My Little Pony: A Race Against Time

by CJ Esmerio

Things Get Worse, Part 1

Author's Note:

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

Limbo

After waking up, Miles had spent a great deal of time looking at the portal that showed the version of Equestria where Stardust lived.

What exactly are you thinking about doing? You've been watching what goes on in that world for hours.

"No need to worry," said the cloaked pony. "It's just a precaution back-up plan in case the fight with Stardust does not go the way I intend it to."

And what sort of plan would that be?

As he continued watching over the portal, Miles explained, "It's a little similar to the butterfly effect... if I go back to the day that Stardust first arrived in Ponyville, and kill him, then all of the memories and events and such that take place after will eventually fade away, as if they never happened..."

He then used his imagination to create a tombstone in front of him that had an engraving of Stardust's Cutie Mark.

"Then, by the time it reaches him, it'll already be too late... he'll end up like the way the memory of Voldemort did after Harry stabbed the diary with the basilisk fang."

Are you insane? That would literally cause severe damage to the timeline of that world... and what's worse is that you could do the same to the world you found Casey at.

"... So?" Miles replied, sounding like he could care less about what happened. "In the meantime, let's see how loyal Stardust can be when it comes to helping out his new friends..."

Waving his hoofs around, Miles conjured up a black orb of energy, and his muzzle became a wide grin as it started to morph into something big.

Is that supposed to be...?

"Indeed it is," laughed Miles, as his new creation began to resemble that of a dragon. "With some adjustments, of course."

---

Having successfully erased the memories of Smile HD from her mind, Starlight felt a little better when she woke up the following morning.

Do I smell pancakes?

Leaving the room, the magical-powered unicorn headed to the dining room, and found Twilight, Spike, and Casey already starting to eat breakfast.

"Good morning, Starlight," greeted Twilight. "You seem a lot better than last night."

"Yeah, the day's definitely off to a great start," replied Starlight, taking her seat next to Casey, with Spike handing her a plate of pancakes. "But I still can't remember why I ended up staying in bed in the first place."

Casey took a big gulp of his chewed-up food, and said, "Everyone has their off days... and now, we can enjoy a normal Sunday."

Starlight chuckled, and raised an eyebrow as she asked, "What do you mean normal?"

"Well, the other versions of Rarity and Rainbow are back in Sunset's world," explained Casey. "And my former master is trapped in that world Twilight sent him to, so I see no reason for anything bad to happen..."

Starlight was about to give her response when an unfamiliar voice (to him) appeared. "Well, new pony, that's where I come in!"

Casey looked around the room, but didn't see anypony else besides the other three. "Who was that?"

"Discord," replied Twilight and Starlight, at the same time, with looks of amusement on their faces.

And to prove their point, the draconequus suddenly appeared in the chair next to Twilight. "Well, well, well, princess, I never imagined you'd find your special somepony so soon."

Both Casey and Twilight started blushing, and the Princess of Friendship said, "We're just good friends, Discord..."

A sad frown appeared on Discord's face as he said, "Oh? My apologies, then... I feel sorry for you, new pony."

He snapped his two yellow-claw fingers, and Casey looked down to see that he was now wearing a shirt that read "NOTHING MORE THAN FRIENDS" on the front.

"You must have pretty high standards, then, Twilight," replied Discord, while Casey tried taking the shirt off.

Seeing that he was having trouble, Starlight chuckled, and used her own magic to make it disappear.

"I meant that we're getting to know each other," frowned Twilight, whose face was still red. "I never exactly..."

"Ah-ah-ah, say no more, princess," said Discord, putting a bear finger to her lips.

With another finger snap, the spirit of disharmony appeared next to Casey, who almost jumped out of his seat.

"So, New Pony, how does somepony like you end up from being a slave to the hooded pony that turned me to stone... to Twilight's new friend?"

"Uh... well, my name is Casey, actually," corrected the young pony, remembering what the cloaked pony had mentioned to him about Discord. "And I just decided that I didn't want to be-"

"Ah, so you reformed yourself, in a way," interrupted Discord, who then made a graduation cap appear on the pony's head. "Good for you, Casey... wouldn't want that darkness inside of you to cause any serious damage, right?"

Before Casey could ask what he meant by that, Discord looked over at Twilight. "Oh, and by the way, princess, I just remembered now that I had something important to tell you."

"And what exactly would that be?" Twilight asked, giving him a suspicious look.

---

Stardust's World

"Aaagghh... [BEEP]..." exclaimed Stardust, putting a hoof to his forehead.

"You okay?" Twilight asked, looking at him with concern.

Stardust nodded his head. "I just felt... like... something awful was about to happen... like Equestria Girls awful..."

Twilight rolled her eyes, but still smiled as she said, "I get it, you don't like being there... but do you think Casey might have-"

"If Casey is having those type of problems," replied Stardust, who was trying his best to not look disgusted. "Then, he's on his own... I can only handle so much."

"Stardust..."

The golden-colored pony shook his head. "We've all talked about this, Twilight, I am not going to Casey's world unless it's an extreme emergency..."

Twilight was about to argue with him some more, but Stardust added, "Nope, nope, nope... besides, I have yet to see that world produce any type of actual threat to Equestria."

---

"You couldn't tell me about this earlier?!"

Twilight and Spike, as well as Discord, Starlight, and Casey, were now outside of the castle... and saw that everypony they knew in Ponyville were running into their homes, or as far away as possible.

And the reason for that was because of a winged, purple-colored dragon that was coming from Sweet Apple Acres.

"I was going to tell you right away," replied Discord, giving a shrug. "But I wanted to introduce myself to Casey here first... wait, where did he go?"

"Hey! Giant monster thing!"

The spirit of disharmony saw where the young pony had run off to, and said, "Ah, there he is, confronting the monster."

"Just what exactly do you think you're doing?" Casey asked.

The dragon looked down at the ground, and began to laugh. "You must be very brave to stand up to me, little pony."

After hearing it speak, a look of confusion appeared on Casey's face. "Why do you sound like Twilight?"

"I asked myself the same exact question," said Discord, as he and the others caught up to him.

"That's because that is me..." Twilight replied, frowning as she looked up at the dragon. "Sort of... isn't that right, Sci-Twi?"

"The other Twilight from Sunset's world?" Spike said, also looking up at the large dragon

The reptilian creature laughed as she said, "I'm all Midnight Sparkle, princess... and I came here to get that silver staff you're hiding in your castle."

Realizing that the hooded pony was behind this, Twilight cried, "There's no way you're getting that staff!"

"Oh, is that so?" Midnight Sparkle said, a sly grin on her face. "And how do you plan on stopping me?"

"With the help from her friends," said Applejack, running over to be at Twilight's side.

The others (Rarity, Rainbow, and Fluttershy) weren't very far behind, with Fluttershy saying, "That's right... and you're no different than any other dragon we've met in the past."

"That's where you're wrong, little pony," replied Midnight Sparkle, and to prove her point, she started breathing out massive blasts of flame into the air.

Rainbow Dash gulped, and turned to look at Spike. "Uh... I don't suppose you can do something like that?"

Spike shook his head, while Twilight suddenly had an idea.

"Discord, take Casey to the castle, and make sure that she's not able to get to it!"

"Why me?" Casey asked. "I should be helping you fight that thing!"

Twilight shook her head, and said, "I need you to get some help... by using the Crystal Mirror?"

"Oh..." The young pony replied, and he nodded his head. "Got it."

With that, Discord stood next to Casey, and after snapping his fingers, they were gone in the blink of an eye.

As for Twilight, she looked up at her... dragon counterpart, and cried, "You'll have to get through all of us first!"

"If that's how you choose to die, than so be it," said Midnight Sparkle, her eyes glowing with anger.

"Yep, that's definitely not the other Twilight," said Spike.

Once they were in the castle, Casey looked at Discord. "So, how exactly do you plan on stopping that thing from coming in here?"

The master of Chaos nodded his head over to the window, and said, "I'm already working on it."

Looking outside, Casey saw that the castle was now becoming surrounded by large and spiked branches that were very similar to the ones that had come from his planted seeds.

"Um, are you sure those will work, Discord?"

Discord scoffed, and said, "Trust me, New Pony, I know what I'm doing... now, go and get that help!"

Deciding to have as much as faith in Discord as he possibly could, Casey raced towards the library, and started to turn on the machine.

However, he also noticed the wristwatch on a nearby coffee table, and remembered about Stardust.

I'm pretty sure this would count as an emergency, thought Casey. But it seemed like Twilight wanted me to get help from Sunset and her friends.

Looking back and forth between the watch and the Crystal Mirror, the young pony sighed, and said, "Well... here goes nothing..."