//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 // Story: Emerald's Struggle // by The Zebra Hybrid //------------------------------// Emerald yawned as he took the cup of coffee, which was floating with his magic, and brought it to his lips taking a nice slurp. Today he didn't have to work, so he had decided to read some of his scrolls that Moondancer let him keep from the library back in Canterlot. Zecora had been great yesterday with starting him off on his new job, of course he had some mistakes but she was kind enough to help him through them. He took another sip of coffee as he thought back to the zebra. "She's literally the first zebra I met. I wonder if she was born here or in Zebrafrica? She's a big fan of my dad, does she knows what happened to him? What are other zebras like? Would they even accept me for being part zebra?" Emerald said to himself as more questions swam through his mind. He took a deep breath and relaxed, his mind was getting to cluttered. He set down his coffee and scrolls, "This is supposed to be me relaxing so I should do that. Maybe I can pay Redheart a visit and see if shes doing anything." With that said the zebra hybrid walked over to his front door and entered the outside world. He locked his front door and made his way toward the hospital, while walking he notice that he was getting more looks than usual form when he first arrived. It kind of made him nervous due to the fact that these looks weren't friendly, but at the same time they weren't hostile either. Maybe it was curiosity? He did go up to the princess of friendship's castle and talk with her and her student, maybe they were just wondering why he was up there? He gulped and straightened his golden collar, trying not to be nervous, "Why are most of these ponies staring at me? I really hope this doesn't turn out like Canterlot. maybe I should talk to Starlight or Twilight to see what's going on." It has been awhile sine him and Twilight had their study sessions, the last one he remembered was back in Canterlot, but hen she got to into her studies with Celestia. At least it turned out well for...unlike a certain orange unicorn mare he once knew. To be honest Twilight was kind of like Moondancer, they both had the adorkable attitude, really smart, and pretty much loved their books. He wondered if they would get along if they had met. A shiver went down his spine as he thought of all the experiments he would have to come to. Moondancer would always experiment on him, however Twilight was much worse! He still has nightmares from the one time. Twilight's House 7 years ago A teenage Emerald Crescent was sitting at a desk with Twilight Sparkle as the two unicorns were reading various spell books and scrolls. Spike was sleeping softly in her bed letting out cute snores, him and Twilight had decided to improve their magical knowledge together by checking out some of the advanced books from the library and since both of their special talents was magic they felt they could improve faster if they read through the books together. Her parents seemed to be fine with him being here which surprised them. Not only was he a stallion hanging out with their daughter but also part zebra and they act like he was apart of the family. He'd never knew that these ponies would be so nice, however they said that her older brother would be another experience judging how protective he was over Twilight. To his relief he was out of the house training for the Royal Guard. "What about this one?" Emerald says pointing to a spell on the scroll he was reading. Twilight leaned over and looked at it for a while before shaking her head. "A teleportation spell," she questioned, "We already have that mastered Emerald." "But this is a more advanced version. This one can probably teleport us to Las Pegasus and back." "Tempting, but I was looking at this transformation spell, but the only problem is that the rest of the spell is missing its description. So I don't know exactly what makes it different from a normal one." "Then we should do the teleportation spell since we know more about it." "Are you kidding me! Great magic users always explore the undiscovered! We could make history by just doing this one spell!" Emerald smiled and rolled his eyes, "Alright so what are we casting the spell on?" Emerald noticed the purple mare giving him a hopeful smile as he titled his head in confusion. It was then it hit him like a ton of bricks. He gave her a stern look as Twilight started to sweat nervously. "No..." he said making Twilight groan. "Why!?" she protested stomping her hoof in the carpet. "Remember last time you experimented on me!" "I'll be careful this time promise! You know my magic has gotten a lot better since then!" "I don't know..." The next moment he knew Twilight was close to his face giving him the most cutest puppy dog eyes. He sighed as he failed to stop the blush coming on his face, "Fine...I'll do the stupid spell..." Twilight smiled and gave him a hug, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Emerald could help but smile as he hugged her back, "Yeah, no problem. Lets just get this over with." The purple mare let go of him and took a few steps back before levitating the spell in front of her giving it one last look over. Emerald gulped as he fidgeted in the chair, she didn't look that confident. She put the spell down as she closed her eyes and her horn started to glow a bright magenta, "Alright Emerald, you ready?" she asked. "Kind of...you can reverse what happens right?" "Of course! Maybe.." "Wait what..." Before the zebra hybrid could say anything else Twilight had already casted the spell as I pink blast struck him making him glow a bright pink. He covered himself until the light died down, he looked around. He didn't feel different, if anything did feel a little lighter. He glanced over a Twilight who had a shocked and apologetic look on her face, did the spell not work? It was then Twilight went into panic, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! We can fix this!" This made Emerald's alarms ring in his head, "Twilight....what happened to me?" "Don't be mad ok...." "Twilight whatever happened won't be as bad as you done to me before." "Well you're still you but at the same time...You're not you." "What do you mean by tha-..." it was then Emerald noticed that his voice was lighter and softer. Fearing the worst Emerald ran to Twilight's bathroom and looked in the mirror. What looked back him was himself, but he was more slimmer and curvy. His snout was smaller and his mane was a long black and yellow braid, he started to sweat as he nervously looked down to confirm his suspicion and when a certain something wasn't where it was supposed to be he....or in this case she screamed. Twilight flinched form the scream as Emerald walked out of the bathroom with a ghastly look on her face,"Tw-Twi....please tell me you have a reverse spell." Twilight shifted her gave to the ground as she rubbed her foreleg, "Not really..." "What do you mean not really!?" "Well I have half of the spell. The other part was torn out. I-I'm sorry I didn't know it would end this bad!" He saw her lip quiver as Emerald sighed, "It's ok Twilight, I can't stay mad at you. So how long can you figure out this reverse spell." "Give me about two hours..." "That's not bad.." "Tomorrow." "Tomorrow!? Twilight, I don't think you understand that I can walk in school being a mare tomorrow! There has to be another way!" "I'm sorry Em," apologized Twilight, "The schools closed until tomorrow and Celestia is too busy for me to make a request to see her on short notice." "This blows...." "Aw Emerald. It''l be fine, too be honest you are a pretty attractive mare. I bet you'll have many stallions after you." This made Emerald blush hard making Twilight giggle, "Twilight! That's not funny! I'm not even into stallions!" "I'm just teasing Emerald. Just meet me after school tomorrow and I'll have the reverse spell ready." "Fine...Just don't be late." The next day, Emerald had just walked from 'her' house as she walked down the streets of Canterlot, making her way to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Last night when she got home was an...eventful one. It mostly consisted with her explaining to Lemon what happened over at Twilight's place,to her almost fainting, and Emerald trying to calm her for the rest of the night. Emerald had finally made it to the school and took a deep breath before walking inside and through the hallways. Almost instantly a bunch of eyes went on her, especially the stallions. She was so embarrassed as she would here a whistle or another trying to flirt with her. Twilight was so getting it when she turns her back to normal. She quickly walked to the bathroom, the mare's room obviously, and had a sigh of relief.....Until er heart dropped to his stomach when she saw Sunset Shimmer staring right at her. "E-Emerald...?" she slowly said as the stallion turned mare gulped. He could see the look in her eyes and he knew exactly what she was thinking. "W-Wait Sunset!" she blurted out, "I-Its not what you think!" "Then what is it?" Sunset gave her a stern look, "Because it seems to me that you turned yourself into a mare so you could peep in the girls room!" "N-No! Not at all! This was all an accident and now I'm stuck like this until the end of the day!" Sunset looked into her nervous gaze trying to find any form of deception ad when she didn't she sighed, "Alright Emerald, how did this happen?" "Well..um...me and a friend might've did a transformation spell that was too advanced for us." she answered with a blush, "It's terrible! My mom almost had a heart attack whens he saw me come home! The stallions haven't taken their eyes off my flank and not to mention a certain part is missing from my body and...and..." Sunset shook Emerald's shoulders snapping her from her mental breakdown, "Emerald get a grip. We'll figure this out! Does your friend have a reverse spell?" "Well, she said that she would change me back at the end of the day." Sunset giggled, before she burst out laughing and falling on the bathroom floor making Emerald's face become a bright red, "It's not funny!" Sunset wiped a tear, "I-It kind of is. I'm sorry, but what are the chances of this happening. Anyway so what can I do to help?" "Well make sure no one knows it's me and....try to keep me from the other stallions. Especially Blueblood." Sunset nodded in understanding, "Right, I understand. Don't worry this'll be over before you know it." "I hope so..." "Which reminds me, we have to give you a name." "A name?" Sunset rolled her eyes,"Well duhh! you can't just call yourself Emerald the whole time!" "I guess that's true....what did you have in mind?" "Hmm, I was thinking of Emmy or Emeralda." "Emmy is good, I'll just use that until I'm back to normal." As the two mares walked out of the bathroom Emerald or Emmy had crashed into another object making her fall over on top of it. She grunted as she opened her eyes to see that she was on top of the last pony she wanted to see to day....Sunburst. With his muzzle one inches from her's. Emmy quickly picked herself up as Sunburst stood with a blush on his face. "Oh Celstia no.." whispered Sunset trying to contain her laughter. "H-Hi...sorry I bumped into y-you." said Sunburst. Emmy felt like dying on the inside, "I-It's fine. I wasn't paying attention." "A-Are you related to someponu named Emerald by any chance." "Y-yes!" said Emmy instantly regretting it, "He's my..uhh..." "Sister!" blurted Sunset, "She's Emerald's long lost twin sister." Sunburst's eyes widened, "Really cousin? That's amazing! Where is Emerald by the way." Emmy couldn't believe this, Sunburst didn't know who she actually was. She could sense Sunset beside her holding in her laughter and having a field day. She could obviously tell that Sunburst was into her with the way he looked at her, he did that with every mare he had a crush on or thought was pretty. It was then she noticed that Sunburst was waiting for her to answer as she perked up. "O-Oh! he got sick , so he's staying home for the day." "Aw, that's to bad," replied Sunburst, "I-Is it ok if I walk you to class?" "A-Acutally I think Sunset..." when Emmy looked beside she found that Sunset was already walking away form them and too far for her to catch up. The orange mare gave Emmy a wink as she sent a hateful glare back, ""Y-You know what. That would be nice." Emmy answered making Sunburst smile. She couldn't reject him not with the fragile heart Sunburst already had with mares, she needs to find away to tell him the truth when the days over. Emmy had the worst day at school, she passed another group of stallions who were eyeing her up and down, but she paid no mind to them. During class she would catch unburst making a few glances toward her and it made her uncomfortable. Not in a mean way but...she was a stallion! And this wasn't right! It was then her gaze found Twilight PSarkle who were sitting on a bench. "Emerald! " she waved, "Just in time. How was school?" "Terrible....Please tell me you finished the reverse spell?" "Hehe, about that...." "What is it Twilight" "Well, it turns out there is no reverse spell but only a time limit. The spell should lose its effects by midnight tonight." Emmy's jaw practically dropped to the floor, "What! That's ten hours away Twilight!" "I know, but that's the best I could do at moment!" Emmy put a hoof to her face as she groaned in annoyance. She had to go ten hours in this body, she wished her and Twilight would've done that teleportation spell instead. However now that she thought about it, that spell could've turned out way worse than the transformation spell. The stallion turned mare nodded as Twilight gave her a sympathetic look. "It'll be fine Emerald, look you can stay at my place for the time being." Twilight said with a smile. "You sure?" questioned Emmy, "I don't want to be a burden." "Don't worry about. I'm the one who turned you into a mare so, it's all on me." "Sunburst wait!" said a distant Sunset making Emmy and Twilight to see her chasing a love-struck Sunburst who was running toward them. "I must do this Sunset!" retorted Sunburst, "This will be my one and only chance!" The orange stallion came to a stop in front of Emmy and Twilight panting for breath as the latter of the two mares was scared out of her mind as the other was trying not laugh. Sunburst had finally caught his breath as he looked toward the zebra hybrid mare in front of him. "Emmy...I know we just met," he started as the mare started to sweat, "But I really feel a connection between you and me. So...will you go on a date with me!" Twilight and Sunset, who had caught up to hear Sunburst's confession, tried their best to hold their laughter. Emmy on the other hand was sweating bullets as she smiled nervously. She really was in a bind now, her best friend wants to go on a with her! This was going too far now, she had to tell him the truth. "Sunburst," said Emmy gaining his attention, "You're a nice stallion but I have to come clean-" "She has a crush on you too!" blurted Twilight. "And she would love to go out with you!" added Sunset. "Yeah-wait what!?" shouted Emmy as she glared at the two mares. What in Celestia's name were those two doing!? She could see the sinister grins on their faces and she could only fear the worst. "Is that true Emmy?" said Sunburst in a hopeful voice as Emmy looked to the ground blushing madly and nodded. "Y-yes...it's true." Sunburst squealed in excite, the next thing Emmy knew she was wrapped in his magical aura and dragged off deeper into the city of Canterlot. Once the two was out of distance, Twilight and Sunset burst out laughing before looking at each other. Their laughter suddenly stopped as they eyed each other up and down. "Do I know you from somewhere?" they both said. The date with Sunburst was actually pretty fun for Emmy. It was kind of like any normal day where she would usually hang out with him. They went out to grab some ice cream, went to the Canterlot Museum and Statue Garden, and had a nice dinner. It definitely ate up the ten hours with only five minutes left till this whole nightmare was over. To be honest though being a mare wasn't so bad, besides his best friend hitting on him, it was the same as being a stallion. The two were currently sitting in the local park looking up at the stars in the night sky. "Emmy," said Sunburst, "I had a great time." "Me too." replied Emmy. "Looks like it's almost midnight." "Yeah I guess so." Before Emmy knew what was happening she found herself under Sunburst with a huge blush on his face. Emmy now started to sweat bullets, this was bad, really really bad! She wanted to do everything in her power to push him off but her body was frozen in shock and nervousness. Her hear started to race as she saw him close his eyes and lean forward. She had to do something quick but what? Sunburst was getting closer with their muzzles only inches apart. Three inches. Two inches. One inch. The bell form the clock tower rang throughout Canterlot signaling that it was past midnight. Sunburst had quickly looked away from Emmy and looked at the clock. "Well that's a little distracting." he said before turning back only to find not the mare but his best friend Emerald looking back at him with a nervous smile. "H-Hey.." said Emerald as Sunburst quickly got off of him as Emerald shot to his hooves. The two stallions stared at each other in silence and awkwardness until Sunburst spoke up. "So you were..." "Yep." "And we were about to..." "Yep." "How..." "A mix up with a transformation spell. Don't ask why." "...." "...." "...." "...." "We never speak of this again." "Agreed." Ponyville Hospital Present Day Emerald chuckled as he thought back to the memory, he had already forgave Twilight and Sunset for putting him through so much trouble. Him and Sunburst didn't make eye contact for a couple of days until they were finally over the whole ordeal and back to normal. The zebra hybrid walked up to the reception desk to see a familiar white mare with pink mane. She looked at the zebra approaching and smiled giving him a wave, "Hello Emerald," Redheart said with a smile, "Hit your head again?" Emerald chuckles,"Not this time. I was actually here to see if you were free sometime to hang out. maybe catch a movie?" "My, my Emerald. This wouldn't happen to be a date is it? We only just met." Redheart smirked as Emerald cheeks became flushed in embarrassment. "N-No not at all! I-I just wanted us to go out as friends! I-I mean it could be a date, well i-if you want to." The sound of giggling caught his attention as he saw Redheart stiffing her laughter with her hoof, "I'm just teasing Emerald, you are real easy to get embarrassed." "It's a curse..." "Aw don't be like that, I think it's cute. I'm off in another thirty minutes, would you mind waiting for me?" Emerald smiled at the white mare and shook his head, "Of course not."