Author's Note: Finished all 4 of my essays for Uni, so I have way more spare time for ponies. Huzzah! I imagine that the feeling of relief evoked by the fact that this party is finally ending must be astronomical, last chapter of general nonsense then an actual plot will appear. Pinkie Pie swear! (It's a good plot, even if I do say so myself, a tiny smidge of it will be implanted into this chapter) P.S. Twilight's dancing here is the same as it was in the season 2 episode 'Sweet and elite', a.k.a. adorable nerd dancing. Beta'd by REV6Pilot. (Read his story, 'Cutie Mark Crusaders: Survivors')
Wesker felt that the amount of flashbacks he was receiving was entirely disproportionate for someone who was only feigning amnesia. Regardless, he had managed to remain somewhat focused on his conversation and had even avoided inadvertently offending Rainbow Dash for a second time with his vacancy. The discussion between the two of them had been rather stilted anyhow; it wasn't as though he had missed out on any sort of enlightening interaction.
"So..." Rainbow began nonchalantly. "Do you think you used to be some kinda athlete?"
Wesker assumed that she wanted that to be the case so that the show-up wasn't as humiliating a blow on her ego as being out-sped by a run-of-the-mill earth pony. It was, frankly, quite pathetic, but he was in good enough spirits to humour her. "It seems as plausible as any other theories I have concocted."
The mare's nose wrinkled as she translated Wesker's extensive vocabulary. "Though it sounds like you used to be a scientist, Al. You and Twilight should form some kind of egghead club."
The now-pony let out a snort of amusement to cover up his reignited annoyance. "I'll take that under advisement, Miss Rainbow, though I can't imagine attendance will be very high if we title it 'The Eggheads Club'."
The pegasus gave a sheepish grin as Wesker smirked, but her reply was delayed by their arrival at the Pinkie Pie-guarded cake table."WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" The pink pony's shout caused both to instinctively flinch and hold up their front hooves in a gesture of placation. "ARE YOU HERE TO SABOTAGE MY CAKE?"
Watched by a room of baffled ponies and a militantly alert Pinkie Pie, he slowly stepped forward. "Miss Dash and I are merely here to have a slice, Miss Pie." A thin smile spread across the former human's face. "I believe my heroics have earned that?"
Pinkie watched Wesker through narrowed lids for a few tense seconds before a beaming smile took its place. "Sure thing, Ally. How big a piece do you want?" Wesker let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding and gestured the size with his hooves. With his portion of cake cut, put on a plate and handed over to a quietly grateful blond earth pony, Pinkie then turned to Rainbow. "How 'bout you Dashie?"
Rainbow Dash stroked her chin thoughtfully as she sized up the cake. "Err... Can I have a medium sized slice?" Pinkie Pie cocked her head to the side in confusion for a moment, but went to cut the treat anyway, at least until her friend interrupted her again. "Wait! Bigger than that." Pinkie nodded and adjusted her grip on the knife. "Little bit smaller." The pink pony raised her eyebrows but reacted accordingly as Rainbow mulled over the size of her cake slice, the knife, held by an increasingly confused Pinkie, hovering above the confection.
Finally, Rainbow Dash seemed satisfied. "Perfect!" It was a good thing she didn't try and revise it one more time; Wesker was willing to take a murder charge for the simple pleasure of caving the pegasus' head in with the cake, or anything else that came to hand.
What hand, Al?
With cake in hoof, the two departed. "Remember Ally and Dashie, it's time to dance soon!" Pinkie Pie spoke at their retreating backs. The scientist managed to avoid wincing; he'd hoped that he could sneak under the radar, however unlikely that might have been, but he knew now that his fate was sealed. He waved a hoof over his head to signify that he had heard. Still, he'd rather flail his limbs around for no apparent reason than have to spend more time than was absolutely necessary with the irritating pony beside him.
"So..." Dash began once more, and the former human found it remarkable how even the slightest verbal tic of hers set his teeth on edge. "Kinda crazy how defensive Pinkie was over that cake, right?"
Wesker nodded absent-mindedly as he scanned the room. "I daresay it's a natural reaction, considering how much effort she put into it." Another smirk tugged at the corners of his lips. "I can't be around to save it every time."
Rainbow's forced chuckle once more scratched at the dark recesses of his mind, but he ignored it. Their conversation followed that pattern for around half an hour, Rainbow making a comment that Wesker would react to, then there would be an awkward silence while the mare thought of something else to bother the earth pony with. His salvation, debatably, arrived in the form of the lights in Sugarcube Corner dimming and a large spinning disco ball lowering itself down from the ceiling.
Bet that conversation doesn't seem so bad now, huh Al?
"Listen up, everypony!" An almost-frighteningly enthusiastic Pinkie Pie had stood up on a (thankfully cakeless) table. "It's time to take this party up a notch! Hope everypony brought their dancing hooves!"
With that, dance music began playing in the background and all present began moving in approximate time with the rhythm. Wesker's eye twitched in vague horror; he was really more of a waltz kind of man... pony. He didn't know why he assumed the dancing would be of a slow tempo – perhaps his impromptu journey to Ponyville had damaged his brain more than he assumed. Nonetheless, this was bad, very bad indeed. His panicked eyes, visible over the lens of his glasses, drifted back to Rainbow Dash, who was looking at him with open amusement. Not knowing why he had expected empathy from that particular direction, he averted his gaze towards Rainbow's friends, Rarity and Fluttershy, who were swaying gracefully in near-perfect rhythm that left Wesker honestly impressed. Pinkie Pie was zipping around at a rate he would have been jealous of even during his fights against Chris and Sheva. Applejack was stomping around heavily in a vague approximation of a dance; the former human needed to remember that if he did fail as miserably as he predicted.
Finally, Twilight was...
Well... that's something... right Al?
A non-sarcastic smile started to slowly spread across Wesker's face as he watched the mare. It could barely be called dancing: her limbs were flailing wildly, her eyes were closed, and her face was scrunched up in... concentration?, enjoyment? He had no idea. And frankly, the bizarre, uncoordinated movement was so intensely amusing that he didn't care. He continued watching Twilight's unintentionally hilarious dance for a while, oblivious to Rainbow Dash's intense scrutiny and the attention of Twilight's friends slowly switching towards him.
Eventually, the purple unicorn opened her eyes and found herself making direct eye contact with Wesker, whose smile turned into a bark of laughter as her cheeks turned a flaming red.
The ex-Umbrella employee sauntered over, his slight nervousness evaporating at the memory of Twilight's inept moves. There was no way he could do worse. Once he was close enough to the intelligent unicorn, he spoke into her ear so she could hear him above the music. "Very interesting dance moves, dear heart. I'll certainly have to raise my game to be considered nearly as fascinating."
Wesker felt another small moment of satisfaction as she blushed once more; her face was probably hotter than the lava which he had fallen into at the conclusion of his previous life.
"Well... I didn't really do much dancing in Canterlot and the diagrams in my book were really difficult to decipher." Wesker's snort after this statement conjured a sheepish grin from the unicorn, and Twilight looked away from the blond pony for a moment. "Well... can you do much better? I saw the fear in your eyes Albert."
Wesker blinked in surprise at the challenge before a confident grin made its way across his face. "Fear that I would outshine you too much perhaps, dear heart?" Well, it was now or never, his ego had drawn him in too deeply to back out at this point. He slowly began swaying his hooves in time with the music, twisting his torso at regular intervals and occasionally tilting his head to compliment his gentle movements. He had never believed in the concept of 'losing yourself in the music', trusting that the key was control, so he was sure to keep his movement calm and collected. He had a similar theory when it came to lovemaking: 'losing yourself' just meant you were more likely to embarrass yourself. Wesker was not one to embarrass himself and he was not one to let his guard down in any situation, even during something as seemingly innocent as dancing.
Sheesh Al, you're a laugh-a-minute aren't you?
The stallion ignored Joy. Judging by the expressions of annoyance on both Applejack and Twilight's face, he was doing quite a good job and directed a smug smile at the pair, but he had to focus on controlling his movements.
He carried on in this vein for around twenty minutes before he decided to speak to Twilight again. By now Rainbow Dash had joined the group and was dancing with all the energy and agility that Wesker had expected – much as it pained him to admit it, she was rather good.
"So, Miss Twilight, is that dancing sufficient? Will you let the matter rest now?" Wesker's words were accompanied by a trademark smirk when the purple unicorn nodded reluctantly.
Albert Wesker.
The former human went stock still, ignoring Twilight's questioning stare. He looked around and noticed no one had said those words – not like they had sounded, whispered into his ear by a sinister female voice. His head pounded heavily, and he instinctively raised a hoof to hold it.
"Are you alright, Albert?"
Wesker let out a vague grunt in an attempt to stop the female from speaking.
Albert Wesker.
Bile suddenly rose at the base of his throat. He nodded briefly at Twilight and sprinted out the back door of Sugarcube Corner, retching violently onto the ground as soon as he came out the door. He leaned against the wall to calm himself whilst glancing at the mid-afternoon scenery around him, his legs wobbling. This was not how he planned to excuse himself from the festivities…
Al... This is not good.
He saw Rainbow Dash striding purposefully towards him, a stern, suspicious expression carved into her face as she approached. He silently agreed with Joy: it seemed things were taking a turn for the worse.
Good luck with your infamous charm, Albert…