Part 1: The Arrow and Burly Heart
It was finally a Friday, the end of the school week and late in the evening. After a friendly get together our main six girls, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Sunset Shimmer were heading home. It was a cool, Spring evening and as the Sun was setting, Sunset and Fluttershy walked home together.
“What are you doing on your phone?” Sunset asked.
“Just texting my mom that I’m on my way home. She gets worried if I stay out too late.”
Sunset couldn’t help but smile at such a quaint response. It gave her a warm, comforting feeling seeing Fluttershy act so adorably innocent. It gave Sunset the idea, that they should cut through the park to get to Fluttershy’s house a little faster. However, Fluttershy wasn't so sure, as she felt that the flickering of the faulty street lights made the park look a little dangerous, you never know what’s lurking in those shadows.
"Dangerous?" Sunset was amused. "Have you been reading those tabloids, again?"
Fluttershy couldn't bring herself to lie and expressed her concern. "But, they said strange activities were reported in there over the last few days."
"Fluttershy, those papers will print anything if they think it'll sell. They're total nonsense."
"I don't know..."
Sunset was indignant, she had to prove to Fluttershy that those stories were nothing but mildly amusing lies. With the evening glow of the Sun still illuminating their path, she knew the only way to prove to her gullible friend that there was nothing to worry about, was to march through that park.
“We’ll be in and out in no time, nothing is going to happen.” She boldly stated.
As the light from the Sun sank over the horizon and the darkness slowly crept in, the girl’s felt a little uneasy.
"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea." Sunset thought to herself.
She felt as if something was watching them from the shadows. The girls were about to pick up the pace and get out of there as fast as humanly possible, when they were spotted. Shrouded by the darkness of the trees. A hooded figure wielding a strange bow and arrow, raised his weapon, took aim at his target and without hesitation, fired.
The girls heard something cut through the air, but before they had time to react, Fluttershy had been struck by an arrow, lodging itself deep in the side of her waist. Paralyzed by immense pain, fear and confusion, she fell to the ground, unable to muster the strength to cry out for help, as the arrow burrowed itself into her skin and blood slowly dripped from the wound.
Sunset let out a horrified scream as she immediately knelt down to help Fluttershy, but there wasn’t much she could do. Removing the arrow would probably result in excessive blood loss, the real problem was the figure lurking in the trees, who was making a move toward the girls.
The hooded figure emerged from the shadows, without a care for what they had done. Through his casual attire, he was noticeably muscular and was unfazed by the violent scene he created. As he drew closer, Sunset jumped up, arms out-stretched, attempting to defend Fluttershy in any way she could, even if she had no real way of defending either of them.
“What did you do to Fluttershy!?” She yelled, hoping to get some sort of explanation, but the man just stood there silently. “I said: What did you do to her!?” She yelled again, only to be met with the same silence.
Sunset was stressing out. Fluttershy was in critical condition, but it would be too dangerous to carry her away with their attacker so close. In a desperate rage, she lunged at him, landing a punch right to his face. The man stammered backwards for a moment, his head turned sideways from the force of the blow.
There was a quiet pause as Sunset waited for a reaction. Without warning, an unknown force manifested itself above the hooded man. Sunset didn’t understand what she was seeing, she could only make out a vague, translucent shape. Whatever it was, it was big, at least twice her size. It had no legs, just a torso with two large, imposing arms with a head between them.
Sunset struggled to comprhend what she was seeing. Was it a ghost? A familiar? Or something else entirely? Before she had a chance to even express her disbelief the translucent being threw a heavy punch to her gut and sent her flying down the park’s walkway, sending her far away from her injured friend.
Crashing into the ground, Sunset struggled to get up from the immense pain in her gut, only able to lift her head. The wound wasn’t fatal, but her breathing became heavier. The man was only interested in swatting her away. She figured she needed to stay down, if she wanted to survive, but with what little view she had from the ground, she could see the man move toward Fluttershy once again. With her friend in danger, she knew staying down was no longer an option.
Sunset gathered some pebbles lying at her side and forced herself on her feet. Just standing proved to be a trying task as her knees nearly gave out, but she needed to get the man’s attention away from her friend and through sheer determination she temporarily regained her footing. As the man reached for Fluttershy, she threw the pebbles as hard as she could. They didn’t do much in the way of damage, merely bouncing off him, but they got his attention.
The man backed off and turned to Sunset. Although she couldn’t see his face, she could tell from the way he clenched his fists as he faced her, that his patience was wearing thin. As he sauntered toward her with the same emotionless gait as before, the strange, ghost like being from earlier re-appeared above him. Sunset didn’t have the strength to run and had no real plan other than throwing those pebbles. She was just winging it, doing whatever she could to protect her friend.
Sunset and the man once again come face to face, giving her the opportunity to examine the man’s up close, but she could only discern his eyes within the darkness of his hood. They looked eerily calm, almost soulless. The ghost like figure grabbed Sunset on the top of her head and lifted her helplessly into the air with it’s giant arm. This was it, one punch was all it took to end everything right here. She tried to put on a tough face, but Sunset was still too weak from the punch earlier to fight back. All she could do was brace herself and pray that something, anything, came to save her and her friend.
But there was nothing.
Other than the sound of the wind in the trees, there was complete silence as the ghost pulled back it’s freehand, ready to unleash a devastating attack. The ghost launched it’s fist, but suddenly stopped just millimetres from Sunset's face. Her heart nearly stopped from the shock alone, she thought for sure she was dead, but why did the man stop?
There was a low rustling and scuffing sound. The man looked behind him, the ghost’s attention was also drawn away. Sunset wasn’t sure what was going on, but all became clear when she too looked behind them. Fluttershy was back on her feet. Just moments ago she was in critical condition and totally defenseless, but by some miracle, she was standing on her own, but something was strange about her, a bizarre, but powerful, humanoid, translucent being was floating above her.
The hooded man finally broke his silence and snarled in disbelief “A Stand!?”
Sunset didn’t know what he meant or why he was mad, but she took a note of the word“Stand”. Fluttershy lifted her head to face her foe, angered, with her arms crossed like an irritated mother, ready to scold her children, but she was also surprisingly calm, especially for someone with an arrow stuck in her waist. She reached her hand down to the arrow, still maintaining eye contact with the hooded man, firmly grasped it and yanked it out of herself. Sunset winced, that must have hurt, as blood spurted out of the wound, but Fluttershy seemed completely composed.
“You!” She yelled in a demanding tone, pointing the arrow at the man. “You shouldn’t go around throwing sharp objects like that. You could hurt someone, you…. Meanie!”
Despite her best efforts, Fluttershy's insults were severely lacking.
“Now, do you want this back?” Fluttershy asked. The man hesitated, but had no choice but to cooperate, he did need that arrow back, it was quite unique and losing it would be disastrous.
“Yes.” He reluctantly replied.
Fluttershy suddenly returned to her usual, sweet, kind self. “Then why don’t we trade for it. Leave me and Sunset alone and I'll give you the arrow back and no one else has to get hurt.” She proposed with a smile.
There was a pause as the man contemplated the offer, he then came to a realisation. He chuckled under his breath.
“Idiot! Do you really think you’re in a position to bargain with me!? I could crush both of you right now if I wanted to!” He boasted, confident he was already in a winning position.
Fluttershy was disappointed with his arrogant response and turned on her serious face, again. “If that’s how you’re going to act, I’ll just snap this arrow in half then…” She retorted.
The man’s confidence dwindled immediately from her threat. “No, wait! I still need that!” He pleaded. However, the girls weren’t impressed with his negotiating skills.
“Fine!” Fluttershy announced to the bewilderment of the others. She handed the arrow to the ghost like figure hovering over her, who grasped it in it’s hand. She uncrossed her arms, stretched out her left arm and pointed directly at the hooded man with her finger as if it were a gun. “Then take it!”
The ghost above her tossed the arrow like a javelin at the man. In the blink of an eye, it soared through the air, across the park and embedded itself in the arm of the man’s own ghost. The pain of being impaled caused the ghost to drop Sunset who quickly escaped from the man’s range. Strangely though, the man acted as if he had been impaled and even seemed to have a wound on the same arm as the ghost.
As the man staggered in pain, Fluttershy rushed over to him, her ghost positioned itself in front of her. Before the man had time to defend, Fluttershy’s ghost knocked him into the air and unleashed a barrage of blindingly fast punches that juggled him, handing him a sound beating before delivering on final punch that sent him flying across the park.
Sunset Shimmer was stunned, but also impressed by the amount of butt Fluttershy just whooped, even if she didn’t understand what actually happened. The fight was over, with Fluttershy left exhausted, as if she just ran a marathon. Her strange ghost disappeared as she began to faint, but not before Sunset dove to catch her. She checked her wound from the arrow. It didn’t seem as bad as she initially thought, but even so, she definitely needed to get Fluttershy medical attention.
She also needed to check on the man too, but unfortunately, he somehow managed to slip away while Sunset was distracted, helping her friend. The man must have been desperate to escape, as the arrow that pierced his arm was left behind.
And so, the pair were left alone in the now silent park as they waited for an ambulance to arrive. Due to it’s supernatural nature, Sunset decided to keep the assault a secret, hiding the arrow away and instead claimed that Fluttershy fell on a sharp branch in the forest. As soon as the incident calmed down Sunset retrieved the arrow, hid it inside her jacket and returned home with it, while her friend spent the night in the hospital.
But still, after everything that happened, Sunset couldn’t quite piece together what had actually happened. Ghosts, strange powers, a hooded assailant with an arrow, and “Stands”? The first opportunity she got, she made a note of the incident in her diary, but not just any diary, the diary she used to communicate with Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, simply to ask her one question:
“Do you know what a “Stand” is?”
The next morning, the sky was a lovely, clear blue, the exact opposite of how Sunset was feeling. Her mind was clouded. She didn’t get enough sleep. Too many thoughts were racing through her head at once as she kept looking back at her diary, desperately waiting for a reply from Twilight. She had been awake for a couple of hours and spent that time drinking coffee and doing research on the internet, trying to find any information on stands and ghost arrows, but to no avail.
She sat back in her chair and looked around her small, messy apartment as she contemplated what to do next. She stared at the arrow laying on her desk, the tip still stained with blood, reminding her of Fluttershy. Maybe now was a good time to pay her a visit. She was just about to check the hospital visiting hours when there was a knock at her door.
Sunset answered, only to be met with an irritated Applejack. Without so much as a “hello” Applejack cut right to chase. “You mind explaining to me how poor ol’ Fluttershy ended up in the hospital last night?”
“Uhh….” Before Sunset could gather her thoughts Applejack interrupted.
“Don’t bother, I already know.” She sighed, letting herself into Sunset’s apartment. “Something about ghosts and arrows or something. I don’t know, her story was all over the place. I didn’t understand a word of it. None of it made any sense.”
Applejack was right to feel doubtful of such a strange tale, Sunset would have felt the same way. “I figured you might know something about it, you’re prety good at dealing with strange, magical stuff, right? You're like an expert at this point.”
While Sunset enjoyed the compliment it only made her feel more disappointed in herself.
“I’m sorry.” She apologised. “I’ve been researching all morning, but all I could find was some weird japanese comic book. Some expert I turned out to be...”
“So you don’t have anything?”
“I sent a message to Princess Twilight, but other than that, no. All I really have is the arrow Fluttershy was struck with.” Sunset looked dispirited. “But she’s okay though, right?”
“Yeah, she’s fine. The doctor said her wound was healing up surprisingly fast.”
Sunset was relieved.
Applejack took a gander at the arrow sitting on Sunset’s desk, picked it up and examined it. “So, I take it this is the “tree branch” she told the doctor she fell on?”
“AJ, be careful with that!” Sunset snatched the arrow back immediately. “It could still be dangerous!”
"Oh, give me a break, it's just an arrow, or are you afraid I'll prick my finger." Applejack joked.
"Being stabbed by this arrow was how Fluttershy received those bizarre powers. I mean, sure they saved our lives, but I still don't know how any of this works."
“So, there really was some truth in Fluttershy's strange ramblings."
"What? You thought she lied?"
"Of course not! I just, didn't really know what to make of it..."
Applejack felt a little embarrassed for not believing in her friend.
"It's fine." Sunset empathised. "It's a hard pill to swallow. I'd be doubtful too."
Applejack shifted the conversation back to the arrow. "It sure is a strange looking thing, isn't it? The back doesn’t even have the little feathery thing, it’s all sharp like a needle.”
Sunset wondered about that too, but couldn’t think of any real reason for it other than it must have lost it’s fletchings some time ago. It certainly looked old, ancient even.
“Welp! No point in sitting around here, let’s go see Flutters. Talking to you might jog her memory.” Applejack suggested, heading for the door.
“Alright, let me just grab some things.” Sunset picked up her bag and placed the arrow and her diary inside.
“Hey!” She yelled to Applejack as they left. “You weren't mad when you came in earlier, were you?”
“Nah, I was just worried. Fluttershy doesn’t seem to remember too much of what happened. You were the only one I could talk to about it.”
Sunset breathed a sigh of relief as they headed down the street.
The part of town Sunset lived in was rather quiet, with very few people or cars on the road.
“This makes it the perfect place for an ambush.” Thought a hooded individual, lurking in an alleyway as he waited for his prey to come closer.
As the girls approached the alley way, the hooded man waltzed out in front of them, with his ghost like figure already summoned. Sunset pushed Applejack behind her.
“Woah, hold up. What’s going on?” Applejack stammered.
“It’s him.” Sunset explained.
“Who?”
“The one who attacked us!”
Applejack looked over the hooded man, but was instantly disturbed by the presence of the huge spectral being above him.
“What?” She trembled. “What the heck is that thing!?”
“You can see it, too?” The hooded man grunted. “What the heck? They said only a Stand user could see another person’s Stand. Did you two use the arrow?”
“Ya didn’t answer my question!” Applejack interjected. “What is that? What kind of freaky magic are you using?”
“I’m not answering that. I don’t know how you’re able to see Burly Heart, the others can figure that out. I’m just here for the arrow.”
“Burly what now?” Applejack chuckled.
“My Stand’s name. It perfectly describes its massive strength and strong heart.” The man declared, proudly.
“You named it?” Applejack turned to Sunset, perplexed. “Sugarcube, you sure this guy’s head is on straight?”
Sunset giggled. “I doubt it.”
The girls continued to laugh, leaving the man feeling dejected. He thought it sounded cool. After feeling sorry for himself, he noticed something poking a hole through Sunset’s bag. He'd recognise that sharpened point anywhere, it was the arrow.
“I knew it!” He yelled, breaking their laughter. “I knew you stole it! Following you home was the right move! Now Suri won’t have to mess with me, again!”
Despite his rather simple minded nature, the girls suddenly remembered how dangerous the man was and made a mad dash across the street. They needed to get to the hospital as quickly as possible, but the hooded man had other plans.
His Stand created a ring like object and threw it ahead of the girls. The ring flew through the air like a frisbee, passed the girls and floated in front of them, with the hole facing forward. The Stand created a second ring around itself and it’s user and by using some magical force, the hooded man and Burly Heart entered the first ring and reappeared, stepping out of the second. The girls stopped in their tracks after witnessing its powers. Sunset was especially terrified.
“No way!” She shouted in disbelief. “Teleportation magic!? A magic portal!? No! This is something else entirely! I’ve never seen this kind of magic before!” Thoughts were once again, racing through Sunset’s head, like puzzle pieces swirling around like a storm in her mind, refusing to come together to form a coherent picture.
“How’d the heck you do that?” Applejack asked bluntly.
The hooded man felt generous and decided to explain how his Stand’s power worked, mostly to stroke his own ego. “My Stand, Burly Heart, not only possesses super strength but it can also, create two rings that I can use to travel through. They’re like portals. It's kinda hard to move around during a fight when you're a big guy like me, but my Stand power more than makes up for it.”
“That must be how you disappeared last night, right?” Sunset responded.
“Exactly! No matter the distance, I’ll always be able to leave at least one ring wherever I feel like and I'll always be able to travel to it using the second. It's like the best escape plan ever.”
The man was ecstatic, he never got a chance to talk about his powers, but after coming down from his high he politely asked Sunset to hand over the arrow, only for her to shrug sarcastically. Her bag was gone and so was Applejack. The man turned around to find Applejack already running halfway down the street. “Hey! You can't run away when I'm talking!”
Using his mighty strength, his Stand threw a ring towards Applejack. It flew an incredible distance, landing ahead of her. The man readied his second ring to travel through, with Sunset silently following through the ring portal with him. It was a strange experience, but somehow she was able to walk through the rings and appear in front of Applejack.
“What the!?” He cried as he saw Sunset standing beside him. “You followed me through Burly Heart’s rings?”
“Yeah, I guess I did.” Sunset replied, readying herself for a fight. “And I’m not gonna let you hurt my friend!”
The man’s Stand picked Sunset up by her head, once again, leaving her helpless. The man attempted to use this situation to his advantage.
“Alright." He taunted, dangling Sunset like a set of keys. "Hand over the arrow and I promise I won’t crush your friend’s head. And just to make sure you don’t run away, again.” The man dropped a ring behind Applejack “There, now you’re trapped, so hand it over.”
Applejack slowly pulled the arrow out of the bag, as the hooded man watched in anticipation. She put the bag down and held the arrow in front of her. The rings were positioned behind her and the man, so she knew she could escape by running to the left or right, but she also knew she couldn’t abandon her friend. She looked down at the arrow and crafted an idea. If Fluttershy received a Stand power from being stabbed by the arrow, then maybe…
“Will you stop staring and just give it already! My arm’s getting tired!” The man grew evermore impatient, it was now or never. Applejack held the arrow out, but just as the man reached out for it, she a gave a wink and a smile to Sunset before stabbing herself in the shoulder with the opposite side.
“Aw man! No!” The man yelled.
“Applejack, what are you doing!?” Sunset screamed.
But it was too late, the power of the arrow was already infusing itself with Applejack. She was frozen in place as her body released a bizarre energy. After a few seconds the energy wore off and she returned to normal. Applejack hardly felt any pain from the arrow, it was more akin to taking a shot from a doctor.
Sunset and the man watched carefully, they knew something strange was about to happen. Applejack looked at the two of them. For a moment, she was so overwhelmed by the arrow’s power she forgot why she stabbed herself in the first place. She glanced at the hooded man, his Stand now more clearly visible, as a black and brown hulking mass of metal and muscle, and remembered instantly. Her friend was in danger and she needed the arrow's power to stop him.
In that very moment her Stand manifested itself in front of her. Like Fluttershy’s, Applejack’s Stand resembled her in appearance, but as an eccentric, orange spirit. It’s torso was sleek, but in return it’s legs looked bone-crushingly strong.
“Oh no, she can control her Stand already!?” The man became anxious. “I need to get rid of you, now!”
The man’s Stand raised it’s free arm before slamming it down like a mighty hammer. In a split second Applejack’s Stand countered by blocking the massive arm with a kick, holding it in place as the arm struggled to overpower it’s thick thigh.
“WHAT!? THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!” The man was outraged. How could anything possibly be a match for Burly Heart's strength? He threw Sunset aside and attempted to crush Applejack and her Stand with both arms. As the arms came crashing down with the force of a truck, AJ dodged by leaping back into the ring behind them and appearing out of the ring behind the hooded man.
“You’re right, you really are slow.” Applejack quipped, as her Stand kicked the hooded man so hard he spun around, facing her.
Applejack’s Stand delivered a devastating dosage of rapid fire kicks to every region of the man’s body. As this barrage of beatings transpired, she came to Sunset's aide and helped her off the ground. After dusting her off and receiving a nice “Thank you” she turned her attention back to the man as her Stand released one final blow that rocketed him through the air and into his own ring, sending him flying out the second ring, which then caused him to fly back into the first ring again. The momentum from flying through one ring into the next created an infinite loop that the man was powerless to escape from.
The girls were delighted by the man's misfortune, but after enjoying the wild ride they had created, Applejack’s Stand eventually kicked the first ring down letting the man crash into the concrete. Sunset rushed over to him as quickly as possible, she didn’t want him getting away, again.
He was unconscious, but still breathing. He may not have been very smart, but he was still exceptionally tough. After all the torment he put her through, it was time to finally pull back the hood and reveal the identity of this sneaking, supernatural, snake.
“What!?” She howled. “This is the guy who’s been attacking us this whole time!?”
The man had white, pale skin and short blonde hair.
“Ain't he that Bulk Biceps guy?” Applejack pointed out. “What’s this dim, muscle-bound, meathead doing antagonising us with weird, magic powers?”
“Bulk may be a meathead, but he’s a big softy. Why would he do something like this?”
Sunset was dumbfounded, but at least this explained the man's poor strategic skills. There was no way someone like Bulk was working alone, in fact, she recalled something he mentioned earlier: “the others”. She continued to ponder before Applejack interrupted her.
“Don't worry, the arrow's safely tucked away in your bag.”
Sunset suddenly grabbed her diary from the bag, remembering her message to Twilight from earlier and checked if there was a response. There was a new message.
“Meet me at the Canterlot High statue. We need to discuss something”. It was settled, then.
“Well?” Applejack asked.
“Twilight’s waiting for us. I think she might have an idea about what's going on here.”
“I hope so. Let’s get going!”
“Wait!” Sunset insisted. “We’re taking him with us.”
She pointed to the unconscious Bulk.
“What? Why?”
“To interrogate him, obviously.” Sunset grinned.
“But he’s conked out and ain’t getting up anytime soon, or are you seriously suggesting we carry this big lug all the way to school?”
“That’s exactly what I’m suggesting.”
“Oh, gimme a break...” Applejack sighed, tugging on her hat. She and Sunset bent down, grabbed an arm each and lifted Bulk up.
“Oh, wow. He’s heavier than I thought.” Sunset wheezed.
“Still wanna leave him behind?”
“Never. I need answers. I’ll drag him across the pavement if I have to.”
With that, the girls slowly towed the big lump, with his feet dragging across the ground, all the way to Canterlot High to meet with Princess Twilight Sparkle in the hopes of uncovering the truth behind these "Stands".
~ UPDATE: May 11th 2019 ~
Hey, don't mind me, just doing a bit of clean up with this story now that I have some time on my hands. I've combined the first two chapters into one and rewrote some stuff, nothing huge, just made everything read better and look less amateurish, at least compared to how it was before.
I'm not planning on changing anything in the story, this is just clean-up, in case you were worried about that.
Stand Name: Burly Heart
User: Bulk Biceps
Namesake:
Attributes:
Power: A
Speed: D
Range: D
Durability: A
Precision: D
Potential: B
Stats
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so is no one else going to address the fact that fluttershy in her misguided attempt at helping just gave someone a Requiem stand making them infinitely more powerful
8229151
the arrow needs merge with the stand to create a requiem stand which it didn't do
I swear fluttershys stand needs to be named after a beatles song, like Abbey Road
ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA! ORAAAA!!
8284818
Chariot requiem wasn't merged with the arrow, though my thoughts are that the arrow needs to fatally wound someone, like when giorno stabbed gold experience in the chest or when polnaref stabbed silver chariot in the head, unlike when King Crimson had its hand impaled by the arrow
Also have you noticed that when giorno and polnaref gained requiem the damage from the arrow was never translated
It's not weird just a bit bizzare
9812314
I see what you did there...
You forgot the
„<——TO-BE-CONTINUED——“
one
Second Jojo story i ever read, but this one is finished