My Little Pony: A Race Against Time

by CJ Esmerio

Power Up

Author's Note:

"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while Stardust Balance belongs to the Warrior of Twilight.

Once Stardust had finished using a towel that Pinkie had given him to dry himself off, he asked Casey, "Are you able to use your wristwatch?

The Earth Pony looked at the object that was strapped onto his arm, which was still sending out a few sparks of electricity.

"Um..." Casey said, not looking so sure. "I don't think it's safe for me to use it right now."

Stardust sighed, and he looked up at the sky, as if he was looking at somepony.

"Think you can take them back, Starswirl?"

I could try, but I'm not entirely sure that would be a wise choice.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa... whoa," exclaimed Princess Twilight, hoping that he wasn't suggesting what she thought he was. "What do you mean, take us back?"

A serious-looking Stardust brought his head down to face Princess Twilight, and said, "I'm doing the rest of this stuff on my own, Twilight... it's safer this way."

"Nuh-uh, no way, Jack," said Princess Twilight, starting to frown. "We're all in this together... you need our help."

"Don't try and change my mind, love," exclaimed Stardust. "I have to do this alone."

His girlfriend shook her head, saying, "There's no way I'm going to just watch helplessly from the sidelines while you-"

"I'm telling you, Twilight, to go with them, and stay with the others in limbo," growled Stardust, adding some edge to his voice.

Pinkie Pie walked over to Twilight, and whispered, "Should I wet him again?"

"Nothing bad is going to happen to me, Jack," argued Princess Twilight. "Not as long as we stick together 'till the end of this... why do you want me to leave?"

A frustrated Stardust cried, "Just leave, Twilight... I'm doing this for your own good!"

He then started walking over to Sugarcube Corner, but Princess Twilight ran around him, and stood in front of the gold pony. "You can't face him alone, Jack... you need us."

"No, I don't, Twilight, can't you understand that?" Stardust cried, his eyes starting to water. "I've already cost us Applebloom and AJ, and now-"

"No, Jack, they can't be dead," replied Princess Twilight, shaking her head. "He's just trying to mess with your mind, to trick you into getting yourself in a dangerous situation that'll get you killed!"

"I know what I saw, Twilight, and what I'm feeling right now," exclaimed Stardust. "Now, for the last time, I am telling you to leave!"

Princess Twilight shook her head. "And I'm telling you that we're all staying together. He almost killed you, Jack!"

"And since I'm not dead, he's taken away two of our closest friends," replied Stardust, who was almost on the verge of tears. "Why aren't you more upset about this?"

"Because I think I would know if two of my closest friends were gone," said the young alicorn. "Now, why do you want me to go?"

The frustrated pony brought his hooves to his head, saying, "I'm... I can't... I'm not strong enough..."

"And you think finishing this on your own will make you stronger?"

"Yes... I mean, no... I don't know," cried Stardust. "Just go!"

"I am not leaving you, Jack," cried Princess Twilight. "Why do you want me to-"

Before she could finish, Stardust gritted his teeth in frustration, and yelled, "I don't want to lose you again!"

Hearing that made Princess Twilight speechless, and as Stardust collapsed to the floor, he said, in a more calm but sad voice, "I can't... I already lost you once, love... I'm not... s-strong enough... to handle losing you... I can't..."

He hung his head down, and the young alicorn saw a few of his tears hit the ground. "I couldn't protect them... I couldn't... save them... I can't... lose you, too..."

Princess Twilight was about to speak, but then, Twilight came over to try and comfort Stardust. "Um, Star? I think she's right about the, er, mind game thing... I don't think they're dead, either.'

Pinkie Pie nodded her head, and said, "Yup, it's like when a magician pretends to show his audience that he actually made the elephant disappear, but the truth is that he's actually using a double sided mirror or secrer trap door to make it look like the elephant really did vanish into thin air."

Stardust didn't know what to say to that, but he was starting to get mixed feelings. "What... I..."

"Pinkie's right, too, Stardust," agreed Casey, also joining in on the conversation. "He wants you to be alone because he knows you'll try to send us all back... but I'm not leaving until we fix the other seven worlds, and get you to that special power so you can put an end to Miles' plan."

"Uh-huh, and so do I," replied an enthusiastic Pinkie Pie.

Twilight nodded her head, as well, and looked at her parallel counterpart, who said, "We've all come this far, Jack... why not keep going?"

Stardust just looked at all of them, and wiped his eyes while saying, "Okay, fine, let's keep this adventure going... but at a faster pace because now I really want to get my hands on that damn pony."

"Uh, I think you mean hooves," corrected Casey.

Then, before Stardust could answer back, Pinkie Pie's body started to shake.

"Whoooaaaa..." said the vibrating pony, now going through her "pinkie sense" phase. "Ears flapping, tail twitching, right eye flutter, back flip, and eyes rolling!"

Everypony else looked at each other, and Casey asked, "Uh... so what does that mean exactly?"

"That a song montage is going to happen," sang the happy pony, once her body stopped moving around. "Any second now..."

[Insert beginning of "Reach for the Stars" by Cash Cash]

"Yup, told ya," said Pinkie Pie, looking up at the bolded letters above her.

---

When Stardust and Princess Twilight finally entered Sugarcube Corner, they found out from the alternate Pinkie Pie that she and the other Stardustwere supposed to create as many cupcakes and brownies as possible (with the latter pleasing Stardust), so that's exactly what the gold pony did.

They were also surprised at the fact that she already knew Stardust wasn't the actual one from her world.

Her response to how she knew was - "Just a hunch!"

Once they had finished baking enough, Stardust's wristwatch began to beep, and Twilight headed back outside...

Then, a few seconds later, she came back to bring out Stardust, who waved goodbye to Alternate Pinkie while eating some of the brownies that he'd made.

---

The next world was the one that had Applejack as Stardust's love interest, and unfortunately, for Princess Twilight, the two of them shared a kiss once Alternate AJ saw him, while Stardust again felt the same way that his other self did.

"Appledust World" took a little longer for Stardust to fix, due to the fact that he was reminded of Applejack from his own world, and he was hoping that the others were right about her and Applebloom being alive.

Also, once the two of them hugged each other goodbye, Applejack told him to take care of her other self.

"Yeah... most definitely..." said Stardust, trying to hold in his tears.

---

The 5th World had him paired up with Rainbow Dash, and luckily, for Princess Twilight, the two of them didn't kiss.

Unfortunately, for Stardust, there was only one way to prove to Rainbow that he wasn't the Stardust of "Stardash World".

Once the race was over, with Stardust being the victor, Rainbow Dash finally believed him, and after they shook hooves, the other Stardust started to appear.

"Nope, we don't have time for this," said Stardust, dragging Pinkie over to the others.

"Just ONCE, Stardust," begged Pinkie, who wanted to see the other version of himself appear.

---

The worlds after that were "Amore Balance World" and "Moondust World", and although he had no problem with these worlds existing, Stardust was very thankful of the fact that he didn't have to go to a world in which Princess Celestia was his love interest.

"How come you don't like her?" Casey asked, before they left the world that had an alternate Princess Luna.

"I'll save that conversation for another story," replied Stardust.

---

"Tonight..." sang Pinkie, and then, she gave Stardust a wide smile. "See? We finished fixing all the worlds!"

"Um... not exactly," pointed out Casey, as he and Twilight were going over the checklist.

"Starswirl said that nine worlds needed to be fixed, and this is actually the last world, so..." added Twilight.

"Um, guys?" The three of them looked at Princess Twilight, who nodded her head over at Stardust. "He fainted..."

The last world for them to fix was the alternate world of Equestria Girls, in which he and Sunset Shimmer were a couple.

"I don't suppose your song montage combo could help us out again?" Princess Twilight asked, looking at the pink-skinned human.

Pinkie shook her head, and said, "Sorry, that's usually a one-time thing."

"Well, well, well... I'm actually surprised you all made it this far."

Hearing that familiar voice made Stardust immediately stand up, and found himself face to face with Miles, who had also turned into an EG human.

However, Miles was also in a car, and right before Stardust could start saying a series of curse words at the cloaked human, they heard a thumping noise coming from the trunk of Miles' car.

"You have Sunset in the trunk?!"

Miles let out an evil laugh, and said, "That's right, hero, and you're going to have to save her from me if you plan on saving this world... or just let it get destroyed on its own, since I know you despise it anyway... ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

With that, Miles drove away, and the group of friends could hear the muffled screams of Sunset that came from the trunk.

"Don't worry, everypony," said Princess Twilight. "Me and the other Twilight can chase him down while you three-"

"Um, love?" Stardust interrupted. "You two don't have wings, remember?"

The two Twilights looked at each other's backs, and groaned in disappointment.

"Wait a second," cried Pinkie Pie, pointing at a nearby racing-type vehicle. "That car has nobody inside, let's use it!"

Normally, Stardust would have explained to Pinkie that they could all probably end up being arrested for grand theft auto, but then again, no one showed up to arrest pre-reformed Sunset, Principal Cinch, or even that one counselor from Camp Everfree, so he simply said, "Good idea."

The five of them entered the vehicle, with Stardust sitting in the driver's seat, and after getting the keys from the flap above his head, he turned the car on.

"Wow, Jack, I never knew that you could drive a car," said Princess Twilight, looking at him with awe and admiration.

Stardust sheepishly smiled at his girlfriend, and said, "Um, not exactly, love... only in video games... but I'm pretty sure it's easy in this world, and we're kinda pressed for time here."

Before Princess Twilight could say anything, Stardust slammed his foot on the accelerator pedal...

CRASH!

... and reversed right into the emtpy car that was parked behind them.

"Oops, forgot to change it from reverse to drive," said Stardust. "Is the other car safe?"

Twilight gulped, and said, "Um, not exactly... and I think Flash Sentry is going to need to get himself a new car."

When Stardust heard that, he couldn't help but smile mischievously, and as they drove forward to catch up to Miles, the young teenager laughed under his breath.

---

A few minutes later, Stardust had caught up to Miles, who didn't look happy to see him.

"You're dead meat, Miles," growled the young teenager, whose car was neck-and-neck with his nemesis.

"Suck dynamite, hero," laughed Miles, and he tossed the lit weapon into Stardust's car... landing in Pinkie Pie's lap.

"Pinkie, throw that out the window!" Stardust yelled, while Miles' car started to get ahead of him.

"But innocent people could be hurt," replied Pinkie.

"Throw it out the window, Pinkie!"

The pink-colored teenager said, "It'll send the wrong message to children."

Stardust rolled his eyes, and exclaimed, "Then, toss it at Miles' damn car trunk!"

"Ohhhh... okay!" Pinkie Pie yelled, and she brought half of her body out the window, tossing the explosive at Miles' car, which landed successfully on the top of the trunk's lid.

Boom!

Stardust quickly swerved to the side, narrowly avoiding the flying lid, and found himself looking at a roughed up Sunset, who was now holding onto the back edge of Miles' car.

"Sunset, you have to let go!" Stardust yelled. "Twilight will catch you!"

"Are you insane?!" yelled a terrified Sunset.

Twilight, who was sticking half of her body out, cried out, "You have to trust him, Sunset! Just grab my hands!"

Sunset gulped, and closed her eyes, silently praying to herself before letting go of the car.

"Gotcha!" Twilight cried, now holding onto Sunset's arms as tight as possible, and once Stardust hit the brakes, she pulled the yellow-colored teenager into the car.

"Phew... thanks, Twilight," said Sunset.

Stardust smiled, pleased with himself in being able to save Sunset, but as his wristwatch began to beep, he turned the car around. "Alright, we got to take her someplace safe."

"Well, it's a good thing that we didn't keep on driving after Miles," said Pinkie, as she let out a sigh of relief.

"What do you mean by that, Pinkie?" asked Princess Twilight.

A frustrated Miles started letting out an angry roar, but then, he realized that he was now heading straight for a giant brick wall.

"Oh, crap..."

---

After taking the alternate version of Sunset to a safe place, Stardust and the other ponies were transported by the wristwatch to the final world on Twilight's checklist.

"So, this is the world that Miles came from, huh?" Stardust said, looking around, taking in the view. "Not that much different than all of the other ones we've traveled to."

"Except for the fact that everything looks all dark and gloomy," pointed out Pinkie Pie.

They were all in Ponyville, and just like Pinkie had said, nearly everything was either grey or black, with no other colors whatsoever.

"This makes Starlight's pre-Equality village look like a carnival," said Stardust, surprised at how negative the world appeared to be.

It wasn't always like this, said Starswirl, whose voice could now be heard by everypony.

"I bet this was all Miles' work," growled Stardust.

Not exactly, Jack... and I understand your feelings of hatred against Miles, but this is not entirely his fault... he's not even in control of his own actions.

"Well, who is in control, then?" Casey asked, not understanding what the elderly pony was talking about.

I shall explain the story, but you all must start making your way towards the Everfree Forest... I'm sensing terrible darkness in this world.

Everypony nodded their heads, and they started heading down the path that led to the Everfree Forest, while Starswirl began to tell them of Miles' story.

Miles was in the same position as Stardust and Casey, meaning that he was a pony that ended up falling for the Princess Twilight of this world, and vice versa.

In regards to the silver staff, it has many abilities, and depending on the feelings of the pony who is holding it, the staff can do wonderful or terrible things.

"Well, who in their right mind would allow Miles to handle something with that much power?" Stardust asked.

Starswirl hesitated for a moment before he continued his story.

The Celestia of this world assumed that it would be easy for him and Twilight to retrieve it from the cave we're going to right now, with no issues whatsoever.

"You have got to be f****in kidding me," exclaimed Stardust. "So, all of this is because of her?"

Let's not dwell right now on another reason to despise her more, Jack.

The gold pony sighed, and rolled his eyes, saying, "Well, I can't exactly say that I'm shocked about this..."

"So, what happened when they got to the cave?" asked Twilight.

They were able to locate and obtain the staff, but unfortunately, they had an encounter with a terrible creature... one that attaches itself to anypony it can find, like a costume... and depending on the mind of its host, it can grant them unique abilities before eventually taking complete control of whoever the host may be.

In this case, it tried attaching itself to Miles, but Twilight was able to put a stop to the monster's plan.

"Well, that sounds good," said Pinkie, trying to find the positivity in the story.

Oh, it was, at first... but the battle that it and Twilight had cost her a large amount of her strength, and she ended up going to the hospital a few days later, eventually going into a coma.

Pinkie gulped, and she said, "That doesn't sound good at all."

It wasn't for anypony... especially Miles, since they were about to reach the next step in their relationship.

"Seriously?" Stardust exclaimed, who was refusing to feel any sympathy for Miles. "Why the hell would he throw something like that away, then?"

Influences from the creature, Jack, who had been able to attach a small part of itself to Miles, and during the time that Miles spent grieving for Twilight, it used its power to twist his thoughts and dreams while taking control of his body at the same time.

"Well, I still don't get why he has a damn problem with me in the first place," argued Stardust. "I never did anything to him or... whatever that damn creature thing is."

Because you, Jack, are similar to the pony that caused it to be locked away in the first place, and with you out of the way, it can continue to cause destruction and chaos wherever it goes, with nopony being able to stop it.

"Really?" Stardust said, now a little surprised. "Was the pony like my great, great ancestor or something?"

That's a story for another time, Jack...

Stardust was about to argue with him, but the elderly pony said to him, I know it's frustrating, Jack, but right now, you all must find the cave, locate the hidden power, and destroy that creature once and for all.

"But what about this world?" Twilight asked. "How is everything in this world supposed to be fixed?"

That will have to be up to Miles, I'm afraid... once we get the creature off of him... and as long as Jack doesn't kill Miles, either...

"What do you mean not kill - oof!"

Stardust's sentence was cut short when he accidentally bumped his head into a tree, and he started rubbing his forehead. "Well, we made it to the forest."

"Um... actually, Star, we're in the forest," pointed out Casey. "And is that the cave?"

Stardust looked at what was in front of them, and saw an entrance to the cave.

"Huh, well that was easier than I thought," chuckled the gold pony.

However, Pinkie had a suspicious look on her face. "Yeah, a little too easy..."

She began walking towards the cave, with Twilight asking, "What do you mean, Pinkie?"

"Well, if the thing that is controlling Miles hates Stardust so much, then whyyyyyy... yyyyaaahhhoooo!"

Pinkie ended up falling down a trap hole that was right before the front of the cave.

"Pinkie!" Twilight cried, and she hurried over to the hole that her friend had fallen into, but more of the ground broke away underneath her, causing the alicorn to fall down the same hole.

"Twilight!" Casey ran as fast as he could to try and catch her, but he ended up falling in, as well.

Stardust and Princess Twilight looked at each other, and the former human made a polite gesture. "Mares first?"

His girlfriend just rolled her eyes.

---

(Limbo)

"Is anypony keeping track on how long Twilight and the others are taking?" asked Rarity.

EG Rainbow looked at her fitness watch, and answered, "Um, almost five minutes."

"Really?" EG Pinkie said, sounding surprised. "Wow, it feels like they've been gone longer."

"Believe her, Pinkie, it's the truth..."

Everypony turned around, and saw Miles, looking extremely bruised and upset.

"He looks like he's been in a car wreck," whispered EG Pinkie.

Starlight frowned, and took a few steps forward. "What did you do to them, Miles?"

"I wouldn't be too worried about that right now," growled Miles. "You should worry about your own life because I'm about to kill everypony here."

Starlight shook her head, and replied, "Not if I have anything to say about it."

Then, before Miles could say anything else, the purple unicorn shot a very powerful blast at him, causing a large explosion.

When the smoke finally cleared away, Starlight saw that Miles looked more roughed up than usual.

"You want to go, little pony?"

Twilight's pupil nodded her head, and spoke with confidence. "Bring it."

---

(Miles' World)

"Everypony okay?" Twilight asked, once the five of them were gathered together, as well as using her horn as a flashlight with her magic.

Stardust dusted some dirt off of his shoulders, and answered, "Yeah, but I don't think I'm going to be cave-diving anytime soon."

"Always the comedian," said Princess Twilight, who was also using her magic to shine light in the dark cave.

The gold pony looked at his girlfriend's glowing horn, and said, "That wasn't a joke, love... now, if I were to ask if you were running on double A batteries, that would be an attempt at a joke."

Casey and Twilight both looked at each other, and asked, "What are batteries?"

"Long story," replied Princess Twilight, who shook her head. "Now, how exactly are we going to find-"

"Um, Other Twilight?"

The parallel version of Twilight turned around, and saw Pinkie, who was standing in front of a wall.

"This looks important... right?"

Stardust blinked his eyes a few times, and said, "How in Equestria does..."

Do I have to remind you again at this point, Jack?

"Yeah, yeah, don't question Pinkie Pie," muttered Stardust, bringing a hoof to his forehead. "I might need therapy after this..."

He followed the other three over to the wall, and noticed that the wall looked like the ones you would find inside of an Egyptian pyramid.

"Huh, the My Little Pony version of hieroglyphics," mumbled Stardust, a little surprised. "Interesting..."

"Didn't Fluttershy and the CMC's go to a place like this?" Pinkie Pie asked, looking at Twilight.

The alicorn princess was about to answer, but she noticed a pair of hoofprints placed directly in the middle of the wall.

"Um, Stardust? I think you're supposed to place your hoofs here."

Stardust walked up to the wall, and looked at his front two hooves. "Starswirl?"

According to the ancient language on this wall... yes, Jack, you must place your hooves there.

The gold pony sighed, took a deep breath, and placed his hooves on top of the ones on the wall.

Then, to everyone's surprise, the entire wall started to glow brightly, as well as Stardust's body.

"Uh... is this supposed to happen?" asked the young pony, not knowing what to do next.

Casey shrugged his shoulders, while Twilight was quickly trying to write everything that was happening in her Stardust notebook.

"Whoa, it gave you a necklace!" Pinkie Pie cried, and the gold pony looked down to see that he was now wearing a necklace, which bore a pendant version of his Cutie Mark.

I know you don't like your Cutie Mark, Jack, but now is not the time to complain.

---

(Limbo)

"Why would you risk your life for these ponies?" Miles growled, using the staff to shoot a deadly energy blast at Starlight.

Twilight's pupil quickly used an energy force field to block his attack, and sent her own blast at the cloaked pony.

"Because their lives are worth fighting for."

Miles flew out of the way, narrowly missing Starlight's blast, and he angrily used the staff to send another one of his own blasts.

As for Starlight, she powered up her magic to the highest level it could reach, and fired another blast at Miles.

Whoosh!

The two blasts struck each other at a halfway point, and each ponies kept pushing forward to try and gain the upper edge over the other.

"You're really... starting to annoy me," exclaimed Miles, using as much energy as possible.

"Yeah?" Starlight said, smirking at him. "Well, I'm... about... to finish you off..."

While Miles' forehead began to sweat, the purple unicorn started to take a deep breath, preparing to take one last push in order to-

"Twilight! Casey! You're back!" Spike yelled, which momentarily created a distraction for Miles and Starlight.

A portal had appeared, and as the young alicorn and orange-yellow Earth Pony stepped out, so did Pinkie Pie and Princess Twilight.

"Wait a second," wondered Applejack, noticing that somepony was missing. "Where did Stardust go?"

Starlight took another look at the group of returned friends, but then, she heard Miles say, "Rookie mistake..."

The cloaked pony used Starlight's distraction to his advantage, and was able to successfully attack her with his blast.

Boom!

"Starlight!" Twilight and Spike ran over to her friend, and she went down to the ground, holding her friend in her hooves. "Starlight, talk to me."

The young unicorn coughed a few times, and said, "Hey... T-Twilight... welcome back..."

She began to close her eyes, while Twilight felt her eyes begin to water up.

"No... Starlight, please..."

"She's not dead, my little pony... just exhausted."

She and Spike turned to look at Miles, who was walking towards them, with a smug look and wide grin on his face.

"This is what happens, princess, when a pony like you tries to be a hero..."

"Hey!"

Miles turned his head to see the rest of the Mane Six (both pony and EG), Sci Twi, Sunset Shimmer, Sugarcoat, Sour Sweet, and Princess Twilight, who were all glaring at the cloaked pony.

"You mess with them, pal, you mess with all of us," said Applejack, in a fierce tone.

"Yeah, and this time, I'm not even gonna tell you what's in or what isn't in my party cannon," exclaimed Pinkie Pie, who was now sitting atop her prized possession.

Miles began to laugh, saying, "You seriously think I'm worried about all of you damn ponies?"

Princess Twilight smirked, and shook her head. "Oh, it's not us you need to worry about, Miles."

"Who then?" exclaimed the sinister pony, and the answer came in the form of an unexpected energy blast that came out of nowhere, causing Miles to fly back several feet.

As he landed on the ground, a familiar voice said, "That would be me, you son of a [BEEP]."

Then, in front of Twilight, a familar pony appeared, removing his invisibility shield, and floating in the air while his body was glowing with a pure white and fire-like energy.

"No... that can't be..." growled Miles, shocked at what was in front of him.

Stardust, who was also standing up the way humans would, smirked at the cloaked pony, saying, "You'd better believe it, pal... and right now..."

Whoosh!

The gold pony fired a rapid fire blast at Miles, who didn't have enough time to dodge the attack, and he ended up flying back even farther.

"... I'm going to enjoy beating the living hell out of you." finished Stardust, and then, he raced over tp Miles, barely allowing him to stand up.

"This is for AJ and Applebloom," yelled the young pony, once Miles was in his grasp, and he began rapidly punching the cloaked pony's face.

Wham-wham-wham-wham-wham-wham!

"What the...?!"

Stardust chuckled, and replied, "I think its time I delivered to you a taste of your own medicine."

He then held onto Miles' body, spinning around several times before looking like a firery tornado, and stopped right after swinging him into a nearby rocky hill, causing an explosion of dust and tiny rocks. "I'm sending you straight to Hell..."

While Miles tried to stand back up, Pinkie Pie brought down a boxing microphone to her muzzle, and yelled, "Let's get ready to rumble!"

Comments

[BFANproject]

I like The Looney Tunes Movie reference that Pinkie made in the car chase sequence

[CJ Esmerio]

8639802
thanks! Glad you noticed it