My Little Pony: A Race Against Time

by CJ Esmerio

And, So It Begins

Once they were inside the Crystal Castle, Casey began leading his friends to the "special room" that he had talked about.

"So, what exactly is inside that room?" Rainbow asked, looking at their new friend with curiosity.

"Just a little, um... tribute that the, ah, Crystal Ponies made for you all," replied Casey, who was trying his best not to sound nervous.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, and said, "It's not something like Spike's statue, is it?"

Casey chuckled, and shook his head. "No, it's... a little more different than that."

As they continued walking, Rainbow was having a strange feeling inside of herself, which Rarity took notice of.

"Having a stomach ache, darling, from all of that food you consumed?"

Rainbow Dash shook her head, saying, "No, it's not that. I just feel like... something bad is about to hap - whoa!"

The seven of them were now in front of a large door that resembled the star that Twilight had for a Cutie Mark.

Surrounding the star were carvings of the others' Cutie Marks, as well.

"Did you create all of this?" Applejack asked, as she looked at the well-made carving of her Cutie Mark. "I'm impressed!"

Casey blushed a little, and said, "Well, I didn't necessarily do all of it, but thanks anyway."

Pinkie Pie walked up to the door, looking all around it, and turned back to Casey. "So, how do we open it if there's not any doorknobs?"

"Well, Pinkie," explained Casey, who was still trying to remain cool. "That is where Twilight comes in."

Rainbow chuckled, and said, "I'm guessing that's why hers is the biggest."

Twilight frowned at her friend, and she replied, "That's probably just a coincidence... so, do I use my magic then?"

"Uh-huh," replied Casey, nodding his head. "And you'll see the surprise I was talking about."

So, while everyone took a few steps back, Twilight walked over to the front of the door, and began to activate her magic.

But while she was doing that, Casey began to feel more guilty about the fact that none of them knew what was going to happen once they entered the room.

Click! Ding!

Once she had finished, Twilight stepped back, and everyone watched as the star turned around a few times before splitting into two doors that opened sideways.

Maybe there's still a chance... thought Casey, who was looking at the necklace that Twilight had given him.

"Uh, hold up one second!"

The Mane Six all looked curiously at Casey, who walked over to stand in front of Twilight. "Maybe we should get Spike and Starlight to see this, as well?"

Twilight chuckled, and replied, "Uh, I think Spike has his own special tribute to admire."

"Plus, I'm pretty sure that Starlight is busy with Sunburst to even think about enjoying this."

Casey frowned after hearing that. Busy? Why would she be-

All of a sudden, his eyes went wide as he realized another part of his master's plan.

No, not him... he promised me that-

"Um, are you okay, Casey?" Fluttershy asked, noticing that he was also starting to turn pale.

Casey shook his head, and said, "Ok, this might sound crazy, but you all need to - ulp!"

He couldn't finish his sentence because a black tentacle had popped out from the room's shadows, and wrapped itself around Casey!

"Casey!" Twilight exclaimed, but before she could even help him, the tentacle quickly pulled the Earth Pony into the room.

She was about to go in, also, but Rarity cried, "Wait a minute, Twilight! We should probably alert Shining Armor or the guards about-"

"There's no time for that right now," replied a concerned Twilight. "We need to make sure he's okay!"

Before Rarity could say anything else, the alicorn princess ran into the room.

Then, at first, nopony did or said anything... until about a minute later when they heard Twilight cry out, "Girls, you might want to take a look at this!"

"Huh?" wondered the five ponies, as they slowly entered the room.

Wham!

All of a sudden, the doors closed themselves shut, and the lights turned on.

"What in tarnation is... all of... this..." Applejack couldn't figure out what to say next.

"Sweet Celestia... these are... absolutely gorgeous!" swooned Rairty, her eyes sparkling at the sight in front of her.

"Wow..." Fluttershy didn't know what else to say.

"This... is... awesome..." gasped a surprised Rainbow Dash.

Twilight, herself, was speechless at what was in front of her.

On the wall were five individual stained glass murals of Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy.

There was also five stands that were usually meant for statues, except they weren't any...

Until Pinkie Pie stood on top of the stand that was in front of her mural, spinning around in a circle.

"Pinkie!" exclaimed Rairty. "Get down from there before you break something."

"What's there to break?" asked the pink pony, who was still spinning.

Before Rarity could give her response, a menacing voice appeared. "You're about to see for yourself."

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A dark blast of energy appeared from above, and shot down at Pinkie Pie, who became engulfed in a giant ball of light.

"Pinkie Pie!" Twilight cried, trying to shield her eyes from the brightness.

When the bright light disappeared, everypony couldn't believe what they were seeing now.

Pinkie Pie was still on top of the stand, except now, she was an actual stone-made statue.

"No... Pinkie..." gasped Twilight, who felt like she was almost ready to cry.

A teary-eyed Fluttershy asked, "Is... s-she-"

"Dead? Of course not..."

Twilight and her friends turned around to see a cloaked pony, who was holding up a silver staff.

"But all of you are going to experience what she's going through right now..."

He then aimed the tip of the staff at Twilight, saying, "I'll be saving you for last, your Highness."

Rainbow Dash gritted his teeth, and she angrily yelled, "Hey! No one does that to my friend!"

"Dash, wait!" Twilight cried, but it was too late.

The winged pony charged towards the sinister newcomer, who responded by aiming his staff at her, trapping Rainbow inside of an energy ball.

"Let me out of this thing!" yelled an irritated Rainbow Dash.

Twilight and Rarity were about to use their own magic, but the cloaked pony said, "Do anything, and I'll make things a whole lot worse."

The two of them de-powered their horns, which was enough for the cloaked pony as he sent Rainbow towards one of the empty stands.

"Twilight, help-" cried Rainbow, but her sentence was cut off once she became engulfed in the bright energy ball, as well.

Boom!

"Two done..." laughed the cloaked pony, while the others were speechless at the sight of Rainbow Dash.

Just like Pinkie Pie, she was now turned to stone, and placed on the stand in front of her own mural.

"And four to go!"

---

Starlight watched as Twilight and the others followed Casey inside the castle. I wonder what he wants to-

"Starlight?"

The light-purple unicorn turned to see her fillyhood friend walk over to her. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just... curious about your friend," said Starlight. "How long has he been your assistant?"

Sunburst thought about it, for a moment, and he replied, "Probably a few months after the whole Changeling catastrophe."

Starlight chuckled nervously, and said, "Yeah, about that... um... it wasn't exactly an easy task to accomplish."

"Oh, I'm sure," laughed Sunburst, making Starlight feel a little better. "Being a leader like that must have made you feel proud of yourself."

"Well, it certainly helped me forget about other things," replied Starlight, not realizing what she had said right now.

"Things like what?" Sunburst asked, tilting his head to the side.

Starlight gulped, and began feeling nervous again. He'll probably think I've gone back to the way I used to be.

"Well, the thing is that I-"

"Hey, you two!" greeted Spike, walking over to them, as well as eating some cotton candy. "Have you seen Twilight or Pinkie anywhere?"

Starlight nodded her head. "I think I saw Casey taking them into the castle. Why, what's wrong?"

Spike swallowed the cotton candy that was in his mouth, and replied, "I want to know if they'll like some of this. It's delicious!"

So, the young dragon began to head towards the castle, while Sunburst said, "So, Starlight, what was it that-"

But when he turned to look at her, the magical unicorn saw that she was gone.

"I guess I'll see her later then," said Sunburst, letting out a sigh as he walked back to join the festivities.

Poof!

Once he was gone, Starlight de-activated her "invisible spell", and watched her friend walk away.

"I'm really not good at this, am I?"

---

With a small chuckle, the cloaked pony asked, "Now, then... who'd like to volunteer themselves to be next?"

Th four remaining ponies looked at each other, with none of them saying anything out loud.

"Alright, then, I'm just going to-"

"Now, hold up there just a cow-licking minute, partner," said Applejack, her muzzle turning into a frown. "What gives you the right to do something like this to us?"

"Yes, what did we ever do to you?" Rarity added, who was also upset.

The sinister pony smiled (even though they couldn't see it), and said, "You were all born!"

His silver staff powered up, and shot an energy blast that went straight towards Rarity, but just as she was about to get hit...

Boom!

"Fluttershy!" cried Twilight, watching her friend get in the way of the blast so that it would hit her instead of Rarity.

"Oh, my..." gasped the white unicorn, who was in shock. "Not her, too."

The shy but sweet alicorn was now on top of the stand that was in front of her mural, and like the others, she had become a statue.

"Such a shame," replied the cloaked pony. "She was my penultimate choice."

Twilight gritted her teeth, and exclaimed, "Why are you doing this? We never did anything to you!"

The cloaked pony shook his head. "My plan has constantly been ruined ever since the day you and Spike first arrived in Ponyville."

"What in the hay are you talking about?" Applejack asked. "Y'all better be making some sense before I beat on you like a-"

The cloaked pony then looked at the hard-working Earth Pony, and said, "Oh, spare me your country-isms, Applejack. Your parents almost annoyed me to death every time they said something like that."

Applejack's eyes grew wide, and her muzzle almost dropped to the ground. "My... you met my mum and dad?"

"As I said, there is always a reason for everything," replied the cloaked pony. "It almost pains me to see that their sacrifice will soon go to waste."

Before Applejack could even respond to that, the cloaked pony shot an energy blast at her, and in a few seconds, she had suffered the same "statue fate" as the others.

"And, then there were two," laughed the evil villain, looking at Rarity and Twilight.

"Please tell me you have some sort of idea," said Rarity, as she stood behind Twilight.

The magical alicorn looked at the cloaked pony, and then, at his silver staff. "Maybe if-"

"I can assure the two of you that this is not a plain old stick that was found in the Everfree Forest," said the cloaked pony. "Even Casey could tell you that."

Twilight gasped, remembering her new friend, and asked, "What did you with him?"

"You should ask him yourself."

He let out a whistle, and the two ponies watched as Casey was tossed from one of the room's dark corners, landing in between them.

"My goodness, darling, are you all right?" Rarity asked, as she and Twilight helped him stand up.

"Yeah... I'll be okay," said Casey, although his voice sounded weak.

Twilight gave an angry glare at the cloaked pony. "What did you do to him?"

"He tried to betray me," he explained. "So before I gave him freedom, I delivered some punishment."

"Freedom?" Rarity said, confused. "What do you mean by that?"

Casey looked at a confused Twilight, and said, "I am deeply sorry for all of this, your Highness. I never wanted this to happen."

"What do you mean?" asked the alicorn. "Casey, I thought-"

"That's enough from you, slave... and your services are no longer required."

He shot a white-and-yellow energy blast at Casey, and after a small explosion, the Earth Pony was gone.

"You killed him!" exclaimed Twilight, whose temper was starting to grow.

The cloaked pony laughed, and said, "I simply did the same thing as I did your friends, minus the whole stone transformation."

Before Twilight could ask what that meant, the evil pony added, "And you're about to get your own experience!"

Twilight looked down at her hooves, seeing that she was standing on a painted design of her Cutie Mark, which started to light up.

"Twilight!" Rarity yelled, but then, the cloaked pony aimed his staff at her.

Wham! Boom!

"No! Rarity!" Twilight watched as her friend transformed into a statue, just like everypony else.

She looked at the hooded figure, and yelled, "Who are you?"

The evil villain walked over to the princess, and said, "I'm your worst nightmare..."

Twilight looked at the doors behind him, but the hooded pony said, "No one can save you, Princess. Only you can open that door, but it has to be on the other side."

As the energy surrounding Twilight grew stronger, the hooded pony added, "By the way, do send Sunset my regards."

Twilight gasped in shock and surprise. "You attacked her, too?"

"Indeed, I did, your Highness," laughed the sinister pony. "You're about to see her very soon."

He then shot an energy blast at Twilight, and once it struck the alicorn, she was gone in a colourful explosion.

"Yes, Twilight Sparkle," grinned the cloaked pony. "You'll see her in a place where there are no... happily... ever... afters... and all of Equestria will soon belong to me!"

Author's Note:

DHX Media and Hasbro are the rightful owners of "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic".

Comments

[JimmyHook19]

Grrrr!!!! This villain is so, so, SO diabolic!! first he puts Twilight's friends into stone, then he attacked Sunset Shimmer?!! oh he is so going to regret for doing that to my favorite character overall!!

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Holy Emperor of Mankind.....

[CJ Esmerio]

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thanks for the comment!