Omega looked back and forth between Elixir and the group of Casey's friends, with the dark-colored pony said, "Well, what are you waiting for? Go on!"
"Have you gone soft, little pony?" taunted Ronxor, raising an eyebrow, and all of Casey's friends moved to the side. "I thought you were supposed to be an all-powerful…"
WHOOSH!
Omega fired an energy blast at the silver Pegasus, causing him to crash through the nearest wall, and after a moment of silence, everyone heard him say, "I... am… okay!"
"Such a shame," muttered the cloaked pony, who then turned to face Elixir. "We had adeal,Nova, and I don't appreciate the procastination that I'm seeing here all because you're worried about Twilight Sparkle and her friends putting an end to your rule that has barely even begun."
Pinkie tried her best to hold in her laughter after hearing him say that, and the rest of Casey's friends looked at her. "What?"
As for Elixir, he let out a sigh, and nodded his head. "You know what, I believe you are right, my friend… I might have taken you for granted, and I apologize… take Casey's friends to the prison ship."
"Ooh, that kind of sounds like fun!" squealed an excited Pinkie Pie.
From underneath his mask, the cloaked pony smirked, and replied, "Oh, yeah, it'll be ablast."
Then, he started to lead them away, but stopped when Elixir added, "However, you won't know where she is until I have Stardust's head on a platter right in front of me… is that clear?"
"Ascrystalas the Crystal Empire," replied Omega, and he continued to lead Casey's friends away from the throne room.
"I still can't believe what you did to our friend," said Applejack, from Casey's world. "You'd better hope that Stardust or Twilight don't get their hooves on you."
Omega started to chuckle, and he looked at the young Earth pony, saying, "When it comes to me, AJ, Stardust will haveno ideawhat he will be up against… at this point, I am his most dangerous enemy… and if we meet again, I will make sure that he get what he deserves."
"You sure you don't want me to try and fix it, darling?"
Stardust chuckled, looking at his cloak-turned-cape, and he shook his head.
"Yes, Rarity, I'm sure… like I've said before, it's just a piece of fabric."
Thankfully, being chased from a giant eagle had led them all out of the "bare and empty" landscape area, and were now walking past several trees, as well as a few areas of water, but no one still hadany ideawhere they were at, or how farther it was until reaching Equestria.
"So… care to explain what happened back there, Jack?" asked Twilight.
"That a giant bird came from out of nowhere, and almost had me as breakfast?" replied the young pony. "Doesn't really sound like something that needs explaining."
The alicorn princess rolled her eyes at Stardust's sense of humor, and she said, "I wastalking aboutthe energy blast you used against'Tweety'...and about what happened in the forest with those lightning bolts."
"Oh…that," said Stardust, chuckling. "Well, um, some of the energy that was created when me and Casey became Starcade is still inside… of me, and I only use it when I have to.
"Also, whatever Omega's attack was… it causes those damn lightning bolts to appear whenever I try to use my balance powers, and I have no idea how to solve that problem."
Twilight playfully tapped the side of his head with her hoof, and said, "Not even Starswirl knows?"
Unfortunately, I do not… although I do recommend that he not use any more of your 'special' energy until we know how to fix the lightning problem.
Stardust just shook his head, and replied, "Nope, he doesn't know, either."
Applejack was the last of Casey's friends to be locked up, and as Omega closed her cell door, she said, "You know, I don't recall you bein' this nice to us back when you turned us all into statues, and locked us inside that giant cage with those girls from Sunset's world."
"You're delusional," replied the cloaked pony. "And besides, I have more important things on my mind to deal with… so, enjoy your new home."
He then started to walk away, but stopped after Applejack cried, "I guess you're still afraid of certain ponies, then, if you got to hide yourself from behind that mask of yours!"
Omega went back to the front of her cell, and before AJ could say anything, he quickly brought down his hood, as well as removing the metallic mask off of his face.
"You satisfied now?"
He waited a few more minutes until deciding to put it back on, and looked at the farming Earth Pony, who was in total shock and complete disbelief.
"But…why?" she said, once her mind was able to provide her with the right words to say.
After fixing his hood, the cloaked pony replied, "Why do you think, AJ?Revenge… and payback…"
As everypony continued to walk, Twilight let out a sigh, and she said, "Um, since we've nearly spent this whole day walking… and running… maybe it's time for us to relax for the rest of the night."
"Yes! Thank you!"All of her exhausted friends, including Stardust, immediately collapsed to the floor, and the young princess just rolled her eyes.
An hour or so later, their camp shelter was set up, and everypony was sitting around the campfire to keep warm since the temperature was starting to lower a little bit.
"You okay there, love?" said Stardust, who was noticing the sad expression on his girlfriend's face.
"I'm just a little worried about the rest of our friends back in Ponyville and Canterlot," replied Twilight, lowering her head a little bit. "And I am also hoping that they're all safe."
Rainbow gave her friend a warm smile, and said, "They'll all be fine, Twilight… besides, I think Elixir is more concerned about us stopping his plan than just-"
"Aaaahhh!"screamed Pinkie Pie, who had been roasting several marshmallows on a stick, and was now trying to blow away the large flames that had engulfed them before they got too burnt. "It's okay, everypony, I saved them!"
Stardust started to laugh, and he began to shake his head, saying, "Bravo, Pinkie… bravo…"
A few minutes later, Twilight asked her special somepony if he still felt like Sunset was in danger.
"Not since I turned Tweety into fried chicken, but I'm not sure if that's goodorbad… I just hope she's okay."
The last thing that Stardust wanted was to find out that he'd lost another close friend…
Unfortunately, he had no idea that tomorrow would be a day when he'd have to fight that friend.
The next day
"Star,pleasetell me you havesomeidea as to where we're at now."
Stardust sighed, and he replied, "Like I told everyoneearlier,Rainbow, I am now…twelve percentsure that we're close to reaching Canterlot, but from here, I don't see any sign of it, so we just have to keep walking."
The winged Pegasus let out a groan, and muttered, "I wish everypony here had wings, and knew how to fly… we'd get there alotfaster if -wait a second!"
She went over to hover by Twilight, with a wide smile, and said, "You could do that one spell when you tried to make us all alicorns!"
However, the alicorn princess frowned, and she shook her head, saying, "I don't think so, Rainbow… I learned my lesson after that, and the last thing we need is a repeat of those events."
"But you don'thaveto use it on all of us!" replied Rainbow, who gestured her wing towards their friends. "Heck, it doesn't evenhaveto be that spell… justpoofsome wings onto Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Starlight, and we'll get to Canterlot faster than you can say 'Wonderbolt'!"
"Nothin' doing, Rainbow," said a frowning Applejack, who was disagreeing with her friend. "I'm fine just bein' the way I am, thank you very much… plus, Iwantto be able to wear my hat."
"Ugh, so you'll have a horn on your head," said the winged pony. "You don't see Rarity or Starlight complaining!"
"Well, um, I actually don't want to be turned into an alicorn either," said Rarity, who had her own unpleasant experience that day she had been given wings. "Let's just leave that to Twilight."
Starlight nodded, in agreement, and Rainbow rolled her eyes, muttering, "Alright,fine, let's all keep going at this pace… we'lldefinitelyreach Canterlot by nightfall."
"Just please relax, Rainbow, okay?" asked Twilight. "We should be almost there… and besides, what else could possibly go-"
"Sunset Shimmer!"yelled Pinkie Pie, taking everyone by surprise, and they all saw that the yellow-colored unicorn was standing several feet away from them.
Twilight smiled at Stardust, and she said, "See, what did I tell you? Sunset looks perfectly fine to me… nothing to worry about."
"Yeah, yeah, alright," replied a chuckling Stardust, who was starting to feel a little relieved now that he saw her. "Hey, Sunset, are you-"
BOOM!
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, Sunset had fired an energy blast at Stardust, while everyone else quickly moved out of the way.
That looked exactly like the one Jack used on Ronxor, thought Twilight.But how did it come from her horn?
"Hey! What the heck was that for?"exclaimed Rainbow, glaring at Celestia's former pupil.
"It's my way of saying'hello',and I'm about to do the same to-oof!"
Sunset was interrupted by the quick return of Stardust, who had taken a page out of Rainbow's book, and knocked himself into her with a powerful headbutt, sending Sunset to fly and tumble a few feet away.
"Now, you owemeone, Rainbow," replied Stardust, smiling at the winged pony, and he turned his attention back to Sunset.
"Okay, what in the[BEEP]was that for? You could've almost, sort-of-but-not-really killed me with that attack!"
Sunset let out a maniacal laugh, and she gave him an evil grin. "That was the point, you numbskull… now, do me a favor, and-"
Whoosh!
She had fired another energy blast at Stardust, but luckily, Twilight had appeared in front of him, and created a powerful force field bubble around them that caused the blast to head up into the sky.
"So, now, I guess you owemeone?" teased Twilight, and Stardust chuckled before giving his response.
"Oh, I bet I could think of something, love."
Then, the alicorn princess looked at her friend, and asked, "What's wrong with you, Sunset? Why are you attacking us like this?"
"Because Ican, Twilight," replied Sunset, whose horn was now surrounded by tiny sparks of blue electricity, and Stardust immediately took notice of this.
Iknewsomething was wrong! Omega must have-
"Are you just going to hide behind Twilight this whole time, Jack?" taunted Sunset, with a sinister smile. "I mean, I'm pretty sure the pony versions of Flash and Timber would have already-"
"Oh, you've done[BEEP]-edup now, Shimmer," growled an annoyed Stardust, and he began to head straight for Sunset while creating another energy blast, much to Starswirl's irritation.
Jack! You're not ready yet to-
ZZZZZZZTTTTT!
"Omega figured you'd try that,"said Sunset, who was now attacking Stardust with the blue lightning bolts, and continued to do so as they came from her own.
"Sunset… this… is not… you…aaaaaugghh!"
There were no words to describe the pain that Stardust was feeling right now, and he was quickly thinking of a way to make it stop.
Alright, where else have you seen lightning attacks, Jack? There has to be one that... oh!
The gold-colored pony then tried to redirect the lightning at Sunset the same way that he would fire his energy blasts, and to his surprise, it actually worked!
Ha! That must make me a
BOOM!
Unfortunately, it caused an explosion that sent only Stardust flying away, while Sunset merely stayed in the same spot, waving away the smoke with her hoof.
"What… the… [BEEP]..."growled an annoyed Stardust, whose aching body was twitching in pain.
As for Sunset, she looked at Twilight, and a smile came across her muzzle. "Now, it'syourturn, princess!"
Taking a deep breath, Twilight began to prepare herself for a fight, but then, Stardust came racing towards Sunset, now looking very upset.
"You leave her out of this!"
Then, he delivered a spear to Sunset, causing her to fall down to the ground, and as he looked down at his friend, Stardust said, "You're making itreal hardto not beat the holy[BEEP]out of you, Shimmer…"
"Such a shame, Stardust," replied Sunset. "Because I'm finding itreally easyto beat the holy[BEEP]out ofyou!"
Before Stardust could say anything else to her, she swiftly grabbed ahold of him, and threw him towards the rest of his friends, causing all of them to fall to the ground.
"Like I said… it'smeandyou, Twilight."
A non-amused Omega entered the throne room, and said, "Look, Nova, forthe last time, I am not-"
"Just simmer down there, Rowan," replied a smiling Elixir, as he sat atop Celestia's throne. "I was able to find someone that I am positively certain you would want to see dead."
Omega raised an eyebrow, and he said, "Who?"
"Let go… of me!"
As the cloaked pony turned around, Elixir began to chuckle, and said, "Great job, Ronxor… andyou'vecertainly been through a lot, haven't you?"
His newest prisoner, who looked like she had gotten roughed up by somepony, frowned at the new ruler of Equestria, and replied, "You won't get away with this…"
"Well, then that's where you arewrong," said Elixir, whose eye-shaped device was starting to activate. "Because I already have… and now, it's time for you to go."
Omega quickly looked at the dark-colored pony, and said, "Nova, what the hell are you-"
"Like I said, my friend," replied Elixir, who was now creating an energy blast that was similar to the one Stardust used on him. "You'll really enjoy seeing this."
Then, before Omega could say anything else, Elixir fired his energy blast at the prisoner, and after the smoke cleared away, they all saw that she was now lying down on the ground.
"Nowthatis what I callpower," said Elixir, while Ronxor began to drag the body away. "So, what did you think of that, Rowan?"
It took a moment for Omega to look at Elixir, and give him a response.
"Wonderful, Nova… and now, I want to kill Stardust Balance even more, should he ever show his face again."
As the gold-colored pony laid on the ground, he muttered, "I am going to[BEEP]that damn masked pony for all the pain that he's causing me."
At the same time, Twilight and Sunset were trying to avoid each other's attacks.
"You are sopredictable,Twilight," said the powerful unicorn. "Can't you ever try out somethingnewfor once?"
A somewhat exhausted Twilight frowned, and said, "Sunset, thisisn'tyou! Whatever Omega did to you-oof!"
Sunset now had her pinned down to the ground, and she said, "I don't know who you're talking about, Twilight, but I am going to end this once and for all!"
The alicorn princess gulped, and she looked back and forth from Sunset to her friends, trying to think of a quick solution.
What do I do, what do I do, what do I do, what do I… wait… something unexpected… that's it!
Then, before Sunset could fire her attack at Twilight, she used her own magic blast against it, and from where he stood, Stardust watched as an explosion of dust and smoke was created.
"Twilight!"cried the young pony, who hurried over to them as fast as he could, but due to the pain from the lightning strikes, it took him a while to get there.
Once he did, along with everypony else, they found a standing but exhausted Twilight, who was taking several deep breaths, and Stardust could have sworn that her face was a little redder than usual.
As for Sunset, she was lying on the ground, and slowly lifted her head up to look at Stardust.
"S-Star… w-what… h-how did…ugh…"
She's exhausted,said Starswirl, as the gold-colored pony watched his friend become unconcious.But she'll be fine.
Until she wakes up, anyway,replied Stardust.Do you sense any 'I-want-to-kill' vibes inside her?
Not like I did earlier when she was attacking you,said the elderly pony.But I sense a lot of pain inside her… so I am guessing that Elixir must have done something to her.
"So, is she gonna try to kill us or…?" wondered Rainbow Dash, and Stardust shook his head.
"No, I don't think so, but let's take her to the nearest area of water before something worse happens."
Then, while they were doing that, Stardust looked at Twilight, and said, "That was awesome, love… your magic's gotten stronger over the years, hasn't it?"
"Ha-ha, yep, that's true," replied Twilight, although it was a little more high-pitched than usual.
At first, Stardust wondered if something was wrong with her, but after hearing Sunset moan in pain, he decided to worry about that another time.
You'd better be ready once we meet again, Omega, because I am going to [BEEP-BEEP-BEEP] you so badly that you'll wish you had never attacked my friends, and you are going to pay for what you did to Casey!
At the same time, Twilight let out a sigh of relief, but then, Pinkie showed up next to her, and was giving the alicorn a suspicious look.
"What?"
Instead of saying anything, Pinkie simply began to walk to the back of the group, but before Twilight could sigh again, the pink pony reappeared, and they were almost eye-to-eye with each other.
"Pinkie? You okay?" said Stardust, who had noticed his friend suddenly appearing next to him.
"Just peachy, Star...just peachy," replied Pinkie, who slowly walked over to the back as she kept her eyes on Twilight, while the alicorn shrugged at her special somepony.
"..."
"Sunset?"
"..."
"... Shimmer?"
"..."
"Sunset!"
After getting splashed with a little bit of water, the yellow-colored unicorn opened her eyes, and found herself looking at all of her friends.
"How are you feeling, darling?" asked Rarity, who was giving her a look of concern.
Sunset brought her hoof to her forehead, and said, "Like I've been in a car crash…"
Then, she looked around at where they were at, and asked, "Um, where are we exactly?"
"We were hoping you'd be able to tell us," replied Stardust, who sounded a little disappointed. "Seeing as that you're the one who found us, and then, proceded with attacking me and Twilight."
"I…" Sunset turned her head from Stardust to Twilight, then back to Stardust, and all of a sudden, the memories of what had just happened hit her in the blink of an eye, which made the young unicorn feel ashamed at what she had done.
"Oh, my gosh, I… I'm so sorry, you two, I didn't mean to… Elixir told me to... that wasn't what I-"
Stardust chuckled, and he shook his head, assuring her that it was fine. "I've done the wholemind controlthing, Sunset, and… yeah, not a fan…"
"Neither was Casey when Evil You trapped him in that thing you called aPoké Ball,"said Pinkie, and everyone but Sunset looked at her. "Oh, sorry…"
"Did I miss something?" asked Stardust's pupil, and the gold-colored Earth pony let out a heavy sigh.
"Yeah… Casey, who was with us during that whole fiasco with my alternate self, was kiled by that masked pony who-"
Now Sunset was even more confused after hearing him say that, and she replied "But I could have sworn I… uh… never mind… sorry to hear about your friend, Star."
"Thank you, and I plan on doing so much[BEEP]to Omega once I get my hooves on him…"
Sunset smirked at her friend, and said, "Well, thanks for saving me… guess that makes us even for when I-"
To her surprise, Stardust shook his head, and gestured his head over at Twilight. "If you wanna thank someone, thank her… she's the one who snapped you out of whatever dark magic thing that Elixir had on you."
"Oh, okay," replied Sunset, who gave the young princess a warm smile. "Thank you, Twilight… guess you've been working on your magic, huh?"
"Uh-huh, sure, no problem, that's what friends are for,"said Twilight, speaking in a rather quick tone.
Stardust looked at her, and asked, "Uh, are you alright there, love?"
"Yeah, I'm totally fine, Jack, just a little, uh…woozyfrom using all that magic to turn Sunset back to normal… which is what I did… you believe me, right?"
The young and confused Earth pony replied, "Er, well, I never said that Ididn'tbelieve you, love, but I'm just glad that… um… Pinkie… what are you doing?"
The pink-colored pony was standing near Twilight again, much to everyone's confusion, and she had a suspicious look on her face.
"How do we know if you are stillyou, Twilight?" asked Pinkie, while the alicorn started to feel a little nervous. "If thatisyour real name."
Applejack rolled her eyes at her friend's behavior, and she said, "Stop actin' like that, sugarcube. Of course Twilight is still Twilight."
"Well, we all thought Stardust was Stardust when all of those bad things were happening to you and Rarity and Rainbow," reminded Pinkie. "But that wasn't the truth at all, now was it?"
Stardust was about to give a response when he found himself thinking again about what Pinkie had just said, and when he turned to look at Twilight, his girlfriend asked, "What?"
"She… kind of has a point, strangely enough," replied Stardust, surprised that he was even saying those words. "I mean, all we saw was you firing that magic blast, causing an explosion to appear, and when we got there, you looked exhausted, with your face almost as red as an apple."
"That doesn't prove anything," said Twilight, who still looked nervous.
"Well, then, how did you save Sunset, huh?" questioned Pinkie, who was raising an eyebrow at her friend. "Cause we pretty much have no idea how you did that."
Before Twilight could respond, Stardust gently pushed Pinkie away from the alicorn, and he said, "I'm not saying that I think you're another Twilight, love, but I am getting curious as to how-"
"I kissed Sunset, okay? That's how I saved her!"
As soon as she said those words, Twilight brought her hooves up to her closed muzzle, and she immediately started blushing.
Stardust was now stunned, not knowing exactly what to say next, and Sunset found herself becoming red in the face, as well.
"Uh… say what?" asked Applejack, who was mostly confused.
Spike, Starlight, and the rest of the Mane 6 were all speechless… well, except for Pinkie Pie, who said, "Huh, I didnot thinkthat she was going to say that."
Canterlot
A few minutes after leaving the throne room, Ronxor was now on his way back to the prison ship, but he stopped walking after sensing that someone was nearby.
"Anything I can help you with, Omega?" asked the silver Pegasus, turning around to look at the cloaked pony. "I have things to do, you know."
"So do I, you numbskull," replied Omega, who sounded upset with him. "But before I do those things, I am warning youright nowto leave the rest of Casey's friends alone… if you know what's good for you."
Ronxor raised an eyebrow, and said, "Why do you care about those ponies? Theyarethe ones who trapped you in limbo after your Crystal Empire plan got screwed up-"
"It's none ofyour damn concernas to why I care about them," growled a frustrated Omega, who was now staring down at the winged pony. "So listen to what I am saying… leave themalone, or else I'm going to suggestyouas the next lab rat for one of Elixir's experiments.We clear on that?"
Ronxor did a small gulp, remembering being thrown right through a wall, and quickly nodded his head.
"S-sure thing, Omega… my apologies."
Then, he began to run away from the cloaked pony since he didnotwant to get hurt by Omega for athird time, and once he was gone, Omega nodded his head.
"Now that I've dealt with him, I can focus on using myactualpowers against Stardust… and there isno waythat he's going to stop me from whatIhave to do."
As Sunset began to prepare an energy blast that would come from her horn, Twilight was quickly thinking of a way to solve this dilemna.
What do I do, what do I do, what do I do, what do I… wait, something unexpected… that's it!
Once she knew what she was going to do, Twilight fired her own energy blast, but aimed it at the nearby ground instead of Sunset herself, and this caused them to be surrounded by smoke and dust.
Alright… here goes nothing!
Then, with a quick lift of her head, Twilight also closed her eyes as she delivered a kiss to her friend's muzzle.
"..."
Please work, please work, please work!
"..."
Ten seconds later, Sunset's horn stopped sending out little sparks of electricity, and as her eyelids began to close, the young unicorn collapsed to the ground while Twilight let out a heavy sigh of relief.
"... and that's when you showed up,"said Twilight, finishing up her explanation of how she had saved Sunset from Elixir's spell.
Stardust was still stunned, and everyone else was looking at a blushing Sunset, who still had no idea what to say.
"Jack? Please say something…anything…"
Her special somepony blinked his eyes a few times, and then, with a cheeky smile, he replied, "That was… probably… one of the hottest things you've ever done since we became a couple, love."
At first, Twilight didn't respond to Stardust, but then, he started to laugh, as did Rainbow, and the alicorn princess rolled her eyes. "You're unbelievable, Jack."
"Oh, it's not that big of a deal," chuckled Stardust, who couldn't help himself. "But I sort-of figured this would happen eventually… I mean, now I know why that one song played in the mall that one day."
Sunset's blush grew deeper, while Starlight began to turn a little pink, and Twilight delivered a soft punch to Stardust's shoulder. "Knock it off."
"Alright, fine, I'm sorry," replied Stardust, nodding his head, and he spoke in a serious tone. "My apologies, love…"
Then, his smile quickly returned, and the young pony asked, "So, who decides to pick me as the best mare? You or Sunset?"
Rainbow started to laugh again, while Twilight rolled her eyes, and she said, "I am… so sorry, Sunset…"
"N-no, I get it, don't worry," replied the yellow-colored unicorn, with both of them still blushing.
However, Stardust had just one more thing to say regarding Twilight's kiss with Sunset.
"Who's better, love? Me or her?"
Rainbow's laughter started to increase, and Stardust eventually felt himself wanting to laugh, as well.
"It wasn'tthatkind of kiss, Jack," replied the young princess. "So, I can't really answer that…"
But then, she quickly looked at Sunset, and said, "Not that I'm sayingyou'rea bad kisser or anything, but we didn't actually… like when I kiss him… so I can't really compare-"
"Hahahahahaha!"laughed Rainbow and Stardust, as well as Spike, who couldn't help himself, while the rest of their friends were beginning to chuckle and giggle.
Twilight frowned at Stardust, with an unamused facial expression, and once he stopped laughing, the young pony said, "Okay, I'm done… sorry, love, I know why you had to do that… besides, I'm sure that we are all going to laugh at this one future day when we look back on what happened in the past."
"Uh-huh,"replied Twilight, who was now a little annoyed and embarassed. "So… um, Sunset… are you able to rememberhow longit took you to get from Canterlot to here?"
Glad that she was hearing the subject being changed, Sunset said, "I'd say by tomorrow afternoon, we should all able to reach the castle…"
Perfect,thought Stardust, who nodded his head.The sooner we get there, the sooner I get to take on Omega.
A few hours after Twilight told everyone about her way of saving Sunset, the group of friends continued on their quest back to Canterlot.
"You mean that Omega wasn't wearing his mask when you saw him? What did he look like?"
Sunset gave her alicorn friend a small shrug, and she replied, "I don't remember… it was like, for a moment, he couldn't bear to see what Elixir would do, and… it's all just so confusing."
As for Stardust, he was continuing to think about Casey, and found himself having a flashback to when they'd been spending some quality time together prior to the day of their race.
"So you haven't gone through any sort of side-effects since we became Starcade?"
Stardust shook his head, and replied, "Nope, not really."
The two friends were currently inside Stardust's room, and he was introducing Casey to the joy and wonder of playing video-games, but it was taking him a while to get the hang of it.
"Well, can I ask you something else?"
Setting down the controller, Stardust took a quick sip from a Coke bottle, and he said, "Be my guest, pal…"
Casey took a moment to think of what his words would be exactly.
"Why are we still friends?"
A confused Stardust began to frown, and he replied, "What do you mean by that?"
"Well… I mean, look at what's happened ever since the day that we met," explained the orange-yellow Earth pony. "Rowan tried to permanently erase all of your alternate selves from existince… he even went back in time to a certain day in your past to kill you!
"Plus, because of all that world-traveling we did, it caused the Equestria Girls version of you to come into your world, and pretty much screw up your life so that he could take it from you… I mean, you could have just-"
Suddenly, he stopped talking after seeing that Stardust had raised his hoof, and the gold-colored pony said, "Just relax for a moment, Casey… now, believe it or not, being your friend was not exactly my first choice-"
"No, I believe it," replied the young pony, and he tapped the side of his skull. "Idohave some of you in me, remember?"
"For the time being, yes, but what I meant was that it took two certain ponies to actually convince me to try and be your friend that day I returned your necklace."
When Casey asked him who they were, Stardust chuckled, and said, "Well, let me tell you what happenedbeforeI went to your world…"
[Flashback - takes place in "A Race Against Time"]
After making some final adjustments to the Crystal Mirror time machine, Twilight looked at her special somepony, and said, "Okay, Jack, it's ready for you!"
However, to her non-surprise, Stardust was shaking his head. "No, no,no…I have done enough traveling through time and space, love, and I am not making an occasion for just a regular pony."
Twilight rolled her eyes, and she replied, "Come on, Jack, you know it's the right thing to do… plus, it's always fun to make a new friend, so-"
"Say what?" interrupted a surprised Stardust. "Who said I was gonna be his friend? All that needs to be done is to return him his necklace… nothing else."
But Twilight was not going to give up so easily. "Just give him a chance, Jack… he seemed like a really nice pony."
"You're just saying that because he saw you first," muttered the stubborn pony.
I don't see any problem with this.
"Oh, notyou,too, Starswirl," said a slightly-annoyed Stardust. "Why is being his friend so important?"
Because Twilight and I have encouraged you to make new friendships… and yes, although it appears that Casey comes from a parallel version of Equestria, there's no reason why he doesn't deserve a chance.
Before Stardust could continue arguing with him, Twilight handed him the turtle-dove necklace that belonged to Casey, and a warm smile was on her face.
"I… this… why… oh,fine," said Stardust, letting out a sigh. "But if I find one thing that I don't like about him, love, I am going to come straight back here, andnevervisit his world again… okay?"
"Yes, Jack, I understand… now, go on," replied Twilight, who actually had a pretty good feeling about this.
Unable to think of anything else to say, Stardust nodded his head, and stepped through the Crystal Mirror.
Whoosh!
A few seconds later, he was lying on the ground, and he muttered, "I'm never going to get used to that."
Once the feeling of dizziness went away, Stardust found himself looking at the owner of the necklace that was in his hoof.
"Ah, hello again, Casey… I believe that this necklace belongs to you."
[End of flashback]
For some reason, Stardust now had his hoof on his forehead, and Casey asked, "You okay?"
"Yeah, I just… it felt like I was having an 'Inception' moment right now."
Casey just gave him a confused look.
"It's when you dream in a dream that has you dreaming… eh, never mind, not important," replied Stardust, shaking his head a little before he continued to give his explanation.
"Now, yes, even though I would prefernotto diealmost every damn day of the week, I'm used to stuff like this happening… besides, if spending time with you gets me away from having to be in Sunset's world-"
Casey started to laugh, and said, "You seriouslydo notlike being there, do you?"
Stardust looked at his friend, and replied, "I enjoy that world as much as one would enjoy gargling a box of nails."
"Oh…" said Casey. "Wow… no wonder your other self wanted to kill you."
After noticing how quiet her special somepony was being right now, Twilight asked, "Are you thinking about him?"
"Yeah…" replied Stardust, letting out a sigh, and he had a look of regret on his face. "I never should have argued with him in the first place."
[Canterlot]
"I am assuming that you have good news for me, Ronxor?" asked Elixir, as he sat on Celestia's throne.
The silver Pegasus did a nervous gulp, and he replied, "Well, um… not exactly, sire."
Elixir's smile went away, and he raised an eyebrow at his long-time companion. "Oh? What's wrong, then?"
"Well, um… it appears that Twilight and her friends were able to get past the bird, and Sunset has yet to return… so I fear that they'll be arriving here very soon."
After Ronxor finished his sentence, Elixir remained silent, and then, to his suprise, the dark-colored pony started laughing.
"Um… I don't quite see the humor in this, sire."
Elixir's smile returned, and he shook his head, saying, "This is nothing to be worried about, Ronxor… Twilight Sparkle is just a princess, she and her friends are powerless against me, and there's nopony else in this world that is going to stop me!"
Inside of his room, an unmasked Omega was looking at the two objects that were on his desk.
One of them was a turtle-dove necklace, and the other one was Applejack's hat.
"That's right, Stardust,"growled the cloaked pony. "Try and be the hero that you think you are…"
ZZZZZZZZTTTTTT!
Blue electricity started to fly all across the room, and a sinister smile appeared on his face.
"You think you know me? Well, then… I guess we'll find out soon enough."