//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: Unforeseen Consequences 
// Story: Oskar Osäker: True Omnivore 
// by Legionary 
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‘Wonder what Twilight and her friends are up to?’ Oskar thought as she absently filled out some algebra in the kitchen. ‘It’s likely something important and dangerous considering they kicked me out of the library.’

Sighing, Oskar proceeded to put down her math work and started messing around with a wooden block. Her transfiguration had progressed, now the Evolved could instantly change the color of the block and she was now capable of changing its shape. But Oskar had yet to advance to the point that she could make the block change into something else entirely. 

Putting down a cyan wooden star, the Cadre Evolved then levitated over a bowl filled with sunflower seeds. Levitating a singular seed into her mouth, Oskar simply outright absorbed the shell in order to fully enjoy the seed.

‘It’s probably some mission from Celestia, that overgrown pony means the world to Twilight.’ Oskar thought as she munched away on seeds. ‘I wonder if I should get involved in those? Who knows, I might find an interesting creature to eat while everyone else isn’t looking. Plus they might be pretty dangerous for her… and if Twilight dies before she can finish teaching me I’ll have to put up with a substandard teacher… no, I’m sure Twilight can handle herself and that anything Celestia assigns to her wouldn’t be that dangerous. She’s her student after all, not some super trained black ops problem solver.’ Oskar assured herself before refocusing on the algebra work.

Suddenly the door to the library opened and Twilight entered with a pair of saddlebags on her back.

“Let’s see…” The violet unicorn muttered to herself. “Going to be a long trip so I’ll need some food for the way…”

Unintentionally ignoring Oskar, Twilight proceeded to the pantry and started neatly packing away fruits for whatever journey she was going on. Nodding in satisfaction, Twilight turned around to finally notice Oskar at the kitchen table.

“So… going anywhere in particular?” Oskar asked as she got up from the table and approached the other unicorn.

“Just… handing a task that was given to me by the princess.” Twilight replied, obviously trying to avoid telling what exactly.

“So going to do something exceedingly dangerous?” Oskar asked half-jokingly. “Maybe you’re off to put out whatever’s making that smoke?”

“Err…” Twilight definitely looked uncomfortable.

“You know I was pretty much joking right?” Oskar stated with a raised brow.

“OH! Hahaha, that’s pretty funny!” Twilight said with an obvious forced laugh. “Well I got to go now, meeting with my friends soon and… going to… have a lot of fun and…”

“Twilight you are not fooling me.” Oskar said with a deadpan stare. “I was there when you got that letter from Celestia and got all excited, and it was kind of hard not to notice something is going on when you and the girls kicked me out of the library. The walls are not as thick as you think they are too, so you might as well tell me your side of things.”

“Okay, sorry Emerald…” Twilight replied sheepishly. “The letter the Princess sent me did concern the smoke. You see there is a dragon sleeping in a nearby mountain; all of this smoke is coming from his snoring. The Princess entrusted me with the task of convincing the dragon to go somewhere else to sleep, and I just got the girls to go prepare themselves for the trip.”

‘A dragon?’ Oskar thought incredulously. ‘Okay so Celestia really is willing to give Twilight a dangerous assignment… for some reason.’

“Okay, so I’m guessing from the way you went out of your way to not tell me this, you don’t want me coming along.” Oskar stated before asking curiously. “Why?”

“You’ve been through so much already Emerald.” Twilight began with a frown. “You don’t need to come along to help us, we’ll be just fine. Just stay here and enjoy having the house to yourself while I head out and Spike housesits for Fluttershy.”

“Yeah well, that’s the thing Twilight.” Oskar replied. “I have been through a lot; I’ve had to learn how to live without people looking out for me. I had to learn on the go where to get food and water, find shelter, what I need to learn and where to go to learn it without any money, who to trust and how to deal with rowdy wildlife. Bringing me along can be an advantage, I’ve so much to offer with my skills and my experience. With me there we can probably handle anything that comes our way.”

“And it’s for exactly that reason I don’t want you coming along Emerald.” Twilight said with a sad smile. “You’ve been through too much pain to get where you are today. I just… I just don’t want to potentially add on any more painful memories if I can help it. You deserve to have some peace for once Emerald, so could you just please stay here and enjoy it?”

Oskar sighed exasperatedly at this, how in the world was she supposed to justify herself against that? Shaking her head Oskar could see only one option that didn’t end up alienating Twilight in some way.

“… Sure Twilight… whatever you want.” Oskar said with another sigh. “I’ll just stay while you and the girls just go off on some wild adventure.”

“Oh thank you Emerald!” Twilight exclaimed as she gave the Evolved a hug. “You won’t regret this I promise!”

“Sure, just go on now.” Oskar replied with a roll of her eyes. “I’m sure the girls will arrive any minute now for your little road trip.”

“Alright, thanks again Emerald!” Twilight said as she left the kitchen.

Sighing again at the situation, Oskar walked back to the kitchen table and retook her seat. Absently working on her math work, Oskar glanced out the kitchen window to see Twilight marching in front of her friends like a drill sergeant and talking to them.

The whole situation with Oskar being made to stay at home could easily be averted with said viral being following Twilight at a distance. After all, surely Twilight trusted “Emerald” enough to stay home and not have to get some random pony to check up on her. And with Oskar’s natural shape shifting abilities, even if she was spotted by one of the girls they would just dismiss her, since she would be some random animal… though Oskar would have to watch out for Fluttershy approaching her in such a form though.

So with this in mind why didn’t the Cadre Evolved just do that? Well…

‘It would be simple enough to follow them…’ Oskar pondered as she watched a nervous Fluttershy talk to a distracted Twilight. ‘But… is there really any urgency to do so? I mean no one knows anything about Blacklight here, thus no one knows anything about me. I don’t really need to go through my goals like they need to be accomplished right away. Getting dragon memories would be useful in getting a handle on everything I’ve gained from Spike but it’s not like I can’t just go find a dragon when I feel I need to. So… I guess I can take Twilight’s advice then.’ Oskar smiled as she took in the sight of a reluctant Fluttershy being carried off by her friends. ‘Yeah, let’s take an actual break, enjoy life now that I’m finally not in danger of losing my life.’

With that the Cadre Evolved proceeded to levitate her math work and put away the bowl full of sunflower seeds but not before grabbing a mouthful to munch on. Walking into the library, mouth full of crunching seeds, Oskar put her work away on a shelf before contemplating what exactly she could do today.

‘I’ve had enough of reading, that’s for sure.’ Oskar thought, giving a narrow stare at a bookcase. ‘So… why not just head into town, see what’s what? Yeah just relax and unwind, maybe talk with some random ponies and just plain enjoy myself… w-why do I feel so nervous?’

Despite the peaceful intentions Oskar couldn’t help but feel her skin tingle with a nervous restless energy. The Cadre Evolved had snuck into Blackwatch installations, casually pretended to be the people she ate and on one occasion managed to stealth kill an Orion, all with clear and steady mind. Yet at the mere thought of just going out to have a nice peaceful day and nonchalantly interact with people, she could feel just the beginnings of a minor panic attack.

‘C-come on now… you can do this.’ Oskar thought to herself as she stood before the front door. ‘It’s not like these ponies will point at you and shout “That’s him!” the moment you say or do something off. In fact they’d probably be worried about you more than anything if that did happen. Yeah, just some peace loving ponies in a world without guns or any sort of advanced weaponry.’

Taking a deep calming breath Oskar opened the door and walked out. Feeling the cool breeze on her coat, Oskar couldn’t help but give a small genuine smile. Due to the smoke overhead the day was not as pleasant as it could have been but it still was fairly nice, there was a chill in the air from the slight wind but it was tolerable.

‘Let’s… let’s save getting into character for when I need to.’ Oskar thought as she closed the door and began walking forward. ‘I’ll put my “mask” on when I need to but for now, I’ll just be myself.’

With a genuine though strained looking smile Oskar continued onward to enjoy her first day off in years.



Alpha



Time Turner swallowed nervously as he took in the sight before him. Relaxing peacefully on a park bench was a unicorn with a coat white as snow, eyes green as emeralds and hair a bright eye catching shade of pink. This unicorn’s name was Emerald Gleaner and the reason why Time Turner was nervous was because he intended to make an attempt to woo her.

“Go on now, just walk over and talk to her, it’s easy Time.” Bon Bon said from his left.

“Yeah TT, get over there!” Lyra added from his right. “There’s no reason to be afraid of a pretty filly!”

“I-I don’t know if this is such a great idea anymore.” Time Turner replied as he tugged nervously at a recently bought bowtie. “She looks like she’s happy by herself so I’ll just-” Turning around and intending to leave, Time Turner was interrupted by being suddenly levitated.

“No!” Lyra interjected her horn aglow with magic. “Come on TT don’t be such a scaredy cat! You haven’t even tried to get a date in months! Just because you’re a big nerd doesn’t mean you have to be alone all the time.”

“So because of my status as a bachelor I must immediately go after the most beautiful mare in town?” Time Turner questioned incredulously from his spot in the air.

“Oh I wouldn’t let Rarity hear you say that Time.” Bon Bon stated with a frown. “She’d likely feel insulted and hurt.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s not true Bon Bon.” Lyra said though she looked rather annoyed about it. “Unicorn comes into town out of the blue, turning the heads of all the colts in town then goes into Everfree to fake her own death-”

“Unintentionally!” Time Turner interrupted. “She unintentionally faked her own death! She did not think Twilight would try to follow her and mistake the aftermath of that chimera’s bloody nose as the place of her gruesome demise.”

“Ugggh!” Lyra exclaimed with a shudder, an action Bon Bon mirrored. “Why did you have to remind me of that?! It’s bad enough just hearing about it, never mind imagining it!”

“Apologies but I wanted to clarify things for you.” Time Turner replied.

“Hmph, anyways where was I…” Lyra said with a huff. “So the mare goes into Everfree of all places for an adventure and ends up unintentionally faking her own death. She spends a whole week doing who knows what while everypony in town mourns for her and prepares a funeral for her. So she decides to pop up right when everything is already finished and paid for to surprise everypony with her survival-”

“Er, she didn’t intend to-” Time Turner tried to interject again but…

“So she decides to astound all the colts with a show of brute strength!” Lyra continued her rant. “By which I mean smashing the tombstone I paid for! And it was a good tombstone too, polished black granite and everything, not cheap! And next thing you know she’s best friends with the heroes of Equestria and capture the hearts of all the colts in town! And-”

“Lyra?” Bon Bon said softly.

“…Yes Bon Bon?”

“Jealousy is unbecoming of you.” The other mare stated simply.

“… Sorry I just…” Lyra began with a sigh.

“It’s okay.” Bon Bon said kindly. “We’ll talk about this later but right now we’re trying to get Time into Emerald’s good graces, which will hopefully lead to a spot in her heart. Besides, the poor mare deserves some happiness for once after enduring a life of hardships.”

“I’m not sure if I can do this.” Time Turner stated as Lyra finally placed him back down.

“Yes you can, Time.” Bon Bon said reassuringly and placed a hoof on the stallion’s shoulder. “You only need to be yourself, friendly. Just start with polite discussion, now go over there.”

With that last bit of advice Bon Bon gave Time Turner a soft push. Giving a worried glance to the mare behind him the pony doctor returned his gaze forward. Taking in the slightly distant view of Emerald Gleaner relaxing on a bench, the brown coated pony took a deep breath before adjusting his tie and striding forward.

Time Turner examined Emerald as he drew closer. Though there was a bit of a chill in the air from the smoke blocking out the sun, she seemed to be completely at ease. His closing distance allowed Turner to make out the mare’s expression. It was… different from what was usually on the friendly unicorn’s face. She had a small yet unmistakably sad smile and her eyes seemed to just stare off into the distance, obviously lost in her own thoughts. Finally the mare in question seemed to notice Turner’s presence for her eyes suddenly cleared and she stared at him. The pony doctor was frozen in spot from her expression, she was staring at him with a blank expression yet her eyes held a dark predatory look to them. Then with a total suddenness Emerald’s expression changed to one of a bright eyed friendly smile.

“Why hello there Time Turner!” Emerald Gleaner greeted cheerfully. “I haven’t seen you in a while! Come here, take a seat!”

Time Turner blinked for a moment before smiling very happily and accepting the mare’s offer. The sure abruptness of Emerald’s change in expression, managed to convince Turner that he must have imagined the look from before.

“Thank you very much Emerald, I would like that.” Time Turner told the mare as he took a seat on the bench. “And it has been a while since we’ve talked, how have you been?”

“I’m fine, Time Turner.” Emerald replied. “I’m just spending some time in town while my friends are off solving the smoke problem.”

“Oh? What is causing the problem exactly?” The pony doctor asked. “If it was a forest fire it would be a simple enough issue to solve with a raincloud or two.”

“Turns out it’s a sleeping dragon.” Emerald answered sadly. “Twilight and her friends were tasked with convincing it to go and find somewhere else to sleep by the Princess.”

“I’m sure Twilight and the others will be fine Emerald.” Turner said comfortingly when he picked up on the mare’s sadness. “If Princess Celestia feels that her student and her friends can be entrusted with this task, then I can state with total confidence they will return safe and sound.”

“Yeah… but it’s not that that I’m upset about.” Emerald replied. “Twilight did her best to try to keep what she was up to from me.”

“And why would that be?” Turner asked.

“She believes, rightly, that I would want to come along.” The unicorn responded. “I’m adventurous I suppose… and I think that what she thought happened in Everfree has made her rather protective of me.”

“That doesn’t seem so wrong.” Time Turner stated.

“Maybe, but Twilight needs to realise I’m not a fragile little filly.” Emerald replied with a frown. “I can take care of myself and have been taking care of myself for years. Just because I’ve spent the last month in an actual house doesn’t mean I lost all I’ve learned from my life. I can handle myself; I handled myself in Everfree didn’t I?”

“True, you are a very independent and strong unicorn Emerald, very admirable traits.” Turner stated with a nod. “I’m sure with some time and work you’ll be able to convince Twilight to trust you to pull your weight in an adventure. She is a logical sort of mare, she’ll not be able to deny evidence brought before her.”

“Thank you Time Turner.” Emerald said, smiling widely. “That makes me feel better about being left behind, because it won’t happen again, I’ll make sure of it.”

“Not a problem Emerald.” Turner replied happily. “I’m glad to be able to have been of assistance.”

There was a long moment of comfortable silence before Emerald tilted her head to the side curiously.

“Time Turner you are a scientist right?” She asked the colt next to her.

“I possess a doctorate in quantum mechanics.” Turner stated with a nod. “Why do you ask?”

“I’m interested in talking science with you.” Emerald answered.

“Really?” Turner said eagerly before his stomach suddenly rumbled. “Uh… I appear to be hungry. Perhaps we could continue this over lunch?”

“Why not?” The unicorn said before getting off the bench. “I know this nice open air restaurant with a great sandwich and fries combo.”

“Well, let us be off.” Turner replied cheerfully and followed Emerald Gleaner as she led the way. He turned his head when he noticed his two friends waving at him. Bon Bon gave an encouraging smile while Lyra’s expression seemed to say “Go get her tiger!” Blushing from the wordless encouragement, Time Turner nodded in thanks and continued after Emerald.

It was not long before the two were at the restaurant and were being attended by a waitress.

“So what’cha having?” The unicorn with a levitating notepad asked, ending with her bubble-gum bubble expanding till it popped.

“I’ll have the deluxe sandwich and hay fries combo please.” Emerald replied. “Oh and a vanilla milkshake too.”

“And I will… I will have what she is having.” Time Turner said when the waitress turned to him.

“Alright, it’ll be ready in a couple minutes.” The other unicorn said before darting off to deliver the order.

“So what do you wish to ask me about Emerald?” Turner asked.

“While I was reading I found about this device called a computer.” Emerald stated. “What exactly is it? What I read only made a passing mention but what little I found out was interesting.”

“Computers, now there is a fascinating invention with great future potential.” Time Turner replied enthusiastically. “Now what this interesting device does is think. BUT, not at the level of even the most basic animal, no we are far, far from that. Currently the average computer is fairly large bulky boxes with a glass screen on the front, and is capable of making digital documents and doing advanced math in mere moments; something that would take most other ponies would require nearly a minute to solve.”

“Is that all that they are capable of?” Emerald asked with a cute tilt of her head.

“N-no, like I said computers have great potential in many fields.” The pony doctor replied with lightly flushed cheeks. “Already we have quite advanced robotic devices in factories, robotic devices Emerald! It is a true victory for science when science fiction becomes science fact!” Time Turner practically cheered with his declaration.

“Robots!?” Emerald gasped. “You mean we have metal ponies working in factories now? Amazing!”

“Uhhh… no.” Turner answered somewhat sheepishly. “What I mean by robotic devices is that we have these large robotic limbs designed after the forelimbs of the apes of the far west, with built in computers to make it do very basic repetitive actions.”

“Oh.” Emerald said with audible disappointment.

“But I assure you! This is still quite advanced!” Time Turner said quickly.

“I suppose so…” Emerald said lips pursed into a thin line. Time Turner was about to say more to mollify the obviously displeased unicorn, when it became clear it was not what he said that was bothering her anymore. 

“Alright you two can come out now!” Emerald called. “Come on, you can’t pretend you’re not there!”

After a brief moment two mares appeared from around the corner. It was Bon Bon and Lyra, both mares looked rather sheepish at being discovered.

“Sorry about spying on you two.” Bon Bon said.

“Yeah, when did you notice we were here?” Lyra asked.

“After I noticed Time Turner approaching me.” Emerald answered. “At first I thought nothing of it but then you two never left and started following us.”

“Oh…” Now both the mares definitely looked embarrassed at being found out.

“We were just looking after our friend Time Turner.” Bon Bon answered with an embarrassed flush.

Emerald raised her brows. “I didn’t realise being around me was dangerous.”

“What!? No, that was not what I meant! Umm…” Bon Bon exclaimed then stared unsurely at the sitting unicorn who merely gave her a neutral glare.

Suddenly Emerald smiled widely. “I’m just teasing the both of you! Come, have a seat! The more the merrier!”

Both of the mares gave relieved laughs and took the unicorn’s offer, flashing an apologetic look at Time Turner as they did so. Said pony merely waved the looks off and shook his lightly smiling head.

“So who are you two?” Emerald asked.

“My name is Bon Bon.” The earth pony replied.

“I’m Lyra.” The other unicorn answered. “We know who you are.”

“Speaking of which…” Bon Bon said, smiling brightly as she learned forward on the table. “There are a few things I’m just dying to ask you.”

“What do you want to know?” Emerald asked with a tilt of her head. 

It was at this point the waitress returned with Emerald’s and Timer Turner’s orders.

“Here ya go.” The waitress said as she levitated the food and drinks on the table then turned to the other mares. “You two want anything?”

“Oh, a chocolate milkshake!” Lyra said.

“Strawberry for me please.” Bon Bon replied pleasantly.

“Right, be back in a minute.”

“You see there are these rumors I want to ask you about.” The earth pony continued.

“Bon Bon you are such a gossip girl!” Lyra laughed and Time Turner only shook his head and sighed.

“Rumors?”

“Yes, like for instance…” Bon Bon began excitedly. “Are you really an earth pony with a really weird skin tag on her forehead?”

“…What?” Emerald said with an incredulous stare before suddenly shaking her head with a bemused chuckle. Emerald proceeded to wordlessly answer Bon Bon’s question by levitating her drink close enough to drink from the straw.

“Well that answers that one!” Bon Bon answered gleefully. “Okay next one! Are you the Wild Princess of Everfree?”

Emerald coughed up a bit of her milkshake at that one. “Wild Princess?! Okay… what?”

“Heh… heard that one from some stallion.” Bon Bon giggled. “Said you had a cat-like grace and the fact you just went into Everfree like it was nopony’s business inspired him… I think… what did he say again?”

“Er no, I’m not some feral royalty.” Emerald replied with a shake of her head.

“Well it wasn’t a very good rumor anyway.” Bon Bon said with a shrug. “How about this one, have you ever beat up and rode a dragon?”

“Definitely not.” Emerald responded as the waitress arrived with the drinks.

“Thanks, maybe you should try when you see a dragon.” Bon Bon suggested. “You seem strong enough.”

“Yeah sure, I’ll do just that with the next dragon I hear is in the area.” Emerald said jokingly.

“Oh this is a good one, who did-”

“Ah come on Bon Bon!” Lyra exclaimed in irritation. “Stop talking about her!”

“We will definitely be talking later.” Bon Bon started seriously to chasten Lyra. “But okay, no more rumors about Emerald. This one is about an entirely different unicorn. Have any of you heard about what happened to Rose Locks?”

“Who?” Lyra asked with furrowed brows, Emerald tilted her head and Time Turner shook his head.

“Well Rose Locks is this unicorn that wanted to visit Canterlot around a month ago.” Bon Bon began. “I heard along the way she ran into some wild beast that tried to eat her.”

“Really?” Turner stated. “Is she alright?”

“Yes and now that I think about it some accounts say she just fell asleep and had a really bad nightmare but anyways…” Bon Bon rambled before shaking her head clear. “She continued on her way to Canterlot and tried to enjoy herself when she arrived but kept getting panic attacks. When she tried to settle in for the night at a hotel she had a really horrible nightmare about what happened to her and woke up screaming. She got so bad that she was admitted into the psych ward of the Canterlot hospital for care. She’s been there since.”

“Wow that’s… Emerald, are you okay?” Lyra asked her fellow unicorn. “You look really… off.”

“Y-yeah I’m just…” Emerald said, looking distinctly disturbed. “I’m just sad for that other pony is all. Well… sorry to cut this short but I really ought to be going.” The unicorn stated and got up from her seat but turned towards Time Turner with a smile. “Time Turner thanks for the lunch and conversation, I really enjoyed it.”

“It’s no problem Emerald.” Turner said after the leaving unicorn. “Perhaps we could do this again sometime?”

“Sure!” Emerald called back before disappearing around a corner.

The two mares turned to Time Turner and gave him wide grins.

“Looks like somepony is getting a fillyfriend!” Lyra declared.

“I wouldn’t go as far as that but she appears to be open to further outings.” Turner stated with a flush.

“Tut, tut Time.” Bon Bon said. “You need to be a little bit more confident if you want this to go anywhere.”

“I try but I feel so much more at home studying the inner workings of the universe.” The pony doctor stated sheepishly.

“Well just try to focus on relaxing around her and I I’m sure…” Bon Bon began as she gave Time Turner dating advice.



BETA



Oskar was currently making her way down a street. She had no real destination in mind and was letting her mind wander.

‘That was… informative.’ Oskar thought. The Cadre Evolved had come out to enjoy herself and relax, and it looked like that would be the case but then Time Turner appeared. At first Oskar didn’t mind the colt’s appearance but then she found herself unable to ignore the opportunity to question the pony about the current tech. She had also noticed two mares hiding some distance away behind a bush, but hadn’t really minded them since it was still far better from the stares she was getting earlier. Time Turner’s offer of lunch was appealing enough to accept but… it invoked feelings of Déjá vu in the viral being. Oskar was still contemplating if the current level of technology was of any real use when she had grown tired of ignoring the two mares shadowing them, so she called them out… in retrospect it would have been better for the Evolved’s mood to just keep ignoring them. It was innocent enough and amusing to hear rumors about herself but then the conversation turned to that unicorn she ambushed so long ago. 

‘I… I don’t know how to feel… should I feel guilty?’ Oskar thought as she walked down a street. ‘I needed genes to create Emerald Gleaner and I could’ve just killed her for them but I didn’t… so I shouldn’t feel guilty; if I was still under Mercer’s command I would have killed her to keep up appearances as just another predictable psychopath. I showed mercy… and that’s a good thing.’

‘… And I should remember that just because I show mercy doesn’t mean mercy would be shown to me if I were discovered.’ As the viral being continued her thinking her nose began to twitch from a faint delicious aroma in the air. ‘I’m a virus and the ultimate omnivore, fruits, vegetables, bugs, other viruses and bacteria, meat, processed foods, gems, rock, ores and if I can get around to finding some termites: wood. But these ponies, these herbivores would be completely hung up on the fact I eat meat. If I was found out, if they saw how I truly am they would see nothing but a terrifying monster, a walking anathema of blades and eternally hungry tendrils… I wouldn’t blame them… what’s that smell?’

Even as deep as she was in her brooding Oskar couldn’t help but be taken out of it by the wonderful mouth-watering aroma filling her nose. Coming to a stop the Cadre Evolved took a look around her surroundings and quickly found the source of the smell. Oskar was just standing outside Sugarcube Corner and from the smell of things the Cakes were just beginning another batch of baked goods. 

Immediately Oskar’s mind was flooded with images of a bakery, completely different from the one before her. A store front showing a sidewalk and street, always busy with traffic of people walking and driving cars. The sound of a bell ringing from the front door opening and people chatting as they waited filling the air. Freshly baked pastries and rich icing flooded the room with their scents. A face, a softly smiling woman with platinum blonde hair, her eyes twinkled with amusement and she laughed from something she just saw.

Feeling a deep warmth in her chest, Oskar strode forward without another thought and entered the Sugarcube corner.

“Hello and welcome to Sugarcube Corner!” Mrs. Cake greeted. “Oh! Emerald how nice to see you again, would you like another of your favourites?” The swirly maned mare pointed to some donuts with vanilla icing and coconut sprinkles. “They’re fresh! Just out of the oven!”

“That sounds delicious!” Oskar replied, unable to keep herself from darting over in front of the displayed donuts and staring longingly. “But… as much as I want to use the allowance Twilight gave me I have a different reason for being here.”

“And what would that be my dear?” Mrs. Cake asked.

“I know Pinkie is out helping Twilight with that task she was given by the Princess.” Oskar stated. “And I thought I’d just come by and cover for her. I’m willing to work free of charge if that helps.”

“Oh my dear I couldn’t possibly accept your help without compensating you for it!” The mare exclaimed though she had a big smile on her face from the display of kindness. “But yes, my husband and I would gladly accept your help. Do you know how to work in a bakery by the way?”

An image of a white apron with the name Oskar stitched in the upper left corner briefly flashed in the Evolved’s mind. “Oh yes, definitely.”

“Then by all means my dear go right in!” Mrs. Cake said, waving to the kitchen door. “There should be a spare apron or two on the rack just beside the door in the kitchen.”

“Thank you Mrs. Cake!” Oskar said and headed for the door.

Entering the kitchen Oskar was met with the sight of Mr. Cake trying to be in four places at once and actually doing a good job of it. The baker pony had three ovens going, two lumps of dough needing to be kneaded and two bowls of icing needing to be mixed. Mr. Cake darted from one place to another kneading dough quickly then moving to finish stirring a bowl of icing and finally checking on the ovens to see if they were down. Mr. Cake spotted Oskar out of the corner of his eye when he was staring through the partially open door of one of his ovens.

“Oh hello Emerald.” Mr. Cake greeted in an upbeat tone as he continued his frantic work. “What are you doing back here?”

“I offered to fill in for Pinkie today.” Oskar explained as she grabbed a spare apron and tied it on magically. “Mrs. Cake agreed and here I am. So where do you need me?”

“Well if you could finish those bowls of icing it would be a huge load off my back.” The stallion answered as he saw that the loads of cupcakes and muffins weren’t quite finished yet.

“No problem!” Oskar replied and trotted over to the bowls in question. Picking up a whisk Oskar began beating the icing hard and quickly, but not so much that the icing would go everywhere. Glancing at the unattended bowl of icing, Oskar got an idea. The fake unicorn’s horn lit up with her magic as she levitated the other bowl and took hold of another whisk, then she proceeded to magically beat the icing in that bowl.

“Ha, magic can be convenient huh?” Mr. Stated cheerfully as he kneaded the dough. “You look like you got a good handle on things, have you worked in a bakery before or are you just a natural baker?”

“I’d like to think both actually.” Oskar answered, frowning in concentration as she divided her focus on a conversation, physically beating one bowl and magically beating the other bowl of icing.

“Oh?”

“My mother was a baker.” Oskar explained, a memory of being a young boy excitedly helping his mom bake flashed through her mind. “I helped out around the kitchen and the store. I… remember those days well, I’d be standing on a chair beating a bowl of cake mix and occasionally try to stick my f-hoof in it to get a taste then my mother would immediately catch me before I’d manage it. Other times she’d let me knead and roll the dough of the pastries… I had so much fun helping her out. We did fairly well too, and I was enough of a natural that she saw expanding to a second location and letting me run it, when I was old enough, very much a possibility. But then…”

“Gee Emerald…” Mr. Cake began with a pained expression. “I didn’t mean to bring up painful memories.”

“No… those were good times and I enjoy reminiscing about them.” Oskar replied before nodding and placing the bowls down. “And working in a bakery only improves my mood Mr. Cake.  The icing is done, what’s next?”

“Just in time too.” Mr. Cake stated as he quickly began taking out trays full of donuts and cupcakes from the ovens. These need to have icing on them; we’ll put sprinkles on some of them too. While you do that I’ll finish kneading this dough and get them in the oven. Those will be the jelly filled donuts and pastries, once they’re done we’ll fill em up with jelly.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Oskar said as she levitated the icing over to the freshly baked pastries.

And so the hours passed with Oskar working the kitchen helping Mr. Cake. The Cadre Evolved enjoyed herself greatly, fond memories of times spent with her mother in the kitchen flowed freely through her mind and without the guilt she normally felt. Eventually all good things come to an end though, as was the case when five o’clock rolled around all too soon to Oskar’s liking.

“You were a wonderful help dear!” Mrs. Cake complimented the false unicorn. “It tends to get a bit frantic around here without a third set of hooves helping out.”

“Yeah you were a fine help around the kitchen, here you deserve these.” Mr. Cake added and passed over a small bag of bits along with a box of the viral being’s favorite donuts. “Come back anytime Emerald. You’ll always be welcome here!”

“Thanks mister and missus cake.” Oskar replied as she took the bag and box. “I’ll see you two later!”

“Goodbye Emerald!” The two ponies called out as Oskar left out the door.

Bag of bits and box of donuts levitating in the air above her, Oskar randomly chose a street and started moving. As the Evolved took a donut out to eat she noticed that the smoke wasn’t pouring out from the mountain anymore and the pegasi were out in force clearing the skies.

‘Guess that means Twilight and her friends did it.’ Oskar thought as she munched a donut. ‘What should I do now I wonder?’

“Pinkie Pie you scared me!” A familiar voice cut into her thoughts.

Quickly finishing her donut, Oskar darted in the direction of the shout and came to the sight of Twilight’s friends standing in front of said pony’s library. Twilight was up on her balcony and laughing along with her friends at Fluttershy, who was now frozen in a state of shock on the ground.

“Hey girls!” Oskar greeted as she entered the group. “Hope that dragon didn’t give you too much trouble.”

“Emerald! I was wondering where you went off to.” Twilight said. “Come on in, I’ll tell you all about our adventure.”

“Ohhhh donuts!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed and stared longingly at the levitating box holding the pastries.

“No.” Oskar simply said as she walked to the library door.

“Can I have some?” Rainbow Dash asked as Pinkie pouted from the denial.

“Same answer, different pony.” Oskar replied before entering the library.

“Awwwww…”



GAMMA



Oskar chucked a whole walnut into her mouth as she stared out the window and broke it open in one bite. Outside many ponies were busy cutting down frail tree limbs to keep them from falling and causing damage during the coming storm. Said storm was being organised by the weather pegasi, the reason for this being because of a schedule slip concerning rainfall.

‘Some things about this place I think I’ll never get used to.’ Oskar thought, tossing another walnut in her mouth. ‘So we missed a bit of rainfall, this means we have to have a big dangerous thunderstorm? Whose idea was that? Okay maybe it isn’t that dangerous, after all the weather ponies will be controlling every boom and rain drop, right? I’m sure they can’t be just putting the clouds in place and just let them go crazy right?’

The lightning was just beginning to appear when Twilight appeared at Oskar’s back and gasped aloud.

“What is it?” Oskar asked and looked back to see Twilight’s worried expression.

“Look!” The violet unicorn pointed out the window, off in the distance trying to find shelter was Applejack and Rarity. Applejack seemed to find shelter in the form of hiding under a picnic table but for some reason Rarity was standing out in the open. “Applejack and Rarity are stuck outside! The storm is going to come down hard, it might be too dangerous for them to go home in this! I better get them in here.”

Oskar blinked at that. “You mean the pegasi would actually make a dangerous storm? And doesn’t Rarity live just down the road from here?”

Twilight didn’t hear her though as she bolted for the front door. Oskar followed after the studious unicorn shortly, arriving in time to see her call out to the two mares in the storm.

“Applejack! Rarity!” Twilight called, waving her hoof for the mares’ attention. “Applejack! Rarity!”

Oskar stuck her head out the door and saw the two just staring back at them.

“Come on!” Oskar shouted. “What are you waiting for!? Get in here!”

“Right!” Rarity called back and ran for the library with Applejack not too far behind.

Rarity came charging in, glad to be out of the rain but Applejack skidded to a stop just before the door.

“Whoa nelly!” The cowpony said and arched an eyebrow questionably at the ponies inside. “Is inside a tree really the best place in a lightning storm?”

“It is if you have a magical lightning rod protecting your home like I do.” Twilight answered with a smile. “Come on in!”

“We are most grateful for your invitation.” Rarity said gratefully with a small head bow.

“Thank ya kindly for yer hospitality.” Applejack agreed and tried to step into the house only for Rarity to stop her.

“Uh, do be a polite house guest and go wash up please, won't you?” Rarity stated motioning to Applejack’s mud covered hooves before walking to stand beside Twilight and Oskar. Applejack grumbled and muttered words under her breath but did as asked and stepped back outside to clean her hooves.

“Were you asked to help trim the trees Rarity?” Oskar asked. “Was that why you were out there?”

“You are right, Emerald darling.” Rarity replied. “Normally only ponies on the storm brigade are supposed to be out there but the suddenness of the storm found the brigade unprepared. They were short hoofed and had to ask for volunteers. I decided my skills could be of use and volunteered as soon as I could… I did not anticipate the sure ferocity of the storm however.”

“Some storm, huh? The Pegasus ponies sure have outdone themselves this time.” Twilight agreed. “But I hope you and Applejack don't have any trouble getting home in this.”

“It may indeed be a problem.” Rarity replied worriedly.

“So fussy.” Oskar stated, shaking her head. The glamorous unicorn’s home was not that far away but she obviously didn’t want to ruin her mane.

“This mane only looks easy to attain darling.” Rarity retorted at Oskar’s remark. “It takes a great amount of effort to create and sustain through a whole day’s grind. I would think a mare with your mane would understand that.”

“I don’t fix up my mane Rarity.” Oskar responded with a smirk. “It naturally gets this way.”

“WHAT?!” Rarity exclaimed. “Impossible! Hair like that doesn’t just happen!”

“It’s true Rarity.” Twilight said with a nod. “Emerald never fixes up her mane, I saw her wake up once and she didn’t even have a bed head.”

Rarity gaped at Twilight for a long moment before turning back to stare longingly at Oskar with tearing eyes. “It’s not fair…”

“Life rarely is.” Oskar merely responded. “So I’m guessing you’re going to stay the night rather than risk your mane getting moist?”

“Oh we should have a slumber party!” Twilight said excitedly.

“Uh, what?” Rarity said, strangely alarmed.

“A slumber party, you know friends sleep over, play games, tell ghost stories.” The violet unicorn said before darting over to a bookshelf. “I’ve always wanted to have one!”

With the sound of the front door opening and closing Applejack returned from cleaning her hooves.

“Whelp my hooves are clean.” Applejack stated as she came to a stop near Oskar. “What’s going on?”

“Twilight wants to have a slumber party.” Oskar answered as said unicorn came back with a back.

“Slumber 101, all you wanted to know about slumber parties but were afraid to ask.” Twilight read briefly from the summary before turning the cover to her friends. “I’ve always wanted to have a slumber party, ever since I was a little filly and now is the perfect time to have one!”

“Oh uh, that’s awfully tempting and all but ah… uh…” Applejack began, looking for an excuse to refuse and shooting looks at Rarity. But Twilight’s super eager and excited expression was not making it easy for the cowpony. “Well… actually… you know what sugarcube? Sure, I’ll stick around for yer slumber party…”

“Hooray slumber party!” Twilight cheered and briefly clopped her hooves together.

“Wonderful…” A clearly unenthused Rarity muttered.

“Something wrong?” Oskar asked, glancing at the unhappy looks Applejack and Rarity had.

“Er… nothing ya need ta worry about sugarcube.” Applejack said with a subtle look at Rarity. “It’s all under control, right Rarity?”

“But of course.” Rarity replied stiffly. “We wouldn’t want Twilight’s very first slumber party to be ruined now wouldn’t we?”

“If you say so…” Oskar replied with suspicion before turning to Twilight. “So what are we doing?”

“Let’s see… the book says the first thing to do in a slumber party is… to give each other makeovers!” Twilight squealed in excitement.

“Sounds fun.” Oskar stated with a smile at Twilight’s enthusiasm. “You know I personally have never had a makeover, or a slumber party for that matter.”

“Then you’ll be in for a treat Emerald!” Twilight replied happily before darting for a cupboard. There was the sound of glass clinking and things being moved about before Twilight turned around, four bowls and two green bottles floating behind her. “I’ve got all the materials for the mud masks right here.”

“Mud masks?!” Applejack exclaimed. “What in tarnation, ah had to go outside an clean mud off my hooves an now ya want to put mud on my face?”

“Of course this isn’t that filth you would have dragged all over Twilight’s floors!” Rarity replied affronted. Twilight brought over four pillows for everyone to sit on and placed a bowl down before each one, filling each bowl with a light green crème.

“This is a mud mask.” Rarity explained as she laid down on a pillow. “It’s to refresh and rejuvenate your complexion.”

“Really?” Oskar asked dubiously, dipping her hoof into a bowl and bringing it to look at the crème. Oskar knew all about products like these of course. The memories of several women providing all she needed to know about them. But the dubious point came when Rarity stated what the crème was for; ponies had a coat of short hair that covered their entire body and thus kept skin out of sight for the most part. Humans had a coat of hair too, but the hairs were so sparse and fine as to be a non-issue. The Evolved was more than a little curious about the effectiveness of the crème when there was a coat of hair between it and the skin it was supposed to be absorbed into. “Well consider me sceptic.”

“Pshaw Emerald, you’ll see, by tomorrow morning you’ll find that the results speak for themselves.” Rarity replied as she quickly and expertly applied a layer of crème over her face and helped Twilight when she seemed to be having trouble.

“Hmmm…” Oskar looked down at the crème on her hoof. Like what was stated before, Oskar knew about this stuff and how to apply it… as a human that is. With an equine face and hooves for appendages Oskar was at some loss of how to put it on without making a mess. Tentatively she placed her hoof on her face and started to spread it around.

“Oh, Emerald darling here let me do it.” Rarity said after basically chucking a ball of crème in Applejack’s face and smearing it around haphazardly. “You’ve acquired quite a few skills from being a travel pony but applying health care products seems to be not one of them.”

“Well excuse me for not seeing a point in it before.” Oskar replied in false irritation. “I mean it's not like I had better things to spend what few bits I could get my hooves on.”

“Now Emerald, there is no need to be like that.” Rarity stated with pursed lips as she sat in front of the fake unicorn. “I’m well aware of your feelings on my taste for “useless frilliness”. But just sit back and relax, let me handle this.”

“Alright Rarity, might as well give this a try for Twilight’s sake than anything else.” Oskar muttered loud enough for Rarity to hear.

“My thoughts exactly.” Rarity replied with a smile before setting to work.

Oskar closed one eye as Rarity with meticulous care began spreading an even layer of crème over one side of her face. It struck Oskar as odd that Rarity was taking such painstaking efforts in applying the mud mask to her, the glamorous unicorn did not do so with Twilight who she was obviously closer to. Yet here the mare was, being so very attentive in making sure she was doing a good job for a pony she shouldn’t like. Though very curious for the reason, Oskar couldn’t help but enjoy the calming atmosphere of the room, of lying here and being attended to.

‘So this is what being a girl is like?’ Oskar thought as Rarity started applying crème to the other side of her face. ‘It’s not bad, kind of pleasant really. There’s seeing and there’s experiencing, I mean I know there are unpleasant consequences of being female, what with the sexualising, the leering and the occasional rapist who thought I was easy prey. But there is none of that here… well there was that one incident in Canterlot but that was hardly his fau-’

“Emerald I’m done.” Rarity’s voice broke into Oskar’s thoughts. “You can open your eyes now.”

“Oh… uh, thanks Rarity.” Oskar said a little unsurely.

“It’s no problem Emerald.” Rarity smiled warmly.

‘Does… does she like me?’ Oskar thought as said unicorn turned around to face Twilight. ‘Strange… I thought she was the type to go for the “gallant stallion” not another mare… ugh, how am I going to handle this?’

“So what’s next in that book of yours?” Applejack asked Twilight.

“We’re not done with our makeovers, Applejack.” The studious unicorn replied and made their mud masks disappear in a flash of magic. “We still need to do our manes!”

“Seriously?” Applejack asked unhappily and got her answer when Twilight levitated some hair curlers and brushes into the air in front of her.

“Come now Applejack.” Rarity rebuked smugly as she magically took a hold of the curlers from Twilight. “And who knows, it may just help that crow’s nest you have!”

Applejack growled but didn’t resist as Rarity set to work once again, quickly and efficiently brushing long locks of hair to place in a curler. While Rarity was busy with Twilight, Applejack and herself Oskar was trying to fix herself up.

‘This is so much harder without hands.’ The fake unicorn frowned as she struggled to magically manipulate the curlers, the brush and her hair. ‘And these hooves are so confusing, one moment they’re just as good as hands, the next I’m forced to use my mouth or magic to get things done.’

“Oh my. Emerald darling just wait a moment.” Rarity said as she caught sight of Oskar making a mess of herself. “I just need to finish Applejack's tail and I’ll be right there.”

“Yowch!” Applejack shouted as Rarity pulled a lock into a curler in an ungentle manner.

“Apologies Applejack.” The glamorous unicorn quickly muttered as she quickly finished up and moved to Emerald.

“Now let’s what I can do with this perfect mane of yours.” Rarity stated with a smile and sat down just behind Oskar.

The Evolved felt the bristles of the brush move through her mane softly and slowly, the intent being to undo any knots but the sure gentleness of the action struck Oskar.

“My, my, not one knot or tangle.” Rarity’s voice came softly near her ear. “And your natural curls just spring right back into shape. What I wouldn’t do for hair this silky and strong.”

‘Ah crap!’ The Evolved thought as Rarity started to place in curlers. ‘She does like me! How do I handle this? She’s someone I have to deal with pretty much every other day so simply doing what I did to Razor Wing isn’t an option, not unless I want to make things awkward around here. What to do, what to do… I got nothing. Great so I just sit back and let her date me? Just hope she decides we ar-’

“Emerald?” Rarity’s voice broke into the virus’ thoughts.

“Er, yes Rarity?” Oskar said, discomfort managing to bleed into her voice.

“I know we don’t exactly get along, even now you’re so tense from being near me.” Rarity said sadly. “And I understand why you dislike me, after a lifetime of only living on the bare minimum and coming face to face with a pony such as I… well long story short Emerald I’d rather we be friends, dear friends.”

“Oh?” Oskar stated relief at being wrong, making her relax. “Why the sudden change of heart?”

“I can get along with any pony with a little effort darling but you…” Rarity began with a hopeful. “You I want to be friends with, no matter the difficulty. I just… I have a hard time explaining it Emerald but I feel this connection with you.”

“A connection?” Oskar questioned, turning her head to face Rarity as said pony affixed the last curler in her mane.

“Yes I know it sounds odd.” Rarity replied with a nod. “But I do feel this need to be close to you, to help you. The closest I can compare this feeling is what I feel towards my sister but… somehow this feels deeper.”

“O-oh.” Oskar did her best to hide her shock. Somehow Rarity was able to feel on a sun-conscious level that Emerald was related to her. And it was true too as technically her current form was Rarity’s daughter, if said pony had somehow had a child with another mare and that child completely won the genetic lottery.

Taking advantage of the awkwardness she currently felt, Oskar spoke. “Y-you know what? Maybe all that frilliness you like isn’t so bad… maybe I should just lighten up a bit. I mean after all, I don’t have to rely on the land to survive anymore and I have my own bits now…”

“Does this mean…” Rarity began with a hopeful voice.

“Yeah, let’s be friends Rarity.”  Oskar replied with a small smile. “And not just pretend to be for Twilight’s shake.”

“Yes!” The unicorn cheered and pulled Oskar into a tight hug. “I can’t believe how happy this makes me feel! I’m glad we were able to move past this pettiness between us Emerald, so very glad.”

At this Oskar couldn’t help but feel her heart lightening and the smiling mask she wore became less and less false. The Evolved, member of Alex Mercer’s cruel, brutal and misanthropic Cadre of Blacklight beings, leaned into Rarity’s embrace.

“Yay!” Twilight cheered, once again clopping her hooves in excitement. “My slumber party is turning out to be a total success! What do you think Applejack?”

“Err… ah think it’s just fine Sugercube… just fine…” The cowpony sat staring at the sight before her, of two mares once only friends in the barest sense. Now willing to put aside what issues they had to deepen their relationship into an actual friendship. Like the one Rarity had with Twilight… and the one “Emerald” had with Applejack. Frowning for a long moment Applejack suddenly looked determined and started walking forward. “Scuse me Twilight, something mighty important ah have ta do.”

“Oh sure thing.” Twilight responded and watched curiously as Applejack approached the two hugging mares.

“…Rarity?”

Cracking open one eye the glamorous unicorn scrutinized Applejack standing in front of her and Oskar, who she was still embracing.

“Oh well… I suppose all good things must come to an end.” Rarity stated with a sigh and released Oskar. “Yes Applejack? How may I help you?”

“Look… ah know we’re having a disagreement an all but…” The cowpony began with some effort. “Seeing you and Emerald getting along so well despite yer differences, it got me thinking you see… you focusing on the little details ain’t so bad. But sometimes sugarcube you gotta focus on the big picture instead of the little ones and… well, guess what ah’m trying to say is ah’m sorry Rarity.”

“Oh really… is that so?” Rarity asked dismissively when she felt a nudge.

She looked towards Oskar and saw her give a meaningful look.

“Generosity isn’t picky.” The false unicorn stated with a pointed stare.

Rarity winced at that and nodded in agreement after a moment.

“… I’m sorry too Applejack… I suppose my placing the branches back on the trees was counterproductive when I think about it.” Rarity admitted.

“Partners again?” The cowpony asked and stepped closer.

“Indeed.” Rarity answered and hugged the other mare.

“Awwwww, this is fantastic!” Twilight smiled and levitated her slumber party book over. “Makeovers check.”

With that the curlers in all the mares’ manes disappeared in a flash.

“So what’s next?” Oskar asked.

“Ghost stories!” Twilight replied excitedly. “Who wants to go first?”

“Me!” Applejack shouted then paused, with a glance at Rarity Applejack then said sheepishly. “Actually maybe somepony else ought to go first.”

Oskar tapped her lip for a moment and smiled widely. She couldn’t really recall any good stories at the moment but didn’t mean she couldn’t create one.

“I have one.” Oskar said, hoof raised into the air. With a magical flair of her horn she turned out all the lights. “Have any of you three heard of the Dread Queen Bloody Mary?”

“C-can’t say that I have sugarcube.” Applejack replied immediately put off by the name.

“Who was she?” Twilight asked curiously but also nervous.

“Mary the I was a vain Queen.” Oskar began, making up a composite character on the fly based on histories and legends she knew. “But nopony knew just how vain… until one terrible day.”

“W-what happened?” Rarity asked, bringing her hoof up to her mouth.

“You see, one of the noble fillies attending the Queen’s court said that not only was she prettier than the Queen, but that the peasant girls in her town were prettier too.” Oskar said, relishing the other mares’ expressions while her own was shadowed from a candle below. “The Queen happened to have just been around the corner at the time and did not take what heard well, at all.”

“So, waiting until the girl and her family returned to their estate,” Oskar continued. “Bloody Mary gathered up her Royal Guard and took them to the town the girl’s family ruled. She had a contingent sent to the girl’s estate and ordered the rest to gather up all the pretty mares in town. By morning it was done, all the mares, including the noble girl were in the town square. Next she had each mare tied to a stake with a pile of wood laid at their base… do you know what she did next?”

“W-what?” Applejack asked in apprehension.

“She had each stake set aflame…” Oskar said, staring into each of the mares’ wide eyes. “With the mares still tied to them.”

Horrified gasps came from the two unicorns and one earth pony, inciting Oskar to think. ‘Too easy.’

“But that was just the beginning of Queen Mary’s terrible reign…” Oskar said dramatically. “After that day a dark madness, fueled by Mary’s vanity, took hold. The newly christened Bloody Mary began hiring pretty mares to work as her palace maids. For a time all was well for the girls employed by the Queen but soon they began to notice something…”

“W-w-what?” Rarity asked, pulling herself closer to Applejack.

“They noticed that maids were going missing.” Oskar answered. “You see it turns out the vain Queen Mary decided she wanted to remain youthful forever, so in order to accomplish this she decided the best way was to… bathe in the spilled blood of beautiful mares!”

The Lightning storm outside chose this particular moment to boom loudly, lighting the room up briefly in a flash and causing the three other mares to scream.

“After that discovery the remaining maids turned tail and ran from the palace but that still isn’t the end of Bloody Mary’s legacy.” Oskar said theatrically inwardly thankful for the timely lightning strike. She was going to continue when she saw the scene in front of her. “Uhh… you girls alright?”

Twilight, Rarity and Applejack were huddled together, holding each other tightly and staring with wide scared eyes at Oskar. Their coats had also turned a lighter shade… somehow.

“Y-you know I-I think ghost stories c-can be checked off the list.” Twilight simply stated.

“But I never got to tell you about the forest of pikes.” Oskar protested. “Or got to the part that made this story a ghost story.”

“Nope! I’m checking it off!” “Twilight insisted and brought up the book, marking it with her quill. “See? Check.”

“Fine.” Oskar huffed. “You bunch of sissies.”

“S-so what’s next, Twilight?” Applejack asked as said unicorn turned the lights back on.

“Something nice and calming.” The studious unicorn replied. “Truth or dare, who wants to go first?”

“I do.” Rarity replied and turned to Applejack. “Truth, Applejack have you ever tried to be fancy?”

“Uhh, yeah once.” The cowpony answered. “Ah was a naïve little filly who didn’t know any better. Decided farm life wasn’t for me and went to live with some cousins who became city folk in Manehattan. Grew to be miserable over there, it was only until I saw this rainbow over my home that I decided to head back home.”

“Oh I did not know that darling.” Rarity replied.

“Yeah it ain’t all that important ta talk about.” Applejack said. “My turn, let’s see here… okay so truth, Rarity have ya ever purposefully gotten yerself dirty?”

“Well… I don’t know if this counts as purposeful but…” Rarity began. “There was this one time when I was a little filly. You see, my horn was acting up and it was dragging me everywhere. My coat was ever so dusty when it was over and done with.”

“Huh.” Applejack hummed.

“Okay it’s my turn!” Twilight said excitedly and turned to Oskar. “So Emerald I… dare you to… change the color of my coat and mane.”

“Are you sure?” Oskar asked dubiously. “I’m not exactly a master at magic.”

“It’s the rules Emerald, you have to do what you’re dared to do.” Twilight replied cheerfully. “Besides, if nothing else I’m absolutely certain you got the color change part of transfiguration down.”

“All right… here goes.” Oskar stated as a light pink aura surrounded her horn.

Twilight’s form glowed briefly, the light reaching near blinding and suddenly it was over. The unicorn stood in front of them unharmed but cosmetically changed. Her coat was now a light pink, her mane and tail was white, the streak however was a dark purple. The only thing unchanged was her eyes and cutie mark.

“Hmmm… I look like my mother.” Twilight remarked upon levitating a mirror over. “Though the shade of her streaks isn’t this dark, and her coat is white and… I think you forgot to change my eyes.”

“Yes I did.” Oskar admitted with a nod. “At least I didn’t accidentally switch around your mane and tail… again.”

“Say what now?” Applejack said, looking between Twilight and Oskar.

“Oh nothing!” Twilight replied, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. “It’s your turn now Emerald.”

“Right, how about…” Oskar said as she pondered what to dare or ask Twilight. “I dare you to stand on your front hooves for two seconds.”

“A hoof stand!” Twilight exclaimed in a little alarm. “I… well the rules are the rules but I never was all that good at PE. Horsefeathers…”

Reluctance clear to all who saw it, Twilight briefly hopped in place in an attempt to limber up. Trying to give her front hooves a good strong footing Twilight proceeded to push off the ground with her back legs. For a brief moment Twilight was upside down and she thought she had managed it, only for her momentum to continue forward.

“Wah! Oomph!” Twilight shouted before falling to the floor, the surprisingly soft floor. Opening her eyes Twilight saw that she was in Oskar’s forelegs, said false pony was giving a crooked smile down at her.

“All brains and no brawn eh Twilight?” The Cadre Evolved remarked.

“Possessing both in large quantities is your forte Emerald.” Twilight replied with a smile before getting back onto her hooves.

“True.” Oskar said with a nod. The Evolved turned towards Rarity as it was now her turn again when she heard Twilight call out.

“Play truth or dare, check!” The violet unicorn marked in her book.

Oskar blinked at that and turned towards the other mares who only shrugged at her look.

“Okay, since the game is over what’s next Twilight?” Oskar asked.

“It’s confusing me… this says pillow fight.” Twilight answered with a troubled frown. “…I wonder what this- ahhh!”

The unicorn was interrupted by the sudden impact of a pillow to the back of her head. She turned around to see Oskar smiling widely at her with several pillows levitating above her. Applejack was quickly getting into the spirit of things as she wrangled a pillow with her lasso and was grinning pointedly at Rarity.

“Oh I will not be a participant in something so crude.” Rarity stated haughtily only for Applejack’s lassoed pillow to smack square in the face. “I said I will not- argh!”

“Don’t be such a wet blanket Rarity.” Oskar said after telekinetically chucking a pillow in the unicorn’s face.

“Oh it is on!” Rarity stated dangerously after spitting out a few feathers.

“Oh!” Twilight exclaimed in realization as she watched her friends go at it like bloodthirsty Vikings… with pillows. “Pillow fight. Fun!” The unicorn said with a brief clop of her hooves.

The sound of hooves clopping together attracted the attention of the three battling mares, they proceeded to spare enough time attacking each other to toss one pillow at the distracted studious unicorn.

“Ahhh!” Twilight briefly exclaimed as she was stuck with three pillows.

“Either return fire or sit this out!” Oskar shouted as she dodged a head shot from Applejack only to get pinned behind a table by Rarity’s opportunistic barrage. “One or the other Twilight!”

Twilight immediately got up from under the pillows and giggled excitedly, her horn lit with magic. A nearby drawer started shaking violently before flying open. Dozens of pieces of parchment flew out of the drawer and hovered in the air for a brief moment, and then in a blinding flash suddenly the parchment was replaced by dozens of levitating pillows.

“Oh my!” 

“Didn’t see that coming.”

“Oh boy…”

“Ha!” Twilight shouted as she unleashed her wall of feathery comfy death. In an instant the other three mares were completely overwhelmed in a solid wave of pillows.

“Oh did I win?” Twilight asked excitedly as she took in the three piles of pillows where her friends used to be.

Suddenly the pillow pile Oskar was under burst apart.

“Conflict escalation!” Oskar bellowed as the pillows she was buried under gathered above her.

Quickly gathering up the pillows she still had, Twilight formed a makeshift barrier with them, blocking Oskar’s punishing stream of pillows flying at her position. Ducking behind an overturned table Rarity transfigured a spare pillow into a mirror, which she used to bombard the other two unicorns from safety.

Applejack being the sole non unicorn of the four decided discretion was the better part of valour and began edging along the side of the room to flank Rarity.

Rarity was completely focused on lobbing pillows at the other two unicorns, her gaze locked on the mirror when Applejack ambushed her.

“Huh?” Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye Rarity turned to look and saw Applejack charging at her, pillow in hoof.

“Ahhhhh!” Rarity screamed out as a blow from the pillow the cowpony wielded sent her flying over her cover and into a pile of discarded pillows.

And so the fight continued, Oskar and Twilight were locked in heated battle, both unicorns sending either withering streams of pillows or overwhelming waves of them at each other. Applejack continued on sneaking about the warzone that was Twilight’s library, backstabbing any of the unicorns when she had the opportunity. Rarity continued her tactic from before, hiding behind cover and blindsiding anyone she targeted with her precision strikes, though she did take pains to watch out for Applejack this time.

Eventually the Pillow War of Twilight’s Library came to a close… with Rarity as the victor.

All around the library were large piles of torn pillow cases and feathers, books laid at the bases of their shelves, the casualties of collateral damage. In the very center of this battlefield were four tired mares. Three of them were in a pile and the last one was standing before them with a victorious expression.

“Ha, victory belongs to me.” Rarity gloated at the pile of her friends.

‘How the hell did this happen?’ Oskar thought from the bottom of the pile, a bemused grin on her face.

“Hoo! Gosh Rarity you sure know how to tussle!” Applejack said with a toothy smile.

“Yes, I should have warned you darlings.” Rarity preened, giving a toss her mane. “A lady should know how to defend herself when needs to and I… I am most definitely a lady.”

“No kidding!” Twilight panted from atop the pile. “Why don’t we call it a night girls? I’m exhausted!”

“Ain’t gonna hear any complaints here!” Applejack replied before looking down at Oskar under her. “Emerald?”

“Tucking in for the night sounds good.” The Cadre Evolved responded and shrugged off the two mares atop of her.

“Yes I heartily agree.” Rarity said as she brought a hoof to her forehead. “Oh my! I believe the adrenalin is wearing off.”

Having agreed that it was time to call it a night, the four mares proceeded to head up the stairs to Twilight’s master bedroom.

“Oh when did you prepare beds for us Twilight?” Rarity asked upon catching sight of the bed opposite Twilight’s.

“Oh that’s Emerald’s bed.” The violet unicorn answered as she slid under the covers.

“Ah thought that bed in the library was Emerald’s.” Applejack said.

“Nope, that’s Twilight’s spare bed.” Oskar responded from beside the cowpony. “For just in case she ends up reading really late, as she tends to do.”

“Oh… dibs on this one!” Applejack shouted and leapt for Oskar’s bed.

“Applejack be a dear and got off the bed for a moment.” Rarity asked the bouncing cowpony as she approached. “I want to at least get my side the way I want.”

“Meh, sure thing sugarcube.” The cowpony responded and leapt back off the bed.

Oskar, seeing that the two mares claimed her bed, walked over to Twilight’s bed and slid under the cover next to the other unicorn.

“So what did you think of your first ever slumber party?” Oskar asked the color changed unicorn.

“It went fantastically!” Twilight smiled at the Evolved lying next to her. “I’d always hoped that my first slumber party would go this smoothly and I couldn’t ask for a better result. The makeovers, you being better friends with Rarity, er… your ghost story… the game of truth or dare and that pillow fight! This was the best ever! Thank you Emerald, thank you all of you!”

“T’aint a problem Twilight.” Applejack replied as she got back under the covers.

“Most definitely.” Rarity agreed from her snug position in the bed.

“Yeah it was a good night all around.” Oskar said with a nod. “Well it’s about time we went to sleep. Night Applejack, Rarity, Twilight.”

“G’night y’all.”

“Yes, sleep tight.”

“Thanks again girls for a wonderful night.”

With that everyone settled into their beds and went to sleep. And once again Oskar was wide awake, only pretending to go asleep until she was absolutely sure everyone else was sleeping so she could get up.

It was about half an hour later when Oskar decided with certainty that everyone was asleep and made to climb out of bed when a leg wrapped around her chest. Oskar looked to her right and saw that Twilight had snuggled in close in her sleep, her foreleg reaching out to pull the source of warmth that was Oskar even closer.

‘Ah hell.’ Oskar thought with a frown. ‘This is going to be one long night.’

With that Oskar settled in, fully submitting to the fact she’d be here for the next eight or so hours. The Evolved proceeded to listen to the sound of the lightning storm outside and count the number of strikes, making note of a particular strike that sounded very much like a building breaking.

The Evolved would not know just yet but she and the other mares in the room would be spending the next morning helping a neighboring family patch up their roof.



EPSILON



“Come on this is stupid!” Oskar objected. “Just let me go out there and I’ll-”

“No way no how Emmy!” Pinkie shouted, blocking the front door. “Remember!? She’s an evil enchantress!?”

“Yes, I remember. You only sang that song like five times already.” Oskar deadpanned.

“If you go out there and see yourself you’ll agree with me!” Pinkie shouted.

“Go out there?” Oskar asked dubiously. “You keep saying that word but you refuse to let me actually go out there.”

Pinkie Pie took a deep breath, about to begin another bout of singing.

“NO darn it!” Oskar interrupted and quickly looked out the window when she saw a glance of purple. “Oh good, Twilight’s back with Spike.”

Walking over to the window Oskar slammed open the shutters, to the great displeasure of everyone else in the room.

“Twilight get over here and talk some sense into this lot!” Oskar shouted to the violet unicorn. “Even Rarity turned into a paranoid yokel!”

“What?!” Came Twilight’s confused reply.

“Hey!” An insulted Rarity complained.

“Get out of the way, Twilight’s coming in.” Oskar said irritably to Pinkie.

“Gee you try to keep a friend from getting turned into a frog and this is the thanks you get?” Pinkie muttered as she did as she was told.

“Umm, there’s nothing wrong with being a frog you know.” Fluttershy said softly.

The front door opened and in walked Twilight with Spike sitting on her back. Lighting up her horn Twilight gave a bemused look around the room.

“What’s going on?” She asked. “Why is everypony hiding in the dark?”

“Apple Bloom over there got startled by a mare wearing a cloak.” Oskar said, pointing to the little filly. “So Pinkie went over and had a look herself and started terrifying the whole town into hiding with shouting about “evil enchantresses”, oh the others here decided to be helpful by flipping out too.”

“Really? A mare wearing a cloak?” Twilight asked her friends dubiously. “Somepony having an odd fashion sense is enough to set you all off?”

“Now hold jus’ one minute.” Applejack half shouted. “Ah know it sounds bad the way Emerald tells it but ya weren’t there, ya should’ve seen the terror on Apple Bloom’s face when she saw that pony.”

“Ah wasn’t terrified!” Apple Bloom denied though it was ruined by her scared shaking. “Really! Ah wasn’t!”

“She’s an evil enchantress Twilight!” Pinkie exclaimed. “She has evil eyes, an evil cloak, evil stripes and an evil wagon full of evil cursed artifacts!”

“She’s an evil enchantress.” Pinkie continued in song. “She does evil dances. And if you- mph!”

“I said no.” Oskar stated firmly, hoof in the pink pony’s mouth.

“Oooookay… what was that about a wagon?” The violet unicorn asked.

“That mare, uhhh… Zecora right?” Oskar asked Apple Bloom and got a nod. “Well Zecora is now sitting outside the townhall with a wagon full of evil mystical artifacts… apparently. I don’t know beyond word of mouth, I would have gone to see for myself but Pinkie won’t let me out.”

“Does anypony have a clear idea of what Zecora want’s.” Twilight questioned, looking around the room. “Any idea at all… other than being an evil enchantress.” The unicorn quickly added when Pinkie raised her hoof excitedly.

“Er… well all she’s done is sit in front of the town hall with that wagon…” Rainbow Dash began. “Uh… not a clue.”

“Ignorance and superstition.” Oskar stated aloud with pointed looks at Pinkie and Applejack. “They’re like twin idiots running rampant throughout the land.”

“Hey!” The mares shouted.

“That’s… rather profound Emerald.” Twilight replied. “HURTFUL, but profound.”

“It’s a quote, I didn’t think it up.” Oskar responded with a shrug. “Now that you’re here maybe we can finally just go see what Zecora wants.”

“Yes of course.” Twilight answered with a nod and added upon looking at everyone else. “Maybe if somepony was brave enough to go see her, this whole mess would have been settled a while ago.”

“Well ah’m brave enough.” Apple Bloom stated determinedly and walked out the door. “Ah’m heading out!”

“Apple Bloom ya fool little filly!” Applejack shouted in worry. “Ya stay here now! Ya hear?!”

“Oh just leave her alone Applejack.” Oskar said as she walked out the door after the little filly. “There’s nine of us and only one of Zecora. Twilight’s a magical prodigy, you’re a tough cowpony, I’m a former travel pony who could beat Chimeras into submission, Pinkie has a cannon she can fill with grapeshot if she needed to, Dash is an expert flier, I’d rather think we can handle one spooky looking mare.”

“Grapeshot?” Pinkie asked in confusion. “Why would I fill my party cannon with grapes?”

“Right… right o’ course!” Applejack said with rising confidence. “There’s only one of her an a bunch of us! If she does any hocus pocus Twi can handle it.”

“That’s the spirit.” Oskar replied with a smile.

‘About damn time.’ The Evolved thought in annoyance. ‘This is the same group that stood up to Nightmare Moon? Peh, without Twilight they’re not very effective. Better keep that in mind for the future.’

“Right, let's get going and see what Zecora wants.” Oskar stated and went out the door, the rest of the mares close behind.

The eight ponies plus one dragon started down the road to the town hall; all the way they were stared at by ponies hiding in their homes.

“Gee Pinkie…” Oskar began as she took in the scared townsfolk. “You sure know how to render an entire town helpless in fear. You sure your talent is making others laugh?”

“Okay Emmy I get it…” Pinkie said as she stared at the ground with tearing eyes. “… I just wanted to make sure everypony was safe…”

Immediately Twilight shot Oskar a sharp reproving look and gestured to the pink pony with her head. Looking between The violet unicorn and Pinkie Pie Oskar frowned openly before sighing. Slowing her pace till she was beside the party pony Oskar gave said pony a slight nudge to get her attention.

“Look, I’m sorry Pinkie.” Oskar said, strangely the Cadre Evolved felt like she actually meant it. “I guess I just didn’t like the thought of somepony from out of town being shunned for not looking normal. I mean look at me, I’m from out of town and I’ve never had an easy life, by all rights I should be a scarred mess. If I was, would you and everypony else reject me for looking like that? From what I’ve seen today that answer seems to be yes… but I’m sorry Pinkie, I guess seeing this set me off is all and-” Oskar was suddenly interrupted by Pinkie Pie giving her a tight hug.

“You silly filly…” Pinkie began. Oskar looked over the mare’s shoulder and saw that the others had stopped and were looking at her gloomily. “I understand now, you don’t need to say anything else. Now… let’s go give Zecora a big Ponyville welcome!” The pink finished with a cheer.

“Yes… let’s.” Oskar replied with a smile.

Before long the group of nine arrived in the town square and saw the mystery mare Zecora and her cart. The cart was large with high walls and had a green tarp over its contents. The mare that pulled it into town wore a brown hooded cloak and was white with dark gray stripes.

“Stripes?” Rarity gasped. “How garish!”

“Hmm… is she a Zebra Twilight?” Oskar asked.

“Definitely.” The unicorn answered with a nod.

“Right I’ll go be me.” Pinkie Pie stated and walked forward.

The group finally caught Zecora’s attention and the zebra turned to look at them. Pinkie Pie was frozen in place from the glowing yellow eyes emitting from within Zecora’s hood.

“Nice trick.” Oskar commented. “I can do something like that too, mind pulling down your hood?”

Zecora complied immediately and revealed… a friendly smiling face, her bright blue eyes and her Mohawk.

“Greetings you pony folk!” She said with a pearly white smile. “My name be Zecora, in this town I wish to live, if suspicious of me Celestia’s name I shall invoke.”

“Oh...” Oskar blinked at the Zebra’s fashion of speech before shaking her head clear. “See? What did I tell all of you? Just a normal mare who happens to want to settle here.”

“Indeed, while normally the wilds of the near forest of Everfree be where I would settle.” Zecora began “A brief look tells me that if chosen so, it shall be a sure test of my mettle.”

Oskar stiffened visibly at that. Though she knew not wanting to live in Everfree was a sensible choice because the place was rather dangerous. Her instinct formed out of surviving amongst the most brutal of the Evolved nagged at her, telling her that the danger of Everfree was not the real reason why the zebra was not going to live there.

“Seems like a sensible choice.” Oskar said with a nod. “But… it sounds like there is a deeper reason why you don’t want to live there.”

“Yes indeed, for you see, in the forest of Everfree now dwells an unnatural creature.” Zecora stated. “Unnatural for hunting and leaving whole remains nigh untouched be its primary feature.”

“Pff, sounds about as normal as those animals in Everfree get if you ask me.” Rainbow Dash scoffed but stopped when she heard Twilight gasp. “What’s the matter Twilight?”

“There is a “natural” cycle to Everfree, believe it or not.” Twilight began with a troubled look. “The herbivores eat the plants, the carnivores eat the herbivores and when they expire or excrete fecal matter both of them feed the plants. But carnivores will only hunt what they need to survive, nothing more. Whatever this thing is, it’s unnatural even by Everfree’s standards.”

Now even Dash looked shocked as the mares shared scared looks with each other. Oskar though was frowning openly as she took in what she saw and heard.

“Sugarcube, you can talk with them Everfree critters.” Applejack said to Fluttershy. “They ever mention anything about some crazy monster?”

“Well… yes they have… and they’ve been telling me for a while now.” Fluttershy admitted ashamedly.

“Then why haven’t you told us Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.

“Because you would have been so very worried and worked up about it.” The demure pegasus lowered her head with a contrite look. “Oh but it was dumb of me to keep it to myself! I know that now… I’m so sorry!”

“There, there sugarcube.” Applejack said comfortingly, pulling the pegasus into a hug. “Jus’ tell what you know.”

“Okay…” Fluttershy said with a nod. “There was a massacre in Everfree about a month ago.”

“OH MY!” Rarity’s exclamation was just one of many.

“Y-yes… it was so h-horrible when I heard about…” Fluttershy sniffled and tried to hold back tears at the memory. “From what I’ve pieced together from the stories it was like this, it began with a ferret named Malik investigating the sound of Chimera’s fighting something. By the time Malik arrived it was already over, the entire pride of Chimeras was dead and looked like they were… beaten to d-death with small spiked boulders. Then later a doe named Mary went out to collect some of her son’s favorite flowers for him to eat, she came back to find her entire herd k-killed, all of them had been… impaled through the head with… with something. A Raven named Iron Beak discovered an entire Cliffside of Quarray Eels d-dead. He couldn’t tell what happened… just that all of them were bleeding from the mouth… except for one… one looked like it had been pulled out of its den, it had this look of utter terror on its face that still gives Ironbeak nightmares. Then I heard a story that was passed to me about a wolf pack finding a hydra d-dead, they found it bleeding from its eyes, ears, noses and mouths but nowhere else. There are more stories… so many more… but yes, there is something in Everfree that seems to hunt… for fun.”

“And that, my dear pony folks…” Zecora began. “Is why I wish to live here, believe your friend and I, this creature is no hoax.”

Everyone was silent for a long moment before…

“I need to tell the Princess!” Twilight shouted before bolting back towards her library.

“Um… welcome to Ponyville?” Pinkie said weakly to Zecora, tossing some confetti into the air.

Oskar for her part was running after Twilight and wasn’t bothering to hide the worry she felt, it fit the situation after all.

‘Shit… here I thought the predators would appreciate the food I left for them.’ Oskar thought with an inward scowl. ‘That backfired like hell! Grrrr… what else could go wrong?!’



ZETA



Luna paced the halls of the Royal Palace. It was a little into the afternoon and normally the Lunar Princess would be asleep as her duties were done purely at night. But the Moon Alicorn was troubled by that dream she had witnessed some time ago. It bothered her enough that she had started pinning papers to her bedroom wall, outlining details and various theories she had thought up.

First thing was what those bipedal ape creatures were called, that being named Mercer referred to them as humans. Unlike ponies, wearing clothes did not seem to be a luxury or character quirk for humans, as every single one she had seen wore clothes that covered their bodies. Their coats also seemed to only come in shades of pink and brown but their manes seemed a lot more varied as she recalled a male with bright blue hair.

Then there were the vicious beasts that were attacking the humans. After careful thinking Luna was absolutely certain that these beasts were once human as well. Though twisted and warped in horrifying and disgusting ways, Luna was able to see that their facial features were very reminiscent of humans, not only that but the fact they wore human styled clothing that seemed to be shredded by their own bodies cemented her thinking. She didn’t know what to think of the large pink over muscled creatures with the empty eyes, but the fact they didn’t attack the humans that were twisted by some vile curse told her they were connected to them in some way, the same could be said for the large blood red tendril creatures that burst out of the ground.

Next was Mercer and the one called Oskar. Luna didn’t know what they were, they looked human but considering the fact the humans she saw didn’t display the abilities Oskar had and Mercer referred to them like they were a different race from him told her that they were something else entirely. So Luna wondered what they were exactly with what little details she had available to her. From the way Oskar had turned his arms into gleaming claws and had turned himself into a mass of writhing tendrils, Luna postulated that Oskar and Mercer were some sort of shape shifting creature. That immediately brought up thoughts of the Changeling race. Were Mercer and Oskar’s race like the Changelings? Was the reason they were in a human city was to prey on the humans for their emotions? 

The more Luna thought about it the more she was sure changing their appearance was the only thing the two races had in common. Changelings had their magic they could use to defend and attack but that was it, they couldn’t use their ability to change limbs into weapons. Whatever they were, Oskar and Mercer could obviously change their limbs into weapons. And from what she had seen of Oskar they were very brutally effective weapons. From this, Luna hypothesized that the reason they needed such weapons was because instead of emotions they fed on something more… physical. That realization had brought a shudder from the Alicorn. At this Luna took it upon herself to name this breed of Changeling Impius Mutante, which meant “wicked changer”. 

That brought her back to Oskar, the newly classified Impius Mutante or… Imp for short. She wondered at his story since he was obviously the focus of the dream she had seen. From what little she knew Luna guessed two possibilities about Oskar. One: Oskar had… hunted that human female’s son and had taken his place to hunt for more prey. Or Two: the female was Oskar’s mother and both are Imps and lived in the human city, hiding in plain sight. But both theories had definite issues. Theory one postulated that Oskar was only pretending to be the female’s son, if that were so then why did Oskar show such grief at the female’s passing? Theory two proposed that the two were a small Imp family and lived in the human city hunting their prey, but if this was true then why did the mother allow herself to be killed? From what Luna had seen of Oskar’s speed the female should have reached her son in moments and fled to safety with him. Luna realized she wasn’t seeing the whole picture; there were details that she didn’t know.

These were not the only things she had given thought to however. There was that weapon Mercer had named, a “gun”. A short period of contemplation and Luna was able to determine that the weapons the human warriors were using on their twisted brethren were what Mercer was referring to. Luna was unsure how they worked, only that there would be a loud bang and flash of light from the end of the weapon’s tube and a distant creature would suddenly spurt blood forth from a new wound… perhaps the weapon… pushed something out of it? At high enough speeds that whatever came out could not be seen? The Lunar Princess’ mind struggled to comprehend.

Luna paused beside a pair of slightly open doors. Why was she so worked up over this? It was a dream wasn’t it? Perhaps what she had seen was just the workings of a fevered mind; everything made up connected to real events in such a way that only those new psychiatrist ponies could interpret them as such. But… though she had been gone for a thousand years and was still trying to catch up to modern times, Luna trusted her skills and intuition regarding dreams. She felt the details in the dream were too sharp, too clear, and too vivid to just be the usual made up nonsense the subconscious would create. She still hoped she was wrong though, because if she were right then that meant this vicious breed of Changeling, this Imp was close enough for Luna to see his dreams and close enough meant in Equestria.

Luna’s ears perked up when she heard voices speaking. She turned towards the door where the voices were originating and peeked between the gap into the room. She saw that the room was a small dining room where her sister was entertaining a guest, a grizzled looking Griffin from the Principalities from the looks of it.

“Are you not enjoying your meal Prince Bergren?” Celestia asked the griffin while enjoying a lush salad with heavy dressing. “My cooks put in such efforts to prepare it despite their own misgivings doing so.”

The griffin Bergren snorted and pushed away his plate of well down venison. Bergren was a griffin whose body and wings were covered in gray feathers and down speckled with white dots, his head was covered in pitch black feathers and two ear tufts that seemed to almost give him a bat-like appearance. His dark brown, almost black eyes seemed to be stuck in a state of constant insulted glaring. He was also wearing some armor, a half-plate bronze cuirass with bronze chainmail worn underneath.

“Have you made a decision concerning my search expedition yet?” He asked Celestia gruffly.

“I understand you are worried for young Gilda’s safety, Prince Bergren.” Celestia replied in sympathy. “But you must understand you are asking me to allow you to run amok my Kingdom with an entire company of Anvil Knights. Allow me to state that a fully equipped and armed griffin of the Principalities is an intimidating sight. Perhaps if you would instead take a company of my own Royal Guard to track down your missing daughter?”

“Hmph! Rely on ponies, a bunch of herbivores, in a hunt?!” Bergren asked incredulously. “I might as well give up on ever finding Gilda if I do!”

Then the griffin took in Celestia’s expression, her raised questioning brow and not amused frown.

“Princess Celestia…”Bergren began calmly and solemnly. “I swear on my Clan’s honour and my own honour as a Prince of a Grand Hold that I will do all in my power to not disturb your ponies in my search for Gilda.”

Celestia’s frown turned thoughtful and she deliberated for a moment before speaking. “Very well Prince Bergren. I accept and hold you to your vow. You may take a company of the Principalities’ finest to search Equestria for your daughter.”

“I am grateful and indebted Princess.” Bergren responded honestly with a respectful bow of his head. “I am sorry to take my leave so soon but I wish to return home immediately. I shall be back very soon with my Anvil Knights Princess.” The griffin said as he rose from his seat.

“It is not an issue Prince Bergren, I shall await your arrival.” Celestia replied.

Luna turned away from the door and continued on her way. It had been so long since she herself had interacted with a griffin from the Principalities, she still remembered when the Princely States were first founded and how proud the griffins were to have claimed the mountain tops from ancient dragons resting upon them. It would a while longer yet before Luna considered herself ready to re-enter the battlefield that was politics.

Luna paused for a moment as she thought about what the griffin was talking to her sister about and couldn’t help but be troubled.

‘Tis a hope that it indeed was a flighty dream.’ Luna thought. ‘For if it isn’t then youthful indiscretion may not be the reason for young Gilda’s disappearance. One can only hope though I fear worst.’ Luna thought with a troubled frown as she made her way back to her room.



-TBC-



AN: Well this took a while! :P But at least this chapter was even longer than the previous ones! I hope everyone enjoys this chapter and the fact it is the first one that Oskar actually manages to not murder anyone! Progress! :D Anyway this chapter was also fairly quiet and I hope no one minds that but I did manage to put a “action scene” at least.


All right people tell me what you think! Your input is valued!