“Are you all ready?” Jason asked as he tightened his grip on Laevateinn. The sword hummed in his hands, the magic that flowed through it leaking into them. The gathered changelings, at least fifteen of them, nodded, each one holding some type of weapon in their magic. “Good.” He tapped the device on his left wrist, letting music fill the air.
The changelings took that as their cue to strike, all of them moving at once, swinging their weapons at the lone human. He just smirked as their weapons passed through him, his image flickering for a moment before vanishing.
“Where did he go?” one asked, looking around. The music was no help, as it didn’t seem to come from any particular direction, but from everywhere at once.
“Just keep your eyes open and your minds alert,” one of the veteran gatherers said, looking around. Before any of them could move, a glyph appeared at their feet and immediately exploded with enough force to knock them all of off their hooves.
“Come on guys, focus here,” Jason said, looking at them. He gripped his sword tightly, waiting for one of them to come at him.
“Ha! Gotcha!” a drone shouted as it lunged at Jason from behind, brandishing a large war hammer. “Oh crap,” it said as he phased through him. It’s eyes widened as something grabbed its tail, stopping his fall. It looked up, seeing a smirking Jason holding it by its tail. “Oh uh... hey boss.”
“Nice try but no dice!” Jason spun around a few times and let the drone go, slamming it into a few other drones. “I mean it guys, that all you got?”
The drones huddled up, staring at each other quietly as they debated what to do.
“Well?” he asked crossing his arms. He was so focused on the group that he hadn’t noticed a drone sneaking up behind him until it spat its goo at his feet. “Gah!” he shouted, realizing his mistake.
“Get him!” a drone shouted as they all got to their hooves, charging at the trapped human. They all collided with him, knocking him to the floor. Before he could really react, fifteen weapons were pointed at his face.
“Alright, you got me,” he said with a smile. The drones all shared a smirk, moving back to let him sit up.”Thats what? 10-4?” he asked, rubbing his neck.
“Yup! We’re catching up boss,” one of them said with a smirk.
“We’ll see about that-” he started, only to be cut off by a scream.
“PUPA!!!!” Chrysalis shouted with a force loud enough to make all the drones cringe. Very rarely was their mother ever this angry.
“You guys just relax, I’ll go see whats up with her,” Jason said, getting to his feet. He slipped Laevateinn back into his cube on his way out of the sparring room. It didn’t take long to find his fianceé, who looked extremely pissed, currently confronting Pupa.
“I really don’t really see why you're angry, you're overreacting mi’lady.” Pupa said, shaking her head as Chrysalis looked at her with furious eyes.
“Overreacting?! My body is changing you idiot! I don’t think I’m over reacting!” Chrysalis hissed, gesturing to herself. Now that it had been pointed out, Jason could tell she was changing. The holes in her legs had started to close up, already having shrunk to half their previous diameter. Her wings looked longer and less tattered, beginning to take on the appearance of butterfly wings. Lastly, while still sharp, her horn was starting to straighten.
“It’s just a side effect of you becoming empress, I assure you, it’s nothing to worry about,” Pupa said, putting her hooves up. “Your body is just changing to look the part.”
“You knew about this!?” Chrysalis demanded, her eye twitching. “And you didn’t think to warn me?!”
“I didn’t think you’d overreact,” Pupa said, shrinking a little under Chrysalis’ hard stare.
“Just relax, ok?” Jason said, putting his arms around Chrysalis’ neck. “She made a mistake, no need to crucify her. You remember that breathing exercise that Twilight taught you?” She nodded. “Good, just try that, ok?”
Chrysalis took in a deep breath, bringing a hoof to her chest. She let it out slowly, extending her hoof out as she did so. She repeated this a few times until her anger was all bled out.
“Feeling better?” Jason asked, kissing her cheek.
“Yes... luckily for Pupa I am,” she said, giving the queen a slight glare.
“Uh... are we interrupting something?” Rainbow’s voice cut in. She was standing at the throne room’s doorway, a very sour looking Gilda standing next to her.
“Nah, just making sure Chrissy didn’t disembowel Pupa,” Jason said, watching as Pupa slinked out of the room. “So, ‘sup Dash?” Jason asked, taking a seat on his throne. Chrysalis grumbled, taking a seat on hers.
“Gilda just wanted to say something,” Dash said, nudging Gilda gently.
“Thanks...” Gilda mumbled, looking away.
“What was that?” Jason asked, raising his eyebrow.
“I said uh... thanks for um... helping Dash... they messed her up real bad,” Gilda said, giving the mare a nuzzle. “You’re a uh... cool guy.”
“Like I was gonna leave Dash high and dry. She saved my life after all,” Jason said with a chuckle. “So how’s Ponyville treating you?”
“Eh, it’s ok,” Gilda said with a shrug. “Its just, there ain’t a lot for me to eat around here, just a bunch of hay. Every place we go, those dweeby waiters just give me this look then offer me fish. I’m so sick of fish.” Dash shook her head, rolling her eyes.
“Tell me about it... well, I should still have some of that jerky left over...” Jason said, digging into his hypercube. He frowned when he pulled out an empty bag out. “Well... fuck. Ok how about this, I’ll talk to Twilight about getting us some meat.”
“Really? You’d do that?” Gilda asked with a blink.
“Well we both need meat, it’s not really that big of a deal,” Jason said, tossing the bag back into the cube. “Plus, I’m royalty, not hard to call in a favor or two.”
A drone trotted into the room. “I don’t mean to interrupt but we have received a message.”
“Speak, child,” Chrysalis said, giving the drone a smile.
“Jason has been summoned to Canterlot by order of Princess Luna, she requests that he come as soon as possible and to come alone,” the drone recited, giving a bow.
“Huh, must be important,” Jason said getting off his throne. “Nice seeing you two but looks like I have to get going.”
“It’s ok Jay, we’ll talk later,” Dash said, dismissing his apology. “Nice seeing you guys!” She and Gilda took to the air, racing out of the castle.
“”Do be safe love, I don’t know if I could live without you,” Chrysalis said, blowing him a kiss.
“Heh, just try not to kill Pupa ok? She tries, alright?” he asked, looking at her rather expectantly.
“Ugh fine, I promise I won’t bring death upon her head, happy?” Chrysalis asked, crossing her arms with a pout.
“Yes, very much so,” Jason said with a smirk, blowing her a return kiss before making his way out of the castle. For some reason, he had a feeling something big was going to happen.
”So did Luna tell you why she wanted us?” Jason asked as he and Twilight walked through the corridors.
“She didn’t really. Her letter was rather vague...” she started before her eyes widened and she pulled Jason along quickly.
“Woah Twi, what’s the rush?” he asked, breaking out of her magical grip. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost or some kinda robot.”
“Him,” she said in a low voice, pointing at a guard. Said guard was an orange pegasus who glanced at them every now and then. “He’s stalking me!”
“Isn’t he one of Cadance’s guards?” Jason asked, looking at her like she was crazy.
“That doesn’t mean anything!” she snapped. “He still follows me around...” she shuddered, shaking her head as they got out of sight.
Flash watched them go, shaking his head. “She’s onto me, Clover.”
A second later a translucent Clover The Clever walked out of the wall. “Well maybe if you stopped being a stalker and asked her out this wouldn’t be a problem. It doesn’t change the fact you have to get them together if you want to leap, Star Swirl.”
“Don’t worry I got this,” he said, holding his hoof up, determination in his eyes. Behind him, two older guards shook their heads.
“Flash is talking to himself again.” one said with a sigh.
“Who is he talking to this time?” the other asked.
“I think Clover The Clever,” the first said.
“Man that guy needs help.” the other said shaking his head, the two watching as Flash kept up his conversation with ‘Clover’, going on about leaps and time travel.
“Thank you all for coming on such short notice.” Celestia said, taking her seat at the table. There were five seats, one for each of them. Each seat had the owner’s cutie mark on the seat back. Even Jason’s had his cutie mark, the one constant between all of his pony forms. His was the Valknut, a symbol formed from three interlocking triangles and whose meaning had long since been lost to time.
“It’s alright auntie, I was already planning on visiting Canterlot anyway,” Cadance said, giving a smile. “So, why did you need us all?” she asked, shifting in her seat and getting comfortable.
“Yes, my dear sister, I didn’t think you would leave the search for the knights already,” Celestia said, giving Luna a look of concern, as she had been silent up till now.
“I... We...” Luna stammered, shaking her head. “We recently helped young Sweetie Belle overcome her jealousy toward her sister Rarity. Tis when we felt it in our body.” Luna slipped into her old speech patterns. “We felt it in mine own body, the same festering darkness that gave birth to the Nightmare.”
“But how?” Twilight asked, sitting up. “The Elements should have purged all of it from you.”
“We know not young Sparkle, but its presence scares us deeply,” Luna said, her ears drooping a little.
“I uh... may be able to help with that,” Jason said rather hesitantly.
“You have a solution?” Luna asked, looking into his eyes pleadingly.
“Well... one of my forms can enter and control the dreams of others...” he explained, putting his hands on the table.
“You have a form for everything,” Cadance teased, giggling a little.
“Please, show us this form,” Celestia said, giving him that famous motherly smile of hers.
“Ok, but first you all have to swear not to laugh,” Jason said, looking at them with a stern expression. They all nodded solemnly and Jason shook his head. “Omnitrix... Pesky Dust.” He shifted into a small blue humanoid creature, wearing a green dress. Its hair was a deeper shade of blue with three pink blush-like circles on its face.
They stared at him for a moment before all but Luna burst into raucous laughter.
“It’s not funny!” he shouted, in his high-pitched, feminine, trilling voice. He flew up into the air, glaring at them.
“No, it’s hilarious!” Cadance said, tears streaming down down her face from laughing so hard.
“You... are... so... cute!” Luna squealed, quickly pulling him into a tight hug, much to his surprise.
“Um... jealousy problem remember?” Jason asked, trying to get away from her. He did not want to become a freaking teddy bear.
“Oh yes... right,” Luna said, clearing her throat. “You may begin, Jason,” she said, steeling herself.
“Ok... let’s see how this works... um... magic go!” he said throwing out his hands. He pouted as nothing happened. “Ok umm.... go web go!” he shouted, doing a strange gesture with his hands. Nothing. “I call upon the thunder?” he asked, again nothing. “Gah!” he shouted, throwing his hand out. This time, a green mist left his hand, circling Luna before it put her to sleep. Jason’s eyes widened as images started to fill his head. “Yes! I can see her dreams!” he cheered. He blocked off the others, focusing solely on the dream.
***
Jason blinked, finding himself in a pristine version of the Castle Of The Two Sisters. “Um... Luna?” he asked, looking around.
“I’m here, Jason,” Luna said, trotting over to him. “I admit, I am quite impressed with your skills.” She gave him a small smile. “But we must make haste and purge this Nightmare from my mind and body once and for all.”
“You got it Luna, time for some brainwashing!” he cheered, giggling to himself. He glared at Luna, who looked at him like he had just said something really stupid. “Shuddup,” he stuck his tongue out at her before flittering out of the room.
They wandered for what felt like hours, fruitlessly checking each room they came across. “Ugh... this is going to take forever,” Jason whined, currently riding on Luna’s head.
“We must be thorough, I will not tolerate a single trace of that festering darkness in my mind,” Luna said, stopping for a moment. “Wait... do you hear that?” she asked, pausing. With a bit of concentration, Jason did indeed hear what Luna heard.
“Yeah... sounds like crying,” he said as Luna started to move toward the sound.
“This... is my old bedroom...” Luna said, stopping at the door. “Jason, we must be wary of whatever is behind this door.”
“You got it.”
“Good,” Luna said softly. Slowly she opened the door, shining a light on the source of the sobbing. Laying on the floor was a black alicorn who had the same cutie mark as Luna. “Nightmare Moon!” Luna shouted, causing the other mare to flinch. “You dare invade my mind again, fiend?!” she demanded.
“Y-you have to get out of here,” Nightmare started, whimpering. “S-she’ll find us.”
“Oh it’s much too late for that,” another mare’s voice cut in. Whirling around, Luna’s eyes widened at the sight of another Nightmare Moon, this one wearing light blue armor.
“H-how?” Luna asked, backing away from the Nightmare.
“Simple really, we’re two aspects of the same thing,” the Nightmare explained. “And now that you are here, I can be free from this prison and that weakling,” she said, spitting at her double and making the other mare whimper.
“I will not allow you to possess me again!” Luna shouted, taking a battle stance.
“I wasn’t talking about you,” she said with a smirk before she exploded into shadows, which dove into Jason. He screamed, the world melting around him.
***
“Jason!” Twilight shouted as she watched a black mass flow from Luna and into Jason. The darkness poured into the Omnitrix, causing it to build up energy.
“What do we do?” Cadance asked, fearing that they might hurt either royal. There was never an answer as the Omnitrix released the built up energy with a blast that knocked them all onto the floor.
“Yes!” the Nightmare shouted, laughing in triumph. “I am free!”
Jason groaned and sat up, having reverted to human form.”No way...” he said staring at the Nightmare. No longer was she a pony but now was a human woman. A very naked woman.
“Like what you see?” she asked, moving her hands over her body. Her eyes wear a deep purple while her hair was a paler purple. “Of course, I had to take a bit of your essence from that marvelous little device of yours. I just had to get one of my own,” she held up her left arm, showing off a purple Omnitrix.
“Nightmare Moon,” Luna said, getting to her hooves. “I will eradicate you from this world!”
“I am not Nightmare Moon, she is,” she pointed to the aforementioned alicorn who was cowering behind an overturned chair. “You will refer to me as Eclipse.” She summoned up some purple armor and held her hand out, conjuring up a wicked looking scythe. “And I shall bathe this world in everlasting night!” she screamed. Rushing forward, she raised her scythe to cleave through Jason. All the poor man could think of was that he now had a female clone... that was just wrong.