MLP: Darkness Rising

Chapter 9 - A New Leaf, Part 2

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.

Also, yes, I apologize for the shortness of the chapter, but this story is going to be a long anyway, so I hope you're all okay with this.

With a glass of water in his hoof, Anti-Stardust brought it up to his mouth in order to drink from it, and sighed in relief as the ice-cold liquid went down his throat. "Ohhh, I needed that… thank you, Fluttershy."

The young Pegasus nodded her head, and gave a polite smile. "You're welcome, An… uh… Star… um… dust."

Almost half an hour had passed since the young stallion's outburst of anger resulting in a momentary breakdown of sadness and apologies, and aside from the obvious facial scars, Anti-Stardust was looking more and more better, but inside was still something different entirely.

"You have issues with my name, too?" wondered Anti-Stardust, slightly smirking at the yellow pegasus that was now shaking her head.

"Oh, no, no, it's nothing like that, I just… uh… well, anti sounds a little negative now to use since you, um, aren't really being that much of a mean pony anymore…"

He took another drink from his glass of water, and gave Fluttershy a small appreciative smile after setting it down. "Well, that's a positive start, and I'm glad that someone here understands so far where I'm coming from."

The yellow pegasus simply returned Anti-Stardust's warm expression with her own smile, but that changed once he asked, "Hey, can I… uh, ask you something? If that's okay…"

Fluttershy nodded her head, and Anti-Stardust looked around the spare room that they were currently in at the moment. "Where's my other self at? I'm surprised he hasn't shown up yet during all this time I've been here to, like, give me some hell…"

"Oh… um…" To his surprise, the young mare's warn smile became more of a sheepish one, and she started to rub the back of her neck. "Stardust is… doing his 'imbalance fixing' thing out in the Crystal Empire… yeah, he's been there for several days now, actually."

Anti-Stardust blinked his eyes for a moment whilst Fluttershy remained quiet, and then, the scarred stallion gave a small shrug before drinking the rest of his water."Alright, then, good for him… um, you mind if I step out for a while? I feel like taking a walk around this place."

Fluttershy shook her head, and the scarred pony nodded politely as he walked out of the room, then down the hall until he'd eventually reach the door to the bedroom of his counterpart.

Then, after letting out a sigh, Anti-Stardust carefully opened the door - surprised, at first, that it was not even locked since he had assumed it would be - to look at what his other self's room was like since the last time he'd been here.

Not much of a difference, really, thought the young stallion, who was reaching into a pocket of his cloak to pull out a picture that showed Stardust with the Mane 6 and Cutie Mark Crusaders. It had previously been burned back in Anti-Equestria on the day he'd sworn to ruin Stardust's life, but thanks to a certain spell, the stallion had been able to bring it back, and right now, he was placing it carefully on his desk.

Baby steps, Stardust… baby steps.

Feeling a little bit better at what he'd just done, the scarred stallion nodded his head and was about to leave when a familiar voice was heard by the doorway. "Stardust?"

Despite feeling a little nervous, Anti-Stardust kept his cool, and turned himself around to see a pink unicorn that he quickly recognized. Starlight Glimmer. But, for some reason, she had a confused expression on her face that changed to one of realization. "Oh, sorry, I thought… wait… you look familiar… aren't you the human version of Stardust from that one alternate world?"

The scarred pony moved one of his forehoofs side-to-side, and he replied, "Sort of, but not exactly… I'm the version of Stardust that, er, provided you and the others with a one-way trip to London."

Starlight's expression became confusion again for a moment or two until she remembered the events that he'd been talking about, and not to his surprise, the pink unicorn now began to look annoyed and irritated.

"... and why exactly are you in this room?" asked Starlight, a slight edge in her voice as she spoke, while Anti-Stardust let out a sigh, hoping this wouldn't be like his situation with Rainbow.

Holding up one of his hooves in defense, the scarred pony replied, "Look, Starlight, I'm not here to cause any trouble or anything - gah!"

The next thing he knew, he was being lifted up into the air by Starlight's magic, and quickly pulled out of the bedroom, with the unicorn closing the door before declaring, "Oh, really? Cause there always seems to be trouble whenever you show up - in this world, Casey's world, your own world… you think I'd forget all of the stuff you did?"

Still hovering in front of her, the scarred Earth Pony shook his head. "No, I know you would not forget… but I'll tell you what I told everone else, okay? I'm not here to cause trouble, only to have them come with me to Anti-Equestria so-"

"Excuse me?" Starlight's expression became more annoyed and suspicious, with Anti-Stardust feeling a tight grip on his body. "Why would they go with you to your world?"

Before he could answer the unicorn's question, another familiar voice came from behind them. "He's tellin' the truth, sugarcube. And believe me, I'd know if he was lyin' to us."

Starlight looked over at Applejack in silence, still keeping Anti-Stardust suspended in the air, and the orange pony sighed before adding, "It's fine, Starlight, trust me. He ain' here to cause any sort of ruckus. He needs our help in tryin' to figure out where his Twilight's bein' held up at."

Part of Starlight was believing what Applejack was saying, but she still wasn't releasing Anti-Stardust from her hold. "How do you know he isn't tying-"

"... Starlight… it's fine…" To the pink mare's surprise, Twilight suddenly appeared beside Applejack, who almost found herself jumping back in surprise. "... please put him down."

Anti-Stardust just forced himself to be patient a little while longer until he was finally released from Starlight's magic. "... thank you…"

Starlight barely gave him a nod before turning her attention over to Twilight. "... what about… you know…"

"... he's already had a say," replied Twilight, to the others' confusion. "I'll explain later… but what's important to know right now is that all six of us, plus you and Spike, are going with him into Anti-Equestria so we can help save his Twilight… and possibly the rest of his friends."

Wherever the heck that the portals sent them, thought Anti-Stardust, blaming himself for the moment that he'd been unable to save his beloved friends.