Marble Pie's Bizarre Adventure

by Ditherer the Fussbudget

The Leisure Lost, or A Heady Tale

Daring Do

The jungle passes overhead as you run, a name still tingling at the corners of your mind. You’ve fought a few of these strange abilities now, and you wonder if you’re keeping yours. Whatever forgotten school of magic they come from, it's different than most of the things you've had to put down.

You got this one from your arrow, while he made off with the other. So far, you’ve come within spitting distance of three, and learned how unhelpful your power is in anything like a one-on-one.

｢Universe Alone｣, ｢Young Lust｣ and ｢Selfish Art｣... If you could match the faces to the powers, this would be so much easier! But as it stands, your mind keeps being drawn to old mysticism. The Universe, Lust, Art, they're all Tarot cards - Major Arcana in the Thoth Deck, to be specific.

Celestia, and here you thought you’d sworn off anything with Thoth in the name for good.

You stop, check the coast, and fly up into the branches of the trees. The motions are routine, and you continue mulling over your problem. When your own arrow pierced your skin, you didn’t get one fitting the pattern. Yours is... ｢Writer｣. Something, ｢Writer｣, and there aren’t any writers in the Thoth Tarot. Unless you want to discount your adventurer's intuition, you can only conclude that each arrow works differently, even though they don’t seem to have any distinguishing marks.

Of course, this just makes acquiring both even more important.

You finally see the truck through the ropey green entanglements, and a hint of trademark colors. Only someone like Caballeron would need to spend the exorbitant money for a truck. Those things run on magically-tempered fossil remains; all that lost information, all those subsumed dangers and adventures... Well, it sums up Caballeron’s approach to history almost perfectly.

Not that you’re campaigning to make every sunken temple a museum or anything, and you weren't exactly inspiring the next generation of mousy archivists to make more accurate records. But you at least understand that history has teeth, and you keep a safe distance until you’re ready to dance with it. Then you do your business and get out of Dodge.

Caballeron’s a big fan of smacking the dragon right on the snout. It’s why you could never work with him, and why he asked you anyway. (Ugh, the way his eyebrows waggled.)

You flap harder and swerve rightwards for him. He’s riding in the back, while two of his henchponies sit in the front, one driving. One thing your power is good for is moving undetected, and you use it to check each of their lines of sight in turn. It’s almost like snapping stills with a camera.

Once you figure out where it is, you keep yourself in Caballeron’s blind spot, flying lower. He doesn’t have the arrow out, so it must be in the crate next to him, and you won’t be able to get it in a single swoop without a distraction.

You follow the trail the truck's on, extrapolating outwards. There’s a very rough-and-tumble road laid out, and it’s sloping upwards. The climbing altitude prevents you from making it out correctly, and you can’t check without losing them, but you think this is heading up and eastward. With your luck, it's toward Smoking Mountain in the distance.

Figures it would be the volcano. Is there something important about it that only he knows about? You only found this place through rumor, but he’s the sort to buy up rare books.

Well... like always, there’s only one way to find out. You keep close to the truck, following it on its path, and wait for your opportunity.

Marble Pie

The map of Equestria sags at the very edges where your kitchen table runs out of space, and it takes a lot of effort to not correct it with your Stand. Maud picks these up on her visits to see Pinkie, and there’s a stack of them pressed into one of the upper shelves of the family closet.

And next to it, in a space specially cleared, the Choosing Stone. It’s rounded on one end and pointy on the other, like an arrowhead, but otherwise smooth speckled grey. It's nothing like the brooch but still irreplaceable, and you're surprised that Ms. Yearling didn't run off with it too. Did she just not get the chance?

Maybe she didn't know its secrets. Most ponies think it's a joke to say that a slightly dullish rock decides ponies' destinies, but really it just points toward the answer of whatever you ask it. Ma and Pa were the last to use it, and so it’s really responsible for you and your sisters existing in the first place. Now Ma pulled it out of hiding - under their pillow - to give to you personally.

Pa… wasn’t able.

They both knew immediately that the farm wasn’t in a good state, before you could even let them know what happened. Time is short, and this is exactly the kind of emergency preparation anypony would wish for. But even if it's a step in the right direction, neither of them wanted to see you do this.

”We can only use this with the right tools. A map’s not enough, not for this.” Lime mutters as she walks back and forth over it, inspecting the map like trying to pick out a forgery in a line of paintings.

Maud pulls out a giant sheaf of paper from the pack she’s now wearing, and drops it on top of the map, over the Celestial Sea. The front reads, in mundane manuscript font, “Daring Do and the Arrow of Ages [WORKING TITLE]“

Lime’s nervous, but nods at that. ”Alright. Then I guess it’s time.” She draws closer, looking at the Stone like it’s going to turn into a snake.

Then Maud holds her back with a hoof, waving her away. ”I provided the materials. I’ll use it.”

Limestone sours, growling. ”You mean you’ll try sacrificing yourself because you’re the oldest.”

”Yes.” Maud gazes at the Stone instead of her sister. ”If it only works for a pony once, then it should be me.”

Limestone pulls her muzzle over so they’re making eye contact again. ”Then how are you going to find your spousal somepony, rockhead?”

Maud shrugs. You’re just as shocked as Limestone by her flippancy. The Choosing Stone’s always been used by the family to create and confirm marriages, and using it for reconnaissance almost feels dirty.

A picture of Yearling’s smirk as she trotted away fills your head. Dirty tactics for dirty opponents.

Maud pushes Lime back slightly, and turns back to the Stone. She’s apprehensive, too, but she cracks her neck and approaches it straightaway.

”No!” Lime runs, shooting a small mist of broken glass from her mouth. It tinkles against the ground, glittering. Maud keeps her front hoof up to avoid bleeding, and in that moment of hesitation, Lime dives for the Stone.

She cradles it to herself, not even looking at it but to your oldest sister. ”Don’t you ever think you’re going to get away with that self-sacrifice horseshit around me, sis.” Then she picks up the Stone with both hooves.

And drops it. Something darker, rounder and smaller falls to the floorboards, skittering to Maud’s hooves.

Limestone sputters. ”B-Boulder?! How-”

In the crook of a hoof, Maud’s holding the Stone. ”｢OK Go｣ is fast.”

Lime points a hoof at her. ”I didn’t even see you move!”

”It’s really fast.” She approaches the map again, and Lime’s not having it. You walk up to it yourself. Whoever puts it onto the surface gives up their usage.

Lime pounces when Maud comes within slamming-down range, lunging for her. ”｢Down With the Sickness｣!”

Maud moves a few hooves out of the way, backwards, and another spray of glass narrowly misses her. Limestone thumps onto the floor, but rolls with it. In seconds, she’s on her hooves, leaping over the glass to hit Maud again.

Then there’s a great thumping noise, and the room dims as the map begins glowing. Both of them stop their tussle and turn to the source: the Choosing Stone, with one of your silverfish on its face, leaving your hoof as it hits the table. Their eyes turn to you as your Stand fades, staying still just long enough.

You take a monster breath. “ShowmewheretheauthorA.K.Yearlingisrightnow.”

The Stone accepts your request, which is half the battle already. It's never spoken falsely, so the rest is just pinpointing the location it gives, judging where she’ll be heading in real time...

It slides of its own will and lands on the northwest desert, just beyond your family’s territory. Halfway, how fitting, to Las Pegasus. You try to memorize its current position, extrapolate to the rest of her journey, and it’s mostly a straight line north for now. You don’t know what lies up there, to be honest.

Maud and Lime are at the table, and you’re sure they’ll be annoyed with you later. For now, they’re asking themselves the same questions.

And then, just to make things more difficult, the Stone moves again. It jumps up from where it’s been laid down like someone kneed the table, standing on its rounded end and spinning. It strikes the table again, pointing further up to Vanhoover. While you're reading the city name, the Stone jitters and swings back and forth like a seizing pendulum. Vanhoover, desert, Vanhoover, desert...

You trade glances with your sisters. Lime chews on her lip, and concern clouds Maud’s face.

* * *

A couple hours later, you’re packed. Food and blankets are the important thing, and water. Lime’s trying to cover the latter, but you’ve got a good handle on easy foodstuff. The few cans in your pantry get thrown in, and some flints-and-steel.

You look at the map on the table, appraising. Then you fold it up tiny with your Stand and slip it into your pack. The manuscript slides off of it, still in one piece, and your eyes catch on it. It’s lean, probably unfinished, but there could be valuable information in it. Is it an act of respect to the enemy to read it?

Your mouth twists with the weight of the decision. Eventually, you look away from it, and ｢Opposite of Thieves｣ secures it in your pack.

”Marble?”

You turn to the bedroom doorway. “Ma.”

She comes over and hugs you, squeezing. You hug her back. This whole farm might be gone by the time you make it back...

”Your Pa wanted to see you off, but he... hasn’t been feeling well. I sent for a physician, but he will probably refuse the treatment. So, if you have anything to say, it would be best to say it now.”

Your chest tightens, but you take a deep breath and head for the doorway. Inside, you linger, looking into the dim room at the lump in the bed.

“Pa, I-” You fumble for words. “I’m going to get back the brooch, and stop Yearling from whatever she thinks she’s doing. And I’m going to keep my older sisters safe, so we can all come back and prepare for harvest season. We’re going to make sure that nothing happens to this farm, or to each other, or to anybody." You’re talking too much now. “So, I’ll be back soon, and don’t worry, because, I’ll be back soon.” Yes, talking too much.

Pa stirs. He looks less imposing under the covers. There’s something foalish about him, now, too sick for his day’s work. His eyes aren’t open all the way, slipping between two dreams.

”Marble Victoria Pie, you be sure you take care of your sisters. Don’t let them think they know best because they’re
eldest.” He coughs. ”And keep yourself out of trouble. You hear me?”

You nod, and he nods back, slowly, eyes closed. It’s become almost a rattling motion now, and he drifts back to sleep. There's no great pain or weakness in his actions, but when you turn away your eyes are still watery.

Without the brooch’s power, all of this legacy and tradition is crumbling. It's like you can’t hold the weight of your own histories any longer. You work on not thinking about it as your Ma returns to the bedside.

And, discreetly, you put some cans back in the pantry.

Once you retrieve the arrow, you've still got to bring it to the farm. That should be the easy part, though. You’ll marathon the distance if you have to, so long as Yearling doesn’t have it.

Within the hour, you and your sisters set out, both of them making their own goodbyes. Lime pays her respects with silence until you’re out of sight of the farm.

* * *

The San Palomino Desert stretches onwards as your hooves trudge through the sand. The heat's something you're used to, but it still eats at you with time. It you weren’t a farmpony, it might’ve devoured you whole before nightfall.

But you and your sisters are tough as rocks. Not to mention good at entertaining yourselves. Maud keeps a fascinated eye on any non-sandstone outcroppings or formations, Limestone complains, and you flip through the manuscript.

Sometimes pages come loose, and you don’t complain as the wind takes them. It’s not a very dense or difficult read, nothing like the books you’ve read to pass the winter freeze by, those farmbound romances. Volumes scavenged on town runs about legal protocol, tool repair, genealogy...

In essence, Daring Do is the dashing pegasus hero, who steals items to add to a big collection. They’re always ancient artifacts no one else can have, and in this case, a dastardly stallion named Caballeron is after a quiverful of arrows. She gets there in time to take one, but he has the other. Then she fights through his magically-powerful but nameless goons, and finds him again, except this time it’s at the top of a mountain, where the prophecy will be fulfilled.

”When the three ^two arrows are brought to the peak of the highest mountain, they will come together, and their wielder will gain mastery over the world.” The number draws your attention more than the last twenty pages combined. Did she think it wouldn’t fit the story?

Writer’s decisions are beyond you.

Suddenly, you walk into Maud’s outstretched hoof, bumping your nose. Ouch.

She holds you back, and speaks softly, ”Do you see that?”

You’d ask, “See what?”, but Lime does it for you.

There’s only one thing to see in the dusk-desert right now - a single jagged, tree-like formation jutting from the sand. Something in it's off-color, even from a distance. Maud can see it better than you can, and Lime can’t make it out at all.

”I’m going to get closer.” Maud says, creeps a couple hooves forward, and then uses her Stand to bridge the gap automatically. Lime charges after her, and you follow in her hoofsteps.

In the rock, there’s a small ovular depression, with something white sitting in it. You realize what it is by the time you arrive: it has a pupil, and written above it is the word “DARE”.

Lime sees it, seizes up and starts shouting. ”Give us back our brooch, you afterbirthsucking scumfuck bitch!” It swivels to look at her, then at Maud, and then at you.

Maud takes a breath, which would be imperceptible to most ponies, and then slams her hoof into the rock surface right on top of the eye. Her attack is instantaneous, and the whole structure crumbles. If not for the sand dampening the thunder, it would've echoed.

When the dust settles, the eye’s nowhere to be found, but you have to assume she was keeping some kind of watch. You’re on her trail.

You feel good and bad about that.

But as soon as the three of you all make sure that the eye hasn’t rolled away somewhere, you press on.

* * *

Night falls, and you’re forced to camp out. As long as you don’t do it for as long as Yearling has, you’ll still catch her up. You’re making good time, you hope.

Lime digs under the sand for rock while you look at the stars. Are they different, if you head to the furthest edges of Equestria? And is there something beyond those edges, really?

Your older sister pulls up grainy rock and chokes it down. The whole thing looks eerie from where you’re sitting, so you do your best to ignore it. A minute later, she’s pushed a stone knife out of her hoof, and she smashes into the cans, leaving long puncture-gashes across them. It’s been a long day’s work, with a long day’s appetite and none of the breaks you’re accustomed to.

Over a campfire, the three of you eat almost everything you’d packed. Maud brought the logs from the fireplace’s store, and you light them up. The soup itself is fine, but not filling - all of its minerals are the tiny unseeable ones.

Ma always told you, growing ponies need chunks of zinc as big as their heads. But health matters aside, your sleep’s restful.

The next day you set out again, and it’s a good trek before you see anything of interest again. Unfortunately, it’s not Yearling.

* * *

You fumble with the map as Limestone crows over your shoulder. ”That’s definitely not Las Pegasus!”

You glance from the town below to the map and back. “I know.” The buildings are small, sparse, townish, nothing like the land of casinos and sin your Pa warned you about.

”Well, where is it, then? Did you take us in the opposite direction?!”

Maud speaks up. ”It’s Tall Tale.”

You consult the map. Tall Tale’s on it, north enough to be above Vanhoover. ...You couldn’t have made it there yet. Limestone snatches it from you, fuming, inspecting it without talking. She gets angrier the longer she looks at it.

You shake your head at the town yourself. ”I don’t think it is.”

”Tall Tale is magical. It was built on the grave of Star-Swirl the Bearded. It’s never in the same place on the map twice in a row.”

Who?

”Then why didn’t you tell us it might be here? I was about to make us all turn around!”

”I didn’t know. Who are those ponies.”

“What- oh.” In the midday sun, on the outskirts of the town, there are two stallions. Yellow coats and pinstripe outfits, like half a barbershop quartet. They stare out at you, quietly, waiting.

“Uh… why don’t we go around?” You suggest.

Limestone looks at you witheringly. ”We can’t. Somepony didn’t pack enough food.”

Ouch. You glance back at the… guards?

The three of you approach them, just as quiet, negotiating between coming off as harmless or a threat. As you draw nearer, you can see that the two are related somehow. Twins, or is that just the matching outfits? Blue and white stripes, grey bowtie, simple sunhat - and both of them are as close to stony as ponies in those getups can be.

It’s only when you reach the outskirts yourself that they finally speak up.

”That’s as far as you go.” The one with the mustache talks, and when you look at him you’re finally close enough to see it. He’s got her eye.

He picks up before you can react. ”We, the Flim Flam brothers, have come to defend our homestead against-”

”Against what indeed, brother mine! The most dastardly trio of witches this side of the Luna Ocean, to be sure!”

”You doubtless know that we've had warning of your arrival, by the last of your victims!"

”A creative, too, a bohemian cursed in her prime, who left as soon as she could to spare us her fate!”

”Fruitlessly!"

"Yes, brother, for those efforts were in vain!"

"A curse which has already spread to us, and soon to the whole of our beloved home!”

”A home that cries out for justice!”

”Yes, justice, but justice of the right sort!”

They hardly seem to be talking to you until the mustached one flings a hoof at your sisters. ”We've been well-warned that you won't accept a peaceable offer, but we must make it all the same! If you three will submit to arrest, then there will be no need for struggle and shame on this day!”

When they finish, both are on their hind legs, pointing at you. Their faces are expectant and, impossibly, solemn.

You don’t know what to say to all of that. You’re not certain you followed all of it.

Limestone speaks for the three of you. ”Listen up. We’re not trying to hurt you, we’re just passing through so we can tear A. K. Yearling a new one. Don’t get in our way.”

You can tell by their expressions that this wasn’t what they wanted to hear. ”If that’s your decision, then by our authority as deputies of Tall Tale-”

”Licensed and certified by the very Celestial government itself!“

”-we will take you into custody by force!”

Limestone seethes as they produce two bulky chrome hand-cannons.

”I said we don't have time for this.” She gallops for them, shouting.

The clean-shaven one fires, and a net bursts from the barrel, opening like a predatory octopus. Lime skids to a stop, trying to reverse, and kicks up sand until she falls over. But before the net hits her-

Maud appears between them. The net closes around her automatically, wrapping her inescapably in its ropes. She falls to the ground from the momentum. Lime panics and rushes over Maud, straight for the stallion, shouting.

”I am going TO KILL YOU! ｢Down With the Sickness｣!”

”So she's stopped playing coy! ｢Aberdeen Rose｣!”

Lime’s eyes go wide. The cloud of sand she sprays from her hoof freezes in mid-air before it can touch him. Then, after a pregnant pause, it drops to his hooves.

They have Stands.

Mustache steps into your field of vision, blocking your view of them. He can’t help but twirl it as he stares you down, and his eyes glint and flash, including hers.

On instinct, you send out your Stand.

”｢Georgia Devil｣: hoof-to-hoof!” Then he assumes a pose you’ve only seen one time before.

It was in one of the dozen times you’ve really been away from the farm, in a decadent Ponyville theater with Pinkie, watching a “martial arts movie”. A warlock had summoned up a terrible evil by mistake, a screaming faceless monster, and to defeat it, he summoned up something even more terrifying, a gangly bipedal thing like a sunken-in, hairless minotaur.
You still have no idea how ponies made it look so lifelike. But before he engaged it, monster to monster, he took on exactly this stance!

The terror you feel is heightened by the wisp of something clear that flows off of your skin. Like vapor, it rises up and into him, and he crooks his hoof, inviting you closer.

You back up, and he pounces, nearly cartwheeling to get to you. He’s still holding the net-gun, one hoof not even involved in the acrobatics. Your backpedaling gets more emphatic. Inadvertently, you kick up sand, throwing it in his way. He dodges to one side and comes at you again. Before you can run away any further back the way you came, he strikes out, and the impact's predestined. Your right foreleg goes numb for a moment, and then bursts with stinging.

You lash out at him yourself, and he blocks it, but he’s pushed back a few feet into town. ”Ah, a deceptively strong one.”

”｢Down With the Sickness｣!” He turns to see Lime, floating in the air towards him, supported by silverfish. Just in time for her to glare, shift her cheekbones, and shoot sand from her tear-ducts.

It hits his face, his eyes, and he covers it for a moment.

In the distance, you see Maud standing behind the clean-shaven one, hugging him. No, holding him in place.

You look at her curiously, and she calls back to you, embarrassed. ”His Stand lets him stop things from moving around him. He can’t escape my grip without deactivating it. Now maybe we can be reasona-”

Mustache calls out over her voice, more boisterously than necessary. ”I’m coming to rescue you, brother!” The sand’s out of his eyes, now. ”｢Georgia Devil｣: marksmanship!”

The vapor comes off of both you and Lime, and he turns to run. Before you can react, he turns the gun on each of you, and it fires like another pony's aiming it. The nets hit without him even looking, and then he drops it as he runs.

You fall to the sand in a tangle, pressed against on all sides, kicking into the air. When you can look up, you see Lime’s in the same position, fuming. Furiously, she bites into the rope.

Away from both of you, the apparent brothers reunite. ”Don’t worry about me, brother, I’ve figured out this one’s powers myself! If we only time ourselves correctly we can knock her out in one go!”

Maud is statuesque.

Mustache agrees. ”｢Georgia Devil｣: flaw analysis!”

More vapor - energy? - comes from Maud and into him, and he starts inspecting her. He looks almost like a physician, now.

”Yes, yes, almost certainly. If we strike her in her back hooves, we can do some real damage.”

”And what she doesn’t know, Flam, is that my ｢Aberdeen Rose｣ can be reduced to let you make that very-same strike.”

Maud looks nervous. ”｢OK Go｣.” You don’t blame her for wanting to escape, but she doesn’t move.

Another wisp of vapor, and then Mustache slams a hoof into her back leg. She grunts, and more of the vapor escapes her. The other brother pulls his Stand in further, and Maud bears a few more attacks.

Finally she slumps, limply, and her hold breaks. They spin and shoot her with a net, and once she's caught up in it too, they turn to you.

Only to see Lime outside of her chewed-up net, smashing one of their guns against the road-stone.

”Not a mare of peace, then?”

”Not willing to come quietly and confess to your misdeeds!”

”Making war in the streets and terrorizing the justice of our town! It’s-”

”absolutely-”

”-untolerable!” They run for her, and she shoots a net at them. The shaved one freezes it in place before it hits him, and his brother has to tug it away manually.

Lime turns the rope she ate into a lasso, and catches up his back hooves. It’s all just delaying tactics, nothing that could end the fight. But during that time, Lime’s able to smash open the barrel into small, manageable chunks, and she wolfs down as many of them as she can, swallowing them like pills without water. Last to go is the handle.

As they collect themselves, she stares them down. ”I don’t know what you’re even talking about and I don’t care. I don’t care at all who you think you are. Nopony hurts my sisters! ｢Down With The Sickness｣!”

And out of her tail emerges a small blade, connected to the same handle as before. It’s larger than a knife, but not quite a sword. She charges for them, blade in her teeth, screaming.

Mr. ｢Georgia Devil｣ runs for her, drawing the vapor from his brother now. He leaps as she swings, and kicks the flat of the blade. In an instant, it snaps and goes flying. Behind you, ｢Opposite of Thieves｣ finally undoes the clasp on your net.

Lime takes a few hits before she’s backed up into ｢Aberdeen Rose｣. She tries to turn around or break the hold, but she can’t.

”｢OK Go｣.” Maud appears on top of Mustache, putting her weight on his back. She looks tired and weak now, like she hasn't been eating right.

He collapses, frustration bristling in his face, and she makes no further attack. You finally wriggle out of your net, and he turns to you. His eyes glint with sheer viciousness, and as you stare at them, you realize it. Yes, yes, that’s it! You can stop this mess right now, before it gets out of hoof completely!

”｢Opposite of Thieves｣!”

He throws Maud off of him, letting her fall back to the ground like shedding skin, and then he stomps towards you. You can see the energy leaving you, and feel it too - your Stand is getting weaker. But that’s alright.

You approach him yourself, and speak before he can lash out at you. “My sisters and I haven’t done anything to you. We’re only peaceful travelers. You’ve both been told stories by the same mare who’s trying to destroy our home!”

It was all thanks to Lime’s sand...

He huffs. ”So you think you can dupe one of the masters, hm? You three are all as tricky as each other! If you were victims of some misunderstanding, you would have come quiet-” Then he notices ｢Opposite of Thieves｣ depositing Lime’s blade at your hooves, and rears back a step. ”Ah! Thought you could stall a professional long enough to get a swipe in, too! Well, a true traveler of peace will stand none of that! ｢Georgia Devil｣!”

The feeling of weakness is a signal to move. There’s no time for words, now, and you’re bad with them anyway, so you scoop up the blade with both hooves.

Before he can strike, you thrust the flat up in front of your face, into the light.

He stops.

When you drop the blade, he looks at you quietly, waiting.

In the light of his reflection, Yearling’s eye is gone. That sand irritated it enough that she had to take it back.

“Um.” You cough into your hoof, pause, and start telling your story.

* * *

A little later, you're walking the streets unchaperoned. The brothers were certain she was bound for Las Pegasus, but not why. After a certain point they just made their excuses and disappeared.

All of the houses look the same here, but Lime was able to suss out a medical shop. She gained enough supplies to heal up Maud, just about good as new. The both of you are still helping her walk, though. Not because she really needs the help, but because it’s the right thing to do.

All of the doors are shut, the windows curtained, the roads quiet. Even the cashier at the drugstore was unfriendly to you. You can’t rest here. You couldn’t even find Flim or Flam, if you needed to. Thankfully, there are only a few more blocks before you get back to your journey.

Limestone isn’t so appreciative. ”Well, great. We’re broke, starving, and heading back out into the desert!”

”There’s a way to fix one of those.”

She scowls at you. ”Yeah, how’s that?”

On one of the houses, the door opens slightly. Outside comes a skittering silverfish, attached to a half of a loaf of bread. Further down the street, a can comes through a cat-flap, and a box of crackers presents itself on the stoop the next door over. Limestone watches it with something like shock, and then glances sidelong at you.

“I’m sure they won’t miss it.” You smile, sheepish.

And as quickly as you entered, the three of you get out of Tall Tale.

8 Days to the Collapse of the Pie Family Rock Farm

Stand: ｢Aberdeen Rose｣
User: Flim
Ability: An adjustable sphere emanating from the user which reduces or stops the motion of objects in range.

Stand: ｢Georgia Devil｣
User: Flam
Ability: The user can drastically improve any one skill they attempt to display, during which they will behave as a well-trained expert. This effect only works for one skill at a time, and only lasts as long as there are living things for this Stand to draw potential out of.