Session 00: Emerald, It's Time to Wake Up...

CrystalDM	===Emerald Blitz: Introduction===
CrystalDM	The nightmares of the Empire are something everyone has to deal with. Some embrace the images of themselves cloaked in shadow, reveling in the images of blood and death. Others find solace in the comfort of a memory orb, repeatedly viewing it to give their mind peace. And others struggle through it night... after night... after night. However, the first night for a newcomer is always the...
CrystalDM	...worst...
CrystalDM	%c09A purple alicorn, found late last night not far from town, is fitfully sleeping on large bed. The walls are white, and a plain blue curtain is drawn for privacy around the bed. A monitor beeps quickly as her heart races.
Emerald_Blitz	twists in the large bed, her wings lashing out under the sheet. She snorts and bucks at the sheets, then dives out of the bed, waking up about the same time she hits the floor. Whinnying in fear, Emerald jumps to her hooves and rips the heart monitor leads off her chest. She stands there, panting and covered in a cold sweat. "What..." she pants, "...where...?"
CrystalDM	A loud alarm sounds from the heart monitor, and the sound of galloping hooves can be heard. It takes only moments for the curtain to be ripped aside by an attractive earth pony mare with a dark green coat and red mane. She is wearing a doctor's coat, and Emerald_Blitz can see a pair of twisted roses for her cutie mark. "Princess, your awake!"
CrystalDM	((you're))
Emerald_Blitz	twists her head around, catching her horn on the curtain rings. "What! Aaah!" She rips it, and the curtain with it, free, and staggers back. Only to knock over the heart monitor with her wings. Wings?! "Aaaaah!" Emerald cries, and bolts, covered in curtain, straight into the wall with a resounding thud.
CrystalDM	"Princess! Are you alright?" The earth pony walks forward, nice and slowly toward the panicky alicorn. Her voice is soft and reassuring. "Can you understand what I'm saying?" Emerald can hear another set of hooves approaching the door, though, with the curtain over her head, she can't see much.
Emerald_Blitz	shakes the curtain off her head and looks up sheepishly. "I... I'm sorry, miss, I...." she says, then stops and feels her throat. "Wait, I... what... where...?" She shakes her head again and focuses on the mare. "Who are you, where am I, and what have you done to me," she says slowly and dangerously calmly.
CrystalDM	"My name is Rose Light. You are in Patient Room 3 of Crystal Crossing. Princess... we found you outside of town. You weren't conscious when Rim Fire found you." The mare has hazel eyes, and she looks concerned. Behind the mare, Emerald can see a violet unicorn stallion with a silver mane, also wearing a doctor's coat. His cutie mark is a pair of coffins, laid over each other in an 'X'...
CrystalDM	...shape. He looks wary and his horn is glowing with a silver aura, like he is readying a spell.
Emerald_Blitz	stands up slowly so as not to cause alarm, and looks at the violet stallion. His cutie mark does not immediately instill her with a sense of calm. She slowly unfolds her wings and looks at them, almost in awe. "Found me?" she says, then her eyes go wide. "Ministry Mare Sparkle! My team! Are they safe? Where's Lieutenant Gumdrops?" She bounds forward toward the nurse, her horn beginning to glow.
CrystalDM	The mare's eyes widen in alarm even as the silver glow of the unicorn's horn shrinks down to a point before it shoots out with a thunderous crack, paralyzing the purple alicorn, and causing her to crashing to the floor. The mare turns toward the stallion. "Life Sight! You aren't supposed to shoot a patient! Especially when that patient is a princess!" "And patients aren't supposed to go...
CrystalDM	...and try to kill you! You don't know what spell she was casting! Now let's sedate her before she gets back up, that spell won't paralyze her forever!" The stallion floats a syringe filled with a clear liquid into Emerald_Blitz's line of sight.
Emerald_Blitz	"Shpell?" Emerald slurs as she tries and fails to get off the floor. "I wshn't going to casht spellsh," she protests. "Mmnot even a unicorn!" She snorts and huffs. "What are you... what kind of monsters are you! Ehat have you done with Miss Sparkle?"
Emerald_Blitz	*what
CrystalDM	Rose Light looks down at the unicorn. "Princess... we don't know. We thought you knew... you match her coloration." The mare delivers an icy glare to the stallion and takes the syringe. "Alright, we're going to give you something to help you calm down. This won't knock you out, but you'll have trouble thinking and be a bit clumsier" Rose Light says around the syringe before she walks...
CrystalDM	...over, and injects the syringe into Emerald's flank.
Emerald_Blitz	winces at the needle sting, then sags. "So I'm still in Equestria," she says softly. Emerald looks up at the nurse. "So we were too late," she says. "How many cities did we lose? I need to speak to Princess Luna immediately. Is... Did you find any of my squad, by chance?" The purple alicorn frowns. "And... I seem to be missing some equipment. My firearms, my armor, my medkit, and... Hrm....
Emerald_Blitz	...Something else. I'm having a hard time putting a hoof on it..."
CrystalDM	"Life Sight, please lift the Princess back into bed." Rose Light looks back to the stallion, who nods and coats Emerald_Blitz in the silver light of his telekinesis. Rose Light turns around and walks with Emerald_Blitz as she is moved back to her bed. "Let's start with something simple Princess. What is your name?" Rose Light flips a small clipboard hanging in a sleeve at the end of the...
CrystalDM	...bed, putting it on a table. She takes out a pencil, and looks expectantly at Emerald_Blitz.
Emerald_Blitz	snorts. "Captain Emerald Blitz, second infantry, Lunar Army. Service number nine-eight-two, eight-five-eight," she says. Then she freezes as she finally realizes what's missing. "I'm a mare. I'm a MARE?!?"
CrystalDM	Rose Light writes down the information, wincing at the other shout. She also makes an additional note on another section of the clipboard. "Err... yes, Princess. You weren't aware of that fact?"
Tallie	hammers down the last nail on the roof and admires her handiwork. "Another roof another cap." she says, putting her hammer in her toolbox. She then stamps her feet in the cold. "I gotta get insi-waaaait..." she perks her head up, looking around. "What's that?" she can hear muffled shouting. She looks over the side, not seeing anyone fighting. "Huh..."
Emerald_Blitz	feels as if she should be more panicky in light of this disturbing revelation, but really isn't. Miracles of modern medicine. She shudders and takes a deep breath. "Sorry, miss... Light, was it? Rose Light? It's been a very rough day for me. For all of Equestria, really..." She raises her head to look out the window. "Where are we?"
Tallie	heads for the roof access, looking to report that her work is done and get the forms signed. But more importantly, getting out of the cold.
CrystalDM	Rose puts her pencil down before nodding to Emerald_Blitz. "Crystal Crossing... inside the Northern Empire. Emerald Blitz, what is the last thing you remember before you woke up?"
CrystalDM	#C09As Emerald_Blitz looks out the window, she can see what looks like dawn cresting the horizon.
CrystalDM	(( -_-; ))
Emerald_Blitz	scrunches her muzzle up. "Classified rescue mission. We were headed into Maripony in heavy hazards suits, and..." She freezes again. "...and I don't remember. And I KNOW I don't remember. Somepony has tampered with my memories!" She looks over to the doctor. "If you've tampered with my head, Princess Luna herself will hear about this, I swear."
Tallie	walks downstairs. "Helloooo?" she calls out, pulling a clip board out of her bag. "I need somepony to sign something."
CrystalDM	Rose Light smiles and waves a hoof over her head, where her horn would be if she had one. "I'm sorry Miss Blitz, but I can't alter memories. Neither can Life Sight. However... I do agree with you. I think your memories have been altered." Rose Light turns and looks toward the door. "Life Sight, sign the paperwork for Tallie, would you?" The stallion nods and Rose Light turns around....
CrystalDM	..."Alright. Can you describe the last few memories you have? You said you were on a classified mission... and going to Maripony?"
Tallie	continues through the hallways, hearing voices. "Rose, that you?" she asks.
Emerald_Blitz	"That's classified," Emerald says with a frown. "Before that, getting the mission briefing and the ride over on the Vertibuck. Before that, we got word that the zebra had just megaspelled Maripony. Look, Miss Light, I need to know what happened to my squad and Miss Sparkle. What..." She puts a hoof on Rose Light's foreleg. "What aren't you telling me?"
CrystalDM	Tallie notices a small colt and and a very large puppy... oh! That's Ghost and Luna... and sisters, it looks like those won a fight with a machete. Both of them have snuck behind Life Sight, who is waving down Tallie. The stallion seems completely unaware of the two of them. However... Ghost is aware of Tallie, and shoots a death glare at the little griffin. Emerald_Blitz can see a large...
CrystalDM	...puppy's head poking around the door frame and looking in. She can also see one of the dog's forelegs, which looks like it has taken a nasty bite from a radroach. Wait. What's a radroach?"
CrystalDM	"I'll sign that for you, Tallie." The stallion starts to trot forward, telekinesis lifting a pen from his pocket.
Emerald_Blitz	looks quizzically at the dog, and is puzzled by the memory that's attached to... nothing? She frowns, furrowing her brow.
Tallie	spots the colt and dog, but says nothing. She jumps up to give the stallion the clip board, being so small. "Sign on the dotted lines, initials wherever you want, and sign again at the very bottom with the date. Oh, and initials on the back too." She looks around him. "Hey, did you hear any shouting?" she asks.
CrystalDM	Rose shakes her head. "Princess... I'm sorry. I think you've gained an acute case of memory orb sickness... amnesia isn't common, but it does happen." Rose moves a chair forward to take a seat. "There are treatments, but the success rate isn't great."
Emerald_Blitz	is silent for a few moments. "I think I'll take my chances," she says. "There's a great deal of things I seem to need to get used to. I'm not sure what Miss Sparkle was working on, but..." She flaps her wings slowly. "I've got a lot to think about. My apologies for startling you earlier."
CrystalDM	Life Sight lifts the clipboard in his telekinesis and starts to sign the paperwork. "Don't worry about it. Can't say much more. She is still a patient after all." Tallie's ears can hear a muttered 'even if she is bonkers'.
Tallie	nods, watching him sign the pages. "Yeah? So it was down here..." she walks around him. "Be right back. I wanna check this out."
CrystalDM	Rose Light shakes her head. "We can try and help you. I'm not sure what will return your memories, but we'll do everything we can to help you. Princess... there is one other thing." Rose Light looks like she is about to say something else, but is interrupted by a voice from the doorway. "Why in Tartarus would someone go to that poisonous pit on a mission?" Tallie can see the colt......
CrystalDM	...smirking as he says this. Emerald sees the dogs head and leg disappear; Tallie can see the dog looking up at the kid with an eyebrow cocked. Rose Light jumps in her chair and turns around. "Ghost! You get your flank out of here this instant!" Tallie can see a small flower hanging out of the colt's saddlebags.
Tallie	smiles at the colt. "Smooth." She pokes her head in. "Hey Rose, roof is fi-IiiiiIIIIIIiiiwhat is THAT?!" she asks, pointing at Emerald_Blitz.
Emerald_Blitz	gingerly gets up off the table as the muscle relaxants start to wear off, and stands to an unexpectedly tall and regal height. The purple alicorn stretches her wings out to their fullest extent, then folds them to her back. She tosses her dusky mane out of her eyes and frowns again. This is wrong. All of it. She is shaken from her thoughts by the startled outburst of a truly tiny griffon....
Emerald_Blitz	...She looks down at her in amusement. "Child, if I knew, I would most certainly tell you," she says.
Tallie	backs a way a tad, her face still mostly visible. "Uh huh... how... how do you not know what you are if... if you're you?"
Emerald_Blitz	"A question not without merit," Emerald says. "Admittedly, it's puzzling even to myself. As is my speech..." She frowns again. "I never was one for high society speech, but now it's rolling off my tongue like... urgh." She clomps a hoof to her head. Or tries to, and ends up striking her own horn. "Ow! RrrrRRGH! NURSE! I need to be released as soon as possible, or I am going to go absolutely...
Emerald_Blitz	...insane."
Tallie	hides a little more, only half her face showing. "I've never seen anything like this..." she whispers to herself, then sees the mess Emerald_Blitz made with the curtain and heart monitor. "oh COME ON! I'll have to fix that!"
CrystalDM	Life Sight turns and looks down the hallway, spotting both the colt and his dog. The colt rolls his eyes at the griffin. "Featherbrain, how can you not know? Its /obviously/ a princess." The colt's voice is filled with scorn. He opens up his mouth to say something more, but Life Sight interrupts. "Ghost!" The unicorn's horn glows, and a solid mass of silver envelops the child and his dog....
CrystalDM	...Rose Light, Emerald_Blitz and Tallie can all see a telekinetically grasped colt and large puppy across the doorway. The colt shouts "Sorry Rose!" And floats a single flower, a small red rose, into the room before he is dragged out of sight.
Tallie	frowns. "Nuh-uh, ground pounder. They've been dead for, like, 200 years! Duh."
Tallie	plods into the room, almost forgetting Emerald_Blitz, looking over the wreckage. "Ugh..." she mutters. "Yeah, this is gonna cost you."
Emerald_Blitz	stifles a giggle. Then grimaces. That was a distinctly girly giggle. That was NOT okay. And neither was the bossy griffon. "Listen, miss," she says. "I am no princess. But I'm afraid I cannot pay for the repairs. My... erm. Gear. Seems to be missing, and I've no idea where it's gone to."
CrystalDM	Rose shakes her head and sighs. "That colt is going to get himself shot sneaking into the wrong place. Or stabbed. Or mauled. Or Goddess knows what else in this forsaken Wasteland." Rose puts a hoof over her mouth and looks back at Emerald_Blitz. "Sorry Princess!" She shoots a death glare at Tallie. "And she is a Princess. See? All the Princess's were alicorns. Horn, wings, she even is...
CrystalDM	...the right size. And what are you doing in here while I am seeing a patient?! Out! OUT!"
Tallie	"Not you," she says, hooking a thumb at Rose. "Her. Its her hospital after all." She then looks at Emerald_Blitz. "She might ask for extra medical charges from you, but I don't care where she gets the caps from-" She then jumps back. "Iforgotyou'reweirdandscary!" she squeaks.
Tallie	looks at Rose. "I've only heard of 4 princesses, she doesn't fit the bill of any. Plus, she just said she wasnt."
CrystalDM	Rose Light continues to glare at Tallie. The earth pony, as pretty as she is, is still larger than Tallie. And... she's starting to loom over the griffin.
Emerald_Blitz	opens her mouth to say something, then closes it and rolls her eyes. "Yes, yes, I am apparently the very portrait of horror," she says sarcastically. "But if suddenly having both wings and a horn makes you a princess, then give me a crown and play the national anthem." Emerald takes another step, then stops. "...wasteland? What wasteland?"
Tallie	looks up at her, backing away slowly. "Hey... you wouldn't do anything to a kid... would you?"
Tallie	pulls out a wrench and hides behind it.
CrystalDM	Rose Light points at the door. "Out. Now." She leaves unspoken that doctors, in the Wastes, don't take an oath to do no harm...
Emerald_Blitz	interposes a giant purple wing between Rose and Tallie. "What. Wasteland." she demands.
Tallie	quickly scoots out. "I'll send a quote for the damages bye!" she dives behind the door, then peeks back in.
CrystalDM	Rose looks back at Emerald, then back at Tallie. Then back at Emerald, then back where Tallie was. The mare looks around before spotting the diminutive griffin, peeking around the doorframe. "Tallie, I have another job for you. Stay put." The mare looks up at Emerald_Blitz. "Well... the Wasteland. The Equestrian Wasteland. Its been... what, 180 years or so since the bombs were dropped? We...
CrystalDM	...were lucky up here... the shield protected us. But down in Equestria proper? Well... if a pony wasn't in a Stable..." Rose nods to the alicorn. "Maybe you should sit down."
Tallie	stays on standby, eyeing the wreckage. She starts to put her tools together, organising them.
Emerald_Blitz	numbly sits down. "We... we lost?" Emerald says in utter disbelief. "I... somehow I feel like I knew that. But... bombs... no. No. No no no! They didn't, did they?" Tears form in the corners of her eyes. "The... megaspells... they didn't...?"
CrystalDM	Rose Light reaches up and gives the larger mare? an awkward hug. "I'm sorry..." The mare tries to pat Emerald_Blitz on the back, but really its more like she is patting the alicorn on the shoulder.
Emerald_Blitz	turns her head away in an unsuccessful attempt to hide her tears. "The maniacs," she whispers. "How could they? We were only a year or two from admitting it was all a b-big mess and just g-giving up..." The purple alicorn slumps down onto her stomach and folds her wings around her head as she begins to cry. "Two h-hundred years...? Then h-how am I... WHAT am I...?""
Tallie	sits on the ground, swishing her tail and watching. She definitely knew what sadness was, and she definitely saw it in Emerald_Blitz's eyes.
CrystalDM	Rose holds the alicorn, letting her cry. "Your a Princess with Acute Memory Orb Disorder. Once we find the memory orb that caused it, we can help get your memories back." Rose continues to pat the alicorn on the back.
Tallie	frowns at Rose. Something seemed... wrong about what she just said.
Emerald_Blitz	grits her teeth and sniffs. "Thank you, miss Light," she says, choking back the lump in her throat. "I need to see what has become of my country. My memories can wait."
CrystalDM	Rose Light steps back and shakes her head. "Princess... you'd need some really good survival gear, and a guide to be sure you didn't wind up in zebra lands. And then there are the monsters, the manifestations, the corruption, the radiation..." Rose Light shakes her head. "You can try... but I don't think you'll make it past the moat." Rose nods to the alicorn. "Follow me."
CrystalDM	Rose Light walks out of the room. "You to0, Tallie. This is concerning the job I'm going to pay you for." Rose Light stands in the doorway, looking down the hall to the right and waiting for the alicorn to follow.
CrystalDM	((too))
Emerald_Blitz	wipes her eyes with a wingtip, suddenly glad of the extra appendage. She gets up and follows Rose, her tail dragging on the ground behind her and her head heavy with the sudden and irrecoverable losses.
Tallie	picks up her tools. "Hold on a second, you're not asking me to go on a mission out of town, are you?" She shakes her head. "Cause that shit ain't in my job description."
CrystalDM	Rose Light shakes her head to Tallie and leads the pair to her office. "No Tallie. I need you to guide the Princess to a couple of places around town. Show her where she needs to go to get some things." Rose pulls out a few small envelopes and puts them in a bag. She digs around and pulls out a notepad, writing a short list. "Take her to these places, show her around town, help her get...
CrystalDM	...some gear, and I'll pay for one of Pleasant Day's dinners. Whatever you want, its on me." Rose Light hooves a notepad to Tallie to look at.
Emerald_Blitz	stares blankly at the walls of the clinic, too heartbroken to really think properly. All of it is gone, everything, and she didn't even get to say goodbye.
Tallie	nods at Rose and gives her a salute. "I'll consider that payment enough. Waffles and burgers, here I come!" She then looks at Emerald. "Well... lets go then big... mare?" she says with a question mark. Then she looks at Rose. "Can I have that note pad real quick?"
CrystalDM	Rose Light looks up sadly at Emerald_Blitz. "I'm sorry Princess. I really am..." Rose Light looks at Tallie questioningly and hooves her non-prescription notepad to Tallie. She looks back up at Emerald_Blitz. "I really can't imagine what you are going through. But... follow Tallie around. She's a good griffin. She'll help you out. And... don't attack any of the zebra? They're all...
CrystalDM	...descended from refugees from the zebra lands. Shining Armor made sure there wasn't any infiltrators.
Tallie	writes something down, then gives it back to Rose. "Alrighty big-pony-who's-name-I-don't-know, lets get outta here." She skips merrily to the exit.
Emerald_Blitz	"Mmhmm," Emerald Blitz says numbly. "I wouldn't attack refugees," she says softly. "That would be a war crime. Besides, if everyone is dead already, then it doesn't even matter." She plods slowly toward the exit, following the energetic griffon. She stops at the doorway. "Thank you, miss Light," she says, not turning around. "If I... manage to find my footing, I may be back. I... I have...
Emerald_Blitz	...field medic experience, and..." She closes her eyes and closes the door behind her.
CrystalDM	sighs and looks down at the note Tallie handed back. She shakes her head, and pulls out a small bottle of water. She takes a sip, waiting a couple minutes, before she crumples up the note before throwing it in the trash can. "If only I knew, Tallie. If only I knew."
CrystalDM	((Rose Light ^))
CrystalDM	===Introduction End===