HiE: Anon and The Alien Accessory

Chapters

Anon 10: Pilot Prologue
Chaos on the Homefront
Discordant Disruptions
Silence in the Dragonlands! Short on Allies and Answers! Part 1

Anon 10: Pilot Prologue

A bright and shining sun begins to rise on the horizon, lighting up a small bustling village town, with one of the rays of sunshine peering into one of the windows, shining a light down on a mysterious figure. the figure squirmed in bed, until it let out an exhausted, but fairly amused chuckle. The figure was a humanoid, a rather odd humanoid with a black question mark on his face, wearing a light gray t-shirt that seemed to contrast with his unnatural, but healthy green skin. This... human, if you could even call it a human, was Anonymous. Anonymous I. Torrentsonn.

"Another boring day in this pastel colored talking horse hell... Ahh who am I kidding, I actually like my new life here, so peaceful, and so... wonderous... most of the time," Anon quietly told to himself. The humanoid figure sat up from his bed and looked to the window before suddenly getting up. As the strange humanoid pulled the curtains back, they looked out the window with a tired smile, watching the ponies that passed by as he tried to get himself to be more awake.

"Okay, Anonymous, It's time to make today, your day! You have stuff to do, you made promises, and considering they were Pinkie Promises," A minor chill went down his spine, waking him up in an abrupt, but effective manner as he remembered what happened last time someone broke that kind of promise... Dear Jesus Christ, how the hell can an Earth Pony's skull be thick enough to crack an anvil in half!?

"Well, either way, I did make promises, and I intend to keep them this time," Anon felt and even heard the audible sound and growling sensation in his gut. "After I eat breakfast." Anon stated, walking out the door.

Anon put on a smile and walked a bit through a hallway, with several small wooden knots poking out with a few pictures hanging on the wall. Anon stopped and looked at the picture in front of him. There he was, smiling with enthusiasm, along with a small dragon, and a purple unicorn with wings. Anon gave a thumbs up to the picture and continued to walk, only to stop when he saw a staircase.

Anon, being the laziest man alive in the morning, sat on the railing and began to slide down, landing on the ground floor as he walked through the library and sat down at a dark wooden table, where a purple dragon, eagerly chomping and chewing away at some precious gems, was sat right next to him.

"Morning, Spike!" Anon said in a friendly tone. Spike, the gem consuming dragon, smiled and waved as he continued to eat what might've been his breakfast. Anon looked around and noticed a real lack of the studious book horse that was supposed to be up at this hour. "Hm, how odd... where's Twilight? Shouldn't she be down here, joining us for Breakfast?" Anon asked aloud, looking in every direction for the mare, but couldn't see any trace of her.

Spike turned his head to the green human and cleared his throat, catching Anon's attention. "Anon, Twilight and her friends were up a couple hours ago, she said they got a royal summons from Celestia, and is doing something at the Crystal Empire. She basically put you in charge until she comes back. You got any plans today?" Spike explained, asking with genuine intrigue.

Anon, who was kinda okay with the answer he got from the dragon, felt a weird pit in his empty stomach, and it felt almost like an unseen force was trying to knock him down. Anon grabbed a glass and filled it with water, then proceeded to grab a couple fruits from the bowl and chow down, washing the fruits down with the water, and soon felt the pain subside.

Anon, now back to his senses, turns towards Spike. "Yeah, I got a couple promises to keep for the girls, I have to do a full hour of farm work for Applejack, do some spring cleaning for Rarity, cover Pinkie's night shift at Sugarcube Corner tonight, Rainbow Dash wants me to also keep Scootaloo out of trouble, Fluttershy also wants me to feed Angel Bunny by the hour till she gets back, and Twilight just wants me to watch over you, right? So, I do got a lot to do today, but hey, who says I can't multi-task?" Anon said, putting the glass in the sink as he heads to the front door.

"Finish up those rare gems, Spike, because today, this day is ours for the taking!" Anon exclaimed. Spike smiled and rolled his eyes, tossing the last few gems he had into his mouth as he followed behind the human, who seemed really excited to do a few basic favors.

"I swear, he's about as passionate about doing something any day of the week as Twilight is usually about as passionate about books." Spike remarked.

***

Somewhere, in-between the very thin veil of the Multiverse, a human man with a caucasian skin tone, slicked back black hair, a lab coat, a golden gauntlet, a cane, and a stop watch is doing battle with a robed figure, shrouded in a tattered cloak, covered in some sort of dark steel armor, shining with a deep blue hue, and wearing a glass mask to conceal their identity. In their arms was a metal pod, and soon enough, they were in another universe, above a planet full of unique lifeforms.

"I must say, you're quite the adversary, you've evaded most of my tactical ploys to catch you off-guard... almost as if you were expecting it," The man said, his smile soon faltering into a look of grave seriousness. "But if you think I'm going to let you disrupt another world's timeline, because you were disrupting another Ben Tennyson's timeline, and ran off with its equivalent of the Omnitrix, you have made a grave error. You may be impersonating Eon, mimicking his strategies... but you cannot pull a dimensional wool wall over my eyes, for when I make the assumption that you aren't Eon." The man in the labcoat continued as he rammed into the armored individual.

The strangers were wrestling over the pod, until the armored stranger forced the other away, and then surrounded the pod in a strange purple mist, only for it to suddenly disappear. The man in the labcoat, was concerned and very displeased. "Alright, it seems you got the better of me, this time... Something Eon couldn't do in years. Pray tell, what did you do with the Omnitrix?" the man in the labcoat asked. The armored individual didn't speak, or utter a word, or a noise.

It just simply turned its head downwards, and pointed at the planet below. Paradox looked at the planet, and was about to inquire more information, only to see the tattered cloak remain of the mysterious stranger. "In all my years of traversing the universe... it would seem that I will have some, how mortals say, 'Difficulty' re-obtaining the Omnitrix in this environment... and I truly mean, this will not be easy." The man simply said, and in a flash of light, he was suddenly gone, but behind where he stood in the vast empty void of space, a meteorite was hurtling its way down to the planet's surface.

***

Anon was currently working incredibly hard on Applejack's chores. The watering system she had for some kind of garden was unnecessarily complicated, but he eventually got through it. Carrying and picking apples wasn't easy without that Earth Pony strength, but he was doing a good job, even if it was at a slower pace. Feeding the pigs and collecting eggs from the hens were the easiest things on her list, so they weren't much of a struggle. Anon looked up at the beating sun, and wiped the sweat from his brow as he walked to the porch and sat down.

"Man, farm work is so much more exhausting than I last remembered it being. What the hell is with the heat all of a sudden, did Celestia turn up the sun or something?" Anon asked, feeling the blistering hot red spot on the back of his neck gingerly. Then, a yellow stallion, dressed in western clothes sat down beside him, wiping the sweat off of his face with his front leg.

"Ah wouldn't worry about it too much, you worked pretty hard today. Applejack's chores are done for the day, and I can't blame her if the princesses needed her services. Sure, you were a tad slow, but everyone has an off day, right Big Mac?" The stallion said, turning to the red stallion that seemed a bit redder than usual, wincing as they trotted up to the porch.

"E-Eeyuup.. Ow!" Big Mac affirmed, yelping in pain as he hosed himself down with some cold water. Anon sighed and pulled out a small list, checking off AJ's promise as he motioned for Spike to follow him, and so Spike did.

As the sun's light beat down on the both of them, Anon continued to go through his list, stopping at Rarity's boutique to do a bit of cleaning. "Alright, it should be a bit cooler in here, Spike. Go take a rest on the couch, and I'll try to clean up here as best as I can." Anon said, grabbing a duster and a towel. He moved a bit fast, crashing a bit into walls, but he was careful enough to catch anything that would be extremely expensive, and set it down somewhere so he could continue cleaning.

Spike is casually relaxing on a cold and comfy sofa as he looks out to the rest of Ponyville, seeing everyone living their lives. "Man, it must be fun to do anything without being constantly watched by Twilight, I wonder if she'll be back later." Spike wondered. Anon, who was barely listening, was constantly dusting off the walls, the floor, the counter tops, the shelves, he was trying to make sure everything was clean.

Anon stopped cleaning for a moment and turned towards Spike. "Trust me, Spike, Twilight just has psychosi- I mean a process. For a student of Celestia, she's incredibly Neurotic, erratic, it just takes one bad chain of events for it all to spiral out of her control, that's all it takes for her to snap into a freak out frenzy. Remember the want it need it spell? That was a difficult day for everyone. Twilight wants to do all she can due to royal pressure, she's constantly trying to do all she can to stay in her teacher, her teacher's sister, and her babysitter now turned princess's good graces. Sometimes that even means she acts as a mother figure for you," Anon explained. Spike looked back at the human, letting the information ricochet around in his head.

Anon set the towel and duster down and sat down on the sofa, patting Spike on the back. "Hey, Twilight will be back, Spike. I promise, and besides, It's not like another wacky villain's gonna come out to play while Equestria's in a state of peace, that'd be incredibly inconvenient." Anon reassured. Anon reached into his pocket for the list he had, and crossed off Rarity's promise.

"We can rest for a little bit, but then we gotta get back to the list of stuff to do. May as well knock out three birds with one stone and get Scootaloo to tag along with us. You two can try to keep yourselves busy, while I deal with the white long-eared devil that is Angel Bunny. That sound fair to you? At least you and Scootaloo won't be bored to tears." Anon suggested. Spike nodded and collapsed into the sofa, passing out as he slept. Anon smiled and leaned back against the sofa, thinking about what else there was going to be for him to do after he was done with the promises.

***

Back in Canterlot, Twilight was having a discussion with the other princesses. Something was obviously not right, as Cadence stormed off in a huff. "Cadence, No! If you fight Tirek head on, you'll run the risk of putting your subjects, and yourself at greater risk! Cadence!!" Celestia called out, but it was too late, Cadence had already run, or in her case, flew off.

Twilight was in a panic, the worry in her face was as plain as day, and the princesses of Day and Night could see that they had no other choices. "It would seem that... our hooves have been forced to this decision, dear sister." Luna said, a feeling of dread in her tone.

Twilight looked to the two remaining princesses, and Celestia's face was stoic, but there was a glint of fear and desperation in the Alicorn's eyes. "As it would seem, we must get rid of our magic, before... before Tirek gets the chance to take it from us." Celestia said, lamenting on the idea. Such an idea could be catastrophic if things didn't go as planned, but her plan to allow Discord, the reformed Spirit of Chaos, to deal with Tirek swiftly, had already flipped on her. Celestia looked to her student, and saw the abject shock on her face.

Twilight shifted in place, and tried to think about how to handle this information. "Get rid of it? That... that sounds incredibly drastic... but, if I have to, then I'll give up my magic, for the safety of Eque-" Twilight was about to finish her sentence, before Celestia held her hoof up, as a means of signaling her to stop talking.

"I'm afraid you misunderstand, Twilight. In order to actually make sure that Equestria still has a ruler, we are transferring all of our Alicorn magic to you, we're confident that news of a 4th alicorn princess has not reached Tirek yet, so it's our only choice, that now, excluding Cadence, Luna's power and my own are all we can give you... but before we do, Luna, bring in the night!" Celestia stated. Luna nodded, and with a blue glow of her horn, she set the sun, the stars began to shine as the Moon rose to the horizon.

Luna and Celestia then got into their positions, standing on separate sides of Twilight, and began to create a magical sphere of energy above themselves. From out of Celestia and Luna's horns, a dark blue and a golden yellow light intertwined and collided in the magical sphere, and it slowly began to descend towards Twilight, who was absolutely terrified of this, wanted to run or object, but she knew that her mentor knew what was best, so she let the magical sphere descend, and all of that magic then concentrated on entering through Twilight's horn. Her horn then grew a bit, and became sharper at the point, she grew a bit, her wings expanded to be larger, her hair waved and sparkled, but though she felt stronger, she looked kinda the same as she did before.

Celestia crumpled to the floor, weak, drained, trying to stay up, as was Luna. "I'm sorry, Twilight... this is the only way. I know that somehow, in some way, you will save Equestria... you must keep your newfound abilities a secret, however, otherwise Tirek will come for you, and those closest to you. Do you understand me, Twilight?" Celestia asked, her voice filled with worry, her attempt to remain stoic, has faltered.

Twilight, still unsure of her mentor's plan, reluctantly nodded her head. "I understand... I'll try to find a way to stop Tirek, and return all magic to Equestria, and those who live in it. It's a Pinkie Promise I don't plan to break." Twilight stated, using her magic to teleport back to Ponyville. Celestia and Luna crawled to their thrones, and sat up, feeling physically weak, but remained strong with their very wills.

"Good luck, my faithful student..." Celestia whispered.

***

To Anon, he was used to the sudden passing hours in Equestria, cause to him, it felt like only 35 minutes, and the sun had began to set. Anon had been hard at work, tending to Fluttershy's animals, especially Angel Bunny, who was just being a spoiled and evil little brat, but he was at least able to keep Scootaloo busy... while also letting Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle tag along, and subsequentially just tried to keep Angel Bunny from breaking something, or trying to fight the fillies he was trying to keep entertained.

Anon slumped onto the couch, hearing the front door open, seeing Fluttershy flutter in. "Oh! A-Anon, I didn't think you'd still be here. You look exhausted, do you need anything?" Fluttershy asked.

Anon smiled and pet the pegasus as he stifled a yawn, and looked over to the three fillies, and Spike, who seemed to finally be feeling tuckered out. "I'm good, but they need to get home. It's late, and I did efficiently follow almost all of the promises I made today exactly," Anon said, standing up as he stretched his tired and aching body.

"I kept Scootaloo out of trouble for Dash, I did Applejack's chores, I cleaned Rarity's Boutique, I made sure to feed and watch over Angel and your animals for you, I watched over Spike for Twilight, but I still need to cover for Pinkie tonight. Good thing it'll be at Sugarcube Corner, I could use something sweet right now to keep me up for a bit." Anon stated, heading to the door.

"Well, um... M-Me and the girls just got back, we kinda let Twilight go to see Celestia, but with this whole mention of a monster draining magic, we wanted to come back to Ponyville, make sure everypony was okay... if it's not too much trouble, I can get the fillies back home while you go handle your shift." Fluttershy offered, smiling.

"As long as it doesn't end up with a rose petal path back to your cottage after my shift, then I accept the assistance." Anon simply stated, walking out of the cottage and making a sprint down the path to Sugarcube Corner. Fluttershy quickly put the exhausted fillies onto her back, and carried Spike with her wings as she began the trek to get them home. All the while, a shimmering star seems to be burning brighter and brighter... almost like it's getting closer to the ground.

***

As Anon ran down the streets of Ponyville, he could see Sugarcube Corner in his sights, and quickly jumped, sliding his way to the door as Mrs. Cake and Mr. Cake were about to lock up for the night, holding their blissfully sleeping children in their arms.

"Wait! I'm here! I'm here to cover for Pinkie! Night Shift! Auuugh!" Anon quickly said, crashing his face against the glass door. Though it didn't crack, an obvious cheek mark of where Anon's face had been pressed was going to have to be cleaned before opening up tomorrow morning.

"Oh darlin', didn't ya hear? Pinkie just came back, so you don't have to- Mph!" Mrs. Cake was interrupted by Anon pressing a green finger against her lips,

"I couldn't care if one of the princesses was covering for Pinkie, I made a promise, and I'm gonna keep it... because Pinkie would probably tan my green hide if she found out I broke it." Anon argued, shuddering slightly at the idea of Pinkie going manic.

From behind the green man, a cheerful giggle echoed, causing him to turn around and see Pinkie, wearing a strange little paper hat on her head and an apron. "Anon! Good to see you, I thought you were gonna break the Pinkie Promise this time, talk about dedication! Look, the promise can't be broken now since you showed up, but you already look exhausted. Night Shifts are no joke, that's why the Cakes usually have me working both days and nights, because I got the energy for both shifts! Don't worry, you can cover tomorrow night's shift to make it up to me! You get some rest! Anyways, Goodniiiiiiight!~" Pinkie explained.

Anon, too tired to understand half of what Pinkie just said, was then slightly pushed aside to enter Sugarcube Corner, while the Cakes went home to put their children to bed. Anon just sighed and pulled out his list, circling Pinkie's promise as he grumbled in disappointment. "Well, five out of six... not bad, but not good either... I wish there was something I could do, something to make it up to Pinkie, because I sure can't wait till tomorrow's night shift to do so, I'd be too exhausted then." Anon told himself, walking down the streets.

Anon looked above him and saw one star burning brighter than the others, and actually felt compelled to try and make a wish... he was already stuck in a world of magical talking horses, for 3-4 years no less, he might as well give it a whirl. "Star light, star bright, grant me my one wish tonight... I wish I may, I wish I might, I wish I had the power to protect my friends and fight!" Anon wished aloud. He looked to the bright star, and almost in a cruel, but merciful twist of fate, the star then suddenly came crashing down.

'Oh fuck, please don't tell me I invoked a god's wrath... again.' Anon thought to himself, his face contorting into worry as he saw the 'star' crash into the one place he didn't want to go into, especially at night... The Everfree Forest. The ground shook as the star collided with the ground, and for a moment, Anon was definitely sure that maybe his friends heard that, and he wouldn't have to deal with it... but did he really want to see his pony friends get hurt, or worse, just because he wished on a star?

"Shit... well Anon, this is your mess, time to clean it up... god, give your non-magical man some extra strength, and please don't let Twilight find out." Anon told himself, swallowing down his fear and making a run into the forest, following the trail of black smoke. However, Unbeknownst to Anonymous, a certain someone has been watching from afar. He looked at his pocket watch, and was once again gone in a flash of light.

***

Applejack was not having the best night, as of late. The moment she's about to fall asleep, something big, bright and burning flies over her farm and crashes into the Everfree Forest. Irritated, but also concerned on what the situation might be about, she was going to get Big Mac up, but decides that it'll be better to go in alone, and be back before sunrise.

She grabbed her hat and a couple saddles, as well as a shovel with the name 'Sheila' engraved into the tough and sturdy Oak handle. Applejack snuck her way out of the front door and quickly ran off, shovel in her mouth as she ran into the forest, following the pillar of black smoke.

***

Anon was familiar with the Everfree Forest, having several run-ins with the Zebra shaman, better known as Zecora, as well as also stumbling across the castle of the two sisters by freak accident during Nightmare Night, but nonetheless, he was also fairly educated and practiced with evading and countering the numerous dangers within the forest itself. Don't step on or engage a Cragodile, and if you see one of those weird crab plant things that spew gas, just run and don't breathe until you know you're safe.

Anon was not superhuman, he didn't become superhuman, he was just a normal guy, though the green skin and the question mark face was the only strange thing about him, everything else about him was just incredibly normal and average. For Anon to evade these dangers, it proved that he was a bit of a fast hands-on learner, even if he was sometimes very forgetful about his own skills. It didn't take him that long to reach the source of the black smoke... unfortunately, it was right near the location of the tree of harmony. Knowing he'd rather face whatever crashed down there than to face Twilight and the others, he ran down the stairway and quickly looked into the crater.

He looked at the tree, seeing that it wasn't reacting in any way, but still felt something odd about this sudden crashing star. Wasn't until Anon got a good look at what was in the crater to see that it was a big old meteorite, shattered into pieces. While that wasn't odd in the slightest, the metal pod amongst the shattered remains of the meteor was very odd, almost... extraterrestrial.

"Woah... this might be a problem. Although, then again, I made a wish on a star, who's to say this isn't my wish being granted?" Anon wondered to himself. He was about to leap down and get a closer look, until the ground gave way at his feet, causing him to stumble and roll towards the metal pod. Anon got up, rubbing his head and his arm as he slowly approached the pod. The pod hissed open, steam sprayed out for a moment as it began to fold open. Inside the pod was a strange watch, a bulky gray watch with two white tubes wrapping around it with a dial, on the dial were 4 glowing green knobs, but the odd thing about it was the big green hourglass emblem that seemed to signify it had a purpose.

Anon was confused, but also pretty enamored that a watch, some kind of space watch crashed on a magical planet of talking ponies and dragons. This might just be his night after all, especially if it means he can help the girls against whatever psychotic magic draining doofus was rampaging through Equestria right now. "Anonymous, you just became a lucky man," Anon told himself, reaching his left hand out to the device, only for it to lunge at Anon and clamp onto his left wrist.

Anon could feel it, it was like several fleshy pins and needles were digging into his wrist, he could feel the sudden coursing flow of energy pumping through his body. Though he didn't feel physically stronger, he definitely felt some kind of power coming from the watch. Before Anon could even figure out what was going on, there was a huge explosion of light, and it revealed unto him some strange beast towering high in the distance.

"Well give me a horn and wings, and call me the Prince of Circumstances... because I think I just graduated from being Circumstances' victim." Anon told himself.

Author's Note

Behold, my first HiE/Anon story.

Dear Celestia,

Shit's fucked and Equestria will never be the same.

Yours Truly,
TheAlienBrony22

Chaos on the Homefront

Applejack was rushing through the Everfree Forest, whacking and hacking away at everything in her path, she wanted to make sure Zecora, or any foolish pony that decided to come in here at all was alright. When she got to the staircase that lead to the Tree of Harmony's location, she saw the explosion of light coming from Ponyville. Her exhaustion was beginning to mix with her worries, she didn't know to what to do.

"Flim Flammin' fiddlesticks, what in tarnation is goin' on tonight?!" Applejack asked aloud. She heard the sound of something running, it was down where the crater was. Applejack, still prepared to fight, instinctively pointed Sheila at the source of the running, only to go bug-eyed when she sees it's Anon, who was in an exhausted, but also worried state. "Consarn it, Anon, you sure know how to almost get yerself- What in hell's name is that thing on your arm?!" Applejack exclaimed, pointing at the watch on his wrist.

Anon was about to open his mouth to say something, until several more explosions of light started to erupt, illuminating the Everfree Forest in a blanketing barrage of light. "I'm not exactly sure what this thing is, but I'm just glad I didn't invoke another god's wrath this time... I think. Look, I'll try to explain everything later, but right now, I think someone needs help... like, now!" Anon explained. Applejack's not the type of sort to just up and abandon somepony in need of help, so she silently nods, and the two quickly make their way out of the Everfree, completely unaware of the dangers that they're about to face head-on.

***

In a flash of sparkling purple light, Twilight has reappeared in the midst of Ponyville. Odd, she was hoping to get back to bed as soon as possible, but her newfound alicorn abilities must not be acclimated to her yet. Twilight ran down the empty and quiet streets of the town, trying to get back to the library, but things are gonna be very difficult when Ponyville is suddenly blanketed by a bunch of explosions of bright light.

"Ahhh!! Oh no, please don't tell me this is Discord... Dear Celestia, please don't let it be Tirek!" Twilight hoped. Much to her satisfaction, it wasn't Tirek or Discord... to her utter Dismay however, she probably would've preferred one of the two. Almost as if the light had summoned these things, it was unclear as to what they were. Parts of them looked to be incredibly unrecognizable, like parts of it were fused to metal and other strange contraptions, while other parts seemed to stand out, parts of different creatures seemed to be forced together into some unholy hybrid shoggoth-like creature.

Twilight just stood there, in utter shock, and fear ridden disgust. Of all the creatures she has faced, from Nightmare Moon and Sombra, to Discord and Chrysalis, this... thing, was by far, the most inexplicably confusing in appearance, and of unknown origin. "I... was not prepared for any of this..." Twilight told herself, slowly backing away. the creature screeched out and lunged forward, attempting to attack the princess. Twilight ducked down and braced herself, but soon enough, the creature recoiled in agony as something suddenly collided with it as a metal humming sound echoed out.

To Twilight's side, she could see a shovel on the ground. She turned around and saw Applejack, who was getting ready to fight this unholy monster back, was followed up by Anon, who was trying to mess with some sort of strange trinket on his wrist. "Alrighty, I'll knock that thing back, you join in when you figured out how to use that blasted contraption." Applejack stated, grabbing Sheila and charging at the unholy creature.

"Anon, what's going on?!" Twilight asked worriedly. Anon was still trying to figure out how to make this weird watch work, but even if he could answer Twilight's question, he didn't have a concrete answer as to what was going on, let alone to what kind of Lovecraftian abomination was currently screeching in the middle of town, in dead of night.

Eventually, Anon started twisting on the dial, and the hourglass emblem inverted into a diamond shape, showing icons of weird creatures. Anon cycled through the various icons and just decided to go with one at random. He noticed the button on the front of it, so upon pressing it, the core popped up. Anon carefully pushed the core back down, only to then be enveloped in a bright green flash of light as his body began to change.

Anon felt his body contort, warp and shape, feeling some sort of power coursing through his body. He felt his body freezing, a torrent of freezing cold air and rapidly forming ice began to cover his body, all while his green skin had began to become teal in contrast. Enveloped in ice, Anon felt something shroud over him as the freezing cold felt normal, the ice around him shattered, his skin was covered in a smooth black film, while dark turquoise patterns formed on top. His eyes were white, compounded like a moth, huge dark teal wings were spread out, and the same emblem on the watch was now firmly placed on his chest.

As the green light died down, Anonymous was replaced by this alien moth creature. Twilight and Applejack were both taken aback by the sudden transformation, but the unholy creature seemed to have expected this, and began to solely target the transformed Anon. The creature lunged forward, trying to ram into the new creature, only to suddenly see it go intangible, passing through it as its body was rapidly coated in ice. The moth alien took a deep breath, and exhaled a stream of freezing cold mist from its mouth, completely concealing the monster in a frozen prison.

"A-Anon?... I-is that you? Talk to me, partner, wh-what did that thing do to you?" Applejack asked. The alien looked down at the ponies, and then looked in the reflection of the ice, seeing himself... what he was now. The number of thoughts running through his head were exponential, but the fact that he could transform now, if that was what this thing did to him, he might actually be able to help ponies properly.

"Huh... Cool. Literally... I should wish on stars more often." The alien spoke in a chilling, but audible whisper. twilight approached the transformed Anon, and noticed the odd emblem on his chest, and began to tap it lightly with her hoof.

"What a strange device, I've never seen anything like this before... Anon, do you feel any different? How do you feel?" Twilight asked. The alien looked at himself, feeling how different he was. It was so much to understand, but he wasn't complaining, he has some kind of superpower now, at least he'll be useful in a fight now, unlike the last few times.

"I feel... amazing. This kind of power, it's invigorating. It feels like magic, but it's not magic at all... this is so awesome." Anon answered, smiling. Suddenly, the emblem began to blink a red light, and in a flash of red light, Anon was returned to his original form, now with the green on the watch glowing a red color. "Oh, well that was short-lived... this thing must have a time limit, or something along those lines... Hey Twilight, what's with the uh... the sudden growth spurt, you doing some kind of exercise regimen now?" Anon asked.

Twilight just simply sped off towards the direction of the library, Applejack however, was keen on figuring out what this unholy creature was all about. But, as soon as it showed up, it was gone just as fast. Anon and Applejack looked at where the frozen creature should be, but only saw a bunch of nothing, and splintered off pieces of ice in its place.

"Well this can't end well, can it?" Anon asked. Applejack just looked at the human bemusedly. This whole situation was confusing for her, and the fact that a weird watch was on him, and could turn him into some Tartarus-bound ice bug thing, she was not in the mood... let alone the appropriate mind state. She wanted to believe that all of this, all of what just went down, was some kind of bad dream. So, she just started to head back to Sweet Apple Acres.

"Partner, Ahm goin' back to bed, this is some Luna damn bad dream, and ah don't wanna find out what happens from 'ere on out. If I wake up tomorrow an' see that watch on you, yer gonna promise me that ya won't go lookin' fer trouble, ya hear?" Applejack called out. Anon nodded, and the two of them headed back to their respective homes to get some much needed sleep.

***

Back at Canterlot's castle, a white stallion with a short blue mane was dressed in a knightly armor, being followed by two other armored individuals. The Night was still young, but that just made the probability of chaos being more pertinent. Right when they least expected it, a strange chaotic hodgepodge of animal parts had already already disarmed them with a snap of the fingers. The stallion growled as he watched another stronger foe drain the magic from the two other guards. A big red skinned Centaur with curved silver horns, black fur, a silver nose ring and beady yellow eyes.

"You will pay for this, you traitor!" The stallion exclaimed. He soon felt his own magic be drained by the centaur, and was then tossed aside. Discord let Tirek waltz right past him, until he felt his body suddenly go into a sudden spaz. "Oh! Hm, well that can't be right." Discord said aloud.

Tirek looked at Discord cautiously. "What can't be right?" The centaur asked. Discord shook his head and just brushed off the odd feeling. Soon after, a bolt of magic had struck Tirek in the back, and an aggressive scream rang out as Tirek was met with 4 hooves to the jaw, staggering him back. Discord quickly hid away and watched things unfold.

Flying above Tirek, was Cadence, now dressed in a warrior's armor, and is prepared to fight to her last breath. "I'm going to love and tolerate the hell out of you, foul beast!!" Cadence exclaimed, charging up a powerful spell in her horn as the fury in her eyes burned bright.

Tirek wiped his jaw, and saw a bit of red stain on his silver cuffs. "All of that, for a few drops of blood. You have my praise and respect, Princess, you have decided to face me on your own... how noble, it disgusts me. Discord, keep her still!" Tirek commanded. With a snap of Discord's fingers, Cadence was stuck in place, and her spell had been interrupted, dissipating the magic in her horn. Tirek opened his mouth, and began to drain the magic from Cadence's body. She yelled out once more into the starry night sky, but her cries fell onto powerless ears. Tirek could feel his strength growing, and Cadence collapsed, just barely holding onto the stallion as she went unconscious.

"Fantastic... One down, and only 2 more to go," Tirek said with a devilish smirk, leaping down as he made his way to the castle, with Discord by his side, who seemed a wee bit... suspicious. "Hmm... how strange, the sun should've been up by now." Discord remarked, looking at the starry sky.

***

Anon laid in his bed for hours, trying to sleep, but his attention was brought back to the watch on his wrist. He constantly wondered about what else he could become, if he could become anything else at all, what were the limits, what was possible and what wasn't... he wanted to use these abilities more, but he knew he had to practice. Applejack said he shouldn't go looking for trouble, and she's right, but that doesn't mean he can't practice with this thing, get used to it for when the next crazy villain shows up... speaking of crazy villain, wasn't the sun supposed to come up by now?

Anon checked the alarmless clock on his bedside. 7:22 AM... Anon frowned. "I swear if Celestia's sleeping in..." Anon said, getting out of bed as he left his room to go to Twilight's. Anon knocked on the door softly, but loud enough for Twilight to hear, and waited. He heard the sound of magic being used, and saw the door knob slowly be turned on its own, and the door slowly creaked open, revealing a tired and confused Twilight.

"Anon... *Yaaawn* is there something else going on at this hour?" Twilight asked, slowly waking up. Anon sighed and gestured to the dark night sky. "It's nearly Seven Thirty in the morning, Twi... why hasn't Celestia risen the sun yet?" Anon asked. That woke Twilight up, she had Celestia and Luna's powers... she immediately shut the door on Anon, leaving him confused.

"And somepony's hiding something... I gotta see what's going on in there," Anon said quietly, looking at the watch, shining its green color. "Well, practice is practice, no matter how stupid or contrived it is." Anon stated. He twisted the dial and picked another icon at random, pressed the button. the core rises up, and he pushed the core back down, lighting the hallway up in a green light.

Anon felt his whole body suddenly feel stringy and loose, until it's all wrapped together in some kind of paper-like substance. His face had been wrapped up and obscured, until two slits open up and show two green eyes peering out. A strange headdress and collar form on his body, as do weird arm guards and a dark gray tunic. The watch's emblem forms on the top of the headdress and the green light dies down.

In Anon's place was some sort of strange Egyptian mummy thing, made entirely of bandages. Anon could feel his whole body unravel as he easily made his way under the door. As Anon reformed his strange new body, he saw a real interesting spectacle. Twilight's hair was sparkling and waving, she was... also kinda struggling to lower the moon and raise the sun- wait, lower the what and raise the what?!

Anon could see the moon moving around the night sky in a ridiculous manner, until finally being lowered below the horizon, and raising the sun in a similar manner before she finally took a moment to let the Sun stay in the sky. "Man, that is so much harder than I thought it'd be." Twilight stated. Anon quickly formed his stringy bandage fingers into hands and began to give a round of applause, startling the mare as she looked at the monster in her room, who just seemed to look like he was smiling and gave a thumbs up.

Twilight looked at the creature carefully, and noticed the emblem on the headdress. "Anon? Well, I guess that proves that you have more than one form to use... though a head's up would've been nice." Twilight said, smiling as she sighed in relief.

"You can raise the sun, and lower the moon... as much as I'll give you congratulations, I fear trouble will be coming soon." The mummy rhymed. Twilight sighed and opened the door, and the alien followed. "What became of Celestia and Luna? I shan't presume, I'd feel terrible to think they met their doom." the mummy inquired.

Twilight looked at the creature as she prepared to make some tea. "Tirek's been on a non-stop rampage, stealing magic from everypony in Equestria. I thought Discord could stop him, but he just got persuaded to go back to his evil ways... I thought friendship was enough to change his ways. Celestia and Luna are still around, but they were hedging on the idea that Tirek won't know that I'm an alicorn princess, so they gave me their magic." Twilight explained.

She set a kettle and sat down at the table, looking at the monster that her friend had become. "How did this even happen? I remember so little from last night, it was all just a blur... a freezing cold blur." Twilight stated.

"I was feeling a bit left out, doing all these chores while you settle bouts. Up in the sky, I saw a star, I made a wish to give the bad guys scars. I presume my wish had somehow gone awry, as there seems to be more to this watch than meets the eye. But we can focus on the watch on a safer day, we must worry about how to stop Tirek and save the day." The mummy said in a cryptic way.

Twilight nodded and poured herself a cup of tea, but she decided to give her transformed friend a cup as well. "Can you eat or drink anything like this?" Twilight asked.

"From what I can plainly see, if I tried, it would just go right through me. Best to wait till I'm normal, no need for the stress. Plus, I don't want to risk making a bigger mess." The mummy said, cryptically, but politely declining. A knock on the door brought both of them to attention, and Twilight went to see who was at the door.

Twilight opened the door. "Hello, how can I help you-" Twilight's words came to an abrupt stop as she looked at the towering entity standing. The thing reached into a paper bag and held a small red sphere in his fingertips.

"Hello, Princess Twilight, care for a gumball in these trying times?" Paradox offered. Twilight backed away and closed the door with a nervous smile. "Sorry, but I'm trying to watch my sugar, have a good day!" Twilight stated, closing the door as she ran back to the kitchen. "There's another human! And they know my name!!" Twilight exclaimed in a panic, hiding under the table.

The mummy looked at the pony in confusion. Another human? So he wasn't the last of his kind after all, that's a hell of a kicker. The mummy looked to the library to see that man for himself, reading one of the big thick books from off the shelf. "What a wonderful little world this is. The fact that the very concept of friendship can house so much power and possibility, it's phenomenal, though some of these creatures are in fact strong in their own right, I wonder what the Omnitrix could do for such a species. Equestrians, who knew?" Paradox stated simply, putting the book back and walking over to the mummy.

"I see this Omnitrix already has access to the Thep Khufans, how magnificent. It was already impressive to see you use a Necrofriggian's abilities so casually, even if it was your first time transforming into an alien species... You must be a fast learner, my Equestrian friend." Paradox marveled. the mummy was severely confused, and in a flash of red light, Paradox got a good look at the man behind the aliens... and this guy was not who he had expected.

"Uuuugh... man, I'm not using that guy again. I think I accidentally unraveled my brain..." Anon stated, sitting down as he rubbed his head.

"Ohhh dear, this could be troublesome..." Paradox stated. Twilight got out from under the table and stayed behind Anon.

"Allow me to properly explain myself. First off, My name is Paradox. I don't know where I am, but I can definitely make the assumption that the Omnitrix has indeed found a user... a rather strange user, but at least you know how to use it properly. You two are probably incredibly confused by what is happening, correct?" Paradox asks. Paradox takes a seat and pulls out another gumball, popping it into his mouth.

"Allow me to share the abridged version of my story, if you don't mind, we are on a bit of a time crunch." Paradox stated. Twilight sat up in her chair, and Anon was making sure he was paying attention.

"I'm from another world, I work to make sure the timeline goes as it should go. I'm something of a time traveler, and I have traversed time, space and reality to chase after an unsightly ruffian who stole that device from one of the many timelines I try to set right. He lead me to your world, and sent the Omnitrix to some location here on your planet... I cannot risk watching this planet fall because someone has abused such power... I can hope that you'll make the right decision, won't you?" Paradox explained.

"As much as I'd like to give you it back, it seems to be... well, for a lack of a better word, stuck." Anon said, lowering his head.

Paradox sighed. "I think you misunderstood. I'm looking for the Omnitrix that was stolen from my world... as odd as it may seem, your Omnitrix, the very device on your wrist, this one was meant to be found by you, so says the rules of one individual universe, to the rules of another. I've seen countless timelines, infinite realities, your timeline is a branching off point of a branching point, and so on and so forth. Your timeline is exceptionally rare, so I'm not going to take your Omnitrix, lest I risk bringing whatever divine powers are present here down on me... though it wouldn't be the first time. The Omnitrix that I am looking for, is somewhere on this planet, but it's not your Omnitrix that I'm referring to. Does that make any sense to you?" Paradox explained.

Anon's face was blank, the question mark on his face was just more prominent as he couldn't find the words to answer yes or no. Twilight, however, had started writing stuff down. "This kind of info will definitely come in handy. So, this watch, The Omnitrix as you call it, is there anything we have to worry about?" Twilight asked.

"Not at the moment, but eventually, all will be revealed in due time. Tell me, my lean green fellow, what is your name?" Paradox said, shifting his attention to Anon.

"Anonymous Torrentsonn, but my friends call me Anon." Anon introduced. Paradox was still flabbergasted by his name.

'Whoever named you that was asking for trouble.' Paradox thought to himself. "Well, Mr. Anon, Princess Twilight, I do hope we can meet again. As for now, I have to continue my search for the Omnitrix... it's never easy, though. Ciao!" Paradox said, walking around the corner. Twilight and Anon looked at the corner, and couldn't find any trace of him.

"Why am I getting Discord vibes from that guy..." Anon said aloud.

Twilight shuddered. "Unlike Discord, I don't think that guy is on the side of evil... or is even easily swayed by it." She said.

Anon looked at Twilight for a moment. "So, when were you gonna tell the others about the whole 'I can now raise and lower the sun and moon' situation?" Anon asked curiously.

Twilight frowned at Anon. "That all depends, when were you gonna tell the others about the whole 'I can now transform into aliens thanks to a strange space watch from another dimension' situation?" Twilight retorted.

Anon frowned back. "Both of us are in the 'we have powers that we both can't understand' boat, don't try to throw me overboard." Anon stated.

***

Tirek makes his way to the throne room, kicking the doors open to reveal Celestia and Luna, in a not so lively state. "You puny princesses even succumbed to the sands of time, I'll be taking your magic now... it won't save you in this case." Tirek states, opening his mouth to absorb their magic. Yet nothing happened, they remained on their thrones, drastically weakened as they can't even revel in how stupid Tirek is feeling right now.

Tirek felt his anger reach the breaking point, and yelled out in a fit of rage. "WHERE. IS YOUR. MAGIC!?!?" Tirek exclaimed, the castle shaking from the volume. Celestia, despite her crippling weakened state, smiled knowingly before she collapsed into an unconscious state. Discord looked at the princesses with confusion on his face.

"Hm... powerless, before we could get here, is it me or did something change? I feel as if something didn't go as it should've gone." Discord said skeptically. He found this rather odd, Cadence tried to fight back on her own, fails to do so, and the two royal sisters are powerless already? Something didn't make sense about this, even to the Spirit of Chaos this made no sense whatsoever.

Tirek brushed Discord's skepticism off, and just tossed the Alicorns to the ground as he took the throne. "It matters not, I'm without their powers, but I'm content enough for the moment to have at least one of them powerless, even if the other two's powers can't be mine... fetch me more puny ponies, Discord, I'm going to take Equestria by force... and I need the strength to do so." Tirek commanded.

Discord went off to get more ponies for Tirek to drain of their magic, but as soon as he was out of his line of sight and out of earshot, he immediately made his way to Ponyville. That spasm in his body, it was a sign that things weren't going the way they were supposed to, and he was going to figure out exactly what was going on.

Author's Note

I found it kinda difficult to not have the desert-dwelling alien mummy not speak in a similar rhyming dialect that Zecora speaks in, so if you have an issue with it, just know I can read the comments, say whatever you feel. Also, here's some info on the aliens that debuted in this chapter, in case some of you don't know what they can do.

The frozen moth alien, AKA Big Chill:
https://ben10.fandom.com/wiki/Big_Chill

The Mummy, AKA Snare-Oh:
https://ben10.fandom.com/wiki/Snare-oh

Discordant Disruptions

At the Carousel Boutique, Anon has dressed himself up in his new work attire, a classy black tux, a white dress shirt, gray dress pants, and navy blue dress shoes. Anon had to really give Rarity credit where it was long overdue, she knew how to make working look good, especially if it meant working as her personal model for her new line of collector exclusive human clothes simply dubbed, 'Humanity Magnifique'.

For just a couple years, he earned bits from his most generous and fashion-savvy friend just by being a model and inspiring a human fashion line only meant to be collected and not actually worn... for some odd reason, Anon just wanted to ask why she was doing this if the clothes she was making couldn't be worn by anyone else except for him, but he knew better... he knew better after last time.

Rarity, the white unicorn with a purple mane, had entered the room and began to immediately measure Anon. "Darling, it's so good to know that I got the size on these clothes perfect this time, I'll be able to have an exact replica of this suit made before the sun can set!" Rarity says excitedly. She quickly rushes over to her room, beginning work on the replica while Anon sighs and goes to sit on her sofa.

"Well, this is a slow start to the day... there's gotta be something I can do to make things go faster, those orders are piling up and Rarity is no delivery mare." Anon stated, looking at the several neatly packaged boxes full of pony-only clothes and dresses. Anon then remembered a certain something was on his wrist... pulling back the sleeves on the tux and the white dress shirt, he activated the device, described by Paradox as The Omnitrix, and began to cycle through his options.

'Okay, which one of you strange alien bastards can be fast and efficient...' Anon wondered to himself. He stopped cycling through his options as he looked at an icon that resembled a lean raptor-like monster. "Bingo." Anon said. He got up and walked over to the door that Rarity entered, and knocked on it. The door opened up a bit to reveal Rarity, with a few pins in her hair.

"Yes, Anon Darling?" Rarity asked.

"I noticed that you got a few orders backed up. I can take care of those now while you're making that replica suit for collectors, if you want." Anon offered. Rarity smiled, her joy was beaming.

"Of course, Darling! Just try to not ruin the fabric on those clothes in the boxes, and don't open the boxes! Thank you for offering me your help, Darling!" Rarity said, closing the door as she got back to work. Anon pressed the button and popped the core up and slammed it back down, soon enveloping himself in a flash of green light.

Anon's body began to toughen up and callus as a crystal-like rock began to form up on his body. He felt he crystal grow around his face as his body got tougher and more rigid as several crystals began to grow, jut and protrude from his body. He felt a suit form over his rocky body, as well as the Omnitrix's emblem forming on his chest.

As the green light died down, in place of Anon was not the raptor-like alien he had chosen, but instead, what stood in his place was a quartz gray crystal golem thing with strange crystals protruding from his body, wearing some sort of black and gray body suit. "This thing did not just give me the wrong form... ugh, this better not be a repeating theme, or I swear..." The crystalline creature told himself in annoyance, his voice was deep, smooth, but crackly. He grabbed a few of the boxes and made his way out of the Boutique with a sprint, though his new crystal body did kinda slow him down.

***

The crystal creature slowly makes its way through the oddly silent and not-so-busy streets of Ponyville, carrying huge boxes all over town as he looked at the check list he was leaning against one of the boxes.

"Let's see... uh, stop #1 should be around the market place, hopefully they don't mind a giant quartz man delivering them their clothes, wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen," The alien told himself. He carefully walked around the streets, and noticed how no pony seemed to be around, he could've sworn that if he wasn't carrying several boxes at once, he could've seen a tumbleweed breeze right by him, "Yeesh, today must be a slow day for business."

He sat the boxes down and grabbed one of them as he knocked on the door lightly, yet no pony seemed to come to the door. The crystal creature set the boxes down and peered through the window, and again, no pony was around, but why leave the lights on?

Confused, the rocky creature walks throughout Ponyville, noticing that its citizens seem to be gone. All of a sudden, the obvious sound of something being teleported echoed out into the quiet space among the streets, and acting on instinct, the alien whipped around, unknowingly forming both of its arms into jagged crystal blades, only to see the chaos god, Discord, in front of him.

"Gotta love snap travel, it's so convenient," Discord remarked. He then smacked himself with his tail and let a serious face take form. "But I can praise it later, I have to tell Twilight about the--" The chaos god stopped in his tracks, his words had fumbled out into a silent gasp as he beheld the strange sight before him.

'Oh great... the chaotic asshole's here. How fantastic,' Anon thought to himself sarcastically. He never liked Discord, even if he had his moments of being genuinely interesting, but maybe because of the incident, he just doesn't like gods, no matter what shape or form they take. 'This can't possibly get any worse, could it?'

"A... A Petrosapien? Hmph, I thought I destroyed every single one of you when I had been freed from my stone prison... how incredibly stubborn. I would love to shatter your kind again, but right now, I have pressing matters to deal with. Ta-ta for now, you glorified gem deposit!" Discord remarked, snapping his fingers as he teleported away in a flash of light.

"And I guess that's happening, apparently. I'll worry about these deliveries later, I won't let that shifty serpent monster get Twilight!" The crystal guy stated, setting the goods down on the ground as he quickly made his way to Twilight's library.

***

"Twilight, is it really necessary to wear that right now? You look like you're bringing more attention to yourself than one of Rarity's newest fashion collections, rather than if you would if you just didn't wear anything at all." Spike commented worriedly.

Twilight was dressed up, concealing her look with a huge puffy trench coat and a sunhat. Her wings and her horn were trying their best to escape from the clothing, but it would seem that the Alicorn had no way of actually controlling the magical spasms she was having, due to the magic just not being properly augmented to suit the user.

"You don't need to worry, Spike. I just need to get used to the change, and then I can tell the others about it, kinda like how Anon can now change into aliens because an alien watch came from another dimension... and somehow, the idea of Celestia turning evil makes more sense than that," Twilight remarked with a look of uncertain contemplation. "And let me remind you, Spike, I'm trying to hide my identity, that way I keep other ponies out of harm's way. In public, you must address me by the alter ego I crafted--"

"I'm not calling you Mighty Mare, Twilight, especially after what happened when we went inside the Power Ponies comic, and that's saying something if I can't go along with your crazy names. Making an alter ego never worked in the comic books I've read, especially when it was tackled by the Power Ponies in the newest issue. Nothing good ever came from expanding the team the last few times, and alter egos made it so tough to believe these are the same characters." Spike stated.

Twilight smiled and sighed. "Next time Anon takes you to the comic book store, tell him to not be so nitpicky about storytelling, I feel like he takes the continuity errors in each panel a bit too seriously." Twilight remarked.

"Oh come now, the newest issue isn't that bad, though I do wish they'd give those 'superheroes' a real foe to face, maybe as a homage to a certain god of chaos, wouldn't you think so, Princess Twilight?" A voice called out. Spike and Twilight looked around, only for the sunhat on Twilight's head to suddenly float upward and instantly transform into Discord, who had quite the smile on his face... a rather fake one.

"And this is my cue to just back away, and let you handle this." Spike backs up and walks into another direction, leaving Twilight in the middle of Ponyville, with the god of chaos.

"Well, your dragon servant-brother or whatever definitely learned to back out when things were beyond his limits. Good thing it's not him I'm here to see, but rather you, your highness." Discord commented, making a suit appear on him as he bowed in respect. Twilight was not amused and just glared daggers at the chaotic spirit god.

"Cut the nonsense, traitor! You were helping Tirek grow in power, you betrayed us all! Whatever it is you want, you can forget it, there's nothing you can say that'll warrant anything you say as trustworthy." Twilight snapped.

"Yes yes, I'm aware of my blunder, but what I'm not aware of is how you think I'd let him get to his full power. There's still time to change this around, I just need you to trust me." Discord said nonchalantly.

"Like hell in a designer handbag she'd ever trust you, Discord!!" The alien's voice called out. The crystal alien outstretched its palm and fired several crystal projectiles at the Draconequus of chaos, only for Discord to snap his fingers and them to turn into some kind of blue-ish green spotted pudding-like goop. Infuriated, the alien runs forward and morphs his arms into blades, slicing away at the god-like being, only for his attempts to be made fruitless, and was then met by a powerful slap to the face by Discord's tail, which ended up sending the crystal alien back a good distance as it skidded across the ground.

'I really should've just stayed in bed this morning, this is ridiculous! How am I supposed to hit this hodgepodge of a monster if he can just say no to damage?!' Anon thought to himself, then an idea came to mind.

"Anon!" Twilight called out. The mare scowled at the draconequus, which sparked a bit of an odd feeling within him. "You want my help, my trust, yet you throw my friends around with little to no care about their well-being!"

"I must've missed something a couple seasons ago, because by the looks of things," Discord summoned a pair of reading glasses, and what looked like a thick rainbow-colored script with numerous sparkles. He flipped through the pages, only to close the script and make it vanish. "You didn't befriend a Petrosapien. They're not even supposed to exist in our world--"

Before Discord could continue his sentence, he felt several crystal projectiles pierce and puncture him from behind. A small storming barrage of crystal shards attacked the god of chaos as the crystal alien got closer. As he did, the badge on his body began to flash red, making a dying alert sound in the process.

'Oh great, running out of power right as I get the upper-hand. Whose side are you on, you stupid watch?' Anon thought to himself, continuing to lay on the pressure. By this point, Discord was trapped in a crystal prison, with only his head being free from being encased in quartz crystals.

"With any luck, this'll keep you in place, at least for a while." The crystal alien remarked, seeming proud of his handiwork.

"You Petrosapiens shouldn't even be in this universe, let alone know who I am. Where did you come from!?" Discord demanded.

"We've already met, you crazy draconequus. Let's just say that for a human, there's a bit more to me than meets the eye these days." The alien cryptically stated.

Before Discord had time to process this information, a red flash of light enveloped the alien, only to replace it with Anon, who now sported an odd watch on his wrist, one with the same emblem as what that Petrosapien had on its body.

"Well, that was short-lived. I really need to get a handle on this... Omnitrix thing, because who knows when I might need to suddenly spring into action." Anon remarked, twisting the dial as the hourglass emblem remained red and unchanged.

Discord was very surprised, for once. Discord was at a loss for words, he couldn't believe his eyes. Discord and Anon didn't ever see eye-to-eye, unless it was about Fluttershy and her well-being, but the fact that Anon was never really able to match up against the god of chaos before, yet can now change into alien lifeforms, it made this all the more interesting to the draconequus.

"Well, I see that things have obviously changed, not sure if it's for the better or worse, but I digress. Tirek is still getting stronger, and he's expecting me to come back with more ponies for him to drain," Discord looked around, seeming to look for something. "So, if you could just--"

"If you think for a moment that she's going to sell someone out, you must've hit your head on something on the way here." Anon remarked.

"Always so quick with the assumptions, my green-hued fellow. No, I merely require something with a strong enough magical signature, something that could equate to the magical potential of an average pony," Discord began to look nervous, as his tail and horns began to twitch errantly. he looked towards Twilight, "Do you have something like that, perchance, just so I can keep Tirek off of your backs for a while longer?"

"Why would you want to keep Tirek at bay? You seemed so eager to double cross us by working with him instead of stopping him!" Twilight stamped her hooves as she looked the chaotic being in the eyes, seeming very displeased. "Now the princesses have no magic, I have TOO MUCH magic, to the point that I can barely control it, and you expect me, or my friends to HELP you, out of a mess you made, that already got out of hoof the moment you messed up!?"

Discord was about to say something else, until he stopped himself and began to think. He nonchalantly stretched one of his ears open and pulled a cassette tape out of his head, rewinding something and playing it back, listening to Twilight's words quite literally on repeat. He sat in silence, letting the words repeat on the small device and then snapped it away, seeming to look genuinely remorseful.

"Well, when you put it like that..." Discord started, only to sigh and lament on the chaos that was wrought throughout Equestria, and in such a short time. "Tirek could've taken weeks to get to the princesses, and beat them in one go when he absorbed so much magic already, combined with the magic of Cadence at his fingertips, it'd almost be an effortless victory. The problem is, that probably would've happened without my involvement, but whose to say that he couldn't have just stolen my magic as well, the moment I turned down his offer, if I had?"

"He would've been much stronger, and probably too much for a couple of Alicorns to face on their own, or in a small group. Hell, as bad of an idea this is, I'm willing to bet that not even the elements could stop something or someone like that." Anon shuddered.

Twilight still looked bemused, though she did seem to understand what all was at stake. If Tirek did manage to get ahold of Discord's magic, on top of every Alicorn's magic, everypony's magic, then drained the elements... Twilight seemed to turn pale at the thought, and only got paler when she remembered the device that was in Anon's grasp. Twilight swallowed whatever air was about to leave her and looked back at Discord.

"If we help you stop Tirek, will you actually try to change and be a better person? I'm not asking for a complete overhaul, just learn a bit more from people about the magic of friendship, like Anon," Twilight gestured to the green-hued humanoid that just stared at the device on his wrist. "He knows he can't do everything, but he still tries to help in any way he can, kinda like how he tried to kick your butt and keep me from losing my magic, and the princess's magic, even if he got swatted like a fly."

"And I could've just let Discord kidnap you and take you to Tirek. I didn't, because what friend would I be if I didn't try to help and just let you get snatched up by this randomized assortment of animal parts?" Anon remarked, gesturing to Discord, looking equally bemused. "A bad friend with a slowly growing petty streak, that's what I'd be."

"Regardless, if I don't go back to Tirek soon, he may just hunt me down and demand answers, or steal my chaos magic... whichever comes first, it's going to hurt either way." Discord stated, looking worried.

The three creatures thought in silence, trying to come up with a plan.

***

Somewhere nearby, out of their line of sight, a figure in a tattered cloak looks on, staring at the device on the green-hued humanoid.

"Fear-The-Unknown to Ring-Leader, do you read me Ring-Leader, Over." A strange voice whispered, sounding almost like a series of beeps and codes formed into words.

"Speak. Now." A low, distorted and garbled voice spoke out from some kind of communications device.

"Ring-Leader, I have eyes on the Omnitrix, as well as the individual who now wears it. Humanoid, green-hued skin. Facial features are narrowed down to being bald, lacking ears and a nose, with only a mouth and a question mark for a face. Quite the oddity for a human, but biometrics data does confirm that the wearer is human, Over."

"Interesting... Paradox must've found excellent potential in this strange little world."

"Permission to Engage the target and reclaim the Omnitrix, Over."

"Permission Denied. I repeat, Permission Denied. I have a feeling that whoever or whatever this 'Tirek' is, they'll make swift work of this 'Anon' individual. They don't seem to have even scratched the surface of the Omnitrix's true power. They haven't even used all ten of the transformations in its current playlist yet. Give them time, let's see if they can be as great as that bothersome pest. I prefer to have my foes be experienced when they fall. Killing off weaklings became far too dull and incredibly fruitless and useless. Merely observe, do not engage."

"Orders acknowledged Ring-Leader. Backing off for now, Over. Next set of instructions are required."

"Investigate what this planet's native species can do, and deduce if any of them could be beneficial to our cause. You have your orders. Don't engage with the Omnitrix or its user, and concoct research this planet's natives."

"Understood Ring-Leader, Over. Undergoing radio silence till a worthy breakthrough has been made."

***

Back at Canterlot, Tirek continues to drain most of Canterlot's citizens, taking their magic as he grows stronger. He marches back to the throne and relaxes, waiting for Discord to return with more ponies to drain, and marvels at the silence, progress and defeat with his back turned. Before he can utter a word, however, something makes itself known.

"Discord, you sure took your sweet time coming back. Did you gather more of those puny ponies for me to draw strength from?" Tirek questioned. There wasn't an answer. The throne room was quiet, and the figure, though it was tall and looked misshapen, it wasn't Discord.

"Discord, I don't like it when you test my patie--"

"I'm not Discord... but, I am looking for allies, Tirek." A young and demanding voice called out, catching the large centaur off his guard.

Tirek whipped around, seeing a rather strange sight before him. The creature wasn't Discord, but it also didn't have any magic to spare. It was humanoid, dressed in some kind of armored long coat. The coat itself was black, but the armor was white, gray, and on occasion, a fluorescent purple. The creature stepped forward, pulling back his white hood to show a huge glass mask, radiating with a bright purple light and energy, with two white eyes glowing in the midst of the purple energy.

"Who are you, WHAT are you!?" Tirek questioned, backing away slowly.

The entity chuckled.

"I go by only one name, Tirek... and it's a name constantly associated with a massive amount of time." The entity explained cryptically. "Though, to a few rare people and creatures, I go by one name. I'll gladly tell you it, if you're willing to make a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"A one of a kind deal. No strings attached, no manipulative tactics to overthrow one another, just a mutual agreement so we can both get what we want. You want power, and I need something found and put back in my hands. Deal or No Deal?" The entity bluntly explained.

Tirek looked the entity in its eyes for what felt like several hours, and in the end, shook its hand as a smile formed on both of their faces.

"You may address me as 'Lord Tirek'," Tirek stated. "What do I call you?"

The entity then started to chuckle, its smile becoming more and more sinister and psychotic.

"Call me... E O N."

Author's Note

The crystal alien, AKA, Diamondhead:
https://ben10.fandom.com/wiki/Diamondhead_(Classic)

This took a little while to finish, but I do like to write these kinds of stories. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be, but hopefully it won't be in several trillion years.

Silence in the Dragonlands! Short on Allies and Answers! Part 1

It had been a few days since the whole revelation of 'Anon being equipped with a shapeshifting alien watch' and 'Twilight being infused with the powers of both Celestia and Luna'. For Discord, he wanted to say that this seemed like another Tuesday, but in all honesty, knowing what Anon was packing came from another universe, dare he imply, another Multiverse, was definitely an estimate of being one of the few factors that made him feel something.

For Twilight, it took some getting used to. Spike was also pretty intrigued by what this device could do, and seemed pretty interested in helping Anon figure it out. Spike even encouraged the idea of Anon using his powers to become a superhero, going all across Equestria to help those in need. As interesting as it was, Twilight knew that this kind of power, if it made Discord feel uncertain, she knew it was something she didn't want in Anon's hands. Then again, it was stuck to him, and according to the new human in the labcoat, he was supposed to find it, and soon began to assume that fate finally threw Anon a bone here.

To Anon, he felt the exact opposite. Once he began to get in the groove of seeing an impossible problem that he couldn't solve, he wanted to use the Omnitrix and use the aliens he had to solve said problem, but had to admit that it was just lazy, even for him. Needless to say, he wanted to get used to having this type of power if he was gonna be stuck with it, but he couldn't find a proper way to use his powers without risking the big bad freakazoid, known as Lord Tirek, finding out where they were. Anon soon began to regret ever finding the device, even if fate said he'd get ahold of it either way.

One night in specific, Spike, Twilight and Anon sat at the table, eating dinner like nothing was out of the ordinary... well, out of the ordinary was basically subjective by this point. A human now had the powers to transform into a bunch of crazy alien creatures, a newly-ascended Alicorn was blessed with the burden of channeling the powers of the two royal sisters, as much as they wanted to say something about their situation, they couldn't bring themselves to utter a word.

Soon thereafter, the three of them cleaned up the table, put the dishes in the sink, and Anon stayed behind in the kitchen. Twilight and Spike went upstairs to get ready to sleep, but Anon just couldn't bring himself to. Anon sighed and walked to the front door, opening it and venturing out into the night.

Anon walked through the quiet and still empty village that is Ponyville, and he didn't have any idea on what he was supposed to do. Ironically enough, now that he thought about it, it was just him, his pony friends, Discord, Spike, and the CMC still in town. It's possible Zecora might've still been in the Everfree, but he wasn't ready to go back in there, that wasn't gonna happen again anytime soon. "Everypony really up and vanished in a hurry, I wonder if it had anything to do with Tirek and his escape?" Anon wondered to himself, walking through the empty and abandoned streets, looking at all the abandoned homes.

The lights were still on, yet no one was home. Anon had even went towards the Rich's estate, the wealthiest and most confusing family Anon has ever had the displeasure of meeting, and noticed a lack of snooty rich-pony attitude in the air, mainly Spoiled Rich or her equally bratty filly, he was at least hoping to find Filthy Rich, he was a nice guy, unlike his wife and daughter, but he was unsettled by the silence in Ponyville, and the open doors to every building in town, with no one else inside, it was enough to actually make Anon feel a chill run up his spine.

It was strange, it was almost as if he was being watched. 'Someone, or something has eyes on me. I've faced my fair share of mental nutcases and vengeful petty gods to know that someone has it out for me, now I need to figure out where they are.' Anon thought, steadily hovering his hand over the Omnitrix.

It was quiet, somehow quieter than it was a moment ago. You couldn't even hear a pin drop onto a pillow, or the swaying of the calm evening breeze. Anon quickly pressed the button, popping the core up and selecting a random icon. He immediately pushed the core down as a green light enveloped him.

Anon was right, something was watching him. Unfortunately, it wasn't feelin' friendly. Behind him, amongst the shadows, was a Timberwolf, snarling as the flash of light died down. Anon was now transformed into a small gremlin-like creature with red skin and some kind of tail with a pointed end. He wore a gray vest and a white top with black pants, and the Omnitrix was now located on his back. "RAAaaahhh... haahh... huh?" The gremlin looked itself over, and went wide-eyed. "WHAT THE FUCK!? Who's side are you on, you stupid watch?!" The creature exclaimed, its high-pitched gravelly voice.

The gremlin looked up, noticing the Timberwolf growling and licking its wooden lips with anticipation. The gremlin smiled and chuckled nervously. "Don't suppose you'd settle for a dog treat, would ya? Heh.. heh eh..." The gremlin asked, a bead of sweat dripping down its forehead.

Twilight was sleeping peacefully in her bed, dreaming of various schemes to thwart Tirek's plans, but it's all for naught when the high-pitched shrill cries of some unknown creature awaken the alicorn from her slumber, along with her faithful dragon assistant. "What was that?!" Spike asked.

Twilight didn't have an immediate answer, but she did suspect that someone was attempting to burn the midnight oil without her. Twilight got up from her bed as she opened the door, and yelled out for the human that lived with her. "Anon, are you still awake?" Twilight called out. Another distressed shrill scream echoed out, but it sounded nothing like the human. "Anon?!" Twilight called out, a bit more frantic this time.

Spike climbed onto Twilight's back and kept himself wrapped in his blanket. "We might as well see what's going on, right?" Spike suggested. Twilight nodded, readying her wings as she quickly jumped down to the ground floor and threw the front door open.

To her surprise, when she stepped out of the library, she saw a small gremlin like creature running from a Timberwolf. "AAHHH!!!! SOMEONE PUT A LEASH ON THIS MANGEY MUTT, I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!! TWILIGHT, HELP!!" The gremlin shouted, immediately trying to scramble its way up the tree, but to no avail. Whether it was good luck, or the universe throwing Anon a bone for once, the Timberwolf tried to lunge for the gremlin, only to hit the library itself and collapse into pieces, giving the three a moment of peace.

Twilight was just surprised, yet more-so confused about who or what this creature was, let alone how it knew who she was. However, the moment she saw the badge on the creature's back, she could recognize that this creature was in-fact, Anon. Twilight sighed, using the magic to pull the gremlin-like creature into her view, with it dangling upside down with a nervous grin. Twilight looked exhausted, yet a bit of curiosity was still present. "Anonymous, could this not wait till morning? You could've woken up the entirety of Ponyville with how much you were screaming." Twilight stated, clearly unamused by the situation before them.

The gremlin chuckled nervously before the smile turned into a look of uncertainty. "W-Well... I don't think they'll be waking up, considering that aside from us, our friends, and that chaotic weirdo, it seems like we're the only ones still in Ponyville... it's been like that for a few days, nearly a week and a half. Did you not notice how much quieter things have been?" the gremlin explained.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, seeming confused by the alien's wording. The gremlin sighed, and soon enough, they heard the Timberwolf rebuilding itself. The three of them were in a panic, but tried to keep themselves calm. Twilight dropped the gremlin and fired a powerful blast, once again blowing the wooden wolf into various pieces, and made quick work to gather them in her magic. "We need to find a way to discard these pieces. If one timberwolf was able to leave the Everfree Forest, then it's possible that something must be wrong. Anon, can that alien do anything useful to fix this mess?" Twilight asked.

The gremlin looked around and upon first-glance, couldn't find anything. But, the moment he saw a few gears, as well as a metal chain, and an old axe handle, something did come to him. "Fix... fix.. fix, yes, of course! Fixing time!" the gremlin leapt forward and grabbed the few parts that had caught his eye and started to cobble them together, moving much faster than he had previously before. "FIX FIX FIX FIX FIX FIX FIX FIX! HYAHAHAHAH!!" The gremlin seemed to be having a real hoot as he put the unorthodox components together.

Twilight and Spike looked back at each other, equally confused and worried. Soon enough, the small gremlin had somehow manufactured a type of hand-held chain-mace-type weapon, with the gears grinding away as the weapon suddenly lit up in a splendor display of silver light. "Kindly let me see the pieces, I'll make sure this overgrown splinter won't attack us ever again." the gremlin stated.

Twilight was skeptical, and didn't do that right away. Instead, she probed for answers. "How did you make that? What did this alien do just now?" Twilight asked.

The gremlin looked back at the device in his hand, then back at Twilight. "You told me to fix this mess, and I noticed the scrap we had lying around from our previous adventures. Something just came to me, and I let my delicate hands do the work. Now, unless you want to deal with another timberwolf attack, you need to essentially let the parts reform into the timberwolf, it's the only way this little gizmo I cobbled together will work like how it's supposed to. We only have one shot at this, ya feel me?" the gremlin explained.

Twilight was still hesitant, but she didn't want to risk having her friends see her like this, or see Anon like this, so she had to play along, for now. She let the parts be free, and they began to assemble. As each part clicked back into place, the full body was reformed, but before it could truly attack anyone, the gremlin used the device he crafted, getting the whole chain to whip around the timberwolf's neck, locking it into place. The gremlin pressed a button and a surge of blue electricity surged throughout the wooden canine. Before Twilight could act any further, the timberwolf soon became very lax, and less resistant.

The gremlin pressed the button again, and the chain unlocked, unraveling from the timberwolf's neck and returned to its normal length, before suddenly crumbling into a pile of useless pieces. The timberwolf's eyes were now a bright blue, instead of the usual vibrant yellow they usually were. "Now, are you done throwing your tantrum?" The gremlin asked. The timberwolf nodded, much to Twilight and Spike's surprise. "Good, now, you're gonna go back to the Everfree, and not hurt another innocent creature. Whether it be alien, human, pony, dragon, or anything else that's a sapient and coherent creature, you understand?" The gremlin commanded. The timberwolf nodded, whimpering as it curled up in a bed. The gremlin looked intrigued, yet curious. "Interesting perspective... I'll take this into consideration, but you're still going back to the Everfree. Now go!" The gremlin ordered.

The timberwolf quickly ran through town, covered by the darkness of night as it ran towards the Everfree Forest, all while Twilight and Spike simply looked on in shock and bewilderment. "What just happened?" Spike inquired.

The gremlin waltzed over and got both of their attention. "It's quite simple, I used that device to provide a temporary boost in a lesser creature's cognitive functions. Timberwolves are just mindless, savage golems in the shape of wolves, who are equally as ferocious and territorial as their organic non-wooden counterparts, so I knew it'd work, however with the limited resources around here, the device had a one-time use. By temporarily boosting the timberwolf's cognitive functions, I've given it the temporary gift of sapience and sentience. It could understand us, word for word, but through the use of body language, you can tell that something had the Timberwolf running scared, and clearly wasn't looking forward to going back to that accursed forest. Can't say I blame it, I wouldn't wanna go back there either." The gremlin explained.

Twilight's eye twitched, and seemed very much annoyed. "Try not to overthink it, princess. I know I'm not gonna, I'll probably forget everything I explained by the time I turn back. For some kind of alien gremlin, this guy's got a big brain, and a knack for making some special tools, even if they only have a one-time use. I think I'll call this one, Scraplin!" Scraplin proclaimed. Right on cue, the Omnitrix began to time out. In a flash of red light, Anon was turned back to normal, and seemed to feel some discomfort.

Twilight sighed, walking back inside as Anon followed. Spike was slumbering peacefully on Twilight's back, and Anon was hoping he and Twilight could have as much ease sleeping the rest of the night away.

The next day, it was uneventful... well, not really, something did happen. It was just another day in Ponyville, and it was until now, that the rest of the Elements of Harmony were informed about Ponyville's sudden lack of citizens. They had been wrapped up in their own work, as well as dealing with some stuff behind the scenes, but were clearly unsure of how to process it all. Apparently, they had some kind of update for Twilight herself, so that was something.

Anon, Spike and Twilight listened intently, all while Anon tried to ignore the Omnitrix, and hide it from the others. They noticed right off the bat that he seemed nervous, uncertain and standoff-ish, but they figured that if it were important, he'll tell them in due time. "--as it turns out, we've got some kind of connection to these items. Whatever it is, it's probably got somethin' to do with that crystal box near the tree of harmony. The five of us have found a connection through these items, mainly when the element we each embody, was tested. I was hopin' that you had an idea, or some inclination about this. What do you think, Twilight?" Applejack explained.

Twilight thought about her friend's words, as well as how the five of them found some connection that tied to their element, it sounded ludicrous at first, but the more the alicorn thought about it, it explained a fair bit on why she hadn't seen much of her friends in the past couple days. Though, it didn't explain to her, or Anon, as to why nearly all of Ponyville had gone missing, and are still nowhere to be seen.

Twilight cleared her throat and took a deep breath. "I'm sure the old castle of the two sisters has something there to explain this, but before we head out... have you girls truly not noticed that Ponyville has been a bit too quiet these past few days?" Twilight asked.

The five of them seemed unsure of how to answer that question, but their answer was entirely the same. Everything seemed fine until Discord stopped showing his face. Something about that answer rubbed Anon the wrong way, but before he could elaborate on that, a scream had echoed out of nowhere. Everyone was looking around, trying to figure out where this noise had come from, until Anon saw something familiar.

Overhead in the distance, a big red dragon was flying away from Ponyville, and in its grasp, was a stallion with a black coat and a luscious white mane.

"Oh hey, it's big red! Haven't seen him since Season 1!" Pinkie remarked.

"I guess Big Red's on a 'no-gem' diet. Doesn't excuse him to eat ponies, though!" Anon called out.

Fluttershy was scared by her friend's words. "What!? E-Eat p-p-ponies!?" Fluttershy heaved, looking like she's about to panic.

Dash got ready to move, until Twilight stopped her. "Hey! What the heck, Twilight!?" Dash called out, trying to get out of her magical grasp.

Twilight stood still, unwavered by her friend's attempt to escape. "Anon and I will go after them, the rest of you need to find Zecora, get some answers on the dragon's re-appearance." Twilight stated.

Applejack was about to object, until she noticed Anon, still trying to cover up the Omnitrix. 'Guess I wasn't dreamin' that after all... Twilight must know, she's got ways of findin' stuff out... partner, what in tarnation have you gotten yerself mixed up in this time?' Applejack thought to herself. Applejack sighed, "Let's go girls, time's a-wastin'. Spike, you're comin' with us, we could use some 'firepower', just in case the plants try attackin' us again." Applejack stated.

The others wanted to object, but they could tell Applejack was set on followin' this plan. They reluctantly agreed, but were still worried. Spike got on Rarity's back as they made their way. Applejack stopped and looked to Anon, and sighed. "Anon!" Applejack called out.

Anon looked her way, and she stood her ground. "Don't go lookin' fer trouble with that contraption stuck on yerself, ya hear?" Applejack advised, running after the others as they vanished into the Everfree Forest.

Anon wanted to ask something, but he didn't have enough time as Twilight used her magic to teleport them, leaving no trace of them behind. Despite Ponyville now being a little less full without the element bearers being in one place, or without the wielder of the Omnitrix, there was someone still around.

Paradox. He made himself visible as he came out of an alley, an impatient look on his face was prevalent, as well as a small splotch of red on his cheek. He wiped it away and looked back at an unconscious man who looked exactly like him, stained with red and leaking red from several wounds, clutching a busted Omnitrix in his hands. Unlike him though, he was alive, and this other unconscious man... was dead. "Let's see you try to help that green-skinned fool now. You shouldn't've interfered with this backwater timeline, and now, you'll forever stay in this alley-way, dying as you lived... Insane & Alone." 'Paradox' stated, disappearing once again.

In a flash of light, Twilight and Anon had suddenly re-appeared in a mountainous region. The rocks were dark red, some were brown, black, dark gray at best, and others had these glowing cracks, revealing a glowing warm light. "Twilight, did you just send us to the Dragonlands?" Anon asked.

Twilight looked around, but noticed a few dragons nearby. "Seems like it, unfortunately. I was trying to get us on top of Big Red, but all of this extra power must've dropped us right on the doorstep of the Dragonlands instead! I seriously need to get a better grasp on this stuff, otherwise, it'll come back to bite me in the flank later." Twilight bemoaned.

Anon sighed, patting Twilight's head. "Relax, since we're here, we can probably just go to the dragon leader, and see if we can't work this out civilly. I know you've been to the Dragonlands before, Rarity too, so you've got more experience to work with than I do." Anon reassured.

Twilight sighed. "I can certainly say, if there are any adult dragons here, they are rather lackluster, in terms of making sure the younger dragons don't do something reckless, or juvenile. We have to make sure that we don't agitate them, as well as find out who leads them, if someone even does." Twilight remarked.

Anon and Twilight looked around and walked a bit forward, looking at the pools of lava, as well as a few eggs. "Interesting. I never thought I'd see the day, that I could see another dragon egg up-close. I guess the dragons have been busy, since our last encounter." Twilight studied.

Anon looked around, and aside from the bubbling of lava, Anon had noticed the stunning silence. It was quiet, almost too quiet. Not a dragon was in sight, teenager, adult, or otherwise. Anon could feel something in his gut, and it didn't feel pleasant. "Twilight, maybe we should cut our losses and leave. I have a gut feeling that we aren't welcome here, and I think we need to bounce. Chances are, if we go back to Ponyville, maybe we can find another way to get to Big Red. I've come to recognize that if a big location suddenly goes silent and devoid of life... something'll come out of nowhere, and attack, just like the Timberwolf from last night." Anon remarked cautiously.

Twilight looked at Anon, then all around the area they were in. "It's possible that this is a singular location for hatching newborn dragons. The heat of these lava pools must give off enough natural heat to keep up the incubation progress, and dragons aren't necessarily known for their nurturing skills. Maybe we're not looking in the right place... come on," Twilight flew in one direction, specifically up a small craggy cliff. "We need to find answers." Twilight stated, seemingly not noticing Anon's caution.

Anon groaned, knowing his gut feeling would have to be ignored. If his gut was telling him that something was off, he'd usually listen. He didn't have magic, but this was the closest he ever had to something similar to Pinkie's weird triggers. It's like AJ always said, 'If Pinkie's twitchin', you better listen.' Only now, Anon knows he should just grab the alicorn and make off like a bat out of hell, but even he was curious to the sudden silence that now calls the Dragonlands home.

It unnerved him, knowing that the Dragonlands, a part of Equestria that was populated with dragons, has essentially become a ghastly and lackluster location. Anon took a deep breath and followed his alicorn friend, despite his gut practically tying itself in knots to force him not to step further, yet it was futile. Anon climbed up the cliff rather easily, and joined his equine companion, basking in the wider, yet still desolate and barren landscape. "Call me crazy, but I think the dragons may need more help than we do..." Anon remarked.

"I couldn't agree more, Human!!" A new voice announced, loud, gruff and bellowing with energy.

A yelp escaped Anon as he fell forward, quickly turning around to be met by a giant figure. The dragon was huge, wearing a huge armored chestplate and covered in teal-gray scales. A pair of huge wings flapped in the air, the interior of said wings were a faded orange color, reminiscent of fading amber. His horns curved down and forward, being equally parallel to his snout. His orange eyes leered down at Anon, but not till Twilight made herself known, flying up to meet the dragon, face-to-face.

The dragon stared Twilight down, only to let his intense look relax. "So, you must be a princess. That, or a Unicorn who wished to fly! Ahahahaha!!" The dragon remarked, landing on the ground as he let a smile form on his face and a cacophony of laughter escaping him.

Twilight seemed off-put by the dragon, but still tried to keep herself at ease. "I am a princess. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I'm here to speak to the leader of the dragonlands!" The dragon's laughter soon came to an end, and though he still had a smile on his face, he was listening to the little pony flying above him. "One of your dragons has fillynapped an innocent pony, and we presume that pony may end up devoured, or strictly maimed." Twilight explained.

The dragon sighed, keeping a smile on his face as he landed. Anon got on his feet and seemed pretty intimidated, knowing that such a large dragon was now in his presence, and did look pretty dangerous, and it rubbed him the wrong way that this colossal flying lizard was essentially unfazed by Twilight's testimony.

Anon reached for the Omnitrix, yet he didn't activate it. "Look, sulfur-breath! We're not here to cause trouble, we just wanna know why Big Red suddenly left Ponyville with a pony in his jaws! First time I've seen anypony other than my friends in that town for a good few days, and they get snatched up in the maw of a dragon! It's a ghost town, already, and judging by how abnormally quiet and desolate the Dragonlands are today, with a bunch of dragon eggs being unguarded, I get the strangest feeling you know something about this!" Anon pressed the button and popped the dial up, ready to transform. The dragon looked in Anon's direction, a bit insulted at not just the idea of being involved in something supposedly heinous, but also the fact that he was referred to as 'Sulfur-Breath'. "Would you kindly prove me wrong and explain yourself, or are we gonna have to attempt other methods of getting information?" Asked Anon.

Twilight looked uncertain of how this was most likely going to go down, but she was calm and collected, unflinching. "If you don't fess up, I can't guarantee that my friend here won't attempt to chew through you like a cluster of gemstones. Believe me, I don't like the idea of resorting to violence, but if smacking sense into someone is how it has to be, then so shall it be. Now, tell us what you know, and no one has to get hurt." Twilight stated, her horn glowed with a bright light.

The dragon looked at the alicorn above him, seeing a silent fury burning in her eyes. He looked back at the human, who was readying to use that strange gauntlet-like device strapped to him. Before the dragon could answer, someone yelled out in a rage, and the sound of a brawl began to fill the silence. "Anon, go check out the noise. I'll keep him under watch." Twilight instructed, not breaking eye-contact with the dragon.

Anon sighed in relief. "At least I won't have to fight a dragon, thank Celestia." Anon remarked, running ahead towards the sounds of combat.

As Anon ran towards the sounds of fighting, Twilight fixated her gaze on the dragon beneath her. She let the glowing light around her horn fade, and she landed on the ground, trotting slowly towards the dragon. "I deeply apologize for the aggression I've displayed, I know how dragons won't necessarily respect anyone or anything that may seem, how one would say, 'spineless'. My friend, however, is very capable of giving you quite the run-around with his new powers. I presume that with the attire you don, through process of elimination, you must be the leader of the Dragonlands, right?" Twilight inquired.

The dragon frowned and snorted, letting a few black clouds of fumes escape his nostrils. "Just when I thought you ponies had developed a backbone. Yes, I am Dragon Lord Torch, err... former Dragon Lord Torch, is more accurate," Twilight raised an eyebrow, seeming confused. "As much as it pains me to say, it's a bit of a fallacy to say I'm still the Dragon Lord, as that title was taken from me not too long ago." Torch stated.

Twilight was perplexed, but felt a slowly rising feeling of uncertainty and dread course through her veins, making her body feel cold as ice. The previous dragon lord, the strongest capable leader of every other dragon lesser than them, beaten and overthrown in combat?! The very thought of this didn't make sense to the alicorn, she couldn't handle the idea of what could possibly be worse, let alone stronger than their leader.

Twilight took a deep breath, trying to keep her wits about her. "So, if you're not the dragon lord anymore, then who is?" Twilight asked, a hint of worry in her tone of voice.

Anon rushed forward, following the ever-growing sounds of combat and violence to a crawlspace in one of the cracking walls of rock. Without a moment to lose, Anon got down on his stomach and crawled in, looking forward as he shuffled and squirmed through the hole. Anon was lucky the space he was moving through was an inch or three bigger than he was, otherwise he might not have fit. He stopped short of the hole on the other side and looked carefully to see what was going on. What he saw was quite easily the coolest, if not the most aggressive display of fighting he's ever seen.

Several bodies of dragons, whether they be teenage dragons or much larger dragons around Big Red's size littered a few corners of this makeshift arena, each one riddled with sharp gem-like shards in their bodies, lying on the ground, motionless. More dragons were flying in to try and fight, but it was the combatant that Anon saw put these dragons under that had him curious to the situation at hand.

The combatant had shiny bronze-colored armoring around the bottom half of his body, as well as these crazy futuristic black boots, and gray baggy pants covered in a dark soot. The combatant themselves, they looked a lot like Anon's crystal alien, only much more aggressive and topless. They looked to be riddled with scratches and scars, their crystals were more-so a blue-green color, compared to the gray quartz color Anon's version was mainly comprised of. "This would explain where all the dragons went, but why is that guy here, what did he do to piss off a bunch of dragons?" Anon wondered, getting his arms free as he pulls himself out of the wall.

As the fight raged on, the unknown Petrosapien was in the midst of a massacre. Left and right, dragon bodies would be riddled with smaller crystal shards, or straight up impaled by the petrosapien's crystal-blade arms, and slammed into other incoming dragons. Anon decided to get in on the action and tried to transform into his Petrosapien form, or Quartzcluster, as he calls it, he ended up mistransforming again, transforming into the least helpful alien in this situation, his necrofriggian form, or Frostmoth, as he calls it.

Anon looked himself over, and sighed, seeming incredibly bothered by the watch not giving him the right alien. "Omnitrix, I feel like you hate me. What did I do to you?" Frostmoth berated, gaining no response from the Omnitrix.

Not wanting his transformation to have gone to waste, Frostmoth joins the fight, but he's uncertain of which side he's supposed to be on. He decides to make it easy, and grabs ahold of the petrosapien, turning intangible as he pulls him through the floor, leaving behind a momentary spot of ice as the remaining dragons look on in confusion.

A few good feet away outside of the arena, Frostmoth and the unknown petrosapien phase through the ground, and turn tangible again, hiding behind a few giant rocks. "I wasn't expecting to see a Necrofriggian on this strange planet, but if I had to guess, you must be one of the natives of this rock that found the Omnitrix, correct?" The petrosapien inquired.

Frostmoth sighed, looking a bit bemused. "Is that how you thank someone from getting you out of trouble? Besides, you riling up the dragons and killing them isn't exactly making things easier." He remarked.

The petrosapien looked impatient, and eventually, Frostmoth played along, showing the Omnitrix that was now on full view on his chest. "Just so you know, I'm not a native, I'm just someone who ended up here because a higher power likes messing with me. So, care to explain your murder spree, or am I to assume you're a psychopath?" Frostmoth chastised.

The petrosapien frowned, but was intrigued to know the Omnitrix's wielder wasn't of this planet. The petrosapien smiled, taking a knee before the confused necrofriggian. "Then I suppose I was fated to meet you, after all. I'm Tetrax, the last of the petrosapiens, and the sole survivor of Petropia's destruction," Tetrax looked up at the necrofriggian. "May I know the name of the Omnitrix's user?" Tetrax asked.

Anon was severely confused. He wasn't aware of what exactly Tetrax was on about, but he did remember something Discord said when he saw him as Quartzcluster, something about how he thought he destroyed them all. The necrofriggian looked pissed, and very annoyed. 'I'm so gonna make Fluttershy scream at him for that...' Frostmoth thought to himself.

He cleared his throat and tapped Tetrax's shoulder, getting his attention. "Dude, please don't do the whole knee-bending thing, I'm not some god, nor do I want to be praised or worshipped as one. Gods already hate me, and I don't want to associate with them anyhow. My name's Anonymous, by the way, but my friends call me Anon. You are free to do the same, under one condition. I still want an explanation on why you were fighting and slaughtering dragons to begin with!" He hissed, letting a thick cloud of freezing mist escape his mouth.

Tetrax nodded, getting back on his two feet and dusting himself off. "I was initially here to collect the Omnitrix, but then I found myself stranded on this planet. A bunch of those airborne reptilians, or as you dub them 'dragons', made off with my ship, and crashed it into one of these pools of molten magma. All of my gear was on that ship, as well as my hoverboard, an alternative means of leaving the planet in case my ship can't make the distance, or is destroyed. With how peaceful this planet looked from above the stratosphere, I assumed that finding the Omnitrix would be easy, but these 'dragons' put up quite the fight, and have me second-guessing how 'peaceful' this planet truly is." Tetrax explained, pointing to his scars.

Frostmoth let a small smile form on his face as a chuckle escaped him. "Trust me, if you think the dragons are bad news, you should've been here when Nightmare Moon escaped, or when Discord broke free from stone, or when the Changelings tried to invade, and don't even get me started on Sombra, he'd probably be obsessed with you, crystal boy." The necrofriggian remarked.

Tetrax's confused expression was enough for Anon to realize that he wasn't aware of the serious problems that befell this world in recent times. In a strange yet poetic way, for Anon, it was like looking in an alien mirror. As Tetrax's confused expressions formed on his face, seeing him silently ruminate on the info relayed to him in such a casual fashion, it reminded Anon of how he first felt when he first showed up in Equestria, hearing of the craziness that occurred long ago before Nightmare Moon's reveal. It reminded him of simpler times.

Tetrax cleared his throat, a more grim and serious expression formed on his face. "To finally answer your question further, I was fighting the dragons to mainly get back at them for wrecking my ship, and incinerating my gear. They claimed that I couldn't take a joke, so I decided to show them how the consequences of their actions can immediately catch up to them." Tetrax explained.

Frostmoth shuddered. "I suppose that's one way of doing so, but it's definitely not a good way of doing so. Makes me glad Spike never turned out like these punks, no pony back in town, nor Canterlot would be able stand him." The necrofriggian said with uncertainty.

Before the two could continue talking, they heard wings flapping, and immediately ducked down for cover, with Frostmoth turning them both intangible so they weren't easily found, or at least, that was what Anon was hoping would happen.

Twilight and Torch stared at each other for what felt like hours, but in-truth, it was merely a few minutes, and Anon was gone for half that time. Torch cleared his throat and took a deep breath.

He sighed. "It happened narrowly a week ago. We had been getting updates from some of the elder dragons passing through, that ponies were losing their magic... well, less losing their magic, and more-so having it stole from them by some homogenous demon, rumors said that it had the top portion of some red-skinned monkey creature, the horns of a minotaur, and four legs, like a pony. At first, I shrugged off these updates, presumed them to be jokes, or poorly crafted attempts to instill fear into us dragons." Torch stated.

Twilight looked worried. "Seems like it worked on some of them, with how barren the Dragonlands seem to be recently." Twilight remarked.

Torch snorted. "I wasn't finished talking. Some have stated that another ridiculous sounding creature, one with numerous animal or monster parts with the ability to do whatever he wants was aiding him, then more reports came in about... something else helping him. Gain more magic, making it stronger, then they tried to go after a dragon or two," Twilight's interest was now piqued, as was her concern. "They were big dragons, nothing they couldn't handle. Oh, how shamefully wrong I was, those two dragons came back on foot to warn the rest of the dragons of the impending attack that would one day show up to our lands, yet it never came." Torch explained further.

Twilight stopped writing for a moment, sharing a glance with the former dragon lord. "What do you mean 'it never came'? If Tirek was able to find out he could drain magic from dragons, why not make sure we ponies couldn't ally ourselves with you and drain every single dragon of their magic, as Tirek is a threat to all of us?" Twilight inquired.

Torch didn't know the answer to that question, and simply shrugged. "Ask me not for an answer, fore it's not an answer I have at my disposal. But, this is the part where it begins to affect the Dragonlands as a whole, and tells the tale of how my position as dragon lord was overthrown by an outsider. So listen up, princess, I was felled in battle, and robbed of my title as Dragon Lord... by a False Dragon." Torch emphasized bitterly.

Twilight took out a notepad and quickly jotted down everything Torch was saying, as well as doodling her own theories based on said information, but the mention of a 'false dragon' piqued her interest so much, she couldn't help but wonder what kind of creature that was. "Fast forward to four days ago, and the Dragonlands are in a state of panic. Some of the younger dragons had begun to question my leadership, even some of the elder dragons looked upon me with shame or a sense of disgrace," Twilight felt a sense of familiarity with the dragon's story, and kept writing. "Naturally, I quickly silenced them with some good hits to their snouts, proving I was still capable of leading, as well as dishing out discipline and being capable of keeping my daughter safe, until this one dragon stood against me and challenged me," Twilight kept writing.

Twilight stopped for a moment, and saw the worry on the former lord's face. "If I may, what did this 'false dragon' look like?" Twilight asked.

Torch grimaced for a moment as he remembered the fight, as well as what the 'false dragon' looked like. "This one dragon, much bigger than the young-ins, but not as big as the elders. He was brown in color, much like dirt, soil, or the occasional rock you'll find in the Dragonlands. He wore a red tunic around his waist with a white belt, and a red sash on his chest with a fancy red badge on it, similar to the shape of that emblem on your human friend's device," Twilight's eyes widened for a moment, and was thankful her face was pressed into the parchment so the dragon couldn't see her shock. "He was far more capable, too, and all without wings. I was impressed that a flightless dragon would have the gall, let alone the mettle to challenge my might. He challenged me to a fight, and the first to yield would be declared the victor, and the new dragon lord. Naturally, he was smaller than me, so I knew I had the fight won, but judging by how that fight went, I think I lost the moment the fight began." Torch remarked sourly.

Twilight began to shudder in place. "H-How do you mean? Was this false dragon capable of doing something unheard of, or did it cheat in some manner?" Twilight asked cautiously.

Torch frowned and sighed. "You could say it was a bit of both. For a moment, I thought I had the fight won, but the moment I slammed my tail down on him for an easy win, I noticed he was still conscious. He caught my tail, and suddenly began to grow. He sprouted a bunch of thick scales all over his body, becoming nearly six times his size, and actually had me getting serious. Several dragons cheered for the challenger, and a few cheered for their true lord, me! I couldn't let them down, so I held nothing back. I spewed fire like I've never done it before, I roared and attacked like a beast protecting their young, I fought and fought, but he was still standing, with very minor scratches and bruises. He returned to his normal size like it was nothing, it was as if he could just casually change between being six times his size, and bein' of normal height out of sheer will!" Torch remarked.

Twilight was confused, but very impressed. "Sounds like this false dragon is a bit sturdier than you imagined. I take it that you yielded right then and there, when you realized that he had you out-matched?" Twilight inquired.

Torch stayed silent. Twilight expected an answer, but Torch seemed to have a new expression upon his face. Terror.

Torch took a deep and very shaky breath, and sighed, the fear in his eyes was obvious. "I taunted him, stating, 'If you think you're gonna become a dragon lord, just because you can make yourself bigger, then you've got no chance of beating me'. You know what he said to me, princess Twilight?" Twilight seemed scared of what that answer was about to be, but was curious herself. "He said, 'You honestly think I was trying, old man? This isn't even the pinnacle of my strength. But, if you're so confident, let's see how you fare against me... in my ultimate form'. I did not know what he was talking about at the time, but I know this, I wasn't prepared, nor could I have ever been prepared, for the monster that this false dragon became." Torch shuddered.

Twilight was silent, but by this point, Torch was giving the whole story right to her, from his own perspective. "He touched that badge on his sash. It all happened so fast, I almost couldn't believe what I saw. That brown dragon was gone, and in it's place, was some kind of horrid beast, a mockery of what that creature was before. It was only till that thing finally introduced itself, that I knew right then and there... this was no dragon, dare I say, I don't think this... thing, even originated from Equestria!" Twilight watched as Torch shifted from his spot and seemed astonished, and bewildered. "It dubbed itself 'Albedo', and that was no dragon name I recognized. He was some kind of infiltrator, said he was one of Tirek's allies, and he essentially embarrassed me in front of every single dragon in the land, even in front of my daughter. I was over-powered, overwhelmed by its strength, by it's unnatural capabilities... By the time I was ready to follow through and tell him that I yield, I had blacked out from the final blow." Torch explained, holding his head in shame.

Twilight put her notepad away and trotted over towards Torch, placing a hoof on his large cheek. "Seems to me, from my own estimation... He's essentially going to command every dragon to ally themselves with Tirek, just so Tirek can take their magic at a faster and more effective rate... He's sending your subjects to be drained of every ounce of magic they have." Twilight summarized.

Torch groaned, seeming incredibly upset. "I can only hope that my daughter won't fall for this ruse. She's tough, but that thing, is much tougher." Torch stated.

Twilight thought back to Big Red, and realized. "Wait, did this 'Albedo' individual do anything to the elder dragons?" Twilight asked.

Torch sighed and nodded. "I remember that after I awoke from my black out, the elder dragons didn't seem to act like themselves. They were vicious, even to their own kind. On occasion, since my exile was two days ago, I saw the occasional elder dragon carrying a few ponies in the direction of what you call 'Canterlot'. They screamed and screamed for help, but there was nothing I could do. To fight against my fellow dragons on affairs I no longer carry weight to change, it would mean treason. I failed the dragons as a whole, lost to an outsider, a false dragon no less, I have brought nothing but shame." Torch said quietly, laying his head on the rocky ground beneath him.

Twilight sighed, more concerned and worried than ever before, and she looked in the direction of where Anon had went. "Anon, looks like you were right... this place does need help." Twilight spoke, landing on the ground as she waited for her friend to return.

Unbeknownst to Twilight, however, several dragons were sneaking up right behind her, and the moment they lunged, Twilight's scream of terror echoed throughout the Dragonlands.

The remaining teenage dragons flew past them, with three of them staying still, perched on top of the rock they were hiding behind. One of them was covered in red scales with yellow frills and wings, and seemed to be pretty mad. "Auugh!! We lost that stupid crystal monster, but he couldn't have gotten far! No one gets away from Garble, and gets away with it!" Garble announced in a fit of anger.

A smaller feminine dragon, covered in orange scales with pink and light gold frills patted Garble's back, their blue eyes shined as they smirked. "Don't worry, Gar-Gar, we'll find him. Once we bring him to the new Dragon Lord, we might be put in his favor." The dragon stated.

The dragon standing next to them, a sleeker, feminine and thinner light blue dragon with dark blue frills and wings just stayed silent, almost melancholic about the situation. Anon almost wanted to say something, until he noticed something. The dragon girl was staring right at him, unmoving, unflinching, and was sniffing the air.

She shrugged and nudged the red dragon, getting his and the orange dragon's attention. "Let's split up and cover more ground. I'll stay here and see if they're just hiding, waiting for us to leave. Garble and Smolder, you two split up and search a couple miles forward. I'll call out for you both in case I find them." She stated.

Garble and Smolder looked at each other, then back at the third dragon among them. Garble shrugged and flew forward as instructed, but Smolder stayed behind for a moment. "I bet it's liberating, knowing your dad can't keep you from doing stuff like this anymore because he lost his title. Am I right, Ember?" Smolder asked.

Ember stayed silent, a look of unease was written clear on her face, and she shuddered, not uttering another word. Smolder soon backed off, realizing she might've tread onto some very personal ground. "Okay, well, I'm gonna fly a couple miles forward, try not to panic when you find them, 'kay?" Smolder remarked, flying away.

Ember took a deep breath, and landed on the ground, a few inches away from the rock, and several less inches away from Tetrax and Frostmoth. Soon enough, she turned in their direction and stared at the intangible necrofriggian. "I know you're there, you reek of pony. Reveal yourself, and I won't harm you." Ember declared.

Realizing that the jig was up, Frostmoth and Tetrax became tangible, revealing themselves as the Omnitrix began flashing red. "Ya know, better now than if you tried to turn me back with those other two on top of us. Way to pick your moments, ya stupid watch." Frostmoth stated, letting the watch envelop him in a flash of red light, transforming him back into Anonymous.

Ember was surprised, to say the least, but in a way, she recognized that emblem on Anon's watch. "Well, I assume that you must be familiar with the new Dragon Lord, right?" Ember inquired.

Anon looked very confused. "You're not shocked, let alone astonished, that a bipedal butterfly creature just transformed into a human? Also, I wasn't aware there was a new Dragon Lord, what's he like?" Anon asked.

Ember shuddered, looking veritably disgusted and angry. Anon held his hands up and backed up against the rock. "Okay, very touchy subject, gonna mark that down under 'Never say that again or I might get turned into rotisserie'. I'm very sorry, I wasn't aware that the new dragon lord was already unlikeable." Anon remarked, immediately trying to salvage the situation.

Ember sighed. "It's fine, it's clear to me that despite your similarities, you know nothing about what's happened in the Dragonlands these past few days, events that caused my father to be dethroned, and me being put under close watch by Albedo. Crafty monster, changing his shape like that just to get an advantage." Ember remarked, grumbling under her breath.

Anon put his hands down and noticed Tetrax readying himself to fight. "Tetrax, no, she's not fighting us, that's a sign that she may be a friend, or at least, an ally we can trust!" Anon stressed, trying to once again, salvage the situation.

Tetrax looked at Anon, then back at Ember, who didn't seem to notice the slow change in Tetrax's arms as they shifted into blades. Tetrax thought about it, and if the wielder of the Omnitrix trusted her, then maybe he could give this a shot, for now. Tetrax shifted his arms back to normal, gesturing to the dragon by pointing at her. "State your identity and your intent." Tetrax ordered.

Ember gave Tetrax a sour look, then looked at Anon for context. "He's still pretty untrusting of Dragons after having his sweet ride and gear destroyed by a bunch of dragon punks... blood was shed, there are dead dragon bodies in that makeshift arena, but he's at least willing to trust you, most likely because I do. What is your name, by the way, and why didn't you rat us out?" Anon asked.

Ember sighed, though she could've easily ratted them out, she didn't like the new dragon lord that much. Sure, her father lost the fight, but that didn't mean she loved him any less or cared less about him. "I'm Ember, I was the princess of the Dragonlands, but not anymore. Ever since my dad lost to that monster days ago, the new dragon lord has been causing some serious trouble all over the Dragonlands. Considering I saw a bunch of elder dragons carry a bunch of panicking and screaming ponies, I knew right then that there was something up. If you'd be willing to help me get back control so I can put an end to this, the rightful dragon lord will be in your debt." Ember explained.

As much as Anon liked the sound of that last part, he knew that whatever was going on here, it was messing dragons up just as much as it was messing ponies up. Anon nodded and was about to offer a handshake to make it official, until Twilight's scream of terror echoed out, sending a chill down his spine. He whipped his head towards the direction of the scream, and he was pretty pissed. "I shouldn't've left her alone, I gotta go back and help her!" Anon exclaimed.

Before Anon could run and try to help Twilight, something exploded, sending him flying against another rock, knocking him out cold. Before he truly lost consciousness, he saw a blurry humanoid figure walking towards him. He wore a red letterman jacket with a black stripe on the left side of it. It had the Omnitrix's badge on it, but it was more red than anything. The figure looked pale, had red eyes, and snow white hair. They looked like they were saying something, but he couldn't tell what.

Soon enough, Anon finally slipped into total unconsciousness.

Author's Note

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I actually put more effort into this one than I usually do, because it's a HiE fic.

I really put some emphasis on how this story is gonna turn out, especially with how I want this story to 'end'. It's nowhere close to the ending, so for those of you who genuinely enjoy this story, don't worry, it's not going anywhere. I'm just considering the ideas of what'll happen after it ends. But, that's something for me to think about when we get to that point.

Maybe when the story's over, I'll post the designs for Anon's aliens. Maybe. Depends on how I'm feeling.

The Scrap Gremlin, AKA, Jury Rigg:
https://ben10.fandom.com/wiki/Juryrigg

Also, what do you guys think of me making this more story-centered, good or no?