Emerald stared down at Sophie with an expression approaching more of tiredness rather than any sort of anger or hatred. Sophie, in turn, stared back with a look of abject defeat, still somewhat panting for breath.
“Do you know where they took Twilight?” Emerald asked and crossed her arms.
“...No, I don't. They gave me a lot of stuff, but information about their base and operations was never on the table,” Sophie replied after a moment, giving a long sigh before averting her eyes downwards.
“How much about me do they actually know?” Emerald didn't doubt for a single moment Sophie was telling the truth. She didn't have it in her anymore to lie.
“They were wondering if you could turn invisible or teleport,” Sophie answered. “That's all they knew. This was all very last second so I doubt they saw what happened here...”
“Hmm...” Emerald went over her thoughts. The Old Guard definitely knew what they were doing. They supplied Sophie but kept her at arm’s length so the event of her death or capture wouldn't give anyone any dangerous leverage. Looking about the area, she caught Twilight's scent but it cut off shortly in the air. Attempting to use the method she used to track Tabitha, Emerald was met only with the broiling emotions filling the air from Sophie.
'Figured that would be the case,' Emerald thought. 'Twilight was unconscious so she wouldn't be giving off emotions and the kinds of soldiers the Old Guard would really rely on wouldn't be feeling anything.'
After another moment, Emerald knew there was nothing else to gain here. She strongly considered killing Sophie here and now, but... looking at Sophie, feeling the negative emotion that was pouring off her in torrents, the virus felt there was no point to killing her.
“Wha-what are you doing?” Sophie said after noticing Emerald turn away from her and begin to walk away. “Don't you dare... come back here! Finish what you started!”
“And what would that be?” Emerald asked, coming to a stop but not looking at Sophie. “You have nothing I need.”
“Who the hell do you think you are?!” Sophie screeched at Emerald, punching the pavement and causing a massive crack. “You think you're some hero for not killing me?! Think sparing me will prove anything?! YOU FUCKING MONSTER! PIECE OF SHIT BABY KILLER!!!”
“...” Emerald gave a deep sigh and looked over her shoulder back at Sophie with an expression of honest remorse. “Sophie... after what I did to you, what could I possibly do to you that could ever make you hurt more than the agony you already feel? Killing you now wouldn't be a punishment; it'd be release. It'd be collapsing into bed after a very hard day. I've got more important places to be, so goodbye Sophie.”
And with that, Emerald teleported away in a small flash of pink.
Sophie stared in silence at the spot where Emerald had stood, rivers of tears streaming down her face. She abruptly gave a scream of hate and pain before punching the ground again and suddenly she broke down in tears. She wrapped her arms around herself before falling over onto her side and curling up, crying bitter tears of grief and defeat.
Up in midair, Emerald considered her options. She could find Twilight so very easily if only she could use her sonar, but that wasn't possible with the jamming network up.
'So obviously, bring the network down,' Emerald thought with a nod and went through her many memories stolen from sleeping Blackwatch personnel. There were two clear ways to bring the entire network down. Either bring down the power grid, something that wasn't exactly easy thanks to backup generators, or issue the master shut down from Blackwatch HQ. Emerald had an idea of how to reliably bring down the power grid that should also include the backup generators, but her chances were far better with just sending down the shut down command.
With a flash of pink light, Emerald disappeared from the air and reappeared an instant later in the Blackwatch command center floor. It was like a hive of activity. Every computer console had technicians manning them and the sound of people talking filled the air. But nearly drowning all that out was Heller's bellowing.
“-I NEED AN UPDATE, NOW! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OVER AT THAT APAR- The fuck?!” Heller bellowed and interrupted himself when he noticed the flash of light from Emerald's teleport.
“Hello,” Emerald said as dozens of soldiers instantly whipped out their guns. “I'm going to need to borrow your base.”
“You-” Heller begin but was instantly silenced as an aura of magic surrounded him and he was sent flying up into the ceiling. After crashing upwards, he found himself spreadeagled and utterly unable to move in any way. For the soldiers, their guns suddenly ripped themselves out of their grips and started floating in midair aimed at them.
“Now...” Emerald paused briefly to magically conjure up more loaded guns to cover every single person in the room before walking towards one technician specifically. “I know mostly how to turn the sonar Jamming network off from here but I also know I am missing some key steps. Steps which you know.”
“Please don't eat me,” came the woman's instant reply, her calm voice contrasting the obvious rising terror on her face.
“Be still. This shouldn't hurt,” Emerald simply said and reached out to the woman whose eyes somehow widened even further.
Suddenly the main doors to the command center burst open and in charged Dana Mercer followed closely by another woman.
“Heller, I've-” Dana began only to stop when she took in the state of the room. James Heller was stuck to the ceiling, dozens of guns floated in midair at the ready to gun down the people they were sighting, and finally, Emerald Gleaner seemingly threatening one of the technicians at the stations. “...Shit, well… this is still good, in a way. Emerald? I've got some info you'll probably want to hear.”
“You have five seconds,” Emerald simply said, hand still reaching out towards the sitting technician.
“I know where Twilight is,” Dana said simply and managed to not flinch when Emerald snapped her attention fully on her along with every floating gun in the room. She wasn't so successful when Emerald teleported in a flash of light to appear standing before her with arms crossed and an expression of supreme impatience.
“Talk,” Emerald stated simply.
“I've been trying to catch the Old Guard red handed for something and managed to get a spy or two into their faction,” Dana explained. “One of my spies was a helicopter pilot that just finished transporting a small team of Blackwatch soldiers and a unconscious girl to a base on Liberty Island.”
“...” Emerald frowned and began reaching out with a hand, an action that got Heller struggling against his magical bonds mightily. Then she stopped and brought it back down to her side. “I trust you, Dana. Even if you are wrong or lying, I'll just be back in a couple of seconds.”
With that, Emerald waved a hand in the air and all the guns in the room were transmutated into rubber replicas of themselves and she disappeared in a flash. A second later Heller came crashing to the floor with a resounding crash and several loud curses.
“Wow...” Dana said simply, staring at the spot where Emerald had been standing before walking over and waving a hand through the empty air where she had stood. “I'd love to see how the UN would quarantine this.”
“Agent Neveu, could you get in connnnnn...” Dana began and trailed off after looking over her shoulder to see no one at the door. “Ugh, now is definitely not the time to go do your own shit.”
ALPHA
In her unconscious state, Twilight's mind was a confusing slurry of darkness and myriad images from her life melding together nonsensically. That all ended very abruptly when she felt a jolt of sharp hot pain lance through her.
“Gah!” Twilight shouted out and attempted to bolt up into a standing stance, only to fail utterly due to her hands and feet being bound. The first thing she noticed after the fact she was in binds was the fact she was nearly naked, wearing only her underwear.
“Alright, she's awake sir,” Twilight heard and looked up to see that she was in a small room made entirely of dark steel and lit by a large industrial looking light. In front of her stood two men, one wearing a hardsuit save for the helmet and older looking while the other was wearing a simple military uniform. Standing off in the darkness of the corner was another soldier wearing a full hardsuit, standing guard.
“Who are you people?” Twilight asked as she struggled against her bindings. “Are you Blackwatch? Why did you attack us?!”
“I want to know everything she knows about the target,” the older man said, ignoring Twilight.
“How do you want this done?” the younger man asked. “Slow and methodical or fast and messy?”
“I want everything as soon as possible,” the older man stated and walked through the armored door of the cell, the door closing behind him automatically.
“Messy it is,” the uniformed man said with a shrug before turning around and quickly walking over to a small steel table over to the side of the room.
“Look, Emerald is going to know I am gone and she is going to come looking for me,” Twilight said from her spot on the floor as the man took a jug of water, a cloth and a shock prod from the table. “If you let me go, I'll do everything I can to calm her down, and try to stop her from hurting any of you.”
The man in the uniform ignored her and placed the jug of water down nearby with the cloth atop it. He fiddled with his shock prod for a moment until a high pitched whine emitted from the device. He gave a nod before suddenly jabbing it forward at her.
Twilight's vision went white as pain racked her body. She bit back a scream as she spasmed and thrashed on the floor from the electricity flowing through her body. After what seemed like an eternity, it was finally over and she went limp before curling up as best she could and releasing a groan of pain. She opened her eyes a crack just in time to see the prod thrust at her again. This time she didn't hold back the scream of pain as she shook uncontrollably on the floor as the electricity flowed again. Compared to the last one, this round of tazing didn't last as long, though that hardly made much difference for Twilight.
“J-jus-just st-stop- AGH!” Twilight began and was interrupted by a fist colliding with her face and she felt another explosion of pain and warmth begin to spread over her face.
“Speak when spoken to,” the man stated before looking over his shoulder. “You, come over here for a minute.”
“Auuugh...” Twilight groaned and found herself gulping down copious amounts of blood pouring down her throat from her nose and then retching from the taste. She very nearly ending up puking when her torturer suddenly kneed her stomach harshly, pinning her down to the floor on her back.
“Hold her head,” He told the other soldier when they came a stop beside him. “Keep her from moving it around too much.”
“What are you- ack!” Twilight began when the man kneeling on her slapped the cloth he was holding onto her face and the soldier quickly knelt beside her head and grabbed it firmly.
Twilight couldn't see anything, but she could hear something having its lid unscrewed. A moment later she felt water pouring onto her cloth covered face. At first she was wondering how this was supposed to hurt her, but then she tried to breath in and found she barely could. She began choking down water as well as blood and started to feel the onset of panic as she struggled for breath, but ended up choking most breaths. Her vision started going dark as she coughed and choked, barely able to get enough oxygen to breathe. Just when Twilight thought she was going to die drowning on dry land, the water stopped pouring and the cloth was taken form her face.
She took in a massive breath of air with a wheezing gasp and immediately started hacking up some water mixed with blood. Thankfully she was allowed to cough up her lungs free of all liquid without further abuse. The soldier let go of her head and got back up onto his feet to stand behind her torturer, still kneeling down on her.
“Look here,” the man said firmly as he grabbed hold of Twilight's hair to harshly force her to look at him. “How did Emerald Gleaner learn to teleport? Was it something she created? Did she learn it from somewhere? Talk!”
“Agh...” Twilight gritted her teeth briefly before scowling in hatred at the man glaring down at her. “I... I hope Emerald eats you slowly when she finds me!”
“Wrong answer,” the man said and reached for the shock prod again when he heard a noise; a noise much like that of a sharp blade cutting through meat.
He looked back to see the soldier at guard behind him begin to collapse to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, the soldier's head beating the body's descent by half a second. Standing behind him with a claw outstretched was Emerald. The interrogator only had time to widen his eyes before Emerald's free hand whipped out, grabbed him by the throat and pulled him close.
“As my lady commands,” Emerald said softly in the face of the interrogator before her mouth split open into a horrifying maw filled with rows and rows of needle-like teeth.
Twilight stared up with wide, shocked eyes as Emerald's mouth clamped down over the face of the interrogator who gave a brief scream before the two of them fell to the floor. The former unicorn's expression morphed into a deep frown as she stared at the two on the floor for a moment, listening to the sound of tearing flesh before she simply closed her eyes and looked away.
With a bone chilling growl, Emerald Gleaner rose up from the floor and surveyed the damage. The interrogator was now lacking a face and most of the muscle beneath, baring a bloody skull to the open air. Slashes and cuts covered the front of his torso and all his limbs were removed before the knees and elbows. Despite this damage and the blood loss, however, he was still alive. Emerald stopped all bleeding by rapidly coagulating the blood over the wounds. However that didn't mean he wasn't going to die. It just meant he was going to die very slowly over the next few hours from trauma.
The rage instantly faded from Emerald's face when she turned towards Twilight, replaced with concern and worry. She quickly crouched beside Twilight and magically removed her bindings before conjuring a warm blanket and wrapping it around her.
“Are you okay, Twilight?” Emerald asked softly as she quickly healed all of Twilight's injuries and sat her up. “I should have been faster!”
“I'm okay, Emerald,” Twilight said and leaned her head against Emerald's shoulder. “It was only a few minutes.”
“Still too long...” Emerald said with a shake of her head before picking up Twilight in a bridal carry before teleporting away from the room.
An instant later found Emerald atop a building. It was the Goldman and Sachs towers just on the mainland overlooking the bay and Liberty Island. With incredible care, Emerald placed Twilight on the ground and leaned in close.
“Everything will be alright, Twilight,” Emerald said softly. “I'm going to put you to sleep now. When you wake up, you'll be safe in bed.”
“Are you going to do what I think you're going to do?” Twilight asked.
“Yes.” Emerald nodded as she spread chemicals into Twilight's bloodstream. “I'm going to make sure they can't hurt anyone ever again.”
“...” Twilight's eyes fluttered and she briefly squeezed Emerald's hand as she slipped into a dreamless slumber.
Emerald stroked Twilight's hair and leaned down to give her a kiss before standing back up. Emerald strode over to the ledge of the roof and stared down at Liberty Island down in the bay below with a glare. Suddenly a pair of blade wings burst from Emerald's back and after a moment, sparks of electricity started to dance among the blades.
The virus then closed her eyes and reached out towards the skies that rapidly started filling with dark storm clouds and filled the air with the soft booms of thunder.
BETA
Major Adrien Shepard's boots thumped audibly with every step as he quickly strode to the command center of Base Liberty. He had been in the middle of heading for his office to update the other members of the Old Guard of his activities when a priority red alert had started blaring.
A priority red alert was basically Blackwatch's equivalent of defcon 2. It meant that Blackwatch control of the NYZ, and most importantly the Cursors, was on the verge of total collapse. The step above this was “Line Broken” alert, a reference to the red line in the Blackwatch creed. If a Line Broken alert was ever sounded, it would be signal of imminent nuclear annihilation of the NYZ as well as everything within a hundred miles. Never let it be said the UN didn't fully understand the potential threat of a hostile Cursor army.
'This likely means the target abandoned all attempts of hiding its ability to teleport and used it openly to attempt to track down the prisoner,' Major Shepard thought with a deep frown. 'Glad to see Heller is taking this threat seriously, but... I don't know. With the ability to teleport, a priority red alert seems a bit conservative. A Cursor with the ability to teleport can not be contained as far as we know and could simply run amok across the entire world, infecting whole cities. While I appreciate not being instantly declared a lost cause and being killed in nuclear annihilation... something must have happened over there.'
Major Shepard soon arrived to the command center and found it abuzz with activity, trusted personal at every console and looking over incoming data. The Major quickly strode over to the digital tactical map in the center of the room and frowned down at it.
On the map, every base in the NYZ was shown to be on high alert as expected but Blackwatch HQ was specifically marked down and flashing. “BASE COMPROMISED” were the red flashing words beside the symbol for HQ. Along with that, the border surrounding the NYZ region was flashing black, signifying an information blackout to the outside world. Shepard was still frowning in thought at the tactical map when a technician rushed up to him.
“Sir, we've got a transmission from one of your contacts,” the tech said with a quick salute. “It's on the emergency broadcast channel.”
“... Transfer it to my earpiece,” Major Shepard commanded as he fished said device out of a pocket. The emergency broadcast channel was there in case something of such immense importance happened that it had to get to the Old Guard commanders, regardless of how it might compromise their own operations in the NYZ.
“Sir, sir!” came the panicky voice of the contact.
“This is Major Shepard, talk,” Shepard ordered.
“S-sir, the target sir!” the contact stuttered. “It was- she- it- everyone in the command, they were-”
“Calm down son, and spit it out,” Shepard barked impatiently. “What happened with the target?!”
“She incapacitated everyone in command without touching them! Even Heller!” the contact quickly said. “It was like she had mind powers or something! Then Dana Mercer came in. She had a spy, sir! THE TARGET KNOWS WHERE YOU ARE!”
“...” The Major silently cut the connection to the contact and quickly called a specific frequency. “Piers, come in. Do you read me, Piers?”
For a long moment there was nothing but crackling static and buzzing until the most spine chilling groan of pain echoed over the radio. Even with his history with Blackwatch, Shepard could feel the hairs on the back of his neck raising and quickly changed frequency again.
“This is Major Shepard to the guards in cell block A-1, there is a situation in the cell Captain Piers is in. Investigate immediately,” Shepard ordered. “Keep me on the line.”
“Sir, yes sir!” came the quick reply. “You and you, with me. Let's go!”
Shepard listened to the sound of soldiers stomping their feet across paved floors for a moment before the sound of a steel door screeching open resounded. It was then quickly followed by muffled curses.
“Jesus Christ... Major Shepard, Captain Piers has been torn to shreds, sir,” the soldier said solemnly. “No sign of the prisoner.”
“Holy fuck! Look at his chest!” a voice said in the background. “It's moving! He's still alive!”
“Get him to medical!”
“...” Shepard's frown deepened immensely as he quickly switched to a channel that would broadcast to everyone on the base. “All personnel to your posts! THE BASE IS UNDER ATTACK!”
The Major looked up onto the various screens lining the walls of the command center and saw soldiers that were already being mobilized by the general alert jump into action. Gun turrets rose out of their concealed positions and started scanning the vicinity. Blackwatch soldiers started taking defensive positions around and in the base, pulling out defensive structures or activating built in defenses. Three dozen E-Code soldiers quickly geared up with their heavy weaponry and moved towards positions best meant for mobility and reacting to issues as they arose. When he saw several transport choppers being left grounded in favor of the gunships, the Major debated trying some kind of evacuation with them. He shook his head a moment later. Making a getaway on them with a normal Cursor in chase was hard enough, let alone one that could teleport. However, that didn't mean they still couldn't be used.
“I want heavy guns mounted on the choppers on the ground,” Shepard commanded. “I want as many guns in the sky as possible.”
It was a show of how effective experience, training and discipline was in concert with each other that everyone in the base was at full readiness in just over a minute. The Major constantly scanned the screens, searching for any possible signs of Emerald Gleaner. The target had the initiative here and they were on the defensive, a very bad position to be in against Cursors. But they were Blackwatch; they were fully geared and prepared to pay the butcher's bill to take down the enemy here. Every single heavy machinegun in the base had a full load of polonium bullets, every soldier in the base had their vital signs constantly broadcasted by their hardsuit and each was personally coded into the security. In short, Shepard was fully confident of their ability in bringing down the average Cursor without too many casualties. However he was fully aware this was no ordinary Cursor he was dealing with and the fact nothing had happened yet was getting to him.
“Talk to me. Any sign of the enemy?” Shepard commanded.
“No sir, nothing yet,” replied a pilot. “We're finishing a sweep now, sir, we'll keep doing the- SHIT!”
“What is it?! What's going on, REPORT!” Shepard barked and looked up at the screens to see extremely harsh winds picking up, enough so that trees were beginning to bend alarmingly.
“Sudden turbulence!” came the strained reply. “Trying to- FUCK, I can't- have to set down, I can't-I can't-”
Shepard watched on several screens as every chopper in the air was either forced to land anywhere they could or simply tumbled out of the sky, their pilots no longer able to stay airborne. Looking at the skies in the background of the exterior cameras, Shepard saw the clouds visibly moving and even arcs of lightning starting to jump amongst them. As he continued to watch, the clouds picked up speed and a massive hole started forming in the sky over the base.
It was like a vast hurricane eye, the inner cloud walls seemed to stretch onwards for miles and miles with a hole in the far distance revealing a starry sky. Lightning danced along the cloud walls in their hundreds, the booming of thunder was deafening in their cacophony. The clouds only seemed to pick up in speed even more and those below could only simply find cover in hopes of not being blown away.
Far, far above in orbit of Earth, the crew of the International Space Station were bustling. Most of the crew was staring out a window at Earth below. One was manning a computer console, though they too were fighting to not stare out the window.
“NASA, are you reading me?” the sole astronaut at the console said.
“We are reading you,” came the answer. “We've been getting a lot of calls from weather observatories about some kind of insanely compact hurricane that formed over the New York area. Do you have eyes on that?”
“NASA, we probably have the best seat in the house despite not being on top of it,” the astronaut replied and stared out the window.
The current position of the space station had the east coast of the US on the horizon from the station's current point of view. So while they didn't have information from looking down directly on the rapidly formed new storm, they had a view of something likely far more extraordinary. The storms clouds forming up the storm were billowing up far beyond the point any cloud could possibly form, taking up the exact shape of an anvil. And even this far away, the incredible amounts of lightning surging through the storm was visible.
“We moved around one of the stream cameras, take a look at it,” the astronaut said before staring out the window.
“Jesus Christ, what in the hell is that?” came the shocked reply a moment later.
Back below, Emerald stood with arms spread out as if to embrace the sky, her blade wings spread out behind her sparking with lightning and her eyes closed. After a moment, she lowered her arms and took in the storm she created. Seeing that it was perfectly formed, and despite creating something of this size being purely theoretical to her before, she nodded and began the final step.
As she directed her attention back down to the Blackwatch base below, lightning danced along the cloud walls above and starting leaping to the very center of the “eye”. A ball of lightning quickly formed and became much like a newborn star. The “star” grew larger with every bolt of lightning leaping to it, eventually reaching the size of a decent sized house.
“You all just had do something on the last days of my time here, didn't you?” Emerald said aloud, magically amplifying her voice so that those on Liberty Island could easily hear her. “If you had done nothing, nothing would have happened and I would have disappeared form the world with no one the wiser.”
Soldiers hunkering down next to shelter or packing into small bunkers could not help but look up to the skies as Emerald's voice resonated through the air. They were all hopelessly stuck, the wind was too strong to attempt to walk out in the open let alone attempt to use the few boats not torn away from their tethers at the docks. The only people with any chance at all of getting through these winds were the E-Codes, but they had no idea of what was to come.
“I would have loved to come charging at all of you, but that would actually be doing you all a favor,” Emerald's voice boomed. “You would all die fighting, all with some delusion that you ever had a chance and that this was all a meaningful battle. But it isn't. You all are going to die knowing you never stood a chance and die in a single instant. Goodbye.”
Major Shepard walked through his command center, the single being of utter silence and calm in a sea of panic and chaos. All around him his subordinates rushing to and fro, pounding at computer consoles in line with their training to keep going til their last heart beat.
'Sometimes you just have to acknowledge when you are beat,' the Major thought as he came to a stop before a large video screen depicting the sky above and the newborn star. 'A lesson few soldiers will ever learn.'
Major Adrian Shepard watched in stoic silence as all movement ceased on the screens. The clouds stopped abruptly and the winds died just as suddenly. It was in this moment of utter silence that all activity in the command center ceased, that everyone seemed to know death was imminent and unstoppable.
It was in this moment that Major Shepard quietly recited words to himself, a creed that he had given his life to.
“When we hunt, we kill.
No one is safe.
Nothing is sacred.
We are Blackwatch.
We are the last line of defense.
We will burn our own to hold the red line,
it is the last line to ever hold...”
'Line broken...' Shepard thought and closed his eyes.
Back on the skyscraper, Emerald held a hand out towards the star in the sky with a single finger outstretched, before motioning sharply down towards the island. There was a deafening boom as well over a thousand bolts of lightning leapt from the cloud walls and impacted the star. And suddenly it was as if a nuke had gone off. The light was so intense people would have been briefly blinded even if they weren't looking at the light, but permanently so should they have been. But despite this, that was the only comparatively grand part. There was a good deal of shaking and noise, but nowhere near the levels it should have been had it actually been a nuke.
When the flash of light died down, the stormy skies were already lessening greatly but Liberty Island was forever changed. The earth and stonework were charred black by the sudden, intense energies, with areas closer to the blast zone glowing red or even completely molten; nothing of green remained. The Blackwatch base was completely gone and in its place was an utterly massively formation of glowing blue crystals. Storm sapphires.
The gem formation had lightning surging in its hearts constantly, and towering just over the Statue of Liberty's outstretched torch. And speaking of the statue, most of it below the waist was gone as well, seemingly fused into the massive formation itself. Its aged, copper skin appearing to conduct the flash formation of the gem rather well and had a “frost” like coating of the crystals over its remaining structure.
'That was... satisfying.' Emerald smiled. 'After spending so long pulling punches and not killing people who deserved it, it feels so good to finally let loose completely. Well, there is nothing left to do here but to go home.'
With that, Emerald turned in place and quickly walked back to where she had left Twilight. She gingerly bent down and picked her up, holding her bridal style. Making one final check to make sure she was holding her in a comfortable position, Emerald teleported.
“You're back!” Spike exclaimed at her sudden arrival and added happily. “You have Twilight!”
“PAPA!” Navi shouted in tearful joy, running over to look up at Twilight in Emerald's arms happily.
“You got her. I knew you would get her, but... thank Celestia,” Sunset Shimmer said with a relieved sigh as she gingerly removed the element of magic from her head and placed it on the kitchen table. “She isn't awake. Is she going to be okay?”
“Yes, I just put her to sleep once I got her.” Emerald nodded and added with frown, “They hurt her, but I hurt them back. No one hurts my family... or my friends. Tomorrow night is the night we leave. Get settled in for one more day on Earth before we get back to Equestria. Come hell or high water, I will get us all back home. I'm going to take her to bed now. It's been a very long day.”
Emerald carried Twilight Sparkle into the bedroom and closed the door behind them. She unwrapped Twilight from the conjured blanket and quickly dressed her up in some comfortable pajamas. Shifting her form into her own set of modest sleeping clothes, Emerald settled Twilight into bed before joining her.
Emerald spooned Twilight quietly, embracing her and holding her close as she slowly purged the sleeping chemical she had given her. The virus then proceeded to wait for Twilight to awake on her own.
GAMMA
All over the NYZ, people gathered together to stare out at the massive glowing gems that had mostly replaced the statue of liberty on the island.
The shoreline was utterly filled with people gawking and taking pictures and videos. People living in tall buildings either crowded windows facing the gem or stared out through their apartment windows at the sight in the distance. Not only just civilians, but the whole of Blackwatch was out in force now. Patrol boats crowded the bay and choppers filled the air. There was even a bit of excitement when one chopper had gotten a tad too close to the gems and was promptly hit by a bolt of lightning from the gem itself, resulting in a crash landing on the scorched island.
Though there were plenty of people on the streets, there were also quite a few people crowding the hospitals of the NYZ. A few people had been watching Liberty Island, their attention caught by the sudden activity there while others had simply been working towards the island's direction at the time. All of them had their sight burned out by the flash and were rendered blind. Thankfully due to Blackwatch's work in biology being disseminated, these people would eventually have their sight restored to them.
Standing heads, shoulders and most of his torso over normal people, Artyom was hard to miss yet peoples’ attentions were firmly locked on the island. So they never noticed the E-Code sans his helmet revealing a stern, bearded face, nor did they notice Trisha beside him with her hand engulfed in his massive one. Both were incredibly worried by the sight in the bay, though only Trisha bore her deep concern openly.
On Manhattan island, standing atop ruined skyscraper, Gabriel stared down solemnly at the massive, glowing gem stones below. He paid no heed to anything, not even the small chopper lighting down on top of the building next to him and shutting down. His attention was only gained when a familiar voice called him a rather unwelcome name.
“Alex,” Dana said as she walked over to his side.
“You can't call me that anymore, Dana,” Gabriel replied, hiding his startlement admirably.(1) “Not even an idiot wouldn't be able to connect the dots if anyone heard you.”
“I know... I'm just really worried right now,” Dana said as she joined Gabriel in looking down at the gem formation on Liberty Island. “I feel like there could only be one response the UN could have towards this.”
“I know.” Gabriel nodded. “I've got escape routes prepped and ready for use. Are you going to be at the place when it's time?”
“I will.”
“Good,” Gabriel and said determinedly. “No matter what, Dana, you and me. We'll get out of this.”
DELTA
The skies had finally cleared of storm clouds and the moon was high in the sky by the time Twilight awoke. She was briefly disorientated before realizing she was in bed in hers and Emerald's room back at the apartment. She realized there was an arm wrapped around her middle and when she started making movements, it tightened briefly.
“Emerald...” Twilight said softly, grasping the arm with her hand before turning in place to face her girlfriend. “Are you okay?”
“I should be asking you that,” Emerald replied a little hotly with an upset look as she entwined her fingers with Twilight's. “They hurt you, Twilight. I should have been there to stop it from ever happening. I should have waited to go on that damn trip, waited until we had that talk!”
“Then you likely would have been very much in the middle of your trip when the attack came instead of only a few minutes away.” Twilight replied and quickly headed off Emerald's reply. “It's okay, Emerald. I'm okay. I've been hurt before. This is just another bump in the road for me.”
“It shouldn't have to be!” Emerald protested. “You should be safe and happy but you never get to be... because of me...”
“Don't you dare talk like that,” Twilight said firmly, grabbing Emerald's head with both of her hands and looking into her eyes. “The life we live may be fraught with peril and excitement, but it's the life we have and as long as we have each other, I know we'll get through everything just fine.”
“That's just the cheesiest...” Emerald said with a shake of her head, smiling nonetheless. “How in the world did I ever win your heart?”
“You didn't win it... and you didn't steal it...” Twilight as she squeezed Emerald's hand and placed her free hand behind Emerald's head. “I gave it to you.”
“Twilight... if you are trying to seduce me... well, it's working,” Emerald said half jokingly as Twilight pulled her head close to hers.
“Emerald, I love you so very much,” Twilight said softly, her face bare inches from Emerald's. “Will you marry me?”
“Wha-what?!” Emerald said, wide eyed with a gasp.
“Will you marry me, Emerald?” Twilight asked again with a serious expression.
“I-I-I... why am I crying?” Emerald said in some confusion as tears started streaming down her face and even started choking up a little.
“Emerald,” Twilight stated, still awaiting an answer.
“YES, yes I will marry you!” Emerald replied and happily wrapped her arms around Twilight, closing the distance and pressing her lips against hers.
The two kissed and while it remained fairly modest at first, Twilight's hands soon started to explore Emerald's body. It wasn't long before the embracing kiss turned into a full on makeout session with the two wrapping their limbs around one another. Breathing got heavier and heavier and before long Twilight's face was flushed and suddenly she felt much too hot to be under covers.
The blanket was cast aside and Twilight quickly rolled the both of them over until she was atop Emerald, both of her hands clasped in Emerald's and pressed to the pillows above the virus' head. Emerald met Twilight's now smoldering expression with an eager one and with a quick surge of black tendrils, she was bare to the world.
“Normally this kind of thing is put off until the wedding night,” Twilight commented as she quickly started to divest herself of her own clothing.
“Normally...” Emerald agreed as she lounged back on the bed, enjoying the show. “But neither of us were ever normal and who wants to wait?”
The very moment Twilight finished undressing, she quickly embraced Emerald again with another kiss.
EPSILON
The mid morning sun found Emerald Gleaner and Twilight Sparkle relaxing in bed under the covers but very much nude and spooning one another.
“What's she like?” Twilight asked.
“Brave, smart, kind,” Emerald replied, wrapping an arm around Twilight. “She's like you in so many ways, but... different.”
“I can imagine that not being raised as the personal student of a Goddess can serve as the jumping off point for many differences between her and I,” Twilight commented. “It's too bad we're leaving tonight. I would have liked to have met her.”
“She wants to meet you too,” Emerald said. “But while meeting face to face likely isn't going to happen, I can still introduce the two of you.”
“Oh?” Twilight said and looked over her shoulder back at Emerald.
“There is a system called Skype that can project speech and even videos,” Emerald explained. “She gave me her online handle so while you can't meet in person, you can talk to her and see her face.”
“I'd love that,” Twilight said as she snuggled in closer to Emerald.
The two spent close to half an hour just relaxing in bed when there was a knock at the bedroom door.
“Yes?” Emerald said aloud.
“Emerald, there are... a lot of people at the front door,” came Sunset Shimmer's somewhat muffled voice. “Along with someone named James Heller who’s been knocking constantly for the past ten minutes.”
“I'll be right there to handle it,” Emerald said with a sigh and squeezed Twilight briefly before pulling the covers off.
“Just today and we can go home, Emerald,” Twilight said reassuringly. “Maintain your patience with them. You dealt with our enemies last night.”
“Most of them, anyway,” Emerald replied as she freshened up and was dressed in an instant. “I'll do my best to be on my best behavior and cooperate... within reason.”
With that, Emerald teleported into the hallway and in position leaning against the wall opposite her apartment. Instantly the two dozen Blackwatch soldiers crowding the hall snapped their rifles up into ready position and put her in their sights. Heller didn't react to her sudden appearance at first, having apparently been knocking on the door for so long that he was now somewhat mesmerized with the action. He shook himself free of the action before facing Emerald with a scowl, waving down the soldiers in the hall.
“I hope you're proud of what you did last night,” Heller growled out.
“Of killing people who hurt my fiance?” Emerald said with a raised brow before nodding. “Proud and satisfied.”
“Well congratu-fucking-lations,” Heller said with a small slow clap. “Hope you like having your window with a mushroom cloud backdrop, because that's probably what's going to happen.”
“Well I certainly have to admit that sounds like the appropriate reaction to someone who can nuke a city under her own power,” Emerald with a shrug. “Certainly going to do a number on the environment though.”
“Yeah, the NYZ is going to go up in flames, all thanks to you,” Heller growled with crossed arms.
“Ugh... I suppose you want me to do something about it?” Emerald said with a sigh. “Well, I'll go give it a shot.”
Emerald saw Heller dart forward as if to stop her, but she was already gone and away. Emerald stood atop a cloud for moment to consider her next destination as choppers crowded the skies of the NYZ below. She decided she needed a spot to talk to as many people as possible and considering the recent “disaster”, every news channel was likely going to be broadcasting all day about it. She brought up her phone to look up a few destinations before picking out one and teleporting.
“... Likely to be awaiting treatment for months let alone-”
“Excuse me, I need to borrow your studio for a short bit,” Emerald said as she joined the news anchor at the desk. “Hope you don't mind.”
“Jesus!” the man exclaimed in shock and nearly jumped out of his seat at the sight of her. Some people operating the cameras and lighting looked like they were about to stop doing so when he waved them to keep going.
“Well, uhh... ladies and gentlemen, it appears we have a, uhh... guest speaker with us today,” the anchor said, trying to reattain his equilibrium. “One Emerald Gleaner... I don't suppose you'd be open to answering some questions about the goings on in the NYZ.”
“I don't mind answering some questions,” Emerald said with a shrug. “I am here to say my own piece, but I'm going to wait a bit until news spreads that I'm here.”
“Right... Blackwatch has been extremely tight lipped about what's been going on in the NYZ, but what has come to light is that the events of last night was a result of a conflict between you and them,” the anchor said. “Any truth to that?”
“Yes and no,” Emerald replied, absently using her magic to conjure a ball of metal on top of the desk and started transmuting it into various different materials. “I was fighting Blackwatch at the time, yes, but it was just a faction within Blackwatch I had beef with. You see, they found out that I am capable of things no other Cursor can possibly do, so to get at my secrets they kidnapped my fiance and tried to torture information out of her.”
“Uhh, fiance? Uhh, congratulations...” the anchor said, failing to pay attention due to magic tricks with the ball and only really catching the fact Emerald was now engaged.
“Thank you,” Emerald said. “Now, this faction within Blackwatch had set forth a plan to find out more of my secrets, but they never realized just how much of my abilities I kept hidden. Suffice to say, my retaliation towards them kidnapping my family blindsided them and the results are plain to see for anyone who looks at the bay in the NYZ.”
“Ah... of course,” the news anchor said with distinct discomfort, focus forcefully pulled away from the ball Emerald was “playing” with.
“Well I think that's long enough,” Emerald said and looked directly into the lens of a camera. “Hello world, Emerald Gleaner here. I'd wager a goodly amount of you are rather frightened right now. After all, it was bad enough that a Cursor could so very easily kill hundreds of people, now one of them can basically nuke a small area under their own power. And I also realize that the fighting between I and Blackwatch caused quite a few people to be injured. I could apologize for that, but honestly we both know it's not going to help. What I will say, however, is if you are willing to take the ‘risk’, you can talk to one of the Cursors on Manhattan and they'll point out one of them who can fix you in a moment, no month long wait lines needed. Hell, it'll likely be far cheaper, too.”
“Now I fully intended this to be a big surprise, but I am going to be leaving soon,” Emerald continued. “I have a home, the same place I found my family and my happiness, same place no one could ever find me no matter how hard they looked. And there is a reason for that actually. The reason why no one could find me was because my home was on another world entirely. So if anything horrendous happened to the world, like say a nuclear holocaust? I literally wouldn't notice.”
“Course I realize what I'm saying is a bit far fetched, but...” Emerald magically lifted the ball before transfiguring it into an orange and then adding bird parts like wings, talons and a beak to it before releasing it. It lighted down onto the desktop where it proceeded to hop about and tweet. “If there is something on this god's given green earth that naturally can do this and I found it... well that's just plain amazing we haven't even discovered it by now, isn't it? Maybe I found the lost continent of Atlantis. Maybe magical creatures do exist. Maybe I just got really lucky and managed to mutate really powerful psychic powers. I'm not going to tell you what to believe, but I am going home so you won't have to worry about me.”
“Now, I'm going,” Emerald said and rose from her seat. “You can try and stop me, but considering I intend to leave and hopefully never come back, why would you? As some final words... to my few friends I made in my time here I know I probably made an uncertain future even bleaker with my actions, but I have confidence in you. You'll get through this just fine. I like to believe the movies exaggerate how willing we are to destroy ourselves to spite an enemy. This probably doesn't mean much in light of everything, but I'm sorry.”
With that, Emerald teleported away and was instantly back in the hallway with Heller and his men. And when she arrived she saw that everyone there was either holding up a phone or communicator of some sort or crowding near someone who did. Heller was staring down at his own which, from the sound coming from it, was of the live news report Emerald hijacked.
“What the fuck was that?!” Heller growled, crushing his device in his anger as he rounded on Emerald.
“You wanted me to do something, I did something,” Emerald simply replied, crossing her arms and leaning back against a wall. “If you didn't want something to happen, maybe you shouldn't have said anything.”
“...” Heller's face got a furious twitch and he stepped closer with a growl and hands covered in black, surging black tendrils.
Emerald's only response was to bare her teeth and there was a sudden surge of intense heat filling the hall as white hot flames danced out through her teeth. Little bolts of lightning crackled dangerously as they jumped about her fingers. Instantly, Heller stopped and narrowed his eyes as more than a few soldiers took a step back from Emerald.
“Take your fucking family and get out,” Heller said in restrained anger before stomping off.
“Sir, yes sir,” Emerald said lightly and watched the other soldiers in the hall stand around awkwardly for a moment before beginning to follow their commander. The virus hid her amusement as the ones walking past her sped up their pace a bit. She watched them for a moment longer before teleporting back into her apartment.
“So did everything go alright?” Twilight asked from the kitchen table.
“You and the others didn't see the news?” Emerald asked, glancing to the living room to see the others playing games.
“No. You were on the news?” Twilight answered before frowning in concern.
“James Heller just wanted me to make an announcement to everyone but refused to be happy when I went through with it.” Emerald shrugged before pulling out her iPad. “It doesn't matter anymore. We are only going to be here for a couple hours more before we head home. If we are going to be doing any decent amount of talking, we better see if we can get a hold of Tabitha now.”
Emerald pulled a seat up beside Twilight and quickly logged into the Skype app on her device. Logged in as her screen name “discontentedPatsy”, Emerald sent a contact request to Whogirl310. They only had to wait ten minutes before it was accepted and Emerald was getting a video call.
“Hey there, Tabitha,” Emerald greeted the moment the other girl's face appeared. “I'm sure you have a lot of questions about what I've been doing lately, but let's get you introduced to a certain someone first.”
With that, Emerald handed her iPad over to Twilight.
“Wow, you really do look like me,” Twilight remarked.
“You took the words right out of my mouth,” Tabitha replied.
ZETA
“And now to light this up as the final touch,” Emerald muttered aloud as she lit a candle within a lantern before placing it on the ground. “There we go. That should burn nicely for the next few days.”
It was just past sun down, everyone was already back at the skyscraper awaiting the moment of truth. Emerald for her part decided to take this final chance to tend to her mother's grave and make it look less like something done at a moment's notice. The chunk of concrete was transmuted into a nice black obelisk with her mother's name and dates engraved in elaborate script upon the front. The ground around her mother's grave was flattened a bit and the grass cut and filled out a bit so it looked nice. Growing around the grave itself were many wild flowers. One final touch was a lantern with a large scented candle placed next to the grave.
“I'm sorry I only visited twice,” Emerald said, sitting seiza styled before her mother's grave, with only the beginnings of tears in her eyes this time. “I'm sorry this is probably the last time I'll ever visit you here. But I'm going home, mom. I'm getting married to Twilight. I already have a family and home waiting for me back in Equestria, Earth simply isn't home anymore. Doesn't stop me from taking a ton of souvenirs back with me, though. I love you mom. I'll always miss you and cherish all the memories I have of you. I'll make sure to teach Navi everything you taught me about baking... I'll do that for any other grandchildren you'll have, too. It'll be a family tradition of sorts. Everyone will know how to bake! Hehehe... goodbye, mom, I'll talk to you again at the other grave I made for you. Hopefully you'll be able to hear me there, too.”
Emerald slowly stood up, wiping a few tears from her eyes. She stared down at her mother's grave for a few long moments before hesitantly turning away and teleporting back to the skyscraper.
She arrived in an instant, seeing everyone sitting around and wearing filled packs. Navi had a tightly packed backpack full of video games and a duffle bag carefully packed full of game consoles. Spike was somewhat of the same case, only he had a single backpack bulging with movies he never got to see yet. Twilight had a bag full of books but was more concerned for the tablet full of thousands of books, all of which Emerald promised to eventually convert into physical books. Apparently while Twilight appreciated the fact she could use the device, she very much preferred books. Sunset Shimmer was the only person there that had barely anything save for a small pack on her back. She was tired looking, though, and sitting beside Twilight while leaning against her shoulder.
“Did you talk to her?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah.” Emerald nodded as she walked over near Twilight and leaned against a wall. “I did.”
“I'm sure she'd want you to be somewhere you'd be happy rather than be able to go see her actual grave,” Twilight said reassuringly.
“I know,” Emerald said with a sigh. “I'm not going to let it bother me. I've managed to make peace with so much of my past now. I still have some regrets in this place, both old and new, but that won't be one of them.”
With that, silence settled upon the group as they awaited the appointed hour. The only sound that filled the air was that of the beat of chopper blades and far off sirens. When midnight was mere minutes away, the group simply filed down into the stairwell where the portal exit would be.
Emerald stared up at the point where the portal would be. She could feel it now pulsing with energy as midnight was mere moments away. She waited until the instant it became midnight and saw the change happen instantly. The speck of magical energy expanded from a molecule in size to merely the head of a needle. Just like before, it was simply too small and even another month to practice her magic wasn't enough to grasp the pinpoint of magic, however...
'I'm sick of being stuck here, of being held prisoner on this damn planet,' Emerald thought as she glared at the point where the portal would be as a familiar sensation overcame her. 'I want to go home. I will be free!'
Emerald's arms became shrouded in blinding magical energy before she leapt up at the ceiling. She seemed to bury her hands into the ceiling, but after a moment a circle of glowing energy appeared. Emerald pulled this circle open wider and wider and within this circle was a mirrored surface. With one final roar of exertion from Emerald, there was a loud bang and she fell back to the floor.
“Emerald!” Twilight exclaimed and rushed to Emerald's side before looking up. “You did it! How did you do that?”
“Ugh...” Emerald shook the cobwebs from her head and looked up at the ever so faintly glowing mirrored surface now covering the ceiling. “I don't... it doesn't matter. It's open now and we can finally go home.”
“Right. Come on everyone, get ready to get hoi-” Twilight began when a light flashed overhead.
Everyone looked up to see two somewhat familiar armored people partially poking through the surface of the mirror. The instant the two armored beings saw them on the ground, they reached up and took off their helmets to reveal their faces. One was a dark skinned woman with the sides of her head shaved close with the rest spiked forward. The other was a man who, even just looking at his head, you could tell he was very big guy with lots of muscle.
“Boss!” the woman exclaimed happily. “We were just about to try to get you ourselves!”
“Should have known you'd make it back on your own,” the man rumbled with a deep voice before doing a double take at the woman beside him. “Bella! You look human like the boss!”
“So do you, Padfoot!” Bella replied. “What’s the deal with that?!”
“This mirror does that for some reason,” Emerald answered before hoisting up Spike towards the two. “Let's move this along, shall we?”
“Right oh, Boss!” Bella nodded before grabbing hold of Spike.
It wasn't long before everyone was hoisted through and Emerald finally went through herself with a hop. She landed with a clack of hooves on the other side, once more a pony after over a month as a human. She looked herself over, feeling almost relief at the sight of her hoofed feet. She looked over to see Twilight and Spike in their natural forms again and saw Sunset Shimmer's unicorn body for the first time. However, she did a bit of a double take when she spotted the little pegasus filly with a light blue coat, dark purple mane, lime green eyes and wearing a white bucket hat.
“Auntie Moona!” Navi shouted happily and Emerald noticed that Princesses Celestia, Luna and Cadence were standing off to the side.
“My, who is this little one?” Celestia said with a smile as she saw Navi dart over to Luna and surprise the alicorn with a hug.
“That would be my former pet parasprite, now daughter, Navi,” Emerald stated simply and approached Celestia with a serious expression which the alicorn caught immediately. “Princess Celestia?”
“Yes, Emerald?” Celestia asked with a matching somber expression.
“I surrender one Sunset Shimmer into your custody,” Emerald said with a nod of her head and stepped aside.
Sunset took that as her cue and walked over, averting her eyes towards the floor as she approached the Princess of the Sun. She sat down on the floor before the princess before magically reaching into the saddlebags her pack became and pulled out the Element of Magic.
“Princess, here is the Element of Harmony I wrongfully stole,” Sunset said lowly, magically holding the Element towards Celestia. “I apologize for all my crimes, both past and present, and will accept any punishment you give me.”
“Sunset Shimmer...” Celestia said softly and leaned her head down close to Sunset, ignoring the Element. “I'm so happy to see you safe and home again.”
Sunset Shimmer blinked and looked up to see Celestia's genuinely joyful face. She only lasted a moment before her expression cracked and tears rapidly appeared in her eyes before she burst forward and wrapped her forelegs around Celestia in a hug.
“Well I certainly think they need a moment to themselves,” Cadence stated and smiled at Navi still tightly attached to Luna and happily jabbering away to her 'Aunt'. “She is your daughter now? That's certainly quite the change from last time.”
“That's not the only thing.” Emerald smiled as Twilight stepped next to her and nuzzled her. “Twilight and I, we're engaged now.”
“Oh wow!” Cadence gasped in surprise before gushing happily. “Oh Twilight, congratulations! Got any plans for the wedding date?!”
“Oh, not at the moment, but I'm thinking... sometime this year?” Twilight said and looked thoughtful for a moment. “Definitely within the year.”
“We'll be sure to tell everyone when we have a solid date,” Emerald said reassuringly to Cadence. “Now... are the others here?”
“Yes they are.” Cadence smiled. “They all just arrived and were definitely going to accompany the Diamond Dogs whether or not they had permission to do so if I know them.”
“Yeah, and speaking of dogs.” Emerald said and looked over to see Belvedere and many direwolves standing at attention. “If you'll excuse me.”
“Emerald. Took you long enough,” Belvedere stated simply at Emerald's approach. “This is the second time I've set forth plans to retrieve you, only for you to save yourself. I get the feeling the third time somehow won't be the charm with regards to you.”
“Knowing my luck, the next time I need saving will be the time I really do need help to survive,” Emerald said with a smile before looking at the direwolves. “I see you took the initiative and gave yourself and the other dogs the serum. You all doing alright? Adapting to all the changes okay?”
“They certainly were odd and took some getting used to,” Belvedere said, shifting in place on his longer legs. “But they make standing upright easier. I assume you'll be wanting to catch up on work you missed in the past month, I shall return to the Enclave and await your return.”
“Don't work too hard!” Emerald called after him with some actual concern before adding quietly, “God knows you never stop working...”
“And who exactly do you mean by that?” Cadence asked as she stepped next to Emerald.
“Turn of phrase, nothing more,” Emerald said simply before asking, “Do you think you could get someone to go get the others? It's been a month and I want to meet back up with all of them again.”
“Oh of course!” Cadence replied with a smile. “I'll send a guard along to go collect them. You can go ahead and wait for them somewhere more comfortable. I'm fairly certain there is a wonderful sitting room just down the hall...”
ETA
“OH YOU ARE JUST THE CUTEST WIDDLE THING!”
“Ah! Auntie, that tickles!”
Emerald laughed as she took in the sight of Rarity snuggling Navi who delighted at the attention.
It had only been a few minutes of waiting in the sitting room before the rest of the Mane Six came galloping into the room. It took some explaining to properly tell them why she and Twilight had a little filly with them, but Rarity barely needed any explanation before she started gravitating towards the little pony. Now Rarity was off cuddling Navi while the rest were being filled in on what happened.
“You got sent back to Earth!?” Pinkie exclaimed with a gasp. “Wow! Who could've guessed that's where Sunset ended up.”
“Actually, Sunset Shimmer ended up somewhere different,” Twilight explained before sharing a look with Emerald. “We still have no idea why exactly the portal ended up sending us to Earth.”
“Plenty of bad memories back there for ya, if I recall,” Applejack said with a frown of concern. “You do okay, sugarcube?”
“I think I did surprisingly well all things considered,” Emerald answered with small, only somewhat strained smile. “I made peace with a lot of my past... I left that place with some new regrets, but I'm home now and have a lot of happy things to look forward to.”
“Like our wedding!” Twilight said happily with a wide, expectant smile at her friends.
“WHAT?!?” Twilight wasn't disappointed when all of her friends gaped at the both of them, especially Rarity who stared slack jawed at them.
“When's the wedding?!?” Suddenly Rarity was in front of them, holding the both of their heads in front her her, eyes wide in excitement-induced mania. “OH I MUST KNOW! Who do you plan to have your dresses done?! Whoever it is, they won't do either of you justice! It has to be me! Oh please let it be me!!!”
“We don't have a specific date yet, but it'll definitely be this year,” Emerald answered with a chuckle at Rarity's over the top enthusiasm. “And we'd be honored if you would tailor for the both of us.”
“OH YES! YES! YES! YES!” Rarity shouted in glee and started hopping excitedly in place.
“I volunteer to help with the wedding planning!” Pinkie shouted with a raised hoof. “I want to invite all of my sisters, too!”
“Ya know, the Wonderbolts normally don't do any ol’ event, but I think I can put in a good word for you,” Rainbow Dash said slyly, elbowing Emerald.
“Don't know much about wedding planning, even after the last one,” Applejack said with a shrug. “But I figure I can make sure there will be a ton fresh and tasty food!”
“Oh I would love to help with the decoration,” Fluttershy said with a happy smile. “A wide and varied selection of beautiful flowers should be wonderful!”
“I'm really happy to see you all so willing to volunteer to help our wedding,” Twilight said happily, gathering up everyone in a hug. “But let's not get into planning just yet. We only just got home and I think the most any one of us wants to do is rest at home.”
“I have to quickly set up a room for Navi, too,” Emerald said, patting the little filly's head.
“She could always bunk with me until tomorrow?” Spike offered. “Not like we hadn't had to do it before.”
“Thanks, Spike,” Emerald said gratefully. “Even I am feeling tired in a way. I just want to relax and unwind for the next little while before I have to get back into the grind. How about I teleport all of us back to Ponyville?”
“I would like to remain behind, darling,” Rarity said as the others nodded and said their agreement. “In preparation of designing your dresses, I shall be doing a bit of research into the local crystal pony styles of dressmaking. I'll be sure to let everypony know you and the others went home.”
“Great. Have a good time, Rarity,” Emerald said as the others gathered together.
“Oh I shall. You just be sure to get all the rest you need,” Rarity said and took a step back before waving goodbye to all of them.
With a flash of light, all of them were instantly back in Ponyville just in front of the library.
“Ahh, so glad to finally be home after all that.” Emerald sighed before looking at the others. “We'll see you girls later. We're going to be lazing around at home for the next day or so.”
“Bye Emmy, bye Twi!” Pinkie shouted as she hopped away. “I'll be back later for party planning!”
“I'm gonna go surprise Big Mac,” Applejack said. “He was gonna take over all my chores.”
“Ah, I get to surprise Angel by coming home early,” Fluttershy said happily and trotted away. “I do hope he's been taking care of everything like he promised.”
“I got some sleep to catch up on,” Rainbow said as she flew away into the sky. “See you later!”
With that, the family of four entered their home for the first time in over a month. They were met with the happy hooting of Owliscious, who seemed to recognize Navi surprisingly quickly. It wasn't long before Spike and Navi were taking their things to Spike's room to unpack and get settled in. Emerald and Twilight ascended the stairs to their own room after Twilight had dropped her books and tablet off in the library.
“So glad to be home after all that,” Twilight said with a sigh as she walked towards the bedroom door. “A few days break shou-ACK!”
Twilight jumped in the air and her wings popped open. She quickly turned in place with a wide eyed look. She was met with the sight of Emerald with a sly look on her face and hooded eyes and her tongue sticking out, her head lowered down to about body level. Twilight's face instantly flushed a bright crimson.
“I think I need to demonstrate to my wife-to-be that my love cares not for what body she is in,” Emerald said smugly as she walked past Twilight and into the bedroom. “If she would just join me on the bed, the demonstration would begin in earnest.”
“... R-right!” Twilight said, quickly shaking her head before entering the bedroom as well, closing the door behind her. She froze in place again when she saw Emerald lounging on the bed with the moonlit sky shining down through the window upon her. “O-oh my...”
“What are you waiting for?” Emerald asked softly with an amused smile. “It's not like we haven't done it before.”
“T-true,” Twilight replied as she made her way to her side of the bed. “That's.... that's very true.”
“I suppose this can be a kind of compliment, being able to make you feel like a nervous virgin all over again,” Emerald said slyly as she patted the spot on the bed next to her. “Well I am an eager tutor so long as the student is willing and eager in turn.”
“...” Twilight frowned at Emerald's teasing and forcefully overcame her nervousness. She leapt onto the bed and attempted to climb atop of Emerald when the other mare suddenly grabbed her and rolled the both of them over.
“Ah, ah, ah,” Emerald said with a shake of head as she gazed down at Twilight from her new position standing over her. “You've learned and mastered that lesson, I don't think you need a refresher just because you are in a new body. I think it's best to move onto a different lesson now.”
“What do you-” Twilight began when Emerald's eyes gleamed orange in the dark and several tendrils grew from her back and started reaching towards her.
“O-oh my...” Twilight said one final time before Emerald sealed her lips with her own.
THETA
“In an update on the break in story, the break in of a Blackwatch armory turned out to be more than meets the eye. Due to the high alert state Blackwatch forces are currently in, reaction to the armory break in was near instant. Blackwatch forces stormed the armory after hearing bursts of gunfire from within and found the culprit to be a Cursor resident of the NYZ, attempting suicide with the radioactive ammunition stored in the armory. Due to the current information blackout in place by Blackwatch, no further details have been gathered about the Cursor intruder and whether or not they survived their attempted suicide. However-”
“Tabitha hurry up, we can't be late!” Crystal shouted out of her car.
“I only have these two boxes left, Aunt Crystal!” Tabitha answered back before bending over and picking up one of said boxes.
It had been a few days since the “event” and both Crystal and Tabitha had been worried that their permission to leave the NYZ would either be suspended or canceled. Now it was the day of the big move and they were still worried they'd get the message they were to be held indefinitely for further vetting. Tabitha, however, was certain their trip would been canceled instantly should she have made it known she and Emerald had gotten back into contact with one another.
'It's just amazing. Emerald not only went to a whole ‘nother world, but a different reality entirely,' Tabitha thought as she placed the box she was holding in the back of a large moving van. 'That certainly puts a different spin on who Twilight was. She's me... and that means Emerald met me again in another world and got in a relationship with me that got serious enough to get married... what does that mean?'
'Does it mean that Emerald and I were cosmically meant for one another?' Tabitha thought as she walked back and picked up the other box. 'Or is it just pure luck? I admit it's kind of a stretch to think that the both of us were so meant for one another that every different version of us always finds each other, I mean what does that say about the Equestrian version of Em-'
“AH!” Tabitha shouted and tripped forward, sending her box flying. It landed harshly on its side and partly burst open. Several little knick knacks that wouldn't look out of place at all as merchandise from a sci-fi comic con flew out. Most of the various little souvenirs didn't go far from their box, save for a sonic screwdriver replica that kept rolling away... towards a rather large crack in the sidewalk.
“Ack!” Tabitha jumped to her feet and dashed after the screwdriver. She wasn't fast enough, however, and her hand fell just short of grabbing it before it slipped into the crack.
“Damn it!” Tabitha exclaimed in anger before sighed and kneeling down to peer into the darkness. The screwdriver had fallen into a collapsed storm drain and didn't look too far away to her. She stuck her arm through the crack and stretched it as far as she could and ended up a few inches short of it. She shoved as much of her shoulder as she could through the crack and felt her fingers just manage to brush over the screwdriver.
“Come on... come on... COME! TO! ME!” Tabitha growled out, her face mashed against the rusty grate of the storm drain, utterly refusing to let her sonic screwdriver go.
It was then that something curious happened. A faint, violet light started to glow from the palm of Tabitha's hand soon, followed by the screwdriver being covered in the same light. Tabitha froze, but kept her arm outstretched, reaching for her souvenir. The screwdriver started shaking in place before it slowly lifted off the ground. It crossed the open space to Tabitha's hand inch by slow inch, before finally she closed her fingers around it.
Tabitha stood up from the ground and stared down at the screwdriver in her hand. She quickly moved it to her other hand before staring down at her empty palm. She tried to remember the feeling she had when she reached out, but couldn't get the light to appear again.
She stared down at her hand for another moment before looking up to the sky. Tabitha looked off in the distance towards a dark spot of clouds that often had a low rumble of lightning emitting from it. Those clouds hung always above Liberty Island where the new crystal formations now stood and shined with a bright blue light.
There was a crash of thunder and a lighting bolt struck the crystals, causing the light to brighten and the lighting within to dance wildly as the crystals released more and more built up energy...
-FIN-
1) Some of you may recall the little note I made all the way back in book 1 chapter 1, there was a reason why Gabriel had that appearance. It was a hint of foreshadowing