Emerald Gleaner: Spirit of Dissent

by Legionary


Chapter 3: The Patriot

Emerald was sitting in a chair and looking over everyone at the table.

Belvedere, Tavish, Fenrir and Moon Dancer along with Emerald were in a dimly lit room. They each had a seat of their own and were situated around a table with a digital  top depicting a map of the known world. The room also had a holographic projector installed in the ceiling to be used for briefings. The room's doors were highly insulated against sound and were tightly sealed, as were the walls, floor and ceiling.

“Welcome everyone.” Emerald nodded and got up from her seat. “We've got something incredibly serious to discuss today; something that’s also ultimately highly secret.”

The three Diamond Dogs got serious looks on their faces and leaned forward, giving Emerald all their attention. Moon Dancer, however, suddenly looked very nervous and had an expression like she was wondering why she was here.

“Highly serious and highly secret...” Belvedere muttered. “Our very first Black Operation… isn't it?”

“Very perceptive.” Emerald nodded and leaned over the table. She motioned with her hand and the map on the screen moved and zoomed to a specific spot, Zebrica. “This is Zebrica. A little over three years ago, it was a country much like Equestria in many ways, save for its lack of godly rulers and advanced industry. Very suddenly it went dark, cutting off all interaction with the wider world. No one knew the reason why and the only Zebra in an official station outside of the nation wasn't talking, so everyone assumed the Prime Minister simply became a tyrant. If only it were so simple...”

“Evil powers!” Tavish declared with a thump of his fist on the table. “A thousand bits says evil powers!”

“Fool's wager,” Fenrir stated with certainty.

“You are correct. Something dark had possessed the Prime Minister,” Emerald replied, to which Tavish raised his arms victoriously over his head. “The Zebricans assumed the Prime Minister had come down with something and sent him home for bed rest. The Prime Minister took the opportunity to warp the minds of his country's soldiers, and when he returned he initiated a coup and took the country in a single night.”

“Who told you this?” Belevedere asked as he stared down at the map in thought.

“A zebra named Zecora,” Emerald answered. “Turns out she was a political refugee rather than a foreign traveler. She spent three years in exile in Ponyville before deciding to speak up and do something about her nation. She also asked us not to make a repeat of the royal wedding with the Changelings on a national scale, which ultimately I agree with considering the aftereffects of the the wedding massacre.”

“So we going in all sneaky like?” Tavish said before nodding in approval. “Didn't like the mess in Canterlot either, lass. Would like to avoid doing the same to a brainwashed army.”

“The Warhounds would appreciate avoiding being put in a bloodbath like that again,” Belvedere stated in agreement.

“Hmmm... why is she here?” Fenrir asked, pointing a clawed finger towards Moon Dancer who looked relieved at someone else asking the question.

“Because I intend to put several technologies on the fast track to development and field deployment,” Emerald answered, looking directly at the pony in question. “Moon Dancer is heavily involved in the technological development we have going around here and she isn't the least bit slow. She would know something was going on when several, very war-focused pieces of tech gets the boot up to the head of the queue.”

“Oh...” Moon Dancer said, looking briefly in dismay with her own intelligence before firmly shaking it off. She looked down at the map with a frown before looking back up at Emerald. “So what is the first step here?”

“We know nothing,” Emerald stated, pointing at the image of Zebrica. “The first step is purely information gathering. We need to know what exactly we are dealing with to some extent before we can properly make a plan of action. And the more we know, the more likely it becomes we can end this in one single move and even possibly keep all knowledge we were in any way involved out of public knowledge.”

“The first official unofficial deployment of the neochangelings, then?” Belvedere stated.

“Yes. Here is what I plan,” Emerald said and pointed up to the ceiling where the holoprojector activated and a lifelike replication of a sleek satellite appeared in midair. “The neochangelings can share information with one another as they learn it, but they still need to convey that information to us in turn. To make things more convenient for all of us, all members of the operation will be each equipped with a communicator, which is then connected to a network of satellites I shall be putting up into orbit. This shall both allow the team on the ground to share intel they've learned and simply keep in constant contact in case something comes up and the only help they could get is from a non-neochangeling.

The satellite disappeared and in its place was a solely rotating figure of a neochangling wearing a suit of bioarmor much like the Warhounds wore, along with a cloak hanging in the air next to it. Suddenly the textures of the armor and the cloak started changing, mimicking the appearance of several kinds of surfaces.

“Not only will the neochanglings be getting some field practice in the badlands and jungles to the south to get them prepared for Zebrica's own jungles and savannahs,” Emerald continued. “But they'll be further equipped with a suit of bioarmor specially designed for stealth. It won't boost their strength much compared to the armor the Warhounds and Direwolves wear, but in combination with their own infiltration training, they'll be able to hide in the open.”

The hologram changed again, this time showing a ship that was like the ironclads that were so close to being complete, but it was much sleeker, completely covered in angular plating and didn't carry much in the way of obvious weapons; it also seemed to be plated in the material that the bioarmor was made of. A moment later and the ship's textures changed to mimic a blue sky before changing again to look like a cloud followed by a sudden dispersal of mist and fog from several small ports all over the ship.

“This will be the mobile command center and home base for the operation team,” Emerald explained.

“A ship that can hide?” Fenrir asked as Tavish gave an impressed whistle.

“Yes. It's the very first of it's kind,” Emerald said and pointed at the ship. In response, the ship split in half and the internals of the ship were shown with a specific area now glowing. “These rooms are the Control and Field Command Center of the ship along with adjacent sleeping quarters. This is the engine room combined with a damage control center. Much of the ship's structure, if not all, will be biological so in the case of damage, the operator of this station can prioritize specific areas. This is the mess hall. Notice the large machinery in place of any kitchen? It will act as a food processor for the crew and any other forces on board, generating meat fruit, preparing the fruit in various fashions and dispensing it. It can also dispense scentless field rations. This large area at the bottom of the ship is the deployment area and the armory; the machine in this room can fabricate arms and ammo and even armor if needs must. As you likely noticed, the ship doesn't carry much in the way of armament. There are four heavy machine gun turrets placed atop and beneath the ship, two much heavier cannons on the sponsons and finally a compartment along the bottom to release bombs.”

“Uhh...” Moon Dancer raised her hoof. “Isn't this supposed to be stealthy?”

“Better to have and not need than to need and not have,” Belvedere said simply, “Besides, this loadout is nothing compared to what the ironclads carry.”

“Right, of course...” Moon Dancer said, deciding to not air her opinion of the absolutely bristling arsenal the ironclads had. “Uh, question? Why can't you just go deal with this yourself? I think you are the most powerful being in the world. I doubt whatever dark power is in Zebrica can fight you on equal terms or it would likely be leading a conquering charge into other lands instead of simply becoming isolationist.”

“It would be rather heroic, wouldn't it, to go charging in to rid the country of evil?” Emerald stated simply with crossed arms, falling back into her chair and reclining back.

“And foolishly naive,” Belvedere scoffed, causing Moon Dancer to frown at him.

“As easy as it would be for me to just teleport right over and raise hell, there are a few problems with that plan...” Emerald began, raising a placating hand towards Belvedere. “Foremost is the fact I have no idea what I'm dealing with other than it's a dark entity that can possess people and mind control others. There is no telling what other abilities it could have. What if I am unable to force it to leave the Prime Minister and I end up killing both?”

“Oh...” Moon Dancer flinched at that.

“Not to mention the potential problem that the mind control might not be released upon the entity's defeat,” Emerald continued. “Which would end with all the likely brainwashed politicians immediately telling the League how I just appeared in their country and murdered their leader for no reason. My only defense against that would be Zecora, who no doubt would be declared a political fugitive by Zebrica which would look even worse.”

“Okay I get it, it was a bad suggestion.” Moon Dancer sighed.

“It's not that. You honestly should understand my reasons for doing things the way I do,” Emerald replied. “Along with the previously mentioned issues, I still have other issues and problems here. My backed up schedule isn't getting any smaller by ignoring it, and doing so would likely end up bringing attention we wouldn't want currently.”

“You can rely on us to run the operation in your stead while you distract the world at large,” Belvedere said, the other dogs nodding in firm agreement.

“Good. Let's work out some details about the insertion into Zebrica before we break for today,” Emerald said and stood back up, facing Moon Dancer she said. “You and I will go over the technologies important to the operation after we break.”

“Right, of course.” The unicorn nodded and got out a pen and paper to start writing down some notes.

ALPHA

“After you help Spike clean the kitchen, I want you to clean up the living room as well,” Twilight told Navi. “You keep leaving your games and things lying around, sweetie.”

“Sorry, Papa...” Navi said with downtrodden look.

“It's okay, honey. I know you get so preoccupied when you are having fun,” Twilight said reassuringly, patting the small virus's head with her hoof. “You just have to remember to make it part of your routine to clean up after yourself. It won't take you long at all.”

“Okay, Papa!” Navi smiled up at Twilight. “I'm going to go help uncle now.”

Twilight smiled after the little filly before frowning in thought and walking to the library. Upon arriving to the room, she walked over to a table that was currently covered with open books and papers covered in equations and personal thoughts.

'Emerald knows a lot about infiltration and being stealthy, I need to prepare a lot if I don't want to get in the way,' Twilight thought as she studied a number of spells she was putting together. 'Zebra's don't have unicorns so if I want to make a disguise as good as possible it would be best to just shapeshift into a normal zebra, though that does leave me with the issue of magic. Good thing I've been practicing hornless magic!'

Twilight had been preparing for helping Zecora even since she had first asked. Twilight knew that this task would require a goodly bit of stealth and infiltration in order to ensure open combat remained at an absolute minimum, so she began creating several spells for staying hidden.

'So a zebra transformation should be able to get me into the vast majority of public areas without much issue,' Twilight hummed in thought. 'But that likely won't work in more secure areas, or at least in a more appropriate form I won't know the right thing to say if questioned. I've got a scent neutralizer as well as a sound muffling spell. I've also prepared a number of conjuration spells for the “cardboard box” method... hmm, I think the biggest thing I need to work on currently is decreasing the amount of flash my magic generates like Emerald has been doing.'

Twilight was going to be involved in the strike that would hopefully end the tyranny in Zebrica before any real fighting would occur. She was aware there was going to be a lot of information gathering work beforehand for the strike to happen, but was more than content to let Emerald handle that part as this was clearly her expertise. That didn't mean she wasn't going to completely stay out of that part, however. She wanted to do right by Zecora and that meant making sure Emerald didn't decide that a few lives here and there were well worth getting to the threat sooner.

'I mean I fully understand that sometimes you just get caught and the only option is to do anything you can to escape or let yourself be captured,' Twilight thought with a sigh. 'But I’d rather Emerald didn't allow for using lethal force to make getting into places a bit easier. I know it makes it harder on us, but sometimes you just have to choose between what is easy and what is right. None of these zebra are willingly involved with whatever has taken over the Prime Minister. It would be just horrible to save the country only for some family of soldier zebras to be told that their loved ones died mysteriously.'

Twilight knew that she could easily back away from this and Emerald wouldn't think any less of her. She could simply remain in Equestria while Emerald slowly but surely gathered info to make the decapitating strike. They may be acting for a righteous cause - to remove a dark tyrannical entity from tormenting a whole country - but it was still invading and violating the laws of another country and if they were caught with as little proof as they had... the consequences were terrible to think about.

'Emerald and Equestria could get in so much trouble if we get caught before we have any proof or manage to get rid of the entity,' Twilight thought worriedly. 'This isn't the first time we faced severe consequences if we failed, but this feels different... this is the first time we are acting offensively instead of reacting to an attack on us by another force. And speaking of reacting...'

The young alicorn's thoughts drifted to her friends. They've been together through some exciting and terrible times and she felt it wouldn't be right if she didn't include them in this. They've been doing a lot of work excitedly preparing for her wedding with Emerald in the near future. Currently they were all in town; Applejack had been mailing extended family to get a lot of fresh produce prepared in advance, Fluttershy had been going over many kinds of flower arrangements and decorations for the venue, Pinkie Pie had been mailing letters for days and also helping Fluttershy plan out decorations, Rainbow Dash had been busy convincing Spitfire to be open to putting on a show for the wedding and Rarity had just returned from a tour around Equestria studying dress styles.

“Spike!” Twilight called out.

“Yes?” Spike said, arriving after a few moments.

“I need to send my friends some messages,” Twilight said as she quickly wrote out small requests for her friends to come see her about something extremely important. “Could you send them for me?”

“Of course!” Spike said and gathered up the messages when Twilight was done with them and set them aflame, their glittering smoke rushing out an open window.

“Thank you, Spike.” Twilight smiled at the little dragon. “You can go back to what you were doing now.”

“No problem,” Spike waved off and walked away.

Twilight continued to sit at her table, straightening out her papers and collecting herself. It didn't take long at all for the girls to arrive. Almost twenty minutes after she sent out the messages, she heard a clamor coming from the front door.

“Howdy, Twi!” Applejack shouted as she burst through the library door. “I got your message!”

“Oh darling, is it about the wedding?” Rarity asked worriedly as she trotted over to Twilight, the other mares pouring in behind her. “Are you... having second thoughts? Oh, is the wedding going to be called off?! PLEASE SAY IT ISN'T SO!!!”

“Rarity... n-need to breathe...” Twilight gasped out as Rarity pounced on her, desperately hugging her tightly and beginning to bawl her eyes out.

“Come on, Rarity. Let her talk first before you go crazy!” Rainbow Dash said as she and Applejack pried the frantic unicorn off Twilight.

“Oh... I apologize, darling,” Rarity said as she quickly dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. “I just feel very strongly about your upcoming engagement.”

“It's alright, Rarity,” Twilight replied, clearing her throat. “What I want to talk about doesn't have anything to do with the wedding. It's much more serious... and dangerous.”

“Dangerous, huh?” Rainbow said with a tilt of her head. “Whelp, this year is definitely going to be about as calm as the last one.”

“Please don't say that,” Fluttershy said anxiously. “Equestria almost got blown up last year.”

Pinkie suddenly got a blank look on her face, her mane starting to slowly deflate as her eyes glazed over. Suddenly she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before shaking her head and returning her mane to its usual curly state.

“Jus' tell us who the baddy is this time, sugarcube,” Applejack said confidently. “We'll help ya whoop ’em!”

“Quite possibly the whole country of Zebrica.” Twilight replied.

There was a short moment of silence as everyone stared at Twilight a moment and blinked.

“Well… a whole country, huh?” Rainbow said blandly before shrugging. “Eh, we'll beat them all.”

“Hnnn. Maybe you should give us some more details before we go on a six pony assault against an entire country, Twilight dear,” Rarity said lightly.

“Zecora came to me and Emerald the other day with a story about how she was actually a political refugee from Zebrica,” Twilight began and started to glance over her notes. “She told us she had been the leading expert on magic to the local government when their Prime Minister was possessed by some dark force. The Prime Minister used his dark powers to enslave the minds of the Zebrican army and took the country in a single night with Zecora the only one to escape. She wants our help in saving her people and her country.”

“No prob!” Rainbow Dash said with a dismissive wave of a hoof. “This is just a redux of the whole Crystal Empire thing.”

“It's not so simple,” Twilight explained. “Unlike the Crystal Empire, Zebrica is an active political entity in the League and the Prime Minster has a stranglehold on information and the populace. If we just walked in, we very likely would meet with people willing to help us but local law enforcement and the army definitely wouldn't. Our presence would be seen as a violation of Zebrica's closed borders. Maybe if we were just some random ponies with no presence in world politics, we'd be just kicked out, but...”

“As famed Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, we have direct connections with the princesses.” Rarity hummed in thought. “They would both try to capture us and report us to the League of Nations.”

“Yes,” Twilight nodded. “Plus there is the fact we do not know if the mind control will be released if we defeat the entity possessing the Prime Minister.”

“So what's the plan, Twi?” Applejack asked. “You gotta have something...”

“Well, since none of us have any real experience with spy work, Emerald is going to handle the initial information gathering,” Twilight answered. “Once that's done and we've got a clear idea of what we're dealing with and how to handle it, all of us will be going in.”

“So basically, we get to skip all the boring stuff and just go straight for the climactic battle,” Rainbow Dash stated before nodding approvingly. “Alright, I'm down with that.”

“Hopefully not too climatic, but yes, that's the gist of it.” Twilight nodded.

“I don't know,” Applejack said with a shake of her head. “Don't feel right to not let others do the hard work.”

“Considering we likely have to deal with a powerful evil entity ourselves, I feel like the people Emerald will be getting to do the spy work have the easy job,” Twilight remarked.

“Wait, Emerald ain't doing the sneaky stuff herself?” Rainbow asked.

“Despite the range of her teleport, Emerald can only do so much in a day,” Twilight answered. “She's delegating the work to some of her people.”

“Well... guess it's a matter of waitin till everything's  ready to go,” Applejack said. “Zebrica... never been that far out of Equestria before.”

“Yes, and from what I've been going over Zebrica is a very different place from Equestria,” Twilight said with a wave to her papers. “I suggest we get started on learning as much as we can together so we don't stick out when we go in ourselves.”

“Awww, really?!” Rainbow Dash protested as they walked closer to Twilight's desk. “We gotta study? Why does all the cool stuff always have book work...”

With a small mumble of discontent, Rainbow joined the others at the desk.

BETA

Sunset Shimmer sat in an armchair sipping some tea.

The unicorn was currently in one of the many sitting rooms scattered throughout the palace. She was with Taleena and being given some more political lessons. All her previous lessons had been entirely on keeping composure and trying to read between the lines or giving answers without clearly answering. Currently Taleena had moved on to the next subject, namely identifying suspicious and untrustworthy individuals.

“It is a fact that those in unearned stations of power often feel like they are ready for more, that they are entitled to more,” Taleena said, sitting on an armchair facing Sunset Shimmer and holding up a dainty hoof. “They hoard power and gather ever more of it. They manipulate others and cajole them using their wants and desires for it. They tend to be young... but can be older.”

“Ohh...” Sunset said, tilting her head in interest.

“Yes indeed. Such individuals often do this in spite of the mistakes their youth might lead them to make,” Taleena lectured solemnly with a nod. “Their pride can be most dangerous of all, imbuing them with a dangerous foolhardiness. They ignore all words of wisdom from their rightful betters and elders if they do not coincide with their own, believing that they know best above all.”

“How does that kind of person stay in power?” Sunset asked. “Wouldn't their mistakes start to wear on their subjects?”

“Normally that would be true but such people are careful to cultivate a cult of personality and place trusted close allies and friends in positions of power,” Taleena replied. “That way they could explain away such missteps as things beyond anyone's control or of an enemy's fault, and if anyone were to not buy into this explanation, their allies in their cabinet would be able to suppress it.”

“Wow that sounds-” Sunset began.

“Like you have a specific person in mind,” interrupted a familiar voice.

“Huh?” Sunset looked up behind her and gasped. “Emerald!”

“Yeah, hello,” Emerald said and flicked the tip of Sunset's horn.

“Ack!” Sunset squinted her eyes and reached up with both of her forelegs to place her hooves against her horn. It wasn't that it hurt but more that it felt really weird.

Emerald walked around the couch Sunset was sitting in and quickly made her way towards Taleena. She came to a stop before the rather surprised looking doe, crossing her arms and staring with an expression that seethed with impatience. The silence seemed to drag on forever until finally Emerald spoke.

“You know, I gave you a date,” Emerald said softly, the corners of her mouth turning downwards slightly. “A promised time and place you and I could talk at. I know I've been developing a reputation for throwing off my whole schedule, but those have only been one or two days at most. You don't have to go and do all this back room dealing to get my attention and skip the line.”

“I've-” Taleena began with a steady voice.

“For what could be you, getting together a little club of my dearest admirers and teaching a friend to be suspicious of me, be but a call for attention?” Emerald said then suddenly leaned forward. She placed her hands on the armrests of the chair and put her face close to Taleena's, her blank gaze seeming to burrow into Taleena's eyes. “So... you've got my attention now. Talk.”

Taleena didn't reply. She simply sat there frozen, wide eyed and transfixed with Emerald's gaze. The virus' expression shifted from impatience to irritation and after a moment she pulled away from the doe with a scoff. She started making for the door, motioning with her hand for Sunset to follow.

“Wait until your turn is up next time,” Emerald said gruffly, holding the door open for Sunset.

“... of course,” Taleena said softly as Emerald closed the door.

“Did you see that?” Taleena mentally asked her Eldeer spirit companions.

“No. There is only so much we can do and see as we are now,” one of them replied. “But we most certainly felt it.”

“That felt like a vision. What was it?” asked another.

“I saw...” Taleena closed her eyes as she focused on recollecting what had just happened. She saw Emerald's face in her mind's eye, so close and found herself drawn to her eyes so very the color of her namesake. She felt like she was falling into them, sinking rapidly into abyssal depths and then there was a light... a light so blindingly bright and intense she could feel like her mind was being broiled. Fire.”

“Ummm, Emerald?” Sunset asked as she followed the virus. “Where are we going?”

“Just somewhere private to talk,” Emerald said and opened another door leading to an empty sitting room with a balcony. “So... how are you getting used to normal ol’ mundane life again?”

“Well...” Sunset began as she followed Emerald out onto the balcony. “I think I am doing well... Princess Celestia is giving me some time to settle in and I've.... u-uhhh, I've...”

Sunset stuttered to a stop as Emerald slowly turned her head to give her a completely disbelieving stare. There was a long moment of silence before Sunset broke.

“OK!” Sunset shouted, eyes closed tightly shut as she averted her head towards the floor. “I'm having a horrible time! Everyone forgot me! Celestia is just acting like everything is fine and it's back to like before and... I've been having these panic attacks.”

“I just... I just feel like I don't deserve this second chance at a life I threw away...” Sunset continued softly as Emerald remained silent and stared out over Canterlot. “After all the lives I ruined... all the innocents I murdered for a chance at power and revenge and ultimately... to prove it was all for something. But here I am, the only ponies giving me anything approaching a hard time are those that were around when I ran away and the rest just... don't remember and don't really care.”

Sunset stopped talking and the only noise was the faint noise of Canterlot before them, its people moving, living and simply going about their day. The silence dragged on for so long the unicorn thought Emerald was simply going to not acknowledge what she said.

“When I first arrived in Equestria, the only thing I cared about was myself,” Emerald said suddenly. “I had very nearly murdered a pony who would later become my friend simply because I found it convenient. And when I arrived in Ponyville I faked being friends with Twilight and in fact... had nearly decided to murder her as well.”

Sunset Shimmer rested her head on the railing of the balcony, simply listening passively to Emerald's words, her interest peaked at the similarities she could begin to see.

“I had done a lot of things in name of necessity before arriving here,” Emerald continued. “I've murdered people, framed innocent people to take the fall for crimes that would get them locked away for the rest of their life and worked tirelessly to ensure the continued rule of a monster.”

“I pretended to be friends with the ponies of Ponyville for nearly a year,” Emerald explained with a sigh, turning around and leaning back against the railing and resting her arms on the banister. “During that entire time I thought myself as an enemy of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. I always hoped something would go horribly wrong whenever they went on one of their adventures and do the work for me. Then suddenly the mask I wore, Emerald Gleaner, started becoming less and less of a mask and I allowed more of my true personality to bleed through. And then finally I could no longer completely hide the truth and ended up being exposed to Twilight. She didn't completely accept me at first, but eventually we not only rekindled our friendship but became something more. I won't say I became a better person over night, but having her and their friendship made it possible for me to really start changing for the better.”

“... How do you deal with the guilt?” Sunset asked quietly. “How do you forgive yourself for doing what you did?”

“If you are anything like me...” Emerald began. “Then you will never forgive yourself.”

Sunset turned her head suddenly, her eyes wide and the turmoil she was feeling clear for all to see.

“The day when you forgive yourself for the pain you have caused will never come,” Emerald continued softly. “Others may forgive you, but honestly it's more about them than it is you. It's one thing to convince yourself you've forgiven someone. It's an entirely different scenario when that someone is you. You and I, we've caused the deaths of hundreds of innocents. That is always going to follow us no matter what we do or accomplish in life... even if only because we are reminding ourselves of what we did.”

“How do you go on?” Sunset asked, once again resting her head on the banister, her eyes tearing up.

“You find a reason,” Emerald answered. “You find that reason and you hang on for dear life. You hang on as tightly as you can and you fight like a wild animal to keep it against any who would take it from you. And until you find that reason, you will likely only get worse and worse. A guilty mind with nothing to preoccupy it is a terrible thing to behold.”

A comfortable silence settled over the two, Emerald continuing to lean back on the railing while Sunset now had a deeply thoughtful expression on her face. This lasted for nearly ten minutes before Emerald sighed and stood up straight.

“You know, you really should have a serious talk with Celestia about this,” Emerald said to the unicorn. “She has never said it, but it's clear to me she likes to think of her students as her surrogate children and cares deeply about you. And being kept busy with lessons you never got to finish or start will do you a lot of good until you find that reason to drive you.”

“...Okay,” Sunset nodded after a moment. “I'll do that.”

“Good, and...” Emerald said as she started to walk away. “Do be a bit more careful about who you make friends with in politics. A single kind word to the wrong person can give off all the wrong signals in this stupid game.”

“I know that now,” Sunset replied, still staring over the city. “Thank you for coming to see me, Emerald.”

“No problem.”

GAMMA

It was a peaceful day in an utterly wild valley, untouched by civilization. The sun shone down brightly on the heavily wooded valley and large puffy cloud floated serenely across the sky.

Suddenly, one of the clouds in the sky seemed to convulse and twist. It grew out rapidly and turned black as a stormcloud. The newly formed stormcloud suddenly scattered into hundreds of smaller parts. Each new separate part shot towards the earth like meteors, and as they approached the ground the little clouds seemed to be blown away to reveal churning winds in the shapes of horses.

The windigoes rapidly combined together into a powerful stampede as they rushed over the valley surface, nickering and leaving ice cold winds and snow in their wake. They charged heedless of birds freezing solid mid-flight and crashing to the forest floor, of trees being near completely covered in frost. They cared not for they have a goal and destination in mind and would stop for nothing else.

After carving a many miles long path of ice and snow through the verdant vale, the windigoes arrived into a widening in the valley that had a lake dominating its heart before leading out into a delta that fed into the sea. Above this lake was a collection of dark storm clouds that seemed attracted to this lake specifically, and out of the clouds came a steady stream of lightning striking the lake.

The stampede whinnied deafeningly as one before charging the storm cloud. They spread out and started circling the cloud rapidly, several members of the stampede seeming to dart through the cloud formation every now and then. At first, nothing seemed to happen, but eventually the storm cloud started to take a shape and the lighting strikes grew fewer. After the course of a few minutes, the stampede carefully shaped the cloud into the form of a massive shell like that of a nautilus.

Suddenly lightning surged throughout the stormcloud and it gained finer details, causing the stampede to scatter. Dozens, possibly hundreds, of tentacles reached out from the cloud nautilus as its eyes glowed and crackled with lightning. The tentacles suddenly reached out and there was a low drone as the sky became overcast with dark, angry stormclouds in moments. After a moment of silence, the skies came crashing down in a sea of noise, light and explosion.

The storm nautilus faded away, leaving the valley a scorched, flaming wasteland with a noticeably lower lake. The windigo stampede soon followed suit, scattering to the four winds and fading away... only to appear many, many miles away.

In the deep, rainy jungles of the south, the windigo stampede exploded forth from another cloud. They gathered together before following one river among a vast network that seemed to stretch the whole jungle. They followed this river, freezing tropical birds mid flight and leaving a layer of ice over the surface.

Eventually the river led into the center of a vast city surrounding a lake that sat at the heart of a network of rivers. The stampede continued charging forward, heedless of the populated area they were about to enter. Shouts of shock and fear filled the air as the stampede charged through the crowded river way. Llamas scattered off the river banks, those on small river boats dived off them in an attempt to avoid the stampede only for most to be caught in quickly forming ice.

The stampede continued their charge until they reached the lake at the very center of the city, then they lifted off and aimed for a large glittering palace sitting atop a small plateau. Before the stampede crashed into the palace, they quickly dived down towards the plateau it sat upon.

At the base of the plateau was a network of tunnels leading down into deep, unplotted depths with those near the surface being utilized and built into. The stampede charged down one of these tunnels. Like a tornado being forced through a common water pipe, their passage caused havoc and destruction. The stampede remained together, charging through a long series of tunnels before it suddenly scattered, seemingly randomly going through any opening and passage that were available.

Back on the surface, chaos was rapidly spreading as a fearful populace struggled to understand what had just charged through their city when the ground started to shake. The entirety of the city started to shake and rumble, buildings collapsing as the city experienced its first earthquake in countless generations. Suddenly the plateau the city palace sat upon seemed to shake noticeably before it started to rise.

Up and up the plateau rose, the buildings upon it rapidly crumbling apart as the ground beneath them moved and shifted like flesh. Eventually, a recognizable shape formed; a mountain sized grizzly bear made of rock and raw ore standing on its hind legs. The great bear opened its massive maw and gave a great yawn before falling back onto its hind quarters with an earth shaking crash. There was a rumble like that of a hungry stomach before the bear gave a burp, expelling the windigos from his body as they shot from his mouth. The bear yawned again, bringing up both of his paws to rub at his eyes before his form suddenly started to crumble away into a landslide that started to devastate the surrounding cityscape.

Once more the stampede faded away into the sky.

The windigos appeared many leagues away in a much less populated region. Barren, rocky ground stretched as far as the eye could see, which wasn't terribly far due to an abundance of mist. The presence of the windigos disturbed the mist and much of it blew away, revealing a vast, rocky plain dotted with geysers which blew forth boiling water and steam every minute or so.

The stampede rushed over to the area that seemed to be the center of the formation of geysers where they were thickest. The windigos suddenly combined together, forming a cyclone that proceeded to dig into the earth. The cyclone sent tons of earth flying through the air as it rapidly drilled through the earth. If one were to watch from above they would see that the  windigos were cutting out an outline of a great bird into the earth.

Just as the windigos finished cutting the outline, the geysers suddenly started all erupting at once, and instead of boiling water was shooting out purely steam. The ground rapidly turned molten as the cyclone morphed back into the stampede and they scattered. Explosions of steam rent the earth all over the landscape as the outline of the bird turned into a small lake of lava.

Then with a flash of light and an unquestionably majestic motion, a great swan of flames burst forth from the newly made lava lake. It took to the air, a massive haze of heat surrounding it. It had a body of flames but its tail and wing feathers turned blue. Near its head, the flames turned blue as well before it swiftly shifted to pure white hot flames on its beak.

The great swan flew great circles around the area, sometimes soaring close to the ground and making the ground broil and begin to melt. Then it soared into the air before its body rapidly dissipated, an act followed closely by the windigos.

Once more the stampede burst forth from a cloud, this time in the far frigid north. They descended from the skies towards icy oceans dotted with free floating ice floes. They soared forward towards a massive glacial wall in the distance. As they neared the wall, they once again formed the cyclone and it drilled into the wall.

The cyclone seemed to act as a massive chisel as it sent clouds of ice flying and large chunks of glacier crashing into the ocean. It cut deep into the ice, but ultimately was forming a figure out of it. Before long, a serpent-like shape appeared, the area where its eyes would have been glowed.

The cyclone scattered into its individual parts as the massive ice statue it carved came to life with a ferocious roar. It was a being made of flowing, foaming water and frozen ice, and when it awoke it added more length to its already massive body before bursting forth from the glacial wall. Its movements shook miles of glacier, causing massive sheets to flake off and crash into the ocean and creating massive waves.

The serpent gave one last roar before it slipped into the depths and out of sight, the windigos following closely after.

On the opposite side of reality, in the Spirit Realm, four great spirits had gathered together, facing one another in a circle. The first was the windigo in the shape of a nautilus, the Spirit of the Joyful Storm Reprisal. The second was the bear jotun, the Spirit of Resolute Stone, Adamant. The third was the swan ifrit, the Spirit of the Lordly Flame, Sanctity. And finally the great wym hippocampus, the Spirit of the Eternal Sea, Endless.

The four great spirits remained silently watching one another until another being suddenly came into existence. A great stampede of windigos appeared out of the ether of the Spiritual Realm. They charged towards the gathering of great spirits before they suddenly gathered together into one massive horse shaped mass of wind with a naturally angry looking face.

“Arbiter,” Endless said with a respectful nod to the windigo. “My thanks to you for awakening I and our brethren.”

“It was a pleasure to undo this injustice,” Replied the Spirit of the Worthy Cold.

“And what unseemly injustice it was!” spoke Sanctity melodramatically, holding a flaming wing to his head. “I awoke to find myself beneath the ground! To think some villain had cast me into the impure dirt!”

“That part wasn't so bad.” Adamant replied with a great shrug of her shoulders. “But the fact that we had been put to sleep, and by mortals no less. There must be something greater at work behind it. They could not possibly have not known how to commit this transgression otherwise.”

“I don't know how it could happen, but it shall be a treat to convince them to tell us!” Reprisal stated giddily, her many tentacles spasming and sparking with lightning.

“There shall be time aplenty to find our answers,” Endless stated imperiously. “But first is our vengeance.”

Yeeeeeeeessss,” Arbiter said eagerly, his freezing winds kicking up about him fiercely.

“Restrain yourselves for a time yet,” Endless commanded his fellows. “We most focus our efforts on awakening our brothers and sisters, and to do so with absolute silence. For if the power that had forced us to slumber is still around, surely they shall act to cast their treachery once more.

“Yes. We shall be nothing more then a voice on the wind,” Reprisal promised with an agreeing nod from Arbiter as they faded from sight.

“A rumble in the earth,” added Adamant as she followed.

“A trick of the light,” Sanctity swore as he disappeared.

“A ripple among the waves,” Endless added himself before he too faded.

Soon there was nothing in the Spiritual Realm once more, save for the sleepy light of sprites filling in the empty space vacated by the great spirits. Sprites that seemed to grow more and more energetic with each passing moment.

DELTA

Villja stared with clear unhappiness.

The now ruling Princess of the Stormclaw clan of the Griffin Principalities was currently in her Clan Keep sitting in the heart of their Great Hold atop an equally grand mountain top. She was sitting inside a meeting room, the grand interior with a great table dominating the center and the walls lined with tapestry telling the histories of her Clan that, while definitely impressive, lost some grandeur in the absence of a full hall. And the hall was definitely mostly empty with only two griffins at the table and the entrance barred against all entry by trusted guards outside.

“I do not want to hear fatalist sentiment,” Villja said gruffly as continued to stare down the sole other occupant of the hall. “Especially coming from my own strategist. Consider me deeply disappointed.”

“My lady Villja, please,” huffed a male griffin named Gustavus. He wore spectacles and was a brown furred and feathered griffin, wearing a black doublet. “I just cannot see a realistic approach to this enemy with just what we currently know.”

“We shall be gathering more information as we work towards the ultimate goal,” Villja waved off dismissively.

“But that's the thing!” the strategist said in dismay as he looked down at the table top before him covered with scrolls filled with writing and drawings. “Even with just what we know, planning anything approaching a conventional assault seems doomed to failure.”

“Then tell me why you believe so,” Villja growled out, struggling to hold in her anger.

“First off, their ‘conventional’ weapons,” Gustav began, waving to a drawing of a gun. “Our biggest advantage is the fact we are all accomplished warriors who can fly. This ONE weapon removes both of those advantages. Bows and crossbows were always a threat but they could never be fired as fast as this, or their arrows fly so straight and fast, or even this powerfully. This weapon goes far beyond being an equalizer as much as it turns the odds so obscenely around. Our knights could be the fastest and the most skilled the kingdom, but this weapon cares not and will defeat them just the same in the hands of those with only a few days of training.”

“...Go on,” Villja said after a moment, the determination in her eyes burning just as powerfully as before but now she looked thoughtful.

“Next is their armor,” Gustav continued with some hope he was talking some sense into his leader. “I've seen mention that they've upgraded to a more potent set but even the previous generation of armor is a formidable defense. Dragons have always been an incredibly durable and dangerous foe. With sets of armor being made of their scales, I'd imagine a Warhound being capable of withstanding the kind of hits our armor would just crumple before. I can only imagine just what the new generation of armor must be capable of for them to abandon dragon scale so completely in favor of it.”

“Third are their war beasts.” A scuffle of the papers brought up sketches of a raptor. “Whether they were natural inhabitants of Everfree or some kind of terrible lab experiment brought to life matters not in the end. Their scales appear to be as hard as a dragon's and possess the breath of one. Their claws and teeth are sharper than any blade and they are intelligent enough come up with plans of attack to more effectively utilize all these attributes.”

“Finally, there is the position of the Enclave itself,” the strategist stated with a sigh, waving at a map of Equestria. “It sits in the very heart of Equestria, so we'd either have to fight them as well or gain their cooperation. Even if that obstacle is overcome, we have the forest itself to deal with. It was always an untamable and dangerous wilderness, but the Enclave seems to have figured out how to make it their home. We would have three routes of approach, all of them terrible. To go into the tunnels would be to surrender all advantages to the Warhounds. To take a land route would mean enduring the forest and ambush after ambush from the Enclave itself. Finally, to simply take to the sky would mean letting the Warhounds have the cover of the canopy and allowing them to pick us off at their leisure.”

“With just what we know, all I see is futile strategies to employ against the Enclave, holding actions at best,” finished the griffin, removing his spectacles and rubbing his eyes. “And all that is not even getting into what the Enclave's allies would do in reaction.”

“You say they would remain loyal to the beast despite any exposure of her true nature,” Villja stated quietly, staring towards the ceiling in thought.

“I wager some would hem and haw and hesitate at aiding her after such revelation,” Gustav replied, expression twisting in some discomfort at his own words. “But most would jump at the call to prove they are no fair weather friends... my lady, plenty and a full stomach after eons of fasting and careful rationing is a terrifying weapon to behold.”

Villja didn't reply to that. Instead, she leaned forward with her eyes closed and clasped her talons together before her face. It almost appeared like she was praying but she was simply in deep thought over everything she was just told.

The Princess of the Stormclaws pondered over the preparations she had been quietly making ever since she discovered that her husband and daughter's murderer still lived. She had been expanding her clan's forces and the quality of their gear ever since, but after extorting resources out of the Enclave she had kicked such efforts into high gear. She had also been doing her best to convince fellow clans of doing the same to prepare them for the day they would be called to action against the beast. Already thousands more griffins had been inducted into Knighthood and geared with the best one of the most powerful clans could grant them. While being told these preparations would ultimately amount to nothing was incredibly infuriating, Villja was no fool. If one strategy simply did not work, she wasn't going to try to forge ahead regardless. Of course now was finding a different, more potent strategy to start on...

“My lady...” the strategist began hesitantly, like he wished he wasn't about to say the words he was about to utter. “It may be we have to... abandon traditional means of dealing with this foe. It may be we have to look to our history... and fall back on more archaic practices...”

“You speak of the Errantry Wars,” Villja inhaled sharply.

“Lady Villja, I know it is taboo to suggest such, but... perhaps if needs must...” Gustav replied, physically looking like he was struggling to get the words out.

The Errantry Wars. It was a time before the formation of the Griffin Principalities when all the cities in the land were city states competing ruthlessly with one another. Treachery and duplicity were widespread, used just as often as common weapons as swords and maces. Cities were just as likely to suffer as horribly from hired ruffians sneaking into the city and spies and turncoats from within as from sieges and assaults. It was a horrid time when one couldn't even be sure of the loyalty of family and long neighbors; it was a dark age not because no one knew of the details, but because of the dark deeds that were rampant. It was only through the long, grinding efforts of two griffins who would become legends that the Principalities as they are now would be formed. A general whose acumen for tactic and strategy was such that he would lead a nigh unstoppable campaign of subjugation across the divided lands, and a former assassin who had grown weary of the constant betrayals had sworn her loyalty and ever watchful protection of the general.

The closing days of the age forever known as the Errantry Wars was one of intense violence and deceit, like that of a cornered beast who knew it could run no more. It had left such scars upon the social mentality of the griffin peoples that they had cast off all such dark, underhanded tactics, embracing fully the ideals of knighthood and chivalry. Even now the common and lordly alike felt instant disgust for the idea of employing footpads and spies in any manner or using the tactics they would.

“You...!” Villja raised her voice in almost instinctual anger before stopping. The Princess had to admit that attacking Emerald directly even after declaring her crimes with proof to her words would be counterproductive at best. The desire for vengeance was overpowering and she almost gave in to Gustav's idea. Almost.

“No. We will not let our quarry force us to drop to its level,” Villja said firmly, telling herself that as much as she was telling Gustav who was giving an almost relieved nod. “But clearly the strategy as it is, is flawed. Perhaps we just need a few other viewpoints...”

“Hmmm... I've heard of a new power bloc being formed to counter the Enclave's rapid ascent,” Gustav said. “They've not really managed anything yet, but it's early.”

“Hmm, I've heard of them as well, in fact,” Villja began. “I've heard that one of their number, a heron, was trying to raise a fuss over in the Republic. He was claiming Emerald had stolen knowledge precious to the Republic. What was his name.... ah.”

“Tsau Kang.”

EPSILON

Emerald stood in her formal clothes among a line of other respected Enclave Alphas, taking a central place among them. Moon Dancer was present as well, though a bit in the background and looking embarrassed.

She was in a field on the surface area of the Enclave and along with her and the Alphas were hundreds of other dogs, both Warhound and civilian alike. The Warhounds were gathered in blocks as were the Direwolves in their smaller numbers. Off to the side was a large, somewhat loud, excited crowd of Diamond Dogs. The original dogs of the Enclave, being former slaves, were a practical lot and didn't care too much for frivolous things like large, official celebrations. The same couldn't be said of the immigrant dogs who pushed for the current celebration. Though it had to be said that while the native dogs of the Enclave didn't care for it, they didn't exactly resist the idea all that much.

The reason for this celebration was currently sitting in several berthing gantries in the field before them all. Five great airships, flying heavily armed ironclads ready for their maiden voyage into the sky. One ship had great big artillery guns with few other armaments and three others had more general, all-round weaponry. The fifth ship was the largest of the five and also the Flagship of the Enclave's air force. It was the Great Fox practically rebuilt from the ground up into a massive flying fortress of steel plating and bristling weapons. Each ship had a full crew trained in operating their ship along with a small accompaniment of Warhounds to act as marines.

“Moon Dancer, get up here,” Emerald commanded the unicorn, who did so reluctantly, joining their line up.

“Why am I here?” Moon Dancer complained as she took up position on the stage before the crowd of Diamond Dogs. “I just did a job, made some runes and made sure if something went wrong the ships wouldn't fall too fast.”

“Because without you they'd have been just sitting there until Emerald came back,” Belvedere stated, standing ramrod straight with his paws at his back, his face as stony and serious as ever.

“That and it looks bloody bad having ya moping back there, lass.” Tavish snorted and elbowed Moon Dancer. “So smile, would ya?”

“I'm just happy I don't have to give some damn speech,” Emerald muttered loud enough for the Alphas, getting a sympathetic, annoyed huff from Belvedere and snorts of amusement from the rest.

“Captains, ready for lift off?” Belvedere asked into his headset.

“Ready, sir!” Emerald heard the reply on her own.

Belvedere gave her a thumbs up and Emerald stepped forward, raising a hand to the air and waving to the crowd. Cheers filled the air as Emerald conjured five bottles before sending them flying. With a distant crash, each bottle smashed against the hulls of the ships. A moment later each ship took to the air, soaring over the crowd as they rapidly climbed into the sky to the cheers and applause of hundreds of dogs.

“Quite the sight, isn't it?” Emerald asked aloud.

“Oh yes, with all those guns...” Moon Dancer muttered.

“Hmph, well how about this?” Emerald said, glancing over her shoulder at the unicorn. “I'll think about tooling down the military a bit if Equestria manages to avoid being devastated by something this year.”

“...That can't possibly happen again, can it?” Moon Dancer asked with a frown. “How many forces in this world can there be to conspire to bring catastrophe to Equestria year after year.”

“Well there's about ten and half more months to go before we know for sure,” Emerald stated lightly as everyone continued to watch the Enclave's first battle group fly off into the distance.

“You are restless,” Belvedere spoke, turning his face to Emerald.

“You can't visibly tell that,” Emerald stated with an arched brow at her second in command.

“No,” Belvedere agreed. “But I know you well enough to not need to. Go. Do what you need to do. I shall handle closing this up.”

“Thank you,” Emerald replied with a sigh before disappearing in a flash of light.

The virus reappeared deep below ground, specifically in the chambers she had grown the raptors and the titans. The pods containing the new creatures she was making were definitely smaller than the ones that held the titans, but noticeably bigger than the ones for the raptors.

Emerald stepped over to the center of the room and came to a stop. She closed her eyes and concentrated on each pod in the room, all one thousand of them. She channeled her energies and manipulated the makeup of the beings within and took the last few steps towards their full maturity.

“Alright,” Emerald said softly. “You are ready to come out now.”

Instantly each pod started shifting in place and shaking as their contents started moving. A moment later the fronts of each one were split open as they were cut from within and the being inside strode forth into the open air.

They were all tall; even the shortest of them was at least six and a half feet in height. Each one was covered in scaly skin that came in tones of dark brown, rusty red and dark gray. Their arms and legs were visibly muscled and ended in clawed hands and taloned feet. They had thick, powerful tails that were tipped with a scythe like blade and a pair of large, leathery, dragon-like wings upon their backs. Even folded as they were it was clear they would have an incredible wingspan. Their faces were fairly humanoid and all possessed noble features. They had elfin ears and at a glance appeared to have thick manes of thin dreadlocks, but in actuality these “dreadlocks” were spines instead of hair. Along with this, some of them had a set of horns or even multiple sets of various shapes and sizes. Finally, they each had slitted eyes with no irises, but their sclera varied in color from various shades of yellow to gold.

They all approached her, wrapping their large wings about them like cloaks. They surrounded her in a circle before dropping to a knee collectively. They bowed their heads respectfully towards her, for she was their creator and reason they were born.

“Progenitor,” spoke one that was in front of her. Sitting upon his head was a crown of horns with two curling back and two curling forwards and down to frame his face.”We are your Gargoyles. Speak to us your will.”

“Uh, yeah... could you guys head up to the surface?” Emerald said, pointing a thumb over her shoulder. “I've got a few people waiting up there to get you all sorted away. Uhh... sorry about the lack of grand welcome, but I'm kind of really busy right now.”

“It is of no concern,” replied another gargoyle, a female with a ready, sharp-toothed grin. “We know our purpose in life, that which we were born to be. To be guardians and protectors of all that you hold dear. Does it truly matter how this comes to pass?”

“I guess with that kind of view it really doesn't.” Emerald nodded, though she couldn't help but feel some anxiety. This was the first time she created a naturally intelligent being and by the end of the day they wouldn't be the last. “But please, get yourselves situated and settled in. I'll try to welcome you all properly as soon as possible.”

“Of course, Progenitor,” spoke the first Gargoyle again and they all rose as one and began to head for the large exit to the cavern.

'Right, one more person I have to see,' Emerald thought and teleported again.

Emerald arrived in one of her labs, a shared one with Moon Dancer with a number of the unicorn's own projects scattered about the room. She walked over to a computer that was large enough to also function as a desk and sat at it. Above this computer on the wall behind it was a large tv screen that was currently on, and on the screen was a dim blue light at its center.

The screen lit up and filled with windows full of walls of programming code, graphs and readouts for some currently running program. A tendril extended from Emerald's wrist and jacked into a socket in the computer before Emerald started to lean forward and stare intently at the screen. Windows opened and closed rapidly, each one filling with code faster than any one person could type. After a full hour of this, Emerald reached down and quickly tapped the enter key on her keyboard. This seemed to instantly shut down her computer and Emerald leaned back to stare up at the tv screen with narrowed eyes.

“Hullo!”

Emerald smiled.

-TBC-