//------------------------------// // We're Going Straight to Video! // Story: My Little Bizarre Adventure: The Midnight Riders // by Lemon Lime Light //------------------------------// It was bad enough that Pinkie Pie had to deal with an evil cult that was brainwashing her friends and turning them against her and the rest of her friends. It’d been bad enough she’d literally beaten one of her friends into submission, without even knowing she was doing so. It was even bad enough that she’d missed out on a stand called Candy Coated Fury, a Stand that sounded incredibly awesome! (Though both Dash and Rarity refused to answer any details on it) But to add onto that already doozy of a problem, Pinkie had learned that someone had broken into Sugar Cube Corner last night. Due to the small business nature of Sugarcube Corner, the Cakes didn’t keep any money in the cash registers overnight, so thankfully nothing had been stolen. It was still disconcerting nonetheless though. Whoever had broken in had been meticulous, and it’d only been a sheer lucky flaw by their assailant that they’d even realized someone had broken in at all. A bit of glass surrounding their doorknobs had been cut apart and then replaced, and had Pinkie not used her back to open the door to take out the garbage, she would never have seen the glass fall apart and shatter on the ground. That is why Pinkie found herself going to the local video store in order to buy security cameras. She was charged with this task because her employers trusted her far more when it came to the subject of technology than they trusted themselves. In truth, Pinkie wasn’t much more knowledgeable in that regard past the understanding of how to use a computer. At most, she knew how to work a stereo, and knew how to even do some basic DJing. Yet Mr. and Mrs. Cake had tasked her with this duty, and she was determined to not let them down. Despite having a large electronic market, Ponyville had only one store that truly specialized in electronics. The store was more of a television and accessories store that sold video cameras on the side rather than an appliance shop, but it had a wide enough selection to sate Pinkie. Pinkie herself had been to Spark-Up Electronics a few times before, but she had always been there to simply observe, rather than to buy. Yet once more, the responsibility was placed on her, and her alone. Her task at hand, however, didn’t stop Pinkie from her normal routine and saying a greeting to everypony that passed her on the street. Each pony was given a specialized greeting, exercising a massive encyclopedia of name-face recognition and an even larger one of greetings. The mare beamed as she made her way down the street, the store in sight. Just as she was about to turn the corner for the store’s entrance, Pinkie noticed a flower cart had been pulled up across the street. Instantly noting Rosebud, Pinkie grinned as she quickly called out a greeting. “Howdy!” Pinkie waved a hand over towards the three mares, each hard at work unloading their flowers onto some extendable shelves from the cart. After a moment, Rosebud perked up, “Oh, hey Pinkie!” Rosebud called back, whilst the other two gave a polite wave back, “Still having that party on Friday?” “You betcha!” Pinkie chirped back, “And you three are aaaaallllll invited!” Bringing smiles to the three faces, Pinkie herself beamed once more before turning back to the road. Even if this was just a simple run, bringing even the smallest bit of joy to others always made a simple errand feel that much more satisfying! Turning the corner, Pinkie saw the glass doors of the entrance in front of her. When she entered the store, Pinkie already had her plan of action in mind. She would go up to the clerk at the counter and ask what they recommended to her. She had enough faith in ponies that they would give her an honest answer. Of course, she would ask to see it in action first. Not that she would think they were lying, but to make sure that it was really what she was looking for. The Cakes’ instructions were very clear on what they wanted. The cameras had to have a decently wide coverage area. Enough to capture the whole of shop area and kitchen with just one camera in both rooms. They also had to be small enough to not be intrusive and make their customers feel uncomfortable. The store wasn’t too big, so finding cameras of that size shouldn’t be too hard. And if they didn’t have anything like that in stock, they could always just order something for her. In her mind, this was just an average errand. Since she was mulling all this over as she walked into the store, Pinkie Pie was only paying the bare minimum amount of attention required to keep from bumping into anypony or anything. Had she been a little more observant of her surroundings, she would have noticed that there was absolutely no pony inside of the store to bump into in the first place. The entire electronics store, which was normally decently busy this time of day, was completely empty. There wasn’t even a cashier behind the desk that was the destination of Pinkie’s autopiolted walk. Still deep in thought, Pinkie mindlessly waited in front of the empty counter for a second before she finally noticed something. Not that the store was devoid of any employees or patrons, but that the huge wall of TV’s on display were completely dark. Instead of every single television on that wall all playing the same movie at once so that customers could compare them, all one of them but one was turned off. The fact that this one stood out from the rest of the dormant displays drew Pinkie Pie to go and examine it more closely. “Huh?” Pinkie blinked as she moved closer towards the screen, squinting to see more details on the grainy image. The movie showing on this lone screen appeared to be some sort of Western. Though, Pinkie couldn’t tell which one. The cowboy was too generic, and there wasn’t anything in the background giving her context for the setting. The shot the movie was currently on didn’t leave much to be distinct. It was a bird’s eye view of a rocky desert, with a cowboy walking through it. He appeared to be wearing a sombrero and poncho. “What movie is this?” Pinkie muttered, thinking more out loud than talking to anypony in particular. Pinkie didn’t know this movie. This frustrated her to no end, because westerns were Marble’s favorites! Pinkie had seen dozens and dozens of Westerns with Marble, to the point that if someone mentioned Clint Ponewood or Gary Cloper, she’d know the scenes inside and out. Seeing a Western she didn’t know was like being given a cupcake recipe she hadn’t tried yet! And Pinkie had tried a lot of recipes! She leaned forward and got closer to the TV, trying to see if she could recognize the actor. The cowboy’s face was turned downwards and away from the shot, preventing it from being seen. A cactus passed in front of the cowboy, and next thing Pinkie knew, the shot had changed to an upward angle towards the front of the actor, with the cowboy’s face shrouded in shadow. The picture flicked for a moment with a bit of grain before the shot slowly began to zoom in towards his face, drawing Pinkie further in as the identity of the actor was almost revealed! Though she didn’t know why, it was at this moment Twilight’s warning about Stands flashed through Pinkie’s mind: A Stand could be absolutely anything. There is no telling where an attack might come from. So you need to always be on guard. This warning being in her mind, coupled with an unusual pinch in her lower thigh, caused Pinkie Pie to instantly twist her body away from the TV at the last second, right before the cowboy turned towards the screen and fired his revolver directly at Pinkie. The resulting bullet flew out of the TV and into reality. Had Pinkie dodged a moment later, it would have gone directly through her skull. But instead, it simply grazed her hair, leaving singed pink strands falling through the air. Pinkie silently thanked her Pinkie Sense for affirming Twilight’s words, and within seconds she had Ta-Dah materialized. Just as the pink and black ninja crouched down beside Pinkie, the center television went black before instantly turning back on again along with the rest of the wall. Every screen seemed to form one coherent picture of the cowboy who had just shot Pinkie. The sombrero and poncho floated away from him, carried by an unseen breeze (Come to think of it, what cowboy wore a sombrero?). Since he had discarded his stereotypical attire, the figure had revealed that he was only pony in stature alone. Taking a closer look, this thing actually wasn’t even that pony-like in stature either! Though impossible to tell its height by appearance, the figure looked to be roughly five feet in height, if the cactus in the frame beside it said anything. Its limbs appeared to be nothing more than cylindrical metal pipes attached to hinges. Its torso was a construct of these pipes, surrounded with multi colored wires. In place of a head was a large video camera, which appeared to be focusing in and out directly at Pinkie. Most importantly to Pinkie, however, the figure still held the pistol that it’d used to attack her. “Well...Well...Well!” A voice suddenly spoke, emanating from the speakers of all the TV’s in front of the pink mare, “Look who fell for the bait hook, line, and sinker! And to think, all it took was a simple break-in to get you scurrying into my trap like a rat to cheese!” Backing away from the TV’s, Pinkie and Ta-Dah slowly crouched down, the sound amplified by the multiple speakers emanating in front of them. For Pinkie, loud noises weren’t difficult for her, given that she loved to crank her sub woofers up as loud as possible for her parties. Yet there was no doubt about it; whatever was inside of these TV’s, was a Stand! “Huh?” Pinkie cocked her head, “Actually, rats don’t chase after cheese, silly! In fact, I bet it’s probably the last thing they’d choose! I mean, I know because I tested several mouse traps to try and find the best bait! Ugh, rats, they get all up inside of the ingredients and just eat them all up! Mister and Misses Cake hate having all their ingredients eaten! Oh, and I meant the sticky ones of course, Fluttershy would kill me if I hurt any…” “I don’t care about rats!” The TV’s spoke up once more, the figure in the picture raising the weapon it had, “Shut up!” “But you’re the one who brought up the rats!” Pinkie quickly interjected, “I mean, I don’t wanna be rude, that’s the last thing I wanna be! I just wanna make sure you understand what metaphor you’re using! Twilight always gets on me for making all sorts of cake based metaphors! Like, the other day, Rainbow said she could fly up to her cloud home faster than I could sing the alphabet song, so I told her ‘Okay Rainbow, but just remember, if you bake too fast, you get baked bads!’ And Twilight said I wasn’t even making a metaphor!” “YOU AREN’T!” The figure snapped again, “Stop talking! For the love of Celestia, STOP TALKING!” “But it is a metaphor!” Pinkie gasped, “Or at least, I think it’s one! A metaphor is comparing something without using… uhm, what was it, ‘like’ or… something else? Oh woopsie doopsie, I’ll remember later! I was comparing Rainbow trying to get home too fast to baking a cake too hot! So it IS a metaphor! I mean, I still think it is...” While the figure in the TV’s began to quiver with seemingly potent rage, Pinkie kept doing what she did best: talking. She kept talking and rambling on. Despite how it appeared, this wasn’t her just being ignorant of her present situation. When somepony got angry or annoyed, they usually stopped what they were doing. If Rainbow was mad, she’d stop mid-flight to gripe about it, Twilight would stop studying, Rarity stop sewing, etc. With that in mind, Pinkie was stalling so that she could analyze her predicament. The first and most important thing she had to keep in mind was lingering in her head: where was the source of his voice coming from? It was coming from the TV’s, and TV’s could be broadcasted from the other side of the planet. It was like buying cookies from a store; just because they said they were made in Equestria, that could mean they could be made all the way in Manehatten! But whatever this thing was, it appeared to be inside of the TV’s, not just being broadcast via camera. Besides, an enemy that could attack them Pinkie and her friends from anywhere on the planet sounded way too dangerous. Choosing to be optimistic about this situation, Pinkie decided to conclude that this Stand’s user had to be somewhere close by. Next on the list of important things to know at the moment was what exactly could this Stand do. Twilight had warned that Stands could do almost anything, and after seeing her friend’s abilities, Pinkie knew that was true. Right now, this one appeared to be be able to exist inside of televisions and shoot guns at her from inside of them. Were those the extents of its power? Pinkie hoped so. This was one case where she didn’t want to be surprised! Finally, one big concern rested in her mind: Pinkie couldn’t tell where this thing couldn’t see. Ever since Pinkie had acquired Ta-Dah, that knowledge had always come naturally to her. Even when she wasn’t specifically trying to look for that, Pinke could instantly tell where every living thing’s blind spot was. Similar to the way one would look at a normal pony and a truck and instantly know that the truck is bigger without even thinking. Whether it be pony or animal, Pinkie instantly knew its blindspot. The same applied to Stands, which tended to be the same at its user’s. The only exception Pinkie noticed was Rarity’s Diamond Dogs, which all had minds of their own, and thus fields of visions of their own. This Stand, as far as Pinkie could tell, didn’t have any! It apparently could see the entire store! “...and then I told Dash ‘Dashie, you can’t mix rainbow in with cakes, it’ll hurt your tongue!’ And so then Dashie told me ‘Well then, awesome! Let’s put all the rainbow in!’ And at that point I couldn't even stop her and she baked all these pies with rainbow fillin-” “ENOUGH!” The TV’s shouted. Pinkie had known her filibuster couldn’t go on forever, and now the user controlling the Stand (or possibly the Stand itself) decided to shut Pinkie up by firing its pistol again from the TV’s. This time, however, Pinkie was on alert and dodged the bullet, which was actually much bigger, due to the gun’s magnified size. Just as the bullet left the screen, Pinkie’s eye flicked over towards one of the aisles, Ta-Dah instantly taking her there behind various adapter cords and plugs. “I never realized how annoying you were until now!” The TV’s continued. “No wonder they want you dead!” “Want me dead? Who would want me dead? Then I couldn’t throw my parti-Hey, hey wait a minute!” Now that Pinkie had heard the voice enough, she could finally recognize it. Voices weren’t as easy for her remember as faces, but given enough time she could remember one she’s heard before, “Data Stream?! Oh no, don’t tell me they got to you too!” “The only thing they did to me,” Data shouted from the TV’s, “Was open my eyes to how much of a nuisance you and your friends are! And I’ll finally rid the world of you with the power of my Stand, Straight to Video!” As soon as Data finished his sentence, all of the TV’s suddenly turned to static. Then, in a fraction of a second almost too fast for even the near prophetic Pinkie to react to, they all came into picture showing a scene of Straight to Video on a pirate ship and wearing a fitting hat atop its head. Flanking it were two large iron cannons aimed directly at Pinkie. Their fuses had already been lit, and by the time the scene came on, they were just one second away from firing. That single second saved Pinkie’s life. It was enough time for her to put in her mind that cannons equated to large metal balls flying at her. The instant they fired, Pinkie leapt into the air and had Ta-Dah teleport her to the other side of the store. This time, Pinkie was still in midair as she appeared, and she quickly landed on her feet. She panted heavily as the smoke from the impact cleared and showed a small crater that would have contained her had she acted slower. Not wanting to meet a similar or worse fate, Pinkie dashed to her right and towards the exit door. Her attempt at absconding was thwarted, however, when a TV directly to the right of the entrance flicked to life. This time, Straight to Video was riding a large, ferocious dragon. Under any other circumstance, Pinkie would have felt offended by this misrepresentation of dragons. But at the moment, she was more concerned with the large stream of fire erupting from its mouth and outwards from the screen. Nearly leaving her motorized heart in the path of the fire, Pinkie vaulted over the shelf to her left and pressed her back up against a display of cellphones. She watched as as the red flames scorched everything in the isle she had just escaped from. After a few seconds of constant, baker incinerating heat, the flames died down and the TV with the dragon turned off. “Even Marble doesn’t like these types of movies!” Pinkie muttered under the breath she was trying so desperately to catch, “I doubt that those meanie cultists were what made his taste in movies this bad!” “I heard that!” Data Stream’s voice shouted, causing Pinkie to leap to her feet in surprise. However, this time the voice wasn’t from the row of TV’s in the back, or any television at all for that matter. Instead, it came from directly behind her. Seemingly, the source of his voice this time was a cell phone on display. Reflexively, Pinkie willed Ta-Dah to punch the cellphone, breaking it in half. “Hey!” Straight to Video appeared again on the back wall of televisions. “Do you have any idea how much that cost? I’m going to make you pay with your life!” A projector from the next aisle over flickered on, projecting Straight to Video’s image above Pinkie. She had time to make note that the Stand had disappeared from the TV’s before she teleported to the store’s western wall in order to dodge the large cutlass it threw downwards at her. While one projector turned off, another turned on. Now, Straight to Video was holding a revolver again, pointing it directly at Pinkie. Pinkie barely had time to take in the image of the Stand before it fired the gun, almost the second after she’d seen it! Pinkie had Ta-Dah teleport her on top of a shelf directly behind the projection of Straight to Video. With all of the desperation of a cornered animal, Pinkie had Ta-Dah punch the Stand’s camera head as hard as it could. Only half to her surprise, this had no effect. Ta-Dah’s fist went directly through it because it was simply a projection of light. This somehow didn’t stop the bullets it fired from being physical however, Pinkie noted as she looked at the holes they made in the supply closet door. Acting now almost on instinct, Pinkie gasped, throwing her weight forward to dodge. Ta-Dah responded instantly, and Pinkie quickly found she’d been teleported onto the floor itself rather than hitting it. The shelf above her rocked and fell over, scattering several charging cords and boxes about the floor. Just as she got the chance to breathe, a TV to her right turned on, now showing the Stand holding a massive cutlass. Pinkie heard the blade’s distinct shrill as it narrowly missed her nose. This was bad. Even as Pinkie moved her body about the store, the Stand always knew where she was! She wasn’t going to make it out of this if she didn’t figure out this Stand! Rainbow said she’d figured out how to beat that Leopard guy by dodging his attacks and fooling him with what attack she was going to throw. Rarity had beaten Lotus by… by sewing her eyes shut and attacking like that! What could she do to beat this Stand, if it could rain destruction down upon her without letting her know how she could attack! The Stand could still see from all angels somehow, because it pointed the gun behind itself directly at Ta-Dah’s heart without looking! Wait, the gun! The bullet holes from the gun had flown past Pinkie, impaling themselves into the door to the supply closet once more. With her body twisted downwards, Pinkie was staring right at the supply closet again. In that moment, Pinkie noticed that Straight to Video couldn’t see what was on the other side. She wasn’t given enough time to question this before she had to teleport away to dodge its next shot. Her destination this time was the door, which she opened and shut herself in as fast as she possibly could. In this closet, she couldn’t be seen. Pinkie knew that. The only place Data could see were through the holes made in the door. At least for now, Pinkie was safe inside this closet. The first thing she did with this respite was catch her breath. She in the corner of the closet, as far away from the door as possible and practically hyperventilating. This was probably the most adrenaline she had felt in such a short time; and she had gone skydiving before! No, she had to get control! If she couldn't calm down, she couldn't think straight! And if she didn’t, she’d go off the rails! Pinkie quickly put her hands on her cheeks, forcing herself to breathe and feel her cheeks expand and collapse with each breath. She quickly blew the tuft of her hair dangling in front of her face away, getting herself to relax as she collected her thoughts. Her attacker was Data Stream, Pinkie had learned while running for her life. He was what some would unflatteringly describe as a computer geek. He was a bit of an elitist, but a decent guy if you took the time to get to know him. This knowledge was very valuable to Pinkie, as it almost confirmed that the Stand User was close by, since this was his shop. This would also mean he would know the entire layout of the store by memory, and thus had planned where his Straight to Video would appear. But where was he? More importantly, how was Data Stream able to see Pinkie from every conceivable angle? Especially when Pinkie herself couldn’t see him. The fact that Data had projected his voice through the screens containing Straight to Video meant he was controlling it, like a remote control toy for a foal. She concluded that Straight to Video didn’t have a mind of its own like Rarity’s Diamond Dogs, so Data must be the one controlling it. Did this all have something to do with the Stand’s ability? And that was another important question. What exactly was the ability of this Stand? From what Pinkie had gotten first hand experience with, it clearly had something to do with electronics. That much was obvious from the way it had been assaulting her from inside the televisions. At first Pinkie had thought that was the extent of its ability. But there was more to it clearly, since it was also able to attack from the projector, and talk to her through the cell phones. Whatever Straight to Video’s power was, it wasn’t Pinkie’s primary concern at the moment. Instead, it survival. If she wanted to survive, Pinkie needed to get out of this store. Fighting an electric controlling Stand in an electronics store was just asking to lose! But Straight to Video was able stop her retreat with a very offensive offensive torrent of fire. Pinkie began to summarize what she had gone over in her head. This Stand assaulted through electronics. As long as it was able to continue to attack her, Pinkie Pie would never be able flee with her life. So, the only logical course of action would be to disable Straight to Video’s means of attacking her. She felt bad, causing so much destruction and breaking so many expensive things. And, she knew that attacking a Stand would damage the user. Just like, Bangarang and Vinyl. But it was the price she had to pay for her survival it seemed. Taking one final deep breath, Pinkie stood up and threw the closet door open. Immediately she felt Data Stream’s near omnipotent gaze fall upon her. His Stand hadn’t materialized yet. She had no idea where it would, but it was Pinkie’s goal to make it so he couldn’t do that. The wall of TV’s was the first thing that needed to go. It offered the biggest area of attack, and was easy to take out in a short amount of time. Ta-Dah materialized and took the nearest edge of the top shelf in its hands. As the ninja started to pull the shelf off the wall, Pinkie could begin to feel the strain on her own arms. It was apparent her Stand didn’t have much more strength than an average pony. “Come oonnnnn!!” Pinkie huffed under her breath, grunting with exertion along with the Stand’s actions. For a moment she had to wonder if it was silly, her standing there groaning and shaking like she'd had too much punch at a party! The TV’s started to quake as a precious second passed. At the very last second, Pinkie saw Straight to Video flick to life in the TV right in front of Ta-Dah’s face, gun aimed to kill. But it was too late. Ta-Dah had pried the shelf from the wall and disappeared. Pinkie flinched and covered her ears as all of the TV’s it held came crashing down onto the row below them. A flurry of broken glass, plastic, and sparks flew everywhere, causing Pinkie to recoil to the opposite end of the store. Unfortunately, the bottom row of televisions remained completely unharmed. Even worse, the TV opposite to Pinkie was completely unblocked by any sort of debris. Pinkie caught sight of a cannon nearly eclipsing the entire screen before she teleported right towards the front door. As soon as she appeared, however, the TV right next to her showed its dragon again. Pinkie was forced to dive forward, away from the door. She just barely managed to escape the flames, only the sole of her shoe being caught. As Pinkie rapidly stamped her foot on the ground to put the fire out, another projector hummed on again. This time, Straight to Video was riding the dragon, now rendered in full 3D misrepresentation. This came from the added effect of being able to spit its flames in all directions, making them much harder to dodge. Teleporting with Ta-Dah required the stamina of a full speed sprint for about three seconds. Doing it repeatedly wore Pinkie out quicker than anything. Coupled with all the dodging and running she had been doing, Pinkie felt like she had just run a marathon. She wasn’t sure for how much longer she could keep this up. If this went on for too much longer, a fatal attack was sure to make its mark. Pinkie needed to stop that meanie dragon! But as she discovered earlier, attempting to attack the projection had no effect. Instead, she would need to stop it from being projected in the first place! But the projector was all the way halfway across the store, and the dragon was already breathing in to exhale its fiery hot breath. If she teleported to it, Pinkie was afraid she wouldn’t have the energy to pick it up and smash it it time. She needed to destroy it from where she was. She needed to something to throw! Almost as if sensing her need, Ta-Dah quickly reached for its waist, and something appeared in its hand. Before Pinkie could see what it was, the object was launched with one snap of the Stand’s wrist. Half a second later, the dragon projection disappeared right before it breathed fire at Pinkie. After the initial shock wore off, Pinkie saw that something was lodged in the projector. A metal star of some sort had broken it. That must have been what Ta-Dah had thrown? Ninjas weren’t her forte, but throwing stars and teleporting? It made sense to Pinkie. More importantly, she discovered a new ability her Stand apparently had. “My Stand is feeling a lot better than his meanie pants Stand,” Pinkie muttered under her breath. She immediately covered her mouth with her hands, shooting a gaze across the room. No response came. Now that the dragon was gone, Pinkie teleported straight for the closet door, which she had left open. She got as far in and away from the door as she could before collapsing on the ground, out of sight. Someone looking at her at the moment would be forgiven if they came under the impression that she had asthma from how much wheezing she was doing. There were just too many angles in which the enemy could attack her from to try and fight it. If she focused her attention on one electronic, another would be the source of her demise. Even if she did dodge that second attack, Pinkie wasn’t sure how long she would be able to keep that acrobatic game up before she ran out of breath. It became clear that if she was going to survive this fight, Pinkie needed to figure out the answers to the riddles she was presented with. Every problem the baker faced all steamed from one burning question: what was Straight to Video’s power specifically? The way Twilight had described it, a Stand’s ability tied into a specific central theme. For example, Ta-Dah’s theme was around being a Ninja. It could move quickly and unseen, as well throw its newfound shurikens. Diamond Dogs were all about treating anything like fabric, that was easy. Throwing parties for just about everypony she knew had taught Pinkie that you could get away with lumping in a large variety of things together if you picked the right theme. Bangarang was logically able to both allow Vinyl to talk and make ear deafening sounds because both of those abilities fell into the theme amplifying vibrations. So, if Pinkie could figure out Straight to Video’s theme, she would be able to know why it’s able to fire guns at her, shoot fire at her, and see her from everywhere. Seeing her no matter where she was in the store, that was the biggest problem she specifically faced. It gave Data Stream way too many options for attacking her and severely limited her options for retaliation. Ta-Dah required the element of surprise in order to be effective. Pinkie did not possess that element as long as she was constantly spotted. She needed to know why he could see her everywhere! “Okay, Okay Pinkie Pie! Calm down!” Pinkie placed her hands on her temples and focused. She paused as she attempted to clear her mind. “Remember what Granny Pinkie always told you about hard situations: if you can’t find the answer you’re looking for, try asking a different question!” “A different question…” Pinkie got on her hands and knees and crawled over to the door. She looked through the bullet holes out at the store. No sign of Straight to Video, yet. “Uhm, other questions! Uhm… uhm…” She had to ask a question that would help her! Something that she hadn’t thought of. Something she was just assuming, like knowing cupcakes always went in at a certain temperature! Something like… “Instead of asking why asking why can he see me anywhere out there, why can’t he see me...in here?” Yes, that was the point that had completely escaped Pinkie’s mind. She was far too relieved that this was a safe haven from Data Stream’s visual observations that she had never questioned why it was so. There was something about this closet that made Data Stream unable to see her within it. But what? What was different about this closet than the store? Could it be the lack of light? Can he see anywhere as long as there’s light? Cautiously, Pinkie reached up for the light switch to her right. Quickly she turned the lights on, causing the entirety of the confined space to become illuminated. To her relief, she could tell she was still unobserved. This meant that light wasn’t what allowed him to constantly see her. Besides, that wouldn’t have made much sense, given the other abilities Straight to Video had. Focusing more on the store through the bullet hole, Pinkie looked around for any sort of clues. But with her limited range of vision, she found that she was sort on ideas, and completely void of plausible ones. It was at this time Pinkie Pie began cursing her luck. She wished that this wasn’t happening. She just wished she could have walked into the store as intended and purchase some… Security cameras… Pinkie’s eyes shot towards the only corner of the store she could see through the bullet hole. Right there, in the top corner, there it was. A security camera! She hadn’t been paying much attention when she was too busy trying to stay alive, but she swore that every corner of the store had one. Their combined coverage must have allowed for anypony observing them to see everywhere in the store. That was it! Straight to Video wasn’t looking through its own camera head, it was looking through the cameras of the store! That’s why it could see her no matter where she was, except in the closet, which had no cameras in it at all! Cameras were its eyes. And it interacted with her through televisions and projectors. Both pieces of technology that enabled observation of otherwise unobservable things. And, it spoke to her through the cell phones, which was the devices’ main purpose! No, it hadn’t just spoken to her through them, it had heard her through them as well. That was why he reacted to her first jeer in the cell phone aisle, but not the second when she was nowhere near them! It all made sense to her now! Straight to Video relied on electronics to interact with the world when its user wasn’t specifically close by at the very least. If there are no recording devices, the user can’t hear. If there were no display devices, the Stand couldn’t interact. And most importantly, if there were no observation devices, then the Stand couldn’t see. There was one more thing. Pinkie had seen that Straight to Video had only done things on specific TV’s. It would have made a lot of sense to show the dragon on the large wall of TV’s, making the torrent of fire much bigger and harder to avoid. This all tied into one more theory she had, about how it was able to execute its attacks. On the floor the shop, there were wires running across the floor. At first, Pinkie had merely thought that was just par for an electronics store. But, what if, they were leading to something? Something that enabled Straight to Video’s variety of attacks. Yes, that was it. Pinkie had learned all of the enemy Stand’s secrets. She stood up straight with confidence. Just moments before, it had seemed like an unbeatable foe, and that her death was certain. But now she was confident that she could not lose, for she knew exactly what she needed to do to defeat this foe. With a triumphant grin, Pinkie threw the door open and walked out into the store. “All these problems make me wanna go,” Pinkie sang as she felt Data Stream’s gaze fall upon her. “Like a bad girl Straight to Video! Little darling welcome to the show. You’re a failure played in stereo!“ The projector on top of the shelves that Pinkie hadn’t destroyed powered on and projected Straight to Video holding a revolver. Just as Pinkie had predicted it would. “What are you so smug about?” Data Steam’s voice came from the cellphones in the aisle near her. “Or is it that you’ve finally accepted your fate and decided to stop all this pointless running?” “No silly,” Pinkie giggled. “I’m excited because I’ve found out the secret to your trick. Normally I don’t like doing that, because that makes them all extremely less fun. But in your case, I couldn’t be happier that I did!” “What is Discord’s name are you talking about?” Data Stream growled. Pinke could see Straight to Video struggling to pull the trigger. This meant that Data was just curious enough to see where she was going with this. That is exactly what Pinkie wanted. “Oh just sit tight back there in the office like I know you are,” Pinkie pointed out as she stretched her legs. “And you’ll see!” As soon as she finished her sentence, Ta-Dah appeared and Pinkie vanished. Pinkie appeared behind Straight to Video and had Ta-Dah throw a shuriken at the camera in the top right corner of the store. The rectangular box exploded in a shower of sparks as the pointed metal embedded itself in it. Its function ceased, and instantly Pinkie could detect blind spots appearing in the enemy Stand’s vision. They were few at the moment, because the other three cameras were picking up the slack; a fact that Pinkie was soon about to fix. But this meant that her conclusions were correct. Her correctness was also confirmed by Straight to Video’s reaction to her surveillance equipment destruction: an extremely rash and aggressive fan of bullets aimed Pinkie’s way. With how haphazardly they were fired, it was easy for Pinkie to teleport behind Straight to Video and destroy another camera. Now the blind spots had increased to cover a good portion of the store. Before Pinkie went about completely disabling Data’s vision of her, she wanted to prove a point. “Hey!” Data’s voice projected through his Stand again, “Don’t you dare break those! Do you know how much property damage you’re causing?!” But his voice wasn’t as confident or controlled as before. Just what Pinkie wanted! The wires on the floor were running alongside the shelves, placed as though their very presence was trying to be hidden. It didn’t stop Pinkie from noticing them and following them to where they lead: DVD players. On one end of the wires were DVD players, which lead into the TV’s and projectors. Specific DVD players to specific devices. This is why only certain attacks came out of certain devices. With her Stand’s speed, Pinkie hit eject on every single player, revealing three separate DVD’s. On the top shelf was Pirates of the Celestial Sea, special edition with half an hour of deleted scenes! Bottom corner DVD player contained a movie that Pinkie would be damned if she didn’t instantly recognize from the disk art alone: A Hoofful of Bits. Marble’s all time favorite. Finally, dead in the center of the aisle was, ugh, Dragon Slayer’s Ballad. Ta-Dah collected all of the disks into a neat pile and set them on the shelf behind Pinkie. “Well that’s that!” Pinkie taunted while holding one eyelid open and sticking out her tongue to one of the two cameras she hadn’t destroyed yet. “No more guns or cannons or offending my friends for you!” Data Stream offered no response except for screaming in rage and sending Straight to Video after her with nothing but its fists. Pinkie instantly sidestepped the assault and had Ta-Dah simultaneously destroy the remaining two cameras with shurikens. As soon as both cameras went offline, Straight to Video disappeared. Now Pinkie was free to leave the electronic store safely. But no, not yet. Everypony in Ponyville was her friend, and there was a friend in the backroom that she needed to save from the clutches of an evil cultist. This was only the second time in her life she had to do that. Pinkie vaulted over the service deck and threw open the door to the back room. Just as she predicted, she saw Data Stream sitting at a computer. He had his cell phone in his hands, and looked at Pinkie Pie with a fearful look in his eyes. “Get away from me!” Data shouted. He held his flip phone towards her in some manner of self defense. A small image of Straight to Video was on the screen, but it’s methods of attacking were very limited at the moment. But likewise, Data quickly turned, brandishing a stapler in one hand, phone in the other. “Hey, Hey! Calm your party down!” Pinkie waved her hands quickly, “Just calm down Data, I’m not gonna hurt you!” Pinkie urged the store owner. She took slow, cautious steps towards him with her hands out in front of her. “Come with me, I’m sure Twilight can find a harmless way to break the…” “I said get away!” In a shaky fit, Data pulled his phone close to his face. Dropping the stapler, his thumbs desperately flew over the keys on his phone. Before Pinkie could tell him to calm down again or ask what he was doing, Data Stream was seemingly sucked into his cell phone. Gasping, Pinkie ran over and picked it up. It seemed he had sent a text message. A picture of Straight to Video, which most likely contained himself. He was escaping through text messaging! But to whom? Who would he be sending himself to? If he had wanted to escape, who would be there to receive him? Pinkie looked at the recipient to see who it was sent to. Not a contact, but a number she recognized. Blooming Marigold, a flower mare who worked at a stall three blocks down. She was likely to be there right now. With a newfound burst of adrenaline, Pinkie called upon Ta-Dah to take her out of the store and to Marigold’s stall as fast as possible. Sure enough, the mare was there. She had her own phone pulled up, looking at it curiously. “What’s this?” Pinkie heard the flower vender say to herself as she rushed up to her. “Somepony just sent me a blank picture. Huh, must’ve been a-wait, it just forwarded itself?!” Without even asking permission, Pinkie snatched the phone from Merigold’s hands and looked at it. Data had forwarded himself to Pottery Spinner, a ceramics expert who frequently helped Marigold with public garden projects. Luckily, Pinkie Pie knew it was his lunchtime, and exactly where he would be eating his food right now. “Sorry Marigold!” Pinkie shouted as she zipped away. “Thank you for letting me use your phone!” Pinkie phased in and out of reality as fast as she could. By the time she had charged through the door of Hay Burger, she felt like her lungs were on fire. Sitting in the seat he always was, Pottery was also curiously looking at his phone while in the middle of a messy lunch. Pinkie looked over his shoulder and saw the message. This time, it had forwarded itself to someone who wasn’t in Pottery’s contacts. And worse yet, it was a number that Pinkie didn’t recognize! How could that happen? Pinkie knew everypony in town’s number by heart! Had it been sent out of town? Out of country? Out of dimension?! In one last fit of desperation, Pinkie Pie zipped through Ponyville as fast as she could. To hell with the amount of oxygen in her body! She couldn’t let her friend get away without getting help! It was sent to a number she didn’t recognize, so that meant she had to look for a face that she didn’t recognize who was looking at their phone right now. But she only had a brief window of time. She had to cover as much ground as possible and pray to the patron deities that she got lucky. Pinkie’s eyes scanned everypony she saw, hoping to find somepony she didn’t recognize. Autumn Harvest, Cranky Doodle Dandy, Cherry Blossom, Dew Drop, Berry Punch. She knew all of them! She hopped through streat corners, looked in window, got on top of roof tops, but all around her were familiar faces! Everypony, she knew everypony she saw! Until, there! Yes him! That was somepony whom she had no idea who he was!  Yes! That had to be it! She had to take his phone and cut it off from messaging before Data could send himself again! It took Pinkie another second to focus on him, but he was there, just as she knew he would be! Sitting off to the side of Ponyville’s main street was a single stallion, humming to himself alone. He was a deep maroon, almost to the point of being vermillion, with a blonde main with a black stripe down the center that looked to be fake compared to the blonde around it. He didn’t look out of place, but Pinkie didn’t know his face! As Pinkie dashed towards him, her thoughts were affirmed as the stallion paused, feeling a vibration on his phone by his hand. The stallion slowly cocked his head, taking his phone in both hands casually as he lifted it up to read what it said. “Hey!” Pinkie shouted, pointing a finger at him, “Sorry but Party Pony business, I need to see your phone!” Even with Pinkie’s loud and cutting voice, Ponvyille was a busy town. Over the crowd of ponies in the area, Pinkie’s voice was subsequently lost. However, the stallion’s face still suddenly lit up in an expression of horror. His eyes were trained on the screen, his thumbs shaking as he seemed genuinely concerned about something on the phone. Pinkie had little options at the moment. She was out in the middle of town, and using Ta-Dah to teleport, as quick as it would be, could hurt somepony. Plus, Twilight had told Dash -and Dash told Pinkie in turn- that Stands weren’t something everypony had, so seeing Pinkie suddenly teleport would probably freak ponies out! So instead the mare resigned herself to quickly pushing her way through the crowd, gasping out apologies as she shoved her way down the street. The stallion, however, wasn’t paying attention. Instead, his lips quivered into a hard frown, before his hands trembled even harder. Quickly standing up, the stallion looked around, twisting his gaze around the streets. “HEY!” Pinkie shouted, “Stop right there, red stallion with the phone!” As the stallion heard Pinkie’s shout, Pinkie could see him visibly tense. The stallion looked down at the phone in hand before pressing a button on it. The stallion then dropped the phone onto the ground, bringing his weight down on it to break it into pieces. He took a second to grind it into the cobblestones before suddenly turning about, making his way hastily into the throng of the Ponyville main square. Just as he did so, Pinkie saw the tiniest bit of red flash on his arms. “No! Stop!” Pinkie shouted again, gasping as her eyes failed to track him. The mare pushed her way past a brown stallion - Time Turner if she recalled - before arriving at the bench where she’d seen him sitting. The mare stumbled forward and quickly thrust her head back and forth, trying to see where he’d gone. Yet the shove had disoriented her momentarily, and by that point he was lost to the crowd. Without giving herself the luxury of feeling bad just yet, Pinkie quickly looked down at the phone on the ground. Said phone was unsalvageable at this point, the little boards destroyed and the keypad was kaput! But the screen had an image frozen on it, the pixels flashing one message to her before their light died out: MESSAGE DELETED “What?” Getting down to her knees, Pinkie looked about, “No, no no no! I was, I was so close! Where’s Data Stream?! Where’s Straight to Video?!” Darting her head up, Pinkie quickly scanned the crowd again, letting the phone fragments drop as she darted towards the center of town. As she cast her appraising gaze around, nopony matched the red coloration of the stallion’s coat, nor could she see where he was going. Just as she did so, a sudden gust of air knocked her back onto her butt. “Hey! Pinkie!” As Pinkie looked about, a gruff and familiar sounding voice sounded above her. Just as Pinkie looked up, a pair of cyan legs appeared in front of her, followed by a quick ‘thud’ against the ground, “What’s going on, Marigold said you stole her phone, gave it back and just, took off!” “Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie gasped, standing up, “Dashie I saw him, a guy! He was deep red, like super red, with really bright blonde hair and a black stripe and he was holding a phone with Data Stream on it and he attacked me at the electronics store an-” “Pinkie!” Dash quickly raised her arms up, “Woah, Woah slow down! Who’d you see, and who’s Data Stream?” “The pony that runs the electronics store!” Pinkie gasped, “But never mind that, oh cupcakes I let him get away! A stallion was here, and I think he might be connected to Stand Users!”