MLP: Darkness Rising

Chapter 8 - A New Leaf, Part 1

Disclaimer: "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, and Stardust Balance was created by the Warrior of Twilight. I just own Casey, and this story.

"... and, done!" Pinkie grinned with happiness, using her hoof to gesture around the classroom that Casey would officially be using for five days a week starting tomorrow. It looked like any regular classroom except the walls were all painted with a variety of colors, and there were shelves that contained things such as stuffed toys, board games, etc., along with a few balloons floating up by the ceiling. "So, what do you think?"

A small smile appeared on Casey's face, and he replied, "It's perfect now, Pinkie… but, uh, you should probably keep all of the red balloons in your classroom. Beck's not going to want to be my temporary assistant if he sees those floating around in here."

"Eh, fair enough," said the pink pony, giving a small shrug before grabbing ahold of the thin white strings, and floated out of the room while a chuckling Casey went to his desk.

Uh, Casey, I highly doubt that there's anyone out there who might have lost someone close to them or someone who feels 'invisible' are going to come in here to learn how to make friends with-

Just wait until Monday, Rainbow. I guarantee that I'll have some students of my own by the end of the day.

The light-orange Earth pony let out a sigh, and gave a small nod while placing a hoof on the wooden object. "She will come… she has to come…"

"Um, who are you talking about exactly?"

Casey looked up to see Starlight standing by the doorway, and he smirked at the pink unicorn. "Nothing important, Guidance Counselor Starlight, but how nice of you to drop by and visit my class. So let me guess - your office isn't big enough so you want to switch rooms with me?"

"Haha, very funny," said Starlight, letting out a dry chuckle before getting more serious. "Soooo, today's certainly been interesting for all of us, huh? I mean, Beck's no longer seen as a threat to Equestria… and now we know now that our world has its own Stardust."

Casey's smile dropped a little after she said that last part, and he gave a small shrug in response. "Yeah, just wonderful, ain't it?"

And, here we go, thought Starlight before she continued to talk. "You know, I was sort of, uh, expecting you to be… well, practically jumping for joy after you met him."

"... and why would I have done that?" said Casey, raising an eyebrow at Starlight.

"Well, it's probably because your best friend is him that lives in the parallel version of our world," reminded Starlight, not understanding why he wasn't showing much happiness, but then she remembered the way that he had acted during the ride back home from Canterlot. "I mean, he is still your best friend, right?"

The young stallion was silent for a moment before replying with a hint of sadness. "I… used to believe that… but now I'm not so sure anymore."

Just when Starlight was about to say something, there was a knock over at the front door, and a floating Pinkie made her way towards it. "Don't worry, I got it!"

"What do you mean you aren't so sure?"

Casey responded by giving Starlight a small shrug. "It's just… different now."

Once she was in front of the door, the pink pony hopped down to the ground, and opened it up to find herself looking at a green female pegasus that had an occupied leather sheath held to her side. "Well, hiya, new pony, I'm Pinkie Pie! But, uh, this school's technically not open until tomorrow, so…"

"Don't worry, Pinkie, I'm not here to learn about friendship," replied the visitor.

Giving her a confused look, Pinkie asked, "Then why did you come-"

"Emerl?" The two mares turned their attention over to an approaching Casey, who was surprised because he had not seen her since their fight against Anti-Stardust aboard Elixir's ship, and Starlight's eyes widened in surprise after remembering when Casey had told everyone what had happened.

"Oh, so this is the pony that helped you save Twilight's counterpart?"

Casey nodded his head, but for some reason, Pinkie sighed in relief. "Ah, okay, so this isn't the pony that gave a thank-you kiss before going into a portal to figure out where she came from… or is it?"

Starlight looked over at a pink-faced Casey,who gave a sheepish chuckle, and Emerl rubbed the back of her neck with her hoof. "Yeah, about that… I'm sorry, and… I, um, hope I didn't cause any problems between you and your Twilight."

"Nah, don't even worry 'bout it," assured Pinkie, wrapping a limb around the young mare's neck. "A word of advice - just make sure that you don't bring it up in front of Twilight… I mean, not that she's the type of mare of would be jealous, but if someone mentioned the fact that you'd found yourself wanting to kiss-"

"Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Starlight. So what brings you here to our new school?" wondered Starlight, while Emerl moved Pinkie away from her, and after shaking the pink unicorn's hoof in a polite manner, the pegasus looked back at Casey with a serious expression.

"Please tell me that you still have the Memory Stone."

Casey nodded his head, and he replied, "I mean, it's not with me, but I have it in my room back in the castle-"

"Wait, I thought the Memory Stone was useless after Wallflower broke it into a bunch of pictures," said Starlight, now feeling a little confused. "Why would you be interested in a small rock?"

"Because there's a very powerful stone placed inside of that small rock," answered Emerl. "And I have a bad feeling that someone's coming here to get it… which is why I need you to give it to me so-"

Just as she was about to finish, Pinkie suddenly groaned in disappointment, and cried, "Aw, come on, we just got this school opened up again two days ago… oh well, I was hoping to show this to Twilight first, but-"

She pulled out a small remote with a single red button on it, but just as the pink pony was about to press it, Casey cried, "Whoa, ho, hey, she meant coming here to Ponyville, Pinkie… and... what exactly does that do?"

"It's to activate the security system I had put in yesterday," answered Pinkie, with Starlight placing a hoof on her forehead and Casey sighing. "Better safe then sorry, right?"

Meanwhile, back in another universe…

After setting her friend down on the ground, Twilight pointed at Anti-Stardust, followed by the damage done to the castle, and she said, "Can you apologize now, please, for what you did?"

"Wha… you want me to apologize to him?" exclaimed Rainbow, looking at Twilight in disbelief.

The purple alicorn nodded her head, and pointed again at the castle, with Rainbow adding, "Well, I think our Stardust did say something about wanting to add in a few more windows, so… ow!" She glared at Applejack while rubbing the back of her head. "You know, AJ, one of these days you're going to give me a concussion or something!"

"Not with your kind of head, you ain't," replied the orange Earth pony. "Now get on with the apologizin' before you give me a reason to do it again."

The rest of their friends nodded in agreement, and as she crossed her fore limbs, Rainbow groaned in annoyance until saying, "Alright, fine, I'm sorry for supplying the castle with a new win - okay, I was kidding... for making a hole in the wall."

"And…?"

Rainbow looked over at Anti-Stardust, the two of them just staring at each other in silence for a moment until Applejack raised up her hoof to thump her friend again, and the pegasus cried, "What? I just told him that I was sorry!"

"What - no, you did not!" replied Applejack, but Rainbow nodded her head.

"Yes, I did… just not, you know, out loud." She tapped her forehead, and Twilight let out a sigh before nodding in agreement, with Applejack giving the alicorn a confused look until realizing what Rainbow meant. "Oh, you just had to take the easy way out, didn't ya?"

A smug smile began to show up on Rainbow's face, but then Anti-Stardust said, "I have no idea what you're all talking about. I only heard her apologize for the window hole."

"I gave you a mental apology," explained Rainbow, looking at him in disbelief. "You didn't hear me talk to you inside of your mind?"

Anti-Stardust shook his head, and Applejack smirked at the blue pegasus. "Well, alrighty then, now you can give out an apology the actual way - by sayin' it out loud."

"But I just… uuuggghhh…" groaned Rainbow, muttering to herself until she let out a sigh. "Fine! I am… sorry… for practically spearing you through the castle wall… there, you happy now?"

Anti-Stardust gave a small nod, and after rolling her eyes, the young pegasus said, "Can I ask you something else?"

"Sure, why not?" replied the scarred pony, shrugging his shoulders a little bit, waiting for her now to give a question.

"..."

"..."

Rainbow let out a sigh, and she asked, "Um, w-where is… the other me at?"

##############

"Star, I… I can't hold on…"

"No, don't you do this to me!" yelled Anti-Stardust, holding onto the pegasus' hoof as tight as he possibly could. "I'm not going to let my best friend be sucked into… a [BEEP]ing portal, so - [BEEP]!"

An electrical worm had crawled its way out of the portal, and struck the scarred pegasus' left eye before suddenly going back in, but even though his eye was now burning like hell, Anti-Stardust was refusing to let go.

"Rarity's gone… AJ and Fluttershy are gone…" exclaimed the dark gold Earth pony. "Twilight… is who the hell knows… and I'm not going to let the same thing happen to-"

WHOOSH!

The portal's suction power increased greatly, and Anti-Stardust could feel his grip starting to slip. "No… I won't… I…"

"Stardust?"

"No! Don't you tell my any kind of-" He started to say, but was cut off after feeling Anti-Rainbow's lips crash against his, and the young pony found himself returning the favor out of instinct.

"... I hope you find her," said Anti-Rainbow,after pulling away a few seconds later, and before Anti-Stardust could say anything, the young pegasus released her hold on his hoof, allowing the portal to suck her in.

"Rainbow!"

##############

After being asked that question, Anti-Stardust turned his head to the side, and he replied, "She… I don't… I don't know… "

However, that answer wasn't good enough for Rainbow. "How can you not know? I thought you two were close-"

"I said that I didn't know, you... damn... stubborn... pegasus… gah!" growled a frustrated Anti-Stardust, who'd turned around to release his anger by shooting a dark energy fireball into the air, but for some reason, all that came out was a small spark of energy. "What the…"

He tried doing it again, but the results continued to be the same. "How is… this can't be right… gah!"

All of Stardust's friends watched as the frustrated pony tried to create some sort of magical dark magic attack, and continue to fail miserably.

"Um… should we tell him something?" whispered Applejack, with Pinkie giving a shrug, and everyone else looked over at Twilight, who had no idea herself on what to do.

But then, after failing an attempt one last time, Anti-Stardust sat himself down on the grass, panting heavily for a while until he let out a deep sigh, and he began to speak in an emotional tone, although it sounded more like he was talking to himself. "Please… I… I'm sorry for what I did to you all, to my other self, to Casey and his friends, to everyone… I just… please help me find my friends… I'll do anything, just…"

Even though she wasn't exactly happy with him, Rainbow couldn't help but feel a small amount of sympathy for Anti-Stardust after seeing that he was practically begging them for their help.

We have to help him.

The young pegasus looked over at Twilight, who nodded her head, and they glanced over at the rest of their friends, who all seemed to be in agreement with helping Anti-Stardust.

"Well… can you at least…" Rainbow said, with the scarred pony starting to look up at her. "Just stop with the waterworks so that you can tell us how we… can help you, uh, and stuff."

"..."

"..."

With most of his emotional pain gone, Anti-Stardust gave a small smirk. "You're one to talk… about waterworks, Rainbow… whenever your turtle has to hibernate."

Pinkie let out a small giggle after hearing that, and Rainbow looked at her. "What? I thought it was a little funny."

"Are you, uh, okay now, sugarcube?" asked Applejack.

"Yeah, I'm… fine, I just…" Anti-Stardust shook his head, and gestured over to the castle. "If you want to know more… we have to go to… to my world… to Anti-Equestria."