MLP: Darkness Rising

Chapter 16 - A Rushed Reunion, Part 3

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.

A Few Hours Earlier…

"I think it's time for some redecorating."

BOOM!

After witnessing the trio of villians do away with nearly the entire Canterlot castle, Twilight suddenly felt her magical shield that was keeping her and the rest of the Mane 6 (as well as Luna, Celestia, and Discord) deteriorate while a swirl of dark energy began to appear in the middle of the room.

"Alright, you three… stand down for now. It's time for the princess to know something very important."

The lavender alicorn almost felt her heart skip a beat once she recognized the voice that had just spoken, and Spike gave a small gulp before asking, "Is that, uh… supposed to be…"

Twilight quietly nodded her head as the energy transformed into a black cloaked figure with a hint of crimson eyes coming under the hood, and a dark chuckle came from his hidden mouth. "It's certainly been a while, Princess. Did I not say that you and your special somepony had not seen the last of me?" He then took a quick moment to look at who exactly was with the young alicorn. "This is a small surprise. Where is Casey at?"

"He's somewhere that you can't get to, Xenos," replied Twilight, hoping that the orange stallion was doing better than she was. "I should've guessed you were pulling all of the strings here."

The sinister villian gave a small shrug before reaching into one of his pockets. "Like I said in that high school parking lot, you hadn't seen the last of me. Now I will admit that I encountered a few hiccups en route to my plan being complete, but it was all for a good cause… and it is such a shame that Casey really is not here because I had planned on thanking him for returning the Memory Stone back to me."

"He never gave it to you, Xenos, so why-" Twilight started to say, but after seeing him pull out an object that he then tossed in her direction, she gasped after recognizing what it was exactly.

"Isn't that part of Emerl's sharp knife thingy?" Pinkie asked, remembering the small sword that the Pegasus kept in her sheath. "Why does it look like it was put in the oven or some…" Then, the pink pony let out a gasp of shock. "You mean…"

Xenos let out another slow chuckle, and he pulled back some of his right sleeve to reveal to everyone that his right hand was currently wearing a silver gauntlet, which contained six special circular slots. All of them were occupied by magical stones. "While I paid a visit to Kronos for the Time Stone, my daughter Serilda caught up to Emerl and was able to obtain the Memory Stone for me, as well as that battle souvenir I now give to you. The Reality Stone here, Princess, came from your friend Discord…"

The draconequs lowered his head in guilt and sadness, with Fluttershy giving him a small pat on the back.

"Cozy Glow was able to assist me in getting the Space Stone from your Mirror invention, while Queen Novo was generous enough to surrender the Soul Stone to me in order to spare her 'people' from my magic…" Xenos continued to explain, and smiling as he looked at the last stone left to be brought up. "But getting the Power Stone was probably the easiest since… well, I'm the one who created it. You've encountered it's power before, Twilight... on the day we all met back in the Crystal Empire."

Then, the sinister figure gave a small sigh before proceeding with using the red Power Stone to lift up Twilight in the air via some magical energy, and brought her more closer towards himself. "Now that I've given you enough exposition, let's see how the magic of friendship will save you from-"

WHAM!

Twilight found herself falling back down on the floor while a large piece of rubble got thrown towards Xenos and the rest of their enemies. She turned around to see a panting Rarity, with the horn-glowing unicorn giving her friend a small exhausted smile.

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

"Um, I don't mean to interrupt, but we don't exactly have a lot of time to give Casey the entire story of what happened while he was gone," said Rainbow Dash, followed by ducking her head to avoid getting thumped by Applejack.

"Awww, but she hasn't gotten to tell him about the part where we all helped Twilight realize how important she is to us and everyone else," exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

The light-orange stallion looked around the room again, and asked Twilight where their world's version of Stardust Balance was at. "He was with Sunset, the last I heard… and that was before I found out Cozy had destroyed the Mirror to get the Space stone for Xenos."

That leaves them out of the assistant equation, thought Casey as he began to feel disappointed for not being here when all the terrible stuff occurred, but the young pony then looked over at his special somepony after feeling her hoof on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about what happened earlier. What matters now is saving the world, and I know exactly how we're gonna do it."

Casey's smile returned, and it was like a lightbulb went on above his head as he replied, "I think I've got an additional plan that could be useful for us in this situation…

##########

A few moments later

As he walked across the open field, a determined Casey glanced up at the cloudy sky, and spoke in a soft tone. "Doing this also for you, Kronos… Emerl…"

Then, he came to a complete stop before talking regularly. "I know you're here in Equestria, Zenon… sorry, Xenos… let's settle this once and for all. Just the two of us."

At first, Casey could only hear the winds blowing above and around him, but a few moments later, he saw a green-ish portal appear a few feet away from him, followed by a black swirl that showed up beside it.

"As much as I would love to have it be just you and I," said a transforming Xenos while Cozy Glow, Chrysalis and Tirek emerged from the portal. "Times have changed a bit since our last encounter, and I prefer having my own friends to help create misery and pain… now then, where is your beloved Twilight and the rest of her little friends?"

"You've all had enough time with them," replied Casey, feeling more determined as he stood up against his nemesis. "Now it's time for me to take you down once and for all."

Xenos smirked underneath his hood, and gave a small nod. "You've certainly matured, little pony… but such a shame it was all for naught."

Before Casey could respond to his statement, a cackling Cozy Glow fired a powerful energy blast - similar to the one used for the destruction of the Canterlot castle - at the orange stallion.

However, even though it appeared as if Casey had just been obliterated, Xenos was not going to be easily fooled. "Thank you for disposing of that decoy, Cozy… now to start searching for Twilight Sparkle and - gah!"

To the villains' surprise, Xenos stumbled back a bit after being struck by an electric energy blast, and saw that it had come from a laughing Rainbow, who was hovering a few feet away from them. She was also carrying an energy gun that Xenos immediate recognized as a weapon he once used several years back against Twilight and her friends. "Hahaha… I thought that plastic glove toy was supposed to make you all mighty and powerful?"

"We'll see who is still laughing after I destroy - OWWW!" Chrysalis was right about to fire off her own powerful energy blast against Rainbow, but the Pegaus cut her off after shooting out a blast in her direction, and it sent the former Changeling queen collapsing in pain.

An irritated Cozy Glow became set to fire another one of her own blasts, but an anvil suddenly appeared above her from out of nowhere, and - WHAM! - Xenos growled in frustration as the dizzy child laid down in defeat for the time being.

"Hope she liked the surprise!" Pinkie Pie called out, the pink Earth pony now standing near a still-hovering Rainbow.

Xenos looked swiftly in Tirek's direction, and the mighty centaur charged towards the two ponies, but ended up stumbling also after getting hit by a powerful alicorn energy blast that belonged to a confident Twilight Sparkle.

"You're going to pay for that, Princess Twilight!" Tirek roared in frustration before proceeding with charging in the direction she was in, while Chrysalis and Cozy began going after Rainbow and Pinkie.

"Why is this happening?!" The angered foe cried out, and he decided that it was time to use the deadly power of his energized gauntlet. "Time for you to d- what… you?!"

Instead of responding, a cloaked Casey - wearing the jet black attire that Rarity had given to him as a birthday gift - that was now standing next to Xenos began to attempt taking the gauntlet off his nemesis' hand, but the young stallion didn't have as much luck as the others.

"Get… away!" Xenos angrily flung off Casey from his gloved limb and across the grassy field. "I've had enough of you!" Powering up the gauntlet, Xenos aimed it at the fallen pony's head, and the young stallion couldn't help but gulp at the sight of the gauntlet's deadly energy. "Say hello to Emerl for - (WHAM!) - OWWW… what the TARTARUS!?"

The evil monstrosity had been struck from behind by a golden-colored hot energy blast, and he turned to see a familiar cloaked Earth pony that was currently smirking but also glowing with a golden aura.

"Oh, don't worry, Xanax. This isn't even my final form." Stardust Balance - of this current world - said in a taunting and humorous tone, with Xenos beginning to reach his boiling point and Casey feeling surprised but a bit relieved at the stallion's arrival. "Maybe you should get your money back on that plastic piece of trash… and also return to Villian 101 while you're at it."