It was a pleasant enough day in the viewpoint of Albert Wesker, the sun was shining brightly and Wesker's finely tuned ears could hear the agreeable sound of birds chirping in the distance. No pulling a heavy iron plough, no having to dispute juvenile accusations with regards to his personal life and certainly no rogue B.O.W.'s to deal with. Therefore it was unusual, in Wesker's eyes, that he was so pessimistic about his upcoming welcoming party.
I'm not surprised, Al. You can be a real stick-in-the-mud. Lighten up, man!
Wesker hmph'd internally, what purpose did 'fun' serve? Even if he were more receptive to 'loosening up', he would dare to venture that his concept of fun varied wildly to what the hyperactive pony who planned this get-together would claim fun was. It wasn't really a word he had truly considered the meaning of, he had been so absorbed in his work and in his grand vision for the world that he'd considered anything outside either one to be a meaningless frivolity and left it at that.
But you don't have any 'grand project' anymore, Al. Just try and have fun, it's a party... The worst case scenario is still better than 95% of what's already happened to you.
True, the land of Equestria appeared to be a fairly peaceful, harmonious place; especially when compared to Earth, not to mention that he was only going to a party, the worst case scenario was probably getting a drink spilt over him and then proving himself to be sub-par at dancing with four legs. Hardly a life threatening situation, he admonished himself lightly.
Thus, it was with cautious optimism that Wesker set off to the market to peruse for ingredients which would ensure a crushing, culinary defeat over his orange, blond maned rival. Wesker also decided that due to the satchel that he had slung over his neck being relatively filled with bits, he would see if anything else on the market took his fancy. The former human felt he was entitled to some sort of luxury purchase in the midst of all this madness, though what form that took remained to be seen.
At the moment he was still on the path towards Ponyville town centre and was therefore still walking in seclusion and remained fully focused on admiring the peaceful countryside. Whilst it could never be said that Wesker had a romantic soul, he was still capable of appreciating an attractive view and the countryside on the outskirts of Ponyville could certainly be described as such. With his attention diverted elsewhere, however, he found himself taking his eyes away from the road and was therefore caught entirely unawares when he walked straight into another pony, who also appeared to be otherwise engaged.
An incredibly quiet voice uttered forth from Wesker's abruptly met acquaintance, so much so that Wesker had to crane his neck to hear the single word, "Ouch."
Wesker was annoyed with the occurrence but it was primarily directed inwards due to his vacant mindset at the time. He had never been one to let his mind wander when there were tasks to be accomplished but not only had he been admiring the scenery, he hadn't even noticed another pony until he'd walked directly into her. What on earth was this place doing to him?
Wesker surveyed the pony he'd accidentally walked into; she appeared to have been static at the time, looking after... bunnies? She was a pegasus pony with a yellow coat and a pink mane, which was swept over one eye and she was currently looking at Wesker with a combination of shyness and fear, with apologetic regret written all over her face.
She didn't seem inclined to speak any time soon, so Wesker decided to break the silence, "I apologise, Miss. My mind was somewhere else entirely; I trust you are all right?" A small noise issued from the mouth of the yellow pony, one which Wesker decided he was incapable of deciphering, "I'm sorry Miss, I didn't quite catch that."
As the pink maned pony looked everywhere other than Wesker, she made a small squeaking noise that Wesker considered to be more akin to a mouse than a pony. In an attempt to break the awkwardness, the blond pony looked down at the numerous rabbits that were being cared for...
Hey Al, I swear that white one just rolled his eyes and shrugged at you.
That was what his eyes told him but his brain had dismissed this as an obvious symptom of concussion. Still, perhaps she would respond a little more... vocally to a conversation about her pets. "I hope I didn't startle your rabbits."
Wesker felt a small sense of accomplishment as the pony finally spoke more than one word that he could hear, though only just, "Oh, it's okay. Angel and his friends are pretty tough." The aforementioned white rabbit winked at Wesker as the latter wondered if his mind had finally collapsed in on itself. She paused and looked like she was struggling to continue talking but somehow she persevered, " I know you didn't mean to walk into me... I should have been more aware of what was around me."
Wesker arched an eyebrow, "It was my fault, I was moving and you were still. May I ask you your name, Miss...?"
"Fluttershy" It was unusual that she faced away from Wesker whilst telling him her name so that he had to lean inwards in order to catch it, though the blond pony chalked it up to the fact that she appeared to rather neatly match her name. He'd never met anyone so cripplingly shy in his life.
"A pleasure, Miss Fluttershy" Wesker said cordially, "I am Albert Wesker. If you are headed into town then I'd be happy to accompany you." Fluttershy nodded once and gently encouraged the bunnies other than Angel to go play, which they promptly did. It was at this point that Wesker noted the yellow pony's butterfly cutie mark and he came to the conclusion that her 'special talent' had something to do with animals. He also kept a careful eye on the unnaturally intelligent rabbit that Fluttershy referred to as 'Angel', he wasn't one to let a potential unknown catch him off-guard.
"I think Applejack mentioned you, Albert." Wesker appreciated Fluttershy's attempt to make conversation as they walked towards the Ponyville town centre, it didn't appear that she made much small talk with newly met ponies... and he was hardly the most social of creatures.
"Indeed?" Wesker queried, "All positive, I assume?"
Fluttershy blanched, "O... of course. She s... said that you were a nice, hard-working pony."
Wesker smirked evilly at the yellow pegasus' reaction and at the thought of the contest he and Applejack had going on, "Really, Miss Fluttershy? That's all she had to say?"
Fluttershy hid behind a veil of pink as she stared awkwardly down at the ground, her hooves tracing small circles on the ground, "Oh... She might also have mentioned that you had a 'wicked smile' and that you'd 'face down 5 manticores and a dragon just to meet a challenge.'"
Wesker snorted amusedly, "She seems to have got the measure of me fairly rapidly." An amusing thought occurred to him, could he make this pegasus cringe like he did with Will when he first met him? "What do you think of me, though, Miss Fluttershy?"
As expected, the pink maned pony blushed furiously and began examining her hooves, "I... I... You... s... seem nice?" She managed to stutter out.
Wesker put on a front of mock offence, "I seem nice? Having doubts about me, are you?"
The mortified pony attempted to stammer about an apology before Wesker sighed, she was far beyond the timidity of even the young Birkin; she was probably going to burst a blood vessel if he kept this up. "Calm yourself, Miss Fluttershy, I was only teasing, I wouldn't have expected you to have formed a conclusive judgement on me after a matter of minutes."
Fluttershy sighed with relief and slowly returned to her original colouration, "I'm sorry, Pinkie Pie always says I should learn more about jokes and pranks."
Wesker made a face, "Having met her, I'm not surprised that she says that."
Fluttershy giggled shyly, "She does love to have fun, doesn't she?"
Wesker's lips twitched as he turned to face the pegasus pony, "She certainly does, I believe she's organised a welcome party for me at 3pm today."
Fluttershy nodded, a small smile playing about her lips also, "Yes. She says that you get to have the dance floor all to yourself for the first hour."
Wesker stopped dead, panic playing across his usually cool features, "She said that?"
Fluttershy giggled before looking at Wesker in a puzzled fashion, "Was that teasing? Did I do it right?" She looked once at Wesker's vacant expression before pawing lightly at the ground, "Sorry if I upset you."
Wesker let out a sigh of relief before shaking his head disbelievingly, "A good first attempt, Miss Fluttershy but you still have a lot to learn..."