Author's Note

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic belongs to Lauren Faust and Hasbro

Ben 10 belongs to Man of Action and Cartoon Network

Edgar and the CMC's Quest & Letters

Tartarus

With the combined might of Vilgax, Albedo, and Psyphon, they brought some technology over from their world into Tartarus, and rather than a giant prison, the place was now looking more like some sort of workshop.

Tirek was sitting idly looking bored with the waiting, he wanted to do nothing more than to go out and take magic form unsuspecting ponies to bring him back to full strength so he can defeat Twilight and her friends. He was looking at Albedo and Psyphon tinkering with some objects that were unfamiliar to the centaur, but he sighed a bit.

He then looked to his right to see the many dangerous creatures that were locked up in Tartarus, all of them looking terrified of what was going on. Tirek then smirked at seeing them tremble. “Good, you should all be afraid.” He thought wickedly. But he was still a bit anxious about getting his full strength back though.

“Tirek!” The voice of Albedo shouted. “Come here!” The centaur growled a bit as he got up and went over to the Galvan-turned-Human, who alongside Psyphon were standing next to a large chamber, which he looked at with a mix of confusion and awe.

“What is this….thing?” Tirek asked with a raised eyebrow.

Psyphon smiled. “We can not expose ourselves just yet to our enemies, that is why my master has taken the liberty to instruct us both to create this chamber, that will allow you to regain all of the strength you once lost.” He said to the now interested centaur. “I have been gathering information about this world and have seen what you are capable of.”

Tirek then looked at the machine with some piqued interest. “So once I step in…will I be at full strength again?” He asked the two, who nodded.

“It took trial and error, but we managed to do such a thing.” Albedo said as he pushed a button and the hatch to the machine opened up. “All you have to do is enter.” Tirek looked at the machine with some piqued interest, and despite feeling a tiny bit nervous, nothing would distract him from getting revenge on Twilight, so he stepped right in the machine.

Albedo then pushed some buttons on the console and lights began to light up as the machine started. “Hey!” Tireks voice said from the inside. “I’m not gonna get hurt or anything am I?”

Albedo and Psyphon just looked at each other and shrugged. “Maybe a pinch.” Albedo said as he pushed another button and the machine started up. There was some noise going as the machine shook a bit, and also Tirek screamed…for a little while at best.

While in the machine Tirek felt a bit of pain that made him scream a bit, but then he noticed his left arm getting more muscular, and then the other arm…and then his whole body. This was it….he was becoming muscular again! He could feel it! At this moment hsi screaming turned into chuckles…and the chuckles turned into outright laughter. “Yes…Yes….YES!!” He shouted as the machine then began to rattle and shake, making both Psyphon and Albedo back up a bit. Bolts started flying off the machine as cracks formed around it.

BOOM

The machine exploded and out came Tirek, no longer a withered old Centaur, but now more muscular and menacing looking, with color coming back to him.

Vilgax, meanwhile, was looking on as he approached the centaur and gave an evil grin. “How do you feel, Tirke?” He asked.

The Centaur laughed as he flexed his muscles. “I feel alot better!” He then eyed hsi ally and smiled. “I owe you for this Vilgax.” He said to him,

Vilgax nodded. “Indeed you do.” He then walked over to a small chamber to show the cube containing Malware’s remains. “All we need to do is replicate this, and we can use it to strike at Ben Tennyson.”

“And Twilight Sparkle.” Tirek growled in fury, but then he thought about King Charlatan. “But what about Charlatan?” He asked, Vilgax shook his head.

“That creature deals with Tennyson for now. We need to keep out of sight till we are ready to unveil our plans.” He said as he then looked at all the Tartarus creatures. “Now…I do think it’s time we prepare our army.” He said as he and Tirek went over to the creatures, who were all now terrified.

Ponyville

Edgar was now hanging out with the CMC’s. Oh, he had such a great first day at the schoolhouse! He learned more about Pony culture, he made all sorts of new friends, and he was amazed by the many different talents the students had. Now they were all at the Hayburger munching on some burgers, which Edgar found pretty delicious.

“Dang Edgar.” Apple Bloom said with a giggle. “It ain't gonna go nowhere!” She said as the other two smiled at him.

“Hey, cut me some slack!” Edgar said to her. “This beats eating fish every single day.” He said as he then continued to munch down, much to the CMC’s delight. “So, what's in the pan for today?”

“Well, we were just gonna go back to the clubhouse and figure something out.” Sweetie Belle said.

“Oh? And what is that?” Edgar asked.

“Well, you see.” Scootaloo said to him. “We believe that some of the ponies around here have developed crushes on Ben. And we are gonna see who does!”

“Yea,” Sweetie Belle said, eating her hay fries. “We already know that Deroy does, and we believe that our sisters do as well! We just need to confirm it for ourselves!’

Edgar swallowed his food and smiled. “Ohhh, like a detective story, can I help?” He asked, with the fillies smiling and nodding their heads. “Sweet! Let;s do it!”

30 minutes later…

Now standing in the middle of the square, the CMC’s and Edgar were together, all of them dressed in brown trench coats and fedoras, wearing black sunglasses.

“Alright,” EEdgar said as he had a notepad and a pencil in his flippers. “Detectives Edgar, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom have begun their first mystery. The mystery of the secret love, our job to solve who loves the resident hero from another dimension, Ben Tennyson!”

“Yea!” The CMC’s said in unison. Edgar said to them to split up and they'lll meet back up in a little while and off they went.

Sweet Apple Acres

Detective Apple Bloom was watching as Applejack and Big Mac were both working on the farm doing their usual chores, bucking trees and tending to the hay. Thankfully she chose to hide near a tree that was already bucks so she didn’t have to worry about any apple falling on her and giving away her hiding spot.

“Hey Big Mac,” the country mare said. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Eeyup.” Big Mac said to her.

Applejack sighed. “Do you think it's weird for a mare to have a crush?” When she asked, Big Mac looked at her like she was crazy.

“Well-”

“Because.” Applejack interrupted, making the stallion glare. “I feel like I'm developing feelings for Ben.” She said with a sigh. “I know. it sounds silly, but I can't deny it.”

Big Mac gave it some thought. “Well, you did just meet him.” He said to her, “Maybe you need to spend some more time with him.”

Applejack thought it over. It was true, she did just meet him…and she was already having feelings for him? Big Mac was right. “Yea, you're right bro. I need to hang out with Him more before I figure out my feelings.” She smiled. “But he is a great friend to have though, right?”

“Eeyup!”

Apple Bloom rubbed her chin with her hoof and thought it over. “Hmmm.”

Rarity's Boutique

Sweetie Belle took the opportunity to spy on her sister…why is that not surprising? She hid behind a wall to observe Rarity, who alongside Spike, was working on a new design.

“Hey Spike, may I ask a question?” Rarity asked as she grabbed a pin off of the red ball and put it on. “You know how I have always found myself falling in love in an instant with stallions?”

“Like with Blueblood and that Trenderhoof guy?” Spike asked with a roll of his eyes. Ever since he and Twilight came to Ponyville he always had his eyes for Rarity, so her bringing up her love for other stallions from the past often made him feel a bit annoyed.

“Yes. Well…I think…well…I find myself falling for Ben.” She said, taking Spike by surprise. “I mean, I know it seems silly. But…will you have seen him right? He is always helping everypony here in Ponyville, and he is such a darling to have around.”

Spike didn't seem to deny it, Ben was a pretty cool dude, he and Rook were both pretty cool to hang out with. “Well…he did just arrive here.” Spike said. “Maybe you need to hang out with him more before you decide if you genuinely like him or not.” Spike said, getting the fashionista's attention. “After all, you saw what happened when you tried to get with Blueblood, he turned out to be a phony. And Trederhoof only had eyes for Applejack.”

Ratiy sighed. “I guess so, maybe if I hang with him more, maybe I can see if I can get feelings for him. But I hope he doesn't mind us being friends.”

“I’m sure he won't mind at all.” Spike said to her.

Sweetie Belle thought it over as she wrote it down in her pad, but when he looked at Spike, she couldn't help but blush a bit and smile. “Spike is so nice and caring.” She thought.

Sugarcube Corner

Scootaloo and Edgar both spied on Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, who were both sitting down and laughing together.

“Did you see how that pie got right into that one guy's face?” Pinkie asked with a big smile.

“Ha! Totally priceless!” Rainbow said with a big smile on her face as the two laughed their hearts out.

Edgar frowned a bit, he knew about them being pranksters from every filly and colt in the schoolhouse, and while he did not know much about pranking, he did know that some pranks can go a bit too far. He had some experience with that back in the kingdom.

“I hope they aren’t taking things too far…” He thought with some worry.

“Hey Dashie,” Pinkie said. “I hear the Gala is coming up soon, are you thinking of taking anyone?” she asked with a wiggle of her eyebrow.

Rainbow looked at her and then turned away with her nose in the air. “Yea, right, many stallions around here can't handle my awesomeness, you know.”

Pinkie grinned. “I don't know..I thought maybe Benny would want to take you.” As soon as Pinkie mentioned Ben's name, Rainbow's face blushed a bit.

“Y-yea right!” Rainbow said with a slight blush. “Why would I go with him? Sure he's cool, but I’m cooler. Maybe he would go with you.” Now it was Pinkie's turn to blush a bit.

“Well…maybe.” Pinkie Pie muttered. Now it was a bit of an awkward silence towards the both of them. Just the very thought of both of them going to the Gala with Ben made the two of them blush a bit.

Edgar and Scootaloo looked at each other and nodded as they both jotted some notes down.

5 minutes later….

All of them met back up to tell the results of their progress.

“Well, it appears that our sisters are indeed developing crushes on Ben!” Apple Bloom said with a smile.

“MMhmm,” Sweetie Belle said. “But it appears that they need to be with him a bit more before their feelings can be genuine a bit.”

“True,” Edgar said. “Every relationship is built on trust and communication. My dad told me the story of how he and mom met and it had the same results.”

The fillies nodded and Scootaloo looked at them with a raised eyebrow. “We aren’t..well…gonna do like what we did to Big Mac and Miss Cheerilee, right?”

“Oh, absolutely not!” Apple Bloom said to her, with Sweetie Belle nodding her head in agreement. Edgar looked confused however, Apple Bloom looked at him and said. “Long story, explain later.”

Castle of Friendship

“I’m so bored…” Ben groaned as he sprawled across the floor with a frown.

Twilight, who was sitting nearby with a book in her hooves rolled her eyes a bit. “Ben, you really should be reading more into Equestrian History.”

Ben scoffed. “If I wanted to do that, I would be in school.” He said. “And I don't even go to school anymore.” He said.

Twilight stopped reading and looked at him with wide eyes. “You. Don’t. Go. To. School?’ Twilight asked with a twitch in her eyes.

Ben shrugged. “Not that much. My hero's life gets in the way, so I dropped out and got a G.E.D.” He said as he looked up at the ceiling. “I mean in all honesty, ever since my secret got out to the world. It ain't like I was able to get much of a school life anyway.” He then peered over to Twilight, who still had that shocked look on her face. “Uh…Twi-Spri?” He asked with concern.

CRASH

Twilight got out of ehr shocked expression and adopted a terrified one as she and Ben both looked to see that Derpy had crashed into the castle through the door. The mail pony was on the ground with her eyes spinning.

“Derpy!” Ben exclaimed as he and Twilight went over to her. “Are you ok?”

“Muffins~” Deroy slurred with a goofy smile. Ben and Twilight then helped her up, and she then got back to her senses. “Thank you Twilight, Ben.” She said his name with a hint of embarrassment. “Anyway, I came because you got something.” She dug inside her bag and brought out a letter with her teeth, and she gave it to Twilight.

“Thank you, Derpy.” Twilight said with a smile. The mail pony smiled and nodded.

“Try to be careful next time, Derps.” Ben said as he gently rubbed her head with his left hoof. The sudden touch of his hoof caused her to stiffen a bit as her face turned red like a tomato.

“Y-yes Ben…” Derpy said as she then took off for the window, but not before inwardly thinking. “He touched me!” She squealed inwardly.

Twilight then grabbed the note and she used her magic to open it to read the contents.

Dear Twilight,

We are asking for you to come to the Crystal Empire sometime tomorrow. We heard about a new visitor and we wish to meet him. Make sure to bring all of your friends as well.

Love, Princess Cadence and Shining Armor

Twilight squealed loudly as Ben reeled back a bit. “Oh, I get to go see Cadence and Shining Armor! Yayyy!” She happily said as she trotted all over the room. But she then remembered that she was in the presence of Ben and blushed a bit. “Uh, sorry Ben. Got a bit excited”

Ben smiled. “No worries, but who are those ponies you mentioned?”

“Princess Cadance is the ruler of the Crystal Empire, a region just north of here. She is also my former foalsitter.” Twilight said to him with a smile.

“Foalsitter?” He asked.

Twilight then nodded. “Kinda like how humans have…what do they call them? Babysitters?” she asked, with Ben nodding his head. “Well anyway, Shining Armor is her husband and my BBBF. Best Big Brother Forever!” She said to him. “And it appears that they have heard of you.” She said to Ben with a smile.

Ben smiled. "Well, I am pretty well known so…” He said smugly, leaving Twilight to roll her eyes.

“And they are interested in meeting you. So tomorrow we get the others and we all head on over there.” She said with a smile as she trotted out of the room. Leaving Ben behind.

“Crystal Empire…sounds interesting.” He said to himself with a smile.