When Shining came to again, he found himself in a rather comfortable bed in a warmly lit, if small, room. He felt a familiar warm presence lying on his chest as he looked around through his blurry vision.

"W...Where...?"

"Ben?"

Hearing Fluttershy's voice, Ben tried to find her as he saw a yellow blob through the cloudy milky gaze his vision currently was before feeling it embrace him in relief.

"You're okay...!"

"F...Fluttershy...?"

"Oh, looks like Sleeping Beauty woke up Prince Charming this time."

Turning, Ben found himself looking at a cute girl his age in a brown ponytail.

"Who...?" He began weakly before coughing.

"Hold still," she instructed, bracing his back with her hand as she held a fragrant bowl up to his lips. "Drink this, it will help you."

Leaning forward, Shining began to lap up what proved to be a rather flavorful soup, rich without being overwhelming.

"I'm Hilda, my mom works in the local brewery. Your friends have been worried sick about you, been gone for over a year until we found you in the dump. The little sweethearts took turns sticking by your side for the past six months you've been knocked out."

Ben looked up as he finished the soup, feeling a bit better, though not up to moving yet.

"Sorry to be such a burden."

"Ah, don't worry about it. Besides, your friends have been pretty good company and they've helped out around the brewery and the house." Hilda said as he got up. "And Pinkie Pie...whoof! You would not believe how good a baker she is!"

"I think I can believe..." Ben chuckled as he got a better look at Hilda.

In the past year that the Mane 6 and Daxter had been hanging out with Hilda, Pinkie had opted to help with cooking, showing her skills in baking especially. Hilda was a bit embarrassed to admit it, but she had gotten hooked on all the sweets Pinkie made and her new figure definitely showed.

She had become quite fat, her belly enormous and round. Her enviably massive breasts were undeniably the biggest in the whole class. Her arms and thighs had a layer of fat around them but were also firm enough to suggest some muscles underneath. Her butt was also huge, to the point it could be used like a pillow. Her face and cheeks were round and chubby, which helped her look cute and soft.

Hilda had to really thank her lucky stars that Rarity had started tailoring her clothes for her and Rainbow and Applejack had kept her active even in her fattened up state. Though she did like being spoiled by her mother on occasion if only Eddy didn't go around teasing her relentlessly for her change in shape.

"I need to tell the girls!" Fluttershy said as she hopped off Ben's chest and ran out of the room.

"Oh boy..." Ben grumbled as the rest of the Mane 6 soon barged in, all of them jumping onto him as he wheezed in pain, Hilda giggling at the sight.

"Hey, he rises from the grave!" Daxter grinned as he came in with, much to Ben's shock, three other Ottsels. "How ya doing, big guy?"

"Fine...for the most part," Ben said, wincing at how heavy the Mane 6 were dogpiling on him.

"He's not gonna attack us, is he?" The shortest of the three Ottsels asked.

"Nah, Eddy. Ben's a friend, true and true."

"Why would I attack you?" Ben asked.

"Well, we don't wish to alarm you, but you were covered in blood when we found you." The Ottsel in the hat said. "You looked like you'd come out of a slaughterhouse."

"The screams..." Ben's eyes widened in horror as he sat up, ignoring the aching of his body as the Mane 6 looked at him worriedly. "Oh god...I killed them...I killed them all...!"

"Easy, bucko!" The buffest of the three new Ottsels said as he climbed up and patted Ben on the head.

Ben slowly pulled himself out of bed and limped to a nearby mirror, where he got a good look at himself and how much he had changed.

His eyes were now pitch black with purple pupils, and his skin was much paler and slightly greyish blue, almost like Gol and Maia's skin had been. His hair was still black but it was now longer and untamed. Looking at his hands, he saw his nails were now coal black and purple glowing veins trailed across his arms.

"Dark Eco...they pumped me full of Dark Eco...it hurt and..."

Ben then groaned as everyone moved to make sure he was okay before gasping when his arms seemed to tear and melt, becoming massive tentacles of dark purple biomass that soon shaped into arms with large bony claws glowing with Dark Eco. Ben briefly panicked as he stood up, his newly transformed arms changing shape multiple more times; bladed whips, solidified hammer fists, a single giant blade of crystal Dark Eco, and even a shield.

"Good heavens!" Double-D gasped.

"Ben! Stop it!" Twilight pleaded.

Ben turned to see the scared and concerned faces of his little sisters and best friend as well as the people who had given them shelter. Deep breaths slowed down as he relaxed, his arms turning back to normal skin before giving an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't apologize." Applejack gently said as she hugged Ben's waist. "We're all just glad you're okay."

"And hey, looks like you managed to get superpowers out of the deal. I'd say you got a sweet deal." Hilda said, trying to cheer Ben up.

"Yeah, guess we both managed to tame the Dark Eco, eh?" Daxter playfully joked as Ben couldn't help but snort. "Only I got fuzzy and you got weird flesh-melting powers."

"I was correct!" Ed excitedly said. "He is like the hero from the comic, Infamous Prototype!"

"Ed, you said that last chapter." Eddy snarked.

For the next few weeks, as Ben got better enough to be out of bed, he began trying to learn more about his new powers. The Dark Eco that had been infused into him had now allowed him to shapeshift his biomass into a variety of different forms. Ed was kind enough to provide his Infamous Prototype comic to help give him ideas.

Needless to say, Ben learned that not only could he transform his arms into claws, whips, hammers, tendrils, a giant blade, and a shield, but he could even distribute the Dark Eco now coursing through his body to form crystalline dark armor. His speed and strength had increased tremendously and whatever injuries he sustained, he could easily heal.

However, there was still the matter of the people still missing. Daxter still hadn't found any leads on Jak and everyone feared for where Keira and Samos might be. However, the siblings held onto faith, knowing that if Ben could survive and escape, so could Jak.

The place they had winded up in was Haven City, one of the last vestiges of civilization, shielded from the assaults of the Metal Heads by the Eco Dome, an Eco-powered barrier developed by a legendary hero and the founder of the city named 'Mar' several hundred years ago.

As for the Mane 6 and Daxter, they had decided to focus on weapons. Twilight had discovered that the Red Eco Blades she had come up with on her adventures in Sandover had been adopted by the populace into ordinary metal swords with Red Eco mods that surrounded the blade with energy that let it sheer through just about anything if they were swung hard enough.

Another weapon of note was the Morph Gun, which as the name implied, changed its form based on the Eco mod it was equipped with. Hilda had one with the Red Eco mod known as the Scattergun and Twilight had opted to take one for herself to study, eventually coming back with an Eco Rocket Launcher that she gave to Pinkie due to her missing her Party Cannon.

Meanwhile, Daxter, with help from Ed, Double-D, and Eddy, kept his ears open for any details regarding Jak, Keira, or Samos. Unfortunately, at the current time, no sign of any of them could be found. Jak, presumably, was still in lockup, beyond anybody's reach. Samos and Keira had vanished when the Rift Rider, Daxter's name for the vehicle they'd ridden into the gate, had exploded mid-travel. On top of that, the Krimzon Guard was on the lookout for Daxter for some reason, so he had to be very discreet.

It was towards the end of the sixth month Ben had been active, the end of the second year in Haven City, according to Daxter, that good news sprung for the family...

"Guys!" Daxter called, rushing into Hilda's house which everyone had made their home with her mother's permission. "I've found Jak!"

"You have?" Twilight asked eagerly.

"Oh thank god!" Ben sighed in relief. "Where is he?"

"Locked up in the palace somewhere," Daxter replied. "That's where they're performing the Dark Eco infusion experiments. He's still undergoing it!"

Ben flinched, clenching his fist tightly as Dark Eco energy coursed through his arm, only for Hilda to place a gentle pudgy hand on his shoulder, helping him relax. In the time he had woken up, he and Hilda had begun getting quite friendly with each other...much to the amusement of Daxter and the Mane 6.

"How are we supposed to find him or even get into the palace then?" Rainbow demanded angrily.

"Already taken care of it!" Daxter replied. "I have a cunning plan!"

"And now I'm worried..." Applejack said.

"So am I, darling..." Rarity muttered.

"Well, don't keep us in suspense. Let's hear it!" Hilda said as the Eds all perched on her shoulders.

"Well, you know that exterminator's job I got? Well, I've made a few contacts through that which will get me into the palace so I can sneak around, swipe some blueprints, and find where Jak is locked up!" Daxter preened proudly. "All in a day's work for a hero like me."

"And how does that get us in?" Twilight asked grumpily. "Nobody else has that job, and we're all rather distinctive. If we try to walk in there, they'll recognize us for sure."

"That's where the cunning part comes in!" Daxter replied, putting on a headset. "Open your communications channel."

Confused, Twilight nodded. Blinking her eyes, her headset that she and Double-D had worked on opened a communications channel. A tiny window appeared on her viewscreen, and she found herself looking at...herself.

"Eh?"

"My headset's sending a transmission of what I'm seeing to your headset," Daxter explained. "I want to test something."

Turning, he walked into the bathroom, out of everyone's sight. In the little window, Twilight tracked Daxter's movements from her perspective, crawling up the wall to leap onto the sink, before staring at her reflection in the mirror.

"Try teleporting to me now!"

Twilight did so...and had to be pulled out of the sink in the process, leaving her highly unamused but also impressed by what Daxter had planned.

"I can act as a lock-on point for you anywhere, as long as my comms signal can reach you with video!" Daxter proudly proclaimed.

"And if we hold onto Twilight, she can teleport us as well!" Rarity realized. "That's brilliant!"

"And what about Hilda and I?" Ben asked.

"Hey, Jak is your friend. I'll stay here and hold down the fort." Hilda smiled. "Besides, don't you wanna try that new superpower you learned?"

Ben realized what Hilda was getting at and grinned as Dark Eco flowed through his body before crystalizing and changing color and shape until he was perfectly disguised as a Krimzon Guard. He couldn't help but smirk as he checked himself out before nodding to everyone else.

"Oh yeah, we have a plan."

"Hang on, Jak! We're coming to save you!" Pinkie cheered.

Ben now has the powers of Alex Mercer from Prototype, except he's not a sentient virus, he's still human. It's just that the Dark Eco has infused into his DNA and granted him extraordinary powers, similar to how Jak was able to survive his Dark Eco injections.

Speaking of Jak, we'll be rescuing him in the next chapter. As for Hilda getting fat, let's just say I am hopelessly in love with Thicc Girls, don't hate me.

Reference for her size: Pig Out by Jeetdoh.