Albert Wesker and… There’s a Dragon Living Nearby?!
Author’s Note: I will skip ahead a tiny bit in this chapter. Apologies to those who prefer me to cover every little detail but jeeeeeeeeeeeeeez am I going slowly towards the storylines I want to cover. May be a spoiler alert but Wesker will not be directly involved in Dragonshy or Look Before You Sleep because I’m a little bit disaffected with how ineffectual I’ve been in making episodes notably different with ol’ Weskie in. At least enough so to make them unique. Plus, I have an awesome idea for what’ll happen with Al during Look Before You Sleep. So anyways, I love you guys and feel free to leave comments and feedback cos you know… that’s what comments are for. Also, can my beta’s remind me if I’ve updated the last chapter cos I genuinely can’t remember and my brain is mush. Possibly not. Pretty short chapter here because… it’s short.
After yet another, thankfully brief, visit to the hospital and despite Nurse Redheart’s desperate attempt to get him to stay overnight, Wesker only had a pointless bandage placed around his head. Even though the bandage was slightly itchy, his pony compatriots would probably be slightly alarmed if they had seen the wound he had received almost immediately closing of its own accord. Being a god had it’s own perks.
Back onto being a deity, Albert? It ended so well last time.
The blond shifted on the Apple’s sofa uneasily and refused to acknowledge the mental slip for the time being. He’d walked back home alongside Applejack as a remarkably unaffected Ponyville shook off the giant, bloody star bear that had partially demolished their town and returned to their homes, the ones whose homes would require… reconstruction staying at their friends’ abodes.
It just didn’t make sense. How could everyone be so casual about something so… colossal and potentially dangerous? Had everyone in this land had some sort of collective lobotomy? It was easy to develop a superiority complex when everyone else was so infuriatingly inferior. Everyone had offered his or her sympathies and thanks for Wesker’s part in being slapped against a wall, an opportunity Wesker had used to hand his tattered suit to Rarity with an apologetic grimace. Again, once they saw he was in working order they seemed to wipe the incident from their minds. Still, at least Applejack had something to say about it afterwards so that was probably proof that it had definitely happened and wasn’t just a particularly solid fever dream.
“Phew, you really flew when that critter caught hold of ya!” His disapproving look didn’t serve its intended purpose, “What? You ain’t hurt, I can make fun of ya!” She looked at him sidelong, “Clearly you’re made of some real stern stuff.”
Indeed he was. God material, according to his idle brain. Wesker couldn’t help it. Even knowing how his arrogance had led to his death he couldn’t humble himself. There was no doubt in his mind, truly he was in the highest echelon and these ponies could enjoy their flighty, nothing existence whilst they could. Albert Wesker smirked darkly as he settled down in his makeshift bed. When his time came, he would provide an infinitely more tangible danger than any Griffon or Ursa Minor ever was capable of.
After a refreshingly dreamless sleep (Dark had clearly decided to give him a break for once) he awoke, grabbed and ate an apple on the kitchen counter and found Big Macintosh waiting for him outside. As anyone would expect, Wesker spoke first, “Good morning. I assume the antics of yesterday haven’t affected the fact I have to work today?”
Big Mac smiled knowingly, “Nope.”
“I also assume Applejack told you especially to ensure I didn’t use what happened as an excuse to slack off?”
“Eeyup.”
Wesker frowned, “Does the appearance of a giant space bear startle you even slightly? Nopony else seems even remotely concerned.”
The large red pony shrugged, “Ain’t none of my business. Not to mention that we live right on the edge of the Everfree. All kinds of strange critters around at night.”
“Including giant space bears?”
“Apparently so.” He nodded towards the plough and smiled, “Bet’cha can’t finish ‘fore I do.”
Wesker half-smirked, half-grimaced. “Challenge accepted.”
One might think it would be easy for a super strong, super fast individual to plough a field faster than even the most seasoned farmhand. That was entirely true; the only concern lay in doing so at a slow enough pace to ensure that the farmhand wouldn't suspect that his competitor was in fact an ex-human scientist on a severe power trip.
Well okay, it seemed unlikely that Big Mac would suspect that specifically but if the ex-scientist shot around the field like a firework let loose then he would begin to see that things weren't quite as they seemed. He was quiet but Wesker was a good enough reader of… ponies to realise that the large stallion was anything but stupid. Of course, he was the brighter of the two… as though that weren’t painfully obvious.
Hours seemed to pass as the two tilled the soil for planting but at no point did Wesker tire or have his mind stray from his goal of finishing quickly in a manner that would not direct suspicion towards him. How different this was from the previous time he had worked in the fields; truly his sense had finally been restored. No tantrums over past failures and no nonsensical denial of his true self. Finally he was attuned to this bizarre land and more importantly to what he wanted to achieve.
Of course, as was always the case for him in Equestria, his victory was short lived.
“So my prize for being faster than you is to carry a cartload of apples into town.”
“Eeyup.”
“And I assume my punishment for losing would have been…?”
“Carryin’ a cartload o’ apples into town.”
Wesker sighed, “Hook me up and I’ll go.”
“Eeyup.”
As the former Umbrella operative prepared for the indignity of being attached to an applecart like some sort of donkey, he sniffed the air cautiously, “Can you smell smoke?”
A tentative “Eeyup” was all the reply he received. As Big Mac scanned his surroundings, he eventually pointed a hoof towards the horizon at a large mountain some way in the distance.
High up on this particular mountain, a great deal of black smoke was billowing from a cave entrance straight down into the town of Ponyville and the thick acrid smell had already reached Ponyville. Wesker grazed a hoof across his chin as he set off towards town to get some answers and unfortunately deliver some apples.
Probably a dragon.
He snorted incredulously, what a ridiculous notion. It was almost certainly some kind of fire.
You’ve been here a while Al so you should know but I’m telling you: It’s a dragon. A giant, smoke-belching, fire-breathing beast of a dragon.
Wesker shook his head disbelievingly. It was time to find out what was really going on and as luck would have it, he passed through the park just as Twilight Sparkle was making a dramatic announcement to the concerned masses.
“Don’t worry everypony, all this black smoke is not coming from a fire.”
Told you.
Shut up.
“It’s coming from a dragon!”
Told you.
Shut up! So… there was a giant dragon living within smoking distance of Ponyville. Discovered a day after an ursine creature taller than a house and made of star matter had attacked the town. There went any hope of getting a pony to remember the day before; all the locals really seemed to live in the moment. Wesker couldn’t imagine that changing when ‘the moment’ contained a huge dragon… coughing… smoke onto Ponyville?
To be honest, it hadn’t really been made clear how exactly this dragon was producing enough smoke to almost blot out the town so the reluctant farmhand trudged over to Twilight in order to enquire about what was going on. Her answer and the solution proposed did not exactly fill Wesker with a great deal of confidence.
“It’s snoring smoke? So there’s not an excess of smoke from illness and it’s not being done deliberately and maliciously?”
The purple unicorn nodded unsurely, confused as to Wesker’s reasoning behind this line of questioning, “That’s right.”
“So this dragon is big enough to drown an entire town in smoke whilst asleep?”
“I guess that’s the case…”
“And your solution to this problem is to reason with this dragon?”
“Yes. Hopefully once he realises the negative effect his smoke is having upon the town, he’ll find another, less harmful place to sleep.”
“How certain are you that it won’t just eat you?”
“Erm…”
“For that matter, how certain is Celestia…”
“Princess Celestia!”
Wesker rolled his eyes, “How certain is her royal, majestic, holy highness that it won’t just eat you?”
“I’m sure Princess Celestia wouldn’t put us in unnecessary danger.”
“Miss Sparkle, I know your faith in your mentor is absolute but would you not feel a lot safer if I were to accompany you?”
Don’t you mean accompo…
Don’t you dare.
Twilight smiled, “I appreciate the offer Albert but I was told specifically to take only my fellow elements of harmony with me.”
It was worth a try to see a real dragon but he knew better than to press the issue, “Fair enough Miss Sparkle. I only ask that you proceed with caution, truly you are irreplaceable.”
The blush that Wesker had been aiming for spread across her face like wildfire as she muttered a shy ‘thank you’ and shot off towards her home.
Well well well, if the holders of the elements of harmony were to die at the hands of a dragon…? What would happen to their respective elements? Would they be up for grabs? Free from their usual restrictions of personality? It was certainly a possibility that required further investigation but Wesker was patient, he most definitely would not skulk after them like a cartoon villain.
Tempting though, isn’t it?
Annoyingly so. However, he would wait a day or so for their return before making the same ascent they had. Much to his displeasure, the blond almost knew that the whole farcical situation would be resolved peacefully. They’d probably all join hooves and toast some marshmallows on his fiery breath before he waved them goodbye and rested elsewhere, safe in the knowledge that he’d always have his pony friends safe in his heart wherever he went, no matter what.
Bless. That’s beautiful; I think living here has really changed you for the better.
Shut up.
Truth be told, he was actually somewhat glad that all five elements of harmony would be elsewhere as he delivered his apples. It certainly lowered the chances of any mayhem within the town itself. They truly were trouble magnets of the highest order. He could hardly talk though.
There’s a difference between being a magnet for trouble and actively seeking it out.
Nonsense. He was merely proactive; trouble just took umbrage at that.
As he hummed tunelessly to himself, delivering apples to the locations Big Macintosh had specified, a faint but noticeable pang struck him at the thought of the five ponies he had recently met being eviscerated. This was most certainly unlike him and troubled him greatly throughout his rounds.
Taking off the harness once he had completed the simple and uneventful task, he stretched and popped the joints in his neck whilst contemplating the zigzagging nature of his thoughts so far today.
Unfortunately, the place he had decided to do this was right outside the hospital and a certain medical pony had spotted him as he leaned against the wall.
“Ah, Mr Wesker. Finished working for today?” Before he could even answer, Nurse Redheart wrapped a hoof around his startled shoulders, “Then you should come see the results of your latest tests!”
He groaned as he was dragged back towards the hospital. Being a god certainly had its flaws.