My Little Pony: A Race Against Time

by CJ Esmerio

A Second Chance, Part 2

As Applebloom reunited with her big sister, Starcase floated over to Princess Luna, giving her a conflicted look.

"Thank you, your Highness... even though I probably could have used your help, like, thirty minutes ago."

Princess Luna smiled at the young pony, and said, "It seems to me,Starcase, that you did quite well on your own when it came to dealing with the alternate Stardust."

"Indeed he did.."

Starcase turned around, and saw a smiling Kronos, who was now in the form of a unicorn that somewhat reminded him of Starswirl.

"That's a good look for you, son," said Kronos, smirking at the heroic pony.

"Hardy har-har," replied a sarcastic Starcase.

As for Princess Luna, who was looking at Kronos, she said, "This must have been a highly extreme situation if it involved you to leave your world."

"Oh, you havenoidea what the past few days have been like for me, your Highness," replied Kronos, who turned his head to look at Starcase.

"Hey, I didn't do anything!"

Kronos chuckled, and he said, "Of course not,Starcase... now then, if you will all excuse me, I have to take care of this pony before he wakes up."

As the elderly pony walked over to Evil Stardust, and placed him over his shoulder, Starcase asked, "What are you gonna do with him?"

"Let's just say that he will suffer longer than Rowan did," answered Kronos, giving him a sly grin.

Starcase was about to ask if he would ever see him again, but before he could, a portal appeared in front of Kronos, who stepped inside of it, and once it disappeared, Starcase instead looked at Princess Luna. "So... I take it you've met him before?"

"Many years ago, yes," replied the alicorn princess. "But all that matters now is that, hopefully, everything is the way it is supposed to be, and Kronos can relax peacefully in his world."

Seeing that Starcase still looked like he wanted answers, Princess Luna added, "There will be a time when you learn everything that needs to be known about him... however, in the meantime, I do believe that a certain young alicorn is waiting for you."

He turned his head to see that she was referring to Twilight, but when Starcase brought it back to continue their conversation, Luna was already gone.

"Oh, soeveryponydecides to pull a Batman, huh?" muttered Starcase, rolling his eyes. "What's next, me acting like De-"

"Casey?"

Starcase turned around, looking at the young alicorn, and was about to talk to her when Princess Twilight walked over to them, as well, and said, "Stardust?"

"Yeah?" replied Starcase, even though his voice still sounded like it was Casey and Stardust talking at the same time.

Twilight and Princess Twilight looked at each other, and then back at Starcase, with both of them asking, "How is this going to work?"

"Uh..." said Starcase, not knowing what the right response was to say to them, but he quickly remembered what his evil self had done in a now-alternate timelime, so to their girlfriends' surprise, he suddenly crushed the Cutie Mark charm in his hooves.

Once the pieces were all over the ground, Starcase felt himself being spun around, and he asked, "Alright, what is up with all of these magic sparkles around me?"

The glowing energy surrounding his body started to shine brighter, and the two versions of Twilight tried using their front limbs to cover their eyes.

As the light began to die down, Twilight lowered her front left limb, while Princess Twilight lowered her right one, and they saw their boyfriends lying on the ground, looking a little worse for the wear.

"Well, I'm certainly not going to forget that," muttered Stardust, his eyes spinning around in a dizzy fashion.

As for Casey, he actually looked worser than Stardust, and Twilight immediately took notice of this. "Okay, I need to get you to the hospital... can you walk, or-"

"Yeah, I think... I can manage," replied Casey. "Even though right now, I feel like [BEEP]."

He then looked at Stardust, and said, "Star, thank you... for... save...ugh..."

Casey suddenly fell backwards, landing in Twilight's open hooves, and the alicorn princess gave Stardust a worried look.

"He'll be fine, Twilight," assured the young pony. "Casey just fainted from exhaustion... you'd better get him to the hospital soon."

Nodding her head, Twilight carefully placed Casey on top of herself, and she quickly flew towards the Crystal Mirror, while Stardust sighed.Some good friend I am to him.

"You okay, Jack?"

He turned his head to look at his own Twilight, and replied, "Yeah, I just-"

"Stardust, you're okay!"

Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared from behind, and wrapped her front limbs around Stardust, hugging him tightly, as well as spinning him around several times, while Twilight couldn't stop herself from giggling.

"Pinkie... as much as I care about you," groaned Stardust, after his energetic friend finally stood still. "Pleasedo not spin me around anymore."

"Huh? Oh, right, sorry," apologized Pinkie, and she released him from her bear-hugging grip.

A few feet away, EG Stardust was starting to wake up, and to his surprise, all of his friends were in front of him.

"You okay there, Star?" asked Anti-Applejack.

EG Stardust rubbed the side of his head with his hoof, and replied, "I, uh, think so... er... but I thought that..."

"You didn't kill them, Jack."

He and everypony else looked to see the approaching Stardust, joined by Twilight, and EG Stardust replied, "I don't think I understand."

"Neither do I, honestly," admitted Stardust, giving a shrug. "But all I can say is that you were able to somehownotkill your friends while Rowan's magic was trying to take control of you... and you didn't even realize that they were with you this entire time."

His EG counterpart remained quiet for a moment before sighing, and he gave Stardust an apologetic look. "Listen, um... Other Me... I just want to, er, say that I'm sorry for... well..."

"Hey, trust me, I've sort-of been through the same thing," replied Stardust, much to his counterpart's surprise. "Possession is a real [BEEP] to human-turned-ponies like us."

"Ain't that the truth?" chuckled EG Stardust, feeling a little better. "But, er, thank you for helping me learn an important lesson."

"Oh?" said Twilight. "And what lesson would that be?"

EG Stardust gave the two of them a smile, and replied, "I learned that the circumstances of where a person spends his life is irrelevant... it's what you do with the gift of friendship that determines who you are."

Why does that sound so familiar?wondered the young pony.

With all of that being said, the Crystal Mirror suddenly appeared next to them, and one-by-one, the anti ponies stepped inside, heading back presumably to their own world.

Midnight (or, in this case, Sci-Twi) was getting ready to jump through the portal when she realized that EG Stardust still hadn't moved from his spot. "You okay, Star?"

"I am a little better," replied the young teenager-turned-pony. "But there's a few things that I have to take care of here first."

He gave Stardust and Twilight a smile, and Stardust asked, "Stuff like what?"

Insert "Getting Better" by Smash Mouth

The first thing that EG Stardust decided to was turn Twilight's castle back to its original state.

"How are you doi-" began Stardust, but then, he noticed that his other self was wearing a geode necklace. "Never mind, forget I ever asked."

Unfortunately, all of the interior damage that had been done during Anti-Stardust's fights with Stardust, Casey, and Starcase had ended up destroying certain parts of the castle, so EG Stardust decided to use his magic to help fix the damage, along with some help from Starlight and Sunset.

Once they had both finished rebuilding the final part of the castle that had recieved damage, EG Stardust looked at Sunset, and said, "Um, Sunset? I'm sorry for the whole thing that happened... with, er, your-"

The yellow unicorn chuckled, and she replied, "Thank you for your apology... but, um, maybe we should try to pretend like it never happened, okay?"

EG Stardust immediately nodded his head. "Done."

At Rainbow's house, the injured pegasus was almost 90% done with removing the offensive language that had been spray painted all over her walls.

"Here, let me help you with that."

Rainbow turned around, and to her surprise, she saw EG Stardust using his own soap-and-scrubbing-brush on the graffiti.

"Um, you don't have to..." began Rainbow, but EG Stardust shook his head.

"I know I don't have to, but I want to," explained the young pony. "It'll make me feel better."

To his own surprise, Rainbow simply nodded her head, and said, "Alright... thanks."

He watched her walk away to a different part of the house, and wondered how much longer she would be acting the way she was right now.

"I sure hope the other me can fix this."

Then, after explaining to Granny Smith about what had really happened involving the Apple Family farm, EG Stardust was now using his magic to repair the damage he'd caused to the barn.

"Thanks so much, Other Star," said the hard-working Earth Pony. "It warms my heart to see you tryin' to right all of your, um, non-intentional wrongs."

EG Stardust nodded his head, and said, "My pleasure, AJ... besides, I had to find some way to convince your grandma to no longer attack the other me if he were to show up again."

Applejack chuckled, and replied, "Well, I sure do appreciate that, so thank you."

When Rarity had returned to her home, with more supplies to be used for her ruined outfits, she was surprised to see EG Stardust using his magic to restore all of her dress creations.

"Thank you, darling," said the marshmallow-colored unicorn, after he had finished several minutes later.

Letting out a yawn, EG Stardust also stretched his front limbs, and said, "You're welcome, and it was the least that I could do... also, I am sorry for any stress that I may have given you regarding all of this."

"Oh, to-mah-to, tomato," replied a smiling Rarity. "Let's try not to dwell too much into the past."

EG Stardust found himself letting out a small laugh as he said, "You're telling me."

Now back in Twilight's library, in front of the Crystal Mirror, EG Stardust was about to return to his own world when he heard the voice of his counterpart.

"Thought you'd leave without saying good-bye?"

Stardust smirked at him, and raised an eyebrow.

"I figured that you wouldn't want to see me again," replied EG Stardust, shrugging his shoulders. "After... all the things that I put you-"

"Hey, don't worry, it's fine, I get it," assured Stardust, putting a hoof on his other self's shoulder. "Just remember that, even though you're in the world ofEquestria Girls,all that really matters is the memories you create with the people you care most of about."

EG Stardust looked at his counterpart, and said, "Okay, I know we're not, like,twinsor anything, but I figured you'd try to curse me out, or even-"

"Maybe if you had run into theold me," explained Stardust. "But I've changed a lot since my first day in Ponyville...andmy head's a little mixed up right now after the wholefusionthing, so leave before Idoend up doing somethingreallybad to you."

EG Stardust nodded his head, and the two of them politely shared a hoofshake, but right before he could leave, another familiar voice started to speak.

"You don't actually think this is over, do you?"

Then, from out of nowhere, Kronos appeared in front of the Crystal Mirror, and Stardust groaned. "Is this gonna become a regular thing with you?"

"Just relax, Jack, I came to talk tohim," replied Kronos, who was pointing a hoof at EG Stardust, and the young pony's counterpart rolled his eyes.

"Look, Time Guy, I already learned my lesson, so why don't you-"

Kronos let out a laugh, and he shook his head. "While that may be true, it simply does not erase all of the damage and pain you brought to the worlds you went to, as well as everpony else you came into contact with..."

"Oh, comeon," replied EG Stardust, who was getting a little annoyed. "It'sjustas bad as what Sunset or Midnight or the Sirens or even Gloriosa tried to do, andnothinghappened-"

"Well, inyourcase, it's a completely different story," said Kronos, giving him a serious look. "Because of your actions, an innocent Earth Pony is in the hospital,andyou could have almost caused utter destruction to your own world."

Before EG Stardust could say anything back at him, Kronos added, "You also made the CMC's and Casey's Twilight your prisoners, as well as almost creating a paradox and upsetting the natural order of balance by sendingJackback to Earth, which could have turned in a terrible catastrophe."

"He does have a point," muttered Stardust, nodding his head in agreement, and EG Stardust sighed.

"Okay, so what happens? You turn me over to the intergalactic feds, community service, the Undertaker, what?"

Giving a small chuckle, Kronos shook his head, and replied, "You must prove to me that you trulycanenjoy your life in theEquestria Girlsworld with your friends and beloved girlfriend by your side...thereisa reason why you were sent to that world, after all."

EG Stardust raised an eyebrow, and he asked, "And what hapens if I choosenotto do any of this stuff?"

A slight frown appeared on Kronos' face, and there was a little edge in his voice as he said, "Keep in mind,boy, that this is actually what the humans call'going easy on you'... theotheroption would be for you to serve a year-long punishment in a world that you could not probably last evenoneday in."

"And what would that be exactly?"

Instead of giving a vocal answer, Kronos snapped his fingers, and EG Stardust disappeared, much to Stardust's surprise. "Hey!What was-"

"Just wait," said Kronos, and a few seconds later, he snapped his fingers again, which brought back EG Stardust, who now looked completely horrified.

"I take it you would rather continue enjoying your life in theEGWorld?"

Stardust's counterpart nodded his head, and Kronos now felt satisfied. "Good, and if all goes well, this will be the last time you will ever see me... Pray that itstaysthat way."

With that, the elderly pony quickly vanished into thin air, and for a moment, neither of the two Stardusts said a word.

Then, Stardust cleared his throat, and he asked, "Where did you go?"

EG Stardust did a small gulp, and he replied, "I... um... would prefernotto talk about it, if that is alright with you."

"Um... okay, yeah, sure," said Stardust, feeling a little confused.

As he walked down the street, listening via earbuds to the music coming from his iPod, EG Stardust found himself singing along to what was currently playing.

However, once he reached a street corner, EG Stardust stopped moving, and he removed his earbuds, having sensed that something bad was happening.

"Give me your wallet!"

And he was right... a few feet away, EG Stardust saw that a mean-looking thug had an innocent civillian at gunpoint, as well as having him pinned against the wall.

"Look, sir, I don't want any trouble, I just want to get my car-"

"Just give me your wallet!"

Not on my watch, [BEEP],thought EG Stardust, and he started running over to the nearest phone booth.

[Insert "Superman Returns - Main Titles" by John Ottman]

Once he was inside, EG Stardust began removing his clothes, which included his hoodie, shirt, jeans, socks, and even his sneakers.

"Alright, now that I've taken care of that, time to suit up."

Reaching into his backpack, EG Stardust pulled out a superhero suit that EG Rarity had made for him, but it took a few attempts for him to succesfully put it on.

Then, right as he was about to put on the mask, EG Stardust groaned, and said, "I have to call Twilight... okay, where's my walle- oh wait, no one carries change anymore... ah, here we go, my cell!"

Now holding onto the cellular device, EG Stardust began calling his girlfriend, and once he heard the"click"sound of Sci-Twi answering the phone, he said, "Hey, uh, I'm gonna be a little late. Something came up."

While Sci-Twi gave her response, EG Stardust nodded his head, and then, once she finished talking, he replied, "Thank you, love... um, I will be there in about ten-"

After hearing the gunshot, EG Stardust gulped, and said, "Make that twenty minutes, love."

Once he hung up the phone, the young teenager put on his mask, got out of the phone booth, and as he made his way back to where the thug had been, everything felt like it was moving in slow motion.

Unfortunately, after reaching the alley, EG Stardust stopped in his tracks, and saw that the thug had already left, with his victim now sprawled out on the ground

"Oh, [BEEP], that not's good," said EG Stardust, shaking his head. "Nope... you're not gonna walk that one off, nuh-uh..."

Then, he let out a sigh, and added, "Man, I spentway too longin that phone booth... you know, honestly, I probably should have just called 9-1-1, but then, I would have had to ask someone for change cause who the [BEEP] carrieschangeanymore?"

Of course, the dead victim wasn't answering, so EG Stardust simply shrugged, and continued with his monologue.

"Well, I guess therearesome positives to this... I mean, I've done the brony community a huge favor, and yes, even though I've always said that you were a [BEEP]-in cardboard cutout who didn't need to be a love interest, I think that... nope, never mind, doesn't change a thing...

"And also, what the[BEEP]is a phone booth doing at a street corner? I thought they ended up like Hollywood Video and Blockbuster... eh, I could've probably used my cell, though."

Stardust

"But then, I would have to explain my girlfriend that I'd be late to our plans for prom-"

STARDUST!

"KRONOS!"yelled EG Stardust, lifting his head up, and waking up from his dream.

"Stardust..."

The young teenager looked around the classroom, seeing that he was still in English class, and he saw that all of the students were staring at him.

He turned to look at the person sittting in the desk next to him, who was Rainbow Dash, and the athletic teenager slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand.

"Over here, Mr. Stardust..."

Turning himself to look in a straight direction, EG Stardust looked at his English teacher, Mr. Saber, who was someone that did not enjoy having him as a student.

In EG Stardust's case, he did not enjoy having him as a teacher, but heck, the school year was almost over in just a few months, anyway...

"Why did you say the name of a password that came from a movie?" asked Mr. Saber, who had his arms crossed, and was giving EG Stardust a mean-eyed look.

EG Stardust rolled his eyes, and he replied, "Itwasn'ta password, Kronos is-"

"Stay after class once the bell rings."

The young teen's mouth almost dropped to the top of his desk. "What, why? I didn't even-"

"After class," growled Mr. Saber, and as he continued with teaching today's lesson, EG Stardust groaned.

"Son of a [BEEP]..."

It was now the day after all of the anti-ponies had gone back to their world, and Stardust was currently asleep, lying in his bed, fully intending on not waking up until he chose to.

Or so he thought.

"Mornin', sugarcube!"

Still laying in bed, Stardust groaned, and he said, "AJ, please tell me that nobody ruined the-"

"Nope, nothin' bad happened," assured Applejack. "Now, come on, get yourself outta that bed, you gotta do my chores. The sooner you get 'em done, the sooner you get to come back."

"Says who?" replied the young Earth pony. "You never won that bet."

Applejack chuckled, and she shook her head. "I beg to differ, Star..."

Barely lifting his head up, Stardust opened his eyes, and watched his friend perform the dance that she had learned back in the Human World.

Once Applejack was back on all fours, Stardust groaned, and said, "You... have got... to be[BEEP]-in kidding..."

The hard-working Earth pony sighed, and she said, "Come on now, Star, the sooner you finish them up today, the sooner you can get back to sleep. Alright?"

You are a man of your word most of the time, Jack.

"Notnow, Starswirl," muttered Stardust, and he slowly began to climb out of bed. "Alright, AJ, you win... but that's the last time I make a bet with you."

Applejack just gave him a sheepish smile.

A half-hour later, once all of the other students had left, EG Stardust went up to the teacher's desk, as did EG Rainbow, to his surprise.

"You do nothaveto stay here, Miss Dash," reminded Mr. Saber, but the young female teenager shook her head, so he turned his attention back to EG Stardust. "That's the fifth time you have fallen asleep in my class, Mr. Stardust."

"Hey, not my fault you make this class so boring," replied EG Stardust. "Besides, I have a reason for falling asleep."

Mr. Saber raised an eyebrow, and he said, "I hope it's not like the times when you told me about you having to deal withanime demons, magic-stealing sirens, and a careless camp counselor?"

"Er..." EG Stardust gave a sheepish laugh, and said, "Well, to be honest, I-"

Mr. Saber sighed, and he replied, "Just forget it... and you'll have plenty of time to doze off indetention."

"What, why?!"yelled EG Stardust, and his temper was starting to grow.

"For falling asleep in class...again," reminded his teacher. "You also have yet to re-take the test you missed several days ago."

After he was handed a test paper, EG Stardust groaned, and he muttered, "Fine, so when do I show up back here, huh?"

Mr. Saber let out a chuckle, and he shook his head, saying, "Oh, no, Mr. Stardust, you are not going to serve detention in here... you're going to thespecialdetention room... in Mr. Larson's class... after schooltoday."

EG Stardust blinked his eyes a few times, and then, he exclaimed, "Why the[BEEP]do I got to serve detention in-"

"Do not make me have to give youdouble detention, Mr. Stardust," replied Mr. Saber, and Stardust looked almost ready to explode in anger, but EG Rainbow pushed her friend out into the hallway before he could say anything else.

A few minutes later, inside of an empty classroom, EG Rainbow said, "Youneedto calm down, Star."

"Calm down?" exclaimed the irritated teenager. "Rainbow, how in thehellam I supposed to-"

Suddenly, he noticed the worried look on his friend's face, as well as hearing a familiar voice in his head.

Prove to me that you can enjoy your life, your friends, and your beloved girlfriend.

EG Stardust sighed, and he replied, "Alright,fine, I'm sorry... but that damn detention class is not going to help me out with that in any way."

"Oh, come on, Star, how bad could it be?"

Detention in Mr. Larson's room was definitely not a pretty sight.

It was filled with most of the rudest, loudest, strangest, and just down-rightmost horriblestudents to ever attend CHS, except for EG Stardust.

As he got to the final set of questions, EG Stardust's concetration was broken by the angry sounds of a large and barking dog.

"Hey, uh, I don't think those kind of-"

"You leave Garble alone!" yelled the barking dog's owner, and the dog continued barking at EG Stardust.

Just finish the test, Star, just finish the test.

"Can someone please help me down?" asked Mr. Larson, who was hanging upside down via a lengthy rope that was wrapped around his whole body.

BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK!

As paper airplanes and rolled-up pieces of paper were thrown across the room, EG Stardust groaned, and dropped his head against the desk.I can't believe I have to put up with this for thirty [BEEP]-in more minutes!

Then, a few minutes later, EG Rainbow appeared in the room, and she went up to the teacher's desk. "Uh, Mr. Larson? The principal wants to see Star right away."

"Are you done with your test, Mr. Stardust?" asked the tied-up teacher.

"[BEEP] yes, I am!" cried EG Stardust, lifting his head back up.

"Alright, you may go once you bring me the test pa-"

EG Stardust raced to the teacher's desk, and followed his friend to the door.

"What does Celestia want me for?"

EG Rainbow looked at her friend, and gave him a sly grin. "Shedoesn't..."

Once she said that to him, EG Stardust gave her a smile, and said, "I owe you one."

EG Rainbow just let out a chuckle, and the two friends hurried out of the classroom.

At least he wasn't in the world that Kronos had sent Evil Stardust to...

"Had fun in detention?" asked Sci-Twi, as her boyfriend walked up to her.

"Oh, ha, bloody ha," retorted EG Stardust, rolling his eyes. "You didn't have to wait for me, love."

"Yeah, I know, but I wanted to," replied Sci-Twi, which made EG Stardust smile. "Besides, I didn't want you to... end up..."

His smile quickly went away, and the young teenager sighed. "Just say it, love... I was terrible, wasn't I?"

Sci-Twi gave him a nervous look, and replied, "Well, I mean, I don't exactly remember much about the whole thing, but seeing you with all of that dark energy... and our friends..."

EG Stardust sighed again, and began to shake his head.

This is just great... I've probably burned those damn memories permanently in her mind forever...

"Stardust?"

The young teenager looked at his girlfriend, who added, "Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah, I'll be fine," assured EG Stardust. "Oh, before I forget... there's, uh, something I wanted to ask you."

Sci-Twi nodded her head, and said, "Okay, Star... what is it?"