It started innocently enough, an echoing voice the slinked through my head. "Wade, I require your aid in a possibly world changing matter. Will you help?"
The voice was honest sounding, and for a nice change of pace it wasn't flat out demanding that I come over and help like it was expected of me. And it wasn't like Twilight was going to be coming out of 'lecture mode' for breath any time soon.
"What was that?" She suddenly asked, giving me an odd look.
"Umm, no. No, no, no. Nothing at all..." I trailed off, wondering if I could safely use this as an opportunity to escape. I might be in trouble again once I got back, but...
"Oh no, no you don't, don't you dare Wade!" she yelled, prompting me to do exactly that.
"Do what? It's not like I got a call from another Displaced and said 'I accept', or anything," I said, putting as much intention as I could on the 'I accept'. I was rewarded with a sudden jerk, as I slipped down through the couch I was sitting on, and down through the floor.
"Darn it Wade, you are in so much trouble when you get back!" was the last I heard of her voice before I slipped out of the universe.
~--------------------------------------~
Entering this new world was no new affair. Face, meet floor. Hadn't seen you for a while. Glad to be back.
Picking myself off the floor, I was greeted to the sight of a human, wearing a set of rather normal looking clothes, the bulge of a backpack strapped on his back along with the cloak draping over it. He had his hood up, although his face was visible, a bit of his black hair jutting out like a wild weed. His right leg was shod in some sort of leg armor, the metal glinting with refractions of sunlight.
Once I had dusted myself off, the newcomer extended an arm in greeting. “Good, you came. I wasn’t sure if you were going to heed my call. My name is Don. A pleasure to meet you.”
I took his hand and shook it, "Pleasure is all mine. You wouldn't believe some of the nutjobs that are out there. It's always nice to get a call from someone relatively normal. So whats up? You said you needed some help on something?"
"Ah yes. It turns out that a nearby facility is holding something that belongs to me. I already know they would refuse to acknowledge my ownership over it." Oh, so he never even asked. Imagine how much trouble could be avoided, "After all, it has been about three thousand years."
Ah, so he fit the majority motif for most of the Displaced. It seems a lot of people got sent to a version of Equestria about a thousand to two thousand years before I got to my own Equestria. They then got caught up in some sort of crazy misunderstanding, and stoned until the 'mane six' show up. Then they have the entirety of Equestria, including the two princesses out for their hides.
"That's why I need someone to help me break in. I figure an animorph such as yourself would be perfect for the job of slipping inside and getting the information I need to break in without anyone knowing it was me. Plus, as you already stated, there aren’t many of us wayward humans out there who aren't a bit mental."
His eyes changed color suddenly, flashing a deep blue before returning to his regular brown.
"So you need me to just walk in and ask some questions, make mental notes of skylights and other spy things for you? Do you have any way to bypass any magical based securities? Cause Equestrians may not be big on locks -kinda pointless with unicorns- but they're pretty gung-ho on magic tripwires. I won't be able to spot any of those. Just saying, right off the bat."
I didn't want him assuming I could get him something I couldn't. "But I can get information pretty dang easily. Quick question though, whats your Equestria's stance on changelings?"
His eyes flashed blue again before he responded. What, was he some sort of human mood ring?
“Changelings aren’t exactly… accepted in this Equestria." Great, there goe's my first option. Guess I'd have to go Sweetiebelle or Spike. Otherwise someone might notice the stallion or mare walking around without a cutiemark. "I haven’t even seen any in my own version, just in others. I suppose that would go against their point though. As for magical alarms, you shouldn’t have to worry. The doors are protected, but there are other ways a man of your talents could get in. Tell me, do you have any forms like a rat or other rodent?" Oh. That would be pretty smart, actually. I should have actually gotten a couple animals by now. Lord knows I had enough chances what with all of Fluttershy's... pets.
Before I was able to form a response, we were inturrupted by a loud voice coming from down the alley, “Hey you, give me what you- wait, there’s two of you now?!” Don whirled and glared daggers at a minotaur. The great big brute had two horns jutting out of his temples. He shook his head before snorting. “Don’t matter. Just means you both need to give me what you got!”
Don gave a low sigh, before turning back to me with an apologetic look on his face. “Sorry about this Wade. The princesses of my world are far too busy dealing with nobles to try and deal with the crime rate in cities like this one.”
His eyes flashed blue once more, and the shadows of the alleyway darkened, collescing and shooting towards the minotaur, wrapping around his torso before throwing him into the wall. He dropped like a rock as Don strutted over to him to check his pulse, his leg armor clanking with each step.
“Good, he’s still alive.” Don turned back and gave me a smile, “I really do apologize for this, but I would be lying if I said this wasn’t the first time I had to deal with the princess’ mistakes.”
Some of them really were crazy. It astounded me how many of them just went all army happy on Displaced.
"I've been to a bunch of worlds, and they do have a tendancy to screw things up. It's like we're all main characters and they just throw away all common sense to become a dramatic antagonist. Even my own versions are kinda... hard to get a bead on. Give me a second." I stooped down to place a hand on the unconcious minotaurs head. "No sense in letting this opportunity go to waste."
The minotaur stiffened on the ground, before returning to his relaxed slump.
"In answer to your question however, I do not have any 'animal' morphs," I stated, ravaging the air with a couple air quotes. "I have a female Big Macintosh, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Flutterbat, Sweetiebelle, a random crystal Empire guy, Spike, a black dragon named Onyx and a couple changeling morphs. In addition to altered forms of Dante from Devil May Cry, and Pearl from Steven Universe. If you know any of those people. I haven't really gotten any animals...well..." I stalled, trying to think up a decent half truth, "Have you ever tried to catch a squirrel or a bird?" I started, leading to a poor joking tense, "They're darned fast. Theres apparently some sort of crazy big crocodiles or something in the kill-you-dead forest, but I'd prefer to get my morphs from things and or people that aren't trying to eat me. Where are we, by the way? If this is some kind of crappy version of Ponyville, there should be a version of Fluttershy walking around too. If yours is anything like mine, she should have a shitton of animals I could acquire. I just never had a chance because we're keeping the existance of humans a secret."
I paused a couple seconds before continuing. "And I honestly forgot to ask. I might just be horribly lazy on the subject."
“Humans aren’t a secret in this world, though having another one appear may set off the princesses further than they already have been. Once we leave the alleyway, I’d suggest changing your appearance. As for where we are, we are in Manehatten.” he rolled my eyes. “And yes, I know the pun of a name is cringe worthy." They really were. Horribly so. "Ponyville is rather far away," No shit. If we really were in Manehatton, That's like an overnight train ride from Canterlot. Canterlot itself was over two hours away from Ponyville. "And I have no good way of getting us there just to get you a small animal morph. Considering this is a city though…”
As if to to accentuate his point, a squeaking rat started climbing out of a nearby sewer grate. Gross. Don reached out a tendril of shadow and grabbed the little bugger, holding him up to me. “Consider this a gift. Even an Overlord needs friends and you seem like a man with a good head on your shoulders. Much unlike the first one to appear in my world.”
Wait, so he was an Overlord too? What do you know, another guy that had his life hijacked and stuck as a 'bad guy'. It seemed pretty common, actually.
"So you're an overlord too?" I asked, poking the rat in the gut and acquiring it, trying to ignore the slimy brown residue on it's fur that I would rather not think about. "A little while ago, I met 'The Overlady'. You look a lot more human than she did though. She had black skin, like the ironskin form Greed had in FMA. If you know that series. Was she just special, or do you look abnormal for an overlord? Sorry if thats a bit rude, I'm just trying to pass time while I- AGH SON OF A BASTARD, YOU LITTLE SHIT!" I yelled at the smug little ball of brown fur, licking his little rat lips clean of my freshly spilled blood.
It had apparently broken free of the acquiring trance, and taken advantage of my hand being pressed against it's stomach by indulging in it's baser animal instincts. By snacking on my hand like a kitkat.
I took a step back, watching as the rat struggled in the shadow glove. Don flung the rat off down alley, watching with disdain as it escaped back down the sewer drain. Little jerkwad. Guess not all the animals of Equestria were hyper intelligent like Fluttershy's.
"Gah! Little shitstain. I got the morph, though." I started morphing, just to get rid of the lancing pain shooting through my hand.
My ears grew and slid upwards, and a corse thick brown fur sprouted all over my body, as my clothes melted into my skin. The stun tube merged with my leg, the metal surface becoming just another stretch of flesh. My teeth lengthened, becoming sharpened points as my body shrunk. Not even Sweetiebelle had been this small, the world towering above me like I was stuck in some sort of paradise for giants.
The morph finished, I tried to tell Don to pick me up. Emphasis on the word try. Apparently the rat mouth was never made to produce anything even close to human speech.
<Damnit, stupid rat mouth. Pick me up Don, I don't want you to spaz out if I try to climb up your leg.> I 'said' in thoughtspeak.
His eyes flashed blue again, this time having no more signifigance than him simply reaching a hand down to pick me up. "I'm guessing you want me to take you to the factory I told you about, right?" he asked me.
<Sure thing. You should tell me what to expect on the way. First and foremost, what the thing I'm looking for looks like. I'm guessing a sword, or maybe a piece of armor. Maybe a necklace that shoots pizza for all I know. It's always something you don't think of right off the top of your head though. Anyway, If I know what the thing I'm searching for looks like, I can give you an exact location, which should help you all the much more.>
I wriggled around in his hand, climbing up his arm to settle into the folds of cloth near his hood. I couldn't judge myself, but it felt like I was hidden from sight.
<You said it was a factory?> I asked, as he moved out of the alleyway and started off down the street. I noticed as he tucked a familiar blue cube into his backpack. I wish I had been able to pick something a bit smaller for my 'token', having something like a cube definitely wasn't the most economy sized thing I could have gone with.
<Are there just going to be workers milling around? Seems kinda a weird of a place to be keeping a supposed artifact of The Overlord...although having said that, that sounds exactly like something the princesses would do. Hide stuff in places no one would expect, I mean.>
“That may have been the idea.” Don shrugged. “I’m not sure if it was the princesses who put it in this factory in the first place though. It’s possible some greedy ass hole found the thing and decided to use it for his own purposes.” We turned a street corner, a large(to my eyes, seemingly gigantic) chain link fence coming into view.
“In either case you should be alright. If you’ve met an Overlord before, most likely you know what minions look like. If there are any inside, they will be red. Either find them or find the nest, which will probably seem rather out of place in a factory. I’m not sure what it looks like myself, but they tend to be designed based on the minions they spawn. So basically, look for a giant rock that’s on fire.”
Well that was interesting. So the basic idea was that whoever owned this place was taking advantage of a...hive of minions, or something. I skittered across the lawn, wiggling through a crack in the wall. The interior was full of dust, and what I assume had once been some sort of insulation. It appears I wasn't the first rat to take the scenic route through these walls. If the droppings were anything to go on.
All around me, the walls reverberated with clanking echoes of machinery. Finding myself a rusty hole in a vent, I managed to get a highway around the building. I actually managed to keep a bearing on my location. Right, left, up, left, straight, straight, right, straight, left, down, right. Twilights freaking crystal labyrinth actually came in handy. Can't find anything in there even if it was an exit in a room with one door, but it actually trained me to find my way around a normal place. Thank god for small things, I guess.
I passed another vent opening, and was blasted with a ball of hot air. Looking through it, I was privy to a sad sight. It was a large room, easily three times the size of my highschool gym. Inhabiting it was a a wave of little red minions, each wearing a solid metal collar with a sinisterly glowing gem affixed to the back of the spine.
There were three gryphons keeping watch, each holding a stick with an amethyst attached to the tip. One of them pointed theirs at a minion who apparently hadn't been working as fast as they wanted. The minion shrieked in pain, clutching at his throat until the gryphon pointed the stick thing at the ceiling again. There was a fair ammount of grumbling, before all of them got back to work. There was noticably fewer dragging their feet.
I squeezed my way out of the vent, skittering my way across the floor and making my way towards a minion as far away from the three gryphons as I could find. I poked his uncovered foot, and got a disgusted look of disdain. He lifted his foot and made to stomp on me before I concentrated a private thought speak at him.
<Hail The Overlord>
His face froze in surprise, and lowing his foot as his eyes darted back and forth from me to the closest gryphon.
"Overlord?" He whispered, crouching down out of the sight of the guards.
<He is in the area, and wishes to reacquire his faithful minions. If you know where the nest is, inform me now. You belong to the Overlord, and it is your duty to perform in his glory.>
"Yes, yes. All hail the the Overlord-"
"All hail the Overlord." Chorused all minions within earshot.
"Shut up you little shits! Get back to work!" a gryphon shouted, waving his stick around much to the pain of those its focus landed on.
<Silence you fool! Do you wish to dishoner the Overlord with your stupidity? Just tell me where the nest is, and be quick about it! I must report to the Overlord!> I shouted into his head as forcfully as I could. If the minions the Overlady had were any indication, the best way to deal with one was to act like an asshole and...evil...y.
"Apologies rodent, I feel the nest over there." He pointed at a wall, towards the center of the compound. "But I have not seen it in many cycles. I know not where it lay exactly."
<Your words will please the Overlord. Warn the others. Your freedom is nigh.>
And with that, I scrambled off, back to my floor height grate. I made my way back outside, and met back up with Don.
<Allright, take this as a proximation of the building,> I started, drawing a large rectangle on the ground, <keeping in mind its parallel to the building itself. Here, along the side thats closest to us, is a large room where a shitton of minions are being used as day labor. They all have magic collars on, which shock the crap out of them whenever the guards feel like it. The one minion I talked to claimed the Nest was in the center of the building. That being said, he was only sure on the direction, and hadn't actually seen it in 'cycles'. Also, whats with gryphons, are they like your worlds version of slavers?>
“Not that I know of,” Don muttered, extending an arm so that I could climb up onto his shoulder. “I do have one in my service however and she’s rather… violent. I could see gryphons becoming slavers.” Don got up and began walking in a seemingly random direction, “Now that I know where the minions are, it shouldn’t be hard to find the nest. The problem still lies in me getting to them and the nest without being spotted.”
~-------------------------------------------------~
It was a risky plan. That being said, it was a pretty smart one. I would sneak in, and morph something large to raise hell as best I could. Hopefully this would draw as much attention as possible, leading as many guards as I could away from the minions and 'nest'.
I crawled through the vents, making my way to the far side of the factory. Looking through each grate I passed, I was surprised with what I saw. I had somehow managed to head straight for the seediest area right off the back, and the rest of the factory was...painfully normal looking. It was some form of bread making operation, scads of ponies, gryphons and minotaurs happily kneading dough only a few hundred feet away from forced slavery. I don't think even half of them knew. For all intents and purposes, the place looked normal. A shame I'd have to terrorize them, then.
I slinked out of the vents, landing stealthily out of sight behind an oven.
"I'm telling you Buttercup, I heard the something screaming the other day-" I heard coming from the front, a keening female voice.
"Right, and the factory is owned by the gryphon mafia, I've heard all of these before Blossom. It's just rumors, you know that right?"
(if you don't want a PPG reference, just tell me and I'll change the names)
"C'mon, I'm not lying, I heard something I swear!" Blossom claimed, drowning out her friends voice.
I didn't want to keep Don waiting while I eavesdropped on a couple of gossipy breadmakers (a wonderful use of my time, I know), so I demorphed, trying to choose between two of my morphs for what I could best use to terrorize a bunch of helpless workers.
Contorted uncomfortably behind the oven, my legs tucked up close to my chest so that I actually fit behind the oven. It was about to become even more cramped. I started morphing, my bones squelching as they grew and stretched.
"Did you hear that?" I heard Blossom ask, before getting shot down by her friend.
"No Buttercup, I'm not playing your game. I'm here to work, and get paid so I can feed my daughter. If you wanna trade scary stories, that can wait till a girls night, allright?"
"I'm not joking, don't you hear that? that cracking sound?"
My body took that exact moment to let out a horrendous crackling sound, as wings grew from my back and formed the bones required to move them.
"I...I'm not in the mood for your tricks, Blossom. Cut it out." Buttercup sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than her friend. I decided to start the panic a little bit early, by sending a bit of thoughtspeech her way. If it worked like in the books, then it should work regardless of if the morph could form human speech, as long as the form itself was morphed.
<You knew.> I growled in my head, mentally holding my chuckles under wraps as I heard every bit of movement on the other side grind to a halt. For a room that had to my best knowledge over a hundred people milling about, pretty impressive.
"H...hello?" Blossoms voice came plaintively.
<You knew.> I growled again, my growing frame slowing pushing the massive oven away from the wall, the metal and concrete cracking and breaking with roaring creaks.
<You knew my children suffered, and you did nothing. You listened to their cries of pain and torment and ignored them.>
The oven finally was shoved away from the wall, revealing my finished morph to the stunned workplace.
<For YEARS, you have tortured my offspring. And for WHAT? > I tried to put as much anger into my 'voice' as I could, <FOR NOTHING MORE THAN TO HEAT OVENS FOR YOUR CHUD CHEWING UNGRATEFUL MOUTHS!!! AND FOR THE TORTURE YOU HAVE PUT MY CHILDREN THOUGH, I WILL VISIT UPON THEE RETRIBUTION A THOUSANDFOLD!!!>
I reared back up on my hind legs, letting out the best roar I could through Onyx's mouth.
I will admit, I managed to scare even myself.
I flared my wings out and let out another ground shaking roar, watching as the assorted workers milled and panicked. A noticable few of them stood their ground, glaring at me defiantly. A couple earth ponies, a pegasus, seven minotaurs and twelve gryphons. All being decidedly non threatened by my performance, and most of them pulling clubs and knives from hidden compartments in the floor.
"You got a problem dragon, we'd be glad to oblige you. Put all yo' worries to rest," a gryphon to my left rasped, twirling a knife in it's claws.
"We don't have any dragonlets working for us, so you must be talking about our other guests. Sorry to say," the pegasus growled, slowly working his way forward, "the family would be remiss to allow our special guests to leave, especially when theres still so much left for them to do... You'd be amazed what all they're useful for, beyond heating ovens for our...chud...chewing... mouths." he trailed off, slowly dragging his hoof mounted blade across the floor as he stalked ever closer.
Well. It seems I wore out my welcome. Time to beat tracks like a warner brothers character.
"Meep meep!" I let out, quickly turning and rushing out of the room through a door behind me and to my left. It seems I had quite the following, as I heard all the remaining inhabitants in the room behind me surging after with cries of death on their lips.
Quite a few of them threw their weapons after me, a club thwacking me in the head. A knife managed to somehow cut through the joint in my left wing, leaving it flopping limp and useless in my mad dash. I tackled my way through a door in front of me, introducing me to a large room filled with, wait for it...
Yet more assholes, each touting a club, sword or knife.
"Any of you hear about that new vending machine they're putting in the break room?" I asked, smiling and carefully making my way to the right, where an ungaurded door lay. "Poppy seeds, sapphires and even weasel meat, sounds like a treat, don't it?"
"Get her!" came the first cry as I closed the door behind me.
"HUBLEEEAAAAGH," I stated, vomiting fire along the creases of the door, effectively welding it shut.
I turned around, and was greeted by the sight of Don and seemingly a million little red minions.
"Oh...hi. Rather hostile employee disertation, wouldn't you say?"
“Glad you are here. We have the nest and the minions, but now comes the escape. There’s a sewer line running underneath this place.” Don rose off of the ground on a wave of shadows and let loose a powerful blast of fire straight into the ground below him. The result was the beginnings of a wide tunnel. “We just need to reach it."
"Got it," I said, making my way to the hole. I quickly tore at the sides of the hole, widening it past its original width. Once it was about twice as big, I climbed back up and made my way to what I had to assume was the 'nest'. A big chunk of flaming rock. Like, it literally had gouts of fire coming off of it. "Move it small fry, I can carry it faster than you," I jibed, watching as each of the 'small fry' each took offense to my comment, sneering and hissing at me.
“You heard him.” Don barked at the assorted minions. “Let him carry it out. All of you should get down the tunnel immediately.” The minions scampered off, dropping the nest at my feet and leaping down the hole, All of them acting like little children. Some wer doing somersaults, handstands, and flips, the entire shebang. The door chose this moment to let out a worrying creak, the metal stretching and warping under the forces being applied to the other side of it.
“Come on Wade. We need to move!”
I concur. Moving with haste at this point in time would be rather smart. I hoisted the nest onto my back, nearly staggering at the surprising weight of the thing. I dropped down into the hole after Don, taking a moment to let a gout of fire roar its way against the ceiling above the hole. I was rewarded with the eventual groaning of the weakened ceiling, until it collapsed and filled the hole behind us.
I readjusted the nest, and turned back to Don. "Lets see them do some dirty work for themselves for once, huh? If they want this so badly, they can very well dig for it."
Don nodded with a smile before waving his hand over his minions, the gesture immediately grabbing their attentions before he pointed down the sewer tunnel. Once they were grouped up and marching ahead, Don and I trooped after them.
~----------------------------------------------------~
It took a decent amount of walking but we managed to finally find the exit to the tunnel.
Don turned to me as I set down the nest, breathing a long whuff as my lungs tried to kill me from the inside. “You’ve done me a great service my friend. Should you need some help in your own world, I’ll be glad to assist you.” Coolio, I'd welcome this guys help any time, he was tight. Wasn't a complete ass the entire time, either.
"Have to say, I'm glad I finally found another guy who's actually normal. It'll be nice to have someone new I can rely on. Do you have a token yet?"
It was at this exact moment the universe did what it did best, by slinging a freaking KNIFE at my face as hard as it could through a portal out of the void. I tried to dodge out of the way as best I could, but the damn thing still clipped me in the chin. Broke through all the scales there, too. Some times I think that the universe is trying to kill me.
Shaking my head free of the massive jump in adrenalin I was riding, I slogged my way over to the rock the knife had embedded itself in. I managed to wrest it loose, and I turned back to Don. I then immediately jumped in the air, the visage of a certain stripey one causing me such panic I cowered behind Don.
"OH GOD PLEASE DON'T RAPE ME!"
I knew, unconsciously, that this wasn't the same individual that had been stalking me in...that world. My conscious mind however, didn't give a shit, keeping me curled into a scaly ball of dragoness, barely fitting behind the Overlord, making an utter fool of myself.
Don tried to placate me as he tried to ignore my debilitating position. “Wade, relax. These are a couple ponies who serve me. Well, one’s a zebra but close enough.”
I stared long and hard at Zecora, who was looking at me like I had grown a second head. Or maybe she just wasn't used to things fours times her size cowering away from her.
"I...sorry...I've just had...a really bad experience with an anthro version of her from a world where everyone is in heat, all the time. Even the males. That being said, watch out for a token that looks like a golden banana, and be wary of any Displaced trying to summon you that sounds like a stereotypical surfer guy. Trust me, you don't want to be in this guys world, he basically has Discords powers. Then theres the matter of-NYEAGH," I yelped, seeing as Zecora took a step forward. "Stop that, please. I know you aren't her...but..." I trailed off, not knowing what to say that wouldn't insult her past what I had already said.
Don sneered, grimacing at the thoughts I had just put in his head.“Okay, ya. I can see where you are coming from there. Let’s just say being a stallion with no pheromone tolerance sucks.” Thats...Oh, I guess he had some sort of transformation abilities too. Seemingly better than the Overlady, if it was actually a form change as opposed to whatever it was that she had done.
Don turned to Zecora, addressing her, “Go open a portal and get the nest where it needs to go. Just…go around Wade.” She nodded before walking around us, giving me a wide berth. I breathed a sigh of relief once she was out of sight.
"Can you...apologize to her once I'm gone? Cause I don't think I can honestly speak towards her without squeaking in fear." I leaned in close, and whispered, "I know she's probably evil, given your title, but if she's not a raging bitch I'd still like her to know that I am actually sorry for my behavior," I leaned back, speaking once more at a normal level. "It isn't her fault another version of her left a bad impression on me. But enough about her, please do introduce me to your friends,"
I motioned to the almost identical ponies that had walked up with Zecora. They both wore a striped blue and white vest ontop of a white shirt,topped with a bowtie. Atop both of their heads, they each some sort of straw hat tilted jauntily. Their hair and tails looked like...cinnamon toothpaste. Sorta. I didn't bother trying to see what their butt marks looked like.
“Oh, those two are Flim and Flam." As in...Flimflam. Huh. These lot sure wore their nature on their...names. Hmmm. "They make machines which is kind of rare at least in this Equestria. They also are the ones who made sure I didn’t completely die when the first, what did you call them? Displaced, ya that’s it, when the first Displaced I encountered showed up and tried to kill me.”
I leaned in close again, lowering my voice to a whisper once more. "Lemme guess, the asshat found out you weren't actually evil, and took offense to the fact that you didn't follow his ideals," I returned to my normal volume, and directed my gaze once more towards Flim and....-guh, why do these names have to be so stupid? Maybe I should take that up with Twilight-...Flam. "But you obviously kicked his ass and sent him packing, I mean, you are the one standing here, letting the world know you're an unbeatable badass, right?"
He paused, his eyes flashing blue once more. He took a few seconds, obviously trying to figure out what to say. “More like he threatened to tell the princesses on me, which in my current state would have most likely gotten me killed or made into a statue. I told him to leave or I would have to kill him. He chose to fight me and the place we were in fell apart on my leg.” He shifted his weight onto his right leg, his metal greave creaking somewhat as he did. “After that I tried to grab his shapeshifting device, which was some kind of weird watch, before a flash of energy caused me to end up in this city. I can only assume Jason got sent back home.”
He quickly added. “Also, there’s a fair warning for you. If you find a token that looks like a soda can with green circuit lines on it, don’t touch it.” He then muttered. “Seeks to understand all forms of life my ass."
Soda can? Allright then. Soda can that has green circuit thingies on it, avoid at all costs. That Displaced is apparently an asshole that'll do his damnedest to screw you over, even if you aren't evil. Got it. Wait... Shapeshifting device...that looks like a watch...
"Did his watch have...what looked like an hourglass insignia on it?" I asked, flinching as a flash of rage covered his face for a split second.
"Why...yes. I would have to say it did," he eventually responded, once he had composed himself.
I stared at Don for a couple seconds, before voicing my opinion. "Great. Theres a Ben Ten Displaced out there, who's apparently an utter ponce. Wonderful. As if our life wasn't hard enough. Why not make it so everyone has Discord's powers?" I asked the multiverse, directing my gaze to the sky and flinging my...claws to the side, "Maybe make it so everyone is just a copy of Celestia's ass while you're at it. That at least would piss me off slightly less!"
Don let out a slight guffaw, “So have everyone be literally a horse’s ass? Guess it can’t get much worse than Celestia’s pasty white behind. Well it looks like we’re just about done here. Best you leave before they figure out how we escaped. Don’t hesitate to call me up though if you need it.”
"I...uh...don't really control when I return," I explained. I started to morph back, stopping once I hit my full height. "I just sorta rubber band back whenever the-" The multiverse once again flipped me the bird, flipping the world so I fell sideways through the ground.
I found myself sitting in the same chair I had left at the beginning of the day, Twilight nowhere to be seen. Oh thank god, now I could just relax. I raised the knife that I had to assume was Don's token to better inspect it, before letting it drop to the ground beside the chair. I undid the stun baton from my belt loop as well, lying it next to the knife. I let myself indulge in a creaking stretch, before settling back down into the chair.
"What an extremely pleasant individual," I said to the darkened room, letting myself slowly drift off to a comfortable rest.