“But-How did you-”

“That?” Gaueko asked her in return. “Oh! Just something you left us as a souvenir in our first rendezvous.”

“And we thank you for it!” Gwyllgi added. “Because if it weren´t for your precious amulet, now we wouldn´t be able to blackmail you!”

“It´s sad really. Because I know this object is really special to you.” `regretted´ Crunch. “But thanks to that little stunt of yours, I´m afraid you´ll have to pay for that somehow….”

Crunch clenched the fist with which he was holding the necklace, progressively increasing his strength. He smiled cruelly when he saw pain in Gusty´s face.

“Nooo! Please!” she begged, almost in tears.

The earth ponies didn´t know about the backstory behind that necklace, but judging by Gusty´s reaction, they deduced it was more than that to her. On the contrary, the unicorns felt disgusted and angry, especially Starswirl. He was so livid that he ignited his horn without realizing it, which Crunch noted.

“Move one muscle and you´ll be stone!” he threatened him.

Despite Crunch´s words, Starswirl kept his head high while igniting his horn with less intensity, implying he wasn´t going to attack yet but was prepared to do so should the case require it. Crunch rolled his eyes at him before turning back to Gusty.

“But to be fair, the final price you´ll pay is death.” he chuckled. “But perhaps I can make it less bad by leaving the necklace intact so you have it by your side when you die. So, surrender to me or say goodbye to your necklace!”

Gusty knew this was some sort of trap. Knowing Grogar, he most likely wanted to see her die by his hooves, so she was certain he wanted her alive. However, she didn´t overlook that one of Crunch´s paws was behind his back. She knew what to do, though it was going to hurt her soul deeply. Yes, the necklace represented her husband still being with her, but as cold as it sounded; the fates of the ponies around her was way more important than an old necklace. So, Gusty was going to let Crunch break it, tears already streaming down her faces and sniffing before replying. However, Sarama got ahead of her.

“Wait!” she held his arm. “My king.”

“What is it, Sarama?” he asked coldly without looking at her.

“Grogar wants her alive.”

Those words confirmed Gusty´s suspicions. Crunch was hiding a deadly weapon behind his back.

“And?”

“J-Just a reminder. I don´t know how Grogar would react if you killed her beforepaw.” she advised while eyeing Crunch´s sword.

Crunch snorted while shaking his head in denial.

“I-” Sarama felt like she wasn´t able to breath, so she took a pause to do so. “I just don´t want you to get hurt, my king.”

“Yes, yes.” he said sarcastically. “You don´t want me to get hurt by revealing my plans!!! You stupid mutt!!” he raised his paw at her, making her shrink. “Keep that mouth shut until I´ve finished my business, understand?!” Crunch ordered Sarama as he turned back to Gusty.

Once his back was facing her, Sarama frowned at him. The more she looked at him and the more she processed what Crunch had just done to her, the angrier she got. How was it that the pony trying to bring her leader down was far more merciful, understanding and respectful towards her than him? And what´s more, she even told her she would let her, and her followers go if she collaborated! And how was it that one of her friends acknowledged her role as a foredog and not him? This was not the first time he had humiliated her in public or threatened her with physical violence but after interacting with those two ponies, that was the last straw. No, they were not her enemy, Crunch was.

“You know what? You keep your mouth shut.” she clapped black.

Both dogs and ponies were left with their mouths hanging wide open. Crunch scoffed in disbelief.

“What did you say?”

“I said you keep your mouth shut!” she raised her voice and vocalized her words more precisely so Crunch would hear. “I´m tired of having to stand your behaviour towards me. Crunch, if you´re not happy with the fact I handle things better than you and the way do things around here, I will leave.” she asserted.

“Careful with how you speak….” Crunch clenched his fists.

“Sarama, why? I don´t, I´m asking-” Gaueko said with fake friendliness but also confused and nervous.

“You know what? Don´t even speak to me. Don´t even speak to me!” Sarama said to him.

“Ah!” Gwillgi and Cavall exclaimed offended.

“Oh, why can´t I speak to you?” Gaueko asked upset.

“Cause I don´t wanna speak to any of you. This is between me and Crunch.” she stressed.

The three dogs raised their paws defensively. Sarama turned back to Crunch.

“You and I made a bow. In which we promised to take care of each other and grow together. I thought we were in this together. But you were insecure about being a weak king for being more emotional than I and got jealous of me because I was a beloved queen.”

“THAT´S NOT TRUE, YOU WERE ALWAYS PATHETIC!” Crunch said to her. “I WAS THE BELOVED ONE, YOU FOOL!”

Sarama ignored his words.

“So what did you do? You resorted to a spell to turn your heart into stone in order to not to feel anymore! Without thinking on how that would impact me.” Sarama´s eyes filled with tears. “And then you took the title of co ruler and reduced me to a foredog instead!”

Sarama was so overwhelmed by emotions that she had difficulty to speak due to all the sobs.

“You may now have the looks or the strength, but you were a monster way before that happened.” she sniffed. “SIowly, you turned colder and more distant towards me because you thought me as a threat to your ego because I was more like your father.”

“SILENCE!” Crunch yelled at her.

Nonetheless, Sarama continued

“And you resented me for it. But guess what, I never thought you were weak for once!” at this point tears were running down Sarama´s face. “Ever!” she sobbed again. “If so, I loved your sensitivity. That´s why I fell in love with you even if our marriage was an arranged one!”

The ponies gasped.

“Wait. You´re married to him?!” Buttons asked shocked. “You´ve literally married Bluebeard!”

“Who?” Fizzy asked her.

“I´ll tell you later.”

“How many times do I have to say this?!” Crunch yelled at Sarama. We´re not married anymore! We never were!”

“Then why do you want me to wear our wedding ring?”

“Because now it´s an emblem of your status, you idiot!”

Sarama sniffed and rubbed her swollen red eyes from crying. She took a breath in and a breath out and looked at her wedding ring.

“For a while I considered it as a sign of our love.” she said more calmed, almost emotionless. “But after doing all the labour in this relationship so that you never lift a claw, I decided to stay loyal just for all the pack so they would be well taken care of. But after those two ponies reminded me of my true role, now I see the best thing for them is to leave with me.”

“See, I told you she was not to be trusted! She´s a Dimondian!” the golden retriever from the mines said. “And a traitor no less.”

“Well, at least she´s way better than Crunch.” Argus clapped back.

“WHAAAT?!”

And so, all the dogs started arguing between themselves about their allegiance to Crunch or Sarama.

“Well, looks like you two have inadvertently started a civil war, girls.” Magic Star said to Glory but addressing Gusty as well.

“Not really. This must have been around for a really long time and now exploded.” Glory replied to her, remembering the clash between Sarama and Argus and the dogs that captured her.

“SILENCE!” Crunch stomped his paw to the floor, shaking the floor like an earthquake would. “You wouldn´t dare.” he whispered hatefully to Sarama.

Sarama took the ring out of her finger and threw it away. It was subtle, but every creature in the room was sure to have heard Crunch gasped a little. He gazed up back to Sarama, who was inhaling air through her nose. Surprisingly, his face showed some pain, and his eyes got even watery. But he shook his head quickly, rubbed his eyes and changed his expression to one of fury. By throwing that ring away, she had betrayed him, and that could not go unpunished. So, he slapped one of her cheeks, throwing her to the floor. Everypony and dog gasped in shock. Afterwards, Crunch grabbed her by the neck.

“You fool! YOU WILL RATHER DIE THAN LEAVING ME!” he yelled at her.

Despite being at the risk of death and struggling to breathe, Sarama still held her high and showed no fear.

“SARAMA!” Argus cried.

He and other dogs tried to intervene, but Crunch turned their stare at them, turning them partially to stone; since his main focus was in killing Sarama. Others were stopped by the dogs still loyal to Crunch.

“I´ll cut your little heart out cause you made me cry!” he muttered at her ear while reaching out for his sword.

“No. I´ll cut your little heart out cause you made me cry!” Sarama replied back with a muffled voice yet loud in dignity.

The dogs looked helplessly and horrified at how they were losing their true leader without being able to do anything. But a miracle for those dogs happened. Watching the scenery, Gusty was reminded of her run-in with Grogar, since he attempted to do the same to her. It was almost as if she was reliving the same experience again. She could feel the same pressure, pain and her airways closing and almost see Grogar´s angry face in front of her. Sarama may want to stab her in the back all she wanted, but she couldn´t stand watching her going through the same she went through; it was too distressing.

“STOP!” Gusty conjured up the biggest wind expansion wave she could.

Crunch was way too heavy to throw him away, so naturally it didn´t do much to him, but at least it was enough to make him drop Sarama due to the surprise he felt. She took some time to cough and gasp for air before crawling away. Then, she was aided by dogs whose legs were not stone nor were surrounded by other dogs.

“Oh… So you wanna fight, huh? Very well…” he cracked his knuckles. “WE´LL FIGHT THEN!” he shouted as his eyes turned white and turning into lasers.

Gusty quickly jumped away to avoid getting hit. Angry for having missed his target, he growled furious and chased her away, dropping her necklace.

“I think that´s our sign.” said Buttons.

“I totally agree.” said Lancer.

They all ran towards her, but Starswirl stopped in the midway when he noticed Gusty´s necklace on the floor. Seeing no dog around him, he ran to it to retrieve it but unfortunately, Gaueko, Gwyllgi and Cavall noticed him before he could get away.

“Well look who´s there!” Gaueko exclaimed while they were walking towards him with a sinister smile on his face. “Hope you didn´t think I forgot about you.”

Starswirl gasped when he heard his voice. He kept the necklace inside his robe and got up as quickly as he could and ran away. Despite the possibility of getting him out of their sight, the dogs kept on walking slowly and calmly.

“Where are you going?! I thought you wanted to see me since you approached us!” Gaueko kept on speaking. “Oh, silly me, you were retrieving your crush´s necklace, weren´t you?”

Starswirl was blocked by four dogs to his left, so he turned to his right.

“You want to be her hero, don´t you? You want to give that necklace back to her so you get a kiss or something?” Gaueko teased him.

Starswirl´s right and front were also blocked. What´s worse, they were walking towards him to bring him closer to Gaueko, Gwyllgi and Cavall. He ignited his horn to teleport, but Gaueko pounced on him and tackled him to the floor with the help of his friends. Fortunately, Posey and Shady realized he wasn´t with them and were able to spot him.

“Where are you going knight in shining armour? Where are you-”

“HI YA!” Shady kicked him in the face, on the side of his hurt eye.

Once Gaueko was off him, Posey offered Starswirl a hoof to help him up. Gwyllgi and Cavall ran to his friend´s side to aid him, but he didn´t need any help, as he quickly incorporated himself.

“WILL YOU ALL STOP GOING FOR THE BAD EYE FOR ONCE?!” Gaueko yelled angrily while covering his hurt eye.

“I am so over this!” Cavall said while preparing to swing his hammer, but Posey stopped the strike with a board of a broken bookshelf.

“Wait a minute, I know you!” Gwyllgi pointed at her. “You´re Katrina´s little hench! Of course you´d be involved in this!”

Both Gwyllgi and Cavall swang their weapons to hit Posey, but she duck before they could reach her, resulting in both dogs hitting each other´s heads. Luckily, the part they hit was protected by their helmets, so they didn´t cause grave injuries, but it was enough to temporarily have their eyes running in circles and stars moving around their heads. While they recovered, Posey crawled away to Starswirl and Shady.

“You idiots!” Gaueko insulted them.

Starswirl saw Gaueko being distracted as a great chance to attack him, but the dog´s quick instinct allowed him to move aside before he could get zapped. As Starswirl fought Gaueko, Shady and Posey dealt with other dogs around. Seeing all the dogs on Crunch´s side were busy fighting the three ponies and none of them was available to stop them, Sarama and her followers saw a chance to escape the castle.

At another courtyard of the castle, Gusty jumped forward to avoid being struck by Crunch, since she didn´t have time to teleport. When her hooves were on the floor, she rolled forward to get farther from the explosion happening on her back.

“If I were you, I would stand still to make it less painful!” Crunch taunted her as he conjured up another laser.

Gusty´s instinct was to protect herself with a force field, but he managed to break it. Fortunately, the force field undid the effects of Crunch´s magic and the impact between the two simply made Gusty fall on her back some inches away. Crunch grunted frustrated and started throwing several attacks at her but Gusty was unaffected, as she hid behind a column. She covered her head with her hooves to protect it.

“Oh… are you scared?” Crunch asked with fake concern, since he could her pants. He screamed as he attempted to zap her once again.

However, before he could attack her again, he got slapped by a stream of water.

“Hey! There are more opponents at play, you know!” Fizzy shook her hooves, trying to divert his attention to her.

Since he was nearer to Fizzy, Crunch jumped towards her, almost getting her on his paw; but the unicorn was faster, so she teleported away while leaving out a scream of fear of the same pitch as a filly. Suddenly, a crystal started circling him. It was fast, but he caught a glimpse of the unicorn responsible for it: Glory. She was skating on the crystals she was creating the closest to Crunch to immobilize him temporarily. She got off the crystals once she finished the circle and ran away but just then, Crunch broke the barrier and disappeared in less than a blink. Glory gave a little gasp out and when she heard heavy steps behind her and immediately ran away, Crunch following her. Since he was catching up to her, Glory had to use the same tactic to trap him to get away. And still, he was on her heels. For being a dog of stone, he moved really fast.

Luckily for her, Gusty was observing everything from the column she was behind. She had an idea when she saw stones around. She picked them up and created a horizontal tornado in direction towards Crunch, then she introduced the stones one by one. Noticing stones on his back, Crunch turned around and saw Gusty, charging towards her now. At the moment he saw her, she immediately teleported away to the farthest spot from him in the courtyard. After quickly scanning around, she noticed the castle´s keeps, giving her an idea. In the meantime, Glory managed to get to the wall all ponies were hiding behind with. Lancer lent her a hoof and pushed her forward. She grunted as she laid on the ground.

“You good?” Lancer asked concerned, since he saw her panting.

“I´m fine, I´m fine.” Glory said between pants.

“Well, this is fantastic!” Knightshade exclaimed sarcastically. “We´re supposed to defeat that without knowing what his weak spot is?! ”

“Can´t you weaken him with any of your potions?” Buttons asked Magic Star.

“Don´t you think I´ve tried?!” she replied agitated. “He´s made of stone! His organs are not like ours! “Besides, I don´t have many left.” she opened her bag to show its inside to Buttons, who bit her lip when she saw how empty it was compared to before. “And I don’t to waste them in vain.”

“Well… now that I think about it, stone can melt, right?” said Fizzy. “So maybe with the heat of our magic, he could melt right?”

“But I don´t think that would kill him.” Alonzo disagreed with her. “If so, he would just change form and now he would be furious lava willing to burn us. And as far as I´m concerned, lava can´t be destroyed.”

“Hm… You´re right.” Fizzy lamented.

“Okay, okay.” Glory shook her hooves. “I know it´s important, but overthinking won´t lead us to nowhere. What we should focus right now is in reuniting with Gusty. If ye´re with me say aye.”

“Aye!”

Seconds after, they heard a poof on the distance. They turned their heads towards the direction of the sound and saw Gusty on the highest and furthest keep of the castle. They waved their hooves widely to catch her attention. Gusty grabbed the spyglass to get a closer view of the horizon. After moving it a little to the left, she spotted her friends. At first, she smiled content to see them safe, but after taking a better glance, she noticed Starswirl, Posey, and Shady were missing.

“Wait. Where are they?” she mumbled to herself.

She pulled the spyglass lower to the courtyard and then to the right, which is where the broken library window could be found. She didn´t have a good view on the insides but she could see flashes of a familiar and warm white magic. She gasped concerned. She searched around the backyard for Crunch but couldn´t find him, meaning he was already on his way to the keep she was in, but she couldn´t say if she was nearest to the courtyard or the keep. So, she thought it would be safer if her friends teleported to where she was in. She stood on two legs, raised her forelegs the highest she could and moved them back and forth. Lancer, who had his hoof over his forehead, quickly understood the message. He hugged Kinighshade to indicate the other unicorns it was time for teleporting. They nodded and Buttons hugged over Alonzo and Fizzy over Magic Star. Once they were all ready, they teleported next to Gusty.

“We have a problem.” Gusty told them. “Starswirl, Posey, and Shady are fighting Gaueko, Gwyllgi and Cavall alone.”

“More like three problems, if you count not knowing Majesty´s whereabouts nor how to weaken Crunch.” Lancer corrected her. “But one problem at a time, I guess.” he said afterwards, remembering Glory´s words.

“What if we divide in three groups?” Buttons suggested. “One group searches for Majesty, another goes for Starswirl, Posey and Shady; and another distracts Crunch in the meantime. And then we could meet at a certain place together.”

“That´s a good plan!” Alonzo said in agreement. “And once we´re ready we could send a sign with your magic.”

“Like a magical firework! If you can do that….” Knightshade smiled nervously.

The unicorns looked at each other. By their smiles and head nodding, the earth ponies could tell they were in.

“Sure thing!” Fizzy confirmed.

“Okay, then how about you three go retrieve Starswirl, Shady and Posey,” Gusty pointed at Buttons, Fizzy and Magic Star. “you three go for Majesty,” she pointed at Lancer, Knightshade and Alonzo. “and we distract Crunch!” she said to Glory.

Everypony nodded.

“Speaking of the devil, where is he now?” Magic Star asked.

Suddenly, the trapdoor that led to the top of the keep opened, allowing a fist of stone to come out. Fizzy and Buttons yelled while walking backwards. Gusty stepped on the door and applied magic to hold it close as long as possible. Glory ran to her and united her magic to hers.

“Go! Now!” Gusty ordered the rest of the ponies.

“Good luck everypony!” Buttons said before teleporting herself, Fizzy, and Magic Star away.

“You too!” Lancer replied while doing the same to himself, Alonzo, and Knightshade.

Crunch grunted in frustration for not being able to open the door. He decided to use his petrifying eye lasers instead to get rid of Gusty.

“AAAAH!” Gusty shouted while taking a huge leap backwards.

Since Glory was behind her, Gusty accidentally pushed her back, causing her to slip off the keep tower. Glory yelled terrified while falling off but fortunately she was able to hold on to an embrasure.

“Gustyyy!” she cried.

Immediately, Gusty rushed to her aid. Due to the fright of almost being hit by Crunch´s laser, she lit off her horn involuntarily, allowing Crunch to get in, something that only Glory was able to notice, since Gusty´s eyes were on her.

“Gusty! Crunch!” she warned her.

After turning her head back, she widened her eyes in horror when they met with Crunch´s, which were filled with bloodthirst, accompanied by a triumphant smile. As soon as he saw his paw raising up, Gusty got on defence.

“Don´t you dare!” she said while summoning a force field.

The impact of his fist against the forcefield pushed him backwards, almost to the point of falling off like Glory, but he was too big to fit through the embrasures. After hitting the merlons, he frowned furiously at Gusty and charged to attack again, but this time Glory was the one responsible to keep him off since Gusty was focused on pulling her up. She created a crystal block and pushed it against Crunch. At first, he didn´t seem to be intimated in the slightest, since with one touch on the crystal, she could enter in contact with her magic and turn her to stone. However, after touching the crystal, nothing happened to it. Instead, it ended up tackling him against the merlons, something that, despite being focused on keeping Crunch, Glory took notice of. For the unicorns´ misfortune though, Crunch opposed by pushing the crystal on the opposite direction. And unfortunately, he was stronger than Glory. Although with some effort, he was managing to slowly get that crystal away from him.

Usually, when using magic, both an entire unicorn´s mental and physical energy was put into it. So it was normal that after a while their muscles would start weakening or they fainted from exhaustion, which was what was happening to Glory. Slowly, her magic was losing power and her muscles stopped working to the point of letting go Gusty´s hooves. Fortunately, she was able to grab one of her hooves in time. Glory smiled grateful at her.

“We need to get away.” said Glory to Gusty. “He´s stronger than me and he´s going to crash that crystal against us any time soon.”

“Yeah. Not to mention this is a place too small to fight in.” Gusty added.

“Maybe we can get down here?” Glory suggested while looking down.

Not so far away, Gusty noticed some dogs running away. At first glance, one would say they were getting ready to attack but they didn´t have their weapons on. Moreover, from their body language, she could tell they were scared and instead of a predator ready to pounce on their prey, they looked like the prey running away for its life. This indicated Gusty who these dogs were, and among them there was the piece they needed to solve the puzzle of Crunch´s power.

“I think I have a better idea.” she said before igniting her horn.

At that moment, Crunch finally pushed away the crystal towards Gusty and Glory but they poofed away before it could hit them.

“NOOO!” he yelled angry.

He heard another poof before he could get to the spot the two unicorns were at. He searched around but didn´t see anything. He grunted in frustration and went back the trapdoor. Somewhere near the place Gusty saw the dogs at, she and Glory were still as a statue while using an invisibility spell. Once Crunch was out of sight, they undid the spell and ran away.

“Go, go!” Gusty told Glory.

Back at the library, many dogs were laying on the floor unconscious. Miraculously, Starswirl, Shady and Posey managed to remain standing and to knock out a considerable number of opponents. Well, except for Gaueko, Gwyllgi, and Cavall. As the saying goes, a bad penny turns up after all. That didn´t mean they weren´t struggling, though. They were starting to lose their patience, specially Gaueko.

“Bloody bones!” Gaueko exclaimed while rolling up his sleeves. “How is it that none of you freaks have yielded yet?!”

“I could ask you three the same question.” Starswirl answered back.

“It makes sense for us because we´re soldiers!” Gwyllgi refuted him. “But you three are nobodies. You are just a random unicorn that has no idea what he´s doing but got into this because you got smitten by the Wind Warrior!” she said to Starswirl while pointing at him. “You are just a weird pony that Katrina used to spy on us, but without her you´re nothing!” she pointed at Posey. “And you!” she said to Shady. “You´re a pathetic pony who´s trying too hard to be brave but you will always be a coward!”

“That might be true, but this pathetic pony has a lot of bottled-up anger yet to release!” Shady said as a threaten, bumping one hoof against another. “And as your little friends have seen, I am very dangerous when I´m angry!”

“You´re nothing compared to Crunch!” Cavall pressed her muzzle with one claw.

The word Crunch reminded Gaueko of a very important detail. A detail that determined their victory over the ponies. He widened his eyes in realization and chuckled teasingly.

“It doesn´t matter if we don´t win this fight.” he walked towards the three ponies. “Because at the end of the day, you still have no idea on how to defeat our leader! He´s made of stone, nothing can´t hurt him! No weapon nor magical attacks affect him! He´s invincible!”

“We know he has a weak spot in his body.” Posey replicated in a soft-spoken yet firm voice.

“Really? And where did you hear that, miss braids, hm?” Gaueko asked her while playing with one of her braids. “From silly cat rumours? I thought you were smarter than to trust those fish-breath spitting-hair balls creatures.” he released the braid he was holding to her face.

“She heard that from me.” said Starswirl. “And this is how I found out.”

He pulled the collar of his old blue, full of patches, knee-length tunic, revealing a collar full of small sleigh bells, except for the one at the centre. Shady and Posey were surprised that he was wearing that all that time, but it was nothing compared to Gwyllgi´s and Cavall´s reaction. The two dogs gasped dramatically in chorus.

“Oh, you filthy hermit!” Cavall insulted him. “Of course you were part of them!”

Cavall and Gwyllgi were ready to attack but Gaueko raised his paw.

“Yes, I remember. Your little friends were responsible for the many book thefts around the kingdom.” Gaueko walked towards Starswirl. “Unfortunately, they all died before they could get too far in their research. And until we got to your pathetic little cottage, I don´t remember seeing you lurking around here. Which brings me to the conclusion that you didn´t get to know our great leader´s weak spot. So, it doesn´t matter if you´re still standing, because sooner or later, Crunch is going to crash you all!”

The three ponies looked at each other worried. Noticing this, he signed Cavall and Gwyllgi with his eyes to do something. As much as they hated to admit it, he was right. They weren´t able to find anything of help, and the rest of the ponies were probably busy in trying to run away from Crunch. Nevertheless, Starswirl knew Gaueko´s words were intended to bring them down, so they had to have their heads high.

“We will find a way.” he said.

Shady and Posey frowned at Gaueko as he circled them.

“You mean she will find a way.” Gaueko corrected him. “Which she won´t!” he chuckled. “But since your vision of her is so rose tinted, you believe she´s this beautiful angel that´s gonna save you all! And the craziest thing is that you think she´s going to fall in love with you! When you´re so bellow her. And haven´t you thought of the possibility she already has feelings for a more handsome unicorn? What makes you think she´s going to reciprocate your feelings?”

Starswirl´s felt his chest shrinking after hearing those words. Gaueko had been taunting him about his feelings for Gusty all along, yes, but he didn´t expect him to go that low. The worst part was that he probably was right. Ever since he found out she had a deceased husband; her having feelings only for him was something that concerned him, but he preferred to avoid thinking about it. At the end of the day, what mattered was that he depended on him and liked being around him. Plus, it was understandable if she didn´t reciprocate, the poor mare lost the love of her life and the father of their daughters in the most horrible way, and the last thing he wanted was taking advantage of her. However, it also hurt deeply not to be loved by her in the way he wanted. It wasn´t certain yet, but he probably had to consider that possibility, no matter how painful. He looked down sadly.

Gaueko grinned victouriously, seeing he was obtaining his goal. Luckily for Starswirl, Posey and Shady were there to make him snap out of it.

“Okay, enough with sinking him that way, Gaueko.” Posey stood up to him while Shady was patting Starswirl shoulder and smiling at him to comfort him. “Besides, you´re the last creature to talk. Because during one of my spy missions, it came to my ears that you really like Sarama.”

Gaueko widened his eyes and blushed embarassed.

“Shut up braids!!” he yelled at her.

His breath moved her braids backwards and some drops of saliva landing on her face. She wiped them out while frowning at him. Despite being mad, he recovered his composure quickly.

“But don´t worry. None of you will get to feel the pain nor the consequences of your defeat.” Gaueko `reassured´ them.

Behind their backs, Gwyllgi and Cavall were ready to strike their swords on their necks. All the talk Gaueko was doing was to get them distracted and attack at a vulnerable moment. For their misfortune, despite the fact the plan was working, outside forces would jinx it. A big blast sent them away against a bookshelf. Like Gusty, books fell on them, but they were more and heavier.

After hearing the blast, the ponies turned their heads back, finally seeing Majesty in the flesh. Gaueko´s ears dropped in fear as her forces surrounded the three dogs.

“It´ s over, Gaueko!” she told him. “If you don´t let them go and surrender, my soldiers and I will blast you and your cronies at the same time!” she ignited her horn to emphasize her threat.

Seeing he couldn´t do anything against that many unicorns, he had no choice but to obey. He rolled his eyes while pushing the three ponies towards her.”

“Lock every window and door, including every trap door you see.” she ordered her soldiers as she received Starswirl, Shady and Posey.

Starswirl stared amazed at Majesty. After hearing so much about her, she was standing right in front of him. It felt like a dream.

“My queen.” he immediately bowed, Shady and Posey imitating him.

“You must be Starswirl, the unicorn that got recruited by the holdovers. The Wind Warrior has talked wonders about you.”

“She did?” he asked somewhat excited.

“Of course she did, you dummy!” Shady said to him.

Majesty laid eyes on the two earth ponies. They both dropped their ears, intimidated by her suspicious gaze.

“You must be the other two earth ponies the Wind Warrior mentioned. I don´t know which one is Posey and which one is Shady, but right now that´s not important.” she looked around, noticing there were some ponies missing. “Where are the others?”

Right then, Buttons, Fizzy and Magic Star materialized out of nowhere.

“Don´t worry guys, help´s coming!” Fizzy said as they all prepared to fight.

Unlike what they were expecting, the environment wasn´t that unfavourable. Many dogs were unconscious, Gwyllgi and Cavall were hurt, and there were many unicorn soldiers. The three ponies understood everything when they saw Majesty.

“Majesty!” Buttons bowed to greet her. “Didn´t expect to see you here.”

“Why wouldn´t you?”

“Majesty?! Majesty!!!!” Lancer yelled desperate from afar, catching Majesty´s attention.

“Let´s just say we thought you were stuck with the dog army and had to split up to look for you and help them.” Magic Star explained to her.

“That explains it. But where are Glory and Gusty?”

“Distracting Crunch at a keep tower. But we don´t know if they´re still there.” Fizzy answered.

“Then let´s reunite with Lancer and search for them. We´re leaving!” Majesty said to every soldier.

They all nodded and followed her.

“This isn´t the end, your majesty!” Gaueko screamed as all the ponies left. “You still have to defeat Crunch, and you neither any of your minions know how!” he said before Majesty locked the library´s main door.

“Wait, we got locked?” one of the unconscious dogs finally came around.

Gaueko groaned while rubbing his paw through his entire face.

Sarama was supervising that every dog entered through a secret hallway that could only be revealed if one pulled the sword of an armour display, which in reality was a lever that lifted a stone and thus made the hallway accessible.

“Move, come on! Hurry!” she shook her paw back and forth quickly.

Once she didn´t see more dogs incoming, she turned to the dogs and started counting them, either with her her claw or by her sense of smell. Since the majority of dogs in Crunch´s military troops are Dimondian, they already favoured her from the beginning, but the Caninians that weren´t much patriotic or simply didn´t like Crunch, such as Argus, preferred Sarama. Likewise with the slaves, Sarama didn´t know the names or the faces of every dog in the castle but she remembered the smell of every dog that at one point supported her or depended on her more than on Crunch.

“Okay, I think that we´re all here!”

“Sarama!” Gusty called her.

Sarama´s ears perked up. She sighed when she saw Gusty and Glory running towards her.

“Wind Warior.” she addressed Gusty while joining her paws in front of her face. “Just because I´m not on Crunch´s side anymore, doesn´t mean that I am on your side.” she clarified. “I am on the side of my subjects, which means I have to ensure their safety and mine. So I am not helping you against him.”

She was about to cross the door, but Glory held her paw.

“This is not about ye helping us.” she stated firmly. ·It´s about Crunch not being a threat anymore, which as a leader, ye should ken this concerns all of ye.”

Sarama closed her eyes while softly exhaling air through her nose. She turned around and put her paws behind her back.

“What is it?” she begrudgingly accepted to help them.

“Do you know what Crunch´s weak spot is?” Gusty asked her. “We just need you to answer that question, you don´t need to fight with us or anything of the sort.” she reassured her. “After what I´ve seen, I wouldn´t want you to put in such position.”

The seriousness in Sarama´s face slowly faded away, and for the first time, she showed tenderness towards the ponies. She didn´t love or consider them her friends by any means, but she couldn´t deny that the empathy they had with her was very sweet.

“Why do you care so much about me if I´m not your ally?” she asked them with a childlike curiosity.

“Well, I saw the ring you were wearing.” Gusty replied first.

“Hm…” Sarama tilted her head.

“And before knowing who your husband actually is, I didn´t want to cause him pain. Because I know what it feels like. As well as being strangulated by somepony way more powerful and stronger than you.” she looked down while scratching a foreleg.

“And because I know a good leader when I see one.” Glory continued. “Too often those who are no true leaders feel threatened by the real ones because deep down they ken they themselves are not apt to rule. Consequently, they´ll put them down in any way they can until they forget who they truly are.”

Sarama looked away and smiled subtly.

“No wonder you jumped out like that. Thank you.” Sarama said with sincere gratefulness.

The two unicorns smiled back. But it didn´t last long.

“WIND WARRIOOOR!” Crunch yelled from afar.

Gusty clenched her teeth nervously.

“Quick, tell us his weak spot.”

Sarama breathed in and out.

“Unfortunately, I don´t have an official answer. But I think I have an idea where it could be. Let me ask you, what does having a heart of stone mean?”

“Hm… Somepony unkind and cruel.” Glory replied. “Or somepony who has no feelings.”

“Would you say Crunch is emotionless?”

Sarama´s words triggered an important memory in Gusty. She remembered the conversation she had with Grogar when he visited her at the dungeons, most specifically the words she said to Grogar when he said feelings are a sign of weakness.

“Well… Actually, I don´t see it like that. If you had achieved your empire, it must have been because you were pushed by something. Call it motivation, call it desire, but those are feelings.”

Both unicorns widened her eyes in realization.

“Of course, that´s it!” she thought aloud.

Sarama smiled at their intelligence, but it wiped out when she sniffed a familiar but not comforting smell around.

“He´s nearby. We need to go.” she finally entered the door, but before pulling the lever inside the hallway she turned one last time to Gusty. “What´s your real name, wind warrior?”

“Gusty.”

“Well then. Good luck, Gusty.” she then turned to Glory. “And Glory.” she said while holding the brooch she made for her.

Gusty smiled while Glory put her hoof on her forehead and swung it forth. Finally, Sarama pulled the lever and closed the door. From inside she heard the unicorns running away.

“We´re moving!” Sarama gave the order to every dog.

The dogs nodded their head and started walking away, trying to make the least noise possible. Although she took the lead, she couldn´t help but look back sometimes. She had the feeling the ponies were going to need her help. As she said before, she was not going to do it for them, even if she took a liking of Gusty and Glory. But she felt like she had the responsibility of making sure Crunch was not going to harm her subjects and herself anymore. There even came a moment when Sarama simply stopped walking and stood still staring at the passage door.

“Is everything ok, Sarama?” Argus asked her.

Sarama gave no answer.

Author's Note

If you didn´t get the Bluebeard reference, look it up. There´s a reason Disney hasn´t touched that tale... Here´s a hilarious recap of the story, if you´re interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf_57mIFwxo&ab_channel=PascuyRodri

It´s in Spanish but I think there are English subditles, but if not you can ask me to translate.

Also what Crunch and Sarama say to each other is a reference to the song Girl with One Eye by Florence+The Machine. Check it out, it´s so good!

And lastly, I had to divide this chapter in two because it was getting too long. I´m almost ending it so soon enough you´ll be getting another chapter, yaaay!