Emerald became engrossed in the book he had borrowed from Twilight Sparkle as he walked through the streets of Ponyville. He especially studied the section on Mood and Management potions. He mused that while most of the recipes seemed like they would work, there were some inaccuracies and omissions that made them far less potent. He knew how to augment them, but it seemed to him very irresponsible of a publisher to be so negligent.
He felt a tremor in the air, such as one feels when the pressure waves of music reach farther than the sound itself, and looked around for its cause. Finding none, he returned to his book.
Suddenly the earth shook violently, rhythmically. Emerald searched, and up on a distant hill was a massive creature marching toward Ponyville. Instinctively he ran toward the monster, unsure of what he was facing. He teleported to a safe lookout position atop a bakery and calmed himself down so he could assess the situation.
“Its footsteps would have been felt a lot sooner if it had been walking before now,” Emerald said to himself. “Either it was sleeping, or….”
In the corner of his eye he spotted, fifty meters away from the creature, a sight which surprised him greatly: the Princess of the Day, Celestia, was approaching the beast in a royal procession of guards.
He did not know whether to shake his head or smile with triumph. Indeed, he did both inwardly. He teleported closer to get a better look at the creature, and crept forward slowly to avoid being noticed. The monster was serpentine, with a body like a wingless dragon, and two heads.
“A Hydra!” he exclaimed.
He didn’t waste another second thinking. He was now closer to the Hydra than the Princess, and both parties raced to stop the beast.
“What are you doing here, young stallion?” came the voice of the Princess, booming with a frightening authority.
“I’m going to help.”
This caused a few rude snickers among the Royal Guard.
“Stand back, Nomad,” the Princess ordered. “This isn’t your fight.”
Emerald Alembic was not a stallion to feel indignant, but he took this as both an insult and a challenge, and refused to back away a single step.
“Princess,” he called out over the monster’s roars, “can you perform Star Swirl’s containment spell?”
“I can,” said the Princess hesitantly.
“And the Tetra variation? Do you know it?”
“Of course.”
“Good. Perform a vertical Tetra variation on the Hydra to keep it from moving. Trust me, anything less than that and a creature with two heads can will itself out of the spell.”
“I am well aware of that, Nomad,” said the Princess impatiently.
“Do it now!” Emerald shouted.
He traced a symbol in the earth with his hoof and teleported himself to the Hydra’s left side. By this time Celestia had overcome her annoyance and the containment spell was cast, rendering the giant beast immobile. He traced a different symbol here and went to the Hydra’s rear, then its right, and did the same in both these places.
He spoke under his breath and put all his concentration into his magic, bringing the symbols and the square to his mind. When his horn was full aglow great portions of the earth rose, leaving gaping holes in the hillside.
The floating clumps of rock and soil shrank and darkened, looking heavier and developing a sheen like metal. They shaped themselves into rings and bands, straps and cuffs, and wrapped around the Hydra’s limbs and heads, constricting until they threatened to break the victim’s bones.
“You can release the containment spell now, Princess,” Emerald said. He was breathing heavily and his coat was damp with sweat.
The Hydra began to kick and shake, but finding itself completely shackled, quickly gave up the effort. Even monsters understand futility.
Celestia and her procession of guards crept closer. The Princess tapped the colossal bands with her hoof.
“Iron?” she said with a start. “There isn’t any iron in these hills. Where did it come from?”
Emerald Alembic was resting on the ground, trying to catch his breath. His magic had tired him so much that his eyes were dilated and bloodshot.
“Help the Nomad into my carriage,” Celestia ordered.
The guards obeyed carefully; a quiet respect for the stranger was growing in their hearts. The Princess followed him into the coach, and saw that he had fallen asleep on the seat.
The carriage was in the air when he came to, and the Princess was reclining regally. Her hair shone semi-transparent, in every way like daytime aurora, and the jewel in her crown refracted tinted beams in all directions.
“Where can we take you?” she asked the tired stallion.
“What time is it?” he returned.
“It will be just after two o’clock.”
“I’m late then. I had an appointment with a dressmaker named Rarity.”
“I know the boutique. Don’t worry, Emerald Alembic, we will get you to your appointment.”
Emerald did not ask how she had learned his name; it was obvious: four hours had passed since the morning shower, and the Princess had visited her student and been told all about him.
Within a flash the procession was at Rarity’s boutique, as if it had been headed there before Emerald had even woken up.
Emerald alighted and thanked the Princess for taking care of him. The Princess bowed respectfully.
“You will have one hour for your appointment,” she said. “Afterward I wish to summon you to Canterlot. There is much that must be discussed.”
“I understand, Your Highness. One hour will suffice.”
“I will place two guards outside to fetch you when the time is come.”
Emerald bowed very low to the ground and the royal procession took off, minus two of its guards. The handsome stallion knocked at the boutique door and was bidden to enter. He wiped his hooves on the doormat and pushed open the door.
The alabaster mare stood with a deliberate hauteur that took away from her natural beauty. She beckoned toward a platform where he was to stand, and he moved nervously toward it.
“I’d rather not have to remove my cloak for this,” said Emerald with noticeable agitation.
“Well, that will throw off the measurements a tad,” said Rarity. “And how will I fit you into the materials?”
“Certainly it’s too much to ask,” he muttered.
“Don’t tell me you’re shy!” the unicorn said. “Oh, that’s simply adorable! But you don’t need to be shy around me. If it’s a scar, or a—”
“It’s nothing,” Emerald interrupted, trying to sound gentle.
He sighed.
“I will have to remove my cloak for this,” he said at last. “But you must promise not to tell anypony what you see. This is a secret I’ve kept for a long time.”
The dressmaker, ever a gossip, was eager to learn a secret, even if she were forbidden from pronouncing it. Immediately she promised to tell no one.
“Not a soul,” he insisted.
“Upon my honor!”
With one last sigh he pulled the cloak off his back, and Rarity did her best to hide her surprise. She set about getting the materials and measuring tapes, and began to work in total silence, while Emerald read.
For one hour he was measured and fitted, then refitted when adjustments were made to the new cloak. All the while he was brewing potions in his mind, testing them, seeing them fail, adjusting the mixtures and retesting them. He knew that Star Swirl’s forgetfulness potion was undiscriminating, and he couldn’t have the dressmaker forget that he had ever showed up for their appointment at all. Nor could he use a forgetfulness spell: the only one he knew would make her forget his existence, a spell he had found quite useful over the years.
No, she had to remember him, she just had to forget his secret. For that he needed to add one ingredient to Star Swirl’s original recipe: the Blue Swamp Lily.
Emerald couldn’t imagine how to gather the ingredients in time to do anything, so he resigned himself to let her keep his secret for a little while longer.
The guards knocked and Emerald hurriedly draped the new cloak over his shoulders. It was perfectly fitted, and the material felt nice against his coat, but he was slightly displeased with the air of wealth its frills and stitching exuded. Of course he never for an instant considered saying so to the dressmaker.
“You’ve been summoned, Nomad,” said one of the guards. “Is your business finished here?”
“Yes, thank you,” said Emerald. “If it is not too much to ask that my expense here be covered, I would like to ask that favor of the Princess.”
He gave a quick glance to Rarity that forced her to stay silent.
“I am sure she will approve,” said the second guard.
Emerald bowed and followed the guards outside, where the Princess was waiting in her train. The guards exchanged whispers with her, and she pulled twenty gold bits out of a purse and passed them off to the guard, who carried them into Rarity’s boutique to pay for Emerald Alembic’s new cloak.
“If you have no further business in Ponyville,” a guard said to him, “we’ll be departing presently for Canterlot.”
“I’m ready,” said Emerald.
But inside he shook with apprehension. To leave one’s secret lying out in the open when one is not around to protect it, is something that even the bravest stallion must fear.