• Published 17th Jul 2021
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Gusty the Great book 1- The beginning - Dianabel



You might know Gusty the Great due to the fairytale, but there´s so much more to her than the book tells you. This is the origin story of the insecure mare that ended up freeing all ponies from Equestria´s greatest villain.

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Chapter 13: Family isn´t easy

Tia! Tia!” Luna exclaimed as she jumped to her bed and shook her.

Celestia groaned.

Luluuu. It´s the middle of the night!” she said upset as she massaged her eyes. “What do you want?”

“It´s mama! She´s come to visit!”

Celestia incorporated quickly.

What?!

Look!” Luna pointed at the window.

The two fillies crawled to the window. At first, Celestia found difficult seeing anything that wasn´t the sky. However, she spotted a soft yellow light. When it was closer, she discovered where that light came from. It was Gusty! Celestia´s eyes illuminated as she gasped excitedly.

MAMA!” she yelled on top of her lungs.

Luna put her hoof on her mouth and shushed her.

Quiet! You don´t want to wake the old hag up, do you?

Celestia shook her head. Slowly, and making the least noise possible, they managed to get out of the house without awaking Ms Prickly Crops.

Once they were outside, the fillies ran to their mother while calling her.

Mama!

Gusty widened her eyes when she heard them.

Tia! Lulu!” she ran to them.

Mama!” the two fillies exclaimed in unison as they hugged their mother.

Gusty hugged them as well, kissing the top of their heads.

Oh!” Luna exclaimed. She joined her hooves together. “Tashi delek.

Tashi Delek!” Celestia repeated and joined her hooves.

Gusty giggled.

Tashi Delek.

They hugged her tightly.

We missed you so much!” Celestia said as she and Luna pressed their heads against Gusty´s body.

Me too baby. Oh, I´m so happy to see you two. Is everything alright?

Celestia nodded her head.

Ms Prickly Crops is grumpy, like always and we had twice as work, but so far, we´re good!” Celestia nodded her head energetically. “But now we´re better, since you´re here by our side!” Celestia hugged her tightly. “We missed you so much.

But she did say something very mean.” Luna´s cheerful tone came into a fearful one.

What did she tell you?” Gusty asked somewhat worried.

She said that she would sell us into slavery.

Gusty blinked. Then, she sighed and put her hoof on her forehead.

Ok, that´s because she didn´t tell you the whole story.” Celestia intervened. “The thing is that we had been working for a very long time, which exhausted Luna and since we still had a lot of work ahead, I decided to make it look like we were playing a game and Lulu got a little carried away and she accidentally broke a container. That´s when Ms Prickly Crops came in and said `Why you little brats!” Celestia put her hooves on her hips, mocking Ms Prickly Crops´ voice. “`One day, I´m selling you as slaves so I don´t have to deal with you anymore! ´ And Luna took it seriously. I repeatedly told her that she said it because she´s angry but she doesn´t believe me.

This mare.” Gusty massaged her forehead. “She doesn´t know what tact is, does she?

It´s my fault if she does that.” Luna said sadly.

No, you silly. It´s not!” Celestia said somewhat angry. “I told you a thousand times she´s not doing that! Otherwise, mama won´t give her money anymore.

Gusty laughed.

Believe your sister.” she reassured Luna. “Ms Prickly Crops won´t be sending you anywhere. If she still wants to keep me, she knows she has to take care of you and she can´t afford doing you that. Besides, I wouldn´t let that happen.

But you won´t be here to avoid that.”

Seeing her mother quiet, Celestia worried.

You ok mom?

Gusty shook her head.

Oh! Yes I am, Tia. Don´t worry about that, Luna. She won´t sell you as slaves. She might not be the sweetest mare but at least she cares about you at some level.

See? That´s exactly what I told you.” Celestia told Luna.

If you say so.” Luna smiled at Gusty.

Oh come here you two.” Gusty hugged them.

Celestia and Luna giggled.

Oh! I almost forgot. Look what I bring….” she took two small bags from her bag. “Tadaaaa!

Celestia and Luna looked at each other confused and then gazed at their mother.

Go on! Open them!

Celestia and Luna picked the bags and did as told. They gasped.

Did he really give you this?” Luna asked her.

Gusty nodded.

Well, for being a mean emperor, he sure does pay well.” Celestia commented.

And gives good food.” Luna added.

If you do as he says, he pays well.” Gusty giggled nervously.

Talking about him, did you meet him?

Gusty blinked.

Yes.

The two fillies gasped.

What was it like?

Very scary. But I know that as long as obey him, he won´t do anything to me. Or to you.” she stroked their manes.

And even if he did, we´ll teach him a lesson!” Celestia said confidently.

Gusty smiled sadly.

Listen, I´d love to talk more but I have to go back.

Celestia´s and Luna´s smiles dropped.

Oh… Right.” Celestia said disappointed.

But I´ll see you next Wednesday.

We´ll sure look forward to it.

You know what? Tonight, of all the unicorns, I´ll have the happiest dream. You know what it will be about?

The fillies shook their heads.

Our reunion.

The fillies´ hearts filled with warmth.

Mama…” Celestia said before hugging her mom.

That was the moment Celestia woke up every night since they last saw their mother. Despite it was her favourite dream, why did the dream have to end there? Why couldn´t the ending be her mother staying with them? Then, she realized something.

“Maybe maybe I can´t have that ending but I can change it somehow.” she said while getting up.


Though it was late at night, Luna wasn´t sleeping. Instead, she watched how the crescent moon and the stars shone. Many ponies associated the night with nothing good, a time of darkness where anything could happen to you, from thieves to being attacked. Luna, however, didn´t see it that way. Yes, it was full of mystery, but that´s what made it great in her eyes. Just because what was around in the night was unknown, it didn´t mean it had to be bad. For her it was a time of calmness, a time to reflect on her thoughts, something she didn´t have time for during the day. Plus, it brought her good memories.

Dad, which constellation was that?” a voice sounded in her mind.

Luna closed her eyes. She envisioned a very young dark blue filly with a dark blue pegasus stallion watching the stars in a field.

“That one,” the pegasus pointed with his wing. “is the Ursa Minor.”

“And that one?”

“Ursa Mayor. Did you know that those are the names of two gigantic bears made of stars?”

Luna gasped in awe.

“Really? Where can I find them?”

“In caves sweetie. But don´t go to one! They don´t like being disturbed. It would be really disrespectful if you did that.”

“Oh.” Luna said somewhat disappointed.

“But who knows? Maybe you see one someday.” the pegasus nudged Luna.

“I hope so.” she laughed. “What about those stars?”

The pegasus chuckled.

“Phoenix.”

“Phoenix? Wait! Isn´t that the name of the bird mom and Tia like?”

The pegasus nodded.

“It is indeed. Knowing that allowed me to make her the greatest gift. As you know, we were very poor and none of us had much to offer. But, one day, I saw a phoenix bird in the sky. The first word that came to my mind when I saw it was the exact same word your mother used to describe it: gorgeous. While admiring its beauty, I saw a feather fall.”

“And that´s when you did the phoenix feather necklace!”

“Yes.” the pegasus laughed.

“Will you do one to Tia?”

“If I´m as lucky, I will. Would you help me?”

“On one condition. If we do it at night.”

The pegasus laughed.

“They didn´t call me Night Eye just because of this.” he said with a mischievous smile as he pointed the black birthmark around his eye. “Don´t tell your mom, though.”

Father and daughter laughed.

“Well… The night is too beautiful to spend it sleeping.”

“I know. Unfortunately, you´re still a filly so….” Night Eye clapped his hooves. “it´s time to go to bed.”

“Now?”

“Now.”

“But I still have so many questions!”

Night Eye shrugged.

“I´m sorry but if we´re more time awake, your mom will discover that I´m the one behind your sleepiness in the morning.”

“Just answer me one more. Pleeease?”

Night Eye rolled his eyes playfully.

“Fine. But then you´ll go to bed. And don´t spend time watching the stars once you´re in bed, you promise.” Night Eye flexed one feather of his wing.

“Promised.”

“What is that you want to know?”

“What is it like flying?”

Night Eye looked at his wings. Then, he smirked.

“Wanna find out?”

Luna gasped. She nodded her head energetically.

“Hold still.” he ordered her as he held her to his chest.

Luna hugged his neck. After he opened his wings and shook them. They were not in the ground anymore. Luna panicked, as she looked down. She whimpered and closed her eyes, holding tighter to her father´s neck. Night Eye noticed that and looked at her with worry. After looking at the sky, he knew how to calm her.

“Look Luna! We´re closer to the stars.”

Luna opened her eyes and watched at the stars. She gasped in awe and smiled.

“How about we reach them?”

“Aha.”

Night Eye flew higher. With his help, Luna extended her foreleg to touch some of the stars. Both ponies laughed in joy. Then, Night Eye came back to the ground.

“Are you satisfied now?”

Luna yawned.

“Yes.”

“You seem sleepy. I think now´s the time, isn´t it?”

“I love you daddy.” Luna said before falling asleep.

“I love you too.” Night Eye said before kissing her forehead.

Luna opened her eyes. Then, she watched the stars melancholically. Those days. Those days were easier, despite the hardships of dealing with other unicorns´ opinions of having a family member of different kind and struggling to survive under Grogar´s rule. At least the whole family had a strong bond that allowed them to make it to the end of the day. But now, it was worse. Her father couldn´t watch the stars with her anymore, neither her mother could be by their side. She loved Celestia and was grateful for being with her, but she desperately missed the affection of her mother. However, she didn´t want to tell Celestia, as she felt that she would make her feel like she wasn´t doing a good job as a big sister. Right now, the stars and the night were her only comfort.

“I wish both of you were here.” she lamented before shedding some tears.

“Lulu?” Celestia asked.

Luna quickly dried her tears before turning to her sister.

“Tia! I thought you were asleep.”

“I couldn´t.”

“Why?”

“Because I was thinking about mama.”

Luna sighed sadly.

“I miss her Tia.”

“I know. But we can still see her! You saw that some days ago she visited to give us food and money!” Celestia said cheerfully as she sat on her bed. “She still loves us.” she put her foreleg around her.

“But I still miss her.”

Celestia sighed.

“I know it isn´t easy. But we need to be optimistic if we want to carry on. That´s what mom would like.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“What do you mean?”

“You don´t seem to be affected by mom being away.”

Celestia scoffed.

“Excuse me?” she asked upset. “Of course, I´m affected by mom being away! Why wouldn´t I?”

“Then why don´t you show it?” Luna asked frustrated. “You´re always having a smile on your face and whenever I mention mama you always brushed the subject off so quickly!”

“Well, what do you want me to do? I´m the big sister and as such I have to look after you, and that includes having you happy! How will I do that if I´m not happy myself?!”

“But I cannot be happy now.”

“You have to. Otherwise, I won´t be a good sister.”

Luna´s ears perked up.

“Is that why you´re always like that? Because otherwise you think you´re not a good sister?”

Celestia widened her eyes.

“No. Why would you think that?” she smiled nervously as she looked from side to side.

“You´re lying! If a pony avoids looking at somepony it´s because they´re nervous about something.”

Celestia was going to speak but she didn´t say anything, as she did not know what to say.

“So?” Luna raised her eyebrow. “Am I right?”

Celestia sighed defeated.

“Fine. You´re right.”

“But why would you think that?”

“I told you because you´re not happy. And as your big sister, I must make sure you´re always happy. And I´m failing!”

“Ok. Firstly, I´m not sad because of you. It´s mom being away what makes me sad. And yes, I might get upset at you being happy all the time, but after what you told me it makes sense why you do that. But you don´t have to be happy all the time? You also have the right to be sad!. And it´s ok if you are in front of me. You know I like helping you. So, why don´t you tell me what you really feel?”

Although Luna was open to listen to her, Celestia still had her doubts.

“You sure it´s ok? That I´m not leaving big sister responsibilities?”

Luna shook her head.

“Alright. Well, it´s just…. It´s so much pressure! Right now, not only I´m the big sister but I also have to be a mom as well! I don´t know how to be a mom! And I also have to be strong but I cannot be strong, not right now.”

“Well, maybe you can. If we your strength leans on mine.” Luna put her hoof on Celestia´s.

Celestia looked at her little sister.

“Let´s do something. From now on, we´re to rely on each other and we´ll tell each other everything. It´s the only way we can face mom not being with us. Promise?” Luna put her hoof on front of Celestia.

After telling Luna her feelings, she felt somewhat less stressed. So, she agreed.

“Promised.” she put her hoof on Luna´s. “And to begin this pact, there´s something that has been going on with my mind.”

“Something bad?” Luna asked worried.

“No. An idea. But it will take a lot of convincing from Ms Prickly Crops. Unless we do it ourselves when she sends us to get essentials.” she smirked mischievously.

“Ohoho… I don´t know what your idea is but I´m already liking it. Tell me more!”


Bray looked around before entering to a corridor, making sure nopony was watching him. Once he saw that the surroundings were clear, he decided to keep walking. However, just when he was going to give the first step, a troggle interrupted.

“Sir?”

Bray growled frustrated.

“What?! Don´t you know you that this is the forbidden corridor?! Only I and the emperor can enter here!”

“I´m sorry but there´s something going on the castle´s gates….”

“More potential spies? It would be interesting how they interact with the new one.”

The troggle bit their lip and inclined his head.

“Do fillies that want to see her mom count as spies?”


“Ok, to be honest I didn´t make it this far Tia.” Luna told her sister as they waited outside the castle.

“Neither did I. The only thing that we need to do now is waiting for mom.”

“Yes. The only though, is that the waiting would be better if we didn´t have spears pointing at us.”

Celestia and Luna smiled nervously at the troggles around them with their spears at them. They assumed it was for security reasons but why would they do this to foals?

Suddenly, they heard a male voice.

“Oi! You two!” Bray called as he walked to them accompanied by the troggle that warned him about their presence.

Celestia, Luna and the troggles turned their heads to Bray.

“This isn´t playground so don´t think that you can-”

However, he didn´t get the reaction he´d have wish to get. Instead, the fillies put their hooves on their cheeks.

“It´s a donkey!” Luna said in admiration. “I´ve never seen one!”

“You´re so cute!” Celestia told him.

Bray blushed, really caught off guard by their comments. He cleared his throat.

“This troggle told me you want to see your mother. I hate to tell you that right now, everypony´s busy so, get. Out!”

“But if anypony wants to visit a worker, you usually let them!” a troggle pointed out.

“Does that mean we can see our mommy?” Celestia asked hopeful.

“You idiot.” Bray scolded the troggle while clenching his teeth. He sighed. “I don´t have time to make you go, so tell me your mother´s name and we´re finished with this.”

“Her name´s Gusty.” Luna replied.

Bray widened his eyes.

“I´m sorry, what?”

“Her name is Gusty.” Celestia repeated.

Bray covered his face with his hooves.

“You´ve got to be kidding me.”


Gusty sighed as she leaned on her dungeon´s bars. She had already been three days with almost no food or water. Despite being weak, the fact that she was going to get out today was what kept her from falling asleep.

She turned her head when she heard steps. It was Drog bringing her a very small ration of food and water.

“Hi! I don´t know if you remember me but it´s me again.”

Gusty felt somewhat relieved to see him. Although she had been harsh with him, the words he told her before Grogar came to talk to her felt genuine. Maybe he wasn´t that bad after all.

“Yeah, I do.” she nodded.

She sighed when she saw the food.

“I´m sorry. I would give you some of my ration but mine isn´t very big either.”

Gusty raised her head.

“I thought troggles had bigger rations than us.”

“Oh, they are! Not a banquet but big enough not to be hungry. But when you don´t perform well in your duties as a guard, you get smaller rations, almost like a pony´s. And I´m not very good at my job so…”

“Why do you say that?”

Drog looked around before replying.

“Don´t say this to any of the soldiers, Bray and especially the emperor but I don´t like my job. I don´t like having to watch over ponies and mistreating them for no reason. And I´m not the only one who thinks like this.”

“So you´re saying that they´re giving you less food for being kind to us?”

“Apart from falling asleep, yes.”

Gusty looked down.

“Can I ask you your name?”

“Drog.”

“Ok Drog, I´m sorry for having been rude to you. It´s just that none of you had been nice to me since the first day I arrived here and I thought you were the same. But after those kind words you said to me, I realized I was wrong.”

“It´s ok. Some troggles are actually nice but can´t be because of the emperor.”

Seeing that Drog was talking about his kind, Gusty decided to investigate more on their origin.

“I imagine that he´s forcing you to do this.”

“Not force per say. You see, many years ago, we used to live in the forests. We had our own towns and way of life. And our forests were very near to Grogar´s kingdom.”

“Was he a king back then?”

“No. But he was born into the royal family of that kingdom.”

“Tambelon, I suppose.”

“No, it had other name but I don´t remember it. Anyway, but don´t think that Grogar grew with them. There was a huge war with another kingdom that destroyed his family´s, not only that, he was the only royal who remained. So, the nobles decided to send him into a congregation to become strong and obtain the necessary abilities to become a ruler. The war destroyed our forests and so we took refuge on that same congregation. We struggled to adapt there, as most masters looked down upon us. All except the young Grogar. He offered us everything we desired in exchange of our undoubtful loyalty to him. Slowly, Grogar became more and more power-hungry committing unspeakable crimes until he burnt that congregation. It was then when we knew what he was capable of doing to us. But at the same time, we owe him so much, he gave us respectable positions, refuge and enough materials and food to survive.”

“He didn´t do that because he cared you know that, do you?”

“Deep down, most of us know that. For him we´re just means to an end, not creatures with feelings. But some have developed that belief in order to survive.”

“I´m so sorry that happened to your kind.”

“It´s ok, it´s not as bad as what happened to yours.”

Suddenly, Bray walked in.

“Dusty! Dusty!”

Gusty rolled her eyes.

“It´s Gusty.” she corrected him frustrated.

“Gusty? Nice name.” Drog told her.

“Whatever. I have some things to tell you.” Bray told her. “Firstly, your daughters are waiting for you outside the castle.”

Gusty gasped.

“They are?”

Bray nodded.

“Well, I´ve already done my punishment, so when you let me out I could see them!”

“That is related to the second news: the emperor has decided to give you one more day of punishment.”

“What?” Gusty and Drog asked in unison.

“But he said three days!” Gusty replicated.

“I know but he wants to have an eye over you and today he has some things to do. However, that doesn´t mean that you can´t see your daughters. I could bring them over here if you want.”

“No!”

“No?” Bray asked surprised.

“They can´t see me like this. It would break their heart if they saw their mother on a dungeon.” Gusty lamented.

Bray shrugged.

“If that´s what you want. I´ll tell them that it´s forbidden to visit castle workers and that´s it.”

“Thanks for asking though.” she told him.

“I´m not doing because I have compassion for you, I´m doing this because I have no time to deal with your fillies.”

Once he left, Gusty hugged the bars while looking down sadly. She didn´t like breaking her daughters´ heart but she also knew it was for the best.

“Is that why you´re here? Family?”

Gusty nodded.

“What about their father?”

Gusty whimpered.

“Your kind killed him.”

Drog looked down.

“I have to go. I´m sorry for what happened to your husband.”

Gusty said no word. Drog looked at her with guilt before leaving.


“And that´s why our mommy is the best mommy in the whole world!” Celestia explained to the troggle.

The troggles listened and left out an ooh. Luna noticed Bray coming so she pulled her tail.

“Ouch! What was that for?”

“Look!” she pointed at Bray.

Celestia gasped. Her excitement went away when she didn´t see their mother.

“Wh- where is mommy?” Luna asked.

“It´s forbidden to visit the castle workers.”

“But he said-”

“That was before. The rules have changed. Now go!”

Luna´s eyes filled with tears.

“Ok.”

“We´re sorry for disturbing you.” Celestia apologized sadly before she and Luna left. “It´s ok, we´ll still see her on Wednesdays.” she told Luna, seeing that she was sniffing once they were far from them.

Bray sighed as he saw them go.

“I hate dealing with children.” he thought aloud.


Bray returned to Gusty´s dungeon. He bit his lip. She seemed devastated for not being able to see their daughters. He almost felt bad for her.

“I´ve already told them.”

“How did they take it?”

“Bad.” he directly said. “One of them was crying.”

Gusty sighed.

“I know you´re not doing this for me, but I´m still grateful to you for having the decency of asking me of what to do with them.”

“Actually, I´m somewhat doing this for you. As a sign of gratitude.”

Gusty´s ears perked up.

“For what?”

“You know why.”

She quickly remembered Grogar asking her about Bray slipping out secret information and her saying no and telling him to be kinder to Bray.

“You´re welcome.”

Bray nodded.

“And now I have to deal with another child, great.” he muttered.

“Did you say another child?” she asked curious.

Bray widened his eyes.

“That´s none of your business!”

“And he´s back.” Gusty muttered.

If he told her that it was none of their business, it was another secret of the emperor. She remembered Grogar saying that loving a child was the purest expression of weakness. The forbidden corridor also came to her mind. Was the emperor hiding something else?