My Little Bizarre Adventure: The Midnight Riders

by Lemon Lime Light

Crimson at the Gates, Part 2

“These ponies are threatening my life. Kill them for me, Applejack.”

“Certainly…” Applejack replied in a monotone growl.

As Applejack took a fighting stance, both Twilight and Pinkie Pie didn’t want to believe it. Had they both not seen this very form of control before, they wouldn't have believed it. But just like with Vinyl, Data and Harvest, Applejack’s normally green eyes were a dull red. And with the voice she responded to Crimson in, they were now sure this was the work of his Stand.

In Twilight’s mind, her thoughts were racing in a bad direction. Not only was yet another one of their friends put under Crimson’s wicked spell, but she knew Crimson likely had gotten inside her head. Golden had affirmed she’d had false memories of she and her friends imposing taxes and strange regulations on her business, to the point of her almost losing it. She had no idea what was in her friend’s mind, but it wouldn't be dislodged with words, yet even still Twilight’s lips cried out.

“Wait, Applejack!” Twilight yelled out, “Stop! We’re your friends!”

“Liars!” Applejack snarled, “Crimson here is my friend. Y’all were my friends. Crimson is helpin’ in ways you never could!”

Already Twilight was affirmed it was no use. This was the same behavior as Harvest: unyielding and locked in a deadly unbreakable logic. Already, her nerves were pouring in. If Crimson was here, where were the rest of the Apples? Were they still on the farm, or had Crimson taken care of them? Pinkie said they were missing… and if Applejack was under her control, that would mean Crimson was likely here when….

“Spike!” Twilight shouted, “Where’s Spike?!”

Crimson raised an eyebrow but offered no reply. Instead, Applejack moved in front of him and raised her arms. Twilight gnawed on the inside of her lip as she slowly formed Night Wish’s quill in hand. If Applejack was going to protect Crimson now, she’d have to fight her. But, she wouldn't fight her friend! They still didn’t know how this mind control worked; she could hurt Applejack before they managed to break it! And if Crimson got away, then they may not find out where the rest of the Apples were until he’d done something to them.

Dash was off fighting with the Pegasus she’d seen when they’d arrived. Applejack looked ready to lash out at any moment. Crimson was smoothing out his suit. Pinkie was twitching. The Apple Family was missing, Spike was nowhere to be found, and Twilight had no idea how to break the hold on Applejack without hurting her. And she couldn't hurt Applejack!

As if the list of troubles that was currently plaguing them wasn’t enough, Twilight realized there was one more major issue with her and Pinkie’s current situation: Crimson Spirit was attempting to flee. Even if they did manage to somehow subdue Applejack and break the spell that she was under, they all would be back to square one if Crimson absconded when they were so close to capturing him.

Pinkie Pie must have come to similar conclusions as Twilight. As soon as Twilight began formulating a way to try and remedy these situations, Pinkie decided to act on pure impulse. Utilizing Ta-Dah, Pinkie appeared directly in front of Crismon and had her Stand grab him, before disappearing with him.

“Gah!” Crimson snarled, “Get off of me you pink party rat!” His fingers shot down to his right wrist.

“Crimson?!” Applejack shouted in distress, seeing her supposed best friend be kidnapped from right in front of her own two eyes. Completely ignoring Twilight, Applejack ran out through the hole that had been made by Midsummer Station’s initial blast of wind. The second Applejack turned, Twilight attempted to restrain Applejack with Night Wish’s ink.

The ink shot out from underneath Night Wish’s cloak, forming chains that slapped onto and around Applejack’s back. The chains had barely looped twice before Applejack simply used her own Stand to shatter the solid bindings like they were made of glass. Twilight felt a strange sense of deja vu at how easily Applejack thrust her arms apart to shatter the ink into the wind, returning back to Night Wish.

Applejack’s head shot forward just in time to see Pinkie Pie running into the Sweet Apple Acres’ forest of Apple Trees with a thrashing Crimson Spirit in her Stands’ arms. A few sweat beads ran down Pinkie’s forehead as she and Ta-Dah zipped forward faster than the eye could follow. Twilight unfurled her wings and flapped, giving her a boost in speed to follow after Applejack. Yet the distance between herself and Applejack suddenly closed as Twilight saw Applejack’s arms starting to turn into vines.

Applejack made an X with her arms in front of her, her hands fully unwinding into wiggling vines. Breaking the X, she shot them out as far as she could, which was halfway between her current position and the trees. Twilight could make a quick estimate that was almost 30 meters. After they latched into the ground, Applejack began turning her arms back to normal, which caused her to be pulled towards the end of the vines at a speed that was much faster than she would have otherwise achieved by running. She did this a second time and she was the edge of the tree orchard in under five seconds, leaving a pant Twilight in the dust.

This was still no match for Ta-Dah’s instantaneous teleportation. Pinkie Pie was already so deep into the orchard by this point that she herself didn’t even know where she was. She clung to the trunk of a tree, hoping to use it as a means of hiding until sompony else could deal with Applejack. But she had forgotten that she was not alone in her attempts to flee from Applejack.

“Let go of me!” Crimson shouted as loud as he could while still trying to struggle against Ta-Dah’s grip. At times it seemed like he was succeeding at worming his way out, but thankfully for Pinkie, Crimson was not much stronger than she herself was, which meant he was unable to break from her Stand’s black arms. Crismon, however, was not just trying to free himself by himself.

“Applejack!” After a long second of squirming, Crimson’s fingers made their way to his right wrist and pressed down on something. “I’m over here! She still has me! Follow the sound of my voice and come to me before she kills me!”

Pinkie shoved her own hand over Crimson’s mouth to desperately try and silence him, but it was too late. She heard what sounded like a tree falling in the forest, only coming from directly above her. Pinkie felt her legs stiffen as a massive shadow loomed over her. When she looked up, Pinkie saw Applejack using her Stand arms to hoist herself high above the trees. They were planted far enough apart from each other to make it so that Pinkie there was enough spaces between the canopy to see Pinkie and her Stand holding Crimson from up there.

Instead of launching after them like Pinkie had predicted, Applejack simply lowered herself back down to the ground. Still, Pinkie wasn’t going to take any chances by just staying where she was currently. Ta-Dah teleported them a good ten trees away in a random, diagonal direction from the tree she was previously at. This time, Pinkie had picked an apple from the tree she was now at and forced it into Crimson’s mouth to more effectively shut him up.

Once again, Pinkie had wrongly assumed that she would have a few minutes to be safe. Again heard the sound of trees falling. Only this time it was much louder, and sounded as though it were closer than before. The massive noise seemingly came from all around her. Dropping down into a defensive squat, the mare trembled as she darted her head around to find where exactly the sound was coming from. She discovered this when she felt heavy bark and leaves pin her against the tree she was hiding up against.

The sheer force of the bark felt as though all the air was being squeezed out of Pinkie’s body. She could feel the a blunt force hammering against her torso, crushing her insides in a painful hold. She was in so much shock and pain that it took her two seconds to realize that she could teleport herself out of there with Ta-Dah. Way later than she should have, Pinkie Pie moved herself, her Stand, and their captive to the branch of a neighboring tree.

As Pinkie coughed up a few spurts of blood from her lips, she was able to see just what had grabbed her. Two trees were lying on their sides, their branches forming together like long, thick fingers, wrapping around the trunk of the tree Pinkie was hiding behind. Tracing the other two’s trunks found that they went on for way longer than they should have. At first, this confused Pinkie Pie, her watering eyes trying to focus on them. As the trees slowly came into focus, she realized that there was a point where the tree trunks stopped…

…And Applejack’s Stand began! As she watched from atop her branch, Pinkie the vines of Applejack’s Stand shrink as Applejack herself walked closer to the tree her tree arms were wrapped around. Her Stand had amalgamated with the trees and made them part of it, acting as if they were her own arms. Rather than seemingly plugging into the trees, it appeared that her Stand had simply grown into the trees themselves. Applejack had her eyes shut, almost as though she was listening for something. As though she could feel that Pinkie wasn’t there anymore, she detached her vine arms from the roots of the trees and turned her arms back to normal.

In this brief moment of obscurity, Pinkie forced herself to calm down enough to contemplate what she should do. Her body felt as though she’d been dropped from Cloudsdale and hit the mountains on the way down. She forced herself to swallow the blood pooling in her mouth. Crimson beside her struggled and squirmed, his teeth trying to bite down into the apple, yet the force in which Pinkie had inserted the apple made that taste near impossible.

Pinkie’s end goal in mind was very clear: free Applejack from this jerk Crimson Spirit's Stand. The question was how? Should she try beating her up like she did with Vinyl? No, it was different when she didn’t know that she would be beating Vinyl up. She wouldn’t be able to willingly beat up one of her friends, even if that was was trying to kill her. Pinkie didn’t even think would be able to do that physically either. Applejack’s Stand was able to lift trees, there was no way Pinke could Stand up to that in a bought of strength.

New question, new question…If she couldn’t beat up Applejack, then why not…beat Crismon Spirit up? This was probably the last pony on Equestria she’d ever consider her friend. Crimson had managed to fill out the extremely rare and normally nonexistent conditions for Pinkie Pie to hate somepony.

But would that break Applejack’s spell? It was clear he didn’t need to actively control the people his Stand controlled, since he was so far away when they attacked Pinkie and her friends. So simply rendering him unconscious probably wouldn’t work, or else everypony he controlled would be freed whenever he went to sleep. If beating him up wouldn’t work though…. what if…he was more than just unconscious?

Slowly, Pinkie Pie looked over to Crimson Spirit. He was still struggling against Ta-Dah’s grip and shouting muffled obscenities against his apple gag. What if…he was dead? That would stop whatever Stand ability he had, right?

Part of Pinkie was horrified for even entertaining that thought. There was no way on Equestria she was going to kill somepony! Killing was the worst thing a pony could do! It was worse than disgusting cupcake recipes! It was the kind of thing…

…Somepony like him would do. He’d done it before, to one of Pinkie’s friends, right in front of her own eyes while she could do nothing to stop it. Data was dead because of him. Crimson murdered him when Data came to him for help. If Crimson was left alive, who’s to say he wouldn’t do it again? Pinkie knew these types of ponies, especially after all her adventures with her friends. He’s the type of pony would would kill somepony else as soon as they got in his way. He was the worst kind of pony. He was despicable, he was awful, he didn’t belong in this great world she lived in! He didn’t deserve to be in it!

As Pinkie’s thoughts turned more to the emotion almost foreign to her called hatred, Ta-Dah mimicked her feelings by tightening its grip on Crimson. It squeezed its arms around him tighter and tighter, as if it was trying to crush the life out of it. Crimson’s eyes bulged, his fingers splaying out as his legs kicked at Ta-Dah’s own. As his face started ot turn red, Pinkie wasn’t sure whether or not she actually wanted it to at this point.

But there was one side effect to this Pinkie Pie was too hate drunk to foresee. As Ta-Dah squeezed, it forced the air out of Crimson’s stomach, similar to what Applejack had just done to Pinkie herself. There was only one place the air could escape, Crimson’s mouth. Said air needed to escape, so it forced the apple blocking its path to pop out of Crimson’s mouth. The only thing keeping Crimson from audibly shouting was now dislodged from its position.

“APPPPPLEJAAAACK!” Crimson choked out at the top of his ever crushing lungs. He did not waste a single second trying to call for his mind slave. The look in his now bloodshot eyes reflected he feared that he didn’t have that many left.

Fortunately for Crimson and unfortunately for Pinkie, Applejack was still within earshot. Her head twisted instantly to see her master being crushed to death. Reacting immediately, Applejack activated her Stand on her right arm and plunged it into the ground. Her vines merged with the roots of the tree Pinkie was in, forming the connection Pinkie had seen earlier. The branches around Pinkie suddenly began to close in like claws, forcing her to teleport away again, and loosen her Stand’s grip on Crimson as a result.

The telltale sign of another tree being ripped from the ground let Pinkie know that Applejack had attached a second tree to her Stand. A quick second’s intuition told her that Applejack would most likely use this second tree to try and strike her with. Pinkie anticipated this and teleported directly into the air above herself. She turned out to be right.

Pinkie saw the tree trunk zoom by underneath her after she teleported. She intended to land on the log and run across it, severely limiting Applejack’s ability to hit her. This entire plan, as Pinkie soon discovered, had the fatal flaw of forgetting about Applejack’s other arm. As soon as she landed on the tree trunk like she had intended, she felt herself get hit in the back by another tree fist.

This time Applejack had finally managed to land a successful blow on Pinkie, and the pink mare felt the full impact of it. The pain up her spine and throughout her entire body. Combined with the pain still going through her from the earlier crushing, Pinkie coughed up blood as her vision momentarily darkened. The force of the attack made her feet leave the ground and her entire body to fly up into the air. The entire time Pinkie could only hear the the sound of the tree’s bark cracking as she rapidly soared out of the orchard.

If Pinkie would have been able to tell which way was up, she would have had Ta-Dah instantly correct herself and teleport her into an upright position. But the hit was so hard that all she could focus on was the agony of being hit with the full force of an apple tree. This was only increased when she finally landed and started rolling down one of the many hills of the orchard making her entire body feel another crack of force now on her right side.

Acting on pure instinct at this point, Pinkie had Ta-Dah teleport behind to her to catch her and stop her painful tumble. But in doing so, her Stand dropped its captive. Though it came with the side effect of causing Crimson to roll down the hill as well, he was now freed from being a hostage.

Pinkie Pie, on the other hand, found that she didn’t have the energy to stay conscious anymore after that blow and passed out. Ta-Dah disappeared and the party pony laid completely motionless on the ground. Motionless and defenseless.

As Crimson slowly pulled himself up from the dirt, his entire body ached. He could feel where Ta-Dah had begun to crush him, and rolling down the hill had only agitated those bruises. His suit was now cut up and torn, showing the white undershirt he wore. As he stood up, the normally passable feeling of the suit constricting on him as he tried to bend enraged him, and he tore it away with enough force to rip the buttons out from their stitches.

Staring over the now beaten and unconscious form of Pinkie, Crimson contemplated killing her then. There was nothing that could be done to spare his wrath against all of Twilight’s friends, and Pinkie had just jumped to the top of his list. But simply killing her himself in an act of vengeance for the copious amounts of humiliation he had just been put through wouldn’t be enough to satisfy Crimson Spirit.

Instead, Crimson forced himself to breathe and relax. There was another way, one that would crush whatever spirits Twilight had. He looked to the edge of the forest that he and Pinkie just came out of. Applejack marched through the tree line, still with two apple trees attached to her arms. Seeing her master free once more, she simultaneously dropped both of the trees to the ground with a loud crash and slid down the hill on her side to receive further orders.

“Pinkie Pie did what she seemed to do best,” Crimson commented with a glint of enjoyment. “Be annoying. She annoyed me with Data, but that’s all she was able to end up being: an annoyance. Especially when compared to someone as loyal and strong as yourself, Applejack.”

“Aw shucks,” Applejack took off her hat and put it over her chest. “I’m just doing what’s right by my only friend in the world, Mr. Spirit, sir.”

“Applejack, we talked about this!” Crimson chuckled, “Friends don’t call each other ‘sir’ or ‘ma’am,’ it’s just Crimson!” He paused, “Though… there is something else you could do for me,” Crimson pointed directly at the unconscious Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie Pie just attempted to kill me. If you would exterminate this nuisance once and for all, it would make me very happy!”

“Certainly, Crimson,” Applejack’s arms split into vines. The vines dug themselves into the ground, disturbing the dirt softly as they shot through it. From the ground a few feet in front of her they emerged, twisting together into a single shape. They formed into a bovine-like humanoid, growing from the ground like a tree. It glared at Applejack’s target, its own arms split into vines, which twisted together into a spear like shape. The Stand jabbed right at Pinkie’s heart.

“NO!” A bright flash of violet stung both Crimson and Applejack’s eyes, forcing them to recoil back. From the flash’s epicenter, Twilight appeared, her wings spread wide with her Night Wish soaring beside her. Upon teleportation, Twilight thrust her arm upwards in a desperate swipe, creating a shield of ink between Pinkie Pie and the vine spears.

At first, her barrier seemed like it was preventing Applejack’s Stand from completing its attack. The barrier shook as the vines struck it, but they stopped. Twilight panted hard, her eyes wide and her entire body trembling. Yet even with her forcing all the ink she could spare into it, the barrier did not cease the killing blow from driving its sharp arms down towards Pinkie. It began to apply enough force to show visible cracks in the solid ink.

“Applejack!” Twilight shouted, “Stop! PLEASE! You’re going to kill Pinkie!!”

“I know!” Applejack snarled, “And I'll kill you both if you don’t move out of my way!”

For a long few tense seconds, Twilight and Applejack both forced the strength of their Stands against each other. Twilight began to tremble as she felt the mental strain of trying to hold together her barrier. Her ink barrier. The cracks stayed still for those few seconds. Then the Stand succeeded and slowly started to pierce the ink, creating a spiderweb effect across her entire shield.

Twilight was already struggling to push her shield in the direction opposite to Pinkie Pie, attempting to drive off Applejack’s Stand. To her, it felt like she was attempting to force her quill through concrete. As hard as she fought against it, Applejack seemed to be doing doubly so. Every so often Twilight attempted to make small flicks of her wrist to have more liquid ink creep onto the back of the ink structure that was slowly being drilled into and make it thicker. But whenever she did so, the force of Applejack’s Stand would push her Twilight and the shield back.

Instead of just standing there, fruitlessly attempting to fight a struggle she knew she couldn’t win in order to protect Pinkie, Twilight opted to instead move Pinkie out of danger. With her free hand Twilight forced down the a feeling of nausea as she levitated Pinkie into the air. The combined effort of holding her ink barrier up and using her magic made her feel like she’d just flown from here to Yakyakistan. She moved Pinkie as far away as she possibly could while under the stress of holding back the vines. As soon as Pinkie was a considerable distance away, Twilight liquefied Night Wish’s ink, causing the vines to suddenly plunge two feet into the ground, and teleported herself a few feet back.

“And the pains in my flank just keep piling up,” Crimson muttered out loud. “Well,I have no problems with killing the Princess of Friendship as well. Or, heh, I mean for Applejack to help do it for me. It’s much more satisfying that way.”

“You… you make it sound far easier a task than it will be!” Twilight held her quill across her chest as Night Wish’s ink pooled back under its cloak. Yet her determined voice was undercut by her shaking and sweating.

“Oh please, Princess,” Crimson was nearly laughing at this point. “We both know that you have the weakest Stand out of all of you friends. And even Pinkie Pie there was struggling to do anything against Applejack. What hope do you possibly have of changing this inevitable outcome?”

In her heart, Twilight knew that Crimson was telling the truth. Once again, her Night Wish proved to be not much use to her in this situation. Everypony around her was seemingly trumping her in terms of ability. Nothing she could think to do with Night Wish seemed like it would work. Attempting to bind Applejack would only see her breaking the bindings will all the strength of a tree. Attempting to capture Crimson would mean her attention would be diverted from trying to defend against Applejack, which would most likely prove lethal to her.

On an impulse, Twilight populated the space around her and her foes with a bright, blinding light, causing both of them to close her eyes and not see that she teleported right behind Crimson. She instantly made a spike of ink, tip as fine and sharp as possible. Neither Crimson nor Applejack were aware of where Crimson currently was, or what she was in position to do.

From right there, it would have been so easy. Just one simple motion is all she needed to drive it into his neck and sever a major artery. After that, he would bleed out so rapidly that there would be no hope for his survival. A Stand was a manifestation of the soul. The soul is linked to life. When a living thing dies, its soul expires. Which should mean that the Stand from that soul should cease to exist. With one motion, Twilight could end everything right then and there. All she had to do was move her wrist…

But she couldn’t. Even with the knowledge that all her problems would be solved with that one actions, Twilight couldn’t bring herself to do it. No matter how horrible, how despicable, how vile they were, Twilight could not justify to herself the death of another pony. Even less so taking that live. Her hand shook as it gripped the quill. Finally, her arm dropped to her side, and the ink fell to the ground in a black, liquid puddle.

By this time the effects of Twilight’s light flare had worn off. Crimson had caught sight of what Twilight was attempted to do at the last second, and for that brief amount of time, believed she was going to go through with it. Relief and megalomania washed over him when he saw that she didn’t.

“You’re weak, Princess,” Crimson mocked. “Even when you were in such an advantageous position, you’re still weak. Your weakness makes you hesitate, something Applejack won’t do. She will have no qualms about killing you at my command. Isn’t that right, Applejack?”

“No siree,” Applejack confirmed. “No objections of any sorts here.” To demonstrate this, Applejack simplified her Stand to simply one arm which had formed into a sharp spear of vines. She aimed it right for Twilight, and with alarming speeds, it shot right for her.

If she were Pinkie Pie, Twilight would have teleported right then and there. But she wasn’t. Her teleportation required a brief second’s focus, as opposed to the instantaneous one Pinkie’s Ta-Dah provided her. That was a second she didn’t have. She attempted to move ink to block its path, but the wall wouldn’t form in time. Even if it did, Applejack would just pierce it. Twilight lacked the abilities to save herself.

Thankfully she didn’t need to, as something else did. At the last second, Twilight felt herself be forcefully yanked to the ground, the attack falling just short of her. Looking around Twilight caught a glimpse of a thin string glimmer in the light. Following it with her eyes, she traced it back to Rarity, who was leaning up against the barn, seemingly just having pulled the string that saved her life. Twilight took the brief moment of confusion this created to teleport herself into the air, levitate Pinkie towards her, and fly towards where Rarity was leaning.

“Are you ok, darling?” Rarity asked when Twilight landed next to her and sat Pinkie next to the barn. She seemed to be wincing every so often, her left leg sticking straight out.

“I’m fine, Rarity, thanks to you.” Twilight was still panting heavily from the near death experience and moral dilemma. Her body was still visibly shaking. “But are you ok, you look like you’re in a lot of pain.”

“I’m just…” Rarity grabbed handful of grass as she squinted her eyes and gritted her teeth. “Simply in need of a moment’s respite. You should focus on making sure that monster doesn’t escape.”

“You’re not fine Rarity! You’re leg’s broken!” Twilight’s worries were growing by the minute. “I don’t think Crimson is going to flee at this point. We’ve made this personal for him. And now, he has definitive proof that I’m not strong enough to beat him.”

“Twilight, this is neither the time nor the,” Rarity’s leg slid in the dirt slightly and she bit down again. “Place for your doubts and insecurities. I most certainly understand them, but they are the last things that are needed right now. Applejack needs our help, so we’re going to focus on that. Where is Rainbow Dash?”

“Up there!” Twilight pointed her finger to the sky, tracing where Rainbow Dash was charging at Clear Skies with her Two Minutes to Midnight, “She has the strongest Stand out of all of us, but she’s preoccupied with her own fight! I think I need to go up there an assist her!”

“You will most certainly not!” Rarity ordered. “You’re the only one of us who is in any state to take on Applejack and that dastardly Crimson Spirit.”

“But I can’t Rarity!” Twilight cried out. “Don’t you get it?! My Stand is useless. It only just barely proved useful in Phillydelphia because that was a niche situation. Applejack’s Stand is all about raw strength. I can’t hope to match that!”

“Then don’t match it,” Rarity growled. “Find a way around it. I know what it’s like to think that you can’t do anything. But like me forcing myself to complete a dress when I have artist’s block, you have to take on this problem whether you think you’re able to or not. It’s not just you who is riding on this. Not just Applejack, or Pinkie Pie, or even me. Equestria is riding on you doing something here Twilight. If we fail, nopony will be able to stop this cult from achieving whatever it is that they want.”

“I-I know that! I, I just... but…” Twilight instinctively tried to think of another excuse, any reason to pity herself and put the blame on herself yet again. But Rarity’s words they got through to Twilight. Twilight knew that Rarity was right. She had saved Equestria numerous times before. This would be no different. She always found a way before, and she would now as well. “We’re going to need a plan if we want to beat them.”

“I’m already beginning to work out one,” Rarity said after another wince. Once she had finished her sentence, Twilight heard the grunts of Rarity’s Diamond Dogs coming from the barn entrance.

“I said careful with that you dumb mutts!” Twilight couldn’t tell the voices apart, but Rarity knew them all by heart. To only Rarity, it was clearly Starr who said that. He came around the corner first, followed by the other two, Harrison and Cartney. They were carrying a broken plank of wood over their heads.

“This is the biggest, sturdiest piece we could find, Miss Rarity,” Starr announced. He barked at the other two to set it down next to her.

“Yes, yes,” Rarity rubbed her hand over it. “This will have to do,” Her horn began to glow blue, but she ceased. “Twilight, please be a dear and split this in half longways. I was never good with this.”

“Um,” Twilight nervously cast a glance over to Crimson and Applejack. They entire time that her and Rarity had been talking, they had been calmly walking over to where they were. The barn was a fair distance from the edge of the forest they had come out of. At the pace the two were walking, it would be a few more minutes before they got there. Yet by the look on Crimson’s face, it was clear he had no issues with taking his sweet time.

“Sure…?” With ease, Twilight surrounded her hand with a purple aura and made a clean cut on the plank, “There, but, what’s this plan you had?”

“I’m getting to that darling!” Immediately, Harrison and Cartney took both halves of the board and put them up against Rarity’s broken leg on either side. The Diamond Dogs used their needles to sew them to the leg and make a makeshift splint. Rarity used her own magic to lift herself up, groaning as she did so, and leaned up against the side of the barn.

“It’s not a very safe plan, I must warn you.” Rarity let out a long groan as the dogs threaded the needles into her bones, “But I do believe it be our best bet at finally ending this nightmare. And it requires both of our Stands.”

Turning to look at their enemies, Twilight sighed and nodded her head, “Then, I’m ready!” Twilight nodded her head.

~~~

Crimson Spirit and Applejack walked at their own pace over to Twilight and Rarity. Crimson was in no rush. He was angrier than he had ever been before, sure, but he wasn’t in any rush. He knew that there was nowhere for them to go. It was obvious to Crimson, even from how far away he was, that Rarity had been injured and was in no condition to move. Twilight couldn’t carry both her and Pinkie Pie away at the same time. And knowing how much he’d rattled Twilight, there was no chance of her trying to escape now with two injured friends on the line.

Yet as he and his weapon came closer, Crimson raised an eyebrow as the two mares came to meet him. The look on their faces tried to be threatening, but it failed because of the sorry state they were in. Rarity was limping with her leg splinted up, forced to lean up against Twilight for support as she walked. Twilight herself wasn’t in any better condition. Her mane was sticking out in several places from the sheer amount of stress she was put under, and her clothes were stuck to her with sweat and dirt. The two looked like injured animals, weak pathetic animals.

“Have you two finally come to give yourselves up?” This was almost laughable to Crimson. “If that’s the case, I’ll have Applejack be easy on you as a reward. I’ll make it a quick death.”

“No,” Twilight scowled right in Crimson’s direction. “We’re going to give you one chance. Surrender and release our friend peacefully, or we will use force to stop you.”

“Still pretending to be high and mighty, Princess?” Crimson showed a look of amused pity. “Well so be it. I’ll have Applejack treat you like the threat you perceive yourself to be.” All Crimson had to do was touch his Stand and Applejack turned her arms into vines to try and grab the both of them.

But the mares reacted almost instantly. They each dove in separate directions and dodged the reaching vines. At the same time, they both threw a Diamond Dog towards Applejack with their magic. Harrison and and Starr were hurled towards either of Applejack’s shoulders, needle held out in their paws. A lavender aura guided them through the air, arcing right over her shoulders. Applejack snarled and tried to retract her vines to grab them, yet in the few seconds it took for her to do so both had threaded their needle through the shoulder blades, landing on the ground behind her and threading their needles into the soil.

The two dogs gave an in sync nod before scattering. This was followed up by Twilight and Rarity taking hold of the strings with their magic, pulling on them as hard as they could. The strength of Diamond Dog’s thread meant Applejack was forced to fall backwards to the ground, growling. But it wasn’t enough to hold her, as she was able to rip the clumps of dirt she was attached to from the ground using her body’s own natural strength.

Applejack was prepared to follow up with another, similar attack, but something unexpected stopped her. On her broken leg, Rarity charged towards Applejack and threw her arms around her friend. She locked the farm girl into a tight embrace. She absolutely refused to let go, despite the clear look of confusion Applejack was giving her.

“...What on Equestria are you doing?” Crimson was just as confused as Applejack was, not even sure what to make this. “Are you trying to break my Stand... with a hug? That won’t do any good! Applejack, please deal with this bug.”

“If ya’ll aren’t going to let go of me,” Applejack scowled down at Rarity. “Then I’m just going to have to do you one in return!” Applejack wrapped her vines around Rarity’s body, seemingly hugging her back. But soon she started to squeeze Rarity, hard. Using the power of her Stand, Applejack was attempting to crush Rarity against her own body.

Both Applejack and Rarity were so focused on Rarity that neither of them saw Night Wish’s inkblot flying right for Applejack’s face. The blot maneuvered perfectly around Rarity’s body, flying true to its target. The front of it was solid, enough for Applejack to feel as it made contact with her face. It wasn’t nearly enough to cause any considerable damage to Applejack, barely even to make her flinch.

The ink blob kept flying through. Twilight used her quill to conduct it to fly around in a circle, and hit Applejack’s shoulder on the return. First once, then another time from another angle, then again, and again, and again. She had the ink blob strike Applejack from all directions, each hit looking like nothing more than a mild annoyance for her.

All the while, Applejack was tightening her grip on Rarity, not even being fazed by Twilight’s assault. She looked right down into Rarity’s eyes. They were beginning to roll upwards. The face surrounding them was turning blue from lack of oxygen. Applejack was certain that she could feel a few of her ribs crack. The hits from Twilight were like an annoying, persistent fly that didn’t do anything but be a nuisance to her.

Just as Applejack was sure that she was going to either suffocate Rarity, or snap her in half, she noticed that the ink stopped. In the corner of her eye, Applejack saw the two Diamond dogs that Rarity and Twilight had thrown at her a moment ago run across her arm branch arms. They had their seam rippers jammed between them and Rarity. As soon as they met, Rarity took in a huge gasp of air before slipping right out of Applejack’s grip and being pulled back by Twilight.

Applejack attempted to grow her arms towards them again, but found that she couldn’t. No matter how hard she tried to, they wouldn’t move. She couldn’t pull them apart. She turned her arms back to normal, but found that they were still bound together. No matter which form she tried, as she discovered by switching back and forth in a panic, her arms were stuck together.

“Here’s a useless fact about Night Wish,” Twilight panted as the ink blob came back towards her, “When it’s all together, the ink moves as a single entity, no matter what state it’s in. A solid part of the ink will move with the surrounding liquid easily if I want it to. Normally there’s no purpose to that. But,” Twilight opened a hole in the ink, showing Cartney with his feet tied to two solid bits of ink. “As it turns out, it’s useful in the niche situation where you need to attach a Diamond Dog to something and move it at high speeds unnoticed so it can tie you hypnotized friend’s arms together.”

“You think you’ve won?” Crimson growled, “Applejack is not like that silly Verde! Applejack, break that string this instant!”

Applejack nodded her head, yanking hard on the bonds now holding them together. Her face turned red as she let out a loud yell, but they barely even shifted in the strings. The sheer force that she put in caused her entire body to tremble, still tugging even after it was clear that they weren’t going to budge.

“She can’t,” Rarity declared. “No matter how much force or stress you put on my Diamond Dogs strings, you won’t break them. I noticed this when examining them closely. Their composition, their texture, and the way they catch the sunlight. There’s no mistaking it. They’re not ordinary strings. They’re made out of diamond!”

“AND DIAMOND IS UNBREAKABLE!” Simultaneously, Twilight and Rarity outstretched their arms and pointed them at Applejack. They used their magic to push her backwards and force her to her knees. When she fell, Harrison and Starr were there to sew her thighs and calves together.

Crimson could only watch as Applejack struggled furiously against her bindings. She fell over to the side, rolling and growling obscenities as she fruitlessly tried to to free herself. In an instant, the confidence that lay in Crimson’s gaze melted away, leaving instead only pure, unfiltered rage that pulsed through her features.

“You think you’ve won?” Crimson took a step backwards. “Clear Skies will finish with that arrogant Rainbow Dash any minute now, and you two won’t be able to…” Crimson was cut off by a loud clap of thunder. Everypony looked up into the sky to see a mass of storm clouds forming. They sparked a couple times, before striking something in midair.

On the ground right in front of Crimson, a charred umbrella fell. A few steps behind the umbrella, Rainbow Dash and 2M2M landed, with an unconscious Clear Skies in the Stand’s arms. Rainbow stepped off her Stand, standing beside it and throwing her hair back.

“It’s over Crimson,” Dash glared directly at him. “We’ve defeated all of your brainwashed slaves. Give up.”

Crimson stared at Rainbow Dash as though she were a demon that had come to collect his soul. The stallion whipped about behind him, only to see Twilight and Rarity standing in his way. With a long sweep of his foot, he attempted to run adjacent to them both, only to see Pinkie Pie there. The mare was breathing heavily and looked as though she’d just come out of a no-holds cage match, but regardless Crimson had nowhere to go except to back himself towards the barn.

Slowly, Crimson’s right eye began to twitch, “No no no no no no NO NO NO!” Crimson stared at the ruins of the now mangled umbrella, “You incompetent mare! What are we supposed to do now?! Get up! Get up right now!! Get up right this instant! I COMMAND YOU!”

Even as he pressed his fingers to his friendship charm, Clear wouldn't move. The shock she felt was enough to make her mind unable to process the order. Her face had started to turn white, feeling sick to her stomach and weak all of a sudden. The look in her eyes was vacant, unyielding in the confusion they held.

“Guh….” Crimson looked up to see Dash hovering in the air. The mare cast a cocksure smirk down towards the two, causing Crimson to snarl in response. Despite his angry look, his hands were being to tremble at the fingertips.

“What’cha gonna do now without your bodyguard?” Dash propped her head up with her elbows on 2M2M’s back, “Cause it looks to me like you don’t have a plan now!”

Crimson shot his gaze down towards his friendship bracelets… or rather the remaining pair of them. For a brief moment, his gaze flickered further up his sleeve, only to draw back down. Now was not to time to be doing anything rash. He had to do something…

As he turned back to see the petrified state that Clear was in, Crimson’s eyes flashed before turning back up towards Dash. With a small grin of his own, he pointed a finger straight towards the hovering pegasus, “Tell me Rainbow Dash, do you know what happens when you destroy somepony’s Stand? A Stand is a manifestation of one’s very will! If you break that will, well!”

Before he could continue, however, a loud whirring noise caught the attention of all three present. As the three turned, the source was pinpointed to the wreckage of the umbrella. The dust and shredded fabric began to blow outwards from the middle of the broken stalk, just in time for the trio to see… something climbing up from the wreckage!

What climbed out was a boxy bright blue figure. Bending at the midsection, the figure crawled its way out from the broken bits of metal and fabric. The creature had 4 legs, each extending out from a corner of a box-shaped torso. In the center of the torso, taking up almost the entirety of it, was a massive black turbine. Above the turbine on one of the sides was a small circular head, dominated only by two beady blue eyes.

The figure darted its head over towards Clear Skies, looking her up and down before suddenly darting parallel to her. The creature approached a large shovel propped up in the ground. When it arrived, it suddenly lifted up its ‘feet’ to reveal large screws embedded into the center of each of them. The feet affixed themselves to the metal part of the shovel, screwing through the material just as the turbine started to spin.

Dirt was spewed outwards as the turbine in the center spun at a massive velocity. The shovel flipped out of the ground, spinning wildly in the air as the turbine continued to spin. As it continued its crazed trajectory, Clear Skies suddenly shot her eyes open, jumped out of 2M2M’s arms, and grabbed it right out of the air.

“W-What is that?!” Dash shouted, 2M2M pointing along with her at it, “What did you do?!” Crimson gave her a likewise perplexed look.

“This… this is the true form of my Stand!” Clear Skies’s shocked expression turned into one of confidence, “This is the true form of Midsummer Station!”

Just as she said that, Clear Skies’ wings caused her business jacket to fly off. Her wings spread as she shot up into the air, holding the shovel backwards behind her. Before Crimson could protest, Clear shouted, “I’ll be right back, Mister Spirit!!”

Frowning, Dash flattened her body back up against 2M2M. Sliding her hands back on the handles, her Stand to fly straight towards Clear Skies. The two flew towards each other, 2M2M rapidly closing the gap faster than Clear could ever hope to fly.

“It doesn’t matter what sort of Stand you got!” Dash shouted, “Nopony can match the speed of Two Minutes To Midnight!”

Extending 2M2M’s arm, Dash reached out to yank the shovel right out of Clear’s hands. Just as the gloved hand was about to make contact with the handle, however, suddenly Clear’s arms jerked upwards at an incredible speed. A massive spinning sound followed right before she felt a massive pain crash into her left side.

Dash and her Stand went spinning off course. By the time Dash got back control, her enhanced perception had already figured out what happened. Clear had been holding the shovel backwards, and used the speed of Midsummer Station to boost the swing speed so fast she’d been able to match the speed of her own Stand!

As fire traveled up Dash’s left side from being whacked with a metal shovel, her perception caught something flying at a rapid velocity straight towards her. Before she could turn to try and catch it, however, the sharp end of the shovel rammed itself hard into 2M2M’s chest.

Blood burst from underneath Dash’s shirt as the wind was knocked completely out of her. The shovel head was caught between 2M2M’s hands before it impaled her, but the full force had still went straight into her chest. A massive gash had formed on Dash’s chest, gushing blood. The mare tried desperately to get breath into her lungs as she pressed herself down against 2M2M.

At the same time, however, 2M2M looked down to see Midsummer Station was still attached to the shovel head! It tried to fling the shovel head aside. Yet as it left its hands, Midsummer Station’s screws were lifted from the metal, launching itself straight between the extended arms. Dash felt four pinpricks along her stomach as Midsummer Station affixed itself into 2M2M’s body.

“You talk a lot!” Clear shouted, “I think this should help take the air out of you!”

Extending her arm straight out in front of her, Clear shot her arm out towards her right side. At the same time, the turbine on Midsummer Station started up, the rotor rotating to point in the direction she pointed. Dash’s eyes widened as both she and Stand were sent flying towards their left faster than even 2M2M’s turbines could stop.

Clear then shot her arm directly down. The turbine suddenly spun to become perpendicular to 2M2M’s chest. As it started up again, Dash was suddenly sent flying towards the ground, letting out a loud cry as the two were slammed hard into the dirt.

“Get out of here, Mister Spirit!” Clear shot her arm up in the arm, “I’ll take care of her!”

“Right… thank you Clear!” Crimson shouted, “And one last little order… Applejack!”

The mare still struggling on the ground suddenly froze. Applejack tilted her head towards him, her red eyes blinking at him as she nodded her head.

“If Twilight, Rarity or Pinkie here attempt to follow me,” Crimson paused, “Kill yourself in front of them.”

Twilight and Rarity looked on in horror as Applejack nodded. While she couldn't remove her arms from the unbreakable string, a small vine slowly grew just long enough to reach the base of her neck. The vine sharped into a tip, resting against the right side of her neck. Twilight’s eyes bulged as she turned to look at Crimson.

“Yes… you know exactly how she’ll do it, don’t you Sparkle?” Crimson started to back up, “Her carotid artery, she’ll puncture it with her own Stand! What are you doing to do when she’s bleeding out in front of you? She won’t stop trying until she succeeds…” He grinned, “Now… be a good little Princess and stay right there, and maybe I’ll deactivate the order once I’m far enough away you’ll never see me again…”

Slowly, Crimson made his way down the hill. Twilight and Rarity both frowned and shook, but Applejack held a calm steely determined glare in her eyes. The sharp vine rested right on top of her artery, ready to thrust forward and cut into it the second the two made a move in Crimson’s direction. The stallion let out a small sigh before turning around to truly take off.

“Well, well, well,” Crimson was about to run when the new voice, coming from seemingly nowhere and yet everywhere, emanated throughout the air. He and everypony else darted their eyes around, trying to find the source of the voice, yet none were able to locate it. Instead, the voice continued, “It looks like we were right, dear Fluttershy, this is too much for them to handle on their own.”

“It is,” From over the hills, Fluttershy and Discord calmly walked into view, Discord’s finger morphing from a microphone back into a yellow talon. Fluttershy took a deep breath, “I should have never left them alone.”

“Fluttershy?!” Twilight shouted. “What are you doing here! Get out of here, it’s not safe! Don’t go near Crimson!”

“Add Fluttershy and…... Discord to that!” Crimson pressed his finger down on the charm once more. Applejack didn’t move.

“So you’ve accepted it now, finally?” Discord seemed to be ignoring Twilight along with Fluttery. “You’ve finally realized what I’ve been trying to show you.”

“No,” Fluttershy looked to the ground. “I think, no, I know I’ve always realized it. But, I just, never wanted to admit it to myself.”

“So you’ve been always keeping it pushed back,” Discord shook his finger. “So you would never have to face the reality of what it was. Of what it did. So that you could remain comfortably numb to the fact that it was all your fault...” Discord paused and put his finger to his chin. “Oww, Comfortably Numb. I like that. You should call it that.”

“Yes, that’s right. But now, now I have no choice but to admit it. It’s our only hope. It’s the only hope of saving everypony.”

“What are you talking about?!” Twilight shouted.

“I’m talking about the power that’s been inside me from the very beginning.” Fluttershy held her head up. “Something that I’ve always had. The reason, why this is all happening.” She held her arms to her side and look right at Crimson. “My Stand.”

Author's Note:

Stand Name: 「Midsummer Station」
User: Clear Skies
Namesake: Owl City Album

Parameters:
Power: C
Speed: C
Range: B
Durability: A
Precision: C
Potential: C

Abilities:
「Midsummer Station」 posses any object to activate its ability, though it favors long, stick-like objects. When the possessed object is held by its user, they can use it as an apparatus to influence the weather in areas around them. The tool can be used to drop the temperature to create snow/hail flurries when combined with wind created by it, or chain the pressure air pressure in an area in order to create lightning storms. Its powers are generated by twirling the possessed object in the user's hands.

So yeah, just a less powerful Weather Report basically. Don't really feel bad about this one, cause I think its cool. Weather Report is cool too. The Stand or the character? Yes.

Much like why I didn't give a profile on 2M2M or Midsummer Station right away, still more to show with Applejack's Stand. It's called Country Girl, though. In case you're curious.

One thing I really wanted to touch upon in this chapter is the issue that, most of these fights, and the ones in the future, could be solved by simply killing the opponent. But the Mane Six aren't The Gang-Stars. They wouldn't easily be convinced to kill someone. Even somepony as despicable as Crimson.

Really excited for next chapter. Ever since this story's inception, what's gonna happen in it has been one of the strongest scenes in my head. Though now, what happens towards the story's end is.

Comments

[Black--Soul]

Twilight pulls a Batman she rather see her familie and friends die before her before she breaks her mortal.
Pathetic