Gusty the Great book 2- The crusades

by Dianabel

Chapter 17: The battle against the cat who sold her soul pt.2

Katrina conjured up a magical wave that sent everypony, with the exception of Gusty, away. The ponies landed everywhere in the room, some of them crushing against the cats, such as Buttons and Fizzy. Once she was isolated from others, Katrina started impulsively throwing several deathly beams at her, laughing maniacally. Gusty created a forcefield, both to defend herself and think her next move of action. She looked at her sword, which gave her an idea. She inhaled and exhaled before undoing the forcefield. After undoing it, she picked up her sword with her hooves. Katrina chuckled.

“Now, that was a stupid decision!” she teased her.

She put her paws next to each other to create a stronger beam. When she calculated it was near enough, she swinged her sword, combining it with a wind swipe, changing the beam´s direction to Katrina as a result. She jumped to the right to dodge it. She scowled when she saw how Gusty was smirking at her. The battle was far from over, but at least Gusty was now more matched to Katrina.

The ponies affected by the blow had their lives in danger as well, since they noticed that swords, which belonged to them and to the cats, were being thrown at their direction.

“Everypony duck!” Moochick warned everypony.

Luckily, no pony, nor cat was harmed. But they weren´t safe yet. The swords unhooked from the walls by themselves as if they had a mind of their own. The earth ponies covered themselves with the shields, whereas the unicorns zapped at the swords. However, there were too many swords for only five unicorns to handle.

“How can we help them?” Alonzo asked the earth ponies near him.

As he did, a sword that was safe from the unicorns´ magic, took the chance to attack that earth pony group. Knightshade, who was at a different spot of the room than his lover, noticed it.

“Honey, watch out!”

Alonzo widened his eyes when he saw the sword coming. Shady, who was next to him, gasped scared. She borrowed his shield without permission and used it to hit the sword, swinging from the left to the right and vice versa. Surprisingly, her method worked. The sword got dizzier with each blow it received to the point it fell to the floor, returning to its original inanimate state. The ponies and cats stared surprised. Shady didn´t witness the results of her idea, since she had head turned to the left and her eyes closed. Alonzo put her hoof on her shoulder to stop her from mindlessly swinging the shield.

“Hey, hey, it´s done, you did it.” he reassured her.

Shady opened one eye, finding out that Alonzo was right.

“Huh. It worked!” she said surprised.

Magic Star laughed.

“That´s my Shady! Always accidentally finding out the solution to everything.” she commented.

“Now, if I could have my shield back.” Alonzo put his hooves on his shield.

“Oh.” Shady removed her hooves from the shield. “Sorry.” she smiled apologetically.

“You know what to do. Let´s move!” Moochick elevated his shield.

Everypony yelled as they ran to the swords and started hitting them with their shields. Some of them fought individually and others worked in small groups. The unicorns felt relief, as they didn´t have to put much effort like before.

Not every earth pony dealt with the swords. The only thing Magic Star had to fight the swords was her bag, in which there were glass bottles that contained the potion liquids, so using it to fight wasn´t a good idea. It was better to use the potions against Katrina. On the other side, Shady and Posey were unarmed. Luckily, just when they were about to be attacked, the cats jumped in to save the day. Posey raised an eyebrow and smirked playfully.

“We´re doing this because these are our swords, not to protect you!” the captain clarified.

“Hm… They quite look like pony swords to me.” Posey teased them.

“SHUT UP!” Odile yelled at them.

Though Shady was somewhat taken aback by her reaction, Posey rolled her eyes with a smile.

“Shady!” Magic Star called her. “Um… The other pony that´s not Shady!” she called Posey, since she didn´t know her name. “Come with me! We have work to do!”

The two earth pony mares nodded their heads and ran to her. Meanwhile, Katrina and Gusty were continuing in their fight. No matter how much she attacked her, Gusty still resisted. Perhaps that´s how she survived the abuse in Grogar´s castle and why he didn´t underestimate, or even farther, feared her. Despite that, there had to be a way to defeat her, and in order to get there she had to think in a place completely free from distractions. She tried to teleport to another place, but something pulled her back in.

“What the-” she thought aloud.

“Sorry. Magical barrier.” Starswirl replied from a hidden corner of the room. He was sweating due to the effort, yet he still had a defying smile. “I learnt it from you.”

Katrina scowled. When she turned around, Gusty was no more.

“WHERE´S THE WIND WARRIOR?!” she asked Posey and Shady.

“Oh, just having a little break.” a different voice to Gusty´s. After turning around, she discovered that it was Magic Star speaking. “In order to get to her, you´ll have to go through me!” Magic Star explained while showing off two potion bottles.

Katrina snorted.

“Seriously? With potions? Fine, let´s just get this AH!”

Before Katrina could start fighting, Magic Star threw a potion that made an explosion. It wasn´t magic per say, but it had the same effect. The cat growled furiously and started zapping at Magic Star, though she evaded them either by jumping aside or with a fennel bottle, replicating the same effect of a force field. She wasn´t at the same level as Gusty, but she was definitely a rough match. At one point, Magic Star threw a potion in front of Katrina that left out some smoke. The sorceress coughed, desperately searching for Magic Star through the smoke.

“Where are you amateur?!” she yelled.

When the smoke cleared, she realized she was right in front of her, holding her potion. They looked at each other with widened eyes. Magic Star chuckled nervously as she slowly let go. Before she could run, Katrina pounced on them. She laughed while she tried to free herself from her grasp.

“Did you really you could take my potion? Wrong! Now, you will spend the rest of your existence in ashes!”

She raised her arm, expecting a gigantic magic beam coming out of her paw. But shockingly, nothing happened.

“What the-” she asked panicked.

She turned to the earth pony, who was smirking in victory.

“What did you do?!”

“Oh, just the old potion swap.” Magic Star answered.

“Where is it?!”

“Right here.” Posey replied while showing the potion on her hoof. Next to her was Gusty.

Katrina widened her eyes.

“Don´t you dare!”

She tried to run to them but was stopped by Shady, Moochick, Knightshade and Alonzo, who jumped on her.

“Your reign ends here Katrina!” Moochick told her.

“This is for Amina, her cubs, the spirits, Apricot and every earth pony or cat you hurt!” Posey exclaimed before throwing the potion to the air, making Katrina gasp in both fear and shock.

When it was in the air, Gusty zapped at it with her magic, destroying the potion in small pieces. In just barely seconds, the ambient turned darker and ominous voices were heard. Every earth pony got away from Katrina as much as possible. Now free, the cat ran to the broken pieces.

“No! NO!” she whimpered while holding the pieces. “How am I ever going to pay my back my debt?” she asked panicked.

As soon as shadows and dark spirits appeared, the unicorns prepared to form a protective circle for the earth ponies, but Starswirl stopped them. He pointed at Katrina, indicating that they were only coming for her.

“Frieends!” Katrina greeted them panicked.

The dark spirits and shadows advanced towards her, wearing wicked smiles on their faces, forcing Katrina to walk backwards.

“This is just a minor incident, nothing I can´t fix!” she yelled when a portal opened behind her. “If you help me, we´ll be back in business! Look around you, there are all the mortal souls I promised you!”

The ponies and cats watched in horror how the dark spirits took enjoyment in Katrina´s vulnerability and terror. The earth ponies and the cats knew perfectly well that Katrina was very very arrogant but not enough to believe she could evade the dark spirits´ wrath and have them at her service forever. The unicorns had the same thoughts in their minds, except for Starswirl, who knew she was doomed from the day she made a deal with them.

“I just need some time and your help!” Katrina yelled as she felt something around her ankles, which were tentacles similar to what almost took Starswirl and Posey. “No, no, please, no!” she whimpered as she was dragged towards the portal. She tried to hold to the floor with her claws, but it was no use. “Just a little more time! I promise I´ll pay you back! I PROMISE!”

But no matter how much she begged, she submerged into the portal while screaming in terror. When the portal closed, there was a ray of colours that exploded like fireworks, leaving small lights floating everywhere. The earth ponies at their homes, opened the windows to find out what made such noise, although somewhat scared, they liked the spectacles. In Katrina´s castle, everypony admired with curiosity.

“What are those?” Shady asked intrigued.

“They look like…” Starswirl touched a light. “magic.”

Magic Star gasped.

“You mean like, spirit magic?” she asked shocked.

“Check the garden, quick!” Moochick ordered everypony.

The earth ponies closest to the window immediately poked their heads through it. Starswirl ran to the window as well. The other unicorns looked at each other, wondering why Moochick would order such thing and Starswirl had that reaction. They shrugged and decided to join Starswirl. What they saw through the window was something they had never seen before and truly extraordinary. The oranges were no longer hanging from the trees. Now, they were forming a big symbol, as if it was a track. The earth ponies screamed in joy and celebrated with hugs or kisses, such as Knightshade´s and Alonzo´s case.

“It´s back! It´s back!” Knightshade exclaimed while shaking Alonzo, who was feeling somewhat dizzy.

Although they were happy for them, the unicorns didn´t share their enthusiasm. In fact, they were confused. Well, except for Starswirl, who was just smiling.

“Why is everypony so excited? It´s just a weird drawing with oranges.” Fizzy wondered aloud. Everypony widened their eyes at their phrase, which made her rethink her words. “That came off very rude.” she regretted.

“Those drawings, my unicorn ally, are tracks left by The Great Seedling.” Magic Star explained to her. “He always leaves them to indicate he was there.”

“Aaah…” Fizzy gasped. “So that means that every spirit is back?”

Magic Star nodded.

“Wow, that´s so good!” Fizzy gladly exclaimed. “I hope Amina can return home too.” she said a bit sadly.

“Why wouldn´t she? She did free the spirits and possibly the souls of the abducted innocents.” Buttons reminded her.

“I know, but maybe she sacrificed herself in exchange of her cubs, the spirits and the souls or maybe the Great Spirits aren´t as merciful with her as I thought.” she sighed. “In any case, I wish I could have said goodbye.”

“Don´t worry. Maybe you see her again someday.” Posey reassured her. “I may not know what happened to her, but I want to believe that she´ll come back to who she was or transform into a better spirit and that we´ll meet again somehow.”

“This might sound strange, but I´d like to know her better.” said Gusty. “I´m pretty sure she´s a great spirit.”

“Oh, she is.” Fizzy confirmed as she nodded. “She calmed me down when I was crying alone in a cell. If everything goes well, she might help you and meet properly one day.”

Gusty smiled. While the ponies were observing captivated the spirits´ comeback, the cats tried to sneak out, but not everypony was distracted. Two earth ponies blocked their way. The pony multitude opened to let Moochick pass through. He stopped walking in front of the cats, looking at them with wrath.

“You have committed many crimes against us. Some of them caused losses, injuries and sorrows. Many of us will never forgive you, and I think we all agree that you should be punished.”

The cats started sweating in fear. Moochick was as scary as Katrina when mad, which meant that he was capable of extreme punishments as well. The ponies who knew the cats´ stories were also worried but none of them dared to intervene. None but one.

“Um… Sir.” Gusty bowed to him. “If I may, I´d like to say something relevant to the punishment.” she smiled nervously, confusing both the cats and ponies.

“Go on…” Moochick raised his eyebrow.

“Some of these cats have been helpful to us.” she said. “They could have turned against us at any moment, but they never did.”

“Yeah, and most of them were taken from their homes and forced to work for her.” Posey stated. “I know they´re not lying because I´ve lived around them long enough to know it´s true.”

“What they did was definitely not ok.” Fizzy shook her head. “But if you think about it, they were almost in the same condition as you!”

Her words angered some of the earth ponies. They gave her deadly glares.

“Ok, that sounded worse than I intended.” Fizzy muttered.

Luckily, Shady intervened, knowing that she didn´t mean to be condescending and that they would listen one of their own.

“What she means is that just like us they were forced to do things they didn´t want. Granted, we were more brutalized, but they were just trying to survive.”

“I agree they should make amends for their crimes somehow, but perhaps you should consider their circumstances before deciding their punishment.” Gusty summed up.

Moochick looked at the other earth ponies to see if they agreed. To his surprise, most of them seemed to be rooting for a softer punishment, either because they witnessed their grieving or because they knew their background already. Moochick sighed.

“Very well… I´ll spare your lives. But you´ll never set a paw here until the end of times. You´ll never interact with an earth pony ever again. Understood?”

The cats nodded with a lowered head.

“Now go!” Moochick ordered them aggressively.

The cats walked with their heads lowered, processing everything that had happened, the deaths of their comrades; and surprised by the fact they had been spared. But not before stopping around Gusty, Fizzy, Shady and Posey.

“Why? You could have let him torture us, execute us or we could be your slaves now, yet you advocated for us. Why?” he asked them.

“Well, you defended us against the swords.” Shady answered. “I know you turned against Katrina for yourselves, but if you don´t care about us, why did you do that then?”

The cats looked down.

“Yeah, and after meeting Apricot, I couldn´t take you as evil anymore.” Fizzy replied.

“Because they have never been in the first place.” said Posey. “I heard you all talking about your story one night when I was younger.”

“Walls do have ears, huh?” the cat captain chuckled sadly.

“Besides, you were kind to me from time to time, despite all the teasing and scaring.” Posey added.

“And as for me, because I know what is like to lose somepony due to those who are supposed to rule us.” Gusty responded. “Luckily, I´ve never been pushed to the same edge as you, but I would do anything for my family.”

“Who did you lose?” Odile asked her.

“My husband.” Gusty replied.

“I´m so sorry. You know, Apricot and I were more like siblings, but I loved him a lot. I can´t imagine what is like to lose the love of your life.”

“It´s ok, thank you.” the cat and unicorn gave each other sad smiles. “Out of curiosity, where are you going to go now?”

“Back to our real home.” the cat captain affirmed. “Our elders secretly told us the way there.”

“May you get there, then.” Gusty nodded in respect.

The cats gave her a smile. Bandit rubbed against her forelegs.

“Oh! Uh… It was nice meeting you too.” she told him.

Bandit grinned. Afterwards, the cats left the room. Gusty reflected in this encounter. Just like earth ponies and pegasi, creatures that weren´t ponies were very similar to the unicorns. They had feelings and cared about each other. She remembered Drog, the only troggle that had been kind to her during her stay in Grogar´s castle. Seeing the troggles as misunderstood was going to be harder, since she had been directly harmed by them but maybe they were like the cats. Drog mentioned that they depended on Grogar for their survival after all. They ended up with a tyrant in a different manner, yet they were equally as mistreated. But would she be able to forgive them?

Moochick´s voice brought her back to reality.

“We thank you all for your assistance.” he bowed and so did the other earth ponies, making the unicorns blush in embarassment. “Now, we understand better how magic works and have been able to defeat Katrina because of that. I understand you must now rescue your leader, but in order to do so you must rest. It has been a long day.”

Glory and Lancer sighed. They didn´t like the idea of making Majesty wait more but Moochick was right. They had another journey and battle ahead of them.

“I don´t think we have another choice, do we?” said Lancer.

“Don´t worry. Majesty´s tough. I´m pretty sure she´s still hanging there.” Glory reassured him. “I hope.” she muttered under her breath.

“She was ponynapped by Crunch´s henchdogs, am I right?” Alonzo asked them.

“That´s right.” Fizzy nodded.

“Perhaps we could help you!” Knightshade suggested excited.

Alonzo nodded in agreement, but Moochick didn´t seem to like the idea. In fact, he gave him a frown for saying that.

“Yeah, maybe some potions could come to your aid.” Magic Star offered herself.

“I have been many times in Trottingham. I could come useful as a guide for you.” Posey joined the plan.

“Did I almost die? Yes. Did I discover that maintaining my family´s inn wasn´t what I truly wanted and found out what fulfils me thanks to this? Also true. Do I prefer to avoid death and danger and stay safe and warm at home? I certainly do. Is serving in an inn is more stressing to me than fighting a tyrant and dark spirits? Yes, you should know that. What I mean is that I don´t like being this reckless but I´d love to have an adventure along my friends like this one again.” Shady huffed and puffed. “I need a blanket.”

“Well, if I have learnt something today is that the more the better.” Buttons shrugged.

“And in exchange we could give you protection if Grogar decides to-” Gusty tried to suggest but was interrupted by Moochick.

“That won´t be necessary.” Moochick raised his hoof. “Knowing how he is, he´ll probably only send his troggles for the job and will focus most of his energies on finding you. He won´t probably come here. We needed your help this time, but we can defend ourselves without the need of magic. We are not helpless, you know?”

Though she respected his opinion, Gusty thought that he was too sharp with her. It hurt her that after going through all the fighting and teamwork, he still mistrusted unicorns. Maybe not them exactly, but perhaps he was weary of Majesty and the others. A part of her even believed that he may be scared of unicorns. It was understandable, nonetheless. They had been under the rule of a tyrant who was an user of magic. Trust takes time.

“I´m sorry, I didn´t mean to be condescending.” she apologized. “You´re right, you´re very strong and capable too. We wouldn´t have survived the walls if it wasn´t for you all.”

“Thank you.” Moochick simply said. “You may accompany them if you wish.” he said to Alonzo and Knightshade. “After all, one of our biggest values as earth ponies is repaying our debts. Now if you excuse me, I must spread the news of Katrina´s defeat.” he nodded before leaving.

“What is wrong with him?” asked Lancer, upset by the treatment he gave Gusty.

Gusty stared at Moochick with worry as he left.

---

The cats left the town using the right gates of the city´s wall. They had many emotions inside, both negative, due to how some earth ponies disrespected them as they walked through the city, and positive. But there was one that surpassed them all: the feeling of freedom and going back home.

But their path would be disrupted for some time. Next to some cats, a hole in the ground started appearing. From the hole got out Gaueko, Gwyllgi and Cavall, panting in exhaustion and coughing out the dust.

“We´ve been scavenging for days! Are you sure she´s here?” Gwyllgi asked Gaueko.

“She is! The track smells like her necklace.” Gaueko replicated as he pointed at Gusty´s necklace.

“Who, the Wind Warrior?” a female tuxedo cat asked them.

The three dogs´ ears perked up. They slowly turned to the tuxedo cat.

“Yes!” Cavall exclaimed. “Do you know anything about her?”

“Ha! Better than any creature else.” she looked at the other cats, making the dogs notice all of the other cats.

“What is this? A seasonal migration?” Gaueko asked rudely.

“More like an exile.”

“You´ve been exiled by Katrina?!” Gwyllgi asked shocked. “All of you?!”

“No, by Moochick. The earth ponies took over town thanks to the Wind Warrior and her soldiers.”

“And Katrina? What happened to her?” Cavall asked.

“She received what was coming for her for a long time. The Wind Warrior managed to break her potion and the dark spirits finally came for her.”

“So she´s…” Gaueko crossed his finger across his neck,

The tuxedo cat nodded. The three dogs stared at each other in shock.

“What do we do now, Gaueko?” Cavall asked him panicked.

“Well, better for us!” Gaueko shook his head before replying. “Now there´s less competence. This is the definite response that Crunch is better than Katrina.” he closed his eyes in pride. “That wouldn´t happen to Crunch.”

“Oh, I wouldn´t get that confident… She along her soldiers are very capable. But she´s very kind and understanding too. In fact, she´s the reason why we´re going back home and not dead, tortured nor enslaved.” The cat smiled while remembering how she wished them a good journey. “Though, you dogs support Crunch and see him as a hero more than we did with Katrina.”

“Well, do you have any problem with that?” Gwyllgi defied her.

“Not really. But she might not be that forgiving with you as she was with us. So, if I were you, I would ask for extra help.” the tuxedo cat advised them before catching up with the cat group.

“Should we tell Grogar?” Cavall suggested.

“Well, if we tell him directly, he´ll call Crunch a coward.” said Gaueko. “But if we spread the word around, maybe the emperor will decide to give him more resources…”

“Aah, that´s clever.” Gwyllgi nodded her head. “But how are we going to make the information arrive to the emperor?”

At the distance, they saw the tuxedo cat they talked to before, which gave Gaueko an idea.

“I think I know how.”

Comments

[The Background Conquerer]

Great chapter! Now everybody's free from Katrina's control!

Loved "The Princess and the Frog" reference!

Emperor Grogar's not going to be pleased when he learns of Katrina's defeat!

And so the journey still continues!

[Dianabel]

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Thank you!

I see you got the reference! Did you get the one to puss in boots the last wish on the previous chapter?

Next chapter will be fun... I imagine Bray´s rection being like this:

And Grogar´s being like this:

Oh they still have a lot ahead...

[The Background Conquerer]

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To answer the Puss in Boots: The Last Wish question: No, I didn't see anything. What did I miss?

[Dianabel]

11684313
Oh this one! It´s a bit changed, that´s why you probably didn´t recognize it:

[Dianabel]

11684545
Hey! Don´t worry, and thank you! Now I am going to do a masters, but since it´s online it´s supposed to be softer than an entire career and it´s just one year with no exams. Tomorrow the people who go to college start classes... I´m so glad I´m not going to step on there for quite some time!

How have you been this summer? Mine, a little bit regular. OCD´s still annoying me but I got a new psychologist and I think I´m taking good steps for the better, despite having some downs. I got a Nintendo DS XL like the one I had as a kid with games like Nintendogs and Style Savvy. I watched at the cinema Barbie (dressed in pink!) and Elemental (I teared up a lot). My sister got sick with COVID (but not me!) after local festivities but it looks like everyone got sick. And I´ve been in France for half an hour (that was because I live near the Pyranees, which marks the limit between France and Spain. My dad wanted to go to another village but he took the wrong road and went to a ski station, and nearby was a french village. Then, we went to a spanish village).

[Dianabel]

11684545
Hey! It´s been a long since we spoke last time. Is everything alright?