MLP: Darkness Rising

Chapter 18 - All Is Forgiven

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: I apologise for any obvious pacing issues; an unplanned hiatus and unexpected events happening in my personal life was the cause of that.

"Alright, Stardust... Just who do you think you are - what?"

Twilight just gave her special somepony a slightly raised brow, but remained silent while Casey let out a sigh and looked back over at his close friend, whose own Twilight was a few feet away.

Several hours had passed since the defeat of Xenos, and the four ponies were all currently inside of Twilight's castle library back in Ponyville, with Casey trying to find the right words to say for his 'conversation' with Stardust.

"Ok, alright… so, pretty much this and you being in your human form a while back was the whole reason for you pretty much giving me the silent treatment?" Casey asked, and he gestured towards Stardust's fairly new alicorn appearance, with Stardust now bearing a slightly guilty expression. "I mean… I definitely wasn't expecting to see you with wings and all that, but… you couldn't have at least wrote or somehow sent me knowledge of this stuff going on?"

Twilight cleared her throat for a bit, and she said, "Well, you also got to factor in all that Zagreus had done to him, plus what my other self had been going through during that time…"

Stardust's Twilight gave a small nod in response, with Casey now scratching the back of his neck a couple times before continuing on. "You know, to be honest… I was picturing myself being so angry and upset and… with you, but…" The light-orange stallion shook his head. "I pretty much did that already to you back in your world, and… I guess all I can really say now is… thank you." He then offered up a forehoof towards Stardust. "We still good?"

The young alicorn let out a chuckle, and both of them smiled as he accepted to shake with him. "Yeah, we are… I would say I'd be sure to not let something like that happen again, but you know how - gah!"

"I'll be sure to remind him to fill you in on certain events from time to time," said Stardust's Twilight after she had thumped him in the back of the head. "And I can also let your Twilight know so that she can give the news to you."

Casey looked over at his special somepony as she came to stand beside him, nodding in agreement before Stardust cleared his throat. "Um… well, love, I think I should point out now that we left a certain pony in charge of a certain task, and with the way time works differently in both our worlds…"

"Ohhhh, right…" Twilight's other self now had a sheepish expression as she and Stardust began to make their way to the Crystal Mirror. "We'll try our best to keep more in touch with you guys from now on. You two take care, and good luck with the future."

"Same to the both of you," replied Casey, smiling a little as he watched the two alicorns enter the magical portal, with him and Stardust sharing a final nod before the human/alicorn followed after his beloved princess.

Whooosh!

A few seconds after they were gone, Twilight looked at Casey, and rubbed his back affectionately as she said, "I'm proud of the way you handled that."

"Yeah, well… it's not like I was going to try picking a fight with a alicorn version of Stardust," replied Casey, taking a moment to laugh. "I'd rather leave that sort of stuff to your other self whenever he screws up or something."

"Who screwed up?" Before Twilight could respond to Casey, the two of them watched their world's version of Stardust come out of the portal. "Aw, darn it, did I miss anything important here while I was doing Su… uh, taking care of something back in Sunset's world?"

Noticing the young stallion's slightly disheveled appearance - more than his own and Twilight's, anyway - Casey smirked for a quick moment before he answered, "We'll fill you in later on, Stardust… in the meantime, I am tired now and can hear my bed calling out to me, so g'night."

The yawning pony made his way out of the library while Twilight chuckled at Stardust's slight confusion, and gave a small shrug. "It's a long story, to be honest."

Meanwhile…

Anti-Stardust sighed in relief after finally finishing up with the repairs to the throne room, and he took a moment to admire his handiwork.

"Wow… I don't even expect the Stardust back in my world to do something like this!"

The scarred stallion frowned in confusion after hearing the voice that had spoken, and he turned around to find Rainbow Dash - from his other self's world - much to his surprise. "Oh, uh, Rainbow… this is certainly an unexpected visit. And er, thanks for the compliment."

"No problem," replied the rainbow-maned Pegasus, standing by the doorway and having a small smile on her face. "And I just wanted to come by to, er, apologize for how I was back when you were… you know, trying to get help from Twilight and everything. I was only-"

Anti-Stardust nodded his head in understanding, as well as sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "Ah, well thank you for that… and Midnight's sleeping in our room right now, so I want to also thank you and the others again for your parts in rescuing my… friends…"

He paused his sentence after seeing that Rainbow was now offering him a hoof-shake, and the scarred stallion was hesitant for a couple of moments before eventually choosing to accept it with a small grin. "You can, uh, let Starlight know when you return home that she's welcome to visit me for the same reason as you."

Rainbow started to laugh for a little bit before releasing Stardust's hoof from her grasp, and she replied, "Uh, I think it'll be a little while longer for her to come and do what I did… but I'm pretty sure she kinda knows already how to respond, so… good luck with everything here."

"Thank you, again," said a smiling Anti-Stardust, watching as the blue Pegasus made her way out of the room before he went back to observing the work he had done. Thank you very much….

However, his thoughts were again interrupted by a voice that was also familiar to him… one that Anti-Stardust had not heard in a very long time. "Is there still a place for me here?"

Turning back around to the doorway, the scarred stallion couldn't help but feel growing emotions inside as he saw his world's version of Starlight Glimmer, and he did his best to not release any tears while smiling warmly. "Never wasn't one, sis…"

As the two began to make their way towards each other for a loving embrace, the Starlight that Anti-Stardust had been talking about was currently standing out in the hallway beside the doorway, smiling at the reunion that was now taking place.

"See you again someday," whispered the young unicorn, and quietly began to catch up to where Rainbow was at.

It was now around 10:30pm, and everyone in Twilight's castle was fast asleep… except for Casey, who'd taken only about a half hour nap before deciding to return to the library. Right now, he was laid back comfortably in a reading chair, and the book he was looking through was a memory scrapbook of sorts that Starlight had helped with creating.

Whoosh!

The smiling stallion didn't bother to look back at who was making his way out of the Crystal Mirror. Instead, he nodded over to the other reading chair that was placed a few feet away, along with a small ice-filled bucket of soda bottles by its legs. "Felt like you could use some much-needed refreshments."

"Hey, no complaints here," replied Stardust, now also begining to make himself comfortable in the chair while opening up one of the bottles. "So what else do you want to know? I've got a few hours to spare."

After taking a sip from his nearby cup of delicious cider from Applejack's farm, a chuckling Casey looked at his close friend, and asked, "First of all… how in the °√•`~ did you become an alicorn?"