To most, this afternoon in Ponyville was just the same as any other. The sun shown pleasantly through the sparsely clouded sky. There was a slight breeze, signally the decline of summer into autumn. Nearly everypony in town was enjoying being outside on this day, not having much care in the world besides where to eat lunch. Ponies happily ate outside of small restaurants, discussing the latest events, hitting up the local shops, all activities that full of fun and peace.
However, for Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, this was a far different story. As the three slowly closed the massive doors to Twilight’s palace, the look on their faces was anything but happy. The three of them had just concluded another meeting with Twilight, one proving just as fruitless as other one had. Golden Harvest had nothing useful to offer on the subject of who was hypnotizing all of their friends and giving them Stands. She, like Vinyl, Aloe, and the foal, remembered nothing about the stallion. The only thing learned seemed to be Golden had a cut on her hand similar to that of the others.
At first, Pinkie Pie having seen a stallion that might have been the main culprit behind these attacks seemed promising. Yet even with Pinkie perfectly describing him to Twilight and the others, nothing had been retrieved from their friend’s memories. It was as though he’d somehow erased himself from everything, like he’s only existed for a brief moment in their lives before he was scrubbed clean from them.
In truth, only one thing of any importance came from the meeting. That was the fact that neither Applejack nor Spike attended it. This peaked Twilight’s concern, and she ordered Rarity and Pinkie Pie to go check on the both of them. With enemy Stand Users having been everyone from the local DJ to a flower cart owner, it was imperative that tabs were kept on all their friends, and frequently. While Rarity had agreed, she’d insisted that Rainbow come along with them as well.
Now the trio found themselves trying to make their way across Ponyville as inconspicuously as possible. Anypony in the whole town could be an enemy at this point. In an attempt to mitigate this, they were forced to take odd routes through town and avoided crowded places where anypony might be waiting in ambush. Rarity in particular was extra cautious, constantly checking for anypony casting glances at them, watching them or showing any signs of interest in them.
“Why’d you have to invite me along? I was gonna get in a nap before Vinyl’s show! She just got the place fixed up after Pinkie wrecked it!” Dash stretched her back out as she groaned in protest, her muscles popping from the exertion. This earned her a stern look from Rarity.
“Wha? I didn’t wreck it!” Pinkie shot Dash an annoyed look, “Vinyl did that herself! She was the one who went all… all Bangarang on in there!”
“Hush you two!” Rarity’s lips pursed into a frown, “The reason I brought you along, Rainbow Dash, was that I wanted to talk to the two of you about Twilight.”
“Twilight? What about her?” Dash unfurled her wings through the holes in her shirt and hovered above the two mares. As other pegasi flew by, she watched them carefully for any signs of a potential enemy Stand User.
“Wait, you mean I’m not the only one who noticed how down in the dumps Twilight seemed?” Pinkie perked her head up.
“Exactly!” Rarity snapped her fingers, “Our dear Twilight is putting herself under so much stress with this whole...debacle. But I’m afraid something else is eating her. Something we’re not seeing.”
The group passed their way through a small neighborhood, setting their motion in direction towards Sugarcube Corner. The crowds were a bit thicker towards the marketplace, and in turn they were forced to skirt a massive part of their route. While Pinkie didn’t feel the need to speak up, Rainbow and Rarity were intentionally avoiding going through the center of town.
“Something else? Uhh, I’m pretty sure this whole Stand thing is probably what’s causing all this, Rarity!” Rainbow cocked her head sideways, “She got attacked outside of Ponyville!”
“I’m most certain that’s not it! Twilight isn’t her usual panicking self. When she’s nervous, she’s far more... frazzled . She should be nose deep in her books, finding everything out she can. Instead she just stared at that box Discord gave her! It’s like she’s a filly who just failed a test ...” Rarity pursed her lips together, her brow furrowing.
“Well maybe she’s treating this whole thing like a test!” Pinkie posed, “She’s trying super duper hard to solve all this and prove that she can do it. But she can’t so she’s hit a burnout... Like a microwave you stuff too many marshmallows in!”
“I don’t know about that, Pinkie Pie,” Rarity looked to the side, “This cult business is getting serious. With this number of attempts so far, Twilight behavior is...worrying...me…”
Rarity trailed off, staying silent as they passed through a small crowd of ponies. It was Lyra and Bon Bon with two other friends, all chatting over Lyra’s next performance. As the three walked by, Rainbow and Rarity passed glances towards them. Slowly, Rarity turned her body to skirt the group with a wide berth, with Pinkie and Rainbow following suit. The group walked by without even acknowledging the three ponies, much to their relief.
Rainbow directed her eyebrows forward towards a rather large crowd of ponies taking up the road. In response, the three cut down a side alley, directly onto the street parallel to that of Sugarcube Corner. The three skirted around Town Hall and made their way now towards the infirmary. Once through, she groaned out loud.
“I’m telling you two that there is more to it than simply stress. This started right after she and Rainbow here caught that Verde cultist,” Rarity spoke up once they were out of earshot, “But I don’t know how exactly to figure out the answer.”
Despite Rarity’s concerns, Rainbow Dash simply landed on the ground and threw an arm around her, “I’m sure she’ll be fine! Once we whoop these cult guy’s butts, she’ll be right back to her nerdy self! You’re worrying too much, Rarity.” Rainbow Dash flashed her trademark grin of confidence. When Rarity offered no response to this, Rainbow stretched out her back again.
“Good talk. I’m sure you two can handle Applejack on your own. So if you’ll excuse me!” Rainbow flapped her wings hard as she took off into the sky. Rarity barely had time to sputter as she looked up, watching Dash recede into the distance in a rainbow streaking blur.
“Wait! RAINBOW DASH!” Pinkie Pie reached futilely into the sky as she shouted after the skyrocketing Pegasus.
Once Rarity had coughed away the dust her friend racked up, she shook her head, “Oh, ack, leave her be, Pinkie Pie... I wasn’t exactly expecting her to be sticking around with us anyway. It looks like we’ll be heading onto Applejack’s on our own now.” While she was telling the truth in the fact that this was something she expected, Rarity’s eyebrow twitched as she watched Rainbow dart off into the clouds.
“You sure? ‘Cause I can get to her house pretty fast with my Stand here! I could be there before even she does!” To emphasis her point, Pinkie materialized Ta-Dah mid-sentence.
“No, I said it’s quite alright. We’ll make do without her. Why don’t you give me a refresher on this stallion you saw the other day?” Even though she was nearly certain that there wasn’t anything wrong with Applejack, Rarity didn’t want to go to the orchard alone. She was also nearly certain that if Pinkie Pie went after Rainbow Dash, then she wouldn’t be coming back. They were nearing their destination, so one distraction should be enough to keep her here.
“Ohoohohoh!” Pinkie raised a finger up, “Well his coat was really red! Like, super red, dark red! Crimson, that’s the color, I know it from the weird frosting names they had up in Manehatten when we went for that fashion contest of yours and I snuck out!” Pinkie beamed, only for her smile to turn into a shocked frown, “Uhh, anyways! He has short black hair with this really big blonde stripe right through the middle. Kinda looked like dye? When I saw him, he was wearing a suit, I think it was probably a cheap one ‘cause it was a bit faded in color. His right sleeve was rolled up, even the undershirt. The biggest most important thing though was his eyes! He had these really piercing yellow eyes! Like, really yellow! Not like the sun yellow but more like really bright but really dark yellow!”
Having spent years in the fashion business, Rarity could easily construct a profile of the stallion in her head. Twilight had done so earlier, but the quick refresher would keep it fresh in her mind. Despite this, a dark red coat was rather common in stallions, and sans the apparently very yellow eyes, nothing about him stood out. No deformities, no strange markings, no odd style choices. Nothing, at least according to Pinkie Pie.
“Well then, he certainly sounds like an very plain fellow, aside from those eyes of his. I dare say it would be hard to pick him out of the crowd unless you had a photograph of him, or a photographic memory.” No part of Rarity expected this description she asked Pinkie for to be extremely helpful. It did, however, succeed in keeping her by Rarity’s side until they over the hill and upon Sweet Apple Acres.
For the rest of the walk, Pinkie Pie and Rarity walked in silence. The two walked beneath the inviting white gate and up the well trodden path up to the home. Nothing seemed unusual just yet, Rarity noted. Not that she thought anything would be. Applejack had probably just gotten too wrapped up in something to come to the meeting. With Spike assigned to watch over her, she’d probably just worked him hard in the fields until he’d need a long nap, missing the time in which he was supposed to bring her.
While she mused at her thoughs, the pair had reached the front door to the home. Nothing seemed out of place in the slightest. Rarity reached out and knocked on the door, though Pinkie beat her to the greeting.
“Applejack?” Pinkie called out loudly as she knocked on the door immediately after Rarity did, “Are you home?! You missed the meeting and Twilight’s reallyyyyy worried about you!”
For a rather long pause, there were no noises from the door. Rarity’s brow raised as she waited, not hearing anything from inside the home. Was Applejack not inside? The two waited for almost a full minute, with no noises from the door. She was about to turn to tell Pinkie they’d try the barn next. Then, the door finally opened.
The mare who opened it was no Applejack. It was not Apple Bloom, Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, or even Spike. It was a mare who wasn’t normally inside the farmhouse, and certainly not one who Rarity or Pinkie Pie were expecting to see.
“Clear Skies?” Even after a solid second of thinking, Rarity couldn’t place a name on the mare. Thankfully, Pinkie Pie was there with her encyclopedic knowledge of everypony in Ponyville came to the rescue.
With a name to the face, Rarity was able to recall a bit about her. She was one of Rainbow Dash’s former coworkers on the Ponyville Weather Team. She’d been Rainbow’s wingponies on the team if she recalled correctly, responsible for doing cleanup for Rainbow. That being all Rarity knew about her, it was enough to know that she didn’t belong here.
“Miss Rarity,” Clear smiled and slightly bowed her head, “What brings you to this residence?”
“Well… ahem,” Rarity tapped her collarbone. “I was here to see Applejack. Do you know where she is, Miss Skies?”
“Miss Applejack?” Skies paused for a moment before turning to looking into the house. She stared off into the home for a few seconds before turning back and nodding. “Yes, follow me!”
With that, the mare turned, making her way back inside. Pinkie followed her inside, seemingly not questioning the oddity of this situation at all. Rarity, however, was already beginning to wonder just what exactly was happening right now.
“Hey, Rarity!” Pinkie leaned her head in agaisnt Rarity’s shoulder with a hiss, “What’s Clear Skies doing in Applejack’s house?”
“Hush now, Pinkie,” Rarity frowned, “I think something’s up. Stay quiet and let me do the talking.”
Pinkie nodded her head, dramatically dragging a finger across her lips. With that taken care of, Rarity felt her lip curling up. Why would Clear Skies, a member of the weather team, be at Applejack’s house? For any and all weather related favors, Applejack made it a point of only dealing with Rainbow Dash simply for the reason that she was too stubborn to trust anypony else. And even if for some uncharacteristic reason Applejack was asking a new Pegasus to deal with her orchard, why was she the one to answer the door, and not a member of the family proper?
Family proper… in fact, as Rarity followed Pinkie and Clear Skies down the hall, she couldn’t help but notice that there were no traces of any of the Apple family at all. Normally she’d be able to hear at least one of them, usually Granny Smith’s incessant snoring or chattering. But no, as the two passed the main living room, Rarity couldn’t see nor hear a rocking chair.
Pieces were falling together in Rarity’s head by the time the trio finished their walk into the kitchen. Rarity was beginning to suspect that Clear Skies was under the influence of whatever had hypnotized the rest of her friends. But she had no solid proof of that yet. She’d need to wait and see what happens before she made her move, or the repercussions of assaulting somepony would face Rarity.
“Miss Applejack is currently in a closed meeting,” Clear Skies pulled up a chair and sat down at the table, “If you don’t mind waiting, I’ll see if I can interrupt them.”
“A meeting?” That was wrong. Applejack had told everypony prior that she didn’t have any plans today. In addition to keeping a watchful eye on her, Spike was assigned to accompany Applejack specifically so she doesn’t get caught up in her work and fail to check in.
“Yes, I’ll go see if she’s available.” Promptly, Clear Skies turned on her heel, clicking her way out of the room. As she left, Rarity turned to voice her concerns to Pinkie Pie. But Pinkie voiced concerns of her own before Rarity had the chance.
“I drank way too much soda before I came here. Bathroom!” Rarity couldn’t even get in a word before Pinkie Pie zipped off upstairs to the bathroom so she could relieve herself.
Now Rarity was left alone. The sudden departure wasn’t uncharacteristic of her friend, but most unwelcome. She had been in the house for a full three minutes, and she had not see hide nor hair of Applejack or Spike. Additionally, there was nopony who she had expected to see in the house anywhere to be found. Even if Big Mac was out in the fields, Granny Smith should have been in the living room. Sweetie Belle hadn’t mentioned any plans with her friends either; Apple Bloom would usually come down to greet any house guests.
There was no room for doubt or debate in Rarity’s mind now. Even if she was wrong, she knew that it was better to be safe than sorry. There was almost certainly an enemy here in the form of Clear Skies. Applejack was almost certainly in danger. And for that matter, Rarity was too. Pinkie Pie had abandoned her to empty her bladder, so she was on her own. Rarity knew that she had to take the initiative. She’d use Diamond Dogs to restrain Clear Skies before she could even draw out her Stand. This fight would be over before it even started.
Rarity took a seat at the kitchen table, pulling the chair to face the entrance to the kitchen. Light from the exterior window above the sink cast a large yellow triangle on the floor, showing the dust in the air. Clear would walk through in through the entrance, trapping herself in the frame. A few quick threads from her dogs and she’d be completely immobilized. Rarity put a business-like smile on her face as she waited for Clear to arrive.
“Greetings, Miss Rarity,” Instead of the feminine tone she was expecting, a friendly stallion’s voice came instead, “So sorry about my assistant answering the door, that was my fault. She insisted she do so for me.”
The stallion that stepped through the frame was a deep red with a completely black mane. He wore a nice but casual navy blue sports jacket and slacks, along with a bright red tie tucked overtop a white undershirt. His hair was slicked back to his head, likely with some sort of cheap gel if the streaks in it told Rarity anything. Yet as he looked down towards Rarity, the sunlight reflected off his eyes.
His piercing, yellow eyes.
“Greetings!” The confusion caused Rarity to stand up, straightening out her dress. She made her way forward to shake the stallion’s hand, “It’s no problem, Mister..?”
“Spirit,” Crimson chuckled, “Crimson Spirit. I’m a regional distributor and handler of Equestrian Wine and Spirits. A rather fitting name for such a profession, wouldn't you say?”
Rarity slowly curled her lips up into an amused grin, “Oh most certainly. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance… though I must admit, I’m a tad bit surprised that we have not done so before now.”
With a mirrored grin, Crimson made his way forward. Clear Skies scurried in behind him, holding a rather large clipboard and binder. As he approached, Rarity kept her posture straight and proper, concealing the fact that she was dropping Lennon onto the floor behind her. The mutt scampered off out of sight, already knowing it needed to go warn Pinkie Pie.
“Is that so? Any particular reason?” Crimson had a firm but gentle handshake. He cocked his head slightly sideways, maintaining his kind smile.
“Why, because you’re working with Applejack of course! I’m surprised I haven’t even seen you in passing before now!” The tone Rarity used was that of someone who was talking to a potential friend. Internally, she was forcing herself not to show fear and anxiety at all. One hint of that, and it would be potentially deadly for both her and Applejack. Rarity just needed to keep up this act and stall for time until Pinkie Pie got help.
“Well, Applejack and I have only met each other recently.” Crimson replied with a chuckle. “I would be far more surprised if you had seen me, to be honest.” Crimson walked around Rarity, making his way to the table. He turned Rarity’s chair to face the table and pulled it out for her.
Rarity took her seat, scooting up towards the table. Crimson took his seat likewise across from her, folding his hands up onto the table. He smiled warmly. To anypony else, he’d seem inviting, calm and collected. He spoke calmly and warmly to Rarity, like that of a dear friend explaining their actions.
“I really do apologize about having to send Clear Skies to open the door. She’s my assistant, and the meeting a tad… closed doors, if you know what I mean,” He gave a small frown, “It’s rather rude to answer if the place is not your own.”
“Certainly,” Rarity nodded, “Though assistants can be prone to that.”
“Very true, but Clear here is a wonderful assistant. I wouldn't be able to do half of what I do with out,” He leaned back in his chair and gave a side glance to her, “It was an honest mistake.”
“Oh darling, I perfectly understand! Sweetie Belle has answered the door for me on many, many embarrassing occasions!” Rarity blushed to sell her joke, “But I must say, it is a tad odd none of Applejack’s family is here. I don’t recall there being any events in town today.” In addition to stalling for time, Rarity needed to make sure that Applejack’s family, and by extension, Applejack herself, were unharmed.
“I’m not sure, they might be busy with their work. I did see Big Macintosh on the way in, perhaps they are all in the orchard at the moment?” Crimson leaned back. Either he had they explanations rehearsed out in advance, or he made them up on the spot. He told his fibs with such confidence and sincerity though that there was no doubt in Rarity’s mind that he was a skillful liar. She wished that she had that same skill right now. She also desperately wished that Pinkie Pie would hasten herself.
“Perhaps it is. Though at the moment, I must admit that I am much less curious about their presence here, and much more about your own. You told me that you were in a meeting with Applejack, what exactly for?” Rarity had to keep this conversation going in a natural, casual way. She couldn’t let Crimson get suspicious. At the same time, however, she knew that she was constantly at risk of falling under the spell that her friends were put under.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Rarity, but surely you must understand, being a mare of business yourself, that this meeting is a very private affair.” Crimson squeezed his hands together, leaned forward towards Rarity, and raised and eyebrow. There was an almost accusing aura to his glare, that made Rarity feel like he was figuring things out much like herself.
“But darling, I must hear what you and Applejack are planning! In addition to being an investor in Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack has also entrusted the financial affairs of her family orchard to me. Mind you, this took a lot of convincing. Since you are engaging in business with her, I am sure you are aware that Applejack can be quite stubborn when it comes to this place.” Rarity forced herself to give the most convincing laugh she could make. She had to physically grip onto the chair to keep from leaning back. Underneath her fake a smile her teeth were pressing together so hard that they threatened to break each other. Where was Pinkie Pie?
“Yes quite.” Crismon shared in Rarity’s fau laugh with one of his own. “I’m a bit surprised Applejack hadn’t mentioned this before… it must have been a mistake on her part. I suppose in that case I could give you a look at what we are discussing. Clear!”
“Yes Mr. Spirit, I have all the paperwork here.” Clear Skies, who until that point had been standing completely still and silently, laid some paperwork out on the table in front of Rarity. After a quick scan of the page, Rarity was instantly able to recognize the format as a proper business proposal.
“A new line of spirits? I thought the Apples didn’t want to sell their cider outside of Ponyville.” Rarity raised an eyebrow. She didn’t want to ask suspicious questions like this, but she was also running out of ways to keep this conversation going.
“Oh they don’t,” Crimson confirmed with a grin. “But Applejack herself approached me about developing a brand of pure spirits for her farm. And, well, being the regional distributor for EWS, I was more than happy to begin discussion. I’m afraid she seemed to have wanted to keep this a secret until after the new unveiling. I suppose we need to rethink our business strategy, now that the cat is out of the bag.”
“Oh nonsense! I’m no blabbermouth when it comes t-” Rarity was cut off from her sentence by getting exactly what she was wishing for, in probably the worst possible way.
“Rarity?! Applejack?!” Rainbow Dash’s voice echoed loudly from outside the farm house, clear as day to everypony inside, “What’s going on?!” Crimson and Clear definitely recognized it, as the widening of their eyes contained all the surprise of someone who’s lie had just been found out.
Rarity stood up, her lips shut as she extended her arms. Cartney, Harrison, and Starr leapt over her shoulders from behind her back, needles in paw. The three pointed their needles towards Crimson’s arms, ready to sew them to the table. Yet with near perfectly timed reaction, Crimson gripped the table and flipped it in their direction.
The wooden table forced Rarity to leap backwards, specifically towards the sink. Both the Diamond Dogs that she had summoned were already heading directly towards the table, making a collision with it unavoidable. Thankfully, they were resilient little mutts, and they recovered from being crushed under it with no visible damage at all.
The sunlight from the exterior window shone on Rarity’s back as she raised her arm up, about to give orders to her Diamond Dogs. Yet from the corner of her eye, Rarity turned to see Clear Skies was now in the entrance to the kitchen, directly in front of her with an… umbrella? That was the only detail about it Rarity had time take in.
Crimson turned towards Clear, giving her a nod. The mare nodded back, pointing her umbrella directly towards Rarity. She opened it up fully and it began to rotate of its own violation. After two seconds off spinning, the umbrella was spinning at full speed and a gale of sheer force wind blew from its canopy. Rarity had the misfortune of being caught outside in severe wind storms before, yet these winds were nothing like that. Within seconds feeling the wind against her body, Rarity found herself tumbling through the air, her back slamming into the glass behind her. A large chunk of the wooden walls of Applejack’s house followed along with glass shards as Rarity suddenly found herself outside the house.
Before she had time to tell Diamond Dogs to do something, Rarity’s back made collision with the ground. The force caused her to let out a shriek of agony, feeling both shards of glass in her back and the blunt force of hitting the ground. The wind blast had given her enough forward momentum to continued falling, painfully rolling down the hill Applejack’s house sat upon. She came to a hard stop at the bottom.
Nearly at the same time, but just seconds too late to stop Rarity from being literally blown away, Rainbow Dash slammed into the broken wall on 2 Minutes to Midnight. Lennon was gripped in her Stand’s fist, looking ready to throw up the nonexistent contents of his nonexistent stomach. 2M2M raised its fists up in front of it, ready to lash out at the nearest enemy.
“Miss Rarity!” Lennon shouted, reaching for the direction in which Rarity was sent in. Dash tightened her Stand’s grip on him, causing him to just helplessly squirm.
“The other three are with her, she’ll be fine,” Rainbow Dash narrowed her brow and scowled at the two unfamiliar ponies. Unlike Rarity or Pinkie Pie, Dash would not be even giving these two a chance to defend themselves. “Which one is it?”
“That one!” Lennon pointed his claw directly at Crimson. Then he did so again twice more for added emphasis. “The one with the menacing yellow eyes!”
“So you’re the one who’s been taking control of all my friends like some sort of coward!” Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on her Stand’s handlebars. “Well no more of that! Now you’re going to fight me like a real stallion!”
“A coward is one who runs away from conflict,” Crimson snarled, “I, on the other hand, say Clear! Take care of Miss Rainbow Dash!”
“Of course, Mr. Crimson,” Clear Skies pointed her umbrella at Rainbow Dash and company, the top starting to spin again. In a matter of seconds, its gale force of wind were generated. Yet as the blast shot out towards her, 2 Minutes To Midnight made a small vacuum in the palm of its free hand, sucking the wind inside of them. It aimed its palm behind it and released the wind, sending cutlery and china cascading from cabinets to the floor.
“I said you’re going to fight ME!” Unable to still herself for any longer, Rainbow Dash kicked back on and flew 2 Minutes to Midnight in a charge towards Crimson Spirit. The first containing Lennon was raised, ready to punch as the cloth dog inside of it screamed in terror.
Clear Skies, however, would see to it that Rainbow Dash would not lay a finger on her master. She pointed her umbrella to the ground and once again spun it. A powerful updraft was created, sending both the holder of the umbrella and 2 Minutes to Midnight hurtling into the ceiling. As the floor to Apple Bloom’s bedroom was shattered, another blast sent her through the wall and out into the open skies far above the house and away from Crimson Spirit.
“Should I pursue her, Master?” Clear turned with an almost robotic gaze towards Crimson.
“What do you think?” Crimson groaned, “Keep her busy until I’m out of this place, then meet me at the edge of Everfree!”
Nodding, Clear threw off her blazer, letting her wings unfold behind her. With a few powerful flaps, she took off into the hole in the ceiling, following after the receding Dash.
While she flew away, Crimson observed the massive amounts of wreckage around him. Clear Skies would be currently keeping Rainbow dash from beating him to a pulp. The fact that she wanted to do that was a huge problem for him. Rarity was at the bottom of the hill, injured most likely. It would be unlikely that she would pose a threat at the second.
But where was Pinkie Pie? Clear Skies said that she had arrived with Rarity. Crimson could only guess that she was the one who went and got Rainbow Dash. But Dash was already here, where was Pinkie Pie?
“Rarity?! Applejack?” Two new sets of footsteps rushed in from the front door. The weight and frequency of them sounded like they were in a hurry. Crimson could easily guess Pinkie had gone and gotten her Alicorn friend to help out, a fact which caused him to quickly dart his way into the meeting room.
“It’s him!” Pinkie Pie shouted with a gasp, “That’s him Twilight!”
Much like Rainbow Dash, both Pinkie and Twilight wasted no time in manifesting their Stands. Almost as soon as Night Wish appeared, Twilight conducted its ink in a circle around Crimson, hardening into bindings around him. With a gasp, the stallion was yanked in front of the two of them, immobilized. At the same time Pinkie stood with Ta-Dah at the ready, in case he tried anything funny.
“How do you like those cupcakes Mr. Cult Member?!” Pinkie growled. Her eyes glared at him with a harshness most of her friends had seldom seen, “You’ll pay for what you did to Data!”
“My name is Crimson Spirit,” Crimson calmly correct her, not struggling at all in his bindings, “And really, I’ll pay for what I did? It was you who were too late to save him.”
Pinkie’s eyes widened, her arms shaking as her fear was confirmed. Twilight scowled and reached out, putting a hand on Pinkie’s shoulder as she cleared her throat.
“Crimson Spirit,” Twilight shouted authoritatively. She had not yet mastered the art of the Royal Equestrian Voice, despite mentorage by both Luna and Cadence, “For your irreprensible crimes, including removal of free will via magical means, participation in a terrorist group, countless counts of attempted murder, and at least one count of murder, by the authority of the Equestrian Royalty, I, Princess Twilight Sparkle, place you under arrest!”
“Is that so?” Crimson raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps I can offer a counter solution to our conflict here?” He motioned his head down to his wrist, “In particular, evening out the numbers here.”
On his wrist, a bracelet with several charms on it had formed. Most of them had been broken, having turned silver from their regularly red state. Only two remained still glowing red. One had an image of two feathers joined at the tip. The other was glowing, with an image of three apples on it.
At first, there was a deathly silence. Twilight looked about, trying to see what he was talking about. Then the entire house started to shake. In an instant, the ceiling above broke, sending dust and splinters into the air. Through the massive billowing cloud came a multitude of thick vines raining down from the ceiling and hurtling towards Twilight and Pinkie Pie. Both of whom were forced to leap back to evade the attack.
From the freshly made hole in the ceiling the vines’ source descended: “Applejack!” Pinkie Pie called out, “There you are! We were super duper worried about...you…” Pinkie trailed off as she looked at her friend a bit more closely. The vines that had attacked them began at the top of Applejack’s shoulders and seeming obscured the entirety of her arms. She used them to gently lower herself down, shrinking the vines as she descended. When she touched the ground, it became clear the vines weren’t obscuring her arms; they were her arms. They formed and melded together in order to reform her arms and made it seem like they were normal.
“You call, Mr. Crimson?” Applejack asked in an obedient tone of voice, one slightly uncharacteristic for her. Her normally green irises had turned a glowing red.
“Yes,” Crimson calmly said. As he talked, Applejack turned one of her arms back into vines and wriggled them between the chains Night Wish had made, pulling them apart and shattering them back into ink easily. With his hands now freed, Crimson Spirit casually pointed at Twilight and Pinkie. “These ponies here are threatening my life. Kill them for me.”
“Certainly...” Just when Twilight and Pinkie fully took in what was going on, Applejack turned her arms back into vines, growing them at a rapid rate and launching them towards the two stunned mares through the shattered remains of her home.
~~~
The sudden updraft had caused Rainbow Dash to massively lose her orientation and start somersaulting in all directions as she was forced to ascend into the skies high above the house. She managed to right herself high in the sky above the main orchard, thankful for the fact that it was impossible for her to fall off her Stand.
Since Lennon did not have that luxury, he was forced to sew himself to Rainbow Dash’s clothes at the last minute to keep from being hurtled to Celestia knows where. The time between when he realized he needed to do so and when he actually did was shown by the foot of string he was dangling from. One end was attached to the back of Rainbow Dash’s shirt, while the other was attached to his own paw. Lennon howled loudly as this setup made him fling around like some sort of child’s toy in the high winds this high up.
“What just happened?!” Rainbow felt the string tugging on her clothes and took hold of it. With one swift yank she pulled Lennon back up to her. Immediately the Diamond Dog used his ripper to undo the bond between Rainbow’s shirt and his paw, and then used his needle to sew his back two paws to her shoulder.
“We got blown upwards by the Pegasus’s Stand!” Lennon shouted, feeling slightly better now that he was secured onto something. For now.
“Right… dammit! That bastard has gotten more of my friends than I thought...” Rainbow scowled. With her flight stabilized, her perception filter was back in effect. She could Crimson clearly through the whole Clear Skies had made in the roof, along with Pinkie Pie and Twilight. She narrowed her gaze and prepared to rocket 2M2M at him as fast as it could to help out her friends. Before she could even move, however, a cyclone of winds caught her and spun her like a top.
This time, Rainbow Dash used 2 Minutes to Midnight’s jets as soon as possible to correct her orientation. The direction she ended up facing was in the direction of the twister’s source: Clear Skies and her Umbrella Stand. The mare held her umbrella out to the side like a sword, the top still spinning from her previous attack.
Clear skies was hovering in the air wordlessly, umbrella constantly rotating in her hands. From where she hovered, she was directly between Rainbow Dash and Crimson Spirit. Which really made Rainbow Dash angry because all she wanted to do right now was to get her and 2 Minutes to Midnight’s fists as close to Crimson’s face as she possibly could.
“What the heck did he do to you Clear?” Rainbow Dash shouted to her friend and coworker. “I know you! You are the one of the absolute last mares who would work for a creep like him!”
“Mister Crimson is my friend,” Clear stated with conviction. “He understands me like no pony else does. He’s given me what nopony else could! Not just my Midsummer’s Station. He’s given me a purpose in my life when I had none before!”
“That so isn’t how you talk, and aren’t you a weather pony? We flew on the same team!” Rainbow could feel her grip tightening even harder on the handles. “This isn’t you!” For the first time, Rainbow was seeing just what Crimson could do to a pony. This was the first time that she had seen a pony whom she was personally close to under his effects. She didn’t think it possible, but Rainbow’s hatred for him grew even more now.
“If you keep trying to get to Mister Crimson!” Clear shouted, “I will have to kill you!”
“Well then,” Dash snarled, “I’m just gonna have to go through you!”
The metaphorical fires of Rainbow Dash’s rage were mimicked by the real ones of 2 Minute to Midnight’s jets igniting and moving like a bullet directly towards Clear Skies. If she wouldn’t let Rainbow get to Crimson, then Rainbow would have to deal with her first. She knew she could incapacitate Clear Skies with one decisive punch, and 2M2M drew its fist back accordingly.
Clear Skies seemed to be anticipating this, as she blew more air downwards to propel herself above Rainbow Dash’s charge. The sheer speed of her Stand’s winds was apparently enough to match that of 2M2M’s jets!
With the enhanced reaction time that Two Minutes to Midnight gave her, Rainbow Dash was able to counter this evasion. Right as she passed underneath of Clear Skies, Rainbow Dash’s Stand rotated its body to face her. It clapped its hands and a new vacuum was created, with the Stand being its center point.
Clear Skies was pulled towards the center, her face on a direct collision course with 2 Minutes to Midngiht’s fist. At the very last second she managed to avoid getting punched by her enemy by by putting Midsummer Station between her the approaching fist. Instead of wind coming out of it this time, a large amount of snow formed from the canopy. The fist had prepared to slam through a vertical column of force, rather than a massive dampening effect. Said effect was enough to cushion 2 Minutes to Midnight’s rocket powered punch and send Clear Skies recoiling out of range.
While still moving, Clear Skies spun Midsummer Station up for another attack. She straightened her body like an arrow with the umbrella as its head in Rainbow Dash’s direction. The air around the canopy cooled incredibly the water in the air cooled into large chunks of golf ball sized ice.
Rainbow had just enough time to cross 2 Minute to Midnight’s arms and in front of its face to shield it from the projectile hail. Each buffer had half the speed of a bullet, and smashed roughly against the Stand’s arms. Rainbow in turn felt each buffer of hail on her own body. Her arms felt like they were bruising, and every blow to the chest knocked more wind out of her.
“Weather!” Lennon cried. “Her Stand makes weather effects from that umbrella that she can control!”
“Yeah Leord, I can see that!” Dash winced and tried to keep the pain from getting to her. Normally she would have been able to see that pelting coming and dodge it within two seconds. But she felt her perception drop significantly as soon as she made the vacuum to draw Clear Skies in. Thus, she hadn’t been able to detect the sudden shift from wind to snow, then from snow to ice fast enough.
This example fed into a theory Dash had about her own powers. When flying on her Stand, it often felt as though she wasn’t perceiving things the way she normally did. Her perception, however, was tied her vacuums abilities. This, in turn, prompted her to draw the conclusion that, while on 2M2M, she was always in a vacuum, where she perceived on a separate level from the rest of the world around her. Apparently two vacuums couldn’t exist in the same place, and so she had to drop that first one in order to make the new one.
“You are to leave Mr. Spirit alone,” Clear Skies declared, umbrella spinning perpetually. “This is your last chance!”
“No way I’m doing that!” The pain in Rainbow was burning away now that she was focused through her frustration. “He needs to be captured and to pay for everything he’s done to me and my friends. Including you, Clear!”
“Then I am afraid you must perish.” With a wide swing, Midsummer Station sprayed droplets of water at the rate of a fire hose at Rainbow Dash.
With her perception vacuum restored, Rainbow Dash processed the water coming towards her at much faster than the rate at which time flowed outside the vacuum. She took of and zipped right above the spray. When Clear reacted and moved her umbrella in the direction she went, Rainbow Dash had already noticed the second she started to move her arms and changed her course accordingly. She circled around Clear with the water chasing her the whole way. But it never even touched Rainbow by the time her Stand finished its course with a fist to Clear Skies’ back. A punch that was calculated to not cause any serious harm such as broken bones, but still be painful enough to make any normal pony want to force themselves to stop fighting.
Despite wincing from the blow, Clear Skies quickly recovered and turned around. She gripped Midsummer Station tightly began to fly upwards. As she did so, the air around Rainbow Dash grew noticeably cooler. It dawned on Dash that Midsummer Station didn’t just spray water, it created new moisture in the air. Moisture that was now cooling into a thick, opaque fog.
Dash growled as she turned her head within the fog. That blow should have knocked Clear out of the fight! It looked like Crimson’s Stand had made Clear far from a normal normal pony, or at least willing to push past her normal limits. This wasn’t good: Clear could keep fighting even after she should have been beaten down!
“It’s so thick I can barely see in front of my face,” Lennon gripped the fabric of Dash’s shirt tighter, tensing up and shaking ever so slightly.
“Be quiet, Leo! I’m trying to listen,” Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and and began to pick up on the sounds around her. Clear Skies had robbed her of her vision as a means of perceiving her. Being able to react to attacks must faster than a normal pony proved largely less useful when Dash couldn’t see where the attacks were coming from in the first place.
Instead, Rainbow Dash was trying to listen for the sounds of Clear flapping her wings in the air. But she couldn’t. While her vacuum only allowed her to react to things she perceived much quicker than the outside world progressed, she couldn’t perceive those things any better. So her listening turned out to be useless.
This also had the added side effect of Rainbow Dash floating completely still in the center of the fog. It wasn’t until she felt the cascading water on 2 Minutes to Midnight that she realized that she had left herself a sitting duck. Even though she reacted the instant she felt it touch her, it was already too late.
Dash felt the air grow even colder. The fog condensed even further into sharpy, tiny fragments of that buffered and scraped against Rainbow Dash’s skin as they fell from the air towards the ground. The large amount of moisture that had built up around 2 Minutes to Midnight’s arm flash froze, encasing it in a thin layer of ice.
Her teeth chattering from the cold, Rainbow Dash attempted to have 2 Minutes to Midnight bend its arm and break the ice. But the sudden decrease in temperature had gotten to Dash’s arm, making it nearly impossible to move. Already she was feeling the painful frostbite. The only upside to her situation right now was that the fog had turned into hail and Dash could see Clear Skies again, coming right towards her.
While she could process the projectile hail coming for her, Rainbow Dash couldn’t do anything about it. She tried to will 2 Minutes to Midnight to fly away, but her frozen arm burned too much. The cold had likely chilled her Stand’s engines. Everything she tried to do only resulted in her wincing in pain. This wasn’t helped when each hail ball collided with her like a baseball, feeling like individual punches bruising her body. She bit down so hard from the paint that she swore she felt a tooth crack.
Due to the high amounts of pain she was feeling, Rainbow didn’t notice that Lennon had detached himself from her shoulder and ran down to 2 Minutes to Midnight’s arm. Frantically he pulled the ripper from his back and jammed it between the ice layer and Rainbow Dash’s arm. Tempting fate and risking falling off, Lennon circled the ripper around its arm until it made a full circle. Then he plunged the ripper back into his back and started to push with all his rag might.
Freshly separated, the ice layer slid off like it was two sizes too big for 2 Minutes to Midnight’s arm. Dash noticed the change in temperature on her own arm immediately. There was no longer a painful freezing sensation that made even the slightest movement painful. With her newly returned mobility, Rainbow Dash turned the space above her into a vacuum, drawing all the hail towards its center and shattering into smaller ice sharts. With her body temperature up, her Stand’s engines responded too. By the time they had broken, Dash was in motion again.
Rainbow made a wide loop around to Clear Skies’ side and attempted to charge in from there, but was met with a current of wind forcing her back in the opposite direction. The winds got increasingly stronger, forcing Rainbow Dash further away from her target despite the top speeds 2 Minutes to Midnight was putting out.
“Gaaaahhhhh!!!” Rainbow growled as her stand pushed as hard as she could against the winds. Even though Rainbow had the power of a jet in her stand, Clear could make winds as strong as a hurricane from hers. She had every intention of blowing Rainbow as far away from here as possible in order to protect the creep who was brainwashing her.
These winds were the problem. They were preventing Rainbow from reaching her goal. As she struggled, she started to wish desperately that she could just ignore them. But she knew all too well about how air current worked. You had to go with it. Going against it would be a losing battle. But it was her only option. If only she didn’t have deal with it at all!
As if she was separate from the air current…
2 Minutes to Midnight always existed in its own vacuum. That vacuum could only be one type of vacuum. Currently she perceived things at separate speeds from the outside world. Earlier she had repurposed it to draw the outside world in. What if she repurposed it again, but this time, to ignore the air current of the outside?
Not entirely sure how to do this, Rainbow closed her eyes and thought real hard about it. She tried to remember what little she had gotten from Twilight and Rarity about how magic works before she fell asleep on them. Magic worked by altering the environment’s natural processes. Clear was making a natural process. She had to make her Stand alter the natural process. She focused hard. Harder. Harder. Then, Dash noticed a change.
A change in the form that she felt the winds blowing against her face. Before she hadn’t perceived the winds because they came from the outside. Anything that would mess up her sight or hearing was rejected. But now that wasn’t her vacuum’s purpose. Now, the vacuum around her rejected the outside air current, as well as any force that would impede 2 Minutes to Midnight’s movement. It moved as if it were unimpeded at all.
Clear Skies barely had time to register the fact that 2 Minutes to Midnight was now cutting right through Midsummer Station’s winds. In a matter of seconds Rainbow Dash and her stand were right in front of Clear Skies and immediately gave a punch right to her gut. The blow was of similar strength to the previous one she’d delivered to her back. Only this time the blow was intended to knock all of the breath out of her and force Clear Skies to fall to the ground, where Rainbow Dash would catch her.
For a brief moment, it seemed to work. Clear Skies’ mouth hung open like she was gasping for air, and her wings stopped flapping. She began to descend from the sky, her grip on the umbrella loosening. But as she fell, with what looked to be a painful shriek, she forced herself to start breathing and begin flying once more through the burning in her lungs. Crimson’s Stand would force her to go inhumane lengths for him. She really would have to do more than she wanted to in order to incapacite Skies.
“Damnit,” Dash banged the back of her Stand in frustration. “No matter what I do I just can’t get her to quit. If she didn’t have that umbrella, I might be able to do something.” Dash looked over to Lennon, who had reattached himself to her shoulder. “You got rid of the ice on my Stand’s arm a few minutes ago, how did you do that?”
“It’s part of me and my brother’s abilities,” Lennon explained, putting a paw on the handle of the seam ripping in his back. “We can separate any two things that aren’t the same thing. Remove ice from somepony’s arm, yes. Cut their skin, no.”
“Even if they aren’t really, attached?” Rainbow pointed towards Clear Skies, who was struggling to catch her breath and fly back up at the same time. “Like, the umbrella from her hands?”
“Yes!” Lennon nodded frantically. “If I could get my tool in there it would just slide right out of her hands until she grabbed it again.”
Already Dash was forming a plan. Clear heaved in breath into her body, her face red from the effort it took. Her lips had formed into an angered snarl between gasps, and her eyes were narrowed. Her fingers around her umbrella had turned bright red from just how tightly she was holding it now, ready to strike again.
“Alright,” Dash grinned with determination. “Then I want you to do just that. I’ll throw you towards her, and you get the umbrella out of her hands. Got it, Leon?”
“A-Alright,” Lennon gulped, already taking the needle out of his back and sewing one end to two Minutes to Midnight’s finger. “If it’ll get us down to Miss Rarity faster, then I’ll do it!” He paused and bit his lip, “And… it’s, Lennon.”
“That’s what I like to hear little guy!” She had her Stand tighten its grip on the Diamond Dog. By now, Clear Skies was up to the same height as the two of them.
“This. Ends. Now!” Clear Skies took a deep breath between every word. Her wings were flapping slower than they had been at the start of the fight. Still she clutched Midsummer Station as hard as she could. Her wings were struggling to flap due to her lack of air, but her eyes were bloodshot with determination. Her unbreakable will would not yield. “I will not allow you to continue this an-”
“THINK FAST!” Rainbow didn’t let Clear finish her sentence before she wound up 2M2M’s arm and threw Lennon like it was pitching a baseball. The dog’s howl pierced the air loudly as he went on a direct path for Clear Skies.
“Stupid!” High pressure rain shot from Midsummer Station’s canopy. Clear had the intention of freezing Lennon in place, and so Rainbow yanked him back by the string he attached like a yo-yo. The dog jerked backwards and let out a bark as he snapped backwards.
As soon as he returned to her Stand’s hand, Rainbow Dash pitched Lennon at Clear Skies once more. This time, as soon as the mutt started its course, Rainbow flew underneath of Clear Skies and charged upwards towards her. Clear was forced to aim Midsummer Station down at Rainbow and 2M2M, While she blasted a gust of wind at her, knocking Rainbow back, Lennon was able to find his mark and clung onto Clear Skies.
“What the?!” Clear Skies started to grab for Lennon, but the Diamond Dog had already began scampering down her arm and towards the hand gripping Midsummer Station. “Get off of me you disgusting rodent!”
Lennon ignored Clear and pulled his ripper out and jammed it right between Clear’s hand the umbrella handle. In a matter of seconds her made a full circle, just barely evading Clear’s other hand trying to grab at him. As soon as Dash saw the umbrella slip out of Clear’s hand, she took that as a cue to yank Lennon back towards her.
Not wasting any time, Rainbow jetted towards Clear Skies, catching Lennon halfway between. Now defenseless, Clear had no way of stopping Rainbow Dash from using 2M2M put her into a full nelson hold, effectively restaining her. If she could get Clear to the ground, she could be properly incapacitated before the spell on her was broken.
“You think these cheap tactics cheap tactics will work on me?” Despite the position she was in, Clear looked up and scoffed at Rainbow Dash. “You understand nothing!”
Even though it wasn’t in Clear’s hands anymore, Rainbow saw Midsummer Station blowing a breeze strong enough to propel it up into the air. It then shot more rain in their direction, forcing 2M2M to recoil and release her grip on Clear. She instantly flew over and caught her Stand, aiming it back at Rainbow Dash. But Rainbow Dash looked undeterred.
“You’re wrong Clear,” Dash declared. “I don’t know what exactly that Crimson jerk’s Stand has done to you, but I do know something for certain: You obviously don’t remember a single thing I taught you about controlling weather. So I’ll give you a little pop quiz to refresh your memory.”
“I remember enough to know how to use Midsummer Station!” Clear snarled, “And you quit the weather team to go join the Wonderbolts! I probably remember more than you!”
“Question one:” Rainbow kept on talking, not dignifying Clear’s retort. “What have you been creating from your umbrella this whole time? Moisture.
“Question two: How did you keep freezing that moisture? By dropping the heat in the air, right? We did that maneuver all the time.” Dash smirked harder.
“Question three: What is the temperature like this time of year? Warm, meaning the air is warm too.
“Question four: What happens when large amounts of moisture in the air is kept together in a single place, by say, a vacuum formed around the area we’ve been fighting in? They’ll condense into clouds. Just like when we used our wings to whip the air up.
“And finally,” Dash’s grin grew almost too much for her face, “Question five: What happens when the water forming clouds is at a drastically different temperature than the surrounding air?”
As if the very forces of nature themselves were collaborating with Dash for dramatic effect, her question was answered for her. Clear Skies got the answer in the form of a loud clap of thunder coming from above her. When she looked up, Clear saw that the skies were anything by her name. Thick, dark clouds were forming.
“It’s been forever since I’ve made storm clouds from scratch,” Dash mused with a triumphant grin, “Usually we just get them Cloudsdale. So these might not be as safe as they should be. It’s time for one final bonus question, Clear. When working with thunderstorms, why should a Pegasus never be holding a metal object?”
The answer was obvious to Clear. Jerking her head to her hand, the mare frantically tried to discard Midsummer Station. But she had found that she couldn’t. Lennon sat on top of her shoulder, grinning as he held his needle in hand. He had sewn Midsummer’s Station to Clear’s hands and chest, forcing it to point straight up. His grin was persistent as he was yanked backwards by a string he sewn to his own back.
“Lightning!” Rainbow Dash crossed her arms, already knowing the battle to have been won, “Don’t worry, your Pegasus feathers will prevent any real damage, but it’ll still be quite the nasty shock. Maybe enough to shock some sense into you!” Dash cocked her hips forward and sat up with her elbows against 2M2M’s back, her hair blowing behind her right as the cloud erupted with a bright bolt of lightning, striking Midsummer’s Station, and Clear herself.
Clear let out a gasp as she felt her body convulsing with the charged bolts. Her eyes rolled up into her head as her wings finally gave out, her muscles refusing to function as she began to spiral down towards the orchard.
Casually, Dash reached out and caught Clear in 2M2M’s left arm. Holding her up, the Pegasus grinned, “Good drill, Clear. Now,” She turned her sights down towards the house, “Let’s go talk to our instructor.” With that, 2M2M shot out towards the house.