Anniversary Pets and Birds.
That was the name of the store in front of them, printed big on the ugly comic sans font. A picture of a red parrot stood beside the words, its mouth open with zig-zag lines coming out of it. Its entire front consisted of windows, allowing them to peer inside at all the various animals in their little glass cages. There was a chow chow at the main window and it gave them one look before turning around and lying down, smooshing its behind against the window’s surface. Bird cages hung from the ceiling, holding various species of colorful parrots; one of them was even a toucan. There was a single cashier standing inside, toying with her phone nonchalantly.
“Good grief, they couldn’t pick a better font?” Shiho Sunfast ran a hand over her head. “So what’s the plan, old woman? We bust in there and beat up the owner?”
“I don’t think it’s gonna be that simple…” Sunset Shimmer rubbed her wizened chin. “We’ll need to go in there and quiz the cashier.”
“I can handle that. People-talking’s my specialty!” Daring Do snapped her fingers and held out her Stand. “If I say the wrong thing, I can always use Yesterday.”
“Shiho, you better watch and learn.” Sunset waved a finger. “You could learn a thing or two to cease that bad attitude you have.”
“Don’t talk about my attitude, granny.” Shiho sighed and pushed the door open. “Whatever. Not like I have anything else to do. Let’s go, Daring.”
Sunset watched both of them enter the shop, but didn’t do so herself. She figured two people would be enough to quiz the cashier. As for herself, she had something else in mind. She turned around and made sure no one was looking before disappearing down the alley between the pet shop and a flower shop.
Inside the shop, it smelled of fur and feathers, as well as animal droppings. As soon as they went in, the birds all started cawing and chirping to each other. However, Daring Do didn’t seem bothered, as she had worked with many animals in her past. Shiho merely scowled and walked faster up to the counter.
“Lady, you sent a parrot to a fundraiser yesterday?” Shiho wasted no time in getting to the point.
The shopkeep looked up boredly. “A parrot? Dunno about that. People buy lotsa animals from this joint.”
She had a distinctly English accent. Odd for someone living out all the way in Kantarijji. That made Shiho keep her eyes out. They were definitely in the right place.
“Look, we can do this the easy way… or the hard way.” She put a hand on the counter. “Your answer will decide which path we take.”
The cashier squinted at them. “What are you gettin’ at? This is a pet store, not a bank. Go somewhere else if you have a necessity for money.”
“So, you’re not prepared to give me what I want?” Shiho clenched her fingers into a fist. Daring Do gulped as she watched, instinctively reaching a hand down for her whip.
“Yes. I am not. Look, if you don’t want to buy anything, buzz off will ya?” The cashier pointed to the door. “You’re scarin’ off me customers.”
“What customers?” Daring Do asked, looking around at the otherwise empty shop. “I can’t imagine many people are buying pets in a recession.”
“You’d be surprised, love.” Suddenly, Shiho reached over the counter and grabbed her collar. “Look here, you’re going to tell me what I want to know, now!”
“Aaaieeee! I don’t know nothin’, honest!” The woman tried to get away, but Shiho held on to her tightly. “We sell parrots out all week long! People love parrots, ya know?”
“This particular parrot was called Jimmy,” Daring Do told the shopkeep. “It’s customary for a shop to write down every customer’s details in case something happens to the animal. Mind if we have a look at your records?”
“Hey now ya can’t look at our customer records, yeah?” Then Shiho waved a fist in her face and she gulped. “Un-unless you use your fist, that’s the password. Yeah! U-Umm, right here, under the counter. Let me pull it out for you.”
There was a skylight in the ceiling of the pet shop, and above that, on a second floor that overlooked the front of the shop, stood a man looking over a railing with a frown plastered across his lips. He had blonde hair that looked like someone had left a mop on his head and in his right gloved hand, he held a pair of metal balls, which he twirled together.
“Seems they’ve found me. If they’re here, then Jimmy must’ve failed…” He growled. “Just as well, really. Relying on a dumb animal to take down the rich wasn’t a great plan. They ain’t got no motive or drive to kill the rich. Not like humans do. It was only so because of Duckie’s love for birds. Now here we are. I guess I’m going to have to succeed where the bird failed. I see now why they use the term bird brain…
“That’s where I come in.” He rubbed his hands together slowly. “It’ll be Curb Cobble that takes down these rich Stand users. Mark my words. Curb Cobble has never been put on his backside, that I’ll tell you.”
There was a flap of something that sounded metallic. He raised an eyebrow and turned around, spotting an old woman in an orange hat standing there with a equine figure standing behind her with wings of gold.
“I knew I’d find the one responsible if I looked past the store front.” She held up a gloved hand and pointed a finger at Curb’s face. “So you’re the one with Die Die Riches who sent the parrot.”
“Yes, that’s me. Curb Cobble.” He gave her a small bow. “I expected Jimmy to fail anyway. Parrots should never have to do a human’s job.”
Before he could say more, he found the woman’s fist in his face and he fell back against the railing.
“You activists are all the same. You talk too much before I give you a beating.” She cracked her knuckles of both hands. “This time, I’ll just go ahead with the beating.”
“A-Agh, how dare you!” Curb got up and attempted to throw a punch at her, but suddenly, he found himself lying against the railing again.
He blinked, then attempted to attack again, only to end up looking over the railing at the store below. Suddenly, he was picked up by the shirt collar and tossed back into a wall. He bounced off against the hard concrete and rolled to a stop near the staircase leading down to the alley, winded.
He turned back to her and dragged himself away, scuttling back like a crab for the staircase. The woman approached and he let out a sound that sounded like a mouse dragging its voice through a rubber tube. She snapped her fingers and he flinched, but nothing happened. He cracked open and eye to see her irate.
“Come on, now? Really?” She groaned. “I’m really out of practice.”
Curb Cobble immediately understood. She was a woman into her old age and he knew that if you don’t use your Stand powers, you can get rusty. He’d gone through his fair patch of rustiness in his life, even at his younger age. He had suffered from crippling depression for four years and during that time, his Stand had completely failed to manifest. But now, since he was all better, that put him a step ahead of her and he could use this to his advantage.
“Oh, this is going to go well…”
Sunset Shimmer grumbled to herself as her Stand’s power faltered again. It had been decades since she had to use Alicorn Fantasy to protect the world again. Normally, she’d just have it lift heavy things she couldn’t normally lift, like the refrigerator or the car, but resetting the state of something or someone wasn’t really something she had to do in her day to day life.
“Well, maybe I had used it more when I was still painting…” Sunset scratched her chin. She had used her powers to reset a few mistakes, like a real life control Z. “Guess I’ll just have to resort to pummeling you with Alicorn Fantasy’s strength, then. Unless you tell me where your leader is working from.”
“I, Curb Cobble, will tell you nothing!” He spat at her and scrambled back, rolling down the first flight of steps as he did so. “Die Die Riches will achieve its goals! The rich will all pay!”
“Hey, come back!” Sunset chased after him, but by the time she got to the stairs, he had already gotten to his feet and was running down the rest of it. “Why you…!”
She tried to reset his position again, but perhaps it was because she was rushing that she couldn’t concentrate enough to get him back. Sunset gripped the railing tightly and swung herself over the side, using Alicorn Fantasy to descend to the bottom. Before she even touched the ground, Alicorn Fantasy had swung a punch out, catching him in the back of the left leg. Curb Cobble misstepped and went crashing down the final flight of steps, smashing face first into a trash bin, leaving an imprint of his face in it.
“You’re going to tell me now, or I’m going to have to do the ‘neigh’ thing.” Sunset stopped behind him, raising a fist to the sky. “Trust me, you don’t want to be on the other end of Alicorn Fantasy’s punches. I might not be in my prime anymore, but I promise you, they will hurt.”
“I’m… I’m…” Curb crawled forward, shoving the trash bin out of the way. “I’m not telling you squat! I’ve been sent here on a mission and I’m going to achieve it!”
He swung an arm out, but he was too far away to hit Sunset. Instead, two spinning pumpkins tied to rope came sailing out from under his palm and Sunset was caught by surprise, doing nothing as it tied itself around her legs. She immediately found that they had been securely fastened and she couldn’t take another step forward without falling flat on her face.
“H-Hey!” she called out as Curb Cobble stood up and dusted himself. “Alicorn Fantasy!”
Sunset raised a hand up, hoping to get her Stand to reset her to an earlier moment, but again, the ability refused to work. In fact, her Stand didn’t even appear this time.
“What?” She looked at the smiling enemy and bared her teeth. “What’s the meaning of this?”
“Foolish idiot hag!” Curb pressed two fingers on top of his left eyelid and one under his chin as he stuck his tongue out at her. “You’re done for now! I thought I was going to be the one to be done in, but you made it easy for me!”
Sunset looked at the pumpkins around her legs. Now that they had stopped moving, she recognized that they were a pair of bolas, with one head being a grinning jack o’ lantern, and the other one a frown. She reached down and tried to pry them off, but they had latched around her legs pretty tightly and no matter how much she strained, the rope wouldn’t even budge.
She tried to step forward, but it was as though the bolas were getting heavier by the minute and she could only inch herself forward about an inch before tiring out from exertion.
“You’ve fallen prey to my Stand, Smashing Pumpkins!” Curb stood as straight as a plank before holding up an arm in a ninety degree angle, clenching his fists. “Smashing Pumpkins might not be able to win in a full-on fight against something like your Alicorn Fantasy, but once it's tied around you, be it your arms or legs or body, it will weigh you down and continue to increase its gravity! Thirty seconds have passed since it attached itself to you and the gravity would’ve already made it hard for you to get to me! Muahaha! Revenge!”
Sunset swung a fist and tried to summon Alicorn Fantasy, but it still refused to appear.
“Ah, another thing…” Curb rubbed his hands together and his left eye began twitching from excitement. “When Smashing Pumpkins picks its target, the hopelessness it brings you weakens your fighting spirit even if you don’t realize it and therefore, you become unable to summon your Stand! No matter how strong your Stand is, it can do nothing once Smashing Pumpkins attaches to you!”
“Why you…!” Sunset forced her body forward, getting one more inch ahead before her legs gave out and she fell forward on her face. “Ow! Son of a witch!”
“Now, now.” Curb’s smile somehow got wider. “I’m going to report to my leader how you’ve all been a thorn in our side since we came to Japan. You’re going to stay here and wait until gravity claims you. Muahaha! Revenge! It’s over for you, hag. Over! Over! Over!”
Curb Cobble shot his hands to the sky before pulling out an old flip phone from his shirt pocket. He began dialing as he walked away, leaving Sunset to her own devices as Smashing Pumpkins continued to increase its gravity. The rope was getting tighter around her legs and it was cutting off blood flow to her legs; she couldn’t even feel her toes wiggling at this point.
Sunset attempted to drag herself backwards to get back to the store to warn Shiho and Daring Do, but the gravity had already increased and she found she could no longer haul her weight forward.
Sunset could only think of one more thing she could do. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her lightphone, quickly dialing Shiho’s number. It took a few rings to pick up, during which Sunset felt her weight increase even more. Small pieces of debris were being attracted to her position, sticking around her ankles.
“Yes? Who is this?” Shiho’s annoyed voice said on the other end.
Shoot! She didn’t save my number! Sunset cleared her throat. “Shiho, it’s-!”
Thwack!
The trash can lid flew past her, knocking her phone out of her hand as it attached itself to her left calf.
“Ohhhh noooooo!” Sunset clutched her cheeks. “The gravity has gotten strong enough to start pulling in small objects! It’s only a matter of time before it pulls the entire building down on me. I’ve got to find a way to get out of this before that happens!”
There was nobody around to see her struggle, and even if there had been, how many of them would be able to see Stands? No, Sunset Shimmer was on her own, without Alicorn Fantasy as well.
I need to find a way to flip myself around!
Sunset looked back at her legs where her phone now was. She was no contortionist. There was no way she was going to flip her upper body around, get up, reach for her phone, then lean back forward. There was no way, especially since her body wasn’t what it once was.
“Think, Sunset. Think!” she reached for a random brick and held it next to her head. Perhaps with enough force, she could throw this back and shatter the back door of the pet shop. That would certainly get someone’s attention.
Taking a few breaths in, Sunset swung her arm back as hard as she could, but the gravity around her ankles had already increased and the brick curved back and smashed her right ankle.
“Gaaaah, son of a witch, that hurts!” She pounded the floor with a fist.
“Enjoying yourself, oldie?” Curb Cobble had returned, carrying a large pane of glass in his hands. “The boss knows all about you now. She’ll know that it was I, Curb Cobble, who had stopped these protectors of humanity from throwing a wrench in our plans. And we have big plans, mind you. Huge plans. Like… president level plans…”
Sunset’s mouth hung low. “You don’t mean…”
“Yes, all these attacks are but distractions!” He held the glass pane over his head. “The world will react to this news and send guards to protect the citizens of the world, leaving less at places of power! Just you wait, a new world order will rise and the rich won’t be the ones in charge of it! They’ve ruined the world enough. You’ve ruined the world enough. Look where it’s headed. Our oceans are polluted, our skies are thinning, our planet is heating up, all because the rich continue to get rich and the poor continue to plummet.”
“You don’t know… what you’re doing!” Sunset growled at him.
“Oh, we do. We know exactly what we’re doing.” Curb clapped a hand on his glass pane. “Do you know what it’s like scrounging around just to provide for myself? Do you know what it’s like to lose all hope in ever living the life I dreamt of? I’ve attempted to end it all countless times, but I could never go through with it. Why? Maybe it was because a part of me still clung to the hope that this world could be better, that as one race, we would be able to bring about a new age, one of balance, one of peace, and one of selflessness where the wealthy do not hide in their ebony towers.”
“It’s ivory towers!” Sunset corrected.
“Whatever. Not everyone could afford world-class education like yourself!” He threw the glass pane high above their heads and then picked up a stone and launched it straight at his payload.
The pane shattered into a dozen pieces and the gravity from Smashing Pumpkins pulled them down towards Sunset. She screwed her eyes shut at the coming barrage, but nothing could prepare her for the pain that ensued. The broken glass had homed in for her ankles and they had lodged themselves through her flesh, staining her pants in areas and shredding the rest, along with the skin beneath. A larger piece of glass shaped like Australia had pierced through both calves at a forty-five degree angle, cutting deep enough to sever her tendons.
“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, oooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh myyyyyyyyyyyyyyy goshhhhhhhhhhhh!” She yelled at the top of her voice. Feeling to her legs had been completely cut off at this point, but the pain still lingered like twin pairs of lasers drilling into her skin, cell by cell, tearing each one apart with pristine accuracy. “Ah, the glass! The glass! Aaaaagh! I’ll get youuuuu, Curb Cobbbleeee!”
“Don’t plan on it.” Curb folded his arms as he watched the scene unfold. “Already, Smashing Pumpkins’ gravity has begun to work its way through the buildings and walls at your sides. Cracks are already starting to form across their surface and soon, the entire weight of two storeys will come crashing down on you. I’m sure no one can survive that. Revenge!”
Blood continued to spray from Sunset’s wounds and because the most grievous of them all was above Smashing Pumpkins, she could still feel the pain radiating from the deep cut through her leg. It felt as though it could tear off any moment if she struggled.
“Wait a minute…” Sunset looked back at her legs. It would take everything she had, but perhaps she could just make it work.
She planted both hands firmly on the ground, curling her fingers into hooks digging them into the spaces between the cobbled floor.
“It’s no use!” Curb watched her try to pull herself forward and he bent back with laughter. “You foolish old hag! I told you, it’s useless. Useless! Smashing Pumpkins’ gravity has already increased tenfold since it first attached to you. You couldn’t pull yourself out then, you definitely can’t now!”
Sunset took off her hat and put it in her mouth, biting down hard. With all her might, she pulled with her fingers, doing her best to ignore the pain as her punctured flesh began to rip from the enemy Stand. Bit by bit, she began to make her way forward, ripping through the incisions the shards of glass had created. The pain had shot all the way to her brain, but there was no stopping now. She just needed to endure this a little longer.
“Stop, stop it! What are you doing? You’re crazy!” Curb swiped a hand to the side. “You’re willing to tear your own legs off just to get me?”
“Rrrrrgghhhhhhh!” Sunset continued to pull. At this point, her pants also began to rip just under the knees and the flesh tore off completely, bleeding all over her bones and the ground. “Curb Cobbbbllleeeee! I’m going to pound your face in!”
“Stop, stop it! Get away from me!” The man lost his cool and stumbled back over a trash bin as it flew by to attach itself to Sunset’s legs.
With one final burst of strength, Sunset bit down hard and ripped herself free from Smashing Pumpkins, using her bloody skin to slide out of the Stand’s grip. What remained underneath her skin was shredded meat where her bones could be seen. Now freed, Sunset quickly crawled forward with no more resistance and snapped her fingers.
Now that she was out of Smashing Pumpkins’ grasp, Alicorn Fantasy was able to manifest again and stretching an arm out, it reset Sunset’s legs, fully healing them, with the exception of her pants, which still remained torn.
“I guess I shouldn’t complain…” She stood up and shook a kink from her back. “Now, where was I, Curb Cobble?”
“No, no, spare me!” He dropped to his knees and put his hands together. “I didn’t mean it! I just hate rich people so much. They caused so much pain in my life!”
“That’s no excuse to what you tried to do to me.” Sunset glowered at him as Alicorn Fantasy floated closer. Its arms weren’t as muscular as they were back in 2012, but they were still large enough to ensure a good beating. “Prepare yourself.”
Alicorn Fantasy glided forward as Curb Cobble shrieked and fell on his butt, but he could not get away from Sunset’s Stand’s barrage of punches.
“Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!” Alicorn Fantasy roared. “Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!”
Sunset stopped the next punch before it could crash into Curb’s face again and she had her Stand hold him up by the shirt collar. “Oh, I’m not ending this yet. We came here for information. You’re going to give it to me.”
“I-I’ll give you… anything you want…” Curb Cobble said through his broken and bloodied mouth. “Just don’t… kill me. Please… I’ve learned my… lesson. No more.”
“Where is Die Die Riches situated?” Sunset had Alicorn Fantasy’s fist pull back. “Where are you getting your instructions from?”
“F-France. It’s France! Don’t hit me again!” Curb waved his hands wildly. “Oh. Oh no. Duckie’s not going to be pleased with me…”
“Duckie? Is that your leader’s name?”
Curb nodded. “She’s frightening. She’ll… She’ll kill me if she ever finds out I told you!”
Sunset threw him to the ground and huffed. “Then you better leave and go somewhere no one will ever find you again. Especially me. If I see you again, I won’t stay Alicorn Fantasy’s neighs.”
Curb scrambled back and nodded furiously. “You got it. You got it! You’ll never see me again.”
Sunset put her hat back on her head and began heading back towards the store. They had found what they needed. It was time to let the others know.
However, after three steps forward, Curb Cobble turned and a shadow fell across his face. “Like I’d just let you get away… You should’ve killed me when you had the chance. Now I’m going to prove myself to Duckie… Smashing Pumpkins!”
His Stand appeared in his hands and he tossed it at Sunset again. She turned around, but she was not going to be able to react in time. Curb smiled. He knew he would win this time. He wouldn’t make the mistake of throwing glass at her again.
But before Smashing Pumpkins could attach itself to Sunset again, the back door to the pet shop was blasted open and it sailed over her head before landing on top of Smashing Pumpkins, knocking it down.
“Wuh-What?” Curb couldn’t help but utter.
From the doorway, Shiho Sunfast walked forward with a look of extreme displeasure on her face. “I had a feeling you were off fighting an enemy Stand, granny.”
“Yes… and it seems I should’ve finished what I started.” Sunset turned to look at Curb and frowned.
“No, no, please!” He dropped back to his knees, but it wasn’t going to work a second time.
Both Alicorn Fantasy and Curtain Call yelled and charged at him, pummeling him fist after fist after fist, all the while shouting, “Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!”
Circle marks began appearing all over Curb Cobble’s body as each fist connected with him over and over and eventually, he was launched up into the sky, where he sailed over the next building, landing with a crash of metal on the other side.
“You need to take better care of yourself, granny…” Shiho dusted her shirt. “It’s a good thing we finished interrogating the cashier inside. We know where the parrot came from.”
“So do I.” Sunset pulled at her torn pants. “I need a new pair. And some new shoes too. Ugh. Anyway, France. That’s where Die Die Riches is operating from.”
“I’ll do you one better, old woman,” Shiho said. “Angers, France.”
“Angers?” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “You’re making that name up. Now why would they name a city with a name like that? Happiness would be better. Or even Fun.”
“Good grief. It’s French. I don’t expect to know what it means.” Shiho sighed. “We’ve got what we need. Now let’s get out there and find the head of Die Die Riches and end this.”
Sunset nodded as Shiho returned to the store. They did it. They got a location. And she even knew the name of this mysterious leader. Duckie. Whoever this was, she was planning something big and they had to stop her before Die Die Riches really plunges the world into a state it can’t recover from.
For now, to France it was. More accurately, Angers. Sunset shook her head. That name still didn’t make sense to her.
“Why not name it something like… Attitude? If you’re gonna go with that, you might as well have a Revenge, or a Madness… Even Stoic would be a better name...”