//------------------------------// // Evil Exposed // Story: And Then There Were 10...Er...67 // by Grey Ghost //------------------------------// “So you’re telling me that you killed that boar,” Twilight pointed at Saehrimnir, who was eating a salad, “cooked him, and... urp... ate him, and somehow he’s still alive?” “I can’t die, so I figure I can help provide others with what they need to survive,” Saehrimnir said with a snort. Next to him, Heidrun was enjoying her own meal of lettuce. “Actually,” Gilda spoke up, holding a piece of meat in her talons, her beak covered in BBQ sauce, “I killed, gutted, skinned, and cooked him.” Dash watched her mate eat with much less displeasure than Twilight did. “So... how does it taste?” “This is the best meat I’ve ever had,” Gilda replied before returning to stuffing her beak. Dash quickly stole a piece from Gilda’s plate, much to the griffon’s displeasure, and popped it into her mouth. “R-rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted, her eyes wide in horror. She lurched forward a bit, trying not to throw up. “Hey, this is good,” Dash said, swallowing it. She smirked at Twilight, licking her lips. “That was a living creature!” Twilight shrieked, a look of disgust on her muzzle. “Yeah and he’s right there, alive and well,” Dash countered, a smug look on her face. “This is quite delicious Gilda,” Chrysalis spoke up, levitating a piece into her mouth. “Hey Gilda,” Jason said, looking up from his plate. “What?” “You wanna job?” “What kinda job?” “Royal cook.” “Do I get to set my own hours?” “Yup.” “Deal.” “That settles that,” Jason smirked, finishing up the last of his meal. “I’ve been meaning to get a cook for a while.” He grabbed a toothpick and started to clean his teeth. “You just can’t hire someone like that!” Twilight scowled. “Hey, this is my castle, I can hire who I please,” Jason scoffed, crossing his arms. “It’s not my fault you don’t have the guts to actually hire staff.” “I can feed myself, thank you very much,” Twilight snorted, turning her head away from the meat eaters. “You’re just afraid of responsibility,” Jason teased. “So,” Chrysalis cut in, clearing her throat. “How is Nightmare Moon adapting?” “From what Fluttershy has told me, they were scared of each other for a while, but they’re getting along well now!” Twilight said, rather glad for the change in topic. Chrysalis opened her mouth to ask another question when a dark portal opened up in front of Jason. A skeletal arm reached out, a letter clutched in its bony fingers. “Oh hey, my grandma sent me a letter,” Jason said, taking it. Everyone else watched, transfixed, as the hand sank back into the darkness, the portal evaporating behind it. “What does it say?” Twilight asked, staring at the letter. “Let me read it...” Jason said, opening the letter and starting to do so. As he did so, his eyes widened at the last line, ‘Fenrir has been resurrected.’ He stared at it for a moment, barely registering the suddenly shaking castle. “Fuck...” he whispered, clutching the paper hard. “This is bad, this is bad!” Twilight muttered to herself as the group moved into Ponyville, the tremors having only gotten worse. “Twilight, will you relax?” Jason said, patting her head. “We need to keep a level head about this.” “Hey, um, guys...” Dash said, getting their attention. “Canterlot mountain is falling down.” “What!?” Jason spun around, his eyes wide. True to Dash’s word, large sections of Canterlot mountain had started to fall away, though luckily, the city was still intact. “What we need to-” There was a flash and Jason turned around to see that Twilight had teleported away. “Dammit Twilight!” Jason said with a hiss, watching Spike rush over. “Twilight!” Spike shouted, out of breath, “You... oh, um... I guess she already knew...” “Ok,” Jason said, turning to face Dash, “You go get the others.” He moved to Chrysalis, “Chrissy, get the drones and make sure the townspeople stay safe.” “What are you gonna do?” Dash asked, looking at Jason quizzically. “I’m going hero,” Jason said, starting to run off. After he was outside of town he decided to act, “Omnitrix, Way Big.” “We’d just finished repairing the castle too,” Luna said a sigh as she watched the staff evacuate. “Focus, sister,” Celestia scowled, bringing Luna’s attention back to the matter at hand. The two alicorns were hovering next to the mountain, trying to hold it up with their magic. “Hopefully Twilight comes soon, this is starting to get heavy.” There was a flash and Twilight popped into existence on Celestia’s balcony. “Celestia?” she asked, looking around. “Hail, young Twilight!” Luna called, gesturing for the younger alicorn to join them. Twilight took wing, fluttering over to them. “We would appreciate some help holding up the mountain.” “Oh, right,” Twilight said, lighting her horn and adding her magic to the spell, taking some of the weight from Luna and Celestia. “Good, now we just have to wait for Cadance,” Celestia said with a strained smile. As if to make her a liar, the ground shook again. A very large creature emerged from the broken mountain, its steps shaking the ground. “You just had to tempt fate, sister,” Luna said, shooting Celestia a glare. A loud howl grabbed their attention and they turned to the creature. It was massive, at least half as large as the mountain, and it resembled a wolf, or at least the corpse of one. It glared up at them, one eye glossed over with white film and the other an empty socket. It snarled, moving to snap at them when Way Big rushed in, knocking the creature away with a swift kick to the side. “Looks like I got here just in time,” Jason said, cracking his neck. He looked Fenrir over, a frown forming on his face. “Time to go ultimate.” Turning the Omnitrix, he grew in size as he became Ultimate Way Big. Fenrir got to his paws, growling at the massive alien. It rushed forward, dodging a punch from Jason, and clamped its jaws around his ankle. “Gah! Son of a bitch!” Jason hissed, stumbling backwards. He steadied himself before bringing his foot down on Fenrir’s head again and again and again until a loud crack was heard and part of Fenrir’s scalp, including his right ear, sloshed off his skull. The wolf released its grip, pulling back and shaking its head. “Oh, that’s just disgusting...” he said, gagging while trying to get the rotting flesh off his foot. “Pay attention Jason!” Celestia snapped, causing him look up. Fenrir had charged at him, snarling, unfazed by his injuries. Jason crossed his arms and fired a laser at the wolf, sending it tumbling away... right into the already weakened mountain, causing it to shake even more. “It would be nice if you didn’t do that!” Twilight snapped, the three alicorns already struggling to hold it up. “Sorry,” Jason said, this time keeping his eyes on his opponent. Fenrir lunged at him, only to be greeted with a punch in the face. Taking the chance, Jason threw several energy disks at the beast - one sliced off his other ear, another cut through his tail. The wolf just growled, ignoring the damage. “Oh come on,” Jason said, quickly ducking as Fenrir lunged again. He sailed over Jason’s head, only to kick his hind legs into the giant’s back, sending him sprawling to the ground. Fenrir didn’t let up, pouncing on him and snapping at his face. Jason howled in pain as the wolf's jaws dug into his neck, hot blood pouring down his back. He grabbed a large piece of the mountain and smashed it into the wolf’s head until it released its grip. He rolled over, grabbed the wolf, and held it in a headlock. “Sorry about this uncle but you know... zombie...” Jason grunted as the wolf thrashed, clamping its jaws into his forearm, shaking its head to maximize the damage. “Oh fuck off!” he shouted. Grabbing a large jagged chunk of rock from the rubble, he stabbed it into Fenrir’s stomach. With a quick motion, he disemboweled the beast, gagging a little as his rotting organs spilled out. Despite this, he refused to let go of Jason’s arm, only clamping his jaws down harder. “That did not go as intended...” Jason wheezed out, shaking his head. In a desperate move, he wrapped an arm around the wolf’s neck and pulled. There was resistance for a few moments before a wicked snap filled the air and Fenrir stopped moving, his jaws loosening. With a sigh of relief, Jason released his grip, the great beast falling away from him, its neck snapped. After a moment, a cloud of dark energy exploded from Fenrir, making Jason cover his eyes. “The hell?” he asked weakly as he reverted to his normal form. “You did well Corypheus,” a rumbling voice said, startling the injured Jotun. He turned toward Fenrir, noticing a large glowing ball had appeared inside of his empty eye socket. “You...” Jason panted, trying to gather enough strength to cast a cure spell. “Hel has not taken me back just yet, which allows us to talk for a moment,” Fenrir stated. “You fought well Corypheus, though you were fighting a mere shell. If you were truly facing me, ‘twould not have been so easy.” “Thanks... I guess...” Jason said, while casting a cure spell on himself. His wounds started to close and he sighed in relief as the pain died down. “Of course, you live up to our legacy well, even if the company you keep have no appreciation of battle,” Fenrir scoffed and Jason got the feeling he was rolling his eyes. “I’m glad I could live up to them,” Jason said giving a smile. “I have a task for you,” Fenrir said, to which Jason nodded. “Take my teeth, all of them,” he started, “Then you will travel to Midgard and collect the scales of my brother Jörmungandr. Finally, you shall travel to Nidavellir and have them forge you armor befitting someone of your stature.” “How in the hell do you expect me to do that?” Jason asked, looking at him like he was crazy. “I have no idea where the hell Bifrost even is!” “Heh,” Fenrir chuckled, “It’s closer than you think... farewell Corypheus, ‘til we meet again.” The light vanished from his eye socket, signaling his departure. “Hey Jay!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she landed next to him, “You ok?” she asked, a look of worry plastered on her muzzle. “Yeah, I’m good Dash,” he said. Getting to his feet, he cast another cure spell. “Though... I really need a nap.” “Faust damn you! You stupid hairless ape!” a stallion’s voice broke in. They both whirled around to see a furious looking Animo, a broken dagger in his magical grasp. “You did this?” Jason asked with a glare, moving closer to Animo. “You will not have me this day, cretin!” Animo snarled, pumping magic into the dagger to activate it. A bolt of lightning shot out behind him, a portal ripping open in the air to reveal the same man he had talked to before. His hood was down though, and his face of surprise nearly mirrored Jason’s. Don shook off his surprise before growling at Animo. “Didn’t I say I wasn’t revealing myself, you imbecile?!” “No plan survives contact with the enemy, but surely you know that,” Animo retorted, taking the chance to jump through the portal. “The hell are you doing here?” Jason asked, giving Don a glare. “You helped him?” he asked, his eyes flashing red. Don’s face scrunched up a bit in thought. “So there’s that dark side I heard so much about. And yes, I did help him. Quite a nice bit of work with that giant wolf if I do say so myself.” “You disrespected my Uncle’s remains,” he stated simply, his eyes now fully red. The wind started to pick up, frost building up around him. “Why?” “Because you are a threat,” Don stated flatly. “I won’t take the chance you allow your conscience to rule your judgement.” He waved his hand and the portal began to close. “I run for now, but the next time you see me it will be war.” Jason was quiet for a moment before letting out a scream of rage. He held out his arm, a colorful distortion forming in his hand. “Ultima,” he whispered, firing it into the portal just as it closed. He stared at the spot it used to be, a full on blizzard starting to form around him. “Jay!” Dash said, grabbing his shoulders, giving him a shake, “Calm the heck down!” “I’m... ok... I’m ok...” Jason said, taking a few breaths as the blizzard died down. “Next time I see that guy, I’m going to kill him.” “Please do try to refrain from murder,” Celestia said, as she and the other alicorns, including Cadance, landed next to them. “We’ve managed to stabilize the mountain thanks to Twilight’s exceptional skill with magic.” The lavender alicorn blushed a little. “Perhaps Hodgepodge could help?” “No,” Jason said, giving his Omnitrix a glare. “Its do or die time people. Omnitrix, Alien X.” “Ah, we were wondering when you’d join us,” Hodgepodge said with a smile, waving Jason over. He and Hughes were sitting at a table in a middle of a void, playing poker. “It’s about damn time,” Hughes said with a snort, laying his cards on the table. “I think you both know why I’m here,” Jason said, taking a seat. “Yes, you want to fix Canterlot mountain,” Hughes observed, leaning back in his chair. “I’m sold!” Hodgepodge cried, throwing his arms up into the air, causing pyrotechnics to explode behind him. “That was quick,” Jason said with a blink. “Well... maybe not fix the mountain as such... more... make it stand as it is,” Hodgepodge said, giving Jason a smile. “You're not gonna budge on that are you...?” “Nope.” “How about you?” Jason asked, looking at Hughes. “Please tell me you're not gonna screw over the ponies?” “Haven’t done anything for me lately.” “Ugh. Fine,” Jason sighed. “Hodgepodge... I second your motion...” “Yay!” “Um... is he alright?” Cadance asked, looking at Jason, in the form of a tall black humanoid creature with tiny white spots all over his body, giving him the appearance of the night sky. He hadn’t moved since he had transformed. “I’m not sure,” Twilight said, moving closer. “I haven’t seen this form before,” “Motion carried,” Jason suddenly spoke, raising his arms up. Strange waves of energy moved from his hands towards the damaged mountain. It glowed for a moment before returning to normal. “Motion carried,” he spoke again, this time using his powers to remove Fenrir’s teeth and place them in a nearby pile, then return his remains to his grave, re-sealing it with some rubble. After a moment he reverted to normal, looking very tired. “Jason,” Celestia started, only for him to cut her off with a raised hand. “Please, later, right now I just want to take a nap,” he said, shaking his head. “Alright, but after you wake up you are going to explain what happened and how,” Celestia said, the six of them making their way back to civilization.