Coco's Bizarre Adventure: Nothing's Kingdom

by Ditherer the Fussbudget

The Kids Aren't Alright

Sweetie woke up on the edge of town in a pain she’d never felt before, like she’d just suffered a concussion. She could tell by the exploding brightness of the sun that she’d been out for a couple hours, and realized, disturbingly, that she didn’t remember anything after she left the boutique. And it was late afternoon, maybe an hour before sunset.

If she was in this position, she’d encountered a Stand user. Somepony who could erase memories, maybe, or inflict blunt force trauma. Not just that, but they’d clearly turned hostile and forced their way inside, which meant they were the enemy’s.

She spat a word she had no right to know yet, and summoned her Stand.

...Rarity was still safe. That was good. And the center of town looked okay. She hadn’t had time to go to Sweet Apple Acres yet, but the outside of Twilight’s castle looked unharmed. There were laying low, maybe. Or operating elsewhere…

“Sweetie Belle!” Featherweight slipped through the barricade. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you! Diamond’s claimed power while you were gone, she’s vetoed the castle unless you can beat her in a fight!”

“And everypony just went along with that?” she asked, still lingering on the castle, suddenly feeling a great distance away from it.

“Uh, well... they don’t really care who’s in charge that much, so,” he said.

She dismissed her Stand to rub her forehead. “Fine, I’ll do it. Just tell her that there’s an enemy agent in Ponyville who probably looks a lot like Berry Punch. And to put Button back on duty.”

“Oh, he’s already in position.”

She looked to the top of the massive wall of junk constructed along the perimeter, and saw Button lying prone, sizing up distances and squinting through his scope.

“You could’ve woken me up, you know!” she yelled.

“Huh? Oh.” he turned to her. “Yeah, guess so, but it’s not my job. Diamond wants you at Sweet Apple Acres once you’re awake. When she wins, you’ll probably get reassigned like Bloom did.”

“Bloom was reassigned? And you’re alright with that?”

“Yeah. I mean, it’s not like you’re the only ones with missing family members. ‘Sides, if anypony really wanted to grab all the Elements, they’d only be able to get five of ‘em.”

Sweetie scoffed and walked back to the barricade, ready to close it again behind her once Featherweight got through. She’d helped oversee the construction, so that if the trash and furniture and random magical materials weren’t held up in all the right places they’d fall in on themselves. Ponyville was, as ever, great at coordination and construction.

“Hey!” somepony shouted in the distance, coming up the tracks.

Sweet Celestia, what now?

It was a mare with dust in her mane, levitating some kind of sleeping bag and a little metal thing with wheels. A little closer and Sweetie could see it was a scooter.

Button had already turned back to aiming ｢Electric Funeral｣, looking through the scope and squeezing out a shot. The mare stumbled and fell as it connected with her forehoof, and then looked at her limb curiously as she tried to pick herself back up. On the second shot, she collapsed again, and then couldn’t get back up.

As Button took his time for the headshot, the mare levitated the sleeping bag and opened it. Inside was a weathered Scootaloo, and above her head she lifted a white flag and shook it vigorously.

“Wait! She has Scootaloo!” Sweetie shouted up to him, but Button gave no indication he’d heard. With one more squeeze, the newcomer’s magic stopped, and her body slumped to the ground.

***

As she walked through the mostly empty, quiet streets, Berryshine kept an eye out for the right apartment. It had a four-digit address, but none of the buildings made sense here. Maybe it was just the local system, or something like that. She detested the idea of addresses anyway, they were filthy aids to the postal service no matter where she went.

Honestly, she’d laughed when she was told her counterpart was named “Berry Punch”, because it sounded like such a cheap knockoff, but now she was deathly serious. She had a problem to mull over, and despite her ambitions she was in no mood for lightheartedness. Not to mention that there hadn’t been a surprise attack yet, and she had no idea why not. It couldn’t really be this easy, could it?

Berryshine was in it for her love of Nature. Her goal was never to kill, but to save ponies, and she only sought to tear down their buildings and institutions. Her Stand was powerful enough to destroy the town, and she believed in her heart that she could take on Celestia and Luna if it came to that, but she refused to let a life be lost. This left her with a conundrum.

Sweetie Drops would be close behind, and explaining all this to her would be pointless. Berry Punch couldn’t be allowed to walk around in the open, because then it would blow cover, but was she an acceptable exception? Was it more like suicide than murder?

“Hey, Miss Punch! Surprised to see you out this early,” said a little grey pegasus as he trotted past, “There’s gonna be a fight at Sweet Apple Acres tonight, you should show up if you’re going to stay out! Oh, and somepony who looks like you might be trying to get into Ponyville, so be careful!”

She put on a smile and waved at him while he went.

***

They’d been able to talk some during the trip, while she moved in and out of awareness, and Coco had asked her all sorts of questions. Her answers had been sloppy rambles, and she had to correct the details when lucidity drifted over her.

“How’d you get your Stand?” Coco had asked, when Canterlot was to their backs.

Unlike most of the foals who’d developed Stands, Scootaloo hadn’t done it because of the curse. She’d seen Rainbow in her nightmare, just like Sweetie had seen Rarity and Apple Bloom had seen Applejack, but it had only been enough to send one of them over the edge. Maybe because it was hard to be -really- afraid for Applejack and Rainbow, even if they were in danger. They always saw their way through somehow.

No, it took Cheerilee to do that.

The disappearances started the same night as the visions. It was mostly adults, a dozen here and there with no mark or explanation. Scootaloo had been the first to see it actually happening, on the night after Sombra’s return. She lived with Cheerilee, partly because she didn’t have anywhere else to stay, and the schoolteacher’s home was smaller than her classroom. That night, she’d been woken up by the creaking of boards, and saw the figure.

Completely hooded, shrouded in magical darkness to make sure that nopony could identify them. She could see the Stand, though, something chrome and robotic that shone bars of red light through its hooves, and at the time she thought it was some kind of spirit.

That’s why she went for the pony and not the Stand, even though it had been leaning closer to Cheerilee. Whatever its ability had been, she hadn’t had time to find out; as soon as she focused on protecting the sleeping adult, ｢Go Zone｣ appeared and closed the distance to smash the cloaked pony’s jaw. They went flying through the wall, and then Cheerilee had woken up, and they’d moved to Lemon Hearts’ house for the rest of the night.

The next day, Flitter and Cloudchaser came by and told her Cloudsdale had found a means of evacuation that Dash left behind, and they offered to take Scootaloo. She’d refused, and insisted that Cheerilee go instead, and after some prodding about how the teacher was important to everypony and mattered more than a single filly (which Cheerilee did not like hearing from someone so young), they finally gave up and took her.

Everything had fallen into place after that. Her new ability to change friction tripled her riding speed, and even made it possible to fly for short distances, so she became the town messenger. It wasn’t a pretty job, though. Almost every house that lost a parent had become an outpost, and all of the grown-ups were paralyzed, almost all of them Standless and blind in a suddenly dangerous world.

There were attacks from the outside, just once a day until now. Jewel Joy had been the first one to seriously threaten Ponyville with a Stand of her own, except for the hooded one, and nopony else had seen them.

She didn’t know what the evacuation had involved, but Cloudsdale was nearly empty as far as the remaining pegasi could make out. There were only a few skeleton crews to keep the weather moving, holding off on the rain for morale until absolutely necessary. Acting like it would pass, and everything would turn alright again, as soon as all of the Elements woke up and saved the day.

Fewer ponies shared that optimism as the days went on.

***

Piña always enjoyed cooking, especially quickbreads. It was something she’d learned to make from a young age, especially given her older sister’s proclivities. Bread took away hunger, it sapped silly behavior and it made bad feelings easier to manage, so she made it whenever she could. Right now, Ponyville badly needed some.

She was a couple rooms away from the front door, so she couldn’t see who came in, but she didn’t really need to. “Hey, Berry! I’ve got bread on, so don’t hit the claret yet. Also, your watch shift starts in three hours.”

She didn’t respond, but Piña heard her walk into the living room and turn around a few times, like she was lost. The filly sighed.

“I told you to leave the good times for after your shift, sis. You know how I worry about you. Now get in here and eat something.”

“Wuh…?” Berry’s voice drifted down from upstairs. She sounded like she’d just woken up.

Piña started, and ran into the living room. The pony standing there wasn’t her sister. She might’ve fooled an acquaintance, she had the same color coat and the same hairstyle, but she held herself like a self-conscious actress and everything about her was tense. Even the eyes were absolutely fake.

“Changeling!” she screamed, and bolted.

“｢Simply Red｣,” her not-sister said behind her, even the voice was wrong and too deep, and she ran faster.

“It has a Stand!”

Her real sister had come down the stairs by this point, and was wide awake. Piña managed to run to her before swerving and hitting a wall. She felt incredibly dizzy, and wobbled on her hooves as her sight swam. She wondered what it was, and landed on the first thing she could relate it to:

I’m piss drunk.

Then she fell over, and slept.

***

Button stood near the unconscious mare - Coco Pommel, apparently - until she recovered. They were just inside the town limits, because nopony had felt like lugging her any further, but no harm had been done to her. By now his shift was over unless an emergency alert came on, and he was supposed to be sleeping, but he didn’t feel like it. For the last couple days, home felt like a shirt that was too big.

He took the time to polish ｢Electric Funeral｣, even if it was just plastic. It was something designed for him, that let him be a part of the action in the way so many ponies could never be. Just being able to see Stands was a big deal, not even all the night watchponies could do that, but being able to do the fighting himself instead of getting a magical avatar to do it for him just felt right. Most of his victories were on the wrong side of the screen, and he was happy to make up for that.

Coco stirred and jolted awake, a lot faster than he would’ve given her credit for, but he’d only been in war for a couple days now, and he wasn’t stupid enough to think he understood it all. So he refrained from eye contact and waited for her to notice him before he talked.

“Scoots woke up, vouched for you. You’re lucky for that. She’ll be back soon, had to do some rounds.”

She wiped the sleep from her eyes and nodded. “Thank you.” she said, and then, “Aren’t you the foal who shot me?” Her voice was incredibly soft, for somepony who made it this far.

“Yeah. Can’t trust anypony these days, even when they’re surrendering. ‘Sides, the shots aren’t lethal. Just knock you out for an hour.”

“They do? I don’t think I dreamed anything.”

She took being shot pretty well, he noted. “That’s part of having a Stand. Locks you out of Sombra’s control. Rest of Equestria’s gotta deal with the nightmares.”

“Oh,” Coco said, “I had no idea. I haven’t talked to anypony in a couple days.”

“Yeah, I heard you came straight from Manehattan. Long walk. Scoots never did say what you were here for.” Scootaloo had, in fact, and very enthusiastically, but it was important to see if she gave different stories to different ponies.

“For Rarity. I need to find her and see if I can help her.” There was no hesitation in that answer.

He nodded, once. “You might have a problem, then. Her sister’s about to get shown up by Diamond Tiara, and then sent to do odd jobs. Rarity’s still in her boutique, but she’ll probably get moved or taken unless we get a miracle.” He tried to not feel guilty about supporting that change. It really was better for everypony with somepony less personally-involved calling the shots. Somepony who would fight back and try to find their parents instead of just trying to keep things together.

“Which way is her house?” Coco asked. He gave her directions, and she galloped off.

***

Berryshine saw the confusion flicker out of her counterpart’s face as her little sister collapsed. No big harm would come to her, although she might vomit in her sleep. ｢Simply Red｣ could modulate these things, a little roughly.

Berry Punch couldn’t see it, judging by the movement of her eyes. Berryshine concentrated on the native’s bloodstream and stomach and let her power move freely. In four seconds any adult would be passed out on the floor, and then she could tie them both up and get down to business. There wouldn’t even be enough time to close the distance at a run.

Punch walked across the room, swaying a little, and slammed her with a firm right hook.

Berryshine dropped, gasping, and spat out a tooth.

“You’re not a changeling, are you?” Punch asked, “You’re something else.”

“｢Simply Red｣!” she sputtered, and ratcheted up the alcohol in the pony’s body. It wasn’t enough. In fact, it only made her opponent stronger!

A crack on the nose left it bleeding, a hoof to her eye would make it black in a half hour. She realized what was going on too late - Punch was marking her as a fake, creating bruises she’d have to explain. Making her noticeable.

Finally she gave up and had ｢Simply Red｣ strike her attacker directly a few times. That made the mare stagger, fall back, and finally crumple like her sister, and it was about time.

Berryshine locked the front door and inspected herself. This had all been far too messy, and now her face was a testament to it. She sterilized the wounds from the inside, deep enough under the skin to prevent pain, and distantly enjoyed the buzz while she considered her next move.

***

Diamond Tiara had waited for word to spread, because that was the right and sensible thing to do when you were holding a dominance contest. Their Stands weren’t remotely matched, and Sweetie knew it, but ultimately it was down to how many ponies they could convince that they were the best leader. And at first glance, literally, Sweetie had the advantage there: whatever her weirdo gadget power was, at least everypony could see it.

But that was no matter. Sweetie was useful, and there’d be plenty of opportunities to use a power like hers. Today just wasn’t one of them, and that was the way it should be.

Mother and Father had fled for Canterlot, but she’d stayed behind. This was home for her, and she wasn’t going to leave and never come back over something as stupid as an evil king from forever ago. She was the pony who’d rule over this place in twenty years, not him.

So she’d picked something suitably dramatic, and made sure to get everypony to take it seriously. Sweet Apple Acres, the fenced-in edge of the forest at dusk, with word of mouth drawing in all of the ponies who’d come. On one end, the princess to replace the Princesses. On the other, a dusty blank-flank trudging in barely on-time.

“Let’s bring out our Stands, shall we?” Diamond said, smirking.

Sweetie nodded, and held out a hoof. “｢Private Eyes｣.” Then those… binocular things appeared. The crowd watched with baited breath, and slowly swiveled to Diamond.

“How dramatic and serious of you. There’s no way somepony this drab and easily fatigued could ever take out my Stand!” she twirled on the spot, put a hoof across her forehead and looked to the sky as her Stand flowed out of her, a slender, almost-angular pink mare decorated in thorny flowers.

Sweetie didn’t react. “Are we here to dance?”

Diamond laughed. “Joke all you want, Sweetie Belle. You’ll never be able to ‘Stand’ up to my…” she threw her hooves out grandiosely as Celestia’s sun pierced the horizon, “｢Misery Business｣!”

｢To Be Continued｣

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78yioWJhUJA [Rush - Something for Nothing]

Stand Name: Simply Red
User: Berryshine
Stats
Power: C
Speed: B
Range: D
Durability: C
Precision: C
Potential: D
Abilities: Turns water into wine.

Stand Name: Private Eyes
User: Sweetie Belle
Stats
Power: N/A
Speed: N/A
Range: ∞
Durability: D
Precision: C
Potential: B
Abilities: Takes the form of a curious white stereoscope, complete with a small disc of empty film good for seven pictures. When the user sees something, they can create a static image of it in an image slot. Each time a slot is flipped to, the image will match the view in real-time as if the user had just observed it from the same position. Slots can be ‘emptied’ at will.

Stand Name: Misery Business
User: Diamond Tiara
Stats
Power: A
Speed: C
Range: D
Durability: B
Precision: E
Potential: C
Abilities: ???

Stand Name: Electric Funeral
User: Button Mash
Stats
Power: D
Speed: N/A
Range: A
Durability: E
Precision: B
Potential: C
Abilities: Takes the form of a laser-tag rifle with a three-second cool-down. Whatever its light hits is put into a ‘disabled state’, but things which are already ‘disabled’ will be ‘reactivated’.

Author's Note:

Stands are like candy, man. I can’t stop making them.

Comments

[FrostingOrb1766]

Stand Name: Simply Red
User: Berryshine
Stats
Power: C
Speed: B
Range: D
Durability: C
Precision: C
Potential: D
Abilities: Turns water into wine.

Wut?

Stands are like candy, man. I can’t stop making them.

[No One Of Nowhere]

I just love the stands you come up with. They are all very creative, especially the names.