My Little Pony: A Race Against Time

by CJ Esmerio

A Special Night

---

Several Hours Later

When Casey opened up his eyes, he wasn't surprised to see that he was back in the hospital, but what did surprise him was seeing the self-propelled wheelchair placed in the corner of the room.

"That's what you'll be using for the next few weeks."

Standing at the edge of his bed was Starlight, who made a gesture to his hind legs, and Casey saw that they had both been placed into an orthopedic cast.

"Well, I guess I'll have plenty of time, then, to work on my kite flying," said Casey, and the two of them shared a quick laugh together before he noticed that she was his only visitor. "Where's everypony else?"

"Waiting for us back at the castle," replied Starlight, as she started to bring the wheelchair over to him. "Also, before you ask, Twilight is fine… before I left, she was helping Applejack and Rainbow with their, um… mouse trap dilemna."

Then, the purple unicorn used her magic to help place Casey into the transportation device, and asked, "Think you can handle it?"

"I'll be good, Star, don't worry," assured Casey, putting his hooves to both sides of the wheelchair in order to turn the wheels, and he headed towards the door in reverse.

"Hopefully this is the end of worse things that can happen to- gaahhh!"

Suddenly, the door was pushed open by somepony, which resulted in smacking against the back of Casey's head, and as he groaned in irritation, whoever had walked in cried, "Oh, my gosh, Starlight, are you… wait a minute… you look fine."

The purple unicorn nodded her head, and she replied, "Yeah, of… course I am,Trixie."

"Well, then why are you in the hospital?" wondered Trixie, and Starlight made a gesture towards Casey, so the azure unicorn turned around to look at him. "Ohhhh… okay… um, who is he exactly?"

"I'm Casey," said the injured Earth Pony, with a slightly annoyed facial expression. "We've met, like, five times."

A confused Trixie looked over at Starlight, who added, "He's Twilight's special somepony…"

"She has one now? Since when?"

Casey rolled his eyes, and he said, "Never mind, Starlight, let's just go back to… aw, shoot, wait… can you call up the nurse real quick? I don't want to leave without my medicine."

"Sure, Casey," replied Starlight, and she started looking for the call button while Trixie noticed a single-button remote on the hospital bed.

"Relax, Starlight, Trixie's got you covered," assured the illusionist, and she pressed the button with her hoof, but instead of calling out for the nurse, it caused the door to open automatically, thus whacking Casey in the back of his head again. "Whoops… heh-heh, my bad…"

---

Twilight's Castle

After putting one last band-aid over the area that a mouse trap had beem stuck to, Applejack let out a sigh of relief, and said, "Thanks for helpin' us get rid of these irritatin' things, Twilight… it was more than what Rainbow did, anyway."

"Well, I was the one who actually knocked the door down," pointed out the blue pegasus, who was making sure that her wings were completely trap-free. "Ugh, as if being a pink pony was bad enough."

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie entered the room right as Rainbow had finished her sentence, and asked, "What's wrong with being a pink pony?"

"Oh, no, I didn't mean you, Pinkie," replied Rainbow. "It was about Beck making me - hey, wait a sec, Applejack, did you took the last band-aid?"

"Yeah, so what? I had a lot more traps on me than you," said the orange pony, and Rainbow groaned before turning over to Twilight.

"Please tell me you have a few more extra ones."

An amused Twilight rolled her eyes, and she replied, "I think I know where some might be, just wait here a moment."

As the young alicorn walked away, Applejack shook her head at the blue pegasus, and said, "Next time we gotta split up, I'm pickin' either Twi or Casey as my partner."

###########

Twilight was almost a few inches away from her bedroom door when a familiar voice from behind asked, "So, how are you feeling, princess?"

"My chest still stings a little, but - aaaggghh!" cried Twilight, after turning to see who was behind her. "Evil Stardust!"

Before she could even use her magic as a means of defense, Stardust quickly replied, "Whoa, whoa, just take it easy for a second, Twilight… I'm the good and actual Stardust, not the one who got sucked into a can."

It took a moment for Twilight to relax after seeing that Stardust's eyes were not as dark and sinister as his other self, and she sheepishly said, "Sorry about that. I just thought you were him at first because of the scar over your right eye."

A frown appeared on Stardust's face, and the gold pony said, "The first thing I'm going to have your Starlight do when she gets back is to get rid of-"

"Oh, no, I didn't mean to make you upset," replied Twilight. "Actually, now that I know it's you… I think it looks nice on you… the other me might say the same thing."

"Really?" said a surprised Stardust, but then, to her surprise, he suddenly looked upset again, and before Twilight could say anything, he asked, "Were you going to your room?"

"Yeah, for some band-aids, but why do you look so-"

As Stardust walked past the young alicorn, he simply stated, "Wait right here."

Then, Twilight watched him carefully enter her bedroom, closing the door once he was inside, and she said, "Um, is everything-"

[Insert sound effects after Pinkie Pie rushes into the furniture store from the episode "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows"]

"Wow! I didn't know you had animals in your room, Twilight," said Pinkie Pie, who was now walking up to her friend, but before Twilight could respond, the door suddenly flew off of its hinges, followed by a familar pony running out of the room as fast as he could. "Hey, wait a sec, isn't that…"

"Get your [BEEP] arse back here!" yelled Stardust, who was now running after the pony he'd been beating the heck out of.

Twilight let out a nervous gulp, and said, "Pinkie, you go get the band-aids for Rainbow Dash… I have to help Stardust."

So, the purple alicorn quickly hurried in the direction that her friend had gone in, but once she'd caught up to them, she found herself looking at a pissed-off Stardust, thrashing around in a magical energy bubble, while her other self stood in between him and a roughed-up Beck.

"I highly recommend that you go back to your dungeon cell that you were sentenced to be in," said Stardust's girlfriend, giving Beck a stern expression. "Unless you'd rather I not keep my special somepony confined-"

"If that means being away from him, then I'll take it," exclaimed Beck, and before anypony could say anything else, he ran as fast as he possibly could down into the dungeon.

Then, after locking himself back in his cell, a heavy-breathing Beck said, "Phew… okay… I should be safe down here now…"

"Oh, I would have to disagree with you on that, little pony… especially since it's my turn to watch you again."

Beck turned around, and found himself looking at Discord, who was dressed up as some sort of scary-looking clown that made Beck almost wish he was back with Stardust.

"Would you like a balloon or a paper boat, Becky?"

---

Back upstairs, a few seconds after Beck had run away, Twilight watched her other self have a telepathic conversation with Stardust, who eventually nodded his head slowly, and his girlfriend let out a sigh before releasing him from the bubble.

"Um… thanks for, er, saving me, Stardust," said Twilight, unsure as to what his reaction to her sentence was going to be.

"Of… course… Twilight," replied Stardust, who was now taking a few deep breaths. "But once your Starlight brings Casey back… me and my Twilight are leaving…"

Twilight nodded her head, and looked at her counterpart, who assured her that everything was going to be fine.

Or, at least she hoped it would.

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

When Casey and Starlight approached the castle steps, the young pony looked at her with a sheepish expression. "Um, Star? Would you mind helping out - thank you."

"No problem," replied Starlight, who used her magic to safely levitate Casey up to the entrance platform. "Soooo… before we go inside… are you going to tell Twilight… the L word?"

Casey sighed, remembering that she'd been there when he had talked to Evil Stardust, and he said, "I will… soon… a, um, new friend of mine actually helped me figure out how I was going to do it."

"Oh? Who would that be?" wondered Starlight, as she opened the door, and the two of them made their way inside.

Casey was about to answer when, suddenly, a familiar voice cried, "Surprise! Happy birthday!"

Twilight and the rest of the Mane 6 (minus Pinkie) sighed in slight annoyance while Stardust and his girlfriend rolled their eyes, and Applejack said, "His birthday ain't until a few more days, Pinkie Pie."

"Oh… oops," chuckled a sheepish Pinkie. "Um, just forget I said that, okay, Casey?"

A chuckling Casey just nodded his head as he wheeled himself closer to them, and Fluttershy said, "Um… does that mean you'll have to-"

"Celebrate it in this thing?" finished Casey, and the yellow pegasus nodded her head. "Afraid so… but it's not gonna stop from enjoyin' it the best I can."

"Glad to see you're in such high spirits, sugarcube," said Applejack, who ruffled his hair a little bit with her hoof. "Now, pardon if I seem rude or anythin', but I feel like gettin' some shut-eye now… so g'night, everypony, and see y'all tomorrow."

Rarity was the next pony to head out of the castle after making sure Casey would be fine, and the ones after were Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Pinkie, which left only Stardust and Twilight's counterpart.

"So… I guess this means you're not going to my world anytime soon, huh?" said Stardust.

Casey nodded his head, and replied, "Yeaaahhh, it's probably for the best… since I'm going to be using my free time to work on, er, other things…"

Taking a quick glance at Starlight before going back to Casey, Stardust said, "Glad to hear… in the meantime, I'm gonna pick up on what AJ said, and take myself up to my room… in my own world… so, good night, and see you in a few days."

To Casey and Starlight's surprise, Stardust headed up the stairs that led to the library rather quickly, and Casey asked, "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, don't worry, he's just a lot more tired now than how he was back when you first met him," replied Twilight's other self, and after she told the three of them good night, the purple alicorn followed after Stardust.

Then, Casey was about to speak when Starlight suddenly said, "Right then.. I'm gonna leave you two alone to talk since, uh, things might or might not to be fixed between you both… soooo, good night!"

She teleported away before either of them could respond, and as the two ponies looked at each other, Twilight said, "I'm sorry for-"

"No, no… it's my fault," replied Casey, with a saddened expression. "I, uh, never should've left… let alone, argued with you in the first place, Twilight… so I'm sorry, and I hope that-"

However, his apology was cut short by the young alicorn embracing him lovingly, and she said, "Welcome home…"

Heh, yeah, thought Casey, as a warm smile appeared on his face. It's glad to be home.

But then, as he watched Starlight head up the set of stairs to her own bedroom, an idea popped into his head.

I know what I'm going to do tomorrow.

---

A few seconds after Stardust and Twilight had returned to the library in their world, the gold pony groaned before saying, "Ah, damn it, I forgot to ask their Starlight to get rid of this scar for me."

Then, to his surprise, Twilight said, "Actually, Jack… I, um, kind of like it…"

Before Stardust could say that her other self had told him the same thing, he was surprised to see her blush so heavily in a matter of seconds.

"Which, uh, also reminds me… I think now is the right place to talk about… as, um, your kind say… you giving me to-"

Stardust quickly held up his hoof, and Twilight closed her mouth. "I understand you loud and clear, love… that, um…"

Don't screw this up, Stardust, don't screw this up, thought the human-turned-pony, who was figuring out what the rights word were for him to say. Um, Starswirl, you got some last-minute advice?

...

Thanks a lot, thought Stardust, who rubbed the back of his neck with his front left hoof as Twilight said, "You've never… well, okay, we have never kissed that way before… s-so I'm wondering why… and if you... meant…"

[Insert "At Long Last, Love" by Danny Elfman]

"Twilight… love…" Stardust quickly placed his girlfriend's head upward before it went down completely, and he said, "First of all, what happened… between us… it was 100% real… and, er… the reason I haven't done it before is because… well... usually, in the actual human world, doing that leads a lot of couples to eventually…"

Although he was having some trouble speaking to her, the young pony felt relieved that he wasn't a human being during this type of conversation; otherwise, he probably would've eventually earned himself a ticket to Hell.

"So… you don't regret doing it, right?"

"Of course I don't, love," replied Stardust,: who could almost feel himself burning up while talking about this. "I just… eh… prefer not to have certain thoughts about you just yet…"

Then, the gold pony started to feel embarrassed, along with his face being redder than usual, while Twilight said, "Well, there's no need to… feel ashamed or anything about it, Jack… I mean, isn't it natural for, uh, you to feel that way about-"

"Yes, but that's just it, love," replied a red-faced Stardust. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I would not... object to doing it again… especially with someone so beautiful and-"

Suddenly, he found himself being cut off by Twilight's unexpected kiss, and… at first, it started off slow between them since she was mostly concerned with helping him feel more relaxed and less stressed out about the whole thing.

However, their strong love for one another caused the young couple to make their kissing more passionate, and soon enough, Stardust couldn't help but bring one of his hooves up to Twilight's face, with her doing the same with him, as their tongues began to explore the other somepony's mu-

Cut off music at 1:30

"Oh, hey, Star, so I was fighting with Vegito Blue in XV 2, and I wondered if you and Casey were able to - aaaaaggggghhhh!"

Stardust and Twilight quickly broke apart from each other, but Spike was already long gone at that point, doing whatever he could to erase the image of what he'd just saw out of his mind.

"Stardust? Twilight? Why is Spike screaming like he saw - aaaaaggghhh! Evil Stardust!"

Oh, you've got to be [BEEP]-ing kidding me, thought Stardust, and he said, "Pinkie, just relax, I'm not actually-"

"Don't you say one more word, evil pony, or I'll use Starlight on you the same way I used Unicorn Twilight on the Changelings before they became all good and not evil!" cried Pinkie, now holding onto a confused Starlight as if she were a weapon, and aiming the unicorn's horn at Stardust, who rolled his eyes.

"Alright, that's it, I'm going back to have the other Starli- ow! Pinkie!"

Author's Note:

"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while Stardust Balance belongs to the Warrior of Twilight, and Beck was created by FanficReader920. I just own the story.