A New World, A New Way: Deepground

Chapter Eighteen

Secret Meeting

(Canterlot Castle, Celestia’s Room)

“Sister, is there a reason why you brought me here to your room?” Luna asked while looking over at Discord in suspicion. “More importantly, why is Discord here as well?”

“I wonder that myself,” Discord said as he was currently floating above Celestia in a relaxing manner. “While I don’t mind having a conversation with you, wouldn’t it be much better to do it during the daytime?”

“Given how you kept avoiding my letters, I figured using a little bit of…Foreign magic was needed to bring you here.” Celestia said as she looked over at her foreleg at the materia she implanted about an hour ago. She soon turned her attention back onto the draconequus as she levitated her mother’s book over to him. His eyes widened upon seeing the book and he quickly took a step back from it.

“Where did you get that?”

“The Forbidden Archive in Canterlot. I only read most of it, but you made a deal with my mother involving her giving you a baby human in exchange for returning magic to Equestria after a certain monster almost depleted the land.” She said before walking over to a nearby table and motions for Discord and Luna to take a seat. “Keep in mind, I’m not angry nor am I going to do anything that would cause you harm Discord. All I want to know is if what I’m reading in the book is true. And given your expression upon seeing the book, I can only assume that you know what’s going on, correct?”

“Sister…is there something you're not telling me?”

“All will be explained during this conversation, for now just listen.” She said before looking over at Discord. There was a moment of pause from the draconequus upon hearing this, but he soon made his way over to the table. The moment he was there, Celestia offered him a cup of tea which he accepted with slight hesitation. A moment of awkward silence hung in the air before Discord spoke.

“Never thought this day would come sooner than expected.” He said before taking a sip from his cup of tea. “You’re not wrong about me knowing what’s going on. One thousand years ago when you two were just little fillies, a monster crash landed in Equestria. This alien monster ended up devouring just about anything it could get its hands on including the magic in the land. Long story short, your mother and father were able to seal away the monster with my assistance, but sadly your father didn’t survive, and the land was on the verge of becoming a wasteland of sorts. So, as a means to bring the magic back to Equestria…I made a deal with your mother.”
“What kind of deal?” Luna asked before hearing Celestia speak up.

“He would bring magic back to Equestria, in exchange she would give him a child,” Celestia said, which took Luna by surprise. “In exchange for bringing magic back to Equestria, you would have her give birth to a child that would deal with the monster should the seal break. It was also part of your plan to get rid of our mother so you would rule over Equestria.”

“At the time…yes. Not my fondest of moments in my life over the years. If I’m being honest, I had forgotten about it until you showed me that book.” He said as the sisters noticed a sad expression on the Draconequus’s face. “I figure that the seal would last a long time, but given how Arceus brought his children here.”

“It caused the seal to open prematurely.” She said which caused the draconequus to nod.

“Yes, hence the green energy that you’ve been seeing throughout Canterlot and Ponyville.” He said before noticing Luna using her magic to bring the book over to her as she began to read it. “It’s also the reason why I’ve been busy on my end.”

“I can assume that you’re trying to find the child that our mother mentioned?”

“Yeah, which is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. All I know is that her name is Emma Rosemary, but I don’t know what she looks like.” He said which caused Luna to drop the book on the table and look at Discord with a shocked expression on her face.

“Emma…Rosemary…Are you certain that’s the child’s name?” She asked which caused Discord to nod. The dark blue alicorn looked over at Celestia who was casually drinking her tea as if nothing was happening. “You mean to tell me that the human who is currently in the hospital…is our little sister?”

“Wait, what do you mean by that?” Discord asked as he looked over at Celestia.

“Well while you were busy trying to find the human in the world, we came across here about two days ago,” Celestia said, which took the god of chaos by surprise. “Maybe next time you should read my letters instead of just ignoring them~”

“Ah…I see…and does she know that you and Luna are her sisters?”

“She does not. At least not yet.” Celestia said before taking a sip from her tea. “Though this might prove to help keep Arceus off her back for some time.”

“I get the feeling that he found her first?”

“Worse, it was Mewtwo that found her.” She answered which caused Discord to hiss in discomfort.

“And the human’s in the hospital because of him?”

“Yes….and no. It was more of a plan on our part to get Arceus to choose a different ambassador to communicate the relationship between Pokemon and ponies. The human can heal herself with her magic, but we had to make it convincing to where he knew he could talk his way out of what Mewtwo did.”

“Why Celestia, I didn’t know you could be this cunning~”

“While I am not against having the Pokemon remain on this planet, that doesn’t mean I fully trust Arceus. Not after what Emma brought up on how he left the bad humans on a dying planet without giving them an option to choose.”

“...Geez, I may be the god of chaos, but even I didn’t go so far in doing something like that. I’m a bit surprised she would call him out like that given how he’s a god and all.”

“Emma doesn’t believe that he’s a god,” Luna stated. “She believes he’s just a being with a lot of power.”

“Aren’t we all just beings with a lot of power in our own making~?”

“Perhaps, but that doesn’t change Emma’s mindset. Which is why she’ll be the one to keep Arceus in check if she can assist me in a special project with Bio Chem.”

“Oh? And what would that project be if you don’t mind me asking~?”

“I only involve my sister, you on the other hand aren’t allowed to know.” She said before noticing a huff coming from Discord. “Consider it as a form of punishment for what you’ve done in the past~”

“....Suppose that’s fair, so what do we do about your little sister? Not Luna mind you, seeing how she’ll be under the older sister category.”

“We’ll have to set things up before we can inform anypony about this matter. For now, I will inform Twilight and her friends about the journal and Emma. You Discord, keep an eye on Mewtwo and Arceus. I have a feeling that they’re planning something, and I prefer not to have my little sister get hurt or worse.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem on my end,”

“Luna, would you be a dear and have some of the night guards keep an eye on Emma during the night? I’ll have some of the royal guards stationed in Ponyville to watch her during the day, but nighttime is when they can’t do their best.”

“Understood, should I inform them about what we learned?” Luna asked as Celestia shook her head.

“No, we don’t want Mewtwo or any other psychic Pokemon close to Arceus to find out what’s going on before the announcement within a week or two. Need we end up with what happened when Arceus announced something without thinking of the repercussions.”

“Right, then I’ll have the night guards watch over her during the night.”

“Perfect, then I believe now would be a good time to get some rest?” She asked as Luna and Discord nodded. “Good, then you are both free to leave.”

“Before I leave sister, if you don’t mind me asking. Why didn’t you tell me this sooner when you found our mother’s book?” Luna asked as the white alicorn gave Luna a slightly awkward expression on her face.

“It’s not like I didn’t want to tell you this sooner, it’s just that I needed to make sure it was accurate. I mean a book appearing out of nowhere with the answers we need? You think this is Discord’s doing, but given what he said, this book is true.”

“Hm, I suppose I can let this one slide, but do try not to keep stuff like this from me ever again, please?”

“I promise, this was only a one-time thing, dear sister.”

“Good, now if you’ll excuse me, I will need to have things set up for our little sister’s surprise/return party,” Luna said as she was about to leave the room, only for her to pause upon hearing Celestia speak up.

“Excuse me?”

“What? She’s our little sister seeing how she came from our mother. Though she may have a different father, she still counts as family. As such, it is our duty as siblings to welcome our little sister back to Equestria…albeit under odd circumstances.” She answered before opening the door to Celestia’s room with a childish grin on her face. “Just how happy she’ll be knowing that she’ll have a family not only in Equestria but back on her planet as well!”

“I…suppose that wouldn’t be a bad idea. Though you might want to hold off until-”

“Too late, I call dibs on the celebration party!” Luna said as her horn let up for a moment before teleporting out of the room.

“Huh, well that’s a side of Luna I haven't seen before,” Discord said before looking at Celestia with a raised eyebrow. “You said that you summoned me here through foreign magic, care to explain to me what you meant?”

“Sorry, but that’s something for me to know and for you to find out later.” She said which caused Discord to deadpan her before leaving in a puff of smoke. The moment he left, Celestia raised a hoof as she summoned a small blizzard spell floating above her hoof. “I was planning on keeping the materia as an ornament, but I suppose gaining knowledge of magic from another world is worth it if I can summon Discord out of his pocket dimension…I do hope I look decent when the change happens.”

(Ponyville Hospital)

(Nighttime)

Nighttime fell upon the country of Equestria as everyone who wasn’t nocturnal was fast asleep. Shops were closing up for tonight, ponies were making their way inside their homes after a hard day of work, and Pokemon were getting comfortable in whatever shelter they made that they called their homes. Yep, a peaceful night for everyone…well almost everyone. A certain deepground soldier was casually wandering around the hospital checking in on some of the patients and treating some of their injuries or symptoms that they have. Within the confines of a small room, she was currently performing surgery on a pony who was covered in bandages covered in blood and tubes sticking out of her throat and nose.

“Judging by the burn marks and claw gashes on your body, I can only assume you had a run-in with a dragon-type Pokemon near Ponyville or just a random dragon that’s an inhabitant of this planet?” She asked while using a bone saw to cut through the mare’s ribcage. Once she was through, she quickly cast Esuna to cure any toxins or diseases that she might’ve caught during the scuffle with the dragon. Once the spell was done, she reached into her bag to pull out a needle and green glowing thread and began to close up the gashes on the mare’s lungs. “Look at me, tending to the injuries of a random pony that doesn’t even know she’s being worked on by an alien from another planet.”

“You think saving these creatures will absolve you of the lives you’ve taken.” said a familiar voice, causing Emma to pause for a moment before going back to her work on the mare’s body.

“Almost forgot about my schizophrenia that bitch left behind. To what do I owe the pleasure of this time after all these years?”

“Why try to be a doctor when you know you can’t ever be one with all that blood on your hands? And I don’t mean from the mare you’re operating on.”

“It should be obvious as to why I’m doing this.”

“Should it be? I mean there are a lot of reasons why you would do it. Could it be that you’re trying to win favor with Arceus? Naw, it couldn’t be, you don’t believe in a god like him nor would you care to win over someone like him. Celestia and Luna? Naw, you don’t see them as a threat considering you can beat them with a simple silence spell, and because you agree with them not trusting Arceus. Oh, that’s right! You're the best medical scientist in the deepground. Or in this case, was the best. You’re pretty much stuck on a planet with a god that has it out for you and your friends.”

“You didn’t answer my question jackass. Why are you here?”

“I’m here just to remind you that you’ll never be a good doctor given what you’ve done.” The voice said as Emma could hear it move to her right side. “How many men, women, and children have you killed? How many beg for their lives so they can see their own families and friends?

You can’t remember can you-”

“Two-hundred thousand six-hundred fifty,” Emma answered, which caused the voice to go silent.

“Huh…that’s a bit of a surprise.”

“Someone has to remember the death of both the innocent and soldiers of the deepground.”

“Surprise, surprise. Seems the murderer has been keeping track of her killings. I wonder how many more you’ll kill on this planet.”

“That’s out of the question.”

“You don’t know that. Especially given how Arceus will do whatever it takes to kill you. He’ll send his children and other Pokemon, hell I wouldn’t be surprised if he held the planet hostage to kill you.”

“If that time comes, then I’ll be sure to have a countermeasure without the need to kill him.”

“Oh, like how you tried to do that with Weiss. I forgot, how did that turn out for you when you tried the whole pacifist route and tried to keep him in a sleeping state for Hojo~? I’m saying that Arceus is an unpredictable being with a lot of power under his belt, it’s best to kill him and his children before they come and kill you~” The voice said as Emma looked over her shoulder to see what the voice looked like, only to see that there wasn’t anyone behind or next to her.

“...I’ll have to make some medicine to deal with that problem of mine.” She said before focusing her attention on the mare on the hospital bed. Once she was done stitching up her lungs, the thread slowly disappeared as the marks on her lungs were treated. A smile could be seen on the human’s face as she used Curaga to mend the mare’s ribcage and flesh, though the surgical scars left on her body couldn’t be healed. She couldn’t help but admire her work as she slowly began to pull the breathing tubes out of the mare’s mouth and nose. “Can’t do much about the scars on your chest, but I’m sure being able to breathe again would be better than being on death’s door. I’m sure someone here can deal with the plastic surgery, but for now, get better.”

With that, the human carefully made her way out of the room she was in. The moment she left
a certain small psychic legend made herself visible as she looked over at the mare that Emma treated. Given what her father said about the human being dangerous, she decided to investigate this human that gave Mewtwo a run for his money. So far she had been following her for the past hour or so treating ponies and Pokemon that were either sick, injured beyond repair that would require Arceus’s intervention, or were on the verge of death. It astonished Mew that the human wasn’t fatigued after her fight with Mewtwo. What was she trying to prove? Was she trying to win favor with the princesses? The citizens of Equestria? Pokemon?

“Emma Rosemary…just what is it that you’re planning?” Mew said as she turned invisible and quickly followed Emma continuing her work within the hospital.