Stardust tried to get up, but his body was still weak from the punch that Miles had delivered to his chest.
"I know it looks bad right now, sugarcube," said Applejack, who was trying to keep him from running away. "But you're just gonna get yourself hurt even more if you try to interfere."
"I... can't..." growled a frustrated Stardust. "Let... Twilight... get hurt..."
As for Parallel Twilight herself, she was currently in a fighting position, ready for anything that the sinister pony could throw at her. "Let's go, Miles, you're going to pay for what you've done to my friends and special somepony."
"Oh, am I now?" The winged pony said, a sinister smile on his face. "And what do you plan to do about it?"
"I think you should stop talking and face me so that I can show you!"
Miles let out an evil laugh, and shouted, "With pleasure, Twilight..."
He ran towards her, but then, for some reason, the necklace around Princess Twilight's neck started to glow brightly, which made Miles stop in his tracks.
"What the...?" Stardust couldn't believe what he was seeing. "I didn't know it could do that."
Neither could Princess Twilight, who asked, "Um, Jack, what is-"
Before she could finish, Miles snapped out of his trance, and fired an energy blast at the alicorn, which knocked her down to the ground.
"NO!" Stardust yelled, and he tried running over to stop Miles, but Applejack was continuing to hold him back.
"Ya can't fight him yet, sugarcube," explained the Earth Pony. "You're still recuperating from that cheap shot he gave you."
Miles walked over to the princess, with dangerous thoughts inside of his mind, but then, the necklace started to glow again, and it sent out a small energy blast that hit him directly in the eyes.
"What the hell did you..." shouted Miles, who was opening and closing his eyes several times, and Princess Twilight noticed that his eyes no longer looked dark and evil as they had earlier.
I don't think your necklace idea is turning out the way you had hoped.
Miles reluctantly found himself agreeing with his inner voice, as well as saying, "Eh, I've already wasted enough time here... I have one world to take over, and another to destroy."
Stardust coughed a few times before glaring at Miles, and asked, "Deciding not to kill me after all?"
"If that was the best you could honestly do, then you aren't even worth killing," replied Miles, and before Stardust could say anything, the cloaked pony used his staff to create a portal, which then vanished after he jumped inside it.
Then, once he was gone, the entire world returned back to its state of emptiness since Miles was no longer there to imagine what it could be.
The cage disappeared, as well, and while everypony started walking around, Applejack helped Stardust make his way over to Princess Twilight.
"I'm sorry, love," said the young pony, a sad expression on his face. "I didn't think he-"
"You don't have to apologize, Jack," replied Princess Twilight, shaking her head. "I'm just glad you're still here."
Stardust smiled back, for a moment, but he then became serious, and looked over at Casey and Twilight. "So... anypony can pretty much do anything in here, right?"
"Uh..." The two ponies looked at each other, and Twilight replied, "Pretty much, yeah. Why do you ask?"
"Because I deserve some answers from a certain pony," said Stardust. "Isn't that right, Starswirl?"
Then, to everyone's surprise, a white ball of energy appeared in front of him, and it transformed into a spirit form of Starswirl the Bearded.
"Unfortunately, regarding the situation, yes," replied the spirit.
Stardust nodded, and said, "Well, you can start by - hey!"
He found himself being interrupted by Twilight and Princess Twilight, who were both now suddenly well enough to walk up to Starswirl's spirit.
"Omigosh-omigish-omigosh!" The two of them cried in joy and excitement.
Everyone except Casey and Stardust found this amusing, with the orange-yellow pony speechless while the gold-colored pony smacked his forehead with his hoof.
"Um, forgive me, Twilights, but I think I really do need to explain what I know about all this."
Stardust rolled his eyes, and replied, "Yes, yes, you do... have you known about this the whole time?"
Starswirl reluctantly nodded his head, and said, "Ever since the day that Casey first came to our world... and I had to wait for the moment to tell you."
"Well, now would definitely be a good time to explain what the pony is going on," exclaimed Sour Sweet, speaking in a harsh tone.
Starlight frowned at the bipolar pony, and said, "Hey, show some respect for him... don't you know who this is?"
"Well, obviously not," replied Sugarcoat. "Why would we have someone like that in our world?"
EG Applejack raised her eyebrow, and said, "I wouldn't be surprised if we did, considering all the supernatural stuff we've all dealt with."
"Anyway..." Stardust exclaimed, who was now getting a tiny bit impatient. "Who the hell is he, Starswirl?"
"Miles comes from a world that is a little different than either of ours," explained Starswirl. "And unfortunately, he was seduced by an evil darkness not long after 'his' Twilight went into a coma."
Stardust was silent for a moment, understanding what that must have felt like for Miles. "But why does he want to kill me so bad?"
"Those reasons I do not know yet," admitted the spirit. "But he's been successful in bringing harm to other worlds that feature alternate versions of you."
Stardust became confused as he asked, "What do you mean by that?"
Starswirl sighed, and he explained, "There are other universes that contain worlds in which you are paired with a pony other than Twilight... and Miles has killed each and every one of those Stardusts."
Princess Twilight gasped, in shock, and asked, "H-how could he do that?"
"By erasing them from existence, my dear" answered Starswirl. "And I am afraid that if we do not fix the timeline of those worlds soon, they could all end up becoming destroyed."
"Ohhhh, so that's how a 'pair-o-dock' works," said Pinkie Pie.
Stardust took a moment to absorb all of this information in his mind, and then, he asked, "Um... exactly how many alternate worlds are there, and who am I paired with?"
"I'm not sure if now would be the right time to say that," said Starswirl, referring to the others around them.
EG Pinkie gave a shrug as she said, "We've all seen weirder stuff, Starswirl... so, tell us, please!"
The spirit looked at the gold-colored pony, and said, "Well, there are ones that have you with a different member of the Mane Six, as well as Starlight, Princess Luna, Sunset Shimmer, and even Princess Cadence."
Pinkie let out a whistle, and said, "Wow, that's a lot of worlds."
Stardust gulped, and he said, "Please don't say that there is a world that has me paired with..."
"No, Jack, there is not one with Princess Celestia, or anypony that you could think who would be worser than her."
Princess Twilight noticed Casey and Twilight's confused expression, and she explained, "He's not really a big fan of Princess Celestia."
As for Stardust, he let out a sigh of relief, and asked, "So, how exactly are we supposed to stop him, then?"
"There's a power that is located in Miles' world that can help you against him," answered Starswirl. "It'll bring your power level to the same amount that Miles has... but you must fix the other nine worlds first before going to his."
"Nine worlds?!" Stardust cried. "Why can't I just go straight to Miles' world and get this new power thingy?"
Starswirl frowned, and he replied, "Because, Jack, it can only be accepted by whoever it deems worthy, and if you want to use it to stop Miles, then you need to fix the other problems he's caused."
Stardust opened his mouth to complain, but Starswirl said, "You know it's the right thing to do, Jack."
"Yeah... I know..." grumbled Stardust, rolling his eyes. "But how are we even supposed to get to all of these worlds?"
Everyone else, including EG Pinkie, looked at Pinkie Pie, who was playing around with Stardust's wristwatch that had somehow fallen off a while ago.
"What?" Pinkie said, noticing that they were all looking at her.
Stardust shook his head, and said, "You cannot be serious."
"I was actually referring to the wristwatch," replied Starswirl. "It contains almost the same amount of energy as the staff, but because of its power limit, you can only take a few of your friends with you."
Stardust chuckled, and said, "Well, that's obvious... me, Twilight, Casey, and his Twilight."
"Us?" Casey said, surprised. "Why?"
Stardust smirked at his friend, and he replied, "You technically started this ever since we met, so you're helping me finish it... and I don't want your Twilight to worry about you."
Twilight smiled, and was about to thank him when Pinkie Pie suddenly raced over to Stardust, and asked while bouncing up and down, "Ooh, ooh, can I come along with you all, please, please, please?"
"I'm sorry, Pinkie, but... no..." Stardust said, shaking his head. "I can only handle so much craziness."
The young pony stopped bouncing, and unfortunately, for Stardust, Pinkie started to give him "puppy eyes", and she asked again. "Please?"
Stardust was about to deny her request again, but after noticing everyone was now looking at him, and that Princess Twilight was giving him a look that meant "oh, come on, Jack", the young pony groaned as he rolled his eyes, and muttered, "Aaauuuggghhhh... fine... you can come, Pinkie..."
"Yippie!" Pinkie Pie yelled, looking excited as she gave him a warm hug, and Stardust couldn't help but smile.
Twilight nodded her head, and walked over to Stardust, saying, "Alright, so before we do anything, let's take a moment to think of a carefully-executed plan so that we can easily-"
But before she could finish, Pinkie accidentally activated the watch as she was handing it to Stardust, and in a bright flash of light, the five ponies (and Starswirl, who went back into Stardust's mind) were gone.
"That pony is a real sucker for falling for that," said Sugarcoat.