My Little Pony: Good vs. Evil

by CJ Esmerio

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Sunset Shimmer, Human, Main 6, Comedy, Cutie Mark Crusaders
Length: 14896

Strange and terrible things start to happen in the world that Stardust Balance lives in, and he can't seem to figure out what it is.

Strange and terrible things start to happen in the world that Stardust Balance lives in, and he can't seem to figure out what it is. Also, what happens when everypony go up against their evil counterparts, and also end up in our world? You'll have to read and find out... Takes place after season 6, sequel to "A Race Against Time", and featuring Stardust Balance from "A Journey Beyond Sanity". Rated T for minor language and some suggestive content. Please review!

Published 2017-09-18 18:50:07 UTC
Last updated 2017-11-01 23:30:28 UTC

Starting the Fire

Author's Note

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

Starting the Fire

Prologue

It had been several months since Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the Mane Six, as well as Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer, had an encounter with a dark and sinister Pegasus pony named Rowan.

They had also come across a kind Earth pony named Casey, who ended up becoming very close to Twilight, despite losing his parents to her devastating battle with Tirek.

However, the adventure didn't stop there...

Thanks to Rowan, they had ended up discovering a parallel version of their world from another dimension, as well as being introduced to Stardust Balance, a human-turned-pony that represented the balance between chaos and harmony.

After a devastating battle that resulted in the death of Stardust, Pinkie Pie used a magical staff to send Rowan elsewhere, while the version of Twilight that came from Stardust's world went back in time in order to save her beloved somepony.

Then, although Stardust had obvious issues with her, Princess Celestia and the spirit of Starswirl the Bearded made it so that the Crystal Mirror in both worlds could be used as a gateway between the two, while blocking off any other possible passages to prevent anypony else from bringing harm to either world.

Unfortunately, Princess Celestia forgot to check one particular gateway that had been unlocked during Rowan's world-traveling rampage, and because of that, their worlds were in even greater danger than they had ever been in before...

... and that brings us to today, inside the library of Twilight's castle, where the young princess was having a discussion with her talented pupil.

"So... you still don't remember why you used a memory spell on yourself?" asked Twilight.

"No, I don't," replied Starlight, who had performed the spell in order to forget about certain horrifying events that she'd witnessed at the world where (thanks to Pinkie Pie) Rowan had met his well-deserved demise.

She then looked around the room, and asked, "Is Casey still asleep? I thought he'd be up by now..."

"Oh, no, he's awake," replied Twilight, and she nodded her head over at the Crystal Mirror. "Today is when he gets a chance to visit Stardust's world."

Starlight frowned, confused, and asked, "Why wouldn't Stardust just come here?"

"They're pretty much taking turns at this point," shrugged Twilight, and the two ponies shared a laugh.

(Stardust's World)

Inside of the Throne Room, Twilight was silently reading a book to herself, but her concentration was broken when Applejack entered the room. "Howdy, Twilight! What you readin' over there?"

"Oh, hi, AJ," said the young alicorn, setting the book down beside her. "Just trying to learn what I can about time travel."

Applejack chuckled, and asked, "I'm guessin' this would have to do with yours and Star's world traveling adventure that happened a few weeks ago?"

Twilight was about to answer when her friend added, "And why every once in a while, he keeps on pokin' my hat and my chest to make sure I ain't some kind of spirit?"

The alicorn princess found herself giggling, and said, "I'm sorry about that, Applejack, but... you don't know how it felt for him to see you transformed into an apple, then get smashed by a giant mallet."

"Well, not that I don't mind him showin' his concern, sugarcube," replied Applejack, who went to sit in her own special throne. "But I want to make sure that he knows for sure that I won't be goin' anywhere anytime soo... uh... where is he, anyway?"

She and Twilight looked over at Stardust's unoccupied throne, and the Princess of Friendship said, "I think he mentioned to me about him going to have his weekly visit over at Casey's world... I'm sure he's teaching him something important."

(Limbo)

[Background Music: "Escape from the City - Cash Cash Remix (Classic)" from Sonic Generations]

Stardust was currently racing down the highway on his Extreme Gear hoverboard, and enjoying every minute of it.

"You hanging in back there, Casey?"

Stardust turned back to look at his new friend, who was slowly getting used to controlling his own board.

"Maybe it would be easier if we didn't have what you called a bigass truck chasing after us!"

The gold pony let out a laugh, and he said, "Hey, trust me, buddy, once the song's over, that truck will be gone!"

As Casey did a back flip after flying off a ramp, much to his own surprise, he yelled, "What song are you talking about?"

Then, Stardust flipped himself into the sky, doing various air tricks and flips, and once he started to sing his own song, the truck disappeared, much to Casey's relief.

All of a sudden, everything disappeared, and Stardust was simply hovering in the air. "Oh, [BEEP]..."

Whoosh!

Boom!

The young pony fell to the soft yet somewhat itchy grass-covered ground, and muttered, "Thanks, Starswirl."

Of course, Jack.

"You okay there, Star?" Casey asked, as he made his way over to Stardust, helping him up to all fours. "I thought you were the one controlling everything here."

"He used to, Casey..."

The two ponies looked up, and found themselves being glared at by Princess Twilight (from Stardust's world), who had a frown on her face, as well as a raised eyebrow.

"Hello, there, love," said Stardust, letting out a chuckle. "Um, how did you know I was here?"

"Hiya, Stardust," exclaimed Pinkie Pie, the one from Stardust's world, and the gold pony rolled his eyes.

"I should have known..."

Princess Twilight sighed, and she said, "I don't mind you coming here, Jack, but next time, can you tell me that you're here instead of Casey's world?"

Stardust nodded his head, while Casey slowly waved one of his front hooves at her. "Hello again, Princess Twilight... how have you been?"

The young alicorn smiled, and she said, "I've been good, Casey... how's my other self doing?"

"Oh, fine, fine," replied the orange-yellow pony. "We just went on our third date a few weeks ago..."

"Well, good, I'm happy for you both," said Princess Twilight, and she looked back at her special somepony. "Don't be gone too long, okay?"

"Of course, love," assured Stardust, and watched as his girlfriend walked through the Crystal Mirror, going back to her castle.

"See ya later, Star!" Pinkie Pie yelled, and she ran into the portal, as well, leaving the two ponies alone together.

"So what now?" Casey asked, and a wide smile appeared on Stardust's face.

"I have a pretty good idea..."

Several Hours Later

As Stardust stepped out of the mirror, the young pony said, "Alright, Starswirl, remind me to bring all of my OCs to life the next time I step into that world."

I will keep that in mind.

Stardust chuckled, and he started to walk out of the library when he heard a strange noise.

"That sounded like... sparks of electricity."

He turned around, and saw that the Crystal Mirror was, indeed, sending out tiny little sparks of burning electricity.

"Uh, is that supposed to be happening, Starswirl?"

I don't think so... but then again, this is a first for me, as it is for you.

The young human-turned-pony cautiously walked towards the mirror, and the sparks continued to grow, with one of them almost scorching his name.

"Gah, [BEEP]," exclaimed Stardust, stepping back a few feet. "Okay, what the hell is happe-"

Boom!

Twilight, Spike, and Starlight were currently working on dinner when they heard the muffled sound of an explosion.

"Um, what was that, Twilight?" Starlight asked, with the alicorn princess giving her a shrug.

"I'm not quite sure, Starlight."

As for Spike, his nose started to twitch, and he said, "I'm smelling... smoke... hey, where is Stardust at?"

"He's in the..." began Twilight, but then, her eyes went wide, and she exclaimed, "Oh, no, the library! Jack!"

The alicorn princess took off running, with Starlight and Spike going after her, and once they had reached the library doors, Twilight pushed them open, releasing the smoke that had been gathering up inside.

"Jack... are... are you... okay, Jack?" asked Twilight, coughing as she tried to wave the smoke away.

"Uh-huh," mumbled Stardust, who was nearly buried under a pile of fallen books.

The three of his friends ran over to him, quickly getting the books off of his body, and after moving the last book away, Twilight found herself looking at a dizzy and eye-spinning Stardust.

"Jack, how many hooves do you see?"

Twilight held up one of her hoofs, and the dizzy Stardust said, "Ummm... eight?"

Spike chuckled, and he looked up at Twilight. "Oh, yeah, he's totally fine."

The young alicorn rolled her eyes, and said, "I think I can help him feel better... Jack?"

"Yes, love?" Stardust answered, even though he was looking at the bookshelves instead of Twilight, and she gently turned his head to the side so that he was looking her now.

Then, she gave him a kiss on the muzzle, which made Spike roll his eyes, and say, "Don't make me sick already, Twilight, when I haven't even ate anything yet."

"Well, no one forced you to look," replied Stardust, who brought a hoof to his forehead. "[BEEP], I have a bad headache..."

Starlight looked around the room, noticing that most of the smoke had gone away, and she asked, "What happened in here?"

Pointing at the Crystal Mirror, Stardust said, "It was that [BEEP] thing... after I came back from limbo, I saw it starting to send out bolts of electricity, and... uggghhh... would either of you know about a spell or something on how to get rid of a headache?"

"Um, I think I do," replied Starlight, and Stardust nodded his head. "But we have to go up to my room since the book that the spell it's in is up there."

"Thank you, Star... aaaaghhh..." Stardust looked back at Twilight. "Remind me, love, to never be so close to an explosion like this again... it was like being next to a firecracker before it exploded."

Spike and Twilight looked at each other, and the little dragon asked, "Uh, is that a bad thing in your world or something?"

"As long as I don't lose my hearing, Spike," replied Stardust, shaking his head a few times as he followed Starlight to her bedroom, leaving Spike to look back at Twilight.

"Maybe you kissed him a little too much?"

Twilight sighed, and she replied, "No, Spike, he probably just ended up spending a little too much time in limbo."

As she walked over to the Crystal Mirror time travel machine, Spike tilted his head to the side. "So... that's a bad thing?"

"Possibly, since technically, we're only supposed to be going to Casey's world, and Sunset's world," replied Twilight, who was starting a thorough inspection of the machine to make sure everything was in place.

"I think I'll talk to Jack more about it once Starlight helps him out."

Spike nodded his head, understanding what she was saying to him, but for some reason, he felt like something was out of place.

Strange Things, Part 1

Author's Note

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

Strange Things, Part 1

Midnight Sparkle was currently pacing back and forth, waiting for an update from her loved one to see if the start to his plan had been successful.

"Hey! What's taking him so long?"

Midnight turned around to see an irritated Anti-Rainbow, who exclaimed, "I thought he was supposed to be done with this dumb [BEEP] already... and I'm tired of waiting at my home to-"

"Ugh, will you at least try to have some type of patience for him, Rainbow Dash," interrupted Midnight, with the dark-blue colored Pegasus now gritting her teeth in frustration.

"It's Crash, you [BEEP]-in egghead," growled Anti-Rainbow, but then, her muzzle became a mischievous grin. "Or should I call you Twilight?"

It was now Midnight's turn to be frustrated. "I told you never to call me that!"

"Oh, yeah?" challenged Anti-Rainbow. "What are you gonna do about it, Twilight, now that your boyfriend isn't here, holding your damn leash?"

The black-and-purple pony's eyes started glowing with rage, and Anti-Rainbow began laughing with glee. "Yeah, that's it, come on, Twilight, show me what you got... come on... come on!"

"Will the BOTH of you STOP acting like that?!"

Midnight and Anti-Rainbow both turned around to see a portal that showed Anti-Stardust, who was currently in some type of dark location, and he didn't look exactly pleased. "It's a miracle I call one of you my closest friend, and the other my special somepony."

"Yeah, we're both [BEEP]-in touched, pal," replied Anti-Rainbow. "How much longer do we have to stay here?"

"Just a little bit more, Crash," answered the gold-and-black pony. "There's a certain someone in this world who might end up bringing my plan to a halt."

Anti-Rainbow had a smirk on her face as she looked at Midnight. "I bet I know who it is..."

Midnight frowned, and was about to start arguing with her again when Anti-Stardust said, "No, it's not Twilight, Crash, it's someone else..."

The alternate version of Twilight let out a sigh of relief while Anti-Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Well, then, why can't you just do what you always do to those that you hate?"

"Because it's not exactly that easy, my non-patient friend," explained Anti-Stardust, who crossed his two front limbs, as if they were arms. "As of now, this individual isn't a threat, but I need to make sure it stays that way."

Although she still had more to say, Anti-Rainbow chose to simply nod her head, while a concerned Midnight said, "I told you, Star, that I should've also went with you so we could-"

"Oh, no, no, no, my lovely sweetheart," replied Anti-Stardust, shaking his head, with Midnight smiling at him lovingly while Anti-Rainbow made gagging noises. "Your time to take care of Twilight will come once I deal with my other self."

"And just how do you plan on doing that again?" Anti-Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow.

The evil version of Stardust had a wide and sinister smile as he said, "Don't worry, Crash, you'll see for yourself when you and the others arrive."

(Stardust's World)

Twilight was still in the library, continuing with her inspection of the world-traveling machine, but she found herself being interrupted by a certain pony.

"Everything alright, love?"

The young alicorn turned around, and saw a smiling Stardust. "I should be asking you that same question... how's your headache?"

"All gone, surprisingly," replied Stardust, who began walking over to her. "Starlight's been doing her homework in magic."

Twilight smiled, and she said, "Well, I'm glad to see that you're feeling better..."

"Oh, so you were worried about me, then?" Stardust replied, smirking at his special somepony. "I mean, Spike was the first one to see if I was okay once Starlight finished her spell."

Twilight chuckled, and shook her head, saying, "Well, I'm sorry, but I wanted to make sure that nothing worse happens to my special somepony if he were to go through the Crystal Mirror again."

At this point, the muzzles of Stardust and Twilight were only a few inches away from each other, and the human-turned-pony asked, "Have I ever thanked you for bringing me back to life?"

The Princess of Friendship could feel herself blushing very hard as she said, "No, but... I wouldn't mind if you did it right now."

"Neither would I," agreed Stardust, but then, their intimate moment was interrupted by somepony they had least expected.

"So, is this basically all that you do here in Twilight's castle, Star?"

Stardust sighed, and he stepped back to turn around, facing the newcomer. "Why, oh, why... are you still here, Shimmer?"

"As I told you before, Star, I'm on summer break," replied Sunset Shimmer, who (like a human teenager would) was laying against the door frame, crossing her front limbs together. "And admit it, you've missed me around here."

As Sunset quickly went back down to all fours, Stardust let out a sarcastic laugh, and said, "The day that I'll ever admit I missed you is when Celestia finally does something useful, for once."

"Oh?" Sunset said, walking towards him. "Because I remember you saying to Starswirl back at the party that you did, in fact, miss me."

Stardust shook his head, and replied, "No, no, I said that I sometimes miss you... and that doesn't really count."

"Suuurree, it doesn't," said Sunset, while the gold pony rolled his eyes, grumbling to himself as he walked out of the library.

"Yep, he's definitely back to normal," said Twilight, and the two of them began laughing together.

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

A few hours later, everypony in the castle was asleep... except for Sunset.

"Sleepiness sure feels different here than it does back home," said the yellow pony, who was making his way over to Twilight's kitchen.

She walked over to the fridge, and opened it to try and find something to drink or eat that would help her go to sleep.

"At least she doesn't have it full of whipped cream," muttered Sunset, a small smile appearing on her face, referring to what the EG version of Pinkie Pie had in her fridge.

She lowered her upper body down in order to search through the lower half of the fridge, in hopes of finding any "hidden" treats that-

Whack!

"Ow!" Sunset immediately turned around, trying to see who else was there with her, but she couldn't find anypony.

She frowned, and softly rubbed her flank with one of her front hooves. "That was weird... and rude of whoever did that to me."

"So, you couldn't sleep either, huh?"

"Aaaaaggghhh!" Sunset turned around, almost startled, but quickly relaxing once she saw that it was only Stardust. "Oh, hey, Star..."

The gold pony looked at his friend, and asked, "Did I scare you or something?"

Sunset shook her head, and said, "No, you just surprised me, but I could've sworn that... somepony... just..."

She took another look at Stardust, and thought, It couldn't have been him... He's not that type of person/pony.

"You sure you're good, Sunset?" He asked, and the former student of Celestia nodded her head.

"Yeah, I'm fine... so, what's your reason for being awake?"

Stardust sighed, and began walking over to another part of the kitchen. "I don't know exactly, but you'd think after almost being electrocuted and having a spell performed on you, I'd be knocked out in my room already."

Sunset watched as he opened a cabinet drawer, and pulled out a familiar-looking soda bottle, which he then began to drink out of once the lid was twisted off.

"You still have those drinks?"

Stardust nodded his head, and paused his drinking to say, "Yep, all thanks to Pinkie Pie... the one from Casey's world, I mean... anyway, these usually help me go to sleep once I finish off a few."

"Oh... okay," replied Sunset, and she went back to looking through the fridge.

He then went back to drinking the Coke bottle, but after seeing that his friend was struggling to find something to eat or drink, the young pony rolled his eyes, and muttered, "I really do have a soft spot for a lot of these damn ponies."

As for Sunset, she was about to close the fridge, and go back to her room when she heard her friend say, "Here."

Sunset turned around, and saw that Stardust was offering her an unopened soda bottle. "This might help you out, too, in case you're still awake later."

"Wow... thanks, Star," replied Sunset, smiling at him as she took the bottle from his hoof. "You know, nothing against you or Twilight, and don't be mad at me for saying this... but if there was some kind of alternate world that didn't have you two together..."

Before finishing her sentence, Sunset shook her head a few times, and said, "Never mind, I'm... I don't know what just happened there."

Stardust simply nodded his head, but using his thoughts, he spoke to Starswirl. You DID block access to ALL of those worlds right? Cause she almost looked the way I did back when I felt how those other versions of me felt.

I'm positive that me and Celestia blocked everything, Jack, said Starswirl, while Stardust tried to break the silent tension before it became awkward.

"Well, uh... if you were gonna say what I thought you'd say... I highly doubt that any version of me would be interested in a pony like you... no offense."

Sunset frowned, not really amused at what he'd said, but after seeing him start to laugh in a kind way, she said, "You need to work on your comedy material there, pal."

"Ehhh, I'm tired, what do you expect?"

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

As Stardust climbed into his bed, after having drank enough bottles of Coke to make him sleepy, he asked Starswirl, "So, you still don't know why the Crystal Mirror did that whole electric thing?"

I'm afraid not, Jack... there are still some things about Equestria that not even I myself know about.

Stardust sighed, and he said, "Well, do me a favour, and try to inform Casey and his Twilight about this... I don't want anything bad happening to them..."

I'll do my best.

"Good, cause I'm..." Stardust then let out a yawn, closing his eyes as he layed his head on his pillow, and went straight to sleep.

The next day

It was around 8 o'clock in the morning, and Stardust was still sound asleep, not planning on waking up anytime soon.

However, things don't always turn out the way you expect them to.

"TWILIGHT!"

"[BEEP]!" Stardust yelled, jumping out of his bed, and falling down to the ground.

"This had better be good..."

A few minutes later, Stardust entered the Throne Room, and found Rainbow Dash talking to Twilight. "I don't remember asking you to be my alarm clock, Rainbow... and what's so important that you just had to wake me up?"

"I'm sorry, Stardust, but somepony did something to my house," exclaimed Rainbow. "And I need help from both of you to figure out who, why, and how to get the stuff off."

Stardust frowned in confusion, and he asked her, "What are you talking about?"

(Rainbow Dash's home)

"Seriously?" The young pony rolled his eyes, and added, "It's just some lame attempt at graffiti."

He was referring to the front doors of Rainbow's house, which had the words "Rainbow Crash" sprayed across it.

Twilight tried rubbing it off with her hoof, but it didn't really do much. "Whatever it is, it's already dry... um, what is it, Rainbow?"

"I don't know," replied the young Pegasus. "I was hoping you two would tell me!"

Stardust walked up to the door, and took a closer look at the painted-on words. "Whoever did this used a quick-drying spray paint can."

"A what now?" Rainbow and Twilight asked.

Stardust nodded his head, and replied, "Yep, from a spray paint can... it's pretty much something that certain people from my world use to either create art murals and stuff on walls, or in this case, write out something offensive."

"You think you'd be able to help take it off, Jack?" Twilight asked, sounding concerned.

Stardust nodded his head, and started to chuckle. "I'm pretty sure our Pinkie has spray-paint removal somewhere... it'll take only, like, 5 minutes or so to remove it completely."

He and Twilight both smiled, with the alicorn feeling a little better, but Rainbow still looked upset. "Well, what about inside?"

Stardust's smile quickly went away. "What, there's more?"

"Uh-huh," replied Rainbow, and she led her friends inside her home, while Stardust rolled his eyes again.

"Well, if it's as bad as what's on the door, then it'll only... take... oh... my... God..."

The interior walls of Rainbow's house were a hundred times worse than her front door, and as Stardust looked all around, his mood went from shocked to curiosity, and was almost close to pure rage.

As for Twilight, she only went from shocked to confused. "What are these words exactly?"

Whoever had done this to Rainbow's house chose to write out certain words that, if a young child were to say it out loud accidentally in front of Mom or Dad, he or she would go through hell.

"Let's just say that not even my 'BEEPS' can cover up this type of foul language," growled Stardust, and he looked over at Rainbow. "Whoever did this is gonna go through hell once I get my hooves on him or her."

Rainbow nodded her head, and said, "Thanks, Star... but don't take all the fun, I wanna teach this pony a lesson too."

"Oh, don't worry, you can do whatever you want to the pony that did this until you're satisfied," replied the gold pony. "Do what I would do, and don't hold anything ba..."

Stardust suddenly stopped talking, and started to raise one of his front limbs to the back of his neck. "What... the..."

"You okay, Star?" Rainbow asked.

"Yeah, it's just... I'm feeling something... underneath my-" answered Stardust, but then, Rainbow tried to help by grabbing hold of the end of his cloak, and she swung it up in the air.

Thud!

After Rainbow released the cloak from her hooves, the three of them found themselves looking down at a spray paint can, which had landed near Stardust's front hooves.

"Stardust?" Rainbow stared at her friend, with a lot of mixed emotions going through her mind right now.

I'm sensing a lot of growing anger from her, Jack.

The former human agreed with Starswirl, and said, "Okay, just chill for a second, Rainbow, don't think that just because I-"

"Um, Jack, why are your hooves..." asked Twilight, and Stardust looked down at his hooves to see that all four of them were completely covered in spray paint.

"This is probably from when I rubbed the graffiti on the door," said Stardust. "You touched it too, remember?"

Twilight gulped, amd pointed out, "I touched it too, though, Jack, and my hoof is fine... plus, all four of your hooves are covered in the same paint."

Stardust looked at his special somepony's hooves, then his own, and ended at Rainbow Dash, who was definitely NOT happy with him. "I... can't believe... that you..."

She then gritted her teeth in frustration, and exclaimed, "I... am... going... to..."

"Well, now, hold it just a moment, Rainbow," said Stardust. "You honestly don't think that I was the pony who did this, do you?"

Instead of answering him, Rainbow looked like she was about to unleash a lot of rage onto Stardust, who was offered a suggestion by Starswirl.

You might want to run, Jack.

Strange Things, Part 2

Stardust was about to head straight for Rainbow Dash's door when Twilight stood between the two ponies. "All right, hold on... look, there's no need to hurt him, Rainbow."

"Twilight, look at what he did to my home!" Rainbow cried, gesturing to all of the highly-offensive words that were spray painted onto her walls.

"I told you, Rainbow, that I didn't do any of this," exclaimed Stardust, now getting frustrated. "Why would I do something like this?"

The Pegasus pony frowned at him, and said, "Don't try to make up excuses, Star, I know that you did this... I thought you were my friend."

"Rainbow, as your friend, I am telling you that I did not-" yelled Stardust, but Twilight interrupted him.

"Look, we'll figure this stuff out later, alright? In the meantime, Jack, help Rainbow out with cleaning all of this up."

"What?!" Stardust exclaimed, not expecting her to say that. "Twilight, love, I'm all for helping remove this stuff from her door, but do you know how long it would take for the two of us to remove... all of this?"

"Maybe if you didn't do this, then-"

"For the last time, Rainbow, I did not [BEEP]-in do any of..." Stardust cried, but then, Twilight moved closer to him, standing face-to-face with the young pony.

"Jack... please... I'm not saying that you actually did do this, but..." Twilight looked back at the upset Rainbow, who was trying to remove the spray paint with soap and a brush. "Prove to her that you didn't do this by helping her clean this up."

Stardust frowned, and said, "Knowing how stubborn she is, love, I don't think that's going to help out much."

"Well, it'll probably be worse if you storm off like an angry or upset child," replied the alicorn princess. "Now, I'll do what I can here before I handle some important business with Shining Armor and Cadence at the Crystal Empire, but in the meantime, go and find Pinkie Pie so that you two can come here to help Rainbow clean all this up... okay?"

Stardust tried to argue with her some more, but Starswirl offered him some more advice.

Just relax, Jack... we will find the culprit later on, but don't let he or she have the last laugh by letting your friendship with Miss Dash be ruined by a careless act.

"Alright, I'll help her and Pinkie with cleaning all this up," muttered Stardust, knowing that it was the right thing to do, even though it definitely wasn't something he wanted to do.

I don't even know how this damn stuff got on all of my hooves.

"Well, now that I'm done with this, I just have to..." Sunset looked up, and saw that the book she'd just finished reading belonged up on the highest shelf.

"Good thing I have unicorn magic again," said Sunset, letting out a chuckle as she prepared to use her magic to send the book back up to its proper spot.

Unfortunately, for some reason, her magic wasn't working. "That's strange."

Sunset concentrated on the book, her unicorn horn powering up, but it still wasn't moving. "Aw, come on... aaugghh!"

The young human-turned-pony gritted her teeth together as she suddenly felt the right side of her flank be in the same amount of pain as last night when somepony had chosen to slap it.

"Focus on the book, Sunset, worry about... your flank later."

She tried several more times to move the book, but the result remained the same, so Sunset eventually walked away, and returned with a library ladder that she could climb up in order to put back the book.

"Alright, let's try this way," mumbled Sunset, taking the book in one of her hooves, and she started climbing up the ladder, going all the way up to the highest shelf.

"Hmmm... T-R, T-S, T-U, T-V, T... ah, here we go," said Sunset, smiling and feeling satisfied once the book was in its proper place. "Now, to just - whoa!"

While starting to make her way back down, Sunset's back legs accidentally fell off one of the steps, causing her to slip off of the ladder...

"I got you!"

... and into the open hooves of Stardust, who looked relieved that she was safe. "You do know that you're a unicorn, right?"

Sunset raised her eyebrow, and said, "No, what ever gave it away, Stardust? My horn?"

"Hey, leave the sarcasm to me, Shimmer," replied Stardust, as he helped her stand on all fours. "There you go... please try not to get in any more danger while I'm gone."

A confused Sunset asked, "You're leaving again? But you just got here... right?"

"Yeah, and I'm sorry, Sunset, but there's some cleaning stuff that I have to take care of."

As he walked out of the library, Sunset started to frown, and thought, That was weird.

"So, why did you spray paint all over Rainbow Dash's walls?"

Stardust groaned, and he replied, "I told you, Pinkie, it wasn't me who did it... somepony else did, and tried putting the blame on me."

The pink pony, who was pulling a cart that contained cleaning supplies, tilted her head to the side as she asked, "Who would want to put the blame on you? You and Rainbow are friends!"

Once they entered the blue pony's house, the two of them noticed immediately that Twilight had already left, and only a small percent of the spray paint was removed.

"Huh, that does sound like something the old you would've probably said to her," pointed out Pinkie, but Stardust quickly shook his head.

"I may not have enjoyed being with here that much, Pinkie, but not even a person like me would ever say something like this to Rainbow... I don't even know if I could say these words to Celestia-"

"Hey! Less talking, more cleaning up this mess that you made, Stardust!" Rainbow yelled, who had also made plans of her own for the day, but now they would have to be rescheduled.

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie said, giving her friend a salute, and went over to the nearest wall to start cleaning up.

As for Stardust, he decided to try and convince Rainbow again that it wasn't him who did all of this.

Choose your words carefully, Jack, I'm sensing quite a lot of mixed feelings from Miss Dash.

"Thanks, Starswirl," whispered Stardust, and once he was close enough to her, he said, "Rainbow, please tell me that you don't actually think-"

"Well, what am I supposed to think, Star? You had the spray can hidden underneath your cloak, all four of your hooves are covered in the same type of paint, and we both know that in the beginning, I was your least favorite pony to be with."

Stardust sighed, knowing that it would take a lot of the "right words" to convince his friend. "Okay, yes, that is true... for the old me... but that was a long time ago, Rainbow, and you know I've changed a lot since then."

"Yeah, well..." exclaimed Rainbow, who was now torn between believing or blaming him. "Maybe you haven't changed as much as you thought."

"Rainbow, you can't just-" Stardust tried to say, but the Pegasus pony paused her cleaning to glare at him, and he could have sworn that her eyes were almost watery.

"Just get away from me, Stardust... and some friend you are."

As she flew over to another part of the house, a wave of sadness swept over Stardust, and he asked, "Any advice you have for me, Starswirl?"

Time, Jack. Give her some time to come around. I'm sure that, deep down, she knows you didn't do this.

Stardust sighed, and he started to work on removing the spray paint. "I hope you're right about that..."

Several Hours Later

Now in the Throne Room, Sunset was admiring the Cutie Map table, trying to remember what parts of Equestria she had yet to visit. "I remember being there... and over there... but I don't think- hey!"

She angrily turned around, having felt somepony grab her from behind, but like last night, the only pony in the room was herself.

"Who in Equestria is trying to... nope, nope, just relax, Sunset, you're imagining this, it's all in your head because of that book you read earlier."

So, she went back to looking at the map, but a few minutes later, Sunset felt a pair of hands (or hooves?) on both sides of her flank.

"Alright, you little..." She turned around immediately, using her front right hoof to slap whoever did that, but to her surprise, Sunset found herself slapping Stardust.

"Ow! What the [BEEP] was that for?"

Sunset frowned, and she exclaimed, "For trying to... with your... my flank..."

"What are you talking about?" Stardust asked, confused and frustrated, and Starswirl explained for him.

I believe she's trying to say that you, um... inappropriately touched-

Yeah, I think I get it now. Stardust rubbed the part of his cheek that she'd slapped, and replied, "I don't know why you're accusing me of... you-know-what, Sunset, but I'm not in the mood right now to-"

"Well, you should have thought about that before..." Sunset cried, but then, she noticed that her friend did look almost exhausted. "You look terrible."

Stardust smirked, and said, "Thanks a lot... I just spent almost the whole damn day cleaning up the walls of Rainbow Dash's house, thanks to some pony who I plan on giving hell once I get my hooves on him or her."

Sunset looked at her friend, and thought, It can't be him. He would never...

"I take it you've been in the castle the whole day?"

The yellow unicorn nodded her head, and replied, "Yeah, pretty much... oh, and thanks again for what you did earlier this morning."

"Um... you're welcome," said Stardust, but to her surprise, he sounded like he had no idea what she was referring to.

He's probably just tired from cleaning at Rainbow's house.

"Okay, then, if we're done here..." Stardust started to walk away, but Sunset gently grabbed one of his front limbs.

"Um, Stardust? You would never, er... you know..."

"Oh, [BEEP] no," replied Stardust, shaking his head. "I have plenty of respect for females, and I would never do something like that to anyone or anypony... why, did someone do that to you?"

Sunset was about to give her response, but paused when she noticed again that he looked exhausted, so she said, "It's nothing, Stardust, just... get some rest."

"Oh, I plan to, trust me," replied the young man-turned-pony. "But you do know that you can come to me if something is ever bothering you, right?"

Sunset nodded her head, and Stardust added, "Good... see you tomorrow."

As she watched him walk away, Sunset began to feel sorry for her friend, and hoped that he would be okay.

(Anti-Equestria)

"So, how's it going, my love?" Midnight Sparkle asked, speaking to Anti-Stardust.

"Oh, I'm having plenty of fun, beautiful, cackled the sinister pony. "Everything is going according to plan... and soon enough, you and the others will be here, having your own fun, as well."

A wide smile appeared on the alicorn's face, and she said, "I can't wait, handsome."

"Oh, God..." groaned Anti-Rainbow, shaking her head in disgust. "You two ponies need to get a [BEEP] room."

The Next Day (around a quarter to 8 o'clock)

Stardust was knocked out on his bed, having used a lot of his strength and energy to remove the spray paint, and he planned on resting for a few more hours.

"TWILIGHT!"

Stardust jolted out of his bed, dropping onto the ground again, and he yelled, "[BEEP-BEEP-BEEP]!"

Although he was still sore from yesterday, the young pony hurried over to the Throne Room, and found Twilight, as well as Starlight, talking to Applejack. "What is it with you ponies and-"

"You've got some serious explainin' to do, Stardust," exclaimed Applejack, who did not look happy to see him.

"Look, if this is about Rainbow Dash, AJ, then I don't want-" said Stardust, but he was interrupted by Applejack.

"This ain't about Rainbow, Stardust, it's about what you might have done to my farm last night while I was sleepin'!"

Stardust looked at her, and said, "Well, as a matter of fact, AJ, I can assure you that I was here, in the castle, sleeping in my room because of how exhausted I was cleaning up the-"

"Uh, guys?" The three ponies turned around to see Spike, who looked concerned.

"What's wrong, Spike?" asked Twilight.

The young dragon gulped, and said, "Er, well, I was gonna remind Star about the plans we had for today, but when I went into his room, I saw that his bed was covered in mud and chicken feathers and... uh, you kinda look like..."

Applejack glared at Stardust, who realized that parts of his limbs and body were muddy, as well as his cloak being covered in chicken feathers.

"Uh, I might have to take a visit to Sweet Apple Acres, Spike."

However, Applejack shook her head, and said, "I don't think so, Stardust... it'll be better if you don't step one hoof into Sweet Apple Acres."

"Well, how do you expect me to-" said Stardust, but Applejack held up one of her hooves to silence him.

"Because even though I'm mad at you righ' now, Star, I don't want to see Granny Smith beat the livin' hay outta you when she finds out it was you, so do yourself a favor, and stay away from my home."

Before Stardust could even say anything, Applejack walked away, and he saw that Twilight was following her. "Please tell me, love, that you don't think I actually-"

"I know, Jack, but..." said Twilight, looking sad and confused. "Just do what AJ said, okay? Now you can rest from what you did yesterday."

She then kissed him on the cheek before going after Applejack, and after Twilight was gone, Starlight asked, "Are you going to be okay, Stardust?"

"I... I... I don't..." The young pony replied, feeling sore, sad, and confused.

What in Equestria is happening to me?

Then, an idea popped into his head, and a serious look appeared on his face. "I'm getting to the bottom of this, starting with going to Sweet Apple Acres."

"What?!" Starlight and Spike yelled, and the little dragon immediately shook his head.

"You heard what Applejack said, Star, she'll beat the hay out of you."

Stardust smirked, and he replied, "Spike, I've gone up against enemies worse than an angry and eldery Earth Pony... I'm sure I can handle her... besides, I'm not going to let whoever is doing this get the last laugh."

Ignoring Spike's warning, the young pony ran out of the room, in hopes of catching up to his friends, and Starlight looked at Spike. "You think he's gonna be okay?"

"Uh..." Spike took a moment to think about it. "Y-yeah... He'll be fine... I hope..."

A few hours later

Starlight sighed, and she said, "I had a bad feeling this would happen."

Spike simply nodded his head, while Sunset looked at her friend, and asked, "What happened to you?"

A heavily bruised, battered, and sore Stardust layed in his now-clean bed, and he coughed a few times before saying, "I made, uh... AJ's grandma very upset... someone get me a Coke, please..."

Strange Things, Part 3

By the time Twilight had returned to the castle, night had already fallen, and Stardust was almost ready to go to sleep.

"How are you feeling, Jack?" asked the princess of Friendship, once she was in his room.

Stardust chuckled, and coughed a few times before he said, "Well... I'm definitely staying away from Sweet Apple Acres for a while... how's Applejack?"

Twilight sighed, and replied, "She's fine... just upset and confused about... whatever has been going on the past few days."

Stardust sat up in his bed, and looked at his girlfriend. "You don't actually think that I-"

"No, Jack, I... don't... think so..." admitted Twilight, much to his surprise. "Percentage-wise, Jack, I believe you... around 90%, while the rest goes to Rainbow and AJ."

"Love, I am telling you that I didn't do those things," replied Stardust. "Why would I destroy Applejack's farm after feeling relieved about the fact that Rowan didn't turn her and Applebloom into apple sauce?"

Twilight simply listened as her special somepony continued to talk. "And I already promised you and to myself that I'd be a better friend to Rainbow... why would I throw that all away?"

"Well..." Twilight began to say, which made Stardust suddenly groan in frustration.

"Alright, yes, I get it, the old me almost despised Rainbow, but I'm not that same person anymore, love... you're all family to me, at this point... I would never try to ruin that..."

Twilight gave him a warm smile, and was about to reply when Sunset suddenly appeared by the doorway. "Aw, so does that mean I'm part of your family, too?"

Stardust chuckled, and he replied, "Ehhh, you're more along the lines of a third cousin, twice removed."

Twilight and Sunset just looked at him, not knowing what to say, and Stardust said, "Forget it, just a bad joke..."

"Are you okay yourself, Sunset?" Twilight asked, while Sunset rolled her eyes. "I haven't really seen you that much recently."

"Probably because she's done nothing but hang around me," pointed out Stardust, which made Sunset smirk at him.

"Well, that's some good news," replied Twilight. "Somepony has to keep you under control."

Stardust rolled his eyes, and was about to give her a sarcastic reply when he noticed Sunset quickly looking like she was in pain. "You okay there, Sunset?"

The young pony had felt the right side of her flank burn with pain, but she forced a smile, saying, "Yeah, just, um... leg still kinda hurts a little from falling off the ladder in the library yesterday."

Twilight gasped, and she asked, "Oh my gosh, Sunset, you... why didn't you tell any of us that-"

"I didn't get hurt or anything, Twilight, your special somepony here saved me from that," replied Sunset, nodding her head in Stardust's direction.

"I did?" Stardust replied, much to Sunset's confusion.

"Uh, yeah, I'm pretty sure you did," said the yellow unicorn. "Don't you remember?"

Before Stardust could answer her, Twilight suggested, "Jack, maybe we should inform Casey and the other Twilight about-"

"No... not yet," said Stardust, shaking his head. "I don't want that world to get caught up in any of this mess, and I plan on figuring out tomorrow who exactly is behind this."

The next day, around 8:30 am

Although most of his bruises had disappeared, Stardust still appeared to be in a pretty rough shape, and his body was telling him that he needed to rest.

"TWILIGHT!"

Instead of jumping out of his bed, Stardust groaned, and buried his face in the pillow. "Please, not again..."

"Where is he?!"

"[Beep]!" The gold pony immediately woke up after hearing a loud and familar voice that came from down the hall, and just as he was about to lock his door, it was pushed open by an angry-looking Rarity.

"You monster!" She cried, and before Stardust could say anything, Rarity started whacking him with her broom.

As Stardust yelped in pain, Twilight ran inside, and cried, "Rarity, stop! We don't even know if it was him that did it!"

"Did wha - ow!" Stardust received one more hit from Rarity's broom before she placed it onto the ground. "What is it this time that I didn't do?"

"My newest outfits for Sapphire Shores are completely ruined and destroyed," exclaimed the pony who represented the element of generosity. "I had them completed weeks in advance, so that I could have some time to myself, but now all of my hard work has gone to waste... and it's because of you!"

Stardust groaned, bringing a hoof to his forehead, and he explained, "Rarity, first of all, if this happened while you were sleeping, then... it definitely wasn't me because I was here, in this room, recovering from getting the wind knocked out of me by Granny Smith."

"Oh, is that so?" Rarity frowned at him, and she revealed to him a very familiar clothing object that she had with her. "Then, why did I find your cloak at my home?"

Stardust quickly looked at himself, and realized that he wasn't actually wearing the cloak. "B-but how did... I wasn't..."

"You MONSTER!" repeated Rarity, and she went back to whacking him with her broom, but at a faster pace.

"Rarity, just... give me... a chance to... explain!" Stardust yelled, in between each of Rarity's broom hits. "Or... at least... let me... help you!"

Once she felt that she'd hit him enough, Rarity set the broom back down, and said, "You have done quite enough, Stardust, considering what you've also done to Applejack and Rainbow Dash... do yourself a favor, and stay away from my home."

She tossed the cloak at Stardust before walking away, and the gold pony looked over at Twilight, saying, "Please tell me that-"

"I know, Jack, I know," said Twilight, letting out a sigh. "Don't worry, me and Spike will talk to her while we help her re-make her dresses."

After saying that, the alicorn princess walked away, while Stardust laid back down, groaning in pain and irritation. "Why is this happening to me?"

"Are you okay, Star?"

Stardust sat up, and saw a concerned Sunset standing by his doorway. "I don't... I don't know, Sunset, I am just so... confused and frustrated and... in pain... why doesn't anypony believe me that I'm not doing all of this stuff?"

"Well, I never said that I didn't believe you, Star," replied the female unicorn. "And if you need some help proving to the others that you're innocent, all I have to do is-"

However, Stardust shook his head, and said, "Thanks, but... no thanks, Sunset, this isn't exactly an Equestria Girls level problem, so-"

"Oh, so you don't think I can be useful?" Sunset said, her muzzle becoming a frown.

"Well, I mean, it has been a long time since you've been to Ponyville, and I don't think that-"

Wham!

The door was slammed shut before Stardust could finish talking.

I'm not entirely sure that was the right thing to say to her, Jack.

Stardust collapsed back into his bed, and muttered, "Ah, [BEEP]!"

A few minutes later, in Twilight's library, Sunset had finally been able to turn on her friend's Crystal Mirror teleportation machine.

Maybe it was a mistake for me to come back here...

"So, you're just going to leave without saying goodbye?"

Sunset turned around, and saw Stardust by the entry way. "Why do you care? And how come you're not in bed?"

"Believe me, almost half of my body is yelling at me to go back," replied Stardust. "And the other half is saying to convince you not to leave."

"It's not like I'll be of much use to you anyway," exclaimed Sunset, frowning at her friend. "My unicorn magic isn't even working, for some reason..."

A confused Stardust replied, "So, that's what has been bothering you? Why didn't you ask Starlight or Twilight about-"

"Because I'm sure they have enough problems on their hooves, trying to clean up somepony's mess that looks like it was done by you," exclaimed Sunset. "And that isn't... exactly... it..."

"Well, then what is it?" Stardust asked, who was also trying to stall her.

Sunset looked a little embarrassed as she said, "It doesn't really... what help can you do for me? You're not a unicorn."

"I'm well aware of that," retorted the young Earth Pony. "But a certain 'ancient pony' once told me that we have a... have, uh..."

Having trouble remembering?

Stardust rolled his eyes, and muttered, "I can't help if I remember something that happened five or six seasons ago..."

Then, he turned his attention back to Sunset, who had started to try and leave again. "Look, I'm only asking that you at least give me a chance to help you, Sunset... please..."

The young unicorn sighed, hanging her head down as she started feeling more embarrassed about what she was going to tell him.

Letting out a sigh, Sunset stretched one of her front limbs back, and pointed to the right side of her flank, while Stardust blinked his eyes a few times, as well as feeling awkward. "Um... Sunset.. I thought I already said that I didn't..."

"Not that, Star," muttered Sunset, whose face was red with embarrassment. "Somepony... slapped me right here, and... tried to, um..."

Stardust frowned, and he replied, "I get it, don't worry... and if it's the same pony whose been trying to frame me, then that pony's gonna through all of my levels of hell once I get my hooves on said pony."

Sunset still looked embarrassed, so Stardust put a hoof on her shoulder, and said, "Hey, it's fine, you don't have to tell anypony else... and I won't either..."

Sunset smiled up at him, and nodded her head. "Alright... thanks... now, let me help you."

Stardust noticed that she was now raising up her hoof, and he rolled his eyes. "Fine, but make it quick... I don't want to have flashbacks to a certain event that took place."

"Don't be such a baby," smirked Sunset, and she placed a hoof on his forehead, causing her eyes to glow as she saw certain memories of his from the past few days.

As she was doing that, Stardust simply looked around the room, and started singing one of his favorite Crush 40 songs quietly to himself.

"What goes up, must come down, yet my feet don't touch the ground..."

Then, by the time he had reached the chorus, Sunset brought her hoof down, and he asked, "Well? What did you see?"

Sunset simply smiled at him, and she said, "Don't worry, I've got your fla- your back, Star. Just go and bring Twilight and the others, and meet me in the Throne Room."

She's speaking the truth, Jack. Everything will be fine now once they hear from her.

Stardust nodded his head, agreeing with Starswirl, and he said, "Alright, be back in a few... thanks so much, Sunset."

"Hey, that's what friends are for," replied Sunset, and the two of them smiled at each other before Stardust hurried out of the castle as fast he could possibly go.

As for Sunset, she had turned back around to turn off the machine, but while she was doing it, the young unicorn heard the voice of her friend.

"So, just to clarify... I'm totally innocent, right?"

Sunset let out a chuckle, and nodded her head, saying, "Yes, Star, all I have to do is tell the others, and you'll be fine."

"Well, then..."

Suddenly, she felt a pair of hooves on her flank, and roughly turning her around so that she could be face-to-face with...

"... I'll have to make sure you don't say to them the right thing."

It looked like Stardust, but this pony was wearing a black cloak, with a different type of Cutie Mark, and a scratch over one of his eyes.

He also still had both of his front hooves on her flank, and for some reason, she found herself unable to move.

"W-who are you supposed to be?"

Anti-Stardust grinned at her, and said, "To save us both some time, I'm pretty much an evil version of your golden pony friend, beautiful... and in order for my plan to work, I need you to convince everypony that he is the one who did those things that I actually did."

"Well, what makes you think I'd do anything you say?"

The sinister pony's smile became a frown, and Sunset yelped in pain as she felt both sides of her flank burn painfully, due to his hooves still being there.

"Because if you don't, sweetheart, I might just have to resort to a more... different method... get the picture?"

Trying her best to ignore the pain coming from her flank, Sunset said, "You won't get away with this, cause all I have to do is-"

"I'm sorry, did I not make myself clear, my dear?" growled Anti-Stardust, bringing Sunset right up to him so that they were now eye-to-eye, and their foreheads were pinned against each other. "If you value your friend's life, you will do as I say..."

Sunset gulped, and found herself whispering, "He'll s-see you... doing this to me..."

Anti-Stardust went back to grinning at Sunset, and before placing his muzzle onto hers, he said,"Oh, I have a solution for that, beautiful."

It's Our House Now

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Jolly 'Ol England

Author's Note

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

Jolly 'Ol England

Once Twilight and the rest of the Mane 6 were gone, Anti-Stardust started to feel very triumphant.

"Well, everypony, we're finally free from that horrible world," he said, with a wide smile. "And, there's no one left here that can stop us from doing what we want."

"Uh..."

Anti-Stardust turned around, and looked at Anti-Pinkie, who instantly closed her mouth. "Is there something you'd like to add, Pinkie?"

"Er..." Anti-Pinkie replied, hesitant to continue her sentence, but then, Anti-Rainbow walked up to stand in front of here.

"Hey, the pony asked you a question!"

Anti-Pinkie let out a squeak of fright, and Anti-Stardust said, "Easy there, Crash, just give her some room to speak."

As the alternate version of Rainbow stepped away, Pinkie's other self said, "I was... going to remind... you... about, um, this world's version of Discord and S-Starlight Glimmer."

"Oh, was that all?" Stardust's evil self laughed, and shook his head. "I've already taken care of them..."

The famous clocktower, known as Big Ben, now read the time as 11:58, which meant that Stardust and Sunset were only two minutes away from reaching Casey.

"You think this giant hand thing can support all of us?" asked the black-haired teenager.

Stardust nodded, and he replied, "Pretty sure, yeah..."

"I hate to sound pushy right now, Star," said the flame-haired teenager, who was still trying to avoid looking down. "But I don't know how much longer my hands can hold onto this thing... and even though I'm wearing jeans, it's cold up here!"

Stardust agreed with her, and he took a moment to flex his own fingers one at a time. "I'm hearing you... and I'm trying, but this is-"

This might be a bad time, Jack, but I suggest that you let go.

"What?!" Stardust yelled, shocked that his friend would say that. "Do you know how high up we are right now?"

I am aware of the height, yes, but you don't really think I would let anything bad happen to you all, do you?

Once the clock reached the 11:59 a.m. mark, Stardust and Sunset carefully latched themselves onto the hour hand, sitting underneath Casey, and Stardust said, "I think I'll consider other possible options, buddy, before I go with that one."

Starswirl let out a sigh. Well, then I suggest you and the others brace your ears for what's going to happen next.

Stardust was about to ask what he meant, but then, the clock struck twelve.

Ding-dong-ding-dong! Ding-dong-ding-dong!

"HOLY [BEEP]!" Stardust yelled, although it was more like he was mouthing the words since he couldn't hear himself over the bell chimes.

Ding-dong-ding-dong!

Ding-dong-ding-dong!

Then, the bell stopped, and all three of the teenagers were blinking their eyes, as well as shaking their heads.

"Uhh... you two okay?" Stardust asked, looking up at Casey, and down at Sunset.

Sunset nodded her head, and was about to talk to him when the first chime of twelve was made.

DING! Poof!

All of a sudden, Twilight appeared in front of Stardust, floating in the air, and she said, "Jack? Is that-"

Hurry, grab hold of her!

Before Twilight could end up falling down to the ground, Stardust grabbed one of her now-human hands, and brought her towards him.

"Hang onto this tightly, love," said Stardust, as he helped his girlfriend over to the other side of the hour hand.

Twlight nodded her head, tightening her grip, and said, "Jack, I'm sorry that-"

DING! Poof!

Fluttershy was the next to appear, and she accidentally found herself looking down.

"Aaaaaaggghhhhhh!"

"I've got you, Fluttershy!" Casey shouted, grabbing hold of the animal-loving teenager, who then wrapped her arms around the other side of the hour hand.

Fluttershy immediately closed her eyes, and said, "T-thank you, Casey..."

DING! Poof!

When Rarity appeared, Sunset quickly brought her over to the other side of the hand, and said, "Hang on tightly!"

Wrapping her arms around the giant hour hand, the purple-haired teenager nodded her head, and she said, "Thank you, Sunset... I'm so glad to see-"

However, Rarity found herself looking down, seeing how high up she was from the ground, and she let out a scream.

"Will every one stop looking down?!" Stardust yelled, but then, the fourth chime (and friend) made its arrival.

DING! Poof!

Rainbow appeared underneath Sunset and Rarity, and she immediately went over to the hour hand, getting a tight grip on it.

"Is Stardust up there?" exclaimed Rainbow, stretching her neck out to look up at the top of the clock hand.

"Yeah, I'm here! Are you okay, Rainbow?" Stardust asked, looking down at his friend.

She nodded her head, and yelled, "Star, I'm sorry that-"

DING! Poof!

Applejack was next, and Rainbow quickly grabbed onto one of her hands, pulling her towards herself and the clock hand. "I got you!"

"Phew, thanks a bunch, sugarcube," said Applejack, but then, a strong gust of wind appeared, and it ended up blowing her Stetson hat away.

"No!" The hard-working teenager tried to grab it, but the wind had already taken it far away from her.

DING! Poof!

When Pinkie Pie appeared, she looked from side to side, and when she found herself looking down, the young teen let out a scream of fright, and grabbed onto whatever was in front of her.

"Pinkie... not so... tightly..." gasped Stardust, as his friend gave him a bone-crushing bear hug.

DING! Poof!

Starlight arrived at the seventh charm, and appeared next to Twilight, whom she quickly grabbed onto.

"It'll be okay, Starlight," said the young princess, who noticed that her friend was starting to tremble with fear. "Just don't look-"

DING! Poof!

Spike appeared at the very top of the hand, slightly above Casey, and Stardust asked, "You alright, bro?"

The young dragon-turned-dog nodded his head. "Yeah, but where are-"

DING! Poof!

Stardust looked to the side, and he said, "You've got to be kidding me..."

"Hello, to you, too, Jackie," said Discord (also now a human being), who was hovering in front of Stardust, and one of his hands was holding a Mary Poppins umbrella. "Having fun up here?"

DING!

"Not in the mood right now, Discord!" Stardust yelled, while Fluttershy was opening her eyes to look at her friend. "Can you just help us out?"

"Why, certainly, Stardusk," replied the master of Chaos, and he snapped his fingers, which caused the hour hand to temporarily disappear.

DING!

"Discord! That's not helping!" Stardust yelled, his temper starting to rise. "Put that ba... aaaauuugghhhh!"

One by one, all of the ponies-turned-humans, plus one dog, started their descent from three hundred and fifteen feet.

"Starswirl!" screamed Stardust, closing his eyes. "Help us ou-"

DING! Poof!

Everyone suddenly disappeared, and then, they all reappeared on top of the grass-covered ground.

Pinkie lifted her head up, with her eyes spinning around in a circle, and she asked, "Can we do that again?"

"Ugh... pass..." moaned Sunset, who felt like she had a headache.

Spike was rubbing his head, feeling dizzy, and suddenly felt himself being hugged by Rarity, much to his pleasure. "Oh, thank goodness you're safe, Spikey Wikey."

Applejack sat herself up, and let out a groan as she asked, "Pinkie, why in tarnation would ya do something like that again?"

While Pinkie shrugged her shoulders, Twilight and Stardust walked over to Casey, helping him up, and the alicorn-turned-human said, "I sure hope your Twilight isn't too worried about you."

"No, she'll be fine," replied Casey, rubbing the back of his neck. "And she was going to come, but-"

"Hello, everypony," sang Discord, who was making his way down via black umbrella. "Oh, wait, everyone..."

Stardust frowned, and he pointed up at the clock. "That was not what I meant by helping us, Discord."

"But aren't you all safely on the ground now?" asked the spirit of disharmony, tilting his head to the side.

Stardust let out sounds of frustration, and was ready to argue with him some more, but then, Fluttershy appeared, and she did not look happy.

"Discord, you could've seriously hurt all of us if Starswirl wasn't in Star's head. What were you thinking?"

Discord gulped, not wanting the one po-person he cared for the most to be upset with him. "I was only trying to help out, Fluttershy, and I wouldn't have let harm come to anyone... maybe just a little to Stardust, but-"

"I heard that," growled an annoyed Stardust.

Fluttershy glared at Discord, and sternly told him, "Well, do not ever do anything like that again. Understand?"

"Perfectly, Fluttershy," replied Discord, nodding his head, while Stardust rolled his eyes.

Jack, may I suggest we find a place to discuss how to get back home?

While Twilight and Casey were talking to the others, checking to see if they were all okay, Stardust was having a telepathic conversation with Starswirl.

I'm guessing that means you won't be able to take us home?

Not this time, Jack, replied the ancient pony. It must be done-

By me and the others, thought Stardust, letting out a sigh. Got it.

Once everyone knew that everybody was okay, Stardust said, "Alright, everyone, we have to look for a place that we can talk about how to get back to Equestria."

"Well, lead the way, darling," replied Rarity. "This is your home world, correct?"

"I mean, technically, yes," said Stardust, who was now rubbing the back of his head. "But I don't actually live in this city, so-"

"Ooh, how about that place?" interrupted Pinkie Pie, who was pointing at a building that was a mile away from them.

Stardust smiled, and gave the party-loving teenager a pat on the back. "That looks fine... nice work, Pinkie."

Squee!

Pinkie just smiled back at Stardust, who then started leading his friends to their new destination.

A few minutes later, they were all about to cross the street, and walk into the building that was called My Village Cafe, but Rarity suddenly let out a scream from out of nowhere.

"What? What is it?" Stardust asked, fearing that something bad had happened.

"I look... look... gorgeous," said Rarity, who was looking at her reflection via the clear-glass building in front of them, and Stardust brought the palm of his hand to his forehead.

She was wearing a white lace blouse, along with dark blue AG slim straight leg jeans, a pair of Liz Caliborne flats, and a hair-clip version of her Cutie Mark.

"But what's this supposed to be?" wondered Rarity, looking at her hands, as well as touching the sides of her face.

"To make a long explanation short, Rarity, it's your skin," answered Stardust. "But you also look like you have fair skin, which means that even though I admit that you look lovely, you can't exactly be under the sun for a long period of time, or you'll end up almost as red as the apples on AJ's trees."

Applejack tried covering up her laughter, while Rarity frowned at Stardust, and the hard-working teenager looked at her own reflection.

She was wearing a white undershirt, along with a halfway buttoned-up, orange-colored plaid shirt, light brown and leather Western boots from Shyanne, and light-blue, slim straight leg jeans from Levi's, as well as a brown belt that had a row of stiched-on apples.

Casey felt his mouth almost about to drop, but when he noticed that Stardust was looking at him, he sheepishly closed it, and said, "Sorry."

"Are you okay, AJ?" Twilight asked, seeing that her friend didn't look entirely pleased with her new appearance.

Applejack sighed, and she replied, "Yeah, I'm fine, sugarcube, but... I just wish I had my hat with me."

Before Twilight could say anything to comfort her, Pinkie Pie giggled, and said, "Okay, me next, me next!"

She was wearing a pink shirt that had her Cutie Mark on the front, and the same type of jeans as Applejack, as well as a pair of pink Chuck Taylor Dainty Casual sneakers from Converse.

For Fluttershy, who had chosen herself to be next, she was wearing a White Mark fit and flare yellow dress that had a design of her Cutie Mark on the side, as well as a comfortable pair of slip-on sneakers from Steve Madden.

"My, my?,, Fluttershy, you certainly look very wonderful," commented Discord, which caused her to slightly blush.

"Thank you, Discord... and you, um, look very-"

Before she could finish, Stardust chuckled, and he said, "He looks like someone's father."

Discord frowned, and he glared at the amused teenager, saying, "I may have limited magical abilities, Stardust, but that doesn't mean I am unable to-"

"Alright, simmer down, you two," interrupted Applejack, stepping in between them. "No need to cause a ruckus or anything."

"He started it..." said Stardust, but then, he paused after noticing Rainbow's saddened expression.

The athletic pony-turned-teenager was wearing a pair of sky-blue KanCan skinny stretch slim jeans, Nike Flex running shoes, and a black shirt that had her Cutie Mark on the front, as well as a blue Old Navy French-terry hoodie, but Rainbow didn't really seem to be all that interested in how she looked.

"You okay?" Stardust asked, in a concerned tone, and Rainbow nodded her head.

"I just... want to, uh, say that I'm sorry for all that stuff I said to you back in Equestria. Anti-You was right when he said that I was foolish into-"

Stardust smirked at his friend, and he shook his head. "Nuh-uh, don't let him get to you, Rainbow... it's fine, you don't have to worry about it, and I'm not mad at you or anything like that."

Rainbow gave him a small smile in return, but Stardust could sense that she wasn't entirely forgiven with herself just yet.

I'll work on that later once we get back home.

"Um, not to sound rude, Stardust, but maybe we should be heading over to that place Pinkie found?" suggested Starlight.

Stardust nodded his head, and said, "Yes, you're right, Starlight... okay, everyone, let's go-"

"Um, Jack?"

The young man looked at his girlfriend, who looked like she was waiting for someone to say something. "Yes, love?"

"How do I look?" Twilight asked, and Stardust took a moment to observe his special someone, and was at a loss for words after realizing how beautiful she looked as an actual human being.

The young princess, like Rarity, also had fair skin, and she was wearing a Lyss Loo flowy, long sleeve purple top with cutout-shoulder design that hugged her curves, as well as a pair of slim fit jeans from H&M, slipper-like shoes from ALDO, and had two hair clips.

One of them was her Cutie Mark, while the other was a purple French Barrette hair clip that resembled her alicorn wings.

"So... um..." Twilight said, who also blushing heavily from Stardust's speechless stare.

"Ahem!" Rarity cleared her throat, and coughed a few times, which made Stardust blink a few times before finally being able to speak again.

"Twilight... love... you are the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen... a perfect goddess..."

Twilight's blush increased even more, while some of their friends rolled their eyes, and before Stardust could say more, he was interrupted by Pinkie Pie, who had already gone into the cafe.

"Hey, everyone, come in here! This place is awesome!"

Stardust was about to speak, but then, the Walk stoplight turned on, and everyone began crossing the street.

"Very smooth talkin' there, Star," Applejack said, crossing her arms, and smirking at her friend. "Ya took that long to come up with somethin' like that?"

This Is Heavy

Author's Note

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

This Is Heavy

The first question that everyone was asked once they all sat at a table was - "Would anyone like something to drink?"

"Some glasses of water, please?" Stardust said, and the elderly waitress nodded her head before walking away.

Then, the young man looked at his friends, and said, "Okay, so let's see if we're all on the same page here. We're all seemingly trapped here..."

"By an evil version of Stardust," said Casey, pointing at a drawing that Pinkie had done on a piece of scrap paper. "He's taken control of Twilight's castle..."

"Along with alternate versions of me, AJ, Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity," added Twilight. "And I'm betting that it won't be long until they decide to-"

"Pull a Sunset, and try to take over the minds of everypony else?" finished Discord, and he quickly gave the young teenager an apologetic look. "Sorry."

Sunset rolled her eyes, and she replied, "None taken... so, the big question is - how are we supposed to get home?"

Pinkie began jumping up and down in her seat, and said, "Ooh, ooh, maybe Starswirl the Bearded can use his magic like he used it to take Stardust away from us momentarily after Twilight had finished her battle with Tirek-"

Casey's skin color started to turn a little pale.

"- as well as to the world that Sunset lives at, helping our other selves from that world defeat a trio of power-craving sirens that used their vocal abilities to-"

Stardust held up his hands, and he exclaimed, "Okay, Pinkie, I get it... no need to recap all of that stuff... and, unfortunately, Starswirl is on silent mode right now."

"Uh, what does that mean exactly?" asked Applejack.

"That he won't talk to me until we've figured out on our own how to get back home," replied Stardust. "Usually it's so that we can learn a type of lesson from this sort of..."

As he continued explaining to Applejack, Twilight noticed that a beautiful, blonde-haired, and middle-aged woman was having trouble getting out of the door because her hands were full with a stack of cardboard boxes.

"Can... someone... please help - oh, thank you," said the kind woman, giving Twilight a grateful smile because the alicorn-turned-human had opened the door for her. "I have a 3 hour drive to get from here to Leeds, and-"

She paused after noticing one of Twilight's hair clips. "Aw, that's a lovely clip you have in your hair... looks exactly like the one that-"

HONK!

"I'm coming, alright?" exclaimed the beautiful woman, and she gave Twilight an apologetic look. "Sorry about that, my friends are a little crazy. Thanks again!"

As she headed out of the cafe, Twilight was smiling, having felt good about helping out the kind stranger. She sure sounded familiar, though, for some reason.

Then, Twilight began to head back over to her friends, but she suddenly heard a strange sound nearby. "What was that?"

Twilight walked over to the other side of the cafe, and bent down to pick up a small object on the ground.

However, it didn't come off right away, and Twilight frowned while continuing to try picking it up. "Come... on... you... little..."

Suddenly, her focus was interrupted by the sounds of a wolf-whistle, and Twilight stood up to look at a large group of guys who were all sitting at a table.

They all appeared to be the same age - more or less - as Stardust, and one of them said, "I was wondering how long it would take for one of you lovely ladies to make your way over here... and, from this angle, it looks like we're off to a fresh start."

"Um... okay," said a confused Twilight, not knowing what he was talking about.

"Oh, yeah, she's real special there, Johnny," muttered one of the young man's friends.

Johnny glared at him, and exclaimed, "Hey, you mind shutting your trap, pal? You'll get your chance with one of the other ones."

Then, he turned his attention back to Twilight, and gave her a dashing smile. "Don't mind them, they're all idiots... so, um, how would you feel about me and you taking a walk over to the movie theater a few blocks away?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, but..." replied Twilight, who nodded her head over at Stardust. "I'm with my friends, and one of them is my special somepony... I mean, er, boyfriend."

Unfortunately, one of the guys had heard Twilight's mistake, and he began to laugh. "Oh, my gosh, Johnny, she's one of those pegasissy fans that are obsessed with that one show called-"

"It's pegasister, and the show is called My Little Pony," finished Stardust, taking notice of the fact that Twilight hadn't returned to her seat. "And I would appreciate it if you all left my girlfriend alone."

However, after taking a look at Stardust, Johnny felt like his chance wasn't gone just yet. "Aw, we weren't doing her any harm, brah... in fact, I was close to convincing her to go out with me."

"I highly doubt that," retorted the unamused teenager, and he began to lead Twilight away, but then, she tried again in picking up the small object from the floor.

Stardust chuckled, and he said, "It's just a plain old penny, love, there is no-"

"Yeah, Johnny, you were right, she's a real beauty," replied one of the young man's friends, who then let out a wolf-whistle.

As Twilight stood back up, Stardust gritted his teeth in frustration after realizing what they were all doing, and said, "You'd better be glad I don't knock your [BEEP] teeth down your damn throat, [BEEP]."

The young man he'd spoken to stood up, and walked over to Stardust, but Johnny motioned for him to stay back. "No need for that type of language around my friends, man... you'd best apologize to him."

"Go [BEEP] yourself, sick pervert," growled Stardust, and he continued with bringing Twilight away, but then, all of the guys stood up, except for Johnny, who was still sitting, and no longer smiling.

"What the hell did you just say to me?"

Stardust looked at Johnny, and said, "You heard me... go [BEEP] yourself... get the picture?"

Instead of replying, the young man stood up, and Stardust noticed that Johnny was actually a few feet taller than him. Oh, [BEEP] he's tall!

"Hey, is there a problem over here?"

Applejack was making her way over to Stardust, followed by the rest of their friends, and Johnny gave her a mischievous grin. "Oh, with a pair like that, cowgirl, you'll do real nicely with-"

"Alright, that's it," exclaimed Stardust, and he prepared to deliver a solid punch to Johnny's jaw, but the young man swiftly blocked it by catching Stardust's fist with his own muscular hand.

Sheesh, his hand is like a damn baseball glove! thought Stardust.

"Now, you listen here, pal," growled Johnny, who was no longer smiling. "We're gonna have our fun with these ladies, and you-"

"Well, you forgot about one thing," interrupted Stardust, and he pointed at something behind Johnny. "What the hell is that?"

Johnny turned around, and Stardust quickly his body strength to shove him into the young man's friends, with all of them falling down to the ground.

Jack, now would be a good time to run.

[Insert "Skateboard Chase" by Alan Silvestri]

Stardust nodded his head, and said, "Alright, everyone, we're leaving."

"But we haven't had lunch yet!" Pinkie cried.

As Johnny and the rest of his gang started to get back up, Stardust exclaimed, "Pinkie, trust me on this. We are leaving NOW!"

The group of friends quickly ran out of the cafe, while Johnny let out a frustrated growl, and yelled, "Get him!"

Stardust and Twilight were leading their friends away from the cafe, but then, Applejack stopped after seeing a familiar object laying on the sidewalk across the street.

"My hat!"

So, the young teenager ran over to grab it, but just as she was about to reach her hat, the wind picked up again, and started blowing it away from her grasp.

"Oh, no you don't, you get back here!"

As Applejack chased after her Stetson hat, Stardust noticed that she was running away from them. "AJ! We have to-"

"There you are, asshole!" Stardust turned around, and saw that Johnny was quickly approaching them.

"We'll find her later, Star, let's just worry about not getting beat up by those creeps!" exclaimed Rainbow, having finally spoken ever since apologizing to him.

Johnny turned his head to see the alluring cowgirl running after a brown hat, and he nodded at a few of his friends, who all started to go after Applejack.

"So, what's the plan, Stardust?" asked Starlight.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking," exclaimed Stardust, quickly looking around to see where they could all hide. "Um... we can... oh, wait... Pinkie!"

The party-loving teenager looked over at Stardust, and cried, "Yeah?"

"Do you happen to have a beaded necklace or something like that with you?"

Twilight looked at her boyfriend like she was crazy. "What good would that do?"

"Trust me, love," replied Stardust, as Pinkie handed him the necklace. "Discord! I need your help, too!"

After several minutes of chasing Stardust and the others, Johnny and the rest of his gang turned the corner, and to their surprise, none of them were anywhere to be seen.

"Where the hell did they go?"

However, before any of his friends could say anything to him, they all found themselves tripping over a large and scattered pile of beads, and to make matters worse, the street was suddenly very slippery, like a bowling lane.

It caused Johnny and his friends to slide down the street, and they all ended up crashing into a rather big wheelbarrow, which surprisingly broke into a million pieces, releasing its contents on top of them.

A few feet away, Stardust and the others silently laughing to themselves, as well as being unseen by anyone, thanks to Discord's limited yet very helpful magic.

"Where'd you get the idea for all of that stuff?" whispered Rainbow.

Stardust chuckled, and he replied, "From a couple of movies I've seen."

"Blegh! I hate manure!" Johnny exclaimed, and Stardust tried his best to hold in his laughter.

Even though she'd lost her pursuers, and had spent quite some time chasing her precious hat, Applejack was not going to give up. "You'd better stop right now, missy, before I-".

Whoosh!

The wind blew the hat into the nearest open-door building (a banquet hall), and Applejack ran inside after it. "Don't you walk away from me!"

She continued chasing after the hat, and once it landed on the ground, Applejack was about to pick it up, but then, someone else beat her to it.

"Is this yours, m'am?"

Her hat had been picked up by a well-dressed elderly man that was wearing his own Stetson hat.

"Yep, and I've been runnin' like a starving pig ready for supper tryin' to get it back," replied Applejack, who was taking several deep breaths. "Thank you for stopping it, sir."

"No problem, m'am," said the elderly man, smiling at her kindly. "And you can call me Bucky."

Applejack chuckled, and she said, "Okay, thank you, Bucky, and I... um..."

She found herself speechless after looking around, and realized where she was at.

"I take it you've never been the annual 'come one, come all' MacGuffin Country Jamboree Hoedown?" Bucky said, noticing that Applejack was no longer speaking.

As she looked at the rest of the country-and-western dressed people in the main hall, which was included with a stage for the country band, Applejack shook her head. "No, siree..."

"Well, then, welcome to your very first one," said Bucky, giving her a pat on the back.

"You sure you saw Applejack run this way?"

Stardust nodded his head, and said, "I'm positive, Fluttershy... AJ was chasing after her ha-"

"Aaaaaauuuggghhh!"

Everyone turned around, looking at Rarity, who was facing the front of a t.v. store, and Stardust groaned. "We get it, you're gorgeous."

Rarity shook her head, and gasped, "It's not my reflection, Stardust... look."

As he walked over to her, Stardust rolled his eyes, and said, "Okay, I'm not in the mood to... see... oh... my... God..."

[My Little Pony!

I used to wonder what friendship could be!

My Little Pony!

Until you all shared that magic with me.]

While the others made their way over to see what was playing on the t.v. in front of Rarity, Stardust slapped his forehead again, and muttered, "Oh, great, just my damn luck... well, at least we're not watching Equestria Girls."

It had taken a few minor yet failed attempts, but Applejack was now socializing with the other people who were there for the celebration.

"Howdy there, nice to meet ya," greeted the young teenager, greeting several of the newly-arrived guests. "My name's Ap-"

"What?!"

Applejack turned around, and saw Bucky on top of the stage, having a conversation with the band, but he did not look happy.

"Hold that thought... pardon," said the pony-turned-human, and she hurried over to help her new friend with whatever was going on. "What's the issue here, Bucky?"

"Oh, it's just terrible, AJ," exclaimed the elderly gentleman. "The headlining singer that I paid to come here bailed on all of us, and now there's no one here to kick off the musical performances."

Applejack looked at the attendees of the jamboree hoedown, and nodded her head, knowing what she had to do. "Well, it's a good thing I'm here, Bucky, cause I sing plenty where I come fro-"

"Really, AJ? You'll sing for us?" Bucky said, with hope in his eyes. "I'll gladly pay you for it."

Applejack smiled, and shook her head, saying, "I sure do appreciate it, Bucky, but that won't be necessary... just tell me what I gotta sing, and I'll do it for ya."

Hearing that from the young teenager, Bucky pumped his fist in the air, and said, "Yes! Alright, AJ, it'll take a few minutes before you start performing so that I can teach you the dance moves and memorize the lyrics. You think you can handle all of it?"

Applejack smirked at Bucky, and she replied, "Yessir, I believe I can... just let me know what I gotta do."

Sometime later, once the grand room was full of guests, Bucky was handed a microphone, and he said, "Allllll right, everyone, it's time to kick this off with a BANG!"

The audience quickly gave their applause, and once they stopped, Bucky said, "Now, I did have someone else in mind to get us started, but for some reason, he couldn't make it..."

"Booooo!"

Bucky chuckled, and he replied, "Yeah, I know, it's terrible, but don't y'all get yourself heated up like a whistling teapot, ya hear? Cause luckily, I was able to get a lovely lil' lady to take his place-"

"Yeaaaaahhhh!"

"Now, that's what I want to hear from all of y'all," shouted an energetic Bucky. "So, do me a favor, y'all, and give a great round of applause for a young lady that comes from, S.A. Acres... it's AJ!"

He quickly left the stage, revealing that Applejack was behind him, and she brought herself over to the microphone, saying, "Um... howdy, y'all, my name is AJ, and I'm ready to start this here hoedown. What about y'all?"

The audience gave their own joyous response, and Applejack grinned, saying, "I thought so."

She turned back to look at the band behind her, with everyone giving her a thumbs up, and Applejack nodded her head before she started to sing.

"1-2-3, everybody, come on off your seats!" exclaimed Applejack, who was now full of positive energy. "I'm gonna tell you bout a beat... that's gonna make you move your feet!"

Insert "Hoedown Throwdown" lyrics

A short time later, while she took a momentary pause, Stardust, Twilight, and Spike, as well as Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Starlight, Sunset, and Discord had all entered the Main Hall.

"Alright, so how in Equestria are we going to find her, darling?" asked Rarity.

Spike pointed one of his paws at the stage, and said, "Um, that seems pretty easy to me."

Everyone looked to where he was pointing at, and were surprised to see Applejack performing a song!

"Hey!" Stardust yelled, noticing that Rainbow was running away from them. "Where are you going?"

"There's food here, Star," answered Rainbow, who was also rubbing her stomach. "I'm getting myself a plate of it real quick... then, I'm gonna dance with everyone else."

As she headed over to the nearby buffet, Stardust sighed, and continued with listening to his close friend sing.

Then, to Stardust's surprise, almost all of friends had joined the rest of the guests, except for himself, Spike, and Twilight.

"I'm fine just watching her from right here," said the dragon-turned-dog.

Stardust looked at Twilight, and he said, "You honestly don't think-"

Twilight let out a giggle, and said, ""No, of course not, Jack, but look at how happy she is up there."

Stardust did just that, and he started to feel very relieved of the fact that Rowan hadn't killed her.

"Well?"

"Okay, fine, I'll try to dance to this," said Stardust, rolling his eyes, and grabbing one of Twilight's hand to lead her to the dance floor, with Spike wishing them good luck.