Oskar Osäker: True Omnivore

by Legionary

Chapter 12: The Rise

Bluno watched as the Boss worked on some weird looking pole.

He and his shapeshifting leader were in the Everfree caverns, in said shape shifter’s personal workshop. He had asked for a long piece of metal and some wood before sitting down to work, shaping the metal and carving the wood with those little weird tentacles of his. Oskar also made these little screws out of the metal when he needed it and created this glue-like substance to help hold the wood in place. When he was finally done after a few hours of work, he was left holding this strange long pole. One end was wood and looked sort of like a paddle, while the other end was this metal tube with a point sticking up at the end. Near the wooden part was this strange little blunt hook that Oskar had placed for some reason and atop it was a latch like mechanism.

Just when Bluno had thought that Oskar was done though, the shape shifter just went right back to work on something else. Oskar began shaping a piece of brass and some scrap metal into two shapes while mixing various powdery substances together as Bluno watched on in increasing boredom born out of incomprehension.

‘Boss is always making weird stuff like this and thinking of weird ideas.’ Bluno thought as he scratched his head. ‘They all have been useful so far though, like those foundry things that make good steel instead of that cruddy foot iron we used to have. So we have nice armor now that won’t get bent all the time. Not too sure what those pony machines we are stealing are going to be good for yet though. Boss says they’ll be very useful though, and he hasn’t been wrong so far.’

Oskar didn’t need nearly as long to finish the other thing as he needed for the pole thing. He was already done shaping the metal, making this weird little solid metal cone and this small metal pot like thing. Oskar then collected the powder together and poured them into the metal pot before taking the cone and sticking it in the top, squeezing the lip around the cone to hold it securely in place. After that, Oskar then sat back and viewed his creation for a brief moment before nodding in satisfaction. Putting the little metal capsule in his pocket and picking up the long pole thing in his hand, Oskar then stood up.

“Follow me,” Oskar commanded Bluno and the Husky Alpha fell into step silently.

The two soon exited out of a building that had dogs with crude chisels hammering away at the walls and trying to make decorative patterns, all the while being supervised by an elderly Diamond Dog.

“Quid est hoc? Si iam tempus catulos?” the old Boxer muttered in irritation under his breath, making Oskar immediately stop and look at him in surprise. The elder dog noticed Oskar out of the corner of his eyes and faced him before bowing his head respectfully and placing a closed fist against his chest. “Princeps.”

Oskar seemed to be rather surprised by the elder greeting him in what Bluno identified as the old tongue that he never had time to properly learn. He knew enough to make translations, but after an incident involving a few elders decided not to do translations again. From what little Bluno knew, he guessed that the elder had asked a question about the time. As for the word the elder had called Oskar, Bluno had never heard of the word before and so partly guessed from what the word sounded like in Equestrian, namely he guessed that the elder called Oskar a Prince… or accused him of prancing. Bluno was pretty sure the elder hadn’t said the latter.

Oskar nodded back at the elder before continuing on his way with Bluno quickly on his heels, the elder turning back to overseeing the dogs working on the wall.

The two walked down a street in the cavern, walking past a busy street leading down to the large room with the stolen pony machines. Dogs were carrying out parts and plates of steel processed by the machines on large carts while others brought freshly smelted steel to be processed. The steel being processed by the machines wasn’t even being used for anything, it was just being stored for the time being, leaving a massive room slowly filling up with more and more metal parts.

While Bluno was curious about the purpose of the metal, he was more than willing to wait until the Boss saw fit to tell everyone why he was making a large stockpile of it, guessing it would be sometime after the last factories were raided.

Moving further along the streets and away from the one that led into the pony machines, the two moved deeper into the tiny underground city. Diamond Dog civilians wandered the streets going about their business, many took the time to wave or greet Oskar who smiled at them in turn. To Bluno, this was a contrast to how dogs acted around Oskar a few months ago, where they showed great fear and avoided the shape shifter like a plague. It helped a lot that during the entire time Oskar had been leading them as the new Boss, he had never been cruel to them. Granted, neither was he particularly nice or close to any of them on a personal level, but he was the Boss. He was meant to lead them, not be their friend, and Bluno could easily understand that.

Soon the sound of Dogs cheering and egging on someone started to reach the ears of the two, causing Oskar to frown and pick up the pace with Bluno right behind him. Eventually the sight of a small plaza met the eyes of the two. In this plaza was a large group of Diamond Dogs. These dogs were ones that Oskar had been putting through their paces in this really tough training. It appeared that what had once been an orderly training session had eventually devolved into two of the most imposing dogs in the group having a wild brawl with each other as the others watched and egged them on.

“Hold this,” Oskar said slowly as he shoved the weird pole into Bluno’s arms before striding off to the brawl.

The surrounding dogs cheering on the two brawlers quickly began to quiet as Oskar approached and moved out of his way when he moved into the crowd of them. Soon the only sound was of the two dogs hitting each other, but that soon stopped as well as they also started to notice the quiet. A look of panic appeared on their features as Oskar appeared and they quickly dusted themselves off as he stared at them judgmentally.

“What is this?” Oskar said aloud, motioning to the two dogs, yet looking at all the others around him. “This isn’t what I’ve been trying to teach you. This is two meatheads beating each other until one cries uncle. This isn’t at all the fighting discipline I am trying to instill in all of you.”

He stared at all the dogs, waiting for an answer he knew wouldn’t come.

“You!” Oskar said, pointing at one of the dogs that had been fighting and making him jump. “Come at me! Attack me! Come on, DO IT!”

The dog in question hesitated greatly, but charged Oskar with a half frightened shout, knowing full well this was going to hurt far more than his previous fight.

He was right. As soon as he was in range, Oskar dropped down into a crouch and punched him in the groin, causing the dog to bend over as he clutched at his groin. The shapeshifter then kneed the dog’s face as he rose back up into a stand, making the dog clutch at his face as he fell backwards with a thump, blood pouring from his nose. Quickly stepping forward Oskar then raised a foot and brought it down, smashing the rock ground right next to the dog’s head.

“Now I know what you are thinking,” Oskar stated simply, turning away from the agonized dog on the ground. “So what if I could do that? I’m immensely fast and strong, so of course I’d be able to do that with ease. Being strong and fast helps but what I just did can be done by any one of you as long as you keep the ideals I am trying to teach you in mind.”

“One: Counter attack as soon as possible!” Oskar began loudly. “Or better yet, preemptively attack your foe! Two: Target the weak points foremost! Eyes, throat, face, groin, knees, feet and fingers if they have them! Don’t let idiotic concepts like fighting fair get in your way! Three: Maximize effectiveness and efficiency. In short, incapacitate your foe as quickly as possible and with as little effort as possible! You never know when the next fight will be! It could literally be around the next corner, so using up as little of your energy as you can is essential! And finally, Four: Maintain awareness of your surroundings as much as possible! Look for means of escape, further enemies and weapons in the environment you can use in a fight!”

“I am teaching all of you to fight!” Oskar continued. “I’m not talking about fancy moves and stances. I’m talking about winning! What I am trying to instill in all of you isn’t pretty and will make you look downright brutal to anyone that sees you in top form, but fighting isn’t meant to be fun, now isn’t it? But at the end of the day, as long as you are the one left standing and your enemy isn’t, does it really matter?”

“Back to the surface,” Oskar commanded the silent dogs. “I’ll be giving you all some remedial training later. You obviously need it.”

Oskar then walked back to Bluno and wordlessly took the pole from his grasp and continued on down the street as the dogs dispersed. Bluno felt phantom pains of twisted joints and punches to the throat and groin as he followed after him, recalling his own training sessions with the shape shifter and not at all envying the others for their future one.

Overall, Bluno agreed with Oskar’s statement of the style of fighting he was trying to teach, not at all being pretty or pleasant to look at. All the times he had seen Oskar in action, he worked to end a fight as quickly as possible. He didn’t waste time on talking or doing anything showy, he just wordlessly put his enemies down without gloating or hesitation. Of course, the same couldn’t be said of the Boss when he was acting like the ‘Gray Fox’, but that was just an act, and not how he really was.

One time he had asked Oskar where he had learned to fight the way he did, and he simply replied that he picked it up from a soldier who learned from a people that were being attacked all the time in a desert land. In Bluno’s mind, these desert people were a ten foot tall warrior race of solid muscle that learned to fight from the day they could walk and talk. Then he wondered who in their right mind would attack such a race.

Soon the two arrived at a building with a sign above its doors marked in crude Equestrian letters, ‘Presentation Center’. The two entered and immediately the sounds of talking and murmuring echoed faintly at them from down the hall they were in. The floor was made of stone bricks, and covering it here and there were home woven rugs and pelts from the various animals hunted in Everfree. Instead of walking towards the sound of talking, Oskar took an immediate right and went down another hallway.

Making some turns, they soon came before a single door and entered it.

Stepping out onto a brightly lit up stage with some dogs on it and hundreds of dogs gathered on the floor before it, Bluno hesitated briefly before following after Oskar, who hadn’t paused and simply continued on. The gathered dogs quieted themselves as they noticed Oskar arrive, and began watching him.

It was then that Bluno noticed that there appeared to be a large cage on the stage with a tarp covering it, and for some reason one of the tarp’s corners had a rope tied to it, which a dog a fair distance away was holding.

Oskar turned to the dog holding the rope and waved at him. The dog nodded in return and pulled on the rope, revealing its contents.

Inside the cage was a manticore who looked rather nervous at all the strangers around it. It then turned its attention to Oskar who was looking at it dispassionately, and gave a questioning nervous mewl at him.

Ignoring the manticore, Oskar brought up the pole he was using and tugged on the latch, opening a hole in the side of the metal tube. Taking the capsule out of his pocket Oskar then placed it in the hole before moving the latch back into its original position with a noise that was beginning to sound oddly ominous to Bluno’s ears.

“Cover your ears,” Oskar commanded and waited until everyone did so.

Bringing the pole up, Oskar then placed the wooden part against his shoulder and pointed the metal tube at the increasingly nervous Manticore. Oskar then leaned his head slightly against the pole, looking down along the metal tube’s length. Oskar brought his hand up to flip a switch at the pole’s side, before bringing it back to the dull looking hook on the bottom, then he-

BANG

Bluno jumped at the loud noise echoing throughout the room, frightened to such a degree he could hear his own heart in his ears, and it was so deafening he almost never heard the loud thud following the explosion-like sound. The rest of the Diamond Dogs were in no better shape as they shouted and panicked before briefly settling down. Not because they had gotten control of themselves, but because of what they were seeing on the stage.

The Manticore was very clearly dead, as the bloody hole where its left eye had been and its blankly staring remaining one attested. On the wall behind was a large splatter of blood.

Smoke emitted from the hole at the end of the pole Oskar was holding. The shape shifter then brought a hand up to the latch and pulled it back, causing the capsule to shoot out of the hole with a loud “ting”, inexplicably missing its cone. The capsule flew through the air before landing on the wooden stage with a thud that sounded so very deafening to everyone’s ears.

Flipping the switch on the side of the pole, Oskar then walked over to the very edge of the stage and held the pole above his head.

“THIS! IS A GUN!” Oskar shouted to the crowd before him. “You will learn to make them! You will learn to use them! With our machines we will soon be able to make them by the hundreds! With this, the Royal Guard of Equestria will no longer be a true threat.This weapon outranges every single thing they have in both power and lethality!”

Everyone in the room just stared at him with wide eyes, the silence drawing on and on as Oskar looked over the whole lot of them.

“And this is just the beginning,” Oskar said softly though the silence that may as well have been deafening. “I will personally make several more guns just like this one in order for everyone to get practice in, and bullets for said practice. There is still some time before we will have the capacity to build guns for everyone though, so for the foreseeable future the only time you will be using a gun is to learn how to handle, clean, dismantle and assemble it, safety, and finally, how to properly fire it. But you ALL will learn how to use a gun.”

‘Use em on what?’ Bluno thought, deathly curious but unwilling to ask.

“The Gray Fox, Equestria’s infamous and most wanted king of thieves decided to make a dramatic appearance at the games held in Las Pegasus,” Twilight read aloud to her friends who were listening intently as they all sat around a table in the library. “During this appearance, he allowed himself to be briefly interviewed by yours truly and answered a question on how he became the ‘Boss of the Diamond Dogs’. “I was just going on a bit of a walk about looking for a crew to work with when I found out about a local pack of Diamond Dogs. I went on over to see what was up and found that the entire group had suffered a run of bad luck. So I decided that they obviously needed someone to help lead them through their rough patch, and what better person to do that than me ey? Course they raised a bit of a clamour over the fact that they already had a boss so I went and took care of that myself. Let me tell you, that big blighter could take a hit.” When further questioned about the former Diamond Dog Boss the Gray Fox could be quoted as saying “He’s still around underground, pretty sure the useless lout is just feeding the vermin though.” Soon after sharing his story the Royal Guard made their own dramatic appearance and attempted to arrest the Gray Fox, however the dangerous thief proved to be still in control of the situation by revealing and demonstrating that he had rigged the stadium’s ceiling to blow. Allowing people and the press to leave, the Gray Fox only wanted the Royal Guards led by Captain Shining Armor himself to stay put. It was only later after a lengthy chase throughout the city that the true cunning of the Gray Fox was revealed. Having used himself as bait, the Gray Fox bought time for his Diamond Dogs to raid the unprotected factories, both stealing and destroying priceless machinery. Shining Armor of the Royal Guard could not be reached for comment on the perilous situation, but a Royal Guard representative did assure that the utmost care is being taken to protect Vanhoover from the King of Thieves, and revealed a tid-bit about the Gray Fox. His name is Jack McCloud. For a full quote on the Gray Fox’s story and everything that he said during his appearance, go to page 4.”

“Oh my…” Fluttershy said as she brought her hooves up to her face. “The Gray Fox sounds so scary and threatening!”

“Well that is jus’ great, jus’ what Equestria needed. Some no good thief stealing everypony’s hard work,” Applejack said sarcastically with a frown. “Ah was hoping they’d catch him quickly after they started posting those wanted posters everywhere. Starting to not look like it now.”

“Well he isn’t stealing from everypony,” Twilight emphasized as she flipped over to the page with the full quote. “It seems like he is only interested in stealing tech stuff. Not that that isn’t a bad thing. It just means the Royal Guard knows what to protect from him now.”

“I think he’s a big meanie!” Pinkie said as Rarity looked thoughtful. “He ruined that game for everypony in Las Pegasus, and now they have to wait until it can be rescheduled!”

“He seems kinda cool,” Rainbow Dash said, looking at the front of the newspaper which had a picture of a smugly smiling Gray Fox on it. “You know… for a thief that steals expensive egghead junk.”

“For such a successful thief, you’d think he’d take the time to manage his image better,” Rarity said distastefully as she eyed the Gray Fox’s ratty clothes. “Every time I’ve heard of an extremely intelligent and cunning thief they’d be wearing the sort of fashion not out of place for high society.”

“Rarity, ain’t the only thieves ya heard about in those romance books of yours?” Applejack stated questionably.

“Well… ahem that is besides the point,” Rarity said while clearing her throat, and turning when she heard a door open. “Emerald darling! Whatever do you think of this scoundrel in the papers?”

“Well… I just hope he doesn’t attack the company I invested in,” Oskar said as she walked over to the table with a tray full of muffins. “I’m also glad Ponyvillle doesn’t exactly have much in the way of tech to attract his attention.”

“Well, not exactly Emerald,” Rarity replied, looking at Twilight. “Twilight does have all those advanced looking devices in her basement. Those could very well attract his attention.”

“Cool as he is, if he came here to steal Twilight’s stuff, I’d kick his flank from here to Canterlot!” Dash said boastfully. “Let’s see him use that staff on something super-fast and airborne!”

“Nah ya don’t need to do nuttin showy,” Applejack said with a wave of her hoof. “I could tie him up lickity split with my lasso. And if he tried to get uppity, a good buck in the in the face would make ‘im settle down!”

Oskar just chuckled softly and shook her head in amusement as she brought the muffins down onto the table and took a seat, grabbing a blueberry muffin for herself.

Taking one of the Evolved’s muffins for herself, Pinkie almost inhaled it when the taste hit her tongue, then she pressed her hooves to her cheeks and released a delighted moan.

“Mmmmm, this is delicious Emmy!” Pinkie exclaimed after she swallowed the muffin.

“Thanks Pinkie!” Oskar said happily. “I know it isn’t exactly my talent, but I love baking.”

“Hmmm… I hope my brother is doing okay,” Twilight said softly as she read the paper. “It sounds like the Gray Fox is giving him a lot of trouble.”

“You have a brother?” Oskar said, whipping her head towards Twilight. “And he’s in the Royal Guard?”

“Uhhh… yeah?” Twilight said as her friends looked owlishly at her. “You know, my brother Shining Armor? Captain of the Royal Guard? I’ve told you all about him before, haven’t I?”

Everyone stared with wide eyes at that bit of information, Oskar even more so.

“You mean I’ve never told any of you?” Twilight said in the face of her friends’ silence, looking increasingly sheepish as it dragged on.

“…No darling you have not,” Rarity finally said after getting her wits about her, and then she leaned in close to Twilight. “So your brother is Captain of the Royal Guard hmm? My, that is a prestigious position. Would it trouble you greatly to… introduce us to him? I would be most delighted to meet such a pony, even more so if he is a bachelor.”

“The last time I heard he was still in a long term relationship with my babysitter,” Twilight said with a roll of her eyes at Rarity’s behavior, then she suddenly looked troubled. “Oh dear… I don’t know if he is still in that relationship. I don’t even know anything he has been up to these past few years. I never realized how distant we’ve become.”

At the moment, Oskar was stuck in her own thoughts, thinking about the times she had encountered and even fought Shining Armor. It wasn’t completely unlikely that Armor was being stressed out by his continued failures in stopping the persona she had created, not to mention he was also likely being reprimanded and punished for said failures. Thinking about how her efforts could be threatening Shining Armor’s mental and physical wellbeing, as well as his job security, Oskar could feel an unpleasant tightening in her chest.

‘My current actions as the Gray Fox are causing grief to hundreds of thousands of ponies,’ Oskar thought as she shook her head clear. ‘Now is not the time to feel sorry for just one of them, especially when I am not even done what I’ve set out to do yet. Twilight’s brother or not, these raids are very important to my goals and I can’t just stop for the wellbeing of just one person. That never stopped me before after all.’

Though Oskar steeled herself and was very determined to finish what she had started, the tightening in her chest when she thought of the pain she must be causing never faded.

“There are a lot of Royal Guards everywhere,” Belvedere stated, pointing at several circled spots on a map of Vanhoover placed on a table. “Never seen so many before, it make me think they are dead serious about stopping you here.”

“Plus I see many strange glowy boxes with funny lines on them being hauled everywhere,” Bluno added. “I think they be using weird magic too.”

Oskar was in his base form back in the Everfree caverns and listening to a scouting report of their final targeted city. So far it was all going as expected.

“The greatly increased difficulty is to be expected,” Oskar stated from his chair as he absently poked at Navi on the table before him. “I demonstrated my ability to teleport in front of them back in Las Pegasus so the boxes must be meant to counter that ability, which actually helps out come to think about it.”

“Oh?” Belvedere said with a raised brow and crossed arms.

“We now have a target of opportunity alongside the machines we are going to get,” Oskar replied, picking up a delightedly trilling Navi and placing her on his shoulder. “While I can’t exactly teach any of you the magic I know, I still don’t have much in the way of knowledge in certain fields. the base magical science of runic systems for artificing magical artifacts for instance. While I can’t exactly gain a mastery from examining such a thing, I can still advance what I do know by studying magical works, which is ultimately another advantage to us.”

“Still…” Oskar said, leaning back in his chair. “A target of opportunity is just that, an opportunity. While it would help us to go after it, I don’t want to endanger our primary objective by trying to get them, and I’d doubt the Royal Guards would keep the boxes right next to the things that are going to be attacked. Likely they are going to be hidden away somewhere safe or placed in highly secure outposts throughout the city and away from factories.”

“Hmm… I think we can still get them,” Belvedere said thoughtfully as he picked up a marker and started circling more areas of the map. “These are areas I and Bluno saw the boxes placed in. They all happen to be outposts set by the Royal Guards or buildings for the local guards. They know that we Diamond Dogs like to attack purely by ambushing, so they won’t be expecting a direct assault from us, they aren’t even expecting a direct assault on the factories. They are preparing for some daring scheme being concocted by the ‘Gray Fox’ instead.”

“Your idea is reliant on the fact that our boys will be competent enough in a direct fight to actually win,” Oskar stated. “I’ve been training all of you like crazy, as much as I can do without burning any of you out, but they are still only a fraction through the conditioning I’ve planned out.”

“I’ve seen them fight, been in a fight with them,” Belvedere stated. “To you they are untrained ‘greenhorns’, but to me they are blossoming brutal fighters. Every time I’ve seen them fight it’s either dragged out to their exhaustion or ended mercilessly quickly as both fighters pull every trick they know to put their opponent down. The Royal Guard are used to criminals that put up a token resistance at best before being brought in, but we are becoming soldiers. They will not be expecting us.”

“Saw what I was doing, huh?” Oskar stated.

“You are instilling discipline in us, making us into something more like you promised,” Belvedere stated as Bluno watched on and scratched his head. “As soldiers we are an army, but as we are an army, we are also without a nation. We are an army in a foreign land… which usually means we would be here to take it. Is this what you intend to do with us? Steal then invade Equestria? I admit that would definitely not be stealing scraps from the dinner table, more like stealing the entire house and booting the residents out.”

“I…” Oskar began before sighing and brought a hand up to his face. He remained like that for several moments in silence before lowering his hand to look at Belvedere and an interested looking Bluno. “Why do we need to take Equestria? People assume the Everfree belongs to them but they actually want nothing to do with it and have no formal claims on it. I know the old Royal Palace of Celestia and Luna is here, but from what I can glean from the old records that area wasn’t covered by the forest back then. “

“So… we have this big gray area of the sovereign map of Equestria we can claim as our own,” Oskar continued. “Or rather, this big green area.”

“Make Everfree our home!?” Bluno said with wide eyes.

Belvedere just looked at him a moment before smacking the back of his head. “We already did, or does those big stone buildings out in the cavern look like they can be packed up to you? Still, Everfree is surrounded on all its borders by Equestria, what kind of nation would that be?”

“A nation within a nation, an enclave,” Oskar responded simply. “And that is what we shall be. No one would look for us here in the Everfree anyway. They are too hung up on the fact that this place is so unnatural, so we would be an unseen and unheard secret nation within Equestria’s own borders. With this advantage, we can build up in secret indefinitely.”

“Build up for what though?” Belvedere asked. “Who are we going to be fighting?”

“There is always going to be conflict,” Oskar simply stated. “It’s better to be prepared for any eventuality than to be caught with our pants… to be caught unprepared. “

“Now, any other issues?” Oskar asked. “Okay good, because I need to go develop something to help us in Vanhoover. You two can go back to work.”

With that, the two Diamond Dog Alphas nodded and made for the door, Oskar soon behind them, Navi fluttering along in the air behind him. Eventually coming out onto the street, Oskar and the Alphas went their separate ways, with the Alphas off to make sure their dogs were doing their assignments and jobs, and Oskar off to develop yet another game plan for Vanhoover.

Granted, he didn’t really need one considering his Dogs were just going to make a direct assault since that was actually unexpected here, but his persona for the Gray Fox couldn’t just run around before diving into a hole in the ground, that was just too anticlimactic. So the Evolved needed to do something suitably grand and epic for yet another daring getaway… and he already had the beginning of an idea for one, from a movie he had watched years ago.

Oskar walked around the corner and came into view of the plaza often used by Diamond Dogs to practice their combat skills, but smoothly darted back out of sight when he had spotted Whisper Wind. The convict pegasus was off to the far side of the plaza, watching the Diamond Dogs train with a miserable expression on her face. Inwardly curious as to why Whisper Wind looked so miserable considering she had only been given free roaming privileges in the cavern two days ago, Oskar shifted into Emerald Gleaner and walked over to the mare.

“What’s the matter, Whisper Wind?” Oskar asked, taking a seat beside the pegasus, her pet lighting down on her ear. “Is being free to explore and stretch your legs instead of being cooped up in a small space all day too boring for you?”

Instead of recoiling away from Oskar like the virus expected of her, Whisper only looked at her with a miserable expression.

“What are you going to do with this army you’re training?” Whisper asked. “Invade Equestria when you get them good enough and have enough of them?”

“Why does everyone assume that is what I am going to do?” Oskar wondered aloud, making Whisper blink, but couldn’t help herself from wondering the same. Just what did she intend to do with this army she was training and building? It wasn’t very big now, only over a thousand Dogs in size but she intended to get the independent packs wandering somewhere in the depths of the far tunnels to join her some time down the road, which would no doubt inflate the number of battle ready dogs greatly. So what was she intended to do with them when she had thousands of them?

“Then what are you going to do with them?” Whisper asked impatiently.

“Hopefully… nothing.” Oskar answered honestly.

“Nothing?!” Whisper said incredulously. “You built an army just to have them do nothing?!”

“Not nothing,” Oskar replied simply. “They are training, getting stronger, running patrols in the Everfree for some practical experience, and helping out with the work down here when a few extra sets of paws are needed. Really, having an army around can be really useful, and not just for invading people, plus having a spare army lying around can be useful for when you are the one being invaded. And I don’t see why we would want to invade Equestria. Why take someone else’s nation when you can make your own?”

“Make your own?” Whisper said with eyes wide in sudden realization. “You’re not going to take over Equestria, you’re just taking this place instead… why?!”

“Why not?” Oskar stated.

“Why not?!? It’s the Everfree!” Whisper said. “It’s like the most unnatural cruddy place in the world, and you want to make a home out of it for yourself?!”

“Unnatural by pony standards maybe,” Oskar replied. “But it’s just fine for our needs.”

“So what, you’re just settling here where Equestria won’t dare look for you as you steal from them?” Whisper said, and added after Oskar shot her a look. “I hear things. your dogs like to talk a lot.”

“Hmph, righteous talk for a thief,” Oskar shot back, making Whisper avert her gaze. “I’ve got things to do, feel free to enjoy watching the sparring practices prisoner.”

With that, Oskar teleported up to the surface, leaving behind a sour-faced convict. Looking around, she saw the obstacle course currently in use by several Diamond Dogs, and by it was a small clearing where dogs sparred. Though they would normally be using their fists, the dogs here were using fake wooden guns with a blunt wooden bayonet on them, practicing fighting with them for the day when they would be using the real thing.

Oskar walked forward, intent on making her way into the depths of Everfree. As she walked by trees and trails made by Diamond Dogs, the Evolved prodded at Navi in her mane.

“I’m going to need your help in a few minutes Navi,” Oskar said to her pet who was now fluttering in front of her. “You mind doing that for me?”

Shaking her head no that she did not mind, Navi flew up to Emerald’s ear to stand at attention, ready for whatever Oskar needed of her.

Smiling at this, Oskar sent out a viral pulse for her target. After it came back a few moments later, Oskar then quickly shot off in that direction. Soon the virus arrived in a clearing that had a scenic pond at its center. Flying above the pond making faces at its own reflection in the water was a yellow parasprite, Oskar’s target. A few moments later a fish leapt out of the water, its jaws wide open only for it to clamp down on nothing but air. The parasprite giggled as it dodged the fish, oblivious to the fact the fish was trying to eat it and not play a game.

‘Seriously, if it wasn’t for the fact they reproduce just by eating it would be a miracle that parasprites have survived so long,’ Oskar thought, sighing inwardly. ‘Right, let’s collect her before she gets snapped up.’

“Navi, could you go over there and make a friend?” Oskar asked her pet, motioning to the other parasprite over the water. “When you do, bring her over here please?”

Navi just trilled in enthusiasm and took off to do just that. Oskar watched her carefully, ready to call upon her magic in an instant to either teleport Navi out of harm’s way or simply deal with whatever was foolish enough to try to eat her herself.

The little blue parasprite flew over the pond, skimming the surface with her legs as she did so, making Oskar tense up a little as she expected a fish to try to snap her up any moment. Fortunately, nothing of the sort happened and Navi reached the yellow parasprite with no issues. Upon reaching her fellow parasprite, Navi started trilling excitedly, an action the other bug mirrored. Soon the two were flying wildly around each other in the air, seemingly already fast friends as they paused a moment to press against each other in an armless approximation of a hug. After that, Navi flew towards Oskar at top speed with the other parasprite in close pursuit.

Navi lighted down on Oskar’s ear, trilling happily in accomplishment as the other parasprite came to hover in front of the virus, staring at her in innocent curiosity.

“Hello little thing,” Oskar greeted with a smile. “Would you like to come home with me? You’ll get to play with Navi and I’ll give lots and lots of food.”

The little parasprite didn’t waste a moment to trill an agreement, flying happily in the air as she did so. Smiling in satisfaction at her objective being accomplished, Oskar was about to teleport when she heard rustling behind her. Turning around she came face to face with a Timber Wolf.

Leaping backwards on battle hardened instinct, Oskar narrowed her eyes and frowned as she took in her surroundings. Timbers Wolves entered the clearing by the dozens- no, by the hundreds, all staring at her with brightly glowing green eyes. She prepared herself for their charge but they didn’t do that. Most stayed a fair distance away but a few came to a sitting stop a few feet from her, forming a rough circle around her.

‘… Illness… infection… blight? No…’ Said a voice she had heard before when she was alone in Everfree. a deep voluminous voice, almost foreboding in its timbre. ‘…Strong… forsaken dominance… seeking freedom… free of vulnerability… free of hurt… free of enslavers… kin? Youth… uncertainty…’

“Who are you!” Oskar shouted, now certain that the voice was in control of the timber wolves. “What do you want!”

‘… Fractured… confusing… tired…”

With that, all the timber wolves suddenly fell apart, like the perilously stacked masses of wood they were. Oskar just stared at them a long moment before levitating a piece of wood over to her. Placing a hoof on the wood, Oskar extended tendrils into it, expecting something, anything to come of it.

Nothing. As far as she could tell, the wood she had just absorbed was just that, old partially rotten mossy wood from the forest floor. With that, Oskar continued to stare at the pieces of wood on the forest floor around her, after a long moment Oskar then teleported away taking Navi and the yellow parasprite with her.

After her departure the wood on the forest floor began moving, soon disappearing into the underbrush.

“Good evening sir and madame!” greeted a dapper pony. “How may I help you two today?”

“W-we have a reservation,” Time Turner said in slight nervousness, tugging at his good tie a little.

“Names?” the doorpony asked after opening a book on his stand.

“Uhhh, Time Turner and Emerald Gleaner,” Time Turner answered.

Emerald and Time Turner were out on a date, specifically a fancy expensive one. The pony doctor had decided to take Emerald out to a rather famed and classy restaurant. In fact, he was surprised he was able to get reservations on such short notice or the fact he wouldn’t have to wait a month for a spot to open. The restaurant in question was the ‘Cloud Nine’, a sky ship that had been repurposed by its new owners to be a flying eatery. The often breathtaking scenery quickly made it into a success. He was wearing only his best tie but Emerald was wearing the dress Rarity had designed for her, making her look like the princess he thought she was.

“Miss Gleaner!” the door pony gasped and quickly rushed over to open the door. “Right this way, your seat is just over here! And might I compliment you on a timely arrival? The captain was just about to make last calls before lifting off.”

‘Well that explains why I was able to get a table on such short notice,’ Time Turner thought. ‘It also explains why it didn’t cost me a hoof and a leg to get us a table here, anything for Equestria’s most beautiful mare. I couldn’t blame them really.’

The inside of the ship’s hull was very beautiful to behold. The ceiling was completely covered in a massive masterpiece painting, depicting both the day and night with Celestia as its centerpiece. Large windows allowed everyone to see the world outside the ship and would soon be giving a far grander view. Each table was covered with a silk cloth and golden jewel encrusted cutlery with matching goblets.

Nearly all the tables had ponies at them waiting for the ship to lift off. Every pony in this room seemed to be rich or famous in some way. Sitting off at a table right next to the large windows was Sapphire Shores wearing her best, puffiest dress. At another table was Spitfire and some of her Wonderbolts wearing their dress uniforms. Everywhere Time Turner looked, there seemed to be famous ponies.

Nervously adjusting his tie, Time Turner led Emerald over to the very bow of the ship where the best table happened to be. The sound of conversation buzzing in his ear, Time was somewhat surprised that no one tried to approach Emerald, but figured there was some sort of unsaid rule regarding celebrities dining in the Cloud Nine.

“Wow look at this!” Emerald said as she and Time took their seats. “You know I’ve never been on an airship before? I never thought I’d be on one as grand as this though.”

“So you’re enjoying yourself?” Time Turner asked happily as the captain announced the last call. “I’m glad your first time is going to be wonderfully memorable.”

“Everypony remembers their first time no matter what Time Turner,” Emerald replied with a deeply amused smile. “But… I’m fairly certain I remember bigger ships than this though. I remember seeing massive ships flying into Vanhoover every now and then.”

“Well yes, there are a large variety of ships for many different occasions,” Time Turner replied, the two of them not noticing the gentle lurch as the Cloud Nine lifted off the ground. “The ones you likely saw were Sky Freighters. Other types of airships include yachts, often owned by the rich and the nobility, and passenger ships that make the journey across the east and west oceans and directly to landlocked cities. The dry docks in Baltimare also make many different types of ships for other nations like uhh… fishing trawlers for the Principality and flying dojos for the Heron Republic.”

“So Baltimare makes all the skyships?” Emerald asked as a waitress dropped two menus for her and Time Turner.

“There is a rival Sky Ship company in Vanhoover as well, but for the most part it’s Baltimare that handles large orders,” Time Turner answered as he leafed through the menu. “The Vanhoover company handles more personal orders and does modifications as well. The Baltimare company also has the luck of having Horse Shoe Bay, so lots of large ships like to anchor there.”

“That’s rather fascinating,” Emerald said and turned to the waitress when she came by. “Oh, I’d like the special of the day with some punch please.”

“And I would like the… gourmet salad and the broccoli with melted cheese appetizer,” Time Turner said, handing the mare his menu. “Oh, and some punch as well for me.”

“Okay, your food shall be cooked in a short while and I’ll be back with your drinks soon. Please enjoy the view and thank you for eating with us.” The waitress smiled before heading off.

Time Turner did as the waitress suggested and looked out the window to see the landscape of Equestria move before them. The moon shone brightly and the white stone city of Canterlot almost seemed to shine with reflected moon light. The view was very scenic, but in Time Turner’s opinion it didn’t compare to the mare sitting opposite him.

Emerald stared out the window, enjoying the view for a long time before noticing Time looking at her. Then she seemed to get embarrassed from the affectionate look he was giving her and averted her gaze, her cheeks flushed.

“What?” Emerald questioned, looking at Time from the corner of her eye.

“You are very stunning Emerald,” Time Turner said. “But honestly I find the fact you are so smart to be your most attractive attribute.”

A sad look flashed across Emerald’s expression for the briefest moment before being replaced with a small smile. “Thank you Time Turner. It’s nice to know a smart pony like yourself as well.”

“So what is it like to be a model?” Time Turner asked.

“It’s not as glamorous as you may think,” Emerald said with a shrug and took a sip of punch when the waitress arrived with it. “Well, to other ponies it probably is really. Like Rarity, she wouldn’t mind the constant attention and ponies you don’t know poking their noses into your business, she craves that kind of thing in fact. Not me though, I like my privacy and the last thing I appreciate is some ponies I don’t know deciding it’s their business to know what I do in my free time.”

“Then why do this kind of work then?” Time Turner asked.

“For the bits,” Emerald replied simply. “I may find it unpleasant but the pay more than makes up for it. I make more a month then some ponies in a year! I could do so much with that money, so I just bite my tongue and keep working. Besides… having Fluttershy there makes it all the more bearable, though she doesn’t work as often as I do anymore.”

“It’s always great to have a silver lining,” Time Turner commented. “By the way, have you heard about the home computers that are in development?”

“Oh really?” Emerald said in interest. “I didn’t have a clue about that.”

“Well I do read journals about the latest scientific developments,” Time Turner said a little sheepishly as the waitress arrived with their food. “Now what I read was…”

And thus the night went, with Time Turner and Emerald occasionally taking a bite of their meals as they talked with each other, the world of Equestria slowly rotating around as the Cloud Nine moved through the sky.

But all things must come to an end, and soon the Cloud Nine returned to its dock. Time Turner had barely finished half his meal, far too engrossed in talking with Emerald. Said unicorn however had cleaned several plates of food, demonstrating an impressive appetite for a model. Still, the two enjoyed their time on the Cloud Nine. Time Turner made the decision to escort Emerald back to her home, though in actuality it was Emerald teleporting back to Ponyville and Time tagging along.

“It was a wonderful night out Time, thank you.” Emerald smiled, she and said pony doctor were just outside of Twilight’s library.

“It was my pleasure Emerald,” Time Turner replied. “I am very glad you enjoyed yourself on our night out together. I hope we can have another one just like this one together soon.”

‘Though I am rather glad they gave me a significant discount.’ Time Turner thought in relief. ‘I didn’t think a mare could have such a ravenous appetite and still have such a trim and athletic figure.’

“Sure!” Emerald answered cheerfully. “I would like that myself.”

“Then it’s a d-date,” Time Turner said before pulling Emerald into an affectionate hug, a soft happy smile on his face.

However, in contrast to Time Turner’s expression and demeanor, Emerald looked wide eyed and uncomfortable as she seemed to lock up in Time’s embrace. When Time Turner let go of her however the expression was gone, replaced by a delighted smile and her stance was as easy going as ever.

“Good night Emerald,” Time Turner said before turning away to walk home.

“Good night Time Turner,” Emerald said a little softly as she opened the door and went inside the library.

Time Turner walked home, looking like he was on top of the world and had everything he could ever want.

Oskar hummed in thought as he finished wiring up a crude circuit board, cannibalized from some spare machines.

The Evolved was back in the Everfree Caverns, specifically a specially and freshly carved out room. This room had thick rough stone walls and was square in shape. Also in the room was a speaker with several cords leading to a control panel Oskar had finished wiring up, along with the Paraspite Oskar had seen fit to name Tatl. Navi was there as well, but had little sound dampening earmuffs around her head.

Looking up at Tatl circling the speaker curiously, Oskar flipped a switch on the control panel, causing it to light up as it turned on. He then flipped another switch, making polka music start playing from the speaker, specifically the very type of music Pinkie had used to lure Navi around.

The very instant the music had started up, Tatl stopped encircling the speaker and flew in front of it, smiling happily as she bobbed in place to the beat of the music. Navi however just looked confused and wondered what her friend was doing as she couldn’t hear the music at all.

Oskar smiled in satisfaction before turning his attention back to the board. He began turning knobs and manipulating sliders to alter the way the polka music sounded. For the most part, Tatl only looked confused and sometimes downright annoyed as the polka music changed in both volume and pitch seemingly wildly. Despite this poor showing, Oskar was not dissuaded as he had only just started out and didn’t expect instant results. Instead, he just kept fiddling with the knobs and sliders on the board, mentally listing any change in behavior in Tatl no matter how small.

It was a few hours into the constant experimentation when the door to the room opened and in walked Belvedere. He looked very curious at the sight before him but didn’t say anything. Instead, he walked over to just behind Oskar and waited for the virus to notice him.

While Oskar found the interruption irritating, he knew better than to take any of that out on Belvedere and just simply shut down his cobbled together sound equipment before turning to face Belvedere.

“Yes, is there something wrong?” Oskar asked as he took the ear muffs off Navi.

“Nothing wrong at all Oskar,” Belvedere stated. “I’m just here to remind you that you have that little star gazing trip to attend with those pony friends of yours soon.”

“Oh, that slipped my mind. Thank you for telling me,” Oskar replied, absently wondering if the Alpha using his name instead of calling him boss was a sign of respect or disrespect. It was kind of hard to tell with the dog to be honest.

His reason for coming apparently accomplished, Belvedere just nodded and left the room as quietly as he entered.

‘Hmm, troublesome…’ Oskar thought, his mind dwelling over having to go see the meteor shower with his friends. ‘So much work to do and so little time to do it. I really don’t have much in the way of time regarding this little meteor shower watching trip. Maybe I should just blow it off? Cite being busy with work? Hmmm… I don’t know… the others probably wouldn’t like it very much if I did that, would they? But this work is so very important to get done… well… it’s not like those machines are going anywhere in particular are they? I’m not exactly racing against the clock here. The last thing the Royal Guard are expecting is a direct assault, so no matter what they will be setting up in the time I am giving them to prepare, they still won’t be prepared for us.’

Sighing in resignation, Oskar waved Tatl over.

“Come over here you, it’s home time,” Oskar stated as Tatl fluttered over to his outstretched hand. “I’ll just drop you off to your little house before heading off to my other little appointment.”

With that, the Evolved and his two parasprites disappeared in a flash of red.

Oskar, back in her Emerald Gleaner form, looked fairly distracted as she followed Twilight and Spike over to the place they had chosen for watching the meteor shower. Despite having chosen to come anyway, Oskar seemed to be stuck between regretting the decision and being resigned to it. There was so much for her to do, so many books on magic to study, dogs to teach mechanics too, yet more dogs to teach how to fight, making guns for dogs to learn how to use, trying to balance making bullets and altering machines for them to do it for her, paid work as a model plus the technically free advertising work she was doing for New Paradigm, plus those experimental side projects. just so much work she would rather be getting done than watching some space rocks burn up in the atmosphere.

But… making time for her friends could be considered just as important as any of the many numerous things she would be working on instead. So here she was, waiting to watch space rocks burning up in the atmosphere, yet still wondering if she should have blown it off.

Her friends were currently going on about Spike, talking about how good an assistant he was as crowds of ponies moved around them to find a good spot for themselves to watch the showers.

“Punch?” Oskar heard Spike offer her, hand outstretched with a little cup full of said juice.

“Sure,” Oskar simply replied and grabbed the cup with her hoof before downing it in one go. As she waited for the showers to begin, Oskar decided to be creative on refilling her cup rather than use the punch bowl Spike brought along.

Pulling up a clump of grass from the ground the virus then transfigured it into a large orange. Squeezing the orange magically until it was a crushed little ball, she then dropped it on the ground before repeating the process with another clump of grass until her cup was refilled. Once that was done she reversed the transfiguration on the crushed oranges, turning back in blades of grass which now looked rather brown and shriveled up.

Oskar downed her glass yet again as the meteor shower finally began. Everyone was ooh’ing and ahh’ing but the Evolved’s mind had wandered back to her various projects and jobs she needed to work on, once again bringing up the thought that she should have blown this little get together off.

“Emerald darling, are you alright?” Rarity asked in concern. “You don’t seem to be all that impressed about this rare event.”

“I’m just thinking about work,” Oskar answered honestly as she once again refilled her cup with orange juice.

This was apparently the wrong thing to say however as the others shared a look before sitting close to Oskar, the meteor shower seemingly forgotten.

“Emerald, I believe I speak for all of us when I say that, while taking your work seriously is very admirable and I am certainly proud of you for it…” Rarity began, making the others look at her oddly when she said she was proud of “Emerald”. “You have been focusing too much on work and not enough on enjoying yourself.”

“I agree with Rarity here Emerald,” Twilight added. “All you seem to do lately is just work and study books, and whatever it is you do when you are gone for most of the day. Honestly, we are starting to get worried about you Emerald. It seems like you are going to end up burning yourself out sooner or later.”

“Hard work ain’t a bad thing sugarcube,” Applejack said. “But ah know from experience that too much work is just plum bad for ya.”

“But my work is very important!” Oskar protested. “I can do so much with the money I get from my work!”

“Like get even more money?” Rarity stated with a raised brow. “We all know about that company you invested in from those ads. Emerald dear, look, it’s not a particularly pleasant cycle you want to be getting stuck in. Having lots of money is wonderful and even I of all ponies would be the very first to admit that, but you can’t let it influence you. There is so much more to life than grinding the days away and longing after ever bigger paychecks.”

“But… Spike doesn’t mind hard work, does he?” Oskar pointed out half-heartedly. “And he makes it work!”

Just as the virus said that however, there was the sound of flesh hitting glass and everyone turned to see that Spike had fallen into the punch bowl, in a deep sleep born out of exhaustion.

“Okay maybe not…” Oskar said with an irritated sigh as Twilight looked at Spike thoughtfully.

Roughly a day later, Oskar was back in the Everfree Cavern, once again working on the project involving parasprites and the effects polka music had on them with Navi hovering about with her ear protection.

He was making immense progress today despite yesterday’s poor results. It helped that his perfect memory and ability to pick up the subtlest changes in the music made progress easy once he knew what to look and listen for. He just needed to find a pitch that had the effects he was looking for on Tatl, and then needed to test just how that effect could be sustained despite making changes to the audio.

Starting the vanilla polka music back up again caused Tatl to fly in front of the speaker and bob to the beat. Then, Oskar altered the music, making it faster and more intense. Its effect on Tatl was immediate, the little parasprite started trilling loudly in excitement and flying wildly around the room, bouncing off the walls like a little ball whenever she managed to hit one.

Oskar observed this for a few moments before fiddling with the controls again. The music started changing again, becoming quieter yet higher pitched. Its effects on Tatl didn’t abate with the changes however and the little yellow bug continued flying wildly about the room and trilling in excitement.

Oskar watched Tatl do this for several moments before reaching down and flipping a switch on the control board, turning it off and ending the music.

With that, Tatl slowed to a stop and looked towards Oskar curiously.

“Come here Tatl,” Oskar beckoned with a hand. “It’s time that you got lots and lots of food to eat.”

Tatl didn’t need to be told anything else and trilled with delight before darting over to Oskar. The Evolved quickly shifted back into Emerald Gleaner and removed Navi’s ear muffs magically before teleporting with the two of them.

Oskar sighed as she arrived in a large kitchen-like chamber. She had just started to get used to being in her base form for long periods of time again, but now she had to be in disguise in the caverns as well, thanks to letting Whisper have some limited wandering privileges. Ah well, it was either be in disguise again or make Whisper stay in her cell all the time, and that seemed a bit much for just wanting to be used to her human form again.

Dogs in patchy stained aprons moved about the kitchen, preparing fresh meat and equally fresh gathered wild vegetables. The meal of the day was a large communal stew, which had also been the meal of the day for the past while now. The dogs knew far better than to complain though, as it was far better than the gruel they had been eating for most of their lives, having little to no time to prepare or gather ingredients for something better. It helped that though it was once again stew being served, it wasn’t the same kind of stew, having different kinds of meat and vegetables being mixed in every other meal.

The thought of the stew also brought up a concern to Oskar. food. While the Everfree was rich in game and wild vegetables, it would not remain so for long at the rate her dogs were hunting and gathering from it. They had been rationing what they had been cooking for everyone from the start, and the dogs were more than happy with it as it was still better than before, but rationing was merely delaying the inevitable. Oskar needed an alternative means of getting food that wasn’t an antiquated practice for a settled society.

‘I already have something in the works to solve that issue thankfully,’ Oskar thought as an old Diamond Dog approached her. ‘I just need to work on it a bit more to make sure nothing could go wrong, like accidently making tainted food and poisoning everyone.’

“Hello dear,” an old female pit bull greeted Oskar. “Would you like something from the kitchen again? There are plenty of treats for our young leader.”

“No thank you,” Oskar replied with a smile, both at the greeting and at the fact another dog had picked up on her grammar lessons quickly. “I’m here to set up a feast, the guest of honor being Tatl here.”

“Ah, the time for the Vanhoover raid is coming then?” the old dog said, motioning for several of her fellow cooks to come over. “I’ll have everything set up in half an hour. Tatl will have her feast.”

“Very good,” Oskar said. “Keep up the good work. I have to leave now, but I’ll be back to help with further preparations tomorrow.”

With that, Oskar teleported, leaving an eager Tatl behind and taking Navi with her. The Evolved expected to arrive in a fairly quiet library. Instead, she arrived in the middle of Twilight running around the room looking incredibly worried.

“Uh, what’s wrong Twilight?” Oskar asked as she approached the unicorn.

“Who,” Owlicious hooted from his roost.

Oskar merely glanced at the owl. The virus hadn’t really bothered to give him much in the way of thought. At first she had been worried his presence may complicate her now nightly trips, but Owlicious had seemed to abandon an owl’s normally nocturnal lifestyle for being up when everyone else was, thereby solving the problem before Oskar had to worry about it.

“Spike is missing!” Twilight shouted distraughtly, running in place before taking off again. “I don’t know where to look for him!”

“Who!” Owlicious hooted loudly, gaining everyone’s attention.

The owl had flown off his perch and was now on the ground, right beside a pair of red footprints on the floor. Walking over, Oskar looked at the footprints. Examining the outline, the virus saw what looked to be claws. Examining the red substance, the prints were made of lead to Oskar concluding it was ketchup.

“Are those Spike’s foot prints?!” Twilight asked in anxiety.

“Looks like it to me,” Oskar stated.

“Oh thank goodness!” Twilight exclaimed. “We can use his ketchup prints to track him down! Let’s go!”

“I highly doubt he has nearly enough ketchup on his…” Oskar’s statement died off as Twilight galloped out of the room with Owlicious flying just ahead of her. “… right, don’t mind me I’ll just follow along and make sure you actually find him.”

The Evolved followed after Twilight… and soon became utterly dumbfounded by the fact Spike’s footprints were still stained with ketchup long after they had left the town and entered into the Everfree. And as they moved into the Everfree, the ketchup stains continued to be as clear as ever, despite the fact various creatures in Everfree would have quickly eaten the splotches of condiment.

Whatever other issues Oskar would have thought up were quickly pushed aside as her ears picked up the roaring of a dragon and Spike’s panicked shouting.

“Faster,” Oskar said as she pulled up alongside Twilight and quickly pulled ahead, Twilight doing her utter best to keep up.

The two ponies and one owl soon came bursting into the cave to the sight of Spike being cornered by a large green dragon.

“Who, Who!” Owlicious hooted as he flew straight at the dragon, getting right in the massive lizard’s face.

The already angered dragon quickly became incredibly frustrated with Owlicious being in his face, and immediately shifted his attention to the bird. He snapped his teeth and swatted with his claws at Owlicious, but the little bird skilfully avoided every attempt to swat him away and continued to fly circles around the dragon, even making him hit himself at one point.

“Spike! Over here!” Twilight shouted, waving her foreleg wildly and gaining the little dragon’s attention.

Oskar ignored Spike as he ran past, utterly focused on the dragon as he continued to swat at Owlicious. Said little owl suddenly broke away from distracting the dragon and flew towards the cave entrance, causing the large lizard to charge after him and consequently towards Oskar.

Suddenly, two massive pairs of ghostly pink hands formed in the air besides the dragon’s head before forming into fists and flying at him. The dragon gave a shout of complete and total surprise as he was suddenly and powerfully punched on both sides of his head, stunning him briefly. Shaking his head clear he looked around for the source before spotting Oskar on the ground before with brightly glowing pink eyes and a magical aura around her horn.

Guessing the source of the sudden attack, the dragon inhaled in preparation to sound a blast of fire at Oskar, consequently leading to his throat being quite exposed as he did so. Another pink hand appeared, delivering a quick chop to the dragon’s throat, making him cough, gag, and spew black smoke.

Yet another pink fist appeared, this time level with the dragon’s gut. It launched forward like a bullet and impacted the dragon’s belly solidly, causing him to let out a long wheeze as he bent over from the strike.

The fist faded from view and another one appeared at the side of the dragon’s head, gripping it and holding him in place. Another hand then appeared and wrenched a stalactite from the ceiling before flying forward and utterly smashing it to pieces on the dragon’s face.

Still out of breath, the dragon could only wheeze in pain as he found himself crashing against the cave wall before collapsing to the ground on his belly and trying to catch a second wind as he lay there. Taking advantage of her opponent’s prone position, Oskar called up another pair of pink hands and conjured them just above the dragon’s wings.

The hands then reached down and gripped the wings of the dragon just above a major joint. Then they pulled and twisted.

Twilight galloped forward with Spike on her back and Owlicious just above and in front of her when she heard the distant roar of agony. Coming to a stop, Twilight saw that the dragon wasn’t behind her and neither was “Emerald”. Realizing that her friend was in a fight with a fearsome dragon and hadn’t run with them, Twilight quickly galloped back without another thought.

Rage burning in his eyes, the dragon pushed himself off the ground as his now broken wings hung at unnatural angles. Building up a blast of fire as quickly as possible, he sent it forth towards Oskar. The Evolved simply teleported away long before the flames could reach her however, and the dragon soon found another pair of floating magical fists striking him in the face.

The dragon began turning on the spot, trying to find his foe as blows rained down on him from all angles. About a dozen punches later, he finally located Oskar peeking out at him from beside a gem pile and charged at her in rage.

Oskar’s glowing eyes and horn increased in intensity, her eyes becoming more like spotlights and her horn flaring up like a blow torch. A pair of pink hands appeared in the air before the dragon, wreathed in pink flames… followed by a second pair of hands just below the first pair as Oskar gritted her teeth in concentration.

The dragon came to a stop as a fist solidly impacted him in the snout, and found himself reeling backwards as the others soon began raining blows on him, much like pistons at top speed.

Suddenly the lower pair of hands gripped his legs while the upper pair lashed out with a pair of uppercuts. The dragon toppled over and landed on his broken wings, causing him even more pain. The upper pair then quickly moved over to the dragon’s arms and held onto them, effectively pinning the large fire breathing lizard down while the lower pair kept their grip on the legs.

Grinding her teeth in exertion at the effort, Oskar pulled a stalagmite from its base on the ground and quickly brought it up over the dragon. The rock spike glowed brightly for a brief moment before being replaced with a smaller metal spike. The spike floated up higher in the air in its preparation to plunge down as the dragon seemed to blankly stare up at it.

“EMERALD!” Oskar heard a shout and turned her attention towards the cave entrance and saw Twilight standing there, looking caught between shock and horror as Spike and Owlicious did the same.

“You… you don’t need to go that far!” Twilight shouted. “Just come with us.”

Oskar just blinked and almost shrugged as she let go of the beaten and broken dragon before tossing the large metal spike aside. Then she teleported to Twilight’s side before the now group of four ran out of the cave, leaving a pained dragon behind.

The group ran for some distance before Twilight suddenly skidded to a stop, making Oskar stop as well and stare at her questionably.

“Emerald… what in Celestia’s name was that?!” Twilight shouted at Oskar, causing her to reel back, not at all expecting anger of all things from Twilight after just dealing with the dragon that threatened Spike. “I’ve… I’ve never seen something so brutal… You were about to k-k-kill that dragon! What were you thinking?!”

“What?” Oskar blinked. “I don’t see how I am the one in the wrong here! That dragon was threatening Spike! You see that scorch mark on his crest there?! Who knows what would have happened if we didn’t happen to arrive at the right time!”

“You didn’t need to go so far Emerald!” Twilight replied hotly before looking back at the cave. “Owlicious had distracted him. We only needed to take advantage of that and run away with Spike… you need to make things right. We have to go back and help him in any way possible.”

“WHAT?!” Oskar exclaimed incredulously. “I was only protecting Spike! WHY THE HEL-HAY SHOULD I HELP HIM?!”

“Because it’s the right thing to do and he is very hurt because of your actions,” Twilight answered as she stood resolutely before Oskar’s anger.

“Wha-bu-he… ERRRRR, FINE!” Oskar shouted and turned back towards the cave before stomping off towards it.

Twilight just stared after Oskar sadly as she stormed away.

‘Such terrible violence…’ Twilight thought sadly. ‘It’s beginning to become clear that the origin story we thought up for Emerald is starting to look rather plausible. I don’t know how to handle this… I should send the Princess a letter when I get some time to myself. She of all ponies would know how to proceed here.’

With that, Twilight trotted after Oskar, a subdued Spike and Owlicious in tow.

Shining Armor scrutinized his forces as he marched with a steely look in his eyes.

The Captain of the Guard was in Vanhoover now, the last predicted target of the Gray Fox, and could ill afford yet another failure on his part to defend the livelihoods of the ponies of Equestria. Though the Princesses were quick to assure him that he was not at fault for the Gray Fox managing to steal from cities under his protection, each failure still hit his pride like a hammer blow. He was supposed to be Equestria’s protector, the defender of her people, but here he was failing to catch one glorified leader of thieves. If he couldn’t stop one thief how in the world was he supposed to protect those he cared about? Candance… his parents… his little sister Twiley… the very fact the Gray Fox, Jack McCloud roamed free and unpunished for his crimes against Equestria made Armor question his whole worth as Captain of the Royal Guard.

‘Focus…’ Armor thought, taking in a deep calming breath. ‘You can’t be doubting yourself when this could be the day he finally attacks. Everpony is going on about how the Gray Fox won’t dare come to Vanhoover thanks to the massive Royal Guard presence and that this long quiet period proves that. I know him though. He has something up those torn sleeves of his, he always does. But the question now is what it could be?’

Taking another look around at the large Royal Guard patrols moving around the exterior of the factory, Shining Armor narrowed his eyes critically, attempting to spot even the smallest flaws the infamous self-styled King of Thieves could take advantage of.

‘Most of the Royal Guard is here, bringing our combined numbers up to about six hundred,’ Armor thought to himself. ‘More if we include the local guards as well, meaning that the Diamond Dogs’ advantage of number is fairly nullified now. As great a fighter as the Gray Fox is, even he wouldn’t be able to turn a fight this big in his favor.’

‘So he must clearly have a plan to get around this,’ Shining Armor thought as he started pacing anxiously. ‘Again the question is what, and that could be anything. I have numbers to stop a direct assault, equipment to stop his teleporting, but there is only so much I can do without knowing what the Gray Fox is planning. And that is impossible without trying to find his headquarters in the Diamond Dog tunnels, doing that would be both stupid and incredibly dangerous.’

“Captain Armor! Captain Armor!” a pegasus Royal Guard shouted as he dived out of the sky.

“Where is he?” Armor stated simply.

“Sir, the Gray Fox has been spotted at the Museum of Vanhoover,” the Royal Guard said with a salute. “It was evacuated as soon as the reported sighting was confirmed. As far as we can detect, the Gray Fox is the only one in there now.”

“Who is guarding the museum perimeter?” Armor asked.

“A contingent of the local guards has the building surrounded sir,” the guard responded. “I made sure they would not go in without express permission, but they assured me there was no danger of that. The Gray Fox’s reputation has had an effect on them.”

“This is beyond them, far beyond them,” Armor stated with no recrimination in his voice. “I do not blame them for not wanting to face the Gray Fox. I will gather a hundred of the most able Royal Guards. Go spread the news to everypony that the Gray Fox is here and that he will likely have something planned to draw them away from the factories.”

“Yes sir!” the pegasus shouted with another salute before flying off.

Shining Armor worked fast and gathered with him a hundred of his most skilled Royal Guards currently nearby. He would have spared the time to gather the truly best from the entire force, but there was no telling what the Gray Fox would be planning, and he wished to give him as little time as possible to act.

Even though he set a breakneck pace, Shining Armor still wasn’t happy with the time they made to the museum. Knowing it was simply his own frustrations regarding the Gray Fox acting up, Armor bit his tongue to keep from being critical of his Guards.

“Is he still in there?” Armor asked one of the guards milling about around the museum, their armor looking much more bland compared to the Royal Guard’s decoration.

“As far as I can tell,” the guard replied with a shrug, snapping the bubble-gum he was chewing. “Machines should be keeping him from teleporting right? Though those Diamond Dogs of his could easily dig him a hole out of there I guess.”

“Right… I want two squads with me!” Armor commanded his guards. “The rest of you shall remain outside to help guard the perimeter!”

With that, Shining Armor and two squads of twenty Royal Guards entered the Museum of Vanhoover. The very moment they had entered, the sound of music being played reached them. a violin being played to be exact.

They moved towards the sound of the music, an almost mournful sounding song, and quickly galloped past exhibits.

They soon arrived in a room obviously dedicated to musical exhibits, as the music wallpaper and aged instruments in glass cases attested. Moving into the room, still following the music while being very mindful this was likely a trap, Armor caught sight of a broken case. Judging by the stand and the fact the other instruments in the case were old and rather valuable violins, Armor guessed rightly that Jack took his instrument from there. Armor mentally added a count of vandalism and larceny to the Gray Fox’s already massive list of crimes before moving on.

The captain and his group continued to follow after the music. The fact that the source always seemed to be just around the next corner however made everyone tense, fully believing a trap was about to be sprung on them at any moment.

To their utter surprise, the next turn happened to lead them back to the musical exhibits where the Gray Fox was just finishing up his song before replacing the violin back on its stand. They walked into the room, expecting a hundred different traps to be set off with every step but nothing happened.

“That was ‘Winter Sonata - Only You’ if you want to know,” said a strangely subdued sounding Gray Fox as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a messy looking small speaker with exposed wires covering the entirety of one side. “The song I mean, mate.”

“What is that?” Armor questioned, eyeing the gadget in the Fox’s hand suspiciously.

“Oh this?” Jack stated and flicked something within the tangles of wires, causing quiet high pitched polka music to begin playing. “Just some music mate. That’s not a crime, is it? Course I do happen to be Equestria’s most wanted at the moment, so I suppose it must be a crime.”

“No, it is not a crime just because you happen to be doing it,” Armor replied tartly, insulted by the implication. “Everything you are guilty of are things no decent being should do in civilized society. Those and only those are what you shall be tried for Jack.”

“Well there is that bit of fairness at least,” Jack said with a small smile.

Outside the museum several holes suddenly burst open all around the museum to all the guard’s shock. The Royal Guard charged over to them, fully expecting Diamond Dogs to pour out but none did. One of the local guards pushed down his fear and walked over to one hole to look down it. Straining his ears he could almost hear… trilling?

“Why are you doing this? Why steal the machines?” Armor asked, taking advantage of the fact the Gray Fox seemed to want to talk.

“Why are you Captain of the Guard mate?” The Gray Fox asked instead of answering.

“It’s… in my nature to protect others,” Armor answered, glancing at his armor-covered cutie mark. “To protect Equestria, her people and my family. And what about you Jack? Do you have a family?”

“Dad was a love em and leave em thief, and mum was a lass that didn’t know any better,” Jack said with a shrug. “Course mum would likely be a tad disappointed in me.”

“For becoming like your father?”

Just like that the Gray Fox’s expression changed, instead of that smug smile on his face he was frowning angrily, speaking the next words lowly and dangerously. “Mate… if you are implying I would leave a vixen and kit of mine to fend for themselves… then I’m afraid we are going to have a fight on our hands.”

Shining Armor and his two squads tensed up as the Gray Fox twirled his staff before bringing it to bear towards them. It was very clear to everyone that in the next few moments a brutal fight would soon be breaking out.

“… What is that sound?” said one guard, bringing to everyone’s attention the muffled trilling sound coming from outside.

“What in the world is that?” Armor asked aloud.

“Oh that?” The Gray Fox, smug smile suddenly firmly back in place as he took a much more relaxed stance. “That’s just backup mate.”

Back outside, the guards grew increasingly wary of the holes as the trilling noise grew and grew in volume. The guard that was looking into one hole hadn’t retreated from them just yet, and his eyes widened when he saw countless green eyes twinkle in the darkness below.

“What’s that?!” he shouted as he recoiled from the hole, just as a geyser made up of paraspites exploded out of it.

Parasprites exploded out of the other holes as well, seemingly endless in number as they quickly swarmed over the shouting and screaming guards surrounding the museum.

Back inside the museum, Armor’s Royal Guards looked around wildly as the muffled trilling became much louder, and shapes darted by the windows by the hundreds.

Then through sheer force of number, parasprites shattered the windows and swarmed into the interior of the museum, sending the guards into a panic just as the ones outside had been.

“Everybody cover up!”

“I can’t see!

“Don’t open your mout- ACK!”

All around them parasprites swarmed in hyperactive excitement, trilling happily as they flew wildly everywhere. Armor did not share his subordinates’ panic however, and tried to peer through the almost solid cloud of insects between where he was and where the Gray Fox had stood. When Armor didn’t see him, he instead paid attention to the cloud of bugs, assuming that Jack was responsible for them. When he saw that the swarm was not only decreasing in thickness, but seemed to be moving down a hall away from him, he quickly ran after them.

Halfway down the hall the parasprites were swarming through, they suddenly stopped flying and trilling wildly. Instead, they briefly milled about before curiosity got the better of them and they quickly began exploring their surroundings. At this, the Captain of the Guard only ran harder.

He found his quarry a few moments later atop a set of stairs to the second floor before a now broken large window.

“Jack!” Armor shouted, interrupting the Gray Fox while he was in the middle of leaping out the window. “What was all this for?! The guards protecting the factories would never leave their posts for this distraction! Your Diamond Dogs are no match for us in a straight fight!”

While Shining Armor could have taken this chance to attack Jack instead of shout at him, he was under no delusion that he could fight and take down the Gray Fox by himself, though it galled him to admit it. Meaning his only choice here was to watch him leave… again. At least he had managed to keep the Fox from stealing anything this time…

“Well I admit that is true…” Jack said with a large toothy grin. “Once upon a time that is… I did say I was going to whip that sorry lot into shape now didn’t I?”

With that ominous statement, the Gray Fox leapt from the window. Armor dashed up the steps as quickly as he could, arriving at the window just in time to see the various holes surrounding the museum to close up. As he watched the various guards running around the streets in panic and the parasprite swarm spreading into the city and causing chaos, Armor couldn’t help the sure dread that filled him at Jack’s words.

Running back down the steps, Armor determined to quickly gather up his guards to check up on everyone as quickly as possible.

“No…” Armor said in little amount of despair at the sight before him.

Before him was an electronics factory, once bustling with worker ponies and guards protecting them. Now it was a total wreck with filled holes scarring the land before it. The factory was in shambles. Doors were busted down, windows broken, and the workers gone. The guards who were left behind to protect were still there… but now they were on the ground.

All of them were in various states of injury and a few were well enough to be even limping about. One such limping, heavily lacerated and badly beaten unicorn Royal Guard stumbled over to Shining Armor.

“What happened here?” Armor questioned.

“It… it was the Diamond Dogs,” the guards answered with a gulp as he tried to bite down the waves of pain washing through him. “We expected them to distract us… to try to bait us away from the factory… they didn’t. They just burst out of the ground and attacked us instead.”

“We thought… our training would see us through against such an attack…” the guard continued as he swallowed down blood from broken teeth and torn gums, his eyes blank as he seemed to be somewhere else. “But they have training now too. It was so brutal. I had never seen anything like it. The one I fought was like a frenzied snarling beast. I thought I had him when I held him aloft with magic but he took out a bag of sand and threw it in my face… I couldn’t see, I couldn’t concentrate… I felt something hit me in the mouth… I think he had smashed my face with a stone… I was on the ground then, blinded and in pain… he didn’t leave me alone. He made sure I wasn’t getting back up to fight… I never realized how sharp a Diamond Dog’s claws were, you know… I hadn’t really thought about how sharp and tough those claws were… claws that cut through rock all the time like nothing… claws that tear away at you like nothing… claws…”

“Get him out of here,” Armor whispered urgently to one of his guards.

“Yes sir,” the guard said solemnly, and began leading the clearly traumatized Royal Guard, whispering softly to him as he did so.

Armor couldn’t help himself as he stared over the devastation and brutalization that his forces had been put through, not the least bit doubtful that all the other hit factories would be the same. Wordlessly, the hundred Royal Guards that had come with him went over to their fallen fellow guards to provide what aid they could.

Shining Armor looked up as trilling parasprites flew overhead, exploring their surroundings and looking for more food to eat and propagate more of their kind.

Armor then looked down at the ground as the feeling of despair seemed to become all-consuming inside him. He had failed… again. Not only did he fail the people of Equestria and the Princesses, but he failed his own guards as well… and in his failures allowed for all of them to suffer.

“Captain Armor?” Said a guard standing before him. “What are your orders sir?”

Armor looked up at the Royal Guard before him and saw that he was desperate for direction, for something, anything to do in this time of crisis. And when he saw that, Shining Armor showed just why he was Captain of the Royal Guard.

“We will start collecting up the wounded and putting them together,” Armor stated, his expression clearing of all emotion and his stance radiating strength. “I also want pegasi to be sent all over Vanhoover, gathering up the local guards and any volunteers they can find. There is going to be a lot of hurt ponies today and we will be needing all the extra pair of hooves we can get. Once that is done, we will need to start dealing with these insects swarming the city, but that can wait until the wounded are cared for. Do you got that!”

“YES SIR!” The guard saluted and took off.

With that, Shining Armor decided to take part in his own orders, giving as much help as he could. There was much to do and he couldn’t waste time feeling sorry for himself. Once the local issues were taken care of, he would need to inform the Princesses of what had happened today. He… did not know exactly what would be going into the letter to them. His mind was focusing on the here and now, but he still worried about his future, namely what kind of work he would be able to get after being fired for incompetence, and whether or not it would be enough to support the family Candence kept talking of having in the future.

“This is a disaster,” Celestia murmured as she looked over the letter before her. “An utter disaster.”

“Indeed sister,” Luna agreed. “The Gray Fox has not only succeeded in raiding his final goal but has trained his Diamond Dogs to be able to fight on equal terms with the Royal Guard.”

Celestia and Luna were in the throne room reading from a report Shining Armor had sent them, and they most definitely did not like the contents.

“And Armor is blaming himself so badly,” Celestia said sadly. “It looks like he is expecting to be discharged as soon as he returns to Canterlot.”

“He did all he could to fight the Gray Fox,” Luna said. “To punish him for doing everything in his power would be wrong, and we can ill afford to lose a skilled pony such as him.”

“I dearly wish I could give him some time off. He clearly needs it,” Celestia said. “But with the Gray Fox on the loose and us no longer possessing a predictable pattern of his future targets…”

“It is now a waiting game then,” Luna stated. “We do not know where he will strike next, and as the Captain pointed out in the letter, the only other way is to try to infiltrate the Diamond Dog tunnels, an incredibly dangerous task for anypony to be sure.”

“The economy is going to be in shambles now,” Celestia sighed tiredly. “The recovery is going to put an incredible strain on the treasury, not to mention the suffering my ponies are going to be put through.”

“Regrowth could very likely be thrice as hard, I’m afraid, with the Gray Fox still out there,” Luna stated. “I have little doubt he will strike again and again. His target would be something of vast worth to the Kingdom as a whole.”

“What would it be though?” Celestia wondered aloud. “What else besides the machines will he target?”

“Perhaps he shall strike at warehouses holding electronic devices?” Luna offered. “The Gray Fox has an impressive mind, but I doubt he knows the subtle workings of such devices to the point he can repair and replace parts with ease.”

“Possibly. Again, the problem here is that we have no clue as to his next target,” Celestia said with another sigh. “Make no mistake, your idea has merit, but ultimately we will be forced to spread out all over the kingdom trying to predict all of his possible targets.”

With that, Celestia put the letter from Shining Armor away and took another one out, this one from Twilight.

“Well, hopefully some normal news from Twilight shall lighten the mood,” Celestia said with a small smile as she began reading, said smile soon faded from sight and was replaced by shock. “Oh dear…”

“What is it sister?” Luna asked and leaned over to read the letter as well, her expression soon matching that of her sisters.

“I never realized that young Emerald Gleaner could hold the capacity for such violence in her,” Celestia said softly.

“… It was in defense of another,” Luna said in quiet defense of the mare who was to be her future apprentice.

“Even so… though it does somewhat gladden me to see that Emerald would go to such lengths for a friend,” Celestia said lightly, “Twilight’s hypothesis that she developed with her other friends sounds like a probable reason for Emerald’s violent outburst.”

“Yes, but in the end without solid proof, or the story from Emerald herself, that is all it really is, a hypothesis,” Luna said. “I applaud her willingness to dirty her hooves… though I will most certainly go to lengths to plan lessons in ethics and self-control. A potential future princess should know when enough is enough. Moderation can be key in a great number of actions.”

“Hmm…” Celestia looked at her sister with a deadpan expression. “Perhaps I should help you in planning those lessons? Or better yet, take part myself.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?!” Luna demanded indignantly.

“Why, nothing at all my dearest sister.”