Sunset Shimmer still felt the ground rumble under her feet even as she looked at the smoldering ruin of what used to be the cave’s entrance.
“Sushi, you made it!” Pinkie tackled her in a hug, hitting all her sore points. “But wait, where’s… where’s Fluttershy?”
Sunset looked away and shut her still leaking eyes. “She… I’m sorry. She bought us time. She bought me time to get this…” Sunset held out the Stand Geode in her palm. “Fluttershy sacrificed herself so that we may stand here now.”
“No…” Jojo leaned against a tree, clutching at his side. “Not Fluttershy… Not another one of my friends…”
“Fluttershy was always too kind…” Rainbow looked down and beat at the ground with a fist. “I hope Cinch burns for all eternity.”
“I don’t think we’ll be getting that just yet.” Pinkie patted at the ground, then shook all over and twitched her left eye.
All of a sudden, the cave entrance burst open and Cinch stepped out into the open air with Superorganism following closely behind her. She was bleeding all over and her face was a little messed up.
“You’ll pay for this. All of you! And I’ll tear your limbs one by one from your worthless, pathetic bodies!” She threw her cloak to the side and raised a fist to her face. “Superorganism will end all of you!”
“That’s what you think. In fact, you're the one who's going to pay, Cinch, for everything you've done!” Sunset stepped forward, then flicked her hair to the side as she stretched out her right arm. She unfurled her fingers and everyone could now see a blue geode between her index finger and her thumb. “It ends here now, but not the way you think.”
Cinch spotted the geode, then her eyes widened and she grinded her teeth together and pointed at Sunset. Superorganism was already moving and breaking up into various pieces and moving to intercept Sunset from different directions, but even then, it wasn’t fast enough.
Pegasus Fantasy appeared before the girl and she pressed the Stand Geode into its chest as a blinding flash of white light extended out from it across the Everfree Forest. Superorganism and Cinch stopped in their tracks and covered their faces. Leaves around them rustled and birds took to the sky, but the light continued to pulse and churn, before letting out one final blast to the sky, cutting a hole through the immediate clouds above.
Where Pegasus Fantasy had been now floated a Stand clad in golden armor, with wings with razor sharp metal plating, and red outlines across its armor. Its head now sported a golden horn, gleaming brightly in the sunlight, along with a blue gem in the center of its chest, and similar ones on its knuckles.
“No…” Cinch looked at the Stand as it floated above Sunset’s head, spreading its wings far, then flexing its arms at its sides.
“That’s right, Cinch.” Sunset gripped the collar of her coat with one hand, then stretched the other one skyward. “Behold, Alicorn Fantasy.”
Cinch grinded her fingernails against her palm. “Superorganism!”
Her Stand continued its pursuit in separate parts and formed into arms as they got closer to Sunset. From above, Alicorn Fantasy’s horn glowed with a blue aura, and suddenly, Superorganism was standing beside Cinch again, fully formed.
Cinch looked at her Stand, then back at Sunset and Alicorn Fantasy. “What have you done, Sushi?”
Sunset smirked and ran a finger along her hairline, then slid it off to the right. “You see, Pegasus Fantasy had the ability to reset someone to a state in the past, like reversing an injury or attaching back a body part, but for it to do that, it took a great deal of mental power and concentration, not something you could readily do during a fight.
“With the Stand Geode fused to it now, Alicorn Fantasy is more powerful than ever. Alicorn Fantasy can now reset anything to a state it had once been in, in this case, it sent Superorganism back to where it had been a few seconds ago, next to you, and it can now do it on a whim.”
“You think you can stop me now that you can do that?” Cinch swiped a finger up to the air. “Gravity beam, Superorganism!”
Her Stand’s chest opened up and it cut both arms down to the side as it released a charged beam at them. It had only traveled half the distance between the two Stand masters when the beam simply vanished and Superorganism’s chest was closed again.
With a growl, Superorganism charged forward on its tiny legs and reached for Alicorn Fantasy’s legs, but it swooped down and pounded a fist down on top of its head, cracking its shell. Cinch’s teeth smashed against themselves and the two front teeth on her top row shattered into pieces.
Alicorn Fantasy began delivering punch after punch to Superorganism’s midsection and its gems began to glow brighter with each hit, and all the while, Sunset yelled at the top of her voice, pounding Superorganism with the fury and essence of her fallen friends. The enemy Stand's armor began to crumble under the absolute might of Sunset's new Stand.
"Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!"
After its next punch, Alicorn Fantasy brought one fist back and unfurled its fingers, before it leaned forward and blasted Superorganism’s face with a bolt of blue energy. Cinch’s Stand folded around the blast and then broke off into swarms of particles before attaching themselves to Alicorn Fantasy’s arms and beginning to tear through the golden armor.
Sunset’s arms began to bleed, but she didn’t panic or fall back. Instead, she just endured it and watched as Cinch began to look more confident again.
“Aha, now you’re done for!” Cinch stretched one palm forward. “Superorganism will now assimilate your cells and that of your Stand and it will become mine to control. With all that power, all you did was get me a new powerful Stand to do my bidding! This is the end for you, Sushi!”
“And that’s what you think.” Sunset could feel tiny sensations creeping up her arms, slowly losing the feeling in them, but she had played around enough with the enemy Stand. “Alicorn Fantasy can reset anything, and that means the cells in my body as well.”
Alicorn Fantasy’s horn glowed again and Superorganism found itself standing beside Cinch again and its particles over Sunset’s body had vanished, along with any injury she had sustained from its assimilation.
“And now to show you what it can really do.” Sunset slid one leg to the side, then she placed one hand on her hip and the other one at the back of her head. “Alicorn Fantasy can reset you back to a previous state, and that would mean your location, as you have seen it do already. But that was only a taste of Alicorn Fantasy’s true potential. This is for Rarity. This is for Applejack! This is for Fluttershy!”
Cinch was about to say something in retort, but suddenly, she found herself standing back in the cave among the debris and the only light shining in was from cracks in the ceiling above.
“Why that wretched girl!” Cinch threw her hands up and pointed to the ceiling. “Superorganism, get us out!”
But her pointed hand was suddenly back down by her side. Cinch blinked a few times as nothing else happened, then she tried to order Superorganism to get her out again, but she suddenly found herself looking straight ahead again.
“What is going on?” she asked aloud, then took a step forward.
Her foot was suddenly back where it had been again.
This time, she tried not moving, and willed for Superorganism to tunnel its way out, but once her Stand stepped forward, it suddenly popped back to where it had been behind her.
“No, she’s resetting me.” Cinch realized. “Impossible!”
Superorganism broke down into particles and scattered across the floor, but in a blink of an eye, it was back in one piece again.
Cinch unfurled a hand and moved her fingers, but then her arm returned to her side again and that was when she realized the gravity of her situation. She was unable to do anything, and there was nothing she could do without being reset.
“Sushhhiiiiiiii!” She yelled at the top of her voice and threw her head back, but then her position was reset once again.
She was trapped here. She had no way out.
-------JO-JO------
“What happened, Sushi?” Pinkie Pie bounced over to Sunset after her injuries were reset by Alicorn Fantasy. “Principal Cinch was here one moment, then she disappeared!”
“I reset her back to her moment in the cave, where no one will stumble across her,” Sunset explained. “I call it the Alicorn Time Loop. Alicorn Fantasy has locked her in a state of reset. If she tries to move or do anything, she’ll just constantly be sent back to the moment she had been in. To the position she had been in. She will not get hungry, she will not get thirsty. I mean, unless she already is. She will not need to breathe, she will never age, and she will never leave her prison. She will never harm anyone ever again.”
“Wow, so this is the power of a Stand Geode?” Jojo lifted a fist and looked at it. “Is it weird that I want one too?”
“Nah, not really. I want one too.” Rainbow walked over and wrapped an arm around Sunset’s neck. “You did it, Sushi! You got her! It’s over. It’s actually over…”
“The others.” Jojo suddenly looked up at them. “Alicorn Fantasy is more powerful than before. Do you think… you could resurrect the others? Reset them to a point before their death, perhaps? We could save them. We could still save Rarity.”
Sunset shook her head slowly. “Unfortunately, it still only works on the living. I’m sorry, Jojo. I can’t bring them back, as much as I want to. They’ve done so much for us on this journey. Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy. We can’t ever forget them.”
“No. That… we will not.” Jojo looked at the clouds passing over their heads. He could swear one was shaped like Rarity’s hair. “Wherever they are now, I’m sure they’re proud of us.”
“And I’m sure they’re proud of you, Sushi!” Pinkie grabbed Sunset again and began shaking her violently. “You did it! You beat Cinch! Boy, it was tough, but you did it! She’s gone for good and the world’s safe from her total mind control!”
“Yeah. Everyone’ll be free to live their lives,” Rainbow said. “We’ll all be free. You're super awesome, Sushi!”
“No.” Sunset nodded, then put her arms around Pinkie and Rainbow. “Come on, Jojo. Group hug. It wasn’t just me. If it weren’t for you, for any of you, we wouldn’t even be standing here at the end of it. It’s because of all of you. My friends, true friends, who would stand with you through anything and everything. Friends, who would give up their lives to protect the ones they love.”
Everyone nodded in agreement with her, then wrapped their arms tightly around one another.
Sunset pictured her fallen friends in her head. Each and every one of her friends here had taught her about what friendship meant, and it was because of them, her life once again had a purpose. She was gonna live on now, for them, and to live life to its greatest potential. She owed it to them and she wasn’t going to go back on this again.
And that was exactly what Sunset did from that day on. Once school resumed, Sunset became more lively in class, something her teachers had been surprised with. Her grades had improved and she learned how to make friends and she even took on extra-curricular activities like fencing. And once all that was over and done with, she went on to study the arts, and she now had pieces of art scattered around Canterlot and other cities, even as far as Deadhorse. Her favorite piece had been something she called ‘Fantasy Friendship’, which was a giant bronze sculpture sitting outside the Knightland Mall. It depicted eight figures circling around a jewel, reaching their arms out towards it. It would serve as a reminder to her and her friends for the rest of their lives of the adventure they had been on to protect the world, and the sacrifices that had been made along the way.
As for something more than friendship, Sunset had met her husband on a tour through the country. He had been one of the photographers for the news and the two of them had quickly struck up a relationship, followed by marriage four years later.
Her first child had been born two years after that, and Sunset felt she couldn’t have been any happier. Right here at this point in her life, she had everything she wanted, and she had once left Equestria to be alone and to never be happy again, but that had been no way to live. And now she knew that better than anyone. Friendship was indeed magical, and it was the most powerful thing in the world.
Well, besides Stands. And she would continue to learn about them for as long as she lived.