Chapter 5 - Chapter 6

The gang follows Shining Armor out of the dungeon after their interrogation with Emerald; learning that in the past, she made a deal with Lucifer as a filly in order to save her mother from a terminal illness but in return, Emerald was forced into assassinating Princess Celestia when Lucifer threatens to take her mother with him to the Underworld if she refuses. Once they were finally outside and away from the taunting prisoners much to the relief of Fluttershy, the royal guard captain closes the door behind and turn his attention to the mares.

“Did you get the prisoner to talk?” asked Shining Armor.

“Yes, we have” Future Applebloom replied. "She told us everything we wanted to know, from who she is and why she tried to kill the princess."

“What did she say?” He asked again.

“Her name is Emerald Gemstone; a librarian from Manehattan who as a filly signed a contract with Lucifer that in return of curing her severely ill mother, she had to kill Princess Celestia as part of the deal.” Future Applebloom explained to the royal guard captain.

“But she had no idea that Lucifer tricked her into doing this" Twilight added "When she signed the contract, Lucifer didn't tell her what he wanted her to do for him until he returned to her years later."

“Yeah, it wasn't her fault" said Applejack "Can't you just let Emerald out?"

“Hmmm that is a plausible story but because of last night's incident, I cannot let her out of the dungeon." stated Shining Armor.

“What? Why not?” Twilight asked.

“Twilight, she broke into the castle and tried to murder Princess Celestia” Shining Armor informed his sister "Not to mention she had a deadly weapon in her possession, even if she was forced into doing it as you said, this alone is a very serious crime."

“So there's really nothing you can do?” worried Twilight.

“I'm sorry but this is up to the high counsel now" said Shining Armor "They have already plan on having her trial in a few days."

“Wait a minute, can't Princess Celestia do something about this?” Rainbow Dash protested.

“She can't because the high counsel wants this to be a fair, unbiased trial so its pretty much out of her jurisdiction" Shining Armor explained "Plus they want to make an example of Emerald, unless there were some pony to testify on her behalf, she could spend the rest of her life in prison."

“What if we bring Emerald's mother here?” suggested Rarity “That way, she could at least speak for her at the trial.”

“That's a great idea, Rarity" said Twilight before turning to her brother "Emerald requested us to bring her mother here to safety, she feared that Lucifer would get to her if she failed to assassinate the princess."

“If you want to prove her innocence, I suggest you hurry before the day of the trial” suggested Shining Armor “I have to get back to guard duty. Good luck Twilight, I'll inform Princess Celestia about this new information.”

The royal guard captain leaves to go back to his post while the gang heads out to the train station, booking the one heading to Manehattan, the girls waited patiently in their room as the train take them towards their destination. Applejack remembered the time that as a filly, she lived in Manehattan with her relatives but had a hard time fitting in with their upper class lifestyle and was homesick. Thanks to the sonic rainboom that was caused by Rainbow Dash, Applejack witnessed a rainbow that stretch across the sky from Manehattan to Ponyville, convincing her that she truly belongs to her home at Sweet Apple Acres and thus earning her cutie mark when she returned. The gang quietly pondered about this whole situation, like how to explain to Emerald's mother that her daughter is being put on trial for the attempted murder of Princess Celestia. Pinkie Pie's mind however was at a much different place, she was thinking about what flavor frosting she would like to try out at Manehattan.

“Say, sis.” Applejack said to her sister, breaking the silence in the room.

“Yes?” replied Future Applebloom.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you about, like what's going to happen to you If we succeed in thwarting Lucifer's plan?" asked Applejack.

"Now that you mention it, there is something I've never got to tell you all" said Future Applebloom with a grim expression.

"The spell that we use to open the portal to the past, the drawback for it is that once some pony gets through, they cannot return back to their own time line....which means that if we do succeed, there's a chance that I may disappear from existence."

"What?!" Applejack exclaimed "Now what in the world would make you think that?"

"Applebloom may have a point, Applejack" said Twilight. "Has any pony ever heard of the butterfly effect?"  

"No but I like the idea that it involves butterflies." said Fluttershy.

"Does it involve a bunch of butterflies doing some silly effects?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"No Pinkie Pie, the butterfly effect is a theory that a single occurrence, no matter how small, can drasticlly change it's outcome." Twilight explains to her friends.

"What?" a confused Pinkie Pie tilts her head.

"Let me put it in a way that you'll understand; if somepony goes back to the past where you are thinking about throwing a party and that pony convinces you to not to throw a party, then there won't be any party to begin with, thus missing out all of the fun and games." Twilight explained to her pink friend.

"Ohh I get it now!" Pinkie Pie somewhat gets what Twilight told her. "But why would any pony not want me to throw a party?"

"What Twilight is trying to say is that if we prevented Lucifer from taking over Equestria, the future in my time will change and I would disappear as a result." Future Applebloom informs them. "But that hasn't happen yet since we prevented Princess Celestia from being killed and that is what's bothering me."

"Hold on, your saying that even though we've stopped the assassination, it wasn't enough?" Said Rainbow Dash.

"I'm afraid so, Rainbow Dash" Future Applebloom replied. "Even if Princess Celestia is still alive now, there's no telling what would happen next. We already changed the course of history, so the worse case scenario would be if the seal that kept Lucifer at bay breaks much earlier than six months."

"Equestria might be doomed if that happens..." Fluttershy stammered.

"Not as long as we're still alive and breathing" Rainbow Dash countered. "Besides we still need to clear Emerald's name once we find her mom."

"Finding Ms. Gemstone won't be the only hard part when we arrive in Manehattan" said Rarity "Can you just imagine how she'll react when we tell her what her daughter has done?"

"She'll be very heart broken..." uttered Fluttershy.

"Ms. Gemstone deserves to know the truth" said Future Applebloom "After all, Emerald is counting on us to make sure she is safe from Lucifer."

The next day, the train arrives at Manehattan where the gang sets out to find Emerald's mother. Due to the size of this cosmopolitan city, the gang had to split up to find where she lives. Some of them were asking the civilians about Ms. Gemstone while others got distracted by sight seeing; like Pinkie Pie had her face pressing against the window of a bakery shop watching the baker applying frosting to a large but rather delicious looking cake. Applejack see's her drooling on the window as she grabs her fluffy tail and pulls her away.

"Come on Pinkie Pie, this is no time for sight seeing." muffled Applejack.

"Awwwwwww...." groaned the disappointed pink pony. "I wanted to taste that cake."

After searching high and low, the gang gathered around at the nearest water fountain.

"Any luck, girls?" Twilight asks her friends.

"Nope, sorry Twilight." replied Applejack. "I had to keep Pinkie Pie from raiding the bakery."

"But their cakes looks so delicious." whined Pinkie Pie.

"I couldn't find anything" said Rainbow Dash "There's so many building that I can't tell which one is the right place."

"Sorry dear, I wasn't that much help" Rarity admitted. "They have so many beautiful dresses that I couldn't resist."

"I talked to a couple of ponies for any information but none of them could give me an answer." said Future Applebloom.

"Ummm girls...." Fluttershy suddenly spoke.  "I did saw a jewelry store a couple blocks away that says "Gemstone's Jewelries", I think that could be it."

"Can you show us the way, Fluttershy?" asked Future Applebloom.

The timid pegasus nods as she leads the group to a small building with the sign that reads "Gemstone's Jewelries". Upon entering the store, there was no pony at the counter but Rarity's eyes were instantly glued to the wide selection of fine-crafted jewelries.

"Oh what fascinating details, I could really use some of these for my dresses" said the amused unicorn as she gazed at a golden tiara with diamonds on it. "Do you think this would go with a pink gown or a blue gown?"

"Save it for when Equestria isn't hanging in the balance, Rarity" said Rainbow Dash. "How come there’s no pony is at the counter?"

Twilight notices the desk bell on the counter and rings it.

"Hello?" Twilight called out but doesn't get a response, she rings the bell again. "Is any pony there?"

"Let me do this, Twilight" Pinkie Pie insisted as she rings the desk bell a bunch of times in the tune of one of her songs. "You-stomp-your-whole-self-in, You-stomp-your-whole-self-out, You-stomp-your-whole-self-in-and-you-stomp-yourself-about. You-do-the-Pony-Pokey-and-you-give-a-little shout-"

"Hold on, I'm coming!" a voice shouted out from the back room.

"That's-what-I'm-talking-about!" Pinkie Pie finishes with a big smile on her face as Twilight facehoof.

The door to the back room opens as Garnet Gemstone steps out while polishing an opal pendant, she sets it down and goes to the counter where she see's the seven mares in her store.

"Sorry about that, I was finishing with this brand new pendant I just crafted." Garnet explained.

"Are you Garnet Gemstone by any chance?" asked Twilight.

"Why yes, I am" Garnet replied. "Is there anything I can help you ladies with? If you need something for a special occasion, I would highly recommend the- "

"Actually we're not really here for jewelry" Twilight interrupts her. "We're here on a different matter, it involves your daughter Emerald."

"Are you friends of her?" Garnet wondered.

"Not exactly, we met her a couple of days ago" said Applejack. "If you don't mind us asking, can you tell us a bit about Emerald?"

"My daughter is a kind mare, a brilliant one to be exact but she can be a little....reclusive at times" Garnet explains as she sadly admits at the last part. "The poor dear had a really rough childhood when we lived in Trottingham, the ponies at the school she went to constantly picked on her, which was why she never made any friends. I thought that if we moved here in Manehattan, she would have at least meet some pony or two to hang out with but she preferred to spend her time at the library instead."

"When was the last time you talked with her?" asked Twilight.

"It was five days ago, she told me that she was going to Canterlot for an important business meeting, why do you a-" Garnet stops when she saw the dire look on their faces, the older unicorn knew something was wrong. "Wait...did something bad happen to Emerald?"

"Ms. Gemstone..." Twilight goes to Garnet as she's about to give her the bad news "This maybe hard for you to believe but your daughter didn't go to Canterlot for a business meeting, the truth is she is currently imprisoned there."

"What?!" said the stunned unicorn. "What did Emerald do to get locked up for?"

"A few days ago, Emerald broke into the royal castle and tried to assassinate Princess Celestia but she was caught." Twilight sadly explained. "They're going to have a trial for her in a few days."

"No...My daughter is not an assassin!" Garnet cried in disbelief. "She would never think about taking another pony's life, let alone the princess of Equestria!"

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way but there's a reason why she did this" said Twilight as she tries to calm the distraught unicorn. "We spoke with her the other day and she told us why she tried to kill the princess, it was because she was forced into this against her will."

"Forced to?" Garnet wondered. "Who would do this to Emerald, who would forced my daughter into committing a heinous crime?"

"Do you remember ten years ago when you came down with a severe illness?" asked Future Applebloom.

"Yes, the doctors told me I wouldn't have much time to live but one day I woke up completely healthy, they said that they must have made a mistake when they checked on me and thought I had a fever instead." said Garnet.

"That wasn't a misdiagnose, Ms Gemstone" said Future Applebloom "You did had a terminal illness but it was your daughter that cured you."

"But how was she able to do that?" asked Garnet.

"When your daughter was a filly at the time, she met with an evil entity named Lucifer; who took notice of her misery when she knew that you were going to succumb to your illness. He tricked Emerald into signing a contract with him that in exchange of your health, he wanted her to kill Princess Celestia in return" Future Applebloom explains to Garnet. "And the worst part is that if she fails to complete the task, Lucifer will take you away from your daughter and torture you for all eternity in the Underworld."

Speechless, Garnet sat down quietly to let this shocking discovery sink in, she never thought that her daughter would keep a secret such as this from her and now her life is on the line.

"I know this is a big shock for you but your daughter really cares about you, she couldn't bear the thought of losing you when you were sick and she's worried that Lucifer will get to you" said Future Applebloom. "Emerald didn't want any of this to happen and we promise her that we will take you to a safe place where Lucifer cannot get to you."

"If I agree to come with you, can I at least see my daughter when we get to Canterlot?" Garnet requested.

"We will, Ms. Gemstone." replied Future Applebloom. "The trial won't start until two days so we should head to the train station and back to Canterlot, we can't afford to waste any time."

"Ms. Gemstone, we want you to speak on Emerald's behalf on the day of her trial, if they find her guilty, she could spend the rest of her life in prison." Twilight informs the middle-aged unicorn.

"I'll do everything I can to clear my daughter's name" said Garnet. "I can't let her be taken away from me as she doesn't want the same thing happen to me."

"Well what are we waiting for, let's go back to Canterlot." said Rainbow Dash.

The others agreed with the rainbow-mane pegasus as they exit the store but not before Garnet closes and locks the shop up. She follows the gang back to the train station as they booked a trip back to Canterlot and while on their way, Future Applebloom tells Garnet of her life story in the dystopia future, all because of one terrible act that the lord of the Underworld forced Emerald to do.

"Dear Celestia, I'm sorry you had to go through a terrible ordeal" said Garnet. "If only I had known what Emerald was getting herself into, I could have talked her out of this. To think that the future of Equestria would fallen because of me..."

"Don't blame yourself Ms. Gemstone, this is all Lucifer's doing and he used Emerald as his personal pawn from day one." Future Applebloom reminded her.

"But do you really think that Lucifer could be stopped once and for all?" worried Garnet.

"If it means restoring Equestria to its former glory rather than turning into the nightmarish hell in my time, I want to make that a reality." said Future Applebloom as she closes her eyes."Right now, we are the only ponies who will change its future for the better..."

*Future Applebloom's Flashback*

Applebloom as a filly was strolling across the ruins of Ponyville, a year had pass since its destruction along with Equestria, her injured ear had healed since then but was left disfigured. Applebloom still couldn't get over the fact that the once beautiful village was reduced to an empty town, as if she was still in a bad dream that the filly wished she could wake up from but would never go away. The filly arrives at the destroyed remains of her home at Sweet Apple Acres, there she stops near the three marked graves of where her family was buried; her grandmother Granny Smith, her older brother Big McIntosh and her older sister Applejack. Gazing at their graves in silence, the memories of their deaths still haunted the poor filly, especially when she witnessed her sister's demise at the hands of Lucifer. She could never forget the image of Applejack being alive for a short time after she was burnt beyond recognition, nor her last words to Applebloom was for her to run as far away as possible. It made her sick to her stomach every time she remembers that day, her eyes quickly fill with tears as Applebloom starts to cry over the lost of her family.

"Applebloom." said a familiar voice from behind.

Applebloom lifts up her head and turns around to see Zecora standing behind her.

"Have you been following me, Zecora?" asked the crying filly.

"Spike told me that you were going alone, you know that I couldn't let you go out here on your own." said Zecora.

"I know but I just wanted to visit my family..." said Applebloom as she tried to hold back her tears. "It's been a year since ponyville was destroyed, every pony I knew and cared about are gone..."

"You still have your friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, they share the same pain that you are still going through." said Zecora.

"Zecora...why did this had to happen?" Applebloom tearfully pleads to the zebra for an answer. "It's just not fair that Applejack, her friends and my family had to die like this...I hate that monster Lucifer, none of this would have happen if he had never existed in the first place!"

The filly cries her heart out over the grim reality of this horrid world, knowing that her older sister and her family will never be there with Applebloom to watch her grow up or experience the joys of life. The zebra enchantress places her front leg around the heart-broken filly, comforting her as she let Applebloom mourns over the lost of her family.    

"One of these days, I will make sure that Lucifer will pay for his crimes..." sobbed Applebloom.

The flashback ends with Future Applebloom standing quietly alone with her thoughts.

"Applebloom, Applebloom" said Rainbow Dash trying to get her attention. "Hello, earth to Applebloom."

"Huh?" Future Applebloom opens her eyes and see's Rainbow Dash besides her. "Oh sorry, what is it, Rainbow Dash?"

"We're about to get something to eat, want to come?" she asked.

"Sure, I am a little hungry." said Future Applebloom as she follows Rainbow Dash and the others to the dining hall.

Meanwhile as night falls at the dungeon, Emerald was sleeping peacefully inside her cell, despite the situation she got herself into. She is now facing a potential life sentence for the attempted assassination of Princess Celestia, but the only thing in her mind right now is her concern about her mother's safety. She hopes that Twilight and her friends would get to her in time before Lucifer; thinking about him made Emerald wish she never made that deal with dark lord years ago.

"Emerald....Emerald" a voice spoke. "Wake up, Emerald."

The unicorn wakes up and looks around in her cell, wondering where the voice came from.

"I'm terribly disappointed in you, Emerald." said the voice.

"Lucifer?" said a frighten Emerald. "How...where are you?"  

"I'm communicating through your thoughts, nobody else can hear me but you" Lucifer explained "I see the situation that you are in and I am not happy at all."

"I was doing exactly as you told me to do but I got caught" Emerald argued. "Somepony knew I was going to kill Princess Celestia and now I'm going to be on trial because of you!"

"You only have yourself to blame for not carefully completing the task as part of the deal." said Lucifer.

“To hell with the deal!” snapped the green unicorn. "You've use me from the very beginning, Lucifer. You wanted me to do your dirty work by signing that contract and even if I did succeed, you were going to dispose of me and my mother like trash. Well guess what; I'm through with you, Lucifer!"

Lucifer respond to this with a sickening laugh that sent a cold shiver across the unicorn's spine.

"You poor, naive little pony..." chuckled the dark lord. "What did you really think you were getting yourself into? Your mother is still alive thanks to me and now you want to quit? Normally I would kill you right on the spot but that would be too easy for me, I prefer to watch others slowly suffer mentally and physically. Which is what will happen to you when they find you guilty on the trial and the best part about it; you will lose both your mother and your freedom..."

Emerald froze with fear at the thought of spending the rest of her life in prison while her mother suffers in the Underworld, with no chance of ever seeing her again.

"You are the only pony who is my connection to the outside world, the seal may be weakening now but it still prevent me from leaving the Underworld." said Lucifer. "But I can use you as my vessel with my magic thanks to the contract, oh what a show it will be when the trial begins and your mother happens to be there when they bang the gavel down on the guilty verdict. I will personally enjoy the despair look on your dear mother's face when she will never see you again!"

The sinister laugh of the dark lord echoed inside the terrified unicorn's mind, as it slowly fades away from her, Emerald's body trembles with anger and she suddenly slams both her front legs against the wall.

"BASTARD!!!" yelled Emerald as she furiously bangs on the wall, the enraged unicorn continues to take her rage against the metal wall for a short time until she finally stops and falls to the floor in tears.

"Damn you, Lucifer..." Emerald whimpers to herself. "Oh Celestia, what have I've done..."

To Be Continue.

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