MLP: Darkness Rising

Chapter 14 - A Rushed Reunion, part 1

Disclaimer: Hasbro/DHX are the rightful owners of this franchise. I just own this story, any OCs, etc. and the character "Stardust Balance" was created by the Warrior of Twilight.

Author's Note: In regards to the show, the previous, current, and following chapters are taking place just a few days before the s9 season finale (ep. 24-25).

"Hey, Twilight, you think I could borrow some - oh!" Casey found himself opening the door to Beck, with the two ponies having similar expressions of surprise. "Sorry, pal, I thought she was here."

The brown-orange stallion gave a small chuckle, and allowed his friend inside while explaining that the young princess had left a while ago with Spike to a quick trip to Canterlot. When Beck asked the question of why he hadn't gone with them, Casey rubbed his forehead before saying, "Been dealing with a little headache today."

"Want me to make you some tea? I've had my fair share of headaches," offered a chuckling Beck as he followed the young pony into the kitchen. Casey thought about it, and a few minutes later, he was being served a cup of tea by the forest-green pony. "Hope you enjoy it… oh, you think it'd be okay if I borrow a certain book from the library? Twilight recommended it to me a few days ago, so I figured-"

Waving one of his forehoofs around, Casey assured Beck that it was fine and to go ahead with retrieving the book, so as the thankful pony made his way to the library, Twilight's special somepony continued to consume the rather sweet and delicious tea that began to help with not feeling much of a headache.

Well, I'm certainly feeling a bit more better, thought Casey as he began to smile more like the way he usually did, the young stallion turned to see Beck almost barge through the kitchen door with a worried expression.

"You okay, Beck? What's wrong?"

In response to his friend's question, the reformed pony gestured behind him and said, "There's something you got to see."

[Anti-Equestria]

Spike rushed as fast he possibly could back into the Throne Room after having heard some of the mares' concerned cries. "What's going on? Are they ok?"

"Just… pulling as much as we can after one of them tugged on the rope a while ago…" gasped Twilight, with her and the rest of the Mane 6 taking the rope out of the portal as fast as possible since said entryway was starting to grow a bit more and shoot out more electricity bolts. "Can't close the portal… until we get out- gaaaahh!"

Suddenly, after the group of mares all gave one last powerful tug on the rope, a burst of power emerged from the dimensional limbo portal that caused everyone to fall back and tumble against their respective thrones. Then, the room was engulfed in a bright light for several seocnds before disappearing, and almost all of the mares gasped at the sight that was now before them.

"Did… did we do it…?" murmured Starlight, looking exhausted as she slowly made her way to the Princess of Friendship before collapsing beside her.

Looking at what was now surrounding the returned Cutie Map table, Twilight let out a sigh of relief and gave a small smile. "Yes… yes, you two certainly did."

All of the Mane 6's counterparts were lying on the ground, looking completely exhausted and worn-out...with doing his best to stand and look in Twilight's direction. "I, um… thank you… all of you."

Noticing how Starlight was, the scarred pony gestured towards the door and said, "I know this might sound rushed, but… she'll probably have an easier time feeling better in her own world…"

"Don't worry 'bout it, sugarcube," assured Applejack as she and the others began to make their way out, knowing that he now had very important things to handle. "Just do your best in takin' good care of us, alright?"

Anti-Stardust nodded his head, and while Spike helped Pinkie out with carrying out Starlight over the Earth pony's back, Twilight watched as the former antagonist placed a pillow under the head of her counterpart before walking over to offer the princess a hoof shake, with a sincere expression of

gratefulness and thanks. "I… my other self… he'll come back to you, princess… don't give up hope, ok?"

Her mind going back for a bit to a certain letter that she'd found, Twilight felt her eyes slowly starting to sparkle as she thanked the young stallion before making her own way out of the room.

###########

"Twilight? I thought you were still out in …" Casey began to say when he entered the library, surprised to find his special somepony standing near the Crystal Mirror while Beck stood by a desk that had various papers and documents atop it. The lavender mare shook her head, and sighed for a bit before giving him a explanation.

"I was, but to retrieve something for Beck and I to use for… well, um…" Twilight brought Casey over to the Enchanted machine, and he noticed that there was now a small switch located on the side. "This'll probably explain why, um… Stardust 'prime' hasn't been able to come here."

Casey let out a small scoff and looked uninterested, but after the alicorn flipped the switch, his expression began to change when the swirling magic energy started to show what appeared to be various events that had taken place in their friend's world.

"YES! I HAVE BECOME YOUR SAVIOUR! BOW TO ME, EQUESTRIANS... YOUR GOD!"

Twilight looked over at Casey with a raised brow after having heard the young stallion release a small chuckle. "I didn't see a problem with that."

Then, after being shown what appeared to be a backfired spell done by Celestia onto Stardust, Casey couldn't help but feel a tiny bit irked with himself for being so negative towards his friend since he'd obviously been trying to deal with living his life in human form, but as he watched Stardust go out on his own to take care of Zagreus before any of his friends got hurt, the young stallion heard a voice speaking to him in his mind.

Does he really deserve to be helped by you in any way, especially after everything he'd put you through?

"I… I don't… ugggghhh…" Casey brought a fore-hoof to his forehead, and he let out a groan while what appeared to be a more recent memory in Stardust's world play out.

"After you've beaten him..."

"Please..."

"Go home..."

The young stallion shook his head, and muttered, "Turn it off, Twilight, I've seen enough. Please."

Once the princess did so, Casey began to walk around the room while Beck made his way over to the desk with a curious expression. "This looks similar to… you drew up this blueprint, Twilight?"

"Huh? Oh, yes, I thought it could be useful for Stardust to have in case he ever needed us to-" The young mare began to say, but she was interrupted by Casey after he swiftly glared in her direction.

"Us? You honestly don't believe I would actually go out to his world when there's problems here-"

Twilight shook her head, and she said, "No 'major world saving' problems are happening to us right now, Casey… and you know as well as I do that it'd mean a lot if Stardust was here to attend the big event that's happening in a few days."

Even though he was feeling some frustration build up inside of his mind, Casey continued to avoid losing his temper. "I'm not going to confirm nor deny that, Twilight… but there is also no way that I'm going into his world to help him out with anything related to Zagreus unless I absolutely needed to."

Before the alicorn princess could give a response, a familiar presence made himself known by saying, "Yes, um… I'm going to need you and whoever else to come over to Stardust's world to help us out with a Zagreus-related problem."

The three ponies looked up to see a floating Discord make his way down from the ceiling, and Beck tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Wait a sec… are you the Discord from Stardust's world?"

A lightbulb appeared over Beck's head while Discord finally stood on the floor and nodded in response to the stallion's question. "Normally, I would give you all a lovely recap of what's been happening since the last you'd been there, but the mirror pretty much did that already, and I'm sort of running on limited time, so if you could get that device thing-a-ma-jig working for Stardust to use…"

"W-well, I still need to do a few more finishing touches and perform a trial test just to make sure it's safe enough-" Twilight began to say as she moved aside some of the papers to show the special invention created for Stardust, but she stopped after seeing Discord's magic work on finishing up the creation process, and giving it to Beck once the now-small device was done.

"I am 95% sure that your doo-hickey will work for Stardust without the need of a trial test, Twilight," assured Discord, with Beck surprised at how quick and easy it had been for the draconequs to complete the device. "Now, say whatever you need to your special somepony because once I make a snap with my claws, I'm going to be back in Stardust's world with him and Beck-"

"Hey! There's no way that I am just-" Casey started to exclaim in frustration, but Twilight turned his head in her direction, and he fell silent at the young mare's pleading expression.

"Go and help Stardust… please… this may be the last chance you'll ever have to see him again."

Discord gave a small shrug. "Well, if everything goes smoothly, them it really wouldn't be the last…"

"Ok, alright, I get it!" Casey did his best to hold in an annoyed groan, and Twilight began to smile as her special somepony added, "I just really hope nothing bad will happen here while we're gone."

"Everything is going to be fine, Casey," said Twilight, while Discord was getting ready to snap with his claws. "Just try to not let yourself become-"

WHOOSH!

Suddenly, Casey felt as if he was engulfed in absolute darkness and complete silence… the experience lasting for about what seemed like a few minutes. Once his surrounding view started to go back to normal, the young stallion found himself looking at a certain dark figure that began to make his heart skip a few beats.

"Is… is that supposed to be…?" Beck asked quietly, the green Earth pony standing beside him.

Nodding in response, Casey replied, "Yes, it is… Zagreus… and man, is Stardust going to owe me big time for what I'm about to do."

This is going to be fun...

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

(Several hours later)

"I saw him with my own eyes. Nothing like how your Twilight had described him." Casey was now gazing upon the 'transformed' Twilight Warrior himself, but instead of feeling relieved or emotional at seeing his close friend again, the light-orange Earth pony had eyes that were almost full of pure and venomous hatred. "Then again, nothing seems certain anymore, huh Stardust?"