//------------------------------//
// Emergency 
// Story: My Little Pony: A Race Against Time 
// by CJ Esmerio 
//------------------------------//


Stardust's World


"Wow… I don't think I've ever seen him that upset, Twilight."

"Same here," replied Rainbow, who was agreeing with Applejack. "I don't even know what the heck he's saying."

The  two of them, along with Twilight and her other self, were watching  Stardust continue to throw a fit in the energy bubble that his  girlfriend had placed him in (which, as of a few minutes ago, had also  been sound-muffled, for obvious reasons), and that was because he was  not exactly pleased with what he'd learned had happen to Casey's  Twilight, as well as the other version of Spike, and everyone else at  Beck's own hooves.

The only thing that the young alicorn had left out was Rainbow's other self being turned from blue to pink since-

"* %{}`~£+/[*!"

Everypony turned their attention back to Stardust, and a confused Applejack asked, "What did he say righ' now?"

"Hmmmm…"  said Pinkie, who suddenly appeared from out of nowhere, and was looking  up while flipping through the pages of a book that she was holding. "I  don't see any of those symbols in here, but I'm pretty sure that he said the word [BEEP]."

Then, noticing that they were all looking at her, the pink pony replied, "What? He says that word the most…"

"How the hay did you come across this, Pinkie?" wondered Rainbow, who was now looking through the book after taking it from her.

"I  got it because I wanted to see if he'd said all the 'profanity words'  that exist in Equestria," replied Pinkie. "And, surprisingly, he's only  said around-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Rainbow started to chuckle, and said, "Um, I think you're wrong, Pinkie… I think [BEEP] was the word that he-"

"Rainbow Dash!" scolded  Applejack, and after taking it, she added, "You should know better than  to say somethin' that Twilight don't like to hear… 'sides, y'all are  both wrong… cause Star actually said the word-"

"O-KAY, just stop!" cried Twilight, and she used her magic to make the book disappear before any of them could say something else. "It doesn't matter what he said…"

Then,  to her counterpart's surprise, she looked over at Stardust, and the two  of them just stared at each other, with similiar but also different  expressions.

"Um… what's going on?" wondered Casey's girlfriend, who walked over to Applejack.

"They're  talkin' to each other inside of here," replied the orange pony, lightly  tapping the side of Twilight's head with her hoof. "He's also done it  with Rainbow before, but I can't remember if me and him ever did."

"Is it something to do with-"

Rainbow nodded her head, and she said, "His balance powers? Yup, definitely… but, er, he usually does it with just Twilight, and it's actually not that much, anyway."

"How come?"

Pinkie was the next pony to answer her friend's other self. "I think it's cause Stardust doesn't want to, um… how do I say it…"


POOF!


Then,  to their surprise, Stardust was released from his bubble, but before he  could speak, his girlfriend placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder.

"Easy, Jack… she's obviously been through a lot."

It  took a while for Stardust to let out a heavy sigh, and after muttering  some words to himself, he looked at Twilight's other self. "I… am so  sorry to hear what happened… and I swear that if I could go back in time  to that day, I would have knocked his damn-"

"Jack…"

Stardust closed his mouth, and paused for a moment before he continued to speak. "I'm very relieved to see that you're doing a lot better, and I hope the same is with Spike…"

Casey's girlfriend gave him a thankful smile, and after she nodded her head, he asked, "Where is… Beck… at now again?"

"In  the dungeon of my castle," replied the young princess. "And he'll be  watched by either me or one of my friends every day until he learns that  what happened was not my fault."

After hearing her response,  Stardust forced himself not to let out a groan, and with a sigh, he  said, "Well… I can't say I'm surprised to hear that… or that your Celestia again showed that-"

"Jaaaccckkk…"

"Yes, love, I know… so, if that's what your decision is, Twilight, then I can respect it… is there anything I can do to help?"

Not  wanting to make her other self's special somepony again, Twilight shook  her head, and replied, "Not right now, Stardust, but I appreciate your  offer… and I'll definitely let you know if I ever do need it."

"Glad  to hear…" said Stardust, who was now walking out of the room. "Now, if  we're all done here, I'm going to find Starlight so that she can help me  get rid of this headache I feel coming on, so…"

Once he was gone,  Applejack smiled at her friend's counterpart, and said, "Don't be too  worried about him, sugarcube… he'll be alright by the end of the day."

"Yeah,  totally," replied Rainbow, nodding in agreement. "He's probably just  upset because another version of his special somepony got hurt, and he  wasn't there to stop… what, what did I say?"

After giving her  pegasus friend an unamused expression, Twilight looked at her  counterpart, and asked, "Is there anything else you'd like to talk about  before you go back home?"

Casey's girlfriend shook her head, and replied, "No, but I should get back so that I can take my turn watching over Beck… bye, everypony…"

The other three ponies gave their friend a goodbye, and once she was gone, Pinkie asked, "Um, so… can I have the book back now?"

Twilight looked at her, and the pink pony replied, "It's only because I want to see if Stardust can say the other remaining…"






Casey's World


While  the light-orange Earth Pony was actually becoming interested in  Pinkie's idea for a new party cannon, their discussion was interrupted  by the arrival of Twilight via the Crystal Mirror.

"So, how'd it go talking with whoever it was you talked to?" asked Pinkie.

"Fine…  I feel a little better now, actually," replied Twilight, and she was  about to leave the library when Casey walked up to her.

"Twilight, wait… um, about what happened earlier, I-"

Suddenly,  to his surprise, the young alicorn placed a hoof on his muzzle, and  said, "It's fine, Casey, don't worry about it… just promise that you can  trust me on this."

Just like what happened with Starlight, the  love and concern in Twilight's eyes made Casey feel more relaxed, and he  nodded his head, which made her move her hoof away. "Cross my heart,  hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

"Well, you didn't have to do that," replied a chuckling Twilight. "But still… thank you…"

Then, as she walked away, Casey looked back at Pinkie, who asked, "So… you're not going to tell her yet?"

"I will when I know it's the right time," replied the young pony, walking back over to his friend, and he let out a sigh.

I just hope I'm still able to get another opportunity.


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


"So,  do you still want to keep on talking?" asked Starlight, who was glaring  at the imprisoned Beck. "I can still give you something worse than duct  tape…"

Even though he had been turned into various random objects  almost the whole time she had watched him, Beck replied, "Before you  do, teacher's pet, I have a question for you… and that's when are you having the wedding?"

His question immediately made Starlight confused, and she asked, "Huh?"

After  rolling his eyes, Beck gave her a response. "You know what I mean,  Glimmer… the way you two are with each other, I'm surprised that - and speak of the alicorn, look who decided to show up!"

Ignoring  the sole prisoner that was in her dungeon, Twilight looked at a  now-blushing Starlight, and said, "I can take it from - uh, are you  okay?"

The purple unicorn nodded her head, and she replied, "I'm fine, just need to, um… get some air…"

As she watched her friend leave the dungeon, Twilight gave Beck a suspicious look. "What did you say to her?"

"Nothing  for you to freak about, princess… and may l say how lovely it is to  know that, as your 1st prisoner in this place, I'm getting the royal  treatment."

Twilight rolled her eyes as she slid the tray of food  that she'd brought with her into Beck's cell, and said, "You're lucky I  even chose to give you food in the 1st place."

As he  began cutting up part of his meal, the light-green Earth pony looked  over at Twilight, saying, "If you're expecting an apology from me,  princess, you're wasting your breath."

"I never said I was, Beck," replied the young alicorn. "But don't you think it's time to just let go of-"

"Nothin' doin', Princess," he muttered, and Twilight let out a huff of disappointment.

Well, I guess Casey was right about this being hard… but I'm not giving up.

"Do you want to talk?"

Beck looked at her with an unamused expression, and said, "What's there to talk about? My parents, my best friend, my wife, my SON... they were innocent... and they were victims of an accident that you caused while trying to 'save all of Equestria' from Tirek."

The  young alicorn remained silent, and found herself feeling a little bit  of guilt, even though everyone else had told Twilight (and she, herself,  knew) that it was not her fault.

"I wanted to forgive you, you know…" said Beck, which caused Twilight to look up, slightly shocked.






Flashback


The  rain gently fell over the cemetery… though, Beck didn't really care,  and neither did Mr. and Mrs. Cake, who had stayed with Beck when he  lingered at the graves of his family and Night Light, who, to Beck's  delight and heartbreak, had wanted to have been buried next to him.

However,  seeing as how he wasn't dead, and he wanted to be buried next to  Twinkle, an open space lied between her headstone and Night Light's.

It  had been two full weeks since Tirek's catastrophic attack, and  Ponyville had already managed to be restored to it's former glory…  though it's not like Beck cared, considering this fortnight had been the  worst of his entire life.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Mrs. Cake checked.

"Pinkie said she could watch the foals for as long as we needed," Mr. Cake added. "We could stay..."

His eyes not straying away from the 5 headstones, Beck shook his head.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine," he said solemnly. "Go. Be with your foals."

The Cakes looked to each other, then back to Beck, before taking their leave.

"Chiffon! Carrot!" The Cakes looked back.

"Thank you… for… your concern..." Beck said, eyes still trained in the headstones, and unable to find the right words to say.

For a few minutes after they had left, Beck remained silent until he was finally able to softly cry without anyone present.

Then, after letting out a sigh, he was able to bring up the courage to speak fully.

"I'm so sorry, everyone," Beck whispered. "You shouldn't be here right now. Especially you, Carl."

He then looked to his left, the spire of the new Ponyville Castle rising above the trees.

It's been two weeks, and she hasn't even said a word, he thought to himself, with a frown on his face. It's  like she doesn't even care. I mean, why should she? Equestria is saved,  she gets a residential upgrade, and still has all her friends…

Then, Beck scoffed, and muttered, "She doesn't even know what TRUE LOSS is."

As he continued to talk, anger began to seep into Beck's thoughts.

"It's all her fault you're all here," Beck said, turning back to the headstones. A scowl emerged on his face.

"If  she weren't so reckless, you'd all be still alive right now. Yet, here  we are… and she doesn't even care. I want to forgive her, but..." the black maned stallion said.

If earth ponies had fists, Beck would be clenching then right now.

He sighed in defeat, feeling like he had no other option. "I promise you, she won't go unpunished. No pony messes with my family and gets away with it… royalty or not."

He  approached the gravestone of his family members, planting a kiss on top  of each of them, before giving a good bump to Night Light's.

"I promise... you all will be avenged.  I love you all." Beck turned around, and trotted through the drizzling  rain, back to his newly repaired, yet empty, home. He had a lot of work  to do.






Present


As Twilight remained quiet, Beck simply stared at her while continuing to speak.

"That's  when I realized you needed to be taught a lesson. You needed to learn  what it was like to have everything taken away from you... but not just  that. I wanted to see you suffer, beg for mercy, or at least...  apologize...

"At least then, I'd know that I avenged  them... that the one that took them was getting her dues for what she  did... but look where that got me," Beck finished, gesturing to his  cell.

Then, before she could say anything else, the light-green  Earth Pony added, with a sinister look in his eyes, "Do not think for  one second, princess, that I don't regret what I did to you back in my  hideout… it was something you most definitely deserved."

A  teary-eyed Twilight was about to respond when, to their surprise,  Pinkie made her way into the dungeon. "Is it my turn now? Cause if not, I  could go back up to-"

"No, don't worry, Pinkie, I think I've  spent enough time here anyway," replied Twilight, and she hurried out of  the dungeon before something worse could have happened.

Once the  alicorn princess was gone, Pinkie and Beck looked at each other, with  the sinister pony muttering to himself, "How I wish I still had one of  my darts with me…"





"Um… any reason why we're in the Everfree Forest?" wondered Anti-Applejack, who was looking around the area.

"It's  like I said, AJ," replied Evil Stardust, who was also speaking to the  rest of his friends. "We'll start by splitting up in order to get all of  the Mane 6 into Twilight's castle, and once that's all said and done,  we'll continue to work on getting Casey out of the picture so that he  won't fuse with Starcade-"

However, he found himself being interrupted by Anti-Pinkie, who asked, "Hey, how come Midnight isn't with us?"

"Because  she's making sure that Sunset Shimmer doesn't escape from our world,"  replied Stardust's evil self. "And I doubt any one will be looking for  her, so… for the rest of us…"

Then, a sinister smile appeared on his face.

"... it's time for us to have our revenge!"