Chapter 6: Gathering the Allies [Co-written by: Tempest_Flare]

Doom Slayer Reborn: Fall of Equestria

Chapter 6: Gathering the Allies

As she soared through the Sky Ayumi noticed she wasn't alone. A massive reptilian beast that looks like an overly large mosasaurus seemed to be soaring by her. "Looks like Danin is taking advantage of the multiversal nature of the Doom hell Aaron! The DMC 3 Leviathan is following me!" She sent through her link.

"You're fucking kidding me!" Aaron said aloud in response. "It took both me and Dante a few minutes to kill one from the outside! I know you can handle it but take care to not cause collateral damage!"

Twily and the others jumped at his exclamation, they weren't privy to the mental connection that a ki user could establish to another's mind. "Aaron what's going on? You suddenly jumped up and started ranting!" The purple Alicorn said. "You're scaring us a little."

Aaron looks as if he had only just realized where he was. "Sorry girls, Ayumi gave me a heads up on a new bunch of enemies we are going to have to fight at some point. Dannin has made use of the unique property of the hell the Cyberdramon comes from. Trust me when I say him realizing this is not good, not good at all."

"That is quite true but it seems that he only has limited access to other versions of hell at this point and seems to be mainly pulling from Imora at this point." Vega commented through Aaron's helmet. "Those are the only two versions so far if it gets any more widespread he may become such a threat that even Davoth would be eclipsed."

"Yeah, even he didn't realize the full extent of his realm, thankfully. Otherwise I'd have had an even more unending fight back then" Aaron said, a grimace visible even through his nearly opaque visor.

At this point Ayumi had drawn her twin gunblades, throwing them out as they both manifested into their Zanpakuto spirit forms. The three of them wielding their power equally.

"Triple strike girls!" Ayumi ordered her weapon spirits. "Slice and dice. We need to end this fast. We don't want to get caught in the gluttonous realm if we can help it!" The other two nodded as all three of them black purple and gold respectively the three practically becoming comets of Aura as they turned around and attacked the Leviathan smashing into it and through it multiple times in rapid succession the beast quickly dissolved from the catastrophic damage the three experienced demon slayers/gods and much more besides cause to the creature making sure that none of it hit the ground before it was destroyed.

"It's dead and gone with no collateral damage thankfully, but expect the seven hells to show up. With their prison gone Gluttony will most likely show up soon." Ayumi sent as her gunblades disappeared making the physical forms of her Zanpakuto spirits vanish as well.

“Good.” Aaron said, yawning out of the blue. “Despite fighting the demons earlier, I guess my earlier theory about my body is not the way it is.” Everyone looked at Aaron, confused. “Since I’m reincarnated from the original Doom Slayer, my body is not accustomed to running indefinitely with Argent Energy yet like he was. He had millennia of experience, whereas I only have one battle’s worth of it. I think I’ll take a nap for the night. Tempest?” Said unicorn looked at him. “I want a report on any and all survivors found, as well as an assessment of the damage to the town in general, by the morning. Can you do that, soldier?”

“You got it, boss!” Tempest said, saluting Aaron, who returned the salute.

“But before I forget…” Aaron said, firing an purplish energy ball from his hand into the sky above the town. The energy ball then expanded to form an impenetrable barrier encompassing the entire town. “This is God of Destruction energy, otherwise called the Hakai. It’s keyed to the energy of the demons and Caribou, so the town will be safe. Let’s get some rest while we are able to, everypony.”

—

*3 hours later, Aaron’s POV 3rd Person, Dreamscape…

Sounds of steel clashing with flesh and humming energy brought Aaron to a lucid state. "So you're the great warrior who entered our world, the one who rewrote reality itself." A husky female voice said. "I'm not impressed."

“Huh?” Aaron said, confused at what the voice said. When he looked down at his body, he saw it looked like how he did long before he began training with William: dark-blue and black shorts, his old Army National Guard shirt even though he wasn’t able to serve in the military due to his autism, and black shoes with black magnetic clip laces. The only difference is that he also looked like how he did when he was severely overweight, like 300 pounds pre-diabetic overweight.

“Ah, son of a bitch!” Aaron said, the curse slipping out unintentionally. “I guess I haven’t gotten my mental training down yet. I swear this isn’t what I look like anymore.” Then he realized the sounds he was hearing, his Slayer’s rage growing which, fortunately, turned his dream body into his real form. “Sounds like you could use a hand… Nightmare Moon. But I can feel something different about you. No need to tell me. I can tell the change had a positive impact on you.”

"It wasn't exactly positive but the beasties here have made me determined to defend my domain." Nightmare said her blade burning as she quickly turned around and sliced through a purple imp like creature. "As you can see, your influence on the world has given me armor like yours and a blade I find curious yet extremely powerful." Another of the beasts appeared rapidly Nightmare sheathing her crucible in favor of pulling out another argent weapon. "Now though I wish I still had Starfall, this weapon is very satisfying as well." Suddenly the sound and feel of a meteor crashing to the ground hit the both of them making Nightmare smile behind her visor. "Let us go Starfall has returned to me!"

"You lead, I'll follow." Aaron said, smiling. "I don't know my way around the dreamscape, so I'll follow you."

"Look around you this is your dream the beasts have shredded all dream bubbles and made the dreamscape one shared space. So now it has similar laws to reality and the time that Luna brought all of Ponyville together into one shared dream meaning a mental image can and does affect this world. But there is still gravity, air and other such physical laws that can be mostly immutable." Nightmare said her left arm extended to show that the area had no borders yet it looked similar to a place Aaron would recognize.

"I want to see how bad Canterlot is right now." Aaron said, his voice taking a grim tone while scowling. "According to Twilight, it was bad before she summoned me here with the Dragon Balls. It's not that I don't believe her, but I want to see the damage for myself."

All of a sudden, both he and Nightmare Moon appeared in what used to be Restaurant Row in Canterlot, specifically, in front of where the Tasty Treat was, which was a complete ruin. Aaron looked around at the complete and utter destruction of the city, Caribou and demons working together while the Caribou and corrupted stallions were raping the mares like it was nobody's business. If Aaron didn't have the strength of will that he had now, he would've been puking at the sight.

"Okay, this isn't as bad as I thought." Aaron said with anger and rage in his voice. "It's far worse."

"This is a nightmare, remember that." Nightmare said. "It is probably just as bad all things considered as this world has slowly started reflecting the world of the waking but it is still more exaggerated whoever the dreamer is that is centered here in Canterlot–" a familiar scream caused Nightmare to stiffen. "LUNA!!!"

"Wake me up!" Aaron said, his anger rising.

"No this is something that's going on in this world!" Nightmare shouted. "Anything that happens to her in this world can affect her physically in the waking world, only I do not have a waking body currently!"

"Technically you do have a connection to the waking world when I summoned the Everfree creatures to guard Twilight and Tempest…" Aaron said, looking at Nightmare Moon. "...Me."

"Hey boyo, do you mind if I get in on this!" Another voice said as multiple of those purple imps appeared racing towards the source of the screaming in the surprisingly still intact Canterlot Castle, before being slashed into pieces a streak of four red lights appearing to do the slashing. "These bastards tried to make me join them. What kind of dream demon tries to destroy the entire dreamscape!" The entity said "That's literally destroying your home!"

"Huh, your voice sounds hauntingly familiar…" Aaron said before his eyes widened and summoned his Super Shotgun with the burning Meat Hook on instinct. "Freddie Fucking Krueger! How the hell are you here?!"

"Go ahead and shoot, you know how durable I really am!" The man said revealing himself to be Robert Englund in the Freddy Krueger costume without the burnt makeup. "But I'm not Krueger, call me Terry."

"Wait, Terry… as in Scary Terry?" Aaron wore a shit-eating grin. "You can run…" Aaron said, leaving off and hoping Terry would get it.

"...but you can't hide, bitch!" Terry said, laughing. "Gods it's been years since I've said that. Not since the missus was killed with our son." Terry let out a lone tear.

"So it seems the forces of Hell aren't just localized to Equis then?" Aaron asked Terry. Terry shook his head. "Damn. I hope Jerry, Beth A and B, Summer, and Morty are at least okay."

"I made sure they were, considering your connection to Summer and Morty. Morty was still training with Lord Beerus on his planet where you sent him years ago. Summer, welllll… let’s just say she is here, but she seems immune to the effects of the Crystal Cock. She’s currently in the Dragonlands as you call it. But she’s been worried sick about you, boyo, considering she never got to tell you the news." Terry said before they were interrupted by Luna's screaming again.

"Split Form!" Aaron screamed before he split into two, his duplicate looking like his colors was the opposite of the Black Doomicorn Praetor Suit that he wore due to the Poison Joke. Aaron turned to his white armored duplicate.

"Think you can take care of that and get Luna out of the dreamscape?" Aaron asked his white armored duplicate. His duplicate wordlessly nodded and disappeared in a flash.

"Don't worry, Nightmare, my duplicate will be close, if not just as powerful as me." Aaron said, putting a hand on the worried Alicorn's shoulder. "She'll be okay, I give you my word. He'll get her to Ponyville."

"It's not that I doubt your word, it is that even if you free her here she'll still be in Canterlot. There is a limit to the physical effects of the dreamscape even with a dream demon such as Terry here helping to increase the effects in the waking world." Nightmare said sadly. "But now that I have enough energy I can leave the dreamscape the way the Tantabus attempted to. First things first though we will have to train Terry to use everything in his arsenal to keep them safe here. No offense, dream demon but you're rather weak in comparison to others I fought and destroyed such as that triangle I once encountered."

“No offense taken, Nightmare.” Terry said, shrugging. “This is technically not my dimension, so I can understand why you would think that. The dreamscape here feels foreign compared to back home. Like being in a foreign country.”

"If that is the case then all you need is a direct injection of dream energy and you should be as powerful as you can ever be in this world just below me and my sister Luna." Nightmare said before plunging a hand into her chest and pulling out an orb of swirling dark blue energy. "This should do the trick, but the moment you betray us I will revoke this power and destroy you. Remember that."

“I don’t intend to.” Terry said, a grim look on his face. “These fuckers killed my wife and son, my little Brandon. I only intend to protect those who are meant to come here when they sleep and kill those fuckers the moment I see them.”

All of a sudden, Aaron’s white armored duplicate reappeared, looking straight at Aaron.

“Is it done?” Aaron asked his duplicate, who wordlessly nodded before he fused back into Aaron himself. As Aaron was processing the new memories, he smiled and turned to Nightmare, saying, “From what I see of the memories of my duplicate, he not only got her out of the dreamscape, but the psychic backlash from doing so caused most of the demons and Caribou nearby to go into a catatonic state allowing him to basically kill them in their sleep the problem is that even with the barrier thinner than ever we cannot move people via dreamscape."

"That's where I come in isn't it?" Terry said. "My natural ability is to take control of sleeping bodies and make them sleepwalk. It’s incredibly powerful especially since they can have waking nightmares in that state still I'm surprised that Luna could even cause that much psychic backlash considering she's been drained of all of her magic and has not been able to regrow her horn and wings even here in the dreamscape from what I can tell."

"Correct." Aaron said his fists clenched. "Concerning the backlash, Nightmares' connection to her that's probably where the extra energy came from after all you just called her your sister."

"I did, didn't I?" Nightmare said surprised.

"Aye that you did." Terry said "I don't know about you but I'm going to go and see if I can do what Freddy did to those kids to some of those fuckers that deserve it in the castle. Who knows maybe I'll even catch the Big King sleeping and be able to take him out but I highly doubt it considering…"

"Go on Terry my duplicate figured you'd want some fun so he left a few for you to go after at the very least just be careful with any stallions you find here. Know that they're almost definitely mind controlled." Aaron said confidently. "If you can try to break them out of their mind control. I know it can be done, other universes have done it without destroying the crystal cock but don't damage their mind in the process if you can't break them out just incapacitate them."

"Gotcha!" The dream demon said as he disappeared in a burst of fire.

"Now that we have Terry covering our bases here I'm going to wake up and you said that you can traverse the barrier now since we have a defender on this side that can deal with those purple imps?" Aaron said as he sat down as Nightmare Moon nodded. "I swear that we will get you out of there Celestia, Luna! I will not forget about you, my little Sunbeam and Moonbeam!" He thought as he watched Nightmare swing her crucible blade through the air. The sound of fabric tearing accompanying the motion as a white tear in the barrier between the waking world and dreamscape opened. As his body faded from the dreamscape Nightmare stepped through the now open barrier his last sight was that of the hole closing behind Nightmare with her carrying her version of the Doomhammer and Starfall on her back while wielding her crucible blade in her right hand.

Aaron woke with a jolt to Twilight screaming in terror as he instinctively summoned his Super Shotgun with the flaming Meat Hook into his hands.

“Twily, what’s wrong?!” Aaron screamed in the Royal Canterlot Voice as he ran to where she was in her room at her castle, not realizing he had just called Twilight by her nickname.

"NIGHTMARE STOP HUGGING ME!!!!" Twilight exclaimed as Aaron burst into the room.

The absurd sight of the darkest mare in the series hugging the one that supposedly had destroyed her while giggling caused Aaron to deadpan. "Really?! Here I thought I was going to have to kick Caribou pervert ass, yet I find you scaring the crap out of Twily here."

"I didn’t say I disliked it, Aaron. But why are you calling me by the nickname my brother gave me?" Twilight asked as she struggled in Nightmare's grip.

"That's easy to explain. We have multiple versions of everyone in the Elements of Harmony currently so I decided to start using your nicknames to tell you apart." Aaron said calmly. “However Nightmare, since you’re on our side now, and you don’t seem as evil as you were on that night Twilight met the other Elements, I’m giving you a new name as well. Similar to Luna’s, considering that your new name and Luna are different names for the Moon back on Earth.”

“And what would my new moniker be?” Nightmare asked as she set Twilight down and let her go, placing her hands on her child-bearing hips in a somewhat defiant way, like she was expecting a challenge.

“Selene.” Aaron said simply. “It was the name of the Ancient Greek mythological Goddess of the Moon.”

“Selene…” Nightmare, now called Selene, gasped, her eyes sparkling. “I LOVE IT!” Selene screamed in joy as she ran up to Aaron and gave him what would’ve been a bone-crushing hug to a normal pony, but thanks to the Poison Joke, his new Alicorn strength prevented him from being crushed like a chicken egg.

“Glad you like it.” Aaron said, smiling. “However, if you’re gonna be on our side, we do need to have a long talk about your old ‘Eternal Night’ plan. Because I don’t think you fully realize the ramifications of what would have happened if you had gone through with it.”

"You do know my power comes from a solar eclipse?" Selene commented. "Such an event brings night even during the day. That was my plan to maintain my full power at the solar eclipse during the daytime and to allow the moon to show up during the night time. The planet would still get the energy of the Sun during the solar eclipse but the light would be dimmed. This would make the planet somewhat colder I know, but it's better than not having the Sun at all."

“But plants and animals still need full sunlight to thrive though.” Aaron said, “so would’ve the crops of the ponies who farm for their livelihoods. That’s the only difference besides the colder temperatures. The crops wouldn’t be able to grow without the full sunlight. That’s another point as to why your plan was flawed.”

"Uh, I hate to correct you and give attribution to her plan but Earth ponies can grow anything in minimal sunlight conditions that's why we can still have growing plants during the winter." Twilight said. "It's not as efficient as full sunlight but it can work."

“Okay I’ll admit I didn’t think about that,” Aaron said, crossing his arms. “But on Earth, things would’ve been much more drastic in that way.”

"You know that I understand the 'normal' orientation of a world's celestial bodies." Selene said. "Our world for some reason does not work that way, and also I would not use a full solar eclipse all the time. There are forms of the solar eclipse that allow more sunlight than a true solar eclipse or a full one as it's more often called. But enough of that we still have things to discuss other than the circumstances of my plan and how it could or could not have failed, we need to find your actual fortress. I know we met in the version of it from the dreamscape but considering the others have hinted that they've actually been in the building it should be beneficial to go there. I know for one that it has weapon production facilities."

"How do you know all that?" Twilight asked a little creeped out. "Were you monitoring their dreams or something?"

"Yes and no regrettably the dreamscape's landscape has completely changed with the introduction of dream demons from another realm." Selene said with melancholy. "All the dream bubbles you experienced during Luna's interaction with the Tantabus have popped, for better or worse, and dreams now live in one big cluster. A single continuous land the benefit is that there is a more consistent reality to those dreams but the downside is that dreamers can be harmed far more easily."

“It’s true, Twily.” Aaron said, looking grim. “I saw it myself when I met Selene in the dreamscape as I was sleeping. But we do have a dream demon on our side, protecting the dreamscape. He’s actually an old friend. The demons invading the dreamscape killed his wife and son, Brandon. So he wants revenge but will help us protect the dreamscape at the same time.”

"Well then as long as we're protected it's of no concern to me what happens in the dreamscape." Twilight said as she left the room the others following her. "I haven't mastered dreamwalking magic yet. The whole situation put a hold on my Royal training, both for taking care of the dream realm and day-to-day politics." Aaron’s eyes narrowed at Twilight’s rather harsh response.

“Girls, leave, that means you too, Selene and Tempest.” Aaron said, a concerned tone in his voice. “Twilight, you stay. You and I need to talk.”

"What's wrong Aaron?" Twilight asked as the others obeyed and headed out of the castle.

“I know something’s bothering you. What is it?” Aaron said bluntly. When Twilight was about to say something to the contrary, Aaron stopped her with a gesture, saying, “That reaction you gave was a little too cold and harsh, so don’t think I didn’t notice it. Seriously Twily, what is bothering you? You can tell me. And that means you leave as well, Pinkamena Diane Pie.” Aaron turned to look behind him, seeing an unnatural bush shaking before Pinkie popped out.

“Awww, poopie. Okay!” Pinkie said, running after the others.

“Now that that’s out of the way,” Aaron said before he clicked his armored gloved fingers and a barely perceptible shimmering dome over him and Twilight, a soundproofing and privacy spell combo dome. “Now, what’s troubling you? It’s not good to keep whatever’s bothering you bottled up like this. You know you can tell me anything.” Twilight began crying as she rushed to Aaron and hugged him tightly, crying into his chest. Aaron hugged her back, rubbing her back gently while being mindful of her wings. “Take your time. I’m all ears.”

"It's the pressure of all this war, finding my friends, the girls from the other world!" She said through sobbing. “I can barely take it normally. With everything that just happened, I'm almost… I feel like I'm going to break!"

“War is never easy Twilight,” Aaron said, whispering in her ear softly. “But while the Caribou are not that much better than the demons that are allies with them, this world is worth saving, because there are ponies and others who I know must be fighting in resistance cells across the planet who want this war to end just as much as you do. I know it’s hard, but you need to be that pillar of strength for the ponies we free until we can rescue Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. But you're not alone. Your friends from the mirror world, including Sunset and her human counterpart, are here to help. As am I. And we’ll do everything we can to help end this war and bring things back to the way they once were. I give you my word as the Doom Slayer.”

“Pinkie… Promise?” Twilight said through sobs.

“Cross my heart, hope to fly,” Aaron began to say, going through the motions, “stick a cupcake in my eye. I promise.”

“I just want to sleep now.” Twilight said, crying while yawning. “You don’t know how nerve-wracking this has been. But can I… ask you a favor, Aaron?”

“Anything.” Aaron whispered.

“Would you mind… keeping me… company?” Twilight asked shyly. “I don’t want to sleep by myself tonight. After feeling all of this since the war began.”

“If it helps you sleep better, I won’t mind.” Aaron said before Twilight teleported both herself and Aaron to her room, both of them getting under the covers with Twilight hugging Aaron tightly and draping a wing over him. Aaron was wearing his armor, but Twilight got under the covers naked due to the removal on the law against public nudity.

“Good night Aaron.” Twilight whispers, kissing him on the lips before nuzzling into his chestplate and beginning to snore lightly.

“Good night, Twily.” Aaron said, smiling. “Sweet dreams.” Aaron closed his eyes while he held Twilight in a protective hug, letting the darkness of sleep take them.