My Little Pony: A Race Against Time

by CJ Esmerio

A Shocking Reveal

Author's Note:

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

Just like Sunset had told Twilight, the group of friends were able to reach Canterlot around evening time the next day.

"Well, it'sabout time," said Rainbow, letting out a huge sigh of relief. "I thought it'd be forever until we saw a place that was recognizable."

Stardust would have said something similar, as well, but he was too busy looking at what was floating above the royal castle.

"What… the [BEEP]... is that?"

Everyone turned their heads in the direction that he was pointing his hoof at, and Pinkie tilted her head to the side, saying, "That's reminding me of something, but I don't know what exactly…"

"I'm getting aDistrict 9vibe right now," said Stardust, talking to himself, and he looked over at Sunset. "That seem familiar to you?"

"No, but I do remember Elixir saying something about a prison ship," replied the young unicorn, going through her recent memories. "So I'm thinking that's it right there."

Stardust looked back and forth between the castle and Elixir's ship, and he shook his head, letting out a disappointed sigh. "On the day that Celestia and Luna don't get captured-"

Suddenly, he brought his attention back to the castle, having sensed somethingvery familiar, and Twilight took notice of this.

"Jack? What is it?"

For a moment, Stardust did not answer, and then, the gold-colored Earth Pony said, "Nothing, love… you remember the plan, right?"

Twilight nodded, but she had a concerned facial expression, as if she was worried about him.

"Are you sure you that this plan-"

"Yes, Twilight, I am positive it will work," replied Stardust, giving her an amused smile. "I go in and look for Omega, while you all head up inthatthing to free everyone they've captured… then we'll all take on Alexa and his sidekick since they'll be completely out-"

However, before he could finish talking, Pinkie appeared next to Stardust, and she cried, "Ooh, wait,I want to go with Star!"

Everyone was now staring at her, not sure on how to respond, and the pink pony exclaimed, "I mean, come on, he fought monsters and all that stuff with Twilight, Rarity, Sunset, Casey… nowIwanna do something like that!"

Twilight was about to deny her request, but then, she remembered all of the teasing that Stardust had done earlier, so with a sly smile, the alicorn princess replied, "I think you're right, Pinkie… but you're gonna have to ask him."

Stardust frowned at his girlfriend, but before he could say"no"or anything else like that, Pinkie looked back at him, and she began to bounce up and down repeatedly. "So can I go? Can I go? Can I go?"

Everyone was now looking at Stardust, who rolled his eyes since he knew what this would eventually lead to, compared to previous events.

"Okay,fine, Pinkie… just try not to -whoa!"

"Yippie!"Grabbing onto her friend's hoof, the 4th-wall breaking pony hurried over to the castle while a smirked Twilight shook her head in amusement before leading the others closer to Elixir's ship.

---

A few minutes later

As they hid behind the side of a building, Stardust and Pinkie looked at what was in front of them.

"Is that supposed to be a new type of armor for them?" wondered Pinkie, referring to the two ponies that were currently guarding the castle.

"I don't think so," replied a frowning Stardust. "Looks like Elixir - no, that Ronxor pony made his master some… robotic pony servants, and I'm guessing those two were assigned guard duty."

Pinkie nodded her head, and then, she asked, "Is that agoodthing or abadthing?"

Stardust gestured his head toward the robo-ponies, and replied, "Depends if those two were built with intelligence or without a brain."

Pinkie made a face of disgust, and said, "Blegh, who'd want to touch a pony's brain?"

"Tell that to Dr. Frankenstein," muttered Stardust, who now knew exactly how to deal with the guards. "Okay, Pinkie, you wait right here while I… Pinkie?"

The pink-colored pony was no longer next to him, and when Stardust turned back around, he saw that Pinkie was bouncing her way towards Elixir's robo-ponies, which made Stardust bring a hoof to his forehead.

"Why did I agree to this, Starswirl?"

Because she's one of your closest friends.

Stardust rolled his eyes, and muttered, "It was a rhetorical question..."

---

Since there wasn't any type of ladder or anything on the side of Elixir's ship, Twilight and Rainbow, along with Fluttershy, had to make their way in via flight.

As for the others, Applejack was brought on by Fluttershy, Rarity had gone with Rainbow, and Spike had travled with Twilight, while Sunset and Starlight used their magic to levitate themselves up to enter the spaceship.

Once they were all inside, Twilight said, "Okay, eveypony, let's find a way to…whoa…"

The inside of Elixir's ship was similar to that of a maxium security prison, with three floors of cells, and the fourth floor was where the ship's flight controls were at.

"He's captured almost everypony we know," said Applejack, walking around the ship, and she stopped in front of a cell that was holding Applebloom. "They don't look like they got hurt or anythin', but…"

"Why are they all sleeping?" finished Rarity, who was standing by Sweetie Bell's cell, and she knocked her hoof against the glass several times, but her young sister didn't move or respond.

Twilight, who was standing in front of a cell that contained one of her closest friends, Moondancer, replied, "Elixir must have them under some kind of 'deep sleep' spell… there has to be a way, though, to wake them up."

"You could try kissing them," teased Rainbow, and this made Twilight give her an annoyed glare. "What? I was joking!"

As she stood by Trixie's cell, Starlight was about to fire an energy blast of her magic when Sunset stopped her by saying, "Let's wait on using that… we wouldn't want her to get hurt by the glass."

"Oh, yeah, right, sorry," apologized Starlight, and she went over to join Twilight, who was now in front of a cell that contained Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, and their alicorn baby named Flurry Heart. "Any idea on how to open them?"

"Um… well… I'm working on it," replied Twilight, who currently had no idea as to how they could possibly-

"Hey, Twilight? You might want to take a look at this!"

The two of them went up to the third floor, and hurried down the hall until they saw Spike, who was standing in front a cell that was built different than the other ones, with the door being one that could be opened by a key.

"Do you think Luna or Celestia would be in there?" wondered Starlight.

As she powered up her horn, a determined Twilight replied, "We're about to find out."

"Well, what a surprise… welcome back, princess."

The three friends turned around, and found themselves looking at a smiling Elixir, who was currently wielding one of his gun-shaped weapons.

"Oh, and don't worry, this will only hurt for a few seconds…"

ZZZZZZZZTTTT!

---

Once the two guards had caught sight of an approaching Pinkie Pie, they both got into a fighting position, and one of them said,"State your business, pink pony!"

"Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie," greeted the party-loving pony. "You want to play a game?"

"A… game?" said the other guard, and he looked at his partner. "Um… sure, okay…"

From his hiding spot, Stardust let out a sigh, and said, "Yup, they're the stupid ones."

As for Pinkie, she gave them a sweet smile, and replied, "Great! So, I'm going to say a word like'Apple core',and you two will say…?"

The two robo-ponies looked at each other, and they both replied, "Um… Baltimore?"

"Awesome!" cried Pinkie. "Now, one more thing… who's your friend?"

Both of the guards smiled as they pointed at themselves, and said,"Me!"

However, they quickly realized what was going to happen, and angrily cried,"Hey…"

"Aaaaaannnnd, here's your prize!"exclaimed Pinkie Pie, who then began swinging multiple apple cores at the two guards.

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

This continued on for a few more minutes, and once Pinkie was satisfied, she stopped throwing them, and said, "Okay, Stardust, coast is clear!"

The guards were now buried under a large pile of red-and-green apple cores, and once Stardust was standing by his friend, he said, "Good job, Pinkie… but where did all of these come from?"

"Fromme,silly," replied Pinkie, who was now munching on a red apple, which was then handed to Stardust after it was finished, and she began to walk into the castle. "Let's go find that evil magic pony!"

Stardust just laughed queitly, to himself, as he followed the pony "who must never be questioned" inside, and they began to walk in the direction of the throne room.

However, before Pinkie walked through the doors, Stardust placed his hoof in front of her, and said, "Hold on, you'd better let me go first… I have a feeling that Omega's in there, waiting for me."

"But how would you…oh, yeah, yourbalance powers," replied Pinkie, nodding her head as she went behind him. "You know, sometimes, I wonder what I'd be like ifIhad what you have."

Stardust was quiet, for a moment, before he said, "I think you're fine just the way you are, Pinkie."

"Well, thank you, Star," replied a happy Pinkie, and Stardust chuckled before he continued walking up to the doors.

Then, he entered the throne room, and just as he'd suspected, Omega was inside, sitting on top of Celestia's throne.

Be careful, Jack,warned Starswirl, and the young pony nodded his head before walking over to the cloak-and-mask-wearing pony.

"You know, usually, I would give my own remark about dying multiple times, but I'll save that for Alexa," said Stardust. "You knew I was still alive, didn't you?"

Omega chuckled, and he replied, "Of course, I knew… I know you more thanElixirthinks he does, and I-"

"Oh, yeah, you're definitely smarter than you look," said Stardust, in agreement. "Now what should I callyou: Omega orRowan?"

The cloaked pony didn't respond to him right away, so Stardust continued to talk.

"I don't know how you got out of that world you were banished to, and frankly, I don't care… but what Ido knowis that I will[BEEP]you up for what you did to Casey."

Omega let out a laugh, and he replied, "You're very amusing, Star-[BEEP]...it almost makes me not want to hurt you as bad as I did before."

Noticing the tiny sparks of blue lightning surrounding his enemy's hooves, Stardust said, "Well, thanks to Sunset, I know now what to expect if you try using that method again, so I'm afraid the result won't be like what you hoped."

"I see…" said Omega, who was now standing in front of Celestia's throne. "So, what are you waiting for, then? An invitation?"

A sly grin appeared on Stardust's face, and he was about to give his own sarcastic remark when, all of a sudden, he froze in place after sensing something terrible.

My friends! The ship! Twilight!

---

Every one of Stardust's friends inside the ship was unconcious, except for the princess of friendship, who was still standing in front of the mysterious door.

"Who's in here, Elixir?" exclaimed Twilight, glaring at the sinister pony. "I'll still open it, whether you tell me or not!"

Elixir smirked at her, and he replied, "Go ahead, your highness… before we return to the castle… in fact, you might be surprised."

At first, Twilight was already surprised since she didn't expect him to say that, but she quickly went back into defense mode, and said, "Oh, I'm about to…"

So, while Elixir watched in silence, Twilight turned around to use her magic on the doorknob in front of her, and after hearing aclicknoise, the door opened to reveal the bruised and battered prisoner that was inside the room.

"Well, your highness?" asked the dark-colored pony. "Who do you see?"

A surprised Twilight found herself speechless, for a moment, before she said, "What… why… it's…"

---

"Cat got your tongue, Jack?" asked Omega, who was smirking at Stardust from underneath his mask

"Only Twilight gets to call me by that name," replied the former human being, who was starting to lose his patience with the cloaked pony. "If I find out that something happened to her-"

Omega chuckled, and he said, "You can't do anything to me, Jack… I can sense it… your powers are still supressed, thanks to my lightning attack… and you can only have so manyspecialenergy blasts until there's none left… so whatexactlydo you plan to do?"

At first, Stardust didn't give a response, but then, he started to glow, and that only made Omega laugh.

"Did you not listen to me? You cannot reach your full power because-"

"Oh, I heard you, a-hole,"said a smiling Stardust, who was now holding something in his hoof."This is onlyhalfof my 'full power'... and right now, I'm doing what Pinkie Pie would sort-of do."

Then, before Omega could say anything else, Stardust used as much strength as he could without being electrocuted to throw the red apple core at his opponent, causing him to fall back into Celestia's throne, which then toppled over backwards before eventually crashing down to the ground.

I'm not sure if Celestia would appreciate that.

Stardust shrugged his shoulders, and muttered, "Eh, I'm technically saving her, so-"

"That was cool, Star!"called out Pinkie, who was standing by the entrance."But I would've thrown more than that!"

"I know, Pinkie, that's why I added the sort-of,"replied Stardust, and he started walking over to the fallen Omega."As foryou,a-hole, I want to see just the wayyou'lllook before I kill you, so…"

With the hood already off of his head, Stardust swiftly removed the helmet-shaped mask, and once he saw Omega's face, the gold pony's expression went from anger and determination to complete shock.

"That… what… how…"

As Stardust dropped the mask onto the floor, Pinkie walked over to join her friend, saying, "Hey, are you oka… wow, you beat him!"

When Omega began to stand back up, Pinkie added, "Wow, he looks like Casey!"

"That's because IamCasey," replied the cloaked pony, whose hooves were now ready to unleash the blue-colored lightning. "And it's time for you two to go to sleep!"

ZZZZZZZZTTTTT!

---

Twilight looked back at Elixir, and she asked, "What did you do to her?"

A smirk appeared on the sinister pony's face, and he replied, "That's nothing… compared to what I'm about to do to you."