//------------------------------// // Lyra's World Part 1 // Story: KONO DIO DA: 『Over Friendship』 // by DIO Brando //------------------------------// Today is June 22nd, one day until the Summer Sun Celebration. Several days had passed. No hint of where Lyra and Kira could be, and no one, nor pony, had a clue where to start looking. Days and days of pondering, and thinking, and nothing surfaced. A worry grew among the group, as the equines saw a possible end to their lifestyles as they knew it, and the humans and vampire saw no return to their world. DIO sat, thinking to himself as the equines chattered in another room. Josuke entered, giving a light knock on the short door. "Come in," DIO said quietly. Josuke slowly crept in, taking a seat in a chair close to DIO. DIO opened one eye to look at Josuke, "Have you something to say?" "After some thinking, I've had a bit of an epiphany," Josuke said, "I think I know where Kira might be hiding." DIO quirked a brow, leaning forward to listen. "Kira would usually hide in a place where he could be disguised to fit in with society," Josuke explained, "there's a chance that, with Lyra's stand ability, they could have gone to someplace else in Equestria and tried to fit in like everyone else." "It would explain why Lyra took out the Royal Guard, aside from just a show of power," DIO mused, "but wouldn't there be heavier security measures for newcomers after such an event?" "That's the thing," Josuke said, "from what I've read over the past few days, the cities in Equestria are vastly different from one another in culture, technology, and even architecture. Surely, Canterlot was blocked off, as well as Manehattan and several other cities. If I were to take a guess, they've made their way into Appleloosa. It's the only place that would be easily caught off-guard." "It's a good start," DIO said, "Tell the others, we'll start to venture there." The squealing sound of brakes pierced the air as the Mane Six, DIO, Jotaro, and Josuke all prepared to board a train to Appleloosa. As the got on to a very special part of the train, the Mane Six began to talk. "Ah, geez. . ." Applejack said slowly, "I hope my family down there's okay. . ." "I'm sure they'll be fine dear," Rarity replied, "after all, it wouldn't be much of a disguise if ponies started dying would it?" "I guess you're right Rarity," Applejack replied again, "it's still gutwrenchin' to think that they're just trottin' about." "Well, if they see us, they might take hostages," Rainbow Dash pointed out, crudely unaware of the insensitivity of that statement. Applejack only looked in horror as the rest of the mane six gave an angry look to Dash. "She's right," Jotaro said, "we'll need to disguise ourselves somehow to find them or they'll get violent out of desperation. The last thing we need is more people to get hurt because the 'bad guys' think they're going out with a bang." Everyone looked at Twilight. "What are you looking at me for?" "Good grief. . ." Jotaro said, looking at his hooves. "You were the one who wanted a disguise," Twilight said, "I did the best I could." "It's definitely going to take some getting used to," Josuke added, stumbling a bit in his equine form. The former humans and vampire were now equine, and the mane six appeared completely different from what they normally were. All equipped with the Elements of Harmony that were cleverly disguised as necklaces. After a few minutes of adjusting to their new appearances, they started their search for the killer couple. Appleloosa wasn't as densely populated as Ponyville was, but it was close. There'd be a lot of equines to look through, and they definitely couldn't just ask around. They relied on DIO's ability to read people, hoping that their search would be swift. However, it was anything but. Hours of searching, looking around housing areas and restaurants for any odd behavior. Everything seemed perfectly in place. Applejack specifically felt bad not being able to speak to any of her relatives, but she knew it was for a better cause. After a lot of time coming up with nothing, the group considered abandoning the search until a peculiar couple was detected. "Them," DIO said quietly, glancing in the direction of the two. The group all turned their eyes towards a couple of equines who seemed oddly overdressed for Appleloosa, and definitely not as social as many of the Appleloosans. After a few minutes of observation, it seemed the two were definitely reasonable candidates for the disguised villains. "I don't really care for this place, but you were right," Kira said quietly, "this is definitely the last place they would think to look for us." "I know right?" Lyra replied with a chuckle, "Nopony would think to come here, and with these disguises we look just like any Appleloosan." "We might be a bit overdressed," Kira said, looking at his very cliche'd cow-boy appearance. He struggled to keep the slightly oversized stetson out of his face. "The Summer Sun Celebration is tomorrow," Lyra assured, "it won't be long before my plans can come to fruition." "About that," Kira said cautiously. Lyra quirked a brow, "I'm not sure you should really invest in such a. . .large scale plan. Why not just sit back, live a quiet life and wait until they inevitably leave? You said these disguises can be permanent, and we could always go to another world anyway." "I like Ponyville," Lyra retorted, "and I like being me, or a human version of me. I'm very picky about that, but I understand what you're saying. I assure you, when all of it is over, you will have the quiet life you want, and you can do whatever you want. Doesn't that sound good?" Kira nodded. It did sound great, a life where he could do anything he wanted without conflict, but with this newfound compassion for Lyra, it seemed odd. He didn't have the same desires to kill, or at least not as much as he did before. He seemed to find contentment in Lyra, and unlike other women he had encountered, she was pretty when she talked. He was slightly concerned with her ambitions, however. Mainly because he wasn't sure she could handle the stress of using that much power at once. He wasn't going to stand in her way now, though. He was sure he felt something for her, whether that was love or just a general closeness that came as a side effect of being in this universe, he wanted to support her desires anyway. After a while of sitting at the saloon, Kira looked at Lyra. She locked eyes with him, ears perking up to hear what he might have to say. "Lyra, I need to tell you something," he said. Lyra tried to force away a smile, but as she knew what he could be saying, she couldn't help but to lose her straight face. "Hmmm~?" she said, leaning a bit closer. Kira paused for a moment, glancing around before speaking up once more. "You make me feel something I've never felt before," he started, "something I don't understand. . .but something I want to understand." "What would that be?" Lyra asked, leaning a bit closer as her face started to turn a bright pink. "Compassion," Kira said, a genuine smile spreading across his face as he looked at her once more, "love, I dare say. Love, yes, love. I love. . ." He paused. Lyra frowned a bit. "Wh. . .what is it Kira?" she asked, laying a hoof over his. "I think we were followed," he said grimly, darting his eyes towards a suspicious group of nearby equines. "Kira," Lyra said with a chuckle, "you're just over-worrying. I know you're paranoid, but—" "No. . ." Kira interrupted, "I know my instincts. . .I was right the last time, that group of ponies over there have been eyeing us for the last fifteen minutes now." Lyra glanced over, and sure enough, some of them had darted their eyes away just late enough to where she could see. Lyra's heart began to thump. "Wh-what are we going to do?" she said, before Kira took her hooves. "Nothing." Her eyes lit up, as he looked into them. She couldn't help but to smile, feeling something so strange but so warm from him. It was like the world didn't matter to him, even in the face of conflict, in the face of death, all that mattered was her. Before she knew it, he leaned closer to her and gave her a kiss. "Surely that's not Kira, he'd never kiss somebody," Josuke said quietly, looking back at DIO. "How can you be sure?" DIO asked, glancing back over at the overly-romantic couple. "Kira is heartless," Jotaro said, "but he's good at blending in. The problem is he wouldn't be the one to initiate something like that, it'd be the other way around and he'd just roll with it. To me it looks like he's really into it, so that can't be Kira." "Reasonable," DIO said, "but this world does change people." Everyone looked at DIO. "There's no need to rub it in my face," DIO said with a frown. "They're leaving," Josuke said, "it's now or never, what do we do?" "I have an idea," DIO said, "Jotaro, stop time and don't move. They'll think it is me, and they'll try to find me before the timestop ends." "And you're sure they won't know to stop moving as well?" Jotaro countered. DIO shook his head. "If they are suspicious of us now, they'll think we're nearby and want to see," DIO replied, "but if they believe we are somewhere else, Lyra will continue moving without realizing it." "I hope you're right, DIO," Jotaro said, before saying as quietly as he ever would, "Star Platinum, The World." BWOWOWOWOWTiktiktiktik...tik Lyra turned around, seeing that time was frozen. She immediately summoned her stand, looking directly towards the group of suspicious equines that Kira had pointed out earlier. None of them were moving, and The World was nowhere to be seen. Little did she know Star Platinum was hiding underneath the table of the equines. She did know, however, that it was no accident that time was stopped. After five seconds, time resumed, and Kira saw that Lyra had changed position with her Stand out for everyone to see. Several Appleloosans gasped in awe of the strange sight, some running away, but the group remained. Knowing that all had been revealed, the disguises of the group, and the villains all faded away. All stands were out, and the Elements of Harmony were ready for use. Lyra gritted her teeth. "Damnit!" she shouted, looking at Kira, "we're doing this here and now!" "Agreed," Kira said, his Killer Queen readying into a battle stance. On the other side, DIO, Jotaro, and Josuke in their normal bodies summoned their stands all the same, ready to fight to the death if necessary. DIO looked over at Jotaro. "I never thought I'd be fighting alongside a Joestar, let alone two of them," DIO said with a smirk. Jotaro shook his head. "Good grief," he said, attempting not to crack a smile, "I guess people do change." The element bearers stood behind them, all connected with a magical aura with Twilight at the center. "Girls, whatever happens today, we do by our own will," Twilight reaffirmed, "and we do it for the sake of harmony, to end this string of evil that's been hurting ponies everywhere." "Right!" the rest replied in unison. It was time for the final battle.