//------------------------------//
// Chapter 15: The Monster 
// Story: Oskar Osäker: True Omnivore 
// by Legionary 
//------------------------------//

Twilight walked along a busy street in Ponyville, Spike on her back riding along as they made their way to visit Rarity. Everything was calm and peaceful. The sound of ponies trotting along and talking as they went about their day was the only thing to be heard. The weather ponies had done a wonderful job. Large puffy clouds dotted the sky in the distance, creating a scenic view from the sunlight shining through.

Suddenly a deafening explosion sounded off some distance behind Twilight and Spike, the studious unicorn turning in place and her eyes widened at what she saw. Before her was a massive beam of pink magic blasting off into the air, very much like a geyser. The beam of magic whipped wildly in the air as ponies screamed and ran in panic from it, turning steadily from neon pink to a dark crimson.

A short distance away, the door of Rarity’s boutique flew open and out ran Rarity followed by her little sister Sweetie Belle.

“What in the world is tha- MY GOODNESS, WHAT IS THAT!?” Rarity began shouting in surprise at the beam of magic.

Twilight was about to answer when the beam of light suddenly cut off. For several long moments there was silence. Then screaming began, coming from the direction the beam had originated from.

“Come on!” Twilight shouted as she ran forward. “There is something wrong!”

“Sweetie Belle stay here!” Rarity shouted sternly and took off after her friend. Sweetie looked like she was about to protest and follow when the screaming grew louder and she immediately darted inside.

Twilight, Spike on her back and Rarity ran down the street. Panicked and terrified ponies ran at them and passed on the street, concerned only with running away from whatever they had seen.

“Twilight,” Spike said with great concern.

“I know Spike,” Twilight said solemnly. “Whatever that beam was, it came from the library.”

“On no, Emerald!” Rarity gasped.

Intense worry blossomed in Twilight’s chest as her other friends wordlessly arrived and traveled along with her, knowing that wherever they were going, it was going to be serious.

By now the screaming had decreased greatly in volume as nearly all the ponies had left the vicinity of whatever had terrified them so. As the Mane Six neared ground zero of the beam, they could hear the sounds of heavy footsteps and strange mutterings of a reverberating voice.

The group neared the edge of a building, around which would be Twilight’s library and whatever caused the people of Ponyville to panic and run. Inching around the corner, they all peeked out and froze, their eyes widening in shock at the sight before them.

Twilight’s library was in ruins. Books, broken branches and furniture were scattered around the area, but standing beside the wreckage was what could only be a monster. It was big, at least six feet tall at its thick shoulders and eight feet long. It had a leathery black hide that sheened red in the light, and along its sides were splotches of orange bioluminescence that pulsed between dull and bright. Its thick tail seemed to actually be many smaller tails tightly coiled together. Its four legs were thickly muscled and ended in paw-like appendages that had long brutal claws. Many silvery spikes spouted from the ridge line of its spine, sharpness gleaming in the sunlight. Its head was long and narrow, its lipless mouth bared its silvery teeth and the bone of its jaws to the world in a brutal permanent snarl. Two large, lidless bulging orange eyes sat on the sides of the head, scanning the world independently of each other, and two long black horns sat atop its head shooting upwards before curving forwards.

Almost every one of the Mane Six released a Fluttershy-like squeak at the sight of the creature before quickly darting back out of sight behind the building. Surprisingly, Fluttershy was the only one not to do so as well. At first she looked to be on the same track as everyone else, but then her fearful look was replaced by a frown as she took in the sight of the creature moving around.

Whenever she had seen a predator like a wolf or manticore move it was always with confidence and an innate grace, but not the beast before her. For one, it spoke, though it seemed to be either speaking gibberish or constantly switching between languages. Its steps were unsteady and its eyes occasionally went spinning madly out of control. Overall, it looked more like a creature deeply confused and in pain more than a vicious beast on a rampage.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, how the heck are we going to take that thing?” Rainbow Dash asked nervously.

“W-what’s the matter, Rainbow?” Applejack forced out a light taunt in an effort to embolden both herself and Dash. “T-that big hubbard ain’t as big an’ fearsome as that dragon now, huh?”

“Have you seen the claws and teeth on that thing?!” Dash exclaimed in a whisper. “Those look like they’ll give a dragon nightmares!”

“I don’t see Emerald anywhere,” Rarity whispered as she quickly glanced around the corner again. “I… I think that beast may have done something with her!”

“No choice then!” Dash gulped then steeled herself. “Gotta beat that monster’s flank in!”

“Hold on a minute, it looks very powerful and dangerous,” Twilight said cautiously. “We have to make a plan of attack first before doing anything.”

Fluttershy widened her eyes as she took in the monster suddenly groan and grip its head, standing up onto its hind legs.



ALPHA



‘Fucking patrol around these fucking civvies again, who the fuck did I- ARRRGH SHIT!’

‘Lighter out of fluid again. Guess I’m going to have- wait who is that? AUUGH!’

Voices by the dozens echoed constantly within Oskar’s mind. He felt himself move, unable to tell if he was crawling or walking. The world swirled and twisted around him, memories so intense they intruded into his perception of his surroundings. Everything was a mixture of the reality of Ponyville and the last moments of those he killed, the inside of a lab, a base, a holding cell, an alley, an empty street, a quiet rooftop, the cockpit of a helicopter, the inside of a tank. No matter which way he looked, Oskar couldn’t make heads or tails of the mosaic that was the world around him.

‘Mommy… my eyes hurt and I can’t see anything… why aren’t the lights on?’ Oskar reeled from the emotions assaulting him. Foreign, yet they might as well have been his from the intensity.

‘Shhh i-it’s o-okay honey, just stay close to mommy.’ Waves of depression and grief assaulted Oskar’s mind, resignation against the inevitable and helpless rage despite of it.

‘Their mewling is pissing me off,’ a voice said in disgust, muffled by the rebreather of a Blackwatch helmet. ‘You, get rid of them! Rip apart the little shit first.’



BETA



Fluttershy screamed in terror as the monster suddenly sunk its claws into its own head, ripping out chunks of black flesh with each rending swipe. The rest of the Mane Six looked around the corner and could not help but add their screams to Fluttershy’s. The monster continued to rip apart its own head, ripping out its jaw and slicing out its eyes, its panting screams descending into an indescribable gurgle as its head was turned into nothing more than a shredded stump.

Fluttershy held her hooves over her mouth as horrified tears rolled down her cheeks, the others stared on with wide eyes and gaping jaws. The sound of retching and puke impacting the street reached the Mane Six’s ears as Pinkie lost her lunch, the others couldn’t blame her and felt close to doing the same.

Then, in a near instant, black tendrils erupted from the monster’s torn neck and filled in the space where its head had been. One moment there was nothing, the next the monster had a head again and was back on its four clawed paws, muttering under its breath and eyes spinning in their sockets, seeing everything yet comprehending nothing.

Suddenly a blue shape flew from the ruins of Twilight’s library and started circling rapidly around the head of the monster, wild concerned trilling filling the air. Suddenly the eyes of the monster seemed to clear a little as it stiffened at the sound. Then it looked up at the rapidly moving form of Navi buzzing above it. With startling quickness the monster whipped one of its powerful arms forward and plucked Navi from the air, cupping her in its dangerous paws and bringing her down before it.

“Oh no, Navi!” Twilight shouted and ran out into the open. “Let her go!”

“Y-yeah you big… monster!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she backed up Twilight. “D-do it before I beat your flank into next week!”

“Ya heard her ya big vicious critter!” Applejack added, confidence fully restored as she stood beside her friends.

“And while you are at it, show us what you did with Emerald!” Rarity shouted furiously.

“N-now just hold on a moment,” Fluttershy said. “Maybe… maybe we can talk before anypony tries to-”

The monster however stared at the Mane Six, its eyes filling with panic. With a rapid shake of its head the monster suddenly teleported in a crimson flash, appearing a short distance away on the roof of a house. Even as far away as they were, the Mane Six could still hear the monster muttering rapidly and unintelligibly under its breath. Then, with a shake of its head, it leaped off the house and ran down the street at incredible speeds towards the Everfree , Navi clasped securely in one of its paws.

“Quick! After it!” Dash shouted and was about to fly after the monster when Twilight shouted at her.

“Wait! Let’s check the library first!” Twilight said, running over to the ruins of her home and beginning to lift wreckage with her magic. “Emerald could actually be under all this!”

“You need not say anything more Twilight,” Rarity said as she quickly got to work beside Twilight, lifting wreckage as well and not caring for how big and heavy it was.

The others quickly got to work as well, determined to find their friend as quickly as possible if she was under the ruins of Twilight’s home.

“Over here everypony!” Fluttershy shouted.

The very moment they heard Fluttershy’s shout, everyone dropped what they were doing to run over to her. As soon as they got near, they saw what it was that Fluttershy had found.

“W-who…” Owlicious hooted weakly from under a beam Fluttershy was hoisting up, one of his wings bent at an unnatural angle.

“Owlicious!” Twilight exclaimed and reached over to pick him up.

“Wait! Don’t touch him!” Fluttershy shouted, making Twilight flinch back and look at her with a hurt expression. “I’m sorry, but you wouldn’t pick him up right and you’d end up hurting him more. Hold up this beam for me and I’ll carry him myself.”

Twilight obeyed and magically levitated the beam, at first intending to simply pull it out from the wreckage, but the pile they were beside rumbled and shifted worryingly.

Fluttershy carefully and gently maneuvered Owlicious’ broken wing, tearing a strip of cloth off of a curtain in the ruins. Fluttershy then started binding the owl’s wings. Owlicious hooted in pain as Fluttershy bound his wing, but stayed still and waited for her to finish.

“There we go. It’s not the best solution, but it will do for now,” Fluttershy muttered as she cradled Owlicious gently in one of her forelegs.

“It appears that the beast had absconded away with Emerald,” Rarity said in concern before turning to Fluttershy. “I have a first aid kit in my home. We can take Owlicious home before tracking down that beast.”

“Right, let’s head over as quickly as possible,” Twilight stated. “Not a moment to waste.”

The Mane Six quickly ran back to Rarity’s boutique, almost bashing down the door in their haste. Sweetie Belle was incredibly worried when they arrived and became even more so when no one would tell her where Emerald was. After bringing Fluttershy the first aid kit she had asked for, Rarity went about claiming down Sweetie Belle.

After ten long minutes, Fluttershy had replaced Owlicious’ makeshift bandages and given him pain medication. Only telling Sweetie that they were going to go get Emerald, and leaving Spike to look after Owlicious and the little unicorn, the Mane Six left.

“R-right… everypony ready to go beat up a super scary monster?” Rainbow Dash asked everyone as they all stood before the darkness of Everfree Forest, a gaping swathe cut through the underbrush by the monster’s size.

“Ready as ah’ll ever by sugarcube,” Applejack stated warily and adjusted her Stetson.

“Come on girls, we’ve all been in here before,” Twilight reassured everyone. “Just another adventure for all of us, right?”

“Except this time we are all here to save somepony near and dear to us,” Rarity said with a deeply serious look.

“Right,” Twilight agreed with a nod. “Let’s go in.”



GAMMA



Oskar knew he was in a forest, as more often than not the surroundings became trees and thick underbrush rather than the various sceneries of the NYZ. But sometimes things became so confusing and trees intermingled with the bloodstained linoleum of a lab, a lush bush would be growing out of a cracked virus stained road, or he would hear the rumbling booms of distant tanks alongside the calls of animals and howling of timber wolves.

Near to him was the sound of Navi trilling worriedly, and he turned towards it. It was as if the sun had turned blue. Oskar blinked his eyes at the sight, not truly comprehending what he was seeing. The trilling was becoming increasingly nervous and Oskar desired to tell his pet he was okay but no matter where he looked he couldn’t find her. All he could find was the flashing of lights… so many lights.

‘Sir! Sir, the test subjects broke loose!’ a voice said in an ear that wasn’t his. ‘They have guns!’

‘Fuck! Try to round them up!’ Oskar cursed in a voice that wasn’t his. ‘We can’t kill them, that would cost us shit tons of money! Remember to tell that to the pieces of shit you call a unit, you hear me!’

‘Yes sir.’

‘Goddamn useless fucks,’ Oskar heard himself growl as he took out a cigarette and a lighter. ‘How the fuck did those test subjects get guns anyway- ARGH!’

Through ears and senses that weren’t his, Oskar heard a gunshot and felt like he had gotten punched extremely hard in the back. Falling to the ground and rolling himself over, Oskar saw himself standing a short distance away, holding a dazed man in one hand and a handgun in the other. Looking closely, Oskar could also see the hand holding the gun looked very much like the ones the dazed man had. Oskar could feel a hand that wasn’t his scramble for a side arm but the movement felt so slow as the other him aimed at where his heart would have been.

Oskar felt… he felt…



DELTA



The Mane Six froze up when they heard a distant roar of agony.

“M-maybe this wasn’t such a great idea.” Dash shuddered as she took in her surroundings.

The forest had seemed to become worse since their first visit a year ago. The trees were groaning and seemed to be moving a little, their branches shaking without aid of the wind. Off in the distance, animals called out and wolves howled insistently.

“Something is wrong,” Fluttershy said worriedly. “The forest normally isn’t this… active.”

“Sugarcube, this here is Everfree,” Applejack replied. “Ain’t nothin’ natural about it.”

“No, well yes, but there is a… cycle to this place,” Fluttershy said. “I’ve only seen it from the safety of the border, but I’ve never seen it like this before.”

“Whatever is going on, we have to keep going,” Twilight said as she studied the trail of large footprints. “We need to know what that monster did with Emerald.”

“That is something I readily agree with, Twilight,” Rarity stated and started following the prints.

“What we need is a little ditty to bring our spirits up!” Pinkie said cheerfully and took in a breath. “When you’re rife with de-“

Instantly, the groaning of the trees grew louder and it became very clear they were moving of their own volition as the branches shook and leaves fell all around the Mane Six. The tree’s agitation lasted several long moments before their shaking lessened, along with the groaning.

“I-I-I don’t think the trees like your singing Pinkie,” Fluttershy muttered to her friend who was currently hiding behind her. Pinkie Pie just let out a little squeak as she peeked at the trees around them.

“Hey… I’ve just got a crazy thought,” Rainbow Dash said as the group continued on, much more mindful of the trees.

“And what’s that Dash?” Twilight asked.

“Remember that ‘Monster of the Everfree’ thing a few months ago?” Dash asked and the others nodded. “Well, what if this is the same monster? They didn’t really see what it looked like, right?”

“That can’t be right, Dash darling,” Rarity stated. “The princesses said that the ‘Monster of Everfree’ had perished in combat with some griffins within this very forest.”

“What if it didn’t though?” Dash replied somewhat excitedly. “What if the monster survived and spent all this time licking its wounds, waiting to hunt again!”

“Don’t be ridicu-”

“If that is true…” Twilight interrupted, looking straight ahead steadfastly, “Then that means Emerald was kidnapped by a monster that had fought... and killed many, many griffins.”

For a long moment the group didn’t say anything, Dash wincing in immense guilt.

“Look Twilight, just… forget I said anything… it was a stupid idea anyway,” Dash said apologetically and Twilight merely nodded her head in response.

Before long the familiar sounds of heavy footsteps and intelligible muttering met the ears of the Mane Six and they all started creeping forward. Inching their way through a thick bush, the Mane Six spotted the Monster stumbling about again in an open field bordering a cliff edge.

“What’s the plan Twi?” Applejack asked.

Twilight didn’t hear her though. All she could hear was Dash’s idea rolling around her head and repeating endlessly. She remembered when she had thought Emerald had died the day after she had met her, how she had actually been strong enough to beat a manticore into submission. But in the sight of the creature before her, Twilight could not help but doubt that strength, the terrible, horrible idea that Emerald could actually be dead at the claws of the killer beast stumbling about in the field before her.

“Er… Twi?” Applejack asked again, reaching over and shaking Twilight’s shoulder. “What’s the plan?”

“We attack!” Twilight shouted and charged at the monster.

“Whoa!” The cowpony blinked before quickly running after Twilight along with the others.

With a shout, Twilight charged in on the monster that continued to stumble about, completely oblivious of the furious unicorn charging at it. Nearly point blank, Twilight skidded to a stop and charged up a spell, her horn blazing like a blow torch. A beam of violet light then shot out from her horn and hit the monster in its side.

The beam drilled into the leathery black hide of the monster which started stumbling sideways, blinking its eyes wide in confusion. Eventually the beam ended and Twilight started panting in exertion. Looking up, she took in the damage she had done to the monster… which was none. For the monster’s part, it only shook its head in confusion.

“Heads up you big monster!” Dash shouted as she dived at the monster. Said monster only looked up to stare at her uncomprehendingly before she impacted him in the face.

The monster found itself rising up onto its hind legs unwillingly with Dash plastered into its snout. It then shook its head again, sending Rainbow Dash flying and landing on the ground a short distance away, where she lay still a moment before letting out a pained groan.

The monster wiped at its face and flared its nostrils in an attempt to rid itself of a few stray feathers.

“Just stay still ya big hubbard!” Applejack shouted as she spun her lasso above her head before tossing it at the monster. The lasso ended up around one of the monster’s paws and pulled tightly, making it stare at the rope around its forelimb uncomprehendingly.

“Hey you big meanie!” Pinkie shouted as she jumped in place. “Over here!”

The monster turned towards her and then dropped back onto its four legs. Applejack only had a moment to widen her eyes before there was a mighty tug on her rope and she was sent flying. Soaring over the head of the monster, Applejack ended up shooting towards Pinkie Pie.

“Arrrrgh!”

“Ahhh!”

The monster stared uncomprehendingly at the two ponies tangled up together on the ground. Suddenly, it felt something hit it in its back legs and turned around to see Rarity on her hind legs, holding up her forelegs and showing off a martial arts stance. With a deadly serious expression, Rarity stared down the monster standing a mere foot away from her.

“Hiyaa!” Rarity shouted as she delivered a kick to the monster’s chin that would have floored a pony sized creature easily. The monster however just shook its head and rubbed the bottom of its chin. After kicking the monster in the chin, Rarity’s lips started quivering and tears started to form in her eyes.

“…Ow,” Rarity let out before falling to the ground and clutching at her hurt hoof.

“E-e-excuse me M-Mr. Monster sir?” Fluttershy said from just behind it. “C-could I just speak to you f-for a moment?”

The monster turned to face Fluttershy and for a brief moment its eyes cleared and it seemed to truly see her. However, the next moment the glaze over its eyes reappeared and the eyes started to spin. Quickly recovering from their minor injuries, the rest of the Mane Six got back up onto their hooves and started to surround the monster. Fluttershy was about to speak to it again when the monster suddenly reared up onto its hind legs and clutched at its head. Recognising the action Fluttershy quickly turned around and put distance between her and the monster. The others however were not as quick.

Instead of ripping into its head again the monster flailed its deadly clawed limbs wildly. The Mane Six backed away and dove for cover from the deadly claws, however one of them had the poor luck to have her back facing the cliff.

Twilight backed away from the flailing monster. For the briefest moment she had forgotten that there was a cliff close behind her, she was quickly reminded when her hind legs found nothing but air to stand on.

“Ahhh, help!” Twilight shouted, her forelegs scrabbling for a grip to stop her slide over the edge.

Upon hearing Twilight’s voice call for help, the monster’s eyes cleared and widened. It turned towards her and what confusion that remained in its gaze vanished at the sight of the unicorn in danger.

Just as Twilight was about to slide over the ledge, the monster quickly appeared at the edge and its forelimbs reached over and grasped her around her waist in a flash of movement. Before long, Twilight found herself almost cradled in the monster’s arms as she was quickly carried from the ledge. The violet unicorn could only stare up at the fearsome creature that had saved her with shock and surprise.

“A-a-all b-brains and n-no brawn e-eh T-Twilight?” The monster stuttered out with what could almost be called a grin despite its mouth lacking lips.

Twilight looked up at the monster in great confusion as she lay in the grip of its surprisingly dull and comfortable claws. Suddenly, Navi appeared and landed down on the tip of one of the Monster’s horns before trilling in concern, staring worriedly at the fearsome beast it lighted down on without another thought.

Glancing between Navi and the monster rapidly, Twilight’s eyes suddenly widened in an absolutely shocked realization.

“Emerald…” Twilight half whispered gazing up at the monster’s face.

Suddenly “Emerald” looked completely panicked and dropped Twilight onto the grass covered ground and rapidly backed away from her, Navi being tossed away from the rapid movement. Head rapidly turning this way and that “Emerald” saw the other girls of the Mane Six all around her, though with a quick flare of magic around the horns, she was gone.

“No!” Rarity shouted and started looking all around her. “Where is it?! Does anypony see where it is?!”

“Consarn it!” Applejack shouted in frustration. “We lost it!”

Twilight only stayed lying on the ground where she was dropped, utterly stunned by what she had learned a moment ago. It was only when Navi lighted down on her snout that she snapped out of it and started thinking critically of what she had thought up.

‘Was that really Emerald?’ Twilight thought as she sat up, Navi changing place from her snout to her ear. ‘It is a bit of a leap in logic to assume that a spoken line by… whatever that was makes it Emerald. It could very well have just been a coincidence, a chance coming together in the most unlikeliest of ways for that creature to say the exact same thing Emerald told me once. But… if that’s so, why did Navi look at it like that? Why would she be worried about something that kidnapped her? I… I don’t know what to think…’

“Twilight?” the unicorn heard from beside her. Turning, she saw Rainbow Dash and her friends standing near her despondently.

“Sorry, but we lost it,” Dash sighed. “And unless you got some sort of magical teleport tracker spell or something…”

“No, I don’t know one.”

“Then we can’t track that beast,” Rarity sighed. “Who knows what poor Emerald is going through right now.”

“Girls, that… let’s head back to Ponyville,” Twilight said as she got back onto her hooves. “We’ll think of something when we’ve had a bit of rest.”

“Gee, I hope Emmy’s alright,” Pinkie said sadly as the group started walking back, not noticing how much calmer and serene the Everfree was now. “Least we got Navi back, right?”

“I have this feeling… that Emerald is fine right now,” Twilight said as Navi dived down to her mane, her brows furrowed in conflicted thought.

“You know Twilight, I actually feel the same way,” Rarity said with a smile tugging at her lips. “I thought it was me just hoping for the best, but since you feel that way too I am absolutely certain Emerald is fine right now.”

“Well if you feel so strongly about that sugarcube, then the only thing we have to worry about is rescuing Emerald,” Applejack said with a confident tip of her Stetson. “Long as we all are working together it’s a sure bet we’ll get her back.”

“Yeah,” Twilight said softly.

The Mane Six then made their way back to Ponyville in silence. When they arrived, however, a surprising sight met their eyes.

Swarming over the town were masses of Royal Guards. Everywhere the Mane Six looked, they could see the guards on patrol, pegasi in the air, while unicorns and earth ponies were on the ground near completely surrounding Ponyville. And standing in the distance in the streets of Ponyville were the princesses themselves.

Twilight gasped at the sight of her beloved teacher and galloped forward, her friends not too far behind her.

“Twilight!” Celestia shouted in relief as she spotted Twilight running at her.

“Princess!” Twilight shouted back and, as she neared Celestia, the princess brought her head close to Twilight to nuzzle her affectionately.

“My dear Twilight, I was very worried when I couldn’t find you or your friends in Ponyville,” Celestia said. “Even more so when Spike explained to me what you and your friends left to do. I was just about to go into the forest myself along with the entire force of Royal Guards I had brought with me.”

“I’m deeply sorry to make you worry, Princess,” Twilight said sincerely, touched that the princess was concerned for her.

“With the suspicions I have of the creature you faced, I am rather relieved as well that you and your comrades made it back, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna replied.

“What do you mean Princess Luna?” Twilight asked.

“First things first. Explain to me what you have seen.”

“Well… it had these large vicious claws and this tail made up of smaller ones,” Twilight began. “It also had this really, really hard black hide with these orange glowing spots, and a lipless mouth full of teeth and these bulging orange eyes.”

“Hmm… sounds truly monstrous,” Luna stated thoughtfully as she tapped her chin with her hoof. “And also not of the Everfree.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve spent quite a few times since my… return, reacquainting myself with Everfree forest,” Luna explained. “And while I have seen and fought many strange and exotic creatures that have roamed neath its canopy, there is nothing that matches the description of such a creature, which leads me to tell you all that the Monster of Everfree is alive and well.”

“I knew it!” Dash exclaimed as everyone gasped.

“But Luna… we saw the scene of the battle. We saw its remains,” Celestia said with some skepticism. “How would anything survive such terrible burns and loss of flesh?”

“Because it’s a shapeshifter,” Luna answered. “I just never thought his abilities would be so great that he could heal via shape shifting.”

“He? Luna, you make it sound like you know this being?” Celestia said in confusion.

“I do, somewhat,” Luna replied. “Let me explain further. Several months ago I was familiarizing myself again with the dream realm. Everything was going as expected and I was settling in for a relatively peaceful night when I heard terrible screaming. I immediately went to investigate and came upon what I knew to be the most terrible nightmare I had  ever had the misfortune of seeing, and I had yet to go into it. And when I did… words do not suffice for the things I had witnessed… but I had learned much from my experience there. I had learned the name of what you would later dub the ‘Monster of Everfree’. I had seen what could quite possibly be his worst memory. His name is Oskar, and from what I can gather, his race are shape shifters like changelings. But unlike changelings, Oskar’s race, which I had taken the liberty to name Impius Mutante, or Imp for short, feed off the flesh of those they take the forms of instead of emotion. Furthermore, unlike the changelings, they can shift their limbs into deadly weapons, and now that we have the nigh confirmation of his survival, we can also say that it also allows him to regenerate grave damage. Though just how much though is the question.”

“This is a lot to take in Luna, but…” Celestia began. “Why haven’t you told me or anypony else of what you knew?”

“I had doubted his existence, and didn’t truly know if he was responsible for the griffin’s demise.” Luna sighed guiltily. “It could have all been the fevered delusions of a stricken mind and nothing pointed to Oskar being involved in the whole sordid affair, my sister.”

“Why were the griffins hunting the Monster of Everfree in the first place?” Dash asked curiously.

Luna was about to answer when she caught her sister subtly shaking her head at her. Quickly recollecting her thoughts, Luna gave Dash a different answer.

“The party of griffins were here at the behest of one of their nobles,” Luna replied. “From what I can ascertain, they had heard of Oskar and decided to make a grand hunt of him... but it ended poorly for them.”

“There is something I just realized,” Celestia said as she looked over the Mane Six with a worried gaze. “Where is Emerald Gleaner.”

“She was kidnapped by that horrible beast you call Oskar!” Rarity answered quickly. “We have a strong feeling she is alright, but we still need to track her down and save her.”

“A most terrible event,” Luna commented with a frown. “You are sure she is well?”

“I can say with total confidence that Emerald Gleaner is fine,” Rarity said confidently. “We only need to save her.”

“Hmm… there is no telling for what reason Oskar would want Emerald Gleaner,” Luna said. “But we will do all in our power to hasten her return.”

“But until then, take the time to rest,” Celestia advised. “Some preparations need to be completed before anything can be done, and you all look like you need a bit of sleep.”

“Thank you, your highnesses,” Rarity said as the two princesses walked away. “Well, today was very eventful. How about I house everypony until the preparations to go rescue Emerald are finished?”

“That sounds good and all but,” Applejack began with a frown. “Ah don’t know. It just feels plum wrong to be restin’ while a friend is in trouble.”

“It shouldn’t be too long at all Applejack,” Rarity assured. “And besides, Emerald’s rescue will surely be all but assured with the Princesses’ aid and the help of the Royal Guard.”

“Ah guess so… it still feels wrong to me though,” Applejack muttered as she made for Rarity’s boutique.

“Oh, and Twilight, in light of your home being destroyed I would gladly house you until a new one is built.” Rarity smiled.

“Huh? Oh thanks…” Twilight said absently and started walking away.

“Twilight? Whatever is the matter?” Rarity asked in concern. “And wherever are you going?”

“Oh I’m…” Twilight began hesitantly, not exactly wanting to tell Rarity she was going into Everfree alone, yet not wanting to lie to her friend as well.

‘…I’m not good at lying. I never needed to be,’ a memory whispered. ‘I only tell the truth… as it suits the context.’

“I’m going for a walk,” Twilight told Rarity. “I’ll be back soon.”

“Oh, okay darling,” Rarity said. “Just be sure you get back quick enough that you can have some time to rest as well. There is no knowing when the princesses will be done with their preparations. And be safe!

“I will!” Twilight shouted back before muttering to herself. “I know I will.”

Before long, Twilight had found herself on the very path she had taken to face down Nightmare Moon over a year ago, but this time she was alone. The unicorn moved forward, suddenly very aware of how quiet the forest was. She remembered earlier that day and how the forest was alive with sounds and movement and wondered what was going on. But as far as she could tell she was safe, as she couldn’t see anything. The very moment she had thought that, a shadow suddenly moved over her and she looked up fast enough to see something white and blue coming down at her really fast.

The world went spinning for a few moments as Twilight felt something heavy impact her and suddenly she found herself pinned on her back with a bipedal creature straddling her stomach.

Looking at the creature pinning her, Twilight saw that it was wearing clothing and guessed from its soft features that it might be female, no real way of truly knowing unless she was either told or examined ‘her’. The creature wore a pair of tan colored trousers over her legs that had many pockets on the sides. On her torso was a sky blue t-shirt with a white unzipped hoodie worn over it and atop her head was a white bucket hat. Shoulder length moderately curly pink hair came from under her hat and her emerald green eyes glinted in the shade of her hat. From the nakedness of her skin, Twilight assumed the amount of clothing was required to retain heat. Currently, the creature was scowling at her and leaned in close to her, slamming down her palm on the dirt beside her head.

“Do you know how many predators were stalking you?” the being said with a feminine voice, cementing Twilight’s idea that she was female. “I had to chase off dozens of wolves and several manticores. Just why in the world did you decide to come into the Everfree alone?!”

“I wanted to talk with you Emerald. You’re my friend, and I want to hear your side,” Twilight stated blandly, going on an assumption of who the being on her was, and tilted her head at ‘Emerald’. “We are still friends right?”

“You… you still think…” Emerald began haltingly with wide eyes, almost recoiling from Twilight. “Even after what you must have been told… what you’ve seen... you still think I am your friend?”

“Am I wrong?”

“I… I don’t think I deserve to be your friend,” Emerald replied quietly, averting her eyes away from Twilight.

“We are just going to have to see about that,” Twilight replied and looked over Emerald. “Is this your base form? Hmm… Princess Luna referred to you as a ‘he’ so it must be some other species you encountered.”

“… Yes and no,” Emerald replied while looking down at her smooth pale hands. “This is the same species as my base form but… well, I made few genetic alterations and spliced together genes from my pony form, and I ended up with this.”

“You use genetics to change?” Twilight said in interest, her intellectual curiosity almost overwhelming her before she stamped down on it. “Actually, it’s not important. Can you get off me? Like I said, I just want to talk.”

Without another word, Emerald got off of Twilight and let her stand up. Taking a look at Emerald while she was standing up, Twilight could see that her clothes were a bit on the bulky side and hung off her slender form a bit. She could also see that she wore white footwear of some sort with little white ropes on it. Suddenly, Twilight felt movement in her mane and felt Navi burst out to fly around Emerald, trilling excitedly and happily.

“Hey there Navi,” Emerald greeted softly as her pet cuddled her cheek. “Yeah, I’m okay now.”

“So…” Twilight began, smiling at the sight of Navi and Emerald. “What exactly do I call you? Oskar or Emerald?”

“… Call me Emerald, Twilight,” Emerald said with a wince as Navi flew up under her hat. “Hearing you call me Oskar feels… wrong.”

“Alright,” Twilight agreed without another word.

“I’m guessing you want that talk now right?” Emerald asked and got a nod. “Well… we should go somewhere else for that… I know a place, where I first saw you and the others in action.”

“Huh?”

“The ruins of the old palace,” Emerald answered and waved Twilight forward. “Come with me, I think you know the way.”

The two then started walking down the dirt path in silence. Twilight and Emerald traversed the long path, crossing the river and passing things that were obstacles before. After what seemed like an hour of pure silence, the two found themselves entering the front door of the old palace ruins. Entering, the two traversed the insides of the palace and before long Twilight found herself standing in the very room Nightmare Moon had been defeated so long ago.

Sitting down on the ground, Twilight watched Emerald walk over to the window and lean on the banister, brushing her hand over the hole where a heavy rat had fallen through.

“You might not remember this, but there was a rat here when you fought Nightmare Moon with the Elements,” Emerald stated. “I was that rat. I sat here and watched you all in action for the first time, though it wasn’t the first time I had seen all of you.”

“When was that?” Twilight asked.

“I was the river serpent,” Emerald answered.

“Oh… Emerald?” Twilight began with a troubled look, prompting Emerald to look back at her. “How much of what you told me about yourself was a lie?”

“Pretty much nothing,” Emerald answered, causing Twilight to look at her in surprise. “Like I said, I never needed to be good at lying. I learned to tell the truth as it suited the situation. Everything I told you was pretty much true. I just never specified certain facts about them.”

“My mother died during a disaster when I was younger,” Emerald continued. “You all assumed I was a little filly at the time, but I was actually about sixteen years old and I had spent the next year by myself struggling to survive. He came then, Alex Mercer. He saw how desperate I was and took advantage of that. Free food, water and shelter? How could I refuse that? I was in no condition to think clearly, and even if I was, I don’t think I would have been smart enough to refuse his offer. Princess Luna told you her theory about me right? About me being a species of shape shifter she called impius mutante right? Well she was right about me being a different species from what I look like now, which are called humans. What I am is a viral life form called Blacklight. It was created by a military organization called Blackwatch, specifically a scientist by the name of Alex Mercer. Yeah… the very man I would end up being enslaved to created the virus. I wasn’t born Blacklight, you see. I was a normal, non-shape shifting human being with no great abilities whatsoever. I didn’t even have any magic abilities before arriving here.”

“That’s why you didn’t have a magical education,” Twilight said softly. “Do humans have magic?”

“No, none at all,” Emerald replied. “We have stage magicians, but they use tricks and gimmicks to create the illusion of magic… anyway. He offered me a chance to join him. I did, and I was given the virus. You see, there are two ways of giving someone Blacklight. One way has you directing the virus and ensuring the infected becomes a proper Blacklight being. The other has you just inject the virus into them, and more often than not they’ll die. Alex Mercer used the latter method on me. I managed to survive, just barely. The entire time during my turning, I felt myself falling away and knew I was dying. So I fought for life. I crawled and fought desperately, and before I knew it, I was picking myself up from the dirty streets.”

“Like I had told you, I spent two years or so under Alex Mercer, doing anything he wanted me to do just to ensure my survival,” Emerald said with a sigh. “I had killed dozens of people with my bare hands, and hundreds more are likely dead as a result of my actions, all because Alex Mercer told me to.”

“Yeah, I know…” Emerald commented on hearing Twilight’s horrified gasp. “How could I possibly do something like that? Well I’m not you Twilight. I’m not a hero. I don’t possess that special strength of character to look evil in the eyes and say no. A better person would have defied Mercer to the very end, but I didn’t. Where someone would have stood strong, I buckled and broke. I killed and killed again at his command like a loyal, rabid dog for two long years… then I saw my chance.”

“Alex Mercer had given a man named James Heller the virus,” Emerald explained. “At first, it looked like Heller was just going to be another one of his enforcers, but I stumbled along him destroying one of Mercer’s operations. I could have done my duty and informed Alex Mercer of Heller’s betrayal, but I didn’t. I kept it to myself and kept my distance from Heller. Before long, James Heller caused so much damage that Mercer only had a few operations left and a handful of his elite forces. Mercer called for me to join him at a final confrontation, but I took the chance to meet up with Mercer’s other forces. He had this other group called the Cannon Fodders… yeah, you can tell from the name that they weren’t exactly an appreciated part of his army. They were planning a rebellion of their own and I made a deal with them. I wouldn’t inform Mercer of their betrayal before it started if they let me be.”

“The final fight between Alex Mercer and James Heller came and went, with Heller as the victor,” Emerald continued. “As part of the deal with the Cannon Fodders, I had given them powerful genes to arm themselves. The leader hadn’t told the others about me before it was time to fulfill my side of the bargain, and they weren’t happy at all that I wasn’t going to die like I deserved. But it soon didn’t matter because somehow… I ended up here, in a completely different world.”

“You’re from a whole new world?” Twilight asked with a gasp, her mind alight with wonder at the idea of travel between entirely different worlds.

“Yeah… it’s not that new or that great, but it was a home,” Emerald said with a nod. “Before you ask, I have no idea how I got here. I just felt this desire to go somewhere and before I knew it I was falling through a field of stars, then I landed face first on the bank of the very river I would see all of you for the first time.”

“You know what happened after that,” Emerald said. “After you redeemed Princess Luna, I decided to infiltrate Ponyville. Thanks to Rarity giving me her tail, I had her genes for a pony form, but I couldn’t pose as a known face so I went looking for another pony to get genes from…”

“Rose Locks!” Twilight suddenly gasped. “You… you were that animal that attacked her… and sent her to the hospital.”

“Yes… yes I was,” Emerald admitted softly. “If it… if it somehow makes it better, my first impulse was to kill her for her genes and whatever information her mind had but… I chose not to… as my first truly independent and free choice. Instead, I took her genes and put her to sleep.”

“I returned to the cover of the Everfree and created my new form,” Emerald continued. “I created Emerald Gleaner from specifically chosen genes taken from both Rarity and Rose Locks.”

“So… you, or your form, is technically Rarity’s daughter?”

“Yeah, and she keeps getting these motherly instincts too,” Emerald said with a small smile. “The same goes for Rose Locks too, though it isn’t as obvious as Rarity. It did help me become friends with her… to make amends for the torment I put her through.”

“Well… giving my new form a trial by fire, I went to Ponyville to start getting information of this new world I found myself in,” Emerald continued. “Imagine my surprise when I knocked on the library door and you answered. You know what happened then. We bonded over books, though I was purely using that as a means to gain access to information… and Twilight? Remember that too tight hug I gave you?”

“…Yes?”

“I… I was very seriously considering killing you then,” Emerald said, and she could feel the enormous weight of the silence that followed. “I-I didn’t though, I decided to… I didn’t. So the next day I left and went into the Everfree where I started collecting genes and memories from the creatures living there. Then I went to Canterlot to set about finding a way to skip going through years and years of basic schooling for learning magic. I found it in the form of a very old and very ill unicorn named Silver Light. I snuck into his house and gave him a bad virus in his sleep, he passed away quietly within a few minutes. After that, I spent a few days waiting for his funeral and… got the memories from his body. After that, I went to the Everfree for a day or so to practice my new magical knowledge. I found out though, that having the magics of all three pony tribes messes up your control over most of them save for earth pony magic. So I decided to return to you and take up studying in your library. You know what happened next.”

“I spent my time with all of you, pretending to be friends… at least at first,” Emerald stated. “I don’t know when or how it happened, but I genuinely started to care about all of you, even though I secretly thought of all you as threats thanks to you being bearers of the Elements of Harmony. So time passed, I spent time with all of you acting like a friend and finding myself having to act less and less. And then… the griffins came.”

“The Monster of Everfree,” Twilight whispered.

“Yeah… a monster… that describes me,” Emerald said softly. “Did Princess Luna say why they were here?”

“She said they were here because one of the nobles asked them to,” Twilight answered after a moment. “And when they heard about… about you, they decided to go on a hunt.”

“She gave you a censored version of events then,” Emerald said with a sigh. “The real reason why they came here was because they were looking for one of their own who had gone missing. That missing griffin was Gilda and… a-and… I killed her.”

“W-why?” Twilight asked, voice choked with horror and tears.

“Because I felt I needed to know how to fly,” Emerald explained, and in a sudden surge of black, a pair of wings with the feathers made of blades appeared on her back. “I saw something that could make the difference between life and death, the ability to flee into the air, and knew I had to have it. It doesn’t sound like justification to you and now it doesn’t sound like one to me… but at the time it was reason enough to kill someone for.”

“Dear goddess.”

“The noble that had led the group was her father, a noble of high ranking in the Griffin Principality,” Emerald explained. “He tracked his daughter, then he started tracking me. I had noticed the griffins, but I hadn’t paid them much attention. I was rather more concerned with you guys, participating in games and events, taking part in a fashion show… it all seemed so much more important than keeping an eye out for people who might be hunting me. Eventually, I found out about them and what their plan was, so I was faced with a choice. Either run from Ponyville and never show my face again so they would never find me… or stay and fight for the right to stay here and be your friend… a right I know I don’t deserve, but I fought for it anyway... So I made sure you and Spike wouldn’t wake up in the night and follow me into the forest like you did when you thought I died, then I went into the forest to fight.”

“That was the reason why I was so tired. You put something in the muffins.”

“Yeah. I went into the forest and, using my experience with ambushing and assassination, I killed all of them. Loyal devoted soldiers in a foreign land, and they died so I wouldn’t.” Emerald sighed. “But their leader, Gilda’s father, put up a much more deadly fight. In the end, he was still a flesh and blood griffin, and I mortally wounded him, but he knew a magic that I was vulnerable to at the time, the power of electricity. He called down a massive lightning bolt and vaporized himself, but also greatly wounded me in the process. Even managed to cripple me for a short time.”

“That was why you weren’t able to use magic without hurting yourself, wasn’t it?”

“Yes… and you know what happened after that,” Emerald replied. “I freaked out in the hospital because it reminded me of Blackwatch labs, adding to that I was afraid I’d be found out. And the reason I freaked out in the Diamond Dog tunnels was because it brought back memories of being Mercer’s slave.”

“Later, after we got back and you “healed” me, I decided to head back to the Diamond Dogs,” Emerald continued. “I beat them into submission, a lot of it was expressing my anger for them kidnapping Rarity. They told me about their leader who was forcing them to dig up gems and capture ponies for use as slaves, so I went to face him. I kind of wish they told me beforehand that their boss was a massive dragon, but I handled it. After ending their oppressive master’s reign, I freed them and offered them a choice to join me or go on their own way. They joined me, though likely more out of habit of just following someone stronger than them.”

“I released the slave ponies and called home all the packs mining for gems,” Emerald said. “Then I brought everyone to a new home, all while maintaining a normal life back in Ponyville… well, normal for us anyway.”

“We… we are kind of weird aren’t we?” Twilight stated with a short giggle.

“Remember what you told me about what you called everyone? When you first arrived in Ponyville?” Emerald said with a weak smile. “Well… before I set up a new home for everyone, I had broken out a bunch of Diamond Dogs out of Alcoltraz… and in the process spread chaos in Equestria from allowing criminals the opportunity to escape as well… I suppose I could have spent a couple of hours refining the plan to ensure that the non-Diamond Dog prisoners escaped.”

“After collecting everyone and settling them in their new home, I decided we needed to improve our means of production,” Emerald continued. “So I decided to plan and prepare for raids on various production centers of Equestria.”

“You were the Gray Fox!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Hit the nail on the head there bonny lass,” said the Gray Fox as he leaned carelessly against the wall and flashed Twilight a charming grin. Suddenly, Emerald was back with a surge of black, looking rather sheepish. “Sorry, couldn’t resist. Yeah, I played the part of a leader of thieves, was a bit easy since I actually was one. And over the following months I did my best to balance leading the Diamond Dogs and my life here in Ponyville. Sometimes I was successful, a lot of times I wasn’t… but I never stopped trying.”

“I planned the successful raids of Manehattan, Las Pegasus, Vanhoover and Cloudsdale,” Emerald stated. “And after our trip to Canterlot a few days ago, I took the opportunity to take a few choice books, which I plan to return after I read them. Also, during the trip, I had taken the opportunity to take a sample of alicorn DNA from a sleeping Princess Luna. I absorbed the DNA earlier today in your basement where you have a majority of magical shielding and protection for the experiment you perform down there. I figured it would conceal any magical changes in me from consuming the DNA… I vastly underestimated the power the change would release.”

“Well… now you know what there is to know about… the cliff notes version anyway,” Emerald said and waited a long moment for Twilight to speak… the unicorn’s only reply was to teleport away in a violet flash.

Emerald quickly turned around, her eyes wide then she quickly frowned and looked depressed.

“Well… I’m not surprised about that at all,” Emerald muttered as she half collapsed against the worn stone wall and slid down to the floor. “So why does it still hurt?

Navi trilled in worry and popped out from under Emerald’s hat. She flew in front of Emerald’s face and stared worriedly at her.

“Navi… I want you to go stay with Twilight,” Emerald said dully.

Navi’s eyes widened and she quickly started trilling her refusal.

“It wasn’t a request, it was a demand!” Emerald shouted at her pet, making Navi recoil in shock. “Now go!”

With a flash of pink light, Emerald took Navi’s choice out of the matter and teleported her directly to Ponyville.

“Besides… you would be safer and happier with her,” Emerald said with a small sob before bringing up her knees close to her, hugging them and staying there in the silence of the palace ruins, alone with only her self-loathing and pain to keep her company.



EPSILON



Five of the Mane Six sat in the living room of Rarity’s boutique, relaxing and waiting for the princesses to give the word for Emerald’s rescue operation to be ready. Suddenly, there was a flash of purple light and Twilight appeared in the middle of the room.

“Twilight you’re back, how are…” Rarity’s greeting trailed off when she saw the look on Twilight’s face. “Darling… whatever is the matter?”

“Lots of things,” Twilight muttered with a half angry and half miserable expression on her face. “I’ll talk about it in a few minutes.”

With that, Twilight walked over to a couch where Pinkie was lounging, levitated the party mare off the couch, and claimed it for herself. Ignoring Pinkie’s exclamation, Twilight curled up on the couch and closed her eyes.

“Well… it’s good that you are back to rest now. We’ve been doing a lot today and, like I said earlier, there is no telling when the princesses will tell us that they are ready to go rescue dear Emerald.”

Twilight flinched at that and her first impulse was to tell her friends the truth about Emerald, that she was a horrible murdering monster and that they should go see the Princesses and have the Elements of Harmony brought in. But she hesitated, and for a long moment she found herself intensely conflicted, then she released a shuddering sigh and opened her mouth.

“We don’t have to go rescue Emerald,” Twilight said, making everyone look at her.

“What? Why?” Dash questioned. “Of course we have to rescue her! She’s trapped with that monster!”

“I found… I got a letter from Emerald,” Twilight said, feeling terrible for lying to her friends. “She decided to go on a sudden road trip like she used to do when she was a travel pony just before the monster attacked the library. She said she will be back in a… while.”

“What?” Rarity said incredulously. “Darling, it seems a bit unlike her to just leave like that without giving us all some sort of warning before-”

“I’m not lying!” Twilight shouted angrily, shocking everyone.

“Whoa there sugarcube,” Applejack said with her forelegs up in a placating gesture. “Nopony ain’t accusing ya of lying. We all believe ya.”

Twilight just huffed and turned to have her back facing her friends, not in the mood to talk anymore.

The others looked at each other worriedly. They all were a bit angry at Emerald for leaving out of the blue like that and making them all worry about her, but Twilight seemed to be so much more furious about it. Perhaps there was something else to the message Twilight received that made her angry?

Suddenly there was a small tapping sound at one of the windows.

“Hm? Oh Navi is outside,” Rarity stated and opened the window with her magic. “Now why in the world would Emerald leave Navi behind?”

“I… have no idea,” Twilight said with a frown as Navi flew over to her. The unicorn blinked her eyes wide as she saw how sad Navi looked, tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes as she released little trills that sounded suspiciously like sobs.

“She sent you to stay with me didn’t she?” Twilight asked Navi softly who nodded and quickly dived into her mane. Twilight quickly turned away from her friends again as Navi’s soft crying trills filled her ears.

“Well…” Rarity began when a knocking came at the front door. She walked over and opened it to see a unicorn Royal Guard there.

“Hello miss Rarity,” the guard greeted with a salute. “I’m here to collect all of you for the rescue operation.”

“Oh, actually some vital information has come to light,” Rarity replied. “Emerald hasn’t actually been kidnapped. She is just out on a road trip.”

“Oh…” The guard blinked his eyes in surprise. “Well, I better bring you along to inform the princesses of this.”

“Yes, let’s be on our way,” Rarity said and closed the door behind her.

“Well…” Rainbow Dash said, looking over everyone. “What do we do now?”

No one knew the answer to that.



-FIN-



AN:Cleaned up edition!

And here it is people! I hope you all love it! Also I am proud to announce... the sequel!

Emerald Gleaner: Viral Unicorn

I just need to post the Epilogue before putting the completed tag on this :)


CREDITS

Ideas and Story Development: Gekko and Trondason

Grammar Edits: Nightmare Knight