My Little Pony: Seeds of the Past
Chapter 24 - Making Progress
Author's Note: "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to Hasbro and DHX Media, Stardust Balance was created by the Warrior of Twilight, and Beck's creator is fellow FF writer FanficFan920.
I also apologize for any OOC moments that may have occured in this story.
The next morning, Starlight wasn't surprised to find Casey already in the library, trying to activate the Crystal Mirror.
"It hasn't even been close to 24 hours since Stardust left, and you're already going to see him?"
To her surprise, Casey began to shake his head, and he was starting to chuckle. "No, but I'm glad you're here, Star, because there's something I want to show you."
While he started to make a few final adjustments, Starlight rolled her eyes, and smirked at the now-crippled pony. "I already know what the inside of his Twilight's castle looks like."
"We're not going to Stardust's world," replied Casey, and Starlight became confused.
"Well, then, where are we going?"
After turning on the Crystal Mirror, the light-orange pony looked at Starlight, and a smile appeared on his face as he said, "You'll see…"
#############
When Twilight entered the dungeon to check on Beck, she was surprised to find him backed up against the corner of the cell, muttering, "You'll float too… you'll float too…"
Before she could ask if he was okay, Discord suddenly appeared next to Twilight, and she frowned after seeing that he had a smug look on his face. "You were supposed to just keep an eye on him."
"Well, I can't exactly place my eye on him, Twilight," replied the draconequs. "But I did watch over your sole prisoner to make sure nothing bad happened… and as you can see, no harm done to anypony."
As Beck continued to mutter quietly to himself, Twilight gave Discord a half-eyelids closed expression, and he said, "Alright, fine, I might have had some more fun with Beck to get back at him for what he did to Fluttershy and you and the others. Was that so wrong of me?"
"I want Beck to learn from his mistakes, Discord, not have him sent to the cuckoo house."
The draconequs sighed, and he replied, "Okay, we'll do this your way, Twilight."
Then, after Discord snapped his fingers, which caused him to vanish in the blink of an eye, Beck let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, I thought that he was never going to leave… good going there, princess."
"You're welcome," replied the purple alicorn,even though she was still frowning. "But I just can't believe why you choose to continue hating me because-"
"I don't hate you, princess… or, at least, not as much as I used to a few weeks ago."
Hearing Beck say that made Twilight feel surprised, so as she waited for him to continue, the middle-aged pony let out a sigh before saying, "I want you to understand how I feel about losing nearly everypony that I care about, but I also don't want to lose my life just yet, and I think I got roughed up pretty good by your special somepony, as well as that pony who I'm still not sure was the actual Stardust or his evil counterpart…"
Then, he took a moment of silence as he thought about his loved ones, but it was interrupted by Twilight asking, "Well, do you think that what you've done recently is what they would have wanted?"
Beck brought up his head to look at her, and he slowly gave his response. "What exactly do you mean by that?"
"That I'm not sure about your family particulary enjoying what they see you doing from wherever they are at," explained the purple alicorn. "And since we're talking like two normal ponies, I would like to add that while I haven't lost everypony that I care about, I do know what it's like to lose a special somepony."
Noticing Beck's confusion, Twilight added, "I watched Casey sacrifice himself to save me and Stardust, along with the rest of his friends, and it didn't take me long to realize that I'd never see him again… I would never be able to tell Casey how I truly felt about him…"
The imprisoned pony had no idea what to say since he had no idea something like this happened to Twilight, but as his mind continued to show memories of his loved ones, he eventually said, "Yeah, well, at least you were able to have him somehow return, princess… my family's been gone for years, and there's no way that they'll ever come back."
"Well, yes, that is true… but all of the positive memories you have that involve them will always be with you in your mind, and in your heart," replied Twilight. "There is a reason why your parents, wife, and best friend loved you… they saw something different than what any other pony saw when looking at or talking about you… and I'm sorry that you can't watch your son grow up into a wonderful stallion, but wherever your wife is at right now, have her see the pony that she wanted the father of her colt to be…"
Beck felt his eyes starting to tear up, but he wasn't able to stop himself from saying, "Alright, princess, you… m-made your point… just leave me here to…"
[Insert "Tears of Life" from Pokémon around 3:07 mark]
However, to his surprise, Twilight had decided to open the cell door, and as he found himself starting to cry, the young alicorn wrapped her front limbs around his body, giving Beck a comforting embrace.
"W-why are… you… I don't deserve…"
"No pony deserves to grieve alone," replied Twilight, and as she gave him a soft pat on the back, all of the positive memories that were in Beck's mind eventually caused the Earth Pony to break down, with Twilight there to offer him a shoulder to cry on.
################
"Casey? What… what is this place?"
Seeing that Starlight had stopped walking, Casey wheeled himself back to where she stood, and he replied, "Beautiful, isn't it?"
They were currently standing in the middle of a grassy field, with the sight of snow-covered mountains in the distance, as well as a river that seemed to go all around the entire area, and as Starlight continued to look around, she said, "I'm not even sure if that word is good enough to do it justice… which brings me to ask again… what is this place?"
An amused Casey smiled at the purple unicorn, and he replied, "Well, I don't exactly have a name for it just yet, but… um, remember the place where this happened?"
Starlight nodded her head after Casey took a quick glance at his hind legs, and he said, "Well, that only exists because it's what Rowan thought of… in reality, this world is nothing but pretty much a blank canvas, so it's up to whoever is in here to 'create art'..."
He gestured to everything that was around them, and said, "This is my art, Starlight… or, in other words, the place that has all of my favorite things… most of which were because I hung out with Stardust so much, and believe me, he showed me a lot of stuff… but yeah, this is where I can do things that I can't really do in our world or Stardust's world."
Starlight tilted her head to the side, and asked, "What do you mean by that?"
"Pika-pika!"
Suddenly, the purple unicorn watched as a cute short, and chubby rodent-like creature came from out of nowhere, and leaped into Casey's lap.
"Starlight, this is my friend, Pikachu," said Casey. "He's an electric-type Pokémon from an anime that Stardust introduced me to."
Starlight just looked at the two of them, and Casey let out a sigh. "I'll explain later… um, you mind givin' us another few minutes, Pikachu?"
"Pi-ka pipi pika!" said Pikachu, and as Casey affectionately rubbed the top of his head, he made an adorable noise that caused Starlight to smile.
Then, the electric mouse hopped back onto the grass-covered surface, and Starlight watched him head over to join several other cute creatures that she had never seen before.
"So… your, uh, world has… Pokémon?"
Casey chuckled, and he replied, "Well, for the most part, yeah, but there's also a fun area that I can't really show you now since I'm in a wheelchair-"
"Does Stardust know about this place?" wondered Starlight, assuming what his answer was going to be since, to her, the two Earth Ponies were apparently so close.
"Well, no, not just yet," replied Casey, now shaking his head.
A surprised Starlight looked around her friend's world once more, and she said, "Huh… so, I guess Twilight was the-"
"Nope, I haven't told her yet, either," admitted the light-orange Earth Pony. "The only ones who know so far are me…"
Casey took a moment to look at his wristwatch before continuing his statement. "... and, as of almost five minutes ago, you… which means that, for the moment, it's just the two of us who know about this."
At first, Starlight found herself feeling touched by this, but confusion still remained in her mind, and that caused the purple unicorn to ask, "Well, not that I'm complaining or anything, Casey, but why did you pick me as the first pony to see this place?"
Casey let out a sigh, knowing that he would've been asked this question by her, so the young pony replied, "Because I haven't exactly been fair to you when it comes to spending quality time together, which means that I have a lot to make up for…"
Then, in the blink of an eye, Casey handed her a string to a kite that was already flying high up in the sky, which brought a smile to Starlight's face, and after showing her his own kite, he said, "Also, I did tell you in the hopsital that we'd have plenty of time for me to work on my kite flying, so why not start right now?"
Starlight nodded her head, but as the two of them began to get ready, she started to feel bad about the way she had been treating Stardust lately.
I'll talk to him when I see him at Casey's party… I just hope Stardust won't still be upset about me giving him a scar.
It's great that we'll soon be connected
With a king who'll be all-time adored
As an army of hyenas continued to march forward in perfect synchronization, they looked up (row-by-row) at their leader, who was sitting on top of a rocky platform that was high above them.
"Of course, quid pro quo, you're expected," sang Stardust, who had a wide smile on his face, and he made a throat-slitting gesture with his hoof.
To take certain duties on board
The future is littered with prizes
And though I'm the main addressee
The point that I must emphasize is
You won't get a sniff without me!
Then, he leaped off of the platform, and after landing safely on the rock-made surface, Stardust scowled at a few of the hyenas before jumping onto several other platforms that were rising up from the ground.
So prepare for the coup of the century (Oooh!)
Be prepared for the murkiest scam (Oooh... La! La! La!)
Meticulous planning (We'll have food!)
Tenacity spanning (Lots of food)
Decades of denial (We repeat)
Is simply why I'll (Endless meat)
Be king undisputed (Aaaaaaah...)
Respected, saluted (...aaaaaaah...)
And seen for the wonder I am (...aaaaaaah!)
Yes, my teeth and ambitions are bared (oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo)
Be prepared!
Yes, our teeth and ambitions are bared -
Be prepared!
Then, Stardust lifted his head up so that he could let out a sinister, evil laugh. "Hahahaha… hahahahahaha… hahahahahaha-"
"Jack! What are you doing up there?"
After hearing the voice of his special somepony, Stardust blinked his eyes a few times, and instead of being on top of a rocky platform that was surrounded by talking hyenas, the gold pony found himself in the back outdoor area of her castle, standing on top of a log that was stuck into the ground because it was part of the (second)training course that Twilight had created for him and their friends.
Before the alicorn could ask him again, Stardust swiftly jumped off the log, landing right in front of Twilight, and he said, "Why, if it isn't my beautiful princess descending from on high to converse with her warrior."
A frown appeared on the slightly confused alicorn's face as she replied, "I had hoped you'd be inside with me in the castle to welcome Sunset since today is the day she planned on visiting us…"
'That was today?" gasped Stardust, who began shaking his head after letting out a sigh. "Oh, dear… it must've slipped my mind."
Before Twilight could respond to why he was speaking in a more rougher voice, a familiar yellow unicorn was making her way towards them. "Hey, Twilight, did you… oh, I didn't know that Human Stardust was here, too."
Well, at least she's not confusing me for Evil Stardust, thought the gold pony.
"No, it's not, this is our 'Stardust'," replied the young alicorn. "He just looks like him becau-"
Whoosh!
Suddenly, from out of nowhere came Rainbow Dash, who tackled Stardust to the ground, and thankfully, it wasn't close to the training course.
Why the [BEEP] did this have to happen to me? thought Stardust, groaning in annoyance and pain.
"You better leave my friends alone!" exclaimed the blue pegasus. "I haven't forgotten what you did the last time you were here, so now, I-"
"Rainbow, wait, it's not the evil one," cried Twilight, stopping her friend from attacking him. "This is actually Stardust!"
But Rainbow didn't seem to be that convinced by Twilight's statement. "I'm not falling for his tricks again, Twilight, he almost ruined… wait a minute…"
She looked down at the gold Earth Pony in front of her, and said, "Say something that Stardust told me back at CHS."
You can't be serious, thought Stardust, and he replied, "Rainbow, take it easy, I'm not-"
Wham!
"Answer the question!"
"Rainbow! Why did you smack him like that?" exclaimed Twilight.
"I don't want to take any chances with this pony," replied Rainbow. "He wrote a bunch of stuff all over my house, inside and out, and made me believe that Star was the actual-"
Before she could finish her sentence, Stardust groaned, and he said, "Alright, fine… I, uh… told you that we were always going to end up arguing with each other, but that it didn't mean you'll ever not be my best friend."
Then, after Stardust had said that, Rainbow took a few steps back while the gold pony got up to his hooves, and Twilight let out a sigh of relief. "Was all of that really necessary?"
"Hey, you can't blame me for being cautious, Twi-" Rainbow started to say, but then, she realized that she'd just smacked her friend across the face, which made her give Stardust a sheepish expression. "Um… sooooo… no hard feelings about, uh, what I just did?"
Looking at his friend with a frown, Stardust replied, "I'll give you a three second head start… one…"
"Heh-heh, you're kidding, right?"
"Two…"
Rainbow looked over at Twilight and Sunset, saying, "Tell me that he's joking."
"Don't make me say-"
WHOOSH!
After Rainbow Dash flew away as fast as she could go, Stardust lowered his hoof to the ground, and said, "Three… eh, what the [BEEP], I'm gettin' her anyway."
WHOOSH!
Then, as he took off after the blue pegasus, Sunset looked over at Twilight, and asked, "What has happened since the last time I was here?"
A smirk appeared on Twilight's face, and she replied, "Oh, you have no idea."
Author's Note: "Pokémon" is owned by Shopro/Nintendo/PCI, and "Be Prepared" is owned by the Walt Disney Company.
Coming up next is going to be the second time where I've written a very long chapter, and I hope it's one that you'll enjoy.