//------------------------------// // The Ground Rules Have Changed // Story: KONO DIO DA: 『Over Friendship』 // by DIO Brando //------------------------------// Today is June 12th, eleven days until the Summer Sun Celebration. DIO opened his eyes to the sight of Crazy Diamond slowly fading away. Josuke stood beside Twilight, both looking down at DIO as the others arrived. How could he have lost? How could a stand of such power suddenly manifest? He shook off the questions, as it was surely no time for curiosity. DIO slowly lifted up, as Josuke's stand had healed him completely. "What happened?" Dash asked, looking at the amount of blood and ruin that covered the once-normal home. Twilight and Josuke were silent, leaving only DIO to speak. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Princess Luna and Jotaro. All that hadn't seen his defeat, but for once he had to admit to it. "I was defeated," he said, simply. Fluttershy ran to him as Dash exchanged a look with Twilight. "Since when do you admit defeat?" Jotaro asked, looking down at DIO. DIO shot him a hateful glare, choosing not to respond. He got up, petting Fluttershy as she hugged him as best she could. "That Equine, Lyra," DIO started, looking at Luna, "she has a stand." "Is she the—" Luna began to ask, before being interrupted by DIO. "No," he said, "She's new. Her stand is immensely powerful, however. I assume that her mortality would make wielding it constantly a very difficult feat." "What makes you say that?" Twilight asked. Before DIO could speak, Jotaro spoke up. "If her stand is able to stop time, then it must be taxing," Jotaro said, "I can only stop time for five seconds, no matter how well-trained my stand is. It takes a monster to stop time for any longer than that, regardless of the stand's ability itself." "Along with that," DIO continued, "even if she knew more about her stand from it's birth unlike most who awaken their ability, she still hasn't trained it's usage. Her power wasn't even conditioned, it was luck that allowed her to wield it so powerfully." "And if she's powerful enough to stop DIO without even trying," Josuke said, "then god only knows what kind of power she would have once it was trained." There was a moment of silence, as the group thought about what this meant. DIO, having been the only one to hear her true intentions, thought back to what she said before tearing a hole in his gut. "I began to see it's full potential, something that wouldn't just defeat you, but anypony in my or Kira's way. Something that could give me anything I wanted." "She called it Forthcoming," DIO said suddenly, "To me it sounds like a reference to a Fourth Coming." "The three princesses," Twilight said, "Cadence, Luna, Celestia. . ." "Lyra." Josuke finished, his expression turning stern, "It's going to take all of our effort combined to stop this." Josuke looked at DIO, and then Jotaro, before reiterating. "ALL of our effort." They both grunted in response. Kira sat down beside Lyra, attempting to comfort her. Her breathing was shallow, and her heart beating slowly, but still, she smiled. "We did it, we escaped," she said softly, her eyes barely open as she looked up at Kira. Kira shook his head. "You did," he corrected, "but it almost killed you. You'll need to train with your stand before doing anything crazy." Lyra coughed, attempting to sit up, but Kira quickly stopped her, laying her back down again. "You need to rest," he said. Lyra chuckled. She leaned back and looked up at the sky. She thought of her new power, of how she could use it for her own benefit. This wasn't about simple day-to-day life anymore. Fate had chosen her, it had chosen her to lead Equestria into a new age, she thought. Her fantasies went further, imagining how she could merge universes together, bringing the human world into the Equestrian one. Then, no one would call her crazy. With the last bit of strength she had, she summoned her stand. Kira stood back as it hovered over Lyra, a bright glow emitting from her. Kira covered his eyes, before realizing he was human again. He looked at Lyra to see that she was as well. And a beautiful human she was, Kira thought. Hands almost perfectly molded, a figure that could be envied by models, and hair that flowed like a powerful river. Her eyes, a golden, glowing yellow, looked into his. Kira was taken aback, not having thought of the implications of this stand's ability to manipulate small things. Lyra smiled, holding her hand out to Kira. "Would you like this form better~?" she said, smirking. Kira only stared, before a smile spread across his face, then he looked down. "Are you sure it's good to walk around naked like that?" he asked. Lyra's eyes popped open as her face flushed red. "Oops." Today is June 15th, eight days until the Summer Sun Celebration. The group was back at Golden Oaks library. Luna, DIO, Rainbow Dash, Jotaro and Josuke sitting still and thinking, while Fluttershy stayed by DIO and Twilight paced back and forth. Twilight sent an urgent letter to Princess Celestia, awaiting her arrival. It was taking her a while, and they weren't sure why. Finally, there was a knock at the door. Twilight opened it with magic, seeing that it was the Princess they had waited on for so long. As she walked in, the equines bowed with the exception of Luna. "Princess Celestia, you're here!" Twilight said with a smile. Her smile quickly faded as Celestia showed no response, not even a smirk. She looked down at the floor as the equines rose up to look at her. DIO quirked a brow as Celestia looked up once more. "The entire Royal Guard employed to secure Ponyville's border was slaughtered this morning," she said with a grim tone, "not a single one of them remains." Fear covered the faces of the present equines. In the time they waited, Lyra had gained the strength back to take out the entire royal guard, leaving Equestria completely defenseless. While the equines were sad, and Josuke was concerned, DIO just felt anger. "Where were you for those last three days?" he asked, approaching Celestia. She quickly noted the anger in his voice before replying. "You wouldn't understand," she snapped back, "this isn't easy for me to deal with! Thanks to your stand abilities coming into our world, this is all happening!" "You think this is MY fault?!" DIO shouted back. In his anger, DIO took a chair and hurled it towards her. The equines all gasped in fear, as Jotaro and Josuke summoned their stands ready to fight DIO in case he went too crazy. Then something strange happened. In her stress, Celestia did not think about consequences, before another ghostly figure appeared and broke the chair into splinters. Everyone was in shock, even DIO. "Sister. . ." Luna said slowly, "what is that?" Celestia looked at her sister, her anger suddenly changing to a worry as she had unintentionally revealed something that would have most possibly destroyed the trust she had developed with her subjects. The figure she had summoned, the Stand she had summoned, it was all white with a humanoid appearance. The top of it's head was wrapped with wires, and its face had eyes like the sun and moon. On it's back were pipes emitting small flames, and on it's chest were the symbols of a sun, a star, and a moon. It wore a belt fastened by a sun, and other straps wrapping around the thighs from the belt buckle. On it's knees were stars, and on it's wrists very decorative bracelets. Taking in the sight of such a well-manifested stand, DIO stood back, glaring at Celestia. "It was you," he said, "You are the one who brought these powers to the land." Celestia was silent, as the other equines were in awe of what had happened. Twilight slowly walked up to her. "Is it true. . .princess?" Twilight asked, slightly choking on her words, "is this why all of these things have happened?" Celestia looked at all of them, before her stand faded away. She slowly nodded. "Yes. . ." she said, "Luna and I were the first to gain these powers, thousands of years ago, in all that time, we knew not how to train them. When Princess Cadence also showed her ability to gain this power, I granted her the abilities of a princess, in exchange that she would keep quiet about the ability and use it only to help her subjects. We didn't think another user would develop so soon, and we surely did not believe that it would cause a breach between the fabric of worlds. I am sorry." "You too. . ?" Twilight said, looking over towards Luna. Luna nodded. "I did not know of my sister's ability," she admitted, "but I knew well of mine, and used it to the best of my ability to keep all of equinity safe. I figured it was happenstance that I would have developed it, as well as Mi Amor Cadenza. . .Celestia's ability is just as much a surprise to me as it is to you." "Then what are they used for?" Dash asked suddenly, with a bit of frustration in her voice, "If you had these superpowers all along, why did my friends have to put their lives on the line to keep Equestria safe with the elements?" "Because these abilities are not for combat," Celestia answered, "Luna's capability allows her to enter dreams, and to stabilize them in such a way that ponies like yourself could stay held together individually. Cadence was only capable of affecting the love of individuals, spreading it like a wildfire to keep the Crystal Empire from falling into hatred after the events of King Sombra's reign." "Then that leaves you," DIO said, looking at Celestia, "what is your ability?" "The stand's name is Friendship," Celestia said quietly, "it controls the bonds of animals and allows them to think and speak as sentient beings." "You mean. . ." Fluttershy said quietly, "we're just animals without it?" Celestia was quiet for a moment, as the room filled with tension. She slowly nodded her head. "Celestia," DIO said suddenly. Celestia looked up at him, "come with me. We need to talk."