Emerald Gleaner: Retired Monster

by Legionary

Chapter 5: Hashtag Drama

Sunset Shimmer's breath came in short, panicked gasps.

She ran forward aimlessly, all around her a blank canvas of black. The darkness seemed to come alive and black limbs rushed towards her. She felt its hands along her body, clutching, clawing and squeezing. Releasing screams that were constantly interrupted by a hand that kept trying to cover her mouth, she twisted and thrashed until she finally managed to rip herself out and away.

The instant Sunset managed to free herself she found herself surrounded by people. They weren't looking at her and facing in random direction in the dark void. Some were various, rough looking young men wearing hoodies or bare chested and others wore full body covering black armour; all had a crude symbol of a sun in red and yellow paint on them. Sunset Shimmer continued running forward while all around her strangers silently fought unseen enemies before dying horribly and messily. Some were torn apart by explosions, others had massive, bloody holes blown in their bodies as they collapsed to the ground.

Sunset started sprinting desperately, horrified tears streaming down her cheeks as she tried her best to ignore the horrors occurring around her. Soon enough the last man died and his falling copse faded away from sight along with the rest and Sunset was left alone to run in the darkness. Suddenly an armoured fist flew out of the darkness and she crumpled to the ground. Panting, she moved to try to get back up but her legs refused to respond. Looking down, her eyes widened when she saw that in place of her flesh and blood legs were a pair of wooden marionette legs.

Suddenly a high pitched, spine chilling wail filled the air. In the far horizon of the darkness came a wall of flames that seemed to stretch on forever. Before this wall of flames was a figure shrouded in shadow that walked at a leisurely pace towards Sunset.

Sunset Shimmer immediately started to crawl desperately along the ground, her wooden legs dragging uselessly and noisily along the ground behind her. As she moved along the ground as fast as she could, she looked over her shoulder to see the figure's progress. Every time she looked, the figure seemed be far closer, almost as if it was leaping meters at a time each moment she wasn't looking. Desperate to get away, Sunset practically began throwing herself forward to move faster. Suddenly the walls of flames appeared and shot around Sunset, surrounding her with fire that seemed to reach miles into the air.

Terrified sobs racked Sunset's body as she stopped her movement before a raging firestorm. She released a scream of terror as she felt something grab her and roll her over onto her back. The shrouded figure was on her. It now sat on her waist and was leaning over her, and despite the flames all around them the figure was still covered in indescribable darkness, the only thing visible being its eyes that seemed to blaze brighter than the fires around them.

Sunset subconsciously held her breath as the figure's hands reached down and grabbed her head. Fingers splayed along the sides of her head before resting its thumbs and forefingers around her eyes, forcing them wide open and staring into them.

“Murderer...” came a harsh whisper before the two thumbs left their spots. They positioned themselves over her eyes and grew sharp talons before plunging down.

Sunset gasped and sat up, swinging her arms before bringing her hands up to her eyes. She felt herself tip over and fell with a short shout and landed with a thump, laying still a moment before groaning. Looking up, she found herself to no longer be in a plane of darkness but an apartment early in the morning. Beside her was a couch with a blanket that was half pulled off and still partly wrapped around her body.

'Just a nightmare,' Sunset thought with relief as she began the arduous task of pulling herself back onto the couch. 'Guess I deserve it... I can only imagine what my parents’ reaction would be to everything I've done... probably smug. Knew all along I'd be trouble.'

After probably spending far longer than was necessary pulling herself back onto the couch, Sunset rested her head on the armrest and covered her legs up with the blanket. She stared at the blank TV for a few minutes, idly wondering what time it was before reaching out and grabbing the remote.

'YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE!' came a voice from the TV the moment she turned it on. 'IT WAS SAID YOU WOULD DESTROY THE SITH, NOT JOIN THEM!”

Sunset frowned and quickly changed the channel. She looked up at the info bar when it popped up and groaned audibly; it was barely six o'clock. After the nightmare she just had she didn't feel like trying to go back to sleep though. So with a sigh, she began channel surfing, trying to find something good. None of the channels were familiar to her, however, and were completely different from the ones she had gotten used to. Eventually she came to a set of channels that had to be bought and frowned at the odd names.

'MILFs gone wild?' Sunset thought in some confusion. 'XXX Latino Paradise? The heck kind of shows are these? Whatever... they're unavailable anyway.'

Sunset was about to continue channel surfing when a small voice startled her and nearly sent her flying out of the couch again.

“Hi~” Navi said softly from the opposite end of the couch, peering over the armrest at Sunset.

“H-hey...” Sunset greeted back, hand over her thundering heart. “D-did you want something?”

“Can I please use the TV to play games?” Navi asked politely.

“...Sure, go ahead,” Sunset replied after a moment and held the remote to the little girl. It wasn't like she had found something interesting to watch. Might as well watch someone play video games.

“Thank you!” Navi said happily, bounding over next to Sunset, grabbing the remote from her and giving her a quick hug as well.

“U-uhh, no problem,” Sunset said, hesitantly patting the little girl's head.

Giving Sunset another smile, Navi quickly made her way over to the TV. Putting it on the right mode, she then turned the Wii U on before looking for a game to play. After a moment, she picked one out and quickly placed the disc in the console before taking a seat in front of the couch and before the coffee table. An image flashed across the screen along with the game's title.

Super Mario Bros. U

Sunset lied back and rested her head on the armrest. She hadn't ever really gotten into video games. She had left shortly before the ones in Equestria grew beyond a mostly text based state and the ones in the other Earth hadn't garnered her attention. But considering she was now crippled and basically under house arrest, she wasn't going to snub any means of passing the time.

It wasn't long before she was watching Navi control a little man wearing blue overalls with a red shirt and hat. She spent the entirety of the first level messing around, jumping and punching random things, almost running the clock down to zero when she finally went for the exit. The next level she spent very little time messing around and ran straight through, and in the third one she managed to complete it in less than a minute thanks to consecutive jumps that practically had her flying through the level. It was just as Navi was finishing the first boss with no damage that Sunset was beginning to think the game was easy.

“Do you want to play too?” Navi asked her as she victory screen played.

“Well...” Sunset considered. She had nothing better to do and then there was that eager hopefulness that was so clear in the little girl's eyes... “Sure why not?”

“Yay!” Navi cheered and darted over to grab a controller.

Sunset wiggled in place to get into a bit more comfortable position on the couch. She grabbed the controller when Navi held it out to her and settled in for some relaxed fun.

An hour and a half later she found herself staring at a screen that seemed to be silently taunting her. On it was a small bar that had the word 'Continues' and a number two that ticked up to three.

“Would you stop running ahead of me?” Sunset groused, now sitting upright and focused on the screen.

“I'm sorry,” Navi said and smiled brightly at the older girl.

“Ugh.” Sunset shook her head but refused to give in. They were on the same side so technically she was still winning... just not as much as Navi was. Honestly she wasn't doing very badly at all and Navi having learned to hold back from playing with Spike was trying to adjust her skill to play with her. It was just when things started to get hectic that Navi forgot this and started tearing through the level, often leaving Sunset scrambling and failing to keep up.

“Nonononono, Naviiiiiiiii!” Sunset said through gritted teeth as she rapidly pressed buttons on her controller. After a tense moment, she sighed. “Saved it, no thanks to you.”

“Well... keep up.” Navi giggled but did pause her inexhaustible forward movement to wait for Sunset's character.

“Momma's girl, Navi says keeps up,” Sunset muttered under her breath and didn't have much more time to mutter anything else as Navi started moving again.

Despite the unexpected difficulty playing with someone as skilled as Navi added to the game and her apparent mood. Sunset was actually enjoying herself. She wasn't afraid of challenges, and playing games with Navi accomplished what she ultimately wanted, to be distracted from her current situation.

“Grrrr... made it,” Sunset said with a sigh and leaned back. “Aren't the bosses supposed to be hard compared to the levels?”

Navi just shrugged.

Sunset was about to prepare for the next level when a very familiar sensation rose up from the parts of her lower half she could still feel. She made to get up and only stopped herself from tumbling face first into the floor thanks to remembering that her legs no longer worked at the last moment. She remained sitting on the couch for several moments, staring wide eyed at her legs as suddenly the reality of having legs that didn't work washed over her.

“Are you okay?” Navi asked, walking over and coming to a stop next to Sunset.

“I need to use the washroom,” Sunset said, crushing down embarrassment as it wouldn't help here. “I can't get there without crawling. Can you go wake up your... mother and get her to help me?”

“Hmm... nope!” Navi shook her head, and before Sunset could voice any protest the little girl reached over and wrapped her arms around Sunset's waist. “I can help you!”

“But you're just a little...” Sunset began before she was suddenly near effortlessly lifted up by Navi. Considering Navi was easily half Sunset's height, the act of carrying the older girl was a tad awkward for her, but she was willing to give it her all. After a few moments Navi had moved Sunset so that her upper body was resting on her shoulders and upper back while her lower half was dragging upon the floor.

“Were you an Earth Pony or something?” Sunset asked as she looked down at the little girl under her.

“Nope!” Navi smiled and started running for the bathroom.

“Gah!” Sunset shouted as one of her legs caught a chair in the kitchen and sent it tumbling over. “I don't need to go that badly!”

“I don't need help peeing in the toilet!”

Emerald snorted in some amusement as she listened in on what was going on in the apartment. Currently she was in bed, wearing sleeping clothes but not the risque outfit she had put together to seduce Twilight the other night. She was spooning Twilight who was currently pretending to be asleep. Considering what had happened last night, Emerald was more than willing to humour Twilight's desire to sleep in. That and she also felt much of the same.

The virus continued to stay in bed as the ruckus in the bathroom died down and the sound of people moving back into the living room soon followed. She stayed spooning Twilight, quietly holding her close until the sound of Spike's voice joined the the two others in the living room. It was then that Emerald decided it was time to stop pretending they could ignore everything.

“Twilight, it's time to stop pretending to be asleep now,” Emerald said to her girlfriend, getting a sigh in response.

“Sorry,” Twilight said and reached over to grip Emerald's hand with her own. “I guess it's kind of childish of me to want to hide in bed and hope all the bad things go away.”

“No, that's just normal,” Emerald replied. “It's when you try to do that seriously instead of a brief coping mechanism that it becomes childish.”

“And this of all worlds isn't conductive towards that kind of behaviour,” Twilight said as she wiggled out of Emerald's hug and started to get out of bed.

“Well... helps if your parents are rich,” Emerald commented and get out of bed as well. “Which... yours are, if I recall.”

“Yes, because Equestrian bits are going to be so much help right now,” Twilight said sarcastically, glancing at Emerald with a smile. “I'm going to have a shower and get cleaned up. I'll see you in the kitchen. We'll get started on talking about what we need to do while we wait for the portal to open again.”

“I'll get started on breakfast.” Emerald nodded and walked out of the bedroom, clothes shifting to her casual wear.

Emerald walked into the kitchen. Looking over into the living room, she saw Spike sitting on the floor next to Navi, also playing, and Sunset was on the couch. She was still playing as well and seemed to be more clearly enjoying herself now that she had someone to share the irritating ace that was Navi. At hearing Emerald's approach, Sunset sent an almost fearful glance towards her.

The virus shrugged the look off and turned towards the fridge. She quickly started gathering ingredients to make a full breakfast. It was only a few minutes before everything was beginning to sizzle atop the stove. Considering there were five mouths to feed, the pans on the stove were quite full of cooking foodstuffs. A few minutes before things were finishing being cooked, Twilight walked into the kitchen and sat at the table.

Emerald felt there wasn't much chance of everyone eating together just now and quickly got a set of chafing dishes she had made earlier on. She put the food away in the dishes before grabbing a cup of coffee for Twilight and sitting at the table.

“Thank you,” Twilight said quietly after grabbing the cup from Emerald. “So what's the plan?”

“Well, first things first,” Emerald began and glanced towards the living room where the others were sitting. “I'll have to enroll Navi and Spike in the local education system. I don't intend for them to be going to a school, I'll just be grabbing some home schooling packages for the time we are here.”

“That's good.” Twilight smiled. “I have nothing against human children, but I want Spike and Navi kept close, plus this will be an interesting chance to compare education. I'm curious to see if Spike will need any help for it.”

“Nothing about Navi?” Emerald asked.

“If she learns anywhere near as fast as you, then all she needs is to be shown once or twice,” Twilight replied. “And she'll be good until the next part.”

“True.” Emerald nodded. “I've already reinforced the runes on the apartment to the furthest I can take it, but I'm also going to be going out and about, keeping an ear to the ground basically and looking out for people deciding to have a go at us.”

“Is that going to be a big problem?” Twilight asked with a frown.

“This isn't like Equestria,” Emerald said with a bit of an annoyed sigh. “Where someone in power can say I'm good and people will mostly ignore me like how it goes with Discord. People in power can say all they like, but it doesn't change the fact I'm the sole surviving member of Alex Mercer's personal Cadre. Some people will avoid me like the plague the moment they see me, some will talk a big game but won't do anything even if they had the chance, some won't care and some will try to punish me in some way.”

“Emerald...” Twilight said with concern as she reached out and held the Evolved's hand. “I know you will always protect us from anyone who wants to harm us... but please do the same for yourself. Don't let others hurt you even if you feel they deserve the right.”

“Don't worry Twilight, everything will be fine,” Emerald said and squeezed Twilight's hand comfortingly. What she didn't mention was the biggest and possibly only reason she let Sophie get away with attacking her was because she knew her quite personally. If she had been a stranger, Emerald would not have cared nearly as much and simply swatted her aside. The likelihood of meeting another person she had known as closely as Sophie was very low.

The idea of someone trying to attack her made Emerald think of a previous idea to take Twilight and the others to some tropical resort and spend the entirety of their stay there. While she hadn't gone through with it before because she didn't want to disrespect Twilight by doing that, she had a feeling that was no longer an issue now. However, the idea was no longer as practical as it was before her presence had been announced. Emerald had a feeling that now she had been reintroduced to the world at large that the force of nature that was the various internet communities had already managed to gather some key facts about her and the people she cherished.

“Other than ensuring our safety, there isn't really anything to do but to waste time until the portal opens again.” Emerald shrugged.

“Well they certainly found a means to pass the time.” Twilight nodded towards the living room with a smile as Spike let loose a loud cheer and Navi gave a giggle. “Hmm... I can think of a few personal projects I'd want to work on in the time we have here.”

“Projects?” Emerald asked. “Even now when you don't have magic?”

“Especially now.” Twilight nodded with a determined look. “Do you have anything to work on as well?”

“Tons, it's just that most of it requires me to actually physically work and build things,” Emerald said. “Which I want to do at the Enclave, not here on Earth. Eh, I can work on a lot of theory while I'm here. There are a ton of equations and design work I need to do for a project anyway. Might as well get on it here and now so I can get started on laying down actual frameworks as soon as we get back.”

“Right. I'm going to head out now,” Emerald continued as she stood up from her seat. “It's a bit early yet, but I want to visit a few spots before getting started on anything serious.”

“Oh, oh!” came some excited shouting and suddenly Emerald had Navi clinging to her leg. “I wanna come too! Please Mama!”

“Well... are you sure?” Emerald asked after a moment. “I'm not exactly going anywhere exciting.”

“I wanna be with you, Mama!” Navi pouted up at Emerald.

“As long as you be a good girl, then sure.” Emerald smiled softly before picking up Navi who immediately clung to Emerald happily.

“Awww. Have fun you two.” Twilight smiled at Emerald.

“Breakfast will stay warm in the chafing dishes for a good few hours,” Emerald said as she walked towards the door. “Eat whenever you guys want. We should be back by lunch at most.”

“We'll be fine, don't you worry.” Twilight smiled after Emerald as she opened the door and closed it behind her. She continued to sit at the table for a few minutes, nursing her coffee before heading over to the living room where Spike and Sunset continued playing. She watched for a few minutes before leaning down on the back of the couch's backrest and prodding Sunset's shoulder.

“So...” Twilight began. “Sunset Shimmer. I don't think we've been properly introduced to one another...”

“This is my old high school,” Emerald explained. “With everything that went on, it's held up about as well as expected.”

“It's exploded looking,” Navi pointed out.

The multi-story high school looked as abandoned and dilapidated as any other building in Manhattan. It was covered in moss and lichen, all its windows were broken and some of it looked like it collapsed in on itself but it was still standing. And yes, there were more than a few faded blast marks from explosions as the little virus pointed out.

“Yeah, it is.” Emerald smiled down at Navi. “Come on, let's go exploring.”

“Okay!” Navi hopped in place excitedly before running ahead of Emerald.

It quickly got dark inside the high school. There was some light thanks to the occasional hole blown straight through all the floors of the building, but it clearly wasn't enough to give a decent amount of light. Not that it mattered for either Navi or Emerald. The both of them had natural night vision powerful enough that it was bright as day inside the school.

'This is Mama's school!' Navi thought as she ran over to a set of lockers. 'This must have been the best school in the whole wide world, ever! Mama's so smart, I want to be as smart as she is.'

With that thought in mind, Navi immediately started opening lockers, pulling the door right off whenever its lock was still working and digging around for things to learn from. She grew rather despondent when all the books she found turned out to be rather mouldy and water damaged.

“What's this?” Navi asked after digging around a pile of junk in one locker, pulling out a small square plastic packet with a circular shape poking through the surface.

“Garbage,” Emerald answered simply, magically chucking the packet from Navi's hand into the junk pile. “Make sure your hands are clean after digging or touching anything, okay?”

“Kay, Mama.” Navi nodded and looked down at her hands, a brief surge of black tendrils covering them.

“Let's keep moving,” Emerald said a bit softly. “This way.”

Navi quickly moved over beside Emerald and grabbed hold of her hand. The little virus looked this way and that as they moved through the building. She knew the building likely didn't look like this way when her Mama had been learning here, but she liked to imagine it. So busy imaging it, she almost didn't notice the large wall of rubble blocking their path.

“Huh... I don't feel like going around,” Emerald muttered and waved a hand. A glowing aura surrounded the rubble and there was a flash, followed by a rush of air. “Transmutation is so useful, huh Navi?”

“Ohhhh~” Navi gasped at the disappeared rubble pile, its absence allowing a pillar of sunlight to shine into the building. “I wanna learn how to do magic too, Mama!”

“I'm sure your father would love to hear you say that.” Emerald smiled down at the little girl, placing a hand atop her head. “I'll be happy to start teaching you magic, Navi. We'll start tomorrow, okay?”

“Kay!” Navi smiled and the two of them continued along.

After a few minutes of travel and ascending some stairs they arrived to a dirty, ruined classroom. Emerald hadn't entered this room immediately. She had remained at the doorway for a moment, her expression one of total solemness and sadness. She then entered the room followed closely by Navi.

Navi looked all around her. The room looked like a classroom, though it was an utter wreck. Most of the combined chair and tabletop desks were tipped over or in two pieces, the teacher’s desk at the front was missing and in its place was a hole. Above the teacher's desk was a hole letting in sunlight and the whiteboard was covered in spray painted symbols and words. The shattered windows overlooked the street before the school and let in a dusty breeze.

The little virus followed Emerald as she walked over to the corner of the classroom nearest the windows. She watched Emerald look around some of the upturned desks before picking one up and standing it back up on a specific spot. Emerald then sat in the desk, unmindful of the dirt and grime covering it, wiped her hand over the top and revealed a specific spot. Navi walked over to the side of the desk and peered down onto the spot Emerald uncovered. There was an image of a coffee mug scratched into the surface of the desk. On the mug was a heart and within the heart were two chibified faces. One had a small smile and wore a bucket hat while the other had long hair and bangs that stopped just above its eyebrows. Navi thought the one with the hat looked like her Mama before she became permanently pretty and the other reminded her a lot of her Papa.

Navi looked up at Emerald who was now leaning back in her seat and looking down at the image with a somewhat mournful smile. Navi didn't like it when her Mama became sad, and quickly darted around the desk to give her a tight hug and smiled up at her in hopes it would make her happy. It seemed to do the trick as Emerald gave an amused grin down at Navi before standing up and picking Navi up, returning her hug.

With Navi still firmly attached to her front, Emerald walked over to the broken windows and jumped through them to the ground below. After they landed, Emerald shifted Navi around until she was on her back before breaking into a run.

Grin widely plastered on her face, Navi closed her eyes and raised her head up. She felt the wind pass her face and through her hair as Emerald rapidly sprinted up to speeds of at least two hundred miles per hour, the sudden jerking and leaps as Emerald took turns at speed with ease taken in passing by both Evolved. To the little girl it felt far too soon when Emerald started rapidly slowing down before skidding to a halt.

Looking around, Navi found the street as overgrown and ruined as any other to her eyes but she knew Emerald would have stopped here for a reason. Dropping down from Emerald's back she quickly fell into step beside her as said Evolved walked towards a burned out building tucked in between two five-story buildings. The building might have stood at least two stories at one time but now all that stood was the walls and foundations of the first floor. Walking through the near nonexistent doorway revealed an utterly filthy linoleum floor covered in shattered furniture and the slowly disintegrating piles of burned wood.

Navi left Emerald's side and kicked her little foot into one of the many junk piles that covered the floor. When a metal clinking sound met her ears, she leaned down and dug around until she picked up a broken salt shaker with its metal lid still attached. With a shrug she chucked the broken salt shaker back into the pile before turning to see what Emerald was doing.

Emerald wasn't doing much. She was simply standing beside what remained of a metal counter with her hand resting on a partly crushed, weather worn cash register.

Navi frowned again and started looking for something interesting. She started poking around junk piles again but other than random pieces of broken furniture and burned wood she didn't find anything even remotely interesting. With an annoyed huff she walked over to the other side of the ruined structure, past Emerald who was now standing before the cash register and looking around with a blank gaze. Walking through a doorway that was only that because it still had a doorframe, Navi came into an area filled with rusting stoves.

There were junk piles here as well, but they had a lot more interesting stuff in them that was visible at first glance. Kneeling over by one pile, Navi started digging. Most of what she started pulling out was some bakeware with cutlery mixed in but she did eventually find something that caught her sight. It was a plaque. It had a dark stained wooden back with a gleaming black metal front, and engraved into the front were many silvery words which she couldn't make heads or tails of. Also attached to the front of the plaque was a silver spoon somehow untarnished despite the years.

Navi turned the plaque this way and that, attempting to make out something about what was written on it. However, as smart and as fast a learner Navi was thanks to her current state of being, it was simply no help in the face of a language she didn't know.

'Ah! I know!' Navi smiled as an idea struck her. 'Mama knows everything! She'll know what this is!'

With that, Navi clutched the plaque tightly in her hands and ran back to Emerald. She darted back into the main area and saw her Mama hadn't moved from her spot. Navi darted to Emerald's side and reached up and gave a tug on the older virus' sleeve.

“Uhh.” Emerald shook her heard sharply and looked down at Navi. “Something wrong, Navi?”

“Mama, do you know what this is?” Navi asked and held the plaque up to Emerald.

Emerald narrowed her eyes as she took the plaque before they widened in shock once she got a clear view of its front. Holding the plaque in front her, Emerald turned her back on the cash register and fell down onto the floor with her back pressed against the metal counter.

“Mama...” Navi said in worry, wringing her hands as she saw Emerald begin to cry silently. “Did I find something bad?”

“...No. No you didn't, cuddlebug,” Emerald said with a wide smile and quickly pulled Navi against her side. “You found something I thought was long gone.”

“What is it?” Navi asked as she snuggled in close.

“This is...” Emerald paused for a moment, clearly deep in thought as she considered her next words before smiling. “This is the reward your grandmother got for winning a baking contest.”

“Grandmother?” Navi said questioningly.

“Yes, you had a grandmother. Remember the tombstone I went to visit?” Emerald said and a wide eyed look of realization crossed Navi’s features. “She used the winnings from the baking contest to come to America.”

“I wanna see what she looks like!” Navi smiled up at Emerald.

“Sure thing...” Emerald smiled at Navi. “I know just where to find a picture for you.”

There was silence for a long moment as the two remained sitting on the floor together, Emerald staring at the award in heartfelt nostalgia and Navi happy to snuggle with her. It was after a few minutes that Navi began to fidget.

“Mama?” Navi said.

“Yes?” Emerald looked down at the little Evolved.

“I want to go play now,” Navi said and looked around. “Can we go somewhere nice?”

“Sure thing,” Emerald said and stood up, tucking the award against her side. “Come on, we'll have to take the slow way.”

“Okay Mama.” Navi nodded and then hopped onto Emerald's back.

After a moment of making sure Navi was holding on tight, Emerald then burst into a sprint down the street, hopping over, swerving and even kicking aside the odd rusting car in her path. Some distance away in a crumbling apartment building came the flicker of sunlight upon glass and the sounds of clicking.

About an hour later found Emerald in the Green Zone, walking down a street with Navi at her side holding her hand. Emerald wasn't in her normal form, which had gotten Navi rather curious as to why. Her only explanation was that it was to make taking her somewhere nice less annoying. Currently Emerald was using a form that was fairly average joe in terms of looks and “uniqueness”. A woman wearing jeans, a white blouse and a tan leather coat with blond hair set in a ponytail with a purse hanging from her shoulder. Navi was the more eye catching of the two, if only for her bright purple hair.

“Maybe I should have chosen something more punk looking...” Navi heard Emerald mutter as she got another stare from a passing couple.

“Huh?” Navi looked up.

“Nothing, honey.” Emerald smiled down at Navi. “We're almost there.”

A few minutes of walking later found the two arriving at the park, the corner of which held a playground with various equipment for children to play on. Said park also had a handful of children already there along with a small group of adults off to the side.

“Oh!” Navi hopped in place excitedly. “Can I go play with them, Mama?!”

“...” Emerald was frowning in some clear worry at the sight of the children and the other adults in the playground, but after taking a look at Navi's pleading expression it changed to an optimistic smile. “Go on, cuddlebug. Make sure to play nice, and carefully. I'll be sitting on the bench over here. Make sure to listen for my voice. I might want to say something to you.”

“Kay, Mama!” Navi nodded before taking off towards the playground.

Navi ran into the large sandbox that contained most of the playground equipment. She darted towards the centre which was dominated by a “castle” with many means of climbing and little toys attached. There was a sort of courtyard which had a merry-go-round on it, with another girl that looked slightly older than Navi. The girl was wearing jeans with a pink hoodie and had shoulder length brown hair.

“Hi!” Navi greeted cheerfully as she slid to a stop before the merry-go-round. “I'm Navi!”

“Navi?” The girl frowned as the merry-go-round slowed to a halt before gasping in delight. “That's just like my game!”

“What game?” Navi asked in interest.

“My 3DS game, Legend of Zelda,” the girl answered. “You get a little fairy that helps you! I would show you, but... mommy says I shouldn't be playing video games at the park and took it away.”

“My names in a game?” Navi said with wide eyes. “That's so cool!”

“Yeah!” The other girl nodded. “My name’s Mary Ann. Can you push me around?”

“Okay!” Navi stepped forward and grabbed hold of a bar.

“Not too hard now,” Navi heard Emerald say and nodded before giving a gentle shove.

“Ahahahahaha!” Mary instantly started laughing excitedly as she started spinning fairly fast. Timing it well, Navi hopped on board after a rotation and joined her new friend. Waiting a few moments for the merry-go-round to slow down, Navi occasionally started kicking off the ground to keep it going at a decent pace.

“How good are you?” Mary Ann asked after a moment of spinning. “My older brother says I'm really good, but I think he's lying.”

“Uncle Spike says I'm almost too good to play with.” Navi smiled before looking a little sad about it. “I have to hold back on him or he won't like playing with me anymore.”

“Hehe, that's funny!” Mary giggled. “What school do you go to?”

“Mama hasn't put me in any yet,” Navi replied. “She says she isn't going to and that it's better if stay home and learn.”

“Oh no. My mommy says kids who learn at home don't learn good!” Mary gasped.

“Nuh uh!” Navi shook her head. “My Mama is so smart! She can teach me anything! She even said she'll teach me magic tomorrow.”

“Oh, magic tricks are fun!” Mary said with a smile.

“Change the subject,” Navi heard Emerald say. “Do not say anything more about magic than you already have.”

“Ummm...” Navi looked around for something and saw a little boy approach. “Who's that?”

“That's Timmy!” Mary said in a loud whisper. “He's dumb!”

“No I'm not!” Timmy said as he skidded to a stop next to the merry-go-round. “Dumb girls who don't play with dumb dolls are dumber!”

“Girls aren't dumb!” Mary protested. “Navi's smart and gonna learn magic!”

“Magic’s dumb,” Timmy said.

“Nuh uh! It's-” Navi halted an instant, stopping herself from talking about how Papa can teleport, turn things into other things and float. “THE BEST!”

“I bet you it's not!” Timmy shouted.

“Bet what?” Navi narrowed her eyes, kicking a foot out and bringing the merry-go-round to quick halt. “Are we playing a game? I can beat anyone that isn't Mama.”

“Girls can't play games!” Timmy said confidently and held out a hand. “Rock, paper, scissors! I win, then girls are dumb!”

“I'm not gonna bet anything,” Navi said and held out her hand as well. “I'm gonna win no matter what.”

“Do you even know how to play?” Emerald said from afar and Navi frowned as she watched Timmy begin bobbing his hand and Emerald explained quickly. “Paper beats rock, rock beats scissors, scissors beat paper. Spread out two fingers for scissors, flat hand for paper and fist for rock.”

Navi nodded and watched Timmy's hand; it moved as if in slow motion. She saw it beginning to open and spread fingers out wide. Reacting with extreme reflexes, she stuck out two fingers. Time seemed to speed up again as Timmy frowned and huffed in anger.

“Best two out of three!” he declared and started bobbing his hand again. This went on for several minutes until finally the boy was left hopping in anger at losing twenty to zero, though he was hardly keeping count.

“Grrr... girls are still dumb,” Timmy muttered, now completely out of steam from constantly losing.

“Timothy honey, it's time to go!” came a voice.

“You too, Mary Ann!” added another.

“Come on!” Mary said and grabbed hold of Navi's hand. “I wanna show you to mommy!”

“It's okay, Navi. There's no harm in it,” Navi heard Emerald say reassuringly as she frowned and looked back towards her. “Just listen carefully in case I want to say something.”

“Hey there, who’s your new friend, Mary Ann?” asked a smiling, middle-age looking woman who had the same hair as Mary but much darker skin.

“This is Navi!” Mary said excitedly. “She has the same name as like my game!”

“Navi, huh?” The woman crouched down with an amused smile. “Reminds me of Robin William's girl. That's some really pretty hair you have, Navi. Where's your mom?”

“Thank you.” Navi smiled and pointed off towards a somewhat distant bench. “Mama's over there.”

“Well Mary Ann has to go home right now, but maybe we'll see you when we come back to the park again,” the woman said and took Mary's hand.

“Bye, Navi!” Mary waved back at her.

Navi returned the wave but stared after Mary's mom. She was wearing some nice clothes that complimented her but remained fairly modest. Looking over to the side to where Timmy was standing, she saw him standing before another woman, looking shyly down at his shoes and the woman throwing the occasional amused glance towards Navi. The woman was blonde, her clothes were fairly girly girl, lots of pink with a bit of skin revealed. Seeing those two made Navi think of her own Mama. Emerald was definitely beautiful, but she wore such baggy clothes. Even for Navi, she had to admit it was a little scruffy looking. With this thought in mind, Navi took off at a run through the playground and towards Emerald, ignoring the other children and parts of the grounds she could have started playing on as well.

“Hey there, Navi,” Emerald sat up at Navi's approach. “Something wrong?”

“Mama...” Navi began and stepped right up to Emerald, resting her chin on Emerald's knee and looking up at her. “How come you don't look pretty?”

“You don't think I look pretty?” Emerald said, the corner of her mouth arching in some amusement.

“Mama is beautiful,” Navi replied. “But auntie Rarity talks about how dressing pretty is super important too! How come you don't dress as pretty as you look like the other girls, Mama?”

“Well technically I'm not actually a girl, Navi,” Emerald answered and reached over to pat Navi's head.

“But your clothes should be as pretty as you, Mama!” Navi protested.

“Heh...” Emerald smiled and reached over and quickly grabbed Navi, picking her up and laying her across her lap before proceeding to tickle her, making her squeal in laughter. “Somebody seems to have spent a bit too much time around Rarity I think.”

Navi just giggled as she wiggled and squirmed in place in a futile attempt to avoid Emerald's fingers.

“Come on, I have some chores to do,” Emerald said and sat up, moving Navi around so that she was on her shoulders. “Let's get you home to play with your uncle so you aren't bored.”

“Okay,” Navi said and rested her head atop Emerald's. “Can I get new games?”

“We'll see,” Emerald replied as she started down the street. “Give me a few days to think about it.”

“Okay, Mama.”

HOTgluon24 said
WTF!! Why she still walking free for!

HollowedPure666 replied
You mean “he”

69Nazidiet69 replied
You mean “it”

A few days later found Emerald lying on her back on the ledge of a roof of an apartment complex, staring up at her phone. She had worked on it some more and now it merely looked rather bulky instead of a mess of wires and exposed innards it was before. Currently she was on it surfing the net, mostly going over various reactions of people about her online.

5unnyH3NTA1 said
She looks like a hot fuck, I have a Cursor girlfriend. Convinced her to go perma horny for a full twenty four hours. Week later she still hasn't ended it constantly begging for my dick every day

DaveSnider replied
Pics or it didn't happen

G4d_Z00k5 replied
Video or it didn't happen

PrideAbove_20-13 replied
You wanna fuck terrorists boy?

11_TheDoctorIsIn_11 replied
Yay, the muricams are here

It was going about as well as could be expected given the reality of the internet. As expected, there was a literal ton of people who seemed to have broken their caps lock in place and simply screaming for her blood, the sheer abundance of which drowned out the people who were trying to be optimistic about her. Then there was the inappropriate people who seemed rather “taken” with her.

StudMuffianCaillou1812 said
Saying my own separate comment instead of replying to Gluon so it doesn't get instantly buried in a storm of comments about the proper pronoun for a shapeshifter, again. The big reason for why Emerald isn't getting arrested has to do with the registration papers she signed with Blackwatch. They had a international pardon for all crimes, instantly applicable to all member countries of the UN. Before she signed that she was fair game. After? As far as the law is concerned it's ancient history and she can't be put on trial for it. A lot of people have been making comparisons to the Germans taken in operation paperclip and the like, it's kinda like that except she doesn't have to do anything for anyone beyond follow the law.

Xx_ShadowLord_xX replied
TL;DR

('-')_BeNice_('-') replied
It's like a hundred words, pop some pills for your ADD and learn some patience

Emerald had also been digging through comments and replies chains, looking for the diamond in the rough among them. So far just from doing this she was able ascertain a few facts about what people now knew about her on the internet that was true. They knew she had been lynched on Manhattan, though such information had always been “From a friend of a friend”. Clearly some Evolved were willing to spread news about her which wasn't much of a surprise. They knew she wasn't living on Manhattan and was staying somewhere in the Brooklyn area since she was seen most there. They knew who the people she mostly likely cared about and loved were, extrapolated from pictures and her registration papers and they knew she had been brought in for questioning barely a day after registering.

'Honestly, this whole thing about me has almost completely taken public attention off the whole fiasco Blackwatch just went through a few days ago,' Emerald thought with a sigh. 'Sure it doesn't take away all the official pressure for answers Heller is likely dealing with right now, but now he doesn't have much in the way of public pressure so he is pretty free to focus his attentions on one front right now.'

“Well lookie who we have here!” Emerald heard a voice say.

Quickly looking to her side towards the roof, what met her sight was Jacob wearing a black V-neck Tee-shirt and tan cargo pants with a pair of white sneakers. Trisha was there as well, closer to Emerald and crouching down so she was at face level with Emerald. She was wearing a different outfit from before as well. She was wearing a sleeveless black shirt that zipped up the middle and left a slight bit of midriff. On her lower half she was wearing a half skirt, the back of which stretched down to her feet but the front only went up just slight past where her thighs began. Under her skirt she wore a pair of fairly modest shorts that ended just above her knees and on her feet were a pair of dark blue and white sneakers.

“Hi!” Trisha smiled brightly at Emerald before her mouth curled downwards in concern. “So are you feeling okay?”

“...Well, about as well as expected, considering,” Emerald said and shook her phone in emphasis at the two.

“Yeah, figured you would be in a bad mood after that.” Jacob nodded a little. “I mean it's not every day you are public enemy number one and then get off scot free. So I figured you needed the help of some friendly faces. Unfortunately, all I could find was Trisha and myself... sorry.”

“I know we only just met, Emerald,” Trisha said, rolling her eyes at Jacob's words. “But I hope you are willing to give me chance to prove I can be good friend.”

“You don't have to handle me with kid gloves, Trisha,” Emerald replied and pocketed her phone. “I've gotten the beginnings of the psychiatrist treatment before. As long as you aren't a dick, I'll give you a chance to prove just that.”

“Great!” Trisha smiled cheerfully and stood up. “Now get up, we're going for a bit of fun and some good eating!”

“Oh?” Emerald said and did just that. “Where we heading to?”

“A new place opened up about six months ago in the Green Zone,” Jacob said. “Trisha and I've been going there fairly often. It's an arcade with an attached pizza place.”

“Pizza and games, huh?” Emerald said as she shoved her hands into her belly pocket and followed the two to the other side of the roof. “Sounds like a decent time.”

“It's not just cheap, gimmicky arcade games, either,” Jacob explained as the group of three walked. “You know games like sitting in a fake race car with a steering wheel controller and the usual dancing game clones. It has a whole sections devoted to the classics! So we'll be playing the best arcade games of all time. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Centipede, just to name a few. And yeah, we'll be playing a few crappy modern ones too...”

“The two of us have been working on this awesome dance routine for the dancing game,” Trisha said as the three of them lined up at the roof ledge. “We took inspiration from a few YouTube videos. And not only that, but they recently got a Rock Band section to play so the three of us can expert mode a few songs.”

“Hup,” Emerald said and the three of them burst into the air, easily flying over the street and landing on the next roof over with a thump. “And then once we do all that, we'll get to the eating?”

“Oh yeah.” Jacob nodded with an eager smile. “They have this little gimmicky Titan Pizza deal, where you get this massive pizza and if you manage to eat it all you get it free.”

“Course the deal doesn't apply to us, and for good reason.” Trisha smiled, folding her arms behind her head, licking her lips with eyes closed. “Doesn't make it any less of a tasty feast.”

“Oh yeah, sounds like a good day alright,” Emerald said as the three of them lined up at the next ledge. “So what are we waiting for? We have to take a water taxi to the Green Zone and that's already going to eat up a bit of time.”

“First one to port gets first choice of games we play!” Jacob announced and leapt.

“Hey! At least say one, two, three first!” Trisha protested and jumped after him.

Emerald smiled happily and chased after them.

“Hello again!” Jacob announced bombastically as he burst through the front door.

“Damn it, Jacob,” spoke a man in white business shirt, black slacks and a tie, clearly the manager. “If the two of you weren't such good customers, I'd legitimately be pissed about having to reboot the games every week.”

“It's the three amigos, today!” Jacob corrected as Emerald and Trisha followed in soon after.

“Doesn't change up much...” the manager replied and paused as he stared at Emerald a moment.

“...Would it be better if I didn't look like my mugshot on TV?” Emerald asked after a moment.

“You aren't changing nothing,” Trisha said firmly before looking at the manager. “Because you didn't do anything to need to hide like a criminal.”

“Well technically...” Emerald began and stopped with a smirk when Trisha swatted at her shoulder.

The manager seemed to have taken the hint and held up his hands apologetically before heading into his office behind the front desk, walking past the teenage cashier who was looking more than a bit nervous. Jacob approached the desk and started slapping down cash and chatting with the cashier like the encounter a moment ago didn't happen. After a moment, he had a bucket full of tokens and rejoined the other two.

“Now since I won, first stop is Nostalgia Alley!” Jacob declared and strode through a pair of glass doors, the sounds of music and myriad sound effects washing over them when they opened.

“Yeah, yeah. We'll play your shitty pixel games,” Trisha said, following soon after with her arms folded behind her head. “Then we'll get to the good stuff.”

“Have you seen some of the modern games nowadays?” Jacob said as Emerald entered the arcade proper as well. “Plenty of returns to the golden age, only have to look at the top sellers on Steam to see that!”

“Oh yeah, only they show up like every other tenth game,” Trisha replied.

“Details!”

“So where's this Alley of yours?” Emerald asked.

“Right here!” Jacob declared with a grin, pointing up at a sign covered in figures from the 80's and 90's of arcade gaming and in the centre in bold writing was “Nostalgia Alley!!!”. This sign was set before a long, curving path filled with machines on both sides.

“The good times start now!” Jacob smiled and walked forward.

The following few hours turned out to have been complete truth on Jacob's part.

“Aaaaaaaand KILL SCREEN!” Jacob declared as the screen before him became glitched and the sound of Pacman dying resounded. “Next up is Donkey Kong.”

Emerald hadn't been entirely sure about the whole thing despite her words earlier, but she did actually enjoy herself here.

“How are you still bad at this, Trish?” Jacob asked. “We come here at least once a week.”

“Because I hate fucking poorly designed games that are hard for the sake of being hard!”

Emerald was fairly certain that if she was here by herself it wouldn't nearly be as fun. At most, she would have just been contently killing time.

“Fucking finally!” Trisha said as M. Bison's death echoes filled the air.

“Aww, now I'm bored...” Jacob huffed.

“No, I played your damn ancient shit!” Trisha said angrily. “Now we're playing the good stuff!”

Were Trisha and Jacob her friends now?

“Yes!” Trisha laughed happily, making a brief pose with two gun controllers in hand.

“How are you having fun at this?” Jacob asked as he and Emerald played coop on a neighbouring machine. “This is practically aim bot'ing.”

Hard to say, really... they only just met but they were of the same “race” if one wanted to play that card...

“Pinball!?” Jacob exclaimed. “And you get mad at me for liking old games...”

“Oh shut up!” Trisha said as she managed to aim a ball just so and make her machine light up like the fourth of July. “This has so much more finesse to it and you know it!”

“What finesse? Hit the ball, make the pretty lights go off...” Jacob replied and Trisha gave a kick to his pinball machine, making it tilt. “HEY!”

Trisha did say to give her a chance to prove she could be a friend. And didn't Emerald herself have quite a few people back home that were unquestionably her friends?

“Oh god damn it, I hate this!” Jacob said, sitting inside a racing machine and holding a steering wheel. “Give me an actual controller any day.”

“Oh come on, it's immersive!” Trisha laughed with a wide grin and pushed the stick into the next gear.

Just because Trisha and Jacob weren't ponies and were from Earth didn't mean she couldn't grow to trust them, now, did it? Sure they weren't as naturally inclined to kindness and innocence like a pony was, but there was nothing wrong with being human, right?

“Now this is my kind of game!” Jacob grinned as he rapidly hit his drums and rhythmically pumped the floor pedal.

“I love this song, it's so fast!” Trisha laughed as she and Emerald played the guitars.

All things good things come to an end, however, and before long Emerald found herself standing beside the last game Trisha and Jacob wanted to play before going to get something to eat. It was the dancing machine. Apparently the two of them had been practising a routine just for this game. Instead of just rapidly tapping the pads on the game board as they were directed on the screen, the two of them were actually dancing. They weren't paying the screen any mind, having clearly fully memorized the song and every single step command in it. They actively danced and switched game pads every few moments to the cheering of the audience.

Speaking of the audience, they had gathered quite the crowd. There was a handful of people who were watching them the entire time, but it had grown immensely when they got a perfect playing Through the Fire and Flames on expert. Emerald was the only one standing close to the machine, but there was a ring of people cheering on the two. It grew especially loud whenever Trisha threw in a few sensual, sashaying movements into her dance. When the song finally ended and announced their perfect score, the two ended it off with a flashy pose to the raucous cheering and clapping of the crowd.

“That was perfect!” Trisha smiled widely as she and Jacob stepped off the dance pad.

“Looked like it, too,” Emerald commented before nodding towards the doors and holding up the token bucket. “Want to cash in the remaining tokens and go have some pizza?”

“Hell yes.” Jacob nodded and took the bucket from Emerald before quickly striding for the door. “Time to eat!”

The three spent a minute getting back about ten dollars in remaining tokens before heading to the other side of the building that made up the pizzeria. After ordering their massive pizza and confirming that they were all Cursors, the three simply chatted time away. It was a quick half an hour later that their massive pizza pie was carefully carried over by two servers and onto their table. It was at this time that their topics had drifted to life on Manhattan.

“I think we all could do much better than homes looking like they came straight out of favelas,” Trisha said as she took a pizza square and bit into it. “I mean we only really need to look up some carpentry, electrician and plumbing and practice it a bit. Going into manhattan and tearing apart buildings for spare parts. If we put some real effort into it, Cursor Town can actually look like a proper settlement instead of an upscale do-it-yourself slum.”

“Maybe... but that would involve work,” Jacob said with a shrug before grabbing a piece of pizza and eating it whole.

“Just because we can live forever and we've basically been given a free ticket by the government doesn't mean we get to be lazy,” Trisha said pointedly, grabbing another piece. “We can't spend the next few centuries resting on our laurels waiting for the world to just decide to accept us. We have to start making improvements ourselves, show people we are just people too; show them how we can not only be a part of their life but an active part of society. Restricted to this city like we are, we can't do much just yet but no one says we have to start big right away. Simply making Cursor Town look nice is a good first step.”

“Well if you are still driven about it, why don't you just start on your own home right away?” Jacob asked after gulping down another piece. “I'm sure people will get tired real quick of their own places looking like eyesores compared to what you already likely got blueprints for.”

“Because I don't want people to start making things looking nice out of jealousy and spite.” Trisha shook her head. “I want us to decide as a community to make the place we call home look like an actual community. Where people live, love and grow.”

“You see, that's your problem, Trisha,” Jacob said, quickly gulping down two pieces. “You care too much about what other people think. Whereas I don't see the point, give it six decades or so and things will ease up and people will have grown accustomed to us. And the ones that still see us as something to destroy will be old and just be seen as a bunch of racist grandpas.”

“That's the kind of thinking we need to avoid,” Trisha said with a shake of her head. “This isn't the middle ages. We don't have to wait for a whole generation to die off before we start seeing changes in society. We can work together and show people that there isn't anything to be afraid of, that we can live together peacefully and happily for a better future.”

“Oh no, I'm not getting into this,” Jacob said and got up from his seat, grabbing a few more pieces of pizza as he did so. “It's been fun, you two. I'm going to use my pile of disposable income to pay for the pizza and leave. Let's do this again sometime... you know, hopefully without the soap boxing involved.”

With that, Jacob walked away towards the counter. Trisha stared after him, crossing her arms under her chest and shaking her head. She turned her head and looked towards Emerald apologetically.

“Sorry if I sound kind of preachy,” Trisha said. “I feel very strongly about this...”

“Oh it's alright.” Emerald smiled, swallowing down a piece of pizza. “I don't mind at all. It's actually kind of nice to hear that line of thought being voiced.”

“Yes, I just feel like if only we extended a hand to one another and gave just a bit of trust, Cursors and Humans can accomplish wonders,” Trisha said passionately. “It doesn't have to be this way. We don't have to be content with just not killing one another... anyway, listen to me waffle on. How have you liked the day so far?”

“It was a lot of fun,” Emerald said honestly. “I forgot what playing video games was like after so long. Certainly took my mind off trolls on the internet.”

“That's great!” Trisha smiled happily before her smile turned into a thoughtful frown. “So why the baggy boys’ clothes?”

“Well... technically I'm not a girl.” Emerald shrugged and started biting into another piece of pizza.

“Neither am I, if you get into the whole shapeshifting virus thing,” Trisha said thoughtfully. “Is there a reason you are hanging onto those clothes? I heard from the others that those were the same clothes you were wearing when you first got recruited. Do they mean anything to you?”

“...No, I suppose not,” Emerald said and looked down at herself. “I guess I just saw no point in it.”

“Well at the risk of being really obvious, I'll say this. You are beautiful, Emerald,” Trisha said. “There is nothing wrong with that or even having clothes that accentuate your appearances. I mean I for instance don't have to wear clothes Tifa wore in her various appearances but I honestly like how her outfits looked in all of them.”

'Huh. That reminds me that this isn't her actual body,' Emerald thought. 'Not that it's much of a surprise, but now I'm curious. What did she look like before? Did she think she was so unappealing to look at that a whole new body was better? Or did she just really like the idea of twenty four hour cosplay of Tifa Lockhart? Was she even a girl before? She could have been a man... then again, does it really matter at all?'

“Well if you think I need a change...” Emerald began, looking down at herself again before looking up at Trisha. “Sure.”

“Great!” Trisha said and got up from her seat. “Let's go find a nice rooftop for you to model a few sets of clothes.”

Emerald nodded and quickly finished off the piece of pizza she had been chewing on and rose from her seat as well. On the table, the large pizza platter holding a pizza so large it would have floored most people who attempted to eat it lied near empty. The two left the pizzeria through a side door leading directly outside. The moment they did so, however, Emerald saw something flying through the air, a slush drink flying towards them. Giving it a slight telekinetic push midair resulted in it splattering harmlessly into the pavement a few feet in front of them. Looking in the direction of the throw, Emerald saw a group of teenagers standing a distance away.

“Shit! You throw like a retard, Mike!” one of them spoke before the lot of them sprinted away.

“Oh yeah,” Emerald stated blandly. “I just remembered the rash of pettiness I'll have to wait for to die off. That will be sooooo much fun...”

“Well at least they missed.” Trisha shrugged. “Imagine if they hit? It would have taken us all of one second to clean ourselves off.”

“Oh the humanity,” Emerald commented before leaping up into the air and onto a nearby building, Trisha a few seconds behind.

“Alright, just stand in the center there,” Trisha said and took out a phone. “I'll just start looking for clothes to look at. This shouldn't take too long.”

An hour later found Emerald still standing in place and somewhat impatiently tapping her foot. The past hour had definitely convinced Emerald that Trisha enjoying constantly cosplaying as Tifa was a strong possibility, Trisha had spent more than a little bit of time looking up clothes to try on herself when she should have been looking for things for Emerald. Eventually, Emerald was given a new outfit... well, almost.

Currently Emerald Gleaner was wearing sky blue t-shirt that fit her far better than the baggy shirt she had worn before. Atop it was a thin, informal white vest that ended about the middle of her belly and was currently unbuttoned. She was wearing a much more figure hugging pair of tan coloured slacks that ended just past her knees. On her feet were a pair of white sneakers with blue highlights as well as short socks that ended just before her ankles. Her hair was restyled, now long enough to reach the middle of her back and pulled into a ponytail. She was still wearing her bucket hat, which Trisha was at odds with.

“It... it's almost great but that hat... I feel like it's bringing it down,” Trisha said, framing Emerald with fingers from a distance and staring at her with one eye closed and tongue sticking out in deep thought.

“The hat, huh?” Emerald said aloud and took it off to look at it. It had been with her for years, very close to a decade in fact. From her normal life, her mother's death, her induction into the Cannon Fodders and then the Cadre, her entry into Equestria and finally to her return to Earth. Honestly though, it was just a hat in the end, nothing even all that special. It wasn't like it was given to her by her mother. It had been something she had one day grabbed off the rack and bought. Nothing more, nothing less. With that in mind, Emerald began thinking of new hats for her to wear for a moment before deciding on one.

Black tendrils surged briefly and Emerald returned her hat to her head. It was no longer a bucket hat, but a white crochet hat with a short, stubby beak on the front. On the side, incorporated into the weave, was her cutiemark of a bucket full of emeralds. The instant Trisha saw her, she gasped in delight.

“It's perfect!” Trisha clapped her hands briefly before darting over and taking Emerald in from all sides. “Oh wow, you look like such a cute nerd now!”

“Excuse me, a cute what?” Emerald chuckled.

“Yeah huh.” Trisha smiled widely before giving a short squee and pulled a very surprised Emerald into a hug. “You look like the kind of girl who likes to go to the library.”

“So a bookworm, huh?” Emerald said with an amused look before starting to poke Trisha with a bladed finger until she let go. “Huh, so I go from drop dead gorgeous back home to adorable enough to hug here. Of course...”

“It's probably just me.” Trisha laughed sheepishly before stepping back a bit and pulling out her phone. “Cute things just get to me really easily.”

Trisha then took a picture of Emerald and stepped forward, phone outstretched for Emerald. The virus took the phone and looked at the picture. At the risk of sounding a bit vain, Emerald had to admit she did look rather cute now that she wasn't wearing frumpy clothes anymore.

'Hmmm...' Emerald hummed in thought with a smile. 'I wonder what Twilight will think? Oh, and speaking of which...'

“Thanks so much, Trisha.” Emerald smiled and returned the phone. “I had a wonderful time, but it's about time I head home before Twilight starts to get worried about where I am.”

“No problem. It really was a fun day, wasn't it?” Trisha smiled before she grinned wider. “Oh, we should all go out on a girls’ night out one of these days. The two of us and Twilight! Introduce her to the night life in the Green Zone.”

“Well... it's an idea,” Emerald said as she began to walk away. “We'll see.”

“See ya later, Emerald!” Trisha called out.

“See ya, Trisha,” Emerald smiled and waved back before leaping away.

'Right. Let's start making our way home, shall we?' Emerald thought as she landed in an alley with a soft thump and began walking.

Trisha walked down a sidewalk, her gaze locked to the phone in her hand. On the screen of said phone, text in Cyrillic appeared one after another.

The Cursor was still in the Green Zone and it was still brightly daylight out, thus there was little need to be on the look out for muggers, unlike the Yellow Zone. That wasn't to say the Green Zone was perfectly safe. Despite being the most well off part of the NYZ, there was still a bit of danger that started to appear late in the evening and at night. Since it wasn't evening yet, however, Trisha had little worry of having to deal with the odd asshole hiding in the shadows.

“Hey there!” came a voice. “Talking to your boy toy?”

“Ugh...” Scratch that, there was at least one asshole out and about. “If I say yes for once, will you stop calling him that, Jacob?”

“Sure,” Jacob said and fell into step beside Trisha.

“Then yes.” Trisha rolled her eyes.

“So... what's he saaaaaying?” Jacob drawled.

“He says he's healing fast and should be back on the streets in the day or so,” Trisha answered with a grateful smile. “I'm so happy he's okay... I mean he was the only E-Code to survive. I think it was the first time I cried out of happiness in my whole life.”

“Well... I'm happy too...” Jacob said a little awkwardly, wrapping an arm around Trisha's shoulders and squeezing her tightly. “I guess...”

“You're just glad you didn't have to try to put me back together if I fell apart because of grief,” Trisha said jokingly, corners of her eyes glistening with wetness as she looked to Jacob with a truly happy smile.

“You know me ALL too well,” Jacob replied with a massive grin before letting go of Trisha. He pointed a thumb at the nearby entrance of a building. “Ready to report to her majesty, the glorious Condescension herself?”

“...” Trisha looked at Jacob in a little concern for a moment before shaking her head and walking towards the door. “Please don't call her that when we are this close to her. She might just hear you one of these days.”

“What's she going to do?” Jacob said with a shrug. “Kick me out of her fanclub?”

“Ugh...”

The two entered the building. It was an apartment complex and after a few minutes of walking down halls and up stairs they came to a stop before an apartment. Trisha held her hand to the door knob for a moment, there was a sound of clicking and with a snap the door lock opened. They opened the door and entered.

They were met with the soft sounds of a TV as well as some quiet conversations. They walked into the main room of the apartment that was divided into a kitchen and living room and separated by a banister. There were six people inside the apartment, two of which were a couple sitting in the living room with one of them laying their head on the other's lap as they watched TV. Trisha and Jacob were about to walk past them when Jacob had a double take at the couple.

“Sword Art sucks ass,” Jacob muttered as they moved past, clearly not quietly enough since the girl shot him an annoyed look.

They walked into the kitchen where the others were, three of them standing around the dining table which was covered in documents and photos. Sitting at the table, staring intensely at some photos, was Sophie.

“Hmm... interesting, she looks just like...” Sophie muttered softly before sitting up at Trisha and Jacob's approach. “You're back. How was it?”

“All three of us had a lot of fun,” Trisha answered lightly, eyes glancing down to the photos and saw a number of ones of Emerald and Twilight. “I'm fairly certain she considers us her friends now.”

“Good,” Sophie said with a slight frown. “Hopefully before long he'll let his guard down and slip something we can use.”

“Her,” Trisha corrected.

“Excuse me?” Sophie looked to Trisha with an arched brow.

“She is a woman,” Trisha stated. “She identifies as a female.”

“Careful,” Sophie said. “I'm beginning to think this friendship goes both ways.”

Trisha just raised her brows in expectation at Sophie and stayed silent.

“...” Sophie stared back for a moment before closing her eyes and took a deep breath in clear annoyance. “Fine, she. Do you have anything else to report about her?”

“Well, considering we have to interact with her personally, we are trying to not to actively follow and spy on her,” Jacob replied. “We've noticed it's incredibly hard sometimes just to find her. Trisha and I have been trying to ‘run into her randomly’ out in the open but she always seems to just disappear.”

“Yeah, I can't imagine what it's like for the ones who have to actually spy on her,” Trisha said, looking to the other people standing around the table. “We've been having trouble just trying to meet her.”

“Yeah, our team has been having trouble actively spying on her,” A man said, crossing his arms. “Every time we've followed her and tried to observe what she does from a distance we just lose her. Never fails. It's clear she's very good at getting around without being seen or noticed. Maybe we could have a bit more luck if we stayed closer, but I don't like the idea of risking discovery.”

“That fact alone makes me suspicious,” Sophie said as she moved some papers around and looked down at a photo of a building. “If she is so innocent, why is she skulking around? She's hiding something...”

“I've been watching the apartment,” spoke a woman. “I haven't been able to hear anything at all. I set up a few hours after they moved in and I heard nothing, absolutely nothing at all. It was like there was no one living in the apartment. Then a few days later I started hearing things, but nothing save for indecipherable mumbling.”

Sophie frowned. She wasn't the only one, as everyone including Trisha and Jacob joined her. How in the world had Emerald managed to soundproof her apartment in such a way a Cursor couldn't hear anything? And within the same day she had moved in as well?

“Of course I haven't been restricting my spying to just attempting to listen in on her conversations,” the woman continued. “I've been spying on her as best I could through the windows, which isn't easy, either. She's been keeping the curtains drawn on the windows a lot. The one window that's remained uncovered most of the time is the kitchen window so I haven't learned a lot through that. However, what I have learned is that Emerald was able to have a lot of appliances inside replaced. I've been doing some research on some prices. With the appliances and the price of the apartment, she would have long used up the monthly living wage we get from the UN. So she is getting a lot of money from somewhere.”

“What are you up to...” Sophie muttered, glaring down at a picture of Emerald.

“Do we honestly need to be assuming she's up to something?” Trisha asked and everyone looked towards her, Sophie glared up from her seat “I mean she's been out there just living her life for three years and did nothing everyone expected her to do. She even has a family now... can we honestly expect her to be the next Alex Mercer after that?”

The Cursors surrounding the table either didn't outwardly express any emotion or at least looked thoughtful. Sophie, however, looked like she was about to leap out of her seat at Trisha. Forcefully pushing herself back into her seat, she stayed there for several long, quiet moments, her eyes closed in thought. Finally, after what felt like forever but had only been barely half a minute, she opened them.

“Look, I am aware not everyone feels as strongly about this as I do,” Sophie said in a surprisingly calm voice. “No one here has lost someone or even was hurt by Oskar. No one here had their sister murdered by Oskar, had been forced to watch a video of her being eaten alive.”

Trisha winced at blatantly having Emerald's past crimes thrown in her face. She looked away from Sophie, unwilling to speak up in defense of Emerald in face of what was being said. Indeed, what could she say? That it was in the past? That Sophie should get over it? Trisha wouldn't be able to look herself in the mirror ever again if she did say any of that.

“But ultimately this isn't about what I've lost, about what anyone here in the NYZ has lost to Oskar. No, this is about what is being threatened by her mere presence here, about what we all stand to lose,” Sophie said and stood up suddenly and got everyone's attention with what she said. Sophie looked towards Trisha, her gaze locking firmly with the other Cursor's. “Trisha, you talk a lot about how we as a people need to start working together if we ever want to be a part of the world again any time soon. How we and humanity have a bright and shining future together and that we only need to start trusting one another to take it. Well Oskar is threatening that future.”

“What do you mean?” Trisha frowned.

Sophie didn't answer immediately. Instead, she quickly strode around the table and into the living room. The two Cursors on the couch quickly stood up at her approach, looking tense and nervous.

“Remote!” Sophie barked and one of the two quickly tossed it to her. Quickly bringing up the guide, Sophie punched in the numbers for a news channel before looking back at the group in the kitchen. “I mean this.”

The channel changed and instantly the room was filled with the sound of a man talking and chanting in the background. On the screen was a large crowd gathering together in protest with many signs. One sign the camera seemed to focus on read “VIRAL HIMMLER!!!” and below that was a fairly butch looking mock-up of what must have been Emerald wearing an SS peaked cap. Sophie switched the channel a moment later to another news station. There was a man talking, but beneath him was a large digital banner that loudly announced “ONLINE PETITION TO REVOKE PARDON REACHES ONE MILLION!”. Sophie switched again and this time it was of a man and a crying woman sitting in chairs opposite one another, the woman was scarred and had a picture of a young child on her lap. Along the bottom of the screen was a digital banner that read “SURVIVOR OF BLACKWATCH AND CADRE CRUELTY SPEAKS UP.”

“The eyes of the world are on Oskar,” Sophie said, tossing the remote back on the couch. The channel remained on and filled the room with the woman's story of her capture and near slaughter in a Blackwatch “experiment”. “Whether we asked for it or not, it's her actions that the world will judge us by. Not Trisha and her idealistic blog online, not Jacob and his using his entire budget to stock up soup kitchens, not even Heller's under the desk working with Gabriel to cover up whenever one of us decides enough is enough and tries to go on a killing spree will help here. All it will take is Oskar screwing up even once and the vultures will descend and blow the story sky high. And you'd better believe they'll exaggerate wildly. Good luck trying to make the world accept us then.”

“We were kept in a cage for nearly a month, all packed in and barely a hole in the corner to relieve ourselves in.” Sophie walked back to the table and her seat as the woman's story filled the air. “Just enough food and water not to starve. Then they finally shipped us out and brought us somewhere new... I remember seeing the building and being marched down into the basement thinking 'oh god this must have been what it felt like to be in a Death Camp, being marched into an incinerator with guns at your back.' I then remember thinking and wishing it had been an incinerator they were going to kill us with. They marched us into a box and I knew, I knew they were going to feed us to a monster. I remember hearing something heavy moving and growling... I remember the door opening and running for my life, screams and roaring behind me, trying to find something to hide behind or under, anything! I remember praying and hoping to god I would at least die quick... and god instead decided I would be saved instead...”

“The two of you already fulfilled your obligations,” Sophie said to Trisha and Jacob. “Your jobs are more long term oriented, anyway. Head home and do whatever. As long as you don't screw it up with her, I'm going to be hands off on this whole ‘being her friend’ thing.”

“Sure thing, Sophie,” Trisha said quietly with a nod before walking away with Jacob just a step behind her. Behind the both of them, Sophie returned to studying the papers and photos before her with a driven, almost obsessed look in her eyes.

Trisha and Jacob left the apartment and soon the building as well. They walked together down a sidewalk in total silence. They stayed in silence long after they reached the point where any Cursor could have possibly overheard them from a distance. It was only later when the two of them were at the edge of Staten Island, the Green Zone, leaning on a banister overlooking the bay that they talked.

“I don't like this, Jacob,” Trisha said, lines of drying tears on her face.

“I know...” Jacob sighed.

“I can't fake being a friend,” Trisha said softly. “I'm going to end up feeling she is one before long. And it's only going to hurt so bad whenever I have to go report in to Sophie.”

“Well you have to admit that Sophie does have a point,” Jacob said seriously. “The Cursors' future is now resting on how the world sees and reacts to Emerald from here on out. Making sure one person doesn't ruin the lives of thousands of others with one thoughtless action seems like a good cause, doesn't it?”

“It does, but...” Trisha began and then just shook her head in silence.

“Oh Trisha...” Jacob sighed before giving a soft smile at his friend. “Why is someone like you here?”

“Someone with their head on straight has to keep an eye on things, don't they?” Trisha said with a strained smile at Jacob.

“Don't hurt yourself now,” Jacob said with a shake of his head before pushing away from the banister. “You should go visit Artyom. That's gotta make yourself feel better.”

“Where are you going?” Trisha asked after his parting form.

“Going to go spend all my money on food for soup kitchens,” Jacob said with a cheeky grin back at her before going on his way.

Trisha smiled back and turned her gaze back towards the bay, eventually drifting it towards the Yellow Zone, Brooklyn.

'I know you aren't a horrible person, Emerald,' Trisha thought firmly. 'I know it! You'll prove everyone wrong. You'll show that not all of us let the past define who we must be moving forward.'

Trisha remained leaning on the banister for a moment longer before pushing off herself. Rolling her shoulders, she began walking towards the port.

'Right. One report done. Time to make the last one to Gabriel.'

Emerald exited the elevator and walked down the hall. She was making her way to her apartment when she heard a familiar voice say something completely unbelievable.

“I would never have sex with a zombie!” Emerald heard Twilight say. “Well... unless he sent me flowers...”

“...” Emerald stood frozen in the hallway for a long moment simply blinking her eyes. “...The fuck?”

Emerald looked towards the door of her apartment, but that was not where Twilight's voice had come from. She looked to her side where one of the apartment doors hung half open. Deeply and utterly curious as to why she heard Twilight's voice come from the apartment, she walked inside. Inside was an apartment very identical to her own including the living room with a TV and video games set up. In the living room was a man sitting on the couch playing video games on his TV.

'Huh...' Emerald blinked as she took in the sight of a scantily clad cheerleader fighting zombies. 'Her voice sounds exactly like Twilight's. That's incredibly funny.'

With a small grin, Emerald began to back out of the apartment quietly when she noticed she actually recognized the man on the couch. It was hard to forget the face of the man who somehow talked some sense into her drunken mind.

“Jared?” Emerald said aloud and startled the man on the couch who looked towards her. He blinked widely with an unrecognizing stare for a moment before his eyes cleared up.

“Emerald?” Jared said in clear surprise. “How did... where did you come from?”

“The door was open,” Emerald pointed behind her. “And I live down the hall... I thought I heard a voice I recognized and couldn't help investigating.”

“You live in the same building?” Jared asked with raised brows. “What an incredibly massive coincidence!”

“Yeah, I just live a few doors down in 405,” Emerald replied and smiled. “Honestly thought I wouldn't see you again for the good you did me that night.”

“Oh yeah, interesting night for all of us,” Jared nodded. “Though for one of us it was probably pretty fun.”

“I suppose so.” Emerald shrugged with a smile, recalling what she had rather loudly said that night before leaving the bar. “Well it was nice seeing you again, but I really have to head home now. We'll meet up again later and I’ll introduce you to some people.”

“Well I wouldn't mind meeting your girlfriend,” Jared replied. “As well as anyone else, I guess. Only people I hang out with are guys from work.”

“I'll see you later, Jared,” Emerald said and walked back out of the apartment, closing the door behind her.

Emerald's already good mood improved even more after meeting someone she thought would be a one-off encounter. She had a smile on her face when she walked to her apartment and reached for the knob to unlock and open it. Suddenly, a loud gasp interrupted her as she gripped the knob. She turned to see a woman staring at her with wide, fearful eyes. They remained staring at each other in silence for a moment when the door suddenly opened.

“MAMA!” Navi shouted happily, flying through the air and impacting Emerald's torso.

“H-hey there, cuddlebug,” Emerald said with a grunt as she actually stumbled back a step. “Oof, someone's getting a bit heavy. You need to kick up your exercises a bit more, I think.”

“Awww, Mama!” Navi protested with a little pout. “I've been exercising all morning!”

“In that case, you need to cut back on your eating then, shouldn't you?” Emerald asked as she shifted Navi into a more easy to carry position before walking into apartment. “You wouldn't want to get so heavy you'd go through the floor, now, would you?”

“No, Mama...” Navi said as they entered the apartment and closed the door behind them, leaving the woman to stand and stare blankly.

Emerald entered her apartment to see Spike sitting in the living room, playing on the brand new PS4 and one of the games that was brought with it. Sunset wasn't with him. Instead, she was sitting in her conjured wheelchair at the dining table. She was next to Twilight, trying not to look like she was really interested in what the other girl was writing out on her papers. Emerald placed Navi back on the ground and that was when the little virus noticed Emerald's changed attire.

“Mama, you look so pretty now!” Navi gasped in delight, placing her hands against her cheeks, eyes wide and taking in Emerald. “See! I told you, you should dress pretty too!”

“What can I say?” Emerald said with a smile and small shrug. “A friend of mine said I should dress nice too, so I figured you and her must have had a point.”

“Yeah... but...” Navi said with a smile before it turned into a sad frown. “Where did your hat go, Mama?”

“My hat?” Emerald questioned and went into a crouch in front of Navi, placing a hand behind her, black tendrils surged rapidly on her palm. “You mean this?”

“Oh!” Navi's eyes widened and they seemed to sparkle with desire for the hat. She seemed to not be sure if it was okay for her to ask for it though, and restrained herself to simply hopping in place anxiously.

“I've got a new hat now, Navi.” Emerald smiled widely and placed the bucket hat atop Navi's head. It was a bit large, but a quick alteration fixed that. “There we go, it's all yours.”

“Oh yay~” Navi hopped in place happily before giving Emerald a tight hug and a kiss. “I love you, Mama!”

“I love you too, Navi,” Emerald replied happy, feeling like all was right with the world.

“Awwww...” Emerald heard and turned her head to the side to see Sunset Shimmer gushing at the sight of the two. The instant Sunset saw Emerald look at her, she realized what she was doing and with flushed cheeks turned her head away in intense embarrassment. Beside her, Twilight continued working at her paper, full attention and focus upon whatever she was writing on it.

“Go show Spike your new hat, Navi,” Emerald said, placing the little virus back down with a pat on her head. Navi grinned widely and quickly darted over to the front of the couch in the living room.

“Uncle Spike, look at my hat!” Navi proclaimed as Emerald walked over to Twilight's side to get a closer look at what she was doing. At first glance, Emerald saw a wall of equations covering each of Twilight's papers, each one with a massive x scrawled over it save for the one she was currently writing on. Looking over her work, Emerald could tell Twilight was attempting to work out something complicated from the sheer amount of arcane math covering the page. Looking closer at her work, however, Emerald saw that Twilight was focusing a lot of the equations into complicating a rather simple formula that was literally grade school level. The algorithm for channelling magic. Emerald spent a moment looking for the reason why Twilight was going over something so basic when she realized there was a key part of the algorithm that was missing.

“You're trying to figure out how to use hornless magic,” Emerald stated and got a distracted hum from Twilight in response “I know you probably want to figure this out yourself, but I think it would be much better and much easier if I helped you out here.”

“No cheating,” Twilight said firmly with furrowed brows as she tried out a long line of numbers and figures. “A horn on my head would be incredibly conspicuous and I doubt some external method of channelling would be so simple for me to grasp.

“Well...” Emerald began. Twilight did have a point. The former unicorn had spent her whole life channelling magic with a natural foci that was a part of her body and connected to her magical circuits. Simply giving her a “wand” made completely of unicorn horn would likely be slowing going. “True. You do have an advantage, though. You are an alicorn. That means you have magical circuits lining the whole of your body instead of clustered in and around your head like a unicorn's circuits. An earth pony mostly infuses their magic with their body but they can also push it out of their body and into the world around them. Obviously it's not the same as the way a unicorn can manipulate the world, but it's a path that is provided for us.”

“Huh... you're right!” Twilight's eyes widened and she turned to Emerald with a smile, blinking in surprise at Emerald's changed appearance. “Uh wah?”

“I got a bit of a makeover.” Emerald smiled a bit before backing up and performing a pirouette. “How do I look?”

“Emerald, I... wow!” Twilight smiled as she took the sight. “I'm so used to your normal outfit, you look so... pretty? Beautiful? Um... cute? I'm actually having a hard time finding the right words.”

“That much of an effect, huh?” Emerald asked with a sly smile before striding over and straddling Twilight's lap. “Today's been a very good day for me. How about I show you my appreciation, huh?”

“Uhhhhhhhh...” Sunset blushed as she took in the scene. Twilight's face was flushed but she was grinning up at Emerald who was on her lap, smiling softly down at her. With face becoming a red that was only a few shades short of the red in her hair, she pushed away from the table and rolled off towards the living room so fast she almost flipped over.

Nearly ten hours later found Emerald staring up at the moon from atop a building in Brooklyn.

The virus was lying on her back staring up into the sky, and resting atop her chest was a tablet-like device. Mind buzzing with thoughts, Emerald brought her device up and looked at it. The screen lit up and showed what was on the screen. It was a sketch, more specifically two sketches that seemed to be two different viewpoints of the same object. On one sketch there was an X-like shape with each of its arms thinning into a small, tapered point and in the centre of the X was a circle. On the other sketch was a trident like shape. The central prong was far longer than the other two and extended with a thick base until halfway down it thinned abruptly and maintained width until ending in a tapered point. The two prongs on the side were only a third as long as the middle prong but thinned into sharp-looking points.

'Planning out projects and the like is great and all, but at the rate I can work on theoretical I'll start running out of things to plan out in a few days,' Emerald thought as she pocketed the tablet, stood up and started making for the building edge. 'Never thought I'd say this but... I need a hobby to pass the time.'

“SHIT!” shouted a voice from below as she reached the ledge.

Emerald leaned forward and looked down. She saw a man running up with what initially looked to be a gun, but upon closer inspection was a spray painted toy gun. Behind the man were two men with knives in hand, clearly hoods attempting to mug someone.

Crouching upon the ledge, Emerald formed two short stilettos in her hand. She paused for an instant, gauged the slight breeze, calculated the weight of the blades, measured the distances involved and how fast the two hoods were moving and took into account the angle. She went over all this in barely half a second and let both blades fly.

Twin shouts of pain filled the air and the man who attempted to ward off predators with a toy took a single glance back to see both thugs on the ground, the handles of knives protruding from their rumps. He paused for a moment before quickly redoubling on his running while he had the chance. Behind him, the two men struggled on the ground and groaned in pain for a few moments before going still.

Up above, Emerald stood back up and walked away, leaving the two thugs who had a fast acting sleeping agent running through their veins. She had spent two more nights running all over the world selling things she magically created. She had no need to steal pocket change from thugs anymore.

As she walked away, a thought suddenly struck Emerald. She briefly glanced back in the direction of the thugs she attacked before looking down at her hand and forming another knife. She examined it for a moment before tendrils surged again and changed its shape and appearance. She then held it up towards the moon.

'A hobby, huh?' Emerald thought as a shadow in a familiar shape was cast over her eyes.

A fist larger than most people were tall cocked back and shot forward, a deafening crack of stone shattering resounded.

Moon Dancer, Whisper Wind, Diane and Flandre sat upon a stone bench together as they watched a cloud of dust form. Towering above all and barely squeezing between buildings was a Biogear, its fist extended into the wall of a building.

Several days ago, Belvedere had informed the Enclave that Emerald's return from her current journey had been unexpectedly delayed indefinitely and until she returned he would continue running things in her stead. He then began attempts to break into the Orion building where the latest serum was being stored. First attempt had been the largest, strongest dogs taking their claws to the stone. When that had failed, the next attempt had involved explosives ending with shot from a howitzer, which also failed. Rather than make progressively scaled attempts to break in, Belvedere then organized the passage of a Biogear into the city to punch the wall. If that didn't do it, then likely only Emerald could. Thankfully that had worked as was proven when the dust cloud settled. Revealed was a dent with a hole big enough for dogs to enter one by one.

“Now that that's done,” Diane said as Belvedere entered the newly made hole and the Biogear very carefully started to back out of the city. “Anyone here free today?”

“I have to head back to Canterlot for a while,” Whisper Wind answered. “I'm supposed to keep a friend of mine out of trouble until Emerald came back to see her, herself. I mostly came back for some money to help do that.”

“I have to go visit my sister,” Flandre said. “I miss her and she misses me. So I'll be gone for the next few days.”

“I have a lot of backlogged projects Emerald set aside for me as well as several personal projects of my own, but...” Moon Dancer shifted anxiously in her seat as Diane gave her wide, hopeful stare. “I guess I can take the day off...”

“YES! I've got something I'm so excited to show you!” Diane said happily and pulled Moon Dancer into a tight hug.

“Hehehehe~” Flandre giggled at the sight of Moon Dancer struggling in Diane's grip.

“We have to get to packing and heading out.” Whisper Wind smirked at the pair. “We'll just leave you to it.”

“D-Diane!” Moon Dancer managed to get out. “Need to breathe!”

“This will be so great!” Diane said and let go of Dancer, jumping off the bench and already starting to trot away. “Come on!”

Taking a moment to gather her breath, Moon Dancer got off the bench and started off after Diane at a much more sedate pace. The two made their way out of the city, walking past a slowly moving Biogear and taking a tram to the surface; a ten minute trip all in all. Once they arrived topside, they began moving towards the small area where the sole ponies in the Enclave had set up their homes. Diane's home was a decent sized cottage between Whisper's older home and Moon Dancer's newer one.

“So what exactly are you going to be showing me?” Moon Dancer asked as they approached Diane's home.

“Umm... w-well it's something I've been spending a lot of time on,” Diane said a little nervously.

“Now that I think about it, you have been closed up in your home for the last few days,” Moon Dancer commented, raising a brow at Diane's nervousness. “It must have been quite the passion project if you spent all that time working on it exclusively.”

“Yes... yes it was.” Diane smiled and opened the door to her home.

The front door immediately opened up to the living room of the house which itself wasn't something that really stood out, though there happened to be quite a few blank canvases filling this space. There were two doors in one corner leading to two different rooms. When Dancer got closer she saw one led to the kitchen and dining area. Diane stopped at the other door and nervously looked back at Moon Dancer before opening the door.

It was a hallway. At first Moon Dancer didn't see what it was was that Diane wanted to show her, until she looked at the walls. There were pictures hung up on the wall, each clearly painted by Diane. Moon Dancer walked into the middle of the hallway and examined each picture. Diane stood nearby, looking incredibly anxious at Moon Dancer's reaction.

“Well... my first thought is that these mares are being unusually affectionate with one another,” Moon Dancer commented as her cheeks flushed as she took in one the pictures with two mares very clearly kissing one another. “Uhh... they aren't just friends, are they?”

“No, I've been getting a little inspiration from Emerald,” Diane said softly.

“Right...” Moon Dancer said, continuing to look at the pictures. She did notice that while one of the mares was different each time, the other one was the same in each one. The one mare had a pure white coat with a slightly curly blonde hair with pink highlights. She also had quite a few faded scars covering her body with another crossing over an eye. “I'm very confused about my own feelings on this. I mean I think they are all very well done, but... well is there a reason there is one mare with three others?”

“I've actually got no reason for it beyond I like working with this one,” Diane explained as she walked over to one picture. “I think I want to give a shot at giving these three pictures a story.”

“Painting and writing?” Moon Dancer stated with raised brows. “That's quite the combo. I never realized you were that talented.”

“Hehe, well you never know what you're good at until you try.” Diane giggled and smiled widely.

Moon Dancer walked closer to one picture and examined it more thoroughly. The scarred mare was very affectionately nuzzling another mare. The other mare was a unicorn wearing jewellery, fine regal clothing, well applied makeup and mane styled in a delicate coiffure. She had an ice blue coat with bluish-purple hair with a dark pink streak and purple eyes.

Diane watched Moon Dancer taking in her paintings with a smile, happy someone could enjoy them. Unbeknownst to the both of them, Diane's cutie mark glowed softly. When the glow faded, the three splotches of paint had transformed into three paintings, two of them blue and one yellow.

Far below in the tunnels spreading out in vast networks in the territory of the Enclave, a group of changelings had gathered together. These weren't your normal, garden variety changeling, however.

“The Queen Mother is trapped in another world,” Vata spoke mentally to his fellows around him. “Fenrir says quite confidently that she shall return to us eventually.”

“She has proven to be capable of incredible feats,” another changeling spoke, her name Cela. “I trust in his words. She shall return. However, we must solve an issue.”

“We are few in number for all our training and abilities,” spoke another, Ambly. “It is clear the Queen Mother does not completely trust the world to not have its plotters and wishes for us to be a means of discovering them when the time comes. But with only twelve of us, our ability to properly do so in this wide and vast world is limited.”

“We need more,” Cela spoke. “We need a Queen. Who among us shall be chosen?”

The circle of twelve looked among themselves for a moment. Becoming Queen wasn't a question of qualification here, as they all shared knowledge and neither was it a question of gender as the transformation was beyond such things. More, it was a question of who was willing to become the one to very likely spend the next few years constantly spawning children. All of them turned out to be willing to bear such a responsibility. Eventually it was decided that Ambly, a male, would be the one to undergo the metamorphosis.

“Ambly. We as the entirely of our hive choose you as our Queen,” the Eleven spoke as one as they surrounded Ambly and pressed their horns to his head. They began bringing forth their store of love and emotions to flood Ambly's form. “Today, your life as Ambly ends. When you emerge you shall be our Queen. Queen Ambrosia.”

A blinding glow surrounded Ambly's form, then there was the sound of cracking and a thump. When the light faded, Ambly was no longer recognizable as such. His flesh had bulged outwards until he became a long, cylindrical shape covered in cracked and stretched carapace. His eyes and horn were still in recognizable positions and the lower half looked a lot like bulging abdomen of an earwig that glowed bright orange.

Two of the Changelings stepped forward and lied down next to the cocooned form of their growing Queen. Though they all shared mental connections with one another, a physical presence was still very comforting. It was then the group collectively noticed the growing chill in the air and frost already covering the floor.

“Our Queen's growth requires food,” Vata spoke. “She is already drawing in the natural energies in the air to further her growth. We must go out and collect more food.”

With that, the nine Changelings faded into the chilling darkness, the cocooned Queen lied still, incapable of movement as ice already started to form. Her attendants ignored the slight discomfort of the cold and remained at her side.