Oskar Osäker: True Omnivore

by Legionary

Chapter 10: Other Mother

Darkness reigned with the sound of flowing water and droplets pattering on stone. Soon the sound of crumbling rock and shifting gravel added to the sound of flowing water. The sound of crumbling rock grew steadily louder and louder until it drowned out the sound of the water. The noise then suddenly stopped, replaced by a knocking sound for a brief moment. Then, with a bang and shattering of stone, light was let in and lifted the darkness.

Oskar, now in his base form, peered into the darkness before him, making out the caverns with his powerful eyes while the masses of Diamond Dogs in the large, freshly carved tunnel behind could not. Holding up his hand, Oskar focused his magic until crimson light began to form and grow. As it grew in size to about a soft ball, it turned yellow and stopped growing. Oskar then hurled the ball of light into the darkness.

The magical ball of light suddenly shined with far greater intensity and revealed the shadowed surroundings, a cavern big enough to easily hold a small stadium with an underground river flowing through it.

Oskar leaned over the edge of the tunnel opening and saw they were about fifteen feet above the cavern floor, before he jumped down to the riverside. Diamond Dogs begin rapidly following after him, easily clambering down the cave walls to the cavern floor and lighting up the massive cavern with the combined intensity of their lanterns.

“Is big cave Boss.” Bluno commented, examining his surroundings.

“This is a big cave Boss.” Oskar corrected absently as he took in the cavern himself. Navi peeked out from under the lip of his hat and darted out to buzz about Oskar’s head while wearing a small miner’s helmet. “And yes it is very big, not entirely big enough though.”

“Huh?” Bluno tilted his head in confusion. “Look like plenty of room boss. Can use rock from carving out rooms to make homes maybe and make homes many floors high.”

“Yeah, it’s big enough for us but I plan on contacting the descendants of the Diamond Dogs who ran away a hundred years ago.” Oskar said as Navi lighted atop his head. “I hardly think there is more than there originally was and would likely number far less, but they would still balloon our numbers greatly beyond this cavern’s capacity.”

Taking another look around and seeing the cavern becoming flooded with more and more loitering Diamond Dogs, Oskar decided to give them something to do.

“Alright let’s not laze around all day. We’ve been digging for hours, but now we need to carve homes for everyone!” Oskar shouted, gaining the dogs’ attention. “Let’s carve out some rooms! All along these walls here, then I want a large room carved out deeper in and away from this cavern with a large hallway for the loot we’ll be bringing in. The Alphas have the measurements so they shall instruct you once you finish the homes for everyone!”

“Bluno, I shall be leaving for a bit.” The virus said to the Alpha. “I’m heading up to the surface to see where we are. Eventually we shall dig a passage all the way up to the surface, but not for a while yet.”

Walking over to a nearby wall as dogs began scurrying all over the cavern and setting to work, Oskar shifted into a mass of writhing tendrils. Waiting a brief moment for Navi to dive into his form, the Evolved then drilled into a wall and started moving upwards to the surface.

A few minutes later, Oskar breached the surface and reformed after Navi flew back out. Brushing himself off out of habit, the virus took stock of his surroundings.

He was in the Everfree alright, as the dreaded forest’s trees were unmistakable. Before him was a large ravine with crashing rapids flowing through it. However… he was pretty sure from studying Equestria’s topography that there weren’t supposed to be mountains in the forest, yet the tree covered mountain range continued to exist in the distance.

‘What the…’ Oskar scratched his head in thought as he took in the sight. ‘There are mountains around the Everfree but none of them have trees covering them, so what are those? Perhaps… there is more to ponies calling Everfree unnatural then it simply managing itself?’

Oskar then walked over to the cliff side of the ravine and looked down to the crashing rapids. He tilted his head to the side in thought and kneeled down.

‘Hmm, that will be useful for later.’ Oskar thought. ‘For building a hydroelectric dam, the height of these cliffs will be useful for building a nice big one. Speaking of cliffs…’

A deeply pondering expression appeared on the virus’ face before he suddenly shifted into her Emerald Gleaner form. Still looking very thoughtful, the Evolved then shifted a pair of pearly white wings and took several steps back from the cliff. Navi then dived down and trilled questionably at Oskar.

“Time to see if I can fly Navi.” Oskar replied as she pawed at the ground in preparation to charge. “Want to soar with me?”

Navi trilled excitedly and darted over the cliff edge and started darting around the air hyperactively, impatiently waiting for Oskar to fly.

Flaring her wings out, Oskar then charged forward, channeling her pegasi magic as she leapt off the edge.

‘I believe I can fly~’ Oskar sang in her mind, a smile dominating her face as the ground grew further and further away with every flap of her wings. ‘I believe I can touch the sky~’

Navi trilled happily as she flew alongside Oskar, flying hyper little circles around the Evolved as she became overjoyed with her joining her in the sky.

‘Spread my wings and fly away~’ The virus smiled at Navi. ‘I believe I can soar~’

The two flew higher and higher until they reached the wild clouds above the Everfree, flying sedately together for several minutes before Oskar landed lightly on a cloud.

“Come here Navi.” Oskar said, beckoning to the little bug. “I want you to stay here a moment, I’m going to see just how far I can fly right now.”

Oskar then flew off a short distance as Navi buzzed around before lighting down on the cloud.

‘Funny how so many flying creatures here can stand on clouds.’ Oskar thought, glancing back at Navi. ‘Now as fun as it is to be able to fly despite being so heavy, it’s time to see how fast I can fly and let’s do it quickly. As strong as I am now, this is going to take a lot out of me.’

With that, Oskar pumped her wings harder and harder and flew in a straight line. The world around her would have blurred by now, but with optical improvements from owls she was able to keep the world in crisp focus. However the strain of both powering her lightening effect and her acceleration was a bit much for her currently and she was soon forced to slow down. Looking back, she saw that she had flown a mile in the ten or so seconds she had been traveling at high speeds.

‘Well that was tiring.’ Oskar thought as she made her way back to the cloud Navi was on. ‘Going to need to train up quite a bit in order to manage the drain of high speed flying and countering my weight.’

Eventually the virus arrived back at the cloud and collected her pet before returning back to the cavern with a teleport. Arriving with a bright flash of pink, Oskar took stock of her surroundings and was about to shift back into her base form when something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye and she froze.

It was a pony, a pegasus to be specific. She had a dark blue coat with a bright purple mane and silver eyes. She also wore a large metal clamp around her midsection that kept her wings down and had a lock on it, said clamp had a pair of saddlebags worn over it. Her cutie mark was of a red bandana.

For a fraction of a second, Oskar was frozen in shock before she immediately shook herself out of it and began walking casually towards Bluno as Navi darted about over her.

Amongst the Diamond Dogs from the prison were several prisoners of mixed species. Emerald had them kicked out of the tunnels a fair distance from the prison, content to let them be but still wanted nothing to do with them. This pony happened to have been one of the prisoners that had taken the chance to tag along with the Diamond Dogs and now Oskar wasn’t content to let her be. She had seen “Emerald Gleaner” amongst the Diamond Dogs and although her word wasn’t credible she was still a loose end now.

“Bo-” Bluno began with a smile.

“Just hold on a moment Bluno.” Oskar interrupted. “Follow me.”

Though looking very curious, Bluno did as told and began following Oskar.

Looking like she was studying the dogs as they worked at carving out homes and doing the finishing touches on those that have been carved, Oskar walked towards the convict pegasus, though in a roundabout way.

As she walked, she wondered about how the pony managed to follow them without being spotted or how she was remaining out of sight right now. After all, she wasn’t exactly perfectly camouflaged into the background or hidden from sight. But as she inconspicuously watched the mare, she noticed how dogs that by all rights should have noticed her, didn’t. Plus it wasn’t just the normal dogs either, even the Alphas failed to notice the colorful pony peeking out from behind a large rock.

‘How is she doing that?’ Oskar thought. ‘It can’t be a spell, she isn’t a unicorn… her cutie mark is a bandana… perhaps something to do with being unseen? Whatever it is, she is not leaving this cavern.’

With that, Oskar did away with observing her prey and charged up a teleport. She appeared behind the mare with a flash and caused her to scream in fright at her sudden appearance just as Oskar picked her up magically and threw her into the open.

“So what do we have here?” Oskar asked aloud as Diamond Dogs shouted in surprise and quickly surrounded the pony. “A sneaky little convict in our midst?”

The convict pegasus looked all around her with panic stricken eyes, then she turned to Oskar.

“H-how did you notice me?” She asked.

“Yeah it’s an interesting little talent you have there.” Oskar said softly, almost comfortingly. “Tell me… do you know who I am?”

“Uhh… Emerald Gleaner, you’re a famous model.” The convict said slowly and hesitantly. “If… if you let me go I promise I won’t tell anypony about seeing you here… how did you give yourself wings?”

“That sounds wonderfully generous of you!” Oskar said faux happily, ignoring the question, and started motioning her near with a hoof. “Now come here, I want to ask you something”

The convict didn’t seem to want to approach her at first, but soon got back onto her hooves and approached the fake unicorn. When she was close enough, Oskar wrapped a foreleg around her companionably and smiled warmly at her.

“Now why did you follow us here?” Oskar asked in genuine curiosity. “Was it because you were hoping for some rare gems like fire rubies to steal?”

Though admitting something like that wasn’t very smart in her current situation the convict nodded nervously.

“Quite predictable really, you were in that prison for a reason after all.” Oskar said with a sage nod at the pegasus. She then smiled at her, and after a moment she smiled back. Suddenly, the virus pulled the convict very close and brought up her other foreleg, wrapping the mare in a headlock.

Her eyes widened and she quickly brought a hoof up and struck Oskar squarely in the nose, which would have done the trick on anyone else… all it did was make Oskar tighten her hold on the pegasus’ neck. The convict continued to fight for her release, but her strikes grew more and more wild as she started to gurgle and gag for breath. She started to go limp as she went longer without air, her flailing growing weak and her eyes starting to roll into the back of her head as she was strangled.

The virus’ expression seemed coldly indifferent as she choked the life out of a pony, but inwardly she was having a debate with herself. She could have just killed the mare with a quick twist of her neck or bash to the skull. Instead, she was strangling her and giving herself plenty of time to rethink her decision. This mare couldn’t be allowed to live as she saw her Emerald Gleaner form amongst Diamond Dogs and with wings, her being a criminal and thus making her word untrustworthy didn’t mean much in the long run as the suggestion might linger in the minds of some ponies. However, despite this, she was still asking herself if she really should be killing her. The final decision was made just after glancing at the surrounding Diamond Dogs.

Bluno was usually smiling with unstoppable cheer, he wasn’t smiling now though, instead watching Oskar murder a pony with a troubled frown while his fellow Alpha, the Grayhound, just watched on grimly. The rest of the Diamond Dogs were averting their eyes from the brutally slow murder in progress before them. Amongst them were families, and children were being shooed away from the scene or just had their eyes and ears covered by their mothers and fathers.

Narrowing her eyes, Oskar released her hold on the convict and dropped her to the floor where she lied absolutely still for a long moment before suddenly gasping for breath and coughing. Waiting until her gasping slowed a little, Oskar then stood over her and brought her face closer to hers, causing the mare’s eyes to widen in fear.

“What is your name?” Oskar asked tonelessly.

“V-v-vesper Vind…” The mare said, coughing roughly.

“… I shall wait until you can speak clearly.” The Evolved said and sat down before the pegasus.

The mare seemed to think she was under a time limit to regain her breath and tried her best to do so as quickly as possible. For several long, fear filled moments she tried to stop her gasping and coughing before she finally did manage it.

“I’m… I’m Whisper Wind.” Whisper said, averting her eyes from Oskar’s gaze.

“Well Whisper Wind…” Oskar began. “Unfortunately for you, you just saw something you really shouldn’t have. So you are going to stay with us for a long while I’m afraid. Bluno!”

“Yes Boss?”

“Tie her up and watch her until we can get a prison cell carved out for her.” Oskar ordered. “And have her watched very carefully, she has a talent for sneaking about and I don’t want her managing to break out until I have some… incentives to dissuade her from making such a decision.”

“Right Boss. You and you, pick up pony and follow me!” Bluno commanded some dogs before walking off with them carrying Whisper Wind.

“Well, what ya waiting for!” The Grayhound Alpha barked out at all the loitering dogs. “Get back to work!”

“Wait there a moment.” Oskar said, and walked over to the Alpha. “I take it you are used to seeing something like that?”

“Yeah, sometimes Diamond Dog from outside pack come see us and Nidhogg have them chained up.” The Alpha began. “Don’t always give up freedom so dragon makes them examples in front of crowd. Reason why only us in central Equestria, deaths scare off other packs.”

“Ah, what is your name?” Oskar asked.

“…Belvedere.” The Alpha answered after a moment.

“Well Belvedere I need to leave now unfortunately.” Oskar said. “I have to make a public appearance at some show, I’ll leave carving out the storage room for the future loot and the homes for everyone to you and the other Alphas. Wait for my return.”

“Come here Navi.” Oskar said as she walked away from Belvedere and the little bug darted back into Oskar’s mane.

The fake unicorn teleported a few moments later as the cave bustled with activity.

The faintest hint of a frown appeared on Oskar’s expression as the clicks and flashes of cameras and chatting ponies surrounded her. She, Fluttershy, and Photo Finish were walking down a red carpet to watch a premier of a movie in Manehattan. Though movies were still fairly early in their development, to the point the industry was still drawing on actors from stages and thus more often than not ended up with people who overacted, Oskar was still interested in going to see what an actual pony movie was like though.

“Excited?” Oskar asked Fluttershy as they walked down the red carpet.

“N-not terribly much, no.” Fluttershy responded, made nervous by the crowds around her. “I never was all that interested in, uh, motion pictures when they first came out.”

“Those really were just motion pictures though.” Oskar said. “And only had little panels appear with the dialogue on them after every spoken sentence. The modern ones not only have sound, but actually have a little bit of colour in it.”

“Well… we aren’t really being given a choice so I might as well give it a chance…” Fluttershy said, shooting Photo Finish a gloomy look.

“Well… I’ll be there with you, so if you want to just talk instead of watching the movie then we can.” Oskar told her.

“Thank you…” Fluttershy said softly with a smile as they passed the doorpony.

“No problem!” Oskar said and noticed something out of the corner of her eye.

Looking back fully, Oskar spotted Rarity looking indignantly at the pony guarding the door that wasn’t going to let her in for some reason. Frowning at this, Oskar came to a stop and immediately walked back until she was just behind the doorpony.

“Is there a problem here?” Oskar asked the doorpony.

“She isn’t on the list.” He stated.

“What list?”

“I know it, she isn’t on it.” He replied simply to the fake unicorn.

“Let her in, she is with me.” The virus told him.

“She isn’t on the-” He began dully.

“She. Is. With. Me.” Oskar stated almost dangerously.

The doorpony almost seemed to step back a little from Oskar, his blankly staring eyes widening a little. He stared at the virus for a moment before turning back to Rarity and reaching down to the velvet rope, unhitching it as he motioned for her to walk through.

“Enjoy the show, miss.” He said with a slightly strained voice.

“Thank you darling, but you didn’t have to do that for me.” Rarity said as she walked beside Oskar back to where Fluttershy and Photo Finish were waiting for them by the doors.

“You are the reason why Photo Finish even noticed us in the first place, Rarity.” Oskar said to the glamorous unicorn. “It would be a little… rude to just forget about you wouldn’t it?”

“Well… yes it would, wouldn’t it?” Rarity said lightly. “Hello Fluttershy! How is model life treating you?”

“Hello Rarity.” Fluttershy greeted. “I-”

“Taking too long!” Photo Finish interrupted suddenly. “COME! We go! Take the fan with you if you must!”

“Fan?!” Rarity shouted disbelievingly as the famous photographer unceremoniously walked into the theater. “I made dresses Hoity Toity loved! I introduced her to the both of you! I am not asking for much, but a little recognition of those facts wouldn’t be too much to ask would it?”

“Don’t let it affect you too much Rarity.” Oskar said as the three walked after Photo Finish. “You of all ponies should know how much of a diva people in the fashion industry are.”

“… I do not know what you are implying dear.” Rarity said with a slightly scandalised look. “I am always the picture of a proper lady.”

“Sure you are Rarity.” Oskar said with a smile as Fluttershy let out a little giggle.

“As much as I enjoy being the blunt of a joke, maybe we should be a bit quicker.” Rarity advised with dignity. “The film premier is going to start in fifteen minutes.”

“Yeah, does anypony want anything from the concession stand?” Oskar asked the others.

“No thank you.”

“Some of us need to watch our figures darling.”

A few minutes later, the three were now seated in the theater, Oskar with caramel coated popcorn and a cream soda drink. The thing however was that because of the infancy the film industry currently was in, more often than not the actors ruined emotionally dramatic moments, via over acting and making absolutely sure the audience knew what emotion they were channeling. Not helping what was supposed to be a heart wrenching romance was how… audio unfriendly the voices of some of the actors were for films with sound. Twenty minutes in even Rarity, who was a fan of such genres, was more interested in having a conversation with her friends.

“So how are you liking the life of a model Fluttershy?” Rarity asked after losing interest in the movie.

“Oh… I’m… I like it…” Fluttershy said, averting her eyes. “The money would help me improve all the animal homes around my house and I could afford better food for them as well. It’s certainly more than what I get from Canterlot for taking care of the animals… not that I mean anything bad by saying that… it’s just enough to… it’s enough…”

“Why Fluttershy!” Rarity said, bringing her hoof up to her mouth. “You make it sound like the only positive is the money!”

“Oh no!” Fluttershy replied quickly. “I like being a model, I really-”

“You hit the nail on the head there, Rarity.” Oskar interrupted calmly. “Fluttershy doesn’t really like this job at all, I’m pretty sure if it wasn’t for the money she would quit on the spot.”

“What? Is that true Fluttershy?” Rarity asked in shock.

“I… yes it's true Rarity.” Fluttershy said sadly. “The money is such a big incentive to keep this job and Emerald makes it so bearable. If it wasn’t for the money and her I… I wouldn’t know how to cope with this job otherwise. Seeing my face appearing on more and more products… it sends my mind spinning, and strange ponies are starting to come up to me for my autograph… that never happened before... I’m seriously thinking about doing this job part time only.”

Rarity just stared at Fluttershy, unable to comprehend how anyone could not enjoy being a famous celebrity, with ponies idolising you so much they wanted a hoof written copy of your name. Then she took a breath and saw something that should have been clear to her from the start: Fluttershy being a shy little wallflower. She was such an introvert, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. She loved the peace and serenity of nature and tended to shy away from even the rarely bustling town of Ponyville, and there was nothing peaceful and serene about the life of a famous model. It was busy, and ponies went out of their way to know what you did in your personal time and even sought you out just to meet you. Although Fluttershy enjoyed the company of her friends whenever they came over to visit, even her hospitality would be strained in the face of strangers out of the blue.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy,” Rarity said, reaching over to pull Fluttershy into a hug. “I pushed you into this. I… wanted you to be famous for me and I only ended up feeling jealous of you. You don’t have to do this anymore if you don’t want to, darling.”

“It’s okay, Rarity.” Fluttershy smiled in happy relief. “I was so frightened you’d be angry at me for not liking modeling as much as you wanted me to. But even though I don’t enjoy this job so much, I still want to do this part time for the money. As long as Emerald is here with me, I can bear this.”

“Well I am glad that you are getting something positive out of this.” Rarity said happily before turning to Oskar. “And I’m so glad you are being there for her, not to be mean or anything Emerald but you can be so distant when it comes to Fluttershy.”

Oskar winced at that. “… I know.”

“Oh no it’s alright Emerald, you don’t have to do anything on my account.” Fluttershy reassured quickly. “If you don’t want to visit me at my home that is more than okay.”

“I haven’t been near or in your home ever Fluttershy. I’ve never visited you.” Oskar said with a frown.

“And I know you must have a good reason for it.” Fluttershy said with sympathy.

“Maybe… maybe we can have some… tea or something later?” Oskar offered hesitantly.

“That sounds delightful doesn’t it Fluttershy?” Rarity stated with a smile. “I know I for one am looking forward to it.”

“It does sound nice…” Fluttershy smiled and turned her attention towards the screen when everyone in the room started snickering.

Looking up, the three saw what should have been a heartfelt scene between two lovers absolutely ruined to the point of hilarity due to the actors’ stage training.

“Oh my, this is horrible!” Rarity giggled. “I’ve read the book this is based on and I cried during this scene! Now I’m crying for an entirely different reason!”

Oskar and Fluttershy could only laugh in agreement.

It was night, and Oskar stood on the roof of a building in the form of some random pegasus. He was taking advantage of the fact he had to be here earlier that day to scout out the factories here. Right now, he didn’t have a single piece of machinery, so a little bit of everything would be good.

Channeling unicorn magic through his wings and causing them to glow with said magic, Oskar then teleported to the roof of a different building.

‘Okay that was theoretically possible and just proven.’ Oskar thought about the act he just did. ‘Just like channeling pegasus magic through my horn, channeling unicorn magic through my wings is less efficient. Anyway, let’s see what kind of factory this is…’

Peering through a window in the roof, Oskar saw the machines in the darkness of the factory. Examining the types of machines and what kind of conveyor belts it had. Doing this the virus saw that the machinery was directed towards canning.

‘Hmm… not what I was hoping for, but I can use this easily.’ Oskar thought and mentally flagged the address for raiding.

Flapping his wings, Oskar lifted off and flew over to a neighboring building. Oskar knew he could just teleport there but it was night and the flash was rather noticeable in the dark, flying there would be far more stealthy.

‘This one has machines that punch shapes out of sheets of metal.’ Oskar thought happily. ‘Definitely going on the shopping list, and I’m pretty sure those machines over there roll sheets of metal into shapes and bend them into different forms, quite useful.’

Picking another factory at Random Oskar lifted off again.

‘Let’s see… another canning factory.’ The virus thought with a frown. ‘Well it’ll be good for parts anyway, on the list it goes. Let’s see if we can get anything else that is good.’

Unfortunately for Oskar, the level of industrialization Equestria had was fairly minor for its level of technology. He had scouted well over half a dozen factories over the following hour and all of them were canning facilities.

‘I saw arcade games and electronics!’ Oskar thought angrily. ‘They need advanced machinery for that so where are they?! Are they just not in this city? Damn it all they’re probably in Las Pegasus or something. Okay, one last factory and I’ll call it a night.’

Flying over to another building, the virus became very hopeful when he spotted an open shed holding a pile of scrap metal and began to make note of the smoke stacks. Flying over to a window and peering inside, the Evolved then smiled, it was a smelting facility. While a good number of mechanisms weren’t fully automatic and would require someone manning them at all times during operation, it was far better than the crudely carved out granite the Diamond Dogs used for their own smelting and forging.

‘Fantastic! This is going on the list!’ Oskar thought with a smile before frowning as several issues became clear. ‘Although a good number of those machines aren’t going to be easy to get out of there, roasting vats and those large cauldrons are all pretty much in one piece. The worst offender is that blast furnace. It’s small in comparison to others, probably made more efficient from magic and fire rubies but that metal monster is still fairly huge. Hmm… I suppose I can put aside some time to make them for the dogs myself… no I’ve got the opportunity here and I’m going to take it. Let’s see… I wanted to do the canning factories first as those will give the dogs more time and practice but the first raid is going to pretty much give us the whole night to work while the others will have a time limit as the local authorities will be alerted. So the most potentially difficult of the lot is going first huh? Great… how about we extend the tunnels to just under this foundry? Then we expand those and place some tracks down, set up a large underground train of sorts and simply lower the machines on them? In order for it to work I’ll need to use my magic because otherwise we’d be sliding some valuable equipment several stories down a tunnel and hoping for the best. Yeah, in that case this has to be the first place to be hit, otherwise I may end up with people trying to stop us and seeing me use some heavy duty magic to move all this equipment around.’

‘Going to take some work and more than a little advanced planning, but nothing worth anything is ever easy.’ Oskar thought with a determined nod. ‘Right, let’s head back to the hotel before anyone notices I’m gone.’

With that the Evolved disappeared with a flash, leaving the roof of the metal factory empty.

Oskar and Fluttershy were both walking down a street in Ponyville. It was now several days after coming back from watching the movie premier in Manehattan. Upon returning to the town Oskar, Fluttershy, and Rarity headed down to the pegasus’ home to enjoy themselves and visit. At first it had been a bit of a nerve wracking affair for Oskar as she had been expecting the animals to freak out over her but they seemed confused about her more than anything, which led to her calming down greatly. The little informal tea party turned out to be fairly pleasant and led to Oskar spending more time with Fluttershy.

“Rarity has been talking about inviting you for our next spa visit Emerald.” Fluttershy told her fellow model. “I think you should agree to come when she asks you, they are ever so wonderful!”

“Sounds nice.” Oskar commented with a smile. “What do you girls usually get done?”

“Oh we first start with the sauna.” Fluttershy explained happily. “Then after that we get our facials done and get our hooves filed. Rarity gets her horn filed as well, she likes to get it down first actually. Then after that we get a relaxing massage that just makes you feel like jelly afterwards, followed by a cleansing mud bath.”

“A cleansing mud bath… right.” Oskar said with a toothy smile.

“Oh believe me it’s- Oh my whatever is going on over there.” Fluttershy began before pointing off.

Turning, Oskar saw what the pegasus was pointing at. It was a group of ponies surrounding a poster but she couldn’t quite make it out due to everyone crowding it.

“Let’s go take a look.” Oskar said and walked over.

“Alright.”

Closing in, Oskar could see that while crowded, it wasn’t impossible to look over the shoulders of all the ponies there and that is what she did, blinking a little in astonishment when she saw what was posted.

It was a wanted poster of Oskar’s Diamond Fox form, a frozen image of said form apparently taken from the magical viewing mirrors in the prison. The virus expected such a thing but she didn’t expect the name they had apparently given her.

WANTED FOR SUSPECTED LARCENY, ASSAULTING SEVERAL OFFICERS OF THE LAW, TWO THOUSAND-FIVE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY COUNTS OF AIDING AND ABETTING PRISONERS IN AN ESCAPE FROM THEIR LAWFUL INCARCERATION, VANDALISM, TRESPASSING ON FEDERAL PROPERTY, AND DISTURBING THE PEACE VIA PURPOSEFULLY INCITED PRISON RIOT.

THE GRAY FOX IS CONSIDERED TO BE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS, IT IS HEAVILY ADVISED TO NOT APPROACH THE GRAY FOX. THE GRAY FOX IS ALSO CONSIDERED THE LEADER OF THE DIAMOND DOGS. IF YOU OR ANYONE KNOWS ANY INFORMATION AT ALL, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR NEAREST FIGURE OF AUTHORITY.

‘The Gray Fox huh?’ Oskar thought in amusement as ponies whispered with each other. ‘Me and my guild of thieves are getting some infamy. The attention is only going to grow after the first few factory raids.’

“Oh my, he seems so dangerous!” Fluttershy said with her hoof placed worriedly against her mouth. “I never knew Diamond Dogs also came in foxes.”

One of the mares turned when she heard Fluttershy speak and did a double take when she saw Fluttershy and Oskar standing together.

“OH MY GOSH!” The mare exclaimed, attracting everyone’s attention as she pointed at Fluttershy and Oskar with a shaking hoof. “It’s Fluttershy and Emerald Gleaner!”

There were gasps from the crowd and several ponies immediately rushed towards Oskar and Fluttershy. Fluttershy’s eyes widened and made to run away when Oskar just reached out with a hoof and held her in place.

“They live in the same town as us.” The Evolved stated with a sigh. “We are going to have to deal with this kind of stuff sooner or later, might as well as make it sooner.”

“Ohmygosh can I have your autographs?!” One of the mares said, barely heard above the others. “And your hoof prints?!”

“What’s going on?” One pony asked confusedly. It seemed that Oskar and Fluttershy weren’t household names just yet as most of the crowd of ponies were simply staring at the mares rushing Oskar and Fluttershy.

“Why are all of you crowding Emerald and Fluttershy like?” Asked one stallion, sounding rather troubled about what he was seeing.

“They’re famous models now!” One mare defended her actions. “Why wouldn’t you want their autographs?!”

“What? Really?” Said a stallion in surprise. “Is that true Emerald?”

“Yes.” Oskar replied with a nod. “Photo Finish came by a while ago and decided to make the both of us models, I don’t see why you have to get so… excited though. We live in the same town, you’ve seen me buying groceries and hanging out with my friends, I’m even hanging out with one now! Is the fact that ponies decide that I and Fluttershy look good on products so fantastic that you have to lose your heads?”

“But… you’re famous now!” A mare protested. “Can… can I at least get your autographs please?”

“Well you did ask nicely.” Oskar said with a bit of a forced smile. “Come on Fluttershy, anypony got a pen?”

It didn’t take the two long to get through with their few fans, simply signing a few pieces of paper was good enough and they seemed like they wouldn’t overreact next time. However, that didn’t cover other fans in Ponyville.

“Is that?! YES IT IS!” Oskar heard a voice shout from down the street. “EMERALD AND FLUTTERSHY.”

‘God damn it.’ Oskar inwardly groaned. ‘You’d think the stallions would be the ones fangirling over us and not the mares.’

“Right, come here Fluttershy.” The virus said, wrapping a foreleg around the pegasus. “We’re teleporting.”

Within a few seconds Oskar and Fluttershy were gone, leaving despondent fans in their wake.

In Twilight’s library Oskar and Fluttershy arrived with a flash.

“Eep!” Fluttershy squeaked, leaping out of Oskar’s hold in sure fright. “OH! Oh… Oh my gosh my heart is in my throat! Oh dear, oh my!”

“Er… are you alright Fluttershy?” Oskar asked with some worry as the pegasus panted.

“Oh my… oh my… that was so startling!” Fluttershy exclaimed and started to purposefully take deep breaths.

“Perhaps some tea will help you calm down?” Oskar offered apologetically.

“Yes… yes, tea sounds wonderful right now.” Fluttershy panted and took a seat at the circular table.

“I’ll be right back.” Oskar said, then teleported away into the kitchen. Once there, the virus got her bearings and teleported into the pantry and back out again. Placing the tea leaves on the counter, she then teleported to a cabinet and reached inside for the tea cups and pot. Teleporting to the sink, Oskar filled the pot before returning to the counter with the leaves. Giving a quick look around, the Evolved then took the top off the pot and blew a small burst of fire inside it, causing the water to boil within mere moments. After placing the leaves in the pot Oskar then teleported back to the library.

Fluttershy was still a little stressed out from the sudden teleport, but she wasn’t breathing as heavily and visibly brightened when she saw Oskar with the tea.

“Here’s your tea Fluttershy.” Oskar said, magically setting down the cups and pot on the table. “And I’m sorry about the sudden teleport, I should have given you a bit more warning.”

“It’s okay Emerald.” Fluttershy said honestly. “I know I’m not the bravest pony and I do appreciate you getting us away from those rabid fan ponies!”

“Oh that wasn’t rabid.” Oskar stated with a smile. “They’ll be rabid when they attack for hair and pieces of clothing to set up their own little shrines in their closets.”

“Oh my goodness, really?!” Fluttershy gasped, bringing up both hooves to her mouth. “That sounds so scary! Perfectly normal ponies driven to attack me for my hair and whatever accessories I happen to be wearing…”

“It probably won’t be that bad!” Oskar quickly reassured with a smile. “That was just an example of the far end of the fan spectrum. Most of the time they’ll probably just be hounding us for autographs, like they did a few minutes ago.”

“Really?” Fluttershy asked and took a sip of her tea.

“Really.” Oskar replied.

“Hello girls!”

Oskar and Fluttershy turned to see Twilight standing in the doorway.

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” she said. “Decided to cut your day short?”

“The fans did it for us.” Oskar answered.

“What?”

“There are ponies who are fans of us now for being models.” Fluttershy explained. “And they swarmed us for autographs and even asked for impressions of our hoof prints. So after more showed up, Emerald teleported us here.”

“Oh that’s too bad!” Twilight exclaimed. “This means the both of you aren’t going to just be able to walk around Ponyville anymore isn’t it?”

“It will be a bit frustrating for a while,” Oskar said with a nod. “But eventually the novelty of having famous ponies in town will wear off and things will somewhat return to normal. No doubt there will always be ponies badgering us for autographs and pictures but for the most part it’ll be business as usual.”

“Sounds troubling… are strange ponies going to come barging into the library?” Twilight asked hesitantly.

“I HOPE it doesn’t get that bad but if it does then some pony is getting a bloody nose.” Oskar frowned and banged the table with her hoof for emphasis.

“Oh… well do you want some tea Twilight?” Fluttershy asked after a moment.

“Sure!” Twilight smiled and stepped over to the table. “Smells good!”

“I’ll get you a cup, be right back.” Oskar said before teleporting away. A few moments later and she was back with Twilight’s cup.

“Thank you Emerald,” Twilight said before magically taking hold of the cup and pouring herself some tea. “You’ve been teleporting a lot lately. I’ve seen you teleport when taking a few steps would have gotten you there.”

“It’s practice,” Oskar replied as she retook her seat and took a sip of her tea. “I want teleporting to be as easy as walking for me. Right now my charge up time has been shortened by half and my accuracy is like ten times better now. And it’s all thanks to my magical practice.”

“Hmm…” Twilight hummed thoughtfully.

“That sounds a whole lot like what Rainbow Dash did,” Fluttershy said.

“How so?” Oskar asked.

“She started to fly everywhere instead of walking,” Fluttershy answered. “She started it as a way to improve herself, but now it’s a force of habit for her to fly instead of walk everywhere… Oh! Is it going to be that way for you too?”

“What, will I start teleporting everywhere?” Oskar offered. “I don’t know really, maybe.”

“Emerald?”

“Yes Twilight?”

“I was just thinking about you and started wondering… why haven’t you ever said anything about your father?” Twilight asked curiously. “You’ve talked about your mother but I haven’t heard you mention him even once.”

“Oh… him.” Oskar said with a frown and without a single moment’s hesitation she decided to tell the two about her father. “I only ever saw him once and I’ll always cherish the memory.”

“Oh was it a happy, tearful reunion before he was forced to leave?” Fluttershy asked with a sad smile.

“No, it was because my mom floored him in one punch the one time I saw him.” Oskar answered with a warm smile, eyes staring off into the distance as she recalled the memory.

“Goodness!”

“Oh wow, why did she punch him?” Twilight asked, now deathly curious.

“Well it relates to how I was born.” Oskar began, “My mother… wasn’t born in the same country she had me in, she had immigrated for a change in her life… she was definitely going to experience a change within a year.”

“You see my father wasn’t a particularly nice fellow…” The virus continued. “He saw my mom was confused and vulnerable, being in a new country speaking a language that wasn’t her native one. He took advantage of that and took her in. He basically seduced her and when he got what he wanted he just left her… nine months later I was born.”

“What?” Fluttershy gasped in shock as Twilight did the same. “He… he just got your mom pregnant and left? That’s… horrible! How could a stallion do that to a mare?!”

“If it matters he didn’t even know my mom was pregnant.” Oskar stated apathetically. “He pretty much left her the next uh… night.”

“If he just got your mom pregnant and left then why do you cherish the one memory you have of him.” Twilight asked in confusion.

“Well you see I was working with my mom in the bakery.” Oskar began. “Then he just came in, looking a bit scruffy really. It turns out he had kept up his habit of seducing girls who caught his eye and now he was having financial issues from child support. So when he heard that my mom was running a successful business he dropped by to ask for some money, trying to remind her of the “good times” they had in order to get what he wanted. When my mom told him about me he immediately stopped trying to ask for money and started claiming I wasn’t his kid and that she wasn’t getting a dime out of him. The very moment he started to say that my mom rushed him and floored him with a punch. A minute later, he finally got up and ran out of the bakery, I never saw him again.”

“So yeah, that’s why I cherish the sole time I saw my father,” Oskar said with a bright smile. “Because my mom beat him in one punch!”

“I’m glad you are able to get something positive out of that.” Twilight said with a sad smile. “Did your mom ever… feel angry about your father and… you by extension?”

“No, never.” Oskar answered. “I don’t think she ever let it get to her… I think that out of the two of them my mom thought she got the most out of their brief relationship.”

“Your mom sounds like a wonderful pony.” Fluttershy said with a soft smile.

“I know… I miss her.” Oskar said sadly.

“Well… so how is it being up there on the catwalk?” Twilight asked, deciding to change the topic.

“Well it isn’t too bad for me really,” Oskar replied. “I just walk out and keep the stance they want to see. Everypony seems to think I enjoy being out there getting ogled at, but I’m just waiting for the show to be over so I can be paid.”

“Well… it’s a bit different for me.” Fluttershy said. “Being up there is very stressful for me so I’m going to be doing it part time now. I told Photo Finish and she is a bit disappointed that I won’t be around as much for photo shoots, she wants me to always make a public appearance beside Emerald when she does, that way I stay in the public’s eye and won’t be forgotten. Because if I am forgotten I might as well quit and I don’t want to go that far just yet. I would like the money to renovate my home and I still need a bit more.”

“So the both of you are just sticking around for the money?” Twilight stated. “Sounds like it isn’t very fun.”

“Yeah but the money makes up for it,” Oskar replied. “I don’t need an allowance anymore and can buy whatever I want now.”

“What are you going to buy?” Twilight asked.

“I’m thinking of… buying some shares in a few corporations I have an eye on.”

“Careful! Make sure track straight!” Belvedere shouted. “Load going to be very heavy! Only get one shot at this!”

“Watch the flat beds too mate.” Oskar advised in his newly dubbed “Gray Fox” form and personality. “They are going to be a right pain to fix if they break.”

It was night, several days later. Oskar was with his Diamond Dogs in a freshly dug tunnel under the Foundry. It had taken a few days of constant effort with rotating digging teams along with dogs tearing up mining tacks to replace them in the tunnel to move along the heavy equipment. The flatbed cars were extra wide and had two sets of wheels to ride along twin tracks of rail. They were brand new in the sense Oskar had the dogs build new, and had watched them carefully, directing their efforts so the cars could be designed to carry immense weight… in theory.

“Right, HOW’S THE TUNNEL COMING MATES?!” Oskar shouted to the dogs above him.

“GOING GOOD BOSS!” Came the shouted reply. “ALMOST DONE!”

Above Oskar and the rail tracks was a massive hole leading up to the floor of the foundry, easily big enough to allow the largest of the foundry machinery to be lowered down it. Diamond Dogs easily clung to the rocks walls and ceiling of the hole, clawing away chunks of rock to make the hole smoother and reveal more of the foundry floor they would be breaking soon.

“Bluno! Where are ya mate!?” Oskar shouted.

“Right here boss!” Bluno shouted, a small group of Diamond Dog guards and Padfoot the huge rottweiler close behind. “Be time to knock out guard ponies now?”

“Maybe, try saying that sentence again mate and you’ll know for sure.” Oskar said with a toothy grin, twirling his new staff, which had two bulbous cyan gems on each end.

“Er…” Bluno scratched his head in thought. “Is it… time to knock out gu… THE guards now?”

“Yes it is, good on ya Bluno!” Oskar complimented then brought his staff to rest standing upright on the ground before him. “Right, grab hold of this and I’ll teleport us up, then we’ll take out all the night guards nice and quiet like.”

Bluno and his small group of Diamond Dogs reached out and grabbed the staff. When they did, the gems started glowing bright blue for a few seconds before they disappeared with a flash, appearing up on the foundry floor with another bright flash.

“Pony spell feel weird.” Padfoot commented, shaking his body briefly like he was trying to get rid of water on his coat.

“Right, remember nice and quiet like.” Oskar told the dogs. “Sneak up on and use your ropes to tie and gag any guards, quick and silent savvy?”

“Right, come on everyone in groups of two.” Bluno told the others. Suddenly he stopped, twitching his ears before looking over to a door. He quickly darted over to just beside it and went very still.

Oskar knew what was coming but stayed still to observe how Bluno did. A few seconds later the door opened and an earth pony wearing a black uniform walked in before freezing, blinking his eyes in shock at the sight of several dogs and a now infamous criminal mastermind on the foundry floor. Bluno reached over with his paw and pulled the pony over by the scruff of his neck and threw him to the floor, quickly looping a rope around his snout before he could react or shout out. Using his larger size, Bluno held down the pony and quickly hogtied him before leaping up and holding out his hands like he was presenting a piece of art.

“Good show Bluno, see just like that lads.” Oskar said before heading for the door the pony came in through. “We’ll bring our catch here before stuffing em in a closet.”

Oskar made his way through some halls then walked outside the foundry, quickly unlocking it with a tendril. Now outside, the virus searched his surroundings for another guard patrolling the grounds of the foundry but he didn’t see any. The only guard there was at the entrance of the foundry grounds in a little gate box, simply reading a newspaper and drinking from a cup of coffee.

Feeling like a swarm of guards were going to come out at any second, Oskar walked over to the box whilst making sure he was out of the guard’s potential line of sight. Reaching the box undetected to no fanfare whatsoever, Oskar reached over and opened the door.

The guard lazily looked over his shoulder when he heard the door open, probably expecting one of his fellow guards to be the one to open it. He seemed to completely freeze up when he saw Oskar standing at the doorway and blinked stupidly at him for a long moment.

Arm whipping forward, Oskar grasped the guard pony by the neck and threw him to the floor. Quickly covering his mouth with one hand, the virus then brought his other hand to the throat and extended tendrils from his palm.

The guard thrashed under him and let out muffled screams, but soon the chemicals did their work. Slinging the now unconscious pony over a shoulder, Oskar turned around and headed back to the foundry.

As he made his way back he spotted a light moving past one of the windows. The light continued moving past the window until it suddenly began jerking all over the place and went out.

Thinking that a group of dogs ambushed a unicorn guard or one with a flashlight, Oskar charged up a teleport, aiming for mid-air in the hallway. Appearing in the hallway and landing with a soft thud, Oskar saw that he was right and also saw that he had managed to scare the dogs with his sudden appearance.”

“GAH! Oh… It you boss.” Padfoot shouted before quickly calming and returning his attention to a tied up unicorn. “Gonna have to get used to that…”

“Sorry to startle ya mate.” Oskar replied as Padfoot hoisted his own captive pony over his shoulder. “Any other guards about?”

“This only one I found boss.” Padfoot said. “I going to bring him to big machine room now.”

“Right behind ya mate.” Oskar said, motioning for the dog to lead the way.

The two arrived at the foundry floor about a minute later to the sight of three other ponies tied up and surrounded by Bluno and his Diamond Dog guards.

“This all of them then?” Oskar asked, frowning as he flicked one of his ears. “Fewer than expected innit?”

“We search whole factory boss.” Bluno replied. “This all of them.”

“Alright, take them and stick em in a closet, should be one in the hallway over there.” Oskar said, motioning behind him towards a doorway. “Make sure to tie up the one I got here too, don't worry about waking him.”

As several dogs hoisted the five ponies, Oskar strode forward until he was at a large bare patch of foundry floor. Standing in the middle of the bare area, Oskar brought out his staff and banged it loudly against the floor. His claws glowed blue and he teleported away as the floor suddenly cracked and began falling away. The sound of concrete falling and crashing into the tunnel floor down below echoed up as Diamond Dogs wielding wrenches swarmed out of the hole by the dozens.

“Right lads! Get to work dismantling these machines!” Oskar shouted to the varied breeds of dogs around him. “If I tell you to do something a certain way or to stop what you are doing then you listen. I’m cracking my staff over the heads of any fool who doesn’t do as told savvy!?”

Thus the work began. The Diamond Dogs only knew the bare basics of mechanics for their jobs to take apart the machines. They swarmed over all the machines and were undoing bolts and screws, surprisingly Oskar didn’t need to correct what they were doing as much as he thought he would need to, seemingly at home with using tools and working with complex mechanisms.

“Er… boss!” A dog shouted from within a vat. “What this for? Do we undo all the bolts or just ones in floor?”

“That there is a roasting vat.” Oskar explained upon. “It’s for separating impurities from the ore, savvy?”

“Oh, like bloomerys we have?” The dog asked, scratching his head with his wrench and getting oil in his fur.

“But much better, now get down by the base and start undoing the bolts there mate.” Oskar said before turning to observe all the other dogs at work. All seemed to be going well until he saw some dogs trying to take apart the blast furnace instead of removing the bolts keeping it firmly anchored to the floor.

“Oi! You lot!” Oskar shouted and quickly teleported over. “Get off that thing! Only undo the bolts keeping it attached to the floor! No wait, tighten or put back only bolts you undid first then get down. Right, there we go…”

Eventually the first vat was ready to be moved and the dogs near it quickly gave it space.

His claws began glowing brightly, almost flaring with the intensity of a fire as the Evolved magically grasped the multi-ton vat and slowly lifted it. The weight wasn’t too much of a problem, but it made Oskar want to rush, before he quickly curbed the desire and worked carefully to maneuver the vat down the hole. Settling the heavy vat upon one of the iron flatbed cars with nary a clang, Oskar sighed and gave himself a moment before turning his attention to the next one and the one after that.

It was several hours of long work, merely from painstakingly making sure the various smelting machines weren’t damaged in any way, but finally the Evolved came to the last and possibly the most important piece of equipment, the blast furnace.

Just getting the thing detached from the smokestack it was built into was a pain, but now he was finally able to move it. Grasping at the air with his hands, Oskar maneuvered the several ton furnace into the air. Slowly moving it down the hole in the floor, the virus moved himself to the very ledge to keep a closer eye on the furnace. Seeing that it was too tall to be carried along the track standing upright, Oskar began the aggravating task of twisting and turning it in the limited space provided until it was lying on its side. By the time he finished, the strain from lifting so many heavy pieces of equipment with little to no time for rest began to weigh on him, but at least now he was finally done.

“Right… everyone here? No one missing?” Oskar asked a little tiredly. “Good, all of ya down the hole, let’s close up and head home.”

Watching the various dogs quickly dart into and climb down the walls of the hole, Oskar waited until he was the very last one. Then, taking one final look around his surroundings and noting he still had a few hours to spare before dawn, he leapt in as well.

A minute later, there was a low earth shaking rumble before an utterly massive fountain of dirt shot up from the hole, filling it in a few moments. In the shadow and silence of very early morning, the foundry lied empty of all value.

Oskar walked down the street of Ponyville, thinking about the raids on the other factories she had led in the days following the raid on the foundry. They hadn’t really been giving themselves much preparation time for each robbery, only a day’s pause before going on to the next. Obviously this was getting them a lot of attention but that would have happened anyway, due to the night guards identifying the ‘Gray Fox’ at the crime scenes and the costly nature of what they were stealing. They only had one more factory to hit before Oskar considered they were done with Manehattan and that fact alone made her feel rather tense. The explanation being that she was expecting a large force of local law enforcement to catch them in the act and interrupt their robbery, fighting off such a force was possible but would get them even more attention. Overall, she felt things were too easy and was just tense from waiting for the other shoe to drop.

‘I would like to think the last robbery should go without a hitch, but I know better than that.’ Oskar thought as she aimlessly strolled down the street. ‘I shall prepare to fight off guards. If we beat back enough of them they should hold back for a while, though this means I can’t use my magic or true strength to aid in the heavy lifting. Hmm…’

“I can’t believe I’m friends with a supermodel!” Oskar heard Bon Bon’s voice squeal with delight.

“You keep saying that… she’s been a model for a while now Bon Bon, can you please calm down now?” Lyra groused irritably.

‘Oh?’ The virus thought. ‘What are those two up to?’

Changing direction and wandering over to where she heard the voices come from, Oskar soon saw Bon Bon and Lyra sitting at a table. Not only that, but Time Turner was with them and seemed to be intently staring at a magazine on the table before him. Getting close, Oskar made out the magazine as fashion centric and had her primarily featured wearing various outfits.

“Reading girly magazines, Time Turner?” Oskar stated amusedly as Bon Bon and Lyra started giggling softly. “Didn’t think a stallion like you would do that kind of thing.”

“There is nothing wrong with admiring a beautiful mare.” Time Turner absently replied, so deeply engrossed in the magazine that he didn’t notice what he had said and who he had said it to until after he had said it. “OH! I mean- what I meant to say… oh dear…”

“Hehehe.” Bon Bon giggled at Time Turner’s plight. “I do believe Lyra and I have something to do right this moment, we’ll just leave you two alone.”

A bit of a long silence reigned after the two mares made their exit, shooting sly looks at the two as they left. Time Turner looked mortified at his slip up, basically telling “Emerald” outright he had feelings for her. Oskar for her part only looked contemplative at Time Turner’s slip and seemed deep in thought for several long moments.

“Am… am I really beautiful?” Oskar asked the stallion.

“I… why yes of course!” Time Turner said, taking out a handkerchief and dabbing at his forehead as he said that. “You are an incredibly beautiful mare Emerald, quite possibly the most attractive mare in all of Ponyville… maybe… maybe even Equestria.”

“…Really?” Oskar said with a frown and furrowing of her brows.

“Uhh… honestly and truly Emerald.” Time Turner said with a crimson blush.

The more the Evolved thought about it, the more she began to think Timer Turner was right. The looks she kept getting from colts and only from colts, the fact she used only the best genes from Rarity and Rose Locks, Twilight talking about how beautiful she was and finally the fact she was now a model with growing fame. With all the facts before her, the virus quickly became incredulous at how long it had taken her to notice this simple fact about herself. But now that she knew she was able to also see something else… that Time Turner was attracted to her.

‘Well… this is awkward.’ Oskar thought. ‘I mean I can handle it I suppose… but before when I had to deal with guys attracted to me while I was in a female form I knew what to expect and knew that if they got touchy then I can just gut them. But here… I don’t have to deal with those types of men ever again and I most certainly know Time Turner won’t try anything without express permission and desire from myself. So I suppose I can use this to my advantage and get more information out of him. A few hugs here and there, some affectionate nuzzling and some light kissing if needed, I can handle and do that, but… it… it feels so wrong to manipulate and lead him on like that, to just twist and pull at his emotions to get what I want… I… I can’t do it, I won’t do it. But how do I break it to him then?’ Oskar thought in indecision. ‘I… I don’t know what to do.’

“Soo… do you want to talk?” Time Turner offered hesitantly.

“Y-yes… yes in fact.” Oskar said and quickly sat herself in the seat opposite him. “About technology, the more I think about it, the more interested I become in the field.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, I am even going to invest in a company or two actually.” The fake unicorn admitted. “And I just wanted some more details on the tech industry. I tried to do some personal research on my own in Twilight’s library, but it doesn’t have the info I wanted.”

“Oh? What were you trying to find out?” Time Turner asked.

“What places make what parts for computer components and the like.” Oskar said with a shrug. “I feel it’s an underappreciated industry and that Equestria is being a bit too much of a naturalist regarding this field.”

“What a surprise to find a like minded pony such as yourself here in Ponyville Emerald!” Time stated with a smile. “I feel the same way, but Ponyville is very traditionalist in its ways, so I thought I’d be one of a precious few who think differently here.”

“I like to think of myself as… modern in my way of thinking.” Oskar stated. “I still need to find out more info on companies and who produces what for who though. I don’t suppose you know anything about this would you?”

“I’m afraid I really don’t, Emerald.” Time Turner said with a shake of his head. “I know a lot about computers and electronics, but not so much on who makes them and who provides the materials.”

“Oh well I’ll find out some other way.” Oskar said with a shrug. “Speaking of computers do you h-”

“THERE SHE IS!” Someone shouted suddenly.

“EMERALD GLEANER! EMERALD GLEANER CAN YOU ANSWER A FEW QUESTIONS!” A mare unicorn asked excitedly, camera and notepad with pencil floating in the air.

“EMERALD GLEANER IS THIS YOUR COLTFRIEND?!” Asked another reporter.

“ARE YOU IN A LONG TERM RELATIONSHIP?”

“ARE WEDDING BELLS IN YOUR FUTURE!”

“WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO NAME THE CHILD?!”

That seemed to spark off a round of new questions that just drowned each other out in their volume as reporters swarmed the table. Oskar for her part just looked bewildered for a moment, at a sure loss at where the reporters came from, then she just looked very annoyed. With horn growing brightly for a brief second the virus disappeared.

“She’s gone!!”

“Where would she go?!”

“I know! She stays with Twilight Sparkle, Celestia’s student! Her library is just down the road!”

“Let’s go!!”

Surprisingly despite the fact they were asking “Emerald” about her potential relationship with Time Turner the reporters didn’t spare him a second glance, seemingly more interested in the model then in the colt she might be interested in. After a few moments of silence the pony doctor just sighed irritably.

“And it was going so well too.” Time Turner muttered as his friends popped up from around a corner and walked over to him.

“Well that was going fairly well… until those paparazzi ponies came by and ruined it.” Bon Bon said, shooting a distasteful frown in the direction said ponies went.

“Yeah it went well till that point.” Lyra agreed. “TT you really ought to go on more dates with her, I mean geez I don’t like the filly very much but this is the second date after a few months!”

“It is not!” Time Turner protested. “What about what we did just two days ago?”

“That wasn’t a date, Time.” Bon Bon replied. “Both Lyra and I were there. That was an outing for all of us to enjoy.”

“Well what about three weeks ago on that-”

“I was there TT.” Lyra interrupted.

“Well what about during Winter Wrap Up!”

“There were a ton of other ponies right there with you.” Bon Bon said. “And it was hardly a date, Time.”

“Well… I suppose you are both right…” Time Turner admitted with a sigh. “I suppose I really ought to ask Emerald out more than just us being together every few months.”

“That’s no way to catch and keep a filly’s attention Time.” Bon Bon admonished gently. “She’d think you are just leading her along and giving her attention when it suited you. If you keep this up she’d just move on to somepony else. You need to work for this to work, Time, love isn’t easy but you get what you put in and you aren’t putting in much.”

“I know, I know…” Time Turner said. “I just… I was never good at this. I either come on too strongly or not enough and the mare just assumes I want to be a friend.”

“It’s alright TT.” Lyra comforted. “That’s why you have us here!”

“Thank you, both of you.” Time Turner replied with a smile. “I honestly don’t know what to do without either of you.”

“Emerald is a busy pony, being a model and all.” Bon Bon said and couldn’t help the large smile on her face as she said that. “But being so busy means she must be getting a little stressed from the work, perhaps you being there for her would be appropriate? Now here’s what I think you should do for your next date…”

Shining Armor laid atop a building. It was nighttime in Manehattan and it was rather cold, forcing both Armor and the twenty odd Royal Guards there with him to cover themselves up with thick woolen blankets. He and his group were overlooking a factory, a metal processing plant to be specific, and his group wasn’t the only one. Five Hundred Royal Guards in total were gathered for this mission and spread over the area, small groups like his overlooking factories, while larger groups were placed in between the smaller groups, so they could react quickly to calls for reinforcements.

After the rash of robberies over the past week, the Royal Guard was quickly mobilized, even more so when it was confirmed from eyewitnesses that it was the Gray Fox and his Diamond Dogs committing the robberies. Not only did Armor have to worry about catching the Gray Fox quickly, he also had to make the criminal confess the location of the machines he stole as the machines he had stolen were very expensive and the factories that suffered from the robberies just might not recover without financial federal aid, which Celestia was dearly hoping to avoid, not out of greed of course but to avoid setting a bad precedent.

“It’s been quiet for a good three nights now.” A guard stated. “Maybe the Fox is lying low now? To avoid the attention he has gained with this crime spree of his.”

“Maybe…” Armor replied. “Just as good a chance that he’s doing this to lower our guard and think just that too, so stay sharp.”

“Yes sir.”

Silence reigned as Armor watched the processing plant in front of him, intent to catch even the smallest glimpse of either the Gray Fox or his Diamond Dogs if they were here. Eventually they did see something, but it wasn’t him that spotted it.

“There!” A pegasi guard exclaimed. “I think I saw something skulking in the shadows on the second floor catwalks!”

Armor quickly moved his attention from the ground floor windows and spied the second floor windows. For a few long moments he saw nothing, and then slowly a shape appeared. It was a sleek Collie Diamond Dog stepping into view. Armor felt his heart beat faster in excitement and he kept his view on the sneaking dog.

After a few moments the Dogs suddenly stood upright and no longer seemed to be sneaking, he leaned over the catwalk and seemed to be saying something to someone that was below him. Looking down back to the first floor windows Armor gritted his teeth when he saw who was there.

It was the Gray Fox, still wearing that tattered coat of his with a cuirass worn over it that he was really beginning to have grim suspicions of its material. The Gray Fox seemed to have also altered his staff a little, no longer did it seemed to be a long piece of metal that he had managed to wrench off something, now it did look like a weapon and those two gems on the end looked like they would be painful to be hit by.

The Gray Fox appeared to be saying something back before striding over to a bare patch of floor with that strange walk of his, reminding Armor of sailor ponies who came onto land just after spending a long time at sea. The Gray Fox raised his staff up above the floor and banged it a few times. A near instant later a large section of the floor fell away, revealing a large hole which Diamond Dogs began streaming out of.

Armor continued observing as more holes opened up in the floor, these holes were not as big as the one found in the foundry though. Dogs poured out by the dozens rapidly and began setting to work rapidly taking apart the processing machines in the plant.

“There must be at least a hundred of them!” A Royal Guard exclaimed. “Captain what do we do?”

“You! Go for reinforcements!” Armor ordered one pegasus guard. “There must be more Diamond Dogs in the tunnels below.”

“We have the element of surprise.” Armor stated after the pegasus left. “Diamond Dogs rely on that to succeed, don’t let their numbers intimidate you against a prepared foe. The dogs are poor fighters and quick to break from the fight, and not only are we prepared but we are doing the ambushing. Ready? GO!”

Armor teleported and was quickly followed by his fellow unicorn guards onto the processing plant floor, pegasi guards burst through the windows moments later and the earth pony guards were not far behind, bursting in through the doors or leaping in through the ground floor windows. The dogs yelped and shouted at the sudden intrusion of Royal Guards and quickly fell into panic as the fight started.

Despite being outnumbered five to one the Royal Guards were handling things quite easily. Unicorns tossed dogs telekinetically at their fellows, pegasi dive bombed others and the earth ponies simply dived into the fray utilising their training to full effect. In fact the only dog that seemed to be able to stand up one on one was this large Rottweiler Diamond Dog and that was only because he was able to tank the hits an earth pony was giving him. But he was quickly brought down when a pegasi delivered a harsh kick to his head and a unicorn quickly disabled him with his magic.

Seeing that his guards were taking care of the dogs quite easily, Armor turned his attention to the biggest threat in the room. The Gray Fox was standing in the center of the chaos enveloping the room seemingly unbothered and leaning on his staff in a relaxed fashion. He began shaking his head quite disappointedly and took a step back to avoid a dog sent flying through the air.

“Oi! I thought you lads could fight!” The Gray Fox said exasperatedly. “Soons we get back to base I’m whipping you sorry lot into shape, savvy?”

“You will do no such thing Gray Fox!” Shining Armor said, horn glowing with magic as he levitated the Gray Fox into the air. “I’ve got you now! I’m taking you in for crimes against Equestria and her people, you’ll be answering to the Princesses themselves before paying for your crimes!”

“Is that so Mr. Armor?” The Gray Fox said with a toothy grin and easy going flick of his ear before suddenly twirling his staff. The gems on both ends of the quarter staff suddenly began glowing, creating a blue circle with the rate of the rotation before quite abruptly a bang sounded and the Gray Fox dropped to the floor, the glow surrounding his body leaving in a burst of particles. “My staff seems to disagree with you mate, fancy that.”

“How… Your staff… DROP YOUR WEAPON!” Armor said authoritatively. “Give it here!”

“Ask and ye shall receive Captain.” The Gray Fox said slyly before throwing his staff to the floor between them. The bulbous gems on the staff impacted the floor with a loud ‘Bong!’ before flying up and rebounding off Shining Armor’s face, causing the Captain of the Guard to collapse to the floor in pain as the Gray Fox caught his weapon. “Right, time to show you sorry lot how it’s done!”

Armor looked through eyes blurred by tears from his nose being smashed and saw the Gray Fox wreak havoc amongst his guards. The Fox’s staff was a blur of motions as he leapt forward, cracking an earth pony on the head with it before smashing a pegasi diving at him out of the air. Another unicorn attempted to hold him magically but he just twirled his staff and the effect was somehow ended before he brought the staff crashing squarely on the unicorn’s horn, causing the horn to shatter and the unicorn to scream in pain as he collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

The Diamond Dogs, both injured and still fighting, were invigorated by the sight of their boss taking down the Royal guards with ease and a cocky smile that never faded once. They fought harder, and the ones that were able to got up from the floor to rejoin the fight. The Royal Guards found themselves quickly losing as the Gray Fox continued to rapidly take them down and allowed the Dogs to make better use of their numbers. Before long only a handful remained, and were quickly dog piled before being tied up. Seeing this, Shining Armor tried to shrug off the daze his mind was still in and get back up when something impacted him hard in the back and forced him back down. Looking up he saw the Gray Fox standing over him, smiling smugly as he stood upon him with one foot.

“If I were you…” The Gray Fox began slowly, his smile never fading as he tapped Armor’s horn with his staff. “I’d stay down… savvy?”

Armor released an angry humiliated growl but stayed still, the threat of having his horn shattered and the agonizing pain it would cause, along with the fact he was completely outnumbered now, enough to cow him.

“There’s a good lad!” The Fox said cheerfully before proceeding to treat the Captain of the Guard as a mere stool to rest his foot on. “Oi! You lot down there!”

A Husky Diamond Dog suddenly appeared, poking his head out of one of the many holes darting the floor of the processing plant.

“Things okay boss?” Asked the Husky Diamond Dog.

“Had a bit of a tussle with these Royal Guards here.” The Gray Fox replied nonchalantly. “And most of the lads got hurt but the fight is over and done with mate. Get the rest of the lads out of the tunnels, no doubt the ponies got reinforcements on the way and I want as much loot as possible down in the tunnels.”

Right boss!” The husky replied before disappearing down the hole again. “Come on boys! Work to do! Up and at them!”

Diamond Dogs poured out of the holes by the dozens, either grabbing injured dogs or quickly setting to work dismantling machines. Shining Armor watched this angrily before turning his gaze up to the Gray Fox.

“What are you planning to do with those machines?” Armor asked and then got frustrated when the Gray Fox ignored him. “Answer me!”

“Oh what’s this? Think I’m just going to come out and spill my dastardly plans to you?” The Fox said amused, flashing Armor a toothy wide smile. “Well you’re plumb out of luck there mate. That trick may work on your garden variety criminal masterminds but I am my own special breed of criminal, savvy?”

Armor frowned uneasily at this but tried again anyway. “Is it the money you are after?”

“Oh ho you would think so would you mate!” The Gray Fox replied. “But it’s not about the money… times up lads! Grab what you can before diving in, but we have to go now!”

Immediately, dogs rushed to finish what they were dismantling or just carried what they could and ran for a hole. The dogs rushed for the safety of their dug holes even faster, the speed of their work being enough to carry off most of the machinery that had been sitting on the processing plant floor.

Before long it was only The Gray Fox, Shining Armor and the various incapacitated Royal Guards in the plant. Holes closed up around them until only one remained and only then did the Gray Fox step off Shining Armor, walking over to the sole remaining hole with the strange swaying walk of his. Stepping at the very edge of the hole and looking back at the Captain of the Guard who was angrily glaring after him, the Fox then saluted him cheerfully.

“Shining Armor…” The Gray Fox began. “You’ll always remember this, as the day you almost slowed down the greatest thief to ever grace Equestria, THE GRAY FOX!”

With that the Fox fell backwards into the hole that quickly filled up, with dirt fountaining up from below. Mere seconds after this, dozens of Royal Guards burst onto the processing plant floor to reinforce the outnumbered Royal Guards, now far too late.

‘Gray Fox…’ Shining Armor thought seething with anger and humiliation as he stood back up from the floor. ‘I swear on this day that I shall not underestimate you again.’

“Captain Armor!” Shouted a worried guard as he approached. “Are you alright?”

“My nose is aching and bleeding a little, but otherwise I am fine.” Armor replied a little stiffly. “The other guards are in far worse condition than me. Attend to them first, we need to wrap up here quickly. I need to send a report to the Princesses as soon as possible, then we will likely return to Canterlot in a few days as her highnesses will want a personal report.”

“Yes sir!” The guard replied with a salute before setting to work.

‘You will not make a mockery of Equestria and her laws Gray Fox.’ Armor thought earnestly. ‘I shall bring you to justice one way or the other.’

Oskar walked down a street in Ponyville, mind lost as she pondered her current situation. She had plenty of machines now, and plenty of metal working tools to do some basic metal working. Plus the Diamond Dogs were already making use of the foundry devices to make much more pure metals. She did have the ability to work and do a lot with metal herself, having claws sharp enough to cut into metal and fire breath hot enough to melt it. But doing all the metal work herself would take a lot of personal time, which she did not have anymore as she now had to balance leading the Diamond Dogs and living and working as Emerald Gleaner. So it would be a much more efficient use of her time getting machines for the dogs to use, teach them how to use and keep them in top condition, and then give them things to get done.

Now however, she had a different issue to deal with, namely power and lack of a way to replace broken circuitry en masse. Using what she had and knew, Oskar could create new circuits to replace any that may break herself, but again this led to her doing things herself and the reason she had the Diamond Dogs and got them tools and machinery was so she didn’t have too.

‘Obviously one of the other cities, Las Pegasus and Vanhoover, has the production facilities for computer parts.’ Oskar thought. ‘With that in mind, I’ll be able to get those parts in time so hopefully nothing major will break before then. Now the power issue, hmm… I know of a few ways to solve that. Namely, I could make a hydroelectric dam, a wind turbine, a coal or an oil generator. But the hydro dam and wind turbine would need some rather sparse parts and while I am not aware of any oil deposits nearby I do know that we have plenty of coal. But again those need some rather advanced parts that we do not have in great supply right now… steam generators are rather simple and we could use them until we upgrade to more better power sources… or we could see just how much power that Storm Sapphire can generate? Hmm… I have a set up in mind that could work with what I know about the gem. Let’s see wha- Huh?’

Oskar’s thoughts ground to a stop as she saw something out of the corner of her eye that looked fairly familiar and she turned to get a closer look. She froze in place when she did and her eyes widened.

Her mane was frazzled looking, she bags under her eyes, and the very way she carried herself was different, but there was no mistaking who she was looking at, Rose Locks.

The unicorn mare was walking tiredly into town, seeming to have finally returned home after a long term stay in a psychiatric hospital. Her saddlebags holding the few things she had brought with her when she decided to set out on her fateful journey to Canterlot.

The virus winced and a wave of guilt surged up as she remembered what she had done that day vividly. The day she had violently assaulted Rose Locks and nearly killed her just for a scrap of DNA, something she could have easily gotten by just carefully scanning the road for the odd piece of shed hair.

Oskar bit her lip as she took in how beaten down Rose Locks looked. The feeling of guilt grew worse by the second as she took in the sight before her, and a desire to do something grew within her. After a few moments racked by uncertainty, Oskar hesitantly stepped forwards and towards the tormented mare.

“Uhh… e-excuse me.” Oskar said haltingly, gaining the unicorn’s attention. “H-hi… I’m… uh my name is Emerald Gleaner and uhh… pleased to meet you?”

Rose Locks simply stared back at her with a blank expression.

“Uhh…” Oskar mumbled with a wince and downcast look. “That was a pretty bad first impression wasn’t it? Umm… I just wanted to introduce myself and maybe uhh… maybe… hangout?”

Once again Rose Locks stared silently at the fake unicorn, not at all reacting to Oskar’s awkward attempts to be friendly. She was on the verge of simply giving her the cold shoulder and walking off but… something about her was… familiar. Something about this strange unicorn made Rose Locks want to forgive the odd first impression and give her another chance and accept her offer, and now that the unicorn thought about it, it was kind of rude to snub somepony when they were just trying to be friendly.

“Okay…” Rose replied quietly after an agonizingly long awkward moment.

“OH!” Oskar gasped delightedly, having almost convinced herself she had completely failed to help the mare she had hurt so many months ago. “That’s wonderful! Thank you for giving me a chance. Do you want something to eat? I know this nice diner just down the street, I’m buying if that helps…”

“Sure… that sounds nice,” Rose said and followed the virus as she led the way.

Before long Oskar and Rose Locks arrived at the diner and were waiting for their orders.

Nursing her cream soda, Rose looked up at the other unicorn that was doing the same. She was rather surprised at herself for accepting the offer to hangout from a complete stranger, even more so when after the incident she had grown rather unfriendly of ponies she didn’t know, and began wondering just about who this Emerald Gleaner was that made her make an exception for her.

‘Great, more strangers.’ The tormented unicorn thought as she spied a group of young mares approaching their table. ‘What the hay do they want?’

“Excuse me, Miss Gleaner?” The lead mare asked upon arriving at the table with her group.

“Err, yes?” Oskar replied.

“My friends and I were just wondering if you could give us an autograph,” She asked shyly. “I know you don’t like it when ponies bother you when you are in Ponyville but we would really appreciate it if you did!”

“Uhh, sure why not?” Oskar said, sheepishly shooting a look at Rose who was now gaping at her. “Do you have a pen and paper?”

“YES!” All the young mares shouted at once and each held out a pen and paper for her to sign her name.

“Alright…” Oskar muttered and concentrated as she magically took all the pens and began signing all the papers at once. “There you all go.”

“Thank you Miss Gleaner!” The mares said and began walking away, chattering excitedly when an earth pony with a bandage covering his nose appeared.

“Picture?” He asked nervously.

“Oh sur- HEY! YOU’RE THAT REPORTER!” Oskar began before shouting, making the pony in question flinch back. “You and your friends stay away from my home!”

“Does this mean I don’t get to take a picture?” The reporter asked softly.

“…Fine.” Oskar said after a moment and instantly made a picture perfect smile until the reporter was able to snap a picture. “Now get lost.”

“What in the world was that for?” Rose asked after the reporter scrambled away.

“Umm… I’m kind of sorta a famous model.” Oskar said sheepishly just as a pegasus trailing a banner that had her posing while advertising a product.

“I noticed.” Rose deadpanned to the now embarrassed looking virus. “… Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why in the wide world of Equestria would somepony like you want with somepony like me?” Rose Lucks asked, not sure whether to feel suspicious for “Emerald’s” reason for helping her or feel touched that she did.

“It… it’s just that…” Oskar began, somehow looking very small as she did so. “You looked like you needed a friend and I know I have no right to try to be that friend but… I just felt I had to try to help you.”

“Oh…” Rose said softly, feeling her expression soften and her heart start to warm. “I… I appreciate what you’re doing Emerald, I really do though I don’t seem it. I do kind of need a friend right now…”

It was after that moment their food arrived and the mares began to eat while just talking about anything that entered their minds, just content to enjoy the other’s company and the good food. Far too quickly for the two’s liking, the food was gone and the diner started to get busy, making them decide to leave.

Oskar and Rose walked down the street, content to enjoy the comfortable silence that arose between them. Oskar was about to ask Rose something when Pinkie made a sudden appearance.

“Oh hello Rosie!” Pinkie shouted happily. “I heard you wer-”

“DEAR CELESTIA!” Rose screamed in shock from Pinkie surprising her and began panting as she stared at the pink pony with wide eyes. “Bucking Tartarus… PINKIE! What the hay is your problem?!? Argh, Goddess condemn it to Tartarus anyway!!”

“Wha??” Pinkie flinched away from the raging mare, confused and hurt.

“Pinkie!” Oskar shouted and quickly grabbed her telekinetically.

“What did I do?” Pinkie asked, looking very hurt as her mane began losing its characteristic curls. “Why is everypony screaming and getting mad at me?”

“Pinkie… look,” Oskar’s expression softened a little as she pointed back at Rose who was panting and clutching her chest, desperately trying to catch her breath. “You know Rose had a breakdown right? Well… she doesn’t take to being surprised all that well… apparently. I’m sorry for snapping at you. I didn’t know that till now either, it’s just… I reacted.”

“Oh… I did that?” Pinkie asked softly, looking at the freaked out mare. “I didn’t mean to… I just heard she got out of the hospital and wanted to see how my friend was doing.”

“Yeah she is in a bad way right now and I’m trying to help her.” Oskar said sadly looking at Rose. “I’m thinking of introducing her to my other friends, like Time Turner, Bon Bon and Lyra, and seeing if that does any good.”

“That sounds good, maybe I can help make her feel better too?” Pinkie asked hopefully. “I can hold a ‘Sorry I Scared you Party’ for her…”

“Maybe… only if it isn’t a surprise party though.” The virus replied.

“Yeah…” Pinkie replied sheepishly.

“Cheer up Pinkie.” Oskar said, feeling that a sad Pinkie just wasn’t right. “You didn’t know she doesn’t take surprises very well and I didn’t know as well so I couldn’t warn you about it.”

“…I’m going to go see if Fluttershy wants any help renovating her home,” Pinkie said before walking away.

Oskar just shook her head at that and walked back over to Rose who had finally calmed down.

“Are you feeling alright?” Oskar asked the mare.

“No… bucking filly needs to learn not to startle ponies.” Rose muttered crossly.

“She didn’t know you don’t like being surprised, please don’t hold it against her.” Oskar asked Rose. “All she wanted was to see if you were alright after your stay in the hospital and make you smile.”

“Fine, I won’t hold against her.” Rose said, averting her gaze from Oskar before asking quietly. “Does everypony know about that?”

“Yes…”

“Goddess condemn it anyway… everypony in town probably thinks I’m crazy.” Rose muttered unhappily.

“Maybe… but it’s been a while, everypony probably forget about it by now.” Oskar said as comfortingly as possible.

“So instead of everypony treating me like a bomb about to go off I have to deal with ponies just not caring about what happened?” Rose asked heatedly. “So much better…”

“Rose I’m just trying to make you feel better, not trying to point out how bad things might be.” Oskar said patiently. “But if what you need is to vent then I’m here for you.”

“I… thank you…” Rose whispered, that odd sense of familiarity causing a warmth to bloom in her heart. “I don’t mean to be this way, it’s just that being surprised reminded me of… I’m fine now.”

“Well… do you want to meet some friends of mine?” Oskar asked, deciding to change the topic. “They are a bunch of rather nice ponies and I think you would like them.”

“If you say so…”

The Evolved didn’t let the unenthusiastic response discourage her and quickly sent out several viral pulses for Bon Bon, Lyra and Time Turner. Thankfully they all seemed close together again so Oskar began leading the way to them with a gloomy looking Rose Locks lagging somewhat behind.

A few minutes later Oskar and Rose arrived in a park and the virus saw the ponies she was looking for. Time Tuner seemed to be studying some journals on a bench with Lyra sitting next to him, using her magic to create patterns with a long piece of string while Bon Bon was a little ways off flying a humming bird kite in the air.

“Hey everypony!” Oskar greeted loudly, attracting the others’ attention.

“Hello Emerald!” Time Turner greeted back. “Who is that behind y-oh, is she your sister?”

“What? Wow I didn’t know you had a sister Emerald!” Bon Bon said upon noticing Rose behind Oskar but turned back to notice that her kite had crashed into a tree when she wasn’t paying attention. “Oh, my kite…”

“When were you going to tell us you had a sister Emerald?” Lyra asked, putting down her string and stepping closer.

“Uh, she isn’t my sister,” Oskar replied. “I had just run into her in town.”

“Really?” Lyra said incredulously. “She looks just like you, only less…”

“Less what?” Rose Locks asked with a raised brow. “Just what exactly were you going to say?”

“Uhh… I’m just going to step over here now,” Lyra said sheepishly before walking a short distance away.

“Well Lyra being Lyra aside, my name is Bon Bon,” Bon Bon said pleasantly. “Pleased to meet you!”

“And I am Doctor Time Turner Whooves,” Time Turner replied cheerfully. “Glad to meet you.”

“Hello… I’m Rose Locks,” The mare said hesitantly but began to smile at Time Turner. “I’m glad to meet you both as well.”

“Rose Locks just came back from a long trip and I figured we could give her a tour of the town,” Oskar said. “Yeah she lives here but it’s been a long time and a lot of stuff has happened and I figured we could fill her in.”

“Sure thing Emerald,” Bon Bon agreed but flashed the virus a knowing smile. “We’ll be glad to fill her in about all the things that have been happening.”

“I know something exciting!” Lyra shouted, bounding back into the conversation. “Do you know about the Monster of Everfree?”

“Aren’t there tons of monsters in Everfree?” Rose replied.

“Yeah but this one was especially monstrous,” Lyra replied. “They don’t even know what it looked like!”

‘Well… this is going well so far.’ Oskar thought as she took in the scene before her. ‘I know that I of all people have no right to try to be her friend after what I put her through but… I’m glad I’m trying to be anyway, if even just to help fix what I had ruined.’

With that the Evolved stepped forward and joined into the conversation with a small smile.

“It seems I was wrong to hope that the Gray Fox would return from whence he came once he had taken the prisoners,” Celestia said with a tired sigh. “The Gray Fox has proven to be a most skillful thief by the sheer value and size of the items he has stolen.”

Celestia and her sister Luna were in the throne room holding a small meeting with Shining Armor, something that was done as soon as said unicorn returned from Manehattan empty hoofed.

“Tis worse still dear sister.” Luna replied. “The vile rouge has caused a number of small companies to file bankruptcy, being unable to replace the machines that were stolen. The loss of suppliers is already having an effect on the economy in the region with rising prices from lack of goods.”

“At the very least we can expect raids to stop now in Manehattan.” Shining Armor stated. “There are fewer factories to watch now and we are very obviously expecting him… Princess I must apologize again for failing to apprehend the criminal, I underestimated his resourcefulness and I was forced to watch him get away once again.”

“There is no need for apologies, Shining Armor,” Celestia said kindly. “You are no beginner, you have a great amount of experience with criminals but this Gray Fox seems to be quite a few steps above them all.”

“That is what worries me,” Armor admitted with a frown. “For criminals it is the illegal stealing and hoarding of wealth that drives them, yet the Gray Fox himself has personally admitted that wealth is not what drives him.”

“It begs the questions then, what does drive this scoundrel?” Luna asked aloud. “What drives this Fox to steal these machines if not for ill-gotten riches?”

“I fear some vile plot is in motion and we are only capable of seeing the very fringes of it,” Celestia said worriedly. “Case in point, the Gray Fox’s new staff. Clearly this was not something he had just happened upon before his raids on the factories.”

“Yes… Captain Armor, you said that with a twirl of that staff the rogue was able to dispel magical attempts to bound him, yes?” Luna asked.

“Yes.” Armor replied. “He only spun it for a moment and I would feel my hold on him snap. If we can assume that the Gray Fox has the same abilities as the Diamond Dogs then it is likely he doesn’t have the innate ability to use magic.”

“I have read the report on the Alcoltraz breakout.” Celestia stated. “One of the officers there reported she had actually managed to catch the Gray Fox at one point and he broke out of it by throwing his weapon at her, forcing her to switch focus and freeing up the Fox for an attack on her. From this fact, I think we can safely agree that the Gray Fox is like his Dog kin and can’t use magic.”

“The fact implies a most terrible truth then,” Luna stated. “That the Gray Fox has in his employ an Artificer of magical items, which further implies that one of Equestria’s leading minds in magic is willingly aiding this fiend.”

“Could it not simply be that he is forcing somepony or simply lying to get what he wants?” Celestia suggested with a troubled frown.

“I would doubt it Princess,” Armor replied grimly. “The Gray Fox would have to go into great detail into what he wants and we would simply be able to ask Artificers until we find the one he is going to. Simply forcing one to make him things is also an issue as it is all too easy for a competent Artificer to disguise a deliberant flaw as a mistake or quirk of the item. No, it’s more likely he has one willingly aiding him.”

“A disturbing truth if so,” Celestia sighed sadly. “First the mysterious motivation for stealing machines and driving the economy down, now there may be a trusted Artificer willingly aiding him.”

“If it helps sister, it may not even be a licensed Artificer.” Luna stated. “It may very well be some criminal got hold of some books on the subjects.”

“Either way, we have a pattern to his future crimes now, machines,” Armor stated. “It’s highly likely he will move his focus to a different city rather than try his luck again in Manehattan, but in case he hasn’t I have several guards on standby in Manehattan. Seeing as there are only two other cities he could strike, Las Pegasus and Vanhoover, we can do work to watch production facilities and hopefully prevent more raids. I cannot do it with what resources I have set aside for this task though, I may need to pull most if not all Royal Guards from the other operations we have in progress.”

“If we must Armor,” Celestia said solemnly. “I am giving you all the authority you need to catch this criminal and whatever resources you may require. The Gray Fox has a plot in motion and I fear for my ponies’ safety and livelihood should it come to pass.”

“It shall be done Princess!” Armor said with salute. “With the both of you as my witnesses, I swear I shall bring him to justice!”

“Then with my blessing, set to your work Shining Armor,” Celestia commanded. “We, Equestria and her people depend on you to succeed against this crafty foe.”

With a small bow Armor turned about and galloped out of the throne room, eager to set to work.

“Best of luck Captain Armor,” Luna said softly. “You’ll need it, should the cunning of this foe hold.”

Oskar was in his base form sitting at a desk with a thick top covered with notches and scratches in a fairly roughly carved stone room. On the desk was a new staff, this one had smaller egg shaped cyan gems cradled by the wings of eagles on each end of the staff. Along its length were two places where tightly coiled quality pieces of black leather for a comfortable grip were, and the visible metal seemed more like polished silver then a piece of iron. It was also entirely made of biomass.

Examining his creation with a critical eye for a moment, Oskar then gave a satisfied smile before turning to look to his side. Along the wall was a rack with his two previous staffs: his first metal bar staff simply pried from a cell door, and the staff he had made to excuse some of his magical use.

‘Can get away with more using this!’ Oskar thought happily just as the door opened behind him.

“Boss got somethings to tell you and a problem,” Belvedere said from the doorway.

“Be right with you,” Oskar replied before getting up and placing his new staff on the rack before walking over and out the door with the Alpha.

“We got all those little animals you wanted,” Belvedere stated as they walked out into the quickly changing cavern. Before, it was fairly empty, but now it was quickly filling with stone complexes that were a little like crude apartment buildings. The Dogs didn’t really know how to make the plaster to keep the stone together, but apparently the Elders did and were quick to begin directing dogs how to make their first proper homes in generations. Cramped as they may be, they were still far better than the hovels they lived in. “And got room for pony machines to be set up when finally done.”

“Fantastic!” Oskar replied with a smile, pleased and a little amused to note that Belvedere was the quickest to begin picking up on the grammar corrections. “And what is the issue?”

“That pony we keep in small room.” Belvedere replied. “She keeps trying to break out, almost managed it once but was caught because guards so many in main tunnel.”

“When was this?” Oskar asked with a troubled frown.

“When everyone go off to raid last factory.” The Alpha answered. “We keep more guards on her now but might not be so lucky next time.”

“Hmm…” The virus stopped and crossed his arms, tilting his head to the side as he thought intently of the problem with Whisper Wind.

“… I have an idea for something,” Oskar finally said after a minute, frowning as he seemed to be thinking intently on something. “I need a few days to make absolutely sure it works but once I do then we can purposefully drop our guard and let her out.”

“Hmm… this way you use thing you thought of to teach her lesson and she will not want to escape again, right?” Belvedere said.

“Exactly!” Oskar replied, a little impressed that he picked up on it. “Now that was the last thing you wanted to talk to me about right? Okay then I want another room carved out, it’ll be the power chamber but also I want some of the more smarter and quick thinking dogs gathered up. I want to start giving them a few technical lessons on the basics of mechanics. I gave them some instruction earlier but it was only enough for them to hopefully not break stuff while taking it apart.”

“Got it boss.”

“Also, food may be an issue later. Have some rooms carved out and the floor covered with dirt.” Oskar added. “I have some ideas for those…”