Emerald Chronicles

by Dandereshy

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Emerald saw nothing but white for the longest time, then, quite suddenly, he found himself on a large, fluffy white cloud. It was bright and sunny, but he couldn't see anypony else.

"What is this…?" He got up and began cautiously walking toward the large house he saw on the other side of the cloud. It was a big two story, gold and brown themed. The front door didn't match the rest of the home, though. It was a peculiar medium blue. As he got closer, he read an inscription on it, made of gold it appeared. It was the initials, "SS"

Emerald didn't know anypony by the initials "SS", but for some reason, it felt familiar. He kept slowly making his way up to the house, keeping an eye on his surroundings. There was clearly nopony else around but him. The steps up to the front door of the home were tall, and Emerald struggled to get up them. "What kind of pony has stairs like these?" He complained as he reached the top. The door was intimidating, but he stepped up to it and knocked.

He heard shuffling inside, them the door swung open.

Emerald gasped.

His father stood there, smiling back at him jovially. "Glad you could make it, son."

Emerald began babbling incoherently.

Sapphire shushed him. "Just come in. Somepony else is wanting to see you."

Emerald shook his head violently and hugged his dad. "Is this real? Where am I? What's going on?"

Sapphire looked down at him frankly. "You're dead. But I have a remedy for that. Now, you really should come in. You don't want to keep her waiting."

Emerald let go of his father and followed him in. The house was entirely made of gold on the inside. And the first thing he noticed is that something on the couch wasn't gold. It was Fluttershy.

"Emerald!" She cried and leapt into his arms when she ran up to him. They both fell on the floor, laughing and crying simultaneously. She kissed him repeatedly, muttering, "Oh, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you…"

"Okay, young lovers, let's talk real quick before I send you back."

They both stood up suddenly.

"Send…us back?" Emerald asked, confused.

Sapphire looked out the window in the distance. "Yes, I can send you back. But I must tell you something first."

Emerald and Fluttershy listened carefully as he explained what he wanted done.

"First, I want you to know that when you return, you'll have your power back. But it will not be yours in that sense. I will be giving you mine, since I don't need it anymore. But this time, do not give it to Black Flame, for he is deceitful, and he will do anything to get this power from you as well. If he obtains this power as well, I won't be able to help you any further. Now, if you want to get the better of Black Flame, you need to be near water. Have you ever noticed that he never comes out in the rain? Or goes near you while you were near a body of water?"

"But I had a prophetic dream where he chased me in the rain, in Manehattan." Emerald argued.

"Exactly. A dream. He would never hang around water. Just heed my advice, young Shield. You're going to need it. I don't want to see either of you up here again for a long time." Sapphire said, putting a hoof on each of their shoulders. "Now, are you ready?"

"No, I have so many questions, so many things I want to know…like, where's mom?" Emerald asked, looking around.

"Son, she was busy and couldn't make it. But you'll see her, I promise. You need to go back now, your friends need you."

Emerald sighed and looked at Fluttershy. "Okay, I guess we're ready."

Sapphire put his hooves on Emeralds head and closed his eyes. Emerald felt a powerful energy flowing into him like a river. It made him gasp. A few seconds later, Sapphire took his hooves off and smiled warmly. "You should now be more powerful than him. I will send you two back with what little energy I have left. Remember, don't give him the power, and go to a source of water."

Emerald hugged his dad again. Sapphire embraced him back. "I love you, son. Don't let me down."

A tear streaked down Emeralds face as he answered, "I love you too, dad. I won't ever let you down."

"Alright, let's get you guys back down there." He said gently. Emerald pulled away and stood next to Fluttershy, who took his hoof.

Sapphire put his hoof up, and immediately a bright light shone from it, drenching them. Then everything was black…

________________________________________

Emeralds eyes fluttered open. He was looking up from the bottom of the pit. He sat up and groaned, rubbing his head. "Ugh, that was a weird dream." He drew his hoof back suddenly when he noticed it glowing. Green. "What the…" The weakness inside him faded away, and he flew up over the edge of the crater. He saw Black Flame teasing the ponies with fireballs. "Hey you! You aren't done with me!"

Black spun around, an angry pout on his face. Then it changed to bewilderment when he seen Emerald was the speaker. "This is impossible. I just killed you!"

Emerald flew down and landed in front of them. They all were astonished by this revelation. "No, but I'm going to make sure that you are by the end of the night. That's a promise."

Black shook off the shock and glared at him, getting in a fighting stance. "I'd love to see you try."

Emerald decided to try out his father's strength. He flew at Black and hit him in the midsection, aiming to go through a line of trees behind him. The trees snapped as Black hit every one of them. They finally hit the ground and gouged a mark for about 40 feet. Black shoved Emerald off and got up.

"You piece of shit, how do you have power again? You must not have given it all to me."

"Oh, you'll get all of it, alright. In the face!" Emerald struck him as hard as he could in the chin with an uppercut. Black sailed through the air and crashed into the ground near the other ponies.

"Whoa, someponies getting whooped." Rainbow Dash said.

"Ugh, what happened…?" Fluttershy said and sat up.

They others turned and yelled, "Fluttershy!" She was instantly smothered in hugs.

"Oh, glad to see you girls too."

Black fought to get back on his hooves, but he was dazed. "This is…unacceptable." He huffed loudly, trying to catch his breath. He looked up just in time to see a large boulder falling down on him. "Son of a bi-" The boulder landed on him with a loud thud.

Emerald came flying through the trees, a determined look glued to his face. He kicked the rock over, and Black slowly crawled away from the spot where he was just crushed. He turned and flicked a fireball at Emerald, and hit his mark. Emerald wiped the soot from his face and went after Black, who was attempting to fly away.

"Oh, no you don't." Emerald caught up with him and tried to grab him, but Black hit him again with a fire ball. Black flew off while Emerald was shaking off the fire on his wing.

Meanwhile, Black tried to escape so he could think of a better plan.

"This is madness! I cannot believe that little bastard got more powerful than before I killed him! I have to rethink my strategy if I want to – " He flew right into a pony. "Hey, you want to watch where you're going?" He looked to see who it was.

Emerald was flying right in front of him, arching an eyebrow. "Going somewhere?"

Blacks jaw dropped and he slowly backed away. "Stop following me you cretin!" He turned and flew deeper into the Everfree forest.

Emerald had no trouble keeping up, although when Black noticed him, he began throwing more fire at him.

Emerald simply dodged them, going left and right.

Black flew lower, going through trees in an effort to shake off Emerald, but Emerald actually caught up even closer.

"How the hell are you doing that?" Black raged, flying faster.

Emerald continued to trail him through the forest and a blinding speed. Suddenly, a tree grazed Blacks left wing and he went spiraling out of control. He rolled until he dropped off into a river. Gasping for air, he tried to keep his head above the surface. "I – I can't swim! P-please help me!" He coughed and sputtered.

Emerald flew up and landed on the river bank. He stared down at Black as he struggled with swimming.

"Please – don't just let me die! Y-you can't do this t-to me!" He went under for a second and came back up, spitting water.

Emerald just watched him, his emotions conflicting. He finally turned the blind eye on him.

Black's heart sank. "Y-you're just going t-to let m-me die?" He sank under again, but barely managed to come back up.

Emerald remained silent.

Black was horrified. "N-no! Don't – leave me – " He went under for the last time.

When he didn't come back up, Emerald shook his head and turned and flew back to the others.