MLP: Darkness Rising

Chapter 11: New Information, 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, I thought it'd be good for me to let you all know that a 'time jump' for 'Casey's world' will take place in the next chapter.

"I'm Xenos' daughter…"

"Wait, hold… hold on a sec. You mean that… you… daughter… him?" Casey blinked his eyes in surprise, and finding himself having some trouble saying a full sentence. "Really?"

Emerl silently nodded her head, not exactly up for talking just yet herself, while Twilight had a concerned expression and began to feel some more sympathy for what the mare must have gone through at a young age while being raised by someone like Xenos.

"So, I'm guessing 'take your daughter to work' days weren't exactly pleasant, then?" Starlight gave the forest-green Pegasus a sheepish smile, and Emerl gave a soft sigh before shaking her head.

Then, she began to start walking out of the castle, but stopped when Twilight asked, "Wait a minute, Emerl… where are you going to go now?"

The troubled Pegasus gestured to the entrance doors, and she took a moment to give the Princess a response. "It's my job to make sure that no other problems involving Xenos bring deathly harm to this world… for as long as I can, anyway. He has caused too much pain and suffering already. Please understand why I must do this."

The group of friends quietly watched as she walked out of the castle, and once Emerl was gone, Starlight asked, "Right, okay then… should, uh, we try to find out more about these other immensely powerful stones?"

"I'd prefer not to," muttered Stardust as he rubbed his forehead with a slight frown. "Everything that has happened so far today is giving me a headache now."

"Oh, so it's not just from me hitting you with a frying pan," said a chuckling Pinkie, with Twilight raising an eyebrow in her direction causing the Earth Pony to stop and also begin to head out. "I'll see you all at school tomorrow!"

As if, thought the gold-colored stallion, who was now looking for the nearest object that resembled a couch, but his plans were stopped by a smirking Starlight appearing magically in front of him. "I did say that we'd have to find you a room. Surely your headache didn't make you forget that simple piece of information."

Stardust avoided the need to roll his eyes, but before he could give a reply, he noticed a head-shaking Casey heading up the stairs now to presumably his bedroom. The gold-colored stallion looked over at Twilight, who replied, "He'll be fine… um… make yourself at home, okay? And thanks for helping him, Starlight."

Her former pupil nodded her head, with Twilight teleporting away, and the unicorn looked back at Stardust before gesturing to the other set of stairs. "Come on, I'll make sure you get a room with a very comfortable bed."

Stardust gave the pink pony a small smirk. "If by that you mean 'allows me to sleep for hours', then lead the way, Starbright."

"Star-light."

"Right, right, my mistake…"

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Meanwhile, in a different universe, Anti-Stardust was now making his way back into the castle's library… and was surprised to find the Mane 6 appearing to have been waiting for him, along with Spike and Starlight.

"Is something the matter, darling?" asked Rarity.

The scarred stallion shook his head after a quick moment of silence, and he replied, "No, I just… wasn't expecting you all to be ready to leave… well, now."

"Well, the next party I'm planning won't be until the end of this story, so I've got plenty of time to spare," assured Pinkie, with almost everyone giving her a confused look. "What?"

Anti-Stardust looked over at the activated Crystal Mirror device, and then at Twilight, before saying, "Alright, then… but just a heads up - things aren't always what they seem to be in Anti-Equestria. It has that name for a reason, after all."

"We'll keep that in mind," replied Starlight, who still was not yet fully pleased with helping him, but figured that the sooner they helped, the quicker it would be for him to be out of their lives. "Lead the way, Star… dust…"

Twilight placed a hoof on the unicorn's shoulder, giving her a small smile, while Anti-Stardust nodded his head before making his way to step through the magical portal, and suddenly finding everything around him become a swirling rush of intensity.

A few moments later, the scarred pony stumbled a bit while walking out of the portal that stayed in his own castle's library, and shook his head a few times. "I don't recall traveling through the mirror being that hectic."

"Really? Seems pretty easy to me," said Rainbow Dash, now entering the library after Anti-Stardust had taken a moment to clear his head, and he rolled his eyes after seeing the Pegasus begin to smirk.

Rarity was next, and her eyes wandered around the room as she said, "Oh, my… do you not know how to clean up in your own castle, Stardust?"

"Well, I haven't exactly been home in a while," replied Anti-Stardust, with Rarity giving him an 'oh' expression, but couldn't help chuckling as he watched her use magic to organize the room a little better as everyone else made their way in.

"Um, pardon me for askin', sugarcube," said Applejack, looking a little confused. "But where would we even start to look for our other selves? I don't think any of 'em would be in this here castle… unless we've been with your Pinkie this entire time."

The pink Earth pony shook her head while spring-bouncing around the room. "Nope, just the same ol' Pinkie you've always known since-"

"I just need some time to think and clear my head," answered Anti-Stardust, with Twilight and Spike sharing a look of concern. "In the meantime… um… feel free to look around and explore."

As the scarred pony walked out of the room and into the halls, Pinkie looked at the rest of her friends before saying, "You sure this isn't our Stardust with amnesia or something? I mean, yeah, he's not in a human form anymore, but-"

"Oh! Be careful, Rarity," gasped Fluttershy, who had flown over to catch a small spider with one of her hooves after Rarity had accidentally knocked over its web with some of the books that were floating across the room. "You okay, little guy?"

The small arachnid nodded his head, and the yellow Pegasus gently lowered him to the ground so that he could scurry away elsewhere, with Rainbow giving her a confused look. "What?"

"Alright, everypony, let's all look around the castle to see if we can find anything that might help us out," said Twilight, with the others soon nodding their heads, and everyone going off in different directions.

However, one of them was going in the same direction that Anti-Stardust had, unaware of the surprising information that she would soon have knowledge of…

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"Princess Twilight?"

Tempest carefully made her way into the castle through the front door, with Beck and a yawning Grubber coming behind her.

"You think maybe we should've knocked first?" The round-shaped animal asked, with Beck shaking his head in response.

"No one really does, honestly."

Tempest gave out a sigh, but before she could say something, the familiar voice of Twilight called out from the upstairs loft. "Tempest?"

POOF!

The purple pony gave a small head nod before finding herself being hugged by Twilight, and tried to not smile too widely as she replied, "I'm sorry if this arrival is late for you-"

"I can take the blame for it," interrupted Beck, raising up a forelimb sheepishly. "The distance between here and my home is longer than I thought."

Twilight continued to smile, and gestured around the castle while saying, "No worries; what matters now is that you're all here safe and sound. If it's okay, Beck, you're welcome to stay the night after helping Tempest and Grubber find their : rooms to sleep in."

"Really? Oh, um… sure, thank you, princess," replied Beck, giving a grateful smile.

"It's my pleasure. Make yourselves at home… see you in the morning!" Twilight said, and flew away from the new guests to head back to her own room.

As for her special somepony, Casey was already laying down on his bed, but it wasn't becoming easy for the young stallion to sleep… nor was he able to sense a small black mass of goo make its way into the room through the window that he had opened to let in some fresh air.

Why… why, Stardust… thought Casey, starting to feel irritation and some growing frustration toward the pony from another dimension that he viewed as both a brother and best friend; or, at least, up until several months ago when no one from that universe had contacted him.

He's messing with my emotions somehow… this 'other version' of himself suddenly showing up… how dare he treat me like this… Casey could feel his body begin to warm up, with the small mass now climbing onto the bed so that it could get closer to him. After all of what I did for that ungrateful… this is how he repays me… well, then, if that's how it will be from now on, so be it.