MLP: Darkness Rising

Chapter 12: Changed Times, 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 so, here I am, talking with you…"

Several months had passed since Emerl's visit/departure to Twilight's castle, and plenty of interesting things had taken place in Equestria since then… but that's for another story.

"Huh, and you all thought 'I' was the crazy one." The young pony that Casey was currently talking to gave a look of disbelief, and the brown-orange stallion just smirked back in response.

"Says the pony who was this close to being locked up and sent to Tartarus. Now you're just locked up in Twilight's dungeon."

Looking around the room, the little prisoner gave out a small groan of irritation, followed by a sigh. "I didn't even know the princess of friendship had a dungeon in her pretty castle."

"There's clearly a lot of things you don't know, Cozy Glow," said Casey, who then looked upon the former school student a look of sympathy. "But it doesn't have to be that way forever… if you could just give-"

"I'm not interested in the whole 'friendship is the key to bringing yourself joy' or whatever Twilight has in her big book of Life lessons," replied the small Pegasus, along with rolling her eyes. "So if that's all you're going to say to me now, then I'd prefer if you could just leave me alone."

Casey sighed in disappointment, even though he had been expecting this kind of response from her. "Alright, then, see you next time."

The Earth Pony then began to walk away from Cozy's cell, with the occupant watching him close the door behind him as he left, and he let out another sigh. She's probably never going to change.

I second that.

Frowning a bit in confusion, a walking Casey looked from side to side, but he didn't see anyone else aside from himself. "What the… who just…"

You know who I am.

Casey slowly stopped walking, and stopped to turn his attention over to a mirror that was hanging on the wall, where he saw only his reflection.

"Alright, just get ahold of yourself," the young pony assured himself. "No reason for you to - gah!"

Doing a double take after seeing something else in the mirror's reflection, Casey was about to speak when a familiar voice nearby asked if he was okay.

"Huh? Um, yeah, I'm… doing okay, Spike," nodded Casey, and giving the winged dragon a small smile. "Just, ah, was remembering stuff in the past that happened in the dungeon. Has our new 'roomie' came back from…?"

Spike shook his head and shrugged before replying, "For someone who's the alternative-ish version of a 'human-turned-pony' in a parallel universe, he certainly enjoys spending his time with Sunset and-"

"I get it, thanks…" Casey sighed, and glanced back at the mirror. "Guess all of 'em are the same no matter what world they're in."

"Well, I wouldn't say that exactly," said Spike, since he knew that their Twilight had been having conversations with her other self that came from the 'main' Stardust world. "Maybe he just isn't able to… you know…"

The brown-orange Earth pony began to walk away, and he looked over at Spike. "No point in trying to make this a positive, buddy. Besides, at this point, I'm just over it completely."

As he watched his friend become out of sight, Spike let out a sigh, and flew off in the opposite direction. "Hopefully the other Twilight's having better luck in her world."

Going back to Casey, the young stallion was still trying to figure out if what he had seen in the mirror prior to Spike's arrival was reality or just his imagination.

You can't avoid me forever.

Shaking his head a few times, Casey stopped by an open window, and looked outside to the peaceful sky, hoping now that wherever Emerl had gone, she was doing alright.

Meanwhile, in another universe...

Several hours after she'd arrived in the castle of Anti-Stardust with her close friends, a curious Rainbow Dash was now entering a room that she guessed might have belonged to her other self because of the various flying-related materials located all over the bedroom.

Kind of reminds me of my own place back home, thought the Pegasus, except that she didn't see any sign of her other self owning a pet turtle. Does Tank even exist in this wbefore

"Yeah, but he likes to spend most of the time in the sea." Rainbow almost let out a yelp as she turned to see the scarred version of Stardust Balance standing in the doorway. "Sorry, I just had a feeling you'd discover this room eventually."

"Oh, well, no problem. I was just about to… leave anyway," replied the blue winged pony, since she still didn't completely trust him. "Has Twilight or any of the others found any clues that could help us learn where your own friends might be?"

Before Anti-Stardust could give her an answer, a familiar whoosh appeared, and a gasping Pinkie Pie now stood beside him. "Anti-Star, we think Twilight may have found something! Come on!"

"Pinkie, what - aaahh!" The scarred pony found himself now being pulled away by the pink Earth pony, and in a matter of seconds, he was standing in front of the purple alicorn inside the throne room, with the rest of the Mane 6 nearby minus Rainbow nearby. However, the Cutie Map was currently not glowing on the table; instead, Twilight had placed what looked like various pieces of a-

"Where did you find all this?" wondered Anti-Stardust, and Twilight used a wing to gesture around the room.

"I spent some time trying to clean up the mess so it'd be better to search for something helpful, and… I ended up finding what you're now seeing here."

What currently layed upon the table was the parts of a weapon that, when activated, would create an electric portal and strongly pull in whoever was near. Then, it would send those who were unfortunate to a place that was known to some as dimensional limbo.

"Exactly…" Twilight nodded her head, after Anti-Stardust had said those words out loud. "I have a… well, bad feeling that Xenos used this on… your friends, and that… is where they are currently."

The scarred pony became silent, taking all of this information in while a concerned Fluttershy asked, "Is there a way to, um, get them out of limbo, Twilight? I mean, isn't that what Starswirl was trapped in for so many years?"

Twilight shook her head, and she replied, "I'm afraid not, Fluttershy… this is a more advanced version of limbo, and the only pony I know who came out of it… he's currently not an option." As much as she wanted to travel to that universe in order to receive assistance from Casey, Twilight knew it currently wasn't the best time.

"Well, there's gotta be somethin' we can do, sugarcube," said a determined Applejack. "We all agreed to help Anti-Star here save his friends, and I don't see any point in stopping now."

Rarity looked upon the damaged weapon with some concern. "Um, are you sure about trying to fix that device yourself, darling? Not that I don't trust you to do so, but… we wouldn't want you to get-"

"Neither would I, Rarity," agreed Anti-Stardust, and he looked over at a certain unicorn that had remained quiet since Pinkie had brought him into the room. "But if she had help from, say, a student of hers…"