//------------------------------// // Future Transgressions // Story: And Then There Were 10...Er...67 // by Grey Ghost //------------------------------// “Jason!” Twilight’s shout cut through the fog of Jason’s thoughts, snapping him out of it. He rolled out of the way just in time for Eclipse’s scythe to cleave through the floor where he had just been. “Thanks Twi,” Jason called quickly getting to his feet. He pulled out Laevateinn, extending the blade to its fullest. Before he could move Eclipse flicked her hand, blasting him into the wall with a wave of dark magic. “We shall smite thee!” Luna rushed at Eclipse, summoning up her warhammer. She swung it at full force, only to have it countered by Eclipse’s scythe. “I am not afraid of you Luna,” Eclipse smirked, standing up straight. “This day shall be bathed in alicorn blood!” she declared, slamming a hand down on her Omnitrix and shifting into an armoured Four Arms. She dashed forward, punching Luna through a wall, causing the lunar princess to tumble along the floor. Unbeknownst to all of them, a small green creature watched from one of the corners of the room, his natural camouflage making him practically unseen to the average eye. The imp-like being watched the fight with interest, particularly Eclipse. “She just had to go Four Arms,” Jason said getting to his feet, cracking his neck. “Cadance, take Twilight and evacuate the castle,” Celestia said, conjuring up a scimitar, “Luna, Jason and I will handle this ‘Eclipse.’” “But-” Twilight said, only to be cut off by Celestia. “This isn’t like when you had the Elements. This ‘Eclipse’ will kill you Twilight, not just take your horn and wings like Trenderhoof did,” she stated gravely, pulling Twilight into a hug. “If we should fall, it will be up to you and Cadance to guide Equestria.” She paused for a moment, looking at the cowering Nightmare Moon. “Take her with you, we’ll deal with her later.” “I-I understand...” Twilight, on the verge of tears, nodded. She moved over to Moon and helped the alicorn to her feet. “Come on,” she said, leading the frightened mare to the door where Cadance was waiting. Twilight gave one last look back at the others before following after Moon and Cadance. “Can you counter her forms?” Celestia asked, glancing at Jason, the sounds of Luna and Eclipse’s duel echoing through the castle. “Hell yeah I can,” Jason said, popping up his Omnitrix, quickly going through all the forms he had unlocked. “Ok... whats good for Four Arms?” he asked, his mind racing. “Ha! Rath!” he shouted, slamming the Omnitrix down. He threw his head back, letting out a roar, and charged out of the room. He caught Eclipse unaware, punching her through a wall and into the royal baths. “Ha!” Rath shouted, cracking his knuckles. “Looks like your Four Arms ain’t got nothing on Rath!!!” “You know, I possess all of your memories as well as Luna’s,” Eclipse said, getting to her feet and spitting out some blood. “So I just happen to know that Rath hates water.” She smirked at Rath then turned and jumped into one of the baths, sending a wave of water at him. Rath screamed at the top of his lungs, rushing out of the way as fast as he could. “Rath’s gonna go ultimate on your ass Eclipse!” he shouted, turning the Omnitrix. He started to shift again, his fur changed to white, three red spikes grew out of his back, covered by a long black mane. He had two claws per hand instead of one and he now had clothes, a open vest and a pair of black shorts that had a belt with giant spikes. “Let me tell you five things Eclipse, Bringer Of Eternal Darkness!” he roared, cracking his knuckles. “Rath will break your spine like celery and grind your bones into bacon dust!” “Thats only two things,” Luna pointed out, moving up next to him, followed by Celestia. “Shut up! She gets the gist of it!” Ultimate Rath screamed, then he charged at Eclipse. He raised his fist, deciding to crack her skull. She smirked and easily sidestepped his blind charge, before roundhouse kicking him through the wall and out into the open air around Canterlot. “BIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH!!!!” Rath shouted as he fell, soon vanishing from sight. “Jason!” Celestia shouted as she and Luna watched, already assuming the worst. “Worry about yourselves first,” Eclipse reminded, uppercutting Celestia with her top set of arms and laying down a few hits to Luna with her lower set. Celestia staggered back, running her tongue over her teeth and feeling the fractures inflicted on a few of them. She snorted, charged up her horn, and fired a blast of magic at the tetramand. Eclipse pushed Luna away, quickly shifting into Chromastone. She absorbed the magic, then fired it back, sending the solar princess tumbling through several rooms. “This Omnitrix is amazing!” Eclipse chuckled before Luna’s hammer collided with her head, sending her tumbling. Luna didn’t relent, laying blow upon blow on the crystalsapien. “You will die this day, monster!” she declared, her eyes burning with hate. Rath groaned as he sat up, some loose dirt falling off his body. “You listen here ground!” he snarked, poking the ground next to him. “When Rath is done with Eclipse, Rath will be back to give you an asswhooping, you got that!!??” He got to his feet, shaking his head. “What’s this?” he asked, lifting up a scroll. “Hey, this is one of those Token things,” he said, unfurling it. One of many heroes, all for the sake of defending, Use my scroll and my help I shall be lending. Strength of mountains, speed of wind, and mind of Ancients! Call me forth from across the multiverse to your civilization! Drake Blackwood, The Ancient Summoner! “Too many words!” Rath shouted, glaring at the scroll. “You, Displaced! Come help Rath kick Eclipse’s ass! Now!” Within a span of six seconds, the words from the scroll flew off the paper and spun around in the air before a blinding, blue light appeared. Before him now stood a man in a black cloak with some weird black gauntlet and holding a chicken leg. The man looked at him “And of course horrible timing as always... oh well better than the last guy and... are you some kind of tiger in clothing?” he asked. “You!” Rath said, getting in his face. “Rath is Rath! Now you're gonna help Rath kick Eclipse’s ass or Rath will teach you the meaning of pain!!!!” All the man did was laugh “You’re loud, obnoxious, and need a breath mint... we’ll get along just fine! My name’s Drake Blackwood, and tell me more about this Eclipse person so that I know the situation better,” Drake said. He looked at the chicken leg in his hand as he offered it to Rath as some kind of peace treaty. “That smells tasty, thank you,” Rath said, actually lowering his voice for a change. He started to eat it as the Omnitrix timed out. “Gah... my throat...” Jason said, his voice rather hoarse now. Drake just looked at Jason. “So... you’re a form taker? Someone who can assume another creature’s form?” he asked Jason as he walked around him till he stopped and spotted the Omnitrix. “Yup...” Jason said, casting cure on his throat.”Oh that feels so much better...” Drake just slowly nodded his head “Okay... so mind telling me what this guy, Rath was it? Anyway what the hell he was talking about without threatening to cause me pain?” he simply asked as he stood before Jason now. “Ok, you know Nightmare Moon?” “More angsty and rageful side of Luna, why?” “She just made herself a body using my DNA and she has one of these,” Jason said, holding up his Omnitrix. Drake shook his head. “So evil villain has an evil version of your tool? Oh, great,” he said as he looked around. “And I am guessing that is why we are in a damn hole?” “She kicked Rath out of the castle,” Jason said, pointing up to the city. Drake simply looked up “Ah... well I think the best plan is for you to get us up there because I have a problem with my gauntlet. See if I switch heroes a certain number of times, the next time I change, I suffer Magical Feedback and thus the hero takes over and... well, the last time a hero took over he literally killed Sombra, in front of the whole Crystal Empire,” he explained. “I see...” Jason said, “Give me a second to recharge here,” he said, looking hopefully at the Omnitrix. “I’m Jason by the way.” Drake started to reach out with his gauntlet hand, but quickly switched to his regular hand. “Drake Blackwood, the man who Rath summoned,” he said. As he looked at his gauntlet he sighed. “Damn. Not a lot of power in it. Know any ponies up top who can offer a bit of magic? Any pony will do, because my gauntlet siphons magic on contact from, well, anything with magic. Or channel magic into it,” he explained. Jason just reached out and touched the gauntlet, letting his magic flow into it. Drake looked at the gauntlet as the gem in it had three bright pools of red, green, and blue. “Alright, got enough for long form use, but still can suffer the hero change feedback... so mind explaining who Eclipse is?” he asked Jason. “Didn’t I just tell you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “No you told me Nightmare Moon is back, I never asked who Eclipse is since Rath seemed to just call me here to quote ‘Kick Eclipse’s ass or be introduced to pain’ end quote,” Drake explained. “She is Eclipse,” Jason said, smirking as the Omnitrix beeped, turning green. “How are you with flying?” “Depends. Do you know how to fly and is there a chance of us faceplanting?” Drake asked with a nervous chuckle. “We’ll see. Omnitrix, Jetray,” he commanded, shifting into a tall, red-colored stingray-looking creature with a yellow crest on his head. Drake just looked at him as he smiled and walked around Jetray chuckling, but also trying to figure out a way to hang on. “Wait... how strong is Rath?” “He survived a fall from the castle,” Jason said as he flew up. Drake looked up at the castle then back down at the crater they were in and got a thoughtful look on his face. Jason grabbed Drake by the shoulders with his feet and they soared up into the sky. “When we get up high enough, just drop me from a tall height onto Eclipse. I have a plan!” Drake yelled as he started to look through his gauntlet. “Something heavy, something big,” he muttered. When they reached the castle, Jason peeked into one of the windows. Eclipse was in the form of Ultimate Humungousaur. She fired off some shots, taking out a group of guards that had come to assist the princesses. “That isn’t good,” Jason said as they flew up into the air. “You ready?” Drake grins “Ready as I’ll ever be,” he said as his hands started to get overgrown with green fluid. “Drop me now!” he yelled at Jason. Jason let him go, watching him fall. As Drake fell, the green aura came over him and started to grow and grow. Before long a loud thud was heard as Ultimate Humungousaur staggered back a bit. As the dust cleared, something demonic became visible. A tall creature, as tall as Eclipse’s current form with a pair of black wings, black horns, glowing blue eyes and ethereal-like blades. “From the hell of hells I come,” it spoke. Drake had turned into a creature known as Terrorblade. “I don’t know what you are but if you cross me you will die.” She narrowed her eyes, looking at him with contempt. Drake simply looked at her. “You will know true fear this day. Betray yourself!” he yelled as some weird blue aura came around Eclipse. Right before her a clone of herself appeared and started to shoot missiles at her. As a few connected, her movements started to slow, as if being hit by slime or sludge. “Izh icha safras,” Drake said as another Terrorblade appeared and rushed her to start swinging at her. Soon the clone of her vanished with its work of slowing her movement and attack speed done. “Get back!” she shouted, firing off a few missiles. Seeing that it wasn’t working, she changed tactics, transforming into Cannonbolt. She curled up and dashed forward, slamming into Drake. The two of them smashed through several more walls. Drake felt the walls crumble under his back as he looked at the orb and he growled a bit. “Fear what you will never understand!” he yelled as his body started to morph a bit. His skin turned from purple to blue and his wings expanded as he took flight, letting her hit the ground. He started to toss out blue fireballs that homed in on her position. She stayed curled into a ball, and the flames dispersed harmlessly on her armor. Luna and Celestia approached him, holding their weapons at the ready. “Halt, creature!” Celestia ordered, looking at Drake, “Be you friend or foe?” Drake slowly looked over at Celestia as he asked, still in a demonic voice, “Am I trying to burn you and Jason alive with blue hellfire?” He kept up the blue hellfire volley on Cannonbolt before reverting back to his regular Terrorblade form. He extended his arms as he focused on her. “Your own worst enemy,” he said as a clone Cannonbolt appeared and started to charge at Eclipse, pounding into her armor with its own. As he walked around her, he said, “It is hopeless. You cannot beat me.” Since the last one had dispersed, he produced another clone of himself. Now Eclipse’s armor was taking a beating from a dark clone of herself and one of Drake’s form. She shifted again, this time into Ghostfreak. “Catch me if you can,” she said, sinking into the floor. After she did so, Drake left his Terrorblade form as he looked at the floor. He looked back at Celestia and Luna. “Okay... I will admit that power is pretty cool. Name’s Drake Blackwood, by the way princesses,” he said with a small bow. “You are one of the Displaced, yes?” Luna asked, panting. Her body was covered in cuts, and one of her eyes was swollen shut. Drake nodded as he looked at them. “Hold on,” he said as he looked into his gauntlet. He then became overfilled with some kind of blue color and appeared out of it as some kind of warlord, wearing armor of green, white and gold, riding on a large, rhino/boar creature. As he thrust his spear into the air he bellowed, “Hand of God!” Light poured in from the sky and somehow through the roof. As the light cascaded over the two princesses and other allies around the city, they were healed of all wounds and revitalized. He looked at the princesses. “In this hero, I am known as Chen,” he said. “You have the weirdest forms, dude,” Jason said as he walked over. “Sorry, was checking on Twilight and Cadance.” Drake looked at Jason. “This, coming from the man who turned into a flying stingray and a third person referring tiger in clothing?” he retorted with a smile. “Yes,” Jason said, rolling his eyes. “Ok, she can’t have left the castle,” Jason said, looking at where she had been. “She is obsessed with murdering me, there is no way she left,” Luna said, looking at Drake. “Thank you, I feel like I could fight an Ursa Major.” Celestia nodded her thanks as well. Drake nodded and twirled his spear. “Chen is made for support. If we can get her to stand still, I can force a spell on her to take more damage, both physical and magical, while also slowing her movement,” he explained. He looked at Jason, “She turned into a ghost and left through the floor”. “We could track her via mana,” Celestia suggested. “Won’t work, Ghostfreak doesn’t have mana,” Jason replied, shaking his head. “I... have an idea, if we can get her still... i-it’s a hunch really.” “I already don’t like this plan. But I am here to help. Just know I can transform two more times till the next transformation causes feedback,” he explained. Celestia opened her mouth to speak only for the floor beneath them to give way, dropping them all into the dungeons. “Nice of you to join me,” Eclipse said, once again in her default form. Drake had been forced back to default from the fall. As he stood up, he looked at Eclipse and whistled. “Damn lady, you look pretty ragged. What have you been doing? Sleeping in a tomb?” “Quiet yourself, fool,” she said with a sneer as she conjured up her scythe. He smiled. “I’m supposed to be scared of that? I had to fight a slaving tyrant! Plus how can you tell me to be quiet when you ran away with your tail between your legs,” he retorted, referring to her going Ghostfreak. He got his gauntlet fingers ready as he stared her down. “A trap, I assure you.” She held up a hand, which was charging with power. “Did I mention I took the knowledge of some spells from you Jason?” “Oh shit!” Jason said, his eyes wide. “Ultima!” she shouted. With that, she unleashed a massive blast, demolishing the room, and shaking the entire mountain. When the dust cleared, only Eclipse was left standing. “Weaklings,” she scoffed. She walked over to Celestia, who was laying on the floor, her coat singed. “Look who's fallen so far,” she said with a chuckle, hefting her scythe into the air. She moved to bring it down, only to be stopped by golden magic. “You won’t hurt my family, witch,” Blueblood snorted, glaring at her. She focused her magic into Eclipse’s Omnitrix. “Those devices react badly to magic, yes?” “Release me!” Eclipse shouted, hurling several shadow spears into the mare’s body. Blueblood ignored the pain, pushing as much magic as she could. “Bluey...?” Celestia asked, starting to wake up. “I’m sorry Auntie... for everything. I just wanted to make Equestria a better place...” She shook her head, letting tears flow. “Maybe... maybe with this I can atone.” She gave one last burst of magic before Eclipse’s Omnitrix overloaded, sending out a blast of energy. The blast quickly imploded on itself, and the two vanished in the explosion. “Blueblood!” Celestia shouted, her eyes wide in horror as she stared at the spot her niece had just been. “Woah...” Jason said dumbly, sitting up. “You ok Drake? Luna?” “Can someone get the moon princess off me? I think her weapon is crushing my ribs. Also I have a couple of ideas on how to find them, but I’m unsure if they would work,” Drake said with a painful groan. “A problem for another time,” Luna said as she got off of Drake, her wing hanging limp at her side. “There are injured that need to be attended to.” She limped over to Celestia, who had started to sob, giving her a nuzzle. Drake slowly got up as he looked over at Jason, who was looking at the mark on the ground. He gave Jason a look, as if asking to try one of his ideas, just to give closure on if Blueblood is dead or not. “They’re not dead, same thing happened to me once before. Yggdrasil knows where they ended up...” Jason said getting up. He moved over to the princesses and began casting a few cure spells on them. “Alright, but fair warning. If they ended up in my Equestria. I will put down Eclipse to protect the ones I love. No negotiations,” Drake warned as he felt his ribs heal. Jason looked at his Omnitrix thoughtfully, then turned his gaze to Drake. “Hey... do me a favor will ya?” “If it involves torturing her, making her suffer, or eating her soul, two of the three I can guarantee with the fucked up monsters in my gauntlet,” Drake said “Touch my Omnitrix.” “Come again? Why would I touch your watch thing?” “Humor me.” “I swear if this is some kind of new creature acquiring thing, let me warn you right now... you don’t want what lives in this damn thing,” Drake said pointing to his gauntlet “I have the literal lord of Hell, Lucifer, in my gauntlet and a monster so powerful, he makes Nightmare Moon have nightmares... but it’s your funeral,” he said as he placed the gauntlet over the Omnitrix. “I meant your hand!” Jason said, glaring at him. Drake rolls his eyes as he puts his regular hand on the Omnitrix. Jason watched as nothing happened. He pulled away and popped the dial of the Omnitrix up, cycling through it before freezing, staring at it. “Okay... that was weird,” Drake said, also staring at it. “Do you know what that is?” Jason asked, holding his arm out. The silhouette of a human was on the dial. “A human?” Drake asked with a shrug. “And what do you think it means if I can turn into a human?” “...if it means what I think it means. Then don’t use a hero named Doom. That one is Lucifer,” he warns. “Either that or you acquired one of the more human bodied heros in my gauntlet.” “What?” Jason asked, staring at him. “No! It means I’m not human!” he snapped. “Jason?” Luna asked, taken aback by his attitude. “Well... that’s new. Maybe your body changed over time in this weird world. Now calm down and let’s talk about this,” Drake said. “Look, I need to process this,” Jason said, tossing him a Unitrix core. “Thats my Token, give me a call if you need help.” Drake nodded. “To send me back just rip or burn the scroll. If ever need someone to talk to, I got hundreds of heroes and good friends in my world who can help,” he said. “Heh, I shouldn’t have to destroy your Token,” he said, “Drake, our contract is complete.” Drake’s legs soon got covered with blue fire. “Aw... ripping and burning the scroll would’ve been fun and another one would’ve appeared. Ah well, time to get back to my chicken and preparing for another heat season,” he said as he was engulfed in flame. He laughed a bit. “Also just know one thing. The ponies in my world are anthros!!!!!” he yelled as he vanished into blue embers. “What in Tartarus is an anthro?” Luna asked, still trying to comfort Celestia. “I’ll tell you when I’m not having an identity crisis...” Jason said, looking up at the ceiling. This had definitely been big. Eclipse groaned as she regained consciousness. “Accursed child.” She picked herself up, looking around. Dim lights lined the tunnel, pitch blackness masking most of it. “Who are you?” a garbled voice asked, causing her to spin around. Behind her, several hundred glowing red eyes stared back at her. Much to her credit, Eclipse showed no fear. “I am Eclipse! Bringer of darkness, shader of the sun!” She summoned her scythe, its blade glinting in the light. They looked at each other, the sound of whispering reaching her ears. “We of Svartalfheim despise the light. How certain are you of this endeavour?” “I would stake my life on it,” she said, a confident smirk on her face. “If you can bring about the endless night than we, the Dökkálfar, shall follow you,” they said, kneeling in the darkness. Eclipse smirked, looking at her new subjects with fire in her eyes. “I accept, together we shall wrest the sun from the sky!” she shouted, thrusting an armored fist into the air. “Ruler of a realm you cannot leave,” a dark voice chuckled. “Sounds like a rather paltry consolation prize, don’t you think?” “Who dares to mock me!?” she screamed, drawing her scythe back. “I do not mock you... Eclipse was it? I simply state the obvious.” Suddenly a small, green creature seemed to appear from the air, its eyes glowing a putrid yellow. As the imp took a step closer, a faint smell like rotten fish filled the air. “Oh, and maim this body all you like. You merely cut the thread on what may be your one way to see your plan fulfilled.” “Speak, imp,” she said, staring at it with narrowed eyes. It chuckled regardless. “Feisty, aren’t we? Here I thought you would be glad to hear you have a way back.” “Go on.” “The fact of the matter is simple really.” The imp began to pace back and forth, an act not befitting its simple look. “We both have a common interest in Jason Hughes. As such, I am willing to help you be free of this realm should you be willing to face him again.” “Oh... I will rip his heart from his chest and fashion a throne from his bones!” “Hm... graphic, yet not too over the top. I think we’ll work wonders together Miss Eclipse. Now, for the time being I’d suggest whipping these...” the imp waved a hand over the glowing red eyes, “...things into an army. Once it is ready, we will let you loose upon the world once more.” The imp turned away for a moment before realizing something. “Oh, and if you need to speak to me again, just yell at this thing. It will probably return to being as dumb as dirt once I am gone.” “I see,” she said with a nod. “I will train these creatures into a fighting force that will shake Equestria to its foundations!” “Excellent. Now, this minion is ordered to obey your commands, but do know it is your only connection to me. The world you live in is made of many strange realms and getting to them without some kind of bridge is rather difficult for me.” The imp nodded. “Farewell for now.” The imp’s eyes dimmed before looking around confused and then at Eclipse. “Master say you are mistress. Hail mistress!” Eclipse smirked, her laughs echoing throughout the tunnels. There would be no mercy when her forces marched.