> SuShi's Bizarre Adventure: Fantasy Friendship
>  by Jojoleopard
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: The Coming of the Stand
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset Shimmer had first started experiencing it a few months after arriving in this world through the portal. She had ignored it at first, chalking it up as a side effect of losing her magic in this world, but now she knew it was the opposite.

When she had come through the portal, she realized magic must’ve leaked into this magicless world from Equestria, because even now as she sat there in the dying sunlight, looking at the Wondercolt statue on the front lawn of Canterlot High, a teacup floated towards her, filled with something piping hot.

She accepted it and drank its contents. “Ah, green tea. My favorite.”

To the normal person, it would’ve looked as though the teacup had simply wandered over to Sunset as she sat there on the steps, now taking some time to enjoy the sun setting beyond the city. But Sunset could see something no one else could: the figure holding the cup of tea for her.

A humanoid pegasus-like creature floated in the air in front of her, clad in silver, with wide metal wings extending behind it. It was bipedal in nature, with fingers and thumbs on its hands and hooves for feet. It floated there for just another second, gazing at her with its yellow striped eyes, before it hovered towards her and vanished.

Sunset had seen this a few times already and she had surmised it lived in her and it was simply returning home. From what she could tell, it couldn’t go very far from her and it would always have to come back eventually. 

She would’ve talked to someone about this, but she didn’t exactly have any friends. She had run away to this world because she felt as though her teacher, Princess Celestia, had been withholding information from her, information that would make her smarter, more powerful and more loved. She had tried to tell what friends she had back then, but instead, all they did was ridicule her. In the following weeks after that, they had begun tormenting her every moment of her life. She had been called SuShi by the other students of Celestia, a combination of the first few letters of her first and last name, and what used to be an affectionate nickname was now one of spite and jest. One of them had even put dead fish in her saddlebags, just to ridicule her name further.

When she had enough, Sunset had packed her things and fled through the portal, never intending to return again. And here she was, sitting alone in front of the school she went to as the sky began to darken into a dull purple, with some kind of new power that she barely understood.

It was summer break now, and she didn’t need to be here at school, but it was somewhere she could go to think about what she was going to do with her life here. Done contemplating for the day, Sunset was about to head home, when a soft rumble made itself known to her.

She looked up and spotted a man on a motorcycle rolling in, slowing down next to the row of bushes up front. He had on a black helmet with a dark visor, so she couldn’t see his face, but if she would give just one word to how he looked, it would be ‘suspicious’.

He turned his head in his direction and to her surprise, he began riding his motorbike over, crashing through one of the bushes as he flattened the grass under his wheels.

“Hey, who are you?” Sunset began stepping back as he got closer. “You’re damaging school property.”

“You can see my bike, can’t you?” a low voice exited the man’s helmet. “Just like how I saw your Stand earlier.”

“My… my what?” Sunset felt her foot hit the first step up towards the front doors and stopped. “What are you talking about? What do you want?”

The man stopped his bike. “I could tell. You have a lot of questions.”

“Really? What gave it away?” Sunset waved her hands in the air. “Was it because I kept asking you questions that you haven’t answered?”

“I’m getting to that. I’ll ask again. You can see my bike, can’t you?” Suddenly, he let go of the handles and placed one arm in an ‘L’ shape near his face, while the other pointed to his right as he looked at Sunset. “You’re going to ask me, ‘What do you mean? Of course I can see your bike.’”

“What do you mean? Of course I can see your bike.” Then Sunset recoiled back as she realized he had just predicted what she was going to say. “How did you do that?”

He got off the bike and removed his helmet. Under that, he had a cap that was flipped backwards on top of a head of greasy blue hair. Sunset didn’t know how his cap could fit under his motorbike helmet, but she wasn’t going to ask.

Now that he was closer, she could see his vehicle in greater detail. It looked like any other black chopper, but this one had a silver skull of some unknown horned animal adorning the space between the handlebars and its eyeholes had glowing fireballs in them.

The man tugged at the corners of his black leather jacket and gave Sunset a grin. “My chopper. It’s a Stand, just like your winged friend.”

“A Stand?” Sunset knew he was talking about her new power.

“That’s what I’ve taken to calling them, yes.” He reached out a hand. “Jostle Joyride. Though you can call me JoJo.”

“Uh, Sunset. Sunset Shimmer.” She hesitantly shook his hand. She still didn’t know exactly what was happening. “If I had friends, they would call me SuShi.”

“That’s a cool nickname,” Jojo commented. “Though it does bring raw fish to mind. I’ve been looking for the source of this Stand power, but this is the first time I’ve met a Stand user who wasn’t immediately hostile.”

“What, hostile? Why would anyone be hostile for no reason?”

“You’d be surprised. Something has been going on in your city, and I need to find out what.” He flexed one arm, then reached the other one down like he was trying to touch his knee. “You’re going to ask, ‘What is going on in the city?’”

“What is going on in the city?” Then Sunset drew back again. He had done it again.

“That’s what I’m here to find out. Perhaps you’d like to help me?” Jojo raised a hand up and his motorcycle disappeared. “In return, I can teach you to harness the power of your Stand.”

“You can?”

“I can, and the best way to do that is through experience and practice,” Jojo replied. “Since a Stand is a manifestation of someone’s fighting spirit…” Jojo struck a pose that had him stretch one leg out in front of himself while pointing at Sunset with one finger over his head while using his other hand to hold the brim of his cap. “We shall do battle!”

“Battle? You want to fight me?” Sunset wanted to make sure she was hearing him correctly.

“But not just you. We shall do battle with our Stands.” Jojo stepped off the grass and onto the concrete floor. “White Buffalo!”

The air shimmered beside him and his motorcycle was once again there, its engine still running, though this time, it seemed to growl at her.

“This is my Stand, White Buffalo.” Jojo waved a hand at it as it rumbled beside him.

“Your Stand is the whole motorbike?” Sunset watched as it began moving back and forth.

“Every Stand is unique to their user. As is yours. Now, conjure it.”

“Um…” Sunset raised a hand forward. “Go. Fly. Up up and away.”

Nothing happened.

“I can’t seem to get it to work,” Sunset said.

“It’s all in the mind. You must control it through your spirit. Observe.” Jojo turned his body to the side and planted his legs very closely together. “White Buffalo!”

Jojo’s Stand suddenly revved up and sped towards Sunset. Without warning, the skull head on the bike’s handlebars extended out like it was some kind of snake and zig-zagged towards Sunset’s face. She sqeaked and ducked, but all of a sudden, her Stand emerged from her body and grabbed the skull around the neck, stopping it in place.

“There you go.” Jojo laughed and stretched one arm out. “Now, continue, Sushi.”

White Buffalo put itself into reverse and began pulling Sunset’s Stand along, but she willed for it to move and it reached out its other hand to the skull’s neck and pulled, stopping the bike in its tracks. Then the horns on the skulls head shot out like more serpentine creatures and stabbed themselves into Sunset’s Stand’s chest.

“Aaaah!” Sunset fell back to her knees as blood sprayed from two holes in her chest.

“Ah, yes. One important lesson, Sushi, your Stand is essentially a projection of yourself. Should it get hurt, so too will you.” Jojo pointed at her again. “Avoid my next attack.”

White Buffalo drove in a circle, then came charging back towards Sunset’s Stand, its horns at the ready once more. Sunset’s Stand tensed itself, then just before they collided, it did a flip over White Buffalo and kicked it over. As the motorcycle skidded, the skull extended from it again and twisted in the air once before sailing down towards her from above.

Sunset’s Stand reached out and grabbed the horns, stopping them in place. But White Buffalo’s horns twisted, throwing Sunset’s Stand into a nearby lamppost. The metal pole bent and the glass of the lamp shattered.

People nearby turned to see where the noise had come from, but when they only saw Jojo and Sunset standing there looking at each other, they hurried away.

Sunset’s Stand grabbed the fallen lamppost and as the horns came for it again, it swung it hard into White Buffalo, knocking it aside before it closed the distance and delivered a flurry of punches to the Stand. With each blow, Sunset’s Stand shouted out what sounded like “Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!”

White Buffalo was launched into the air and came back down with a crash. Jojo coughed and blood ran from his mouth as he smiled at Sunset. “Now you’re getting there. Your Stand is a strong one alright. I think you’ve got the basic hang of it now.”

Sunset recalled her Stand and took a breather as she ran her hand over her chest wounds. Thankfully, it was nothing serious, but she would still need to stop the bleeding.

“Now, all that’s left of tonight is to find the power of your Stand.” Jojo dusted his hands and rearranged the hair sticking out from under his cap. “Look into yourself, Sushi. Find your Stand power.”

“Uhh… okay. I’ll uh, see what I can do.”

Sunset closed her eyes and concentrated, with no idea how exactly she was going to accomplish her given task. She tried to picture her Stand, with its wings spread far and flying amongst the stars like a pegasus back home in Equestria. For a moment, it all felt like she was back home, now living out some equine fantasy as her Stand soared through the sky at supersonic speeds. It was then that what felt like a slab of information began making its way into her head. It was one of the most bizarre things she had ever experienced and soon, it was as though she had known about her Stand and its power all this time. She now knew exactly what it could do and what it was called.

Taking a breath, Sunset formed a fist and jumped it to the air, while her other hand grabbed the waist of her skirt and yelled, “Pegasus Fantasy!”

Her Stand returned, this time floating above her as it reached its hands towards her head. Sunset felt a great deal of concentration and as it did so, her body glowed and she felt herself begin to buzz with something that felt similar to static electricity. A funny sensation in her chest wounds made her look down, and her injuries had stopped bleeding. There was nothing to be done about the stains on her clothes though.

“A healing ability, hm?” Jojo rubbed at his squarish jaw. “Useful.”

“Tell me about it.” Sunset felt like she hadn’t even been hurt before. “I think it was actually a reset of my body before I was hurt. It takes a great deal of concentration though. I need to be uninterrupted to do it.”

“So, Pegasus Fantasy. Nice name. So now that you’ve realized your powers, how about it, would you like to help me save the world?”

“Save the world? From what?”

“I’ve intercepted foes before meeting you here tonight,” Jojo began to explain. “They’ve been mind controlled by someone and from what I’ve gathered from them, whoever is doing this aims to control the entire world, to rule over everything. I will not stand for that. Will you help me?”

“You mean just the two of us?” Sunset asked, not feeling hopeful. “I barely just learned about my Stand. I don’t think I’ll be able to tip the scales in our favor that much.”

“I’ll need all the help I get.” Jojo took a few steps away and White Buffalo reappeared beside him, along with his helmet. “And who said anything about it just being you and I? Come, I’ll take you to my safe house and I’ll arrange a meeting with the others. You’ve awakened your Stand’s true potential now. Whoever is out there brainwashing everyone else, it won’t be long before they find you too.”

As he got on his bike, he turned to look at her through the visor of his helmet. Sunset gulped. She’d never been tasked with such a heroic mission before. After running here from Equestria, all she wanted to do was to live life away from those who ridiculed her, but now someone needed her help to save the world? That was a huge stretch from what she was looking for, and she really didn’t know if she could do it. But Jojo was right. Her peaceful life of solitude would be ruined by whoever wanted to take control of the world. She was also living in this world, she had to defend it, or lose everything.

Sunset sighed and did the most unbelievable thing. She took Jojo’s hand and he swung her up atop his motorcycle with ease, handing her a helmet that seemingly materialized out of his palm. As they drove off, Sunset was still having second thoughts about this whole thing, but there was one thing she was very sure of, and that was that she had quite the bizarre adventure ahead of her.


> Chapter 1: Golden Ticket Idea
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Warm rays of light shone through the gaps of the window blinds as Sunset Shimmer opened her eyes slowly. She stretched her arms out and let out a big yawn as she sat up off the couch. It was then that she realized she had actually spent the night in some random guy’s house and she began to worry something could’ve happened while she slept. Thankfully, it seemed nothing had changed, or at least if anything had happened, he had put everything back the way it had been.

“Relax. Nothing happened.”

Sunset looked up to the doorway to the kitchen, where Jostle Joyride was standing, holding two mugs.

“Your Stand would’ve kept an eye on you, I’m sure.” He walked over and handed her one mug. “Here. Hot cocoa. Should get you right out of your sleepy self.”

“I’m more of a tea person, but thanks.” Sunset accepted it and blew at its surface to try and cool it. “So, when do I get to meet the others helping you?”

“In due time.” Jojo looked at a clock on his wall. It read eight-thirty. “I’ve a shower in the back, you can have one if you like. After that, we’re heading out for a quick brunch at a nice place.”

“Nice place, huh?” Sunset was next tossed a towel and she began to drag herself towards the bathroom.

She looked back a few times to make sure Jojo wasn’t the kind to peek on her, seeing as she still didn’t know much about him. She still couldn’t believe she spent the night in a stranger’s house. It was quite unbecoming of her, but then again, so was all this Stand business.

Just in case, as she began to take her clothes off, she placed them over the door’s handle, covering the keyhole under it. She’d watched her fair share of cartoons to know that people could sometimes look through them.

The bathroom itself was old and dirty, with some of the tiles having fallen off the walls and the shower head was incredibly rusty, almost as though it would just disintegrate when she turned on the water. Fortunately, it didn’t and she had to endure herself through a cold and miserable shower to clean herself up.

When she was done, she dried herself off and put her usual attire back on before heading back outside. She found Jojo lounging on the sofa she had slept on, combing back his hair as he looked at it through a handheld mirror.

“Ah it seems you are done.” He kicked himself off the couch and tossed his comb and mirror aside. “Ready for brunch, Sushi girl? You’ll next say, ‘I guess I am.’”

Sunset shrugged. “I guess I am… Ah. You did it again.”

“That I did. Come. You’ll like the food. Everyone does.”

Sunset sat on the back of White Buffalo as they traveled down the streets of Canterlot City. She remembered that his Stand was also invisible to the regular person, but then what would it look like if someone saw them riding down the street? Would they be riding on nothing? Sunset thought that would look weirder than actually seeing the strange motorcycle, but then again, she didn’t make the rules for this.

Jojo stopped outside a small cafe, where there was a glass front looking out to the street. The place was called Ned’s Nickbakery, which was a very strange name, but at this point, she didn’t think anything else would surprise her again. Jojo pushed the door open, which ended with a little jing from a bell at the top of the door. The only patrons in the cafe at the moment were three other girls seated around a round table with interesting looking sandwiches in front of them. Sunset immediately recognized all three of them. They were also students from CHS, and they were Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Applejack, three of what she deemed the ‘popular group’ in school.

Pinkie put a straw into her nose and inhaled part of her orange juice, then looked up at the approaching Sunset and Jostle. “Jojo, you’re back! And Sunset? Sunset Shimmer? You’re here too!”

“Y-You know me?” Sunset was taken a little aback. She’d never talked to them before. She was sure she was still a nobody in school.

“I know everyone in school and you’re from school, so I know you!” Pinkie giggled and hopped off her seat to shake Sunset’s hand vigorously. “So that means you have a Stand too and you’re gonna help us find out who’s taking over Canterlot, right?”

“Umm, yeah. That’s right…” Sunset managed a nervous smile. It was a little awkward fighting alongside other students from school.

“Sushi here just discovered her Stand last night with a little help from me.” Jojo pointed a thumb at himself and stuck out a knee into the air.

“Sushi?” Applejack looked at him weird. “Why’ja callin’ her that? She ain’t no sushi.”

“Oh, you don’t know?” Jojo looked between them. “Sunset Shimmer. Su. Shi. Sushi.”

“That’s what my old friends used to call me…” Sunset admitted to save them some time. “I uh, don’t really have friends anymore.”

“Oooohh…” Everyone else nodded in understanding.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Sunset. Or Sushi… Whichever you prefer, I guess.” Fluttershy waved at her. “I’m Fluttershy.”

“Applejack,” the girl tilted her hat to Sunset in greeting. “Nice to meet ya, partner. Be good ta have another Stand user on the team.”

“Yeah and don’t forget me, Pinkie Pie!” The third girl steered Sunset to a seat at the table. “You should have some of this pancake sandwich. It’s great!”

Applejack leaned back and sipped the edge of her apple cider. “And come on, time’s a wastin’, we should be discussin’ our next action here.”

“So uh, everyone’s already done this before?” Sunset looked at the rest of her new companions.

“More or less.” Jojo sat down and adjusted his cap. “Each of them has been freed of mind control and they’ve decided to help me save the city before everyone is turned as well.”

“How did you break the mind control on them?” Sunset asked. “Is that a Stand power you have?”

“Well no,” Jojo dragged a finger on the brim of his cap. “All I did was hit them on the head really hard with my fist, but with you here, Sunset, I think we can go for a less… violent approach.”

“Well, if Jojo trusts you, then Ah guess Ah will too. He ain’t been wrong yet.” Applejack shoved a plate of some kind of sandwich cut into the shape of a leopard towards Sunset. “Go on, ya gotta eat, don’tcha?”

Pinkie bit into her own sandwich, while Fluttershy stared at hers. She took out a pair of chopsticks and began to peel the top layer of bread off the sandwich and eat it. Then she pulled off the following layer of lettuce and ate that too. With the chopsticks.

She caught Sunset looking and blushed. “Oh, I don’t like getting my hands dirty. It’s easier this way.”

“And somethin’ ya might needa know about me, Ah eat my sandwiches toasted.” Applejack prodded at her sandwich. “If it ain’t toasted, it’s ghosted.”

“Well… good to know?” Sunset rubbed at her elbow. It was weird. Till yesterday, she’d barely talked to anyone. Today, she was sitting here with four other humans eating weirdly made sandwiches. “So what’s our first course of action? Do we at least roughly know who’s behind all this?”

Applejack shook her head. “Afraid we don’t really. We don’t remember our time bein’ mind controlled. But Ah do know we were in school when it happened.”

“The attacker might be from school. It could be anyone too!” Pinkie added. “Maybe even Old Man Drinkster!”

“And the enemy knows we’ve been fighting back against their mind control now.” Jojo put a fist on the table. “They might send more agents after us, like you, Applejack.”

Applejack tore off a portion of her toasted sandwich. “We’ll be ready for ‘em. Ah’ve a piece of mah mind to give them too.”

“I’m sure we’ll get the chance soon. I’m good at guessing things!” Pinkie grinned. “Maybe it’ll be Rarity! She and Rainbow are still out there somewhere.”

Sunset remembered those names. Rarity and Rainbow Dash were also part of their little group. She should’ve guessed they would all be Stand users.

“So,” She asked after a pause. “Do we have a plan for dealing with enemy Stand users? Like a plan of attack.”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Jojo smiled. “We fight them one-on-one while the others stand back and watch. Works like a charm.”

“Oh. What happens when that one is defeated?”

“The next one steps up. Easy. You’ll see.”

“Um… right.”

Pinkie stood up after finishing the rest of her drink through her nose. “Enough talk, let’s go find our next mind controlled agent! I’m sure they’ll be close!” She turned to walk out the entrance, but there was someone standing there. “Oops, sorry!”

But then all of them turned to look at the person and froze. Pinkie had bumped into someone that was black from head to toe, and no, they weren’t being racist or anything. Their whole body was made out of some kind of darkness, but there were features on it that could still be seen and this one was a dark Pinkie Pie.

“Hey, it’s me!” She pointed at it, just for it to shove her aside. The push sent her flipping over a table and overturning it as both rolled away into a corner.

“This can only be the work of an enemy Stand.” Jojo stood and flashed a pose with a hand in front of his face.

“You’re all such a drag. Why don’t you just let me end your existence. There is no happiness in life,” the Pinkie clone drawled. Her voice was almost the same as Pinkie’s but slightly distorted and lower than hers.

The shadow Pinkie suddenly leapt at the real Pinkie, intent on performing a flying kick. Pinkie Pie rolled out of the way as the clone’s foot broke a hole in the wooden floor.

“Oh, you’ve done it now,” Pinkie said, then she struck out one leg and held out both arms like she was waiting to give someone a hug. “Come on out, Golden Ticket!”

A purple man in a blue suit and a top hat appeared in front of her and threw a punch at the shadow. It had a moustache in the shape of a boomerang along with a monocle over its left eye, and as the shadow recoiled from its blow, it gave it another two punches, launching it out the window. It landed on the pavement outside and melted away.

“That was easy enough!” Pinkie cheered.

“Wait, it’s not over yet.” Jojo tapped her on the shoulder and they all turned around.

From the back entrance to the cafe, a shadow of her Stand, Golden Ticket, floated towards them, forming its hands into fists.

“Not if I have anything to say about that!”

Pinkie’s Stand placed both hands on the doorway, and to Sunset’s surprise, it peeled the doorway off the wall and it now looked as though there was never a door there to begin with.  Then Golden Ticket threw the door to the back of the room, where it stuck to the wall and opened, revealing a new entrance from an alleyway.

Pinkie smiled and dusted her hands, when another doorway suddenly appeared at the original location, this one slightly shadowy.

“Oh, looks like it can do what I do too!” Pinkie pointed as the shadow door swung open, revealing the shadow Golden Ticket once again. “You know what this means. Fist fight!”

Her Stand and the shadow Stand floated at each other and began punching. Hands were crashing all over the cafe and the walls were getting filled with little fist-shaped dent marks. It wasn’t good in this small space. They had to take this fight outside.

The staff had noticed the fight that was going on and were pointing and taking photos of the holes that were forming in the walls. Even though ordinary people couldn’t see Stands, they could still see the damage from the battle. In a grapple, Golden Ticket threw itself and its shadow doppelganger out the main entrance, where the shadow quickly melted away in the light. If they didn’t know it couldn’t go into sunlight before, they did now.

“This isn’t the Stand. The Stand itself is doing this. But from where?” Pinkie slid a finger across her chin as she looked at her surroundings.

“It must be close,” Jojo said. “If the Stand user was able to copy your Stand, they must have been able to see it to do so.”

“Does anyone see anyone out there that looks like a Stand user?”

“I don’t see anyone out of the ordinary,” Fluttershy said.

A few cars drove by the street and on the opposite side, there was a couple, one with brown hair and the other with green and they looked normal enough, sitting on a bench and reading a book together. A violet haired girl stood beside them, a hand placed on her chin and the other on her right thigh, with one leg slightly raised so that its toes were touching the ground, but other than that, Sunset couldn’t tell who could be the enemy Stand user, though that girl did look a lot like Rarity. She was dressed in a blue dress with a long leg slit, and what looked like plates lining her waist and shoulders.

“Wait, is that Rarity there?” Applejack pointed across the street. “It is!”

The girl on the other side lowered her gold framed sunglasses and gave them a wink. Now Sunset recognized her, she was another one of these popular girls, one whom a lot of boys were after because of her looks.

“It looks like you found me,” she said from the other side of the street. Even though she seemed to be talking at a normal volume, Sunset found she could hear her as though she was on their side. “Now the question is, darlings, can you defeat me?”

The two people on the bench looked at her, then across to them before getting up and walking away, keeping an eye on Rarity at the same time. Sunset didn’t blame them. All this was still a little weird even to her.

“This isn’t over yet, Rarity!” Pinkie began doing cartwheels from left to right. “You’ll have to face me!”

“And I intend to.” Rarity pushed her sunglasses back up, then stretched both hands forward with her palms facing out as she slid one leg behind the other. “Devil Trigger.”

From her right side, a Stand emerged over her shoulder, sporting a red sharp face with two horns above its yellow eyes. Stiff white hair erupted from the back of its head, arms and legs, and its body was clad in what Sunset would describe as a blue swimsuit with some solid plating on the chest and legs.

Its mouth opened and fired a blue beam at Pinkie, but the girl’s Stand reappeared and deflected the beam into a lamppost with its monocle. The lamppost stayed still for a second before it swung down and crashed into the side of the next building.

And then Devil Trigger was suddenly on this side of the street and it grabbed Golden Ticket around the left arm. Flipping around, it slammed Pinkie’s Stand into the ground, cracking it and then kicking it in the face repeatedly.

Pinkie fell back a few steps and clutched at her head as blood began to flow down from it, but when Sunset rushed closer to help her, she held out a hand and shook her head. It wasn’t over just yet.

As Devil Trigger’s foot came back for another kick, Golden Ticket brought up an arm and blocked the foot, then reached up and caught Devil Trigger in a chokehold, before spinning around and getting back on its feet. With a swing, Golden Ticket smashed Devil Trigger into the wall, then threw it across the street where it vanished into an alley. Rarity was thrown back into the wall she was standing against, then got up and scurried away into the same alley.

“She’s getting away. After her!” Pinkie roared and began cartwheeling and vaulting across the street.

She was the first to cross to the other side as the rest began attempting to cross the road, with much less success as Fluttershy almost got run over by a truck on the way.

Reaching the alley, she spotted Rarity rushing into a building on the side and shutting the door behind her. Raising a hand, Golden Ticket did the same and the door slid over to the portion of wall she was standing at, allowing her to get into the building instantly.

The inside was a large open space, with metal beams around the room, holding a ceiling up. It looked to be an abandoned warehouse of sorts, its floor dusty and its lights defunctional.

“Come out, Rarity!” Pinkie called. “We can end your mind control. You just need to come to me!”

She was about to continue walking, when something grabbed her from below. Pinkie tried to move her legs, but both of them were being held down. When she looked down, she spotted shadowy figures of herself and her Stand, hugging her legs tightly.

“You’re not going anywhere. It’s time to make you all sad and dead!” Pinkie’s shadow clone said with a sneer.

There was a harsh laughter from the other end of the building as Rarity floated down from above, her Stand holding on to her waist as they drifted towards the ground.

“You are a fool, Pinkie. You should’ve stayed outside where I would be weaker, but here you are, in the dark with me and Devil Trigger.” Rarity placed a hand on her chest, then another on the back of her left hip, while sticking her left leg forward in line with her right foot. “Now, let us see how long you will last against my Stand’s power.”

More shadowy people began climbing out of the ground, too many for Pinkie to count and they all looked as evil as evil could get. This was going to be one tough fight. Pinkie didn’t know if she could do this herself, but she was going to give it her all.


> Chapter 2: Pull My Devil Trigger
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the force of clones swarmed Pinkie Pie, she did her best to shield herself as their hands began to claw at her, spraying blood up into the air each time they tore through her pink skin. She fought against the pain, conjuring up Golden Ticket as it swept one foot in an arc, knocking four clones away from her, but more kept coming. By now, she knew Rarity’s shadow clones could only exist in, not surprisingly, the shadows. In this warehouse, she had everything she needed to keep creating more and more clones.

“You can’t win, dear.” Rarity took a few steps closer with her Stand continually creating more clones. “Devil Trigger is able to create shadow copies of people and Stands alike, even animals if I wanted to, and their moral alignment will always be reversed. Which means all these copies I’m creating of you and your friends, Pinkie dear, they are all evil. And being evil means they will stop at nothing to destroy you.”

“We’ll see about that!”

Golden Ticket began a volley of punches at Pinkie’s feet, freeing her long enough for her to roll out of the way as the rest of the shadow copies fell onto the ground she was standing at. Her Stand dashed for Rarity’s Devil Trigger, but it had only traveled about seven steps when more clones emerged from the darkness, one of them being White Buffalo, the Stand of Jostle Joyride. The shadowy copy of the motorcycle sped right at Golden Ticket, extending its skull and ramming both horns into its neck. Blood sprayed against the floor behind it, and also behind Pinkie as she felt a part of her neck burst open, now bleeding down her hands as she tried to staunch the wound.

Rarity gave out an elegant laughter on the other side. “You see, Pinkie dear. It will be over soon. It was a mistake turning against the master.”

Pinkie coughed and choked, fighting to stay conscious. She needed to last long enough to end this fight. Conventional methods weren’t going to work here, with Rarity at her most powerful in the darkness.

“Cat’s got your tongue, darling?” Rarity raised the back of one hand to her chin. “That looks serious. I wonder just how much more you can sustain.”

White Buffalo’s copy raced for her, and Pinkie rolled out of the way just in time as the skull extended to stab her. But as she rolled to a stop, White Buffalo’s horns extended from its skull and made a u-turn in the air, spearing her in the back of both shoulders. Pinkie coughed up more blood as she fell to the ground, with shadows closing in all around her. One reached down and grabbed her around the left arm. Pinkie tried to punch it, but right now, she was too weak to even give it a good hit. Her punch came up as nothing more than a friendly fist bump. More of them reached around her other limbs and hoisted her up as they stretched her from four different angles.

“Since you were my friend before knowing the master, I will give you a last request.” Rarity sauntered over until she was right in front of Pinkie’s face. “Do you have any last words, darling? I’ll let you say anything. You can say whatever it is you’re thinking of, I mean, there are exceptions, but I’ll let you off with most things this moment.”

“I-I-I’ll s-still beat you…” Pinkie croaked through her ruined neck. With the loss of blood, her vision was beginning to change because of the lack of oxygen. Her pink skin looked like a shade of blue at the moment and the room around her became a dull yellow.

“Oh?” Rarity guffawed. “How do you plan on that? This warehouse is my zone, Pinkie. I rule the darkness. Think of me as a Queen of the Dark. In the dark, I am at my most powerful. You may have banished some of my copies outside on the sunny street, but what can you do here? All your Stand can do is open doors. I’m not afraid of that. My Stand can also fire lasers that can fly at the speed of light, which is three hundred thousand kilometers per second, burning through even the strongest of steel beams or even the outer surface of a tank. Even if I didn’t have my copies, I would still defeat you. From the beginning, you had no chance of winning.”

“Th-that’s what you think!” Pinkie gurgled as blood filled her mouth. “Why do you think you… haven’t s-seen my G-Golden Tick-Ticket in a while?”

“Oh? I suspected it was because I was too strong that you couldn’t bring it up to do something.” Rarity wore an amused face. “So what is it? What’s the real reason?”

The smile on Pinkie’s face made Rarity’s warp into a suspicious expression.

Suddenly, light poured down from above and the three shadow clones holding Pinkie’s left leg instantly vanished into nothing.

“What? What is the meaning of this?” Rarity began looking around wildly, then she looked up. “You sly witch.”

Pinkie grinned widely. “Exac-to-ly! Golden Ticket’s been real busy!”

Above them were doors. Dozens of large doors, and they were all positioned on the ceiling, with one of them already opened, allowing the sunlight to pour in.

“Golden Ticket is able to move doors and change the size of them, big or small,” Pinkie explained. “And while you were busy attacking me, I sent Golden Ticket to another place! And that place was…” Pinkie pointed upwards with a finger, a devilish grin on her face. “The ceiling!”

One by one, all the doors started opening and light began flooding into the warehouse, vanquishing the copies holding on to Pinkie Pie, allowing her to stand on her own feet once again as Golden Ticket returned to her side.

“This can’t be!” Rarity gasped.

“You’re ding dong right it is!” Pinkie chirped. “And now that all this light is coming in through the doors, your Devil Trigger can’t copy me anymore! You can’t make any more clones while the sun’s shining in.”

“But my Devil Trigger can still shoot you down!” Rarity retorted. “I’ll still finish you.”

But Pinkie didn’t falter. “Did you see the pattern in which I set up the doors?” Rarity looked confused. Pinkine continued. “It’s in a checkerboard pattern. All those open spaces are like cutting holes in a piece of paper. Only paper’s light, and the roof of this warehouse is made of metal, which is heavy. Something’s gotta give, and all that weight… is gonna come crashing down on you!”


The last thing Rarity could do was look up, just as a huge square of metal roofing fell down onto her head, kicking up a huge cloud of dust and sending little metal bits everywhere, followed by the rest of the checkerboard ceiling, making the same pattern on the floor underneath.

“As above, so below!” Pinkie jumped into the air and kicked both feet together, then spat a glob of blood on the floor.

Just then, there was a scuffle of footsteps outside and Jojo and the others appeared at the open doorway behind Pinkie.

“Pinkie, what happened, are you okay?” Fluttershy was the first to run up to her friend.

“Nope!” She answered happily as blood spurted out from her neck wound. “But I beat Rarity. And I’m sure she got hit on the head real hard. The mind control should’ve worn out. Phew, I’m bushed.”

“We need to get her some help before she bleeds out,” Applejack said as she inspected her friend for wounds.

“No need, Sushi here’s gonna fix her right up.” Jojo waved for Sunset to come closer. “Come on, Sushi, show ‘em what you got.”

“Right. Pegasus Fantasy!” Sunset called up her Stand.

The silver winged Stand appeared behind her and stretched its arms forward. In an instant, Pinkie began feeling her body move inside. She couldn’t quite explain it, but it felt like little creatures moving in and out of her skin and blood, slowly repairing the damage to her neck and back. And once they stopped moving, she felt good as new. In fact, she didn’t even feel tired from the fight she just had, not that she felt tired very often, but she felt great.

“Gee, thanks Sushi Sunset!” Pinkie bounced over and shook her hand so vigorously that the other girl was floating in the air for a few seconds. “How’d you do that?”

“I’m still rather new to this stuff, but…” Sunset rubbed the back of her neck. “I think Pegasus Fantasy resets you to a certain point by manipulating your molecules and stuff, so whatever happened to you in the last few moments never happened to your body. I need to concentrate, though. So if I'm doing it, try not to interrupt me.”

“That’s really useful…” Fluttershy said. “We never had this before.”

“Now we should see about Rarity.” Applejack bent down beside the metal plate over her. Rarity’s legs were sticking out at the bottom. “Highwayman!”

 Applejack’s Stand sparkled into view and slid its fingers under the metal panel. It had huge hands and where the arms were supposed to be were springs that went all the way up to its shoulders, which were covered in some kind of dusty cloak. It had a huge smile with jagged teeth on its very round orange face, which was also covered with a blindfold and a tricorn hat.

As it began to lift, a sharp grunt emerged from its mouth, followed by some kind of screeching as the ceiling panel was lifted off Rarity’s prone body. Blood ran from the top of her head, likely where she had been hit and as Applejack dragged her out, they found her right hip bone was sticking out of her skin, along with some gashes across her waist.

“I’ve got this.” Sunset faced one palm towards her. “Pegasus Fantasy, work your magic.”

Her Stand returned and after raising its arms out again, Rarity’s body began to heal, and the blood on her body and head began to snake back to her wounds, before everything returned to normal. Once all that was done, Rarity’s eyes fluttered open and she attempted to sit up.

"Phew, it really takes a toll on you..." Sunset staggered back, almost falling on her butt. It seemed this skill wasn't something she could keep using carelessly.

“W-What… is going on?” She rubbed the top of her head and groaned. “Applejack? Fluttershy? Pinkie? And… Sunset Shimmer? And who’s that? He’s hot.”

“Yep, Rarity’s all back to normal now.” Applejack rose as she helped Rarity up. “Good ta have ya back to normal.”

“I remember… that I was taken against my will. Someone tried to control my mind.”

“Nope. They actually managed to control your mind.” Pinkie dug out a potted plant from her skirt pocket and waved it around. “Just like how I have this plant! They had you in the palm of their hands, whoever they are. They want to take over the world.”

“I can’t believe it.” She placed a hand against her forehead and pretended to faint. “We were being used in some grand scheme of some world domination plot. Do we have leads?”

“Nothing yet. We were going to plan out our next move when you attacked us.” Jojo reached a hand out to her. “Jostle Joyride. You can call me Jojo.”

“That’s an interesting name.” Rarity took his hand. “For an interesting gentleman.”

“Uh, yeah okay. Ah think we better head back and gather some information before the next agent strikes,” Applejack said. “They know who we are. They’ll stop at nothin’ ta make sure we never find out who the real felon is.”

Seeing the sense that Applejack was speaking, the group left the now roofless warehouse, with Jojo in the lead. Little did they know that atop a nearby building stood a rainbow-haired girl, watching them with narrowed eyes as a blue scarf fluttered behind her in the wind.

“So you beat Rarity, did you?” she said slowly as she put a toothpick between her lips. “Well, you won’t get far. Not when I’m your next opponent. And your last.”


> Chapter 3: Running on Ice
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Come on, Jojo, come on!” Applejack yelled.

She was seated at the safe house’s table, one arm on the table clasping Jojo’s other arm, with both of them straining against the other, trying to beat the other. The muscles on their arms throbbed and glistened with sweat, as their arms fought to overcome the other.

“No way I’ll be losing to you,” Jojo grunted, his teeth clenched together. “Check out my muscles.”

“Oh yeah?” Applejack chuckled. “Highwayman!”

Her Stand’s arm pushed alongside hers and instantly, Jojo’s arm went down and the man flipped over the table and landed on the floor.

“Close match, AJ.” Jojo dusted his jacket and got up.

“Close?” Applejack blew a raspberry. “Keep dreamin’. Ya ain’t got nothin’ on these guns.”

“Well, uh now that all that is done.” Sunset Shimmer tapped a pencil on her clipboard to get their attention. “We still need to find out where Rainbow Dash will be.”

“Ah yes, that’s right.” Jojo removed his cap and slicked back his hair with one hand.

With Rarity being rescued from the mind control of their mysterious enemy, Rainbow Dash was the only one of the group of friends that the enemy still had control over. Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack and Rarity had decided it would be in their best interest to get her back before doing anything else. Sunset didn’t disagree with them. Perhaps if she had a friend that was being manipulated by someone else, she’d try to save them too.

“Well, Rainbow frequents sports places other than school.” Rarity pointed out. “But like me, I am sure she will be looking for you to stop you. It should only be a matter of going out there as bait. I’m sure she’ll come.”

“I know a good place,” Fluttershy said from a little corner where a few laptops sat. From the tip of her fingers of her left hand came spectral wires that disappeared into the sides of the computers.

The screens had screens after screen of code and videos popping up, showing various cameras across the city of different attractions. She had explained her Stand, Florence, to Sunset the night before. Florence was a series of wires that could extend from her hand to control any kind of electronics, and that meant getting into the security systems across the city through the wi-fi and internet.

“The Canterlot Stadium.” Fluttershy pointed at the laptop screens with her free hand. “It has enough space for a fight and Rainbow loved that place. She should find us easily if we go there.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Applejack placed one hand on the brim of her hat, then the other crossed over her chest and ended with the palm facing up. “If we wait in the tunnels, we could surprise her, while someone acts as a decoy in the center.”

“That’s a good idea, but what happened to always fighting the enemy one on one?” Sunset asked. She was indeed curious.

“Plans don’t always survive the battle.” Jojo put his cap back on and flexed one arm. “We’ll make do with what we have.”

“Uh… what does that mean?”

“Means, Sushi girl, we’ll see how it goes.” Jojo turned around and pointed a thumb behind himself. “Let’s get ready to go. Your friend will be waiting.”

“I’ll be bait,” Sunset volunteered. “The rest of you are more experienced at all this Stand stuff, so when Rainbow does show up, you can take her on.”

“Brave of you, Sushi. I like your fighting spirit.” Jojo gave her a pat on the back. “Let’s head out. We want to give her enough time to come find us.”

“Shouldn’t be too long. Rainbow’s a sharp one. She’ll be there.” Applejack pulled her hat lower. “We’ll get her back.”

The journey to the stadium was fast and without incident. Yet. Sunset sat on the back of White Buffalo again, while the others followed behind in a small red car that looked like it couldn’t fit even two people, yet the four of them had squeezed in there just fine. Fluttershy’s Stand had taken control of it from the street and Sunset hoped the owner wouldn’t be too pissed about their car not being there the next time they came to get it.

“Okay, everyone on alert.” Jojo waved to the others, then pointed to his eyes. “Stay frosty. Don’t wanna get caught off guard now, do we? For all we know, she’s already here.”

They had parked right in front of the stadium, along some railings and vending machines, where posters of baseball and soccer athletes lined the walls, some faded from the seasons, some newer and glossier. A door to Sunset’s left suddenly burst open, frightening her, but she calmed down when she realized it was just Pinkie.

“Sorry about that! I just moved this door over from the other side!” She snickered, then pointed inside. “We can go in here, while Sushi goes by the main entrance.”

“Swell idea, Pinkie.” Jojo pumped a fist to his other shoulder. “Okay, you know the plan, Sushi. Just look out for anyone who might look like a Stand user.”

“Just be careful, Sunset.” Rarity placed a hand on her shoulder. “And Rainbow’s not herself. I was fortunate that you didn’t finish me off. Please do the same for Rainbow if it comes to that.”

“Easier said than done.” Sunset trotted ahead while the rest of her group entered the stadium by Pinkie’s door. She’d only faced Jojo as of yet, and he had been going easy on her. She didn’t know if she would be able to get through a real fight like Pinkie had against Rarity. “Only one way to find out.”

The halls of the stadium were empty and quiet, allowing Sunset to hear every single step she took, no matter how quiet she tried to walk. There were no games going on today by the looks of it, but it seemed that there wasn’t even any training going on. It was just her and her little group of Stand users, which struck her as weird. The stadium was never this empty.

As she emerged back out into the open air, Sunset raised a hand over her eyes as she tried to survey her surroundings. The bleachers were all empty as well and there was no equipment set up in the middle, except for two posts that were probably used for high jumping.

“Odd indeed.” Sunset ran a hand over her chin as beads of sweat began to drip down her face from the summer’s sun above.

She didn’t know what else to do now but to wait. She was the bait in their grand plan and she just needed to wait and see if Rainbow Dash would show up. The others hadn’t told her what kind of Stand Rainbow used, but if it was anything to go on, Rarity’s Stand was quite the potent one. Rainbow’s would probably be as difficult.

Sunset was suddenly startled by the sound of someone clapping slowly. She whipped her body around and spotted someone sitting in the bleachers above the entrance she had come in from. She recognized Rainbow Dash immediately from her flowing rainbow colored hair. She had arm and knee guards on, like she was going to do some rollerblading, and she had a long blue scarf around her neck, which Sunset thought was a little crazy in this weather.

“So, Sunset Shimmer, the new girl.” Rainbow stood and planted one foot on the chair in front of her. “I didn’t think you were one of them. I’m actually a little surprised you’re here. Didn’t think much of you, to be honest.”

“Rainbow,” Sunset breathed and narrowed her eyes. “Someone’s got to stop your master. This isn’t right.”

“What does it matter what is right or not?” Rainbow put one arm in the palm of her other hand and tilted her head to one side. “You know what’s right? Power and awesomeness. And my master has both those qualities. She has all the power in the world to take what she wants.”

“So it’s a she, then,” Sunset said. That was a clue she hadn’t asked for, but she welcomed it all the same. “We’ll stop her, Rainbow. And we’ll get you back to your old self. You can count on that.”

“What are you going to do? Do you think you can beat me?” Rainbow bent back with laughter.

“Whether I am able to or not, the others will stop you. I’m sure of it.” Sunset put one foot forward, then raised a fist to her face, while her other arm crossed behind her back.

“The others, huh?” Rainbow prodded her cheek with her pinkie finger. “About that… They won’t be coming to help, Sunset. Let’s just say I’ve already taken care of them backstage. It’s just you and me now.”

“What?” Sunset’s bravado immediately faltered.

Rainbow knew they were coming and they walked right into her trap. Now she was the only one who could stop her. Wherever the others were, she had to find them, but first, she had to find a way to deal with Rainbow before she would suffer the same fate.

“Pegasus Fantasy!” Sunset called, as she ran forward.

Her Stand materialized near her and got into a fighting stance with both fists raised.

“You’ll find my Running on Ice will be more than you bargained for…” Rainbow twiddled two of her fingers together.

She jumped out of the bleachers and at the same time, her Stand appeared under her, clad in a blue jumpsuit and a blue helmet with a big orange arrow on it that ended past its nose. It raised its hands under Rainbow’s feet and ice formed into a slide, allowing Rainbow to make her way down to the ground level, where Sunset was.

Sunset closed the distance and Pegasus Fantasy began a flurry of straight punches, trying to hit Rainbow’s Stand. It raised an ice wall between them and the punches did nothing but crack the ice. Rainbow Dash sneered behind it as Running on Ice pushed the wall forward with one hand. It slid straight at Pegasus Fantasy and crashed into its snout. Sunset fell back a step and clutched at her nose as blood began to run down her face. The impact had broken her nose.

“Well, I must say, I didn’t think you would lose so quickly. This’ll be much faster than I thought!” Rainbow chuckled and folded her arms behind her head.

Sunset grunted and used her Stand to defend herself from a throw of three icicles. Then Pegasus Fantasy flew over the ice wall and dashed down towards Running on Ice faster than she could blink. Running on Ice was ready and it created a copy of itself as it rolled back to safety, followed by another trio of icicles being launched out to it as they materialized in the air from clouds of frost. Pegasus Fantasy smashed them with its fists, then returned to Sunset’s side.

Rainbow’s Stand lunged forward and created two daggers in its hands as it began to swing them at Pegasus Fantasy. It blocked with its arms, then grabbed both of Running on Ice’s hands as it tried to attack again. Pegasus Fantasy was stronger in terms of brute strength, but then Running on Ice dissolved into water and escaped the silver Stand’s grip, then formed under it and turned into a cloud of frost. Sunset felt her legs begin to burn from the cold and recalled Pegasus Fantasy to her side as Running on Ice resumed its humanoid form.

“Running on Ice can go on forever, but you won’t.” Rainbow slapped her knee and laughed. “The air has moisture and as long as there is any form of water in the air, I can use it however I like. It can also change its state from solid to liquid or to gas. Running on Ice can also model anything to use as a weapon and use anything in the air as a weapon. That would include even the sweat on your face. Watch.”

She snapped her fingers and Sunset soon felt a burning sensation on her face, as though it was hardening, drying up and breaking. She screamed and grabbed for her face as ice began to spread across her forehead, cheeks and now her hands.

“Your body will be frozen, your blood, your organs…” Rainbow folded her arms and grinned smugly at the freezing Sunset. “Once everything stops working, you will die and all that will remain of you will be the husk of what was once human. It was nice knowing you, Sunset, but I’ve got cool things to do, so just give it up, yeah?”

Sunset’s vision began to change color, with the sky turning pink and the red running track under her feet turning green, all the while the ice continued to creep across her body, freezing her from the inside. She found that she could no longer breathe as the ice seeped into her lungs. If she didn’t think of something soon, it was all going to be over.

No, she wasn’t going to give up, not here, not now. There was still a chance she had yet to try, but she was going to take it.

“I’ve one more secret for you, Rainbow,” Sunset said as she felt the ice creep into her stomach. “And it’s how I’m going to beat you.”

“Uh huh, yeah, sure.” Rainbow waved a hand nonchalantly at her. “You believe that.”

“Yes. I’ve never used it before, so it doesn’t exactly have a name, but I’m going to call it…” Sunset closed her eyes and pictured her Stand.

Pegasus Fantasy floated into the air behind Sunset, then dived down to her and enveloped its body around her. The silver armor began to open and fold over Sunset’s body and soon, she was encased in a silver armor that was once her Stand. With her Stand’s power, Sunset reset the molecules in her body, removing the ice and allowing her to breathe once again.

“Fantasy armor,” Sunset named it.

“You’re moving again!” Rainbow widened her eyes in disbelief.

Sunset pointed a finger at her opponent and put a serious look on her face. “You see, my Stand has the power to reset something to its natural form, and that means removing your ice from inside and outside my body. Now that we have become one, my defenses have gone up and your ice will no longer affect me for one minute, because my body will remain in a state before my battle with you, which is how long my armor lasts as well, where Pegasus Fantasy’s power becomes my own. The more I tap into Pegasus Fantasy’s power, the less time I’ll have to use its armor. But I won’t need the whole minute. I’ll end this fight in ten seconds.”

“We’ll see about that!”

Rainbow hopped back as Running on Ice glided past her, conjuring balls of ice to throw at her. Sunset deflected both of them with her wings and as ice began to seep into her skin, she activated her Stand’s power and nullified the frost. Running on Ice tried using icicles, but Sunset closed the distance and grabbed the Stand around the neck. It reached up and tried to freeze her hands, but Sunset reset the molecules on her arms and the frost disappeared. Sunset cut down on Running on Ice’s elbows, breaking its grip, then raising both fists, she began delivering hit after hit to the enemy Stand’s face.

“Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!”

She drew one hand down, then with an almighty ‘neigh’, she delivered the finishing blow, her fist rocketing sky high as it connected with Running on Ice’s chin, launching it and Rainbow back, with the latter falling to the ground in a bloody mess.

Sunset took one step back, then crossed her arms and placed her legs closely together. Once her Fantasy armor dissipated, she rushed forward and got Pegasus Fantasy to reset Rainbow Dash, healing her wounds and removing the mind control from her. It took a great deal to do, with her heart still pumping from the fight, but with nothing bothering her now, she soon got it done.

“That should do it.” She nodded, satisfied with her work. She was really getting the hang of things now. “Now I better go see what she had done to the others.”

Sunset found the rest of her group in a locker room in the back, frozen against a row of lockers. With a quick reset, the ice was gone and they were all back to normal, though a little dazed after being inactive for so long.

“What happened?” Rarity asked, falling to the ground in a heap. “Sunset? Why are you here?”

“She caught us off guard. That was a good one.” Jojo shook himself, then began smoothing out his hair.

“Well, uh, I got her.” Sunset forced down a smile as she looked at their surprised faces. “Yeah, she’s out in the field. It was tough, but I managed it.”

“Nice one Sushiiiii!” Pinkie Pie tackled her in a hug. “I knew you could do this!”

“Yeah, that’s a good job done, Su-Sunset.” Fluttershy gave her a friendly pat.

“That indeed.” Jojo flashed her a grin of white teeth, with one sparkling under the ceiling lights. “That’s your whole group back together, Applejack.”

“Well, we gotta go get Rainbow back home first. Ah don’t trust leavin’ her out there on her own,” Applejack said. “But mighty fine work, Sunset. Couldn’ta done better maself.”

“Come on. You can tell us how you did it on the way.” Jojo gestured to the doorway. “On we go!”



The room was dark and musty, smelling something of smoke and old donuts, with nothing more than a single lightbulb illuminating the square space. In the corner, behind a desk, sat a lone figure, her chair turned to face away from the main door.

A knock came, followed by the clear of a throat.

“Enter,” the figure said.

The door was pushed open slowly and a girl with a head full of white hair entered, stopping after only taking a few steps into the room. The door was shut behind her, plunging the room back into its darkened state.

“Report,” the figure asked.

She cleared her throat again. “Rarity and Rainbow Dash have been taken by them, master. That makes five victories against you, master. Trixie thinks you need a new plan.”

Suddenly her head throbbed with pain and she was forced down on her knees as her skin began to peel and bubble.

“You will do well not to tell me what to do. I own you now. You are mine to use as I see fit.” The figure twiddled with a phone in her hands. “I’m sending your team out. You will do well to end this threat to my rule, Trixie. I do not tolerate failure.”

“I will not fail you, master…!” Trixie planted her hands and forehead down on the floor. “I will eliminate them, my team and I.”

“You will see to it. I will not have my grand schemes crumble around me before even a taste of complete control is mine.” She waved her fingers and Trixie’s head returned to normal. “Now go, hunt them down. Ensure my rule will forever be uncontested.”


> Chapter 4: Let the Bodies Hit the Floor
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I can’t believe I was so easily controlled just like that!” Rainbow Dash complained on their way out of the Canterlot stadium. “You girls know how awesome I am. My mind isn’t that easily taken over.”

“Pffft, as if.” Applejack folded her arms. “But it ain’t up to ya, Rainbow. Whoever’s behind this, takin’ control of our minds and all, they’re powerful. It must be their Stand power.”

“It makes it better when you say it like this…” Pinkie snickered, then puffed out her chest and stuck one arm to her side, then the other diagonally up. “STANDO POWAH!”

“Ah mean, Ah guess…” Applejack leaned away from her.

“So, uh, other than that, what’s our next course of action now?” Sunset Shimmer asked. “We’ve gotten everyone back. What do we do next?”

Jojo toyed around with the cap on his head. “That’s right. Rainbow, do you recall anything else? Anything in your time as an enemy Stand user.”

“Not much, I can tell you.” Rainbow threw her arms down. “The last thing I fully remember before you guys saved me was heading to the mall to get some new sports pants. After that it comes in bits. A cold dark room, smoke and shadows, groups of others who were like us, even jumping from rooftop to rooftop with Running on Ice, but nothing concrete. I’m sorry I can’t give you more.”

“It’s more than the last time...” Fluttershy said. “Each time one of us is released from the master’s mind control, we seem to remember a bit more. It’s almost like they built up a wall and each time we take a piece out of it, the entire thing weakens.”

“Maybe. But that’s all maybes. We’ll have to test this theory.” Jojo pulled at the corners of his leather jacket. “Sushi here’s already learnt much about her own Stand, Pegasus Fantasy. My word, she can even merge with it to become the Stand herself. I’ve never seen anything like that done.”

“So what are you getting at, Jojo dear?” Rarity asked, never once breaking eye contact with the man. Sunset laughed internally at her incredible infatuation with him.

“What I’m saying is Sunset can handle herself. I think whatever comes our way, no matter what, we’ll be able to find a way to beat them.” Jojo smashed a fist into his palm.

“Cool and awesome and all, but who’s Sushi?” Rainbow interrupted. “Seriously, who is it?”

Sunset sighed. She didn’t want to have to keep explaining this whenever they rescued someone. “That’ll be me, Rainbow. It’s sort of a name my old friends used to call me. Just the first bits of my name, Sunset Shimmer.”

At first, Rainbow continued to raise one eyebrow and stare blankly at her, but that slowly shifted and both eyebrows went up, then the corners of her mouth. “Oohhhhhhh, I get it! Nice. Good on you, Sunset. It makes me think of food.”

“I know, right?” Pinkie zipped out from between her legs and in front of her. “It makes me want to get something to eat! We should go to the mall! They have sushi there!”

“Then to the mall we go.” Jojo flashed a smile that made Rarity’s knees feel weak. “We’ll have to keep an eye out for any more enemy Stand users. Once we take them down, perhaps we’ll get another piece of the clue as to who our evil mastermind really is.”

Sunset hadn’t realized it until now, but she was indeed hungry. She hadn’t eaten anything all day and fighting Rainbow earlier had made her want to get a bite, so perhaps this was a good idea. So it was decided they would go to Knightland Mall, the closest one to the stadium. She once again went with Jojo on White Buffalo, while the other five girls piled into the red car they stole. Sunset guessed they wouldn’t have much longer to use it. The owner must already be looking for it. If they didn’t want the authorities coming after them, they’ll have to do something about that ride once they get to the mall.

It was only a four minute ride to the mall from the stadium and they found a quiet spot in an alley to park where no one would see them. Once the girls got out of the car, Sunset used her Stand to reset it, removing all their fingerprints and dead skin cells to make sure it would remain a mystery as to who took this car.

“I quite liked this ride, but I guess finding another one wouldn’t hurt.” Rainbow began to whistle as they walked away from it.

Being summer break, the mall was quite packed and there were already plenty of people just standing or sitting around the main foyer on the first floor, just chatting with each other or using their phones. It would be hard to spot an enemy Stand user here, but it might also deter an open attack. Sunset was sure to still keep her eyes peeled, no matter what.

“There, the sushi place!” Pinkie ran there excitedly, her legs looking like pinwheels as she sped off. “I’ll get us a table!”

The inside of the restaurant was dim and the black painted walls were decorated with red flower designs, while the backings of the booths and seats were all layered with nice wooden frames. There was a conveyor belt going through most of the place, and people could take the plates of sushi they desired as they moved through the restaurant.

Pinkie was seated at a booth near the back of the restaurant, and she waved at them vigorously once they came in sight of her. “Nice place, right? I know! I know! Maud and I have come here a few times. Everything’s prepared so well!”

“But sushi is raw, ain’t it?” Applejack let the others shuffle into the booth seat before she sat at the end. “Ain’t much cookin’ to be done.”

“Sushi tastes better when you cut it just right!” Pinkie explained.

“Wait, is this true?” Rarity asked as she pulled up a menu. “How does cutting change the way it tastes? Sounds like a myth to me, darling.”

“I guess it really is up to your opinion.” Jojo looked at the rest of the place. “Not bad finding a seat here, Pinkie. Doesn’t look like there are many other seats right now. This must be a good place.”

“Of course it is, silly!” Pinkie stretched her arm over to the conveyor belt and grabbed a plate of salmon. “I know a good eatery when I see one! Perks of being a Pinkie Pie.”

Sunset picked one piece up in her chopsticks and shoved it down her mouth. True to Pinkie’s word, it was indeed tasty, but she couldn’t verify all that talk about the cut making it taste better, but still, she would eat more of this. It had a curious taste, eating a fish raw, but it wasn't a bad one.

“We should come here more often,” Rarity commented as she swallowed a mouthful of fish. “This sashimi is divine!” 

Applejack was having trouble, and while the rest had finished plates of food, she was still on her first, trying to figure out how to use her chopsticks. “How in San Hill am Ah supposed to use this black magic?”

Without missing a beat, Pinkie reached into her pocket and pulled out a plastic fork, offering it to Applejack. “I’ll have to show you how to use chopsticks sometime,” she said as she picked up a plate of tempura prawn off the conveyor belt and started eating it. “If we end up having to go to Japan or China everyone will be using them.”

“Well this ain’t Japan or China, this here’s America. And here in America, we use knives and forks.”

“Spoons…” Fluttershy reminded.

“What?”

“We use spoons too.” She mimicked digging a spoon into something and then putting it in her mouth. She suddenly wobbled and put a hand to her head.

“Or you could just forget all that garbage and use a splayd,” Rainbow said with a nod.

“A what?” Rarity queried. Then she too put a hand to her head. “Ouch…”

“It’s like a fusion of a fork, knife, and spoon,” Rainbow explained. “I saw it on…” she blinked a few times and took a deep breath. “Does this place seem a little too small to you guys?”

“It actually does…” Jojo wiped a drop of sweat from her brow. “I think it’s too cramped sitting here with you girls and my big muscles.”

“Ah’m feelin’ it too and Ah’m out in the aisle.” Applejack took off her hat and started fanning herself with it. “This ain’t a nice feelin’.”

Sunset started feeling it too. It was as though the walls on all sides were closing around their booth and their booth was closing in around them. It was like the restaurant was trying to bury them and it was taking away her ability to breathe and to move.

“Air! I need air!” Rarity tried to exit the booth, but slid onto the floor in a faint before she could properly get out.

Rainbow began grabbing at her throat, then stumbled over Rarity’s legs and smacked her face into the floor and stopped moving.

“This ain’t normal,” Applejack told Jojo. “We can’t all be havin’ panic attacks all at once!”

Jojo nodded and clenched his fists, trying to keep himself under control. “This must be the work of an enemy Stand.”

"He really likes to say that," Sunset said.

All around them, other patrons in the restaurant also started feeling like they couldn’t breathe and some of them were falling out of their seats and gasping on the floor. Pinkie was still sitting, but she seemed to have locked up, a piece of sushi halfway to her mouth.

“We need to find the one behind this…!” Sunset got up, but her vision started turning dark around the corners. Before she knew it, she fell back into her seat and curled up, unable to breathe as she felt the walls press against her from all sides.

“I refuse to be done in… by a Stand user who won’t even show themselves and fight…!” Rainbow gasped out from the floor. She had regained consciousness somehow. Sunset then saw the arms of Running on Ice pressing against Rainbow’s chest and back, cooling her down and helping her think a little more clearly.

“They must be within sight. They must know we’re in here.” Jojo tried to take calm breaths. “Look out for anyone not suffering from this! White Buffalo, go!”

Jojo’s Stand wisped into action and drove through the closest wall, smashing it to pieces and allowing him to step outside. Out here, the air was cleaner and the claustrophobia started to dissipate.

“So it works on smell…” Jojo looked back inside to see everyone still struggling with the cramped feeling. “It hasn’t affected anyone out here. The Stand user must be inside.”

“Observant, aren’t you?” A figure in a white dress with a train made out of netting. The arms of the dress split into four strips that flailed around as she struck a pose with her head tilted to the side and her left hand touching her cheek, while her right pointed at Jojo like an arrow. “My name’s Sweetie Drops, and yes, my Stand, Drowning Pool, induces the feeling of claustrophobia, and it makes all the bodies hit the floor. Except yours, it would seem. Once my effect has taken enough hold of them, their hearts will cease to beat from the extreme sense of the feeling of being crushed!”

“Unless I stop you first.” Jojo slid one leg forward, then crossed his arms like he was holding two guns. “Now that I know your secret, you won’t affect me.”

White Buffalo spun around and drove towards her, its skull poised to strike. From within Sweetie Drops emerged a Stand that looked like a drenched red skeleton cloaked in faded blue tatters, except it didn’t have a lower half. Its body ended in a sharpened spine, which floated over the ground. It grabbed the horns of White Buffalo and stopped it right before it could crash into Sweetie.

From its skeletal eyeholes, nose and mouth, it spewed gas into the motorcycle’s face. Jojo was quick to grab a handkerchief from his jacket and tie it around his face, but he still inhaled a bit and he started feeling like the mall was now closing in on him.

No, she won’t get me.

Pressing the handkerchief tightly against his nose, Jojo held his breath and willed for his Stand to attack. White Buffalo’s horns extended from the skull, spiraling up into the air before they split in two directions. Drowning Pool caught the first one in one hand, but the other came around behind it and speared it right through the stomach. Blood sprayed from its decaying skeletal form somehow, and then did the same from Sweetie Drops’ abdomen.

“Aah!” She gasped and backed up, clutching at her gut as her dress began to stain red.

“I’ve still got some tricks up my sleeve.” Jojo waved a hand in front of his face, then pointed both his feet together.

Drowning Pool recovered and reared its spine end up, brandishing it like a bee’s stinger. It floated forward, stabbing it towards White Buffalo, who reversed, then launched its skull towards the enemy Stand. It stopped the skull again, but as the two horns shot out of it like twin snakes, it managed to grab both of them in a tight grip.

“You can’t use the same trick twice on me. I learn,” Sweetie Drops laughed.

“Who said I was still using the same trick?” Jojo flicked his greasy fringe to one side. “I call this move Faster than Fire!”

From the motorcycle’s headlight below the skull blew fire in a steady stream, covering all of Drowning Pool except for its arms. Sweetie Drops was instantly set ablaze like her Stand and she began flailing around as she stumbled around the inside of the Japanese restaurant.

Once Jojo was satisfied with his damage, he stopped the fire and Drowning Pool fell away from White Buffalo, still on fire. “That’s that.”

All of a sudden, a huge wave of panic hit him and it was almost like the entire mall had suddenly shrunk in a single breath around him, trapping him in a space the size of a shoebox. He tried to inhale, but he found no oxygen filling his lungs and he crashed to his hands and knees on the floor.

From above, the water sprinklers activated from the fire he had set and began putting it out. Drowning Pool rose to its upright form, wagging one finger in front of him.

“You didn’t think breathing in Drowning Pool’s panic gas was the only way for me to get to you, did you?” Sweetie Drops stepped out of the restaurant’s hole, the fire on her also put out. “While you breathed your fire on Drowning Pool, it was the perfect chance to mask its attack as it stabbed your Stand with its spine. The tip of its spine also acts as a syringe, injecting your Stand and you with the gas’ chemicals. It is already seeping across your body, making its way to your brain and once it reaches there, it will be more potent than just inhaling the panic gas. Why, you might just die instantly as your heart gives out.”

As Jojo fell to his side, he tried to think of anything to stop Sweetie Drops, but with the claustrophobia closing in all around him, he could do nothing more but pass out as the water sprinklers continued to douse him.


> Chapter 5: In the Drowning Pool
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the sprinklers activated, Rainbow Dash felt the water splashing down atop her head and she looked up. The ice she had spread across her body helped with maintaining a better level of calmness, but it hadn’t removed the feeling of the room trying to crush her. Now with the water all around her, she finally had an idea and called up Running on Ice again. A mask made out of ice appeared on both her Stand’s face and hers, and after a few seconds, she found she could find her bearings once more and have a clearer mind. The walls stopped feeling like they were pushing in on her and she was feeling all kinds of awesome once again.

“Awesome!” Rainbow cheered and got up.

The entire restaurant was full of people on the floor now, with some of them already still and unmoving. She guessed that meant their hearts had already stopped. She turned to her friends to check on them and was glad to find they were still alive, but barely. Using her Stand, Rainbow gave them similar masks, hoping it would get them back in shape soon.

“How are you still up and running?”

Rainbow looked past her booth to see Sweetie Drops stalking towards her. Her white dress and skin were charred, but very much still alive.

“Sweetie Drops? You’re the one behind this?” Rainbow got into a defensive stance and kept both eyes on her.

“Yes, Drowning Pool is capable of inducing claustrophobia through his panic gas or his spine stinger.” She conjured up her Stand, which floated out of her body and slightly behind her. “Your friend Jojo has already made the mistake of facing me. I would say he could’ve won, and he did quite the number on me, but he miscalculated his victory by a mile. But you should be down. How dare you still live.”

“Simple trick, really.” Rainbow Dash tapped the frozen mask on her face. “With Running on Ice, I can control ice through any kind of moisture, and I can also change the form of it, be it solid, liquid, or gas. We all know how water has a small component of oxygen in it. I can regulate its contents within these masks and keep your toxic gas away from me while being able to breathe at the same time.”

“Not unless I sting you!” Sweetie Drops stretched her arms out to her sides. “Drowning Pool, finish her off with your stinger!”

The skeletal Stand lunged forward with a low growl, then spun upside down and jabbed its spine forward like a scorpion. Running on Ice created a wall of ice between them, but the spine still pierced right through the solid block, forcing Rainbow back a few steps. Her Stand began firing off balls of ice at the enemy Stand, but it dodged each one as its body contorted and swayed from left to right to avoid all of them.

From below, she created a boot of ice, which swung up and kicked into Drowning Pool, catching it off guard and knocking it into the ceiling. Not wasting time, Running on Ice pointed its fingers up and began firing nail sized icicles, embedding them all over its body. Sweetie Drops felt them pierce her flesh all around her body and she glared at Rainbow with a death stare.

“I’ll show you pain!” She raised both hands and gritted her teeth together.

Drowning Pool picked up a handful of knives from the service counter of the restaurant and hurled them at Rainbow Dash. She used Running on Ice to swat them away, but Sweetie Drops was clever and flung a second volley of knives while Rainbow was deflecting the first. Two got into Running on Ice’s left shoulder, while one hit it in the right thigh. Blood sprayed from the Stand’s wound, and it reflected on Rainbow’s body, where she dropped to a knee as she grasped her wounds in her hands.

Running on Ice tried to punch the other Stand, but instead, Drowning Pool delivered one punch to its face, then another, followed by a shoulder charge, sending the Stand flying back into the conveyor belt, scattering sushi all over the place. Rainbow felt each blow and now she had blood running down the side of her head and her nose.

“You won’t win, Rainbow. The master will have your head for betraying her.” Sweetie Drops waved her fingers. “This has gone on long enough, won’t you agree? Just let me finish it and we can all go our separate ways.”

Drowning Pool floated ever so slowly towards Rainbow, its spine twitching back and forth as it readied to stab it into her body to deliver its deadly payload. Its empty sockets stared at her and even though she couldn’t see its eyes, she knew that whatever look it was giving her, it was one of evil.

“No. This is far from over.” Rainbow looked on as the water from above continued to fall all around them. “Thanks, Jojo. You’ve forgotten one important thing, Sweetie.”

“Oh?” Drowning Pool stopped in its tracks. “What do you mean? Do tell.”

“Running on Ice, like I’ve already said, can create ice from the moisture in the air.” Rainbow pushed back to her feet. “You might’ve taken Jojo out, but he’s already done one thing for me.”

“Oh? What did he do?”

Rainbow stretched her arms out and rotated her body. “He’s given me the ultimate playing field. Yes, the water from the sprinklers all around us, the moisture in the air has grown tremendously and now you’re going to be sorry you challenged the awesome Rainbow Dash! Now, absolute zero!”

Sweetie Drops realized her predicament seconds too late as Running on Ice swung its arms out. The water coming down from the sprinklers instantly turned to ice and everything on Sweetie and Drowning Pool was frozen, sticking them to the ground and ceiling. The skeletal Stand tried to lunge forward and sting Running on Ice, but it was frozen solid a whole foot away from it.

Sweetie’s mouth was open and frozen in a scream, but she could not move or even command her Stand to do anything. The battle was over.

“That’s why you don’t mess with Rainbow Dash!” She pointed a hand at herself, then struck a pose, making her arms into a giant ‘L’.

All around, the people in the restaurant began to awaken one by one, except for those who had already died, they stayed on the ground. Rainbow left the immobilized Sweetie Drops and went over to help her friends back onto their feet. It took a bit of shaking, but finally everyone was awake once more, her ice masks helping to regulate oxygen into their systems.

“Rainbow? Did you do it?” Rarity woke in a daze. She inspected the ice all around the restaurant. “A bit overkill, won’t you say?”

Rainbow shrugged. “The sprinklers were on. I just used it to my advantage.”

“Sushi!” Pinkie Pie suddenly sprang to life and took a bite of the now soggy salmon on the table. “Sushi in the rain! Just like Sunset!”

“Yeah?” Sunset righted herself and swiped her wet hair out of her face. “That’s right. Though nothing Pegasus Fantasy can’t solve. Let’s just get out of here first.”
--------------------------------------JO-JO------------------------------------
“She really caught me off guard. I could’ve been much more careful.” Jojo accepted a glass of water from Fluttershy. “But right on, Rainbow, freezing her up like that. Nice touch.”

“It was nothing. The water was thanks to you, anyway.” Rainbow gave him a friendly punch on the arm.

“Yeah… thought I had her.” Jojo rubbed his stomach where he felt he had been pierced.

Thanks to Sunset’s Stand, he was feeling good as new now. And dry too. They all were. Now the group was seated at the mall’s fountain, which was situated in the middle of the main foyer, between two escalators. Rainbow had thawed out Sweetie and Sunset was now in the process of resetting her mind to remove the mind control on her.

She knew Sweetie. She was another girl from CHS, though they never talked even once before, Sunset had seen her going about, usually with her friend, Lyra Heartstrings. Sunset shuddered to think that Lyra would be under the enemy’s control as well.

“And done,” Sunset said, removing her hand from atop Sweetie Drop’s forehead, where Pegasus Fantasy’s hand was, overlayed with hers.

Sweetie Drops’ eyes fluttered open and she rubbed at them, followed by a very odd sounding, “Huh?”

“Sweetie, you’re okay again!” Pinkie wrapped her in a bear hug and squeezed her hard. “It’s awful, right? Being in control of that nasty master.”

“I can’t believe we did such things…” She rubbed her head and looked at everyone. “Sunset Shimmer is here too? And who’s this?”

“Jostle Joyride at your service, but you can call me Jojo.” The man held a hand out for her to shake. “Do you remember anything? Anything at all that can point us to the master?”

“It’s strange, I actually don’t remember a whole lot…” Sweetie scratched at her cheek and narrowed one eye in thought. “It’s as though my memory’s shrouded in fog. I don’t remember much of what happened, but I do recall a dark room where we get our assignments. I was part of a team. I think Trixie called it the Bully Squad.”

Pinkie, Applejack and Jojo couldn’t help but burst into laughter, with the man falling on the floor and rolling around, much to the wonder and irritation of the other mall patrons.

“Bully Squad, really? That’s the best they came up with?” He wiped tears from his eyes and sat up from the floor. “Funny name aside, what else can you tell us about your squad?”

“It’s made up of people from school. Most of us awakened to our abilities recently, and we never really showed our powers to each other, so I don’t know what else might come after you.”

“But ya know who, don’tcha?” Applejack asked. “Ya know who else is on your team? Ya mentioned Trixie.”

Sunset knew Trixie too. Then again, she didn’t think any soul in school wouldn’t know her. She was a loud and obnoxious girl, always craving attention and fame with her magic tricks and skills.

“Trixie was our leader,” Sweetie Drops continued. “She was the one to receive our assignments from the master before delegating them to us.”

“So Trixie might know who the master is.” Rainbow looked to her friends. “Do you know what this means? If we take on the Bully Squad, we might eventually find out who’s pulling our legs here!”

“Pulling the strings.”

“What?” Rainbow turned to Rarity.

“It’s pulling the strings, darling. Pulling your leg means pranking you.” Rarity explained. “This is a quandary though. Pegasus Fantasy’s power to reset things seems to partially reset the states of our minds before we met the mastermind, at least partially.”

“So we hafta squeeze the enemy Stand users for info ‘afore Sunset resets ‘em?” Applejack asked.

“Oh? Well, how do we plan on doing that?” Rainbow waved her hands about. “They won’t want to talk and we have to make sure they can’t use their Stands too.”

“We can have Rainbow freeze them again!” Pinkie bounced around the group, even into the fountain and then out again. “It worked on Sweetie!”

“It’ll depend on what kind of Stand we’re up against.” Jojo folded his arms and sighed. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Sushi, your next words are, ‘But what do we do now?’”

“But what do we do- Wow, seriously, how do you do that?” Sunset looked at him. She wasn’t even mad. That was an amazing skill.

“Nothing else we can do except wait to see who comes after us next.” Jojo looked around the mall and at the damage they had caused earlier. “I think we should grab some food to go and get well away from here.”

“How do they know where to find us all the time anyway?” Rainbow asked. “They must have some way to locate us without us knowing, unless everything has been just dumb luck.”

“Sorry, I wish I could help you on this, but I don’t know how.” Sweetie Drops rubbed the back of her head and then looked down at her knees. “Though I think…”

When she didn’t continue, the rest of them looked at her. Sweetie Drops was looking down at her hand, where there was now some sort of black ball that was growing in size on the back of her palm.

“What is that?” Everyone stood up and Pinkie even walked over to prod it. It burst and a new one began growing on Sweetie’s hand, while Pinkie’s finger now had one as well. “It’s like some sort of mushroom!”

“That’s not a mushroom, Pinkie,” Applejack said. “Doesn’t even look like one.”

“Well, whatever it is, it’s heavy!” Pinkie tipped to one side and fell, landing on the black orb first, while the rest of her body floated in the air above it for a few seconds, before falling flat on top of it. “Sticky too. Don’t get it in your mouth.”

From the fountain, more of these orbs began to rise and they slowly started to coat Sweetie Drops and Pinkie as they landed on their bodies.

“They keep coming!” Rarity squealed as one touched her right knee. She jumped back, and would’ve done so again, but they were getting bigger and heavier. “I can’t move!”

“This must be the work of an enemy Stand,” Jojo hissed. “I didn’t think we would be under attack again so quickly.”

“Next you’re going to say ‘we need to find the enemy Stand user quickly’,” Sunset said.

“We should spread out and search for clues.” Jojo pointed to various parts of the mall. “Oh, but yeah, we need to find the enemy Stand.”

“Drat. I thought I had you.” Sunset swung an arm down. “Uh, Pinkie, Rarity, Sweetie, just uh, stay here.”

“We’re not going anywhere.” Rarity pointed to the black orb on her knee. “I hate this.”

With that said, they scattered and sped around the mall, hoping to find the perpetrator before it was too late. Unfortunately, none of them saw her as she peeked out from a door to the maintenance hall, a smile plastered on her mint colored face.

“Come face me, Sushi and friends, I am ready for you.”


> Chapter 6: Black Violin's Song
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack, Sunset Shimmer and Fluttershy patrolled down the second floor of the Knightland Mall, trying to find out where the black orbs were coming from. From what they could tell, the orbs were coming from the fountain, but that didn’t make sense. There was nowhere for any Stand user to hide out there in the open. Applejack had explained to Sunset all about Stands and the different ranges they could travel, varying from user to user. Her Stand, Highwayman, could travel about thirty feet away, while Fluttershy’s Florence couldn’t even really leave her body.

Whoever was using these black orbs was creating them somewhere else.

“What about below the fountain?” Sunset theorized. “What if these things can pass through surfaces? They could be coming from the basement.”

Fluttershy reared her head up. “Th-the maintenance halls. It’s how the shipments to stores get in. It should lead down to the basements for storage a-and electricity, water, you know…”

“We ain’t got a better idea. Let’s check it out.” Applejack nodded and ushered them back towards the escalator.

The black orbs from the fountain were still rising, floating all around the mall now as they seemed to search for their next targets. Some of the regular people around the mall, though they couldn’t see the black orbs, were getting weighed down by them and found that they were unable to move. As for Sweetie Drops, Pinkie and Rarity, they were quite covered in the things now, almost unrecognizable except for the mass of black near the fountains. They would have to find the culprit fast, or risk them being suffocated.

The three girls skirted through people as they rushed for the escalator. Applejack almost bumped a woman with three full shopping bags off the escalator, but they were in a rush and every second counted towards rescuing their friends.

Friends.

Sunset thought about that word. Was she ready to call them friends already? She had only really talked to them in the last few days since meeting Jojo outside school. It was barely enough time to call them proper friends.

Acquaintances. That’s a better word.

She wasn’t sure if she was ready for friends again, after everything that had happened, after escaping Equestria for this world. But that would have to wait for later. Sweetie, Rarity and Pinkie needed them now, and friends or no, Sunset couldn’t just let them die for nothing.

The door to the maintenance halls was painted red, a sharp contrast from the peach walls all around the mall. Pressing down on the handle, Applejack forced it open, the first in as she kept her speed up, never once stopping to look around the corner, just in case.

“A-Applejack, wait up.” Fluttershy followed behind, her hands close to her chest as she warily darted her head around the hall.

The lights here were dim and there were pipes running along the top half of the walls and the ceiling, where occasionally, water would drip down onto them. It didn’t smell particularly good, but there was nothing to be done about that right now.

“The maintenance people have it bad…” Fluttershy gulped as they made their way through the halls.

So far, it had all been a straight path, curving and zig zagging behind the various stores, but then they eventually came across a door on the right side of the wall that read, ‘Boiler room’.

“Makes ya wonder if they still use those furnaces down there.” Applejack tried the handle, then pulled the door open, revealing a stairway leading down a red-lit corridor. There was the sound of machinery working down there, but nothing out of the ordinary.

“D-Do you think the enemy Stand user is down here?” Fluttershy squeaked, looking up and down at the dark path lower into the earth.

“I don’t see any other way under the fountain.” Sunset inched past them to be the first to step down the stairway. “Come on.”

As she took another few steps, she realized the other two had yet to make any. Finding it odd, she turned around and was about to ask them what was wrong, but then she saw two black orbs coming towards them from through the wall across the door. More were coming through and they were moving slowly, but steadily towards them.

“Come on, we need to move! Don’t touch them!” Sunset sent Pegasus Fantasy back up to yank Applejack and Fluttershy down the stairway.

She grabbed them just in time as more orbs began to appear through the wall, slowly descending down the stairs to their position.

“Run for it!” Sunset shoved both of them hard enough to get them running.

It was no trouble getting away from the orbs, which moved at about the speed of a balloon floating towards the ceiling, but more kept coming, now from the sides of the stairway as well, closing in on them.

Sunset made her decision and stopped to face them as Fluttershy and Applejack went on a few more steps.

“Sunset, what are ya doin’?” Applejack cried out in disbelief. “They’re gonna get’chu!”

“Go! I’ll buy you as much time as I can!” Pegasus Fantasy erupted from within her and began punching the orbs. They immediately stuck to its arms, but it kept up its attack, preventing more from descending further down the stairs. “Go!”

Fluttershy looked aghast, but Applejack pulled her arm and got her to get moving closer towards the boiler room. The stairway eventually led to another corridor, where there were more doors leading to rooms with machinations within, but none of them were for the fountain. The path zig-zagged around behind the staircase, followed by another six doors on the sides. Being under the stairway now, the black orbs were coming through the ceiling, gently floating towards Applejack and Fluttershy as they ran on.

“They keep coming!” Fluttershy squeaked. “There must be a way to stop them without touching them.”

“Ah’ve somethin’ in mind.” Applejack grabbed the edge of her hat and turned it on her head. “Highwayman, all yours!”

Her Stand swished into view, its jagged smile wide under the wide brim of its tricorn hat. As it readied its hands, its body began to glow green, then it looked as though blinds had been pulled over it, before a second Highwayman split out of the first, rushing forward as its spring-loaded arms began punching the black orbs with a sharp cry of fury.

“But that doesn’t work!” Fluttershy winced as one by one, the black orbs began attaching them to Highwayman’s hands.

“Time to test mah theory.” She continued punching with the second Highwayman, creating a tunnel of sorts through the orbs. “Go, git!”

Fluttershy ducked her head under the cluster of orbs, with Applejack following close after. Once she was through, the copy of Highwayman that was punching the orbs faded in a blur of movement, detaching the orbs, which just fell to the ground with the current weight they had.

“H-How did you do that?” Fluttershy asked, before Applejack kept her moving.

“Ah’ll explain later. We need to get to the fountain.” Applejack pointed ahead. At the end of the hall, the first door in the next corridor had the words ‘Fountain Control’ on it.

Highwayman reappeared and threw a single punch at the door, splintering it in half as Applejack did a flying kick into it, knocking both halves of the door aside as they entered the room. The lights here were tinted in a slight reddish tone, and there were three rows of generators and machines, along with a huge water tank with pipes leading up into the ceiling. Standing before the water tank was a familiar face, holding a long kitchen knife in one hand as she gave them a devilish grin.

“Lyra Heartstrings…” Applejack breathed and raised her hands defensively. “Should’a known it’d be you, after takin’ out Sweetie Drops.”

The mint colored girl was clad in a dirty pink top with holes dotted among it, with strings dangling down from above her shoulders, along with feathery green pants that ended at her thighs. The weirdest thing about her outfit, however, was the huge harp behind her back, slightly skewed, but it looked heavy and it took up a lot of space.

“Too bad you, will die.” Lyra struck a pose by tilting one foot up to its toes, and one arm in a ‘V’ shape horizontally from her body, with the other arm pointing at the two of them.

“Uh. Right.” Applejack cut one arm to her side. “Then have it your way. Highwayman!”

Applejack’s Stand launched out from her body in an aura of green energy, its arms already ready to strike.

“Black Violin, play your song!” Lyra slid one leg in an arc behind her.

A black and purple short figure popped its head down from the ceiling above and raised two metallic clawed arms towards Highwayman. Black orbs emerged from the center of its arms, sailing towards Applejack’s Stand.

“Splitting vertigo!” Applejack waved a hand and Highwayman’s copy once again split from the original, rushing straight for the orbs.

It began punching the orbs rapidly, attaching them all over its arms, followed by the snickering of Lyra’s Stand. Black Violin was about half the height of Applejack, with vertical eyes that seemed to never blink. It had a crooked smile plastered on its face, almost like Highwayman, only uglier. 

But like before, the Highwayman copy vanished again and the growing orbs fell to the ground, too dense to continue floating. As Lyra looked on in shock, Highwayman rushed to her and split into three more copies, each one aiming their punches directly at the girl. She raised her arms to protect her face, but the blows kept coming and her body was getting bruised and blood began to run down from her nose and mouth. She raised one arm and Black Violin began firing orbs down around her. Applejack’s Stands dodged away as the black orbs landed around Lyra, growing in size as a protective shielding around her.

“How were you able to escape Black Violin’s black notes?” Lyra wiped blood from the corner of her mouth. One of her eyes was slightly swollen and couldn’t open fully. “The black notes will stick to anything and continue to weigh them down.”

Applejack tapped the side of her head. “Ya can’t stick ta somethin’ when the somethin’ is nothin’ but a copy of the original. Highwayman is able to create up to four copies of itself to attack and once they’re done, they simply fade away into nothin’. Think of ‘em as afterimages.”

Lyra snarled and gritted her teeth. From above her, Black Violin spun in a circle, then raised its arms to fire out more black notes. Applejack countered this with Highwayman’s copies again, with the original staying back to avoid the orbs. The problem now was that she was unable to reach Lyra, who was still hidden behind the large black notes that were positioned all around her.

“You can’t get me.” Lyra placed both hands on her belly, then bent backwards to laugh, her voice echoing around the quiet room. “I have all the time in the world. You don’t.”

“What’dya mean?” Applejack waved a fist at her, whether she could see it or not. “I’ll get through this, you’ll see.”

“What you don’t understand is the power of Black Violin, Applejack,” Lyra said. “The black notes it releases will track down whoever I wish for them to track and once they attach to you, they will grow in size and density and eventually become too heavy for you to move anymore. Sure, they move a little slowly, but they’ll never stop unless you destroy them. And the ones you passed on your way to me, they’re already here.”

“What?” Applejack turned with just enough time to push Fluttershy out of the way with Highwayman before six of the black notes attached themselves to her true Stand.

They immediately started growing in size and Applejack realized she didn’t have much time before they would get too heavy for her to move and more were still on the way from the corridor outside.

“I’d give you twenty seconds before you become too encumbered to do anything and once you’re down…” Lyra’s arm appeared above the black notes that protected her, showing the knife she had. “You will be able to do nothing while I finish you off.”

And she laughed maniacally. The sound of her voice traveled down the corridor, her triumph echoing through the mall’s maintenance halls.


> Chapter 7: Florence and the Machine
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack looked at Highwayman’s left hand as the notes on it began to grow in size. She had twenty seconds two seconds ago and she was slowly running out of time to stop Lyra and Black Violin. She had to think of something, but with her time so very limited, her mind just wasn’t working the way she wanted it to.

Highwayman could still make its copies of itself to attack Lyra, but she had no way to get to the girl. All she would do was attach the notes to her Stand’s copies and that would gather no closer to finishing this fight. But something Lyra had said earlier stayed in her head. Lyra said that they would not stop unless they were destroyed. They could be destroyed, but punching her way through this wasn’t yielding any results. It had to be done a different way and she didn’t have long to find out how to do that. But first…

“Fluttershy, get away from the entrance, they’ll keep comin’!” Applejack called, then felt her left arm dipping to her side as she spoke. The black notes were already taking effect.

Highwayman split off a second copy of itself and it rushed to the barrier of black notes around Lyra and grabbed one with both hands. With all its might, the copy pulled up, screeching as it did so.

“Don’t even bother trying. It’s too heavy. Just look at the size of these things.” Lyra raised the back of one hand to her mouth and chortled. “You’re just prolonging the inevitable, Applejack. You only have fifteen seconds left before you can no longer move.”

Applejack was having none of it and created two more copies of Highwayman, which also moved to grab the same black note. To both their surprises, the Highwaymen were actually doing it. Bit by bit, the black note was being lifted off the ground.

“Well, color me a dam-builder, it’s workin’!” Applejack tried to lift her left arm, but it was now too heavy for her to lift it from her side. “Keep at it! You’re gonna catch tomorrow now!”

Applejack knew she had just one chance at this. Lyra would not give her all day to lift the black note high enough to attack her. She would have to move fast once she got her chance and with only twelve seconds left now, she had to make it a good one.

“Goooo, Highwayman!” Applejack reached one arm skyward and spread her legs further apart.

Ten seconds.

With no legs of their own, the three copies placed themselves under the note and began pushing against it. Applejack could see Lyra’s face now and it was now or never. She had to do this.

“Here we go, Lyra!” Applejack yelled at the top of her voice. “Highwayman, jackbox volley!”

The real Highwayman brought back its right hand all the way to its shoulder. There was a clicking sound, following by the sound of rushing wind as its spring-loaded hand was shot forward, straight through the gap between her Stand’s copies and Lyra’s black notes.

Six seconds. She could do this.

Highwayman’s hand seemed to fly in slow motion as Applejack plotted the path ahead in her mind. It was a slight curve, but she was sure she was going to hit Lyra right in the forehead. The blow of her attack would be strong enough to knock her out of the master’s mind control and the fight would be over.

Two seconds.

But to her shock, Black Violin appeared from under one of the black notes and pushed Highwayman’s high speed punch up into the bottom of the black note its copies were holding up. The spring of its arm stuck and the punch stopped right before Lyra’s face, who still remained unflinching, now with a new smile on her face.

“Looks like your plan failed.” She gave the Stand’s hand a pat. “Now everything’s gonna come crashing down on you. You see, what was your Stand even going to do against mine? All it can do is punch and punching isn’t going to do anything against Black Violin’s black notes. They can’t be burst by pure force. While they float around like balloons, it’ll take more than a single prick to burst. These notes are made out of a thickness that would put even plot armor to shame. Your time is up.”

From behind her, more of the black notes had arrived and they melted through the door and walls and attached themselves to Applejack. She tried to retreat, to back up, but Highwayman was securely fastened to Lyra’s black note and now that twenty seconds had passed, the black notes on her Stand had grown to the size of car tyres and she was no longer able to move herself.

“It’s all over now.” Lyra clambered over the black note Highwayman was stuck under and dropped down in front of the immobile Applejack. “This knife’s gonna be the last thing you ever see. Any last words?”

“Yeah. Ya ain’t gonna win. Whether ya kill me or not…” Applejack spat on the floor between Lyra’s boots. “Ah’ll be back again and again and again and again.”

“Uh huh.” She slotted the knife into Applejack’s belly with a sickening schlick. Blood ran down the wound and spilled onto the floor. Applejack winced, but she made no cry of pain. “Now what happens if I drag this all the way up your chest?”

Black Violin floated behind her, snickering at Applejack’s predicament. The lights now seemed to change from red to a light blue and Lyra now looked like she was pink instead of her minty green color.

“Stop!” Both their eyes turned to Fluttershy, who was standing with her back to one of the consoles to the generators in the room. “D-Don’t do that to Applejack.”

“Or what? What are you going to do? Stop me?” Lyra removed the knife from Applejack’s body. “You want to be the first? Is that it?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “You mentioned brute force won’t burst your black notes. And you likened it to a balloon.”

Lyra pointed her knife at her. “Yeah, so?”

“There are many ways to pop balloons, one being a needle. But you mentioned how thick your balloons, sorry, your notes are, so I’m guessing needles won’t work.”

“You have a point you’re getting to, Fluttershy?” Lyra looked up to Black Violin, who began creating more notes to shoot at her.

“Pressure.” Fluttershy lifted her left hand, where spectral wires were coming out of her finger tips and attaching themselves to the console behind her. “When the pressure in the room changes, the pressure in your notes won’t be able to maintain themselves.”

There was a rumbling and there was the sound of bursting pipes outside the fountain control room, followed by the splashing of water, which soon began to seep into their room from under the door.

“What have you done?” Lyra looked from the water to Fluttershy.

She smiled, though a bit bashfully. “Fl-Florence is able to control machines with electricity.” The wires in her fingers lifted and made some kind of waving gesture to Lyra. “I just tapped into the water tanks and controls to lock down water where I wanted. Outside the fountain room and inside.”

Above them, the pipes rattled for a few seconds, then burst with an almighty force, sending a torrential downpour of water cascading down over Lyra’s head. With the pipes on both sides damaged, water began to fill the rooms quickly and Fluttershy soon found herself floating as the water reached her chest.

“Are you mad?” Lyra was also lifted, holding on to one of her bigger black notes to keep herself from being swept to the corner of the room. “You’ll drown us!”

“I don’t need to drown you.” Fluttershy clicked her fingers. “I just need the pressure to change.”

As the water level continued to rise and the ceiling got closer, the air was getting pushed into a corner, and Black Violin’s black notes could no longer take the sudden change in pressure. One by one, each orb popped with a deafening boom and Lyra and her Stand were now left defenseless as the water continued to surge from above.

Fluttershy had gotten close enough to the water tank to grab on to one of the rungs with Florence and with Applejack now free from the black notes, she also conjured her Stand and got it to hold her over the water’s surface.

With nothing to hold on to now, Lyra was whisked around, smashing her face into the back wall, then into one of the generators. Thankfully, Florence had also shut down all the power, or they would’ve all been dead in the water by now.

“All yours, Applejack,” Fluttershy said from the water tank.

“Obliged, Flutters.” Applejack tipped her hat to her, then shot a dirty look at Lyra. “Highwayman!”

Highwayman and its three copies dove for the spinning girl and as the current brought her back into its swirling path, Applejack’s Stands released a flurry of spring-loaded punches, hitting both Lyra and Black Violin. Their bodies were pummeled from side to side, with blood flying out at every punch, staining the water around her red. Highwayman had a rather high-pitched voice and whenever it punched, it uttered a sound, which began to get faster the more it punched. It kept it up for at least a minute, leaving Black Violin or Lyra no room to counter them.

With one final attack, one Highwayman punched Lyra up, allowing the original one to deliver an almighty uppercut to her jaw, launching her up where she hit her head on the ceiling. When she returned, she fell face first into the water and stopped moving.

“We did it! Alright, shut it off, Flutters!” Applejack said over the pouring water.

Florence reached from Fluttershy’s hands to the water tank and activated its emergency gates, shutting off the water flow. The water coming from the pipes soon slowed to a trickle, now leaving the room they were in silent once again, with the exception of their breathing.

“I suppose it helps to have studied…” Fluttershy managed a smile and began shivering. They’d been getting wet all day, so she hadn’t thought much more about it, but the water was cold. “You okay, Applejack?”

“Now that Ah can move again… yeah. As good as new.” Applejack spun one arm around, then flexed it. “It took a while, but we’ve got it all sorted out.”

Applejack swam over and turned Lyra over to prevent her from drowning as they waited for the water level to go down. It would be a while, but at least the worst of it was over. They had defeated another Stand user and with it, perhaps they would be one step closer to their end goal now.

“We’re going to stop the master.” Applejack pulled herself up to one of the generators and sat atop of it as she waited for the water to go down. “We aren’t gonna let her control the world. That ain’t how it's supposed to be.”

“You’re right about that.” Fluttershy looked at her hand, where Florence was still swirling about. “You know, I had only known about my Stand for a week when I got mind controlled. It’s thanks to Jojo that we’re even here now, with a chance to fight back.”

“Ah’ve that ta thank him for too.” Applejack twisted her hair to wring water out of it. “And Sunset as well. Ah’d never expect the quiet girl ta want to save the world.”

“You heard her, right?” Fluttershy wrapped her arms around herself to try and stop shivering. “She left wherever she was from to live a life here. She too would do what needs to be done to ensure a peaceful life.”

“And we’re gonna make sure life stays peaceful. But first…” Applejack made a fist and threw it high. “We’re gonna have to take down this mysterious master. Let her throw whatever she’s got at us. We’ll take it, because there ain’t nothin’ we can’t accomplish together as friends.”

Fluttershy nodded. “As friends…”


> Chapter 8: Twin Stand Attack
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lyra Heartstrings stirred as Sunset Shimmer stepped back, her Stand’s work done. With her injuries healed, it was like she had never even been in the earlier fight and she got up without much effort.

“What happened? Why are all you girls here?” She asked, looking at each one of them.

“Lyra, you’re okay now!” Sweetie Drops threw her arms around her friend and squeezed her.

“Sweetie, you’re here?” Lyra hugged her back. “What happened? The last I remember, the master… The master. She took control of us. Our minds.”

“Are you able to recall anything? Anything that could help us find her?” Rainbow Dash prodded her for information. “We’re trying to stop her from taking over the minds of everyone in the world.”

“Not much, I’m afraid. We were on a team, Sweetie and I. There were…” Lyra tapped her head. “Seven of us. They called us the Bully Squad.”

Pinkie Pie and Jojo burst out laughing again.

“We were the master’s enforcers. She would send us to take out anyone she deemed a threat, which I assume it means, you guys.”

“But she didn’t expect us to know how to stop her mind control.” Jojo pointed at the side of his head. “If we punch you hard enough, she loses her control on you. Or if Sushi here resets you with her Stand.”

“Sushi?” Lyra shot a quizzical look to Sunset.

She shook her head. “Long story. I think we should save it for later. I’ve had to explain this one time too many.”

“Sushi likes sushi!” Pinkie placed her arms around Sweetie Drops and Lyra and grinned. “That’s why we were in the Japanese restaurant earlier. But then Sweetie had to attack during meal time, huh?”

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

“Bygones are bygones, we’re all friends again, so it doesn’t matter!” Pinkie squeezed them. “So, what else do you remember about your Bully Squad?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t remember their faces…” Lyra sighed. “I do remember bits and pieces of their Stands though. One of them had a green Stand that was slightly plump with weird ears. Another looked like a flower and one was like a goblin with bright lights. Hmm… another had a battleship. A miniature one that it could stand on.”

Pinkie snickered. “Stand on. I get it.”

“And then our leader’s Stand. She had a Stand with spikes all over its body with some kind of meter on its chest. That’s all I remember. Sorry I can’t recall more.”

“That’s okay, you gave us a plentitude of information, dear.” Rarity gave her a pat on the back. “Now we know there are five more Stand users after us. We’ll be ready for them.”

“And they’ll be comin’ until either side of us is dead.” Applejack pounded her fists together. “We can’t have people goin’ about all mind controlled. That’s everythin’ a human ain’t, once you take away their will and free choice.”

“Well said.” Jojo twisted his cap to the side. “And we will stop this culprit. Lyra, do you recall anything about your meeting place with the master? Maybe something to help us find their hidden base or something.”

The girl scrunched up her face and thought hard, but after a few minutes, her facial muscles relaxed and she shook her head. “I cannot remember where it is. The room was dark and there was a desk at one end where she sat. But that’s it.”

“That doesn’t give us much room to go on…” Jojo scratched his chin. “But thank you, Lyra. At least with each member of the Bully Squad we take down, we’re getting closer and closer to the mystery.”

“Yeah, why does it even work like that?” Pinkie raised both arms in question. “Did the bad guy like, put little failsafes in everyone’s minds that help them remember only a little each time they are restored, and the more of her servants we defeat, the worse the failsafe?”

“That just sounds ludicrous,” Rarity said. “Why would anyone do that?”

“Easy.” Rainbow snapped her fingers. “Someone who wants to be found out eventually, of course.”

“Ooh, ooh! So that they can progress the plot, right?” Pinkie waved one arm energetically.

“Uh, I was thinking more on the lines of wanting recognition. Like how certain pranksters always reveal themselves at the end. They want you to know they did it, even if it brings backlash on them.”

“So the master wants us to find out who she is?” Fluttershy asked. It didn’t sound right.

“That’s a lot of confidence.” Jojo folded his arms. “She must be powerful enough to take us on even if we find out her secrets.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry, who are you again?” Lyra looked back at the blue haired man. “How do you fit into all this?”

“Ah. Jostle Joyride.” Jojo struck a pose, with one knee bent and his arms flexed out. “But you can call me Jojo. I’m from out of town, doing what I can to stop enemy Stand users like this master here.”

“He’s quite the hunk, huh?” Sweetie nudged her friend.

Rarity starred daggers at both of them. “He’s not yours to look at.”

“What, and he’s yours?”

“I would hope so!”

“Uh, okay girls, that’s enough. We should get moving.” Jojo looked between them awkwardly and pointed to the mall’s entrance. “We should get out of here. We don’t want so many commotions in one place. I’m sure the mall security is already on the lookout for whoever caused all this damage.”

“Lyra and I won’t be coming with you,” Sweetie Drops told them as they walked out through the mall’s sliding doors.

“You won’t?” Sunset asked.

They both shook their heads. “All this Stand business is already out of our league. But you girls, Rainbow, Pinkie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, you five have always been there to solve problems for people since middle school. This was made for you. And with Jojo and uh, Sushi, or Sunset, I don’t know what you want us to call you, I’m sure you will triumph over the enemy.”

“And that we will.” Rainbow pumped her arms up. “Because we’re awesome!”

“We’ll give it our best, do or die!” Pinkie jumped into the air and saluted before dropping back down.

“I mean, I’d like to not d-die…” Fluttershy pulled at her hair.

“We should head back to the safehouse then.” Jojo pointed to the street, where White Buffalo appeared, already rumbling and ready to go. “But we haven’t had a proper meal. I think one of us should head out to get something while the rest of us head back to plan.”

“Good idea! It’s always a good idea to split the team!” Pinkie darted from companion to companion. “Well, except horror movies. In horror movies you die if you split up! One by one. Otherwise, what’s the worst thing that could happen? Someone could come after the lonely person and try to get them to reveal where the rest are at, right? Psshhh, but the chances of that happening are like, so low!”

“Okay, now that you put it like that, I think two people should go after some food for us.” Jojo clapped his hands together. “So, who wants to get us food? You get to pick if you volunteer.”

“Um, I guess I’ll do it.” Sunset raised her hand and smiled sheepishly. “I still remember the way back and uh, I owe you guys a lot, you know? For, uh, hanging out with me. I haven’t had anyone who wanted to be near me in such a long time.”

“That’s cause we’re your friends, aren’t we?” Pinkie appeared under her and lifted her up.

“Woah, Pinkie.” Sunset wobbled on top of her. “But uh, I guess you’re right. You’re all the closest thing to friends I’ve had in a long time.”

“In that case, I’ll stick with Sunset.” Rarity placed a hand on her chest. “I’ve a great deal of owing to do myself, after you girls rescued me from the master’s control. Plus, I know good food when I see them. Just leave it to me, darlings.”

“Then it’s settled. Sunset knows the way back. Meet us there once you’re done.” Jojo got on White Buffalo. “Rainbow, you’re with me. We’re going to make sure we’re not followed back while the rest of you go with Fluttershy to get a new car.”

“Right. Be careful. Don’t die.” Applejack gave Sunset and Rarity fist bumps, then jogged off after Fluttershy’s group.

Jojo gave them one final salute, then spun in a circle and drove off.

“So, food,” Sunset said once their friends were long gone. “What do you have in mind?”

She peeled out a card from her pocket and waved. “I’m thinking of something extravagant. We deserve something more after what we’ve done. How you do feel about Italian?”

“Can’t say I’ve ever tried it.” Sunset walked after Rarity as they went down the street. “I’ve heard the name before. Some country in Europe. They used to be some great empire. The Italian Empire?”

“Well, you’re thinking of the wrong empire now, Sushi dear.” Rarity waved her card around. “The Italian Empire was a series of colonies part of the Kingdom of Italy. What you’re looking for is the Roman Empire.”

“Ah, right. Rome. The capital.”

“Correct. Now this good place, Vincenzo Roma’s, it’s just down the next block. We’ll get there soon enough.” Rarity turned her head to Sunset. “How far away was the safehouse again?”

“I’m guessing it’s a thirty minute walk.” Sunset shrugged. They’d only ever driven there and back.

“Thirty minutes?” Rarity placed a hand to her forehead. “I cannot possibly walk for half an hour. This is too much for me. We will need to procure a vehicle.”

“Too bad Fluttershy isn’t with us. We could use her Stand for that.” Sunset looked at the street ahead.

After being attacked by two Stand users in one day, Sunset keep her eyes alert, looking for anyone that might look like a Stand user. She guessed everyone on the Bully Squad might be from CHS too, but that was only an observation. She wouldn’t know for sure until they showed up. At the moment, no one looked too suspicious, well, except for one chubby man who looked like he was trying to eat his phone. No one puts their phone so close to their mouth when they talk. At least, not that she knew.

“Voila.” Rarity soon stretched her arms out to her sides as she showcased it to Sunset. “Vincenzo Roma’s. Probably the best Italian food in town.”

The restaurant’s facade had a brick front, with wooden beams at various key points. Everything about it looked foreign, like it didn’t belong in Canterlot, but that only made it look more interesting to Sunset. Whoever built this place was probably hoping to bring a little Italy to Canterlot. Under the restaurant’s name, which was in a cursive yellow font, was the front double doors, which had long gold handles on them. Rarity pushed it open and beckoned Sunset to follow.

She had already thought the outside was nice, but the inside of the restaurant was more fascinating. The floor was a dark varnished wood and there were columns running up to the ceiling at the corners, and the windows looking out from the side walls were all framed by ‘X’ shaped wooden beams, and they were unlike anything Sunset had seen here in Canterlot. The style actually reminded her more of Equestria’s Canterlot than this world’s.

Circular wooden tables dotted the place and there were people in suits going around, serving the guests with trays of food that smelt absolutely delicious.

“Smells nice, doesn’t it, Sushi dear?” Rarity smiled as she watched Sunset take in the place.

“It’s different. Something I wouldn’t mind trying.” Sunset nodded. “See anyone suspicious?”

She looked around the room, still on alert for enemy Stand users, but no one really stood out as evil. There were two people by the wall, sharing a plate of what looked like shells. There were four more at the back, with one of them reading a book, while another in a green shirt with plenty of holes in it pointed at various parts of the book. They didn’t strike her as odd as well.

“Coast looks clear, but I don’t know how long that’ll last. We should order and go.” Sunset nudged her companion.

“Leave that to me.” Rarity brushed her hair aside and approached the counter. “Hello, good sir.”

She began ordering things Sunset had never heard of, with something that sounded like “gya-no-chee” and another that sounded like “Airy-bee-etah”. She wasn’t even sure Rarity was pronouncing these right, but at this point, she wasn’t about to ask. Rarity had been here before and she was well-versed with the food. Sunset was not, so weird sounding or not, she let it be.

Once she was done ordering, she handed her card over to process the payment. Sunset knew that there were seven people altogether, but Rarity seemed to have ordered for more than seven, from what she heard.

“And now we wait.” She slid her card back in her wallet and marched over to the side where there were a row of chairs to sit on to wait. “So, never tried Italian, huh? Then what have you tried, Sushi dear? Don’t tell me just sushi.”

“No, I’ve had more than just Japanese food.” Sunset kicked one foot against the floor. “Uh, I’ve had… uh, well, American, since, you know, we’re here, I’d say English food as well, probably some Mexican… uh… I’ll let you know if more come to mind.”

“Yes, right, on your own time, Sushi dear.” Rarity grabbed one of the chairs to try and sit down, but she missed and stumbled forward. “That’s weird.”

“What. What is?” Sunset asked.

“I’m starting to see double. Everything’s spinning…” Rarity held the side of her head and leaned against the wall with a thud. “I don’t feel so good.”

“Again? Already?” Sunset exclaimed, looking around warily and summoning Pegasus Fantasy. “How many people are going to attack us today?”

“You would be surprised how many!” a nasaly voice from the doorway.

Sunset turned just in time for Pegasus Fantasy to deflect some kind of laser beam. It was bright purple and it looked like those neon signs outside pubs at night.

At the doorway were two very odd looking boys. One was short and plump with two buckteeth hanging outside his mouth and the other was taller, but as skinny as a stick. They both wore an assortment of strange clothes, with the first one having a black top that ended over his large belly with what looked like cuts all over it and his pants, while the other one had on some kind of green vest that also ended over his abdomen, but he also had some kind of sack behind him that made him look like a snail.

“Snips and Snails.” Rarity pointed at them. “So you’re working for the master too.”

“Wait, really, those are their real names?” Sunset looked at Rarity to see if she would explain that, but she didn’t.

“The master is disappointed in your betrayal, Rarity,” Snails said. He had a slow drawl that took him a while to finish speaking. “And she’s got an eye on you, Sunset Shimmer, or should we say, Sussshhhiiiii.”

“Susssshhiiii, tasty, am I right?” Snips added, then struck a pose behind his friend, placing one arm on Snail’s right thigh, and the other behind his left shoulder. They were so weird.

“Stop.” Sunset got herself ready. She couldn’t see why anyone would take these two as henchmen. They were an odd pair. “You’ll see. We’ll break the master’s control on you two.”

And then Sunset began to feel it too. Like Rarity had said, it was as though she was seeing double and the doubles started spinning in her vision. Instead of just one Snips and Snails pair, she was now seeing another two of them standing weirdly.

“Haahaa!” Snails laughed like he was some sort of llama. “Notice that dizzying effect already, huh?” He raised a hand to his face, then put the other around his back where he placed it on top of Snips’ head. “This is the work of my Stand, Garfunkel. He releases pheromones to disorient you.”

“That’s it, huh?” Sunset stretched an arm out to try and grab something, fortunate enough to grab the backing of one of the chairs. “Then I’ll just get Pegasus Fantasy to stop you.”

“Try it. I dare you.” Snails laughed with that annoying bray again. His Stand appeared to the side, just outside the restaurant. It was a red and white flower creature of some sort, with bulbs for its hands and head. It was constantly puffing smoke from them and that was probably what was making them feel so weird.

Pegasus Fantasy flew forward, one arm already drawn back to go in for the kill, but then it smashed headfirst into the wall, breaking a chunk off of it and making Sunset’s head hurt.

“Ow!” She clutched her head and fell to the ground. With her vision spinning, the wall hadn’t seemed that close.

“Wait till you get a load of what I can do.” Snips spun his arms in a circle, then pointed one hand at her, while the other one went down to his thigh. “Simon, get them!”

A metallic and goblin-like Stand emerged from his belly and pointed its right index finger at Sunset. From it blasted a neon beam, same as the one from before. Pegasus Fantasy moved to attempt to parry it again, but it couldn’t move fast enough and it pierced through Sunset’s left arm and she winced as she grabbed the wound. The heat had cauterized it, stopping her from bleeding, but it hurt a whole lot.

“Want to try that again?” Snips said after a bout of laughter.

Pegasus Fantasy got to its hooves and waited. Sunset had a better idea of dodging it this time. As Simon fired another beam from its finger, Pegasus Fantasy was already on the move, dropping to its chest on the floor. Sunset’s plan was to have it fly at the enemy from down low, catching them off guard and then beating them senseless. It seemed like a good plan at first, but as Pegasus Fantasy began flying forward, the beam behind it bounced off one of the columns in the room and ricocheted back at Sunset’s Stand, hitting in between the wings.

Pegasus Fantasy dropped to the ground and Sunset reached for her back, which felt like it was burning.

“Ah ah. Did I mention?” Snips spun around and dropped on one leg as though he was sitting on it. “Simon can fire beams of neon light. As we all know, light can be reflected and it will bounce on any surface with light and I’m also a master at calculating trajectory. Don’t be fooled by my looks. I’m actually quite the ace. So you can think again when you try attacking me head on, Sunset. And Garfunkel works well to make sure you have a harder time dodging my attacks, don’t you, Snails?”

The two of them siddled closer and pressed their backs against each other, then stuck one leg out each as their arms reached behind to grasp each other’s shoulders.

“Would you like to try again?” they both said at the same time.


> Chapter 9: Simon and Garfunkel
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset Shimmer stared at Snips and Snails as they continued to pose for her, standing very bizarrely together. With Garfunkel intoxicating them with its debilitating scent, Simon would be able to fire its neon lasers at them, with the chance of them dodging it quite low. And even if they could dodge it, it could still bounce off lighted surfaces and hit them, which Sunset had already learned the hard way. She could reset the disorientation, but she doubted she would find the chance to concentrate enough to use it. She could use her fantasy armor, but she would need a good chance to do that too. But perhaps, that would be something Rarity could help with.

“Devil Trigger!” Sunset’s companion said, and shadowy versions of Snips and Snails appeared from the ground.

“Time to save the world!” the Snips clone said.

“And let’s be quick about it,” the Snails clone added on as he crouched into a stance.

“Nice try, Rarity, but they can’t reach us.” Snips poked at his buck teeth. “We’re outside in the sunlight. We know your shadow copies can’t come out here.”

“But don’t forget, I can make copies of your Stands too.” Rarity snapped her fingers and shadow copies of Simon and Garfunkel appeared at the doorway. “Have a taste of your own medicine.”

The copy Garfunkel opened its bulbs and began spewing its scent. Snips put a hand up to his nose to hold his breath, but Snails made no attempt to do so. Sunset guessed that being the Stand user of Garfunkel, he would have resistance to his own Stand’s ability.

The shadow copies could not walk into the sunlight, so from inside, the copy of Simon began firing lasers out at the real one. It began dodging and firing back its own lasers, but they would only pierce one shadow copy and disappear into it. It seemed the shadows could actually stop the light from going any further, which now gave Sunset an idea.

“Rarity, keep it up. Your shadows at least keep his lasers from bouncing.” Every word that came out of Sunset’s mouth was slower than normal. “If you can get Simon off me, I think I can take down Garfunkel. I’ll only have a minute to try.”

“I’ll do what I can, Sushi dear.” Rarity raised a hand to clench, but then she had to lean against the wall again from the disorienting scent. “Devil Trigger can use lasers too.”

Rarity’s Stand stepped forward, then raised both arms parallel to its head. Once it was ready, it thrust both arms down hard and a beam of blue erupted from between its teeth, going straight for Simon’s head. It dodged, then fired its own lasers from its fingers and it would’ve hit Devil Trigger, but more shadow copies emerged from the floor and formed a line between both of them, though a bit slowly. One laser got through before they could fully materialize and hit it in the chest, just barely under its heart. Rarity coughed blood onto the wall and slumped back, clutching at her chest as her blue dress began staining red.

But she would not stop. Not yet. As more of the shadow copies appeared from the ground, shadow Simons began firing their lasers back at the original, but without the strength and speed of the original. Simon easily dodged all of them, but with the wall of shadow copies now in front of it, its lasers could no longer penetrate the dark and stopped after going through just one copy.

“You think this wall of shadow will stop my Stand?” Snips raised a finger then put his other hand in his pocket. “You forget I can bounce my neon beams.”

Simon aimed up at the ceiling and after a second to calculate its trajectory, it fired one laser, which pinged off the lighted ceiling and into Devil Trigger’s left foot.

Sunset had enough with waiting. The plan would have to change and she would be the one to buy Rarity some time instead. A minute, to be precise.

“Fantasy armor!” Sunset called and stretched one arm behind her.

Pegasus Fantasy flew down over her and encased her in itself, once again giving Sunset its special armor and the ability to keep her in a state of reset for the minute. She wasted no time and flew herself towards them, fists at the ready.

Garfunkel got in front of Simon and puffed more of its fumes at Sunset, but while her armor lasted, she would be impervious to its effects and she began delivering blow after blow to the flower-looking Stand. Simon fired lasers at Sunset and they seared into her back. She winced, but then glided around, dodging the rest. She got herself behind Garfunkel and kicked it forward, knocking it down over Simon as she followed up with an axe kick. She hit Garfunkel in the gut, making it cough up blood into the air like a water fountain. Snails did the same, then dropped to his knees as he held his stomach.

“I gotchu, brother.” Snips bent down to hold his head gently against his belly, then glared at Sunset. “You think that’s all it’ll take to beat us? You haven’t even really seen what Garfunkel can do yet. Do you think all Snails can do is make you see double and slow you down?”

Sunset backed up a step just in case. She didn’t know what else it could possibly have in store.

“Garfunkel also has the power of acid.” Snails looked at her with a smirk. “Its body is able to secrete fluids that can melt even the strongest metal.”

From its head, Garfunkel opened its bulb wider, revealing a yellow blowhole inside. It caved in on itself, then came back out as it spat out a globule of thick viscous fluid. It splashed across Sunset, hissing as it began to make her armor bubble and melt away, but thankfully Sunset had been in her fantasy armor, which was quick to reset itself and her body, but it took some time off her one minute use.

She now only had forty eight seconds left of it. She had to give Rarity the chance to end this battle before then.

“How do you like that?” Snails bleated, then was thrown to the side by Garfunkel as Devil Trigger fired another laser at him. “You’re annoying.”

Garfunkel readied to spit another ball of acid at her, but Sunset was already on the move. With a flap of Pegasus Fantasy’s mighty steel wings, she threw herself in between the plant Stand and Devil Trigger, taking the blow of the acid across her chest. Her silver armor began breaking apart, but in that moment, the molecules in them shifted and reformed themselves, making it seem as though nothing had even happened in the first place.

“That’ll have taken a chunk of time off your armor, right?” Snails pointed at her and ordered Garfunkel to keep up its poisonous offensive. “Finish her!”

Through its other bulbs, it began spewing a poisonous purple smog instead, blanketing the area around it. With only thirty nine seconds left on her clock now, Sunset flew high into the air, then dove down into the smog from above. At first there was nothing, but then came the sounds of battering and Sunset found the enemy within, smashing apart its face as she armor fought against the corrosion, then opening her hands, Sunset grabbed the enemy Stand and spun around. With all her might, she threw it as hard as she could out of the smog and towards the restaurant. The Stand bounced and slid against the carpet and came to a stop before the reception counter, with Snails being thrown across the room too. His face was bleeding and his nose was slightly bent out of shape from the beatdown Sunset had given him.

Simon fired another two lasers at her from both hands. Sunset winced as she took both blows to her arms, but then did the same to it, but this time with a powerful blow from one of her feet. She knocked the air from Snips’ gut and launched him and his Stand into the restaurant as well as the enemy continued to fire laser after laser at her.

“You don’t get it, do you?” Snips stood up and struck a pose, pointing one arm over his head and down to the ground, while the other one touched the wooden floor beneath his feet. “Your armor is reflective. Do you know what that means?”

Simon lifted a finger and fired. Its laser flew between Sunset’s helmet and chest piece, reflecting off the underside of her helmet and bouncing into her armor. Her insides suddenly began to feel like fire and she dropped from the air to her hands and knees as it continued bouncing inside, reflecting off surface after surface, sometimes tearing through her skin. Blood began to seep from her armor, but with a reset, it was all gone. Unfortunately, this reset also depleted the time she had left and her fantasy armor dissipated, splitting her and Pegasus Fantasy back into two.

“Ha! I did it! You can’t beat me when your armor is so reflective!” Snips cheered. “You could never have beaten me, Sushi. Simon’s power is over lit and reflective surfaces. All of your Stand is like that. You never stood a chance.”

“I might not have…” Sunset got to her feet and poked a finger through a new hole in her shirt. “But she can.”

Snips, only now realizing he was in the restaurant as his fingers ran across the wooden planks, slowly turned around to see Rarity waving at him. She blew a kiss to him, before shadowy copies of Simon and Garfunkel began crawling out of the ground, grabbing onto his shirt and pants.

“Hey, get off me!” Snips began pushing them, then they began pulling higher, grabbing parts of his arms and face. “That’s my ear! Simon!”

Snips’ Stand began firing neon beams all around itself, bending and ducking as it spun from back to front, firing off up to ten beams a time. They cut into the shadows that were appearing around them. Perhaps it downed a copy or two, more Rarity kept more coming. Garfunkel tried to destroy them with its acid, but more shadows poured over it and soon, both Stands and Stand users were locked in a hold by the army of shadow clones, each one smiling down on them with glee.

“For the better of the world!” one Snips clone cheered.

“For justice!” a Snails one added.

“Wasn’t too hard now, was it?” Rarity walked closer and looked down at them smugly. “Your neon beams might’ve worked in this environment, but my shadows are the absence of light, darling. Away from sunlight, you never stood a chance. Sushi dear. Time to work your magic.”

Sunset made her way over and summoned Pegasus Fantasy once more. While the shadow copies held them down, Pegasus Fantasy reached its hands out and began reworking the molecules in Snips’ and Snails’ bodies. Soon, their struggles ceased and their Stands vanished back inside them and Rarity had the copies release them before leaving them to disappear too.

“What happened?” Snips sat up and scratched at his spiky orange hair. “Hey, Snails, we’re in some super fancy restaurant!”

The other boy mumbled something, then stirred as well, wiping at his face as he got up. “Huh? What’s going on? Did we eat something weird?”

“Nothing of the sort, you two,” Rarity said and their attention flicked to her. “You’ve just been released from the control of your mysterious master. You have your own lives again.”

“Hey, it’s Rarity. Uh, oh yeah, that master. I remember her.” Snips next scratched at his teeth. “She’s that witch that kidnapped us to help her take over the world!”

“Oh yeah. With Trixie and the gang.” Snails nodded and stuck his tongue out. “Her office was disgusting. I remember the smell.”

“Don’t forget the wall of trophies too. I’ve always hated those. Though I can’t remember why…”

“Wait, wall of trophies?” Sunset caught on to that. “What trophies?”

“Like I said, I don’t really remember.” Snails looked at the ceiling, trying to recall something else. “I remember they were trophies of like… things they came first place in.”

“You don’t say?” Sunset was ready to slap a hand to her face.

“Hey, who are you anyway?” Snips asked. “We know Rarity. She’s one of the most popular girls in school.”

“This is Sunset. Sunset Shimmer. Her friends call her Sushi.” Rarity gave her friend a pat on the shoulder. “She’s quite the skilled one, I must say. Good work getting them out of the sun, dear. I would not have been able to do this without you.”

“Wait, you mean she’s like raw fish?” Snips dug something out of his nose and flicked it away. Sunset stuck her tongue out in disgust. “Why’d anyone name you after raw fish?”

“It’s just… nevermind.” Sunset waved. “You two must be tired, being controlled for so long. You should head out.”

“Yeah, it’s been so long. Let’s go find some people to prank.” Snips snickered. “It really feels like it’s been ages since we’ve pulled anything off!”

“But we don’t have our mastermind anymore,” Snails said.

“Oh. Right. We need a new one. Sushi, would you like to be our new mastermind?” Snips looked at her expectantly.

“Me? Really?” Sunset raised an eyebrow at them. “I don’t have the time. Not now anyway.”

“Sure, whenever you do. Maybe once school’s back in session. Just think about it, alright?” They both laughed to each other, then left the restaurant.

“Uh, well…” Sunset scratched her head as she watched them run off. “That was… weird.”

“I think you mean bizarre, Sushi dear.” Rarity grinned.

“Right. Sure.”

“Umm, excuse me.” Both girls turned to see one of the restaurant waiters, standing there next to the counter with bags of packed food in his hands. “Your food’s been ready for ten minutes now, but you two were jumping all around the entrance to notice.”

“O-Oh… Uh, sorry.” Sunset blushed hard and grabbed the bags from his hands.


> Chapter 10: Then the Morning Comes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset Shimmer awoke the next day, stiff as a board as her eyes tried to pry themselves open. She hadn’t realized how tired she was yesterday, until she dropped herself on the couch. It had been dark when she had closed her eyes for a quick rest, but now, the sun was already out and there were blue birds flying about together outside the window, along with the honks of some cars outside on the road.

“Wow…” she said, then stuck her tongue out. Everything in her mouth was so dry.

“Hey you, you’re finally awake, sleeping beauty,” Jojo said. He was seated at the dining table with a plate of pancakes in front of his face. “I was beginning to wonder if you would even get up after yesterday.”

“What happened? You didn’t do anything to me in my sleep. Right?” Sunset kicked the blanket off her body and continued to lie there. She was really bushed.

“Relax, nothing happened again, alright?” Jojo flexed one arm. “I’m not that kind of guy. If I wanted you, I’d already be working my way there. Trust me. Where I’m from, I’m a ladies man.”

“Uh huh. I’m sure you had plenty of girls all over you. Speaking of that, Jojo. Where are you from?”

“I could ask you the same, right?” He grinned. “I know you’re not from around here either. But fair enough, to more about you, I’ve got to give some answers of my own. Born and raised in Trottingham. You know where that is?”

“Uh…” Sunset ran a hand through her tangled hair. “I know it’s east of Canterlot.”

“Far east.” Jojo chuckled. “Anyway, that’s where I’m from. I came all the way here once I got wind of that master’s mind control plot. Let’s just say I don’t want it reaching my shores as well, you know? I’ll never let her take Trottingham.”

“Yeah, you’re right about that. I don’t even intend to let her take this city.” Sunset finally pushed herself up and stretched. “Well, I’m from… Well, not here. Like, not even this world.”

“An alien, huh?” Jojo nodded slowly. “Can’t say I’m surprised, then. I had you pegged for an alien. Or at least, it was one of my theories.”

“No no, not an alien. Not exactly. I didn’t come from space.” Sunset shook her head. “I came from Equestria, it’s on another side of a mirror. We’re all ponies, until we cross the mirror, that is.”

Jojo, who had a pancake in his mouth, spat it out, where it went splat against the wall on the other side. “Ponies? For real? And I thought I already knew bizarre.”

“I totally have you beat, don’t I?” Sunset laughed.

In time, Jojo joined her laughing and the whole room was just filled with the sounds of cackling, all the way down the corridors.

Pinkie was the first of them to stop laughing. “What’s so funny? What’s the joke? Come on, tell me tell me tell me! I need to know!”

“Sushi’s just told me she’s from a whole ‘nother world.”

“Ooh ooh, is it like some colorful land of ponies and rainbows and everyone’s using magic and trying to be friendly with each other?” The pink girl slid herself over to Sunset’s couch.

Sunset could only stare blankly at her for a few seconds. “How… did you know that?”

Pinkie shrugged. “Just a hunch.”

“I think Pinkie’s got us beat.” Sunset smiled.

True to her word, the lunch chosen by Rarity yesterday had indeed been really delicious. Sunset was sure she would go there again someday, maybe when all this was over. Right now, they still had an enemy to stop and a world to save from her grasp. She and Rarity had explained what Snips and Snails had said yesterday, about the trophies in the master’s room. Trophies meant she competed in something. Minor detail or not, that would actually narrow down where their evil mastermind could be. There were few things you could win trophies from. One of them was sports, another was for things like chess or reading, another for acting, but whatever it was for, it was for winning some kind of competition. The Stand master behind this was some kind of competitor, it looked like.

Once everyone had woken up and settled down for the day, they gathered around the dining table to plan out their next move. According to what they’ve learned about the Bully Squad, three members remained. Trixie was the leader, meaning she probably won’t show herself until the very end. Whoever the other two were, they wouldn’t be a walk in the park as well, seeing as they were reserved till now.

But at least they had a lead. Trixie. The other girls knew her, which meant they could possibly find her if they went looking.

“I know she lives in the south part of Canterlot, like outside the city,” Pinkie Pie said as she poured a whole bottle of maple syrup on her pancakes. “I don’t remember her actual address, but we can just go look. I’m sure they’ll find us!”

“We should move in teams. Again, like with the mall, one of us will be able to find the enemy.” Rainbow adjusted the scarf around her neck. “Shame that it hadn’t been me, but hey, we’re all awesome people, aren’t we? Each of us is a trained fighter now. Whatever this Bully Squad has to throw at us, I’m sure we can take it.”

“In that case, I’d like to go with Jojo!” Rarity began waving her arm around like a maniac. She only stopped when she realized everyone was looking at her. “Ahem, I find Jojo very attractive. I’d like it if we went together.”

“He’s like, so much older,” Applejack countered. “No offense there, Jojo.”

“Nah, it’s cool.” He slicked back his blue hair after removing his cap. “I’m well aware of the effects I have on women. They love me.”

Fluttershy looked away as a blush spread across her cheeks.

“So it’s me and you, Jojo darling?” Rarity grabbed his arm and leaned in really close. “We’re going to get to know each other better, hmm?”

Instead of being weirded out like everyone else, Jojo crossed his arms in front of his chest and flexed. “Nice! Let’s do that. Applejack, you’re with Rainbow Dash. Sunset, you’ll be with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Rainbow and Applejack slapped their hands together in an arm wrestling hold.

“Alright, we have our missions.” Jojo put his hat back on. “We’ll search the south side of Canterlot. Check the suburban areas. One group of us is bound to find Trixie. Or at least the rest of her goon squad.”

“Uh, Bully Squad.” Sunset pointed out.

“Psssh, nerd.” Rainbow snickered.

“Okay, right, so we’ll find our own ways there,” Sunset continued, ignoring her. “Fluttershy, we’ll be leaving the footwork to you.”

“Or should we say… the car work!” Pinkie grinned widely after she grabbed Fluttershy’s shoulders from behind.

“It’ll be like finding a needle in a haystack.” Rarity combed at her hair with her hands. “But at least with us in three groups, we’ll be able to comb the area much faster. Perhaps even find a Stand user or two.”
-----------------------JO-JO--------------------
“I don’t see anything.” Rainbow jumped down from the ice sculptor Running on Ice had made, having more ice appear under her feet before she touched the ground once again. “I don’t think any houses from here to three blocks down belong to Trixie. At least, I haven’t seen her and her name isn’t on any of the mailboxes here. Lulamoon is what we’re after.”

“No Stand users as well?” Applejack pulled her hat lower when she looked up at the sky.

The afternoon sun was burning bright in the sky, reducing the shadows and making their skins perspire and glisten with sweat. Rainbow’s scarf was definitely not helping with that, but she wasn’t going to take it off anytime soon.

“Maybe we just gotta wait for them Stand users to show up to get us,” Applejack said. “Just keep an eye out for anyone unusual.”

“Uh huh. Right.”

Rainbow Dash put a hand over her eyes as she looked around to help shield her vision from the sun. There was a purple haired man in a tracksuit walking a dog, there was a woman with red and blue striped hair carrying groceries in from her car with a kid, Sandalwood sitting on a bench chewing on a whole stalk of broccoli, dressed in some kind of arabian looking attire and Cloudy Kicks walking down the sidewalk, bouncing a soccer ball on her knees, but none of them looked to be a Stand user.

“Something smells fishy here…” Applejack watched all of them go about their day.

“I think we should just check down another street.” Rainbow shrugged. “Maybe Sunset’s and Jojo’s groups are having a better time finding something. Maybe they’ve already found Trixie and they’re beating the crap out of her.”

Applejack reached out and grabbed her friend. “Wait no. I actually mean something’s smelling mighty fishy in the air.”

Rainbow took a sniff in the air and found her friend was right. Something actually smelled fishy. Like dead fish, to be precise, and it began to make her eyes water.

“Gross…” She held her nose and grimaced. “Where’s it coming from?”

Rainbow took a step forward, but her boots squelched and began to sink. They had been standing on the road earlier, so this made no sense. Looking down, she realized wherever they were, it was no longer the road they had been on.

Instead of seeing asphalt or concrete, everything below their feet was now muddy and grassy and as they watched, mangrove trees were growing out of the ground around them as mud continued to creep out to their surroundings, spreading this new terrain all over the street. There were instances of small ponds around them, with dead fish littering its shallow waters.

No one else seemed to see this and continued about their day, with the grocery lady disappearing into her house, and the man with the dog letting it pee against one of the new trees.

“What in tarnation?” Applejack lifted her boot to better look at the mud. “That’s what stinks here. And we’re steppin’ all over it!”

“Someone’s here.” Rainbow watched as mud began to creep up the houses on their street, going up to their roofs, making them look like mounds now. “Someone’s doing this.”

“As Jojo would put it…” Applejack cracked her knuckles and got herself ready. “This is the work of an enemy Stand.”

“A strange one at that.” Rainbow sidestepped a tree that began growing where she was standing. “So what if you grow a swamp under us? What is that going to do? The mud’s not even quicksand or anything. It’s just annoying.”

“Right, so we just gotta find this Stand user before this swamp covers the suburbs.” Applejack nodded and took another step in the mud.

For once, they were thankful to be wearing boots instead of shoes. The mud sometimes reached up to their ankles and that would’ve been very bad for shoes. Rainbow followed after Applejack for another few steps, then gave up and called forth Running on Ice. She wasn’t going to walk on this squishy mud when she could take the high road.

Her Stand began creating ice steps that led over the mud, allowing both of them an easier time walking.

“Neat trick, Dash.” Applejack stepped up carefully onto the first step. “Now if only we had some kinda radar for Stand users...”

Suddenly without warning, two meaty hands the size of dinner plates rose from the surface of the swamp and grabbed Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s legs. Then the arms heaved, throwing both girls out over the swamp and through a fence. The wood cracked and splintered as they flew into it.

“Ooohh…” Rainbow Dash’s eyes were little spirals while Applejack’s hat had fallen over her face. She pulled the Stetson off and jammed it back on top of her head before picking herself up off the ground.

“Oi!” A policeman came running over. “What do you think you’re doing, you vandals?”

“Wha’?” Applejack asked. “We ain’t vandals! We were thrown!”

Rainbow Dash still lay there on the broken fence, her head spinning. 

“Rarity, I don’t want to wear the pink dress…” she mumbled.

The policeman squinted at the pair of them. “I didn’t see anything. Have you two been drinking or taking illegal drugs?”

“What? No!” Applejack retorted. “C’mon, Dash. We’re going to find that Stand user!”

The farm girl hauled her friend up and they staggered off back towards the swamp, which was still continuing to spread across the street.

“The Stand’s in there somewhere, Ah’m pretty sure.” She slapped at Rainbow’s face, trying to snap her back to reality. “C’mon, Dash, stop yer daydreamin’. Rarity ain’t here.”

Rainbow Dash rubbed her cheek where Applejack’s palm had hit her. “Ow. That hurt. Not as much as getting thrown by whatever that was, though. You think it’s the enemy Stand?”

“Pretty sure,” Applejack stared at the swampy waters. “It’s hidin’ in there somewhere, waitin’ to come get us again.”

“Let’s go find it.” Rainbow gave her body a shake, then raised her hands. “Running on Ice!”

Running on Ice materialized next to her and started freezing the encroaching mud. It took a while to get it solid, but once she deemed it was frozen enough, Rainbow stepped onto it, not feeling her boots sink into the mud. Applejack did the same and they continued back into the growing swamp, with Running on Ice freezing more of the ground as they walked. From what she knew, the Stand could come out from the ground, so perhaps if she iced it over, it wouldn’t be able to do that.

However, Rainbow’s hopes were dashed when a pair of tree trunk-like arms came out of the swamp and dealt a crushing blow to the underside of the ice, breaking it and launching both girls out of the swamp again. This time, Applejack managed to catch both of them before they could smash anything else by summoning Highwayman to cushion their trajectory.

“Dagnabbit, it keeps tossin’ us out of the swamp!” She pulled her hat off her head and stomped a foot.

“Like, what were you doing in my swamp anyway?” a languid, male voice came from the edge of the marshland. “This here’s my swamp, dudes.”

“It was the road first. Who is that?” Rainbow looked around, but she saw no one in the swamp.

“Whatever it was before, bro, it’s my swamp now,” the voice came back, sounding quite close, but its speaker was still unseen.

“Dude, you may as well throw in the towel now, ‘cause there’s no way you’re going to beat me. Smash Mouth has no weaknesses!” the voice said as the swamp began to creep closer. “The master is very unhappy about losing all her followers, so I’m gonna round them up and bring them back. You two’ll fit the bill as well, since you were both followers too.”

“Well, how can you get us if you keep throwing us out of your swamp?” Rainbow challenged. “Come on out and face us and if you win, you can take us back.”

“Challenge accepted, bro,” the voice said as a stocky, ogre-like Stand rose from the swamp waters and slammed its left fist into its right palm. There were arrows on the back of both hands and one more on its forehead, where put together like this, formed the recycle sign. “Let’s go!”


> Chapter 11: A Smash Mouth All-star
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash’s Running on Ice dodged around the enemy Stand’s fist as it launched its big beefy arm towards her lithe body. As she glided around it, she began firing icicles at it before trying to freeze it’s arm while it was distracted.

The Stand, whose lower half was just mud that connected to the ground, slammed its fist into the mud, then disappeared beneath it.

“You can’t stop Smash Mouth, dude,” the Stand user’s voice echoed around them. “It and the swamp are one. Just as much as you can’t stop the nature building here, you can’t stop Smash Mouth.”

“We’ll see about that.” Rainbow waggled a fist to the swamp.

Running on Ice continued freezing the mud beneath them, but then the ground shifted and mud from below piled up over the frozen mud before a wave of water and dead fish washed over the two girls, sending them back on their bums with a fish in Applejack’s hat.

“Ugh.” Applejack took in a whiff of the poor animal and tossed it aside. “We’re gonna smell for weeks.”

“Not if I beat it, we won’t!” Rainbow swung a fist in the air and Running on Ice began creating ice under its feet to traverse the air above the swamp to find their enemy.

“Even if ya beat it, we’re still gonna smell.”

“Pretty sure we won’t.”

Smash Mouth erupted from the mud between them, throwing both girls clear as it began swinging its muscled arms around. Highwayman appeared and formed a second copy of itself before throwing their punches at the enemy Stand. Its spring-loaded swings were enough to force Smash Mouth on the defensive, but the enemy Stand raised its meaty arms to block Highwayman’s attacks, then swung an arm low and slapped a fistful of mud into it and its copy, as it ducked down after Highwayman’s next swing, Smash Mouth dived back into the dirt, sending a tidal wave of mud out that attached itself to the mud on Highwayman’s cloak. The ground began to pull Applejack’s Stand down and no matter how hard it pulled against it, it could not break free of the mud.

“Hang on, AJ!” Rainbow called Running on Ice back and it began freezing the mud that had a grip around Highwayman.

The mud splashed around them and Smash Mouth returned from behind Highwayman, grabbing it in a chokehold as it began descending into the ground.

Applejack dropped to her back and grabbed for her neck, trying to breathe as Highwayman began lobbing punches behind its head by bending its arms back.

“Dash…! Dash! You’ve got ta… stop ‘em…!” Applejack gasped as her body also began to sink into the mud. “You’ll… find a way!”

And then both Stands and Stand master went under, with the mud returning back to the way it had been.

“Applejack!” Rainbow dug her hands into the mud, trying to unearth her friend, but she was nowhere in sight now. “Argh, where are you, you dirty Stand user…”

The enemy was still out here in the ever growing swamp and the longer she waited, the more space it would have to roam. She had to find a way to beat this and she had to do it fast. There was one trick up her sleeve, something she’s never tried before, but in theory, it might just work in locating the Stand master. Might.
-----------------------JO-JO----------------------
Sandalwood laughed as he walked amongst the trees of his perfect swamp. There was nothing Rainbow Dash or Applejack could do to him and Smash Mouth. On his home turf, his Stand was just too powerful.

Trixie had tasked him with the mission to deal with the master’s enemies. They were slowly gaining ground against her and she didn’t like that. According to the leader of their squad, if they failed, they risked incurring the master’s wrath and that would probably lead to their deaths.

Sandalwood didn’t want to meet his end just yet. There was still so much to do and so much of the world to take over. With his Stand, Smash Mouth, he was able to easily capture other Stand users, like Applejack right now. He had taken many of them to the master’s base to have their minds taken. Soon, Rainbow Dash would join her and together, they would become thralls of the master once again. Sandalwood relished in the thought. It had been a few days since they had been on the master’s bad side and he very much wanted to do something that would make her praise them once again.

They had already lost Sweetie Drops, Lyra, Snips and Snails to the enemy. He wasn’t about to be the next one. Smash Mouth would toy with her, and then when it was ready, it would take her like it took her friend. In the meantime, he would stay out of sight, where Rainbow would never find him.

This being his swamp, Sandalwood was not affected by the abilities of his Stand’s power. His shoes did not stick in the mud, nor did he smell. The humidity did not affect him and the mosquitoes that came with his Stand’s power did not suck his blood. He was free to roam in the swamp however he liked and he considered it a part of home.

Under him, the mud split apart, revealing a short flight of steps leading into the earth. There was water at the bottom, but even that slid aside to let him in, falling back over him once he was through.

“Bring it on, Rainbow Dash. Like, what are you gonna do in my swamp?” he said to himself with a smile.

The swamp was not infinite, and it had to spread out from a central starting point. But it still could grow to an impressive size, more than enough to engulf the whole neighborhood and then some. Other than Rainbow Dash and Applejack, he was sure to gather up more thralls for the master.

Safe under the surface of the swamp inside an air pocket, Sandalwood watched through Smash Mouth’s eyes to see what was going on above the water. Rainbow was still standing where she had been, looking around the swamp, trying to find him or his Stand, but to no avail. 

“Hehe, you got no chance, RD! Smash Mouth, kick her out of our swamp again. I like to see her squirm.”

Rainbow Dash seemed to be having her Stand out, but it wasn’t freezing anything. What use was bringing out Running on Ice if not to freeze things? That was all it was good for.

“What are you doing in my swamp?” Sandalwood wondered. “Oh well. Time to get out, Dash!”

Smash Mouth erupted from the surface of the swamp and grabbed onto Rainbow Dash and Running on Ice’s legs, preparing to hurl them from the marshy area. With its incredible strength, it threw both of them sky high, then dusted its hands before retreating back under the swamp.

“She’ll be back.” Sandalwood could see Applejack under the mud near his Stand, now unconscious. She’ll want to save her friend.

In less than even a minute, he spotted her again, now standing at the edge of the swamp as the mud continued its spread across the land.

“Come on. Step in it, dude. You know you want to…” Sandalwood rubbed his hands together as he anticipated Smash Mouth throwing her out again.

Rainbow Dash, however, did not set another foot into the swamp. She stayed out of it, staring hard at the murky mud as if trying to set it on fire with her gaze alone.

“What are you planning now, girl…” Sandalwood leaned closer in his underground seat and rubbed his chin.

Without warning and very much to his surprise, a sharp spear of ice carved through the mud beside Sandalwood’s head and down into the dirt floor beneath him.

“What the…!” He jumped to the side and slammed his shoulder against the mud wall, sending a tremor through the rest of his body. “Argh!”

As he grabbed his shoulder, the pillar of ice was drawn back out of his hiding space, then came right back down over him and if Sandalwood hadn’t slid himself across the floor to safety, he would’ve probably been skewered.

“There’s no way she found me!” Sandalwood scrambled for the other side of the wall and it slid aside for him, where an underground tunnel was already being formed. 

He had only just called out to Smash Mouth to get it over here when more icicles as long as him pierced the ground where he had just been. There was no doubt about it. Rainbow Dash knew his location.

“But how?” Sandalwood pushed through the dirt and ran, trying to get as far away from his hiding spot as possible. “She can’t know I’m down here! She can’t see me. I don’t leave any tracks in my swamp. She couldn’t have followed my footprints.”

From behind, the icicles grew more spikes and they shot out towards Sandalwood, who had to duck to avoid them. Rainbow’s Stand was peppering the area around him with icicle spears, and she seemed to know his exact location.

Sandalwood called for Smash Mouth to eject Running on Ice from the swamp, and the hulking Stand burst out of the wall beside him before tunneling up to the surface, reaching out for Rainbow’s Stand’s limbs.

However, Running on Ice seemed to anticipate Smash Mouth’s usual tactic and skated away from its grasping hands. For a few seconds, Smash Mouth was above the swamp and Rainbow took advantage of its appearance to freeze it in place. The swampy Stand immediately began to free itself, but it gave Rainbow a few more moments to fire three more lances of ice at Sandalwood, one of which sliced him across the shoulder.

“Argh!” Sandalwood held his shoulder and felt warm blood dripping out. It was a shallow cut, but if he wasn’t careful then the next one could well go through his head.

“It doesn’t make any sense, dude,” Sandalwood recalled Smash Mouth and set it on intercepting any more ice projectiles, however the shots fired from Rainbow were quick like bullets, and Smash Mouth didn’t have the speed to catch every single one of them and another pierced him through the calf, dropping him to the muddy ground. “Like, how is she finding me?!”

Sandalwood was finding it harder and harder to maintain control over the swamp. He had to think clearly to keep this dry pocket of air under the swamp, or he would be swimming in the muck as well. Not that it would impede him much, but it would feel unpleasant.

“She’s seeing me without seeing me…” He got Smash Mouth to pick him up and carry him along as they avoided more ice spikes. “Running on Ice is able to turn moisture into ice, liquid, solid or gaseous. Like, how does that help Rainbow find me?”

His swamp would be the most humid place in the neighborhood, with all the mangroves and water everywhere, and that meant there was a lot of water in the air for Running on Ice to scent. He figured that was how she was looking for him, by pinpointing his moisture levels, but with the swamp so overbearingly humid, how was it still able to find him?

Then Sandalwood realized his mistake. She wasn’t tracking his moisture. “No. She’s tracking the lack of moisture! With the swamp forming, the humidity level in this area rises because of the water vapor, but my Stand makes me immune to the swamp’s effects and I will not be prespiring as much as Rainbow would. And she knows this! Dude, she’s like, tracking me by sensing my abnormal level of moisture in this damp place. That’s rad! But sick.”

Icicles speared out of the mud from all sides around them, piercing Smash Mouth’s arms as it lifted them to protect itself. Bloody holes burst forth from Sandalwood’s arms and he cried out in pain. “Smash Mouth, get her!”

With the strength of the swamp, Smash Mouth erupted from the mud with its powerful arms and grabbed Running on Ice, who was floating in the air above them, sliding along on icy slopes. Sandalwood’s Stand raised one fist and pummeled Running on Ice down onto the ground, but as it moved to deliver a second punch, a layer of frost coated its face and Sandalwood was unable to see through his Stand.

“Agh, where is she?!” He rubbed at his face. The labyrinth under the swamp was getting colder now and he could see his breath in puffs of white.

That’s when he realized his second mistake. With the mud being damp, there was enough moisture in them for Rainbow to turn against him. It would take time, but she must’ve already been working on it ever since she started her pursuit. She had set up a trap on his home turf and he had just let her do it.

“Clever gi-” Was all Sandalwood could say as sheets of ice ruptured out from the slowly freezing walls, going all around him and encasing his tunnels in layers of ice, trapping him where he stood. Some of it melted into water and washed over him, only to freeze again, this time with him frozen in place.

Now defeated, the earth around them began to recede and push him back out over the road. The battle was over and the swamp would soon disappear.

Rainbow Dash did a little cheer where she pumped one fist into the air and hopped down onto one knee. She didn’t know how well that plan would’ve worked, but it did, and now as the swamp’s land began to snake away from her feet, she was able to walk further down the street where she spotted Applejack climbing out of the ground as it began to shrink, covered in mud and loose twigs.

“Son of a gun, Ah hate this place…” She accepted Rainbow’s help and took one last step from the hole as it rose up behind her, returning to normal asphalt when the mud dissolved under her. “Ah take it you’ve done it?”

“Very much so. I mean, I am pretty awesome. And I’m also the captain of every sports team in school, remember? I can handle an enemy Stand user.” Rainbow looked to the side on someone’s front lawn where a block of ice had risen from the ground. A frozen Sandalwood was suspended within, his mouth frozen in the middle of saying something. “Turns out it was Sandalwood behind this.”

“Ah should’a known when we saw him sittin’ there.” Applejack wiped her clothes down and flicked the remaining mud off to the side. “Sunset ain’t here, so Ah guess we better go over and bonk him over the head.”

“I do wonder if they’ve managed to find Trixie.” Rainbow began walking over to the block of ice. “Perhaps the others are having a better time than we are.”

Applejack looked down at her muddy attire and stuck out her tongue after sniffing at herself. “Ya think?”
-------------------JO-JO-------------------
On the other side of the suburbs, right at the edge that led to the highway, Jojo stood on one end of the road, with Rarity standing behind him as they faced a boy on the other end of the road. White Buffalo ran beside him, its engine rumbling as it waited for further commands. Jojo had noted something was strange when they had rode in on White Buffalo earlier. The boy had just been standing on the road, like he had already anticipated them rolling up. His arms were folded across his chest, where six iron plates had been sewn to his black shirt. He grinned at them through thick dark sunglasses, then ran a hand through his blue hair.

“Your ride ends here, Jojo…”


> Chapter 12: Steel Commanders
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“It’s Flash. Flash Sentry,” Rarity breathed. “He’s from school too.”

“So another member of the Bully Squad then.” Jostle Joyride placed one hand on his cap’s rim, then the other along his belt. “Here to stop us from finding your leader, huh?”

“Trust me, Trixie’s already ready for you.” Flash pushed at his sunglasses with his middle finger. Jojo couldn’t help but feel flipped off and he grimaced. “She’ll mop the floor with you. Easily. You can’t win, old man.”

“Jeez, old man.” Jojo pulled off his hat and grumbled. “I’m only twenty two! Why does everyone think I’m so much older? I don’t get it.”

“I don’t, Jojo darling.” Rarity grabbed his arm. “I think our ages aren’t that far apart…”

“Glad to hear.” He gave her a thumbs up. “So… you’re our opponent then, Flash Sentry?”

Flash panned one arm, then pointed at himself once his arm reached the other side. “That’s right, today, the master shall have new slaves.”

“Not if I have anything to say about that.” Jojo did a little hop and stuck out his left foot forward as he turned his body to the side. “It’s time we squared off. Do or die, Flash Sentry. White Buffalo!”

Jojo’s motorcycle Stand spun around him and Rarity, then stopped in front of him, revving its english and belching fire from its headlight. It was ready to do battle now and so was Flash.

“To me, Sabaton! Stand and follow command!” Flash threw his sunglasses aside and raised one hand with his palm facing up beside his face. Light began to warp around him, coming to him from nothing but air.

The light began to form and wrap around his body, materializing into an armor of gold, steel and white cloth, then proceeding down to his hands, where a kite shield and sword extended, gleaming under the glow of his light.

When it was done, Flash now had a full set of armor on him, complete with a helmet with a cross visor on it. Beside him, a battleship seemed to warp in from some kind of portal, floating just above the ground beside him. It wasn’t a full scale battleship, standing only to Flash’s knees, but as long as a car.

White Buffalo rode towards him, its skull extending high from its handlebars, poised like a cobra to attack. Sabaton fired its main guns at it, but White Buffalo turned left and right, avoiding its shells as they pelted the road beneath them, breaking it apart in explosions of gravel.

It’s next cannonfire went straight for White Buffalo’s head, but Jojo’s Stand maneuvered itself around the projectile, spiraling around its path before targeting Flash. The boy raised his shield, then smashed it aside at the last moment, parrying White Buffalo’s head away, then swinging his sword at it. White Buffalo’s horns extended out and deflected the sword’s swings, then tried going for his face again, only to be blocked by his shield.

“You like that? Sabaton comes in two parts.” Flash took a step back. “It is the armor, sword and shield that encases my body, making me impervious to your attacks, and it is also the battleship here. Sabaton comes with three guns on its deck, and with the armor, I have the perfect offense and defense to any situation, near or far, Sabaton can handle any situation. You can’t win, old man!”

“I’m not even that old… We’ll see about that, won’t we?” Jojo glared at Flash. “Rarity! Follow my lead.”

Rarity smiled. “Certainly. With the two of us, we can’t lose!”

Flash fired another volley of shells from his battleship at Rarity and Jojo, forcing them to scatter. Civilians nearby heard the explosions and turned to look at where they were coming from, but all they could see were Jojo and Flash staring at each other from a distance, with potholes appearing across the road for absolutely no reason. White Buffalo attempted to spear Flash, but his defensive skills were too good and the horns did not pierce his armor, being deflected once more.

“His armor and shield are too tough, Jojo said as he rolled over to Rarity’s position while White Buffalo attempted to ram Sabaton. Flash jumped onto the rest of Sabaton and did a kickflip with his battleship and grinded the underside of his Stand on White Buffalo’s horns.

Sparks flew as White Buffalo tried to press on against the weight of Sabaton. Jojo could feel it. Even though it was a miniature battleship, Sabaton was still heavier beyond his expectations. When he could take no more, Jojo recalled White Buffalo and the motorcycle Stand skidded out from under Sabaton and made a u-turn around Jojo and Rarity before facing the enemy once again.

Devil Trigger faded into view and released a blue laser beam from its mouth, targeted for Sabaton’s battleship. Flash skillfully blocked it with his shield and cut down a nearby lamppost, flipping Sabaton’s battleship around to launch it back at Rarity. The girl used Devil Trigger to grab the metal pole and toss it aside.

“I’m open to ideas, Jojo darling,” Rarity fired another laser from Devil Trigger at Flash, to little effect. “I would use Devil Trigger’s power, but with the sun still up, I am unable to form shadow copies of him or his Stand.”

“Daylight…” Jojo looked up to the sky. Being in the suburbs now, there were no tall buildings to block their view and he could see the sun was already slowly descending towards the mountains in the distance. Now he had an idea. “I’ll buy you time. If we remain alive till the sun goes down, he’s all yours, Rarity.”

“I’ve no better plan, so let’s do that.” Rarity nodded, then got Devil Trigger to fire another laser.

Flash blocked it again, but as his shield pushed the projectile aside, White Buffalo took this chance to spear both horns past his defense. They hit his armor and once again, didn’t penetrate it, but the force was strong enough to knock Flash off Sabaton, where he cracked the road on landing.

“Get him!” Jojo pointed forward, then placed his other hand on top of his head. “Faster than Fire!”

White Buffalo breathed fire from its headlight, engulfing Flash and Sabaton in a blast of red.

“Metal conducts heat,” Jojo began explaining as White Buffalo’s Faster than Fire continued to cover the area in flames. “Whether your armor melts or not under the intense heat of White Buffalo’s fire, you’re going to be feeling it inside that safe armor of yours.”

Flash fired blindly with his battleship, sending a shower of shells all over the place. While Jojo and Rarity were doing their best to avoid the spray of cannon fire, Flash stumbled over to a fire hydrant and slashed its top off with his sword. Water gushed out in waves, cooling Flash’s armor and putting out the flames.

“Now you’re making me mad!” Flash declared with a wave of his sword. “I’m going to make you pay for that!”

“What do we do now?” Rarity looked to Jojo. “Just attacking him straight on isn’t working. We need a new plan.”

“Hmm, there is one. One I’ve been saving for a moment such as this.” Jojo placed his hands down by his side and breathed in. “It’s my family’s secret technique, passed down from the first Jojo.”

“Well, what is it?” Rarity eyed Flash, who was still standing under the plume of water from the hydrant. “He won’t stay back forever.”

“Okay, Rarity. Here’s the plan. We both get on White Buffalo.”

“Then what?” Rarity and Jojo sat down on the motorcycle’s seat.

Jojo reached up and slid his index finger against the brim of his cap. “Now we get out of here!”

He revved White Buffalo’s engine and gunned it, both Rarity and Jojo speeding away from the scene.

“What?!” Rarity shouted as they shot off down the road.

Flash blinked inside his helmet. “Huh? Running away?” He stepped back onto Sabaton’s battleship. “You can’t escape me, Jojo!”

With a kick, Sabaton lifted up on its stern, then smashed back down on the ground with a crash and sped after the motorcycle. Jojo looked back to make sure he was following them, then put more into the throttle and zoomed away down the street towards the highway.

Flash, not to be outdone, urged his Stand to go faster, gaining on Jojo and Rarity.

Jojo looked back at Flash. “Oh, you’re approaching me?” he shouted over the wind.

“Of course I’m approaching you!” Flash called back as his battleship began to rain fire down towards Jojo and Rarity, with one missing them just by a hair. “I can’t beat the crap out of you without getting closer!” He clashed his sword against his shield.

Jojo looked up towards the horizon. The sun was now almost touching the mountains, and deep shadows began to slowly creep their way across the land.

“Just a few more minutes…” Jojo said to Rarity, who was using Devil Trigger to try and mess with Flash’s aim.

It floated alongside them, firing lasers back at Flash, who had to lift his shield to block her attacks. He grumbled and pointed his sword towards them, where Sabaton’s main guns fired again. Jojo swerved White Buffalo around one car as the payload crashed down on it, throwing it up into the air in flames, before Sabaton sailed through it, launching it aside and off the highway.

“I’ll catch up to you eventually,” Flash growled. White Buffalo’s horns were arranged in front of itself like a snowplough, scooping other vehicles that got too near out of their path. Cars crashed and collided all around them, filling the air with shouts, the sound of horns, and the smell of smoke and gas.

“Sorry!” Jojo called out as they rode past overturned cars and cars that had crashed into the sides. “Trying to stay alive, if that’s okay with you!”

“Watch where you’re going, maniac!” A man with a moustache leaned out his shattered car window and shook a fist at them, only to disappear in a blazing fireball as one of Sabaton’s shells hit his car.

“You’ll be dead soon, don’t you worry!” Flash laughed and tapped one foot against his battleship. “Full steam ahead!”

Somehow, much to Jojo’s belief, Sabaton got faster and was now catching up to them. They had been going at about the same speed all this time and he definitely hadn’t thought something as clunky as a battleship could outrun his chopper.

“Sun’s getting real low now.” He gazed up at the dying light, casting deep shadows across the highway. “Rarity, I think it’s time we give him a little taste of himself.”

“Couldn’t agree more, Jojo darling. There’s something else that helps us too. The fire created from the crashed and destroyed cars, they provide a light source to cast shadows as well. We can use that to our advantage here.” Rarity gave his arms a rub, then looked back and raised her hands. “Devil Trigger.”

Her Stand did a flip on top of White Buffalo, then planted both feet on what was left of the motorcycle seat before placing both arms close to its face in a roar. Copies of Flash clad in Sabaton’s armor began crawling forth from the shadows, reaching out to him as he passed. One grabbed on to the battleship’s anchor, but then it sailed out into the light and the shadow was vanquished. A few stuck their swords into the battleship, tearing gashes across its metal as they struggled to climb aboard, only to fade away when the safety of their shadows passed.

“There. His own weapons can damage him.” Rarity patted Jojo’s shoulders to get his attention.

“Great. You’re quite the amazing girl, Rarity.” Jojo grinned at her, then gave her a thumbs up.

“And you’re quite the manly man, Jojo.” Rarity couldn’t help but run her hands over his muscles again. She had a thing for muscular guys. “If we can keep going towards the shadows of the setting sun, we can do this.”

“And you think I wouldn’t catch on to your plans?” Flash Sentry stopped Sabaton, forcing Jojo to stop and spin the bike around. “I know all about Rarity’s power to create shadow copies of anyone, as long as they are not in direct sunlight. We’ve been driving towards the sunset all this time, but not anymore. If you want me in the shadows now, you’re going to have to catch me instead!”

Sabaton turned around and began sailing down the road in the opposite direction, banking left as it moved for the left turn off the main highway.

“We’ve gotta get him.” Jojo revved his Stand and took off after him.

There was still one trick he had up his sleeve to catch up. He now knew that Sabaton was faster than White Buffalo at regular speed, but there was something else it could do with its flames. Faster than Fire could be released not just from the headlight, but also from the muffler.

And so it did, belching fire from its pipes, propelling them forward at speeds even Flash didn’t think they would achieve. Devil Trigger continued summoning shadow copies of Flash whenever it could, making them jump out of the shadows just for one attack before fading away in the sunlight.

The sun was much lower now and the shadows were creeping up behind him, with Jojo driving just at the tip of the shadows as light began to fade.

Knowing he was now unable to escape them, Flash spun Sabaton’s battleship into reverse, then aimed its guns at them and began firing shell after shell at them. Jojo did what he could to avoid them, while Devil Trigger used its mouth laser to take some out of the air.

The road soon led out to a bridge over the Everfree Forest below, spanning across from one side of a hill to the other, and with the sun lower than ever, Flash was running out of options.

“Battle stations! Keep the targets steady in sight.” Flash narrowed his eyes and Sabaton stopped just over the center of the bridge.

“Why’s he stopping?” Rarity asked as they got closer.

“I don’t know, but be prepared.” Jojo slowed on his acceleration. Flash was up to something, but he had no idea what else Sabaton had in store for them. They would just have to be ready for anything.

“All guns forward, initiate Steel Commander!” Flash raised his shield in front of his face and dropped to a knee.

“What in the-” was all Jojo had time to say as a golden ball of energy began forming in front of each of Sabaton’s three guns.

At first, they grew slowly to the size of basketballs, but right after that, they instantly grew much bigger than even the battleship and beams of light blazed out faster than they could blink. White Buffalo released flames from its headlight to combat the oncoming threat and Rarity took this chance to pull shadow copies from the shadow casted by the magnificent beam of light, sending more armored Flashes to slice at the ship’s hull.

The beams smashed into White Buffalo’s fire and the heat of both attacks began melting even the road beneath them, along with the supports holding the bridge up. Unfortunately, the flames of White Buffalo could hold back the firepower of Sabaton and all Jojo could do was brace himself against the blast as he shoved Rarity behind his muscular body. At such close range, the explosion engulfed both combatants and the force of the attack knocked what remained of the supports out, sending the bridge and its occupants into free fall.


> Chapter 13: Sabaton's Last Stand
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

White Buffalo bumped into a slope on the way down and slid the rest of the way down, crashing into a tree near the forest floor, sending Jojo and Rarity flying as they continued rolling for a few more feet, before coming to a stop against a boulder jutting out of the forest ground.

Flash and Sabaton had dropped straight to the ground, where the battleship crashed nose first into the floor, sending dirt rocketing up into the air as its metal groaned and ripped, before it tipped down to one side against the slope. Blood dripped from the slit in Flash’s helmet as his Stand’s damage transferred to his body. He was bruised and he was sure he had ruptured one of his lungs as he was having trouble breathing.

Jojo groaned from the impacts he suffered on the way down and he was a bloody mess from multiple wounds and burns all across his body. He tried to get up, but even his strength had its limits and his head dropped back on the ground. Rarity pushed her arms out under her body, still able to muster the strength to move, spotting Jojo close by. She sported a few cuts and bruises on her body, but nothing major except for a sore right wrist.

“Jojo darling, you’re badly hurt!” Rarity crawled over and ran a hand over his face.

“Don’t worry about me…” he said weakly. “The fight’s still here. You have to finish this, Rarity. I just need a quick break. You’ll see, I’ll be good as new. But the fight now, is all on you.”

“Thank you for protecting me, Jojo.” Tears dripped from Rarity’s eyes as she placed another hand on his other cheek. “If not for you, I think I would be in a far worse state.”

“Anytime.” The man grinned and managed a thumbs up.

Feeling brave, Rarity leaned down and planted a kiss on his lips.

“Ho ho, wasn’t expecting it. Or actually, I was.” Jojo laughed and ran a hand over her right arm. “Your next words will be… I will win this fight for you, Jojo.”

“I will win this fight for you, Jojo. How did you do that?” Rarity pushed to her feet.

“Family secret. Maybe I’ll tell you one day, huh?” Jojo leaned back again. “He’s all yours, Rarity.”

Rarity turned to face Flash, who had his sword planted in the dirt to prop himself up as he looked over to her. There was rage in his eyes and for some reason, they actually looked like they were glowing red.

“Just stop, Flash.” Rarity threw one arm to the side and the other in a ‘V’ shape horizontal to her body. “We don’t need to do this.”

“Oh, but I do. The master demands it. And she does not tolerate failure.” He raised his shield and removed his sword from the dirt.

“You’re beaten. It would not take long for me to end this, especially with the sun almost gone.” Rarity motioned to the light, which was already fading from between the trees. Even now, the trees cast long shadows that she could use. “Just give up, dear.”

A shadow copy of Flash emerged from beside him, but he bellowed a warcry and slashed at the copy, cutting it in half and sending them flying through the air before vaporizing in what was left of the sun’s rays.

That surprised Rarity. She didn’t think he still had so much strength in him.

“Sabaton has many abilities,” Flash explained. “Its best and most powerful is The Last Stand, which strengthens both of us the closer I am to death. In the state I am currently in, I have the strength of ten more Sabatons!”

Flash charged for Rarity, kicking off the ground with an explosion of dirt behind him. He was quick to close the distance, his sword arm already behind his body as he brought it forward to pierce her chest. Devil Trigger burst forth from Rarity and punched at his arm, knocking it aside just enough for Rarity to step away from it, followed by more punches towards his face. Flash raised his shield and then bashed it straight into Devil Trigger, knocking it and Rarity back. She created two shadow clones from the ground as she fell on her butt, who descended upon Flash with yells of justice and honor.

“This day, you will be brought to justice, for all that is good in the world!” one proclaimed.

“Not yet!” Flash slashed one across the shield, knocking it clear as he spun around to slash off his copy’s head. With a kick, he launched the body at the other one, just as it cut down, right through the armor on his thigh and his skin beneath. Blood sprayed from the gash in his armor and he winced, but finished off the other clone with a cross slash on its chest, sending it crashing into a rock and exploding into dark wisps. “You’ve crossed the line now, Rarity.”

“More like you have, darling.” Rarity pointed a finger to the sky. Flash’s eyes wandered to the sky where the last inklings of sunlight faded as night took over day. “You’ve crossed from day to night and without daylight, why, I think you’re going to find me more than you bargained for.”

The shadows seemed to grow darker around them as more shadow copies of Flash and even Sabaton’s battleship crawled into view from the darkness, their weapons drawn and their eyes focused on him. Flash charged into the fray and began swinging both sword and shield as he tore apart the copies easily with his increasing strength, with one even falling into three pieces as Flash swung his sword through its head, then midsection all within the fraction of a second.

The shadowy Sabaton fired its main guns at Flash, smashing up parts of the dirt. Unfortunately for Flash, as he was fending off more of his copies, he missed one of the holes and tipped back into it, falling flat on his back as the shadow copies threw themselves down on him, slashing at his armor and tearing it apart with their own weapons and hands.

“No, stop, I am invincible! I am Flash Sentry!” He gasped as one of them cut him across the face.

With Sunset not being here, Rarity only had one other way to remove the master’s mind control on Flash and that was to have Devil Trigger waft through the layers of shadow copies and lift his head, before delivering a hard punch right in the center of his temple, where his helmet had been torn off. Flash’s head hit the ground and he stopped moving.

“The fight is finished.” Rarity recalled Devil Trigger and the shadowy copies of Flash and Sabaton disappeared into the night. With Flash incapacitated now, she could tend to Jojo, maybe show him a bit more love as well.

“My first kiss!” Rarity squealed as she held her face in her hands. “And it’s with a hunk of a man like Jojo!” She pranced around giddily. “Jojo darling, the fight is won!”

From his downed position, he threw a thumbs up to her. “Hey, I knew you could do it, Rarity.”

“It’s all thanks to you, Jojo darling.” Rarity walked up to him and knelt down beside him to help as he struggled to prop himself up against the large boulder. “You bought me enough time to bring out the night.”

“And now you’ve taken out another member of the Bully Squad.” Jojo laughed and then winced. “I wonder how the others are doing.”

“I’m sure they are handling themselves well. Can you stand?” Rarity offered her hands. “We should get going from the forest.”

With her help, Jojo was back on his feet and they began their long walk away from the forest. Rarity had only taken a second step when she found her third didn’t touch solid ground. Finding that odd, she looked down, only to see she was slowly rising up into the air.

“Rarity? What’s going on?” Jojo held on to her, but then he found he was also starting to rise and they were no longer touching the ground. “This must be the work of an enemy Stand!”

“But where are they?” Rarity waved her arms around frantically, trying to catch ahold of something to stop herself from floating away. “Devil Trigger!”

Devil Trigger came out and grabbed hold of Rarity with one hand, and a nearby tree with the other. They stopped rising, but Rarity didn’t dare do anything else. It was lucky that Stands didn’t get tired from holding things. Jojo held on to her, then pulled himself over to the tree where he also managed to get Rarity to.

A shrill laughter came from somewhere around them and they looked around, trying to find the owner of the voice. Rarity knew it well. She has heard this laughter many a time in school, especially after a successful prank or magic trick. It was the leader of the Bully Squad herself.

“Where are you, Trixie?” Rarity called out to the dark.

The laughter continued as a girl with white hair descended from a tree beside theirs, gently floating down in the air, one leg crossed over the other. She had a magician’s hat with star patterns on her head, along with what looked like robes from a wizarding school. Her Stand levitated in the air right above her, its legs crossed and its arms stretched out to the sides with their palms facing up.

It was a black and orange patterned Stand, with spikes covering most of its body, including its head. There was a meter on its chest, where there was a pointer hitting the right side of it like a metronome. It raised one hand up, then the other to its chest. The meter dropped to the left and then, so did Rarity and Jojo as they were suddenly plunged to the ground.

Devil Trigger threw itself under both of them and softened the impact, but they still hit the ground hard enough to spew dirt up and create a small crater.

“Ow…” Rarity held her hand where she had broken off splinters on the way down. The impact had also hurt her body and blood ran down her nose as she sat up.

Trixie put a hand under her mouth and began laughing again as she continued to float slowly towards the ground. When she was close enough, she uncrossed her legs and placed one foot on the ground, while the other stayed in a kicking position behind her.

“I’ve been tasked by the master with your elimination by the master. You should’ve never turned against her, Rarity. Now she wants your head.” Trixie began walking around them with her Stand floating closely behind. “You know, I’m actually surprised you made it this far. I was sure my squad members would’ve been enough to take you all on and then I wouldn’t have to dirty my hands. Trixie’s squad, unfortunately, has proven to be incompetent! But fine. With no other option, I’ll do it myself. I’ll eliminate all of you and the master will be pleased with my work!”

“I’ll never let you do that, Trixie.” Rarity clenched her fists and Devil Trigger got up and stood next to her. “No one deserves to have their life taken away from them to become mindless drones.”

“Fine. Then come, Rarity. Show me the power of your Stand.” Trixie raised both her hands. “And I will show you mine.”

Devil Trigger summoned shadow copies of Trixie and her Stand, but immediately, they were all raised into the air, before being slammed right back down into the earth, disappearing from view. Devil Trigger called more from the darkness before charging at Trixie’s Stand with its fist raised and mouth opened in a war cry.

The enemy Stand raised one hand and Devil Trigger was immediately stopped in place, along with its shadowy copies. Rarity felt it too. It was as though her body had become too heavy to move and she was also having difficulty standing on her own two feet. It was as though someone was piling bricks on top of her and she wasn’t even able to stand straight anymore.

“My Stand, Gravity Kills, has control over all gravity.” Trixie laughed and began walking towards her. “It can lower and raise density on a whim, and by manipulating that, I can move things around how I wish and right now, I’ve increased it so that you will be unable to move.”

Rarity groaned under the weight of gravity, but she managed to turn back and look at Jojo, who was still lying on his back on the ground, groaning in pain from the drop. He was badly hurt after the fight with Flash and Sabaton. She had to protect him, no matter what.

I’ll keep you safe, Jojo. I have to. I won’t let her lay a finger on your beautiful body.

Rarity turned her focus back to Trixie, then as Devil Trigger opened its mouth again, it fired a laser from it. Surprising Trixie, who tried to move away, only to get hit in the shoulder. Her clothes were burned at the spot and she now had a hole through her shoulder. She grasped for it and shot Rarity the evil eye before pointing a finger at her.

“How did you do that? I’ll increase the gravity here!”

Gravity Kill’s meter on its chest dropped lower and Rarity now felt a crushing weight over her, forcing her down to her hands and knees as she tried to keep herself up. Devil Trigger fought harder and managed to stay on its feet, but it was straining hard against the enemy’s attack.

With the shadow clones ineffective here, all she could do was fire another laser at Trixie, but it curved away from her at the last second and singed into a tree behind her.

“Ah, that’s right.” Trixie smirked. “Light itself isn’t affected by gravity. But you forget that intense density can warp space itself and seeing as light exists in this space, light can be warped and its path curved. You might’ve had an idea here, but it’s over now, Rarity. The Great and Powerful Trixie will finish you here.”

Rarity felt the gravity around her increase and she was now forced down to her elbows. Blood began to run from her nose and ears as she strained against the incredible weight, but no matter how hard she struggled to overcome this, she could not. She had to think of something else. She had to keep Jojo safe. If she could somehow signal the others, perhaps then she could buy him time this time, like he had done for her in the earlier battle.

Light. She had light, a perfect signal in the night.

With all its strength, Devil Trigger began lifting itself against the punishing gravity, leaning back at the same time so its back was arched backwards. With a mighty scream, it fired a huge laser beam up into the air where it bent and curved as gravity around it warped, piercing through the trees and the clouds before exploding in a burst of light high in the air, illuminating most of the forest for a few seconds, before the blue faded back to darkness.

“What did you hope to accomplish with that?” Trixie looked back down from the spectacle and raised both hands; her Stand imitated her and did the same. “Would you like to try again?”

Rarity groaned, fighting hard to stay up as blood trailed down her head. She wasn’t just going to give up and lie down. She was going to give this fight her all.

With every fiber of her mind, Rarity willed for her Stand to fight on. Devil Trigger fought against the enemy’s ability and soon, it managed to take one step forward, then another. Trixie could only watch in amazement as it continued to move forward. Suddenly, she felt a tug on her leg and she looked down only to see more Gravity Kills grabbing on her limb, climbing up as they crawled higher.

“Get off!” Trixie raised a hand and Gravity Kills swooped over and punched them, knocking them to the ground.

The shadows began to get up, but Gravity Kills lowered the gravity, making them levitate, which also removed the intense weight over Rarity and Devil Trigger. In that instance, Devil Trigger used the advantage to throw itself forward by pulling rocks on the ground, thrusting itself towards Gravity Kills. It fired more lasers from its mouth as it got closer, then pulled one fist back. The lasers pierced the enemy Stand’s chest, just above the meter, then the left side, which sent blood spurting out from both Gravity Kills and Trixie, who fell back a step as she clutched at her wounds, her hat slipping off head as she did so.

Devil Trigger’s punch, however, never landed. Instead, Gravity Kills had summoned nature itself and small trees and rocks began to fly around it, lifted off the ground in low gravity, before manipulating them to serve as a shield. Devil Trigger collided with one rock and was sent flying back, sliding on the ground and kicking up more dirt.

“I’ve had just about enough of you!” Trixie yelled and Gravity Kills punched another shadow copy before raising the gravity again.

Gravity Kills swirled the rocks in a curve around itself and smashed them into the clones, sending them flying off in the distance only to smash against trees or mounds on the other end. When that was done, she directed them to Devil Trigger, who had only just gotten up and was unable to get out of the way as a trio of rocks smashed right into its chest, slamming it against the slope behind it.

Rarity bent low and coughed out blood as three rock-shaped indents appeared on her chest from the blows received by her Stand. 

“You’re finished, Rarity,” Trixie said as she floated over to her, still keeping a far enough distance so that she could avoid any more lasers. “If you come back to the master with me, I will spare your life. Trixie can see that you can’t fight anymore. It would be a waste to just kill you. Imagine your powers being used for the master once again. Imagine your potential. You’ve so much more to do for a greater cause.”

Rarity choked and gasped. She could barely breathe. “No… I am already… fighting for the greater good. And that’s… ridding this world of the master’s control.”

“Are you?” Trixie had Gravity Kills float over her, bringing all its rocks together above the other girl. “You don’t seem to be succeeding in that.”

Rarity clutched at her chest, then looked back at Jojo. He was now standing against a tree; he flashed her a look of concern, having watched the battle from the back the whole time. He looked haggard, but he was still able to stand. She needed to keep him safe. She wanted to.

A glitter in the sky caught Jojo’s attention. He turned his head to look at it and a wry smile came onto his face.

“It’s Sushi,” he breathed.

Trixie and Rarity also saw it as it came closer. It was Sunset Shimmer, wearing her Stand in order to fly. Trixie’s face darkened. 

“So, the great Sunset Shimmer has come to challenge me. Three Stand users is more than I care to face. So, Rarity, it seems your time is up!”

Gravity Kills’ meter flashed and the huge bundle of rocks above began to descend, forming into the shape of a fist, now much larger than even a bus. Rarity was still pinned down by Trixie’s Stand’s gravity well, nor could she move herself after the massive damage she sustained. There was only one thing for it now.

“Sushi!” Rarity cried out as the rocks fell closer. “I leave my fight to you! I know you can do this, believe in yourself, Sushi dear and know that in the few days we’ve spent together, you’ve been my friend. Take it from meeeee!”

With her duty done, Rarity could only smile as she fell to her knees, thinking about her friends, and Jojo. She had only just made a move on him, but she was glad she had the chance to do it, at least one last attempt at love. And her friends, the ones she had grown up with all these years, she was glad she could count on all of them, whenever she needed them, they were the best friends she could ever ask for and together, there was nothing they couldn’t accomplish.

And Sunset. She had been a mysterious girl all this time, but she had learned more about her since getting free of the master’s mind control than all her time in school, and she was glad she was a friend too. She might’ve been from somewhere else, somewhere she had abandoned, but she belonged here now, with the rest of her friends.

The rocks pummeled down on the spot Rarity had been at and there was a spout of forest floor that blew up into the air before raining down on everyone.

Trixie used this chance to slip away as Sunset flew down to the rocks, her mind reeling from what she had just witnessed. Jojo had also made his way forward, stumbling to the pile of rocks desperately.

“No no no, she’s still alive, I know it!” Jojo dug his fingers under the rocks and tried to lift them, but he was still wounded from his fight with Flash and the rocks wouldn’t even budge. “Sushi,  help!”

He continued, refusing to give up just because he didn’t have the strength to do it. His eyes returned to Sunset, who was still hovering in the sky and he began to question if she even cared that Rarity was trapped under all of this. How could she just stay there while her friend was in such a bad shape?

Sunset eventually flew down to the forest floor, but just then, the moon passed in the sky over their heads, pouring faint light through the trees, illuminating the area. Blood seeped out from under the rocks, trailing down their rugged surfaces and into the dirt below, bubbling as it was absorbed into the soil to become nutrients for the greenery around her.

Sunset watched the blood trail down from the rocks and shook on the spot, unable to comprehend what had just happened to her friend. She had only just opened up to them and one had already been lost. It was all too much emotion for her to bear and she collapsed to her knees as her armor faded off her form. She covered her face as tears trailed from her eyes, her voice threatening to break out.

Jojo on the other hand, hid nothing. He fell against the rocks as his strength left his body, leaving him only able to punch the ground in grief and frustration. Nothing mattered anymore, not the master, not Trixie, not even Sushi. All that he knew was that Rarity was gone, and it was his fault.

“RAAAARITYYYYYYY!!!” Jojo screamed to the night sky as faint wisps of vapour began to drift up from under the rocks.

Even though the both of them knew Trixie might still be somewhere nearby, possibly waiting for a chance to strike, they couldn’t hold anything back. Jojo continued to try out Rarity’s name, while Sunset Shimmer leaked tears of sorrow. She had the ability to reset a human body, but there was nothing she could do once they were dead. And no matter how much they called out to her, no matter how much they desired for the outcome to change, there was nothing more they could do.

Rarity was gone.

But Sunset resolved to fight on. While her body was gone, her soul would live on in her, in all of them, and they were going to stop at nothing until their mission was over. For all the people in the world, for Canterlot, for Rarity.

“But for now… rest in peace, Rarity...” Sunset choked under her breath. “Rest now. You’ve earned it…”


> Chapter 14: Gravity Kills
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“We had only just gotten her back…!” Pinkie Pie wailed as she encased Fluttershy in her arms. “This shouldn’t have happened! Why would anyone do this?”

Fluttershy had no words as she looked on through blurry eyes at the mound of rocks in front of her and sobbed.

The shape of rocks looked like a fist in the ground, cut off from some unseen golem and their friend had given her life to signal them and protect Jojo. The man in question sat in a corner, shadows cast over his face as he removed his cap and ran a hand through his hair. Rarity had given her all to defend him and if he hadn’t been so weakened after the Sabaton battle, things might’ve turned out differently. He blamed himself for her death and he knew he would do what needed to be done to avenge her.

“Kill. I’m going to kill her.” Jojo looked up and White Buffalo appeared in front of him.

“No, you can’t. Not on your own.” Sunset ran up between him and his Stand. “We need to come up with a plan, Jojo.”

“I have a plan. And that’s to attack.” Jojo stood up and dusted his cap. “Sushi, Rarity gave her life so that I may still have mine. How can I sit here and do nothing when she did that for me?”

“And you’ll be throwing away the life she protected if you just rush in there,” Sunset countered. “Look, Trixie’s dangerous. You’ve seen that more than I have. If we go in blindly, we’ll die too.”

“But how will we even find her now?” Jojo rubbed a hand down his face. “She could be anywhere.”

Pinkie sniffed, then wiped at her face before producing a magician’s hat from behind her back.

“What’s that you got there?” Sunset asked when she noticed the headpiece. It had stars patterned onto it.

“A-A smoothie…” Pinkie’s voice still trembled after her earlier wailing, but she sipped from a straw of a cup of pink liquid in her other hand. Sunset had no idea where she had gotten it from, but in the last few days, she’d learnt to not question how Pinkie did things. There was no answer to many of them.

“What about that hat?” Sunset pointed to the other object in her other hand.

“It’s Trixie’s hat,” she answered rather dejectedly, a vast difference from her usually bubbly personality. “She uses it for her magic performances and things.”

“Great idea.” Jojo got up and put his cap back on, flipping it backwards. “We can find a dog to track her scent and find her.”

“Not a dog, no.” Pinkie shook her head, then flipped the wizard hat into the air where her Stand appeared and caught it. “Trixie uses her hat to pull out rabbits and flowers and stuff. It’s kinda like a door.”

Sunset was beginning to understand. “A door? So you’re saying…”

Pinkie nodded. “Golden Ticket doesn’t only take doors to open them to the other side. Golden Ticket can return doors to where it got them. In this case, we can get Trixie’s hat back to her.”

“And we follow it. Of course!” Jojo called forth White Buffalo and hastily got on. “We’re going to find her and we’re going to put an end to her for what she’s done.”

“B-But your bike only si-sits two…” Fluttershy wiped at her nose, which was dripping wet.

“I can take one of you,” Sunset said as Pegasus Fantasy spread its wings in the air behind her. “But I can only do it for a minute. We’ll have to be fast.”

“Don’t you worry about that.” Pinkie tapped the hat. “You should be more worried about keeping track of where the hat is. It’s going to go fast.”

“Then whenever you’re ready. Fantasy armor!” Pegasus Fantasy flew into Sunset from behind and wrapped around her. “Do it, Pinkie. Fluttershy, you go with Jojo. Just follow behind me.”

“Don’t worry, we will. For Rarity.” Jojo nodded and revved his Stand.

“Let’s do this!” Pinkie roared and Golden Ticket threw the hat up into the air, where it spun and spun until it suddenly zoomed off to the east.

“Hold on tight.” Sunset grabbed Pinkie around the waist and with a mighty flap of her wings, they took to the sky, following after the hat at speeds no human could go.

Jojo followed from below, speeding after them on White Buffalo, with Fluttershy clutching onto him tightly as his Stand used Faster than Fire from its throttles, giving it the speed it needed to catch up.

Pinkie had been right about keeping up with the hat. If not for their Stands, there was no way they’d be able to keep up with it. Pinkie said something about how the doors she borrowed needed to be returned to their owners quickly and it had never been used as a tracking device before. It was a clever idea and something Sunset herself would’ve never thought of.

With Rarity’s monument left behind, now forever a reminder in the forests of Everfree, Sunset vowed to herself that they would avenge her. They would bring Trixie to justice and they would do the same with the master who thought she could just do whatever she wanted.

“For Rarity.”
----------------------JO-JO-----------------------
“There. Below.”

Trixie’s hat had descended the next road, going down a slope that only led to one place: The harbor.

What she was doing here, Sunset didn’t know, but what she did know was that they were going to find her and they were going to win.

The hat darted into one of the boathouses facing the waterfront. Sunset planted themselves down on the wooden docks, her fantasy armor fading away. They had only taken fifty four seconds to get here, which was cutting it a little close, but it had been just nice. Jojo wouldn’t be far behind as well, slowed down only by the twist and turns of the streets.

The inside of the boathouse was dark and the only lights around were that of the pier, where hordes of tiny insects buzzed around, attracted to the lamps.

“Open sesame!” Pinkie called forth Golden Ticket, who opened a purple door into the garage door of the boathouse.

“Okay. Now we have to be careful. Trixie’s a formidable enemy,” Sunset warned as they gazed into the dark interior. “We don’t know if she’s planned an ambush or something.”

Before either of them could take another step, Sunset felt a buzzing in her head, followed by a sudden weight being pressed down on top of her. It almost brought her face straight down to the wooden flooring below, but she caught herself and spread her legs further, keeping herself up. Pinkie had been on the way in and was now face first in the cement floor just past the boathouse’s doorway.

“You know, Trixie hadn’t expected you to find her so quickly… But I’m glad you did.”

Sunset looked up to see Trixie sitting on the roof, swinging her legs under her with her Stand levitating in the air above her, its legs crossed.

“Trixie…” Sunset growled.

“Didn’t Rarity tell you?” She smirked at her. “Gravity kills. Oh wait, she can’t tell you. She’s dead. And I was the one to kill her. The Great and Powerful Trixie is not to be trifled with!”

“And you’re going to paaaay for that!” Pinkie yelled from the doorway as Golden Ticket tried to help her up. “How could you do this, Trixie? She was your friend too!”

“Whatever friends I had are long gone. Only the master has my loyalty now.” Trixie stood up and dusted her robes. “Now, I believe we have chatted long enough.”

Gravity Kills propelled itself through the air before slamming hard into Pegasus Fantasy, knocking them both to the end of the pier as they tore apart the planks below. Pegasus Fantasy planted both hooves under Gravity Kills and kicked up, then halted itself in the air and dashed forward, ramming both fists into the enemy Stand’s gut.

Trixie coughed up blood and fell off the roof, but got up again with a new rage in her eyes.

Gravity Kills raised one finger and the air around them began to get lighter. Sunset felt her feet leave the ground and she struggled to grab on to something, but to no avail. Once she had floated past the roof of the boathouse, Gravity Kills lowered its finger and the meter on its chest tipped to the left. Without warning, she was thrust down to the ground with enough force to break the planks, with wood splintering into her face as she did so.

Sunset gasped from the pain and began coughing up blood, but she could not get up. The gravity was too intense around her.

Think, Sunset, think! There must be a way to beat this!

Before she could do anything else, a pale door appeared under her and flipped open, allowing her to drop into the water below. Sunset shut her eyes as she collided with the water and she kept sinking because of the intense gravity, but she found that after drifting down for a while, Gravity Kills’ ability lost its effect on her and she was able to get Pegasus Fantasy to push her away from the spot she had been at, traveling along the pier until she was three boathouses down. It seemed Gravity Kills could only change gravity in a limited area around itself and she was now out of range of its power.

Unfortunately, Sunset knew her Stand’s range wasn’t that good. If she wanted to take on Trixie, she would have to get close. Unless she could think of something else.

I have to do this. For my friends. For everyone. For Rarity.

Pegasus Fantasy grabbed Sunset and flew her out of the water and back on the pier. Trixie turned to her with a snarl and pointed at her. Gravity Kills raised both hands, then the pier closer to it began to splinter and break under the gravity around it. In only a few seconds, the gravity there seemed to increase and the wooden beams supporting the boardwalk were shattered and that portion of the pier sank under the water.

Sunset didn’t have to be there to know just how high the gravity was there. There was no chance she would get close. Unless…

“Pinkie, could you do that again?” Sunset called to her friend, who was still lying by the boathouse. “I’ve a plan. It’s the only way to get close enough.”

“Okey-dokey!” she yelled back, with Golden Ticket moving away from Gravity Kills as best as it could.

Pegasus Fantasy flew high, getting as high and as far away from Sunset as it could, before dive bombing back down towards Gravity Kills. The enemy Stand saw her coming and lowered the gravity, pulling out broken shards of the pier from the water as they spun around it. Further manipulating the gravity around it, Gravity Kills began firing the broken wood at Pegasus Fantasy, who spun and flew around them, occasionally punching them. Once it got close enough, Sunset could feel the gravity affecting her now and with the low gravity, it was suddenly harder to get to Gravity Kills, but grabbing one of the pieces of wood, Pegasus Fantasy threw it behind itself, propelling it through the low gravity field towards the enemy Stand.

Seeing the threat coming, Gravity Kills raised gravity again and Pegasus Fantasy immediately began plummeting down, but Trixie realized her mistake when Pegasus Fantasy readied a fist as it fell faster and faster. Its fist connected with Trixie’s Stand’s face and Gravity Kills was knocked down as a door shifted under both of them and opened, plunging both Stands into the water below.

Pegasus took this chance to give Gravity Kills the beatdown it deserved as it reeled from the sudden plunge. Gravity Kills raised both arms to block Pegasus’ punches, then unfurled its claws and slashed at Sunset’s Stand. Both Stands traded blows as the water began to bubble around them from the speed they were attacking at. Gravity Kills attempted another attack at Pegasus Fantasy’s face, but it grabbed its hand and with all its strength, it threw it high, sending the enemy Stand out of the water where it followed with a flap of its wings.

However, Gravity Kills spun around in the air, then raised both hands as gravity increased once again, pushing against Pegasus and it tried to get to its foe.

“You’ve tested me beyond your permitted line, Sushi.” Trixie’s fumed as blood ran down her head, mixing with her white hair. “I have yet to use Gravity Kill’s true power. Do you want to know what happens when it pools intense gravity into a single spot?”

Gravity Kills pointed both fingers down on the ground as it levitated over it. To Sunset’s horror, darkness began to gather on the cement floor of the dock, slowly bending and warping it as it grew bigger and bigger. Orange lights began to pool around this dark spot and spiralled around it, swirling almost majestically as the hole got bigger and bigger.

“With this much gravity, Gravity Kills is able to create black holes, able to bend space and time itself. If you find yourself in there, Sushi, you might never find your way out!” Trixie bent back with laughter. “As this black hole grows, it will consume everything in its path, including the city and all your friends.”

“Trixie, this is madness!” Sunset swiped a hand to the side. “You’ll destroy everything! Including your master!”

“You’ve pushed me to this, Sushi. You only have yourself to blame!”

As the black hole continued to grow, its gravity began to pull objects into its dark void, starting with the broken boardwalk and even the lampposts. Pinkie began sliding towards it, but Golden Ticket grabbed her hand and warped a door above them, opening it and throwing both of them through it before shutting it. That would buy her some time, but not much, judging from how fast the black hole was growing. Trixie needed to be stopped, now, before this could escalate any further.

“But what can I do against this?” Sunset clenched her fists as her brain worked on strategies. “What can I do?”

“Your next line is going to be ‘I can’t do anything against this’.”

“I can’t do anything against this!” Sunset threw her hands down. Then she realized who had just spoken and she turned around.

Jostle Joyride stood behind her, White Buffalo at his side, along with Fluttershy and even Rainbow Dash and Applejack. They must’ve heard the commotion and come over.

“It ain’t over yet. I’ve explained everything to Rainbow and Applejack. We can still beat this, Sushi girl.” Jojo gave her a pat on the shoulder. “You can reset the docks.”

“But I need a heavy amount of concentration. I don’t know if I can do it.”

“You can. Believe in yourself.” Jojo moved his hand over to her hand and gave it a pat as well. “I believe in you. I’m sure Rarity would as well. Now do her proud. We’ll buy you all the time you need, so work your magic.”

“Yeah, Sunset, we have your back!” Rainbow pumped a fist and flexed her arm.

“Yes we do.” Fluttershy nodded and gave her a smile.

“Then it’s time we get right to it.” Applejack cracked her knuckles together and summoned Highwayman. “Someone’s gotta pay for what they did to Rarity.”

“Right. Then I estimate about fifteen minutes before this black hole consumes the docks completely. We’ll have to stop it within that time.” Jojo slid one leg to the side, then placed one hand on his belt and the other to his hat. “Keep Sunset safe and get to work!”

Running on Ice, Highwayman and White Buffalo charged towards the growing void and the enemy above it.


> Chapter 15: Fifteen Minutes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Florence took control of one of the electrical boxes in the area and snaked wires out from them, tying around White Buffalo as it drove around Gravity Kills, its head jabbing forward like a scorpion whenever it could. Gravity Kills increased the gravity further, soon pinning the motorcycle on the spot, but Running on Ice planted both hands on the ground and began freezing it, sending frost out towards them, and when it reached the enemy Stand, it began to climb up its legs. With the enemy temporarily frozen in place, Highwayman flew forward, copying itself three times as their fists pulled back to their shoulders, and when they were upon it, their spring loaded fists were thrusted forward, pummeling Gravity Kills all over before it lowered gravity, only to raise it again to throw them towards the black hole. The Highwayman copies fell into the darkness, disappearing from view, but the real Highwayman launched out its arms and wrapped them around portions of the boardwalk before springing back away from the encroaching void.

All this while, Sunset kept her attention on the black hole, her hands raised as Pegasus Fantasy stood by her, doing the same. She needed her all of her mind in this and she could not afford to lose concentration now, not when the black hole was capable of eating everything in sight.

It had already been two minutes and it had yet to grow any smaller. Sunset could feel the molecules working all around her, but she would have to keep it up if she wanted to stop Trixie.

Doors appeared all over the floor around Gravity Kills and Trixie and the would periodically open, releasing Highwayman or Running on Ice as they hopped up to briefly attack the enemy Stand, only to drop back through the door before it could do anything else, then coming out another one later on, repeating it.

“Stay still!” Trixie complained and stomped a foot as Gravity Kills formed a ring of debris around itself, sending it flying when one of the Stands popped up to attack.

“Kick to the face!” Rainbow said as Running on Ice popped up again, delivering a swift roundhouse to Gravity Kills’ head before dropping back down the doorway. “Kick to the back!”

It came up again, this time behind the enemy and kicked it in the back, pushing it closer towards White Buffalo, who belched fire at it. Fire caught on Gravity’s right arm, and mirrored itself on Trixie, who quickly tried to pat it out as she grunted in pain.

Highwayman was next to jump out of a door, but Gravity Kills was ready this time and spun its rocky barrier around, smashing it in the face and sending it flying into the water. Applejack was thrown back as well, her nose bleeding profusely, broken on impact. Running on Ice was next, rising up from the water on a pillar of ice as it washed a wave over Gravity Kills, then freezing it, trapping it in place. But with an increase in gravity, it shattered the ice, then manipulated it right back at Running on Ice. It morphed the shards back into water, but that distraction gave Gravity Kills time to fire more of its debris at it, hitting Running on Ice once in the chest, then the neck. Rainbow’s Stand fell to the water and disappeared beneath the surface as Rainbow herself dropped to her knees, coughing as she held her throat.

Sunset watched her friends get hurt around her and her reset faltered. “No! Not yet!”

She couldn’t worry about them now. It would serve no purpose to stop to help them when the black hole was going to destroy everything. She had to continue focusing.

With a deep breath, Sunset closed her eyes and raised her hands again. She thought back to the time Princess Celestia had taught them to cast magic for the first time. She had been an inexperienced unicorn oh so long ago and no matter how hard she tried, she could not get her horn to work.

“Focus, Sunset,” Celestia said. “Imagine you’re in your most favorite place in Equestria. Picture yourself there and pay no attention to anything around you. You must not worry about what the others see you doing. Focus only on what you want and you can do it, Sunset.”

“Focus…” Sunset repeated.

Her favorite place in Equestria had been the library in Celestia’s castle, but things had changed and that place only brought back bad memories now. Instead, Sunset chose to focus on Canterlot High School. It had been a while since she had walked through the halls, seeing as it was summer break, but she had always felt a sense of calm inside ever since running away from Equestria. Sunset had always had a life of solitude here, that is until she met Jojo and the others. In the last few days, even though there had been new beginnings, hardships and sorrow, she felt as though she had found a place among this group of girls and this mysterious man from out of town. They had given her a sense of belonging, something Sunset realized she had never felt before and she was willing to give it her all to protect this world and everything she held dear here. She had found friendship and she wasn’t going to give it up for anything now.

Eight minutes left.

As she focused on school and the faces of her friends, Pegasus Fantasy’s knuckles began to glow and light began to fill them. Sunset felt power wash over her hands and she couldn’t explain how she knew it, but she knew that this was the power of friendship and that was the source of Pegasus Fantasy’s strength as well as hers.

Willing its powers to press on, Sunset felt a tremor in the ground as the wood from the boardwalk began to fix itself, with the pillars rising from the water and reforming, allowing the planks to go back to where they were.

“What? No!” Trixie pointed at Sunset as the holes in the ground beneath her began to fill up. “Destroy her! Gravity Kills!”

Her Stand floated up and threw a lamppost at Sunset, but Golden Ticket emerged from the boathouse and threw a door into it, knocking it off into sea with a splash. The light flashed out from under the water for a second before fizzling out to send the sea back into darkness.

The black hole began to shrink now as the ground under it warped and distorted, reforming itself into how it had been. With the pull of gravity growing less powerful on the docks, less things were being pulled into the void and Pinkie was able to poke her head out from the boathouse with a grin, before Golden Ticket threw another door at her Stand.

“No!” Trixie growled and Gravity Kills scrambled forward, dodging the projectile and dropping onto all fours as it scurried for Sunset. She wasn’t going to let her reset her black hole.

Five minutes left.

Running on Ice returned from the water and washed a wave of ice across its path. It raised the gravity and crushed the ice to bits, but as it changed to water, Fluttershy’s Florence dropped the wires around White Buffalo to the water, sending electricity through it and into Gravity Kills.

“Aaaah!” Trixie grasped at her chest as her Stand took in the discharge.

It quickly retreated back to the air, but it was quickly tackled by Highwayman, who crashed to the ground when Gravity Kills raised the gravity again.

“Enough! You cannot stop the Great and Powerful Trrrrrrrrixie!” the girl yelled to the sky and began floating alongside her Stand as it raised itself to the roof of the boathouse again.

White Buffalo’s head snaked up to their position and speared both horns towards them, only to have Trixie’s Stand grab them, before lowering the gravity around it, sending the motorcycle Stand floating up, only to be thrown out at Running on Ice as it skated over on an icy slope, knocking both of them back to the ground in a heap.

Gravity Kills raised the gravity again and created a field of rocks around itself, but to her surprise, the rocks began to disappear one by one, moving back into the ground as it had been seconds before.

“No. No!” Trixie turned her attention to Sunset.

Pegasus Fantasy’s knuckles were gleaming brightly now and with each connection of friendship she had, Sunset found the encouragement to keep going. With only three minutes left, the black hole shrunk down to the size of a golf ball, and then it spiralled in on itself and vanished completely. She had done it. She had averted Trixie’s black hole.

Opening her eyes, Sunset could only smile as she watched Trixie’s shocked reaction from the gravity and docks resetting itself.

“No!” Trixie waved a fist at her from the roof. “But you’re a fool, Sushi. Nothing’s stopping me from making another one. Gravity Kills!”

“Not if we have something to say about it!” Golden Ticket emerged from a door to the roof next to Trixie.

Unfortunately for her, that meant there was no ground beneath her feet now and she plummeted down into the boathouse with a shriek. Gravity Kills turned its attention to its master to rescue her, and that gave Sunset enough time to close the distance between their Stands as she donned her fantasy armor, giving her wings a flap as she sped off towards them.

As Gravity Kills caught Trixie to put her down, ice formed on the ground around them, freezing them to the spot as Running on Ice skated by, giving them a small wave.

Gravity Kills shattered the ice on one foot with its claws, but it was too late. As Sunset leapt upon it, she drew back both arms and began delivering a barrage of heavy punches, punching so fast that her arms looked like a typhoon, each one striking against the enemy Stand, creating fist-sized indents all around it, all the while yelling at the top of her and Pegasus Fantasy’s voice.

“This is for Rarity! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! 
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Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!

And with one final punch, Sunset drove her armored fist into her foe, sending both Stand and Stand user flying out into the water, where they landed with a huge splash. Sunset stood there, fist outstretched and smoking slightly. The space all around was stained with little flecks of red. Sunset lowered her fist and coughed. She hadn’t shouted like that for a prolonged period since… forever. She’d never shouted that much ever.

“Sushi you did it!” Pinkie bounced over and wrapped her arms around Sunset as her fantasy armor faded. “I never doubted you for a second!”

“Yeah, same goes for us. I told you you had it in you, Sushi girl.” Jojo clapped her on the shoulder as the rest of the group ran in from outside. “Rarity would be proud. If only she could still be with us now.”

“She would be…” Sunset looked out to the sea, where everything was now calm again. “Trixie. We’ve got to get her out of the water.”

“On it.” Rainbow sent Running on Ice out into the sea.

“What?” Jojo looked aghast. “We’re not saving her. She killed Rarity!”

“Under the influence of the master, Jojo.” Sunset put a hand on his arm. “It’s not her fault. No matter what she did, she wasn’t herself. She was being controlled. You can’t hold that against her. And I’m sure Rarity would want that.”

Jojo raised a finger, but then sighed and nodded. “You’re right. I’ve only known her for such a short time, but I know that’s what she would want. She was the most generous person I’ve ever known, even giving her life to protect mine.”

“And Trixie will get us closer to finding the master. I’m sure of it,” Fluttershy added her two cents. “As leader of the Bully Squad, she should remember the m-most…”

“Got her!” Rainbow exclaimed as Running on Ice walked over, placing a soaked and unconscious Trixie on the floor. “All yours, Sunset.”

Sunset summoned Pegasus Fantasy and began working on Trixie. Soon, the blue girl opened her eyes and spat out water.

“Bleh. I feel like absolute crap,” Trixie groaned. “Like I’ve been beaten up for seven pages.”

“That’s cause you were, silly!” Pinkie helped her up. “Good to have you back, Trixie!” And she tackled her in a big hug.

“Glad ya ain’t under the control of that nasty old master anymore.” Applejack planted a hand on the girl’s shoulder.

“I am so sorry for what I’ve done…” Trixie looked at her hands and trembled. “The master’s control is so strong. I could see it all, but I couldn’t… I couldn’t stop myself. Rarity, oh Rarity, Trixie is so very sorry…”

Jojo sighed and looked away. But then he cleared his throat and put a hand on her shoulder. “Trixie, we want to stop your master, to make sure nothing like that happens ever again. But we need to know what you know. Please, anything about who this master is.”

“I… I can help.” She looked up at all of them hopefully. “I was the one who made contact with her on behalf of the team. She’s… she’s… I don’t know if you’re going to like this.”

“We’ve been through a lot.” Sunset shrugged and massaged her own neck. “Whether we like it or not, we’ve still got to do it.”

“Well…” Trixie shuffled her feet. “She’s the principal. Of Crystal Prep Academy.”

Pinkie gasped. “But that would mean it’s…”

Trixie nodded. “Principal Abacus Cinch.”

“Game over, man. Game over!” Rainbow went to the corner and kicked a bucket with a mop in it.

“Why? What’s wrong?” Sunset asked. She knew about Crystal Prep and Canterlot High’s rivalry and how Crystal Prep always won every competition, but she didn’t see what the problem was here. And if Rainbow was already admitting defeat, then it was something big.

“We can’t go against Crystal Prep!” Rainbow kicked the bucket again and it tipped over. “They’ll mop the floor with us. Literally!” She grabbed the mop in the bucket and tossed it aside.
“We beat Trixie’s Bully Squad.” Jojo pointed out.

“Crystal Prep’s on a whole ‘nother level. Ain’t like anythin’ you’ve seen before.” Applejack took off her hat and looked down.

“They’ve beaten us at everything. Everything!” Rainbow pulled at her hair as she walked on the spot. “I should know. I captain every sports team. And we’ve never won a championship. Ever! We can’t face them.”

“We can’t just give up now!” Sunset tried to reason. “We’ve come this far. Giving up would mean Rarity died for nothing!”

“Sushi’s right. I didn’t come to this city to give up now.” Jojo raised a fist next to his face. “I came to make sure this evil is eradicated. I’m going to see this through.”

“As will I.” Sunset stood next to him. “You girls, she’ll keep hunting us down, regardless. She had the Bully Squad, I’m sure she has more, more people who need us to save them.”

“I-I think Sunset’s right.” Fluttershy walked out to them. “We need to do something ab-about this. We need to stop Principal Cinch.”

“Even if that means dying?” Rainbow asked and looked at all her friends.

“They’re right.” Applejack put her hat back on and spat at the corner of the boathouse. “Rarity knew this, and she gave her life to make sure we keep goin’. There ain’t a more selfless character than her. We should be doin’ the same. Crystal Prep may always win, but we gotta try.”

“Right, and we owe her to see this through to the end. To stop Principal Cinch and to free everyone she has controlled,” Sunset said. “You girls have shown me how important and strong friendship is. I know together, we’ll win this.”

“Hands in!” Pinkie suddenly stretched her arm out. “We’ll do this together!”

Fluttershy slowly stretched her arm out and out it over Pinkie’s.

“And count me in.” Jojo placed his hand too. “This Atticus Finch is gonna regret trying to take over the world.”

“Abacus Cinch.” Sunset placed her hand in.

“What?”

“It’s Principal Abacus Cinch.”

“Right. What she said.” Jojo grinned.

Applejack leaned in and placed her hand there too, leaving only Rainbow and Trixie.

“Trixie has a score to settle with her.” The magician grunted and looked out at the night sky. “But I’ll walk my own path. I’ll take her down myself.”

“Really? You’re sure?” Sunset asked. She knew Trixie was strong, but Cinch had taken control of her once. It could very well happen again.

Trixie nodded firmly. “Trixie has her own plans. Perhaps I’ll even take Cinch down before you do. Time will tell, but for now, I wish you all the best of luck.”

She pulled out a metallic ball and threw it to the ground, enveloping everyone is smoke. They coughed and gagged and when the smoke cleared, Trixie had vanished.

“Haven’t seen that in a while.” Applejack waved her hat around to clear the smoke. “Rainbow. Ya in?”

Rainbow still looked hesitant, but when she saw all her friends standing together, she knew she could not abandon them, not when they needed someone awesome like herself to help them.

“Count me in.” She stretched her arm out.

Together, they dipped their hands down, then threw them high. “For Canterlot!”

They knew what they had to do, and do or die, they were going to accomplish it.
———JO-JO————
Principal Abacus Cinch sat in her office, the air around her heavier and mustier than before as veins in her forehead threatened to explode. Trixie and her Bully Squad had failed. Now they had all been released from her control and she had lost some powerful assets.

This was the last time she was going to use outside assets. She should’ve known from the beginning that she would not be able to trust anyone other than her Crystal Preppers to get the job done. With her as principal, Crystal Prep Academy had never once lost in anything, especially her esteemed Shadowbolts, ensuring her legacy as principal as the best school in Canterlot would always endure. No group of Stand users from a lowly school like Canterlot High was going to stand in her way.

There was a knock at her door and Cinch composed herself and swiveled the chair to face the entrance. “Enter.”

The door was pushed open and in walked one of her favorite students, one of the members of her Shadowbolts. She had hand picked them from amongst the student body even before the emergence of Stands in the world, knowing that their skillset was far above that of their other acquaintances.

“Principal Cinch.” She bowed, her giant glasses almost slipping off her face as she did so. “After hours in the library, I believe I might have found somewhere worth investigating.”

“Ah, excellent work.” Cinch played her fingers on her cheek as she leaned against her desk. “I have sought this power for a long time. If we are to completely dominate this world, me and all of Crystal Prep, we must get it before this group of unexpected vagrants do. My rule will not be contested, especially not when we have it in our grasp. Once you find more traces of it, report back to me and I shall accompany you down there myself.”

“Of course, great principal. I will set out immediately to search for it and soon…” She held out one hand towards Cinch. “All will become yours. All the world.”

“Yes. Yes, you are very correct, Sugarcoat.” She turned back in her chair and smiled to herself. Once she had this power, no one, not even this Sunset Shimmer could stop her.

“You can try, but you shall never succeed,” she said as she stood from her chair and walked around her desk to a cupboard of trophies in the corner where her din lightbulb barely touched. She spied at her reflection and that of her Stand behind her, stretching its arms out and cracking its knuckles. “My legacy shall last for eons to come and I will not let anyone change that.”


> Chapter 16: Nickelback's Photograph
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset Shimmer walked into the Italian restaurant the others were seated in, sidestepping servers as they walked around bringing food to the tables. Her group of friends were seated at a round table next to a window, overlooking the street. Across the road, on the opposite side, stood Crystal Prep Academy, gleaming under the light of the sun, shiny beyond any surface Sunset had ever seen this world.

“I put the car out on the road and reset it. No one will know we nicked it,” Sunset said as she pulled up a chair to sit down. “What did you get for me?”

“Ordered you some steak!” Pinkie sipped at her glass of water. “I mean, who doesn’t like steak?”

“Actually, uh, I’ve never had steak before,” Sunset admitted.

“Oh yeah, Sushi’s from that pony world.” Rainbow Dash began clicking her fingers. “Equesteros? Equestoria? Equestotron?”

“Equestria.” Sunset helped spare her friends from the rest of Rainbow’s guesses.

“That means you can’t eat meat!” Pinkie put her hands to her cheeks. “I’m so sorry, Sushi!”

“No, no, it’s okay, really.” Sunset put a hand on her arm to calm her down. “I’ve been here a while now. I’ve eaten meat. I do like the taste of it.”

“Glad ya do, Sushi. You’d be missin’ out plenty if ya didn’t eat meat.” Applejack toyed with a knife as they waited for their food to arrive.

“So what’s our game plan here?” Sunset asked. “What are we gonna do?”

“We’re just gonna walk right in.” Jojo eyed the school across the street. “We’re gonna find that principal and we’re gonna beat the crap out of her.”

“I like that plan,” Rainbow Dash said as she drank some of her iced water. 

“Ah don’t,” Applejack shook her head. “Look, Ah’m all for direct punching, but if we just charge in there, we’re gonna get slaughtered. Who knows how many more Stand users are hidin’ around inside that shiny building?”

That was true enough. None of them knew how many more underlings Cinch had working for her like the Bully Squad. 

“It would be a gift to Cinch if we all just charged in there without knowing what we’re up against,” Sunset decided. “And let’s not forget, Cinch most likely has a Stand herself. If she’s in charge of everything, it’s sure to be a powerful one.”

“Alright, alright,” Jojo held his hands up in surrender. “We need a plan. So let’s come up with one.”

“Can you wait?” Pinkie held her hand up. “I need to go use the bathroom. I drank too much soda.”

Pinkie hopped out of her seat and bounced off towards the restaurant’s restrooms. Sunset, whose seat was facing that way, was about to return to her meal when she felt the air move strangely, and Pinkie abruptly disappeared with a small pop.

“Huh?” Sunset knew that Pinkie was capable of a lot of strange feats, but she didn’t know that vanishing on the spot was one of them.

“What’s wrong, Sushi?” Rainbow asked as she cut herself a slice of strawberry cake.

“Pinkie just… vanished,” Sunset pointed to where the pink girl had been. “Like just into thin air.”

“Eh, I’ve seen her do stranger things,” Applejack said, completely relaxed. “We’ll just wait for her to return, then we can make a plan.”

Her friends knew her longer and since they didn’t think much of it, Sunset figured it wasn’t a problem.

The time dragged on, and after a while the food had arrived and was dug into. Pinkie still had not yet returned. It was unlike Pinkie to not show up for food and she had certainly been in the restroom for far too long.

“Ah don’t know what she’s doing in there.” Applejack sighed and got up. “Ah’ll go see what tomfoolery she’s up to in there.”

Applejack went over towards the restroom, but when she had one foot past the door frame to the women’s, Sunset felt that same sensation again, almost like a whirring of the air. And then Applejack vanished before she turned the corner.

“What the…” Sunset rubbed her eyes and looked around. Pinkie disappearing was one thing, but not Applejack. Something was wrong.

“Applejack vanished too,” Sunset told the others, who were more focused on finishing the food before them. Her own steak wasn’t even a quarter eaten. “Something weird’s going on. I think it might be an enemy Stand.”

“During meal time?” Jojo wiped his mouth with a napkin and pushed his chair out. “Where are they?”

“I don’t know. Pinkie and Applejack both disappeared when heading for the restroom,” Sunset explained. She didn’t know what it was, but something was making them vanish.

“I’m with Sunset on this one.” Rainbow got up and made to go to the restroom, but Sunset grabbed her arm before she was able.

“Wait. We have no idea what kind of power this enemy Stand has. Going there by yourself is a bad idea, Rainbow. You’ll just end like like Pinkie and Applejack.”

“Pshhh, I’m better than that. I’ll be careful, you’ll see. I’m awesome that way.”

She approached the restrooms cautiously and Sunset took this chance to look around the restaurant, trying to spot anything. There had been no sign of any strange people and there had been no sign of an enemy Stand as well. But whatever it was, it seemed as though they had to head towards the restroom for the enemy to attack. That meant at the moment, their table was a safe spot.

As Rainbow Dash passed the closest table towards the restroom, she called forth her Stand and with both hands, Running on Ice began freezing over the area, trying to find some clue as to where the enemy was. If they were invisible, the ice would freeze over their forms and reveal them, leaving them open to attack, but unfortunately, nothing appeared frozen over. The enemy wasn’t there.

“Where are you?” Rainbow spun around searching for signs of anyone that remotely looked hostile. There was a man sitting at a table on the far end looking over. His black hair was slicked back with grease and he had a huge chin and though he was the meanest looking person she’d ever seen, somehow she didn’t think he was a Stand user. “Running on Ice!”

Rainbow was gonna send her Stand into the restroom to have a look, but then she realized her Stand was no longer there.

“What the… Running on Ice!”

But her Stand still didn’t show up like it normally would.

Sunset watched Rainbow stomp around exasperatedly, then charged towards the restrooms. In that instant, she vanished as well, right into thin air. She was sure she hadn’t blinked, but there it was. Rainbow too had disappeared and there was no way all three of them had some kind of power to just disappear. There was something wrong with that restroom, but Sunset didn’t know what it was.

“Don’t go there.” Sunset held Jojo’s arm as he took a step away from their table. “Something about that restroom entrance is making them disappear. We need a better view.”

“Um, I have an idea.” Fluttershy raised a hand and pointed to the ceiling. Sunset followed her gaze and realized she was pointing at a security camera. “If we can get to the security room, I can get Florence into the system and we can have a better look.”

“Sounds like a good plan.” Jojo gestured to the staff door near the restaurant’s bar. “We should make a run for it. Just in case the enemy has anything else planned.”

Throwing their napkins on the table, the three of them remaining rushed for the door in the back, turning the heads of all the patrons in the restaurant, along with a girl with lime colored hair sitting at a small table by herself, a trio of photographs in her hand with three girls knocking on the photos, trapped inside.

Jojo was the first to shoulder the staff door out of their way and then the door to the security room. An employee stood inside, smoking a cigarette, almost dropping it when the door crashed against the wall.

Jojo charged at him and a sparkle of golden electricity ran from his hands as she thrust them against the man, who flew against the wall under a shelf of files. Instead of falling to the ground in a heap, it was as though he had been stuck to the wall and he couldn’t get down.

“Help!” he cried.

“What did you do?” Sunset watched as the man tried to pry himself off, but to no avail. “Sorry about that, mister.”

“A little trick my family has passed down for generations to defend ourselves, though now with Stands, I haven’t been using it much..” Jojo pointed at the side of his head. “We call it hamon, a ripple of our energy flowing out from us that matches that of the sun.”

“You can… harness the sun?”

“Well, not exactly like that, but it is effective against the armies of the dead.” Sunset gave him a weirded out look, and Jojo shook his head. “Stories for another time. Long story short, I channeled my energy into the man’s clothes to stick him to the wall.”

S-Sorry about that, mister.” Fluttershy averted her eyes from him.

“Right, that makes sense. Not really.” Sunset waved at the security console in front of them, consisting of a single computer with a camera feed and a set of plugged in controls. “Fluttershy, it’s all yours.”

“I’ll see what I can find.” She nodded and raised one hand. “Fl-Florence.”

Her Stand snaked out of her fingers and plunged into the computer monitor. Soon, the camera began to swivel allowing them to see everyone in the restaurant. This was going to help them pinpoint where the enemy Stand user was. The first place they looked was around the restroom. Fluttershy zoomed in at every table, trying to view their faces to see if she knew anyone, like with the Bully Squad. She went by two tables with two couples each, one that had a group of office workers, and another with a lone girl toying with a camera. Fluttershy lingered on her and zoomed in further. Sunset knew that must’ve meant she knew her.

“Lemon Zest. Of the Shadowbolts.” She tapped on the screen. “Principal Cinch’s t-top students…”

“Strikes you a little weird, don’t you think? A student of Crystal Prep sitting here at the same time as us?” Jojo planted a fist in his palm. “And look, she’s got the perfect view of the restroom from where she is and a blocked view facing our table.”

From where Lemon Zest was seated, there were a row of potted plants between her and the table they had all been sitting at. Perhaps her Stand worked with line of sight. There wasn’t enough conclusive material to make any conclusions right now.

“So what’s the plan?” Sunset asked her friends. “We know we can’t just walk up to her and deal with her.”

“Um… She’s gone.”

“What?”

Fluttershy gulped. “She’s not seated there any longer.”

All three of them looked at the screen and the table she was at was now empty. Fluttershy had Florence pan the camera, but there was no sight of her anywhere now, but the door to the staff zone was swinging close.

“Here she comes.” Jojo clenched his fists and straightened himself.

Florence detached itself from the computer and Fluttershy glanced at the trapped employee and flinched a little. “S-Sorry. Th-this is an eme-emergency…”

As they got ready for their enemy to show up, the three of them spread themselves out in the room and waited for something to happen. Sunset tensed up and summoned Pegasus Fantasy behind her. In such close quarters, she could give the enemy Stand a good beating before they had a chance to do anything, or at least, she hoped that would be the case.

The door was thrown open, sending all three of them into a combative stance, but as it slammed into the wall again, there was no one standing at the entrance.

“So, you figured me out, huh?” a voice came from outside as the door started swinging back into position. “I must say, it was clever of you to come back here and use the camera to find me.”

“We won’t let Cinch win, Lemon,” Fluttershy said. “Thi-this isn’t right, what she-she’s doing.”

“Just come in here so we can whack off your mind control.” Jojo snapped his fingers. “Make it easy for us.”

A laughter came as the door shut fully again. There was a thud and it swung open and smashed into the wall again. The cheap plaster wall was already starting to crack at the handle’s impact point. “You seriously think we’re mind controlled?” When no answer came, she continued. “Crystal Prep Academy is loyal to Principal Cinch. Her legacy of victory and excellence is as much ours as it is hers, dudes!”

“No way. You agree with her world domination plot?” Sunset couldn’t help but frown. What she was hearing was incredible. Incredibly ridiculous.

“We’re great at everything, and under her leadership, we are so much more. And the rest of you are going to see just how much more once I’m done with you.”

“We’ll see about that. Go, Pegasus Fantasy!”

Sunset’s Stand dived past her, then smashed a fist through the wall on the left. She saw a tuft of lime colored hair outside before Lemon darted away back down the hall. Pegasus Fantasy went out after her, but then Sunset felt that weird buzzing sensation again and suddenly she felt lighter, almost like she had lost a part of herself.

“My Stand’s gone.” She realized as she failed to summon Pegasus Fantasy. “It’s the same with Pinkie and the others. It’s not the restroom, it’s something else she’s doing.”

“But it’s not dead,” Jojo told her. “Your Stand reflects you. If it was killed, you would be too, at least if you have a short range Stand like yourself. It’s still alive. Somewhere. As its user, you should still be able to track its position.”

And he was right. Sunset could still feel the presence of her Stand. It was outside the camera room in the hall past the staff door and it wasn’t moving.

“This must be Lemon Zest’s Stand power,” Jojo said. “It somehow captures things and keeps them in some other dimension or something. Be very careful, everyone. Until we learn how she does it, we can’t risk doing anything that might endanger us.”

“But how do we stop her?” Fluttershy cowered. “If she can just take our S-Stands, we can’t attack her.”

“You know what?” Jojo pounded his fists together. “We’re not going to get anywhere unless we push her. White Buffalo and I will go out there and do what we can, but you two need to figure out what kind of Stand she has.”

“What? No, that’s crazy, Jojo.” Sunset grabbed his shirt sleeve. “What if she gets you too?”

“It’s a risk we’ll have to take. Don’t you worry, Sushi. Even if I get taken too, I’m sure you two will finish it.” Jojo flashed her a smile and gave her a thumbs up. “Now, let’s roll. White Buffalo!”

They both peeked out of the corner at the same time, with Jojo running from the get go, charging straight out of the room. Lemon Zest stood on the other end, decked out in a colorful shirt and a purple skirt, with a camera pointed directly at him.

When she saw him and his Stand coming right for her one behind the other, she cursed and lowered her camera before running back out the staff door.

“Oh no you don’t!” Jojo sent White Buffalo’s head after her, which snaked around the corner. There was a splat and she uttered a cry of pain as Jojo and the rest of White Buffalo caught up with her.

Barging out the staff door, he found her kneeling by the corner, blood seeping from a wound in her back.

“That was so not cool.” Lemon glared at him. “Do you know how long it’ll take to clean this shirt?”

“I don’t care. What I care about are my friends.” Jojo spread his legs further apart and pointed a finger at her from an outstretched arm. “Now, where are they? What have you done with them?”

Lemon Zest moved her eyes from Jojo to his Stand, which roared next to his side, further away from the doorway. She smirked devilishly and raised her camera. “You’ve made a mistake.”
-------JO-JO-------
“It’s her camera.” Sunset tapped on the computer screen as Florence hacked the device again. “That’s her Stand!”

They had both seen Jojo’s attack on her out in the main hall and her lifting the camera to snap a picture of Jojo, who instantly disappeared. Then she pointed it at White Buffalo before it could do anything and it vanished too.

“But why didn’t she just take a photo of him in the hallway?” Sunset stepped back and folded her arms in thought. “Why did she run out instead? If she didn’t do that, she wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

“What if she couldn’t?” Fluttershy kept her eyes on the screen as Lemon stood up.

“What do you mean?”

“I-I mean what if she couldn’t take a picture of more than one person at a time?” Fluttershy theorized. “The hallway outside is narrow. Jojo and White Buffalo would have to run at her in a line. It’s the only explanation that fits.”

“I guess it also explains why she didn’t just photograph all of us while we were eating,” Sunset realized. “There were too many of us for her Stand to capture in one shot.”

“That must be it,” Fluttershy agreed. “The question is, now what do we do?”

“We have to stay together,” Sunset decided, taking her friend’s hand. “If she can’t take more than one of us at a time, we’ll just have to keep her from isolating us.”

“Bu-but we can’t beat her. L-Literally,” she squeaked. “Your Stand has been taken, and Florence doesn’t fight.”

“You beat Black Violin and Lyra,” Sunset reminded her. She gave her hand a squeeze. “Hey, we’ll find a way.”

The two girls peeped their head around the door, making sure that the coast was clear.

“What if Lemon just decides to make a run for it?” Fluttershy asked, keeping a watch out for any movement. “What’ll we do then?”

“I have a feeling she won’t,” Sunset kept her eyes peeled. “There’s only two of us left, and my Stand is gone. I’ve never known people like Lemon to give up on easy prey.”

“We’re easy prey?” Fluttershy trembled. 

“Well, no. We just want her to think that we are.”

And then there she was again, standing at the other end of the hallway with her Stand in hand, still smiling from ear to ear.

“So it’s down to you two.” She lifted the camera up and down, then her smile faded as she saw them linking hands. “So you figured me out, huh?”

“We know that you have to take pictures of us to make us disappear,” Sunset began. “And that you can’t take more than one of us at a time.”

“Clever.” Lemon put her feet up on her toes and leaned forward, pointing at them with two fingers. “Nickelback is able to send anyone it's taken a photo of into the photo. Just look at this photograph.”

She held one out, which was a photo of Rainbow Dash, pounding on the invisible barrier between them with both fists.

“Rainbow!” Sunset called, but she couldn’t seem to hear or see them.

“Everytime I do it makes me laugh.” Lemon snickered and gave the photograph a waggle and a wave. “But I’m not done yet. Once I deal with you two, Principal Cinch is going to see just how powerful I am and give me a higher standing.”

“You’re going to give our friends back right now.” Sunset waved a fist at her.

“Oh really? You and what army?” Lemon bent closer forward and pulled out three more photos, depicting Jojo, Pinkie Pie and Applejack also trying to find a way out of their photographs. “Just you wait. I’ll pry you two apart and I’ll get you as well!”

She ran straight for them, and flew forward in a flying kick. Sunset dropped low and pulled Fluttershy to the side and Lemon passed right over them before landing and spinning around for a second kick, which Sunset avoided by bending back. While Lemon was still recovering from her kick, Sunset tugged Fluttershy and they ran off down the hall, towards a junction. 

“Go on, run!” Lemon shouted after them. “Like it’s gonna make a difference! I’ll catch you two eventually!”

She ran on in pursuit after them, just turning the corner as Sunset’s heels disappeared into an open doorway. It was marked ‘storage’.

Sunset and Fluttershy ran into the room, dodging around shelves of frozen meat and other foodstuffs. However, they had not gotten far when they ran into a dead end.

“We need to turn around,” Sunset said, but it was too late. Lemon Zest had stepped into the doorway, blocking their escape.

“Going somewhere?”

“Hey you, you can’t be here!” Another employee appeared at the doorway behind Lemon.

But the girl just whipped around and snapped a photo of him. In a flash, he was gone and Nickelback was already printing out a photo of the man.

“No one stands in me and Nickelback’s way. We’ve taken too much effort to become a Shadowbolt at Crystal Prep.” She walked in and closed the door to the frozen meats. “Now smile, will you? And let go of each other.”

Lemon Zest closed the gap and kicked at them again. Sunset stepped back and whacked her leg away with one hand, but then she spun around and kicked one of the hanging meaty bodies at her and it smacked right into Sunset’s face with a thud. She let go of Fluttershy’s hand and slid across the wet floor, coming to a stop somewhere in the middle of the room.

“There we go. Just what I needed.” Lemon’s Stand was in both hands now. “Say cheese!”

“Fluttershy, you can win this, remember, you and Florence can-”

There was a flash in the dimly lit room and Sunset vanished from the floor.

“No, Sunset!” Fluttershy reached out to where she had been.

“And another one to add to my collection.” Lemon waited for the next photograph to come out of Nickelback before removing it and looking at it and laughing at it. “Now, it’s just you and me, shy girl.”

Fluttershy stepped all the way back until she was up against the walk-in freezer, unable to move away any further. Lemon raised her Stand, chuckling as she did so. Fluttershy’s hand brushed up against something. She looked down. 

“You’re mine!” Lemon pressed down on the shoot button on Nickelback, just a fraction of a second before all the lights went out.

Click!

“Hey!” Lemon shouted as darkness fell inside the storage room. She could hear the sound of air being released next, but she had no idea what that was. “Whatever, man. You’re forgetting Nickelback has a flash function. I don’t need to see you to take a photo of you.”

She clicked the button and a flash illuminated the entire room for a fraction of a second, but there wasn’t the sound of the emerging photo from her Stand she normally heard after it snapped someone.

“A-And you forgot something, Lemon Zest,” Fluttershy’s voice rang out in the dark room, along with something metallic squeaking. “You ha-have to take a photo of someone alone. Well, Florence and I, we’re one and the same. Y-You can’t separate her f-from me. And that means you can’t take a picture of us.”

“Why you…!” Lemon groused and shook a fist to the ceiling. “That just means I’ll have to kill you the old fashioned way!”

She just ran through the dark in a straight line, vaguely remembering where Fluttershy had been standing. Instead of colliding with a human, Lemon found herself going even further and eventually smashed her head into a shelf with wheels, falling flat on her back as everything on it tipped down over her.

The lights suddenly came back on, blinding her eyes for a second, but when she opened them again, she could see Fluttershy standing at a doorway looking at her.

“Aha!” Lemon flipped her camera up and took a picture of her upside down, but once again, no photo came out from Nickelback. “What gives?”

Fluttershy lifted a hand, where Florence dangled from her fingers. They wrapped around each other to form a hand and waved at her. “Like I said, Lemon, you ca-can’t separate us. And that means you can’t defeat us. But you on the other hand…”

She planted her hand on a door and began to swing it shut. Lemon grunted and pushed the shelf’s contents of frozen meat off her body and rushed for the door, but by the time she got to it, Fluttershy had already fully shut it, pulling a latch down outside to lock it.

“Hey, let me out!” Lemon bashed at the door, but it was made of a sturdy steel and she could not even dent it.

“Do you know where you’re standing?” Fluttershy stepped back as Florence made its way to a thermostat on the wall.

Only now did Lemon Zest look around, realizing she was in the freezer Fluttershy had backed up against earlier. She must’ve opened it when she turned the lights off.

Outside, Florence was turning up the temperature. The inside began to grow warmer, and the ice on the walls started to melt into water on the floor. Soon it was about a centimeter deep, splashing around as Lemon pounded on the door. Some of the water leaked outside under the door, which Fluttershy was satisfied to see.

“This is your last chance, Lemon Zest,” Fluttershy called through the door. “Release everyone, and I’ll let you go.”

“What, what do you think you’re gonna do to me, give me a sauna?” Lemon guffawed. “Joke’s on you, I love saunas, dude! And when I get out of here, you’re dead meat! Just like all the meat in this room!”

“Fine,” Fluttershy said, extending Florence to an electrical socket in the wall. Then she used her other hand to touch the tip of another tendril of Florence to the water.

The effect was immediate and from the small window into the freezer, light flashed from the inside and she could hear Lemon Zest shout and convulse as electricity shot through her body from the water. Fluttershy only stopped when she heard her body splash in the water and disconnected Florence from the socket.

She pried the door open again and there was Lemon Zest, lying in the puddle of water, her eyes rolled back with the photos at her side. Being polaroids, they were of a laminated material and they floated in the water, but soon, they all flashed white and suddenly, Fluttershy’s friends were lying one on top of the other in a pile on the flooded floor.

“Oomph, what in tarnation?” Applejack got off the top of the pile and walked backwards. “We’re free?”

“Fluttershy, you did it!” Sunset climbed off the wet floor and hugged her shy friend. “I knew you could win!”

“And I knew it even more.” Jojo got up, and because he was right at the bottom, his shirt and vest were now soaked.

“Uh, what’s going on?” The employee whom Lemon had captured sat up and rubbed the side of his head. “What are we all doing in the walk-in?”

“I think it’s time we use one of my favorite methods.” Jojo twisted the cap back on his head and straightened his vest. By now, the rest of them had heard about his famous tactic.

“No. Jojo, no, don’t do it.” Sunset raised a hand up to stop him, but it didn’t work.

Jojo turned to the door and ran with his arms bent at ninety degrees. “Run for ittttt, Sushiiii!”


> Chapter 17: The Who
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After fleeing from the restaurant and making sure no one knew where they were headed, Jostle Joyride poked his head out of the bush they had been hiding in to avoid being followed.

“Coast looks clear.” He brushed an animal’s nest off his head. “I told you they wouldn’t be able to track us.”

They had run across the street to a little forest beside Crystal Prep Academy after defeating Lemon Zest. That had seemed to shoot encouragement into the others, especially Rainbow Dash. She had been extremely ecstatic that they had managed to beat a member of Crystal Prep Academy’s acclaimed Shadowbolts, something that had never been done in Canterlot High history.

“Man, if we can beat one, we can totally beat the whole school now!” She whooped and cheered as they left the bushes. She had to stop to pull her scarf off some of the branches. “Bring it on, Crystal Prep!”

“And just yesterday ya didn’t even want ta come here.” Applejack was not impressed.

“Hey, I have the evidence to back me up.” Rainbow stuck a finger in Applejack’s chest. “We’ve never won! Not even in a spelling bee! And look at us now. I’d change my mind too if I saw something as amazing as that happening.”

“Yeah, it’s amazing!” Pinkie pushed herself between the two of them. “It’s almost like we’ve discovered some sort of new power that makes us stronger together as a team!”

“Uh, Stands? Duh.” Rainbow stretched her arms to her sides and Running on Ice appeared over her.

“Ah think she’s meanin’ somethin’ else, Dash.”

“Psssh, whatever it is, we’re so much more awesome now!” She pumped a fist up. “Now, I say we head into the school and see what we can find. I’m sure a creep like Cinch has nowhere to go but the principal’s office.”

“She does love the school a lot, with all the accolades and awards they’ve won…” Fluttershy added. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she lives here…”

“Then it’ll be easy work getting to her to take her down.” Jojo cracked his knuckles and his neck. “Who’s ready to serve some just desserts?”

“Ooh, me! Me!” Pinkie hopped around and waved a hand. “I love dessert! In fact, I make lots of dessert, we should have some!”

She whipped out three cakes from behind her back and held them up. Among them was a chocolate cake, a cake stuffed with marshmallows and one that was yellow and had a gnome standing in the center of it.

“Where’d you…” Sunset shook her head. It was Pinkie after all. “Nevermind. I’m getting used to it slowly.”

“It’s tasty!” She shoved the chocolate cake wholly into her mouth and licked her lips. “Ahynon elsh?”

“We’re good. Now come on! I want to see what else Crystal Prep’s gonna throw at us!” Rainbow beckoned for them to move and hopped over her bush and walked across the lawn towards the front doors.

The Crystal Prep front lawn was more spacious and trimmed than Canterlot High’s and it also sported rows of trees that were cut into the shape of pods. Strangely enough, there was a short cobbled wall and a steel gate with crystal spikes around the compound. Sunset didn’t know what that wall was for, seeing as it was low enough for them to climb over. And so they did, vaulting themselves over the short wall and heading towards the main doors of the school building.

“Easy peasy. They probably didn’t expect us to just walk in like that.” Rainbow stuck her tongue out at the building and ran on, a fist in front of herself, ready to finish this. “Coooome on, Crystal Prep! What’cha got?”

Running on Ice appeared and smashed one of the main doors open with a fist, but all of a sudden, Rainbow fell back down the steps to the doors, clutching at her face as she screamed in agony, rolling around on the ground back and forth.

“Rainbow? What’s wrong?” Fluttershy ran over and tried to hold her, but she wouldn’t stop moving.

“It’s too much, it’s too much!” Rainbow cried out. “My eyes have seen too much!”

“What’s happenin’ to her?” Applejack dropped to a crouch as she kept her eyes open for anything. “Are we in trouble again?”

“I’m afraid it’s gotta be the work of another enemy Stand.” Jojo spun around and looked to the trees they had come from, then to the other end of the lawn. “They must have come from inside.”

“Rainbow, what did you see? You have to tell us.” Sunset shook her friend, who was still rolling on the ground, covering her eyes with her hands. “Come on, Rainbow!”

“We need to check inside, b-but what if we end up like Rainbow…?” Fluttershy swallowed hard and looked to her friends.

“I’ll go! I’ll just take a different way in!” Pinkie saluted, then walked to the side of the school building on the left of the entrance.

“I’ll go with her. We could use an attack Stand.” Jojo pulled at the corners of his vest, then turned his body sideways and flexed one arm. “The rest of you stay out here with Rainbow. We don’t know if the Stand user will try to attack you out here.”

“Okay, good luck.” Sunset nodded and bent down to help.

“Let’s gooo, Jooooooojo!” Pinkie’s Golden Ticket leapt out of her and shifted the door from the entrance over to the wall. It opened it, revealing a classroom inside. “Let’s see where it is.”

Jojo jumped into the room behind Pinkie, keeping his eyes out for anything that could be hostile. The room was shrouded in shadows, which was expected since it was summer break; no one would be here using the room at the moment. The light coming in from the windows reflected off the school’s extremely polished floor and into their eyes. He wondered just why they would make such a gleaming floor, especially since the school uniform consisted of skirts. Jojo wouldn’t have minded being a student here if he could see things like that.

“Nice.” He flexed and grinned to no one in particular.

He was the first to turn the knob to the door and pushed it slowly, peeking through the gap at anything that could be a potential enemy. The halls outside were silent and there wasn’t even a sound out there.

“Do you see anything?” Pinkie pushed on his shoulders and looked over his head. “Because I don’t!”

“Nothing yet.” Jojo shook his head. “But keep your eyes peeled. We don’t know what we’re up against yet.”

“Eyes peeled and ready!” Pinkie pried her eyelids back and grinned.

“Let’s do this.” Jojo pushed the door open further, then snuck out and kept his body low and his ears listening for any sounds that could mean danger.

With the slick floor of the school, their footsteps made soft noises in the total silence, no matter how quietly they attempted to walk. Jojo stopped to think of a way when Pinkie walked past him, moving forward on her hands.

“It’s quieter this way!” she whispered.

The walked down the hall, towards the main entrance where Rainbow had attempted to enter from. She had been attacked there and that was likely where the Stand user would be.

Something still troubled Jojo as they proceeded down the hall. It had been the way Rainbow had been afflicted, rolling all over the ground and covering her face. She had mentioned seeing something. Perhaps it had been some kind of light attack that would damage the eyes, or perhaps it was something that could eat eyes. He didn’t know. In the world of Stands, it could’ve been anything.

All of a sudden, there were screams coming from outside the building, and Jojo stopped and tensed up, calling forth White Buffalo on instinct.

“It’s the others! Something’s wrong!” Pinkie put her hands to her face.

She pulled the classroom door over and opened it to the outside. Now it wasn’t just Rainbow rolling around in agony. Everyone else was doing it too, their faces covered and screaming out in pain.

Just then, Jojo caught sight of something darting past the main foyer and down another hallway and he flipped himself back forward.

“My my, you two are the only ones left. You should’ve just waited outside,” a female voice echoed down towards them. “That way, my job would’ve already been done. Oh, why did you have to make it hard for me? You disgusting son of a basketball coach.”

“We’ve got company.” Jojo put out a hand in front of Pinkie. “If you see it, don’t look at it.”

“Why not?” Pinkie’s Golden Ticket appeared behind her, now holding the door they had taken from the classroom. “Will it somehow reveal to us the secrets of the universe and drive us mad?”

“What? How do you figure that?” Jojo turned to her for a second just to see her shrug.

“Just a hunch!” She grinned. “But roger that, don’t look at it!”

Before they could take another step, something melted through the wall on Jojo’s left and flew at him. It had its hands over its face, covering it while tentacles from under it lashed out and grabbed him around the arms and neck.

“White Buffalo!” Jojo called.

His Stand swerved around and charged straight into the enemy as he planted one foot back to get it just right for White Buffalo’s horns to hit. The motorcycle Stand bashed into the enemy Stand and its tentacles let go as it sailed in the air, then went through the wall again, disappearing from view.

“Oh no you don’t!” Pinkie pointed at the surface it had gone through.

Golden Ticket threw the door it was holding onto the wall, where it swung open, revealing another classroom, this one with stacks of science equipment on the tables. They spotted the enemy slithering away through the wall on the other end and Pinkie called forth more doors to follow after it. Golden Ticket placed another door on the other end, then grabbed another door in its hands and went after it.

Jojo went through each door as well, trying not to lose sight of it, but at the same time wary, in case it decided to uncover its face.

“I think your theory was right, Pinkie,” he said. “It keeps its hands over its face and I’ve looked at the rest of it. While it has eyes on its arms and tentacles, I’m still okay. It must only be the face that will send us into madness.”

“But why would it cover its face then?” Pinkie ran along next to him. “Ooh, is it because it doesn’t want us to think it's ugly? You’re not ugly, by the way!”

“Maybe it’s like Sunset’s fantasy armor. Perhaps it can’t keep revealing it all the time.”

“Impressive guess work,” the enemy Stand user’s voice came again, somewhere ahead of their position. Her Stand went around another corner and vanished in the darkness. “It cannot unleash the full force of its face for too long, or everything could end, but one look at The Who’s face and you will be begging for a quick death. I don’t want you to suffer, it’s really just so sad. I would kill you without a second thought for interfering with Principal Cinch’s plans!”

And then her Stand, The Who, was back, coming through the wall above a water fountain on Jojo’s right, its hands moving away from its face, revealing a cluster of red eyes. Jojo quickly averted his eyes before he could see anymore as the glow of red intensified. White Buffalo aimed its horns behind itself and  speared them backwards. Jojo watched the light behind him die down, then he spun around and kept his eyes low. He realized that the shiny floor of the school building would allow him to see its location without having to look at it and he rolled away as The Who’s tentacles tried to encircle him.

Golden Ticket threw its door at The Who, but it swiveled around it like a squid and uncovered its face again. Pinkie and her Stand turned away, but knowing its position now, Jojo brought White Buffalo up beside himself and used Faster than Fire, adding to the glow of light in the darkened corridor as flames licked away at the lockers and walls, melting the metal and chasing the enemy Stand away again. The Who fled through the paneled ceiling with a shriek, then everything went silent once White Buffalo’s flames died down.

“Pinkie, you still good?” Jojo had to check.

“Okey-dokey-lokey, never better!” Pinkie answered and bounded over with her Stand. “We’ve got to get it to stay still somehow. Golden Ticket’s doors don’t work on it since it can just go through walls.”

“There must be a limit to what it can and can’t pass through.” Jojo surmised. There was always a way to beat an enemy Stand.

“And you better find out quickly…” The enemy Stand user’s voice rang out in the halls again, followed by a shrill laughter. “Your friends outside have gone mad with knowledge. Let it go for too long, I’m afraid they will become something more, something… transcended. You might want to stop it before it happens, believe me, I know what happens and it’s dreadful…”

Jojo shook his fist to the air. “Get back here, you witch and face us like a man!”

“Your clock is the one that’s ticking. I’d suggest you find me fast.” With another bout of laughter, the halls fell silent once more, leaving Jojo and Pinkie by themselves as they tried to think of a way to beat this.


> Chapter 18: Squeeze Box
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With The Who escaping upstairs, Jojo and Pinkie Pie made their way to the staircase from the school’s main hall, walking up each step carefully as they waited for something, for anything to happen. So far, The Who only attacked them from directions they least expected. It must mean it wasn’t that powerful when it was attacking straight up, but it could go through walls, meaning it could come from anywhere.

They had only reached the top of the staircase when a dark shape snaked its way down the second floor’s hall, uncovering its face as it moved. Jojo spun himself and Pinkie around, then summoned his Stand to attack. Its horns moved from its head and chased after The Who, but then it made a sharp right and went through the wall into one of the classrooms, only to come out through the wall next to the staircase and wrapped its tentacles around both of them, squeezing hard.

“Looks like I have you now…” A girl with a long ponytail walked out from between two rows of lockers and pulled the corners of a huge bowtie she had around her neck. “You’re going to die down here.”

“Sour Sweet,” Pinkie said. “She’s one of the Shadowbolts, like Lemon Zest.”

“It’s too bad what you did to Lemon Zest.” Sour Sweet looked at her fingers. “She was my friend and you’ve done something horrible to her. But it’s her fault for failing, so good riddance. Now it’s your turn.”

“We’ll see about that.” Jojo pushed against the tentacles with his muscles and broke out of their grip just as White Buffalo drove back down the hall, scaring The Who out of the way as Sour Sweet joined it and walked through the wall behind the lockers.

Golden Ticket brought another door over and opened the way through the wall, spying a corridor that led by some benches and a large window that looked down over the cafeteria. Sour Sweet turned around and waved a fist at them as The Who uncovered its face. Jojo looked down at the reflective ground as he threw himself on White Buffalo, speeding off towards them as his Stand raised its head to strike. Golden Ticket threw a trio of doors forward, keeping them between the two Stands to block out The Who’s line of sight.

“You think you can block The Who’s gaze just like that?” Sour Sweet said from beyond the doors. “Just give in! Principal Cinch wants your heads and I am prepared to give them to her! Pretty please? Do it for me?”

“I don’t even know who you are.” Jojo and White Buffalo drove right for the middle door as it swung open, and he kept his eyes down as White Buffalo’s head stabbed forward.

Sour Sweet pressed herself against the wall and The Who snaked away from the attack, but something weird happened. When it moved, it bumped into the glass looking down to the cafeteria and instead of going through it like he had expected it to, The Who bounced off of it and made its way towards him.

“Of course, windows!” Jojo turned his bike around at the other end of the hallway.

Like how he could look at The Who through the reflection of the floor without going mad, reflections worked against it and it seems the more reflective, the more effective it was and it was unable to affect such surfaces.

“Pinkie, are there glass doors in the building?” Jojo called out as he raced towards them.

“Plenty! I see what you’re getting at!” She struck a pose with her hands behind her head and her left leg in front of her right. “Goooolden Ticket!”

Sour Sweet grabbed the side of his Stand and swung herself behind him, then bit into his shoulder hard.

“Agh, ow!” Jojo slid off White Buffalo and rolled on the ground with Sour Sweet.

“Do you give up? Or are you thirsty for more.” Sour Sweet put a hand on her skirt’s waistband, then the other on her butt as The Who floated up behind her, floating on its slithering tentacles with its hands over its face. “You know, whether you manage to beat me here or not, you’ll never stop Principal Cinch now. She’s already learned of the Stand Geode and she’ll soon have it.”

“The what?” Jojo muttered. This could be a good chance to get some information, if he survived. “Stand Geode?” He shouted. “Ha! I know all about that. Bet that you don’t, though. Cinch wouldn’t trust her lackeys with that kind of information.”

Sour Sweet looked offended for a second. “I can’t believe you think so lowly of me.” Then her expression soured and she frowned. “Principal Cinch thinks highly of us Shadowbolts. Of course I know all about the Stand Geode. It’s a magical artifact that can empower a Stand with magic beyond your understanding.”

Jojo rolled and jumped back onto his feet, pulling his cap down low over his eyes. “Pshaw, that’s beginner’s knowledge. If that’s all you know, then Cinch really must not trust you. Not that I blame her, you’re a few eggs short of a full breakfast.”

“How could you say something like that about me?” Her eyes began to tear, but then almost as quick as they appeared, they vanished. “You’re the one who’s a breakfast. A breakfast for The Who! You think you can stop me? Once Principal Cinch retrieves the Stand Geode, her powers would grow and world domination would be yesterday’s news, you brainless blighter!”

“Yeah?” Jojo sneaked a look around at Pinkie. Golden Ticket still wasn’t back yet; he needed to stall for more time. “If I know all about the Stand Geode and you don’t, and I’m brainless, what does that make you, then?” He laughed, trying not to show how much stress he was feeling at the moment.

“You know what that’ll make you? Dead!” Sour Sweet gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. “No one talks like that about me and lives! I’ll kill you before Principal Cinch even gets back from the Everfree Forest! You want to know everything? The Who can help you out! Once you know it all, you’ll be begging for the end. I’m so sorry for that, really. I wish there was another way, but your time is up.”

The Who’s tentacles wrapped around Jojo’s arms and neck, keeping him from turning his body or his head as its arms began to move away from its face.

“You know what?” Jojo gasped as the tentacle around his neck tightened. “Thank you for your time, Sour Sweet. You’ve told me all I need to know. I lied, I didn’t know anything about the Stand Geode. It’s another beginner’s trick that past Jojos have passed down over the years. Play it like you know it to squeeze the information out of the enemy. It’s a classic trick and it works wonders on the muddleheaded goons like yourself.”

“Oh no!” Sour Sweet slapped her palm into her face. “Well, it doesn’t matter. You won’t live to profit from that information. You’ll die here, just like your miserable friends outside!”

“Not if… we still have one final plan against you!” Jojo shut his eyes as The Who’s hands left its face and the red glow began to burn past his eyelids as it got brighter and brighter. “I know your Stand’s weakness, Sour Sweet. Reflection. And I have the best reflection just for you.”

Jojo smirked as Golden Ticket suddenly smashed down three glass doors around them, pressed together tightly to leave no gaps between them. White Buffalo’s horns snaked around the doors and pierced The Who’s tentacles holding Jojo’s arms, breaking their hold on him and letting the man wrestle the neck tentacle as well. Once he got away, Golden Ticket placed one more door above Sour Sweet and The Who, then one more under them, appearing where the floor had been.

“Hey!” Sour Sweet bumped her fists against the door as The Who rocketed around inside, unable to pass through the transparent surfaces.

“And now you have nowhere to go and The Who’s gaze can’t penetrate this surface.” Jojo got back to his feet and spun his hat in reverse. “Thank you for your time, Sour Sweet. But it’s really over now. White Buffalo, Faster than Fire!”

“Noo!” She cried as the motorcycle Stand released a torrent of fire from its headlight into the glass box.

Pinkie and Golden Ticket stepped back as fire engulfed the cube, heating it beyond the glass’s melting point; even the benches and posters on the sides caught fire and started breaking down. When the flames finally died down, there was a puddle of molten glass glowing gently on the shining crystal floor, which had also partially been melted through. There was no longer any sign of Sour Sweet or her Stand, except for the charred remains of what used to be a bowtie.

“Another Stand bites the dust.” Jojo flexed one arm, then bent down on a knee and placed the other arm behind his back. “Not the easiest of enemies, but great job, Pinkie! Nice!”

“I wonder if the others are feeling better now?” Pinkie said, examining the spot where Sour Sweet had been standing. “I mean, the Stand’s gone, so the effects shouldn’t stick, right?”

Just then, the glass to the cafeteria shattered and an armored Sunset Shimmer dropped in, dropping into a combat stance as she looked around. “Oh, Jojo. Pinkie. Where’s the enemy?”

“I guess they are.” Jojo clapped Pinkie in the back. “Sushi, your next words are going to be, ‘Did you already beat the enemy Stand?’”

“Did you already beat the enemy Stand?” Sunset asked them. “Ah, hey. How do you keep doing that?”

“It’s a Joyride family secret,” Jojo said. “But I learned something important here. Cinch is looking for something called a Stand Geode. Apparently it can make Stands even more powerful than they already are, and Cinch has gone to the Everfree Forest to get it.”

“Something to make Stands stronger?” Sunset’s fantasy armor dissipated as she brooded over this fact. “She can already control the minds of anyone. If she gets this power, who knows what she would be capable of. She might be able to control everyone in the world in one attack…”

“That’s why I think we should get it before her.” Jojo leaned back against White Buffalo and crossed his arms. “As much as I don’t want to go back to the Everfree, we’ll have to. We can’t let something like this get into her hands.”

“No we can’t.” Sunset walked to the hole in the glass she had shattered. “But the forest is huge. How will we know where to look?”

“Easy,” Pinkie said cheerfully. “We follow the enemy Stand users! Everyone knows that the bad guy will leave a trail of minions behind them to deal with anyone who might be following, so if we stay on the trail of the enemies, we’ll find Cinch no problem!”

“Reasonable,” Jojo laughed. “The enemy sure always makes it easy to find them. Don’t you worry, Sushi. We’ll stop Cinch. No one person should have the power to bend everyone to their will.”

“Especially not an old grouch like Cinch!” Pinkie wrapped her arms around her two friends. “Hey, if we get that Geode, we should use it ourselves! That way, we’ll definitely beat Cinch!”

“Definitely a plan, eh, Sushi girl?” Jojo flashed her a toothy smile. “We’ll do this, don’t you worry. Good always triumphs over evil. So bring it on, Cinch! We’ll stop you and anything else you throw our way!”

The three of them put their hands together and raised them up to the air in a cheer.
--------JO-JO---------
Out on the streets of Canterlot, specifically that of Ranch Road, which led into the highway towards the Everfree Forest, a bespectacled girl was seated on a bench facing the road, cleaning a red shiny firearm with a cloth. Principal Cinch had given her a task and as one of her top students, it was a task she would complete successfully, as with all things she had ever done in her life.

Sushi’s group would soon come this way if they were to get past Sour Sweet and The Who and seeing as they beat Lemon Zest and Nickelback, she knew there was a chance they could soon be coming towards her. A bark at her feet made her look down and she smiled at her purple dog standing between her feet, looking up at her excitedly. She bent down and gave him a pat, before returning to her cleaning.

“Yes, we’re both ready, Spike. We won’t let them continue with this pointless quest of theirs.”


> Chapter 19: Space Jam and Weird Science
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“A Stand Geode?” Applejack scratched her forehead. “Ain’t never heard any of that.”

“But it makes your Stand stronger? Sick! I want some of that action!” Rainbow Dash bumped the roof of the car they were in. “Imagine what Running on Ice could do if it were stronger!”

They had taken control of a blue car in a carpark nearby and it was able to fit seven, so all of them piled into the car, Jojo included, who rode up front next to Fluttershy, who had Florence in control of the car. The drive over from Crystal Prep towards the highway took a while as there was an accident on one of the lanes. They couldn’t see past all the traffic, but there was a fire truck ahead and it certainly looked bad.

“Man, how long do we need to wait here?” Rainbow kicked at the seat in front of her. “I’m bored!”

“Hey, stop it, I’m sitting here!” Jojo grumbled. “Why did I agree to sit in the car? We would’ve been much faster with White Buffalo…”

“Ah’m hungry. Can’t we stop to get some food?” Applejack’s belly growled.

“Hungry? We came from a restaurant,” Sunset said.

“It’s been a while.”

“It’s only been three hours.”

“Yeah, well… Pinkie! Do ya have anymore of them secret cakes?”

“Glad you asked!” The pink girl beamed and swiped out a platter of two cakes, one with raspberries and one with…

“Wait, is that onion on the cake?” Sunset pointed out.

“Candied onion,” Pinkie said, nodding vigorously. “It’s my newest recipe.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Rainbow Dash asked, eyeing the onion cake suspiciously.

“I like trying out things that haven’t been done before!”

“Yes, well, nobody’s ever tried to make a spaceship out of styrofoam either, but that doesn’t mean it should be done.”

“Hey, we should do that!” Pinkie jumped at the idea. “Styrofoam’s light. It can float in space better!”

“We’ve faced Trixie. I don’t think it matters what kind of material we use. Everything’ll float.”

“We’ll all float up there.” Pinkie giggled.

The group sat there for a while longer, talking about random things. Fluttershy was starting to feel bored as well. As the driver, she could feel the entire car through her Stand and it was a lot of input for her, especially with Rainbow kicking into the seats.

“We should make a detour…” Fluttershy looked back and reversed.

There were cars behind them too, but she had just enough space on the sidewalk to get away. She had only just put the car back into drive when she realized the car wouldn’t budge.

“Hmm?” She moved Florence around to see if there was something wrong, but the car was perfectly fine. For some reason, it just wouldn’t move.

“What’s wrong, Fluttershy?” Applejack asked. “Why’d we stop?”

“The car isn’t moving,” she explained. “B-But I’m not sure why… There’s nothing wrong machine-wise…”

“I’m gonna go out to have a look.” Jojo pulled the door handle. He anticipated it moving open and moved forward, only to slam his face into the glass as the door remained where it was. “Ow… What the… The door won’t budge.”

The others quickly tried the other doors, the windows, and even the trunk. Nothing opened; it was as if they had been welded shut. 

“Come on!” Rainbow kicked at the door with her heel. It still didn’t open, but one of her kicks missed and hit the window, shattering it. “Here! We can get out through here!” She squirmed out the broken window, scratching herself on the broken glass, but Rainbow was soon out of the car, flopping onto the sidewalk.

It was then that she noticed everyone around them had also stopped moving. The guy in the car behind them was sticking his head out the window and shaking a fist at them, but it was as though time had been frozen and he didn’t move an inch.

“What is going on?” Rainbow looked around, then ducked as a green laser bounced off the door she had just climbed out from. “We’re under fire here! Someone’s shooting at us!”

She rolled away as another bolt of green energy flew at her. It missed and struck the man in the car behind them, and in an instant there was a flash of light and the man’s body was reduced to a faintly glowing green slime.

“Oh, horseapples!” Applejack exclaimed. She too had escaped the car. “Now that’s jus’ messed up!”

“Enemy Stand alert!” Jojo dived out of the car and looked about wildly. “And a powerful one at that!”

“Just make sure not to get hit by that laser!” Sunset shattered her window on the other side and climbed out.

“You think I want to get hit?” Rainbow had Running on Ice bring up a wall of ice in front of her.

Pinkie slid her way out the door Rainbow had come from and then jumped into the air with a hop, but she never came back down. Everyone looked over to see her frozen in place above the ice wall.

“What the…” Applejack muttered. She summoned Highwayman and used its extendable arms to pull Pinkie back down. At first, she didn’t budge, but then Rainbow made the ice wall taller and suddenly Pinkie came loose, falling down on top of Fluttershy.

“Ouch…” Fluttershy moaned as Pinkie rolled off her. “You’re heavier than you look…”

“Sorry about that! But wow! I was unable to move, even in midair!” Pinkie waved her arms around wildly.

“But we seem to have broken it.” Rainbow looked to the top of the ice wall and realized what she had done. “Line of sight. I think the enemy needs to be able to see us to stop us.”

“What about the lasers?” Fluttershy picked up one of the glass shards and threw it past the ice wall.

The sudden movement warranted a beam of green flying in from the north of their position and it bounced off the street and disappeared.

“Still there, it seems.” Jojo ran a finger along his cheek. “We still don’t know much about the enemy and it might be a risky move, but we should try getting closer. Rainbow, it seems we’ll have to leave this to you.”

“Where the enemy can’t see me, huh?” Rainbow grinned. “Running on Ice and I have this covered.”

“Ah’ll help out too.” Applejack raised a hand towards her and cupped it. “With Highwayman, Ah’m sure we can get whoever’s after us this time.”

“Awesome. Partners to the end!” Rainbow slapped a hand to hers and they both stood there as their biceps bulged. “Now, let’s go find this enemy Stand user.”

“Good luck. We’ll be right there if you get in trouble.” Sunset nodded to them.

“Thanks, Sushi. Come on, AJ.”

Running on Ice raised its hands and more ice walls began to pop out of the road all around them. As they appeared between the enemy and the other cars, people began moving again, falling back into motion as they struggled to grasp what had happened. One man who had been halfway out of his car in a rage fell to the ground and knocked himself out.

“Let’s see the enemy Stand user get their way around this!” Rainbow grinned.

“Judgin’ from yer ice walls, the enemy hasn’t moved,” Applejack speculated. “Ah wonder what they’re up to.”

“I bet they’re getting ready to surrender. They didn’t expect us to be able to counter them!”

“If only Ah could share yer optimism, Dash.”

They reached the end of the opposite end of the road and they still had not found the enemy Stand user. Past this portion would be the pavement and houses and they would be able to hide at any of them.

“Lemme check things out. Highwayman!” One of Applejack’s Stand’s copies left their furthest wall of ice and dash across in a snaking pattern.

They could see it go, swishing towards the first house of Ranch Road, but before it could get there, it had stopped moving, almost like it was frozen in time. And then there was a shrill zapping noise somewhere from their right and a laser beam hit Highwayman’s copy, and would’ve probably turned it to goo if it had been a real being. Instead, it faded away as though it had never been there in the first place.

“On the right!” Applejack hissed to Rainbow. “We can’t risk gettin’ out in the open, or we’re toast.”

“We can handle this.” Rainbow balled a fist and put it in front of her face. “You hear that, enemy Stand user? You don’t have a chance of beating us!”

“That’s where you’re wrong. Did you think ice walls would stop me?” a voice answered. It was a lot closer than they had expected. In fact, it was right behind the ice wall.

From around the corner, a purple dog appeared, along with a lavender girl with glasses and a weird maroon outfit that resembled an office attire, but at the same time, something one of those diner girls would wear. In her hand was a shiny red gun with rings and a bulb at the end of its barrel.

“Twilight Sparkle.” Rainbow sent Running on Ice out, who threw a fist in front of itself, ready to strike down their enemy.

But before it could connect with Twilight’s face, the dog gave them a series of barks and Running on Ice was suddenly held in place by an invisible force. The culprit, however, was standing between Twilight and them, a small goblin-like creature standing on all fours with a mean jaw. There was a small stalk sticking out of its head and it was glowing blue and pulsating slowly. It scratched behind an ear with a foot, then ran in a circle and growled at them.

“No way…” Rainbow Dash said, struggling to move Running on Ice to no effect. “The dog is a Stand user as well? That’s not fair.”

The stalk on its Stand’s head began to glow again and Rainbow found her limbs frozen in place. No matter how hard she tried to move, she could not budge, not even a muscle.

“Rainbow! Why you little…!” Applejack thrust a hand forward and Highwayman dashed past her, with four of its copies splitting out from it, arms pulled back to the shoulder.

The dog’s Stand looked at them and its antennae released another wave of color, freezing all the copies on the spot while the real one swiped Applejack aside and scurried back behind one of the cars.

Twilight pointed her ray gun at them and one by one, she vaporized each one, though all it did was make them vanish.

“Interesting, they don’t become slime…” Twilight twisted a dial on her gun and watched as green liquid began to fill a bulb at its rear. “If you haven’t already noticed, Applejack, my Stand is my gun. Weird Science is able to turn anything it hits into slime and Spike’s Space Jam is able to put anything it sees into stasis. I’ll admit, that does put a damper on its abilities, but I’m not complaining. It helps me line up my shots better. But don’t worry. We’ll have you soon, like your friend.”

Twilight took aim at Rainbow and closed one eye. Unable to move, Twilight had all the time to make sure she would hit her with her laser beam, but from the side, a car door flew towards them, spinning like a discus as it sailed through the air. She ducked to the side, but Space Jam leapt forward and raised its head. The door was stopped in the air, but then Highwayman emerged from behind another car and launched a fist at the small Stand, who wasn’t able to turn its head in time to stop the attack.

Highwayman’s fist smashed into the side of Space Jam’s head and with a twist, it sent the small Stand flying, which also knocked the dog down as it skidded against the floor into the bench, while its Stand crashed into one of the houses, sending wood and glass flying.

“Spike!” Twilight cried out, then pointed her ray gun at Highwayman. “Weird Science!”

A green beam shot out of the gun’s bulb and hit the Stand, but it had been one of Highwayman’s copies again and it just faded into nothing.

“Drat, Spike, get up, it’s not over yet.” Twilight held her Stand firmly in her hands and looked around at the cars.

Because Spike and Space Jam had been flung back, everything on the streets started moving again and that meant the cars and the people in them. One of them started driving forward and Twilight could see a knee and a boot sticking out from behind one now that the car had inched forward. She pointed her Stand and began firing, hitting close, but not on Applejack directly. The girl got up and sprinted over to one of the ice walls, with Twilight firing the gun all the way. She cursed under her breath after Applejack got the other side. She knew she had always been a bad shot, but that had just been ridiculous.

There was a bark at her feet and Twilight was pleased to see Spike standing there, his tail wagging. She loved her little dog.

With Spike back, Space Jam ran forward, barreling through a rubbish bin as its antennae came to life. The cars on the road in front of it froze in place once again and it began making its way towards the ice wall where Applejack was hiding behind. Twilight knew they would get her, now that…

“Wait, no. We forgot one thing.” She turned to the side as Rainbow’s Running on Ice rolled a ball of snow towards her and Spike. “We forgot about Rainbow! When Space Jam was hit away earlier, it lost sight of Rainbow and her Stand and now they’re free to move again!”

“That’s right, and biggest mistake, now I know how to deal with you!” Rainbow did a flying kick and knocked Twilight’s Stand from her hands as Running on Ice floated over as Space Jam was turning towards them.

With its powers, Running on Ice’s snowball melted and then washed over the beastly Stand and Twilight’s dog, and as it splashed against them, it swirled up into a mini vortex and began spinning the two of them around. Now under water, it was hard to keep its eyes open and Space Jam was unable to put Rainbow or her Stand back in stasis.

“Spike!” Twilight crawled over to her Stand, but then Running on Ice froze the water again and it was now a new ice wall with both dog and Stand unable to move inside it. “Why you…!”

The Crystal Prep girl rolled and grabbed her Stand, then flipped around and began shooting at Rainbow and her Stand. Running on Ice threw up a new wall of ice and the laser buried itself part way in the wall and disappeared.

“Clever Rainbow Dash. You knew Weird Science’s lasers can only turn organic things into slime, that’s why you keep bringing up ice to stop my attacks, because you know I can’t do anything against ice.”

“Umm, yeah. That’s right. I knew all about that.” Rainbow grinned as she swung herself behind one of the cars to take cover. The driver inside had run away a while ago, leaving his vehicle there on the road, still running.

“But you didn’t know Weird Science has a secondary fire mode.” Twilight twisted the vial of liquid on her Stand and it changed from green to orange. “Weird Science is also able to emit microwaves instead of a concentrated laser. Do you know what microwaves can do, Rainbow?”

“Uh, cook food, I guess?” she called out from behind cover.

Running on Ice wasted no time and created three icicles in the air before sending them flying for Twilight’s head.

“Well, let me tell you.” Twilight coughed, then she straightened her bowtie before pointing her gun forward. “A microwave heats up your food by vibrating its molecules, more specifically, the molecules of water. When something moves fast, it generates heat, and with the wavelengths it transmits, it’ll burn quickly. Observe.”

Pressing down the trigger, Weird Science’s rings on its barrel began glowing orange and the air around the gun’s bulb began to shimmer. As Running on Ice’s icicles got closer, they instantly dissolved to water, and then into vapor as the microwaves dried them up.

With a smirk on her face, Twilight pointed her Stand behind her back and fired at the ice sculpture that held Spike and Space Jam. The ice instantly evaporated, releasing her dog and its Stand, who angrily bumped its fists against the ground and growled at Rainbow.

“Oh great. Running on Ice!”

Rainbow ducked low and sprinted away as her Stand brought up another row of ice walls between them, but this time, Twilight aimed Weird Science at them and they shook for a split second before dissolving into mist.

“You can’t beat me now, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight began to laugh. “You can’t beat science!”

“But maybe Ah can!” Applejack’s voice rang out across the streets.

From Twilight’s left and right came two copies of Highwayman, but Space Jam ran forward a few steps, then placed both of them in stasis, stopping them in their tracks. Twilight took this time to cycle Weird Science’s mode and fired her green lasers at them, taking them out as they faded away into nothing. Twilight grimaced. She didn’t like the fact that they wouldn’t turn to slime when she hit them.

“Rainbow, we need to take Space Jam out of the picture!” Applejack told her friend as she rolled up beside her behind the car. “We’ll never be able to get close to Twilight with that dog in the way.”

“Well, I tried,” she complained. “But Twilight pulled out that microwave thing with her Stand. What are we going to do now? My ice won’t have any effect!”

“Ah’ve an idea. But Ah need ya to be ready, Ah’m gonna distract them.” Applejack grabbed her hat with two fingers and spun it two inches to the left. “Just get Twilight immobilized long enough. Ah’ll deal with Space Jam.”

“Right, let’s do this.” They slapped their hands together before sending their Stands out again.

Running on Ice took to the air, skating away on a bridge made of ice as it conjured up a wall alongside it, preventing Space Jam from stopping it in its tracks. Highwayman went to the other end, sending out copies of itself as they flew towards Twilight with smiles on their faces. Space Jam lit up its antennae and the four copies were unable to get any closer, but as Twilight fired Weird Science at them, they faded away only to have more take their place. Highwayman’s next four copies flew along, one behind the other. As Space Jam put the first one in stasis, the next one took the lead and flew around it, zig-zagging their way towards the enemy.

“Don’t you learn?” Twilight fired at them as Space Jam continued to put them in stasis. “You won’t win this! Spike and I, we’re a great team and Crystal Prep never loses.”

“We used to believe that too, but ya know what?” Applejack called out from the car. “If ya never act on yer fears, you’ll never overcome them, and that’s what we’ve done! We’ve beaten two of you Shadowbolts. We can do this! Principal Cinch won’t win!”

The cluster of Highwaymen finally arrived close enough to throw their punches, but Space Jam proved agile as it jumped clear of the first punch, then kicked off a second, before grabbing a third and following it back to the copy as it clawed at its face. The copy spun around and vanished as Weird Science zapped it. Space Jam began jumping among them, clawing at each one with its claws, which shredded Applejack’s Stand’s copies. One finally got through and zoomed right for Twilight, intending on delivering a good punch to her face. Unfortunately, she rolled backwards, then hopped back as Highwayman’s glove cracked the gravel beneath her feet. With a well aimed shot, Weird Science took out the final copy before it could attack her further.

“See? What did you hope to accomplish?” Twilight laughed and spun her Stand on a finger.

“Ah’ll show ya!” Applejack swung a fist at the car as Highwayman sent out two more copies.

“You’re trying that again?” Twilight laughed even more. She was about to take another step forward when she realized she could no longer move. “Huh?”

She looked down and found her feet had been frozen to the ground by a sheet of ice. With Highwayman coming towards her with a fist already launching from its shoulder, Twilight had no time to melt away the ice and instead chose to fire at the Stand approaching her. But before her laser could hit it, Highwayman’s copy disappeared, removed prematurely by Applejack’s Stand and the laser kept flying towards Spike, who still had his back towards her.

“Wait, no, Spike!” Twilight reached out and tried to run to him, but then she jerked forward and was unable to get closer because she was still frozen to the road. “Spike!”

As Space Jam leapt into the air to slash at Running on Ice’s ice wall, Weird Science’s laser hit Spike and the dog yelped as it jumped into the air and turned into a pile of slime. At the same time, its Stand vanished like one of Highwayman’s copies and everything in front of it began moving again, with the traffic finally making progress now that the front of it had gone off to the highway long ago.

“Spiiiike!” Twilight wailed and clutched at her face. But after a few seconds, she looked back up and scowled at Running on Ice and Highwayman, not even bothering to wipe the tears from her eyes. “You two are going to regret everything you’ve done today. Everything!”

She changed Weird Science’s fire mode and melted the ice at her feet before rushing forward and firing her microwaves at everything around them.

“It’s the end of the line for ya now, Twilight!”

Highwayman approached her, braving the heat of the microwaves as it released four copies of itself from within. Twilight yelled and continued firing her microwaves at them, but then their fists began pounding into her body, making indents all over as they delivered a ferocious beatdown, screeching the whole time.

“Holler! Holler! Holler! Holler! Holler! Holler! Holler! Holler!”

And Twilight went sailing in the air, crashing down into a bin along the street, leaving only her legs sticking out of it.

“That takes care of the trash.” Applejack dusted her hands together and gave her Stand a high five before it faded.

“We should go let the others know we’ve dealt with the problem.” Rainbow stood up from behind the car as it began to make its way down the road. All the thinking during the battle had left her mind quite bushed. “I’m going to take a nap in the car.”

“Man, Ah just hope we just get to the forest A-okay after this.” Applejack took off her hat and wiped at her forehead. “Ah’ve had enough with enemy Stand users.”

“You know there’ll be more.” Rainbow used her scarf to wipe sweat from her face.

Applejack sighed, then slapped a fly on her hand. “And Ah hope we ain’t gonna run into too many mosquitoes out in the forest. Man, Ah’ve never really liked summer…”
-----------JO-JO----------
Principal Abacus Cinch sat in the darkness of her car as she looked out into the vast forest around her. Sugarcoat had called in a few moments ago with a solid lead. Apparently there was a high concentration of magic somewhere close to the heart of the forest. That had been great news and she had come right down, though now that she was looking at the trees around her, she guessed she should’ve dressed more appropriately. Unbuttoning her coat, Cinch dropped it down on the seat and then removed her inner shirt as well. She grabbed a ragged cloak from the seat beside her and swung it over her shoulders along with a pair of half gloves and a loose sash around her waist. Now she was ready for the outdoors.

“Wait here. They will be along if Indigo fails.”

Getting out of the car, the principal walked along the forest grounds in the direction Sugarcoat had given her. She had felt her Shadowbolts losing and at first, she had been upset they had lost to students from Canterlot High, but that had soon been replaced by disappointment. Perhaps she had chosen them incorrectly. Now, she only had three more and she left one waiting in the car to deal with Sushi and her group if they arrived here.

The Stand Geode was close now and she had never been closer to accomplishing her goal. It was only a matter of time now and the faster Sugarcoat found its exact location, the faster she would have the most powerful Stand ever.

“My legacy will endure. Forever.” She smirked to herself as she stalked through the trees.


> Chapter 20: Are You Big Enough
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I can’t believe the streets are so empty now!” Pinkie Pie said from the back as she stuffed a cake in her mouth. A whole cake. “I guess it’s good that we’re finally on the move again.”

“Yeah, good work, Rainbow and Applejack.” Jostle Joyride gave them a thumbs up from beside Fluttershy in the front. “Nicely done! Another Shadowbolt defeated!”

“A-And her dog…” Fluttershy said sourly. She had been upset they had to turn a dog into slime, but there hadn’t been another immediate way.

“It wasn’t pretty, but at least we’re back on track.” Jojo spun his cap on a finger. “We can’t let that Cinch get the Stand Geode. She can already take over minds now. Imagine what she could do if she got even more powerful.”

“I know what I would do…” Rainbow said. “I’d beat the crap out of Cinch and anyone else who wants to take over the world!”

“Yeah, we won’t let her!” Sunset cheered, then chuckled with the rest of them.

It was really nice to be around them. Now she found it difficult to be on her own again. Even though it had only been a few days with this group, if given the choice, she would like to continue being among them and learn more about them.

“Hey, uh, this is going to sound a little weird, but uh… could you girls tell me more about Rarity?” Sunset looked aside as all eyes turned to her. “I just want to know more about her, and who she was, for doing what she did for us without a second thought.”

“I’d like to hear that too.” Jojo nodded as he patted one of his knees with a hand.

“Well, where do we even begin?” Pinkie said from behind. “She was the most generous of us all! She would always be ready to help those in need, even if she has to give away free clothes!”

“Her generosity I knew…” Sunset nodded slowly. Rarity had spared no expense in their last meal together and not to mention her sacrifice to protect Jojo from Trixie.

“She was a great friend…” Fluttershy’s eyes misted and she wiped at them. Thankfully, her Stand could drive the car on without her looking. “But Rarity… she showed us how much we meant to her by giving her life up for us.”

“We’ll never forget her as long as we live,” Applejack took her hat off in respect. “We’ll avenge her.”

As they entered the highway, they noticed one of the signs read that the road they intended to get to was closed for work. Sunset didn’t blame them. She had heard the story from Jojo on how they had faced off against Flash and Sabaton there, resulting in the bridge’s destruction.

“How are we supposed to get there now?” Applejack complained and sighed.

“We’ll have to go off road.” Jojo clapped his hands together. “Step on it, Fluttershy.”

“Al-alright then…” She gunned the engine and headed down the road towards the bridge.

The road twisted and turned and began heading alongside a mountain as the city began fading in the back while trees and open air began taking its place. Far away from the bustle of life, the air here smelled fresher and even mintier, and Pinkie couldn’t resist not winding down the windows.

“Woohoo!” She stuck herself out the car’s sunroof.

Jojo turned around and smiled at the others. “Her next words are, ‘I’m the queen of the world.’”

“I’m the queen of the worldddd!” Pinkie whooped. “Hey, good guess, Jojo! You need to teach me that trick!”

“One day, don’t you worry.” He gave them a thumbs up, then returned his attention to the front.

As they came around the next bend, there were a cluster of loud popping sounds, followed by the shredding of steel on gravel and everyone in the car lurched forward as the vehicle began to spin out of control.

“Fluttershy, what happened?” Sunset grabbed the seat in front of her and held on for dear life.

“I-I don’t know! The wheels suddenly popped!” Fluttershy had Florence trying to stop the car.

“Which ones?”

“A-All four of them! H-Hold on!”

The car skidded dangerously towards the edge and Fluttershy had Florence step down hard on the brakes, but without tyres, the car was unable to stop in time and crashed right through the barrier.

Everyone began screaming, but they had only fallen about two inches before they stopped.

“That was it?” Applejack rubbed her face after it smashed into Fluttershy’s headrest. “Ah expected ta fall a lot longer.”

“You’ve Pegasus Fantasy to thank for that.” Sunset ran a hand along her neck. It felt as though someone had whipped her across it. Pegasus Fantasy’s head lifted up from the windshield and snorted, then lifted the car back to the road with a flap of its mighty wings. “That was a little too close for comfort. Let’s not do that again.”

“That was coooool! We should totally do it again!” Pinkie’s face burst through the middle row seats. “But wait, my ears and tingling, and my left leg is wobbly. Someone’s got their eyes on us.”

“Not just anybody. We’ve an enemy Stand user about. That’s how they blew the tyres.” Jojo wiped a trail of blood dripping from his hairline.

“Sh-she’s right the-there…” Fluttershy pointed ahead.

Everyone looked out the window to see a girl with teal-blue hair standing way away in an outlandish pose, with one arm on her hip and the other over her head in an arc. One leg folded up against her body, while the other kept itself on the ground to keep her standing. A pair of goggles rested on top of her head and her outfit consisted of a loose dark purple shirt, blue shorts and black tights.

“Indigo Zap.” Rainbow Dash poked her head out behind the headrest. “Crystal Prep’s resident daredevil.”

“What’s she doing just standing there?” Applejack grabbed her hat from the floor.

“She’s waiting for us to challenge her.” Sunset kicked the door of the car open. “Let me go see what she’s up to.”

“Be careful, Sunset. We’ll be right here.” Jojo leaned out of the window and gave her a thumbs up.

Sunset nodded and stepped in front of the car. Indigo saw her coming and spun around and flicked one arm to the sky. Behind her, a Stand of purple and black materialized and gave her a greeting with a lift of its black hat. It had what looked like a huge stereo speaker in its mouth and it got into a pose with one leg far behind and its body bent back.

“So, Sushi the new girl is the one challenging me first?” Indigo Zap laughed and lowered her raised hand till it was now pointing at Sunset. “I was actually expecting Rainbow Dash, she’s the most athletic of your whole group. The most skilled. But oh well. It’s you and me, Sushi. I’ll finish you all here and bring your heads back to Principal Cinch, dead or alive.”

“You can’t possibly bring our heads in alive,” Sunset said.

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Indigo opened her palm. “Now the question is, Sushi, are you big enough?”

Her Stand leapt in front of her and brought both arms in front of its oversized head. Sunset got the hint and Pegasus Fantasy erupted from her body and fly a circle in the air, then back into her, melding with her and forming its fantasy armor around her.

Indigo’s Stand swung its arms to its sides and there was a boom in the air, emitting from its large speaker and rocketing right for Sunset. It hit her like a pile of bricks and Sunset felt her lungs rupture and for a second, she couldn’t breathe, but with the help of her fantasy armor, her body was reset and she regained her posture almost immediately.

The same could not be said for her friends as the sonic waves reached the car. The glass shattered and everyone suddenly grabbed for their chests and ears. Jojo coughed up blood on the dashboard and winced hard.

“No!” Sunset looked around to see them hurt. It must’ve been the same for them.

Indigo began laughing and bent forward and dropped to a half crouch. “At the right frequencies, the pressure increases and anything can burst and Big Enough has done just that to all your friends and you only stand there because of your Stand’s ability. But I know of its temporary lifespan. Your armor can only last one minute against me, and that’s without Big Enough blasting your insides to bits. Trust me, this’ll be over soon. You can’t beat me or my Stand. You can’t win against Principal Cinch!”

Sunset knew she had to help her friends, but she also knew that Indigo wasn’t going to just stand there while she reset her friends’ bodies. It was going to be tough, but she had to deal with her first.

“We’ll see about that!”

And Sunset was off, rocketing herself high into the air as another blast of sound wafted through the air below her, just missing her toes as she dived down towards Indigo and Big Enough, one fist in front of herself. The Stand below simply looked up and yelled through its speaker, sending shockwaves booming out to Sunset where it felt as though she had just flown into a wall. It launched her back and at the same time, her ears hurt badly and her senses were now ringing, with even her vision turning blurry.

Before she could even think to reset herself, another shockwave hit her and sent her sailing over the forest, her head spinning and her body feeling as though a truck had driven into her. She dropped lower, managing to grab on to what felt like roots hanging out of the side of the slope, which stopped her descent.

Away from Big Enough now, Sunset used this time to reset her injuries, but this cost her the rest of her fantasy armor and Pegasus Fantasy split off from her, now floating beside her.

“We need to think of a different angle…” she said to her Stand. Till now, she didn’t exactly know if she could actually hold a conversation with a Stand. “My friends need me. They won’t last long without use of their lungs. Indigo’s Stand has greater range than Pegasus, and that means it won’t be able to get close enough without getting blasted by its sound waves. We’ll need to beat it at range, and I have just the idea.”

As Sunset began climbing back up, she sent Pegasus Fantasy ahead to fight Indigo. It wouldn’t be able to go very far from her, but if she wanted to stay out of range of Big Enough’s attacks, she had to hang back while her Stand got to work.

Pegasus Fantasy grabbed a dead tree along the slope and pulled. As dirt and rocks fell away, it yanked the entire thing from the ground and flew up into the air with it. Big Enough saw it flying up from beyond the barrier and looked towards it and let out another shout from its speaker.

Pegasus flew to the side and then tore off one of the roots of the tree and threw it at them like a javelin. Big Enough swatted it aside, but then got hit in the face by the rest of the tree, thrown by Pegasus Fantasy right after the root.

It smashed into pieces and knocked Big Enough down, giving Pegasus the chance to fly closer. Sunset had to climb up higher to give it more range as it stomped down its hooves on the enemy Stand’s chest.

Indigo leaned forward and coughed out blood as she dropped to her knees. “Wh-why you…!”

Before Pegasus Fantasy could take another stomp, Big Enough twisted its head back at it and shouted. The shockwave at that range sent Pegasus Fantasy flying back, its eyes and ears bleeding as it got harder and harder to breathe. Sunset received the same effects and nearly lost her grip on the slope. One lung had burst and it felt as though her eyes had done the same.

“There’s no way… There’s no way to win!” Sunset gasped as she struggled to keep herself from falling off the edge.

It was at that moment that Sunset heard a voice. It was faint and her ears were blown out, but she could swear she could hear something.

“... up, Sushi…”

“What was that…?” Sunset groaned as her feet fought to find some kind of foothold.

“...Sushi. Don’t give up…”

It sounded familiar. Really familiar.

“You must fight on, Sushi. Don’t give up. You can do this. The power of friendship is on your side…”

Sunset knew who it was. It was Rarity’s voice. “But that’s… impossible. Rarity’s gone.”

No, it wasn’t exactly her voice, but it was a memory of her. An echo of her voice. And Sunset knew she was right. She couldn’t give up now. If she gave up now, then Rarity would’ve died for nothing. She had to see this through, no matter how tough things were. Her friends counted on her to save them and she couldn’t stop. Not yet.

“You guys, it’s because of you…” Sunset breathed as her arms found the strength to pull herself up the root she was holding on to. “All of you gave me the strength to do this. It’s because of you that I feel alive for once in my life. I won’t give up, not now.”

With a deep breath, Sunset concentrated Pegasus’ power and slowly, bit by bit, her senses began to return to her and she found her strength returned to her as Pegasus Fantasy floated beside her, its knuckles glowing with light.

She remembered her Stand found its power in the friendships she forged along the way. She had been wrong. This fight was far from over.

“Let’s do this, Pegasus.” Sunset nodded to her Stand and continued her climb. They would do this together.

She soon found her hand on gravel and she hauled herself up over the barrier as Indigo Zap watched from the other side, not looking too pleased with seeing her again.

“Survived, did you?” She looked at her fingers nonchalantly. “Oh well, I’ll just have to kill you again.”

Big Enough launched another sound wave at Sunset, but as if it was moving on its own, Pegasus Fantasy punched the ground and sent up a barrage of rocks and dirt. The cone of noise struck the debris, and from behind the makeshift barrier, Sunset’s eyes widened.

Of course! Sound is blocked by solid objects. If I can block Big Enough’s attacks like this, I can get in close to it.

Big Enough’s sound waves intensified, breaking apart the chunks of rock and earth that Pegasus Fantasy threw up. However, all Pegasus Fantasy had to do was punch the ground harder and buy Sunset a little breathing room to run to the left. Indigo couldn’t see her with all the dirt and stone that was flying everywhere, and for the moment, Sunset was safe.

“You think you can hide from me?” Indigo shouted. “Sound can do a lot more than rip things apart, you know! Big Enough also has a sonar that can see you no matter wherever you hide!”

The torrent of deadly soundwaves ceased and a loud ping! came from Indigo’s location. 

“Aha! There you are!” Indigo had Big Enough fire another devastating soundwave as Sunset’s position, but Sunset had already moved. The wrecked tree that she was hiding behind blew up into a cloud of splinters, but it missed her entirely.

Frustrated, Indigo used another sonar pulse to try and find Sunset. Sunset, for her part, stayed behind another piece of cover, this time a car which had unfortunately come from the other direction, only for its driver to run away when he saw what was happening. 

“There!” Indigo shouted. “Big Enough! Get her!”

Another blast of sonic energy shot out and smashed into the fleeing man, sending him flying, trailing blood as he disappeared past the railing.

“Kick her to Australia!” Indigo pointed.

Big Enough screamed in the same direction, tearing up part of the road as its sound waves traveled, but missing Sunset as she stayed in her hiding spot behind the car. Though it wouldn’t take a genius to guess where she was, seeing as the car was the only other piece of cover left on the road.

Sunset looked inside the car to see if there was anything inside she could use. There wasn’t anything in there, but she saw something in the rearview mirror that gave her pause. Coming down the way they had come was a police car. Surely there had to be some kind of weapon or useful tool in there.

Big Enough’s sonar ping came again, but this time Sunset stayed completely still, remembering from school that echolocation didn’t work as well on stationary objects. Once it was sure it didn’t find Sunset, Big Enough turned around as the police car stopped to have a look at Sunset’s car with her friends, then over to Indigo as she sneered at them.

“What happened here?” One of them approached her, while the other kept a hand on his holster.

“Big Enough!” Indigo called and her Stand immediately unleashed a scream. Both cops were thrown against Sunset’s car, their eyes and ears bloody messes now.

Both cops crawled around screaming, unable to get their bearings back. Indigo stood there laughing, then remembered Sunset was still out there and turned back to the car on the other end. There was no other place to hide than there and she didn’t have anything to lose anyway.

Big Enough leaned back and when it was ready it sprang forward and screamed as loudly as it could, sending a wave of sound towards the car and watching as its glass shattered and its tyres punctured. But no one ran out from behind the car.

“Hmm, weird.” Indigo frowned. “Just where did she go?”

The Shadowbolt looked around, but didn’t see Sunset. She used Big Enough’s sonar waves again, but instead of hearing the ping! of  the sonar, there was a brak! and Indigo felt a stinging pain in her shoulder.

“Arg! What!” Indigo looked down and saw a patch of red spreading across her clothes. “Who did that? Where are you, Sunset?”

“Right here,” Sunset’s voice came from inside the police car. Big Enough immediately blasted it with a torrent of sound, and the car rolled over. But Sunset wasn’t inside.

There was another brak! And this time Indigo was knocked off her feet by what felt like a hammer blow to the stomach.

“Argh, what?” Indigo lay on the ground as blood seeped from between her fingers. “She used the police radio! She went to the car when I wasn’t looking and took the radio and went somewhere else!”

“That’s right, Indigo.” Sunset appeared in her vision, standing there with a handgun pointed at her. “Not a conventional way to win, I know, but hey, it works.”

“I’ll show you conventional. I’ll have Big Enough release the loudest scream you’ve ever heard! It’ll tear these mountains apart, it’ll create earthquakes bigger than anything you’ve ever seen! Big Enough!”

Her Stand appeared in front of her and swiped its hands towards its chest. It began vibrating and the loose gravel on the ground began to float up around it as its body began to shake.

“Not if I have anything to say about that.” Sunset raised a fist and Pegasus Fantasy did the same, with its knuckles glowing brightly on its right hand. “Pegasus Fantasy, end this!”

Pegasus’ wings lifted high and they flapped down hard as it propelled itself towards Indigo’s Stand. Before it could release its ultimate shout, Pegasus Fantasy’s fists began connecting with the enemy Stand, pounding it from head to toe with its glowing fists, punching deep holes into Big Enough’s body.

“Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!”

Pegasus Fantasy launched the Stand up into the air with an uppercut, then as it was coming back down, it drew one arm back and with all its strength, it brought it forward, connecting with Big Enough’s abdomen before it touched the ground. The Stand spun and flipped, crashing into the railing and breaking it in half as it flew into the distance before falling down into the forest below.

Indigo cried out, then coughed out one last spat of blood before she stopped moving.

Sunset stood there, panting and watching as her Stand raised its smoking fists before striking a pose, placing its two legs together and looking skyward.

“One more down,” Sunset exhaled, then threw the gun aside and ran back to help her friends back onto their feet.

She had to close her eyes and focus hard, tuning out the sounds of nature around her. Pegasus Fantasy floated over, its hand merging with hers. Sunset could feel the strength of her friendships empowering her and she smiled. She should’ve known this was the strongest power all this time. Back when she had still been a student of Celestia, she had sought power. True power. She had thought power would come from one’s own strength, but she should’ve seen it from the beginning. There was nothing more powerful than friendship.

“Phew, fresh air!” Jojo gasped and leaned forward in his seat. “That was hard. It felt like forever since I last had air in my lungs.”

“Me too!” Pinkie bounced out the sunroof and rolled down the car’s shattered windshield and stuck her arms out to her sides. “Freeeeeedom! Lemme tell you, freedom is the right of all sentient beings and that includes breathing!”

“Ah certainly don’t miss not breathing.” Applejack sighed contentedly and leaned back in her seat. “Ya did it, Sunset! You showed her who’s boss.”

“Yeah…” Sunset leaned against the car, feeling incredibly tired. “How are we going to get down now?”

“Well, the car’s totalled.” Jojo got out and pointed at the car’s crumpled hood. “But alright, I suppose we’re close enough to the forest now. We can just use our Stands to get down from here. You get on behind me, Sunset. I’ll get us down. White Buffalo!”

Jojo’s Stand appeared next to the car.

“How do we know where to look once we’re down there?” Rainbow asked. “It’s like that expression, finding a hay in a farmhouse?”

“Ah’m pretty sure that ain’t how it’s said...” Applejack placed a hand on her hat as Highwayman appeared behind her and wrapped one arm around her waist.

“Well, good work, Sushi!” Rainbow Dash said. “There aren’t that many Shadowbolts left between us and Cinch now!”

“Two, if the previous years of the Friendship Games are to go by.” Applejack confirmed. “Ah’m sure they’ll be waitin’.”

“Then we’ll beat them too!” Pinkie grinned widely as Golden Ticket ripped off a car door. “C’mon, let’s a gooo!”

She jumped on Golden Ticket’s shoulders as it threw the door ahead of itself before jumping on top of it and surfing down the slope.

“We’re close to the end now. Let’s end this today!” Jojo revved his Stand.

Sunset got on behind him and immediately felt more relaxed after sitting down. Though, that state of relaxing didn’t last long after Jojo drove the bike off the edge.


> Chapter 21: Something For Your Mind
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Principal Abacus Cinch had been a principal for as long as she can remember. Her family had always prided itself on being the best of the best and she had taken that to all the schools she had been to, with the latest being Crystal Prep Academy. Crystal Prep had been Canterlot’s number one, and probably the country’s number one school for the last decade and it was all thanks to her and by extension, her students. She had handpicked her students and her prized Shadowbolts to make sure the weak were not welcomed to her school and they had reigned over all competitions and academics for years because of how well they excelled in everything.

Cinch thought she already had everything with how well she was stamping down her legacy. Until her Stand manifested one fine day. At first, she had been confused and a little terrified that something started following her around, but now, after knowing it was a part of her and what it could do, she knew she would be able to push her goals even further out. With the world slaves to her, she would be able to be anything and do anything she pleased, and there would be no one to stand against her.

Admittedly, she thought it would be a straight shot forward when she had found articles and ancient recordings of strange geodes that could grant more power to whoever possessed them, but now, only two of her Shadowbolts were left and Sushi and her band of misfits were still on their way. She had expected Indigo to stop them, but even she had been beaten by those lowlifes.

“It seems I may have to do it myself,” she said as she trudged along the forest floor, now heading down a rugged slope. From here, she could already see the mouth of the cave, a gaping wound in the earth’s body that led down into darkness. Sugarcoat was already there, trying to find a way through the tight crevices within. By now, she could hear the sound of her excavation ringing around the heart of the Everfree Forest. It seems Sugarcoat was more resourceful than she had first thought.

“At least one of my students has pleased me today.” she smiled. “As for Sunny, whether she pleases me or not, I just need her there to keep Sushi busy enough till I have the geode. After that, they would’ve come all this way for nothing.”

Cinch took one more step, then found her feet floating over the ground. She tried to step forward again, but now, she was making no progress forward.

“Hmm… I know this Stand.” She narrowed her eyes and stowed her glasses. “A trivial matter I must take care of. Show yourself, Trixie.”

From above, Trixie Lulamoon and her Stand, Gravity Kills, descended from the air. Gravity Kills had its legs crossed and its arms opened wide, while Trixie had hers folded and she had a smug expression on her face, one Cinch wanted to wipe clean off.

“Trixie’s found you, master.” The girl swiped her white hair from her face. “Did you really think I would’ve let you get away easily after you made me a pawn to your schemes? No, here, the Great and Powerful Trixxxxieeee will show you your mistake of thinking you could control me.”

“You are mistaken, Trixie.” Cinch stepped back and folded her arms. “How can you be so sure you can even match my power?”

“Because there is nobody with more power than The Great and Powerful Trixie and her Stand, Gravity Kills!”

Cinch watched with dull surprise as Trixie called forth her Stand. Gravity Kills levitated chunks of the ground up with antigravity, then sent them shooting at Cinch. 

“You think your Stand is a match for mine?” Cinch said haughtily. “Let me show you just how mistaken you are, child.”

A dark cloud of swarming particles came out of Cinch, forming a wall and turning all the rocky projectiles into harmless dust.

Trixie scowled. “So your Stand is just a swarm of bugs? Ha! Let’s see how well you do when gravity increases tenfold!”

Cinch felt herself become heavier and heavier, but she stood her ground. Her Stand floated around her like a dust cloud.

“It seems you should have paid more attention in your studies, Trixie,” Cinch smiled darkly. “Do you not know that the smaller an object is, the less affected by gravity it is? My Stand is more resistant to your Stand’s gravitational powers than anything else! Now fall!”

Cinch’s Stand flew at Trixie, covering her in a dark cloud of churning particles. As they flew close to her, half-solid claws and fists formed, battering Trixie from all directions and falling apart before gravity could affect them much. 

Trixie recalled Gravity Kills to defend herself, using the Stand’s own arms and legs to parry Cinch’s attacks.

There was not much Trixie could do here, the magician realized. Her Stand was completely unsuited for fighting the principal of Crystal Prep.

“But I have to try,” she said through gritted teeth. “Gravity Kills! It’s black hole time!”

The meter on Trixie’s Stand’s body began to sweep into the red, but before it could do so, a dark hand materialized and grabbed the meter, stopping it from moving towards its destination.

“No, you can’t stop it!” Trixie grunted, feeling as though something had also grabbed her around her heart.

Gravity Kills clawed at Cinch’s Stand, but as gashes formed along its arm, it was quick to fill it back as more of those particles swarmed in. Pulling one arm back, it punched deep through the cloud of particles, only to feel a sharp pain all the way up to her left elbow.

Trixie screamed as Gravity Kills’ arm began to dissolve, dropping away like it was melting, but nothing ever touched the ground. Her arm began to do the same and she managed to get her Stand to cut away Cinch’s hold on it and floated back until their backs were to a tree.

By now, Trixie’s left arm was a disintegrating mess and she could do nothing to quell the pain.

“What… did you do?” she groaned as she grasped her wound, her blood dripping down to coat the forest floor.

“Like I said, there is nothing you can do, Trixie.” Cinch snorted and tilted her chin to the air. “How did you think my mind control worked in the first place? All it takes is sending part of my Stand into your head, where it can assimilate with your body, turning your cells into mine and allowing me to send signals to it to make you do my bidding. And you’ve learnt now that that is only a fraction of my power, Trixie. As you can see, each piece acts on its own and they can eat away at your body like a shoal of hungry piranhas.”

“No, I can still stop you…!” Trixie tore off her robes and binded it around her stump of an arm. “Gravity Kills!”

Her Stand floated above her and a ring of boulders broke off from the ground and began spinning around it. It raised its arm and then flung them down, sending the boulders spiralling out towards Cinch and her Stand. The dark particles splattered against the first boulder and began eating through it, but the rest managed to get past it and would’ve hit Cinch if her Stand didn’t materialize through her, forming into a solid being with brown plated armor, glowing orange from within. It thrust a fist forward and the remaining boulders all broke into shards as they smashed against it.

But that had been exactly what Trixie wanted and Gravity Kills raised the gravity’s intensity and even the trees around them began to crumple under its weight.

“Gotcha.” She grinned.

Cinch’s body was bent down and she fought against its overwhelming density. Part of her Stand appeared under her in a form of particles and held her up. The rest of her Stand, on the other hand, continued to stand, its body warping and breaking apart as it fought against Gravity Kills’ attack.

“Gravity Kills, fifteen minutes!” Trixie called out. Now was her chance to get a fighting chance.

The meter on Gravity Kills’ chest dipped to the red and the air in front of them began bending and twisting as a black spot appeared in the air. From there, orange began to circle around it and soon, it started growing in size, sucking in branches and stones as it continued to expand.

“You’ve had it now!” Trixie began laughing. “I’ll soon win, you’ll see! You can’t stop gravity!”

The particles from Cinch’s Stand that were not attached to anything began to fly towards the black hole and without anything to hold on to at such close range, the whole Stand began shifting towards it too, bulkier and heavier than its tiny counterparts. The gravitational force was considerable, Cinch realized. But she was Principal Abacus Cinch, the one whose legacy would endure for all of time. She was not going to be bested by some second rate stage magician girl. With the black hole still increasing, there was no way to get particles past it to Trixie. She would have to employ a different method.

Trixie stood behind the black hole, concentrating all her power into making it as big as she could. As she was standing there, Cinch made her Stand pick up a large stone that had been unearthed during the battle before. It was about the size of a beer keg, but with the gravity in the area in flux, her Stand was able to lift it easily. 

Cinch had been top in her physics class when she had gone to college, and now she put that knowledge to use. Black holes didn’t just suck things in. Like anything with a strong gravitational pull, if objects entered its field of influence at just the right angle, it would cause the object to be slingshotted around at great speed to the other side and beyond. It was all just a matter of timing and precision.

Cinch’s Stand rose up, straining against Trixie’s black hole and threw the rock to the left of the singularity. As expected, the gravity took hold of the flying projectile and pulled it closer. However, at the speed and angle that the rock was flying, the gravity couldn’t keep a tight enough hold of it and the stone was curved in its flight path straight into Trixie and her Stand.

“What…?” Trixie stepped back and her Stand glided down and reduced the gravity to stop the boulder in its place.

In that fraction of a moment, Cinch’s Stand dropped into a cluster of swarming particles, taking an arc around the black hole, staying as far as it could from it while at the same time snaking its way towards Trixie and Gravity Kills.

“What, did you think I could not stop a rock if you threw it at me?” Trixie pointed at Cinch, then drew a thumb across her neck. “You’ve played your last hand, you old hag. Enough!”

Gravity Kills raised its hand and the trees around it were ripped from the ground and began circling above it, their trunks smashing against each other and breaking apart into shards of wood.

“You see, Trixie, as a student, you will never be as smart as someone who’s lived at least four decades ahead of you,” Cinch called out to her, holding on to a boulder to keep herself from getting any closer to the black hole. “Your time is up. Superorganism!”

Trixie realized too late that bits of Cinch’s Stand had begun climbing her, eating away at her skin as they got on her Stand as well. The top half of her Stand emerged from the particles and grabbed at Gravity Kills’ meter again, but instead of just holding on to it this time, it crushed the entire thing in its strong grip, then tore it out and held it high as Gravity Kills fell back slowly, almost like it was in slow motion.

Trixie felt something in her chest give way and suddenly, it was all too hard to even breathe and she dropped to her knees and spat out a mouthful of blood.

With Gravity Kills’ control over Gravity lost, the black hole began to stutter, then sucked in on itself, before disappearing for good, returning sound to their vicinity as time and space around it returned to normal.

“N-No… It can’t be…” Trixie gagged and threw up more blood.

“Like I said, your time is up, child.” Cinch walked right up to her and stood over her, looking down smugly at her weakened form. “You might be strong, but you failed to determine that I am far beyond you in power. As a little token of respect, I will leave you your last moments of life to do as you wish. If you’ll excuse me, I have somewhere to be.”

Trixie turned her head as she watched Cinch head down the slope towards the gaping maw of a cave down below.

“I underestimated her…” she gasped, finding it harder and harder to breathe as darkness began creeping in from the edges of her vision.

The smell of iron was strong around her, with all the blood she was coughing up. Cinch had ruptured her heart and she didn’t have long left. She had come into the battle too confidently, never thinking that she could lose as easily as she had.

All her years of bullying and taking advantage of others in school, if she knew her life was going to end here, she would’ve lived differently, been a better person. Trixie had grown up with parents that were rarely around. Her father traveled the world to do business, while her mother would follow him just to be with him. That meant she was home alone most of the time and she would only get to see them maybe once a month, if she was lucky. Lacking attention, she resorted to garner as much as she could from her classmates and teachers in school, sometimes even forcing them to watch her do a magic trick or humiliate another student to show how great she was.

“I’m sorry, all of you… for always trying to show off…” Trixie coughed and gripped her chest tighter. “Trixie should… never have been so mean…”

It was ironic. For wanting attention and not being alone, she had chosen to go off and face Cinch and turn down Sushi’s offer to team up. Perhaps things would’ve been different if she had actually worked together with them.

“Sushi, you have to… finish this for me. You’re the only one… who can beat her. No.”

Trixie looked at Cinch’s retreating form. She wasn’t going to just sit here and die. As long as she still breathed, there was still a chance she could take Cinch down before she breathed her last, or at least make it easier for Sunset to finish her off later.

“G-Gravity Kills…” Trixie croaked. “Finish… her…”

Trixie’s Stand dropped to its feet and raised its one arm, flashing its claws in the sunlight. As it ran for Cinch’s position, the principal didn’t seem to even know it was approaching her. This was it, this was her chance to take her down before she realized what was happening. As Gravity Kills’ hand began descending towards Cinch’s head, she still did not move and continued proceeding down the slope without a care in the world. Trixie still found that odd, but she understood why after something pierced through her Stand with a splatter of blood. Gravity Kills did a spin in the air and Trixie fell back as her side came away with blood, and that was soon followed by the crack of a gunshot in the air.

“O-Of course… I never stood a chance…”

A second round pierced her in the head and her hand dropped to her side as her breathing finally came to a stop.


> Chapter 22: Radioactive's Gameshow
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset Shimmer slapped at another mosquito that had decided to land on her left calf and she had already lost count to how many she had already dealt with. Being summer, it was as though a whole army of them had come to feast on them and the forest was the absolute worst place to be without proper preparation.

“I think I swallowed another one. Gross!” Pinkie stuck her tongue out, then she giggled. “If it bites me and then I swallow it, does that mean I get my blood back?”

“Um, sure. I guess so.” Sunset shrugged. It sort of did make sense.

“So where in the forest are we looking?” Rainbow spread her arms out. “This place is huge!”

“How about the campsite?” Applejack suggested. “Ah mean, we’re supposed to be here in a few weeks anyway. And we’re familiar with the area, year after year.”

“I suppose that’ll be a place to start.” Sunset had never been to the campsite herself, because she had never wanted to join in on social events before.

The trek through the forest grounds led over bumpy terrain, past trees and plants of all shapes and sizes, and a whole lot of bugs.

The only one to look like she was having a good time was Fluttershy, who ran her hand along leaves and even held out a finger for butterflies to land on, which they did. It was as though she had an affinity for nature.

They soon came across a pathway once they were out of a thicker section of woods and Jojo quickly ran for it, dropping to his knees and rubbing his hands across the dirt road.

“Finally, flatter ground,” he said. “I can be back on wheels. White Buffalo!”

Jojo’s Stand appeared in a flash of sparks next to him and he swiftly got on it. “I’ll scout out ahead on the paths.”

He revved White Buffalo and he was off down the path, kicking up dust into the air as he left. The rest of them continued on, with everyone except Sunset knowing the way to camp from here, especially once they started seeing the road signs to Camp Everfree.

Eventually, they came across a big wooden sign, with the words on it carved out from the sign to read out ‘Camp Everfree’. It was an elegant sign, bright and colorful, and in Sunset’s opinion, a hazard. If a reckless kid ran into it, it might just fall down on top of them, or worse, their friends as well.

“Nothing out of the ordinary here.” Rainbow shrugged as she looked around the area. “I don’t see Jojo as well. He must’ve gone past the camp.”

“It was worth a start,” Sunset said, then looked out at the camp’s surroundings. The cabins were all arranged in a circular pattern near the center. There was a lake to its west that had a pier, and she could also make out a few sheds out there as well. “Hey, what do you girls know about the surrounding area? Maybe there’s something else worth looking into.”

“We’re looking for a geode.” Pinkie rubbed at her chin exaggeratedly and stuck her jaw out. “What if… it’s buried in some cave and we need to dig it out like miners!”

“That… again, makes sense.” Sunset folded her arms and nodded contently. “We’re looking for a cave then.”

“Sick! We know a good one, then.” Rainbow nudged Applejack. “One year, we tried out being spelunkers. Ended up in a huge cave quite a walk from here. You can’t miss it. It’s quite like someone took a chunk out of the ground with a bite.”

“Oh yeah, the big ‘un.” Applejack whistled. “Big cave, that was. Thought we heard some kind monsters in there as well, though now Ah reckon it was just the wind.”

“If it’s big, it might just be deep. That’s where we might be able to find some crystals, or better… geodes.”

“Can’t find any fault with that logic!” Pinkie cheered. “Let’s go! Lead the way, Dashieee!”

“It’s west of the lake I think.” Rainbow scratched her head. “We’ll just have to keep going till we see another slope leading down. It’s flat all the way until that point. Well, flat enough.”

“Are there more caves in the area?” Sunset asked as they made their way around the edge of the lake. Seeing the water, she felt like dunking herself in it to cool herself off and to ward off the insects, but she eventually decided against it. “We might have a better chance if we split up.”

“I-I don’t think we should…” Fluttershy mumbled. “It’ll be hard to find each other again in the woods.”

Without warning, the ground shook, followed by squawks as a flock of birds flew up from the trees.

“Did you girls hear that?” Fluttershy gulped.

“More like did we feel that?” Rainbow spun around until she narrowed down on a direction. “I think it came from this way. Cinch might already be in the cave.”

“Then there’s no time to waste.” Sunset broke off into a run and urged the others to follow.

She wondered where Jojo was, but he would’ve likely heard the sound as well. If they were lucky, he was already on his way.

They jumped over rocks and roots, her shoes crunching against dirt and pebbles as they ran, doing what they could to avoid running into a tree. It wasn’t that hard, but Sunset almost tripped on a root and would’ve run face first into the tree if Pegasus Fantasy hadn’t appeared and yanked her away before she could knock herself out.

There was another resounding boom on the way, and then after another ten minutes or so of running, they began to feel a constant rumble beneath their feet. It was as though the ground itself was alive, breathing in and out.

“Hey, I see something purple ahead.” Rainbow called out, having gone much further ahead during their run thanks to her athletic skill. “Out in the clearing, you see it?”

“Everyone careful now.” Applejack slowed her pace and held up a fist. “It might just be another pesky enemy Stand.”

They poked their heads out from behind the trees when they got to the edge of the woods. Past the trees was a clearing, along with a path leading into it. There was a single purple car parked at the end of the dirt, its engine shut off. By the looks of it, it had already been here some time and there wasn’t anyone in it.

“This must be Cinch’s car,” Applejack whispered. “But Ah don’t see no one out there. She must’a already left for the caves.”

“Then we gotta get there quick. Before she gets the geode!” Rainbow called forth Running on Ice and got to skating in the air.

“Yeah, come on!” Pinkie skedaddled after her, her legs looking like windmills as she went.

They had only just passed into the next tree line when Sunset felt a buzz in the air. It felt as though it suddenly got harder to breathe and there was a weight on her shoulders. Her first thought was Trixie and Gravity Kills, but all of a sudden, the forest turned dark around them and disappeared, fading into a black landscape with nothing visible for miles. And then almost as soon as that had happened, a new terrain opened around them, springing into existence from the corners around them.

“What in tarnation?” Applejack yelled and stepped aside as a velvety red floor appeared under them.

The floor continued ahead and a short flight of steps materialized from nothing, going up to a big podium where a girl walked out of the darkness and stood behind it, her arms outstretched and her chin held high.

“Sunny Flare…” Applejack frowned as smaller podiums appeared in front of each of them.

She tried to send her Stand out, but Highwayman leapt out of her and crashed into something invisible in front of it, knocking both of them back into another invisible surface.

“We’re trapped!” Applejack yelled, then fumbled back to her feet.

“That’s right!” Sunny Flare began laughing. There was no longer any wind blowing, but her long red cape fluttered in some unseen gust. “Welcome to the new age. The Age of Sunny Flare, where your will against hers will be tested!”

There was a mechanical whirring sound and Sunset looked down at her podium to see a device with four buttons flip out from underneath its surface.

Fluttershy had Florence come out to try and hack it, but nothing happened.

“Uh uh uh.” Sunny waggled a finger. “There will be no Stand usage during the show.”

“Let us outta here! We’ll kick your butt back to Crystal Prep!” Rainbow bashed on her invisible wall with her fists.

“What are you trying to do here?” Sunset asked their captor.

Sunny shook her head. “That’s not how this gameshow works. I’ll be asking the questions here, and you’ll be answering.”

“Just let us out of here. We’ll fight ya and teach ya who’s boss, this whole gameshow you want is a waste a’ time!” Applejack grumbled at her podium.

“Your only way out is to win this game. Otherwise, tough luck.”

“Yaaay, a game! I love games!” Pinkie whooped and jumped.

“Pinkie was always one of the brighter ones.” Sunny hopped onto her podium and crossed one leg over the other. “The great principal has tasked me with dealing with your little motley crew. And so I shall. With my Stand, you are now forced to participate in Sunny’s New Age, the game show with a lot of questions and tougher choices. I’m Sunny Flare, and today, our contestants are Sushi and the gang of Canterlot High lackeys!”

“Hey, I’m no lackey!” Rainbow knocked on her wall.

Sunset groaned, but there was no way through this but to play. Brute force wasn’t getting them anywhere, nor could Florence get them out the other way.

“Excellent. So let the games commence…” Sunny smirked and did a pirouette. Confetti flew out from behind her, and the floor opened up, spewing mist around her. A giant scoreboard rose up from the floor, clad in a dark grey frame. “Pick the right answer and you’ll proceed. Pick the wrong one, and you’ll see…”

“This is messed up…” Applejack spat, but her wad of saliva hit the invisible air and began sliding down. “That’s even more messed up. What kind of Stand is this?”

“I don’t know, but I’m sure we’ve dealt with worse.” Sunset kept her eyes on Sunny. She didn’t think it was as simple as getting questions right.

“The first question goes to… Sushi!” Sunny laughed to the air as options popped up on Sunset’s podium. Behind her, a screen four times the size of a cinema screen blinked to life and a single sentence popped up on it, reading ‘How do you spell _______?’. “Ha, did you think I would be dumb enough to provide the spelling for you? Fat chance, CHS losers. Well… let’s start with a warm up, shall we? Here’s something to try. Spell… Rhombus.”

The four options on Sunset’s podium blinked and words appeared on each one. Her four choices were ‘A - Rombus’, ‘B - Rhombos’, ‘C - Rhombus’, and ‘D - Rahmbes’.

“What? That’s her question?” Rainbow scoffed. “That’s so easy! You’re done for, Sunny!”

Sunset also couldn’t believe how easy this was, but after dealing with so many Stand masters in the recent days, she knew there would be a catch somewhere. She reluctantly hovered her finger over option C for ‘Rhombus’, and when it didn’t seem like anything could go wrong, she pressed her finger down on the button and it turned green.

“Your answer is option C and that’s…” Sunny ducked her head down and stretched an arm out. “Correct! Well done, Sushi. Perhaps I underestimated you.”

“I think at this point, I’d rather be underestimated…” Sunset sighed and leaned back on her invisible wall.

“Pinkie Pie, you will be next.” Sunny pointed a finger at her. The question behind her appeared and she read it out. “What year did Canterlot become its own city?”

Sunset looked at the options on her podium, but she hadn’t been around long enough to know the answer to this. That, or she didn’t pay attention during history class.

“Easy!” Pinkie grinned and thumbed option A. “Nineteen sixty-six!”

“Hmm, correct again.” Sunny smiled, which worried Sunset. This was going all too well compared to the other Shadowbolts.

“That’s easy! Come on, me next! I’ll take you down, Sunny!” Rainbow pumped her arms up.

“I like your attitude, Rainbow. Let’s go.” Sunny cut an arm to the side and another sentence appeared on the huge screen. “Who… was the founder of Maryland?”

“Wait, what?” Rainbow was taken aback as her options appeared on her podium. “That’s not even related to Canterlot!”

“I never said the questions would be about Canterlot.” Sunny giggled. “Now, make your choice.”

“How am I supposed to know who founded Maryland?” Rainbow demanded. “I don’t even know where Maryland is!”

“Tsk tsk…” Sunny Flare wagged her index finger at Rainbow. “If you’d undertaken education at Crystal Prep under Principal Cinch, you would know. This only serves to highlight the difference between CHS and CPA in terms of education quality.”

“Rainbow, the answer’s gjsivkenckskfehdjnacht.” Fluttershy covered her mouth. When she had tried giving the answer, a garbled mess came out instead. “Umm, it’s gjdkdncneldkrystwlaxnacht. I-I can’t say it.”

“To prevent cheating, you will not be allowed to share answers, be it conversation or gestures.” Sunny kicked one leg back and forth. The back of her foot hit into her podium rhythmically like a clock counting down. “Ten seconds, Rainbow Dash.”

“Uhhhh…” She looked like she was struggling, but then she pressed down option A, then stepped back.

“Your answer, option A, Bolt E. Moore…” Sunny turned her thumb upside down. “Is wrong!”

A loud buzzer sounded all around them to signal Rainbow’s incorrect answer. They hadn’t noticed it earlier, but there was a vertical bar on the scoreboard and its lowest segment was now glowing a bright green.

“Oh, yes. I failed to mention earlier.” Sunny waved a hand. “Every question wrong is one step towards filling this bar. Once it’s filled… would you like to see what you’re up against? Radioactive!”

Sunny clapped her hands and the ground in the center of the room split open. From beneath it rose a large grey and green spherical object with two segments on its top left and right, resembling wings, along with a whole bunch of what looked to be canisters. In its center, a large green light burst to life, looking like it was watching them.

“Behold my glorious Stand, Radioactive!” Sunny got off her podium and walked up to it, running one hand along its sleek surface. “Radioactive holds the power of thermonuclear proliferation, and you’re the ones with the countdown key. For every question you get wrong in my trivia game, it’s one step closer to total annihilation! Isn’t that just magnificent?”

“What? No, that’s terrible!” Rainbow stomped her foot and bashed on her invisible wall. “Let us out!”

“Sorry, but you won’t be leaving. Principal Cinch will soon have her prized Stand Geode and you’ll be nothing more than ash and dust.” Sunny grinned and wiped at her brow. “Oh, but you’ll be going, Rainbow. You answered a question incorrectly, so away with you.”

“Wait, what? What do you meeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaan?!?!” Rainbow was suddenly launched into the air, her invisible wall clearly gone as she flailed around.

A hole in the ground appeared beside Sunny and Rainbow fell right into it as she arced back down, which then closed behind her.

“Rainbow!” Applejack called out.

“So, are you girls ready to take this game more seriously?” Sunny skipped, then hopped back on her podium. “Answer incorrectly, and you’ll be joining Rainbow Dash, and keep it up, and you all… go… boom.”

There were only four of them left and there were only four more segments on the scoreboard’s bar. They didn’t have much room for mistakes and Sunset knew they couldn’t afford to die here, not when they were so close to stopping Cinch. They would have to think their way out of this one, and they had to do it soon.


> Chapter 23: Deep in My Bones
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next, it was Fluttershy’s turn and Sunny Flare looked back at her screen and read the question aloud. “What is the type of animal that is referred to as genus strigiformes?”

“Sounds like snakes to me.” Pinkie tapped at her nose with a finger. “Choose snakes!”

“It’s a tricky name, b-but… I know um, quite a lot about animals.” Fluttershy pressed a finger down on option D. 

“And the answer is…” Sunny Flare looked disappointed. “Option D, owls. Lucky guess.”

“Yes!” Sunset said. “Good work, Fluttershy!”

“Looks like I’ll need to step up my game…” Sunny Flare tossed a bowl between her hands and then spun it down one arm. “Applejack is next.”

Sunny Flare cycled to the next question, but something made her pause. Then she smiled smugly. “Your friend Rainbow Dash is attempting to use her Stand to escape. Unfortunately, while constrained by the rules of Radioactive’s game, nothing can escape from the Gaol of Eternal Peril. All she can do is wait and watch as my Stand ticks closer to detonation.”

“We’ll get’chu yet. Ask me yer question, Shadowbolt, Ah ain’t afraid.” Applejack grabbed the sides of her podium firmly.

Sunny smirked and panned a hand to the question on the screen. “Which of these animals is not from the subphylum, chelicerata?”

Four animals appeared on the podium’s panel and they could all see the four choices. Sunset knew Fluttershy would know the answer to this, but they could not communicate it to Applejack. Sunset could only hope she knew the answer to this question.

“Uh…” Applejack stammered. “Uh, can ya repeat the question?”

“It’s right there on the screen. Not very bright, are you?” Sunny snickered and covered her mouth with a hand.

“Umm…” Applejack scratched her head and squinted her eyes at the screen, then back down at her four options. “Rabbit, spider, sloth, or snail…”

“You got this, Applejack!” Pinkie cheered and threw confetti out in her little confinement.

“Quiet,” Sunny ordered. “Time’s running out, Applejuice. Answer the question, or be cast into the Gaol of Eternal Peril with Rainbow Dash!”

“The name’s Applejack,” the disgruntled girl shot back. “And Ah know the right answer to yer question. It’s C, sloths.”

“And your answer is… incorrect.” Sunny’s mouth somehow still got wider. “To the gaol with you!”

“Wait, no, ya can’t do that, Ah’m right!” Applejack called forth her Stand, but they could both do nothing as they were launched into the air, right into a hole that opened close to Sunny’s podium, disappearing like Rainbow Dash once it closed behind her.

“Three to go.” Sunny motioned to the scoreboard, where another level of the meter had filled green. Radioactive began to puff steam in the middle, almost like it was a bull getting ready to charge. “You girls sure know how to make things easy. Trust me, I’ve had smarter opponents.”

“Come on, girls, we’ve got this! We’ll beat Sunny at her own game, save the others, and get out in time for cake!” Pinkie shook one fist. “Me next, me next!”

“Very well!” Sunny swept one arm to the side, sending her cape fluttering in the same direction. “It is time to get this game going! The questions will only get harder here!”

Sunset clenched her fists atop her podium, still unable to find a way to get the best of Sunny. There was nothing they could do but play her game, and there didn’t seem to be an end to her questions. There was no bar on her scoreboard to tell them how much more they had left other than a jumble of numbers, showing their current score, along with the green doomsday counter. She hadn’t come all this way just to get beaten by a gameshow. She had to find a way to turn the tables on Sunny somehow.

“Option B!” Pinkie depressed one of the buttons. “Mycosis!”

“Another one correct.” Sunny slid a finger across the air, then brought it back down in a Z gesture, followed by bending forward and placing both arms behind her back. “It’s only a matter of time now before Radioactive goes boom. Are you sure you want to keep getting them right?”

“Yep!” Pinkie grinned happily. “But you know what, this is kinda boring, to be honest. All you’re doing is asking us questions. And we have to stand here and wait. I was looking forward to more action, like the rest of your Shadowbolts!”

“I do prefer it if we di-didn’t have to fight…” Fluttershy folded her arms across her chest.

“Well said. And my game show isn’t boring!” Sunny hissed. “It’s fair play and it's got loads of interesting questions and you might even learn something new from time to time!”

“Oh really?” A lightbulb went off in Sunset’s head. There was nothing to lose by trying this, so why not? “I’ve got an idea how we can make this more interesting.”

“Oh?” Sunny rubbed her jaw. “How do you plan on that?”

“You keep asking us questions that you know, but do you indeed know everything?” Sunset continued.

Sunny narrowed her eyes, but waved a hand. “Keep talking, Sushi.”

“I’m sure I can ask you something you won’t have the answer to,” Sunset challenged. “And if you get it wrong, you go to the gaol and my friends and I get to leave.”

Sunny scoffed and let out one shrill laugh. “Are you joking, Sushi? Had too much Japanese food, have you? I, Sunny Flare, one of the best and most decorated Shadowbolts, know everything, second only to Sugarcoat in knowledge.”

Sunny got off her podium and walked around it. Steam hissed from Radioactive and a low groaning sound echoed around them. “I accept your challenge. If I guess your questions, then you will be seeing Applejack and Rainbow Dash in the Gaol of Eternal Peril!

“Aaaand, you know what? I’m so very confident you can’t best me, so tell you girls what, I’ll give each of you a chance to ask me a question, but if I get it right, straight to the gaol you go. And don’t you think of asking me questions like, ‘what do I have in my pocket?’. Radioactive is able to sense when a question is credible, and if it doesn’t like it, it won’t count. Do we have a deal?”

Sunset looked to her friends. Pinkie seemed very into the idea, but Fluttershy looked a little hesitant. She nodded her confidence to them. This was their only chance to turn the tide on Sunny. Do or die, this was how they were going to get out of here. She firmly gripped the sides of her podium. Even if Sunny killed her here now, she wouldn’t give up and she would keep going until Cinch’s plans for world domination were stopped.

“Let’s do it!” Pinkie jumped in her invisible box and gave both Sunset and Fluttershy thumb ups.

“Then who would like to go first?” Sunny smirked. “Radioactive is dying to go nuclear. Ohhh, I can already smell the chemicals…” She breathed in and moaned, which was a little disturbing for Sunset.

“Ooh, ooh, me first, me first!” Pinkie slammed a fist on her podium. “How aboutttt… Ooh, this one. Which eruption created the Yellowstone Caldera? Pick your answer!”

Pinkie leaned her body back and placed both arms forward like she was resting on a table, then tilted her neck forward. Golden Ticket appeared behind her, placing one arm over her left arm and the other around Pinkie’s waist.

“Yellowstone? Please, you could’ve thought of something overseas at least.” Sunny blew a raspberry and cackled. “That would be the Lava Creek eruption, which also created the Lava Creek Tuff. Too easy.”

“Well, I tried, you girls got thiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssssssssssssssss!” Pinkie trailed off as her body was flung up into the air and then down into a new hole that appeared just in front of Radioactive.

The Stand hissed more steam and two of the canisters on its ‘head’ lifted and opened, revealing a tube inside them, dotted with holes that pulsed a toxic green as the scoreboard’s meter went up.

“Mmmm, it’s almost ready…” Sunny licked her lips and placed one hand on her chest and the other down on one thigh. “I told you, you can’t beat me.”

“Umm, I’ll g-go.” Fluttershy looked at Sunset and nodded.

Sunset knew what she was saying even without her having to use words. That nod signified more than just a simple nod of understanding. She was also saying that she had a question planned, but if Sunny were to guess the answer, then she knew Sunset would definitely have the question that would stump Sunny and end this. Sunset could see all that just from that single nod. While Fluttershy might’ve believed in her, she didn’t know if she could actually pull it off, but she knew she would give it her all.

“Many fish have the ability to sense objects around them using e-electrolocation…” Fluttershy started. “Um, b-but… there’s one mammal that can do it t-too. Which mammal is it?”

“Psshh, you think you’re the only one that knows about animals just because you love them?” Sunny placed the back of one hand against her chin and raised her head. “Radioactive’s gonna have a good time with you. The answer is the platypus.”

Fluttershy met eyes with Sunset and gulped, then with a shriek, she was thrown into the air, sailing high above both Sunset and Sunny as she flipped once, then began flailing about as a new hole in the ground swallowed her whole. The canisters on Radioactive’s wings opened up like the ones on its head, now spewing green smoke as the scoreboard’s meter filled up by one more bar.

“Sushi, Sushi, Sushi…” Sunny dusted her hands together and pulled at the collars of her cape. “You’re all that’s left now. Your plan has failed magnificently. Now it’s all going to end here with you.”

“Not yet.” Sunset raised one hand, then twisted her body slightly to the side as she stuffed one hand into her vest’s pocket. “I still have yet to ask you a question, and I know this will be a question you cannot answer.”

“Are you daft?” Sunny choked on a laugh. “Your friends have already tried to stump me. You can’t beat me. I know everything!”

“Not everything, I assure you.” Sunset raised a finger and pointed it at Sunny. “Are you ready to be proven wrong?”

“Are you ready to be proven wrong?” Sunny raised both her hands up to the air. “Soon, all this would be but a ball of nuclear devastation, and it would be the most beautiful sight in the world! Mmmm… I can already feel it…!”

“Then prepare yourself.” Sunset’s face hardened into resolve and she stared confidently into Sunny’s eyes.

Sunny Flare tried reading her opponent, but Sunset gave nothing away. She seemed so confident, so sure that this was going to be a question she would not guess right. Possible questions began running through Sunny’s mind and she tried to pinpoint the kind of questions she would get.

From what I know about the knowledge of CHS students, Sushi wouldn’t know the most intellectual of questions, like how an atom can be split, or how fast sound waves travel. She cannot possibly know more than me, as I have already demonstrated with her friends. Sunny looked at the hulking mass of her Stand in the middle of the room. All Radioactive needed was one more win and their enemies would be obliterated in a flash and Principal Cinch would get what she wanted, along with total control of the world. But Sushi is confident. A little too confident. She has something up her sleeve, something which she thinks I might not know. There is no hint of doubt in her eyes, not at all. That’s not possible. She can’t know something I don’t know.

Sunset’s finger maintained its steely position and she breathed. “Alright, Sunny. I’ve got your question here. Who was the mentor figure of Princess Celestia of Equestria?”

Sunny Flare held up a finger, ready to answer. Then she got a confused look on her face. “Wait, what on earth are you talking about? You can’t ask me a fictional question! Radioactive, veto her question!”

“It isn’t fictional.”

Sunny began cackling madly. “We’ll see about that! Radioactive is the judge of this game and if your question doesn’t meet its requirements, then you’ve lost, Sushi. You can’t beat me! I’ve never lost to any CHS lackey and I’m not going to do so now!”

Sunny’s Stand began clicking and clacking like some sort of computer, though the only thing that moved was its glowing green eye, which swayed from side to side and occasionally up. Then came a beep, followed by the hissing of more steam, and Sunny’s surefire face morphed into one of doubt.

“What? A legit question?” She raised an arm up. “No way. That can’t be true, it’s not possible! Your question can’t possibly be legit!”

Sunset smiled and folded her arms, before placing her weight on her left leg and leaning to the side. “You see, Sunny. There’s something you should know about Stands. The emergence of Stands came from the opening of the portal from my world, Equestria, when I arrived here in your world months ago. You see, Equestria is a land of magic and ponies, and when I entered, I opened it long enough to allow some magic to pour into your world.

“I took a gamble on guessing that a question about my world would be allowed, because… magic came from Equestria, and therefore, Stands are of Equestria, and since that is the case, then a question related to Equestria would would be permitted, because Radioactive is of Equestria.”

“No, no! You can’t ask me this question!” Sunny backed up from her podium. “Th-This is madness!”

“Madness?” Sunset’s steely gaze never left Sunny. “This is the New Age, and you’ve lost at your own game show, Sunny.”

“This can’t be, I can’t lose to some ponce from CHS that has a name after Japanese food!” Sunny was quickly launched into the air, and a new hole appeared under her as she dropped right down into it with a shriek.

Sunset walked to the front of her podium and leaned against it as she heard Sunny’s surprised gasps from below. Her friends had been trapped down there for quite some time now and they were very likely frustrated after being unable to find a way out. All that frustration had to go somewhere.

Her thoughts were proved right when she began hearing Highwayman’s shrill cry, the one it made when it punched, followed by Rainbow’s and Pinkie’s war cries. The ground shook under her feet and then everything went silent. Soon, the red velvety room around her began to disappear, creeping away into the darkness as Radioactive’s body began to burst and combust. It gave one more groan of machinery, before the eye on its body fizzed out as greenery began to appear around Sunset.

Her friends were suddenly in front of her, standing around the motionless body of Sunny Flare as she spun around, taking in their surroundings.

“Never thought I would be so happy to be out in the woods again!” Rainbow took in a breath of fresh air and sighed contently. “Hey, you did it, Sushi! You beat her at her own game!”

“I figured it would take Equestrian questions into consideration.” Sunset gave them a wink and a thumbs up. “I didn’t know for sure, but it was a gamble I had to take.”

“And it’s a good thing you did, Sushi!” Pinkie jumped over and tackled her with a hug. “We’re back out, and there’s only one more Shadowbolt to go! That’s Sugarcoat, since you don’t know her. She’s super smart and blunt.”

“Blunt?” Applejack picked up her hat from the grass and dusted it. “Ya mean like that thing people smoke?”

“No, silly, blunt as in not sharp!” Pinkie folded a finger and tapped on the back of it.

Applejack scratched her cheek. “Ah don’t get it.”

Now that they were back in the forest, they could hear more booms, along with a new constant whirring sound that seemed to be coming from deeper within the forest.

“The cave, it’s this way.” Rainbow Dash pointed to the tree line ahead and dashed for it. “It sounds like someone breaking in.”

“To waarrrr!” Pinkie raised on fist, then charged on after her friend.

Sunset followed after, resolved to not let Cinch find the geode before they did.


> Chapter 24: Here She Comes Again
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset Shimmer slapped another mosquito on her neck as she ducked under a tree branch. She had thought that wandering around the forest would make her forget about them eventually, but that wasn’t the case. Each time she got bit, it was almost like someone was sticking a needle into her skin, and she didn’t even want to start about the itching.

They had already been walking through the woods for a good ten minutes now and there was still no sign of Jojo. Wherever he was, riding around the forest, she hoped that he would’ve already at least found something important, perhaps even the location of the geode, though with the low rumble coming from the heart of the forest, she doubted that.

“We’re getting there. Just a little further.” Rainbow waved at her friends furiously to keep up.

By now, Sunset could see the edge of the forest rushing up to meet them. She could no longer see lines of trees ahead, but instead, a drop off. Once they got there, she could see it was quite the steep slope of dirt and rock, leading down towards a cave in the middle of the forest, with hills all around it. Here, the sounds were louder and she was sure it was a drill. Cinch must already be close to getting the Stand Geode. They had to hurry.

“We need to get in there and stop her…” Fluttershy gulped as she thought about what could possibly happen.

“But don’t forgetee spaghetti!” Pinkie Pie swooped from behind tree to tree and kept her eyes out. “Sugarcoat’s still out here! I bet she’ll try to stop us.”

“We’ll be ready for anythin’ she has to throw at us.” Applejack slammed her fists together. “We’ve dealt with worse.”

“We-we don’t know that,” Fluttershy said.

“We’ll handle her just like we handled the rest of her Shadowbolt lackeys!” Rainbow cheered and whooped. “I can’t believe I didn’t want to go through with this! Now I know we’ll never be defeated!”

Her victory dance was cut off as she spun around and dropped to the ground, clutching at her shoulder. Everyone watched her lying there for a few seconds as blood began to ooze from behind her, then a loud bang echoed around the forest and they all ducked behind various trees and kept low.

“Enemy Stand!” Applejacked warned as her hat got hit, flying off her head as she cupped her head under her hands. The bullet was soon followed by the sound of a gunshot. “Where in the Sam Hill is that comin’ from?”

“Rainbow, we need to get Rainbow!” Sunset tried to peek out, only for a bullet to hit her tree and shower bark into her face. She planted her back behind the tree and wiped it from her face. 

Judging from the direction, the enemy was somewhere in front of them, likely across the basin. Of course they would be guarding the drill site. They were stupid to think otherwise.

“Hey, how do we know it’s a Stand and not someone with a gun?” Sunset called out to her friends.

“Duh, they’re all Stand users!” Pinkie waved a hand from behind her tree, which almost got taken off by another shot whizzing by, kicking up dirt as it hit the ground. “They won’t just shoot at us when they’ve got Stands!”

“And I-I think they’re far out… The bullets are reaching us b-before the sound. Two different kinds of guns, by t-the sound of it…” Fluttershy trembled as she did her best to compress her body behind her tree.

“You could tell all that?” Sunset wanted to look out and pinpoint their attacker’s location, but it was too risky.

Fluttershy nodded her head slowly. “It’s the wa-way they’ve been hitting the space around us. One hits harder, buries itself deeper. It doesn’t fire as frequently, but um, don’t get hit by it.”

“So we’ve got two guns out there?” Applejack wanted to reach for her hat, but it was too dangerous to leave their cover, even to get Rainbow out of there. “Ah think it’s safe to say we’ve got two shooters.”

“A Stand and the Stand user, then?” Sunset suggested. “Perhaps it’s the Stand with the more powerful gun.”

“We need to move, but if we step out there, we’re as good as gone.” Applejack sent out a copy of Highwayman, which swooped around one tree, then began descending the slope towards the cave. It had only gotten about three feet ahead before it flinched and a bullet blew out the back of its head. “Drat. It ain’t workin’.”

“The enemy has the advantage here.” Sunset grimaced. “All they have to do is keep us here. They don’t even need to put us down here. Once Cinch gets the Stand Geode, we’re as good as dead.”

Applejack cursed as another bullet punched through another of her clones. “Where’s Jojo when ya need him?”

“I can go look!” Pinkie jumped behind her tree, warranting bullets to her position, but she avoided all of them by straightening herself behind her piece of cover. “Golden Ticket and I have a plan. I had a few doors from Crystal Prep stored in its pockets. Just watch. Golden Ticket!”

“Best o’ luck, Pinkie,” Applejack said. “We’ll see what we can do from here.”

Pinkie’s Stand popped out from a door beside the tree and waved one hand around. Pinkie gave them a salute, then held her breath and threw herself down the door. The doorway led down into the dirt, going down a long tunnel, where Pinkie slid her way down behind her Stand.

“Wheeee!” she squealed and then giggled. “Here she comes again! This is fun, we should do this more, Golden Ticket!”

Her Stand gave her a thumbs up, then threw another door at the other end of the dirt tunnel. The door swung open and light filled Pinkie’s eyes as she found herself near the bottom of the slope. Almost as soon as she had stepped out of the entryway, something hit her in the side and Pinkie let out a little cry of surprise before throwing herself behind a huge boulder as another one smacked into it, spraying debris into her poofy hair.

The girl looked down at her side to find it bleeding. The bullet had gone clean through, which was a good thing; the last thing she wanted was to get an infection by leaving it in there.

“Close one, wasn’t it, Golden Ticket?” Pinkie clutched her wound and grinned at her Stand. “But yikes, that really hurts! We need to find Jojo fast. Where do you think he’s gone? He went off ahead of us to find Cinch and we got holed up with Sunny Flare. And he must not be here yet, otherwise he would’ve been attacked by the enemy Stand already.”

Pinkie grabbed a stick off the floor and began tearing bits of it off and wrapped them over each other until she had a human-shaped figurine in her hands. She tucked it out from behind the rock, and in only a second, its head was taken off and Pinkie pulled it back down.

She stared at the figurine, then narrowed her eyes as she moved one hand from its head towards the direction the bullet had come from. The bullet had come from another hill to the north. Fluttershy had said there were two different bullets, which meant there were two different guns, which meant there were two different shooters, and if they were smart, like Pinkie knew they were, they’d be in two different locations.

“Two shooters,” Pinkie said, rubbing her chin. “Bullets can only travel in straight lines, but if there’s two of them, then the bullets can cover two lines, which is significantly harder to dodge…” She looked at her stick person and threw it aside. If she knew how much stopping power that each shooter had, then maybe she could calculate the risks of heading out into the open. And to top it off, these weren’t human snipers; these were probably Stands, and they would be more accurate than any human could be.

“Things aren’t looking good,” Pinkie remarked to nobody in particular. 

Pinkie stayed behind her piece of cover a while longer. No more bullets flew at her, which meant that either they were waiting for her to leave her place of safety, or they were scoping down her friends. Neither option was very reassuring at all. 

Where was Jojo, Pinkie wondered. He was a smart one, and had gotten them out of scrapes before. If anyone could find where the two snipers were, it was Jojo. 

“Looks like we’re going to have to do this on our own. Goldie,” Pinkie said to her Stand. “Bring it on!”
----------JO-JO-----------
Jostle Joyride stopped for the fifth time since leaving the rest of the team behind, placing one foot against the ground as he wiped sweat from his face. He’d already been riding around on White Buffalo for at least three hours and he still hadn’t found anything that looked like a place that could house the Stand Geode. He’d already gone around the outskirts of the Everfree Forest once, and there hadn’t seemed to be anything concrete.

“Perhaps I should’ve just stuck with Sushi and the others…” He took off his cap and ran a hand through his hair. It was hot to the touch. “Maybe they’d already found where the geode is and are already battling Cinch and her remaining Shadowbolts. And here I am, still unable to find my way through his forsaken forest.”

Jojo kept his eyes on the lookout, in case he got jumped by an enemy Stand user. They would still be out there somewhere, hoping to stop them from getting to the geode before Cinch did. Jojo clenched the handlebars of White Buffalo tighter as he thought about the woman behind it all. She had taken Rarity from them. It hadn’t been by her own hand, but it was because of her that Rarity was now gone. He still remembered the kiss they had shared that night and he had to fight to remain poised at this time. They hadn’t had much time together, but Cinch had taken away any possible future with her and for that, she was going to pay dearly. But first, he had to find her.

Sighing, he revved his Stand once more and turned back in the direction he had come. Having already checked the edges of the forest, Jojo decided now to drive straight for the center. Knowing the geography of this forest a little, from their last visit here, he knew there was quite the tall hill and dip near the center of the forest and perhaps there were caves there.

If he were lucky, perhaps he’d also find Sushi and the others along the way, but for now, he had to just focus on getting where he needed to go and watch his back. He had only just jumped over a sizable boulder when he began hearing popping sounds coming from somewhere deeper in the forest. At first, he didn’t think much about them, but they began coming up more frequently and they didn’t sound like any animal call he’d ever heard before, and it was strangely familiar, though at the moment, he couldn’t quite place it.

Jojo stopped White Buffalo again and listened out for the sound. At the moment, it failed to sound out again, but now that his bike had stopped, he realized there was a deep rumbling coming from the earth. He got off his Stand and it vanished into thin air, but he could still feel it.

“I’m close to the source,” he said to himself. “But that means that someone’s already at the Stand Geode’s location, and by the sound of it, this rumble is coming from some heavy machinery. Sushi doesn’t possess such equipment, which only means one thing now… Cinch has already gotten to it. I’ve got to trace it to its source before she unearths the gem and becomes all-powerful.”

Jojo proceeded on foot, following the sounds of the rumbling as he hopped off road and began hiking up a short slope. Another three blasts came from somewhere above, and after hearing it again, this time without his Stand’s engine rumbling on, he knew they were gunshots. Slowing his pace, Jojo continued his ascent, keeping his eyes and ears on full alert; getting shot now was something he hoped to avoid.

“There you are, Jojooooooo!”

The man jumped and almost tripped over a loose rock as he spun around and spread his legs apart and his arms at the ready. He relaxed when he found out it was Pinkie, popping out of a door in the side of the hill.

“Pinkie, it’s just you. How’d you find me?” Jojo cooled himself and straightened his attire.

“Pinkie sense! Duh!” She grinned and waved for him to follow her into the door. “You don’t want to be out in the open! Enemy Stands are about!”

“What are we dealing with?” He followed behind Pinkie as she led him into a tunnel of dirt.

“Not a clue. But they’ve been shooting at us. Sushi and the rest are pinned down above and I’ve been trying to find you so we can devise a way to beat these baddies!” Pinkie shut the door and Golden Ticket peeled it off the wall, before shrinking it and stuffing it in a jacket pocket. “There’s two of them, they have two different guns and from what I’ve been experimenting, they have different powers. One hits harder, but less frequently.”

“An enemy Stand that fires bullets?” Jojo mused. “That must mean we’re dealing with a long range Stand here, if you have yet to locate them. These Stands can go far from their Stand masters and they can also act independently from them. But that would only mean their master would not be there to give them orders. Stands like that might be powerful, but all they would do is seek out their objective.”

“And that would be to defend the drilling in the cave.” Pinkie snapped her fingers. “I got it, didn’t I?”

Jojo gave her a pat on her poofy head. “That you did, Pinkie. Now, we’ll need to locate them to take them out. Have you determined the direction?”

“Yeperroo!” Pinkie giggled and began moving her fingers from where the doorway had been, then behind her back and to her left. “That’a way, north! And the other one’s slightly to the west.”

“I was walking for some time and I hadn’t gotten shot. That would mean we’re safe as long as we don’t get within their line of sight.” Jojo kicked at the dirt wall. “Let’s head back out that way and go around. We’ll take White Buffalo. With its speed, I think they’ll also find it harder to hit their mark.”

Golden Ticket threw a door back into the side of the tunnel and Jojo and Pinkie reemerged back out into the open. Almost immediately, Jojo jumped into the air and White Buffalo appeared below him, smoke pouring from its exhaust and nostrils. Pinkie cartwheeled on behind him and let out a whoop as White Buffalo’s wheels kicked up dirt as they left.

“We should hop around in a zigzag pattern,” Pinkie said to Jojo. “They’ll never hit us if we do that.”

“What are you talking about?” Jojo grunted as he leaned into the wind.

“It’s a classic tactic! I learned it in Return-Hit, you know, that video game that drives people to insanity because of the weapon skins?”

“Right…” Jojo muttered. 

“That Ewetuber Cryotailsical made a funny video about it too,” Pinkie blabbered on. “He said- DUCK!”

Jojo barely had time to put his head down before a bullet streaked over his head. It seemed the enemy had relocated. It was only by pure luck the shot had missed, because he hadn’t expected them to be able to hit him from here.

“Hold on.” Jojo kept himself low and sped up.

Fire blazed from the back of White Buffalo and they zipped around rocks and trees as more bullets began to pelt the area around them. The bullet always appeared before the sound of the gunshot, meaning their enemy was further away than he had first expected.

“The zig-zagging, it’s working!” Pinkie began cheering as Jojo piloted his Stand along. “It’s working!”

“Right, now stop bouncing, you’re making it harder to drive.”

One of White Buffalo’s horns snaked out and stabbed into a tree as Jojo swerved hard. Using the momentum, he gunned on the throttle and as the horn retracted, they flew into the air, sailing up the hill and onward. Past the next row of trees, he could see it. Something glinted in the distance, perched atop a pile of rocks at the top of the next hill and he knew enough to know that it must’ve been the reflection of a scope.

Jojo caught a glimpse of a yellow figure behind the weapon before White Buffalo cast up Faster than Fire, blanketing the air in a cloud of fire that flowed all around them.

“Ooh, cool!” Pinkie reached out a hand and touched it, only to recoil and wave it around. “Hot, hot!”

“With Faster than Fire, the enemy won’t have a precise view of our location. We should be able to get closer with this active,” Jojo explained. “I’ve contingency plans for almost everything, and enemy snipers is one of them. Rule number forty-six, always have a plan, should you have to run out under sniper fire.”

“Gee, that’s oddly specific, but that’s just like my family rule number seven thousand and seventy-seven!” Pinkie giggled behind him. “Keep your rocks within your pen at night, or the squid monsters will come and get them.”

“Uh… yeah, okay.” Jojo shrugged. He’d heard weirder.

Bullets began piercing through their cloud of fire, but they couldn’t find their mark and that was just what Jojo wanted. All they had to do was get close enough now and they would be able to take them down, he was sure of it.

“Just a little further…” Jojo gritted his teeth as White Buffalo pivoted around a boulder, then sped up the hill and zig-zagged around two trees.

Suddenly, White Buffalo was tipping to the side and Jojo felt himself and Pinkie slide off as a pain shot through his side. That was when Jojo realized he hadn’t accounted for something, which had slipped his mind completely. If one of the enemy snipers could relocate, then the other one could too.

He had only just gotten to his feet to breathe when something pierced his head and he dropped to the ground.


> Chapter 25: The Stands
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie Pie had been born one of four daughters to the renowned Pie family rock farmers, masters of harvesting rocks and studying them. When she was younger, she was nothing like she was now, full of laughter and full of fun. Everything back then had been dull and dreary, with smiling and laughing being restricted by her devout rock farming parents.

“Laughter is a distraction and you’ll get no harvesting done if you keep at it,” her father, Igneous Rock, had told her once.

But Pinkie had been different. Or more accurately, she had wanted to make a difference in her world, in her family’s world. And so she threw them their first ever party, filled with balloons and cake, something she had learned to make out from rocks at first, followed soon by flour. Once they had been exposed to such happiness, they could never go back and the family had never been the same.

That had been the day Pinkie resolved to share this happiness with the rest of the world and she had been allowed to go down to Canterlot’s city to study there, and that was how she had met the rest of her friends, all those years ago in elementary school, and till today, she still went around spreading happiness and fun to anyone she could find.

But that all changed when Principal Cinch decided to start taking over their minds. She had been on the way back to the farm one day when she found her eldest sister, Limestone Pie had changed, destroying the balloons she had lined up along the farm’s pathway and tearing down their balcony, which Pinkie had set up to be their little, as she had called it, ‘Fun Headquarters’. She only had enough time to open her mouth before Limestone knocked her out and before she knew it, Cinch had already taken control of her mind and she had to do her bidding, and with the awakening of her Stand, Golden Ticket, Cinch had used her more frequently to get to others to turn them.

It was not until she had met Jojo that the man had defeated her in combat and removed Cinch’s enchantment on her mind. And that was where the story had begun, with her wanting to stop Cinch so that everyone in the world could once again smile and be happy.

And these enemy Stands here were standing in her way to bring laughter to all.

Pinkie pushed herself up from the ground and rolled herself behind a boulder, looking over to Jojo who was just lying on the ground nearby.

“Jojo!” Pinkie hissed to him. “Jojo!”

There was no answer and she quickly dived towards him, then called up Golden Ticket as it opened a door beneath them. Pinkie and Jojo fell through into the dirt below as her Stand slammed the door shut just as a bullet smacked into its frame. Her Stand quickly removed it and began digging a new tunnel to the north as Pinkie checked on her friend.

Jojo wasn’t moving, but she was glad to still hear his heart beating when she placed an ear against his chest.

“Come on, Jojo, wake up.” Pinkie slapped him on the cheek. “Come on, we’ve got a battle to win and we can’t stop to rest now! Come on now, don’t make me have to do CPR on you. I’ll give you cake if you wake up, how’s that?”

“I’d like some CPR…” Jojo croaked weakly, then opened one eye.

“You silly, you’re okay!” She grabbed him in a hug and pulled him up.

“That was a close one…” Jojo took another deep breath and closed his eyes. There was a buzz of electricity and a bullet was suddenly ejected from his temple. “If I hadn’t used my hamon right there, I would’ve been a goner. I applied some of it to the bullet as it entered my head and I stopped it just in time from entering my brain.”

“Wow, that’s useful. You really need to teach me how to do it!” Pinkie grabbed his hands and jumped up and down excitedly. “But you’re okay, you’re okay! What’s next? I think we should use my tunnels to get closer to that first sniper and catch ‘em by surprise! Like a birthday party!”

“Good thinking. There’s no way they can get a location on us if we get to them from underground.” Jojo raised a fist to the dirt ceiling and then brought his other arm up to point forward. “Lead the way, Pinkie Pie.”

Golden Ticket began digging forward, using its borrowed doors as shovels to scrape dirt out to the sides at superhuman speeds, forming the tunnel inch by inch at a steady pace, pressing on north, where the sniper had last been seen. Jojo didn’t doubt they would try to relocate again, but then he realized they would also have to keep an eye on Sushi and the group, or they would be on their way to the geode’s cave already. That’s where they had the advantage on them. They didn’t have to look out for anything besides the two snipers.

Before he had gotten shot earlier, Jojo had caught a glimpse of their second attacker. It had been a figure in blue armor with a sort of triangular head and he had no doubt the yellow one looked the same.

“What we’re up against here is a single Stand, but in the form of two Stands,” Jojo told Pinkie.

“So Sugarcoat has two Stands? That’s cool! Wish I had a second Golden Ticket.” Pinkie looked at her Stand. “Not that I don’t like just having one, but just saying.”

“I think it’s also safe to say she isn’t directly taking part in this battle too.” Jojo wiped a handful of dirt from his face as Golden Ticket shoveled it into him. “Long range Stands are capable of acting on their own and for them to be able to be so far apart from each other to shoot at us, they must be able to communicate and act depending on the situation. We can use this to our advantage. Sugarcoat won’t be able to see us coming. Stand masters with long range Stands don’t exactly know their own Stand’s every move.”

All of a sudden, a something flicked past their faces and Jojo only had a fraction of a second to throw himself and Pinkie back as another bullet flew into their tunnel, grazing his right knee in the process.

“Its bullets can penetrate the ground!” Jojo warned, then scooped Pinkie up under one arm and ran on as Golden Ticket continued to dig away. “I think that one should be our priority.”

“The bullets are coming from the west,” Pinkie inspected as they followed after her Stand. “That means it must be at the top of the slope where I had been. That’s rather close!”

“Close, huh?” Jojo looked to the dirt wall on the left. “I think we’ll be taking a slight detour. You keep going, see if you can make your way to the second sniper. I’ll take care of this one.”

“You sure? Well alrighty then! It’s all yours, Jojo.” Pinkie gave him a slap on the back, then she was off after Golden Ticket as Jojo called forth his Stand.

“Right here, White Buffalo!” He planted a hand against the wall.

His Stand rushed forward and burrowed its head through the soil, spinning it as it moved, using its horns to tear away at the ground. In only four seconds, a tunnel back up to the surface had been opened and Jojo was already on top of White Buffalo, riding up the slope as he spotted their attacker above, positioned over a short boulder with its rifle resting on its surface.

This one looked almost like the one on the other hill, but this one was blue and it had its sights on him now.

“Bring it on!” Jojo yelled as White Buffalo released a torrent of fire from its headlights.

It rolled out of the way, then flipped itself around as Jojo and White Buffalo sailed high over it, using the boulder as a ramp to get into the air. It lifted its rifle and fired, hitting White Buffalo in the chassis. Blood flew from a new hole in Jojo’s stomach, but he knew that if he stopped now, he was as good as dead. He had to keep moving.

His worry was only accentuated as more bullets flew in from the north, firing at a faster rate from the Stand below him. He had to get out of its sights and fast.

Whipping its horns behind itself and down to the enemy, White Buffalo pierced the blue Stand’s right foot, while using it as an anchor point to spin around in the air. Another two bullets from the yellow Stand hit Jojo in his left shoulder, but he braved the pain and pointed a fist at the Stand below as White Buffalo rained fire down on it.

The blue Stand screeched and scrambled out of the fire’s radius before pointing its rifle at Jojo again. “Taking aim, prepare to die.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” Jojo stood up atop White Buffalo and pressed his weight down on his bike.

It began to descend faster and they landed atop the Stand as it fired again, nicking Jojo across the cheek as White Buffalo’s wheels began spinning on top of the Stand’s face.

“Now, Faster than Fire, flaming circle!” Jojo flicked a hand forward, then the other grabbed the rim of his cap.

Fire belched from his Stand and it began to coat its wheels as it spun against the enemy Stand. Then he bent down and pressed two of his fingers against his own Stand, dodging another bullet as he took in a deep breath.

“Hamon overdrive, heat boost!” he called out as energy rolled through his arm into his Stand. “You’re done for now. What I’ve just done is transferred some hamon into my Stand’s attack. The sun is over five thousand kelvin in heat and combine that with Faster than Fire, it’s gonna melt your face right off!”

The enemy Stand began screaming in pain as its body began to smoke and bubble. It dropped its weapon to the side, then tried to push White Buffalo off, but the heat of the attack was too much and its body turned black and melted away into the ground.

Jojo let out a single whoop, but grabbed his Stand’s handlebars and sped back down the hill as more bullets just barely missed him. He didn’t have time to stop and celebrate just yet. But he knew he would’ve bought Pinkie plenty of time. She should’ve already been close to the yellow Stand by now and he had no doubt she’d find a way to beat it.
---------JO-JO---------
“Right here.” Pinkie patted the wall of dirt as she stepped aside to give her Stand some room.

Golden Ticket removed a door from its pockets, then slammed it against the wall. Pinkie grabbed the handle and threw it open, glad to be back out into the sunlight again. Jojo was trusting her to deal with this enemy Stand while he went after the other one.

“Well, at least if they’re shooting at us, then Sushi and the others are safe for now,” Pinkie reasoned.

Pinkie slipped behind a small rock formation and took out a makeup mirror. Using this, she peeked over to get a better grasp of the situation. The important part, Pinkie thought, was to get a grasp on where the shooter was. Then she could deal with it accordingly.

By now, she was at the bottom of the hill that the Stand had last been seen at and if it was still targeting Jojo, there would be no reason for it to move yet.

There were sounds of gunfire not too far away, and Pinkie guessed correctly that Jojo was under fire. Now, how could she get close without getting shot?

“Unless…” Pinkie said slowly. “Unless the secret is to actually get shot?” She looked at Golden Ticket’s door and an idea began to take form in her mind.

Pinkie leapt out from her hiding place and began to whoop and holler, waving her arms about her head and generally making herself very noticeable.

“Heyooo!” Pinkie sang loudly. “Enemy Stand! Over here!”

There was a glint of a scope in the distance and Pinkie quickly had Golden Ticket open a door in front of herself so that the anticipated bullets went inside. Then Golden Ticket shut the door and Pinkie did a few cartwheels forward. She didn’t know exactly how long-range Stands worked, but she thought that if she was the one behind the gun, she would feel pretty confused about why the shots weren’t hitting their target.

Pinkie had Golden Ticket grab the door and she danced further ahead, only stopping to catch more incoming bullets in her door. She couldn’t count on the foe running out of ammunition, since Stands weren’t bound by normal rules, but she was counting on that too.

At last, Pinkie got close enough to see the enemy Stand for herself. She supposed Jojo was somewhere close by, wondering what she was doing. He would soon find out.

“Yoo-hoo! Enemy Stand! I can see you now!”

A hail of bullets was her response, but Golden Ticket threw up a door to absorb them. 

“Is that the only trick you know?” Pinkie asked. “You wouldn’t do very well at parties. I know lots of tricks! I can make balloon animals, juggle, even do some magic tricks!”

The yellow Stand looked at Pinkie with its expressionless face and raised its gun again.

“I have a trick for you,” Pinkie said teasingly. “One that you helped me with, actually. Want to see?”

The enemy Stand raised its rifle, and as it did so, Pinkie sent out Golden Ticket. Pinkie’s Stand took off its top hat, holding it out in front of itself like a cannon. From within the depths of the hat, a blizzard of bullets came whizzing out, nearly all of them striking the enemy Stand and puncturing holes in its body. The yellow Stand was launched off its perch and fell  towards the ground, disappearing before it could hit the floor.

“Woohoo, that’s Golden Ticket’s secret weapon!” Pinkie bent one leg in a ninety-degree angle and pointed where the enemy had vanished. “With hats being doorways as well, Golden Ticket was able to open the way back to your bullets, and this was totally the best way to win. I actually was inspired by Trixie’s hat tricks,” Pinkie dismissed her own Stand and smiled widely. “Jojo! The enemy Stand’s gone. You can come out now!”

A motorbike drove down over the next hump and Jojo stopped it before her, giving a pat on the back of his seat. “Get on. It’s time we finish this.”

As they sped off up the slope towards the location of the cave, Jojo felt closer to finishing their goal more than ever now. All that stood in their way now was Principal Abacus Cinch herself and they’d fought tooth and nail to get where they were now, beating all the odds each time they came. Cinch was but the final step to finishing their mission and through it all, they were going to see it done.


> Chapter 26: SPRORGNSM
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I see them.” Sunset Shimmer waved both arms as Jojo and Pinkie traversed up the hill towards them, riding atop White Buffalo. “There you are, we’ve been worried sick when you vanished, Jojo.”

“No worries were needed.” The man flexed one arm. “Pinkie and I did you girls the favor of taking down the Stands as well. They won’t be bothering us for a while. Best thing to do now is to take down their Stand master before they regenerate again.”

“Wait, they can do that?” Rainbow leaned against a fallen log, her shoulder healed when they had realized the Stands were no longer shooting at them. “That’s not fair. Why can’t our Stands do that?”

“Long range Stands work differently,” was all Jojo could tell them. He didn’t quite know the specifics of it, but he did know that they operated separately from their masters and as long as their masters were still alive, they could eventually come back, seeing as they were the essence of their master’s fighting spirit. “We should get going. We’ve no time to lose now.”

“Yeah, all that’s left is Cinch!” Rainbow raised a fist sky high. “Let’s go cream her!”

“There’s no time to waste,” Applejack agreed. “Every second we spend yappin’ here is another second Cinch gets closer to the Stand Geode.”

“If we can get there… I c-can stop the drill. Um, Florence can.” Fluttershy wiggled her fingers and her Stand slithered out of them.

The run down the slope was quick, with Applejack tripping and rolling the remaining way to the bottom. It was steep, but thankfully, it hadn’t been very high up.

The rocky formation in the center of the forest began to get closer and closer and with every step, Sunset felt the weight on her shoulders grow more and more. This was it, their final mission. Their time window was incredibly small, but they had to do it and that meant there was going to be no room for failure. From here on, it was do or die. Cinch had to be stopped, or the world would fall thrall to her.

“Hehe, the ground is shaking so much here!” Pinkie had her hands on the ground. “It’s like a massage!”

“Where’d they even get a drill thingamajig anyhow?” Applejack scratched at her forehead under her hat.

“I have no idea, but we’ve got to stop them.” Sunset slapped another mosquito and groaned. She really wanted to get out of the forest soon, and more importantly, she didn’t want to become someone’s thrall.

“So first thing we gotta do is get Fluttershy in there,” Applejack said, pointing to the now very visible maw of the cave. They could see dust and smoke coming out from within it. “Once she takes out that drill, Cinch ain’t got no way to get that Stand Geode.”

“Easier said than done. I’m sure they’re not going to let us just wander in there and take out their drill.” Jojo put one hand on his side, then the other folded across his chest and grabbed his opposite shoulder. “Once we’re in there, everyone be on your toes.”

“Ooh, I love being on my toes!” Pinkie waved around. “Also on my hands, my butt, and my head!”

The team slowed to a walk once they hit the entrance to the cave. It was a lot cooler now that they were in the shade, but the drilling here was echoing all around them and bits of rock fell from the ceiling.

“They’re down there…” Fluttershy breathed and took a few more to steady herself.

“And we’re finally going to end this. Right here. Right now.” Jojo clenched his fists and threw one skyward. “For Rarity.”

“Hey, wait y’all.” Applejack stopped them as they were about the proceed deeper into the cave. “Before we go on, Ah just wanna say that you’re all mah very best friends and Ah could never’ve asked for better friends in life. Sushi, Jojo, we ain’t known you two for long, but in the few days we’ve been together, you’re not any different. Y’all are my best friends too.”

“Same here!” Pinkie wrapped her arms around Jojo and Sunset. “You two are official best friends of Pinkie Pie! And the rest of you girls, we’ll be friends forever.”

“A-And if we don’t get to say any of this later, you two are have been there for me too…” Fluttershy added on. “And I will do my best in the coming ba-battle.”

“Yeah, you’re all my awesome friends, and together, we’ll teach this principal that she can’t mess with friendship!” Rainbow Dash threw a hand in between all of them. “Come on, bring it in.”

Sunset looked at all of them and nodded. They were right. These were her very best friends in the world, a world she never thought she would find friendship in, but here they were, standing together through all odds at the very top of their mountain, and the only reason they were still standing here was because they had done this together.

“We’ll do this,” Sunset said, then placed her hand on top of Rainbow’s. “We beat Trixie and her Bully Squad. It wasn’t easy, but we did it. We beat Crystal Prep’s Shadowbolts, something some of you thought was impossible, but we did it. We’ve reached the cave that holds the Stand Geode, something I myself subconsciously thought we would never do, but we did it. Right now, one final battle stands in our way from Cinch’s global domination, but we’ve overcome all odds together. There’s just one last thing to do and that’s to kick Cinch’s principal butt!”

“That’s right!” Jojo whooped and slapped his hand down on Sunset’s. “To all the friends we’ve lost on the way!”

Applejack planted her hand next. “To the friends we’ve had to fight to save them from Cinch’s mind control.”

“To the dogs and other animals who had to give up their lives on our journey.” Fluttershy managed a smile and joined her hand with theirs.

“For the cakes and goodies and sweet things!” Pinkie hopped up and placed her hand over Fluttershy’s. “Oh, and for stopping the bad guys!”

“For all of Canterlot.” Sunset looked at them resolutely, then they raised their hands together and let out a group cheer. “Now, let’s go find that mother-”

There was the sound of something breaking and blood was suddenly flung across Sunset’s face and chest. Applejack choked and spat out more blood as all their eyes looked down to her chest. On it was a fist-sized hole, clean through to her back where they could see the downward slope of the cave behind her. And in the middle of all of them floated an arm. It had brown and red plates on it and it ended in a swirling mass of some kind of dark particles, but in its hand, which was now coated in blood, it held Applejack’s still beating heart, its fingers hooked into its surface like the claws of an eagle.

“A-Applejack!” Rainbow cried out and her Stand appeared behind her. It tried to fire icicles at the arm, but it dodged all of them and flew higher. “Get back here!”

Almost like it was gloating them, it spun around in a circle and held the heart up, then crushed it between its fingers, bursting the organ and spraying more blood across the cavern entrance. Now done, it tossed the deflated heart aside, then seemed to dance around in the air as it flew into the tunnel.

Applejack gagged again, then her legs buckled under her body.

“No!” Rainbow dived down and caught her, but before she could even think of what to do next, more particles swarmed around her legs and she began to get pulled down the tunnel. No, you won’t have her! No!”

Running on Ice floated down and helped hold Applejack’s arms. Sunset and the others ran in to help, grabbing hold of their friend.

“Y’all can’t… Y’all can’t help…” Applejack moaned weakly. “Stop her… Ya’ll have to…”

And with one final look into their friend’s eyes, Applejack was yanked from them and dragged down the tunnel into the darkness. All they could do now was wail and agony and call out her name, but it was too late. She was gone now.

“Applejack!” Rainbow reached a hand out into the darkness, but she knew there was nothing more she could do.

“Cinch will pay with her life!” Jojo punched the cave wall, cracking it slightly. Then he rested his head against it and shut his eyes.

“N-No… Applejack…” Fluttershy began to sob, covering her face with her hands.

“I could’ve helped. I could’ve reset her…” Sunset dropped to her knees, unwilling to accept that another of her friends had been taken from her.

“Cinch knew what she was doing…” Pinkie’s poofy hair seemed to deflate a little. “She took her away so you couldn’t do that, Sushi.”

“And we’re going to pay her back for that.” Jojo straightened up and tugged on his jacket roughly. “We’re going to make her beg for death.”

“That’s right…” Rainbow wiped at her eyes and stood up. “We can’t stop yet. We’ve got to make her pay.”

“They’re-they’re right.” Sunset sniffled and rose. “Cinch is still down there and Applejack’s helped us get this far. We can’t waste it by doing nothing now. That’s just what Cinch wants. To discourage us, to keep us from interfering.”

“We can’t give-give up. We c-can’t…” Fluttershy lowered her hands. Her eyes were red from crying and fury, a look Sunset had never seen her make.

“And that’s exactly what we’re going to do!” Pinkie dipped her fingers in the blood on the cave floor and drew two lines under her eyes. “Play time’s over. It’s time for a little Pinkie Pie berserker sugarhigh rage!” She pulled out a cake from her pocket and shoved it down her mouth in an instant.

“We’re ending this today.” Rainbow slammed her fists together. “Cinch! We’re coming for you!”

As Running on Ice grabbed hold of its master, it began skating down the tunnel on ice as Jojo called up White Buffalo, using the same icy slope to head down. Pegasus Fantasy grabbed Sunset and Fluttershy and followed after them while Pinkie had Golden Ticket get them down using a door as a skateboard.

This was it. They weren’t going to stop now. For Rarity. For Applejack.
----------JO-JO--------
“Your Stands have failed, Sugarcoat.” Principal Abacus Cinch waltzed back into the huge cavern that their drill was in. She dusted at her cloak and tossed off a small piece of rock. “But it doesn't matter. One of them has been taken care of. That should distract them long enough for you to finish this.”

“My Stand, The Stands failed?” Sugarcoat poked her head out of the drill’s cabin. “This Sushi group is more resourceful than I thought. The Stands never fail.”

“Except now. Do not fail to get me the geode now, Sugarcoat. You don’t want to end up like the rest of the Shadowbolts.” Cinch looked to the wall that was slowly thinning and crumbling away.

They had set up lights in the cavern, illuminating the space around them. A short stream of water fell from a crack in the west wall, pooling at the bottom and swirling down some unseen hole in the ground. Other than the sound of trickling water, the drill dwarfed everything else, whirring and drilling into the wall. The machine stood at least twenty feet high and and its gigantic drill head continued to bore its way through the earth, already pushing through seventeen feet of rock. A little device by the new tunnel continued to beep and pulse, revealing an energy signature from within growing bigger and bigger.

Cinch couldn't help but lick her lips. She could almost taste it now, a power she had dreamed of since she had been a child. The power to hold the entire world in the palm of one hand. It would be hers soon and once she had that, Sushi and her friends would be nothing but a trivial matter. They could come to her, heck, she would even allow it, and they would be able to do nothing as she beat them without so much as a drop of sweat on her brow.

Smoke spewed from the drill’s large engine and thankfully, they weren’t too far from the cave entrance, or they would all probably suffocate. But that also meant that it wouldn’t take Sushi long to get down here. Cinch knew they wouldn’t give up from the death of one of them, but she had at least hoped to buy a few more minutes. That’s all it was now. Minutes. They were minutes away from attaining the Stand Geode. She wasn’t going to let anyone stop her when she was this close to victory, and anyone who stood in her way now, she would just rip them apart.

“My legacy will endure! It will never end!” She reached both arms to the sky as her Stand formed up from the ground behind her, its beady orange eyes glowing in the shadows of the cave. “Everybody wants to be famous, but only few can fulfill such a dream. Only those with power may do so. Come and meet your fate, Sushi. You cannot stop me. You never will. You will all die down here and your legacies will come to a swift end.”


> Chapter 27: Superorganism's Will
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The tunnel curved and led down another slope and as they proceeded on, the air was getting mustier and smokier. Likely the engine of the drill below, Sunset Shimmer surmised. That would mean they were getting close now and that would mean facing Cinch’s Stand again. They hadn’t been able to see much of it when it attacked Applejack, but from what they had caught glimpses of, it seemed to be a swarm of little organisms that could form into something bigger, or smaller when it needed to. This was going to be a tough Stand to defeat, but that was what they thought about every single enemy Stand on the way here. They would find a way around Cinch’s Stand and beat her, Sunset knew they would.

“Lights ahead.” Rainbow pointed as Running on Ice continued to skate them lower.

“We gotta be close. Get ready for a fight.” Pinkie tied a blue bandana to her forehead.

Rainbow and Running on Ice had only just taken another step forward when a swarm of little particles darted off the walls on either side of her, and if not for her Stand’s timely walls of ice forming around her, they would’ve found their mark. Rainbow dropped and rolled down the icy slope as her Stand waved its arms around, encasing the particles in blocks of ice before sending tendrils out to the walls, keeping them in place.

“Forward!” Sunset sent Pegasus Fantasy past Rainbow to punch a cloud of particles coming towards her. They exploded against Pegasus’ fist and dissipated. “Eyes up!”

More came from behind, but Jojo had White Buffalo spin around and breathe fire back up the tunnel, melting the particles coming down at them. Pinkie and Golden Ticket ran around, opening a door and closing it behind more particles, while Fluttershy did her best to keep out of their way, unable to do anything at the moment.

“You think you can beat me and my Stand just like that?” Cinch’s voice rang across the cavern, even amid the sounds of the drilling. Somehow. “I’ve already killed one of you. I can do it again.”

“You’ll never win, Cinch! Not today!” Rainbow waved a fist into the air before Running on Ice froze the air around her, encasing another swarm of particles in it.

The ice cube shattered almost immediately as a Stand in brown armor formed together from within and reached its arm out, grabbing Rainbow’s Stand around the neck. Before it could squeeze or do anything else, Pegasus Fantasy was already there, punching it in the face with a left hook, then a right. Cinch’s Stand dropped Running on Ice and sidestepped Pegasus’ next punch with speed that shocked Sunset. She hadn’t expected it to be able to move so quickly.

“Surprised?” Cinch’s voice echoed around them again. “Superorganism is made of tiny organisms and each of them can act on their own. That means that there are millions of eyes on it and it can read your moves a mile away. Oh, and also…”

Sunset had her eyes on both their Stands when a fist suddenly connected with the side of her face. She fell back and hit her head against the rock wall as she tried to figure out what was going on. The right wall seemed to move in her vision now and she wasn’t sure if it was because she had hit her head so hard. Once her vision began to clear up, she could see that the wall was indeed moving, but because there were swarms of Superorganism’s particles all over it. A fist stuck out of it and as she watched, Principal Cinch walked out from the wall, the brown armored fist over her own arm.

“Why yes, I can use Superorganism’s powers like my own. I can move myself through its particles and I can use its body parts.” Cinch gloated over her smugly. “Oh, and it looks like I bought enough time too.”

“Enough time for what?” Sunset pushed herself off the wall and rubbed at her bleeding head. It throbbed under her hand and a lump was forming where she had hit herself against the wall.

Cinch only smiled before she heard the sound of gunshots. Golden Ticket suddenly dashed in front of Sunset and opened one of its doors as two bullets flew into it. It removed its hat and held it up to Superorganism as the two bullets flew out of it, hitting it in both eyes as it wrestled against Pegasus Fantasy.

“They’re baaack!” Pinkie called as she picked up a rock and chucked it towards the entrance.

A bullet hit it in mid-flight as Sugarcoat’s blue Stand pulled back the bolt of its sniper rifle, its barrel still smoking.

“Behold, the Stands return!” Cinch laughed maniacally and then formed another armored fist over her other arm. “You could not manage against my Stand. Now with the Stands here, you will surely fail!”

“Wait, Sugarcoat’s Stands are called the Stands?” Pinkie shot up and cocked her head to one side. “That’s so… awesome! It can really mess with you when you’re asking! Hey, Sugarcoat, what’s the name of your Stands? The Stands. Yeah, your Stands. The Stands. Yes, what are they called? The Stands. Yes, them, what are their-”

“Enough!” Cinch yelled and charged at Pinkie with her armored fists.

“Woah!” She threw herself aside as the principal swung a fist. She just barely missed it and rolled around, grabbing another rock off the floor. “Have this!”

She threw it, but Cinch swung an arm backwards and smacked it into dust, then grinned as Superorganism sprang through her, rearing up to release a punch. Golden Ticket flipped itself between it and its master, grabbing both fists before lashing out with a kick.

There were more gunshots, but Running on Ice intervened and created walls of ice between them.

“We’ve got to do something about this!” Rainbow raced to Sunset’s position and helped her up.

Sunset nodded and looked down the tunnel where the drill was working in the huge cavern. “We need to stop Sugarcoat and the drill. We can’t let her get to the geode while we fight Cinch.”

“I’ll hold the Stands back.” Rainbow slid a leg forward, then arced one arm over her head and pointed to her ice walls that were already cracking from the Stands’ bullets. “Sugarcoat’s yours.”

“You’re not going anywhere.” Cinch appeared beside the two of them and grabbed them both around the throats with her armored arms. “Today, your little team ends here with you. You tried, but you won’t stop me.”

“Not yet.” Sunset reached an arm up. “Fantasy armor!”

Pegasus Fantasy looked over to her, then did a flip in the air and blasted right for Sunset. As it slammed into her, its armor began forming around her, and Sunset cut down with one arm, breaking Cinch’s grip on her before flapping her wings, blowing the principal back as she made her way to the drill and Sugarcoat.

The Shadowbolt caught sight of her in the drill’s rearview mirrors and turned to face her. Sunset grabbed her by one ponytail and yanked her out of the vehicle.

“O-Ow, that hurts!” Sugarcoat winced.

She reached up and pulled at her hair, tearing it from her head, dropping her to the ground.

“The Stands!” she called.

Immediately, her two Stands emerged from behind her and stepped to her sides, their rifles already pointing at Sunset. They began firing and one clipped Sunset in the head, but with a reset, she managed to recover enough to fly down and scoop up the blue Stand. Now that they were close enough, she figured Sugarcoat would be able to feel what happened to her Stands and throwing it into the air, Sunset ripped its rifle from its hands, then flipped it around and began smacking it in the face with its own weapon.

“Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!”

Lifting it high, Sunset brought it down hard atop the Stand’s head, cracking its helmet and smashing it hard into the ground. Sugarcoat’s glasses flew from her face along with some teeth and she fell on her chin and groaned in pain.

“P-Principal Cinch…!” she managed out of her ruined mouth.

Her yellow Stand began firing at Sunset, who lifted her arms to block them. She still had forty seconds left of her fantasy armor and she had to make it count before she ran out of time.

Sunset flew at it, ready to beat the devil out of it, but the Stand rolled aside and flipped around and dropped to a knee, lifting its rifle up. It fired three rounds, hitting Sunset in the back and the right wing, but her armor protected her for the most of it, though it felt a little bruised as she came around, lifting her arms in front of her face to protect herself as Sugarcoat’s Stand fired more rounds at her.

“You’ll never win. Principal Cinch will win and the whole world will be hers.” Sugarcoat wiped at her bloody face and held her nose. “She’s the greatest leader anyone could ask for and all you’re doing is ruining the world and what she’s worked so hard to achieve.”

Her blue Stand got back on its feet and picked up its weapon. With a wave of its hand, the weapon repaired itself and spun it in the air before grabbing it by the grip and barrel before loading one round into its chamber. Sunset had just grabbed her yellow Stand and lifted it into the air when she had heard the now familiar sound of a bolt being pulled back.

Before she could punch it, she readied herself and as she heard the gunshot, Sunset glided down like a comet and the bullet missed her, hitting its counterpart square between the eyes.

Blood flew from its head as the bullet cracked out the back of its head and hit the wall behind it. The Stands twitched in their places before dropping to the ground. Sugarcoat screamed and flailed her arms around and collapsed against the side of the drill, blood now trailing from a hole in her head as her eyes rolled back.

“Takes care of that…” Sunset dusted her hands.

Before she could turn around, something hard rammed into her back and she was dragged across the ground as Superorganism threw her into the spinning drill head.

“You’ve killed my last Shadowbolt.” Cinch stepped out beside her as her Stand picked her up again, pressing her against the rotating drill. “But she’s served her purpose.”

As Sunset winced against the drill slowly shredding her fantasy armor apart, the wall continued to break from the drill’s excavation and all of a sudden, a whole portion of it collapsed, revealing a new wall of silvery rock. In the center of it was a shiny blue gem, shaped like a four-sided diamond with an otherworldly gleam emanating from its core.

“At last. My ultimate prize.” Cinch’s eyes reflected the geode’s brilliance.

Superorganism tossed Sunset aside as her armor reached its limit, fading from her body as she crashed against the cave floor away from the drill. She struggled up on one arm, but all she could do now was watch as Cinch stood before the geode, armor forming over her right arm as she reached towards it.

She punched her arm into the wall, then ripped the Stand Geode from it; the silvery wall instantly lost its shimmer and dulled in color as she held it between her thumb and index finger.

“At last. It is mine. It is mine.” She held it towards one of the lights they had set up in the cavern. “Do you know how long I have searched for the power to spread my influence and my achievements across the world? Even before the emergence of Stands, I have wanted the world. Imagine all the good I could do. There would be no more bumbling leaders, no more poverty, no more criminals, no more drugs. The world would be mine to rule and everything would be as I see fit. Mine to control.”

“N-No, you can’t do that…” Sunset weakly pushed herself to her feet. Blood ran down her face, neck and left arm, but she couldn’t find the opportunity to reset herself just yet. She needed to get that geode away from Cinch, or it was truly over. “People’s lives aren’t yours to control.”

Sunset spotted a door appear in the cave wall behind Cinch, then she averted her eyes and didn’t say a word. She needed to buy some time.

“Do you think I care about what other people think?” Cinch laughed. “Think about it, Sushi. Everyday, humans bring themselves one step closer to self-destruction. It's human nature to destroy everything. I, on the other hand, see a way to become a race that history has never once seen. A race of humanity that will prosper and live without issues. Can you not see that only through my rule, my legacy will be for all? Everyone will love me and give me the adulation I so deserve.”

“That’s what this is about. It isn’t about helping humans prosper.” Sunset breathed as Superorganism began to stalk closer to her on its narrow insect-like feet. “What you want is the cheers of the masses, the praises of the people. You don’t care about helping them.”

Superorganism grabbed Sunset by the shirt and hauled her up to meet its beady eyes.

“Yes, I want my name to go down in history as the most powerful and the best leader anyone has ever seen!” Cinch stretched her arms out. “And when I make the world prosper, all would see me that way! All I need to do is touch this Stand Geode to my Stand, and my dreams will all be fulfilled.”

“That’s a dream… I cannot allow you to see through.” Sunset grabbed Superorganism’s arm, but she wasn’t strong enough to pry herself from it at the moment.

“I know.” Cinch tilted her head down, casting a shadow over her eyes. “It’s a pity you won’t live to see my perfect world. Perhaps then you would be able to see how great I truly am. Superorganism, finish her off.”

As her Stand raised its other arm and curled its fingers into a fist, the door behind Cinch popped open and Pinkie launched herself out of it in a spin, aiming for the geode in the principal’s hand. Cinch, however, had heard the creak of the doorknob and spun to the side before Pinkie’s hand even came close. She smacked into Superorganism and slid to the ground, stars in her eyes.

“Kill them. Kill them all!” Cinch swiped a hand to the side.

Superorganism kicked Pinkie in the chest, then raised a foot over her head, ready to end it once and for all.

“Pinkie!” Sunset reached for her friend.


> Chapter 28: Never Let Me Go
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fluttershy had always been a quiet girl, and there was no moment she could recall where she had ever been an outspoken person, even when she was just with family. She never wanted to interact with others, but she was always willing to help out, usually from the shadows where no one would know it had been her. Florence had awakened to her one day while she had been in computer class, and at first, she had been spooked that there were wire-like tendrils coming out of her fingers, but once she learned just what it could do and that she was in control, her secret aid to others only got better, being able to solve people's mechanical problems from the shadows, especially since very few people seemed to be able to see Florence.

Her brother, Zephyr Breeze had always encouraged her to open up to others, and it was because of him, she had decided to approach her very first friend in her first day as a freshman at Canterlot High School. That day, she had found a friend in Pinkie Pie, who was quite the opposite of her. But because of Pinkie, she soon learned how to interact with others and now here she was with a whole group of friends, including new friends like Jojo and Sushi.

Cinch had taken control of her mind one day through the mind of her brother. She had only just gotten home when Zephyr had jumped her and knocked her out. By the time she came to, Superorganism had already taken control of her mind, but thanks to Jojo, she was free once again, but not wanting this to befall anyone else, she agreed to join him and protect the world from Cinch, and that was where they were now, fighting to end this reign of terror.

“It’s not over yet!” Rainbow Dash got into a crouch and pointed a finger at the side of her head.

Running on Ice slid over with icicle daggers in its hands, cutting up Superorganism’s legs. The Stand dropped to its arms, letting Sunset go, giving her enough time to dive forward and drag Pinkie aside before Cinch’s Stand shot out spikes from its shoulders and back, tearing a hole in the back of Sunset’s skirt and piercing Running on Ice through the right shoulder.

“Aah!” Rainbow bent forward and held the back of her shoulder as a new wound opened up to match her Stand.

Fluttershy stood by the drill, with Florence inside the engine in the back. Wires snaked out of the engine’s gaps, wrapping themselves around Superorganism and sending jolts of electricity into it. Cinch winced from the electricity passing through her, but then her Stand dissolved into a mass of particles and got around the wires, then reformed itself as it jumped for Fluttershy and landed a solid blow into her temple. The girl squeaked, then hit the ground hard as her Stand went back into her fingers, where she received one more kick in the gut from Cinch’s Stand, throwing her across the cave.

With a battle cry, Jojo raced towards Superorganism atop his Stand and sent out White Buffalo’s horns to attack the enemy Stand. Cinch’s Stand grabbed the horns with its arms, but Jojo kept his Stand going, speeding closer as the horns bent back to allow him to close the distance. White Buffalo lifted its front wheel, then breathed fire over it as it slammed against Superorganism’s chest where it grinded against its chitinous armor.

Jojo leapt off his Stand and flipped once in the air before dropping a kick down to the Stand’s shoulder. “Burning Flying Kick!”

Energy rippled from his leg and began to crack Superorganism’s armor, but it simply dissolved into a cloud of particles and washed over both Jojo and White Buffalo and he immediately began screaming from pain.

Cinch stood at the back of the cavern, laughing to herself. “Fools. You forget that Superorganism can break itself down and right now, each individual organism is eating away at your body, tearing you apart at a molecular level and all your feeble attacks can do nothing. This is my Stand’s power!”

“It’s far from over!” Rainbow jumped on her back from above and tried to wrestle the geode from Cinch’s hands. “Running on Ice, protect Jojo!”

Rainbow’s Stand slid over to Jojo’s position and breathed out a cloud of vapor. It glided over to Jojo as he was being attacked by Superorganism and the particles around him began to freeze and drop to the ground as the man dived back out of the enemy Stand and got back on his feet.

“Hamon burst, Quick Fingers!” He leapt back in and jabbed his index and middle fingers of both hands into the frozen swarm. Energy passed from them into the Stand and the frozen swarm burst into shards of ice.

“This has gone on long enough!” Cinch growled and grabbed Rainbow by the hair with an armored hand.

She pried the girl off her back, then tossed her at Sunset, who caught her and fell back. Jojo and White Buffalo charged for her, but Superorganism reformed in front of her and opened a gaping maw on its chest.

“Superorganism can do more than just break itself down and manipulate your body,” Cinch started as an orange glow began to build in her Stand’s chest. “As particles move around in its chest, they are able to build up heat and this heat can be released in a super concentrated form depending on the shape the particles take, more powerful than any fire your Stand can breathe. Go, Superorganism, Gravity Beam!”

Her Stand threw its arms back and yelled as a precise but wide beam of fire shot out of its chest. White Buffalo conjured Faster than Fire, but its cloud of fire was instantly overpowered and Superorganism’s attack shot a hole through its engine before sending it flying back out the tunnel. Jojo felt a searing burn through his abdomen and he coughed up blood and dropped to his knees as he felt his insides being cooked.

“No!” Sunset got up, but she too still wasn’t faring too well.

She looked to her friends, incapacitated and badly injured, and perhaps it had been impossible all along. Even without the geode, Superorganism was too much of a fight for all of them. They could never beat Cinch, even from the beginning. Even after fighting their way here together, they could not defeat her. Her Stand was just too strong.

“You’ve realized your folly now, Sushi?” Cinch brought the back of a hand up to her chin and cackled. “It’s over. Stay right there. Once I touch this Stand Geode to Superorganism, I will become the most powerful Stand user in the whole world! You already can’t defeat me. Imagine how powerful I will become once that happens!”

Sunset pushed her boots against the cavern rock as Pegasus Fantasy appeared before her, raising its fists up in front of its snout. “I can’t. There’s no difference if I give up now. I have to try, for the sake of the world and for my friends…”

Pegasus’ knuckles began to light up as the power of friendship powered it up, and Sunset was again filled with a renewal of strength and courage as she watched the lights flicker in its knuckles. With her friends down, they were counting on her to finish this, and she had to do everything in her power to stop Cinch from merging the Stand Geode with Superorganism. She would fight till her body could no longer move, and even if it meant dying, she had to do it to protect those she cared about.

“Fantasy armor!” Sunset kicked off the ground and stretched her arms out as Pegasus Fantasy opened up and wrapped around her.

Now in the armor, Sunset took a deep breath and reset her injuries. That instantly took off a chunk of her armor’s timer, leaving her with only thirty seconds now, but she had to make what time she had left count. Sunset spread her wings far and ran at the enemy Stand, which reached towards her with a punch. Sunset spun to her left and sliced her wings through its arm, breaking it into smaller particles as it dropped to the ground, slithering around as a black cloud of mites as Sunset punched forward as hard as she could. The sparkling on her knuckles gleamed in the shadows as her hand went right through the Stand’s midsection, where its huge mouth was. Using all her might, Sunset stepped down hard on one foot, then twisted her body to one side and threw her arm back, sending Superorganism flying against the drill, smashing against one of its treads before sliding along the cave floor, leaving behind a trail of particles.

Cinch winced, but otherwise didn’t seem to hurt from what happened to her Stand. Particles formed around her chest and shoulders, forming Superorganism’s chitinous armor over her as she raised one arm to block Sunset.

“Neigh!” Sunset rammed a hand against Cinch’s arm, the force of her blow cracking it and sending particles flying out.

“Impossible!” Cinch threw herself back and then flipped away from Sunset as she swung another punch at her. “You’ll pay for that, Sushi.”

Sunset was about to press her offense, but hands formed on the wings behind her and threw her back before darkness enveloped her, crawling all over her and eating away at her fantasy armor.

“No, not yet!” Sunset squirmed under the mass of Superorganism’s particles.

Pieces of her fantasy armor began to fall away, but Sunset quickly reset them as she gave her wings a huge flap. The gust sent the particles over her flying away around the arena, but with her resets, she only had ten seconds left now, and that wasn’t much time to even think of what to do next.”

“Come on, Sushi. Try and attack me again.” Cinch beckoned with the hand that wasn’t holding the geode. “It’s pointless. Superorganism is made of multiple organisms, and all you’re doing is breaking it apart, only for it to form back again. You can’t stop me from transcending my Stand no matter how many times you punch it. Superorganism will continue to reform again and again and again, and like my legacy, it will endure forever, undying, undefeated, the perfect Stand.”

Her Stand grunted, then turned around and began walking towards Cinch, who held out the geode towards it. Sunset couldn’t let it, and gathering wind behind her wings, Sunset propelled herself through the cavern with a loud boom and pressed both hands together as she flew, clenching them into fists. Superorganism twisted its upper body around to face her and grabbed both of Sunset’s fists with its own hands, but Sunset’s speed was still enough to push it back from its spot, surprising Cinch.

Superorganism’s legs spread particles down to the ground and began to form hooks into the cracks of the floor, slowing Sunset’s advance.

“Oh no you don’t!” Sunset grunted as she pried one hand from Cinch’s Stand. She still had seven seconds and she had to put them to good use.

She began delivering punch after punch to Superorganism’s midsection, cracking its shell with her Stand’s tremendous strength. Unfortunately, her next punch hit thin air as its chest opened up, glowing brighter by the second.

“Have some of this. At this close range, you’ll be sorry you crossed me, Sushi. Gravity beam!” Cinch cut a hand through the air in front of her and smiled maniacally.

Sunset tried to get away from the coming attack, but Superorganism reversed her handhold and grabbed Sunset’s arm, then popped its chest forward as the orange glow within it began to get brighter and brighter.

“No, it’s not over yet!” Sunset spun to one side, then thrust one fist forward into the arm that was holding her.

With the power of friendship coursing through her fists, she shattered the arm’s armor in one hit and dashed to the side just as Superorganism released its gravity beam. Its beam of concentrated heat lanced through the air, twisting and bending it under its intense heat before boring a hole through the other side of the cave. Sunset used this chance to deliver a swift kick to its midsection, then with another spin, she unleashed an uppercut to the Stand’s chin, knocking it up into the air before pummeling it all over its body.

“Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!”

She would’ve kept going, but her fantasy armor flickered once, then dissolved, out of time. Sunset wiggled in the air for a split second, and would’ve hit her head if Superorganism hadn’t caught her around the neck, holding her high as its body began to reform the damage it suffered across its body from her furious punches.

“That was a good show, Sushi, I’ll give you that. You have tenacity.” Cinch lifted a finger and Superorganism lifted her higher, then opened its chest again as it prepared another gravity beam. “But your mistake was going after someone twice your ability. You would’ve made a good Shadowbolt. I’ll tell you what, Sushi. Join me. I can make your life worthwhile. You don’t need to be picking up scraps with Canterlot High. Come to Crystal Prep, and as a Shadowbolt, you’ll have everything you ever wanted, especially once I rule everything.”

“I’ll… I’ll never… join you.” Sunset glared at the principal past her Stand.

“I knew you weren’t going to do so.” Cinch toyed with the geode between her fingers. “You’re too stubborn to see the good I could do. No matter. Once Superorganism is done with you, you’ll be nothing but a thing of the past, Sushi. You thought you were swimming in a little pond, but this pond was much bigger than you can possibly imagine. And that is all you’ll ever know. Finish her, Superorganism.”

Cinch’s Stand grinned and would’ve hit Sunset with its gravity beam if the drill hadn’t suddenly turned from its position against the wall, slamming into the Stand with enough force to knock it clear from its spot. Its grip on Sunset loosened, allowing the girl to summon her Stand and pull her back just as Superorganism let out its beam of concentrated heat, blasting a deep groove along the ceiling, which began to rain debris down around them.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Cinch raised a hand over her head as one pebble bounced off her brow, knocking her glasses clear from her face. The sudden impact had caused her to let go of the geode, which skittered across the ground as more debris began to rain down from above.

Superorganism got up and burst into a cluster of particles, before reforming itself next to its master, lifting its arms up to prevent more debris from hitting her. Looking at the drill, she could see Fluttershy sitting in the cabin, leaning against the left side as blood ran down her head. Florence had emerged from her fingers and was now merged into the mechanisms of the drill.

“Get her!” Cinch pointed at Fluttershy with fire in her eyes.

Parts of Superorganism broke off and began making their way towards Fluttershy while Sunset got back to her feet beside an injured Pinkie Pie.

“I think she knocked one of my teeth out.” Pinkie felt around in her mouth, then spat out a mouthful of blood. “And we can’t stay here much longer. The whole place is gonna come crashing down on our heads!”

“Pinkie, can you get everyone to safety?” Sunset asked as her friend began to shake stars off her head. Literally. She could actually see Pinkie plucking the spinning stars from above her head and tossing them aside.

“But what about you and Fluttershy?” Pinkie gave her head a vigorous shake, then jumped to her feet.

“I need to make sure Cinch doesn’t get the Stand Geode.” Sunset called forth her Stand. “We’ve got one shot at this. I need to take it.”

“Like, literally too, right?” Pinkie snickered. “You need to take that geode. Now! Go!”

“Where is it now?” Sunset looked around the cavern for the blue gem.

Rocks still fell from the ceiling as the cave now began to rumble and tremble, but Sunset eventually caught the glint of something blue being hit by another piece of debris and hopped up into the air before bouncing around on the ground again.

“You got this, Sushiii!” Pinkie had Golden Ticket grab Rainbow Dash as a door in the side of the cave flipped open, revealing a tunnel up. “Let’s end this and then get home and eat some sushi!”

“You got it, Pinkie.” Sunset smiled, then pointed towards the skittering geode as more debris pelted against it and the cave floor. “Pegasus Fantasy, go get it!”
Sunset’s Stand left her position as she ducked and weaved as more debris rained down towards her. As Pinkie skipped over to grab Jojo, Pegasus Fantasy reached one arm out to grab the geode, but just before it could, another boulder crashed into it and sent it sailing across the cavern, before another rock smacked into it mid-flight, bouncing it in another direction.

Cinch saw her going for it and lifted one arm as the particles around it formed into a wide palm, acting like a shield as she ran across the area towards the glimmering geode, all the while, Superorganism continued to pry its way into the cabin where Fluttershy was.

Fluttershy inched herself away from the door, weakened to the point of almost being unable to move, but with Florence, she was able to keep the door locked, but it wouldn’t be long before Superorganism would get to her. She looked down at Sunset, who was busily chasing after the geode alongside her Stand now as Cinch did the same. Perhaps she could buy her friend some time to get it.

“Flor-Florence… We’ve got to help Su-Sushi…” Fluttershy winced as she tried to lean against the seat. Blood dripped from her nose from the strain, but she managed to get into a better position.

With her Stand, Fluttershy got the drill moving again and she had it reverse back until its drill head was now pointed towards Cinch as she scrambled for the geode.

“You won’t have it!” Cinch screamed as she swung her shield arm at Sunset.

Sunset ducked under it, then Pegasus Fantasy flew forward with a punch, hitting the shield and sending Cinch falling back a few steps. Superorganism charged at her and grabbed Pegasus’ wings, but Sunset’s Stand managed to wrest itself from it, then spun downwards and kicked one hoof up at Superorganism’s chin. The Stand winced and Cinch grabbed for her chin as Superorganism flew up in the air, then disappeared in a cloud of particles and reformed beside Cinch.

“Curse you, Sushi!” Cinch rubbed her jaw as her mouth began to bleed.

She was about to advance again, but Fluttershy saw her chance and pressed down on the drill’s controls and pedal, sending the drill rolling forward. Steam and fire burst from its exhaust pipes as it went into overdrive thanks to Florence, speeding right for the principal and her Stand. Cinch saw her coming and threw herself back as Superorganism dissolved itself again, attaching itself to the front of the drill as its earlier splinter formed into an arm and smashed itself into the cabin’s door. The metal instantly bent in and broke off its hinges, sending shards of glass and metal showering into the cabin, where Fluttershy lifted her arms to protect herself.

“Fluttershy!” Sunset called.

“Sushi, the geode. You need to get the Stand Geode.” Fluttershy lifted her left hand where Florence was attached. Sunset could see electricity pumping through her Stand and into the drill’s controls. “I’ll buy you time. But you need to get it and go.”

“What? No, I can’t!” Sunset wanted to rush in to get her friend, but Superorganism reformed itself between them, its face twisted into a scowl.

“I’ve set the drill to blow. You need to go, Sushi… You have to… save the world.” Fluttershy smiled as the drill’s engine began to rumble and cough harder.

“What? No!” Cinch pointed at the cabin. “Superorganism, stop her!”

The particles around the cabin reached in and grabbed Fluttershy by the shirt and ripped her from the cabin, but the damage had already been done. The drill’s metal began to glow orange and more and more smoke continued to pour from its pipes.

“Sushi… get the geode… go!” Fluttershy looked to her one more time before particles formed into spikes around her.

“Fluttershy!” Sunset could only watch as Superorganism drove them through Fluttershy’s body.

Sunset’s vision blurred and tears ran down her face, but with the drill getting closer and closer to its breaking point, she had no choice now. Fluttershy had made her choice to buy her time. She was only wasting her sacrifice if she continued to stand here.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t stronger…” Sunset’s breath trembled, but she tossed her attention back to the geode and ran for it.

Another rock bumped into it and sent it flying, but Sunset dove through the air and caught a piece of debris before it could hit her. With a throw, she sent it through the air, hitting the geode as it flew, sending it back against the cavern wall, where it bounced off with a sharp ping, straight towards her. She grabbed it and dropped into a roll before looking back one last time towards Fluttershy.

“Given up, have you?” Cinch glared into Fluttershy’s eyes. “You should’ve never messed with me, girl. Maybe then, you would’ve lived.”

Fluttershy coughed out blood at her. “I’m not… giving up. I’m just giving in. I’m doing this… for my friends. Something you’ll… never understand. You will never win…”

She gave Sunset one last look of confidence, then breathed one last time as her eyes rolled back in her head.

“This is for you too, Fluttershy…” Sunset clenched the geode tightly in her hand as she raced for the doorway Golden Ticket had left for her.

By the time she closed the door behind her, the drill was already convulsing violently and by the time she began racing up the tunnel her friends had gone through, there was a deep rumbling as the explosion tore through the cavern she had just been in, breathing fire up the original tunnel, as the whole cave was consumed by the burning inferno.

The blast had also blown more of the ceiling apart, sending it crumbling down and burying the cave, but boulders were thrown to the side as a mass of black began to make its way through the ruined cave. A ball of chitin melted around an angry Principal Cinch, one eye red and filled with blood as Superorganism began eating its way through the debris. 

This was not over yet.


> Chapter 29: Alicorn Fantasy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset Shimmer still felt the ground rumble under her feet even as she looked at the smoldering ruin of what used to be the cave’s entrance.

“Sushi, you made it!” Pinkie tackled her in a hug, hitting all her sore points. “But wait, where’s… where’s Fluttershy?”

Sunset looked away and shut her still leaking eyes. “She… I’m sorry. She bought us time. She bought me time to get this…” Sunset held out the Stand Geode in her palm. “Fluttershy sacrificed herself so that we may stand here now.”

“No…” Jojo leaned against a tree, clutching at his side. “Not Fluttershy… Not another one of my friends…”

“Fluttershy was always too kind…” Rainbow looked down and beat at the ground with a fist. “I hope Cinch burns for all eternity.”

“I don’t think we’ll be getting that just yet.” Pinkie patted at the ground, then shook all over and twitched her left eye.

All of a sudden, the cave entrance burst open and Cinch stepped out into the open air with Superorganism following closely behind her. She was bleeding all over and her face was a little messed up.

“You’ll pay for this. All of you! And I’ll tear your limbs one by one from your worthless, pathetic bodies!” She threw her cloak to the side and raised a fist to her face. “Superorganism will end all of you!”

“That’s what you think. In fact, you're the one who's going to pay, Cinch, for everything you've done!” Sunset stepped forward, then flicked her hair to the side as she stretched out her right arm. She unfurled her fingers and everyone could now see a blue geode between her index finger and her thumb. “It ends here now, but not the way you think.”

Cinch spotted the geode, then her eyes widened and she grinded her teeth together and pointed at Sunset. Superorganism was already moving and breaking up into various pieces and moving to intercept Sunset from different directions, but even then, it wasn’t fast enough.

Pegasus Fantasy appeared before the girl and she pressed the Stand Geode into its chest as a blinding flash of white light extended out from it across the Everfree Forest. Superorganism and Cinch stopped in their tracks and covered their faces. Leaves around them rustled and birds took to the sky, but the light continued to pulse and churn, before letting out one final blast to the sky, cutting a hole through the immediate clouds above.

Where Pegasus Fantasy had been now floated a Stand clad in golden armor, with wings with razor sharp metal plating, and red outlines across its armor. Its head now sported a golden horn, gleaming brightly in the sunlight, along with a blue gem in the center of its chest, and similar ones on its knuckles.

“No…” Cinch looked at the Stand as it floated above Sunset’s head, spreading its wings far, then flexing its arms at its sides.

“That’s right, Cinch.” Sunset gripped the collar of her coat with one hand, then stretched the other one skyward. “Behold, Alicorn Fantasy.”

Cinch grinded her fingernails against her palm. “Superorganism!”

Her Stand continued its pursuit in separate parts and formed into arms as they got closer to Sunset. From above, Alicorn Fantasy’s horn glowed with a blue aura, and suddenly, Superorganism was standing beside Cinch again, fully formed.

Cinch looked at her Stand, then back at Sunset and Alicorn Fantasy. “What have you done, Sushi?”

Sunset smirked and ran a finger along her hairline, then slid it off to the right. “You see, Pegasus Fantasy had the ability to reset someone to a state in the past, like reversing an injury or attaching back a body part, but for it to do that, it took a great deal of mental power and concentration, not something you could readily do during a fight.

“With the Stand Geode fused to it now, Alicorn Fantasy is more powerful than ever. Alicorn Fantasy can now reset anything to a state it had once been in, in this case, it sent Superorganism back to where it had been a few seconds ago, next to you, and it can now do it on a whim.”

“You think you can stop me now that you can do that?” Cinch swiped a finger up to the air. “Gravity beam, Superorganism!”

Her Stand’s chest opened up and it cut both arms down to the side as it released a charged beam at them. It had only traveled half the distance between the two Stand masters when the beam simply vanished and Superorganism’s chest was closed again.

With a growl, Superorganism charged forward on its tiny legs and reached for Alicorn Fantasy’s legs, but it swooped down and pounded a fist down on top of its head, cracking its shell. Cinch’s teeth smashed against themselves and the two front teeth on her top row shattered into pieces.

Alicorn Fantasy began delivering punch after punch to Superorganism’s midsection and its gems began to glow brighter with each hit, and all the while, Sunset yelled at the top of her voice, pounding Superorganism with the fury and essence of her fallen friends. The enemy Stand's armor began to crumble under the absolute might of Sunset's new Stand.

"Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!"

After its next punch, Alicorn Fantasy brought one fist back and unfurled its fingers, before it leaned forward and blasted Superorganism’s face with a bolt of blue energy. Cinch’s Stand folded around the blast and then broke off into swarms of particles before attaching themselves to Alicorn Fantasy’s arms and beginning to tear through the golden armor.

Sunset’s arms began to bleed, but she didn’t panic or fall back. Instead, she just endured it and watched as Cinch began to look more confident again.

“Aha, now you’re done for!” Cinch stretched one palm forward. “Superorganism will now assimilate your cells and that of your Stand and it will become mine to control. With all that power, all you did was get me a new powerful Stand to do my bidding! This is the end for you, Sushi!”

“And that’s what you think.” Sunset could feel tiny sensations creeping up her arms, slowly losing the feeling in them, but she had played around enough with the enemy Stand. “Alicorn Fantasy can reset anything, and that means the cells in my body as well.”

Alicorn Fantasy’s horn glowed again and Superorganism found itself standing beside Cinch again and its particles over Sunset’s body had vanished, along with any injury she had sustained from its assimilation.

“And now to show you what it can really do.” Sunset slid one leg to the side, then she placed one hand on her hip and the other one at the back of her head. “Alicorn Fantasy can reset you back to a previous state, and that would mean your location, as you have seen it do already. But that was only a taste of Alicorn Fantasy’s true potential. This is for Rarity. This is for Applejack! This is for Fluttershy!”

Cinch was about to say something in retort, but suddenly, she found herself standing back in the cave among the debris and the only light shining in was from cracks in the ceiling above.

“Why that wretched girl!” Cinch threw her hands up and pointed to the ceiling. “Superorganism, get us out!”

But her pointed hand was suddenly back down by her side. Cinch blinked a few times as nothing else happened, then she tried to order Superorganism to get her out again, but she suddenly found herself looking straight ahead again.

“What is going on?” she asked aloud, then took a step forward.

Her foot was suddenly back where it had been again.

This time, she tried not moving, and willed for Superorganism to tunnel its way out, but once her Stand stepped forward, it suddenly popped back to where it had been behind her.

“No, she’s resetting me.” Cinch realized. “Impossible!”

Superorganism broke down into particles and scattered across the floor, but in a blink of an eye, it was back in one piece again.

Cinch unfurled a hand and moved her fingers, but then her arm returned to her side again and that was when she realized the gravity of her situation. She was unable to do anything, and there was nothing she could do without being reset.

“Sushhhiiiiiiii!” She yelled at the top of her voice and threw her head back, but then her position was reset once again.

She was trapped here. She had no way out.
-------JO-JO------
“What happened, Sushi?” Pinkie Pie bounced over to Sunset after her injuries were reset by Alicorn Fantasy. “Principal Cinch was here one moment, then she disappeared!”

“I reset her back to her moment in the cave, where no one will stumble across her,” Sunset explained. “I call it the Alicorn Time Loop. Alicorn Fantasy has locked her in a state of reset. If she tries to move or do anything, she’ll just constantly be sent back to the moment she had been in. To the position she had been in. She will not get hungry, she will not get thirsty. I mean, unless she already is. She will not need to breathe, she will never age, and she will never leave her prison. She will never harm anyone ever again.”

“Wow, so this is the power of a Stand Geode?” Jojo lifted a fist and looked at it. “Is it weird that I want one too?”

“Nah, not really. I want one too.” Rainbow walked over and wrapped an arm around Sunset’s neck. “You did it, Sushi! You got her! It’s over. It’s actually over…”

“The others.” Jojo suddenly looked up at them. “Alicorn Fantasy is more powerful than before. Do you think… you could resurrect the others? Reset them to a point before their death, perhaps? We could save them. We could still save Rarity.”

Sunset shook her head slowly. “Unfortunately, it still only works on the living. I’m sorry, Jojo. I can’t bring them back, as much as I want to. They’ve done so much for us on this journey. Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy. We can’t ever forget them.”

“No. That… we will not.” Jojo looked at the clouds passing over their heads. He could swear one was shaped like Rarity’s hair. “Wherever they are now, I’m sure they’re proud of us.”

“And I’m sure they’re proud of you, Sushi!” Pinkie grabbed Sunset again and began shaking her violently. “You did it! You beat Cinch! Boy, it was tough, but you did it! She’s gone for good and the world’s safe from her total mind control!”

“Yeah. Everyone’ll be free to live their lives,” Rainbow said. “We’ll all be free. You're super awesome, Sushi!”

“No.” Sunset nodded, then put her arms around Pinkie and Rainbow. “Come on, Jojo. Group hug. It wasn’t just me. If it weren’t for you, for any of you, we wouldn’t even be standing here at the end of it. It’s because of all of you. My friends, true friends, who would stand with you through anything and everything. Friends, who would give up their lives to protect the ones they love.”

Everyone nodded in agreement with her, then wrapped their arms tightly around one another.

Sunset pictured her fallen friends in her head. Each and every one of her friends here had taught her about what friendship meant, and it was because of them, her life once again had a purpose. She was gonna live on now, for them, and to live life to its greatest potential. She owed it to them and she wasn’t going to go back on this again.

And that was exactly what Sunset did from that day on. Once school resumed, Sunset became more lively in class, something her teachers had been surprised with. Her grades had improved and she learned how to make friends and she even took on extra-curricular activities like fencing. And once all that was over and done with, she went on to study the arts, and she now had pieces of art scattered around Canterlot and other cities, even as far as Deadhorse. Her favorite piece had been something she called ‘Fantasy Friendship’, which was a giant bronze sculpture sitting outside the Knightland Mall. It depicted eight figures circling around a jewel, reaching their arms out towards it. It would serve as a reminder to her and her friends for the rest of their lives of the adventure they had been on to protect the world, and the sacrifices that had been made along the way.

As for something more than friendship, Sunset had met her husband on a tour through the country. He had been one of the photographers for the news and the two of them had quickly struck up a relationship, followed by marriage four years later.

Her first child had been born two years after that, and Sunset felt she couldn’t have been any happier. Right here at this point in her life, she had everything she wanted, and she had once left Equestria to be alone and to never be happy again, but that had been no way to live. And now she knew that better than anyone. Friendship was indeed magical, and it was the most powerful thing in the world.

Well, besides Stands. And she would continue to learn about them for as long as she lived.


> Epilogue: The End of a Journey
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Didn’t think you’d make it on time, with your constant ‘drowning in work’, Dash.” Jostle Joyride leaned against White Buffalo as he ran a hand through his hair.

“Psshh, no one said I finished it.” Rainbow Dash gave him a non committed shrug and pulled at the corners of her blue sports coat. “You think I’d miss this?”

“Hey, I didn’t say anything about missing it.” Jojo raised his hands. “Just saying, you’re rarely on time. I thought I’d be late. I was trying to get the wife to come down with me, but she decided this was something I had to do myself.”

“At least you’re both earlier than meeeee!” Pinkie Pie leapt out from a doorway in the ground, holding a stack of pies and flowers. “And I’ve got the goodies!”

There was a blast of air above them and Sunset soon landed on the ground beside them, held around the waist by Alicorn Fantasy, which soon disappeared behind her.

“And I’ve got more goodies.” Sunset chuckled and held out a plastic tray of tuna sushi. “Still ice cold.”

“Oiiii, sushiiii!” Pinkie gave her a hug and almost tipped the tray over. Then she whipped out some chopsticks from her hair and grabbed a piece. “How’s the family?”

Sunset smiled. It was always nice to share their lives with each other. “Flick’s got a gig in France, so he’s there for the weekend. And Summer’s got a softball game later today. Dash, I expect you’ll be there too? Since Prism’s the star of the team?”

“You bet I’ll be.” Rainbow swung an arm like she was swinging a bat. “Man, I can’t believe it’s already been thirty years since we’ve graduated high school. I can still remember scoring the winning goal for the last soccer championships.”

“Yeah. I wish the others had been around to see it too.” Sunset looked at the monument ahead of them.

At the end of a short dirt path was a boulder shaped like a fist in the middle of the forest grounds. This had been where Rarity had given her life to protect Jojo all those years ago, and the team had chosen this as a memorial for their fallen friends, including Applejack and Fluttershy.

Taking the flowers from Pinkie, Sunset placed them against the bottom of the monument, then stepped back to be among the others.

“Another year gone by…” Sunset sighed as she remembered them. She had gotten over their deaths years ago, but whenever she thought about them, it still saddened her that they were not here to share life with them. “Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, thank you for all you’ve done for us. Wherever you are now, I hope you’re looking down at us proudly.”

“Yes. You were an amazing person, Rarity.” Jojo took a slice of pie and shoved it in his mouth. “You so easily sacrificed yourself for me. I’m sure the others will say the same over the years you’ve been with them. You would’ve loved to meet Cajole. He’s quite just like me.”

“And Applejack, my best friend.” Rainbow took a slice and held it up before the monument. “I still remember the day you shoved mud in my pants to show me how you dealt with cow manure. That was the best mud fight I ever had. The only one I ever had. Thanks, Applejack, for such a memory.”

“And to Fluttershy, the kindest person ever!” Pinkie held out her sushi. “Softspoken, but she would never leave us out there to fend for ourselves if she could help it. That’s who she was, the kindest of all of us.”

“To friends, old and new.” Sunset picked up a piece of sushi and joined her friends in holding them high. And that was what they would remain forever. Friends for life.

Not far from Sushi and her friends was the cave where the Stand Geode had once resided. The entrance had once been caved in after the drill’s explosion, but right now, the way in had been uncovered and rocks still lay scattered around the entrance, thrown aside by great force.

Two figures walked through the tunnels, one of them holding a torch, its fire flickering and dancing around in the dark like it was alive.

“This place really took a beating, huh?” the second figure, a female, asked. She sported a purple bowtie and a purple skirt. “There’s more rocks here.”

“We’re in now. Can you get us through?” The other one, a man, waved the torch over a wall of debris. 

“Easy.” She snapped her fingers.

All around them, the shadows seemed to grow, and then they were on the other side of the debris. The large cavern was now filled with debris as well and scattered rays of light shone in from above, lighting the area partially. They didn’t need the torch to see the figure standing near the center of the room beside a ruined machine. She lifted a hand, but it was immediately back at her side faster than the eye could blink.

“She’s really here…” The woman breathed, then stepped closer.

“Cinch. It’s been some time.” The man joined her, using the torch to illuminate Cinch’s bruised and bloody face. After all these years, she hadn’t aged, not like he had. Part of him envied that, but the other part knew he would rather be where he was instead of being in Cinch’s position. “How have things been?”

“You ask me this?” Cinch growled, then took a step towards him, only to be put back in the same spot she had been in a second ago. “How did you find me?”

“Weather Alternate always has its ways. You should know that, being one of us once…” The man smiled and removed a handkerchief to wipe at his wrinkled brow. “We didn’t interfere, because we knew you would’ve bested us. But look at you now. You left us, betrayed us, just so you could ensure your legacy with absolute rule from rumors of an ultimate power. You forgot the goal we had. He did say even if your object of power were true, it was too much of a risk. And behold, that power has fallen into the hands of your enemy and now you remain here, trapped for all eternity.”

“A fate worse than death.” The woman waggled a finger. “Not something I would want.”

“Why are you even…” Cinch got reset. “Even here?”

“No real reason.” The man dusted his handkerchief before returning it to his pocket. “We just wanted to see if it were true that you were put in your place. And we wanted you to know we have found more evidence that they exist.”

“Really? I will get out of…” Cinch tried to reach for them, but she was transported back to where she had been. “I will kill everyone once… Once I am out of this place!”

The man glanced behind Cinch and proceeded towards the rear of the cave. “Perhaps if you had taken a closer look at this place... You might’ve known Weather Alternate was right all along.”

The woman followed along and Cinch tried to turn around, but her position was reset once again.

Along the wall the drill had excavated, higher above the spot the Stand Geode had come from were a series of carvings. They looked old, very old, but the detail on it was too precise for the tools of that age. The carvings depicted rows of humans bowed down to another cluster of humans, portrayed to be bigger by the ancient artist. Each one of these bigger humans had another figure behind them, but the figures floated above the ground.

“Of course, their presence was known in the wounds of the earth.” He would’ve run a hand along it if he could reach it. “You see Cinch, the world could still be ours. But unfortunately for you…”

He walked back to her and grinned in her face. Cinch tried to bite his nose off, but she could get no further before being reset.

“You won’t be a part of it,” the woman finished and took one last look at the carvings before following her companion out, leaving Cinch in her eternal solitude once again.