Emerald Gleaner: Viral Unicorn

by Legionary

Chapter 6: Shaky Start

Emerald stared down at the piece of parchment in her hooves, Navi napping in her mane.

She was in Twilight’s library and had recently received a letter from Over Look, the CEO of New Paradigm. He had sent her a message you could practically feel the excitement off of. The small publishing company she had convinced him to buy had gotten a “mysterious” package left on its doorstep. Upon opening the package, the workers found it contained the Gray Fox’s Autobiography. Over Look was rather excited about it, but was a little unsure if he should have it published. Obviously the book would be very successful, thanks to the Gray Fox being an infamous thief that was never caught, but at the same time Over Look didn’t feel entirely comfortable profiting off the misery the master thief had caused.

Emerald frowned as she hummed in thought. She was fairly rich as it was, but sales from the autobiography would only increase that wealth. She wanted Over Look to publish that book, yet didn’t want to push him too hard; she herself had a bit of a reputation to uphold after all.

Thinking for a brief time Emerald quickly penned a reply parchment.

Dear Over Look,

I understand your concerns over unethical profiteering, but this book would only help the economy with the sales. One of the biggest reasons a recession is so bad is because ponies want to save as much of their money as possible, and an economy needs money to flow to operate, let alone recover, properly. Ponies will want to know about this infamous figure and his past, see the inner workings of the criminal mastermind that thought up all those daring heists and escapes, enough that their desire to save their money will wane in the face of this. Yes, the Gray Fox brought pain and misery, and yes, it is a terrible thought to profit off it, but in the grand scheme of things this will end up being another wheel that helps the economy to roll forward again. I highly recommend that you go forward with plans to publish the book en masse.

Yours Sincerely,
Emerald Gleaner

Emerald sat back once she was done with her letter and gave it an appraising look. It seemed about right to her eye. Still, she wasn’t going to reply with it right away. Best to look it over several times over the day and make sure everything felt right before sending it via Spike.

Absently thinking about things she could change in the letter to possibly improve it, Emerald levitated over a spare piece of parchment and crunched it up into a ball before transmuting it. Ending up with a crimson apple in a flash, the virus instinctively buffed it on her white coat before taking a bite.

As she chewed, she found herself thinking about the golden apple tree grove back in Canterlot and how she had taken several seeds for her own use. Well, she had several seeds. They were planted now and growing slowly with golden saplings already poking through the dirt. Of course, being that they were trees they were going to need a long time to grow.

‘Mmmm… those apples tasted delicious,’ Emerald thought with a smile as she recalled the apple she ate. ‘I suppose it wouldn’t be uncalled for to give the trees a bit of a boost, hmm? They are going to take years and years to grow otherwise. I’m sure my dogs won’t mind them, and Whisper Wind will definitely love them.’

Suddenly, Emerald heard the door open and sounds of hooves upon a wooden floor. Turning around, she saw Twilight step into the library.

“Oh, uh… good morning s-sweetie,” Twilight said a tad nervously.

Emerald had to suppress a wince and just arched an eyebrow at Twilight instead. Sweet little pet names didn’t seem like something Twilight would give out, and felt rather forced when she said it.

“Uh, Twilight, you don’t have to give me a pet name. You know that, right?” Emerald stated. “I think the both of us are perfectly fine with just calling each other by name.”

“Bu-but my research states that ALL couples call each other by sickly sweet pet names!” Twilight defended.

“And does this research happen to be purely made up of romance novels?” Emerald asked with a knowing smile.

“Err… yes?” Twilight said with a sheepish look. Truthfully, she didn’t have anything else about the subject of dating and relationships to look up in her collection, a fact she had quickly set about solving. The books she had ordered just hadn’t arrived yet, and the unicorn decided to work with what she had.

“Trust you to look for the answer to life’s questions in a book,” Emerald said with a shake of her head.

“You CAN’T be saying it’s a bad thing to do?”

“It’s a good habit, I’ll give you that, Twilight,” Emerald answered as she rolled up her letter and put it away. “But not every answer can be found in a book.”

“Hmm…” Twilight hummed in thought but didn’t look that believing of Emerald’s statement.

“So… are you going to stay cooped up in this library for much longer, Twilight?” Emerald asked.

Ever since the day the two became a couple, Twilight had stayed inside her library and rarely ever stuck her head out the door. Clearly there was something wrong, and Emerald wasn’t going to let things be any longer.

“Well… it’s just that…” Twilight began with her nervousness clear to see. “I can’t help but be afraid of what everypony’s reaction to me- to us- will be. I try to think it won’t be that bad, but then I remember how everypony reacted to Zecora when she came into town… and now I can’t help but be afraid of being treated that way as well. And what are our friends’ reaction going to be?”

“Well going by Rarity’s reaction, I’d guess they’d be confused at first, but quickly support us once they see we need it,” Emerald stated as she walked over to stand beside Twilight and then gave her a hug.

She could understand Twilight’s concern really. Horror stories of teens coming out to their parents only to get disowned and kicked out, and people getting lynched and not being able to report it because the authorities would rather ignore them ran through her mind. Then she quickly shook her head clear. Those were just the worst case scenarios, and as far as she knew, they weren’t as often as they were a few decades ago back on earth. The fact that they were in Equestria meant that the reaction they would likely get would be much more tame.

“But what about everypony else?” Twilight asked in a soft voice.

“I can’t really speak for everypony else, Twilight,” Emerald answered. “We’re just going to have to go out and see for ourselves.”

“… Must we?”

“You can’t stay inside forever, Twilight,” Emerald stated gently. “Come on, the quicker we get out in the public eye, the faster everyone will get bored of the novelty of having a same sex couple living in town.”

“Right… you’re right,” Twilight said and inhaled deeply as she steeled herself. “…Let’s go out. I want to see what Fluttershy is up to.”

“Of course. Let’s go.”

“I just can’t believe something like that can happen!” Bon Bon exclaimed.

Bon Bon was with Emerald’s friends, namely Lyra, Rose Locks and Time Turner, at a table outside a diner. Clock Work had unnervingly never been heard from since the whole red beam and red skies event a while ago. They had heard about Emerald and Twilight’s shocking relationship about a day after they became a couple. Like everyone else in town, they were rather surprised about such a thing.

“She likes mares,” Time Turner murmured. “So that’s why it didn’t work out… I was just the wrong gender. Nothing I could have done about it at all.”

“Well… not really. I mean, I’ve heard about this spell for- gah!” Lyra began but was swiftly kicked beneath the table by Rose Locks who shot her a warning look.

“It is rather odd, isn’t it?” Rose Locks stated as she patted Time’s back comfortingly. “I’ve never even thought of such a thing being possible. Why would it be possible for two mares to fall for each other? It’s not like they can have children… though it isn’t like they can’t adopt, I suppose.”

“You know, you took it rather well,” Bon Bon stated. “I mean, we all got over it; Emerald is our friend. But you seemed to get over it in a few hours. We all needed over a day to get over it. I mean, it’s just so strange.”

“I… don’t know how to answer that,” Rose Locks with a frown. “I was shocked at it like all of you were, but I just… felt like I should accept her for how she was, like I had a responsibility to accept her.”

“Huh. Odd,” Bon Bon commented

“Hey look!” Lyra shouted and pointed towards the street.

Everyone turned and saw that Ponyville’s most talked about couple was walking down the street. The four weren’t the only ones to have noticed the two, and everyone else was staring and whispering as the two went on their way, something the two were only too aware of.

Emerald looked like she was trying her hardest to not look angry, and Twilight seemed to be very stressed out by all the attention. Eventually, she seemed to not be able to take it anymore and teleported away in a flash of magic.

At that event, Emerald seemed to snarl quietly and sent an incredibly impressive death glare at everyone she could see, causing them to recoil at the sight. Emerald continued to stare at everyone before her for a few moments before teleporting away as well, likely going after Twilight.

“Well… that could have gone better,” Bon Bon commented with a sympathetic look.

“Oh definitely!” Lyra agreed.

“Twilight!” Emerald shouted as soon as she arrived back at the library.

“I’m here, Emerald,” Twilight replied from her seat at a library table, looking depressed as she laid her head on the table surface. “I’m sorry for running like that. I just… panicked, I suppose. I guess I shouldn’t have done that. I mean they were just staring at us.”

“It’s alright,Twilight. Being stared at like that wasn’t exactly comfortable for me either… though I am kind of used to something like that…” Emerald replied. “Just don’t apologise for yourself. You are not at fault here.”

“How long is this kind of stuff going to last?” Twilight asked with a groan as she put her head face down on the table.

Emerald just walked over to Twilight and placed a hoof on her shoulder comfortingly. Inwardly, she was thinking of something she could do to make things better in some way. After some thinking, she decided what Twilight needed most was an activity to distract herself and maybe feel a sense of normalcy. With that in mind, she figured the best place to do that was to go to the Hub, the place where if she made a command, then people would jump to follow it.

“I have some things to do back in the Everfree,” Emerald said. “Would you like to tag along and see me work?”

“That sounds better than what I’m doing now,” Twilight replied and looked up at Emerald. “But what about your dogs? They know about us as well. Wouldn’t they stare too?”

“Maybe, but they are my dogs,” Emerald replied. “If I told them not to, they wouldn’t.”

“…Okay, let’s go.” Twilight said with a slight smile. “We didn’t finish my tour last time, didn’t we?”

“Right, get ready,” Emerald said and stepped in close to Twilight and quickly charged up a teleport.

A moment later and the two plus one sleeping parasprite arrived in the quickly growing underground city of the Enclave.

The dogs had long since grown used to Emerald’s suddenly arrivals, but this time they stared at her and the sounds of whispering began to grow in volume. Twilight quickly began to look stressed again at all the attention she was getting, while Emerald was feeling furious. After Twilight started to get so stressed out that she appeared to want to run away for people staring at her, she wasn’t in the mood to tolerate it from her own dogs.

Stepping forward, Emerald glared at everyone before her and inhaled for a shout. She felt her magic surge, reacting to her anger and rush up to her head and rest around her throat. Had she been in a calmer state of mind, this would have given her pause. As it was, she ignored it and shouted.

“AND WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT!!!” Emerald boomed deafeningly.

Dogs yelped in pain as the sound of Emerald’s voice echoed in the enclosed space for a moment before falling silent. The dogs in the local area weren’t the only ones who yelped as well. Practically everyone in the whole city had heard the shout from the startled shouts and yelps. Twilight had shouted as well. She may not have suffered as much, since her ears weren’t as sensitive as the Diamond Dogs’, but she happened to have been only a few feet away from Emerald when she shouted.

“AHHHH!” Twilight shouted with her hooves over her ears. “OH MY GOSH THAT WAS LOUD!”

Emerald’s mouth closed with a clack of her teeth as she looked at Twilight remorsefully, a look she quickly gave to her dogs. Taking a few breaths, Emerald dispelled the built up magic around her vocal chords. She then waited several moments for the rings the dogs likely had in their ears to die down before speaking again.

“All of you mind your business,” Emerald stated firmly. “Now.”

“Oh, ow…” Twilight moaned as she rubbed her ears as, all around her, dogs quickly scattered before Emerald.

“Are you okay?” Emerald asked with concern. “I am so sorry, Twilight. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. My magic just suddenly surged and I…”

“I am fine, Emerald,” Twilight reassured with a small, somewhat forced smile. “But I didn’t mean for you to get mad at your dogs for me…”

“Just because you are in a relationship with another mare doesn’t mean people should stare at you like you are a freak of nature,” Emerald said with a scowl not directed at her. “There is nothing wrong with what we have. The sooner people realise that, the sooner they don’t have to deal with my anger.”

“Maybe we should go do whatever it was you needed to do?” Twilight suggested.

“I’m sorry, Twilight…” Emerald apologised. “I guess I shouldn’t be so quick to anger, right? It’s just… you are the best thing that ever happened to me. I don’t want to lose you because people made us being together too stressful for you.”

“I didn’t abandon you after learning the truth, Emerald. I am not going to abandon you because a bunch of ponies keep staring at us,” Twilight reassured the viral unicorn with a hug before smiling. “Besides, you’re used to being stared at, aren’t you? I figure I might as well see what it’s like.”

“Oh we both know what it’s like, uncomfortable,” Emerald replied with a smile at Twilight. “Right, on to business. Follow me.”

The two were off down the now deserted streets before they soon moved onto streets that weren’t as empty. The dogs did stare at the two, but soon lost interest and went about their way; it likely had something to do with Emerald’s deafening shout.

“Oi!” Came a shout, and soon Tavish came into view rubbing his ears. “What’s all the shouting about ‘ere!? Some o’ us have sensitive ears, you know!”

“Sorry about that, Tavish,” Emerald said. “I was just making sure everyone understood that I don’t want Twilight being stared at for the both of us being a couple.”

“Defending your own, that I can understand,” Tavish said as he continued to rub his ears. “Jus’ wish it weren’t so bloody loud!”

“You don’t seem all that surprised over it,” Emerald commented.”

“I marked ya for a weirdo the moment I laid eyes on ya!” Tavish said with a chuckle. “I ain’t gonna be surprised when you go and do odd things, lass.”

Suddenly, Emerald heard a small yawn and a buzzing trill come from between her ears.

“You are only now waking up Navi?” Emerald questioned with a frown. “What, did you stay up all night or something?”

Navi made an indignant trill as she made her way over to her spot atop Emerald’s ear.

“Well you certainly are lazy today,” Emerald stated then looked back at Tavish. “Anyway, can you round up a few Warhounds and get them to head to the new Orion building?”

“Oh. sure. But what for, though?” Tavish asked.

“I got something new that will make everyone tougher and stronger,” Emerald replied. “Just get a few Warhounds to come over and I’ll explain further.”

“Right, see ya later lass!” Tavish said as he began to run off.

“Who was he?” Twilight asked.

“That was Tavish Degroot,” Emerald answered. “He was an Alpha from one of the independent packs deeper in the tunnels, then he decided to join us. He is a really good fighter.”

With that, the two continued on their way and arrived at a stone building that looked fairly new and still had freshly cut stone blocks and bricks lying around it. They entered  the building and found themselves in a large lobby filled with wooden furnishings and wall paneling. Along one wall was a row of taps over a countertop, and placed on top of the counter were holders where small vials were sitting. There was a red light over the taps, and underneath the light was the word ‘UNLOCKED’. Currently the light was off.

Emerald lead Twilight to a door off to the side and into the hall behind it. They followed the hall until they reached the massive room in the back. The room had a massive steel tank pressed against the wall, the same wall that had the taps on the other side. Emerald and Twilight walked up some metal stairs to a catwalk that was running along the rim of the tank. Once at the top, the contents of the tank were revealed to be water thanks to the open top.

Emerald walked over to the water’s edge and held her hoof over the surface of the water. After a moment, a pinkish liquid dropped from Emerald’s hoof and she stepped back. For a moment, nothing happened as the drop dissipated in the water, but soon the water’s color began to change. Bubbles began to rise to the surface and foam began to form as the water underwent a high speed chemical change.

After a minute of bubbling and foaming, the water finally began to calm down as it turned opaque and light pink. Emerald walked over to the water’s edge and dipped her hoof in the liquid, then brought it up to her mouth and licked it.

“Mm, fruit punch. Just like I intended.” The virus smiled.

“Really?” Twilight said and approached the liquid to take a taste for herself.

“Ah…” Emerald quickly stopped Twilight’s advance with a hoof. “It’s probably best you don’t take any of this stuff. It’s designed to induce changes in the body of the drinker.”

“Oh… are you going to get your dogs to drink it?” Twilight asked.

“Yep,” Emerald answered as she began walking back down the stairs with Twilight right behind her. “This stuff will make it so they can build up muscle faster, grow stronger bones and stay energised longer, all at the cost of needing to have larger meals.”

“Sounds like a pretty big change to their biology,” Twilight commented.

“Not really.” Emerald shook her head. “All I had to do was undo a few of the body’s natural limiters and suppress the generation of a few chemicals and I was good to go.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, the body naturally keeps itself from growing too strong or getting bones too thick,” Emerald answered. “Really, strong muscles and thick bones need a lot of energy to make and upkeep, and to get that energy you need to eat and drink. Now, instincts work on the basis that you are in a wild environment and not a modern one. For an animal, the next meal isn’t entirely guaranteed, but for you, you just have to walk down to the market when you want food. Your body doesn’t know this and assumes the next meal is never a promise and keeps the body from developing too much. With this natural system in place, you don’t have to eat a massive meal just to feel sated because you ended up getting a highly toned body just by moving around.”

“But your dogs don’t need that system in place anymore because you have a grove of meat trees giving them a constant supply of food,” Twilight stated.

“Yep, thus getting rid of an old, obsolete system.” Emerald nodded and then gave a little laugh. “Back on Earth, this kind of thing would likely get picketed by people who would complain about it being extremely unnatural.”

“What?” Twilight blinked. “Well yes, it’s unnatural because you are using artificial means to undo it, but why would anypony not want something like this? It would make staying in shape extremely easy.”

“Some people believe the body is already perfect and changing it in any way is stomping the sacredness of it, or some garbage along those lines.” Emerald shrugged. “Whatever. If people don’t want to be made better, then that is their choice, but it gets infuriating when they make that choice for everyone.”

The two soon arrived back in the lobby with Emerald locking the door behind them. It had been only a few minutes, but there was already over a dozen Warhounds in the room awaiting whatever it was Emerald was going to give them.

The viral unicorn turned towards the wall with the taps and her horn began to glow. She reached for the special locking mechanism within the wall and undid it. With that action, the red light suddenly turned on.

“One of you come over here,” Emerald called out as she walked over to stand next to the taps.

The biggest Warhound in the group stepped forward; it was Padfoot. Padfoot walked over to Emerald and looked at her wonderingly. Emerald quickly shifted into her human form, causing Navi to briefly lift off before settling atop her head, and reached over to the vials. She grabbed one and put it under the tap and opened it. The vial quickly filled up with the pink liquid and Emerald turned off the tap before holding it out to Padfoot.

“This will help you get even bigger, tougher and stronger, Padfoot,” Emerald said and stepped right next to Padfoot and placed her hand on his shoulder, viral tendrils piercing and numbing as they invaded his body. “All you have to do is drink this.”

“Right boss,” Padfoot said, not noticing the tendrils, as he took the vial from Emerald and downed it quickly.

Emerald carefully observed Padfoot on the cellular level, making sure the serum she designed wasn’t doing anything it wasn’t supposed to. The serum seemed to be working as it should though, suppressing chemicals, removing natural development limiters. Eventually, the final augment was put in place and Padfoot was not worse for wear.

“Tingly,” the large Rottweiler commented with a shake of his head.

“And it’s working as it should,” Emerald said with a pat on Padfoot’s back before turning towards the other dogs.

“What this serum does, exactly, is allow you to grow muscles easily, grow denser bones and not get tired very easily,” Emerald explained to the to the others. “And the cost for these improvement is practically meaningless. In order to fully enjoy these augmentations, you have to eat larger meals. Not exactly a bad thing, now isn’t it? Now, for the time being, only you lot will have these augments. I want to see how effectively they work on you before giving it to everyone else.”

Another dog entered the building, but he was neither a Warhound or one of her own dogs. It was the old dog that she had healed and restored his limbs, Fenrir.

“Hello there.” Emerald greeted. “I remember you from the event with Nidhogg’s skeleton. What brings you to the Enclave?”

“I have come seeking a way to repay my debt,” Fenrir stated. “At first, I thought the best way I can go about this is providing advice and offering my experience. But from what I’ve heard just now, there may be another way for me to repay my debt; a better way.”

“Your ‘serum’ allows dogs to get strong and tough easily,” Fenrir continued. “Surely that will allow an old dog like myself to retain some of my prime and help you more actively.”

“Well…” Emerald began as she walked over and began circling Fenrir. At first, the virus thought the dog’s advanced age would interfere with the augments taking hold properly, adding to the fact that his age might cause complications when bone and muscle began to develop in earnest. But Emerald then had an idea. It was a bit on the ambitious side, but it should work… in theory.

 “Hmm, your age might get in the way of proper muscle and bone development,” Emerald stated and quickly interrupted when Fenrir was about to protest. “BUT… I may have an idea of how to keep that from being an issue. I can try something, but I want you to know it’s only theoretical and I’ve never done any tests to see if it would work in any fashion.”

“I am willing to bear the risks,” Fenrir said determinedly. “If it means that I am no longer this useless bag of bones and sagging hide, that I can regain my prime in some way, then I will take any risk. I would do anything to be strong again.”

‘I would do anything to be strong…’ Emerald mentally repeated with a frown, reminded of the time she first met Alex Mercer and was given the offer to be made an Evolved. ‘Well this will be different for him. Unlike Mercer, I don’t intend to take advantage of his desperation.’

“I will do everything in my power to make sure nothing goes wrong,” Emerald promised and got a nod from Fenrir. The virus then turned towards the Warhounds. “The rest of you take a drink from the fountains. Once you are done, there is a switch under the counter. It will lock the taps. DO NOT forget to get it before you leave, got it? Good.”

“Twilight, come here, we are going to teleport,” Emerald said as she gestured for the unicorn to come.

At the unicorn’s approach, Fenrir’s expression became distinctly disdainful, but quickly cleared up before Emerald could notice. Clearly this pony was someone close to Emerald, and Fenrir didn’t want to ruin his chances of being strong again by alienating her.

When Twilight and Fenrir came close, Emerald teleport the three of them away to a different location in the Hub. The three arrived an instant later in the lab Emerald constructed for herself. Emerald then walked over to one of her tables and quickly moved everything off it via magic. Once the table was clear, she quickly transfigured it into a comfortable operating table.

“Alright, just lay down on here and I’ll get to work,” Emerald said, patting the table top.

“What happens now?” Fenrir asked once he was laying on the soft table.

“Well, I am going to put you to sleep for the next part,” Emerald answered. “Otherwise this will be a distressing experience, even for you.”

“Alright… I am ready,” Fenrir said after taking a deep breath.

“Once you wake up, you’ll notice a world of difference,” Emerald stated and placed her hand on the old dog’s shoulder. Small tendrils pierced his hide and quickly released numbing chemicals, canceling out the pain before he even felt it. Once the tendrils reached a cluster of major arteries, they released chemical into the bloodstream. Within moments, Fenrir was sound asleep and would remain that way for twenty four hours unless Emerald reversed the condition.

Off to the side, Twilight watched on in open curiosity as Emerald set to work on the old dog, though to her it only looked like she was just placing her hands on him.

The virus had a lot of work ahead of her. This body was old and the cells were at half efficiency most of the time. She would have to completely “renovate” everything in order for the real work to commence, namely allowing future augmentation. Taking a sample of his genetic code, Emerald began making “rough” copies of what the old dog’s cells would have looked like in his prime. She let loose her virus on a controlled wave of destruction and let loose another wave of viruses following the first. The first wave simply destroyed the cells and left a nutrient paste behind in its place. The second wave quickly took in the paste and replaced the empty space with a new and young cell. The average body essentially builds itself a new body on a cellular level within a month; Emerald was doing the same thing, but instead of simply replacing the cells with copies of the current ones, she used younger versions.

Twilight gasped aloud as she saw visible changes take place. The skin on Fenrir’s body began to tighten and the visibly loose folds pulled back into the body. The old dog’s fur started changing color, but instead of growing darker the gray fur became lighter, only stopping once it was white as snow. As the dog de-aged before her eyes, his breed became discernable. Before, he was simply so old that exactly what kind of dog breed wasn’t exactly a certainty. Now it became increasingly clear he was a husky like Bluno, maybe even a wolf.

After a few moments, Emerald was nearly done with Fenrir’s body. She considered healing his mind as well, but decided not to because she didn’t entirely know how to preserve his memories in the cells. Although a brief study of Fenrir’s mind revealed it was just as sharp and strong as a younger dog’s, stating clearly that the old dog had been keeping his mind in shape in place of his body. After some more minor work, Emerald stepped back to observe the result of her labours.

Fenrir was definitely some sort of wolf Diamond Dog, and a tall one at that, maybe even tall enough to rival Padfoot in size. His fur being white as snow was definitely an attention grabber. Emerald had no doubts people would be able to spot him coming from just how stark white he was. Stepping in close, Emerald briefly injected a tendril into Fenrir and released an awakening chemical.

“Rrgh.” Fenrir groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He opened his eyes and took in his arms and how much fuller they were. He was as surprised as Emerald expected him to be, but there was also an odd amount of confusion there as well.

“You made me young again, that much is obvious,” Fenrir said gruffly. “But why did you make my fur white?”

“Ah…” Emerald had made a mistake when making younger cells, since clearly white wasn’t Fenrir’s natural color. “Sorry, I can fix that if you want?”

“No, it’s not an issue,” Fenrir said as he got off the table, first steps a little shaky but quickly got better. “Gray was also a sad color anyways, never did like it. At least I don’t have to put up with the nickname anymore.”

“Great. The exit is just through that door and up the stairs, can’t miss it,” Emerald said with a gesture. “You should be able to find your way to the Orion building again easily enough. I’ll meet you there in a few minutes. I just have a few things to do here just yet.”

“Right and thank you… young Principem,” Fenrir said gratefully before moving towards the door.

Emerald watched him leave with a surprised look, reminded of the title the elders in the Enclave keep calling her by. Shaking her head, she then turned towards Twilight who was regarding her with wide, excited eyes.

“So what did you think?” Emerald asked with a smile.

“Oh my gosh, Emerald!” Twilight exclaimed. She knew Emerald could manipulate things on the cellular level, but she never knew just how far she could go with it. “You just made someone young again! There is a spell for that, but only the most powerful of unicorns are even capable of it! And if you can reverse age, then you can reverse terrible ailments as well, things that ponies would normally not be cured of or just have to live with. We have to go to the hospital in Canterlot right away!”

At first, Emerald was smiling at the praise she was receiving from Twilight. Until she started talking about healing other people. Then she was frowning.

“I can’t do that, Twilight,” Emerald replied.

“What?! Why not?” Twilight asked in confusion. “You said it yourself. You want to be a better person. Emerald, doing this, saving ponies, healing them of incurable diseases and even curing old age itself. That would do so much good and no matter what anyone would agree on that!”

“I can’t just walk into a hospital blasé as can be, healing ponies left and right!” Emerald argued. “For one, how would I even explain that? That I just on the spot without any research whatsoever invented a fix everything spell? Sure people would be grateful, but do you know just how suspicious that sounds?”

“Well… you have a reputation as a prodigy, right?” Twilight replied. “I’m sure ponies will be willing to accept that.”

“Okay MAYBE that flies, but what then?” Emerald asked with a frown. “I don’t own labs or research equipment or even have falsified documents that say I do. We can’t use the shiny new equipment in your basement either. As great as they are, they just aren’t on the same level the various magical laboratories use. Oh! And there is the fact I could get in trouble for using an untested medical spell without heavily documented and recorded testing, on top of everything else.”

“Emerald, I…” Twilight began and then sighed in resignation. “I was just trying to help you be a good person like you said you were trying to be… and this was such a great way to do that…”

Emerald’s frown immediately became sad and she felt a little ashamed of herself.

“Well… I really can’t just walk in and heal ponies, in the OPEN,” Emerald said after a moment. “But say we… save only those that wouldn’t be saved otherwise? Heal ponies that would have to put with complications their whole life. And do all this during the night. Would that be good?”

“Yeah, that would be great, Emerald.” Twilight smiled gratefully at the virus and gave her a hug. “It isn’t the healing everyone and reversing old age, but it’ll do.”

Inwardly, Emerald sighed and started thinking up plans and ways to organise “miracles” in various hospitals around Equestria.

Emerald stepped off the train onto the Canterlot train platform with a worried frown, Navi buzzing about her head.

She was returning to Canterlot for her week long study trip with Luna, but felt bad for leaving Twilight to deal with the attention back in Ponyville by herself. The Evolved had to remind herself that Twilight wasn’t completely alone and at least had Rarity on her side if not everyone else for some stupid reason.

Traveling through the station and to the streets of Canterlot, Emerald had to accept one fact: rumors really did travel at the speed of light. EVERYONE in Canterlot had apparently heard about her relationship with Twilight, considering all the staring and whispering that was going on. Deciding that she wasn’t going to put up with this sort of attention all the way to the palace, Emerald called Navi to her and quickly charged up a teleport and arrived in the palace lobby an instant later.

“GAH!” shouted a startled royal guard. “Oh, miss Gleaner! Good day to you!”

Emerald turned towards the guards in the lobby and saw that, like the ponies on the streets, they were staring as well. Unlike the ponies, however, they were quick to return to their guarding positions and blank expressions, though Emerald could see a deathly curious look in their collective eyes.

“Hello, I’m here to return to my studies,” Emerald said as her pet stuck her little face out of her mane.

“We were expecting you, miss,” the guard said and briefly looked her over. “No luggage?”

“I travel light,” Emerald answered simply.

“Very well. Follow me I shall lead you to the princess,” the guard said and turned about towards a hall.

Emerald took in her surroundings as she moved. The lobby wasn’t very close to the hall where the fight with Discord started, so it wasn’t nearly as damaged. It still was damaged, however, as the boarded up windows and a few cracks in the ceiling attested to.

They traveled down the halls, each of the windows either boarded over or heavily cracked, but still somehow in one piece. The signs of structural damage decreased as they got further away from the start of the battle, but remained constant in some form.

As they walked through an intersection, Emerald happened to glance down a hall and managed to see one of the Deinos. She was a mare with scale wings like the Podargos instead of blade wings like her own. She had a blood red coat with dirty blonde hair; her bioluminescence looked very much like some sort of terrible disease that caused throbbing, glowing rents in her flesh and crisscrossed her body like stripes, marring her cutie mark terribly and marking extremely hard to make it out. She also had a mouth so full of razor sharp teeth she couldn’t even close her mouth all the way and was baring them at the world in a perpetual grimace.

The Deinos was peacefully looking out a heavily cracked window when she seemed to sense Emerald staring at her and quickly snapped her head in Emerald’s direction. She and Emerald stared at each other for a moment as the guard continued forward, thinking Emerald was still following.

After a moment, Emerald began walking forward and approached the Deinos. The infected mare widened her eyes in surprise and her perpetual grimace twisted slightly into a smile. Emerald came to a stop before the Deinos and took in her form for a moment and was just about to speak when the mare beat her to it.

“You are Enerald, right?” the mare said with deep sniff. “I have never seen you,’ ut I’ve snelt your scent efore.”

“Yes, I am Emerald,” the virus replied. She wondered at the mare’s way of speaking, but could see the reason for it very clearly; her teeth kept her lips from touching and thus certain sounds were now beyond her. “You know, I’ve never seen Deinos other than Razor Wind my entire stay last time.”

“Razor Wing didn’t want us to ‘other you,” the Deinos said with another sniff. “I wondered the reason why he would say that, ‘ut now I fully understand. Now that I an closer, your scent is… cativating.”

“Oh…” Emerald was used to the infected ponies acting a certain way towards her, but the way this one was acting… it was off putting to say the least.

“I’ve heard rumors from the staff that you like nares?” the Deinos stated and started circling Emerald like a shark, her gaze making the viral unicorn all too aware of the fact she wasn’t wearing clothes. “Hnnn… a most curious and unheard of development. I wonder… will you seek ne out should it not work out with your… fillyfriend?”

“Uhhh…” Emerald began a little unsurely. “Maybe… no promises.”

“No pronises…” the mare accepted with a nod.

“Uh, can I get your name?” Emerald asked.

“I am Shar Skies,” Sharp answered before disappearing with a blinding teleport and bang.

Emerald stared at the spot where the Deinos was for a moment, not sure how to feel about the fact she got an offer to be her rebound girl.

“Miss Gleaner?” Emerald heard and turned around to see the guard she was following. “I see you’ve just met one of our resident Deinos. I hope she didn’t startle you or anything.”

“Umm… no, I am fine,” Emerald said with a shake of her head. “Let’s continue on our way to the princess.”

“Right this way, miss.”

There were no more delays after that, and Emerald was lead straight to the room Princess Luna was awaiting her in. After bidding the guard thanks and goodbye, Emerald walked through the double doors and into the study.

The lessons with Luna she had experience so far had been always serious at first, but then Luna’s excitement of finally having a student would bleed through and the lessons ended up feeling much more casual and friendly. However, Luna’s demeanor this time as she stood in the middle of the room was unquestionably imperious as she stared down at Emerald, her head held up in an almost imperially haughty manner.

‘Err… what’s with the look?’ Emerald thought in concern. ‘Is she disapproving of me and Twilight? I sure as hell hope not. Princess or not, I am not about to put up with it.’

“Young Emerald, I am most disappointed in you,” Luna stated, seemingly confirming Emerald’s concerns. “I expected more out of a student of mine than to place such vulgar looking pictures for all to see.”

“Umm, what exactly are you referring to?” Emerald asked in some confusion, not sure what Luna was talking about now.

“The pose in this picture, one among many,” Luna answered, presenting a magazine open to a page that had Emerald in a suggestive pose with a wrench.

“Oh…” Emerald was incredibly relieved. Had Luna been talking about her and Twilight, then she would have been forced to choose between the two; a choice that wasn’t at all hard in Emerald’s eyes. But now that she knew, she didn’t have to make that choice. She was happy. Happy enough to feel playful, even. “What exactly are you referring to in the picture, your highness?”

“Th-the pose!” Luna stated, blushing at the idea of explaining why exactly the pose was inappropriate. But Emerald’s face was the picture of childlike innocence as she stared up at her with wide eyes, making the Lunar Princess believe she was in the wrong to think Emerald knew what she was doing when she made that pose.

“Yes, but… what about the pose, exactly?” Emerald asked with faux curiosity.

“W-well… the way you are lying on your side for one…” Luna began hesitantly, hoping for any sign of realization in Emerald’s expression so that she didn’t have to explain her reasons further, but the visage of innocence remained firmly in place. “And umm… the way your eyes look, hooded as they are, imply a closeness like… like a… pony special to you and… the wrench implies you are about to… to… to… nevermind.”

“Oooookay?” Emerald said with over dramatized befuddlement.

“Well… I wish to ask you about something else before we began our practical lessons,” Luna said. “I wish to question you about your relationship with my sister’s student, one Twilight Sparkle.”

“Oh, alright then,” Emerald said with utmost seriousness. “What do you wish to know, your highness?”

“How is it that you find yourself attracted to another mare?” Luna asked in honest curiosity. “It is not possible for the two of you to have children, although I admit there are more than a few unions that don’t result in children. Still, the question remains. Why are you a ‘couple’ with Twilight Sparkle?”

“She… is a hero,” Emerald answered and smiled softly as she thought about Twilight. “I was a paranoid mess when I met her, always expecting the worst of everyone I met, always on guard for the pain of betrayal. But the day I met her changed me for the better… I was on a downward spiral for years and she stopped my descent. I never intended for our friendship to become something more… it just happened. But I do not regret it and would fight to preserve it.”

Luna smiled down at her student, but now wondered about he. She knew about Twilight and her friends’ theory of Emerald being a former gladiator slave. Emerald alluded to a highly troubled past and the gladiator idea did seem to fit, but it wasn’t entirely a certainty if it was the truth. But the princess wasn’t comfortable with the idea of pressing her student for the story of her past, being as she only just started teaching her two weeks ago.

“Well I think we’ve put off lessons for long enough,” Luna stated and quickly took on an easy going stance. “Today’s lesson is the manipulation of gravity. Now, every unicorn knows the levitation spell, but what you will learn will be much more…”

‘The phoenix is an iconic creature,’ Emerald read. ‘It represents life and fire, and although it puts up the surprisingly realistic image of flesh and blood at times, it truly is a being of fire. Readers may recognise the creature in question, as her highness Princess Celestia possesses one as a pet. When this fire bird was discovered is not completely known and many, many myths, legends and folklore speak of their origins and all share one fact. They tell of the phoenix’s origins leading back to one being of unrestrained fire and life. A mighty phoenix said to be as bright as the sun itself.’

Emerald looked over on to the neighbouring page and saw a stylised picture of a massive phoenix spreading its wings out as it roosted atop a mountain.

‘Hmm…’ Emerald thought as she quickly looked over the other pages in the book. ‘Seems like the rest is a collection of all those various myths and legends about phoenixes. Knowing the way this world works, I bet each and every one of them is right in some way.’

Hearing someone walking past, Emerald glanced towards the open door of the study she was in and spotted Celestia walking by, Rarity following close behind. Instantly curious about why Rarity was in Canterlot, Emerald put her book down and quickly walked out of the study and nearly run into the bellhop carrying a massive load of luggage.

“Excuse me,” Emerald said as she moved past.

“No p-problem,” the overloaded bellhop groaned.

“Rarity!” Emerald called out as she neared the other unicorn.

“Emerald dear!” Rarity exclaimed happily and trotted over to Emerald and gave her a tight hug. “How are you doing? I hope ponies aren’t bothering you over Twilight.”

“I’m doing fine, Rarity. It’ll take more than a bit of staring to bother me,” Emerald answered. “I’m more worried about Twilight, though. How is she? Is she holding up well?”

“She is doing fine, darling,” Rarity reassured with a smile. “The others are supporting her and standing up for her, and the others in Ponyville are starting to accept what is going between the two of you. It’s just taking a bit of time.”

“It’ great to know that,” Emerald said.

“I have to admit, I myself needed a night’s sleep before wrapping my mind around the concept of two mares in a relationship,” Celestia admitted. “Might I ask how you and my student came to be together?”

“Well, really your highness, your student is just a wonderful mare,” Emerald answered with a small smile. “As I explained to Luna, when I met Twilight I was in such a bad downward spiral, I don’t like to think where I’d be right now if I hadn’t met here when I did. But now that we are together, I never want to lose her. I just…”

“Ohhhh… Emerald, if I was even the least bit doubtful of the two of you before, I definitely am not now.” Rarity sighed happily at Emerald’s honest outpouring of emotion. “She must mean the world to you.”

“Yes, she does,” Emerald replied a little shyly.

Celestia could only smile at Emerald’s words. She had a feeling that things would work out between her student and Emerald, despite what troubles may plague them. However, the princess couldn’t help but wonder at the meaning of some of Emerald’s words. She made it sound like meeting Twilight kept her from doing something terrible, but what could she have meant? Did she mean she was a hair’s breadth away from a life of crime? The thought of someone as skilled a fighter, who possessed such immense prodigal potential falling into a life of crime honestly made the princess’ mood take a sudden downturn. There was no doubt in her mind that had Emerald become a criminal, she would have been picked up by the Gray Fox at some point. The havoc the two would have unleashed upon Equestria would undoubtedly live on in infamy for generations. It could even have been a stained glass window worthy chapter in Equestria’s history.

Celestia shook her head clear of the distasteful thoughts. Emerald was most definitely not going to be a criminal now, that was for certain, and she never would be with Twilight at her side. With that, the princess returned her attention to the other two people in the hall; three if you counted the beleaguered bellhop.

“Her highness is letting me stay at the palace for a few days!” Rarity said excitedly to Emerald. “I plan to be going all over Canterlot and taking in the wondrous sights. Won’t you come along with me? It would be just the best treat to have you along, darling.”

“I’d love to Rarity, but I’m here studying under Princess Luna,” Emerald replied a bit sadly. “I’m kept a bit busy. I was just enjoying the little free time she lets me have. Though it’s not like her lessons are all work and no play. There is a lot of fun in the practical lessons and the princess isn’t above playful demonstrations.”

“Oh my, it sounds like you are enjoying being taught by Princess Luna,” Rarity said with a bright smile. “And to think you were hesitant on becoming her student!”

‘Enjoying having a student, my dear Luna?’ Celestia thought with a warm smile. ‘I do so enjoy it as well… I miss the hooves on lessons I’d have with Twilight now. She is making wonderful progress on her own lessons as well. It seems like I only have a decade or so left before she finishes her lessons with me and I am left without a student again… I really should spend more time with her; I just wish I wasn’t so busy all the time.’

“Uhh! UGH! GRRRAGH!”

Everyone turned at the sound of a massive crash and was met with the sight of the bellhop buried under Rarity’s vast amount of luggage.

“Ah… perhaps we should get my things to my room before speaking more?” Rarity asked a little sheepishly.

Emerald stared down at the letter in her hooves, Navi in her mane sleeping the day away in boredom as Emerald studied in her room.

Like she had said to Rarity a few days ago, she was very busy and couldn’t tag along with her on her trips. However, Twilight’s birthday was that very day and Emerald wasn’t going to miss it for the world, especially with all the work she put in for Twilight’s gift. But Twilight had sent her a letter stating that Rarity wasn’t going to be able to come back in time for the party because her cat was sick, so they were moving the party there.

On one hand, Emerald was glad she didn’t have to convince Luna to let her off for the whole day, even though she was fairly certain Luna would ago in no uncertain terms to letting her attend Twilight’s birthday. On the other hand, she was fairly certain Rarity hadn’t looked all that stressed out the last time she had seen her, which she would have been had her cat been sick enough to forgo travel. So what exactly was up with Rarity?

‘On second thought, I am rather paranoid, aren’t I?’ Emerald thought with a wry grin. ‘Opalescence likely has like a tiny cough or something and Rarity is blowing it way out of proportion. In either case, Twilight is moving the party here so I only have to take the afternoon off from my studies. It’s about time I get to wrapping my gift for Twilight.’

Emerald made her way over to the table at the side of her bed and opened the drawer. Inside was a big, thick book with a dark green velvet coat. Stamped over the front was a silver plate with the title engraved on it that read “Obscure Science”. It was a blank book that Emerald had bought and had proceeded to fill completely front to back with information; it even had illustrations she had drawn herself.

The virus had worked on it tirelessly every night for the past week, just filling page after page with scientific knowledge from her world that currently didn’t exist in Equestria. Emerald was nearly absolutely certain Twilight would love this gift, and that fact alone would be more than worth the effort she had put in to make the book.

‘Now just have to wrap it up for her!’ Emerald thought and quickly took out a roll plain pink wrapping paper along with white ribbon. Twenty minutes of struggling later and Emerald managed to get it looking like a commercial set piece present like she wanted.

‘Right, now just have to go see Luna and tell her about my plans for today. Then I just do my lessons until everything is set up tonight,’ Emerald thought.

Leaving the present on her bed, she left the room, locking the door behind her.

It was later that day and the sun had gone down. Emerald had been informed by one of the Thracian maids that Twilight’s party had finished being set up in one of the ballrooms. She was now on her way to said party.

With Navi perched on one ear and the present being magically held to her side, the virus opened the large pair of double doors before her.

“Emerald!” the virus heard a happy shout.

“Hi Twilight.” Emerald smiled. The inside of the ballroom had been decorated for Twilight’s birthday party. There were streamers criss-crossing everywhere along with balloons; there was already a ton of confetti covering the floor, likely the cause being an overly excited Pinkie Pie. One table was covered in various cakes and cupcakes while another table had a small pile of gifts on it. Everyone was there as well, though Rarity seemed rather oddly overdressed and Twilight seemed to be wearing one of her gifts.

“So great you could make it!” Twilight said happily as she trotted over to Emerald in her simple yellow dress with a pink sash.

“I’d never miss it,” Emerald replied. “Luna’s not the type to make me miss this anyway. Also, here is my present to you.”

“Oh!” Twilight said and magically took the gift away from Emerald. “It looks like it might be a book. Thank you Emerald, I’m certain it will be a wonderful read.”

“It should!” Emerald stated with a grin. “I wrote it myself.”

“You wrote…” Twilight looked down at her gift with impatient excitement and quickly tore it open.

“You gave her a book you wrote yourself?” Dash stated questioningly before rolling her eyes with a smirk. “You can be such an egg head sometimes Emmy.”

“Oh my gosh, Emerald!” Twilight exclaimed as she started skimming through her new book. “You wrote all this and made all these illustrations just for me?”

“I certainly did.” Emerald smiled. “Took constant work nearly every night of the past week, but I finished it.”

“Thank you so much Emerald!” Twilight said happily. “It’s a wonderful gift!”

“Yeah, way to show us up,” Rainbow said with a playful jab of her elbow.

Suddenly Twilight grew extremely shy, and her face turned a little crimson before she started approaching Emerald. The Evolved watched her curiously as she came to a stop before her and had to crush down an amused smile when Twilight closed her eyes and started leaning in close.

Twilight’s face seemed to grow steadily redder as she inched closer towards Emerald and after a moment she finally kissed Emerald… on the cheek. Then she looked away bashfully and looked for all the world like a purple Fluttershy.

“Gee Twilight, it’s just a kiss on the cheek,”  Emerald said with a smile. “You don’t have to get all worked up over it. It’s not like we were French kissing.”

“Umm… what’s ‘French kissing’”? Twilight asked a little hesitantly, remembering how she regretted finding out what a prostitute was.

“Well, it’s basically like a normal kiss,” Emerald began, full well knowing the next part was going to embarrass her. “Except we both open our mouths a little as we kiss and slip our tongues into each other’s mouth.”

“Oh my gosh!” Twilight exclaimed, her face completely flush.

“Heh heh.” Emerald smiled at her so easily frazzled “fillyfriend” and suddenly noticed the others. They were now only a few feet away and were standing together; they were wide eyed with blushing faces and were staring almost expectedly, almost as if they were expecting Emerald to just suddenly give Twilight a very in-depth example of a french kiss. Emerald rolled her eyes at them.

“What? Are you all expecting a show or something?” Emerald asked.

“Yes,” Pinkie said.

“No!” the others quickly denied and shot the party mare a look.

“What?” Pinkie said in honest confusion.

Emerald just shook her head a little and turned her head back towards Twilight. She blinked when she saw that Twilight was standing a little closer and had her eyes closed as her mouth hung a little open, her face almost as red as a cherry.

“Twilight…” Emerald sighed and gave her a small pat on the nose with her hoof. “You don’t have to force yourself into stuff like this. Just one step after another. Slow and steady, but most importantly, as you are ready for them.”

“R-right, sorry… that was silly of me,” Twilight said in embarrassment.

“It’s alright, Twilight,” Emerald said as she stepped beside the other unicorn and gave her a comforting hug. “This is a learning experience for the both of us, okay?”

“Yes, you’re right, Emerald,” Twilight said with a smile.

“Great. Now, who’s up for some cake?” Emerald asked. “Because I certainly am!”

“Oh me, me, me!” Pinkie shouted as she hopped in place excitedly before darting over to the cake table. “I’ll start slicing pieces for everypony!”

The party proceeded fairly well after that, and Twilight quickly got over her earlier embarrassment as she opened the presents from the others. However, while everyone was having fun, Emerald noticed something strange. Rarity disappeared suddenly for a short while before slipping in from a side door of the ball room.

Wondering what exactly had gained Rarity’s attention outside, Emerald watched and waited until she left again before following right after her. She easily managed to keep from being noticed by both Rarity and the others and found where the other unicorn had been going. There was apparently a high class garden party happening right outside in the garden.

Quickly shifting her stance into one of total and complete confidence and pride, Emerald strode right into the heart of the party. Not a single noble gave her a second glance, though more than a few seemed to briefly look like they recalled her.

Rarity came to a stop and looked around the party, seemingly looking for someone. Emerald came to a stop right beside her as she was looking in the opposite direction.

“I take it that you are looking for someone?”

“Oh my goodness!” Rarity gasped and her eyes widened in alarm when she saw Emerald standing right beside her. “Emerald! I was just… taking a look see, and I…”

Rarity’s attempts to make an excuse died off as Emerald just stared her down. It was then that the nobles in the party started to notice and recognise her.

“Oh my, miss Gleaner, have you come to ‘crash’ our festivity?” a passing noble asked, not sounding the least offended by the idea. “Always room for celebrities, I always say!”

“Yes, please enjoy your time here,” the noble’s lady companion added with a polite smile before the two went on their way.

Emerald took stock of her surroundings. She had expected several nobles to immediately come swarm her to speak with her. The Evolved was a famed model and owned quite a bit of money making real estate after all. But other than a few of the nearest giving her some light greetings, they didn’t try. Some were even moving away with varying degrees of subtlety.

‘Likely has to do with my relationship with Twilight,’ Emerald thought with an internal frown. ‘It has a chance to stir up some controversy and they don’t want to be connected with bad press. Still, this isn’t as bad it could be on Earth. I hardly think the controversy a pony would stir up over me and Twilight would be in any way crippling anyway. I doubt I’d even get any hate over it; just honest confusion.’

About that time was when one of the nobles approached her and didn’t seem like he was just going to polite greet her and leave.

“Good evening, miss Gleaner,” he welcomed with a polite smile. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Fancy Pants, and I am most pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“Oh, I am pleased to meet you as well,” Emerald replied. “Forgive me, shall I refer to you as Lord or Mister? I’ve meet nobles before, and they don’t seem to be very consistent on the matter.”

“You may call me Fancy Pants, miss Gleaner,” Fancy replied. “I must confess an admiration for you, my dear. A young up and coming unicorn rising above her troubles and lack of education is a most inspiring feat. I have no doubts you’ll be motivating generations both present and future with your achievements.”

“Thank you kindly Fancy Pants, but a good number of my accomplishments can be attributed to luck,” Emerald replied. “I’d likely only have finished catching up on my education right now if I hadn’t had the luck of meeting Photo Finish.”

“And modest as well!” Fancy smiled. “Knowing to restrain an ego is a most laudable ability and will get you far. In any case, allow me to explain the reason why I came to speak with you. You see, my wife Fleur is a fan of yours and happens to be a model as well.”

“Fleur… as in Fleur De Lis?” Emerald asked.

“The very same,” Fancy answered. “You see, she wishes to set up a dinner date of sorts with you and has been meaning to send you letter requesting it, though she has been a bit busy.”

“Hmm… Didn’t she start modeling for another company competing with New Paradigm?”

“Oh yes, she was inspired by you really, and decided to help boost the economy by getting a flagging company some positive attention,” Fancy Pants said. “I realise you are a majority shareholder in New Paradigm, so I do hope this isn’t an issue for you?”

“Of course not,” Emerald answered with a shake of her head. “The market is quite… open for growth right now, and competition is always good for the consumer, now isn’t it? And as for the dinner date, I’d be glad to attend, though I am quite a bit busy; studying with Princess Luna, modeling for New Paradigm and personal projects are keeping me quite engaged, I’m afraid.”

“Not an issue at all!” Fancy replied. “Fleur will exchange a few letters with you and set up an appropriate date. We’ll have dinner aboard the Cloud Nine. Of course, it goes without saying you may bring a date as well.”

“Oh… well I most certainly shall look forward to Fleur De Lis’ letter.” Emerald was a bit surprised. Fancy Pants definitely seemed like the sort of noble to always know what was going on and so would certainly know about her and Twilight. Maybe he was just a kind person despite the games a noble would have to play in order to advance in the world of business and politics, not that it was as cutthroat as it could have been, ponies being ponies after all.

“I look forward to it as well. Oh, and I apologise Rarity. I didn’t mean to ignore you for so long,” Fancy Pants said to the other unicorn.

“Oh umm… it’s not an issue at all!” Rarity replied, shooting a worried glance at Emerald. “I was just, umm…”

“Well I have somewhere else to be,” Emerald stated in the odd lull in the conversation. “If you excuse me, Fancy Pants, Rarity, I’ll be sure to tell Twilight where you are.”

Barely a few steps away and the virus was already being chased down by Rarity.

“Darling, wait!” Rarity shouted then quickly quieted down when she noticed the looks she was getting. “I was… ohhhh… I take it you know about Opal being sick, right? Well… I lied about that. You see, I had… enhanced the truth while speaking with some of these high class ponies and ended up being rather popular for it. I just… couldn’t bear to abandon that popularity when I had the opportunity to attend this party.”

“Even if it meant not attending your best friend’s birthday party?” Emerald asked quietly and Rarity looked away, knowing very well it looked rather bad. “This reminds me of the gala we all attended several months ago. Spike wanted to show you all around the place that had been his home for most of his life and you all snubbed him for your own desires. I went with him to be a good friend and ended up having a wonderful time while the rest of you ended up having a horrible night. I could have went off on my own too, but I saw the gala for what it was; a big networking event to make business deals and just a place to be seen in. I could have taken the opportunity to create business for my own company, but I didn’t. I decided to be a friend and went with Spike. Do you understand what I am getting at, Rarity?”

“I… I know Emerald…” Rarity said dejectedly. “Oh I must be a horrible friend…”

“If you were a horrible friend, you wouldn’t have supported me and Twilight so easily, Rarity,” Emerald assured. “You just made a mistake is all. Everypony does it.”

“Thank you darling,” Rarity smiled softly before turning around to face Fancy Pants who was staring after them curiously. “Good sir, I must apologise but I have to take my leave now. A rather important event has come up and I just CAN’T afford to miss it.”

“Oh it’s no trouble at all.” Fancy smiled. “It was good fun to have you here while you were able.”

“Thank you again, sir,” Rarity said before quickly following after Emerald.

The two went on their way back to Twilight’s party, but once they were out of earshot of the nobles, Rarity spoke up.

“Oh my reputation is just going to be torn to shreds once everypony knows I lied,” Rarity sighed.

“Rarity, I don’t even need to know what exactly you lied about to tell you that you will be fine,” Emerald replied. “Popularity is a fickle thing. Unless you come back here all the time and involve yourself in more of these public events, the nobility will soon forget about you. Even if somepony finds out about your lie a month from now, no one will care because it will be old news and you won’t be relevant anymore.”

“Well there’s that at least,” Rarity said with a deadpan look at the thought of being forgotten so easily.

Soon the two arrived at the side entrance they had taken to leave Twilight party and re-entered the ballroom.

“So what’s it like to kiss a filly?” Dash asked curiously as she hovered overhead.

“Uh…” Twilight didn’t really know how to answer the question because she had only ever kissed Emerald and hadn’t gotten close to a colt enough to be friends, let alone kiss. “S-soft?”

“Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy gasped like Twilight said something scandalous.

“R-really?” Dash asked with a red face.

“Uhh… yeah?” Twilight said bashfully. “… Emerald is, anyway.”

“Seems like everyone was too busy with girl talk to notice we were gone,” Emerald commented.

“Fantastic, let’s just slip right back in and enjoy the rest of the party,” Rarity said happily.

The two closed the doors behind them and rejoined Twilight’s birthday party.

Emerald stood in her human form and was taking in her surroundings.

She was in a massive chamber, big enough to easily hold a ten story building with quite a bit of space to spare. Large industrial lights lined the ceiling while the walls of the chamber were lined with thick steel plating. Higher up, a series of catwalks hung in the air from steel cables anchored to the ceiling. And this room was only one of four.

‘Several months of hard work.’ Emerald smiled. ‘And it all came out wonderfully. The steel testing cages are now finished and ready for the advanced stages of the project. When I eventually get there that is. Still need to get through a few stages before I can even get into the testing stage. But once it finally happens, it’ll be over a year’s worth of work coming to culmination.’

Emerald turned around and made for one of the heavily armored doors along the floor level.

‘Speaking of stages, I still need to make a decision on just what kind of creature I intend to make.’ Emerald frowned in thought. ‘I could try to make something self-aware… but should I? I mean, so far I’ve only created plants and a specially designed virus. Even the simplest of animals would be tons more complicated than that. Hmm… okay, let’s try a really clever dog with a lot of adaptability. I’ve never made something so complicated before, so the process might be a bit… buggy. But what else should it have? Well, it’s definitely going to be a shock creature like the brawlers were, but better. Unlike Mercer, I don’t intend to treat these guys like fodder to send into the grinder until they clog it. And I have the perfect idea for how to make them look and sound!’

With an eager smile, Emerald reached the armored door and walked through.

Twilight watched carefully as the sun finally set beyond the horizon and only the warm colors of dusk marked it’s departure. Once all signs of the sun were completely gone, she looked down at the list she was levitating.

The unicorn was outside, just down the street from her home. Her books on dating and romance arrived a few days ago and she spent all her free time studying those. It was this very day that she had realised it had been well over a week since she and Emerald became a couple, and yet the two of them hadn’t been on a date. According to her research, this was much too long and she had set about correcting that as soon as possible.

‘Let’s see…’ Twilight thought as she scanned her list. ‘Handsome bow tie, check. Picnic basket, check. Picnic blanket, check. Candles for romantic picnic, check. Salivating romantic dinner… err, sandwiches are good, right? Well, good thing I have her favorite donuts here too, so check. Make sure night is clear and comfortable, check. Scouted area before picnic, check. And finally a stylish hairdo…’

Twilight took out a small mirror and looked at herself. Around her neck was a red bowtie along with a white detached color. Her hairstyle was not different at all from how she arranged it any other day.

‘I think it’s pretty good,’ Twilight thought, striking up a few poses to display her mane from different angles. ‘Check! Right, let’s do this! I’m ready!’

Twilight quickly walked over to her front door, her picnic basket floating along behind her in the air, and knocked on the door. After a few moments, the door opened and Emerald looked out. She blinked in some confusion when she saw Twilight.

“Hey there Twilight,” Emerald greeted. “What’s with the bowtie and basket?”

“Emerald Gleaner, would you please go on a date with me?” Twilight recited from the script she memorised.

“Oh!” Emerald stated with a wide smile and small chuckle. “Sure Twilight. Wwhere are we going and what are we doing?”

“I know this beautiful spot on a nearby hill,” Twilight answered. “I think it would make for a wonderful romantic candle lit picnic.”

“I think that sounds great!” Emerald said with a wide smile. “Shall we go?”

The two then made their way towards the place where Twilight planned to have the picnic. Though Twilight was wondering if she was doing something wrong, because Emerald seemed more amused about the whole thing than eagerly excited like the books suggested she would be.

‘It’s not too big a difference, right?’ Twilight thought hopefully. ‘Amusement is just as good as excitement… I think. If it isn’t, hopefully the picnic can salvage a bad beginning.’

They soon arrived at the destination, a hill with a single oak tree sitting atop it and a crisp, clear night sky above. The moon was out as well, so even if Twilight somehow forgot the candles they could have easily done the picnic by moonlight.

‘Which is arguably a more romantic setting if my research is correct.’ Twilight hummed in thought. ‘But I already said I had candles for the picnic! Darn. Well, this can be just as good.’

Once they were on top of the hill, Twilight briefly agonised over having the picnic fully under the tree or away from it so they had the sky over them. Eventually, she decided that having the night sky over them as they ate and talked was better for the atmosphere. She then quickly set up the blanket and the candles before revealing what they would be eating.

“Sandwiches and donuts. Quite the feast,” Emerald said delightedly and eyed the donuts hungrily.

“Oh yes, uh… nothing but the best for you,” Twilight replied and dug around the basket a bit, almost panicking as she couldn’t find what she was looking for before finding it in the end.

Twilight quickly took her script out of the basket before Emerald could see and grabbed a sandwich for herself. Though she looked like she’d very much prefer having the donuts, Emerald grabbed a sandwich as well.

Twilight took her chance as Emerald bit into her sandwich and levitated the script she had just behind her head. She was suddenly rather glad she had candles, as it helped mask the glow of her magic behind Emerald. However, for all of Twilight’s careful planning and scripting, she forgot one little detail…

Emerald’s eyes darted up towards Twilight’s forehead before darting to the side and looking like she was about to turn around. Twilight panicked and quickly darted the page out of sight and ended the spell. Emerald looked behind her, and after a moment of looking, turned back around to face Twilight with an amused shrug.

Twilight started up her spell again as Emerald’s smile widened slightly and she began reading off her script.

“You look beautiful tonight, Emerald,” Twilight complimented.

“Why thank you!” Emerald said. “I put in about… no effort at all to look this good, heh.”

“Oh uh, right.” Twilight smiled and quickly moved on to another line. “I think the night brings out your eyes beautifully.”

“Oh I don’t know, Twilight.” Emerald said uncertainly. “I think the moonlight brings out your eyes better.”

“O-oh, thank you Emerald…” Twilight blushed, remembering how Emerald liked her eyes.

Twilight went through her script a bit, looking for an appropriate line when she found complimenting table manners. She was about to recite it when she saw what Emerald was doing now.

The virus had finished her sandwich and was now into the donuts. It was clear that she had already eaten a few as white icing was smeared a little around her lips, which she quickly started to lick off.

‘Right, something else then,’ Twilight thought.

The date continued on from there. Emerald munched away on donuts and the occasional sandwich while Twilight recited line after line of rather cheesy and predictable lines, more than a few sounding like tame pony pickup lines. Twilight for her part was rather worried she was doing something very wrong. Instead of becoming bashful and flustered by all the compliments she poured on, Emerald seemed to only stay amused and even laughed a few times. But at the same time, she hadn’t just left in disgust like the book said the “datee” would if she felt the date was going horribly. So on the fact that this was her first time going on a date with someone and it wasn’t ending horribly, she tentatively considered it going well.

Before long, Emerald had practically eaten everything Twilight had prepared and Twilight had nearly used up all her lines, and was now in danger of repeating herself which her research said was very bad. So she considered the date over and had gone about escorting Emerald back home like the books suggested.

‘Okay, remember, try not to sound like you REALLY want to know how well you performed,’ Twilight thought fretfully. ‘Try to be as casual as possible.’

“S-so uh, how did you like the date?” Twilight asked.

“I think it was great. I had a fun time all around.” Emerald smiled widely.

Twilight smiled happily and remembered there was one last thing to do just yet. She stepped a bit closer and started leaning in to kiss Emerald goodbye as the books instructed was appropriate for a successful date. She was stopped by Emerald’s hoof on her mouth.

“Twilight…” Emerald sighed but still had a small smile on her face. “You shouldn’t try to make our relationship work like we are some couple in a romance novel. What we have… well, there aren’t any pre-set rules for Equestria. We should just be ourselves and not do as some books say we should.”

“Besides…” Emerald continued as she pulled Twilight into a tight hug. “You being yourself is what made me fall for you.”

Twilight for her part was incredibly embarrassed for herself for how scripted and planned everything was, but was glad it all went over well with Emerald. She returned the other mare’s hug, happy and content with the world.

‘This must be how others feel when they find somepony special to them,’ Twilight thought as she basked in Emerald’s embrace. ‘It feels so nice and…’

Suddenly an image flashed through Twilight’s mind, an image of Emerald shrouded in shadows and twisted in darkness, claws dripping with blood. Innocent lives ended and those they loved mourning their loss. Then Emerald simply walking away without any punishment or consequence and living happily with her friends, enjoying life despite the lives taken.

“Is there something wrong, Twilight?” Emerald asked after she felt Twilight stiffen up.

“Oh… I just felt cold all of the sudden,” Twilight said honestly. She did feel cold, so very cold…

“Err, Twilight?” Emerald said questioningly as Twilight started walking away. “You do remember that you live here right?”

“Oh! Of course!” Twilight said in embarrassment before quickly walking back to her home, walking past a smiling Emerald who waited until she was inside before closing the door behind her.