//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: Unexpected Development 
// Story: Emerald Gleaner: Viral Unicorn 
// by Legionary 
//------------------------------//

Twilight awoke with a yawn.

Like her old house, her bedroom in this one was on the second floor, but unlike it the second bed wasn’t something that was transfigured out of something she had lying around. Her room also was definitely not carved out space in a still living tree either, and that one fact made her miss her old home every time she looked around her new one. And speaking of looking around…

Twilight narrowed her eyes as she glared at the empty bed opposite hers, reminded of the fact Emerald didn’t need a full eight hours of sleep and thus had six hours where she was completely unattended. Of course, Twilight knew she shouldn’t blame Emerald for that ability, considering the “night terrors” she got, but she still felt angry for letting someone as potentially dangerous as Emerald go unwatched where she could have a relapse to her old, murderous ways.

So Twilight literally leapt out of bed and flew through her morning ritual of showering, drying herself off, brushing her mane and brushing her teeth before rushing downstairs.

As Twilight reached the bottom of the stairs, she found herself feeling incredibly relieved when she heard Emerald and Spike’s voices coming from the kitchen. She opened the door to see Emerald finishing some dishes while Spike was enjoying a few fresh blueberry muffins placed in the center of the kitchen table.

“Hi Twilight!” Emerald greeted with a warm smile. “I decided to make you some muffins. I hope you enjoy them. I put a lot of effort into making sure they were made just right.”

“Really…” Twilight replied as she walked over to the table and stared suspiciously at muffins on it. “You haven’t put any… special ingredients in it, have you?”

Knowing instantly that she was referring to the time she drugged some muffins she made one time, Emerald got a saddened expression on her face and sighed miserably. She then turned towards the kitchen sink and got the muffin pan out of it before quickly drying it.

“…I’ll make another batch, Twilight,” Emerald replied softly. “You can watch and make sure I make it just so…”

Spike gaped openly at Twilight for what appeared to be her picking on Emerald for no good reason. Then he shook himself out of it and glared at Twilight.

“Geez Twilight!” Spike exclaimed. “Emerald goes out of her way to make you something nice and you-”

“Spike, leave her alone,” Emerald said as she turned the stove back on and started gathering baking ingredients.

“What?!” Spike shouted in befuddlement at Emerald. “Why? She’s picking on you for no reason at all!”

“She has her reasons,” Emerald defended lightly as she got the last of her baking ingredients together. “So leave her be.”

“If you say so, Emerald,” Spike said, but sent a glare Twilight’s way.

Twilight for her part immediately felt guilty for her actions after she saw how Emerald took it. She looked at Spike where he continued to eat a few muffins at a sedate pace and how he didn’t seem sleepy in the slightest.

“Emerald, wait,” Twilight said just as Emerald was about to begin stirring up a new bowl of batter. “I’m sorry, you don’t have to make up a new batch. I’m sure your muffins are just as good  if not better than any other time you made muffins.”

“Well why don’t you try some if you think so,” Spike said quickly, walking over to her and holding a muffin out to her.

“Uhh…” For the briefest moment, Twilight hesitated, the suspicion of the pastry being drugged flashing through her mind before she forcefully dispelled it. She magically took the muffin and started to quickly eat before finding herself slowing down so she could savor the taste.

“I told you I put a lot of work into it.” Emerald smiled at Twilight’s delighted expression.

“Well, yes… you did,” Twilight said with an apologetic look. “Umm… How about we continue our discussion from yesterday? We covered about half of the stuff I wanted to know, now I want to cover the other half.”

“Sure thing, just give me a moment to put stuff away,” Emerald said as she magically moved everything back into the cupboards. Once that was done, she walked after Twilight who was leading the way back to the library.

Once the two were inside, they once again took up their positions at the desks against each other and Emerald cast she same spells she did the day before.

“Well what do you want to cover today, Twilight?” Emerald asked.

“I want to know more about you,” Twilight said. “Not about your past, you already told me about that. I want to know how your biology works.”

“You want to know the details about Blacklight, or as Luna calls it ‘Impius Mutante’,” Emerald stated. “Hmm… not too sure about the name, but it’s something that doesn’t remind me of Blackwatch so I may start using it more, anyway.”

“What Blacklight, or Impius, is, is an intensely advanced virus,” Emerald began. “Normally, a virus simply invades the body and subverts the cells to reproduce more of its kind. It may create symptoms from either eating something it shouldn’t or the body attempting to fight it, but in the end it simply wants to multiply and spread. Now Blacklight takes a massive step forward. While a normal virus just takes control of a cell to reproduce, Blacklight is capable of using cells for more than that. In its most base form, Blacklight is just a supervirus that rapidly infects and kills quickly, but its true potential comes out when Blacklight manages to completely and utterly overtake the body. When a virus gets to the brain, it’s very bad, but when Blacklight gets there in sufficient numbers and doesn’t have to worry about an immune response, it basically evolves.”

“What happens next is the virus basically learns how to replicate how brain cells are used and integrate it into itself,” Emerald continued with Twilight’s attention completely riveted to her. “Along with that, the virus is able to absorb the very memories of the being it consumed and becomes self-aware. It’s able to think and can start organizing its very form into a means in which to defend itself and survive with greater ease.”

“Wait,” Twilight interrupted. “The virus consumes the brain cells and gain memories from that, right? And you are the way you are now from being infected. Doesn’t that mean… that “you” died and the you sitting in front of me is… well, a virus who thinks she was once human?”

Emerald sighed. “I know this may be a sticking point for you Twilight, but I am here and I am alive. I may just be a virus who thinks she was the child of a human woman named Adela, or I could actually be that person. I honestly don’t care to give the matter much thought, if any at all.”

“Oh…” Twilight said with a frown. “I just figured this was something… never mind, let’s continue.”

“Well… once Blacklight is self-aware, it can consciously choose what form it can arrange itself into.” Emerald explained and demonstrated by briefly shifting her foreleg into a human arm. “It can also choose what traits it can take from the cells it absorbs. Blacklight can take in the memories of other beings besides the one it consumed to gain self-awareness in the first place, which means that as long as Blacklight consumes the brains of its prey, it can gain a lifetime’s knowledge in an instant.”

“Oh… well you must know a lot then,” Twilight said a little uneasily, far too aware of just how Emerald would have gained such knowledge.

“I have several master’s degrees in various fields as well as a ton of knowledge from a bunch of minors people took,” Emerald answered.

And just like that, Twilight’s uneasiness was gone, instead replaced by annoyance and awe.

“Several masters’ degrees?” Twilight exclaimed. “I can’t even… how many years it would take just for one person to have one, let alone several. Wait… you picked up magic during your lessons awfully quickly…”

“Remember what I said?” Emerald said softly, turning her face away from Twilight in shame. “I had known what a master had known, I just didn’t have the control I needed thanks to my magical circuits not interacting well.”

“What happened with your… circuits?” Twilight asked eager to change the subject.

“It turns out having all three pony magics in your body without being an alicorn has some side effects,” Emerald answered. “My magic just got in its own way when it was being used. It took me a while to learn the control needed to use magic normally. It had its benefits though, like being able to fly; I like that one… a lot.”

“… Do you ever regret not being human anymore?” Twilight asked Emerald. “Being some sort of sapient virus instead of the species you were born as?”

“I regret what happened after I became what I am,” Emerald replied. “But I do not regret being a virus; there are just too many benefits to it. I can see and hear so much! I can hear your muscles move; I can see so many spectrums of light. Not to mention how strong and tough I am, and things that would kill anyone else would just annoy me. I heal incredibly fast and now I have magic; powerful magic.”

“… Yeah, I can see why you like being a virus now,” Twilight stated.

“Heh… is there anything else you wanted to know?” Emerald asked.

“Well… I am now interested in knowing just what kind of fields you have a master’s degrees in,” Twilight answered.

“Sure thing,” Emerald said.

‘This is… nice,’ Twilight thought as Emerald began describing all the various fields she knew. ‘Maybe… maybe I should ease up on her… a little anyway.’


ALPHA


‘Let’s see…’ Emerald thought as she leaned in close to a cage. ‘Test subject number four, AKA Martin the Warrior is showing no signs of… let’s call it a catastrophic meltdown, shall we?’

Emerald was back in the Hub. She had been holding tests on augmenting non-viral life forms with various improvements to their physiology. The first three test subjects in this project… well, subjects three and two certainly had a much kinder death than one had. So far, however, subject four, whom she had given a rather hopeful name, was looking more and more like a success.

In the cage on the stone table before Emerald was a small brown house mouse, a common breed that one would find scurrying about in any home. However, this particular mouse was unique in that its normally near non-existent muscles bulged out noticeably under its fur. Currently, the mouse was running in a wheel and it had been running for several hours near constantly, only pausing to go take a few gulps of water before running more.

‘Right, looking good so far,’ Emerald thought tentatively, then she tapped on the top of the cage and got the mouse’s attention. ‘Let’s try the “stress” test before going into the observation period for a while more.’

Emerald opened the cage door and reached inside. Having learned from previous experiences, Martin knew better than to try to make a break for it and obediently hopped onto her palm.

Martin in hand, Emerald walked over to another table that had a small metal box with a button sitting on it. Emerald placed Martin on the red spot placed a certain distance away from the small metal box and stepped back.

Martin’s whiskers twitched as he sniffed the air and wondered what exactly was going to happen when Emerald magically pressed the button on the box. The top of the box snapped open and out of the opening came a small mallet; the mallet arced through the air before smashing down atop of Martin and quickly recoiling back into the box. With that, Emerald stared intently down at Martin.

Martin for his part was lying flat on his stomach and shaking his head, wondering what in the world had just happened.

‘Bone density augmentation test successful,’ Emerald thought as she picked up the still dizzy Martin. ‘Stamina increase augment proves to be working just fine. Some stress testing may be called for to see its exact limits though, and the myostatin depressant augment is obviously working as it should.’

Emerald brought Martin to another cage, this time one that was much bigger than the one that had the wheel in it. This cage had a large network of tubes for him to run through, a little pool for him to swim in, several toys to entertain himself with and, most importantly, a large wheel of cheese, specially made by Emerald to be fresh for months. And the little guy needed all the food, considering his myostatin augment caused his muscles to bulk up easier and thus needed a lot of fuel.

With a squeak of delight, Martin leaped from Emerald’s hand as soon as she opened the cage door. The buff little mouse bee lined for the wheel of cheese and started to dig in with gusto.

‘Enjoy little fella, I plan to test a number of future augments on you, so you may not last long,’ Emerald thought grimly before turning to leave.

Before Emerald could open the door, it opened itself. Missy appeared and blinked upon seeing Emerald right before her.

“Oh! Hello boss!” the golden retriever greeted.

“Hello Missy,” Emerald said and noticed the Diamond Dog had taken to wearing a vest with many pockets, filled with many tools and small parts while a pair of goggles sat atop her head.

“The little Alpha from the other packs is here,” Missy said. “He is waiting by the entrance and has a big bag with him.”

“Fantastic, thanks for telling me,” Emerald said, wondering why Tavish had a bag with him. “I’ll go see him now.”

After a short charge up time, Emerald teleported to the main entrance of the city. Dogs were running about all over the streets and a baggage train full of trade meats to send out to everyone. Emerald also noticed a small group of Diamond Dogs wearing clothes that weren’t the basic vest that a vast majority of her dogs wore, marking them as foreign dogs deciding to see her city.

Emerald smiled at that and looked around her and quickly found Tavish sitting on a bench with a shoulder strap bag and his war staff.

“Never can get enough of this place ya know, lass?” Tavish stated with a smile. “It brings up all the many stories the elders would tell of the old kingdom. Those were just words though; this is an actual city with more than a couple hundred of our people living in it. Seeing this and remembering those tales brings the words to life in my mind and for the briefest moment… I can see just what we were like in our prime.”

“Hello Tavish, glad to see you were able to come,” Emerald greeted with a polite smile and waved at his bag. “And what is that for, if I may ask?”

“I’m moving in, lass!” Tavish replied enthusiastically.

“Really?” Emerald said with an arched eyebrow. “What about that village you were leading?”

“Bah!” Tavish said with a dismissive wave of his paw. “That sleepy lot don’t need an ole hound like me to hold their paws. Sides lass, your lot is more exciting and less likely to cry after taking a tap on their head.”

“Well I’m glad to have you here, Tavish,” Emerald said and held out her hand to him and the likely dog firmly shook it. “I’m certain the Warhounds will be glad to have you here to literally beat some sense into their heads.”

“HA! Sounds like a good bit o’ fun,” Tavish said before placing his bag under the bench. “Anyway, you called me for a reason lass, though I would have come along anyway, so what is it?”

“Well, I want to get some nice underclothes for newer, better sets of armor we’ll be making in the future,” Emerald began. “And from one of my Alphas, I’ve heard about the Spider Families.”

“And you want some of them nice silky shirts, ey?” Tavish said and got a nod from Emerald. “Well you are in luck! I was one o’ the go to dogs for setting up meetings with the Spiders and can get cha a meeting with one of the better ones right away.”

“I heard it can take up to a week just for the spiders to even speak with you though,” Emerald stated.

“Well… there is a reason for that lass; a reason that’ll seem quite funny and obvious when we get there,” Tavish replied. “We can go see one of the families right now if you be wanting it.”

“I have nothing but time, Tavish,” Emerald replied. “If you are up to it, so am I.”

“Great!” Tavish said and picked up his bag and war staff. “I’ll just drop this stuff off with one of your boys on our way out.”

“So what family are we going to see?” Emerald asked as she started walking alongside him.

“They’re the Black Family.”

“Let me guess… they are made up of Black Widows?”

“Heh, hit the nail on the head lass.”


BETA


A normally several hour long trip was greatly lessened when Tavish mentioned a few areas Emerald knew and thus was able to teleport them. Before long, the two found themselves before a large cave entrance that was rather well hidden by trees and thickly overgrown underbrush.

“So what is this trick of yours?” Emerald asked.

“We knock of course!” Tavish smiled before walking over to the rock wall next to the entrance. “Now the wee little thing should be… where is the bleedin little thi- oh, here it is.”

Emerald walked over and looked over his shoulder. Almost invisible to the naked eye was a small thread of spider silk attached to the rock and leading back into the darkness of the cave.

“Don’t know why this took us so long to figure this out,” Tavish stated as he twanged the thread.

“I heard the Old Kingdom was very isolationistic,” Emerald said. “Maybe they just didn’t care to learn more about the spiders.”

“Maybe. Anyway, it should only take a minute now instead of a few days,” Tavish stated as he took a seat against the rock wall. “I’ll introduce ya to the guard and you’ll be on your way to see the big one.”

“You won’t be accompanying me?” Emerald asked.

“Nope, this would be considered your business,” Tavish explained. “It be considered rude to have uh… ‘extraneous advisors’.”

“Alright. Even if this goes really south, I should still be fine,” Emerald stated as she leaned against the rock wall.

“They won’t attack ya even at their worst, lass,” Tavish replied. “If you are let in, then you are a guest. They consider it a bit rude to attack guests. They’ll only attack if ya attack first and you got no plans o’ that.”

“Sounds perfectly reasonable,” Emerald said with a nod.

“Alpha, Tavish Degroot,” a voice suddenly said.

Emerald looked to see a black widow spider standing at the entrance of the cave. It was black and easily the size of a pony; it had four almost entirely black eyes with small red pupils. It was also wearing clothes. A dark purple bowler cap sat on its head and it wore a dark purple great coat with sleeves for four of its eight limbs, both were made of silken cloth. Oddly enough, instead of a few reds spots on its back, it had a crimson picture of a paint brush and palette.

“Hello!” Tavish greeted cheerfully.

“And what is your reason for visiting us this time?” the spider asked. “Surely the terms of the agreement were more than fair.”

“You’re all a bunch of the stingiest people on the face of the planet and you know it. Course they don’t think its fair,” Tavish said bluntly, and although Emerald wasn’t sure, the spider might have been smiling slightly. “But I ain’t here for that. This is Emerald Gleaner, leader of a recently found city of Diamond Dogs called the Enclave. She wants to open trade relations with your family.”

“Hmm…” The spider looked up and down Emerald’s form for a moment. “I shall bring this matter to the Lady Black. Await my return.”

“And now we wait a couple of minutes,” Tavish said. “Lot better than waiting a week for a reply, ey?”

“Definitely,” Emerald agreed. “So how do the other packs feel about my people?”

“A good many definitely like you for the free meat, and you can expect a steady stream of dogs from now on,” Tavish replied. “But… there are those who don’t like the fact you want to steal away our youth now that we can afford to support a larger population. Funnily enough they don’ seem to realise they can only afford that thanks to your meat.”

“You can’t please everyone,” Emerald shrugged. “Considering your fighting skills, you would be interested in joining up with the Warhounds, right?”

“Oh definitely lass.”

“I’d like to hear the story of how you got so good at fighting,” Emerald said.

“It’s not one specific tale, lass. I’m an old dog and been through and seen a lot. Sides…” Tavish said and pointed at the cave entrance where the spider from before was standing. “You might have more important things to talk about.”

“The Lady Black shall meet with you, Emerald Gleaner,” the spider said. “Please follow me and I shall lead you to her.”

“I’ll be back, Tavish,” Emerald said and approached the cave.

“And I’ll be here nappin,” Tavish said as he settled in and pulled his beret over his eyes.

Rolling her eyes, Emerald followed the spider into the cave. At first she only saw a long deserted web strewn tunnel, but soon she came into a massive cavern with structures made of webbing hanging in midair and from the ceiling. It was utterly dark, but it meant little to her powerful eyes. The spiders all wore silken clothes dyed various colors and had clothing styles that reminded Emerald a lot of clothes from the turn of the nineteenth century. Strangely, they also had hair and another thing she noticed was that they all had different markings on the top of their abdomens. The virus turned towards her guide to ask a question. 

“No, we did not copy the ponies,” the spider suddenly said with audible annoyance. “The tradition of marking ourselves with symbols that one considers pleasing is one that started long before ponies arrived in these lands, and is not magical in any way.”

“I was merely going to ask if they were like the marks ponies have,” Emerald replied diplomatically. “I wasn’t going to ask or imply in any way if you copied it from ponies.”

“Well it isn’t and it wasn’t,” the spider stated and continued on the path.

Seeing her guide wasn’t exactly in a good mood anymore, Emerald decided not to try to speak until she met their lady. The other spiders in the cavern didn’t really pay her much attention. The few times they did, they only looked her over a moment before returning to their business, though a few prissy looking large spiders in intricate frilly dresses shot her a look that was likely displeasure. After a few moments of contemplation, Emerald figured the reason why she got the looks was because of her clothes; her baggy boys’ clothes didn’t exactly compliment her slim, feminine figure.

Before long, she found that they were approaching a particularly large web structure that was close to the floor. It was rather hard to tell just how big it was with the other web structures and various columns of webbing that served as roads, but it seemed to be as big as a mansion.

There was a ramp of webbing leading up into the structure. There was a pathway of wooden floor boards atop the webbing to keep non-spiders from sticking to the path. As Emerald walked along the path, her guide came to a stop beside the massive gaping entrance of the structure.

“The Lady Black waits within,” he said and waved one leg towards the entrance.

“Right, thank you,” Emerald said with a nod before stepping inside

Once inside, Emerald saw nothing but a wide open space with webbing walls on all sides, with the wooden path leading to the middle of the room. There was no sign of any spider, but since she was dealing with a spider, she looked in the worst place to find a large spider; above her.

“Well poo, everyone else only sees me when I drop down in front of them,” said the incredibly huge black widow that must have been as big as a dragon before she descended down onto the floor. “The looks on their faces are like the juiciest treats that can’t help but brighten your day.”

The massive black widow was wearing a red and purple blouse with an equally colored bonnet. She had long white hair that was styled into a curly coiffure and the mark on her abdomen was a winking smiley face that had a pair of horns on it.

Emerald’s first impulse was drop down onto a knee and pay respects to the spider, but remembered she was known to be a leader of a nation to her, and would be expected to act a certain way. So instead of dropping down onto a knee she bowed her head to the spider for a moment.

“Greetings, Lady Black,” Emerald said respectfully. “I am Emerald Gleaner of the Enclave.”

“I am Remilia Black of the Family Black,” Remilia replied in a clearly morose tone. “And I must say, I’ve certainly never met a creature like you before.”

“This species is referred to as a human, Lady Black,” Emerald answered and paused as she considered something else for a moment. “…But I am not exactly human. I am a shape shifter.”

Emerald proved her claim by briefly  shifting into her pony form before returning to her human form. She wasn’t exactly sure what reaction she was expecting, and she couldn’t read an insect’s facial expressions with any great skill, but Remilia seemed to look a bit sad.

“A shape shifter, hmm?” Remilia sighed. “That must be nice, to be able to change your appearance and look pleasing to all eyes; to be able to fulfill any standards and be recognised as a beauty as all.”

Emerald wondered why Remilia decided to talk about this instead of getting down to business, but didn’t interrupt, believing being someone for her to briefly vent on would only improve negotiations.

“You likely didn’t know this, but in the eyes of my people I am an incredible beauty,” Remilia continued. “Many years when I was younger, smaller, more naïve but no less beautiful, I had decided to go on an ill-fated journey to explore the world. Imagine my shock, my hurt, my outrage when instead of being recognised rightly as the beauty I was, the ponies of the first town I visited declared me a hideous monster. Rather than put up with what would likely be a repeat performance at every other town I’d come to, I decided to return home, ending my trip early…”

“I can see what the problem is,” Emerald stated in the following silence. “Amongst humans, my form would be considered beautiful. But to you, I must be an ugly, misshapen creature. Only two eyes, no mandibles, body proportions are all wrong, my skin has the wrong texture and I have half as many as the proper number of limbs which both end in odd appendages.”

“Well… I do like your hair, though,” Remilia replied, agreeing with her without stating so. “It’s such an eye catching shade of pink and looks as smooth as my own silk… that horrid hat does it no favours though.”

“Well, on to business I suppose,” Remilia said, and did what was likely the spider equivalent of squaring her shoulders. “The family would be open to trade with your little nation… if you would handle one little issue for us?”

“I’m listening?” Emerald said, inwardly wary of what she may hear.

“There is a cave troll blocking one of the tunnels leading to a portion of our home, you see,” Ramilia began. “I would like you to persuade him to leave our home and to check up on the area he blocked to make sure nothing else dangerous decided to move in, in our absence, and to clear it out if there are dangerous creatures there.”

Though it sounded a bit like adventurer work and not something you’d ask another nation’s leader to do in exchange for a business deal, Emerald was willing to do this. 

“Very well, I agree to this,” Emerald said with a nod. “I’ll get started right now. Where is the tunnel in question?”

“I shall have one of my own guide you,” Remilia said, and another black widow rapidly descended from the ceiling. This one had short silvery hair and had a symbol of crossed knives on its back and appeared to be a maid from the way its clothes looked. “She’ll lead you to the tunnel.”

“Greetings Emerald Gleaner, I am a servant of the Lady Black,” the maid said respectfully, giving a bow while pressing her front most legs together in front of her. “Please follow me; the task the Lady has assigned is not too far away from here.”

Emerald wordlessly walked back down the wooden path she took into the web manor and followed after the maid once she was back on stone ground. The virus soon found herself being led to a tunnel entrance being guarded by dozens of spiders, some of which were very large.

“I’m guessing the cave troll is rather dangerous?” Emerald questioned as she walked past the guards.

“Well… yes, but we are a bit more worried about what may have taken up residence in the other parts of the cave,” the maid said before coming to a stop. “I shall await your safe return. Please do not endanger yourself needlessly for our sake.”

“There is no danger of that,” Emerald stated and continued on her way.

For a short while, Emerald saw nothing but a winding tunnel lined with spider webs but eventually the sound of something smacking against a hard surface met her ears. After turning around a corner, Emerald came to the sight the cave troll tossing a fairly large rock up into the air and catching it. It was a gray skinned and fairly burley looking creature with something that was either fur or moss growing around its shoulders, around its waist was a crudely made loin cloth. Overall, the way the creature looked reminded Emerald a lot of how cavemen were depicted in newspaper comics.

“Ahem,” Emerald cleared her throat, deciding to at least give peace a chance before resorting to violence. “Hello, I am-”

“PRETTY PINK THING!” the troll boomed happily, briefly clapping his hands in delight.

“Err yeah…” Emerald nodded and hoped the creature just had a poor grasp of the language. “I want-”

“PET PINK THING!” it boomed and stomped over to Emerald, reaching out towards her with a massive hand.

Emerald easily side stepped the troll’s grasping hand. Either it meant to pet her or keep her as a pet. She was rather against it either way.

“No touchy!” Emerald shouted and leaped up into the air. The cave troll boggled at Emerald with his disproportionately small eyes for a brief moment before she lashed out with a fairly ‘light’ punch.

“AUUUUUUUUGGGGGH!” The troll bellowed in pain and began to let out a few sobs. “MEAN PINK THING HURT BILL!”

‘…Did he say his name was Bill?’ Emerald thought with wide eyed surprise as the troll stomped away in tears. ‘Wow, I’ve been here so long hearing normal names like Bill is odd instead of names like Ink Well and Time Turner. Heh, anyway let’s get on to business.’

Emerald followed after the troll at a sedate pace, both to make sure he cleared out of the cave and to make sure no dangerous animals had moved in during the spiders’ absence. However, when she turned the next corner, instead of seeing a crying troll retreating into an abandoned spider cave, she saw said troll being held be a much larger troll that was wearing a shirt, and there were at least six other trolls in the chamber.

‘What the?’ Emerald blinked at the sight before her. ‘Either the other trolls came in later and Remilia didn’t know about them… or more likely she just left some details out. Wow, I just fell for my own tactic… I feel stupid and oddly amused.’

“STUPID PINK THING HURT LIL’ BILL!” the largest troll in the bunch growled as he stomped forward. “TED SQUASH STUPID PINK THING!”

‘Guess there is no point trying to talk through this,’ Emerald thought as she hopped out of the way as Ted brought his foot down on where she stood. ‘Let’s give them a reason to shut up and listen.’

Emerald jumped back a few dozen feet away from the furious troll and shifted her right arm into a hammerfist. Ted stopped in one place to stare dumbly at Emerald’s shifted limb as it rapidly grew in size and weight before the virus charged forward. The lumbering troll barely had time to react to Emerald’s changed limb, let alone her blinding charge at him, before she had already reached him and leaped at him, hammerfist cocked back to deliver a powerful blow.

“GRRRAAAAGH!” Ted roared in pain and surprise as he was sent flying through the air, tearing through a web structure before crashing into a cave wall, causing it to partially collapse on top of him.

Emerald looked around and saw that the other trolls had grown incensed over this display of violence and were likely about to charge at her, so she decided to show them how bad an idea doing that was. The Evolved’s chest started glowing bright blue before she suddenly let loose a beam of plasma at Ted’s dazed body.

If the sight of a little creature punching their biggest and strongest across the room wasn’t going to make the trolls hesitate, it making a blinding beam of plasma that was hotter than magma and killing one of their own with it certainly did.

Emerald ended her beam and wiped away a glowing globule of plasma from her mouth. The beam was around ten thousand degrees, hot as the surface of the sun in certain ‘cooler’ places, so in the very least Ted didn’t feel anything as a hole was burned through his chest, as the temperature would be too great for the nerves to process.

“Listen to me!” Emerald shouted at the now visibly scared trolls. “The spiders sent me to clear you lot out, because you all decided to take their homes from them. Now, I don’t want to kill ALL of you, so I am giving you all a chance to leave on your own accord. So what is it going to be? You either leave this cave or you leave this mortal coil.”

“W-WHAT ACCORD MEAN?”

“MORTAL COIL IS SPRINGY THING?”

Emerald felt her eye twitch. “GET LOST BEFORE I DECIDE TO KILL YOU ALL!”

The trolls understood that message much more clearly and quickly took flight, their ponderous footsteps shaking the cavern as they ran.

“AND DON’T COME BACK!” Emerald shouted at them.

After staring at the retreating forms of the cave trolls for a bit, Emerald directed her attention to the body of the one she killed. She made her way over to it and climbed up to its head before placing a hand on it. A single tendril from the palm of her hand drilled through the skull and into the brain before rapidly consuming it.

‘Even if the deal goes south, at least I’ll get something out of this,’ Emerald thought. ‘Don’t know what I can do with this, but it’s still something.’

Just then, Emerald heard a chittering sound as something stepped on a stone surface, with her powerful hearing. Closing her eyes, she concentrated and was soon teleported to just beside the source of the noise.

“Eep!” A rather small black widow squeaked at Emerald’s sudden appearance. She was wearing a maid outfit, but was too small and didn’t have the same hairstyle as the other maid to be her.

“So… were you here to check up on me?” Emerald asked. “Or was Lady Remilia aware that I was going into a much more complicated situation then she described, and had you to simply watch me flail away at the problem?”

“T-the Lady isn’t cruel!” the maid shouted, growing incensed for a moment before wilting as she quickly recalled Emerald’s violent display. “Err… s-she is… she just expected you to do something different than what you actually did.”

“Hmm…” Emerald considered that. She was incredibly powerful, and most people weren’t, so their first response to dealing with large cave trolls would likely not be the violent path she took. “I can certainly see why. You may report back to Lady Remilia. I shall be right behind you.”

“Right!” the maid shouted and quickly ran away as Emerald walked back at a leisurely pace.

The virus figured she might as well give Remilia time to think up an excuse for what she did… although the longer she thought about it, the more she thought the maid may have been right. Doing anything that involved violence against a pack of cave trolls wasn’t something a normal person would do. So in all likelihood, Remilia expected her to talk things out or try something devious instead of what she did instead; violence and death.

‘Didn’t I finish telling Twilight a while ago that I was trying to stop doing this kind of crap?’ Emerald thought, sighing at her hypocrisy. ‘Well… I did say I was trying; occasionally there are a few hiccups. Still, I should be trying harder… oh well, I didn’t kill all of them at least, only one of them and I certainly would have just killed them all before I changed for the better.’

Emerald soon arrived back at the entrance to the tunnel where the maid that led her to it was still waiting. If the other maid told about what happened, she didn’t react, and simply led her back to Remilia's web manor.

“And our triumphed hero returns,” Remilia stated casually as Emerald came to a stop before her. “That was certainly a unique way of handling the cave trolls.”

“I hope you don’t mind my methods,” Emerald said calmly. “I did get all the cave trolls out and reclaimed the cavern. By the way, would I be so bold as to ask why you didn’t inform me of the other trolls in the cavern?”

“My intent was to test you,” Remilia smoothly. “I didn’t actually expect you to manage the task I set before you. I was merely going to observe how much effort you put into accomplishing the task and that would determine how fairly negotiations for trade would go on my part.”

“Hmm…” Emerald thought the whole quest to determine worthiness shtick was very RPG’y but wasn’t going to comment on it. “I hope I passed, considering you are sharing that fact with me. I also respectfully ask you don’t do that again. Withholding crucial information I mean. Depending on certain details, I would be willing to help on many things.”

“It is quite a pleasant experience to meet a fellow leader who has a sense of humbleness in her,” Remilia stated cheerfully. “Shall we get down to business?”

Emerald smiled.

About an hour later found Emerald leaving the spider cave. The first ten minutes of negotiations were spent in agreeing on what would be a fair trade for the spiders’ services. The spiders were carnivores like Diamond Dogs were, and that fact tended to have a limiting factor on how big their population could grow. So Emerald offering them a steady supply of fresh meat was a very tempting offer that Remilia couldn’t resist, even more so as the massive spider always wanted to hold a feast like the ones she always heard about. The rest of the negotiations were about setting up transportations routes for the goods. Ramilia was also sending the Enclave a representative they could talk to about any changes in the clothes they wanted.

Emerald looked to see that it was now approaching sundown from the warm colors of the sky. Tavish hadn’t moved from his spot and was snoring softly as he continued to nap peacefully. The virus stepped next to the little dog before crouching down and shaking his shoulder. Tavish snorted in his sleep before yawning and pushing his beret back up.

“Hello lass…” Tavish muttered as he got up and stretched up his limbs. “So, did everything go well? I don’ see any guards, so you didn’t’ get kicked out.”

“Everything went perfectly well,” Emerald replied. “I set up a trade agreement  with them, offered them a steady supply of meat in exchange for goods and services. I probably wouldn’t have gotten even half as good a reaction from her if I offered precious metals.”

“Meat is hard to come by, lass,” Tavish replied. “Everyone has to ration everything carefully or everyone will just end up going without and starve. It’s that fact that makes me wonder just how you are able to get so much of it.”

“Well since you’re a part of the Enclave now, I can show you.” Emerald smiled as she began walking. “We’ll do that once we get back, then afterwards we’ll find you a nice apartment to set you up in.”

“Sounds good to me, lass.”


GAMMA


Emerald couldn’t help the annoyance she felt as she walked down the street with Twilight barely two steps behind her. The two were going down to a celebration being held in Rainbow Dash’s honour as the mare had saved the lives of a few ponies in the last few days. However, that was not what Emerald was annoyed about. 

Ever since she came back from the Enclave after doing some work for it, Twilight had remained by her side nearly every moment she was awake. It was a bit of a downturn from before she left for the Enclave as it looked like Twilight had decided to cut her a break, but now it appeared that the day or so she had been out of sight was all it took for Twilight’s uncertainty about her to come flooding back. The unicorn was apparently afraid Emerald would have some sort of relapse to her “old days” and start killing ponies, which Emerald found ridiculous. Even when she killed people when it was the easier way, she had always done so for “good” reasons. Dealing out death because of pettiness was what Mercer’s pet psychopaths did… an arguably bad reason considering she was once a part of said group. Still, having a tiny kill count in comparison to the other Cadre Evolved was a point of pride for her. So honestly, she couldn’t help but be annoyed with Twilight despite knowing she deserved to be treated this way.

“Twilight, you know…” Emerald began slowly as she came to a stop. “Maybe you could… lay off a bit… please? I understand your reasons completely to be treating me this way, but I could use even just a small break from it…”

“Now Emerald I am just looking out for your moral well-being,” Twilight defended and quickly took a look around to make sure the street was appropriately empty. “…As well as the physical well-beings of the ponies around you.”

“I…” Emerald couldn’t help but feel hurt and angry at what Twilight had said. She wasn’t a rabid dog liable to rip the face off the first child she saw. “Just… just WHAT is it going to take to convince you I am TRYING to be a good person, Twilight?! You think I wanted to be the way I was, to be paranoid of everyone and everything? No, I wasn’t. I became that way out of necessity and stayed that way out of habit. And now that I know I don’t have to be that way, I won’t. I honestly want to be a better person, and I’m not going to suddenly go bad out of nowhere.”

Twilight stared at Emerald with wide eyes for a moment before opening her mouth to speak, and then she closed it. After a few moments of Twilight looking contemplative, Emerald figured she wasn’t going to reply and continued on her way to the celebration, the other unicorn still following but not nearly as close as before.

They soon arrived at the location the celebration was being held and were welcomed by the sight of Rainbow Dash eagerly soaking up all the attention everyone was giving her. 

Emerald frowned at that. Rainbow’s ego had been growing in leaps and bounds with every person she saved. Now that wasn’t entirely a bad thing; one should celebrate their accomplishments and feel good about themselves for it. But Dash was saving people, and while her ego was good before, now it appeared she preferred the attention for saving lives rather than appreciate the fact she was saving lives.

“And then I zoomed into the well,” Emerald heard Dash say as she and Twilight entered. “I knew it would be dark and dangerous, but I didn't let that stop me. Danger's my middle name. Rainbow 'Danger' Dash. Thinking back on it, I acted pretty awesomely heroic that day.”

“… That day,” Spike repeated as he wrote something on a notepad while wearing a reporting outfit for some reason.

“Awesomely heroic that day and awesomely arrogant ever since,” Applejack commented under her breath just loud enough for Twilight, Pinkie and Emerald to hear.

Emerald threw the others a look as Twilight and Pinkie agreed with Applejack. Was it really terrible that Dash was celebrating her accomplishments? The virus didn’t think so, but what she did agree with was the fact that Dash was taking it a little far.

“Hey, Applejack,” Dash said as she darted over to the cowpony. “How'd you like to be immortalized as my friend?”

“Immorta-what?” Applejack said in confusion before Dash suddenly wrapped a foreleg around her and a photographer quickly snapped a picture.

As Dash stroked her own ego some more, Twilight walked over to investigate what exactly Spike was doing. She leaned over his shoulder and took a look at what he was writing in his notepad. She raised an eyebrow at what she saw.

“Are you taking notes?” she asked the baby dragon.

“Yup!” Spike answered cheerfully. “I've been hoof-picked by Rainbow Dash herself to write her autobiography!”

“Umm…” Twilight began with a frown. “Autobiographies are supposed to be written by the pony they are about.

“Maybe for your normal, run-of-the-mill ponies,” Dash broke in and walked over to the two. “But I'm far too busy saving lives to stop and write”

Okay NOW Emerald was fairly certain Dash was taking things a tad too far. As crises prone Ponyville seemed to be at the best of times, it certainly wasn’t THAT bad. She couldn’t have been constantly busy saving lives like she claimed; even if she was, it would make her current act of taking time to celebrate how great she was instead of focusing on saving more lives incredibly selfish and heartless.

“That's why I hired Spike as my ghost writer!” Rainbow said as she gave the little dragon a pat on the head.

“Spike’s a ghost!” Pinkie yelped and ran out of the building in a flash.

‘Good ole Pinkie,’ Emerald thought as she smiled after the mare.

“...Anyway,” Dash continued. “Spike here writes down everything I say. Don't you, Spike?”

“Don't... you... Spike,” Spike repeated as he dutifully copied down Dash’s words. “Got it!”

“This way, I can stay focused on performing those acts of bravery that nopony else has the guts to perform,” Dash explained. “Yep, it takes guts. But it also takes brains… and sometimes a big lunch and a nap. Being a hero is surely not for everypony, but I'm up to the challenge!”

Dash then went about posing in pictures with all the little kids in her fan club. The others gave each other looks, completely unimpressed with Dash’s behavior. Emerald for her part shook her head and decided to approach Rainbow Dash and talk to her about how she was acting.

“Hey Emerald!” Rainbow Dash greeted. “Want the honour of having your picture taken with me?”

“Okay, one,” Emerald began with a good natured smirk. “I am the famous model here.”

The virus struck a glamorous pose and the photographers immediately took the opportunity to get free pictures of her posing. The flashing of cameras went on steadily for several moments before Emerald stopped her posing and threw a pointed look at Dash.

“Oh, trying to steal my thunder, huh?” Dash said with a challenging but excited grin.

“You can keep the thunder, I prefer the lightning,” Emerald said with exaggerated pompousness for a moment before bursting into laughter that Dash immediately joined in on.

“Listen, do you think we can talk?” Emerald said and quickly threw Spike a glance. “Alone?”

“Sure!” Dash answered cheerfully. “We celebs have to stick together after all! We’ll just walk over here and you can just lay whatever you want to say on me.”

“Great.”

Emerald and Dash walked away from the crowds and into the next room to get some privacy. Once they were alone, Emerald took one last look around to make sure no reporters were trying to snoop before beginning to speak.

“Listen, Dash,” Emerald began. “I want to talk to you about what is going on with you and all these ponies here.”

“Isn’t it great?” Dash said excitedly. “All these ponies getting together to celebrate how awesome I am? Heh, maybe I’ll as famous as you are before long!”

“Yeah, celebrating your own accomplishments is great, isn’t it?” Emerald said with a smile. “It’s nice to feel good about yourself and to have others tell you that you are a great pony.”

“Oh yeah!” Dash agreed. “I can see how it’s like for you to be famous!”

“Maybe, but what I want to know is this,” Emerald began with a serious look that made Dash calm down. “What is more important? Saving lives, or being seen as a hero?”

“Saving lives of course!” Dash replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Anypony who thinks differently has a few screws loose.”

“Dash… you have been acting like saving lives isn’t as important as being treated like a hero,” Emerald stated solemnly.

“What?! No I haven’t! I…” Dash’s denials ended in the face of Emerald’s steady stare at her.

“Look Dash, I’m not saying you are a bad pony for celebrating your accomplishments,” Emerald said as Dash averted her gaze away from her. “Anypony who saves the life of another deserves to be treated like a hero and you saved like half a dozen ponies in the past three days, not to mention your previous actions regarding Nightmare Moon. You deserve to be treated like a hero and deserve to enjoy being congratulated for your accomplishments. But you started going a little bit too far. You started treating the fact you were being treated like a hero as more important than the actions that got you that treatment in the first place.”

“…Yeah, I did go a bit far didn’t I?” Dash said after a moment, looking back at Emerald with a sheepish expression.

“Only a little bit, Dash,” Emerald said soothingly. “Like I said, there is nothing wrong with celebrating your accomplishments, but you should keep in mind why you were being celebrated; saving lives is an incredibly important responsibility, after all.”

“I will, Emmy,” Dash said with a smile and gave the virus a good natured punch in the shoulder. “Thanks for talking some sense into me.”

“What are friends for?” Emerald said before the two returned to the celebration.

“Rainbow Dash!”Scootaloo shouted excitedly and darted forward, her Rainbow wig nearly flying off. “Can I get another autograph?”

“Sure thing squirt and…” Dash said then trailed off as she looked at Scoots’ wings thoughtfully. “How about something better? How bout I give you a ride to the sky?”

“REALLY?!” Scoots squealed with delight as she gave her idol a starry eyed look.

“Yep!” Dash nodded and took flight and grabbed Scootaloo off the ground. “You guys hang tight! I’ll be back with some cake!”

“Yay!” all of Dash’s young fans cheered happily.

“Wow, now that’s a turnaround if ah ever saw one,” Applejack commented. “What did ya say to her sugercube?”

“I just reminded her how important saving lives is,” Emerald replied. “And that it’s not something that should be cheapened by doing it for popularity.”

“So you just talked to her?” Rarity said. “That… is admittedly a much better answer to Dash’s behavior then what we were planning…”

“Really?” Emerald asked. “Just what exactly did you have in mind to solve Dash’s behavior?”

“Oh, well…” Rarity began, feeling rather awkward.

Though she had a hand in crafting the idea of curtailing Dash’s behavior, Twilight wasn’t feeling embarrassed for being beaten to the punch by something easier and better. Instead, Twilight was staring at Emerald with a contemplating look.


DELTA


Princess Celestia took a sip of her tea as she looked down at her newspaper.

She was relaxing in one of the studies of her palace; it was a calming day so far. The return of the stolen weather machines had taken some of the edge off of the economic strain. She had also tentatively announced that the Gray Fox wasn’t going to be a threat to Equestria’s economy; this had the intended effect of causing business stocks to start rising back up at a steady pace, but held the risk of having the economy crash badly if Jack decided to start stealing again.

From the way the articles in the first few pages read, people were beginning to become rather hopeful of the near future. Celestia was very encouraging of such behavior. She was also proud to say that her public works programs were also doing much to improve the situation. Giving jobless ponies work allowed them more financial freedoms and they spent it on more things than just the necessities; this was key to getting the economy moving again.

Turning a few more pages, Celestia came across an article that featured her sister’s new student, Emerald Gleaner. The article was talking about Emerald’s new style of poses and how popular the ads that featured them were becoming. Taking a look at the picture above the article Celestia saw Emerald wearing some working gear and lying on her side, she had her eyes hooded and was holding a wrench towards her mouth sort of like it was a microphone, strangely she also had her tongue sticking out from between her lips a little.

Celestia just found the pose odd and wondered how it became popular. She was about to flip to the next page but something stopped her. She found herself staring at the picture of Emerald; something about it struck her as exceedingly odd and almost reminded her of something. After several moments of studying the picture, Celestia’s eyes widened and her cheeks flushed as she suddenly realised what exactly the pose reminded her of.

‘Oh my goodness gracious…’ Celestia thought in shock a she raised a hoof to her mouth. ‘To make such a suggestive picture for all to see… the audacity of it all…’

Then Celestia’s shock melted away, instead replaced by amusement. She giggled out loud as she studied the picture more. Suddenly she frowned again.

‘Hmm… does anypony even realise what this picture looks like?’ Celestia thought curiously. ‘Does even Emerald? Actually, I have the strongest feeling that Emerald does know what her pose looks like.’

Just then the doors to the study burst open and Luna came charging in wearing a sleep robe with shocked and embarrassed look on her face.

“Sister, have you seen the material in today’s paper!?” Luna shouted. “Tis most shocking and appalling!”

“And what exactly are you referring to, Luna?” Celestia asked, carefully schooling her features into one of innocent curiosity.

Luna looked down at Celestia’s paper and saw she was on the very page she was referring to. She pointed at the picture with a hoof.

“That picture sister!” Luna shouted as her cheeks flushed. “For my own student to act in such an… an… inappropriate manner! And it’s in the paper for all to see!”

“Why sister, I haven’t the slightest clue what has roused you so,” Celestia said with convincing innocence, though on the inside she was laughing. “I for one don’t see what is wrong about the picture.”

“W-what, can you not see how inappropriate the picture is?!” Luna asked incredulously with rising embarrassment.

“I do not, Luna.” Celestia answered with a shake of her head. “I shall even call another pony for a second opinion. Excuse me!”

“Your Highness?” One of the guards outside the room leaned in.

“Could you come here a moment?” Celestia asked. “I need you to look at something.”

“Of course, Princess!” the guard answered and quickly moved over to her. “What do you need me to look at?”

“This picture, what do you think of it?” Celestia said.

“Hmm…” The guard leaned over the newspaper and took in the picture. “I think it’s a nice picture of a very beautiful mare… who is posing rather strangely. Although, that is oddly appealing to me… hmm…”

“There we go, sister,” Celestia stated with a smile. “You may go now, and please close the door as you leave.”

“Of course your highness.”

As the guard left the study, Luna looked completely mortified with herself, thinking since she apparently was the only one who saw a problem with the picture was because she was dirty minded. After a moment of this, Celestia laughed, deciding to take mercy on her poor younger sister.

“You are not the only one to see the suggestiveness of the picture, Luna,” Celestia said giggling.

“Oh thank goodness!” Luna said, not even mad she was tricked; just happy someone else thought the way she did. “I am just thankful all our subjects are so young and innocent, otherwise they would know for sure what the picture is implying. I for one am going to confront Emerald on this matter and make her stop this completely inappropriate posing.”

‘Hmm… it might be too late for that.’ Celestia thought, thinking about how Emerald was a famous model and the common pony tended to mimic the famous. ‘In all likelihood, her ‘style’ of poses will catch on simply because of her fame. Hehehe, I think I should get a subscription to a fashion magazine or two. This sounds like it’ll be a good laugh.”


EPSILON


‘Right time to head out again,’ Emerald thought as he started for the door of the library. ‘The testing phase of the augments is over so I have to start applying them to the dogs. Hopefully Twilight won’t go off the deep end while I’m gone and think I’ve gone evil just because she wasn’t watching me.’

“Emerald?” the virus heard Twilight call and turned to see here standing at the door to the library.

“Err… yes Twilight?” Emerald said a little uneasy at the thought of what Twilight’s reaction may be to her leaving unannounced.

“Where are you going?” Twilight asked.

“I am…” Emerald began hesitantly but reminded herself to not hold anymore secrets from Twilight. “Going to go check up on my dogs as well as a few other things.”

“… Can I come with you?”

Emerald blinked at the question, having not expected it. Her first impulse was to think of a reason why she couldn’t bring Twilight along. However, she soon decided that wasn’t right and decided that if Twilight wanted to see what she was up to, then she wasn’t going to deny her.

“If that is what you want, Twilight, then sure,” Emerald answered.

“It is,” Twilight said with a serious nod. “I want to see what you get up to when you disappear for hours at a time and all night.”

“Come here then. I’ll just teleport the both of us from here,” Emerald said and the other unicorn came in close. “Stay close now, I need a bit of a charge up time.”

Twilight stepped in close to Emerald and, after a few moments and an increasingly bright glow from the fake unicorn, the teleport finally went off. In an instant, Twilight found herself in a completely unfamiliar environment.

All around here were Diamond Dogs, but not as she knew them. The Diamond Dogs she knew were bulldogs and wore some armor on their heads and around their chests. These dogs were in far greater variety when it came to different breeds, and while most wore the simple vest she seen before, others wore more complicated outfits. It was clearly obvious she was in a cave as well, as the ceiling and the darkness attested and that didn’t surprise her, what did was the apartment complex like stone buildings around her.

“What is this place?” Twilight asked with a little wonder as she turned her head this way and that in an attempt to take everything in.

Emerald was about to answer when someone else did it for her.

“This is the Hub,” Belvedere answered as he approached the two. “The center of our nation within a nation, the Enclave.”

“Seems like you are always nearby when I arrive via teleport, Belvedere,” Emerald stated curiously.

“I thought you were doing that on purpose?” Belvedere said with an arched brow. “You weren’t?”

“Your speech…” Twilight said as she stared at the tall greyhound. “I thought all Diamond Dogs talked in broken equestrian.”

“That was a result of the dragon’s slavery. We once had a language all our own,” Belvedere explained. “In fact we still do, but those of us enslaved by the dragon have lost much of their heritage.”

“What exactly happened?” Twilight asked. “Emerald said she uh, slayed the dragon that had enslaved your people, but didn’t explain how it all began in the first place.”

“The dragon was named Nidhogg,” Belvedere said and noticed when Twilight’s eyes widened in realization. “Yes, the very same Nidhogg that was supposed to be held in the legendary pony prison, Tartarus. He had escaped via digging his way out, but ended up in our tunnels. From the tales of our elders, we knew we had a prosperous city state a million strong. But that all changed when the dragon attacked. Ironically, the panic from dogs fleeing killed more than Nidhogg’s flames ever did. The starvation that followed the scattering of our people into the far reaches of the tunnels killed more still.”

“Nidhogg ruled the people who stayed in the smoking ruins of their nation with an iron fist,” Belvedere continued. “He incited great terror into our people and through that terror kept us enchained to him, despite us having near constant chances to run away. He had us gather gems for him to gorge himself on and when we started encountering ponies in our frenzied digging he ordered that we enslaved them and force them to work in the mines.”

“This bleak existence continued for a hundred years,” Belvedere stated gravely before allowing a small smile to grace his stoic face. “And then Emerald came.”

“She told me about her… meeting with your people,” Twilight stated and threw the virus a look. “I didn’t think it would be a very nice thing to reminisce about.”

“It is when you think about the results,” Belvedere stated. “She came and took control of us from Nidhogg, admittedly violently and forcefully with the first of us, and then she took care of Nidhogg himself. The great dragon that had terrorised us and had us paralysed by fear in his grasp for a century was then slain in what was no doubt a great battle.”

“It was mostly me taunting him like a moron then running all over the place in panic once he started breathing plasma,” Emerald said with modest honesty. “Most of the credit goes to Navi for distracting him and allowing me to get in a mortal blow to his back.”

“Ha, the unsung hero of the Diamond Dogs, Navi the Parasprite,” Belvedere said with a short bark of laughter. “I’ll be sure to spread this legend.”

“You have not only my consent but my encouragement,” Emerald said with a smile.

Twilight looked between the two of them, feeling there was a bond between them that spoke of deep seated trust.

“So what happened next?” she asked after a moment.

“After Emerald took over, our situation improved with each and every day,” Belvedere said and looked to be recalling said days fondly. “Once she took over, she had all the spread out packs gathered together and released all the slave ponies we had. She ended our gem gathering and soon we were eating much better than before, thanks to dedicated efforts to gather food. Then she had us collect all of our imprisoned brethren and moved to a new home, to a place that no one would dare look for us in; the Everfree.”

Twilight blinked her eyes and took in her surroundings again, but wasn’t too surprised the Enclave was located in the Everfree. After all, Emerald was likely the most powerful and dangerous thing alive in this place. Anything that would threaten the dogs would definitely have to deal with her.

“We soon got permanent homes and our situation only improved from there,” Belvedere continued. “Eventually we… obtained tools and learned how to work them and created even better forges and improved our metal working. But the absolute best improvement we’ve experienced was no longer needing to ration our food.”

“We are carnivores, we need meat to survive,” the Alpha stated. “Gaining meat from an arguably ethical source was always the hard part of feeding ourselves. Emerald, however, fixed that for us and gave us an incredibly large supply of meat that we can easily share with other carnivores and have more than enough to spare for ourselves.”

“How did you do that, Emerald?” Twilight asked curiously.

“I created meat trees,” Emerald answered without hesitation. “They have a regeneration ability and can digest any kind of biological matter through their roots if it’s in a mostly liquid state. From this they grow meat fruit at an incredible pace.”

“Wow!” Twilight exclaimed. “I knew you could alter your form on a cellular level, but I never knew you could do that for others things.”

“I didn’t just alter something to create the meat trees,” Emerald replied. “I created them from scratch.”

“Who is this pony you have brought here anyway?” Belvedere asked. “Another pony recruit?”

“No.” Emerald shook her head. “A closely trusted friend. I’m just showing her around.”

“Ah.” Belvedere stared at Twilight for a long moment before nodding at Emerald. “I’ll leave you to your business then. I’ve got my own to finish.”

“What’s this about a pony recruit?” Twilight asked.

“I have a pony here who decided to join me after a long stay with us,” Emerald answered.

“How did she come to stay with you?”

“She didn’t have much of a choice in the matter,” Emerald replied. “She was a convict that had snuck into our midst with the intent of stealing from us and ended up seeing something I had really wished she hadn’t. So I kept her prisoner for several months, rewarding good behavior with increased freedoms but kept her from just running via a biological restraint.”

“And she just decided to join you one day?” Twilight said with a frown. “Why? Can you even trust a pony like that?”

“Even she doesn’t really know why she wanted to join us, but I have my ideas,” Emerald said. “And I can’t really judge her on her past considering my own, so… I decided to go on a limb and try trusting someone for a change… I haven’t come to regret it… so far, anyway.”

“That must have been really hard for you,” Twilight stated, coming close and placing a hoof on Emerald’s shoulder, recalling a time when Emerald even saying she trusted someone to make a nice dress for her was hard for her.

“What can I say; you brought out the best in me,” Emerald smiled softly at Twilight who blushed a little. “Do you want to meet her?”

“Sure,” Twilight said with a nod. If she was going to give someone like Emerald a chance to be a better person, it would behoove her to do the same for a simple criminal.

The two made their way through the underground city. The entire time, Twilight kept looking this way and that at all the various sights and sounds of Diamond Dogs living happily. The violet unicorn was determined to give Celestia a letter about the disappearance of one of the prisoners in Tartarus; she just needed to figure out a way word it carefully so Celestia went to go check up on the prison herself without suspecting anything… and the thought she was going to withhold information and even try to manipulate the princess into doing something immediately made Twilight’s mood take a downturn.

‘W-well… how else am I supposed to get her to do it?’ Twilight thought miserably. ‘If I just tell her why I know, then I’ll be revealing Emerald… wait, half-truths and lying without lying, how would Emerald do it? She would say she… met a dog and learned the story from him, which is exactly what happened with me! And… I recall in the newspaper that Emerald’s alter ego the Gray Fox talked about dealing with the Diamond Dog’s previous leader and how he overthrew him. Yes, I can do this!’

Twilight’s mood rose back up as quickly as it fell. She wasn’t lying to her beloved’s princess’ face anymore; she was just not mentioning certain things, and in her mind that made up all the difference in the world.

“Looking like you’re having a mood whiplash back there,” Emerald commented. “Are you okay?”

“I was just thinking of a problem I was going to have,” Twilight answered a bit cheerfully. “And I figured out the answer to it.”

“Oh? That’s good.”

“So why aren’t we simply teleporting to our destination?” Twilight asked.

“I figured you wanted to get a better look at what I had going on here,” Emerald answered. “So walking would be a better way of doing that.”

The two arrived in the rail yards just in time for one small train trailing a cargo cart to arrive and offload some empty ammo crates before loading up on some full ones. Emerald brought Twilight over to the train and the two were soon catching a ride.

“So what are in these?” Twilight asked over the sound of the engines, motioning at the green boxes.

“Ammunition,” Emerald answered.

“And that is?”

“Bullets, which is…” Emerald began. “Think of them as really advanced arrows!”

“Why do you need so much?” Twilight asked, recalling the several empty crates the train off loaded.

“This is Everfree,” Emerald answered. “Most animals learn that our area is dangerous and that they shouldn’t try hunting here, but some don’t so we need to keep a guard up. Plus we need ranged practice with the weapons.”

“Ah,” Twilight said and wondered what sort of advanced bow let loose these “bullets”. Since Emerald was giving her an unrestricted tour, she would be getting to see what exactly her friend was talking about soon enough.

The train soon arrived on the surface and chugged to a stop near a ramp where several dogs were awaiting them. As they arrived and the dogs started unloading the ammo crates, Twilight noticed in the distance some sort of enclosed farmland that held rows upon rows of black bush like plants. She couldn’t see details from this distance, but from the way the plants glistened and how black they looked, they gave her a feeling that they were unnatural. The fact several dogs were wearing thick protective clothing and chainmail as they harvested the leaves of the plants made her certain of that, and that Emerald had a cause in it.

“What are those?” Twilight asked, pointing at the plants in the distance.

“Dragon scale shrubs,” Emerald answered. “Another creation of mine. They grow the same hard scales Nidhogg had in life and we gather them up to create an incredibly tough armor… well, in the future anyway. I think they are still testing various armor designs around here… anyway, Whisper Wind’s home is just this way.”

Emerald motioned to a stone and wooden cottage in the distance and the two made their way over to it. Part way there another voice broke in, but this time it startled Twilight rather badly.

“Greetings virus.”

“GAH!” Twilight jumped at the unnaturally deep voice and quickly darted to just behind Emerald when she saw the source.

“Hello Sovereign,” Emerald greeted a Timber Wolf with a nod.

“I have come to praise you for your ceasing of cutting down trees for room,” Sovereign said and Emerald easily predicted what was coming next as an insult. “You have yet again proven you can be something other than a completely destructive simpleton.”

“So when it’s you being giant and tearing out of the ground, ruining it in the process, and stomping on trees its fine,” Emerald stated with a raised brow. “But when I do that for constructive reasons I am a destructive simpleton?”

“Yes,” The spirit said without a moment’s hesitation.

“Figures.”

“E-Emerald what is this?” Twilight asked.

“This is my friend Soverign, the sovereign of the Everfree,” Emerald said with a grin. “Real creative huh?”

“If I recall correctly, you were the one to give me the name,” Sovereign commented with all the smugness in the world.

“Shh! No one asked you!” Emerald said with a harshness that could have been easily mistaken for real.

“And I require no one’s permission to speak,” Sovereign replied. “If I feel that the stupidity that surrounds me requires comment, then I shall comment.”

Twilight looked between the two bickering “friends” with wide eyes. This was nothing like she learned friends were supposed to act with each other. If anything, the two seemed like two people that didn’t like each other but were forced to meet with each other often. She and her friends never insulted each other… well okay, they did sometimes, but only when they were angry with each other. It was never a part of how they treated and acted with each other. So how could these two be friends?

“Friends? Really?” Twilight said incredulously. “But you two insult each other and don’t really seem to like each other!”

“Yeah, and?” Emerald said with a questioning look, a look that Sovereign seemed to be giving her as well. “I may poke a little fun at the big bag of roots, but I would still help him if he asked for it.”

“It is the same with I as well,” Sovereign admitted without the slightest hesitation. “… Although in all likelihood, I’d be helping this peon here get out of a problem she caused in the first place.”

“Oh now I’m a peon instead of a simpleton?” Emerald said with a raised brow. “Better than being what you are at least.”

“And what exactly is that supposed to imply?”

Twilight stared at the two with some curiosity. This wasn’t anything like the friendship she learned about in her time in Ponyville, but spending time with Emerald now seemed to be teaching a lot of strange and new things. The idea that a pony could do good things and be a good friend yet still commit such incredibly vile acts was an alien idea that Twilight was forced to acknowledge. Along with that was the idea of telling a truth in such a way that no one needed to lie but still manage to conceal a truth. Twilight found herself wondering just what other strange concept she would be learning from Emerald and whether or not it was a good thing.

“Hmph, I’ve said what I have come to say,” Sovereign said as he turned to leave. “I shall be taking my leave now.”

“You just don’t like losing!” Emerald shouted after him.

“Hmph, preposterous!” Sovereign stated and marched off into the forest.

“Well… shall we get going?” Emerald said with a wide smile at Twilight, seemingly cheerful after speaking with her unorthodox friend. “Still have to introduce you to Whisper Wind.”

“Sure, let’s go,” Twilight said, though she was a little distracted, busy thinking about all she had seen so far and learned from the lean Diamond Dog, Belvedere.

The cottage wasn’t too far away, and in a minute or two they found themselves at door and knocking. Soon the door opened and the former convict peeked out and opened it all the way when she saw who was standing there, from within the home came the smell of freshly cooked stir-fry, though very likely to be without the meat.

“Hello there, boss!” Whisper greeted with a smile.

“Hey boss!” Emerald heard a familiar voice call from within.

“Bluno?” Emerald called questioningly. “What are you doing here?”

The Diamond Dog husky made his own appearance by leaning into view.

“Just having some lunch with a friend, boss. Speaking of which,” the husky Diamond Dog said cheerfully. “Who’s that pony there? Friend of yours?”

“Yes, this is Twilight Sparkle,” Emerald introduced. “Twilight, this mare is Whisper Wind and this cheerful fellow here is Bluno, an alpha of my dogs.”

“A pleasure to meet the both of you,” Twilight said politely.

“Hello!”

“Twilight Sparkle…” Whisper said with a thoughtful look. “Isn’t she Princess Celestia’s student?”

“Yes she is,” Emerald nodded.

“Jeez, you really get around don’t you?” Whisper asked and Emerald had to hold in a snort of amusement. “Diamond Dogs, spiders, celebrities and now this.”

“What can I say?” Emerald shrugged. “It all just happened and built up over time. Anyway, how is your training going, Whisper?”

“Going great!” Whisper stated excitedly. “And it’s all so exciting and scary to be taking those trips into the forest, even knowing there is a bunch of Warhounds nearby ready to help you at a moment’s notice.”

“Hmm… you really like excitement, don’t you?” Emerald said, now all but certain of what Whisper found appealing about being in the Warhounds. “Why not become a guard before instead of a thief?”

“Ew no!” Whisper said and scrunched up her face in brief disgust. “Do you know most of the time guards spend their time standing in one place and watching the world go by? No fun at all! Now stealing stuff was exciting and it used my talent. There was no telling if I would mess up at any one time and have to go on the run, maybe getting away or maybe getting caught. All very risky… of course, I did get caught eventually; it was how I ended up in Alcoltraz in the first place. And then I tried to steal from your dogs and you ending up catching me; wasn’t very pleasant at first, admittedly, but I don’t regret ending up here ultimately.”

“It’s nice to know that, Whisper,” Emerald replied.

Twilight stared at Emerald. After everything she had seen and heard, she decided that Emerald really was trying to be a better person. Why would she waste time and resources on helping her dogs when she could have spent it on herself? Why give the thief a chance when she could have locked her up and thrown away the key? There were definitely some rough spots, what with her stealing from Equestria and causing a great amount of harm, but when taken account to her past, it could have easily been much worse. Yes, Emerald definitely was making an honest and true effort to be a good person… and she wasn’t making it easier for her to do so by being so hard on her.

“Emerald, I’m sorry,” Twilight said.

“Huh? What for?” Emerald asked.

“For being so mean to you, Emerald,” Twilight said miserably. “You really are trying to be a good person; you’ve freed slaves from tyranny and given them a home and all the food they could ever want. With your power, you could do anything you want and nopony would be able to stop you but you’re not letting it get to you. I’m not making it any easier for you to be a good person by constantly judging you and distrusting you. Emerald, you are one of my most dear friends and I completely trust you.”

“Twilight… thank you so much,” Emerald said joyfully. The one person she shared with how she really was, all her darkness and all her attempts to grow beyond it, and she was still her friend. The virus felt a warmth bloom in her chest and felt herself go on autopilot for what happened next.

“Emer-MMMPH?!?” Twilight began questioningly but was stopped by Emerald’s lips meeting hers.

Bluno’s eyes boggled at the scene before him and Whisper Wind’s jaw practically fell to the floor as her face turned crimson. Not only that, but several nearby dogs that were going about their own business spotted what happened and gawked at it.

Emerald herself was in bliss for a moment when her eyes snapped open once she realised what she just did. She pulled away from Twilight with wide, panicked eyes and was met by the unicorn staring at her with an open mouth and utterly cherry red face. She turned in place and saw all the people staring at her in shock.

“Em-Emerald… wh-what?” Twilight tried but seemed to not be able to get her thoughts in order.

“Twilight I-I…” Emerald began but couldn’t think of anything to say.

In rising panic, the Evolved quickly built up a teleport and left. Despite her sudden departure, everyone still stared for a long moment at the spot she stood on as Twilight lifted a hoof up to touch her mouth.


ZETA


“Let’s see… feelings are hopeful with the return of the weather machines,” Rarity quoted from a newspaper. “Populace of Cloudsdale starting to feel at home again despite immense losses of personal effects. Well that is wonderful. It’s about time things started to look up again.”

Rarity was at home and enjoying some tea while reading a newspaper over a bit of lunch. Today was another day like any other and there didn’t seem to be any catastrophe threatening Ponyville lately… thankfully. The last few days were just filled with one disaster after another. Construction yard accidents, a dam breaking, runaway carts. It was just a total and utter miracle that Rarity and her friends always happened to be nearby to help.

As the glamorous unicorn was about to take a sip of her tea, there was a sudden intense pink flash and Emerald appeared in mid-air and landed on her hooves with a thud.

“Oh my!” Rarity gasped. “Emerald dear, what a pleasant surprise. Did you come to visit?”

“Umm… sorta,” Emerald said with a guilty look on her face that immediately had Rarity worried. “Uhh, can I stay with you for… a while?”

“Oh dear… what happened between the two of you now?” Rarity sighed, rightly thinking Emerald did something to make things complicated again between her and Twilight. “Of course you can stay as long as you like darling. As far as I’m concerned, my home is your home.”

“… I kissed her,” Emerald said softly.

“Err, what?” Rarity asked.

“I kissed Twilight,” the other unicorn said more clearly.

“Well it was an accident, dear. I don’t see why she would take it so badly,” Rarity said in annoyance with Twilight.

“It wasn’t an accident,” Emerald said, more to herself then Rarity. “I did it on purpose.”

“…” Rarity just stared at Emerald with a confused expression, like she just heard the most absurd thing in the world. “You kissed her… on purpose. Emerald… I don’t know how to tell you this, but Twilight is a mare. Did you… get spelled or some such and now she looks like a stallion to you?”

“No, Rarity,” Emerald said seriously. “I didn’t kiss her because of some trick or mistake, I did it because… I wanted to.”

“But you are a mare!” Rarity exclaimed. “She is a mare! I… I don’t understand this Emerald. How are you attracted to another mare?”

“… Do you think there is something wrong with me because of this?” Emerald asked with a level stare.

“Emerald I… no I don’t, there is nothing wrong with love after  all.” Rarity sighed. “But… I’ve just never heard of this before! A mare attracted to another mare? It’s the most bizarre thing to my ears.”

“Rarity, if you have a big problem with this I can-”

“No Emerald, please don’t leave,” Rarity quickly interrupted. “I’m sorry… I really should be more supportive instead of questioning why, shouldn’t I?”

“If it helps, where I come from it isn’t unheard of at all for people of the same sex to date,” Emerald stated. “I’m not entirely sure if it would be called common, but it happens and I suppose I would be one of them considering…”

“Oh dear, Emerald…” Rarity said as she walked over and gave Emerald a hug, having suddenly realised that Twilight must have reacted badly if Emerald ran to her again. “Just stay as long as you want dear. If Twilight comes by, don’t worry about speaking to her, I’ll handle it.”

“Thank you Rarity…” Emerald said as she briefly took comfort in the embrace. “I’ll just be in the guest room… I need time to think.”

“Of course, darling,” Rarity replied and let go. “I’ll get a fresh batch of tea ready and bring you some.”

“Thank you,” Emerald said and walked away.

Before long, the virus found herself lying on the guest room bed and thinking to herself.

‘Why did I do that?’ Emerald thought sadly. ‘My best and truest friend and I ruined it all… why did I kiss her? Why am I even attracted to her in the first place? They aren’t ugly in the least and look like horses the same way humans look like apes but ponies are cute to my eyes, not sexy or anything along those lines. But Twilight… I am attracted to her, admittedly not in a sexual way but… neither would I be adverse to partaking in such actions with her… if she asked… extremely unlikely.’

“Uhh… Emerald darling!” Rarity called out. “Could you come here a moment?”

Wondering what Rarity wanted, Emerald left the guest room and soon arrived in the main room. She entered the room to see Rarity standing beside the front door with a still utterly crimson Twilight standing in the doorway. Emerald felt very much like she was having one of those ‘Deer in headlights’ moments.

Rarity looked between Emerald and Twilight for a long moment before sighing and walking away.

“If anypony needs me, I shall be in the kitchen,” she said before walking away but stopped for a moment before looking at Emerald. “If you need me for any reason at all, just call.”

Emerald didn’t give any outward sign she heard and just continued to stare at Twilight, who seemed to prefer to stare at everything but her. Eventually, she gulped and forced herself to look at Emerald, and somehow her blush deepened.

“T-T-Twilight I am SO sor-”

“Why did you kiss me Emerald?” Twilight asked seriously.

“I…” Emerald gulped as she found herself at an utter loss for a specific reason why she kissed Twilight, so many reasons flashed through her mind, but nothing specific. Then the Evolved suddenly realised she didn’t have A reason, she had many.

“Because you know me like no one else in this world does…” Emerald began. “Because you are incredibly smart. You are wonderful person who isn’t afraid to admit when she is wrong. No matter how serious the problem, you are one of, if not the first, ponies to step up to the challenge. And despite everything that said you should have revealed me and come after me… you gave me a chance. I owe you so much Twilight… if I hadn’t met you… I don’t even want to think what kind of person I would have become… you are the reason I am the way I am now.”

Twilight seemed to grow even more embarrassed with every bit of praise she heard come from Emerald and no longer could look at her.

“And… I think your eyes are pretty too,” Emerald said with an obvious attempt to melt the tension.

Twilight giggled at the last compliment.

“R-really?” Twilight said, looking at Emerald out of the corner of her eye. “The only physical thing you like about me is my eyes?”

“Well… I figured if I said what else I liked about you, we’d be here all day.” Emerald’s answer got another embarrassed look out of Twilight.

“Th-this is so strange Emerald…” Twilight said softly. “And here I was wondering what other strange things I’d experience from you… but… Princess Celestia did send me here to learn new things, now didn’t she?”

“Wh-what…do you mean?” Emerald said, eyes widening in hope.

“Well uh… yeah…” Twilight simply said with a small shy smile at Emerald.

Suddenly the violet unicorn found herself being wrapped up in a hug by Emerald who had the widest smile she ever seen on her. Twilight found herself panic stricken for a moment, wondering what she was supposed to do. She had read many books after all, but none of them were on the subject of romance. So, tentatively, she just returned the hug and figured she did the right choice when Emerald snuggled in a bit closer. 

Twilight was just thinking about all the books she would be reading and ordering to make sure she knew enough on the subject of romance when she realised something.

“Oh my gosh…” Twilight gasped, making Emerald crack open an eye at her. “We just started our relationship and we already live in the same house and sleep in the same bedroom! What is everypony going to say about me, about us!?”

“Twilight, you are overreacting,” Emerald said with a knowing smile. “They won’t be commenting on that fact for a while. The fact that we are two mares in an unheard of relationship is going to be attention grabbing to them.”

“Oh… right…” Twilight said and after a long moment asked, “I’m supposed to feel happy, aren’t I? Why do I feel… scared?”

“Things are so much more complicated now,” Emerald sighed. “There is no telling what the future holds… but at least I have someone to face it with now. I’m tired of being alone.”

“You were never alone, Emerald,” Twilight said in gentle reproach. “You had everypony else too; your friends.”

“You know what I mean, Twilight,” Emerald said with a small laugh.

“Oh… right, me as in me… sorry.”

“Never change, Twilight.”


ETA


Princess Celestia was about to settle into bed when two scrolls suddenly appeared over her and dropped down onto her large bed.

‘What’s this?’ Celestia wondered and looked closely. ‘This one is marked Friendship Report. Ah, Twilight must have learned something new. Well, some reading before bed will be fine. Let’s see what my student has learned today.’

Giving a wondering glance as to the contents of the other message, the Princess simply put it on her bedside table before crawling under the blanket. Then she magically unrolled the scroll and started reading.


Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I learned that friendship doesn’t always come in forms you recognize. Sometimes those with the closest bonds can have the most unusual friendship; I learned this lesson from two others who spent most of their conversation insulting each other, yet both admitted to being willing to leap to the other’s defense at a moment’s notice. I also learned that sometimes friendship can grow into something more, into something greater, as I learned this very day when one my friends became very special to me. I just never thought I’d ever find myself in a relationship with another mare, or for that mare to be your sister’s student.
Your Loyal Student,
Twilight Sparkle


As Celestia read over the letter her smile grew as she read about the new lesson Twilight learned about friendship, the two friends she met must certainly be a sight to behold. Then her smile became as bright as her own sun when she started reading about her dear student finding someone special. However, the smile quickly died down and faded to a blank expression with wide staring eyes as she finished reading.

The Princess of the Sun lowered the scroll onto her bed and blinked her eyes slowly for a few moments before looking at the other message. Then she shook her head and simply lied down on her bed.

‘Well… she certainly learned something new, didn’t she?’ Celestia thought. ‘Hmm… I believe I shall save seriously pondering this development for tomorrow. Yes, that sounds like the proper decision, let’s just sleep on this.’

With that, Celestia magically blew out all the lights in her room.


-TBC-