The First Standoff

by bookhorse125

Chapter 16

After that, Gusty couldn’t really remember what happened. Each day bled into the next, with nothing big or significant determining that an individual day stood out in her mind. She walked around town in a daze. Sometimes ponies noticed her and waved or called out greetings to her. She never really paid attention - it didn’t really matter. She would read books, though that usually ended with her staring at the page without any clue what it said. She didn’t really practice magic anymore. She had seen the price of magic firsthoof, and she wasn’t too eager to pay it again.

She thought without really thinking. She was lost in thought when there were no thoughts to be had. Gradually, she began to feel exhausted and drowsy, and tired. She was sad, but not quite angry. Everything felt pointless. She had no purpose. She missed her friends. She didn’t need her friends. She had something worth fighting for. She couldn’t remember what it was, if it even existed at all. She could sense that this city was full of secrets, secrets she knew, yet it was keeping them from her for some reason.

In short, she was very confused.

Perhaps that was why she liked the mindless task of walking around Manehattan without any purpose or reason - she could leave her confused and jumbled thoughts behind and give into the white fog always lurking at the edge of her consciousness.

Blissful peace… what she wouldn’t give to have just a bit of sense in her mind, but since that seemed so unlikely, not thinking at all was increasingly seeming like the better option.

Occasionally she would hear Ocean Breeze’s voice, reminding her of all the memories they had made together, how much he loved her, how much he had done to protect her and keep her safe. She grew to look forward to hearing him speak, because it numbed the chaos and confusion and made her more certain of one thing:

Just her and her brother. Together. Now and forever. The way it had always been and always would be.

A strange thing always happened, though. Every time she walked past a certain jewelry shop, no matter how far into the fog she was, her mind always reacted. More confusing thoughts poured in, giving her a throbbing headache. Her brother… didn’t he… do something? Something bad? And there was a voice in her head… a voice that she knew…

Then the fog would always come back in. The voice in your head is your brother, and he loves and cares for you more than anything in the world. And her mind was soothed again.

Still… she couldn’t shake the fact that she felt like she was missing something… something important. And as hard as she tried, she couldn’t figure out what it was. The fog said to forget it - that it was an illusion, a paranoid suspicion, nothing more. And she believed it.

That is, until the dream came.

The day started out like any other, with Gusty walking around in a fog until she bumped into somepony.

“Hey, watch it!” the burly earth pony snapped, whirling around to snarl at her, but as he registered who she was, his eyes widened in fear, and he hastily took a step back. “What are you doing here?” he asked, his voice shaking. “Haven’t you done enough?”

Gusty blinked. “I-I’m sorry, do I… do I know you?”

His eyes widened as he realized she wasn’t kidding. “The chimera,” he said slowly. “You… you banished it, and then Grogar sent his monsters after you…”

Something was flapping in the fog, but she didn’t bother to pursue it. “Who’s Grogar? And what’s a chimera?”

“You - you don’t-” he stuttered, and Gusty shook her head.

“I think you’ve got the wrong pony,” she said, stepping around him. “I’m sorry I bumped into you, sir.”

No doubt about it, the fog was definitely clearing up - even a bit of order coming to her disorganized thoughts. As she walked past the jewelry shop, the usual throbbing headache followed her all the way home, and when it cleared, it only left her feeling worse than before.

When Gusty went to sleep that night, she had a dream for the first time in… she didn’t even know how long. It was blurry and choppy, like it had to force its way through the many layers of her subconsciousness, but Gusty got the gist of what it was showing her: the door across the hall from her room opening, herself trotting in, and a voice saying her name: Gusty…

Then the fog closed back in, and she almost forgot all about it.

Almost.

---

Gusty swallowed nervously as she stood in front of the closed door, which most likely just led to another spare bedroom. She didn’t see what was so special about this room, but she did know that the dream would soon fade into the fog, and she had to find out what it meant…

In all her time in this apartment, she had never been in this room, and now that she thought about that, she wasn’t quite sure why. So, taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open.

It didn’t spill out light as it had in her dream - it was just a messy bedroom. Paper littered the desk and the bed, and there was shattered glass all over the floor.

Huh. That was strange. Gusty’s eyes moved over to where most of the broken glass was - a pile of splintered wood, glass, and paper. Treading carefully so as not to cut her hooves, Gusty investigated the scene. It appeared that the glass was part of the shattered remains of two picture frames. Using her magic, Gusty levitated the two pictures out of the pile of rubble and set them on the bed so she could inspect them.

The first picture was of three ponies, two pegasi and a unicorn. One of the pegasi was a stallion, with a tan coat and a blue mane. The other pegasus, a mare, was a shade of indigo with a purple mane pulled back into braids. The third pony, the unicorn mare, was strawberry red with a sky blue mane and cheerful green eyes. All three were enjoying milkshakes and grinning.

That unicorn… Gusty squinted at her. She looked so familiar…

The second picture was also of three ponies - the unicorn from the first picture, a unicorn stallion with a mane like fire, and in the middle of them both… was Gusty.

The fog was pushed away with a sudden push, and Gusty yelped, clutching her head as she was hit with a splitting headache…

Fire Storm was standing at the head of the entire Equestrian army, facing off Grogar and his monsters. Fire Storm gave a massive cry and lit up his horn, but the ram just laughed and pulled out a bell… Everypony collapsed as their magic was sucked away… The monsters leapt forward and amassed, attacking the ponies before they had a chance to recover…

Gusty gasped as she was yanked back into the present. Her friends were in danger - of that she was certain.

And she was the only one who knew.

Grabbing the picture of her, Maggie, and Fire Storm, Gusty raced out of the room, skidded into the wall, lit up her horn, and disappeared in a flash of light. She reappeared in Ruby’s jewelry shop, spooking Oasis, who was behind the counter.

Her wings flared in surprise. “What-! Oh, hi, Gusty.” She folded her wings and tried for a professional expression. “How can I help you?”

“Is Ruby here?” Gusty asked, stepping forward and looking around for the willowy stallion. “I need to-”

“Nope! He’s gone for the whole weekend. He said I could handle it on my own - Isn’t that exciting!” Oasis clapped her hooves ecstatically. “Now I’m sure to do something important-”

“What? Oh, no, no, no, this is bad,” Gusty fretted, starting to pace. Oasis’ face falls.

“I mean… I know that I'm probably ot as good as he is, and that you would probably prefer to talk to him instead of me, but that’s okay, really, I… I get it all the time.” She tried to keep her expression passive, like she really didn’t care, but her face crumpled anyway, and she had to turn away from Gusty so that the unicorn wouldn’t see her crying.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that,” Gusty said hurriedly, racing towards the counter and reaching out to comfort her friend, but Oasis used her wing to swat Gusty’s hoof away. “I-it’s just, Ruby knew things, very important things, things that you don’t exactly know, and it’s really important that I talk to him, like, right now, so-”

“I understand,” Oasis hiccuped, wiping at her eyes and avoiding Gusty’s gaze. “I’m not as good as he is-”

“No, no, Oasis, you are every bit as good as Ruby is! Maybe even more!” Gusty exclaimed, trying to console the pegasus, but Oasis’ shoulders were still shaking. “I didn’t mean it like that, and I’m sorry if you thought that was what I meant. The truth is, you’re one of the best friends I’ve ever had, and I will personally fry the brain of anypony who is idiotic enough to say otherwise.”

Oasis sniffed. “R-really? You m-mean it?” Her voice sounded stronger, and her wings had stopped trembling. Still, her voice wavered, like even the slightest thing would make her start crying again.

Gusty grinned. “Totally. And I know that Maggie would agree with me, too, if she was here and didn’t totally hate my guts right now. We… had a bit of a fight. And I felt so bad that I hurt her… I don’t want to hurt any more ponies. Especially you. So I’m sorry - really, truly sorry. And I… I hope that you can forgive me?”

Oasis stood up and turned around, her eyes still sparkling with unshed tears, but she gave Gusty a watery smile. “Of course. You’re one of my best friends, Gusty. I know that you didn’t mean it like that. So of course I forgive you.”

The two ponies smiled at each other, and Gusty felt a huge weight lift off of her shoulders. She would try, but she wasn’t sure that Maggie or Fire Storm would ever want her back. At least, not until Grogar was defeated for good. But she still had one friend, and no matter what happened in the days ahead, no matter what Grogar threatened to do or what her brother tried to tell her, Gusty wasn’t going to let her get hurt - no matter what she had to do.

Her pegasus friend took another deep breath. “So… I know that Ruby isn’t here, and that I probably don’t have the information that you’re looking for, but whatever you wanted to talk to him about, you can always just tell me, and I promise I’ll do my best to help you.”

“Oh.” Gusty shifted her hooves nervously, suddenly remembering the reason she had come in the first place. “W-well, I don’t know if I should…”

“Please, Gusty?” Oasis begged, her expression pleading. “Whatever it is, you can trust me! Honestly, Gusty - if it’s a secret, I can keep it. Anything you need! I promise I’ll-”

“It’s not you,” Gusty said hurriedly. “A lot of ponies are depending on me, and Ruby was the only pony I could think of who might be able to help.” She took a deep breath. What am I doing? she wondered, but before she could talk herself out of it, she said, “Oasis… how would you like to make a difference? Like, a real difference?”

The pegasus blinked, her eyes as blue as the ocean depths, which sparkled with hope and ambition - ambition to help as many ponies as she possibly could. “What are you saying?”

Gusty met her eyes with her own.

“I’m offering you a chance to save the world."

Author's Note:

It's snowing. Why is it snowing? It is not supposed to be snowing yet. It cannot snow unless it is getting us days off from school.

Constructive criticism is appreciated. Thank you for reading!

Comments

[Forcalor]

Even if it didn't got traction it deserves, it is still a very interesting premise to explore