The Hourglassed Stranger

Deep within the dark, shrouded confines of the Everfree Forest, the Zebra begins to slowly look over strange plants and herbs, all the while the hulking drone continues to look around its environment, taking in the numerous strange forms of plant life and cataloguing their data in files.

"Getting used to the everfree is no easy task, and could you please hand me that empty flask?" The Zebra rhymed. The drone's green lights flickered a bit and he handed the zebra an empty glass flask, where the Zebra then began to collect dirt into the container. The drone analyzed the Zebra, and could only find some of his logical points of programming becoming more and more useless.

"Logical fallacy has been inquired. Why collect a dry, grainy substance with a container made for only liquids and fluids?" The drone inquired in a monotone voice. The Zebra chuckled and showed the flask to it, now containing the soil within it.

"The soil itself doesn't have much worth, but it's what resides in it, that has its perks." The Zebra half-rhymed, amused by the drone's unawareness. Within the dirt inside the flask, were strange little grubs and maggots. One seemed to have an almost reddish color with white and black spots, while the other had a small set of pincers and mandibles, while being colored Black with white and red spots.

"Uncatalogued insectoid/bug species has been registered. Aside from the mandibles and Pincers on the maggot that remind me of the Palhivarnians, this species of maggot does not resemble anything else. The strange grub seems to resemble what you equestrians call, for a lack of better naming options, a 'LadyBug'. More research is necessary to better understand this planet's evolutionary kingdom. Any thoughts, Zecora?" The drone assessed.

"I have no clue what a Palhivarnian is supposed to be, but one should always consider that not everything is as it seems." Zecora stated, smiling as she trotted onwards. "Come along now, we have much to prepare, if you still value a purpose, follow me, if you dare." Zecora rhymed. The drone got up and steadily kept up with the Zebra.

...

Back at Sweet Apple Acres, there's an obvious argument breaking out between Applejack and Rainbow Dash. It didn't seem to be getting closer to a solution, but rather it was getting closer to a brawl.

"Maybe if you actually took responsibility fer yer actions, we wouldn't be in this mess, Rainbow!!" Applejack exclaimed, her green eyes filled with anger as she pressed the pegasus.

"I said I was sorry, what more do ya want from me, bits?! It's not my fault you up and made a bad judgement call!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed back, a scowl forming on her face.

"Bad judgement call!? You're one to talk, little miss 'get me the hay away from Soarin'! If ya didn't like the guy, you shoulda said something, not ask me to give you a push, when I thought you meant push you into him!" Applejack retorted, getting up in the pegasus' face. Rainbow and Applejack groaned and glared at each other as they got ready to go at each other, until a whistling sound, almost like a melody of some kind caught their attention. The two mares looked down the way to town, to see Leon, the CMC and Big Mac walking back, apparently having a good time doing whatever it was they were doing.

The whistling soon stopped as Leon put the camping stuff against the wood fence. "Well, that was fun. Hope you guys enjoyed that camping trip, was pretty fun, all things considered, even with the slight trouble we got into, we still had fun, and I haven't felt that alive in a while, so I feel pretty good." Leon stated, smiling.

"That was so fun! Maybe we can do it again sometime, I'm sure a couple of our friends would like to go camping, especially if it means we can see you use your powers again!" Sweetie Belle said, smiling from ear to ear.

"Oh totally, I definitely wanna see that fast cat guy again, he was like a blue blur! It was sooo cool!!" Scootaloo chimed in.

"Ah think while it would be fun to go camping again, let's try to keep it relatively normal next time. I still think his powers are cool and all, but it can be pretty dangerous and reckless to just abuse them for simple problems with simple solutions. Needless to say, Ah loved every bit of that trip more than ah love attending the county fair!" Applebloom stated.

"Well, I'm gonna go and get back to work, but aside from the trouble that followed us, I'd say that was plenty fun. I'm always down to have some fun if you're up for it, pardner! Just say the word, and I've got you covered." Big Mac stated, walking towards the barn. Apple Bloom followed shortly after, waving at her friends as they ran off to do whatever it is they were gonna do on their own. Leon smiled and looked at the two mares who were still arguing, but still seemed to be aware of the human's presence.

"Ok, so what's going on here with you two?" Leon asked. He knew that in the original show, Rainbow Dash and Applejack have always fought, and that would basically be a constant thing with them, but he didn't know if that truly was the case in this Equestria. Multiverse and such, as Noel told him before. And even so, Applejack and Rainbow Dash fighting was entertaining at first, until it just felt really, really useless, even if they were rivals.

"She said it was my fault that I lost my chance at asking a colt out due to mixed signals, and I said it was her fault for assuming it was her job to make that call for me!" Rainbow argued.

"And ahm sayin' that it was yer fault, givin' me complicated signals about what to do because you never went on a date before! Hay, I went on a date before, and-" Applejack argued back until Rainbow Dash interrupted.

"a 'date' she says, being a third wheel on your cousin's date isn't a date for you, AJ!" Rainbow retorted. The earth pony and the pegasus reared up and got ready to fight, until a flash of cyan light blinded them both, and a huge diamond pillar formed in-between them before they could run into each other. Diamondhead looked at the mares bemusedly and in a flash of red light, Leon was back in his human form, saving most of the Omnitrix's power for another fight, but figured he'd use it to at least break up the fight between the two mares.

"Can you both just act like rational adults and not fight like you're arguing like a couple of foals on the schoolyard? Jesus, Applejack, you're a grown mare, your grandma, your brother and your little sister are more mature than you two combined. Really, look at yourself, you're supposed to be resting, not getting into half-baked arguments and brawls with your friends," Leon stated, turning towards the rainbow maned pegasus. "As for you, Rainbow Dash, you're a role model for that orange filly, maybe don't have her think it's a good idea to fight her friends, that's how you lose them. Like, come on, can you two not act like a couple of entitled ponies who think their opinions matter more than what the bigger picture provides?" Leon argued.

The mares looked at each other, and put their hooves to their own faces. "Maybe he's right, we were about to start fighting, and I didn't even consider that I might worsen your injury... I guess I've been a bit-" Rainbow Dash said, until Applejack cut her off this time.

"Pushy? Trust me, Dash, I think I've been pushy as well, mainly on myself, just trying to work off the obvious puncture wound by doin' what I do best, but I barely have to do anything as of now, the apples are all harvested thanks to this lanky human feller, though I'd like to ask you don't use that big sparking feller anymore, still cutting scorch burns in the grass out of the orchard." Applejack said, veering off the topic at hand for the moment. "But nonetheless, Dash, ahm real sorry I ruined things, I wasn't tryin' to ruin them intentionally, I just thought you needed the push, specifically in his direction. Besides, how was I supposed to know Soarin' didn't like mares anyway?" Applejack said, chuckling a bit. Rainbow laughed a bit as well as they bumped their hooves together.

'Soarin doesn't like mares? huh, that's a sudden development.' Leon thought to himself. Leon snapped himself out of his train of thought and remembered the bag of equipment laying against the fence. "Well, I'm at least glad this didn't suddenly spark into a whole uh... what's the word I'm looking for... uh... Oh! Adventure, that's what I was thinking. You two made up, that's always good, and now, I'm going to go find Twilight, to give her this camping equipment back. You two enjoy your day!" Leon said, hoisting the bag over his shoulder and walking back towards town. What he didn't notice was that the world suddenly began to get slower.

...

As Leon made his trek, he felt as if the crisp spring breeze that was blowing seemed to suddenly come to an alarming halt. Leon looked around at the environment, and saw what looked like a couple ladybugs, frozen in the air, but not actually frozen in ice... frozen in time was more like it.

"Ooooh that's not good, either ladybugs can just do this in Equestria, or it's some sort of time related thing... I think I need to leave, or at least hurry up and find Twilight." Leon said, worried. It wasn't until a bright blue and white flash of light shined upon him from behind, and Leon turned around to see a huge portal. a Blue and white swirling hole with yellow star-like dots floating amidst it.

From the portal itself, came a stallion. A Stallion with a short slicked back mane and a tan colored coat with goggles and a lab coat, as well as a dead tree with visible roots, a stopwatch hanging from one of the tree limbs and a green portal behind it as his cutie mark. The stallion reached into his pocket and grabbed two small colored orbs, one red, one blue. He popped the red gumball into his mouth and gleefully chewed as he eyed the human.

"Ahh, Mr. Derrickson, I see you're well. Gumball?" The stallion offered, speaking in a semi-natural accent of sorts. Leon could tell just by context clues and visible similarities of this stallion, it almost seemed like this stallion was...

"Professor Paradox?" Leon asked out loud. The stallion chuckled and blew a bubble as it popped.

"Quite perceptive, I guess some details of my original form can always be familiar, no matter how many times this world forces me into an equestrian body. Yet, it still allows me to traverse the dimensions and universes, and timelines as I always could. Yes, you'd be right to say I'm Professor Paradox, but to a rare few ponies of this world, I am simply known as Time Trotter, not to be confused with the Whovian counterpart of this world, Doctor Time Turner." Time Trotter explained.

"I assume you're here to take me home?" Leon said, smiling as he felt a sliver of hope. The stallion frowned and looked almost melancholic, which took that sliver of hope Leon had, and squished it like a bug.

"Unfortunately, even with how I can traverse almost any plane of existence in time, space, or reality, I've never once been able to breach my way to your former world... so to assume I could take you home, while it is flattering you don't underestimate my power and abilities, you seem to overestimate them... the real world is not something that can be reached without external means... I believe the warrior of another Equestria, Noel, explained this to you? It's the main reason why no other 'Displaced' has been able to return, albeit a rare few have tried, and while some succeeded, some have just come to grips with what they are going through. Though I can tell you something important that will be crucial to your world's development." Time Trotter explained.

Leon took a few minutes to actually process that fact... even with Professor Paradox's aide, he couldn't get home... and he could enter the mind of a Celestialsapien.

"And what would that be... some bullshit about me being this world's last hope, me being this world's destroyer, its alpha, its omega, tell me something that doesn't sound predictable." Leon blurted out. He was angry, he was upset, dejected, and most of all, his only goal, now looked like a fantasy, despite the world and the powerset he had being entirely fictional.

"I'll definitely tell you that this Equestria's history is a bit different... More than you'd think it'd be. Whatever you do, do not mention the Princess of the Moon, and don't break the Omnitrix... trust me, I'm telling you this because you do not want to break it... not with this history in mind." Time Trotter stated. He pulled out a pocketwatch and gasped. "And with that, I must take my leave before otherworldly forces take notice... Farewell, Leon Derrickson, and remember... Friendship is Magic." Time Trotter stated, jumping back into the portal as it closed, and time began to resume its natural flow.

...

Leon looked around, and let the time walker's words echo in his brain. Don't mention Luna, and don't break the Omnitrix... why did he feel an odd sense of concern that the Princess of the Moon and this watch had a connection? He didn't think on that long until Twilight suddenly ran up to him, in an exhausted huff with Spike on her back.

"Oh, hey Twilight, hey Spike. Question, why does she look like she's about to have a spaz attack?" Leon asked, noticing that Twilight was trying to catch her breath. Spike got off of Twilight's back and handed her a paper bag, to where she proceeded to breathe into it.

"Twilight wants to tell you that there's a problem in the Everfree Forest. And while she's needed to take care of some important business, she wants to know if you'll go and figure it out, with the promise of a reward." Spike said nonchalantly, patting Twilight on the back as she steadily calmed down.

"All depends, what kind of problem are we talking about?" Leon asked. Spike was about to say something, until a shrill screeching noise echoed out of nowhere, coming directly from the Everfree. "Oh... that kind of problem... Fine, but I wanna know what the reward will be when I get back." Leon stated, hopping the fence and running towards the Everfree.

Twilight, now having complete control over her breathing, finally yells and utters out a few words that Leon could barely hear, but still stuck with him as he entered the Everfree.

"DON'T DESTROY ANYTHING, IT JUST MAKES IT ANGRIER!!" Twilight exclaimed worriedly.

...

Leon ran down the path, evading the strange hostile plants of the everfree, covering his mouth and eyes as they sprayed their gas and jumped towards the stairway, carefully running downward to the same place as he first fought and got the upper hand on the drone. He uncovered his mouth and eyes as he looked around. He saw the slight aftermath of the fight, but that wasn't why he was here.

"Okay, if I were a strange monster screeching like a bat out of hell, where would I hide myself in the Everfree?" Leon asked himself, looking around as he noticed the huge cave and peered inside, only to look at a huge marvelous sight.

A huge crystal tree, rooting itself into every part of the cave as it glowed several colors. "Well I'll be a donkey's behind, The Tree of Harmony... well, that's a thing I'll have to keep in mind, but I don't think it's what I'm looking for." Leon told himself, backing away as he walked back up the stairway. The screeching noise rang out once again, and it seemed to come from much deeper into the forest.

"Oh for fuck's sake... I swear, if that drone managed to bypass that program Jury Rigg inputted, I'm gonna have to be a bit more creative." Leon stated, running to the side, cutting through a bit of brush as he dialed in one of his aliens, only to suddenly come across a trail into a wall of leaves, vines and peat moss. Leon carefully pushed his way through and walked through the secluded opening towards a dim, but still visible light source. He kept on moving towards the light, and still readied the Omnitrix for use, until he saw a shack in a very shrouded clearing, with very little sign of the sky above. The shack itself was very hand-crafted, or according to this world, hoof-crafted. It had these spectacular string lights and old-timey candles, and it did look like someone or something was inside the shack.

"A shack in the middle of the Everfree, strange lights, candles... This is Zecora's place. I should've figured as such, who else would be crazy or brave enough to live in a forest as nutso, dark and brooding as this?" Leon told himself. Leon carefully approached the shack, and carefully knocked on the door, awaiting a response.

"Come in, come in, visitor! You are quite brave, unlike the inquisitors." A female's voice spoke out from the shack. Leon opened the door, and marveled at the wide variety of ingredients, potion flasks and even a few cases filled with miscellaneous things. He saw the Zebra, better known as Zecora, who was fiddling around with the same drone he sent packing with that new program, now shut down, with a strange fungus-like moss growing over the drone's mechanical body.

"Okay, now I'm concerned to why Twilight wanted me to come out here... talk to me, equestrian shaman of the Everfree, what's up with the galactic tin can over here, and what is that growing over his body?" Leon asked, pointing to the still growing and spreading fungal moss.

"It's a long story, but to make it short, an experiment went right, and wrong in a way, of sort. this fungal moss is known as Doominus Shroomae, and if we do not remove it, all of equestria will be doomed to die." Zecora rhymed grimly, splashing some sort of yellow powder and a green fluid onto the moss. Leon just looked at the fungal moss in disgust, but now feared the stuff, backing away from the drone.

"Okay, how do we fix this? Do we scrape it off, or do we just dismantle him?" Leon asked. Zecora looked to the human, and then at the watch on his wrist. "You could turn into a Methanosian, convince the Fungus to stop, but of course if you're not up for such a task, I would say the topic of stopping it... is dropped." Zecora rhymed.

More and more questions just kept popping up in Leon's mind. How in the highhorse hell did Zecora know what the hell a Methanosian was, let alone knew it was Swampfire? and to be fair, Zecora did have a point, Methanosians have a tie to nature, a link, maybe by connecting to the fungal moss, he can establish a link to it, and force it to stop its spread on the machine.

"I'm definitely gonna ask you how you know about that, let alone how you know what a Methanosian is, but that's for when a strange fungus isn't trying to doom equestria... sheesh, this isn't even a villain, and it's a threat. Equestria's nature is scary." Leon said, dialing in Swampfire's icon and slamming it down, replacing Leon with the lumbering swampy alien.

"Alright, step aside." Swampfire stated. The zebra backed away, and Swampfire reached out to the moss, only for it to suddenly reach out to the methanosian, glomming a huge piece of itself onto the methanosian, and immediately began to spread up his arm. "AAAHHH!!!!!!! GET OFF, GET OFF, GET OFF!!!!!" The Methanosian panicked, trying to scrape off the moss, only for it to get on his other hand, and spread more. Swampfire ignited one of his hands on fire, burning away the moss as he tore his arm off and threw it out of the shack, closing the door as he regrew his arm and turned himself back to his human form.

"Not doing that again, that was not cool!! That thing got aggressive, I didn't hear a word, it just started spreading!" Leon exclaimed, panting as he and the zebra anxiously looked out of the shack's window, to see the arm growing more of its body, with the moss growing over it, mushrooms begin growing as flower petals bloom from the roofs of the fungi and the buds open up like eyes. several bulb like boils swell up and bubble with what might be either fungal spores, or flames. It growled and began to slowly encroach towards the secluded entryway, to venture off to PonyVille.

"Okay... I've seen a lot of weird things before, but I've never seen anything like this. What can you make of this, Zecora?" Leon asked, concerned and weirded out. No response, Leon turned around and saw Zecora packing her potions, her brewing ingredients, she was packing up everything in a silent, composed, but internally contained panic.

"Life goes on, Shapeshifter of man, but don't think I'm leaving without one final plan. Decay, that's the weakness of the moss, surround it or overwhelm it with enough of it, and you'll have shown it who's boss... what a risk I suggested, to use a Methanosian against this horror, it just created more infected. I fear that if this creature escapes the forest, no creature will be safe from the fungus that plans to take over us." Zecora rhymed, her tone grim, but not hopeless. Leon looked to the drone and had to figure something out.

"What about the drone here? If we can fix him, maybe we can get him to fight that infected Methanosian out there." Leon asked. Zecora nodded no and looked at the drone as it remained inactive.

"The drone was with me, studying the Everfree. But one wrong action had a consequence, something I will tell him to make a recompense. The Moss shut him down, so it's obviously alive, you'd have to be in-between life and death to stop that fungus, or at least try." Zecora rhymed. Leon kept on thinking about those two things. Decay, in-between life and death. He could try Ghostfreak, but did he want to risk running the chances of Ghostfreak being susceptible to the fungal moss? Then, the human thought of something... he used 9 of his 10 aliens thus far, so why not use an alien he hasn't used yet? Leon popped the dial up and twisted through his icons.

Starting at Swampfire, he turned to Diamondhead, then he turned to Shock Rock, then Ghostfreak, Goop, Iron Wolf, Jury Rigg, that elephant alien he hasn't named yet, and Fasttrack. 9 aliens he's used thus far. What was the 10th alien gonna be? A scrawny, humanoid figure with sharp claws, a very skinny figure, and something protruding from its head.

"Well, now's as good of a time as it ever will be to figure out what this one does. Just gotta hope it isn't some sort of god that can overwhelm me." Leon stated, slamming the core down as his body was enveloped in a cyan light, and his body began to undergo a transformation.

His human skin began to tighten around his body, tearing his nails as they grow out into these rotted bone colored claws. His hair began to recede in places, looking a bit patchy as his skin paled and decayed, losing life as these cyan-green spots and sores grew on his body, some parts of his body exposing bone and his own muscle and tissue. He gained some nearly skin tight black pants with cyan leg cuffs. Several bone-like protrusions curved and wrapped onto his sides, his eyes bugging out, the whites in his eyes becoming a dull, lifeless gray, his eyes remaining a cyan color. On top of his chest was the Omnitrix.

The flash of light died down, and Zecora was terrified of the monstrous creature now standing in her shack. A lanky, humanoid, rotting corpse.

"RRrruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggghhhhhhh..... BRAINDRAIN!!!" The creature moaned out, its voice hoarse, raspy, deprived of oxygen, and almost gurgling and growling with every syllable. The alien shuffled over to the drone, and a cyan colored spark of energy crackled at its fingertips as it began to easily claw off the moss from the mechanical drone. It was just a bit disgusting when this alien started to consume and devour the moss, along with the fungus that created the moss itself. Its lifeless body sparked more with this strange energy.

"I-It would seem that hope is on the horizon, that's great, but you must hurry and stop that moss, before it's too late!" Zecora pleaded. The alien, known as Braindrain, nodded and lunged at the door, slamming the door off of its hinges as the alien roared and bellowed, chasing after the mossy methanosian with haste. The drone began to regain power, and soon after turned on again.

"Systems online. Drone designation: G.E.B.O: Operational. Foreign lifeform has been removed. Status update is required. Acronym designation is required." The drone stated. Zecora looked back at the drone, and sighed, put on a smile and began to prepare something in a cauldron.

...

The mossy methanosian, nearing the exit point of the Everfree Forest, had now adapted and integrated parts of the forest itself into its new extraterrestrial body, creating vines with venus fly trap-like ends, snapping away at the air, only to hear the growling bellow of Braindrain coming up from behind to fend off this monstrosity.

"Foolish creature, get out of my way. All life on this planet will be destroyed, consumed to provide me nutrients!" The mossy Methanosian stated, firing a few flaming shrooms in the undead alien's direction. The shrooms come into contact, but they don't do much as Braindrain lunges forward, biting into the shoulder blade of the monstrous creature, tearing, eating and devouring part of the monstrous figure as it proceeded to consume more and more of the mossy substance, generating more and more of that strange energy.

The Methanosian monster mustered enough strength to tear the alien away from his body and throw him against one of the trees, tearing it out from the ground upon impact. "Still.... Hungry..." Braindrain groaned, picking himself up as he shoved his claws into his side, and gripped onto a piece of his guts, and growled angrily, tearing out what looked like a kidney, but it aggressively pulsated as a strange dark magenta fluid slightly leaked from the alien's ruptured and pierced side. He threw the organ at the methanosian monster, and as it made contact with the mossy atrocity, it exploded, sending the monster back, staggering it as Braindrain lunged at the monster, yet again, taking bites, clawing at the monster, only to be met by a powerful explosion of fire as it was sent careening out of the forest, and right towards Sweet Apple Acres. The monster got up, and began to quickly regenerate its wounds as it ran after the undead hero.

...

Applejack and Twilight were busy getting a few things set up for some type of celebration, with the obvious Pink pony in town, Pinkie Pie, casually setting up several catering tables and were really trying to keep something steady, only to reveal that it was a type of tarp covering something big.

"Ah can't believe we're doin' this. Not that it's a bad thing, far from it, but do you really think he's gonna appreciate this? Ah don't think the feller's gonna like the news about his uh... 'situation', Twilight. Maybe give him more than a couple days to get used to being here, and maybe there'll be a time for a party." Applejack suggested, setting a huge barrel of something down.

"Applejack, I understand that his situation is rather... well, it's definitely not something you hear about every day, but if there's a possibility to learn more about a race of humans that survived, then that's good enough for me. Plus, I'm sure he'll appreciate the party after he's done dealing with the issue in the Everfree Forest." Twilight responded. Pinkie suddenly popped in between the mares, smiling.

"Yeah, don't worry Applejack, plus, who doesn't love parties after a long day of work?! Plus, I still didn't get to have a welcoming party for him! So this will make up for it, a 'Thank you for not attacking us' Party!" Pinkie interjected. Before another word could be said, something crashed right in front of the mares... it was Leon, transformed into a zombie-like creature, groaning as it slowly picked itself up, snapping parts of itself back into place with no sign of real discomfort.

"Urrrrrgghh.... Don't.... like.... long falls... Still hungry.... *sniff sniff*... Food...?" Braindrain groaned, looking towards the huge multitude of catering stuff. The mares probably would've reacted entirely different, if they didn't notice the Omnitrix's symbol being visible on the creature, plain as day.

"L-Leon?! What happened to you?! Is... i-is this one of your transformations?!" Twilight asked, obviously a bit more than just freaked out. Applejack just looked at the rotting monster, and while she expected to gag at what should've been a noticeable scent of decay, the creature, oddly enough, smelled fresh, like a dandelion in a peppermint factory. Pinkie on the other hand, was just getting up close and personal with the undead entity, squeezing it as Braindrain raspily groaned.

"Pinkie... Stop... hugging me... got... job.... to do... urgghh..." Braindrain groaned. Soon thereafter, a fireball had come into contact with the undead hero, knocking Pinkie off of him and setting him mildly ablaze. The ponies turned to look at the source of it, only to see a more malformed, mutated, and monstrous version of that Swampfire creature. Braindrain scowled a bit at the mossy monster, and roared, lunging in its direction as it continued to put up a fight, slashing and tearing off pieces of the monster as it slowly overwhelmed it.

Though the mossy monster had fire power, and newly acquired venus fly-trap like vines, Braindrain had one advantage in this fight, though, that triumphed over this fungal mossy monster's adaptive qualities. Where this mossy monstrosity seemed to have a bit of a stamina limit, Braindrain had no limit. No lungs, no actual worry to run out of stamina, combined with his insatiable hunger, he was practically destined to win this fight... although it got to be a bit too much for the ponies to look at as Braindrain tackled the exhausted mossy monster, pushing its regenerative abilities to the limits, to the point where even that couldn't save it. Its head was torn clean off its body while Braindrain devoured the mossy monster in a gruesome display. It was over, but Braindrain just kept eating... and eating.

"L-Leon, it's over, I- I don't think it's moving-" Twilight tried to interrupt, until it cut her off by glaring at her, his blue eyes now in focus, turning a dull white color as he snarled at the pony.

"Back off, little pony, this is my lunch!!! I hunger!!" Braindrain barked, turning back to his meal as he continued to devour the mossy monster. Hours later, the monster was completely consumed, nothing seemed to remain of it. In a flash of Red light, Leon laid on his side, groaning in pain as he held his stomach. The ponies carefully approached him.

"Leon?... are you okay?" Pinkie asked cautiously, poking his head with her hoof.

"Urp! Urghg..... I ate too much... stomach hurts... everything feels fuzzy. Where am I?" Leon croaked out. Twilight magicked him into the air and carried him over to the table, sitting him at a table with 8 chairs.

"Sugarcube, you're at Sweet Apple Acres, you up and crash landed here as some sort of walking corpse... what was that Faust-forsaken monster anyways, and was that one of those Swampfire fellers you were talkin' about?" Applejack questioned. Leon nodded, and belched, looking green in the face as his stomach growled out of pain.

"That was Braindrain... you know the concept of Zombies? Like, night of the living dead type stuff?" Leon asked. the three ponies nodded, looking at the human with concern. "That's basically what Braindrain is... a species of Zombie that takes more after their flesh-eating concept... but there's more to what he can do than just consume the living. Urp- *Buuuuuurp!* It- it feels so draining to use him... I'll have to hold off on using that form for a bit, that felt so strange... And I thought Ghostfreak was intense." Leon explained.

"Are you gonna be okay? You seem out of it... like, really out of it. Why don't you try to rest before the party starts, and when you're feeling better, you can join us! Consider that your reward for stopping... what seemed like a rogue Swampfire monster from wreaking havoc on Equestria. Also, Zecora sends her thanks as well, she's still got that drone in her possession, but she said you let her keep it, so we'll have to talk about all that... and what to properly do next before the next round of craziness occurs." Twilight said. Leon just simply nodded, got up out of his chair, and before he could even move, he faceplanted onto the ground, completely out of it.

...

Leon suddenly jolted upwards, breathing heavily as he looked around, seeing that he was in a huge gray room, unable to move... he struggled as he tried to move his legs, but he was stuck in place. He tried to reach for the Omnitrix, but his arms were stuck to his sides. His body was being held still by some sort of invisible force, and then, the gray void became darker. Leon struggled more and more to get out of the grip of whatever was holding him in place, and though he couldn't escape, he was still willing to fight, even if it was a pointless endeavor. He looked into the darkened void, and saw something lurking in the shadows, inching ever more towards him. He tried to break out one more time, and finally succeeded, freeing his arms so he could activate the Omnitrix, only to find that it wasn't working. He struggled more and more to make the watch do something, but soon found himself face to face with the monster in the shadows. The monster loomed over him, it seemed to be 30 feet tall, and as skinny as a redwood tree. he had no real way of describing what this thing was, but it just reached out to him and then raised its huge hand up, balled it into a fist, and slammed it down towards him. Leon had nowhere to go, no way of escaping, and could just scream as the fist was about to crush his body.

...

Leon's screams echoed throughout a small bedroom as he quickly sat up from a bed, wide eyed and screaming. The door to the room was kicked open by Applejack as Big Mac came charging in with an axe in hand, and Apple Bloom just wondering what the screaming was about.

"Ok, we're here, where's the danger?!" Applejack asked, looking around, only to see Leon, drenched in sweat, his screams dying down as he caught his breath and tried to calm himself down.

"I... I'm not in danger, I think... I was just... just- having a nightmare... yeah, j-just having a real bad nightmare... did the party stop?" Leon asked, trying to change the subject.

"Nah, it hasn't, but if you're not up for a party, then we'll understand if you just want to rest-"

"NOPE!!" Leon exclaimed. The sudden exclamation threw Applejack, Big Mac and Apple Bloom off, until Leon checked himself and tried to reiterate. "Uh, I- I mean, no thank you, I've rested enough... I think a party's what the doctor ordered, I guess I've just been a bit... off my game." Leon muttered, getting up as he stretched and walked downstairs to head out to the party. The three ponies looked at each other and were a bit skeptical, but he seemed to be okay, just a bit shaken up and needed to socialize a bit.

"Just a bit off my game..." Leon muttered, unaware of the Omnitrix cycling through his alien icons on its own before glowing a dark violet color as it cycles to a messed up and broken icon before returning to its dormant state.