MLP: A Journey's End

Chapter 2 - Saying Goodbye

Author's Note: "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while Stardust Balance is owned by the Warrior of Twilight, and I happily own the story.

After he was given two teaspoons of medicine, Casey made a face of disgust, and said, "It still tastes horrible."

The orange-colored pony was back in his bedroom, and as Twilight began putting the medicine away, she replied, "Well, that's what comes with being a hero… but I am glad you didn't end up like Stardust, though, since his Twilight told me about the times that he has ended up-"

"Oh, yeah, I've had my fair share of near-fatal injuries," interrupted Stardust, who was making his way into the bedroom.

Twilight quickly noticed that he looked unsure about something, but she just figured that he was simply showing concern for Casey.

"Oh, you'd better not start gloating or anything like that," said the young pony. "I was almost about to beat you!"

Stardust let out a chuckle, and he shook his head, replying, "You must have hit your head pretty hard if you thought that I was going to lose the race."

"Ha-ha, very funny," said Casey, speaking in a sarcastic tone. "Just wait until the next time you come to visit... by then, you'll definitely see what I'm talking about."

At first, Stardust didn't give a response, but then, he gave a playful punch to his friend's shoulder, and replied, "Alright, I get it… just focus on getting better health-wise, okay?"

Due to the medicine's side-effects, Casey was becoming tired very fast, and as soon as they did a bro-hoof, he went right to sleep.

Well, time to go, thought Stardust, who looked over at Twilight, and gave her a small head nod before walking out of the room.

The time has come
It's for the best, I know it
Who could have guessed that you and I…

As he entered the library, Stardust rolled his eyes, and muttered, "Not right now, Starswirl."

Then, he proceeded with turning on the world-travel machine that Twilight and her friends had created after defeating Rowan for the first time, but before Stardust could step inside, a familiar voice caused him to remain still.

"I may not know you as well as the Twilight from your world does, but I can tell when something is bothering one of my friends."

Letting out a sigh, Stardust turned around to look at Twilight, who was standing by the doorway, with a look on her face that meant she knew he was hiding something.

She also had a point… even though neither of them obviously did not have any sort of romantic feelings for each other, Twilight still considered him as one of her friends, especially after everything that her other self had said about Stardust.

"What's wrong?"

The gold-colored pony paused, for a moment, before he replied, "Look, Twilight, I… uh… it would be best if I just stayed in my own world from now on… and that you all stay here in yours."

At first, Twilight was confused after hearing his statement. "Well, then, why do you… wait… you mean that… you don't want us to see each other ever again?"

"Er, I mean, when you put it that way, it sounds kind of harsh," replied Stardust, but when Twilight raised her eyebrow, he said, "I don't want anything worse happening to Casey… it's because of me that he even got hurt in the first place."

"Stardust, that wasn't your-"

The young pony shook his head, and said, "I had so many chances to get him out of harm's way, but instead, I let my evil counterpart nearly beat the living **** out of him."

Before Twilight could say anything else, Stardust added, "I am doing this for you just as much as I am doing it for him, Twilight. You don't deserve to go through the same type of pain that my alicorn princess did… so-"

"Stardust?"

The two ponies turned around, and saw that Casey was now in the room, looking half-sleepy and half-awake.

Not wanting either of them to cause an argument, Twilight tried to get him out of the library. "Alright, Casey, time to go back and-"

"This isn't, like, a goodbye good-bye, right?" said the orange-colored Earth pony, who did not plan on leaving just yet. "We agreed that-"

"I know what we said, Casey," replied Stardust, who was starting to speak in a little more serious tone. "But ever since then, almost nothing but trouble has happened to us… and this is exactly what I feared would happen if this continued any longer."

Casey started to frown, and he said, "What do you mean by 'this', Stardust? You sound as if you regret ever being my friend… or that it's my fault we are."

"Well, I mean, this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't shown up in my world on some random day from out of the blue," reminded the gold-colored pony. "And if you hadn't left your necklace behind, then I wouldn't have had to come back in order to return it."

Raising an eyebrow, Casey exclaimed, "Oh, so basically, you wish that this never would have happened in the first place?"

"Hey, those are your words, not mine," replied Stardust. "But now that you mention it, I could have avoided being killed in the past, present, or whatever by Rowan… I would not have had to deal with the Rainbow from my world being upset with me…"

Jack, I don't think now is the best time to-

(Stardust) I'm doing this for his own good!

"If we're going down that route, Stardust, then I should point out that it was your other self that came into this world to kidnap Twilight," said Casey, who was now starting to get upset.

Not wanting anything else to get worse, the young princess said, "Alright, Casey, let's not end up doing something that will-"

"Well, it was your stupid time travel watch device that he got ahold of," growled Stardust, now sounding like he was irritated. "And I didn't ask to be fused with you in the first place!"

"Hey, neither did I," replied Casey, who was no longer feeling tired. "In fact… yeah, you know what, I do blame you for me getting all of these injuries… so, why don't you get back to your own world before something else happens to me?"

"That's what I am trying to do, you fool," exclaimed Stardust, who began to walk through the time machine. "And don't expect me to come help if something terrible happens here… your world, your problems."

WHOOSH!

Before Casey or Twilight could respond to that, Stardust was taken back to his own world, and neither of them said anything.

Then, just as Twilight was about to speak, Casey quietly walked out of the library, and went back to his bedroom, leaving the alicorn princess by herself.

"Oh, this can't be good," said Twilight, sounding concerned. "I mean, how is the other me from Stardust's world going to react when he hears about this?"

"Haha, yes, now we're getting somewhere!"

A grin of triumph appeared on Elixir's face as he watched the argument between Stardust and Casey unfold in front of him.

"So, does that mean we get to attack Pony-" Ronxor started to say, but his master shook his head, in response.

"Not quite yet, my friend," he replied, with an evil smile on his face. "But rest assured, our victory is a guaranteed success… and in the meantime…"

Elixir walked over to a nearby desk, where a nearly-complete mechanic weapon was being built at.

"Hurry with the completion of your invention, Ronxor… I want it to be ready on the day that we decide to pay Stardust Balance a visit."

The silver-colored Pegasus nodded his head, but before he resumed his work, Ronxor asked, "Sir? What are you going to about Casey?"

"Oh, I have something very special in mind for him," replied Elixir, as he started to laugh. "But until that time comes… we have to make balance a little bit more unstable."