//------------------------------// // Albert Wesker and a Unicorn // Story: My Little Wesker // by Iamdanny0 //------------------------------// Albert Wesker and a Unicorn Author's Note: Just to clarify, I've decided to set this fic after Episode 4 of Season 1, "Applebuck Season" but before Episode 5, "Griffon the Brush-Off." All the meetings between Wesker and 'the mane 6' will occur before episode 5. He was delivering apples to a unicorn. Sometimes Wesker felt that this 'afterlife' was designed to test his sanity to the limit, it was just so illogical for this to be happening to a man resolutely devoted to science and utterly unreceptive to the outlandish and the fantastic. Still, he was hitched to a cart of apples and the heavy weight dragging behind him was certainly convincing evidence that this was real, whatever 'real' was now. Ultimately, Wesker pondered, the way to avoid any major breakdown was to remain irrevocably in the present and not let his mind get the better of him with regards to his increasingly bizarre future. To that end, he turned his head towards Big Macintosh and began conversation, "What can you tell me about this Twilight Sparkle?" Macintosh tilted his head to the side and thought carefully before he slowly spoke, "Real brainy type. Bookish, gets through 'bout half the library every single day. Really good at magic, so I hear, she ain't one to show it off though." "Of course" Wesker repeated blankly, "Magic." Magic? What on earth was going on? He was a pony, fine. There were other talking ponies, fine. There were magical, talking ponies... I find it unusual you can accept the existence of talking ponies easier than the existence of magic, Albert. Perhaps you're irritated that those childhood years spent mocking those your age who still believed in magic were wasted. It did slightly conflict with his general outlook on life... but he supposed he would just have to adapt and persevere, as he always did. Just another topic to retrieve another book on, he'd probably need both the carts to transport the ones that would pique his interest. He assumed that magic was the domain of unicorns, as he hadn't seen any inkling that Applejack, or her brother, were capable of doing anything remotely magical. As he pontificated on this subject, he noticed a few ponies with feathered wings flying overhead; he must have been deadened to further revelations as he glanced at them disinterestedly before returning his eyes to the path in front of him. Aw man... Can you believe that, Al? You come here and you can't fly or do magic, that's a tough break. Indeed, it seemed as though his previous fears of being genetically inferior were partially founded, it appeared to be the case that he was...reincarnated, for lack of a better word, as an individual with no particular external talents. Though luckily his arrogance was there to save him from sudden meltdown, he was vastly intellectually superior and took a small amount of comfort from that. He'd known that before the Progenitor Virus resurrected him; clearly physical perfection had warped his mind slightly, now that he was 'back to normal', he'd have to rely on his wits once more rather than brute strength or superhuman speed. Rely on your wits, Al? You're talking like you're in grave danger or something, come on, just lighten up, you don't need to be so twitchy all the time. Twitchy? Ha! He just had his guard in place at all times but... he supposed paranoia was only not paranoia when everyone actually was out to get you, he assumed that wasn't the case anymore but he hated to assume anything, he preferred cold, hard facts. Hence the desire to visit this library, speaking of which... "Here we are, Mr Wesker that was a fair ol' trek with these here carts, huh?" Big Macintosh turned to Wesker with a faint smile as the latter looked up at the tree/ house with a look that signified both confusion and intrigue. The blond maned pony turned to his companion with an eyebrow arched. "If you say so, Macintosh, I didn't see you as the type to tire so easily." The crimson pony chuckled, "Y'all love your challenges don'tcha, Mr Wesker. Don't make me do an AJ and make you pull both carts next time we go into town." It was a mark of Wesker's stubborn pride that he genuinely considered accepting this proposal before telling himself that he was above such trivialities... apart from tomorrow's potential cooking fiasco. "Duly noted." Macintosh nodded at Wesker with his smile still firmly in place before motioning to the back of the library, "Y'all put those round the back and go in to get our payment, it'll be about twenty bits. I need to deliver these here apples to Mr and Mrs Cake" Bits? Interesting, it appeared that the ponies had a currency based economy, rather than one based on trading goods and services, like Wesker expected; though he had to admit that his expectations had proven to mean relatively little in such a place. "You can pick up your books while you're in there, Mr Wesker." It was a sound plan, and so Wesker found himself in front of the library's front door after leaving the carts around of Twilight's home. Wesker had raised the issue of the apples going off but according to Macintosh, Twilight knew a spell to preserve food and was happy to have them out in the open to ensure less work when he came to retrieve the empty cart. He banged firmly on the heavy, wooden door with his hoof and waited for somepony to answer. He took the delay to examine the structure more readily; it was certainly a fascinating piece of architecture, seemingly hewed directly from the tree... which he supposed it was. He had no idea how on earth such a building could be made, and all his speculations ran into severe logical inconsistencies. It was magic, Al. Magic. Ooooooooooooh. He sighed and started to muse some more when he noticed the door open; all of a sudden, the doorframe was filled (not entirely, Wesker thought drily) by a small purple lizard-like creature, who looked at him questioningly before speaking, "Hey, I'm Spike, how can I help?" At Wesker's vacant look, he sighed, "I'm a dragon, you must be new here." Wesker felt mildly embarrassed at his obvious incredulity, "Indeed." He tipped his head slightly before continuing, "A pleasure to meet you, my name is Albert Wesker, I'm here to collect twenty bits for the apples I just delivered and I'm interested in renting some books once my business is concluded." It was difficult to remain civil when his brain was threatening to implode with all the ludicrous happenings that he'd been subjected to recently. Cooool, a dragon. I hope he can breathe fire, that'd be so awesome! The dragon, which was either capable or incapable of breathing fire, smiled, "Oh, no problem, come on in. I'll go get Twilight." Taking great care to wipe his feet on the mat before entering, he strolled in after Spike, carefully planning which tomes he would indulge in, so much so that his thoughts were in the foreground ahead of Spike shouting up the stairs, "Hey, Twilight, the apples are here." A female voice floated down, "Oh, okay, give me a sec, I left the bits on the side." Wesker could hear this Twilight mumbling to herself as she presumably searched around for payment before letting out a declaration of triumph. "Got it!" He also heard the unmistakable sound of hooves approaching the top of the stairs as he busied himself with examining the books in the library. Hmm, 'An Abridged History of Equestria,' that sounded promising. He had no way of knowing if all these books would be of any use in his relentless pursuit of understanding his circumstances, he supposed it would be wise to request assistance from Miss Twilight, though he at least now knew the name of the land he was in, that title seemed perfect for some of his requirements. "Oh." A startled sound at the top of the stairs drew his attention and he slowly turned his head to face the source, "I was expecting Big Macintosh, I don't believe we've met. I'm Twilight Sparkle." A purple unicorn with a plum coloured mane and tail, both of which had a vibrant pink stripe running through them, greeted him. "Quite. I've heard much about you, Miss Sparkle, I am Wesker, Albert Wesker." He mentioned his surname first in the hope that she would take the hint and not call him Al, before gesturing idly with his hoof at the library, "This is quite the selection. Is there some sort of protocol revolving around withdrawing books?" "Not at all, Albert." Twilight smiled before placing a small bag of coins at Wesker's feet. "What exactly are you interested in?" Wesker resisted the urge to roll his eyes, better than Al, he supposed. "Enough to merit the use of one of Macintosh's carts" he remarked drily, "Which volumes would you recommend on the topics of Equestrian history, Pony biology and sociology and generic background knowledge on magic?" Twilight looked momentarily overwhelmed before the keen intelligence that Wesker could see in her eyes forced her brain into action. More like 'Sparked' it into action, right Al? The purple unicorn delicately pressed her hoof against her temple, "Well, for history I recommend An Abridged History of Equestria." As expected, "Also, you should peruse 'The Legend of Nightmare Moon' and 'The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide', that should give you a pretty in-depth understanding of Equestrian history." That was remarkably fast and it gave Wesker a fairly good idea of how she knew so, "I presume you've checked their providence personally, Miss Sparkle. How many notes will I find in the margins?" Twilight blushed an impressive shade of red as she suddenly found her feet rather fascinating, "I... may have checked through them a couple of times, my studies are predominantly in magic but I just find history so fascinating." Wesker angled his head to the side, "History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again." Where had that quote come from? Somehow it entirely evaded his mental acumen but it seemed unerringly appropriate considering his situation. A soft smile spread across Twilight Sparkle's face, "That's a very intelligent quotation, I'll remember that one... do you know who said it?" Wesker shook his head; he was still pondering its significance as it had just sprung to him out of nowhere. Twilight then went on to list a series of books which would assist him with learning about the social structure of Pony society and about the variants of Pony: Unicorns, Pegasi and Earth Ponies, such as himself. She paused when she got to the books about magic, "Sorry, I don't mean to be patronising but you do know that earth ponies can't do magic?" Wesker gently raised an eyebrow, "It had come to my attention, I merely wish to gain knowledge about that which I am ignorant, I have no aspirations to become the first Earth pony wizard." She looked sheepish, "That's what I thought." As she opened her mouth to continue, a knock at the door cut her off. "Twiliiiiiight, it's Rarity; I'm here to return those books I borrowed." At these words, Spike, who had remained practically silent throughout the exchange between Wesker and Twilight, began preening and muttering to himself worriedly about wrinkles as he strode, strutted would probably be a more apt description, towards the door. Wesker had never seen the appeal of 'meeting new people', he was not a particularly social creature but now it appeared he had to continue to spout meaningless polite, small talk to yet another pony. At least he had his books.