broke her potion and well,” the cat shrugged. “we saw what happens when you can´t satisfy a dark spirits´ deal!” The emotion the cat put in the story seem to be genuine, but Drog was still convinced that the diamond dogs forced her to say that. “It´s ok. The diamond dogs aren´t around no longer. You can tell me the truth now.” “I am telling you the truth.” the cat remarked upset, frustrated that the troggle wouldn´t believe her. Luckily, an idea came to her mind. “Look at my bag and you´ll see the proof!” Drog raised his eyebrow in intrigue but looked inside the bag anyways. What he found left him astonished: it was none other than Katrina´s favourite goblet! Golden with several embedded jewels in it, such as sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and pearls. “You did not seriously think that I would be alive right now after taking such precious treasure from Katrina, who always smells and hears a thief miles away and never forgives such crimes!” She was right. Something must have gone wrong with Katrina if this cat was still alive. “And what happened to you? Were you punished?” Drog asked while putting the goblet back to the bag. “Not really. Even though exile is the worst punishment for some, for us it was actually a liberation and a mercy. Most of us were taken from home by force so this was a chance to go back again.” “The earth ponies forgave you?” “Well, mostly thanks to the Wind Warrior. She was the first one to intervene, encouraging other ponies to beg Moochick to lesser our punishment. Which is why you mustn´t tell Grogar. If he found out we got out alive, he would send soldiers to kill us.” Drog gave out a small chuckle in hope. As much as he would like to imagine the future ahead for him and his kind, right now, he had a cat to help. “Don´t worry, I won´t say a word. And I´ll also help you to get back to your clowder.” “How?” “I happen to know who can help us…” Back in the castle, in a dark and almost empty room, there were six troggles. One was sitting against a corner while singing soulfully. “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality…” she sang sad and tired. The other five troggles wore the same expression of exhaustion on their faces. The youngest one was sleeping over the laps of his parents. Another one, who seemed to be in his teen years was playing with a stone, throwing it against the wall and making it bounce. And the last one was Yrsa, Drog´s best friend. She was rhythmically moving her fingers against her arms. “Oh, Thalia, would you stop it please?” a troggle asked her. “If you´re going to sing, sing something with a little mh… bounce in it!” Thalia narrowed her eyes. “I can buy myself floweeeers!!” she sang begrudgingly. The troggles complained by whimpering or covering their eyes. “No, no! Anything but that!” Thalia stayed silent to think of a song. She widened her eyes when she found the most adequate. “I´ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts! Didididi…” she moved her fingers on beat. “There they are standing in a row. Small ones, big ones, some as big as your head!” Satisfied, the other troggle started singing along. On the contrary, Yrsa wasn´t having it. “Will you shush it?! If they discover you like this, you´ll get in big trouble!” she warned them. “Sorry Yrsa. I was just expressing my pain…” Thalia looked down. “Until Enki forced me to hide my emotions!” she threw an angry look at him. “And I need something to cheerme up! A depressive song won´t do.” Enki said in his defence. “Listen to your sister, Enki.” a female troggle ordered Enki as she stroked the sleeping troggle´s hair. “Ugh, she´s not my sister, she´s adopted!” Enki protested. Yrsa rolled her eyes. “Hey! She is your sister, do as she says!” the other troggle, in whose legs the young troggle was laying on, pointed at him. In doing so, he made the young troggle jump a little. “Careful Acher, you´re going to wake Oak up.” his wife put her hand on his shoulder. “Oh! You´re right Isis, sorry honey.” he apologized with a smile. “I know these are rougher times, but we cannot afford any slip ups. Don´t you see how intolerant Grogar is just for a tiny mistake?” Yrsa stated. Thalia and Enki looked at each other, shivering while realizing their mistake. “Yeah you´re have a point…” Thalia admitted. “But in a certain way, that´s good, right? If Grogar´s taking so much time to get the Wind Warrior, that must mean that the idea of her defeating Grogar doesn´t sound so stupid.” Enki opined. Yrsa snorted as she crossed her arms. “Or maybe Majesty killed her for spilling her secret.” “I´m just trying to be positive!” “For what? To crash against the ground when Grogar kills her? I prefer to stay realistic.” “Yeah, I see it´s doing wonders for you.”. “Huh! What do you think that will happen? That the Wind Warrior will do a miracle all of the sudden?” “Guys! The Wind Warrior has defeated Katrina!” Drog exclaimed, opening the door with a loud blow of the door, catching all of the troggles off guard. Isis and Acher literally jumped from the surprise, waking up Oak as a result. “Wait. WHAT?!” Thalia screamed as she stood up. The cat covered his mouth while shushing him. “Not that loud! What if they hear you?” “Sorry it´s just I´m too excited.” Drog apologized. Oak rubbed his eye. “Oh… What´s all the commotion in here?” “That´s what I would like to know” Yrsa crossed her arms. “What do you mean with that the Wind Warrior has defeated Katrina?” “It´s better if she explains…” Drog pushed the cat forward. Every troggle but Yrsa gasped when they saw the cat. “Is that a cat? I love cats.” Oak ran towards the cat to hug her. Not knowing how to react, she simply cleared her throat. “Oak, I don´t think it´s a good idea to be near her.” Yrsa advised him as he gently separated him from the cat. “Where did you get this cat from?” Yrsa asked Drog. “Just let her tell you everything and you´ll know.” Drog replied. After pondering it carefully, Yrsa finally accepted his request. So, the cat told them the whole story, leaving no detail out. “…Which is why you cannot tell a word to the emperor, because if you do we will never go back home.” the cat begged them. When she finished, the troggles weren´t so sure how to react. They were so confused that they could simply wink with expressionless faces. Yrsa was the first one to speak. “Are you sure you didn´t hit your head and all of this was just a dream or something?” Yrsa suspiciously interrogated her. “I said the truth and the whole truth.” the cat put a paw on her chest and raised the other. “Oh, really? Where´s the proof then?” The cat showed the goblet in response, leaving the troggles breathless in astonishment. “Is that Katrina´s goblet?” Isis asked as she signed at it. “In the flesh.” the cat reiterated. “Or should I say in the metal.” she smiled nervously at her pun. “Oh mommy, Lucena was right, she will defeat Grogar!” Oak jumped in joy while holding her mother´s hands. “And not only that, we might actually rebuild our lives as well!” Drog added. Though it seemed to be enough proof for Enki, Acher, Isis and Oak; Yrsa still had her reservations to believe her. “Well, that cannot be enough proof! Maybe this time her feline instincts failed, especially being now super busy trying to catch the Wind Warrior.” “Oh… I beg to differ.” the cat replied. “Trust me, we´ve been in busier situations and she never misses one stealing attempt.” As much as she wanted to refute, she was well aware that the cat knew Katrina better than she did. But for Yrsa that event didn´t mean that the prophecy was true.. “But it could have been just a stroke of luck!” “Or not!” Thalia refuted. “Don´t worry we won´t say a word.” Acher swore. “Eh?” Yrsa asked shocked. “And we will escort outside of the castle safely.” Isis added. “What?” Yrsa turned her head abruptly to Isis. “Yeah! Drog knows every secret gallery underneath the castle and they are very useful to get out of the castle!” Enki reassured the cat. “No! No! Could you all stop for a second and think straight for a moment please?!” Yrsa said upset. Noticing Drog´s, her parents´ and brothers´ expressions of hurt, Yrsa joined her palms and took a deep breath through her nose. “I´m sorry, it´s just I don´t want you to get hurt.” she apologized. “But even if by some miracle Gusty managed to defeat every tyrant including Grogar, we don´t know if we benefit from this. Yeah, she forgave the cats, but that´s because they didn´t do anything that she took great offense like we did. Don´t you remember our kind killed her husband? Do you really think she will forgive us just like that?” After listening to her, the troggles´ joy turned into anxiety and uncertainty. “And let´s not forget that most of the cats hated Katrina, but every other troggle supports Grogar to death! I don´t think she´ll really slide that.” Yrsa added. “You have some good points Yrsa, but wouldn´t you really prefer to live peacefully in a village inside a forest where you didn´t have to hurt anypony and could do your own thing?” Drog enquired her. “Of course I would, but we have to be careful not to get carried away by idealism. It could be our downfall.” “Well…” the cat joined in the conversation after a brief silence. “Once the Wind Warrior knew our story, she stood by us because she understood our circumstances and saw the good in us. I´m pretty sure she will do the same with you.” Judging from her eyes, Yrsa could tell she was very moved by the Wind Warrior. Then, she looked at how her family and friends were smiling. Ever since Gusty´s incident happened, they were on constant work, which made them stressed, depressed, and unable to smile most of the time, so seeing them smiling moved her deeply. Perhaps protection and caution weren´t what they needed for their welfare but hope. Yrsa sighed. “I can´t believe I´m doing this…” she muttered to herself. “Ok, fine we won´t tell Grogar and we´ll help you go back to your cat friends.” she begrudgingly accepted. “Thank you!” the cat surrounded her with her arms. “Hey, that doesn´t mean you can´t hug me!” Yrsa struggled to undo her hug. “I´m glad you took the right decision.” Acher tapped her shoulder, making Yrsa smile. “Take Oak with you.” Isis told Drog. “I think that´s the closet he´ll get to play in these days.” “Right this way missy!” Oak took the cat´s paw excitedly as they followed Drog. “Enki, Thalia! You´re needed!” a voice from above called them. “Gotta go. Duty calls.” Thalia pointed at the ceiling. “Good luck!” Enki waved his hand as they left. “Be careful! And don´t you slip a word about this!” Yrsa told them as they left. “Don´t worry, we won´t, Yrsa!” Enki reassured her, although Thalia wasn´t as sure. Though, Yrsa wasn´t as confident as Thalia on her not slipping anything out. “Ugh, please don´t make me repent this…” Yrsa covered her forehead on her hand. A troggle impatiently hit the floor repeatedly with his foot, turning his head around in hopes of seeing Thalia and Enki running towards him. Finally, that moment came. “What took you so long?!” he angrily demanded explanations. Enki and Thalia stopped running once they were running in front of him and leveraged to catch their breaths. “Ok, ok. We´re sorry to be late.” Enki apologized. “Where do we have to go?” “To Grogar´s library.” “To Grogar´s library?!” Thalia asked scared. “As you heard.” the troggle replied relaxed at first, though after seeing Thalia´s reaction, he became distrustful. “Why the nerves?” “Uh… She´s just excited!” Enki improvised a lie. He tapped Thalia´s shoulder to calm her down. “That the emperor would trust us so much to guard his so precious library in these times of turmoil! But she wants to do it well, thus the nerves!” “You´re certainly right to be nervous, because if you mess up, it´s off with your head!” the mean troggle crossed a finger through his neck. “Understood?!” The two troggles nodded. “Good. NOW GET TO WORK!” Enki and Thalia quickly ran to Grogar´s library´s door to get away from the mean troggle as soon as possible. Once they made sure he wasn´t seeing them, they exhaled all the air they were holding in and panted very hard. “What was that, Thalia?” Enki quietly scolded Thalia so they wouldn´t be heard. “I´m sorry, it´s just I realized that from now on we´ll have to stand near Grogar while keeping secrets from him, which is practically impossible because I´ll be so nervous!” Thalia shivered in fear. “Oooh, I know his bells will ignite and he will find out we´re hiding something and I´ll slip that the Wind Warrior has defeated Katrina and that the prophecy´s true!” “But you already knew the risks and never expressed any worries about that. Why do you so now?” “I don´t know. Maybe because a part of me thought that this would never happen! And now that it´s happening, reality hits!” “Hey!” Enki held her shoulders. “Like Drog says, if you think that will happen, that´s exactly what will happen. You just have to think that Katrina´s defeat won´t come out of your mouth, and no one will know. We just have to act normal. No one will ever know.” Suddenly, they heard porcelain breaking. Enki and Thalia widened their eyes and slowly turned their heads to the right. Turns out that while they were talking a slave was walking around, and consequently, heard them, discovering everything. The poor earth pony was just as scared as the troggles. Without saying a word, she ran away. Although they knew well that they had to stop the pony, they were too much in shock and paralyzed by the mistake they had made. “We blew everything, didn´t we?” Thalia whispered. “Yup…” Enki confirmed her suspicions. The earth pony closed the kitchen´s doors once she arrived. Seeing their friend hyperventilating, the other slaves at the kitchen came near her. “What´s wrong? Is any of those disgusting troggles chasing you?” one of them asked them. “You won´t believe what I´ve just heard…” the earth pony replied. She signed them to form a circle around her. After making sure no troggle nor Bray, nor Grogar was around; she whispered the secret to her friends. Their reactions varied from gasps to covering their own mouths with their hooves. “…But most importantly, you didn´t hear this from me.” those were the last words the earth pony spoke before a female troggle saw them not working. Naturally, these friends would whisper the secret to their friends. And those friends would whisper the same to their friends and so on. Soon enough a unicorn or a pegasi would hear the information and tell their kind. It didn´t matter if they were different species, they´d all end by saying: “But you didn´t hear this from me.” Without any exaggeration, one could say that in a matter of one hour almost everypony already knew what had happened. But that was not the case for the non-ponies. Hadn´t it been for them being busy, the news wouldn´t have spread as fast. However, a certain butterfly with a band on its wing would hear the information while resting on the ledge of the gallery beneath the courtyard. After listening carefully, it flew to the highest tower in the castle. Young Discord took advantage of Bray sleeping to turn everything upside down, literally. He had put everything on the ceiling, furniture, books, even Bray and himself! On top of that, Discord decided to do a house of cards whose tip would be over Bray´s nose. To do so, he adopted the position of a bat, tying his tail around the chandelier and extending his body to the full, shortening it by pulling his goat horn the closer the house got to Bray. His ears perked up when he heard a small knock in the window. He smiled when he saw a pink butterfly waving hello outside. He returned the wave and stretched his body to the window to open it. “Hey little butterfly!” he greeted it while joining his paw and claw to allow the insect some rest. “Want me to scare you again? Oh ho ho, are you sure? I am bigger this time!” Discord covered a giggle. “Actually, I´m not.” he whispered to the butterfly as if he was telling him a secret. “I´m stretched.” After grabbing his neck and stretching it, his body shortened abruptly, bouncing for some time before turning to its normal state, just like a spring. “See?” said Discord once he wasn´t feeling dizziness. After giggling, the butterfly stared at the house of cards. “This? Well, this is a prank on Bray. I do that every time he falls asleep, isn´t that great?” Discord chuckled. “Well, not the house of cards exactly, this is new, since doodles in the face got old. He got so used to it that he simply stopped getting mad and just wiped it out calmly! So, I´m just trying new ways to tick on his nerves.” The butterfly observed Bray. It arched an eyebrow at Discord. “Oh, he hasn´t always done that!” Discord raised his paw and claw. “But he´s been behaving differently lately. One day, all of the sudden, he started being scared all the time! At first, I was excited because I thought I was finally scary! But then he told me off for not being scary enough.” Discord´s smile banished after saying the last sentence. The butterfly could tell Bray´s words hurt him. It placed itself on Discord´s shoulder, not minding being upside down. “And then the falling asleep happened.” Discord continued speaking. “At first it was fun, but it seems like he´s getting used to everything I do that nothing surprises him anymore! I don´t like being scolded but not having any reaction from him… I don´t know why but somehow it´s less fun...” he fidgeted with his fingers. The butterfly pointed at its wing. “What about father? He´s grumpier than usual.” Discord shivered. “Trust me, you don´t want to see him again.” he looked at the butterfly. “Why do you think they´re acting like that?” The butterfly shrugged. “I do have some theories myself.” Discord said in reply while tapping his chin. “Maybe they´re training me because they´re considering on letting me out to scare ponies!” he exclaimed excitedly. “Or they are scared of me deep inside and don´t want to admit it! What do you think?” While listening to Discord, the butterfly remembered why it came to Discord. It jumped and fluttered its wings energetically. “A secret?” Discord raised his eyebrow confused. “What do you mean?” The butterfly looked at Bray, making sure he was still asleep. Then, the insect signed Discord to raise its ear. The young draconequus listened attentively to what the butterfly had to say. “The ponies found out that some Wind Warrior defeated Katrina?” Discord recapitulated. “And you think that´s father´s and Bray´s secret?” The butterfly nodded. “And who are they? Are they writing a book or something? Cause to be honest I don´t seem them doing that. But the fun thing about chaos it´s that it´s unpredictable, right? Father and Bray writing a book in secret. How chaotic!” he rubbed his paw and claw together while laughing mischievously. “And I´m sure we´ll soon find out…” Discord smirked when he noticed there were two cards left to finish the house. “Go hide so they don´t find you.” he said to the butterfly. The butterfly nodded and hid behind a book on the bookshelf. When Discord put the last two cards, Bray wrinkled his nose, feeling the need to sneeze. “A-a-a-AAACHOOO!” When the donkey sneezed the house of cards fell over Bray´s face. He shook his head when he noticed something above it. “What the?” he thought aloud when he found himself surrounded by cards and hanging in the ceiling. He yelled scared. He quickly understood who was responsible of this when he heard Discord laughing. “DISCORD!” “Rise and shine!” Discord teased him. “Put everything back to normal this instant!” “As you wish!” Discord snapped his fingers but instead of following Bray´s command, he filled the room with water. Realizing what he had done, he snapped his fingers again, and turned his room into the space. Bray looked estranged and shocked at his surroundings. Discord attempted one more time, but it ended up in failure once again. This time, his room was surrounded by trees, and in the centre, there was a pink table with dancing teapots playing a melody. Discord smiled excitedly but stopped when he noticed Bray frowning at him. “Think before you snap, think before you snap!” Bray scolded him. “And break it into small steps, how many times do I have to tell you?!” “Wait! Let me try again.” Discord put his fingers on his temples. He held his breath as he thought but sighed defeated. “I don´t know where to begin.” Bray grunted frustrated. “The table wouldn´t be a bad start. Just saying!” Discord rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers, turning the table into normal. “Good, now the chairs.” After Discord´s snap, the chairs turned back to how they were. “And lastly, get rid of the trees and the teapots.” Bray covered his ears. “Oh, the last ones are making my head hurt!” “But I like them!” Discord complained. “They add some good background sound.” “More like noise. Get rid of them!” “Fine…” Discord begrudgingly accepted. With the last snap, the room was back in its normal state. “Now, where were we?” Bray said while opening the book he laid his head on to sleep. “Nowhere. We didn´t even begin and you fell asleep already!” Bray winked, both surprised and estranged. “I did?” “Yeah! Even you know how boring it is to read that!” “I differ. History is very interesting! It´s just I´ve been 24 hours on call, serving your father in everything he needs. And apparently my body finds this time as the perfect chance to sleep. But I must fight that urge! And, that doesn´t mean you´re slacking off from work mister!” Discord snickered. “Yeah. On call.” “What do you mean with that?” Bray asked, both upset and confused. “Come on, I know your secret…” Discord teased him. “What secret?” “You know… the book thing!” Bray tried to repress his laugh at first, but the ended up releasing a cackle. “A book? Where did you get such stupid idea?” “Well, it´s just I…” Discord took a pause to think his response, since he didn´t want to get the butterfly in trouble. “… I´m seeing ponies whispering to each other about something.” “Just dumb gossip, nothing important…” “Oh, so Katrina and the Wind Warrior are slaves then.” Discord thought aloud. Bray perked his ears up and widened his eyes. “Wait what?” “Since I saw the ponies whispering to each other, I decided to lend an ear. So, I took a glass.” Discord snapped his fingers to summon a glass. “Put it on the window and listened to what they had to say!” Discord mimicked the actions he narrated. “And what did they say about them?” Bray asked anxiously. “That the Wind Warrior defeated Katrina. If they exist, then I suppose they are famous troublemakers who always get into a fight, and the one who always loses finally won.” Bray felt the adrenaline flowing through his body. This couldn´t be happening, he thought. It could be just a rumour. But if it was, how far did it get and how many ponies had heard it? Or worse, was Grogar aware of this? “You know what, I think I´m going to give a free day because I have something very important to do right now!” Bray rushed to the door. “You´re leaving now?” Discord asked disappointed. “But we are not over yet!” “Yes, we are!” Bray replied before closing the door in a blow. Discord winked, trying to process everything. “Huh. Maybe they were writing a book.” he thought aloud. “Please let it be a rumour, please let it be a rumour, please let it be a rumour!” Bray repeated to himself as he ran down the stairs. His heart would go off the roof when he found the last creature he wanted to see right then: Grogar himself. He braked to avoid crashing into him. “My emperor!” he bowed down. He laughed nervously. “Wha-wha-wha whatever are you doing here?” “I was taking a walk to refresh my mind. Plus, soon it´s my turn to see Discord. But I have q better question, why did you leave before time?” Grogar asked suspiciously. “Because something very important came up. And I don´t have time to explain because if I don´t act right now, it will get worse!” he ran off. “Bray, what´s going on? Bray!” Grogar called him but the donkey didn´t obey, causing him to ignite his horns in anger. But before blowing him off, the ram took time to think. If Bray´ was acting weird, it was surely due to emergency coming up. Bray was prone to get very nervous in these types of situations, although that allowed him to take action quickly. But how would he know something was going on if he was with Discord? That last thought led him to the key to the situation. He looked up the stairs and narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Did you see that?” Discord asked the butterfly after laughing. “He got so scared! Perhaps my next pranks should be like that.” “What pranks?” Grogar asked. Discord´s ears fell in fear. His body paralyzed, but he managed to turn his body to his father. “F-Father! I-I wasn´t sure you were going to come too soon.” Discord nervously greeted Grogar as he closed the door. “I´m never too busy not to get early for our weekly visit dear boy.” he smirked when he realized his bells were igniting. “Is there something troubling you?” he asked in sarcastic worry. “Hm… No.” “Oh, but there is. I know there is.” Grogar walked towards Discord, making him walk backwards. Discord knew he couldn´t hide anything from his father once his bells were growing. So, he confessed. “Ok, you´re right. I suppose Bray told you already.” “Tell me what?” “About the book…” Grogar raised his eyebrow. Although at first glance, it sounded stupid, he knew there was more to that. “Expand please.” he calmly but coldly ordered him. “It´s just that I found out that you were writing a book because I´ve heard some ponies talking about the ending.” “How did you hear them?” Grogar´s eyes shone in anger. “With a glass on the window?” he laughed nervously as he showed Grogar the glass. “Well, you´d better not do that again.” he took the glass from Discord. “Because if you do,” he broke the glass with his hoof, making Discord release a small whimper. He smirked in pleasure while feeding off his fear. “there will be consequences. But that´s not what´s important now. What I need to know is what you heard. What did those ponies say?” “That a wind warrior defeated Katrina…” Grogar´s smirk dropped in an instant. “What?” “That´s what I heard….” Grogar took some time to answer. He seemed to look at nowhere for some moments and his breath fastened. Discord started to get more anxious. Was his father…. Scared? Grogar usually had everything under control, so Discord didn´t know what this meant. “Father?” Grogar closed his eyes and frowned as he retrieved his composure, as he knew his next step of action. “Were mares saying those things?” “I suppose…” Discord lied. Only the butterfly knew that, but Discord thought that Grogar wanted to teach him something, so he answered what he thought his father wanted to hear. “Then let me tell you something, my son: never trust females. Of any species but especially mares. Mares might seem like they are inoffensive or sweet or innocent, but they´ll stab you in the back when you least expect it.” Grogar widened his eyes. “Don´t tell me you look at mares from the window.” “Sometimes I like watching ponies from the window, I can´t tell if they´re mares or stallions, they´re just so little to know!” “Don´t lie to me!” he grabbed Discord by his shoulders and shook him. “Do you get any feelings from watching those mares?!” “Feelings? What feelings? I don´t understand!” Discord replied scared. Judging from his confused reaction, Grogar saw that he wasn´t in that phase yet and sighed in relief. Discord was still too young for that, after all. Still, he decided to give him an early warning. “I have talked to you about sirens and witches before, have I?” Discord nodded. “What do you remember about them?” “Sirens had voices that hypnotized others into their bidding. And witches cast spells on others.” “Exactly. Well, females can be sirens or witches in a sense. They primarily use their beauty, but they can also use other charms such as personality or intelligence to get you into their spell or fool you. And be careful, my boy, because once you feel drawn to them,” Grogar took a small pause. “you fall into their trap!” he cornered Discord and smacked his hoof against the wall. “Because they´ll use you for their own purposes, which can include destroying you! And if you´re lucky enough to stay alive, they´ll dispose you once you´re of no more use to them.” “That, that doesn´t seem fun…” Discord said so Grogar could release him. “It totally isn´t. That´s why I was worried about you. Because I wouldn´t want such thing happening to you. Remember Discord, I am the only one capable of loving you.” Grogar caressed Discord´s cheek, although it didn´t give Discord reassurance. On the contrary, it made him very uncomfortable. “No other creature, especially mares, will ever be able to see through your appearance. They´ll probably think you look ugly or idiotic.” Discord looked down. “I think I´ve given you an important lesson today. I must leave now.” “Wait, you´re not going to explain wha-” “Explain what?!” Grogar asked threateningly. “Nothing…” Discord preferred not to ask after seeing his father´s reaction. “Good.” Grogar said before closing the door. Once he was out of Discord´s sight he angrily snorted and went downstairs as fast as he could. Meanwhile, Discord simply sat down, both feeling bad and confused about his father´s words. The butterly, who observed everything, frowned and got out of its hiding place and flew to Discord´s shoulder, tapping on it and then patting its leg on its chest. “Oh no, don´t worry I don´t care if you are a female.” he reassured the butterfly. “In fact, I already knew it because of your big wings and their patterns. I read it on a book about fauna, you know?” The butterfly swept off her sweat. “It´s weird because you never used me for any purposes, like Grogar says females do. Maybe he´s wrong and doesn´t know it. But one thing´s clear: he´s hiding something from me.” Discord and the butterfly stared with worry at the door. Meanwhile, at the canteen, the ponies felt uncomfortable by Bray´s intense stares with no blinking. Even if he was doing something else, he still had his eyes on the ponies. That was until Isis and Acher distracted his attention. “Bray, is everything ok?” Acher asked, blocking his vision from the ponies. “AH!” Bray exclaimed scared that he lost sight for a moment. “Get away!” he pushed him aside. Much a pony leveraged the moment to whisper something to another, making him cough. However, he took the pony whispering before she could finish. “Sorry sweetie, it´s just that we thought you were anxious about something, since you´re not blinking.” Isis apologized while she picked her husband up before he could fall to the ground. Since Isis also interposed in his area of vision, Bray couldn´t see the ponies again, but he knew that the secret had been passed, since he heard somepony spitting water. By two ponies´ reactions, Bray knew that they were talking about Katrina´s defeat, which meant that almost everypony already knew the news. Ok, the damage was done, but maybe he could find out who was responsible of, hopefully, such rumour. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Bray said to Isis as he walked towards the ponies. “Hey, hey, hey!” he greeted the ponies with a forced smile. “There is quite an atmosphere today, huh?” Bray leaned on the table. “Heeey….” a pony waved hello awkwardly at him. “There sure is….” another nodded with a nervous smile. “Yes, indeed.” Bray plaid fool by nodding with fake concern. “Is it possible that this has something to do with ponies whispering to each other secrets?” Acher and Isis slightly approached Bray to find out the roots of Bray´s concern. They looked at each other estranged. What could the ponies whisper to each other about? Soon, they would discover it. In another table, which was in the opposite direction of Bray´s area of vision, a pegasus stallion whispered something to a pegasus mare whose mouth was hanging quite open while staring at Isis and Acher. Another pegasus next to the mare looked estranged at her friend, but she would understand why she reacted like that when she was told the secret. Her reaction was less dramatic, but she demonstrated shock while throwing glances at the troggles along her friend. Now, it was Acher´s and Isis´ turn to get worried. “Oh dear… You don´t suppose they know about that?” Isis asked her husband after gasping and joining her palms together. Acher widened his eyes. “You think? Enki and Thalia aren´t the brightest, but I don´t think they could be that reckless, could they?” Bray couldn´t understand what the troggles were saying, but he heard their voices. He turned around and noticed their expressions of concern. He widened his eyes in realization. “Bingo!” the donkey quietly exclaimed. “Is everything going alright back there?” Drog asked to Oak and the cat while they were creeping through a narrow tunnel. “I sure am!” Oak replied. “You´re asking the master of sneaking through small spaces if she´s doing fine?” the cat raised an eyebrow playfully. “Although I will say, I´m a bit tired. I don´t mean to complain but I feel like we´ve been going in circles and circles.” “That´s kind of the point.” Oak gladly stated. “In this castle, you must make detours if you don´t want to get caught. As more prisoners tried to escape, Grogar set more and more deadly traps at the secret passages.” explained Drog. “But luckily, Grogar needed secret passages in case he needed to escape or if he wanted to do something secret, so he built more but in the form of a labyrinth.” Oak finished the explanation. “Wow… You really are risking your lives for me, guys. Considering you´re so few…” Drog clicked his tongue. “Well, Grogar kind of did a favour to our kind. He `helped´ us in our time of need. That´s why troggles appreciate him greatly. Although I consider he just wanted us to be dependent on him.” “But that doesn´t mean that no more troggles will join!” said Oak optimistically. “We hope to recruit more.” “There we are!” Drog exclaimed when he saw stairs. Carefully, they went down the stairs. Drog ordered Oak and the cat to wait, since he needed to check if any creature was around. He moved the rock blocking the passage and looked attentively at both sides. “It´s safe.” he signed them to pass through. “Safe from what?” The troggles and cat widened their eyes. Bray came out from the shadows, followed by Acher, Isis, Enki, Thalia, who were covering their eyes in shame; and lastly Yrsa, who clenched her fist against her mouth in fear. Noticing that Oak was behind the cat, Drog had an idea. He took out his spear and pointed it towards the cat. Oak quickly understood his intentions, so he imitated him the best as he could, since the spear was too heavy for a troggle his age. “Safe from treacherous cats!” Drog acted. “The diamond dogs brought her to us. She had a silly note saying Katrina was defeated but I think it´s just a deploy. Nonetheless, her feline friends must be searching for her, so I think the sooner we free her the better.” The cat subtly puffed. For a moment, she thought Drog had betrayed her. Both she and the troggles admired how smoothly he reacted. “A silly note? A silly note?!” Bray asked upset. “That note has triggered a rumour that has run through every slaves´ ear!” “Wait what?” Drog asked in shock. “That´s a great question I have, how did the slaves get that rumour?!” “Because Thalia and I accidentally slipped that information in front of a slave.” Enki confessed. Every creature stared at the two troggles in shock. “After retrieving the cat, Enki and I were called to duty. And while we guarding an empty, an empty corridor, we discussed the events, and out of nowhere, a pony materialized.” “Did she materialize or was she there already and you didn´t realize?” “She materialized!” “Did you at least try to stop her?” Bray asked them. Thalia and Enki hesitated to speak. “Did you try to stop her yes or not?” Bray insisted. “No.” Enki answered softly. “And why, if I may ask?” “We were too shocked to move.” All the other troggles massaged their foreheads, both mad at Thalia and Enki, but also terrified for their lives. “I actually don´t understand how that rumour spread.” Thalia smiled nervously. “Maybe it was because the words were rhythmic or they sounded funny…” “No, it wasn´t that, it was because the story´s super juicy.” Bray plainly stated. “The story´s juicy, yes…” Thalia admitted. “You really got yourselves in a very big mess for not taking her to the emperor in the first place.” Bray pointed at the cat. “However, we cannot know whether the diamond dogs´ declarations are true because if she´s been blackmailed, she might be saying what they told her to say in interrogation. So hopefully, we can confirm this was just a rumour.” “I wouldn´t call it just a rumour yet…” Grogar said behind their backs. After noticing his presence, Bray and the troggles made way for him and vowed towards him. The cat´s ears dropped in fear as Grogar got closer and closer to her. “Drop everything you have.” he ordered her. “I… I´m sorry my emperor but I´m not carrying anything.” the cat lied, hoping to sneak off a search. “If that´s the case, you wouldn´t mind me looking at your bag, right?” Grogar pulled out her bag so fast that the cat didn´t have time to react. He shook the bag downwards, dropping Katrina´s goblet in the process. Bray´s jaw dropped where as the troggles clenched their teeth. “Well, well. How did you manage to get this in your paws if it´s a well-known fact that it´s impossible to steal from Katrina?” Grogar raised an eyebrow. The cat panted in horror. She was so terrified that she couldn´t speak. The troggles held their breaths by covering their mouths. “You have four days to leave the empire. It´s a slow death sentence, considering most of your comrades have been wiped out thanks to your incompetence.” he walked towards her. “If by the fourth day word comes to me that you any of my territories, I´ll order for your arrest and torture you until your death.” he calmly threatened her. “Is that clear?” The cat felt relief inside. What he asked her was impossible to achieve, as the empire was enormous. But all she wanted was no harm to her comrades. “Yes sir.” “Escort her out of the castle slowly.” Grogar ordered Drog and Oak, seeing that they were nearest her. Drog and Oak raised their hands to their foreheads and pointed their spears at the cat´s back. Grogar turned to the rest of the troggles. “Get every troggle in the castle to the training place immediately.” The troggles nodded and left as fast as they could. Bray was about to leave with them but Grogar put his hoof on his way. “Not you Bray. We need to talk.” Grogar told him. Bray´s ears dropped. “I´m sorry I didn´t realize sooner but by the time-” he apologized before hoof. “It´s not about that. We both found out too late and that´s not our fault. However, there is something important that you have neglected.” “What is it?” “Discord, Bray. Discord! He´s growing more curious each day that passes and he´s starting to use his powers to get in touch with the exterior world. He´s the reason why we discovered all this scandal!” “Oh dear, you´re right…” Bray bit his hoof. “And before this happened, he started asking me about going outside. My emperor, I don´t know what we can do about this. There comes a time when you can´t hide anything from a wondering mind. You yourself did this in your younger days!” “THAT´S BECAUSE THEY DIDN´T DEAL WITH IT WHEN THEY SHOULD HAVE, JUST LIKE YOU RIGHT NOW!” Grogar yelled at Bray after stomping his hoof. “Discord will never be able to serve me as a serious threat to ponies. He´s just a creation of mine that failed, and the only reason I keep him around is to avoid him messing everything I created! Make sure he doesn´t undo any spells I´ll cast on his room. Until he becomes into a cold and serious beast, he mustn´t have any contact with the exterior! Understood?!” Bray looked down sadly. He never liked when the emperor yelled at him, especially at times he was expressing concern about him. However, showing hurt branded him as weak, so he simply held his head and frowned. “Yes, my emperor.” “Go join the troggles. I´ll be there soon.” “Do you need anything?” “No, just time alone.” Grogar turned his back on Bray. Bray nodded and left the ram alone but not before taking a glance of him with worry. Once he was completely alone, Grogar left out all the rage he had in by striking a wall with his magic, leaving a whole on it. He cursed both on Lucena and Gusty, but mostly the unicorn. Why? Why didn´t he suspect of her as more than just an incompetent spy? He already knew she wasn´t as innocent as she seemed, but he did not imagine her shadows would be that large. What´s worse, there was a warm and wise aura to her that drew others towards her. Even he found the contradiction between her emotions and intelligence very interesting, which might be one of the reasons why she fooled him. At least he was smart enough not to let her manipulate him, but he also knew others could be more vulnerable to her tricks. But perhaps the most frustrating thing of all was that in his heart there was the same feeling he drew his powers from others: fear. It was illogical, she was nowhere as powerful as him, but her personality was dangerous, very dangerous. Grogar noticed a breeze from the window moving his mane. He frowned at it and started walking towards the window. “I´m afraid when you´re out there Sharing your smile with others Because I can clearly see How you fool them all with your care And of your emotional heart For you making you rebellious And of your appearance Because it is so devious Of every time I see you thinking Planning carefully your next move Even of you staring at me Strongly desiring me to lose I think of your eyes of your eyes They´re like daggers on my chest I think of your eyes of your eyes They´re like daggers on my chest I think of your eyes of your eyes They´re like daggers on my chest I think of your eyes I think of your eyes I´m afraid when you´re out there Sharing your smile with others Because I can clearly see How you fool them all with your care I´m afraid when you´re out there Sharing your smile with others Because I can clearly see How you fool them all with your care So innocent that you threaten Your silence terrifies me Calculative like a siren I´m sure both of us can agree So I´ll watch all your steps Preparing every assault Because if I´m am not cunning My doom will be all of my fault I think of your eyes of your eyes They´re like daggers on my chest I think of your eyes of your eyes They´re like daggers on my chest I think of your eyes of your eyes They´re like daggers on my chest I think of your eyes I think of your eyes I´m afraid when you´re out there Sharing your smile with others Because I can clearly see How you fool them all with your care I´m afraid when you´re out there Sharing your smile with others Because I can clearly see How you fool them all with your care.” Realizing he was making the Bray and the troggles wait, Grogar decided to go back to his responsibilities. He gave the breeze entering a distrustful look as he left.