Without any warning, the unicorns blew the trapdoor away, hitting some guards in the process. They all divided in groups to deal with the remaining and the soon to come guards, since they couldn´t stop a dog from howling for help.

As they hadn´t seen each other in a while, Majesty and her soldiers were impressed with the improvements Gusty, Fizzy, Buttons had had in their battle skills since they last saw each other. The first two were able to do new and more elaborated fight tricks with their special gifts, whereas Buttons surprised them with her physical fight moves.

“Nice, isn´t it?” Buttons asked playfully to a soldier that was staring at her.

Majesty managed to take the sword of one of the guards and put it against his neck.

“Where is the library?!” she asked aggressively.

Despite the risky situation she was in, the guard snorted.

“As if I was going to tell you.”

“Oh, yes you will.” differed Magic Star, who out of nowhere appeared in front of the dog and Majesty.

Immediately, she blew a potion on the dog´s face releasing a yellow smoke that made her cough. Due to the strange smell, it had, Majesty covered her nose and closed her eyes slightly.

“What did you do, earth pony?” she asked confused.

“Just you wait.” Magic Star responded. “So, what were you saying about how to get to the library?” she asked exaggeratedly polite as a form of mockery to the dog.

“You have to pass three corridors, all straight, and at a few columns ahead you´ll see a grid door that is the entrance of the library.” the dog said, with a lifeless gaze and wide-open eyes, as if she was hypnotized by something. She pointed her index finger at the right corridor.

Majesty widened her eyes in surprise, something Magic Star took notice of. She smiled cockily.

“Just the classic truth serum bomb.” she showed Majesty another pomegranate. “You´re welcome. You can let her go, she won´t do anything. She´ll be like that for half an hour approximately.”

Slowly, Majesty removed the sword from the guard´s neck. As helpful as that gesture was for her, Majesty looked at Magic Star with some mistrust, of which the earth pony took notice.

“Lancer, Glory, Wind Warrior and company!” Majesty called for the five unicorns. “Accompany the earth ponies to the library as a form of protection and to distract the guards so they retrieve the other two of their kind and the unicorn you recruited.”

“Yes, my queen!” said Lancer as he and the five unicorns raised their hooves to their foreheads. “How do we get there?”

“Follow me!” Magic Star started running, everypony following behind.

As they got away, Magic Star took short glances of Majesty. For her surprise, she wasn´t staring at her with hatred, but that was because she was busy fighting guards.

Sarama finally managed to unlock the mine´s door, breaking the bolt in half. Hearing turmoil from way upstairs, she ran to a spot in which she could have a good view of the whole staircase. She didn´t see any figures, but a light at the top revealed the ponies´ whereabouts.

“They got to the top didn´t they?” Argus asked biting his claw.

“I´m afraid so, yes.” Sarama replied.

“Then, let´s not waste more time!” a chihuahua. prepared to run.

“Wait!” Sarama gently stepped on her tail. “If we get on this path, we´ll find ourselves obstructed, which is not of our interest, since it´s very likely for the Wind Warrior to have reached the library already.”

“So you´re suggesting to take another exit?” a much friendlier golden retriever than the one who trapped Glory asked. He puffed worried. “But the other exit is very far from here, we won´t make it in time!”

“I assume you haven´t been to the mines that much because….” Sarama pushed against the wall, causing it to move, revealing to be an actual doorway. “There are exits and passages where you least expect them…”

Every dog smiled confidently or observed in awe.

“Is everything okay?” Glory asked Magic Star since she seemed worried about something as they ran through corridors.

“Not really.” Magic Star replied to her. “She really doesn´t like any of us. After I gave a truth serum to a guard, she looked at me with a face…”

“Well, that´s classic Majesty for you.” Gusty told her. “She really didn´t like me either when we first met.”

“Same for us!” Fizzy added at the same time Buttons nodded.

“And does she like you now?” Knightshade raised his eyebrow.

The brief silence and shared looks between the three unicorns were enough to answer their question.

“Well… I think she likes us a little bit more.” Buttons smiled nervously. “But mostly Gusty.”

“Um… Everypony, we have incoming.” Alonzo warned everypony, staring scared at the crowd of the dogs coming towards them.

They all widened their eyes surprise. As the unicorns drew their swords and ventured to battle, Magic Star noticed a door that matched to the description the dog she hypnotized gave.

“Look!” she pointed with her hoof. “There it is!”

Gusty heard Magic Star´s words. She noticed a big husky raising his sword to the right behind the earth ponies. Sensing the dog´s intentions, she quickly teleported back to them and hugged them three so she could teleport them and herself inside the library. When they reappeared, the earth ponies took a deep breath.

“What was that?!” Knightshade asked panicked.

“Sorry for not warning but you had a huge dog behind you about to behead you, so I needed to do that.” said Gusty in her defence.

The three earth ponies shivered while gently touching their own necks.

“That was a close one, thanks Gusty.” Alonzo smiled grateful at the unicorn.

“You´re welcome.” she smiled back.

“Now, I still haven´t looked at it in detail but I imagine this is a big library.” said Knightshade. “So we might take some time to-”

He stopped talking once he realized her words were contradictory to reality. The three ponies were either running around or throwing books and scrolls away, all while grunting in frustration or yelling in panic with messy manes.

“Oh geez, this is way worse than I remembered.” Starswirl said anxiously while opening and glanced through a book. Seeing it wasn´t of any help, he whimpered in the brink of tears and gently left the book aside.

“I don´t understand anythiiiing!” Shady pulled her ears down after opening a scroll.

“Why´s there so much repeated stuff in here?!” Posey asked frustrated. “I swear I´ve seen the exact same document five times at least!”

The three earth ponies and unicorn pressed their lips and looked at each other in worry.

“Um…” Gusty broke the silence. “Would you like more hooves on this?” she smiled nervously.

Shady, Starswirl and Posey turned around and sighed in relief when they saw their faces.

“Oh yes please!” Shady ran to Magic Star, knelt in front of her and grabbed her hoof. “Please, please do so!” she begged very desperate.

“We´re so happy you are able to help us because this like trying to find a needle in a haystack.” Said Posey while getting off a ladder.

“I get the impression you haven´t found anything…” Alonzo said disappointed but understanding as well.

Starswirl shook his head in regret.

“I´m afraid that´s the case. I know it´s very difficult to find a resource in such short time realistically, but a part of me hoped to find something in time to make things easier for you…” he looked down in shame.

Although his last phrase was directed to all, the earth ponies felt it was mostly for Gusty, since he was specifically staring at her.

“Well, that´s okay.” Gusty comforted him. “I appreciate the idea and the plan but given the situation we´re in, I´d understand if you can´t.”

Starswirl smiled at her.

“But I really do want some information, so what books haven´t you still checked?” Gusty smiled nervously.

Exhausted, Starswirl snorted softly. He then signed the four ponies to follow him by moving his hoof back and forth.

Since they were too focused on their search, everypony overlooked a tiny yet important detail: the library´s windows. They faced the courtyard and were uncovered, which meant any dog on the courtyard could see them. And right at that moment, Gaueko, Gwylgi and Cavall were strolling around.

Their relaxed ears and faces tensed up when they noticed ponies moving inside the library. They widened their eyes in surprise.

“Holy mighty and great Crunch, am I seeing who I think I´m seeing?” Cavall put his paw above his eyes.

“Hm…” Gwyllgi raised her eyebrow confused. “To be honest I don´t recognize any of them.”

“What are you talking about? It´s the Wind Warrior and the cottage unicorn, don´t you recognize them?!”

“Wait what?! I was talking about the earth ponies.”

“Earth ponies?!”

The two dogs scanned the library more carefully, gasping in realization.

“You´re right, she´s in there! With the cottage guy!” said Gwillgi.

“With earth pony vermin no less!” added Cavall.

Gaueko frowned and growled full of hatred while observing the unicorns. He wanted revenge for what they did to him. Gusty because she scratched his eye and humiliated him and Starswirl because he took his chance of killing her away from him and thus, was the catalyst for their defeat. He clenched his fist in anger. In the meantime, Cavall and Gwyllgi kept exchanging words.

“How did she get in here?!” Gwillgi asked upset. “How did she even get earth ponies on her side?!”

“Who cares? I´m dealing with this RIGHT NOW!” said Cavall while reaching for his sword.

“Wait.” Gaueko raised his paw. “Let´s not use brute force yet. I think I have a plan…”

Up a sliding ladder leaning into one of the bookshelves on the same wall as the windows, Magic Star searched for a book with the picture of a stone, stars, or both elements on its back cover. Like her friend Shady, she didn´t know how to read so she used the same method as her. Thanks to her location, she was able to notice a window opening. Since nopony had stopped to examine on the windows, she didn´t know if they were half open, so it could have been simply the air moving them, but for some reason, it still felt off. Her suspicions got confirmed when a bow appeared through the window.

“Everypony, watch out!” she shouted at the top of her lungs.

Everypony turned their heads back and widened their eyes when they saw the three dogs with the bow. Gusty gasped and narrowed her eyes as soon as she recognized them. She threw an expansion wave of wind to push them back. Once they were far enough from the window, Gusty appeared in front of them to restrain them from getting up.

“Well, well, well… Look who decided to drop by.” Gaueko said in a mocking tone. “I was dying to see you again, Wind Warrior.”

“I´m afraid the feeling isn´t mutual.” Gusty replied plainly.

“Is that so? But you came from miles away to here, knowing perfectly I would be here! Surely you must have missed me somehow. Because I did miss you a lot…” he stroked Gusty´s chin with his claw.

Gusty slapped his paw so hard that she left a mark over it. Gaueko shook his hand while puffing due to the burning sensation.

“Get your filthy claws out of me!” Gusty demanded angrily.

Despite the pain, Gaueko kept a victorious smirk in his face. At first, Gusty overlooked that, since Gaueko was never in his right mind, but after paying attention, she noticed Cavall was missing.

“Whe- What just happened?” she wondered aloud.

After hearing a laugh, she looked up and saw Cavall with a war hammer on his paws.

“Dang it.” Gusty muttered under her breath, feeling stupid for her mistake.

Subsequently, Cavall hit her with the hammer, laughing mockingly as Gusty groaned, flying away through the window and crashing against a bookshelf, causing the books on the top to fall on her. Feeling her head was going miles per hour, Gusty massaged her temples after getting the books off.

“Oh, and she is down!” Magic Star exclaimed worried. “Shady, pull me!”

Immediately, Shady got on two hooves and used her hind legs to kick the sliding ladder with all the strength that she could.

“Ha ha ha! Have fun with my buddies, little pony!” Cavall said before turning backwards.

“One´s running away!” Alonzo pointed at him.

By the time Magic Star arrived next to the window, Cavall was far enough from her reach, but she was near enough to chase him.

“Oh, you´re not telling anypony under my watch!” she said while sliding through the window. “I´ll deal with this, no worries!” she reassured everypony. ·Come here you ruffian!” she said to Cavall.

Gaueko and Gwyllgi cackled tauntingly as they entered the library through the window, causing Gusty to frown angrily.

“I´ve been waiting for this moment ever since you scratched my eye!” Gaueko´s mood rapidly changed to anger but just as fast, he came back to be his snarky self. “Didn´t think I´d let that slide, did you?”

“No, and I don´t think this one either.”

Taking advantage of the books around her, Gusty took one and tossed it to Gaueko´s scratched eye.

“OW!” he covered his eye. “SERIOUSLY?! IN THE SAME SPOT?!”

Now that he was not on defence, Gusty took out his sword and threw it away. When he least expected it, she threw herself on top of him, trying to get the rope out of his belt to tie the dogs up. But naturally, Gaueko resisted, thus starting a fight, both physical and with weapons, and magic as well in Gusty´s case. As they battled, Gwyllgi picked up his sword, chuckling mischievously.

“This is gonna be easy peasy.” she said to herself.

“I´m afraid not.” Alonzo said behind her.

He grabbed her uniform and pulled her down. Involuntarily, Gwyllgi released the sword. Alonzo jumped over her to get the sword. Before he could reach it though, Gwyllgi pulled his tail towards her.

“Uh uh, no you´re not, sir.” she said to him.

And just when Gwyllgi thought she had won, Alonzo once again prevented her from doing so, this time by tripping her. Gwyllgi did the same to him in return. And so, they started fighting each other for that sword.

“Need any hoof, deary?” asked Knightshade, concerned by how violent Gwyllgi was.

“No, no, no!” Alonzo shook a hoof. “Keep your eye on the books, darling.” he told him while driving away Gwillgi´s biting jaws as far from him as possible. They need your help.”

“Yeah, because we lost like three assistants, so we´re back at the starting point, which is not good for either of us!” Shady said in agreement.

“Don´t worry, he´ll manage. She might attack like a dog with rabies but just like them she´s brainless at those moments.” Posey said to comfort him.

“What?! Who said that?!” Gwyllgi asked furious. Luckily, before she could do anything, Alonzo managed to bring her down.

Knightshade sighed.

“Let´s see if we find anything before Crunch gets to us…”

“Yeah, good luck with that…” Posey muttered under her breath.

“Or even better, let´s hope Magic Star reaches Cavall in time…” said Starswirl.

Cavall smirked confidently while running away through the castle hallways. Although everything was going according to plan, victory wasn´t just yet and more obstacles needed to be dealt with, something he realized when he heard a voice behind him.

“STOP RIGHT THERE!”

Turned out one of those earth ponies was smart enough to follow him, probably suspecting his intentions to tell Crunch. Not only that, but she was also fast as well. The distance between her and him was getting shorter and shorter in just a matter of seconds. What´s worse she was catching up to him. But maybe he could use that to his advantage.

When she was close enough, Magic Star prepared to jump on his back, but Cavall led her to a change of direction. Seeing a wall in front of her, Magic Star braked, but since she was going too fast, she ended up crashing against it.

“Ouch!” she grunted.

“Ha ha! Nice try, downgraded pony!” Cavall taunted her.

“Downgraded?!” Magic Star scoffed offended. “Your face is a downgrade! And I´ll make it even worse once I catch you!” she threatened while getting up.

She chased Cavall until he entered to a hall full of guards, leaving Magic Star no choice but to hide by leaning into a wall. Since she couldn´t follow him anymore, she couldn´t stop him from warning his fellow dogs, so she had better run back to everypony before they get to them, but her hoofsteps would avert them of her presence, so she had to wait. She slightly poked her head a little to get a view of the hall.

The walls were made of fair limestones, though they appeared darker due to the lack of light. Unlike Grogar´s and Katrina´s castle, the windows were not made of glass and were tinier, with the shape of keyholes. Rather, they were made of alabaster, and they were decorated with carved columns. The ceiling formed a barrel vault, supported by round arches. The hall was decorated with armours, flags and carpets, and some bricks contained carvings of Crunch. In fact, Magic Star was supporting her hoof on one of them now. On the middle, there were two big gates Cavall opened, which Magic Star assumed led to the throne room. And that wasn´t a good sign.

“Oh geez…” she thought while laying her hoof next to her mouth.

“My king!” Cavall ran to his throne. “The Wind Warrior has come!”

Crunch widened his eyes at first but then he smirked. Slowly, he got up from the throne.

“Finally. Finally, she´ll be mine.” he said. “And then I´ll be rewarded…” he tapped his fingers together. “In your face, Katrina! Ha ha ha!”

“Yes, yes, of course. But there´s a teensy eensy tiny problem….” Cavall made a tiny gesture, smiling nervously.

Crunch´s smile dropped in less than a second.

“What is it?” he asked calmly, but any dog in the room could tell anger was starting to build up inside.

“Sheeee´s already inside.” Cavall said quickly.

“WHAT?! HOW?!” Crunch shouted with so much strength that the sound waves pushed Cavall backwards. They even reached Magic Star´s mane, causing it to move.

“We´re not sure, but if we found about this now, that means she must have entered through the mines.” Cavall nervously explained.

Crunch grabbed him by the throat.

“WHERE IS SHE?!”

“At the library…” Cavall struggled to breathe.

Crunch growled and yelled in fury as he threw Cavall against the wall. Once on the ground, Cavall coughed due to back pain. As he got up slowly, Crunch broke the throne room´s gate in half with just one punch.

Hearing all the racket and steps, Magic Star started walking away slowly and leant against the wall, trying to make the least noise possible. Her breath stopped when she saw many dogs running on the same corridor she was in. Thankfully, they had their eyes on what was ahead of them, so they didn´t notice her. She closed her eyes, sighed in relief and kept on walking away.

“YOU FOOL, YOU HAD ONE JOB!” Crunch scolded Cavall as he caught up to his master. “DON´T YOU KNOW IF SHE´S AT THE LIBRARY SHE MUST HAVE FREED MAJESTY FIRST?!”

“I´m sorry, my king, but neither me nor my partners were assigned to the mines…” Cavall massaged his neck and back.

“THEN WHO WAS?!”

As if he recited the words of a spell to invoke somepony, the golden retriever, his friends, and other dogs at the mines ran into them. Judging by their ruler´s screams, words, tone and face; it was too late to deliver the news. The golden retriever laughed timidly and apologetically.

“So… You already know, huh?” he muttered.

Crunch shouted furiously. He took the dog nearest to him by the neck, turned her into stone and then dropped it to the floor to tear its body to pieces and then stepped on said pieces. Every dog watched terrified. They weren´t the only witnesses though. A few steps ahead, on the corridor to the right, Magic Star had witnessed everything as well.

Crunch grabbed the golden retriever´s shirt´s collar.

“Majesty and her soldiers must be nearby, CAPTURE THEM AND BRING THEM TO ME!”

“Yes sir!” the golden retriever rushed off. For Magic Star´s fortune, he took a different corridor than the one she was in.

“You! Go with him!” he said to a group of dogs. “And the rest stay with me!”

The dogs assigned with the golden retriever simply raised their paws to their forehead and said no word before leaving.

Magic Star bit her hoof nervously. Being a ruler, and an ally to Grogar no less, were enough facts for her to know that Crunch was not to be messed with and was a dangerous creature. But she didn´t know how much until she saw what he was capable of. She had to warn everypony before they could get to them, so there was no point on being stealthy anymore. So, she took a deep breath and started running away.

As expected her hoofsteps were noticed by every dog.

“Look! There´s one of them!” a dog screamed.

“GET HER!” Crunch raised his sword.

And so, Magic Star entered into the biggest race of her life. Despite being fast, it wasn´t enough to run out of an angry pack of dogs, especially one whose flesh was stone and whose heavy steps shook the floor, making it the more difficult to run. They were on her tail. Seeing nothing around of help, she had no choice but to throw mindlessly her most prized weapons: her potions.

“They´re not gonna be over, they´re not gonna be over. You´ll still have some of them and you´ll make more.” she said to herself while looking at a bottle she took out of her bag.

She kissed it before taking the cork out with her mouth. She spitted to the face of the dog nearest her.

“Behold! The power of potioooooons!” she cried while throwing everything she had.

The potions caused explosions, smokes, coughs and some faintings. However, not every dog was affected since they covered their noses or their mouths. Except for Crunch, as he was not affected in the slightest, which Magic Star took notice of. He was still standing, without any tear nor cough. And what´s worse, with an angrier face than before.

“Oh crumbs!” Magic Star exclaimed while quickly withdrawing eye contact with him.

Lancer, Glory, Fizzy and Buttons managed to knock out the last standing dog. Though still an intense and challenging fight, it was actually one of the easiest and fastest they had had for a long time. And this was thanks to the presence of Majesty and the rest of her army, since they fought the other dogs to prevent more from coming towards them. Exhausted, they sat against the wall and sighed in relief.

“It´s so nice not to be outnumbered for once!” Buttons exclaimed.

“Definitely!” Lancer agreed. “Oh, how I missed having more soldiers around!”

“I swear, when I saw that the number of opponents was the same as us I almost cried.” Fizzy confessed. “Now that I think of it, I didn´t realize how huge Majesty´s army was! I don´t think the earth ponies were as numerous.”

“Must be because they live in shorter clans and not kingdoms like our ancestors.” assumed Glory.

“Speaking of being few, looks like they could use more hooves.” Lancer pointed at the library´s door.

From what they saw, the rest of their friends weren´t as lucky. They had two big challenges to deal with. First of all, Gaueko and Gwyllgi, who despite being few, they knew well how to put up a fight and tire their enemy. And secondly, a huge entire collection of books to revise, which seemed very very tedious.

The four unicorns bit their lips.

“We should probably help them.” Buttons suggested.

“Agreed yeah.” Fizzy said as they all stood up.

At that moment, Gusty and Gaueko found themselves in a swordfight. As a consequence of being some time apart, Gaueko forgot how good and stubborn Gusty was at resisting but he didn´t forget how easy was to debilitate her when other´s life was on the line. Seeing Starswirl, Posey, Shady and Knightshade near each other, he decided to charge against them, tripping Gusty in order to do so.

“Guys, look out!” she warned them.

Luckily a few seconds after Gaueko came up with that idea, Lancer appeared out of nowhere and pounced on him. With the help of his magic, he tackled him against the ground.

“Buttons, try to hold Gwyllgi!” he ordered her.

“Yes, sir!” Buttons nodded.

“Gusty! Glory! Help them in their search!”

“On it!” Glory ran to a bookshelf.

“Thanks for the help!” Gusty said to Lancer before following Glory.

“What about me?” asked Fizzy, very eager to help.

“Um…” Lancer needed some time to give an assignment to Fizzy. After spending more time with her, he came to admit that Fizzy was a very smart and creative unicorn, but paying close attention was still not her forte. Consequently, putting her in a task in which she needed that level of attention wasn´t perhaps the best choice. “Youu can guard the door and warn us if somepony is coming!”

“Okay!” she cheerfully ran to the library´s door.

“Let me out! LET ME OUT RIGHT NOW!” Gaueko demanded Lancer while kicking.

The unicorn ignored the dog´s hissy fit, rolling his eyes in disdain.

Buttons kicked Gwyllgi in the stomach, sending her against the corner of a bookshelf. The dog moaned in pain while massaging the back of her head. Buttons joining the fight allowed Alonzo to catch his breath. And also to notice something off…. It was very subtle, but he could swear that he felt the floor shake a little. Steps caused vibrations on the floor, yes, but neither hundreds of soldiers could move the earth so violently. It couldn´t be an earthquake either, since it was intermittent and not constant.

“Um… Does any of you feel the floor shaking?” he asked the other earth ponies.

The three earth ponies widened their eyes. Though Posey and Knightshade were not on the floor exactly, they felt its sensations through the sliding stairs.

“Yeah…” they confirmed in fear.

“Uh… What´s that supposed to mean?” as she spoke, Gusty got progressively more scared.

“EVERYPONY, CRUNCH IS COMIIIIIING!!!” Magic Star yelled at the top of her lungs from far away. “HOWEVER YOU´RE ALL DOING GOWN THERE HURRY UUUUUUUP!!!!”

“Everypony to the library! Go! Go!” Majesty ordered her soldiers.

Unfortunately, it was too late. A new group of dogs behind them and way too near them to use any magic. On the distance she saw the figures of Magic Star, of the dogs, and Crunch, probably on their way to the library.

“CRUUUUUNCH!” Majesty yelled angrily.

Seeing her distracted, a dog tried to attack her, but she was able to stop his sword from coming to her head. As she was pushing his sword backwards, Majesty glanced again on the spot he saw Crunch, but he wasn´t there anymore. She groaned frustrated before engaging on a fight with the dog.

Meanwhile, Fizzy, who was at the door with her ear up on the air, whimpered anxiously and ran to her friends.

“She says you need to hurry!” she informed them.

“YEAH NO KIDDIIIING!!!” Knightshade said both sarcastically and terrified.

“We´re trying but we cannot find anything!” said Posey.

“Seriously, what is all this stuff?!” Shady held lots of strolls on her hooves.

“What have you found so far?” Starswirl swiftly sat by her side.

“Uh…. Kinds of stones? Dog body parts? The stars? Castles?” she explained at high speed while opening the scrolls. “Rubbish, it´s all rubbish!”

Starswirl aggressively took the scroll Shady had on her hooves away.

“THIS. ISN´T. RUBBIIIIISH!!” he yelled passionately and angry at the same time.

Taking advantage of the ponies´ terror, Gaueko and Gwyllgi managed to get the upper hoof against their respective opponents, getting Lancer out of him in Gaueko´s case and kicking Alonzo on his stomach in Gwyllgi´s.

They chuckled tauntingly.

“Goodness, you are all so gone!” Gwyllgi roared the last word.

“But perhaps I can do you a favour and ask Crunch to let me give you a quick and painless death instead of leaving you at Crunch´s or Grogar´s mercy.” Gaueko walked towards Gusty and pulled her tail down to bring her to his level. He put one of her forelegs behind her back and pressed against the other with her arm at the same time he laid a small blade against her neck. “Ignite your horn and say goobye to your neck!”

“And if any of you try to stop him, your precious saviour will have the same fate!” Gwyllgi said to the other ponies.

The ponies bit their lips nervously, not knowing how to get her friend out of that devilish black dog´s arms. But perhaps it wasn´t up to them.

“Don´t touch her Gaueko!” Sarama ordered him.

She and the other dogs entered through an entrance hidden under a rug.

“Do all libraries come with hidden passages or what?” Gusty wondered aloud, remembering her experience at Grogar´s library.

They surrendered the ponies, Gaueko and Gwyllgi and pointed at them with their spears.

“Saramaaaa!” Gaueko received her. “So glad to see you. I was wondering if you lost your sense or smell or something, since you know: The Wind Warrior is here!”

“Release her, Gaueko. Only Crunch can decide what to do with her, not you.”

“Don´t worry, I wasn´t going to do anything yet. I was just saying I could implore Crunch for me to kill her. You know as a small kindness! Since Crunch is very ruthless when it comes to killing his enemies.”

“But Grogar wants her alive. He left it perfectly clear. Don´t tempt Crunch into needless blood.”

“But if we kill her, the job´s already done! We´re actually doing Grogar a favour.”

“And do you know what happens to Crunch if he disobeys his orders?” Sarama replicated.

Gaueko widened his ears in realization. Immediately after, he grunted.

“Fiiine… I won´t kill her nor tempt Crunch into killing her.” he begrudgingly agreed. “But I´m keeping her until Crunch gets here.”

Gusty stared confused at Sarama. After the conversation she had with her, Sarama seemed to be somewhat protective of her, even more respectful towards her. However, she didn´t seem to be that convinced before Gusty locked them at the mines. She was merciful with her, sure, but she was still very willing to destroy her. Still, a tiny part of her hoped she was trying to help her. Otherwise, why was she trying to keep her alive when just a while before she was willing to kill her?

Gusty´s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of bars rattling. It also got the attention of the other ponies.

“Magic Star!” Shady exclaimed.

“Guuys! Ruuuun!” Magic Star yelled from behind the library´s door. “He´s-”

Crunch grabbed her by the back of her shirt.

“Here…” he finished the phrase for her with a devilish smile on his face.

Afterwards, with just a punch, he brought the library´s door down, making way for himself and the other dogs, in which between was Cavall. Everypony formed a group to feel safer, with Lancer at the front. Crunch walked towards Gaueko, Gusty and Sarama, the last kneeling to him. Although she took a short glimpse of him in full detail. He was bigger and more muscular than she remembered, not to mention meaner-looking and with horrifying looks, more grotesque than a gargoyle. The floor shook more violently with each step he took.

“Congratulations Gaueko. You managed to hold the Wind Warrior with a knife.” Crunch said satisfied. “But now I´m going to need you to release her.”

“You´re so welcome, my king.” Gaueko said before dropping Gusty towards Crunch. Once his paws were free, he bumped fists with Gwyllgi and Cavall, who walked to his side in the meantime.

“Well, well, we meet again. Who would have thought something so insignificant could cause so much trouble…” he said to Gusty.

“If I caused such a fuss, perhaps I´m not that insignificant.” she said in return.

“Ha ha! Good one, Gusty!” Fizzy cheered her.

“Oh, I see you´ve grown a nerve during this time.” Crunch said amused. “But I hope not too much…” he grinned evilly while staring at Magic Star. The earth pony shrinked in fear.

As an impulse, Gusty zapped at his paw to free Magic Star. Due to the surprise, Crunch ended up releasing her, and once she was on the floor, she ran to the rest of the ponies. However, Crunch didn´t seem to be that affected by the small zap. His paw slightly burnt, but hedidn´t show any signs of pain. That didn´t mean he didn´t get mad, though.

“YOU FOOLISH BRAT!” his eyes turned white as he stomped the floor with so much strength.

When she felt the violence with which he hit the floor, Gusty whimpered scared. His anger reminded her of Grogar´s when he found her at his study, though his was more calculated and precise, whereas Crunch was more impulsive, explosive and reckless. Nevertheless, it was still very dangerous, since he was the more unpredictable and more likely to kill without a chance to defend oneself. Expecting him to unleash his wrath on her, she put her forelegs up and closed her eyes. Surprisingly, nothing happened. Instead, his eyes turned back to normal and his expression changed into one of realization. Then, he smirked, which unsettled everypony.

“You know what? It´s a pity, I was willing to give this back to you.” He said while reaching for something in his pocket.

Gusty gasped shocked when she saw the shiny object Crunch took out. Her eyes turned glazed.

“My necklace….”

Author's Note

Ugh... The research struggle is real. Well, at least they don´t have to write and cite in APA format....

Huzza everypony! I know I´m a bit late to the party, but considering that last week the Olympic Games ended, I wanted to ask, did any of you watched the opening and closing ceremonies or any of the competitions? I myself watched the entire opening ceremony and well... The idea was good but poorly executed in my opinion. However, it did have its highlights when showing the cultural and historical references to Paris and France in general.

My personal favourite moments were Gojira´s and Celine´s performances. As for Gojira, performing at the same building where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned and sentenced to death, the use of heavy metal to represent the anger during the French revolution, and having Marie Antoinette herself sing an anthem talking about killing aristocrats is such a hardcore and epic move. And as for Celine, so beautiful. I got so emotional when I found out she had a neurodegenerative disorder that prevented her from singing, but she sang regardless! In the Eiffel Tower no less, since singing there was one of her dreams. During internship, I´ve seen a lot of people with neurodegenerative disorders and they´re very rough, so seeing Celine fulfilling her dream and fighting will be very inspiring and hopeful for these people. And as for the sports themselves, I didn´t see many of them, but I did watch artistic gymnastics, breakdance and skateboard.

Anyway, I know it´s a bit random but I really wanted to talk about it. But most importantly, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter!