MLP: Playing With Fire
Chapter 8 - Checking In, Part 1
Author's Note: "My Little Pony" and "Equestria Girls" are owned by Hasbro, and Stardust Balance was created by the Warrior of Twilight.
"Thank you so much for looking after my garden while I'm away on vacation, Twilight."
Unaware of the small stream of Equestrian magic that had entered her watering can, Sci-Twi happily nodded her head as the principal of Canterlot High handed her a set of keys to the gardenhouse in front of them. "I really appreciate it… and I'm pleased to see that you came to help her today, Stardust."
A small smile appeared on the face of Stardust's Equestria Girls counterpart as he Celestia a small shrug, and as the principal walked away, he placed the right headphone earbud into his ear while turning on his mp3 player. "Just don't expect me to show up here with you every day, love."
An amused Sci-Twi rolled her eyes while Spike's dog counterpart said, "To be honest, Star, I'm still surprised that you're here in the first place."
"Didn't have anything better to do, I guess," replied EG Stardust, who was slightly telling a small white lie since he actually would have been able to find something that was better than looking over various plants, but ever since his interaction with Kronos, the young teenager had been doing whatever it took to prevent the world-watcher from permanently sending him to a place that was a thousand times worse than whatever hell was like.
Besides, seeing how excited his girlfriend was as she told Spike that this would expand her knowledge of botany felt good enough for him, and as they entered the plant-filled building, EG Stardust's smile grew a little more as the glasses-wearing teenager began to sing while sweeping up the small mess on the floor.
Give a little and you
Get a little and you
Care a little and it starts to show
Then, she began to start sprinkling some water into some of the smaller potted plants before she went to the bigger ones.
Growing things is easy
If you just give it room to grow
"Oh!" giggled Sci-Twi, noticing that a row of small plants were happily moving around. "Well, hi there, little guys! How are you doing?"
The plants responded by singing in the same kind of tune as Sci-Twi, who happily bobbed her head back and forth to the catchy beat.
Give a little 'cause ya
Care a little and ya
Try a little and it starts to show
Growing quick is easy when you just
Get some room to grow
After giving them some more water, Sci-Twi continued to do the same with the rest of the plants, but since the water was contaminated with magic, it was causing the plants to grow even taller, as well as coming to life.
[Twilight]
Starting small but growing taller
All ya need's a little love
A little care
A little for you, a little for you
And maybe just a little more over there
In just a matter of seconds, all of the plants had come alive, and were singing to the young teenager, as well as asking for more of the water from her watering can.
Give a little 'cause ya
Care a little and ya
Tip a little and ya make it more
Growing big is easy when you just
Get a little bit more!
However, it wasn't long before they had grown tired of waiting, and some of them had begun asking for seconds, much to Sci-Twi's surprise.
"Ooh. You, too? And you? Well, okay. More?"
To make matters worse, the plants were arguing amongst themselves while they individually asked a nervous Sci-Twi for more water.
[Plant Soloist 1]
Gettin' a little isn't quite enough to satisfy
[Plant Soloist 2]
I'd like a little more, please
Can you help me? I'm a-dyin'!
[Cactus]
Please, I'll be your best friend
You can tell me all your woes
[Tree]
Shove over just a little bit
I need some room to grow!
A worried Spike hurried over to EG Stardust, who was standing in the corner, with both of the headphone ear pieces placed in while he searched for a song.
[Plant Soloist 3]
Come on, Twilight, help me out
I'm thirsty, I need love
[Plant Soloist 4]
Over here, I need some
[Plant Soloist 3]
Hey, bud, you don't gotta shove!
"Stardust!" cried Spike, and after realizing that he couldn't hear him because of whatever song EG Stardust was listening to, the small dog used his mouth to yank out the headphone jack from the young teen's media-playing device.
"Hey!" EG Stardust glared at the green-furred canine. "Spike, what have I said about-"
Help us, Twilight, we need more
That's the water we adore
Just a little extra taste
Don't let a droplet go to waste
"When the hell did all of this happen?" asked EG Stardust, looking at his worried girlfriend, who was trying to keep her watering can away from a pair of grown plants that were trying to take it away from her.
"I don't know! I was just watering, and… then, they all-"
Help us, Twilight, we need more
That's the water we adore
Just a little extra taste
Don't let a droplet go to waste
Taking a closer look at the watering can, EG Stardust pointed at it, and said, "There's magic inside of that thing, love! Stop watering the plants!"
"What do you think I'm trying to do?" replied Sci-Twi, with slight irritation.
Help us, Twilight, we need more
That's the water we adore
Just a little extra taste
Don't let a droplet go to waste
Then, an idea popped into EG Stardust's head, and he walked over to a nearby nozzle. "If it's more water that they want…"
Whoosh!
A few seconds later, EG Stardust turned off the gardenhouse's sprinkler system, and all of the plants had returned back to normal, while he, Sci-Twi, and Spike were now soaking wet.
"Oh, and Twilight?" They looked over at the doorway, where a returning Principal Celestia gave her student a small piece of information that she'd forgotten to mention earlier. "Just be careful not to overwater the plants. Have fun!"
As she walked away, a frustrated EG Stardust gritted his teeth together before yelling, "Why in the hell did she not f-"
Whoosh!
He was interrupted by the arrival of water that came from a faulty sprinkler roof-heads placed above EG Stardust, now getting even more wet, and a sheepish Sci-Twi handed her boyfriend an umbrella.
As Starlight, Casey, and Miles went back into the library, the middle-aged pony said, "Thank you again for allowing me to rid your body of whatever Rowan had convinced you to take. Now, you're back to your old self again."
Casey nodded his head, but he looked like he'd just been through a really bad experience. "Thank you for handing me a bucket before it was too late… I'm definitely going to enjoy taking a nap in my bed - oof!"
"Aren't you forgetting something?" remined an amused Starlight, who was glad that nothing terrible had happened to her friend, aside from him having to throw up a few times, and after placing Twilight's thick notebook into his hooves, the light-orange pony gave a sheepish grin.
"Ah, right… um, Miles?" Casey looked over at the aged Pegasus, and he asked, "Do you remember anything about, um, what might have made Rowan use the Silver Staff to send me into Stardust's world?"
To his slight dissapointment, Miles shook his head in response. "I'm sorry. I wish I could answer that for you, but most of my memories back when Rowan was in control of my body are a little fuzzy."
Worth a sbot, then, I guess, thought Casey, giving him a small smile. "That's alright, Miles… um, hopefully the next time we see each other, it won't be that much of a surprise."
"I completely agree with you on that," replied Miles, chuckling as he shook hooves with the two young ponies, and waved good-bye as they stepped through his world's version of the Crystal Mirror.
Then, once Casey and Starlight were back in the library, the light-orange pony placed his girlfriend's notebook onto the table, and looked over at Starlight. "Think you could make me some of that special tea you drank after you performed a memory spell on yourself?"
"Sure," replied the pink unicorn, who began to walk out of the room. "So, how do you think it's going with Twilight and Beck?"
Casey just gave her a small shrug. "As long as he doesn't give me a reason to hate him more, I'm fine with whatever she does to help reform the guy."
Then, once Starlight was gone, Casey let out a sigh, and sadly muttered to himself while looking through Twilight's thick notebook.
Future
While Casey took a moment to pause his story, Twilight's counterpart asked, "So, do you.. hate him...?"
It took a moment for the young pony to answer. "I don't hate him necessarily, Twilight... I just can't imagine us ever being friends because of what I saw him do to my Twilight."
Then, since he wanted to quickly move onto something else, Casey said, "And look, Twilight, I... I am sorry for all of this... happening... you've probably been in worser situations, though, huh?"
Twilight waved her hoof back and forth like a teeter-totter, and the light-orange Earth pony began to chuckle. "I just hope that, after this, no one else that I care about gets hurt."
###############
A small grin appeared on Xenos' face, and a few moments later, the mysterious figure said, "This is very interesting... Azul!"
"Coming, sir!" cried a young blue Pegasus, and once he was in front of Xenos, he asked, "Y-yes?"
"Prepare my gauntlet," replied Xenos. "It appears that I'll be paying a visit to a certain world more earlier than I originally planned... also, place this in the prison cell."
With the snap of a finger, an object appeared in front of his servant, who looked at with confusion. "Are you.. sure that-"
"You wouldn't be questioning my decisions, would you?" said Xenos, in a cold tone that made Azul's fear grow.
"N-no, of course not," replied Azul, quickly shaking his head before proceeding with taking the crib over to the ordered destination.