• Published 9th Jul 2014
  • 10,189 Views, 244 Comments

Ten Against One - DJSkywalker



Ben had a bad life on Earth, with ten others sharing his mind. Then, one day he was sent to a far away land and the voices stopped. He thought he was free, but they only became stronger. This is their story.

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The First Morning Back

Okay, so… I’m locked in my room… this sucks. Seriously, who puts the lock to a door on the outside of a room? Just my luck. Wait, what am I worried about? I not only have the ProtoTool, but I also got a watch full of aliens that can get me out of here. Is it an abuse of powers to use an alien to just get out a room? Probably, but like hell if I care! I started to swipe through my selection. There were a good many to choose from; last I checked I had roughly about fifty to go on, not counting the voices. Though, I didn’t want to be a jerk and knock down the door, so I left out most of my heavy hitters. I figured I might as well go for small, so I selected my most commonly used transformation, sadly. I pushed back the face plate and push down the core. A second later, I was less than an inch tall and buzzing through the air. Yep, Nanomech once again. I use him more than I wish I had to, but the size comes in handy so often. I just shrunk down and flew right through the lock and out the other side.

Now let’s see if I still remember how to end a transformation early. Ah, that’s right! Press the lower portion of the hourglass. Another green flash and I was back to being me. I took a deep breath of morning air, only for the subtle aroma of food to come to me. My eyes went wide and I think a bit of drool fell from my mouth. I smelled the most delectable of all breakfasts, and I was gonna go get me some of that! I rushed off down the hall, following my nose to the source.

I came upon what I can only describe as a massive kitchen, with a young dragon cooking at the stove. I stopped and stared at the odd sight of a little dragon, wearing a pink apron, cooking breakfast. He seemed to be humming a tune and turned around to see me. His eyes widened and he jumped in fright. “Aah! Human; what are you doing in the castle?!”

How does he know I’m a human? No one ever gets that right and just thinks I’m some mutant diamond dog. How insulting! I was about to rebuttal, until I saw what he was cooking: pancakes! I had even raised a finger in doing so, but the sight of that stack of magnificent, golden, fluffy, deliciousness was far too alluring. He followed my line of sight and smirked. “Hungry?”

My stomach answered for me with a loud grumble. I swallowed a little of my drool and asked, “A-are those pancakes?” Pleasesayyes, pleasesayyes, pleasesayyes!

“Not just any pancakes, they’re my special blueberry pancakes!” the drake said with pride.

My mouth was agape and my shoulders slumped. Blueberry pancakes?! YES! ALL THE YES IN THE WORLD!! “OH, please let me have some of that,” I muttered desperately.

The dragon looked up in thought, tapping his chin with his claw. Then he shrugged with a happy smile. “Sure, you can have some!”

“Thank the gods above!” I shouted and rushed the food. Though, I stopped just as I was about to inhale a stack. I put my utensils down calmly and looked to the dragon. “Hey, uh, dragon? You got a fireplace I can use for a sec?”

The dragon looks at me weird. “First, my name is Spike. Two, yeah it’s over in the den. What do you need it for?”

Spike? Wait, Twilight’s kid is a dragon? Again, not the strangest thing I’ve seen. Different, yes, but I’ve still seen some messed up stuff. “It’s kinda a dining ritual of mine. You mind if I borrow a lighter?”

Spike gave me a quick once over and got down from the stool he was standing on to cook. "I’ll just light it for you. By the way,” he said as he led me into the other room, plate in my hand. “Who are you?”

“I’m Ben 10, a hero of Equestria from over four thousand years ago. I worked with Celestia and Luna to keep the peace in the land.”

His eyes were wide. “Wow, that’s pretty cool.” I think I like this dude. We stopped at the large fireplace in the middle of what I can only assume is the den. The room looked pretty stereotypical, red carpet, comfy seating arrangement, knickknacks and pictures on the walls and shelves; very quaint. Spike took in a big breath and let out a quick blast of orange fire, instantly igniting the fire place. “There ya go, one instant fire. What’s this for?”

“Just watch,” I said kneeling down close to the flames. I closed my eyes and sent a silent prayer out for my sisters. I then used my fork, sliced off a few bits of pancake and tossed them into the fire. Spike went wide eyed on me.

“What the hay did you do that for?!”

I stood up, still smiling. “It’s a way of thanking the gods as well as asking them for their assistance. I don’t mean to do it religiously, but it never hurts to be in their favor. I’ve always had some pretty good luck after doing it in the past, so why not keep on doin’ it?” I shrugged and headed back to the kitchen. Spike followed, but I went to the table and he went back to the stove. I started to shovel those pancakes down my gullet, reveling in the amazing taste. “Oh my gods, this is delicious! It’s like golden, fluffy heaven! Spike, you are a master!”

Spike beamed at my compliment. “Thanks, I learned from the Royal Chefs themselves.”

“Well, they ain’t got nothin’ on you, little dude. These are the best ever!” It was at that moment that Twilight came into the room, though she seemed shocked to see me already eating.

“Ben?! How did you beat me down here?”

Ah, that’s what so surprising. “I smelled food and rushed right down,” I said like it was completely obvious. “BTW, why was my door locked?”

She turned her head in confusion. “That door doesn’t have a lock.”

I stop eating to think on that for a moment. Only one thought came to mind: Umbra decided to play a small troll on me. I smiled and snorted a little. That guy is certainly somethin’. “Must have been my imagination. So, I’ve met Spike, where’s the other one? Nyx, right?”

“Yes, Nyx, my daughter. She’s still getting a little more sleep, but I’ll be getting her up in a little bit.” Twilight sat down at the table and Spike put a fresh plate of pancakes in front of her. She started eating, but not before asking me a question. “So Ben, could you tell us a little more about yourself?”

“Like what?” I said between bites. Food of the gods, right here!

“What was it like growing up? You said you’re not from this world and mentioned some… unpleasant experiences.” Spike looked up from his cooking and watched us with curiosity.

“Well, let’s see. I don’t remember my family. You see, when I was one, we got in an accident that burned my parents alive. I was in the fire, too, but I survived, just barely. The docs said it was a miracle I’m still around. Took a while to recover; even had to have a skin graft to replace some of the burnt flesh.”

Twilight looked sick. “You mean you had to have somepony else’s skin sewed into you?”

I shook my head. “Nah, that’s too dangerous to do on an infant. I had some prototype stuff the docs had been experimenting with. Oh, what was it called? Ah, synthflesh, that’s right; artificial skin. Had these special properties that allowed it to grow with my normal skin. Still got a few graft scars, though.” I lifted my shirt a little to show off the long scar line on the right of my stomach. I pulled my shirt back down and grinned. “If I was bald you'd see a couple more, too.” They didn't need to know that a fair portion of my back still had some burns. It's not exactly the prettiest sight, though the numb nerves definitely came in handy when fighting.

“That sounds horrible!”

“Maybe,” I shrugged. “But it kept me alive and still devilishly handsome,” I said with a smirk. “After that, the Voices showed up and I started bouncing between psychiatric hospitals. Save for the time I escaped and got put in foster care. Though that only lasted a little over a year before I scrammed.”

“Why did you run away?”

“First time was because they were treating me like a lab rat instead of a person. Didn’t want to put up with it, so Rath helped me escape. I left foster care because the ones taking care of me were only in it for the money. I was just a bank check to them.”

“That’s awful!”

“I know! And they never even shared the money with me! That’s why I left, I wanted my cut.”

Now Twilight was highly confused. “W-what?”

“Well, it’s not like they were horrible people, just didn’t care all that much about me. I was, like, the third one living there. At least I had food and a bed, that’s all I cared about. But when I found out they were getting paid to take care of me, I kinda got a little greedy and wanted a cut. They threatened to kick me out, violently, if I ever bothered them about it again, so I got out of there. Went back to the hospitals after that, eventually found one in California that would take care of me long term. That was when I was… nine, I think.” I shrugged. “I’ve always been a rebel, I guess.”

Twilight’s eye seemed to twitch. “That’s… that’s almost borderline stupid!”

I recoiled from her shout. “That’s what Tia and Lulu said, too.” I smiled thinking back on that memory.

Twilight now was looking more confused than ever. “Tia and Lulu? How do you know their pet names for each other?”

I blinked, they still used those names I came up for them. Well, don’t I feel special. “Well, that’s because I was the one that gave them those names. It was all a part of the big brother Ben package.”

“BIG BROTHER?!” Spike and Twilight yelled with mouths agape.

“What is with ponies and shouting nowadays?” I said removing my hands from my ears. “Yes, I am the big brother of the Princess Sisters.”

“Why have I never heard of you?”

“Probably because they think I’m dead. You see, the reason I was turned to stone was because I never told them about the Voices and they walked in on a mistransform. They thought Rath had killed me, so they retaliated.”

Twilight cringed just as Umbra had. “You’re… you’re not angry at them, are you?”

I waved her off. “Nah! I could never be angry with my little sisters. Well, I suppose that’s not completely true; there was that one time they let me sleep through dinner. They learned never to do that again!”

Twilight looked as if she was having trouble processing all this. Spike, however, was fully ready to accept it. “So, Celestia and Luna are your little sisters and you’re an alien that can turn into other aliens? That’s so cool!” Twilight looked at Spike with a little surprise, but it settled into a small smile and laugh.

She then looked back at me and asked, “Just wondering, why is it that you were always moving? Did you not have any other family?”

“Nope. Both my parents were only childs and my grandparents passed away years before I was born. Though, thanks to a mix up in the hospital records, most of my records got destroyed. Technically, the hospital that healed me, also faked my death. Wasn’t until I was ten that I found out I still had some living family. Turned out, I have an older sister that also moved around. I finally tracked her back to our old hometown in the Midwest when I was thirteen.”

“How did she take the news that you were still alive?”

I shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. When I got there, she had gone missing a few years before. Disappeared while at some gaming event. Never had a chance to meet her.”

Twilight put a hoof on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, Ben. That must have been hard.”

I sighed. “Yeah, it was a little too much to take. But, I moved on, just as I always have. I can’t get stuck in mourning or grieving, I’ve had too much time for that, so it was time I focused on living my life. I started going to school, making a few friends, being the best me I could be. The doctors got me into all sorts of activities to see how the Voices would react.” And thank the gods for that! Which ever doctor thought it was a good idea to let me watch two hours a day of Cartoon Network deserves the biggest cookie ever! Him and the one that suggested I try archery! I don’t go boom, but I always got the Zoom! Headshot!

“It was a few years later that I got to go to my very first Comic Con. It’s a special event for comic book fans to gather and trade/sell related merchandise, as well as to meet those responsible for all the greatness that we loved about them. During the convention, I found this weird stall with an even weirder guy running it. He suggested this strange microchip to me, said it would make my omnitrix even better. He offered it for a single bit, so I picked it up and inserted it right in, not knowing that doing so would suddenly send me straight to Equestria. How, I have no clue, but it did. You know the rest.”

“That’s certainly an interesting story, Ben,” Twilight admitted. She then took a look at the clock and stood up from her chair. “I should probably go wake up Nyx. Please leave some pancakes for my filly, Ben.” She started to trot away.

“No promises! I might just go find a shovel and literally shovel these things into my gullet!”

Twilight just rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Stallions.”

“I’m not a stallion!” I called after her.

“Males!” she yelled back at me. I looked at Spike knowingly and we broke out into laughter.

*****Meanwhile...*****

Run. That’s all she knew to do. Just run and run fast. So, she did. She ran as fast as she possibly could, attempting to become a small, black blur through the darkened hallways of the castle. Finally, out of breath, she hid around a corner, panting heavily. Her draconic eyes pierced through the dark, looking to make sure that her follower had been lost. Her purple mane was matted with sweat, clinging to her head, horn, and neck. She fluttered her wings, attempting to cool herself down.

It would be coming for her soon, she knew it. Her mother and big brother were nowhere to be found, making her fear the worst. Her predator was more frightening than anything the little filly had ever seen in her life; not even the lupines that attacked her home had been this scary.

She had to keep running, that’s all she could do. Run, and pray to her aunt Luna that it would not find her. Still looking down the hall, she slowly backed away from her hiding spot and began to back up, preparing to speed off again. That failed, however, when she suddenly bumped into something right behind her. The filly froze in fear, slowly turning and lifting her head, paling as her predator grinned maliciously down at her. The creature had a mop of brown hair on its head, though nowhere else, its green eyes piercing the darkness more than hers ever could, almost as if they were glowing. Its claws were stretched out above its head, menacingly sharp. Its torso was a hideous green, with non matching blue legs. It stood tall above her and spoke with a voice that boomed into her soul.

“I finally found you, after all these years.” Its arms began to descend on her, making her body flinch involuntarily. “Now, you shall return to the place from whence you came!”

She shuddered and screamed as loud as she could. “Noooooooo!!!”

“NYX!”

“Aah!” Nyx shot up suddenly, panting and looking around her room. She saw her bookcases, filled to the brim with books of all kinds, her dresser with special mane care supplies that had been a gift from her aunt Rarity, and her mother watching her with a worried expression.

“Are you alright, honey?” Twilight asked, nuzzling her comfortingly.

“Y-yeah, just… just a nightmare,” Nyx replied half-heartedly.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Nyx shook her head. “No, it’s was just too real. And way too scary.”

Twilight still looked worried, but nodded nonetheless. “Alright, my little pony, but remember, you can tell me anything. Ok?”

“Ok mom,” Nyx replied with a small smile.

Twilight smiled in return. “Good, now come on. It’s time for breakfast and you can meet our new guest. He’ll be staying here for a while so I want you both to get along.”

“Ok!” Nyx got out and down from her bed, following her motherly closely. They walked in silence through the halls. Nyx was still a little uncomfortable in their new home, reminding her too much of her stay in the-now-destroyed Nightmare Castle. This castle wasn’t hers, though, no, it belonged to her beloved mother. The mare who never gave up on her and would always be there to protect and love her, no matter what. Those thoughts comforted her from that horrible night terror that she simply wished to forget.

This proved unlikely when they walked into the kitchen and she froze. Sitting there at the table with her big brother was a strange creature with a mop of brown hair, wearing a green jacket and blue pants. Her breathing began to increase and become ragged. Spike was laughing himself silly at the creature who was literally shoveling pancakes into his mouth, said mouth having a fair amount of sharp teeth.

“Spike, where did he get the shovel?” asked Twilight who sounded quite unamused.

“H-he asked me fo-for it,” Spike said between laughs. “I-I didn’t, I didn’t think he would actually start shoveling pancakes!” The dragon went back to rolling on the floor with laughter, while Ben just smiled, teeth full of food and doing his best to look innocent, while also throwing the shovel away where it crashed into something in the other room. Then he looked over and noticed the small, black filly staring at him.

Twilight followed his line of sight. “Ah, yes. Ben, this is my daughter, Nyx. Nyx, this our guest, Ben 10.”

Ben swallowed his food, licking his teeth clean. “‘Sup kid?” he said with a wave.

That broke the dam that was keeping Nyx back. Nyx screamed for her life.

**********

When the filly started screaming bloody murder, I seriously felt like I was being murdered. I immediately clamped my hands to my ears and shouted while falling back, “Ah! Sonic attack! Man down!” I fell down on to the floor with a thud and coughed dramatically. “Spike, come closer,” I whispered when the screaming finally died. The dragon came close and picked up my head with his claws. “They got me, man. *Cough*, I’m not gonna make it. Tell, tell the girls, I never understood Pinkie Pie. Guh!” I went limp and closed my eyes.

“Nooo! He was so young!” Spike yelled out in defiance.

I heard Twilight trot over. I opened my eyes only slightly, just enough to see her looking quite unamused, even with a raised eyebrow. “Oh, that’s too bad. I was gonna take him to Sugar Cube Corner for a special treat. Oh, well, no sugary treats for the dead.”

I was up, vampire style, almost instantly. “Did someone say ‘sugar’?”

Twilight giggled and Spike chuckled. I smiled and looked around for my attempted murderer and saw her floating, mouth clamped shut, in Twilight’s magic. I approached the floating alicorn filly, with a look of unamusement. She whimpered, causing me to raise my eyebrow. “Now, mind telling me why you tried to kill me with screaming?”

Twilight released her hold on Nyx’s mouth. “Go on, Nyx. Tell Mr. 10 you’re sorry for screaming at him.” Nyx shook her head and tried to shrink away, still being held. “Nyx! You’re being very rude to our guest! What is the matter with you?”

“He’s trying to take me away!” she screamed. “Just like he did in my nightmare!”

I blinked, not expecting that response at all. I smiled comfortingly and got down on my knees, Twilight lowering Nyx just right to my line of sight. “Hey, now,” I said quietly. “I’m not here to take anyone away. I’m not that kind of person. It’s very nice to meet you, Nyx. My name is Ben, Ben 10. I’m a hero and I would never dream of hurting a little filly, especially not the daughter of a good friend.” I stroked her mane, causing her to flinch, but the feeling was too nice and she eventually nuzzled my hand in return. I took my hand away and her fear returned.

I sighed and leaned back. How do I make her not afraid of me? Think, Ben, think! If there was one thing I hated, it was others, especially little ones, be afraid of me. Then it came to me, making me snap my fingers in eureka. “Got it!” I lifted up my wrist and began to scroll through the watch. This caught the attention of the filly, her curiosity taking over her fear. She got in close and tried to look over my wrist. I noticed and smiled warmly at her. “Wanna watch?” I asked, while moving my wrist to a better seeing position. She flinched back, but her curious nature got the better of her. She looked over and watched closely as I scrolled through the cartoonish faces of my many aliens.

“What are you doing?” she asked me. I noticed her voice was very quiet and delicate, reminding me of a glass harp; very adorable.

“This device is called an omnitrix. It allows me to turn into many different creatures, temporarily. I’m looking for a certain form that should make you feel a little comfortable around me.” I stopped, finally, on a particular form and slid back the faceplate. Nyx jumped when the core popped out, but I just smiled and moved the watch closer to her. “Wanna try it? Just push down on the core there.”

Nyx was hesitant, but moved her little hoof over the power core. She put it right on and pushed it down into the watch. Once it was down, my body lit up in a green light, spooking her. Spike stared in amazement, while Twilight watched on silently. The light faded and revealed my new form. My new body was four legged, covered in green fur, and winged. I smiled at the family in front of me who were staring agape. “What’s wrong?” I asked with a smile and started to tap my face with a hoof. “Something on my face?”

“You… you became a pony?!” Spike said, still flabbergasted.

“Oh, that! Yep. You see, the omnitrix has this feature known as the scan mode that allows me to scan in the DNA of new aliens. Technically, all ponies are aliens, so the watch scanned them in when I encountered him. I also have an earth pony and unicorn forms, as well as a few other this world's creatures. Unfortunately, I don’t have an alicorn form, due to Celestia and Luna technically don’t have DNA, being made from magic itself. Kinda sucks, but hey I got a pegasus form and that’s what matters to me!”

“Why a pegasus pony?” asked Twilight.

“Earth ponies are too boring for me, no offense to them, and I don’t like unicorns because of their magic. I’m a man of science and magic kinda flies in its face, especially here. Again, no offense to you, I like magic, but using it is just weird to me. Plus, I’ve always wanted to fly and being in this form allows me to do as such.”

Twilight nodded, completely understanding. “Well, this will make it easier to show you around town today. Though, your transformations only last fifteen minutes from what Hum told us. That could cause a problem.”

I smirked. “Don’t tell the others, but there is a way to extend the time limit indefinitely.” Twilight looked curious and motioned me to continue. “Omnitrix, code 1010 activate lifeform lock,” I said aloud. The symbol, which was on a band around my neck, lit up and suddenly a pair of grey covers slammed shut over it, hiding the symbol and making it look like I was wearing a simple green band around my neck. The others looked confused so I elaborated. “It’s a lifeform lock integrated into the watch which locks me into this transformation until I deactivate the lock. It can be dangerous in the long term, but I’ve programmed the watch to alert me when I’ve been in a form too long.”

“What makes it dangerous?” asked Spike.

“DNA override, from what I can tell. It’ll being to make this transformation my base form, basically turning me into a pegasus. From what I’ve learned from the watch, it can be incredibly painful and definitely not recommended.”

“Yeesh, good thing you got that warning put in.”

“Yep, kept me out of a bind a few times. I used this form whenever I was at special meetings with others. I wanted to keep being a human a secret, so I was like this a lot.” I felt a tapping on my knees and saw it was Nyx, who was looking very ashamed.

“Mr. Ten?” she nearly whispered.

“No need to be so formal, little one. Call me Ben.”

“Okay, Ben… I’m sorry that I screamed at you. You just looked a lot like the monster from my dream.”

I patted her head with my hoof, getting a smile and eventually a giggle. “It’s all good little one. I don’t get angry too easily, and there was no harm done. Just try not to blow out my ear drums, okay?”

Nyx giggled and nodded. “Mmmhmm. Um, Ben? If you don’t mind me asking, what does your cutie mark mean?”

Twilight looked over to my flank and noted that it was the symbol of the omnitrix. “That’s the symbol on your device isn’t it? Why is it your cutie mark?”

I smirked, of course they wouldn’t know what that symbol really means. “It’s not just the symbol of the omnitrix. It’s actually the universal symbol for peace. It represents that I advocate for peace between all, and my willingness to fight to protect it.”

“Amazing!” Twilight said with pure honesty.

“I know! Now, I believe somepony said something about a special sugary treat?”

Twilight giggled. “Alright, come on. I’ll show you around town on the way there. Come on Nyx, we’ll get you some breakfast at aunt Pinkie’s.”

“Yay!”

I smiled at the filly’s cheer. Definitely a good idea to go pegasus for a while, could chance to get back into flying, too. “Let’s go!”

We all went to the palace doors, but we had to wait for certain little filly to use the facilities. Once she was ready, we headed out, though Twilight had a question for me. “By the way Ben, just wondering, but did you at least find out your sister’s name?”

I stopped, trying to recall. I smiled when it came back. I had gone through many different outlets to find out who my sister was and where I could find her. She had been shuffled around just as much as I had, from foster care to foster care. It was only when I found my father’s military records that I had finally tracked her down. “Yeah,” I replied with a smile as we headed out into the new day. “Her name was Allison.”