MLP: House of Friendship
Chapter 1 - It's Showtime!
Disclaimer: Hasbro is the rightful owner of My Little Pony, Disney owns all of its respective characters, films, etc., and I own this story.
"You and Princess Twilight already know my say on this particular matter, Casey."
The light-orange Earth pony sighed after hearing that, and he replied, "Yes, but it's only going to be for today, I promise. After that it can go back to just one."
Casey, along with Princess Twilight, were currently standing in the middle of the castle library, and in front of them was a glowing portal that was allowing Kronos - the master/caretaker of time and space - to speak to the two ponies.
Only a few days had passed since the destruction of the Memory Stone, with its final remaining shard kept in a safe place that only Casy and Twilight were aware of, and on this day, the young stallion had come up with an idea that could only work if more than just one individual was able to travel through the Crystal Mirror.
"If they end up having to meet your current 'guest', I am in no way responsible for whatever happens to either him or Stardust."
Twilight nodded her head solemnly, and she replied, "I've already come up with several solutions if that ends up happening, Kronos, so there's nothing else-"
"For me to worry about?" finished Kronos, a small smile showing up on his elderly face that switched to a more middle-aged one. "My dear princess, there is always something for me to be concerned when it comes to watching over a plethora of universes. One of which involves multiple virtues being affected by a huge mistake. However, since I have yet to show thanks in stopping Xenos' memory-erasing plan, I will do it by fulfilling what has been asked of me."
A warm smile of thanks and gratitude appeared on the two young ponies' faces, but before either could reply, Kronos had one more thing to add. "Once the midnight hour has begun, you have only a minute before the ban returns to only one being able to stay in a universe that is not theirs. Understood?"
Casey nodded his head while Twilight gave a salute with one of her alicorn wings, and the deity acknowledged their responses with a courtesy nod as his portal vanished into thin air.
"Well, that definitely looked easier than I ever imagined it being," said an arriving Starlight Glimmer a few seconds later, a small smile on her face. "Be sure to tell them 'hi' for me, okay?"
"I will," replied Casey, while his girlfriend had just stepped through the Crystal Mirror, and he was about to do the same. "The offer's still open for you to-"
Starlight shook her head, and said, "I'll be alright. You enjoy your time with them. 'sides, someone needs to make sure a certain dragon uses the Memory Stone on a certain unicorn… again... while you two are gone."
Casey let out a chuckle, and gave the pink unicorn a small nod before walking through the Crystal Mirror, which worked its time-and-space-traveling magic to bring them to a virtual limbo world that Casey had discovered a while back, and rather than them being in his personal fantasy world, its current look was that of a media room. Several blankets were placed in the middle, a white projection screen was down at the end of the room, and to the side was a concessions table that contained various snacks and drinks.
"Sooooo… how'd the meeting go?" asked a curious Pinkie Pie, who was standing in the back area of the room, a projector beside her that was connected to a home video player.
"It was fine, Pinkie," replied the young alicorn princess, who'd been writing in a journal that she had brought with her, and she closed it after having read the response. "Our guests will be here any moments."
"Awesome…" replied Casey, who was smiling and feeling glad that what they had planned was going to work after all, but he couldn't help feeling nervous since this'd be the first time seeing someone that the young stallion saw as his best friend since the night of his birthday party.
Sensing that her special somepony was nervous, Twilight placed a comforting hoof on his shoulder, and said, "It'll be alright, Casey. Stardust will be thrilled after he learns what we discussed with my counterpart."
The purple alicorn was referring to a gold Earth Pony who lived in a parallel version of their world, currently in a relationship with the Twilight of that particular world, and was highly knowledgable in the art of 'balance magic' that had actually been of great help to them during certain events in the past.
"Thanks, Twilight…" Casey replied, taking a deep breath before continuing on with his next sentence. "I just need a few moments or so to-"
"Yay, they're here!" called out a smiling-wide Pinkie, looking over at the nearby glowing Crystal Mirror, and Casey gulped instead of talking, with his eyes growing wide as he watched a nearly-exact counterpart of Twilight Sparkle step out casually with her own smile that made him start to feel sheepish and warm inside.
"Uh, h-hi, Princess Twilight… thanks again for being able to come to this."
"Hi, Casey," greeted Twilight's other self, giving him a hug that made the young stallion feel more relaxed after she later moved away from him. "And thank both of you for inviting us all to come. You don't know how much this means to-"
However, before she could finish his sentence, Casey's look went from happiness to confusion after hearing what she had said. "All of us? I thought it was just you and Stardust."
"Well, it was going to be just me and Jack," said Twilight's other self. "But the rest of our friends somehow learned about what we were doing, so they'll be coming along in a bit… except for Pinkie since she's in Yakyakistan, but Rainbow, AJ, Fluttershy, Rarity, Starlight, and Spike are-"
"Mom, can you tell Dad that - ooh, sweets!" cried an entering Spike, who first had an annoyed expression that changed to one of desire as he made his way over to the snack and refreshments table, but was pulled back by one of the wings of Twilight's other self.
"Not 'till the first movie begins playing."
Knowing that his 'mother' wasn't kidding, Spike let out a sigh, and greeted Casey politely before doing the same with Pinkie and Twilight. As for the light-orange stallion, he took another deep breath and patiently stood still while watching a gold-fur-colored stallion make his way out of the portal… looking only a little bit more older since their last encounter... and before said Earth pony could open his muzzle to speak, he was suddenly brought into a warm hug by Casey, now doing his best to hold in any possible tears.
Twilight's smile grew wider as she watched the friendly interaction of Casey and Starduast take place, whilst the other Twilight had a quick mental conversation with her special somepony, whose forehooves were politely patting his friend's back a few times.
"Okay…. alright, um, Casey… I think we're good now," mumbled Stardust in a low voice after they had been hugging for a while, with their respective Twilights beginning to chuckle and laugh softly.
"Right, sorry," said Casey as he stepped back to stand beside Twilight while the other one went to be next to Stardust. "I have a lot of questions about… things… but for now, I'm just really glad that you two are here, so I'll just save most of them for another time… or I'll just let Twilight ask you them, Princess Twilight."
"I think we knew that'd happen anyway, Casey," replied Stardust, while his girlfriend rolled her eyes as he looked around the room. "Nice setup you got here… oh, um, hello, Pinkie… you're in charge of, ah, playing the actual movies we'll be seeing tonight?"
Pinkie nodded her head, and pulled down a list from above that showed various titles of films to be watched for the remainder of the day. "Yep! First one will be this one, and then we'll work our way alllllll the way down here to-"
Suddenly, Spike's stomach made a growling sound of hunger, and the young dragon said, "Well, can we start the first movie already, please? Everyone else said that they would probably be here by the time we reached the third movie, anyway."
"We just had breakfast not that long ago in the castle, Spike," pointed out Twilight's other self whilst Stardust was trying not-so-hard in hiding a smirk that appeared on his muzzle.
"Yeah, but all of those treats made me hungry again!"
Before the purple alicorn could respond to that, Pinkie turned on the projector, and lowered down a raised forehoof that caused the lights in the room to dim. "Alright everypony, take your seats, the first movie'll begin in a few minutes! Grab your popcorn, soda, candy, and let's get this marathon started! Whoo!"
Everyone looked at her for a moment after she'd finished talking, and Twilight was the first to speak. "Did you eat any of those treats prior to us arriving here, Pinkie?"
"Nooo, of course not," replied the pink Earth pony, shaking her head. "Now, come on, you guys, we got 'bout a hundred and one movies on this list to see in only so many provided hours, so vamos, ponis y dragón, it's movie-marathon-watching time!"
A few minutes later, everyone was sitting on a comfortable blanket, with Spike in front of Stardust and their Twilight while Casey was next to his Twilight, drinks and snacks placed in front of them, and Pinkie began to play the first of many movies to be seen. "Mares and stallions, our first movie of the looooonng day - The Little Mermaid!"
As the opening logos showed on the screen, Princess Twilight looked over at Stardust, and said quietly, "Try not to sing every song that-"
"Oh, and one more thing, you guys! All of these movies will be shown in 'SING-ALONG' mode, so don't hesitate to sing your hearts out!"
Princess Twilight mumbled to herself while a chuckling Stardust said, "No promises, love."
