My Little Pony: A Race Against Time

by CJ Esmerio

New Changes

Author's Note:

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" is owned by Hasbro and DHX Media, and Beck was created by FanficReader920, who wrote most of his scene in this chapter.

One Month Later

"How in the hell did this happen to you?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, Rainbow…"

Anti-Stardust and his two remaining friends were back home in their world's version of Twilight's castle, and while Anti-Pinkie was busy reading through several books that the dark gold pony had obtained, Anti-Rainbow was currently cleaning up all of the blood coming out of the newly-gained scars on the right side of his face.

"Did the other you have something to do with this?"

Anti-Stardust scoffed at his friend's question, and said, "He's notthatvicious, believe me. All I know is when I tried going to his world, I ended up coming straight back here out ofthatdamn thing with half of my face now [BEEP]-ed up."

Looking over at the nearby Crystal Mirror, Anti-Rainbow remained quiet in thought as she threw away yet another blood-covered towel, and as the young pegasus began using another one, Anti-Stardust glanced over at Anti-Pinkie.

"Did you find anything on him yet?"

The saddened pony shook her head, and replied, "I'm trying my best, Star, but aside from what happened in Miles' world, there's nothing in these books that talks about anything that happened in your other self's world, or how he's connected to all of this."

A scowl appeared on Anti-Stardust's face, and he growled, "Well, then, why don't youtry a little HARDER?"

Flinching a little at the raised and angered tone in his voice, Anti-Pinkie just nodded her head, and continued to read, but then, she heard Anti-Stardust let out a sigh before saying, "I… I'm sorry, Pinkie… um, just take a break… eat some ice cream or something, I don't know."

"Really?" The young Earth Pony nodded his head. "Yay, awesome! Thank you!"

A few seconds later, she was out of the library, leaving Anti-Rainbow to look at her best friend in confusion, and it didn't take long for him to notice. "What?"

"Uh, Iamcleaning up the face ofAnti-Stardust, right?" replied Anti-Rainbow. "You haven't beenthatnice to her in, like, a really long time."

Anti-Stardust gave out a quick chuckle before saying his response. "Just because that's in my name, Rainbow, doesn't mean I have to be so negativeallthe time."

"Um… okay, I guess," said Anti-Rainbow, who was both surprised and just a tiny bit pleased to hear that. "Would this also have to do with Xenos-"

"Yes, it does," replied Anti-Stardust, in a tone that meant he would prefer not to talk about those events.

However, a smug Anti-Rainbow rolled her eyes, and said, "You do know you probably could've beat the living hell out of him before we left, right? I mean, what you did to those two servants-"

"I appreciate your comments, Rainbow," interrupted Anti-Stardust. "But they were nothing compared to Xenos… maybe if I had the power that my other self has, then that could possibly be the -ow!"

After cleaning up the rest of the blood that remained on his face, Anti-Rainbow took a moment to admire her handiwork while Anti-Stardust said, "What now?"

"Nothing, it's just… you don't really look that much like the other you anymore," replied Anti-Rainbow. "Actually, you look more like a badass this way."

Then, she ruffled up the front of his mane, and in a teasing tone, she added, "Still think you ought to do something with this stuff, along with your facial hair-"

"Ha-ha, very funny," said Anti-Stardust, and he was about to say more when he realized how close they were to each other.

Huh, I never noticed that her eyes were so...

It didn't take long for Anti-Rainbow to notice this, as well, but before he could say anything, the young pegasus backed away, with a slight blush on her face.

"I, um, better go make sure Pinkie doesn't eat up the rest of our ice cream."

Then, she was gone before Anti-Stardust could finish getting up out of the chair he'd been sitting in, and the Earth Pony started muttering underneath his breath until he found himself looking at his reflection in the Crystal Mirror.

She certainly wasn't kidding about me looking less like my counterpart,thought Anti-Stardust, who slowly began to smile.

Now that I think about it, why not keep on going?

Then, he turned his head away from the mirror, and cried out, "Hey, Rainbow!"

"Yeah?"

"I need you to help me find a razor and a hair clipper!"

---

The Next Day

As he walked through the streets of Ponyville, free at last, Beck let out a sigh of happiness before saying, "I've never been more appreciative of fresh air than how I am right now."

However, he couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched, so Beck looked to his right and to his left, but he didn't see anypony suspicious. "Just get ahold of yourself… it's only cause you were being watched every day inside a dungeon."

Once he arrived back home, the middle-aged Earth Pony took a deep inhale, and let it all out, with a relieved smile on his face.

"Home sweet home." He said, to no one in particular.

And as a newly released prisoner, the black-maned stallion decided the first thing he'd do was to check on his garden.

However, before he could go out his back door, a whisper made it's way to his ears.

"You piece of [BEEP]."

Beck immediately froze in place, and he said, "Alright, who's… who's there? Show yourself."

A cloaked pony appeared behind him, continuing to whisper.

"You don't deserve anything."

"What the...?" Beck said in befuddlement once he turned around.

"You don't deserve anypony, not after what you did,"the cloaked pony continued to whisper.

Beck shook his head, and replied, "That's not true… wait, what?"

Suddenly, to his surprise, another familiar pony began to walk out of the shadows in his home.

"You thought I wanted tohelp?!" Twilight Sparkle said, standing next to the cloaked pony. "I only did that because I pitied you, you stallion scum."

Beck continued to shake his head, as well as feeling a chill running down his spine. "No..."

"You're worse than Tirek..." growled a frustrated Twilight.

"You were such a nice stallion, to think..."

The alicorn princess rolled her eyes, and she said, "You lost your loved ones, big whoop..."

"Twilight was right, I shouldn't have tried to kill you. Death is too good for [BEEP] like you," exclaimed Casey, now showing to stand next to Twilight, and Beck began to feel more nervous and afraid.

"No… no, no, no…. this… no, this can't be happening," Beck said, trying to turn away but only finding himself being approached by more familiar faces.

Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence, Applejack, Spike, Rarity… everyone he'd captured was now gathered in a circle, surrounding the green Earth Pony.

"Like my sister said, if it were up to us, you wouldn't even be here now."

"Maybe we should teach you how it feels to be on the verge of death."

As the demoralizing comments kept coming, Beck continued to break down, wishing for everything to stop…. but a moment later, he suddenly realized that there was nothing but silence.

"Huh?" wondered Beck, as he uncovered his eyes that he didn't know he covered.

Everyone had stopped speaking, yet they were still there, now staring at him from one side of the house.

"Becky, what were you thinking, ya knucklehead?"

To both his horror and surprise, Beck then turned around to find Night Light, Bright Mac, Buttercup, Carrot, and Chiffon, with Night Light being the one that had just spoken.

"You could have just gone to the game yourself, you know? That ever come to mind?"Night Light said, talking like it was obvious.

Beck gave a nervous gulp, and he replied, "But we always promised each other that it would be the both of us to go-"

"To think we made you Godfather to Pound and Pumpkin..."Carrot said.

The feeling of fear continued rising for Beck, who tried to slowly back away, but everyone in the room started to follow him.

"Why did you lie to us?"Chiffon asked.

"To think our lives were perfect. Now we have the legacy of being friends with you,"Bright Mac maliciously said.

"I thought my daddy was bad, but you are WAY worse,"Buttercup added.

"Guys..."Beck tried to explain, but he stopped after he heard the voice of somepony else.

"We're really disappointed in you, son."

Beck turned around to find both his parents, his father standing tall and his mother crying like her heart had been broken.

"To think that you came from my loins,"His father said.

"Where did I go wrong?"His mother wheeped.

Seeing the heartbroken expression on his mother's face made Beck's eyes start to water up as he said, "Mom… please, don't cry, I was only-"

"...and to think I married you!"

"What… T-Twinkle?" Beck asked, before turning around to find his wife standing there.

"You're just so unbelievable, Beck," said a disappointed Twinkle. "Do you expect me to forgive you after what you did? You used my name, you used Carl's name, as justification for spreading fear and suffering to everypony you saw fit. I don't think I could EVER forgive you for that."

"Twinkle, I..."

Beck then heard a gurgle behind him, he turned to find a small colt on the floor.

"Carl? Carl. Hi, baby. Don't worry, Daddy's here..." Beck started soothing as if on instinct.

However, it seemed to have an opposite effect on Carl, who began crying and shuffling away from Beck.

'He's... he's afraid of me. My own colt is afraid of me.'

Just then, the demoralizing chants began once again, this time including his friends and family.

"Nobody likes you, Beck, and I should know..." the cloaked pony said, pulling down his hood to reveal another Beck.

The terrified Earth Pony continued to walk backwards until he found himselr backing up against a wall."No! No! No! Stop it! Stop it now, please!"

"What you did was unforgivable, Becky," said a newly-arrived Discord, standing in the opposite side of Beck's other self, wearing the clown get-up again. "Time for some morefun… and I can't wait to show you mytoys!"

"NO! Not that! Anything but that!" Beck said in fear, tears still flowing.

"NO! NO! NO! STOP IT! STOP IT!"

---

CLANG!

Suddenly, Beck opened his eyes, and saw that he'd used his hind leg to kick at one of the bars in front of him, which meant that he was still in his cell.

It was a dream… no, not a dream… it was a nightmare!

He checked his surroundings, seeing nothing but a barred door and walls, and as soon as he realized he was alone, he allowed himself to break down.

"I'm sorry, everyone," Beck sobbed."I don't deserve anything."

Around an hour or so later, the actual Twilight (now bright-eyed and wide awake) had just finished creating a list of things that involved Beck, as well as her friends, which meant that she had some exciting news for the former antagonist.

However, once she entered the dungeon, Twilight's happiness was immediately replaced with horror.

"Come on! Why… won't… you… work?" Beck said, frustrated as he continuously plunged a plastic knife into his chest.

However, due to the knife being plastic, it had almost no effect whatsoever.

"Beck?! What are you doing? Drop it!"Twilight said, panicking, and the Princess of Friendship used her magic to take the plastic knife away from the suicidal stallion.

"No, Twilight, I need this! I can't live like this!" Beck said, now sounding hysterical, and he was also starting to hyperventilate when suddenly, the purple alicorn entered Beck's cell, wrapping her front forelegs around him the same way she did the first time they had embraced each other.

At first, Beck struggled to escape the embrace, but the Princess of Friendship wouldn't let go, and eventually, the stallion caved in cried into Twilight's purple coat.

After a few minutes like this, Beck managed to calm down to a point where he could form sentences, but the tears were still falling.

"Why... d-do you... even c-care what happens to m, princess? I-I nearly k-killed you," Beck sobbed. "I'm n-not worth i-it."

"Of course you are," Twilight soothed, feeling relieved that Beck had relaxed somewhat. "Everypony deserves a second chance… you were still grieving. Sure, it might not have been right, but the first step to redemption is realizing you did something wrong."

"I'm s-so s-sorry, Princess, for everything," Beck apologized, and he was being completely honest with her. "I c-can't even r-r-recognize myself from d-during that t-time."

"It's okay," Twilight said, rubbing her hoof in a circular motion on Beck's back. "I forgive you."

Whatever remaining hatred that Beck had felt towards Twilight was now gone after she had said those words to him, but he still felt guilty and a little ashamed. "You t-truly are an angel among us, Twilight… but don't w-waste your t-time over s-stallion scum like m-me."

"You aren't scum, Beck," Twilight insisted. "You just did something wrong. Granted, it's going to take a lot of work, but I promise that you'll come back from this."

The dark green Earth Pony looked up at a smiling Twilight, who added, "Your family would want you to keep living your life. If not for you, do it for them."

After a moment or so, Beck finally managed to hold in his sobs, and he slowly nodded his head. "Okay. I'll do it."

"That's the spirit." Twilight praised, releasing Beck from her embrace, and she walked out of the cell, making her way to the exit, but to Beck's confusion, she forgot to close his cell door.

"Um, Twilight? You, uh, left my…"

Nodding her head, Twilight replied, "I sure did, and that's because I have something to show you in the library."

Before Beck could respond to that, Twilight left the dungeon, walking up the stairs, and once Beck knew she was out of earshot, he gave a sigh of relief.

"This is for you, honey."