//------------------------------// // Lyra's World Part 4 // Story: KONO DIO DA: 『Over Friendship』 // by DIO Brando //------------------------------// DIO turned around slowly to see Lyra hovering in mid-air with a different stand behind her. No, not a different stand, it was the same stand. DIO was confused until he saw a horrific sight. A stand arrow in her hand, one unlike any he ever saw. He recognized the power as something he wished to achieve long ago. It struck a genuine fear in him, as there was nothing greater than the stand evolution that Lyra had suddenly attained out of nowhere. "Forthcoming. . ." DIO said to himself slowly, ". . .Over Heaven. . ?" Lyra laughed maniacally as the four hands of Forthcoming withdrew four massive swords, all with the similar engravings and designs to the respective hand holding them. "You seem to really want spoilers for my final show," she shouted, looking down at DIO, "I was saving this peculiar artifact for later. See, I found it near Kira in the woods and decided not to mention it. I figured it was just a random circumstance, but when Kira told me of Bites the Dust, I learned of how powerful the arrow could be. After achieving my stand power, I went to Zecora's while Kira was asleep and forced her to enchant it, before quickly disposing of her." "So you achieved Over Heaven in mere minutes, while I spent my life working towards it!" DIO shouted angrily, "You cheated!" "Ho ho," Lyra laughed, looking down at him with a quirked brow, "The morally-insane vampire says I cheated. How about you, killing the amount of people you did in cold blood, ruining that poor boy's life, Jonathan?" "Don't bring Jonathan into this," DIO said, gritting his teeth. "Oh, he was weak," she said with a chuckle, "but nowhere near as weak as you. What got me was how he had this silly little sense of honor and—" "WRRRYYY!!!" DIO cried, lunging forward at a speed unheard of, and for the first time in over a hundred years, using his vampiric abilities. Two beams of vampiric essence shot from his eyes, severing Lyra's body clean in half. This didn't phase her however, as her stand simply put her back together. DIO paid it no attention, as he was still flying forward, he didn't even summon the world before throwing a barrage of punches at her. She, too, kept her stand behind her as she used her own arms and speed to dodge the punches of DIO. She smirked, grabbing both of DIO's wrists and headbutting him to the ground. His body hit the hot sand with a crash, leaving a much larger crater than the few that were already left around. Lyra flew down, delivering a punch to DIO that crushed his chest entirely, leaving his lungs and heart a visceral mess. Lyra stood above him, wiping her hand. "You lose," she said, "I know you're not dead, but since you are the most powerful of all my oppressors, I will make you watch everything that you learned to love fade to dust. This is MY world! No one dare enters MY WORLD!" Lyra began to laugh as time resumed, Jotaro looked up, seeing DIO completely incapacitated. "DIO!" he shouted, running towards Lyra before she blasted him back with a punch from her stand. Josuke ran forward as well, Lyra using her stand to thump the air, causing a shockwave that forced Josuke several feet back and face-first into the ground. The equines stood in fear as Kira's weak body hovered towards Lyra, and she healed all of his wounds. "My sweet Kira," she said endearingly, "we've won." Kira looked up, smiling as he felt his health return to him. "We have," he said, taking a look at their defeated foes. Lyra laid a hand on his shoulder. "Would you like to do the honors?" she asked. Kira turned to her, summoning Killer Queen once more with a grin. "KiraKuin, dai ichi no bakudan," he said, lowering the hand of Killer Queen to DIO. Before it could make contact, however, there was a bright light. "What?" Lyra and her lover both looked up, seeing Twilight Sparkle, hovering upwards with her Element of Harmony glowing brightly. The rest of the Mane Six followed, putting their elements back on and wielding them in a bright display of sheer power. Lyra only laughed. "You're going to threaten Over Heaven with rainbows?" she scoffed, "Go ahead, do your best." Instead of a rainbow, the combined Elements created a beam of pure white which went into the ground. Lyra stood in disbelief, all of that show and. . . "You missed!" she said, beginning to tear up from her laughter, "you had one shot and you missed! Maybe you just new that it was worthless and gave up, but you wanted to tell Celestia that 'you tried'! Ha! Don't worry, you won't be telling her anything. You'll be dead and so will—" "LYRA!" Kira shouted, she suddenly stopped and turned to him to see an unwarranted terror on his face. "What is it, Kira?" she asked. Kira pointed at the ground. "They weren't aiming for you," he said, and as Lyra turned, his unwarranted fear quickly became reasonable. They weren't aiming for her. It wasn't even an offensive blow. They were aiming for DIO. Lyra stood back, feeling a power radiating from DIO that she feared might have even surpassed her own. Something greater than Over Heaven. She stood back, shaking her head as she observed The World, or something more powerful than it, hovering above DIO at such a size that the very appearance of it struck fear into her heart. "What is this?!" she shouted in a frightened rage. DIO didn't even smile, he only looked down at the two. "I thought Over Heaven was the greatest power," DIO said softly. He let out a genuine smile, "but this world is different from my own. In this world, Over Heaven is meaningless. Behold. . ." "『The World Over Friendship』!" Lyra tried to force a laugh, but for some reason her fear remained. "No. . .no that's preposterous!" she shouted, "after all this power, of all things, FRIENDSHIP is the answer? Something so petty and ridiculous! Impossible, take this!" She summoned Forthcoming, who threw all four swords at DIO. DIO didn't do so much as move, the swords simply dropped. Lyra screamed in rage, lunging towards DIO and launching punch after punch that was simply negated as each time she made contact with DIO, it only felt as if she were tapping him. The fact that it wasn't using any offensive ability, the fact that it wasn't even MOVING. Her power, all of it, nothing to this force of stand power and Equestrian magic. It drove her mad. She had clenched her teeth to the point that they were bleeding, her eyes were bloodshot and her face sweating, she eventually gave up with her stand and kept punching DIO with all of her human might, but it was like punching a pillow. "FIGHT ME," she demanded, "JUST END IT, KILL ME!" "No," DIO said, "I won't." Lyra stopped, looking up to him. "You think I'm so little of a threat now that you don't even have to kill me. . ?" Lyra said, feeling so much rage she couldn't interpret it anymore. "You miss the point, Lyra," DIO said, "the power of this stand is not one to kill, but one to unite. There are no offensive capabilities. Not even timestop. It simply negates all violence, stops it entirely. It's power surpasses any stand, as it can cease any ability whatsoever without exception. It's sole purpose is to promote unity, peace, harmony." Lyra felt her eyes filling with tears, as she dropped to the ground, burying her face in Kira's chest. "It's all gone!" she said, "everything is gone!" Kira was silent, looking at DIO. "What does this really mean for us?" he asked, before getting an answer from another authoritative voice. "You will be punished," the voice said. Kira turned to see Celestia herself, standing aside her sister Luna, and even Princess Cadence, "but you will not be killed. Equestrian law would never take an eye for an eye. In fact, I'm even merciful enough that I will imprison you in the same place." "Where will that be. . ." Kira said quietly as Lyra continued to sob uncontrollably. "The moon," Celestia said. Kira looked at Luna, who had a wide eyes and an expression of 'Oh Boy'. Kira nodded, as Celestia lit her horn, causing the two villains to vanish. She turned back to DIO, who returned to the ground. "DIO, I can't thank you enough," she said, before looking at the rest, "nor any of you. Josuke, Jotaro, Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, you stopped what could have been the greatest disaster in all of Equestria, and all of you learned a lesson or two of your own in friendship." The equines all cheered, Josuke joining with them as DIO and Jotaro kept a silent smile on their faces. Luna turned to the humans. "You are free to leave whenever you like, but we invite you to stay for the Summer Sun Celebration tomorrow," Luna requested. DIO, Jotaro, and Josuke all exchanged looks with one another, before all nodding. "I think that would be appropriate," DIO said.