Oskar Osäker: True Omnivore

by Legionary

Chapter 14: The Gala

“Only two weeks left until the Gala girls!” Twilight said to her friends excitedly. “Are all of you as eager as I am?”

“Ah sure am sugarcube!” Applejack replied. “Got everything all set up. Me and Big Mac made this fancy schmancy stand to sell Apples’ pies and fritters and caramel covered apples. Ah’m going to make a ton of bits for the family.”

Twilight was with her friends at the library, everyone either sitting at a table or lounging about somewhere in the library. All of them were quite eager for the upcoming Grand Galloping Gala, greatly looking forward to experiencing the famed event for themselves.

“And to think it was a year ago that we all came together as friends,” Rarity stated in some nostalgic glee. At the unicorn’s statement, everyone couldn’t help but smile widely as they all recalled the various moments they all shared together. Suddenly, Pinkie gasped aloud.

“We never celebrated Emmy’s birthday!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, holding her hooves up to her face in shock.

Everyone blinked at that and began thinking about the past year, indeed they couldn’t recall a time when they celebrated the unicorn’s birthday, nor could they recall her ever talking about when her birthday was.

“Oh my… I don’t even know how old dear Emerald is,” Rarity said looking bothered. “I… I don’t know why, but I feel very disappointed in myself for not knowing.”

“Well nothing keeping us from celebrating it early… or belated… something like that,” Dash said from overhead.

“Hey yeah! Let’s do that! Another surprise party!” Pinkie said happily, taking out a party favour and blowing it enthusiastically.

“Good thing Emerald is out right now busy with her work,” Twilight said with a smile at Pinkie. “It will give us time to set up the party, which we will need if we want to set up something like this on such short notice.”

“Oh Twilight, you have me this time!” Pinkie Pie chided cheerfully and left the room, coming back a near instant later with a colorful cannon. “It’s Pinkie time!”

With a boom the cannon went off as confetti filled the air. When everyone got a good look of the room, decorations and balloons now hung everywhere.

“Good work Pinkie darling!” Rarity said happily. “Now we only need to get the cake baked and put icing on it. I hope Emerald doesn’t come home before we are ready.”

“Yay! Let’s go bake a cake!” Pinkie shouted and ran into the kitchen, Rarity following after her.

“Hey, can I help?” Dash said as she flew over.

“And by help do you mean?”

“Lick the beaters clean?” Dash answered with a wide smile.

“Well that is a form of help I suppose,” Rarity sighed and walked into the kitchen, Rainbow Dash not two steps behind.

Gunshots rang deafeningly through the air as Oskar watched with a studying gaze. Diamond Dogs stood in the now enlarged firing range, big enough to now hold over two dozen dogs. And it wasn’t the only firing range now, either. Having the bullet production line finished meant Oskar no longer had to use her most gifted Diamond Dogs to help her make bullets, allowing for basically the entire Warhound fighting force to practice using their guns. Helping this further was the Warhounds using the rifles built by their fellow Diamond Dogs. They weren’t as good as the ones made by Oskar, but it allowed them all to get practice in.

Her examination of the Diamond Dog’s practice done, Oskar turned around to walk out of the room. Beside the doorway and installed into the wall was a fairly large crystal with a basic runic circuit around it. Stopping next to the gem, Oskar examined it.

It was a runic array designed to power a silencing spell. Oskar’s skill in runic arrays were fairly basic at the moment, her knowledge purely from primers and not any practical memories, but the primers allowed her to set up simple arrays to power straight forward spells. As long as she didn’t try to do anything complicated, Oskar could manage a lot.

Oskar exited the room, the moment she crossed the threshold of the door the deafening gunshots became muffled, sounding more like a dull pounding in the far distance.

The fake unicorn made her way through the halls, passing quite a few doors each with muffled gunshots emitting from behind them before reaching a staircase. Making her way up the stairs, Oskar eventually exited out into the streets of the underground city.

‘Really ought to name this place sometime,’ Oskar thought as she walked down a street. ‘Can’t keep calling it the Everfree Cavern or the Underground City all the time, it is the hub of our nation now… hmm, hub…’

Distracted by her absent musings, Oskar almost didn’t notice Belvedere sitting on a stone bench with patchy cushions on them. Coming to a stop, the Evolved took a closer look at what the Greyhound was reading and saw that it was a newspaper from Ponyville.

“Where did you get that?” Oskar asked.

“I snuck into Ponyville one night and took it,” Belvedere replied, most of his form obscured as he flipped to another page. “I left a bit behind to pay for it. This is an interesting article by the way, like this part here.”

The Alpha turned the paper around and showed her a section mentioning New Paradigm’s acquisition of a publishing company.

“What are you going to do with a publishing company?” Belvedere asked.

“I have some ideas to make a lot of money off of it in the near future,” Oskar answered. “It took a bit of wordplay, but I made sure Over Look thought it was his idea to buy up that publishing company. It was my idea to help him buy it though.”

“Oh…” The Greyhound hummed in thought as he went back to reading his paper. “I’ve noticed something else, you’ve been in your pony form more often than not around here.”

“Is that a problem?” Oskar questioned with a somewhat puzzled expression.

“No, as a shapeshifter I would figure you would enjoy taking on different forms,” the Alpha answered casually. “But I also figured that since we all know that you are a shapeshifter, you would like to stay in your base form more often than not around here. But most of the time I’ve seen you walk around, you’re in that pony form.” To this Oskar only stared at Belvedere silently with an unreadable expression. “…Perhaps you’ve had a change of heart about which form you feel comfortable in?”

To that, Oskar just turned and continued down the street, choosing to ignore Belvedere’s spoken musings rather than comment. Before she got far though, Belvedere spoke again.

“I would like you to know that both I and all the Alphas deeply appreciate all you have done for us.” Oskar looked back at that and saw the Alpha had put his paper down, now looking at her with a soft smile rather than his usual stony serious expression. “You promised you would make us more than slavers and thieves, and you have fulfilled that promise. You’ve built a nation for us, made us strong, made us independent and given us a future to look forward to. Such is our gratitude and loyalty, there is nothing any of us wouldn’t do if you ordered us to do it, Oskar.”

“I’ll… I won’t misuse this trust,” Oskar replied quietly before continuing on her way down a street.

“I know you won’t boss,” Belvedere stated as he picked his paper back up and went back to reading.

Oskar walked along a street, Belvedere’s voice expressing his gratitude and loyalty resounding in her head.

‘Well… I’ve got a loyal army now,’ Oskar thought solemnly. ‘That is objective four finally complete, now onto Objective Five: Claim the top of the Food Chain… I… this can wait a good while I think…’

The Evolved continued her stroll along the busy streets of the cavern city, her mind swirling with troubled thoughts when an armoured Diamond Dog suddenly appeared from around a corner.

It was a Warhound, wearing the now standard issue armor. Oskar had put the smiths through their paces working with high quality steel and creating a standardized suit of armor for the Warhounds. Rather than a simple inflexible metal cuirass with a spiked helmet, this armor provided much more protection and was also heavier. There was a solid metal plate around the chest of the armor, but sectioned plates along the stomach allowed more range of movement. To provide as much flexibility as possible, the armor completely covering the arms were also sectioned plating, and instead of a spiked open faced helm, Oskar had sallet helmets with adjustable face plates made. Painted on the left pauldron of the armor was the emblem of the Enclave, a black background with a tribal forward facing dog head sitting in the middle of a large crimson biohazard symbol.

“Boss! Boss, there’s one of those timber wolves here to see you!” the Warhound shouted as he skidded to a stop before the virus. Despite having seemingly come running from the surface wearing heavy armor, the dog wasn’t short of breath in the least, having trained while wearing something that was twice as heavy as the armor he wore now.

“Oh okay, I’ll go up to see him right n-” Oskar began when the form of a large Timber Wolf lumbered around the corner the dog had come and started moving towards Oskar.

“Err, boss, you said not to do anything to make the timber wolves mad,” the Warhound replied when Oskar shot him a look. “So we didn’t know what to do when it didn’t want to wait at the tunnel entrance for you.”

“It’s alright, you were just following orders,” Oskar said with a wave of her hoof. “I suppose timber wolves can be allowed down here now, but I want at least five Warhounds keeping watch of one when it’s down here. Back to your station, and inform the others of this.”

“Alright boss, right away,” the Warhound said with a salute and darted away.

“Hello, you wanted to see me?” Oskar greeted the Timber Wolf as she moved closer.

“Virus… I greet you,” the deep voice replied out loud and out of the mouth of the Timber Wolf. “I have come to speak with you again.”

“Oh… okay,” Oskar blinked, judging that the voice was now much more coherent and stronger. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Those that dwell on the edges of the forest and beyond,” the voice answered. “I see them mill and swarm about through the eyes of my limbs. Always, they pay little heed to the plight of the wild, living in willful ignorance of the chains they force upon it.”

“Really?” Oskar asked with a raised brow. “I know the ponies and they tend to concern themselves with the wild. They handle the weather and seasons and wake the animals from hibernation when winter rolls around after all.”

“It is of that which I speak!” the Timber Wolf growled in anger, though not directed towards her. “The animals have no instinct save for the direction of the ponies. Leaves do not fall from the trees, they rely upon the pounding hooves of running ponies. The clouds do not form of nature’s cycle and must be manufactured by the hooves of ponies. Everywhere I gaze, I spy the ponies tread upon the cycle with casual airs, replacing the free wilds with their structured order. And I see them encroach upon me as well. Through my limbs do I spy the settlements of ponies grow fatter and closer to this bastion of the cycle. They begin to dare to hack at these woods to form their homes, to venture underneath the shade of my canopy. They view this bastion as a nuisance, as something UNNATURAL, and dare to dream of enchaining it as well.”

“It sounds like you hate the thought of being controlled, of having your freedom ripped away,” Oskar stated. “I… do as well, because for a long few years I have had to deal with exactly that. But now I am strong again, and will not allow anyone to chain me and take my choice away again. I am now preemptively working to make sure no one will do that to me again and if anyone does try it, they will regret it.”

“Your words fascinate me virus…” the voice rumbled as the timber wolf narrowed its eyes in thought. “I shall contemplate them deeply.”

Oskar watched as the Timber Wolf plodded away from her and next to the side of a building. It then curled up next to the side of the building and closed its eyes. Oskar stared at the apparently sleeping timber wolf before shaking her head and continuing on.

‘What else do I need to do down here?’ Oskar asked herself. ‘I finished off another load of animals, they all retained lots of higher brain functions so I can think about doing some stress testing later. That other project can’t really get started until this one is finished, but I have had the digging teams start carving out the needed chambers, and they should be done after a month or so.’

‘Well since I have nothing else to get done, I’ll just head home now,’ Oskar thought and quickly teleported away with a flash of pink light. She arrived an instant later in Twilight’s library to an unexpected sight and sound.

“EEK!” Fluttershy squeaked in shock as Oskar suddenly appeared before her and recoiled.

“Gah!” Oskar shouted in surprise and recoiled as well. She quickly got a hold of herself and took in her surroundings, blinking at all the party decorations filling the room, her friends wearing party hats and a cake with a single candle on it.

“What’s going on?” Oskar asked everyone. “Is Pinkie holding another party?”

“We are all holding another party darling!” Rarity replied happily. “We were just waiting for the guest of honor!”

“Oh… so who is the lucky pony?” Oskar asked, teleporting a spare party hat onto her head.

“It’s you!”

“Surprise!” The Mane Six shouted together. “Happy birthday!”

“What?” Oskar stated, her eyes wide in surprise. “M-my birthday? You’re celebrating my birthday?”

“We all realised we never got to celebrate your birthday Emerald,” Twilight said with a smile. “We’re sorry if we are late or early, but none of us actually know when your birthday is or how old you even are…”

Oskar looked at each one of her friends, each one of them looking rather saddened they never thought to ask her when her birthday was supposed to be. Then she looked at the cake with the single candle and saw that it had writing on it as well, ‘Happy Birthday Emerald’ was what was written on it. Seeing this, Oskar could feel a warmth bloom in her chest and she couldn’t help the massive smile on her face. Focusing her attention on the singular candle on her cake she charged up a spell. There was a flash of light and when it faded, twenty two identical candles appeared.

“I’m about twenty two,” Oskar said with a truly happy smile. “And… yes, today would be my birthday.”

“Oh wow, today is actually your birthday?” Pinkie stated in gleeful surprise. “That is like a one in a million chance of being guessed right!”

“One in three hundred and sixty five actually,” Twilight corrected with a smile.

“Enough of this egghead crud!” Dash said loudly. “Let’s party!”

“Sure thing Dash,” Oskar smiled widely. “Sure thing.”

And Oskar did just that, partied and had a grand time with her friends. The thoughts of work she needed to do for the Enclave and modeling would occasionally wander into her head, only to be ignored. This time she was determined to give her friends her total and undivided attention, and to have fun and unwind.

“AHHH! I! Can’t! Believe! The Grand! Galloping! Gala! Is! Tonight!” Pinkie Pie shouted with glee as she bounced on a trampoline. Oskar glanced at her from her place on a transfigured bench and smiled before returning her attention to Twilight.

“Pinkie! Please stop shouting!” Twilight said irritably before returning to her book. “I’m trying to concentrate!”

It was about two weeks later and the Gala was that very night. Everyone was to get together beforehand so they could prepare themselves for the majestic formal event, getting themselves pampered at a spa before getting their manes done just so and putting on their dresses. Twilight was busy getting in some last minute practice with a spell she wanted to use for the Gala. Oskar for her part was rather interested in what the spell was going to be since Twilight didn’t tell her or allow her to peek at her notes.

“Pinkie Pie!” Rarity shouted from the doorway of her boutique. “Stop that right now! It’s time to prepare for the Gala and I refuse for you to put on your dress when you’re all sweaty.”

“I guess this is the part where we spend hours and hours gazing into a mirror and getting everything just right huh?” Oskar said in a deadpan voice. “Truly, I am overcome with excitement.”

“Now now dear, it’s beneath you to complain,” Rarity chided as she trotted over. “And besides, don’t you spend hours preparing for your appearance in the backstage for photo shoots and fashion shows? Surely you ought to be used to it by now?”

“Of course,” Oskar said and rolled over, her head hanging over the edge of the bench as she gazed at Rarity with an annoyed look. “But I get paid very handsomely to put up with that. You can’t exactly blame me for not looking forward to having to put up with such stuff in my off time.”

“Okay, one: sit up properly this instant!” Rarity said insistently. “You’re dragging your beautiful mane on the ground and it’s only going to take more work to get it cleaned up for the Gala. And two: The Grand Galloping Gala doesn’t even come once a year, so getting the opportunity to attend it isn’t something one should wave their hoof at! And three: you should put up with it because I say you should put up with it!”

“Yes mom,” Oskar said sarcastically and sat upright, brushing out all of the dirt that managed to stick to her mane with one pass of her hoof.

“That’s better,” Rarity said with a smile, finding it odd that she felt incredibly satisfied at being called ‘mom’. “Now where in the world is everypony? We have to get ready for the- oh there they are.”

While Rarity had been speaking with Oskar, Applejack and Fluttershy had arrived and were with Pinkie and Spike, watching Twilight cast a spell on an apple.

Rarity and Oskar watched on as Twilight charged up her spell before finally casting it with a flash of light. The apple bulged out and twisted, becoming far larger, gaining a metallic shine, several gilded engravings on the side and equally gilded wheels, a door and a seat for a driver.

“Now that is an interesting transfiguration,” Oskar commented thoughtfully before smiling widely. “And I do believe I have seen something like this before.”

“Most wondrous,” Rarity agreed before blinking her eyes when she noticed something. “Where in the world is Rainbow Dash? If she doesn’t arrive soon, we are going to be late!”

“Hold on everypony!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she dived in from above. “I’m here! Sorry I’m late, the last shipment of clouds was late and I had to work longer.”

“Well as long as you made it in the end darling, that’s all that matters.” Rarity stated.

“Hey, I’m like the fastest pegasus since ever!” Dash protested. “Of course I’m going to make it, working a bit later or not.”

“Well since you made it, you can watch what I do next,” Twilight said before turning to Fluttershy. “Do you have your friends, Fluttershy?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy answered as several mice poked their heads out of her mane. “Will they be safe Twilight?”

“You have my word,” Twilight assured her friend as the mice darted off Fluttershy’s head and onto the ground. Twilight then charged up another spell, casting it with a flash. “Ta da!”

When the flash ended, before the ponies were four tall remarkably horse-like creatures, though they also had eyes, whiskers, ears and teeth like mice. The others could only stare with wide eyes and mutter forced compliments upon the sight of the hybrid creatures before them.

“Well… I also saw something like this as well,” Oskar muttered. “Though the transformation was much more… neater.”

It was then that Rarity’s pet cat Opalescence suddenly appeared and leapt at the changed mice with a yowl. Landing upon the flank of one of the changed mice, Opal sunk her claws in and startled it, making all four of them rear up and squeak in alarm before taking off, bucking off Opal in the process.

“Wait! Come back!” Twilight shouted after them. “Those horses were supposed to pull our carriage! How will we get to the gala?”

“What ever shall we do?!” Rarity exclaimed dramatically before shooting Twilight the very same deadpan look Oskar had sported at her a few moments ago. She then walked a short distance away to where several stallions were hanging out.

“Ah ahem, excuse me?” Rarity began, getting the stallions’ attention. “Uh would you boys mind pulling our carriage to the Gala?”

The two stallions only gave very eager smiles in answer to Rarity giving them a winning smile and fluttering her eyelashes at them. A few moments later, the two stallions were all geared up and hooked up to the carriage.

“Oh… right.” Twilight said, giving a sheepish smile.

“Oh right? What do you mean, oh right?” Oskar asked Twilight with an incredulous expression. “Did you really forget we are all ponies?”

Twilight blushed in embarrassment and looked away from Oskar.

“Seriously?” Oskar said with a small laugh. “I can’t believe you sometimes Twilight, it’s like the simplest things can escape your mind at times.”

“Ahem, well now that that issue has been solved, it’s time we prepared for the Gala,” Rarity stated imperiously. “Chop chop, everypony to the spa, follow me.”

Oskar flipped the page of her magazine as everyone around her worked busily to make themselves presentable for the Gala.

At first, Rarity had helped the fake unicorn try to fix herself up but had soon given it up as a lost cause. It wasn’t because Oskar was being uncooperative or that she was just having an incredibly bad hair day, it was because of her secret nature as a sapient shape shifting virus. Being such a deadly being meant bacteria had more to fear from her than she ever would have to them, so she didn’t have to worry about cleaning out her pores, and thus had a photoshop perfect complexion. And because of her hidden nature she didn’t have to worry about oily hair, split ends, or frazzled hair. If she didn’t wish it, her hair would never change from its picture-ready appearance. It had taken Rarity a few minutes to realise that Oskar was already ready for the Gala before turning her attention to helping the others with a huff, seemingly annoyed with “Emerald” not having the same problems as everyone else.

And so Oskar sat off to the side on a chair, resigned to reading girly magazines.

‘How to find out if your coltfriend is keeping a secret from you, take the ‘surprise’ out of surprise party!’ Oskar read from an article. ‘Well at least the pony version of the Cosmopolitan isn’t advising girls to commit violent crimes as revenge for cheating, or telling them to torture their boyfriends to be kinky. This magazine is downright tame, kind of amusing how innocent ponies can be though.’

Oskar flipped over to the next page when Spike started pounding at the door in irritation. Wondering why in the world they decided to kick him out in the first place, Oskar absently opened the door with her magic.

“EEK! EMERALD WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!” Rarity shouted in shock, quickly grabbing the nearest towel and shielding her body from sight.

This action caused everyone to pause in what they were doing to stare at Rarity in confusion.

“Rarity… you do know that you’re a pony right? And as a pony, you don’t normally wear any clothes at all, right?” Oskar said in utter disbelief.

“Hmpf. Fine, be that way,” Rarity said, tossing the towel away and walking away with her head held up in the air haughtily.

“Seriously, what is up with everypony today?” Oskar asked aloud as she returned to her magazine. “First Twilight, now Rarity. What’s next? Pinkie saying you can’t fit stuff into a container smaller than it is?”

“You can’t?”

Oskar refused to acknowledge that statement and continued on reading her girly magazine.

“So is everyone excited to be at the Gala tonight?” Spike asked excitedly as he walked into the room. “Because I am super psyched to be there and have fun together all night long!”

“I don’t know Spike,” Dash said hesitantly.

“We’ll just have to see,” Rarity added lightly as she put on a fake eyelash.

“We’re gonna be a mite busy,” Applejack stated as she literally spit shined Fluttershy’s hoof.

“Busy having fun!” Pinkie contributed from under a hair dryer.

“Oh… okay,” Spike said in disappointment.

Oskar glanced over her magazine disapprovingly at everyone in the room before turning to Spike.

“Don’t worry Spike. Unlike everyone else, I don’t have any plans at all.” Oskar said to the baby dragon. “So if they don’t want to spend time with you then I most certainly can.”

“Well you don’t have to make it sound like that,” Twilight muttered.

“Really?!” Spike said happily and cheered when Oskar nodded. “Alright! I’ve got a bunch of great stuff to show you! Trust me, you’re going to love the grand tour of Canterlot I’ve got planned.”

“Looking forward to it,” Oskar said honestly before turning back to her magazine. “You know I almost miss the magazines back home compared to this.”

“Why? Were there more exciting things in them?” Rarity questioned as she redid her face after noticing an imperfection of some sort. “Because darling, if excitement is what you want, then there are several magazines for stallions I can point you towards.”

“Well, yes and no,” Oskar said, turning another page. “The other magazine did have some exciting stuff here and there, but it also had ridiculous things too, like the best and most exciting positions to spice up things with your significant other.”

“Positions?” Spike questioned. “Do you mean like dancing positions?”

“Heh, it’s been called a dance,” Oskar said with a small chuckle. “I mean mating positions.”

The effect of that word was instant, and in Oskar’s opinion, utterly worth it. Twilight, who was in the middle of applying blush, mashed the powder puff into her face and made a large cloud. Pinkie jumped up in her seat under the dryer and banged her head loudly on it with a bell like bong. Applejack was in the middle of helping Fluttershy file her hooves and ended up giving her a cut. Rainbow Dash was using her towel to dry off her mane a bit more and ended up tripping over a small stool, and Rarity ended up smearing her eye shadow over the upper half of her face.

“WHAT?!” Everyone shouted at her after recovering from their own little catastrophes, their faces flushed crimson.

“Oh yes, and believe me there were tons of positions that were likely made up on the spot from the editors,” Oskar continued mercilessly. “I could describe in detail one such ridiculous position if you want?”

“NO, NO, NO THERE SHALL BE NO SUCH… INAPPROPRIATENESS HERE!” Rarity shouted in embarrassment, her cheeks utterly crimson as she set about cleaning up her face to start over again.

Oskar only giggled under her breath and went back to reading her magazine. Spike was off to the side in a seat, covering his face which was likely also red in embarrassment. It took a bit, but eventually everyone got back into the rhythm of things as they prepared for the Gala.

“So…” Rainbow Dash began as she approached Oskar, her mane now dry and brushed into its Gala ready style. “What was that uhh… thing you were going to tell us?”

“Oh? The thing huh?” Oskar replied with a sly smile. “So you’re interested in knowing huh?”

“NO… just… curious is all.”

“Come closer,” Oskar said and whispered softly into Dash’s ear when she leaned in.

“Oh my gosh…” Dash said with wide eyes and brought up both her hooves over her mouth. As Oskar continued whispering more and more lurid details into her ear, Dash’s face started to redden. Before long Dash’s entire face was almost the same shade of red as the red stripe in her mane. Suddenly the pegasus’ eyes rolled up into her head and she fainted over into Oskar’s bench.

“Now that’s just hilarious,” Oskar said with a massive grin.

“Oh my goodness! Emerald! Help me wake her up!” Rarity shouted. “She has to get ready or we’ll all be late!”

Sometime later, the entire group eventually managed to get ready and make way for the Grand Galloping Gala in Canterlot. It was a bit of a tight fit with all seven of them inside the carriage, but it was comfortable enough. Oskar was sure the enclosed quarters with so many people would have made it uncomfortably hot, but Twilight seemed to have taken account for that, as a slight cool breeze could be felt inside the carriage.

The sun had long since gone down by the time Oskar could spot Canterlot being reasonably close, and it was still a long way off. Everyone in the carriage was excitedly talking about what they would be doing during the Gala, noticeably none of those plans featured Spike in them in the least. Oskar for her part didn’t really have anything to add, and didn’t really feel like trying to speak over everyone, so she settled for someone that wasn’t speaking at all.

“So what’s the game plan Spike?” Oskar asked the suited up baby dragon after opening a small hole near the driver’s seat with her magic.

“Gah! Oh, hi Emerald,” Spike said, quickly getting over Oskar popping her head out unexpectedly. “What do you mean by game plan?”

“You know, what are you going to be showing me on our tour?” Oskar asked.

“Oh! Well first I was thinking about showing Applejack the golden apple tree orchard,” Spike began.

“Umm… sorry to interrupt, but don’t you think you might want to alter your plans a bit?” Oskar asked a little gently. “Everyone seems to have plans of their own for the Gala.”

“Yeah I know,” Spike said a little sadly. “I’m kinda hoping they’ll at least let me give them a quick tour though. I mean, me and Twilight know Canterlot and the palace like the back of my hand.”

“I’ve been to Canterlot for a short while,” Oskar stated. “A guard showed me around the city but I haven’t been to the palace yet.”

“Oh, anypony I know?”

“Not unless you know somepony by the name of Razor Wing.”

“Can’t say I have,” Spike replied.

“So other than that golden apple tree orchard, what else are you planning to show us?” Oskar asked.

“Well… not much else to tell the truth,” Spike said with a frown. “There was so much I wanted to show the girls, but they want to go their own separate ways and do their own things. So I have only two other stops planned, like the crown jewels and my favorite donut shop.”

“Sounds like fun to me,” Oskar answered. “Especially the last one. What kind of donuts does the shop sell?”

“Oh Joe has everything,” Spike answered. “Like donuts with vanilla icing and coconut sprinkles.”

“Mmm, definitely looking forward to it,” Oskar said, licking her lips. “When we get there, I’m buying. Good thing I brought a pocket full of bits!”

“Sounds great to me! Let’s see if I can get us there quicker, hiyah!” Spike said and snapped the reins.

Instantly, the carriage came to a stop and one of the stallions turned around to glare at Spike.

“Hey!” he shouted.

“Yes?” Oskar replied lowly with an expression that clearly promised great anger if the answer wasn’t satisfactory.

“…Nothing,” the stallion squeaked out before he and his fellow returned to pulling the carriage, this time running at trotting speed.

“Thanks for that,” Spike said, breathing a sigh of relief.

“No problem.”

Before long, the carriage finally arrived at the palace and Spike leapt down and opened the carriage door for everyone, all of whom streamed out of the carriage. Oskar left last, mostly because she took the time to repair the hole she made.

“Alright then so what are we going to do?” Oskar asked as she walked out of the carriage. “I think we should go with Spike for a shor-”

“At the gala~ at the garden~ I’m going to see them all~!” Fluttershy sang out. “I’ll befriend them at the Galaaaa~!”

‘Oh my fucking god they’re singing again,’ Oskar sighed as she faced hoofed. ‘Well, no use saying anything now. Might as well go wait for everyone to stop singing and dancing in perfect choreography over at the palace gates.’

The Evolved then started moving through the dancing and singing crowd as each member of the Mane Six had a major singing solo. She started to get rather annoyed at the bounding and prancing crowds around her as they seemed to always block her. It got to a head when she was almost half way down the walkway when a dancing line of ponies started forcing her to retrace her steps back down.

‘Oh screw this!’ Oskar thought as she spied a stick on the ground. ‘You all want to dance and sing? Fine, but let’s see if you can adapt!’

Being as subtle as possible, a difficult task as she was the only grumpy looking and non-singing and dancing pony there, Oskar magically took hold of the stick and then shot it in the path of one of the many dancing ponies.

“Been dreaming~ I’ve been waiting~ To fly with thos- GAH!” Dash started in her own solo when a stumbling unicorn rammed right into her.

There was sound almost like a needle scratching across a record as every singing and dancing pony suddenly froze up for a split second. It was like the force that had allowed each and every pony to sing like professionals and dance in a perfect synchronization had left as every single pony in the field started stumbling around. It quickly grew worse from there as it seemed like everyone had lost their situational awareness and ended up crashing into each other. Before long, everyone was in great piles here and there on the field, with the Mane Six being amongst the casualties. And off to the side, watching this entire event play out was Oskar, snorting as she struggled to hold in her laughter before giving up and just plain laughing aloud.

“Ohhh ow…” Twilight moaned as she got off the ground. “What happened?”

“NO! OH NO, IS MY DRESS OKAY!?” Rarity shouted in distress. “AHHH! HELP, I AM IN NEED OF VITAL AID!”

“Woo! Now that was a tumble!” Pinkie cheered as she bounded over.

“Boy howdy,” Applejack muttered as she dusted herself off. “Everypony okay?”

“Yes. It is an utter miracle, but I am quite alright,” Rarity said as she frantically looked over herself. “No tears, no grass stains, no unsightly wrinkles. Yes it was most certainly a miracle I’ve come out of that uninjured.”

“I was talkin’ about important stuff sugarcube,” Applejack replied as ponies all around them got up from the ground.

“What? So was I,” Rarity said in honest confusion.

“Well at least Emmy is having fun,” Dash said, pointing towards Oskar as she rubbed her slightly achy head. Over to the side, Oskar had gotten her laughter under control and was now just giggling as Spike stood next to her, watching on in concern.

“How about we just go inside now and forget that the evening started this way?” Twilight offered as she walked towards the palace entrance.

The Mane Six, including Spike and a still slightly giggling Oskar, entered into the main hall. The girls had seemingly already put the small disaster outside behind them and were all looking at their surroundings with enthusiastic glee. Oskar, now finally in control of herself, wasn’t so enthusiastic. She took one look at the type of people attending the Gala and had pegged the event as just one big extremely expensive networking event. Upon realising that, Oskar had pondered going amongst the more obviously wealthier party goers and setting up a few business opportunities for New Paradigm. She decided to discard that idea, as she had already promised Spike to go on a palace tour with him.

“This is going to be so great! The best night ever!” Spike said eagerly to everyone. “And the best part is that we will be-”

Suddenly, everyone darted off in separate directions to pursue their own reasons for coming to attend the Gala.

“Oh…” Spike sighed and looked utterly downtrodden.

“Don’t worry Spike,” Oskar assured the little dragon. “I promised I was going to go on your tour. There may be only two of us, but we can still have fun.”

“Yeah… yeah we can, can’t we?” Spike said, already looking happier. “Alright, first stop on our tour of the Royal Palace is the Golden Apple Trees.”

“From the sounds of it, I’m thinking the apples are gold too,” Oskar stated as she and Spike started walking down one hall. “Can you still eat them? Or do you need to prepare them in some way?”

“Oh no, no preparation at all!” Spike said with a wave of his hand. “You just pluck one and take a bite. Hmm… if I remember right, the trees should still be in season and should have their apples on them. Come on, the orchard is this way, though it’s a bit isolated from the rest of the party.”

After some twists and turns, Oskar and Spike arrived at the golden apple trees at the far side of the palace grounds. Just like Oskar had expected, instead of just having bright yellow bark, the trees appeared to be made out of actual gold, their metallic like surface reflecting light and making them shine in the night.

“And here are the golden apple trees! Cool huh?” Spike said as he waved grandly to the orchard. “And they look like they are still in season too! Wanna pluck a few for ourselves?”

“Sure,” Oskar replied, and magically pulled several apples for herself and Spike from the branches. Just like the trees they were grown from, the apples also appeared to be made out of gold. The virus stared a little hesitantly at her apple when she heard Spike bite happily into his. Throwing caution to the wind, Oskar took a bite of her apple and found it to be the most delicious, juicy and delightfully textured apple she ever had.

“Great huh?” Spike commented with his mouth half full upon hearing Oskar’s delighted moan. “From what I know these trees are the result of several decades of work and research from Canterlot’s greatest unicorns and members of the Apple family. Crossbreeding apple trees and gold, brainy stuff like that.”

Oskar was fairly certain there must have been more to it than that, but didn’t expect Spike to know everything about it, so she left it be. The Evolved, however, swallowed the core of the apple as well, tucking away the golden seeds of the fruit to grow her own orchard for both her dogs’ benefit and her own.

“So, on to see the crown jewels?” Oskar asked after finishing off her apples.

“Sure!” Spike said, wiping his mouth of apple juice and chucking a core away. “This way.”

The two moved back into the palace and down several halls. The room the crown jewels were in was apparently a bit closer to the party then the golden orchard was, as the dull roar of ponies chattering echoed down at them as they traveled. Eventually the two arrived at a set of double doors with two Royal Guard ponies standing by on guard.

“Hi Iron Hoof!” Spike greeted one of the guards.

“Hey Spike,” the guard nodded back with a smile before adding teasingly. “Taking your fillyfriend to see the crown jewels?”

“Wha-what!” Spike exclaimed with rapidly flushing cheeks. “She- Emerald isn’t my-”

“So what if I’m his fillyfriend?” Oskar said defensively while pulling Spike into a protective hug, inwardly roaring with laughter at the look on the baby dragon’s face. “You make it sound like it’s bad he wants to treat me right and show me a good time.”

“Whoa… Spike…” Iron Hoof said, his eyes wide with both shock and awe.

“NICE!” the other guard commented with a toothy grin. “Always knew you had it in you little guy.”

“Wha- but- she isn’- EMERALD!” Spike shouted his face crimson in embarrassment.

Oskar laughed at Spike’s expression and the guards’ obvious confusion. Deciding to show mercy on the baby dragon, Oskar decided to clear up the situation.

“No I’m not his fillyfriend,” Oskar said with a small laugh. “I was just teasing him. We are actually here to look at the crown jewels though.”

“Hehe, nice one,” the other guard said with another toothy grin.

“Definitely,” Iron Hoof agreed. “You’re alright in my books Miss Gleaner. Go on in! If you want to borrow something you can, just make sure to return it by the end of the week.”

“No problem!” Oskar smiled at Iron Hoof’s joking offer before walking through the doors with a still embarrassed Spike.

The room was fairly plain, as it wasn’t something the public would normally have access to, but it didn’t need to be decorative. Set up on marble pedestals with silk cushions, the many various jewels Celestia had at her disposal glimmered grandiosely. The Princess of the Sun appeared to have jewels for any occasion, and Oskar found herself gazing upon a crown when she noticed Spike shooting looks at her out of the corner of his eyes.

“What’s the matter Spike?” Oskar questioned with a humoring smile. “Thinking about us being a thing?”

“NO!” Spike denied with a massive blush before quickly adding. “Not that I wouldn’t want to I mean! I mean, who wouldn’t want that with you being a beautiful mare, but I know about what you and Time Turner and I’m devoted to Rarity. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings or anything! But I was actually thinking about that and I’m sorry! I won’t think about it again! I’m-”

“It’s okay Spike!” Oskar laughed at the increasingly frantic dragon. “You’re a young man hanging out with me. I’m not going to hold it against you for thinking about that.”

“So… we cool?” Spike asked, cheeks still bright red.

“We sure are.” Oskar smiled and held her hoof out. Spike smiled widely at this and held up his fist before pressing it against Oskar’s hoof. “Want to go to that donut shop now? I’m in the mood for some awesome donuts.”

“Definitely!” Spike smiled.

The two left the room and began making their way down the halls. The way back out of the palace to Spike’s favorite donut shop led them back fairly close to the Gala, leading to Oskar and Spike spotting more and more party guests in the halls including one guest Oskar hadn’t expected at all.

“Emerald?” Oskar heard from behind her and turned to see Time Turner standing there, wearing his best tie along with a matching rented tuxedo.

“Time Turner?” Oskar blinked in surprise. “I didn’t think I’d see you here.”

“Neither did I to be honest,” Time Turner said a little nervously. “But I happened to win a contest involving mathematical equations a while back and got a Gala ticket along with a cash prize. I didn’t think I would actually use it, but then I heard you were going to be here… so I decided I wasn’t going to miss this.”

“Wow uh…” Oskar said with growing unease. “I would love to be with you tonight but I promised Spike I would-”

“Oh don’t miss out on this on my account,” Spike commented with a smile and a thumbs up at Oskar. “You two go have fun. You can come find me sampling the appetizers when you’re done Emerald.”

‘God damn it Spike!’ the virus thought in frustration at the sight of the retreating baby dragon. ‘Now is not the time to be polite!’

“Would you care to follow me Emerald?” Time Turner asked with a soft smile. “Something fantastic is going to happen outside and I want you to see it.”

“Alright… lead the way,” Oskar said, somehow keeping her smile from looking forced.

The two walked outside to the gardens, where ponies were spread out all over. Some were in small groups and were obviously business associates, while others appeared to be sweethearts out to have a wonderful time together.

‘Guess that puts me and Time Turner in the latter category…’ Oskar thought as she subtly ground her teeth in agitation. She could see what this was going to lead up to, some beautiful show, either fireworks or the Wonderbolts doing aerial maneuvers, and Time Turner taking the chance to have that ‘magical’ first kiss of a relationship. Oskar could seriously see it working in a normal situation, but as it was, she was the girl here and she wasn’t at all looking forward to it.

‘I… I don’t want to hurt him, yet leading him further and further along is going to hurt him more in the end,’ Oskar thought with an inward scowl as she and Time took a seat upon a semi-secluded bench. ‘And if I do just go through with it, I’m going to end up extending this mockery of an actual relationship to even worse points. Eventually, one of two things are going to happen. He is either going to get comfortable enough with me to go for a… “home run” or he is going to pop the question. I am most certainly not going to let either of those happen… so why can’t I just end this act right now?!’

The Evolved’s main problem was what she thought just moments before. The current situation was leading up to quite a romantic moment and thus ending things with Time now would cause much more pain than simply doing it at some diner. It also would have been much easier to go through with ending things if Oskar didn’t particularly care about Time Turner all that much. But the pony doctor had ended up being one of the few people the virus could consider a friend, and thus any plans that included causing him suffering of any sort didn’t sit well with Oskar.

‘Oh god here it comes,’ Oskar thought as she saw fireworks shooting up into the air and detonating, causing a grand display.

Sure enough, after watching the fireworks go off for a few moments, Time Turner subtly sat closer to Emerald, then after a moment he placed his hoof on her shoulder and got her attention. Looking at her with warm eyes, he leaned closer and closer to her. Oskar closed her eyes as well, but more out of a desire to not see the kiss coming. Her mouth twisted into a deeply unhappy frown and her form went rigid as Time Turner came closer and closer.

“I…” Oskar began softly. “I CAN’T DO IT!”

With that shout, Oskar disappeared in a pink flash, leaving Time Turner to fall onto the bench and hit his jaw on it, cracking his teeth together loudly. Time Turner blinked in shock for a few moments before the faintest signs of tears began to form as his mind leapt to the worst, and true, conclusion.

Oskar reappeared back in the palace in the very hallway she had encountered Time Turner. She quickly sent out a pulse to locate Spike and started quickly walking in that direction. She looked back over her shoulder at where she knew Time Turner was and felt her chest clench at the pain she knew she was putting him through right now.

‘Sorry Time Turner,’ Oskar thought honestly. ‘It’s better this way. You’d be happier with someone who actually wants to be with you than me. The feelings there would be real on with both sides for one.’

Walking faster, the Evolved made her way down some halls and started walking through a study to another hallway.

‘What other emotionally trying thing could happe- NO, I DIDN’T THINK THAT, NOPE!’ Oskar thought as she shook her head. ‘I DIDN’T FINISH THAT THOUGHT SO IT DOESN’T COU-’

“Hello Emerald Gleaner,” Oskar heard Princess Luna say from behind her.

‘… Shit,’ Oskar thought, and with a small gulp turned around to face the music.

“Oh! Umm, young Emerald, please pardon me. I don’t mean to frighten you!” Luna said as she saw Oskar start to have a minor panic attack. “Please do not distress! What can I do to show to you my honest and true intentions?”

Oskar just stared at Princess Luna with wide eyes, but she did start to calm down, though not because of the Princess’ efforts. It was because she was recalling the fight she had with Luna in Cloudsdale, and the fact that she hadn’t been obliterated the instant the fight started like she always feared would happen. True, Luna wasn’t trying to kill Oskar at the time and thus was holding back quite a bit, but it still did Oskar’s confidence wonders. Plus, there was another fact Oskar recalled about the fight.

‘My darts pierced her hide,’ Oskar thought as her breathing evened out. ‘She may be a god but she isn’t invincible. I can hurt her… I can kill her…’

“There we are,” Luna said softly as she saw Oskar calm down completely. “No need to be alarmed at all. I only wish to have a small conversation with you.”

“…Right, I am supremely sorry for my behavior, your highness,” Oskar said with a bow. “I’m sure you have been told by your sister that I have had bad experiences with authority figures in the past.”

“There is no need to apologise young Emerald, none at all!” Luna stated before motioning to some couches over to the side of the study with her wing. “Have a seat and we shall converse on the matter at hoof.”

“Yes your highness,” Oskar said, and did as she was told.

“Now… umm, how are you?” Luna asked awkwardly. “Er, how was your day and… how are you enjoying the Gala?”

“Everything is fine your highness,” Oskar said, and couldn’t help but openly eye Luna warily, not at all taken in by the alicorn’s attempt to act casual. “Did you require something of me, your highness?”

“I…” Luna sighed and closed her eyes in consternation with herself. “I suppose I am not making a good show of being ‘casual’ as it were. Forgive me for I am… out of practice with modern social norms.”

“Young Emerald, to be completely and utterly honest with you, I am here to give you a proposition,” Luna stated solemnly. “I know that your immediate reaction would be to deny it with all your heart, but I beseech you to give pause and think hard of what I am to offer you. Will you do that for me Emerald Gleaner?”

“I… I’ll promise to think about whatever it is you wish to offer me Princess,” Oskar answered.

“Emerald Gleaner, I wish to offer you the chance to become my personal student,” Luna said in total seriousness.

Oskar blinked. Luna happened to be right about what the virus’ initial reaction would have been, instant denial. The idea of spending so much time with her secret enemies was completely unappealing. But Oskar also did what Luna asked and thought deeply about it.

‘The chance to be a personal student of one of the Princesses...’ Oskar thought earnestly. ‘I really can’t pass this up, can I? Luna may have been sealed away for a thousand years on the moon, but in all that time, magic hasn’t made much in the way of revolutionary developments of itself. All of its innovation is the result of it working in concert with mechanics and technology. So her knowledge is still very pertinent and would benefit me greatly to learn. But… at the same time, this is Princess Luna we are talking about here. I run the risk of casting suspicion on myself if she gets too interested in knowing what I do in my free time if I become her student. I’ve managed to deal with those that could threaten my disguise and keep people from wondering about what “Emerald Gleaner” does in her off time. Granted, the fact that Emerald is a pony and the Gray Fox is a “Diamond Fox” helped to keep people from considering the idea at all.’

“Young Emerald, I understand you would still be very reluctant to accept this offer,” Luna stated. “Thus I ask of you to let me know what I can do to make it more appealing for you. I see the potential in you to go on to do great things, Emerald Gleaner, and I only wish to help you nurture and grow that potential to its very limits.”

“Well…” Oskar began hesitantly. “In that case… I do have other responsibilities to attend to that I need time for, and I also have a life in Ponyville I really don’t want to leave.”

“Then we can adjust the schedule around your life,” Luna said kindly. “Far be it from me to force any subject of mine to choose between higher education and those they hold dear.”

“Thank you Princess Luna,” Oskar said, and began thinking intently. “I… I would like to take a while to think about your offer before giving you a definitive answer though, I hope you do not mind.”

“Of course not young Emerald!” Luna assured. “Think intently, let not the slightest doubt cloud your mind before you make this decision, for it shall influence the rest of your life!”

“Yes it will, won’t it…?” Oskar said thoughtfully. “Well Princess Luna, thank you for this offer. I shall message you soon about my answer, if I may take my leave?”

“Fare thee well young Emerald.” Luna nodded at the Evolved. “I shall eagerly wait in anticipation of your letter, I sincerely hope you will agree to be my student.”

“Thank you again Princess, and good night,” Oskar replied and made her way out of the study. Sending out another pulse for Spike, she saw he hadn’t changed his location much and headed straight for him.

It didn’t take long for Oskar to find Spike, he was actually in the hallway outside the kitchen, sitting on a chair and munching on some appetizers, likely something that the cooks had made especially for him.

“Hiya Emerald!” Spike greeted, finishing off the last of his appetizers. “How did your date with Time Turner go?”

“Hn,” Oskar grunted noncommittally. “You want to go see that donut shop now?”

“Sure!” Spike replied eagerly and placed his empty plate on his seat before patting his stomach. “Still got plenty of room for treats!”

“Great, let’s go.”

“Wow, it sounds like your date went pretty badly,” Spike said gently as he nursed his hot chocolate.

The two were now in Joe’s Donut Shop and were enjoying some late night donuts and hot chocolate.

“Yeah I’m pretty sure I’m uh, single again,” Oskar replied before gulping down her cup, heedless of the heat. “If I ever was in a relationship in the first place.”

“What do you mean?”

“I… my feelings for him weren’t as true as his were for me,” Oskar answered with a sigh. “I guess… I was only ever keeping up the whole thing just so I wouldn’t hurt him with rejection.”

“Well… what about you?” Spike asked.

“What about me?”

“What about your feelings?” Spike explained. “Don’t you think it’s wrong to be with somepony if you don’t actually love them?”

“Yeah… true,” Oskar nodded. “You know… you never told me how exactly you found out Time and I were together. We happened to be very discreet about it, to make sure the magazines and reporters, even got Bon Bon, to not spread rumors about it.”

“I was up drinking a cup of water before going to bed when I saw you teleport in with Time Turner,” Spike explained. “The both of you were dressed up so I just put two and two together.”

“Oh.”

It was then that the door to the shop opened with a ring of a bell, and the two glanced over their shoulders to look. Meeting their sight was the entire Mane Six looking miserable with their beautiful dresses torn and dirty.

“Hey, how was the Gala!” Spike asked excitedly as he leapt off his chair towards the girls. “How was your best night ever?”

Oskar shot Spike an incredulous look before glancing at Twilight’s expression, she looked like she was on the verge of tears. Frankly, it was clear to the Evolved that everyone’s “best night ever” turned out rather badly. Truthfully, she was disappointed, but not surprised.

The next twenty minutes or so passed with everyone telling their own story of their experience of the Grand Galloping Gala, famed for supposedly making everyone’s dreams come true. Everyone seemed to have come close to realising their reason for coming to the Gala. only to fall short. Applejack made only one sale due to the free and expensive appetizer table a short distance away. Rarity found a Prince, but he turned out to be a jerk. Rainbow Dash was unable to enjoy being around her idols at all. Pinkie Pie’s efforts to make the party more fun weren’t exactly appreciated. Fluttershy wasn’t able to connect with the royal garden animals the way she was able to with those near the Everfree, and Twilight was unable to spend any real time with Celestia due to said princess being incredibly busy.

And yet…

“That sounds like the worst night ever!” Spike commented.

“It was!” the Mane Six said at once before bursting into laughter.

Everyone seemed to be already looking back on it fondly, maybe everything was just funny in hindsight? It wasn’t to Oskar truthfully, but then she hadn’t experienced those events first hand.

“I just hope Princess Celestia isn’t upset with us for ruining the Gala…” Twilight said softly in worry.

“That was the best Grand Galloping Gala ever!” Oskar heard Celestia’s voice exclaim happily from the door.

Everyone turned to look with shock at Princess Celestia at the door of the donut shop.

“Princess Celestia!” everyone exclaimed.

“Pardon me Princess…” Twilight began as Celestia walked over to stand at the table. “But tonight was just awful!”

“Oh Twilight, the Grand Galloping Gala is always awful!” Celestia explained with a humoring smile.

“I can agree with that wholeheartedly,” Oskar stated with a huff. “The whole thing was rather cut and dry to be honest. It all seemed more like one big expensive business meeting rather than some celebration, to me at least, and I’ve had to deal with enough of those for work. If it wasn’t for Spike and his little tour of the palace, I doubt the whole thing would have been worth it. Probably would be dearly wishing I’d have sold my ticket the first chance I got… speaking of which, I still have mine,” Oskar said with a puzzled look on her face as she pulled said ticket out. “Were we supposed to stop somewhere and drop them off or something? I met some guards earlier, but they didn’t ask for it.”

“Hmm? Oh…” Celestia began, looking confused before realising something. “I suppose the lands you have traveled, you were required to turn in your tickets for the event? That is not the case here, why would it? Anypony that would come to the Gala surely would only come if properly invited.”

“Oh… yeah that is definitely different from what I’m used to,” Oskar commented.

Celestia for her part was rather delighted that Oskar could speak to her now without stuttering or showing fear. Taking advantage of this lack of fear, Celestia decided to ask Oskar something.

“I met with my sister before coming here,” Celestia stated. “She says that in her opinion, her meeting with you went rather well. I hope you will consider her offer to make you her student seriously Emerald, it would be a considerable waste if your potential went uncultivated.”

Everyone gasped at hearing what Celestia said.

“Oh my gosh Emerald!” Twilight exclaimed excitedly. “Princess Luna offered to make you her student?! That’s fantastic! You really should agree Emerald! Becoming a student of Princess Celestia was the best thing to ever happen to me!”

“Well that certainly sounds great…” Oskar said a bit blandly. “It’s an important decision to make though, and I wouldn’t want to rush through it. Also, it’s getting a bit late. What do you all say I buy us rooms at a high class hotel?”

Twilight was about to say that she was sure Celestia could give them a few guest rooms at the palace when Rarity eagerly spoke up.

“Oh that sounds wonderful Emerald!” Rarity said happily. “A relaxing bath and some room service before bed would be utterly delightful after today’s events.”

“It’s settled then,” Oskar said with a smile. “Let’s go get ourselves some nice rooms.”

Oskar spent about two hours in her room. She had passed the time having a decadent bath just like Rarity no doubt was having, and reading from a well-stocked book shelf in the corner. After which she left her expensive luxurious room.

Moving down extravagantly decorated halls and pristine red carpets, Oskar made her way to the lobby of the five star hotel. Descending a magnificent grand staircase, Oskar arrived in the lobby, which looked more like the concourse of a mansion.

“If anyone asks for me, tell them I’ve gone out for a walk,” Oskar stated to the pony at the front desk.

“Of course miss Gleaner,” the receptionist replied with a smile. “Have a good night, miss.”

Oskar walked out the front doors of the hotel onto a path flanked by colorful and perfectly maintained gardens. Continuing on down the path, the virus walked out onto the dark streets and walked for a bit before darting down an alley. Then she carefully took stock of her surroundings before her form changed with a surge of black tendrils. In a moment, standing within the walls of Canterlot for the first time was the Gray Fox.

‘It’s time to pull one last robbery,’ Oskar thought as he climbed up a wall to the roofs. ‘I would have liked the Diamond Dogs’ help in getting stuff collected and put away, but I did promise them that raid on Cloudsdale was the last time they needed to steal from Equestria, so I’m doing this myself.’

Reaching the roof of the building, Oskar took off at a sprint for the Palace, where his target was.

‘It’ll be a bit tricky to do it myself, but not impossible,’ Oskar thought as he rapidly traversed the rooftops. ‘Now let’s focus. I have to actually manage to sneak in and not get caught before getting to steal anything.’

Before long, Oskar arrived on the street that divided the city between the palace. Watching the walls and open courtyards of the palace, Oskar made sure to spy any patrols of Royal Guard on the premises. Once he had memorised what few patrols he could see in, he bolted into action. Jumping down and running across the empty street, Oskar clambered up and over the perimeter walls of the palace. Leaping down from the wall, Oskar sprinted silently across the garden he was in and dove into a bush with barely a rustle, managing to avoid the gazes of guards at the last second.

Oskar waited for the next opportunity to move, gazing at the ground floor windows and trying to remember if they could be opened. Spying a locked latch, Oskar manipulated it from afar and unlocked it. Seeing his opportunity to move, Oskar darted over to the window and cast a silencing charm over the local area as a precaution and opened the window, closing it behind him after slinking inside.

Oskar silently sprinted through the halls of the palace. There were Royal Guards wandering the halls on patrol, but Oskar heard them long before he saw them and managed to keep clear. However, one of the patrols was near silent and if it weren’t for the fact they were talking, Oskar may have just ran into them.

“Princess Luna is sleeping tonight?” questioned a Royal Guard, though this one was different from all others seen before, yellow eyes, bat wings, dark purple coat and wearing dark purple.

“Yeah, we aren’t going to go beat up manticores in the Everfree Forest again,” said the other guard who looked the same. “I’m glad. This means I’ll have time to heal my bruises for once.”

“Yeah, Princess Luna doesn’t really seem to realise we aren’t as tough as her,” the other replied as the two walked down an empty hall lined with columns.

As the two walked away, Oskar stared after them, pondering what they had just said about Luna. Thinking for a brief moment longer, Oskar then dropped down from the ceiling where he had been clinging.

‘Hmm… according to the blueprints it should be around this corner…’ Oskar thought and peeked around a corner.

Standing guard at a barred door was a single Royal Guard. Oskar frowned in thought for a moment before getting an idea, though rather unpleasant. A form began to appear in one of Oskar’s hands wreathed in tendrils. When the tendrils withdrew, in Oskar’s hand was a disgusting looking ball of tangled, foul smelling hair dripping with a yellow pus like ooze. Claws glowing with magic, Oskar levitated the grotesque hair ball into the air near the ceiling and moved it to the end of the hall opposite from Oskar. Dropping it quietly onto the floor, Oskar pulled out of sight and waited.

“Ugh… what is that smell?” Oskar heard, and could imagine the guard looking around him. “The hay is that thing?”

Listening carefully, Oskar could hear the sounds of hooves stepping away from him. The virus darted out from around the corner and ran silently down the hall. The guard was walking down the hall away from him, and was cautiously approaching the smelly hair ball he generated.

Reaching the barred door, Oskar briefly became a mass of black tendrils and surged between the bars before reforming on the other side. Upon reforming, Oskar searched the book shelves nearest the door as fast as possible so he didn’t risk being spotted by the door guard. Finding a handful, Oskar placed magical tags on them before moving onto shelves out of view.

This went on for a well over an hour, Oskar working as fast as he could to cover the library as quickly as possible, his nerves fraying whenever he was searching a bookshelf in view of the door, though that specific area was only one wing of the larger library. By the time Oskar had gone over the entirety of the library, he had tagged well over a hundred books of interest for himself. He was now looking over the initial wing he had entered into for any books he had missed.

‘Let’s see… here’s one,’ Oskar thought, brushing a loose page out of the way and onto the floor. ‘Hmm… another book on runic arrays, could be useful. Tagged.’

Oskar carefully and silently walked back to the barred door. The guard was back there again after apparently handling the hairball he had created. Oskar wondered what he could do to distract him again when a vicious smile appeared on his face.

Generating another disgusting hairball, Oskar stepped beside the door and levitated the hair ball through the door, bringing it just over the guards head before he released his hold on it. The hairball landed on the guard’s face with a wet splatter.

“EUGH!! UGH!” The guard shook the hairball off his face and retched. He briefly tried to wipe the pus off his face before retching again and bolting off down the hall.

Surging through the barred door, Oskar glanced down the hall the guard took off down and walked over to the windows. Making sure there was no one in the garden outside, Oskar opened the window and closed it after exiting.

Now outside Oskar sent out a viral pulse with Luna as the target. The pulse went out and Oskar saw it come back from a window with a large balcony. Oskar darted over to the base of the tower with the window, his head constantly scanning his surroundings. Taking one last look of his surroundings Oskar stared up at the balcony before crouching down, his legs writhed with tendrils, before leaping straight up into the air.

Flying through the air at incredible speeds, Oskar nearly ended up flying past the balcony, but he was close enough that he could latch onto the banister with a hand and swing himself over onto the balcony. Landing on his feet with a sharp crack, Oskar quickly fell to the floor and pressed himself against the wall and paused. He didn’t hear shouts of alarm from below or movement from Luna’s bedroom. Crawling forward cautiously, Oskar glanced around the corner and through the glass door into Luna’s bedroom.

The room was grand and luxurious, as could be expected for the personal quarters of a princess, but Oskar wasn’t concerned with that, his concern was the alicorn supposedly sleeping on the bed. He watched her from his spot on the floor for a few moments before determining that she really was asleep. Getting up into a crouch, the virus then opened the door and crept inside.

Oskar silently approached the bed of the sleeping Moon Princess, snugly tucked away in her bed, her hair seemed to be without power while she was asleep and was back to the way it looked just after she was redeemed. He was about halfway to her when he noticed a wall covered in parchment out of the corner of his eye. Curiosity raised, Oskar changed direction and crept over to the wall.

Coming to a stop beside the wall, Oskar stood upright and stared at it for a few moments before his eyes widened in shock. There were crude sketched pictures of himself on the wall along with papers making hypotheses on what things like cars and guns were, as well as what kind of creatures Imps and humans were. It didn’t take long for Oskar to figure out Luna was referring to Evolved when she wrote about Imps. Studying the papers further, Oskar found out exactly how Luna found out this information, his dreams. Or rather, the sole time he decided to try sleeping again after arriving here in Equestria.

Oskar’s breath came quickly as he felt the onset of panic rise within him. If he had a heart, it would be pounding deafeningly in his ears. He turned on the spot and stared at Luna and immediately knew he couldn’t allow her to live with what she knew. The Evolved strode over to Luna’s sleeping form quickly but silently. He then shifted one arm into a claw and pulled it back to plunge it into the slumbering alicorn’s body.

Just as he was about to plunge his claws forward, Oskar hesitated, memories of a situation so similar to this one that happened a year ago flashing through his mind. Oskar thought hard on what he just learned, his claw still raised in the air in preparation to murder. He knew that Luna knew about him, but he also knew that Luna thought he was dead, killed by Bergren’s suicide attack in the Everfree Forest. And because she thought he was dead, she hadn’t added much more theories and ideas to her wall, though the recent looking pages appeared to be concerned with finding out where he came from and how many more of his kind there were.

So Luna might know a few things about him. She only had impressions, no concrete truths, and with his “death” had lost a great amount of interest in brainstorming more ideas about him. In the end, the real decision for Oskar was either to kill Luna because of what she knew, though she wasn’t going to do anything with it, or let her live in peace even if he might grow to regret.

Almost letting a shuddering breath leave his lips, Oskar lowered his clawed arm and reformed it back. He stared down at the Alicorn of the Moon, his unsuspecting enemy, for several long moments before turning around and walking back over to the wall. There was a desk with a pile of parchment and a quill and inkwell on it.

Taking a piece of parchment, Oskar rapidly wrote down a note before walking back to Luna’s bed. He then placed the note on Luna’s bedside table before returning his attention to Luna. Leaning over her sleeping form, Oskar delicately grabbed a small lock of her mane and snipped it off with the natural claws on his fingers. Placing the lock of hair in his jacket pocket, the Evolved retreated from Luna’s sleeping form before walking back out onto the balcony.

Looking out onto the gardens below, Oskar saw that there was no one patrolling nearby or looking upwards in his general direction. He perched briefly on the banister before leaping off and swan diving towards the ground.

‘I wish I was wearing something white for this,’ Oskar thought humorously before landing in a bush with a soft rustle, his body impacting with the ground with a barely heard thud due to him lightening himself greatly at the last second.

Peeking out of the bush, scanning his surroundings for patrols coming into his area, Oskar darted out and towards the perimeter wall, clambering over it in a moment and landing on the empty, dark streets of Canterlot on the other side. Oskar took in his surroundings one last time to make sure he was unwatched before calling on his magic, then he teleported away.

The Evolved arrived in a grassy area with a pond where, miles in the distance, Canterlot could be made out. Oskar stared at the distant capital of Equestria for a moment before turning and walking towards the pond where he stared at his reflection.

‘Well Jack McCloud, it was certainly an experience…’ Oskar thought as he took in his reflection. ‘I certainly enjoyed being you, but in the end it was only ever a temporary act. Just this one last thing to do and then I’m retiring you for good. Not to worry though, with what I am planning to do with your legacy, you will most definitely live on in the minds of ponies everywhere for generations to come.’

Giving his reflection a jovial salute, Oskar turned on his heels and faced Canterlot again. He then called on his magic, concentrating deeply on the books he had left the magical tags on. Drawing upon the many days of practice he had spent teleporting objects around, Oskar poured his magic into a teleportation spell. Gritting his teeth with exertion, Oskar felt his magic surge. There was a bright flash of magic, and suddenly there was a large pile of books on the ground before him.

Off in the far distance, Oskar spied the Royal Palace lighting up, his powerful eyes straining to just see distant ponies in the windows running about.

‘Yep, I figured there was going to be an alarm for taking the books out like this,’ Oskar thought in satisfaction at being right. ‘Right, no time to waste. Let’s get out of here.’

Grabbing a hold of all the books in his telekinetic grasp, Oskar levitated them into the air and quickly ran as fast as he could. His direction was going to be anywhere but the Everfree for a bit before he caused his weight to lighten to the point of him not having prints, then he was heading straight there.

Princess Celestia stood in the library, her mane a mess from having awoken from bed. An alarm had been blaring throughout the palace but it had been turned off once patrolling Royal Guards had arrived. The library itself didn’t look like it had suffered any abuse, but Celestia’s long memory helped her to spot that there were books missing here and there. While she didn’t know exactly what had been taken, she was going to have the librarians do a full inventory of the entire library to see just what had been stolen.

The alarm had been set off when a teleportation spell had been used on its grounds while it was locked up for the night, which meant whoever had gotten in hadn’t unlocked the door, and had somehow gotten in through another means. The guard who had been assigned to watch the library that night was getting an earful from an irate Shining Armor, that much was sure to Celestia.

Part of the security system set up in the library tracked teleports, so Celestia had a group of unicorns head to the tracked location several miles away as soon as possible. As to who could have stolen books from the library, Celestia had her suspicions as to who but wasn’t entirely sure due to this crime not following his modus operandi.

It was then that an equally dishevelled looking Luna entered, holding a letter that would confirm Celestia’s suspicions.

“What is that you have Luna?” Celestia asked.

“Here!” Luna said furiously as she levitated the letter over. “Read for thyself!”

Taking hold of the parchment for herself, Celestia looked down at it and began to read.

Dear beloved Luna

It is I, the Gray Fox, but you can call me Jack if you wish. I came by for a visit to Canterlot and saw that the palace was closed up for the night. I figured that since we had made such an impression on each other in Cloudsdale, you wouldn’t mind me coming in anyway. Let me tell you my dear Luna, you look graceful as ever asleep as you were dancing with me in the clouds. As loath as I am to say this, I have to tell you, dearest Luna, that all things must come to an end. Yes, even our short but passionate time together. This will be the last you will see of me (even though you never saw me in the first place) I’m afraid. There will be no more daring raids, no more clever escapes that will incite the mind to fill with awe and wonder. Yes my lovely Luna, this will be the last time Equestria will have to deal with the King of Thieves, and the last you’ll see of me. Take heart, dearest Luna, for I will always remember you

Love

Jack McCloud

P.S. I hope you don’t mind but I borrowed a few books from the library despite not having a library card (silly me). Don’t worry, I’ll bring them back when I’m done reading through each and every one of them.

And drawn along the very bottom of the letter was what could only be a chibi version of the Gray Fox blowing a kiss, a little heart flying away from his open palm.

“The gall! The nerve of that thief!” Luna growled furiously. “First he utterly humiliates me during his damaging Cloudsdale raid, and now he taunts me with this letter! We must track him down! Have you sent any Royal Guards after him!?”

Seemingly in answer to her irate question, a squad of tired looking Royal Guards appeared in a flash of light.

“Princesses,” the leader of the squad said with a short bow. “We tracked the spell to its origin point and found what could only be the Gray Fox’s tracks. We followed them as long as we could, but they soon inexplicably faded to nothing after a while. We went in what we assumed to be the direction he was going, but we were forced to stop after finding no more signs of him.”

“As can be expected of the Gray Fox, he escapes us again.” Celestia sighed. “Thank you for trying. Please report to Shining Armor.”

The group of guards saluted the princess and left. Celestia turned to face Luna and saw that she was reading over the letter again with a scowl on her face. Celestia walked forward to stand just beside her sister.

“What do you think of his letter Luna?” Celestia asked. “Do you believe him to be telling the truth? That this will be the last time he commits a crime against Equestria and her people?”

“He has never lied before…” Luna frowned. “But he is still a criminal and thus should not be beyond such lowliness. Even if this is his last crime, we must endeavor to track him down and bring him to justice.”

“Of course,” Celestia agreed before smiling slyly. “After all, no one breaks my baby sister’s heart no matter how roguishly charming he is.”

“ARRRGH!” Luna shouted in anger. “There was nothing of the sort between us!”

“Hehehe.”

“Finally,” Oskar said aloud as she glanced out the windows of Twilight’s library.

It was several days later, and the virus had yet to consume the lock of alicorn mane, keeping in mind when she had first gained magic and had consumed Twilight’s genes and gained her magical potency. Thus it was reasonable to assume that consuming alicorn genes would cause quite a reaction in her. So she had waited until she had the library to herself before going about consuming the alicorn genes in private.

The time had finally come when Twilight and Spike went out to visit Rarity at her boutique.

“Come with me Navi,” Oskar called to her pet who immediately flew over to land on Oskar’s ear. “Now, let’s go downstairs and handle this in private.”

Oskar walked over to the basement door and turned on the lights, showing all the various magical instruments and machines that were stored down there. Closing the door behind her, Oskar descended the stairs down to the basement floor before coming to a stop in the middle.

The Evolved took out the lock of alicorn hair and stared at it for a few moments in the grasp of her hoof. Almost hesitantly, tendrils erupted from the sides of Oskar’s hoof and tore into the lock of alicorn hair, consuming it in a moment.

Oskar closed her eyes as she felt the genes being incorporated into her being. At first, there was nothing more than a small tingling sensation throughout her body as the changes were applied. Then, with the suddenness of a lightning bolt, Oskar felt intense, agonising pain lance through her.

“Auuuuuggggh…” Oskar groaned out weakly as she keeled over and crashed to the floor before curing in on herself. Machines and devices shook, and the smaller of them lifted up into the air as intense energies started lancing out from Oskar’s body and swirled about her like a small typhoon. Tendrils ripped out of Oskar’s flesh and she could feel her body begin to change its shape against her will.

“Navi… hide…” Oskar told her pet, her voice coming out in a deep guttural growl.

Navi trilled in alarm and flew over to one of the many machines Twilight had and hid within it, staring out at Oskar in intense worry.

Concern for Navi soon faded from Oskar’s mind, replaced instead by quiet murmuring voices. The voices rose in volume and Oskar soon realised they weren’t whispering, but screaming in agonised terror. Oskar’s world faded into darkness, replaced with deafening screams.

‘My legs!!!’

‘Don’t eat me!’

‘NOOOO! MY BABY!’

‘Fuck you monster! Eat shit and die!’

Left you all on a cliff hanger didn’t? Jack McCloud and Princess Luna OTP! Nah :P

CREDITS

Ideas and Story Development: Gekko and Trondason

Grammar Edits: Nightmare Knight