//------------------------------// // The Summer Sun Celebration // Story: KONO DIO DA: 『Over Friendship』 // by DIO Brando //------------------------------// Several hundreds, even thousands of equines had gathered around, all celebrating the summer solstice. There was a massive stage and after lots of celebration, Celestia landed on stage. All of the ponies cheered wildly for their princess as she opened her wings and lit her horn, putting on a show of magical fireworks that only warranted more cheering. Soon after, Luna landed beside her, and Cadence beside her, both opening their wings and creating the same fireworks. When they had finished, all closed their wings and Celestia began to speak to the masses. "Today's celebration is far different from any other we have had. For the last thousand years and more, today's celebration is not only of the summer sun, but of Equestrian life. Many of you know about the tragic events that occurred in Ponyville, many of you lived in fear of what was to come. Today, however, I tell you that there is nothing to fear! These villains were defeated and banished to the moon, but they could not have been defeated without the help of our heroes who I will introduce now!" The Mane Six stepped out, as the crowd roared in excitement and applause. "You all know them, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity. It was not only their efforts that saved Equestria, but the efforts of three others not from our world." The audience grew quiet, wondering what that could mean. There was a bit of gasping as the towering DIO and Jotaro came out, as well as Josuke. All summoning their stands above them with gasping and woahs from the crowd. Celestia looked at DIO, gesturing towards the audience. He nodded, stepping upwards with The World behind him. "Equestria!" he shouted with a powerful voice, "It was with the power of this world that I learned what it was like to be kind! It was with the companions I met that I learned the faults of cruelty, of pride, of malice, and of hatred! These equines, these wonderful friends taught us all something valuable. The world, any world, can be evil. In fact, many worlds are by nature, but that is all but naught! It only takes the kindness of one, to another, then to another, and then to many more to change any world, any soul, any heart! Feel pride in your world, as it is the one to lead by example to other worlds, to show them the way things should be!" The crowd roared in applause. Celestia walked back up to the center of the stage. "There is one thing I must reveal to all of Equestria," she said, "something I have kept hidden for a while, something we all have." The crowd went quiet again, a bit of chatter all around. Celestia closed her eyes, summoning Friendship. As she did, Luna summoned Solitude, and Cadence summoned Love. The crowd was taken aback, a lot of oohs and aahs, some gasps, and otherwise silence. "These powers came into this world because of our misunderstanding of having them ourselves," Celestia said, "for that, I am truly sorry; however, credit belongs to our humanoid heros for showing us the secrets of these abilities, these 'stands', and with that Equestria shall have a brighter future than ever!" The crowd all cheered again, before Twilight walked up to Celestia, whispering something. As Celestia listened, her eyes widened. The rest of the Mane Six, and the stand users turned to look at Celestia, who slowly rose up. "Well, an unexpected announcement from Twilight Sparkle," she said, stepping aside. Twilight walked forward, a figure appearing over her covered in symbols of the Elements of Harmony, with a band around it's head of the star on her cutiemark. The crowd cheered, seeing the equine-like entity in a beautiful array of purple and pink shades. "I call it Harmony!" Twilight said proudly, "And that is it's purpose, to promote harmony! I vow to do that so long as I wield the element of magic, and longer! With the help of my friends, and with the help of all of you, Equestria will be able to face any chaos that arises in the future!" The crowd continued to cheer as Twilight smiled. "I don't know," Jotaro said with a bit of tenseness in his voice, "it seemed a little too. . .lovey-dovey to me." "Oh, come off it," DIO said with a laugh, "you just aren't used to me being nice." "That's also true," Jotaro replied. DIO glanced over at him. "Jojo," he said. Jotaro faced him. DIO held out a hand, as if to offer a handshake, "A very, very late, proper apology." "Hmm. . ." Jotaro hesitated for a moment, before taking his hand and giving him a firm shake, "accepted." "It's good to see you two getting along finally," Luna said as she approached the two. They were all back at the library, having their own celebration before the Joestars returned to their homeworld. For once in the time of being there, there were no troubling thoughts, no philosophical dilemmas, no moral conflicts, no death, no danger, no destruction, no fear. There was just joy. Joy in it's purist form, shared between a group of unlikely friends. "Well, I could have never predicted it," Jotaro said, "but if DIO can be changed, surely anyone can." "You're still good at hiding an insult," DIO scoffed, Jotaro gave a smirk. "Well, I believe it's time to let our human friends go," Celestia said, "It's nearly time to open the portal." Jotaro nodded, shaking DIO's hand once more. "It was nice knowing you as a friend rather than an enemy," Jotaro said. DIO patted his shoulder. "Likewise," he said. Celestia smiled, lighting her horn in conjunction with Luna as the portal opened. Twilight and her friends came up to them, bidding Josuke and Jotaro farewell as they walked through. Luna looked at DIO for a moment. "You're hesitating," she said, "why?" "Well," DIO said, as he knew the brief moment of joy had come to an end, "my world is not as forgiving as yours, if I head back, I'll already be dead." "What?!" Fluttershy exclaimed, running up to DIO and hugging him, "But you became such a good person!" "It's okay," DIO said, wiping away her tears, and stooping down to return the hug, "I have to speak to an old friend in the afterlife. . ." Fluttershy hugged him tighter as Twilight joined, then Pinkie, then Applejack, Rarity, and finally Rainbow Dash. The joy came back for just a moment more, and it was more than the once heartless vampire could ask for. This journey, it had taught him more than his one hundred and twenty plus year life had ever taught him about the world. As they all let go, DIO stood up once more. "Thank you," he said quietly, "for everything." He waved one last time as he walked into the portal, and everything faded to white. Dio Brando looked down, he wasn't sure where he was, but he had his original body. He felt his teeth, noticing that there were no fangs. He was human again. In the distance, he saw a figure standing and looking out on what seemed to be an entire universe. He walked closer, recognizing the blue hair and proper attire immediately. The boy turned around, and sure enough. It was Jonathan Joestar. Dio smiled, running up to him. Jonathan showed a bit of fright, as he thought this was supposed to be heaven, but was surprised when Dio gave him the manliest and most menacing hug possible. "D-Dio? What are you doing?" he said, "Aren't you supposed to be. . .uh. . .in hell?" Dio laughed, Jonathan cautiously laughed as well as he was more confused than ever. Dio shook his head. "Jonathan, I learned friendship," he said, "I learned the error of my ways, and I'm so sorry for everything, I wish I could take it all back, I wish—" "Dio," Jonathan said quietly, "it's okay. I've seen it all from up here. I have no idea what happened after your death, what world you went to, but in this world, I've seen everything. Because of you, the Joestar family continues to fight evil to this day. You've done a lot of terrible things, but in a way, they were necessary. You essentially molded the Joestars into what they are today, and you've even had the opportunity to learn that." Dio smiled, after everything, the power of forgiveness in that world was enough to provide him the redemption he needed to see peace. Jonathan was his brother, and they were able to spend an eternity together, watching over the world they had set into motion. "They also have wifi," Jonathan said suddenly. Dio made a confused expression. "What's wifi?" Meanwhile, on the moon. . . "What a beautiful Duwang, Chew." "Kira, you're not making any sense." "Sorry, it's been an eternity." "We've only been here for five minutes, Kira." "Well at least it's peaceful." "Just a thousand years to go." ~The End~