A few days passed with nothing interesting happening. Talon and Bloom had gone off to search like I demanded. The fortress continued to be renovated. Nightmare and I trained while I slept, which by the way is grueling. She holds nothing back when we fight, and her teaching methods boil down to “everything must be perfect.” You’d think such a control freak wouldn’t have been so easily defeated by a couple of mares.

Anyway, I had grown bored with watching over the rebuilding and decided it was time I fixed a major flaw in the design of my fortress. You see, at the moment there is only one way to get between the two worlds and that was through gatekeepers like Zecora. I myself had no power to cross the void, which might seem to be a strange design choice but it seems my predecessor, though violent, had a paranoid side to him, which was evident considering how paranoid I was. If he could access the fortress on his own, someone could manage to get a good reading on his magic and in theory create the portal with enough experimenting. Having it tied to other beings meant that he could pillage to his heart’s content without fear that some hero managed to slip in while he was away.

Of course, one could do the same with a gatekeeper but the idea behind them was that no one knew they existed. Most wouldn’t believe that the Overlord would trust the security of his fortress to one of the creatures native to the world he was destroying. Especially since without gatekeepers the Overlord would be unable to get back.

This was the flaw I was trying to fix right now. At the moment Zecora and I were deep in a cave we had found far off the path. The way in was so small a filly would have trouble squeezing through so I was sure that this would be safe, especially considering how far down we had gone. I had spent days carving into the wall an archway that would serve as a backup portal. Granted my rune work wasn’t great but Nightmare didn’t hesitate to speak up when I was wrong, which was almost too often.

“No, no, you made the tether line too long now. Do you want to inadvertently collapse the fortress into this world?” I sighed, far beyond giving a creative response after how many hours I had put into this.

“Now it is too short. Just let me handle this since it seems you are incapable of fine rune work.” I lost control of my arms as Nightmare pushed her way in control. In any other case I would have thrown her against the walls of my mind but I didn’t want to screw up anything should my body spasm in response. Once she seemed happy with the result I mentally shoved her, wiggling my fingers as I took them back.

You know I hate that.

“Why should that matter? I kept you from wasting both our time attempting to do something you are clearly inept at.” I only sighed again since an argument with Nightmare usually got nowhere for either side.

I looked over the intricately marked stone looking for any flaws. I could sense pride coming from Nightmare that mirrored my own. “Looks like that will do it. Zecora.” At my call the zebra got up from her spot and stood next to me. I plucked a hair from her mohawk of a mane before waving my hand for her to step back.

If everything the two of us know about magic is correct, this should create a portal to the fortress using the connection Zecora has. Nightmare only nodded in response as I felt her ready to jump start the magical construct.

Placing the hair along one of the carvings “woke it up” so to speak as the runes began to glow a dull red. Black smoke crept down my arm, pouring into the archway and causing the light to slowly grow brighter with every second. Soon I couldn’t look directly at the archway as a tear seemed to form in the air itself.

“Something isn’t right! Stop it now!” At Nightmare’s words I pulled at my arm only to find my hand refused to detach from the stone. Power began to fill the air sending jolts of magic along the cave.

Stop feeding it magic! At this rate, it’s likely to- A deafening rip interrupted my thoughts as I was thrown back, slamming my head into the cave wall behind me. For awhile I struggled to get up and clear my head.

“Get up you fool! Something came through the rift we made.” I felt the pain in my skull disappear within seconds as my vision cleared. Once I got up I looked toward the rift and couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

That’s… impossible!

“Oh come on,” a young man groaned out as he was spit out onto the cave floor. “I really don’t need this....” he got to his feet, rubbing his head. Taking the time to look him over, it looked like he hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep, with dark rings under his eyes, which had a bit of an unfocused look to them. Or at least that’s what Nightmare told me. I was still trying to figure out how the hell a human was here other than myself.

How badly did the portal fuck up? Glancing at what remained of the archway, it was clear I wasn’t going to be using it again. I then looked back at the man. Well, might as well introduce myself, I guess.

“Well… hello there. My name is Don. Who are you?”

“I’m Jason,” he said looking around, “Can you send me back? I was working on something important.”

“Working on something? You get pulled from wherever you are from to here and your first reaction is that? From what I recall humans don’t have magic and stuff like that.”

“Yeah you’d think that...” he said, shrugging. “I’m not exactly a normal human anymore.”

“Judging by how he has yet to react to Zecora, he might have come from a place where that is common. Another Equestria, so to speak.” I only nodded in response to Nightmare as I analyzed the situation. We should probably get out of here before something detects all the magic we just let off.

“You want to discuss this elsewhere? I’m afraid if we stay here things might get… violent.”

“Violent how?”

“Let’s just say a lot of ponies would prefer I was dead. Their sanity tends to vary though. If it’s the cult then they’ll probably want to kill you too just because you look like me.”

“Give me a second here... “ he said, fiddling with a strange device on his arm. He popped up the dial, bringing his hand down on it. There was a bright green flash as he was replaced by a strange creature that looked like it was stitched together from other animals.

“Discord!” Nightmare practically screamed in my head as the human took the form of the Frankenstein monster from the pet graveyard.

“Nah, I’m Hodgepodge” he said, speaking a strange accent. “Discord’s back home,”

“That doesn’t make your kind any less- wait, you can hear me?!” I was just as surprised as Nightmare was. Just what can this thing do?

“Of course!” he shouted, his voice changing, somehow wearing a bright red hat and jacket.

Where did that come from? I just shook it off rather than try to figure it out. A year of Pinkie shenanigans had done it’s work. “So, why did you shapeshift? I was just going to get Zecora to open a portal.”

“Cause I can do this!” he shouted, snapping his fingers, teleporting us all to an old castle.

“Uh… where are we?”

“I dunno,” Hodgepodge said, shrugging his shoulders. “Some old castle thing, Lulu and Tia used to live here or whatever,”

I walked over to a window to find we were in the middle of a dense forest I knew all too well. The Everfree! Well, at least it’s far away from that… thing. I glanced toward the center of the forest, a shiver going up my spine, before turning back to Jason, or whatever he was calling himself.

“Alright. So you didn’t react to my friend here,” I waved my hand toward Zecora “Add to that the fact you know where this place was and that you look like a creature Nightmare knows of. Are you from another Equestria or something?”

He nodded his head, crossing his arms over his chest.

“This sounds similar to a theory one of the royal mages concocted before I was sealed on the moon. Something about how for every action you commit, a new universe is created in which a different action was done in that exact moment.” I listened to Nightmare’s explanation intently. This went from “boring day making a failsafe” to “interesting magical nonsense” in no time at all.

“Thats cute, but it’s wrong!” Hodgepodge shouted, his voice shaking the castle.

“Oh? Is that so?” Nightmare sneered. It was obvious she did not like whatever this guy was.

“Yup. Universes are created, maintained and destroyed by the admins,” he started, floating around the room boredly. “Faust herself created the Equestrian template,”

That surprised me but I didn’t let it show. How the hell is that possible? Unless there’s a different Faust then the one who fought the Overlord a few millenia ago. “Alright, so somehow I ended up pulling you from another Equestria. So why don’t you leave? You certainly seem to have the power and knowledge to do so.”

“Trying to get rid of me aaye?” he asked, floating over to me, grabbing me around the shoulder. “Now if I did that, all of our readers would be disappointed. “

“Our what?”

“Our readers,” he repeated,” See, out there beyond the fourth wall, our lives are stories, read on the internet by a bunch of dudes who watch a show about ponies.” he said moving his hand in a broad gesture, ”It stills astounds me that LOHAV banned Displaced stories, talk about biting the hand that feeds you. That’s something I’d expect from Axl Rose,”

I just looked at him like he was speaking a different language. I guess I’ll just file that all with the Pinkie crap that was never explained. I put a hand to my temples. “Enough of this nonsense. You should just leave. You’re giving me a headache.”

“I can’t leave yet, we haven’t finished the crossover!”

I groaned in response. “The sooner we accomplish whatever he wants the sooner he’ll leave.” Nightmare commented.

Fine. Let’s get this over with. “So what do we have to do to finish… whatever the hell it is you want?”

There was a loud beeping sound, followed by a red flash. When it cleared, Jason was human again. He was currently holding his head with a groan.

“Did you hear me over your crazy watch alarm?”

“Yeah... I hear ya..”

I stood there and waited for him to explain how I was going to get him his ticket out of here but he said nothing. Which only served to make me more frustrated. Is it so difficult to get rid of someone? “Look, I’ve got things to do, plans to wrought, and possible ponies to kill. You want to get home sooner rather than later?”

“Wait, what was that about killing ponies?”

So the man has a conscience. Good to know. “Remember the cult I mentioned earlier? They attack me, I end them. It’s what I’ve done with the last two attempts.”

“No, theres more to it than that,” he said moving closer to me.

“Oh dear. It seems we might have a hero on our hands.” Nightmare spoke. “Do you want to try corrupting him or just getting rid of him?”

Preferably I just want him gone. He’s obviously rather set morally and will take longer than I have to twist to the dark side. If he figures things out though… I gave the man my “nice guy” grin as he approached. “Oh? And just what do you mean?”

“I think I should go have a chat with this world’s princesses.”

I could feel Nightmare begin to shift the shadows behind the man as I continued my good guy routine. Not until we’re sure that’s the only option. “I’m sure they’re rather busy. Besides, they trust me enough to deal with something like this.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna go do that now,” he said, starting to walk away.

Nightmare was practically growling with anticipation. “Now?”

I shut my eyes and pulled the hood on my cloak over my head, allowing my magic to flow and creating the glowing eye effect the Overlord was known for when I opened them again. “Now.” The shadows in the room sprang up, the ends of them forming swords and flying at the man.

He rolled out of the way, narrowing his eyes. “You really don’t want to do this Don,”

I chuckled darkly. “And what are my other options? Sealed away or death? No, I think I’ll take my chances with killing you.” I drew my dagger in my left hand as one of the swords Nightmare created flew into my right. “Now, here are your options: Leave this world or I’ll kill you and incinerate what’s left.”

“Lets see you try,” he said cracking his neck, ”Omnitrix, NRG,” another burst of light and he was now encased in a hulking suit of armor, with three glowing eye slits.

Hmm, interesting. I grinned underneath the darkness of my hood. “So you’ve become a tin can? That’s threatening.” I said sarcastically.

“Thats what you say now,” Jason rumbled, his voice now heavily accented. Unfortunately, his lack of peripheral vision lead to a hoof slamming him across the side of the head.

“I will break your bones like plaster, should you try to harm my master.” Zecora rhymed as she bounded off of him, taking up her fighting pose.

“I doubt that. This armor is harder than diamond. Only Taydenite can damage it and I doubt you have any of that,”

“Enough talk!” I let loose a gout of fire, melting the stone beneath his feet. His weight handled the rest as the ancient floor fell apart beneath him. I walked over to the edge of the new hole with Zecora to see him on his back like a turtle. “You’re going to have to pick a form that’s more mobile than that if you want to kill me.” I laughed.

“You mean like this?” he asked, flying out of the armor. His form was pure energy, barely contained by the green suit it wore. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he thrust his hands forward, sending a beam of energy at the two of us.

Zecora dodged to the side, and I intended to do the same if not for the fact that half my body seemed to want to go in the opposite direction. The blast hit me dead on, slamming me into a wall behind me. I heard the snap of metal as my dagger hit the ground at an off angle and broke. I picked up what remained of the hilt, glaring at it with anger before putting it in it’s sheath.

What the hell was that Nightmare?!

“I was trying to keep you from getting hit. You’re the one who went in the wrong direction.” I grumbled and stood back up, the blast having scorched me a bit but my cloak took most the blow. Twilight knows her stuff, I’ll give her that.

“Alright, I’ll admit you’ve got some skill. Don’t think that you getting a hit means this will be easy.”

“Fine then, don’t blame me if you can’t have kids later,” Jason shouted, firing another, stronger blast.

Just let me handle this one! I hissed in my mind as I waved my now empty right hand in front of me. The energy arced around behind me and was thrown back at Jason. He just absorbed it, a smirk on his face.

“He’s obviously made of the energy.” Nightmare sneered. Shut up! In my anger my arms coated themselves in flame which I quickly engulfed my foe in.

“Why thank you, I hadn’t eaten all day,” Jason said with a grin, growing larger as he fed on the flames.

“When you are done helping our enemy instead of harming him, perhaps we should try this my way?” I grumbled but let her take control, taking a back seat to the outside world. I watched as she called forth a couple of shadow spears and threw each one at Jason.

He fired another beam, dissipating most of them. “Come on, you can do better than that, can’t you?”

I figured that would piss Nightmare off, but she seemed oddly happy. She chuckled darkly through my body, giving my voice a creepy effect. The next thing I knew the ceiling collapsed on Jason, sending him back down to his armor.

“See? That’s how you deal with someone like that.” She spoke out loud. I just grumbled mentally, not wanting to give her the satisfaction.

“I wouldn’t say you dealt with me exactly,” Jason said as he phased through the rubble, now in the form of a strange ghost-like creature.

Alright, shapeshifting just isn’t fair. Nightmare muttered an agreement as we switched places once again. “You aren’t really taking this seriously, are you?”

“Should I be?”

“Well considering the fate you are threatening me with right now, yes. You should.” I didn’t wait for a response before throwing a lightning bolt at him, hoping his intangibility would take a moment to activate.

It went right through him, “Well, that was a strange feeling,” he looked at the windows, his eye taking on a sinister grin. “How about we make this place a little darker?”

“Is he really suggesting giving me more shadows to use?” It did seem odd but I just shrugged.

“There’s always the basement I knocked you into twice already.”

“Lets use that,” he said, sinking into the floor.

I walked over to the previously-made hole. “Zecora, despite how good you are in physical combat, I don’t think that will help in this case. Inform Gnarl what is happening.” She nodded and ran off, leaving me to leap into the darkness below.

Other than the light coming from the hole, it was practically pitch black. “I really can’t believe you let me come down here,” Jason called out.

“I can’t believe you suggested it.” Nightmare spoke through me. As she said this, shadows began to bend around me, ready to deflect whatever attack may come.

“Here in the darkness, I can use my true power,” he called, cackling. “Lets do this!”

Nightmare pulled a spear from the shadows surrounding her. “Lets.”

There was a sickening crack, followed by a series of meaty sounds. “Are you ready?”

Wow, dramatic much? Nightmare said nothing though, continuing to scan the darkness around her.

“Boo,” came his voice from right over my shoulder. Nightmare reacted, lashing out with tendrils of shadow as she turned and swung her spear.

He caught it, looking at me. His body had changed significantly. His hands were now clawed, tentacles hung from his chest, he glared at his with his single eye, set into an upside down skull. He smirked before backhanding me across the face.

He just slapped a bitch technically. Unfortunately for him, Nightmare was less than amused. Her spear exploded with spikes in Jason’s hand, piercing his claws. She then proceeded to use the shadows around her to stab at him while she jumped back into the darkness.

“Neat little trick you have there,” Jason said, melting into the shadows as well. For a minute nothing seemed to happen, the air thick with tension before I finally had enough.

Are you going to do something or are you just going to stand there and wait for him to attack?

“A good defense is better than a great offense.”

I beg to differ. I retook control, the shadows dropping around me as my body was lit up by flames. “Come out, come out wherever you are!”

“Gah!” Jason shrieked in pain, moving away from the light.

“How ironic!” I laughed. “The hero can’t stand being in the light!” I pressed my advantage, changing to electricity and blasting holes in the ceiling to let in the sun.

Jason quickly changed forms, now a large ugly green thing with a cage on his head. He slowly moved toward me, the cage starting to open up, filling the air with an eerie creaking.

Seeing as he was fine with whatever level light there was in the room, I changed my attack target to him before freezing when I caught sight of his face. I could feel Nightmare disconnect from my eyesight immediately as I covered my eyes as it felt like they were on fire.

“Holy shit man! Why the hell would you even… That’s just…” I felt about ready to puke on the floor as I bent over on my hands and knees. Nightmare, please please tell me you can remove the memory of… that?!

I was suddenly grabbed and slammed into a wall. Jason had become a four armed red creature, using the upper two to pin my arms to the wall, while he proceeded to slam his lower fists into my stomach repeatedly.

By the time he stopped Nightmare had wiped my memory of… whatever that was. I couldn’t remember anyways. I was definitely not in good condition and with my arms pinned, that left me little options. Despite the blood I could taste on my tongue I smirked at Jason. “You think… I can’t take a little beating?”

“You are holding up like a champ,” he said, moving back before shoulder ramming me through the wall. Alright… that hurt a bit.

“I’m trying to cut off the signals your nerves are sending but this isn’t easy.” Nightmare said, though I could barely hear her through the ringing in my ears.

“Had enough?” Jason asked, peering into the hole. I barely managed to put my arms underneath me so I could glare at him.

“I’m not… letting you… seal me away. I’d rather die first!”

“Really?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. I was about to answer when suddenly a small dusting of rocks dropped on his head, causing him to look up. I could hear the sound of stone cracking just barely over my pain. That pain was only multiplied when it suddenly felt like my right leg had been crushed.

“Damn it!” he shouted, moving to my right. I saw a few rocks fly into sight but otherwise couldn’t really tell what was happening. I just felt so tired…

“Wake up damn it! You’ll die with your injuries if you fall asleep now!” With Nightmare’s declaration came boost of adrenaline, giving me the energy to put my left leg underneath me though my right seemed to ignore my commands. Fuck. What is wrong with me?

“Hey don’t die,” Jason said, tossing one last rock in view. Why the hell is he throwing rocks?

“Fuck...”Jason said shaking his head. He shifted into a large black insect, spitting something on my leg. “That should keep you from bleeding out,”

“Get away from me!” I growled, trying to push myself away only to succeed in throwing myself on my back. That’s when I finally got a real good look at my right leg, which essentially looked like a mass of Jason’s green gunk and blood. The combination did not smell pleasant.

“This is your fault,” Jason said, looking at me with a pity that only disgusted me further. A low rumble began as tremors shook through the ground.

“We should get out of here,” he said, with a frown. I would have just cursed at him further but a chunk of stone landing a few feet away changed my mood just a little.

“... Fine.” He grabbed me with his magic, flying through a hole in the ceiling before the basement collapsed. We landed just outside castle as the sounds of destruction ceased.

“Well... I suppose I should take you to a hospital,” he said, looking at my leg.

“If he does that, we might as well be dead.” I silently agreed with Nightmare while I considered my choice in actions. Jason began looking around, supposedly to find where civilization is, and I used this to my advantage to grab the green medal attached to his chest.

“Let go of that!” he shouted, his eyes wide. Unfortunately for him it was too late as I grinned evilly. I let loose all the electricity I could in my state, causing the medal to change to a yellow color. “You idiot!” he shouted as the medal built up energy.

All of a sudden, my bandoleer began to react with the energy in the medal, the transfer of power seeming to cause some kind of feedback effect. Before either of us could do anything the massive reservoir that was building up was released and the forest around us seemed to melt away. The medallion was ripped from my hand as the two of us were picked up by whatever magic was happening, and the next thing I knew I slammed into a brick wall.

My vision was so blurred I could only see a mesh of colors, my ears were filled with ringing that even Nightmare couldn’t speak over, and my body was too weak to try and move. Damn… that bastard… I will remember this… Jason… That was my last thought before I was plunged into cold darkness.

Author's Notes:

So for those who noticed that this story was in the group "The War of Understanding", you probably saw something like this coming. This is a crossover with shagohad12's And then there were 10...er...67. You should all go check him out cause he's awesome and stuff.

Also, for those who've never seen Ben 10, here's a list of Jason's forms so you aren't confused.

NRG (both the armored behemoth and the energy being)
Ghostfreak (both the first ghost and the clawed one)
Toepick (the hideous beyond belief thing)
Four Arms (the red guy with four arms (duh))
Razor (a changeling)