//------------------------------// // Aftermath // Story: And Then There Were 10...Er...67 // by Grey Ghost //------------------------------// Pain. That's what brought Jason back to the world of the living. His chest and face were aflame with pain. Pulling his thoughts together, he cast a small spell, giving himself a small dose of Cure. He sighed a little as the pain dropped to a more manageable level. He sat up, the blankets falling away from his bandaged chest. “Are you sure you should be moving around so soon?” Rarity asked. Jason blinked, turning to her. She was laying in a bed next to him with a ring around her horn, reading a book. “Rarity? Where are we?” he asked, giving himself another small dose of Cure. “We are in Ponyville General, we moved back into town while you were unconscious. Myself for magic over-exertion and you for several cracked ribs and that nasty wound on your face.” Jason reached up, running his fingers over his bandaged cheek. “Wheres Dash!?” he shouted, suddenly remembering what had happened to his friend. “She’s over there Jason,” Rarity said, pointing to the third bed in the room, which had its curtain closed. “Just... she’s not doing so well.” Jason ignored her, getting out of bed, slowly moving over to the curtain. He gingerly grasped it in his hand, pulling it open. He gasped, staring at Dash. She was currently asleep, hooked up to several machines, the stumps of her forelegs wrapped up tightly. “Rarity... her legs...” Jason managed to get out, starting to tear up. “I’m afraid even magic has its limits Jason.” Rarity said, sighing a little. “She got hurt trying to protect me...” Jason said, tears flowing down his face. Rarity put her book down and trotted over to Jason to give him the best hug she could. “She won’t blame you Jason... she never would have forgiven herself if she had done nothing to help you,” Rarity soothed, making him smile. “You’re a great pony Rarity,” Jason said, reaching down, starting to scratch her ear. “Oh good, you're awake.” Twilight interrupted, walking into the room. “Jason we need to talk,” she walked over to him, trying not to look at Dash. “What happened to you Jason?” she asked with a ferocity that startled him. “Y-you killed somepony!” “You don’t think I know that?” he asked, looking down. “I saw him hurt Dash and I lost it...” he pulled away from Rarity and sat down on his bed. “Twilight... I hit Applejack... i-it scares me that I lost control like that...” Twilight took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Jason... you're not in trouble, we’re just worried about...” she climbed onto the bed, draping a wing over his shoulder. “If it makes you feel any better... Celestia told me she would have had him executed for his crimes anyway...” “Yeah... that does help a little Twi...” he said with a sigh. “Rarity, did you guys find Slash?” “We did, but they hurt him badly, he’s in a coma, the doctors don’t know when he’ll wake up...” Rarity explained, shaking her head. “Is this a bad time?” Fluttershy asked, peeking into the room. “Of course not dear,” Rarity said, gesturing for her to enter. Jason barely noticed that Zed was with her, he was so enthralled in staring at Fluttershy. Gone was her normal pegasus self, replaced with bat like features. She had bat ears, wings, fangs, and even her cutie mark had changed from three butterflies to three bats. “Fluttershy what happened to you...?” Jason asked, unable to take his eyes off her. “They had a run in with Dr. Aloysius Animo, a disgraced earth pony scientist.” Twilight answered for her friend. “He was rather well respected until his unethical experiments were discovered, then he was kicked out of Canterlot University. He vanished shortly after that. Too bad he didn’t stay gone.” Twilight said bitterly. “So what brings you here Fluttershy?” Rarity asked, hoping to change the topic of conversation. “Oh well... Zed wanted to ask Jason if he would be her new owner... if that’s ok with him of course...” she said, trying to hide behind her mane. Jason got up, moving over to the two. When he got close enough the Omnitrix chirped, scanning Fluttershy. “Well... I wouldn’t say no,” Jason said as he knelt down, starting to scratch Zed’s ear. She growled happily, licking his cheek. “Wait... thats it!” Jason shouted, startling the gathered ponies. “What's it dear?” Rarity asked, raising her eyebrow. “Magitech!” he exclaimed, getting to his feet. “We can use it to give Dash new legs!” “Magi-what?” Twilight asked, blinking. “What in the hay are you talking about?” “Magitech!” Jason said, scooping Twilight up, ignoring her protests. “We take your magic and your arcane know-how and mix it with Grey Matter’s techno skills and we’ll make Dash the best set of replacement legs possible!” “That’s actually a really good idea...” Twilight said, putting her hoof to her muzzle. “Let’s get started right away!” Jason shouted as he rushed out of the room, ignoring Twilight’s demands to put her down. “Are you sure about this?” Celestia asked, watching Luna with a frown. “It has to be done.” Luna said, sliding the last piece of her armor in place. “One of us has to bring those fiends to justice.” She levitated her warhammer over, clicking it into its slot in her armor. “That shall be my task. Your task is to rebuild.” “I don’t like the idea of you going off alone.” “I will not be alone Tia, I will have the best of our guard with us,” Luna said, shaking her head. “The information Blueblood provided will be invaluable... what are you going to do with her?” “I don’t know Lulu... she’s the only reason the rebellion got as far as it did but she seems genuinely remorseful. I have no idea what I’ll do with her, for now she will stay in the dungeon with the rest.” “I leave this decision to you, sister,” Luna said, giving Celestia a nuzzle. “I’m off to meet with Shining Armor. Cadance promised to send aid.” “Of course sister... be careful,” Celestia called as Luna walked out of the room. Celestia looked toward the picture of herself and Blueblood that hung on the wall. “Oh Blueblood, what am I going to do with you...?” “How is Gilda doing?” Grey Matter asked as he hammered out the metal. Taking Dash’s tastes into account, he had decided to go with griffon-like talons. With Twilight’s help, Dash’s natural magic would flow through them like the pegasus’s original limbs. “From what I heard she was stable. Thankfully she made it to us in time.” Twilight said, working on the crystals that would power the legs. “Jason... we’ve been working on this all day... maybe we should take a break...” Grey Matter sighed, hopped off the table and reverted to human form. “Yeah, you’re right Twi... lets go take a break...” he said letting out a yawn. As he stepped out of the room the world seemed to melt away and he found himself falling backwards. “Oh come on,” Jason groaned, spitting some dirt out onto the ground . “I really don’t need this...” He got to his feet, rubbing his head. He hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep recently, with dark rings under his eyes, which had a bit of an unfocused look to them. “Well... hello there. My name is Don. Who are you?” “I’m Jason,” he said, sitting up, looking at the speaker. Before him stood another human, a male, wearing a rather nice looking cloak. “Can you send me back? I was working on something important.” “Working on something? You get pulled from wherever you are from to here and your first reaction is that? From what I recall humans don’t have magic and stuff like that.” “Yeah you’d think that...” he said, shrugging. “I’m not exactly a normal human anymore.” “Judging by how he has yet to react to Zecora, he might have come from a place where that is common. Another Equestria, so to speak.” Don nodded in response and looked thoughtful. “We should probably get out of here before something detects all the magic we just let off.” “You want to discuss this elsewhere? I’m afraid if we stay here things might get... violent.” “Violent how?” “Let’s just say a lot of ponies would prefer I was dead. Their sanity tends to vary though. If it’s the cult then they’ll probably want to kill you too just because you look like me.” “Give me a second here...” Jason said, fiddling with a strange device on his arm. He popped up the dial, bringing his hand down on it. There was a bright green flash as he was replaced by a strange creature that looked like it was stitched together from other animals. “Discord!” Nightmare practically screamed in Don’s head as Jason took the form of the Frankenstein monster from the pet graveyard. “Nah, I’m Hodgepodge,” he said, speaking in a strange accent. “Discord’s back home.” “That doesn’t make your kind any less- wait, you can hear me?!” Don was just as surprised as Nightmare was. Just what can this thing do? “Of course!” he shouted, his voice changing, somehow wearing a bright red hat and jacket. Where did that come from? Don just shook it off rather than try to figure it out. A year of Pinkie shenanigans had done its work. “So, why did you shapeshift? I was just going to get Zecora to open a portal.” “‘Cause now I can do this!” he shouted, snapping his fingers, teleporting them to an old castle. “Uh... where are we?” “I dunno,” Hodgepodge said, shrugging his shoulders. “Some old castle thing, Lulu and Tia used to live here or whatever.” Don walked over to a window to find they were in the middle of a dense forest he knew all too well. The Everfree! Well, at least it’s far away from that... thing. He glanced toward the center of the forest, a shiver going up his spine, before turning back to Jason. “Alright. So you didn’t react to my friend here,” Don waved his hand toward Zecora. “Add to that the fact you know where this place was and that you look like a creature Nightmare knows of. Are you from another Equestria or something?” He nodded his head, crossing his arms over his chest. “This sounds similar to a theory one of the royal mages concocted before I was sealed on the moon. Something about how for every action you commit, a new universe is created in which a different action was done in that exact moment.” Don listened to Nightmare’s explanation intently. This went from “boring day making a failsafe” to “interesting magical nonsense” in no time at all. “Thats cute, but it’s wrong!” Hodgepodge shouted, his voice shaking the castle. “Oh? Is that so?” Nightmare sneered. It was obvious she did not like whatever this guy was. “Yup. Universes are created, maintained and destroyed by the admins,” he started, floating around the room boredly. “Faust herself created the Equestrian template,” That surprised Don but he didn’t let it show. How the hell is that possible? Unless there’s a different Faust then the one who fought the Overlord a few millennia ago. “Alright, so somehow I ended up pulling you from another Equestria. So why don’t you leave? You certainly seem to have the power and knowledge to do so.” “Trying to get rid of me eh?” he asked, floating over to Don and grabbing him around the shoulder. “Now if I did that, all of our readers would be disappointed. “Our what?” “Our readers,” he repeated, “See, out there beyond the fourth wall, our lives are stories, read on the internet by a bunch of dudes who watch a show about ponies,” he said, moving his hand in a broad gesture. ”It stills astounds me that LOHAV banned Displaced stories, talk about biting the hand that feeds you. That’s something I’d expect from Axl Rose,” Don just looked at him like he was speaking a different language. I guess I’ll just file that all with the Pinkie crap that was never explained. He put a hand to his temple. “Enough of this nonsense. You should just leave. You’re giving me a headache.” “I can’t leave yet, we haven’t finished the crossover!” Don groaned in response. “The sooner we accomplish whatever he wants the sooner he’ll leave.” Nightmare commented. Fine. Let’s get this over with. “So what do we have to do to finish... whatever the hell it is you want?” There was a loud beeping sound, followed by a red flash. When it cleared, Jason was human again. He was currently holding his head with a groan. “Did you hear me over your crazy watch alarm?” “Yeah... I hear ya..” Don stood there and waited for him to explain how he was going to get his ticket out of here but he said nothing, which only served to frustrate Don further. Is it so difficult to get rid of someone? “Look, I’ve got things to do, plans to wrought, and possible ponies to kill. You want to get home sooner rather than later?” “Wait, what was that about killing ponies?” So the man has a conscience. Good to know. “Remember the cult I mentioned earlier? They attack me, I end them. It’s what I’ve done with the last two attempts.” “No, theres more to it than that,” he said, moving closer. “Oh dear. It seems we might have a hero on our hooves.” Nightmare spoke. “Do you want to try corrupting him or just getting rid of him?” Preferably I just want him gone. He’s obviously rather set morally and will take longer than I have to twist to the dark side. If he figures things out though... Don gave Jason his “nice guy” grin as he approached. “Oh? And just what do you mean?” “I think I should go have a chat with this world’s princesses.” Don could feel Nightmare begin to shift the shadows behind Jason as he continued the good guy routine. Not until we’re sure that’s the only option. “I’m sure they’re rather busy. Besides, they trust me enough to deal with something like this.” “Yeah, I’m gonna go do that now,” he said, starting to walk away. Nightmare was practically growling with anticipation. “Now?” Don shut his eyes and pulled the hood on his cloak over his head, allowing his magic to flow and creating the glowing eye effect the Overlord was known for when he opened them again. “Now.” The shadows in the room sprang up, the ends of them forming swords and flying at Jason. He rolled out of the way, narrowing his eyes. “You really don’t want to do this Don.” Don chuckled darkly. “And what are my other options? Sealed away or death? No, I think I’ll take my chances with killing you.” Don drew a dagger in his left hand as one of the swords Nightmare created flew into his right. “Now, here are your options: Leave this world or I’ll kill you and incinerate what’s left.” “Let’s see you try,” he said, cracking his neck. “Omnitrix, NRG.” With another burst of light he was now encased in a hulking suit of armor, with three glowing eye slits. Hmm, interesting. Don grinned underneath the darkness of his hood. “So you’ve become a tin can? That’s threatening,” he said sarcastically. “Thats what you say now,” Jason rumbled, his voice now heavily accented. Unfortunately, his lack of peripheral vision lead to a hoof slamming him across the side of the head. “I will break your bones like plaster, should you try to harm my master,” Zecora rhymed as she bounded off of him, taking up her fighting pose. “I doubt that. This armor is harder than diamond. Only Taydenite can damage it and I doubt you have any of that.” “Enough talk!” Don let loose a gout of fire, melting the stone beneath Jason’s feet. His weight handled the rest as the ancient floor fell apart beneath him. Don walked over to the edge of the new hole with Zecora to see Jason on his back like a turtle. “You’re going to have to pick a form that’s more mobile than that if you want to kill me,” Don laughed. “You mean like this?” he asked, flying out of the armor. His form was pure energy, barely contained by the green suit it wore. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he thrust his hands forward, sending a beam of energy at the two of them. Zecora dodged to the side, and Don intended to do the same if not for the fact that half his body seemed to want to go in the opposite direction. The blast hit him dead on, slamming him back and into a wall. He heard the snap of metal as his dagger hit the ground at an off angle and broke. He picked up what remained of the hilt, glaring at it with anger before putting it in its sheath. What the hell was that Nightmare?! “I was trying to keep you from getting hit. You’re the one who went in the wrong direction.” Don grumbled and stood back up, the blast having scorched him a bit but his cloak took most of the blow. Twilight knows her stuff, I’ll give her that. “Alright, I’ll admit you’ve got some skill. Don’t think that you getting a hit means this will be easy.” “Fine then, don’t blame me if you can’t have kids later,” Jason shouted, firing another, stronger blast. Just let me handle this one! Don hissed in his mind as he waved his now empty right hand in front of him. The energy arced around behind him and was thrown back at Jason. He just absorbed it, a smirk on his face. “He’s obviously made of the energy.” Nightmare sneered. Shut up! In anger his arms coated themselves in flames with which he quickly engulfed Jason. “Why thank you, I hadn’t eaten all day,” Jason said with a grin, growing larger as he fed on the flames. “When you are done helping our enemy instead of harming him, perhaps we should try this my way?” Don grumbled but let her take control, taking a back seat to the outside world. He watched as she called forth a couple of shadow spears and threw each one at Jason. He fired another beam, dissipating most of them. “Come on, you can do better than that, can’t you?” Don figured that would piss Nightmare off, but she seemed oddly happy. She chuckled darkly through his body, giving his voice a creepy effect. The next thing he knew the ceiling collapsed on Jason, sending him back down to his armor. “See? That’s how you deal with someone like that,” she spoke aloud. Don just grumbled mentally, not wanting to give her the satisfaction. “I wouldn’t say you dealt with me exactly,” Jason said as he phased through the rubble, now in the form of a strange ghost-like creature. Alright, shapeshifting just isn’t fair. Nightmare muttered an agreement as they switched places once again. “You aren’t really taking this seriously, are you?” “Should I be?” “Well considering the fate you are threatening me with right now, yes. You should.” Don didn’t wait for a response before throwing a lightning bolt at him, hoping his intangibility would take a moment to activate. It went right through him, “Well, that was a strange feeling.” He looked at the windows, his eye taking on a sinister grin. “How about we make this place a little darker?” “Is he really suggesting giving me more shadows to use?” It did seem odd but Don just shrugged. “There’s always the basement I knocked you into twice already.” “Let’s use that,” he said, sinking into the floor. Don walked over to the previously-made hole. “Zecora, despite how good you are in physical combat, I don’t think that will help in this case. Inform Gnarl what is happening.” She nodded and ran off, leaving him to leap into the darkness below. Other than the light coming from the hole, it was practically pitch black. “I really can’t believe you let me come down here,” Jason called out. “I can’t believe you suggested it.” Nightmare spoke through Don. As she said this, shadows began to bend around Don, ready to deflect whatever attack may come. “Here in the darkness, I can use my true power,” he called, cackling. “Let’s do this!” Nightmare pulled a spear from the shadows surrounding her. “Let’s.” There was a sickening crack, followed by a series of meaty sounds. “Are you ready?” Wow, dramatic much? Nightmare said nothing though, continuing to scan the darkness around her. “Boo,” came his voice from right over Don’s shoulder. Nightmare reacted, lashing out with tendrils of shadow as she turned and swung her spear. He caught it, looking at Don. His body had changed significantly. His hands were now clawed, tentacles hung from his chest, he glared at him with his single eye, set into an upside down skull. He smirked before backhanding Don across the face. He just slapped a bitch technically. Unfortunately for him, Nightmare was less than amused. Her spear exploded with spikes in Jason’s hand, piercing his claws. She then proceeded to use the shadows around her to stab at him while she jumped back into the darkness. “Neat little trick you have there,” Jason said, melting into the shadows as well. For a minute nothing seemed to happen, the air thick with tension before Don finally had enough. Are you going to do something or are you just going to stand there and wait for him to attack? “A good defense is better than a great offense.” I beg to differ. Don retook control, the shadows dropping around his body was lit up by flames. “Come out, come out wherever you are!” “Gah!” Jason shrieked in pain, moving away from the light. “How ironic!” Don laughed. “The hero can’t stand being in the light!” Don pressed his advantage, changing to electricity and blasting holes in the ceiling to let in the sun. Jason quickly changed forms, now a large ugly green thing with a cage on his head. He slowly moved toward Don, the cage starting to open up, filling the air with an eerie creaking. Seeing as he was fine with whatever level light there was in the room, Don changed his attack target back to Jason before freezing when he caught sight of his face. He could feel Nightmare disconnect from his eyesight immediately as he covered his eyes as it felt like they were on fire. “Holy shit man! Why the hell would you even... That’s just...” He felt about ready to puke on the floor as he bent over on his hands and knees. Nightmare, please please tell me you can remove the memory of... that?! Don was suddenly grabbed and slammed into a wall. Jason had become a four armed red creature, using the upper two to pin his arms to the wall, while he proceeded to slam his lower fists into his stomach repeatedly. By the time he stopped Nightmare had wiped the memory of... whatever that was. Don couldn’t remember anyways. He was definitely not in good condition and with his arms pinned, that left me few options. Despite the blood he could taste on his tongue, he smirked at Jason. “You think... I can’t take a little beating?” “You are holding up like a champ,” he said, moving back before shoulder ramming Don through the wall. Alright... that hurt a bit. “I’m trying to cut off the signals your nerves are sending but this isn’t easy.” Nightmare said, though he could barely hear her through the ringing in his ears. “Had enough?” Jason asked, peering into the hole. Don barely managed to put his arms underneath himself so he could glare at Jason. “I’m not... letting you... seal me away. I’d rather die first!” “Really?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. Don was about to answer when suddenly a small dusting of rocks dropped on his head, causing him to look up. He could hear the sound of stone cracking just barely over his pain. That pain was only multiplied when it suddenly felt like his right leg had been crushed. “Damn it!” Jason shouted, moving to Don’s right. Don saw a few rocks fly into sight but otherwise couldn’t really tell what was happening. He just felt so tired... “Wake up damn it! You’ll die with your injuries if you fall asleep now!” With Nightmare’s declaration came boost of adrenaline, giving him the energy to put his left leg underneath himself, though his right seemed to ignore his commands. Fuck. What is wrong with me? “Hey. Don’t die,” Jason said, tossing one last rock in view. Why the hell is he throwing rocks? “Fuck...” Jason said shaking his head. He shifted into a large black pony-shaped insect and spat something onto Don’s leg. “That should keep you from bleeding out.” “Get away from me!” Don growled, trying to push himself away only to succeed in throwing himself onto his back. That’s when he finally got a real good look at his right leg, which essentially looked like a mass of Jason’s green gunk and blood. The combination did not smell pleasant. “This is your fault,” Jason said in a strange buzzing voice, looking at him with a pity that only disgusted him further. A low rumble began as tremors shook through the ground. “We should get out of here,” he said, with a frown. Don would have just cursed at him further but a chunk of stone landing a few feet away changed his mood just a little. “...Fine.” Jason grabbed Don with his magic then flew them both through a hole in the ceiling before the basement collapsed. They landed just outside the castle as the sounds of destruction ceased. “Well... I suppose I should take you to a hospital,” he said, looking at Don’s leg. “If he does that, we might as well be dead.” Don silently agreed with Nightmare while he considered his choice in actions. Jason began looking around, supposedly to find where civilization is, and Don used this to his advantage to grab the green medal attached to Jason’s chest. “Let go of that!” he shouted, his eyes wide. Unfortunately for him it was too late as Don grinned evilly. He let loose all the electricity he could in his current state, causing the medal to change to a yellow color. “You idiot!” he shouted as the medal built up energy. There was a loud explosion as the Omnitrix overloaded, tossing Jason back to his own universe, tumbling along the hospital floor and reverting to normal. “Jason!” Twilight shouted as she rushed over to him, “Are you alright! Y-you vanished an hour ago!” “Yeah... I’m ok...” Jason said, getting to his feet, “Come on Twilight, we have legs to build,” he said quietly, picking himself up off the floor and heading toward the exit, with a worried Twilight on his heels. Dash groaned as she opened her eyes, looking at around. She was immediately greeted by the tired, smiling faces of Jason and Twilight. “Hey Dash,” Jason said, waving at her. “How ya doing?” “M-my legs...” she whimpered, glancing down at the stumps of her legs, wiggling them pathetically. “Yeah, I know, thats why we made you these,” Jason said, holding out the now finished legs. “W-what?” Dash stuttered out, looking at them. “We made you new legs Dash, they’ll be so much better than your old ones...” Twilight said, giving a shaky smile. Dash smiled, laying back in her bed. “Thank you...” she muttered before letting the blissful embrace of sleep take her.