Author's Notes:

This is a crossover with shagohad12. Big thanks to him for helping out with this chapter. Be sure to check out his work here.

I looked at the strange, metal cylinder in my hand and regarded it with disbelief. I had no idea what the message could mean. Was there really some truth in those rumors? Were the others who had disappeared from conventions in worlds similar to the one I had found myself in? I had to admit, the idea of finding someone else to talk to about all this did sound like a blessing. Though a part of me considered it might be too good to be true. In the end I decided to take it to Celestia and Luna and investigate it with them. I figured that if this was an elaborate trap, then the three of us would be able to handle it.

I walked down the halls of the Princesses’ new castle, staring at the cylinder all the while. The more I thought about it the more my curiosity grew. Before I knew it I was standing in front of the doors to the throne room. I pushed the doors aside and walked up to the thrones to see that Celestia was holding her day court. I decided to use my authority and walked past the citizens to go straight to her.

“Vash, we are pleased to see thee,” she greeted with her usual grin. “Though we are surprised that thou hast pushed past our citizens who art looking for help. What has caused this odd behavior?”

“Well, Celestia, something strange has happened and I’d like to see if you and Luna would be willing to help me investigate.”

“Considering we defeated Discord not too long ago, define strange.”

“Strange as in a strange object appearing in front of me with a message from someone saying they’re willing to help,” I explained as I held up the cylinder for her to see.

“We shall wake Luna at once. This certainly is strange.”

Luna was a bit cranky at first but she understood once Celestia and I explained everything and the three of us gathered in the library to examine the cylinder further. Luna picked it up off of one of the tables and rolled the cylinder around in her hands.

“This… thing seems to be made of metal, but it looks to have been forged with techniques that we have never seen.”

“True, it does truly boggle the mind,” Celestia agreed with a nod as she frowned slightly at the foreign object. “Vash, thou art from another world, hast thou seen anything like this there?”

I took the object from Luna and pointed to the symbol on it. “Yeah, this symbol is something I’ve seen before but I’d only seen it from a story, not in real life.”

“Well explain the story to us, how would the device work there?” Luna asked.

“Well, if you pressed down on the symbol something is supposed to happen,” I explained as I slammed my palm against the symbol in demonstration. “But that was just a story so nothing should happen.” All of a sudden the cylinder started to react causing me to drop it in shock.

It gave off a bright flash, being replaced by two arguing creatures. One was a quadruped, with an insectoid body while the other appeared to be a human male.

“You invaded a freaking town! Do you know how insane that is?” the human shouted, throwing his hands out.

“I did what I had to do to keep Rarity safe from a cult!” the ‘insect’ shouted back, her voice oddly echoing. “It’s not my fault you went gallivanting to the Empire!”

“I was helping Son...” he paused, turning to look at us, his eyes a little wide, “Oh uh... hey...”

“Oh great, Displaced,” the female said with a snort, “That’s just what we need right now.”

“Forgive us... we were uh... having a bit of a spat...” the human said, coughing a little, “I’m Jason and this is my wife Chrysalis.”

“Charmed,” Chrysalis said with a scowl.

I didn’t quite know how to respond for a moment. There was quite a bit to process in the thirty seconds these two had been in the room. One being that this guy Jason had said that he was married to this strange, bug-horse. Then again she seemed intelligent enough and whatever made the two of them happy and all that. I collected myself and put on my best grin.

“Hello, I’m Vash and these are my friends…”

“We already know that they’re Celestia and Luna,” Chrysalis interrupted as she held up a hoof to stop me.

“Just uh... bit weirded out by the whole anthro thing,” Jason said, giving the two an uncertain look.

I just shrugged and kept up my grin. “Hey, they certainly beat that manticore I ran into when I first woke up here. Oh and Discord, these two are definitely normal compared to him.” Celestia and Luna frowned at me for that comment and I let out a nervous chuckle before turning back to Jason. “So, what’s up with the two of you being here? And did Chrysalis say something about a Displaced or something?” I asked as I scratched the side of my head.

“You my friend are a Displaced,” Jason said, turning to me, “You dressed up as Vash The Stampede, went to a con, bought something from some creepy guy and ended up here, am I right?”

I pulled out my gun and looked at it for a moment before holstering it. “I might’ve, oh and there was this creepy smiling guy who gave me a sales pitch about the merchant’s stall, is that part par for the course too?” I asked

“No,” Jason said, shaking his head, “Never heard of a smiling guy involved with the Merchant,” he said with a shrug. “But uh... you said Discord right? You didn’t happen to just seal him away did you?” Chrysalis smirked before Jason shot her a look, “Don’t you dare Chrissy.”

“Killjoy...” she mumbled, looking away with a pout.

“Anyway uh...” Jason paused again, giving me a look, “You... you realize you're no longer human right?”

I gripped my metal left arm and my eyes widened in shock. My thoughts from days before ringing in my head. I knew I had changed, the arm and my new height were testament enough to that, but not being human anymore… some part of me just didn’t see that. Of course I did my best to hide my shock with a grin. “Okay, that certainly is hard to believe, but maybe you should explain?” I suggested with a laugh.

“You BECAME your costume,” Jason started, walking over, “Vash is not human, he is a Plant, which is what you are now,” he held up his right arm, which had a watch like device on it. It chirped, passing a yellow light over me. “Yup, you ain't human.”

Celestia and Luna’s eyes widened in shock at this revelation but I just stood there with the same grin. Of course that was just the outside. On the inside my mind had come to a screeching halt. If I had really become my costume then that meant I had all of Vash’s abilities. [All of them. So I kept up my grin and walked over to Jason and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, do you mind if I have a brief chat with you in private?” I asked. Jason nodded and we walked deeper into the library. Once I thought we were far enough away from the others I leaned towards him and started to whisper. “Were you serious back there? About me becoming my costume?”

“Yes I am serious,” Jason said, looking into my eyes, “You're a Displaced, one of Yggdrasil knows how many. There's a Nemesis, great guy by the way, a Pyramid Head, a Jesse and James, a Mewtwo, you name it, there's a Displaced for it.”

“And when you say that I became my costume, do you mean what I think you mean?”

“You are Vash, down to the genetic level,” he held up his arm, “I got lucky, I just bought this thing, doesn’t make my life any less insane,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair. “Also, you should count yourself lucky, normally when a Displaced gets sent to this time period, they get sealed in stone like Discord.”

I was starting to get a little annoyed. I dropped my grin and turned serious for a moment. “Okay, but there’s one more thing I need to know. If I really am Vash down to the genetic level, then does that mean…” I asked as I gripped my right arm, hoping he’d get the picture.

“Yes, that’s what that means,” Jason said, crossing his arms, “You best learn how to use it before you put a hole in the moon.”

My mind screeched to a halt, something that was happening constantly since I had woken up in this world. If I really did have the angel arm, then there was no telling what could happen. And considering this was a world filled with magic users who could potentially do something to my mind. It seemed like it was only a matter of time before one of them caused it to fire. Flashes of images came unbidden into my mind. Scenes of destruction and horrified citizens as they wept over what had once been their homes. I pulled out my revolver and glared at it for a moment. Maybe if I just destroyed it, I would never have to worry about anything like that happening. Surely it was more trouble than it was worth?

“Hey,” Jason said, giving me a light smack, “I bet you’re thinking about losing the arm huh? Don’t.” he said, looking intently into my eyes, “This world has some insane shit in it, you are going to need that arm.”

“And what if something happens and I lose control?” I spat at him. “Would you want to have the destruction of an entire city on your conscience?”

“Would you want a soul sucking demon from the pits of hell stealing the very magic from these ponies?” he countered, “Because that will happen and you will need a way to stop him. But,” he said, his gaze softening, “I can help.”

“Yeah, you said that in your message. And if that watch is what I think it is then I know exactly how you would help. And you’re wrong about me needing this arm. I’ve seen what Celestia, Luna and many other ponies can do. But,” I said with a sigh, “I’ll hold off on doing anything too rash,” I told him as my face returned to its normal grin. “After all, this is the only organic arm I have left,” I started with a chuckle and devious smirk. “I don’t even want to think what alone time would be like with a metal prosthetic.”

“I know someone you could ask,” Jason said with a laugh. ”But anyway, hey!” Jason called out to Celestia and Luna, “I need to get some things, mostly metals, a forge and your best mage.”

Celestia and Luna looked between each other with an odd look. “And what dost thou plan on doing with these things?” Luna asked carefully.

“I’m going to make Vash a power regulator,” Jason said, crossing his arms, “I’d just conjure one up as Hodgepodge but I don’t think you guys want to see another Draconequus at the moment.”

“I’ll let you do that, I’ll stay here with Lulu and Tia,” Chrysalis said with a smirk, “I bet they’d love so see what our versions of them are like, wouldn’t you?” she asked, looking at Celestia.

I walked up to Jason and put a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll help you with the power regulator. This is to help me after all. Besides, I know my way around a forge and I’m sure that I can figure out anything I don’t understand.” I told him with my grin.

“We still need someone well versed in magic,” Jason said, shaking his head, “I’d get Twilight but... she won’t be born for a few centuries...” he mumbled, stroking his chin, “Is uh... Starswirl here?”

“Yup, he’s one of Celestia and Luna’s advisors and their Court Mage. Do you want Clover’s help too, or will he be enough?” I asked.

“I think they’ll do fine,” he said, nodding, “Omnitrix, Grey Matter,” he vanished in a flash, being replaced by a small grey creature, “Well let’s get started,” he said, leaping up onto my shoulder.

I led Jason to Starswirl and Clover’s study and explained the situation to them. It took some time to get Clover to stop panicking, but Starswirl and I were able to calm her down quickly enough. Once we were done with explanations I led the group down to my and Hammerfall’s forge area using one of the secret slides I had insisted on putting in to get there quickly, and to think Luna called my secret passages stupid and childish. Once we were in the forge I let Jason down onto a table and gave him some parchment and quills so he could start sketching and explaining what we were supposed to do.

“And don’t ask me to explain this stuff,” Jason said after he had finished with the sketching, “I just... do things as Grey Matter, I don't really understand it all myself. I need you,” he pointed at me, “to get the metal ready and you,” he pointed at Starswirl, “I need you to enchant some storage crystals.” He looked up at us with a little glare. “Well? Get on with it!”

“Yeesh, you’re pushy when you’re in this form,” I told him as I picked up the sketch and went to get the necessary materials.

I then took off my duster and put on my metalworking apron over the tunic that Celestia’s seamstress had made for me. I then started to whistle a little tune to myself as I grabbed the metal and my tools. I put them down in a neat and orderly way and turned to my forge with a grin. I lit a fire at the base of the forge and allowed it to heat up for a moment while I decided where to start on my end. I stopped my thought process for a moment to see how Starswirl was doing on his end.

He was dutifully enchanting the crystals as instructed and was even explaining the proper way to do it to Clover. Every once in a while Clover would nod and follow her master’s example. I had to smile as I watched the two of them. Starswirl was definitely the type to turn anything into a lesson. Kind of like a magical Mr. Miyagi… except without the whole tricking Clover into doing chores for him at the same time thing... well, as far as I knew anyway. With that thought out of the way I then turned back to my work and started on heating up the metal.

Jason was off in the corner, fiddling with some wires, his little hands moving like lightning. “You know... last time I did something like this, I was making a friend a new pair of legs.”

“I’m afraid to ask, but why did they need a new pair of legs?” I asked.

“She got them cut off by a crazed dictator while saving my life,” he said, his voice getting dark. “I turned him into paste.”

I nodded at his response. “I can understand that. But there was a reason why I picked this costume above all the god-like entities that pop culture has to offer. I never want to take a life. I personally believe that it’s not my place to say who gets to live or die, no matter how bad they may be.” I told Jason with determination in my eyes.

“You're a better man than I,” he admitted, letting out a sigh. “Me? I’m a warrior to the end, I’ll die in battle, or at least I hope. I have Yggdrasil knows how long to work that out.”

I started to laugh at Jason’s response. “Me, a better man? Not really, I just have a moral compass that I learned from a tv show that I watched years ago. I can guarantee you that I wanted to kill Discord when I saw what he had done to Celestia and Luna in their first battle. I just don’t act on those urges,” I finished with a shrug.

“He’s actually a nice guy, at least mine is,” Jason said, looking up from his work, “Got himself a rather nice mare. Still a bit of an annoyance though.” He went back to his work, mumbling to himself about things I couldn’t really comprehend.

I found that hard to believe but I ignored it.

“They have a kid on the way.” he added, pausing to wipe the sweat off his brow.

My mind then drifted off to see an image of Discord holding a half-pony half… whatever he was abomination. And then I realized that he had been naked when we had fought him and he didn’t seem to have… I stopped myself before I could go any further with that train of thought and turned away from my work to look Jason in the eye.

“Who in their right mind would want to have a kid with Discord?”

“The Element of Kindness,” Jason spoke up. “She reformed him and they hooked up. I’d say ponies changed him for the better.”

The Element of Kindness part confused me but I ignored that part as I turned back to my work with a smile. “Well that’s odd, but I guess that just makes me all the more adamant about my position on killing. If even Discord can be reformed, then anyone can,” I beamed.

“Well, I’m done here,” he said hopping off his table. He moved over to Starswirl and Clover, tapping the Omnitrix and shifting into a four legged unicorn. “You need any help?” he asked, though the voice of Bob Dylan left his lips.

“We are almost done here as well. Perhaps, Vash would like thy help?” Starswirl suggested.

“Hey, I can handle things just fine here!” I called out. “This just takes a lot of time otherwise the metal will be too weak and break with a stiff breeze.”

“Okay then,” Jason said as he reverted to normal. The Omnitrix chirped, passing a yellow light over Starswirl. “Alright, was not expecting that to happen, but I suppose the DNA of an anthro pony is different enough from the four legged kind to warrant a scan... I should totally get one of Celestia or Luna...”

This caught my attention and I quirked an eyebrow at him. “And why do you want a scan of one of them? If you already have a scan of something like Discord then you wouldn’t need their magic. Or is there something else about their form that interests you?” I asked as I slid over to him with a devious smirk.

“I’m married,” he said flatly, “But I scan everything I can. Never know what forms will come in handy, plus if any of them go extinct, the Omnitrix can bring them back from their DNA.”

“I know, I just felt like messing with you. Plus, I don’t know what you and your wife do behind closed doors,” I said with a chuckle. “From the sound of things it seems like both of you can change your shape, who knows how crazy the two of you get.”

“Yeah, me, Chrissy and Rarity do get into some kinky stuff,” he said leaning on the wall with a slight grin.

My eyes widened as he said that. “Wait a minute when you say that do you mean… are you?” I asked unable to complete my sentence.

“Polygamus? Yup,” he said with a nod, “Wedding was awesome... at least after we stopped Ansem from eating the world. Had a bunch of other Displaced there for the ceremony,” he turned to me, “On the subject of Displaced, you should probably make a token.”

I then placed an arm around his shoulder with a grin. “This token thing can come later, I have a very important question to ask. Polygamy may be accepted in your world, but what do you think are the chances that it’s accepted here?” I whispered to him.

“You’d have to ask,” he said with a shrug, “But, you need to know something, something very, very, very important,” he looked into my eyes, a dark look forming on his face. “Elements from Trigun will appear in this universe, most likely? You’ll have to fight a version of Knives.”

This caused the grin on my face to falter and I let out a sigh. “You couldn’t just let me have my fantasy of having a group of wives with Celestia, Luna and who knows how many other of the beautiful mares that live in this world. Still, I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks for the warning.”

“Hey, I’m just looking out for you,” Jason said, pulling away, popping up the dial of his Omnitrix. “Now... I have a Plant scan I have to try out and name.”

“Well, have fun with that,” I said with a sigh as I silently agreed with Chrysalis about Jason being a killjoy. “By the way, I’m almost done with the metal so we can finish up this power regulator whenever you’re ready.”

“Well, let’s get on with that first,” he said, shifting back into Grey Matter. He hopped up onto his table and grabbed whatever he had been working on, jumping over to Starswirl and Clover. “Just waitin’ on you,” he said, looking at me.

“Alright, don’t get your tiny panties in a twist,” I told him as I put the finishing touches on the metal and held it out for him. “Now do your thing. I’m curious on how this is going to turn out.”

He gave a little smirk, starting to put it all together, his hands a blur. “Alright, it’s done,” he said, holding up a crystal studded arm band, “Now let me see your arm.”

I did as he said as he asked and held out my right arm for Jason to see. “So, this will help me prevent… that from happening?” I asked.

“Yup,” he said, jumping up onto my arm, attaching the ring above my elbow, “See, when you power up the arm, the crystals will absorb it and activate the dampening spell inside them, preventing any more energy from gathering. You may need to replace the crystals at some point but I don’t think Swirl over there would mind.”

“Of course not,” Starswirl said with a nod. “If this will truly help Vash then I’d be more than happy to offer up my assistance. Though, may I ask why we are making something like this for Vash? He has no magic that one would normally need a dampening spell like this.”

“You want to tell him?” Jason asked, looking up at me, making some more adjustments to the band.

I turned to Starswirl with a smile and told him, “If this works like it’s supposed to, then you won’t ever have to find out. Now, please don’t tell Celestia and Luna about this. I don’t want to worry them over what should be nothing.”

Starswirl didn’t seem to like that answer, but he accepted it and gave a slight nod.

“That should do it,” Jason said, jumping to the floor and reverting to normal, “Well, anything else you need any help with?”

“No,” I said as I looked over the band. “The castle is finished and things have been pretty quiet ever since we defeated Discord. Actually, you could explain that token thing now. That sounded like it was important.”

“Every Displaced has a token, it lets other Displaced summon us. This includes guys who decided to become monsters and psychopaths,” Jason started. “We each make our token out of something to represents us, mine is a Unitrix core.”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out one of my bullets. “Will this work?”

“Anything will work.”

“Okay, so what am I supposed to do now? Is there like a magic word or something to make it work?”

“Just focus on it and make a phrase. Something like your mission statement,” Jason explained, “And don’t make it something stupid like Wade, his phrase is just pathetic.”

I grinned at him as I tried to focus on the bullet. “I make no promises.” I told him before I started on my message. “I am Vash the Stampede. I am a hunter of peace. If you fight to defend peace and the lives of others then I will be more than willing to help. Just call on me and together we will create… LOVE AND PEACE!” I cried as I struck a pose. With the message finished I then turned to Jason with a goofy smile. “How was that?”

“A lot better than Wade’s,” Jason said with a smirk, “Now we just have to send that out into the multiverse.”

“And how do we do that?”

“I’m going to change into Hodgepodge, for the love of Yggdrasil do not put my ass in stone,” he said, shifting into an almost exact copy of Discord, though his eyes were green.

“Hi!” Hodgepodge said with a big grin, taking my hand and shaking it vigorously.

I didn’t let this bother me and just shook his hand, returning the shake with as much enthusiasm as Hodgepodge. “I’m guessing your personality changes with some of your forms, huh?” I asked curiously.

“Nope!” he said with a laugh, “I’m an entirely separate person! He needs someone to help him run Alien X so the watch created me! Anyway, we have to get that token of yours out there or you’ll only be able to do incoming crossovers.”

“What was that?”

“Oh, nothing you could comprehend,” he said, grabbing the token and looking it over, “Not bad,” he drew his lion paw back before punching the air, which shattered and revealed a black abyss behind it. He flung the bullet through the hole, “Bah! I was aiming for a screwball, not a sidewinder,” he pouted, crossing his arms.

“I think you already have enough of a screwball in that head of yours.” I told him with a chuckle.

“Oh hush, you,” he snorted, flicking my head. “Don’t incur the wrath of the meme god.”

This just caused my grin to widen. “Oh please, I bet you skip leg day.”

“Do you even lift bro?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

I narrowed my eyes at him as well and the two of us continued to stare one another down for a while. But then I burst out laughing and doubled over and looked up at Hodgepodge with a grin.

“Heh,” he laughed, giving me a smile in return, “You’re alright Mr. Stampede. Now we have a Plant form to name, wanna help?”

I picked myself up and scratched my chin in thought. “Hmm, well the only two were named Vash and Knives. So maybe something weapon based like Knives’ name would work?” I suggested.

“Actually, there were more in the manga, Domina, Telsa and uh... give me a moment...” he said, pulling out a copy of said manga. He skimmed through a few pages, “Ah, it was Chronica.” he said, tossing the book aside, which exploded into snow.

“Okay, so Telsa sounds similar to Tesla who was a famous scientist and inventor who dealt with electricity. And considering Plant is another term for places that make energy maybe something dealing with an inventor or energy could work?”

“Hmm.... how’s about Gram?” he asked, tapping his chin.

“I like it, it’s short, and is based off of someone who changed the world.” I said with a thumbs up. “Now I’m kind of curious what this Plant form looks like. I mean, it is based off of my DNA after all,” I finished with a chuckle.

“Let’s see shall we?” he asked, tapping the Omnitrix and shifting forms again. Standing there was a young man with blonde hair, decked out in a green body suit.

“Well now,” he spoke with the voice of Clint Eastwood. “This is something.” He flexed his fingers, looking himself over. “Not very imaginative with the clothes however.”

‘I’ve got to try something,’ I thought. I reached out with my mind to see if Jason’s new form had a telepathic link like Vash and Knives had. ‘Gram, can you hear me, or can I make jokes about you and not get you angry? Starting with the fact that your new form isn’t even half as handsome as I am.’

‘Don’t make me shift into my Mewtwo form, Vash,’ Jason said, crossing his arms and giving me an unamused look.

‘Hi Vash!’ Hodgepodge called over the link.

I beamed at this discovery. ‘This is so cool, do you think you have the telekinesis like Knives? Or no considering there’s no canonical instance of Vash himself using it? Oh, and hi Hodgepodge, how did you get on this frequency?’

‘We all share the same mind ya tit!’ an irritated British voice responded.

‘Hey, there’s no need to use something so beautiful as an insult. Also, which form is that? And why is it so British?’

“That’s Hughes,” Jason said, shaking his head. “I think it’s time we got going Vash, me and Chrysalis have to have a frank talk about her decision to invade a town.” He tapped the Omnitrix, returning to normal.

“Okay, it was nice meeting you, and thanks for everything,” I said as I extended a hand for him to shake. “If you ever want my help with anything, just call me. I’m a full-fledged Displaced after all.”

“I’m not leaving right this moment, I still have to collect Chrissy,” Jason said with a laugh, taking my hand anyway. “Shall we?” he asked, giving it a shake.

“Way to ruin the moment ya big killjoy. Fine, let’s go find your wife so you can get the hell out of my dimension,” I told him with a good natured smirk.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, moving toward the exit, “Nice meeting you two,” he called to Starswirl and Clover.

They waved back and said their goodbyes, though I’m fairly sure a part of them was glad to see our confounding visitor leave. I then led him through the castle and back towards the library hoping that the three mares were still there. When we arrived we saw that they were, in fact, still there, though Chrysalis seemed to be in the form of a quadruped version of Luna and was trying to get a rise out of the two of them.

“You two are no fun,” Chrysalis said with a snort, reverting to her normal form in a burst of green flame. “Oh hey, Jay.” She trotted over to her husband, giving him a nuzzle.

“Don’t think I’m not still mad at you,” he said, stroking her mane. “Well... it was fun.”

“Yeah, it was. Like I said earlier, thanks for everything. It was nice meeting the both of you. And hey, maybe I’ll meet your counterpart, Chrysalis.” I suggested with a grin.

“I don’t have a counterpart,” Jason said, moving over to Celestia, taking a quick scan, “Some advice Celestia? Make peace with the Changelings as soon as you possibly can, it’ll do wonders for both your kingdoms. Also, don’t screw up Sunset.”

“We will be sure to follow that first bit of advice, but who is this Sunset of which thou speakest? Or art thou insinuating that we cannot do our job with the sun?” she asked with a glare.

“I’m not insinuating that you suck at your job, what I’m telling you is that, one day you’ll meet a filly named Sunset. You’ll know her, don’t screw her up,” he said cryptically before turning to me. “To get us out of your hair, all ya gotta do is say, ‘Jason, our contract is complete.’” He put his arm around Chrysalis, looking at me.

“Jason, our contract is complete. Now get out and stay out,” I told him with a smirk.

Jason just smirked before he and Chrysalis vanished in a flash of light, their token falling to the floor. I reached down, picked it up, and smiled. Jason was probably going to be the first of many interesting characters that I would meet in Equestria.