Emerald sat on a stool leaning over a table covered with a contraption that was covered in a material that appeared to be polished plastic.

The virus was currently in human form at the international hospital she had promised would be built. Belvedere had made sure construction upon the hospital continued in her absence despite the fact that, without her, the most important parts could never be made. It was very nearly done by now. The only things that needed finishing were the furnishing, the landscaping and, most importantly, the medical "machines". Said machines she was currently very busily working on. However...

"-while I agree with the idea of having decentralized food production, I'll have to once again deny your request," Emerald dictated aloud as she worked, the old Saint Bernard Cujo dutifully writing down her every word. "I trust the meat trees to only flourish under my own watch and care. Respectfully, Supreme Commander Gleaner of the Enclave."

Ever since she had come back, Emerald had a mountain of things that needed her attentions. She had no time whatsoever and had to snub quite a few people just to make time for friends and family. That had not changed even now while she was working on the hospital's most important components. The old dog, after making certain Emerald was done with her message, placed it aside and brought up an agenda

"Theseus Asterion of the Minotaur Isle Chain will be arriving later today to seek an audience with you," Cujo recited from the agenda. "He wishes to speak with you regarding the scholarly pursuits of the Minotaurs."

"Trying to get me to agree to letting their Adventurers in, hm?" Emerald stated to herself with a huff. "They know one could never just wander in. Guess I'll be seeing what they want. Next?"

"The Llamas have sent a missive regarding the formation of a small nation on their territories. They seem to be implying we are at fault for sudden activity of the Yacuruna peoples. They are sending a diplomatic team to speak with you further on this."

"A customer is a customer. I'm not going to deny people fair and legal business," Emerald said and cut to the heart of the issue. "I refuse to be held responsible for their no longer secure monopoly on the jungle waterways. That said, I'll do them the honor of coming all this way to be told that personally. Next?"

"Queen Aeris of the Bast Dynasty is... ahem, requesting that the price for the fish fruits be lowered indefinitely as her people are investigating the formation of strange, black glass roads in their desert, and the annihilation of several villages."

"Hmmm..." Emerald paused in thought with a frown before continuing her work. "Granted, fifty percent discount. Next?"

"Warlock Taleena of the Eldeer is once again-"

"Tell her to fuck off," Emerald interrupted before sighing and adding a moment later. "Politely that is... my schedule is simply too full. My 'earliest convenience' continues to be least a month away. She'll have to wait her turn like everyone else. Next?"

"A missive from Rarity," Cujo stated, and Emerald paused before looking over her shoulder at him. "She is asking if it would be possible for you and young Navi to visit her for tea and a play date with her sister later this afternoon."

"Yes." Emerald nodded with a smile before getting back to work. "Cancel my three o'clock and send her flowers, chocolates and an apology. Next?"

"The mayor of Canterlot has sent an invitation to a Grand Feast being held in your honor. The ponies of Canterlot wish to show their gratitude to the one who saved their city and loved ones from death and destruction."

"Hmmm... at the very least it'll be good eating, if a tad vegetarian." Nothing she wasn't long used to. "Next?"

"A letter of complaint from Princess Celestia regarding your confiscation of the mirror portal..." Cujo frowned and tsk'ed with a shake of his head. "She seems to have not bothered to make the letter formal in any way."

"Nice to know she can be casual with me, even if it's in annoyance with me," Emerald muttered. "Tell her I'll come see her personally at a later date to explain why I feel the mirror is safer in my guard. Anything Else?"

"That's all for today, boss," Cujo said and placed the agenda under an arm.

"Good. I'm about near done here," Emerald said and stood up.

The contraption she was working on was mostly oval in shape with no sharp edges. It was fairly large at little over two feet at its widest point and six feet tall. The front had a closed shutter that, when opened, would reveal a single deep blue colored eye. Emerald waved a hand and the machine shuddered before its eye opened and it suddenly floated off the table.

"Hel~looo!" the machine chirped cheerfully in the voice of a small girl. "Are you in need of healing?"

"No. Show me your arms for diagnostics," Emerald commanded.

"Acknowledged!" the machine said cheerfully and its back opened up. Instantly, eight long, spindly arms covered in the same plastic-like material the rest of its body was. The arms moved and darted about, experimenting with their range of movement. Four of them ended in different attachments while the rest had long, slender-fingered, fragile looking hands. "Diagnostics under way!"

"That's... freaky looking," Cujo commented honestly at he took in the now multi-limbed automaton.

"A bit." Emerald nodded. "Thankfully most people will be asleep should one of these require all of their arms to work. Now to do just one more thing."

"Diagnostics completed!" the machine announced happily. "Condition at one hundred percent!"

"Perfect. Now for the final part," Emerald said and reached out with her hands. Tendrils burst forth from her palms and lashed through the air. Within half a minute, the room was practically packed full of other machines exactly like the one Emerald had just made.

"Hel~loooo!"

"Hi!"

"Hi!"

"Hel~loooooooo!"

"Nice to meet you!"

"Attention!" Emerald shouted and instantly all the machines turned towards her. "What is your purpose?"

"Healing!" all of them happily exclaimed.

"Alright. good. Initiate sleep mode," Emerald commanded and each one let out a small yawn and closed their single eye.

"Now we need to just finish the final touches on the hospital and we're open for business," Emerald said and faced Cujo. "We'll need to start moving in the doctors and nurses very soon."

Along with the machines and small army of aides and assistants, there was a sizable international workforce of doctors that would be living on site. Technically they wouldn't be needed with the machines being capable of repairing damage a doctor can only ever dream of fixing, but there was no real way of knowing what would happen in the future. Best to be safe and have them on hand. Besides, it wasn't exactly like it was a massive drain on her money. The sales of the corpse preservation gadgets alone would more than cover their employment.

"Right-o, boss." Cujo nodded.

"Right. I've done my part, so I'll be letting everyone else finish the rest," Emerald said and sighed a bit. "So much on my plate today..."

With that, the virus disappeared in a pink flash of light.

ALPHA

Sunset Shimmer found herself whipping her head back and forth as she attempted to not miss a single sight as the walked.

In the decade or so she had been gone, the city had changed far more than she had expected. The first change was the crowds filling the streets. Intermixing with the unicorns, pegasi and earth pony were species of all kinds from all over the world. Cats the size of ponies covered in jewels, griffins, changelings, llamas and minotaurs just to name but a few of the races she passed. It wasn't unheard of to see peoples from different species in Canterlot, before but it was very noticeable how diverse the crowds were here.

The buildings had changed up quite a bit as well. A few streets she had remembered from before were simply non existent now or seemed to have a new bend or two to them. Not only that, but quite a few buildings had been clearly changed or were outright missing. From what Sunset had been told, she knew this was due to damage caused by some horrible fighting over a month ago between Emerald and another incredibly powerful being.

'I can't believe I'm back here again... it's almost like nothing happened,' Sunset thought, still a little numb at the fact she wasn't punished by Celestia for what she did. 'I can't believe the princess didn't punish me... it feels almost unreal. After all the years away from here planning and plotting revenge, now I'm not only back but her student again. It's just... I almost can't believe this is happening!'

Sunset walked almost unnoticed among the crowds. It had only recently been announced that she was back and Celestia's student once more. The reaction to the news had been almost insulting in Sunset's opinion. Namely that of surprise that there was a student in recent times before Twilight. She hadn't thought of herself as world renown, but she at least expected people to know of her. It didn't appear to be the case, however, as the only people to really recognize her were the Royal Guard that had been around ten years ago when she ran away.

'I can't believe the only one to really remember me is... Celestia,' Sunset Shimmer thought with a bit of a disappointed look. ' Goes to show I really did think too much of myself... just a school dropout who thought she was ready to take on the world. Emerald was right... just a dumb kid...'

Sunset's mood took a rapid downturn as she reminisced more and more of her past. Eventually she simply couldn't take it and trotted back to the palace. A little over ten minutes later, she was back in the palace and entering her quarters when she suddenly realized her mistake. If she wanted to avoid things that reminded her of the past, the worst thing she could do was be in her room.

Out of what could only be supreme sentimentality, Celestia had Sunset's old room completely untouched since the day she left. So it had remained closed and shut away for ten years until she had been brought back by Emerald, then Celestia had it opened and cleaned up as soon as possible and ready for living again. So when Sunset had come back expecting all her things long since thrown out, she was met with her old room looking like she had never left. It just felt so surreal, to the point she had half considered the idea that her trip was just one very long nightmare when she had woken up the following morning.

Overall, Sunset Shimmer's room wasn't that distinct looking or uniquely decorated. She hadn't enjoyed her life with her family and when she had become Princess Celestia's student she had basically cast everything else aside. She had a bed with small tables on each side, a drawer, a single wardrobe, a desk set under a window and three book shelves of varying sizes. The only thing that honestly stood out about her room were the covers on her bed bearing her cutiemark.

'The books I was going to study...' Sunset thought as she walked over to her desk which had some books stacked off to the side and another sitting in the center. 'I was going to go study more advanced arcane algebraic equations and see if I could get a firmer handle on thaumic calculi. But then... but then I found that spell... that would have let me skip years, maybe decades of effort in a single cast...'

In hindsight, Sunset realized that the biggest reason why she had been so determined before to see her "vengeance" attained was because she had thrown away years and years of study by crossing the mirror. The instant she became human was the instant she lost her ability to use her magic. While the arcane equations she had been studying were easily advanced enough, she was able to apply it to the best math classes Canterlot High had. However, it was a poor patch for the hole the loss of her magic left. Her prodigal skill with magic was the whole reason she was able to become Celestia's student in the first place. Perhaps instead of determination, rather, it was out of desperation that Sunset Shimmer had held on to the desire for vengeance. The desperation to show she hadn't sacrificed everything and didn't have anything to show for it.

And now here she was. After failing utterly and completely at her vengeance, after being beaten, crippled and nearly killed, she was back in the palace. She had her magic, she had her old position as Celestia's student, she even had her old room back. She still found it unbelievable and some part of her expected this all to be some horrible, torturous delusion, that Emerald had actually left her there on the floor in that basement and hadn't healed her; that she was imagining everything in a fit of desperate mania brought on by agony and internal bleeding.

'Nonononono, stop it!' Sunset pressed hooves to the side of her head as painful memories assailed her. Dead faces twisted into masks of agony, mangled corpses, the miasma of gore, a pair of gauntlet clad fists crackling with electricity. 'Just stop it! Deep breaths...'

Sunset Shimmer took long, deep breaths as she tried to calm down. Ever since the events leading up to her capture by Emerald she had been tormented by her actions, her reasoning in the face of all the death she caused utterly failing to hold water. How could she ever justify her desire for vengeance to the innocents she forced to die for her? It was worse now that she basically had the life she had thrown away given back. Before, she could put up with the guilt easily enough, but now...

'I need to go for a walk, I can't be here right now,' Sunset Shimmer thought to herself and quickly left her room.

"Is that her?" Sunset Shimmer heard as she closed the door behind her. "Why, I do believe it is!"

Sunset blinked and turned to look to see three people approaching her. Two were middle aged noble ponies, one a unicorn male wearing a navy blue dolman with a monocle that had a thick, immaculately trimmed handlebar mustache with a slicked back mane, the other an earth pony mare wearing a gaudy, expensive gown with her mane pulled back in a thickly braided bun. The third person was a heron wearing a rich, jade colored robe with a pointed skullcap-like hat that had a long, black veil descending from the back of it.

"Excuse me my good mare!" the unicorn said in a posh voice. "Might you be one Sunrise Shudder, Princess Celestia's newest student?"

"Ah, well... yes, but my name is Sunset Shimmer," Sunset politely corrected. "And I'm actually-"

"Capital!" the unicorn exclaimed with a boisterous smile. "Yes, quite good. You see the good lady and I are escorting this good chap here to a luncheon."

"Spokesmen Tsau Kang," Kang introduced himself with a small bow and pressing the tips of his wings together before him. "A pleasure to meet your acquaintance, young Sunset Shimmer."

"My husband and I are curious if you would accompany us to the luncheon, my dear," the mare said with a friendly smile. "It would do us so much honor to have such a distinguished guest be present."

"Well..." Sunset honestly did not want to attend. She was very much not in the mood. However, as unreal as she found her situation, she still didn't want to end up ruining it again. Unable to think up a reason to politely decline on the spot, Sunset was left with only one option.

"Okay, I'd love to attend," Sunset said with what she hoped was a genuine look.

"Capital!" the unicorn exclaimed happily. "Simply quite marvelous, myes."

"Come with us, darling. We'll happily escort you as well." The mare smiled as she and her husband began proudly strutting forward.

"How goes your studies, young one?" Kang asked politely as he and Sunset trailed behind the two ponies. "Well, I hope?"

"I haven't actually started yet since I've..." Sunset began. "Since I've become the princess' student. I think she wants me to spend some time settling in before we get started."

"Then I wish you all the best in your lessons." Kang nodded respectfully. "Now, pray tell, do you know Twilight Sparkle and Emerald Gleaner?"

"Uh. yes. For about a month and a half so far, in any case," Sunset answered.

"Only a month?" Kang stated with a thoughtful look before nodding slowly. "Yes... very good."

Kang didn't say anymore and Sunset wasn't sure how to respond, either. They continued following the two ponies who were blissfully having a rather one sided conversation with the two following them. It wasn't long before they finally arrived at their destination, a sitting room with a large coffee table and a large doorway leading out to a balcony. Sitting around this little table and being tended to by some servants were six other people. Sunset recognized them all as foreign dignitaries, but among them the deer doe stood out like an overly fancily decorated sore thumb.

"Ah, the rest of our party has arrived!" the llama among them greeted grandly before frowning in consideration. "Ah, I see we have one extra guest. No matter! Take a seat, my dear. I'll arrange for more refreshments."

"Ah, thank you," Sunset Shimmer stated as she took a seat upon a couch. "I am... happy to be a part of this, uh... get together."

"Think nothing of it!" chortled a somewhat rotund Saddle Arabian horse dressed in many fine silks.

"Warlock Taleena, a pleasure to meet you again." Kang bowed respectfully. "I had feared our chance encounter would be the one and only."

"I had thought the same, Tsau Kang," Taleena replied in her melodious voice. "You were an apprentice when I had seen you last. Whatever became of your master?"

"Unfortunately he had misunderstood the cultural norms of a tribe of yeti quite badly," Kang answered as he took a bite out of a small cake. "He wasn't grievously hurt... however, he took it as a sign to retire. Thankfully I was nearly done learning from him and was able to start my own career in earnest."

"Speaking of issues with tribals..." the Arabian horse began, taking a deep drink of coffee. "The Bast have been making quite the fuss recently."

"And what has the pink furball been yowling about now?" the llama said with exasperation.

"She's been complaining about odd, black glass roads covering the desert and disappearing villages," came the reply. "Knowing the Bast's tendency for decoration, I'm of the opinion they simply sunk into the sand from the weight of precious metals, if they are even disappearing at all. It's very likely it's just a tall tale to garner sympathy and charity."

"Charity..." a reindeer snorted disdainfully. "Likely free food if the diplomat the Bast sent is any indication."

"Something the most junior member of the league will likely fall for, unfortunately enough." The llama sniffed haughtily. "I foresee many more fumbles in the future."

"It's already started if the stories I heard about the Ball held in the Heron Republic holds any truth," Kang commented. "One so young should not be so involved in greater politics. It's one thing to fumble in one's own backyard, but another entirely to do so on the world stage."

"And yet she does everything in her power to gain yet more influence and collar every carnivore that comes her way," the reindeer tutted patronizingly. "Honestly... the carnivores get a bit of extra servings for once and they surrender all just to gorge themselves daily. If it wasn't for the population explosion that is surely on the way, I'd be amused by the fact they'd all eat themselves round within a year or two."

"That's exactly the problem, though," the llama said, raising his voice a little. "Someone so young and yet she is gaining more and more power by the day. It isn't right for someone so unproven to have authority over so many. All it will take is one poorly thought out decision made in ignorance to affect the lives of so many."

"How is it that one upstart with a cobbled together kingdom of thugs and slavers was able to accomplish all this in the first place?" a pony muttered

"The meat fruit is the key," the arabian answered. "She not only holds total and complete monopoly on them but is the only one who can even grow them. No chance whatsoever of someone else managing to break into the field themselves as competition."

"Surely there must be some chance?" one of the pony guests stated. "I'm am no expert, but skilled unicorns can work wonders."

"Possibly... thankfully, we do have one to ask," Kang stated and turned towards Sunset. "I imagine that a pony of your age wouldn't become the princess' personal student without truly prodigal skill at magic. Tell us, would it be possible for a team of highly skilled unicorns to develop a meat-like product to potentially compete with the meat fruit?"

"Oh, uhh..." Sunset said with wide eyes.

It didn't take long for Sunset to realize this "luncheon" was anything but a casual get together and felt rather anxious as the conversation became political. Suddenly it became startlingly obvious that she had no experience with maneuvering high stakes political social circles; another thing she only had herself to blame for since she left before lessons in such could begin. So she basically froze and simply stared at each speaker. Thankfully, being addressed directly broke her out of this and she focused on answering the question.

"Well..." Sunset began and hummed in thought as she considered how she might go about developing meat fruit of her own. "I would study the development notes behind the golden apple trees first, but... I think it would be entirely possible to create meat trees. However... it would take time. The development of the golden apple trees took decades and while I don't expect meat bearing trees to take as long, it would still likely take years. And that's not taking into account the end product might not even be all that appetizing. So it would take years to make a viable product, years more to perhaps refine that into a much more palatable substance and therefore profitable."

"A bit of a long term investment, then," the Arabian waved off dismissively. "You have to start somewhere."

"Thank you for your input, young lady." The llama smiled gratefully before getting a thoughtful frown. "But I'm curious. Just where do you stand in all this?"

"Where do I stand?" Sunset said, and was about to ask what he meant.

"Now, now. Young Sunset Shimmer is an honored guest," Taleena said with a gently reprimanding tone before turning to Sunset with a ready smile. "There's no need to needle her about political leanings."

"As you say." The llama nodded and seemed to put it out of his mind.

"Thank you, Warlock Taleena," Sunset said gratefully.

"Oh, so formal! Think nothing of it," Taleena replied. "You know, I am honored to know Celestia as a personal friend. I would not mind it in the least if you called me by name."

"Ah... well I would happily treat any friend of Celestia's as a friend of my own." Sunset nodded and got a happy smile from Taleena.

At that, the conversation abruptly drifted to various, far more mundane topics, local shopping, entertainment venues and the like. Unbeknownst to all, hanging just under the balcony and clinging to the wall was a neochangeling wearing a white cloak that helped it camouflage against the white stonework of the palace.

BETA

Emerald breathed deeply, eyes closed in concentration as she flowed seamlessly from stance to stance. All around her, stone and earth practically flowed like water.

Emerald was deep underground below the Everfree and clearing out a new, massive cavern. Normally this was a project she'd get her dogs to help with, but with her abilities and the size of the job it was simply faster to do it herself instead of delegating. She was moving countless tons of stone via her channeling abilities and creating a new cavern that was going to serve as a kind of massive mold.

Emerald stopped and took in what she had created so far. It was an utterly massive cavern with a great big pit in the middle stretching three kilometers down. There was also four other massive halls near the top that stretched away and then dropped down into smaller pits. She would be filling the whole of this cavern with biomass and then shaping the insides of that, filling it with runic circuitry, gems and magic... lots of magic.

The virus reached out a palm and biomass burst forth in a vast tendril before branching out into hundreds of smaller ones. They spiderwebbed across the surfaces and through the air, rapidly covering dozens of meters with every second. Barely twenty minutes later and a vast, skeletal framework was already in place. With another wave of her hand the framework shook and expanded out once more, filling in the empty spaces, forming walls and rooms. She was very nearly finished forming the "body" of the structure, the easy part, when she was interrupted.

"Queen Mother!" came a shout.

Emerald turned around to see a cloaked neochangling come trotting down a tunnel towards her.

"Vata, what is it?" Emerald asked as she halted the growth of the biomass and faced the changeling fully. "Has she finally hatched?"

"No she has not, Queen Mother," the changeling answered in clear worry. "We worry greatly. She grows and eats and does not stop. If perhaps this was just a normal metamorphosis then we would not worry, but right from the start it was very different. It is clear that she will be physically far more different from us than any changeling queen ever was."

"I figured that would be the case." Emerald hummed in thought for a moment. "Right, let's go see her, make sure everything is fine or if I can jump start things a bit."

Emerald concentrated on the cavern where the neochangling queen's cocoon was and teleported both herself and the changeling to it. They arrived in the cavern where there were only two other changelings, but the nature of their link meant effectively all of them were there. The cocoon was now easily three times the size of Emerald's human form, the air around it freezing cold enough to rapidly freeze water.

"Queen Mother," one of the changelings greeted her before facing the still cocooned Queen. "We know not what to do other than keep feeding her. We harvest emotions at all hours and she consumes them without end. We do not know how much longer this will last."

"Hmmm... all of you can eat magic to an extent," Emerald hummed in thought. "Perhaps... perhaps she simply isn't getting enough food to finish growing? I have plenty to spare."

With that, Emerald approached the massive cocoon. She came to a stop a foot away from its "face" and placed a hand right next to the horn. She wondered for a moment about how to go about giving Ambrosia magic before deciding just to channel magic to her hand and pushing it outwards.

The reaction was almost instantaneous. The abdomen-like part of the cocoon glowed like a white hot piece of steel and the sounds of chitin straining filled the air. The cocoon started wiggling in place and began to noticeably grow in size. This caused Emerald to hum in thought and experimentally pour forth even more power. The cocoon shuddered and started rapidly expanding in size. It grew and grew and grew until it towered above Emerald and was taking up much of the cavern. When it finally stopped growing, it was easily bigger than a bus.

Cracking noises filled the air as the cocoon began to break and shards started to go flying.

Emerald stepped back as black, scything limbs broke through the cocoon shell and the being within started to burst forth in earnest. The thing about changelings was that while they had quite a bit of insectoid qualities, they were still more pony shaped than anything. This fact remained so even with the viral changelings. The being that fully emerged from the cocoon had barely any resemblance to its old form. It had three pairs of legs, all of them on the front half of their body and reaching forward, forcing it to drag its abdomen along the ground. Its abdomen was a bright orange, wrinkled, pulsating thing with an egg sphincter at the end. Upon its back were movable, protective shells laid over three pairs of leather, tattered-looking bat wings with orange membranes. Its head was still vaguely shaped like the one it had before, but its horn was much longer and ended in bident-like prongs, and it had clusters of eyes softly glowing orange. And along with its toothy nightmare of a mouth, it had a pair of mandibles around it that seemed to be capable of fine manipulation. Covering most of its body was a pitch black, chitinous shell that shined in the light.

"Ambrosia?" Emerald said aloud.

"Queen Mother," Ambrosia spoke in Emerald's mind. "I apologize for troubling you. I had hoped I'd be able to finish growing without further help."

"No, it's okay," Emerald said as she and the other changelings approached Ambrosia. "So this is what the new changelings' version of a queen looks like, huh? It's rather different than Chrysalis' form."

"Very much so. We had not been expecting this," Vata said as he examined Ambrosia's body. "She is so much different from us... what does it mean for the next generation of our hive? Will they be different looking as well?"

"Only one way to find out," Emerald answered and looked to Ambrosia.

"Indeed. I shall gather together a store of emotion and then start producing eggs," Ambrosia said with a nod of her rather large head. "It should not take long."

"Great. Until then, I've had a building set aside for you to stay in within the new districts," Emerald said and reached out to Ambrosia. "I'll take you there now."

Emerald concentrated and with a flash of light she, three neochangelings and the newly born queen were teleported to the Hub. They appeared inside a rather large room of a multistory structure in the new expansion to the Hub; the expansion that was being built for the past few months. It was still a work in progress, but many districts were already in use. The room they were in was empty, but with a flash of light a massive, velvet cushion burst into being.

"The building isn't really furnished yet," Emerald said as the queen pulled her mass onto her new bed. "I'll leave decorating to the rest of you."

"Leave it to us," Vata said with a nod. "We can handle the rest. Soon there will be more of us and they shall be born instantly knowing all that we know."

"Looking forward to it." Emerald nodded and turned away before teleporting.

With a flash of light, Emerald arrived in a lot buzzing with activity. All around here were Warhounds and Direwolves suiting up in their new power armor. They were moving about, stretching, jumping, briefly sprinting, simply getting a feel for the abilities of their armor. Just from looking around, Emerald was able to recognize a few new faces among the Direwolves. The growth in their numbers hadn't been steady, however. After the initial burst, the number of recruits into the Direwolves dropped off greatly.

'Got no choice but to treat and train them like they were an elite fighting force now,' Emerald thought as she walked among them. 'Don't nearly have the numbers for anything else. And if they are going to be an elite fighting force, they'll be needing the best possible gear as well.'

Emerald glanced at the weaponry the dogs were carrying as she passed. Despite the runic paint imbuing the rifles with enhanced abilities, they were, at their core, still conventional firearms. They were a bit higher caliber than the mainline guns, but they wouldn't be too out of place on Earth. It was time to change that.

'Time to upgrade our weapons,' Emerald thought. 'After spending a whole month planning and designing, it's time to get to making some of the ideas into reality. I'll need to talk to Moon Dancer.We should only need a small testing period and then I can get right to making them.'

Thinking about Moon Dancer brought Emerald's thoughts into how the unicorn had been handling her responsibilities. She was doing fantastically; she took to research and development like a fish to water. Not only that, but she was making good on her desires to find peaceful applications for Emerald's weapons-heavy technology. After getting some permission from Belvedere, she had used some funds to set up a company, Everfree Industries, to disseminate goods and technology she had managed to redesign so far.

Everfree Industries' grounds were set up just on the Everfree border and employed quite a few ponies. Among its merchandise, it boasted high definition televisions and sound systems, high speed computers with a user friendly interface, an auto division constructing and selling eco-friendly magical vehicles of various types and a metal processing plant selling high grade alloys. Not only just that, she had made sure the company sold the products at a high price despite the cheap cost of production. As much as the unicorn clearly had wanted to simply sell the products at reasonable prices, she was very aware of how much damage that would do to a still tender economy. Local industries would have to sacrifice their profit margins greatly in order to compete with EI's clearly higher quality products. This meant EI's clientele were almost entirely of the elite and the well off. Not the best of situations but it was the only direction that allowed Equestria's battered market to remain competitive.

It wasn't just making the Enclave even more money than it knew what to do with that had Emerald regarding Moon Dancer highly. The unicorn had taken in everything she learned in her relatively short time in the Enclave like a sponge. With no input whatsoever and working together with Diamond Dog engineers she had managed to design a perfectly functional air cruiser. Not only that, but the unicorn had been helping making sure the other systems of the Enclave got updated. Living conditions in the Enclave were closer and closer to becoming something that wouldn't be out of place in the First World.

All this had earned Moon Dancer quite a bit of respect in Emerald's eyes. So much so that the virus had to realize that there was a rather large, long-standing issue in the Enclave.

'I'm too much of a lynch pin.Too key to the ongoing progress and development of the Enclave,' Emerald thought with a sigh. 'At least when it comes to bleeding edge developments. I'm combining magic and organic technology more and more as time goes by and I'm the onlyone that can do so. There are two options I can take here. I can either tone it back and try to recreate everything via more conventional methods or... I can create a means of allowing someone else to create and build with biomass as I do...'

Emerald paused and stood in place for a long moment. She knew Moon Dancer was trustworthy. She knew this for a fact. She trusted Belvedere and the other Alphas to run the Enclave in her absence and do as best a job as they could possibly do. Surely she could trust Moon Dancer with "Admin Authority" as it were.

'...I don't know... I really don't know,' Emerald thought finally. 'I'll think about it over the next week and make my decision then. Until then, I've got some things to discuss with Moon Dancer before I head home for an appointment.'

With that, Emerald teleported away again.

GAMMA

"Hmmmm..." Twilight hummed in thought.

The unicorn was at home reading in the library. She wasn't reading for fun, however; she was trying to learn a difficult spell. The spell was one that allowed one to transform themselves into an entirely different form. Twilight really wanted to learn this spell in order to be able to become human again.

'Being unicorn again is great and all, but I actually was enjoying learning magic all over again,' Twilight thought as she looked over the details of the formula on the pages. 'And I feel like learning to use magic without a horn was helping me understand magic better than before. And... w-well, I wouldn't mind being human with Emerald now and again.'

Quickly putting that line of thinking out of her mind, Twilight focused on the spell. After looking over the equation one last time, she stepped away from the book and concentrated. This was understandably a rather complicated spell, though thankfully it wasn't a truly complete transformation. A failed cast would simply not work and not turn her into some mess of limbs.

'Right, let's try transforming myself back into a unicorn,' Twilight thought. 'If this works then I wouldn't want my success to trap me in human form.It isn't too terribly hard to disrupt the transformation normally, but I've made some adjustments and made the transformation a bit more durable. I'd possibly be stuck as a human until Emerald came back or I hit myself really, really hard. I'd rather not have that happen.'

Twilight's horn started glowing and, after a long moment, there was a bright flash of light. Twilight felt herself shrink ever so slightly and her wings pull back into her body and suddenly it was like she never ascended into an alicorn.

The unicorn smiled back at her bare, wingless sides before quickly getting to work on drawing a special runic circuit on a scroll using some of Emerald's special runic paint. After spending a few minutes drawing out a complicated circuit that covered the entire scroll, she channeled magic through the circuit. The circuit on the scroll lit up instantly and the paper started burning to a cinder due to not being able to handle the flow of energy. That was okay. It only needed to exist for a second. There was another flash of magic and Twilight was an alicorn again.

'Great!' Twilight thought with a smile. 'Now I can turn myself back when I transform into a human. It will be a while yet before I can be sure of being able to use my magic for something so advanced, so using a scroll to do the complicated part for me will remove me needing to rely on Emerald turning me back.'

Despite the fact she dearly wanted to continue practicing and experimenting with her new spell, she was expecting someone so it had to wait. She quickly cleaned up and put away her books before leaving the library. She passed through the living room on her way out. Navi and Spike were there playing video games on the large screen television together. It was the first thing Emerald had set out to do before anything else, make sure Navi and Spike were comfortable and happy again.

"Make sure to keep the volume down, you two," Twilight said as she passed through. "Emerald and I are expecting an important guest."

"Yes, Papa," Navi said and magically pressed the volume button on the remote.

"You sure you don't want any help?" Spike asked absently after Twilight. "I mean, I did that all the time for you."

"Oh no, you just have fun," Twilight waved off with a smile. "I can handle making my own tea for today at least, Spike."

"If you insist." Spike shrugged and focused back on the game.

Twilight walked into the kitchen and quickly got to work brewing some tea. She was expecting one of Emerald's old friends, though after certain events neither she or Emerald were sure if she remained such. However, the visit wasn't for pleasure. Said old friend had gained a bit of political influence now and she was meeting with Emerald to discuss the future.

She was barely down brewing the tea and getting the snacks ready when there was a knock at the door. Twilight wondered if it was their expected guest. If it was, she was a bit early. Quickly walking to the front door and opening it proved that to be true.

"Hello, Bon Bon," Twilight greeted with a friendly smile. "I wasn't expecting you for a while yet."

"Oh, sorry if it's inconvenient..." Bon Bon said apologetically, currently in her old pony disguise and wearing her heart armband along with an expensive looking dress. "I was nervous. The last time I spoke with Emerald, it hadn't been on pleasant terms."

"Oh it's no issue. Come in, I was just finishing some preparations," Twilight said as she backed up to let Bon Bon in, but she also considered Bon Bon's dress. It wouldn't look out of place at a high society formal meeting. Twilight was left distinctly wondering if Bon Bon had overdressed or if she were under dressed.

"Is... is Emerald here?" Bon Bon asked somewhat hesitantly as she entered.

"No, she's not here yet. She should be soon, though," Twilight replied as she closed the door behind Bon Bon. "Let's have a bit of small talk until she gets back. It's been a while since I last saw you. How have you been?"

"I've been well, all things considered," Bon Bon replied as she followed Twilight into a small sitting room. "I've been doing a lot of public service lately, helping my people settle into our new lives out in the open."

"Oh? How has that been working out?" Twilight asked as she teleported the tea and treats over and placed on a table.

"Well... it could go smoother." Bon Bon sighed a little. "Ponies have been rather accepting of my people. I just wish it had been the same the other way around. Since first recorded history we've always been in the shadows and siphoning love secretly. Now we are out in the open, and not by our own choice. A lot of us are rather bitter about it and making things harder than it has to be... I really have my work cut out for me."

"I'm sure you'll do a wonderful job as Changeling Queen, Bon Bon," Twilight said comfortably when she heard the front door open.

"I'm home!" came Emerald's shout.

"In here, Emerald," Twilight called back.

"Hmm... well you are certainly a bit early," Emerald commented as she leaned into view in the doorway before entering.

"Ah... Twilight commented on that too. Is it a bad thing?" Bon Bon asked softly.

"..." Emerald simply tilted her head and stared at Bon Bon for a moment, causing her to become rather nervous. "...Political circles are a whole other thing from small town social circles, aren't they?"

"Uhh..." Bon Bon averted her gaze downward.

"To answer your question, it depends," Emerald said as she took her own seat. "Arriving earlier than the person you intend to meet can imply a certain amount of desperation, however."

"Oh..."

"Bon Bon, are you here to see me on account of your new station?" Emerald asked pointedly.

"Well... yes." Bon Bon nodded with a sigh. "I'm to be the new Queen of the Changelings. My first concern before I began the metamorphosis was to establish relations with you."

"What did you need?" Emerald asked curiously. "Whatever it is, you'll get it."

"What?" Bon Bon blinked in surprise at the statement.

"It might take me some time, depending on what you want and in how large quantities, but I'll get to work on it right away," Emerald said.

"Emerald... I thought you were angry at us," Bon Bon said softly. "For the invasion. But you're offering to..."

"I was angry, Bon Bon," Emerald replied. "But I'm fairly certain your people suffered more than their fair share for what happened in the past. I'm more than willing to help them get settled and recover."

"I had been so worried. I was coming into this meeting believing I had to negotiate with someone who hated me and who I represented," Bon Bon said with audible relief.

"Bon Bon, I don't hate you or your people," Emerald assured before smiling. "Also I advise you to ask Celestia if she'd be willing to give you some pointers when it comes to navigating politics. I'm certain she wants you to succeed and she has over a thousand years of experience to draw on. Now let's talk about something else. How have you and Lyra been doing? Still taking care of Trixie?"

"We've been doing good and Trixie actually left a short while ago," Bon Bon began. "She started going back on the road and doing magic shows again, but she does come back to visit every now and then."

Twilight smiled as she sipped her tea. She watched on quietly as Emerald reconnected with her friend.

DELTA

Moon Dancer stared down over the railing at the scene below.

Below Moon Dancer was a kind of obstacle course. It had half a dozen rooms, each with locked doors. The locks on each door were exceedingly more complex and secure. Also each room had a device sitting in the center, each one uniquely "locked" in methods different from the doors. The person undergoing experiments in these courses was Clean Sweeps, and she was already working on the door to the last room.

What was going on was some non-essential science experiments that Emerald had been considering running for the longest time but never saw it as important enough. Initially, Moon Dancer had agreed with the sentiment that it wasn't all that important. After all, what more was there to know about cutie marks? However after reading Emerald's notes, namely how she seemed to have gained some talent for finding and digging up emeralds from the ground, Dancer had found herself feeling curious. So here she was overseeing cutiemark experiments and how flexible their talents were.

Specifically, the current tests were in two parts. The first part was straight forward. Clean Sweeps' talent was picking locks so the doors just had succeedingly difficult and complex locks. However, along with that each unlocked room had a device that could be optionally "unlocked". This was optional but Sweeps was encouraged to attempt to do so with a bonus to her pay with each one unlocked. The thing about the devices, however, was that they weren't exactly traditionally locked. It was simply left to Sweeps to assume it was a lock she had to pick open.

"Strong, silent typ,e ain't cha?" Clean Sweeps' voice drifted up to Dancer as she pressed her face against the door and started feeling out the various locking mechanisms. "Come on, sweet pea, talk to me..."

The door was a steel vault door that was magnetically, electronically and magically sealed. The magnets kept the internal mechanisms in place as well as the door itself, making simply pulling the thing out that much harder while magical runes reinforced both the door and the more fragile electronics. Theoretically the door should be able to withstand a nuclear blast right in front of it. The electronic components consisted of a bio-signature scanner, an eye reader and a keypad.

After going through the testing course several times, this door was the only one that still gave Sweeps a lot of trouble. Her first time through she was left to her own devices and only got halfway through. Now she was allowed to do her own homework on the things she had to deal with and was given some basic tools.

Dancer leaned over the railing a bit as she watched Clean Sweeps very carefully take the panels off several of the electronics. Moon Dancer found it rather fascinating how in the beginning before her first run, Sweeps was given some booklets of the advanced devices and locks she would be dealing with without being told what the booklets were about and had no clue whatsoever how to process the info. But now that Clean Sweeps knew she was dealing with locks, she had suddenly gained more than a bit of comprehension of the material she was reading.

"YES!" Clean Sweeps cheered in delight and started dancing in place when the door she was working on slowly opened with a metallic groan. Beside the door, a mess of tangled wires and circuits hung out of their recesses, crudely hot wired and bypassed.

Clean Sweeps entered the last room for the first time. In a gleeful high from beating the hardest door, she quickly leapt for the device sitting in the center. The device was the size of a small brief case and the instant Sweeps jostled it, a digital clock on the front started counting down from five minutes. The earth pony paid the clock no attention. The other devices often had the same things and even when the time ran out, nothing happened; she even still got the full bonus.

The former crook set to work on the device right away, using her specially made tools to rapidly and steadily pull apart the device. She exposed several wires and circuits; some wires she avoided like the plague while others she ripped out and cut. After a few moments of meddling with the innards of the device, Sweeps backed away. After a moment, the device gave a click and split open down the middle, revealing another digital screen. Only instead of counting down, this one simply said "GOOD JOB!"

'Well "tricking" the talent into thinking it's unlocking something seems to work,' Moon Dancer thought with a nod. 'It'll be about time to inform Clean Sweeps the whole point of the experiments soon and see if the tricks still work. It'll be interesting to see if it still works.Lots of ramifications and potential regarding so many other cutie marks.'

"Alright, we're done for today!" Moon Dancer called down. "Your payment and bonuses will be sent to your address."

"Ah yeah!" Clean Sweeps shouted happily and hopped in place. "PAY DAY!"

With that, the earth pony mare trotted happily out of the course. Moon Dancer made some other notes in her notepad before nodding and making her way elsewhere. Sweeps' job may have been done, but Dancer's day wasn't nearly over. Moon Dancer walked along the catwalks until she reached a side door and entered it, entering into a wide open hall lined on one side with large observation windows. There were dozens of dogs in this room looking through the windows. Moon Dancer looked through the windows as she passed.

Down below was a very large firing range testing a wide variety of new weaponry. Every new weapon a Warhound was testing was of a sleek design covered in a white, plastic-like shell. All of the weapons were of the new "Coilgun" line of weapons; weaponry that utilized magic and magnetic fields to send projectiles flying at incredible velocities. Not to mention the very nature of the coilguns allowed the projectile to be entirely solid, unlike a bullet, which consisted of mostly propellant and then the actual warhead.

'Ugh. Now how am I supposed to redesign this?' Moon Dancer thought with a huff. 'Seriously, some of the things Emerald make can be so frustratingly violent and hard to re-engineer for something peaceful.'

Moon Dancer picked up her pace to a quick trot and soon left the hall, entering out onto another catwalk suspended over a massive, cavernous room that was at least a hundred feet tall. The reason for the height of the room was made clear by the dozens of Biogears lining the walls in docking berths. As soon as Emerald came back, she had got to work on creating a factory line of all things for the giants of war and death. She finished it in an hour and got to work on other things while leaving it on and pumping out Biogear after Biogear. Already they had more of the things than they had pilots. And standing out like a sore thumb with its newly added wings and guns was Equinox, patiently sleeping the days away waiting for the next time it was needed.

Moon Dancer soon passed through this room and, after taking yet more short cuts through other rooms, she soon entered a large chamber that held a massive, secure vault door. She came to a stop before the door and waited a moment. Suddenly a magical light flared to life around her.

"Moon Dancer, requesting entry," Moon Dancer spoke aloud.

"IDENTITY CONFIRMED. WELCOME ADMINISTRATOR DANCER," spoke a loud, flat, electronic voice.

A loud, metallic groan filled the air as the vault opened. Moon Dancer waited for the gap to be wide enough before darting inside. She was met with a large, armor plated room lit up with industrial lights, and sitting in the very center was a mirror.

'Starswirl's portal to another universe.Very fascinating work and quite possibly millennia ahead of its time,' Moon Dancer thought in excitement and quickly trotted circles around the mirror, taking it in from every angle. 'It's such a terrible shame this relic was locked away for so long without us learning anything from it. Was Starswirl such a genius that even with literal centuries to study his work we could not glean the smallest secret?'

Moon Dancer came to a stop before the mirror and gingerly reached out with her magical senses and felt the energies of the mirror. She could feels the energies surge within the mirror like a flowing river and could already feel the sheer complexity of the relic without even properly viewing its internal workings.

'Emerald said the mirror becomes active once in a while and stays such for a short period of time,' Moon Dancer thought and then frowned. 'Drat, what was the time for activity again? Hmm... Emerald came back a little over a week ago... darn it, I can't remember the activation times.'

Moon Dancer walked closer to the front of the mirror and gingerly reached for the surface. When her hoof touched the surface, instead of impacting something solid there was a flash of light and her hoof sunk in. She pulled back her leg, and upon seeing nothing wrong, she stuck more of her leg into the mirror. She spent a few minutes doing this constantly before biting the bullet and sticking her head into the mirror. An instant later, she was met with the sight of a dark staircase barely illuminated by a door at the top.

'Fascinating,' Moon Dancer thought as she pulled her head back out. 'As much as I'd wish to take advantage of the mirror being active again, I'd best be careful. Emerald told me her world is rather dangerous. I'll talk to Emerald about this later. For now, let's get some basic tests out of the way.'

With that thought, Moon Dancer put a blank page on her notepad and started putting the magical mirror through a battery of tests.

EPSILON

Emerald walked down a hall flanked by Belvedere, Tavish, Bluno and Fenrir.

The virus was taking her cabinet of advisers with her to an important meeting with the independent packs. There have been talks on and off, but they were purely business, setting up food caravans to various packs. This one wasn't so mundane. Practically every influential Alpha from the independent packs were here right now to meet with her to discuss the future.

It wasn't long before Emerald and the others arrived at their destination: a large, well furnished and lit room. Dominating the center of the room was a fairly large, ovoid table. It wasn't a solid oval as the center was empty and actually had a decorative fountain there, softly trickling. Sitting around this table were a dozen Diamond Dog Alphas of various breeds, two of them recognizable faces. Fasha and the lazy Alpha whose name Emerald had found out some time ago, Balou.

"Welcome to the Enclave, everyone," Emerald greeted as she took a seat at the head of the table, her cabinet taking up seats nearest to her. "Sorry to keep you waiting, I had some last minute business to finish."

"It's not a problem, quite alright," waved off a shar pei Alpha wearing rich, silken clothes and a pair of spectacles. He patted his noticeable belly before adding. "I for one do not mind waiting upon our very generous patron."

"Neither do I!" added a Pug Alpha that was quite possibly even smaller then Tavish was, before said dog had his augments. "Perhaps we can also discuss the possibility of-"

"ENOUGH OF YOUR FAWNING!" Fasha barked out, slamming her fist against the table top. "We are here for a PURPOSE!"

"And what is this purpose, exactly?" Belvedere asked calmly, hands folded on the table before him as the pug recoiled a bit and the shar pei Alpha adjusted his collar a tad nervously. "Have your food shipments been light?"

"Clearly not light enough," Balou replied with a yawn and a pointed glance towards the larger Alphas at the table. "No, but we are here to discuss some issues that particular deal is causing."

"Oh?" Belvedere tilted his head curiously.

"Oh I think I know what this is..." Tavish muttered.

"If your thoughts are about how some towns are becoming dangerously close to being ghost towns," Balou said as he rested his head on his hands. "Then your guess is correct."

"The deal is bleeding us dry of young blood," spoke a golden retriever wearing goggles on his head and a tough leather vest.

"You are aware that banning free movement and immigration would have a very negative reaction?" Fenrir pointed out. "I recall a few indiscretions in my youth that were done purely in spite of rules I thought unfair."

"We are fully aware that simply barring movement to the Enclave would only make things worse," Fasha grumbled. "So we've gone with the next best solution. Remove the reason why they've been coming here in the first place."

Belvedere took a moment to think. Food wasn't really the main reason why the young dogs were moving because they had access to it in the Independent Packs thanks to shipments. It was actually the large amount of conveniences, heating, plumbing, housing and all of it freely offered. It was utterly foolish to think the Enclave could be convinced to do away with these conveniences so...

"You mean to place yourself under our authority?" Belvedere said and got serious nods from around the table.

"Yes, but with requirements," Balou answered. "We wish for our infrastructure to be brought up to the Enclave's standards upon our integration. We've also noticed the train networks you have running at all times. We are very interested to know if something can be set up for getting around the many towns in our influence."

"We do not have near close to the amount of workers needed to start a project of this scale," Bluno said with a frown. "Let alone finishing it anytime soon. But if you are going to place yourself under our authority, then... we can set up a large training compound to train dogs from your packs so you can do the work yourselves. It'll slow the initial start up of the project by a bit, but things will speed up a ton with each successive wave of workers finishing their training."

"We need to discuss this in detail a bit more..." Fasha said and looked around the table to a lot of nods. "But I think we can agree with the idea in general. The next issue we have to discuss is in regards to our integration. The Enclave NEEDS a currency."

"There will be issues with that," Belvedere said immediately. "Basic necessities as well as living spaces are given freely to all those living in the Enclave. I think I speak for everyone in the city when I say the idea of them suddenly needing to be paid for is not appealing in the least."

"There is no need for that," the shar pei Alpha waved off. "I think we can get away with attaching a price tag to things like more spacious living spaces and luxuries. But a good many influential people among the packs simply REFUSE the idea of integration unless some sort of currency is finally in place in the Enclave."

"Well, Emerald? Final decision lies with you," Belvedere stated as he and the other three Enclave Alphas turned to her. "What do you think?"

"I think this integration needs several more meetings to iron out the details a bit more," Emerald answered. "But I agree with the idea and am willing to put the work and effort in to make it work."

"We can start on that right now if it's convenient for you," Balou suggested. "We expected to remain here for the better part of the month for these talks and set aside the appropriate time."

"Hm... I've only got the spare time for more of this later this evening," Emerald replied. "My schedule is rather busy lately. So let's take a bit of a recess, shall we? By all means, make yourselves at home while you wait for us to meet again. There are plenty of places to eat if you are hungry."

"I'd like to know where we are going to be staying for our time here," Balou said as his fellows started to stand up. "If we aren't going to be continuing the meeting right away, I'd like to get some sleep in."

"I'll have someone show you to your quarters," Belvedere said as he and the others got up as well.

ZETA

In the town of Ponyville, in a rather run-of-the-mill cottage, Zecora sat meditating in the center of her living room.

It was quite surprising how different the interior of Zecora's home in Ponyville looked on the inside compared to its exterior. On the outside it was a homely cottage like every other home in Ponyville, but the inside was filled with strange masks and the walls were lined with shelves and cupboards that were utterly filled with corked bottles of every shape and size. The kitchen had its center dominated by a large cauldron and even had the floor modified to hold a fairly large fire pit under said cauldron.

In the living room Zecora meditated, surrounded by small bottles containing a potion that bubbled freely without flame and sent up visible, acid green fumes.

For the longest while the zebra simply sat in the center of her living room utterly unmoving, seemingly as lifeless as a statue. Suddenly she breathed in sharply and her eyes snapped open, glowing green spheres of light. In her mind, slitted eyes glittered with amusement and manic laughter echoed. Then the moment passed and the light faded from her eyes.

"...A vison, perhaps now is time to make a decis... no," Zecora began in her usual rhyme before stopping and giving a shuddering breath. "I can no longer keep up with this self exile or the rhythm."

Zecora stood up abruptly, so much so she tipped over one of the potions, sending the contents along the floor. She ignored it and made for her room. Once she arrived in her bedroom, she pulled a box from under her bed and opened it, placing the contents upon the bed itself.

Upon the bed were spread several rather expansive, luxurious pieces of clothing and gold bangles with artistic engravings, dotted with glittering gems. A look of misery covered Zecora's face as she took in the sight.

'I must return,' Zecora thought determinedly. 'I cannot sit here in Equestria and lett my failures dominate my future. I must help my people.'

'Release them... from this Nightmare.'

-TBC-

AN: And so begins the fifth book! A lot of excitement planned for this book, even in comparison to the climax of the third. This is where a lot of major plot that have been stewing for quite a while get their resolution.

Also I know some people will be disappointed by the lack of Navi, don't worry she'll get more scenes soon enough.

EN: And so we reach the Mass Effect stages of growth for the Enclave. First the Rachni Queen (Even though Legionary has assured me that it was never intentional to make a creature that referenced said Queen, and in truth only slightly resembles it), then the "coilguns" which are basically Mass Effect guns launching anti-tank ammunition instead of grains of sand. So much to discuss in this chapter, but not enough time to.

Navi laughed gleefully as she twisted in place on the ground as Sweetie Belle tickled her mercilessly.

Like Rarity, Sweetie Belle had taken a shine to Navi the instant she had laid eyes on the younger filly. Whereas Rarity liked to pour affection on the former bug, Sweetie just really liked to play with her, though Sweetie's other friends needed a little prodding to accept the presence of a filly much younger than them. Applebloom and Scootaloo had felt like the presence of what was essentially a toddler to their group would force their usual activities to "dumb down" as a result to accommodate her. When that proved to not be the case and Navi was ready for everything and anything the Cutiemark Crusaders got up to on a daily basis, they readily accepted her.

Navi leapt onto her hooves with a giggle as Sweetie Belle stopped her tickling.

"Follow me, Navi!" Sweetie shouted as she went off on a trot. "I want to show you someone!"

The little viral filly quickly caught up to Sweetie Belle and matched pace, very much eager to meet a potential new friend.

The two fillies started trotting through town - that is, the much expanded town. Many of the new buildings had retained the straw and thatch theme common to so many of Ponyville's homes. But buildings leading towards both the train yard and the weather factories were made of much sturdier brick and mortar. Thanks to the two new and rather immensely important industries in town, Ponyville had been undergoing a population boom that had scarcely slowed down. Indeed, Ponyville's population boom was likely going to pick up again due to the recent opening of the international hospital, if only due to ponies sensing opportunity and opening a lot of hotels and inns. Yes, Ponyville's small town life style was a thing of the past and although many original inhabitants argued this was purely a bad thing, one had to admit it made things livelier on a purely mundane level.

As she followed Sweetie Belle, Navi couldn't help but overhear a number of conversations with her powerful senses.

"... Applied for work in the Enclave Embassy, waiting for a message back if they want me or not."

"Isn't the embassy the old royal palace? Don't the princesses technically own that?"

"Apparently not..."

"...Thought the newer, bigger weather factory was supposed to make things better?"

"Yeah, tell me about it. Lately the weather has either been late or the wrong thing entirely..."

"... Going to go see your friend again, Tuney?"

"Yup."

"I just can't possibly imagine how somepony like you could like a dog like him?!"

"I dunno..."

"... Time Turner, what's this about?"

"I know it's not exactly the most romantic of way of doing this, but hearing about the wedding inspired me."

"OHMIGOSH!"

"I take it that's a yes..."

After walking across town, Navi found herself being led to one home among many in the traditional style. Sweetie Belle knocked on the door and after a few moments, an earth pony mare answered. She had a brown mane and had it done up in a manner much like Applejack's along with a light tan coat and a cutiemark of a heart and a baby bottle.

"Oh, Sweetie Belle!" the mare said with a smile. "Come to visit Button again? Oh, and who is this?"

"Yeah!" Sweetie nodded before pointing at Navi. "And this is Navi! I brought her along to introduce her to Button!"

"Hi~" Navi greeted happily with a wide grin and a hop.

"Oh. Nice to meet you, Navi," the mare said and stepped aside. "It's so nice to see Button making new friends."

"Come on, Navi!" Sweetie Belle said excitedly as she quickly walked into the home. "I really want to show you something."

"Coming!" Navi said and quickly followed after Sweetie Belle.

"Uh, no running in the house, dears!" Button's mom called after them.

"Sorry!" Sweetie and Navi replied and slowed down.

"Over here, this is Button's room," Sweetie Belle said as she pointed at a door and opened it. They were met with the sight of a colt's bedroom and the colt himself sitting in the center of the room playing on a game system that was a self contained console and TV screen.

"HI BUTTON!" Sweetie shouted happily as she quickly rushed over to his side.

Completely focused on his game, Button Mash jumped in startlement and a moment later a death noise straight out of a retro video game sounded from the gamebox.

"NOOOOOO!" Button Mash cried out melodramatically. "I nearly beat my high score! Sweetie Belle, why!?"

"You say that every time I do that, Button!" Sweetie retorted with a grin before waving to Navi. "I wanted to introduce you to a special someone!"

"... I don't play with babies," Button Mash replied after giving Navi a once over and then folding his forelimbs and turning his head away.

"This reminds me of my games, but... not as good," Navi said as she peered into the gamebox screen, having not heard what Button said.

"HEY! It's great and challen- you've got games?" Button began in indignation before abruptly changing his tune. "What kind?"

"Oh loads!" Navi answered cheerfully. "Mama got me and Uncle Spike hundreds of games from the other world."

"Other world... you got alien games!?" Button Mash said with wide, amazed eyes.

"Yeahuh." Navi nodded her head.

"See? I knew you'd like her!" Sweetie Belle said with a self satisfied tone.

ALPHA

"So it's been like this since you first started experimenting with it?" Emerald asked.

"Yes, ma'am." Moon Dancer nodded.

Emerald sighed as she waved her hand through the still active mirror portal. Both she and Moon Dancer were in the vault containing said portal. Moon Dancer had inquired about what the activation times for the mirror were and mentioned it was currently on and wanted to make sure she knew when it was next active. Of course, as soon as she heard this Emerald had been shocked and a little alarmed since the portal was supposed to be closed for a month.

"Alright, I'm going to fortify the vault and set up some monitoring equipment," Emerald said and stepped back from the mirror with another sigh. "We'll monitor the mirror for a month, but I get the feeling it won't turn off the entire time."

"Do you think you broke something when you forced it open?" Moon Dancer asked curiously. "It's possible the mirror is rather sensitive to such things."

"I think it's very likely." Emerald nodded with a frown. "For now, having some Warhounds guard the mirror will work. I'll get to setting up some defenses of my own design very soon, but we shouldn't get any visitors in the meantime."

"Are... are they all like you?" Moon Dancer asked, looking up at Emerald with wide, wondering eyes.

"What, like someone who could fight gods and win?" Emerald replied lightly, turning to face Moon Dancer. "No... but a couple thousand of them have the potential for it."

Moon Dancer's eyes filled with awe as she silently mouthed the word 'thousands'.

Emerald in turn got a wondering look to her eyes as she stared down at Moon Dancer before shaking her head. Turning about, she quickly began conjuring up some electronic and runic array parts before rapidly assembling a simple monitoring system for the mirror portal.

"Alright, I've got this set up to contact me the instant something appears," Emerald said as she placed a camera on a tripod before the mirror. "Could you tell an Alpha to get some guards set up here for me?"

"Yes, ma'am." Moon Dancer nodded before bringing out a clipboard. "I'll tell someone on the way to my next project."

"Good. I've got projects of my own to get to work on as well," Emerald said before giving a short wave and teleporting.

An instant later found Emerald in the caverns she had grown the titans in. There were hundreds of pods taking up the space. They were not all the size of the pods that had housed the titans, but a bit bigger than the ones that held the raptors. This was going to be yet another new race of creatures Emerald was creating.

'Drawing on previous experience with making new life, this should only take a fraction of the time it took to make the others,' Emerald thought as she closed her eyes and drew on her viral senses to take stock on the growth of the new beings. 'I've also decided to go a step further and purposefully designed a race that is truly intelligent.'

The virus was confident in her skills nowadays regarding new lifeforms, but she would be lying if she said some part of her didn't view giving the beings true intelligence as dangerous, as potentially some point in the future they could betray her. But another part of her, one that was flourishing and growing in recent years, viewed this feeling as a product of older, more brutal times and it was ultimately a foolish fear to have.

'It's not like I'm giving my creations reasons to resent me,' Emerald thought with crossed arms. 'I don't treat them like they were just emotionless weapons, tools to be used until broken and tossed aside. They know the purpose for which they live, sure, but there is more to life than "work".'

Indeed, the raptors and titans didn't just patrol and guard the Enclave and then train in their free time. More than a few Warhounds had bonded with raptors much in the same way human soldiers bonded with their own wardogs, and many a raptor now shared living spaces with Warhounds in their homes. The titans for their part seemed to be profoundly affected by their earth channeling knowledge. A good many seemed to be content with sitting still in their free time, becoming much like a great boulder. Emerald recognized it as a form of meditation in earth channeling meant to grow one's connection to the earth; it also did wonders on calming one's nerves and shoring up mental health or even trying to fall asleep on the spot. That wasn't all they did, of course. A good many titans had taken to wandering into the forest and creating little, odd shapes out of channeled rock. Sovereign seemed to like them as more than one stonehenge looking setup was carefully overgrown with moss and plant life.

'I definitely don't mistreat them,' Emerald thought and found herself smiling. 'If for whatever reason one of these betrays me, then at least I know it's not my fault.'

Emerald oversaw the growth of the new beings for half an hour before feeling satisfied that things were going well, and left. This time she didn't use her usual mode of travel and walked there, feeling like she hadn't walked the streets of the Hub for a while.

The first thing Emerald noticed about the Hub was that her presence was easily "noted" by the dogs on the street. She was given a lot of respect and she expected that, but along with that a number of young dogs seemed to be going a step above that, bowing in her presence and referring to her as "Dea Princeps". Emerald tried to not be really annoyed with this treatment and in turn tried not to feel angry with Fenrir. She appreciated his unfaltering loyalty, but found his faith in her to be a double edged sword.

'Just smile and wave,' Emerald thought to herself and did just that to another young couple. 'Smile and wave and go on your way.'

Emerald picked up her pace through the newly constructed districts of the Hub, not enjoying the walk nearly as much as she hoped. She was about to simply cut her losses and teleport to her location when she started catching the sound of a loud argument.

"FOOD is NOT a luxury!" boomed an outraged voice.

"Will you just listen to me?!" came a snapped reply. "I'm not talking about your basic meats and stews! There is a lot more variety out there than you city folk rabble are used to! Expensive variety!"

"City folk?! RABBLE?!"

Emerald rounded a corner to see some excitement going on in a plaza. There was a fairly large mixed crowd of dogs, simple vests denoting the original inhabitants and much more complex arrays of clothing signifying the immigrants. With this crowd was a fairly small group of dogs, clearly Alphas. Again the clothes showed the origin, but the Alphas from outside the Enclave were rather noticeably richer in attire. Clearly what was going on was another loud debate on the integration process which, while bumpy, was proceeding well.

"FINE!" bellowed the richly dressed Alpha in irritation, throwing up his paws. "I shall show you that certain kinds of foods can be a luxury! I have with me a number of herbs and spices to season my meats. I shall treat you to supper and show you, ONCE AND FOR ALL, the point I am trying to make!"

"Well... go on then!" the Enclave Alpha motioned for the other to lead the way, losing a lot of anger at the prospect of food. "Show away."

Watching the two Alphas walk away and the crowd start to disperse made Emerald glad things were going smoothly enough with the integration of the independents. If heated debates turned to actual fighting, that would have just been another irritating thing to add to her plate of already irritating things to deal with when it came to politics.

It was thoughts of politics that brought Emerald to a sudden halt in the middle of the street and close her eyes. She had been hard at work practically non-stop ever since she had come back home. The times she had made for friends and family always ended up backing her schedule up further. And frankly, her own importance in wider world politics meant that people only really grumbled about being stood up and just went back in line to see her, so she wasn't making the list any shorter with her breaks either.

It was realizing that last fact that had Emerald abruptly decide she deserved a day off and turned on her heel to walk in the opposite direction.

BETA

'Not here either,' Belvedere thought with a huff as he briefly looked over a vast and somewhat cluttered magical lab, its only current inhabitant one Moon Dancer. 'Where could she be?'

Belvedere wanted to discuss expanding their trade route and the things they got their meat fruit for with Emerald. If an economy was to be implemented without adding a price to basic necessities, they would need plenty of things that were purely luxuries for the dogs to spend coin on. He viewed it as important enough to get her counsel on instead of attempting to handle himself, but she was being difficult to locate. It wasn't exactly rare to have a hard time finding Emerald, but most of the time he could figure out where to find her quickly.

'Emerald had a full schedule today,' Belvedere thought as he strode from the lab. 'She should have been at one of these locations... hmm.'

Belvedere continued on his way. He started radioing dogs to get back to him should anyone see Emerald. Surprisingly, he got a call back really quickly. Surprising, because of where Emerald was. Belvedere quickly made his way to the new districts of the Hub and then headed towards one of the many daycares.

He quickly arrived and entered the front doors of the daycare into the lobby with an old bulldog manning the desk.

"Hello, Belvedere," said the old bulldog matron, someone he recognized as one of the many old females who had gone out of their way to help raise the pups.

"Hello Old Nan," Belvedere greeted with curt nod. "She is here, correct?"

"She is, but from the look of things she isn't up to anymore work today, dear," Old Nan said with a point deeper into the building.

"Hm?" Belvedere raised a brow and stepped forward.

The second in command of the Enclave leaned slightly around the corner and was met with the sight of Emerald in her full formal wear, simply lying against a wall with a small horde of young pups playing around her and even on top of her. For a moment she looked like she was completely at peace and napping, but a second later her voice sounded out.

"Belvedere, you needed something?" Emerald asked with her eyes still closed.

"..." Belvedere considered his next words for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I can handle it."

"Great..." Emerald said softly.

Belvedere turned on his heel and walked away, already drawing plans to get a few of his fellow Alphas together to go over handling international trade among themselves. Behind him, Emerald sat up straighter and a group of pups gathered around her with a tiny little female pomeranian taking a greatly desired spot on her lap.

"Tell us a story!" they asked Emerald, happily barking and yipping.

"A story?" Emerald said, finally opening her eyes and looking over them all. "Well, what do you say?"

"Pleeeeeease!" they chorused.

"Alright, I'll tell you a story," Emerald said and got a cheer from her audience. "Now... I'll tell you a story of two holidays in my world called Halloween and Christmas. A story specifically of a man who only ever celebrated one and then found out about the other. A story of the Pumpkin King, Jack Skellington..."

GAMMA

A little under two hours later found Emerald floating along a fast flowing river.

She was wearing a modest black wetsuit that cut off at her thighs and biceps and had her hair tied back in a braid save for her bangs. She was simply floating on her back watching clouds slowly move past as she moved along the river.

'I wonder how this whole controlling the weather thing started?' Emerald thought absently. 'This world had a prehistoric era much like Earth did, so it wasn't always like this. Was it as simple as pegasi discovering they had the ability one day and started experimenting with it? Or was the weather left alone until some group in the forgotten past decided it had to be controlled? In either case, the ponies are much more willing to put up with and allow for bad weather. If humans were controlling the weather, I'm not sure we'd ever allow anything more than shade and light rain in inhabited areas. Well, at least they do stop really bad weather from forming, like tornadoes and hurricanes.'

Emerald folded her arms behind her head as she let her thoughts wander. Alongside the river, cliff walls started to rise and in the distance crashing water resounded.

'Speaking of controlling nature, how did the same thing happen with animals?' Emerald hummed. 'I mean, they aren't near half as stupid as Earth animals and can understand speech and can truly communicate with one another in their own way, so I guess it just happened naturally after the ponies started controlling the weather. After all, a number of animal species do depend on the changing cycles of weather as part of their own life cycle. I can really imagine the birds getting pissed off at the pegasi if winter came around too often.'

Emerald suddenly flipped over and dived down under the surface of the water. She started swimming through the river at incredible speeds, yet left little to no wake in her passage. Ahead of Emerald was the hydroelectric dam constructed by the Diamond Dogs, still running strongly. As she neared the dam she dove deeper before suddenly shooting up and out of the water, soaring over the entirety of the dam itself. Emerald glided for a moment, her arms held out like wings and her eyes closed with an expression of total relaxation, then she pulled her arms to her side and dived down towards the water like a bullet. When Emerald impacted the water she barely made a splash, and a moment later she bobbed up to the surface with her arms folded behind her head again exactly like before.

'What am I thinking, exactly?' Emerald thought as she started cloud gazing again. 'Just letting my thoughts wander? Hmm... I wonder if Twilight has finished her bracelet yet? I got mine done in an hour, but I also have a ton of advantages on my side. Oh! I'm just so impatient and admittedly a tad giddy to see what she's made. I'm just glad we both kept our heads on straight and remembered the engagement "ring" is just a temporary thing meant to look pretty and show your status, otherwise we probably would have gone all out on making them... I hope she likes what I made, even if it's only temporary.'

Emerald continued to float along the river, mind filled with mundane marital concerns. Eventually the ravine cliff walls gave way to trees and overgrown river banks. Emerald paid this little mind, content to let her mind wander to whatever random thought that appeared. That lasted up till something popped out of the water next to her. She turned her head and was met with the sight of the hippocampus she had only ever seen before.

"H-hello?" the hippocampus said with a wave of one of her watery, shell covered forelimbs.

"Hi," Emerald greeted back. "I don't think we've ever properly met."

"Yes... I am Tranquility," the hippocampus said. "The spirit of this river."

"Emerald Gleaner," Emerald replied. "I hope the dam hasn't affected you negatively."

"No it has not," Tranquility answered and then added with a shy look. "I... I had always wanted to have a waterfall... and I'm glad you made sure any fish caught in it were fine."

"Glad to know you are happy," Emerald said. "So you live in the river? How long have you been here?"

"It is hard to say... I do not register the passage of time with the same ease those of flesh and blood do," Tranquility replied and floated closer to Emerald. "Age and rot does not have the same meaning to me as they do to them, thus I have not needed to measure my age or how long it has been since I have entered this world."

"Hmm... was the forest here when you came to this river? Was Sovereign here?" Emerald asked and got a nod. "I wager you are a few thousand years old at least. Why do you speak the way you do, then? I've met someone who had basically not been a part of society for a thousand years and she had an odd way of speaking in comparison to everyone else."

"I speak not to your ears, but your very being," Tranquility answered, holding a watery hoof over her chest. "You hear me the way you do because it's the speech you understand most."

"Hmm... I know of the concept from elsewhere," Emerald said thoughtfully. "So you do not know how long you've been here?"

"I know I claimed this river as my home back before," Tranquility answered.

"Before what?"

"Before the world was... deafened... quieted... when it felt alive and true," The water spirit said and ripples went through her form. From the expression on her face, it was an act of discomfort.

Emerald frowned in thought and was about to speak when another voice interrupted.

"I see you are currently not busy."

The virus turned her head to look over at the shore and saw Sovereign in his typical wolf form, laying down with his paws folded over one another and his head up and alert. Tranquility floated over to the shore near him and Emerald could feel her energies filling the water around her. The water Emerald floated in stilled and she was gently pushed towards the shore as well.

"Hello Sovereign," Emerald greeted with a small wave. "I decided to take some time off for myself. I've been way too busy this last week or so... and to be completely honest, probably all of last year as well."

"You speak truly, your essence has been feeling harried as of late," Sovereign replied with a nod. "As I understand it, such things for prolonged states of time are not healthy."

"Tranquility told me spirits don't really notice the passage of time since they do not understand aging the same way as I do," Emerald said and then asked. "Is that the same for you? I mean, you are made of plant life and seem represent the whole of the Everfree, and plants do age and die."

"While it is true that plants do make up my physical form and resonate with my essence, it is more that..."Sovereign paused and seemed to struggle to find words before huffing and grumbling.

"May I?" Tranquility asked and got a reluctant nod from Sovereign. "While Spirits do tend to represent the place they they have claimed as home physically, there is far more to this than simple physical comparison. For I, the river represents adaptability, for what does a river do when faced with an obstacle? Does it keep moving forward heedless of no further progress to be made? No, it finds itself a new path, no matter what. For Sovereign, the forest represents more than just its trees and plants. It represents its freedom via its wild growth. It represents its strength via remaining true despite all those that would enforce cold order. It represents its truth by never hiding what it is; a forest, wild and eternally free."

"But there is yet more to it than concepts one can relate with a location or element," Tranquility continued. "Just like how no two mortals can truly be alike, so too can two spirits be completely different despite sharing the same element. For me, the river represents adaptability, but for another spirit it could represent power or even freedom. Ultimately, how a spirit's connection with their element develops depends greatly on how they feel to interpret it."

"Hmm..." Emerald hummed for a moment as she took this in before turning to Sovereign. "You spoke of the cycle before. You meant the untended wild passage of seasons. I imagine if you are more aware of time, then it would be in the passing of seasons, of cycles, but..."

"I do not recall any time before my awakening," Sovereign stated, laying his head down upon his paws.

"Even now? After being awake for several years?" Emerald asked curiously. "No remembered memories or knowledge?"

"No," Sovereign stated confidently but paused. "...I have impressions, however."

"Of what?"

"I have a feeling of being... aged... of existing and expecting time and time again, sameness..." Sovereign said haltingly, as if struggling to bringing words to his thoughts. "And then... and then... SACRILEGE... such strong SEETHING HATE... DEFIANCE! EVEN IN THE FACE CERTAIN DOOM, especially in the face of certain doom... and BETRAYAL, such horrible treachery... and then... silence... eons of silence..."

"This is all that I recall of the time before I had awakened," Sovereign said in the ensuing silence and closed his glowing eyes with a sigh.

"... Do you know anything more?" Emerald asked Tranquility after a moment. "Or did whatever happen to Sovereign happen to you too as well?"

"No, I had never been put to sleep." Tranquility shook her head. "But I, along with all others who live in this forest, were disconnected from the other spirits. Indeed, our situation was not uncommon for the majority of spirits with physical forms. Perhaps whatever had caused the silence was helped in part by our inclination to being aloof and solitary."

"So you don't really know anything about the world at that time beyond this river?" Emerald clarified.

"The only reason the specific point in time stands out to me at all is the silence that overtook the world," Tranquility said and looked frightened as she recalled the memories. "It was so horrible. Normally I'd feel the voices and energies of my fellows resonate from afar. But then... nothing. I called out, shouting my loudest but the only voices I heard were those in this forest. And then I heard Sovereign start roaring in rage and I ran away in terror and hid away in the darkest point. When I came back out, Sovereign wouldn't answer my calls as well and I grew terrified still that it would happen to me too."

"But it never did," Tranquility finished with great relief. "The forest remained the same. After my initial panic, I was able to tell Sovereign was still here, so deep in slumber there seemed no hope of waking him up again."

"I just realized you call him Sovereign, too," Emerald said with a wondering look. "Was that really his name back then as well?"

"Does it matter what he was called before?" Tranquility asked curiously. "He is Sovereign now until he decides it is something else."

"I guess not." Emerald shrugged and then watched as Tranquility floated closer to Sovereign's apparently sleeping form. She rested her head on a flat rock near him before going to sleep as well. Seeing this, Emerald felt a strong desire to sleep as well. Normally, she slept very rarely when away from Twilight, as even now her dreams tended to be unpleasant when away from her. But the virus couldn't help but feel so at home right now, so welcome and at peace.

With only a moment's hesitation, Emerald closed her eyes and instantly fell asleep... and opened them to find herself somewhere else.

She was no longer in the river but she was still floating, only in midair here. She was in a place that was much like a very heavily overgrown forest at first glance, with thick tree trunks, roots, bushes and canopy everywhere she looked. But Emerald took in more details and instantly knew in her heart that wherever she was, was most certainly not reality as she knew it. She was in a kind of chamber made entirely of thick tree trunks and roots, the gaps between the wood filled with a thick canopy with intense sunlight shining through between the leaves. The sunlight shined through from everywhere, even the "floor" and the "ceiling" along with the "walls".

Emerald took in more details. All around her she saw large knots form on several tree trunks before they opened like eyelids, revealing green beacons of light. Suddenly, something darted into view. It was a ball of water leaving behind a fading wake through midair. The ball of water darted over to her, stopping in front of her face and seemingly staring at her with glowing blue eyes. Somehow, Emerald instinctively knew the eyes in the tree and the ball of water were Sovereign and Tranquility.

Tranquility flew a circle around Emerald excitedly before darting away. A wall of trunks and leaves parts before the water spirit's passage, revealing a long passage with the same kind of walls. Eyes closed around Emerald and opened ahead of Tranquility in the passage.

Emerald followed after Sovereign and Tranquility, floating quickly into the passage with trunks filling the space back up behind her. Tranquility led Emerald along through a vast maze of passages and tunnels, all the while Sovereign closed and opened eyes along their passing. Eventually, Emerald found herself at the intended destination.

With one last parting of roots and canopy, a vast, beautiful grotto revealed itself. A large crack in the rock ceiling allowed sunlight to pour through onto crystal clear hot springs. The hot springs were collected in natural bowls formed in rocks and flowed down into lower springs as they were gradually filled from small falls darting the rock walls of the grotto. Eventually the water seemed to drain down a point somewhere in the center that was currently dominated by an incredibly large mangrove tree with supporting roots so thickly grown it was near impossible to see through. There were several, much smaller mangroves darting the hot springs, but strangely their canopies appeared to be on fire with no harm to the leaves or the trees themselves.

Tranquility darted ahead into the grotto as Emerald floated in, taking in the sight of supernatural beauty. She could not help but be captivated by the sight; something about this place resonated within her. She felt safe and at home here, away from judgmental stares and demanding voices in this place of peace and acceptance.

The water spirit started flying little circles around the mangrove as two pairs of Sovereign's eyes took a commanding spot upon the front of the tree's trunk. Suddenly, small boulders Emerald thought were simply rocks rose into the air from the hot spring beds, trailing dust behind them. Balls of fire rose from the burning canopies, leaving embers in their wake. Out of the wisps of steam coming from the hot springs came balls of wind that were like little spherical hurricanes, leaving cyclones in their wake. And finally more balls of water like Tranquility arose from the hot springs. The many other balls joined Tranquility in circling the great tree. Clearly they were all spirits like Tranquility and there were dozens of them.

Leading the way, Tranquility darted over towards Emerald, all the many other spirit balls following behind her. Tranquility slowed and started making lazy little circles above Emerald's head and all the other spirit balls started surrounding Emerald. The virus looked around herself, taking in all the little forms of the spirits surrounding her, staring at her with wide, glowing, curious eyes.

Suddenly a ball of wind darted at her, poking her in the neck. Emerald reached up instinctively and it quickly darted around her and poked her again in her hip. This time Emerald swiped at the ball with an open hand, attempting to grab it when it darted away and started flying in wide, erratic circles around her. Emerald felt an echo of childlike laughter echo within her.

With no further hesitation, Emerald flew rapidly after the ball of wind and it took off, radiating excitement and glee. Despite the strangeness of her situation, Emerald found floating here to come naturally to her and she quickly started closing in on the ball of wind despite it darting through the air like a crazed fly. A moment later she lashed out with both hands and managed to catch the ball of wind. She felt another burst of happy laughter resonate within her before looking down at her hands to see the little ball of wind looking up at her excitedly.

Suddenly Emerald felt something impact her back and she looked over to see a cloud of spirit balls behind her like a small, chaotic swarm of insects. A fire spirits poked at her shoulder before speeding off like a shooting star. Feeling the joy and the desire to play resonate within her from all the spirits surrounding her, Emerald didn't hesitate to chase after the spirit.

All the while, Sovereign watched on as the one being he had come to know as a friend played with the younger spirits. He felt a sense of calm and relaxation at the sight and slowly closed his eyes as he eased into slumber.

DELTA

"So how do you like Equestria compared to your home, Taleena?" Sunset Shimmer asked.

"I have not been in this land before, so it has been proving quite the... experience," Taleena answered with a smile.

Currently, Sunset Shimmer was walking the palace alongside the Eldeer ambassador, Taleena. The deer had taken it upon herself to give Sunset a bit of tutoring in the ways of politics since the mare had seemed more than a little lost during the "luncheon" yesterday. Sunset Shimmer had been incredibly grateful for something constructive to do and to get her mind off things. She had not even minded the fact that Taleena hadn't really gotten to the teaching yet.

'I hadn't tagged her for the, let's hang out, type,' Sunset Shimmer thought, glancing at the deer out of the corner of her eyes as they entered the "public" wing of the royal library. 'She just seems so majestic and graceful... although she is plenty nice.Maybe she just likes the more common kind of spending time together?'

"What is life like back home?" Sunset asked.

"Iyandan is a grand and ancient city," Taleena replied readily with an almost wistful tone. "It is shielded from all but the most refined senses by the ancient sorceries of our people since time immemorial. Indeed, the Iyandan and its fellow hidden cities were bustling cities even in the time of the three separate pony tribes. Its history is a grand and decorated tapestry of events, even recordings of the neighboring lands, bereft of all bias and true to reality."

"Wow, it must be amazing to live in a city so old," Sunset said with clear wonder.

"Indeed it is," Taleena responded with a smile readily. "To walk the streets of Iyandan is to walk in the shadow of buildings that could easily be ten thousand years old."

"It's quite amazing how all Eldeer say the exact same things no matter their city of origin," a voice broke in suddenly.

Sunset and Taleena turned to see a middle aged griffin sitting in a corner in an armchair at a small table with a small pile of books on it. The griffin had golden eyes, white head feathers and a dark brown coat. He was wearing a doublet that, while rich looking, was rather restrained in the wealth it implied its wearer had and also had a symbol of a crossed hammer and chisel across the left breast. Finally, he had a pair of spectacles sitting on his beak with silver frames.

"Excuse me?!" Taleena said quickly, sounding distinctly affronted. "I do not believe I invited you into our conversation, let alone asked for such an insulting opinion of my people to be aired!"

"Apologies, I did not mean to insult you," the griffin said with an easy smile, putting aside an open book. "I was merely remarking upon the curious fact that all Eldeer seem to say the same things, regardless of origin."

Taleena pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes in response. Sunset Shimmer, however, found herself curious of what the griffin was reading. Glancing over the stack of books he had gathered, she found them all about ancient tales, myths, legends and folklore.

"Are you a visiting dignitary?" Sunset asked suddenly, gaining the griffin's attentions.

"Why, yes." The griffin nodded and held out an arm and flared out a wing before giving a bow of his head. "Sten of Clan Murare on official business, currently enjoying a bit of free time."

"Really?" Sunset asked, stepping closer. "I didn't expect to see a politician interested in these kind of books."

"Ah, I consider myself to be an amateur mythologist," Sten answered, smiling as Taleena started looking rather displeased with Sunset's shift of attention. "Half the fun of being a visiting dignitary is studying the local tales. Particularly stories regarding origin."

"Oh?" Sunset said curiously.

"Yes, every culture I've been to has an origin story regarding their people's creation," Sten explained. "My own people have one regarding a great lion and a thunderbird. The thunderbird ruled a vast mountain and in the surrounding plains roamed a great lion. The two couldn't abide the presence of the other and came to blows often. But no matter how hard they struck one another, neither would falter. They battled for days and days on end, wounding each other but never seriously and always retreating at the end of the day to rest and recover. So intense were these confrontations that it sundered the great mountain and scattered it into numerous smaller ones over the great plains, and so great were their daily wounds that their blood gathered and intermingled in ponds and lakes. Eventually they ended their fighting and were never seen again. Many believe that the two realized their constant battles had destroyed the things they were fighting over."

"Let me guess... the griffins came out of the blood?" Sunset asked.

"Yes." Sten nodded. "Stories say our people emerged from the blood and found shelter among the newly made mountain ranges formed by the destructive battles of the two great beasts. Now... every culture has an origin tale like this one, unique in how it goes... except for ponies for some reason."

"Actually, I think we do..." Sunset remarked in thought. "I believe Celestia told me it once..."

"The tale of the Mother and the Father," Sten said with a nod. "I know of it, but the story doesn't mention what being they made, only that they made one. Every people has a tale specifically about how their people were created, save for the ponies. And speaking of the Mother and Father... it is a tale common to all peoples."

"It is?" Sunset asked in surprise.

"Oh yes. True, it's a bit different in each culture, but ultimately the story is the same," Sten explained. "Two creators, combining talents and knowledge to create something that was only a shadow of their own glory, and then finding themselves unable to come close to their creation lest they destroy it. Strange how everyone seems to have that story in some form... and what of the Eldeer, Warlock Taleena? Do they have such a story as well?"

Sunset looked back at the deer to see her with a highly irritated expression before it rapidly disappeared to be replaced with indifference.

"The Eldeer have many such tales," Taleena replied haughtily.

"Records of other cultures' histories, as you said," Sten said, tone much like that of a teacher correcting a young student. "But what of your people's tales?"

"..." There was a flash of intense aggravation before Taleena sighed and replied hesitantly. "Yes, the tale of the Mother and Father is told among my people too. Our records show even long before the founding of Equestria or many other kingdoms of the world. It was an old tale..."

"NOW, I do believe I promised to teach you about politics, did I not?" Taleena said pointedly to Sunset before turning away and walking off deeper into the library. "Follow me, a library is a perfect place to hold a lesson."

"Ah, thank you for the talk, it was very interesting," Sunset Shimmer said to the griffin before quickly trotting off after Taleena.

"The pleasure was mine..." Sten said as he returned to his book. "Try to slip the leash before it gets too tight."

Sunset paused in place for a moment and blinked, wondering what he could possibly have meant by that. But she saw that Taleena wasn't slowing her pace in the slightest and quickly trotted after her.

EPSILON

Emerald appeared with a flash on the street of her home in Ponyville. She was wearing her casual clothes again in her human form and making her way for the front door of her home.

"I'm home!" Emerald announced as she entered, a relaxed smile plastered on her face.

There was a rapid patter of hooves and Navi came dashing into view.

"Mama!" Navi cried out happily, jumping at Emerald and shifting form mid leap, becoming human as well and wrapping her arms around Emerald's neck. "I missed you! You're always away!"

"I'm sorry, cuddle bug," Emerald said as she held Navi close. "I've just been so busy lately. I'm going to be better about it from now on, though."

"Yay~" Navi cheered happily before dropping down onto the floor. "I've got friends over, Mama!"

"Sweetie and the others again?" Emerald said as she allowed herself to be led by the hand down the hall.

"Sweetie Belle is here, but she introduced me to another colt named Button Mash," Navi explained. "He likes to play video games, too, and wanted to try my games when I told him about them."

"Oh?" Emerald said and looked up as she was led into the living room. Sweetie Belle and the colt Navi mentioned were on the couch. Emerald half expected Navi to have introduced Button and Sweetie to something along the lines of Gears of War or Halo, but the two little ponies were playing the multiplayer mode of Banjo-Tooie.

"Still having fun, guys?" Navi asked as she stepped right behind the couch.

"Sweetie won't stop playing as the Jinjo!" Button complained as he visibly struggled to play against the filly.

"Serves you right for being big and ugly Grunty," Sweetie replied with small raspberry.

"Navi, come here for second," Emerald commanded and Navi quickly complied. "You know not to play certain kinds of games with them, right?"

"Yes, Mama." Navi nodded. "Spike said anything rated E should be fine for ponies and that I should bring anything rated T to you or him first, and that anything rated M isn't allowed."

"Good girl," Emerald said and got a bright smile from Navi. Emerald then thought about what Navi said earlier, about how she was always busy and she missed her. "So how long are your friends going to be staying?"

"Button and Sweetie are staying for supper," Navi answered. "But Sweetie is sleeping over."

"Hmmm... how about you and me do something together for a short while," Emerald suggested with a smile. "It'll only take a couple minutes, but should be really fun."

"OKAY!" Navi said eagerly before turning back to her friends. "See you two. I'll be back in a little bit!"

"See ya," Button said distractedly, practically sweating with the effort he was putting in.

"See you, Navi!" Sweetie Belle waved. "Have fun!"

"Come here," Emerald said and dropped down onto one knee, Navi quickly darted into Emerald's embrace and a second later they disappeared with a flash. An instant later found both Emerald and Navi up at the furthest possible height of the sky in the nebulous border between atmosphere and the void.

Navi gave a laugh that was barely heard in the scant atmosphere even with Emerald's ears as she rolled through space. But if the intent was just to mess around in zero gravity, Emerald would have teleported even further out. In fact, because they didn't have any momentum going at all, the planet was quickly pulling them directly back. Within a minute of Navi and Emerald simply tumbling about in space, wind started to whip about them.

The little virus laughed much more audibly as she started making massive circles around Ponyville miles below. Emerald flew in close and grabbed Navi by the waist before making aileron rolls, spinning the little girl around her rapidly.

"Do you know how to fly without wings?" Emerald asked Navi as the wind whistled past.

"No," Navi answered but looked eagerly at Emerald.

"Okay," Emerald said and turned the little girl around before pulling her close. "Close your eyes and concentrate on the flow of my magic."

Emerald's descent slowed rapidly as she started channeling magic to fly. She continued to fall, but was just flying downwards in lazy circles. Held in her mother's arms, Navi closed her eyes and stretched out with her senses as she was taught. She felt Emerald's magic and how it was moving out of her body, the way it precisely projected force out at several angles. More importantly, she felt how Emerald was controlling her own weight, actively lessening and increasing the effect on different areas of her body. She then set to work on reproducing the effect herself.

The virus continued to drift downwards with a growing smile as she felt Navi make rapid progress with every passing moment. A few minutes later, when they started to approach cloud level, Navi was now reproducing Emerald's wingless flight crudely. Emerald released Navi from her embrace and held her arms out like wings, keeping hold of one of Navi's hands and holding her out at her side. The two glided through the air like two birds flying nearly wingtip to wingtip for another two minutes before Emerald let go of her fully.

Instantly Navi's flight path became wobbly and she came close to flapping her arms. Emerald remained a few feet away, gliding on her back, arms folded over her stomach as she watched Navi rapidly master flight with a proud smile.

It wasn't long before Emerald was leading Navi to land down onto their home street, the little virus with far smoother flight path compared to just a few minutes ago. As soon as they landed, Navi gave a gleeful cheer and leaped onto Emerald's back.

"I love you Mama!" Navi said happily and gave Emerald a kiss on the cheek.

"Love you too, cuddle bug," Emerald smiled and reached back to pat Navi's head. She carried Navi back into the house where they were instantly met with Sweetie Belle.

"You're back!" Sweetie said. "Did you two have fun?"

"Look, Sweetie!" Navi exclaimed and floated off of Emerald's back. "Mama taught me how to fly~"

"Oh wow that's so cool!" Sweetie Belle said with twinkling eyes. "I wish I could fly..."

"There is a way for normal unicorns to learn how to fly," Emerald said. "But it would be quite a few years before you are ready to learn magic like that."

"Awww..."

Emerald watched Navi float into the living room followed closely by Sweetie Belle. She walked over into the doorway to see that Button Mash had even paused the game to stare at Navi flying around. Emerald suddenly felt like doing a bit of baking, serve up some deserts for everyone to enjoy after supper. She turned to head for the kitchen and paused, recalling a promise she had made to her mother's grave a short while ago.

"Hey Navi," Emerald called out and instantly got the little virus' attention. "I'm going to go bake some desserts for supper. You feeling up to learning how to bake the way your grandmother taught me?"

"Yes!" Navi exclaimed excitedly and lighted down before darting for Emerald.

Emerald smiled happily down at the little girl and led the way to the kitchen.

"Now, most people like to use a pre-made mix when baking something," Emerald said they entered the kitchen. She reached out with her magic and gathered a number of ingredients and baking utensils. "Your grandmother always made her own mixes and invented her own special recipes, I'm going to teach you one of them."

"What is it?" Navi asked and started floating up into the air in order to easily see the counter top.

"It's a cupcake recipe," Emerald explained as she got out some basic ingredients to start mixing. "Here, you do the mixing and I'll direct you how to make the cupcake mix."

Emerald and Navi then started making the mix in earnest. The little virus was floating in midair using the mixer and listening intently to Emerald explaining each ingredient's effect on the mix. They had an absolutely grand time making the mix and then pouring it into cups in a pan. The entire time, Emerald felt wonderful and like she completely understood how her own mother felt when she was teaching her all those years ago.

By the time they had placed the pans into the oven to bake, Spike was already moving around them and making supper. The two of them practically spent the entire bake time of the cupcakes sitting before the oven with Emerald explaining to Navi everything to look for when baking something. When the cupcakes were all done, they decided to leave icing each one as a group event.

"Hey everyone!" Emerald said as she and Navi left the kitchen and entered the dining room. "We just finished baking the cupcakes so once we are done with supper we can all go and put icing on them all together."

"That sounds wonderful, Emerald." Twilight smiled from her seat at the table as Sweetie and Button cheered from their own. "I'm sure it'll be so much fun to put icing on our own cupcakes."

"Yep, but until then..." Emerald said as she shifted form back into a pony and Navi did the same. "Everyone dig in. Spike is a great cook and did awesome despite us using some the kitchen."

With that, Emerald and Navi took their own seats and began to eat along with the others.

ZETA

The next morning found Emerald pacing with some nervousness in the library in her human form.

Twilight had revealed that morning upon waking up that she had finished making Emerald's engagement ring and was ready to exchange hers. The virus naturally knew that whatever she made, Twilight would love it because she would know Emerald wouldn't do something like this halfhearted. Still, Emerald wanted Twilight to love her engagement ring not just because Emerald made but because it was actually something she thought was beautiful. Of course, Emerald also had to constantly remind herself that the engagement rings were temporary until they exchanged their wedding rings, which meant they also had to make another pair of amazing rings each other would wear for the rest of their lives.

'I have no heartbeat, yet I still hear it pounding in my ear,' Emerald thought with a somewhat strained smile. 'Oh god, I hope she loves it.'

Emerald turned when she heard the door open and saw a nervous looking Twilight enter the room. She had a small box in the air beside her head. She walked over to Emerald and they stood facing each other for a moment in silence.

"S-so... Emerald, I've been working on this for a while..." Twilight said anxiously as she floated the box over to Emerald. "I really hope you like it."

Twilight opened the box and revealed what lay within. It was a large bracelet made of several silver bands chained together. Upon the front was a stylized design of a bucket and over it were several small emerald gems. Altogether, it made a wonderful recreation of her cutiemark. Overall, Emerald got the feeling almost of armor, like a small bracer with a bejeweled crest. She found she liked the idea of an engagement "ring" like that.

"It's fantastic!" Emerald said, having teleported the bracelet onto her wrist. "And now it's my turn..."

Emerald concentrated, and in a flash of light a bracelet appeared in her hand. Much like her own bracelet, it was made of silver, but that's where the similarities ended. The bracelet's body was that of several branches constantly entwining around one another before gathering together in a kind of knot. In the heart of this knot were several amethysts arranged just so to resemble Twilight's cutiemark. Emerald knew Twilight really did miss the old treehouse a lot at times and hoped she would both see the tribute to it and like it.

"Oh..." Twilight said quietly and slowly took the bracelet from Emerald to stare down at it. "The design... remember when we first met? Well of course you do, that was the first few days I stayed in that tree."

"I know," Emerald said and came down onto a knee next to Twilight to hold her. "...Sorry about blowing it up."

Twilight elbowed Emerald for ruining the mood before laughing.

The reason why Emerald and Twilight were having bracelets instead of rings was simply for convenience. Emerald didn't like the idea of constantly destroying and remaking her ring every time she shifted form so a bracelet was just easier to wear in both form. The same explanation applied to Twilight as well, who had become interested in magical shape shifting to access her human form in Equestria.

Emerald shifted to her pony form and, after admiring her bracelet a moment longer, turned to face Twilight.

"I love you, Twilight Sparkle," Emerald said softly, her face nearing close to Twilight's.

"I love you, Emerald Gleaner." Twilight smiled, closing the distance as well.

Just as they were about to kiss, there was suddenly a firm knocking at the door. Emerald sighed, the moment firmly ruined, and Twilight rolled her eyes in annoyance. The virus was turning away to go answer it when a pair of hooves firmly grasped her head and pulled on her. An instant later, Twilight was deeply kissing Emerald for near half a minute before letting her go.

"Now you can answer the door," Twilight said slyly with a self satisfied smile.

"Yes ma'am." Emerald grinned widely before trotting to said door.

"Hello?" Emerald said as she opened the door and blinked her eyes at who was standing there. It was clearly Zecora, but she was dressed drastically different. She was wearing a kind of white and red toga-like dress made of fine silks. It hugged close to her body and didn't go far past her hind legs. On both her fore and hind legs were glimmering gold bangles. Her neck rings were different as well in that some had gems in them or had gems hanging off on crests. On her head sat a circlet, at the center of which was a carved jade figure in the form of a circle of leaves and on both sides of it were red rubies. Finally, sitting over her clothes was a wildly expansive yet hardy looking set of saddlebags. "Zecora? You're looking all dressed up."

"Yes, these are my old clothes," Zecora said casually. "May I come in?"

"Uhh... sure," Emerald said, blinking at the obvious lack of rhyming.

"I hope I am not interrupting anything, but I must confess I am here on a very grave matter," Zecora said as she entered.

"Oh, right... well things were going a bit too smoothly I suppose." Emerald sighed and closed the door behind Zecora. "If you call everyone trying to get you stuck in political mire, smooth."

"I apologize," Zecora said somberly. "I admit I have yet to repay the favor for ensuring that my move into the town was as smooth as possible."

"That's alright," Emerald said and walked for the library. "Come on, I think this is something you'd want Twilight to be involved in as well."

"Who was it, Emerald?" Twilight asked as Emerald entered the library followed closely by Zecora. "Zecora?"

"Greetings, Twilight Sparkle." Zecora nodded and gave a small smile at the sight of Twilight's bracelet, now understanding the significance of Emerald's own. "I see you were in the midst of enjoying your engagement. I apologize for intruding into your happiness."

"It's quite... alright," Twilight assured, blinking at the lack of rhyming. "You are a friend after all."

"It is that fact that makes me all the more remorseful for the burden I am about to share with you," Zecora said solemnly.

"You did say it was a grave matter," Emerald commented with a resigned look. "Well... we're listening."

"Yes... my tale begins several years ago. I was serving as the Official Mystic to the Prime Minister of Zebrica," Zecora began. "I was their expert in all things magical and potions. That is, until one day the Prime Minister starting becoming... erratic."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"He would seem incredibly disorientated at times and say things he normally wouldn't - disturbing things," Zecora said. "We had thought he had taken ill with something. I made him a potion personally and the rest of the cabinet arranged for him to get some rest. This was the exact wrong thing to do."

"Let me guess," Emerald said with a bland look. "He was now evil and had evil powers and used those powers to usurp power behind the scene while everyone thought he was getting bed rest."

"That is exactly what happened." Zecora nodded. "Those dark powers he now possessed allowed him to ensnare the minds of others. He had gone to the soldiers of Zebrica and warped their minds to his will. On the day he was to return to service, he called forth his army of thralls and took the nation in a single night. There was nothing any of us could do. Those few of us who could attempted to escape, but I was the only one."

"Zecora, that is horrible," Twilight gasped. "But why didn't you say anything?"

"I was ashamed," Zecora answered, expression a mask of guilt. "It was my duty to be the foremost expert to not only be sought for answers, but to defend my homeland against insidious dark forces. But I failed to even see an illness for what it truly was. I went into self exile and took the vow of balance, after which I eventually arrived in a small town in a country far, far away from my own. But now I can no longer keep up this exile. The longer I wallow in self pity, the longer my people suffer."

"And this is the part where you ask me for help," Emerald stated expectedly.

"Yes. If I were to return to attempt to right things myself, failure would all but certain." Zecora nodded. "I plead for your help. Please, help me save my people."

"Of course we'll help!" Twilight said immediately and then looked back at a completely unamused Emerald and raised a brow. "Right, Emerald?"

"Sure..." Emerald already had a feeling like things were going to be much more complicated than they appeared to be.

"Thank you..." Zecora said gratefully, but looked to Emerald. "But Emerald, I wish for your help with as little violence for my people as possible. The only one at fault for this evil is the darkness possessing the Prime Minister, no one else. The last thing I wish is for the day of the wedding massacre to be repeated on a nationwide scale."

"Right..." Emerald said, face hoofing with a small groan. "Well, we might as well get to planning, then. This is likely going to take a bit of work to set up something before we can even begin to get started on it."

Emerald pulled out a chair at the table and motioned for them to do the same, already feeling like no matter how well they would plan out their attack, things would go wrong in the end. Didn't mean she wasn't going to do everything she could to ensure it wouldn't.

Zecora and Twilight joined her at the table and Emerald got to work questioning Zecora about her nation.

-TBC-

AN: Alright guys, hope you all enjoyed another whole chapter of peace and quiet. But now you all finally get to start seeing some more intense spywork being done. Not to mention more political mire…

EN: Once again, I am filled with annoyance at the Eldeer. Holier than thou gits, that's what they sound like to me. And it seems like we have been given an idea as to why this book is named Spirit of Dissent. Well… two ideas. Possibly three if you're into real conspiracy theory stuff.

Emerald was sitting in a chair and looking over everyone at the table.

Belvedere, Tavish, Fenrir and Moon Dancer along with Emerald were in a dimly lit room. They each had a seat of their own and were situated around a table with a digital top depicting a map of the known world. The room also had a holographic projector installed in the ceiling to be used for briefings. The room's doors were highly insulated against sound and were tightly sealed, as were the walls, floor and ceiling.

"Welcome everyone." Emerald nodded and got up from her seat. "We've got something incredibly serious to discuss today; something that's also ultimately highly secret."

The three Diamond Dogs got serious looks on their faces and leaned forward, giving Emerald all their attention. Moon Dancer, however, suddenly looked very nervous and had an expression like she was wondering why she was here.

"Highly serious and highly secret..." Belvedere muttered. "Our very first Black Operation… isn't it?"

"Very perceptive." Emerald nodded and leaned over the table. She motioned with her hand and the map on the screen moved and zoomed to a specific spot, Zebrica. "This is Zebrica. A little over three years ago, it was a country much like Equestria in many ways, save for its lack of godly rulers and advanced industry. Very suddenly it went dark, cutting off all interaction with the wider world. No one knew the reason why and the only Zebra in an official station outside of the nation wasn't talking, so everyone assumed the Prime Minister simply became a tyrant. If only it were so simple..."

"Evil powers!" Tavish declared with a thump of his fist on the table. "A thousand bits says evil powers!"

"Fool's wager," Fenrir stated with certainty.

"You are correct. Something dark had possessed the Prime Minister," Emerald replied, to which Tavish raised his arms victoriously over his head. "The Zebricans assumed the Prime Minister had come down with something and sent him home for bed rest. The Prime Minister took the opportunity to warp the minds of his country's soldiers, and when he returned he initiated a coup and took the country in a single night."

"Who told you this?" Belevedere asked as he stared down at the map in thought.

"A zebra named Zecora," Emerald answered. "Turns out she was a political refugee rather than a foreign traveler. She spent three years in exile in Ponyville before deciding to speak up and do something about her nation. She also asked us not to make a repeat of the royal wedding with the Changelings on a national scale, which ultimately I agree with considering the aftereffects of the the wedding massacre."

"So we going in all sneaky like?" Tavish said before nodding in approval. "Didn't like the mess in Canterlot either, lass. Would like to avoid doing the same to a brainwashed army."

"The Warhounds would appreciate avoiding being put in a bloodbath like that again," Belvedere stated in agreement.

"Hmmm... why is she here?" Fenrir asked, pointing a clawed finger towards Moon Dancer who looked relieved at someone else asking the question.

"Because I intend to put several technologies on the fast track to development and field deployment," Emerald answered, looking directly at the pony in question. "Moon Dancer is heavily involved in the technological development we have going around here and she isn't the least bit slow. She would know something was going on when several, very war-focused pieces of tech gets the boot up to the head of the queue."

"Oh..." Moon Dancer said, looking briefly in dismay with her own intelligence before firmly shaking it off. She looked down at the map with a frown before looking back up at Emerald. "So what is the first step here?"

"We know nothing," Emerald stated, pointing at the image of Zebrica. "The first step is purely information gathering. We need to know what exactly we are dealing with to some extent before we can properly make a plan of action. And the more we know, the more likely it becomes we can end this in one single move and even possibly keep all knowledge we were in any way involved out of public knowledge."

"The first official unofficial deployment of the neochangelings, then?" Belvedere stated.

"Yes. Here is what I plan," Emerald said and pointed up to the ceiling where the holoprojector activated and a lifelike replication of a sleek satellite appeared in midair. "The neochangelings can share information with one another as they learn it, but they still need to convey that information to us in turn. To make things more convenient for all of us, all members of the operation will be each equipped with a communicator, which is then connected to a network of satellites I shall be putting up into orbit. This shall both allow the team on the ground to share intel they've learned and simply keep in constant contact in case something comes up and the only help they could get is from a non-neochangeling.

The satellite disappeared and in its place was a solely rotating figure of a neochangling wearing a suit of bioarmor much like the Warhounds wore, along with a cloak hanging in the air next to it. Suddenly the textures of the armor and the cloak started changing, mimicking the appearance of several kinds of surfaces.

"Not only will the neochanglings be getting some field practice in the badlands and jungles to the south to get them prepared for Zebrica's own jungles and savannahs," Emerald continued. "But they'll be further equipped with a suit of bioarmor specially designed for stealth. It won't boost their strength much compared to the armor the Warhounds and Direwolves wear, but in combination with their own infiltration training, they'll be able to hide in the open."

The hologram changed again, this time showing a ship that was like the ironclads that were so close to being complete, but it was much sleeker, completely covered in angular plating and didn't carry much in the way of obvious weapons; it also seemed to be plated in the material that the bioarmor was made of. A moment later and the ship's textures changed to mimic a blue sky before changing again to look like a cloud followed by a sudden dispersal of mist and fog from several small ports all over the ship.

"This will be the mobile command center and home base for the operation team," Emerald explained.

"A ship that can hide?" Fenrir asked as Tavish gave an impressed whistle.

"Yes. It's the very first of it's kind," Emerald said and pointed at the ship. In response, the ship split in half and the internals of the ship were shown with a specific area now glowing. "These rooms are the Control and Field Command Center of the ship along with adjacent sleeping quarters. This is the engine room combined with a damage control center. Much of the ship's structure, if not all, will be biological so in the case of damage, the operator of this station can prioritize specific areas. This is the mess hall. Notice the large machinery in place of any kitchen? It will act as a food processor for the crew and any other forces on board, generating meat fruit, preparing the fruit in various fashions and dispensing it. It can also dispense scentless field rations. This large area at the bottom of the ship is the deployment area and the armory; the machine in this room can fabricate arms and ammo and even armor if needs must. As you likely noticed, the ship doesn't carry much in the way of armament. There are four heavy machine gun turrets placed atop and beneath the ship, two much heavier cannons on the sponsons and finally a compartment along the bottom to release bombs."

"Uhh..." Moon Dancer raised her hoof. "Isn't this supposed to be stealthy?"

"Better to have and not need than to need and not have," Belvedere said simply, "Besides, this loadout is nothing compared to what the ironclads carry."

"Right, of course..." Moon Dancer said, deciding to not air her opinion of the absolutely bristling arsenal the ironclads had. "Uh, question? Why can't you just go deal with this yourself? I think you are the most powerful being in the world. I doubt whatever dark power is in Zebrica can fight you on equal terms or it would likely be leading a conquering charge into other lands instead of simply becoming isolationist."

"It would be rather heroic, wouldn't it, to go charging in to rid the country of evil?" Emerald stated simply with crossed arms, falling back into her chair and reclining back.

"And foolishly naive," Belvedere scoffed, causing Moon Dancer to frown at him.

"As easy as it would be for me to just teleport right over and raise hell, there are a few problems with that plan..." Emerald began, raising a placating hand towards Belvedere. "Foremost is the fact I have no idea what I'm dealing with other than it's a dark entity that can possess people and mind control others. There is no telling what other abilities it could have. What if I am unable to force it to leave the Prime Minister and I end up killing both?"

"Oh..." Moon Dancer flinched at that.

"Not to mention the potential problem that the mind control might not be released upon the entity's defeat," Emerald continued. "Which would end with all the likely brainwashed politicians immediately telling the League how I just appeared in their country and murdered their leader for no reason. My only defense against that would be Zecora, who no doubt would be declared a political fugitive by Zebrica which would look even worse."

"Okay I get it, it was a bad suggestion." Moon Dancer sighed.

"It's not that. You honestly should understand my reasons for doing things the way I do," Emerald replied. "Along with the previously mentioned issues, I still have other issues and problems here. My backed up schedule isn't getting any smaller by ignoring it, and doing so would likely end up bringing attention we wouldn't want currently."

"You can rely on us to run the operation in your stead while you distract the world at large," Belvedere said, the other dogs nodding in firm agreement.

"Good. Let's work out some details about the insertion into Zebrica before we break for today," Emerald said and stood back up, facing Moon Dancer she said. "You and I will go over the technologies important to the operation after we break."

"Right, of course." The unicorn nodded and got out a pen and paper to start writing down some notes.

ALPHA

"After you help Spike clean the kitchen, I want you to clean up the living room as well," Twilight told Navi. "You keep leaving your games and things lying around, sweetie."

"Sorry, Papa..." Navi said with downtrodden look.

"It's okay, honey. I know you get so preoccupied when you are having fun," Twilight said reassuringly, patting the small virus's head with her hoof. "You just have to remember to make it part of your routine to clean up after yourself. It won't take you long at all."

"Okay, Papa!" Navi smiled up at Twilight. "I'm going to go help uncle now."

Twilight smiled after the little filly before frowning in thought and walking to the library. Upon arriving to the room, she walked over to a table that was currently covered with open books and papers covered in equations and personal thoughts.

'Emerald knows a lot about infiltration and being stealthy, I need to prepare a lot if I don't want to get in the way,' Twilight thought as she studied a number of spells she was putting together. 'Zebra's don't have unicorns so if I want to make a disguise as good as possible it would be best to just shapeshift into a normal zebra, though that does leave me with the issue of magic. Good thing I've been practicing hornless magic!'

Twilight had been preparing for helping Zecora even since she had first asked. Twilight knew that this task would require a goodly bit of stealth and infiltration in order to ensure open combat remained at an absolute minimum, so she began creating several spells for staying hidden.

'So a zebra transformation should be able to get me into the vast majority of public areas without much issue,' Twilight hummed in thought. 'But that likely won't work in more secure areas, or at least in a more appropriate form I won't know the right thing to say if questioned. I've got a scent neutralizer as well as a sound muffling spell. I've also prepared a number of conjuration spells for the "cardboard box" method... hmm, I think the biggest thing I need to work on currently is decreasing the amount of flash my magic generates like Emerald has been doing.'

Twilight was going to be involved in the strike that would hopefully end the tyranny in Zebrica before any real fighting would occur. She was aware there was going to be a lot of information gathering work beforehand for the strike to happen, but was more than content to let Emerald handle that part as this was clearly her expertise. That didn't mean she wasn't going to completely stay out of that part, however. She wanted to do right by Zecora and that meant making sure Emerald didn't decide that a few lives here and there were well worth getting to the threat sooner.

'I mean I fully understand that sometimes you just get caught and the only option is to do anything you can to escape or let yourself be captured,' Twilight thought with a sigh. 'But I'd rather Emerald didn't allow for using lethal force to make getting into places a bit easier. I know it makes it harder on us, but sometimes you just have to choose between what is easy and what is right.None of these zebra are willingly involved with whatever has taken over the Prime Minister. It would be just horrible to save the country only for some family of soldier zebras to be told that their loved ones died mysteriously.'

Twilight knew that she could easily back away from this and Emerald wouldn't think any less of her. She could simply remain in Equestria while Emerald slowly but surely gathered info to make the decapitating strike. They may be acting for a righteous cause - to remove a dark tyrannical entity from tormenting a whole country - but it was still invading and violating the laws of another country and if they were caught with as little proof as they had... the consequences were terrible to think about.

'Emerald and Equestria could get in so much trouble if we get caught before we have any proof or manage to get rid of the entity,' Twilight thought worriedly. 'This isn't the first time we faced severe consequences if we failed, but this feels different... this is the first time we are acting offensively instead of reacting to an attack on us by another force. And speaking of reacting...'

The young alicorn's thoughts drifted to her friends. They've been together through some exciting and terrible times and she felt it wouldn't be right if she didn't include them in this. They've been doing a lot of work excitedly preparing for her wedding with Emerald in the near future. Currently they were all in town; Applejack had been mailing extended family to get a lot of fresh produce prepared in advance, Fluttershy had been going over many kinds of flower arrangements and decorations for the venue, Pinkie Pie had been mailing letters for days and also helping Fluttershy plan out decorations, Rainbow Dash had been busy convincing Spitfire to be open to putting on a show for the wedding and Rarity had just returned from a tour around Equestria studying dress styles.

"Spike!" Twilight called out.

"Yes?" Spike said, arriving after a few moments.

"I need to send my friends some messages," Twilight said as she quickly wrote out small requests for her friends to come see her about something extremely important. "Could you send them for me?"

"Of course!" Spike said and gathered up the messages when Twilight was done with them and set them aflame, their glittering smoke rushing out an open window.

"Thank you, Spike." Twilight smiled at the little dragon. "You can go back to what you were doing now."

"No problem," Spike waved off and walked away.

Twilight continued to sit at her table, straightening out her papers and collecting herself. It didn't take long at all for the girls to arrive. Almost twenty minutes after she sent out the messages, she heard a clamor coming from the front door.

"Howdy, Twi!" Applejack shouted as she burst through the library door. "I got your message!"

"Oh darling, is it about the wedding?" Rarity asked worriedly as she trotted over to Twilight, the other mares pouring in behind her. "Are you... having second thoughts? Oh, is the wedding going to be called off?! PLEASE SAY IT ISN'T SO!"

"Rarity... n-need to breathe..." Twilight gasped out as Rarity pounced on her, desperately hugging her tightly and beginning to bawl her eyes out.

"Come on, Rarity. Let her talk first before you go crazy!" Rainbow Dash said as she and Applejack pried the frantic unicorn off Twilight.

"Oh... I apologize, darling," Rarity said as she quickly dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. "I just feel very strongly about your upcoming engagement."

"It's alright, Rarity," Twilight replied, clearing her throat. "What I want to talk about doesn't have anything to do with the wedding. It's much more serious... and dangerous."

"Dangerous, huh?" Rainbow said with a tilt of her head. "Whelp, this year is definitely going to be about as calm as the last one."

"Please don't say that," Fluttershy said anxiously. "Equestria almost got blown up last year."

Pinkie suddenly got a blank look on her face, her mane starting to slowly deflate as her eyes glazed over. Suddenly she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before shaking her head and returning her mane to its usual curly state.

"Jus' tell us who the baddy is this time, sugarcube," Applejack said confidently. "We'll help ya whoop 'em!"

"Quite possibly the whole country of Zebrica." Twilight replied.

There was a short moment of silence as everyone stared at Twilight a moment and blinked.

"Well… a whole country, huh?" Rainbow said blandly before shrugging. "Eh, we'll beat them all."

"Hnnn. Maybe you should give us some more details before we go on a six pony assault against an entire country, Twilight dear," Rarity said lightly.

"Zecora came to me and Emerald the other day with a story about how she was actually a political refugee from Zebrica," Twilight began and started to glance over her notes. "She told us she had been the leading expert on magic to the local government when their Prime Minister was possessed by some dark force. The Prime Minister used his dark powers to enslave the minds of the Zebrican army and took the country in a single night with Zecora the only one to escape. She wants our help in saving her people and her country."

"No prob!" Rainbow Dash said with a dismissive wave of a hoof. "This is just a redux of the whole Crystal Empire thing."

"It's not so simple," Twilight explained. "Unlike the Crystal Empire, Zebrica is an active political entity in the League and the Prime Minster has a stranglehold on information and the populace. If we just walked in, we very likely would meet with people willing to help us but local law enforcement and the army definitely wouldn't. Our presence would be seen as a violation of Zebrica's closed borders. Maybe if we were just some random ponies with no presence in world politics, we'd be just kicked out, but..."

"As famed Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, we have direct connections with the princesses." Rarity hummed in thought. "They would both try to capture us and report us to the League of Nations."

"Yes," Twilight nodded. "Plus there is the fact we do not know if the mind control will be released if we defeat the entity possessing the Prime Minister."

"So what's the plan, Twi?" Applejack asked. "You gotta have something..."

"Well, since none of us have any real experience with spy work, Emerald is going to handle the initial information gathering," Twilight answered. "Once that's done and we've got a clear idea of what we're dealing with and how to handle it, all of us will be going in."

"So basically, we get to skip all the boring stuff and just go straight for the climactic battle," Rainbow Dash stated before nodding approvingly. "Alright, I'm down with that."

"Hopefully not too climatic, but yes, that's the gist of it." Twilight nodded.

"I don't know," Applejack said with a shake of her head. "Don't feel right to not let others do the hard work."

"Considering we likely have to deal with a powerful evil entity ourselves, I feel like the people Emerald will be getting to do the spy work have the easy job," Twilight remarked.

"Wait, Emerald ain't doing the sneaky stuff herself?" Rainbow asked.

"Despite the range of her teleport, Emerald can only do so much in a day," Twilight answered. "She's delegating the work to some of her people."

"Well... guess it's a matter of waitin till everything's ready to go," Applejack said. "Zebrica... never been that far out of Equestria before."

"Yes, and from what I've been going over Zebrica is a very different place from Equestria," Twilight said with a wave to her papers. "I suggest we get started on learning as much as we can together so we don't stick out when we go in ourselves."

"Awww, really?!" Rainbow Dash protested as they walked closer to Twilight's desk. "We gotta study? Why does all the cool stuff always have book work..."

With a small mumble of discontent, Rainbow joined the others at the desk.

BETA

Sunset Shimmer sat in an armchair sipping some tea.

The unicorn was currently in one of the many sitting rooms scattered throughout the palace. She was with Taleena and being given some more political lessons. All her previous lessons had been entirely on keeping composure and trying to read between the lines or giving answers without clearly answering. Currently Taleena had moved on to the next subject, namely identifying suspicious and untrustworthy individuals.

"It is a fact that those in unearned stations of power often feel like they are ready for more, that they are entitled to more," Taleena said, sitting on an armchair facing Sunset Shimmer and holding up a dainty hoof. "They hoard power and gather ever more of it. They manipulate others and cajole them using their wants and desires for it. They tend to be young... but can be older."

"Ohh..." Sunset said, tilting her head in interest.

"Yes indeed. Such individuals often do this in spite of the mistakes their youth might lead them to make," Taleena lectured solemnly with a nod. "Their pride can be most dangerous of all, imbuing them with a dangerous foolhardiness. They ignore all words of wisdom from their rightful betters and elders if they do not coincide with their own, believing that they know best above all."

"How does that kind of person stay in power?" Sunset asked. "Wouldn't their mistakes start to wear on their subjects?"

"Normally that would be true but such people are careful to cultivate a cult of personality and place trusted close allies and friends in positions of power," Taleena replied. "That way they could explain away such missteps as things beyond anyone's control or of an enemy's fault, and if anyone were to not buy into this explanation, their allies in their cabinet would be able to suppress it."

"Wow that sounds-" Sunset began.

"Like you have a specific person in mind," interrupted a familiar voice.

"Huh?" Sunset looked up behind her and gasped. "Emerald!"

"Yeah, hello," Emerald said and flicked the tip of Sunset's horn.

"Ack!" Sunset squinted her eyes and reached up with both of her forelegs to place her hooves against her horn. It wasn't that it hurt but more that it felt really weird.

Emerald walked around the couch Sunset was sitting in and quickly made her way towards Taleena. She came to a stop before the rather surprised looking doe, crossing her arms and staring with an expression that seethed with impatience. The silence seemed to drag on forever until finally Emerald spoke.

"You know, I gave you a date," Emerald said softly, the corners of her mouth turning downwards slightly. "A promised time and place you and I could talk at. I know I've been developing a reputation for throwing off my whole schedule, but those have only been one or two days at most. You don't have to go and do all this back room dealing to get my attention and skip the line."

"I've-" Taleena began with a steady voice.

"For what could be you, getting together a little club of my dearest admirers and teaching a friend to be suspicious of me, be but a call for attention?" Emerald said then suddenly leaned forward. She placed her hands on the armrests of the chair and put her face close to Taleena's, her blank gaze seeming to burrow into Taleena's eyes. "So... you've got my attention now. Talk."

Taleena didn't reply. She simply sat there frozen, wide eyed and transfixed with Emerald's gaze. The virus' expression shifted from impatience to irritation and after a moment she pulled away from the doe with a scoff. She started making for the door, motioning with her hand for Sunset to follow.

"Wait until your turn is up next time," Emerald said gruffly, holding the door open for Sunset.

"... of course," Taleena said softly as Emerald closed the door.

"Did you see that?" Taleena mentally asked her Eldeer spirit companions.

"No.There is only so much we can do and see as we are now," one of them replied. "But we most certainly felt it."

"That felt like a vision.What was it?" asked another.

"I saw..." Taleena closed her eyes as she focused on recollecting what had just happened. She saw Emerald's face in her mind's eye, so close and found herself drawn to her eyes so very the color of her namesake. She felt like she was falling into them, sinking rapidly into abyssal depths and then there was a light... a light so blindingly bright and intense she could feel like her mind was being broiled. "Fire."

"Ummm, Emerald?" Sunset asked as she followed the virus. "Where are we going?"

"Just somewhere private to talk," Emerald said and opened another door leading to an empty sitting room with a balcony. "So... how are you getting used to normal ol' mundane life again?"

"Well..." Sunset began as she followed Emerald out onto the balcony. "I think I am doing well... Princess Celestia is giving me some time to settle in and I've... u-uhhh, I've..."

Sunset stuttered to a stop as Emerald slowly turned her head to give her a completely disbelieving stare. There was a long moment of silence before Sunset broke.

"OK!" Sunset shouted, eyes closed tightly shut as she averted her head towards the floor. "I'm having a horrible time! Everyone forgot me! Celestia is just acting like everything is fine and it's back to like before and... I've been having these panic attacks."

"I just... I just feel like I don't deserve this second chance at a life I threw away..." Sunset continued softly as Emerald remained silent and stared out over Canterlot. "After all the lives I ruined... all the innocents I murdered for a chance at power and revenge and ultimately... to prove it was all for something. But here I am, the only ponies giving me anything approaching a hard time are those that were around when I ran away and the rest just... don't remember and don't really care."

Sunset stopped talking and the only noise was the faint noise of Canterlot before them, its people moving, living and simply going about their day. The silence dragged on for so long the unicorn thought Emerald was simply going to not acknowledge what she said.

"When I first arrived in Equestria, the only thing I cared about was myself," Emerald said suddenly. "I had very nearly murdered a pony who would later become my friend simply because I found it convenient. And when I arrived in Ponyville I faked being friends with Twilight and in fact... had nearly decided to murder her as well."

Sunset Shimmer rested her head on the railing of the balcony, simply listening passively to Emerald's words, her interest peaked at the similarities she could begin to see.

"I had done a lot of things in name of necessity before arriving here," Emerald continued. "I've murdered people, framed innocent people to take the fall for crimes that would get them locked away for the rest of their life and worked tirelessly to ensure the continued rule of a monster."

"I pretended to be friends with the ponies of Ponyville for nearly a year," Emerald explained with a sigh, turning around and leaning back against the railing and resting her arms on the banister. "During that entire time I thought myself as an enemy of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. I always hoped something would go horribly wrong whenever they went on one of their adventures and do the work for me. Then suddenly the mask I wore, Emerald Gleaner, started becoming less and less of a mask and I allowed more of my true personality to bleed through. And then finally I could no longer completely hide the truth and ended up being exposed to Twilight. She didn't completely accept me at first, but eventually we not only rekindled our friendship but became something more. I won't say I became a better person over night, but having her and their friendship made it possible for me to really start changing for the better."

"... How do you deal with the guilt?" Sunset asked quietly. "How do you forgive yourself for doing what you did?"

"If you are anything like me..." Emerald began. "Then you will never forgive yourself."

Sunset turned her head suddenly, her eyes wide and the turmoil she was feeling clear for all to see.

"The day when you forgive yourself for the pain you have caused will never come," Emerald continued softly. "Others may forgive you, but honestly it's more about them than it is you. It's one thing to convince yourself you've forgiven someone. It's an entirely different scenario when that someone is you. You and I, we've caused the deaths of hundreds of innocents. That is always going to follow us no matter what we do or accomplish in life... even if only because we are reminding ourselves of what we did."

"How do you go on?" Sunset asked, once again resting her head on the banister, her eyes tearing up.

"You find a reason," Emerald answered. "You find that reason and you hang on for dear life. You hang on as tightly as you can and you fight like a wild animal to keep it against any who would take it from you. And until you find that reason, you will likely only get worse and worse. A guilty mind with nothing to preoccupy it is a terrible thing to behold."

A comfortable silence settled over the two, Emerald continuing to lean back on the railing while Sunset now had a deeply thoughtful expression on her face. This lasted for nearly ten minutes before Emerald sighed and stood up straight.

"You know, you really should have a serious talk with Celestia about this," Emerald said to the unicorn. "She has never said it, but it's clear to me she likes to think of her students as her surrogate children and cares deeply about you. And being kept busy with lessons you never got to finish or start will do you a lot of good until you find that reason to drive you."

"...Okay," Sunset nodded after a moment. "I'll do that."

"Good, and..." Emerald said as she started to walk away. "Do be a bit more careful about who you make friends with in politics. A single kind word to the wrong person can give off all the wrong signals in this stupid game."

"I know that now," Sunset replied, still staring over the city. "Thank you for coming to see me, Emerald."

"No problem."

GAMMA

It was a peaceful day in an utterly wild valley, untouched by civilization. The sun shone down brightly on the heavily wooded valley and large puffy cloud floated serenely across the sky.

Suddenly, one of the clouds in the sky seemed to convulse and twist. It grew out rapidly and turned black as a stormcloud. The newly formed stormcloud suddenly scattered into hundreds of smaller parts. Each new separate part shot towards the earth like meteors, and as they approached the ground the little clouds seemed to be blown away to reveal churning winds in the shapes of horses.

The windigoes rapidly combined together into a powerful stampede as they rushed over the valley surface, nickering and leaving ice cold winds and snow in their wake. They charged heedless of birds freezing solid mid-flight and crashing to the forest floor, of trees being near completely covered in frost. They cared not for they have a goal and destination in mind and would stop for nothing else.

After carving a many miles long path of ice and snow through the verdant vale, the windigoes arrived into a widening in the valley that had a lake dominating its heart before leading out into a delta that fed into the sea. Above this lake was a collection of dark storm clouds that seemed attracted to this lake specifically, and out of the clouds came a steady stream of lightning striking the lake.

The stampede whinnied deafeningly as one before charging the storm cloud. They spread out and started circling the cloud rapidly, several members of the stampede seeming to dart through the cloud formation every now and then. At first, nothing seemed to happen, but eventually the storm cloud started to take a shape and the lighting strikes grew fewer. After the course of a few minutes, the stampede carefully shaped the cloud into the form of a massive shell like that of a nautilus.

Suddenly lightning surged throughout the stormcloud and it gained finer details, causing the stampede to scatter. Dozens, possibly hundreds, of tentacles reached out from the cloud nautilus as its eyes glowed and crackled with lightning. The tentacles suddenly reached out and there was a low drone as the sky became overcast with dark, angry stormclouds in moments. After a moment of silence, the skies came crashing down in a sea of noise, light and explosion.

The storm nautilus faded away, leaving the valley a scorched, flaming wasteland with a noticeably lower lake. The windigo stampede soon followed suit, scattering to the four winds and fading away... only to appear many, many miles away.

In the deep, rainy jungles of the south, the windigo stampede exploded forth from another cloud. They gathered together before following one river among a vast network that seemed to stretch the whole jungle. They followed this river, freezing tropical birds mid flight and leaving a layer of ice over the surface.

Eventually the river led into the center of a vast city surrounding a lake that sat at the heart of a network of rivers. The stampede continued charging forward, heedless of the populated area they were about to enter. Shouts of shock and fear filled the air as the stampede charged through the crowded river way. Llamas scattered off the river banks, those on small river boats dived off them in an attempt to avoid the stampede only for most to be caught in quickly forming ice.

The stampede continued their charge until they reached the lake at the very center of the city, then they lifted off and aimed for a large glittering palace sitting atop a small plateau. Before the stampede crashed into the palace, they quickly dived down towards the plateau it sat upon.

At the base of the plateau was a network of tunnels leading down into deep, unplotted depths with those near the surface being utilized and built into. The stampede charged down one of these tunnels. Like a tornado being forced through a common water pipe, their passage caused havoc and destruction. The stampede remained together, charging through a long series of tunnels before it suddenly scattered, seemingly randomly going through any opening and passage that were available.

Back on the surface, chaos was rapidly spreading as a fearful populace struggled to understand what had just charged through their city when the ground started to shake. The entirety of the city started to shake and rumble, buildings collapsing as the city experienced its first earthquake in countless generations. Suddenly the plateau the city palace sat upon seemed to shake noticeably before it started to rise.

Up and up the plateau rose, the buildings upon it rapidly crumbling apart as the ground beneath them moved and shifted like flesh. Eventually, a recognizable shape formed; a mountain sized grizzly bear made of rock and raw ore standing on its hind legs. The great bear opened its massive maw and gave a great yawn before falling back onto its hind quarters with an earth shaking crash. There was a rumble like that of a hungry stomach before the bear gave a burp, expelling the windigos from his body as they shot from his mouth. The bear yawned again, bringing up both of his paws to rub at his eyes before his form suddenly started to crumble away into a landslide that started to devastate the surrounding cityscape.

Once more the stampede faded away into the sky.

The windigos appeared many leagues away in a much less populated region. Barren, rocky ground stretched as far as the eye could see, which wasn't terribly far due to an abundance of mist. The presence of the windigos disturbed the mist and much of it blew away, revealing a vast, rocky plain dotted with geysers which blew forth boiling water and steam every minute or so.

The stampede rushed over to the area that seemed to be the center of the formation of geysers where they were thickest. The windigos suddenly combined together, forming a cyclone that proceeded to dig into the earth. The cyclone sent tons of earth flying through the air as it rapidly drilled through the earth. If one were to watch from above they would see that the windigos were cutting out an outline of a great bird into the earth.

Just as the windigos finished cutting the outline, the geysers suddenly started all erupting at once, and instead of boiling water was shooting out purely steam. The ground rapidly turned molten as the cyclone morphed back into the stampede and they scattered. Explosions of steam rent the earth all over the landscape as the outline of the bird turned into a small lake of lava.

Then with a flash of light and an unquestionably majestic motion, a great swan of flames burst forth from the newly made lava lake. It took to the air, a massive haze of heat surrounding it. It had a body of flames but its tail and wing feathers turned blue. Near its head, the flames turned blue as well before it swiftly shifted to pure white hot flames on its beak.

The great swan flew great circles around the area, sometimes soaring close to the ground and making the ground broil and begin to melt. Then it soared into the air before its body rapidly dissipated, an act followed closely by the windigos.

Once more the stampede burst forth from a cloud, this time in the far frigid north. They descended from the skies towards icy oceans dotted with free floating ice floes. They soared forward towards a massive glacial wall in the distance. As they neared the wall, they once again formed the cyclone and it drilled into the wall.

The cyclone seemed to act as a massive chisel as it sent clouds of ice flying and large chunks of glacier crashing into the ocean. It cut deep into the ice, but ultimately was forming a figure out of it. Before long, a serpent-like shape appeared, the area where its eyes would have been glowed.

The cyclone scattered into its individual parts as the massive ice statue it carved came to life with a ferocious roar. It was a being made of flowing, foaming water and frozen ice, and when it awoke it added more length to its already massive body before bursting forth from the glacial wall. Its movements shook miles of glacier, causing massive sheets to flake off and crash into the ocean and creating massive waves.

The serpent gave one last roar before it slipped into the depths and out of sight, the windigos following closely after.

On the opposite side of reality, in the Spirit Realm, four great spirits had gathered together, facing one another in a circle. The first was the windigo in the shape of a nautilus, the Spirit of the Joyful Storm Reprisal. The second was the bear jotun, the Spirit of Resolute Stone, Adamant. The third was the swan ifrit, the Spirit of the Lordly Flame, Sanctity. And finally the great wym hippocampus, the Spirit of the Eternal Sea, Endless.

The four great spirits remained silently watching one another until another being suddenly came into existence. A great stampede of windigos appeared out of the ether of the Spiritual Realm. They charged towards the gathering of great spirits before they suddenly gathered together into one massive horse shaped mass of wind with a naturally angry looking face.

"Arbiter," Endless said with a respectful nod to the windigo. "My thanks to you for awakening I and our brethren."

"It was a pleasure to undo this injustice," Replied the Spirit of the Worthy Cold.

"And what unseemly injustice it was!" spoke Sanctity melodramatically, holding a flaming wing to his head. "I awoke to find myself beneath the ground! To think some villain had cast me into the impure dirt!"

"That part wasn't so bad." Adamant replied with a great shrug of her shoulders. "But the fact that we had been put to sleep, and by mortals no less. There must be something greater at work behind it. They could not possibly have not known how to commit this transgression otherwise."

"I don't know how it could happen, but it shall be a treat to convince them to tell us!" Reprisal stated giddily, her many tentacles spasming and sparking with lightning.

"There shall be time aplenty to find our answers," Endless stated imperiously. "But first is our vengeance."

"Yeeeeeeeessss," Arbiter said eagerly, his freezing winds kicking up about him fiercely.

"Restrain yourselves for a time yet," Endless commanded his fellows. "We most focus our efforts on awakening our brothers and sisters, and to do so with absolute silence. For if the power that had forced us to slumber is still around, surely they shall act to cast their treachery once more.

"Yes. We shall be nothing more then a voice on the wind," Reprisal promised with an agreeing nod from Arbiter as they faded from sight.

"A rumble in the earth," added Adamant as she followed.

"A trick of the light," Sanctity swore as he disappeared.

"A ripple among the waves," Endless added himself before he too faded.

Soon there was nothing in the Spiritual Realm once more, save for the sleepy light of sprites filling in the empty space vacated by the great spirits. Sprites that seemed to grow more and more energetic with each passing moment.

DELTA

Villja stared with clear unhappiness.

The now ruling Princess of the Stormclaw clan of the Griffin Principalities was currently in her Clan Keep sitting in the heart of their Great Hold atop an equally grand mountain top. She was sitting inside a meeting room, the grand interior with a great table dominating the center and the walls lined with tapestry telling the histories of her Clan that, while definitely impressive, lost some grandeur in the absence of a full hall. And the hall was definitely mostly empty with only two griffins at the table and the entrance barred against all entry by trusted guards outside.

"I do not want to hear fatalist sentiment," Villja said gruffly as continued to stare down the sole other occupant of the hall. "Especially coming from my own strategist. Consider me deeply disappointed."

"My lady Villja, please," huffed a male griffin named Gustavus. He wore spectacles and was a brown furred and feathered griffin, wearing a black doublet. "I just cannot see a realistic approach to this enemy with just what we currently know."

"We shall be gathering more information as we work towards the ultimate goal," Villja waved off dismissively.

"But that's the thing!" the strategist said in dismay as he looked down at the table top before him covered with scrolls filled with writing and drawings. "Even with just what we know, planning anything approaching a conventional assault seems doomed to failure."

"Then tell me why you believe so," Villja growled out, struggling to hold in her anger.

"First off, their 'conventional' weapons," Gustav began, waving to a drawing of a gun. "Our biggest advantage is the fact we are all accomplished warriors who can fly. This ONE weapon removes both of those advantages. Bows and crossbows were always a threat but they could never be fired as fast as this, or their arrows fly so straight and fast, or even this powerfully. This weapon goes far beyond being an equalizer as much as it turns the odds so obscenely around. Our knights could be the fastest and the most skilled the kingdom, but this weapon cares not and will defeat them just the same in the hands of those with only a few days of training."

"...Go on," Villja said after a moment, the determination in her eyes burning just as powerfully as before but now she looked thoughtful.

"Next is their armor," Gustav continued with some hope he was talking some sense into his leader. "I've seen mention that they've upgraded to a more potent set but even the previous generation of armor is a formidable defense. Dragons have always been an incredibly durable and dangerous foe. With sets of armor being made of their scales, I'd imagine a Warhound being capable of withstanding the kind of hits our armor would just crumple before. I can only imagine just what the new generation of armor must be capable of for them to abandon dragon scale so completely in favor of it."

"Third are their war beasts." A scuffle of the papers brought up sketches of a raptor. "Whether they were natural inhabitants of Everfree or some kind of terrible lab experiment brought to life matters not in the end. Their scales appear to be as hard as a dragon's and possess the breath of one. Their claws and teeth are sharper than any blade and they are intelligent enough come up with plans of attack to more effectively utilize all these attributes."

"Finally, there is the position of the Enclave itself," the strategist stated with a sigh, waving at a map of Equestria. "It sits in the very heart of Equestria, so we'd either have to fight them as well or gain their cooperation. Even if that obstacle is overcome, we have the forest itself to deal with. It was always an untamable and dangerous wilderness, but the Enclave seems to have figured out how to make it their home. We would have three routes of approach, all of them terrible. To go into the tunnels would be to surrender all advantages to the Warhounds. To take a land route would mean enduring the forest and ambush after ambush from the Enclave itself. Finally, to simply take to the sky would mean letting the Warhounds have the cover of the canopy and allowing them to pick us off at their leisure."

"With just what we know, all I see is futile strategies to employ against the Enclave, holding actions at best," finished the griffin, removing his spectacles and rubbing his eyes. "And all that is not even getting into what the Enclave's allies would do in reaction."

"You say they would remain loyal to the beast despite any exposure of her true nature," Villja stated quietly, staring towards the ceiling in thought.

"I wager some would hem and haw and hesitate at aiding her after such revelation," Gustav replied, expression twisting in some discomfort at his own words. "But most would jump at the call to prove they are no fair weather friends... my lady, plenty and a full stomach after eons of fasting and careful rationing is a terrifying weapon to behold."

Villja didn't reply to that. Instead, she leaned forward with her eyes closed and clasped her talons together before her face. It almost appeared like she was praying but she was simply in deep thought over everything she was just told.

The Princess of the Stormclaws pondered over the preparations she had been quietly making ever since she discovered that her husband and daughter's murderer still lived. She had been expanding her clan's forces and the quality of their gear ever since, but after extorting resources out of the Enclave she had kicked such efforts into high gear. She had also been doing her best to convince fellow clans of doing the same to prepare them for the day they would be called to action against the beast. Already thousands more griffins had been inducted into Knighthood and geared with the best one of the most powerful clans could grant them. While being told these preparations would ultimately amount to nothing was incredibly infuriating, Villja was no fool. If one strategy simply did not work, she wasn't going to try to forge ahead regardless. Of course now was finding a different, more potent strategy to start on...

"My lady..." the strategist began hesitantly, like he wished he wasn't about to say the words he was about to utter. "It may be we have to... abandon traditional means of dealing with this foe. It may be we have to look to our history... and fall back on more archaic practices..."

"You speak of the Errantry Wars," Villja inhaled sharply.

"Lady Villja, I know it is taboo to suggest such, but... perhaps if needs must..." Gustav replied, physically looking like he was struggling to get the words out.

The Errantry Wars. It was a time before the formation of the Griffin Principalities when all the cities in the land were city states competing ruthlessly with one another. Treachery and duplicity were widespread, used just as often as common weapons as swords and maces. Cities were just as likely to suffer as horribly from hired ruffians sneaking into the city and spies and turncoats from within as from sieges and assaults. It was a horrid time when one couldn't even be sure of the loyalty of family and long neighbors; it was a dark age not because no one knew of the details, but because of the dark deeds that were rampant. It was only through the long, grinding efforts of two griffins who would become legends that the Principalities as they are now would be formed. A general whose acumen for tactic and strategy was such that he would lead a nigh unstoppable campaign of subjugation across the divided lands, and a former assassin who had grown weary of the constant betrayals had sworn her loyalty and ever watchful protection of the general.

The closing days of the age forever known as the Errantry Wars was one of intense violence and deceit, like that of a cornered beast who knew it could run no more. It had left such scars upon the social mentality of the griffin peoples that they had cast off all such dark, underhanded tactics, embracing fully the ideals of knighthood and chivalry. Even now the common and lordly alike felt instant disgust for the idea of employing footpads and spies in any manner or using the tactics they would.

"You...!" Villja raised her voice in almost instinctual anger before stopping. The Princess had to admit that attacking Emerald directly even after declaring her crimes with proof to her words would be counterproductive at best. The desire for vengeance was overpowering and she almost gave in to Gustav's idea. Almost.

"No. We will not let our quarry force us to drop to its level," Villja said firmly, telling herself that as much as she was telling Gustav who was giving an almost relieved nod. "But clearly the strategy as it is, is flawed. Perhaps we just need a few other viewpoints..."

"Hmmm... I've heard of a new power bloc being formed to counter the Enclave's rapid ascent," Gustav said. "They've not really managed anything yet, but it's early."

"Hmm, I've heard of them as well, in fact," Villja began. "I've heard that one of their number, a heron, was trying to raise a fuss over in the Republic. He was claiming Emerald had stolen knowledge precious to the Republic. What was his name... ah."

"Tsau Kang."

EPSILON

Emerald stood in her formal clothes among a line of other respected Enclave Alphas, taking a central place among them. Moon Dancer was present as well, though a bit in the background and looking embarrassed.

She was in a field on the surface area of the Enclave and along with her and the Alphas were hundreds of other dogs, both Warhound and civilian alike. The Warhounds were gathered in blocks as were the Direwolves in their smaller numbers. Off to the side was a large, somewhat loud, excited crowd of Diamond Dogs. The original dogs of the Enclave, being former slaves, were a practical lot and didn't care too much for frivolous things like large, official celebrations. The same couldn't be said of the immigrant dogs who pushed for the current celebration. Though it had to be said that while the native dogs of the Enclave didn't care for it, they didn't exactly resist the idea all that much.

The reason for this celebration was currently sitting in several berthing gantries in the field before them all. Five great airships, flying heavily armed ironclads ready for their maiden voyage into the sky. One ship had great big artillery guns with few other armaments and three others had more general, all-round weaponry. The fifth ship was the largest of the five and also the Flagship of the Enclave's air force. It was the Great Fox practically rebuilt from the ground up into a massive flying fortress of steel plating and bristling weapons. Each ship had a full crew trained in operating their ship along with a small accompaniment of Warhounds to act as marines.

"Moon Dancer, get up here," Emerald commanded the unicorn, who did so reluctantly, joining their line up.

"Why am I here?" Moon Dancer complained as she took up position on the stage before the crowd of Diamond Dogs. "I just did a job, made some runes and made sure if something went wrong the ships wouldn't fall too fast."

"Because without you they'd have been just sitting there until Emerald came back," Belvedere stated, standing ramrod straight with his paws at his back, his face as stony and serious as ever.

"That and it looks bloody bad having ya moping back there, lass." Tavish snorted and elbowed Moon Dancer. "So smile, would ya?"

"I'm just happy I don't have to give some damn speech," Emerald muttered loud enough for the Alphas, getting a sympathetic, annoyed huff from Belvedere and snorts of amusement from the rest.

"Captains, ready for lift off?" Belvedere asked into his headset.

"Ready, sir!" Emerald heard the reply on her own.

Belvedere gave her a thumbs up and Emerald stepped forward, raising a hand to the air and waving to the crowd. Cheers filled the air as Emerald conjured five bottles before sending them flying. With a distant crash, each bottle smashed against the hulls of the ships. A moment later each ship took to the air, soaring over the crowd as they rapidly climbed into the sky to the cheers and applause of hundreds of dogs.

"Quite the sight, isn't it?" Emerald asked aloud.

"Oh yes, with all those guns..." Moon Dancer muttered.

"Hmph, well how about this?" Emerald said, glancing over her shoulder at the unicorn. "I'll think about tooling down the military a bit if Equestria manages to avoid being devastated by something this year."

"...That can't possibly happen again, can it?" Moon Dancer asked with a frown. "How many forces in this world can there be to conspire to bring catastrophe to Equestria year after year."

"Well there's about ten and half more months to go before we know for sure," Emerald stated lightly as everyone continued to watch the Enclave's first battle group fly off into the distance.

"You are restless," Belvedere spoke, turning his face to Emerald.

"You can't visibly tell that," Emerald stated with an arched brow at her second in command.

"No," Belvedere agreed. "But I know you well enough to not need to. Go. Do what you need to do. I shall handle closing this up."

"Thank you," Emerald replied with a sigh before disappearing in a flash of light.

The virus reappeared deep below ground, specifically in the chambers she had grown the raptors and the titans. The pods containing the new creatures she was making were definitely smaller than the ones that held the titans, but noticeably bigger than the ones for the raptors.

Emerald stepped over to the center of the room and came to a stop. She closed her eyes and concentrated on each pod in the room, all one thousand of them. She channeled her energies and manipulated the makeup of the beings within and took the last few steps towards their full maturity.

"Alright," Emerald said softly. "You are ready to come out now."

Instantly each pod started shifting in place and shaking as their contents started moving. A moment later the fronts of each one were split open as they were cut from within and the being inside strode forth into the open air.

They were all tall; even the shortest of them was at least six and a half feet in height. Each one was covered in scaly skin that came in tones of dark brown, rusty red and dark gray. Their arms and legs were visibly muscled and ended in clawed hands and taloned feet. They had thick, powerful tails that were tipped with a scythe like blade and a pair of large, leathery, dragon-like wings upon their backs. Even folded as they were it was clear they would have an incredible wingspan. Their faces were fairly humanoid and all possessed noble features. They had elfin ears and at a glance appeared to have thick manes of thin dreadlocks, but in actuality these "dreadlocks" were spines instead of hair. Along with this, some of them had a set of horns or even multiple sets of various shapes and sizes. Finally, they each had slitted eyes with no irises, but their sclera varied in color from various shades of yellow to gold.

They all approached her, wrapping their large wings about them like cloaks. They surrounded her in a circle before dropping to a knee collectively. They bowed their heads respectfully towards her, for she was their creator and reason they were born.

"Progenitor," spoke one that was in front of her. Sitting upon his head was a crown of horns with two curling back and two curling forwards and down to frame his face."We are your Gargoyles. Speak to us your will."

"Uh, yeah... could you guys head up to the surface?" Emerald said, pointing a thumb over her shoulder. "I've got a few people waiting up there to get you all sorted away. Uhh... sorry about the lack of grand welcome, but I'm kind of really busy right now."

"It is of no concern," replied another gargoyle, a female with a ready, sharp-toothed grin. "We know our purpose in life, that which we were born to be. To be guardians and protectors of all that you hold dear. Does it truly matter how this comes to pass?"

"I guess with that kind of view it really doesn't." Emerald nodded, though she couldn't help but feel some anxiety. This was the first time she created a naturally intelligent being and by the end of the day they wouldn't be the last. "But please, get yourselves situated and settled in. I'll try to welcome you all properly as soon as possible."

"Of course, Progenitor," spoke the first Gargoyle again and they all rose as one and began to head for the large exit to the cavern.

'Right, one more person I have to see,' Emerald thought and teleported again.

Emerald arrived in one of her labs, a shared one with Moon Dancer with a number of the unicorn's own projects scattered about the room. She walked over to a computer that was large enough to also function as a desk and sat at it. Above this computer on the wall behind it was a large tv screen that was currently on, and on the screen was a dim blue light at its center.

The screen lit up and filled with windows full of walls of programming code, graphs and readouts for some currently running program. A tendril extended from Emerald's wrist and jacked into a socket in the computer before Emerald started to lean forward and stare intently at the screen. Windows opened and closed rapidly, each one filling with code faster than any one person could type. After a full hour of this, Emerald reached down and quickly tapped the enter key on her keyboard. This seemed to instantly shut down her computer and Emerald leaned back to stare up at the tv screen with narrowed eyes.

"Hullo!"

Emerald smiled.

-TBC-

AN: Yet another chapter out, hope you guys find this one to be more exciting and thought provoking. I know the last two chapters were fairly quiet but the ones from here on out should have a bit of action and drama to them.

EN: Cortana incoming. Just hope Emerald has fixed the rampancy problem.

The stars twinkled in the void as Emerald continued her work.

Emerald Gleaner was currently up in orbit over the world of Equus. She was placing the network of satellites that would carry various signals attuned to them. Initially it would be basic radio signals, but who knows; maybe she could upgrade them to be spy satellites capable of giving a real time updated world map and maybe even tracking entities on said map. And speaking of the world...

'Never was really high enough to get a proper view of the whole thing, or even traveled around it,' Emerald thought as she stared down at the green and blue jewel that was Equus. 'But placing a proper communication network required me to teleport all around its circumference and I've got to say... I didn't think this world was a pangaea.'

The virus had needed to place three lines of satellites orbiting the planet and over the general Equatorial area of the planet. Two to ensure there would always be a satellite in orbit and a third for redundancy. Placing this network brought Emerald around the planet three times and gave her a very good idea of the world's land masses. Equestria itself was a large island or small continent, within a great bay of the great pangaea. Lakes and rivers large enough to be seen from orbit dotted the landscape of the great continent with an inland sea or two. Along the edges of the pangaea the shore line grew jagged and uneven with hundreds if not thousands of many islands fanning out to the east and west.

'I wonder why it's that way?' Emerald thought absently as she teleported briefly back to the Enclave to grab a new satellite before porting back into orbit to place it. 'Is the planet just younger than Earth? Hmm... well it's a thought for another day, I suppose.'

"That's eighty percent of the satellites placed," Emerald heard Moon Dancer say over the radio. "Half an hour more of work and we should be done putting the network up. This was pretty quick and easy."

"Well you had me to make it easy," Emerald replied as she placed yet another satellite while creating an air filled bubble to speak in. "Typically, back on Earth you needed to launch each satellite with intervals of at least several weeks between each one, then plan in agonizing detail what you need to do to get the satellite in place and keep it in place. And then you need to do this over and over again if you want reliable coverage. Then there is the fact that sometimes a satellite will just break down and you'll have to replace it, as trying to repair it would normally be completely impractical."

"But your satellites are technically flesh and blood and can h-h-heal d-damage," Moon Dancer commented when her voice started suddenly shaking and she huffed in irritation. "Damn it... what is with all the shaking?! There hasn't been quakes here before, but suddenly it's small earthquakes at all hours of the day!"

"Yeah, that's somewhat my fault," Emerald replied as she placed another sat.

"Will the meeting you scheduled for the Enclave Command Council explain this?" Moon Dancer asked, her curiosity peaked.

"Yes. In fact, it's to introduce a new member of said council," Emerald remarked with a smirk.

"Right... we are currently eighty four percent to the completion of the network," Moon Dancer stated, doing everything she could to restrain her curiosity and wait for the meeting.

The network was eventually finished five minutes ahead of schedule and the two spent the extra time running the network through some quick tests before heading down to the meeting. As soon as the last minute ran down to the scheduled meeting, Emerald grabbed Dancer and teleported the both of them. They arrived into a large meeting room with a long table. Every Alpha with authority over events in the Enclave was there, with Belvedere, Tavish, Fenrir and Bluno taking seats closer to the seat at the head of the table. Moon Dancer took an empty seat reserved for her but Emerald remained standing, merely moving the large chair at the head of the table aside.

"Hello everyone. Good to see you all here," Emerald said conversationally as she looked down the table at the gathered faces. "I'm sure you're all curious and concerned about all the shaking recently. I've got the explanation for it, or rather know the person responsible."

Emerald then waved towards the large television screen placed on the wall behind them.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet our new resident AI, Wheatley."

With a flash of light the screen turned on, revealing a glowing blue eye with an eyelid like that of a camera iris. The iris snapped open to its furthest extent and a cheerful voice filled the air.

"Hullo, mates!" Wheatley greeted eagerly. "Sorry 'bout the shaking and whatnot, just got a lot of fantastic things on my plate I was working on."

"Greetings," Belvedere deadpanned before looking at Emerald with a raised brow. "What is an AI and, more importantly, what is his purpose?"

"An AI is an artificial intelligence, though by that definition I've already created a ton of those in the form of the Raptors, Titans and Gargoyles," Emerald explained. "What makes Wheatley different is that he lives inside the computer systems of the Enclave and has no singular body like you. Wheatley here has a number of abilities that are much like mine, in that he is capable of generating and controlling the formation of biomatter."

"You're lookin at the brand new super assistant for the whole country!" Wheatley said proudly. "My job is helping everyone out when it comes to new constructions and projects involving the use of biomatter, though that's not all I'm good at. I'm plenty smart and can give pointers on pretty much anything and everything. And if I don't actually know enough to help? Well I'm a fast learner too! I know most things Emerald knows! You know... except for the horribly traumatizing, mind warping- ah hah, sorry, off topic."

"So you are the one responsible for the shaking," Moon Dancer stated with an adjustment of her glasses. "What in the world have you been doing?"

"Building, luv!" Wheatley answered eagerly,before his eye on the screen was suddenly replaced with the image of several objects. "My main concern was making the automatic defense network Emerald has been planning. So far it's mostly fixed defensive turrets. They are all hidden in the ground and pop out when needed and there are four types. The first is a general, all-purpose turret, armed with high caliber machines guns and rockets of various yields and quantity. The rest are simply total focuses into one area; super heavy machine guns for anti-infantry, anti light vehicle and light aircraft, a high caliber canon for countering heavies and super heavies and a missile system for anti air that can act as artillery if required."

Several depictions of the turrets appeared on the screen briefly. First was a turret with a circular top that curved down. The turret had a set of miniguns along with sidelong missile launchers. Another view showed panels on the top that flipped open to reveal more missile racks. After that, another turret appeared. This one was an oversized gatling cannon that seemed to edge the line between an anti-personnel weapon and and an anti-everything. The next was a large cannon turret that wouldn't have looked out of place as a battleship's main armament. The final turret was basically a box in the ground that would open up and launch missiles at a moment's notice. One trait shared by all these weapons was that they were clearly meant to be hidden from sight underground until they popped up in an instant to unleash their firepower.

"Just about done with these fine beauties!" Wheatley stated as his eye returned to the screen. "I'm going to be doing a bunch of other stuff behind the scenes but do NOT hesitate to ask me for anything! I can multitask like you wouldn't believe."

"So you've created someone to do the things only you could do before," Belvedere commented and leaned back in his seat. "I suppose that means you are expendable now?"

"Ha," Emerald waved her hand absently in response. "Wheatley here is definitely going to allow me to restructure my daily schedule a bit. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to delegate so much of my current responsibilities I'll basically have nothing to do in the future."

"Pfft, as if!" Tavish barked out. "Only reason ya ain't as much of a workaholic as Belvedere is because ya got a family and he don't."

"Got a point there." Emerald sighed, clasping her hands behind her back and looking towards the ceiling. "I'm always going to be busy, but I want to be busy doing the things I like to do and not all this political shit."

"Was the introduction to Wheatley all there was to this meeting?" Belvedere asked as he straightened out some papers he had with him.

"Yeah. Everyone go get your stuff done," Emerald said to everyone and turned back to face the screen. "Moon Dancer, you can stick around to question Wheatley if you want."

The various Alphas got out of their seats as Moon Dancer quickly darted out of her own seat to stand beside Emerald, a floating notepad and pen following after.

ALPHA

'What does it mean to live?'

A gargoyle was gliding above the Enclave, the thick green canopy of the forest stretching out beneath him. He was a gray scaled gargoyle wearing a pair of adjusted trousers held up with a belt along with the front half of an old steel cuirass. He had a thick mane of spines along with four horns coming out from his "hairline" on his forehead; they stretched up and back, almost like a kind of crown.

The reason why he was wearing clothes was to play homage to the human race who had created Emerald. Currently there wasn't much any one of them could wear without it being difficult to get on due to their wings and tails, but Flandre had called in some spider tailors and they could all expect proper clothing before long. Another thing they were doing to pay homage to humanity was their names. They would all have human styled names in honor of those who came first. This gargoyle's name was Simmons Howl.

'Does it lessen the value of life if one was born for a specific reason?' Howl thought as he glided far above several surface buildings of the Enclave. 'If it does, then does that mean a manufactured life is less worthwhile than a natural but wasted life? How does one quantify and value a life? If one was born and made for one specific reason and one reason above all else, does that mean they are lesser than one who was born aimless and ended without leaving their mark?'

Howl hummed in thought and pumped his wings. He closed his eyes and recalled the knowledge Emerald had implanted into the genes of every gargoyle. With a level of skill that would have taken well over a decade of solid practice, he channeled wind and started soaring through the air at incredible speeds. Within a minute he stopped channeling and start gliding once again over the border of the Everfree, over the growing town of Ponyville.

'Ponies are born into this world purely because their parents wished for children,' Howl thought as he took in the sight of ponies going about their day far below. 'The children had no control over this.They were born because others wanted them to be born.Is that not the same for me? Parents have dreams and wishes for their children, often impressing upon them a certain path to take in their life and thus influencing the children in turn.Is it not the same for me? And in a way, ponies too have a predetermined path to take.'

Howl stared down at the town and once again took in the sight of the many ponies walking around, specifically their flanks where their cutie marks were.

'Ponies have talents they are good at, but unlike me they are born not knowing what this is and have to discover their talent themselves, something they sometimes never manage,' Howl considered with a thoughtful frown. 'But I know exactly what I am good at.My level of skill is such that a natural born would take decades to match me. Does the fact they needed to spend most of their life to do so mean it has more significance compared to me being born with the capability? Or is the significance an illusion? Perhaps one applies weight and value to effort because one only has so long to live? Therefore the more of your own limited time you invest into something, the more significant it is? By that logic, then natural skill and inclination towards something should simply go unrecognized.'

The gargoyle soared through the air, doing lazy barrel rolls through the air for the simple pleasure of feeling the wind blowing past. It was mere moments later, with barely a flap of his wings, that he now found himself over Canterlot. Like before, he glanced down and took in the peoples of the city going about their daily routines.

'It is clear no one being is born equal, but... a craftsman could create many objects of equal quality,' Howl thought with a spiraling dive towards the city before suddenly pulling up and shooting towards the very peak of the mountain. 'No one wants substandard goods, so demands for skilled craftsmen who can dependably create quality en masse is always high. But does this mean that when one creates life of all equal quality, all born equally capable, that, that life is suddenly valued less when an object in its place would be valued more? But on the opposite end, should the spontaneity of birth and life really be cast aside for the promise of all being built equal? You are you, the result of a billion random variables coming together over countless eons to form a complex being, an entire self-propagating species that, with hope, will slowly survive long enough to improve upon themselves.Should such august heritage be cast aside blueprint and intelligent design? And yet... one has to realize that today's life is the result of randomly getting it right after millions of years of trial and error.'

Soon Simmons Howl alighted upon the very peak of Mount Canterlot. He wrapped his wings about himself like a cloak and gazed out into the wide open blue sky with a fascinated stare. Howl thought about these things not because he was having some crisis of identity or existence, but simply because he found it fascinating. Howl knew in the depths of his soul what he was; a protector and guardian of all his creator valued and loved. For him there was something deeply freeing about knowing exactly where you belonged and what grand purpose one could fill their days with. It also helped that his purpose for existing didn't dominate his every moment. He and his fellow gargoyles had their own free time to idle away the days with whatever they fancied.

'What does it mean to live?' Howl asked himself, eager to ponder the endless answers.

BETA

It was a pitch black night in the Everfree with the moon occluded by a thick layer of clouds. This suited the activity tonight perfectly.

In the deep tunnels of the Enclave, one seemingly led to a dead end. However, if one possessed the ability to manipulate the very earth as well as the required security clearances, they would find a vast chamber on the other side. Inside this chamber, sitting in the grip of a dozen gantry arms was the stealth air ship Emerald had shown the designs for. It was already fully built and ready to be deployed. In fact, its crew and contingent of neochangelings were on board and awaiting final checks to set forth.

"Captain Ace of the ENV Silhouette making final flight checks," spoke a dour looking great dane Diamond Dog with black fur. He wore a sharp yet simple uniform of dark grays and pressed clothes without a single wrinkle. His wiry frame belied the fact he was a Direwolf with intensely condensed muscles and likely go toe to toe with far larger and more obviously threatening creatures. Sitting atop his head was a peaked cap bearing the emblem of the Enclave.

"Might be a tad too cautious there, mate," Wheatley stated.

"We will continue with the final check," Ace returned blandly. "Primary stealth systems?"

"Course, what do I know, I'm just the all knowing AI who helped build the bloody thing..." Wheatley muttered audibly for all to hear. "Ahem! Primary stealth functioning at full."

"Secondary stealth systems?"

"One oh oh percentage!"

Over in the crew quarters, Vata tuned out the voices over the intercom as he and his fellow neochangelings looked over their equipment. He and his brothers and sisters were currently fully equipped in their custom armor and gear. They all were still rather enamored with the new fancy gadgets they had at their disposal.

Vata turned his attention over the rest of the crew quarters and saw his fellows pretty much playing with their new and improved camo cloaks. One was melding with their bed top and would be invisible if they weren't an obvious lump atop it. The rest were melding with various surfaces or taking great glee in how the cloaks could ignore gravity to allow them to hide on the ceiling as well.

They had undergone the environmental training for the mission, though honestly the training was more about them getting oriented with their gear and the landscape they'd be working in. The timeframe until the scheduled launch was fairly short, however, so the neochangelings had taken advantage of the fact they didn't need to sleep to constantly be training and preparing themselves. They pushed themselves greatly, doing their best to learn how to hide and use the various environments to their advantage. Their new gear may have made so they could lay on the ground in the open and still hide but it was no reason to be careless.

Now that it was time to make way for Zebrica and the mission, the group decided to unwind while they could. After all, there was no telling just how long they would be out in the field.

In another section, three Warhounds were going through the armory. They were loaded up with a wide variety of weapons, including everything from shotguns, handguns, rifles and even a few heavy weapons. Despite the fact this was supposed to be a purely stealth operation where Zebrica would hopefully never realize they were ever there, Emerald had arranged for the operation team to have every weapon at their disposal. There was quite honestly few ways a rocket launcher could be used stealthily, but one never knew what could happen.

In the engine compartment, a single dog sat at a control console overlooking the whole section and displaying the current condition of the engines and magical reactor. This was honestly a good thing, because despite the fact he was one of the growing number of engineering dogs who really knew the science behind his work, this was clearly beyond him. Even discounting the mostly organic machinery, the rest of the engines were highly magical runic constructs.

'I honestly hope this isn't a sign of the future,' the engineer dog thought with a concerned frown as he literally did the only thing he fully understood, which was watching condition readouts. 'All that time spent learning engineering after learning how to create machine from rote learning... and it now appears to be all worthless because we're starting to use pure organics and magic.'

It was a concern that became more and more common as Emerald introduced things that could only be made by her organic, fully automated factories. She had taught them so much and brought them out of ignorance, but now thanks to her actions they were quickly feeling more and more superfluous as time went on. They fully understood the reasons behind it; the more automation the better. A society whose industry could run without cost was the dream of Post-Scarcity. However this didn't change the fact they were quickly becoming only useful as supervisors of this industry instead of the key component helping to drive it all.

'Surely there HAS to be a way for us to remain relevant,' the engineer thought unhappily, absently giving the all green to Ace when called for confirmation on the ship's engines. 'I refuse to believe this is the end of the line for us. That the Boss has to leave us all behind for the sake of progress and we spend our time making amusements and curiosities.'

This was a sentiment also echoed by a vast majority of the engineering dogs. They sincerely didn't wish to be left behind, but also didn't want to burden Emerald by requesting she slow down for their sakes or go out of her way to help them. But they also realized that by the speed Emerald was growing and developing her own line of technology, they couldn't really hope to keep up with their own lines and remain relevant. But how were they going to keep up otherwise? It wasn't like there was someone else like her who knew all that she...

"OF COURSE!" the engineer cheered in sudden realization, thumping both his fists on the console and then giving a yelp when he accidentally activated several functions.

Back in the control room of the ENV Silhouette, the ship suddenly began to dip upwards when it righted itself.

"What was that?" Ace asked sharply with narrowed eyes.

"Ah, just noticed there probably should be a bit more warnings in place in case a "mash all da buttonz!" situation were to occur," Wheatley replied in good cheer. "Updating the OS now. Absolutely no reason to worry, mate."

"Right..." Ace raised a brow before returning to his checklist.

A deck "technician" sat at one of twelve other consoles in the room. He wasn't much of a technician to be honest, or really much for technical work at all. What he really wanted was to be on an airship, to be in the sky. And even though his lack of experience in most areas would promise him becoming a rating at best, he was fine with that. Even if he was swabbing the deck, he would be doing it in the sky. Imagine his surprise when, instead, he got picked up to be a C&C room technician of all things.

'But it's so easy!' the tech thought gleefully as he easily maneuvered the computer he was manning. 'Here I was thinking it would be so impossibly hard, that I would have to pick up months of training in days. I made myself ill with anxiety all for nothing!'

The deck technician was one among a number of dogs who really couldn't keep up with the growing changes to life in the Enclave. Oh sure, he could learn to accept things like getting water at the turn of a lever, making it hot or colder with a clearly marked dial and getting light with a switch. It was just attempting to understand how all these things worked and were set up in the first place that was just so far beyond him. So much so that he didn't like the idea of even trying.

However, if the computer he was currently manning was a sign of the direction technology was to take, so simple even a technologically hopeless dog like him could work it? Well, he was one hundred percent all for it.

'More technology like this, please!' he thought happily.

"... and all crew and Operation members accounted for," Ace said with a nod.

"Good grief, finally!" Wheatley said impatiently. "Flight checklist done, again, let's go! Burning moonlight here!"

"All crew prepare for lift off," Ace announced over the intercom before waving to a bridge tech. "Activate stealth systems, activate the gantry arm release and then open the hangar doors."

"Aye, captain!"

The ENV Silhouette started rapidly changing the color of its armor plating before it finally started mimicking its surroundings. Then, a moment later, all the gantry arms popped off the hull of the Silhouette with loud bangs. Overhead, a massive pair of reinforced doors opened up to reveal a layer of water, kept out via a magical barrier that could not be seen. The Silhouette began to ease upwards and slowly enter the water above it.

In the pure darkness of midnight, no one was around a somewhat recently formed lake in the Everfree save for some wildlife. In the center of the lake, some water movement and a fair amount of splashing was the only sign of the near invisible Silhouette smoothly breaking the surface and then beginning to rise into the air. After it had risen barely a few dozen feet, it then employed its secondary stealth system and started releasing clouds of thick fog. Within moments it was now near impossible to see someone ten feet in front of you within the cloud, let alone the perfectly camouflaged ship hiding within.

"Breech the cloud layer, then set cruising speed along it," Ace ordered the bridge crew before turning the intercom on once again. "This is Captain Ace to all crew. We are beginning to set course to mission area. It will take the better part of a day and a half to reach Zebrica. Until then, rest and relax. There will be no promises of such when we arrive and are underway. Ace, out."

"We have breached the cloud layer, captain," a tech announced. "We will be at cruising speed within ten seconds."

"Good." Ace nodded and then sat back in his chair and took off his cap. "Set course for Zebrica, set the autopilot and settle in. R and R applies to us, too."

"Aye aye, Captain."

GAMMA

In the League of Nations Headquarters, atop the sleepy ancient Kraken and in one of the many conference rooms, a group of dignitaries were gathered. Sitting around a long, oval table was the political bloc that Taleena had formed. Some old faces were absent but a noticeable number of new people were present as well. Once more this group had gathered to discuss world events and more importantly, Emerald Gleaner.

"It has now been an hour," spoke Cassim, the portly Saddle Arabian dignitary. "Dear Taleena is plain late, not fashionably in the least."

"She had not said she would be present for this meeting," replied a pony noble. "But she has also said nothing at all to us since the last message."

"Do you think she is being forced to stop attending?" asked a richly adorned parrot-like being that would have easily stood at twice the height of a pony. He seemed to be quite thirsty as he constantly was drinking from a goblet and wore a very impressive looking hat with many colorful feathers sticking out the top.

The reason why the group was meeting on the Kraken instead of a room in the Palace of the Royal Sisters was because Taleena warned them not to. The Warlock had said the Palace was no longer safe to speak of sensitive matters. Granted, holding meetings in a place that was essentially in the heart of the enemy's influence wasn't wise but it was admittedly very satisfying. Thus it was decided in the absence of the group's founder that they would hold their meetings in secure holdings in their own influence. The League Headquarters was a shared space but currently it was rather convenient for all current attendees of this meeting.

"If I recall correctly, Warlock Taleena will be having her meeting with Emerald Gleaner tomorrow," a shaggy coated pony from the Heron Republic announced, clad in the robes of a diplomatic bureaucrat. "It could be she is simply distancing herself from us in preparation of the meeting."

"I do not know..." Cassim sighed. "Now that Iago has mentioned it, Taleena did say it was no longer safe to hold meetings in the Palace. It could be the reason she knows this was because she was confronted on those very meetings."

"Princess Celestia wouldn't have done anything to outright forbid Warlock Taleena from meeting with us," the pony noble pointed out and then scowled. "It had to have been eavesdropping spies, and I believe we all know who they would have belonged to."

"So the almighty Big Boss of the Diamond Dogs has spies in Equestria," Cassim muttered aloud, his compatriots voicing their disgust at the notion. "Not entirely the behavior of a supposed close ally and trading partner."

"Treacherous even to her friends!" exclaimed a reindeer. "This is the great leader the carnivores are so besotted with? She'll play them as fools and then set them against each other for her amusement, forcing them to compete for her attentions."

Scowls and grimaces flashed across the faces of everyone. It was quite honestly an unpleasant scene to imagine. Emerald Gleaner, unquestioned Empress in all but name of every carnivore kingdom in the known world, holding court in the symbol of international cooperation that was the League Headquarters. And in this court she sits in a chair that becomes a throne via her mere presence in it alone. Carnivores, ruler and mere diplomat alike vie and plea for her attentions like it was the greatest treasure in the world. And she gives them all a welcoming, enticing smile before slipping them their poison. A whisper here, a suggestion there. Suddenly factions splinter and form in moments and rulers and diplomats have a frightful row with one another. Accusations of attempting to drive up the price of meat fruit for others while they get cheaper, of muscling them out of Emerald's circle of influence. And throughout this she, sitting in a chair that is a throne, looks for all the world like decadent royalty taking in an amusing play.

"Perhaps we are getting a tad ahead of ourselves?" Iago spoke, holding out an arm and nearly touching the tips of a finger and thumb for emphasis. "What other news of our most daunting opposition?"

"Well... I heard the Atamen of the Wolverines had actually tried to barter off another large chunk of his forces for even more meat fruit," the Republic steppe pony stated. "Emerald, however, actually declined and simply increased the shipments he was already getting."

"Hmph, this would be almost a good thing," the reindeer replied with a shake of his head. "Demonstrating she has some restraint and generosity, but honestly she doesn't need more soldiers when gluttonous fools are tripping over themselves to essentially offer her lands and power. All this demonstrates she is no common thug and can weaponise good things as easily as the bad. No doubt this little stunt has further ensorcelled the carnivores to her fair and good practices."

"Speaking of stunts," Cassim said as he waved over a servant carrying a platter of snacks. "The wedding between Emerald Gleaner and Twilight Sparkle will be quite the big one."

That brought a round of head shaking and scoffs. Equestria prided itself on being a very modern kingdom and ahead of the times regarding the rest of the world. Such that it supposedly abandoned marriage alliances long ago. However the upcoming wedding showed that it was simply the fact the Princesses had saw no point in such alliance building before with other nations, and now that they had within its reach a terrible rising power they were quick to put such outmoded practices back into use. Sure the two to be married consistently said it was a marriage born out of love and nothing more but it was clear to all who bothered to see that this was purely a political move. Why else would the leader of one nation be marrying the newly ascended alicorn of another?

"With this wedding, Equestria and the Enclave shall practically be one entity," spoke the steppe pony. "But who is it that shall be holding the reigns? Emerald Gleaner? The Royal Sisters?"

"I would dearly love for the Princesses to be the ones in control, but..." the pony noble began with an uncomfortable frown. "I daresay it shall be safer to assume it will be Emerald to maintain control."

"Indeed." Cassim nodded as he swallowed down a treat whole.

"Oh, did you all hear?!" spoke up a mare noble for the first time. "Of Emerald Gleaner's hidden child?"

"Hidden child?" Cassim arched a brow. "I've heard of a child that Emerald has been saying is hers..."

"Yes. As it turns out it's a young filly by the name of Navi," the noblemare continued with excitement at the prospect of gossiping in such high brow social circles. "Emerald had gone for a month on some important business. When she returned, she did so with Princess Celestia's newest student and a child in tow. I do believe young Navi is the result of incredibly youthful indiscretion."

"A love child?" Cassim said, now raising both brows to his hairline. This time, most of the people at the meeting looked disbelieving.

"I'm just a newly joined into this group and know only a little about the so called Supreme Commander of the Enclave," Iago started lightly. "I've come to believe Emerald Gleaner is capable of many things, but I don't think hiding a love child out of shame is one of those. My impression of her is of great pride. If anything, she would parade such a child in the face of propriety and dare any to speak out."

"I'll admit it seems much more likely Emerald Gleaner had simply taken pity upon an orphan and taken her in as her child," the noblemare admitted with a nod. "The alternative is just so scandalous,though!"

"Rightful insults and outright slander. There is quite a clear line between the two," Cassim commented with a large gulp of some very rich hot chocolate. "I do believe we have been speaking about Emerald for a bit too long. Any more news of our Llama compatriot?"

"More of the same, I'm afraid," the reindeer answered with a worried frown. "We've yet to hear back from him. It's becoming increasingly possible that the catastrophe that befell the capital caught him as well."

There was a sympathetic expressions on everyone's face at that news. There was a lot of garbled news coming out of tropical lands the Llamas called home. Everything from an incredibly freak inland hurricane striking the capital along with an earthquake to a freezing, equine-shaped blizzard and giant bear; no one really knew what the truth was. What they did know, however, was that the royal palace was nothing more than a giant pile of rubble with practically the entire royal family caught inside. So far it was becoming increasingly clear that a small, somewhat distantly related child of barely five years would have to rule the Llama peoples; likely with a regent to guide and direct him for the first decade or so of his young reign. The Llama representative had gone home to report to his liege before the catastrophe had taken place and everyone was hoping he hadn't been caught in it. That hope was rapidly diminishing, but there was still the chance the llama in question was just busy keeping the decapitated ruling body of his homeland stable.

"I've heard the chaos in the capital is rapidly spreading to the rest of the kingdom," the steppe pony commented. "Businesses and essential services are slowing to a crawl as everyone tries to figure out who is in charge of what. There was a lot of important people in the palace at the time of the disaster..."

"If I was the King of the newly formed Yacuruna," the reindeer began seriously. "I'd be taking this time to further cement my people's influence upon the jungle waterways."

"Well more power to the almighty Big Boss then!" Cassim said with faux cheer before sighing in aggravation. It was a feeling all other members of this nascent bloc felt. They had formed in response to Emerald with the intention of countering her meteoric rise in power. But they were having trouble just getting their foot in the door, let alone meaningfully stalling Emerald's ascent. They knew they were actually making progress since their group was still growing but it felt like they were only just picking speed, whilst Emerald's breakneck momentum was only going faster.

'Perhaps... perhaps we just need more members,' Cassim thought with forced certainty. 'Surely the combined force of our influence can stall her?'

Suddenly one of the attendants brought by the bloc members entered the room and approached Cassim.

"Sir, there is a messenger from the Griffin Principalities here to meet with you," the attendant announced.

"Hmm... very well, let them in," Cassim nodded.

The attendant bowed and quickly returned to the main entrance of the room, where he opened one of the grand doors and gestured. In strolled the messenger, who was clearly more than a simple messenger as he wore the cloak of a Storm Wing.

"Greetings Cassim, Merchant Lord of Saddle Arabia!" the Storm Wing said as he approached and gave a deep bow.

"Hail, Griffin of the mighty Principalities," Cassim greeted back respectfully. "What does the Grand Prince wish of me?"

"I come representing only my clan, Cassim," the Storm Wing answered and rose from his bow.

"Really?" Cassim said with honest surprise and shared a significant look with everyone else in the room.

"My clan, Clan Storm Claw, wishes to add its influence to your own."

DELTA

Taleena stared out the window as the scenery steadily rushed past.

The Eldeer Warlock was currently sitting on a shuttle whose interior even she admitted was close to meeting her standards of comfort. Said shuttle was currently on a recently built highway suspended over the Everfree forest. The highway led to the Embassy of the Enclave meant to house dignitaries wishing to meet with the Enclave itself rather than set up a meeting in Canterlot. The embassy itself was said to be the ruins of the old Equestrian Royal Palace remodeled and recently updated with all modern comforts.

'We'll see just how good these comforts are supposed to be, shall we?' Taleena thought with an inward huff. 'Somehow I feel what comforts a bunch of cavern dwelling boors is a far cry, even from barely half decent pony amenities.'

"We wouldn't know," commented one of the elders in her head.

"It's been a fair few millenia since we've felt much of anything, dear," added another sardonically.

'Oh! Uhhh...' Taleena stiffened in embarrassment at unintentionally lording her ability to feel over her honored elders. 'My deepest apologies, Honored Elders! I didn't mean-'

"Near on a year since we've been together and still no sense of humor?" asked one elder bemusedly while the other two chortled. "I'm beginning to feel like making you lighten up a tad is a hopeless task."

Taleena sighed as she realized she was just being the butt of a joke again and refocused on the passing scenery. Though respect for her elders was very much ingrained into her very soul, after a near year of putting up with them she had to admit they could be very irritating and childish at times. Though it also had to be said, after a near year she somehow found herself growing accustomed to their quips designed to push her buttons and put her off balance. She even did find some amusement in a few of the jokes they had made, though almost all of them were the ones that weren't made at her expense. The fact the three elders hadn't pointed this fact out spoke volumes of their desire to encourage such growth.

It wasn't long before the shuttle began to slow and they were arriving at the Everfree Embassy.

Taleena stared through the window at the towering structure. It was rather elegant in a way. The white stonework reminded her of Canterlot but that was where the similarities ended. The Embassy lacked the graceful, artistic elegance of the Palace of Canterlot. In its place were stout walls and towers with firm, steep, slanting walls. There were still allowances for beauty, however. Gardens and fountains stretched out around the Embassy, the walls were partially covered with thick green vines sprouting colorful flowers and foliage and the brickwork of the footpaths were arranged artistically.

'Hmph.All this serves to only distract those that allow themselves to be distracted from the simple, obvious truth,' Taleena thought apathetically. 'That this "Embassy" can easily serve as a fortress if needed.'

Indeed, if one examined the walls carefully they would see the vines had razor sharp, blade-like spines and certain parts of the walls looked like they could be pulled away, likely to reveal gun ports. Furthermore, covering the top of the walls were large ships somewhat conspicuously covered in black tarps. All these signs easily pointing towards the ease in which the so called Embassy could answer the call to arms, as long as one wasn't distracted by the pretty sights.

'Even in the heart of her power she feels the need to arm herself to the teeth,' Taleena thought with a frown as the shuttle began to enter the Embassy proper. 'Her paranoia is clear to all who bother to look.'

"And yet Equestria suffers one catastrophe after another, year after year," an elder pointed out. "Is it truly paranoia when there are things clearly out to get you?"

'I... I must yield to the truth in your words, Honored Elder,' Taleena thought, honestly agreeing with the words after a moment.

Soon Taleena found herself exiting the shuttle alongside a number of other dignitaries. They gathered together briefly in the parking lot before an earth pony mare trotted over to them wearing a red dress suit and bow tie.

"Good afternoon everyone and welcoming to the Everfree Embassy!" the mare said with a sugar sweet, friendly tone. "If you would all please follow me, I shall lead you to the lobby."

The pony led the varied group of visiting dignitaries to the front entrance of the embassy where wolverines stood guard, suited in gleaming black dragon scale and wielding rifles long and massive enough to act as a short pike. The entrance appeared to be nothing more than fashionable glass doors with red carpeting, but Taleena noticed with her keen eyes that up in the ceiling were a long pair of seams running along the width of the entrance.

'Hmmm.Judging by previous sights I would say that would be a solid steel door,' The Warlock thought with inconspicuous glances above her. 'Likely they would slam shut in event of an attack... or possibly in need of ensuring no one leaves.'

When Taleena found herself in the lobby proper she only grew more convinced than ever that this "Embassy" was a fortress first and a place of diplomacy second. Oh sure, there was plenty of pretty sights here, polished marble made up the floors and fine stained wood with a beautiful grain made up the walls. There was a fountain and a small indoor garden surrounding a seating area and grand chandeliers hung from the ceiling. But those were simple distractions. For every friendly pony in a nice suit there was a grim faced wolverine standing at attention off to the side and out of the way but never truly out of sight. For every wide open path there were the seams of a great steel shutter ready to slam down. For every wide open space there was an overlooking area with far more austere furnishing that seemed to only house those that worked here.

"Everyone!" the pony that had been leading them called out and waved a hoof. "If I could please have your attention! Thank you. For those of you intending to remain at the Embassy for a long period of time we have suites set aside for you. My colleague to the left shall lead you to them. Those of you here only for the day please continue following me. I shall give you a brief tour of the facilities we have for your comforts before and after you conduct business."

Besides Taleena, only two other dignitaries continued to follow the pony, the rest heading off to be given their quarters. The Eldeer cared not for whom her two companions were and feigned interest as the mare they were following showed them various distractions. A canteen masquerading as a classy restaurant with a classical band playing music in the background. A large courtyard utterly filled with beautiful statues and gardens doing its best to distract from the fact those on the roof and in the windows had very clear shots of it. A rec room containing all the latest and greatest electronic toys from EI; it was almost enough to hide the fact this room had only one entrance and a steel shutter ready to close it off. And that was just a few examples.

Taleena's two ignored companions had disappeared off to amuse themselves while Taleena herself had simply found a cafe and gotten herself some tea.

'Green Tea distilled from Aum leaves,' Taleena thought as she sipped her cup. 'Very expensive... perfect for fools with more money than sense of what is good tea.'

The Warlock shook her head and simply swallowed down the tea. Green tea was green tea and would help enforce a calm upon her mind and body. She would honestly be needing it for her upcoming meeting with Emerald Gleaner. After the confrontation they had the first time they had personally met, Taleena was taking every opportunity she could to mentally prepare herself.

'Now what to do,' Taleena thought with a hum. 'No foe is too wily for an Eldeer but this one in particular needs a more skillful approach than the norm,'

The Eldeer spirits in her head remained silent, and for that she was grateful. Not because they would have been cracking jokes at her expense again for they had a sense for appropriate timing. No, it was because she wanted to do this herself, to test her centuries honed intellect and rise above. Of course, if she was unknowingly falling short or failing in some way she also fully expected her True Betters to make their opinions known.

It wasn't long before the time arrived at last and Taleena stood before a kind of reception desk that only had a large tv screen behind it. Suddenly the screen lit up to reveal a brightly glowing blue light that somehow seemed friendly.

"Hullo!" came a voice from the screen.

"Yes, hello," Taleena said evenly. "I am Taleena, Warlock of the Eldeer. I am here for my appointed meeting with Emerald Gleaner of the Enclave."

"Right'o, she's just behind that door." The light motioned towards a pair of double doors. "Go on through."

Without another word the screen simply turned off. Taleena raised a brow at the rudeness but shook it off and walked towards the doors. The Warlock entered the room to find Emerald sitting at a large desk in a fairly austere office, wearing her formal, caped uniform. It was a room with fine wooden walls and marble flooring but it was quite honestly barren of all luxury with only banners baring the Enclave symbol as any kind of decoration. Emerald sat in a wheeled leather chair, her full attention upon some papers on her desk, apparently so busy with other matters that even now she was doing paperwork instead of giving someone she was meeting formally her full attention. The only sign Emerald knew she was even there was a small wave for her to take a seat.

'Some annoyance is to be expected, I suppose,' Taleena thought absently as she made for the proffered seat. 'Now, how should I approach this? Shall I attempt to dance around her with word games and verbal circles? Lead her astray with misinterpretation? No, this is no fool like countless others I've strung along. But perhaps... ah yes, the truth...'

"So..." Emerald began as she straightened out her papers and placed them aside before staring the doe down. "What is it that you wanted to talk about so badly you tried to skip the line?"

"Quite simply, we are afraid for what you may do," Taleena stated bluntly and Emerald blinked in surprise.

"Excuse me?" Emerald said somewhat incredulously.

"It is the bare truth," Taleena said simply, inwardly pleased she had Emerald briefly on the backfoot. "We see you forging these ironclad bonds with the carnivore nations, these bonds sealed with the promise of a release from their eternal fasting. With the food surplus available and the relaxing of various population controls, it won't be long before these same nations can no longer support themselves naturally. Within a mere decade you could command them as you see fit and they would have no choice but to obey lest their people starve en masse and make the choice for them. You could forge an Empire in all but name with you as the unquestionable authority. Combine this influence with your personal might and the Enclave's military might and you could even bully a great many herbivore nations into compliance. Within a century you could declare the formation of an Empire and all would shrug their shoulders and simply see it as the formalization of a long present reality.

"... Perhaps you find our fear misguided, that of old bucks and does grumbling for a lost golden era?" Taleena continued in the face of Emerald's silent staring. "You see, my people have had experience with all encompassing Empires much like the one you could form. In ages long forgotten by nearly all, before my people learned the secrets we know today, before we could place the spirits of the respected dead into amber, before we even abandoned our nomadic nature and formed cities, there was a great and mighty domain that stretched across this whole world ruled by immortals. The First Masters of all the light touched. Their authority was unquestionable, their power undeniable. And in their confidence of their mastery, in their arrogance they brought ruin to the world. They disrupted the vital energies of this world and wrought a terrible cataclysm. Our people survived it, as did most, but we solely were able to preserve some semblance of civilization."

"What is the point of this?" Emerald said quietly, but Taleena was able to see that her words were having an effect, perhaps even cutting deeply.

"Our people learned the dangers of a singular entity ruling all, of immortals eternally ruling mortals," Taleena replied. "And with it came this wise lesson: cooperation is better than domination. And so it was that we waited patiently for the world to recover, slowly, steadily over the ages. And when the time came we acted. Despite the frustrations inherent in long distance messaging, and the fact a great many journeys to other lands could take months, we, the Eldeer, collectively worked to ensure the formation of a coalition of sorts."

"Wait... the Eldeer are the reason why the League of Nations exists?" Emerald said with open surprise.

"No one group can rule the world. We must be apart yet willingly standing together despite our differences," Taleena explained. "It wasn't easy. There were many times where basic flaws threatened to sunder the League - to render it toothless - but with careful management it eventually became something we did not need to prop up. And so for a time we were free to observe. Of course, we didn't completely distance ourselves. Sometimes a nation needed a guiding hoof or a nudge off the ruinous path they were beginning to walk."

Taleena paused in her talking and studied Emerald with a carefully blank expression. Emerald was quite a few steps above so many of the politicians Taleena had dealt with before in regards to her "poker face" but it appeared her words were enough to shake that. Emerald looked troubled, her gaze was directed downwards towards her desk deep in thought... or perhaps reliving a few memories?

"...I," Emerald began after several long moments before pausing and sighing briefly. "I do not want to form an Empire, Taleena. I don't want to become some kind of Empress sitting on some gaudy throne and spending all hours simply overlooking all I command. All I want is my friends and family's safety, to ensure their happy futures. That is all I want."

"Hmm..." Taleena gave Emerald a studying stare before nodding slightly, there was an earnest honesty there that few could fake. "Perhaps we have misjudged you."

"So... was that it?" Emerald asked after a moment with a frown. "Was this all you wanted to talk about?"

"I suppose so," Taleena stated and stood up from her seat. "Perhaps it had been a bit much for me to be badgering you so much after such a little talk. For that, I apologize. Perhaps next time we shall simply set aside but a few minutes for short chats, hmm? In any case, I should excuse myself. It would be rude to take up any more of your time, as I am fully aware of how busy you are."

With that, Taleena turned away from Emerald and walked to the door. It was only after she had closed the door behind her and was certain no one else was in the room that she gave a deeply pleased smile to herself.

'Ahhhh, not so far above us mere mortals after all,' Taleena thought as she walked down the hall.

EPSILON

Vata and his fellow neochangelings stood at attention in the hold of the Silhouette, the bay doors wide open before them letting in whistling winds.

"We are nearing the first drop zone," Ace's voice sounded over the intercom. "Remember, your mission is to gather intel on the enemy and it is priority ONE that you are not seen and you leave as little evidence as possible of your presence. This may be obvious but this means if you see a local in trouble you can't go help them without express permission.Neither can you form local contacts without the go ahead from command either."

The neochangelings didn't react to that explanation. They fully understood the need for secrecy here.

"Approaching drop zone..." Ace continued and Vata stepped forward to the very edge of open space. "Deploy in 3... 2... 1... GO."

With that Vata dove out into the open air.

Despite the fact it was mid morning, the stars were shining brightly. The Silhouette had ascended incredibly high into the sky, so high in fact that the sky faded away to reveal the stars and space. This was done to make absolutely sure their insertion into Zebrica would go unnoticed in any way. Looking down to the land before him, Vata took in the sight of Zebrica.

From this high up it was a land of yellows, light browns, oranges and patches of green. Much of Zebrica was Savannah, but the more heavily populated areas tended to be near or in the rainforests. The area Vata was dropping down into wasn't near any kind of jungle; some parts of it were undergoing some minor desertification even. And from some scans of the region it was populated by villages, hamlets and the odd large town.

Vata had streamlined his form, facing straight down and dropping like a bullet. After only a few minutes he had dropped past the clouds and the ground neared rapidly. Instantly he spread out his limbs and his wings and his drop rapidly slowed. A few moments later he landed at trotting speed before slowing to a halt.

"This is Vata, we've landed successfully," Vata reported as his armor shifted colors and matched his surroundings.

"Roger that, good hunting," came Ace's reply.

Looking around, the neochangeling saw his surroundings to be rather rocky with some sparse, hardy vegetation spiking out from between boulders and rocks. Carefully ascending to the top of one boulder, Vata began to scan the horizon. For the most part it was patches of odd looking trees and animals, but in the distance Vata could make out rising columns of smoke.

Vata made his way through the wide open Savannah, his cloak and armor practically making him invisible in plain sight. A ten minute jog brought him to a position overlooking the village. Save for a few wooden shacks on the very edges of the village, the vast majority of the buildings here were adobes. The zebras here looked healthy enough but it was clear in their casual interactions with one another they were not happy either. Emotions of worn down despair and broiling resentment filled the air. One of the neochangelings was constantly learning the Zebrican language from Zecora and then feeding the knowledge to everyone else, so Vata wasn't completely out of the loop concerning local conversation. In fact, he knew enough Zebrican so far to guess the meaning of new words he heard with a fair amount of accuracy.

'Let's see...' Vata thought as he slipped into the village and scaled atop a roof to lay flat atop it. He began fiddling with his helmet's settings to enhance his ability to eavesdrop on the zebras living in this town. 'There we go, and now to wait for something interesting...'

Vata settled in, expecting little to nothing to be learned today. After all, this was a long term mission that was to be done over weeks and months. While taking their time wasn't something any of them wanted to do, there was no rushing in information gathering either. They either heard something useful or they didn't. And so Vata lay near invisible upon the roof of a home for several hours; so long the early morning sun had fully risen and the light began shining down.

'Taxes are up, patrols are up, laws are harsher, nothing I can use yet,' Vata thought and then reached out to his brothers and sisters. "Anyone got anything interesting on their end?"

"I'm currently shadowing a company of Zebrican soldiers, but nothing yet."

"Doing the same as you, Vata, save I'm in a city over here. I've been hearing a lot but not sure what's useful just yet."

"I landed near a fort.Casing it right now and planning a way to go about sneaking in."

"Still in the wild over here.Looking for something interesting to spy on."

"Same."

"I'm in the jungle over here, casing a quarry.Would have moved on by now, but it has an oddly high number of guards."

"A work camp for dissidents maybe?"

"Partially.It seems like most of the workers here are contractors, though."

"I'll head over. I'm in the jungle and got nothing but hamlets over here."

"Waiting on you."

Seeing as only two of his comrades had two potentially interesting situations going on right now, Vata settled back in to continue his surveillance. It was about high noon when something interesting finally did happen.

The Neochangling suddenly felt waves of fear erupt from nearby. Moving towards a ledge facing the point of these feelings, Vata peered over the edge of the roof to watch a procession enter the village and begin marching through its heart. It was a large patrol of Zebrican soldiers wearing dark green, hardy clothes under chainmail shirts. Atop their heads were metal caps topped with a spear like point and the faces fully covered in shamanistic masks, the narrow slits of the mask glowing a dark, poisonous green.

The patrol practically stomped through the village, barking demands to make way and even pushing over the cart of a farmer who couldn't move his produce in time. Following this procession was clearly an important official. He wore plating compared to the simple chain mail of the soldiers, though they definitely had a more ornamental feel. The clothes he was wearing were of fine linens dyed an expensive royal purple. He wore a helmet as well that was much like the ones the soldiers wore down to the mask, though his also had a turban-like white linen wrapping around it.

Comparing the soldiers and the officer to the people of the village, Vata also noticed something else. The visible bare coat of the Zebrican soldiers was different from the common folk. Their stripes were thicker and the white that could be seen was of a darker, almost gray hue. Finally, the emotions. They were muted, barely there. The only things he felt coming from the soldiers were purely negative emotions, bursts of anger and even those felt false.

"Hmmm... got something here," Vata announced.

"What is it?"

"Some kind of official, maybe a representative of the Prime Minister.Armor looks too much for show to be an actual army officer," Vata reported. "I'm going to follow him."

"Stay safe!"

Vata stealthily made his away unseen across rooftops as he began to shadow the procession. Soon he was slinking off a roof and into the tall grass of the Savannah as he followed them out of the village. The procession continued down the road and Vata judged that, by the fact he couldn't really make out an obvious destination on the horizon, he would be following them for a while. This prediction proved to be true as it was nearly eight hours later that a clear destination came within sight.

'Hmm, perhaps you aren't as important as you looked,' Vata thought as he took in a fairly fortified outpost, but clearly an outpost all the same 'Are you just checking in on this place before moving on to the next? Still though, even with small fry like you it would be better than nothing.'

With that Vata began scouting the outpost as the procession fully entered it. From what he was able to see, the Outpost had one major building that likely also acted as the barracks, armory and office. There was a perimeter wall for the outpost but it only covered three directions, leaving the back of the main building to serve as the cover for the final approach. The courtyard was mostly barren but did appear to be heavily used for training and drills. Taking a closer look at the main building, Vata saw a kind of landing at the top leading into the topmost floor, very likely the officer's quarters.

'Clearly he'll be staying up there,' Vata thought with a hum. 'Kidnapping him from there will be fairly easy but the biggest thing is the fact people will notice he disappeared without a trace. Hmmm... I need to give them something to look into, to distract them and think they found the answer.'

Vata continued to watch the outpost and rack his mind for an answer when he spotted a small herd of gazelles in the distance. The neochangeling watched as the herd slowly made their way through the sparse grasses, headed for literal greener pastures. The neochangeling suddenly stiffened as an idea occurred to him. He released a somewhat shaky breath before hardening his resolve.

"Command, this is Vata," Vata said into his radio. "I've got a plan to kidnap an officer that needs authorization."

"Let's hear it, then," Ace replied. "I'll forward it to HQ for the go ahead."

Barely three minutes later, Vata slinked into the tall grass and headed for the gazelle herd. Within a minute one the lagging members of the herd was suddenly wrenched to the ground and out of sight. So sudden and quiet was this that no one in the herd noticed someone was missing until it was long too late.

As the sun began to slip beneath the horizon and the sky faded to a starry night, a lion and his pride began to settle in for the night. They had just began to lay on their beds of stomped flat grasses when something landed amongst them. After jumping to their feet they quickly noticed it was the body of a gazelle that was practically untouched, the rolled up eyes, still chest and lolled tongue being the only signs of it being dead. They looked up to see a spectral shape perched upon a looming boulder, terrible orange eyes glowing in the growing night.

"We have a proposition for you," it hissed, an aura of ominous despair hanging about it like a cloak.

ZETA

In the dead of night, the outpost mostly settled in with a handful of guards designated for the night watch. Two stood at each gate to the compound and one stood on watch atop the roof of the main building. There were several braziers and torches lighting up the outpost, though with such a small, unimportant compound the coverage wasn't all that good. Case in point was the fact there weren't enough torches to light up the perimeter around the walls, leaving most of the areas near the walls in darkness. The moon could have helped with the lighting but it was an overcast night, making it pitch black out. The guards remained alert and sharp eyed as best as they could in the darkness, but honestly it was no surprise that when trouble came they only heard it after it happened.

A startled shout rent the air, the guard atop the roof quickly darting over to the back of the building. Looking over, he saw the landing with the doors leading into the officer's quarters wide open and a dark shape carrying a zebra disappearing into the darkness of the night.

Instantly the alarm was sounded. Zebrican soldiers lying like still dolls in their beds. still wearing their helms. immediately leapt to their feet and charged out of the barracks. Whether it was their minds being forced into a razor sharp focus or simply good training. the Zebrican soldiers had a search party weilding torches charging out into the darkness within a minute.

As the party charged forth, the combined strength of their torches pushing back the dark, streaks of blood started appearing before them in the direction the shape had disappeared too. The sight of this drove on the soldiers and they started sprinting over the landscape. They paused when their torches revealed three beings standing in the dark.

It was five lionesses, each one with a blood smeared muzzle with the central, noticeably larger one holding a bloody, stripped leg. The lionesses paused only for a split second at the intrusion of the soldiers before darting off into the dark. The soldiers were only a second slower and quickly fell into pursuit of the running lions. Within moments they were gone and the light of their torches fading into the dark.

Nearby the spot the lions had occupied, a boulder suddenly shifted and part of it lifted up. The moving part acted like a head taking in its surroundings before the whole thing moved. Suddenly Vata was revealed and beneath him on the ground was the captured official, unharmed and unconscious.

'I wonder if any of them will recall that the "shout" didn't sound anything like the official they were guarding,' Vata thought as he carefully hoisted his captive over his back and carefully trotted away from the direction the lions had ran. 'Hopefully it will be considered nothing more than a quirk of something misremembered.'

Twenty minutes later found Vata walking into small area surrounded and obscured by crags. Within was the Lion and his pride of sixteen members. Without the slightest hesitation, Vata walked among them as the lionesses who served as decoys slinked into sight out of the darkness. The largest lioness still carrying the bloody leg tossed it to the side before joining the Alpha male's side. If one managed to get a close look at the leg before it was swiftly pounced on, they would have seen it was far too thin to belong to a zebra.

Vata came to a stop before the lion, looking more like some angry shade from beyond than any living being. Dragging his comatose captive by the back hoof wasn't helping the image. The Alpha Lion stared evenly for a moment before waving for him to get on with it. Vata pointed up and suddenly a square shape dropped down amongst them.

The lions collectively started before realizing it was a metal crate held aloft by a cable stretching off into the pitch black sky. Vata dragged his captive over to the crate before knocking on the side loudly, causing the front to drop open and release its contents.

The Pride instantly started salivating as slabs upon slabs of freshly cut meat poured onto the ground. Vata quickly lifted the crate up to fully empty it before chucking his captive inside, unconcerned about the bloody interior. He then closed the front before knocking on it again and it rapidly ascended up and disappeared into a fog bank the pride only just realized was above them.

"A pleasure doing business," Vata hissed softly, lenses of his helmet glowing orange in the black hood of his cloak. "If another opportunity fitting your skills comes by, we shall contact you again..."

With that, Vata turned and seemed to glide across the floor, a biting cold seemed to fill the air near him and the lions quickly parted before him. He seemed to barely leave their circle before he faded from view in plain sight of the pride.

The lion released a breath he didn't know he was holding. This whole thing felt like he was making a deal with some dark and vile evil along the same lines of the one currently dominating Zebrica. But at the very least this one was willing to feed his associates.

Keeping that thought in mind, he nodded his assent to the pride and they quickly fell on the feast they were paid.

ETA

Far, far away in a land unknown to most members of the League of Nations lied a vast and very infamous desert. Many deserts were dangerous with harsh condition and thus had certain amounts of infamy, but what made this desert special was the fact that no one who ever ventured towards its center ever returned.

Despite the lack of elevation even in the form of dunes, somehow this desert was deeply draining upon one trying to cross it. Even simply skirting the edges seemed to suck the will to move one's limbs to simply walk. The deeper one went, the harsher this effect became. People who had trekked through the harshest environments often had to drag themselves back the way they came. Some couldn't manage even that.

However, if someone was somehow able to withstand the desert, to posses the legendary amounts of sheer physical conditioning and mental fortitude to do this, they would find the desert would become ever more powdery the deeper they went. And as they neared the heart, several things started to happen. The air itself would lose what little life it had and seemed to hang down on you like dead weight, a quiet so complete and total that one could hear the sound of their own blood flowing and organs moving, and finally that the day sky would fade to black without a single cloud, or if it was night the stars and nebulae would fade to leave a complete black carpet. And if, somehow, after experiencing these things this incredible individual went deeper in still they would finally reach the heart of the desert and the definite end of their life.

At the heart of the desert lied a completely flat plain of white powder that, just looking at, one knew had lied undisturbed for eons. And sticking out of this powder were hundreds of pristine, bleached skeletons that at first glance looked to belong to ponies, until one noticed how big the skeletons were and the fact they all had wings and a horn. And at the very center of this field of the dead was a single being.

It was very tall and very slender. Despite the fact it was slouching over, it would have easily loomed over the tallest wolverine. It had a small body, most of its mass was thanks to its unnervingly long legs and arms. It had gray, mottled skin that only just barely kept it from looking like a skeleton . The only piece of clothing it had was a ragged black cloth bag over its head. This bag also had several large chains attached to it which in turn were attached to massive stone blocks nearly rounded into balls by age. But on a closer look one would see several chains lay unattached to the blocks or that some had seemed to have rusted through. Only three chains were actually attached to a block. Finally, there was something about it alongside all these features; something that seemed whisper into your very mind and soul the few words that completely encapsulated all this being represented. Just two short words.

The End.

For that was what this being was, The End. A Great Old Spirit nearly beyond reckoning. A spirit that existed for far longer than recorded history, that existed almost as long as life did. It was a spirit of a far more brutal and simpler time. A Primordial Spirit. And for countless ages this almighty Spirit had deigned to spend the vast majority of its time in one spot. This lifeless place was formed in result of its constant presence.

Suddenly, something that hadn't happened in ages, happened. The End moved.

The End lifted its lowered head up to the sky, staring beyond the confines of its bag. It stared at the sun and continued to stare. One got the feeling that if it wished, The End could simply stare at the sky for eons more but something was driving it to move. Something that urged it along beyond its absolute nature as a great Primordial Spirit.

With a put upon sigh, The End lifted a leg and started to walk forward.

Suddenly the few chains attached to blocks leapt to life, their length seemed to shorten and they quickly lost all slack. A glow surrounded the chains and the blocks they were attached to were lit up with runes made in an unknown, ancient script. Magic filled the air, their raw energies crackled and snapping dangerously. The End stood with a leg stretched out to take a step, leaning against the chains holding him in place; chains that throbbed with enough magical might to effortlessly constrain the likes of Celestia. Chains that could weigh down a hurricane and hold still an earthquake. After a few minutes of this, The End brought its leg down and slowly turned its head toward the chains. Instantly, many links in the chains exploded in clouds of rust and the blocks they were attached too crumbled into powder.

That done, The End lifted his leg again and started walking.

-TBC-

AN: Alright, this one took a long time to get out. I had a good reason though that most people are aware of. For those of you who don't read the blogs or read this on Fimfiction I've got a new job, a career basically with a lot of nice benefits and incentives to make it a life long thing. In any case I've been getting used to my job so hopefully I can try to pick up the pace again soon.

EN: So a couple of things about this chapter that stuck out to me. First off, Whealtey. I don't trust him. The original was designed to be an idiot, and while this one doesn't seem to be, there's enough there that it makes me think backstabs are inevitable (Even though I don't read his lines in his voice anymore. I hear more Lena Oxton than Wheatley). Secondly, the Metal Gear references. I honestly can't believe about halfway down this chapter I FINALLY realized the MGSV reference of Emerald and her Diamond Dogs. And then there's The End. Name of one of the bosses of Snake Eater, but a body that reminds me of another story on FimFiction (Can't rightly remember its name) with powers that seem to imply that this thing could shatter the world with a thought and keep moving like nothing happened.

Overall, fun chapter though. Not much else to say.