//------------------------------//
// The Pain Continues 
// Story: My Little Pony: A Race Against Time 
// by CJ Esmerio 
//------------------------------//

By the time Twilight had returned to the castle, night had already fallen, and Stardust was almost ready to go to sleep.

"How are you feeling, Jack?" asked the princess of Friendship, once she was in his room.

Stardust chuckled, and coughed a few times before he said, "Well... I'm definitely staying away from Sweet Apple Acres for a while... how's Applejack?"

Twilight sighed, and replied, "She's fine... just upset and confused about... whatever has been going on the past few days."

Stardust sat up in his bed, and looked at his girlfriend. "You don'tactuallythink that I-"

"No, Jack, I... don't... think so..." admitted Twilight, much to his surprise. "Percentage-wise, Jack, I believe you... around 90%, while the rest goes to Rainbow and AJ."

"Love, I amtellingyou that I didn't do those things," replied Stardust. "Why would I destroy Applejack's farm after feeling relieved about the fact that Rowan didn't turn her and Applebloom into apple sauce?"

Twilight simply listened as her special somepony continued to talk. "And I already promised youandto myself that I'd be a better friend to Rainbow...whywould I throw that all away?"

"Well..." Twilight began to say, which made Stardust suddenly groan in frustration.

"Alright, yes,I get it, the old me almost despised Rainbow, but I'm not that same person anymore, love... you're all family to me, at this point... I wouldnevertry to ruin that..."

Twilight gave him a warm smile, and was about to reply when Sunset suddenly appeared by the doorway. "Aw, so does that meanI'mpart of your family, too?"

Stardust chuckled, and he replied, "Ehhh, you're more along the lines of a third cousin, twice removed."

Twilight and Sunset just looked at him, not knowing what to say, and Stardust said, "Forget it, just a bad joke..."

"Are you okay yourself, Sunset?" Twilight asked, while Sunset rolled her eyes. "I haven't really seen you that much recently."

"Probably because she's done nothing but hang around me," pointed out Stardust, which made Sunset smirk at him.

"Well, that'ssomegood news," replied Twilight. "Someponyhas to keep you under control."

Stardust rolled his eyes, and was about to give her a sarcastic reply when he noticed Sunset quickly looking like she was in pain. "You okay there, Sunset?"

The young pony had felt the right side of her flank burn with pain, but she forced a smile, saying, "Yeah, just, um... leg still kinda hurts a little from falling off the ladder in the library yesterday."

Twilight gasped, and she asked, "Oh my gosh, Sunset, you... why didn't you tell any of us that-"

"I didn't get hurt or anything, Twilight, your special somepony here saved me from that," replied Sunset, nodding her head in Stardust's direction.

"I did?" Stardust replied, much to Sunset's confusion.

"Uh, yeah, I'm pretty sure you did," said the yellow unicorn. "Don't you remember?"

Before Stardust could answer her, Twilight suggested, "Jack, maybe we should inform Casey and the other Twilight about-"

"No... not yet," said Stardust, shaking his head. "I don't want that world to get caught up in any of this mess, and I plan on figuring out tomorrow who exactly is behind this."






The next day, around 8:30 am


Although most of his bruises had disappeared, Stardust still appeared to be in a pretty rough shape, and his body was telling him that he needed to rest.

"TWILIGHT!"

Instead of jumping out of his bed, Stardust groaned, and buried his face in the pillow. "Please, not again..."

"Where is he?!"

"[Beep]!" The gold pony immediately woke up after hearing a loud and familar voice that came from down the hall, and just as he was about to lock his door, it was pushed open by an angry-looking Rarity.

"You monster!"She cried, and before Stardust could say anything, Rarity started whacking him with her broom.

As Stardust yelped in pain, Twilight ran inside, and cried, "Rarity, stop! We don't even know if it was him that did it!"

"Did wha -ow!" Stardust received one more hit from Rarity's broom before she placed it onto the ground. "What is it this time that Ididn'tdo?"

"My newest outfits for Sapphire Shores arecompletelyruined and destroyed," exclaimed the pony who represented the element of generosity. "I had them completedweeksin advance, so that I could have some time to myself, but now all of my hard work has gone to waste... and it's because ofyou!"

Stardust groaned, bringing a hoof to his forehead, and he explained, "Rarity, first of all, if this happened while you were sleeping, then... it definitely wasn't me because I was here, in this room, recovering from getting the wind knocked out of me by Granny Smith."

"Oh, isthatso?" Rarity frowned at him, and she revealed to him a very familiar clothing object that she had with her. "Then, why did I findyour cloakatmy home?"

Stardust quickly looked at himself, and realized that he wasn't actually wearing the cloak. "B-but how did... I wasn't..."

"You MONSTER!"repeated Rarity, and she went back to whacking him with her broom, but at a faster pace.

"Rarity, just... give me... a chance to... explain!"Stardust yelled, in between each of Rarity's broom hits."Or... at least... let me... help you!"

Once she felt that she'd hit him enough, Rarity set the broom back down, and said, "You have donequite enough, Stardust, considering what you've also done to Applejack and Rainbow Dash... do yourself a favor, and stayawayfrom my home."

She tossed the cloak at Stardust before walking away, and the gold pony looked over at Twilight, saying, "Please tell me that-"

"Iknow, Jack, I know," said Twilight, letting out a sigh. "Don't worry, me and Spike will talk to her while we help her re-make her dresses."

After saying that, the alicorn princess walked away, while Stardust laid back down, groaning in pain and irritation. "Whyis thishappeningto me?"

"Are you okay, Star?"

Stardust sat up, and saw a concerned Sunset standing by his doorway. "I don't... I don't know, Sunset, I am just so...confusedandfrustratedand... in pain... why doesn't anypony believe me that I'mnotdoing all of this stuff?"

"Well, I never said that Ididn'tbelieve you, Star," replied the female unicorn. "And if you need some help proving to the others that you're innocent, all I have to do is-"

However, Stardust shook his head, and said, "Thanks, but... no thanks, Sunset, this isn't exactly anEquestria Girlslevel problem, so-"

"Oh, so you don't think I can be useful?" Sunset said, her muzzle becoming a frown.

"Well, I mean, ithasbeen a long time since you've been to Ponyville, and I don't think that-"

Wham!

The door was slammed shut before Stardust could finish talking.

I'm not entirely sure that was the right thing to say to her, Jack.

Stardust collapsed back into his bed, and muttered, "Ah,[BEEP]!"





A few minutes later, in Twilight's library, Sunset had finally been able to turn on her friend's Crystal Mirror teleportation machine.

Maybe it was a mistake for me to come back here...

"So, you're just going to leave without saying goodbye?"

Sunset turned around, and saw Stardust by the entry way. "Why do you care? And how come you're not in bed?"

"Believe me, almost half of my body is yelling at me to go back," replied Stardust. "And the other half is saying to convince younotto leave."

"It's not like I'll be of much use to you anyway," exclaimed Sunset, frowning at her friend. "My unicorn magic isn't even working, for some reason..."

A confused Stardust replied, "So,that'swhat has been bothering you? Why didn't you ask Starlight or Twilight about-"

"Because I'm sure they have enough problems on their hooves, trying to clean up somepony's mess that looks like it was done by you," exclaimed Sunset. "And that isn't... exactly... it..."

"Well, then what is it?" Stardust asked, who was also trying to stall her.

Sunset looked a little embarrassed as she said, "It doesn't really... what help canyoudo for me? You're not a unicorn."

"I'm well aware of that," retorted the young Earth Pony. "But a certain'ancient pony' once told me that we have a... have, uh..."

Having trouble remembering?

Stardust rolled his eyes, and muttered, "I can't help if I remember something that happened five or six seasons ago..."

Then, he turned his attention back to Sunset, who had started to try and leave again. "Look, I'm only asking that you at least give me a chance to help you, Sunset... please..."

The young unicorn sighed, hanging her head down as she started feeling more embarrassed about what she was going to tell him.

Letting out a sigh, Sunset stretched one of her front limbs back, and pointed to the right side of her flank, while Stardust blinked his eyes a few times, as well as feeling awkward. "Um... Sunset.. I thought I already said that I didn't..."

"Notthat, Star," muttered Sunset, whose face was red with embarrassment. "Somepony... slapped me right here, and... tried to, um..."

Stardust frowned, and he replied, "I get it, don't worry... and if it's the same pony whose been trying to frame me, then that pony's gonna throughallofmylevels ofhellonce I get my hooves on said pony."

Sunset still looked embarrassed, so Stardust put a hoof on her shoulder, and said, "Hey, it's fine, you don't have to tell anypony else... and I won't either..."

Sunset smiled up at him, and nodded her head. "Alright... thanks... now, let me helpyou."

Stardust noticed that she was now raising up her hoof, and he rolled his eyes. "Fine,but make it quick... I don't want to have flashbacks to a certain event that took place."

"Don't be such a baby," smirked Sunset, and she placed a hoof on his forehead, causing her eyes to glow as she saw certain memories of his from the past few days.

As she was doing that, Stardust simply looked around the room, and started singing one of his favorite Crush 40 songs quietly to himself.

"What goes up, must come down, yet my feet don't touch the ground..."

Then, by the time he had reached the chorus, Sunset brought her hoof down, and he asked, "Well? What did you see?"

Sunset simply smiled at him, and she said, "Don't worry, I've got your fla- your back, Star. Just go and bring Twilight and the others, and meet me in the Throne Room."

She's speaking the truth, Jack. Everything will be fine now once they hear from her.

Stardust nodded his head, agreeing with Starswirl, and he said, "Alright, be back in a few... thanks so much, Sunset."

"Hey, that's what friends are for," replied Sunset, and the two of them smiled at each other before Stardust hurried out of the castle as fast he could possibly go.

As for Sunset, she had turned back around to turn off the machine, but while she was doing it, the young unicorn heard the voice of her friend.

"So, just to clarify... I'mtotallyinnocent, right?"

Sunset let out a chuckle, and nodded her head, saying, "Yes, Star, all I have to do is tell the others, and you'll be fine."

"Well, then..."

Suddenly, she felt a pair of hooves on her flank, and roughly turning her around so that she could be face-to-face with...

"... I'll have to make sure you don't say to them therightthing."

It looked like Stardust, but this pony was wearing a black cloak, with a different type of Cutie Mark, and a scratch over one of his eyes.

He also still had both of his front hooves on her flank, and for some reason, she found herself unable to move.

"W-who are you supposed to be?"

Anti-Stardust grinned at her, and said, "To save us both some time, I'm pretty much an evil version of your golden pony friend, beautiful... and in order for my plan to work, I needyouto convince everypony thatheis the one who did those things thatIactually did."

"Well, what makes you think I'd do anything you say?"

The sinister pony's smile became a frown, and Sunset yelped in pain as she felt both sides of her flank burn painfully, due to his hooves still being there.

"Because if youdon't,sweetheart, I might just have to resort to a more...differentmethod... get the picture?"

Trying her best to ignore the pain coming from her flank, Sunset said, "You won't get away with this, cause all I have to do is-"

"I'm sorry,did I not make myself clear, my dear?" growled Anti-Stardust, bringing Sunset right up to him so that they were now eye-to-eye, and their foreheads were pinned against each other."If you value your friend's life, you will do as I say..."

Sunset gulped, and found herself whispering, "He'll s-see you... doing this to me..."

Anti-Stardust went back to grinning at Sunset, and before placing his muzzle onto hers, he said,"Oh, I have a solution forthat, beautiful."