Descent of Emerald

by malletmann

Interaction

Rarity slowly opened her eyes, her head aching from where she had hit it on the floor. She rubbed it with a hoof as she sat up, looking around in confusion and dismay at the mess her kitchen was in. A wet, slurping sound behind her brought her memory back, and in horror she slowly turned around.

The gelatinous creature was still present in her kitchen. It had opened her fridge and rummaged about, several of the food items from it visible within its transparent body in various states of liquefaction. Cabinets and drawers were also opened, their contents upset and scattered about. At present, the creature had pulled her toaster inside of itself. Various screws were turning, and the device came apart.

"Why, why you..." Rarity had trouble forming a coherent sentence. "You ruffian! Look at what you've done to my kitchen! Put my toaster down this instant!" The creature continued to disassemble her toaster. Furiously, Rarity looked over the room. Spotting a broom, she telekinetically lifted it up and over to the creature. "Take this, you beast!" She struck it as hard as she could.

The broom embedded in the surface of the creature's mass, sticking to it. A thin layer of the slime began to ooze up the broom's handle. Rarity pulled as hard as she could, but while the broom would move a few inches, it would not come free of the slime creature's grasp. Eventually, the entire broom was within the creature.

Rarity had an idea, one she was surprised she did not try in the first place. Concentrating, she grabbed the blob with her magic, and hoisted it into the air. The constantly shifting mass made it hard for her to levitate, and it required all of her effort.

The creature shot out a long feeler, which stuck to and enveloped Rarity's horn. She screamed as the monster began to pull her closer, causing her to release it. It hit the floor with a loud wet sound, briefly flattening out before returning to its full size.

It began to draw Rarity closer to it. She shoved her forehooves down hard on the floor, trying to keep traction. There was a loud screeching sound as she carved wide furrows into the floor while the ooze drug her forward. Unable to cast her magic, she resigned herself to the inevitable.

Instead of engulfing her, the ooze reached out another, larger pseudopod. Before her eyes, it morphed itself, becoming the crude likeness of a pony's face. It examined her, not having any real facial expressions. Rarity stared back at it, confused. "Hello?" she said. The ooze opened its facsimile mouth, and made an unearthly noise, a sort of shrill tone somewhere between a shriek and a buzz.

"Oh, dear." Rarity was not sure how to respond to that. She was troubled; nothing she had seen indicated that the creature was anything more than an animal, but it wasn't behaving like any animal she had ever come across. Granted, she was no expert on animals. It would likely be a good idea to speak with Fluttershy about what this creature was, and how to handle it.

The ooze moved off, past Rarity and into the next room. "Oh, dear, oh dear. Please, please stay out of there!" Rarity hurried over to try and close off her work room, but the green mass had already moved inside.

"Those are for a very important client! If they stain, I'll have to start all over! Oh, put that down, that fabric is highly delicate! Oh no. They don't make that model of sewing machine anymore! If that breaks, its irreplaceable!" Rarity was likely working herself into an early grave trying to herd the creature out of her work room. The rolling mass seemed most eager to get its slimy blob-arms on every thing in the place. The unicorn could practically feel her mane graying.

It seemed like things were only going to get worse as the ooze came to the chest in which Rarity kept all of her gems. It was able to open the lock with ease, evidently having a great deal of dexterity with its blob-arms. The chest opened, and the creature withdrew a single gem. It held it for a moment, then put it back down, returned to the sink, and drained away.

Rarity stood there, perplexed. "That was the most bizarre creature I have ever seen."

---

Philosopher Stone studied the twisted piece of material in front of him carefully. As one of the foremost experts on metallurgy and material sciences, he had been one of the first to be called in by Canterlot University to study the crashed object. In his case specifically, he was studying what the object was made out of.

The slate-grey earth pony took an iron file in his mouth and shaved off a small bit from the fragment. He then moved the filings beneath a microscope. A bit of careful calibration later was able to produce a clear image, which he looked at and recorded the findings.

"Find anything interesting?" a melodious voice said. Philosopher Stone looked up suddenly, the motion causing him to splash himself with a bit of ink from his quill. Muttering, he set it down; trying to wipe the ink off would only make it smear more. His mood improved when he turned to the speaker.

Natural Progress was the university's top scientist in charge of the project. A unicorn mare, she had a cerulean coat, copper mane and tail, and if Stone was to be frank, shapely flanks. The earth pony had quickly developed an infatuation with the unicorn scientist, though professionalism had kept it from developing into anything beyond silent admiration. It still proved to be a distraction though, as this incident with the ink proved.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I have." Stone turned his attention away from his lovely coworker and back to his work. "First of all, it isn't metal. I believe it to be some sort of ultra-advanced ceramic. It appears to have been designed for its strength, durability, and heat resistance. It is composed mostly of elements we're familiar with, but they are arranged in molecular patterns unknown to our science. Also, I'm reasonably sure there's other elements in here we haven't discovered."

"Well, that certainly is interesting," Progress said, brushing past him to look into his microscope. "Although it only raises further questions."

Stone wasn't going to let the sweet scent of her mane distract him. Not at the moment, anyway. "Such as?"

"We were examining the main bulk of the object, and we found what appeared to be scorched pits in the side of the vehicle. Almost as if something had collided and burned through it. But if it is a ceramic and as you said made to resist heat, then what could burn through it?"

---

Sunlight shone through Rarity's window, illuminating her recently tidied bedroom. The unicorn had spent the late hours of the night cleaning up the mess her visitor had made, and as a result had fallen asleep almost immediately. It was fortunate Sweetie Belle was staying with their parents; the thought of trying to explain exactly what was going on to her little sister had given her a headache.

As Rarity was getting ready for the day, she heard a familiar gurgling sound coming from her sink. She huffed. "Oh for the love of Celestia, I just cleaned this place." She glared at the slime that was currently crawling out of her plumbing. "Hear me carefully, you overgrown dessert. If you so much as knock one little thing out of place, I will call animal control."

The ooze rolled over to her, extending a pseudopod in her direction. Rarity stepped back a little, feeling a little concerned. Although the creature had yet to harm her, she had no reason to think it never would.

Something small and angular emerged from the center of the creature, and began to travel down the pseudopod which deposited it directly in front of the mare. She looked at it, gasping. It was the purest crystal she had ever seen, even more so than adorned Princess Cadence. It was a bright emerald color, and seemed to shine from within.

"Is this for me?" she asked the creature. It said nothing, simply rolling back to the sink and vanishing into the pipes. Rarity examined the gem in her hand, feeling a mixture of wonderment and puzzlement.