My Little Pony: Darkness Risingby CJ EsmerioChaptersA Watchful ProtectorRedemption CompleteNew ArrivalsA Watchful ProtectorAuthor's Note My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic belongs to Hasbro and DHX Media. I just own the story. A Watchful Protector In the land of Equestria and beyond, there are as many stories as there are these incredible creatures who inhabit it... some remain secret to all those but a select few, while others have become the stuff of legend, and there are those who were born of our dreams. Like the Equestrians themselves, these tales have survived the test of time, and with each passing day, countless adventures unfold from the top of the world to the bottom of the sea. In the main part of Equestria itself, there are four powerful princesses. One for the day, one for the night, one for family, and then, there's the most important princess of all: Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, who makes sure that everyone feels like they belong, enjoying their lives in a magical world of friendship. And she doesn't do it alone... helping her along the way on this amazing journey are Twilight's closest friends, who along with the princess herself, all represent the Elements of Harmony - generosity, honesty, laughter, kindness, loyalty, and magic. But there are those who seek to rule all of Equestria with wrongful intentions, and although the Mane 6 have been able to help several realize the error of their ways, there are others that remain in the darkness, waiting for the perfect moment to deliver a fatal blow... which is where our story will soon begin, with a relentless being that wants to put Twilight's story of friendship to a tragic end. But until that time comes, remember what I said earlier about some stories choosing to remain secret? Well, one of them is about to be revealed, and it's up to Twilight and her friends to decide on if that was the right choice to make, or have it remain secluded forever... ############ "Looks like this year's off to a great start, Blazer." A pair of criminal ponies were currently sitting around in an abandoned warehouse, counting all of the money meant for a children's hospital that they had stolen from a jewelry outlet store. "You alright? Why aren't you saying anything?" Blazer nodded his head, but he had a nervous facial expression. "I'm fine, Frost… but I just think that we should've robbed the store the old-fashioned way instead of using the weapon you brought from that pegasus." The pony was referring to the mechanical weapon that was laying nearby Frost's hooves, and a smile appeared on his partner's face as he grabbed ahold of it, then proceeding with activating the weapon. It began shooting out blasts of deadly electricity, which lightened up the warehouse, and once he stopped, Frost said, "Why bother when this makes things so much easier? Not even the cops could-" "It's not the cops that worry me," interrupted Blazer, who was also taking an occasional look around their surroundings. "What if… you know… he shows up?" A slight frown appeared on Frost's face after hearing what his friend had said. "Who in the hell are you talking about?" Blazer gulped, and he put a stop to his money-counting before saying, "You know… the vigilante that ponies say only comes out when the daylight has almost gone, but it's not completely dark… he put a stop to that one operation over in Klugetown…" Once Frost realized who his partner was talking about, he surprised Blazer by erupting into laughter. "You can't be freaking serious right now… that pony doesn't even exist! And even if he did, the last sighting of him was out in Saddle Arabia a few days ago, so there's no way in hell that he'd be able to get all the way over here to Abyssnia in that time frame." There were still signs of fear in Blazer's eyes, especially because of the position that the sun was in right now, so Frost added, "Just finish countin' up the money, and we'll get outta here." "You ain't got to tell me twice," replied Blazer, and the two of them continued on with going through the bags filled up with stolen money, but just as they were about to finish… CRRREEEAAAAKK! "Um… w-what was that?" Frost shook his head, and gestured over to the doorway, saying, "Will you relax, pal? It was probably just the wind blowin' open the door… hurry up and close it, yeah?" Not wanting to run into the rumoured vigilante, Blazer hurried over to the front door while Frost kept on counting his bag of money, and a few minutes later, he closed up the bag while having a smile on his face. "Alright, Johnny, now you just got to finish up with… counting up… Johnny?" WHAM! Suddenly, the door was slammed shut, and Frost quickly flinched before yelling out, "What the fu… Blazer, this is no time to be messin' around!" No response was given, so Frost quickly grabbed ahold of his weapon, and exclaimed, "Blazer, you'd better get your damn bag, or I'm just gonna leave without you!" "Ugggh… F-Frost..." To his surprise, Frost turned around to find his partner, but for some reason, he looked like he'd gotten in a losing fight with someone. "Blazer? What in Equestria happened to you?" Too weak to speak, Blazer lifted up his front hoof to point at something - or someone - behind Frost, who turned around to find himself looking at the individual that his partner had been talking about. After blinking his eyes a few times, Frost started to let out a chuckle, and he said, "This is the pony that I'm supposed to be so afraid of?" "No… that's just a decoy." Before Frost could respond to whoever had spoken, he felt someone knock the weapon out of his hooves, followed by getting attacked from behind, and the pony groaned after landing hard on the floor. "Who… the hell… do you think you are?" growled Frost, as he tried to stand up, but his sentence was cut-off after getting a solid and powerful kick to his chest, causing him to fly back a few feet into a stack of empty cardboard boxes. Then, the criminal pony felt a pair of hooves grab ahold of him, and soon found himself looking into the face of the feared vigilante. "You and your friend over there know exactly who the hell I am… now, tell me who gave you that weapon, or you'll end up starting the new year in the emergency ward." A frown appeared on Frost's face, and he replied, "I don't have to tell you nothing… except that you'd better let me go before I - owww!" "You were saying?" asked the vigilante, raising a single eyebrow. "Ow-ow-ow-ow… alright, alright, I'll talk, I'll talk," cried Frost, wanting the pain that he was receiving to stop. "It was from a pegasus in a cloak, but he never showed his face… all that he asked for us to do in return was-" KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK! On the other side of the door was a group of the city's police officer ponies, and one of them was knocking very hard on the door. "This is the police! We know you're in there!" No one gave him a response, so the officer raised his gun, as well as everypony else, and they barged their way into the warehouse, searching for any signs of the two ponies that had robbed the jewelry store. "Sweet Celestia… what the Tartatus happened to them?" To their surprise, they found one of them lying near the bags of stolen money while the other was buried in a pile of empty cardboard boxes. However, as the officers began to apprehend the criminals, none of them realized that the weapon that Frost had used was gone. ########### You certainly have a way with words, Jack. The young vigilante scoffed as he placed the acquired mechanical device on a nearby table, once he had returned to his home. "Eh, what else can I say? Now, if you'll excuse me, Starswirl, I - gah, damn it!" He had been trying to remove his cloak so that he could then hang it up, but part of the fabric accidentally brushed up against one of his recently-gained scars that had not healed completely just yet. You really should be wearing more protective material whenever you're out there doing stuff like this. "And slow myself down because I have on unneccesary stuff? No way… besides, it's not as bad as the other ones." Oh, well, doesn't that just make everything better? Ignoring the sarcastic tone in his mentor's voice, the vigilante made his way over to a bulletin board, which contained a list of all the heroic things that he'd done to help others over the years, and he began to add in today's events. It would also be more better in many ways if you didn't do these things alone, Jack… maybe some friends that- The vigilante shook his head, knowing where this conversation was headed. "I already told you, Starswirl, I don't need to have any friends in my life. I didn't have any when I first arrived almost eight years ago - technically - and I've done pretty well so far with not having any." You also didn't recieve as many scars and bruises back then as you have now, correct? Rolling his eyes, the young pony started walking back over to the weapon to take another look, and he muttered, "You already know what my decision is on this particular subject." Yes, I do, unfortunately… which is I must apologize right now for what's about to happen. Confusion appeared on the vigilante's face after hearing what his mentor had said, but before he could ask him about it, he suddenly had a feeling that he wasn't the only one inside of the house. "Starswirl, what's going on?" … I hate it when he does that, thought the vigilante, knowing that he wasn't going to be recieving any kind of help whatsoever from the elderly spirit. Alright, so who in the hell decided to- Suddenly, the mysterious pony lowered his head, as if to avoid getting hit by something, and then, he saw that there was a dart stuck right into his bulletin board. "Wow, like I've never had to avoid those before," he said in a dry tone, followed by knocking the dart away with his hoof. "So, what do you-" Wham! After getting struck in the back of a head by what felt like a large frying pan, the vigilante started to feel a little woozy, and he muttered, "This… is different…" Turning his head to see who it was that whacked him, his eyes widened in surprise. "How in the hell did you-" Wham! Before falling down into a state of unconciousness, the young pony said, "Right… I forgot… don't question it." Redemption CompleteAuthor's Note "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while Stardust Balance is owned by the Warrior of Twilight, and FanficReader920 is the one who created Beck. Redemption Complete "Beck? Step forward, please." The middle-aged pony nodded his head, and did as he was instructed, standing in the middle of the royal Canterlot throne room. In front of him were the thrones that were currently occupied by Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadence, and behind were Twilight, Casey, Starlight, Spike, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Applejack. The reason that everyone was there was because that, after Beck had apologized to all of those that he had captured, Twilight wanted him to hear from the rulers of Equestria that he was no longer deemed a threat to anyone around him. "Where's Pinkie?" whispered Starlight, noticing that the pink pony was not with them, and Spike shrugged his shoulders in response while Princess Luna decided to speak. "The last time that you were in this room, Beck, was not long after you had commited your terrible crimes, as well as when both Twilight and Casey were cleared to leave the hospital." Poof! Suddenly, Beck found himself locked up inside of a cage, and casually laying across the top was Discord, who gave a small wave to everyone. "So sorry for being late, but it took me a while to find his old cage… which may or may not have actually been taken out from Princess Twilight's dungeon, but anyway, please go on." While Twilight brought a hoof to her forehead, Princess Cadence stood up as she began to speak next. "Your fate was then put into the hooves of Princess Twilight, who decided to take it upon herself into making sure that you completely understood the wrongness of your terrible actions against your own kind, and she helped you accomplish this by making apologies to all that were captured by you. Is that correct?" "Y-yes, your Highness," replied Beck, nodding his head, and everyone looked over at Celestia, waiting for her to take her turn in talking to him. "What do you plan on doing for the rest of your life, Beck?" asked the white royal alicorn. After letting out a sigh, Beck stood up straight, and looked at the co-ruler of Equestria, as well as his secret teenage crush, with a sincere expression. "I just… want to live in happiness and positivity, your Hignesses, instead of rage and negativity… to resume doing what I used to long ago, which was continuing to study various plants from all over Equestria, along with a little bit of tinkering here and there, inside of my new place… and, um, that's pretty much it so far." Celestia nodded her head, and she turned her attention to the Princess of Friendship. "Do you see him able to live his life this way, Twilight, without having to worry suffer through any kind of relapse?" "Yes, I can, Princess Celestia," replied Twilight, which brought a small smile to Beck's face. "He knows that what he did was wrong, and I understand that it was out of extreme grief for the loved ones that he lost as a result of my - Tirek's rampage across Equestria. He just needed somepony to point him in the right direction of healing, and I was just the pony to do it." A smirk appeared on Casey's face as he quietly agreed with his special somepony. True, he was far from even considering Beck as a friend, but in the end, Casey knew that the green-furred pony was no longer the same notorious and cruel animal that had landed both himself and Twilight in the hospital. "Well, then I suppose there's only a few more things left to say." Beck looked over at the Princess of the Night, who had on a small smile. "In the eyes of everyone here, Beck, you will no longer be viewed as a villainous and vengeful pony, but one that regrets the mistakes he made, and would go to great lengths to feel like he belonged." The middle-aged Earth Pony let out a sigh of relief, but before he could say anything, Luna had something else to add. "Be wise and careful of any important choices you make in the future that could lead us regretting to not taking further action against you." "I hear you loud and clear, your Highness," said Beck, just as Discord snapped his fingers to make the cage vanish into thin air, with the draconeques now floating nearby Twiilght' friends, and he delivered a bow to the trio of princesses. "I would again like to offer my apologies for what I did to you all, and assure you that I will never do something like that again." Then, to his surprise, Beck found himself looking up at Princess Celestia after he had stood back up. "And, once again, Beck, we all accept your apology… also, try a little harder with keeping certain secrets to yourself." After Celestia gave him a quick wink, a sheepish smile appeared on Beck's blushing face, and he nodded his thanks before saying, "T-thank you, Princesses… I… uh… t-think I need a-" "Alright, let's go get you some water before you pass out," said an amused Rainbow, quickly taking Beck out of the throne room, and Celestia looked over at Twilight, who seemed conflicted about something. "Was there anything else that you had on your mind, Twilight?" Her former pupil nodded, and she placed a hoof on the back of her neck, rubbing it a little while saying, "It's just that I… well… ever since we've got the school up and running again, I was also planning on having another, um, Friendship Festival here….in a week from today? I mean, it has almost been a year since the first one, and…" "Oh?" replied Celestia, giving the young alicorn a warm smile. "What else did you have in mind regarding this second festival?" While Twilight began to answer her question, Spike noticed that Rarity appeared to be bothered about something. "What's wrong?" "I'm not quite sure just yet," replied the white and frowning unicorn. "But I feel as if Pinkie's using one of my own ideas without even asking." After finally being able to gain back his conciousness, the vigilante pony quickly realized that he was no longer inside of his home. In fact, for some reason, he had been tied to a chair, and was currently sitting in front of a wooden desk, with only a single lightbulb from above as a source of light. "What the [BEEP] is all this?" I had only one question for him, and that was if he was a bad pony, or a good pony. Stepping out of the shadows was Pinkie Pie, wearing a brown trench coat and matching fedora hat, and she quietly glared at the tied-up pony sitting in front of her. He certainly doesn't look like a bad pony, but you just never know these days. Can't be too careful, right? "Okay, why don't you do yourself a favor, Pinkie, and-" "How do you know who I am, huh?" questioned the pink pony, raising a suspicious eyebrow at him. He closed his eyelids halfway, and replied, "It certainly isn't that hard to figure out… now, can you please get me out of this damn thing?" Pinkie shook her head, and she said, "You aren't going anywhere until everyone's returned from what they are doing out in Canterlot. In the meantime, however, you and I are going to have some fun… keep your eyes on him, Gummy, while I get the special stuff." As the young Earth Pony disappeared into the darkness, her captive saw that there was now a small toothless green alligator standing on top of the table, currently facing in the same direction as him, and the vigilante pony let out a sigh. "I can't even tell if you are looking at me or not." Gummy just blinked his eyes a few times, remaining silent while the captured pony shook his head. "Great, I'm even talking to the damn thing now." New ArrivalsAuthor's Note "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while Stardust Balance is owned by the Warrior of Twilight, and FanficReader920 is the one who created Beck. New Arrivals "So, are ya sure that you want to do this, Twilight?" Everyone was now sitting inside of the Friendship Express, which was heading back to Ponyville, and they were discussing Twilight's current plan that included having another Friendship Festival next week. "Yeah, I mean… things didn't exactly get off to an easy start," reminded Rainbow, giving a small shrug. "Still, it would be nice if I - we could find a way to invite the pirates." "And I don't recall the last time that I saw Capper," said Rarity, unaware of Spike now muttering some words underneath his breath with an annoyed expression. "Maybe even reach out to the hippogriffs?" suggested Fluttershy, and the rest of her friends looked at her. "What? Pinkie isn't here to suggest it." "Speakin' of which, where is Pinkie at anyway?" wondered Applejack. "I don't think any of us have seen her all day." As for Starlight, she was looking at Casey with concern. The young pony was sitting next to him by the window,.quietly staring at whatever he saw but not paying much attention. Flashback "Whatever happens, Casey," said Anti-Stardust, giving his former enemy one last warning. "Don't let him get to your Twilight. Don't let yourself go through the same type of the pain that I did. Whenever he comes, do anything to keep her safe from harm." Then, he jumped through the magical portal that had been created for him, and the young pony was left feeling speechless, unsure as to what- Present "Casey? You okay?" Starlight nudged him on the shoulder, and Casey turned to look at his friend. "Yeah, I'm… fine," he replied, giving the pink unicorn a weak smile. "Just thinking about certain memories." Flash Sentry was currently walking around the halls of the castle that belonged to Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, but he suddenly found himself shivering for a moment after passing through a certain hall. "Why did it get so cold all of a sudden?" wondered Flash, and he turned to the side, seeing a door that bore a carving of Princess Twilight's Cutie Mark, surrounded by five smaller carvings that belonged to her friends. Just as he was about to place one of his hooves on it, an older and more experienced royal guard caught his attention after saying, "Hey, Sentry! What are you doing over there?" "Nothing, sir, I just... it suddenly got really cold in here, for some reason," replied Flash, and the other guard rolled his eyes. "No, really, it was right after I passed-" "You're in the Crystal Empire, son," pointed out the guard. "It's supposed to feel cold… now, continue with your patrol. We don't need another Earth Pony breaking into here and causing destruction." With the guard's eyes keeping focus on Flash, the young pegasus continued walking down the hall, and as the other guard went in the opposite direction, Flash decided that perhaps it would be best to inform the two rulers about what he'd felt. It was more than just the cold weather that's usually outside… but I don't know exactly what it could be. Little did he know that there was something sinister going on inside of the special room, as well as the fact that an unknown figure was making his way back down from the ceiling, with a sly and devious grin on his face. "Here. Put this over your eyes." Pinkie held out a decorative bandana in front of the vigilante's face, and he raised an eyebrow at her. "Exactly how do you expect me to put that on?" "Well, duh, with your… ohhh, right." The pink pony now noticed that her captive was still tied up to a chair, so she decided to put it on for him. Oh, sweet Jesus, thought the vigilante pony, having no idea on what to make of this other than knowing that this shouldn't be too terrible. It was Pinkie, after all. Once the blindfold was covering up the young pony's eyes, she stepped back a little bit, and said, "Tell me what kind of flavor this is." The [BEEP] does she mean by - Suddenly, something chewy and sweet was put into the bearded pony's mouth, and after tasting it, her captive said, "Chocolate cake. Easy." "Well, how about this one?" asked Pinkie, now giving him a quick slice of another cake, and watched patiently as he chewed it up into tiny pieces before eventually swallowing. Just as he was about to answer, Pinkie decided to give him a quick sip of milk, and after that, he answered, "Cookies n' cream. What else you got?" Meanwhile, Casey, Twilight, Spike, and Starlight were all making their way back to the castle, and as they began to walk up the steps, the pink unicorn asked, "So, how come Pinkie decided not to show up to Canterlot again?" "I'm not really sure exactly, but I don't think it was anything too serious," replied Twilight, while Spike opened up the castle doors. "Maybe she just-" "Uh, Twilight?" Everyone turned their attention over to the young dragon, now already inside. "Why is everything so dark in here?" For some reason, as the quartet entered their home, they were standing inside of complete darkness, but before Twilight or Starlight could light up the room with their magical horns, the light returned, and revealed Pinkie standing by a table in the middle of the room with several cakes on top of it. "So, this is my punishment? You're going to force me to eat a whole bunch of random-[BEEP] cakes?" In front of Pinkie was a gold Earth pony that was tied sitting to a chair, and a voice that sounded very familiar to the newly arrived Equestrians. "Well, I'm not really forcing you to eat these, per se… I just wanted to see if- oh, hi, everyone! How did the meeting go?" "Uhhhh… Pinkie?" asked a confused Twilight, who was slowly making her way over to them. "Why is he tied up to a chair?" Well, this certainly isn't the way I imagined meeting her again, thought the vigilante pony, and acting as if she'd forgotten that small detail, Pinkie began to untie him. "Because I wanted to make sure that he wouldn't go away before you came back," replied Pinkie, which made Twilight bring a hoof to her forehead, and Starlight let out a sigh. "You couldn't have just asked him to wait here patiently until we came back?" said the pink unicorn. That voice is one I don't recognize, thought the vigilante pony. "Ohhhh… I guess I forgot about that," admitted a sheepish Pinkie, and Twilight rolled her eyes. "But I did bring you what you asked for, Twilight!" "Wha - I never asked you to do anything like this!" cried the young alicorn. "When did I tell you to…" After the un-tied ropes fell down to the floor, Pinkie's mane suddenly became similar to Twilight's own as she said, "Remember? That one day you were all 'Why can't we just have our own Stardust to help us out with problems like this'..." She then brought her mane back to its original style. "It took me some time, but I was able to find him, so without further ado, I present to you: Stardust Balance, vigilante of Equestria, Warrior of Twilight, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera!" All of Pinkie's friends just blinked quietly at the smiling Earth pony while the young vigilante muttered, "It's technically the Twilight Warrior…." "Oops! Let me try that again, then," said Pinkie, now clearing her throat, but just as she was about to introduce him again, Twilight used her magic to move Pinkie away from Stardust, and began to remove the bandana that was covering up his face. "I'm so sorry about this, Stardust, if I had known she would…" "No, it's fine, there's no harm in me eating some free cake, Princess…" said Stardust, with him and Twilight pausing their sentences after the bandana was removed, and they were now looking at each other. "So… are you okay, then?" asked a concerned Twilight. A smile appeared on Stardust's face, and he nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm… just fine now…" Then, the two ponies went back to being silent until Casey cleared his throat, and asked, "How is uh, your girlfriend doing, Star?" Stardust's smile turned into a frown as he looked at the young Earth pony that had spoken. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't have a girlfriend." "Huh? Did you and Twilight break up or something?" asked a confused Starlight. Who are these two ponies anyway? thought Stardust, who replied, "No, because me and Princess Twilight here never even became a couple in the first place, and I think I would've definitely remembered something like that happening." Starlight and Casey shared the same confused look with each other, and as for Twilight, she looked over at Pinkie. "You didn't hurt him on the head or anything, did you?" "Well, I technically only hit his face a couple of times with a frying pan," answered Pinkie. "But what does that have to do anything?" "Pinkie! You might have affected his memories or something," exclaimed Twilight, quickly giving Stardust an apologetic smile before going back to her friend. "And I've told you about how I feel when you don't ask to-" "I didn't use the Crystal Mirror," replied the energetic pony. "Why would I… ohhhhh, I see…" She then started to let out a chuckle, much to everyone's confusion. "This isn't that Stardust, Twilight, he's our very ownStardust!" "What?" exclaimed the others that were in the room, and Pinkie simply nodded her head. "Yeah, I mean, why else would he be saying… ohhh, you thought I was hurting the other -" Suddenly, Stardust began to shake his head while starting to get out of the chair. "Whoa, whoa, okay… can someone else besides Pinkie please explain me to what in the [BEEP] is going on here?" "Alright, but just take it easy, Stardust," said Casey, just as Twilight was about to explain. "Let's not-" Who the [BEEP] is this clown supposed to be? thought the bearded vigilante. "Uh, who are you again exactly?" "I'm Casey," replied the light-orange Earth Pony, and he gestured over to Twilight. "And her special somepony." Stardust's eyes went wide after hearing that, and he cried, "Casey? What the… that's your actual name? And when the [BEEP] did you start dating… oh, my God…" He began to groan while placing a hoof over his eyes. "This is [BEEP]-ing Sentry all over again…" Casey started to frown, as well, but just as he was about to march right over to Stardust, Starlight held him back, and she said, "Um, Stardust? Maybe it'd be best if we, uh, started to explain all of this from the beginning." Twilight nodded her head, in agreement, and Stardust replied, "Uh… okay, but first… do you mind if I ask who you are?" "I'm Starlight Glimmer," replied the pink unicorn, offering Stardust a hoofshake, and it took a moment for him to accept her offer as politely as possible. Starlight Glimmer… Sunset Shimmer… sheesh, they couldn't have put more effort into making them not sound similar? thought Stardust, who was now letting go of Starlight's hoof. "Right, then…" said Twilight, while Casey continued muttering underneath his breath, for some reason. "Okay, Stardust, this all started back kinda a couple years ago when me and my friends were all taking a trip to the Crystal Empire…" As he stood atop a grass-covered hill, Beck looked quietly at what remained of his old home. All of those years I spent… filled with pointless anger against an innocent princess… and it led me to almost committing the worst crime ever in Equestrian history… He then remembered everything that had happened earlier today, and a smile appeared on his face. Now, thanks to Twilight and her friends… I get to have a fresh new start at life… a chance to create new memories… heh, maybe now I can go back to studying that one flower I- Suddenly, his thoughts of happiness were interrupted by everything around him suddenly going darker, and the middle-aged pony began to wish that he'd brought an umbrella with him, but as he began to walk away, Beck saw that only a certain part of the area was covered in shadows while everywhere else was still bright and sunny. What in the world is… gah! After looking up into the sky, Beck quickly ran as fast as he could so that he would be able to avoid being crushed by a giant airship that was landing onto the ground. Thud! Then, one of the side doors opened automatically, followed by a ramp that was making its way to the ground, and a few moments later, a purple unicorn began to walk down the ramp, with a hoof placed on the side of her head. "Ugh… that is the last time I'm ever letting you drive this thing, Grubber." She was followed soon after by a pudgy grey hedgehog that had white-furred spikes, and was currently munching on a slice of carrot cake. "What's the matter, Tempest? It's not like I did any kind of damage to… ohhhh, my gosshh… did I do that?" Grubber was now looking at the remains of Beck's old home. "I sure hope not." Before Tempest could even say anything to him, an approaching Beck gave Grubber an answer. "Not to worry, it's been like that for ages now… and, uh, thanks for not making me a pancake." "I'm sorry about that," said Tempest, after scowling at the sheepish hedgehog. "Would you happen to know if Princess Twi…" She found herself pausing her sentence for a moment. "Your voice sounds… familiar to me… oh! You're that guest of Princess Twilight who hurt his tongue while eating, correct?" Once Beck remembered what she was referring to, he began rubbing the back of his neck while saying, "Uh… yeah, that was… me…" "Spike, how many times are you going to be playing that same game?" With the game controller in his claws, a concentrated Spike said, "It's not the same… game, Twilight… it's three on one remastered disk, and right now, I'm on the Warped ga - no! GAME OVER! "You don't have to be scared, Twilight," said a smirking Spike, referring to the tiki-head that had suddenly popped onto the screen, as well as the game's continue option. The purple alicorn quickly shook her head, and she said, "No, I just… didn't expect him to appear like that… look, you have ten more minutes, and then, it's time for bed." "Got it," replied Spike, who hadn't even taken his eyes off of the t.v. screen. Thud! Suddenly, a loud noise from inside the castle caught both of their attention, and the young dragon asked, "Uh… w-what was that, Twilight?" "Um… I'm not sure, Spike," answered the curious alicorn, who started to walk out of the room. Spike simply just watched her leave, but a moment later, she whispered, "Spike! You coming or not?" Knowing that she'd probably get upset if he told her the other answer, Spike paused the game, and followed after her. "This doesn't count as my ten minutes though, right?" The two of them continued to walk down the hall, and eventually found themselves entering the Throne Room, where they noticed a cloaked pony-shaped figure lying face-down near the Cutie Map table. "Oh, my gosh… Twilight, is he…" asked Spike, letting out a nervous gulp. "No, Spike, look! He's still moving…" said Twilight, and the two of them watched the newcomer slowly start to stand up. "Um, excuse me? Are you-" "Nice to see you again, Princess Twilight," interrupted the cloaked pony, to the alicorn's surprise, and he slowly removed his hood in order to reveal his scarred face, which had a close resemblance to Stardust's, except there was a scar over his right eye, as well as a small and metal eye-patch that covered up his left eye. Twilight's curiousity turned into surprise, and then, it became irritation as she said, "I can't exactly say the same for you, Anti-Stardust."
A Watchful ProtectorAuthor's Note My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic belongs to Hasbro and DHX Media. I just own the story. A Watchful Protector In the land of Equestria and beyond, there are as many stories as there are these incredible creatures who inhabit it... some remain secret to all those but a select few, while others have become the stuff of legend, and there are those who were born of our dreams. Like the Equestrians themselves, these tales have survived the test of time, and with each passing day, countless adventures unfold from the top of the world to the bottom of the sea. In the main part of Equestria itself, there are four powerful princesses. One for the day, one for the night, one for family, and then, there's the most important princess of all: Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, who makes sure that everyone feels like they belong, enjoying their lives in a magical world of friendship. And she doesn't do it alone... helping her along the way on this amazing journey are Twilight's closest friends, who along with the princess herself, all represent the Elements of Harmony - generosity, honesty, laughter, kindness, loyalty, and magic. But there are those who seek to rule all of Equestria with wrongful intentions, and although the Mane 6 have been able to help several realize the error of their ways, there are others that remain in the darkness, waiting for the perfect moment to deliver a fatal blow... which is where our story will soon begin, with a relentless being that wants to put Twilight's story of friendship to a tragic end. But until that time comes, remember what I said earlier about some stories choosing to remain secret? Well, one of them is about to be revealed, and it's up to Twilight and her friends to decide on if that was the right choice to make, or have it remain secluded forever... ############ "Looks like this year's off to a great start, Blazer." A pair of criminal ponies were currently sitting around in an abandoned warehouse, counting all of the money meant for a children's hospital that they had stolen from a jewelry outlet store. "You alright? Why aren't you saying anything?" Blazer nodded his head, but he had a nervous facial expression. "I'm fine, Frost… but I just think that we should've robbed the store the old-fashioned way instead of using the weapon you brought from that pegasus." The pony was referring to the mechanical weapon that was laying nearby Frost's hooves, and a smile appeared on his partner's face as he grabbed ahold of it, then proceeding with activating the weapon. It began shooting out blasts of deadly electricity, which lightened up the warehouse, and once he stopped, Frost said, "Why bother when this makes things so much easier? Not even the cops could-" "It's not the cops that worry me," interrupted Blazer, who was also taking an occasional look around their surroundings. "What if… you know… he shows up?" A slight frown appeared on Frost's face after hearing what his friend had said. "Who in the hell are you talking about?" Blazer gulped, and he put a stop to his money-counting before saying, "You know… the vigilante that ponies say only comes out when the daylight has almost gone, but it's not completely dark… he put a stop to that one operation over in Klugetown…" Once Frost realized who his partner was talking about, he surprised Blazer by erupting into laughter. "You can't be freaking serious right now… that pony doesn't even exist! And even if he did, the last sighting of him was out in Saddle Arabia a few days ago, so there's no way in hell that he'd be able to get all the way over here to Abyssnia in that time frame." There were still signs of fear in Blazer's eyes, especially because of the position that the sun was in right now, so Frost added, "Just finish countin' up the money, and we'll get outta here." "You ain't got to tell me twice," replied Blazer, and the two of them continued on with going through the bags filled up with stolen money, but just as they were about to finish… CRRREEEAAAAKK! "Um… w-what was that?" Frost shook his head, and gestured over to the doorway, saying, "Will you relax, pal? It was probably just the wind blowin' open the door… hurry up and close it, yeah?" Not wanting to run into the rumoured vigilante, Blazer hurried over to the front door while Frost kept on counting his bag of money, and a few minutes later, he closed up the bag while having a smile on his face. "Alright, Johnny, now you just got to finish up with… counting up… Johnny?" WHAM! Suddenly, the door was slammed shut, and Frost quickly flinched before yelling out, "What the fu… Blazer, this is no time to be messin' around!" No response was given, so Frost quickly grabbed ahold of his weapon, and exclaimed, "Blazer, you'd better get your damn bag, or I'm just gonna leave without you!" "Ugggh… F-Frost..." To his surprise, Frost turned around to find his partner, but for some reason, he looked like he'd gotten in a losing fight with someone. "Blazer? What in Equestria happened to you?" Too weak to speak, Blazer lifted up his front hoof to point at something - or someone - behind Frost, who turned around to find himself looking at the individual that his partner had been talking about. After blinking his eyes a few times, Frost started to let out a chuckle, and he said, "This is the pony that I'm supposed to be so afraid of?" "No… that's just a decoy." Before Frost could respond to whoever had spoken, he felt someone knock the weapon out of his hooves, followed by getting attacked from behind, and the pony groaned after landing hard on the floor. "Who… the hell… do you think you are?" growled Frost, as he tried to stand up, but his sentence was cut-off after getting a solid and powerful kick to his chest, causing him to fly back a few feet into a stack of empty cardboard boxes. Then, the criminal pony felt a pair of hooves grab ahold of him, and soon found himself looking into the face of the feared vigilante. "You and your friend over there know exactly who the hell I am… now, tell me who gave you that weapon, or you'll end up starting the new year in the emergency ward." A frown appeared on Frost's face, and he replied, "I don't have to tell you nothing… except that you'd better let me go before I - owww!" "You were saying?" asked the vigilante, raising a single eyebrow. "Ow-ow-ow-ow… alright, alright, I'll talk, I'll talk," cried Frost, wanting the pain that he was receiving to stop. "It was from a pegasus in a cloak, but he never showed his face… all that he asked for us to do in return was-" KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK! On the other side of the door was a group of the city's police officer ponies, and one of them was knocking very hard on the door. "This is the police! We know you're in there!" No one gave him a response, so the officer raised his gun, as well as everypony else, and they barged their way into the warehouse, searching for any signs of the two ponies that had robbed the jewelry store. "Sweet Celestia… what the Tartatus happened to them?" To their surprise, they found one of them lying near the bags of stolen money while the other was buried in a pile of empty cardboard boxes. However, as the officers began to apprehend the criminals, none of them realized that the weapon that Frost had used was gone. ########### You certainly have a way with words, Jack. The young vigilante scoffed as he placed the acquired mechanical device on a nearby table, once he had returned to his home. "Eh, what else can I say? Now, if you'll excuse me, Starswirl, I - gah, damn it!" He had been trying to remove his cloak so that he could then hang it up, but part of the fabric accidentally brushed up against one of his recently-gained scars that had not healed completely just yet. You really should be wearing more protective material whenever you're out there doing stuff like this. "And slow myself down because I have on unneccesary stuff? No way… besides, it's not as bad as the other ones." Oh, well, doesn't that just make everything better? Ignoring the sarcastic tone in his mentor's voice, the vigilante made his way over to a bulletin board, which contained a list of all the heroic things that he'd done to help others over the years, and he began to add in today's events. It would also be more better in many ways if you didn't do these things alone, Jack… maybe some friends that- The vigilante shook his head, knowing where this conversation was headed. "I already told you, Starswirl, I don't need to have any friends in my life. I didn't have any when I first arrived almost eight years ago - technically - and I've done pretty well so far with not having any." You also didn't recieve as many scars and bruises back then as you have now, correct? Rolling his eyes, the young pony started walking back over to the weapon to take another look, and he muttered, "You already know what my decision is on this particular subject." Yes, I do, unfortunately… which is I must apologize right now for what's about to happen. Confusion appeared on the vigilante's face after hearing what his mentor had said, but before he could ask him about it, he suddenly had a feeling that he wasn't the only one inside of the house. "Starswirl, what's going on?" … I hate it when he does that, thought the vigilante, knowing that he wasn't going to be recieving any kind of help whatsoever from the elderly spirit. Alright, so who in the hell decided to- Suddenly, the mysterious pony lowered his head, as if to avoid getting hit by something, and then, he saw that there was a dart stuck right into his bulletin board. "Wow, like I've never had to avoid those before," he said in a dry tone, followed by knocking the dart away with his hoof. "So, what do you-" Wham! After getting struck in the back of a head by what felt like a large frying pan, the vigilante started to feel a little woozy, and he muttered, "This… is different…" Turning his head to see who it was that whacked him, his eyes widened in surprise. "How in the hell did you-" Wham! Before falling down into a state of unconciousness, the young pony said, "Right… I forgot… don't question it."
Redemption CompleteAuthor's Note "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while Stardust Balance is owned by the Warrior of Twilight, and FanficReader920 is the one who created Beck. Redemption Complete "Beck? Step forward, please." The middle-aged pony nodded his head, and did as he was instructed, standing in the middle of the royal Canterlot throne room. In front of him were the thrones that were currently occupied by Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadence, and behind were Twilight, Casey, Starlight, Spike, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Applejack. The reason that everyone was there was because that, after Beck had apologized to all of those that he had captured, Twilight wanted him to hear from the rulers of Equestria that he was no longer deemed a threat to anyone around him. "Where's Pinkie?" whispered Starlight, noticing that the pink pony was not with them, and Spike shrugged his shoulders in response while Princess Luna decided to speak. "The last time that you were in this room, Beck, was not long after you had commited your terrible crimes, as well as when both Twilight and Casey were cleared to leave the hospital." Poof! Suddenly, Beck found himself locked up inside of a cage, and casually laying across the top was Discord, who gave a small wave to everyone. "So sorry for being late, but it took me a while to find his old cage… which may or may not have actually been taken out from Princess Twilight's dungeon, but anyway, please go on." While Twilight brought a hoof to her forehead, Princess Cadence stood up as she began to speak next. "Your fate was then put into the hooves of Princess Twilight, who decided to take it upon herself into making sure that you completely understood the wrongness of your terrible actions against your own kind, and she helped you accomplish this by making apologies to all that were captured by you. Is that correct?" "Y-yes, your Highness," replied Beck, nodding his head, and everyone looked over at Celestia, waiting for her to take her turn in talking to him. "What do you plan on doing for the rest of your life, Beck?" asked the white royal alicorn. After letting out a sigh, Beck stood up straight, and looked at the co-ruler of Equestria, as well as his secret teenage crush, with a sincere expression. "I just… want to live in happiness and positivity, your Hignesses, instead of rage and negativity… to resume doing what I used to long ago, which was continuing to study various plants from all over Equestria, along with a little bit of tinkering here and there, inside of my new place… and, um, that's pretty much it so far." Celestia nodded her head, and she turned her attention to the Princess of Friendship. "Do you see him able to live his life this way, Twilight, without having to worry suffer through any kind of relapse?" "Yes, I can, Princess Celestia," replied Twilight, which brought a small smile to Beck's face. "He knows that what he did was wrong, and I understand that it was out of extreme grief for the loved ones that he lost as a result of my - Tirek's rampage across Equestria. He just needed somepony to point him in the right direction of healing, and I was just the pony to do it." A smirk appeared on Casey's face as he quietly agreed with his special somepony. True, he was far from even considering Beck as a friend, but in the end, Casey knew that the green-furred pony was no longer the same notorious and cruel animal that had landed both himself and Twilight in the hospital. "Well, then I suppose there's only a few more things left to say." Beck looked over at the Princess of the Night, who had on a small smile. "In the eyes of everyone here, Beck, you will no longer be viewed as a villainous and vengeful pony, but one that regrets the mistakes he made, and would go to great lengths to feel like he belonged." The middle-aged Earth Pony let out a sigh of relief, but before he could say anything, Luna had something else to add. "Be wise and careful of any important choices you make in the future that could lead us regretting to not taking further action against you." "I hear you loud and clear, your Highness," said Beck, just as Discord snapped his fingers to make the cage vanish into thin air, with the draconeques now floating nearby Twiilght' friends, and he delivered a bow to the trio of princesses. "I would again like to offer my apologies for what I did to you all, and assure you that I will never do something like that again." Then, to his surprise, Beck found himself looking up at Princess Celestia after he had stood back up. "And, once again, Beck, we all accept your apology… also, try a little harder with keeping certain secrets to yourself." After Celestia gave him a quick wink, a sheepish smile appeared on Beck's blushing face, and he nodded his thanks before saying, "T-thank you, Princesses… I… uh… t-think I need a-" "Alright, let's go get you some water before you pass out," said an amused Rainbow, quickly taking Beck out of the throne room, and Celestia looked over at Twilight, who seemed conflicted about something. "Was there anything else that you had on your mind, Twilight?" Her former pupil nodded, and she placed a hoof on the back of her neck, rubbing it a little while saying, "It's just that I… well… ever since we've got the school up and running again, I was also planning on having another, um, Friendship Festival here….in a week from today? I mean, it has almost been a year since the first one, and…" "Oh?" replied Celestia, giving the young alicorn a warm smile. "What else did you have in mind regarding this second festival?" While Twilight began to answer her question, Spike noticed that Rarity appeared to be bothered about something. "What's wrong?" "I'm not quite sure just yet," replied the white and frowning unicorn. "But I feel as if Pinkie's using one of my own ideas without even asking." After finally being able to gain back his conciousness, the vigilante pony quickly realized that he was no longer inside of his home. In fact, for some reason, he had been tied to a chair, and was currently sitting in front of a wooden desk, with only a single lightbulb from above as a source of light. "What the [BEEP] is all this?" I had only one question for him, and that was if he was a bad pony, or a good pony. Stepping out of the shadows was Pinkie Pie, wearing a brown trench coat and matching fedora hat, and she quietly glared at the tied-up pony sitting in front of her. He certainly doesn't look like a bad pony, but you just never know these days. Can't be too careful, right? "Okay, why don't you do yourself a favor, Pinkie, and-" "How do you know who I am, huh?" questioned the pink pony, raising a suspicious eyebrow at him. He closed his eyelids halfway, and replied, "It certainly isn't that hard to figure out… now, can you please get me out of this damn thing?" Pinkie shook her head, and she said, "You aren't going anywhere until everyone's returned from what they are doing out in Canterlot. In the meantime, however, you and I are going to have some fun… keep your eyes on him, Gummy, while I get the special stuff." As the young Earth Pony disappeared into the darkness, her captive saw that there was now a small toothless green alligator standing on top of the table, currently facing in the same direction as him, and the vigilante pony let out a sigh. "I can't even tell if you are looking at me or not." Gummy just blinked his eyes a few times, remaining silent while the captured pony shook his head. "Great, I'm even talking to the damn thing now."
New ArrivalsAuthor's Note "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while Stardust Balance is owned by the Warrior of Twilight, and FanficReader920 is the one who created Beck. New Arrivals "So, are ya sure that you want to do this, Twilight?" Everyone was now sitting inside of the Friendship Express, which was heading back to Ponyville, and they were discussing Twilight's current plan that included having another Friendship Festival next week. "Yeah, I mean… things didn't exactly get off to an easy start," reminded Rainbow, giving a small shrug. "Still, it would be nice if I - we could find a way to invite the pirates." "And I don't recall the last time that I saw Capper," said Rarity, unaware of Spike now muttering some words underneath his breath with an annoyed expression. "Maybe even reach out to the hippogriffs?" suggested Fluttershy, and the rest of her friends looked at her. "What? Pinkie isn't here to suggest it." "Speakin' of which, where is Pinkie at anyway?" wondered Applejack. "I don't think any of us have seen her all day." As for Starlight, she was looking at Casey with concern. The young pony was sitting next to him by the window,.quietly staring at whatever he saw but not paying much attention. Flashback "Whatever happens, Casey," said Anti-Stardust, giving his former enemy one last warning. "Don't let him get to your Twilight. Don't let yourself go through the same type of the pain that I did. Whenever he comes, do anything to keep her safe from harm." Then, he jumped through the magical portal that had been created for him, and the young pony was left feeling speechless, unsure as to what- Present "Casey? You okay?" Starlight nudged him on the shoulder, and Casey turned to look at his friend. "Yeah, I'm… fine," he replied, giving the pink unicorn a weak smile. "Just thinking about certain memories." Flash Sentry was currently walking around the halls of the castle that belonged to Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, but he suddenly found himself shivering for a moment after passing through a certain hall. "Why did it get so cold all of a sudden?" wondered Flash, and he turned to the side, seeing a door that bore a carving of Princess Twilight's Cutie Mark, surrounded by five smaller carvings that belonged to her friends. Just as he was about to place one of his hooves on it, an older and more experienced royal guard caught his attention after saying, "Hey, Sentry! What are you doing over there?" "Nothing, sir, I just... it suddenly got really cold in here, for some reason," replied Flash, and the other guard rolled his eyes. "No, really, it was right after I passed-" "You're in the Crystal Empire, son," pointed out the guard. "It's supposed to feel cold… now, continue with your patrol. We don't need another Earth Pony breaking into here and causing destruction." With the guard's eyes keeping focus on Flash, the young pegasus continued walking down the hall, and as the other guard went in the opposite direction, Flash decided that perhaps it would be best to inform the two rulers about what he'd felt. It was more than just the cold weather that's usually outside… but I don't know exactly what it could be. Little did he know that there was something sinister going on inside of the special room, as well as the fact that an unknown figure was making his way back down from the ceiling, with a sly and devious grin on his face. "Here. Put this over your eyes." Pinkie held out a decorative bandana in front of the vigilante's face, and he raised an eyebrow at her. "Exactly how do you expect me to put that on?" "Well, duh, with your… ohhh, right." The pink pony now noticed that her captive was still tied up to a chair, so she decided to put it on for him. Oh, sweet Jesus, thought the vigilante pony, having no idea on what to make of this other than knowing that this shouldn't be too terrible. It was Pinkie, after all. Once the blindfold was covering up the young pony's eyes, she stepped back a little bit, and said, "Tell me what kind of flavor this is." The [BEEP] does she mean by - Suddenly, something chewy and sweet was put into the bearded pony's mouth, and after tasting it, her captive said, "Chocolate cake. Easy." "Well, how about this one?" asked Pinkie, now giving him a quick slice of another cake, and watched patiently as he chewed it up into tiny pieces before eventually swallowing. Just as he was about to answer, Pinkie decided to give him a quick sip of milk, and after that, he answered, "Cookies n' cream. What else you got?" Meanwhile, Casey, Twilight, Spike, and Starlight were all making their way back to the castle, and as they began to walk up the steps, the pink unicorn asked, "So, how come Pinkie decided not to show up to Canterlot again?" "I'm not really sure exactly, but I don't think it was anything too serious," replied Twilight, while Spike opened up the castle doors. "Maybe she just-" "Uh, Twilight?" Everyone turned their attention over to the young dragon, now already inside. "Why is everything so dark in here?" For some reason, as the quartet entered their home, they were standing inside of complete darkness, but before Twilight or Starlight could light up the room with their magical horns, the light returned, and revealed Pinkie standing by a table in the middle of the room with several cakes on top of it. "So, this is my punishment? You're going to force me to eat a whole bunch of random-[BEEP] cakes?" In front of Pinkie was a gold Earth pony that was tied sitting to a chair, and a voice that sounded very familiar to the newly arrived Equestrians. "Well, I'm not really forcing you to eat these, per se… I just wanted to see if- oh, hi, everyone! How did the meeting go?" "Uhhhh… Pinkie?" asked a confused Twilight, who was slowly making her way over to them. "Why is he tied up to a chair?" Well, this certainly isn't the way I imagined meeting her again, thought the vigilante pony, and acting as if she'd forgotten that small detail, Pinkie began to untie him. "Because I wanted to make sure that he wouldn't go away before you came back," replied Pinkie, which made Twilight bring a hoof to her forehead, and Starlight let out a sigh. "You couldn't have just asked him to wait here patiently until we came back?" said the pink unicorn. That voice is one I don't recognize, thought the vigilante pony. "Ohhhh… I guess I forgot about that," admitted a sheepish Pinkie, and Twilight rolled her eyes. "But I did bring you what you asked for, Twilight!" "Wha - I never asked you to do anything like this!" cried the young alicorn. "When did I tell you to…" After the un-tied ropes fell down to the floor, Pinkie's mane suddenly became similar to Twilight's own as she said, "Remember? That one day you were all 'Why can't we just have our own Stardust to help us out with problems like this'..." She then brought her mane back to its original style. "It took me some time, but I was able to find him, so without further ado, I present to you: Stardust Balance, vigilante of Equestria, Warrior of Twilight, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera!" All of Pinkie's friends just blinked quietly at the smiling Earth pony while the young vigilante muttered, "It's technically the Twilight Warrior…." "Oops! Let me try that again, then," said Pinkie, now clearing her throat, but just as she was about to introduce him again, Twilight used her magic to move Pinkie away from Stardust, and began to remove the bandana that was covering up his face. "I'm so sorry about this, Stardust, if I had known she would…" "No, it's fine, there's no harm in me eating some free cake, Princess…" said Stardust, with him and Twilight pausing their sentences after the bandana was removed, and they were now looking at each other. "So… are you okay, then?" asked a concerned Twilight. A smile appeared on Stardust's face, and he nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm… just fine now…" Then, the two ponies went back to being silent until Casey cleared his throat, and asked, "How is uh, your girlfriend doing, Star?" Stardust's smile turned into a frown as he looked at the young Earth pony that had spoken. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't have a girlfriend." "Huh? Did you and Twilight break up or something?" asked a confused Starlight. Who are these two ponies anyway? thought Stardust, who replied, "No, because me and Princess Twilight here never even became a couple in the first place, and I think I would've definitely remembered something like that happening." Starlight and Casey shared the same confused look with each other, and as for Twilight, she looked over at Pinkie. "You didn't hurt him on the head or anything, did you?" "Well, I technically only hit his face a couple of times with a frying pan," answered Pinkie. "But what does that have to do anything?" "Pinkie! You might have affected his memories or something," exclaimed Twilight, quickly giving Stardust an apologetic smile before going back to her friend. "And I've told you about how I feel when you don't ask to-" "I didn't use the Crystal Mirror," replied the energetic pony. "Why would I… ohhhhh, I see…" She then started to let out a chuckle, much to everyone's confusion. "This isn't that Stardust, Twilight, he's our very ownStardust!" "What?" exclaimed the others that were in the room, and Pinkie simply nodded her head. "Yeah, I mean, why else would he be saying… ohhh, you thought I was hurting the other -" Suddenly, Stardust began to shake his head while starting to get out of the chair. "Whoa, whoa, okay… can someone else besides Pinkie please explain me to what in the [BEEP] is going on here?" "Alright, but just take it easy, Stardust," said Casey, just as Twilight was about to explain. "Let's not-" Who the [BEEP] is this clown supposed to be? thought the bearded vigilante. "Uh, who are you again exactly?" "I'm Casey," replied the light-orange Earth Pony, and he gestured over to Twilight. "And her special somepony." Stardust's eyes went wide after hearing that, and he cried, "Casey? What the… that's your actual name? And when the [BEEP] did you start dating… oh, my God…" He began to groan while placing a hoof over his eyes. "This is [BEEP]-ing Sentry all over again…" Casey started to frown, as well, but just as he was about to march right over to Stardust, Starlight held him back, and she said, "Um, Stardust? Maybe it'd be best if we, uh, started to explain all of this from the beginning." Twilight nodded her head, in agreement, and Stardust replied, "Uh… okay, but first… do you mind if I ask who you are?" "I'm Starlight Glimmer," replied the pink unicorn, offering Stardust a hoofshake, and it took a moment for him to accept her offer as politely as possible. Starlight Glimmer… Sunset Shimmer… sheesh, they couldn't have put more effort into making them not sound similar? thought Stardust, who was now letting go of Starlight's hoof. "Right, then…" said Twilight, while Casey continued muttering underneath his breath, for some reason. "Okay, Stardust, this all started back kinda a couple years ago when me and my friends were all taking a trip to the Crystal Empire…" As he stood atop a grass-covered hill, Beck looked quietly at what remained of his old home. All of those years I spent… filled with pointless anger against an innocent princess… and it led me to almost committing the worst crime ever in Equestrian history… He then remembered everything that had happened earlier today, and a smile appeared on his face. Now, thanks to Twilight and her friends… I get to have a fresh new start at life… a chance to create new memories… heh, maybe now I can go back to studying that one flower I- Suddenly, his thoughts of happiness were interrupted by everything around him suddenly going darker, and the middle-aged pony began to wish that he'd brought an umbrella with him, but as he began to walk away, Beck saw that only a certain part of the area was covered in shadows while everywhere else was still bright and sunny. What in the world is… gah! After looking up into the sky, Beck quickly ran as fast as he could so that he would be able to avoid being crushed by a giant airship that was landing onto the ground. Thud! Then, one of the side doors opened automatically, followed by a ramp that was making its way to the ground, and a few moments later, a purple unicorn began to walk down the ramp, with a hoof placed on the side of her head. "Ugh… that is the last time I'm ever letting you drive this thing, Grubber." She was followed soon after by a pudgy grey hedgehog that had white-furred spikes, and was currently munching on a slice of carrot cake. "What's the matter, Tempest? It's not like I did any kind of damage to… ohhhh, my gosshh… did I do that?" Grubber was now looking at the remains of Beck's old home. "I sure hope not." Before Tempest could even say anything to him, an approaching Beck gave Grubber an answer. "Not to worry, it's been like that for ages now… and, uh, thanks for not making me a pancake." "I'm sorry about that," said Tempest, after scowling at the sheepish hedgehog. "Would you happen to know if Princess Twi…" She found herself pausing her sentence for a moment. "Your voice sounds… familiar to me… oh! You're that guest of Princess Twilight who hurt his tongue while eating, correct?" Once Beck remembered what she was referring to, he began rubbing the back of his neck while saying, "Uh… yeah, that was… me…" "Spike, how many times are you going to be playing that same game?" With the game controller in his claws, a concentrated Spike said, "It's not the same… game, Twilight… it's three on one remastered disk, and right now, I'm on the Warped ga - no! GAME OVER! "You don't have to be scared, Twilight," said a smirking Spike, referring to the tiki-head that had suddenly popped onto the screen, as well as the game's continue option. The purple alicorn quickly shook her head, and she said, "No, I just… didn't expect him to appear like that… look, you have ten more minutes, and then, it's time for bed." "Got it," replied Spike, who hadn't even taken his eyes off of the t.v. screen. Thud! Suddenly, a loud noise from inside the castle caught both of their attention, and the young dragon asked, "Uh… w-what was that, Twilight?" "Um… I'm not sure, Spike," answered the curious alicorn, who started to walk out of the room. Spike simply just watched her leave, but a moment later, she whispered, "Spike! You coming or not?" Knowing that she'd probably get upset if he told her the other answer, Spike paused the game, and followed after her. "This doesn't count as my ten minutes though, right?" The two of them continued to walk down the hall, and eventually found themselves entering the Throne Room, where they noticed a cloaked pony-shaped figure lying face-down near the Cutie Map table. "Oh, my gosh… Twilight, is he…" asked Spike, letting out a nervous gulp. "No, Spike, look! He's still moving…" said Twilight, and the two of them watched the newcomer slowly start to stand up. "Um, excuse me? Are you-" "Nice to see you again, Princess Twilight," interrupted the cloaked pony, to the alicorn's surprise, and he slowly removed his hood in order to reveal his scarred face, which had a close resemblance to Stardust's, except there was a scar over his right eye, as well as a small and metal eye-patch that covered up his left eye. Twilight's curiousity turned into surprise, and then, it became irritation as she said, "I can't exactly say the same for you, Anti-Stardust."
