My Little Pony: A Race Against Time

by CJ Esmerio

Working Together

Author's Note:

"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro while Stardust Balance was created by the Warrior of Twilight, and Beck was made by FanficReader920, who helped me with part of this chapter.

When Sunset Shimmer had finally opened her eyes, she realized quite a few things… she was a unicorn again, her head and body ached in pain, and she was in some sort of dungeon cell.

"What's going on?" wondered Sunset, speaking in a weakened voice because of how tired and hurt she currently felt. "Where am I?"

Then, to her suprise (and relief), she could see the outline of a familiar pony that was standing in the

shadows. "Oh, thank God - I mean, Celestia… Twilight, you have no idea how glad I am to… um… why are y-you… laughing?"

"Hahahahaha…" As she continued to let out an evil laugh, Midnight slowly walked into the light, and once she was fully revealed to Sunset, the young alicorn said, "It's cause of how the expression was on your face, thinking that I was actually your beloved princess friend."

Now feeling confused, Sunset asked, "Well, if you aren't Twilight, then why do you look like her?"

Midnight rolled her eyes, and shook her head before saying, "It's because I am her evil counterpart… which is why you are in Anti-Equestria…"

Then, the alicorn's horn started to glow with red-colored magic, and Sunset backed herself up against the wall as Midnight concluded her statement.

"... and I think it's time for you to go back to sleep."

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

[Beck] Oh, yeah, and I'm the worst pony, right?

[Stardust] Will you ****ing shut it?!

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

Once Jack and Casey had explained their dilemna to EG Twilight, she quickly led them to her downstairs basement, which was actually a laboratory, and the light-orange teenager let out a whistle.

"This place looks pretty cool, Twilight," said Casey, giving the glasses-wearing teen a positive compliment as he started to look around, and a bashful smile appeared on her face. "How long did it take… oh, sweet, is this supposed to be a-"

"Um, she'll give you a grand tour later, pal," replied Jack, bringing him back to his side, and he looked back at the former Crystal Prep student. "Do you think you could figure out how we can use Casey's watch to get to wherever Evil Stardust might have taken Sunset?"

As EG Twilight analayzed and looked over the special wristwatch, she replied, "Yeah, but I'm sorry to say that something like this might take some time, Jack."

Nodding his head, the young man said, "No worries, Twilight, just do the best that you can."

While EG Twilight continued on with her work, Casey was about to ask another question when he suddenly began to cough a few times.

"Are you alright?" asked EG Twilight. "I think I have a bag of cough drops around here somewhere."

The young man shook his head, and replied, "No, it's fine, I just, uh… *cough-cough*... I think I'll go look for them while you work."

---

[Stardust's World]

Once he was sure that everypony in the room was calm enough, Stardust said, "Alright, first, we need to make sure that they're not all waiting for us in your world's version of this library by-"

"Got ya covered, Stardusty! Be right back!"

Whoosh!

Suddenly, to everyone's surprise, Pinkie jumped straight into the mirror, and after she was gone, Stardust brought a hoof to his forehead while Twilight's counterpart quickly started to become worried.

"Why would she do something like that?" asked the young alicorn.

Don't remind me, Starswirl, thought Stardust, who was also sensing the princess' concerned feelings, and he said, "I'm sure that she-"

Whoosh!

After having been gone for about 10 seconds, Pinkie made her return, and was licking away some leftover chocolate that had been on her hoof before smiling at everypony that was in the room.

"Well, I don't think they're in the castle anymore," said the pink Earth Pony. "Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have come back to this world like how I did right now."

Before Twilight's counterpart could say anything in response, Rainbow Dash cried, "Pinkie, you almost were about to have Twilight get freaked out… and is Beck still in his cell?"

"Nope," replied Pinkie, shaking her head. "So wherever Evil Star and Evil Us went, they probably took Beck with him, and… what's wrong, Twilight?"

Said alicorn was now pacing back and forth inside of the library, looking very concerned while slowly entering into panic mode.

"If those two are working together now, then that means something worse is going to happen than what they had done to us and Stardust's friends… and my idea of having Casey fuse with Stardust again to defeat Evil Stardust is useless because I caused him to leave off to Celestia knows where after I said that we needed to take a break, thinking it was the right decision to make, but now I'm starting to regret ever saying that tohim since there's no other way for me to ask him to fuse-"

She was suddenly cut off by Stardust's girlfriend, who smiled at her as she placed a hoof on her counterpart's shoulder.

"It'll be alright, Twilight, don't worry... I'm sure Jack can find a sensible way of dealing with this dilemna," replied the young alicorn, trying her best to make her other self feel positive. "Besides, Jack did say to us that Casey would be fine-"

"Not exactly something that sounds very pleasing to my ears," muttered Starlight, who was still annoyed with the gold pony.

Stardust was about to respond, but he found himself sensing the contrasting emotions of both his girlfriend and her counterpart, which was all just one big mixture of concern, panic, guilt, and fear, and it didn't help that he could also sense their thoughts, as well, with his Twilight wanting to believe that everything was going to be fine, and her counterpart was thinking of what could possibly be the worst things to happen now that their enemies were working together.

"I still can't believe you actually decided to just help yourself to a slice o' cake back in our Twilight's castle," exclaimed Applejack, who was now frowning at the pink pony. "What in the hay made ya think that was a good idea?"

"What? I was hungry," whined Pinkie Pie, and while the two of them started to argue with each other, Starlight noticed that Stardust was now gone.

Where does he think he's going?

---

"Uggggghhh…" moaned Stardust, while laying his head on the desk that was in his bedroom. "So… much… emotions and… thoughts that aren't my own…"

A few minutes later, he heard the sound of somepony walking in, and a familiar voice saying, "Hey, Stardust, I was wondering why I saw this book that has… oh, boy, eyes are closed, and you're having your head down on the desk… everypony not letting you get some sleep again?"

Realizing that this was the Starlight Glimmer from his world, Stardust let out a sigh, and he lifted his head off the desk to look at his friend. "No, it's a little more worse than what happened on that day… um, remember I told you about that one time when Twilight and I met an Earth Pony who came from a parallel version of this world?"

"Was it before or after the whole-"

"After those events."

Starlight became silent for a moment as she tried to remember what Stardust was talking about.

Then, once she did, the young unicorn replied, "Never got a chance to meet him yet, but yeah, I remember… why, is he here?"

"He was, but now he's gone, so that leaves us with his world's version of the Mane 6 because they were almost attacked by my evil counterpart and his friends, who are evil versions of Twilight and the other five mares... " explained Stardust, who was now rubbing the sides of his head with his hooves.

"And because of what I can do regarding the power of balance, both versions of Twilight are unintentionally giving me a headache while I sense their emotions and hear their thoughts… not to mention that your counterpart is upset with me for - wait, what kind of book did you find again?"

Before Starlight could give him an answer, his girlfriend suddenly appeared at the doorway, and she said, "There you are, Jack! How come you decided to come up here?'

"I just needed a moment for myself, love," replied Stardust. "How's your other self doing now?"

A look of concern appeared on her face, and the young alicorn said, "Better, especially since everypony else is helping out… but she's worried about what could happen now that Beck is with your evil self, and Starlight's still upset with you, for some reason."

"Huh? No, I'm not," replied a confused Starlight. "I was making sure he was okay."

"No, she meant the other you," said Stardust, trying to forget about his headache. "I could sense a lot of pain and anger… and frustration… coming from her while the two of us had an argument - wait, where did she go?"

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

After pacing back and forth several times, Applejack stood still, and said, "Alright, so we pretty much got to stop Evil Stardust, the evil versions of ourselves, and Beck from doin' Celestia knows what?"

Twilight's counterpart nodded her head, and she replied, "Yes, but since Casey isn't here, that means he can't fuse with Stardust to turn into Starcade, so now, I'm trying to think of a way for us-"

"Hi, Starlight!" greeted Pinkie, waving a hoof at the unicorn's other self that was now entering the library.

"Um…" Starlight looked at all seven of the ponies, and asked, "So, you're all from another world that's parallel to this one, I presume?"

Everypony nodded their head, and Starlight began to focus her attention on her counterpart. "And… may I ask why you, uh, don't like my friend?"

"Huh? Who do you… oh, right, him," replied the parallel version of Starlight. "I just figured that he'd want to find Casey before taking on these evil ponies - with most of them wanting to hurt your friend, by the way… but he thinks he'll be just fine, which I guess is the same thing he thought while Beck was doing all those terrible things to Casey and the rest of us, even though he and Casey are supposedly really close friends since they've spent almost every day together for Celestia knows how long."

As Stardust and his girlfriend came into the library, Starlight said, "Well… for the record, none of us here knew what was going on in your world because nopony told us-"

"Er…" said Twilight, with everypony now looking at her. "Well, the last message that my other self sent prior to her asking if she could come see us was her telling me that there were strange disappearances… and yes, I did have a bad feeling that something terrible was happening in their world, but me and Jack had to help our Pinkie with her own problem of not eating the nom-nom treats…"

"Nom-noms?" wondered Pinkie. "What are those?"

Before the young alicorn could answer, Fluttershy suddenly went over to [my] Twilight, and asked, "You think we should, um... also mention to Stardust what Evil Stardust said about him wanting to hurt us like he did Sun-?"

"Sunset?" said Stardust, as well as his girlfriend and his world's version of Starlight, and Fluttershy simply nodded her head.

"That… can't be right," replied Twilight. "She was just here a few days ago. Was it the one from your world he-"

Her counterpart shook her head, and she said, "I don't think so… because she came to Ponyville a few days ago when me and Casey were still in the hospital."

"Well, if it wasn't our Sunset… or your Sunset…" wondered Stardust. "Then it has to be one from another world… which means that, if they aren't at your castle, Twilight, there's only one place for them to be at…"

"And, where would that be?" questioned Starlight's counterpart, and Stardust muttered to himself before giving his answer.

"Anti-Equestria."

Insert "The Bells of Notre Dame" by Alan Menken around 3:50 - 3:56 mark.

"Ooooh, can you do that again?" asked Pinkie, and Stardust looked at her, in confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

Pinkie was about to answer him when Rainbow said, "Hold on just a sec, Stardust… shouldn't we go to one of our Sunset's world in order to see if-"

"Oh, yeah, that reminds me," interrupted Pinkie, who was now holding up a necklace that she handed over to Stardust. "I also found this lying on the ground when I went back to our Twilight's castle."

Recognizing it as Sunset's geode necklace, a frown appeared on Stardust's face, and he said, "Okay, we're definitely going to his world now… but I'm guessing that he must have Sunset with them in their version of this castle, which means she'll be guarded by probably his anti-pony friends, so-"

"Oh! Oh! Does that mean we get to wear disguises?" asked a hopeful Pinkie, but after Stardust shook his head, she let out a groan. "Ah, bummer…"

"Well, I think the only pony who needs a disguise is you, sugarcube," said Applejack, looking at Stardust. "I mean, he has a scratch over his right eye, and you don't have somethin' like that, so…"

Before Stardust could say anything, a sly grin appeared on the face of Starlight's counterpart, and with her horn glowing, she said, "I can fix that… close your right eye, Stardusk-"

"Star-dust, and what would be the point of - ow!What the…"

Suddenly, Pinkie let out a gasp of surprise, and she cried, "Hey, look at this, Twilight! Their machine has that one button you told me not to press, too! I wonder if…"

"Pinkie, wait!" cried Twilight's counterpart. "You don't hav - oh, no..."

---

Anti-Equestria

After finishing up her business with Sunset, Midnight walked back into the throne room, where Evil Stardust was talking with Beck and the others about their plan, and she said, "Stardust! We need to talk…"

"We do? About what?" wondered Stardust's counterpart, and he regretted saying that after Midnight walked up to him.

"You know exactly what I mean," growled the young alicorn, with a hint of a sly smile on her face.

It took a few seconds for Evil Stardust to understand what she meant, so after nodding his head, he turned to face Beck. "Alright, new pony, while I discuss some stuff with Midnight, you and my friends figure out if Casey is with my other self… cause things are gonna go sour real fast if I find out there is a chance of them becoming Starcade. Get the picture?"

"Sure, just as long as you don't interfere with me when it's time to deal with her other self," replied Beck, in a similar tone. "Get the picture?"

Before Evil Stardust could respond, Midnight pulled him out of the room rather harshly, and once they were gone, Beck asked, "Are they together or… broken up…"

"Eh, it's like a love-hate thing, newbie," replied Anti-Rainbow, giving a shrug. "But it'll be a while before we see either of those two again."

"And, why is that?"

Pinkie's counterpart rolled her eyes, and said, "Well, I mean, this story is rated T for a reason."

Beck just looked at her, for a moment, before he shook his head, deciding to forget about it.

---

"... Casey… Casey, wake up…"

The young man let out a yawn while stretching his arms, and said, "Sorry about that, Twilight, but once I took your 'night quilt' medicine, I felt like taking a nap… how long was I out?"

"Long enough for her to finish doing what she had to do with your wristwatch," replied Jack, as the human version of Twilight handed it over to Casey.

"Sweet!" cried a pleased Casey, and he smiled at the young teenage girl after putting the device on. "Thank you… it means a lot."

Sci-Twi nodded her head, and replied, "No problem, happy to help! But, uh, I should point out that, no matter how much I tried, your watch's capability of world traveling is only good enough for one person, which means-"

"I have to find another way to send Sunset back here… by myself," said Casey, letting out a sigh, and he looked over at Jack. "Unless you're comfortable with going-"

"Eh, don't worry about me, pal," said Jack, shaking his head. "Your story's more important than mine, anyway… you just take care of you-know-what so that you can give it to your girlfriend."

Casey's smile went away a little as he said, "Um… but she isn't my-"

"Trust me, Casey, she is," replied the young man. "Also, I can't exactly… get involved much in these type of situations, unfortunately… there are just some rules that I can't break."

Before Casey could ask what he meant by that, Jack added, "Go, hurry… and don't forget what I told you back in the store, okay?"

The pony-turned-teenager nodded his head, and as he started to prepare himself, he thought, Time for me to set things right.

WHOOSH!

Then, Casey activated the watch's traveling mechanism, causing a magical swirl to appear around his entire body, and after a quick flash of light, he was gone.

"Did you give him one of your pep talks that you always give to me and the others?" wondered Sci-Twi.

"I tend to think of them as inspiringspeeches, Twilight, but yes, yes I did," replied Stardust's real-life counterpart. "And so far, they seem to work pretty well for the people that I've told them to… oh, before I go, did you figure out what's in that stuff he kept drinking at the bar?"

Ding!

Sci-Twi walked over to the nearby printer, observing the paper of information that it had just delivered, and said, "Well, based on the sample that you gave me, whatever he's drinking is… is… oh, boy…"

---

Anti-Equestria

"Alright, everypony," said Beck, speaking in a commanding tone. "Twilight and the others are probably on their way here right now, so we should start walking around this castle to make sure that-"

"Since when did you decide to start giving us orders?" questioned Anti-Rainbow.

Beck made a gesture towards the door, and replied, "Since your leader put me in charge while he f - I mean, sc - I mean, sle... talks to Midnight, which is why I am saying that we all need to start checking every part of this castle.

"If you see any of your counterparts, do whatever you want with them… if you come across Casey, make sure he's nowhere near Stardust, and if you find that pony, leave him somewhere for Evil Stardust to find… but make sure you leave Twilight Sparkle to only me."

Even though she didn't really like this new pony that much, Anti-Rainbow nodded her head, and swiftly went out of the throne room, with the rest of her doing the same not long after.

As for Beck, a sinister smile appeared on his face, and he said, "When I get my hooves on you, Twilight, I will treat you worse than how I did back in my lair."

The Library

Rubbing the side of his head, Stardust let out a groan, and he asked, "Is… um, everypony okay?"

All of Casey's friends, as well as his world's version of Twilight and Starlight, nodded their heads, and the young pony replied, "Good… so now that we know…"

He then glared at Starlight's counterpart, and asked, "What the [BEEP] was that all about?"

"Oh, relax, Stardusk," said Starlight, rolling her eyes. "It's just a harmless scratch that will probably go away in a few days or so… nothing really worth complaining about."

"Nothing worth… are you actually serio-"

However, before Stardust could continue his yelling, Starlight suddenly stepped in between the two of them, and said, "Alright, how about instead of arguing with each other before we end up getting caught, let's all look around this castle, and start searching for Sunset… um…"

The young unicorn took a quick moment to look at everypony in the room. "Okay, the two Twilight's will go with Stardust, and the rest of you decide who pairs up with who…"

Then, in a more serious tone, she said, "... while you and I have ourselves a little chat."

Whoosh!

Everyone except Pinkie quickly headed out of the library, and Starlight's counterpart looked at her other self in disbelief. "Me? Why do I-"

"Ohhhhhhh…." interrupted Pinkie, whose entire body started vibrating, followed by her mane and tail twirling around in all sorts of directions, and the two versions of Starlight looked at her, in confusion. "Somepony's about to come!"

Suddenly, an unfamiliar swirl of sparkling magic appeared in the middle of the room, followed by a flash of bright light, which made the three ponies try to shield their eyes from it.

Then, once the light was gone, they found themselves looking at a worn-out Casey, who was currently lying down on the ground.

"Ugh… my head…" muttered the young pony, and he shook his head a few times while to his hooves. "Now I see why Stardust - oof!"

"Casey!" interrupted Starlight's counterpart, who was now embracing him warmly. "You're okay!"

As Casey started to chuckle, the Starlight from Stardust's world began to realize something, and a smile appeared on her face. Of course!

"Yes, totally fine… and I'd love to talk, but I have to find - ow!"

To Starlight and Pinkie's surprise, the purple unicorn's counterpart thumped him on the back of his head, and said, "Don't scare us like that again! You know we're still not completely over with what happened back in our world."

"I'm sorry, Star, but it was something I had to do," replied Casey, now rubbing the area that was now stinging in pain. "And… um… why are you and Pinkie and…"

Having finally noticed the other Starlight, an uncertain Casey asked, "You wouldn't happen to be her Evil self, would you?"

Starlight shook her head, and answered, "I'm the version of her that comes from Stardust's world… and it's nice to finally meet you, Casey."

"Likewise," replied Casey, politely shaking hooves with her. "Has Stardust told you about you me already?"

"Er… well…" admitted a sheepish-looking Starlight. "Not since the day that he came back from the-"

Before she could finish her sentence, her counterpart gave the two of them a reminder after clearing her throat. "We are in a darker and alternate version of Equestria to find Sunset Shimmer, so why don't we save introductions till later, okay?"

Remembering a certain human being from another world, Casey nodded his head, with a serious expression. "Right, then… Starlight, you come with me… and Pinkie, you help out Stardust's Starlight."

Then, the two of them hurried out of the room before Starlight could suggest something else, and left her alone with the parallel version of Pinkie, who asked, "So, when did Stardust tell you about him again?"

---

"Jack… rubbing your eye like that isn't going to make the scar go away."

After putting his hoof down, Stardust muttered angrily to himself before saying, "I'm gonna have one of them find a way to fix this before-"

"Star? Midnight?"

The two of them turned around to see Rainbow Dash, but Stardust quickly sensed that it was the dark version of their pegasus friend.

"Huh, I didn't think you two would finish talking to each other so quickly… no wonder the walls didn't shake."

"What are you-" Twilight started to say, but to her surprise, Stardust was beginning to chuckle.

"One of my many talents, Crash… now, why in the holy [BEEP] are you not back with the others?"

Anti-Rainbow rolled her eyes, and replied, "Because Newbie Pony thinks that Twilight and the rest of her friends are already in the castle, so now everyone's looking-"

However, to their surprise, the young pegasus suddenly asked, "Uh, you okay, Midnight?"

Pretend to be your darker counterpart, thought Stardust, who was now speaking to Twilight telepathically, and the alicorn nodded her head.

"Yeah, of course, I am… why would I not be?"

Continuing to look at Twilight, a suspicious Anti-Rainbow said, "Because I just realized I said that name you hate to hear, and by now, you'd already be in flames, or would just start chewing my head off."

"Well… I just don't really feel like bursting into flames, Crash," replied Twilight, speaking in an angered tone. "And maybe I'm simply in too much of a good mood to yell anyway, so-"

"Good mood?" said Anti-Rainbow. "Okay, either Star here made you really happy this time, or-"

Then, before she could finish her sentence, Stardust exclaimed, "Just what exactly are you trying to say about my girlfriend, Crash?"

"Hey, I'm only lookin' out for ya, Star," replied the blue pegasus. "There is another version of her in this place, supposedly, so…"

Stardust rolled his eyes, and he said, "I think I would know if this wasn't my own damn girlfriend, Crash; otherwise, there's no way in hell that I'd do something like this to anypony else."

He took Twilight's face into his hooves, and before either she or Anti-Rainbow could say anything, Stardust delivered a very passionate kiss to his special somepony, who eventually began returning the favor.

Then, as it started to turn into a make-out session, a look of disgust appeared on Anti-Rainbow's face, and she said, "Oh, come on, not in front of me, Star!"

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like they would stop anytime soon, so Anti-Rainbow quickly flew off before she ended up getting sick to her stomach, and once he realized that they were alone again, Stardust pulled himself away from Twilight's face, with both of them blushing heavily, as well as taking several deep breaths.

"Um… w-where did…" said Twilight. "Y-you never… like that… with our to-"

"Not… the right place… to talk about it," replied Stardust, holding up a hoof to pause her statement. "And sorry that you… uh… love, w-where did… Casey's Twilight go?"

---

As she and Rainbow Dash walked down the hall, Applejack said, "Alright, Rainbow, any of these here rooms could be holdin' Sunset, so if this were like tryin' to find a fancy-schmancy spellbook, keep your eye out for a door that-"

"Ha-ha, found it!" cried a pleased Rainbow, who was now flying in front a door that looked darker than any of the other ones in the hallway.

So, after opening the door, the two of them swiftly entered the darkened room, which lit up once Rainbow closed the door, and both of their eyes became wide at what they were now seeing.

"Uh… Applejack… I don't think Sunset is in here."

For some reason, the floor of the room was covered completely in mouse traps that had yet to be set off, and the two ponies had a limited amount of free space to themselves.

"Alright, then, how about we-" The orange pony started to show, but when she tried to open the door, it wouldn't budge, which made her gulp nervously. "Uh-oh… I think we just got ourselves locked in here."

Rainbow looked around the entire room, and she asked, "Well, this is the only door, so how are we supposed to - wait, what's that?"

The two friends noticed a small and adorable-like creature coming out of a tiny hole from across the room, and that it was walking over to one of the mouse traps placed in the middle of the room, which contained a delicious mini-slice of cheese.

"Oh, this ain't gonna turn out well, sugarcube."

---

As Sunset laid against the bars of her cell door, thinking about what Jack was doing back in their world, she quickly became alarmed after hearing somepony enter the room.

"Sunset? You in here, darling?"

"Um, Rarity, I'm not sure if that is the best-"

The yellow unicorn stood up, in surprise, and said, "Fluttershy? Rarity?"

"Sunset Shimmer!" cried the two ponies, now hurrying over to her, and a look of pity appeared on their faces after seeing how she looked.

"Good heavens, darling, you look terrible," said Rarity. "What have they done to you?"

Sunset shook her head, and replied, "It doesn't matter, just help me out of here... quickly."

The white unicorn and yellow pegasus nodded their heads, and began trying to find a key for the door.

"Um, not to sound rude or anything, Sunset," said Rarity, as she walked around the room. "But can't you use your magic to open the lock?"

Sunset shook her head, and replied, "They made it so I can't use… my magic in this world…"

"And, may I say, how wonderful it's worked out thus far."

The three of them quickly became silent after seeing somepony else walk into the room, and unfortunately, it was Midnight Sparkle, who had a sly grin on her face.

"Well, well… this is going to be fun…"

---

After approaching the unoccupied throne room, Casey had Starlight keep watch from the doorway while he looked around the room for clues into figuring out Sunset's location.

At first, he didn't find anything, so the young pony was about to leave when something caught his eye from the other side of the room.

"What… is this?" wondered Casey, picking up the unopened thermos that had come from Kronos' home, but as he started to walk away, a familiar voice cried, "Don't move!"

Appearing on top of the Cutie Map table, with the Time Staff in his hooves, Anti-Stardust took a quick glance at Starlight, and said, "You better stay right there if you know what's good for you."

Then, turning his attention back over to Casey, Anti-Stardust aimed the staff at him, and said, "You certainly have guts, kid… I'll give you that much."

When Casey didn't give him a response, the dark pony became slightly confused, and he raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you afraid of me?"

"No… I'm terrified, actually… and I have been ever since the last time we were here," replied Casey, in a serious tone. "Just like I'm terrified of telling Twilight that I love her because I don't want to end up losing her like how I lost my parents, the only other ponies I've said those words to… but someone recently told me that you should always face your fears… so I'm doing that right now… starting with you."

For a few seconds, Anti-Stardust remained quiet, and then, he let out a chuckle before saying, "Well, look who's finally acting like a stallion…"

With the staff now glowing with deadly magical energy, the dark pony asked, "Any last words?"

---

"There… that feels much better… good thing this place has an infirmary room."

After replacing her old bandages with fresh and brand-new ones, Twilight was about to leave when she heard a voice say, "You're pathecially predictable, princess… like a moth to the flame."

Standing in the doorway was Beck, who had a sinister smile across his face, and Twilight quickly started to become afraid.

"I knew you'd come to a place like this," continued the light-green Earth Pony. "So, now, I think it's time for us to continue where we left off back in my lair... and your precious special somepony isn't going to stop me this time."