A group of eight young men sat somewhat packed together in a white cargo van as said van drove down the street, the moon shining overhead.
The leader of this gaggle of men was a “veteran” gangster of twenty eight years by the name of JJ. Jeffery Jefferson, otherwise known by others as Roach. Roach because he had a habit of managing to escape sticky situations just before they could get worse, as well as managing to survive several gunshots and stabbings, seemingly no worse the wear. Of course Roach would never let others know this but his every movement tended to cause aches and pains like an early onset of arthritis; a life of violence had its “hidden” costs.
Currently Roach and his gang were gathered together in their totality and heading out to spend most of their money buying hardware for themselves. The battle several days ago had drained Brooklyn of dozens of gangs and now there was a power vacuum everyone was rushing to fill. Roach didn't intend to become a big name. Sure he would talk a big game but everyone who didn't want to be walked all over did that. Big names got big targets. What he and his boys needed was some high grade hardware to make anyone who even glanced at them have second thoughts. What they had now, knives and handguns, would make the average man on the street back off, but the oncoming rush of gangs wanting to be king of the hill? In all likelihood, Roach and his boys would get forced into compliance and be made to fight some other gang wanting to be a big name on the streets. It was just good luck he knew one of the local arms dealers who currently had a “surplus” and was promising a discount.
Roach and his gang continued driving along. They had two white vans. The first one full of gangsters and the following one with only two guys up front, the rest of its space meant to carry extra guns and bullets. Unbeknownst to this caravan of gangsters, a shadowy shape spied their progress from afar.
Eventually the gangsters arrived at a warehouse near the docks. It was a fairly tall structure scarred by the second viral outbreak and surrounded by rusting storage containers. Blackened metal sheets marked where viral growths had been burned off as well as hundreds of small holes marking the scene of battle. Milling around the front of the building were half a dozen men trying to look inconspicuous, the bulges of guns hidden under their coats clear to see. Roach pulled his van to a stop before the large overhead door and one of the guards walked over.
“Hey, Roach!” a large, shirtless man greeted. “Boss was expecting ya. Give me a minute an’ I'll get the door opened.”
Roach nodded and waited as the other man quickly darted inside. There was a brief screech of metal before the door started raising. Once it was high enough for his van to enter, Roach drove forward and was quickly followed by his other van.
Inside the warehouse were many stacks of wooden crates Roach knew to be full mostly of random junk to hide smuggled gun parts and bullets. The noise of grinders and sanders filled the air, while in the distance men wearing coveralls worked at tables to remove register numbers from guns.
Roach's two vans came to a stop within the warehouse and he and his men started exiting them.
“ROACH!” boomed a friendly voice. “How's life treating the odd job crew!?”
Outside, the guards were reminded they were supposed to keep an eye out for anything suspicious by the presence of a buyer. They spread out and started to surround the building itself. Two stood in front of the entrance while the four others scattered. One of the guards started to round one of the corners of the building before suddenly being pulled around it.
“Trying and failing to kill the whole lot of us, Marcus,” Roach replied confidently, crossing his arms. “Been doing a bunch of little jobs here and there. Got money to spend. A whole lot of it.”
“Big spender today, eh?” Marcus grinned and crossed his arms. “Got a whole lot of hardware. Some really sweet gear, too. Here, I'll show ya!”
Back outside, two of the guards started looking around the storage containers together. They were already becoming complacent again. One was just looking down the way while the other was giving cursory looks down between containers with a flashlight. As the two passed another space between containers, the guard with the light suddenly widened his eyes. A dark limb lanced out and pulled him into the space within a second, the other one barely half turned in reaction to the slight noise when a cord shot out and wrapped around his neck. He choked silently for a moment before a tug on the cord pulled him head first into the corner of the container. There was a bang and the man fell to the ground, unmoving, before he was dragged into the darkness.
“The hell was that?” said one of the door guards, having heard the sudden bang and gave a shout. “You guys kicking shit over there?!”
Silence met the shout as the other guard jogged over from around the corner.
“Seen enough movies to know where this is going...” muttered the other guard as he quickly pulled his handgun out, clumsily cocking it.
“Find your fucking balls, man,” the other door guard said, but at the same time got his gun out as well. “Let's all check it out.”
The group of three, guns unholstered, approached the containers warily. They were halfway there when two objects impacted the backs of two of the guards. There was a “poomf” followed by a wet splat and suddenly two of the door guards were covered in a sticky, sap-like substance that weighed down their limbs, only just stopping short of fully covering their face and leaving their eyes and noses uncovered.
The last guard whipped around, staring at his downed comrades with wide eyes. He looked up when movement caught his eye and he only had just enough time to see a large, dark shape dropping down towards him.
Back inside the warehouse, Roach and his crew watched on as dozens of guns with freshly ground off registration numbers were laid out on tables. There were quite a few rifles and handguns there, but what caught everyone's attentions had gotten a table all to their own.
“Shit...” Roach said as he picked up one of the guns his crew was now whistling and marveling at. “This really a boom tube?”
“Oh yeah!” Marcus nodded, rubbing his hands together. “Managed to grab ‘em after all the fighting a couple days ago. Only got a few of them so they don't got that discount, just so you know.”
“I'm not complaining,” Roach said with a grin as he tested the gun's weight and sighted down its length. “From what I hear, these things can even kill one of those roid monsters Blackwatch has running around.”
“Can't say anything about that.” Marcus shrugged. “Some of my boys got caught trying to spy on the big fight so I can't say if the armor the big guys were wearing is appropriately badass or not. I like to think these bad boys can mess up anyone's day.”
“If it can make a Cursor think twice, that's good enough for me,” Roach said and put the gun back down. “How much?”
“Now these are top of the line, bleeding edge gun technology,” Marcus said as he started into his selling spiel, picking up a rifle and starting to gesture to each part. “Not to mention the lack of a constant supply. Got plenty of bullets, but not a whole lot of extra stock coming in, ya dig? Taser attachment is a custom job too, so once that's out of juice ya might as well pull it off and tape on a knife. So I'm thinking a good t-”
Suddenly the lights went out and everyone looked up. It was clearly a power issue since the sound of grinders working away at guns died off as well. Instead of getting suspicious, however, Marcus just got frustrated.
“Ah fucking bullshit, man!” Marcus cursed and chucked the rifle roughly back onto the table. “Again!? Ey, Bubba! Get over to the fuse box and fix that piece of shit!”
“Right, boss!” One of the men that had been grinding nodded and quickly ran off into the dark.
“Nothing works right in this fucking city,” Marcus muttered and ducked under the table briefly before coming back up with a box. Opening it, he pulled out a flashlight. “Got a police force with a trillion dollar paycheck, ain't got enough to spend on fixing shit.”
“Ain't that the truth,” Roach agreed. “So how long is this going to take?”
“Got a box of shitty spare fuses in the back with the fuse box,” Marcus explained. “Should be back on any minute now. Anyway, we can do business with flashlights.”
“Yeah, my crew isn't that big so I'm thinking about arming everyone with an assault rifle,” Roach said. “And buying two boom tubes for when shit hits the fan.”
A guard with an assault rifle slung along his back wandered over to the back where Bubba had gone. While Bubba was Marcus' general, all-around repair and handyman, there was a reason the man was in a gang and not working a steady nine to five job. Making sure Bubba didn't try to skip a few corners in an attempt to fix something more quickly and end up killing himself was a part of the job. The guard walked into the back room and frowned at the lack of light from a flashlight. Moving his own flashlight towards the fuse box, he was met with the sight of Bubba slumped against wall. The guard started forward with a curse upon his lips when he felt something wrap around his neck and he fell towards the ground. He struggled and thrashed and attempted to cry out, but the pressure around his neck was immense...
“AK-47.” Roach smirked at the rifle he held in his hands.
“Accept no substitutes.” Marcus grinned for a moment before frowning and looking off into the dark. “What the hell is taking so long? Did somebody go make sure that dumbass didn't shock himself again!”
“I'll go take a look, boss!” a guard said and jogged off.
“So I bet Blackwatch would throw a bitch fit if I was seen carrying this around, huh?” Roach asked, holding up the “Boom Tube” for emphasis.
“Oh yeah.” Marcus nodded. “Those guns are supposed to only be made for them and they are very expensive. Use special bullets, too. Now I can't really get any more of those, but what I can get are rounds that can put down an ele-”
Suddenly a shout of shock and pain filled the air and everyone turned in its direction. Several guards ran in the direction of the shout as Marcus quickly pulled out a magnum. Roach made sure his boom tube was loaded as his boys fidgeted in place, gripping their new assault rifles.
“Yo, what's going on over there?!” Marcus shouted. “Talk to me, damn it!”
“Bubba and two guys are unconscious over here!” came an answering shout. “Someone's here!”
“The fuck...” Marcus muttered and took a look around his surroundings. He only saw darkness, intermittently lit up by flashlights and a bunch of young gangsters suddenly nervous and clutching guns. “Get your asses in gear and look around! And open the front door!”
Men starting searching the warehouse, most doing so in pairs while another ran up to the front to open the overhead door. Suddenly there was the sound of something swishing through the air followed by the brief screech of metal. Then there was the rattle of a metal chain falling to the floor.
“Boss, something broke the chain!” came a shout followed the sound of a door rattling. “Side door is jammed, too!”
“Well kick that shit down!” Marcus shouted back, now beginning to feel a bit nervous. Suddenly a loud bang filled the air along with the sound of wood shattering. Marcus turned to see a collapsing stack of empty wooden crates with several men on the ground sprawled nearby. The explosions seemed to have mostly dazed them, but there were some clear injuries from wood shrapnel. Suddenly another sound that, from personal experience, Marcus knew to be the sound of heads impacting unyielding concrete. He spun around in place to see a flashlight roll into view from behind a wall of crates.
“Oh what is this bullshit!” Marcus shouted, gritting his teeth. “Everybody get the fuck over here!”
Suddenly movement caught the weapon dealer's eye and he just managed to see the blur of a spherical ball land among Roach and his boys. There was a bang and suddenly the air was filled with incredibly thick smoke. No one could see a thing, especially not the guards that had been outside the sudden smoke cloud. Suddenly shouts of pain and surprise started filling the air, and Marcus immediately started waving his hands in an attempt to clear the smoke. By the time any sort of visibility had started to come back, all Marcus could make out was nearly a dozen bodies on the ground and a shape slipping around the corner of a wall of crates.
“Boss, you okay?” one guard shouted as he and the others quickly surrounded Marcus in a crude protective circle.
“No I'm fucking not!” Marcus replied angrily, just barely keeping from pistol whipping the guard. “Who the fuck is fucking with us!?”
“Jesus Christ, man!” Roach said as he and two of his sole remaining boys joined Marcus and his guards. “Did Blackwatch find out you scavved their guns?! Are we getting picked off by fucking Spec Ops or something!?”
Marcus considered the idea seriously for a moment before shaking his head.
“If it was Blackwatch, we'd be dead,” Marcus answered as he lifted up his pistol and scanned the darkness.
“Well who the fuck is it?!?” Roach turned around and scanned the darkness fruitlessly, his extreme caliber gun not feeling at all comforting when he couldn't see the enemy. “Fucking Batman?!”
Marcus was about to lose his temper and vent his anger and frustration on Roach when suddenly, with a metallic clang, something impacted the receiver of Roach's rifle. A moment later, the sound of more impacts filled the air. Roach and Marcus were staring wide eyed in nigh incomprehension of the object that had sliced into Roach's rifle. The object sticking out of the rifle and completely disabling the rifle was a batarang.
The other armed gangsters in the group were having similar reactions as their own weapons suffered the same fate. Then, when the sound much like a flag fluttering and snapping in the wind resounded above them, they looked up as one and saw a black shape descend towards them.
ALPHA
“Are you in a safe location, miss?” the voice on the phone asked,
“Y-yes I am... I... please hurry...” Emerald replied in a nervous voice.
“Just stay where you are, miss. A patrol will be on site shortly,” came the calm response.
“A-Alright...” Emerald answered and hung up. “Ugh...”
Currently, Emerald was crouched in the dark shadows of an alcove atop a building. Considering her current appearance, she had been immensely tempted to find a nice corner to loom like a gargoyle atop of it, but she had been too afraid of screwing it up by getting spotted to risk it. What was her current appearance? Well...
If anyone happened to posses Cursor levels of sight they would see that crouching in the shadows, seemingly shrouded by the darkness and wearing a caped cowl, was Batman himself. More specifically it was the Batman from the upcoming and highly anticipated Arkham Knight game. Emerald had honestly been at a complete loss of which version of the caped crusader to go out as. Not because none of them had been very good, but because she had been excitedly indecisive. If Emerald could be honest with herself, choosing which Batman to go out looking like had been the first time she had been giddy about something since she had been a small child. Which of course, somehow led into her feeling like she was having heart palpitations due to stage fright of all things after she had finally chosen and headed out. Despite the fact that, as Batman, it meant that the only things anyone should really see of her is her fist out of the darkness, she was still having a bit of performance anxiety about the whole thing.
It even bled into her target hunting when she was going out looking for a major crime to break up. Due to the fact that Blackwatch is supposed to be a law enforcement entity and not a political one, they had little authority when it came to the city it was stationed within. Though if the Mayor of New York tried to pass some state law that interfered with the Cursors, Blackwatch had all the justification in the world - literally - to get involved. This ultimately meant that Blackwatch's multi-billion dollar budget couldn't be spent on things to improve the city itself. A tad short-sighted, but the organization as it exists now was only three years old. Arguably, things would get better as the system was refined by the UN. This in conjunction with the US' current financial troubles meant there were quite a few thriving smuggling rings within the city.
'The trick wasn't finding a smuggling operation, the trick was finding the right kind,' Emerald thought as she carefully emerged from her hiding spot and ascended to a rooftop with a viral tendril disguised as a grappling hook. 'There were a ton bringing in a bunch of odd food, more bringing in cheap jewelry that only looked expensive, more bringing in actual medicine with only a bit of drugs. Honestly, any of them could have worked for my intentions but I was looking for something a bit more... appropriate. I wanted to find an arms dealer to mess up and what do you know, I even got lucky and found a guy heading to one so I could bust it in the middle of a deal. Hmm....'
Emerald frowned as she came to a stop before a ledge, carefully leaning out of the shadows and peering out onto the empty streets as she fought the intense desires to stand on the roof's corner to loom. Now that she had gotten her first big take down, she was a bit upset with herself acting “out of character”. Would it have mattered to Batman if it wasn't a big time smuggling ring? That it wasn't some people trying to bring in high powered guns into a troubled city or even smuggling out people to be sold as slaves somewhere? Actually, now that she thought about it, it was kind hard to say so since there were so many versions of the Bat, some of which used guns freely and just plain killed people.
'Well it doesn't matter, does it?' Emerald thought as she leapt a gap and came to a stop atop a roof corner, this time freely looming over the edge. 'I'm going with the only interpretation of him that matters. The one truest to the state of being that which is Batman.'
With that she turned away and melded into the dark, racking her photographic memory for all the smuggling rackets she had come across in her search of an arms dealer. There was the faintest flash of light, the only sign of her use of a teleportation, and she was gone.
BETA
“Yeah... I know... no confessions yet...”
Dana Mercer stood at the ready, smartly dressed in a very clearly expensive dress suit. She was standing in an office - James Heller's office - whilst holding a clipboard that was barely holding all the various papers and documents that she placed in it. James Heller's office was quite opulent as a sign of the massive budget it had at its disposal. The furniture was all stained oak and the room had wood paneling and wooden flooring. Heller's desk was a massive custom-made piece with enough surface area to force anyone to stand up to reach things on the opposite end. His chair was another custom-made piece, and was likely more expensive than the desk if only for the simple fact he had insisted on a chair with wheels. Quite an engineering conundrum to account for someone roughly two tons in weight. Finally there was what appeared to be an extremely large painting on the wall behind the desk; it was actually a large TV screen that switched between different scenes every now and then.
“Look, I am literally working around the clock now to ensure this doesn't happen again,” Heller spoke into the into the phone, sounding perfectly calm, but Dana knew better and guessed correctly that James was doing all he could to hide any anger he was likely feeling. “Twenty four seven, ever since the whole thing went down... You have my word Mr. Secretary-General, there won't be another battle in the NYZ any time soon... Yes, I understand. I'll make preparations for their arrival. Good day, Mr. Secretary-General.”
Dana Mercer watched as James struggled against himself with all his might to not smash his phone onto its charge station before burying his face in his hands. There was a long moment of silence before he let loose a loud growl of anger and frustration that likely would have easily scared off a Goliath. Dana for her part simply walked over to his side, leafing through her sizable collection of papers before dropping a few on the desk surface.
“So let me guess,” Dana said casually. “The UN wants to post observers to keep a closer eye on things?”
“Yeah, pretty much...” Heller muttered before roughly picking the papers up and looking them over. “The hell is this?”
“My reports on the Old Guard,” Dana answered. “It seems they are denying any and all involvement with the firefight in Brooklyn. Shocking, I know.”
“Like fuck they haven't got their fucking slimy fingers in whatever the fuck that was!” Heller snarled, slapping the papers down onto the surface of his desk. “They started doing their usual monster experiment shit and set it loose in some fucking twisted experiment! Since some kind of firebomb self-destruct got triggered just when we are about to capture the damn thing. What else could have fucking happened?!”
“The only other explanations is that we either somehow missed a monster somewhere or someone has the same genetic engineering capabilities as Blackwatch does,” Dana replied with a frown. “Both are very bad but also kinda unlikely to say the least. But at the same time...”
“Yeah?” Heller looked up at Dana after she didn't answer.
“Hmmm... no, it was just a thought I need to check up on before mentioning,” Dana replied with a shake of her head before suddenly placing fingers against her ear after a moment she got an odd expression, one that seemed to be a mix of amusement and disbelief. “What? Really? Wow...”
“What the hell is it now?” Heller groused. “It better not fucking be another battle. Just finished promising that wasn't going to happen again anytime soon.”
“We recently got an anonymous tip about gunshots from the docks and...” Dana began and looked briefly stumped of how to explain what she just heard. “It's probably best if you just saw for yourself. The patrol that responded is streaming a live feed with a camera right now.”
“Alright, let's see what's going on now.” Heller sighed and turned his chair around to face the painting. “Put it up.”
Dana brought out her communicator and started tapping on it for a few moments before pointing it at the TV and pressing on it one more time. Instantly, the calm scene of an African Savannah was replaced with that of a live feed from the inside of a warehouse. There were several bright lights set up and several Blackwatch soldiers were standing guard, mostly in a circle around a certain spot. Said spot had a large group of rough looking men completely restrained by cuffs around their wrists and ankles. Each cuff also had another chain linking to another cuff, making movement near impossible without perfect teamwork and coordination.
“It was fucking BATMAN, man! He broke my arm!” one of the men shouted loudly before giddily adding. “It was fucking sweet!”
“Fuck you!” responded another restrained man who released a pained groan. 'Uggghhh... my goddamn hand's broke, my ribs are broke and my head feels like it wants to split open...”
“The hell?” Heller muttered with furrowed brows, he stood up and approached the screen. He reached out with a hand towards Dana who quickly handed over her earpiece. “Tell me what's going on here. What the fuck’s this about Batman?”
“Sir!” Saluted a soldier on the video feed. “We found them tied up like this. We started investigating the area and found gun parts everywhere along with ammunition of every kind. We also find a few of our own guns here, likely scavenged from the recent fighting.”
“That gives me a reason to throw their asses in prison but doesn't explain exactly what the hell happened there,” Heller replied.
“Well uhh, sir, it appears the suspects are claiming to being attacked by someone dressed up as Batman,” the soldier answered and bent down to pick something up before revealing it to the video. “Fully functioning bat-gadgets included, apparently.”
Heller's brows raised to their highest extent as he took in the image of the batarang in the soldier's hands. He was silent for a moment before he suddenly began chuckling and eased backwards into his chair. He spent a few moments considering the weapon before speaking again.
“Alright, what about the suspects?” Heller asked, a bit of cheer still obvious in his voice. “How badly are they hurt?”
“Bruises, broken bones and nothing of which would have any long term consequences,” the soldier answered, bringing up a military iPad to read off a report. “As long as they get proper medical attention, they'll make a full recovery. Most any of them might get is an arm that is slightly wonky at flexing.”
“HA! Yeah, sounds like Batman alright.” Heller laughed. “Right, get the scum through medical and lock ‘em up.”
“Right, sir!” The soldier saluted again. “And uhhh, sir? What about Batman?”
“Well, vigilantism is a crime...” Heller began faux solemnly. “But I think in this case we can consider it in the same severity as jaywalking. In other words, don't bother unless you feel like it. I mean I woulda just downed their asses as fast as I could, to hell with the injuries they might get.”
“Same, sir,” the soldier replied with a small chuckle.
“Alright. Anything else I should know about?” Heller asked.
“Nothing from here, sir,” the soldier responded. “But from what I hear, this isn't going to be the last time we get something like this tonight. Been hearing about several more anonymous reports made in the same likeness as the one for this one.”
“Ha, busy night for the Bat. Heller out,” James said with a grin before removing his ear piece and handing it back to Dana.
“So we've got a vigilante,” Dana commented as she turned the TV back to painting mode. “Considering how many people there are with ‘super powers’ in this city, I'm surprised it took as long as it did.”
“Pretty much,” Heller said as he swiveled his chair back to his desk. A small frown returned to his features as he started considering more serious problems. “If some Cursor wants to play superhero, then they can go knock themselves out as long as they don't start racking up a death count. Otherwise the UN would start getting on my ass about it. I've got some more important shit to worry about than someone in spandex.”
“The Old Guard,” Dana stated.
“Yeah. As much as I want to just get rid of them, they've covered their bases politically,” Heller said as he began rapping his fingers on his desk. “Even if I could, I wouldn't unless I was putting them six feet under, I'm not stupid. Just removing their positions isn't enough to stop them from stirring up some serious shit. Better they're here where I can keep as close a watch on them as I possibly can rather than scattered all over the country.”
“I'll make to start using my resources to start digging up as much information as I can,” Dana replied and started leafing through documents again. “Hopefully next time we'll get some forewarning.”
“Let me know as soon as you find anything, Dana,” Heller said as he leveled a glare down at the papers on his desk.
“As soon as I find anything, James.” Dana nodded before turning around and leaving through the oak double doors of Heller's office.
Since Dana was supposed to be Heller's secretary, her own “office” was literally next door. More of a well furnished waiting room worthy of a secretary rather than an office, but it would have been weird if the room before Heller's was nicer. Her own desk wasn't nearly as large as his, but the wall behind her was lined with secure file cabinets. Quickly sorting her many documents and filing them away in their proper areas, Dana's thoughts wandered back to the meeting.
She had a thought she hadn't mentioned to Heller. It was the idea that while the Old Guard were cold blooded killers, they weren't stupid either. They weren't the psychotic leadership that Mercer had put in place once he had fully infiltrated the black ops organization. Suffice to say, a monster on the loose just wasn't in the Old Guard's style and Dana heavily suspected that something else was going on.
Immediately, Dana's thoughts wandered over to the idea that Emerald was in someway involved before shaking her head.
'I'm the one who defended her last time and even I still get twitchy about her,' Dana thought with a frown. 'Goes to show just how much a bad reputation can have an effect on people. But... she reminds me of someone else, who had been seen as a monster but was protective of those he cared about. Speaking of, I think it's about time I talked to Gabriel again and see how things are.'
With that, Dana sat at her desk and put her ear piece back on. Linking it to her computer, she started to make a skype call.
GAMMA
Emerald sat on the floor with crossed legs, and sitting atop of said legs was Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight had finally finished her hornless magic equation and had been spending as much time as she could trying to use it. However, getting her magic to cooperate and move through a material that wasn't as magically resonant as unicorn horn was proving to be rather difficult. Emerald had full confidence Twilight could eventually do it on her own, just like the equation, but in this part it would be simpler to have a bit of help.
The two of them were sitting on the living room floor with Navi nearby, also practicing her magic. Navi was making massive leaps and bounds with every day she practiced. Already she was moving things around telekinetically, a feat that was leaving Sunset Shimmer gaping at the younger girl. Spike was in the kitchen working on lessons of his own, much more conventional compared to outright magic lessons. While Spike wasn't nearly as studious as Twilight was, he was actually a little interested to see how his own education compared to Earth's own system. So far he seemed to be doing well enough, even figuring out problems on his own rather than asking for help. Goes to show you didn't need to be an obvious intellectual like Twilight to be smart.
“You can do it, Twilight...” Emerald said softly as she reached out with her magic again. “Just concentrate...”
A tendril of magic left Emerald body and entered Twilight's body through her back. There was a moment of resistance from Twilight's own well of currently inaccessible magic and then it was gone. Emerald's magic intermingled a little with Twilight's for a short moment, a strange sensation of intimacy assailing the both of them followed by feeling of the both of them somehow being one and still separate. Ignoring the feeling, Emerald “gripped” on some of Twilight's magic and ever so slowly started pulling a small amount out. It was hard to describe what Emerald was doing with Twilight. It both was and wasn't as simple as just pulling a strand of Twilight's magic out, and having the other girl remember the sensation of her own magic leaving her body. It was more akin to learning how to make the Vulkin hand sign in a way. At first you wouldn't be able to make the symbol without simply forcing the fingers into the sign. However, practice it enough and eventually your brain would learn the muscle memory necessary to make the sign without forcing your fingers into place. This was the same idea behind what Emerald was doing with Twilight's magic. Admittedly this exercise meant that Twilight figuring out the hornless equation was somewhat pointless. However, Twilight was the type who would want to know the science behind what she was doing, not just how to do it.
Once again finishing pulling out a strand a magic, Emerald watched as as it retracted back into Twilight's body before it suddenly stopped. Feeling growing excitement inside of her, Emerald watched as the magic started to steadily spread. Eventually, Twilight's entire body was covered by her own pink aura for a moment before it suddenly flashed brightly. When the light faded, Twilight took a deep breath and exhaled it loudly before smiling widely and a bit tiredly.
“I did it,” Twilight said softly with a grin. “I did it!”
“Uh... wow...” Sunset said honestly, blinking at both Twilight and Navi who was now attempting to levitate herself, making little hops that had ever so slightly slowed down descents.
“I knew you could do it.” Emerald smiled and wrapped her arms around Twilight's middle.
“No thanks to you,” Twilight said with an elbow to the girl whose lap she was still sitting on.
“Hey! What did I do?” Emerald asked with a faux hurt frown before it turned into a sly smile.
“You made yourself smell like vanilla,” Twilight said pointedly. “It was rather difficult trying to concentrate on magic when you smell like delicious cake.”
“Cake, huh?” Emerald said with grin, gently grabbing hold of Twilight's chin and moved her face into much more easily kissable position. “Bite me.”
“That's horrible,” Twilight stated but did start to kiss Emerald. However, her eyes widened and she backed away to stare at Emerald a bit incredulously. “Did... did you make yourself taste like chocolate?”
“Maybe?” Emerald smiled. “You like?”
“UUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!” Sunset Shimmer groaned loudly, face buried in the palms of her hands. “Please stop... it's hard to quickly get into my wheelchair to get away.”
“Alright, alright...” Emerald said and both she and Twilight got up from the floor. “We'll celebrate later, I suppose.”
“Ugh...”
“I'm going to get right into practicing,” Twilight said and joined Navi at the coffee table. “It's going to take a while to get anywhere, but now that I can cast magic hornlessly, progress will be a lot more clear.”
Emerald smiled and walked into the kitchen where Spike was still sitting, giving the schoolwork his total attention. She walked over to stand behind him and briefly looked over his shoulder. He was doing pretty well.
“How are you doing, Spike?” Emerald asked.
“I wasn't sure what I was expecting,” Spike said as he leaned back to observe his work. “I didn't know if I was ahead or behind and I'm still not sure...”
“You're pretty damn smart, Spike,” Emerald said, ruffling the former dragon's hair. “You were Twilight's assistant for years. You'll be fine.”
“If you say so,” Spike said with a shrug before getting back into it.
Emerald walked around Spike to the opposite side of the table. She took a seat before digging into a pocket and pulling out several envelopes. Apparently tons of people already knew her mailing address and had sent her a lot of mail. She had tossed most of it, seeing as most of it contained things like hate letters and meaningless threats as well as packages that contained things like literal crap. It might have affected a normal person, but it was already water under the bridge for Emerald. It was hard to even give such things any attention beyond the time it took to throw them away. The only real concern she might have had about such people was if they came after her and her family with the intent to cause harm. Then she would have to hope they were in an already out of the way place so she didn't have to deal with people watching her brutally kill them. The remaining letters came from official sources, addresses of TV networks to be exact so Emerald already sorta knew what they would be about.
'Let's see if I'm right...' Emerald thought as she opened the first letter. 'Dear Oskar Osäker. Sorry Fox, you already alienated me. Good day, Miss Emerald. Blah, blah, blah, request to interview, blah, blah. I think not. Let's see... request to interview, request to interview, request to interview. Is that all they want? At least this final one here doesn't take itself ser- wait.'
Emerald looked over the address of the details of the letter again, her eyes drawn to two words specifically: Comedy Central. After that, she started reading the letter again, this time much more carefully and taking in each word. After she was done reading, she leaned back and started to consider the letter seriously.
'Well... why not?' Emerald thought and took her phone out to take a picture of the letter and one of herself. 'I wonder if they still film in New York or if they had to move the studio?'
Emerald then started rapidly typing out an email with two picture attachments. After sending it, she looked towards the living room. Navi had given up on attempting to get straight to self levitation for the moment and was now levitating multiple objects, Twilight was still trying to do something more than a light show and use her magic for something practical. And Sunset Shimmer was watching the both of them closely with a studying gaze.
'Well, since everyone is working on something productive, I ought to get work on the formulas for my projects again,' Emerald thought as she got her custom iPad out to work on some plans.
DELTA
In a dark room full of cigarette smoke, several old men sat around a table. They all wore uniforms of some kind, either a simple camo suit or Blackwach hardsuits sans the helmet. All of them were old with the youngest looking to be around his late forties. Their expressions weren't happy in the slightest, all of them bearing frowns with one outright scowling.
“Can someone explain to me what the hell happened exactly?” One of them demanded. “Or even how the fuck that happened without anyone here finding out about it beforehand?”
“Everyone here knows what the others are up to,” another man replied. “No one has been running some experiment behind the scenes that just got loose.”
“It doesn't explain how one of our own just decided to jump ship and join up with a fucking monster and some dumbass gangbangers!” came the angry retort. “I knew Captain Henderson for close to thirty years. He was a true believer in the cause and an absolute professional. Now he just suddenly jumps ship out of the blue?! Let me be blunt, WHAT THE FUCK?”
“Okay, calm down. I agree with the sentiment but getting furious about it isn't going to help,” said one that stuck a nearly burned away cigarette butt into an ashtray. “Let's go over what we know.”
“Well one thing, Heller is pissed as fuck and blaming us,” came the reply of a man still wearing his hardsuit. “Of course he doesn't believe our claims of innocence and if it weren't for the UN breathing down his neck we'd probably have to deal with him going on the warpath.”
“I blame the second generation for the “release the monsters” reputation we have now. Dumbass pieces of shit they are,” stated another with a sigh. “Even some of our own privately asked me if we really didn't have anything to do with that.”
“That is irrelevant to the situation,” said the first angry commander. “The fact of the matter is that there was a monster that literally came out of nowhere because everyone here knows Heller would never make something like that. Which means we have competition.”
There was silence for a long moment as everyone digested that statement.
“...Do you think it's possible the Chevalier set up another group in America?” asked the second commander. “They haven't talked with us ever since Blackgate...”
“Let's... let's consider all our options before we leap for the worst possible one,” spoke the suddenly very calm first commander. “Long periods of no communication isn't unheard of since our founding. Continuing on... whatever this thing was, it was able to subvert minds to create minions. Spreading a highly mutative virus that turns whoever it infects into monsters was a potent weapon on its own, but outright mind control?”
“That has the potential to change the balance of world power forever,” spoke the third commander solemnly. “And chances are whoever made it can do it again. If we can't have such capability, no one else should.”
“You've been rather quiet, Trager,” commented the second commander.
“I've been thinking about some details that were mentioned in the debrief the sole surviving E-Code gave us,” Trager said with arms crossed, eyes glazed over a little from his mind in deep thought. “The monster he fought sounded like some kind demon, par the course for viral monstrosities, but... he also mentioned that it was wearing a Tiara.”
“...Wasn't Mercer's traitor here for some stolen jewelry?” the first commander voiced aloud.
“It was, but...” The Second frowned. As much as he wanted to bring in Emerald... “It seems like a bit of a reach that there is a connection between what the thing was wearing and the Traitor.”
“I admit it is a bit of a stretch and likely a coincidence.” Trager nodded in agreement. “But what else do we have to go on? We might as well follow this lead and confirm if it's a dead end.”
“Our first step should be confirm what kind of jewelry the Traitor was after,” the third commander stated. “If it was a tiara, then it's a point in favor of a connection between the two.”
“Looking at the intel in the database right now...” Trager spoke as he quickly tapped on an iPad he pulled out. “Damn, nothing specific. Just says she is here for missing rocks.”
“Hmmm... should we set Heller on this lead?” asked the Second. “That way we can work on this through official channels. Unless it's Heller or Dana Mercer asking the questions, most of the germs on the island aren't cooperative at all. Plus if something is found we can officially arrest her.”
“No. If we do that we surrender most of our control over the use of the information gathered.” The Third Commander shook his head. “It will slow down information gathering a lot but eventually we'll find out what we want to know.”
“I'll send out some feelers,” spoke the second commander. “See if we can find a germ that's willing to talk to a Blackwatch soldier that isn't flashing his badge for some reason.”
Trager smiled. It was likely this wasn't going to bear fruit, but hopefully chances were the connection was there. And then he and the rest of the Old Guard could come down on Emerald Gleaner like the wrath of god.
EPSILON
Belvedere leaned back in his seat and looked over his stack of paperwork. After making sure there were no mistakes, he nodded and placed the papers in the out tray on his desk.
It had only been a few days since Belvedere had managed to break into the Orion building to access the locked away serum, and only one day for the full effects of the serum to take their course in his body. His legs were now longer and after feeling ravenous the entire time he had regrown his own arm as well. He was now in his office finishing up on some of his work.
'Certainly much easier to do this with two arms,' Belvedere thought as he swiveled his chair around and looked out his window. The new city center was always being worked on. The Wolverines were helping with the construction as well handling the heavy labor as ordered by their commanders. The new city center was nearing completion now and already had some sectors in use and being lived in.
'All of my work is done, unfortunately,' Belvedere thought with a huff. 'What to do now...'
Belvedere considered exactly what to do with his free time for a few moments. He looked down at his legs and thought of the fact that he was still wobbly moving around on them. Deciding he was going to both tour the Hub and train his legs a little more, he got up and walked out of his office.
A few minutes later found the Regent of the Enclave strolling down the completed areas of the new city center with a somewhat wobbly gait. He found himself being reminded of Manehattan, though the towers weren't as tall, they ended at a stone ceiling overhanging the entire city and instead of ponies, Diamond Dogs roamed the streets. Many of the dogs were construction workers building up the rest of the city and wolverines hauling heavy loads of stone and steel.
'I wonder if I'll ever get used to this sight?' Belvedere asked himself as he passed a small group of spiders being lead along by Flandre. 'I hope not.'
After taking in the sights and sounds of the growing city, Belvedere decided take his tour back to what was quickly becoming known as Old Town, the original settlement area they had established when they first arrived in the Everfree over three years ago.
Once he arrived back in Old Town, Belvedere couldn't help the feeling of nostalgia at the sight of the still very much lived in, comparatively crude buildings here. These were the homes that he and the others had built themselves under the guidance of their elders. This was the first true city of Diamond Dogs in over a hundred years settled in a wildly free and dangerous forest. And it was all thanks to Emerald Gleaner's leadership. She may not have been a Diamond Dog, but he could honestly understand why many dogs in the Enclave had come to think of her as their version of Celestia.
He paused suddenly and tilted his head. There was a loud voice reverberating towards him up from an alley. Curious at this, he followed the voice to its origin, getting louder and clearer as he neared. It wasn't long before he found himself in a courtyard shared by surrounding apartment complexes. Said courtyard was full of Diamond Dogs looking towards the far side of the yard where Fenrir towered over everyone.
“She came to us from a world alien to our understanding!” Fenrir bellowed, his voice clear to all in the courtyard. “She arrived immortal, immune to all sickness, capable of recovering from any ailment and was strong! She wandered among the ponies, she saw their way, and though she found a few she cherished she felt no attachment for the whole! And then she found us! The Diamond Dogs!”
Belvedere raised a brow and looked over the crowd, specifically those in it and their reactions. There were many families from what he could see, couples with newborn pups or pregnant mates or even both, couples with pups that looked to already be ten or so years old but with another clearly on the way. It was from among these that had expressions of interest, attentiveness and even fervor. There were other dogs here, ones that were by themselves. These ones looked to be here purely to pass the time with something, though even among them Belvedere could see these same expressions play across their faces at times.
“She came to us at our lowest. Scattered packs and enslaved dogs forced to play the part of the slaver!” Fenrir addressed the crowd, spreading his arms grandly. “She came to us from a position of power and we feared she would be no better then the Dragon, but she demonstrated even the strong - especially the strong - can be merciful! She defeated the Dragon and gave us the choice that was taken from us. She let us choose to serve or find our own way!”
'What exactly is going on here?' Belvedere thought with a tilt of his head. 'I knew Fenrir was rather loyal to Emerald, but to the point he'd actually deify her? Well, she did give him everything he could have wanted back to him.'
“She returned our lost kin to us and led us to a new home to establish a city to surpass the Old Kingdom of the past!” Fenrir continued his preaching. “And it was from there her works of greatness were only beginning! She would free us further from the shackles of our own hunger! She would not only return to us a nation but make it one the world had no choice but to acknowledge and respect as a rising power! And through her power, those who choose, those who are willing to embrace the change and growth, are bestowed a fragment of her own greatness!”
'Should I do something about this?' Belvedere thought with a hum before shaking his head and turning away. 'No, I think this is one of those things that only her holiness should handle. I think she'd take great glee in this. Oh yes, I can already imagine the joy on her face when she comes back and discovers she is being worshiped like a god. Now, on to business...'
Belvedere walked away from the congregation and decided to next make his way to the surface. Walking through crowds, he couldn't help but notice how he towered over most dogs now. Before, he tended to stand on his hind legs more often than not thanks to his lithe build. Suffice to say, thanks to that habit he was used to standing a bit taller than most dogs, but it was rather noticeable even to him how he was now a full head and shoulders above most. Of course, now thanks to his longer legs it was very awkward and uncomfortable to attempt a more “natural” stance but you had to take the good with the bad.
The Regent Boss of the Enclave soon reached the tunnel to the surface. Before, it was a rather crude system. You either walked the entire way or hitched a ride on the cargo trains running things to the surface and back. A lot of work had gone into improving just that. The tunnel had been expanded upon quite a bit and now had five rail lines leading to the surface, two of which were made to hold a tram system and dedicated to getting people to and from the surface.
'I remember when we had these bolt-bare, cobbled together steam engines running these lines,' Belvedere thought as he boarded the tram and took a seat. 'Amazing how much things can change in only a few years.'
The tram Belvedere had boarded indeed was a rather loud far cry from the alarmingly scrappy looking steam engines they had before. In fact, these trams wouldn't look too terribly out of place on Earth. Some people might comment they looked a tad on the old side compared to the sleek lines of Europe, but it was still a technological leap.
Little over a minute later, Belvedere along with several other dogs left the tram once it arrived. He paused to bathe in the light of the noon sun for a moment before continuing along. When it first cleared out, the surface area the Enclave claimed as their own was nothing more then a slightly churned mess of dirt. There was quite a lot of plant life active up here now. The dragon scale bushes were still here and possibly in even greater quantities to armor up the many thousands of wolverines now staying in the Enclave. The golden apple trees were everywhere as well, and there were always plenty of dogs collecting the fruits of these trees either to eat straight away or make into delicious juice and cider. Emerald had been moving surface operations towards more nature accommodating construction and in return for the decency, Sovereign had moved trees around with no harm to their health when asked.
Belvedere walked along a paved path leading away into the trees. It wasn't too much of a barrier. They cleared up into the next claimed area fairly quickly. The first thing that met his sight was the Great Fox now grounded and being retrofitted. There was a ton of armor plating covering much of the Fox's original hull and the large balloon that provided much of the lift was now completely gone. The top deck was now mostly covered by a steel structure. Overall, the Great Fox resembled an Ironclad more than its original state as a cargo vessel. It even had smokestacks to vent away waste energy created by the new levitation core designed by Moon Dancer. That last part was important to Belvedere. The retrofitted Gray Fox was one of the major things the Enclave had created without input of some sort from Emerald on the technical side of things, it was purely Diamond Dog engineering and magical expertise from Moon Dancer. Honestly, the levitation core likely could have been better, not to mention the propulsion jet engines to provide further mobility likewise could have been more efficient, and weaponry was constantly being added and removed to balance firepower and staying power in a prolonged fight. But in the end it was still something they made and something they could work on to improve themselves. There was even plans to lay the groundwork for several more ships like the Great Fox once the design was finished being optimised.
The Regent Boss then turned his attentions to the other interesting sight in the clearing. It was the training grounds of the Enclave, now vastly changed from the difficult obstacle courses they had originally been to account for the fact their users were Super Soldiers. It was now in use by over several dozen Warhounds, or more specifically the Direwolf branch.
So far there were nearly four dozen Warhounds who had made the leap and became Direwolves as soon as the option became available to them. Belvedere expected there to be well over a hundred Direwolves by the end of the month. As he watched the new Direwolves train and do their best to get used to their augmented forms as quickly as possible, he spotted a sparring pair. It was Tavish and Padfoot sparring with each other. Tavish appeared to have already mastered his altered proportions by the way he practically danced around the lumbering hulk that was Padfoot.
Belvedere smiled slightly at the sight of both of them, reminded of how full of energy Tavish was once his legs finished growing in. The little Alpha had been practically over the moon about the fact he was ever so slightly, if you squinted just right and exaggerated a little, above average in height now. Then Padfoot had made his own appearance at that moment, standing a full head above Fenrir and soured the “little” Alpha's mood instantly.
'We have so much to show Emerald when she gets back,' Belvedere thought as he crossed his arms. 'I wonder how surprised she'll be?'
The Regent Boss of the Enclave, rising power of Equis, turned his gaze skyward with some hint of a grin.
'Either way, I know she'll be proud.'
Many miles away, another leader of state was attending a bit of business of her own.
Princess Celestia stood at the Canterlot sky docks awaiting the arrival of a dignitary. Normally Princess Celestia wouldn't be here and would be back in the palace busying herself with her duties until the dignitary arrived and was met by a servant. But this dignitary was quite different, even so that Celestia wished to meet her as soon as she arrived rather than at Celestia's earliest convenience as would be the norm.
Celestia, flanked by two Royal Guards, watched in interest as a sky ship very distinct from all the others moored here eased into the harbor. It was made of a wood of some kind and that was pretty much the only similarity it had with neighboring Equestrian skyships. The ship was long, sleek and thin and seemed to be made entirely of polished white petrified wood that could have easily been mistaken for ceramics. One could still see the grain of the wood along with the occasional knot along the entirety of the hull. Its triangular yellow and blue sails were positioned in line with the hull much like the sails of a sloop. Embedding in the front, gleaming with the light of the sun were two large yellowish-orange gems, massive polished amber placed like two great eyes on the ship. Those two weren't the only pieces of shaped amber placed in the hull, but they were the largest, the rest being far smaller and spread evenly along the sides.
The people who made the ship were a member city state of the Eldeer Conclaves. Highly withdrawn, secretive, dismissive of most and a few of their people were incredibly long lived. They could trust and indeed had done a lot of political dealings with the member states of the League, while practically a small army of Conclave diplomats stood at the ready to speak with and interact with the members. That said, if the dignitary had been a simple diplomat Celestia wouldn't have gone through the trouble of awaiting their arrival. No, the entire reason why she stood here to meet with the dignitary had been because she was a Conclave Warlock.
Said Warlock was now descending the disembark walkway. The people of the Conclaves were entirely deer and it was no different for the Warlock. Deer were a tall, slender species, taller than ponies, faster, more agile but physically more frail. But as tall as deer naturally were, they still were a bit shorter than Celestia's statuesque figure. The Doe Warlock seemed to dyed her fur coat a snow white, icey blue eyes were accentuated by black paint over her eye sockets and lids. A thin black line of paint ran right from her nose up the middle of her snout. She wore a dress robe of sorts that was blue with yellow accents. Unlike most of the dresses ponies wore, it wasn't made to surround most of her legs and nor did it even fully cover them. The front half of her robes were sleeveless and other half had a half dress like design that covered the back of her hind legs but reached only halfway down. Along with her dress she wore a chest plate made of that petrified white wood which was embossed with a large polished amber. Finally she had a cap-like helmet that covered the back of her head and the top, an elegant singular artificial antler was attached to the back of it sticking up straight towards the sky. Adorned on this one antler was yet another piece of polished amber.
“Ah, Princess Celestia. How gracious of you to await upon my arrival,” the Warlock commented with an easy smile as she approached. “I do hope you have not been waiting long?”
“It is quite rare that any nation has the opportunity to pay host to Warlock of the Conclaves,” Celestia replied. This fact was especially true for Equestria who the Conclaves seemed oddly standoffish with. “Unique circumstances require unique responses.”
“And circumstances are quite unique of late, are they not?” the Warlock said before giving a short nod. “Alas, my manners seemed to have left me for I wish to get to the point of my arrival as soon as possible. I am Warlock Taleena of the Iyandan Conclave. Shall we speak as we make for the Palace?”
“Of course, though I must point out it is hardly a private setting to conduct any negotiations,” Celestia replied as she and Taleena began walking.
“Ah, but Iyandan feels no need to hide our forthright dealings with the venerable Diarchy of Equestria,” Taleena answered smoothly. “But you are right. Perhaps the topic shall of be of trivial matters for the time being? I have heard talk that one Emerald Gleaner has been indisposed for quite some time, leaving an underling to rule in her place?”
“Ah, it is true.” Celestia nodded. “She accompanied my student on an important task which had unexpectedly extended into a prolonged affair.”
“Oh?” Taleena said with clear interest. “Ah, though I wish to ask further, I doubt such would be prudent. How goes the business of Equestria? I admit my knowledge of local affairs is not as all encompassing as I'd like. The most recent I know of is that Equestria is in unsteady economical straits.”
“Equestria has been suffering from a series of highly disruptive events these past few years.” Celestia nodded. “We've been struggling to return from this depression, but thanks to the trade partnership with the Enclave we've been able to spring back incredibly fast. Along with that, the Enclave has been very willing to take up most of the costs for joint projects between our nations.”
“Ah, speaking of projects, I saw that the iconic skyline of Canterlot has changed quite noticeably,” Taleena commented, looking pointedly towards where Cloudsdale used to float. “Whatever has happened to the famed weather industry of Equestria?”
“One calamity too many, I'm afraid,” Celestia replied solemnly. “After being destroyed once before, the pegasi of Cloudsdale decided to live on firmer ground. The weather industry has been moved and rapidly set up in Ponyville.”
“Ponyville? My, what a coincidence. Is that not where all the famed product of the Enclave flows through nowadays?” Taleena asked.
“Yes it is,” Celestia answered. “It's turned into quite the boom town. Who knows, maybe in a few short decades Ponyville will be the site of a new city? Despite the negatives of it all, we are living in quite exciting times.”
“May fate favor the bold,” Taleena intoned instinctively before gracing Celestia with a charming smile.
Celestia returned the smile readily as the two of them continued on their way to the palace. She wasn't fooled by the Doe's friendly overtures. A thousand years of maintained minimal contact with Equestria suddenly broken only now? Perhaps Emerald was rubbing off on her in the wrong exact ways, but she was suspicious of hidden motives.
Either way, Princess Celestia would do her best to prepare for the future.
-TBC-
Another chapter has emerged, thank you
Never trust the Eldar Celestia.
I don't know why, but I really don't trust those deer.
Also, really? Hit Emerald with the might of a God because one sentence she said days ago vaguely has a little bit of something to do with a supposed "Demon" being spotted in the NYZ? They REALLY want just any excuse at all to try and kill her.
its the Eldar!...Deerdar?...eh close enough.
Waiting for the next chapter, it was good.
Also, Happy new year and a little typo
You literally made an Eldeer race, complete with petrified wood as wraithbone
*Slow clap*
Also, as I'm playing Stellaris now
This may very well lead to one of the most feared scenarios of ethic divergence
Never took Heller as a Batman fan. I wonder if he would kill Emerald if she offered him a chance to tryout to be Robbin.
I'm a little surprised that Twilight let Sunset stay crippled, but I guess that Emerald must have pressed the issue. Or Twilight was a little preoccupied having super happy fun times with Emerald to argue about it...
I really, really like how the first gen Blackwatch guys are assholes but not stupid
I'm going to love watching the dogs deifying Emerald play out, and ever since the Grey fox made an appearance I've been itching for the chance to draw an Enclave war airship.
I was suspicious that the griffins may take this opportunity to make their play, but It's nice to be remained that the other nations have their own agenda's and cards to play. And If their name is anything to go by then these guys will be the Eldar of that world. Only two kinds of fools trusts an Eldar. A dead fool and a fool about to die.
Fucking Batman, my guess that it's a viral that's playing vigilante and knows how to pull punches. Love the story, and keep up the great work
7836642 You think that’s bad, just imagine how the other races are going to react when Emerald comes back to them with a kid. After the incident with the ‘other’ Oskar I can’t imagine the league will at all like the thought of more of Emeralds kind running around. Let alone one that goes around calling Twilight, a demi-god alicorn 'Pa-Pa', since it imply s that a partnership between an evolved and a non-evolved will always produce evolved offspring. And the truth could be even worse, that Emerald, and Navi can create more of their like kind at any time by will or by accident.
I highly doubt the native races would react well to even the possibility that they are all ultimately doomed to be replaced by Emeralds species…not to mention how they would react if they tried to in any way try and press the idea of population control on either Navi or Emerald herself and Emerald just laughs in their faces.
7836708 On the plus side, Navi would be labeled the unexpected, yet official peace treaty between the Equestrian and Enclave royalty but with the added faux pas that two foreign royals conceived a love child from behind the scenes. One royal we must note, can make a crater out of any nation that wants to try going to war.
7836658
Also considering we know that one state of the griffons are gearing to wage a revenge war, I'm very suspicious of the timely arrival of the deer. 40k refs aside, it's apparent from Celestia that they're an isolationist society, a stagnant empire. They're clearly advanced, supposedly long lived and only ever seen or spoken to if matters that interfere with their boundaries both physically and culturally/spiritually, has risen to threaten it. They could be working with the griffons, acting as a shadowed hand to swing the odds slightly enough to their favor...
Or they're a third threat. I still remember that Spirit Kings are awakening, the deerfolk may be in league with them and see the coming storm as an opportunity to expand. After all, they sent a warlock, and one of the first thing she inquires is where's Emerald and she just received a vague answer that still clearly states that the Enclave's leader is out of the picture.
Wait a minute. His name is marcus and he sells guns to criminals.
dailypicksandflicks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/oh-i-see-what-you-did-there-baby.jpg
If you cant tell its a borderlands reference.
A horrifying thought, WWI or II heralded with several-dose unrelated violent events happening simultaneously at once. All these scenarios we're seeing may appear unrelated on the surface but eventually they will come to a head.
With the visions of destruction witnessed by the Ancestral Masters appearing ever the more likely, I'm reminded of the fact that Emerald cannot be perceived by Destany, and thus this apocalypse will only come to pass if she can't return. So shall The Last Second Trope come into play, or is World War Equestria truly unavoidable?
The immortal words of many a stable/vault dweller who've come befor sum this nicely: War. War never changes...
And maybe Best Alternate EQG Protagonist/Antagonist will get some more character development! Tune in next month to find out!
7836816
If the parallels the Deer have with the Eldar are even partly more than superficial then they could very well be a force to be reckoned with in their own right. In their peak the Eldar were able to all but command the warp, manipulating their own emotional imprint on it to create and use chaos gods to serve their own ends like literal lools, and if the parallel runs that deep then the deer may in-fact be able to create creatures like the Windogs, or even spirits that are on Sovereigns level.
Hell I dare say the Deer may even be the reason Emerald wasn’t able to pass back through the portal the first time she tried, and the whole reason for them showing up to speak with Celestia is because they know what the griffins are planning to do and they are going to try and persuade Celestia into destroying the mirror portal on their end and prevent Emerald coming back and inadvertently starting what may be the closest thing that world will have known to a world war.
Emerald's meat trees means her continued survival is in the best interest of every single carnivore nation that has made an official deal with her so if the griffins make a move against her then it's very likely that they would rally behind her for the sake of their own interests, and the Enclave itself lies smack bang in the middle of Equestrian territory, meaning that the griffins would have to get the official blessing of Celestia and Luna (something I doubt they would give) to go after her if she takes refuge in the Enclave (and doesn't just park herself in an open field with her claws bared and say's 'come get me') or declare war on the ponies as a whole and fight their way through an entire country, and their ‘goddesses’ (not to mention any political allies the ponies have) just so they can then face the horror of the meat grinder that would ensue from a medieval level army trying to lay siege upon an underground nation that is armed with space marine level Armor and boomsticks and supported by living biological weapons designed to go toe to toe a modern human army (Not to mention the infected ponies AND the infected changelings which Emerald herself has trained to be assassins)
And if the Mirror pool arch is anything to go by the griffins will do it. They may only have only a medieval level of technology but they also have been shown to posses a fighting spirit that rivals imperial japan. They held off an entire planetxworth of infected for years that were laying siege to the glass crater that was once their mountain kingdom with nothing but swords, spears, maces and sheer bloody minded brovado (and in the case of the storm griffins, lightning). Based on this I think it's safe to say that if they got it in their heads to fight then it would probably take nothing short of destroying them to the point of genocide to make the fighting stop as an unstoppable killing machine meets an unbreakable fighting spirit.
(I guess that book Twilight was reading previously about WW2 may have been foreshadowing)
Awesome, as always!
Question: How big is the Enclave? I mean, as big as New York? Los Angeles? Moscow?
Bah! Damn prissy little elves.....
*dwarwen mumbling*
7837006 i speculate its as big as dresden
Never trust a
Space elfDeer. They would gladly kill thousands if it meant saving one of their own.Squee *starts reading*
*finishes*
Can't wait.
..... Eldeer? We're having a 40K reference in here? Seems like a rather random thing to add to this story.
7836967 I think Emerald's dogs actually surpass the astartes. Super strength, reflexes and regenerative abilities, they already beat them on ease of growth into their forms than the invasive and sometimes fatal surgical enhancements the astartes do. Their armor is also more advance than marine armor, Emerald's constant tweaking and improvements onto manipulating and building at a nano-molecular scale means that the plating of the wolves' suit is most likely harder and stronger, providing more protection than slabs of ceramite or plasteel could. The only difference is that they're not a spacefaring race, yet.
And with the deer, I wouldn't be surprised if they're playing both sides, just to get closer to the mirror or passage into the Enclave. Equestria's still in a financial shit hole, a major capital city to represent one of the races has been destroyed and reconstruction abandoned. Perfect for the deer to come in as "friends" or saviors to the view or the masses but political nightmares in the royal court. With the Everfree currently off limits due to Sovereign's awakening, with exclusive traveling rights to only the Enclave, pressuring a weakened Equestria to give them "permission" to reach the Enclave, yet face resistance from Sovereign, can be seen as hostilities from the dogs, thus bringing negative feedback from the UN to them. Unfortunately, the dogs could care less, matters of foreign relations was all Emerald's undertaking, preferring to isolate themselvesand advance further. If anything, the deer are probably uncomfortable that such a nation is rising so quickly and no one but carnivores have access their weapons that tips the scale against races and nations that have magic.
I wouldn't really put any stock on the griffons, the battles against Other Oscar monsters are still on the easy side of slathering hordes of instinct based creatures that are all too eager to close the distance for melee, that, and the griffons we saw there was probably the sum total of what the Principalities had left, not as a fighting force but as a species. Now in our canon viral-verse, it's Gilda's family's state that is going, not the Principalities, against weapons that can touch the sky and with greater volume than any spell user can dish out and armor that may very well be resistant to lightning. It's possible that after this one sided slaughter, the UN's fears may reach such a peak, that the deer may even step in to lead everyone as a united force, not only to possibly crush the Enclave but weaken the world's militaries to make conquest easier. The meat trees alone has made the viable threat of large carnivore nations a possibility, if there's any chance to nip it in the bud, it's now.
7836584 Beware the Eldeers!
7838003 oh that is perfect!
7836816
My first guess on the Deer was they were servants of Harmony, but since it said they were rather cold towards Equestria (Harmony's favored servants/nation) I suppose not.
Hmm or they were jealous of Harmony's favoritism and Harmony has reached out to them now since Emerald has been 'corrupting' Equestria and they jumped at the chance to serve her.
7837881
The point with the griffins isn’t about them posing a genuine threat to Emerald or the Enclave; it’s about the risk that their need to bring Emerald to ‘justice’ and their demonstrated inability to surrender in the face of a superior enemy will result in a repeat of the Canterlot wedding incident but on a national level and start the same kind of political domino effect that lead to WW1 on earth.
If the Deer truly are like the Eldar then I doubt they would honestly bat an eye if Emerald wiped out the griffins (beyond the fact that it reveals the possibility of her doing the same to them one day), but if they are secretly worried about the technological progress the Enclave are making under Emerald leadership then it would be in their best interest to stop a war between the Enclave and anyone else because conflict has proven to be the main catalyst for that development.
This is why I figure they may be planning to use Celestias reputation as a kind and benevolent ruler against her by playing the part of the wise altruists and argue that the right thing for her to do is to destroy the portal and stop said war before it begins.
If Celestia agrees then the Deer’s interests are served, The Enclaves technological progression is retarded, Emerald herself is no longer a direct or indirect threat and the Deer get to look like the good guys throughout it all (and if they are feeling perceptually dickish they may then turn around and tell the Diamond dogs that Celestia has betrayed their leader and laugh as the Dogs declare war on the ponies without Emerald there to help the rebuilding efforts for either side, thus strengthening the Deer's position even further) And if Celestia refuses (something I think is likely seeing how that would mean abandoning her beloved student, not to mention fellow ruler of Equestria) then the Deer still look like the good guys and have the grounds to use that refusal as justification to turn the league against Celestia (Which would be much more likely to happen with Emerald gone since the carnivore nations would still be getting the meat they need and the dogs are still harboring a grudge due to her part in the fall of the old kingdom)
In that case her only hope Is that Emerald makes it back on her own and tells everyone to calm their collective tits, or that Discord's cannon ability to open dimensional portals is strong enough to help get her back. In which case Emerald might find herself haveing to deal with a small army of Diamond dogs showing up on earth to liberate her.
Do you have time to talk about our lord and savior Emerald Gleaner?
7836816 It's very convenient that you mention Stellaris, the Eldeer are a arrogant race if only for the fact their recorded history goes back farther then anyone else's, stagnant would be rather accurate considering how their leaders are all long lived while the people die as often as any other. But now is not the time for Old Empires to reawaken their glory, now is the time of Outsiders and Alien Swarms to make their claims
7836836 It's amazing how often I make unintended references to things
7837006 It's hard to say without knowing if a space is too small or too big but, Rabbid's guess of Dresden looks about right
7836967 I'm just going to say this, the Eldeer are a race of consensual Necromancers and that all your guesses are rather good and interesting but... in this one case who would be the "Old Ones"?
7838607 Indeed, the age of Navi is coming soon
7838526 Man, isn't it fun when we, readers, are speculating the hell out of this story? I always enjoy this
7838543 Spreading the imperial faith, accept or be branded a heretic from the quietly growing mob of redemptionists
7838607
By that I assume you mean they have some kind of Amber based Spirit stones, and their standing army consists of the souls of dead Eldeer placed in golems made from that white wood they have in place of wraithbone.
As for whom the 'old ones' could be in this setting. I'm going to go with 'Mother and father' from the pony creation myth. And since I remember scrolling through the ask blog one day and seeing a vague mention of 'Lizard men' and the Slann invading half of Equis to get some trinket that was stolen back I'm going to say that Equestira may very well exist within a stable pocket of the 'realm of souls' I,e ‘the warp’ within the Warhammer universe. This is why ‘magic’ is so prevalent in Equestria to the point everything is pretty much made of it, why ‘spirits’ exist there and the laws of physics there are so screwy (cough- sun rotating around the planet- Cough)- Mother and farther did this by creating the Tree of harmony to force that pocket dimension to conform to logic and ‘rules’ that allows their physical creations (like ponies) to live there and the weird ‘dimension’ that Discords home is located and the place Celestia took Twilight during her ascension would be different pockets within the warp where the tree of harmony cannot reach and thus Discord and Celestia have power over to shape to their will)
This could also mean that within this story the ‘Earth’ from the prototype games which Emerald once called home and Holy terra from 40K could very well be the same world just at different periods of history... Meaning that when Emerald was sen't to Equestria she was in-fact sent back in time long before humanity even existed and the 'war in heaven' between the old ones and the Necrontier happened and the realm of souls (the warp) became a nightmarish super Hellscape as a result. And according to the 40K timeline the period Emerald is currently in is the part where humans first begin to discover the warp 'I.e magic' and create technology around it which fits in almost perfectly with Emeralds little discovery about how the viral scanner is 'magic based'
And on an interesting side note, according to ‘if the emperor had a text to speech device’ the Emperor in the 40K setting is as powerful as he is because the first group of stone age psycers ',magic users' committed ritualistic mass suicide and combined their souls into one body. Doesn't that kind of has an eerily parallel to the fact that Emerald gains a boost in magical power by consuming someone because, as you know, 'magic' is a product of the soul and as we know thanks to Discord, when an evolved consumes someone they consume their mind, body and soul?
7839060 So you're saying, Emerald or any of the cursors, may in fact be the future emperor of mankind. That, or a little boy whose soul screams with the chorus of thousands, is going to show up eventually.
Worst case scenario, Navi gets left behind and takes the role
7839094 No. The Emperor would have been born in prehistoric times in the geographic region where modern Turkey is. I'm just pointing out the parallel in the reason the Emperor of mankind is so powerful in 40K and how the evolved gain power.
the Emperor is powerful because he has multiple souls in one body that resulted from hundreds of Psychers committing ritualistic mass suicide and being reincarnated into one person. The evolved assimilate the mind, body and souls of everyone they consume so if anything I'm saying that the Evolved would have the potential to be just as powerful, if not eventually surpass the Emperor from 40K.
7839136 That eventuality can even be sung through Dory's little song
Just keep eating, just keep eating~
I'm a little worried however, Belvadere obviously doesn't give much of a shit when it comes to politics, he's mostly centered to the wellbeing of his people, he just ignored a growing religious movement, particularly one lead by a member of the old guard revitalized. Even we as readers blundered on forgetting that, with culture comes religion, Emerald is everything you could ever hope for in a goddess, powerful, intelligent, kind and vengeful. Time and time again she made a promise and despite the odds, she delivered. A tale of freeing the slaves, liberating imprisoned brethren and bringing them to a promised land, this shit is straight up biblical.
Hell I wouldn't even be surprised if she eventually establishes a realm as an afterlife.
7838607 7839175
I just remembered that the Equistira girl’s earth is a thing in this story so I’m going to revise my previous post. I’m still going to go with the idea that Mother and father from the pony creation myth are old ones like out of Warhammer and that Equestria exists within a small pocket of the (realm of souls) but I’m going to say that the Equestria girl’s world is their version of the meterium, not Emeralds earth.
Visual aid
New model
Previous model
Also It also turns out that Discord has the symbol of chaos from warhammer on the cane he took to the second Grand Galoping Gala.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/5/16/897408__safe_solo_screencap_discord_open+mouth_eyes+closed_hat_top+hat_spoiler-colon-s05e07_make+new+friends+but+keep+discord.png
So given that, and the Eldeer, how the Lizard men and how Orion mentioned The god emperor from 40K in the ask blog I'm defiantly doubling down on this idea.
Well I dont really have much to say since I know nothing of warhammer. I can say is I cant wait to see more batman. And see if it turns into a boon or a fault. Good chapter as always. Keep it up. And shorter chapters are fine. But it makes people expect them sooner. But whatever. Also cant wait to learn more about earth's magic. And Im afraid the Enclave may have to go deer hunting before too long. Well time will tell.
7836690 Were you not paying attention to the beginning of this chapter and the end of the last one? It's pretty clear Emerald is playing Batman. Hell, some of the paragraphs right after the warehouse scene specifically state Emerald's intentions to dress up as Batman.
7837831 Perhaps its foreshadowing.
7838607 Fate, and others like her would be my guess. No idea tho.
7839136 Whats the equestrian equivalent to Turkey? Pumpkins?
Random question: Have you received any fanart of Navi and Spike playing video games together?
7841706 Not yet, the only thing I have of this book is the coverart I believe
Thinking about it viral sonar reminds me of how elephants can communicate through the ground vibrations. Then again maybe I wouldn't have noticed that without almost the word elephant popping up.
Also how Emerald would react to the worship, I think (though you are the author do what you want lol, and this'd probably decrease plot in the future tho if this approach were taken) that she could educate them about herself, like produce a book on it so they comprehend her biology then they will know she isn't really a god.
Then again even kings get worshipped like gods sometimes, doesn't mean it'd dissuade too much.
7842909 Course, then there's the question of what makes a god a god? What criteria does Emerald lack that is needed to be a god?
Wow... one steps out for some business and the holidays to see three new chapters? How long has it been? Must have been all the Christmas spirits, in more ways than one...
But it is good to see this again.
fc01.deviantart.net/fs38/f/2008/359/5/8/DRW40k_Christmas_Edition_by_DaRealWurld40k.jpg
Now... it is nice to see that ordinary people such as Jared can see past the often-exaggerated media and see the Emerald isn't the prodigal, genocidal heir to Mercers empty throne that people are apparently quick to believe, and is willing to have a pleasant, even constructive, conversation with her. Not that they are to be entirely blamed though; circumstance and events of recent times give surplus reasons for people to be concerned. Not just for their safety, but for the world's. Especially when there is an organization that would see the atrocities continued.
However...
This is unfounded. We could argue whether Oskar's choice to kill/spare Twilight was an example of dual-causality (that Alt-Discord modified Oskar's mind to create Emerald, to fight Oskar, to spare Alt-Discord, to change Oskar's mind, and repeat), or whether Alt-Discord was merely fixing his own universe separate from Emerald's.
If it's the latter, then Emerald's past choices were her own, right out the gate.
But even if it is the former, and her choice was in fact perpetrated by Alt-Discord, than that only accounts for one out of the countless upon countless other choices and opportunities where the end result could have been the same; with Oskar violently subjugating the world as he did.
Consider this:
Where was the Time-Travelling Good-Samaritan to save Steven Magnet's life, when Oskar was first sent to Equestria?
Was it a Time-Travelling Good-Samaritan that was responsible for Oskar sparing the life of Rose Locks, when Oskar wanted a disguise?
Where was the Time-Travelling Good-Samaritan to save Silver Light's life, when Emerald wanted to learn more about magic?
Where was the Time-Travelling Good-Samaritan to save Gilda's life, when Oskar wanted to know more about flying?
Where was the Time-Travelling Good-Samaritan to save all of those griffins, and Gilda's father, when Oskar felt threatened?
Was it a Time-Travelling Good-Samaritan that persuaded Emerald not to slaughter the Diamond Dogs, after discovering their slave activities, before the discovery of Niddhog?
Where was the Time-Travelling Good-Samaritan to save all of those Changelings, and Queen Chrysalis herself, when they invaded out of starvation?
Were the souls of the ancient master element benders mistaken when they stated that Emerald was not bound by, and was even unraveling, the Tapestry of Fate?
The list goes on. Whether Emerald made that one decision herself is non-substantial as there were any number of opportunities where Oskar could have become the person he did, and there was never a cast of time-travelers to prevent that from happening. If Emerald were to look back, and her perfect memory is useful for this, she could see this for herself.
Emerald is an individual of her own personal choices and actions, and not some by-product of some self-conceived "cosmic hand-holding".
This is not geared toward the author or even toward Emerald personally, as much as it is a series of examples that prove that she is her own person. It is nice to see that a subsequent chat with Jared dispels these thoughts on it's own though.
Speaking of which...
Now this doesn't raise any critiques or praises or anything, as much as it raises questions born out of curiosity.
While it is obvious that becoming a Cursor has no effect on ones ability to feel compassion and affection, what does it entail towards sexual attraction?
The reasoning behind this is that many would argue that sexual attraction is merely a form of motivation for a male and a female of a sexually dimorphic species to seek out the most appealing mate and reproduce. But what happens to that motivation when it's no longer pertinent toward you anymore, where you have obtained the ability to reproduce asexually at a far faster and more efficient rate than sexually reproducing?
Due to Emerald being under the affects of intoxication, as well as the sheer unlikelihood that Emerald is leading Twilight on this way, we can safely assume that Emerald honestly feels these feelings towards Twilight, despite being the equivalent to a massive pile of sapient virus which, again, would see far better results doing what it did with Emeralds past creations. Or is it something that can be re-established with the generation of functional sexual organs? Is it an echo of her past humanity, or the virus simply taking advantage of all of its methods? This is by no means a determination, but rather a curious thought to fiddled and shared with.
...Sadly, this is likely true. Many a time in history has a group been judged solely on the actions of one or a small few, and this will be no exception. A few bad apples spoil the bunch, as it were. That's the sad thing about large populations; the individual is typically smart and adaptable, and you can have countless of these individuals, but it only takes a few foolish, short-sided ones to bring it all down to a disappointing average. It is this average that, most of the time, determines the next course of action.
It is wonderful that there are people with this attitude, and the gumption to see it realized. However, it could all be rendered difficult by the many who see Mercer's and Emerald's actions as the rules and not the exceptions. Not rendered in vain, of course, but it would certainly stunt progress. Hopefully others could likewise be inspired, like a Cursor Clean-up Crew. Even a small group of Cursors, with the right knowledge and coordination, can accomplish in days or weeks what would take professional teams months, or even years, to complete. Not to mention the potential all the excess materials could provide. May their future efforts be swift and well received.
s2.quickmeme.com/img/5d/5dddc113aa64f4c7c641b2a0730ffddee0bec0cdd830c089f8a971732ef2b654.jpg
m.memegen.com/5izfnu.jpg
Excuse me, but I couldn't hear you over the sound of me snorting in amusement at your sever hubris.
cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/53839572.jpg
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/567/244/3ec.jpg
i.imgur.com/VMtdrgb.jpg
It's ironic that Celestia would be the first to be approached because her voice actor, Nicole Oliver, also voice acted for the farseers in the Dawn of War game.
And you know their names?
Macha, Caerys, and... Taldeer.
Careful Legionary, anymore meta and this'll write itself.
Good to read these again. Highly anticipate the next update.
Carry on!
Double dealing! Treachery! Politics! Hot lesbian sex!
Tune in next time, for the next episode of Retired Monster to find out what happens next!
7846880 Well immortals are like gods but not gods. Gods have alot more power really. They usually specialize in religions with multiple deities, or religions with singular they tend to be dictators or passive natural forces etc. But an 'all powerful' god would be like we are in their simulation they made and they can pause it rewind it fast forward, check and change every detail they want. But then beings can even do that which are not gods. Like a simulation universe videogame. Even animals with less intelligence might believe in gods but then its usually superstition and false association and unwarranted fear, like I know I am safely hidden no smells sights sounds etc can make it out of my hiding spot, but I fear the predators might still get me and know where I am, because a dream told me so. That's an example of superstitious suspicion of omniscience or such, caused from fear. Then other gods might be archetypal such as Shinto's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kami#Notable_kami And when you analyze it, it simply is what was a focus on people's lives. People asked, what was the first human if we all had parents whom had parents? No answer, thus religion and a god to answer it.
So, deities may not exist anyways, like hierarchies may tend to occur, but its only an assumption or illusion of absolute control of whats beneath usually. Like employees doing their job aren't meticulously controlled by their boss in every thinkable way, even within the boss' domain. So those astral lords and such might fall under that too. But I don't know.
So maybe gods are simply for worshipping, regardless of any power or sentience etc. Perhaps the only gods that made way were humanized and emphasized certain things is simply because those ones tended to be successful to the survivors more often. Perhaps it was like fan-clubs, just taken a bit seriously lol.
7848553 That was a lot of rambling, without any answering of the question. The closest you got to answering the question is Immortal, Lots of Power, and Tends To Have A Specialty. The last one by its nature isn't a requirement but just a trend.
Emerald is certainly immortal. She has tons of power. And if she does have a specialty, it'd probably be Blacklight.
Discord would also be a God under those criteria. Immortal, tons of power, Chaos.
So would Luna and Celestia, and probably Sovereign.
7850909 I was wondering about that, and not just about Emerald.. Is there enough of the hive mind left for Blacklight individuals to recognize other BL individuals, no matter the form they wear? A variation of the hunting pulse?
7850513 Well, I did answer the question, because giving a strict answer on it may not be diverse enough I gave an idea of the possibility and why it is hard to pinpoint because also if I said absolute omnipotence and omniscience then, that automatically invalidates like literally every deity of every culture, and one could say I was forgetting those definitions or aspects of a god. Also it sort of demonstrates the inconsistency of what people define a god as. And I wanted to be pretty objective about it. Like if I said the definition of a god is just a hierarchy, that's incomplete. If its a mystical magical hierarchy leader, then that's still too broad of a term. And some humans were worshipped as gods too, what were the misconceptions they had? Are gods people, or are gods separate? Theres too much we do not know, and would Emerald call themselves god? Probably not. So what does that say about other gods, narcissists? Controlling? If you ask me, people need gods, not vice versa. But that's an opinion not an objective statement. I like to look at it objectively for the sake of exercise. But what that does say, is anything that is worshipped as a god is a god. So, no I didn't really answer your question, I answered more encompassing and objectively than that though.
But if I had to answer I would possibly say either omnipotent and omniscient being above all else, or, a powerful 'higher' being narcissist that intentionally withholds information from their members to preserve mystery to keep an authority status. I.E. a supernatural cult leader, where their audience is ignorant? Is that an adequate answer? What if I just opened up with that, I doubt it'd be an answer you could accept without some context. So blame yourself for wanting an absolute answer.
And naw she is more than blacklight and more than discord. But she isn't so easy enough to be dismissed as a 'god of technology' or something. Granted it'd kind of fit in a way, if you count biotechnology and magitechnology. But she didn't reach the highest tier of tech, and there is some she is neglecting like spirit/soul technology or such currently, like non-tangible magic tech. Which is basically operations on the soul plane or w/e, how the Discord's could see her bleeding from those strikes from Oskar. Magical constructs I guess. And even if she could do any form of tech, it doesn't mean she had inherent control over it since birth or such, like normal gods might be like. Then again of course that normal idea could be wrong, so back to square one repeatedly.
Long story short, its unanswerable mostly. And you can't criticize me for rambling, when its an actual honest and thorough answer to your question.
Besides you saying 'lots of power', that's not quantifiable or helpful as now we need to define power, and in other stories immortals with power are not always gods. And theres different degrees of immortality, certainly the ones you listed aren't true immortals or Oskar wouldn't have killed them in their timeline.
So if you wanted a simple (non-rambly) tl;dr answer its that gods are gods. What a satisfying answer.
7851165 A god is defined as ‘a being that is worshiped due to the belief that it controls or exerts force over some aspect of the world’. The monotheistic belief that the term can only referrer to a single all powerful entity is a relatively new one (which is why the first commandment of those religions is 'thou shall have no other god's before me') and by that original definition, in both a metaphorical and literal sense, Emerald could very easily be considered a goddess of 'the flesh.
The diamond dogs live in a world where it’s a mundane fact of life for beings to control or represent certain aspects of life, so when Emerald heals / revives someone from the dead the average Diamond dog could very easily conclude that she is simply exercising the same kind of innate control over their flesh that Celestia seems to hold over the sun. They also see her routinely shape-shift by 'melting' and reforming her own flesh at will, gain power by consuming the flesh of others, and her War-hounds witnessed her mere presence reduce the flesh of an army of twisted monsters to ash while fighting along side creatures that Emerald created from her own flesh.
But more than anything else, Emeralds most famous manifestation of her 'power' is making meat literally grow on trees- which is what allows most of the diamond dogs to now have children- and those new parents are the group that was most enthralled by Fenrirs speech.
Random thought; Were any video games or movies made about the evil Oskar? What would Spike and Navi think when they see them? Please write this scene :)