//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Making Friends // Story: Emerald Gleaner: Viral Unicorn // by Legionary //------------------------------// Emerald was in the tunnel leading down to the cavern city and was taking her time, thinking about what she had just done on a nearby cliff side. As she arrived down at the very bottom end of the tunnel, she noticed Belvedere waiting by the tunnel exit sitting on the floor. “Hello Oskar,” Belvedere greeted. He was still wearing his armor sans his helmet, which was beside him on the floor. “Pony form huh? Been a while since I saw you look like that.” “Hmm…” Emerald said and looked down at herself before reforming into her new base form, her female human form. “Call me Emerald, Belvedere.” “Oh,” Belvedere said with a raised brow. “Okay Emerald. Is there a story behind your name change?” “There is,” Emerald answered, and there was a bit of a pause as Belvedere waited to see if she was going to explain further. “Well what’s next on the agenda then Boss?” Belvedere said when it became obvious she wasn’t going to explain. “Well… first things first,” Emerald began, walking towards the city and Belvedere quickly got to his feet and started walking by her side. “We need to get back on track with the excavation. I’ll be right to assume that you had the exaction stopped when the attack started right?” “Yes boss,” Belvedere said with a nod as the two of them entered the city streets. “Well I want the dig started back up as soon as possible,” Emerald said. “I don’t want to keep the independent packs waiting too long for their proof.” “Of course boss,” Belvedere said as he waved over an idle dog to have her pass along a message. Emerald looked down a street when she heard a commotion and saw a bunch of Warhounds excitedly talking. One of the dogs happened to be the huge Diamond Dog, Padfoot, and he had Whisper Wind standing on his shoulder. Whisper Wind had this massive grin on her face as the various Warhounds surrounding her praised her for her help and happily retold her assists in the fight on the surface. Emerald smiled at that, recalling when Whisper first arrived and was just a thief looking for loot. The Evolved became curious and wondered exactly why the thief didn’t just hide herself away down in the tunnels where it was safe, and had instead stayed out and helped the Warhounds fight. The two kept moving down the street, Emerald thinking about her friendly little prisoner and Belvedere silently at her side awaiting more commands if there was any. As they moved, they walked past two Warhounds sitting on a bench; one was a smaller breed that was much like a dachshund and the other was a larger boxer Diamond Dog. The boxer was flexing muscles gained by harsh training while the other one was staring down at his little arms with some exasperation. “It’s so hard to get any muscle for me,” the dachshund complained. “You practically started building muscle the day you started training.” “It’s alright,” the boxer said to his little friend, patting his shoulder. “You’re a little dog. You’re never going to be as big as Padfoot, but you’ll be faster.” “I know that,” the little Warhound said with a huff. “I’m not expecting to be a huge mass of muscle, but I’m struggling to get any sort of muscle tone here.” “Can’t really do anything about that I’m afraid,” the Boxer said with a shake of his head. “The only thing you can do is just keep working at it.” “I know…” the little dog said with a sigh. Emerald frowned thoughtfully as she considered what she just heard. Normally the boxer would be right and there wouldn’t be much of anything you could do without drugs like steroids. However, Emerald was a sapient virus with centuries worth of memories in genetic engineering, courtesy of Gentek scientists. While she could make some drugs like steroids to assist her dogs in building muscle, she had a much better idea of going about it. ‘An interesting idea…’ Emerald thought. ‘Of course, I wouldn’t want to go on and try it out on the Warhounds without some proper testing. I’ll go out and collect some animals and inject them with a retrovirus that’ll suppress myostatin and observe what happens. While I’m at it, I might as well look at increasing bone density and stamina as well, make it a full package deal. If everything goes alright, I’ll use it on the Warhounds. Now what to call this project? Hmm… heh, Project: Orion.’ “Right, Belvedere,” Emerald began. “I’ll leave you to any work you might have. I’ll be on the surface studying some books and machinery.” “Right, boss,” Belvedere said and walked away when Emerald disappeared in a pink flash. ALPHA The next day found Emerald sitting outside, watching the sun reach noon and with an oddly ignored book on her lap. Nearby resting her wings was Whisper Wind, eating from a wooden bowl full of diced vegetables. “Time to take my medicine,” Whisper said as she started eating the diced vegetables. “The suppressant for the virus isn’t in there.” Emerald stated, staring off into the calm blue sky. “Wh-what?” Whisper said with some alarm. “Um… I am still going to get it later right? I mean, I have like only four more hours until the virus starts hurting me again!” “No you don’t,” Emerald said with a shake of her head and looked intently at Whisper. “The last time I put something in your food, it wasn’t the suppressant; it was the cure.” “You mean… I don’t have the virus anymore?” Whisper said with wide eyes. “I don’t have to worry about what would happen if I didn’t take my medicine for a whole day?” “It appears to be that way,” Emerald said as she continued her intent look at Whisper.  “Why did you help my dogs, Whisper? You could have just ran down to the city and stayed safe, and no one would have judged you for it, but you didn’t. You stayed up here and helped the Warhounds fight the Timber Wolves. Why?” “Wh-what? W-well I…” Whisper began nervously, tapping her hooves together rather adorably as she tried to think of an answer. “Well I’ve never had any real excitement in my life and I only found some excitement when I stole my first thing and uhh… and I like excitement! I mean stealing things weren’t entirely… uh, well… what I REALLY mean to say is I like sneaking! AND excitement! And uh…” “Whisper.” Emerald interrupted Whisper’s rambling; it was fairly clear to the virus that Whisper was trying to find her own reason for why she stayed on the surface, and frankly it wasn’t completely important for Emerald to know. “The fact is, you helped us at risk to your own well-being. So I’ve decided to go out on a limb and let you ‘off the leash’ so to speak. So how does it feel to be free of the virus and the constant threat of death hovering over you?” Whisper blinked and looked away from Emerald and up at the clear blue sky. She imagined herself flying away from Equestria under the cover of night for a moment, though it was soon replaced by memories of armoured dogs happily praising her for her help and her being held aloft, her ears filled with the sound of cheering. The convict shook her head clear of thoughts and looked back at Emerald. “It feels great… boss,” Whisper said with a smile, one that the virus gladly returned. “I had taken this time to speak with you specifically,” Emerald said. “Is there anything at all I can do to make you feel more comfortable living here?” “Well, could I get my own place up here?” Whisper asked hopefully. “I know the Diamond Dogs like being underground, but I prefer the sky being above me.” “Easily done,” Emerald replied. “So… how about you get a position in the Warhounds huh? I don’t intend for you to be a frontline fighter though. No, far from it. You are obviously someone whose skills need to be utilised in a far more intelligent way than just tossing you at the enemy.” “Hmm…” Whisper tilted her and stared at Emerald. “I don’t know… I mean I am kind of bored… and that fight was making my heart race wonderfully… SURE! Why not! I’ll give it a try. Giving it a try is the least I can do, right?” “Yes, and if it doesn’t work out you can stop being a Warhound,” Emerald said with a shrug. “You lose nothing, but can gain so much if it works out.” “At least I’ll get my wings back in shape,” Whisper said, fluttering said wings pointedly. “I’ll handle your training schedule tomorrow,” Emerald said with a nod. “Rest and relax while you can. The training won’t break you, but you’ll definitely be pushed to your limits each and every time. I’ll be off to do some other business I’ve put off.” “I hope I don’t regret this…” Whisper said as the virus disappeared in a flash. Emerald reappeared in the tunnel leading to the excavation of Nidhogg’s skeleton… or rather she ended up a few feet above the tunnel she intended to appear in. With a put upon sigh, Emerald shifted into a mass of tendrils and quickly drilled down through the ceiling of the tunnel. Landing with a soft thump, Emerald quickly reformed in her base form. The tunnel was larger than the last time she had been there, having been expanded by the Diamond Dogs to make room for Nidhogg’s large bones which were already being gathered in a pile off to the side. “Hello boss!” shouted a large dog as he and several of his fellows carried a rib bone from the excavation. Emerald nodded in greeting as she walked past the group as they maneuvered the bone into position. Approaching the mouth of the excavation entrance, Emerald quickly stepped to the side as several Diamond Pups run out of the cavern giggling, bones just small enough for their mouths in their tiny jaws. “Hey you lot, get back here with those!” shouted a dog as he ran after them. Emerald smiled at that and gave a double take at the dog chasing after the puppies. ‘Huh, Rover,’ Emerald thought before making her way into the cavern. ‘Been a while since I’ve talked with him. Wonder how he and his friends are doing? Maybe I’ll look for them and ask them myself one day.’ Most of the cavern Nidhogg had claimed as his was still completely buried in rock, along with his vast gem hordes, though only the area where the dragon had died and the needed space to remove the bones had been excavated. Standing on the very fringes of the digging dogs, Belvedere stood overseeing everything like a lordly hawk, his stance and current attire only added to the effect. Thanks to his nature as a greyhound, Belvedere wasn’t as top heavy as most dogs. This meant he could stand on his hind legs far longer than most dogs and took advantage of this by standing upright and crossing his arms imperiously. Instead of the usual Diamond Dog vest or even his Warhound armor, Belvedere was actually wearing a faded dark blue long coat that reminded Emerald a lot of the one she wore for her Gray Fox form. “Hello Belvedere,” Emerald said as she came to a stop beside the alpha. “Emerald,” Belvedere greeted with a nod, eyes still focused on the digging dogs below. “Nice coat,” Emerald said with a pointed smile. “Where did you get it if you don’t mind me asking?” “I got it from that ruin over there,” Belvedere said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at a carved stone column with a hole beside it. “This place used to be the capital city of the Diamond Dog Kingdom. With Nidhogg living here in its ruins, we’ve never been able to look through it and salvage until now.” Taking a closer look at the coat Belvedere was wearing, Emerald saw that the only thing wrong with it was that it’s once deep blue dye was fading. A hundred years of neglect in a musty old cave with a dragon stomping around, occasionally letting off bursts of fire and a cave-in, yet that was the only thing wrong with it. “Woven by one of the spider families out of their silk,” Belvedere said at Emerald’s curious stare. “With the material this coat is made of, it can function as armor; probably just as well as chainmail if not better.” “Spider silk armor,” Emerald said with a thoughtful look. ‘Spider silk would make an excellent under armor for plating,’ Emerald thought as she watched the dogs dig out Nidhogg’s skull; apparently more than a few of them had taken to crudely writing insults on it. ‘One issue though. While I can make spider silk, I don’t know how to weave it… I don’t know how to make much of any clothes to tell the truth. Hmm…’ “Do you think we can re-establish contact with the spider families?” Emerald asked. “It’s a possibility.” Belvedere frowned. “It’s been a hundred years though. It’s unlikely that anyone that remembers the trade between our races are still alive, which would mean we would have to establish a new trade contract, which is a task in itself.” “Oh? Why is that?” Emerald asked. “The spider families practically rivaled the old Diamond Dog Kingdom in isolationism,” Belvedere answered. “Unless you are invited inside, any one of the families would attack you the moment you stepped into their caves. And getting an invitation isn’t easy; I recall stories from the elders talking about some dogs waiting up to a week outside the spider caves just to be told they weren’t interested in talking.” “Troublesome,” Emerald muttered. “Indeed.” As Emerald pondered the spider families, one of the dogs below suddenly tossed something black and shiny out of the hole he was digging. It landed a short distance away from Emerald and the virus walked over to look at it. It appeared to be one of Nidhogg’s scales. It shone like polished jet and upon having a closer look at the dig, Emerald saw that the floor of it was covered in black scales of every size. Looking back down at the scale in her hand, Emerald gained a thoughtful look on her face. “Got an idea, boss?” Belvedere asked. “Yep,” Emerald replied and brandished the scale at the Alpha. “Got an idea for a useful shrub.” BETA “So…” Twilight began unenthusiastically with a sigh, Navi perched upon one of her ears. “What’s on the list, Spike?” Twilight was in the guest bedroom that would be occupied by Sweetie Belle whenever she decided to stay with her sister. Scrolls and books were piled neatly nearby a desk that had been salvaged from the library; while there was certainly a lot of them, there wasn’t nearly as much as was expected of the unicorn. It was a fact that was causing Rarity and Spike some worry as it was unlike the book loving unicorn. Navi trilled in worry from her spot on Twilight’s ear. “You know what I’m thinking about Navi…” Twilight said softly, and the little bug snuggled against her cheek for a moment before darting into her mane. “I don’t!” Spike exclaimed, waving his quill and roll of parchment in the air. “What’s wrong Twilight?” “Spike… what’s on the list?” Twilight asked pointedly, looking away from the little dragon. “Well…” Spike began with a troubled frown at Twilight avoiding his question. “First thing is quills, which we have, so check. Next is parchment, which I had just finished putting away after picking it up; check. Ink is up next and… Twilight, are you even paying attention?!” “Hmm?” Twilight said, looking away from the window she was looking out morosely. “Oh don’t worry Spike, I’m paying attention. Just keep going.” Spike was worried before, but now he was definitely concerned for Twilight. She found making checklists fun, but now she was just miserably going through the motions, treating it more like the chore everyone else thought it was. It was then that the baby dragon decided it was better that Twilight was feeling anything other than misery and started racking his mind for something to do just that. After a few moments, he recalled the fact that Twilight hadn’t sent a friendship report in a week. While he normally wouldn’t have given that fact a second thought, he knew that Twilight would flip her lid over such a thing. “Friendship report!” Spike shouted. “Huh?” Twilight said with some confusion and looked over her shoulder at him. “You haven’t written a friendship report in a week!” Spike shouted, smiling perhaps a bit too eagerly. “You’re supposed to write one every week!” That seemed to do the trick as Twilight widened her eyes and frowned worriedly. But after a moment, Spike grew less happy at his accomplishment as Twilight’s frown twitched between worry and apathy. It was getting to the point that she was even looking like she was forcing herself to become worried. After several moments, Twilight released a loud sigh and her expression become affixed in one of tired indifference. “I’ll just wait until I have something about friendship to write to the Princess about, Spike,” Twilight said, causing Spike to gape at her and drop his quill and scroll, and even Navi popped her little head out to trill questioningly at Twilight. “I’m sure Celestia won’t mind if my friendship report is late… now that I think about it, I can’t exactly be expected to learn something new every week. Eventually the flow of new lessons in friendship is going to slow down.” “Yeah… right,” Spike said, shaking his head clear and picking his dropped quill and parchment. Twilight couldn’t help but think about what kind of friendship report she would give if she did write one to the princess. ‘Dear Princess Celestia I learned that you should always remain loyal to your friends, even if they jeopardized the stability of an entire kingdom and murdered innocent ponies. Your obviously delusional student, Twilight Sparkle’ Twilight didn’t know whether to laugh in hysteria or helplessness. She was absolutely certain Princess Celestia did not have this in mind when she sent her here to learn the meaning of friendship. But she was here now and learning more about friendship then she thought she would, including aspects of friendship she didn’t realise could ever exist. She was a good pony and didn’t dream of ever breaking even the most minor of laws, yet she found herself keeping silent about Emerald’s horrible crimes, all for the sake of the bond between them… Spike’s concern skyrocketed when he saw Twilight grow ever more miserable and he quickly swept his gaze over the list in his hands, looking for something that would engage Twilight in some way. He found something that might do the trick. “You know about that picnic everyone is going have later today?” Spike said. “The cupcakes you ordered for it should be done by now. How about we go pick them up?” “Sure, let’s go Spike,” Twilight said as she led the way. The two plus one parasprite soon left Rarity’s boutique and made their way for Sugarcube Corner. As they moved through the town, they happened to pass what was once the ruins of Twilight’s library. The shattered remains of the hollow tree Twilight had lived in was long gone, cleared up by workers. In its place was a mostly formless mass of timber, brick and scaffolding as construction workers set about building Twilight’s new library. The unicorn considered it too bad that they simply couldn’t rebuild her old home, as she had grown quite fond of it, but nothing could be done as her home had been grown and not actually built in the first place. Passing what was to be their new home in the near future, the group continued on to their destination. Before long, they arrived. “Just a moment!” Twilight heard Mrs. Cake shout from the back when she entered the bakery. “Oh, hello Twilight dear!” Mrs. Cake said cheerfully as she appeared from the kitchen. “Are you here for your cupcakes?” “Yes I am,” Twilight answered. “Are they ready?” “Yes they are, one moment,” Mrs. Cake said and disappeared back into the kitchen briefly before coming back out with a white box. “Here you are, one dozen cupcakes plus one!” “Plus one?” Twilight said. “I had a spare,” the baker answered. “Do you mind if I ask if you’ve heard back from Emerald yet? It’s been such a long time since the dear has come by for her favorite donuts or to lend a hoof in the kitchen.” Twilight seemed to tense up at the question for a brief moment before seeming to force herself to loosen up and levitated the box of cupcakes over. “Did I say something wrong?” Mrs. Cake asked in concern. “No you didn’t, it’s fine,” Twilight said a bit unconvincingly. “Emerald has… not contacted me yet from her… journey.” “Oh… do you know when she’ll be back though?” Mrs. Cake asked. “No,” Twilight stated, perhaps more gruffly then she intended to, and quickly turned about and left the bakery, leaving a near speechless Mrs. Cake in her wake. “Wow Twilight… don’t you think you were a little rude back there?” Spike said as he quickly jogged after the agitated unicorn. “…Twilight?” Spike asked when she didn’t answer. The violet unicorn was currently thinking about Emerald again, her mind trying to come to terms with the unicorn that had made several dear friends amongst the people of Ponyville and someone that had killed hundreds of people, quite possibly their only crime either being in her way or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. For every memory of Emerald interacting with the others, Twilight imagined her ending a poor innocent’s life. ‘I… I can’t think like this!’ Twilight thought in distress. ‘I hav- I have to do…. I need to distract myself.’ “So uh, the next thing on the list is-” Spike began. “We can finish the list some other time Spike,” Twilight interrupted. “I’m going back to Rarity’s to read a book.” Again Spike dropped his quill and parchment and, had he the ability, his jaw no doubt would have joined the items on the ground. He simply stared as Twilight teleported in a flash of light and left him standing in the street. Twilight sighed tiredly as she arrived back in the guest room of Rarity’s boutique. She placed the box of cupcakes on the bedside table and walked over to the stacks of books she had beside her desk. Searching through them, Twilight looked for something appropriate for light reading and soon picked out a book. Pulling out the weighty doorstopper of a book on magical theory, Twilight opened it on her desk and began to read. However, as she did so, she couldn’t help but think about something Emerald told her about the world she had come from. Namely about the fact that the world she originated from lacked magic in any way barring the most simple of illusions that only needed a slight of hoof and knowing how to distract a crowd. ‘A people, a whole world without magic,’ Twilight thought with some wonder. ‘What kind of society does that create? Let’s see… for one they wouldn’t be able to control the environment as well as we could. Emerald mentioned that the only sapient species in the world were humans, and by the look of her she didn’t have wings, so just by that fact alone shipping items over long distances would be far more difficult. How did Earth Ponies manage before the three tribes joined together? Far slower than what they could do working with pegasi anyway. They can’t make crops grow with ease, and natural disasters like storms, floods and blizzards would have to simply be weathered until they passed. But wait… if they can’t control the environment because they don’t have magic, then what makes the sun and moon rise and set? Who takes care of the animals and wakes them up from hibernation? It can’t be humans. Without magic, there isn’t any clear way they could move celestial objects, and without it, it might be more trouble than it’s worth to care for the animals… oh my gosh… it’s like Everfree… a whole world is like the Everfree! An entire world is like the one place where if you aren’t careful the animals will kill you! Just what kind of effect does that have on a society that would form there?’ ‘Competition,’ Twilight thought with certainty. ‘Humans are omnivores from what I understand, and so need to feed off both flora and fauna to survive. They need to both compete with herbivores for the plants they are able to eat and with carnivores for animals to prey on. That sets the bar though. Violence is the answer to the basest problem and creates a bad precedent for the future when another group of people grow large enough and encroach on their hunting grounds. Do they speak with the competitors for food and space? Negotiate to satisfy both parties? No, there is already an answer for competition; violence. Diplomacy is eventually invented, there is just no way, eventually you meet somepony who is better than you but it’s too late, the damage has been done and the spectre of violence overhangs over everything. Society grows bigger, space is claimed, tensions rise, base answer to competition brought up once again… in recorded history there has been a major conflict only a few times. I can only imagine just how many dozens more wars the humans have recorded in their history… well, that explains why Emerald has such a capacity for violence.’ “Err, Twilight?” the unicorn heard from behind her. “You know the picnic is starting soon,” Spike said to her. “If we don’t leave soon, we’ll be late… unless you don’t want to go that is.” “What? No, I want to go to the picnic,” Twilight said and turned away from her desk. “But I thought it wasn’t for a few hours yet?” “You were standing there staring at that book for a long time Twilight,” Spike said. “It seemed like it was important from the way you looked, so I didn’t interrupt you.” “What? Has that much time really… never mind, let’s get going Spike,” Twilight said and made way for the door while levitating the cupcake box along with her. The two made good time, quickly reaching the outskirts of town where the picnic was going to be, arriving early enough that the others were just arriving and beginning to set down the cloth and the food. “Twilight, darling!” Rarity waved over to her friend happily. “How are… Twilight, you look terrible. Whatever is the matter?” “What? I do?” Twilight said, looking for a reflective surface of any kind. “Rarity is right. You do look a bit stressed, Twilight,” Fluttershy said softly. “Is there something bothering you?” “It’s… well it’s about… I can’t say, girls,” Twilight said sadly with a shake of her head, feeling like she’d rather tell the truth there and then. “It’s about Emerald, isn’t it, Twilight?” Rarity asked, and the unicorn answered her question by looking away from her. “What happened between you two?  The both of you were such good friends… did one of you say something you’re both coming to regret?” “Rarity, please. I can’t… I don’t…” Twilight sighed tiredly before opening her box of cupcakes and bringing it up to take a bite. “Let’s not talk about it, okay?” Everyone shared a look at that, deeply curious as to what caused such an obviously painful rift between Twilight and Emerald. But at the same time, they didn’t want to force Twilight to say anything she didn’t feel comfortable sharing, so… “Alright darling,” Rarity said, feeling like was it against her better judgement to do so. “You don’t have to say anything more.” “Thank you Rarity,” Twilight said with some relief. “I don’t mean to ruin the picnic. Let’s just eat and have fun, okay?” And so they did; or they tried to at least. Thoughts of whatever could have happened between Emerald and Twilight dominated their thoughts. GAMMA Loose stones fell from the ceiling as Emerald lead a large group of Warhounds down a tunnel. Nidhogg’s skeleton had been fully excavated after a full day of work and was now being pulled down a tunnel that had been freshly expanded by another group of Warhounds. Of course, Nidhogg being the massive dragon he was meant they couldn’t realistically bring along his entire skeleton. Just bringing his two fore claws, half a rib cage and his skull was already pushing it as it was, not to mention how hard it was to pull along the trailer carrying the skeleton on the rough tunnel floor. Despite these issues, there weren’t any complaints from the Warhounds. They were used to being worked excessively hard with food that was barely enough. They weren’t going complain about pulling a heavy load when they were fit, well rested and, most importantly, well-fed. Not to mention the fact Emerald herself wasn’t just walking them along and was helping with the load as well. “Just a bit further everyone!” Emerald shouted as she motioned towards the tunnel exit a hundred feet away. “We’re almost there, keep pulling!” Knowing they were almost done seemed to invigorate the armored dogs and they pulled with greater energy, the trailer picking up speed noticeably. Before long, the trailer was pulled out into the open of the cavern that held the independent Diamond Dog village. A fairly large crowd had gathered in the cavern, far more dogs than could reasonably live in the village behind them, the sound of their chatter filling the ears of Emerald and the Warhounds. With their arrival into the cavern with Nidhogg’s skeleton pulled along behind them, the sense of excitement grew. The little Alpha with the Scottish accent approached them, his long dual headed club resting on his shoulder. “Now that there is a right beastie if I ever saw one,” he commented and looked at Emerald. “Now where be the lad from before? Expected him to be here for this.” “That was me,” Emerald said to the little Alpha’s obvious incredulity, and quickly shifted between her pony form and back to base form for proof. “You can expect me to be in this form more often than not though.” “Right. Whatever floats your boat lassy,” the Alpha said with a dismissive wave and pointed towards the crowd. “We got some elders who were around when Nidhogg attacked. They should be able to tell if you’re telling the truth or not.” “Provided they can actually tell if this belongs to him,” Emerald pointed out as her Warhounds pulled the trailer to a stop before the chattering crowd. “Not exactly helping your own case there lass,” the Alpha said with a raised brow. “It’s an issue I’m going to have to deal with nonetheless,” Emerald stated and watched as a group of fairly ancient looking Diamond Dogs stepped forward to examine the large skeleton. At first, the old dogs were just whispering to each other in hushed tones and pointing at the partial skeleton of Nidhogg. However, the volume of their speech soon began to raise and anger seemed to seep into their voices. It didn’t seem to be anger directed at the skeleton, but rather each other. They appeared to be getting into a steadily fiery argument over whether or not this was Nidhogg’s skeleton. “Look at the size of it!” one elder shouted in latin, waving a cane at the skeleton furiously. “It’s massive! It can’t be anyone but Nidhogg’s!” “Oh, and when was the last time you saw a dragon’s skeleton?” Another elder scowled. “This might be just as big as all the others!” “You’re one to talk, you egotistical equine!” the other snarled back, making the other gape before glaring back with pure loathing. “You’ve never seen a dragon other than Nidhogg before, if you could actually remember what he really looked like! I heard you were hiding in the dry room when the attack started!” “WHAT?!” While the dogs started to argue in earnest, another old dog started to slowly walk out of the crowd, his exact breed not entirely clear. He was even older looking than the others, judging from the way his skin clung to his head and neck. His body was likely skeletal if it wasn’t hidden from view by a sleeveless brown robe. Most of the top of his head was scar tissue, and the way the tissue seamlessly formed over his eyes made it clear he was blind. He had only one arm; the other was a stump that ended at his bicep, providing just enough of a limb to use a crutch. Upon seeing the maimed old dog walk towards the skeleton, the crowd quietened from their amused muttering of watching the elders fight. The elders themselves stopped their arguing when they spotted the maimed old dog walk by them and watched him approach the skeleton silently. “Who is that?” Emerald whispered to the little Alpha beside her. “That’s just Old Fenrir,” the alpha said with a shrug. “He used to be somebody in the old kingdom. Didn’t really ask what sort of somebody though.” The old dog reached the skeleton and began feeling along its surface with his only hand. He stumbled about as he seemed to be looking for something until he finally found it. When his paw moved over the gap of Nidhogg’s mouth the maimed dog paused in his movements and reached within. When his hand touched one of the teeth, he almost seemed to recoil before grasping the teeth firmly. After a moment, he let go of the tooth and backed away from the skull, hand feeling the stump where his other arm used to be as he did so. “This is Nidhogg,” a surprisingly strong voice came from the maimed dog. “Without a certainty of a doubt.” “See!” one elder shouted at her compatriot. “The Captain knows this is Nidhogg! And he’s blind!” “Maybe so…” the other elder shouted back as more than half of the others began to agree. “But like you said, he’s blind.” “YOU DOUBT HIM!?” Another argument began to rage and the crowd seemed to join them as they didn’t know what to think. Emerald paid no attention to any of this. Her attention was focused purely on the old maimed dog. Said old dog seemed to ignore everything else and stare in the direction of Nidhogg’s skeleton despite the lack of eyes. Without thinking, Emerald walked towards the old dog, utterly ignored by everyone in the cavern save for the little Alpha. As she closed in on him, the maimed dog seemed to somehow sense her approach and turned to face her, scarred over eye sockets seeming to stare into her eyes. She came to a stop before the old maimed dog and kneeled down. Staring into his scarred over sockets for a few moments, Emerald slowly lifted both hands towards him and stopped just before touching him. Seeing him not react in any way, Emerald placed one hand over his stump and the other over his scarred eye sockets. Then she began to work. While Emerald’s magical control was shot by taking in Draconequis DNA, her viral control had only skyrocketed. This meant that, unlike before when she reconstructed limbs for her dogs, she didn’t need ten minutes of steady work to do it right. No, now she only needed ten seconds. Tendrils leapt out from her hands and into the scarred flesh. Localised painkillers were delivered and went into effect instantly. Viral biomass flowed in a black surge and quickly started replacing scarred flesh and taking on different shapes on a cellular level. Bones formed, muscles took shape, veins and capillaries were strung through the flesh, pale pink skin covered the bare muscle and was soon covered in gray fur, before finally a pair of intense icy blue eyes appeared as newly formed eyelids finished taking shape. There were shouts of awe and amazement as Fenrir began to taking loud breaths, happiness from regained sight and arm beginning to overwhelm him. He took in the sight of both his arms for a few moments before beginning to scan over the cavern, trying to take in every single detail of everyone and everything until he suddenly stiffened and calmed. Shooting a death glare the likes of which would have even given a Stare-ing Fluttershy pause, Fenrir threw away his crutch and approached Nidhogg’s skull. Coming to a stop before the skull, Fenrir suddenly drew in a loud nasally breath that made it quite obvious to everyone watching what he was about to do next. Fenrir’s large loogie flew far and splattered loudly against the forehead bone of Nidhogg’s skull. “That was for the kingdom,” Fenrir growled lowly before facing Emerald. “Thank you. I don’t know how just yet, but I shall return this favour.” “Gift,” Emerald corrected with a shake of her head. “There is nothing to repay.” “Even so,” Fenrir said, and turned to face a horde of excited dogs approaching him and examining his restored eyes and arm themselves. “That was a kind and miraculous thing you did, lass.” Emerald looked over her shoulder to see the little Alpha standing behind her. “Lass,” the Alpha began and took off his beret. “I and quite a few of me fellow Alphas couldn’t care less that you killed the old bat. But what you did here… I am willing to go out on a limb and trust you over that.” “So you’ll hear what I have to say?” Emerald asked as she got up to her feet. “I’ll even put in a good word for ya,” the little Alpha replied with a smile. “Great.” Emerald smiled. “So what do I call you?” “I’m Alpha Degroot of this charming little hamlet in the middle of nowhere,” the Alpha replied with a faux grandiose wave of his arm. “But you can call me Tavish, lass.” “So when can I expect to meet all of you in a more formal sense, Tavish?” Emerald asked. “Couple days, lass.” Tavish replied. “The others honestly thought nothing serious was going to happen for a long while yet, but you give me a good feeling and me good feelings ‘ave never done me wrong. So we’ll go see that fine little nation you got hidden away under the Everfree.” “You know about that?” Emerald blinked. “Aye. Your dogs may know a thing or two about tunneling and caving, but they be a shadow of what their ancestors were,” Tavish said with a wide toothy smile. “WE never forgot what our people learned over the centuries. We could dig circles around your best, hehehe.” “Ah…” Emerald said with a scratch of her head. She hadn’t expected this. “Well since you already know the way, I don’t need to give you directions. I’ll just head back now and await your group’s arrival.” “Nothing to be ashamed about lass!” Tavish shouted at her cheerfully as she walked away. “Nobody’s great at everything!” “Well…” Emerald began at her sheepish looking Warhounds. “Looks like we are going to be learning a few things aren’t we?” “Just another thing on the list, boss.” “Yep.” DELTA About a week later found Emerald waving at a small group of distinguishing Alphas from the independent packs walking into the cavern city. Tavish lead the group as everyone took in their surroundings. “Welcome to the Enclave!” Emerald greeted with a bit of a strained smile. This was her first formal diplomatic meeting and she felt she needed to dress appropriately, so she wore a knee length dark green skirt with black hose, a white dress shirt and dark green coat buttoned up… and she was regretting it. She felt rather uncomfortable wearing feminine clothes when it wasn’t absolutely necessary. Upon seeing the casual looking clothes the Alphas were wearing, she knew it wasn’t. The virus was just glad she didn’t go for the heels and makeup. “Hello!” Tavish greeted with a wide grin. “Quite the get up you got there lass!” “I’ve… never done this before,” Emerald said honestly with a groan. “I figured I was supposed to dress formally for it.” “I for one am glad someone actually treats meetings like this seriously,” said one Alpha. She was a german shepherd looking breed and was wearing a dark brown sleeveless coat with light brown fleece lining; under that was a white vest with large buttons. “No one has time for that, Fasha,” one beagle looking Alpha grumbled. “You never have time for anything. It’s a miracle your lazy hide was recognised as an Alpha,” Fasha sniped. “Let’s keep the infighting for later, huh?” Tavish said cheerfully before turning his attention back to Emerald. “What I want to see is what you did with those machines you stole from Equestria.” “Just how much do you know about what I’ve done?” Emerald frowned. “Oh, it wasn’t hard to figure out.” Tavish smiled slyly. “Especially when you know the only pack of Diamond Dogs with the numbers the Gray Fox commanded was Nidhogg’s lot. After I met you, I just put two and two together.” “Oh… well would you like to see the machines?” Emerald said and couldn’t help but feel like some corporate tour guide. “Lead the way lass,” Tavish said. The group started moving through the city, the Alphas taking in the sights and sounds of the city Emerald helped to create. The dogs she lead were also looking at the Alphas following her in curiosity. The only times they had seen a dog from the independent packs was when they were caught wandering into Nidhogg’s territory, and those had never ended well for them. Now though, they didn’t have to worry about following the cruel dragon’s will. “A bit crude looking,” Fasha commented as she took in the tall stone apartment buildings. “But they fulfill their purpose.” “What few elders we have are trying to instill the skills of the old kingdom in the dogs,” Emerald replied. “But it’s slow going and the buildings we already have up take time to be replaced. Someday I intend to have much nicer homes for my dogs, but for now these will do.” “Someday. Right,” Fasha said with some doubt. At that, Emerald came to a stop and turned around. She was about to say something when she noticed several dogs had heard and didn’t like the implication of what Fasha had said and were advancing angrily on the group. Emerald halted them with a raised hand. “I don’t have to prove anything to you,” Emerald stated calmly to Fasha. “But I’ve taken a people devastated by slavery and turned them around within a year. Most of us may not be on the level of intelligence of the people you are used to, but my people don’t shy away from hard work and are rapidly catching up. I’d like to see you accomplish anything close to what I’ve done in that time.” For a long moment, Fasha simply stared evenly at Emerald, and then she smiled lightly at her. “I can see a powerful will in those eyes of yours,” Fasha said with a pleased growl. “It’s always nice to meet a leader with a backbone.” Emerald seemed to relax at that statement, her expression becoming less serious. Then Tavish poked his head between her and Fasha. “We going to see some stolen machines or what?” Tavish asked. “I’m talking with someone that actually deserves some respect, you moronic blockhead,” Fasha growled dangerously. “Oh I’m shaking in me wee little booties!” Tavish said before gasping dramatically. “Oh wait! I ain’t wearing booties!” “Let’s just get going you two,” the Alpha from before yawned. “Yes, let’s,” Emerald agreed and turned about to continue leading the way. Upon reaching the stairway heading down towards where the factory floor was located, the group paused for a moment. Emerald quickly got everyone wearing ear protection and some safety goggles before giving them a short safety lecture, then they continued; the last thing Emerald wanted was one of them getting pulled into a machine by their fur. After making their way down a long staircase, Emerald lead them through a pair of double doors and the Alphas found themselves being thankful for the earmuffs; if it was this loud with them on, they could only imagine what it was like with them off. The room was very long and its ceiling was very high. Electric lights lined the ceiling and long production lines with various mechanical arms stretched along the entire length of the room, deafening in their activity. Various Diamond Dogs darted the room, some with their fur cut short and all wearing hard hats, earmuffs, safety vests and safety goggles. Emerald walked over to a panel on the wall and flipped some of the switches on it. The lights on the ceiling switched colors and turned yellow. The Diamond Dogs on the factory floor took in this change calmly and went about their work. However as time went on, more and more of the machines slowed to a stop and eventually all of them were turned off. Emerald walked towards the stopped machines and motioned for the earmuffs on the Alphas’ ears. The Alphas took off their ear protection as they approached the production line Emerald was beside. “Now this room is one of a few others, but this one is the largest one,” Emerald explained. “The others are focused on more mundane things like creating machine parts, but this one is focused on making weapon parts.” “Weapons, huh?” Fasha said as she examined the metal pieces on the belt. They obviously weren’t finished just yet and looked kind of like the stock of a crossbow, only metal. But why in the world was the Enclave making so many crossbows? “Planning to go to war with someone?” “I am not, no,” Emerald said firmly. “However, there will always be conflict. I’d rather have something and not need it than need it and not have it in this case.” “A bit paranoid ain’t cha lass?” Tavish said as he picked up the partially built gun. “You make it sound like wars happen all the time. The last I recall, there hasn’t been one in a thousand years.” “For me they are,” Emerald replied and got stares from everyone. She noticed the lazy Alpha was looking at her with seemingly sleepy eyes but she could see the intense concentration in those eyes as he pondered an interesting puzzle. “Either way, I don’t want to get complacent and end up getting blindsided by something simple preparation would have prevented.” “Hmm…” the lazy Alpha hummed contemplatively. “You have industry, you have strong soldiers and from what I can tell you have a sure fire way of keeping everyone fed… the way I see it the only thing you could want is more bodies to get more work done.” “So that’s what you want,” Tavish said thoughtfully as everyone continued to stare at her. Emerald was currently reassessing what she thought was going to happen when she got in contact with the independent packs. Of course all of them weren’t going to flood back just because a new Diamond Dog nation had been formed. It had been a hundred years since the day the old kingdom was burned down by Nidhogg. Nearly the entire population of independent packs had to be made up of people who had grown up in their own little settlements. She now doubted she was ever going to get all of the independent packs to join her nation, with them having been used to being on their own plus the fact she was a stranger to them and most people were averse to being ruled by someone they did not know in some way. What Emerald needed was something of value to give them to foster good will, as well as entice a people to giving living here a try. She then remembered an issue with food she had solved before it became a real problem. Diamond Dogs were carnivores; while they didn’t mind vegetables being mixed in with their meats, they still required a mostly meat diet. She imagined the biggest limiting factor on population growth for the old kingdom and the independent packs was the food supply, as meat needed a lot of work to collect in great numbers. Emerald, however, had circumvented most of the work needed by creating trees that grew meat and could subsist on the vilest of bio-matter. “We only have a population of ten thousand. While fairly large for a criminal organization, it’s sadly small when it comes to a nation,” Emerald admitted. “Now I am not asking for whole packs to uproot themselves, or you to strong-arm dogs into coming here. What I want is for your people to consider us whenever they are thinking of settling down in someplace they can call their own.” “Now you are right when you said our food supply is not a problem,” Emerald continued, gesturing at the lazy Alpha. “And I imagine that is an always present issue for your people. So, as a token of good will, I want to set up a weekly shipment of meat for the independent packs with no strings attached.” “Free meat?” Tavish said, his mouth already salivating. “That there is a mighty enticing gift.” “Just how much meat are we talking?” the lazy Alpha asked curiously. “Our combined population has never been counted, but I’m fairly certain we number at least half a million.” “Given some reorganization of our food supply, I am absolutely certain none of your people will go hungry ever again,” Emerald said confidently. The lazy Alpha’s eyes widened a little bit. He knew just how many tons of meat half a million mouths could eat a day. If he wasn’t before, he was definitely wondering how she was getting so much meat now. “HA!” Tavish shouted with a delighted clap of his hands before rubbing them together eagerly. “This is a great deal! The least we can do is encourage some lads and lasses to go see if they would like to live here.” “Stealing our people’s hearts and minds by feeding their stomachs?” Fasha stated with a sly smile. “An effective if costly tactic.” “Not for me,” Emerald stated simply before motioned one of the workers over. “Go find Belvedere and tell him I’d like to talk to him about our food supply soon.” “Yes boss,” the worker said before taking off. “Now is there anything else you wanted to see?” Emerald asked. “Don’t know about you lot, but I’m hungry!” Tavish said, and got agreeing nods from his fellow Alphas. “Let’s go have ourselves a taste of that meat we’ll be getting so much of.” “Right this way,” Emerald said, motioning back to the doors they entered through. “We have a communal cafeteria that should be about ready to serve up food for everyone.” “And after eating, I want to have another go at your soldiers!” “Of course. I’m sure they want the same thing, Tavish.” EPSILON A week later found Emerald outside late in the afternoon, listening to a dog ramble off a progress report while she herself was studying some machines she had taken from Cloudsdale. “The extensions to the meat tree chamber are finished,” Fido rumbled softly, reading off a small clipboard he was holding. “The final seeds are planted and should be finished growing by the end of the day. The messy work of expanding the sewage cavern beneath the chamber has already been finished and the beginnings of the sewage pipes you planned are being put in place.” “Great. Any progress on the water lines?” Emerald asked as she stared down at the book in her lap. “Those are being done along with the sewage lines currently,” Fido rumbled. “Great pains are being taken to not confuse the two.” “Probably a good idea.” Emerald nodded with a small smile. “Anything else?” “No boss,” Fido said. “You may go then,” Emerald said and returned her attention to the large… urn like machine used to make the weather. However, after a moment, she returned her attention back to the book in her lap and starting writing in it. At first the weather machines had been interesting to her, considering they produced Equestria’s weather. But after she had gained Flim and Flam’s skills, she had lost a lot of her interest. Now that she could understand the machines’ inner workings, she thought of them as simply advanced fog machines. And since she could understand them now, she decided she didn’t need them anymore, thinking that their presences weren’t exactly welcome by Sovereign considering the machines were one of the things ponies used to suppress the “cycle”. So she decided she was going to bring the machines back along with the books after she was done reading them, which she nearly was. No doubt the Princesses would appreciate them back, considering what had happened to Cloudsdale. Finishing filling up both pages with writing, Emerald turned to the next page. The book she was writing was an autobiography; not of her life though. She was writing this book for a project she had been planning for a while, although at the moment she was a bit in doubt if the project was still viable considering the ambiguity around whether or not she was still welcome in Equestria. And with that thought, all attempts to focus on work ended in futility for Emerald. No matter what, she just found herself thinking about Ponyville and all the times she had spent with her friends. The virus had no choice but to admit the truth to herself; she was homesick. This place had really changed her. She recalled a day when she hoped for an accident to claim the lives of one the Mane Six during one of their many adventures, and she remembered when she didn’t shy from murder when she knew she could get away with it. But now thoughts of hurting any of her friends were painful and nearly unthinkable, and she now considered Ponyville her home, when before she knew with certainty the only home she’d ever know was burnt to a cinder. And now she always sought a better way to accomplish her tasks that didn’t end in needless death. She could have easily solved any issues that could have erupted from letting the Flim Flam brothers go by simply killing them, but she didn’t. Yes, she was a changed person; a monster with a heart instead of without. ‘Maybe… maybe a quick peek at the town couldn’t hurt?’ Emerald thought hesitantly. ‘Nothing too obvious, just a quick look around to see how everything is. I don’t even have to be in my base pony form.’ With a firm nod, Emerald got to her feet and walked back down into the cavern city. First chance she got, she informed a dog of her extended departure and went to her room to drop off her half-finished book. Once those two objectives were done, she teleported away to the fringes of Ponyville. Emerald arrived in mid-air and upside down. After she spat out some dirt, she got up to her feet and examined Ponyville from afar. The disaster prone town was rather active for this time of night and it only took Emerald some examinations with her powerful eyesight to see why. ‘Costumes,’ Emerald thought. ‘That means it’s nightmare night. Well, things are certainly a bit busier than I’d thought they’d be. What to do? I could just go in as one of many different forms and be completely unnoticed… but it doesn’t feel right. This place is… it’s my home and I don’t want to be hiding in my home… but I might be wanted now.’ For the longest moment Emerald stayed in one spot, logically side warring with emotional. Eventually there was a winner. ‘Oh this is stupid as hell!’ Emerald thought as she began making her way towards the town as she was. ‘This is probably going to end badly the moment I set foot in this place… Damn it, if I’m doing this I might as well go the whole nine yards.’ With that, Emerald got in the holiday spirit and altered her form a bit and put on a costume that was sure to turn some heads. Then she continued on her way towards the town. ZETA Twilight Sparkle wasn’t exactly feeling the spirit of the holiday. Putting on her Starswirl the Bearded costume she had picked up months ago felt more like a chore than anything, and it was terrible because she was actually looking forward to this for a while. But now after everything that had happened between her and Emerald, and what had happened with Discord… she just wasn’t feeling up to being cheerful for the sake of the holiday. So she really couldn’t bring herself to be anything other than slightly annoyed when everyone couldn’t tell who she had dressed up as, and rather than attempt to correct their error she had simply sighed and let them be on their way. The night had gone on with her being a ‘party pooper’ as Spike had so eloquently put it, until she went with some children to go be told the story of Nightmare Moon by Zecora. That was when she saw a rider on a chariot pulled by bat winged armoured ponies fly out of the sky and towards town. She and Spike had quickly ran back towards town and were treated with the sight of Luna making a dramatic show of her arrival, not realising she was scaring the ponies before her rather badly. Said ponies were all on the ground staring up fearfully at Princess Luna as the princess was about to speak. Suddenly, one of the ponies near the back heard a footstep near her and glanced back to look; she immediately regretting doing so. Behind her was an armored monstrosity of a pony. It was wearing a helmet with an odd pointed visor that had two ‘ears’ that looked like bat wings poking up off the sides. It’s chest was covered by thick armor that had an embossed eye across the front. Both its mane and tail were blood red and it’s right foreleg had been mutated into a demonic claw with tiny bug like eyes dotted across it that glittered like gems. By far the most eye catching thing about the pony behind her however was the fleshy sword hovering in the air above her that had a large eye near the hilt. After a moment of horrified staring at the sword, it blinked at her audibly. “YAAAAAAAH!” the mare dressed as a doll screamed out and caught everyone’s attention. Once they had caught sight of the pony behind them, they too also screamed and leapt off the ground in fright. To Luna’s brief confusion, she found herself being used as an impromptu shield by a crowd of ponies. “Help us Nightmare Moon!” shouted one pony. “Save us Lady of the Night!” begged another. Blinking her eyes at the ponies behind her for a moment, Luna wondered why they were calling her that before turning her attention to the armored pony. She narrowed her eyes as she took in the form of the pony. The alicorn began to think she and her sister had missed one of the more severely afflicted ponies when they were gathering them up when she noticed the pony’s cutie mark, a bucket full of emeralds. Then the armored pony lifted it’s visor up. “I suppose I went a little overboard with my costume?” Emerald said sheepishly. “EMMY!!!” Pinkie Pie shouted happily as everyone released a relieved sigh. “WHERE!?!” came the distant voice of Rainbow Dash. “OVER HERE DASHIE!” Pinkie shouted before dashing towards Emerald, closely followed by Applejack and Twilight, though Twilight slowed to a walk about halfway to her. “Oof,” Emerald grunted as Pinkie threw herself at her, wrapping her in a hug. “I guess you missed me, huh Pinkie Pie?” “Jus’ where in the world have you been?!” Applejack shouted, trying really hard to sound angry, but she was just too happy to see her friend again. “We missed ya, sugarcube!” “YEAH!” Rainbow Dash shouted her agreement as she dive bombed Emerald and gave her a hug of her own. “I had… gone on a journey of self-discovery,” Emerald said after a moment, making Twilight twitch as she recognised the point when the virus started lying without actually lying. “And, well… honestly, I am stronger for it.” “Stronger…” Twilight repeated with a raised brow as she came to a stop just before the group. “Yeah… I can certainly agree with that.” “U-umm… h-hello Twilight…” Emerald stuttered, causing everyone to look at her in shock and nearly look around to see if Celestia was nearby and unintentionally terrifying the mare. “I hope you are doing well.” “Well you know, doing fine,” Twilight stated with obviously forced civility. “Except for the fact my house blew up. Kind of homeless now and forced to freeload off Rarity.” “Y-yeah I… I saw that,” Emerald said, recoiling like she had been struck. Rainbow Dash and the others watched the exchange between Emerald and Twilight with appalled fascination; this was a far cry from the friendship the two shared. Dash then decided she wasn’t going to tolerate any more of this. Twilight sounded like she was blaming Emerald of all ponies for destroying her home for some unfathomable reason, when it was perfectly clear she wasn’t to blame. “Now hold on one minute!” Rainbow shouted and imposed herself between the two unicorns. “I have no idea why you’re blaming Emerald for your house going up in smoke, but its wrong Twilight! Emerald, you don’t have to worry about a darn thing, okay? Miss rude egghead over here is having another home built for her, which I might add is being paid for by Princess Celestia herself!” Dash shouted that pointedly towards Twilight, who didn’t get any angrier or even show shame for her actions, merely turning her head away from Dash’s glare. “Don’t be mad at her, Dash,” Emerald said firmly to Rainbow’s obvious surprise, making the unicorn sigh. “I appreciate you defending me, but Twilight has all the right in the world to act that way towards me.” With that, the others could only look between Emerald and Twilight with confusion and concern. “Jus’ what in the world happened between the two of ya?” Applejack asked. “It’s complicated,” Twilight sighed. A long awkward moment ensured in the following silence, one that was thankfully broken by Princess Luna who had been silently watching on at the sidelines. “I’m terribly sorry to interrupt,” Luna began. “I wish to talk with young Emerald about a matter of great import to the two of us. Would anypony mind terribly if I borrow her presence for a few moments?” “None at all Princess,” Twilight said calmly and began walking away. “In fact, I am done talking with her today.” Luna stared after Twilight’s retreating form, eyes glittering with inquisitive intent before turning her attention to Emerald. “Let us have some privacy shall we?” Luna stated, and extended a wing towards an empty section of street. “Lead the way, Princess,” Emerald sighed, tearing her gaze away from Twilight. The two left three deeply concerned ponies behind and came to a stop a fair distance away from everyone else. “Have you given thought to my offer?” Luna asked with interest. This unicorn was to be her first student in over a thousand years, and she was rather hoping she’d accept. “Yes I have Princess…” Emerald said. She had a lot of misgivings about the offer before; the risks involved with being so close to one so powerful for long periods of times, plus the expected difficulty of keeping certain actions and plots hidden from someone so old and obviously intelligent. But a lot of the risk was now null and void with her magical upgrade from Discord. Plus she was already risking everything being exposed with Twilight knowing everything at any given time of any day. Frankly, Emerald didn’t see how being around Luna for long periods of time could increase the risks any further than they already were. Suffice to say, she was already half off the cliff ledge; might as well dive off the rest of the way. Hopefully the potential benefits would outweigh everything. “… And I’ve decided accept your offer,” Emerald stated. “Honest and truly?” Luna asked excitedly, and when Emerald nodded she cheered. “Huzzah! The night has a student at last! OH… um I mean… ahem, thank you for accepting my offer of tutelage. I’m sure we’ll both come to enjoy this relationship greatly.” “No problem, Princess!” Emerald said with a large grin, much to Luna’s embarrassment. “Well, I’ll just let you go with your friends… I’ll just slither into this corner to die now.” Luna said a bit loudly before walking away and whispering to herself. Emerald smiled brightly after the alicorn before turning back to three of her friends, then her smile turned a bit more forced, but stayed mostly genuine. “So… I guess I’m going to need a place to crash at, seeing how the library is gone now,” Emerald said. “Well… you could always stay with Rarity?” Dash offered. “She likes you. A lot. She’ll never say no to you, but…” “Twilight’s staying with her,” Emerald said with a sigh. “So that’s out. Do you think Fluttershy will mind if I stay with her a while?” “Can’ hardly imagine the filly saying no to ya sugarcube.” Applejack stated. “Though… she does still have that big- WHOA!” There was a sudden flash of purple light amongst the four ponies, startling three of them and putting the last on guard. After the light faded, Navi was revealed floating in the air in confusion, wearing a tiny pair of Groucho glasses for a costume. She looked around for a second before she caught sight of Emerald. “Hey there Navi, you miss me?” Emerald asked as her pet shot against her cheek and released trills of intense happiness and relief. “Aww, don’t cry Navi… Mama’s here.” “Awwwwww, Navi missed you so much,” Pinkie gushed happily at the two. “Why did you ever leave her behind for?” “… It seemed like the best thing to do for her at the time,” Emerald said honestly as her pet reclaimed her favorite spot atop one of her ears, happy tears in the corner of her eyes. “One of these days ya gotta tells us what in the world happened the day you left,” Applejack said seriously, looking like she’d never take no as an answer. “Someday…” Emerald agreed and turned around to head for Fluttershy’s. “But not today… see you girls later. “Later Emerald,” Dash said with a wave. “See ya soon sugarcube.” “Bye Emmy! Happy to see you back!” With that, Emerald and her returned pet walked through Ponyville, greeted by honestly happy ponies who had missed her presence, though they needed a moment to get over her costume. Eventually, she walked out of the Ponyville’s town limits and reached the Everfree border where Fluttershy’s cottage was. The cottage appeared to be no different than she had last seen it, though it appeared Fluttershy would soon be finally getting around to improving her home rather than the animal homes surrounding it, judging by the look of the supplies of wood and various construction materials at the ready next to it. Another thing that immediately caught Emerald’s attention was the sleeping green dragon off to the side. A large pile of gems served as his bed and a large sign was placed before him saying “NO CANDY HERE! GO AWAY! >:C” Emerald wondered if the dragon had actually made the little face on the sign himself or if someone added it as a joke. Judging by the lack of bandages on his body, Emerald figured the dragon was well enough to fend for himself now but had settled in and decided to freeload. ‘Typical,’ Emerald thought with a sigh and walked towards Flutter’s cottage. ‘Useless massive lump, just like I thought.’ Emerald knocked on the door of Fluttershy’s home and after a moment the door slowly opened a tiny crack, the house’s occupant wary of nightmare night’s scary costumes. When Fluttershy herself finally got up the courage to look through the crack in her door, she almost fainted in fright until she actually recognised who was smiling sheepishly out of the open helmet. “Emerald!” Fluttershy said happily, her fright gone in a flash. “I’m so happy to see you back from your road trip. I hope you saw many interesting and wonderful things.” “I did see some interesting stuff.” Emerald nodded. “Listen Fluttershy, I just got back and Twilight’s house is kind of a mess… would it be too much to ask if I and Navi stay here a while?” “Of course not Emerald!” Fluttershy said, opening her door wider and stepping to the side to let her friend in. “My home is your home for as long as you need it. By the way, are you still a model?” “Yes I am,” Emerald answered as she stepped inside. “Why?” “Well it’s been a long time since you’ve done any photo shoots,” Fluttershy said as she closed the door behind Emerald. “Or at least Photo Finish said it’s been a long time. Practically forever in fashion industry time as she says.” “Yeah, it was kind of a bad idea to drop off the face of the planet like that,” Emerald admitted. “I’ll get in contact with her tomorrow. Right now I just want to settle in now that I am back.” “Of course. Would you like some tea?” Fluttershy asked. “We can catch up over a few relaxing cups if you want.” “That sounds nice.” Emerald smiled. “I’ll get… undressed while you prepare it.” “It will only take a few minutes,” Fluttershy said before walking off to the kitchen. With a surge of black tendrils, Emerald was back to her normal pony form and walked over to one of Fluttershy’s couches to settle in. She was back. She hadn’t expected to be back, and when she did she had expected ponies to run in fear of her after being told the terrible truth about her by Twilight. But no one had, and actually were glad she was finally back. Twilight hadn’t told anyone… unexpected. With a return like this, the Evolved could only wonder what the future held for her. -TBC-