Emerald Gleaner: Retired Monster

by Legionary

Chapter 2: Taken the Black

There was a harsh moment of silence after Sophie's declaration and threat. Emerald for her part couldn't help but take in Sophie's form and see that there were several things different about her beyond the fact she looked a little bit older and mature, likely done purposefully to mimic aging. Her once shoulder length hair was tied back into a tight, stylish bun at the back of her head while her bangs stopped just above her eye brows. Her eyes were a richer blue than before and her face lacked any real flaws, resulting in a beauty that could have been considered rare if it were not for the fact it seemed to be the same story for the other female Evolved in the area. She was wearing a zipped up windbreaker that was white on the body and blue on the sleeves. She wore a navy blue skirt that ended just above her knees and wore a pair of white sneakers.

“Sop-Look, listen, I know what I did was unforgivable but-” Emerald began, one of her hands making a pushing motion back to the others and making them stand some distance back.

“No! Enough talking!” Sophie shouted and sprinted at Emerald. “I've waited too long for this, Oskar!”

“Ahhh!” Navi shouted and hopped in place furiously as Emerald was clothes lined by Sophie. She was about to charge by the blonde Evolved who now had her back to the little virus when Emerald shouted from the ground.

“Stay there!” Emerald said and quickly scrambled to her feet. Looking towards the others. “Do not do anything.”

“Hmph!” Sophie huffed, throwing a dark look over her shoulders at Twilight, Navi and Spike before facing Emerald. “Worry about yourself!”

Sophie feigned a slash at Emerald's face with her claw and quickly dropped to a knee to slash at Emerald's stomach. Emerald didn't react to the feint but didn't attempt to block Sophie's slash either and let it land. She recoiled back as five large gashes opened up on her stomach, though they closed up quickly. Sophie followed up on her successful blow by delivering a punch to Emerald's face that sent her flying backwards and landing on her back a few feet away.

“Emerald!” Twilight shouted in concern. Beside her, Navi fidgeted anxiously and Spike looked around them, wondering if any other people surrounding them was going to attack too.

“Emerald?” Sophie said incredulously as she stomped towards Emerald. “What kind of hippie dippie bullshit cover name is that? And what kind of place did you go to that it didn't stick out?”

Emerald just got up onto her knees and stared at the other Evolved as she approached, not a trace of anger upon her expression. This was in contrast to Sophie who seemed to be the epitome of hatred and anger right now, mixed in with long sought satisfaction. She came to a stop just before Emerald and scowled in frustration.

“Come on!” Sophie screamed as she kicked out and sent Emerald rolling across the ground. “You're the reason why we're all as strong as we are! Mister paranoid, mister prepared to cut loose anything and anyone. You can't have possibly let yourself go in the last three years...”

Emerald, lying on the ground, moved to sit up but Sophie dart forward and swung her foot at Emerald's head, sending her head back down onto the pavement with a force that would easily dent tank armor. Sophie straddled Emerald's stomach and immediately started punching her face. Her face a rictus of hate and rage, Sophie's fists flew down into Emerald's face. The blonde Evolved's fists came down with greater and greater force until her blows started to echo among the towering husks shadowing them. Finally she stopped, her breath coming in rapid gasps. Sophie stood up off of Emerald and picked her up from the small crater that had been created from the force of Sophie's blows.

'Emerald, what are you doing!?' Twilight thought as she grit her teeth and wrung her hands in worry. 'I've seen what you are capable of. She can't be possibly be stronger than you. Why aren't you fighting back?'

As Sophie held Emerald up into the air at arm's length, the various Evolved watching on began to mutter lowly and look disturbed at what was happening. More than a few looked like they wanted to do something but were being held back by others.

“Oh my god… you really did let yourself go!” Sophie exclaimed as she felt how light Emerald was. “Did you think that if you weren't a physical threat anymore we'd just leave you alone? That if you made yourself helpless like all of those people you murdered we'd take pity on you?! Oh no... you just made it easy for me...”

“I'll give you this, though...” Sophie said as she adjusted her grip so that she was tightly holding Emerald by her neck and shifted her other hand into a blade. “You've managed to take a lot of satisfaction out of this for me. I think I might just have to find... other things to take my anger out on.”

The entire time the expression on Emerald's face had remained one of slight worry but nothing more. The moment Sophie voiced the implication that she would attempt to hurt the others, however, that changed. The instant she heard that, Emerald's expression changed from one of near apathy to anger. Her eyes flashed orange and her hand whipped up to grasp Sophie's wrist. Sophie sneered at the resistance Emerald was starting to show but frowned when the grip tightened hard enough to start crushing her wrist and wasn't stopping. Before anything else could happen, though, Sophie was interrupted.

There was the sound of sneakers rapidly slapping down on concrete when suddenly Sophie was sent flying. She barreled through a crowd of Evolved and smashed into a building as Emerald fell onto her knees and onto the ground. Emerald looked up to see that the person who had struck Sophie was Gabriel, his leg still up in a kicking pose for a moment before he brought it down.

Gabriel, unlike Sophie, hadn't changed his appearance since the last time Emerald had seen him. He was still wearing the same white hoodie with the same black, puffy vest worn over it, the same blue jeans and the same sneakers. He turned towards her, his expression clear with concern.

“You okay there, Oskar?” Gabriel asked with a frown.

“...” Utterly tired at being called that name, Emerald just sighed and nodded.

“Good.” Gabriel nodded and turned towards the dust cloud settling over where Sophie had landed. “Give me a minute.”

Gabriel walked at a brisk pace, the crowd of Evolved parted before him, showing nervousness rather than anger that he had sent Sophie flying through their numbers. As he passed the ring of Evolved, Sophie angrily burst of the pile of rubble that had collected on her. She angrily surged tendrils over her body, cleansing it of dust and looking up with a scowl only to find herself staring into Gabriel’s very much displeased face.

“What are you doing, Sophie?” Gabriel asked.

“What am I doing?!” Sophie said in some outrage. “What are you doing?! I had him in my grip! I was going to end that piece of Mercer loving shit once and for all and then you come flying out of no-”

“We had a deal with Oskar, Sophie,” Gabriel interrupted. “Just because he's been gone for three years doesn't mean it doesn't exist anymore.”

“But-”

“NO.” Gabriel scowled at Sophie. “I'm putting you on probation, Sophie. Your authority is revoked until I can be sure you won't attempt to organize another fucking lynching. Do you understand me?”

“...Yes,” Sophie ground out after averting her eyes away from Gabriel.

“Get going,” Gabriel waved off. “Go to the bar and get a couple of strong ones or something. Just cool off.”

“...” Sophie spared a moment to send a death glare towards Emerald before walking away.

Gabriel watched her for a few moments, making sure she wasn't going to try to start something again before turning to the rest of the now loitering Evolved.

“And the rest of you!” Gabriel shouted out, his voice echoing to the tops of the smoldering towers. “Can't fault you for listening to your superiors. Just go or something.”

With that the crowd began to scatter outwards. As Emerald watched them, however, she noted more than a few were making mutterings of malcontent and sending her dark looks.

'So nice to be home...' Emerald thought sardonically before looking up as Gabriel stopped before her, his hand outstretched.

“Long time no see, Oskar,” Gabriel said as Emerald grabbed his hand and stood up from her knees. “Sorry about that. Took me a few minutes to find Sophie after I noticed her and all those Evolved missing.”

“It's alright,” Emerald said as Twilight, Spike and Navi approached. “Wasn't expecting a warm welcome anyway.”

“Muh!” Navi shouted as she ran at Emerald's leg and hugged it tightly.

“Are you okay?” Twilight asked and got nod in turn.

“Who’s this?” Gabriel asked in some confusion, a small smile fighting to appear on his face as he took in the sight of a small girl hugging Emerald.

“Her family,” Twilight answered a little defensively as she stood close to Emerald.

“Yeah... that pretty much sums it up,” Emerald said with a shrug as Gabriel's brows rose to the highest extent.

“Didn't think you had it in you, Oskar,” Gabriel stated in honest surprise.

“Her name's Emerald,” Twilight huffed.

“Really?” Gabriel arched a brow at the other Evolved.

“Hi, Emerald Gleaner here,” Emerald said with small amused smile. “Nice to meet you.”

“There is a story behind that name,” Gabriel stated. “And I want to hear it. But later. Enough hanging around these ruins. The settlement is nearby. I want to show you around a little before we can get down to sharing some stories... if you are up to it?”

“Yeah, sure.” Emerald nodded and Gabriel started to lead the way.

“Emerald, why didn't you try to defend yourself?” Twilight asked softly.

“Later,” Emerald said simply, knowing that there was nearly no way to whisper quietly enough to avoid people overhearing when those people were Blacklight.

The group of four began to follow Gabriel and the crowd of Evolved as they made their way southward.

ALPHA

The Cannon Fodder settlement was located on the southernmost point of Manhattan Island and occupied most of Battery Park. It also reminded Emerald a lot of the shanty towns that had quickly sprung up in Brooklyn after it had been declared the Yellow Zone. Save for the fact it looked a hell of a lot more cleaner and organized, also powered if the cables and power poles set up here and there meant anything.

There was a ton of people that Emerald was all but certain were Evolved. Every single one of them looked attractive. There wasn't a single person here that wouldn't be out of place on a movie as a main or side character. The men either had a rugged handsomeness going or were boyband pretty boys. The women either looked like bombshells or had perfectly formed faces and bodies without an ounce of fat. Considering the fact there still looked like there was a ton of people in the settlement even with the group that had gone with Sophie, it was very clear that a lot of people had joined up with the Cannon Fodders and were turned into Evolved themselves.

As Emerald and the others followed Gabriel into the settlement she happened to look down an alley and paused at what met her sight. Partway down the path was a half naked, completely voluptuous looking woman doing an almost silly striptease for a bunch of young teenage boys.

“Hmm?” Gabriel paused once he noticed Emerald had stopped and walked over to her side. “What's wron- Oh my fucking god.”

“HEY!” Gabriel roared out towards the scene in the alley. “You little shits stop that bullshit right now!”

The teenagers gave almost girlish shrieks and took off, either running down the alley as fast as speeding cars or leaping up several stories into the air. The woman that was doing a striptease seemed to freeze in place, her eyes wide open as they stared back at Gabriel. Finally she broke out of her shock and took off running as well, disappearing in a storm of tendrils and turning into another young teenage boy as she ran.

“It's only going to get worse when they get actual girlfriends.” Gabriel shook his head with a sigh and continued down the street. “They'll be going at it at all hours of the day and night thanks to what they are.”

“In hindsight it was probably not such a great idea to have infected the children as well before they reached their majority,” Emerald commented.

“I've made sure to do that but it's too late for the ones who Mercer infected before he died,” Gabriel stated with a shrug.

“Umm... what was that... woman doing?” Twilight asked as she frowned in distaste at what she had saw.

“Stripping,” Gabriel stated and glanced at Emerald. “Real innocent sort, huh?”

“Like you wouldn't believe,” Emerald replied. “It isn't that unique back home either.”

“Sounds like you found a real nice place for yourself,” Gabriel said and came to a stop and faced Emerald. “From the look and sounds of you, it did you a world of good too.”

“Yeah it did.” Emerald smiled readily.

“Hmm...” Gabriel said and stared at Emerald in consideration. “I doubt you would return willingly if that's the case.”

“I'm looking for someone,” Emerald said. “She has red and yellow hair and a weird name like mine. Sunset Shimmer. Did she come through here?”

“Don't know anything about a name like that but we did find a girl wandering the ruins not too long ago,” Gabriel said and motioned for Emerald to follow him.

“Come on,” Emerald said to the others and frowned when she noticed Navi was missing. “Navi? Navi!”

“Ah?” Navi said from a distance away. She was standing before a man sitting on a crate. Said man was playing cat's cradle and Navi now had a tangle of string around her fingers from trying to emulate him.

“Come here, Navi!” Emerald waved her over.

“Byby!” Navi said to the man, waving at him with one tangled up hand and ran over to Emerald.

“Stay close, okay?” Emerald asked and got a smiling nod from the little virus. Emerald looked back to Gabriel and noticed that he and more than a few other Evolved were standing in place and staring at her. “What?”

“Hey!” shouted one man.

“Hey listen!” a woman added.

There was a round of laughter at that and everyone continued on their way.

“Seriously? That’s her name?” Gabriel asked as Emerald fell into step beside him.

“Yeah it is...” Emerald sighed as Gabriel snorted.

“Well Robin Williams named his daughter Zelda so it isn’t too weird to name someone after a videogame character,” Gabriel said as the group of five kept moving south through the settlement. “Speaking of weird, I can’t help but notice you four have brightly dyed hair. Was the place you went to some kind of neo-flower child community?”

“That’s… actually pretty accurate.” Emerald tilted her head. “It’s also extremely disconnected… practically on another world actually. I have no idea what’s been going on for the last three years.”

“I can believe that,” Gabriel said as they left the thicket of shelters and homes built out of recycled scrap and rubble. “Considering just how much time and resources Blackwatch said they put into trying to find you.”

“Blackwatch is still around?” Emerald stiffened and her expression became almost alarmed. “I thought with you guys living here so openly something was done about them.”

“Oh yeah, something was definitely done about them alright.” Gabriel smiled at Emerald which disarmed her rising apprehension. “Come on, let’s get comfortable and get business out of the way before we share some stories.”

The group continued on their way. Eventually they arrived to an old park path before a barrier overlooking Raritan Bay. Gabriel sat down on a bench alongside the path and Emerald pulled along another bench so that Spike and Navi could sit nearby.

“So this girl you are looking for,” Gabriel began as he fished an iPhone out of his pocket. “She has red and yellow hair, right?”

“Yeah,” Emerald answered as Twilight sat next to her. “Don’t really have any other identifiers beyond that unfortunately, but Twilight should be able to identify her.”

“Is this her?” Gabriel asked and handed his phone over after fiddling with it for a moment.

“That’s her!” Twilight exclaimed the moment she say the picture on the iPhone’s screen.

Emerald stared at the picture. The POV was from somewhere in the settlement and somewhere outside and focusing on a girl sitting in a chair. The girl had long hair that reached the middle of her back and was a little wavy. She had pale skin and cyan eyes and had an athletic figure. She was wearing a black leather jacket that was studded around her collar and under that was a yellow, orange and purplish pink dress that had her cutiemark of a red and yellow sun emblazoned on the front. On her feet were a pair of black leather boots with purple-pink flames on them. Emerald noticed all of these details second, however. The first thing she noticed about Sunset Shimmer was the expression on her face. Sunset looked… incredibly confused, even a little scared as she looked at the people around her.

“Do you have any more pictures of her?” Emerald asked, something at the back of her mind telling her that something was wrong here.

“Sure do. Swipe the screen.” Gabriel nodded.

Emerald did so. A few pictures of her talking with people around her, a picture of someone handing her a satchel, one picture of her looking incredibly startled at seeing an Evolved shift their form which Emerald stared at for a moment. Finally a picture of Sunset boarding a Water Taxi repurposed as a small ferry.

“I took a video of her, too,” Gabriel added after a moment.

“Show me,” Emerald said and handed the phone back.

Gabriel held the phone for a moment, pressing the screen a few times before bringing it back around for Emerald and Twilight to look at.

“Who are you people?” Sunset’s voice emitted from the phone with a tone of confusion and nervousness

“You’re not from around here, are ya?”a Cannon Fodder off screen asked.

“No I… I guess not, uhh…” Sunset’s said with uncertainty. “Have… have you heard of a school called Canterlot High?”

“Nope, definitely no schools around here called that,” another Evolved stated. “You get kidnapped or something, kid?”

“I… I don’t know… I guess?” Sunset said with worry.

“Don’t even remember, either,” the first Evolved commented. “Yeah, they drugged you good.”

“I’m going to call this in,” came Gabriel’s voice and abruptly the recording ended.

“Two and a half years ago people would get dumped on Manhattan,” Gabriel stated. “Started about the time we got the island to ourselves, don’t really know the exact reasons. I guess some idiots thought we were man eating monsters that couldn’t resist a chance at a free meal the moment it stumbled into our lair. Probably were hoping we’d eat the people they’d dump here and give them ammunition against our continued existence. After we found her we thought some group of idiots were trying old tactics again.”

Emerald sighed and leaned back against the backrest of the bench. She stared out into the bay and towards Staten Island, AKA the Green Zone. Her mind was awash with thoughts and racing in the darkness the lack of information was casting over her. Sunset’s words were extremely worrying for someone who was supposed to have come from here.

“Soo… what exactly is the reason why you are tracking this girl down?” Gabriel asked. “Does it have something to do with that tiara she had with her?”

“Yes actually!” Twilight said. “She stole it and ran away with it, we managed to track her here so far. Do you have it?”

“No we don’t.” Gabriel groaned and palmed his face. “I figured it was kind of suspicious for a girl to have been dumped here and yet not have her expensive looking jewelry stolen away by whoever did the dumping. No, we gave her a bag to hide what we thought was her tiara in, called a ferry over and sent her on her way.”

“Let’s put a pause on this line of conversation right now,” Emerald said with a raised hand and turned towards Gabriel. “It’s time to talk some history. I’ve dropped off the face of the Earth the last three years and need to know what’s been going on.”

“Well that’s a long story, one that needs a good drink I think…” Gabriel said as he leaned back in the bench before looking over his shoulder and waving at someone nearby. “Hey! Get me some cold ones! Your fearless and benevolent leader commands it!”

“As long as I can get myself one!” came the reply.

“Yeah, yeah. Just get the drinks!” Gabriel waved off before turning back to Emerald. “Where to begin… exactly where you left sounds good to me.”

“Once Mercer was dead we quickly got ourselves organized,” Gabriel began. “We moved all our more important things to more secure locations and started making plans to get back at both the organization and the government that had turned Manhattan into hell on Earth. We started looting and attacking abandoned checkpoints and warehouses and got ourselves a ton of military hardware to work with. Then we set out gathering a ton of evidence of Blackwatch’s actions and all the atrocities they had unleashed upon New York and all the crimes against humanity they were still planning to commit. Ironically our biggest help in this was Alex Mercer’s own sister, Dana Mercer. She had a shit ton of Blackwatch audio and visual recordings, not to mention so many incredibly incriminating documents.

“Once we had that we started getting the major part of the plan in motion,” Gabriel continued, Emerald listening intently but Twilight staring with rapt concentration. “Using our vast collection of computer knowledge and all of our advanced military hardware we unleashed a deluge of information onto the net. Basically, we duplicated and spread every audio recording, video and document far and wide across as many websites as possible. Blackwatch’s reaction was almost instant and things started getting taken down and websites got DoS’d but we kept at it; even managed to keep our position hidden the entire time. Eventually even with Blackwatch’s efforts we spread everything we had on Blackwatch and their activities so far and wide they could never hope to stop it.

“You should have seen the reaction online- Oh awesome, thanks.” Gabriel turned to see the Evolved had returned with three beers and took the one he offered her. Thinking the third beer had been meant for himself, Emerald didn’t think anything of it and didn’t notice when the Evolved opened the bottle and handed it to a curious Twilight. “Anyway, every site from Steam to Spacebattles was buzzing and dozens of pages were filled in minutes. The next day we saw dozens of news stations broadcasting what was online and foreign nations condemning America as basically the continuation of the Fourth Reich. Politicians all over America instantly saw which way the wind was blowing or maybe even felt honestly outraged by what their government had been doing and started making calls to Capitol Hill to call for the Impeachment of President Obama. Now… considering that the guy was black I’m of the opinion Obama was out of the loop and had nothing to do with Blackwatch but he was in charge so he-”

Suddenly Gabriel was interrupted by the sound of Twilight coughing and hacking. Emerald turned to see Twilight leaning forward, coughing up a lung and in one of her hands was slightly frosted over bottle of beer.

“Hey! You okay?!” Emerald said and immediately pressed herself to Twilight’s side and began to soothingly rub her back. “Just breathe.”

“Ugh… Agh…” Twilight panted as she pressed a hand to her chest.

“Twilight, you okay?” Spike said as he darted over, Navi a few steps behind with a much more intricate design made up in her cat’s cradle rather than the tangled mess before.

“Ugggggh… yeah…” Twilight said finally after getting her breath before looking at her drink with wide eyes. “What in the world is this supposed to be?! It was like liquid poison!”

“I know some people call Bud Light piss, but liquid poison is a bit much,” Gabriel commented as he took a drink of his beer. “I mean at least it’s cold.”

“Twilight’s never had beer before,” Emerald replied after making doubly sure Twilight was alright and taking her beer from her. “They don’t even have it back home.”

“I take back all the good things I’ve thought about your new home,” Gabriel said dryly and crossed his legs before taking another sip. “They clearly tortured you into better behavior via deprivation.”

“Whatever,” Emerald said as she put the second bottle of beer on the other side of the bench away from Twilight and took a sip of her own. No doubt unlike Gabriel, she was keeping the alcohol from affecting her. She needed a clear head to get through this. “So you were saying?”

“So, Obama got turned into a scapegoat for what is forever known as Blackgate,” Gabriel said. “And a ton of other politicians on Capitol Hill got the axe, too. Had to vote in a new president in an emergency election too because Joe Biden got caught up in all of it. Don’t know why. Guess they saw him whispering to someone and assumed he was hailing hydra or something. Course everyone was mostly doing this to show the world America was doing something about its issues, not that it helped in the end.”

“Basically after it was demonstrated that yes, America really was conducting experiments into chemical ethnic cleansing of their own people the countries of the world came down like a ton of bricks on us,” Gabriel added after seeing Emerald’s interested look. “No, there weren’t any invasions or anything, though from the rumors at the time I wouldn’t be surprised if all the saber rattling had legitimate intent behind it. No, America got a shit ton of trade sanctions. Ton of reparation demands too, but that was mostly people getting greedy and lunging to get their own pound of meat.”

“So are we a third world country now?” Emerald asked.

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Gabriel shook his head and took another drink. “The trade sanctions made a bad situation worse considering we were already in a recession but we haven’t reached a point where Somalia could float over on a log and kick our ass or anything. Let me tell you though, everyone definitely knows what it’s like to be living in a country that isn’t the top of the food chain now.”

“I honestly doubt America is the only one feeling the pinch from this, though,” Emerald commented.

“Oh yeah there were a ton of people who wanted to give America basically a slap on the wrist and go on with business as usual.” Gabriel nodded. “China was leading that one. Understandable considering who their biggest trade partner was. And even now, having a country that was the leading influence in the world get humbled and crippled did a massive blow to the world economy. Lots of people made a ton of posturing about ‘decades long trade sanctions’ but I doubt it’s going to last much longer. Probably would have been over already if it weren’t for the fact no one wants to look too forgiving of potential genocide in such high publicity politics like this.”

“So after dealing with America, the UN got down to the next biggest things on its agenda; us and Blackwatch,” Gabriel continued. “Blackwatch had some plans in case of a situation like this and managed to worm its way out of putting much of anyone important to its organization on the chopping block. Someone had to pay though, so Rooks got offered up on a silver platter. Next thing we know the guy is on the plane to some gulag somewhere in Siberia. Doubt he’s actually in a gulag, though. He’s probably already in an unmarked grave after having all the secrets they could get tortured out of him.”

“So what, they left Blackwatch alone after grabbing one guy?” Emerald frowned. “You know I’m pretty certain Rooks wasn’t really Blackwatch. I think he was just a stone cold bastard that got the job done.”

“Oh no, Blackwatch gave them a bone and the UN took that bone and asked for the rest of the whole damn skeleton.” Gabriel smiled. “They basically had the organization reorganized into an Intergovernmental backed and operated by the UN and its member countries. Then they had all its tech redistributed throughout the UN and had its members selected from elite forces around the world.”

“Why would they do that?” Emerald asked though she already had a good guess. “The taking control of Blackwatch I mean. It’s pretty obvious why they would want the tech Blackwatch developed.”

“To police us of course.” Gabriel shrugged and took another sip, also confirming Emerald’s guess. “Let me tell you, there was a ton of uncertainty at the time. No one knew if the nations of the world would decide if it was more cost effective to keep us contained or if it was cheaper just to have the whole of us killed. Because that was what it ultimately came down to; how much money either option costed them.”

“That's horrible!” Twilight exclaimed as Emerald hummed an agreement through her sip of beer. “No one's life should be reduced to monetary value like that! It just isn't right!”

“That's the way the world works, Angel,” Gabriel said much to Twilight's confusion. “The suits up at top looking down on us see only dollar value and care only about getting more for themselves.”

“Considering you guys are still here, they obviously decided that keeping you contained was more cost effective,” Emerald stated as Twilight looked a little upset. “I'm guessing you did something to stack the deck in your favor as much as possible?”

“Yep!” Gabriel nodded. “There was only a couple hundred of us when Mercer died and we all agreed that a number with only two zeros behind it looked pretty tempting to get rid of to people behind some desk. So while the world was tearing itself a new one we started on a recruitment campaign.”

“Sounds dangerous,” Emerald commented.

“Without a doubt,” Gabriel agreed. “We couldn't just grab anyone. What if they let the power go to their head and think they were unstoppable? That would be doing the opposite of what we wanted and giving people plenty of reasons to want to kill us all. God knows there is a shit ton already for them to shovel into our faces. So we recruited as many people as we could while staying away from people who would go on a power trip. By the time we were done we had like two thousand and five hundred Evolved on the island.”

“And finally when the day came that some reps arrived to take a census of us?” Gabriel smirked. “Well what do you know, the debates over what should be done about us was finished pretty much the next day. Blackwatch was being re-purposed into the world's most militarized and highly advanced police force and pretty much all of New York was added into the quarantined zone.”

“All of New York is part of the NYZ now?” Emerald asked and handed Gabriel Twilight's bottle when he gulped down the last drops of his own.

“Oh yeah,” Gabriel said after taking a sip. “Before it was just Staten Island, Brooklyn and the bombed out husk that was our lovely island here. Now the Bronx and Queens got added into it. They would have gone even further and added places as far north as Yonkers and far west as Newark into the NYZ but... well, people were pissed over the quarantined zone in the first place and now they were expanding it, the amount of rioting that went on then would have put the LA riots to shame.”

“I'm guessing a lot of people blamed you guys for that,” Emerald commented as she took a gulp of her barely touched beer.

“Not nearly as much as we were expecting.” Gabriel smiled. “Turns out a lot of people were pissed over the government's ‘Nazieque’ actions that have been taking place over the last fifty or so years. Sure we got tons of people throwing around threats and blame at us but everyone already had a much more ready target in the government. Helps that the videos uploaded online were of Blackwatch shooting white kids in the face and not of us eating them.”

“Did... did they really do horrible things like that?” Twilight asked in silent horror. “Kill children?”

“Well...” Gabriel said and began fiddling with his phone when he glanced down at Spike and Navi who were sitting on the ground before them. Spike had apparently been roped into playing Cat's Cradle with Navi and was now helping her make more more complicated patterns. “Let's just say... YES and leave it at that.”

“What happened next?” Emerald asked after wrapping an arm around Twilight's shoulders.

“Well... Rooks got the boot to the grave somewhere.” Gabriel hummed in thought. “Then Blackwatch got itself a new UN appointed commander; a rather controversial case in itself. With Mercer not making them retarded anymore, Blackwatch got a shit ton more competent when it came to handling us. People settled down slightly. Still a lot of debate over whether we should live or die going on. Oh and New York is basically Rio De Janeiro's tantrum throwing baby brother now. Can't really go anywhere on the mainland without some asshole holding a butter knife in your face demanding your wallet.”

“Well considering it was basically a mutant zombie apocalypse before, I think that's a pretty damn big improvement,” Emerald commented and downed the rest of her beer.

“Always a silver lining, huh?” Gabriel asked rhetorically with a smile. “Anyway, things are still pretty damn tense. Occasionally we have to come down on one of our own like a ton of bricks or help Blackwatch do it. Never great when we have to do that but once the majority of people get the idea we're too dangerous to have around, well... let's just say me and some friends have a few scatter plans in place in case we have to take a stand against the world. Hope like hell we don't have to, but the world ain't like that...”

“Yeah, so great to be back...” Emerald muttered.

“... You do realize now that you're here, going back isn't really an option now, right?” Gabriel said after a moment.

“Maybe... we'll see,” Emerald said airily.

“I'm serious here, Os- Emerald,” Gabriel began. “The fact there was one of us unaccounted for and you couldn't be found no matter how hard they looked really got people up in arms here. Everyone was thinking that any day now Mercer's heir would start the whole thing all over again and this time it wouldn't conveniently be on a bunch of islands that could be easily blocked off. Pretty much everyone here thought the next time we'd be hearing about you again would be Blackwatch being deployed to the middle of country to deal with a massive Blacklight infection.”

“... Mercer's Heir?” Emerald said, voice dripping with cold contempt though clearly not directed at Gabriel. “Bullshit. Like I'd want anything to do with Mercer's legacy after the hell I've been put through as his dog.”

“A few of us could guess that much,” Gabriel said with a sigh. “But like I said, a few. Rest of the damn country didn't think so, bunch of documentaries were made about us and Alex Mercer and his Cadre of Elites. More than a few dedicated a a decent part of their run time to the fact you were unaccounted for. God damn, after all this time the latest one practically paints you like a boogeyman. Look... all I'm saying is maybe coming here trying to get some jewelry back wasn't the best thing you could have done.”

“Oh I'm already regretting it, but I can't exactly take it back now, can I?” Emerald asked and got a nod from Gabriel after a moment. “So... speaking of jewelry.”

“Back to business, huh?” Gabriel asked before drinking the rest of his beer and chucking both bottles off into the water. “Well it might seem like we are supposed to stay on Manhattan but we are allowed to roam the rest of the city as long it's in the NYZ, so I can call a water taxi over and get you a ride over to where we sent her. Brooklyn, specifically.”

“Ah, my old haunting grounds. Feeling nostalgic already,” Emerald muttered before chucking her own bottle off into the water. “Think I'll find us a place to stay over there. Might as well; already know the neighborhood.”

“It's probably for the best that you do.” Gabriel sighed and stood up. “Despite the fact that most of the new Evolved here in the settlement were never part of original Cannons, they still don't like you all that much.”

“Yeah, figured that would be the case,” Emerald said and stood up, followed by Twilight. “Mercer was pretty much behind all the pain and torment that was the NYZ and I'm a former member of his inner circle. Anyway, I've got something I want to do before heading off for Brooklyn. I'll be back in an hour.”

“Yeah sure. I've got some calls to make,” Gabriel waved off and walked away. “See ya around!”

“Where are we going?” Spike asked as he disentangled himself from Navi's game who pouted at him ruining their latest and most complex pattern.

“We're... going somewhere very important to me,” Emerald said evasively. “I never thought I'd ever see it again and I... let's just go. I'd rather just show you all.”

“It's okay, Emerald,” Twilight said, thinking Emerald was going to show them her old home. “Just lead the way.”

“It's not too far at all,” Emerald said as she began moving. “I only said an hour because I wanted to take my time once I got there.”

The group began moving out of the settlement. All along the way Evolved looked and stared at their passage. There were quite a few people who openly glared and even threw a few insults Emerald's way. However, most just looked a little conflicted, like they didn't know what to really make of Emerald.

It was a fifteen minute trip overall as slowly crumbling and rusting hulks that made up the Manhattan skyline passed by. The hundreds of rusting abandoned cars darting the streets now intermingled with the thickening plant growth that was breaking through the streets. The plant growth was actually pretty thick in some places that Emerald had to shift her claws a few times to clear a path for the others.

Eventually they arrived and came to the sight of what must have once been a chapel with a small graveyard surrounding it. The chapel was little more than a pile of rubble with only most of its back wall still standing. The rotor of a helicopter tail was poking out of the rubble, a clear indicator of what had destroyed the chapel.

Emerald and co. walked past the barely there steel picket fence and into the graveyard. The virus lead everyone through the graveyard. Once kept tidy with constant attention, now after half a decade of neglect, the graves were becoming weathered and the ground was thickly overgrown with grass. Eventually they came to a shallow crater that had a slab of broken concrete standing in the center, its surface occluded by grass. A storm of tendrils leapt out from Emerald and began consuming the grass and retreated, leaving a tidy, short layer of grass surrounding the slab. Emerald then stopped forward until she came to a stop a few feet away from the slab, then she fell to her knees and stared at it sadly for a moment.

“...Hi mom.” Emerald said softly, eliciting a gasp from Twilight who softly fell into a kneel beside Emerald.

On the slab of rubble crudely scratched in were these words:

Adela Osäker

Mother

1973 – 2010

“It's been a while, hasn't it?” Emerald said as Twilight pressed herself as close as she could and wrapped an arm around her. “I think it's been five years since I've visited your grave. After I joined up with Mercer properly I didn't think I deserved to see you anymore. That and I didn't want them to dig you up and taunt me with your remains if they saw me here. But... I'm back now, and I think I'm a much better person now.”

“Muhs mah...” Navi said quietly and nestled against Emerald as the older virus started to cry, wrapping her little arms around her.

“This is my girlfriend, Twilight,” Emerald said, large fat tears rolling down her cheeks. “I wish you could have met her. I know you would like her. She's the best thing that's ever happened to me. She's the reason why I'm not as bad as I used to be.”

Spike dropped onto the ground beside the group, crossing his legs under him. The air felt incredibly thick for him and he felt incredibly uncomfortable, almost feeling as if maybe he was intruding. The feeling instantly left when Emerald simply held a hand out to him and he grasped the outheld appendage.

“I like to think I'm a better person now,” Emerald said quietly as she closed her eyes. “I like to think I'm the kind of person you'd feel like you could eventually be proud of. I'm not going to stop trying to be a better person... just because I feel like I'm now not someone you wouldn't turn away from doesn't mean I'm going to stop... I just thought you'd like to know that.”

Emerald was silent after that and stayed in place, simply staring down at the crude tombstone. This moment seemed to drag on in the ensuing silence. No one was keeping track of the time or desired to. There was no knowing how long this moment lasted, it could have easily been half an hour to just a few minutes. Eventually Emerald took her hand back from Spike's grip and wiped her face clear of tears.

“I've never really told you how she died, did I?” Emerald said and it took Twilight a moment to realize she was talking to her now. “All I ever told you was that she died during a disaster...”

“You don't have to, Emerald,” Twilight said and placed her head on Emerald's shoulder.

“I want to, though...” Emerald said. “My mom and I were part of an unlucky majority that had gotten stuck on Manhattan when the first quarantine went up. Initially the first week was quiet enough, but by the start of the second close to half the island's population was infected by Redlight, a precursor to my virus, Blacklight. People who got infected by Redlight become unthinking monstrosities. Most were shambling, twisted shells of their former selves, though some went further and became incredibly fast killing machines.

“By the end of the second week we had been forced to leave our home due to fighting outside,” Emerald continued. “We escaped into the alley. It was fairly empty but it was exposed so we kept moving. The fighting had been going on in several nearby streets, not just our own. An explosion caused us to split up. I stumbled into the middle of a battle between the marines and the infected, my mother managed to find herself on the same street some distance away. We saw each other, we ran at each other... t-then a m-m-monster threw an Ambulance at the marines and m-missed and h-h-hit her...”

“You don't have have to keep going if you don't want to, Emerald,” Twilight said comfortingly.

“I froze after that and fell to my knees,” Emerald said, shaking her head at Twilight's words. “I don't know how long I stayed like that but it was long enough for the Marines to slowly push back the infected and start claiming the street. Without really thinking about it I went over to where my mother had been when the ambulance rolled over her. She looked... strangely untouched... one side of her face was bruised and bloody but that was it... she probably died from her head impacting the concrete. I hoisted her body over my shoulders and started moving. I didn't know where I was going and when I would stop but I just started moving into the alley ways. I was able to get past several streets before I was forced to hideout in an apartment block.

“I hid in there for three days. There was no power so I couldn't... use a freezer to keep her preserved better,” Emerald continued, Twilight swallowed audibly as it was beginning to get hard to listen but she stayed strong. “At some point I had to... clean her... after those three days she wasn't looking too well... wasn't smelling too well, either... it didn't matter and I hoisted her onto my shoulders again after those three days and started moving again. For some reason the infected had become rather aimless and less aggressive at that point. They would still come at you but as long as you went at a good jogging pace you were pretty safe, though that was only if the more advanced creatures didn't come after you. I kept moving and eventually I found what I had apparently been looking for; this chapel.

“It was torn up like this when I came upon it,” Emerald said. “I ran into the graveyard and dug a deep hole with my hands. Then I used some explosives I scavenged from the bodies of dead soldiers and blew a bigger hole in the ground. I put her in the hole and started filling in the hole with my bare hands. I beat back several shamblers that came at me with a piece of rebar I pulled out of the chapel's rubble and kept at it. Eventually I filled in enough of the hole to satisfy me and pulled over a slab of concrete and used it as her tombstone. I used the rebar to scratch in the epitaph and then I went further south. Eventually I ran into the main marine base there, still battling the infected. I was ‘saved’ and placed into a refugee hospital after that... the rest of that story... well, you already know it.”

There was a long moment of silence that followed that as the group simply sat before the crudely made tombstone. Finally, Emerald gave a sigh and made to stand up. Twilight and Navi let go of her and they stood back up.

“Well... that was strangely... salve...” Emerald said as she looked down at the tombstone, expression no longer sad but solemn. “Come on, let's head on back before we're actually late for our boat.”

The group left then. The trip back was made in silence, a silence that was mostly due to the fact Navi had wandered off and the group had to spend some minutes looking for her before finding her playing in a smoldering toy store. Eventually they arrived back at the Cannon Settlement and found it strangely empty of people in its streets.

“Where did everyone go?” Twilight asked aloud.

“No one likes to be around when Black Watch comes calling,” said a voice.

Emerald turned to see a man leaning out of the window of a home. He was wearing a brown coat and black shirt from what Emerald could see of him. He had faintly red eyes with crimson, spiky hair that fell just past his jawline in some places. He also was very clearly a pretty boy.

“Who are you supposed to be?” Emerald asked in some irritation.

“Nagi Springfield,” the man answered readily with a smile. “Name’s Jacob. Yes I know that was rhetorical and I don’t care.”

“Was anyone actually fine with how they looked before?” Emerald asked with a frown. “Or was Gabriel the only one? I mean I may not look like I have any right to say anything but this was actually unintended.”

“Reeeeeeeeeally?” Jacob asked with a crooked smile and leaned forward onto the window sill and rested his head on the palm of one hand, his body language clearly saying ‘I don’t believe you’. “Well I don’t know about you but I certainly enjoy the ability to bring fictional characters to life.”

“Right, so… Blackwatch?” Emerald said. “They’re in the settlement?”

“Yyyyyyyyyyyyup,” Jacob said, popping his lips at the ‘p’. “Just flew in about ten minute ago, had the big bad commander himself on it.”

“Do you know what they want?” Emerald asked.

“Nope,” Jacob shrugged. “Gabriel went to see them though and they’ve been in some meeting in the town hall ever since.”

“Right, thank you for the information.” Emerald nodded.

“See you around oh great and terrible Heir,” Jacob said and ducked out of the window, closing it behind him before Emerald could shoot him a glare.

“What are we going to do?” Twilight asked.

“Well… I need to ask Gabriel about when the ferry is coming in,” Emerald said thoughtfully. “And I’m honestly curious about just how much Blackwatch has changed with a new commander and being under the command of a group of nations… let’s go see what’s going on.”

Emerald lead the group through the empty streets of the Cannon Fodders Settlement. It took some wandering to find it but apparently either by chance or design the ‘plaza’ the Town Hall sat in front of was big enough to allow a chopper to land in. A chopper was sitting there now in proof of this fact.

The chopper was very different from the kinds of choppers Blackwatch used. There wasn’t a smooth angle or curve anywhere on the chopper. Its surfaces was made up of hard ridges and straight lines and was big enough to transport a squad of soldiers. Judging from the characteristics of its shape and surface, it was a stealth vehicle.

‘I’ve heard of these,’ Emerald thought ‘Weren’t they used to sneak those soldiers into Bin Laden’s compound?’

The choppers only attracted Emerald’s attention for a moment, however. What drew her eyes next was the soldiers guarding the chopper. There was two of them and they were wearing completely black uniforms and full face covering gas masks. The gear they were wearing was completely unlike the heavy attempt at intimidation she saw Blackwatch grunts wearing when she was last here. In fact the gear was more in line with the stuff they were wearing during the first outbreak. However, even compared to the gear they used in the first outbreak this was very different. They seemed to be completely covered in an airtight, hard black armor, possibly some kind of ceramic plating developed in the intervening years. Darting said armor in places where they wouldn’t get in the way of movement were these silvery small metal balls that stuck out. Instead of rifles, the two guards held batons at the ready which ended in fork like shapes which made Emerald immediately assumed they were a sort of taser weapon. There were two more Blackwatch grunts standing guard at the entrance of the town hall which was basically the only building here that didn’t have a slight ramshackle look to it.

The instant Emerald entered the plaza she was spotted and one of the guards instantly pressed a hand to the side of his helmet for a moment before bringing it back down. From that motion Emerald guessed she was being expected. A moment later the doors to the town hall opened and Emerald had to stop herself from gaping at who walked out in full Blackwatch gear.

James Heller, killer of Alex Mercer and slaughterer of countless Marine and Blackwatch soldiers, was wearing a Blackwatch uniform. It wasn’t the hard armor type the other Blackwatch soldiers in the area were wearing but more in line with what the grunts were wearing in the first outbreak, save for the fact he had no headwear and had his sleeves rolled up to about the midpoint of his biceps. The moment he spotted her he grunted audibly and made way for her, the soldiers standing guard at the entrance of the town hall falling into step behind him. Gabriel was there too, following Heller but keeping his distance.

“You Emerald?” James Heller asked gruffly. “Formally Oskar Osäker?”

“…Yeah, that’s me,” Emerald answered.

“Hmph,” Heller huffed and stared her down, looking like he didn’t know whether to glare murderously or just be annoyed. “You’re just a kid.”

“Wish I still was,” Emerald said simply as Twilight and the others stepped just behind her.

“Was beginning to think the whole sole survivor bullshit was made up by Gabriel,” Heller stated. “Should have known one of Mercer's goons would have been enough of a fucking snake in the grass to get away.”

“Less being traitorous and more knowing he didn't need a reason to kill all of us,” Emerald replied. “Kind of hard to be loyal to someone when you know he is likely to kill you for not being ‘evil enough’. Considering what he did before facing you that one last time it was a good thing I was 'delayed'.”

“I'd probably be making a lot of people happy if I just killed you here and now,” Heller stated. “Everyone thinks you're another Mercer, going to release the virus somewhere it can't be be easily contained, where it could do the most harm.”

“Well she isn't like that anymore!” Twilight said and stood in front of Emerald protectively. “You haven't even heard of her before Gabriel told you about her and haven't ever seen until today! You've spent all these years making monster in the dark of her, but she isn't, so stop talking about her like she's some pest to get rid of!”

“...” Heller stared down at Twilight blankly for a moment. His guards were unmoving, likely well aware their commander was more than capable of defending himself against most threats. “Kid, who she to you?”

“She's my girlfriend,” Twilight said and stepped back and grasped Emerald's hand pointedly who was now looking more than a little amused.

“...Guess you know what you're getting into,” Heller with a snort and seemed to relax noticeably. He then held out a clipboard Emerald only now noticed he had been holding. “Here, got some paperwork for you to fill out.”

“Paperwork?” Emerald said and took the clipboard and looked down at its contents.

“Every Evolved has to to register.” Heller crossed his arms. “To help keep track of the population.”

“How exactly does that work?” Emerald asked. “We are all shapeshifters. Literally nothing stopping us from making a new face and name any time we want.”

“Dunno,” Heller shrugged. “Paper pushing bastards up at the five sided puzzle palace said it has to be filled out, so it gets filled out.”

“Okay...” Emerald frowned and took the attaching pen and started quickly filling in lines.

'Name... Emerald Gleaner,' Emerald thought as she wrote. 'Age, twenty two. Address of current residence? Uhh... homeless? Photo of current appearance? Well don't got a camera for that one. Name of Spouse/Significant other and/or family. Twilight Sparkle, Navi and Spike... wait, will they think this is a joke entry? Well, too late now... List of current powers and abilities, what?'

“List of powers and abilities?” Emerald stated in some confusion. “Uhh... don't we all have the same abilities?”

“You there now?” Heller asked and held out his hand. “Just give it here, I'll scribble some random shit in on the flight back.”

“Okay...” Emerald and handed the clipboard over, she blinked when one of the guards stepped forward and held out a small camera, there was a flash as he took her picture and then he handed it to Heller.

“There, all done,” Heller said as he pocketed the camera. “Welcome back I guess. Try not to kill anyone that doesn't deserve it. I have to get back and get my secretary to do the shit ton of paperwork that's waiting for me and listen to her bitch at me for it.”

Emerald stared after him as Heller and his guards walked towards the chopper which started its engines at his approach. As the four soldiers boarded the chopper and Heller boarded last, the Commander started to close the door but stopped to look towards Emerald.

“Heard you were heading to the mainland!” Heller shouted over the sound of the rotors spinning up. “Take a boat! And nothing else!”

With that the door closed and after a few moments the chopper lifted off into the air. The sound of the rotors rapidly faded away as the chopper rose into the air and away towards Staten Island. After the sound of the chopper became faint beating in the distance, Emerald turned towards Gabriel.

“Sorry about ratting on you like that,” Gabriel said apologetically as he walked over. “But it wouldn't have been pretty if Blackwatch found out I knew you had come back and never told them about it.”

“James Heller in charge of Blackwatch,” Emerald commented. “That has to have quite the story behind that, and I guess he is the reason why my sonar doesn't work right?”

“The story isn't as complicated as you might think it would be,” Gabriel replied. “And yeah, with his help Blackwatch R&D managed to get a jammer working for the sonar. There is nowhere in the city it works anymore. Going to have track down people the old fashioned way if you're looking for someone... which you are.”

“Hmph... save story time for another day,” Emerald said as she looked up and took in the evening colors of the sky. “It's getting late and I want to find a place to settle into for night.”

“The water taxi should be arriving in a few minutes,” Gabriel said and pointed over towards the old Staten Island ferry building. “It'll be arriving at the ports over there.”

“Alright, let's get going, everyone,” Emerald said and looked around when she saw Navi had wandered off again. She quickly found her to the side on her hands and knees. “Navi! Get over here!”

“By Babbi!” Navi said and waved to the little puppy she had been playing with, which gave her a cheerful bark.

“You're really excited by being in a different form, aren't you?” Emerald stated and got a huge grin from the little virus after she dashed over. “Never used to have trouble getting you to listen to me.Guess I'll have to... punish you!”

“Heee!” Navi squealed as Emerald grabbed her and started to tickle her, she wiggled and squirmed and laughed in Emerald's grasp for a moment before she managed to get away and darted behind Twilight, peering out at Emerald with a massive grin.

Emerald smiled in turn, taking in the sight of Twilight, Spike and Navi together. She couldn't help the warm feelings that seemed to surge in her chest. Then she saw the water taxi pulling in and announcing its presence with a blare of its horn. She looked beyond it and at Brooklyn and the yellow zone. Knowing that, that place was where they were going filled Emerald with the determination to protect those she cared about from the many threats in this city.

“Come on, our ride is here.”

The group quickly made their way over to the port the water taxi had pulled into. It wasn't long before they soon found themselves settling into the many seats the taxi had. New York water taxis were able to fit many dozens of people, so with just the four of them there it felt rather empty.

“Emerald,” Twilight said as the boat suddenly jerked under them and pulled away from port.

“Yes?” Emerald said, keeping a close eye on the little virus standing on the seat next to her and staring out the window.

“Why did you let that girl hurt you like that?” Twilight asked.

“...” Emerald simply sighed and leaned back. “Because she deserves to get a few punches in for what I've done to her.”

“... What happened?” Twilight asked, frowning at running into more sins of Emerald's past.

“There was a pregnant woman...” Emerald paused and seemed to think over how to word what she wanted to say next, after a moment of this she shook her head. “Let's not get into more grizzly details... all you need to know is that Mercer forced me to kill Sophie's sister and she rightfully hates me for it.”

“...” Twilight silently sidled up to Emerald and wrapped an arm around her. “I don't like this place...”

“Neither do I...” Emerald said as the boat continued along the water to their destination.

BETA

Emerald sighed as she and the others finally left the building they had been hustled into once the water taxi docked. The procedure for an Evolved deciding to stay elsewhere than Manhattan was an extremely lengthy and irritating process. So much so that it made dealing with security at an airport tame in comparison. It was even worse because Emerald didn't exactly know where she would be staying since she had to go look for a place, though she had a feeling it was mostly the desk worker purposefully making that part difficult for her.

“That... was kind of stupidly complicated,” Spike complained as he stretched his legs. “Isn't this part of the city closed off just like Manehattan? Why is it so hard to move around to different places of the same locked down area?”

“MANhattan, Spike,” Emerald corrected as she took in her surroundings. “But yeah, I get the feeling that's mostly what happens when the person in charge of travel security doesn't like you.”

The Yellow Zone hadn't changed since the last time Emerald had seen it, which considering the last time she had seen it was after Heller tore through it, it wasn't exactly easy on the eyes. All around Emerald were rundown buildings and clearly homeless people, while covering said buildings and even the streets were the scars of battles between Blackwatch, Heller, the Marines and infected creatures. Any attempts to repair the damage the Yellow Zone had taken seemed to have been done by locals. Cracks and potholes filled in with dirt and wall damage crudely boarded or plastered over.

“Where do we go from here?” Twilight asked. “Do we find some shelter or go after Sunset right away?”

“I think we better find someplace to spend the night first,” Emerald said, pointedly looking at Spike and Navi. “I don't want to find myself wandering around this city so close to night without knowing we have a place to go to.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Twilight nodded. “Do you know a place?”

“Maybe...” Emerald hummed in thought as she grabbed up Navi's hand before she could get bored and wander off to find something new to look at. “I know Brooklyn pretty good but it's been three years... I'll take us to where a budget hotel should be. If we end up staying a bit longer than just tonight and tomorrow I'll find us something a bit bitter.”

“Wait... what do we do for money?” Twilight asked as Emerald started leading the group down the sidewalk. “As much as I want to hope for some good will, I get the feeling no place here will actually do that.”

“I have a few potential ideas of where to get some money,” Emerald replied. “I need to make sure the hotel hasn't closed down or something first, though.”

'I kinda wish I could just teleport all of you to Hawaii and deal with this on my own,' Emerald thought with an inward sigh.

That was what Emerald wished. To take Twilight, Navi and Spike far away from this city with so many painful experiences and memories. Take them to a Five Start Resort somewhere and leave them there to enjoy all the positive sides of life while she dealt with the dark side of humanity incarnate that was New York. But Twilight wasn't the kind of person she could just dump somewhere and hope some pretty sights would distract her and keep her from being incredibly hurt by such an act. No, as much as Emerald wished otherwise if she had any respect for Twilight at all she would have to keep the newly turned human with her here in New York.

Suddenly a shape darted out of nearby alley and interrupted Emerald thoughts. It was a man in front of her, wearing a badly worn brown leather jacket with a dark gray hoodie underneath. His face had a thick, scraggly beard covering the lower half of his face. Half wild eyes were opened to their widest extent as he waved a crudely sharpened kitchen knife at Emerald. There was another man behind him holding a badly dented metal bat. A shout of surprise drew Emerald's attention briefly and she saw another man, this one with a much calmer demeanor with a pair of knuckle dusters on each hand, modified to have screws poking out of them.

“Your wallet!” the man in front of Emerald half screamed. “Jewelry- cash- jus-just anything expensive!”

“Ugh...” Emerald had very nearly simply gone about punching faces in when she recalled Twilight was with her, deciding to be tad bit more diplomatic then she normally wise Emerald raised her open palms. “Look we don't have any money for you to take, okay? We're just looking to find some shelter for the night.”

“Bullshit!” the man with the bat shouted and pointed at Twilight. “She can afford to dress that nice! AND can afford to dye her hair! All of you have dyed hair! YOU HAVE MONEY!”

“And quite clearly we spent it all on nice clothes and hair dye,” Emerald said, fighting to keep any sarcasm out of her voice.

“You don't got money?” the hood with the knuckle dusters said with a leer at Twilight. “Well pretty girls can pay differently.”

“Come on, man!” the hood with the bat said pleadingly. “Why you have to be cree-”

The hood with the brass knuckles lashed out with an open hand and squeezed Twilight's rear roughly. Twilight gave a shriek of complete surprise and jumped out of his grip. She turned to face the man with an utterly confused expression. The only reason that action managed to happen at all was because Emerald had froze in shock and disbelief that what had just happened to Twilight actually occurred. That only lasted for the briefest moment, however. After that, Emerald's vision became literally red. The only reason the hood had survived what happened next was purely thanks to Emerald's promise to Celestia and Heller's words echoing in her mind.

Suddenly Emerald was in front of the brass knuckle wielding hood, her hands lashing out to two areas of his body, his collar and his crotch. Emerald grasped the collar of his jacket firmly and with her other hand squeezed down hard enough that she could feel testes burst. With a shrill scream he was swung over Emerald's head and sent flying headfirst into the hood with the bat, knocking the both of them out cold.

The man with the knife seem to freeze and his eyes widened further at the quick turn around. Suddenly Emerald was in front of him and he screamed, giving a wild swing of his knife at her... he might as well have been trying to fight an angry shark deep underwater for all the good it did. Emerald grabbed the forearm holding the knife, stopping its momentum instantly. She then brought her hand down on the weapon and shattered it. She then flung the arm to the side and opened up his torso to her and unleashed a dozen rapid fire blows to his chest in barely two seconds before grabbing onto the lapels of his coat. She harshly pulled him forward and swung her head at him. There was a sharp crack and shout of pain that filled the air and Emerald found herself holding his limp form, much like that of a puppet with its strings cut. She released him and watched him fall to the ground and lay still for a moment before groaning and curling in on himself.

'Want... to feel your blood on my blades!' Emerald thought with an inward growl as her hands were on the verge of instinctively shifting to claws.

“Emerald?” the virus heard Twilight say, instantly snapping her out of her haze. She turned to see the former unicorn looking at her in concern. “I'm okay. You don't have to hurt them anymore than you already have.”

“...Okay,” Emerald said after taking a deep breath before returning her glare back to the men on the ground. She bent down to the first hood and started going through his pockets.

“What are you doing?” Spike asked.

“We need money,” Emerald said and found forty bucks in cash and a couple dollars worth of change.

“...” Twilight bit her lip as she watched Emerald move over to the other two men, roughly kicking over the one whose crotch she crushed. As much as she wanted to protest this, they really did need money...

A few minutes later found the group back on track, Emerald quickly going through her newly gained loot before pocketing it.

“Do we have enough for our hotel?” Twilight asked.

“A budget hotel can range anywhere from forty to just over a hundred dollars,” Emerald said. “We have about ninety eight dollars and sixty five cents. Anything approaching the hundred dollar mark is the more high end budget rooms and the place I have in mind... definitely isn't. We should be fine.”

It was an incredibly strange experience to have so little to her name. Twilight had lived an entire life without want. Her parents were very well to do people. She had not only gone to the best school in Equestria but had stayed at the Royal Palace as Celestia's personal student. Then even when she was made to leave she was given her own place without spending a single dime of her own and had a royal stipend to depend on. Even when she had to share that stipend with Emerald until she started getting her own money she was hardly forced to penny pinching. Now she, Emerald and the others were on the streets with barely any money, looking to stay at the cheapest place they could find because that was all they could afford.

As she considered her changed circumstances, Twilight's mind was drawn back to the encounter with the thugs and what the man did to her. She was completely and utterly confused and alarmed by the action. Why had he done that? They were perfect strangers and didn't know each other. And what did he mean by “Pretty girls can pay differently.”?

“Emerald?” Twilight said.

“Yes?” Emerald looked back over her shoulder at Twilight.

“Why did that man do that?” Twilight said. “Why did he grab me there and what did he mean by what he said?”

“Uhh...” Emerald's eyes widened for a moment before she looked thoughtful. She hardly wanted to explain just what had happened . “He was thug. He was just being a hurtful cretin, don't worry about it. You aren't bruising, are you?”

“Well...” Twilight patted herself and winced a little when a dull ache flared slightly into a stinging sensation. “Yes, it feels like I'm bruising a little.”

“Give it a couple more minutes,” Emerald stated. “We should be getting to the hotel soon. Once we’re in our room I'll fix you up.”

“Having four walls and a locked door sounds heavenly right about now,” Twilight stated to Spike's nod of agreement.

Eventually they arrived at the hotel, a rundown building that had half of its structure torn down to make room for a guard tower that was long abandoned. From the lights coming from the front doors and many of the windows, it was still being used by someone.

Entering the front doors, Emerald saw a shabby lobby and pitted floor greet her. The wooden floor looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a few days and more than stains dotted the ceiling. Sitting at a cracked desk was a frizzy haired middle aged woman with gray streaks running down her hair. At the desk was an aged TV about the size of a milk crate that she was watching. The moment the woman saw the door open and Emerald walk in she quickly stood up and pointedly stood near the ledge behind her that had a shotgun sitting on it openly. She relaxed noticeably when she saw Navi and Spike enter behind Twilight and leaned forward on the desk with a small tired smile.

“Hey there, what can I do for ya?” She said.

“Hello,” Emerald greeted. “We're looking for a cheap bunk room. What are your rates?”

“Well...” The woman leaned back and folded her arms and closed her eyes in thought. “We got the nice rooms going for eighty a night and... the not so nice going for half that.”

“We'll take the forty dollar room,” Emerald said and handed the woman the money.

“Great!” She smiled before leaning down opening a drawer full of keys. “Here you are, room 305. It's the topmost floor. Just go down that hall and take the stairs. It should be only a few doors down when you reach the top. Sorry, our elevator's broken.”

“It's alright,” Emerald waved off and turned to the others. “Come on, let's go.”

A few minutes later, after walking up an alarmingly creaky staircase, the group was entering the room. It was about what Emerald expected. The carpet had a few suspicious looking stains here and there, not to mention the bald spots. The ceiling had some faint water stains and the walls had their plaster coming off in a few spots, revealing the bare brick beneath. The room had only two pieces of furniture, two rickety looking bunk beds at opposite sides of the room with thin mattresses on them. The room also had two windows, good thing considering the sole light was missing a light bulb, though the windows happened to have been cracked. Leaning into the bathroom, Emerald was met with the sight of an utterly tiny bathroom. There was only just enough room to get in and squeeze the door shut behind you. The rest of the space was taken up by a toilet, a sink, a mirror and a small standing shower with thin, wobbly glass walls to keep the water in. The ceiling vent's fan didn't work when she flicked the switch, the mirror had a bunch of dirty streaks and a few hardened substances on it that could have been toothpaste. The toilet was just plain unpleasant to look at.

“Well this is...” Spike began as he walked over to one bunk and poked at a mattress. Navi ran over and immediately sat on it only to stick out her tongue in discomfort. “Garbage.”

“Just give me a moment,” Emerald said and cracked her fingers before waving her open palms out at the room.

Tendrils of magic immediately leapt from her hands and struck out at the room. The cracks in the windows disappeared and they gained a pair of blinds each. The sole hanging ceiling light was replaced with an ornate ceiling fan with several lights. One of the bunks had its frame replaced with fine stained wood and the mattresses were now much thicker and had blankets and thick pillows. The other bunk also gained a wooden frame as well but was turned into a single twin-sized bed. The carpet became much more lush and lost its stains and bald spots while the walls were re-plastered and the ceiling was fixed of its damage. A small bedside cupboard popped into existence with an electronic clock that doubled as a radio. The door on the cupboard flew open and within appeared half a dozen board games before the door closed again. A tendril of magic rushed into the tiny bathroom. Nothing could be done for the size but the toilet was sparkling clean along with the sink and mirror. The shower cleaned and turned and the vent fan was fixed and back in working order. Emerald then turned around and applied yet more magic, several locks appeared on the door and dozens of magical protective runes blazed to life briefly on the way before fading away from sight.

“There we go,” Emerald brushed her hands off and took in the room. “I'd rent this out easily for a hundred twenty dollars a night.”

“Yay!” Navi cheering before proceeding to roll around in her bunk and rapidly getting tangled up in her blankets, turning herself into a blanket burrito. “Heee!”

“Well what do we have here?” Spike asked as he opened up the cupboard. “Monopoly, The Game of Life, Mousetrap...”

“Come here, Twilight,” Emerald said as she sat down on the twin size. “Let's get that bruise fixed.”

“Alright,” Twilight said and walked over. She came a stop just before the bed and looked down at her belt buckle and her buttoned and zipped up dress pants. “Now how to undo this...”

Emerald blinked as Twilight rapidly started figuring out how to undo her belt and pants. She was a about to stop her when she thought about it a bit more deeply. It wasn't like Navi and Spike hadn't seen Twilight naked practically every day back home in Equestria. Just because Twilight and they were human now, did that make it all different?

'… Probably not,' Emerald thought and tried to keep her staring as casual looking as possible as twilight undid her pants and slid them down.

“Huh,” Twilight hummed as she pulled up her shirt to get a better look at the underwear she was wearing. It was the same shade of purple as the coat she had as a unicorn and when she turned around. “My cutiemark?”

“Awwww...” Navi said in some disappointment after lifting up her own dress and seeing the back of her underwear was bare.

Twilight then shrugged and pulled the underwear down as well before stepping forward and lying down on her stomach beside Emerald.

'Well...' Emerald paused for a moment to process her thoughts. 'That hair color is most certainly natural... right down to the streak.'

She then turned her attention back to Twilight. Actually her attention hadn't left, she simply had to refocus on the goal. The bruising was pretty minor, and could likely be ignored easily, but Twilight was already half naked on the bed beside her so Emerald set to work.

Emerald briefly motioned to point a hand and release tendrils from her palm before pausing for a moment. Briefly glad she couldn't blush unless she wanted to, Emerald placed her hand against the bruised area and released the tendrils from there to hasten the healing.

“Hmmm...” Twilight hummed patiently as she waited for Emerald to finish. After a few moments she looked over her shoulder at her girlfriend. “Emerald, you are taking longer than usual. Is something the matter?”

“U-uhh, no, nothing is wrong,” Emerald said and removed her hand a tad bit quickly. “You're all fixed and ready to go.”

“Great!” Twilight smiled and sat up and turned around to face Emerald, making no motion at all to put her clothes back on.

“Well... I guess now is the best time to start telling you all a few things about being human,” Emerald said, taking one last eyeful of Twilight before looking at the other two in the room.

“What else is there to know?” Spike asked, sitting on the ledge of the top bunk. Below him on the lower bunk Navi had wrapped herself up in her blankets again and was inching around like a caterpillar.

“Well for one thing, clothes,” Emerald began and looked at Twilight briefly. “Twilight, I already mentioned this a little to you a few years ago but most societies of humans today are clothed. The ones that lean towards nudity tend to be around the hotter equatorial regions and even then they aren't all that many. I bet you notice now your lower half is getting noticeably cooler right?”

“Hmm...” Twilight frowned and looked down. “Yes, actually. It's starting to get a little bit uncomfortable, actually.”

“Humans have a very fine coating of hair on their bodies,” Emerald explained. “It does more to aid sensation then it does any sort of insulation. Human society places a lot of emphases on wearing clothes not only for personal comfort but appropriateness. It is actually a crime in a vast majority of the world for someone to be nude. Though there is a varying levels of acceptable nudity for both genders.”

“Oh?” Twilight said with a curious tilt of her head. “It's not the same for both?”

“In same places it is but not America, the country we are in,” Emerald explained. “For instance, it is acceptable for males to have a bare torso but it is considered almost as bad as nudity for a female to have a bare chest and expose their breasts.”

“Breasts?” Twilight said and looked down, seeming to notice the protruding shapes on her chest for the first time. Cupping both of them, she looked at Emerald. “These things here? Why?”

“It's... they are just things that are only expected to be exposed only to significant others and members of the same sex,” Emerald answered. “They are considered an extremely attractive part of a woman's body. So you should always keep them covered up... when we aren't just by ourselves.”

“So we should always be wearing clothes when we are out in public?” Spike asked.

“Basically, yes,” Emerald nodded. “Probably going to have to explain this a bit more as time goes on but that is basically the main point.”

“Ah, well I'll just put my clothes back on then,” Twilight said and got off the bed to grab her clothes. Putting her legs through the holes, she bent down started putting her underwear and then her dress pants back on. After she did that she began tucking her shirt in and started fiddling with the buckle when she turned around noticed Emerald staring at her. “Oh, am I doing this wrong?”

“... No,” Emerald finally said after a moment, shaking her head. “Well now that we have a place for the night, I think you and I should head out and see if we can track Sunset again. Now that I know what she smells like I can find and follow her scent from the dock to find where she went.”

“The sooner we find her, the better,” Twilight nodded as she finished buckling her belt and turned towards Spike and Navi. “I think it's best you stayed here and keep an eye on Navi while we head out.”

“Uhh... well, okay,” Spike said. “I'll see if we can get one of those board games going.”

“Don't worry if someone tries to bust the door down,” Emerald said as she walked over and stopped beside said door. “I put a ton of runic protections on it. It'll take a lot more than any one or even a group of people would throw at it.”

“Does that happen a lot around here?” Spike asked a bit anxiously.

“... Probably more then you are comfortable with,” Emerald said and opened the door. “Don't worry! Like I said, this door won't open for anyone you don't want in here. That said... don't open for anyone but us, okay?”

“Definitely!” Spike replied.

Emerald waited for Twilight to leave and then closed the door. After locking it, the two headed back down the staircase. As they entered the lobby and were about to leave the woman there accosted them.

“Pretty young things like you two really shouldn't go out this late,” the woman said, her frown accentuating the wrinkles her face was starting to gain. “It isn't safe. Really ought to head back to your room.”

“Don't worry, we'll be perfectly fine,” Emerald said confidently. “Are you going to lock the door?”

“Hmm...” The woman hummed and closed her eyes for a moment. She opened them again as she asked, “You're one of them, aren't you? One of those shapeshifters from Manhattan?”

“...Yes I am,” Emerald answered after a moment. “That isn't going to be a problem, is it?”

“Huh... wasn't entirely sure. You're more believably pretty than the others, so...” The woman then shook her head. “You keep your friend safe, you hear me?”

“Yes, ma'am,” Emerald nodded.

“Good. I'll be locking the front after you leave,” the woman said and took out a cigarette and lighter. “The roof entrance will be open, though,”

“Thank you very much,” Emerald said sincerely and lead Twilight through the front door as the woman lit the cigarette.

“Hopefully our trip will be much quieter this time,” Twilight said as she and Emerald made their way back to the port.

“Hope for the best,” Emerald began with sigh as she expanded her senses to better guard Twilight. “Expect the worst.”

The trip back actually was quiet, but the two did notice that the thugs that had gotten a beat down either got back up and ran away or had been dragged off by someone. Eventually Emerald and Twilight found themselves back on the corner before the port facility.

“Anything?” Twilight asked as Emerald audibly sniffed.

“Yes,” Emerald said and pointed. “She went this way, and from the smell of it she was nervous; very nervous.”

“You can tell that by the smell?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah.” Emerald nodded as she followed the scent trail. “As long as your sense of smell is strong enough you can tell a lot about someone by how they smell.”

“Hmm... how do I smell?” Twilight asked curiously.

“... I don't know, let me check,” Emerald said and stopped before whirling on Twilight and buried her nose in the crook of the former unicorn's neck.

“Wha?!” Twilight gasped in surprise and then stilled as she felt the movement of air rush over her skin as Emerald breathed in deeply. She blushed in embarrassment from the closeness and then doubly so from the small satisfied smile on Emerald's face when she pulled away. “W-well?”

“You smell... veeeeery nice,” Emerald drawled with a big smile.

“Ah...” Twilight said simply, face burning. She then gathered herself as best as she could. “Perhaps we should focus more on finding Sunset rather than flirting?”

“Probably a good idea,” Emerald said with a teasing smile and continued to lead away. Suddenly a shape leapt out of the growing shadows at Emerald. The virus's arm blurred and stopped the momentum of a swung tire iron. Her fist lashed out and the attempted mugger crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut. Almost seamlessly, Emerald searched the mugger's pockets, took his money and continued on her way.

Twilight blinked in surprise at what just happened and how quickly it was resolved. She stared down at the mugger starting to twist in pain on the sidewalk before sighing and simply taking off after Emerald.

For the next half an hour Twilight and Emerald followed the trail. For the most part they were ignored by the worn down populace of Brooklyn. Twilight got more than a few stares due to her dress being more well to do than most; rich looking girls like her rarely showed up in the Former Yellow Zone and never this late at night. Eventually Sunset's scent trail lead them to a structure that must have once been a dance studio if the faded sign up front was any indication. It clearly didn't serve this purpose anymore but the lights were on so someone was using it. The two walked over to the front door and knocked. After a few moments the sounds of locks being undone met their ears and the door opened a little, a security chain keeping it from opening all the way or being forcefully done so.

“I'm really sorry but the shelter is full tonight,” said a mousy looking young woman wearing thick glasses, her eyes filled with sadness and sympathy at the sight of them. “I'm terribly sorry about turning you two away this late but we really are full. I can give you the names of a some other shelters in the area.”

“Actually we're here looking for someone,” Emerald said and immediately the woman became more guarded and the gap of the opened door narrowed. “Wait! Look, there is no easy way to say this, but we are looking for a teenage girl. She has something of ours and I get the feeling that she felt coming to this city was a massive mistake on her part.”

“... You're talking about bacon girl, aren't you?” the woman said and the gap of the door opened wider. “Has one of those weird sounding, new-age names?”

“Sunset Shimmer,” Emerald stated and the woman immediately nodded. “I bet she also had this really obvious fish out of water look about her, didn't she?”

“Yeah... she definitely did,” the woman sighed and the door closed, there was the sound of the chain being undone and this time the door opened all the way. She stepped forward and leaned back against the wall beside the door.

“Let me guess...” Emerald said. “She was here but now not anymore.”

“Not willingly.” The woman shrugged. “I told her not to leave this late in the evening but she did anyway, looking like she had some personal mission she was determined to get done. About an hour ago I heard shouting and screaming outside. I looked out the window to see her struggling against a bunch of the local gang, trying to get to the building. They then overpowered her and dragged her off.”

“Great...” Emerald sighed. “Well thanks for the info. It actually helps a lot.”

“What are you going to do?” the mousy woman asked curiously before suddenly shaking her head and raising her hands. “No, it's none of my business and I'm not supposed to care. Just don't get the shelter in trouble.”

“We won't,” Twilight promised.

“You better!” the woman said in warning, attempting a glare at the two. “If you two do, I'll... I'll... be very upset! Now just go and do whatever it is you're going to do...”

Without another word the woman quickly darted back into the building. The door slammed shut and several locks moving into place along with something heavy reached the two's ears. The shelter was definitely closed tonight.

“Right...” Emerald turned away and smelled the air. “We are getting closer. She said Sunset was kidnapped only an hour ago.”

“Emerald... I just had a terrible thought.” Twilight said with an upset frown. “What if we catch up to Sunset, we find her and she's... dead?”

'What if we find her and she wishes she was dead?' Emerald thought in reply, her mind leaping for the worst possibilities of a pretty young girl being openly kidnapped by a gang.

“There is no good answer to that, Twilight,” Emerald said, keeping her thoughts to herself. “The best thing we can do in this situation is just keep following the trail, take things as they happen and adapt to them.”

“I know, it's just...” Twilight said with a sigh. “Maybe I'm overthinking it. Everything will be alright.”

Emerald caught the scent again. This one had the taste of intense anxiety and stress to it. It was definitely the right trail to follow, considering what had happened to Sunset. She started leading Twilight down the street and eventually rounded the corner.

Twilight blinked as they turned the corner and a young woman came into view. Her form was easy to make out even in the increasing dark of the evening thanks to the street light she was standing under. She was wearing a pair of heels along with a black miniskirt and a tight, light gray blouse that exposed some of her midriff. She had a cigarette hanging between her fingers and was wearing slightly a bit too much makeup, though it did nothing to hide her pissed off expression and the bags under her eyes that spoke of many sleepless nights. Twilight found herself staring a might bit longer then she should have and the woman noticed it, her expression turning from simply pissed to outright angry.

“The fuck you want, rich bitch!” she spat at Twilight. “I ain't a carpet muncher so you can go piss off!”

“W-what?!” Twilight exclaimed as Emerald sighed.

“What, you a retard or something?” The woman scowled, pointedly flicking the ash off the end of her cigarette towards Twilight. “I don't have sex with girls you fucking dyke. You can take your goddamn money and piss off!”

Before the woman could spout anymore insults and Twilight could possibly make the situation worse, Emerald grabbed Twilight's hand and quickly pulled her along. The woman's angry mutterings drifted after them as they quickly put distance between them and her. A few moments later several men seemed to melt out of the darkness of the quickly falling night. They approached the woman and talked with her for a few moments before the lot of them walked down an alleyway.

“Emerald?” Twilight said after a few moments.

“Yeah?” Emerald said and looked back over her shoulder.

“Was that a prostitute?” Twilight asked.

“Yes.” Emerald nodded.

“They are a lot different than I'd thought they'd be,” Twilight commented.

“I know.”

The next twenty minutes were spent in silence as the two continued to follow Sunset's scent trail. It soon lead them to an area that was even worse off than the area they had just left. A great many of the buildings here were partially collapsed in some way and the ones that weren't didn't seem to have any working power. In fact most of the streetlights in this area weren't working either, forcing Emerald to guide Twilight through areas of pure darkness. A strange thing, however, was that Sunset's scent lost most of its anxiety at some point through the area, instead becoming merely nervous. It was an odd development and Emerald wasn't sure what to make of it.

Eventually the scent trail lead them to a small apartment complex. It was a mostly whole structure but with a great many broken windows that were boarded up on the inside. It looked like it was dark but the main doors hung open and a light could be seen coming from within. Emerald and Twilight were peering out at the complex from an alleyway, hidden in the shadows.

“The scent trail leads here,” Emerald whispered to Twilight. “This must be the gang's hideout. Twilight, without your magic you're only human. They'll likely have a lot of weapons, probably most of them guns though none as strong as the ones I've made.”

“So you want me to stay here?” Twilight asked then nodded in agreement. “Even if I had my magic I'm not sure if I'm good enough to deal with bullets. I've done the math in my spare time and the strongest shields I can make can't deal with all that force in such a small area.”

“If you get in trouble just shout as loud as you can,” Emerald said. “I'll be here in an insta-”

Suddenly the wind shifted and with it came the smell of blood and spent gunpowder. Emerald's head whirled around to the apartment complex. She placed her hand against the pavement and drew on her earth channeling abilities. Combining her senses and powers, Emerald started rapidly making a mental map of the complex and all it contained.

“Emerald? What's wrong?!” Twilight whispered urgently. “Did something happen?”

“I can smell a lot of blood,” Emerald said, causing Twilight to stiffen. “A lot of spent gunpowder as well. From what I can see and feel... there isn't anyone alive in that building currently.”

“No one in there?” Twilight said with a frown.

“Except corpses,” Emerald corrected and Twilight gasped. “Come on. No point in you staying here if there isn't a threat.”

“R-right.” Twilight gulped and quickly followed after Emerald as she quietly dashed across the street to the entrance.

Emerald entered the main lobby of the complex and waited until Twilight was inside before closing the door behind her. Turning around, the lobby was pretty dirty looking. Apparently the gang didn't bother to try to clean up their hideout too much. Taking in a deep sniff, Emerald was flooded with the stench of blood, gunpowder and the smell of rot setting in. The smell was definitely not originating in the lobby; it was coming from somewhere deeper in the building.

Following the smell of blood lead Emerald to one of the apartment wings of the complex. One of the apartment doors was hanging open and from there the smell of blood grew stronger that even Twilight was beginning to notice it. Opening the door all the way, Emerald was greeted with the sight of an apartment that looked to have been made extra large by knocking a few walls down to include neighboring ones. From the looks of it the gang likely used it as a sort of rec room. Said gang was also covering the floor.

“D-dear Celestia!” Twilight exclaimed and began to retch at the sight of the corpses covering the floors.

“Hmm...” Emerald hummed in thought and approached the bodies, the wet sounds of Twilight's vomit hitting the floor resounding behind her.

The virus knelt down by one corpse, her sneakers stepping into the pool of blood around it. Dabbing her fingers into the blood pool, Emerald examined the cells. Not long dead. Whatever had happened here to have killed theses hoods had to have happened within the last forty minutes. And that time period was more than enough to ensure the brain cells of the corpses was dead as well. Looking down at the corpse, Emerald noted a sole single bullet wound on the back of the head. Turning the head over revealed the ragged exit hole on the forehead.

Humming again in thought, Emerald looked at where the corpses were located. They were all in a line, furniture moved out of the way to ensure that. Looking over each corpse in the ragged line gave the same story, a single bullet wound on the head not always located on the back but always on the head.

'They wasn't any fighting,' Emerald thought as she noted there only a single spent bullet casing for each corpse. 'They were taken by surprise... or perhaps they didn't think whoever came into the room was an enemy? Then they were forced into kneeling positions and were shot in the head; execution. Hmm... now why did this happen?'

“W-why would someone d-do this?” Twilight asked, pressing the back of her hand against her mouth and swallowed loudly. “This is horrible...”

“I do not know why,” Emerald said as she stood back up and backed up to take in the scene fully. “Perhaps this was infighting within the gang over something... that doesn't completely explain some of the clues here, though.”

“Was Sunset here?” Twilight asked. “I don't think she could have caused this but I'm dreading she had been caught up in it.”

“Give me a moment,” Emerald said and began smelling. “Have to sort through some scents.”

Sunset had been here, in this very room in fact. Her scent came up readily enough. Just as Emerald began to focus on the scent and make out further details there was the loud noise of a roaring engine and squealing tires outside the building.

“What's that?!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Vehicles, a lot like the buggies I made,” Emerald said. “Might be more gang members. If they are, then-”

“BLACKLIGHT CURSOR!” boomed a voice amplified by a megaphone. “EXIT THE BUILDING NOW THROUGH THE FRONT ENTRANCE WITH YOUR HANDS UP!”

'Cursor?' Emerald thought. 'Hmm, Latin word with multiple meanings, though I think the intended one here is Runner. Hmph, a PR friendly twist of the exact same word.'

“What's going on?” Twilight whispered urgently,

“Sounds like Blackwatch came to investigate what's going on here,” Emerald said. “More importantly, they seem to only know I am here. I could teleport back-”

“No!” Twilight said firmly. “We are sticking together for this, no matter what!”

“Alright, if that's what you want...” Emerald said and couldn't help the smile she gained.

“LAST CHANCE!” came another shout. “MOVE TOWARDS THE FRONT DOOR WITH YOUR HANDS UP! NOW!”

“Alright, let's get going before they decide to blow up the whole block,” Emerald said and quickly left the room with Twilight just behind her.

The two quickly made their way down the hall towards the lobby. However, when they entered into the room they were greeted by the sight of it filled with a dozen Blackwatch troopers. Each of them were wearing the same armor as the ones that accompanied Heller, but instead of just only shock batons these ones were wielding guns as well.

The guns they had were like bolt action rifles but of a much larger caliber than normal. In fact they looked more like militarized elephant guns with carbon fiber parts in place of any normally wooden parts. The guns also had an attachment beneath the barrel; forked, sharpened prongs that was clearly a taser bayonet.

The moment they were spotted, each soldier snapped their guns up and pointed them at Emerald and Twilight. At spotting Twilight, one of the soldiers whipped a hand up to the side of their helmet for a moment before bringing it down.

“Calmly approach the front doors with your hands up,” spoke one of them with a clear British accent, muffled by his gas mask. “The both of you.”

“Alright,” Emerald said and raised her hands and Twilight did the same, now looking upset as she realized for the first time ever she was being arrested.

As the two made their way through the lobby with their hands up the soldiers parted to both sides of them. They kept well out of grabbing distance at all times and kept Emerald in the center of their vision at all times. Despite the fact Twilight clearly wasn't Blacklight or a Cursor, they kept a few guns trained on her as well. That fact angered Emerald more than a little but the intent behind it was clear; do anything stupid and she pays for it, too.

Soon she and Twilight walked out the front doors and were briefly blinded by the vehicles pointing their headlights towards the door. Emerald's eyes cleared near instantly and she blinked as she took in the sight before her.

There were three men wearing stark white versions of the Blackwatch soldier's uniforms but sized up to account for the fact their wearers were over eight feet tall and hugely muscled. There seemed to be much more armor plating on their uniforms then the normal soldiers and they also had large packs upon their backs. The silver metal balls darted their uniform as well but there was quite a few that covered their fists which crackled with electricity, clearly stating their purpose. Emblazoned across their left pectorals in black lettering was the word: E-Code. Two of the supersoldiers had no weapons but the third one had a massive gun in his hands trained on Emerald at all times. His gun actually had the same caliber as the ones the soldiers were using but most of its size seemed from come from the massive amount of protective plating on it. The gun was dark gray and blocky, covering its sides were radioactivity warnings, especially on the large ammo box attached to the underside of the gun. Behind them the vehicles projecting the blinding light were APCs but there was large shape further behind them.

“On your knees, hands on the back of your head,” spoke the one with the gun, his voice possessing a German accent.

“What's the charge if I may ask, sir?” Emerald said as both she and Twilight did as instructed.

“Nothing so far,” the apparent leading supersoldier answered as the other two stepped to the sides of Emerald and Twilight and took up guarding positions. “But we've been told there was a mass murder on site and we've found you here. Suspicious to say the least.”

Two Blackwatch soldiers appeared from one of the APCs. One of them was carrying a large lump of roughly V-shaped black iron about the size of a large tub of ice cream. The other was carrying a pair of handcuffs in one of his hands.

“If you cooperate during questioning and are found guilty of nothing more then being at the wrong place at the wrong time,” the lead super soldier said as the two soldiers approached Emerald and Twilight, “then nothing will happen and you will likely be released in a few hours.”

“Place your hands in the openings,” said the soldier holding the lump of metal, showing the top to her revealing two holes big enough for her hands to fit into. “As far in as they can go.”

Emerald did so and the soldier pressed a button on the metal. Parts of the insides seemed to inflate and tightened the interiors until the manacles snugly and tightly held onto her hands. Emerald wondered just how these would restrain anyone since even someone with normal human strength could probably pull their hands out of this with some effort. Suddenly the manacles released a high pitched whine and several blue lights lit up on it.

“Attempt to shapeshift in anyway or try to escape the manacles and you'll get the shock of your life,” the super soldier to her side told her warningly.

Would have done a number on a normal Evolved, probably even paralyze them, but Emerald was nowhere near normal. Especially now after Randolph's visit.

The virus nodded at the supersoldier and turned to her side to see Twilight getting handcuffed. With rapid clicking sounds the cuffs fastened around Twilight's wrists tightly but not uncomfortably so. Twilight brought up her cuffed hands to stare at them in silent horror before releasing a whimper that caused the soldier who cuffed her to snort in amusement.

“Up on your feet,” commanded the lead super soldier.

Emerald and Twilight rose to their feet and the two supersoldiers placed their hands on their shoulders and began to lead them away. The two were brought past the APCs and towards the large shape behind them. The shape turned out to be another vehicle, this one a souped up armored car.

The armored car looked like it could barely fit in one lane and was extremely heavily armored, looking like its back compartment could easily withstand a tank shell. It appeared to be so heavily armored in fact it didn't have wheels. Instead it had tracks to distribute its no doubt extreme weight and not tear up any roads it drove on.

The supersoldiers led them around to its back where, instead of normal doors, it had an actual vault door there. The door didn't appear to have any mechanisms to get it to open, however. It simply had a small digital screen that showed a red, closed padlock. But at their approach the screen suddenly turned green and the sound of several heavy metal pieces scraping against each other met their ears. One of the normal soldiers stepped forward and simply pulled the door open.

Inside was a completely bare steel room with no hard corners anywhere. There was a pair of florescent bulbs as the lights for the interior. In the very center of the roof was a tiny vent with a fan covered with wire caging that no doubt would horribly shock anything that touched it. The only sources of comfort in the room was a pair of benches that were slightly cushioned.

“In,” the lead supersoldier stated.

After a moment of awkwardly clambering up inside, the door swung closed behind them with a clang and the locks snapped into place. With nothing else to do, Emerald and Twilight sat down on the benches, sitting opposite one another. A long moment of silence followed that as the two sat inside the room almost completely cut off from the outside world.

“I take it you've never been arrested before?” Emerald asked.

“Emerald...” Twilight whispered in a high pitched voice, her eyes wide as she held up her handcuffed hands in front of her face. “I'm a criminal!”

“I'll take that as a no, then,” Emerald stated and shifted her manacle around to cross her legs, the armored car jolting under them as it began moving “Welcome to the club.”

“Emerald!”

GAMMA

“And what's that?” Spike asked as he pointed at the bed.

“Bed!” Navi exclaimed.

“And that?” Spike pointed at the ceiling fan.

“Fan!” Navi said and then tilted her head in thought. “Light, too!”

“Awesome. Now that?” Spike pointed at the door.

“Door!”

“That?”

“Floor!”

“And that?”

“Auntie Moona!” Navi said then started giggling.

“Uhh...” Spike said and looked up at the moon he was pointing at and then shrugged. “I guess so! So you're feeling playful, huh?”

“Hehehe!” Navi giggled and crawled over to Spike and the grabbed one of his hands to start experimenting with all the ways her fingers can interact with his.

“I'll take that as a yes,” Spike said in amusement as he watched the young girl play with his hand. “Hands are awesome, eh? Ponies don't know how much they're missing out.”

“Yeah!” Navi smiled up at him.

“Well since you are feeling so playful,” Spike said, disentangling his hand from hers he hopped off the bunk bed and to the cupboard.

Kneeling down, Spike opened the cupboard and began looking through the games. He wasn't entirely certain just how smart Navi was, but just from looking at the name Spike could tell Monopoly was a number heavy game. Putting that aside, he looked through others.

'Chess?' Spike thought before shaking his head. 'Too boring. Mousetrap? Eh, that looks a little complicated. Hmm... how about this. Game of Life? Let's see... looks straightforward enough. I could probably walk her through some of the more complicated stuff.'

“How about we play a game?” Spike smiled at Navi, holding up the box of the board game for her to see.

“Yay!” Navi cheered and clapped her hands. “Brother play!”

“... Brother?” Spike blinked.

“Uh huh!” Navi nodded and darted over, giving Spike a hug. “Brother!”

“Uhh...” Spike smiled at the embrace but felt the title was... wrong. “No, I'm not your brother.”

“Bu-” Navi began to protest with wide eyes.

“I'm more like your uncle,” Spike said with a smile, patting the top of her head.

“Unca Spike?” Navi said with a curious tilt of her head before smiling. “Kay!”

“Now let's get the game set up!” Spike said and opened up the box. He and Navi started setting up the board and placing the game pieces. As they were finishing setting up, a thought struck Spike.

“Wait, if you thought I was your brother what do you think Emerald and Twilight are?” Spike asked.

Navi smiled widely and opened her mouth to answer.

DELTA

Diane huffed in some frustration as she crumpled up another sketch.

The clone was up on the surface sitting on the porch of her cottage. She had a painting stand set up but currently hadn’t gotten to using it just yet. Right now she was sitting on her bench trying to get a sketch going she could make a painting of. Nothing had yet to appeal to her, though.

She took the ball of paper and tossed it at a growing pile of crumpled paper. Within each was a sketch that was honestly fairly decent considering Diane had never tried to really draw something before, The odd doodle, yes, but not a full blown drawing that she would then turn into a painting. It wasn't working out so far but she wasn't giving up.

Pausing for a moment to try to find some inspiration, Diane began looking over her surroundings. The surface area of the Enclave was as busy as usual with Warhounds in training, not to mention the odd groups of Diamond Dogs who simply enjoyed trips to the surface. However, dominating the center of the clearing was a large group of Warhounds and some Diamond Dogs. There was a sort of fighting tournament going on between several of the Warhounds' best fighters.

Currently the fighting was winding down to its final fight, an intense bout between Tavish Degroot and Fenrir, the first and currently only “Direwolf” that Emerald had created. Tavish's small statue ensured he could never go toe to toe with the now incredibly tall Fenrir but he was still much quicker and used his much greater agility to full effect. Fenrir's changes helped to close most of the gap and it slowly but surely was becoming clear who the victor would be. Among the crowds, many dogs clearly found Fenrir's changed form a little off putting but a good number of veteran dogs only saw the benefits that having longer legs gave.

Diane wasn't much up for all the fighting the Warhounds liked to get into to keep their skills sharp, but looking at Fenrir did give her an idea of what to draw, or rather who to draw. Looking back down to her clipboard, she laid out another piece of paper and starting sketching.

Twenty minutes later she had a decent rough sketch of Emerald on the paper, but still it didn't feel right. She felt she was close but the drawing was missing something. Getting another idea, she also drew Twilight standing beside Emerald. That addition felt much closer but was still off.

“Hmm... maybe...” Diane muttered with a faint flushing of her cheeks as she erased the heads and began redrawing them. A few minutes later and she had a picture of Emerald and Twilight kissing each other.

'Yeah, now that definitely works,' Diane thought as several ideas rushed through her head of what to paint based on this. One idea rushed to the forefront and Diane found herself biting her lip as she blushed in embarrassment at the idea of painting it.

The clone rushed over to her painting stand and set up a canvas before quickly starting on her painting idea. The hours flew by as Diane started painting her idea. She had yet to start on the background and she had only painted some grass for the characters in the picture to stand but the characters themselves were done. Backing away with somewhat flushed cheeks she took in her painting.

The painting was one of Emerald Gleaner being affectionate with another pony, nuzzling and hugging them. The other pony in question was one Pinkie Pie. Diane didn't know why but the idea of painting Emerald being with other ponies that wasn't Twilight really appealed to some part of her and she enjoyed every moment of making the picture. In fact, despite the fact she spent the entire day painting she was ready to do more.

As Diane moved back to her painting to start making a proper background, something curious happened to her cutiemark. The three balloons on her flank began to glow softly and began twisting and shifting. They lost their shape and strings but retained their colors as they shifted from the image of three balloons to three splotches of paint.

Diane hummed happily and contentedly as her cutiemark stopped glowing and changing.

-TBC-

Author's Note:

AN: And finally done, just shy of 20K words but ah well. I've gone over quite a bit in this chapter, the history of the world in the past three years, reintroduced several characters. Made Blackwatch dangerously competent. All quite awesome in my opinion, also trolled several people with a vague quote with no context >:3 That was also fun.

EN: And so Equestria’s first ship artist has been born. Next thing you know somepony’s going to be writing smut about our favorite Evolved protagonist and some random pony (Maybe even some fetish stuff. Who knows…). Though in other news, this chapter had a bit of delayed editing. The reason for that being the day it was done, yesterday, was my 21st birthday. Yay, I can drink alcohol now… which I probably won’t. But either way, managed to finish this up the day after. And good thing, too. Tomorrow I leave at o’dark hundred to fly to the opposite end of the country to spend a couple weeks with my friend. Gonna spend almost all day flying across the country and I am going to HATE it.

Comments

[Stealth121]

Well I'm a bit disappointed with the lack of a very pleasing curbstomp.
But still a nice chapter

[Cheesejellycommander4]

I loved it! I was a little disappointed that emerald didn't kick some ass and use more of her magic, but I guess things would just happen like they did in the little glimpse we got of emerald in the EG universe. Also, I fully endorse Diane's shipping.

[Scarletmenace]

Great chapter as always!
And as a tip for your flight trip, I recommend not sleeping the night prior before the flight, so you just conk out during the trip. Sure it's horrible for your sleep schedule, but it makes the flight go by in a blink :3

[Darkartsdoctor]

Oh so good to be back here. Specially after that fucking cliff hanger.

[Patch Job]

I see what your doing, we are finally going to have some actual romance, Emerald isn't attracted to pony Twilight, but she is to the human version. We are finally getting the payoff to the "let's be girlfriends" stuff. Also, Twilight gets a better look at what makes Emerald Emerald.

Also, was it just me or did:

Knowing that, that place was where they were going filled Emerald with the determination to protect those she cared about from the many threats in this city.

Make them think of:
res.cloudinary.com/teepublic/image/private/s--seYWsc7B--/t_Preview/b_rgb:191919,c_limit,f_jpg,h_630,q_90,w_630/v1451084176/production/designs/381397_1.jpg

[Zaralann]

Nice!
Still hoped for some Sunset action here.

[Fluttershade5200]

I love this new book. It's already really interesting. This is going to be great. And happy birthday editor. (Sorry that I don't know your name. Or username or whatever. It still isn't any reason to be impolite.)

[Heidao]

7364889 But that's gonna be a problem, she's falling for human Twilight. This would be fine if this true, budding romance turns into a gateway to Emerald loving beings other than humans but when this is done, all the potential flirting and gestures of love is just going to backlash when Twilight realizes Emerald's change in behavior and affections, are only because she isn't a pony.

It's gonna hurt, and any conflict between MCs, is a weakness villains exploit.

[Heidao]

Also great chapter, though disappointed I can understand why Emerald didn't act, displays of overwhelming power is an easy way to make everyone hostile and alert to one's actions, and if such a powerful being is after some weird girl, others will want to know and interfere.

[Qussar]

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[EverfreeSparkle]

After she did that she began tucking her shit in and started fiddling with the buckle when she turned around noticed Emerald staring at her. “Oh, am I doing this wrong?”

Hilarious typo.

Man, it feels like the chapters are getting shorter and shorter, yet that's just me wanting more. Emerald's reaction to Twilight bare human body was actually kind of hilarious. Can't blame her, though: that was her only taste of human booty and breasts in years(?).

Kind of disappointing she's holding back, but it makes sense so I can't complain. I only hope someone on Earth learns of her full potential and powers, and either gets awed or horrified.

[Patch Job]

7365020
That's exactly why I'm excited, it's REAL relationship problems, not generic fantasy-land relationship nonsense, and I like it, it's slow building and real. How are they going to cope, will they stay as is (unlikely), will Emerald change her mentality and find ponies sexy (I really hope not), will she give Twilight Blacklight so that she can shift forms whenever (who knows!), will they break up (I hope not, but it is the most likely). These kind of things are what actually interests me in stories. To be honest, I had been operating under the assumption that Emerald was asexual, so seeing how this paradigm shifts will be nice.

[NightmareKnight]

7364832 It doesn't help that I live on a diurnal schedule, and my friend lives on a nocturnal one (Thanks, night shift). I already have to swap sleep schedules. But hey, got a couple hours of shut-eye so I'm not dead on my feet at the airport. It's not my first trip across country, but thanks for the tip, anyway.

7364944 Thank you.

[More Dakka]

So Heller is in charge of Blackwatch now. I guess that's what was meant by 'taking the black'? I can’t tell if that’s an improvement for them to have him leading blackwatch or not, at least not for any poor fuckers unlucky enough to cross him.

I'm honestly surprised Heller was so civil with Emerald. He has Mercers Memories after all, so he knows what 'she' has done at Mercers orders. Though saying that, he would also know all the shit Mercer has put 'Emerald' through which may lend of extra meaning to the 'you're just a kid' comment.

And speaking of surprised, I'm honestly surprised Emerald is so calm about being arrested, especially since Sunsets fate is still in question. and she knows that the world already paints her as a boogeyman so will likely take this as an excuse to judge her outright. I know she's likely being pragmatic and doesn't want Twilight to get hurt but I'm surprised she didn't at least entertain the thought of just killing them, to just let the knowledge that she could get her through the frustration, And when I think about it I have to wonder why Twilight herself doesn't want Emerald to teleport her Navi and spike to Hawaii out of simple pragmatism since she is doesn't like any of the darker stuff she has been exposed to, and they are, at present, an obvious handicap to Emeralds efforts to get them back home.

Maybe an indirect show of force is in order? like when Heller shows up and starts frowning at them, Emerald teliports him and herself to the moon in a bubble of air and says something like "Look, you don't wan't me here anymore then I want to be here, but I am on the clock. You can either help me get out of your hair faster, or stay out of my way, but if you are going to keep making It harder for me then I may as well just leave you on this rock"

safe travels to your editor.

[Legionary]

7365347

I guess she really doesn't want to risk Twilight getting hurt.

That's part of it, really it's a bit of a hint at a growing issue Emerald is beginning to have that got started soon after the battle with Oskar. Really this book is going to be so fun, so many issues to cover and topics to go over, not to mention the evolving situation with Emerald and Twilight. And the situation with Blackwatch? Still more complicated then it looks.

In a monarchy the King is all powerful but he is hardly all knowing...

[More Dakka]

7365431 would that 'issue' be Emerald going as close to superman boy scout mode as she can- Emphasis on 'as far as she can'- after hearing what most people on earth seems to think that she is Mercers heir, and seeing that play out in the other Oskar?

Also did Emerald fill out one of those forms for Navi? That could bite her in the ass real quick if she didn’t.

[Legionary]

7365523 No she did not, yet another issue to handle

[More Dakka]

7365582 Cool. Can't wait to see all this play out.

[LegacyMine]

7365582 Why is Twilight being a dumb-ass?

[Adjier]

7365965 New experiences, new places and a new body. You can hardly blame the girl.

[More Dakka]

7365965 Twilight is suffering from the same fish out of water syndrome that protagonists of HIE suffer from when they wind up in Equestria and find out that everything they knew about the world is not applicable. In Twilights world friendship is literally magic and if someone’s friendship is strong enough then things will literally, magically turn out OK (her entire academic pursuits under Celestia are based around this 'fact') - While In the NYZ she is pretty much a liability that can only follow Emeralds lead and react to what is happening to her on a minute by minute basis and in watching Twilight fumble around you are pretty much in the same position that Celestia is in when she watches Emerald lash out at every shadow that crosses her peripheral vision and concludes that she is a functionally damaged child I.e a dumb ass - while in the NYZ that same habit has saved them from more than one mugging and potential rape.

[PileOfTrailMix]

While reading this chapter I got to say that was satisfying. Though I always make a point to destroy all the blackwatch. I always did it while playing the games, hell of a fun time. I love messing with them :P hopefully Emerald isn't too bogged down by blackwatch, would be nice to see how much they've changed now.

[Base-Delta-Zero]

And thus, a clone of Pinkie Pie became Equestria's first pornographic artist.

The end.

[Cheesejellycommander4]

7368914 that's what this whole story was building up to. Nothing else matters now.

[Legionary]

7368914 Heh heh

[Past Participle]

Now I'm wondering, to what extent does Twilight know about Emerald's reasons for not going by Oskar anymore? It'd be hard to imagine that she doesn't have any clue, especially considering she corrected Gabriel in this chapter.

[Base-Delta-Zero]

7370077 exactly. Just shut up and take my faves, we crossed that point and nothing else needs to be said. Legionary could place this story as finished now and all would be good.

7370082 what, are you denying it? *cheshire grin*

[shapeshiftingpedro]

You know, that part of the form about various abilities is really getting me thinking...

[More Dakka]

7365020 7365241 I don’t see how Emerald being attracted to Twilights human form rather than her pony form will cause any friction between them. Twilight got hung up on the fact that Emerald was a mare early on so shouldn’t she be able to sympathize with Emeralds position more than anything?

Plus, Twilight knows that all she has to do is ask and Emerald would take whatever form Twilight wants her to, so I’d say it's more likely that, if anything, Twilight would be happy that she can now do the same thing for Emerald since polymorphic spells are a thing and now she has a frame of reference.

[Militia Man]

Great chapter. Aside from a few misplaced/incorrect letters in words and other typos, this was well done.

Happy to see that the Evolved community have done so much to bring justice against Blackwatch, and to put themselves in as politically advantageous of a position as possible in preparation for the consequences. While it is most unfortunate that the American people have to suffer so much for things they had no way of knowing or doing anything about, it serves a good lesson in the realm of transparency of government, one that, hopefully, won't be forgotten. Hopefully the Evolved community, considering what they done so far and having an Evolved as head of Blackwatch, will be given opportunities to help with the reparations in time.

Speaking of which, it's not at all surprising that the U.N. decided to make use of Blackwatch in relation to the very real presence of Blacklight, namely the Evolved, due to them having the most research, knowledge, resources and exposure, but I am surprised that they would appoint James Heller in particular to be the head of operations. It makes sense all things considered, with him being the one who killed Mercer and sterilized the virus effectively saving New York and possibly the world, but one could think that him being Evolved himself would make the U.N. suspicious in putting him in a position of power, especially when other Evolved are involved. It's a pleasant surprise, mind you, as it only puts the Evolved community in a better position, with James knowing more than anyone just how cruel Mercer was and how desperate many Evolved were, due to Mercer's own memories. He could very well be a very big player in taking down the quarantine and making the Evolved into trustworthy American citizens again, at least in the eyes of the world, anyway.

And if they are, it wouldn't take a lot of imagination or creativity at all to use Blacklight abilities in a very productive manner, from construction to resource excavation to medical care; think Emerald gleaner, take away alien magic and DNA, but add more bodies.

Who knows, maybe in the next couple decades America will be put back on top of the global food chain... perhaps in more than just economics, if you catch the meaning.

Maybe Mercer will get what he wanted, in a way...

On a side note, It was heartwarming to see Emerald interact her mother again, and Twilight's, Spike's, and Navi's support.

“Wait, if you thought I was your brother what do you think Emerald and Twilight are?” Spike asked.

Navi smiled widely and opened her mouth to answer.

s2.quickmeme.com/img/a6/a64ee96a7e6e5f6d42d6f0119f96d17264f2d2884f52c705b6aa8e1f5c134539.jpg

It was also funny, and cute, to see how relatively hung up Emerald got in relation to Twilight's new physique. It's completely understandable though; even though Emerald spent a decent number of years as a pony, mostly, she still spent much more as a human. Interested in seeing how far that develops.

Can't wait for the next chapter.

Carry on!

[Past Participle]

Am I right to see a little bit of the "To love others you must first love yourself" adage in this particular book?

[Aburi]

Well, I think it's safe to say that Sunset is no longer in possession of the tiara.

This could be a huge problem. The Element of Magic has been shown to be capable of changing humans into deamon beings capable of magic. And with Blacklight beings capable of copying that mutation, this could start the spread of actual magic in Emerald's world. Or it could be a non-issue.

[More Dakka]

I just had a thought.

Heller was able to ride in a helicopter without needing Pegasus magic, which means we can get a rough Idea about how much biomass he currently has.

The maximum load of a Blackhawk helicopter is 11 combat equipped troops, which is roughly, 2640 lbs and let’s assume that those new stealth ones are as good as the old Blackhawks, and let’s also say that Heller didn’t have any humans riding with the chopper with him- that would mean Heller currently has the total biomass equivalent to 14, 180 pound humans. And that’s the absolute best case scenario.

Since Heller has no magic, and a cockatrice on it's own managed to turn Emerald cells to stone (albeit slowly) that means if Emerald has enough power to turn 14 people at once to stone, (which I’d say is very likely) then she would also have the power to instantly turn Heller to stone as well- And that is without her biology multiplying the potency of the stare like it does with all the other magical traits she's absorbed.

(On a side note, the fact that Emerald has to constantly use of Pegasus magic to stop herself from sinking to the core of the planet means she could likely wipe out a good chunk, if not the whole planet just by teleportation herself into low orbit and simply allowing herself to fall back down. Imagine the reaction the internet would have if they learned that tidbit.)

[Past Participle]

7378744 Wait, how much denser could Emerald possibly be? At the beginning of this chapter Spohie was able to injure her, albeit superficially. I've been labor long under the impression that the increased durability that she enjoys is more a product of increased regenerative abilities (maybe fueled by magic as well as stored chemical energy). Now that I mention it, what HAVE the evolved on Earth been eating? They don't have the metabolic enhancements that Emerald impressed from parasprite genetics, nor do they possess as wide a range of prospective meals as Emerald. They can't eat dirt and concrete, and the most nutritious food source around is murder. (Fun Fact: A healthy human contains every essential vitamin and mineral needed for a healthy diet!)

[Patch Job]

7374664 I'm so so sorry this got this long

The point I'm making would fall under (what I think is called) false pretenses in divorce court, where a relationship falls apart due to one party lying about certain things to the other. For example, a husband wishes to never have children, but had said that he would, and married a woman who intended to have 3 children. This lie is grounds for a divorce, as children (or the lack thereof) is a key aspect of marriage. Here, Twilight entered a relationship due to the assumption of attraction to her (as Emerald kissed Twilight), whereas we have seen from Emeralds actions (and from Shining Armor's talk) that Emerald is NOT attracted to Twilight, and is content to stay with Twilight as she feels she is happiest with her, even if she is not in love with her. This is the equivalent of two people getting married, where one feels some love for the other, and the other feeling "meh" and just marries them because it would be easier than living alone, but not disclosing this to the other party.

As for the polymorphic thing, honestly, would you be comfortable being in a relationship with a person who would only feel any attraction to you if you were a pig? And not in a anthropomorphic, or role-playing way, but as a legitimate farm animal pig. Something like this is very important to a relationship, and without an already deep emotional bond (which we have confirmation is not really there) or talking about it in advance, than a relationship can fall apart very quickly.

This is why I am excited for this kind of subplot, despite hating romance in general. Hell, I'm personally asexual (and happily single), and know far too many people who are, and are getting, divorced (and none of it clean or happy), to the extent that I regularly stop reading stories that start to even focus on romance just because I find it to be so annoying, unimportant and relatively pointless, but something like this is an aspect of long-term relationships that is never shown. Everything happy 13 year old fantasy romance is everywhere, and everyone's idea of a relationship falling apart is that one party has to cheat on the other, no one really goes over things like this, which is why I find it interesting, rather than eye-roll worthy.

....And all of this is based on the assumption that I am right, which I could not be. In that case, F*CK ALL THIS NONSENSE

[More Dakka]

7379184 I don’t see how your example of a pig is equivocal to the situation between Emerald and Twilight. It feels like you purposefully chose an animal with a negative connotation to project that connotation onto a situation where it does not exist. Also your equivocation to divorce court is reliant on the unspoken assumption that Twilight is physically attracted to Emeralds pony / human forms and she will be hurt that Emerald doesn’t feel the same way.

If Twilight is physically attracted to Emeralds human form then I don’t see why she would have any problems in being human herself, and if she doesn’t find Emeralds human form attractive then her getting offended enough to threaten the relationship because Emerald isn't physically attracted to her pony form strikes me as a tad hypocritical- especially when, like I said, Twilight knows all she has to do is ask and Emerald would take whatever form she wants.

I think that when Emerald says she doesn't ‘love’ Twilight the same way Twilight loves her comes down the Incident with the Elements of harmony. When Emerald told Twilight the reason she kissed her, the only physical thing she mentioned is her eyes, all of the other reasons were platonic in nature- I.e Emerald admires Twilight for having all the character traits that Emerald thinks she, herself lacks and believes she should have / thinks her mother would want her to have but more importantly, Twilight was the first person in the whole of Equestria to learn about Emeralds past and accept her regardless.

Trust doesn’t come easy to Emerald (her entire driving character traits is the desire to get strong enough so nothing could threaten her physically) and after Twilight went behind her back with the Elements for a quick fix I’d say that Emerald simply cannot let herself trust Twilight anymore out of fear of getting hurt again, and this loss of trust has caused an emotional divide to appear between them, but Emerald also dare not bring it up because she doesn’t want to risk losing Twilight completely, or learn that Twilight was only ever humoring Emerald out of fear of what Emerald may become if she had rejected her. The fact that Twilight had to overcome the weirdness of the situation probobly doesn't help that fear.

In situations like this the people involved usually become ever more emotionally distant, but if they find each other attractive then the relationship may continue and physical relations basically becomes a way of medicating the problem- (it's where the sitcom caricatures of the young bickering married couple who will fight all the time but those fights all way's end in passionate sex, comes from) The problem really hit's home that couple gets too old and their bodies start slipping, leaving them with nothing but those emotional problems and the feeling of being trapped since they now feel too old to simply break up and find anyone else.

If Twilight and Emerald had never gone to this world, and Twilight had never turned into a human, then I'd say they likely would have either been forced to address the problem by a third party like Cadence, or Twilight would have eventually picked up on the fact that the emotional 'connection' that is supposed to be between them doesn’t feel reciprocal which would cause the feelings to suddenly boil over in Emerald and the reaction will be direction-ally proportional to how ever long she's been repressing them. And given their power levels and positions as royalty of separate nations that would likely end very, very badly.

If anything the problem may come from the fact that Twilight may think everything is going great, and their relationship is stronger than ever since it now has gone physical, only for Cadence to show up offering her council after shining Armour repeated to Cadence what Emerald told him. That would likely make Twilight wonder if Emerald ONLY likes her for her body. A body that isn't actually hers. That would really hurt.

[More Dakka]

7379065

“Why did you let that girl hurt you like that?” Twilight asked.

“...” Emerald simply sighed and leaned back. “Because she deserves to get a few punches in for what I've done to her.”

Emerald let Sophie injure her because Emerald killed Sophie's sister under Mercers orders. That's why Sophie hates Emerald. And if you remember, when Rainbowdash first learned that Emerald had killed Gilda she wanted to lash out at Emerald, and Emerald offered to make it so RD could actually hurt her.

Also Sophie was only able to pick emerald up because of the Pegasus magic that lets Emerald fly despite how much she weighs. She can also float like Discord but currently she cannot go very fast without growing wings to channel magic through.

[Past Participle]

7379986 I remember that conversation. However, you may remember that in the first book Oskar had to rapidly burn mass of by vibrating at high speeds in order to shrink down to the size of a mouse. She may have learned a magic trick to go without this step but she never went past initial steps at learning to cast magic without an aura. She's certainly able to achieve significantly greater density than the plebians living in the NYZ, but dense enough to destroy the planet? Depends on how fast she hits it and if she started from outside the gravity well, I suppose. Also, am I the only one aware of how funny it is that there was a somewhat emotionally distant geneticist named Oskar in the early 20th century (date not fact checked) who up and disappeared one day?

[More Dakka]

7380547 Um. He didn’t burn off any biomass, he compressed himself down to the size of a fist and by the end of it he was a rat so physically dense that Fluttershy could not pick him up and Rainbowdash could not even pick him up with the help of her wings.

“Wha?! Holy hay! You weren’t kidding Fluttershy!” Dash said in disbelief as the rat wouldn’t budge from the window sill. “This rat is heavier than a cow!”

And when she dropped him, Oskar was so dense that RD could not chase fast enough to catch him before he hit the ground and sunk straight into it like a ‘bullet’.

And that was at the start of the first story, in the second book Emerald was able to shape shift into a dragon the size of Niddhog (when she pretended to be Spikes sister at the dragon migration) - if she retains that amount of biomass all the time then she must at least weigh several tons since it’s been established in the ask blog that dragons have their own internalized magic that lets them exits in the face of the square cubed law without also being as frail as a box kite.

Think about that for a moment. Nidhog is multiple times the size of the red dragon that Fluttershy gave the stare too and Emerald at that size would be to Nidhog like what Heller is to normal humans, but all compressed into the size of a human, and since she can consume non organic material she may have even more biomass than that...if she doesn’t, all she would have to do is teleport herself underground for a few moments to get it.

[Past Participle]

7381037 Fair points, though I could have sworn that the author mentioned that Oskar has to burn off excess mass in the comment section of the first chapter of the first book. I'm a bit out of the loop when it comes to any information on the ask blog however, as I don't really know what an ask blog is (I'm not crazy, I just am afraid of robots). Emerald having all this magic juice running through her now along with all the new and exotic genes she's acquired over the last few years do make it hard to pin down a suitable description of her nature. Especially since the starting point was blacklight, something which flies in the face of any model of physics that I'm aware of as it is.

[Militia Man]

7379065

Now that I mention it, what HAVE the evolved on Earth been eating?

They seem to like beer.

They don't have the metabolic enhancements that Emerald impressed from parasprite genetics, nor do they possess as wide a range of prospective meals as Emerald.

They don't need either, as the virus makes their metabolisms far more efficient at acquiring, storing, and using chemical energy regardless of the upgrade parasprite genes give to that already considerable stat, allowing them to indulge in sources of nutrients the ordinary human body wouldn't be able to. It is this, along with the more structural changes, that allow the Evolved to go on for very extensive periods of time with little to no rest or sustenance, while still being able to use their superhuman attributes seemingly effortlessly, requiring but the most astounding feats of strength, speed, and endurance to noticeably impact their stamina.

They can't eat dirt and concrete, and the most nutritious food source around is murder. (Fun Fact: A healthy human contains every essential vitamin and mineral needed for a healthy diet!)

Actually, they very well could.

Throughout the Red Zone we see massive, towering viral growths progressing up the sides of buildings to spreading out a complex subterranean network of growth, all the while said environments were made of little anything else but those two things. In fact, the very first thing we see during the first cinematic of the first game, is the virus very rapidly growing across the hood of a car. The virus has proven to be able to survive, and even thrive, off of materials and conditions that would normally be difficult for life to grow without foreign genes, such as those from the Diamond Dogs, in order to do so. By extension the Evolved should too, with their bodies now being composed of a massive conglomeration of this organism, operating under swarm instinct (hive mind).

Even if the Evolved could only survive off of materials their bodies originally needed, they could still use the virus to actually survive off of concrete and dirt, as most of the bodies essential elements, such as oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, calcium, etc, can actually be found in concrete (calcium, oxygen, iron, hydrogen, etc. depending on the specific mix) and dirt (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, calcium. iron, zinc, etc. depending on where) and the rest can be absorbed from the atmosphere.

Again, this is implying that the Evolved still need what their bodies originally needed, but with the virus's indomitable ability to reconstitute genetic data to adapt, survive, and thrive, this is not necessarily the case.

Fun Fact: An average stick of dynamite has roughly the same chemical energy as that of a candy bar, the only difference being that the candy bar releases energy slowly as it is metabolized, whereas the dynamite releases it all at once.

[More Dakka]

7381109

I could have sworn that the author mentioned that Oskar has to burn off excess mass in the comment section of the first chapter of the first book.

Yep, turns out that’s likely the case.

It also turns out that Emerald s maximum density is different, depending on what form she is in.

Emeralds human form weighs about 6 tons - as much as a M1917 light tank / or three elephants.

Emeralds pony form weighs about 9 tons – that’s 2 tons more than a Gustave Armor piercing shell or about the wight of a T-rex.

Emeralds dragon form isn't unspecified but it was said to increase those numbers ‘immensely’

img11.deviantart.net/7272/i/2014/262/d/3/nidhogg_with_other_dragon_by_elite_mook-d7zspff.jpg
for refrence, here’s the high scale between them, (for full view right click and hit 'open image in new tab) If emerald can squeeze six tons into the space that usually hold 90 pounds (the average for a girl her size) then Imagine how much she can hold when she takes the form of the dragon on the left. (the one on the right is about the size of the red dragon Fluttershy stared down).

Shame she never got a sample of Elders DNA, since he is large enough to swallow Nidhogg whole.

This does mean that Emerald does indeed likely weigh quite a bit more than Heller since Heller was able to go into a chopper – and again, a Blackhawk has a maximum weight limit of 2640 lbs (not to mention that he also had at least two humans and their equipment riding with him) while Emerald weighs about 12000lbs. At least Six times as much if Heller weighed the full 2640lbs.

I do have to wonder just how strong Emerald is now, though. In the first book ‘he’ mentioned being able to lift about 12 tons before he started chowing down on the local critters. Then he was able to list a rock weighing 50 tons with some strain. Also, In the prototype 2 game, Mercer was able to swat a Bradly APC away with a backhand which weighs about 27 tons… and Emerald is supposed to be far stronger than Mercer at this point.

[Legionary]

7381677 And it's not like they can't eat food anymore. I imagine any restaurant that has an All you can eat buffet makes sure to place a sign that says in clear bold letters CURSORS MAX THREE SERVINGS

7381695 As a little extra information when Emerald first arrived her max density was roughly two tons as human and three in Pony form. Another thing, while a normal local "Cursor" would eventually run out of steam and not be able to keep up their powerful regens. Emerald however with her experience and mastery of magic means she basically has an S^2 Engine powering her regen in comparison to the other Cursors, not to mention her regen works lightning fast.

[Militia Man]

Here's an interesting thought:

It's obvious that the Evolved will be allowed outside the quarantine at some point, as the U.N. can't keep them in there permanently nor can they kill them lest they make themselves awfully hypocritical after condemning the American backers of Blackwatch for "Nazi-esque" actions and "ethnic cleansing", not to mention the basic violations of human rights involved even if they didn't.

The U.N. also has no real way of preventing the Evolved from growing in number either, as ordinary people can become Evolved as long as there is an Evolved to do it, and both can change their identity at any point, any number of times, afterward.

So, as time goes on and more Evolved start showing up, whats going to happen to policy? How is crime going to change and, by extension, law enforcement?

What about life insurance, medical care plans, car insurance, retirement, and all of those things now that people can shrug off military grade ordinance, run faster than any car, and essentially become immune to diseases, poisons, and even aging?

Even frequent flier miles will become moot when people discover ways to fly over to where they want to go all on their own.

[Militia Man]

7382193
Goes back to the thought of policy changes, doesn't it?

[Legionary]

7382215 Of course, I hope to explore the political and societal ramifications of having the Evolved here and not being an enemy, simply people who want to live their lives and got through a horrible time. The world is going to have to change a lot, they literally have no choice. I mean I guess they could try to keep it back as long as possible by keeping the quarantine coming but with a people like the Evolved and no real way to monitor them and their potential population growth... change is coming, how painful it is depends on the guys up top

[More Dakka]

7382240
Imagine what their next Election will look like.

“I’m going to build a wall and I’m going to make the Evolved pay for it!”

on a serious note- Gabriel told Emerald about how they went on a recruitment campaign to make them a less vulnerable target over all. I have to wonder how he sold it to those new recruit, and I wonder if some of those recruits would be having second thoughts after encountering blackwach and the long term social ramifications of being blacklight. I could see there being some resentment for being sold on something only to find it makes them social paras that are now forced to living in a shantytown in the husk of a dead city...

Also in the game Mercer tells Heller “Every living thing you consume makes you stronger” while that doesn’t necessarily mean that they can only consume living cells that has become a consistent theme in most Evolved stories. It could be an interesting consequence to explore if the Evolved have to eat their food raw, if not alive, at least every so often. Sure as hell wouldn’t do their public image any favors.

7382193
I always found it weird that other Evolved could pick Heller up by the throat when you try and consume them in the game. But it doesn't seem so strange anymore.

It would also mean that a good number of them would at-least be able to pick Emerald up even without Emerald making herself lighter with Pegasus magic.

[Past Participle]

7382193 Damn shame about the buffets, though. Just picture the look on Alex's face if he could see that the race he (allegedly) created lived on the same island in shanties, while subsisting on New Bottomless Breadsticks for just $12.99!tm

[Militia Man]

7382240
Hopefully, people like Heller, Gabriel, and even Emerald will advocate and make headway for practicality over fear, and try to make those "growing pains" as minimized as possible.

It would be a great shame to see social justice warriors and the like do the opposite, and bring back a sense of McCarthyism toward Cursors/Evolved. That would only make a bad situation worse, as Cursors/Evolved can be innocent people too.

In reality, there will be dissenting voices, there always are in democracies, and the best they can do is try to put practicality and reason before radical emotion and peer pressure.

Eagerly anticipating these developments.

[Past Participle]

7384031 B-but we need to keep sprinkling ergot in the water supply! If we don't then the foundations of the military industrial complex would buckle and break!