Emerald

Emerald, unhappy about recent events, was walking through the business district of upper Manehattan. Nothing to do with how embarrassed she felt after chasing down a monster that wasn't even a monster, but rather her being angry about events going on at home. Priscilla, a diamond dog worker, had been fired after false accusations, and the higher ups wouldn't even listen to the kids who tried to defend her, and too blind of the evidence to the contrary. Things like this grind her gears so much sometimes...

Which led to her leaving, alone, to blow off some steam.

Emerald sighed, and said to herself, "Every single time, this happens..." she said, halfheartedly.

As she spent more time in the market area, her saddened expression lightened noticeably. Eventually, she found herself talking with other ponies in the area, and occasionally buying herself something to snack on, mostly those apples from that small, country town.

"So, you met the princesses, for real?" Emerald asked an earth pony behind her favorite apple stand. She is a farmer, who isn't usually in the city most of the time. Actually, she comes once every two months, and usually just to deliver a few cartons of apples and apple accessories. Only reason she stays longer than needed was to visit some family, or like now, selling apples just because she wants to.

"Yep, quite a few times." The farmer said. "You'd be surprised how many times the princess stops what she's doing and visits our small town." She gave a light chuckle.

"Wow!" Emerald said, elated. "Ive always wanted to meet the princess! Is she like they say, wide and beautiful, but smart above all else?"

"Don't ya mean 'wise' and beautiful?" The farmer asked, with a raise of the eyebrow.

"Nope!" Emerald said. "Zarrus always said that when he met the princess, she was wide, yet beautiful!"

The farmer laughed, putting a hoof to her yellow coated belly after a while, occasionally giving gasps. "Well, this Zarrus fella has a sure sense of humor, doesn't he?" She made out between laugh streaks.

"He's the best, but can you say that she isn't wide?" Emerald asked, getting a nervous look from the farmer. "What's wrong?" She asked. "Can't say she isn't?"

"She isn't wide, she's... Large?" The farmer suggested, eliciting a laugh from Emerald. "What, that's true!"

"She's twice the size of a normal pony!" Emerald laughed. "Zarrus said her plot was huge!" Not many passerby ponies were thankfully around to hear what she said, and a stallion that was nearby gave a chuckle and muttered "Must be talking about the princess." Nearly inaudibly.

"We aren't supposed to talk about-" the farmer gave a chuckle, and messed with her ponytail a bit, between the laughs. "Royalty like that!"

"Were gonna get arrested!" Emerald shouted, getting an eyebrow raise from a nearby guard. The farmer hushed her, but it yielded no effect, as she was laughing too much to give an impression. "Applejack, you're the best, ya know that?" Emerald asked, as Applejack fixed her hat, which she was using as a backwards necklace. "Just a bad liar."

Applejack was the first one to regain herself, although that took a bit of time. When she finally had it, she inhaled lightly, then let out a dreary sigh. "Alright, that was good." She said.

"Yeah, it was-" Emerald stopped herself, brought a hoof over her eyes like one of those hats that only shield the sun from your eyes, and squinted. "Hey, its that guy I was following around yesterday, like I told you." She whispered. "It was really embarrassing..."

"Ah bet it was." Applejack said, flipping her hat onto her head.

Mercer

"So, I was wondering, how would the minotaurs destroy the planet?" A curious mare walking next to Alex Mercer said to him, in ignorant bliss. All it took was one offhanded mutter, and suddenly the walking virus had been followed all over town by the green pegasus. He didnt even know her name, and she his. He was just bored, and rolled with what was happening.

"You said some of their machines release a black smoke into the air. That smoke will cover the rays of the sun, heat up the planet to an insane level, and other things. Though this won’t happen for hundreds of years, depending on their rate of growth." Mercer answered, still walking. He wasn't keeping track of where they were or how long they had been doing... this. In honesty, he wasn't paying much attention to the conversation either, and everything he said was just something he wouldn't have to put much thought into.

"That sounds scary. How do you know this stuff?" The mare asked.

"I’m a scientist." Mercer said.

"Like those guys researching wing cancer in canterlot?"

"Yes."

"Are you on their team? Helping cure winged creatures wing cancer?"

"No." Mercer said. "

"Oh." The mare said, making a silent gasp once the conversation dropped. "Oh, this is the market." She said. "Well, thanks for the chat, but I have errands to run. I hope we meet again." She said with a smile, directed at him. Mercer nodded to her, and moved to leave, but she called out again. "One more thing, I never got your name." She laughed.

"I never gave it." He said.

"Oh, um..." the mare fidgeted a little. "I guess that's strange, talking to a stranger for so long, not knowing their name at all, isn't it?"

"Depends on where you're from."

"Well, mine is Pond. Lily Pond." Lily said, giving a curt bow. "What's yours?"

"Mercer." The owner of that name said.

"Oh!" The now happier Lily said. "Well, I'll see you around, Mister Mercer." She said, to which Mercer gave a nod. She cantered over to a stand, eager to be the first to buy some fresh peaches. They were, he supposed, at a good deal, compared to the other stands around town.

His ear perked upon hearing some whispers. Hearing whispers was normal for one with hearing such as his, so he usually ignores them. This one, however, was of interest to him. "Hey, its that guy I was following around yesterday, like I told you.  It was really embarrassing..." the familiar voice of a child said.

"Ah bet it was." Came the voice of a southern drawled, older sounding voice. "Ahm glad you at least learned teh not demonize ponies like that. If that escalated, things wouldn't have been so good for the guy. Believe me, ah know."

"Really? You were made into a monster by fillies?" The voice, now completely identified as the little girl, or filly to natives, from earlier, asked. Mercer glanced over to the two, and kept on his way.

"No, that's not what happened." The southern voice said, sounding irritated. "But that's beside the point right now, ain't it? Anyways, ah was just saying that things could have, and would have, gotten worse."

"Oh." The young voice said, the owner of the voice pawing at the ground absentmindedly. 'Why am I walking so slow?' Mercer inwardly asked himself.

"Howdy!" The southern, blonde pony called over to Mercer. Once she had his attention (more like, empty gaze), she continued. "This 'ere filly would like to apologize to you."

Mercer said nothing, instead opting to look at said filly, without even his signature eyebrow raise. The filly, looked at the blonde like she had grown a third head. No, not that, it was more like she had said something about her, that wasn't true. "What?" The filly asked in a normal tone of voice. Well, a normal tone of her voice, which was high pitched.

"You were about to apologize for what you did earlier." The southerner replied, with the same tone of voice. The way these two were interacting, Mercer would have guessed that they were relatives, cousins possibly. He knew from experience, that unicorns can have pegasus siblings, and every other possibility.

"I don't wanna!" The filly cried.

"If you don't, ah can't guarantee yall meeting the princess in a month." The... Owner of the apple stand whispered to the fully, like it was compensation. Or blackmail. If she was the owner. He was judging based off her being the only adult pony nearby (or as adult as he could tell), and the fact that her cutie mark, if that's what its called, was an apple. From what he gathered, the cutie mark is what a pony likes to do, possibly as a career. He was glad he knew to make one appear once he realized it. That would have probably gained him a few pints of attention. More than he liked, especially considering how nosy people are.

“I…” The filly paused, and looked at the earth pony in front of her. Mercer looked to the two impassively, and made no sound. It was fairly easy to forget where he was, as shown by Blackwatch several times. The filly turned to Mercer, nearly sighed, and spoke. “I’m sorry for thinking you’re a monster… And getting my friend to think it too… And getting Zarrus as well…”

"You're hardly the first one, I'm used to it." Mercer said, glancing to the left, seeing a griffin. He turned his gaze back to the filly, then blinked and looked at the griffin again. It was that griffin from the other day, of whom he had that conversation with. On recollection, he found his name to be Zarrus.

"Whatcha mean by that?" The blonde mare, earth pony, asked Mercer.

"By what?" Mercer asked, not really paying any attention besides the requirements.

"You said you are used to being called a monster." The girl chimed in. "I heard that too." Hearing this, Mercer gave a mental facepalm, not the real ones that he makes sure would cave the skull of a lesser being.

"Something about me tends to just unnerve, and sometimes scare others. I got use to ponies reacting on those feelings.” He said, shrugging. When he wasn’t in a disguise, he had a tendency to strike mortal fear into people without really meaning too. People could tell he was the Apex Predator, something he enjoyed on occasion, other times it was just annoying.

These two were to be categorized with the fear group. Well. The filly, not the grown mare. She was on the side of the people that would later turn out to be an idiot. She gave him a look, almost daring him to try something funny, right then and there. It was obviously one of those looks that happen involuntarily, like a sneeze, but it was definitely there.

Mercer thought about leaving right there. Then Zarrus came closer to the group. "Hey Emerald, hey Mercer. Hi Apple Sales Pony." He said, sounding similar to a child with his choice of words and the way he exaggerated his words.

"H-hi Zarrus." The filly cheerfully greeted, with a studder of speech. And a rise in her heartbeat.

"Howdy." The characteristically southern accented earth pony said, animatedly tipping her hat.

"Yo Emerald," Zarrus said, looking at the filly. 'Emerald' looked up at him, large eyed. "Have you seen Sunshine around?" And her expression quickly dropped, making her now look downcast.

"No..." she said, dejected. "Haven't seen her all day." Emerald lifted her hoof to her face, and shook it a bit. It looked like she was fingerlessly clenching a fist. A single, frustration tear fell from her cheek, yet it didn't stain her fur at all.

"Oh, alright then." Zarrus said. "Well, I have to head off. Looking for her." He put his wings high into the air, and flew off, leaving the earth bound ponies (and Mercer) where they stood, right where they left off.

Sunshine

Sunshine felt sore. Sore all over her body, to the point where she could barely feel anything at all. She tried to get up, but her body refused to acknowledge her her commands. Her head hurt, and there was nothing she could do about it. Couldn't speak, barely could feel the coldness on the bottom of her body, and couldn't even see. It was so dark where she was, and she didn't know what was going on.

After a fair bit of struggle, she was finally able to move herself, and move her mouth enough to talk. Her wings were stiff, impossibly uncomfortably so, and it spread pain all through her back, for laying on half of it while it was like this. She felt cold in other places, above what touched the ground. She looked at her body, seeing that it was wet. Why? Because someone just threw a bucket if water on her. "Wake up," A voice in the uncooperative darkness said. "Its almost time."