//------------------------------//
// We've Only Begun 
// Story: My Little Pony: A Race Against Time 
// by CJ Esmerio 
//------------------------------//


A few days later


"Alright, then, Case… you ready for this?"

Casey took a deep breath, and nodded his head, saying, "Uh-huh, definitely… I just hope you're not getting cold hooves or anythin', Star."

"Who,me?" replied Stardust, letting out a chuckle. "Not on an important day like this, my friend."

Before Casey could reply, Rainbow Dash suddenly appeared in front of them, and asked, "Hey, are we doin' this or what? Twilight's been waiting for, like, 5 minutes, and she's already getting nervous."

The human-turned-pony rolled his eyes, and said, "Yeah, we are, Rainbow… even though I know I'm probably gonna win this thing."

"Oh,as if," exclaimed Casey. "Need I remind you that I got the world advantage over you?"

As they began preparing themselves for their race re-match, Stardust flashed a sly grin at his friend, and said, "Well, just pray that you don't run into any trees this time."

"Believe me, pal… Iwon't," replied Casey, who then looked over at the winged pegasus. "Let's get this started!"

Rainbow nodded her head, and before racing over to the finish line, where [my] Twilight awaited them, she said, "Alright, then… inthree, two… one… aaaaannnnd, GO!"


WHOOSH!


A few seconds later, Stardust and Casey took off running, with both of them eager to finally defeat the other pony in a race.

As for Rainbow, who was now approaching the alicorn princess, she cried, "Okay, Twilight, they're coming!"

"Thanks!" replied Twilight, continuing to hope that nothing bad would happen to her special somepony during this race.

Going back to Casey and Stardust, neither of the two Earth ponies were breaking a sweat, and just when it seemed like one would get the advantage, the other would quickly catch up.

"I swear, Star, if you're using any of yourenhanced skills…"

Stardust chuckled, and he replied, "In a race like this, Casey, I don't have to… cause I'm winning this thing!"

Then, he began to run faster, and was almost close to the finish line when Casey showed up next to him, saying, "Over my dead body!"

"Well, technically, you've already been dead-"

Casey let out a laugh, and he replied, "Oh,you'reone to talk about dying, Star-"


WHAM!


Suddenly, right before they could reach the finish line, the two ponies crashed into something that… for some reason... nopony could see.

"What the heck wasthat?" exclaimed a surprised Rainbow.


POOF!


Twilight was about to run over to them, but then, a familiar figure appeared in front of the fallen Earth ponies, and he said, "Oh, darn, I keep forgetting to make my luggage non-invisible."

Rubbing the side of his head with his hoof, Casey muttered, "What the hay do you got in there? A bunch of rocks or-"

He stopped after realizing that he was inches away from the finish line, so Casey crawled towards it as fast as possible, and once the young pony had crossed over, he let out a satisfied cry of victory before lying back down on the ground.

As for Stardust, who was looking up at the individual that was now in front of him, he had finally been able to speak after recovering from the crash.

"Where the[BEEP]have you…hey! That doesn't count, Casey!"

"Don't be a sore loser, Star," replied the light-orange pony, and he lowered his head back down.





My Little Pony, My Little Pony

Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahhh...

(My Little Pony)
I used to wonder what friendship could be
(My Little Pony)
Until you all shared its magic with me

Big adventure

Tons of fun

A beautiful heart

Faithful and strong

Sharing kindness!

It's an easy feat

And magic makes it all complete
You have my little ponies
Do you know you're all my very best friends?





While Stardust and Casey were helped up to their hooves, Discord laid back in his floating hammock, and said, "Well, what a surprise to see you here, Starlight… I mean, Starbright… no, it's Stardusk, right?"

"Stardust," growled the annoyed human-turned-pony. "And it's definitelynota pleasure to see you here."

Discord let out a fake yawn, and stretched his arms as he replied, "Look, Stardusk, if you're looking at somepony to talk to… have it be the version of me from your world… as foryou, Casey, I'm glad that you finally unleashed all of that darkness inside of you."

Before either of the two ponies could respond, Twilight looked up at the draconequs, and asked, "What do you want, Discord?"

"Just wanted to see how my favorite friendship princess was doing before I went to see Fluttershy," said Discord. "But I guess I'm not needed here, so…adieu,Twilight, and nice to see you again, Spacedust."


POOF!


A few seconds later, he was gone, and Stardust muttered some words underneath his breath while Twilight looked at Casey.

"You okay?"

The young pony nodded his head, and said, "Yeah, I'm good… Star?"

"Just peachy," replied Stardust, still rubbing the side of his head. "But now I know who to have a talk with when I go back to my world."






[Twilight's library]


Insert "So Long" by Randy Newman

Noticing the disassembled weapon on the nearby desk, Stardust looked at the young alicorn, and asked, "So… what's all this about?"

"Well, I figured that if we could put Elixir's weapon to good use," explained Twilight. "There wouldn't be a need for us to ask you for help if something bad ever happened again… you could just stay in your own world."

Before Stardust could respond to that, Casey walked into the library, and said, "Ah, yes, the'so what now'moment… always lookin' forward to these."

The young pony smiled at his friend, but before saying something humorous, he saw that Casey was carrying a wrapped, rectangle-shaped present.

"If this is a way to make up for trashin' my room, Case-"

"No, no, this is me being a good friend with you right now," replied Casey, handing the present to Stardust. "It's for whenever you, uh… miss me or something… so you don't have to come over here as much."

Stardust looked at his friend, still confused,and said, "You sound as if you prefernothaving me come to see you… what's wrong?"

"Nothing, Star, really," said a chuckling Casey, while Twilight just observed happily from the sidelines. "It's just that I… after everything that's happened recently, I want the two of us to enjoy our lives for as long as we can… but it should be in our own world's, for the most part."

Noticing his friend's confusion, Casey added, "You said you wanted me to be happy, right? Well, trust me, Star, Iam…and now, I want the same for you… you go and have your adventures and life-changing stuff with your family in your world…"

Then, after Twilight walked over to stand by him, Casey finished his sentence.

"I'll have my own over here."

Stardust blinked his eyes a few times, and then, a smile appeared on his face.

"You sure ain't the same pony I met that one day, Casey… but I meant what I said before… if somethingreallyimportant ever happens in this world, I'll be here… cause, like you said, we're friends…"

"And friends stick together," said Casey, who then surprised Stardust even more by giving him a hug. "So thanks for being my friend."

"..."

Aren't you going to return the favor, Jack?

Stardust was too stunned to respond, so with a slight giggle, Twilight used her magic to help him hug Casey back, and he mouthed his thanks towards her.

A few seconds later, they broke apart, and as Stardust grabbed ahold of his gift, Casey said, "So… no hard feelings about the stuff with me as Omega, right?"

Stardust chuckled, and he shook his head.

"None whatsoever… oh, um, by the way, Twilight, did you ever find out more about the dimensional limbo?"

"Unfortunately, no," replied Twilight, letting out a sigh of dissapointment. "I can't find any information about it in here, so-"

"Well, what about your special somepony?" suggested Stardust, which made Casey confused. "I mean, he's been in there…andKronos brought him out, right? Plus, he had his ownrevivalexperience, so wouldn't that be something interesting to learn about?"

To his amusement, Twilight gasped in surprise, and said, "Oh, my Celestia, you're right…Casey! Stay here while I get my writing supplies and some snacks cause we're going to be here for a while."

As she hurried out of the library, Casey glared at Stardust after realizing what had just happened, and said, "Thank youso much, Star…"

"No problem, my friend," replied Stardust, giving him a quick pat on the back. "Have fun!"

Rolling his eyes, the light-orange pony watched as his friend, with gift in hoof, step through the Crystal Mirror in order to return to his world.

I wonder if I should've mentioned the… eh, forget it, not important.


###############


After closing away the portal to Casey's world, Kronos looked at the ones that still remained opened, and began to make sure that each and every single one were all okay.

"Starity World, check… Flutterdust, yes… Moondust… Amore Balance… Applestar… Starset… Dustlight… Pinkie Dust… StarDash... Miles' world... yep, all in order."

With a satisfied nod, Kronos closed up all of the portals, and he went to check on ones that didn't involve ponies.

"Take care of yourself, you two…"





When Stardust stepped out of the mirror, and into his own library, the first thing he did was say, "Huh, I'm getting the hang of that."

Then, walking over to the nearby desk, the young pony carefully began to open up the present that Casey had given him, and once he was finished, he smiled after seeing what it was.

It appears to be a photo album.

"Yeah, I can see that," replied Stardust, chuckling, and he opened it to see what kind of photos were inside.

To his surprise (and amusement), the photos were that of all the events that had happened to him ever since he'd first met Casey, which included visiting all of the worlds with an alternate Stardust...

Remind me, Starswirl not to not show Twilight these photos.

… as well as him and Casey having fun in virtual reality, the party that had been thrown by the Pinkie Pie from Casey's world, and when they had all gone to London.

I'm sensing some emotional happiness from you, Jack… and are you crying?

"No, of course not," muttered Stardust, even though his eyes were getting a little watery.

Well, then I must say… this is an excellent gift from your friend… is it not?

"Yeah… it is," replied the human-turned-pony, and he continued looking through the album, laughing several times as he remembered-

"Um, Stardust?"

Fluttershy walked into the library, taking Stardust by surprise, and she said, "Oh, I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."

"Nah, don't even worry," replied Stardust. "What's up?"

The yellow Pegasus handed over an envelope to him, and she said, "This says that it's for you, but for some reason, it got sent to my cottage…"

"Really?" Stardust began opening it, and after pulling out the letter that was inside, he smiled as he started reading it. "Oh, I get why, Fluttershy… and this happens to be athank-youletter from the alternate version of you."

"... from Casey's world?"

Stardust shook his head, and replied, "No, it's the one from another alternate world, where she's in a relationship with… um, that world's version of me."

Realizing now what he was talking about, a sheepish expression was on Fluttershy's face as she said, "Oh, goodness, I… I'm sorry, Star, I hope that Twilight doesn't get-"

"There's no need to apologize," said an amused Stardust. "It's all in the past… and besides, like I told Sunset, what my girlfriend doesn't know won't hurt her."






[A few days later, at the Crystal Empire...]


"Oh, how I wish I could take this back to Ponyville with us!"

Applejack rolled her eyes, and said, "For the love of hay, Rarity, you know that we can't do that."

All of the Mane 6 were currently in the room that contained the statues of themselves, and where they had first encountered Rowan, as well as being sent to other worlds far away from their own.

"Twilight, darling, would you happen to know any sort of shrinking spell?" asked Rarity, ignoring what Applejack had said to her.

The young alicorn sighed, and shook her head, saying, "We aren't taking it back with us. Besides, I'm pretty sure that my brother would notice right away if one of the statues that he helped make had suddenly disappeared."

Seeing that she wasn't going to get any help, the white unicorn let out a groan of dissapointment, and replied, "Well,alright… but are you sure that - oh, relax, Applejack, I was only kidding!"

While the two of them started arguing with each other, Fluttershy walked over to Twilight, and asked, "Um, why didn't Casey come with us? Is he okay?"

Twilight smiled at her friend's concern, and said, "Casey's alright, Fluttershy… he just had something more important to take of."





With a bouqet of flowers in his mouth, Casey continued to walk to his destination.

If today had been a different day, he would have joined Twilight and the others on their trip to the Crystal Empire, but it wasn't… and that's why he was walking alone.

Then, once he reached the designated area, the young pony set down the flowers next to a pile of other bouqets that had been previously left by him, and stepped back a little bit before looking up at what was left of his old home.

"Hey, Mom… hey, Dad…" said Casey, after taking a moment of silence. "Hope you're both having fun up there… doing whatever it is ponies like us do after we leave this world…

"Um, so anyway… yeah, a lot's changed since the last time I was here… I found my special somepony, even though you probably know already who I'm talking about… and I have a whole lot of friends now that care about me-"

"And who will always be there for you, no matter what."

The young pony turned around, and was surprised to see Twilight making her way over to him.

"Oh, hi, Twilight… I, uh, thought you'd still be in the Crystal Empire."

His girlfriend gave him a smile, and said, "Yeah, but I became more and more curious about what exactly was so special regarding this day… and now, I can see it."

Looking back at the large pile of flowers, Casey chuckled, and said, "It's one of the days that I look forward to every year… even though it wasn't exactly easy to turn a negative into a positive."

Observing the damage of her special somepony's old home, a look of sadness and regret appeared on Twilight's face as she was reminded of her battle with Tirek.

"Casey, look, I'm sorry about… if I'd known-"

The light-orange Earth pony quickly shook his head, and placed a hoof on top of hers.

"Please don't stress yourself, Twilight… besides, I'm glad that no one else went through this, and I mean, if that hadn't happened, then I probably would have never met you and everyone else… you're all the best things to ever happen to me."

The two of them smiled at each other, and Casey was about to say something else when he noticed that Twilight was using her magic.

"What are you… oh, my…gosh…"

All of the previously-left flowers that were in the pile now looked beautiful and fresh, and once Twilight was done, Casey looked at her with so much love and affection.

"This… I… thank… um…"

"You're welcome," replied Twilight, and she gave him a quick but sweet kiss, which helped Casey relax a little bit. "So, are you ready to walk back home?"

To her surprise, Casey began to chuckle, and he said, "Well, now that I don't have to carry the flowers, I figured I could fly back there now."

"Huh?" said a confused Twilight. "But you don't have wings or a unicorn horn."

"True, but just like our Earth Pony friend, I still have some of Starcade's power, which means…"

Then, he began to levitate himself into the air, and flashed a toothy grin at his girlfriend.

"I wonder if I'm faster than an alicorn…"

Twilight smirked at Casey, and she replied, "Oh, trust me, my special somepony, you'renot."

"Well, then I guess there's only one way to find out," said the energized pony, as he watched her fly up in the air to join him.

Nodding in agreement, Twilight said, "In three, two, one…and… GO!"






A few hours later


As the moon and stars began to appear in the night sky, a cloaked pony slowly approached Casey's destroyed house, stopping to look down at the large pile of flowers.

Without saying a word, he simply continued staring at them, and a few seconds later, all of the flowers became engulfed in flames.

A smile appeared on the mysterious pony's face, and the flames continued to rise up in the air, as well as slowly approaching the house itself.

Then, he turned around, and started walking away, laughing quietly to himself…