• Published 21st Jan 2017
  • 1,385 Views, 22 Comments

My Little Pony: A Race Against Time - CJ Esmerio



Twilight and her friends have faced many challenges, but when they meet a mysterious and revenge-seeking pony that has them traveling around other worlds, things start to take a big turn.

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Choices to Make

Author's Note:

"My Little Pony" and "Equestria Girls" are owned by Hasbro, and Stardust Balance was created by the Warrior of Twilight.

"Alright, just give it to me straight, Miles… how bad is it?"

Casey was currently lying down on the table that was placed in the middle of Miles' machine while Starlight and the middle-aged pegasus were looking at a monitor that showed them visuals of his bones, organs, tissue, etc.

"What in Celestia's name hashappenedto you since the last time we met?"

A smirking Starlight replied, "It's just like I said earlier-"

The light-orange pony rolled his eyes, and muttered, "Thank you, Star, but we don't need another recap of what happened in the previous stories."

Starlight simply shrugged his shoulders while Miles took a closer look at the screen. "Huh… this is rather strange."

"What is...?" wondered Casey.

Keeping his eyes on the monitor, Miles replied, "You have some kind of… unknown aura that's surrounding your entire body… as well as the inside of it."

He turned his head to look over at Casey, and asked, "Have you recently consumed anything that was not natural or affected you in a negative way?"

Casey was about to shake his head when he suddenly remembered what he'd done back when Beck had first moved into Twilight's castle as her prisoner, as well as what had led to their momentary break-up, and to him spending several weeks in a wheelchair.

"Yeah, I, um… drank a lot of, er,special waterthat ended up allowing Rowan to break both of my hind legs, and mess around with my emotions."

A look of surprise appeared on Miles' face, along with a hint of fear. "He did what? I thought he was dead after your world's version of Pinkie sent him to theSmile HDworld."

If only that had been the case,thought Casey, and he let out a sigh. "He survived it somehow… but I promise you that Stardustdefinitelytook care of him, and it'd be impossible for Rowan to ever come back."

Miles let out a sigh of relief, and looked back at the monitor. "Well, if you're okay with it, I can use my machine to get rid of(waves hoof around)all this potentially-harmful magic."

Before Casey could respond, an unsure Starlight chose to give her opinion on Miles' invention. "Um, this machineisbuilt to be safe, right? I mean… I don't want to bring him back to Twilight in another wheelchair."

Casey rolled his eyes, and said, "Oh, thanks for the support."

With a smile on his face, the middle-aged Pegasus placed a hoof on his chest, and he said, "I can assure you that everything will be perfectly fine, Starlight. He won't even feel a thing… but like I said, it's his decision to make."

Then, Miles and Starlight looked over at Casey, who glanced up at the machine that he was currently lying in, wondering on whether or not it was best for him to go through with this.

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

Anti-Rainbow was currently inside of the throne room, looking at the Friendship Map in silence, and eating some pie as she sat in her throne when an entering Anti-Pinkie suddenly asked, "Soooo, are you gonna tell him or what?"

"Uh, tell whowhat, Pinkie?" replied Anti-Rainbow, after swallowing the rest of the pie portion that she'd been chewing on.

The pink-colored pony walked over to her own throne, and began to make herself comfortable in it. "Youknoooowww… that you like Stardustmorethan just a friend?"

Anti-Rainbow rolled her eyes, and replied, "Well,duh, he already knows that… we're best friends, remember?"

Pinkie's alternate self let out a laugh, and shook her head before saying, "I'm talking about you liking him inanotherway, Dashy… you know, thegood way… as in-"

"Gah!Yes, Pinkie, I know what way you're talking about," hissed the dark blue pegasus, looking over at the doorway to make sure that Anti-Stardust wasn't there. "But what makes you think I'd tell him something like that when it's not even true?"

Anti-Pinkie simply smiled at her confused and slightly red-faced friend. "Because it is… I mean, you haven't stopped looking at Stardust since he came back yesterday from trying to go to that one world."

"First of all, he never actuallygotto enter that world," clarified Anti-Rainbow, while continuing to eat from the pie. "And second, it's not my fault he got himself all carved up like a jack-o-lantern. How can younotlook at all those scars?"

Anti-Pinkie shrugged her shoulders, and said, "Well, yeah, they're noticeable and stuff, but I don't look at him as much as you've done so far… so it's obvious that you must-"

"I donotlike himthatway, Pinkie." Rainbow's alternate self shook her head. "Besides… he loves Twilight, remember?"

At first, Anti-Pinkie's happiness started to go down a little, but then, she put on a smile before saying, "Of course I do. Still doesn't mean that he can eventually pick somepony else to be with whenever the time's right,"

Having finished up the rest of the pie, Anti-Rainbow got up to head somewhere else, and she muttered, "I don't even know if they'll everbea time."

Once she was out of the room, Anti-Rainbow started to walk down the hallway, thinking about the rest of their now-gone friends when she found herself stopping at an open doorway after something inside had caught her attention.

"What… the…heck…?"

To her surprise, the young pegasus saw that she was walking into an empty arena-like area that looked very similar to the one Stardust's other self had created several months ago, and placed in the middle of the arena was a 20 ft. high steel structure that was unlike anything Anti-Rainbow had ever seen before.

"Liking what you see?"

Almost jumping in surprise, Rainbow's counterpart turned around to see an entering Anti-Stardust, who had a smirk on his face.

"Yeah…" muttered the young pegasus, noticing once again how different her best friend looked with the scars on his clean-shaven face, as well as the one over his right eye… and speaking of that, both of his eyes looked as if the dark gold pegasus had been dealing with some kind of sadness since she now felt like asking him if-

Wait, what?thought Anti-Rainbow, shaking her head, and she added, "Uh, Star, exactlywhatis this thing supposed to be?"

Placing a hoof against one of the steel bars, Stardust's other self replied, "Just a little something big… no, wait, how does that one guy say it…(in a different voice)it'shuuugeee… also tall, very tall… and I know it isn't a wall, but whoever's inside there is going to have a lotta trouble getting out-"

"Um, Star, think you could switch back over to your regular voice?" asked Anti-Rainbow, who also couldn't help but laugh at what he'd been saying.

"Sorry, got a little carried away," said an amused Anti-Stardust, whose smile slowly started to turn into a frown while admiring the steel structure. "Anyway, in a few more hours,thisright here is going to play a major part in mefinallygetting my revenge on Casey for everything's that has happened to me…"

The memory of Xenos smashing the statues of his friends entered his mind, causing his frustration to quickly rise, but that stopped after he suddenly felt a hoof on his shoulder, and he turned to look at a concerned Anti-Rainbow.

"I'm… sorry, I… just…" muttered the former human, with a hint of sadness, and Anti-Rainbow nodded in understanding.

"Yeah, so do we, Star…"

Then, both she and Anti-Stardust quietly looked at each other before he asked, "Hey, uh, were you and Pinkie arguing about something?"

"Huh? No, it was just her being her usual self, as always…" said Anti-Rainbow, though a little more faster than her regular vocal tone, but before he could ask the pegasus about it, they were interrupted by the shouting voice of Anti-Pinkie.

"Stardust! Why can't I have Sonic jump over the shark?"

While Anti-Rainbow rolled her eyes at her friend's antics, Anti-Stardust shook his head, and sighed as he went over to help out Anti-Pinkie with the video game.

"For the umpteenth time, Pinkie, it's awhale, and you're supposed to runawayfrom it!"


A few minutes after giving Spike his apology, Beck was now following Twilight to the home of the next pony that was on her list, which was now being held by an accompaning Spike.

"Um, Twilight, are you actually planning on having him give his apology toeveryonethat he's given trouble to all in one day?"

The purple alicorn shook her head, and replied, "We're going to take all of this one hoof-step at a time… and you're actually doing pretty good so far!"

"Thanks, princess," said Beck, with a small smile on his face. Perhaps it would be easy for him to make these apologies, despite what had happened in the nightmare.

"Well, I mean, he's only made peace with just the two of us, and there's plenty more to…" said Spike, stopping with a sheepish expression once Twilight glared at him. "Sorry."

Or maybe not,thought the middle-aged Earth Pony.

As for Twilight, she was about to say something comforting to Beck when a familar pale cream pony approached the princess to give her a greeting. "Hi, Twilight and Spike! What are you two doing today?"

"Hi, Bon Bon," greeted Twilight. "We're actually going to see-"

"Aaaggh!"screamed Bon Bon's companion, a mint-green pony named Lyra, who was one of the ponies that Beck had captured while carrying out his revenge scheme, and she had just caught sight of her captor. "Let's get out of here!"

Whoosh!

Both of them were gone before Twilight could finish her sentence, and she tried to make Beck feel better by saying, "Don't worry, we'll get to them eventually."

"We sure will," chimed in Spike, making some adjustments to Beck's list, and that made Twilight glare at him again. "What? That is what you said."

As for Beck, he placed a hoof on his forehead, and let out a sigh. "You can get through this…"

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

Knock-knock-knock! Squeeee!

"Well, hello, Twilight and Spike," greeted Rarity, after the alicorn had knocked on her front door. "Come in, please, I was just finishing up with my newest stuff to take over to Canterlot Carousel for the winter season."

Spike happily followed after the white unicorn that he deeply cared about while Twilight gave Beck a warm smile. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," replied Beck, going in after the princess, and let out a chuckle.

This does beat having to come in through the window.

After he closed the door, Rarity (thinking that it had been Twilight) asked, "So, darling, to what do I owe this lovely visit?"

"Well, I'm glad you asked," replied the Princess of Friendship. "There's someone here that actually has something important to tell you."

"Oh? Who is…" wondered Rarity, but her curiosity quickly turned into shock once she saw that Beck was in her home, and after he sheepishly waved at her, the unicorn started to frown. "Well, at least you chose to come in through thedoorthis time."

"Um… yeah, it felt nice…" Beck looked over at Twilight, who made ago onmotion with her hoof while Rarity chose to remain silent. "So, er, anywho, I wanted to sincerely give you my… apolo… gy… wait a second...:"

The reason that the middle-aged pony had begun to stop talking was because of something catching his eye, and so, he trotted over to the object of his attention, stopping at Rarity's Foal section, where she displayed clothing for the younger pony population.

"What is he doing?" whispered Spike, and Twilight gave her assistant a shrug.

"I think he's looking at something that Rarity designed."

The "something" - or, actually, piece of clothing that he was staring at was a small onesie which had tiny cars on it, and some confusion returned to Rarity as she asked, "What's so special about that?"

"I remember this," Beck said, with memories from the past coming back into his mind." "Twinkle got this for Carl for his second birthday."

Flashback (Several years ago)

"Doesn't he look adorable?" Twinkle asked, gazing at Carl playing while he wore his new birthday present.

"He sure is, honey. Not as much as you though," Beck chided.

"Oh, stop," replied Twinkle, lightly bumping his shoulder, and her husband was about to say something comedic when their son suddenly tossed a toy at Beck's forehead.

Then, as Carl started to laugh, Beck muttered, "Better than a frying pan, I guess…"

Present

"Wait a moment," Rarity realized, as well as getting Beck's attention. "Did you say Twinkle? As in,Twinkle Star?"

Beck nodded her head, and a joyful look of surprise appeared on the unicorn's face.

"Oh, sweet Celestia, do I remember her. She was one of the pickiest customers I've ever had…"

Yep, sounds like her,thought Beck, who found himself starting to smile.

"... though I didn't mind. As a matter of fact, she actually had some of the most wonderful stories."

Flashback #2 (Several Years Ago)

"Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where everything ischiqueandmagnifique," Rarity welcomed in her best Canterlotian accent, while her newest possible client bore a sheepish-and-slightly-shy expression on her face.

"Hi, Mrs. Rarity, I'm Twinkle Star. I-I hope it isn't too much trouble, but I have, um, an almost two-year-old colt, and… well, I was wondering if you had anything I could get as a way to mark his second birthday?"

Rarity beamed after hearing what Twinkle had asked. "Why,of course, darling! I don't exactly sell clothing for foals too often, but I always have some on hand in case the need should arise, and from what it seems, said need has finally arrived. Also, making them certainty helps when I don't have anything too do for an hour or so. Now, then, come, come…"

The two mares walked over to a smaller nook of the boutique, where Rarity and Beck would be standing far into the future, and took a look at what Rarity had too offer.

Present

"She told me all about Carl. He sounded like such a darling little colt," finished Rarity, and looked over at Twinkle's husband. "She told me about you as well, like how you were such a great father to him, and even wished you would have been there with her. The way she talked about you, it actually reminded me of what I wanted in a potential suitor."

I'm just gonna choose to ignore that,thought Spike.

"It's just…" Rarity started to say, but Beck simply finished what she was thinking.

"It's just that you're having a hard time grasping how I could be the stallion she was talking about as well as the one that captured you and nearly killed your little Spikey Wikey?"

"Well, in some ways….yes, but I think I can see now why you took the actions that you did," explained Rarity, much to Twilight's pleasure

"And while they were made in poor judgment, I can at least acknowledge that you are remorseful about them."

The smiling Earth Pony glanced over at a pleased Twilight, and Spike decided to give him a thumbs-up.

"Brsides, I'm not one to hold a drudge, it's bad for my mane," Rarity explained, running her hoof quickly through her mane, and Twilight rolled her eyes while Spike's own hand turned into a thumbs-up.

"Thank you, Rarity, that means a lot," replied a more-relaxed Beck.

Rarity scoffed, and she made a motion with her hoof while saying, "Oh,pshhh-kkk-kkk!No trouble at all, darling… so, Twilight, darling, who is the next pony that you plan on taking him to see?"


"Thank you so much for looking after my garden while I'm away on vacation, Twilight."

Unaware of the small stream of Equestrian magic that had entered her watering can, Sci-Twi happily nodded her head as the principal of Canterlot High handed her a set of keys to the gardenhouse in front of them. "I really appreciate it… and I'm pleased to see that you came to help her today, Stardust."

A small smile appeared on the face of Stardust'sEquestria Girlscounterpart as he Celestia a small shrug, and as the principal walked away, he placed the right headphone earbud into his ear while turning on his mp3 player. "Just don't expect me to show up here with youeveryday, love."

An amused Sci-Twi rolled her eyes while Spike's dog counterpart said, "To be honest, Star, I'm still surprised that you're here in the first place."

"Didn't have anything better to do, I guess," replied EG Stardust, who was slightly telling a small white lie since he actuallywouldhave been able to find something that was better than looking over various plants, but ever since his interaction with Kronos, the young teenager had been doing whatever it took to prevent the world-watcher from permanently sending him to a place that was a thousand times worse than whatever hell was like.

Besides, seeing how excited his girlfriend was as she told Spike that this would expand her knowledge of botany felt good enough for him, and as they entered the plant-filled building, EG Stardust's smile grew a little more as the glasses-wearing teenager began to sing while sweeping up the small mess on the floor.

Give a little and you
Get a little and you
Care a little and it starts to show

Then, she began to start sprinkling some water into some of the smaller potted plants before she went to the bigger ones.

Growing things is easy
If you just give it room to grow

"Oh!"giggled Sci-Twi, noticing that a row of small plants were happily moving around. "Well, hi there, little guys! How are you doing?"

The plants responded by singing in the same kind of tune as Sci-Twi, who happily bobbed her head back and forth to the catchy beat.

Give a little 'cause ya
Care a little and ya
Try a little and it starts to show

Growing quick is easy when you just
Get some room to grow

After giving them some more water, Sci-Twi continued to do the same with the rest of the plants, but since the water was contaminated with magic, it was causing the plants to grow even taller, as well as coming to life.

[Twilight]
Starting small but growing taller
All ya need's a little love
A little care
A little for you, a little for you
And maybe just a little more over there

In just a matter of seconds, all of the plants had come alive, and were singing to the young teenager, as well as asking for more of the water from her watering can.

Give a little 'cause ya
Care a little and ya
Tip a little and ya make it more
Growing big is easy when you just
Get a little bit more!

However, it wasn't long before they had grown tired of waiting, and some of them had begun asking for seconds, much to Sci-Twi's surprise.

"Ooh. You, too? And you? Well, okay. More?"

To make matters worse, the plants were arguing amongst themselves while they individually asked a nervous Sci-Twi for more water.

[Plant Soloist 1]
Gettin' a little isn't quite enough to satisfy
[Plant Soloist 2]
I'd like a little more, please
Can you help me? I'm a-dyin'!
[Cactus]
Please, I'll be your best friend
You can tell me all your woes
[Tree]
Shove over just a little bit
I need some room to grow!

A worried Spike hurried over to EG Stardust, who was standing in the corner, with both of the headphone ear pieces placed in while he searched for a song.

[Plant Soloist 3]
Come on, Twilight, help me out
I'm thirsty, I need love
[Plant Soloist 4]
Over here, I need some
[Plant Soloist 3]
Hey, bud, you don't gotta shove!

"Stardust!"cried Spike, and after realizing that he couldn't hear him because of whatever song EG Stardust was listening to, the small dog used his mouth to yank out the headphone jack from the young teen's media-playing device.

"Hey!" EG Stardust glared at the green-furred canine. "Spike, what have I said about-"

Help us, Twilight, we need more
That's the water we adore
Just a little extra taste
Don't let a droplet go to waste

"When the hell did all ofthishappen?" asked EG Stardust, looking at his worried girlfriend, who was trying to keep her watering can away from a pair of grown plants that were trying to take it away from her.

"I don't know! I was just watering, and… then, they all-"

Help us, Twilight, we need more
That's the water we adore
Just a little extra taste
Don't let a droplet go to waste

Taking a closer look at the watering can, EG Stardust pointed at it, and said, "There's magic inside of that thing, love! Stop watering the plants!"

"What do youthinkI'm trying to do?" replied Sci-Twi, with slight irritation.

Help us, Twilight, we need more
That's the water we adore
Just a little extra taste
Don't let a droplet go to waste

Then, an idea popped into EG Stardust's head, and he walked over to a nearby nozzle. "If it's more water that they want…"

Whoosh!

A few seconds later, EG Stardust turned off the gardenhouse's sprinkler system, and all of the plants had returned back to normal, while he, Sci-Twi, and Spike were now soaking wet.

"Oh, and Twilight?" They looked over at the doorway, where a returning Principal Celestia gave her student a small piece of information that she'd forgotten to mention earlier. "Just be careful not to overwater the plants. Have fun!"

As she walked away, a frustrated EG Stardust gritted his teeth together before yelling, "Why in thehelldid she not f-"

Whoosh!

He was interrupted by the arrival of water that came from a faulty sprinkler roof-heads placed above EG Stardust, now getting even more wet, and a sheepish Sci-Twi handed her boyfriend an umbrella.


As Starlight, Casey, and Miles went back into the library, the middle-aged pony said, "Thank you again for allowing me to rid your body of whatever Rowan had convinced you to take. Now, you're back to your old self again."

Casey nodded his head, but he looked like he'd just been through a really bad experience. "Thank you for handing me a bucket before it was too late… I'm definitely going to enjoy taking a nap in my bed -oof!"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" remined an amused Starlight, who was glad that nothing terrible had happened to her friend, aside from him having to throw up a few times, and after placing Twilight's thick notebook into his hooves, the light-orange pony gave a sheepish grin.

"Ah, right… um, Miles?" Casey looked over at the aged Pegasus, and he asked, "Do you remember anything about, um, what might have made Rowan use the Silver Staff to send me into Stardust's world?"

To his slight dissapointment, Miles shook his head in response. "I'm sorry. I wish I could answer that for you, but most of my memories back when Rowan was in control of my body are a little fuzzy."

Worth a sbot, then, I guess, thought Casey, giving him a small smile. "That's alright, Miles… um, hopefully the next time we see each other, it won't be that much of a surprise."

"I completely agree with you on that," replied Miles, chuckling as he shook hooves with the two young ponies, and waved good-bye as they stepped through his world's version of the Crystal Mirror.

Then, once Casey and Starlight were back in the library, the light-orange pony placed his girlfriend's notebook onto the table, and looked over at Starlight. "Think you could make me some of that special tea you drank after you performed a memory spell on yourself?"

"Sure," replied the pink unicorn, who began to walk out of the room. "So, how do you think it's going with Twilight and Beck?"

Casey just gave her a small shrug. "As long as he doesn't give me a reason to hate him more, I'm fine with whatever she does to helpreformthe guy."

Then, once Starlight was gone, Casey let out a sigh, and sadly muttered to himself while looking through Twilight's thick notebook.

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