Leon had braced himself for the end, knowing very well that he was definitely not going to live anything Celestia throws at him in his human form.

'Dear god, so this is how my story ends. A lackluster life in one world, then I'm sent to another with extraordinary powers, and I'm gonna be destroyed by this crazy literal bleach white alicorn over something I'm not understanding... there's weirder ways to go, but this is the weirdest way to die.' Leon thought to himself, as everything went dark.

This was it, this was where he died, battered and bruised, defenseless and possibly disintegrated by an alicorn. He waited for the end, and yet, even in this newfound darkness he was seeing, he still felt the pain of his injuries. Leon opened his eyes a bit, only for them to widen as he saw Celestia's attack being suddenly nullified, dissipating it into a small shimmering swarm of sparkles as another alicorn makes herself known; her dark navy-violet coat and the huge black splotch with a Crescent moon on her flank showed exactly who this was, in case the sparkling star filled blue wavy mane didn't already show who this was.

Though the look of absolute rage was a new look for the alicorn in front of him... the Princess of the Night, Luna.

"TIA, STAND DOWN, NOW!!!" The alicorn's voice boomed. Everypony could feel and hear the volume in her voice, and for Leon, he was just happy that he wasn't actually dead yet. Celestia's aggressive expression lessened and softened a bit as she looked at the other alicorn, who was incredibly displeased with what was about to happen.

"Honestly, Celestia, I can't stay away from my throne for a few minutes without you blowing something out of proportion, you nearly killed a Human! Whether he comes from our world or not does not matter, they are on the brink of extinction, and you thought it to be a good idea to try and kill the human!? Have you no shame, let alone gratitude to what the humans have given us, and allowed us to understand? Stand down, dear sister, I don't want to have to reverse the roles of what happened a thousand years ago because of your brash actions!" The mare stated lividly, trotting forward as she backed Celestia against a wall.

"Luna, the humans had-" Celestia started, but soon got shut up by the other alicorn.

"No, Tia, the humans did not cause discourse among our people and theirs, the changelings did a lot of that on their own, but you were too busy worrying about the whereabouts of Discord that you couldn't tell the difference, and so, as always, I had to take charge and find peace. And everything would've been fine, if you hadn't stepped in with that old spell you learned from Starswirl." Luna stated sternly.

Celestia picked herself up and glared at her sister. "I used that spell for the benefit of our people, how was I supposed to know that-" Celestia was interrupted by a sudden echoing sound of someone clearing their throat. The two royal sisters turn towards the sound and see Twilight, along with her friends, and a beaten and battered Leon in front of them.

"First off... *cough cough cough* forgive my language, your highnesses, but that fuckin' hurt... I think- I think you broke one of my ribs. Second off, I think there's a lot of explaining that needs to be done... maybe after I don't feel like my body is about to fall to pieces." Leon said, trying to move his body, only to be met by sudden jolts of pain that stopped his attempts.

"And then there's the matter regarding that device. Celestia, you need to take a moment to recollect yourself and not act like such a fool... this issue is out of your hooves, I'll be the one to take the reigns on this issue. That is the final say, sister." Luna stated, his anger still present, but lessening over time. Celestia was about to retort, but stopped herself as she looked at the element bearers, all with confused expressions, and Twilight was just racked with conflicting thoughts and feelings, she couldn't decide on what to ask first, let alone where to start with which question.

Twilight nearly had a panic attack right then and there if it wasn't for Pinkie trying to ease her stress away. RD and AJ tried to carefully help Leon up, even if his body was tensing up from the pain he was experiencing. "Time for another trip to the hospital, I presume?" Leon asked sarcastically. Luna approached Leon and her horn glowed a semi bright blue-ish purple aura, and soon, his body was enveloped in that same magical aura.

He felt the pain fade away from his body, and even feeling his wounds start to rapidly heal. In a flash of white sparkling light, Leon stood on his own two feet, looking as he did before Celestia got suddenly aggressive. "Figured I'd save you the trouble of having to go through, er... several grueling medical procedures, since most of them were for humans, and since they died out, they are completely outdated and haven't been properly acclimated, modified or changed to benefit from modern medicines." Luna stated, a sheepish smile on her face.

She composed herself and went to sit on her throne, a dark teal colored stone throne right beside the cushioned, red and golden throne for the princess of the sun. "Twilight Sparkle, whatever it is you came to Celestia for, I will try to accommodate properly, but before you suggest anything, I'd like to have a private talk with the human. Celestia, be on your way to deal with the dignitaries, and Twilight, you and your friends can wait by the door till you are summoned inside again." Luna stated. Celestia silently gritted her teeth, and sighed, trotting away while the ponies slowly trotted to the exit and waited by the door as it closed.

It was just Leon and Luna, in silence, a deafening, sinister, yet comforting silence. "Human, what do I call you?" Luna asked. Leon gulped and took a deep breath as he exhaled.

"Leon, or if you're looking for a full name, I'm Leon Derrickson, your nocturnal highness." Leon said, trying to be cordial as he took a knee. Luna snickered a bit at this, and Leon soon felt like a moron that was new to the concept of being a polite ass-kisser.

"Leon, you do not have to be formal with me. I may be a princess, but I am all too familiar with how you humans like to be respectful in the presence of those above you in terms of status. While it was flattering the last few times humans showed this formal respect to me in my presence, I don't want you being in a position of thinking it's a mandatory or strict requirement to be cordial and poised in my presence," Luna explained. Leon mentally smacked himself in the face and got up, dusting himself off as he exhaled. "Now tell me, Leon, from what I overheard from Celestia a bit earlier, she was trying to destroy the watch on your wrist, correct?" Luna asked.

Leon rolled up his sleeve, to show the Omnitrix to the alicorn, and unlike Celestia, Luna seemed rather enamored, and dare he thought, excited to behold the device itself. "Impressive, it's still a prototype, but your mastery over the Omnitrix is already remarkable. Tell me, how many Alien transformations have you used thus far? I presume there's only 10 to a playlist, right?" Luna asked.

Leon's mind was filled with questions, and not a single one made him feel any sort of panic, though it did concern him that Luna knew of this thing by its name. "I guess 10, but during my short brawl with your sister, I became something new, I didn't know exactly what I was doing, but this new guy, some sort of knight with a shadow inside, he looked like a video game final boss, and he had powers like one. So, by technicality, I have 11, but I don't recognize that guy from anywhere." Leon answered.

The princess eyed the device and then decided to use her magic. She pressed the button on the Omnitrix, popping the core up as she used her magic to turn the dial. She eyed and analyzed each form at a time, and then she got to the 11th form in question. "For some odd reason, Celestia kept calling this guy Erebus. I'm not a huge mythology guy, but isn't Erebus the name of one of the greek gods, and I might be wrong on this guess, but isn't that the Greek god of darkness?" Leon asked. Luna's excitement was not quelled or halted, but concern was slowly forming in her expression.

"I know this guy had the ability to warp and manipulate shadows, possibly because that alien, if I can even call it an alien, is a living shadow in that knightly armor, but I don't remember Greek warriors wearing Knight's armor, which is more medieval than something that a powerful Greek or Roman warrior would don in battle." Leon explained. Luna removed her magical grip on the Omnitrix and looked Leon in the eyes.

"Transform. I fear that this entity is not an alien, but in fact Erebus, trying to resurrect himself through the Omnitrix, and by extension, you. In order to make sure Erebus does not truly return, you must transform into him and I must banish his wicked soul somewhere it cannot escape." Luna stated.

"Ok, slightly concerning plan, especially since this might actually break the Omnitrix this time, but it seems to be all we got at the moment, only one question, if you don't mind me asking." Leon said. Luna nodded, awaiting the question. "What the hell's gonna happen to me if you're trying to banish Erebus!? Am I gonna get banished with him?" Leon asked worriedly.

"You needn't worry, I will just use an exorcising spell to separate Erebus' state of being from you, and banish him somewhere he will never return from. You just need to keep calm, and all will be well. Trust me, my sister did it before when I was in a similar situation... and thanks to her for teaching me this spell, I know how to solve this issue myself, for those who can't do it themselves." Luna explained.

Leon was having so much trouble understanding all of this, and took a deep breath and exhaled. "Princess, if I may say something... the Omnitrix, it doesn't do well with magic of any kind, Twilight found out the hard way, and I thought I lost my powers, so how do you plan on separating me and Erebus if the Omnitrix goes haywire at the slightest contact with magic?" Leon asked.

"Yes, you have a point, but I have something to temporarily fix this issue. An old friend of my sister's had actually foretold to me of your arrival, I wanted to personally meet you myself, but according to him, and I quote, 'It'd lead to catastrophic consequences far worse than Nightmare Moon and Discord put together', as stupid as that sounded," Luna stated, magically summoning a satchel as she rummaged through it, still explaining about what this thing she has is that'll fix the main problem.

"So, ever since the foretelling of your eventual arrival, I haven't been as able to interact with you or call upon you, as that would draw suspicion on me, and Celestia would actually charge me for treason and mutiny against my subjects... I personally think that crown's been on her head for too long, it looks like it's cutting off blood circulation to her massive ego sized head, if you asked me." Luna remarked. Leon couldn't help but snicker at that, trying to not break out into a laughing fit as he tried to breathe and control himself, earning a very earnest smile from Luna.

"So for the long, lecherous week this has been, I withheld any attempts to bring your presence to light, studying what I was given for this exact situation, and now with you being here, almost fulfilling the worst prophecy to ever be told to come true, that strange stallion gave me the one thing that we need to make sure the Omnitrix doesn't detonate itself by mistake," Luna stated. She used her magic to pull out a small metal cuff with a hole in one part of its side.

Leon, unsure of what to make of this, lets the alicorn casually attach the cuff over the Omnitrix, the hole was still giving Leon access to the dial, but he couldn't press the button to push the core up, so while he could select his aliens, he couldn't properly use any of them with this cuff on. "Ok, so what the hell is this thing, and how is it supposed to help our situation? Cause I'll admit, I've never seen this before." Leon admitted, asking as he knew nothing about the cuff-like device being donned over the watch.

"This is a magically enchanted cuff, meant to negate the shapeshifting magicks of changelings. I had to modify it a wee bit for it to work accordingly with the Omnitrix." Luna explains nonchalantly. She can clearly see Leon's blank emotionless face as if she could actually see the gears in his brain grinding away as he tried to process this information. "I suppose you're not used to hearing this sort of thing from a Princess, correct?" Luna asked.

"No, I wasn't expecting to hear anything about that in general from anyone native to this world... I am rethinking everything in ways I didn't consider, and I might need to sit down before I overwhelm myself with too much thinking... Oooohhh jesus christ, my head's already hurting." Leon explained, his honesty being more than enough for the princess.

As Leon clutched his head, trying to rub his temple slowly to ease the pain, Luna gets on Leon's right side and pokes the Omnitrix's dial with her horn, quietly mumbling something under her breath as magic began to charge up, and Leon was a bit worried about what might happen, but it's not like he could do anything now... at least, nothing that could make the situation better.

...

Outside of the throne room, Twilight and the others wait patiently, though Twilight herself, was getting incredibly antsy.

"Hey, Twilight, chill for a moment... I'm sure everything's fine... Actually, no, I think things are only starting to seem fine, but we don't know what could be happening on the other side of the doors. Trust me, I wanna hear everything that's going on in there as much as you do, but sometimes there are some things we just can't hear, not just yet at least." Rainbow explained. The unicorn mare seemed incredibly in thought about something, and it wasn't the information she was missing out on while Luna and Leon discussed whatever, but rather it was the name of that strange transformation that just echoed in a plethora of volumes in her head.

Celestia called it Erebus, what did her teacher know that she wasn't informed about?

'Erebus... Erebus, Erebus, Erebus. Where have I heard that name before? Erebus... How does Celestia know that name, let alone who that is? Who is Erebus, what is Erebus... how does this all correlate to everything?' Twilight thought to herself.

Twilight pressed her ear up against the door, hearing faint magic based sounds coming from the other side, as well as a strange beeping sound. Applejack sighed and put her face to her hoof, knowing she can't do anything else, but knew very well that Twilight was either going to bust down the door herself, or be thrown in the dungeon for even attempting such an idea.

"If I could just barely crack the door open a bit and look inside, I could see what's going on in there." Twilight stated, slowly but still making a very firm attempt at pushing the doors open a bit, only to slump down to the carpeted floor.

"Twilight, Darling, just try to be patient. It's obvious that whatever's going on, it pertains to stuff that we don't know anything about. Sure, he's told us that those beastly things are aliens, but we don't entirely know the full story behind how that's possible. Just try to remain calm and poised, wait for when the moment is right to intercept about this sort of stuff." Rarity explained, trying to calm the unicorn's anxious curiosity and overwhelming urge to learn something new.

"Yeah, gotta admit, Rarity's right on this one, Twilight, we just need to chillax, wait till Leon's done in there with whatever's going on, and if everything works out, then maybe when he's calm and not fighting one of the princesses, we can ask him to explain a few things to us. Besides, maybe he'll have important info that we might need later on, you never know, we just gotta relax, chill out, and wait... and that's coming from me, somepony who doesn't wait for anything or anypony else." Rainbow Dash reassured.

Twilight looked to her friends and was about to comment on something, until a huge glowing amber colored light began to encroach on them, revealing Igneus, who was still clad in his bounty hunter attire.

"Woah, who's that?! He looks so cool!! You think he's one of the good guys?" Rainbow Dash asked, hyped and completely impressed by the armor the hunter was wearing.

Igneus looked down at the equestrians and the baby dragon, then up at the pegasus with the rainbow mane, only to scoff. "Six little Equestrians and a newborn Dragon, bunched up against a set of golden doors. My instincts and skills of using context clues tell me that this leads to the throne room, and you six are in my way. Move, otherwise you'll be turned into freshly roasted horse haunches in a matter of seconds." Igneus warned, igniting several small flaming orbs in his palm.

The ponies, now intimidated by the strange new foe in front of them, bunched up together, still scared, but were willing to fight. "Ok, definitely a bad guy... We can do this, he ain't so tough!" Rainbow Dash bluffed. The ponies charged at the armor clad warrior, except for Fluttershy and Spike, who were just trying to hide.

"Fine then..." Igneus sighed, the fire in his palms igniting into a more bright white color, "die for nothing." Igneus uttered, firing small beams of hot white heat from his finger tips. The ponies dodged the flaming projectiles, only to then see the carpet start to ignite and burn at an alarming rate.

Rainbow Dash quickly flew towards Igneus and delivered a swift kick to the stomach, knocking him back a bit, only for him to counter Applejack's kick by grabbing her with his other hand and tossing the earth pony into the light blue pegasus with extreme force, knocking them back.

Pinkie managed to pull out her Party Cannon, loading it up with several miscellaneous items before firing them at Igneus, who erupted a bright blue fire wall, which instantly charred most of the items or melted them into a useless paste.

"Pathetic excuse for weapons, you only have level 1 technology for combat, but level 3 and level 4 tech for your own entertainment and employment advances... if there was ever an example of a race that evolved backwards, and thought solely like simple-minded children, you pitiful Equestrians are the best example of that!!" Igneus gritted loudly, constantly blasting searing hot red streams of fire at the pink pony, only to have them being blocked by a light pink shield made of magic.

Twilight quickly blasted magical beams, only for them to be countered by more small beams of seering hot white flames, negating both blasts upon contact, but soon got knocked pretty far back by a blast of magic originating from Rarity, who seemed pretty proud of herself with that attack. Getting incredibly infuriated by how only 5 of these Equestrians are pushing him back, he decided that now was not the time to hold back. He had a job to do, and a bunch of Equestrians weren't gonna stop him after he got so close.

Igneus deactivated his suit, having it collapse and clatter onto the floor, revealing his real form to the Equestrians. His body, made up entirely of a bright white magma, his body was covered in what looked like rocks, tough dark gray rocks. His face was almost chiseled from the dark gray rocks to look like a skull, only with sharp pointy teeth and four eyes. Two huge eyes, and two smaller ones above them.

"I will not fail... so if I have to, I'll burn this world down and reclaim the Omnitrix from its ashes... and I'll start with you little Equestrians, and your little Dragon spawn, too!" Igneus stated, readying one more attack, a huge white fireball twice his size, burning as bright as the sun, and burning bright. The ponies could barely look at it at all from how overtly bright it was, but the heat it was putting out, it was almost enough to make anyone collapse, and sure enough, one by one, they began to collapse...

Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, Twilight, then Fluttershy. Spike, now worried about everything that was happening, was incredibly worried about what would happen, closing his eyes as he tried to un-blind himself from the white fiery light.

...

Leon was trying to brace himself for what Luna was about to do, but as he waited, he could hear the commotion going on in the corridor, the muffled chaos behind the closed doors made him feel like he needed to go out and see what was happening. Before he could, he noticed that the glow from Luna's horn had soon died down, revealing a small gray wisp emitting a red aura was contained in some sort of ancient bottle. He looked at the Omnitrix, seeing it return to its cyan color.

"Ok, the Omnitrix should be working again, no magical or god-like interference." Luna said, hoping it was working alright. The chaos got even louder, and a bright white light was shining through the door's cracks.

"And not a moment too soon, I get the feeling that I need to do something real quick, and the Omnitrix is practically mandatory for this." Leon stated, running to the golden doors, and throwing them open. Spike rolled to Leon's feet, and Leon, who was a bit blinded by the sudden white light, instinctively slammed on the Omnitrix, trying to combat the blistering white glow with the cyan light being emitted from the device.

"Time to wipe you puny ponies out, join those pitiful humans in the bowels of hell! Any last words?" Igneus asked, smiling in a sinister manner.

"Just one, SWAMPFIRE!!!" a new voice called out. Igneus could just barely make out a cyan colored glow amidst the blinding white light before being hit by a stream of cyan colored flames, which knocked him back a bit, and dissipated his white fireball.

The ponies were too pressured by the unyielding and burning heat, trying to keep themselves awake as they barely saw the dark black Methanosian, known as Swampfire, lumbering over them, and gently carrying them towards the throne room before setting them down.

"Spike, look after them, and tell them I'm dealing with the situation. Princess Luna, I'd like to chat a bit more, but that can wait till I deal with this... just look at the clock... It's Hero Time." Swampfire stated. The Methanosian rushed out of the door, using black vines to pull the doors closed.

Luna looked at the element bearers, seeing them sweating, paling, gasping for air as they struggled to stay conscious, and then looked at the dragon trying to console them.

"Little dragon, I assume you're the one who is in Twilight's care? If you wish to help, fetch me several wet towels, make sure they are cold, colder than the dead of night on the coldest winter season!" Luna told the dragon. Spike nodded as he ran off somewhere that he didn't know where to go, while Luna used her magic to summon several of the towels she needed, covering each of the element bearers in one.

Luna looked towards the golden doors, and just sighed, knowing that this might get crazy. She looked at the bottle containing what must've been Erebus, and with a look of distain, made it vanish with her magic.

...

Igneus, just barely trying to comprehend what just happened, gets up and looks at the strange alien before him. "Heh, and here I thought you Methane huffing meat eaters didn't have albino forms, you look charred beyond compare, yet you don't seem bothered. What's a Methanosian doing on this pitiful planet, anyway?" Igneus asked rhetorically, noticing the obvious detail of the Omnitrix being visible.

Igneus was very impressed, especially with the rumors and myths about this device, and was actually pretty intrigued that the rumors were in fact true. Guess his buyer wasn't bullshitting him when he said that this was what he wanted.

"Oh, y'know, the usual, being a badass, knowing that I'm the only one of my kind on this planet, and not liking how you nearly flash fried my friends, so I'm gonna put you out like a cigarette bud." Swampfire humored a bit, gritting his teeth as he ignited two cyan fireballs in his palms. Swampfire really got a good long look at this weirdo, and for the most part, was pretty much reminded of Heatblast, but he never saw Heatblast do this before. "So, what the hell are you supposed to be? You look like a Pyronite spray-painted entirely white, and rubbed light gray ashes on your rocks." Swampfire remarked.

Igneus growled. "I am a Pyronite. I just had to... adapt to a new environment, but I'm still the living fire man I used to be... I just come packed with a couple of new tricks that normal members of my kind can't do. For example," Igneus forms two of his fingers into long, sharp, flaming blades, and then jams them into Swampfire's abdominal area before slugging him in the face with his other hand, then kicking him into the wall. "I can shape and morph the magma that makes up my body into blades." Igneus states, morphing his fingers back to their normal shape.

Swampfire groaned and slowly got up, holding his side as he looked and saw a light green fluid slightly leaking from his wound, only for it to regenerate and heal itself. "That's... new. So what's your deal, huh? You want the Omnitrix for yourself, for whoever hired you to take it, or can I bank on the fact that you might be a nice guy, and you're misunderst-"

Swampfire could barely finish that sentence before getting blast through the wall, and careening downwards to the streets of Canterlot, only to use his senses and let out a barrage of vines, sticking them into various buildings as his descent slowed, catching him in a net of his vines, only for them to suddenly be burned to ash by Igneus, who now floated above Swampfire on a small platform made of pure white flames.

"How incredibly stupid, you're using a Methanosian to fight me? The methane in your body can be ignited, you fool! I'll roast you alive from the inside with one well-placed shot!" Igneus stated, charging up a powerful white wisp on his fingertip.

'Ugh... It's times like this where I wish I had picked an alien with fire resistance. Now that I think about it, Swampfire was actually a dumb choice! If I can ignite the methane in my own body, what's to stop some wacko from getting the same idea, and blowing me to bits!? This guy actually thought about this... Damn it all, why didn't I go for someone like Diamondhead?!' Swampfire thought to himself. The Omnitrix then promptly started to quickly flash a green color, attracting the Methanosian's attention.

"TAKE THIS!!!" Igneus exclaimed, firing the white wisp at the Methanosian. Before it could connect however, The Methanosian was enveloped in a flash of cyan light. Igneus looked on in shock, and saw his white wisp bounce back towards him. While it didn't hurt, Igneus just looked at the monster in place of the Methanosian.

In place of Swampfire, was Diamondhead, whose dark blue crystals shined in the sunlight. "Woah... Master Control already? Huh, I guess just like the Elements of Harmony, this was what I really needed. Thank you, Deus Ex Omnitrix!" Diamondhead stated, grinning as he formed his arms into blades.

Igneus roared out, charging forward as Diamondhead blocked his hits, letting Igneus wail on him as he then shook him off, and began firing a barrage of crystals at him, which seemed to chip and crack before exploding when hitting his burning body.

"Rrgghh! You think just because you got lucky, you think you're gonna win? Think. Again!" Igneus stated, bolting forward as he slammed his burning fists into the Petrosapien's face, knocking literal fragmented chunks of his crystalline body off, littering the streets with Petrosapien crystal fragments. Diamondhead was sent staggering backwards with an uppercut to the chin, only to slowly regenerate what was chipped off of his body and catch Igneus' fist when he attempted another punch, and then slugged the flaming alien to the ground, unleashing another barrage of crystals onto the Pyronite bounty hunter.

"What's the matter, that fire in your belly going out? I sure hope so, cause I wasn't expecting another alien to show up until like, maybe a couple weeks from now, and I haven't had the time to practice with my aliens yet. Sure, I know I have 10 concurrently at this point, but if I'm gonna use this thing to it's full potential, I need to live! So kindly do me a solid, whoever the hell you are, and fuck off!!" Diamondhead stated, forming his arms and hands back to normal shape.

He then encased the flaming alien in a small crystal dome. "I know that's not gonna hold you, so I'm gonna... hopefully come up with a plan on the fly, cause you cannot be on this planet if you're just gonna senselessly murder everything you see... just get off my back, and I won't try to snap yours in half. Heavy emphasis on try." Diamondhead emphasized, and in a flash of cyan light, Diamondhead was transformed back into Leon. And of course, in a sudden pillar of white magma, Igneus immediately escapes the crystal dome.

"ENOUGH!!! I have a job to do, and I won't let your stupid sentimentality compromise what's at stake!!" Igneus exclaimed, readying several hot white fireballs. The Pyronite glared at the human and thought back to what he was doing this for, what he once was, before he was assigned to this mission.

Flashback

The planet of Pyros, home of the living inferno-dwelling species, The Pyronites, was now a desolate, cold, and destroyed floating pile of rubble and freezing magma... Many light years north of the destroyed planet, however, on a planet simply known as Umborleaux, was home to a species of living shadows, known as the Umbrasanctians... these creatures, who lived on a planet of eternal darkness, now shared this planet with the Pyronites. One of these Pyronites, was a young Igneus.

Over time, Igneus was the only one of his kind to attempt to evolve in the same way the Umbrasanctians had, dimming and lowering the flames of his body, decreasing his natural abundance of heat and fire, only tapping into the natural warmth that the darkness of the planet could provide. the colors of his rocky body, becoming pale, and almost dead. The warm yellow flames on his body, paling and burning brighter, going from a gray flame, to a burning white ember that refused to be extinguished... a burning ember that refused to die.

As the rest of the Pyronites adapted and made their new home within the molten core of the dark planet, Igneus remained up top on the dark, shadowy surface, honing in on the darkness in his forever burning soul, over time, developing an extra set of eyes that acclimated to the night. By manipulating the shadows he casted, he could morph his magma into blades. Igneus grew to despise his own race, and eventually, left Umborleaux to become a bounty hunter for hire.

He'd be a bounty hunter for several years, only hearing hushed whispers and vocalized rumors about the Omnitrix's existence. He could use it to bring Pyros back, to bring his species out of the dark they were so wrongfully plunged into. So when Psyphon hired him for the job, it was pretty easy to figure out that Psyphon had his own agenda to go by, but he couldn't just simply believe that it truly existed... but when Psyphon showed him the footage he got, Leon using the Omnitrix, he was dead set on using this power to save his species. So the first chance he got, once he got the Omnitrix, he'd give him a decoy bomb, and let them lick their wounds while he goes and saves his species... but before he could step one foot onto Vilgax's ship to see the footage, he got a grim word from an intel specialist that Umborleaux, along with several thousands of Umbrasanctians and the remaining Pyronites, were suddenly slain, and put to rest... and then, this mission had struck him on a personal level.

Vengeance was all he craved from then on out... If he wanted to save his species, and save the Umbrasanctians from suffering the same fate, he'd have to be the one to end a whole species to get the entirety of his species back.

Igneus' body burned bright as he roared out in a rage, raining down a storm of white flames. Leon quickly slammed on the Omnitrix, transforming into Fasttrack as he sped past the flames hurtling down. He leaped and dodged several of the burning wicks from the flames, speeding up one of the buildings to then propel himself into Igneus, kicking him squarely in the face, burning his foot a bit as they both fell to the ground.

...

Luna continued to watch over the element bearers, while Spike constantly ran back and forth from place to place gathering stuff that Luna tasked him to get. Evidently, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were the first two to wake up, albeit in a cold sweat.

"Aw geez, what just happened? I remember a bright light, whiteness, and I was suddenly on the surface of the sun... then nothing!" Rainbow asked. Applejack slowly got up and looked outside, down towards Canterlot's streets, seeing Leon fighting off some sort of unholy human shaped fire monster. Rainbow flew over and just looked on in surprise, as well as excitement. "Wow, he's like one of those superheroes in those comic books I used to read!" Rainbow Dash said, watching the fight go on from afar.

"This is gonna be real dangerous, that fiery feller is literally too hot to handle up close, Leon's the only exception with this transformations, but personally, we would have to actually have the Elements of Harmony to even do anything to that flaming monster." Applejack stated. She looked over to the rest of her friends, who were just now waking up.

"I would not advise using the Elements of Harmony, save them for a much bigger threat... Besides, this is a threat only Leon can face on his own... trust me as your ruler when I advise you to not intervene." Luna said sternly.

...

As Fasttrack continued to use his speed against Igneus, he quickly got a few jabs, kicks, punches and even a couple headbutts in on the flaming creature, but the unbearable heat was definitely making him slow down.

"3 Transformations so far. Methanosians, Petrosapiens and now the Citrakayah... tell me, what's your next course of action looking like?" Igneus taunted. Fasttrack was enveloped in another flash of cyan light, and was soon replaced by his Fulmini form, Shock Rock. Shock Rock landed a few more direct punches on the flaming alien, and soon sent him flying into the air with a sudden bolt of electrical energy.

Igneus looked at himself and glared at the Fulmini in confusion. "You have a Fulmini form as well?! I thought they all went extinct... I guess I was wrong, but no matter, you still aren't a match for me! I am not like my fiery brethren, I won't be stopped so easily!" Igneus exclaimed.

The Pyronite continued to throw a barrage of searing white hot fireballs at the Fulmini, but Shock Rock created an electrical shield, letting the fireballs slowly dissipate against it on contact, then he shaped the shield into a spear, lobbing it at Igneus, causing it to explode into a shower of electricity and energy. Igneus staggered, only to then quickly counter Shock Rock's attempt to leap upwards and deliver a punch, only to counter it and swiftly overpower the Fulmini, letting it hang by a thread.

"That's Four, now what do you have?" Igneus asked sarcastically. In another flash of cyan light, the Fulmini was then replaced by his Ectonurite form, Ghostfreak. The Pyronite seemed to slightly recoil, but still continued to try and overwhelm the alien specter. Ghostfreak turned invisible, striking Igneus in places he couldn't see, so he began to rely on his second set of eyes, easily locating the location of Ghostfreak, and prepared to hit the alien ghost with a powerful searing hot attack, but was then met with Ghostfreak, opening the front of his gut, letting several black and white tendrils whip out as the Pyronite gazed in horror at the true spine chilling fear within Ghostfreak himself.

Igneus then got sucker punched as the alien ghoul glared him down. "I'm going to tear you apart... and then tear you apart again." Ghostfreak raspily stated, opening his chest again, only to fire a sudden dark green beam of energy at the Pyronite, sending Igneus careening into the side of the castle. In another flash of light, Ghostfreak was then replaced by his Polymorph form, Goop. He maneuvered his gravity projector towards Igneus, and maneuvered his gooey malleable body around the Pyronite, trying to suffocate and quell the embers, as well as melt the rocks on Igneus' body.

But, goop soon realized this was a bad idea due to how Igneus erupts into a flaming mass, splattering Goop's gooey body all around the general area, and sneered.

"That makes Six of your transformations that haven't done anything to progress this fight. If this is all you got, then why even bother using the Omnitrix, when you could just surrender, and hand it over." Igneus taunted.

As the gravity projector collected all of Goop's gooey bits, the Omnitrix transformed him into his Chitancanine form, Iron Wolf, and proceeded to lunge upwards and try to grab ahold of the flaming beast. Igneus blasted a stream of white fire downwards, only for Iron Wolf to form iron guards on his arms to block the flames.

"Tch! Chitancanines, I always hated those overgrown metal mutts!!" Igneus gritted, tossing the alien husky into the air. Iron Wolf landed near a small building, and decided to start eating some of the debris from the battle, feeling his teeth and fangs become suddenly encased in pure metal. He snarled as he lunged at Igneus, and bit down right onto the flaming alien's arm, causing Igneus to grunt in pain, and to also cause some serious burn damage to be inflicted on the interior of Iron Wolf's mouth, causing him to recoil, and then be smashed through the castle wall.

"I'm not going down, not yet!! Give me all you got, you flaming pebble, I can do this all day!" Iron Wolf boasted, chomping down on wall debris as he threw a few hooks at the flaming alien, who took the hits directly, but did not flinch or stagger, but was beginning to burn brighter and brighter with every hit he tanked instead.

"RRAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Igneus exclaimed, slamming his fists into Iron Wolf's stomach, blasting the Chitancanine through several rooms of the castle, until Iron Wolf was sent careening into a rocky mountain side, and in a flash of cyan light, a small green demonic gremlin with a devil's tail was in its place, showing that this was Leon in his Planchakule form, Jury Rigg.

Igneus comes floating forth, and glares at the small gremlin alien, seeming almost irate with its presence. "So many worthless lifeforms in that watch, and you can't even use them properly!! Good luck trying to create a good weapon out of such menial components!" Igneus taunted as he fired down more blistering white fire balls, scorching the ground and igniting it into a blistering wall of white fire as Jury Rigg carefully got away, slowly scaling the castle's walls as he attempted to escape from Igneus' fiery fury.

"Need components... need a weapon... Jury Rigg's no physical fighter." The alien quietly told itself. It looked down and saw several guards running away as the fires swarmed the inside of the castle, but several of their spears and small makeshift shooters were left behind as the guards fled down to Canterlot. Jury Rigg quickly climbed down and began to pick up several of the components and a few of the spears, quickly trying to cobble something together before Igneus found him.

"Come out, now, Wielder of the Omnitrix! Face me, and face the fires of a fallen race!!" Igneus roared out, the fires being absorbed back into his body. He burst through the front doors, and looked down, seeing Jury Rigg holding a makeshift Spear Gun, loaded with royal guard spears and completely made out of wood and metal scraps to look like a type of Harpoon, only smaller.

Jury Rigg fired the spears at Igneus, but as expected, they didn't do much, and melted onto him, coating the rocks on Igneus' body with molten gold. This went on for a good several minutes until Jury Rigg ran out of spears, then promptly decided to switch forms. In a flash of cyan light, Igneus faced Leon's Ormerowon form, Braindrain. The undead alien ripped several fleshy organs out of its body with ease and chucked them at the Pyronite, who only burned them to an ashy crisp as Braindrain slowly backed away.

"Aw... Crapbaskets..." Braindrain muttered worriedly. He began to switch to his last transformation, his Jumburian form, Elephammoth, that strange elephant thing he turned into when he was dealing with his first encounter with Doctor Caballeron.

"This is your last alien transformation, and the only thing that stands in my way of finally achieving my goal!" Igneus exclaimed, readying one more final attack.

"Dude, what is it that you want with the Omnitrix that requires you to go this far, as to walk into the castle, assault the elements of harmony, and then nearly get innocent ponies roasted alive?! Have you lost your mind or have you always been this messed in the head?!" Elephammoth asked, obviously confused. Igneus rushed forward and was about to strike, and Elephammoth braced for it, holding his arms up to block the hit, only to feel the radiating heat coming off of Igneus himself, and he noticed that he was stopping his attack.

"Surely you know what it's like to lose everything, don't you? Or did your species lose the concept of understanding when you all died out?" Igneus asked in a snarky and cryptic manner.

The alien elephant looked at the flaming alien in confusion. "Well, Yes, but actually, No." Elephammoth said, "I was sent to this world unwillingly by an unknown force, only to find out that humans were here long before I showed up, but they died off for some strange reason that no one except the princesses can understand... For all I know, I already lost my entire kind before I showed up here, and even then, I feel bad that we humans got the short end of the stick of life," Elephammoth explained.

Igneus' bright white flames soon dimmed down, and seemed almost lamenting. "Look pal, you seem to be having a bad day, let's just talk this out... no one has to die, no one has to be writhing in pain or fire-fueled agony, and most importantly of all, no one needs to suffer," Elephammoth states. Igneus just cautiously backs away, keeping his eyes on the alien pachyderm. "Just level with me here, are you sure you want to do this? End the lives of innocent creatures who never wronged you or your kind, to be the sole reason why the human race goes extinct twice, and to be responsible for the countless lives whoever your buyer will wipe out if he gets his hands on this thing?" Elephammoth asked. In a flash of cyan light, the alien was transformed back into Leon's human form.

"No... N-No... No no no... I wanted to bring back my species, that's it," Igneus stated. Leon just shook his head, and decided to entertain the Pyronite for a mere moment. "Tell me, Mr.?" Leon asked, trying to get a name from the alien.

"Igneus... Cr-Crestcore Igneus." The Pyronite introduced. "Okay, Igneus, tell me, even if I were to give you the Omnitrix of my own free will, do you think it'd even work for you after taking it off of me, whether by choice or by force? No, this thing, the Omnitrix, is bonded to my DNA, and let me really emphasize that... MY DNA, it's still trying to bond to my DNA as we speak, for all I know, it takes maybe a month or so for this thing to fully bond with my DNA, and if the bonding process is disrupted, chances are, it could leave my DNA in a very damaged and mutated state... and let me tell you a fun fact about humans... we aren't known for adapting to, or surviving genetic disorders or genetic damage, like, at all," Leon explained. He didn't know exactly if that would happen if the Omnitrix was forcibly removed from his body, but it was definitely a possibility, despite how impossible or uncalculated it is.

"Hell, half the time it's a miracle that some of us with genetic damage or disorders can and/or could live past 8 years or 13 years of our lifespan if we're lucky to live at all." Leon said. Leon rolled up his right sleeve and showed the Pyronite the Omnitrix, and then held his right arm out. "But, I do know how to help you save your species. If the rumors and myths about this device are true, then the Omnitrix was made to be a peacekeeping tool, a device that was made to help the universe grow closer together, to understand one another... ironically enough, and dare I say it, but the Omnitrix, in a way, was also made to bring intergalactic harmony," Leon explained.

His mind kinda trailed off when he thought about the original intentions of this alien watch, and he wasn't that far off from what Azmuth originally wanted to do with the Omnitrix, to bring the universe closer together in dark and dire times... the biggest parallel to creating and spreading harmony across numerous galaxies that Leon could easily compare, was the uniting power of the Elements of Harmony... more and more questions filled the human's mind, but eventually, he snapped himself out of it and brought himself back to the situation at hand.

"Look, besides all of that, one of the main things that the Omnitrix can do, is preserve dying species through one single strand of DNA, ensuring that they will not go extinct. Now, considering how you look nothing like your species like I had thought previously how you would've looked, I don't know how the Omnitrix is gonna react to you, you seem more like a hybrid than a full-blooded Pyronite, but at least this option, if it works, will at least ensure that I can keep the Omnitrix, your species and whatever else you seem to be made out of, I can try to save both species by scanning your hybrid DNA and isolating what parts of each species can be split apart and put into two separate samples, I should be able to-" Leon stopped as the fires on Igneus burned bright, cutting him off as Igneus yelled out.

"For the love of the ever burning stars in the Andromeda, what in the hell are you talking about?!" Igneus yelled, obviously having a hard time understanding anything Leon was saying.

Leon sighed and rubbed his eyes in an annoyed way. "In simpler terms, I can scan you, attempt to separate whatever stuff is mixed with your Pyronite cells, and preserve/save both races. Heavy emphasis on attempt to, cause I don't know if I can do it." Leon simplified. Igneus' flames dimmed and he looked at the Omnitrix, then back at the human. Igneus sighed and slowly reached a hand out to the watch.

"Just touch the Omnitrix, the scanning will do the rest... I think." Leon offered, not knowing how the scanning was going to work, as suddenly a yellow spark of electricity made brief contact with Igneus, who just briefly recoiled, the Omnitrix shined a bright yellow color, spinning its dial around on its own as it soon returned to the normal state it was in before, this time, returning to its inactive and Recharge mode, glowing all red.

"Well... this mission was a bust... I had no intention of listening to you, yet for some odd reason, I felt so... compelled to listen to your sympathy... I don't think I'll be welcome on your planet for some time, after all, I did try to burn down a whole castle with innocent ponies still inside..." Igneus stated somberly.

"Yeah, it's definitely gonna take some time for them to... well, forgive you, but I'm sure with the healing of time, and maybe with a dash of pure organic perspective and understanding, I'm sure they'll find it in their hearts to forgive you of your transgressions," Leon said. The two chuckled a bit awkwardly, until a thought crossed Leon's mind. "But, here's something that I want to know, and just correct me if I say something wrong, but..." Leon slowly trailed off, fishing around in his pocket for something before giving up. "Damn it, I don't think I have it on me to show you. Nevermind." Leon said slightly irritated. The armor that Igneus was previously wearing suddenly launched toward him, attaching itself to him as it melded over his blistering white hot fiery body.

"Do not take this the wrong way, Mr..." Igneus trailed off, not catching the human's name at all.

"Derrickson, Leon Derrickson." Leon introduced, smiling confidently.

Igneus nodded, "Mr. Derrickson, don't take this the wrong way, but this will not be the last time we cross paths... you and I, we are the same, we are both the only ones of our kind left, and I feel that destiny has now made it fact that we will meet again. I shall head back to my ship, and inform my buyer that he'll have to get something far more formidable up and running if he wishes to take the Omnitrix from you, but knowing that fool and his horrible plans, you'll be fine... Farewell, Wielder of the Omnitrix." Igneus stated, flying towards the direction of Ponyville in a blistering comet of white hot fire.

Leon looked on at the blistering white fire, burning in the slowly setting sun as the orange in the sky made the white flames burn brighter the further they got. Leon smiled, and looked to the Omnitrix, twisting the dial as he just looked at the fact that the Pyronite form, or whatever else Igneus was composed of, wasn't in his current playlist.

Bummed out, Leon thought this was how he would know that this whole 'getting stronger transformations' thing, was gonna take a while. Leon looked back at the scorched and soot covered stone within the castle and sighed, running back inside as he tried to not inhale any of the black smoke.

...

The fires hadn't spread that far, only stopping one third of the way towards the throne room before suddenly fizzling out. Leon quickly ran to the throne room, only to notice that the six ponies he came here with, Spike, and Princess Luna, were in the midst of something before suddenly going quiet as Leon burst through, only to suddenly collapse.

"Well, he's here right now, might as well ask him. You okay, Leon? That floor must be something if you let your face land on it first." Applejack remarked. Leon got up and rubbed his face.

"I'm fine. I'm actually a bit exhausted, and we've been here for almost the whole day... I'd be extremely tired if I wasn't still in the midst of an adrenaline rush right now," Leon said, chuckling a bit. "What's going on in here?" Leon asked, still rubbing his face.

"We were discussing what to do about that walking fire starter that decided to try and burn down the castle, like the ignorant piece of wasted charcoal that thing is," Applejack said, rubbing a bit of soot off of her hat with a saccharine expression on her face, and a sour tone in her voice. "Yeah, and speaking of which, what did that stupid burning broker want anyway?" Rainbow Dash asked Leon curiously.

Leon sighed, and rolled up his sleeve once more, to reveal the alien watch, still attached to his wrist, and lifted his wrist up into the air for everyone in the room to see. "I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count..." Leon said, his voice becoming serious, and for a moment, crestfallen.

Pinkie, believing that Leon is just joking around, pokes her head up and smiles coyly. "Do we still get to guess?" The pink party mare asked with a smile on her face.

"This... is gonna take a lot of explaining to do..." Leon simply stated, before turning his attention to the princess of the night herself. "But first, Luna, as much as it really pains me to ask you this, and trust me, I'm feeling my soul furlough as I consider this, but... could you bring Celestia back in here for this?" Leon asked, gulping as he swallowed something down with a look of disgust.

"And why should she be here, after nearly extinguishing the human race off the face of Equestria again?" Luna asked, obviously apprehensive of letting Celestia back into the room, especially with the human.

"She is one of the royals of this land, your highness, and though she tried to kill my ass in the most aggressive way possible that I've seen thus far, she had a definitively odd reaction to the Omnitrix, and I want to clear up any kind of misconceptions about it... I still don't quite get why a god of literal darkness was in the Omnitrix, but Celestia seems to know something that she didn't have the rationality to explain before going murder crazy. Let her back in, and I'll try to explain everything the best I can... to the best of my abilities, of course." Leon explained.

Luna sat in her throne for a moment, mulling over the request as she contemplated. Wasn't long before she let out a loud whistle, and a dark black stallion with Yellow-ish eyes, a short gray mane, dark blue armor with a planet shaped emblem on his chestguard, and slightly withered pegasus wings came running in, standing at attention.

"Tell my sister she is immediately summoned back to the throne room if she behaves and acts civil." Luna sternly states. The stallion, unfazed by the princess's stern tone, nods and salutes as it flies out to carry out its job.

"Till she gets here, Mr. Leon, kindly entertain us with what you know about the Omnitrix... on a basic understanding, if you would so kindly." Luna asked, her tone of voice much softer, but still stern. Leon swallowed again and sighed.

"Okay, where to start... I guess from the beginning... But it is gonna be difficult to explain, nonetheless. I guess it all started, ironically, Thousands of Years ago in another world..." Leon started, sitting down on the ground as the Main 6, Spike and the princess of the night listened closely.

...

In the vacuum of space, Igneus is constantly punching in several buttons on a strange looking dashboard, and just got done informing his buyer that the Omnitrix couldn't be retrieved, much to their disliking of that response, but Igneus did say that even when he went all out, he still couldn't win. Thus, they let Igneus go, but that didn't stop Igneus from leaving a bomb on their ship, and evading their range of wrath before it detonated.

Psyphon, busy having several of the soldiers clean up the mess, continues to work on calling in for assistance, wanting to ensure that with all the help he'll get on his side, for a fair price, eventually he'll finally get the Omnitrix on one of these attempts, 'eventually' being the key word here.

From inside the huge tube, was the being from before, only now, the monster's body has healed, revealing a huge monstrous alien made out of strange tendrils and wrapped up tentacles. Though the monster's face couldn't be seen, his eyes glowed, showing perfectly through the glass, a furious red light emitted from the tube, as well as several guttural gurgling noises.

"Soon, my master..." Psyphon started, "Soon, you will have your prize... you will- No, you SHALL have the Omnitrix, and together, we will make these pitiful equestrian creatures writhe and feel utter agony beneath our feet," Psyphon stated, pulling up a holographic still image of Leon in his human form, smiling psychotically.

"...especially that pitiful human survivor, the one who keeps your prize away from you." Psyphon finished, glaring at Leon's face as he brandished his claws, letting them spark with some sort of red energy.

Author's Note

Now, originally, this was gonna be a 3-parter, but I'm going to basically call this the 'one-third-of-the-way' point of like a... season 1 of The Hourglassed Stranger, maybe. Everything leading up to this point has been 1/3 of a whole season, meaning I'll be trying to work on furthering the plot while also developing the characters a bit more.

the next third of this first season, well, it'll basically be about Leon having some difficulty with accepting that he may be the last of his species, and to also start mastering a bit more of the Omnitrix's power as a couple familiar unfriendly faces begin to rear their ugly heads out into the public's view.

Take your time, you'll figure out who these faces are before their chapters come out

And with that, I'll see you in the next chapter.