//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Return 
// Story: Oskar Osäker: True Omnivore 
// by Legionary 
//------------------------------//

A hydra trundled along on its way through the swamp. Prey had become scarce recently and the massive beast decided to move to a new area in hopes that a new hunting ground would be more plentiful. Maybe if it were more intelligent it would wonder why the prey of the Everfree woods had suddenly gone into hiding, but it wasn’t and so it didn’t. 

It continued lumbering along its path to a new stomping ground when one of its heads happened to look at a boulder off to the far side. On the boulder was what appeared to be some sort of unmoving creature. Immediately the head warbled to the others to attract their attention and gestured to the boulder it spotted.

All the other heads spotted what could be a potential meal and began lumbering towards it in interest. A few lumbering stomps later and the beast came to a stop in front of what was an odd looking but apparently dead creature. It wore clothes like the pony creatures that lived outside the forest but had a similar shape to the more intelligent and larger dog creatures that occasionally moved through the woods, though its forelegs were shorter and frailer looking then what the dog creatures had. It seemed this frailness did this creature no favors as it lay unmoving on a boulder, its own blood staining the surface it lay on. The hydra head that had spotted the body closed in and gave an experimental sniff of the corpse and nudged it a few times. Seemingly satisfied that the creature was truly dead, the hydra head picked it up with its mouth before quickly swallowing it in one bite.

The head quickly rose back up to its fellows as it licked its lips and had a thoughtful expression on its face. The other hydra heads stared in open curiosity before the aforementioned hydra head looked to its brother heads and tilted itself in an approximation of a shrug.

The hydra was about to be back on its way before its stomach started gurgling, loudly. The hydra heads themselves began to groan in pain as they curled in closer to their body but the pain would not abate and seemed to grow more and more intense by the second. Suddenly the eyes of each hydra head widened in shock before they all released an agonised scream before falling silent and fell over with a crash. The entire body of the now still hydra started twitching unnaturally and if one were to stand near one of the heads they would be able to hear the sound of tearing flash. Suddenly out from its nostrils, ears and around the eyes came many black tendrils surging forth. After leaving the body the tendrils quickly gathered together at one point in the middle of the now dead hydra’s back and combined into a shapeless mass. Before long the default form of Oskar Osäker appeared in a cross legged position atop the hydra corpse.

‘Hmph, you’d think an animal would know better than to eat something strange.’ Oskar mused. ‘Well they are not totally without instinct… the animals have been going into hiding ever since my arrival yesterday. Oh well… I can still track them into their dens so it doesn’t matter… well for the most part anyway…’

Oskar had spent the whole of yesterday hunting down various creatures and species in Everfree. While He could have settled for just one of each, but there was always the chance that, genetically speaking, there was that one creature that won the lottery when it came to inheritable traits. So Oskar had made sure he had consumed at least half a dozen examples of each species for genetic variety.

So far the viral being had consumed most if not all the examples of the normal species that inhabited the woods… if one could call the sure un-animalistic intelligence these creatures possessed normal. For example the animals back home relied on pure instinct to get through their day to day lives, not these animals, nope! They made plans for little get togethers with friends, they actually cared about what they ate beyond if it would kill them to eat it, and instead of simply proving they are the biggest toughest males they actually have far deeper relationships with the opposite sex. It just went further to prove how different Equestria was from Earth… it was also a nasty surprise discovering these things for the first time when Oskar ate a young buck psyching himself to give a pretty doe he liked flowers. Needless to say the Cadre Evolved was far more careful when handling the memories of consumed animals from there on then.

Then there were the predators and other creatures of the woods. There were normal predators like wolves but there were beasts like the hydra he just consumed and the chimera that he ate on arriving here. These were obviously magical or unnatural at the least and were giving him quite a few interesting traits. Like for instance, the wings of the chimera. While it never allowed the beast to truly fly it did allow it to glide and make pounces from extreme heights with ease, with this Oskar’s ability to glide was improved upon a bit, even more so if he actually generated the wings. The sprites ability to rapidly reproduce also helped his own ability to regenerate himself on a cellular level, this improvement was extremely useful when it came to larger forms like a chimera, sea serpent or a hydra since it allowed him to not only generate the needed excess mass for the size but keep up his own density with supernatural ease… not that the Blacklight being wasn’t supernatural enough. The quarray eel was an extremely large eel that burrowed its home into rock and cliff faces, it had extremely strong jaw muscles and teeth to borrow but its neck muscles were even stronger, a necessity considering its preferred method of hunting being shooting out of its burrow to eat whatever passes by. These traits held great potential so Oskar took them and enhanced his already monstrous strength. However, out of the many magical creatures he hunted, two had managed to avoid becoming prey to the viral being.

’Slippery little buggers…’ Oskar frowned, thinking of his failed attempts to track down a cockatrice. ‘I can’t seem to be able to track them with the sonar, just like that bastard Roland. I’ll find one eventually though, it’ll just take more time and effort then I had thought necessary. The same goes for those timber wolves, though for completely different reasons.’

Oskar had actually stumbled upon a timber wolf pack by accident. He was stalking a group of deer to consume and had followed them into a clearing. The clearing held a rather oddly large amount of sticks and logs, cut and uncut alike, but Oskar had put that aside for the moment and was about to leap towards the unsuspecting deer when it happened. The bits of wood started shaking and rattling for several moments, startling the deer but before they could run the wood suddenly flew into the air and suddenly six large wolves shaped of logs and branches were surrounding them. Oskar had kept his distance as the unnatural wolves began tearing into their prey, watching in interest.

‘I now regret not taking those vials of Tobacco Mosaic when I had the chance.’ Oskar groused. ‘Other than the odd blade of grass here and there I have practically no experience eating plant matter. There were plenty of bioweapons directed towards crops in those labs, why didn’t I take at least one? Oh right… because I was fighting people not plants, how the tables have turned… oh well, I’ll just have to find some termites for cellulose digesting bacteria.’ The viral being thought with a shrug. ‘Later though… hmmm, let’s take another look at my new earth pony magic.’

Compared to unicorn or even pegasus magic earth pony magic was very simple and straightforward, it just made earth ponies stronger and faster as well as attune them with the earth, hence the name. And instead of being focused in one area like the other two pony races, the magical “circuitry” was spread very evenly throughout the body of the earth pony. The more Oskar looked at it the more he was reminded by Ki, the mystical energies of the body used in the Dragon Ball series… of course the difference here was that earth ponies couldn’t shoot giant energy beams, just get stronger and faster and not in the massive leaps and bounds like aforementioned anime series.

’Good thing this magic is so straightforward.’ Oskar mused. ‘I don’t need anything else to make this little “acquisition” useful unlike unicorn magic. I just implant the circuitry and go! And… I think my absolute bodily control actually makes me better at using earth pony magic then earth ponies themselves … yep, pretty sure. Hmmm, let’s see… I don’t really feel a drain or anything but then again I’m not too sure what I’m supposed to feel for… well that settles it, I need information, namely personal information. It is time to hunt a master of magic.’

With a black surge of tendrils Emerald Gleaner appeared and leapt down from the hydra corpse. She quickly bolted towards the forest proper to make her way directly to Canterlot. Her running reaching ever higher speeds then before thanks to her now magically enhanced viral body.



҉



A little later in the same day Oskar was now standing before the busy gates of Canterlot. This was the capital of Equestria and the home of the goddesses of the sun and moon… needless to say Oskar wasn’t feeling too confident. Especially considering she seemed to be getting even more attention here then back in Ponyville and she wasn’t even in the city yet! Of course once again this attention was purely made up of colts… Oskar may have been too good at selecting the genes for “Emerald Gleaner”…

Doing her best to ignore the many stares she was getting Oskar walked through the gates of Canterlot as calmly as she could. She walked through and everywhere she looked she seemed to find at least one pony looking at her, hearing her heart beat loudly in her ear Oskar began taking deep breaths before focusing on losing attention. She began looking down streets and immediately started trotting down one of the busier ones, intent on losing herself in a crowd. It took some effort and it seemed like the ponies around her were going out of their way to make sure she wasn’t going to be another face in the crowd but eventually she managed it, though she still was feeling very nervous.

Deciding to clear her thoughts and focus on the matter at hand, Oskar quickly found a bench in front of what appeared to be a bakery and took a seat with a sigh.

‘Okay come on Oskar, calm down!’ The Cadre Evolved told herself. ‘You’ve done stuff like this before! Just imagine you’re infiltrating Red Crown again… only instead of viral detectors and Orions around every corner there are two immensely powerful beings that could probably incinerate you in an instant. Okay… this is not working!’

“Ma’am, are you alright?” A concerned voice asked.

Jolted out of her thoughts, Oskar looked up to see a white coated pegasus with a blue mane and cutie mark that appeared to be a wing attached to a hilt, looking down at her. She quickly forgot her nervousness and set her highly intelligent mind to work in the face of potentially getting her cover blown. She quickly noted his stance and the tone of his voice when he spoke; his stance spoke of confidence and strength while his voice was calm and had sounded very formal. Oskar quickly guessed he must be a member of the local military or law enforcement at the very least.

“O-oh it’s nothing, I’m just new to the city and feeling very nervous!” Oskar replied, replicating a nervous tone of voice while making use of the fact the form she was in was female. “M-my name is Emerald Gleaner, I just came here to get some information on local retired masters of magic for a report.”

“Well miss you very fortunate to be speaking to a currently off duty Royal Guard.” The pegasus said as he smiled reassuringly at the pretty and shy unicorn. “I’m Razor Wing, a pegasus in her majesty’s Royal Guard. I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have on the master unicorns, as many of them were once Royal Guards themselves.”

“You will? Thank you!” Oskar said in honest happiness as she scooted aside on the bench for him, which he took with a smile. “I was hoping to be able to ask one of the Royal Guard on our most famed masters of magic.”

“Of course, what would you like to know, Emerald?” Razor Wing asked.

“Well first of all.” Oskar began. “Who would be considered the most powerful?”

“Ah, that would be Silver Light.” Razor answered. “He was a Royal Guard well into his sixties before finally retiring twenty years ago.”

“Twenty years? He must have been a really impressive unicorn.” Oskar replied.

“He was, from what I heard from the older guards that were under his command.” Razor Wing answered with a smile. “He was a very strong willed pony, also very devoted to his work… some might say he was married to it if it weren’t for the fact he was already married to a mare.”

“What is he up to now?” Oskar asked.

“Well he recently wrote a book on magical combat but…” The Royal Guard frowned solemnly as he gathered his thoughts. “Unfortunately Silver Light’s age has begun to catch up to him. He is currently ill in bed from a fever.”

“Oh no…” Oskar said in false sadness, bringing up a hoof to her mouth. “Is… is he going to be alright?”

“I’m fairly certain.” Razor said with a firm nod. “He is a strong old unicorn… but I have heard he is bed ridden until further notice.”

“Oh…” Oskar replied as she put on a sad expression for Razor Wing’s benefit. “That’s really too bad… I hope he gets better. A loyal servant of her majesty Princess Celestia deserves far better.”

‘Jackpot!’ The viral being thought with a mental smirk. ‘Here I thought I’d have to do something risky and try to ambush a master when they would hopefully be off guard. But now I only have to deal with a bed ridden one! Might as well place him on a silver platter and get it over with.’

Razor studied the unicorn sitting beside him. She was a pretty little thing with her coat white as snow, her eyes as green as her own namesake and her mane a bright vibrant shade of pink. Even now as her thoughts were obviously elsewhere she was very cute, her thoughtful frown only adding to the appeal. The pegasus started hoping fervently that the mare before him was not spoken for but considering how beautiful she looked, she probably was.

‘Whoever he is, he’d be one of the luckiest stallions I’ve seen.’ Razor thought as Emerald refocused her attention on him.

“This is really sad news.” Oskar replied to the softly smiling pegasus. “I was really hoping to ask some more questions but I’m not in the mood anymore…. I thank you for your time Razor Wing. You were really helpful but I should be going, I think I have something really important to check on.”

“Of course it’s no problem at all.” The off duty guard replied but before Oskar could walk away he quickly added. “Perhaps I could show you around Canterlot later though? You said you were new and I’d like to make sure you knew how to get around the city without any troubles. Maybe in a couple hours from now?”

‘Hmmm… now that is not a bad idea, it would be pretty stupid to add on some more baggage just to learn how to get around after all.’ Oskar thought, missing the nervous but hopeful expression on Razor Wing’s face. ‘My alibi of not being from here allows me ask things that most would consider strange. Yes, I could get much out of this. I said it once I’ll say it again! Altruism… how useful!’

“I’d like that a lot Razor Wing, perhaps we could meet at…” Oskar quickly looked at the clock within the bakery behind them. “Four o’clock?”

‘Now then on to important matters.’ Oskar thought to herself. ‘Now that I know this Silver Light is ill in bed and not in a condition to put up a fight, I can focus on figuring out how to end him in a way that would look like an accident… or maybe something else… hmmm… that could work… maybe…’

“Then it’s a date!” Razor replied happily. “And you can just call me Razor if you want.”

“Mmm hmm, sure…” Oskar replied absently, not really listening. “I have to leave now but I’ll be back later at four. See you then.”

“See you then Emerald!” Razor Wing shouted at the now leaving unicorn. And when he deemed her a far enough distance away he gave a victorious arm pump to his left foreleg while hissing out a ‘Yes!’

‘Hmmm… okay this may or may not work.’ Oskar thought as she walked along the streets. ‘I need to make sure the death is not suspicious… so causing a fire may not be the most brilliant option. It’s too bad embalming fluid wouldn’t preserve the brain enough for me to consume it properly... wait, I don’t really know how dead bodies are handled here. Plus they use magic for everyday activities… maybe they are able to preserve the body in such a way I can still gain the memories? Okay so I have two choices here, I could take the fire option which will ensure I get the memories but may attract suspicion, or I could take the “natural death” option, which will mean there will be no suspicion but has the risk of me losing the memories… I need more information, off to the hospital.’

Destination in mind, Oskar turned to the nearest pony to ask for directions.

“Excuse me sir?”

“Yes young mare?” An earth pony with a fifties radio announcer voice replied. He had a gray coat with a black mane and brown eyes. He was also wearing a brown fedora and the sideburns appearing from under it had streaks of white in it. His cutie mark was an old fashioned microphone.

“Do you know the way to the hospital?” Oskar asked.

“Why of course.” The earth pony replied cheerfully. “You just head down that street there, take the second left, head down that street until the fifth right and on the third left down that street you should see the hospital at the very end. You got all that kid?”

“All memorised sir!” Oskar answered in a chipper tone before heading down the street. “Thank you!”

“Not a problem kid.”



҉



Oskar walked through the automatic front doors of the hospital and took a look around the lobby. It was one would expect of the average hospital lobby. Rows and rows of chairs, dozens of magazines kept on a shelf for people to read, a candy and pop machine off to the side and a front desk with a nurse working on the computer. The only difference here seemed to be the fact the chairs were made for ponies and the nurse was one as well. Oskar also noticed that this seemed to be a quiet day for the hospital as the lobby was completely empty save for the nurse working the front desk.

Deciding to take a seat until the nurse decided to notice her, Oskar walked over to the shelf with the magazines, she took one titled Ponies and moved to sit in one of the many empty chairs when the nurse unexpectedly called out to her.

“Miss?” The nurse called. “You don’t have to wait; I’m available right now if you need help.”

Blinking in genuine surprise, Oskar placed the magazine back on the shelf and walked over to the front desk.

“How can I help you, miss?” The nurse asked. She was a light blue coated and purple maned unicorn with purple eyes. Her cutie mark appeared to be a stylised red cross. She wore a nurse’s cap and had a stethoscope around her neck. “Are you here for a walk-in? It’s a pretty quiet day so I can get a doctor to look at you fairly quickly.”

“No thank you.” Oskar replied. “I’m actually here to ask a few questions about health care and the like.”

“Oh!” The nurse said in surprise. “Well I definitely got time to answer any questions you may have, so fire away!”

“Thanks.” Oskar said, flashing the unicorn a smile. “Well first, how do you handle newly discovered or dangerous diseases?”

“Well…” The nurse began, tapping a hoof to her chin in thought. “If it’s a newly discovered disease then we quarantine the pony infected with it and study the disease in hazmat suits, hopefully we’ll discover it doesn’t spread to others easily, like through the air, so we don’t have to quarantine too many other ponies, if all goes well then the infected ponies will be let go after we discover a cure or until we finish boosting the immune system to drive the disease off. If it was a known dangerous disease like ENC then-”

“Sorry to interrupt.” Oskar said. “But what is ENC?”

“Oh you don’t know?” The nurse blinked in surprise. “A few young ponies tend to get it, you must have been lucky not to have heard of it. ENC stands for Equine Nasal Cysts, which are basically blisters filled with pus that form in the nasal passages. It’s a nasty and potentially deadly disease, especially for young ponies who like to sleep on their backs, which causes the cysts to start to bunch and press down on the throat, closing it. When that happens you have to quickly get the foal to sit up and massage the throat and coax the cysts out of their bunching.”

“Oh, so how is it cured?” Oskar asked, though noting vaguely the disease sounded similar to something back on Earth.

“Well there is no known cure just yet.” The nurse answered. “Attempting to burst or drain the cysts is not a very good idea, as it usually causes more to develop. Currently we have to bring in young afflicted ponies to the hospitals for surgery to remove the cysts but there have been promising developments in medicine lately… there might be an easy way to cure the illness one day soon if they can get the spray to work.” The nurse finished more to herself than for Oskar.

“So how would an average checkup go?” Oskar asked.

“Well it’s simple enough.” The nurse replied. “First we have a physical examination, sometimes it’s a brief one, sometimes we do a complete examination, it depends on the obvious fitness of the patient really. Then we do a few laboratory tests, which can be as little as a blood test. But we do other things, like an ultrasound for expecting mothers and treatments for those with disorders. The general medical examination can be a simple or complicated process depending on the health or condition of the patient.”

“Hmmm… interesting…” Oskar hummed, deciding that her next question wouldn’t be too suspicious after asking the first few. “Now… ummm… how do I ask this? How do you handle the… recently deceased…”

“Oh…” The nurse said with a solemn look and sighed. “The one inevitability of life… It's never easy handling ponies that have passed on but we do our best. When we hear about a death we send a unicorn doctor right away. When the doctor arrives he casts a rejuvenation spell to reverse what decay the body has undergone, then he puts a spell on the body to preserve it until it can be moved to the morgue where special cells can keep the bodies preserved until the time for it to be buried comes around, then one last preservation spell is cast before it is sent out to the funeral.”

“So if you manage to arrive before any decay has occurred the body will be perfectly preserved?” Oskar asked in genuine curiosity.

“Yes, in fact that’s what we strive for.” The nurse answered with a somber smile. “It almost looks like they are asleep…”

“Wow…” Oskar said softly before deciding to change the subject. “S-so how do you handle newborns?”

“I just love taking care of the foals!” The nurse gushed. “First I do my usual checkups then I start to feed them a…”

Oskar stopped paying attention, she had gotten the information she had come for. She however did pay enough attention to nod and answer when she needed to but otherwise she was focused on her own thoughts.

‘Okay, the choice is now obvious.’ Oskar thought to herself. ‘As long as I make sure the doctor arrives quickly then I will not lose any important memories. But I also have to make sure Silver Light’s condition worsens enough for his family to contact the hospital, and only kill him when the ambulance or whatever the equivalent here is about to arrive. Hmmm… sounds a bit difficult but I should be able to handle it.’

‘Look at the time,’ Oskar thought upon spotting the clock. ‘I better get going soon or I may be late meeting Razor Wing for my tour, maybe I could get more information about Silver Light from him?’

“… a few pats on the back and they’re good.” The nurse finished with a smile.

“Thanks for answering all of my questions!” Oskar replied with a smile. “I have to go now but thank you again!”

“You’re welcome miss!” The nurse said at the retreating form of her fellow unicorn.

‘Hmmm… okay I’ll just have to follow the directions given to me in reverse.’ The viral being thought as she walked down the street back to the bakery.



҉



It was now the next day and Oskar was currently outside the residence of the currently ill Silver Light. She had learned much from Razor Wing from the tour the day before. Said tour had started off with Razor offering to buy Oskar a pastry from the bakery they stood beside, and Oskar was tempted to accept the offer but remembered that she couldn’t hold the pastry the “normal” unicorn way and declined, though she moved Razor Wing a few notches on her mental altruism scale, closer to Twilight. They proceeded to travel all over Canterlot, during which Oskar was introduced to the many sights and sounds of the Equestrian capital. The art exhibit, the race track and the Royal Guard academy were but a few places she had seen, although the viral being was thankful their time had ended before Razor could show here the palace as Oskar was still working out an excuse for not going there. Also, while she was being shown around, Oskar had been talking with Razor and learned many things, the relevantly important of which were details on Silver Light’s location and condition. She had learned the elder unicorn was being checked up on weekly by a doctor, because the old stallion was too stubborn to move to the hospital. Coincidently she had also managed to learn that the doctor’s scheduled visit was the very next day. Having learned so much from the young guard pony, Oskar was more than happy to accept his offer of dinner in a restaurant to learn even more from him.

‘Pretty nice for a soldier… Equestrian pension benefits must be awesome.’ Oskar thought to herself as she studied the three floored estate before sending out a viral pulse. ‘There you are, second floor located right next to that alley… perfect. Okay the doctor should be arriving in half an hour, time to get situated and begin the first step to complete my third objective: Acquire Mastery in magical field.’

Oskar casually walked across the street from her position opposite Silver Light’s home and made her way into the alley. As she was passing a dumpster and group of trash cans Oskar discreetly glanced behind her and ahead of her, finding no one looking into the alley she immediately dissolved into a mass of black tendrils that quickly formed into a rat. Now in a rodent form, Oskar quickly darted between the dumpster and trash cans. Pushing his body against the hard stone wall, Oskar made a tendril that was as thick as a pencil extend from his hidden side and drill into the stone. After a few moments the tendril broke through the stone wall and found itself between the internal wooden walls and the stone external ones. Quickly forming eyes, the tendril took in the sight of the dark space between the walls and the pink insulation lining the interior wooden walls before writhing upwards towards the second floor. Drilling through a layer of wood, the tendril changed directions and pierced the wall of the room Silver Light was resting in.

Easily burrowing through the wooden wall, the tendril came out to find itself in a perfect position, under Silver Light’s bed. Traveling over the small boxes and trunks under the bed, the tendril made it over to the side of the large bed that had a large bulge from the weight on it. Stopping where it roughly guessed was where Silver Light’s head was resting, it moved upwards and began digging through the bed itself. Burrowing past the thin foam layer and threading itself through the springs of the mattress the tendril stopped just short of digging past the last foam layer and into the sheet covering the mattress.

Back outside Oskar mentally changed targets and sent out another viral pulse, which came back after a moment. The viral being quickly made a few mental calculations after sending out a few more pulses, after examining the estimated speed and distance of the approaching doctor, Oskar compared it to a rough mental map of Canterlot and guessed that the doctor was twenty five minutes away. Now in position to discreetly end Silver Light’s life, the Blacklight being began the long wait for the moment to act.

The next little while was spent by Oskar constantly sending out pulses, tracking the doctor's progress through the city and towards Silver Light’s estate. Eventually after guessing him to be eight minutes away Oskar decided it was time for Silver Light to die.

The tendril in Silver’s bed burrowed a little more until it was just beneath the sheets covering the mattress. Out of the head of the tendril came an even smaller one, barely bigger than a hair strand the tiny tendril threaded itself through the sheet. Finding itself beneath the covers of Silver’s bed, the mostly blind and deaf tendril moved towards a source of light in the darkness. Just as the tendril moved into the open air it both felt and heard something, the inhaling and exhaling of a living being. Moving towards the source the tendril eventually came close enough to make out the cavernous opening of Silver’s mouth. Now more than close enough to complete its goal the tendril began shaking itself, causing tiny particles to break off and fly into Silver Light’s sleeping mouth when he inhaled. Ensuring that Silver got a few more lungful of viruses, the tiny tendril then rapidly retracted back to the awaiting larger tendril then it too began rapidly retracting back though the space between the walls.

Reabsorbing the tendril into his form Oskar quickly darted out from between the dumpster and trashcans. Finding no one looking down the alley, Oskar quickly reformed himself into Emerald Gleaner. Making her way back to the street in front of Silver’s estate, Oskar glanced down the street to see the easily recognizable form of the oncoming doctor, a red unicorn wearing a large white coat and a blue stylised cross for a cutie mark. Walking past him Oskar couldn’t resist greeting him.

“Good morning sir.” Oskar said with a smile.

“A very good morning to you too!” The unicorn greeted back.

Continuing on her way down the street Oskar paused a moment after hearing the doctor enter the building. She strained her ears, waiting for a single specific noise. Suddenly a feminine anguished cry filled the air, coming from Silver’s estate. Letting a satisfied smile grace her features for the briefest moment Oskar continued on her way as ponies shared shocked looks around her and wondered what was going on.

‘Step one complete, beginning step two.’  The Cadre Evolved thought to herself. ‘Awaiting the announcement of the burial.’



҉



Oskar had spent the next four days in canterlot awaiting Silver Light’s funeral. She had expected to wait far longer but it seemed the now dead pony’s family just wanted to get it over and done with. The viral being was very glad to find out she wouldn’t have to wait weeks and weeks for the body to be buried.

Oskar did not spend the last four days sitting around and waiting, however, most of her time was spent being productive. The nights and a good portion of the days Oskar spent in the outskirts of Canterlot when she felt her straining her newly acquired earth pony magic wasn’t low key enough for the gyms. She was also trying out her new pegasus magic, it wasn’t a very hard thing to acquire, after all everyone shed hair constantly and all it took was the right one for Oskar to gain pegasus genes. The other result of her hair hunting was that she had dozens upon dozens of other pony forms now and a far wider selection of traits. Of course just because she had pegasus wings did not mean Oskar could fly now as she did not have the memories needed, and pegasus magic was definitely needed to fly properly so the few times she had eaten a crow would not help here. Oskar was definitely eager to learn how to master pegasus abilities though, recalling the time Rainbow Dash managed to lift her despite her immense weight. If an athletic pegasus could do that then surely Oskar with some practice could eventually fly one day.

But learning to master her earth pony magic was not the only thing she did, there were also the trips around town and the dinners and suppers she had spent with Razor Wing. The Royal Guard was proving to be very friendly as well as useful. She leant much of not only Canterlot but other towns and cities as well. Not to mention Razor’s personal opinion on the other races inhabiting Equestria, from gem crazy Diamond Dogs to lumbering Cave Trolls Razor had encountered at least one member of the race and had an opinion on it. While the books were good for general information, learning things from people who experienced them was far more useful, especially when you were certain they were telling the truth.

Case in point, Oskar was currently enjoying a breakfast sandwich Razor had gotten for her while they were sitting in the empty bleachers of the race track, watching the sun rise. Oskar was rather hoping they would be talking more about Razor’s experiences as a pegasus guard but the guard pony seemed far more content to just hang out and enjoy the view with Oskar by his side.

So feeling a little disappointed Oskar did just that and watched the sun rise while munching on her definitely delicious sandwich, which was surprisingly made of flowers and grasses. Despite enjoying the vegetarian meal Oskar was definitely considering breaking into a farm to steal eggs to make a proper breakfast sandwich when Razor Wing got her attention.

“Emerald?” The guard pony asked in a soft voice as he placed his hoof on her shoulder.

“Yes, Razor?” Oskar asked and tilted her head curiously when she saw the normally confident pegasus look very nervous.

“I-I know we’ve only been dating for a few days and all but…” Razor began.

Oskar’s mind immediately froze. ‘Dating? We’re dating?’

Razor looked Emerald Gleaner in the eye, he took in her curious expression with the utterly cute way she tilted her head. Swallowing in his nervousness, Razor Wing’s expression changed to determination and he placed his other hoof on Emerald’s other shoulder and closed his eyes as he pulled her into a deep kiss.

Oskar’s eyes widened to their furthest extent as a massive embarrassed blush enveloped her cheeks. In panic of the sudden and intimate action, large tendrils shot out from her back covered in patches of glowing bioluminescence and ending in vicious serrated scything blades. The tendrils writhed in the air a moment before they whipped forward to rip Razor Wing to shreds. Just like with Rose Locks the blades stopped mere inches from Razor’s body before immediately retreating back into Oskar’s back before the guard pony noticed them. Having managed to calm herself and reign in her violent instincts, Oskar proceeded to wait out Razor’s kiss… unfortunately it had ended up being significantly lengthened when the viral being forgot herself and let out a groan of exasperation over her predicament, which the guard pony took to be “something else” and proceeded to stick his tongue into Oskar’s mouth.

After what seemed like an hour of enduring unwanted French kissing, which was actually a few seconds, Razor finally ended his kiss with a sigh and glazed eyes. Utterly humiliated, Oskar’s face was cherry red and she quickly averted her face to the floor to hide her poorly restrained murderous fury.

Razor stared down almost lovingly at the beautiful unicorn that seemed to be hiding her expression under her bangs, while panting breathlessly. Razor was pretty sure he was an average kisser and was incredibly satisfied he managed to bring a beauty like Emerald to such a state.

‘Can’t… butcher Razor Wing…’ Oskar thought as she heaved with the exertion of keeping her fury born out of humiliation in check, her biomass now in flux and surging with need to tear the pegasus in front of her limb from limb, cell from cell. ‘Mustn’t kill him… don’t know how to get away with it…’

After a few moments the viral being managed to gain enough control over herself to not reveal just how furious she was with Razor at the moment and looked back up. Cheeks still flushed, Oskar saw the guard pony look down at her with a soft smile and reach forward to nuzzle her neck a little. Expression twitching with newfound fury at this act, Oskar quickly took a step back and refocused her attention back on the ground to once again hide her expression.

“Emerald?” She heard Razor Wing say, his voice sounding uncertain and little hurt over her action.

Not meeting his gaze Oskar spoke. “Razor, you know I’m not from around here right?”

“Yes but-”

“Well I don’t intend to stay around for much longer.” Oskar said as she quickly interrupted him. “I only ever intended to stay a few days to do research for my report before going back home. I didn’t think something like this would happen between us Razor, I really didn’t…”

“If it helps, I did enjoy our time together…” Oskar continued when Razor didn’t reply. “But I think this should end now before it becomes too emotionally involved.”

“Emerald I know we wouldn’t be living in the same place but…” Razor said in some protest.

“Long distance relationships rarely if ever work out Razor…” Oskar said softly, despite her rising irritation at the guard pony. “A pony of your age should know that…”

‘Stop being so fucking difficult!’ Oskar inwardly seethed. ‘If I have to make a scene to make you go away I will!’

“Emerald…” Razor said, reaching out to her with his hoof.

“Goodbye Razor…” Oskar said before quickly turning away and trotting off.

“…Goodbye Emerald…” Razor whispered after her with a heartbroken expression.

‘Chin up Razor wing… plenty of blades of grass in the field now right?’ The Royal Guard thought to himself, trying and failing to make himself feel better.

It didn’t help that Oskar as Emerald Gleaner had been very eager to learn all about the guard pony and what he experienced, causing the pegasus to think she was interested in him. It also didn’t help that Oskar’s mare form was incredibly easy on the eyes and her superb acting skills made her very pleasant to be around. All and all Razor Wing had pretty much fallen head over hooves for the secretly fake unicorn and was not taking the sudden “breakup” very well.

‘I don’t think there will ever be another blade like Emerald Gleaner though.’ Razor thought sadly as he began trudging back to his barracks.

Oskar, currently was making her way to the Canterlot cemetery to simply wait under Silver Light’s designated grave for said pony’s body to arrive. But all the way she was openly scowling at what she just experienced.

‘I can’t BELIEVE I did not fucking see that coming!’ The Blacklight being seethed as she stomped along, making sharp clacks from her hooves hitting the streets. ‘I SHOULD have seen this coming a mile away! Why didn’t I see this coming?!’

“RAAAGH!” Now walking through a small park, Oskar turned her attention to a nearby boulder and split it in twain with a single buck of her hind legs. Breath coming in angry gasps, the Cadre Evolved stiffened and looked to her left and saw a group of young unicorns. It seemed a class of unicorn foals often used this path to get to school every morning and just happened to be walking by when Oskar vented her rage.

Staring blankly at the small group of gaping foals for a moment, Oskar suddenly barked out a sharp. “WHAT!?”

“NOTHING!”

“RUN AWAY!”

“AHHHHHHH!”

Oskar watched as the little unicorns squealed in terror, her frown slowly twisting into a small amused smile as the little ponies ran off.

‘Okay now I feel better.’ Oskar admitted to herself honestly ‘That was likely not very smart but they’re kids, who's going to believe stories kids say?’

‘Still…’ The viral being thought, as she continued on her way. ‘I really ought to have seen that coming. Now that I think about it, those suppers we had together were very obviously dates… I guess it’s true what they say, hindsight is twenty, twenty. Well… at least I got the genes of a guard pony, that’s got to count for something right?’ The Evolved mused as she tried to cheer herself up. ‘I had always thought I’d only know what it was like to be kissed by a guy through second experience via a woman’s memories… goes to show life is just full of surprises… bah.’

Finally arriving in the cemetery, Oskar proceeded to head for Silver’s freshly dug up grave, having scouted it out earlier in the week. Standing at the edge of the grave Oskar then gave a quick search around her for anyone looking in her direction, finding the cemetery to be deserted, she quickly dissolved into a mass of tendrils that moved into the grave. At the bottom of the grave the tendrils lingered a moment before quickly burrowing a small hole and quickly burying itself several feet below the grave and ensuring all signs of its presence were gone before fully sinking in.

And so Oskar, as an unrecognizable mass of black tendrils, waited for the funeral procession to arrive. It took three hours but the procession eventually did arrive, all dressed in black dresses with lacy black veils and formal tuxes, their arrival and actions closely watched by several small tendrils Oskar had sent out to establish surveillance on the actions above him.

It was the usual funeral affair, the elderly wife was crying and inconsolable, the other mares were either doing the same or were as solemn as the stallions and the priest was rambling along about eternal glory in the sun or some such.

‘At least he gets to have a funeral.’ Oskar would have scowled openly if she could, how many times were people simply incinerated or used as free feed for captive infected in the NYZ? Far, FAR too many times to even want to know, yet Oskar did, such was the downsides of having eaten Genteck scientists. ‘… She didn’t get one… she deserved one, she deserved the best… she deserved better than me… such a failure…’

Quickly shaking her thoughts aside, Oskar turned her attention back to the funeral. After several more minutes the priest finally finished intoning the funeral rites and the unicorns in the groups slowly and carefully levitated the coffin into the ground. The ponies lingered for a while more but soon began walking off; comforting each other as best as they could while the undertakers began their jobs of filling the grave. Oskar waited as she heard and felt the faint impacts of dirt against the coffin slowly fade away as the grave slowly filled. Soon the earth pony undertakers were smoothing over the top of the freshly filled grave and putting in seeds for a layer of seeds to quickly grow into grass. Watching the undertakers walk away, Oskar finally decided it was time to consume Silver Light’s mind.

‘Step two complete.’ Oskar thought. ‘Beginning third and final step: Consume the body.’

The mass of tendrils burrowed upwards until it reached the coffin and began drilling little holes for tendrils to slip into. Tendrils moved about blindly in the darkness of the coffin and fumbled about over the pony corpse within until they moved towards the head.  Reaching the head the tendrils felt about for the ears and upon finding them, moved into the ear canals. The tendrils broke through the ear drums and slipped through the inner workings of the ears until they reached their target… the brain.

The tendrils immediately tore into it, causing the body to twitch wildly as nerves were unintentionally triggered. Before long the body stilled as the brain was finally consumed.

Oskar retracted her tendrils back from the casket, deciding that under the ground was a safe enough place to integrate memories into his mind and thus did so.

The mass of tendrils shuddered as memories assaulted it. Oskar could not describe how relieved she was when she found the mind to not only be perfectly preserved as memories flowed, but also that all the memories were intact as well.

Like when she consumed Steven and the animals in Everfree, thoughts and memories of all types and importance flowed into Oskar’s mind. Some were dull and gray like the patrols around the city that Silver Light considered routine and boring. Others were bright and fully animated with the five senses, like a raid on a Diamond Dog mine holding captive ponies being forced to help dig up gems and several meetings with Princess Celestia. Other memories of the same importance were also there, like times Silver Light spent with his wife and children, Oskar quickly backed away from those. Other memories, like those spent in training to sharpen and improve his skills and life in the academy were not as bright and vibrant as the others but still contained the information that Oskar so dearly desired.

Looking through her telescope tendrils Oskar saw there were no ponies in the cemetery and quickly burrowed up to the surface, her tendrils making a small hole the size of a golf ball and flowed through. Reforming as Emerald Gleaner, Oskar had the brightest smile on her face at finally attaining true mastery over magic. Absolutely ecstatic over her achievement, she quickly began making her way out of the cemetery and back to Everfree to test her new skills.



҉



“Haa!” Oskar shouted as she tossed a large stone the size of her head. The stone flew a fair distance before crashing into a tree and knocking it over.

“Well… that wasn’t too bad according to Silver’s memories, but I need to be better.” Oskar was now back in Everfree, testing out her newly gained mastery in unicorn magic. However… there seemed to be a problem with her magic circuitry. It seemed that integrating all three pony tribe magics had messed up her chances of true mastery in magic without years of effort; she had the knowledge to be considered a master on paper that much was sure… her magical control however…

“Gah!” Oskar shouted as her attempt at a teleport sent her not only backwards but made her upside down as well.

Her control was completely shot, it seemed the only spells she could cast competently was telekinesis and making her horn into an effective light. The thing about all three pony magics was the magic circuitry. Unicorn circuits were located in the head and clustered near the forehead, they needed a foci in order to be used at all, which was obviously the horn. In that way Pegasus magic was very similar, pegasi circuitry were located along the back but were mostly clustered in the shoulder muscles, like unicorn magic pegasi magic also needed a focus which was the wings. In retrospect if Oskar simply only consumed unicorn and pegasus DNA then she wouldn’t be having control problems and would probably be enjoying mastery in unicorn magic, while also using that knowledge to gain some sort of handle over pegasus magic. Having said that, the problem was obviously the earth pony magical circuit, the earth pony circuitry was located ALL over the body. The problem here was that the earth pony circuits often crossed with the unicorn and pegasus ones, the other two circuits were used in ways similar to each other but were very different to how earth pony magic was used, causing errors in the system when unicorn magic began drawing upon the earth pony circuitry because it happened to be connected.

“MMMM! MMMM! MMMM-Gah!” A half buried Oskar shouted as another teleport made her end up in the ground before pulling herself free.

Thus the control problems… Of course one could present Oskar with a simple solution, why not simply remove the earth pony circuits and only use the other two? Her own physical abilities were impressive enough without even needing earth pony magic to amplify them after all. Oskar had thought of and tried this… and immediately ran into another problem. She didn’t know how to remove the earth pony circuit, or even the other circuits for that matter. It was magic, it wasn’t like she could reach into herself and rip it out; Silver Light’s memories were of no help here since no one had ever thought of trying to remove magic before. So it appeared the viral being was stuck with messed up magic. The irony here was that earth pony magic seemed to be a simple and straightforward enough of a system that it suffered no problems from drawing on the wrong kinds of magic as well, making the arguably useless magic of the three the only one she could use… for the moment.

‘It’s simply a matter of control.’ Oskar thought confidently. ‘I need to learn how to draw upon only one circuit and exclude the others somehow. Since Silver Light or anyone else here for that matter has never had these problems, trying to fix this by consuming someone is not an option. Looks like I won’t be getting a free ride here after all… oh well.’ The Cadre Evolved thought with a sigh. ‘Magic is worth the effort and at least I only have to learn control instead of spending years in school for everything else.’

Taking a look around her surroundings in the Everfree, Oskar nodded decisively and got up to get the rock she threw.

‘Let’s start with something simple.’ Oskar thought as she lifted the small boulder onto her back and carried it to someplace more open. ‘Doing lifts with telekinesis is a simple control exercise for young unicorns in school. I’ll do this until I’m sure I got a proper handle on it before moving onto something more complicated.’

And so the hours flew by as Oskar suffered under mind numbing tedium of lifting a heavy stone again and again, while trying to single out her unicorn circuits for the act. As far as the Cadre Evolved could tell she did not get very far in the eight straight hours of effort she had put in. But nothing worth anything was easily gained; Oskar would not let the slow progress deter her. She would have control over her magic even if it took years of effort, and she was starting now.

More hours flew by, so many that the sun had not only set but was now just beginning to rise back into the sky. Through it all Oskar was busy lifting random objects, switching over to rocks of various sizes and weights for a change of pace or when she felt tired. Speaking of which, this was the first time Oskar had ever felt tired in years. Ever since becoming an Evolved Oskar had grown used to her tireless state, the strange feeling from her straining magic had actually confused her for several moments before realising what it was. This had also alerted the Cadre Evolved that she had a weakness here, it was a weakness she fervently hoped that training and staining her magic would eventually allow her to overcome.

Seeing the sun continuing to rise higher into the sky, Oskar paused in her training to think.

‘Hmmm… it’s been roughly a week since I’ve left Ponyville hasn’t it?’ The viral being asked herself, horn aglow with a dark pink aura. ‘I did promise Twilight I would be back in a week… why not? Besides, Twilight is the student of Celestia and was known to have casted an age spell by accident when she was still a school girl! Someone like that is going to have a monstrously high potential for magic, I can’t believe I didn’t take a hair sample just because when I was there last. Well, being her friend means I can rectify that when I return to Ponyville today. Right, let’s go!’

Walking off towards the forest’s edge and towards Ponyville, Oskar then contemplated her current goals.

‘Objective three: attain magical mastery, partial completion. New priority objective: attain satisfactory control of magical abilities, objective four on hold until new priority objective is complete, failure not an option.’



҉



‘Isn’t it noon?’ Oskar asked herself as she made her way through the rather empty streets of Ponyville. ‘Why is this place so deserted? Seems very odd…’

Having arrived just a few minutes ago Oskar was pretty much prepared to be stared at by locals again only to find herself disturbed by their disappearance. She was ready to assume the town was deserted when a gray coated pegasus with a blond mane and bubbles cutie mark suddenly flew into view and smacked into a house. Wincing as the mare peeled herself off the building Oskar quickly trotted towards her to get some answers.

“Hello Miss, I am Emerald Gleaner.” Oskar introduced herself to the mare whose eyes seemed to have become walleyed from impact. “I was hoping to ask you if you could tell me why the town is deserted.”

“Emerald Gleaner?” The pegasus asked as she picked up a dropped bag and tried to place envelopes in the wrong side of a mailbox. “I’ve heard that name before…”

“Uhhh… miss?” Oskar stared at the pegasus who had seemed to have been knocked senseless.

“Oh! I’m Derpy Hooves! Nice to meet you!” Derpy greeted, dropping her mail on the ground and reaching out to Oskar with her hoof.

“Likewise.” Oskar replied politely as she placed her hoof against Derpy’s. “Now about my question?”

“You don’t know!” Derpy gasped dramatically. “There’s a funeral going on today, practically everypony went! I heard it was really tragic; there was this mare that had absolutely no luck in her life but was really beautiful. It was horrible; I’m tearing up just thinking about it!”

“Oh? What happened to her?” Oskar asked curiously.

“She mistook Everfree for a normal old forest and ran into a chimera…” Derpy said softly as she hugged herself in midair.

“So everypony is at this funeral?” Oskar stated with an arched eyebrow. “Even… for example: Twilight Sparkle?”

“Oh yeah, definitely her.” Derpy answered sadly. “She was a friend of hers after all.”

“Hmmm…” Oskar hummed as she tapped her chin in thought. “Well thank you Derpy, I’ll be off.”

“See you Emerald.” The walleyed pegasus waved goodbye when a thought struck her as she stared after the leaving form of Oskar.

“Emerald Gleaner… hey that’s the same name as the-” Suddenly Derpy’s eyes widened both in realization and horror. “G-g-g-ghost!”

Immediately the pegasus turned tail to fly away only to smack into the same building she crashed into before.

‘A friend of Twilight’s died huh?’ The Cadre Evolved mused. ‘With any luck the one to have died would have been Rarity, description somewhat fits her, not likely though since Twilight never mentioned her having horrible luck. At any rate I’ll be busy being the shoulder to cry on for the next few days, it’ll be worth it in the long run though as she’ll trust and like me more.’

Giving a quick pulse of her viral sonar with Twilight as the target, Oskar went into a trot in the direction it came back from.

‘Huh… I’ve never had to act the supportive friend before.’ Oskar thought. ‘I’ve acted the part of a crazy Blackwatch grunt, mad Gentech scientist, half-starved and crazed refugee, mindless infected and even a brothel girl… ugh, I still shudder when thinking about that, at least I only had to sound and act eager to get him to come into the room with me. But yeah, I’ve never had to act like a friend before, I mean I’ve acted chummy with the Blackwatch grunts but I’ve never had to support them in a time of personal need. Blackwatch always made sure to select the independent psychopaths I guess… well then this will be a learning experience that much is sure. It shouldn’t be too hard, just constantly soothe her pain and hold her close to comfort her all the while lying about it, just like the girls back home! OHHHH, tsssss… hehehehe that was very poor!’

Oskar arrived at the Ponyville cemetery and was greeted by the sight of a large number of pews filled with ponies wearing black attire. There were so many ponies that there weren’t enough pews for them all, forcing a few to stand rather than sit. The odd thing was that while the mares were respectfully solemn, the colts were all in tears, especially this one really buff looking pegasus who was balling like a baby near the back.

‘Wow, Derpy wasn’t kidding!’ Oskar thought as she took in the sight. ‘Seems everyone in town decided to show like she said. Hmmm… I don’t see Twilight… ah, there she is.’ The viral unicorn thought after sending out a quick pulse. ‘She and her friends appear to have a pew all to themselves at the front there. Right, I’m a friend too so let’s just get over there as inconspicuously as possible.’

Oskar made her way to the front of the funeral, head held down and body as low as possible without looking strange as the old priest pony continued to recite rites. Eventually she managed to reach the pew without attracting any attention and slowly settled into it, inwardly hoping it was as sturdy as Equestrian beds. Turning to her left, Oskar saw that Twilight was fairly close with only Rainbow Dash between them. The unicorn in question was staring at the ground with tears in her eyes and hiccupping every few moments.

‘Wow that pony must have meant something to her.’ Oskar mused.

Learning over a little Oskar whispered. “Hey Twiley, just got back, mind if I ask who died?”

As Twilight’s head shot up and her eyes widened to their furthest possible extent Dash spoke, angry at the thoughtless question.

“HEY!” Rainbow Dash growled at Oskar. “Show some bucking respect would ya! You-ahhh!”

“EMERALD!” Twilight shouted as she practically threw Dash out of her seat to get at Oskar, throwing her forelegs around the fake pony’s neck in a tight hug while crying in shocked happiness.

“WHOA!” Oskar exclaimed in honest surprise. “What was that for?”

“I thought you were DEAD Emerald!” Twilight answered, staring at Oskar with tear filled eyes.

“Really?!” Oskar stated in confusion as she looked around herself and took in the absolutely shocked expressions from everyone staring at her, looking at the tomb stone, Oskar saw an accurate carving of her cutie mark with her name carved under it, and she even had an epitaph that read: You make your own luck.

“I leave for a week and everypony thinks I’m dead? Why?!” Oskar exclaimed and added in a deadpan tone. “I mean… what the Hay.”

‘Hay doesn’t sound nearly as impressive as hell…’ Oskar thought, sighing inwardly.

“Why?!” Twilight said, practically muzzle to muzzle with Oskar as she glared at said virus angrily. “Because Everfree is dangerous, you uneducated moron!”

Oskar blinked owlishly at this surprising show of anger. “… What?”

“Oh I’m sorry Emerald! I didn’t mean to say something so hurtful to you!” Twilight said with wide horrified eyes as she covered her mouth with her hooves. “I’m just so happy to see you survived the forest but at the same time I’m so furious that you went into Everfree in the first place.”

“Wait… you followed me into Everfree?” Oskar asked in genuine shock and worry, which was for her own secrets rather than concern for the unicorn still latched around her neck.

“Yes I did.” Twilight answered with a nod. “I was really worried for you when I figured out where you went… and then I followed your hoof prints to that clearing… dear Celestia there was so much blood… wait, if you’re fine then where did the blood come from?” Twilight asked as she stared at Oskar in confusion.

‘Crap! Think of something!’ The Cadre Evolved’s mind went into high gear, rapidly piecing together a cover story for an agonising moment. ‘OKAY! Got it!’

“Blood?” Oskar asked confusedly before making her expression clear in “realization”. “Oh! That was the chimera’s blood!”

“What!” Fluttershy squeaked in shocked surprise. “H-how in the world did you manage to hurt the chimera that badly?!”

“Quite easily… I bucked him in the nose.” Osakr answered as she pried Twilight’s forelegs from her neck and walked over to her now redundant tombstone. “Like this!”

With that Oskar gave the tombstone a slightly pulled kick with her hind legs, utterly shattering it, to the combined shock and admiration of many ponies. Oskar of course realised this action would only gain her more attention as while earth ponies were capable of doing what she just demonstrated, rarely a unicorn was able to perform such a feat with such evident ease. However it also the only thing she could think of to back up her claim of hitting a chimera hard enough to make it bleed copiously, she just hoped there wasn’t anyone here that would try to refute her claim, as Emerald Gleaner was an “uneducated unicorn” so Oskar had limits to what she could claim Emerald was capable of. Thankfully everyone seemed to be either too shocked or enamored with her display to try to poke holes in her explanation.

“Woo howdy!” Applejack exclaimed as she trotted over to examine the results of Oskar’s kick. “For a unicorn, ya buck real good!”

“Why thank you!” Oskar thanked but inwardly she was laughing uproariously, thinking how different Applejack’s compliment would be if one little letter was changed. “I’m a traveling unicorn with basically no magic, so I have to know how to buck like the best of them!” The fake unicorn stated with a giggle.

The various colts watching on in the pews practically had hearts in their eyes by now from watching Oskar.

‘Beautiful, strong and independent! What’s not to love?!’  Was their collective thoughts.

Unfortunately, for them, the mares in the group noticed their partners’ gazes at the fake unicorn and immediately bit down hard on their ears to drag them back home for a good talking to while also shooting dirty looks at Oskar for gaining their attention in the first place. The colts that didn’t have a girlfriend or wife finally caught themselves and sheepishly slinked away.

“Well… considering the deceased no longer seems to be deceased; I’ll be taking my leave now.” The old priest said as he slowly walked away.

Oskar didn’t notice as she was too busy staring at what just happened in the pews and wondering why all the mares were glaring at her as they drug their partners away.

“Ooookay… anyways!” Oskar stated, turning her attention back to Twilight and her friends. “After giving him a nice bleeding, I decided to take a tour around Everfree and caught a ride of sorts.”

“So you made the chimera agree to let you ride him?” Twilight asked and got a wide smile from Oskar in answer. “You are one of the most unique mares I know Emerald and I should know, I know five others just as unique as you!” The violet unicorn said, smiling at her friends.

Oskar was about to reply when suddenly the six mares in front of her suddenly gasped and stared at something behind her. The Cadre Evolved turned around just as a shadow fell over her and saw someone that made her eyes widen in fear and caused her to shakily step back. It was Celestia.

“G-greetings your R-royal Highness!”  Oskar stuttered out nervously before realising she may have insulted the Princess' sensibilities by speaking without being spoken to. “P-please forgive your humble s-servant for speaking out of turn Princess! I-I do not see nobility very often, let a-alone royalty! I’ll be sure to remember proper e-etiquette next time!”

Twilight and her friends stared with utterly flabbergasted expressions at Oskar. The idea of anyone being afraid of Princess Celestia was incomprehensible yet there was a pony now doing just that. The sure raw fear on Oskar’s face was heart wrenching for Twilight to see, especially when it was directed to Celestia who she was so devoted to.

But if the Mane Six was shocked at Emerald’s behavior then Celestia was far more affected, even bordering on stupefaction at the display.

Princess Celestia was used to being adored, respected and ponies lavishing attention on her, much to the Alicorn’s annoyance at times, but never before did she ever see one of her own ponies display such palpable fear at the sight of her. It made the kindly ruler’s stomach twist at the display as well as causing her to back up and widen her eyes in sure shock. It was made even worse since she knew of this “pony” from Twilight and of the hardships she had gone through in her life.

Quickly gaining a hold of herself, Celestia approached the now bowed form of “Emerald Gleaner”. The Alicorn of the Sun approached and laid down on the ground before Oskar who was holding her face to the ground in a placating gesture. Crossing her forelegs Celestia smiled as comfortingly as possible and spoke softly.

“Emerald Gleaner… why do you fear me?” The Princess asked and looked pained when Oskar flinched at her voice. “You have nothing to fear from me little Emerald… in fact it is I that should be afraid of facing you.”

“What?!” Oskar said, voice creaking in sure shock at the statement. It was enough to make the viral being lift her head off the ground and stare at the Princess who lied only a foot away.

“Yes dear Emerald Gleaner.” Celestia said with deeply saddened eyes. “I consider the life you were forced to live in my own kingdom an utter and unforgivable failure on my part. The fact you were orphaned is horrible enough on its own but adding that you were somehow not brought to the Canterlot National Orphanage to be cared for, educated and hopefully adopted a terrible crime in itself.”

From the moment Oskar had realised she was right next to the Princess her heart had begun beating in her ears like a great drum. But in the face of the Alicorn’s kindly smile and the almost palpable aura of benevolence, Oskar could not help but feel herself relax and her heartbeat to quieten.

“You should not have had to live this life Emerald.” Celestia continued while also noticing how calm the unicorn before her had become, and was very happy for it. “And I swear I will do all that I can to make up for this tragedy to you. Starting with something everypony takes for granted yet you are without, an education.”

“You’re sending me to school?” Oskar asked; now calm enough to retain some control of the situation. “Am I going to have to take classes with younger ponies?”

“No my little pony.” Celestia replied with a smile. “I do believe you are far too old to be placed with the foals. Instead I shall have a tutor assigned to you.”

“Oh…” Oskar said, unsure how to take this sudden development. “Umm… anypony I know?”

“Yes.” Celestia confirmed to the Evolved’s surprise. “I do believe my dear student Twilight Sparkle shall make an excellent tutor for you.”

“Me?!” Twilight stated in shock. “But Princess I’m still a student! I wouldn’t know how to be a teacher for another pony!”

“I would have to disagree with you Twilight.” Celestia smiled at her student. “After all, at a far more tender age you were not only taking care of Spike but educating him single hoofed. And you were most certainly still learning subjects from the academy, not the more advanced subjects I personally taught you in later years.”

“So you see…” Celestia continued. “I am more than confident you will not only be able to give the education Emerald Gleaner so rightly deserves but learn the lessons I still have to teach you as well.”

“You really think so Princess?” Twilight asked and when Celestia nodded her expression became utterly determined. “Then I will give Emerald the best education I can!”

“I’m sure by the time you are finished, Emerald here will be able to attend any university of her choosing.” Celestia stated to the delight of her student before turning her attention back towards Oskar. “And you have yet to tell me why you fear me so, my little pony. Please, I wish only to know what wrong I have done to incite such horrible fear in one of my own subjects so that I may right it.” Celestia almost mournfully assured when she saw Oskar’s eyes widen in fear once again.

“Well…” Oskar began, her mind rapidly putting together a cover story. “I’m basically a hobo, living off the dredges of civilised society, trying not to gain anypony’s attention. Nobles do not like ponies of lesser social stature; I can only imagine what their reaction would be to me…” Oskar said softly, causing a frown to appear on Twilight’s face from her words. “And you are Princess Celestia, ruler of all Equestria AND all the nobles. I just thought… well, that you would be insulted to find yourself anywhere near some dirty homeless pony like me and rightfully so.”

Suddenly Celestia completely surprised Oskar by leaning close to nuzzle the Evolved’s neck. Oskar’s eyes widened as she wondered why the princess would do such an intimate action with her. However when Oskar happened to look towards the other mares nearby and saw their warm smiles to the scene before them, she rethought what was happening. Admittedly Oskar’s thoughts on nuzzles were tainted by the memory of Razor Wing doing just that after thoroughly French kissing her, but Silver Light’s memories proved that nuzzling was just another form of hug when the fore legs were busy being used for something important, like standing. So the Cadre Evolved relaxed and simply waited out the nuzzle.

“My dear Emerald Gleaner…” Celestia said after nuzzling Oskar. “I would never feel that way about one of my own subjects, no matter what they were. Everypony is dear to me, to betray their trust in me though such pettiness for their station… is unfathomable to me. And to tell you the truth I highly doubt the nobility would treat you in such a fashion once they saw you.” To Celestia it was more likely the bachelor nobles would start to compete for the young beauty’s hoof and heart, rather than rudely snub her off as said unicorn thought.

“… Thank you Princess.” Oskar replied softly, truthfully at a loss of how to take Celestia’s kindness.

“Well I’m glad we were able to move beyond that.” Celestia smiled at the smaller pony. “And I am most certainly happy to see you have managed to face the danger of Everfree without a scratch, Twilight was inconsolable when she thought she had lost a newly made but dear friend.”

“Oh…” Oskar said, looking at said violet unicorn that seemed to be recounting that time with a deeply unhappy expression. “I truthfully had no idea… I’ve never had a real friend in years…”

“Before you were alone and nopony else knew you well enough to know to be concerned about what you did with your life.” Celestia stated with a nod. “But now you do have a friend Emerald and a wound was torn deep into her heart when she thought you gone forever.”

“I’ll… I’ll be sure to not to worry Twilight any more with dangerous actions in the future Princess Celestia.” Oskar replied genuinely… from a certain point of view.

“And that is all everypony wants I’m sure.” Celestia answered with a soft smile. “It’s time I returned to Canterlot; I came expecting to have to attend a funeral… I’m glad I was disappointed. But before I leave, Twilight I wish for you to give me weekly reports on Emerald’s education in addition to those you already send.”

“Of course Princess.” Twilight replied.

With a nod Celestia began walking away from the cemetery to a packed chariot with a pair of pegasi guards a fair distance away.

“Well… this is an interesting development.” Oskar stated to Twilight when the Princess was out of ear shot.

“I know right!” Twilight said happily, giving the viral being another hug. “This is so fantastic Emerald! I have so much to teach you! Don’t you think this is such a great opportunity for the both of us? I’ve read that one only truly begins to understand a subject when they teach it to another, this will be a fantastic learning experience for the both of us!”

“Gee Twilight, you have to be such an egghead?” Rainbow Dash stated from above with a smirk.

‘Hmmm… actually this can be a massive advantage.’ Oskar thought. The Cadre Evolved now know that Twilight was not only a student of Celestia but was said to have massive natural potential for magic. Considering that the girl had managed to cast an incredibly complicated master level spell when she was only six, though by accident, this was most definitely the truth. And as a personal student of Princess Celestia there was a high possibility Twilight could teach her things that even Silver Light did not know, a very good chance as the unicorn seemed to be the type of person to share knowledge with as many people as possible no matter what it was. With Twilight’s prodigal insight and Oskar’s excuse as an uneducated unicorn the viral being could master her control over her magic far faster than was possible alone. ‘Yes this is most definitely advantageous; I would be an idiot not to accept.’

“This is great Twilight!” Oskar replied happily to the unicorn hugging her. “I’ll finally be able to master my magic! I can’t wait to finally start learning how to manipulate things with my horn, all that time of watching unicorn’s use magic for every little thing won’t be so painful to watch!”

“You’ll learn how to do more than that Emerald.” Twilight stated determinedly. “I promise.”

“Great but…” Oskar began, looking over the unicorn’s shoulder at the other mares. “Perhaps you should introduce your friends to me? I’ve only ever heard about them after all.”

“Oh! Sorry!” Twilight said sheepishly as she let go of Oskar. “This pony here is Applejack.”

“Howdy!” Said cowpony greeted with a tip of her Stetson. “Friends call me AJ.”

“That up there is Rainbow Dash.”

“Yo!” Dash waved from the cloud she was treating like a recliner chair.

“Over there is Rarity and the pegasus behind her is Fluttershy.”

“Salutations Darling!” Rarity greeted grandly.

“H-h-hello…” Fluttershy said with a small wave.

“And finally this is-”

“HI! I’m Pinkie Pie!” The party pony greeted, bounding right in front of Oskar. “It’s reallyreallyreally nice to meet you! I gotta say the colts were completely right about you! Completely perfect!” Pinkie said, taking a hold of Oskar’s face with her hooves and examining her for imperfections. “Yup, yup! Perfect! You know I can’t believe I missed you! I normally catch the new ponies when they first get into town! Well I know how to fix this! Introduction par-” Pinkie stuck a party favour into her mouth and was about to blow when Twilight interrupted.

“No.” Twilight stated firmly, making the pink pony blow half-heartedly and look at the unicorn with glistening eyes.

“But why Twilight!” Pinkie pouted. “Emmy needs a proper introduction party to Ponyville! So everypony gets to know her!

“I know Pinkie.” Twilight replied with a smile. “But today, tomorrow and probably the rest of the week will be very busy for Emerald. I have to plan out her lesson plans today and start implementing them tomorrow.” Twilight said as she started leading the fake unicorn back to her home. “Tell you what, I’ll make sure Emerald gets this weekend off, you can hold her introduction party then okay?”

“Oh okay…” Pinkie said reluctantly before her expression suddenly cleared up in excitement. “HEY, THIS MEANS I GOT A WHOLE WEEK TO PLAN A SUPER FUN AND AWESOME PARTY!!!” Pinkie declared before darting off.

“Ugh, ah don’ envy ya Emerald.” Applejack said with a wince. “A whole week full of book learning? Ah’d rather be bucking apples.”

“Yeah.” Dash agreed from her cloud. “Stuff like that sounds like it’ll take away from my morning and afternoon naps.”

“Dash, you are always napping.” Rarity replied. “It’s a wonder you get any work done at all with all the times I’ve seen you using a cloud as a bed.”

“That’s cause I’m just awesome.” Dash replied, putting a pair of sunglasses over her eyes.

“I’ll see you later girls!” Twilight said with a wave.

“See ya Twi!” Dash waved back.

“Should we head home now?” Oskar asked.

“Definitely.” Twilight replied with a smile.



҉



“… And then in this period we’ll start your teleportation classes, but only if we manage to cover more material then expected in the year.” Twilight said, levitating a ruler to a chalk board completely covered with an intricate schedule plan… and that was only the front side. “Any questions?”

“Not really but you are certainly thorough in your work.” Oskar said from her desk.

The two unicorns were back in Twilight’s tree house. Both had spent the rest of the day in the library discussing Oskar’s lesson plan for the following years. Off to the side was a bookcase Twilight had conjured up to hold Oskar’s study materials. It was mostly full of books Twilight had taken from the other shelves but it also held books Celestia sent along to assist in educating Emerald. The sun had recently set and Luna’s moon was now in ascent.

“Of course Emerald.” Twilight responded solemnly as she placed her ruler down on the chalkboard. “It’s your education and as your tutor it’s my most solemn duty I ensure you get the absolute most out of it.”

“We’ll start your first year lessons tomorrow.” Twilight continued. “They’ll be simple enough, just some small weights for you to get a handle on telekinesis and a few basic flare exercises to properly light up your horn. Along with those we have to get you started up on mathematics, history, social studies and Equestrian 101. And once those are done we’ll get started on the higher year subjects and spells. It’ll be a hectic few years for you but I promised the Princess to give the best possible education and I will fulfil that promise!”

“I think it’ll be easier than you may think, Twilight.” Oskar replied with an amused smile. “Well should we get to bed Twilight? Don’t want to be still tired for tomorrow.”

“Of course!” Twilight replied. “Busy, busy! So many things to cover tomorrow… hmmm, that reminds me. I should make sure Spike is doing his homework like I asked.”

With that the two unicorns made their way back up to the master bedroom. The bed Oskar had occupied for a brief moment last week was still there so the Evolved slid in and pulled the covers up, enjoying lying in a bed again after a whole week.

“Good night Emerald.” Twilight said as she tucked herself in. “Sleep tight, and if you wake up early again feel free to help yourself to the kitchen and study early.”

“Thanks Twilight, I will.” Oskar replied and once again began waiting for the other unicorn to fall asleep. Roughly half an hour later Oskar had deemed her host now asleep and got up, but she did not leave the room just yet. Instead the Cadre Evolved quietly crawled out of bed and made her way silently to the dresser beside Twilight’s bed. Atop the dresser was Oskar’s target, a hair brush with purple and pink strands of hair curled between the bristles.  Reaching over with her hoof, tendrils writhed out from her appendage and quickly gathered up every strand in the brush. Having done that, Oskar made her way out of the bedroom.

Now downstairs in the library Oskar consumed the hairs that were still untouched within her body.  Instantly Oskar gritted her teeth in exertion as she worked to hold back the pressure of kinetic energy that would normally explode out after a Evolved sustained a substantial increase in power. Finally the feeling passed and the Cadre Evolved was left feeling elated at the surge of energy she felt beginning to well up within her.

Turning her attention to the bookcase holding the study material meant for her, Oskar walked over and picked up a few of the first year books before walking over to the circular table. Placing the books down, Oskar opened one to study. Sure with Silver Light’s memories, Oskar could justify not actually needing to study but the memories were old and information held in them may not be very accurate anymore. As she read, Oskar began to muse about her current situation.

Overall she didn’t mind the idea of spending the next few years just studying and spending her free time in Ponyville. After all, compared to the NYZ this place was practically a paradise, no Blackwatch strike teams waiting to swoop down from above, no other Cadre Evolved constantly looking over her shoulder hoping she’d screw up and they would get to kill and consume her. Just a race of pacifistic Ponies with absolutely no knowledge of her presence, only of the disguise she had constructed to interact with them. Yes, Oskar would enjoy this sudden but not unappreciated return to a fairly normal life, and with the person she was living with it would most likely be pleasantly calm.

‘After all…’ Oskar thought with a relaxed smile. ‘How much trouble and excitement could a librarian like Twilight get up too?’

Letting out a calming breath Oskar returned to her studies.



-TBC-