My Little Pony: A Race Against Time

by CJ Esmerio

Time for Others

Author's Note:

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

Stardust's World - Twilight's Castle (Library)

"You really shouldn't have teased him like that, Rainbow."

The winged pony rolled her eyes, and said, "Oh, come on, Twilight, I was just trying to get him to have some fun."

Twilight gave her a stern look as she said, "The last time that you tried that, he ended up forgetting a collection of special books that I ordered."

"Hey, that wasn't my fault, okay?" Rainbow exclaimed. "Besides, if it weren't for all that, we wouldn't spend time together."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, confused. "He's always with us."

Rainbow groaned, as if her friend didn't realize what she was trying to say. "Yeah, but I meant just the two of us, Twilight, he's always with you and Spike."

Before Twilight could reply, Rainbow continued to speak. "Heck, even Fluttershy gets to see him more than I do whenever he helps her out with all the animals she takes care of, and she used to like him."

Twilight kept on being silent, although her face was turning slightly red.

"And, yeah, okay, Spike is like his little brother, but with you, it's always the same thing!"

The purple alicorn frowned, and replied, "We don't always do the same thing."

"Oh, no?" Rainbow challenged, raising her eyebrow and crossing her limbs as she hovered in the air. "It's always book reading, non-perfect dates..."

"With you and Rarity interrupting one of them," pointed out Twilight, but Rainbow ignored her.

"... and every time something really bad happens, the two of you always do the same thing."

Imitating her friend's voice, Rainbow cried, "Jack, Jack, come back! Please don't do this on your own, we need to stick together."

Then, she tried her best imitation of Stardust. "No, love, I have to do this on my own."

Twilight tried holding in her laughter after hearing that, and thought, That's pretty good, actually.

"You get what I'm trying to say, Twilight?" Rainbow said, hoping that she finally understood her. "And where is he, by the way?"

"He's with Starlight," answered Twilight. "They went to her village so that-"

Rainbow groaned again, and said, "She's his student too? I thought Sunset was his pupil!"

The Princess of Friendship let out a heavy sigh, and said, "First off, Rainbow, you do know that you weren't exactly his favorite pony to begin with."

"And I still don't see why he thinks that-"

Twilight raised up her hoof to silence her friend. "I wasn't done... second, me and him are each other's special somepony, so, yeah, of course he wants to spend time with me."

Knowing that Twilight wasn't done with her lecture yet, Rainbow just nodded her head, and flew down to the ground.

"And third... I'm sorry about that."

Rolling her eyes, Rainbow said, "See? That's exactly what I..."

She stopped after realizing what Twilight had just said. "Huh?"

Walking over to her friend, Twilight said, "I'm sorry for not telling Jack that he also has to make time for his friends, aside from the time he's spent with me, Spike, and whenever he's with Sunset.

"But he also has a lot to deal with now than he did before, in regards to... you know..."

Rainbow sighed, and she nodded her head. "Yeah, I remember... how's that going, by the way?"

"He prefers not to talk about it a lot," said Twilight, giving a shrug. "Not that I don't blame him for it...

"But, anyway, I promise I'll do my best to convince him to try and spend more one-on-one time with you."

Feeling satisfied, Rainbow smiled, and said, "Thanks, Twilight, and I'm sorry for... hey, what's that?"

Rainbow was looking at the coffee table that Stardust had left Casey's gift on, except it was now unwrapped.

"It's some type of watch from a new friend of ours," replied Twilight, who was unable to see that Rainbow was playing around with it because she was putting books away. "But don't tell him that I opened it since he hasn't exactly-"

"Hey, Stardust! You got it working!"

"Aaagghh!" Rainbow yelped, releasing the watch from her hooves, and dropping it on the ground... with Twilight picking it up before it could be damaged.

"Casey?" Twilight said, while frowning at Rainbow, who mouthed her apology.

"Oh, hi, Princess Twilight, nice to hear from you again... I mean, even though there's a Twilight already here, so-"

Twilight chuckled, and said, "It's fine, Casey, but what-"

"Hello, Casey," said Rainbow, who was imitating Stardust again.

Before Twilight could scold her friend, they heard Casey say, "Oh, right... you're both here..."

Twilight slightly frowned as she said, "It's fine, Casey, I already talked with him regarding what happened when he saw your Twilight... I'm not mad."

"Right, got it... so, um, really quickly, this is a communicator watch that allows us to talk and to see each other without using the time machine."

As Twilight and Rainbow looked at the watch, Casey continued on. "It's powered by the same energy that the Silver Staff has, and it can even-"

Suddenly, there was the sound of static, and after a few minutes, Casey's voice came back. "Sorry about that, I have to go... something happened at the Daring Do convention in Manehatten regarding my Twilight, A.K. Yearling, the Rainbow Dash of this world and Sunset's worl-"

"Daring Do Convention?!" Rainbow cried, speaking in her regular voice. "And A.K. Yearling is there?! She never-"

"- goes to conventions, yeah... and hello, uh, other Rainbow... but you sound surprised."

Forgetting about imitating Stardust, Rainbow said, "Well, duh, me and Twilight are planning to go to the next one that's in a few weeks, and it's going to be A.K.'s first-"

"Hold on," interrupted Twilight. "Are you ponies having it today?"

"Yeah, and my Twilight was able to go this time since she couldn't last time."

Twilight frowned, and asked, "What happened last time?"

"Well, the Twilight here had to attend a friendship summit in Griffonstone, so only Rainbow got to go, who promised her that she'd get A.K. to sign it, but she ended up not getting it signed because-"

Casey was cut-off by some more static, and then... "Got to go! Later!"

CLICK!

Twilight looked at Rainbow, who said, "What?"

"You didn't get A.K. to sign my book?"

Rainbow waved her hooves in the air, saying, "Hey, don't get upset, Twilight, we haven't even gone there yet!"

"Well, I am definitely going this time," said Twilight, who was still frowning. "I'm sure I can convince Princess Celestia to change the summit to another date... so do not think of trying to go to that convention without me."

"Okay, okay, I won't," replied Rainbow. "And don't worry, I will make sure to get it signed if you're not able to-"

"I am going to that convention with you, Rainbow Dash," interrupted Twilight. "End... of... story..."

---

Twilight's castle library was now unoccupied, due to Casey going after EG Rainbow, and Starlight helping EG Rarity meet her pony counter-

"Casey? Twilight? Anypony here?"

Pinkie Pie entered the room, looking around for her friends. "I hope you don't mind if I use the Travel Thingy to go see my friends at Smile HD... okay?"

Obviously, there was no response.

"Okay, great, I won't be long!" Pinkie Pie yelled, and she began to turn on the machine.

---

"Smile HD"

When Pinkie Pie arrived back in the world that Miles had sent her to, she was surprised to see that Twilight was still reading a book by the same tree.

Pinkie was about to greet her again, just like before, but then, she heard the "fast version" of her song playing again.

My name is Pinkie Pie

Hello!

And I am here to say

How ya doin'?

Pinkie also saw another version of herself, and guessed that it was the Pinkie Pie of this world.

Aw, what a beautiful smile she has, thought the pink-colored pony.

I'm gonna make you smile

And I will brighten up your day

It doesn't matter now

What's up?

If you are sad or blue

Howdy!

Then, Pinkie saw her other self jump up in the air, with the other Twilight waving her arm to tell her "hello"...

... and the next thing she knew, Pinkie found herself back in the library.

"Huh, that was quick," said Pinkie, giving a shrug. "Oh, well, I'm sure that nothing bad happened."

---

Limbo

"She'll thank me for that one day," muttered Miles. "Can't believe that other damn Pinkie got out."

I'm actually very surprised that you sent her back to the library,

Rolling his eyes, the yellow pony replied, "I have no issues with Pinkie, aside from that damn sticky cheese... so she does not deserve to see what horrifying things were going to happen at the hands of that... freak who doesn't even deserve to be called Pinkie Pie."

Just be glad that Rainbow has no intentions of returning to "Cupcakes".

---

Stardust's World

"Are we seriously going to have a meeting about this?"

"Yes, we are, Rainbow... it'll be good for everypony."

The two ponies were now sitting inside the castle's throne room, and one by one, the rest of their friends made their way in, as well, minus Starlight and Stardust.

"Is everything alright, sugarcube?" Applejack asked, looking at Twilight. "You sounded pretty concerned while tellin' us to come here."

Twilight nodded her head, and once everypony was in their own throne, she asked, "Have any of you ever felt that Jack doesn't spend enough one-on-one time with you?"

As a slightly embarrassed Rainbow crouched down in her throne, Applejack spoke first. "Not really... just last week, he was helpin' me out with feedin' the animals and makin' some cider. He even played around with Applebloom for a lil' bit."

"And I never really did thank him for going to see the play that Sweetie Belle wrote," said Rarity, with a smile on her face. "Although I still wish he'd come in weekly instead of monthly for his mane-and-beard check up."

Twilight chuckled, and looked over at Pinkie Pie, who said, "Well, there was the time that he helped me run the bakery... that time we both made a bunch of brownies and other sweet stuff together... helping me keep a secret about the baby..."

"Um, it's okay, Pinkie," interrupted the young alicorn, nodding her head. "I think I've got it."

Pinkie nodded her head, and looked over at Fluttershy, who said, "Well, um... there was that time he checked on me after the 'bat' incident... and he comes every once in a while to help me take care of the animals, although he tries to avoid not having to hang his cloak to dry when it's time to give Angel a bath."

"Why wouldn't he?" Twilight asked, now confused.

"Because the last time he did, Discord came over for some tea, and he set Stardust's cloak on fire because-"

Before she could continue her story, Pinkie Pie was suddenly next to Rainbow. "How about you? What have you and Stardust done together?"

The winged Pegasi waited until her friend went back to her throne, and then, she replied, "Well... we did have a conversation after the whole thing with Tank going into hibernation, and it helped me not to feel so bad about it anymore."

Twilight smiled, and nodded while Applejack, who was now confused, asked, "So, is this about Jack... or...?"

Rainbow groaned, and replied, "No, this is about me telling Twilight earlier that I don't think me and him are spending enough one-on-one time together to hang out and do fun stuff that doesn't involve being with Twilight or staying in bed, or even just reading a book... instead, he's doing all of that, or being with you girls."

Rarity rolled her eyes after hearing her friend say that. "Of course he'd want to stay in bed, Rainbow... considering all that he's done for us and everypony else that we know."

"Yeah, and the fact that he's dealt with evil baddies like Nightmare Moon, Flim and Flam, Discord, Trixie, the Changelings, Tirek, Starlight," added Pinkie Pie, as she counted down the villains they had all encountered in the past.

"And, I don't think he's doin' it intentionally, Rainbow," said Applejack, which made Rainbow give her a confused look. "It's probably a subconscious thing, and he doesn't even realize that he is doin' it."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Rainbow.

The hard-working Earth Pony let out a sigh as she tried to explain. "Pardon my honesty... and in no way am I tryin' to make him see like a bad pony, Twilight... but it's no secret that when we first tried to be friends with him, back when Twilight was still givin' Princess Celestia her friendship letters, you weren't exactly on the top o' his list of ponies he wanted to be with.

"Plus, he always kept callin' you a ripoff of that Sonic critter or whatever it was, and when his body was takin' over by Sombra, we all heard him say that he was your least favorite."

While Rainbow slunk down further in her throne, Twilight frowned at Applejack, who shrugged at the alicorn. "Hey, I told y'all pardon for me bein' honest."

"Thanks, AJ," mumbled Rainbow, who was now trying to cover her face with one of her wings.

---

Once Starlight had showed EG Rarity the way to her counterpart's home, she went back to the library to take another look at the Crystal Mirror time machine.

I need to know exactly what we're dealing with just in case Mr. Hooded Pony shows up again, thought Starlight, and once she was in front of the library, she used her magic to open the doors and step inside.

To her surprise, the young unicorn found a dizzy-looking Pinkie Pie, with the machine turned on. "What the... Pinkie, what happened to you?"

Pinkie shook her head a few times to make the dizziness go away, and looked at her friend. "I was only using this check on the world that Mr. Hood Pony sent me to, and I see the same thing every time, but before I can see what my other self does next, I end up back here... it's kind of fun!"

Before Starlight could even respond, Pinkie went behind her, and pushed her towards the mirror. "Here, you try it!"

"Aaaagghhh!" yelled Starlight, as she went inside, and was transported to the world of Smile HD.

Pinkie Pie nodded her head, and said, "Yep, she's going to come right back here any second now."

---

Limbo

Miles couldn't control his laughter as he watched what Starlight was going through in the horrifying world.

You sick monster! How could you do that?!

"Call it payback for her trying to stop me at the Crystal Empire," replied Miles, still laughing.

At least save her before Anti-Pinkie destroys the planet.

The cloaked pony rolled his eyes, and said, "Oh, fine..."

---

When Starlight came out, Pinkie Pie said, "Wow, you're so lucky, you stayed there longer than I did!"

"No... you're the lucky one," replied Starlight, who had a look of shock mixed with fear on her face. "I saw terrible things... horrifying things... in fact, I'm going to my room right now to do a spell that will erase what I just saw so that I never have to remember it."

She then looked at the pink pony, and said, "Pinkie promise that you will never, ever, ever go to that world again... ever..."

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," replied the party-planning pony.

"Good..." said Starlight, who was still in shock, and she began to make her way to her room. "Don't disturb me for a half hour... please..."

As she walked away, Pinkie looked back at the machine, and wondered what exactly Starlight had seen.

"Aw, well, probably not important," she said, shrugging her small shoulders.

---

Awesome as I wanna be!

Having been able to catch up to the Friendship Express, EG Rainbow had been introduced to her pony counterpart, and she was now showing her (as well as Twilight) the song that she'd written back at CHS, via her vocals and air-guitar.

First you see me riding on a sonic boom.
Got my guitar shreddin' up my latest tune.
There is nothin' you can do to beat me.
I'm so good that you can't defeat me.

Rainbow was speechless at what her EG counterpart was singing, and while Twilight was simply laying back, due to her already having heard it before.

Yeah, I'm awesome, take caution.
Watch out for me, I'm awesome as I wanna be.
(Yeah!) I'm awesome, take caution.
Watch out for me, I'm awesome as I wanna be.

Step aside now, you're just gettin' in my way.
I got sick chops you could never hope to play.
When it comes to makin' music, I'm the ruler.
You wish you could be twenty percent cooler.

Yeah, I'm awesome, take caution.
Watch out for me, I'm awesome as I wanna be.
(Yeah!) I'm awesome, take caution.
Watch out for me, I'm awesome as I wanna be!

Once she had finished, EG Rainbow gave a satisfied nod, and looked at the two ponies in front of her. "So, how was that?"

Her pony counterpart, whose mouth was wide open with surprise, said, "Best... song... ever!"