"So that was basically it." Jason finished, poking at Dash to make sure that she was real. "And hopefully I'm not going insane."
"I don't think it would be surprising..." Makin mumbled, shaking his head. "This one told us a lot about the kinds of things you do, even if it was a bit vague. And as if your scars didn't tell us enough."
Jason shrugged. "If you weren't privy to the mental breakdown I had when I got here, I've just been along for the ride more than I care to admit." He chewed his lip. "So yeah, we fought griffins and other ponies and got our fair share of cuts and stuff. Dash is surely more coordinated than I am, and even with the programming from this body I don't entirely stack up to the way she flings knives around. But I healed up a lot of her scars, so don't look at me and think that I came out way worse. Only a little bit."
"Yeah, but why?" Ben asked. "Why fight any of these guys?"
"I dunno." Jason replied. "It's not some cliché reason like 'it was the right thing to do' or anything, because it didn't feel like that. I don't have trouble remembering what happened, but I do have trouble remembering the motives I had." Jason scrunched up his forehead. He'd never really thought too hard about what had happened before. There wasn't a lot of time to, and he didn't have a lot of remorse for the decisions he made so he didn't revisit them. There was a long list of watching soldiers die in his dreams, followed by an equally long list of things he could've done to fix it.
"Dash, how did I know the griffins would invade?" Jason let the question hang in the air. "I remember really knowing, but I don't remember a lot of reasoning behind it."
Dash laughed, punching him in the shoulder. "It doesn't matter, you were right!" Jason's face didn't change, and Dash sighed internally at the realization that he'd begun to question everything he'd ever done in an effort to check for tampering.
"Do you think she- could she do that?" Jason whispered to her worriedly, chewing on his lip some more. If she could, then the questions coming to mind would get their answers. But as far as he knew, Chrysalis didn't have power over him. But she was smart and crafty, and at this point he could second guess anything that had ever happened and blame it on her meddling. He just couldn't know. He never knew anything about his enemies until it was revealed to him. All he had was efficient reaction time, or so he'd thought up until now.
"Wha- no, Jason, I mean-" Dash was struggling to come up with a reason otherwise, but Jason could tell she was considering a very real possibility.
Jason found himself longing for the feeling of the dream that had followed his talk with Chrysalis. Everything was so simple, and it represented the happy ending he often found himself daydreaming about. All he wanted was some time to rest, a few simple odd jobs now and again to keep things interesting, and to watch Scoots grow. Maybe even have a kid of his own. But every time he got close--after Canterlot, just before coming here--something popped up, usually boasting insurmountable odds and a guarantee to stab him somewhere new.
He couldn't believe the thought crossed his head, but he was getting too old for this. And he hadn't even gotten into the second half of his twenties. He couldn't ignore the aches and pains he felt in the background, and the lacking energy in every part of his life. His relationship with Dash had picked back up in their month long break, but had immediately gotten pushed to the back burner with the start of this mission. He sighed, realizing the silence of the room around him.
"So..." Ben said, drawing out the word. "What?"
Dash took a short breath. "It's a long story, and I can't say we're one hundred percent on the details. Suffice to say we've been at this whole thing a little too long and we still aren't sure how dangerous the ponies are that we're dealing with."
"Well if you find a way back without too much trouble, I'll extend the offer of help, within reason. If you need an extra gun or whatever, that's sort of my thing." Kyra shot Ben a glare, but he just shrugged. "It doesn't sound like you've really been having fun over there in cartoon land."
"Well, at least when all of this is over I'll have a lot of great friends." Jason replied, wrapping an arm around Dash and pulling her against him. "And you and Scoots." There was a moment of silence, broken as Jason yawned. "You know, that bit of sleep didn't exactly help anything."
Ben chewed at his lip for a moment before getting up and moving into the kitchen, coming back with Jason's AUG. "So remind me how this works again? Because from what I've seen of your other things you guys aren't exactly into the technology of recent models of assault rifles."
"Oh yeah." Jason began, dismissing Ben's confusion. "You know the guy that grabbed my soul? Well, he's sort of messed up the bordering line between this world and ours. Stuff moves at random. I would show you the millions of socks that keep getting sucked through but I don't exactly have them on hand."
"So you're saying that when we lose stuff, it may not have grown legs but instead teleported away?" Kyra asked, confirming Jason's words.
"That's what I assume, and I don't have a better explanation."
"But what stops it from creating a portal somewhere, or focusing on the things in just one area at least?" Kyra followed up. "It can't just be random."
Jason thought for a moment, before his eyes widened slightly. "Well I've got one idea. As far as I can tell, the geography of my world--the country's called Equestria by the way so I'll use that name from now on--matches up pretty well to the land here. I woke up several miles west of a town there, and died..." He made air quotes with his hooves to attempt to make light of it not only to them but to himself. It was just something he had to get over, and he knew that it at least wasn't tampered with. Everything after that was disputable. "down south a few miles on 680. Right before the interchange, you know. So we come back through in San Francisco, which was west of the crash site and my waking up by about the same amount." He paused. "To end this rambling point I think it's only this area that's affected." His eyes drooped a little, exhaustion from the healing process beginning to set in again.
"Well that brings up another subject." Ben replied. "How does that dream thing work?"
Jason's head drooped and he started to pass out before jerking back up. Damn, he was tired. "What?"
"Nevermind." Ben waved him off dismissively. "You need sleep, and it can't be that fun having us grill you for information after everything that's happened." Jason nodded, giving him a slight grin as he stretched out and laid his head on his hooves. He perused the room and his friends, watching them return to normal activities as he passed out. Dash was still warming him from one side, a dynamic that usually went the other way. Outside of everything that had happened, all the doubts and grief that he'd gone through in just the last twenty four hours, he had a hard time feeling sad. He was in his house, with his wife and his friends he thought he might never see again. Maybe the dream he'd had wasn't better after all. Jason let his eyes close, the smoothness of sleep beginning to sweep over his body.
______________________________________________________________________________________
"You know, they look pretty cute like that." Ben noted, wiping some sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand before he went back to cleaning Jason's blood from the counter. "All this weirdness aside, they have a nice dynamic going on there."
Makin shrugged. "If you can tell that already, I guess. What's sort of interesting to me is what it was like when he first woke up, you know?"
"Oh, as in, did he scream or just sit there with a dumbfounded look on his face?" Ben replied with a grin.
"I'd call him a 'pinching myself' kinda guy, actually." Kyra interjected. "But at the same time I'm pretty sure we'd all try to make sure it wasn't a dream."
"I bet Jason's doing that all the time, if his dreams are as vivid as his, uh... wife says they are." Makin shook his head at the end of the sentence, still feeling weird using those words in a sentence with Jason. "But you said that one thing, that dream you had, Ben... you said that was like you were really in Afghanistan, right?"
"Yeah. It was so correct it was scary, and what really gets me is that Jason's mind could create that. He hasn't even been to Afghanistan, let alone fought there. Then it gets weirder, because that would mean the info was pulled from my head and put into an environment created by Jason." Ben took a long breath. "We're entering the full disclosure part of this conversation."
"Huh?" Makin replied shortly. "Did you have another dream since then?"
"Wha- no, that's not it. Look, this fucks with my brain as much as the rest of this but look, there's still the elephant in the room that no one's mentioning. Kyra, you totally know what I'm talking about, with all those kids in the hospital watching TV." Kyra paused in the cleaning of her equipment, letting out a huff before continuing.
"And what if I do? It's not like coincidence matters."
Ben struggled with his phone, pulling up a picture of Dash on the internet and showing it to Makin. "Well, it's not like it's the weirdest thing anymore, and we've believed weirder so far."
"How could a lackluster kids show predict intelligent life?" She asked.
"How did any of this happen?" Ben retorted. "I would assume it's just probability, with a universe as large as ours."
Kyra rolled her eyes, sighing. "So what. We know generalities from that show that clearly can't be true down to the letter because of the brutality in their world. The fact that they have injuries at all, even ignoring all the fighting means it's not the show."
"Hey, I'm a fan." Makin said, shocking the other two. "I'd watch a show about ponies if it was Dash and Jason's life. That'd be cool, and I'd be emotionally invested. There'd be character development lasting an entire season, and even better, explosions." Ben and Kyra just stared. "Come on, you can't admit that wouldn't be cool. It'd win awards."
"You know, Makin's onto something, Ben." Kyra stated.
"No he's not!" Ben replied, laughing.
"I don't mean the show, I mean in terms of making light of this. We might never know the answers to our questions because they might not know. But no matter what they do know, there's no point grilling them for information. They'll tell us eventually if they want." Kyra paused. "I know you weren't all about telling me things about Afghanistan for a long time either. And if Jason's under the impression that he isn't the one pulling the strings on his own fate, I would imagine that'll keep him a little quieter than the boisterous, sarcastic guy you remember."
"You're right." Ben conceded, looking back towards the pair, still passed out on the couch. He stayed stuck in thought for a moment, before standing up straight and taking a step towards them. "Hey Makin, help me out with something." He said quietly, walking into the living room. "If he's going to be with us a few days, he may as well be in his own bed." With that Ben slid an arm under Jason's shoulders, his watch pulling a thin tatter of his once menacing armor with it as his other arm slid into place under Jason's lower back.
Ben accidentally jerked Jason upwards a little too fast, surprised at his weight. He was lighter than ben had expected, but not by too much. Exposed fur tickled his arm, and Ben was caught once again thinking in the back of his head that none of this could possibly be real. It was just too weird. He needed to find more original thoughts.
"Man their fur is soft." Makin said, following Ben with Dash in his arms. She had an eye open, watching Makin warily.
"Just don't drop me." Dash mumbled, closing her eye again and shifting slightly in his arms. She'd slid her armor off her arms and pushed it down to her waist, but had decided it wasn't worth more effort at that point. That was when she joined Jason in slumber.
Ben rolled Jason onto the bed pulling back the covers that had remained on it more to make the house feel less empty than to serve a purpose. They weren't warm, but it was a hot day and the house was loosing its cool air as the day droned on. Makin laid Dash down next to Jason, and she pulled the thin blanket over the both of them, taking the time to kiss him on the cheek before snuggling up to his shoulder.
Neither man could hold back a slight grin, and neither could keep themselves from starting when Kyra spoke.
"I'm waiting for the first thing they do that isn't cute." She chuckled. "I've never seen a cute murder but I think I can still hold out faith."
"Yeah, I'll tell them to get right on that."
Kyra just chuckled in response. "You know, when there isn't all the stress of keeping them alive, they're nice to talk to."
Ben shrugged. "By the time I get used to all of this, they'll be gone again. Maybe months from now, when they're done taking out the last of their enemies, they can stay under better terms. I hope Jason's as happy to see us as I am him, but there's no way that isn't overshadowed by the fact that his kid's still back there and at risk, along with everyone else."
"You're such a downer." Kyra stated with a quiet laugh, before pulling him from the room by his sleeve. "Come on, we should actually let them sleep." She took a few steps before pausing. "That means you too, Makin."
"Yeah, I know." He replied angrily, leaving the doorway. "It's not like aliens come around every day."
______________________________________________________________________
Jason opened his eyes to clouds once again, and started to such a degree that he almost fell off the bed. He looked around. This was his bedroom, alright. But why was he back in it?
"Are you going to start having nightmares again?" Dash asked, a tired smile sticking on her face as she sat up. It was only then that Jason noticed the other tiny head next to hers. "Because I think one pony in this house might be enough."
He was actually going insane. That was the only explanation. "No, just something really vivid."
"Oh... well I guess that's alright then?" She asked, unsure. "I remember being in it, because your friends were there, and..."
"What?"
"Which part?"
"No, heh, Dash. I see what you're doing here, alright?" Jason said, trying to put a twinge of humor into his speech. It just sounded empty.
"Jason, it's three in the morning. Can't we do this in the morning?" She gestured to the kid.
"No, because we won't make it to the morning. This is the dream, and what you supposedly saw? That was my life. It's not perfect like it is here, with you and Scoots and our kid." He barely stopped himself from adding a question to the end of his last sentence. He would like to think they could have kids, and he didn't want to worry about that now. "And frankly, seeing my friends again is the best thing that's happened in a while."
"They aren't your friends, Jason. It was a dream." She sighed. "A dream."
Jason cradled his head in his hooves, letting out a groan of frustration. "I need to wake up."
Dash rolled her eyes. "If you want to go back, you need to fall asleep." There was a brief pause. "Jason, I know you don't want to dig up anything from the past, but maybe if we saw Chrysalis? She's not moving from the Canterlot Dungeons, and she does know a thing or two about changeling stuff."
"Fine then, maybe I will."
"Maybe you should." The annoyance in Dash's voice was gone, replaced with the sound of concern.
Jason was silent for a few moments, trying to keep his frustration and fear from turning him into a teary mess. "Are you coming?" The question came out dry, and Dash shook her head.
"I can't leave these goobers." She replied with a grin, pointing to the one in the bed. "But you could take Archer if you wanted."
Jason just stared, before turning to leave the room. "And where might he be?"
"A couple doors down from the Rarity's boutique. It looks like a little castle, you can't miss it."
Bullshit. "Okay, but won't he be sleeping?"
"Him?" Dash asked, as if surprised at the question. "I mean, no."
Jason decided to cut his losses before he asked another question that turned out to be stupid, hopping out the window and going into a dive. He flattened out his trajectory, gliding along several feet about street level before he saw the castle and landed. He took a couple steps forward before pain lit up his forehead and he passed out before he even hit the ground.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Jason woke up slowly, looking around the room warily.
"Fuuuuuuuck." He moaned, the pain in his head now a dull pain. But he wasn't complaining about the headache. The room had changed. It was some royal looking room that he figured had to be in Canterlot. Dash brushed up against him, giving him a tired kiss on the cheek. She looked several years younger, and there was no third lump in the bed.
"You were talking in your sleep again." Dash said. "Something about a dream and Archer."
Jason let his head fall back into the pillow. "Remind me why we're in Canterlot, exactly?"
"To see Chrysalis, remember?"
"Oh, about the dreams?" Jason asked. Now Dash looked confused.
"No, about the other Changelings?" She paused. "Because we don't know what to do with them?"
"Oh yeah, of course." At least this one made some sense.
"It's a good thing you woke up on your own, because we're supposed to be going down there anyway."
Jason furrowed his brow. "Dash, it's like three in the-" Seven thirty. The fuck. "Must've been one of those things were I just felt like I slept for two seconds." Maybe if he played it a little cooler in this dream?
"Oh, you don't remember the dream?"
"No." He lied. At this point he was so confused that there was no way he could even begin to explain the situation he was in right now.
"Well then, up and at 'em!" Dash exclaimed, bouncing out of the bed. "Come on, let's go!"
"How come you're so excited?"
"It's not every day you get to see a bunch of friendly changelings." Dash paused. "Even if they do turn out to be a little weird after being under Chrysalis' control for so long. Which reminds me, we're talking to her first. Then the other changelings."
"Hopefully they know how to speak and stuff on their own. I assumed Chrysalis dictated the words, rather than every individual motion, but I guess we'll see." Jason replied, shrugging.
The trip was short, running through several halls of the castle before dipping into a much less lit basement. The place was cold and seemed out of place compared to the city above their heads. There was a slow wind rushing through the corridors, whistling just audibly against the pillars walls. Huh, he could swear that sounded like- no, that didn't- but this was a dream, so-
"Just one more turn here." Dash said, rounding the corner.
The whistling got louder, discernible whispers separating themselves from the overall flow. Dash seemed unaffected, but with each passing step Jason had trouble not stopping just to cover his ears. But just as he thought his head was about to explode, they arrived and the whispers died down just into the bearable zone.
"Here again?" Chrysalis asked, getting up from the floor. She looked at Jason, and the whispers rose again. "Here to ask something else about my children, huh?" She snickered, pointing at Dash. "It's not something that can be explained, not something that can be taught or even showed off. It's something that you ponies will never understand. The link, the hive mind we all share-- it's something far more powerful than you know, far more flexible than traditional magic." She paused, taking a few steps forwards so that she was right up against the bars.
"But you, Jason. You will understand. You'll understand whether you want to or not. We'll do battle eventually, but by that time, I like to think that you'll have come to your senses. To your real ones."
Jason stared at her. "You're insane." And strikingly real.
"Maybe. Maybe by pony standards. But I like to think I'm ahead of my time. And I like to think that the hive mind may awaken something in you that you've kept repressed. So given your mental fortitude is enough to reject my attempts to pull you into the hivemind, I suggest you dig a little deeper and start learning." A wicked grin spread across her face as she took a step forward and her shoulders fazed through the bars of the cell.
Power started to build up around her, becoming so bright Jason had to cover his eyes. He started to retreat, moving away as fast as his suddenly sluggish body would let him. Something was very, very wrong. "In fact, let's start now."
_____________________________________________________________________________
"Jason! Wake up, you're scaring me!" Dash exclaimed. Jason snapped into consciousness, trying to move his arms and legs to get up but failing.
"Yeah, I'm up- the fuck!" He yelled, pulling his hooves away from his own body. Except they weren't his hooves, they were Dash's. "Ahhhhhh!" He screamed, looking at his hooves in disbelief. He could hear Dash inside his own head, trying to figure out what was going on, and why she was no longer in command of her body. Jason went back to looking at his body, trying his best to take deep breaths and calm down. He tried thinking at Dash, telling her he didn't know how it happened and he was going to fix it. But he didn't know if he could. He didn't even know how he could be inhabiting the same grey matter.
Jason touched his own body, relieved to feel that it was still warm and had a heartbeat. This had to be another dream. It had to be. This didn't make any fucking sense.
Jason willed himself back into his body, concentrating harder and harder until he felt something click. His body opened his eyes, looking at him. Suddenly Jason was treated to a composite image of himself and Dash at the same time. He was seeing through four separate eyes, creating an image that he somehow understood. Thoughts ran through his head at an astounding rate. His brain wouldn't slow down, wouldn't stop calculating everything it could at any time. He was counting the letters and the syllables of every word he thought without trying to, and as far as he could tell, it was correct. Jason rolled out of his bed, still in control of Dash's body, and pulled an old math textbook from the shelf. He flipped it through to something about three dimensional calculus. It was thirty eight. That was the answer? He had hardly even-
"No fucking way!" Jason exclaimed, turning as Ben opened the door and looked in.
"Everything okay?" He asked.
Jason ignored him, flipping to the end of the book for the answer. He got the page on his first try. Oh, fuck. He turned and hopped back onto the bed, pushing his hooves onto his own chest, tears streaming down his cheeks as he tried to push himself back through Dash's hooves. He needed her help. He needed her to give him the push.
Dash responded, fighting with all her might. She had let him stay long enough, and as far as he was concerned, he'd collected enough data on this for the rest of his life. Bitter cold flooded through her hooves and into his chest, a sensation he could feel both sides of, and as he opened his eyes once again they were in the right place. Jason held up his hooves, his tears starting back up on his real face, in his body. His body.
Dash sat up quickly from her slumped over position, turning towards him with a look of shock. "What was-"
Jason didn't let her finish, cutting her off as he tipped her over with a heavy hug. "I'm sorry, I just-" Jason sobbed. "I was in this dream, and I just-"
He shifted involuntarily, replicating Dash with only a vague thought of her name. Ben let out a shocked sound, and Dash hugged him to her harder. "What's going on, Jason?"
"I don't- I don't know, Dash!" He replied, licks of flame moving across his back as his wings went away. A horn popped up a moment later on his forehead. Then the wings came back and he shifted again into Rarity. He hadn't even thought of Rarity!
Jason tried to stop his emotions, his very thoughts. He managed to slow the river of emotions, and after one final shift he stuck on Scoots. Then he searched his mind, finding the tendril that stank of Chrysalis. Without warning, it sucked him in.
_______________________________________________________________________
Jason awoke in his bed in his house on earth. He felt cold. Jason looked around the empty room and found nothing amiss, other than the math book, left on his dresser. He climbed out of bed.
"Dash?" He listened. "Anyone?"
Jason opened his door, stepping off into unexpected abyss. He tumbled from the door, scraping his stomach on the sharp edge of the floating house. His wings flapped and spread, to no avail. Jason fell through the blackness, suddenly hitting a hard barrier flat on his chest. He didn't pass out, for once. He wasn't sure what that would even mean in a dream, unless the other one could be taken as a consistent effect. Maybe that meant the dream had to change.
He stood up in manageable pain, straining to see anything. Blue eyes appeared, glowing in the dark maybe five or six feet from him. Lighting came from somewhere, illuminating the changeling.
He immediately knew who it was. He wasn't sure how, but he did. "So you're the one I share this body with, huh?" Jason asked, watching the changeling stare at him.
"He is, yes." The changeling replied. So, it was Chrysalis.
"And how long have you had a link to him?" Jason asked.
"It's been a while, but always fleeting. You know, it's just a little kernel I left in the changeling. I do it with all of them in case I lose contact, so don't feel special. And it sure seems to be pulling its weight now, wouldn't you agree? Now that it's, you know, working." It replied. Jason tried to think of another question, all while thinking of how he could kick Chrysalis out. He assumed that outright killing the changeling might damage its soul, deep inside his mind as they were. Or, it could do the right thing and remove Chrysalis. But without the changeling's soul, would he even be able to fight? What if he couldn't kill Bob, let alone Chrysalis? "This has been the first time I've been able to do any of this, and it's got something to do with Bob. Honestly, I'm not sure myself, but I heard you recently had a run in with him, and there's no way that isn't related."
Or now that he was on earth, things had changed. It was as good a theory as any. Jason stopped his babbling thoughts, trying to turn them in a productive direction. Maybe he could do that memory thing, like with Scoots. She had wanted to know all the things that happened from between when Dash had died to when they'd made the time loop nonexistent. Or maybe it was still there, keeping everything else in play. Whatever, it didn't matter. He could try that, but attempt to yank Chrysalis out. If the hivemind was like memories in a way, then it might work. It was worth a shot, and if it didn't pan out he still had plan B.
Jason lunged without warning, toppling the changeling onto his back. He pressed his hoof to the changeling's forehead, channeling the vaguely familiar power. This had better work...
"What are you doing?" Chyrsalis asked, annoyed. The changeling pushed at Jason's chest but he held fast. It struggled harder, getting them to roll before Jason could kick his spell into action. "I hope the climax of this conflict is a bit better than rolling." She jibed, laughing. Jason finally got enough footing to replace his hoof, finishing up his spell preparation. The changeling's eyes went wide, as she realized what he was doing. The length of time it had taken for her to think of that was worrying, because it meant that his tactic was definitely not the best choice. She would have prepared for it if it had been. She would have kept this wrestling from ever starting.
But dammit, it was all he had. He felt memories swim into his head, forming into a ball of Chrysalis's influence. He could see the memories, even, pictures moving along in a helix around his arm. The stream stopped, and he found the ball in his mind, focused on it, and started pushing it out. Chrysalis wouldn't give in without a fight, the traditional head pain making his vision blur. But he knew he was stronger than before, and even though this was a harder battle, he felt himself making more and more progress. He started to feel warm, the headache easing slightly he got further and further along. Then much like before, she reached out and pulled him in.
It felt like he had only blinked, and the entire environment had changed. He stood up, the changeling he'd had his hoof on no longer there.
They were in a field, surrounded by amber hills. A breeze blew at Jason's mane, and he watched the gust move along the top of the grass. There was a sort of coughing noise, and Chrysalis rose above the grass, twenty or so feet away. She looked shocked, spinning around to take in the new environment. After she'd had her fill, she turned quickly to face him, a look of anger on her face. "You're messing around with stuff you don't even understand."
"I thought you were supposed to make me learn." Jason replied, wondering how many levels they were into his own mind at this point. Way more than he would have thought existed, that was for sure.
"Maybe about the hive mind and its attributes, but not... this!" Chrysalis retorted. "You do realize where we are, right?"
"You pulled me into another dreamscape. Nothing new."
Chrysalis snorted. "I'm not surprised that I was right." She gestured to the grass, the hills. "This is your soul."
"Bullshit. That's not a thing I can see. It doesn't work like my brain." Jason growled, moving a few steps closer to her. Chrysalis took the same number backwards, surprising Jason.
"No, but it manifests itself as something when you screw with it like you are." Chrysalis stuck a hoof to her forehead, groaning. "At least hear my word of warning in this?"
"Sure." Jason said, rolling his eyes. He looked around, trying to find any reason that she would be lying. But as far as he knew, this could be his soul. Frankly, messing with magic was going to get him into trouble at some point.
"So, say you jump on me, and we do battle, right?" She watched him nod. "If you win, this kernel as I've called it gets absorbed into your soul. You merge with the hivemind in a way not even I can. It'll probably kill you."
At least she made sense. "And if you win?"
"You cease to be in control here, and due to the fact that I don't have enough power over you to take charge, this part of me is lost. Your brain is essentially wiped of your conscience, and an irreplaceable part of mine is gone too. We'll both turn into automatons, to varying degrees."
"But you said it was just a kernel. Why would you make it that important?"
"It's a kernel, yes, until I decide to adhere myself to the connection. Then it's a little more."
"So why don't I just kill you then?" Jason asked. "Either way, you lose."
"You don't want to. What you just experienced? Think of your perception becoming more like an imperceptible brain floating off in space somewhere. You'll cease to be anchored to that body of yours, and will simply control me and every changeling like a part of you. That's if you live. Never again will you experience the joys or drawbacks of possessing a physical form. At least, that's what I think will happen, and I doubt you'll find anypony more knowledgeable."
"So we're stuck here forever?"
"We're at an impasse, yes, but only in the sense that neither of those two options work." She sat down, scratching at the side of her head. But you can break the spell, and I can leave. You'll be free of my influence, and we can go our merry ways."
"What if you don't leave?" Jason asked, doubting his opponent.
"I'd say we'll probably end up back in here. You're stronger than the leverage I can get in here, so with my best card played, I'd say you're not worth the energy. It'll be a meeting on the battlefield after all, I suppose."
Jason nodded, willing the spell to break. The wind picked up, a crack forming between them and spreading out.
"But if you decide to embrace the changeling half of you, I'll leave my business card around." Chrysalis said, her body breaking up into tatters and disappearing on the wind. The world went black, and with a sort of itchy feeling in the back of his head Jason's thoughts stopped.
His brain rebooted, and he found himself back in his cloud house with a dish in one hoof and a towel in the other. His hooves were shaky, and after a couple of seconds of trying to control them the dish dropped into the sink and chipped a bit of the side off.
"Jason?" Dash asked, and he spun around to look at her. "What did she say to you?"
"What?"
"Archer told me you came out looking shaken up, and after the... stuff last night I wasn't sure how you were holding up." She sighed. "I know it's getting harder for you with these dreams, and ever since Tank died..."
"Tank-" He must've swapped places with Archer. "Yeah, I'm not sure. Chrysalis didn't know."
"She must've known something." Dash paused. "You're looking awfully fidgety."
Maybe if he could just wake up. "All I learned about was the hivemind. And the changelings are free now so that's irrelevant."
"But maybe yours just isn't strong enough?" Dash asked. Jason's interest piqued.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you've got me and Scoots. Evening, sorta. If the connection wavers, it could create a lot of inconsistencies with what you think you're seeing."
"Like lag between computers." Jason breathed. This was all starting to make sense. And honestly, that scared him. But he still knew this was a dream. Well... Yeah, he knew. Of course it was.
"Sure, I guess. But the main thing is, you might just need to develop it a little to work out the kinks. You're in the body of a changeling that only knew Chrysalis' hoof on his brain, and now you're the host of a hivemind. You may have been able to pick up flying and magic quickly, but you've done those before. Or, he has at least. He's never done this."
Jason thought it over. "Yeah, but-"
"Just take it to heart." Dash smiled. "You can do what you want, but I like to think that pursuing the changeling side of you is the answer to your problems. And it could explain all the dreams you've been having recently about your friends."
"Dash, they-"
"Jason, remember that one time when you said that in order to kill Bob, you ended up losing a part of yourself?" Jason had never said that, but the memory came to mind nonetheless.
"I didn't mean it like that."
"I know you didn't. But you know as well as I do that something's wrong, and if it's not your half, then..." Dash walked over to him, hugging him tightly. "Just don't lose the rest of yourself in the process, alright?"
Jason patted her on the back, tears making his fur wet where she had her muzzle buried in his shoulder. "Don't worry, I won't."
"You had better not." Jason felt tears come to his eyes, the stress and frustration of the day finally letting itself out. He didn't want to think anymore. He just wanted to sleep without dreaming, and feel rested when he woke up for once in his life. And he knew it wouldn't be this time.
Jason sat up, back on earth in his bedroom. His head throbbed painfully, his entire body flashing with phantom pains. At least he was back, and at some point he had shifted back into his usual form. "So apparently Chrysalis had a bit of a connection to the changeling." He said, his voice dry and raspy. He cleared his throat. "So that was fun." He wanted to cry like he had in the dream, to complain about how unfair the world was and how he didn't deserve any of it.
Dash was only half awake next to him, and suddenly perked up with his words.
"It's gone though?!" Dash asked. "Did she make you...?" Dash gestured to herself. "You know."
"Wait, how long was I asleep?"
Dash glanced at the clock. "Three or four hours?"
"What?! But I-"
"Hey!" Ben exclaimed, standing up from a chair too quickly and wavering on his feet. "I understand that you two know what's going on here, but we don't in the slightest, and it's fucking worrying for a multitude of reasons!" Ben exclaimed. "And you never even told us that you were a changeling!"
Jason ignored Ben for a moment and scratched his head. How had that been hours? He thought back to the first dream he'd had, right after Kyra had taken the bullet out. Everything he did was for that happy ending. The one where at the end of the day, he got to worry about getting food for dinner and a parent-teacher conference rather than his and everyone else's life being on the line. It gave meaning to the goal he'd had all along, and he felt himself perk up a bit. Well, at least he'd have something new to add to the story of his life when he laid it out for Ben and the others.
"Grab a chair. I'll tell you everything." He sighed. "Including what just happened." His stomach growled, and Ben wordlessly got up and left, returning a moment later with a bag of Doritos. Jason gave him a grateful smile, struggling with the bag for a moment before his magic got it open. There wasn't much of a reaction, and Jason couldn't blame them. There were more pressing concerns, and with what had just happened, Jason could assume one of them was their safety and his own.
Ben sat back down, watching Kyra lean against the doorjamb and Makin sit on the desk itself. He nodded. "Whenever you're ready."