Chapter 10: The report
Gusty looked around the corridor while she walked, checking if Bray was in there. Or at least she tried to, as her face to face off with Grogar was still in her mind. She reprised every minute of it in her mind, trying to remember each of his expressions and words and figure out what they could mean. She also mentally repeated to herself the possible important information for Majesty she had heard in the reunion and the day before, as if she remembered well, today was the day Majesty´s messenger was coming to check on her. Though she had information, she was still nervous, specially after meeting Grogar in flesh.
“What if I leave out something? What if the information I give isn´t important enough? What if she sees how bad I am at this job and fires me?” she constantly thought.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a familiar voice.
“Gusty!”
She looked up and smiled when she saw Buttons.
“Buttons! How are you?”
The pink unicorn scoffed.
“How am I? How am I?! Why are you asking me that after you literally served food at the reunion room?!”
Gusty giggled briefly while blushing.
“I guess Fizzy told you.” she widened her eyes. “Please tell me she only told you that.” she said with a somewhat begging tone, hoping Fizzy didn´t tell Buttons her little incident before the meeting.
“Ma cherie, she told me everything.”
“Oh.”
“Speaking of that, why on earth would you escape from your working room?!” Buttons asked angry as she dramatically shook Gusty. “Do you want to end up with your back full of blood?! Don´t you ever do that again, you hear me? Never!”
Due to how hard Buttons shook her, Gusty´s eyes moved in circles.
“In my defence, I´m going to say I did it to look for you.” she said after she shook her head.
“For me? Why would you be looking for me?”
“Because I wanted to ask you if you knew anypony who worked very closely to Grogar so they could tell me important things and not mess up. Fizzy told me you would know, since you talk easily to other unicorns.”
Buttons gave a tiny gasp in realization.
“Oooh… That´s why! Well, it´s a little late for that, but I´ll explain anyway. I do know many unicorns working in the castle, not all of them, however. I´m mostly in good terms with everypony but don´t think I´m best friends with everypony I talk to! The only one deserving of that title is Fizzy but coming back to the topic….” she put her hoof under her chin as she thought. “Oof, now it doesn´t come to my mind… Ah! I do know Glory.”
“Glory?”
Buttons nodded.
“If I´m honest with you, I don´t really know her but she´s the only pony that comes to my mind. She´s a very mannered and sweet unicorn but she barely talks to anypony and is always by herself. When she came to the castle, I tried to befriend her, but she always said a few polite words and left. And I don´t think it´s shyness. She doesn´t get nervous around ponies, even though she doesn´t know them. That´s the odd thing about her. If she´s comfortable around many unicorns, why is she always by herself? Sometimes I even think she´s hiding something.”
“Well, some ponies prefer solitude. I myself prefer to be alone.”
“But is it because you enjoy it or because you´re shy? Those are two different things.”
“I do enjoy it. But I´m also a little shy.”
“Oh, you don´t need to tell me. The first time I saw you seemed so nervous. You were looking around and your legs were shaking!”
Gusty´s ears dropped. Whenever she felt nervous, she knew what her body would do but she always hoped that they weren´t easily noticeable. However, after hearing that, she realized that she might have given the impression that she is hiding something to both Grogar and Bray.
“Does it really show?” she asked worried.
Button´s smile dropped when she realized that she might have not chosen the most adequate words to the situation.
“Oh, but that´s ok. I´m not judging you for that.” Buttons put her hoof under her chin.
Gusty smiled briefly. But it quickly vanished. She was going to need to do a better job hiding her emotions if she wanted to survive in Grogar´s castle. But it also left her thinking, do ponies notice her emotions before she does? And if that´s true, do they notice her winds? She widened her eyes horrified of the possibility. If Grogar or Bray discovered her, she would be directly executed. The thought of leaving Celestia and Luna motherless was something she couldn´t bear.
Seeing Gusty´s face of worry, Buttons bit her lip.
“Honey, are you alright?”
Button´s voice made Gusty come back to reality.
“Huh? Uh, eh yeah.”
“Your face and voice doesn´t make it seem like that. Are you ashamed that your shyness is showing? If it´s that, it helps to talk to a friend.” she said as she put her foreleg around Gusty.
Gusty´s body tensed up when she felt Button´s touch. Although she liked Buttons, she still didn´t reach that level of intimacy. She looked away, which made Buttons realized she was uncomfortable.
“Oh! Sorry. I suppose you don´t like ponies being touchy with you.” Buttons quickly got her foreleg away from Gusty. “But tell me is what I´m saying true?”
Gusty looked down before answering. It wasn´t shyness what ashamed her. It was inability to control her magic what made her feel stupid. But she wasn´t willing to tell Buttons about that. What if she got scared of her or didn´t trust her for the mission? No, it was better to keep it as a secret. However, there was also a possibility that Buttons´ words would help her to control her emotions better if she said yes. So, she nodded.
“First of all, it´s ok to be nervous around new ponies. I even get nervous! But you know what the trick is? Just doing it! You just go there and do your best. It might seem scary but trust me, results will be better that way than wasting your time listening to your thoughts.”
Gusty analysed Button´s words. She looked back to some moments where she felt afraid but her winds didn´t come out. Maybe they came out when she listened those thoughts but there were moments, no matter how scary, that demanded immediate action to survive. That would explain why she was able to contain herself when meeting Bray and Grogar. But the question was what she would do in moments that didn´t require immediate action. Those were definitely going to be harder. But maybe with Button´s advice, she would manage to survive.
“That´s… actually really helpful.” she said in realization. “I´ll take that to heart. Thank you, Buttons.”
“De rien.” Buttons winked at Gusty.
“One more thing….” Gusty rubbed her thoughts together. “When you first saw me, did you notice something…” she paused to think her next words correctly. “Cold moving your mane?”
Buttons raised her eyebrows, estranged by that question.
“Uh… What do you mean?”
“You know, something like… wind?”
Buttons blinked.
“No offense, but that is quite an odd question.”
“I know, but it´s important you tell me.”
“Why?”
“Because…” Gusty bit her lip and whimpered since she didn´t find an excuse other than the truth.
“If it doesn´t make you comfortable, you don´t have to tell me.” Buttons reassured her, as she noticed Gusty´s nervousness. “I was just curious as to why you would want to know that. I´ll tell you though. If you look on the window, you´ll see that it´s cloudy, like always.” she muttered the last sentence. “But if you open the window,” she looked from side to side to make sure no guards nor Bray were around. “You´ll see that it´s not windy. At the dinner room, which is where we have breakfast, the windows were closed, so there´s no way any wind would have entered. And even if they were open, I wouldn´t have felt any wind.”
Gusty closed her eyes in relief. But she also knew she couldn´t sing victory yet. Maybe there wasn´t enough time for the winds to form. Who knew what would have happened if Fizzy hadn´t come to her. But at least it gave her a small moment of optimism that she would be able to face what was in store for her at the castle.
“Anyways, I´m glad to see that you´re ok after such a stressing moment. And I hope my advice will be of help to you. Now if you excuse me, I must resume my duties before a guard discovers me.”
“Me too. I should continue looking for Bray. Do you know where he could be?”
“Anywhere!” Buttons replied after puffing. Just after she said that she noticed Bray poking his head from a corner. He noticed her looking at him, so quickly hid his head behind the corner.
“Such as that corner.” she pointed behind Gusty.
Gusty turned around and widened her eyes when she noticed two big ears.
“Sir?”
Bray widened his eyes.
“Darn it.” he whispered. “Ladies!” he exclaimed unenthusiastically as he walked to them. “I see you two were having a conversation, in the middle of work.”
“Oh yeah. Sorry.” Buttons cleared her throat. “See you at lunch and dinner.” she said to Gusty before rushing out.
“I see you already met the emperor.” Bray said to Gusty as they walked. “Unless you sneaked off.” he somewhat accused her.
“No sir. If you don´t believe me ask the emperor.”
“Oh, I will.” he smirked maliciously. “And how was the experience?”
“Weird, intimidating and scary.”
Bray chuckled.
“You are the one who interacts with him the most. How don´t you feel afraid?”
Bray stopped walking. This was the first time a creature, especially a pony, had asked him that question. Neither he had stopped thinking about that. But he didn´t want to show Gusty his surprise at that question.
“You get used to it. It´s always scary at first but then it becomes part of your day and it´s like a walk in the park. Besides unlike others,” he threw Gusty a hint. “I´m his most loyal servant and as long as I obey him, something very easy, nothing bad will happen to me.”
Although his face and voice looked and sounded confident, those words were somewhat off for Gusty. He was strangely proud of words that a pony who is afraid of another pony would say. Perhaps there was more on this donkey that met the eye. She raised her eyebrow.
Once she made sure everypony was sleeping, especially Fizzy, since she´s the one sleeping in top of their bunk bed. Making the least noise possible, she took the blanket off and put her hooves on the floor. She was going to walk but she noticed a guard walking near by, so she laid on the bed again, pretending to be asleep. Once he was gone, Gusty sat down on her bed and bit her hoof. How was she going to meet the messenger if there were guards everywhere?
Then, she noticed the window at the end of the room. She stared at it for some time. Then, she looked back at the guards. She couldn´t walk to the window through the space between the two lines of beds. But after looking down the bunk beds, she came up with an idea.
After she got out of bed, she bent and started crawling under the bunk beds.
“Sorry.” she apologized in whispers whenever she heard somepony moaning in their sleep.
Once she got to the window, she realized it was closed. She sighed frustrated and with her magic opened the windows, although she had some trouble to unlock them. Then came, the most difficult and dangerous part: jumping off the window.
Before doing so, she gulped and frowned. She walked back a few steps back to take a run-up. After giving a few breaths, she ran to the window and jumped. She whimpered as she grabbed the window´s ledge. She closed her eyes while whimpering, thinking the ground was far from her. However, after noticing that her legs weren´t hanging, she opened one, only to realize she had her hooves on the ground.
“Huh.”
Once she put all of her hooves on the ground, she observed her surroundings. The window of the pony castle workers led to an inner courtyard. Surprisingly it was empty. Or almost empty. Gusty noticed a guard sleeping, his head backed on the door frame.
“Geeze, no wonder how Majesty´s unicorns survived here for so long.” she muttered.
“Psst!”
Gusty´s right ear twitched. She turned around to see a unicorn stallion waving his hoof.
“Right here!”
Gusty gasped.
“There you are!” she said while running to him.
“Tch! Tch!” he stopped her. “Soft steps. We´re not alone.”
Gusty looked at the sleeping guard.
“Oh. Right. Sorry.”
Walking on tiphooves, Gusty approached the messenger. She stared at him for some time.
“I know you. I think you were the unicorn Clover was talking to when I first met Majesty.”
“Indeed I am. Danny Hooves. And your name was Gusty, right?”
Gusty nodded her head.
“So, how is it going?”
Gusty puffed.
“It´s very rough. They´re making my life impossible, I´m constantly working and I´m stared at all the time.”
“That´s normal. After all, that´s the guard´s job.”
“By Bray. And Grogar.”
Danny widened his eyes.
“I´m sorry, what?”
Gusty´s insecurities about forgetting details came back again but she remembered Button´s words and acted on them.
“That donkey is always on my back. He´s always asking me questions or throwing me hints. As for Grogar… I met him face to face today.”
Danny gasped.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think Grogar is suspicious of you too?”
Grogar´s image came to Gusty´s mind. His smirk, his calm attitude, his confidence, his eyes… She thought of his stare, which felt like knifes on her chest. She also remembered what he said before she entered the room.
“Yes. And not only me, he´s suspicious of Majesty too. He thinks that she might be infiltrating ponies in the castle to spy on him. I overheard him talking to his allies. He said if necessary, he and his allies will kill every unicorn.”
“Well, Majesty supposed that Grogar could be suspicious. But Grogar has never had a conversation with any of the spies. And if he´s starting to do that, that means he´s surer than ever. Thanks for telling me this.” he wrote her words down. “Anything else you would like to add?”
“Well… I heard that there are also pegasi and earth ponies revolting. In fact, there´s a city of pegasi in the sky named Cloudsdale which I think it´s sort of a refuge.”
“Um… Why are you talking to me about pegasi and earth ponies?”
Gusty widened her eyes in surprise.
“That´s not important information?”
“Information surrounding unicorns like us or Majesty, yes. But why would you care about pegasi and earth ponies?”
“I thought that maybe we could talk to them? They are revolting too, after all.”
“I see your point, but that idea is crazy. We unicorns don´t interact with pegasi and earth ponies, what do you think that would happen if they saw us in their territory? They would laugh at our faces and expel us with stones. It´s better not to talk to them, you understand?”
“I married a pegasus and that has never happened in my life.” she thought, estranged as to why Danny thought that would happen. “Ok, I guess.”
“Anything else?”
“No.”
“Ok. Did you meet one of us?”
“Yes, two unicorns.”
“What did they tell you?”
“About important information?”
Danny nodded.
“Uh… nothing.”
“What do you mean with nothing?” Danny said upset.
“Well, maybe we didn´t have the time.”
“That´s odd, because everytime this happens, they meet at dinner-”
Gusty widened her eyes.
“Wait. They meet at dinner?”
“Yes.”
“First day´s dinner?”
“Yes.”
Gusty took a few seconds efore answering.
“Uh oh.”
“What is it?”
“I..” she giggled nervously. “I actually didn´t go to dinner the first day.”
“What?!”
“I… I was too tired.”
“Ok. First of all, who goes to bed without dinner? And secondly are you telling me you spoke to the wrong ponies?”
“Well, just because I didn´t come to dinner doesn´t mean I spoke to the wrong ponies. Besides, Majesty said they would come to me.”
“That´s true, but I´m pretty sure that on the same day you would have told each other information. And you didn´t. You have to be very careful about who you talk to. Who knows? Grogar could also have his own spies. You could be one of his spies, I could be one of his spies. Majesty doesn´t trust anypony. Why do you think she doesn´t tell names?”
Gusty´s ears dropped.
“Am I fired?”
“Did you tell them about Majesty.”
“No.”
“Then, that´s ok, it´s just a little mistake. Just try not to talk to them anymore.”
“What? But why?”
“It´s dangerous. Both for you and for them. Imagine if you got discovered, not only would you be punished but also them for interacting with them. Would you want to happen?”
Although it hurt, Danny was right. She wouldn´t forgive herself if anything happened to Fizzy and Buttons. She knew them for a short time, but they were very kind to her. They wouldn´t deserve to pay for her mistakes.
“No.” she looked down.
“Then you know what to do.”
“But how will I know who´s by my side?”
“Ponies who work for Majesty don´t interact much with others. Did you see any of those?”
Gusty widened her eyes in realization. She saw one and she also knew her name thanks to Buttons.
“Yes. Yes, I have.”
“Good. Try to see if you can talk to them. Until then, see you next Tuesday.”
He was going to leave, but he stopped.
“Oh! I almost forgot.” he took two bags. “Here´s what Majesty promised for you: coins and enough food to survive for one week, in case Grogar´s isn´t enough. Just remember, try to eat it when nopony is looking at you and hide it and the money well!”
Gusty took the bags. She smiled. Although it was few, she could survive with Grogar´s food. But she finally had the food she wanted for her daughters.
“Thank you.” she said as she hugged the bags.
“Until next Tuesday!”
“Until next Tuesday.” Gusty sadly said.
She watched as Danny left. She was left with bittersweet feelings. She was happy to have food for Celestia and Luna, but it hurt her not being able to talk to Fizzy or Buttons anymore. She would have loved to have had a friendship with them.
“It seems I can´t have both.” she lamented.
Repeating the same tactic as before, Gusty entered the room again. Before getting into bed, she looked at Fizzy. She closed her eyes and looked down.
“I´m sorry. I´d love to talk to you more but I can´t. It´s for your safety. Hope you understand.” she whispered, although Fizzy was asleep.
Then, Gusty entered her bed and sighed sadly while looking at the ceiling. It took some time for her to fall asleep, but she did eventually.
What she didn´t realize is that just like her, Fizzy was awake. She had noticed Gusty entering and had heard her words. She looked down at Gusty when she was asleep.
“What did you just say?” she asked confused.
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Good chapter!!! Keep going with this story!!!
Sad that Gusty has to never talk to Fizzy and Buttons again, even though it's for the best if nobody wants to get in trouble with Emperor Grogar.
At least it was kind of Majesty to give Gusty money and food.
Shouldn't the number of the chapter be: 10 because it has 9 which was the number of the previous chapter?
Yup. Our poor friend Gusty has it difficult thanks to Grogar but at least she manages to survive.
You´re right, fixed it.
11001180
Hey Dianabel! it's soo nice to speak to you again!!
I'm sorry I haven't talked to you. last week was the worst for me because I lost my phone while I was working in Food Service now I lost all my music, pictures, and videos of our trip to Myrtle Beach including pictures of my sister's children my family and my dog and the last picture I took of my Aunt Jackie before she passed away. It really took a toll on me everyone did everything they could to help me, but we couldn't find it, so I had to get a new phone and it took me a while to get back in Fimfiction until my brother helped.
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Oh nooo! That actually happened to me when I started college. I was going to my faculty and while walking it must have fell and when I returned home I didn´t have it anymore. We managed to get a new phone though.
Hope you find your photos, music and videos though. Maybe one of your family members have them in their phones?
11005015
I don't know I'm trying to get them back by putting in my original account email and password, but I forgot my password and I they can't seem to verify my old account from my old phone, but I'm not giving up! Kwanzaa said she might do something to help.
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Oh geeze. Well, I hope you´re lucky and Kwanzaa helps you
11005117
Yeah maybe we can only hope, but I'm glad to be back in Fimfiction
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Yeah, I missed you actually. Hope you caught up with my story
Did you watch the new mlp movie? I made a blog summing up my thoughts, if you´re curious
11006148
I missed you too and don't worry I'm still reading the story and no I didn't really see it yet
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. What are your thoughts?
I know you are
Oh, then don´t read it until you watch it because it´s full of spoilers
What you mean about the movie or the Gusty the Great story?
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My story.
11007331
I find it very interesting it's about time we knew who Gusty the Great and Grogar's origin of how the rebellion came to be.
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Thank you. There will be lots of lore, in this story, I´m telling you
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Can't wait!