Emerald’s vision cleared to reveal a cavern of green crystal.

“Great. Now we’re in some cave who knows where.” She groused out loud as she deactivated her cloak.

“Emerald. I’m sorry, I just got so tired of that thing wearing Cadance’s face.” Twilight said as she latched onto the pegasus.

Emerald sighed as she embraced the distraught mare. “It’s okay Twi. You were just looking out for your brother, though, doing some kind of disguise removal spell probably would have not gone amiss.”

Twilight chuckled. “Yeah, I probably should have led off with that.”

“Aww, how sweet. You brought your marefriend along. Once my takeover is complete, I will have to make sure you two are sealed in pods so we can harvest your love.” Came the voice of the changeling queen.

“Great. Just what I wanted to get stuck in the Matrix of love.” Emerald said as she rolled her eyes. “But I hate to burst your bubble sweetheart, you are not taking over. I can guarantee it.” Emerald said as she turned to face the image on the wall.

The changeling queen laughed wickedly. “How can you hope to stop me? You are deep underground. Even if you can manage to find your way out it will be too late for-” The image disappeared as the wall shattered from Emerald’s fist.

“Goddess I hate bad guys who monologue. I swear they do it just to hear the sound of their voices.” She said as she brushed crystal dust off of her.

“So now what?” Twilight asked.

“Well, given that she sent us here and she is not exactly the brightest of villains. The real Cadance is somewhere around here. So we just need to find her and get out of here.” Emerald explained as she looked around the chamber they were in.

“So it's just that easy?” Twilight asked.

“Probably not. But I do have a few tricks up my sleeve.” She said as she flicked her wrist and a small tablet showed up in her hands.

“What is that?” Twilight asked as Emerald began manipulating the device.

“Alteran Life Sign Detector. About twenty thousand years old or so, but the Alterans built their stuff to last.” Emerald said as she moved the device around. “Alright, there’s something this way.” She said as she began walking.

Soon enough the pair came to a dead end.

“Stand back a minute.” Emerald said as she tucked the handheld into her belt before flicking her wrist again, a massive hammer appearing in her hand.

“What is that? Twilight asked, realizing she was probably going to be asking that question a lot with her marefriend.

“Supersledge.” Emerald said as she pulled the hammer over her shoulder and swung, the rocket motor on the hammer igniting adding more force to the strike, demolishing the wall. Dismissing the hammer, she walked through the newly formed hole.

“Princess Cadence, I presume.” She said as she spied a pink alicorn sitting on a bed inside the cavern.

“Y-yes. Who are you?” She replied coughing a bit from the dust.

“Name’s Emerald Gear and I am here to rescue you so you can marry the doofus upstairs.” She replied with a smirk.

Twilight then climbed through the hole.

“Cadance? Is that really you?” She asked hesitantly.

Cadance replied in quite possibly the silliest way, performing her little rhyme and dance with Twilight, making Emerald smile.

Once the pair had hugged, Cadance asked.

“So how are we getting out of here?”

“On the Emerald Express.” Emerald replied as she handed goggles to Cadance and Twilight.

“And what is that?” Cadance asked as she put in the goggles.

Emerald smirked before she started glowing. Once the light died off, instead of a pegasus, stood a twin-tailed kitsune with Emerald’s coloring and markings.

“Hop on my back Cadance.” Emerald said before turning around. After a couple of adjustments, she scooped Twilight up bridal style.

“Now I want both of you to hang on tight. We are going to be moving faster than anything on this planet.” She said.

“Even Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked.

Emerald chuckled. “Once i decide to fully break my cover, that mare is going to get a lesson in what true speed is.” She said with a smirk. “Everyone ready?” She felt the arms around her tighten. “Good. Get ready. Taking off in 3, 2, 1.”

BOOM!

The trio quickly accelerated past the speed of sound.

Emerald moved through the caverns with an ease born of centuries of practice. Obstacles were spotted and planned for well before they were reached and avoided with a negligible loss of speed. Soon the trio had reached the exit of the caverns.

Setting Twilight onto shaking legs and prying Cadance’s limbs off of her, Emerald shifted back to her pegasus form.

“Alright. Now we just have to get back up to the castle.” She said after observing their surroundings.

Twilight nodded. “Right. We have to stop Chrysalis.”

After Cadance got the feeling back in her limbs, and extracting a promise not to reveal any of Emerald’s abilities, the trio set off.

Inside the Grand Hall of Canterlot Castle, Celestia was in the middle of delivering the vows to her niece and the captain of her guard. But, even with a smile gracing her features, her mind was elsewhere.

‘I know that Twilight went about expressing her concerns the wrong way, but what if she was right and this is not my niece.’ She thought as she went through the motions of officiating the ceremony for what seemed like the thousandth time. ‘Something just seems off. Both with Cadance and Shining Armour. But what could it be?’

Suddenly, just as she had gotten to the part about the ‘I do’s, the massive doors to the hall were thrust open.

“WE OBJECT TO THIS UNION!”

Celestia’s eyes widened as she saw not only her precious student, but her niece looking worse for wear and the massive form of Emerald Gear stalking up the aisle, causing gasps from the crowd.

The Cadance at the altar snarled.

“So you escaped. I guess I should have done away with you permanently.” She spat.

Emerald shrugged. “That is why you need to have an average twelve year old in your employ. If they say that a plan is stupid or that it will never work, you should listen.” She said glibly.

The now revealed false Cadance was then engulfed in green flames, which revealed the chitinous form of the Changeling Queen Chrysalis.

“Be that as it may, you are still too late to stop me!” She crowed with a cackle as Shining Armour’s shield shattered and Changeling drones rained down from the sky.

“You will never harm my little ponies.” Celestia said with steel in her voice as she charged her horn for an attack.

Her eyes widened however as Chrysalis met her attack with her own head on and pushed hers back, sending the alicorn flying with a scorched horn and a splitting headache for her trouble.

Emerald watched the byplay with critical eyes. “Cadance, go around the side of the room and get to Shining Armour. See if you can help him get the shield back up, if we can contain them at least we can take them down, otherwise try to repel them from the city.”

Cadance nodded before asking. “What about you?”

Emerald smirked as drones smashed through the stained glass windows. “I get to distract her.”

Moving forward, Emerald grabbed one drown by the neck and threw it bodily into its fellows, sending them to the ground. Another shot a bolt of magic at the pegasus, which she batted back at it, sending it into a group that was still hovering.

“OI BUGFACE!” Emerald called out.

“You impertinent fool! I will destroy you first!” Chrysalis growled as she fired a bolt of energy at the mare.

Emerald took the blast head on, and once the smoke cleared, merely brushed some soot off of her shoulders and yawned.

“That tickled.” She drawled lazily.

Enraged, Chrysalis fired bolt after bolt at the pegasus, who either took the blast or, more annoyingly, batted them out the windows into her drones with a flick of her wrist.

Finally, breathing heavily, Chrysalis gasped out. “Just what kind of pegasus are you?”

“Oh, me? I’m the distraction.” Emerald replied cheekily while pointing behind the Changeling.

Chrysalis turned and her eyes widened at the site of Cadance and Shining Armour floating in a sphere of magic.

“Why me?” Chrysalis had time to ask before the bright pink shield slammed into her, sending her and her drones flying off into the sunset.

Emerald clapped her hands together. “Well, that certainly was a thing.” She said before turning to the crowd. “Fillies and gentlecolts, I do apologize for the inconvenience. But I would like for you all to return to your homes or hotel rooms as appropriate, or inappropriate if you so desire, I am certain that once everything is sorted out, you will be contacted with a new time and venue for the wedding.” She said in a winning tone.

Soon, the hall had emptied of all but a few guards, the wedding party, Shining and Twilight’s parents, Emerald and Celestia.

A flapping of wings announced the arrival of Princess Luna.

“Hello, I do apologize, I was sleeping. What did I miss?” She inquired curiously.

Emerald laughed. “I really need to find out what spells you are using to keep your room quiet.” She said before pulling the alicorn aside to tell her about the failed invasion.

A few days later, Emerald was enjoying the reception of the now true wedding between Cadance and Shining Armour. The ceremony was beautiful, and Twilight was amazing as she sang the first song of the dance. Now the unicorn was being held by Emerald as they slow danced to a soft tune as the evening wound down.
“Thank you for helping Emerald.” Twilight said as she leaned against the taller mare.

“No thanks needed Twi. I would do anything for my friends and I would do more for those that I love.” Emerald said with a smile.

Twilight squeezed Emerald a little tighter for a moment before looking up at the pegasus with a smile.

Before Emerald could reply, the sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted her.

Turning the pair saw Princess Celestia standing there.

“Good evening you two. I hate to break up your evening, but I would like to speak to Miss Gear privately.” She said politely.

Emerald sighed and nodded. Leaning down to Twilight, she gave her a kiss on the cheek, eliciting a giggle and a blush from the unicorn before turning to Celestia.

“Lead the way, your Highness.” Emerald said.

The pair walked into the castle from the royal gardens and made their way to Celestia’s chambers.

Entering, Emerald took in the decor.

“Nice place. Kind of ostentatious, but when you have been around as long as you have been, you probably didn’t have much of a choice when it was being designed.” She said.

“No, I did not. While there are some trappings of my position that I enjoy, I would much prefer something simpler.” Celestia said as she pulled out a tea service.

“I can imagine.” Emerald said as she took a seat at the table.

“Now, I can imagine you are wondering why I called you here so I will cut to the chase.” Celestia said. “I am curious as to how you were able to shrug off attacks that staggered me.”

Emerald smiled as she steeped her tea. “Well, that would probably be because I am more powerful that you by at least an order of magnitude.”

Celestia’s hand faltered for a moment before she recovered.

“How do you figure that?” She inquired, her tone guarded.

“Simple, I am well over ten thousand years old and have studied and combatted magicks that you have no reference for. I have fought against more dark lords and ladies than you can shake a stick at. Hell, the first one I fought had committed the unthinkable and split his soul.” Emerald replied as she added sugar and honey to her drink.

At this, Celestia lost her composure. “How could someone do something like that?”

Emerald nodded. “Because he was a power crazed sociopath that wasn’t dealt with properly before he started his fall into darkness. Riddle was an incredibly powerful mage, but he wanted more than just that. He wanted to be immortal. So, in his research, he came across a spell that would create artifacts that would contain a portion of his soul after he performed a ritual and committed cold blooded murder. His madness was such to the point that when he heard a prophecy that someone would defeat him, he tried to kill my adopted daughter. He tried a couple more times before we were able to figure out how many artifacts that he had made and destroyed them all. After that, we located and destroyed every mention of the process and the artifact that we could find. After that, most of them so called dark lords and ladies were chumps. They kind of stopped cropping up after we decided to quit screwing around and just taking them and their followers out as they cropped up.” Emerald said taking a sip of her tea.

Celestia was stunned for a moment. “H-How many?”

“Somewhere around three dozen over the course of about two centuries. Like I said, they eventually gave up or were able to be counseled before they went down the road of becoming truly dark.” Emerald replied.

Celestia took a deep breath to steady her nerves. Then she remembered something. “You said you were over ten thousand years old. How is that possible?”

Emerald smile indulgently. “Completely by accident if you would believe it. I tied myself to a primordial force rather intimately. Fortunately the gods that favor me are kind enough to let me do as I see fit.” Emerald said as she pulled the top of her dress down a bit, exposing a marking of a black crescent on her chest. “This is a symbol of my charge as the guardian of the Master Emerald. I do my best to stay out of things and to stay neutral.”

“What force did you tie yourself to?” Celestia inquired.

“Chaos.” Emerald replied, smirking at Celestia’s shocked expression. “Not the kind of Chaos you are used to seeing. I don’t reshape reality to my whim all that often and when I do it is temporary and very localized. Like I said. I try to stay neutral.”

“So you won’t be trying to take over?” Celestia asked.

Emerald shook her head. “Not unless you turn into some despot, then I will. I prefer the quiet life. Been worshipped as a goddess, and while it isn't too far from the truth, was not all it was cracked up to be.” She replied.

“Understandable. So how do you cause Chaos then?” Celestia inquired.

“By making people question, starting technological advancements, and of course a few harmless pranks go a long way to creating low levels of Chaos.” Emerald said with a grin as she hit Celestia with a discrete wandless color changing charm.

Celestia grinned, not realizing she was now a bright pink. “So what kind of technological revolutions can you do?”

“Theoretically, I could probably have Equestria being a space faring race within a century. But I won’t be doing that. Maybe getting into orbit and to the moon within the next fifty years or so, but that will be through gentle nudges.” Emerald replied.

Celestia cocked her head to the side in puzzlement. “Why won’t you?” She asked.

“Because I have seen the end result of a failed cultural uplift.” Emerald said before taking a sip of her tea. Looking back to Celestia, her mismatched eyes were hardened, showing the mare’s age and experience. “It resulted in a nuclear winter. The entire civilization, gone. Pity it happened, because the ones who did the uplift could have helped us out with advanced technology to assist with fighting the Goa’uld.”

Celestia was stunned. Regaining her composure, she spoke.

“I understand. I would rather not see something like that happen to my little ponies.”

Emerald nodded. “No leader wants to see harm befall their subjects. Though, one bit of Chaos that I do partake in, though I tend to not enjoy it is combat.”

“You’re a warrior as well?” Celestia asked, starting to get worn down from the surprises this evening.

“I am, and that is why I shall pledge myself as your sword and shield should the need arise. Equestria is a peaceful nation, your armies are mostly ceremonial and your navy is at least a century behind where it should be. I will prepare designs and the necessary equipment to produce advanced ships and military equipment so if the need arises, they can be built quickly and put into service.” Emerald replied, solemnly.

“Do you think you can do something about our navy? I have know for a few decades now that we need new ships, but it is hard to get the admiralty to accept new designs. That and most of the designs have been terribly inefficient.” Celestia inquired.

“I can look into it. Give you a carrier navy rather than a frigate navy. I can limit it to the earlier days of the ship type, but it will be one hell of a learning curve.” Emerald said after a few moments deliberation.

“You would do that?” Celestia asked.

Emerald nodded. “I won’t give you anything that uses nuclear technology, but I can give you ships that run off a magical source like my planes. I have started building naval aircraft because I was eventually going to come to you in a few years anyways. Chrysalis just moved things up a bit. Once we have a carrier built, I will assist with training.” She replied.

“Do you have a design in mind?” Celestia asked.

Emerald nodded before conjuring a model of an aircraft carrier.

“This is CV-6, the USS Enterprise. It was a highly decorated carrier from the second World War. She and her crew earned twenty battle stars, more than any other carrier and more than any other ship in the fleet. She ran off boilers that used fuel oil, but since magic is a thing, I can design a better power plant.” Emerald said.

Celestia was blown away by the causal use of magic by the pegasus.

The conversation then drifted to the logistics of building the carrier and its support vessels.

Emerald found Twilight in their rooms later that night, waiting up for her.

“Emerald! Are you okay?” She asked rushing up to the pegasus.

Emerald smiled at the robe clad mare. “I’m fine. Had to come out to Celestia, but I now have a contract to upgrade Equestria’s Navy.”

Twilight looked at her incredulously, before rubbing her temples.

“I honestly don’t know why that surprises me.” She groused before smiling at Emerald. “I am happy that everything is okay.”

“Me too hun. Did you enjoy the rest of the party?” Emerald asked pulling Twilight into a hug.

Twilight nodded into Emerald’s bosom. “I did. Up until Cadance announced that she was taking Shining Armour to christen the honeymoon suite.” She said.

“Understandable, but what about that made you not enjoy the rest of the night?” Emerald asked.

“I didn’t know what she meant by ‘christen’ so I asked Rainbow Dash.” Twilight explained with an embarrassed tone.

Emerald fought to keep her laughter down. “Why Dash and not Rarity?” She asked.

“Dash was closer.” Twilight replied before pulling back to catch the amused look on Emerald’s face. “If you laugh, I won’t show you the present that I got for you.”

Emerald closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself.

“Okay, I’m calm. Now, you mentioned something about a present?” Emerald asked.

Twilight merely stepped back a few paces and dropped her robe.

*POMF*

Emerald stared for a few moments, wings straining at full extension, before swallowing and speaking.

“Okay, I can work with this.” Emerald said as she got her wings under control and pulled her mane from the elegant bun that it was in, letting the two-toned hair cascade over her shoulders. “I can definitely work with this.”

Author's Note

So Celestia now knows at least a hint of Emerald's true abilities, but not the extent. Up next, some awkward and sexy times.