//------------------------------// // Chapter 20: Rescue mission begins // Story: Gusty the Great book 2- The crusades // by Dianabel //------------------------------// Glory felt as if a thousand bees stung her in her forelegs, due to how deep the dog´s claws were tearing into her coat. Despite that pain, she didn´t complain. Pretending to be scared and asking for help was fine until the dogs´ annoyance quickly shifted into real anger, which if not careful, could bring her grave consequences. So, she needed to be silent. Although safer, silence also meant tension, since that would allow the dogs to hear her comrades. Speaking of them, were they able to find a way to execute the plan? Naturally, they wouldn´t take the same trail as the dogs, but she didn´t hear any hoofsteps from neither beneath nor bellow, so the answer could be a yes or no. There was no way she could verify. If there was something Glory hated more than anything was uncertainty. Becoming an orphan at a really young age forced her to face uncertainty and taking actions without too much thinking in order to survive, something that led her to places and experiences she wished not to have had known of. That was why she loved to gather every single detail of information from both the past and her enemies. A rotting smell made brought her back to the present. She stretched her nose and closed her eyes. “We´re here!” the golden retriever informed Glory, although she was too engrossed and disgusted by that smell to hear the information. “What´s that smell?” Glory muttered. “What smell?” the golden retriever asked confused. Glory quickly found out the source of that nasty smell when the dog spoke once more, since he approached his head to her face so she could hear him. She coughed in teary eyes. “Nothing… Must have imagined it.” she lied, not wanting to anger the dog. “She must be talking about the sweat of the slaves in the mine.” the bulldog deduced. “It is really smelly!” “Wait. Mines?” asked Glory. She widened her eyes and left her jaw hanging in shock when she looked at her surroundings. Hundreds of unicorns were scanning the area with their magic, pulling heavy carts non-stop and those who stopped for a moment were whipped at different tunnels and levels. Although this was her first time in this place, she instantly recognized it, as it matched Majesty´s description. What was in front of her eyes were the horrifying Mines of Trottingham, where the inhabitants of the city were used as workforce to obtain as many jewels as possible for the diamond dogs. “What do you think? Beautiful place, huh?” the dalmatian nudged her teasingly. “Indeed, beautiful place.” the papillon dog nodded in agreement. “Did you know the structure is an exact replica of Dimondia´s mines, which is the place where-” The poor excited dog couldn´t finish his sentence due to his teammate hitting the back of his head. Glory widened her eyes surprised, both due to leader tyrannical behaviour and how indifferent the other surrogates were to the mistreatment of one of their own. “Shut up, Argus! Don´t make her fall asleep with your nonsense, we need her working!” the golden retriever scolded him. “Not another word!” the bulldog exclaimed as he and his teammates raised their paws to their foreheads. In a matter of seconds, they removed the anti-magic ring from her horn and put a harness connected to a cart on her back and adjusted it to her body. The harness was so heavy for her that she almost fell to the ground. “Oof!” she exclaimed as she struggled to stretch her legs again. “What are you doing?!” the dalmatian yelled at her. “Start moving!” he kicked her back, making her drop again. Glory frowned upset, but at the same time she was grateful that she was the one to experience this. If it had been any other pony, they would have opened their mouth and possibly blown up the mission. She exhaled tired and slowly got up. “Ok, gentledogs. Where do I go?” she plainly asked. “You tell us. Wherever you find diamonds or crystals!” the bulldog replied. Glory looked at her horn with doubt. This was the part of the plan she feared the most: experimenting with her crystal magic. There were still so many mysteries to uncover to this new discovered talent of hers, especially the limitations, which could cause the mission to fail. Although her fear of diving into the unknown with no guidance was bigger, a tiny part of her was excited, since this was something that she always wanted to do. Plus, improvising could be the answer. She inhaled and exhaled deeply, closed her eyes and ignited her horn. Suddenly, she was able to spot many hidden crystals all around the mines. And that wasn´t it, she could also locate the crystals the diamond dogs were wearing on their clothes, including from the dogs who weren´t in the mines. Particularly, she glimpsed diamonds on a belt with keys belonging to a sleeping guard of the dungeons. Due to how much information she was receiving, Glory stopped igniting her horn, feeling her head going in circles in a thousand miles per hour. She grunted while massaging her temple and closing her eyes quite tightly. “So?” Argus asked inquisitively, tapping his fingers against each other in curiosity. Glory opened her eyes slowly. “There sure are lots of crystals…” she replied while looking up at two tunnels high above, getting a general idea of Majesty´s whereabouts. “Glad to hear that!” the bulldog clapped his paws together excitedly. “Where do we begin?” “I say near we came from. I felt the presence of the shiniest crystals right there.” “Then so be it. Move it you mule!” the golden retriever commanded, whipping Glory´s back. “Oh!” Glory let out a muffled scream before frowning. “Well, Bray would take offense at that word, not me.” she muttered to herself. “This way, lads.” she guided the dogs to their destination making the dogs giggle in an excited and malicious manner. In the meantime, the unicorns and earth ponies were catching up to Glory and the dogs, thanks to Posey´s tremendous speed at digging. But like every living being, she had her limits of energy and resistance, so it was no surprise that she progressively and considerably slowed down and that her tongue was out while panting at that moment. “Guys-” she took a deep breath. “I think-” she took another breath. “You´ll have to excuse me but- I need a moment.” she let herself drop. “No problem, you need it.” Fizzy offered her some water from her canteen. “Yes, take a break Posey.” Shady implored her. “Plus, we´re not that far away. They´re gentle but I can feel many vibrations, which I suppose come from all the slaves in the mines, and that´s great because I´m starting to feel trapped, although I´ll just focus on the beautiful crystals around.” she laughed nervously while a few drops of sweat ran through her forehead. Starswirl sighed both sadly and nervously. “Are you alright?” Gusty asked him, putting a comforting hoof on his shoulder. “Yes, don´t worry. It´s just… I had hoped I would never have to see that place again.” The unicorns widened their eyes, surprised they didn´t pick on the fact that Starswirl being from Trottingham meant he must have been a slave before being adopted by the monastery. Sadly, that was also expected. But not for the earth ponies. “Wait. You worked in the mines in Trottingham?” Knightshade asked shocked. “Of course. Crunch doesn´t discriminate between ages to choose slaves. Plus, how do you think my parents got sick?” “The more reason to put him down.” Gusty said to cheer him up while empathising with him. Starswirl chuckled and tapped her hoof to thank her. “Speaking of which, do you guys know how to defeat him?” Alonzo asked. “Because your magic can destroy stone, right?” Gusty, Fizzy and Buttons widened their eyes. “Oh my. We didn´t think about that detail, did we?” Buttons said to the unicorns with worry. “We didn´t; but that´s because firstly, we haven´t had much time to discuss that; and secondly, Majesty was supposed to explain this to you, but you know what happened.” responded Lancer. “Coming back to the question, the answer´s probably not. Not much is known about how Crunch came to be what he is now, but we believe that the stone that´s now his flesh and skin could have magical properties, which means that the stone could act as a magical barrier.” “It does.” Starswirl confirmed. “Back at the monastery, we studied countless cases of ponies using black magic to grant themselves powers or abilities they don’t have. To our knowledge, diamond dogs have no magic as such, leading us to the hypothesis of Crunch obtaining that ability through dark magic.” “Dark magic again, seriously?” Magic Star wondered aloud in frustration. “Did they all read the same manual on how to be a tyrant or what?” “Apparently, yes.” Starswirl said to Magic Star with the same level of frustration. “Following that premise, we decided to inspect all about Crunch´s stone magic; and we observed that indeed, the stone in all his body does act like a magical barrier. However, there is word of the spell not going according to plan and leaving one spot in his body vulnerable.” “Exactly, that´s what Majesty told us!” Lancer pointed out to Starswirl. “Really? Where is it?” Gusty asked full of hope. Both Starswirl and Lancer pressed their lips and shared disillusioned faces, suggesting Gusty and everypony else that they weren´t going to like the answer. “Unfortunately, Crunch has been able to hide this flaw really well from everypony and even from his followers. And those who discovered it haven´t lived to tell the tale.” Starswirl told everypony. “But there´s got to be somepony or dog that knows, right?” suggested Fizzy. “I mean, if there´s something I have learnt with this whole deal is that even the best kept secrets end up leaking, no matter how well you hide them.” Lancer scratched his chin in thought. “I can´t believe I´m saying this to you of all ponies, Fizzy; but those are very wise words.” “Why, thank you.” Fizzy smiled with honour at first, but her emotions shifted dramatically when she processed the first part of his sentence. “Wait. Did you just call me stupid?” Despite her questions, Lancer continued talking as if nothing had happened. “Tell you what.” he clapped his hooves. “Apart from dealing with the guards, you could also take time to interrogate them about this.” he insinuated to the earth ponies, since they were the ones assigned with this task. “You know, so we hopefully don´t have to figure it out while battling Crunch.” They all stared at each other and nodded in agreement. “We think that´s a good idea.” Magic Star informed him in everypony´s name. “Eh? Wasn´t I supposed to do that?” Fizzy asked confused. “No, Fizzy.” Lancer said a bit frustrated after sighing. “Just stick with us at all times and you´ll see what your job is.” “Ok, I can do that!” Fizzy confirmed excitedly. “Now that we´re revising what each of us has to do, did Glory say what the starting signal would be?” asked Knightshade. “Or better question, how is she going to do that?” “When she does, we´ll know it. She´ll let us know somehow.” Lancer replied confidently. “Hopefully.” he nervously muttered the last part, though he spoke loud enough for everypony else to hear. Suddenly, the earth ponies felt something in their hooves. “Hey! Somepony´s coming.” Alonzo notified everypony. “Who, Glory? Does that mean we take on the next step?” Gusty asked him. Alonzo shushed her, but he pointed at the ground and placed his ear above the ground, like every earth pony else. Apart from steps, they heard voices and a conversation. Although the sound was distorted, they were able to understand the words the mysterious comers were saying and even identify one of them by her voice. Not so far below, Glory guided the diamond dogs to a spot in which she detected diamonds previously. She saw a stick nearby and took it to mark the place the diamonds where in. However, she forgot the detail that dogs had quite the special affinity with sticks. So, as soon as she raised the stick; all the dogs, with the exception of the golden retriever, put their paws together, bent them, and wagged their tails in excitement, barking joyfully or sticking their tongue out. “Stop it, you idiots!” the golden retriever scolded them. “It´s just a stick…” the golden retriever´s pupils widened in interest, slowly falling into hypnosis. But he was stronger than his subordinates, so in a moment of realization, he shook his head to refocus and covered his eyes. “Put that thing down, mule!” he ordered Glory. “Aye. Just give me a second…” Glory sticked her tongue out while drawing an x on the ground with the stick. Once she was finished, she hid it behind her back. “Ok, you may now, lads.” To make the other dogs come back to reality, the golden retriever swept his paw across their cheeks, making Glory widen her eyes. Though his other paw was still on his eyes, he didn´t miss any cheek, which made Glory doubt whether this fact was more surprising than his decision to slap his comrades. “You heard her! Let´s dig!” he ordered them. “Yes sir!” the dogs obeyed. The golden retriever stood next to Glory, watching how they were digging. Noting he was distracted, Glory leveraged that to carry on with her part of the plan. She puffed softly and closed her eyes to scan the area. Like before, she saw too many crystals in too many places, but after putting her mind into it, she managed to reduce the vision to just their surroundings. She noticed some beneath her, most specifically, in front of the tunnel her comrades built. Then, she focused on them to make them glim. Though very weakly and slowly, the crystals in the tunnel the rest of the ponies were in began flickering which caught Posey´s eye. “Look!” she pointed at them. When they noticed the flickering crystals, Buttons and Fizzy started cheering for Glory. “Woohoo, it worked!” Fizzy exclaimed enthusiastically. “She did it!” stated Buttons just as excited. While the unicorns were happy, the earth ponies were in shock. “Indeed, she did.” was all Magic Star could articulate. “Seriously, who gave them this much advantage?” she asked while looking at a hypothetical receptor. Gusty, Starswirl and Lancer sighed in relief. “Attagirl.” he muttered proudly. “Alright, go, go, go!” he told everypony. Thus, everypony got on the move. Back below, Glory sweated to keep the crystals flickering, both due to the enormous mental effort and the anxiety of getting caught. She stopped once she heard the golden retriever´s voice. “Boy, you were right! There sure was a gold mine here! Or should I say diamond mine!” he and his colleagues laughed at his pun. “What´s the next stop?” “Hm…” Glory looked back in thought, tapping her chin. Lancer dug a tiny hole high on the wall to get a good vision of the mines, though the sight of exploited and suffering unicorns was far from good. Noticing his expression of anguish, Gusty decided to join him. “Excuse me guys…” she said while creeping on them. “It´s just one second.” Despite her feeling the weight of her hooves like a bag of a thousand potatoes, neither Buttons, Fizzy nor Starswirl said a word. Lancer did, however. “Hey!” he grumbled when Gusty stepped on his nose. “What are you doing?” “Lending you a hoof, mister.” Gusty clenched her teeth due to the effort she was making to get to the hole, not caring if she had to restrain Lancer´s head against the ground. Once she had reached it, she focused on just scanning the ground, spotting Glory igniting her horn in the process. “There she is!” “So?” the golden retriever asked Glory, down below the five unicorns. “Well, I remember noticing some really shining crystals up there.” Glory pointed with her hoof at a tunnel high above. Gusty observed that gesture thoroughly. “At the tunnel?” the bulldog asked confused. “Aye. But let me check again just in case.” After igniting her horn, some crystals in the carts that multiple unicorns were pushing gave out a small sparkle that reflected on Gusty´s eyes. She gasped in realization. “The tunnel! We have to go through the tunnel!” she informed every unicorn. “Wait, not yet!” Lancer struggled to speak, since Gusty was pressing his head against the ground very hard. Despite his speech not being very clear, Gusty could hear him. “What?” More aggressively than he intended, Lancer pushed Gusty backwards to get her hoof off his head, making each unicorn fall on the next one, like a domino. “I said not yet!” he repeated. He bit his lip when he realized what he had caused. “Oops… Sorry.” he apologized embarrassed. The unicorns grunted in pain. “None taken.” Fizzy rose up her hoof. “Ah, this is because we are in such a tiny space.” Buttons complained. “We will leave soon, but we have a problem.” Lancer announced them. “Which is…” Gusty started speaking. “Sarama, the foredog.” said Lancer while looking down at the dog. Sarama paced around the mines, making sure and hoping there were no new slaves. Although Crunch authorized the slave raptors to keep capturing ponies, Sarama thought it would be best to do otherwise. She would have ordered them to stop sooner, but there were other duties she needed to attend first. Plus, some of the slave raptors were not present at Crunch´s communiqué, which meant they could have inadvertently brought rebels. Remembering every slave´s name and aspect was practically impossible, but Sarama could identify each of them by their smell. Having spent almost every day in the mines allowed her to register and recognize every new and old smell. At first, there were only familiar smells, but then she noticed a different one. “Oh no.” she mumbled worried. She turned to the direction of the smell and followed its trail with her eyes, leading her to Glory and the four slave raptors. She narrowed her eyes full of suspicion. “Aye. They´re there.” Glory reaffirmed herself after `checking´ if there were crystals in the tunnels. “Underground more specifically.” “Then move, you beast burden!” the golden retriever hit her back once more. Getting tired of the name calling and her back being beaten, Glory rolled her eyes. “None of you are moving until I say so.” a voice behind her said, causing Glory to perk her ears up. She turned her head back and saw a black bakharwal dog with brown spots in her eyebrows, muzzle and legs. Glory gulped subtly. This was the first time she saw this big dog, but she had a pretty good idea of who she was. Long before meeting Gusty, when she was Majesty´s army´s nurse, there were times they bumped with escaped unicorns from many places, including Trottingham. Those who came from there narrated the only reason they were able to escape was because Crunch´s foredog, Sarama, wasn´t around. They described her as a very serious, intuitive, and cunning dog. Her intellect, along her powerful sense of smell, allowed her to figure anything out in seconds. Some even said she could smell lies. Glory tried not to show too much fear, otherwise Sarama would suspect of her. She simply dropped her ears and shrunk. To her surprise, the dogs seemed to be more intimated than she was. “Eey, Sarama…” the golden retriever waved his paw as a greeting. “Did we do something wrong?” “That depends. Were you on Crunch´s communiqué?” “Wait, there was a communiqué?” Argus asked nervously and confused. “What happened?” Sarama knew the little dog was the most reliable one, which meant they weren´t around when the news spread. However, she also knew it wasn´t wise to explain everything in front of the slaves, especially those recently captured, such as the white unicorn she had in front of her. “I´ll inform you later. But all I can say is that our great king Crunch has given you from today on a vacation from capturing slaves.” The four dogs widened their eyes excited. “Really?!” they asked in unison. “But.” Sarama raised her index. “This doesn´t mean you are free from supervising the slaves in the mines.” “Ooh….” the dogs´ thrill extinguished as fast as a candle after being blown out. “Well, at least we don´t have to do the hardest part of the job.” the bulldog crossed his arms. Meanwhile, in her mind, Glory had more and more clear that destiny was definitely by their side. Had they bumped with the four dogs later, they would have been captured or killed. And reviewing the events from the day they left with Majesty, things could have easily ended awfully for them, yet they didn´t. Whether it was Lucena´s spirit protecting them or just a domino effect of Grogar´s actions, there had to be a major force on their favour. Sarama´s gaze upon her forced Glory to get out of her mind. “Well, well. You must be the new one.” she said to her while examining her. “What´s your name?” “Glory, ma´am.” “Well, Glory. Let me tell you something: you´d better not have any secrets plan to escape because I´ll be watching you very closely, and if I catch you doing something out of pocket, I´ll make sure you don´t get to see the light of day! Understand?” Though aware that Sarama was threatening her, Glory wasn´t focused on her speech. Instead, what had her attention was what was happening in the background. At one of the lower entrances to the mines, Shady fell from the ceiling due to a cave in and landed on a guard. Surprisingly, the sound of the metal armour hitting the floor didn´t seem to mind Sarama probably due to how common loud noises were in the mines, but Glory not paying attention did. “Hello, are you listening to me?!” she waved her paw in front of her. “Mhm.” Glory smiled briefly and nodded. She repeatedly rubbed her nose and her foreleg to indicate Shady to rub dust on herself so Sarama wouldn´t catch her smell. Shady narrowed her eyes confused at first but she quickly understood the message. She took a hoofful of dust and threw it to herself. Since the dust entered in her eyes, nose and mouth; Shady closed her eyes and covered her mouth to cough. “Perfect.” Sarama examined the crystals she had on her waggon in the meantime. “I see you found good quality crystals.” “Mhm.” Glory pressed her lips while noticing that the dog Shady fell on didn´t move after she touched him with the tip of her hoof. “Yes, her unicorn magic allows her to find the best ones.” Argus enthusiastically informed Sarama while behind them the earth ponies leveraged the hole Shady had made to look at her. Panicked, Shady covered her mouth and stared at them. Magic Star moved her forelegs forward and aback. “Mhm.” Glory nodded her head repeatedly, agreeing with both Argus and Magic Star. Shady started pushing the dog but since he was twice her size, her attempt was in vain. In order to make her stop, Magic Star threw a pebble at her forehead. Every earth pony widened their eyes. After massaging her forehead, she frowned at Magic Star and pointed at her forehead repeatedly. In response, Magic Star pointed at herself and her comrades and then at the guard. “I see…” Sarama raised her eyebrow in intrigue. “You have potential.” she said to Glory, who was watching how the earth ponies used the rope to get down and help Shady after spreading dust on themselves. “Crunch will certainly be happy with you. Well, he never bothers to get to know his slaves, but perhaps with you he can make an exception.” As she spoke, the earth ponies struggled to move the guard towards the wall. “Hm….” Glory faked intrigue. “Still, that doesn´t mean I´m going to go easy on you. None of your kind has ever gained my respect and I doubt you ever will.” “Mhm.” “Are you teasing me? I feel like you´re just nodding along as if I was stupid.” “Huh? No, it´s just that I´m quiet.” Glory answered while observing the earth ponies. Finally, they had managed to put the guard against the wall. They laid his paws on his chest and lowered his helmet, as if he was taking a nap. Between pants and with a tired smile, they made the ok gesture with their tails. Then, they dug another hole to go underground. “Perfect. Then let´s waste no more time. Where were you planning to move?” “To that tunnel, ma´am.” “Good, but you´ll search for more crystal gems along the way. Let´s go!” Sarama made a sign to everyone. Before catching up with them, Glory took a moment to puff and grab her chest in relief once Sarama´s and the other dogs´ backs were facing her. While they were leaving, the earth ponies made their way underground to a small crack on the floor, which would allow them to watch Glory. “Next time, watch very closely where you´re stepping!” Magic Star scolded Shady. “You almost gave me a heart attack.” “Same.” Knightshade nodded in agreement. “But my heart almost stopped when I was carrying that dog. It was so heavy!” “I´m sorry, everypony, but it wasn´t my fault.” Shady said in her defence. “How was I supposed to know where to put each hoof so I wouldn´t fall, huh? Besides, I´m the one who fell in the dog, how do you think that made me feel?! Do you think landing on an armour is like landing on a pillow!” Seeing Shady was getting too tense, Alonzo intervened to avoid another incident. “Okay, okay, everypony, she´s right, it was an accident.” he put his hooves on the air. “It could have happened to any of us.” “Thank you!” “Now, forget about what just happened and focus on right now, ok? It´s over, you´re on firm soil and safe.” Alonzo instructed her as he helped her to breathe slowly. “Yes…” Shady inhaled. “You´re right.” she said while exhaling. Magic Star´s and Knightshade´s expressions of anger turned into ones of remorse. “Of course you didn´t do anything wrong, Shady.” Magic Star apologized. “But you´ve been so brave these last few days to the point of risking your own life! I´m afraid something might happen to you.” “Well, the only heroic act I´ve done was injuring myself to attract a dark spirit, and to be honest, I drank some cider before that. And I´m still afraid of many things. Such as being in this tiny almost lightless space…” “But being brave is about doing things despite being afraid.” Knightshade told her. “Do you think I go into battle without any fear? Absolutely not! And before you tell me that tiny dark spaces is something only cowards fear, let me tell you, I am terrified of mice! Yes, those things much smaller than me make me scream like a little filly!” “It´s true. I´ve seen it.” Alonzo confirmed. “I also feel like I´ll run out of breath in here, Shady.” said Posey. Although she had stayed quiet during the whole conversation due to looking through the crack, she listened to every word. “But we won´t be here forever. We just have to wait for the perfect moment.” A few yards ahead the mines, at Trottingham´s castle, a guard went down a dark staircase underground, carrying a tray of food. Once the guard was passing the corridor, the prisoners started begging him for food, water, or just mercy to breathe fresh air or see the sunlight. Coldy, he ignored their painful pleas. It was a scene he had witnessed many times, so he was desensitized to the environment of despair and illness in the dungeons. He stopped at a specific door, crossed his mace through the rails and opened a door for trays. “Wakey, wakey! Breakfast is ready!” he yelled while kicking the tray inside the dungeon. Before he could close the door for trays, the tray was kicked back to the guard. “Oooh… Not of your taste?” he faked concern for one of the prisoners behind the door. “Don´t worry, I´ll change it for some scones and morning tea, is that better?” he laughed meaningly. However, his laughter would soon be interrupted when he felt his pants soaked and cold. He looked down and realized that the same prisoner, or one of her cellmates, had used their water to throw it at him. He frowned upset since it was a cold day and he didn´t have enough time to change up. “Still playing dignified and unbreakable huh? Well, let me inform you that Crunch has been called by Grogar to court, so I imagine he´ll take the chance to tell him about your unfortunate, or fortunate for our leader´s case, capture. Soon enough, or maybe even today, you will be taken from this cell and return to Tambelon to trial and well… you know the rest. Pity, I´ll miss humiliating you. Your Majesty.” he mockingly bowed before leaving. Although the slot for the bars was too tall for the ponies to reach, they could see the devilish eyes of the guard. Nonetheless, Majesty maintained her composure, as she has ever since she and her soldiers were captured, despite the humiliation, confinement, and torture. Her mane was messy, loose and completely uncovered, contrary to the slightly mane-revealing veil she wore along her crown. And like her companions, she didn´t have her armour anymore, but some linen white rags, a dress in her case, and a shirt for her companions. Despite so, she had a royal and challenging expression in her face. The soldiers tried to take example form their leader, but the news the dog had just delivered concerned them deeply, which Majesty noted from their shared glances. “Worry not, it could be a lie to intimidate us.” she told them. “I´m not so sure, my queen. Doesn´t sound like a threat this time to me, but more like a statement.” a soldier respectfully disagreed. “Even if we were taken to Tambelon, we still have a chance to escape. More than here, I would dare to say, if the cards are played right.” “But how?” another soldier asked desperate. “We have no weapons, our magic is restricted, and all of us have at least one limb broken.” “Or our horns…” lamented a younger soldier, with lifeless eyes due to his situation. Majesty looked down, feeling pain that somepony so young had to endure that. He was right, there was nothing they could do. However, that didn´t mean it was the end. There was still hope in something else. “Our fates may not be on our hooves, but perhaps Glory reached Lancer, the Wind Warrior and other soldiers in time, before they could get captured.” As much as they wanted to believe it, they also thought it was better to accept what was about to come. They shook their heads while sighing in lament. “Sorry my queen, but that sounds too good to be true.” said the eldest soldier. “This whole mission sounded too good to be true in the first place! And yet you accepted!” Majesty replicated. “And secondly, we haven´t heard of them being captured or killed. Maybe they´re coming to rescue us.” “That´s certainly possible, but if that was the case, they would be here already. It doesn´t take that long to get to Trottingham!” a freckled soldier refuted. “You don´t think they´re dead, do you?” the soldier nearest to him asked terrified. “Could be…” Both soldiers gulped. “Hopefully that´s not the case.” Majesty said to calm them, but also to reassure herself. “Bear in mind they´re in a smaller group now, with monsters roaming around free, and two tyrants after her. Let´s not forget Trottingham is near Katrina´s territories.” “So that means it would take a miracle for them to arrive soon if they are alive? Yeah, we´re the ones who need a miracle.” Suddenly, they heard the gates to the dungeons opening. The ones who could, crept in front of the queen to protect her, the others hugged each other in fear. Luckily for them, the guards weren´t coming for them. Instead, they were bringing somepony. Or better said, a cat. A tuxedo female cat, to be precise. The poor cat tried to scratch the two guards, who were cruelly terrorizing her with her barks and laughing at her expense. They were two twin Dobermans, one with a red collar and the other with a blue one. “I think we´re gonna have fun with this one, bud!” the guard with the red collar said to the other. “Yeah, look at how easily scared she gets!” the other guard agreed. “Boo!” he said to the cat. “GAH!” the poor cat´s fur and tail stood on end. She frowned when the two guards shared laughs. “Let me go, you- you mutts!” “Careful with the names, kitty!” the red collar guard said while the other was opening the door to a dungeon. “Right now, you are our prisoner and possibly future slave, so I´d advise to keep your mouth shut!” he said before thrusting the cat into the dungeon. She tried to prevent the door getting close, but she was unmatched against the strength of two big dogs pushing the door against her direction. They laughed as they locked the door. “Oh, how I waited the day of Katrina´s fall so we could torture the cats.” the blue-collar guard said. Majesty and her soldiers widened their eyes. This could be related to the miracle they were hoping for. They listened intrigued. “I wouldn´t laugh if I were you. If Katrina can fall, then so can Crunch.” she wisely advised as she grabbed the bars. “The Wind Warrior and her crew are not to be messed with; I warn you.” Those words left the unicorns´ jaws hanging wide open. Gusty, Lancer, Glory, Buttons and Fizzy defeated Katrina on their own? How? Meanwhile, the dogs and the cat continued with their conversation. “It might be, but that´s because cats are weak. Dogs, on the other paw, are superior.” the red collar guard put a claw under her chin. “Yeah, they´re totally getting defeated.” the cat said to an invisible listener. “Who are you talking to?!” the blue-collar dog asked the cat paranoid. “No one!” the cat smiled nervously. “Leave her alone.” the red collar dog put a paw on his friend´s shoulder. “She knows she´s going to be alone for so much time, so she´s getting it into her head.” the two dogs shared laughs. “Have fun, kitty under the rain.” The dogs chuckled as they left the dungeons. After hearing the gates to the dungeons closing, the unicorns talked to each other to process the news better. “Did you all hear what I heard?” the freckled soldier asked everypony. “Yes, yes.” the youngest soldier responded, confirming that what they had witnessed was not a hallucination. While naturally shocked like everypony else, Majesty´s predominant emotion was relief. For the first time in days, she felt like she could breathe again. If they organize themselves correctly and are careful enough not to make mistakes, something they proved with the news of Katrina´s defeat, they´ll be able to get to Trottigham´s castle in time and free them. She knew Lancer would manage, but the rest of unicorns´ capacity surprised her pleasantly, especially Gusty´s. Although less than before, Gusty was still defiant to her orders and blinded by her emotions, which in war, those ingredients created the recipe for disaster. But perhaps during this time, she finally learnt to work in a team. Noticing she was getting too deep in her head, she cut her train of thought to return to the conversation. “But how on earth did they manage to do that?” the eldest pony wondered aloud. “They were only five unicorns! No matter how strong their magic is nor the fact that Katrina´s subjects are magicless, they´re still outnumbered!” “How they achieved that is not important.” Majesty raised her hoof. “What matters now is that they´re most likely coming to our rescue.” “Then they´d better come soon. Time is running out.” a soldier stated. “Uh… Why is your time running out?” a voice asked curiously. The ponies arched their eyebrows confused at first, but they quickly realized they had heard this voice before. Seconds ago, in fact. “Tell me that´s not the cat, please.” Majesty began massaging her forehead. “Hello, can you hear me?” the cat insisted on an answer. Majesty didn´t get a verbal response, but as the saying goes, sometimes silence speaks more than a thousand words. And their faces as well. Majesty sighed frustrated and looked up at the small sunlight that the window allowed to enter. “Come on, warriors. You can do it.” she encouraged them.