A Boy and his Watch
By TheAlienBrony22

The Reality Master,
Part 5

[Canterlot, Equestria; a few hours after Ben's disappearance and immediately after Celestia's departure]

Within the midst of a lone garden, filled with numerous statues of various creatures, one stood out amongst them. The statue was of a long serpentine-like creature with body parts of various different animals. The statue itself rattled and shook, cracking as the stone seemed to be chipping and peeling away. Soon thereafter, in a flash of light, bits and pieces of stone and dust scattered across the garden, revealing the creature made up of numerous parts. Discord, was freed.

"AAHHH-- Huh?" Discord looked around, then looked at himself. His body was no longer trapped in stone, but this didn't make the chaotic creature necessarily happy, more annoyed and rather cross, in fact. "Paradox!!! He really crossed that line, didn't he!? He just couldn't accept that things are the way they are now, and won't accept it by any means!! If there was ever a chance to re-invent the dictionary definition of blatant disregard for balance, I'd just post a picture of him under the word!"

Discord huffed, seething as he tried to walk around, only to slip and fall onto his face. Seems as if being stuck in stone has made his legs not that viable, and they haven't had the chance to get used to being useful again.

"When I find that time-walker, I'm going to give him everything that's owed to him! He's breaking too many laws with this nonsense about Benjamin, and it has to be stopped," Discord flew into the air, and then snapped his fingers, changing his form in a flash of light, becoming the man formerly known as 'D'. "Good thing this form can still be recognizable by Benjamin, now I just have to find him... Now, if I were a crazed and stubborn mortal with powers beyond my own understanding at my fingertips and wanted to 'set things right' again, where would I have gone?"

Discord pondered on this, but the train of thought came to an unexpected delay the moment he felt his body twisting and feeling like it was in several knots.

"Ack!! That's not supposed to twist like that!!" Discord tried desperately to snap himself back to normal, but to his own surprise, it didn't work. "Has it really been so long that my powers are beginning to fail, what's going on?"

Almost by a cruel reminder, his gauntlet-less hand morphed in a flash of light, to look like the head of a certain poofy maned pony with the word 'PROMISE' written on the forehead within the creases.

"Oh, right... I nearly forgot about that," Discord waved his hand around, returning it to normal as he straightened up and dusted off his bathrobe labcoat. "Well, how in the name of Celestia am I supposed to pull this off without alerting the princesses? I'm the god of chaos, not a miracle worker."

"You can start by explaining who and what in all of Tartarus you are!" A voice echoed forth.

Discord turned around, taking note of the earth pony mare floating in the sky to meet his gaze. Venus Voider leered at the strange creature, and in a flash of light, the mare began to shed her skin, and had then revealed her true form, radiating in a red magical aura.

"Start talking, monster, or so help me I will--"

"Kill me, and you lose an ally, you flimsy Anodite." Discord warned.

"You? An ally? I find that incredibly hard to believe!" Venus remarked. "Who are you, and what do you know?!"

"I know what happened to Benjamin Sparkle, because he requested my help in ridding Equestria of a much more dangerous threat, one that is far more, dare I say, unpredictable than I," Discord flipped the top of his head open like a lid, reaching inside as he pulled out a photo, handing it towards the mare. "This is the true enemy, someone who freed me from my stone tomb against my will, and snatched Benjamin Sparkle away to who knows where."

Venus levitated the photo, revealing Paradox, moments before he attacked Discord and took Ben away. It even showed Ben recoiling out of terror, sheer genuine terror.

"If I were to even believe this is true, what does he want?" Venus questioned.

"To be fairly 'on the real' with you, he wants Benjamin Sparkle to remember his former memories, but Benjamin doesn't seem very keen to want to remember. In turn, it's caused Paradox to go from calm and collected, to then start going on a mental decline," Discord sighed as he scratched his white tuft of hair on his chin. "And talking with me within my own mindscape hasn't helped anything, since I've been calling him out on his nonsense. He's even revealed that he could force me to be free from my prison again."

"That sounds incredibly impossible and doesn't make sense at all." Venus stated with a bemused look.

"And yet, here I am... Paradox thought he truly killed me, and took Benjamin Sparkle away to... wherever he took Benjamin, and it's really concerning. I felt a magical imbalance occur the moment he vanished, and I'd like to not find out what that imbalance did, or what it could do if it isn't taken care of." Discord grimly explained.

Venus didn't want to admit it, but she felt that same imbalance occur as well, but she didn't think to connect it to Ben in any way, which just raised more questions. Venus magically returned to her normal pony form and approached the chaotic deity with caution.

"What do you know of this 'Paradox'?" Venus asked.

"Well, it's like his name implies. He's a living Paradox. Back where he comes from, he was but a mortal human being, and like all mortals, he had a foolish idea to change the world. Unlike all mortals, he was one of the rare few to truly try and make it happen. He made one fatal mistake, however, and it cost him his mortality. He was lost within an otherworldly or other-universal place known as the Event Horizon," Discord waved his hand and manifested an ethereal mirror of what all had occurred, showing Paradox floating in the midst of a strange place, floating and just existing. "He remained there for a hundred thousand years, or so. Paradox was displaced outside of time, where he lost the ability to age and was unable to sleep or eat; just exist. He went insane for a while, but then got bored and somehow became sane again. Gaining complete understanding of the space-time continuum of his own universe, Paradox renamed himself "Professor Paradox", though he forgot his original name in the process. Even from the civil talks we used to have, I still cannot for the life of me remember what it was!"

Venus was speechless, and needless to say very confused. Discord waved the mirror away and faced the mare again, "Paradox used to use his understanding to travel across time, making different parts of history better for others." Discord explained.

"If that's true, why is he the enemy?" Venus asked.

"I did say he used to just a few seconds ago, try to keep up." Discord stated.

"But what made him stop?" Venus specified.

"It has to do when Benjamin first showed up in Equestria. I may have been in stone for a while as Paradox galivanted around, breaking the rules he was supposed to be following, it's a complete reversing of roles. Usually, as the god of chaos, I'd love to make things chaotic, but I'd much rather have things be chaotic naturally. What's the fun in making no sense if someone has to force nonsense into existence? That, in of itself, makes no sense." Discord explained. "Did that make sense?"

"You're confusing me, a lot." Venus said, rubbing her head as she felt a sudden migraine happening.

"It's a habit," Discord snapped his fingers and summoned two cups full of tea, handing one of them to Venus, "A little something for the overload of exposition?"

Venus took the cup and gingerly sipped it, all while Discord seemed to be pondering something.

"What are you thinking about?" Venus asked. "If it's about finding Ben, I can try to track his aura and we can pull him back from here. It'll require a lot of concentration, but I could try--"

"No, I have my own methods of searching... besides, I can't use those methods because of my powers being rather... to put it simply, stunted, since my unwanted freeing from my stone prison." Discord remarked, showing that some of the random monster parts on his body were twitching and shaking errantly. "I have a promise to fulfill, and I can't leave this universe till that promise is fulfilled."

"Was it one of those magical curses?" Venus asked.

"It's something worse... a 'Pinkie Promise'," Discord shuddered. "Benjamin had me make this promise in case anything happened to him and wanted me to tell his pony friends about it, because he wanted answers from Paradox... you can take a guess on what happened next, because it's pretty self-explanatory. As soon as the promise is fulfilled, I'll be following Paradox to his most recent location."

"I can lend a hand, figure out where--"

"No," Discord sighed and looked Venus in her eyes. "Forgive me, I am appreciative of you wanting to help, but Canterlot... no, Equestria, needs you to be here, in case something happens. Something that the Elements of Harmony, or Princess Luna can't handle. I'm going because this is a personal and very serious matter."

Discord snapped his cup of tea away and snapped his fingers again, vanishing in a flash of light as Venus lamented on what exactly just happened.

"Well, guess I better round up the guard, this is going to be a strange night." Venus remarked, floating back down to the ground as she ran back to her post.

[Bellwood Museum of Historical Anomalies; Present]

"So you're telling me that you're some kind of magical chaos god from another universe, and you're not here to hurt me?" Charmcaster asked, bewildered by the very idea, while also having some intrigue for the concept.

"That's true, but I'm not looking to give up my power to just anyone, especially someone who was just retiring from her criminal antics to be 'Normal'. News flash, Charmy, there is no 'Normal' in any world! 'Normal' is just a mortal term to describe the bland, the boring, and the basicness of entities or individuals who prefer to live their lives free of the enlightening sense of chaos, a break from the norm to do something unthought of," "Regardless of if you stop being a criminal, magic is still a core part of who you are. If anything, you could live a 'normal' life on the side, and on the other side, you could just become a vigilante!"

Discord snapped his fingers and dressed himself in some kind of blue and red colored onesie, crawling on the walls of the museum's pillars like a spider. "A type of hero or heroine who plays by their own rules, does good where they can and helps out the little guys, you know?" Discord asked, dangling upside down on what looked like a huge string of webs weaved together.

"I guess you're right, but I just want to turn my life around. For so long I've just been under my uncle's thumb, pressed into the ground so hard, I can barely escape his shadow. I can't go back to prison, magic is all I have, it's the only thing that makes me feel like... me," Charmcaster remarked, looking down at her satchel.

Discord snapped the suit away and cleared his throat, getting her attention. "If I can get back on track, please... the reason I'm here in your presence, is because I need a favor from you. Call me invasive and insensitive, but I did some rooting around in your brain, and you seem quite familiar of Benjamin Sparkle, to an extent. If you want to do some good, now is the perfect time." Discord remarked.

"Sparkle? You mean--"

"Yes, yes, I am referring to Benjamin Tennyson, I swear Paradox has ingrained that into my psyche by this point with how much he wouldn't shut up about it!" Discord interrupted, seeming mildly ticked.

"Well, I don't get the name change myself, but considering he was just trying to talk to me, and all I was doing was try to fight him- Wait, what kind of favor are you asking of me!?" Charmcaster asked.

"Simple, I want you to warn Benjamin Sparkle of Paradox. Judging by the lingering presence of his presence, that shifty time-walker was here recently," Discord took a deep breath and focused his attention on Charmcaster. "Usually, I wouldn't go this far, as to venture to another universe and ask someone to be the messenger to get things done, but I need to make sure Benjamin is returned to Equestria. Paradox is losing his grip on his sanity, and is probably about to go rogue."

"What does that have to do with me? What happened to Kevin and Rojo?" Charmcaster asked.

"Paradox has taken them and imbued them with power, power that will make them aggressive towards their target... and their target, is Paradox's target... Benjamin." Discord explained.

"Surely you could find someone else to be the messenger, couldn't you? My magic can only do so much, and comparing me to Kevin and Rojo, I'm a magical newborn baby fighting two rabid wolves with super powers and armor! That's not really fair!" Charmcaster rebutted.

"Fairly true, but you did say you wanted to change, to be better, and this is your chance. After all, it's like the old saying goes, 'The enemy of my enemy is my enemy, but the enemy of my enemy, is my friend', you can figure out what that means, you're smart enough, but here's one last important bit of instruction. Refer to me as D, tell him that I'm alive and well, but I won't be around as much when he gets back to Equestria." Discord snapped his fingers, making Charmcaster vanish somewhere as the world around them slowly returned to motion. "To those of you reading this, I hope you missed me!"

The Next Morning...

[Tennyson Residence]

Ben slept soundly, shuffling slightly underneath the warmth of the alicorn's wing. Celestia herself had been up for a couple hours, unnerved by a strange feeling that's been creeping up her spine, though she dared to not wake the human that slumbered beside her.

'This couldn't be... the spell, it wasn't actually broken, was it?' Celestia thought to herself, a look of uncertainty in her eyes. 'No, it's just unfamiliarity, Celestia... you have nothing to worry about, nothing is wrong.'

Celestia slowly stood up and stretched her wings out, then her legs, and slowly moved away from the sleeping human on the floor towards the halls, noting that she could hear faint whispering. Celestia slowly moved down the dark hall and listened to the whispering intently.

Inside the room, The Tennysons, ranging from Ken, Gwen, Max, Sandra and Carl, as well as the distant cousin Lucy, were all discussing the situation, as well as the sudden appearance of Celestia.

"I'm telling you, dad, this is practically insane, even for your alien family business mumbo jumbo."

"Carl, we talked about this when Ben told the truth about The Omnitrix all that time ago, but how was I supposed to see a winged unicorn coming?"

"This isn't exactly helping your case, Max."

"At least he's trying to make an effort to understand what's going on, Aunt Sandra."

"Kenneth Tennyson, you didn't even know about Ben's connection to the Omnitrix until you came back from college."

"Then why not ask me about this? Ben told me something, and while it isn't much, it's still something. Plus, what good is badmouthing a princess, a royal symbol of authority from another world, who just saved me and Ben's butts back there?"

"Gwendolyn--"

"Lighten up, guys, she doesn't even seem that bad. If anything, she just seems like a really nice lady."

"Lucy, this is serious. Ben is finally home, but he remembers nothing about us. He only knows of this 'Equestion' place, the place he's been this entire time..."

"We never got to see our son, our own flesh and blood, grow up. He doesn't even remember us, his own parents..."

"I understand you're upset, but at the end of the day, with or without us, Ben survived, Ben grew up to still be a hero. Ben is old enough to make this choice on his own. He's not ten anymore, he certainly doesn't look it."

"That's your reasoning, dad!? He's your grandson!"

"And I trusted him to make choices on his own, even if I questioned them at first!"

"Both of you, take it down a notch, you're getting a little loud."

"Bottom line is, Max, we aren't ready to let Ben go again... Sure, we can't force him to stay, but I want my son to at least remember us before he does... I can't stand to look at him, knowing that he doesn't remember us."

Celestia quietly backed away and sat on the ground, thinking about everything she just heard. Celestia had a mission, to get Ben back to Equestria, nothing more... but, the missions she used to go on were always bound to change. Celestia lightly poked, prodded and shook Ben's body.

"Benjamin, it is time to wake up." Celestia stated softly.

Ben groaned, his eyes slowly opening as he let out a long yawn. Ben slowly got to his knees and rubbed his face, only to start stretching out his body, then let out a loud grunt.

"Man, I must've been out of it... Feel like I got on a mattress made of carpeting and concrete, then got blanketed by this sudden warmness of feathers." Ben stated, cracking his back as he got up and looked towards the princess. "Morning, Princess Celestia, how have you-- wait a minute..."

Celestia chuckled as she stood up, towering over the human as she embraced him with her wings. Ben reached out and cautiously hugged the alicorn, then slowly felt a smile creep up on his face.

"It's good to see you, too, Benjamin." Celestia let the human go as he stepped back, smiling for a brief moment, until he looked... worried. "Something troubles you this morning, Ben?"

"Are you actually here? You're not a trick made by Paradox, are you?" Ben asked, seeming cautious as he reached for the Omnitrix.

"Benjamin, I am truly here. Pray tell, why would you think I was a 'trick'?" Celestia asked.

"This place, this world... Paradox told me that this is where I came from, but I just can't believe it. After everything he's done, I can't trust him. He nearly got somepony killed with that stupid letter, he then actually killed my only ally like it was nothing! He was the only one who seemed to have an idea about who or what Paradox was, let alone what he wanted with me!" Ben started to get louder, seemingly getting more and more stressed and panicked. "Now I'm stuck here, in this world I can't even believe for a second is real, and apparently, some of the people here just want to kill me! In a past life, if I actually had one, what did I do to deserve this!?"

"Ben, calm yourself, it's okay... I'm here now, everything will be okay," Celestia reassured, stepping closer to the human. "Now, how's about you tell me--"

Before the princess could finish her sentence, there was a violent set of knocks on the front door, drawing Ben and Celestia's attention, as well as of the other Tennysons within the household.

Carl stepped around the alicorn as the knocks rang out again, "Hold on, I'm coming!" Carl stated. He got to the door and reached for the knob.

Ben felt the hairs on his neck stand up, and Ben had this weird feeling in his gut. Something wasn't right.

"Wait, don't open the--"

Before Ben could finish his warning, Carl was grabbed by the neck, then tossed into the wall, where he slumped over and groaned.

"Hope you don't mind if we let ourselves in, can Benji come out to play?" A female voice called out.

In the doorway was Kevin and Rojo, their eyes glowing blue as they glared at Ben. Gwen stood by Ben, ready to fight, as did Max, Ken and Lucy.

"Oh look, the powerless doofus, the old man, the magic dweeb, and blondie the sludge chick want to scrap! How adorable, it makes me wanna vomit." Rojo remarks.

"He may not remember who we are, but to us, he's still family!" Ken stated, putting his hands up.

"My grandson can still fight, but I'll be damned if I let you lay a finger on him, Kevin." Max warned, pulling out some kind of strange rifle.

"Yeah, you leave our cousin alone! You want him, then you two clowns are gonna have to get your hands dirty!" Lucy gritted, smiling as she morphed her arms into a couple of huge muddy mallets.

Gwen gritted her teeth as her eyes glowed blue, causing her skin to peel as she radiated with a blue aura, looking like a more human version of that thing Ben saw Venus turn into.

"I just got my cousin back, and I plan to make sure he knows that we will have his back, no matter what! You want him, right? Then get through me first!" Gwen stated, her voice warping as she got ready to fight.

Celestia looked at the few humans, with or without extraordinary abilities be so willing to fight against these two monstrous troublemakers. Celestia smiled and looked at Ben.

"Quite the family you have here, Benjamin. I can tell now that these people, are clearly your kin. I've never seen humans before, aside from you, but to know that these humans are quite the astounding bunch, that with or without powers, magic or whatever else, they still wish to help you. And you know what?" Celestia stepped forward, her horn glowing. "So shall I!"

"An overgrown horse with wings, a horn and a butt tattoo, an old man, a sludgepuppy, a doofus with no powers at all, and some magic dweeb. Bring it on, you family of freakshows!" Kevin retorted.

Kevin ran right towards Max at blistering speed, ramming Max to the ground. In a flash of green light, Ben transformed into Fourest Fighter, and slammed Kevin right back out the door, charging past Rojo as he planned to take on this Kevin guy.

Rojo clenched her fists and clicked her tongue, letting some blistering red energy blades protrude from her armored knuckle guards. "C'mon, I can take you fools on all by myself!" Rojo taunted.

[Residential Neighborhood]

Kevin got up and saw the angry four-armed troll charging towards him. He dodged out of the way as another green flash lit up, replacing Fourest Fighter with Halibite. The bipedal fish creature lurched forward and opened its jaws to try and bite Kevin. Kevin instinctively got out of the way, until he saw the creature smirk, and maneuvered its angler lure at Kevin, firing a bright beam at him, sending him backwards.

Kevin grew another set of strong muscular arms, igniting them in fire as they were coated in rocks. Kevin morphed his main set of arms into huge red crystal blades. Halibite was a bit surprised, but he wasn't deterred. In another flash of light, Halibite was replaced by Cyberpunk, who instinctively latched onto a lawnmower, modifying it and weaponizing it as it began to hover towards Kevin.

"For someone who doesn't know who I am, you sure seem to be extra cautious!" Kevin dodged out of the way and fired crystals at the mower, piercing it and tearing it to shreds. Cyberpunk unmerged with it and stared Kevin down. "What, finally remember how I'm basically you, but far better, Tennyson?"

"For the last time, I'M. NOT. BEN. TENNYSON!" Cyberpunk exclaimed. In another flash of light, Cyberpunk was replaced by Beelzebeast, who roared out and lunged towards Kevin, going full-on animal, actually trying to maul Kevin, which did in fact catch Kevin off guard a bit, giving Beelzebeast the chance to land a perfectly good hit on Kevin's midsection, knocking a bit of wind out of him as Beelzebeast swatted him to the side, changing back into Ben. "Had enough?"

"You think just because you got a lucky hit on me, that I'm just gonna stop!? You trapped me in the null void for a long time, Tennyson!" Kevin gritted, his pupils dilating. "And I'm gonna make sure that you regret that. Let me remind you, I've got all your powers, plus my own!"

Before Ben could retort, Kevin began to transform. His body got bigger, and redder. His right arm became encompassed with Gemstone's crystals, only for these bone-like spikes to protrude and actually pierce through the crystals, turning the blue-ish green crystals into more of a deep and faded purple. Same thing happened with his left arm, which his hand became more like a bigger version of Smart Toad's, which then became encompassed in Starburner's magma and fire, only for the rocks to be replaced by that same purple-ish crystal, protruding crystal-like bone spikes.

Kevin's body began to slim down, and become covered in Cyberpunk's tech patterns. A set of Beelzebeast's front legs protrude out from underneath the main set of arms, covered in Cyberpunk's patterns and his canine claws being replaced by Ghooligan's long nails. Kevin's bottom jaw became more like Halibite's, only now consisting of an odd combination of Halibite and Beelzebeast's monstrous teeth. A huge tail jutted outwards from behind Kevin, seeming to be a mix of Speed Demon's tail, one of Ghooligan's inner tendrils, and Skunksquito's sharp stinger.

Skunksquito's wings sprouted from Kevin's back, both ignited by Starburner's flames, and were encompassed in Gemstone's crystals. From the lower back, several monstrous red tentacles sprouted out. Halibite's angler sprouted out from Kevin's forehead, one of his eyes mutated into Ghooligan's, while the other turned into one of Skunksquito's eye stalks.

Kevin roared out as his dark messy hair cascaded over his mutated face, leaving Ben to look on in abject horror, as well as a very morbid sense of Deja vu. Then, something finally clicked in Ben's mind... and that horror faded away, leaving Ben to only grit his teeth.

"I'm--"

"Kevin 11," Ben interrupted, staring the mutated foe in the face. "I remember who you are now, and what kind of monster you made yourself into!"

"Oho! So it took me becoming a monster again for you to finally recognize me, Benji? I'd say I'm touched, but I'd rather kill you instead!" His voice was warped from the mutation. He lunged towards Ben, who dodged out of the way. "Where ya goin', Benji? Running like a coward ain't gonna save you!"

"No, it won't, that's why I'm not running," Ben stopped and turned around, dialing in an alien. "I was just trying to get some space between us! It's Hero Time!"

Ben slammed on the Omnitrix, transforming into Shinzilla. The dragon stared at the mutant, seeing a mild look of bewilderment and confusion plastered on its ugly face. The dragon was at least amused to see he now had the upperhand.

"Hah! This is wot you get for bein' a cocksure wanker, Kevin!" The dragon was taunting Kevin, and he wasn't gonna have it. "Got all my powers, huh? Well that sounds rather embarrassin' right now, mate! Lemme introduce you to Shinzilla!!"

"I'm going to rip your tongue out, Tennyson!!" Kevin roared out in a rage, charging towards the dragon.

"Come get some, mate!" Shinzilla taunted, meeting Kevin's charge with his own.

As the two jumped towards each other, they struggled to push each other back, to win what felt like a power struggle.

[Tennyson Residence]

Rojo was slicing through everything, all just to hit Ken, who constantly kept on evading and dodging her attempts to land a clean blow. Rojo lunged at the redheaded boy, and Ken rolled out of the way, letting Rojo crash to the ground, only to quickly recover.

"This is getting annoying! Stand still, you little--"

Gwen rushed forward to blast some kind of energy at close range, only for Rojo to counter and drop kick her into Celestia. Celestia quickly got up and fired a magical blast, and Max fired his rifle from the other side, firing these red lasers towards Rojo's head.

Rojo jumped out of the way as she ducked into one of the rooms, letting the explosion of the magic meeting the lasers send Celestia and Max flying. Rojo laughed, almost as if she was finding some enjoyment out of this.

"It's about time you Tennysons showed me what you're made of! Now, where's blondie? I can't wait to knock that stupid smile off of her fa--"

Rojo couldn't get out another word as she was then pummeled and beaten by Lucy, who wailed on Rojo from behind with her huge sludge mallets. "That was for destroyin' my car!" She exclaimed.

Rojo got up and tried to slice Lucy, only for Lucy to counter by turning her sludge mallets into blades. Lucy managed to get a quick kick to Rojo's gut, staggering her for a moment. Lucy grunted as she stabbed both of Rojo's sides clean through her armor with her blades, knocking the wind, and a bit of blood out of the villainess. "That was for comin' inside unannounced!" Lucy remarked.

Rojo got free, holding her sides as her energy blades deactivated and backed away. She was about to pull out a special pocket knife she had, until Lucy straight up slammed her fist into Rojo's face, a sickening crunch echoed out as Rojo's body slumped out of the doorway to the floor unconscious, her nose broken and bleeding everywhere. "And that, was for tryin' to take my cousin away when I just got him back!" Lucy finished, smiling as she took a seat and pulled out her phone.

"My goodness, I haven't seen such ferocity since, well, since before the pony tribes united!" Celestia remarked, carefully stepping away from the bloodied and battered Rojo.

"Yeah, like... holy, I didn't think you had it in you, Lucy!" Ken stated, slightly shocked. "For a moment, I thought you killed her!"

"Nah, I may hate her, but she's still got some good in her, she just likes to repress it, like emotions!" Lucy commented.

"Well, that's Rojo taken care of, but what about Kevin?" Gwen remarked.

Sandra and Carl looked down at the battered Rojo, then back at the people, besides Celestia, that they called their family.

"Max, you, the magical horse, and the kids go help Ben, we'll tie her up and call the authorities." Carl stated.

"Time to see if Ben's doing any better, because Kevin can be a handful without mutating into a full-on monster." Ken stated cautiously.

[Residential Neighborhood]

Kevin is getting pushed back, swatted and battered constantly by Shinzilla's tail and by the constant rush of fireballs that are launched at him, until they suddenly stop.

"What, you don't have anymore tricks up your sleeve, Tennyson?" Kevin taunted.

Before Kevin knew what hit him next, he was sent flying a good distance before he crashed into the road. Kevin looked up and saw Shellusk, who was rolling in for another attack. Kevin got up and stopped Shellusk from landing his hit, and then started to absorb Shellusk, causing these armored shell-like platings to form on his tail and all over his back.

"Oh, you made a big mistake now!" Kevin remarked, kicking Shellusk away, only for Ben to transform into Warlock Trot, and fire a powerful magic blast at Kevin. It staggered him a bit, but not for long. Kevin rushed forward and rolled into a ball, ramming into and crushing Warlock Trot beneath his weight. Kevin walked forward with a toothy grin, and grabbed hold of the unicorn's horn, beginning to absorb Warlock Trot as well. "You wanna be cocky, huh?! Let's see how you do when I get all of your new aliens' powers too!"

Kevin's legs began to become more akin to that of horse legs, and his feet becoming more like hooves, all while the angler lure on Kevin's face stiffened up, with the base of the lure becoming more like some kind of deformed unicorn horn, with the angler's bulb still intact.

"Even if you get my new powers, Kevin, you won't be happy like this!" Warlock Trot called out.

"Wanna bet?" Kevin remarked.

Kevin tossed the unicorn towards the house, forcing Ben to change into Heavy Hydrant, and propelling himself back at Kevin with a huge and powerful pulse of water. Kevin focused on his horn, trying to make it work, and managed to catch the armored alien, and began to absorb it. Kevin felt tubes connect and grow out of him, plugging into the back of his head as he tossed the alien away.

"Face it, Tennyson! You can't beat me, not this time! I will admit, I didn't stick with just your ten alien freaks. In the Null Void, your family threw a bunch of crazy alien criminals in there, and like I just did with your aliens, I absorbed a few new tricks since we last fought, including the now late Vilgax, before he escaped the Null Void, and before you and your doofus dad blew him sky high!" Heavy Hydrant picked himself up, and changed back into Ben, who was exhausted, battered, bruised, but still fighting. "Now, what's it gonna be, Tennyson, face the monster you helped create, or give this monster more power!"

'Beating him the way Ben Tennyson did isn't gonna work... he's got nearly most of my new forms, some of them I know can be very dangerous in his hands... There has to be a way I can... wait,' Something soon came to Ben yet again. He looked at the Omnitrix, and back at Kevin's mutated state. 'Would that even work on him? By this point, I have to try... Fighting isn't gonna win me this, I have to try.'

Ben slowly started to approach Kevin, all while he heard the protesting of the others who fought with Rojo. He felt something hold him back, and he saw this huge blue energy thing holding him in place. He turned back around, seeing that it came from Gwen.

"Ben, don't give him anymore power! We can find another way to stop him," Gwen struggled to hold the strange construct. "Just come over here, and we can talk this out."

"That was actually my plan, you really can read minds." Ben admitted, chuckling at his own joke. Gwen just looked confused, all while Kevin seemed to bust out in a hellish cacophony of laughter.

"What!? You actually want to talk? What kind of dumb plan is that!?" Kevin laughed. "No, the time for talking is over. Give me more power, or I'll have to take it out of your pathetic little family!"

"Kevin, I remember that day, in bits and pieces... As we speak, it's all coming back to me," Ben explained, closing his eyes. "You didn't want to become a monster, you just wanted to get even with me because I didn't join you in being a criminal."

Ben stared Kevin down, who seemed pretty furious by the answer he got. "After taking all my powers once as a kid, and not being able to accept that you weren't worth my time, because all you were doing is lashing out and endangering people, just for an immature reason like getting even, you lost your mind and it made you become stuck like that... I'll admit, I prefer your original mutation better, you looked far less hideous!"

"Says the freak who--"

"I'm not done, Kevin," Ben interrupted. "I remember that, for a short moment, we were friends, by a very short margin. You and I, we weren't so different... sure, I had numerous powers, you had one that could get you many. I had my family to fall back on, and you didn't. You lived on your own in an abandoned subway station, I was in an RV with my family for the summer. You wanted to kill innocent people just so you could rob a train full of money, and I fought to stop you--"

"Is there a point to this or did you suddenly get chattier over the years?!" Kevin roared out.

"The point is, Kevin, I can fix this... I think. You told me that you are the monster I helped create, literally a few seconds ago," Ben motioned for Gwen to let him go, something she hesitated to do, but did so anyways. Ben got closer to Kevin, "Kevin, listen to me. It's been years since I learned anything about myself. During a very hectic moment in my life, I learned that the Omnitrix can possibly fix things that are broken. How long have you been like this?"

"That doesn't matter!" Kevin roared, grabbing Ben by the shirt, flashing his monstrous teeth. "You think you can fix me? I doubt it, I learned to turn back to normal in the null void, and I'm not gonna give all this power up, just because you wanna help--"

Ben used his left hand to grab Kevin's face, and his right hand to twist the dial. "Well, I wasn't giving you a choice anyways. This fighting has to stop, and I'm not gonna fight you anymore!" Ben remarked.

"What the!? Get your hands off of--"

The Omnitrix began to flash between green and yellow, all while Ben refused to let go, despite Kevin's squirming.

"Omnitrix has detected higher than Critical levels of Genetic Damage. Shall we attempt to repair?" It chirped out.

"Yes, please. This has been long since overdue!" Ben stated, clinging onto Kevin as he kept on trying to throw him off.

The Omnitrix chirped and beeped, cycling through several aliens he had used before, including a couple others he hadn't seen at all. The Omnitrix enveloped both Ben and Kevin in a bright green light, despite Kevin's apprehension and clear distain of what exactly was happening, and Ben just kept on clinging to him.

"Benjamin!" Celestia called out, being blinded by the huge green light.

[Inside the Omnitrix]

Ben snaps his eyes open, and recognizes where he is. He looks down, noticing that Kevin, in his mutated state, is right beneath him, unconscious. Ben tries to drag him, but it's not working.

"Come on, come on..." Ben grunted, trying to pull the huge mutated mass that was Kevin, only to lose his grip and back up into the four-armed creature. "Oh... hi, there..."

"Move. We will fix him. Go to the center and you will be returned to the world." The creature spoke, his voice gruff and gravelly. It's revealed that this creature also had four arms, was red, and had a bit of a resemblance to a troll. "Go, Benjamin. Your Osmosian friend will be fixed."

Ben had no idea what he meant by 'Osmosian', but he did make his way to the center, all the same. The strange chanting began, and soon enough, Ben was going up, wondering of what would become of Kevin by the time he awoke.

The four-armed troll brought the unconscious mutant to some kind of big hole with a burning bright white fire at the bottom. Without another thought, the troll tossed the unconscious mutant into the burning white blaze as a huge amount of yellow smoke rose from the pit, as did Kevin's screams.

"It is done." The troll stated as they walked away, slowly hearing Kevin's screams begin to die out.

[Residential Neighborhood]

Ben awoke, finding himself on the ground. He got up, and was supported by Max and Gwen. Ben looked down, seeing Kevin in his mutated state. Before Ben could wonder if it worked, the body seemed to crumple and turn to ash. Gwen used her magic to pull something out of the ash, revealing Kevin in his human form.

"Well done, Ben. You did pretty well," Max gave a warm smile. "You may not remember who you are, but I'm still proud of ya, kiddo."

"Yeah, it takes quite a lot to go against someone like Kevin, since he's basically a monstrous amalgamation of your powers, but you did pretty well!" Gwen congratulated, "Nice job, Ben Te-.. Ben Sparkle."

Ben took a moment to respond, thinking back on everything. Ben closed his eyes and focused hard, trying to recall anything that happened before Kevin's first mutation. That's when he saw it. It all came back to him pretty fast, he almost couldn't register what he had recalled, but he knows who he was, who he is now, and what he'll always be. He was Ben Tennyson, He is Ben Sparkle, but all in all... he's a hero, and that is something he will never forget.

Ben looked up at Max and smiled back, "Thanks... Grandpa." Ben remarked as he began to laugh.

"Benjamin Tennyson!" A voice called out.

Everyone looked over, seeing Charmcaster running over. She stopped as she tried to catch her breath. "Man, that chaos guy couldn't have just put me a couple inches away from the fight, could he!? Look.. I have a message..."

Charmcaster looked around, seeing that Rojo was tied up and had a broken and bloodied nose, and Kevin was covered in ashes.

"Ok, I'm gonna assume I missed something, so I'm just going to--"

"No, wait!" Ben called out. Charmcaster stopped and Ben slowly walked towards her, "What message are you talking about?"

"Uh, do you know a guy named 'D' or something like that?" Ben nodded, expecting more. "Well, he wanted me to tell you he's alive and well, but when you get back to Equestria, he won't be around as much. Not really sure what that means... Oh, he also wanted me to warn you about Paradox."

"How do you know about him?!" Ben asked, surprised.

"He's the jerk who took these two away to go after you. Ever since he took them, it's like he's been trying to kill me too!" Charmcaster explained, gesturing to the unconscious Kevin and tied up Rojo. Charmcaster still seemed rather angry about the whole situation she still didn't understand, "He will have wards anywhere that go off when someone specific is nearby, and that guy nearly killed me by blowing up my van!"

"Why is he doing this?" Ben asked.

"I don't know, and by this point, I don't care. I'm done with causing trouble, because as of late, it seems to have put things into perspective! Goodbye and Good Luck, Benjamin Sparkle, Tennyson, whatever you're called nowadays!" Charmcaster huffed and walked away without another thought.

Ben turned his head towards Gwen, seeming rather confused. "Don't look at me, I don't know what that's about, but this Paradox guy really seems to get around... what exactly is it that he wants?" Gwen wondered.

"I'm sure we'll figure it out someday," Max reassured, "but right now, who's hungry? Breakfast sounds pretty great right now! With all the fighting that's happened, I'm sure you kids have worked up an appetite."

[Tennyson Residence, Ben's old Room]

"I'm sorry what?" Ben asked, seeming very confused by what he just heard.

"You know who you are, do you not?" Celestia asked.

"Yeah, I know who I was, and I know who I am... what does this have to do with me being where I belong?" Ben asked, seeming very concerned by where the princess may be going with the conversation.

"Benjamin, you are with your own kind, your family, to be more specific..." Celestia sighed and tried to think about her question. "What I'm asking is, do you feel like this is where you belong, or do you feel as if you belong back in Equestria?"

"What kind of a question is that!? I love Equestria, it has my family, my friends--"

"This world has that too, Benjamin--"

"I've been here for the least amount of time as I've been in Equestria," Ben seemed divided, and Celestia could tell. "I was born here, sure, and I spent 10 years of my young life being a kid, and a hero! But I feel like I've grown to be a better hero in Equestria, something I probably couldn't do if I remembered who I once was."

"Ben, I just want you to be happy, I want you to make the right choice--"

"What is the right choice?! Picking between families, that's not fair!" Ben argued.

"What I mean is, you will know what the choice is. If you are truly wishing to go back to Equestria with me, then it'll take some time to try and find a way back to the Null Void," Celestia took a breath and sighed. "But, if you choose to stay here, then I only ask that you say proper goodbyes to those who truly meant something to you back in Equestria."

Ben sat on the foot of his old bed, unsure of what exactly he's supposed to choose. He felt so divided against himself, he felt like he might actually split in two.

'She can't do this to me... Sure, I want to learn about the world I was mysteriously taken from, the family I forgot about, to learn more about me... but is it really worth it to see my new friends one last time, only to never see them again?' Ben's thoughts raced through his mind, and he can't help but feel as if his heart is breaking. 'Man, this is absolutely painful! I know I want to be a hero, but this world needs a hero like me... but I know that my family can handle it on their own. They've done it without me for what, nine years? They can handle it...'

"Ben! Helloooo~" Carl's voice called out.

Ben snapped out of his train of thought and saw Carl standing in the doorframe. "Hey son, you feelin' okay? You're a bit more distant than when you didn't know anything." Carl wondered.

"Have you ever had to pick between two things that feel like home, but in the end, you had to pick one?" Ben asked.

"Well, I can't really say for certain. If this is about the whole 'Equestria' thing, then I guess I can understand a little better, to a degree," Carl cleared his throat and seemed to get ready to explain something.

"I never had to choose something like this, even when you vanished for years, and I don't know what's going on in that head of yours, Ben, but I do know this," Carl rested a hand on Ben's shoulder, "No matter what choice you make, your friends, your family, no matter how far apart you are from them, whether you choose to stay here, or go back to Equestria... no matter what you choose, we'll always support your decision. I know Sandra would probably want you to stay, she missed you a lot... but, I know a part of her would want you to make this choice for yourself, and she'll support it if it makes you happy."

Ben let those words ricochet around in his head for a while, and for a moment, he just couldn't come up with a proper idea.

"I think I'm gonna take a quick nap, and maybe when I get up, I'll have my decision made," Ben hugged Carl and leaned back onto the cozy and soft mattress. "Thanks for talking with me, Dad."

Carl shut the door and Ben laid there on his old bed, slowly falling asleep.

[Dreamscape]

A numbing silence was all that Ben could feel and hear. Ben woke up, he could move, yet he couldn't speak. Ben stood up and looked around, seeing nothing but a blank and empty void... well, empty was not entirely true, but he did feel like he was here before, only there's a change. He saw two individuals, one the size of a kid, and the other being bigger than he and the child-sized individual. They seemed angry, arguing with each other. Upon better examination, they seemed to be reflections of Ben's own conflict with himself.

The child looked about ten years old, and looked exactly as he did when he was, well, ten. The other version, was a much different story. He looked to be around thirty-three, or thirty-seven, by the looks of the aged depth in his face. He was well-developed, he seemed scarred and worn, his hair was outgrown and seemed to cover his face, yet he wore some kind of cloak around him. Underneath the cloak was a golden harness, more specifically, it was his element of harmony, Humility. Ben noticed an obvious difference between the arguing conflictions, and Ben begins to understand a bit more about what might be or might soon be a problem.

His older version lacks an Omnitrix. In fact, it looks like his wrist, where he once wore it, was so scarred, worn out and damaged, that it looked as if the arm itself was rotting. His younger version wore exactly what he wore as of the current moment, but didn't have the element of harmony with him... instead, he just had the Omnitrix. He also noticed that the more his younger version boasted about the Omnitrix, or whatever he was saying, it seemed to grow and ingrain into his body more and more, almost making it seem like Ben is becoming the Omnitrix itself, revealing that one of the younger version's eyes was just the Omnitrix's emblem. It looked like he was getting very brash with whatever he was saying, yet he couldn't hear anything they were saying.

He wished he could speak, to tell them to stop, yet he couldn't. It's like something kept him from speaking. He pulled his bottom jaw down, trying to force his mouth open, and though it felt like he was tearing his own flesh into pieces, he finally managed to regain the ability to speak.

"SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU!! I CAN'T BARE TO SEE ME FIGHTING MYSELF LIKE THIS, KNOWING THAT I AM LEAVING A WORLD BEHIND, ONE THAT HELPED MAKE ME THE MAN I AM NOW, AND I'M WORRIED ABOUT WHAT WILL BECOME OF ME?! SHUT UP AND STOP FIGHTING MYSELF!! I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE THIS WORLD, I MISSED SO MUCH, BUT I DON'T WANT TO JUST LEAVE EVERYONE BACK IN EQUESTRIA BEHIND!! HELP ME MAKE A CHOICE, THEN I CAN ARGUE ABOUT MY FUTURE!! An important choice has to be made, and we're the same person!! Why am I fighting myself anyways!?"

The two individuals stared at him. They looked at each other, and both seemed to be realizing how dumb and stupid they've been. The younger version removes the Omnitrix from himself, returning himself back to normal. The older version removes the Element of Humility and takes the cloak off, showing that the damage on his arm has begun to repair itself, almost instantaneously. The two walk over and place their respective items onto Ben. Attaching the Omnitrix on his left wrist, and fitting the Element of Humility to him.

Despite how Ben felt as if he should be feeling a weight pulling him down... he felt a weight be lifted, instead. One that he couldn't see, one he didn't feel until it was lifted from his body.

"Thank you... sorry for getting loud, but... I need to make an important decision. Please help--"

"No." The older one stated.

"No." The younger one stated.

"Why not?! I just need an answer!"

"Earth, the home of the humans..."

"It doesn't feel like home anymore."

"We remember who we used to be, who we could've been, but the future now..."

"We fear the future that comes, we fear what we have changed."

"Change is a good thing, and sure, we may never figure out a lot of stuff, but I'm happy knowing that I'll have my friends by my side to keep us steady. And hey, I love both of my families, they'll always be with me in spirit."

The individuals smiled, looking at each other as they nodded.

"So tell me, what's the answer here?"

"You know what the answer is, Ben."

Ben snapped his eyes open again, feeling around as he sat up and looked at himself in a mirror. Soon enough, the door opened, revealing Celestia and Max.

"Hey there, sport, saw that you didn't eat breakfast... you feelin' alright?" Max asked.

"Benjamin, did you make a decision?" Celestia asked.

Ben could feel it, deep within him. He knew what home was, and he knew that home was where the heart was... and right now, where everything else was in the human world, where he came from... his heart was back in Equestria.

"I did... I'll tell everyone when I've gotten through breakfast." Ben said, smiling.

Author's Note

So, this felt like it was all over the place, to me at least. But, this is how this arc ends.

Epilogue will be up... eventually, maybe? Just know that I'm constantly giving my all on this story. So if something doesn't seem right, guaranteed it's probably intentional, or it's me not noticing and being very sleepy.

Our regularly scheduled Pony Program will be right back on track after the Epilogue.