//------------------------------//
// Chapter 12 
// Story: Emerald Chronicles 
// by Dandereshy 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 12

"Hello? Are you gonna do it or not?" Rainbow Dash asked Emerald. They both stood on a cloud far above Ponyville. Rainbow Dash offered him flying lessons so he could learn to fly with his wing injury. He wasn't liking it too much, however.
He gulped. "Uh, no?"
Rainbow Dash gave him the deadpan look. "You said you wanted to learn how to fly. Now come on. You won't learn standing there."
He looked back over the edge, and immediately drew back. "I – I'm not sure this is such a good idea, me being disabled and all."
Rainbow Dash smiled reassuringly and put her arm around his shoulders. "Don't worry, I'll be right behind you." She shoved him over the edge.
"Waaahhhh! ARE YOU INSANE?!" He screamed and flapped his wings frantically.
Rainbow Dash came up beside him, laughing idiotically. "I'm right here. If you can't get yourself going, I'll catch you. Try to relax, focus on flapping less and more power."
Emerald obeyed, and started slowing his fall. But he was still going too fast. "Now what?"
She shrugged. "Keep trying."
"WHAT?!" He began flapping wildly again, but with more power. Surprisingly, the flapping worked better. He slowed down to a slightly descending hover. He looked over at Rainbow, who nodded in approval.
"Now, try going forward."
He angled his wings to go forward, but the damaged wing was missing too many feathers to make a difference. He barely inched forward as he continued his slow drop.
"No no no no no no, go forward. More power, less wing speed. Come on, you got this." She encouraged him.
He tried harder flapping. He hovered with no descent, and began moving forward a few feet per second. "Ha! This is awesome! I knew I could do it!"
Rainbow Dash flew circles around him. "Keep going! Don't stop!"
He flapped even harder, straining under the force and growing tired. But he picked up speed to a quick bolt. "Yes! This is incredible! I didn't think I could do this!"
"I did." Rainbow said, flying beside him effortlessly. She continued encouraging him.
His wing suddenly gave out and he tumbled to the ground. Rainbow Dash reacted immediately and dived wings tucked to catch up with him. She caught him just feet from the ground and landed nearby.
Emerald was embarrassed. "Uh, thanks."
Rainbow Dash waved it off. "No problem. But you really need to have more faith and trust in yourself. It's your only problem. We'll try again tomorrow."
"Sounds like a plan."
Spike and Twilight came up to them. "What's up, guys? What are you doing?" Spike asked.
Rainbow Dash pointed at Emerald. "Teaching him to fly again."
"That's awfully nice of you, Rainbow Dash. You'll be able to. You taught me and I never flew before." Twilight pointed out.
Rainbow nodded. "Yep. And he's making progress, so I guarantee he'll be flying like a pro by this weekend."
"Oh, well I don't know about that…" He blushed.
"Stop being such a goody-goody. You're doing just fine." Rainbow Dash told him. "I'm a professional. I'll get you flying soon."
"I hope so. I want to be able to fly to some places, not have to walk all the time."
Twilight and Spike started off to their business. "Well good luck, Emerald." Twilight called out to him as she walked away.
"Thanks!" He turned to Rainbow Dash.
"Well I got business to attend to. See ya tomorrow." She flew away.
Emerald waved as she disappeared. He then turned and walked to Fluttershys to see what she was doing.
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Trixie and Black Flame gawked at the decorative wooden box that held the Stone of Magic Chaos. It was unopened, and Black Flame waited until morning the next day to open it. He looked over at Trixie, who gave him a taunting smile. He pulled her against him and whispered in her ear, "You and me are going to have a lot of fun…" He let go of her and unlatched the front of the box. He lifted the lid, and they both gasped.
The Stone of Magic Chaos was beautiful. It glowed and glimmered in the light. Black Flame and Trixie smiled at each other.
"So are you going to put it on?" Trixie asked hopefully.
Black Flame closed the box. "No, not until the Day." He said stiffly. He stuck the box in his locked safe next to his and her bed.
She gave him a disappointed sigh. "Well, so much for an exciting day. I was hoping for some death and destruction."
"In due time, my love. In due time." He led her out of the room and closed the door.
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"Are you sure everything's fine?" Spike asked for the fifth time that night.
Twilight sighed in annoyance. "Yes, Spike. Emerald said they left. I'm sure they were just looking to get him back but he refused, so they left."
Spike groaned. "Something doesn't seem right. They came all the way out to Ponyville from Manehattan, just to try to convince Emerald to rejoin them, and leave in five minutes? I just don't believe that we've seen the last of them."
Twilight considered that and agreed. "I guess you're right. That doesn't make sense that they'd come all the way out here just for that. Maybe they have other plans but they didn't tell Emerald so he couldn't prepare." She got out her scrolls and quill. "I'm going to write Princess Celestia and tell her all about this. Maybe she'll have an idea."
"Yeah, she'll have something for us. I really think we should tell Emerald this, too. He doesn't seem to have thought that maybe they are up to something else besides what they told him." Spike suggested.
Twilight started writing. "That's a good idea, too. We'll tell him tomorrow. It's getting late and I don't feel like running over to the other side of town for that."
Spike shrugged. "Okay, up to you. I'm going to bed. That's another good idea. Would you look at that? Two good ideas in one day. You should give me a raise."
Twilight frowned at him. "I don't pay you at all."
He laughed. "Just kidding – I think." He wandered off to bed.
Twilight watched him until he was out of site and went back to writing her letter to the Princess.
Dear Princess Celestia, recently we have encountered a problem with a friend and his past. His old friends and now enemies seemed to have followed him out of Manehattan just to antagonize him. He needs help and so do we since we don't know anything about these guys. They haven't really caused any problems except bothering our new friend Emerald. But I fear that they may be up to something more than just petty bullying. Something doesn't seem right about anything Emerald's told us about them. Do you have any suggestions? Your faithful student, Twilight
She rolled the scroll up and left it on the desk for Spike to take care of in the morning. She turned and yawned loudly. "Boy, I am pretty tired. Spike keeps guessing right on stuff."
She shut the light off and went to bed.