Twilight lied in her bed, wide awake and staring at the other mare sharing the bed with her.
‘She said she loved me…’ Twilight thought as she stared at her viral fillyfriend who was apparently asleep beside her. ‘I knew there would be affection between the two of us, but for it now to be actual love…’
Twilight was thinking about the confrontation between Emerald and her friends a while ago, where Emerald had mentioned to Rainbow Dash she was staying with someone she loved. It had got Twilight thinking… what did she find attractive about Emerald? Did she find Emerald attractive?
Gently lifting the blanket away from Emerald, Twilight took in her form. Almost immediately Twilight started noticing a ton of things about her fillyfriend’s body, mostly because this was the first time she actually looked. Emerald’s body lacked no physical flaws- not even the smallest ones- and the muscle only added rather than detracted from her feminine appearance. Her alabaster coat was such a clean white that even snow seemed a bit dull in comparison. Her mane was a bright pink; it was striking and could catch the eyes of anyone who gave the slightest glance in its direction. The unicorn felt her cheeks warm up for some reason as she took in Emerald’s form and started looking at her face, bright emerald green eyes staring at-
“Hello there~” Emerald drawled with a smirk as Twilight suddenly noticed that she was wide awake as well with a start. “Enjoying the show I hope?”
“Ah! E-Emerald! I didn’t know you were awake!” Twilight said, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “Umm, I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stare at you.”
“Oh Twilight, you know I don’t sleep,” Emerald said with a teasing smile. “And I’m your girlfriend. You can look all you want! You can even cop a feel if you want to.”
“C-cop a f-feel?” Twilight repeated with wide eyes and felt her cheeks heat up even more. “Umm… m-maybe some other time, I-I’m going to go have a shower now.”
With that Twilight leapt out of bed and quickly trotted into her bathroom, the sound of Emerald giggling drifting after her as she closed the door. For some reason, instead of making the shower comfortably hot as she’d normally do, she made it more than a little cold. Twilight didn’t know why she decided to do that, but it felt appropriate for some reason.
When Twilight came out of her uncomfortably cold shower, she saw the bed made and Emerald gone. Moving to go about her daily schedule, Twilight got the list Emerald helped her write out of a drawer. Walking downstairs, she went into her library to begin her studying.
When the unicorn arrived, she heard the clanging of pots and pans as Emerald likely helped Spike cook breakfast. Picking out some studying materials, a few books, an ink well and some quills, she went to one of the desks before settling in. Mentally thanking Emerald for helping her with her monthly schedule, she began her study session.
About ten minutes or so into the study session, Twilight was forced to stop. She felt like something was going to happen… or was supposed to happen. The unicorn didn’t know how to describe the feeling she was experiencing; it was an emotion of pure expectation and then… nothing.
When Emerald walked into the library with a plate of breakfast for Twilight, she noticed the frown Twilight had on her face.
“Trying to figure something out?” Emerald asked as she placed the plate on a clear spot on the desk Twilight was using.
“Well… yes,” Twilight said with a confused look before shaking her head clear. “Going to work?”
“Yes I am,” Emerald answered with a smile. “Got a ton of stuff to do today and want to get started on a lot more stuff before I have to leave for Canterlot later in the week.”
“Well remember what I used to tell you. Don’t spend all your time working,” Twilight said as she got up and walked over to Emerald’s side and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek. “But otherwise, have a good day, Emerald.”
“Thank you, Twilight,” Emerald said with a happy smile before disappearing in a flash of pink light.
Twilight couldn’t help the happy smile on her face from the domestic feelings stirred up by the act of kissing Emerald goodbye before she went to work. She returned to her desk, the previous feelings of expectation forgotten. Her day would prove to be very mundane with the closest point to excitement being when Pinkie came in to tell her about the big dog that had wandered into town.
ALPHA
Emerald was walking down a dusty old hall while reading a book she had found in old library of the palace ruins. Suddenly, she heard an echo of a startled shout.
She looked up just in time to see a wall slide to the side and reveal a chute. A moment later, a large black diamond dog in Warhound armor shot out of the slide and skidded across the floor before bashing into the wall. It was Padfoot.
“Enjoying the traps, Padfoot?” Emerald asked the dog.
“No, boss,” the big dog replied as got up from the floor, looking even larger than before thanks to his augments.
There was more shouting coming from the now exposed slide, this time of whoops of excitement rather than surprise. After a moment, Tavish came sliding down on his feet. When the slide ended, he leaped up into the air with a flip before landing on his feet.
“Woo hahaha!” the little diamond dog laughed. “Ahhh, now this reminds me of the time I went treasure hunting. All these booby trapped ruins need is a pony in an odd looking helmet and this will be a complete experience!”
“Well have fun with them while you can,” Emerald said to Tavish. “They’re getting in the way of restoring this place, so we’ll be disassembling them where we can.”
“Ahhh that is too bad, lass,” Tavish said with disappointment. “So what are you reading there?”
“This is a journal I found in the library,” Emerald answered and started walking again. “It’s been giving me some very enlightening facts about this area, plus a few other little tidbits. Speaking of this place, how long do you think before this place is all fixed up?”
“Well I ain’t an engineer, lass,” Tavish replied as he fell into step behind Emerald. “I don’t exactly know how much work this place is going to need. This place ain’t exactly a fortress either, so some remodeling is gonna have to be done, too. A good many of the new dogs we’ve been getting to the city have been stoneworkers, not to mention all the extra paws we’ve got to handle the work… if I were to make guess, I’d say this place would need a month’s solid work before we got it looking like a proper fort, lass.”
“Hmm… I wonder what Sovereign will add to this place?” Emerald said aloud in thought. “He did mention that he would aid us in securing this old ruin.”
“Wouldn’t know what that bag of logs will get up to, lass,” Tavish replied. “Probably something to do with trees and plants.”
“Something to ask him,” Emerald said. “Not that he gives straight answers.”
Focusing her thoughts on the contents of the journal she was still reading, Emerald frowned as she considered what she learned.
‘Some of the early sections focus on the tree in the canyon below,’ Emerald thought. ‘Or “The Tree of Harmony” as she calls it. It’s apparently the source of the Elements of Harmony. I knew something major was up with that tree. Glad I’m making moves to watch it. Maybe I should have a checkpoint down there with guards? Hmm… maybe not. It’s been a thousand years; if something was going to happen to it, then it would have happened by now… really don’t want to mess with or get near that thing. Keeping a distant eye on it should be good enough. Well this journal definitely saves me questioning Luna about the strange crystal tree beneath the old palace ruins, as well as explaining why I want to know. I wonder what planted that tree? Ah well, it doesn’t matter. As long as it doesn’t do anything un-tree like I won’t bother with it.’
“Well I’ll leave you and the other dogs to it.” Emerald said as she closed her book and placed it inside her hoodie. “I can trust you all to renovate this place without me holding your paws.”
“It’s no problem, lass,” Tavish replied. “Not much to it. We just sit on this place and clean it up before fixing it up.”
“If you need me, I’ll be back in the Hub doing some things,” Emerald replied and disappeared in a flash of scarlet light.
BETA
Some time later, Emerald was holding a clipboard and standing beside Sovereign, who was sitting beside her as one of his timber wolves.
The two were outside and before them was a tall field of grass that easily reached up to Emerald’s neck. The grass field had been grown by Sovereign at Emerald’s request as the virus wanted to test something that required long grass.
Emerald began scanning the around the area for a good “test dummy” and before long she found one in the form of Whisper Wind.
“Whisper!” Emerald called out to the passing pegasus. “Could you come here please?”
Whisper had been coming out of the forest and had apparently been foraging some wild vegetables from the look of the basket she was holding in her mouth. The pegasus looked in Emerald’s direction and nodded before placing her basket down. She quickly took to the air and was about to fly higher when Emerald called to her.
“You can fly but stay reasonably close to the ground!” Emerald shouted whilst hiding a smile.
Whisper paused in midair a moment and looked a bit suspicious of what was going on. She went through with Emerald’s request though, and stayed at least ten feet off the ground. She flew through the air above the grass and seemed very uneasy about it. She was about to try to calm herself when she heard a rustle in the grass and looked down just in time to a mouth full of teeth flying towards her.
Whisper gave a loud squeak of fright as the Raptor tackled her out of the air with an intimidating roar and the both of them fell into the grass with a thump. There was the sound of grass rustling, and before long Stripe appeared out of the tall grass, his tail wagging and Whisper Wind safely held in his mouth by her midsection thanks to his retractable teeth. Whisper looked confused for a moment until she realised what was going on, then she had a deadpan look on her face.
“Not cool, boss,” Whisper said to Emerald. “Not cool at all.”
“Oh, other than scaring ten years off your life, you’re fine.” Emerald smirked at her. “You can drop her on the ground now, Stripe.”
Stripe did as he was told and gently placed Whisper on her hooves. When her body left his mouth, only then did he extend back his teeth back out of his gums. As soon as she left the Raptor’s mouth, Whisper shot Stripe a dirty look before beginning to walk away. In response to the look Whisper gave him, Stripe leaped forward and wrapped Whisper in a hug with his arms. He nuzzled and licked a somewhat struggling Whisper Wind.
“Okay, okay!” Whisper said and couldn’t help the small smile on her face. “I’m not angry at you! You’re a good boy, Stripe.”
Stripe gave a purring growl as Whisper petted his head before letting her go. Whisper wiped a bit of Raptor slobber off her face before taking to the air and going back to her vegetables, this time flying much higher above the tall grass.
“Thank you for helping me with the grass, Sovereign,” Emerald said as she gave Stripe a pat on the head when he curled up at her feet.
“If you had done so, you would have made it unappealing to look at,” Sovereign replied. “Like make it black and red.”
“I don’t actually like those colors, you ass,” Emerald replied with a roll of her eyes.
“The appearance of your soldiers states otherwise, virus,” Sovereign stated.
“Whatever.” Emerald shook her head and focused her attention on her clipboard.
“Is there nothing else you require to be grown?” the forest spirit asked.
“Well…” Emerald was about to say no when she spotted the saplings of the golden apple trees. She had intended to grow those fully herself, but it just kept slipping her mind with all these other projects she had going on. “There are those saplings over there that I’ve been meaning to make fully grown.”
“Hmm?” The spirit turned his head and looked over to the saplings. “Ah yes, the trees crudely mated together with gold. I shall do better…”
Emerald wondered what the spirit meant by that as she watched him walk towards the saplings in the distance. Then she just shook her head and left him to it.
On Emerald’s clipboard was a list of various tasks she had been testing her Raptors on. It was all meant to test them mentally, as this was the first time she made a complicated creature that was meant to be independent when needed. She had been giving them various puzzles and little scenarios, and so far they had been performing admirably with no mental deficiencies so far. This was very important that she know they have no mental problems because she intended to make more Raptors then just two dozen. In fact, the next batch of Raptors would be in the hundreds, and since she knew the process of growing Raptors worked, they would be grown within a few weeks instead of several months. They would also come in a much wider variety of colors.
‘If Naruto can be stealthy in orange, a Raptor can do it as well,’ Emerald thought with an amused grin before flipping the page to a different one. This page was actually the picture she had drawn that was apparently of a unicorn wearing armor that covered the entirety of their body. ‘And since things with the raptors are going so well, that means I can make major headway on my biggest project. Although I can make the body now, I still need to several things that I’m not sure how to make work with certainty just yet. Going to be a lot of trial and error in the future. I’m going to have to use myself as the test pilot until I’m sure the Diamond Dogs won’t get their brains fried when they try to use it themselves.’
Emerald looked up at the sky and saw the position of the sun. Now was about the time that the gunsmiths would be making the final firing tests on their latest iteration of their automatic rifle they have been developing. They had based much of the work off the notes on the AK-47 Emerald had given them, but had made adjustments due to the size of the ammunition the rifle would be firing and the physiology of the dogs themselves. The result was a large, boxy assault rifle designed to handle the strain of rapidly firing bullets capable of punching holes in thick sheets of steel. Though initially the gun itself had been too complicated and had ended up getting jammed a lot due to inner workings getting in the way.
‘Not the case anymore, though,’ Emerald thought as she gently nudged Stripe away from her legs. ‘Let’s go see how this final lab test of the gun goes.’
In a flash of scarlet light, Emerald teleported away and ended up in a hallway which connected to a long line of firing ranges. The reason she hadn’t teleported directly into one of the ranges was so she didn’t accidentally startle someone using them.
Entering one of the doors, she came to a firing range. Inside were a number of gunsmiths that included Missy. At the range, holding the prototype gun, was a Warhound. Emerald nodded at the smiths as she took up a spot beside them and proceeded to watch the Warhound.
Once Emerald had arrived, the Warhound walked over to a table at the side and took one of the ammo magazines off of it, firmly sticking the magazine into the slot on the bottom of the large, boxy rifle before returning to his spot at the range. Flicking the safety off, the dog sighted a target down the range that was a thick sheet of steel.
Emerald frowned as the dog fired off quick bursts; not at the gun’s shooting or the way he was handling it, but at the volume of the gun itself. Even with the sounding dampening runes at the range itself, the gun’s volume was approaching “normal” levels for a firearm. Considering the sensitivity of Diamond Dog ears, Emerald was going to have to get to work on her mass enchantment project much sooner than she thought.
Once the target was nothing more than pieces of shredded metal on the ground, the Warhound flicked the safety switch on his rifle back on. He turned back towards the table and placed the rifle on it along with a now removed ammo clip.
“Seems like the rifle is ready for field use,” Emerald commented.
“Yep!” Missy replied as her fellow smiths nodded in agreement. “Even did a whole bunch of stress tests like putting it in water, mud, sand, having it get run over by a loaded cart. The rifle is about as tough as the AK-47 you told us about. Has the same range effectiveness too, but that isn’t a problem considering our tactics and where we tend to fight.”
“I agree, though I did see one issue,” Emerald said. “The gun is rather loud; guns are loud enough as it is, but even with the sound dampeners in this room it was getting near to what I would consider normal volume for a gunshot. Considering a Diamond Dog’s hearing sensitivity, this will definitely hurt them to use their own weapons. Thankfully, I already have a solution for this. I just need a bit of time to get it all built up and ready.”
“What do you have in mind?” Missy asked.
“Magic. A lot of magic,” Emerald answered. “Mostly concerning the ley line… hmm, right start getting these rifles built. I’ll start working on mass enchantment right away to solve the noise issues.”
“Right, boss!” Missy and the other dogs said.
‘Hmm… going to need a lot of gems for this. Tons of chemicals as well,’ Emerald thought as the smiths set off. ‘I can handle the chemicals easily enough, and I’ve got a ton of gems. I suppose I can handle grinding them up into dust as well. Guess I’ll wait until I’m finished with the gems and chemicals before getting on making the power lines. Plus I’m going to need to make the machines that can handle all this magical stuff on their own… ugh, so many projects that need to be done. Right, if I focus on the magic issues, I can get it all down today if I focus... going to need a massive container for the chemicals.’
As Emerald continued to think of things she was going to need, she teleported back up to the surface to find that Sovereign was still there and now sitting before the saplings. Said saplings were now noticeably taller.
‘That reminds me,’ Emerald thought, the saplings making her think of where she had got them. ‘The two week vacation Luna gave me is going to run out soon; I’ll have to head back to Canterlot for more lessons. I wonder what it’ll be like now that Luna and Celestia know about me?’
Dismissing that thought for now, Emerald turned towards her workshop and started walking towards it.
GAMMA
“Greetings, my young student,” Luna greeted Emerald as said virus walked into the main lobby of the palace.
“Hello Princess Luna,” Emerald returned her teacher’s greeting. “I’m glad we get to continue my lessons. I rather enjoy learning under you.”
“And I enjoy teaching you, my dear student.” Luna smiled affectionately at Emerald. “But we can’t go into lessons just now.”
“Oh?” Emerald tilted her head curiously. “Why is that?”
“My sister wishes to speak with you first on a matter of great importance,” Luna answered. “We must see her first, and then we shall begin our lessons together once more.”
“Alright, princess.” Emerald nodded. “Lead the way. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Right this way, my young student,” Luna said.
Emerald followed the Princess as she lead the way, and before long she found herself entering an empty ballroom with Celestia awaiting within.
“Greetings, Emerald Gleaner,” Celestia said at Emerald and Luna’s approach. “I’ve been waiting for you, and I wish to talk about a very important matter.”
“What do you want to talk about, your majesty?” Emerald asked.
“The Thracian ponies,” Celestia stated, and Emerald immediately knew what she wanted. “They’ve stayed altered for many months now, ever since your fateful battle with Discord.”
“Just so you know, I never intended that to happen,” Emerald quickly said. “I wasn’t even in the right state of mind during that entire fight.”
“I do not blame you Emerald, but I do wish your help to undo their conditions,” Celestia replied. “It’s been far too long since they have been ponies.”
“I do not mind doing that in the least,” Emerald began. “But are you sure the Thracians want to be cured? I’ve met this young filly who became really confident and stood up not only for herself, but others after changing. Razor Wing didn’t like the changes at first, but he grew to really enjoy the benefits of his new form. Now I’m not saying the cure shouldn’t be offered. I’m just saying that it’s likely that more than a few Thracians have grown to accept and enjoy their new forms despite how other ponies react to them.”
Celestia wanted to dismiss the idea that her ponies could give up on the forms they were born with but stopped herself. Was it really that unthinkable that they could enjoy their new forms? They were all stronger now because of what happened, and every Thracian she had seen seemed to be enjoying their abilities. The Deinos certainly enjoyed being able to fly and use magic, especially those that had originally been an earth pony.
“… Perhaps you are right, my dear Emerald,” Celestia said after a few moments of thought. “I shall send out word that the cure is there for those who want them.”
“Great.” Emerald smiled and quickly added, “Also, you should make sure none of the Thracians are being pressured into this and that they truly want to be turned back.”
“I doubt that such a thing would happen, but I shall make sure that any Thracians that apply for the cure are carefully interviewed.” Celestia nodded. “I’m certain you wish the truth about yourself to be hidden here as well? Well, I shall talk to you again when I’ve thought of a way to handle this. In any case, I’ll not be holding your attention a moment longer, Emerald. You and Luna go enjoy your lessons together now.”
“Thank you, Princess Celestia.” Emerald bowed respectfully to the alicorn before turning to her teacher. “Where to next, Luna?”
“Right this way, my young student,” Luna said and began walking. “I wish to begin your lessons in diplomacy in a nearby library.”
Emerald followed the princess and soon found herself in the library Luna had mentioned. As she walked into the library, a book sitting on a coffee table caught her attention. Looking down, she found it was a copy of the autobiography of the Gray Fox. Over Look had made the rather appropriate decision of making the cover picture of the book be of the Gray Fox looking like a swashbuckling pirate, swinging on ship rigging and holding a cutlass over his head with a roguish smile on his face.
“Heh,” Emerald laughed a little as she took in the title, A Rouge’s Tale: The Thief, The Legend, The Gray Fox. She flipped through it briefly to find a bookmark on pretty much the last page. Looking up at Luna to see a slightly embarrassed expression on her face, Emerald guessed that the book belonged to her.
“Interesting reading I take it?” Emerald smiled.
“… I admit it is rather action filled for an autobiography,” Luna admitted as she took the book from Emerald and studied it for a moment. “Obviously it is all fictional.”
“Yeah,” Emerald nodded. “I based the book on a number of sources from my world.”
“Is the Gray Fox’s personality based on fictional characters as well?” Luna asked.
“His personality is based on one character mostly,” Emerald answered. “But I based his appearance on several characters.”
“My dear Emerald…” Luna began and looked rather conflicted about what she was going to ask next. “Is it at all possible that you could take on the form of the Gray Fox?”
In answer, Emerald turned around to make sure the library door was shut tight before instantly taking on the form of her now infamous persona, the Gray Fox or Jack McCloud as he was more personally known by some people.
“Hope you ain’t meaning to be giving me a love tap, love,” Emerald said in Jack’s voice and accent. “It might be a tad painful for my person.”
“Keeping up the personality is not a requirement, Emerald,” Luna said with a bit of annoyance and stepped in close to examine Emerald’s form.
“No problem.” Emerald shrugged.
“So why a fox?” Luna asked as she continued her examinations.
“Foxes are known to be very crafty,” Emerald answered. “And they are a lupine, like the Diamond dogs. So it fit better for someone like that to be leading them instead of something that wasn’t doglike in the least. Plus it is fairly far away from what my base form looked like.”
“Why a coat in this condition?” Luna asked, pointing at the faded color and slightly torn look of the coat Emerald now wore. “You have the ability to give yourself one of the grandest quality, yet you choose this look?”
“I think the faded torn look adds more character to Jack then a normal, lavish one,” Emerald answered. “Sure, a successful thief like Jack could have easily acquired a coat in much better condition than this one, but the fact he doesn’t should imply something deeper about him and make people wonder.”
“Really, you believe this is such?” Luna stated with an amused smile. “To be honest, I just found myself insulted by being beaten by such a ratty looking figure.”
“Philistine,” Emerald said in a faux insulted tone before smiling at her teacher. “Anything else you want to know?”
“Why fight with a staff?” Luna asked. “Surely there are more effective weapons you can use?”
“Yes… they tend to have a lot less non-lethal options, you understand…” Emerald stated. “I am very strong, but have a lot of muscle control; I can very easily break horns and bones and know where to strike so that all injuries can be fully recovered from. Plus it fit in with one of the characters I used to base Jack’s body on.”
“Well my curiosity is certainly satisfied.” Luna nodded. “You may change back now, and we shall begin the lessons on diplomacy I have planned for you.”
“I just remembered,” Emerald stated as she changed back in an instant to her pony form. “Doesn’t your sister still have you learning about politics before you can get back into the field of diplomacy yourself?”
“Well… yes, you are right.” Luna nodded. “I wish to share with you all that I have learned in my time of preparation, though, and feel you yourself can benefit greatly from it.”
“It’s nothing to worry about, your highness,” Emerald replied. “Twilight herself was still learning stuff when she was teaching me. The both of us will learn a lot from each other, I’m sure.”
“As always, I have looked forward to this, my dear student.” Luna smiled affectionately. “Now let us begin. One should always do their best to start from a position of equality if you seek a fair relations with trust in each other, but there are times when a position of power is called for…”
DELTA
A few days later found Emerald walking down a hallway in the palace, a book hovering in the air just behind her. She had just finished another one of Luna’s lessons and was about to head to her room for some free time to herself when she heard the crash of breaking glass.
“Darn it!” came a shout.
Emerald stopped in place and wondered about it, deciding if she should go satisfy her curiosity or not. She eventually did, and walked towards the direction of the shout. She entered through a pair of double doors to see an angry looking Deinos standing before a broken vase.
The Deinos was dark yellow and had spirals of glowing bioluminescence running up his legs. His wings weren’t blades, but both his mane and tail had thin, dark red tendril like growths that stood out in stark contrast against his navy blue hair. Each tendril also had a series of small spikes coming out of them. The Deinos’ visible cutie mark was of a glass plane that shined brightly with a sparkle gleam.
“Is there a problem here?” Emerald asked as she stepped into the room.
“Gah!” The Deinos started at her arrival, apparently surprised by her before returning his attention to the vase on the ground. “No… just trying to learn how to use my magic better, but I just keep breaking everything that isn’t hard.”
“…” Emerald frowned in thought as she considered a sudden idea for a few moments. “I take it that you and the other Deinos have the same problem? Perhaps I could… perhaps I could help you all develop the magical control you need?”
“Would you?” the Deinos said with a sudden sharp toothed smile and happy eagerness. “That would be great! I’ve never had magic before, and it’s just taking so long for me to learn the ins and outs of it.”
“What’s your name?” Emerald asked as she stepped closer. “Mine is Emerald Gleaner.”
“I’m Sparkle Shine,” the Deinos said with another eager smile. “I’m so glad I finally found somepony willing to teach me. Could you maybe help the others too? We weren’t all unicorns, and the ones that were aren’t exactly the best teachers.”
“I can give it a shot,” Emerald answered. “I’ve never really taught others before, so I can’t really promise if I’m good or not, but I can try.”
“Thanks!” Sparkle said and quickly started walking. “The others are right this way. Follow me!”
Later on, Luna would be moving through the palace herself, mentally thinking up teaching plans for her student, when she heard said student’s voice, sounding like she was directing others. Now curious, she moved to investigate. Peeking through a pair of doors, what met her sight was that of Emerald standing before a fairly large crowd of Deinos as she talked to them about magic, and even helped a few when they tried to cast a levitation spell.
‘I’ve always wondered why the Thracians would hang on her every word when she talked with them,’ Luna thought. ‘Well now I know. She is the reason they are the way they are, and they somehow seem to recognise her as such without doing so consciously. If it wasn’t for the fact that the way they treat her disturbs her a little, I’d think Emerald did it on purpose, but it’s clearly not the case. Emerald is the last person that would willingly take another’s freedom, especially after everything she went through with Alex Mercer.’
Luna continued to watch her student teach and help the Deinos learn magic for a while longer. It was clear the Deinos could have spotted her too, if it wasn’t for the fact that all of their attention seemed to be focused entirely on Emerald.
Finally, the Princess of the Night went about her way and left Emerald to continue helping the Deinos with their magic problems.
EPSILON
A few days later found Emerald back in the Enclave and in one of the massive steel chambers that would be housing the experiments and prototypes of her biggest project to date. Currently there was a pod in it that looked a lot like the ones that had birthed the Raptors, except for the fact it was well over seventy feet in height.
The being inside was the first version of the creatures she intended to create. Now, the body was entirely fine and would be grown fast since she knew that process worked. However, what she knew was going to cause a lot of problems was the experimental mental magic she had woven into the creature within the pod, not to mention the other experimental stuff like having it be created with a magical circuit of sorts. She wasn’t even truly sure how she managed that part, nor whether or not the magical circuits would grow properly. She had managed to pull off a dragon’s magic fire for the Raptors, and had been rather worried it wouldn’t work right for them, but rigorous training and testing had proven they could use the magic they held within, as well as get stronger with it as well. The odd thing, however, was that she used Nidhogg’s dragon genes for them and not Spike’s, yet none of the Raptors were able to use plasma instead of fire so far. That made Emerald wonder what was happening and made her wish she understood more than she did on magic, because for the most part she was blundering around blindly in the hopes of success.
Focusing her thoughts back on the massive being that was in the pod, Emerald figured this was all one big experiment to figure out the nature of magic. She figured with its size it would have an utterly massive pool of magic to draw from. But for all she knew, it could have the potency of a filly just going into magic school. The virus definitely knew there was going to be a number of failed version of the creature she was going to make- ones that would have to be terminated and built back up from a different design theory- both because of the experimental full circuit magic system and the neural magic she had included in it. That was ultimately fine, because the creature she was making was nothing more than a beast, more akin to the animals of Earth then the ones in Equestria, running on base instinct alone. It possessed no true mind of its own and in that mindlessness did it’s strength lie… hopefully. Once again, the experimental nature of the whole project came to mind.
‘Hmm… I think I can make this work even if the magic circuits remain as undeveloped as a young unicorn’s,’ Emerald thought as the images of gemstones ran through her mind. ‘Say I place many gems on the inside of the body, enough to hold an immense amount of magical power, then this project will be more than worth it. And when I finally figure out what it is about a crystalline structure that holds magic, I can improve upon it; create special gems that hold far more magic than natural ones ever can on their own. Then these monsters of mine will hold even more power than before with normal gems. Speaking of gems…’
Emerald teleported away from the insides of the massive steel cage and into another room. This room held many massive containers that were much like the one used to hold the Orion program’s super soldier serum. These ones were being filled with chemicals by dogs wearing special protective suits, the chemicals mixed together to create a mixture that looked a lot like sky blue paint. Then the final and most important part of the process started. Several dogs wheeled forward a cart on a catwalk over the chemical vat, and once they reached the edge, carefully tipped the contents of the cart into the vat. Pouring into the vat was a load of finely ground down gems that sparkled in the air before sinking into the chemical vat.
“How many carts so far?” Emerald asked one of the dogs wearing a sort of hazmat like suit.
“Counting this, one? Ten, boss,” came the dog’s muffled answer through her mask.
“Good, that should be it,” Emerald stated and leapt up onto the edge of the container.
The evolved reached out with her magic and began stirring the liquid mixture before her, reaching within it and causing opposing currents at the bottom, middle and top of the vat so that it mixed quickly. What was before her would be a special chemical formula that would harden into a form of highly flexible plastic. The ground up gemstones included in the mixture was so that the plastic was magically conductive.
Emerald got the idea from how ponies mass produced enchanted products when they needed to. Ponies would create this ink mixture and pour ground up gemstones into it like she was doing with this chemical vat. Then they would enchant the mixture with the spell they wanted it to hold before painting it onto objects and sticking a gem powered up with magic to power the enchanted ink. This process was much quicker than having a single artificer draw up runes and work out all the circuitry. The drawback, however, was that the enchanted paint was less potent than runes drawn up by an artificer. Emerald, however, didn’t really need to worry about the lack of potency; she needed this mixture purely to make power cables that would carry magical power from the various ley lines and to the Hub. She would be using the ponies’ concept of the magical ink to create sound dampening enchantments for the new generation of rifles. They only needed to be so strong after all, and would serve as a good stop gap for now.
Since she only needed the mixture to carry power, she left it blank of enchantment.
“Alright, remember what I taught you and begin pouring this stuff into the molds,” Emerald called out to the dogs. “Once you are done,
cover this stuff up, otherwise it’ll harden and we’ll have to skim the hardened layer off.”
“Right, boss!” came a collective shout from the dogs before they set to work.
‘Right. With this, we’ll be able to supply constant power to the Storm Sapphire,’ Emerald thought as she began walking out of the room. ‘Just have to get the power lines all set up, get the power junctions up, the sub stations built and the charging station for when the rifles are all enchanted. Speaking of which, the magic ink will be ready later today. I think we have a few spray cans in stock. We can use those to apply them to the rifles. I’ll have to charge up the gems myself, but it’s just for now; that process will be automated as well.’
As Emerald left the building, a shape suddenly dropped down into her face and startled her. On instinct, she shifted her left arm into a claw and was about to swipe when she managed to stop herself. She paused, arm about to slice into what startled her, and took in what was in her face.
“Cool!” the spider said excitedly as she stared at the claw that was an instant away from cutting her into ribbons. It was a little black widow, just smaller than a pony; it wore a white and red frilly dress and had a white and red bonnet on her head with short blond hair poking out. On her abdomen was an image of a stylised explosion.
“Hello…” Emerald greeted and returned her arm to normal. “I take it you are a spider from Lady Black’s family?”
“Yeah!” The spider nodded cheerfully. “I’m Flandre! My friends call me Flan! Everything looks so cool and different here!”
“Really?” Emerald as she walked around Flandre, who dropped down onto the ground and quickly started walking after Emerald.
“Oh yes!” Flandre said excitedly as she kept looking at her surroundings. “For some reason, my sister didn’t want me to leave our home. I’ve never been outside our cave once! Everything looks so different! Something about people not appreciating me or something…”
“Hmm… your sister wouldn’t happen to be Remilia Black, would she?” Emerald hazarded a guess.
“Yes she is!” Flandre said. “How did you know?”
“An educated guess,” Emerald answered simply. “I suggest you be careful of going to see anyone other than Diamond Dogs.”
“Aww… Remi told me that, too,” Flandre said as she started making little circles in the dirt with one of her foremost legs. “Why can’t I go see what ponies are like? They are all over the world, and yet I’ve never got to see one, ever.”
“Hmm… we have a pony here. You can meet her if you wish,” Emerald stated to the little spider’s great joy. “BUT you can only go see her when she comes to see you,okay?”
“Kay!” Flandre said cheerfully. “So… what’s your name?”
“I’m Emerald Gleaner. You can call me Emmy if you wish,” Emerald said to the young spider.
“Okay, Emmy!” Flandre said as she quickly ran ahead so that Emerald could see her face when she looked up at her. “So whatcha up to?”
“Planning, waiting for things to happen,” Emerald answered as she spotted a pair of dogs pushing a cart of ore along. Normally, this would not garner more than a passing glance at the most, but the dogs were going out of the way to avoid being too close to the cart they were pushing. With her sight, she was able to see the fine details of the ore in the cart and saw how it was black and had a bubble like texture over the surface. Now very curious of the dogs and the ore they were hauling away, Emerald approached them.
“Hello there, you seem to be literally keeping those rocks at arm’s reach,” Emerald commented as she approached, beginning to feel an odd tingling sensation in the parts of her body that was facing the rocks. “What seems to be the problem?”
“These are toxic rocks, boss,” one of the dogs answered. “We found a vein of it while digging for ores. We’re just getting rid of the rocks we dug up before we realised.”
“Toxic rocks, you say?” Emerald stated and began to have suspicions of the ore in the cart before her.
“Yeah, we used to dig up the stuff a long time ago and try to find something to do with it like any other ore,” explained one of the two. “But then dogs who spent a long time around the rocks would start to get really sick, start getting really thin and lose patches of fur. So we just dump the rocks now. We’re just taking this to the dumping site right now.”
“You don’t say…” Emerald said, all thoughts of telling Whisper about Flandre now gone in favour of curiosity and suspicions of the ore before her. “Wait for me at the exit to the city; I’ll accompany you to the dumping site once I’ve gathered something for the trip.”
With that, Emerald teleported into her workshop on the surface. Working quickly, she gathered a few electronic scraps and transfigured the other components she would need to make the device she wanted.
‘Simple enough to make. Can do without taking too long., Emerald thought as she levitated many pieces onto the table before her while also using magic to create yet more. ‘A speaker for the scanner noise, some circuitry, a power source, a glass tube, some noble gasses to place inside said tube, a structure to place all the parts around it and some wires to hold it altogether… there, short and sweet, all done.’
The device Emerald now held in her hand wasn’t pretty to look at with all its exposed circuitry and wires, but it served its purpose and she didn’t exactly need an aesthetically pleasing plastic shell. She’d bother with that when she intended to mass produce or sell it to people.
‘Right, let’s just turn it on briefly and make sure it works right,’ Emerald thought and did just that, getting a faint steady static like sound from the small speaker. ‘Right, detecting the background levels like it should. Hopefully it’ll spike in the presence of greater amounts like it should as well.’
Emerald then teleported away from the workshop once she had finished the device she needed and arrived at the exit to the Hub. She noticed the dogs were off to the side and sitting some distance away from what she felt was a cart full of pitchblende. Emerald also noticed that Flandre wasn’t around anymore.
“Where did that little spider go?” Emerald asked the two dogs.
“She got bored and went to play with a bunch of pups that came running by,” one of the two dogs answered as they got up off the floor and went over to the cart. “Did you want her to tag along or something, boss?”
“No, she should be fine with just running around here until I get back,” Emerald replied and waited for the two dogs to grab their cart. “Right, let’s be on our way to the dumping site.”
“Right this way, boss,” the dog began as he and his fellow pushed the cart. “It’s a bit of a walk, but isn’t as bad as it could have been.”
The dog had been right. Two hours of walking passed as the group of three walked through the tunnels. At first, the path they were on was fairly well traveled and they tended to pass by traveling dogs on their way to and from the Enclave territories, but eventually they ended up in much smaller tunnels that seemed to not get much traffic.
Finally, the three reached the end of a long tunnel that was covered with the etched on symbols of dog skulls, likely meaning danger or sickness. At the tunnels end was a large cavern with the very center of it being dominated by a deep sinkhole. The blinding darkness gave the look of it being bottomless, but in an instant Emerald’s eyes adapted and could see the bottom nearly a hundred feet down, which was partly filled by a large pile of “toxic ore” the dogs mined.
The two dogs with her went about their business and took the cart to the very edge of the pit before tipping it and dumping the contents into the depths.
“Thank you for leading me here,” Emerald said to the two. “Head back to the Hub, I have some business here yet.”
With that, Emerald leapt down into the pit. She reached out with a now claw-shifted arm and it bit deep into the wall. Her descent was rapidly slowed until eventually she let go of the wall and landed with a soft thump. The tingling feeling was much stronger now, and this time she felt it pop up randomly throughout her entire form before fading briefly. Emerald took out the device she made and pointed it at the large pile of rocks before her as she turned it on.
Instantly, the iconic noise of a Geiger counter detecting radioactivity filled the air.
‘Well ain’t that a thing…’ Emerald hummed in thought as she stared as the large pile of pitchblende before her.
ZETA
Tirek growled in annoyance as he felt his legs buckle and strain at just the effort of walking up stairs.
The now former prisoner had managed to make his escape, though he didn’t know how long had it been since then; likely over a week at the very least. He had managed it thanks to the fact his jail cell was close to the surface and right next to the entrance, thus when he spotted the sole guard of Tartarus wander off, he took his chance. His atrophied body made the task of simply walking out the front door of the prison almost insurmountable. He had even almost given up when he crawled what felt like miles and had only managed to make it down the slope leading away from his cell. But through sheer force of will and contempt for his traitorous brother- a lot of contempt- he managed to crawl out of the prison and into the wilderness.
After an exhausting day of crawling away from the prison, he had simply passed out as the sun set. When he had awoken the next day, he had continued to crawl despite how his muscles seemed to scream at him in agony at the effort. Another day’s worth of crawling had managed to deliver him to what he considered to be his salvation; an abandoned farm house. The first thing Tirek had done was crawl over to the aged water pump in the overgrown lawn in front of the house and with all his pitiful might, he forced the pump’s lever down once and sent a surge of pink water into his face. He was forced to pump it several times before he eventually got water that would be considered drinkable without causing him to go ill. He also managed to feed his painfully empty stomach via the wild vegetables growing in the abandoned fields of the farm. After that, Tirek made his way into the dusty old farmhouse and simply collapsed on the welcome mat once he had a roof over his head.
Once Tirek had shelter, along with a somewhat dependable means of feeding and satisfying his thirst, he spent his entire time training his body back up. To his everlasting humiliation, Tirek found that the act of simply moving about the house and collecting food and drink was more than enough of a workout. Once he was strong enough to stumble up stairs, Tirek proceeded to gather up as much cloth in the dusty old house as possible to make his bed in one of the rooms upstairs; upstairs because it would help to strengthen his body more. He wasn’t going to be sleeping in the bed in this place as the mattress was likely moldy and mite ridden. That, and the former inhabitant of the farmhouse had apparently passed away peacefully on that very bed if the bones were any indication.
Currently, Tirek was now just walking upstairs to crawl into the nest of cloths he made for himself, still rather annoyed at the fact he couldn’t walk without his legs shaking just yet. Eventually he reached the second floor, much to his silent relief, and moved into the closet where he had made his bed. The closet was filled with shelves that held various products that were no doubt far past their expiration date and smelt of dust. But then so did the whole house. As the being from the land of monsters began to settle into his ragged bed, he went still as noises from the floor below reached his ears.
Tirek stayed still for several long moments as he listened to judge whether or not he heard anything. When another noise rustled from below, he considered whether or not he should investigate or remain hidden, as chances were this could be ponies looking for him.
After warring with himself briefly, Tirek decided to investigate what was making the noises below. Wrapping the cloak made from some black sheets around himself, Tirek silently left the closet and moved back downstairs. He saw a light coming from the kitchen and approached with his ears straining for any noise at all.
Tirek peered around the corner and saw a lantern sitting on the table in the middle of the kitchen. He looked around the kitchen and continued to strain his ears for noise, but could not locate anyone. Tirek slowly entered the kitchen and approached table with the lantern and began to notice several things about it. It was a very stylised looking lantern, and should not have been sitting on the table the way it was due to its hexagonal prism shape with a pointed bottom, black iron served as the skeletal structure of the lantern and each side had skulls in varying positions which cast ghastly shadows. The top had a simple metal cap with a ring to hold the lantern.
As he came to a stop beside the table, Tirek couldn’t help but feel he was being stared at and was looking at the point the feeling was originating from. After a moment of indecision he reached out with a hand to grasp the lantern’s handle.
Suddenly, there was a presence that seemed to cover him like a lead blanket and felt like it was attempting to choke the life out of him. Tirek, for a brief moment, thought that a spell was being cast on him when he realised in horror that it wasn’t a spell at all; it was simply an aura of supreme overwhelming power.
There was an explosion and wooden shards went flying through the air along with Tirek, his frail body crashing against the aged fridge before falling to the floor. Tirek felt his consciousness on the brink of fading, both from the impact and the suffocating almighty presence that weighed on him still. But he managed to claw his way firmly back into the realm of consciousness.
“Tis a pathetic creature,” boomed a voice. “Must we waste time on it?”
Tirek turned towards the voice and felt his eyes widen. Standing in a large opening blown in the side of the house was a being that could quite possibly have been taller than the two story house if it hadn’t been crouching down staring at him like he was an insect. It was bipedal and seemed very draconic besides a few birdlike features. Its feet were large eagle like talons that quickly faded into powerful legs with a thin coating of gray down. It had a long, powerful tail along with an equally powerful looking red and blue scaled torso which had an odd shape on the chest area that looked faintly like there was another face there. Its arms were powerful looking and started with blueish purple smooth skin before fading into skin like such on the feet of an eagle, it’s hands were like a bird’s in texture but in shape they were ape like and each finger ended in curving talons. A pair of wings were folded on its back and seemed more than capable of supporting the draconic being’s heavily muscled form. Its head was odd to Tirek’s eyes. It had red scaled skin along with pointed ears and two sets of curving horns upon its head, its eyes were red and glowed brightly and it’s facial features reminded him somewhat of an ape, but didn’t fit entirely right.
The aura of power that seemed to wish to crush the life out of him came from this being.
“It does have its uses despite its apparent frailty,” came a voice that seemed more the sound of the wind on a dark night. “Though I do admit its current condition does much to dissuade otherwise. A mere shrub could oust this creature as it is.”
The lantern on the still remarkably untouched table lifted into the air and what held it faded into visible sight as it floated over to the other being’s left shoulder. It’s entire body was cloaked from sight with a tattered black robe and it appeared to have no legs from the way it’s lower half blew in an unseen wind. The robe’s sleeves ended halfway on its arms, the edges frayed and torn. The ghostly beings arms were kept from sight by an almost excessive amount of bandages, some of which dangled freely and flittered in some unseen breeze. It’s head was twice covered, once by a large black hood and second by black cloths that wrapped around its head and face, leaving only a small gap for the eyes and exposing a bit of sickly green skin. Said eyes were as yellow as topaz but had a light to them like a raging fire.
“Hn… why aught we waste time at all?” the larger being asked, turning to its ghostly companion. “The Goddess of All Flame is weak, lacking her might and easily slain by the either of us. Tis an easier task than the path you have set before us is it not?”
“Why did you wait for those chosen slaves of the ring to come to you?” the shade answered with another question. “Your prison was no longer such and it would have been a simple task for you to leave and seek them out.”
The draconic being nodded in understanding after a moment,
Tirek gasped and struggled on the floor; this aura was just too much. He had a feeling that even if he had all the magic of all Equestria, he still would not have stood a chance to even stand, let alone fight. After a moment, he brought forth his strength to speak.
“Wha… w-who are y-you…”
Finally the shade turned its gleaming yellow eyes to him and Tirek instantly regretted speaking and attracting its attention, as those eyes seemed to stab into his very soul.
“I…” the shade whispered as it brought it’s lantern up which was quickly glowing with a blinding light. “I am a Curse upon the courageous!”
Celestia gasped as she shot up in her bed, having awakened from the extremely vivid dream. It was so intense and clear that the Goddess of the Sun could not mistake it as anything other than a vision, an omen of something to come… but what?
“Sister!” Luna shouted as she charged into Celestia’s bedroom. “I have witnessed your dream!”
“Luna, I… I do not know what this means…” Celestia said as she stared down at her blanket. “But… nothing good can come of this.”
“Tirek escaped Tartarus,” Luna stated. “For all the good it did him afterwards… how could he have escaped?”
“It must have been when the Cerberus ran away briefly,” Celestia shook her head. “I knew the prison should have been investigated in case some took the chance to leave. We shall do it right now. Tirek may have escaped and potentially met his fate, but we must make sure no others did as well.”
With that, Celestia threw off her covers and moved to jump out of her bed when she knocked a hoof against one of her bedside tables. The hit didn’t hurt her in the least, but what it did do was dislodge a scroll that had been stuck between it and the bed.
Briefly curious if this was a message that had arrived while she slept, Celestia unrolled it and began to read. After only a few moment of reading, the princess let out a frustrated groan before dropping onto her side on the bed and letting the message fall onto the bed.
Wondering what could have caused such a reaction in her sister, Luna walked over and levitated the scroll to read for herself. The message was from Twilight and appeared to recount a brief history of the Diamond Dogs and how they used to have a prosperous kingdom. That is, until a prisoner of Tartarus broke free a hundred years ago and laid waste to the kingdom and took it for himself, scattering the survivors to the five winds and enslaving those who stayed.
“A hundred years, Luna…” Celestia said from her position on the bed. “A hundred years Nidhogg had been absent from his cell and we did not notice. A hundred years of pain and suffering for a whole people… what’s worse is I had set aside this very message for later. Had I read it, I would have improved the guard of the prison… Tirek would not have escaped but I had forgotten instead.”
“Sister, you are not perfect. Nopony is,” Luna replied as she placed the message down. “And even if you had improved the security, I have a feeling those two beings would not have been dissuaded from simply taking Tirek from the prison. As for Nidhogg, what’s done is done. The best we can do is learn from this and move on.”
“Luna, you know I don’t have the luxury of not being perfect,” Celestia stated and wiped away some tears that had managed to build up in the corners of her eyes. “All the death and destruction Nidhogg caused should have never have happened. I had locked him away. It was my responsibility to ensure he stayed that way. Knowing this, I do not know why Emerald did not request reparations for the dogs. She is more than well within her right to do so… come, my sister, we have work to do. I do not believe that either of us is going to be getting much sleep.”
Luna stared sadly as she watched her sister rapidly put on her royal regalia and walk out. In some ways, she was glad she did not have all the responsibilities her sister did because of the time she was away from the kingdom. In others, she knew the extra work always did strain on her and the fact she, as her sister, wasn’t bearing the burden equally weighed on her conscious.
Shaking her head clear of that thought, Luna quickly followed after Celestia.
ETA
A passenger ship eased into port as the morning sun began its approach on noon. Soon the ship’s docking procedures were finished and its passengers began to disembark.
“Ah, it’s been quite some years since I’ve set foot back in Van Hoover,” sighed a heron wearing a white haori with light blue trimming along with a white conical hat made of a hard material, which shone lightly in the sunlight. Upon the front of the hat and the back of the haori were kanji that translated into the word ‘wind’. “I believe you know when exactly the last time was, do you not, my young apprentice?”
“Course I do, Master Gyatso,” a fairly young pegasus mare stated a bit gruffly. “That was when you picked me up.”
The young pegasus had a light blue coat and silvery mane and tail that ended in short spirals, along with green eyes. She had a cutie mark of a sword with a tornado surrounding the blade. She also had two swords herself, both of them different types of katana. One was attached to a special strap that kept it secured to the middle of her back and had a sheath that was wide at the bottom to allow easy drawing; the handle was also very long and seemed specially made for her to grip with her mouth. The other blade was smaller, easily half the length of the other blade and had a much shorter handle and happened to be strapped to the side of her back left leg, an odd positioning that made one wonder how she drew and used the weapon with any ease.
“Indeed!” Gyatso smiled happily at the thought. “Ah, you were quite little filly back then. Hmm, perhaps we should visit your village? I’m sure everyone misses your greatly.”
“Aren’t we on a mission, master?” The mare frowned. “Shouldn’t we focus on that? Besides, I’ve been sending them letters.”
“Correction, my dear Swift. I am on a mission!” Gyatso corrected cheerfully. “And I say we should take the time to enjoy the sights and sounds! Smell the flowers so to speak… oh dear…”
Swift came to a stop and looked to see what had attracted her master’s attention. They had been walking along a large wall as they made their way through the dock. On said wall was two fairly large advertising posters. One had a unicorn mare with a white coat, light pink and white mane and light purple eyes; this mare was wearing an open reflective vest and was on her back. She was smiling brightly at the camera as she held a large novelty screwdriver that was lying on top of her. The other picture was also of a unicorn mare who also had a white coat but had a mane of a much more intense pink color, and her eyes were of a green that was richer than Swift’s own. This unicorn was lying on her stomach with her legs sprawled behind her and was wearing green coveralls and a pair of safety glasses. She was also resting her head atop her hooves which were perched up by her elbows. She seemed to be biting her lip for some reason and her eyes were hooded as they smoulder with… something, though Swift didn’t know what. Overall, Swift thought the poses the two mares were doing in the ads were weird and… made her feel rather confused as her cheeks flushed.
“O-oh my… I feel so full of energy all of the sudden,” the heron stated as he looked between the two ads.
“Really?” Swift said with as she took in the two ads again. “It’s just two pictures of two mares making really weird poses… actually it’s kind of confusing me… I guess they actually do look a little nice...”
“Well it’s most certainly having an effect on me as well and I can’t quite deny I enjoy it!” Gyatso said energetically before he finally started moving. “Ah, now I feel ready for the journey ahead.”
The continued on their way down the streets of Vanhoover. Swift made to turn to the left so they could head to the local train station and buy a ticket when Gyatso continued along on a different street. Swift felt a sense of dread build in her as she saw this.
“Master Gyatso, the train station is this way!” Swift said in hopes that he was just slightly lost.
“Swift Gale, how can one enjoy the sights and sounds when it’s all blurring past?” Gyatso shouted back cheerfully. “We continue on foot!”
“On foot…” Swift Gale repeated with a look at her wings and Gyatso’s own pair before sighing loudly in defeat.
“Come along, my young apprentice!” Gyatso shouted again. “I do believe there is a local restaurant with heron delicacies nearby!”
“Coming, Master Gyatso…”
-TBC-