Care Root's Bizarre Adventure

by Ditherer the Fussbudget

The Weeknd

Saturday

Silver

It's early morning on a Saturday. This is one of the only times you get the TV to yourself, while everyone older than you sleeps - or it would be, if you weren’t already needed somewhere. Being a Stand user is tough work.

You’re still at Diamond’s house from last night, having turned the evening into a pretty strong sleepover. She told her dad you’d both wanted to come here instead after you missed the bus. It was the first time you ever saw her explain herself to Mr. Rich, and he looked a lot more worried than you remember him being. He was nice to you, of course, although he once tried to shoot you, and he looked around the same, so.

But you’re over it. You’ve been shot at twice, now, and you’re starting to get used to it.

Now that you’ve woken up, checked your phone and got the message, you send out an ETA. Then you get out of the mini-bed they wheel out to save you a sleeping bag, and stretch. You try to do it loudly enough that Diamond wakes up, but she doesn’t. Should’ve known.

You wonder if she still dreams about all of the different versions of herself, like you saw. For some reason, it doesn’t sound likely. She’s got a Stand now, although she’s had a hard time trying to whisper to you about what it does. Probably she’s getting cooler and cooler under pressure now. You’re glad to see your best friend rest after an impossible victory. But.

You nudge one of her shoulders, exactly enough to wake her up. She stirs, dreams cracking and turning back into void, and her eyes open already looking at you.

”What time is it?” she asks.

“Seven. I need a car.”

Diamond blinks at that, like details will hit her if she mulls it over a little more.

“It’s to help out Care. And Trixie.”

She nods, then stops. ”Trixie? What’s she got to do with it?”

You shrug.

Diamond

Through a tinted window you see the mesmerizing zip of passing parking meters and too-tall buildings. Being driven to CHS on a Saturday dampens your mood a little. Not that school stresses you out or anything, until recently you’d rather be there than at home. Your grades weren’t fantastic, but they were only as bad as your tutors would let you get away with, and you weren’t thrilled by the occasional visit to Luna’s office, but it didn’t hurt much.

There’s just a time and place for things like that, an etiquette to scheduling. No one wants to go to high school at 7:30 on a Saturday.

”Diamond?” Silver’s next to you, not looking out of any of the windows.

You dampen your sourness and turn to her. “Yes?”

”Why didn’t you tell your dad about your Stand?”

That’s... a good question. You could say that you just didn’t want to be punished for lying about the sleepover, but that’s not all of it.

You frown, and try to answer her. “I don’t know how he’s going to react. I’m worried it’ll end in him locking me up in my room with a bunch of bodyguards, or something like that.”

She doesn’t say anything.

“I’m going to tell him, I am! Just not yet. ...Plus I don’t want him getting involved in this if he doesn’t have to.”

Your Dad’s done a lot for you, especially in the long term, but Silver doesn’t run to hers whenever she needs something. Her parents are there to love and support her, but not carry her through life, and you've tried to learn from that. No using your family name as a raft through stormy waters, not while you have other options.

”What about the gem?” she asks.

Damn, it’s still in your room. It might have been a good idea to give it to Care, actually, but you’re not in the mood to admit you made a mistake there. “We should keep it where it is for now. No one should be able to break into my room and take it.”

”...But are we going to tell him about it?”

Well, of course. “Why wouldn’t we?”

She fidgets a little. ”Because he’ll probably tell Derpy.”

Oh. You think to yourself. Could you make up some excuse that would make the whole thing seem less dangerous? ...No, because then Anonymous might show up again, and Care wouldn’t know to watch out for him.

When you don’t answer after a while, she hangs her head a little. She looks like a girl on death row.

Silver

You get out of the car, parked in front of Canterlot High. Then you're tromping up the sidewalk, half-expecting Derpy to be around at any minute. Thankfully it’s just Care and Trixie, nonchalant in front of the school, eyes peeled for cars. His own is one of the only ones in the lot, along with the couple that never seem to leave.

Trixie has something metal jutting out of her leg, but no real wound or blood. You activate ｢Tin Cup Chalice｣ while you walk, and the wall opens up behind her. She startles and turns to it, eyes passing around the opening like she’s checking for traps. Diamond follows behind you, still quiet.

You arrive and put on a pleasant smile. “Just step through and I’ll handle the rest, Trixie.”

She gazes, appraises you, and then enters. The curly hunk of metal enters your awareness proper, and you close your eyes to make out its exact shape. It’s lodged straight through her, alright, but the skin’s not broken. What sort of Stand could do something like that to someone, and why was she fighting it?

”Care,” Diamond says, businesslike.

”Diamond," he replies.

You let the metal start to degenerate, then realize you’ll be letting rusty metal into her body if you do. Once you've started, your only option is to speed up the process. You’re worried about what’ll happen, but if you’re right, she’ll be fine.

In a flash, it disappears, and you suppress the shockwave as best you can. Then you stop the process, leaving the weapon unreformed. Trixie pulls her leg up, grunting in pain and hopping on one foot, and then sets it back down. Taking deep breaths, making fists, she stretches it back out.

Then, finally, she speaks. “Trixie thanks you, Freshman.” There’s not a trace of malevolence in the way she says that; she really means it, or else she’s really bad at this.

Either way, you turn to Care, neutral. “What’s going on?”

Sunday

Derpy

You're out among Canterlot, walking the streets near your neighborhood and trying not to think of racing through them for your life a couple weeks back. Stress runs your life right now, even on a weekend that started with such a lovely night out. Yesterday wasn’t as relaxing as you’d hoped. Silver and you aren’t talking very much right now.

”You can’t stop me from helping! I’m not going to be dead weight!”

Care and Trixie only showed up for a minute with Silver and a cut-down explanation, and you sent your Stand out to gather the stone in that area. Trixie seemed really interested in getting you to scavenge for all of them, but… Well, you need to know where they are or what they look like to do that. Otherwise you’re just a jewel thief.

And, well, what’s all of this about, really? Is Care really getting involved, and if he is, how should you feel about that?

It’s better than being twirled around on someone else’s strings, of course.

”Of course I did! Would you have let me do it for a second if I hadn't lied?!”

At least, you thought so. You’re just worried about him, really bone-deeply worried. He shouldn’t be risking his life to keep you afloat, he doesn’t deserve that and neither do you.

”No, Mom, it’s nothing. We’re just, uh... you know. Dumb argument.”

Your walk’s led you out of the neighborhoods and back into the sprawl. A car stops beside you; your dad’s. The window rolls down, and Golden's driving. Her eyes are as intense as always, but she has an easygoing smile.

”Hop in,” she says.

She takes you downtown, further than you’d expect, and you stop at a little Indian place. It’s a single room affair, with enough booths for about ten people, but it’s close to empty. Golden orders, and you order, and your food comes out, and you eat.

At some point during it, she finally speaks up. ”Silver told me you had it out. Told me all of the things she did, for Care Root.”

You grimace in response. Almost mindlessly, your finger traces the outline of the wedge of lemon in your water.

”She went through a lot," Golden says, and she's still so conversational about the whole thing, like she's giving a performance report for how well Silver did in a soccer game.

“Yeah. I know.” That’s why you yelled at her. In that same position, you wouldn’t expect to have made it out yourself. And you definitely wouldn’t have gone in without any plan because the Crusaders told you so! “It’s not Care’s fault.”

”I didn’t say it was. I don’t think it’s Care’s fault at all.”

That stops you. “You don’t?”

”No, he didn’t know anything about it until afterwards. For all anyone knows, the idea could’ve been planted in her head by a Stand!”

That thought makes you uncomfortable. The whole way Golden's acting is nothing like you expected. You thought you’d be discussing ways to make sure Silver stayed within earshot at all times. Has your sister changed?

“Are you asking me to go easier on her?” you ask.

She nods without contesting your wording. ”I think she’s proven that she can take care of herself.”

What?! “She almost got shot in the face by a creep people haven’t seen in months, and you think that we should pat her on the back for making a good decision?”

She holds up a hand to placate you. ”You’re right to protect her, but not like that. If you hold her back, she’ll just get more reckless.”

“She’s my little sister!”

”And you’re my little sister, Derpy. That doesn’t mean I get to control your life. Much.”

“This isn’t about controlling anyone, it’s about stopping Silver from doing something she can’t come back from because she thinks she’s invincible! There are guns out there, Golden!” You realize how high you’ve raised your voice.

The two girls who came in after you are trying not to look in your direction. Golden sees them too, and leans in a little closer, voice lowered. ”Do you think she doesn’t know that? I nearly had a heart attack when she saved her friend, and she had a gun pointed to her head then, too!”

You sigh. “I wasn’t there, I didn’t know everything that happened.”

”Well, she lived! Not only that, she stopped everyone in that room from dying. She’s tough enough to have a Stand, and we both need to put some more trust in her.”

“I’m not going to let her just… just go off on her own like that!”

”Of course not. But… you have to be there to catch her without her realizing it. That’s the secret of being an older sister.”

You... don’t think you’d be very good at that. Even if your Stand was more reliable, and better at long-range defense...

Golden reaches out to grab your hand. ”I’ll be here to help her, too. And so will Diamond, and Care. We need to give her a little bit of a hard time so she knows not to charge into things, but we also need her on our side.”

She looks at you earnestly, and you break eye contact. If she hadn’t grown up with you, she might not have noticed it, but she presses, gently.

”Can’t we do that?”

“...Yeah, okay.” You let out a small breath. “Okay.”

”Um, excuse me, Miss...”

You realize someone’s standing next to the table. It’s one of the two girls, around your age. Golden stops holding your hand, and you both straighten, sizing her up: yellow, pink hair, freckles, wearing a bad-fitting smile.

“Is your name ‘Derpy’?” She’s falsetto, downright cooing. It’s the voice of a half-dozen bad teachers making bad first impressions based on your bad eye. You resist the impulse to twitch and tell her off.

Golden speaks up. ”Who wants to know?”

The new girl doesn’t look at her. ”We would really, really appreciate it if you’d come with us. There are a few little boo-boos we need to clear up, and you’d be an awfully big help.” Her expression does nothing to mask the menace in those words.

“Why’s that?” With the hand that’s under the table, you grope for one of your Stand’s gifts.

”Well, we’ve heard that you’re good at getting back things that are stolen, and someone took off with some very valuable cut rubies belonging to our mother.” She hooks a thumb over her shoulder at the other girl, who looks up and smiles too. She’s red-skinned, with hair colored like lemon-lime soda packaging.

How did they find you? You’ve never been to this restaurant before.

”｢Fineshrine｣.” Golden summons her Stand under her breath. The tree springs up a half-foot away from the newcomer, and she flinches, stepping to one side. Then she looks at Golden, and at you, and sighs.

Her face darkens, like she's lost twenty hours of sleep in a second. ”Look. Come with us or we’re going to make things very painful for you.”

You meet her eyes again, and this time there’s just irritation. They’re open much wider, now, to take all of you in. The girl in the booth gets up and treads closer. Did she get startled by the tree? You weren't paying much attention to her, but reasonably she must be a Stand user too; what interest would she have with you otherwise?

You consider playing dumb, then choose against it. “What do you really want? What are the stones for?”

She doesn’t answer you, but the other one does. ”We don’t set the goals, lady.” She sounds like an 80s rocker stereotype. Now that she’s closer, you can see the giant headphones more clearly. They looked more like earmuffs from a distance, and right now they aren’t playing anything you can hear.

The angry yellow one speaks again. ”We won’t hurt you if you come with us.”

”Where?”

”Wherever we say!” She slams a fist onto the table. You breathe harder as she looks down on you.

”｢Fineshrine｣!” The tree whips a bough around towards the back of her head.

She doesn’t turn around, just grunting the name. ”｢Message Man｣.”

Suddenly it catches on fire, recoiling. Golden cries out as it starts smoking and tearing into the outer bark. A Stand that sets things on fire?

You don’t wait for a chance to test that theory. ”｢Spinal Tap｣!” You crack the popsicle stick in half, and your Stand materializes from under the table. The two girls take a half-step back as it draws up to its full height, and then you stand up and fling your water onto the fire.

”Tch. ｢Message Man｣!” Her Stand appears, only a little shorter than yours.

Its face is a curved black screen, like a biker helmet. The rest of it’s a series of black strips separated by the sort of little knobs watches are set with. In the center of its otherwise gray-chrome body is the red shape of a heart symbol, split vertically down the middle by an arrow which points up at its featureless face.

｢Spinal Tap｣ launches a volley of punches straight at it, and it braces itself. “AD-AD-AD-AD-”

Its arms block the first few, but then you adjust and your Stand picks up speed.

“ADADADADADADAD--!” It’s knocked backwards into the nearest booth, and the owner goes flying onto an empty table. You look at Golden, who’s already up. Both of you dash for the exit.

As you pass her, you hear the red girl fuming. ”｢Lemon Demon｣!”

Something small, flat and impish appears, yellow-green, designed to glide and hover in the air. You don’t get a good look at it, because you’re already heading for the door. But the girl picks up speed like she runs marathons in her free time, leaping and cartwheeling the rest of the way to the door, beating you there!

She slides and spins around between you and your way out, only to see ｢Spinal Tap｣ bear down on her. The small green Stand tries to hold back the punches, but it only takes three to exhaust her. You throw her backwards, stumbling through the doors, clutching at one arm.

Then you walk outside onto the street. “Who are you working for? Why do they need these gems so badly?”

She frowns. ”Hell if I know, man! I’m just here following orders. Once I capture you, and we get all of the stones, you’ll probably just go home.”

“You’re not going to capture me.”

She smiles at that, and cracks her neck. ”We’ll find out. Now, let’s see who can really punch the fastest.”

You sigh, but ｢Spinal Tap｣ rises to the occasion. Behind, you can here the other one getting back up.

The girl shouts over your shoulder. ”Leave this one to me, Sour!”

Golden enters, summoning up ｢Fineshrine｣ and sending something winged toward 'Sour'. ”You’d better stay down, lady, unless you want to pay the full price for bothering my sister.” She gets no answer.

You let out a series of punches with ｢Spinal Tap｣ while you try to keep track of time. It’s been out for more than a minute, but not quite two yet... Thankfully, you brought a handful of gifts with you this time. After being caught empty-handed, you never want to risk it again, but one of them could be waiting for an opening while you switch.

You're reaching for your second popsicle stick when you realize that you’re Stand’s not hitting her. She’s hitting it with an even faster barrage of punches! Her small Stand isn’t even throwing them, it’s perched in the air beside her head! As her fists rebound against your Stand, you can see they’ve started to glow with some yellow-green aura all their own.

She smirks. ”Looks like that’s the end of your Stand. Rest in peace.” She points straight at you as ｢Spinal Tap｣ fades out.

You grit your teeth and pull out another stick.

It’s already broken. Did it snap in your pocket when you weren’t paying attention?! You reach in for another, and then the bubble wrap, and the toothpick, and the folded-up sheet of notebook paper.

They’re all shredded in your pocket, just tatters.

“Th-that’s impossible!”

Her hardset eyes and aggressive grin double. ”Not for the Shadowbolts!”

...Shadowbolts? Weren’t they the Crystal Prep students playing in the Friendship Games? Why would they be involved in any of this?

”She’s right!” The shout comes from behind you, where Sour’s standing over Golden, laying on the ground. What on Earth is happening?!

Golden speaks from under Sour’s boot. ”She tripped me, without touching me.”

Sour chuckles, then the sweetness and light voice. ”Oh, you’re right there. The trip was meant for someone else.” Shifting, darker, gleeful. ”You just took the fall.”

An obsidian, spiky bird, still airborne, swoops for her. Without her even registering it, ｢Message Man｣’s fist obliterates it.

Nice: ”Why don’t I tell you what just happened, so you don’t feel like fighting to the death.”

You stare at her, trying to calculate under the pressure of seeing your older sister in such a defeated position.

”My Stand lets me push events into the future, wherever I like them to be. The fire you put out really came from a match I lit this morning. The fall was an honest mistake when I sat on a bench a little earlier and put my legs too far out into the sidewalk. And earlier today, I took a bunch of small things and broke them apart all at once.” Malevolent, proud: “So all of your secret weapons are useless. Time’s run out for the first one, so it’s up for all of them. And even if it weren’t, my Stand can just absorb your attacks. I only had to keep you occupied long enough for it to disappear.”

She finishes off her little explanation by crossing her arms and lowering her chin, smug eyes piercing into you. ”Now. Time to go.”

You look from her to the door, where the other girl’s standing, hands on hips. She’s right, all of your gifts are useless. How, though? How could they know all of this, and be so well-prepared? How could two Stand users you’ve never met understand your power so well?!

A voice cuts through your rising panic. ”｢Fineshrine｣!” Then, a flurry of motion.

The tree releases all of its birds, flapping angrily in concentric circles. In the chaos, Golden pushes herself up, knocking Sour off-balance and back into the booth, and throws her phone at you.

You stoop and catch it without asking why.

Then Golden shouts, ”I was going to make you and Silver make up after this. She’s at the library. Get there!” With those words, her birds swarm past you, their wingbeats mussing your hair, and hit the other girl. She stumbles herself and tries to bat them away, her Stand blocking the beaks from in front of her face.

The way out is open.

”No!” One of them says.

”Run, Derpy!”

“｢Message Man｣!” Thump!

You’re already outside. The library’s to your right, a few blocks down, but you run left towards the car. Golden had the keys, but the doors don’t lock.

Quickly, you throw yourself into the passenger seat and shut the door behind you. Where, where is it?

”Golden, are you alright?”

That voice... it’s faint, but it’s Silver’s! You look down at the phone you forgot you were carrying. It must have been dialing her number when your sister threw it to you.

You put it to your ear, still rummaging quickly between the seats. ”Silver!”

”Derpy?” Shock, then silence.

“Silver. I’m in trouble. Golden gave me her phone.”

You find it! Figures she would take it off of the dashboard where your father keeps it... Golden’s so self-conscious sometimes.

”Trouble? What- what’s happening?” Fear.

The door opens behind you, but you’re already most of the way out of the passenger seat. You scramble into the driver’s, only to immediately see the lemon-lime girl standing outside. She opens the driver-side door and cracks her knuckles. Then you scramble back toward the passenger’s side, only to find Sour leaning in.

”Derpy? Derpy, what’s going on? Who’s there?”

Sour leers at you. ｢Message Man｣’s fist appears next to her shoulder, and lets out a single punch. You put up your hands in front of your face. In one is a pair of fuzzy dice, a gift for your dad. The punch pulverizes it, and sends you flying into the other girl, who catches you around your armpits like a wrestler.

Both of you go sliding backwards into the street, but she stops much sooner than she has any right to, completely avoiding any errant cars. ”This would have been so much easier if you’d just cooperated.”

And then, she sees her friend go flying back herself, hitting the steps of the restaurant. From that pair of fuzzy dice, ｢Spinal Tap｣ emerges into the car. It climbs out, not wasting time, bearing down on Sour while she’s knocked down.

You make no move to bring it closer to yourself. Sour’s already dodging hits by saving them for later. One, two, three gone, and then the fourth punch gets through! The barrage opens up after that, some limit to her Stand being reached.

”Shit.” Your assailant spits, and her Stand punches you in the stomach. It’s a strong jab, and it leaves a spiderweb of pain in your abdomen, but then she lets go and dashes for Sour.

You run away from both of them, heading towards the library. ｢Spinal Tap｣ will keep them occupied for another ninety seconds, which is all the lead you’ll get.

Around you pass candystores, bakeries, knick-knack places, antiqueries, thrift stores. You catch Silver up to speed while you run, and two lucky crosswalks later, you can see her standing by the side of the library, phone between her shoulder and ear.

She sees you coming, and then she waves. ”Hey!” You wave back, and then she points. ”No, behind you!”

You look over your shoulder. The red girl, with messed-up hair and a couple bruises standing out against her skin, runs for you.

The aura covers her legs down to her shoes, and she’s sprinting at you without breaking a sweat. Silver ducks behind the library and hangs up. You have to get to her, or you’re doomed!

You put on more speed, but she only gains on you faster, clearly something to do with her ability Is that it…? She’ll get to you before you can escape, you can judge that from here. You prepare yourself, and then you duck and throw out a leg to one side.

She registers too late that you’ve stopped running. The aura burns strong, and she collides with your leg, flying in the air for a solid few feet before she hits the sidewalk.

You stand up, seeing Sour jogging for you in the distance. Nodding to yourself, you get up and keep running. Lemon-lime’s already pushing herself to her feet, and you kick her on your way. She rolls, and then she’s out of your peripheral vision.

C’mon, Silver...

”｢Lemon Demon｣!”

Her Stand makes her much faster than you are, whatever it does. You hope you can overcome that speed boost…!

But then she’s overtaking you like nothing, side by side, neck and neck! She doesn’t even hit you as she starts to pass ahead. ...Yes, that’s it! That must be the secret of her Stand!

You take a deep gulp of air, and stop completely.

As soon as you stand stock-still, her aura wears off. She’s just walking. She looks at her feet, then back at you, as you level a punch at her. It catches her off-guard, and she gets knocked down again.

Her Stand needs you to be doing something for her to do it faster. It’s why she can’t hit you while she’s racing you with it, you’d slow down! She needs you to be running!

The only problem is that you can’t reach Silver first without running. Sour’s still coming, much closer now.

You keep moving. If you can trip her up again, you can keep her on the ground long enough to make it the rest of the way, to get everything into position in a closed space. it's only a few more seconds of running until you sense her about to pass you again.

Then you pile on speed, reaching the front of the library. Sidestep, throwing out an arm, fist out, to clothesline her... In a blur, she guitar-slides under it, and then, in a single swift motion, she’s reached the corner.

Still kneeling, she turns to you. ”I know your sis’s hiding back here. She might be able to keep that up, for a minute, but she won’t be able to run from me. This, right now, is your last chance to save her.” Her yellow eyes meet yours like a negotiator’s.

You say nothing.

She shrugs. ”Alright. So long as you’re keen on putting your own family in danger, I guess.”

No. No, you just... trust them.

As your enemy rounds the corner, Silver slams the blunt curve of a crowbar into her face. She goes reeling, and you close the distance, shoving her away.

She falls woozily, wetly, unconscious.

You come upon Silver standing as close to the wall as possible, cradling the crowbar. A few feet back, two portions of ｢Tin Cup Chalice｣ have been laid out in the broad brick alleyway. From what she told you, before your row, she destroyed that crowbar; it was lodged in Trixie’s leg.

You knew her Stand could recreate the things it destroyed, but you didn’t realize it could do it across distances! And speaking of that...

”｢Message Man｣!” She summons the Stand from a few feet away, face flushed with exercise and anger.

You duck behind the wall, rummaging in your pockets, but she’s on you like glue. Her Stand punches through the brick to hit you, sending out clouds of chunky red dust. You’re knocked back a few feet, scuffing your legs on asphalt. Sour steps into view as the dust falls, and Silver lunges for her with the crowbar.

｢Message Man｣’s hand grabs the rod and holds it like a baton, picking your sister up with it. A flick of the wrist, and she hits the far wall of the alley. Sour breathes heavily, slouching like Quasimodo as she lumbers toward you.

You pull out everything you had in your pocket - the splintered wooden sticks, the deflated bubble wrap, the torn paper. This is your last, long shot! The only way you and Silver can make it outside!

In one last, desperate act, you throw the whole fistful at her. Her Stand’s fist appears alone, catching it all in a single motion. After a moment of holding your hope for the future, it crushes all of those fragments, and drops the remnants like sand to the ground.

Then she comes for you. You back up. She’s not fast, but you don’t have a hope of taking her hand-to-hand.

She speaks, and her voice is deep and rumbling, almost demonic. ”I’m going to break your arms, and then your legs, and then make you win this all for us whether you want to or not. I’ll break every part of you that isn’t necessary to use a Stand.”

She steps closer again, and now you’re up against a wall, and she's clearly not paying attention to whether you're listening or not.

”You might be asking, which arm am I going to start with? Or maybe a leg, instead? I’ll tell you. I’m going to be reaaaal nice and use my speed to break all four of them at once.” Her voice sounds like she’s enjoying herself, but there’s no smile on her face. ”I saved three of your punches the last time you summoned your Stand, but I blocked each one while I was running here. In fact, I took the chance to save three of my own. So I’m going to hit you in four places at once! How do you like that, you cross-eyed bitch?!”

You keep eye contact, for a moment, and then smile.

And, softly, laugh. You’re standing up straight, face free from fear.

She all but roars. ”Why are you--”

Behind her, there’s a flash of light.

“The gifts my Stand gave me fell inside of my sister’s ｢Tin Cup Chalice｣! You dropped them right in it!” Sure enough, some of them made it between the two pieces of tile propped up in the asphalt’s imperfections. “Its power is an endless cycle of destruction and creation, decay and rebirth! It destroyed the gifts, and rebuilt them again! And now it’s breaking them down all over again! That’s the hidden power of Silver Spoon, my amazing sister!” You laugh, louder!

Sour bellows. ”Who cares?! You put a couple fucking wooden sticks back together! I’m going to rip out your tongue for stalling me like this!”

“Stalling? I’m not stalling. You’ve just been defeated.”

She looks from your easy smile to the gifts being broken back down. Then she realizes it.

”｢Spinal Tap｣!” Your Stand appears from the gifts behind her, and this time it’s inexhaustible. “ADADADADAD-”

”M-Mess--｢Message Man｣!”

Your Stand’s punches are relentless, borne on the constant cycle of rebirth and resummoning!

DUAL HEAT ATTACK: Just Begin Again!

“ADADADAD-”

Three of her Stand’s fists appear from nowhere, zooming for your Stand. It brings its tail around, blocking all three, and then its own fists connect. Sour hits the wall, and you don’t stop, not until she’s not getting back up for a few hours.

“AD-AD-AD-AD-AAAAD!”

Her determination disappears, consciousness fading.

You turn away. “Adieu.”

It takes a little while to get things back under control after that, but you're learning the rhythm of recovery.

Silver’s okay, except for a sore back and general stress. Golden’s picked herself up at the restaurant by the time you arrive, but she’s not doing hot either; one of her arms is broken, but after a run to the hospital, where she stays overnight, you and Silver make it back home.

You have to tell your mom that your older sister was reckless and got in a really bad fall.

But… you made it. One more fight, with the help of your little sister. And one more clue. If you can find out what the Shadowbolts are after, maybe you can figure all of this out...

MONDAY

Care

Alright. It’s morning, and you’ve done everything you can in such a quick sweep of Canterlot City. Derpy spent the last day fending off the same people who seem to want Trixie.

Trixie, who hid out on your couch for another night.

You get dressed in your usual, say her name a few times until she wakes up, and get in the car Talk about a night-owl.

And when you’ve arrived and parked, you make your way through CHS grounds. With Trixie covering your back, you approach some other early arrivals. The Rainbooms are mostly assembled, and in their midst is one girl - purple-skinned, like Trixie said. You hold your Stand at the ready in case things get ugly.

Sitting and listening to the others on the steps of the school, her hair has a streak through it, and it’s tied in a loose bun. Thick glasses, and purple-blue clothes.

Twilight Sparkle.

｢To Be Continued｣

Stand: ｢Message Man｣
User: Sour Sweet
Ability: ‘Saves’ events for up to 12 hours and ‘reinserts’ their effects into causality at the user’s discretion. Effects can be directed anywhere within range, except for events affecting the user, which can only be postponed. An event must last under 3 seconds to be saved by ｢Message Man｣, and only 3 can be saved at a time.

Stand: ｢Lemon Demon｣
User: Lemon Zest
Ability: When competing against another person at a specific task, bends circumstances around the user so that they can accomplish the task in exactly half the time of their competitor. If it’s not possible to make the user faster, the Stand will simply impede their opponent.