Chapter 4: Striking Twelve
The raccoon made anxious growling noises as it paced in circles.
Emerald sat cross legged before it in a forest. After discovering the viral pulse was magical in nature, she immediately went back to Earth and one of the forests. Next she had found an animal and caught it in a magical barrier. The pulse was magic and unless something major had happened with Blackwatch since she left the world, then Emerald was practically centuries if not millennia ahead of them in that field. So after catching an animal, Emerald spent most of the day testing and experimenting magical fields in an attempt to find one that would block it.
'I've locked the sensor onto the biological signature of this raccoon,' Emerald thought as she looked over the readings the sensor was showing on its small screen. 'The pulse these sensors release seem to be a bit more powerful or possibly refined than the normal pulse since it ignores cockatrice genes. Nothing refined I've tried blocks it out, but...'
Emerald adjusted the barrier around the raccoon and the readings on the sensor suddenly flat lined.
'Doing the magical equivalent of surrounding the target in a solid cage of lead does the trick,' Emerald thought with a sigh. 'It's very crude though, and it also blocks out a huge amount of other things; useful if I'm sneaking around but if worn casually it'll be conspicuous how I don't show up on other types of sensors. I need to work on it a bit more to refine it and find the exact thing that will block out the pulse.'
With another sigh, Emerald released the spell and created a piece of jerky before tossing it at the raccoon. Said animal quickly grabbed the piece of food and poked cautiously at where the invisible barrier had been before quickly running away.
'Of course I might have a lot of time to work on the barrier...' Emerald thought miserably as she magically annihilated the sensor. 'Sunset Shimmer very likely doesn't know how to get back so I'm likely stuck here for the foreseeable future... god damn it all, of course this had to happen after I made friends and started to get my life on track.'
Thoughts of her life back in Equestria also brought up thoughts that had been plaguing her since the incident with her alternate universe self. She put those thoughts aside just long enough to teleport back to New York and sit on the ledge of a roof, watching the sun slowly lower in the skies and turn it a myriad of warm colors.
'The Alternate Discord sacrificed his life to go back in time and alter one event,' Emerald thought with a miserable expression. 'The one event he must have influenced must have been the decision I thought I made to not kill Twilight. But I never made that choice. Someone made it for me... I had my mind warped and twisted in order to ensure I made a decision that wasn't evil... does this mean I can't be trusted to do good? Is all the good I did meaningless? Was it all the result of someone else's decision and not my own? Is everything I do devoid of meaning now? Is my mind still warped by the Alternate's last act?'
These thoughts haunted Emerald. She wasn't absolutely certain if that moment was the one the Alternate changed, but it was the point of divergence that Oskar mentioned in front of him. So if it wasn't that moment, what could he have possibly changed instead? No, it had to be that one moment, which meant Emerald ultimately couldn't make a decision to not commit evil without someone forcibly altering her mind.
Emerald's brooding was interrupted by the sound of a woman's scream cut shout into muffled shouts. The virus stood up. Maybe if she knew it would be just a mugging she would let it be, but the victim being a woman removed all inclination of ignoring it. Emerald leapt rapidly across rooftops and came to a stop on a ledge overlooking an alley. She arrived in time to see a man dragging a woman away from the street, hand clamped over her mouth and other hand reaching the purse only to chuck it aside. Emerald narrowed her eyes as the man reached for the front of the woman's jeans.
The man let loose a howl of pain as a knife sunk into his elbow with a solid thump, and the woman immediately took the chance to rip herself out of his loosened grip just as Emerald landed on the pavement. The virus darted and grasped his face with her hand before sending him flying into the brick wall behind him where he fell down to the ground and curled up in pain.
“Thank you! Thank you so much!” the woman said gratefully after collecting her purse.
“Get somewhere safe as fast as you can,” Emerald told the woman. “Don't need to tell you this place doesn't get any safer once the sun is fully down.”
“I will. Thank you so much!” the woman said before taking off at a run.
Emerald turned her attention to the attempted rapist still on the ground. If he was just a mugger she likely would have just mugged him in turn and let it be. However, his actions reminded her of what happened several days ago when Twilight had been roughly grabbed. He wasn't going to come away from this with just a beating...
“Ugh, fuck off bit-hurk!” the mugger said as Emerald grabbed him before she snapped his neck.
After carefully snapping his neck in such a way he was rendered a quadriplegic and not killed, Emerald proceeded to dig around his pockets. After some digging around, she found thirty five dollars and sixty cents. After pocketing the money, Emerald considered the mugger for a moment. She had been inclined to simply send him into space, but that would have killed him quickly enough. With a shrug, she sent him to the forest she had left. Either he died of exposure or a passing animal would eat him; either result was acceptable.
Emerald left the alleyway and walked out into the street. The woman was long gone and it was getting steadily darker. The virus was left at loss of what next to do when the sight of a bar at one end of the street caught her attention. She had drunk beer earlier when she first arrived but hadn't allowed the alcohol to effect her system. This time, however, she felt the desire to just let go for a short while; just drink until her issues seemed too far away to really care about. That's how it worked when you got drunk, right?
'… I really shouldn't. Common sense says this likely isn't going to go as well as I hope it will,' Emerald thought as she started towards the bar. 'But it's not like it can get any worse than it already is...'
Emerald opened the front door and stepped inside.
ALPHA
A loud explosion startled Twilight from her reading.
She looked up from her book to see Navi playing one of the games Emerald bought while Spike sat beside her and watched.
“Navi, sweetie, could you please turn that down a bit?” Twilight said.
“Kay, Papa.” Navi nodded, reached over and pressed the volume button on the remote a few times.
Twilight briefly watched Navi's character battling alien creatures with a futuristic looking gun before returning to her reading. The book she was reading had been one among several that had apparently been left behind by the previous renters of the apartment. Originally she had been reading a book she had assumed to be a bit more sophisticated from its title: Fifty Shades of Gray. She had stuck to it a little stubbornly up to the first sex scene before quickly closing the book and pretending she had never found it in the first place. The book she had taken to reading instead was a history book she made absolutely certain was a history book.
'World War II. The very idea of an entire world awash in war is horrifying to imagine,' Twilight thought. 'But I'm glad that people here were willing to work together to bring down evil and tyranny.'
It was probably for the best that the book was a bit focused on the Third Reich and the many battles that lead up to its defeat. Other more in depth history books would likely mention that a good many “undesirables” were kept prisoner in the brutal POW camps after the war was over in Europe, or the fact the Soviets got up to far more widespread killing. Not to mention the kind of horrible war crimes that were common place in the Pacific Theater of the war.
Another explosion took Twilight's attention away from her reading. She didn't exactly approve of Navi and Spike playing violent video games, even though in her experience the violence was pretty cartoony compared to reality. But Spike and Navi wanted to play the game because the cover had a large robot that reminded them of the Biogears the Enclave had. Of course Navi would want to play something that had something even vaguely to do with her “Mama”, and it appeared that Twilight's own Biogear: Equinox had a bit of an impact on Spike when he saw her fighting in it.
'Well... as long as it doesn't do them any harm,' Twilight thought, chuckling when Navi groused aloud about how long it was taking them to get their giant robots.
BETA
Jared Smyth was the last to enter the bar following his group of friends. The four of them had finished a rather long shift at work and was here to relax a bit. It was pretty empty inside, there was only one person at the bar besides the bartender and a few groups sitting in the booths. That was okay; everyone was tired and wanted to relax, not party.
The group quickly bought their bottles from the bartender and claimed a booth. The four quickly got up to some small talk, darted with the occasional bout of laughter but it was fairly quiet for them overall.
“Oh hey, that's a girl!” one of the friends said with a point towards the bar. “I couldn't tell with all those baggy clothes on.”
Jared turned towards the bar and saw that the sole person there had removed their hoody and hat, revealing a far more slender looking frame and feminine looking head of pink hair.
“How pretty does she look?” one of the guys asked. “If she's too pretty she might be ones of those.”
“Eh...” another grunted as he leaned out of his booth a ways. “She's up there but I wouldn't say she was too good to be true up there. Not that it matters. You already got a girl at home, Tom.”
“Doesn't mean I can't take a look around every now and then, can't I?” Tom said half jokingly.
“Not according to most women,” the man said as he stopped leaning out of the booth. “Speaking of which, no one mention to mine I was taking a look see.”
“Hmm... she looks a bit too skinny for my liking,” Jared's remaining friend commented. “I like em a bit more curvy than that, especially in the chest and ass area. You wanna take a shot at her, Jared?”
“Can't hurt I guess,” Jared muttered in reply and moved to get up. “Worst things she does is tell me to fuck off.”
“Here's hoping you're feeling lucky,” Tom said, raising his bottle along with the others.
'I don't want to get lucky, I want a girlfriend,' Jared thought inwardly as he made his way over to the bar.
“Hey there,” Jared greeted as he placed a hand on the back of the stool next to the girl. “Mind if I sit here?”
Instead of answering, the girl sat upright and spun her stool around in a full revolution before facing him with a cheerful smile and giving him a thumbs up. She then faced the bar again and grabbed her bottle before proceeding to down most of it.
'She is either a quirky girl or a very nice drunk,' Jared thought as he took his seat. 'I'm fine with either or both.'
“So my name's Jared. What's-”
“I'm not gay you know,” the girl said with a pout, leaning on the counter with an elbow.
“Wha... I didn't say you were.” Jared furrowed his brows in confusion.
“You implied cause, ya know?” she said before making kisses at him before looking confused herself. “Or maybe I am? There was this one guy, he kissed me and I kinda got freaked out because for me it came out of nowhere, ya know? But now that I think about it, honestly it was probably because it came with no warning and not because, ya know.”
“No I don't,” Jared said, deciding he wished he had remembered to bring his bottle with him.
“Course ya do, I mean you got a penis so you must.” She nodded sagely before scratching her temple with a wondering look. “Speaking of penises, all excuses I made before aside, ya know, I'm not sure if I dislike them now that I think about it. I mean the guy... you know the guy I mean, right? Cause ya know... he must have been hung like a horse!”
“Alright,” Jared said and waved down the bartender for a bottle of his own, the girl beside him proceeding to giggle at what must have been an inside joke. “So does that mean you're... bi?”
“Ya know what... I don't know.” She smiled cheerfully before proceeding to make a pumping motion with her arm. “Maybe I just need to find the right one and I'll be all over that like a Candiru. Not that it matters anymore, ya know?”
“I guess I do.” Jared smiled and held his bottle to the girl. “Cheers.”
“Cheers!” The girl smiled toothily before clinking her bottle with his and then proceeding to down the rest of the contents before ordering another.
Jared smiled as he took a drink of his beer while Emerald took a much more conservative drink of her new bottle. He decided that even if nothing came of this relationship-wise, he wouldn't mind getting to know the girl next him if her sober self was even half resembling her drunken self.
Suddenly the music that was playing in the bar was interrupted by the sound of the jingle before a news report. Jared looked up at the TV that hung attached to the ceiling and saw a news anchor sitting at a desk.
“We interrupt this programming with an important broadcast,” the news anchor said as he quickly looked over a stack of papers he held in his hand. “In perhaps a show of indifference by the Blackwatch Commander, the widely known “Heir” of Alex Mercer was announced not with a personally delivered announcement, but simply through the filing of the Heir's registration papers when they reappeared on Manhattan Island a few days ago.”
This fact was met with murmuring and from the few people that were in the bar. Jared's attention was firmly locked on the TV as well but the girl next to him seemed to not be paying it much attention.
“And where was the infamous and feared Heir?” the anchor said with a raised brow. “According to sources in Blackwatch, they were living in an isolated community somewhere in the country, almost completely cut from the world and living a peaceful life. In fact, according to sources the only reason they had shown up at all was to track down a thief who had stolen a priceless piece of jewelry.”
“Currently, the Heir goes by the alias of Emerald Gleaner and is in the body of a young woman,” the anchor said as a picture of Emerald Gleaner appeared on screen; the very one that had been taken when she was registered.
Jared looked at the somewhat bemused looking expression of Emerald on the screen before turning to look at his drinking companion. Her expression was relaxed and anything but bemused but it was definitely her. He felt a brief burst of panic and looked behind him to see his friends quietly urging him to come over with their hands. He seriously considered it before forcing himself to calm down, Emerald had been completely friendly and had done nothing to drive him off and just a moment before he had been thinking about how he would like her as a friend. Taking a breath, he spoke with as even a voice as possible.
“So, got history, huh?” Jared asked and took a sip of his beer.
“It's b-b-bullshit,” Emerald replied, eyes instantly watering with tears and suddenly Jared had wished he had run. “My mom dies, I have to bury her myself, I get stuck on Manhattan scavenging for food and shelter, I almost die when winter comes around and then as the cherry on top, Alex Mercer comes along with all the answers to my problems and pain. All at the low, low, low price of my soul and happiness.”
“Uhh... I'm sorry? Please stop crying,” Jared said, feeling absolutely helpless.
“I spend two years in hell doing the devil's work, killing and eating innocent people just to not get murdered,” Emerald muttered, her head lying sideways on the countertop, tears streaming down steadily. “And then finally, finally the chance comes around to betray him and not be under his thumb anymore. I'm free and end up somewhere better for the next three years. I find friends, I find a new home and I get to do good without stopping myself because I think the slightest act of kindness will get me killed. But of course that has to be ruined too... turns out nothing I did good had any meaning because it was only because of someone else’s sacrifice that I can do that... and now I'm back here and everyone apparently spent the last three years terrified of me... it sucks, ya know?”
“Well...” Jared began, mind a void and grasping at any straw he could. “Is it so bad you needed help to do good?”
“What do ya mean?” Emerald pouted at Jared in confusion.
“Well I mean... people often volunteer for charity things like working the soup kitchen or heading out to help other countries,” Jared began as he tried to put his thoughts into words. “Does it make it any less meaningful if a hundred people got together to help people out?”
“... No, I guess...” Emerald's pout became a bit less prominent and her tears stopped flowing.
“And the person you mentioned,” Jared said, encouraged by seeing his words have effect. “They sacrificed themselves so you can do good, right? Doesn't that mean the good you do has more meaning and not less? They gave their life so you can be the best person you can be and by doing good you've been giving their sacrifice meaning.”
“...” Emerald frowned in intense thought and concentration and the moment she accepted what Jared was saying was like seeing the sunrise her expression was so brightly happy.
“Feeling better?” Jared smiled.
“MUCH!” Emerald said and reached into a pocket before tossing a wad of cash onto the counter. She then put her bucket hat back on and started putting on her hoodie.
“What are you doing?” Jared asked with a frown.
“I'm going to go home,” Emerald said with a bright smile as she finished putting on her hoodie and started striding for the front door. “And make love to my girlfriend!”
And with that, Emerald left out the front door.
'Damn... she already had someone,' Jared thought as he downed the rest of his beer, though he couldn't find it in himself to be disappointed by that. He was more upset by the fact he forgot to ask for her number since she seemed like fun.
“Great job, nice guy,” Tom said from the booth he was sitting in. “You sure got her engine purring and raring to go.”
Jared mimed a tipping of a fedora he didn't have before flipping off Tom while finishing his beer.
GAMMA
The moon was out and shining down on Twilight through the bedroom window.
Twilight was still reading her book but was now lying in bed under the covers. The lamp on the table beside her was on and casting more than enough light for her to read. Emerald had conjured up several pairs of clothes for everyone to change out of and wear; Twilight was wearing a pair that she correctly assumed to be her sleeping clothes. She was wearing a lilac tee shirt with her cutie mark on the front with a pair of dark purple fluffy pants that were covered with little books.
'I hope Emerald is doing okay,' Twilight thought as she read up on the Battle of the Bulge. 'I wish she would made it back before I go to sleep, but if she is too busy then she is too busy. I understand.'
Suddenly there was the sound of a door opening and closing followed by footsteps. Twilight smiled as she placed a bookmark in her book and placed it down on her lap. It could only be Emerald. Her runic protections would keep out anyone who didn't have some sort of magical lockpick or high explosive.
“Emerald!” Twilight smiled as her girlfriend entered the room. “Any luck?”
“Not with finding Sunset, unfortunately.” Emerald briefly shook her head. “But I'm hoping my luck is going to improve right now.”
“Well we have one more day to find her so we should have plenty of time,” Twilight answered as Emerald shifted her clothes to her own sleeping clothes.
“Hmm...” Emerald crossed her arms and looked down at her clothes. After a moment, she nodded and her clothes changed, her baby blue boxers turned white and shrunk down to a pair of much more form fitting panties. Her white baggy tee shirt kept shrinking down and changing shape until it became a small, almost skin tight, lacy camisole with a large midriff.
“So... how do I look?” Emerald asked with a bright smile as she folded her arms behind her head and took a pose.
“U-umm...” Twilight held her book tightly against her chest, suddenly feeling she was being given one of those kind of questions that had only one good answer. “You look incredibly... alluring Emerald, and beautiful as you always are.”
“Alluring, huh?” Emerald asked with soft smile. “Someone deserves a reward, and I think ya know who.”
“You're my fillyfriend, Emerald. Of course I wou-...” Twilight paused as Emerald crawled onto the bed, giving the impression of a prowling cat as she approached her. “Umm, Emerald?”
“Yeeeeeessssss?” Emerald drawled dreamily as she slipped under the covers and pressed herself against Twilight's side.
“Somethings a bit differe-Eeek!” Twilight gave a squeak when Emerald stuck her face in her neck and started kissing her there.
“Twilight, how long have we been together?” Emerald asked as she snuggled in close and started entangling her legs with Twilight's.
“O-over two y-years,” Twilight stuttered as Emerald's hands started to explore. “Emerald w-what's going on?”
“Let me clarify what I said before,” Emerald said and pulled the blanket off of Twilight, placing her book aside and then straddling her stomach before turning off the lamp. “When I hoped my luck was going to improve, I misspoke, ya know? What I meant to say is that you are going to get lucky.”
“Wha...” In a moment of utter randomness, Twilight's mind drifted to the last time Emerald had been straddling her. It was in Everfree forest though the mood then was definitely much clearer and not as confusing as it was now.
“Still don't get it, huh?” Emerald grinned knowingly. She leaned down, pressing her body against Twilight's, her face inches from the former unicorn's. “My innocent little pony, my hero, I'll show you what I mean.”
Then Emerald kissed her. It was completely different from all the other times they had kissed. In comparison, those had been simple parting pecks on the lips. This, however, was a kiss that was searing in its intensity. Twilight's eyes widened and her heart suddenly started to beat deafeningly in her ears as she knew what was happening.
“Em... Emerald we...” Twilight panted when the kiss finally ended and she was staring into Emerald's eyes that seemed to twinkle in the dark of the room, her brain seeming to have short circuited and refusing to form sentences. “It's...we should...”
Emerald's body started to writhe against Twilight's as she started planting feather light kisses along her neck. Her hands started to get a bit more lascivious and moved on from simple exploration to full on groping. Twilight gave a whimper before grabbing Emerald's head with both hands and gently but sternly pulled her away until they were facing each other again.
“E-Emerald... please wait...” Twilight panted, her cheeks flushed and heart beat almost the only thing she could hear. “W-we shouldn't... we...”
“Twilight...” Emerald smiled softly and gently pulled the other’s hands away before grasping her shoulders. “If you want this to stop then you only have to do one thing.”
Before Twilight could ask what Emerald meant, the world went spinning and suddenly she found herself on her hands and knees. Quickly taking stock of what happened, Twilight found Emerald had spun the two of them around and now her girlfriend was under her.
Twilight stared down with wide eyes at Emerald laying beneath her. She was simply laying there with her arms above her head, her eyes wide open and accepting as she smiled at Twilight. The former unicorn couldn't help but feel like she was now the one pinning Emerald down. This combined with the feeling that Emerald gave off was close to short circuiting Twilight's brain again. She knew Emerald was incredibly powerful. If she wanted to she could probably shatter the moon and devastate whole worlds, but as of right this moment? She looked so vulnerable, so fragile...
“Emerald...” Twilight said softly and leaned down and began to kiss her girlfriend, trying to replicate the searing kiss the other had just given her a moment ago. She wasn't sure she managed it completely, but the way Emerald's eyes twinkled when she pulled away gave her hope she wasn't terrible.
“Emerald...” Twilight said again, her cheeks flush with embarrassment as she realized an issue. “I... I don't know what to do... if you were a stallion, then I'd... but you're a mare, so I...”
“Shhh,” Emerald placed a finger against Twilight's lips. “It's okay. Consider this your first lesson on how two women make love.”
Emerald reached up with a hand and slipped it under Twilight's tee shirt. Unbeknownst to Twilight, the the surface on Emerald's palm shifted and changed and became much like the famous toxic frogs of South America, save that there was nothing toxic about the chemical that oozed out of her palm. Twilight gasped in a breath of air the moment Emerald's palm met bare skin and her nerves came alive. The feeling only grew stronger as Emerald's palm slowly made its way towards her waistband.
“Ah!”
DELTA
Twilight awoke with a yawn, the light of the morning sun shining down finally disturbing her deep sleep.
Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she pulled the covers off herself and moved her legs out of bed before realizing she felt rather breezy. Looking down, she saw she was completely naked. Twilight's cheeks turned bright crimson as she looked around and saw all of her pajamas and underwear she had been wearing last night scattered about the room. Looking behind her, she saw that the other side of the bed was empty. Straining her ears, she could hear voices coming from the main room of the apartment.
Twilight set about dressing back up and trying to make her cheeks stop burning. After a few moments, she was dressed back up and heading out into the apartment. She walked into the kitchen to see Emerald fully dressed and putting a pendent around Navi's neck.
“Wear this all the time, okay?” Emerald told the little girl.
“Yes mama,” Navi said with a smile which she quickly aimed at Twilight before scrunching up her nose. “Eww, Papa smells funny.”
“She just needs a shower is all.” Emerald chuckled as Twilight's blush returned. “Go play with Spike.”
“Because playing with someone who never misses almost no matter what is so much fun...” came Spike's audible mutter.
“Go easy on him now,” Emerald laughed as she patted Navi's head and shooed her along.
“Oooookay...” Navi said with a small huff.
“Sooo...” Twilight began as Navi joined Spike on the couch.
“Is something wrong, Twilight?” Emerald asked, stepping close and grabbing both of Twilight's hands in her own.
“Well...” Twilight began and looked over Emerald's shoulder at where Spike and Navi were. “Let's continue this talk in the bedroom.”
“Lead the way,” Emerald said.
A few moments later the two were back in the master bedroom. Unable to find a good way to start the conversation, Twilight quickly fixed up the bed before laying down atop the covers, and Emerald shortly joined her. After a moment of silence she turned on her side to face Emerald and her girlfriend did the same.
“What's wrong, Twilight?” Emerald asked, her face inches away from Twilight's and bringing up vivid memories of being this close from last night. “Is this about last night?”
“Yes... yes it is,” Twilight sighed. For her, this was embarrassing and hard to talk about, but Emerald looked nothing but attentive. “I mean... I e-enjoyed what happened a lot but... it's just when I imagined us being intimate with each other, it was on our wedding night.”
“Wedding?” Emerald said with wide eyes. “Do... do you think about us getting married often?”
“More often as time goes by,” Twilight answered. “But I've been giving the idea a lot of serious thought after we suddenly got a child. And you know... the thought brings nothing but happy feelings to my heart.”
“I've got to admit, I like the idea a lot too,” Emerald said and placed her forehead against Twilight's and clutched one of her hands tightly. “Are you mad at me for taking your virginity before we were married?”
“...No I'm not,” Twilight said softly after going over her feelings. “After everything we've gone through together, everything we've experienced, it seems a little petty to me to get mad over something like this. I guess after being intimate for the first time I just wanted a heart to heart.”
“Well... if you aren't mad at me,” Emerald began and started to caress Twilight and give her a light kiss. “Would you like to continue our lesson before you get cleaned up?”
“Uhh...” Twilight flushed bright red. She honestly wasn't against the idea too much, but... “As much as I like to learn, today is the last day, Emerald. You NEED to find Sunset today if we want to go home.”
“...” Emerald paused at Twilight's words. She opened her mouth to say something before stopping herself. After a moment, she nodded determinedly. “I will find her and I will bring her here before sundown. I promise you I will.”
“I know you will, Emerald.” Twilight smiled and hugged Emerald close before giving her a kiss. “Good luck.”
“I will find her,” Emerald promised again and suddenly she was gone with subdued flash of light.
Twilight stayed in bed for a few moments longer, luxuriating in the afterglow of their talk before getting up and heading for the bathroom to shower up.
EPSILON
Emerald sat cross legged on a gravel covered ground, staring down with intense focus at her modded phone. Beside her a scanner occasionally crackled with radio dispatches.
It was an hour before noon, but Emerald had already got a lot of work done. The first thing she did was find high ground, which she had done by heading to the roof of one of the many skyscrapers in Manhattan. Next she quickly put together several networking machines and transmitters. Using the large amount of knowledge she stole from the dreams of people who worked for Blackwatch, she began accessing their digital records. Ensuring her position couldn't be pinpointed without her being alerted to the attempts, Emerald had set about looking over records of crime in the last few days. She knew Blackwatch didn't have anyone matching Sunset Shimmer's description, however it was possible that Sunset was involved in or maybe even orchestrating events behind the scenes. If that was so, then Emerald expected there to be some kind of sign of this; a villainous pony was still a pony after all.
She had been utterly right with that assumption. Looking over the records of crime and suspicious activity over the last few days brought up quite a few interesting trends. Namely several gangs suddenly forming together even when said gangs had been violently fighting each other the day before. Another was the disappearance of a Blackwatch patrol sent to give a look over the area the newly formed small army of gangsters were sighted around. Another, more heavily armed patrol had been sent in to find what had happened when they too seemed to suffer the same fate. Reinforcements, however, had discovered survivors of the patrols holding out in an apartment complex beating back shockingly relentless gangsters. Their mission report had been that they had come across the previous patrol but it turned out they had turned traitor for the small gang army and badly ambushed the other patrol. There wasn't any more mentions beyond this but Emerald got the distinct feeling this kind of thing wasn't going to be tolerated by Blackwatch. Wherever the stronghold was, was going to have the full firepower of Blackwatch land on it like a ton of bricks.
“Beginning Operation,” crackled a calm voice from the radio.
Almost immediately, Emerald's scanner was inundated with fire teams sounding off and orders followed by the sounds of gunfire.
“E-Code Devastators Fireteam in position,” reported a deep voice.
'React fast and hit em hard,' Emerald thought as she began rapidly disassembling her listening outpost. 'Sounds like Commander Heller alright. Better get there before she gets killed or taken into custody.'
As soon as Emerald was finished taking apart her listening outpost, she started straining her ears and instantly the sound of the city flooded her hearing. Emerald started tuning out the background noise - people talking, the sound of car engines running, water rushing through pipes, the hum of electricity - and focused entirely on the gunfire that grew more prominent with every bit of audio she cut away from focus. A half instant later she had a rough location of the fighting and teleported to a quiet spot that was nearby.
Popping into view with a subdued flash, Emerald quickly rushed up the stairwell of the dilapidated building she had teleported into. Running out onto the roof, she quickly took stock of her surroundings and saw helicopters gathered in the distance.
Emerald began to roof hop but kept her distance. The helicopter had a very long range of view and she didn't want to be seen too close to the fighting; if she was seen farther away, it would be much more likely for them to dismiss her as just a curious onlooker. She began circling the sight of the battle from a distance, her sharp eyes taking in the sights as easily as if she was there on the scene. With the distance she was at it was hard to find a good vantage point as any one point only gave her view of one part of the fighting.
'How's the weather today?' Emerald thought as she took in the sky. 'Cloudy, perfect...'
Emerald teleported again, this time arriving high in the sky before landing silently upon a cloud. Manipulating the cloud subtly, Emerald lay belly down on the cloud's surface as a small hole formed through it. Peering through the hole, Emerald took in the site of the battle from a bird’s eyes view.
Helicopters circled the gang stronghold which was a multi-story factory with long, broken windows and an equally broken sunroof. The fighting around the structure had stopped, and everywhere Emerald looked she could see nothing but dead gangsters and Blackwatch soldiers holding the perimeter. Looking through the broken sunroof, Emerald could see quite a few dead Blackwatch soldiers, though whether they were the traitors or loyal soldiers she couldn't tell. She also saw a pretty good spot she could teleport out of sight to, provided she was fairly small.
Casting the “lead” barrier around herself, Emerald shifted down to the size of a rat, condensing biomass and burning off the excess as she rapidly shrunk. Taking a long moment to focus, Emerald teleported, arriving with a “flash” subdued enough to be as bright as a lighter's flame.
Arriving in the space between a curled up corpse of a soldier and the wall of a crate, Emerald clambered up the body and quickly took stock of her surroundings. There was a ton more bodies in here than she had initially seen and now with as close as she was she could see the difference between traitor and loyal soldiers. The traitors had a crudely made symbol of a sun that was half red and half yellow, made with paint. The same was true of the gangsters. Two bodies of the many dead stood out in the room as they were far larger.
Scrambling over onto the large corpse of a E-Code, Emerald saw its armor pockmarked with many impact zones from low caliber bullets, likely from the gangsters. The means of death was clear from the large bloody holes in the helmets. Guns designed to hurt beings that had no vitals proved to be quite lethal even for super soldiers, especially in the hands of the skilled.
Tuning her ears, Emerald heard fighting still going on in the building but coming from below. Quickly following the new sound, Emerald darted down a set of stairs. There seemed to be at least one body every meter and from the bullet casings everyone had fought to the very end. As she reached the basement level, the number of corpses rose sharply, all of them Blackwatch; loyal and traitor alike along with two E-Codes. The sounds of fighting grew louder, the echoes of which Emerald used to create a mental picture of a very large man and a winged humanoid locked in combat. Seeing no one else nearby for the moment, Emerald quickly shifted back into human form and rapidly built back density that was burnt off. She crept to the door surrounded by blood and corpses and peered within to spy the end of a fight.
The basement of this factory was wide open and filled with columns to support the structure overhead; there were a bodies here too. There were only two living people in this room and one of them was losing a fight very badly from the looks of it.
Sunset Shimmer had a demon-like form for some inexplicable reason. She was wearing a red and yellow dress that was designed to look like flames. She had a long red and yellow pony-like tail and a pair of leathery bat-like, red and black wings. Her skin was bright red and her hair spiraled straight upward. Her ears stuck out and were very long, the whites of her eyes had turned black and upon her head sat the stolen Element of Magic. She wasn't looking very well, covered in bruises, cuts and what were clearly bullet wounds. She was apparently rather durable, however, as apparently the large caliber Blackwatch guns had left shallow, painful looking craters in her flesh, rather then blown massive holes in her body like they did on anything that wasn't a super soldier or Cursor.
Opposite Sunset was the E-Code. His armor was heavily pockmarked and had more than a few bloody holes shot into it from powerful Blackwatch weapons, but other than a quickness of breath, he didn't seem at all the worse for wear. His fists were up and ready, covered in blood and crackling with electricity.
“Why... why can't I...” Sunset muttered as her eyes and the Element of Harmony glowed with black and blue flames.
Emerald didn't know what Sunset had intended with that, but the only thing the E-Code did was sharply shake his head before charging her.
Distracted by her attempt to use her magic on her opponent, Sunset only had time to attempt to jump back and flap her wings to gain some distance. The E-Code managed to grab hold of a booted foot and swung her sharply, bashing down a concrete column and ripping the steel beam within out of its bolts. Sunset landed a few feet away in a shower of shards and moaning in pain.
The E-Code quickly followed up on his advantage by darting forward and planting his foot in the middle of Sunset's back and gripping the base of both of her wings. With a twist there was the sound of bones snapping and flesh tearing followed by an agonized scream. The E-Code tossed aside the wings and reached down again, grabbing the back of Sunset's neck and her leg. Raising Sunset above his head he dropped onto crouch before bring Sunset onto his knee. There was a loud crack and Sunset fell onto the ground, screaming and writhing in pain, her legs twitching briefly before lying limp.
'About now would be the time to act,' Emerald thought as she shifted her arm into a blade. She was about to charge into the room, the E-Code completely wide open as he stared down at Sunset, breathing heavily through his gas mask; however, she paused as a memory flashed through her mind.
“They sacrificed themselves so you can do good, right?” a recent memory echoed. “Doesn't that mean the good you do has more meaning and not less? They gave their life so you can be the best person you can be and by doing good you've been giving their sacrifice meaning”
'… I don't know if you are a psychopath like most Blackwatch were back then,' Emerald thought as she stared at the back of the E-Code. 'You might be, but you might also be a loyal soldier who was told to come here and are just doing your duty. I might regret this, but I'm going to assume you are the latter. I won't kill you.'
Emerald shifted her blade away and reached out with a hand wreathed in a glowing pink aura. The E-Code was just reaching for the side of their helmet when they suddenly shot up into the air and crashed through the concrete ceiling. Distantly, the sound of breaking glass followed soon after.
Emerald entered the room proper once the E-Code was sent flying. By the time she had the strength to fight one the D-Codes, they had already been extinct, but she knew the strengths and abilities of the Orions fairly well. Being thrown through a solid barrier of concrete would hurt but it wouldn't kill an Orion. Emerald was fairly certain that an E-Code was at least just as durable as an Orion.
“Pl-please...” Sunset said looking back at Emerald with wide eyes, weakly rolling herself onto her back. “Don't hurt me... I-I can't move my legs...”
“...” Emerald stared down at Sunset Shimmer with an expressionless gaze before simply plucking the tiara from Sunset's head. With a shudder and full body twitch, she rapidly changed back to the form of a normal human. Her clothes were undamaged, but her body certainly was, as blood stains rapidly formed and dirtied Sunset's dress.
Emerald looked up towards the hole when she heard the sound of boots stomping across concrete floor and the crackle of radios. She looked back down at Sunset where she cried tears of agony as she weakly tried to crawl away to safety, paying little heed to the fact her back was broken only moment ago. Emerald magically pulled Sunset to her and tossed her onto her shoulder.
As Sunset gave another scream of agony and the sound of broken bones grinding together resounded in her ear, Emerald pointed her palm towards the floor. A ball of fiery red energy left left her palm and impacted the floor, sinking in a ways before hissing and starting to angrily spit spouts of molten fire.
Above, several squads of Blackwatch soldiers rapidly moved through the floor of the factory, waving their rifles back and forth and scanning over their surroundings for threats. They quickly advanced on the hole in the floor where the E-Code had burst through, though just as they were about to reach it a large spout of flame burst from it. Some soldiers startled back by it and tripped back, but most simply quickly backed away. The flame didn't die down and was only growing in intensity.
“Fall back, fall back!” called the officer in the group and the soldiers quickly sprinted for the door they had entered as the flames started to explode outwards.
Outside, the soldiers holding the perimeter moved for cover and helicopters pulled aways as flames rapidly consumed the stronghold and all that was left within.
ZETA
With a flash of light, Emerald appeared in a dark, dusty room.
Flipping a switch, she turned on a flickering bulb that hung from the ceiling by a single wire. From the looks of the room, it was either a forgotten storage shed or a basement. Dropping Sunset with all the care of dropping a sack full of garbage, Emerald moved towards her as another scream filled the air.
Panting in pain, Sunset lied on the ground for several moments, waiting for the horrific throbbing in her back to die down. She gave a wheeze as she turned herself over, causing sharp spikes of agony to erupt in her back as she did so. Looking up, she saw Emerald leaning against the wall, arms folded over her chest and just enough out of the light for her eyes to be fully shaded in the shadow of her hat.
“Do you know how many people you got killed?” Emerald asked, no hint of emotion in her voice.
“I'm... I-I'm sorry...” Sunset said softly, averting her eyes.
“Are you?” Emerald asked. “Or are you sorry you didn't get away with it?”
“I didn't mean for ANYONE to die!” Sunset protested, tears welling up in her eyes.
“Really?” Emerald questioned. “Then what happened with that first gang?”
“I... they were shouting these horrible things at me... I-I just...” Sunset sobbed and shuddered from the memory of what happened. “I just told my minions to make them stop and they... they...”
“So it's all one big accident, is that it?” Emerald asked calmly. “Just like all those dead people back there?”
“I DIDN'T MEAN FOR ANY OF THIS TO HAPPEN!” Sunset screamed before sobbing and tears started to flow in earnest. “This place is just horrible! First I end up in a world I've never been to before, then I got stuck starting from scratch here, then these guys tried to kidnap me and started touching me and pulling my clothes off! I had to use the Element of Magic to try to save myself and then I transformed and became this winged thing. I was able to enthrall people to my will and I went to their home base to do the same to the rest of them, then I... I learned to be careful with my commands.”
“And of course because you had magic and humans didn't, you must have felt untouchable,” Emerald stated. “The power to warp and twist minds to your will. Those poor, pathetic, squishy humans had no hope of resisting your power. Tch, you're lucky Heller didn't come down himself and kill you with his bare hands.”
“... You have magic...” Sunset said after a moment, turning bright blue, wondering eyes to Emerald. “You teleported us out of there. How? Who are you?”
“I am Emerald Gleaner. I volunteered myself to come along to retrieve the Element of Magic you stole,” Emerald replied, holding up said tiara pointedly.
“That didn't-”
“Do you have a way back to Equestria?” Emerald asked, her eyes narrowing at the girl in the shadow of her hat.
“N-no...” Sunset said slowly.
“Then the only other thing else you need to know is that you have ruined my life,” Emerald said calmly, pushing off the wall and slowly approaching Sunset. “Tell me why I shouldn't spend the next four hours torturing you slowly before leaving you behind for whatever fate intends with you?”
“P-P-PLEASE DON'T!” Sunset's eyes widened at Emerald approach and her hands scrabbled for purchase as she attempt to pull herself away. “Don't hurt me! Please don't! Please!”
“I'm not hearing any specific reason,” Emerald replied in a monotone. Her eyes flashed and started glowing orange as her hands shifted into a pair of claws with cruel, jagged edges.
“Ple-plaese no, don't hurt me, please I'm sorry!” Sunset kept pushing herself away until the back of her head impacted a rusting metal drum and her voice rose into a desperate shriek. “Pleasepleasepleaseplaseplease-”
Sunset's pleading stopped and she simply stared up at Emerald as she stepped past the sole light in the room. With the light behind her, Emerald's entire front was cast in shadow. The only thing Sunset could really see was her outline and the glow of her eyes that in this moment looked so inhuman and unfeeling. Sunset started crying and sobbing loudly as she stared up at Emerald, fat tears rolling down her cheeks in tiny rivers.
Emerald stood staring in the silence that was filled only with Sunset's crying, her mind racing with thoughts. She had thought of Sunset Shimmer as a murderous thief with only selfish wants and desires, but that was perhaps too simplified a judgment of a person. Sunset Shimmer was ultimately a pony and the experiences she went through on Earth likely traumatized her deeply. Standing here now looming over Sunset Shimmer with her utterly at her mercy; she didn't see some criminal she would have gladly put down without another thought. She saw a child making stupid, costly decisions no one should have made.
With a sigh, Emerald took off her hat and sat on the ground before Sunset. She wrapped her arms around her knees and simply stared at Sunset, looking more irritated then furious enough to torture someone. Sunset stared back with wide eyes, confused but still very frightened of being hurt with her being as vulnerable as she was.
“I'm not going to hurt you,” Emerald stated. “I am still very, very angry at being stuck on this world and away from my home because of you, however.”
Sunset didn't answer, relieved that she wasn't going to be hurt but still scared that saying anything might make Emerald change her mind. With the specter of imminent torture no longer hanging over her, however, Sunset realized that the brief surge of adrenaline had acted as a pain killer. She released a groan of agony as her back started to throb again. Seeing the pain she was in, Emerald moved to her side and reached out.
“No wait!” Sunset shielded her head. “I didn't mean it! I'll be quiet!”
Emerald ignored Sunset's response but couldn't help but feel a stab of shame at her reaction to her getting close. She reached out with her hands and tendrils rapidly extended. It probably would have been better for Sunset's mental well being if Emerald used magic for this, but she hadn't done much in the way of practice in this specific field.
Sunset Shimmer gasped as she felt her aches and pains start to rapidly fade. She brought her arms down and froze in place when she saw Emerald reaching out with her hands, tendrils extending out into her body. After a moment, the tendrils pulled back into Emerald's hands and backed up a foot from Sunset.
“You... healed me?” Sunset frowned and moved to try to get up, but her legs were as unfeeling as ever.
“Not fully,” Emerald corrected. “Your back is still broken. It's just healed over now.”
“Oh... w-what's going to happen to me?” Sunset asked, nervously glancing at Emerald from the corner of her eyes. “Are you going to just leave me here?”
“No, I'm taking you into my custody,” Emerald stated. “When I find a means of reopening the portal from this side, your ultimate fate will be decided by Celestia, whatever that may be.”
“...Okay,” Sunset said, hugging herself, somehow looking far younger and smaller when she did so. “I don't have a choice, do I?”
“No you don't,” Emerald said sternly, making the girl flinch.
With that, Emerald scooped up Sunset in her arms in a bridal carry with little warning for the other. Sunset gave an alarmed yelp and then quickly looked away and tried to ignore the fact she was helpless in the arms of someone who threatened her. Carrying Sunset Shimmer in a manner much more comfortable for her, Emerald walked over to the light switch and flicked it off. Then there was darkness for a moment followed by a flash of light.
An instant later, Emerald arrived in the living room of her apartment. She had arrived just behind the couch which currently had Navi, Spike and Twilight in it playing the Wii U together on it.
“Ahh!” Twilight shouted in surprise before turning around, seeing who Emerald had in her arms she gasped. “Emerald, you got her!”
“Ahhhh, NOO!” Spike shouted as Navi cheered victoriously. “We were winning for once!”
“Off the couch,” Emerald said as she walked around to the front of it. “She can't walk.”
“She can't?” Twilight questioned as Emerald laid Sunset Shimmer down on the couch after Navi and Spike vacated it. “What happened?”
“Twilight...” Emerald said with a sad solemn expression that made Twilight feel like her stomach dropped. “I have some very bad news...”
ETA
The stairwell was brightly lit, unlike the very first time they had been here, mostly thanks to Emerald making little magical fairy lights out of boredom that bounced back and forth around the room.
Emerald was standing at the very base of the stairs, leaning back against a wall and staring up at the point where the portal was supposed to be. Spike and Navi were sitting together. Spike looked sad while Navi looked confused and didn't seem to understand what was happening. Twilight was sitting a few steps up, her eyes red as the odd tear streamed down her cheeks; she had been crying a lot more heavily earlier. Sitting beside Emerald on the floor was Sunset. Though it was discomforting for her to be this close to Emerald, she had chosen this spot out of fear that if the portal actually opened she'd be left behind.
Since they had several hours before midnight, Emerald had questioned Sunset a lot about what she knew about the portal. Sunset knew that the portal opened once every thirty 'moons' and that for some reason on average it opened once on average every ten days on the world she had been on. Of course Emerald's next question had been what in the world 'thirty moons' translated to.
'Thirty moons...' Emerald thought with a roll of her eyes. 'What does that even mean on a world where the phase of the moon is dependent on what someone feels like it should be that night? Well apparently she meant once a month roughly and the portal opening more often on her end likely means that time moves differently on both worlds... maybe. This isn't the same world as the one Sunset went to. Time here could be moving at the same speed as Equestria. The only way to find out is to see if there is any activity with the portal a little over a week from now... that is, if I don't manage to open it here and now.'
There was little hope of that happening, unfortunately. While Emerald's skill with magic had been growing by leaps and bounds even for her, trying to get any meaningful hold on the portal was unlikely. Maybe if the portal actually had an exit that was like the large mirror on Equestria's side, but it didn't have such an exit and so it currently felt like the tiniest point of magic to her senses. No matter how much she tried, the tiny point that marked the exit to the portal just slipped past her attempts to magically grip it.
And so it was that they were here, watching the portal as time ticked away to zero, hoping beyond hope that something happened with the portal before it closed that let Emerald grab hold of it in someway. This was pure torture on Emerald. She was the only one there with both use of her magic and skill in it and she wasn't able to do anything.
“...Here it comes,” Emerald said aloud after checking her phone. She pushed off the wall and stared up into the point where the portal was in the ceiling. Sunset shifted nervously, Spike sighed, Navi looked up with wondering eyes and Twilight buried her head in her hands.
Seconds ticked away, energies fluctuated as the portal neared the exact point it would close but remained as elusive as ever to Emerald's reach. Just a moment before the clock struck twelve, however, there was a burst of magic and the portal opened. Surrounded by a ring of energy, an arm wrapped in a silken sleeve burst forth from the portal and reached out with a grasping hand.
This was so startling even Emerald paused for an instant, and then she whipped her hand out as well. Her hand grasped the other as she reached out with her magic. She could feel it now. The portal was larger to her senses and she could- and just like that it was gone.
There was a splatter of blood and a scream from Sunset. Emerald stared forlornly at the severed arm hanging in her grasp as Sunset Shimmer panicked from the sight of blood covering her unfeeling legs. Feeling the genetic makeup of the arm, she could feel the presence of several genetic markers that belonged to the augmentations she created for her Diamond Dogs, somehow expertly altered to work on a human form as well.
“W-who... who was it?” Twilight asked, her eyes wide but not looking panicked or sickened by the sight.
“Feels like one of my dogs.” Emerald sighed and consumed the arm before turning her senses to the portal. She could actually still feel it there, but now it felt even smaller then before. She might as well try to pick up a single molecule with just her fingers.
“What do we do now?” Spike asked as Navi next to him looked sad herself from picking up how sad everyone else felt.
Emerald just sighed in answer and turned to Sunset to give her a hand in cleaning herself. She really had no other ideas or answer for him right now.
THETA
Belvedere walked down a hall in the Crystal Palace. At his side walked Fenrir, or rather said wolf diamond dog towered.
Fenrir towered over practically anyone these days, even Padfoot who had been the tallest dog in the Enclave. He also had a quickness and nimbleness about him that normally had purely been the realm of slim and slender dogs like Belvedere. His stronger, longer legs also made it so he was much more comfortable standing upright then slouching over like most dogs. He was currently wearing a long sleeveless coat that ended about the middle of his thighs, the back of which held the icon of the Enclave emblazoned proudly.
Belvedere was taking the lead as the two of them walked down the hall. The first and currently only Direwolf in the Enclave was a few steps behind, wordlessly acknowledging the greyhound's authority over him. If there was one thing Belvedere appreciated about the older and much more skilled dog was his complete and total professionalism, though it also came partnered with his passion in what he was doing which Belvedere found annoying at times. Still though, Belvedere had to admit that Fenrir's increase in height only added to his air of lordliness.
Glancing about with his eyes, Belvedere could see more than a few crystal ponies watch them from afar and talking amongst themselves. While it was acknowledged that Emerald helped them a great deal, the fact she was injured by the Crystal Heart as well as Sombra hurt her standing in most of the local's eyes. This fact apparently extended to her followers as well.
“Seems the crystal ponies are a bit suspicious of us,” Belvedere commented aloud to his travel companion.
“Let them gossip among themselves,” Fenrir scoffed. “So long as that is all they do I do not care to acknowledge it.”
“Of course,” Belvedere said simply.
“You do not agree?” Fenrir asked.
“I am inclined to ignore them as well...” Belvedere replied. “But I am also aware that one's reputation often holds great weight in political matters.”
“You are our acting leader in the Lady's absence,” Fenrir nodded. “It is your duty to consider such things. Give me an enemy and I shall destroy it, for I am the mail about your fist.”
'And there's that passion again,' Belvedere thought before giving himself an inward shrug. 'I can't complain, I suppose. It does get the blood in the soldiers pumping.'
Not long after, the two finally arrived to the room containing the mirror portal. The two crystal pony guards standing guard at the doors opened it for them at their approach. They entered and found a small crowd in the room. The three princesses, Emerald and Twilight's closest friends were there.
“Ah, Belvedere,” Celestia said with a friendly smile and approached the Diamond Dog. “I realize we've never properly been introduced to one another and the one other time we've met... well it was a very tense time for us all to say the least.”
“Princess Celestia,” Belvedere stated blandly, no trace of emotion in his voice or face. “Personally I consider Nidhogg escaping from his prison and into the Old Kingdom to be entirely your fault. I place the destruction of an entire nation and the blood of half a million dogs to be on your hooves. However, for the sake of diplomacy, this shall be the only time I voice this opinion and will be civil to you this day forth.”
The silence that filled the room after these words was heavy enough to crush steel.
“Ah... that's...” Celestia began with a strained smile, pain evident in her eyes. “That's very kind of you, Belvedere.”
“You are very welcome, Princess.” Belvedere nodded and walked over to an empty spot of the room to watch the mirror.
After that the conversation died off. Once Celestia had returned to her fellow princesses, Luna looked ready to stomp over to give Belvedere a piece of her mind but was held back by Celestia. It took an hour before the conversation regained any liveliness. After another hour passed, however, the ponies in the room started giving the mirror more and more worried glances as time passed without the others reappearing. As the final hour arrived and time ticked down to its final minutes, the atmosphere in the room turned extremely tense. Belvedere was worried as well, but expected Emerald and co. to explode out of the mirror mere moments before it closed. Fenrir looked unmoved, likely fully convinced that Emerald would make it back no matter what. It was as the final seconds ticked down, with Emerald's friends making alarmed shouts, some of them needing to be held back lest they try to burst through the mirror themselves that Belvedere finally reacted.
Face contorted into a scowl of concentration, he sprinted forward to the surprised shouts of the ponies in the room. He reached the mirror in a second but didn't run through. He stopped himself by grabbing the frame before plunging his other arm through, paw wide open and grasping for anything to grab hold of. The instant he felt a hand grasp his paw, he started leaning back to pull what he held back through the portal. Half a second later he fell to the floor missing his arm up to the middle of his bicep.
“I felt her. She held my paw. I could have pulled her back,” Belvedere growled under his breath as Fenrir suddenly appeared at his side so fast he could have teleported. “This is my fault. I should never have expected anything involving ponies to be straightforward. I should have done something to ensure she came back in time.”
“Do not focus on that, it helps no one,” Fenrir said as he tore a strip of cloth from his coat and quickly tied it tightly around Belvedere's stump. “Instead, focus on the fact your duties have been extended indefinitely until our Princeps returns soon.”
“And how, pray tell, do you know she'll return to us in a timely manner?” Belvedere narrowed his eyes at Fenrir. “The pony she had gone after had been gone for nearly a decade.”
“No pony, no matter how skilled or how great their potential, could compare to the Lady. She'll be back, and soon,” Fenrir answered as he studied the tourniquet he made. “But most of all, I have faith she will return to us.”
“Tch.” Belvedere scoffed but inwardly agreed that he couldn't waste time on what if’s. Mind racing with several thoughts, he turned to Fenrir. “Tell me, doesn't the new Orion Serum give their drinkers greater healing abilities?”
“Yes.” Fenrir nodded. “It will allow you to regrow your limb but the Princeps locked it away until her return.”
“We'll see just how firm those locks are supposed to be,” Belvedere stated simply and rose back onto his feet. Looking around, he noticed the ponies in the room were quite distraught over the portal closing. Rainbow Dash was beating on the mirror with her hoof while Pinkie and Fluttershy were being comforted by Cadence.
“They look unhappy,” Belvedere commented before gesturing to the door. “We have business. Let's leave them to it.”
It was only ten minutes later that any of the ponies remembered the dogs and noticed they were gone.
-FIN-
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Was good, but you need to do something about all the bolded words.
~Crystalline Electrostatic~
21:28_9/28/2016
7603409 God damn!
7603409 Well I had to nuke the whole thing and do all the minor formatting myself as Fimfiction has messed up the Gdoc integration but it's fixed!
Alcohol: Because why fix your problems when you can just procrastinate when you're on a deadline!
Says the guy who should be studying.
Gah! These chapters always end so soon! I feel like this could have been 50,000 words and it would have felt too short. I eagery await the next installment.
Awesome Chapter!
Question: If Mind Magic is so alien to the Prototype!Verse as you said in the previous Chapter then how did Sunset controlled those people?
7603598 That wasn't mind magic Emerald used, it was Dream Walking
7603606 Ah, sorry.
Wait, so Mind Magic actually works on Prototype!Verse's humans?!
... So why there is any conflict here with Blackwatch to begin with? Can't Emerald just tear the knowledge from the mind of the few that matters mora than the cannon-fodder and know everything there is to know? Or hypnotize them into obeying her? She did eat Queen Bug who could do that crap herself.
Well we've all learned some very important lessons here today. You are who you choose to be, and Emerald cannot hold her Liquor....Also forget Cthulhu, Emerald is pretty much the pony version of Slaanesh at this point- no longer content with merely corrupting the poor innocent ponies minds with foul pornography for her own amusement while also inadvertently being a massive cock-tease to every stallion (and some of the mares) she is around, she has now gone and stolen one of those poor innocent ponies virginity...
Oh you bloody troll. Good show.
There was something very satifying about watching that E-code go full bane on Sunset-shimmer. I could almost hear him saying.
“Ah you think violence is your ally. You merely adopted the fight for survival. I was born in it- Molded by it. Now I will show you how my species came to rule this world. Then I will break you.”
On a final note, I hope we haven't seen the last of Jared. He seemed like a cool guy.
7603663 Well for one there isn't really much in the way of conflict between Emerald and Blackwatch, they are kind of just there and doing their jobs. Most of them anyway. Second, Emerald has already been taking information from out of the minds of several people in Blackwatch, what did you think she was doing when she was dream walking. And finally you are misreading Emerald's character a lot if you think she will just simply enslave people
7603754
1) No, I mean, why didn't she just made them forget that they ever saw her? Acting incognito would've been so much easier.
2) I know that she was reading their mind during their sleep, what I was talking about was taking the memories of those who really mattered like Heller who doesn't actually sleep.
3) What? No! I wasn't talking about enslaving them, more like a 'Notice-Me-Not' Charm from Harry Potter if anything else.
Is it me or does Belvedere have a surprisingly subdued reaction considering he just got his ARM CUT OFF!
7603834
1: She can copy information onto her own mind but not erase it, her mind magic isn't that advanced
2: Because she hasn't needed too?
3: Again, too advanced
7603838 He's probobly gotten used to the fact that Emerald can heal pretty much anything instantly. Notice how he seemed more concerned about Emerald getting back and then his thoughts wen't right to the possibility of the serum having regenerating abilities? Even if if the dogs can't get into the locks and it takes Emerald ten years to get back, loosing his arm is only really an inconvenience in the long run.
7603838
Also, while the ponies are freaking out over Emerald and Twi not coming back through, which while understandable and doubtless their No.1 priority, they completely ignore her sworn, extremely dedicated, heavily militarized and warlike, pony hating subjects reactions to the fact that their ruler has not returned from a mission she was performing for the ponies, with a pony who betrayed her once already,or the fact that the current regent just lost a flipping arm in front of them via portal-fragging, they don't toss him a bloody bandage, absolutely nothing, heck it even says they don't notice they're gone for 10 minutes, during which he could have bled out in a corner or in the arms of his bodyguards as they tried to find the hospital for all they know or care.
And now we can enter panic mode, the deadline for the portal has come and passed, Blackwatch suffered heavy losses on personnel and resources from Sunset's actions, a large power vacuum opened up for the local gangs and Emerald left a mini thermal detonation to wipe out all evidence. News networks are gonna be riled up from this incident, and finger pointing might even bring negative pressure on Heller to crack down hard for answers or face less control over the area to someone more "competent".
Also that E-Code that fought Sunset, possibly the same one dating that Blacklight Tifa from before?
Emerald Gleaner, unexpected rival to Slaanesh
, nice touch on the use of DNA combos to show how up there is Emerald's imagination and lewdness 
Honestly, Emerald is one of the few OCs I can accept having a relationship with Twilight, the first before coming across this story is another shape shifter, whose gender swapped and faced an identity crisis, and like yours, alluded to sex while keeping a T-rating.
Can't wait for more
7603838 Considering the crushing feeling of failure from briefly grasping his Princep's hand before being severed, no, I don't think he cares
I figured that's what you meant by us wanting extra material, but also the explosion trolling got me too. If I were emerald I would've quickly made a tentacle with an eye at the end of it and look into the portal with it to see if it was the right one then teleport everyone in. I am wondering how the regeneration may go wrong though with Belvedere, like mass cancer or something from cell duplication or rapid aging from not extending the telomeres just forcing cells to divide rapidly. Besides I know Emerald isn't doomed to this world since the other still has events going, it'd have been more climactic or something, so I don't mind it taking place in the human world, and it happening theres uses different types of imagination too since its the human world my mind fills in blanks alot more rapidly than imagining everything cartoony, and air humidity and scents etc come to mind more readily. Granted I also consider imagining it videogame-like rather than real-world like, since its technically not earth earth. Also looking forward to everything involving Navi, I wonder if those at the bar would report Emerald, at least one of them and if potential drama might ensue there. Just wondering what it'll be. I still feel like since a plot has to happen here of course it'll be related to black-watch. I wanna see some character development/conflicts too, I think the political stuff was mentioned for a reason- potentially foreshadowing ones rather than just Twi's knowledge.
Shouldn't that be short?
Also, drunk Emerald is funny.
So they will be staying a while longer then.
I wonder what will happen next
7603895
It probably helps I spent several books slowly building it up instead of attempting some sort of whirlwind romance or something.
7603853
1) Then what did she do with Tweedly-Di and Tweedle-Do(Flim and Flam)?
2) Ehh, wasn't she going to try and acquire as much information as possible to make their stay in NYZ easier?
3) Ah, sorry then, I thought that she could do it after that thing she did with Whispering Wind.
7603941
1: She made sure they saw and heard as little as possible while she practiced her mind magic on them
2: And assaulting Heller is the answer? Subtlety is the key
7603931 Indeed, and I thank you for that. Less for Emerald but for Twilight, seeing as they're apparently the first gay couple in that whole planet. It was eased in, seeing how the earliest days proved she couldn't leave the house without suffering a panic attack, and I'm glad the build up went where it did, you gave her control and the choice to move forward, that was nice.
7603838
It just makes me think is is more of a bad ass.
7603954
1) Oh.
2) No, I was talking about hypnotizing him into standing still and then scanning his mind. But i agree, it would've been to dangerous.
If Oskar and Heller meets up again, I really hope he makes Heller feel small and powerless by teleporting them both into orbit.
Somehow I doubt they'll be stuck on earth for 30 lunar cycles. I do find it unfortunate that they are stuck on earth at all though.
Still though, I think this is a bit of a cathartic release for Emerald. She will finally be able to let go of most of her past and look fully to the future. She has a family with Twilight now complete with a daughter and son.
One thing is for certain, Twilight, Spike, and Sunset will return to Equestria completely desensitized to violence... and that's unfortunate.
No, no it wasn't her fault. I know this is the DIamond Dogs opinion on the matter and opinions can be skewed, but this was and was never Celestia's bloody fault. I'm actually shocked no one noticed such a kingdom being incinerated when someone surely would have noticed. I"m sorry for bringing this up, but this subplot with the Dogs has always ticked me off. It just feels like needless guilt to throw onto Celestia's back. I mean, why isn't it ever Luna's fault in these fics? She's the brash one who cared moreso for herself in the far past. Yet it's an aspect of fanfics to have creatures and events hate or be the fault of Celestia. This is especially so when Celestia would have gladly helped if the dogs snuck one, just one dog over to her. Nidhogg seemed like the type who wouldn't notice a couple dogs missing. They didn't so this is just Nidhogg's and to an extent, their, fault. I mean, it didn't stop them from telling Emerald right off the back.
It's an interesting story and everything, but this segment just irks me slightly.
7604224
Dertain
My head's reading voice tripped over when it reached this point
No offense
This was good and I'm looking forward to some earth time. I did however think at first a human hand came through the portal instead of a diamond dog one
7604880 Celestia failed to perform her due diligence. If you imprison something for being dangerous then it is your responsibility to make sure that thing stays imprisoned, or at least you make sure you know if it has escaped and move to remedy that. Instead Celestia dumped Nidhog in a hole as far away form her own ponies as she could and did not even think to check to make sure that Niddhog stayed there for over a hundred years (when Emerald told her about his escape Celestia even had an 'oh crap' moment at the thought of what else could have escaped from Tartarus without her knowlage)
In short, Celestia got complacent and it cost a lot of diamond dogs their lives. And this is the main reason why the dogs don't like her and why they did not seek out her help. They believe she does not care about anyone but her precious ponies. This is also why Belvedeer outright defied Emerald during the changeling invasion. He was worried that she was putting the ponies well-being over the lives of the dogs who trusted her. (but as emerald said, it was about her wanting to save her friends. She doesn't give a shit about the ponies as a whole beyond how it affects those friends)
Also it's funny that you should mention Luna because it was the very same kind of negligence and complacency which allowed Nidhog to escape and destroy the old kingdom in this fic that allowed Luna to fall to darkness in the show. This is why Celestia is often the one chosen for these kinds of faults. That and Luna was imprisoned in the moon for a thousand years.
7605026 She dumped him in Tartarus, which is less then a days journey from Ponyville. That isn't far from her ponies at all. There had been no precedence before this that Tartarus was es-capable, so perhaps partial complacency, this still doesn't explain how a kingdom basically right next to her could be burned to the ground and she be unaware. Nor does this warrant such a severe 'this is the ponies fault' when at any time, they could have asked for help or figure out they had nothing to do with this escape.
This whole subplot with the Diamond Dogs is aggravating and I honestly don't know why the author chose this route for what are basically greedy smugglers. Heck, even the comics came out with an issue proclaiming those particular dogs as outcasts. I hold no sympathy for them, especially when they go and plunder Equestria, harming the nation to where it slips into a economic depression, when diplomacy was a valid option that Celestia would have endorsed at all.
As for complacency, if she had been warned that it happened again, Celestia would have done her best to stop Nidhogg and then take more precautions in the future when it came to Tartarus. As for Luna, that was more so Luna's fault then her sister's. While her sister may have made mistakes in that regard, that was more so because Luna pushed her away.
7604885
That's what I get for replying to the chapter using my tablet while in bed.
A mistake made by everyone trying to drink away their problems for the first time. Drinking doesn't make you go from being sad to feeling okay; drinking just kinda...
makes being sad feel okay.
EDIT: Also, that semicolon really should be a comma. The second half of that sentence doesn't stand on its own.
7605185 The comics at best are barely cannon, and using them as a reference as to why you don’t like the dogs in THIS story makes me suspect that you are seeing what you want to see rather than what is actually there in the story. The dogs here are not the dogs in that comic book; just like how pretty much every story on this site that deals with the griffins ignores the Griffinstone episode since most of them were started before that episode aired. Do you have a problem with the griffin's being depicted as they are in this story rather than being a bunch of greedy selfish assholes who live in a single rundown kingdom of slums on the back of a giant dead tree like they are in the show? Or how the changling invasion is depicted as an act of desperation rather than them all simply being evil like they are in the comics and show? If not then your complaint about the dogs not being depicted as 'unsympathetic bandits' strikes me as being kind of hollow.
As for why the old kingdom did not ask for help. Just like the spiders, the old kingdom was very isolationist because of the pony’s negative feelings towards creatures that eat meat since every creature in Equestria down to the small insects is sapient. This is why Emeralds meat trees are earning her so much good will among the carnivores in the League of Nations. Before she came along they all had to enforce heavy rationing and population control lest they invite the ire of the much more numerous and powerful herbivore nations. Remember, the old kingdom fell a hundred years ago, even if the ponies don’t have that cultural hang up now it doesn’t mean they didn’t have it back then.
But as far as Celestia's culpability goes. This may be my fault for not articulating myself properly, but I think I have to clarify that most of the dogs don’t actually hate Celestia or the ponies individually. What the dogs hate is the fact that the ponies in this story worship Celestia as a literal Goddess despite being a living example that she is just as fallible as anyone else. They feel that if she is a Goddess like the ponies believe then she must have known about their plight and just didn’t care enough to stop it from happening, and if she isn’t a Goddess then the pony’s worship of her as such is like rubbing salt in the wound.
And even saying that, it has been established more than once that the dogs who hold an outright dislike of the ponies are a very small minority, and that minority mostly exists within the pockets of dogs old enough to mourn the old kingdom and the dogs that have likely never encountered a pony since they descended from the independent packs that ran away from the old kingdom during Nidhoggs attack. This is why Emerald isn’t making all the dogs’ young left and right and is letting ponies like pinkies clone be so involved with the raising of the next generation of pups. She wants the old ways and hang-ups to die with the old dogs.
Belveders is a special case. His dislike of the ponies is down to the conflict of interest they represent to Emerald, their leader. Like I said, the only time he has EVER defied Emerald is when he thought she was putting the pony’s well-being before that of the dogs that are loyal to her. And he seems to hold the belief that Twilight has betrayed them once before, but managed to weasel her way out of the consequences.
If nothing else, remember that none of the dogs liked enslaving the ponies. They even noted the fact that they are better diggers than the ponies and not meeting the gem tribute quota could get them eaten.
7580052
Sorry for the late answer.
Well ok, it would be stupid to create something that is depending on something like the ponys. But what if they become depending on Ponys negative emotions later? I mean in the play we see that the ponys were already in some sort of medieval age, and the three tribes were fighting each other. So, just in theory, what if the windegos were a safety from the creators? I mean what if they adapted to the hate the Pony tribes felt for each other and started to feed on this, and in this part force the three tribes to put the differences aside and work together? Yea we have advanced through war, but ponys are not the only race, and one tribe alone would not be able to live in the land of equestria. So lets think in long time plans from the creators, let ponys grow on their own, when they start fighting each other and grow weaker then the windegos come in and force them to work together, develop a society that needs all three tribes and can accept all three tribes.
I mean what natural creature would freeze all its food to death if they need emotions, and so are depending on a good birthrate so they can eat more and more? I mean we have seen that Luna got corrupted some how, what is so wrong with thinking others can't be?
Also are the Windegos limited to the hate of Ponys? I mean there were many more Races at this time that would be a great feeding ground, like griffons and so on. So what could force them to hunt down Ponys and be beaten by friendship when they could have other food sources? I say possible divine programming is one of many possibilities. Others are also possible.
Come to think of, why do the Ponys seem to have most of the magical powerhouses coming to artifacts? Crystal heart, Elements, and the amulet. also this strange book spike found in the old castel
7605442
That is a possibility. I personally like the idea that they are just an unforeseen byproduct of the pony’s magic (Similar to a warp entity from Warhammer) rather than something that ‘mother and farther’ purposefully created. It just doesn’t seem like something a benevolent entity would create, IMO.
If you’re talking about the show I’d guess it’s because the ponies are the protagonists. The amount of artifacts the other Discord was able to bring to bear against the other Oskar implies that the ponies don’t have a monopoly on them in this setting at least.
7605423 First off, this story came out before the comics. Second off, I read this story before the comic. Third, I wasn't using the comic as an exact reason, more so just to highlight a point. My point was giving the diamond dogs a sob story about a destroyed kingdom came out of left field. Perhaps if it had been done differently, or something other, perhaps I would have enjoyed it more, but spending so much time on a race like them and then going on with stealing out from the noses of the same equines of the show that I care for doesn't make me like these dogs all that much. Doesn't mean I hate them, but it was too much to pile on at the same time.
Neither did I like the changeling angle, because the 'changelings are simply doing it out of desperation' cliche is, well, a very big cliche at this point, even when it was written. Chrysalis is a power hungry dictator with her saturday morning cartoon behavior. I'm not saying we can't have nice changelings or anything of that sort, but going on about that they were sympathetic and then having what is essentially just a one sided massacre between the dogs and changelings just didn't sit right with me.
Griffons, I don't care either way, but the show version is a bit more true to mythology given that griffons were notoriously greedy and selfish in myths.
I tried to give the dogs the benefit of the doubt. Some of the dogs I liked, but in general they weren't incredibly interesting but we spend so much time with them that it's very noticeable for me. At the very least, it wasn't like the whole 'The Everfree has a forest spirit now... just go with it' that was pulled. Forgive me, but I didn't like that character at all. I'll give the dogs the fact that they never pissed me off.
In all honesty, I love what this author does with Emerald herself and it's why I stuck with it so much, but there are just some things that seem to just come out of left field and then stay so... soo much time with. He's great at fleshing at Equestria and everything there, but it just seems a bit much in some regards elsewhere.
Oh my god, Emereld drunk, pleas more of this. But for real, the one Human has wisdom that Emerald hadn't, I think this can only come to mind if you part of a weak race that can only do great when you are many. It is never wrong to ask for help ^^.
So Emy and Twilight got really kinky in Human form. Well this was a unique experience, for now.
The scene with her standing with the light in the back. My only thought was "I am Batman"! I know it should not be funny, but i can't stop laughing thinking about Emerald with Batmans voice XD.
Well I hoped for the Human part to be over as we only can hope for a racist problem over there, and even then withe Emeralds Powers to make money they won't need to go out much and with Teleport they can go wherever they want without being seen so beside a Mistake i can't really see much of a conflict with Emerald as she can always run away in a way Blackwatch can't stop or track.
Would have liked the idea to force her to live a month in Sunsets world, without a real conflict and just everyday life that she never really had. Highschool. Worst punishment ever, every school is this but still.
So what lime? I mean it was a nice kinky teas, but still. Not really something that I would call lime. But this opens another question. Will you trade in the dangerous world of lemons?
7604880
Really? Tell me, can DDs teleport? Half a million dogs died in the day as he took the Kingdom. So, it was her prison, she put the dragon in there, so yes it is her fault that the nation died and most dogs run away and the half million died. She could never heard of it or made it in time to save them, but because he got out in the first place without her knowing of it it means she is at fault. You can't bring back the dead and yea so it is blood of half a million dogs on her hoofs.
Also, it is not something people did normally when there was war, they wouldn't run away, trusting other rulers maybe even rulers they had a war with before. And most rulers were OK with bad things happening in other countrys as long it stayed out of their own country.
7605026
Also no guards that would check upon the prisoners. Why no prison guards? Maybe because she didn't want to put pony in this horrible place even if it was just to make sure all the things she had made angry would stay there and would do no harm to others? Or would this lead to a world where she couldn't have enemys coming back for her so she could send her little student to finish her job so the ponys could worship her more for her great idea of sending a pony to clean up her mess?
7605528 Something not lining up with your personal tastes is not the fault of the story or the author. Also, the whole point of depicting the dogs and the changelings in the way they were was to frame Emeralds character development. It denied her a foe that she can slaughter without guilt and reinforce the ‘us vs them’ world view she developed under Mercer.
7605606 I’d say that’s likely, in that it may be what the dogs think is the reason Nidhogg escaped. that or, like I said, the dogs think Celestia really is a Goddess (like her ponies believe) and think she just didn’t care enough to stop Nidhogg when her ponies weren’t the ones threatened by him.
Good move on belvedere but a bit too late. Sunset screams entertain me.
Author, I think for the sake of making things clearer for your series, that all of them receive the AU tag, because let's face it, a lot of things changed when Emerald killed and ate Steven and Gilda. Not immediately but from behind the scenes, then eventually spilled forth into the main plot.
Also considering this iteration of Equestria was meddled by your OC "Star people" with Emerald, we can assume it was an AU to begin with since the introduction of Nidhogg and the EoH's re-activation harmed the Changeling's food supply were set as chronological canon to this universe.
7605983 Might as well, not really much harm in it
Looking back into all that has happened with this series and the occasional return to the Star People's perspective, it makes you wonder. Did Orion set everything up? As in, did he pull off a plan similar to Chakravartin of Asura's Wrath, by preparing an ideal environment to cultivate a being to fulfill some hidden agenda?
7605671
I mean why else put a, fire breathing, diamonds eating and lava swimming Dragon in a dirt hole that only has iron bars in front of its entrance and then put no guards or other observation system in place to check up on the prisoners. It is asking for trouble. This is saying come on and break out of me.
Give me dat good shit, boi, and that unrated chapter pls.
7606396 And also NOT checking ever. She didn't even check for prisoners when she had the dream of Tirek. Which happened in book two. So I'm waiting for him and sauron (lord of the rimgs villain) and sadistic ghost lady mystic to reappear. I think the fire dude in Armour was sauron (don't know how to spell that) I could be wrong on that. Any ways. Tia hasn't took a head count of Tartarous, after what she called a " vision". I know she hasn't because she would have told Emerald. Whom she knows to be the single most capable force ever. Tirek eats souls (basically) and Niddhogg was a similar level threat. One that Oskar took care of. So Celestia must accept that Emerald is a better more reliable (way more effective in the long run at times) problems of apocalyptic levels SOLVER. And Tia is either stupid or neglectful. At least at this current point in time. Or I my have forgot a sentence or two. She may have checked and found that only two escaped. I don't remember therefore I believe she hasn't.
Sorry for ranting.
7606004
P.S. loved the chapter and I would read a separate book of Emeraldverse sexy fun times. I would love to see weird kinky shapeshifter sex. She coud be all the woman (AND man) Twilight needs. But you know. Only do it if you want to. I do not want to force you into anything. Being forced into something is a fast way fr quality to decline. So yeah, bye.
7606826 You and more then a few other people need to read the chapter a bit more carefully I think